Part Fourteen: Vengeance and Sorrow
Selene raced across the snowy plain on her speeder. Just ahead was a mountain and she appeared headed for a collision with its base. Calmly she reached down to the center console and toggled a switch. Snow fell from a hidden door as it lifted to allow access for the sith into the base of the mountain. She didn't slow as she sped past the door, and toggling the switch again it closed behind her. The tunnel she now drove through was dark, but ahead automated lights began coming to life illuminating a large room. Finally slowing she entered the room and stopped just shy of striking the far wall. Selene powered down the speeder and climbed off. To her right was the only doorway and she stalked towards it. Her red eyes glanced from side to side and her face set as stone as she entered a short hallway. This base was small compared to the others the sith had built over the centuries. Along with her father she had performed experiments here trying to find a cure for a taint that she now knew did not exist. She passed a room on her left and noticed the contents inside had been ransacked by careless looters. She knew the reason and continued marching towards the main room of the base that served as the central laboratory for her part in the genetic experiments. Her nostrils flared at the thought of what her former apprentice had done to this facility and now she regretted ever showing the impudent wretch this base in the first place. She passed another room this time on her right that was ransacked much like the previous one.
The sith continued stalking to the last room at the end of the corridor. Reaching out with her left hand she pushed the door open with the Force. On the far side of the room was a stasis chamber displayed much as her husband had been back at her home base. In the stasis chamber was a copy of her apprentice, Tareesha. Selene sneered at the arrogant woman's attire. The half night elf /half sith always held the opinion she was the epitome of beauty in the likes of some old and forgotten queen from this planet's past. She stopped before the chamber and examined the clone. Where the lights shone directly her skin was dark blue and in the shadows dark red. Silvery hair hung loose over her shoulders barely covering the skimpy white top that looped around the neck and covered only the woman's breasts. From her waist down was a long white skirt. Selene sighed. While an apprentice the woman wore clothing that showed much of her abdomen as was common amongst sith women, but this outfit was more befitting a cantina dancer than a sith lord. Selene stepped back and looked at the rest of the room. It had not only been ransacked…it had been stripped bare. There was no equipment left beyond the stasis chamber. The tables, desks, and walls were completely barren….except on one table close by was a small box. Selene sighed and anger swelled within her at the sigh's echo in the room. She walked over to the box and lifted the lid. Inside was a bracelet made of silver with a reddish green crystal set in the center. The sith looked back at the clone and laughed.
"Did you forget one very important detail?" she said aloud. She picked up the bracelet and walked back to stand before the stasis chamber. Holding up the trinket she laughed again. "Transferring part of your essence into this bauble and cloning yourself was a good idea, but you forgot one very, very important detail…who's left behind to place your essence back into your body?" She turned and examined the bracelet with both hands. "I will say this is shiny and definitely your style…what style you did have. I wonder…should I actually help you out and restore your essence into that behemoth you call a body?" She looked back at the comatose clone. "I suppose I could find a use for you," she said with a sneer.
She reached over and slapped the controls that would awaken and release the body. There was a hiss from the machine as gasses were released and pressure equalized with that of the outside room. Selene smiled as the chamber door opened. The clone began breathing but otherwise remained comatose. Without the essence trapped within the bracelet it would continue to exist this way indefinitely…an empty and soulless husk. Giggling while she placed the bracelet on the right wrist of the clone, Selene thought of the plethora of torments she could perform on her former student. She then leaned forward and reached up to tap her finger on the clone's forehead.
"Wakey, wakey," she said with false mirth. The clone did not stir. Selene looked down at the bracelet and giggled. "You can do it…go on…time to return to the world." She tapped the bracelet and then looked back at the closed eyes of the woman that stood a over foot taller than her. The smile left her face and eyes. "Wake up, bitch!" she screamed. Still the clone made no reaction. The sith sighed and turned around. "Are you that pathetic you cannot even control your own body?" Reaching behind with her left arm and not looking Force lightning shot from her fingertips into the clone. It writhed inside the open stasis chamber, but still there was no sound or cognitive reaction. With a howl she turned and faced the clone and ceased her attack. "You marooned me on an island for over fifty years! If those pirates had not found me six months ago I would still be trapped in that hell!" she yelled with balled fists. "And in that time what have you done? You've ruined everything!" She took a deep breath and stepped back from the machine. The clone still made no reaction other than simply breathing. Selene began pacing before the body of her former apprentice. "Father and I worked centuries trying to find a cure for this taint. Learned to use the ancient technology we found to make clones and perform genetic tests. We took samples from this world thinking it may hold an answer…Sargeras is so interested in it there must be an answer here. Then when we found that answer we could return my crystal to the amulet and make the plague work on other species…make it more effective than just turning the greens into mindless beasts. All we needed was time which we had plenty of…until you grew impatient." She stopped and looked at the clone…the statuesque beauty of the mixture of night elven and sith genealogies. "You never bothered to learn the intricacies of our work or the equipment we used. In your blundering attempt to recreate yourself in this image of some long forgotten queen from this world you managed to fail miserably. Not only did you die at the hands of the jedi, but you also in your inadequacy destroyed every vestige of the work I labored over for centuries." She stepped forward to look up into the face of the clone. "Centuries! And if that wasn't enough I learn about all of this from some cult survivor? You took natives and made them privy to our plans for this world? What were you thinking?" She stepped back. "I killed the worm, of course," she said calmly. "And all the other survivors I forced him to reveal. The jedi was quite thorough in his destruction of your pathetic scheming. Only a scant five of your followers remained alive. They had escaped that lost Rakata facility. Never did I or my father imagine it had survived and thrived all these years in the ocean. What wonders we could have unlocked and achieved. But instead it was you, my apprentice, who found it. You…who did not have the slightest inkling of its potential. And now it is truly gone forever." She looked back at the face of the night elf. "Have you nothing to say? No retort at all?" There was no reaction from the clone. Selene sighed. "Pity…this would have been much more enjoyable if you were actually aware of this," she said as she ignited her lightsaber and plunged the blade into the clone's chest. Shaking her head she removed the blade and also the bracelet from the now dead body. She walked back to the table with the box and set the bracelet beside it. Selene raised the crimson blade with both hands above her head. Swinging down and striking the bracelet she said, "Welcome to oblivion, my apprentice."
Daneel walked with Zharn towards Windi's small laboratory. The gnome had been very secretive about her work since last seeing the two men, and after three days of silence they had decided to pay the small inventor a surprise visit. Curiosity had gotten the better of them, and as Zharn and Kitali planned to leave the compound with the gnome's brother later that morning the two men realized they just had to know what the big secret was. As they approached the small building a small explosion sounded from inside followed by smoke rolling out of the windows. Daneel and Zharn looked at each other and ran to see what had happened to their friend. As they neared the front entrance the door popped open and Windi emerged coughing smoke. Her hair was in disarray and smoldered at the ends while her face was covered in soot.
"Are you alright?" both men asked coming to a halt. The gnome looked up at them, gave them a thumb's up, and coughed more smoke followed by a faint smile.
"What happened?" Zharn asked trying to stifle a chuckle. Beside him the jedi brought his hand to his mouth covering a grin.
"I was trying to make one of those," she answered pointing to Daneel's lightsaber on his belt. "Every time I think I have it right the thing blows up."
The jedi stepped towards the small inventor and kneeled down on his left knee. "Windi, only a person sensitive to the Force can make a lightsaber."
"Why is that?" she asked. "It's just a mechanical device."
"Only one properly trained can use the Force to align the crystal. It is one of the first tests of a jedi. Some fail that test with deadly results. You are fortunate that you were not seriously injured."
"Oh…so it's the crystal alignment. I can solve that problem," she said with a shrug of her shoulders.
"I would listen to him, Windi," Zharn said behind the jedi. "We wouldn't want you getting hurt trying to obtain the impossible."
"People told me my rocket was an impossible dream, too," she retorted then stuck her tongue out at the orc. He couldn't help but laugh this time. She glared back at him and crossed her arms over her chest. "With the right determination anything is possible."
"I am afraid not this time, Windi," Daneel said. She looked at him with a sad expression. "Not only is the technology far beyond that known on this world, but I know of no machine…no matter how sophisticated…that could align a lightsaber crystal. Zharn is right on this…it is an impossibility for you to craft one of these."
Windi looked down at the ground feeling dejected. "There truly is no way to make one? They just look so cool." Daneel nodded back to her. "Could you…maybe…make me one?" she asked timidly.
"I cannot," he replied. "I am sorry, Windi."
Zharn walked past the jedi and placed his big hand on the gnome's shoulder. She looked at him with sad eyes. "Come on, Windi. Let's get this cleaned up. You're still coming with us to see us off…aren't you?"
"Of course," she replied. "And my brother. I rarely get to see him any more." The two walked back into her lab leaving the jedi alone outside.
Several hours later the jedi sat with Celeste on one of the hills outside the compound. Kitali and Zharn had left with the Weathergear siblings for a small fishing village about a day's walk away. From there the mage would catch a ship for a larger port and the two shamans would catch a ride back towards the Maelstrom to continue their work with the Earthen Circle. Now the jedi and his padawan sat with legs crossed, hands steepled before their chests, and eyes closed. The midday sun was high in the sky and provided a little warmth in the cold climate. Daneel had wanted to start the girl's training as soon as possible and this was their third day sitting on this hill in meditation. He felt the harsh climate would help to center the young woman's focus as she learned to reach out through the Force. He spoke to her as they meditated teaching her the necessity of calming one's emotions, of stretching out with her feelings and allowing the Force to flow through her. Her first day was filled with frustration as she struggled with what she had been taught as a mage and letting go of her preconceived notions, but he remained calm and patient. He knew this would be no easy task with a student already well into adulthood. On the second day she was able to feel the Force with little effort and with further instruction levitate small stones and rocks around them. She was naturally gifted and he was impressed with her progress in just two days. Her potential was staggering possibly matching or surpassing his own Force sensitivity. This day she levitated more stones and rocks…some twenty total floated in the air around them. He allowed himself a small smile.
"When one is fully open to the Force," he began quietly, "it can show you things. Visions. Some are from the past, some from the present, and some from the future."
"We can predict what will happen?" she asked keeping her eyes closed. The stones and rocks did not falter in their levitation.
"Visions of the future are not set," he replied. "It is always in motion. One simple action or reaction can change events and the course of things to come."
"Then what good is a vision of the future if it's something that we cannot predict?" she asked.
"Such visions are not meant to show us what will happen but to serve as a guide. By showing us one possible outcome we can use this knowledge to choose our actions. Not so much as to alter or change events we have seen but to better understand the decisions we make and how they can affect events around us."
"Have you tried to change things you have seen? Tried to avoid a vision's revelation?" she asked innocently.
"I have," he replied. "It was actually not that long ago I made such a decision." He grew quiet.
"Did it work?" she asked finally opening her eyes and looking him. The rocks and stones fell to the ground. "Were you able to change the things you saw in your vision?"
Daneel turned his head to look at her. "Not at all. I made a decision I thought would completely change what I saw."
"And?"
"And others made decisions that if fact made my vision come to pass," he replied with a slight smile. "What I thought I was doing to avoid such an outcome if fact made it become a reality. So the lesson I learned is that trying to predict the future events we see and making decisions we think might change such events can in fact make them come about. Therefore we should use these visions not as a decision-making tool but as a better understanding of what is happening around us. Do not try to avoid an unpleasant event or produce one we desire, simply understand what could possibly be and be at peace with whatever may happen."
"That is completely confusing," she said closing her eyes and turning her head back to face before her.
"We have time to explore it further," he said looking ahead of him. "It is something I still struggle to understand myself and I am a master of the Order. For now focus on opening your mind and stretching out with your feelings. Sense the abundance of life about you…the closer you come to becoming a conduit for the Force the further away you can feel other beings. In time you may even sense those on the other side of the world…those close to you and important to your life."
He her heard gasp and looked towards her. 'I…I feel…I feel animals…and fish…birds in the sky…I can feel them!"
"Stay calm," he said quietly. "Calm your feelings…that's it…calm and at peace…passive…allow the Force to flow through you."
She breathed deeply. Her face was a blank slate void of expression. Suddenly her eyes popped open and she gasped again. "I felt something…something dark…something…angry."
Sitting before a small campfire Selene perused the holo-map of the region around her. Decades ago her father had finally mapped out the continent of Northrend. She wasn't sure yet what she was looking for, but in her gut she felt there was one more thing to do in Northrend before heading south to find the jedi. Suddenly she dropped the holo display and gasped. "Not possible," she growled. "I killed that girl…I know I did." But in her mind she began to wonder if she had killed the right girl. She felt a presence touch her…one pure and young…a woman…and not the jedi. With a deep breath she stood and jumped onto her speeder sitting a few yards away. She had to be sure. Turning the speeder she sped across the landscape back to the fishing village. She had to be sure. The jedi could not be allowed to take on an apprentice. She increased the power to the speeder gaining velocity. She had to be sure.
The four travelers stood in shock just outside the edge of the small village. A camp had been set up on the edge, and it was littered with bodies. The cold delayed the onset of decay, but the faint smell of decomposition permeated the air with every breath they took. They could see no sign of life within the village itself, and with foreboding Zharn approached one of the corpses nearest them. Kitali stood a few yards back with Magnus and Windi at her sides. The orc knelt next to the body and carefully wiped some of the fresh snow from the body. His eyes widened and he jerked his head up to look towards the village.
"What is it?" Kitali asked seeing his reaction. "Can you tell what happened here? Who did this?"
Zharn growled deep in his throat. Without looking back at his wife or their companions he stood and kept looking at the village. "Stay back here. Magnus…erect an arcane shield around the three of you. I'm going down to the village to see what's there."
"Zharn…what did you see?" the draenei asked already dreading what her heart was telling her. The orc would only specifically tell the mage to erect something arcane if he felt the sith woman was close by. She started to take a step towards him. "I'm coming with you."
"No," he said turning around. "Just stay here." Kitali hesitated then stepped back and placed her hands on the shoulders of the two gnomes. "These wounds are old…probably a few days judging by the snow. I'll be alright, but I want you back here…"
"In case you're wrong," she finished for him. He closed his eyes and nodded. He started walking towards the village. "Be careful, Zharn. I love you."
He stopped and turned to smile at her. "I love you, too," he replied.
They three of them watched him in silence. Magnus erected the requested barrier, and Kitali watched nervously as the orc vanished from her sight amongst some of the houses. The bodies nearby were too much a reminder of what had happened at sea when the sith woman unleashed her lightning attack on their ship. A shiver went down her spine at the memory and the carnage afterwards. On the one body Zharn had examined she could see the familiar diagonal slash across the torso. A wound caused by a lightsaber. This massacre was committed by the mysterious sith woman…of that she had no doubt. Kitali looked back to where she had last seen her husband. In the past six months they had grown much closer than either thought possible. She loved him before the incident in space, but since she had revealed her true self to him their lives had actually grown closer and their love for each other stronger. Their love had endured that terrible secret and as she watched for him she hoped he would find nothing and they could leave this place. They could return to a life where there was just the two of them. But the longer she stood there with the two gnomes and no sign of his returning she grew more worried that something bad was happening or about to happen. Suddenly Zharn came running from around one of the houses. He had a look of pure terror on his face. Kitali's heart dropped as she saw the sith woman following close behind him on a speeder similar to Daneel's.
"Open a portal, Magnus," Zharn shouted waving his arms as he ran. "Open one to anywhere! Just get out of here!"
The orc was only yards away from them when the woman jumped from the speeder. Her black robes fluttered in the air as she launched herself into a deadly attack on the orc. The red blade of a lightsaber ignited in midair and with a wide swing it came down across the orc's back. His arms flailed as he fell forward. Selene landed on her feet just behind the stricken shaman. A feral smile crossed her face as she spotted the draenei ahead of her. She had come to the village to confirm she had killed the correct human mage, but after searching through the mages' belongings discovered she had not. Anger boiled to rage as she stepped from the lower decks of the ship, but was soon replaced by anticipation as she saw the orc walking through the village. She recognized him instantly as one of those people very close to the jedi. Now here also was another of the man's closest friends. Two victims in the same day…she could not think of a better turn of events after the discovery of her failure in causing the death of the possible jedi apprentice. The speeder slowed to a stop behind her and just a few yards away from the scene.
"Zharn!" the draenei screamed as she saw him fall. She started to step away from the protective arcane barrier, but the quick thinking gnomes grabbed her legs tripping her. She fell forward with arms outstretched reaching for her beloved…tears running down her cheeks. "ZHARN!"
Grimacing, the orc clawed at the ground trying to pull himself towards his wife. Selene stood above him with her blade in her right hand. She looked down at the orc's hands as he grabbed dirt and snow trying to crawl away from her. His lower body was limp and useless in his attempt at escape from his attacker. With her red eyes she looked at the draenei reaching out for him. She spotted a ring on her finger, and looking back at the orc's hand saw the corresponding ring on his. A wicked smile crossed the elven sith's face. The woman was franticly trying to reach her mate. She realized she could do something far worse than just killing this woman who was a friend of the jedi…someone he cared for. She could make this woman suffer. She thought of her own pain she was forced to endure over the past millennium. Seeing her own husband change from the pure perfection of a red sith into a green abomination. The years she struggled to find a cure to save him with no success. Looking at him trapped in that stasis chamber day after day…year after year…century after century…until all hope was lost. It was the jedi who caused all of her suffering. They had hunted the sith to the fringes of the galaxy seeking to exterminate all sith…all of her people. The desperation they felt hiding on that frozen rock waiting for the jedi to finally catch up to them. The elation they felt when Sargeras offered them salvation only to realize later they were rewarded only with broken promises and lies. Looking at the draenei woman before her…pleading with her…trying desperately to reach her spouse…she decided that this woman would share the same pain she felt…know the same fear…the same sense of hopelessness…live the same nightmare.
"This is too perfect," Selene purred. "The two of you are wedded." She took a step forward. Her tongue rolling along her teeth as she savored the pain the woman was feeling…a feeling she knew all too well. Her initial attack had caught the orc across the shoulder blades cleanly severing his spinal cord and paralyzing the man below his arms…he could not escape the inevitable. With her foot she kicked the man over onto his back. Even though his lower body was limp and useless he still struggled to reach his woman. His massive chest heaving with each breath he exerted just to touch the woman's outstretched hand towards him.
"Please…let him go!" Kitali pleaded looking up at Selene. "Please!" She looked back at the orc. He strained to look at his wife. He reached an arm towards her. Kitali looked at him straining harder to reach him. The gnome inventor struggled desperately trying to keep her inside the arcane shield…a shield that protected them from any possible Force attack from the sith woman. "Zharn," she sobbed.
The sith knelt down on her left leg and looked down at the orc. "I have sworn vengeance against the jedi and all those he cares about." She looked up at the draenei with her eyes. "But I think for you I have changed my mind." She brought the lightsaber up and pointed the blade at the stomach of the orc…down and upwards towards his head.
"No…please…no," Kitali pleaded through sobs and shaking her head. "Please don't do this! He is no danger to you!"
"I will spare your life and instead replace it with pain," Selene answered. She inched the blade into Zharn's abdomen causing him to scream in agony. He reached down for the blade but only managed to cut off his fingers as they contacted the pure energy of the blade. He then tried to punch the elven sith, but she laughed as she leaned back just out of his reach. He was helpless to stop the agonizing and torturous death the sith planned for him. The blade inched further into his body as she worked it slowly into his stomach and towards his heart. She watched the draenei woman struggle to reach her man as the lightsaber slowly preceded causing increasing pain and agony for her victim. His life was over, but the woman would remember this day for the rest of her life. She would relive this nightmare day after day and year after year. Pleading with her through sobs the draenei was feeling a torment beyond her wildest imagination…and Selene felt elated.
Kitali strained to reach her husband as he continued crying out in agony. She couldn't see through the tears that flooded her eyes. Windi was still behind her holding her legs and keeping her inside the protective arcane sphere as Magnus worked on a spell to open a portal. "Zharn," she said as her voice wavered. Only one more foot and she could touch him.
"You will live the rest of your days feeling the same pain I have endured for over a thousand years," Selene said to the shaman as she lay helpless to stop the killing blow. The blade inched ever more slowly into the orc's body. "You will suffer in torment as you watch your beloved die a slow death knowing there is nothing you can do to save him. You will have the love of your life ripped away from you just as I had. You will suffer as I have suffered." She never took her eyes from the draenei as the blade pierced the man's diaphragm causing him to cough up blood. His arms went limp as his head thrashed from side to side. His breath now just bubbling gurgles of blood as his insides were destroyed by the blade of the sith's lightsaber moving slowly further into his body…severing organs. His body began to shutdown as the blade began to pierce his heart. "You will live in pain…that is my punishment for you," Selene said sneering as Zharn's life expired.
With a final quick thrust the tip of the blade exited through the orc's head. Kitali collapsed on the ground…her body wracked with sorrow. The elven sith withdrew the blade from the orc's lifeless body then stood and extinguished her blade. The portal Magus was casting finally opened, but it was too late…much too late. Zharn lay dead just inches from Kitali's outstretched and limp hand as she herself shutdown no longer caring what happened. The person she loved and cared for the most was gone. Selene looked down at the grieving widow smiling to herself and the suffering she had caused. She licked her lips and grinned at the draenei…an almost feral look of a predator playing with its prey. Turning away she walked casually to her speeder. With a look back she said, "Tell your jedi friend that the daughter has returned. Tell him I will have my vengeance on the jedi for all they have done to me." She jumped onto her speeder and raced away from the village leaving the grieving and dead behind.