The next morning, I woke up and uncurled my body from around Ben. I stretched with immense satisfaction. I had no regrets, Ben was mine. He stirred beside me and smiled. I pulled the rough cotton sheets to cover me and leaned on his shoulder and asked what was on my mind all these months.
"What happened to your back?"
Ben sighed and was silent for an uncomfortable length of time. "It was when my uncle tried to kill me," he began in flat emotionless tone.
"It was a stormy night, I had a bad premonition that something bad was going to happen. I had a dream that woke me up. I woke up to see my uncle standing over me with a drawn light saber." I winced. There was no way his uncle could have denied it and claimed it as an accident. It was definitely motive for murder. Ben laid under me completely still, the only indication that he was going to continue was his lashes moving as he blinked.
"But why?" I asked, troubled.
Ben shrugged, "I don't know, I never stayed to ask. I tried to get away from him. We fought and brought down the dormitory around us. The light sabers set the wood on fire and it collapsed. A beam fell on me and he left me." Ben closed his eyes, clearly reliving that night.
I rubbed his chest in sympathy. Ben drew a breath and continued. "He left me under that burning beam and I passed out. When I woke, Smoke dragged me out of the fire and put me out. He saved me and trained me when my uncle refused to."
"What about your parents?" I asked. I knew I was pushing but I had to know.
Ben heaved a breath and explained that his mother was still involved in running the fledging New Republic and going through a terrible time in her marriage with his father. As he recovered, his parents fought over whether Luke was to blame for everything or whether it was their fault for sending Ben to be trained so soon or late.
"They didn't care," Ben said bitterly. "They were so busy accusing each other or casting blame, they didn't ever ask me for my side of anything; whether I wanted to be trained in the first place or if my uncle was really to blame, or what was going to happen next. I was patted on the head and told to mind my own damn business and to butt out."
I couldn't reply so I stayed still and allowed him to fidget with my hair. Ben sighed and wound my hair around his long fingers. "That's how Snoke saved me. He saved me from the fire and took me in and trained me. I followed his orders until he transferred me to you."
"And here we are," I murmured.
Xxxxxx
Ben had made a full recovery in less than a week and progressed with Ahsoka and my help in leaps and bounds. We spent the days honing his combat skills while I honed his other skills at night. Ahsoka taught him how to better control the Force while I taught the both of them how to fence.
We stood in the courtyard with Ahsoka and Ben standing on the dusty tiles while I paced in front of them, dust swirling around my sturdy leather boots.
"Fencing is different from fighting," I quoted my father. "There is an artistry to fencing; you don't wave a sword around hoping to hit something. You have to have complete control over your body. You dance," I bent my knees, getting en guarde. I knew that both Ahsoka and Ben were competent swordsman but they were taught differently than me and I only knew the one way to fence. They flew through the basics and quickly, I was teaching them my art.
I was tired and snappish at the end of the day. Beside training Ahsoka and Ben, I was also fielding calls and attending holo meetings. I was drained. I walked wearily into our room, pulling my hair down, out from its tight ponytail. I mussed my hair with my fingers, giving my scalp a massage. Finding Ben messing with my stolen light saber, a surge of possession filled me.
"Put it down," I snapped in tones of pure authority, the one I used in times of battle. "Are you going to make me?" Ben smirked, his eyes melting into blackness, sparking with mischief and mirth. He stole my breath, I had never seen him like this, confident and comfortable with himself. My surprise didn't last long and I regained control easily.
I let out a low lazily wicked laugh. "I don't need to. You'll do it for me," I purred, all seduction and promise in my voice. I gave him a slow, utterly sensuous smile while slipping out of my clothing. I sauntered into a beam of moonlight and posed, angling my body just so. The soft silvery light clothed me in its magical glow illuminating my pearlescent skin and setting my hair alight. Ben set down the light saber and stared at me intensely, his eyes flashed like fragments of night sky. I beckoned and he came eagerly. I loved the way he looks at me, the way he beheld me. With wide-open awe, gratitude and even a touch of greed because one sight will never be enough.
His large callused hands glided gently over my smooth marble skin bringing heat into me. He mouthed kisses onto my skin, so tenderly, so demanding. Ben trailed down my body paying particular attention to my throat. He sank to his knees before me.
My voice was velvet but the words were poison. "Look at you, how the mighty have fallen. Caving to my every demand." I arched my back under him.
Ben eyes were intense, almost manic but his hands said what his lips couldn't convey, stroking my back affectionately, adoringly. He pressed gentle kisses light as a dream down my throat and across my collarbone. I was stunned at his tenderness. He moved in such a way that sent my very soul in disarray. I motioned for him to turn over and I scrambled over him and sank onto him, enjoying the way he moaned in that luscious timbre.
I moved my hips luxuriously, sensuously, keeping a rhythm all of my own making. Ben pled and writhed beneath me, bucking his hips into my wetness. No longer caring about anything else but the feel of him inside. My plans can burn to ash and I would still want more. I fucked him, chasing my completion, my hair swirling around my body like a silver storm. Ben sobbed my name as he came. "Artemis!" The heat of his release entered me, finally pushing me over the edge. I fisted my hands in his hair, decadent to a fault, now mussed from sex. His eyes snapped open and flashed like obsidian. Two stones of fathomless black, cut from molten fire, seared my soul.
Gently, I extricated myself and released him. Ben looked hypnotized as the combined fluids of our release ran down my legs. He reached forward and ran his fingers in the mess.
"I wish.." He began in a husky tone and apprehension gripped my heart. "Later, I'm going to shower," I cut him off and left. When I returned, to my relief, he was asleep.
Xxxxxxx
When the sun set on the 8th day, I received a call from the Ursa Major.
"Lady Bo Katan needs to speak to you," Ptolemy, my admiral announced after his greeting. I gestured at him to put her through. A beat later, Bo Katan came into view. She gave me a warrior's salute which I returned before removing her helmet. Her fiery orange hair shone through the holo and she narrowed her sharp hazel eyes at my cool blue gaze.
"We have a problem, Admiral Tarkin. Darth Maul is back. Sightings of a red and black Zabrak has been reported from my men patrolling the catacombs."
I frowned at her, "Forgive me but I'm not familiar with this Darth Maul. I am under the impression that Mandalore was under siege from the Shadow Collective." From my dalliance with the Duke of Mandalore, I learned that a cohort of crime lords had control of Mandalore and the planet was under a corrupt government with Corkey as its puppet leader.
Bo Katan hissed a sharp breath and explained. "Darth Maul is a dangerous man. He's cunning and evil," she spat vehemently. "Worst of all, he has Force powers." A breath made me terminate the holo immediately and whirl around with my blaster in hand. Durge has made me twitchy with all of his constant reminders to be vigilant.
It was Ahsoka at the doorway. She looked like she was doused in icy water, such was her shock, her orange complexion seemed gray. "How much did you hear?" I kept the blaster raised.
"Enough to learn that Maul is still alive." She raised her hands in a placating manner. She didn't approach which was good, if she approached, she would have been shot. Her calm voice persuaded me to lower the blaster. "Do you know about him?" I interrogated.
"Yes. Bo Katan is right. He's incredibly dangerous."
"You know her too?" I raised my blaster again. "Yes. I worked with her a long time ago during the first siege of Mandalore and we…parted ways." She looked askance.
"What do you mean? Did you have a falling out?"
She nodded, making her lekku sway. "In a sense."
I sighed. I liked her but she knew too much. "If you allow me, I would like to join you and Bo Katan. I'm not going to get involved in the politics, I gave that up long ago but Darth Maul is too dangerous for the two of you alone. He's someone that needs to be defeated." Ahsoka said before I could make a move. I lowered the blaster once more and rubbed the bridge of my nose in frustration.
"Why should I trust you?" Isn't this a ploy for power? I added to myself internally.
Ahsoka shrugged. It just seems like you will have to. You can have Ben watching over me. I frowned in suspicion. "That's not enough. I want your saber as collateral." She looked down at the worn chrome and black chassis of the hilt.
She gave a slow long nod in acquiescence. Reluctantly she handed them over. I held their cool reassuring weight and clipped them to the belt around my waist. "We should call Ben. If this Darth maul is as dangerous as everyone claims, we probably need his help."
We walked to the main room of the temple where Ben was taken in the beginning to be healed. The old murals on the walls stared coldly at me as we passed. The dust on the ground muffled our steps which no doubt would have echoed up to the vaulted ceiling.
"Who are you, really?" I persisted.
Ahsoka sighed. "Once upon a time, I was a Jedi." Her bright blue eyes clouded with memories, hiding their sapphire sharpness like gauzy clouds drifting across the sky. "I was Ben's grandfather Anakin's apprentice. He was my hero." She smiled, a sad thing to see, haunted by ghosts and what ifs.
"And?" I prompted.
"He died." She stated flatly, her eyes unfocusing. "He died and left me behind. He had 2 kids and I helped train them. Now I have to help Ben and by extension you. They're all I have left of him. Do you understand?"
"I do." I understood that as long as Ben was by my side, she wouldn't harm me. She would do all that she can to protect the remnants of her beloved master's legacy.
Xxxxxx
I didn't bother looking behind as I left Kiros behind me, enough time has been wasted there. I was finally on my way. I stared out of the window in my office, watching the stars streak past. I contemplated my position. I was playing a deadly game, I was risking everything to gain Mandalore but once Madalore was mine, so was the Empire. I took a sip of my whiskey. Everything hinged on this operation. I had everything, I could live a life of leisure but I was more than just a Marquess of the Galactic Empire, I was going to be more. The planet appeared through the glass, breaking me out of my reverie.
At last I was on Mandalore. Bo Katan greeted me with Corkey. She stood differentially behind her nephew but anyone could tell that she was the one in power. She had control of Death Watch. A delicious medley of politics, intrigue, and high stakes. I love it, at long last I return to my element. I took a breath of the planet's city air. I extended a hand gracefully and took Corkey's proffered arm while ignoring Ben's scathing eyes burning through the thin gossamer silk of my gown into my back.
The day passed with meetings with dignitaries, aristocracy, and governmental officials. I met everyone with a bladed smile and kept a finger on Mandalore's political pulse. It seems that the upper class was unhappy with the government's stagnant stance about offworld policies and the public was frustrated with the Shadow Collective's totalitarian control on daily life. It was so perfect, the entire planet was an entire receptacle of fuel and I was the match.
In the evening, a lavish party was thrown in my honor. All my men and the aristocracy attended in full regalia. Before I dismissed my officers, I warned them severely that if I saw them in any indiscretion, I would flog them. The temptation for an offworld fling with a handsome officer is difficult for the sheltered, pampered wives of the elite to resist and they usually threw themselves with abandon at my men but we were here for business, not pleasure.
Ben lounged on the bed and lazily watched me choose my clothing. He was sated and watched with commentary. "Why do you have to take so long to get ready?"
I scoffed at his ignorance. "It takes time to look truly spectacular," I replied, shimmying out of my former dress and put on the next. I nodded, pleased with the way the pale gold fabric brought color to my skin and the way the silver sequins caught the light. My mother taught me and all my sisters every aspect of the art of being a woman. How to purse our lips just so, how to shoot a man a glance that will bring him to his knees and how to speak. Most importantly, she taught us that we needed to get what we needed from people first. Promises were nothing more than words. We needed security, so I learned a thousand such tricks that have enchanted a thousand such men.
"Get changed," I commanded.
The party was a success that ended in a nightmare. It began well, food and wine was sumptuous and conversation flowed generously. I laughed and flirted, it was a wonderful night. After so many days in space and on the run, I missed being surrounded by my peers having conversations about politics and fine arts rather than arguing with Ben about where to run and dwindling supplies. Speaking of which, I glanced over my shoulder and saw him engrossed in conversation with one of Bo Katan's lieutenants. He met my eyes and gave me a slight inclination of his head. When I turned back to my conversation, an earthshattering explosion threw us to the ground. I struggled to stand, my stiletto heels slid on the slippery tiles and I swam in my long sequined skirts.
In 3 great bounds Ben was at my side, hauling me up to my feet. He crushed me to his side and we ran to the broken window.
"Durge!" He shouted and a response was prompt. "Here Commander!" Durge's voice came from outside the window. Ben threw me out with a grunt and I gave a squeak as I landed safely in Durge's arms. "Where to Admiral?"
"Get me to Ursa Major," I commanded. My new flagship was going to be the safest place for me at the moment. We ran to a security transport and took it to the port. I ran onto the ship, all my remaining officers adjutant and staff rushed out mouths gaping with questions. I commanded all of my staff to return to the ships and I sent soldiers out to gather them.