Chapter 28
Arden was awoken by the faint glow of sunlight filtering through the closed blinds in Vader's bedroom. Her eyes blinked open slowly as her senses returned to her, trying not to flinch at the vivid images of dying children and blood that lingered behind her eyelids, suddenly brilliantly clear as she became conscious. She had come to realize that there was no longer such a thing as a good dream, just different levels of bad. This one wasn't the worst that she had experienced, but it was far from pleasant. She turned her mind away from the nightmare and the blood, focusing on physical sensations instead. She was very warm and comfortable, curled up against Vader, her chest pressed up against his side and her arm flung across his bare, scarred chest. He was still asleep, clutching one of the pillows that remained on the bed. The burns on his face looked reduced and paler in sleep; the corners of his mouth were relaxed. The last thing she wanted to do was wake him. It was so peaceful, just to lay there and to do her best not to think about anything. A part of her was still tired, but if she remembered correctly, she had already woken up once before, and had fallen asleep before she was properly awake. Stretching, she pushed herself up with one arm to look over top of Vader to the chrono that lay on a side table, sighing at the time, which was much later than she wanted. Falling back onto the mattress, she stretched, rolling her shoulders and cracking her back before crawling slowly and carefully out of bed. Keeping her thoughts and movements quiet, Arden left the room as she wrapped herself in an appropriated sheet, the door hissing shut quietly behind her.
The sunlight hit her eyes, the glare from the transparisteel buildings making her eyes water. The warm glow lit the sunken living room, drawing her attention for the first time. This room actually had furniture in it, unlike the rest of the castle; there was even artwork on the walls, lovely landscapes and waterfalls, a pretty world shrouded in greens and blues. It all seemed very out of place for her master until she inspected it closer. When she did, she saw that each and every piece of art and furniture had originated from Naboo; it was a subtle memorial to a remarkable woman. Her heart twisted in her chest as her mind whispered, Padme. Vader missed her so much, though he never mentioned her by name. She lingered around the fringes of his consciousness and plagued his dreams. She lingered in smells and sounds, images of long ago. This was the only way he knew how to remember her, how to make sure that she lingered, because though it pained him, Arden knew he would think it worse to forget her entirely. He had loved her so much that it had been thrust on her as well; she loved Padme too, though not quite as much as he had. She never begrudged either of them anything; she hadn't minded being forced to love someone, because love could never be a bad thing, she had never minded sharing his love with such a women. Now that she had thought about it, what else would he have put in his rooms? What else could compare? Her fingers traced over the smooth wood grain of an arm rest, her gut twisting with emotions as she remembered strangling Padme on a platform over a river of lava. It hadn't actually been her of course, but regret and anger and sorrow still made themselves known.
She felt Vader's mind stir and quickly tried to stifle her emotions, both bemuse and pleased. Bemused to find that it wasn't as easy to control her feelings as it had been before. At times, it had been a useful skill, a skill that had saved her life when she was a slave; no one wanted an angry slave after all, angry slaves got killed or beaten. But now, now she had no need of it; she was free to feel everything from the heights of joy to the depths of sorrow. She was free to be alive, to experience what it meant to live with no judging Jedi Master frowning behind her back for being too sad or for laughing just a little too loudly, or with too much spirit. Of course the Sith felt anger more than joy, but what did it matter? She was no longer a mindless, soulless child solider, forced to obey orders or be sent away to talk to plants, or to be cast out and into the galaxy. She was allowed to be what she was and if that self became more and more angry over time, what of it? She still had yet to test the limits of her authority, or her control, to see what she could get away with.
She was about to leave when she noticed a holo on a side table, it was one of the expensive, full color ones, and it was of her. She had no idea when it had been taken, but she looked very young. In it, she was looking up at the holo-cam and smiling, then with a laugh and a skip, she ran towards the holo-cam, which panned down to show her with both arms wrapped around a pair of legs. Wrapping an arm around her, Anakin seemed to say something, and the younger her looked up and waved, beaming at the camera, then it looped and started again. Arden watched it a couple more times before leaving Vader's apartment, affection and warmth twisted in her stomach, it was pleasant to know that she was loved enough to have a place in a room that was a memorial to another. She returned to her own set of rooms, and not bothering to change, she summoned her lightsabers from a table and went to the training room where several custom-made battle droids waited. She could see Vader's handiwork as she turned one of them on and programmed it. The things was cobbled together from the parts of several different robots, made more powerful and smarter, it wouldn't be an easy opponent. Stepping back, she ignited her lightsabers, the hissing sound seeming to spark the droid into action. It sprang towards her, moving with surprising fluidity, turning on its own green lightsaber as it flew at her, she blocked its blow. Her fractured wrists stung with pain as they absorbed the shock. Instead of pushing back, the droid leaped over her head, causing her to spin to block it again. Unlike the previous entity she had fought, the droid matched her in speed and agility, and she was still surpassed in strength. This time however, she had the advantage of the Force, it was harder to see a droids intention, but it still had to run through algorithms of what it was going to do, and it did so in patterns that were predictable in the Force. She managed not only to block it, but counter it and make offensive blows.
As it backed into a corner, unwilling memories popped into her head, memories of screams, the clatter of storm trooper armor hitting the floor. She had killed Nate to get rid of him, why did he persist in lingering in her mind, why did his face appear over and over, deep brown eyes superimposed on top of the droid's inhuman features. Her anger burst forwards, the droid flew into the corner, unable to resist her power. She hadn't really wanted to kill Nate; he had forced her hand by trying to help. There was nothing else you could do. She reasoned with herself, but still screams resonated through her mind. What she had done to him was what he had feared most, but why that? Why had he been afraid of her turning on him above all? There was so much more for a clone to fear, death, the Emperor, or the Kaminoans that treated all clones as commodities, yet cared little if they died in training.
The droid sprung back up, leaping towards her on metal legs, she tried to focus on the droid, on how she would defeat it, not on the way Nate had mentally pleaded with her to stop, begging her to remember that she had saved him. Saved him to kill him nearly seven years later, how things changed. That little girl inside, the one who hated what she was becoming, she raged at the person who was fitting into the name 'Darth Eclipse' more every day. Her old self forced memories on her, on how she had defied everyone to go save four troopers from imminent death, memories of fight after fight, the piles of droids all around her, droids that morphed into the bodies of those she had massacred in the throne room of the Emperor. Memories of the Falleen woman and her child, slaughtered in their tiny, ruinous house, memories that were chosen to make her stop cold. She had hoped that night after night of reliving these things would make it better, would desensitize her, but only her muscles and the sense of danger in the Force kept her moving. Dancing in a deadly duel against the droid, the distraction of imminent death worked for a while until she felt as though she could see the blood that was on her hands.
As she fought and overreached herself, she felt the deep scars on her back, and the burns that laced her thighs and biceps. She made herself remember the other side of the story, of what the Jedi had done to her and Vader. They had cast her out for her reverence for life; they had sought to destroy Vader with their backwards ways. If they were supposed to be all that was good, then that wasn't what she wanted to be. Arden focused on what it meant to be a Sith, the power, the wonder of feeling, or taking risks, of how she was finally allowed to use the anger that had plagued her throughout her entire life. That anger built in her, pressure growing under her skin until she let go in a crackling hiss of blue lighting that shorted out the droid that was ready to strike her down. With a mechanical moan, it collapsed to the floor, red eyes going dark. As it hit the ground, it clattered, sounding like the fallen body of a trooper. She could feel the tears bubbling up inside of her, threatening to explode, but she wouldn't let them out. Instead, she dug her thumb into one of her wrists, pushing at it, letting it sting and burn and scream, the tears drying up as pain took precedence. When she let go, she could already see the beginnings of a bruise, but it had worked. She wasn't going to cry again, crying was for the weak. She lifted up a hand, moving the droid back into the corner where its fellows stood; she would have to fix it again upon a later date. Her mind fixed on how she would do that, not on the nature of Clones.
Arden walked out of the training room, bare feet appreciating the carpet. She wished that she could have enjoyed taking apart the droids, enjoyed her own strength and power. If only she weren't so weak, so indecisive and changeable. It won't be like this forever. I'll get used to it. She told herself fiercely, poking at the bruise on her wrist. What should I do today? She wondered suddenly as she stepped into the shower, smiling as she realized how much freedom she had. Overnight, she had gained a surplus of both money and power, but she had yet to explore all that she could do.
You should probably go and train with the Inquisitors again. Vader said, causing her to groan, staring up into the steaming waster in annoyance at the few responsibilities she did have.
I don't want to. I want to do something fun. What should I do?
You could…he said sarcastically before cutting himself off, but she knew what he was going to say, 'you could go to another party.' Even though he had stopped himself, she felt a muddle of emotions try and make themselves known.
Nope, that's not what I meant by entertaining. Trying to ignore his previous comment, she thought about what she could do. There was so much on this world, but none of it appealed to her at that moment. Shopping was irrelevant, she one wore a specific set of clothing anyway, bars might just be worse than the parties she could attend at the various skyhooks that circled the globe, and holodramas didn't excite her either. She wanted something that had risk, something exciting, and something to make her feel that she was really alive and distract her. Then she stumbled upon an idea that made her smile.
No. Vader didn't wait for her to announce it. That's too dangerous. She sensed the worry wreathed in protectiveness in his voice.
You hypocrite, you went podracing on Coruscant when you were 11.
This is different, he protested, already he was thinking of ways to stop her.
Yeah, I'm older than you were, I'll be fine. Please? So much for her new-found independence, she was already asking for permission to do what she wanted to, but he would say yes eventually, that much she knew. With a begrudging sigh, he relented and she smiled. Then I'm off to find some illegal pod race to join. She skipped from her apartment, stopping long enough to grab some sort of premade food from the kitchenette. Then she went down the hanger bay where her V-wing waited. It was ready to go when she got there, the skittish crew leaving a wide margin of safety around her, a ring that grew larger as she sensed their fear and smiled. Slipping into the cockpit, the ship roared out of the hanger, not waiting to see if there were any people in her way. It was the middle of the day on this part of Coruscant, to find a podrace she would have to go to the night side. The trill of anticipation filled her veins as her starship roared into private sky-lanes, zipping past venerable senators and dignitaries whose faces, plastered with scandalized expressions, made her laugh as she twisted around them. Arden wasn't flying quite so recklessly this time; she would get enough of that later, contenting herself with flying fast in the wrong lane.
As Arden flew around the curve of her home planet, she watched the world grow darker and darker. She couldn't see the sun as it sank behind her, but the sky had grown quite grey and the lights had begun to turn on under thickening storm clouds when she finally decided to descend. Despite the lightning that flickered, she didn't hesitate to put down her ship at a government docking station. As it had been at the Jedi Temple, guard ships flew up to protect the base. This time, she sent her code right away and watched with satisfaction as the ships sped away, not waiting to address her or give her a landing vector. They knew who she was. Her ship clattered onto the duracrete landing bay, and she clambered out of the ship before it turned off completely. The rain pelted down fiercely, stinging her face until she flipped up her heavy, dark hood. The air was full of the smell of lightning and the clap of thunder; she was soaked nearly instantly as she stalked though puddles that made her legs even wetter. There was no one around the landing platform as she left, no one but two storm troopers and dozens of holocams marking her presence. She walked down the street, using the Force to deflect the water splashed up by passing speeders, thought it was nearly irrelevant, she was soaking anyway. Looking through the Force, she searched for emotions that would suggest a podrace, the excitement, nervousness, adrenaline, fear.
Making her way through the dark streets, she walked towards what she thought would be the podrace; she felt that she was being followed. Spinning around, she faced the Dug that stalked her. She lowered her hood before speaking. "What do you want?" She kept her voice cool as she grabbed the handles of her lightsabers.
"Well I want you sweet heart," He hissed in accented Basic as he pointed his blaster at her, "You're going to be my entry fee,"
"Entry fee for what?" She didn't wait for a response, digging deep into his mind, "Ahh, the podrace, I happen to be going there myself. You'll be my entry fee, how convenient." In an instant, she had cut his blaster in half and had one of the red blades at his throat. The Dug's eyes were so large, if they had been any bigger they would have popped out of their sockets. "Walk," She hissed, beaming with satisfaction as he did what she said.
Nicely done, Vader commented, though I think you're worth more than a Dug.
Thanks, following the map in her captive's mind, Arden walked to the garbage dump, a dangerous course, considering the garbage didn't sit there long, it could be picked up at any moment, to reveal the podracers like insects under a moldering log. Beings stared at her as she walked up to the Rodian in charge of entrance fees, thrusting forward the short alien. "My entry fee." For a moment, no one said anything, and she thought they might refuse her, the smile on her face hardened, but then the Rodian took his Dug friend, and directed her towards the staging area where the podracers waited. Looking around, she found the one that had belonged to her would-be abductor. Help me get it ready. She said to Vader.
Barriss and Ferus were pulled into Dexter's apartment, the door hissing shut with a groan behind them. The main room didn't seem to be a very large or particularly well appointed apartment, but it seemed even smaller due to the fact that it was crowded with people. About fifteen beings of various species she didn't know. The rest were sitting on the floor, all were talking at each other, some were working frantically with a datapad, and others were looking at maps and plans. "What are they all doing here?" Ferus asked, looking up at the Besalisk with some confusion, "It's the middle of the night."
"Oh, that'd be the best time!" Dex exclaimed, causing everyone to look up, Barriss felt the glare of the eyes, their confusion and worry. "There're less authorities about at night," He turned to address the members of his rebellion, "These two r' Jedi Knights Barriss Offee and Ferus Olin," She smiled a little as the grins spread across the faced before her, now hope and happiness was what they were giving off, and she felt a twinge of worry as their faith was placed into her hands. It was clear that they thought their problems would be far less with a Jedi around, a Jedi would set everything right. At that moment, she didn't feel at all worthy of anything they had to give her, she was tired, sweaty; her makeup was caked on her skin. This wasn't what a Jedi was supposed to be, she was supposed to be clean, calm, given off an aura of peacefulness. But all she wanted was to remove her makeup and fall into her bed. With effort, she drew herself up, trying to look at least a little like a Jedi. To her relief, Dex seemed to sense her desire, and both she and Ferus were escorted to the only bedroom in the apartment. "I'll get 'cha both up to speed in the morning," He said as the door closed, "Take a shower if ya need on." Barriss looked around the tiny bedroom, it was cleaner than the hotel they had stayed at the previous night, but there was only one bed, and it looked equally outdated. Mercifully, the 'fresher too was clean and she stepped into the shower, letting the sonic waves removed the dirt and sweat and makeup from her. She had no choice now but to remain in her human clothes which were looking distinctly worse for ware, so she gave them a sonic shower too, which didn't completely remove the smell.
Barriss lay on the bed while Ferus had his shower; she was unsure how the sleeping arrangements were going to work with only one small bed to share between them. It took a lot of effort to stay awake as the exhaustion from the long day made itself known. Her mind continued to flick back to the sight of the Jedi Temple, of the blackened ruin that it had become. It was a house of evil now, all its light was snuffed out. It struck her that she would be a part of an endangered species soon if she didn't succeed. So many had died already, good Jedi, Jedi like Luminara who just hadn't seen what was coming The galaxy was a different place now, not just because of the Empire, everything seemed darker, crueler, reflecting the change in the Force. She had to do this, she had to kill the monster that was Darth Vader, and she had to revert the Force back to the light side. This darkness would corrupt others, change them into something they were not, the dark side would turn fallen Jedi into the servants of the Empire, and it was up to her to stop it all.
Ferus stepped out of the 'fresher, light from the room momentarily falling onto her face. "Do you want the bed?" She asked, sitting up and ready to move if he did.
"Why don't we share?
"It's a small bed." Barriss moved over to the edge opposite Ferus as he sunk down on to it, despite her efforts, they were nearly touching.
"We both fit," he sounded tired, drained, his voice soft.
"I'll just sleep on the floor." Barriss made to get off of the bed, grabbing a pillow.
"Don't," With a quiet sight, she relaxed back onto the bed, laying her head on the pillow and looking up into the blackness above her head. There really wasn't much room for the both of them, but despite what she said, she really didn't want to sleep in the hard floor. She rolled onto her side, back to Ferus and closed her eyes, relaxing into the surprisingly soft mattress. "Barriss," Ferus whispered.
"What are we going to do if they can't help us?"
"I don't know, we'll have to break into his palace I guess."
"How are we going to kill him if we don't have lightsabers?" Barriss sighed; she hadn't considered it up until that exact moment.
"We'll find something," She was putting off the inevitable for that moment, but she was tried, it was late, and the weight of all of her worries was beginning to crush her. "Thank you for coming with me," She whispered to Ferus, without him, she would have had a much harder time. Despite her fears, exhaustion was the heavier burden and soon she surrendered to sleep. Her dreams were a confused haze that featured a little purple Twi'lek child who screamed and raged at being left behind, who told her that there was nothing that she could do and that she would become the thing she most hated. Seel'aven suddenly morphed into Darth Vader who laughed in his ominously deep voice, towering over her and Ferus who lay sprawled on the ground, weaponless and bleeding.
She awoke with a start and opened her eyes, sunlight blazing through a dirty window, she felt well rested despite her dreams and the picture of Seel'aven that wouldn't leave her head. Rolling over, she saw that Ferus was still asleep, he was twitching and muttering to himself, but she couldn't make out the words. As loath as she was to wake him, they had things to do. Pulling her arms out from under a pillow, she poked his bare chest. He muttered louder and curled up, giving her even less room in the bed. With a sigh, she slid out of the bed, shivering at the cold air. With a swift motion, she pulled the blankets off of him. Yelping, Ferus sat up, eyes blinking open. "What did you do that for?!"
"It's the morning, we have things we need to do," She said as she walked into the 'fresher to grab her vest that she had left off as she slept. Ferus groaned as he flopped back onto the bed, but when she left the 'fresher, he was fully dressed again and his hair looked passable instead of a ruffled mess. They walked out of the room together and saw that the apartment was still full, but a different crowd had replaced the one that had been working when they had arrived very early that morning. The wonderful smell of food wafted through the air, causing Barriss to realize how hungry she was, thinking back she realized she hadn't eaten for nearly 24 hours. Again the mixture of aliens stared at them, looking up from their mix of datapads and maps. When Dexter turned around from the kitchenette, he nearly dropped the platter of food he was holding.
"You two don' look the same," He said slowly, recovering from his near fall with surprising grace.
"Oh," Barriss said, surprised that she had forgotten to tell him about their disguises when they had arrived, "We thought it would be easier for two human to get through customs than a human and a Mirialian. Dex nodded, shooing a human and a Rodian off of the table where he put down several plates heaping with food. Everyone put down whatever it was that they were working n and walked over, Barriss and Ferus following. As they stood around to eat, she asked Dexter, "What is this place? What are you doing? Where did the people from last night go?"
"Well," he replied slowly, not bothering to swallow the food in his mouth, "This is my apartment; it's the center of the rebellion we're trying to create, we're called the Erased 'cause we've removed all the stuff about of from the holonet. Most of us wouldn't 'ave lasted long otherwise; the Empire woulda caught us for somthin. We're trying to find the best Imp base so we can attack it and get more stuff an' weapons and support from the public for a real rebellion. The people from last night were part 'o a planning session, this is the reconnaissance team.
"Have you narrowed down the bases you want to strike?"" Ferus asked as he put his plate away and moved towards the maps that lay scattered about the rather filthy floor. Barriss looked up at him, they had other things they needed to do, and they needed these people's help to stop Vader. She had already been delayed once by the mission to rescue Roan, and now she wanted to get it done, not get drawn into another rebellion, wasting time while more people died. Unfortunately, she couldn't say anything without making both herself and Ferus look bad and unhelpful in front of the Erased; she would talk to him later about his attachment to lost causes.
"Yes, we have about six that we think are likely candidates for a strike," Said a Mon Calamari from across the room. After breakfast, everyone returned to their maps and datapads that Barriss now realize where layouts of the six buildings and inventories and schedules. She went over to a docile-looking Ithorian and sat beside him on the floor.
"What are you looking for?" She inquired, hoping she wasn't making a nuisance of herself. She didn't really know what she was supposed to do now, she was not in charge, no one had told her what to do and she didn't really know what she could do to help. This combination was something she wasn't used to feeling. She was used to having a role, having a job or having someone like Luminara to tell her exactly what she was supposed to be doing. But when the Ithorian looked up, she breathed a sigh of relief, he wasn't annoyed, he was more in awe of her. It was a bit of a surprise to her, to find an Ithorian among the rebels, they were generally devoted pacifists, extremely good diplomats, and abhorred weapons, but she felt that it would be rude to inquire.
"I am looking at the schedules and shipment manifests to find at which time it is best to strike." He said in an accented Basic that sounded almost like a song instead of just talking, a song that sounded as though it were coming from many beings instead of one, due to the four mouths that Ithorians possessed.
"Would you like my help?" She asked gently, trying hard not to sound as though she were trying to usurp his job or make it seem as though she thought he was incapable of doing it, but he happily handed her a datapad and transferred information of three of the six facilities to it. This whole thing reminded her of their search for Roan. Barriss looked over to Ferus, she had tried not to dwell on what might have become of Bellassa in their absence but she knew that Ferus had not forgotten. And that he wanted to go back. Perhaps when this was all over, they could return to what they had left behind on the little resort world, but for now they had a job to do. Barriss tore her mind away from images of a burning planet, and a little purple body, returning to her task. She slowly flipped through the information about the first base, trying to find the optimal time to strike. It seemed to be evenly guarded, but at the hours between one and four in the morning, the number of staff and guards decreased, if only by a little bit. Flagging what she thought were the best times, Barriss looked at the other information about the base, looking of other information that might help or hinder them, such as deliveries. It seemed to get frequent shipments from several locations, it looked like weapons shipments, but why could one outpost need so many weapons?
Her curiosity piqued, she searched up the address from which the shipments came, they were all weapons depots, but why? Flipping back to the shipping manifests, she noted that all the shipments were fairly recent and coincided with the addition of several hundred more storm troopers being assigned to the base. Still confused, she decided to look at the surrounding buildings to see if there was anything being planned there. To her surprise; there were obvious signs of a plan, a well-publicized and documented plan set up by the Empire. It was a construction project called the 'Alien Protection Zone" and according to the Imperials, it was a place meant to protect aliens from prejudice. Homes would be built to reflect the worlds of many species and to create a 'safe' atmosphere.
"But why would they need all of the storm troopers and the weapons?" She wondered aloud, the Ithorian looked up in concern.
"What is wrong?" He asked, looking over at her datapad. In a few sentenced, she told him what she had found.
"But it doesn't make any sense; the Empire hates non-humans, so why would they try to help them escape prejudice? Why call in all the Storm Troopers and get so many weapons if all they are doing is building housing?" She looked up at the Ithorian, and then looked over to see the entire room looking at her.
"I think we found our base," Said Dexter.
