3643 BBY - Six Years after Padawan Tarys Valerys began his apprenticeship to Grand Master Satele Shan

Satele Shan's ship landed on Cademimu V, a richly inhabited industrial world that the Republic used as its main weapons stockpile in the Outer Rim. Centuries of industrial processes had left the environment ridden with smog and Tarys couldn't help but cough as he stepped off the Jedi vessel. The dark red sky was further blackened by towers of smoke billowing from burning buildings and machines as thousands took to the streets in protest of the actions of their governor, Chornarov.

"Tarys, you know why we're here. Governor Chornarov has seized power and declared martial law. He's declared Cademimu independent from the Republic and is trying to seize the weapons here," Satele briefed him.

"What I don't get is, why would he do that? Surely he'd want the Republic's protection during a Cold War like this."

"He was charged with corruption - taking bribes - and was due to be arrested just before he made the declaration. It's fair to say that probably has something to do with it," she explained.

"Sounds guilty."

"He does, but as always, it's not our place to judge. Ideally, we arrest him ourselves and turn him over to Republic authorities. Our job here is to remove him from power and retake the missiles that are stored here. We cannot allow Chornarov to control them. Billions could die if they were all fired."

"Understood, Master. So what's the plan? The missiles should come first right?" Tarys asked.

"Ordinarily I'd agree but with the governor's private army violently suppressing the rioting it's imperative he's arrested as soon as possible and the mercenaries dispersed. The missiles need to be under control immediately too, however. Listen, Tarys. We're going to split up. You're going to go to the missile battery and I'll take care of the governor. You've worked hard, I trust you," she said, putting a reassuring hand on her Padawan's shoulder.

"Split up? If you think I can do it… Then I can, yeah, missile battery, got it," Tarys affirmed. The plan was sound, both sides of the mission were time-sensitive so it was smart to pursue both simultaneously. Tarys just hoped his Master's faith was not misplaced.

The warm street lighting on the planet made the sky feel all that much redder with the grey metal that the streets were made out of adopting a slight orange tint that made them seem even more unnatural than they already were. Master Satele had given Tarys the coordinates to the missile battery, it wasn't too far only about an hour's walk from the landing point. He'd be faster if he ran, of course.

The mission briefing on the ship warned that junior officers guarded the path to the battery. They shouldn't be too much trouble for Tarys though, he trusted in his fighting abilities and lately he'd been practising Form III (Soresu) quite a bit so he'd become adept at blocking blaster fire.

What bothered him the most, however, were the sounds he was hearing. Screaming and shouting and explosions seemed to dominate the scene as the citizens had formed something of a militia to fight against the governor's private army. Tarys's stomach turned at the thought of the sort of man this planet's supposed protector had chosen to hire. General Ortol was only a general in the Ord Mantell Separatist Movement, an organised force fighting the Republic on the planet, and if the Republic's field reports were to be believed, Ortol had sent millions of soldiers, civilians and even children to their deaths.

That sort of man had no place outside of a prison.

War was ugly, there were no two ways about it. He didn't even remember much of the Great War but from what he'd seen of this Cold War, he only wanted peace. People deserved peace and happiness, not whatever the smell of burning flesh and decaying bodies entailed. Tarys was a Jedi, he'd uphold peace. That was what the Padawan told himself as he steeled himself for battle. He didn't mind fighting, he enjoyed it even but only as an exercise. As soon as he began to think about why he had ignited his lightsabers, it made him realise that he'd try to avoid fighting as much as he could.

When he was younger he looked forward to fighting, the missions and all of what came with being Padawan and then came with becoming a Knight. But he realised now, with the more missions he did with Master Satele, why she and the rest of the Jedi were so strongly opposed to unnecessary fighting and why Initiates were told as often as they were to trust in the force to stay their blade unless they absolutely needed it.

There was one time where Tarys had nearly died. He was hopelessly weak compared to his opponent and he'd nearly been killed. Even now, two years since then, thinking about it made him shiver. Jedi were not supposed to fear death, in fact, they were not supposed to fear at all. But that day he was well and truly afraid. Not so much of the idea that he was going to die but of the being, the creature that was going to kill him. The amount of darkness he felt, it dwarfed the darkness he'd felt from Padawan Callef's bag during his Initiate Trials. He felt the darkness of a true Sith Lord. It was only due to Master Satele's intervention that he survived, and it was Tarys' fault Master Satele was even there. If he hadn't broken… If he'd held out…

The Sith's golden eyes had been so full of hate and anger like he hadn't felt peace in all of his life. The memory was an uncomfortable one but he couldn't deny that the dark side held power. It was no wonder that the Sith Empire was such a threat.

"Do not fear, you'll be fine."

Master Satele's voice echoed within his mind, of course, she could read his feelings, even when she was worlds away she knew if he was afraid. That's what happened when Master and Padawan shared a force bond. Tarys tried to take his Master's words to heart. He could do this. In truth, it was the first time he'd been assigned such a critical part of a mission to complete on his own, there would've been a time where he'd jump at such a chance but now… he wasn't certain he could complete the task.

Even if he could not believe in himself, he'd try to believe in Master Satele, she'd earned that and more after all these years. She said she believed in him and he trusted her. Tarys held up his wrist to his face, tapping a few commands into his wrist-mounted holo and brought up a map of the local area, he was headed in the right direction.

Of course, he didn't need a map to tell him that when he heard an irritated (and irritating) voice shout that he wasn't allowed there. More often than not, the places he wasn't allowed were exactly the places he needed to be.

Tarys gave the landscape a quick scan. There were two of them, the man who just spoke to them and an assault droid, an EN model if he remembered right. The two of them would be fine, what really worried him were the two turrets flanking them - four enemies shooting at him would be trouble. An EMP grenade would have been stellar right then.

Time to see if training Soresu had paid off.

He unhooked his sabers from his belt and ignited them, familiar cyan blades forming immediately after pressing the buttons. Being able to use the blades at full length was definitely helpful in deflecting blaster fire. As soon as he ignited the sabers, he had four separate sets of plasma bolts aiming for him. Go into battle calmly. Tarys drew a deep breath and felt the trajectory of each bolt through the Force and moved a lightsaber to block it accordingly. None of these weapons were automatic, meaning they were slow enough for him to close the distance between him and his enemies comfortably enough.

As soon as he was within four metres of one of the droids he blinked behind it and impaled it with his lightsabers. One down. Tarys then threw his offhand saber toward the EN droid's blaster, cutting it into two pieces. So long as he stayed outside of melee range the droid was harmless now. These lower-ranking "officers" were never too smart, instead of spreading out and making Tarys work to defeat them he stayed close to his allies, all within blinking range for him.

That's what happens when you give out promotions within an unprofessional mercenary army.

Tarys teleported on top of the droid then immediately to the side of the other turret and severed its head from its base, ensuring it wouldn't give the Padawan any more trouble. He then blinked back to the droid, making sure to act quickly before the seven-foot-tall automaton was able to attack him in return. Tarys severed one of its legs from its body, toppling it, and stabbed his other saber into the machine's torso. Between the two strikes, it was unambiguously neutralised.

Now, the officer himself. Teleportation was truly a blessing for Tarys. He was able to move across a battlefield much faster than most people could even react, and this situation was no exception as Ortol's henchman was clearly rattled when he noticed that suddenly all three of his allies were down for the count.

"Surrender, I don't want to hurt you."

"Are you a Jedi? The General never said anything about Jedi," the officer asked, clearly hoping it wasn't true.

"What gave it away? Was it the lightsabers or the Force powers? Come on, you're beaten, put the blaster down and I won't have to hurt you," Tarys never did like taking action against living beings. He'd killed before, it was necessary and he had come to terms with that, but if it could be helped, he always wanted to avoid unnecessary bloodshed.

To his relief, the man did as he asked, raising one arm and bending down to put the blaster on the ground. That wasn't so hard, hopefully the rest of the mission would go that smoothly, although Tarys knew he was tempting fate by even thinking that.

"You know I can't just leave you, I saw some of your colleagues carrying stun cuffs, I assume you do too, I'll be needing to use them to restrain you."

"What? First, you make me surrender then you wanna 'restrain' me? No way!" The man tried to run away from him, having seemingly forgotten Tarys could teleport to him in an instant, or having just chosen to ignore that fact.

Doing so, Tarys pushed the man to the ground and took the cuffs from his belt and clamped his hands into the contraption, then his legs. He let him sit up on the ground to give him some shred of comfort.

"You're going to wait here until Republic authorities arrive to arrest you. You are not going to even try moving, understood?"

"There isn't much I can do about it now is there?" The soldier grumbled.

Next time Tarys was just going to Force Persuade them.

The Padawan continued along the path his holo showed him and found a lone Wookie holding a cannon that looked to match Tarys in size. If there was ever one time or another Tarys wished he knew Shyriiwook, this was it. He had no desire to have an angry Wookie shooting at him. Being part of Ortol's army the Wookie likely understood Basic. Hopefully, he'd be able to make him stand down.

He had no such luck. As soon as he stepped within the Wookie's line of sight, a massive jet of fire threatened to burn him alive if he didn't move out of the way. So, that was a flamethrower and not a cannon. Good to know. Tarys had to be especially careful too, if he was inaccurate and pierced the gas cylinder on the Wookie's back with his lightsaber then it would all light and explode, potentially killing both of them. The best way to deal with this was probably to cut off his access to the weapon, cutting off the handles was probably his best bet then.

This would need extreme precision, so Tarys only turned on one of his lightsabers and started blinking towards his enemy, first cutting the connection between the Wookie's right hand and the flamethrower, which was a long metal tube that was far enough removed from the main mechanism that the risk of any gas catching fire was negligible. His enemy let go of the flame thrower, not wanting to get burned by the lightsaber. Perfect. Then he grabbed Tarys with his now free right hand and hoisted him into the air. Not perfect.

His grip was tight, any tighter and his ribs would've started breaking. Tarys couldn't even teleport away, he needed to be able to physically move for that to work. Maybe Force Persuasion could still work? It was a long shot but it was the best idea he had before he was crushed by the Wookie, who had by now added a second hand to support his iron grip.

"You will put me down and surrender, then you will wait for Republic forces to apprehend you without resistance," Tarys said, waving his free left hand in front of the Wookie's face.

Tarys had put all his faith on the assumptions that the Wookie understood Basic at all and that it would work. Moments later he felt the grip on him loosen as he touched the ground. Thank the Force. The Wookie then stood down putting his flamethrower and the backpack it was attached to on the ground and quietly sat on the floor himself, waiting, Tarys assumed, for Republic forces. That went well, all things considered.

He continued on. Now he was only a few minutes away, and thankfully most of the soldiers' attention was taken up by the riots and it appeared all but the most senior leaders were on the streets trying to suppress the uprising. Going up a ramp, he finally reached the battery, then he heard the deafening sound of a ship landing. An Imperial ship.

Tarys prepared himself for battle, igniting both his sabers and adopting a loose stance. He had to be ready for anything.

The ship's door slowly opened until it created a ramp to the ground and from it emerged a single person, a girl clad in black. She looked to be the same age as him. In her hand she held a lightsaber hilt, longer than a normal one. It looked like Master Satele's, did she use a double-bladed lightsaber too? After she saw him she ignited it, revealing purple blades on either side. Well, that answered that. Tarys was perplexed though, someone using a lightsaber from the Empire had to be Sith right? And Sith used red sabers, at least as far as he'd heard at least.

The Empire wasn't supposed to be involved. This was a Republic issue, Cademimu was still a Republic world. Had the Empire really violated the Treaty?

"Who are you?" Tarys asked as loud as he could.

"I could ask the same of you," she answered.

She probably wasn't going to say if she was Empire anyway.

"Tarys Valerys of the Jedi Order, why are you here?"

"What's a Padawan doing on his own in front of a missile battery?" She seemed to take after Master Satele in more than one regard, neither liked straight answers. But that must have been it, she must've been after the missiles too.

The braid on the side of his head was rather conspicuous and gave away his rank quite quickly, which was dangerous among enemies.

"Are you Sith?" It didn't make sense, but she had to be.

"If I am then we have to fight, don't we?" Again, she answered his question with a question.

"You don't sound happy about that."

Finally, she stepped close enough for him to see her face. His eyes immediately went to her own, because if she was a Sith then the dark side would have turned her eyes golden, that same bleeding gold that he'd seen in pictures and in… the Sith that nearly killed him. But in her those eyes were absent, instead, her lightsaber illuminated a set of green eyes, not a sign of yellow or red in them.

"I'm not."

At first, he was stunned, a Sith, not happy about potentially fighting a Jedi? Experience told him she was lying but he didn't feel any malice or dishonesty from her. Maybe she could be trusted. Tarys turned off his lightsabers. If there was a fight he could avoid, avoid it he would.

"Then as far as I'm concerned, you're just a random passerby who just happens to carry a double-bladed lightsaber. I do have to ask, we both have jobs to do here, are you going to let me do mine?" Tarys asked, not fighting her was great but if she was going to stop him from taking control of the battery then they would have to fight either way.

"I appreciate that. But I take it letting me take control of the battery won't do, will it?"

"Not if it means the Empire controls it. I'm sorry, guess the random passerby thing won't work," Tarys said with sadness in his voice. She didn't seem so bad for an Imperial.

Any reply she could give was cut short by gunshots aimed at the both of them, followed by the emergence of a man in traditional Ord Mantellian armour.

"Republic, Empire, doesn't matter! None of you belongs on Cademimu or on Ord Mantell. Chornarov may be cowering in his bunker but we'll do our job!" The man announced.

Ortol.

A few seconds after the "General" gave a brief command into a comlink, dozens of soldiers arrived from both sides. He was surrounded. No, they were surrounded. He and the Imperial girl had to work together.

The two were driven into the centre of a circle of armed soldiers, all looking to kill them. He felt his back hit the girl's. Working with someone he was pretty sure was Sith. Who'd have thought?

"Guess we're a team now. I didn't get your name." If he had a partner, knowing their name was ideal. He was still reluctant to trust her, but he couldn't shake the overwhelming feeling that she was different, different from the other Sith, the one that… His thought was interrupted by the girl's answer.

"Astraia. If we survive this, I'd like to not be arrested, thanks," she said, readying her lightsaber.

"Deal." Tarys followed suit, igniting both his blades and getting into position. "I can probably take out about a good few of them before they start attacking, from there avoiding fire's gonna be difficult."

"You can what? How?" She shook her head. "Doesn't matter, I've got the avoiding fire covered, worry about making sure you don't get shot."

"Also, not sure if you care but the leader is a known war criminal. My Master called him a mass murderer, responsible for millions dead." It was better that she knew the sort of man she was up against.

"I know, and I do care. Not all Sith are heartless," she confirmed.

"And there goes my plausible deniability." The comment drew a chuckle from his partner. Tarys saw the grunts in front of him start aiming their blasters, they were all finally in position. "I'm gonna go… now!"

He blinked as far as he could and as soon as he landed he sensed blaster bolts headed his way, blocking them just in time. As soon as he was ready Tarys blinked again behind one of the soldiers. There were too many of them, he didn't have time to take restraining measures, he'd have to kill. He did so as mercifully as he could, driving the tip of his saber straight into the soldier's chest.

Sadness filled him as he felt the life leave the man's body. Master Satele could have found a better way. There is no emotion. There is peace. He repeated those words to himself but they didn't help. He never wished to kill.

Tarys used his position to catch a glimpse of Astraia, hopefully, she was okay. As soon as he saw her any doubts he had about her skill were washed away. She spun her saber around with deft precision, seamlessly bouncing the plasma bolts off the blades so that they'd ricochet back to those who fired them, all while walking towards them so she could make it a close-quarters fight.

Tarys closed the distance himself, picking them off before they could effectively return an attack. Teleporting away was an effective way to stay out of the line of fire for sure. Within minutes over two dozen mercenaries lay dead on the floor, a needless loss of life - why couldn't they just surrender? Or just not fight on the side of a tyrant?

Another minute passed and between himself and Astraia all of Ortol's underlings had fallen, and all the while their "leader" just stood there with some vibrosword in his hand. The man was truly vile. A good leader leads by example, not by letting those they led to take the fall for them.

"Surrender Ortol. It's us against you, you can't win."

Astraia seemed to object, "He's not worth the effort Padawan. We should just kill him, justice done."

"No, he'll be given a trial then a punishment. It's not our place to be the judges."

"Sure it is. We both know the things he's done. Men like him don't deserve mercy."

Ortol seemed to ignore their exchange as he suddenly attacked Tarys with his vibrosword, not giving him time to react. He winced as he felt both a shock and a cut from the contact between the blade and his skin. Tarys tried to attack in return but the general blocked his attack. He started a flurry of slashes at the Mantellian but Ortol parried each and every one of them with his vibrosword. It seemed that he was more skilled than Tarys gave him credit for. Astraia thankfully joined and started attacking him too but Ortol seemed to be able to avoid both of their attacks, always a step ahead of the both of them.

"What you two lack is experience, and that's gonna be what kills you, you hear me? Not me, you! You started this, it's your fault you die today," Ortol said, voice full of venom.

The General seemed to be able to fight even his teleportation, it was like he could predict exactly where he could be, like he had superhuman reflexes or something. Try as they might, neither Tarys nor Astraia could land even a single hit on him. They were both tired and Ortol was fresh, that didn't help their fight either.

"Step back, I have an idea. You have to buy me some time though, and jump out of the way when I tell you to, or teleport, whatever," Astraia told him, panting and trying to catch her breath.

"Sure, I'll hold him off," he replied with more confidence than he had.

Tarys was willing to try anything at this point, and hopefully, Astraia would pull through. He renewed his stance, trying to ignore the pool of sweat gathering on his forehead and how sticky he felt between the perspiration on his body, the thick Padawan uniform he wore and the acrid air that dominated Cademimu. Ortol knew Astraia was planning something though so he seemed to ignore him and ran towards her. She seemed to be… meditating? A Sith. Meditating. Tarys had never heard of such a thing - it didn't matter, he had to trust her. Just as Ortol's blade was about to make contact with Astraia Tarys teleported into him, tackling him to the ground, a second later and she'd have died.

Tarys tried to keep him occupied more proactively, initiating a barrage of slashes and swipes, each and every one parried and countered to the point where Tarys wore several new cuts and gashes across his body, and each and every one of them hurt like hell. Astraia's idea couldn't come soon enough. Come on, come on, come on. Was he wrong to trust a Sith? He didn't sense any deceit from her though.

Then he felt it. The cold, the darkness, the power. It was frightening, it was like him, just like him. It couldn't be… her? Tarys turned around to the direction of what he felt. It was her. Her eyes had changed, they were golden now, circled by blood and by anger and hate. Astraia raised her hand and purple lightning crackled at her fingertips. He was afraid. She was just like him, just as powerful, just as threatening, just as deadly.

Tarys then felt a sharp electric shock on his back, it was fast but so painful, he struggled to stand until he couldn't keep his balance anymore.

"No!" Said a muffled feminine voice.

Then, black.

Tarys woke up to the red sky of… Cademimu? And a face. It was a pretty face, full of warmth and for some reason, concern. Why was it concerned?

"You okay? You were only out for about half an hour," the pretty face spoke.

"Where? What?" Tarys tried to sit up, then it all came rushing back - Ortol. "Where is he?"

"Over there, I killed him. I know you wanted him alive but there was no other way, not that he deserved anything else. I thought I struck you, too. I'm so sorry. It was him though. He stabbed you in the back while you stood there, staring at me." Astraia was the pretty face and the realisation made him uncomfortable, but there was no mistaking the worry and sorrow in her tone. "Did I… scare you?"

Tarys looked down, the top of his robe was off and replaced by bacta patches covering practically every inch of his torso, he'd been hurt quite badly it seemed. He considered her question. She did scare him, well, he did, and she reminded Tarys of him. There was no question about it: seeing her with those Sith eyes and the sheer amount of rage that irradiated off of her was petrifying.

"Yes," was all he could manage.

"I see. I hope you know I didn't mean to."

Tarys looked into her eyes again, they were the same green they'd been when they met, none of the hatred from before, none of the anger, just honest regret. He felt drawn to her. No. What was he thinking? He was a Jedi, he'd trained himself to not even think such things. She was a Sith, she was on his side.

He then heard his Master's voice in his mind, "Tarys, are you alright? Answer me."

"Yes Master, I'm fine now, what's your status?"

"Good to hear, you had me worried. I'm approaching the Governor's bunker now, had to go through the thick of the fighting to get there, we'll rendezvous at the ship. How's the battery?"

"I'll be getting there right now," Tarys answered out loud, putting an end to the Force-aided conversation. Master Satele was always there to look after him, that was something he would be eternally grateful for. "And yeah, I know that now. It's fine, really, thanks for patching me up," he said, answering Astraia.

"You're welcome. Who was that you were talking to? If you don't mind me asking."

"My Master. she's with me on this mission, she went to arrest Governor Chornarov in his bunker," he explained, it was strange being so conversational with a Sith but she had saved his life, he owed her that much.

"Would I know her?"

"Grand Master Satele Shan."

"Right and my master is the Emperor," Astraia scoffed.

"Wait, really?" He'd just fought with the Emperor's apprentice? It explained why she was so powerful.

"Oh stars, you're being serious," she replied, incredulous.

"Of course I am, my Master is on the short list of things I'd never joke about. What about you? Do you have a master? Or are you a Sith Lord?"

"Definitely not a lord. I'm an apprentice to Lord Zash, I doubt you'd know her though, she's slightly less famous than Satele Shan. I have to say, I'd love to meet her, but I think I already used up all my luck meeting a Padawan that didn't want to kill me," she laughed.

It was a sweet laugh. Tarys mentally chided himself as soon as he had that thought. Come on, get a grip.

"Yeah, I'd introduce you but I did promise not to arrest you, so it's going to be one or the other. Either way, we need to be getting to the battery, decide if we end up fighting you know?" He laughed himself, and something told him no matter what happened with the missiles he and Astraia wouldn't be fighting.

"Agreed. We've wasted enough time here - Not that making sure you're alright was a waste of time, you get what I mean," she stammered with the faintest blush appearing on her cheeks.

It was weird to think that this girl was the very same one who frightened him so much less than an hour earlier. The amount of fear he felt was overwhelming, he shook his head - no, he wouldn't think about that. Astraia took one of Tarys's arms around her shoulder to give him support and the two walked slowly through the winding tunnel that had the sector's largest stockpile of weapons on the other side of it. It took longer than it otherwise would have to reach the large console that controlled the missiles, Tarys's injuries prevented him from walking as comfortably as he would have liked. Thankfully, Astraia was patient and lent him her support for as long as he needed.

The console's holodisplay was tinted red and read, "Missile Launch Sequence Initialised, est. 3 minutes until launch."

"What? Why are they launching?" Tarys blurted out, throwing his arm off of Astraia's shoulder.

"Don't know, my guess is your Master just got to the bunker and the good Governor launched them remotely," Astraia offered, equally panicked.

Tarys looked at the buttons on the screen, there had to be a way to end the launch before it happened, there had to be. He entered every command he knew that could end a program into the console, and every time was rejected. Tarys kept trying different commands, different methods, anything he knew could help but he only had so much time at the Academy to learn about computers. Not nearly enough to learn all the tricks of the trade, even if he did have a keen interest.

After his latest attempt, the screen showed a new message - the sequence was locked - there was nothing they could do to stop it. Tarys closed his eyes and took a breath. There is no chaos, there is harmony. They still had two minutes before they launched.

Astraia seemed to have something, "Look, this is the logistics console, I think we can redirect the missiles away from civilians." She followed the onscreen instructions to bring them to the navigation screen for the missiles.

Under any other circumstances, Tarys would have wondered why a Sith would care about civilians getting hit but he supposed he was past that with Astraia, she had something he didn't: compassion. She was no ordinary Sith.

"Great, that could work. Where do we aim it though?" Tarys concurred, limping towards her.

"It looks like we have a limited range given how close we are to launch, the best we can do is Cademimu Vi, an uninhabited moon. Well, that or the Republic fleet, but that's not happening. So, moon?" She explained, ready to input the command.

"Moon."

As soon as he saw the screen confirm the new trajectory for the missiles Tarys gave an audible sigh of relief as he released the breath he didn't know he was holding.

"That solves our other problem too I guess. My orders were to seize the battery or make sure the Republic didn't get the missiles, so I suppose we're not fighting after all," she said, with a faint smile on her face.

"I'm glad to hear that. Mainly because you'd definitely beat me in this state," he pointed to his patched-up chest.

"Come on, I'm a good sport, I'd have only used one blade."

"Ah right, really evening the playing field there," Tarys tried to laugh but then it hurt too much.

"In any case, I should leave, I doubt that the fleet above us will be glad to find me here. It's been a pleasure Tarys. I hope we never meet again," the smile on her face became rueful as she looked down.

"Likewise - as enemies that is," Tarys affirmed, taking her hand to shake it.

"Right," she nodded him farewell and made her way back to her ship. Part of him didn't want her to leave. She was… interesting.

Tarys covered his still bare chest with his cut-up tunic without fastening it fully, any pressure on his wounds still hurt more than it had any right to. He staggered back to his Master's ship, noting the absence of Astraia's Imperial vessel, and waited for her return. He wanted to go back and meet her, maybe even help her with any resistance on her way back but he was far too hurt to do that. Instead, he sat down on the ramp and did his best to think.

The deaths of those soldiers weighed heavily on his mind. They were criminals, terrible men and women who helped a tyrant commit violence against his people but still… they were themselves, people, they too had light in them and Tarys had extinguished it. He told himself that there was no other way because truly, there wasn't, but it didn't stop him from wishing that there was. Tarys was a Jedi and sometimes Jedi had to kill to stop innocents from being hurt or worse.

What was stranger still was that he'd done it with the help of a Sith Acolyte and one that seemed distant from the dark side, at least compared to what he'd heard. Admittedly his experience with Sith was limited to a single other encounter but surely the concern and kindness she showed him weren't common among the Jedi's sworn enemies? She took the time to apply bacta patches to every one of his wounds, leaving none exposed with supplies that he guessed came from her ship. Everything about her was baffling, from the colour of her lightsaber to her character and even her power. She was clearly capable of using the dark side, with lethal effectiveness, but why did she need to meditate in order to do so? Tarys had never heard of anything like it. Interesting was the wrong word. The Sith girl was utterly captivating.

Tarys then heard the rapid footsteps of someone running towards him and looked up to find Master Satele rushing to his side.

"You said you were alright Tarys, not hurt to the point of being covered with bacta patches!" She said, putting a hand on his shoulder and crouching down to meet his eyes. "I didn't see Ortol with the Governor either, don't tell me you had to fight him."

"Him and a few dozen of his soldiers. I'm fine though Master, really, I'll be up and ready in a couple of days. I didn't do it on my own though, I had help." Tarys recounted, straining to speak.

He continued, relating the events he had been part of and the strange nature of the "help" he'd had. Master Satele, to her credit, listened attentively as she always did, patiently absorbing the information he was telling her.

After he finished his recollection, his Master spoke. "I'm sorry you had to fight Ortol like that. I was meant to draw his attention, instead, he chased after you. It wasn't meant to be like this. And this girl you mentioned, you promised to let her go? Personally, I agree with your decision, but the Order might think otherwise - next time confer with me. And while the loss of the missiles was regrettable, it was far preferable to the alternative. I think you did remarkably well, all things considered. I'm proud of you." She gave him a reassuring smile.

"Thank you, Master, I appreciate it. I have to say though, as the Grand Master isn't your opinion the - how do I put this - main one?"

"There's no such thing as the main opinion, all Jedi in the Order have a voice. mine is just one, a respected one, yes, but still one against thousands. What is more concerning is that the Empire is openly involving themselves in Republic affairs. It looks like our encounter two years ago wasn't a one-off incident - even if this time it was just an acolyte."

Within twenty minutes of Master Satele gave the word, Republic soldiers began landing on the surface. Soon, Cademimu would finally be back at peace.

Hours later they were back on Tythonian soil. His Master was the Grand Master after all, so they spent more time on Tython than off it since she assumed her position. He was glad to be back in his own bed after such a long day but try as he might he couldn't go to sleep, his mind was abuzz with activity. Flashes of a sandstone landscape filled his mind, the dull orange of the environment interrupted only by the cold grey of steel infrastructure and red banners bearing the Imperial insignia.

He felt confusion, not just his own, the puzzlement he felt was someone else's. someone was in his head. Tarys got up from his bed. What was happening?

"Who are you?" He reached out to the other presence in his mind.

"Tarys? It's me. How-what's happening?"

Astraia?

Four chapters in and we only now meet the other main character - whoops.

I'm so excited to be finally introducing her! Let me know what you think of the chapter as always!