Chapter 13

Luke came back to himself as he drove the Zabrak to the ground with the Force. Immediately he felt a pain in his left shoulder where his opponent's lightsaber had brushed him in those final seconds, just before he had taken both of his opponent's hands.

Now the man stared up at him, defeated, and he could feel the power of Damask wrapped around the man's throat, stopping him from standing again. "Good, good," Damask called. He started to lower his blade, but Damask said firmly, "Now. Kill him. Finish this forever."

Luke hesitated, he had killed before of course, but not someone totally beaten and defenseless. And yet…he wanted to. He wanted to get back the feeling of power he had gotten since he'd truly unleashed himself at Damask's urging. This was what he had been born for, he was sure. The power he'd felt was what was needed, what was needed to fix the galaxy. And it had left him when he'd calmed. But he wanted it back. He raised his saber again and decapitated the Zabrak.

Immediately it felt like a huge weight had been taken from him, and some measure of that power rushed back, only to largely retreat again. He had only a little time to think about this when Damask was on his feet. "What did it feel like?" the Muun asked.

Luke looked at him for the first time, and his musings about how the alien always seemed to have a knack for being in the shadow was stripped away as he realized the truth. Damask wasn't in shadow. He WAS the shadow. He darkened the area around him simply by virtue of being there, but only in the Force Luke realized.

He raised his lightsaber and said with certainty, "You're a Sith." He'd come across stories of them in his studies. The enemies of the Jedi, who had repeatedly plunged the galaxy into war. They had a reputation for being evil incarnate. Even Darth Vader from his own time had been rumored to be a Sith. And yet…he hesitated. So much of what he had thought was true of the galaxy had been shown to be a lie at this point. Could it be the Sith had been misrepresented as well?

"I am," Damask confirmed. "My name is Darth Plagueis, and I am the last Sith Lord." He smiled and asked, "Tell me, how did it feel to kill him?"

"Good." Luke breathed.

"Would you do it again?" Damask pressed.

"Yes." Luke said, absolutely sure of it, the memory of the power still fresh in his mind.

"This is what I have pressed you toward all these years," Damask said triumphantly, settling back into his chair. "The power to do everything we have planned for. You have proven to be worthy beyond even my expectations. But now, if you accept it your true instruction can begin."

"You have been preparing me for this?" Luke asked doubtfully.

"Oh yes," Damask admitted. "I followed your progress since you arrived on Corulag. It became clear quickly you had a talent with the Force which exceeded any living being. Perhaps any being." He paused before saying, "Even me. Join me Luke, and together the two of us can save the galaxy."

Luke considered, processing everything he had learned. But he already knew in the back of his mind what the decision was. "Yes."

"Good." Plagueis said, smiling broadly. "Welcome to the ranks of the Sith. Darth…Rhamnous, my new apprentice."

"It was hours before he emerged from his new master's chambers, making arrangements for the remainder of his training. However, his arm did still need to be examined by a professional, and he needed to find out what was going on. He made it almost to the medical wing when he ran into a patrol.

The soldiers recognized him and greeted him happily, rapidly informing him of both the massive victory over the Gungans, and the complete destruction of the loyalists, including the death of Jammilia herself. He kept going past them and soon found himself in the empty medical bay of the palace. Apparently, the trap had worked, and the new government had taken few casualties in their ambush.

Soon he was in place on of the beds while a medical droid went over his arm. As he'd expected it was little more than a surface wound, requiring a bit of regeneration before the arm would be good as new. It was during regeneration however that the lead doctor of the facility returned, having apparently been treating wounded at one of the city's clinics.

Luke had never met the man before, and found he had little interest in doing so now. He made a polite greeting, but otherwise ignored the man. That is until the doctor muttered, "That's impossible."

Luke gave into his curiosity and asked, "What is?"

The doctor laughed. "When the droid set up the machine to regenerate your shoulder it took a routine sample and ran it for possible reactions. Part of that is analyzing parentage if it's on record. According to this the queen is your mother. Must be malfunctioning."

Luke froze. He'd always known, in the back of his mind that his mother existed in the past but hadn't really held out any hope of finding her. Despite his hunch that the little boy he'd met on Tatooine was his father he had long ago given up on knowing his parents. The boy after all had gone on to become a Jedi. "Are you sure?"

"Of course," The doctor answered, still chuckling. "This machine must have a programing error. The queen has never had children, and I am certain she didn't have a child before she was born."

"Does it show who the father was?" Luke asked, trying to sound only mildly curious.

The doctor shrugged, "Probably, but if its that far off on your mother. Could be funny though." He pushed a couple buttons then said, "Looks like your dad was an unknown blood sample collected twelve years ago." He brought up some more information, "No name on it. It would have been while the Queen was off-planet though. On Tatooine most likely."

"Why was the sample taken?" Luke asked.

The doctor shrugged, "No idea. Only one test was run on it. Midichlorian by the looks of it."

Luke nodded, starting to put the pieces together. "May want to run a diagnostic then," he said, faking a smile.

As soon as the procedure was finished he rushed from the medical bay. Padme was his mother. It had never really occurred to him before, but in retrospect it should have. The boy had obviously had a crush on him, and if he hadn't been trained as a Jedi the last time…

Maybe he had been brought back to Naboo, Luke reasoned. Trained as a pilot the same way Luke himself had been, and then perhaps a romance with the former queen. But then he wondered, why had he ended up on Tatooine? He was halfway to his quarters, intent on investigating more when he stopped. There really was no rush he thought. It had waited this long, and it could wait longer. He didn't even really know where to start looking for an explanation after all. And he certainly couldn't go and inform his mother. For the first time in many years he wished Artoo's memory was intact.

"Boss Nass," Padme said from her throne. "I believe we met under rather different circumstances previously."

The Gungan leader seemed to have aged ten years in the short weeks since he had last met the Naboo queen. "I coms…" He began. "I comsa seeking terms. Terms for peace."

"I offered you generous terms before this began," Amidala claimed, though the Gungan remembered her demands slightly differently. "Had you accepted those I would have been lenient. Today you stand not as a possible partner, but a defeated enemy. My terms are simple. Unconditional surrender. The Gungan government will be dissolved, and your people will be totally subordinate to officials I will place over them. Is that understood?"

"Wesa will not…" Nass said.

Amidala cut him off. "We destroyed your army, and I am willing to continue this war to the end. We have located your cities and will take them if we must." Her eyes narrowed. "Understand that if this comes to pass my terms will be harsher."

The Gungan leader froze. He didn't want to imagine what the human woman's idea of harsh terms would be. And realistically he knew there was no other choice. "Wesa, wesa accept." He said, sounding totally defeated.

"Considering all the evidence, I believe it likely the Sith were involved in the events on Naboo" Qui-Gon finished.

"Accept this the Council does," Yoda answered.

"War is coming," Dooku said firmly. "We all know it. The Sith have an entire galaxy to hide in, and we are only ten thousand. Finding them before events overtake us is impossible. We have only one course of action."

"Repealing the Reformation though…" Mace Windu said.

"Perhaps we needn't go that far," Shaak Ti said. "A simple amendment to give the Order greater independence could perhaps be passed."

"It will not be enough," Dooku countered. "We all know what was required to defeat the Sith previously. An entire army under Jedi command."

"Those wars devastated the galaxy," Mace Windu answered. "To little gain. Always the battle descended to only a small number of Jedi and Sith battling to end the war."

"To get to that point required vast forces," Dooku noted. "Would ten thousand be enough to counter the hundreds of millions the Sith will raise. Worse," he continued, "Our tactical training is woefully inadequate. Who here could command forces on a battlefield with confidence." No one answered. "We must begin training in strategy and tactics," he said. "We must learn warfare. And perhaps this time the war can be ended before worlds are destroyed and populations wiped out."

The matter was put to a vote, which passed. The Jedi Order would begin shifting to a military force, and pressure would be placed on the Senate to create an official Republic military, to be commanded by the Jedi.

"On to other matters," Aayla Secura said. "Have we encountered evidence of a clone army being created on Kamino?"

"No," Mace Windu answered. "While ships are arriving in greater numbers the Kaminoans claim these are simply due to increased commerce with the galaxy. They also have shown records indicating no orders have been placed for a clone army."

"Would they be truthful however," Shaak Ti mused.

"That is our primary concern," Mace Windu answered. "The Artoo unit's report indicated however that they were forthcoming in the previous history's events. Furthermore, the claims of commerce do match with known trade between them and other worlds. Kuat, Naboo, Corellia, and Chandrila have all placed significant orders for armor and weapons created by the Kaminoans. We theorize that without clones they have turned to weapons manufacturing."

"What is traded to them I wonder," Qui-Gon noted.

"Food primarily," Windu answered. "As well as raw materials. We have not been able to investigate the cargoes due to legal concerns, but shipping records provided by planetary authorities on all four worlds back this up."

"Be watchful we must," Yoda said. There was no disagreement.

Jar Jar Binks stared at the burned and blasted remnants of the Gungan army in despair. He had been banished by his people once and had hoped the treaty he'd acted as advisor on between Jammilia and the Gungan people might have brought some chance of returning home.

All of that was in ashes now. The Gungans had been crushed, and Amidala's harsh peace would not be the balanced and fair agreement her predecessor had negotiated.

He could he thought return to Theed. Amidala might be willing to accept him as she had done so long ago, but now…

She was different now he knew. The years had changed her. He'd watched it initially. The despair she had felt returning to a Theed that had undergone Trade Federation occupation, the funerals she had personally attended for every one of her people who had died, the fury that she had been in when the Senate levied penalties on Naboo for the actions of its Senator. Then had come the militarism. She had aggressively grilled him for any information on the Gungans that could be useful in her endless quest for the resources to fuel Naboo's rearmament.

He'd helped his good friend of course. But every aid he'd given had simply seen her ambition, her relentless drive to defend her people grow. He hadn't blamed her of course. Not after seeing what the Trade Federation had done. But now…

Now he could see where her drive and her desire to defend others was leading her. It would leave Naboo the same way she had left the Gungans. He feared it would leave the galaxy like this. And so, he turned away from those he had once called friends and departed into the swamps of Naboo, determined to disappear. And find some hiding place when the end inevitably came.

"I am alarmed by the actions taking place on Naboo," Bail Organa announced. He would never have said this publicly of course. Nor indeed in private except with these specific people.

"I can find no fault in what Amidala has done," Bel Iblis countered. "Her actions seem to have been carried out in accordance with the Queen's powers in the Constitution."

"But this accusation of a bloody coup," Organa noted.

"She did provide counter-evidence," Mon Mothma pointed out. "Including her predecessor rallying a hostile race on the planet to launch an aggressive invasion upon being ousted."

"Indeed," Bel Iblis agreed. He leaned forward and continued, "Besides, the reality is we NEED Naboo. They have the largest fleet outside of Kuat, larger even than Alderaan's," Bel Iblis noted. "Furthermore, as far as I can see Naboo presents the greatest rallying cry for our cause. The invasion did generate a significant amount of sympathy among the people, many of whom do not believe Palpatine responsible. If we were to turn on the world for actions taken in what they claim to be self-defense, our entire endeavor would splinter. It is hard enough getting the worlds of the Mid-Rim to believe this is something other than a plot by the Core World's to strip the outer systems of their power."

"We only seek…" Organa began.

"What we seek doesn't matter," Bel Iblis said cutting him off. "Perception matters. Ixtlar, Anaxes, Corulag, our own worlds. All in the Galactic Core. Naboo is the only Rim world to back our Alliance. Even Sern Prime, Borleais, and Carida are all in the colonies, and the Rim worlds see those as little better different than the Core. We NEED Naboo if we are to persuade other worlds to back us. And we need other worlds. Many in the Senate look on us as a humans only club as well, and unless Basilisk's Senator comes around is remarkably true."

Organa scowled. "I don't like it," he finally said.

"Nor do we," Mon Mothma said softly. "But what choice do we have? Amidala is a level headed and reasonable woman. She will not betray our trust I am sure.

"What is the meaning of this?" Nute Gunray, Viceroy of the Trade Federation for twelve years demanded of the Directorate Council.

"Our fleet expenses have grown untenable," Rune Haako answered. "In the past ten years the expansion and armament of the fleet has cost billions of credits, and your demand for new models of droids to be developed is sure to cost billions more."

"Those droids and ships are necessary to protect our profits," Gunray countered.

"Are they?" former Chancellor Teem asked. "Pirate activity has fallen; the Nebula Front has made no appearance for over a decade. Profits are falling under your leadership."

"You can't do this," Gunray insisted.

"We have done it," Setepeth Fendos said. "As of today, you are stripped of the title of Viceroy. We have already begun issuing instructions to cease development of these B-2 droids of yours, as well as cancelling all ships currently being constructed. We anticipate decommissioning half the current fleet, and up to three quarters of the droid army. Profits will increase tenfold."

"And," Haako noted, "We will all profit handsomely."

"True Sith lightning has the power not only to incapacitate or kill, but to physically transform the victim. Force lightning requires strength of a sort only a Sith can command because we accept consequence and reject compassion. To do so requires a thirst for power that is not easily satisfied. The Force tries to resist the callings of ravenous spirits; therefore, it must be molded into a mere tool of the user. It must be made to answer one's will. But the Force cannot be treated deferentially." Plagueis was explaining.

Luke nodded, a bit uneasily. He understood the theory but calling upon the Force in this manner was something he had never done before. He drew the power about himself and extended his hands. With his will he drove the Force to do as it was commanded, but nothing happened. He refocused himself, and on the second attempt created a small number of sparks.

Plagueis smiled. "Good. But to truly understand and harness the technique one must be on the receiving end." He raised his hands. "Prepare yourself."

Luke did so, and his lightning unlike anything Luke had ever seen blasted from his master's fingertips. Its impact left him in agony, and through the Force he could feel pure hatred at the core of this attack. It was less electricity he realized, and more the feelings behind it made manifest. But he realized as it pushed him to the ground, it could also be contained. He raised one hand and caught the next burst in his own rage. A rage born of this torture, and with his will he forced the lightning away, into the surrounding air of this uninhabited planet.

Plagueis was delighted. "Most excellent," The Sith Lord praised, and Luke could tell he meant it. "It normally takes weeks to learn to deflect another's lightning. Now," his hands came back up, "Do it again. "

Former Senator Veron rose when the guard signaled morning roll call. It was just before sunrise, and he felt like he hadn't slept at all since the night before. He knew better than to oversleep however. The guards maintained a strict schedule for the prisoners in Camp 4, and he presumed the other prisoner camps scattered around the region. In thirty minutes breakfast would begin, and thirty minutes after that roll call would be performed. Then they would be marched out to help clear the rubble that the guards insisted their "rebellion" against Amidala had caused.

Veron had tried to argue the point and had been hit by a stun baton for his trouble. He'd been given extra duties that day, which had carried on past his assigned supper. Since then he'd kept his head down. Naboo's shift under martial law had been rapid he'd discovered. And the worst part was, the guards all firmly believed that what they were doing was not only justified, but indeed right. That their actions were necessary to protect Naboo and its people.

After the day's work had been completed they would be brought back, given a supper, and then ordered to perform work duties on the camp as well. Finally, there would be a final roll call, and they were sent to sleep.

Time seemed to have blended together. He wasn't sure how long he'd been here, and the guards were of absolutely no help.

A/N: Plagueis's little speech about lighting is taken pretty much word for word from James Luceno's novel. It seems logical he would use it again.