Chapter 26
Dejiak gasped and coughed from where he'd been abandoned on the cold, unforgiving floor. Chest heaving, he clawed at his throat as he tried to force in the air he desperately needed. He could still feel it. The invisible steel band that had wrapped itself around his throat and constricted until he was on the verge of blacking out. He tore at his throat, trying to get rid of the phantom sensation.
"What was that?" he wheezed.
"That," came a rasping voice to his left, "was the power of the Dark Side of the Force."
His head jerked towards the voice, wincing as his throat burned. A tall, pale woman leaned against the doorway; a mocking smile graced her lips as she looked down at him. "Now what stupid thing did you do to enrage an untrained Force sensitive? Whatever it was, it got my attention."
"What?"
"Not very bright are you?" Asajj Ventress stepped fully into the room, steps graceful yet predatory, as she came to stand in front of Dejiak.
"And what…the kriff are you?"
"I am now the last, but I need not be." She glanced at the hole in the wall. "Is that where he ran off to?"
Dejiak raised himself to his knees, trying steadfastly to ignore the sharp pains in his throat and stomach. "I don't know who or what you are, lady, but he is mine."
She hummed. "You're wrong. Belong to you? You are nothing."
Anger coursed through his veins and he turned hot with rage as she just smiled and stepped away from him. Ignored him. Who was she not to take him seriously? To…to be amused? His teeth clenched as he watched her walk to the hole Skywalker had fled through.
"You skrogging schutta! I will never stop hunting him," he rasped. "I will hunt you with him, I will fuck you like the goddamn whore you both are – you will never know peace, and I will kill you when I'm – "
Dejiak choked out a gasp as the air in his lungs was violently forced out. He barely felt himself move before his head and back cracked nauseatingly against the wall. Spluttering he tried to breath, but could barely draw in a deep breath.
Broken, my ribs are broken.
Stars and black spots danced in front of his eyes. A sticky warmth dripped down the back of his neck.
"You dare threaten me?"
Dejiak wheezed.
"I don't even have to force my way inside of your mind to see what you are," said Ventress. "It's right there, playing out all over the surface of your thoughts."
She walked slowly until she was standing in front of him. She held a single hand out before her, but when her fingers widened he felt his ribs widen with them. His nerve endings exploded with pain.
"You will never ruin that boy. Not now that he has felt the power of the Force. Not now that he has tasted the power of the Dark Side. Make your attempts and he will kill you. I would help him, I think. Encourage your death at his hands."
An involuntary shudder ran through him, aggravating his ribs and causing him to cry out. His brow furrowed and sweat poured from him as the woman in front of him raised her left hand to join her right. Dejiak gasped as a tight band wrapped around his head, he could feel…it felt…it was in his head. It was in - he choked and shook his head trying to get away from the intrusive feeling. But then it pulled. And he screamed.
Ventress tilted her head to the side as she watched passively; to kill him or to offer him to her new apprentice? That was really the question. She could still sense him - his Force signature a flurry of confusion and fear - not far from the room she was in. Could he sense her as well? His abilities suggested some grasp of the Force, some training, but not that of the Jedi. No…he was no Padawan. He was ultimately untrained and ready for a much broader apprenticeship.
"How does it feel, vermin?" she asked, releasing the painful band from his head. "How does it feel to be the hunted? To be vulnerable? You've never experienced this before have you?"
She wrenched Dejiak's head up with the Force as he gasped wetly. "You are pathetic and helpless. I want you to know that. However it happens – you die here today. I don't need your stubbornness getting in my way with him."
"This party's over."
Ventress sucked in an annoyed breath as she turned to glare at the interruption. Multiple lightsabers ignited in tandem as Mace Windu led his Jedi team into the room.
"Only five of you? You should have brought more."
"Put him down, Ventress."
"With pleasure."
Her hand curved high and Dejiak's neck twisted sharply to the side. The crunch of bone reverberated loudly throughout the room. She released his body from her Force grip and let him fall gracelessly to the ground – dead.
"And now that's out of the way." Taking advantage of the distraction, her hands flew out and she managed to send Windu and Vos hurdling backwards through the door.
Dual lightsabers ignited. The battle would be quick.
"Master? Master, what is it?"
Qui-Gon glanced at Zett but remained silent. The last few hours had left him with an uncomfortable feeling deep in his gut. A wrongness that settled like ice and wormed its way deep throughout his body. Something wasn't right.
Pardoning himself, he stood from his chair and made his way to the glass window of the Senate's dining hall to stare out over Coruscant. He was only peripherally aware of his Padawan following behind him, worry etched across Zett's young face.
"Master?"
"Zett, I want you to stay with Chancellor Organa. My presence is required elsewhere," Qui-Gon said. "Do not leave his side. But before you go back to him I want you to contact Master Dooku and tell him to come to me at once. Do you understand?"
The Force was whispering all around him, harsher and increasingly urgent. Something was coming. He had no proof of it, only a feeling - but a feeling was all his old Master would need to come to his aid. If it was indeed the final stand of the Sith, he was lucky to have caught it through the Force. His instincts almost always paid off, even if the Council had continuously been more wary to pay them heed. But this… he could feel the stirrings of the Dark Side. He could feel them growing stronger by the second.
"Do you understand, Zett?"
He saw Zett nod, with only a slight hesitation lacing his frame, before racing off to do as he was told. Zett's loyalty was admirable, but Qui-Gon would not lead his Padawan to his death. It had taken both Qui-Gon and Dooku working in tandem to stop the menace of Darth Maul on Naboo. He could still feel the heat of the lightsaber that just barely missed impaling him. Maul had been triumphant one moment then consumed by confusion and rage when his blade could not connect. He remembered Maul's surprised yell as Dooku sent him hurtling through the air with the Force. By the time the Sith had regained his bearings, the force field that had separated Qui-Gon and Dooku had fallen and both Jedi had once again set upon him.
Qui-Gon was moving before he knew it, the doors parted and the warmth of Coruscant enveloped him, though he could hardly feel it. Whatever was warning him through the Force was far from the Chancellor; the darkness was not aimed at him.
Jumping into a speeder, Qui-Gon followed his gut.
Feel. Don't think.
"You're all alone now, Master Jedi."
Mace kept his gaze locked with Ventress's as she circled around him slowly. They had managed to destroy one of her lightsabers and wing her left bicep, but Ventress on the other hand…
"Aayla, no!"
Mace watched as Vos threw himself at Ventress with a scream of barely contained fury. He'd hardly got close before Ventress threw him back into a wall with a sickening crunch. As he fell to the ground, Mace watched a pool of blood form around his head, his Force signature thready but present.
Mace gathered the Force around him, letting the darkness radiating from Ventress flow past his senses.
Saesee Tiin. Dead.
Agen Kolar. Dead.
He stood alone.
"So this is how the Great Master Windu falls. Know that the Jedi will pay for all that they have done," said Ventress. "Vos will suffer for letting my Master die before our plans were realized. Secura has already paid for her part."
"So Palpatine was your Master?" Mace said.
It was a guess - a gamble that she'd admit it - and he knew it. But it was the only thing he could think of that she could be talking about. Vos and Secura had been dispatched to rescue Palpatine when Grievous kidnapped him. Damage to the bridge of The Invisible Hand during the resulting battle had forced its crew to reverse the stabilizers, turning the elevator the three used to escape into a hallway. When the emergency boosters came back online however - Palpatine's grip on Secura slipped and he'd fallen to his death.
After his passing, the amount of Light and clarity that came back to the Force had raised uncertainties about the former Chancellor's true nature. Confirm it Ventress.
"A true Master of the Sith."
Mace's face never changed from its stoic expression. So Qui-Gon's suspicions were correct after all. Palpatine was the Sith Lord they had been searching for, and right under their noses the entire time. He already had complete control of the Senate as Supreme Chancellor. It was one of the reasons why he had never been under direct suspicion from the Council.
"And what of your apprentice?" asked Mace.
"I will have the one I felt soon enough."
Ventress lunged.
Mace gave himself over to the duel, meeting her strike for strike, funnelling the darkness through Vapaad and releasing it back at her at every thrust. He became a conduit, a force unto himself.
It wasn't enough.
Lightsabers clashed.
The Force echoed - fragmented and splintered -
This is it.
A deep purple blade met scarlet red.
This was the moment.
Mace screamed in shock as Ventress's lightsaber caught his arm. His lightsaber fell, clattering uselessly to the ground along with the severed arm that had held it. He felt himself shoved to his knees, the crushing weight of the Force holding him down. Clutching his arm, he forced his head up to look at Ventress.
This was the shatterpoint.
"Good-bye, Master Jedi."
She raised her lightsaber to strike him down. Distantly, he could feel Master Yoda's Force signature getting closer. Qui-Gon and Dooku were close behind, along with a dozen other Jedi, but they would be too late. They weren't going to make it in time.
Ventress would escape and take Vos. He only hoped Quinlan could escape from her in time and make it back to the Jedi, without losing himself to the Dark Side. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that the Sith before him would use Aayla's death against him.
But Mace Windu would never go down without a fight. He gathered the Force to him and shoved it back against Ventress with everything he had. Her hold on him tightened as her feet slid backwards and her blade swung.
He was prepared to meet death in that moment of failure. What he hadn't prepared for was the bright green blade of light that erupted through her chest. Ventress's eyes widened as she sucked in a gasp, her grip on Mace faltering.
Mace watched frozen as Ventress reverse gripped her lightsaber in a desperate bid and thrust it back behind her, angle wide – connecting and searing flesh. Her lightsaber blade went out, and her grip loosened. The falling blade clattered loudly throughout the room.
When her body fell Mace expected Quinlan Vos, but instead a wide-eyed, Anakin Skywalker stood before him.
The Force blazed around him, a whirlwind that welcomed him in its embrace. His presence resonated in a way that made Mace's chest constrict. He winced as he looked upon Skywalker's face. With the adrenaline running through him, he likely wouldn't feel it for some minutes yet but Ventress had left her mark. A lightsaber burn ran along the upper right side of his face, cutting through the eyebrow. It would leave a scar once healed.
"I-I did the right thing...didn't I?"
Mace nodded slowly, wincing as he clutched his arm.
Was this boy – Could the prophecy…?
Both Mace and Anakin startled as Yoda and the other Jedi burst into the room, Qui-Gon and Dooku among them. Anakin dropped Quinlan's lightsaber. Mace watched as Dooku moved across the room and crouched next to Secura.
Yoda tottered further into the room, tucking his lightsaber onto his belt, his eyes meeting Anakin's.
"Meet again, we do, young Skywalker."
A/N: Thank you so much for your reviews, they give me life!
Beta'd by FemaleSpock