Umbrous - Shadow of the Force

Part 1 - Awakening of Shadow


Chapter 9

After a brief regurgitation trip, Kaan had worked up the courage to watch the rest of the recording, and now saw the Ninth Sister send in the man and his Muun partner. This fight was significantly different from the previous two, Kaan noticed, as both participants appeared to meditate in the Force before the battle, and when the Ninth Sister called for them to fight, they simply furrowed their brows and continued meditating.

The lights began to flicker, and the climbing frames and corpses began to quiver, before settling down, as the man and the Muun both stood up, activated single blades and looked at each other.

The man was short, but heavily built, and held his lightsaber to the side, a grimace on his face. The Muun had his long lightsaber before him, the light illuminating his crown. All the initiates wore regular Inquisitor clothing, except, it seemed, this Muun, who in addition to the tight-fitting and yet combat-friendly Imperial uniform had a short cloak clasped around his belt in typical Banking Clan fashion, as well as a golden crown atop his bald head.

His features were, like any other Muun, similar to a human whose face had been grotesquely stretched, except for the feral set of his eyes and sneer on his hunched nose. All of a sudden, he leaped at the man, and they began to engage in a fast tangle of red and black, using their free hands to Force push each other away, before closing the distance between themselves again with their blades.

It was like watching two snakes writhe about each other, neither able to get the advantage on each other, with the man using his smaller size to evade the Muun's sweeping blows, and the Muun jumping out of reach of the man's smaller blade. Eventually however, the Muun gave a Force push which sent the man flying backwards.

Unfazed, the man tried to backflip and land gracefully, but the Muun curled his fingers and brought his fist sharply downwards, sending the man crashing onto the ground. The man got up quickly, but not before the Muun had curled his fingers into a vice grip, and the man dropped his lightsaber to protect his throat as he was lifted into what Kaan recognized as the infamous Force choke.

The sight of one sent shivers running down Kaan's spine as he saw the man's eyes bulge, and yet not ask for mercy. Not that he would have gotten any, as Kaan saw the Muun's expressionless eyes remain unchanged as he squeezed his long fingers into a fist, and Kaan heard the audible crack of the man's spinal cord.

True to Muun nature, it was a swift death, without any mess or gore to clean up afterwards. The Muun gently lowered his defeated adversary's body to the ground, claimed his lightsaber and affixed it to his belt, before walking out, his expressionless face indifferent to the Ninth Sister's praise.


The last pair in was that of the Delphidian and Twi'lek couple, and Kaan was curious to see how the Ninth Sister would motivate them to fight. Throughout all of the previous fights, Kaan had kept one eye on the lobby-facing camera, which had showed the pair casting nervous and sad glances at each other as they saw the fate that would ultimately befall one of them.

When it came their turn, and the Muun walked back into the lobby, the Ninth Sister grabbed them by the collars, and lifted them both like a teacher scolding misbehaving children, carrying them into the training room, parts of the floor now slippery with blood. This time the Ninth Sister stayed in the room, presumably to force the initiates to fight if they were hesitant.

"Now then, lovers, one of you will die, killed by the other's hand". The Delphidian turned to look at the Ninth Sister, hatred and the dark side turning the edges of her black eyes yellow.
"Save that for the fight, sweetie, you'll need it. You think he loves you?" She gave a derisive snort. "He thinks you're pretty, sure, but he doesn't care about you. He only cares for what he can get, and if that means killing you, he will." she taunted.

The Twi'lek looked ready to respond, denying the Ninth Sister's accusation, she turned on him. "Am I wrong? Then you are not worthy of the dark side. You have let your emotions weaken you, instead of making you stronger. If you refuse to kill each other, I will send you," she pointed to the Twi'lek, "To live out the rest of your life with your brethren on Ryloth, mining spice for the Hutts."

The Ninth Sister now flipped up her visor, and with a menacing gleam turned to the Delphidian. "And you, darling, I will send to the highest bidding slave owner in the Outer Rim." The Delphidian's eyes widened as her mind was filled with the horror stories of female slaves in that part of the galaxy.

The pair's eyes filled with tears as they looked each other, and each ignited a pair of lightsabers. The Ninth Sister cackled and called for them to fight.

This fight was the shortest of them all, with the Twi'lek making a couple of powerful blows which disarmed the Delphidian, who seemed in shock at what was happening and barely defended herself. She looked at him, pleading to be spared, and the Ninth Sister cursed him and insulted him, until the Twi'lek gave a hoarse shout and plunged his lightsabers into his lover's belly.

His red face was spattered with her black blood as she gasped, the heat making her leathery skin crinkle and catch on fire, and she cried out in pain as she began to burn alive.

The Twi'lek deactivated his blades and tried to turn away, but the Ninth Sister walked over to him and twisted his face to force him to watch as the Delphidian went up in flames, pain and heartbreak barely contained in her face. Eventually the room had filled with so much smoke that the recording had gone black and Kaan could only hear her cries.

The Ninth Sister had then brought the surviving initiates into the lobby while droids cleaned up the mess left in the training hall.


"You have fought, and proven yourself in the dark side, and are now Inquisitors, ready to serve your Empire and rid the galaxy of the scourge of Jedi dissidence."

There was a cheer from the Zabrak and Besalisk. The Muun raised his eyebrows and steepled his fingers and the Twi'lek's head tails curled upwards, his face an unmoving, unreadable mask. The Ninth Sister lined them up in order of their kills and walked along them.

"You once had names, but now those names mean nothing. You are renewed in the flames of your victory. You," she pointed to the Zabrak, "will be Twelfth Sister. You, Besalisk, are now Thirteenth Brother. You," she said to the Muun, "will be Fourteenth Brother and you, tail-head, will be Fifteenth Brother. Rejoice, for you are Inquisitors, and will have a hand in bringing peace to the galaxy."

The Ninth Sister had allowed the survivors to eat well as a reward for their success, with a hearty and meat-rich diet for all but the vegetarian Muun, who nonetheless ate Ukian pudding, all of which Kaan's mother had to pay for out of her own pocket, in the service of her Empire.

The Inquisitors had left, and Kaan had come home shortly after the droids had removed any trace of the Inquisitors' presence, save the broken climbing frame and a dark presence in the training hall, which had been balanced by the placing of holocrons and Jedi statues around the room.

If watching the first part of the recording had been difficult, it was nothing compared to the second half. Kaan had slept for two straight days, a disturbed sleep filled with the first nightmares since his childhood. Snapping back to the present, Kaan once more remembered Master Yoda's recorded warning about the dark side and gulped in fear.

He burned with his need to harness his Force powers somehow, but he could never be an Inquisitor. He had to find another path, and now returned to his library to find a solution amongst the musty texts of the ancient Jedi.


And now, back to the main storyline. The Inquisitors will be back...