Chapter 27
Deep into space, on the far edge of the outer rim, a battle was ensuing. An Alliance ship was being followed by two unfamiliar ships; similar in design to the Alliance ship, but with several noticeable differences. They were all heading toward a nearby planet. The surface of the planet looked unstable; even from space they could see oceans of lava, and see the smoke caused by volcanic eruptions on the surface. It did not look like a pleasant place.
The Alliance ship was in bad shape; the combined attacks from the other two ships were proving too much to handle. On board the ship a cloaked man struggled to keep control, to keep the ship pointing in the right direction. On the floor behind him another man – much younger – lay tied up and unconscious. It was Sar, and the pilot was the Dark Jedi.
His ship rocked violently from side to side, even when the other ships were not firing. Its systems were shutting down, one by one, and each time one of them failed it sent a shockwave throughout the ship. Though he believed that the ship would make it to the planet, he knew that it would not be able to cope with the stresses of entering its atmosphere. Not intact, anyway. He needed to move.
He quickly formulated a plan; one that, if he had a choice, he would not act out. He jammed the ships manual controls; the ship was pointing in the right direction at the moment, but he knew that a clean hit from either of the other two ships would knock them off course. This would be so much easier if the autopilot was still working, he thought to himself as he grabbed the unconscious Sar from where he was laying and dragged him to the back of the ship.
The ships solitary remaining escape pod was located there. If they were to survive the landing, they would need to launch the escape pod just as the ship began to enter the atmosphere. But from where they were they couldn't see anything; he would have to rely on the Force to tell him when the right moment was. He waited. Minutes went by, the ship rocking from side to side, his hand hovering over the launch control. Then he felt a familiar sensation in the back of his mind, telling him to push the button now.
So he did.
The escape pod flung itself out, away from the ship. The forces exerted on the two passengers were immense, and even the Jedi was almost overwhelmed.
Then the spinning began. As the escape pod fell it began to spiral. Damn, the Dark Jedi thought. The pods were supposed to have thrusters which kept them stable inside a gravitational field, and also made the landing softer. Looks like we'll be hitting the ground a little harder than I thought. Still, at least this proves we've reached the planet. The Dark Jedi smiled, bitterly, and tried his best to ignore the spinning. He was grateful that the escape pod had no windows, so he couldn't see the ground twirling around below him.
After several minutes of falling, they hit the ground with a violent crash. The hull of the escape pod bent sharply inwards, and the force pulling on the Jedi's restraints dug into his flesh, causing blood to flow out of the cuts. The noise it made was deafening, as was the noise it made as it tumbled over and over for a seemingly endless amount of time.
Finally it came to a halt; it lay dangerously close to the edge of a cliff, at the bottom of which was a lake of flaming hot lava. The planet's surface was hell; covered in burning ash and with eruptions of lava bursting through the ground.
Time passed with no movement from the ship; thirty seconds, then sixty. Then movement; a loud bang from inside, and the pod's hatch – which had been contorted in the crash – bent outwards. Then again, and again, until in one final strike it was flung away from the pod onto the ground below. Then a hand appeared, stained with blood. It was the Dark Jedi, dragging himself and a still unconscious Sar from the wreckage. When they had cleared the hatch he let Sar's limp body drop to the floor with a thud, and jumped down next to him. He took a few moments to catch his breath, during which he saw Sar's body stir; it appeared that the anaesthetic he had been injecting him with was starting to wear off. That might cause yet more problems.
He heard the sound of engines from above, and watched as the ships that had been attacking them flew overhead. They came in to land close by; unfortunately, he realised, they were landing directly in the path that he wanted to take. So that rules out trying to outrun them, he thought. I guess they'll have to die.
He grabbed Sar – who by then had started to murmur to himself – and hoisted him up onto his back. Then he began the trek towards the two ships in the distance, secretly looking forward to the fight he knew he would find there.
They had been chasing him for two days, ever since he had entered this system; though, to start with there had been five ships. They'd appeared almost out of nowhere; he had sensed them before he'd seen them, but not by much, and his ships scanners couldn't detect them even then; they must have had some kind of stealth technology that was blocking his sensors. They were clearly Force sensitive; able to mask themselves from him. That narrowed down the list of people it could be, especially coupled with how far from the central systems they were.
They had attacked him then, but that time he had been able to lose them; he had managed to fall from their radar and land on an uninhabited planet, shutting his ship down to mask the energy signatures. Though it had delayed his mission, it had given him the opportunity to relax for the first time since this had all started.
It had been… what, four days ago? Five? He couldn't explain the feeling he'd had… it was like something was reaching out to him, promising him that everything he'd ever wanted would be his. And all he had to do was one little thing… just bring one boy to a faraway planet, and all his desires would be made real. How could anyone have resisted it?
He waited for a day before setting off again, hoping that their search had led them away from there. But it hadn't; they had left two ships waiting close by. And they'd been trying to destroy him since.
They weren't Jedi. If he had to guess, he'd say that they were Sith.
It didn't really matter anyway; they were standing in his way. The only thing that mattered was how much they knew, and how clever they were. He was confident in his ability to outclass them with a light-sabre; he had yet to find his equal. But their ability to mask themselves left him open to an ambush. He would have to keep his wits about him more than he had ever needed to before.
He was climbing a shallow hill, the black ash crackling under his shows. He could feel Sar's heartbeat and breath speeding up as he walked, and he knew that he had woken up; he was just playing possum. No matter; it would save him the trouble of restraining him.
There was no cover around them, which made it less likely that his enemies would be able to mount an ambush. Still, he was getting close to where he thought the ships had landed, yet he had seen no sign of them. Soon he realised why. When he moved over the top of the hill, he saw the two ships, and the two pilots. They were each unloading something from the backs of their ships; battle-droids. Probably two dozen from each ship, armed with blasters and heavy armour. They would be nothing more than a nuisance.
He suddenly dropped Sar to the ground, and he landed with a thud. Sar grunted involuntarily, revealing for sure that he had been playing possum and was awake. The Jedi turned to face him and saw the fear in his eyes; he had been unconscious since before they had left Hathrass so he had no idea where he was, or how he had arrived there. And, coupled with the grogginess that he no doubt felt after being asleep for so long, Sar was in a very fragile state.
But the Dark Jedi had neither the time nor the inclination to explain to him. He reached into the satchel that was hanging at his side and pulled out two short pieces of rope, which he used to restrain Sar – brushing away his feeble attempts to fight back. Then he stood up, readied himself and strode towards his enemies. He had decided that he was not going to sneak, and hide from his enemies; not that there was anywhere to hide. He would meet them head-on.
The Dark Jedi approached them from the North, with the sun directly behind them. All the two men could see was a silhouette etched against the sky above the horizon.
One of the men – his appearance that of a Mandalorian, save for the black cloak that both of them wore – raised his hand to try and shield his eyes from the sunlight as he watched the figure approach. Of course, he had sensed him much earlier, though the feeling he had was stranger than he had felt before. Every life force created a disturbance in the Force; most, who have no contact with or influence over the force, create a minute ripple. Force sensitives, such as the Jedi or Sith, create larger disturbances which shine like lights; the brighter the light, the stronger the person is with the Force.
The man approaching them shone like a beacon, consuming all other feelings or senses in its wake. Though the Mandalorian had raised his hand to shield himself from the sunlight, the disturbance in the Force which followed the man approaching them was even more blinding.
But that isn't the whole story, he thought. The disturbance followshim, but he isn't the source. He wondered briefly if his companion - a female, blue skinned Twi'lek – could sense the same, but the man was upon them before he could ask her. His mouth smiled, but his eyes revealed a coldness that ran deep. Describe him more.
The man waved his hand in greeting. "Hi", he said, his voice jovial. He waited for a response, but none was forthcoming so he continued. "You've been chasing me for quite a while. Is there any particular reason?"
Knowing that the only choice was to respond or attack, the Mandalorian answered. "You intruded into our territory", he said, his voice sounding almost mechanical through his face mask. "The punishment is death".
To his surprise, the man's smile widened further. "Your space?" he said. "And who are you? I see you're well equipped; these droids you have are similar to the technology that the Alliance possesses". It was true; the three dozen or so battle droids that the pair had managed to unpack and initialise stood around them like vultures, waiting for their orders.
The Mandalorian looked at his companion, who was the one to answer. "We are Sith", she said, trying to inject her voice with menace, but knowing that the initiative had been lost.
The Dark Jedi contemplated this answer; he had suspected that they were Sith, but it was still surprising to see them. He had thought the Sith exterminated seventy years ago, the last time they had attempted to take control of the Galaxy. He should have realised they would come back eventually; they always did, like cockroaches.
"This isn't Sith space", he said. "Sith don't have any space. You're nomads, outcasts, with no home".
The Twi'lek's face filled with anger then, a vicious snarl spreading across her face. "That may be true now", she growled. "But your Alliance will be destroyed sooner than you think".
The Dark Jedi laughed loudly, another reaction that they were not expecting. "It's not my Alliance", he said. "If you want to try and destroy it, be my guest. It won't matter. Nothing matters". Suddenly, his hand shot down to his side and before either of the Sith could react his light-sabre was already cutting through the Mandalorian's chest.
Blood erupted from the gash that it made, and the Mandalorian fell to the ground, a tiny moan sneaking from between his lips. The woman screamed with rage, and her own light-sabre was drawn. She attacked, but her anger was making her stupid; she lunged forward with no regard for her defence. The Dark Jedi parried blow after blow with ease, patiently waiting for his opportunity to counter.
That opportunity came when the woman made yet another ill-judged lunge forward and lost her footing. The brief second it took for her to right herself was more than enough time for the Dark Jedi to strike. He plunged his light-sabre into her chest. Their faces ended up centimetres from each other; he watched as the shock in her eyes turned to realisation; she was already dead. She started to gurgle, and the Dark Jedi switched off his light sabre and let her crumple lifeless to the floor.
He turned to the fallen Mandalorian. The cut in his chest was deep, but he was still alive. His eyes were darting from side to side, desperately looking for a way out, even though he wouldn't be capable of moving if he found one. The Jedi could see from his wound that he would not live long; the blood loss would kill him slowly.
He knelt beside him. He extended his hands towards him, and wrapped them around the Mandalorian's neck – a faint, barely audible protest was stifled. The Dark Jedi squeezed, and squeezed, until the Mandalorian stopped struggling.
Then he looked around. The Battle Droids were still waiting in silence, menacingly. He smiled. These might come in handy, he thought.
Sar had manoeuvred himself into a position where he could watch what was happening. He didn't know who the other two people were, or why they were there, but he knew that the Dark Jedi had murdered his mother, and he desperately wanted to see him suffer for it. But it became clear early on that the Dark Jedi would win; even Sar, who was a hundred yards away and had no knowledge of sword mastery, could tell that the blue-skinned woman was outclassed.
He turned his focus to trying to escape. His feet were tied together tightly, but only with rope; if he could manoeuvre his hands around from his back he was sure he would be able to untie them. And untying himself was something that he was always good at. His hands were tied behind his back, so he couldn't see what he was doing, but he didn't need to. He grabbed his right thumb with his left hand and twisted violently. His thumb came out of the joint painfully; he never admitted it to Marc, but doing this trick hurt like hell. Still, it allowed him to bend his thumb into his palm, and he slipped his right hand out of the rope.
He quickly untied his feet and stood up. That, as it turned out, was a mistake; the Dark Jedi was looking in his direction, and he saw that he had managed to untie himself. The Jedi started to run menacingly towards him.
Crap, Sar thought, and he ran in the opposite direction.
He was running at full tilt, but he knew it was pointless. There wasn't any real cover, just the occasional mound of ash to hide behind. He wouldn't be able to hide from the Jedi, and even if he could manage to lose him, where would he go?
He shook off those thoughts; he needed to escape, it didn't matter where to. He forced himself to run harder, though his chest was already starting to feel tight.
This is pointless, he thought. I can't keep running forever. I need to take this guy out somehow. He looked around desperately as he ran. As he emerged over the top of a small hill he saw what he thought was a cave. He ran towards it, reasoning that he would have a much better chance of hiding inside.
The cave entrance was small, barely big enough for him to squeeze through, so the larger Jedi would have even more trouble getting inside. It opened up beyond the door, and Sar was able to move around freely. He allowed himself one glimpse behind him, which he hadn't let himself do as he ran. He could see no sign of the Jedi following him. His heart jumped; maybe he'd been able to lose him after all.
His elation was short lived, though. The Jedi appeared directly on the other side of the opening, barely ten yards from Sar. The shock made him jump, and he tripped over a rock which lay on the floor. The Jedi's eyes were narrowed, filled with hate and anger. He didn't even attempt to squeeze through the gap; he simply stared at Sar for several seconds.
Suddenly, however, the Jedi moved. He grabbed his light-sabre and started to cut against the rock, making the opening bigger for him to fit through.
Sar knew that he would eventually get inside, so he turned his attention once again to finding a hiding place. Before he moved on, however, he grabbed the rock which he had tripped over; at least if he couldn't hide, he would have something to fight with.
He hurried deeper into the cave. When he had entered the cave he had been hit by the searing hot air, and it only grew hotter the deeper he went. Soon, it became too much to bear, and he had to stop. He hurried into a deep crevice which would hide him from view, and he waited for the Jedi to reach him. His intention was to wait for him to pass and then hit him with the rock that he still held in his hand. Hell, he thought, it worked for Marc.
Minutes went past, and there was no sign of the Jedi. Which was strange, as the rate at which he had been cutting away at the opening meant that he should have made it through long ago. Had the Jedi given up? Or was he waiting for him to crack in the heat?
His answer came quickly; a hand grabbed him violently across the mouth, and dragged him further back into the crevice that he was hiding in. The shock of having someone behind him caught Sar off guard, and a muffled cry escaped his lips.
"That was a mistake", a hoarse whisper in his ear said. "Don't make it again".
It took another hour for them to reach their destination. Sar's hands had been bound again, tighter this time, and he was forced to walk two strides ahead of the Dark Jedi. At first, Sar tried to think of a way to escape, but he soon realised that he wouldn't be able to. Instead he switched to trying to think of a way to convince him to let him go. It wasn't going well.
The landscape was mostly the same everywhere; black ash covered the ground, and they passed the occasional lake of molten hot lava. The ash reminded him of the black sand that Socorro was covered in, if he ignored the smell of sulphur that filled the air. The lava, though, was a wonder that he had never seen before; there were no volcanoes on Socorro – at least, none that were active. Even though he was terrified at what his captor would do with him, he couldn't help but stare in wonder at his surroundings. This was an alien planet! The first he had ever seen in person!
The novelty wore off after about half an hour, though. The heat was starting to choke him, and the landscape quickly became monotonous.
That changed as they got close to their destination. Sar was surprised at the first flower that he saw; how could a flower have grown in such a horrific environment, where there didn't seem to be any water for it to drink? Its petals were a deep purple that he had never seen on a flower before. He thought that it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He stopped to admire it, but almost instantly the Jedi pushed him forward again.
He was disappointed, but not for long. The further they walked the more flowers he saw; a few at first, then tens, then hundreds. As they passed into a canyon, the ground was covered with them as far as they could see. It was… astonishing.
The canyon was not straight; instead, it curved around to the left in front of them. As they moved around the corner, a structure came into view. Sar's jaw dropped when he saw it. It looked like a temple; the stone used to construct it looked ancient, but it was still perfectly intact. It was a dark grey colour, and it seemed to stretch upwards just as high as the cliffs that surrounded them.
His captor pushed him toward it, violently and wordlessly. The entrance was surrounded by pillars which must have been at least thirty feet high. There were large steps leading up to it, which Sar struggled to climb without using his hands to help him up.
As they moved inside the temple, he could taste the millennia old dust as he breathed, and he felt like an intruder.
They stopped in front of a door. The Dark Jedi moved around so that he was in front of Sar and facing him. He looked at him for a moment, and then he put his hand into his satchel. When he brought his hand out, Sar immediately recognised the object that he held; it was the fragment that he, Marc and Elle had found on Socorro. At that moment, he realised that the room he was standing in now was almost identical in design to the one that they had stumbled across days ago. Was that possible? They were light years away from Socorro, so how could the two places be linked?
As hard as it was to accept he could come up with no other explanation. He guessed that beyond the door they were standing in front of would be a room with a pedestal in the centre, just like before.
He realised that the Jedi had been standing there for over a minute, just staring at him. "Um…" Sar mumbled. "What?"
"Make it glow", his captor growled. "Like you did before. Now".
Sar finally realised just how much trouble he was in. This man was obviously insane, and if he found out that it wasn't Sar who had caused the orb to glow, and that he had wasted this entire journey, Sar believed that he would be capable of anything.
Sar decided to try and keep him talking as long as possible. "W… why do you need me to make it glow?" he asked. He was still a little groggy from the crash, and his mind was still working slowly. Too slowly. "Can't you do it yourself?"
"No", the man responded. "No, the fragment won't do anything for me. It only responds to certain people… people that it chooses to react to". He paused, looking at Sar. He was trying to decide how much to tell him. "You see… the fragment is only a part of a whole. The other part is behind this door, and the only way to open the door is to make the piece we have glow. When the two pieces are reunited they'll give whoever holds them unimaginable power. And that power will save the Galaxy. The power that you can control". He stood over Sar and stared at him. "So", he said, "open the door for me. Now".
Sar breathed heavily. He stood, slowly, his hands raised. He nodded, trying to convince Gabe that he intended to do as he asked. When he was stood turned towards the door, his back to Gabe, and held the fragment tightly in his hands.
Suddenly, he started to run. He ran as fast and as hard as he could, towards the back of the temple. He knew that he didn't have anywhere to go, and that the Jedi would be able to catch him easily, but he needed to try. He had run out of options.
He didn't look back as he emerged behind the temple. There was nothing there – no way for him to go. All that was there was a cliff edge. He heard footsteps behind him; not hurried footsteps, but slow, casual footsteps; as though he knew that he had no need to rush. Sar bolted towards the cliff edge and turned to face Gabe.
He held the fragment over the edge. "Don't come any closer", he shouted. "I swear I'll drop it".
The Dark Jedi smiled, clearly amused. "If you drop it then I'll kill you. There would be no more reason for you to live", he said casually.
Sar hesitated at this, and lost focus momentarily. It was more than enough time for the Jedi to react. He lifted his hand toward Sar who felt a sudden force pulling him forward, away from the cliff edge. He cried out in surprise, and the fragment fell from his hand onto the ground. Sar immediately tried to stand but Gabe was on him, pushing him down.
He still wore the same amused smile as he stared down at Sar. "That was… misguided", he said. He reached out his hand again and slowly closed his fingers, as though he was grabbing something. Then he twisted his wrist.
Sar felt something… pushing against his leg. At first it was nothing, but as Gabe's hand twisted he felt pain shoot up his leg. His bone was being bent. He grunted in pain.
"You should have done as I asked. All I want is for you to fulfil your potential", Gabe said, sudden anger filling his voice. He twisted his hand further. Sar felt a bone in his leg snap. He screamed and writhed on the floor, clutching his leg. The Jedi's face was expressionless. He moved his hand and did the same to Sar's other leg. He intended to snap every bone in this boy's body.
The screaming made Sar's throat dry. After a while his screams became soundless – just breath leaving his mouth. Tears were streaming down his face, and his body lay contorted on the floor.
The Dark Jedi looked on. His face was strained, as though the horrible things he was doing disgusted even himself. Eventually, he stopped. He sighed and sat down next to Sar, who lay panting on the ground.
They remained in silence for several minutes, simply looking at each other. After a while, the Jedi spoke.
"Listen, kid", he said. "I hate doing this. I don't have a choice. I know that isn't any comfort to you, but I really want you to know that I don't want to hurt you". He looked at Sar then as though expecting him to speak. When he didn't, he sighed again, and lay down on his back. "This torture thing", he continued. "It doesn't end, you know? It just goes on and on until you break. Hours. Hell, days if that's what it takes. Do you really think you'll be able to handle that?"
Sar had lifted his head to look at his torturer. He stared into his eyes, and he realised that he meant every word that he said. He knew he wouldn't be able to hold out forever, and that left him with a choice between spending maybe hours in horrible pain or giving up and selling out his friend.
"Just… open the door", the Jedi pleaded. "That's all I want, and then everything will make sense. I promise. I'll even give you a ride to the nearest inhabited planet. What do you say?"
Sar paused. He had already made his decision. "I never reacted with the orb", he said reluctantly. Gabe's eyes widened, slowly. "I was with two others when I found it. My friend Marc was the one that made it glow. I just took it home". Sar lowered his head, ashamed of telling this man about his friend.
The Dark Jedi sat completely still. A rage was building inside him that he had never felt before. Five days, he thought to himself. Five days I've wasted. Five days this little shithas been laughing at me behind my back. His face didn't give his anger away, and Sar looked at him hopefully, still expecting the Jedi to set him free. Almost absent mindedly, Gabe's finders closed around a large rock that lay beside him. I'll kill him, he thought as he brought the rock down on Sar's head. Sar went to ground immediately, shock filling his face and blood spurting from the newly open wound. Gabe leaned over him and brought the rock down on Sar's head again. And again. And again.
After what seemed like a long time he realised that all he was doing now was pounding mush. Sar's skull had been crushed completely.
He kneeled there, panting heavily. He looked down at the horrific sight of Sar's ruined body, and he vomited. He was disgusted with himself; he'd never felt as angry as he just had, but now that it was starting to fade all he felt was revulsion for what he had become.
Deep down inside, though, he knew that he could never stop… never turn away from the path that he'd set himself on, even if he wanted to. The power that compelled him to act wouldn't allow him to stop. His life had ended a long time ago.
He stood; a determined look on his face. He knew the path that he needed to take. He would go to Jani. He knew her… knew that she would follow him until the end of time if she needed to. She would know how to find this… Marc… and when he found her he would make her tell him. And then he would have his prize.
He began the journey back to the now ownerless Sith ships.
