Chapter 9: The Reunion Of Old Friends

Asajj Ventress still can't believe she was working with her once sworn enemy.

When she had been cast off by Count Dooku, she hadn't ever wanted to depend on anyone ever again as she had thought betrayal was everywhere and that anyone would betray her.

The only reason why she had survived as long was due to living with the resources that came her way for so long, smuggling away as a bounty hunter and gaining easy money where she could purchase a flat where she could hide in.

Left for dead at the Battle of Sullust, Ventress scurried aboard her crippled starfighter and drove it along the hangar floor towards the airlock, escaping the Providence-class destroyer just as it detonated under continued fire. The explosion destroyed much of the remaining Confederate fleet and won the battle for the Republic, leaving behind only debris and an unconscious Ventress in the charred hull of her disabled Ginivex-class starfighter. Whatever happened, she had managed to survive and has been through quite a journey for the past months.

The remains of Ventress's ship and her unconscious body were eventually discovered by a salvage ship, the Raider. The scavengers aboard, who had been picking through the debris field in the aftermath of the battle, took the Fanblade starfighter as a prize and pulled Ventress from the wreckage. The scavenger captain Ratch and his crew resuscitated the woman and began interrogating her about the battle at knifepoint, but the injured and betrayed Ventress refused to answer questions, instead demanding to be taken to Dathomir. When Ratch questioned her demands, she seized the Twi'lek captain and his three crewmen in a Force choke that killed them almost instantly. Knowing that the Confederacy was no longer her cause and the Republic was still her enemy, Ventress took command of the Raider and set course for her long-lost homeworld in the Mid Rim.

Mother Talzin and her coven welcomed Ventress back to their sisterhood and together they conspired to kill Dooku. After a failed attempt to assassinate the count, Ventress and Talzin moved to install a pawn of their own close to Dooku as his new assassin and apprentice. To that end, Ventress selected the Zabrak Nightbrother Savage Opress to be gifted to Dooku and eventually to aid her in his murder. This plan also went awry after Opress rejected both Ventress and Dooku and nearly killed them both. Resolving to make a new life for herself, Ventress returned to Dathomir to formally rejoin her clan and forgo further plans for revenge, but Dooku would not have it. The count targeted the Nightsisters for harboring his former apprentice and dispatched Grievous and his droid army to massacre the Dathomirian witches. Mother Talzin and Ventress were among the few survivors of the slaughter and were forced to separately flee Dathomir to escape Dooku's wrath.

Ventress was deeply hurt by the loss of her newfound family and so took to wandering the galaxy in search of a purpose, ultimately turning to bounty hunting, and finding a good measure of success in the business. This work forced her to adopt a series of unexpected alliances—she rescued Obi-Wan Kenobi from the clutches of the former Sith Lord Maul and Savage Opress, who had recently apprenticed himself to his renegade Sith brother- and then begin to work with Skywalker himself and that began their odd friendship.

She had no intentions to usurp Dooku's place as his successor with Skywalker, yet, she had wanted to feel the satisfaction of cutting off Dooku's head, and if that means meeting Skywalker's demands... she would begrudgingly do it.

So, she had been walking around the planet for many hours, and she had been able to track a clue to this so-called Revolt, that being a mysterious young man with dark hair, a shaved but yet somewhat of a noticeable black beard, tan-skinned. To anyone else, he would have been just a normal being who was minding his business, yet Ventress could sense self-righteousness and somewhat of a glim hope of succeeding a task... a task that was unknown to her, though she had her suspicions.

As the shady man walk, she had noticed him turning an alleyway and soon joined him, hearing a sudden click from behind her and she had to resist the urge to smirk as she had known that individuals were creeping up on her.

"Who are you?" The man in front asked, him turning around to her, revealing a DL-18 blaster which was aimed at her chest as clearly a warning of what would happen if she tries anything.

She felt the muzzle of a DC-17 hand blaster against her head and had to resist the urge to react with the power of the Force as she hadn't ever taken it too lightly when her life was in danger. Her former Master before Dooku would have always warned her to not attack with aggression and to not jump to conclusions and immediately seized a life, but Dooku had warned her of the exact opposite, and that if anyone ever threatens her, destroyed them and then asked questions later.

She was conflicting between the guidance of Ky Narac and the guidance of Count Dooku, her spirit wavering between light and darkness, her eyes becoming icy blue and her normal blue eyes.

She had heard the voice of a man she hadn't heard since the Nightsister had preformed their spell on her, the voice of her Master.

Her surroundings were suddenly of inside the Temple; the way she was grieving after her first kill, and the way her Master would advise her that since she didn't attack with aggression, it wasn't her fault.

"Ventress, you are strong and powerful. Never attack innocent people without hearing their side of the story and you will prove to be a strong person. Not everyone is intended on killing you."

Ultimately, she had chosen to listen to her former Master... her true Master over the words of Dooku, the man who had lied and manipulated her into killing dozens of innocent beings.

"I have heard there's a Slave Revolt on Tatooine and have come to offer my assistance. By the way you are being highly suspicious and are assuming I am a threat by aiming a blaster on me, I could tell you know something." It wasn't completely a lie; she had been interested in helping them as long as Skywalker helps her.

The man appears to be staring at her up and down, obviously trying to get a feel for her. This is something the Nightsister never understood about humans since a lot of them could read you like an open book and not be a Jedi. They didn't even have to be Force Sensitive!

"Hmm... you don't look like an enforcer for Jabba the Hutt, but how can we truly trust you?" The young man asked, his eyes becoming pained as he stares at Ventress. "We have been suffering betrayal and many of our friends and allies who have attempted to fight back against slavery have been slaughtered like animals and our Revolts were dissolve. There are only at least 200 of us left."

Ventress had felt the truth from the man's words by the Force and she felt a strange sort of remorse for them as she had gone through experiences of losing her people to fight back against the betrayal that she had upheld by Dooku. All of her people were wiped out by that serpent, Count Dooku, and that servant, General Grievous, and she had felt a strange sort of determination to at least go out and try to save others in an already broken galaxy.

"You don't have to trust me, but I am asking you to listen to me. Someone I know wants to meet you. He hates slavery, and I am to assist him." As much as Ventress was resentful of what she was about to do, the Nightsister decided it would be best to gain their trust. "You can take my weapons on my belt, but be careful as you can easily chop off your own arm."

"Wald," the man spoke to a Rodian, who was standing behind her with an E-11 blaster rifle, still aimed at the back of her head. "Take her weapons."

Ventress had to again resist the urge to act out as her hilts were taken from her belt by the Rodian and placed in a small bag before the Rodian lifted it up.

"Return to the shop. I will deal with our new friend here." The man declares, causing the Rodian, now known as Wald to nod sharply and begins walking off with the few other aliens and people, leaving Ventress with the young man. "I never got your name."

She had been called Ventress for so long, but in her stride of returning to the light side of the Force, she had felt herself wanting to use her old and true name and had preferred to be called that now. Never had she suspected of turning away from Dooku's training which had surely made her stronger, but she was ready to do such a thing as Ventress was given to her by that man.

"Vent-Asajj." Asajj declares, crossing her arms across her chest, having also wanting to get his name. "And yours?"

The man allowed a gentle yet gruff smile to form on his lips.

"Kitster Banai."

Nightfall arrived back on the planet of Tatooine, and the young former Jedi Knight returned to his ship where, not much to his surprise, he could sense Ventress, though there was another presence with her, a presence whom the young Jedi Knight didn't recognize.

Something was familiar about this presence, yet he had never felt it before. He hadn't been to Tatooine for practically ten years and the only people he had known were Owen and Beru Lars, yet, this wasn't their presence, even though he could barely remember them as he hadn't been on this planet for the past three years, having purposely avoiding to do missions on this planet, and it wasn't like the Council attempted to ask him to carry out missions here, knowing his mother was dead and that he would be tested with the dark side here.

The only time he was sent here was because he and Ahsoka was assigned to bring Jabba's son back to the slimy hutt, and even so, he had felt the calls to the dark side as he had recalled what happened to his mother.

He walked up to his ship, his hand wrapped around his sword hilt that was in his hand as he glares directly at a man, who was holding a blaster, though it wasn't directly aimed at Ventress.

"Who the hell are you?" Anakin demanded piercingly.

The man quickly turned his gun on Anakin, who reacted out of instinct, twirling the sword in his hand and slashing the blaster away before using the Force to push the man to his hanger ramp, nearing with his sword aimed at his throat, warning him what would happen if he tries anything like that again. Unbeknownst to him, his eyes were flashing golden once again.

"Skywalker, relax!" Ventress's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, causing him to turn to face her, before closing his eyes and opening them again, his eyes returning to blue and looking down to see the man groaning, clutching the front of his head.

"Okay, I'm calmed, but who are you?" The former Jedi Knight inquires to the down man, pulling his sword away, but making sure to keep it where he could be able to counter him if he tries that again.

However, the second Anakin looked at his eyes, he spotted shock and terror in his eyes, along with a strange sort of nostalgia.

"You should know who I am, Anakin, but I cannot blame you, for it had been 13 years," the man declares, slowly standing up as Anakin looked away in shock as he hadn't even given his name nor did Ventress said his first name. "It's me, Anakin, Kitster."

Anakin gasped and fallen back, clutching his head as he had remembered his best friend on this planet, the only person who always had his back and had tried to be his friend, never bullying him like the people on this planet or in the Temple. Kitster Banai was his best friend, the only friend he truly had that was his age. The closest person who was his friend in the Temple was Barriss Offee.

"Kitster! I'm sorry!" Anakin exclaims, rushing up to the young man and immediately helping him up, noticing the young man staggering slightly but managing to balanced himself and rubs the back of his head.

"Really, Ani, you have grown stronger and more powerful," Kitster spoke, a smirk on his lips, showing that he had forgiven Anakin, even though he was moments away from maiming him or worse.

"Annie?" Ventress states, raising her eyebrows and a smirk on her lips in silent amusement.

Anakin shot a glare towards Ventress for a moment, wishing she hadn't heard the name he had been called by his friends as a child. The only person who he approves of calling him that is Padmé.

"Kitster, I have come here so I could help your Revolts after hearing from it by a... special friend. We need to talk..."

Arthur's note: Anakin and Kitster have finally reunited! I know this chapter wasn't long, but I feel like it was long enough to focus on Ventress running into one of the Revolts and for Anakin to give a realistic reaction to his old friend. At this point, Anakin is tormented and is struggling with the darkness; notice how Ventress is beginning to become calmer and a better person, choosing not to act against them despite them threatening her life while Anakin attacks Kitster. I'm honestly frightened of what I'm doing to Anakin. ;)

Anyway, it's time for some action and some more dark side Anakin moments. I can't wait for that!

I have a question for you; should I have the Galactic Marines assist Skywalker in freeing the slaves or should they not appear anymore?

May the Force be with you all always.