Star Wars: Infinities – The Apprentice
Chapter 4
By: Christopher W. Blaine (darth_yoshi@yahoo.com)
DISCLAIMER: The characters and situations contained in this story are used without permission for non-profit entertainment purposes only and are ©2002 by George Lucas. This story (pertaining to this chapter and all subsequent chapters) is ©2002 by Christopher W. Blaine and may not be reproduced in any form, except hard printouts for personal enjoyment, without the express permission of the author.
Darth Sideous moved slowly through the apartment, his hands hidden in his sleeves and his hood pulled down to shield his eyes. He said nothing as he listened to the status reports being given by his operatives, who were represented by three holographic images, each only 10 centimeter high. His own transmission was designed so that no matter where he stood or walked in his quarters he always appeared to be facing his suborrdinates.
"And per your instructions," a man clad in Mandalorian armor stated, "I have halted the contract on the senator from Naboo. Things would have been easier if you would have contacted me directly instead of going through Lord Tyrranus. Middle men are not only a security risk, they are a breakdown in the lines of communication."
Count Dooku's holographic image smiled. "I would not be so quick to question the actions of my master, Jango Fett; all that you should be concerned about is doing what you are paid to do." Darth Tyranus was the name Dooku had chosen for himself when he had been made a Dark Lord by Sideous. It was a name he only used in Sith matters and it was the only name that Fett knew him by. All of the Dark Lords carried on with other identities to better further their deception. All except Darth Maul.
"I have located the homestead of Lord Vader's mother," Maul said from his kneeled position. Of all, he was the most loyal and Sideous acknowledged him with a nod.
"Who is this Lord Vader I keep hearing about?" Fett asked. "How many of you Sith are there?"
"Enough that even someone of your skills should be concerned, bounty hunter," Sideous snapped. "You are to remain on Coruscant and await further instructions."
"I don't like sitting around and doing nothing," was the reply. There was no menace in the voice, only the cool tone that came from a professional.
"Then I suggest you take up a hobby to keep you occupied," Sideous retorted with malice before ending the transmission. He turned to Darth Maul. "Lord Maul, you know what must be done. Lord Vader has become an unexpected boon to our cause. Using him and the world of Tatooine, the Senate will be forced to come up with troops to position there to maintain the peace."
"And what of your political opposition? You no longer want to kill this senator from Naboo, but she is quickly becoming the rallying point for the pacifists." Tyranus's figure pointed. "She will become a liability if you allow her to live."
"Perhaps, perhaps not. Even now Lord Vader seems to be charming her. Completely unexpected, but welcome," Sideous said. He cut off the response with a wave of his hand. "Political intrigue is my responsibility, Lord Tyranus; military readiness is yours. Will you have sufficient forces to make the assault on Tatooine?"
Tyrannus stroked his white beard. "Yes; the Hutts have now joined in as well, promising mercenary troops. The loss of the planet is shameful and I understand that Jabba has been given an ultimatum to retrieve it or die in the process."
"Most assuredly he will die, won't he Lord Maul?"
The tattoed Sith smiled. "Yes, my master, of that there will be no doubt. My apprentice has good instincts for complicated planning."
Sideous agreed. His original plans had called for something more basic than the intricate web that was currently being spun. While a simple plan assured victory, a more complicated one would provide a challenge and separate those Sith Lords who were worthy of the title from those who did not.
Of course, the Naboo senator and irrelevant Jedi were helping matters as well. The Jedi had been incompetent enough to allow someone of Anakin Skywalker's ability to slip through their fingers, and now the former Queen Amidala's maternal heartstrings were forcing the Jedi to admit their mistake.
So it had been for thousands of years. The Jedi would make a mistake and the Sith would seize upon it. After the Great Sith War, the Jedi had thought that the Sith were no more; again a mistake. They had survived but in very small numbers and they kept to the shadows of the galaxy, becoming nothing more than myth and legend.
Now the time had come to increase their ranks. The Jedi were wrong to think that their numbers and philosophies offered them protection from the power of the dark side. No, it was the dark side that had been minutely chipping away at their resolve over the years. Had they not noticed that more and more padawans were failing, some even turning to the dark side? Did they not notice how impotent they had become? Unwelcome in most of the galaxy, despised in the rest.
The time of the Jedi was done. A New Order was about to be heralded.
Heralded with the blood of the Jedi.
"Are you really implementing laws against slavery?" Padme asked. They were seated at one of the finer lounges in the very tops of the planet-city. It was an exclusive club open only to government officials and their families. Chancellor Palpatine, still working hard to push through Tatooine's application for admission, was affording Lord Vader all of the privileges of a more senior member of the Republic senate.
Vader finished ordering, a simple salad heavy with Correllian spices and legumes and took the time to look into her eyes before answering. When he had been told that he would be meeting her, his heart had started racing. For a few hours before their initial introduction, he had been the little slave boy in Watto's junk shop again. Even after ten years, she was still an angel.
Even after ten years, he was still in love with her.
"Yes; slavery is wrong. It causes unnecessary chaos. It allows petty men to accumulate power that is not theirs." Vader smiled politely and did not remove his gaze from hers.
"Ah, so you are an elitist," she chided. Her smile was having an unusual effect on him. He began to relax in a way that he had not done in several years. His training in the Dark Side had been brutal, fierce and complete. He knew that his mission was to bring down the Jedi and restore the rightful order to the galaxy. Did that mean that he could not take the time to enjoy himself as he did so? "You believe that only certain people should rule?"
"What is wrong with that?" he asked, his eyes lighting up. "Leadership is a skill that not everyone possesses and not everyone can lead in the same way. I lead my world but without experience, I could not hope to lead something like the Republic. That is why we are so lucky to have someone as strong as Chancellor Palpatine." He paused and slowly started to move his hand towards hers. "I understand your desire to prevent the creation of a strong, nationalized military arm. The Republic does already have an army and a navy, each one developed for defensive measure. The problem is that now we may have to take an offensive one."
"We? Are you saying that Tatooine, if accepted into the Republic, would support such a move?"
Their fingertips were nearly touching and he could sense that her heartbeat was increasing. She was not oblivious to his actions, but she was not encouraging them either. It was an emotional chess game and Lord Vader was about to try to take the queen with his dark knight. "Yes, wholeheartedly. We need military support because we are vulnerable. We have no home forces; we have no allies and if the Separatists have their way, neither will the Republic. The only way to ensure peace is to make your enemies afraid of war."
"A very narrow point of view," a deep voice said. Vader immediately withdrew his hand, his other reaching under his cloak. He looked up to see a man with tanned skin and dark hair, dressed in expensive robes of state. "I'm sorry, I did not mean to startle you," the man said.
Padme cleared her throat and made the pretense of fixing her dinner ware. "Oh, Bail Organna of Alderaan, allow me to present Lord Vader of Tatooine." The man extended his hand to Vader, who took it. The grip was firm, but not overly. Bail Organna did not try to impress; he was used to people trying to impress him.
"Lord Vader…so you are the one that has the senate in an uproar," the older man said with a smile. "I've heard many things about you and was hoping that we would have a chance to speak. As you know, Alderaan and Naboo are allied in our opposition to the increases the Chancellor has proposed."
"As you can see, Senator Organna, I am doing my best to try and convince the lovely senator from Naboo that there are two sides to every story," Vader replied coolly.
"Yes, a virtual light and dark side, to coin Jedi philosophy."
Vader regarded him with a crooked smile. "I'm sorry, should I be addressing you as Master Organna?"
"I'm afraid that the Force, whatever it is, does not seem to run in my family. Alderaan produces very few Jedi. No, but I consider them great allies in the peace process. Thanks to them, we have gone without the wars of the past for a thousand years."
"Really," Vader said, leaning forward. "I wonder if that is because they are aiding the Republic or controlling it?"
Bail considered replying but instead decided that this was not the time or place for such a debate. He was a strong supporter of the Jedi, but more and more sentiments like those of Lord Vader were being voiced by the public and in the halls of the senate. "I must apologize again for interrupting your meal; it is obvious to me that there is more than politics afoot." Padme blushed and Vader found that he had no reply. He then said his good-byes, requesting that Vader come by his private apartment sometime so they could discuss political agendas and too his leave.
They did not speak again for several moments until Padme broke the uncomfortable silence. "Has the Chancellor spoken to you about my friend Anakin?" she asked.
"Uh, he has mentioned in passing that you were concerned for a young boy from my planet." Vader looked deep into her eyes wondering if she suspected the truth. Had he changed all that much in ten years? Certainly the baby-fat was gone, replaced with the hardened muscle of youth and his hair was now curly and darker. He was taller, much more than he would have guessed and now he was even considering growing a beard. A beard was a sign of maturity and he had matured so much.
When his training had started so many years before, he had been scared to let his anger and frustration flow so freely. Qui-Gon had warned him that anger would lead him down a dark road, but Lord Maul had told him that his anger was a pure projection of his soul. A soul could not be free when it was suppressed and the Jedi were the masters of suppression. Two hundred generations before, the Jedi had brought down the Sith Empire because the Sith refused to be told how they would live. "Better to die bravely then to live as a coward," was a quote from Lord Maul that Lord Vader had heard more times than he could count.
The Jedi were all cowards, refusing to lift a finger to help those outside the Republic and then rejecting anyone who had more power from their ranks. The Sith had not looked at him as an angry little boy, but as the man he had now become. Through the Sith, he now not only had the power to correct what was wrong with the galaxy, he was now not afraid to do it himself.
The Jedi Council was weak; they refused to do their own dirty work and instead duped fine warriors like Qui-Gon Jin into doing their bidding. And where did it get them? Dead and forgotten; discarded like trash just as a young Anakin Skywalker had been ten years before.
"Do you think that you could help? I know that the security forces are looking into it as an official matter," she reached across and grabbed his hand. He felt a surge go through his body and he found himself light-headed. "Please, Lord Vader, it would mean so much to me if you could perhaps take a more personal look…"
His eyes seemed to darken and she was transfixed by his stare. "My lady, I swear to you that the truth about Anakin Skywalker shall be revealed to you if I have anything to say about it."
Darth Maul cursed himself for having to soil his hands on the filthy human vermin that now were before. The three trembling husks barely radiated in the Force, but their fear was enough to fuel his rage. For two days, he had been following the trail of the Skywalker woman, the one who was the mother of Anakin. His apprentice had agreed to continue alone on his part of Darth Sideous's plan if Lord Maul would find his mother and free her. His trust in Lord Maul was not unfounded because Darth Maul intended to set her free indeed, even if it required him to associate with desert rat scum like these people.
"Let me see if I have your story correct, farmer," Maul said as he reached for a piece of fruit. It was dry, as was everything else on this worthless planet, but he did not mind. A free meal at the expense of others was the sweetest. "You bought a slave and freed her, then married her. Why she would want to commit a lifetime to a fat bag of flesh like you is beyond comprehension." He slowly hopped off the counter, tossing the half-eaten fruit to the floor. "Now you say that you allowed your mate to be carried off by…what did you call them?"
"Sand People," the older man said. Next to him, a young woman, battered and bleeding, was crying in the arms of a young man who had the fire of anger in his eyes. He was no threat to Maul and he simply ignored him for the moment. "She was taken by the Sand People!" the old man cried out.
"Didn't you fight for your mate?" Maul asked, taunting the man. The bandaged leg stump told the story, but Maul was enjoying pouring salt into the man's emotional wounds. "Perhaps she is better off being ravaged by the sub-humans; better a whole animal than half a man."
The man lunged as best he could, but Maul simply threw him back with a wave of his hand. There was a snapping sound and Maul had to catch himself from bursting out in laughter. The man, something Lars had been his name, had broken his neck. If the sound of the bones breaking had not been evidence enough, the truth was deadly apparent by the unnatural position his body took when it settled. The young woman screamed and then fainted, her companion's eyes full of rage and despair.
Maul dispatched them easily, killing the woman first so that the man would understand that his entire life had been meaningless. He could not even defend someone he loved.
Maul prepared himself a simple meal and took the time to fill a container with water. Even a Sith did not have the power to stave off the double suns of the desert planet indefinitely. Part of him hoped that this would be quick so that he could get back to directing the "defense" of Tatooine. Darth Sideous had information that the Hutts had put together an invasion force of mercenaries and battle droids to reclaim this world. Maul could care less about the world or its inhabitants, but he understood that this was the first step to complete control of the Republic.
To him it was ironic how this one insignificant dustball of a planet was so involved in the destruction of the largest government ever created.
"Rise Lord Vader and tell me why you disturb me at this hour," Darth Sideous commanded. Vader raised his head and the senior Sith saw that his eyes were watering. "What is this? Tears?"
"Forgive me my weakness, master, but it is my mother…"
Darth Sideous's eyes went wide, but they were hidden from the young Dark Lord's view by his hood. With everything going on and the fact that Sideous was weaving a fog of the dark side throughout the Republic, there was no way that Vader could sense what was occurring so far away. Could he? "I am in a pleasant mood tonight so I will refrain from informing Darth Maul of this show of weakness; now tell me what troubles you."
"I had a dream…my mother was in pain…" Vader struggled to maintain his composure.
"Of course she is in pain; she is a slave! That is why Lord Maul seeks out the mother of Anakin Skywalker. She will be the first to be freed from the oppression that the Republic and the Jedi spread through the galaxy." He allowed Vader to stand up. The boy had responded well to the training regiment that Darth Maul had put him through; in fact, Sideous guessed with an evil grin, the apprentice far exceeded the master in skill and power. He wondered if Maul realized that.
Anakin Skywalker was the future of the Sith, Sideous knew. He had the hatred and burning rage in his heart, but there was also this spark of compassion that could not be put out no matter what. The boy did well to suppress it, but recent events were allowing it to come to the surface again.
"I'm sorry, master, it is just that my dreams are hard to interpret." Vader wiped his eyes and took a deep breath. "You must think me a child."
"You are a child, Lord Vader, and have much to learn. You weep tears of sadness and not tears of rage. Your rage…your internal fire is what will give you the power you need. Without that power, the Jedi will win. Is that what you want?"
Vader put his head down in shame. "No master, it is not what I want. I just wanted to save my mother."
"There is the first problem. Anakin Skywalker must die so that Lord Vader may take his place. You may have…feelings," the word filled Sideous with revulsion, "for this woman, but the boy she knew is gone! You cannot recapture that past. The best you can hope for is to excel in your duties so that she will know that when the Jedi coerced her into letting her son go away that her decision was not all in vain." Sideous let the words hang in the air and he could sense the conflict in the younger man. There was always two sides to every problem with this one he thought. Maybe it hadn't been such a smart decision to allow Maul to train the boy after all. Maul had very little understanding or need of the softer emotions. Even a Sith could love. Darth Sideous loved; he loved power. "We are too close to our goals to lose sight of the objective."
"I will not fail you," Vader said. "I promise."