AN: Darth Shadow is an OC I made for this fic, but his complex origin story is in my Star Wars fic "Shadows of the Sith." He's a Falleen/Zabrak hybrid.
Sanjay looked over his shoulder at his son with the Mon Cal, Ibsim. He had been too careless here: the Triceraton knew, the Mon Cal knew, and the Noghri knew. This was how it started: people finding out his boy's gifts, and the media giving them no rest. He'd left his wife and taken their son with him, when priests from a local sect saw the boy's talents. He'd moved from India to the Caribbean, cashing in two decades of work as a chief executive in his artificial intelligence company, to enjoy life on an island paradise. He took up fishing as a hobby, but the same things that happened in India happened in his new home.
He left earth and was in transit for one the outer colonies when they ran into the wormhole and ended up here. His ex-wife must be sick with grief because of their ship going missing. The custody agreement on Earth gave her three months' custody of the child. While they had lived in the Caribbean, this had worked out to the time he was not in school, but when they'd moved off planet everything had to be renegotiated. She was due to see him soon, but they were now in a totally alien galaxy.
Still Sanjay was glad that his present company included the Triceraton and the Noghri. Zed Ram seemed to have the same abilities as Muni, and Rukh had explained that were people in this galaxy had people with similar abilities called "Jedi" and that they were highly honored in this galaxy. If there was no going back, Muni could still have a good future in this galaxy, and Sanjay could stop worrying about his son being exploited. Still, what of his wife? She deserved to see her son, or to at least know that he was alright.
Rukh stepped one foot forward resting his weight on the other.
"I think I've got something," the device on Sanjay's belt translated Rukh's words from Honoghran into Hindi.
"Pull it up," Sanjay reminded him.
The two simple wooden fishing sticks that Sanjay had made had long bits of yarn, given from the owners of several of the escape pods, to which he had attached his pocket knife and his son's. The bait was usually some form of worm or arthropod that they found on the outskirts of the jungle, or, less commonly, leftovers from what the Yautja hunted. There was no reel, so hauling the fish in required sheer arm power.
Rukh brought up a smoothed skin purple eel and laid it on the ground, removing the bait from its mouth. Soon it would be time for Rukh's favorite part of the activity: roasting the catch. Nothing seemed closer to home to the Noghri than a good fire.
The creature did not look quite as appetizing to Sanjay, who turned to get Ibsim's opinion. Both he and Muni were gone.
"Let me go find them," Sanjay said, but after searching the whole camp, they were both missing.
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The Trishreddatron had been one of the first to join the rescue party, mostly because Krang had volunteered his services before he could do so on his own. Still, he did care about the little human to an extent. He reminded him of himself as a juvenile Triceraton; they were both sensitive to something this galaxy called the "Force." In the Milky Way such individuals were so rare as to be practically non-existent. He knew that some existed among the Yautja, but they were forbidden to hunt or take in part of Yautja society. Such Yautja were considered to be incapable of hunting prey fairly, due to their "magic."
The Yautja in the front left their rescue party was not a conventional Predator to begin with, and the preternatural in question here was a human. From what Shredder had gathered about Samedi, he was too weak to be a Yautja Hunter anyway. He let Krang's sob story fool him into letting his archnemesis live.
The Noghri in the lead was sniffing out the boy's location by sent. The Foot could benefit use sentient blood hounds like that in their service.
The boy's father was obviously there, and fortunately the words that Rukh had established in Hindi were automatically translated into English by everyone else's devices via their link with Sanjay's. Personally, Shredder found that the only useful contribution of the elder Patel to the effort. People who were emotional made erratic decisions, and this man's son had presumably been kidnapped by the Fish-head everyone thought was their neighbor.
Patel had legitimate reason to be hysterical, which meant there were legitimate reasons for leaving him behind. He seemed to be holding his cool fairly well.
That left the man next to Shredder, Cody Jones, to be considered.
As their leader, he was expected to be here, and he seemed to be genuinely motivated by concern for the boy's safety. Shredder got that on all their parts, but also knew how incredibly naïve Jones would be about it. He was a wealthy CEO who came from a world where money and computers could fix everything. Life didn't quite work that way on the streets, certainly not in the jungle.
Really, Quoreal or Mirta should be there instead of Shredder, and really, instead of Jones himself. Sure, he was the leader, but he had no real experience of any kind to contribute.
"So where are our Vong and wannabe-Yautja?"
"Yuuzhan Vong. It means something like 'orphan' if you leave the first part off. They're tracking down the Sith right now."
Shredder smirked and said, "If they really are a cult of Force-sensitives, and have cut this island off from the rest of the planet, did you ever stop to consider that our fish friend might be one?"
Sanjay stopped in his tracks. What Zed had asked made perfect sense. The Sith wanted his boy because of his Force potential.
"Maybe we should reconsider how we approach this. The have powers we don't. "
Cody shrugged and proved Shredder's fears, "We have a Yautja hunter and a Force user of our own."
Rukh surprised everyone when he gave the unsolicited advice, "I can keep track of Muni's scent. Baron Samedi can cloak and I can sneak in. We can get the boy back without risking anyone else."
Sanjay vehemently objected.
"I'm Muni's father! He is my responsibility."
Rukh grabbed his wrist. "Samedi can cloak and has weapons. Any Noghri of my position is a skilled stealth assassin. You and Cody can't help Muni. You can only get yourselves hurt. Besides, I still owe you."
Shredder's tympanic membranes tingled at the word's "stealth assassin." He was one too.
"Actually, I may be able to help," Zed Ram the humble Triceraton said.
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The three approached a rocky outcrop with three main columns. Sure enough, Muni and Ibsim were there, waiting for something to come out of the woods on their right where the jungle seemed denser and the shadows thicker.
Samedi tried to lock on to a thermal image, but his scanners couldn't detect anything. Rukh strained his eyesight, but had no better luck at making anything out. Shredder, the only Force-sensitive member of their group felt something, a cold, calculating, and powerful presence that obviously was not from the boy, but didn't come from the Fish-head either.
"There's someone out there," Shredder said.
"That much is certain," Samedi said, "but we have surprise on our side. I can lock on to Ibsim while cloaked. Rukh can get to the boy the fastest while I continue—" Samedi stooped. He couldn't read a distinct heat signature but he saw leaves rustle. Shredder and Rukh could see a black robed figure with a hood.
Ibsim, keeping his hands firmly on Muni's shoulders, bowed.
"Lord Shadow, I have brought a Force-sensitive boy from the camp."
Muni was silent during the whole ordeal as the Sith Lord took his chin in hand and looked him directly in the eye. None of the would be rescuers could see the face of the being who was now clearly their chief enemy.
"The Force is strong in him," then without any hint of concern the Dark Lord said, "but we are not alone."
Samedi rose with blaster locked on Shadow, but the Sith Lord flicked his wrist and Samedi felt as though something was clawing his brain.
He screamed, dropped to his knees, removed his mask from his face, and held his head in his hands.
This was the first time Rukh had seen an unmasked Yautja, but he saved his fear for the Sith Lord.
"You are from another galaxy. You came here seeking a murderer who had wronged you. You suspected your neighbor of being his servant…" he released Samedi and seized Shredder.
Zed felt the same pain in his head and collapsed.
"You are Shredder, minion of Krang…"
Zed was not listening. Instead he was growing angrier with the pain.
"Zed-ji!" Muni called out to him.
Shredder did not know what had happened but a bolt of lightning shot out of his palm taking Shadow by surprise and mildly electrocuting him.
Had they seized the initiative, Samedi could have fired on Ibsim and set Muni free, but they were all to stunned to do anything.
Shadow was the first to recover his speech.
"Force lightning, in one with no training?" He looked to Ibsim, "You may have brought me an apprentice, but this…Triceraton…is the apprentice."
Shadow flicked his wrist again and tree roots from underground suddenly twisted around their shoulders and knees.
"No!" Muni screamed as only hope of being rescued—of going home—vanished. He also could not believe that his friend, Zed-ji was really the Trishreddatron.
"My apprentices will let you go once the boy is safely in Sith hands." Then he addressed the Trishreddatron as an individual. "I took me 130 years of training to do all the things you saw me do, but I have never in my time seen an untrained individual unleash Force lightening. I have great hopes for your future, and I call that future Darth Shredder. We'll meet again." Shadow and Ibsim retreated into the shadows, and the three were left alone in fading sunlight. One thing was clear: the secret was out, and tomorrow Krang and Shredder would both be dead at the Yautja's hands.
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"Krang," a voice intruded into the Utrom's dreams.
"Krang!" the voice rasped more forcefully.
The crime lord opened his eyes to a terrifying sight. A being that looked like the grim reaper sat cross legged next to Krang's mattress, complete with a jet black hood and robe, and a face hidden behind layers of intricately patterned black and white paint. The only clear detail was that he had horns.
"Wh-who are you?" Krang shuddered as he spoke.
"I control everything that happens here." Anticipating the next question, he added, "Apart from a man concerned about his son whom I had to knock out, everyone was asleep: their minds numb enough, for to make the suggestion, 'let me through.' We could really come in at any time."
That comment enabled Krang to see past his own fear toward possible opportunity.
"But, clearly you haven't. Instead, you came directly to me. Why?"
For a moment, the grim reaper was gone. One crime lord peered into the eyes of another.
"I met your apprentice in the jungle a few hours ago. I learned about your secret, 'Krang,' and unless you want a very strong creature with mandibles to rip you apart tomorrow, I suggest you come with me."
Krang realized that the figure had not answered any of his questions.
"Why do you want me alive?"
The intruder smiled a half grin.
"Tactics. The Sith prey upon, take strength from, and manipulate certain emotions. You are a valuable player, so is your stalker, so is your apprentice, so is this group's leader. Alive you are all useful to me, dead…well, dead is dead."
Krang could not understand what kind of game this "Sith" was playing, but he recognized with his secret exposed, he couldn't wait for Samedi to arrive.
"What all do you want from me?"
"For now, just information. A whole new galaxy has just opened up to us, and I want to know as much as I can about it."
Krang slithered off his mattress and ventured, "I would have thought you knew all about our galaxy with the wormhole and all the humans and Yautja you've brought over here,"
The Sith stared at Krang and said the most frightening thing he'd heard since his arrival there:
"We did not know about the wormhole until your ship passed through, but we do know about the half-droid squid creatures who had laboratories on this planet. Perhaps they are the ones responsible for the population exchange."
The Quintessons had obviously been involved in this galaxy's distant past. That confirmed for Krang that the wormhole was stable, but also that the Quints would be inseparable from their escape attempt. Oh well, their lackey had Krang take the specific transport ship that ended up here. He'd play this Sith. He, Krang, still held all the cards in the end.
