Chapter Ten: Dark Forces

Star could only gasp in horror at the general's story once he was finished. The princess couldn't even form words after what she had just heard from the Jedi Knight's mouth. She always believed that the Jedi were warriors of peace, not savages. What crush her more was to hear that Marco—someone she considered to be a dear friend—to partake in such brutal tactics. It began to make her wonder with dread if the Padawan was doing these very same things to the assassin he captured.

"Try to understand princess that this is a war were fighting" Kota's image reasoned grimly "and in war sometimes we need to take certain measures to assure victory"

"And did Marco have to be part of that to 'assure victory'?" Star demanded with disgust in her voice "How could you let your own student torture another person?"

"I'm not proud of what we did that night, princess" the Jedi admitted "and neither was Marco, but we did what we had to do to keep our men safe"

"But your Jedi!" the young girl shot back "You're supposed to be peacekeepers, not soldiers!"

Kota's hologram let out a haggard sigh as he looked away from Star and toward the ground, composing himself before speaking once more.

"I've always been a solider, your highness" he explained "I didn't join the Jedi Order until I was eighteen years old. Before then, I was fighting in a civil war on my home world until Master Windu brought me to Courscant to be trained as a Jedi"

"So you trained Marco as another solider" Star coldly surmised

"I trained him to survive" the hologram replied calmly, though Star could almost sense the tenseness in his voice "I never wanted this life for him, but this war, its destroying everything—and everyone—it touches. I'm not proud of what I've had to do to keep Marco alive, but better to see him at my side interrogating a piece of scum than have him dying in my arms!"

Star didn't think of that. She could see the look of shame the general had on his face at the memories of that day and that the fact that he allowed Marco to partake in such ghastly actions. But as the Jedi Knight had said; this was war that was ripping the galaxy and everyone in it apart. After hearing his explanation, for his actions, there was still one more nagging question lingering in Star's head that she needed to know the answer to.

"Did Saan Hill really die of a heart attack?" she questioned hesitantly, not wanting to know the answer

Kota was clearly taken aback back that question before a dejected expression formed on his face.

"I…don't know for sure, really" he finally admitted "Marco and I worked that Muun pretty hard, but there was no way we could've worked him over that hard"

"Do you…do you think Marco killed him?" Star forced herself to ask "

There was a somber silence on Kota's end of the transmission as he took another pause, as if he didn't want to say anything negative toward his student.

"Honestly princess? I can't say" the Jedi answered "Marco had just lost the love of his life that day and he's very skilled in the ways of the Force. But I want to believe he was better then that and I sense that you want to believe that to"

Star nodded in agreement at that statement. As much as she hated hearing all things about Marco's past, she still believed that he was still a good person inside.

"He cares for you, you know" Kota's hologram suddenly mentioned "And I mean more then just a friend"

That took the hyperactive girl aback. While he admired Marco and had some feelings for him she always assumed that his life as a Jedi would get in the way of him ever returning her feelings, but hearing this news from the padawan's very master gave her a strange mixture of shock and relief go through her mind.

"As I told you before my lady, Marco and I aren't like most Jedi" the general continued on "I wanted Marco to embrace his feelings and stay away from the dogmatic teachings of the Order"

"I…I don't know what to say to him" Star confessed

"I think you do" Kota replied "I can sense Marco's feelings for you are strong. You give him something he hasn't had in a long time: you give him hope"

Star couldn't help but smile at that. Just then, one of Kota's soldiers stepped into view and whispered something into his ear. Even though the princess couldn't hear what was said to the Jedi, she could see the look in the old man's eyes that it most of have been important.

"I'm sorry princess, but something's come up" he informed her

"I understand, general" the girl answered "Thank you for telling me everything"

"And princess" he added "I have a feeling that you may feel the same way toward him as well"

With that, the hologram switched off, leaving Star to confront her next big problem: her feelings toward Marco.

For nearly a half-hour, the princess of Mewni paced back and fourth in room as she tried to figure out the right words to say to Marco. Normally, Star had no problem telling other how she felt, but for some reason or another, she couldn't figure a single word to say to the Padawan. She had liked boys in the past before and could tell them how she felt toward them without the slightest hint of hesitation, but when it came to Marco, she was speechless.

"Marco, I like you" she rehearsed to herself "no that's too meek. Marco, you're a total hottie and I wanna jump your bones! Nah, that'll scare him off—ugh! Why can't I do this?"

As she continued to wrack her brain over this situation, she heard the sound of voices outside her door. Letting her curiosity take over, she opened her door just a small crack to at least see who was talking. It was a pair of Clone Troopers who where speaking to Marco, who was standing in his doorway with his hood up and hiding his face under it. While the princess couldn't quite exactly make out the words they saying to one another since they were talking in a low tone, she had a sense that it wasn't anything good.

"Alright, let's go" Star heard Marco say before walking past them

The troopers nodded in response before following the young Jedi down the hallway. As Star watched them disappear down the hallway before her curiosity further took control as she slowly opened her door and silently followed several feet behind the Padawan and his escorts. A part of her wanted to stop in her tracks and go right back to her room out of fear of finding something that she wasn't going to like, but she suppressed her dread and continued to pursue them.

As Marco entered the dungeon, he could feel his captive's pain and it gave him a hidden sense of satisfaction. Every night, he would enter the prison cell he was keeping the assassin and tortured her until she would break down and give him any information regarding Ludo and his army. While she had little to give him in terms of knowledge on Separatist forces, the Jedi in training had a sense that she was hiding something from him and tonight he would make her speak or she would suffer for her silence in ways she couldn't even imagine.

Janna had gone from looking from a beautiful but deadly woman to a beaten and timid woman in the nights being the Padawan's prisoner. The young assassin had experienced torment during captivity before, but the boy's power over the Force made her hurt worse then she ever had before. Her once fair skin was now covered in bruises and dried blood that were given to her by Marco's force-powered fists.

He had harmed her in other was as well. Once Marco strangled her through the Force to the point where she would almost black out before letting go and give her a chance to breathe before restarting the process. He once twisted her arms to point of breaking through his powers them before using the Force to painfully reset the bones and to it all over again. Sometimes he would fling her against her cell's walls like a ragdoll until growing bored and dropping her to the floor.

She was only given a minimal amount of food and water to kept her alive, leaving her feeling hungry and constantly in pain from her starvation. Janna was denied sleep as well; if she shut her eyes longer them so much as thirty seconds, then one of the Clones guarding her would shock her back awake with a quick jab to the ribs with a Bantha prod.

Marco strode into the captive's cell like some reaper come to drag the once great assassin down into the underworld. The Padawan didn't put on his make up that concealed his true appearance, knowing that it would strike fear into his prisoner's heart like it had the first night he had revealed his true self to her. Upon entering the girl's cell, Janna let out a shriek of horror at the sight of her captor before scrambling into the corner of her cell, cowering before the young Jedi.

"The guards tell me that you have something you want to share with me?" Marco said before darkly adding "It had better be worth my time"

"It is I swear!" Janna yelped, not making eye contact with him as she did

"Then talk" he ordered

"I was hired by a man in a black robe" she began "He told me when your master's troops would leave the castle as well as where to find the princess's room"

"I want a name" the young Jedi demanded

Janna paused for a few moments as she finally looked up at her captor with a look of trepidation and terror in bloodshot eyes, as if she didn't want to continue on.

"I…I didn't know his name" she soberly admitted as she looked down at the cold floor "He hired me anonymously through Ludo's contacts"

Marco narrowed his yellow eyes as he crossed his arms; he was clearly disappointed by this lack of information. Tears flowed from Janna's eyes, knowing what was going to happen next.

"So, you hired by someone in a black robe" he said in scolding tone "And you didn't even know his name"

"Please don't hur—"the assassin tried to beg

"You know what this sounds like to me?" Marco continued "That sounds like a lie"

"I swear that's all I know!"

"And when you lie to me, I hurt you" he finished

Resting his arms at his side, Marco reached out with the Force and began to squeeze down on her chest, making the girl let out a scream of agony as she felt her heart in flames. She thrashed helplessly on the floor while Marco looked down at her with a cold indifference in his expression.

"Am I bringing back any memories now?" he inquired before squeezing harder "How about now?"

"M-Marco?"

The boy instantly stopped what he as doing at the sound of the familiar voice and released his hold on Janna's heart, causing her to pass out from the pain. He spun around and saw the one person he never wanted to see his true self or the things he did.

Standing before him in a state of horror at the sight of him and his work, was Star Butterfly.

Ludo rapt his claws in displeasure; this war wasn't going quite the way he planned it in the least. Durge's attack on the militia, while successful at disrupting them, still didn't end the Jedi Knight's life. His battles at the front lines against the Clones weren't doing so well either, for while he had the bigger army, this 'Captain Tarkin' as he was known as knew how to maneuver his smaller army of Clones into winning battles against his droids.

He was starting to wonder if he should send his own men into battle at this point, but the problem was that while they were highly trained, they were very few in numbers. The rebellion leader started to wonder if this was a winnable war at this point, but for the sake of his people he had to stifle any doubts he had. He still had Durge in his pocket and while Toffee proved useless at this point, he still kept him around in case the Jedi and his student came to his doorstep one day.

Currently, Ludo and his advisories where discussing matters of the war effort in his throne room. Durge was present as well, for he stated that he wanted another shot at the Jedi who had beaten him in combat. Toffee was also there to give his information on the general and his Padawan as well.

"So how do we fight him?" Ludo questioned sharply

"Kota may be reeling from you bounty hunter's attack, but he's not out" the former Jedi answered "No doubt he's regrouping his forces deep within the forests and reorganizing his attack patterns so your little ambush won't catch him off guard twice"

"So what do we do?" the small leader asked "My contact in the castle told me where to find the base, but we can't just go in there on foot. That forest is too big and too dense for an army to march in there and they'd more then likely run and hide somewhere else before we even reached them"

"It's simply solution really" Toffee countered plainly "Burn the forest"

"And just how do you suppose we do that?" Ludo mused

"I have special surprise for my former Padawan" the fallen Jedi assured him "you'll see, come tomorrow's first light, Rahm Kota and his little militia will be annihilated"

"That still leaves his student and the Clone army" Buff Frog cut in harshly

"I assure you that Kota is much more of a threat then Tarkin and his Clones" the servant of Dooku calmly replied "As for the Padawan…leave him to me"

With that, the former Jedi master turned and left the meeting and walked back to his room, all the while receiving cold looks from his allies as he departed. As he walked down the empty halls of Ludo's castle, he received message from his holo-player. He took it out of his pocket and switched it on to reveal the image of a droid commander.

"Sir, we have just reached the site you had specified" the droid said

"Good" Toffee answered "Begin drilling operations at once and notify me if you find anything of importance"

"Roger, roger" the machine acknowledged before the man-lizard cut the communications

Toffee couldn't help but grin to himself. Everything was proceeding exactly as he planned. Soon his former student and his rag-tag army would be reduced to ash and the relic he sought after would be his along with Marco who would help him achieve his goals of defeating Dooku and his master and replacing them as the new lord of the Sith.