Well, any hopes I had for a smooth October release schedule obviously lie in ruins. My Tolkien phase morphed into a full on reread of his entire legendarium, and to make things worse, I got sucked into One Piece something fierce. As in, I reached Fishman Island in a month sort of fierce. I have no regrets, though.
My initial plan, as I said last chapter, was to wrap up this arc in chapter 39 and begin the next one in chapter 40. After over a month of struggling, I am now forced to admit that won't happen. Chapter 39 reached 10,000 words with nearly that much left to go, so I, reluctantly, broke it into two chapters. I know many of you are anxious for the war to start (you violent psychopaths) but I'm afraid it is now delayed until chapter 41.
As always, though, hopefully not for much longer, support Ukraine however you can in their ongoing fight against Russia.
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Chapter 35
Darth Sidious swept into his secure chamber like a blizzard from the mountains, full of barely controlled fury. Nothing had tested his control like the events of the past few days since the early days of his apprenticeship under Plaugeis. The moment the doors closed, ensconcing him in the safety of the shielded walls, he loosened the reins on his power. The Dark side flooded the room, rattling the furnishings and sending trails of cold energy sparking off the walls. He allowed himself ten glorious seconds to bask in his fury, letting it strengthen him and reveling in the heady rush of its power. It was a glorious reminder of his own supremacy, of the might he wielded. This was the true nature of the Force, not the mewling scraps the Jedi restricted themselves to. Those foolish pretenders could never dream of power such as this.
Reluctantly, he clamped down on his passions and reasserted the cold self-control that had propelled him so far. It would not do to truly lose control, not now. Now he needed clarity and cunning. Later, when events permitted, he would indulge himself in his fury, but the Plan came first. The Plan always came first.
Once he was certain of his control, Sidious walked over to the comm station and tapped in a frequency. The station was substantially larger than most, and it drew enough power to generate an audible hum. The whole apparatus fairly bristled with components and technology found only on the various identical stations Sidious had set up in his many bases and hideaways. It took most of a minute just for the station to finish its encryption protocols, and another three for it to set up the unique mixture of frequency hopping, signal bouncing, and piggybacking that ensured no one in the galaxy could even detect his transmission, let alone eavesdrop on it. The system was the result of centuries of careful improvements by generations of Sith and marked one of Sidious' most potent advantages over the Jedi. He could communicate freely from the very heart of the Republic, all the while intercepting most of the Order's supposedly secret transmissions. It was one of those intercepted transmissions that had prompted him down here in the first place.
When the comm station beeped to signal it had finished securing the transmission, it didn't take long before the holotable flickered into life, projecting the figure of a tall, sharp-featured man with white hair and beard, and piercing yellow eyes. After the barest moment's hesitation, the figure dropped to one knee and bowed.
"What is thy bidding, my master?"
"There has been a new development, Lord Tyrannus," Sidious said. "Aurra Sing failed to dispose of Uzumaki. She fled, and the Jedi have dispatched two of their own to hunt her down; Jiraiya and Master Unduli. They must not succeed. However, this presents us with an opportunity."
"Sing will no doubt flee to Hutt space. You think the Jedi will follow her there?"
Sidious allowed a thin smile to cross his face. A temporary tool he may have been, but Tyrannus was still an excellent apprentice; cunning, ruthless, and dangerous. If he were but a few decades younger, Sidious would never have dared risk giving the man true power. Even now, he would have to keep a close watch on him to avoid meeting the same fate he himself had visited upon Plagueis.
"I have foreseen it," he said. Dooku frowned in contemplation.
"If the Jedi are caught interfering outside of Republic space, it would cause quite the scandal. Perhaps even enough to push the Hutts over to the Separatists."
"Indeed," Sidious said, though privately he sneered a little. Tyrannus may have been a cunning and capable strategist, but he thought too small. The Hutts' reaction was nothing compared to the new power the Chancellor would gain over the Jedi when the Senate learned of their actions. "You will send an agent to Nar Shaddaa to ensure the Jedi are discovered. Retrieve Sing and ensure the Jedi believe the Confederacy is behind it. We will use their own suspicions against them."
"Do you wish to use Fett, master?"
Sidious toyed with the idea for a moment. It had merit. Fett, despite being Force-blind, was likely the most capable and reliable asset he had after Tyrannus himself. The man would complete the mission perfectly, of that he had no doubt. However, the risks of exposing Fett too early outweighed the benefits of his near-chilling competence. In the end, he shook his head.
"No. Fett will remain where he is until after the war begins. Your new assassin, though, she is ready?" A Sith assassin, even a fresh one, would do far more to rattle the Jedi than any Mandalorian, even one such as Fett. Seeing her acting in concert with forces loyal to the Separatists would wipe out any hope for diplomacy going forward.
"Yes, my lord. I have trained her well. Had you used her instead of Sing, the Uzumaki boy would even now be- ghhhrrk…"
With a twitch of one hand, Sidious reached across the galaxy with the Force and choked off his apprentice's words in their tracks. "Do not think to question me, apprentice. Advice, I welcome. Insolence, I do not. Is that understood?"
From over 7,000 light years away, he dragged Tyrannus off the floor until his legs dangled in the air beneath him. The man couldn't respond to his question, of course. It had been years, but Sidious still remembered well the sensation from when his master used to punish him like this for some failure or slight. The cold, invisible fingers freezing his breath in his throat. That awful feeling of being dragged upwards by red hot hooks, hanging helpless in the air. The black fear that this time, Plaugeis wouldn't relent until his heart stopped, that this time would be the time. He spent several delicious seconds relishing in sensing those same feelings in his own apprentice. Finally, just as he felt Tyrannus's consciousness begin to fade, he released his hold. The older man instantly collapsed to the ground, coughing and gasping for precious oxygen.
"Yes, my master. My apologies."
"Remember your place, my apprentice, or I will not be so gentle in reminding you next time."
Tyrannus bowed his head once more, still massaging his throat. Sidious gave him a few additional instructions on the specifics of his plan before he cut off the transmission. He was satisfied that he had suitably quailed any burgeoning ambitions his apprentice may have been harboring, at least for the moment, and he had work to do. Ironically, it took even more effort to run the Republic into the ground than it would have to simply let it keep limping on. The whole crumbling edifice reminded him of an ancient exogorth he had once seen on the verge of death. Most of the beast was already dead, and what little remained was dying, but the whole moribund creature was so enormous that even its death throes came sluggishly. Even after its heart had stilled and decayed, the beast had taken almost two years to pass. Still, for all its age and size and strength, for its redundant organs and near-mystical endurance, it had, inevitably, died.
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As he watched the hooded figure of his master vanish from above the holotable, Count Dooku of Serreno, Darth Tyrannus of the Sith Order, and Head of State of the Confederacy of Independent Systems trembled in fear. Fear and rage. It had been foolish of him to give voice to his snide comments, foolish indeed. Had any other being in the galaxy dared to humiliate him in his own palace like that, their death would have become the stuff of whispered legend. Sidious, however, had just demonstrated why he was the one being whom Dooku still feared. His strength in the Force, even from halfway across the galaxy, had instantly trumped Dooku's own, and easily at that. So, rather than indulge himself in pointless fantasies of revenge, Dooku took a moment and mastered himself. Rage, for him, was a cold, precise tool; a dagger carved from ice. Useful, but best kept in reserve, for the proper moment. He stored his rage, harboring it for when he could turn it into productive action. Wasting such exquisite fury would be… inelegant, and Dooku prided himself on his elegance.
When he had regained his calm, and his breath, Dooku pressed a single button on his desk. Nothing apparently happened, but barely a minute later, the door hissed open and a woman walked into the room.
She wore a long combat skirt and a form fitting top that left much of her generous chest exposed. Her skin was a pale gray, and dark purple tattoos marked her bald head and sneering face. Many would have, perhaps, found her beautiful, in a cold and dangerous sort of way, but few would ever have had the courage to even look. She walked with a predator's grace, her movements speaking to well-earned confidence and deadly skill. When she was directly in front of his desk, she dropped to one knee and bowed her head, unknowingly adopting the same position Dooku himself had so recently occupied.
"What is your bidding, my master?" She asked. Her voice was low and raspy, with a subtle undercurrent of glee. Most people would have missed it, but Dooku was not most people. Nevertheless, he allowed her the minor slip. She had been waiting for this day for years, after all.
"Rise, Ventress. I have a mission for you." Ventress stood, but said nothing, waiting for him to continue. "You will take a team of Gossam Commandos and go to Nar Shaddaa. Once there, locate Aurra Sing, and wait for two Jedi to arrest her. It should be Luminara Unduli and Jiraiya. Let them take her, but do not let them keep her, understand? Take Sing, allow yourself to be seen, but do not engage with the Jedi."
Dooku knew what her response would be, and sure enough, her lips curled in disgust. "Run? Why not just kill them, master? The Jedi will be no match for me. I could take them out and retrieve Sing before anyone-"
Dooku raised one finger and let her feel a hint of his power, along with his displeasure. He did not punish her, yet, as it would be foolish to damage an asset immediately before a mission, but her voice still cut off, and a look of fear stole over her haughty face. That was good. She knew to fear him, at least.
"Don't let your arrogance blind you, Assajj. Luminara alone is beyond your current skills, and Jiraiya is in another league entirely. They would kill you easily in a direct fight."
He could feel the anger and shame pouring off of her, but he could not have cared less. Ventress was a skilled enough warrior, but she was no use to him if she got herself killed out of stupid pride or uncontrolled rage. Fortunately for her, she kept herself in check, though he could feel her hatred growing with every word he spoke.
"Your skills aside, it is vital that you are seen," he continued. "This is not a stealth mission. Do you understand?"
"Yes, master." Ventress spat the words as if they burned her tongue, but she said them, and that was what mattered. He did not care if she was furious. She would not dare disobey him. He had shown her exactly where that path led early on in her training.
"Good. I have a contact on Nar Shaddaa, a bounty hunter. Meet with him, and he will arrange for the Jedi to be… otherwise occupied while you make your escape. Do not fail me, Ventress. This is your most important task yet."
She recognized the dismissal in his voice and bowed once more. "It will be done, my lord."
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The flight from Ansion to Rago was mercifully brief; being just over an hour. The last thing either Jiraiya or Luminara wanted at the moment was to spend time flying when they could be busy tracking down Aurra so they could get back to Naruto and Barriss. They chatted amiably during the journey, but the moment their shuttle reverted to realspace, a grim silence fell over both of them.
Even from low orbit, Luminara could sense the disturbance in the Force that came from the planet below. It was not a true wound in the Force as might have been created if millions had died rather than a few dozen, but such violent death, especially of a Jedi such as Viir, still left a lasting mark. It would likely be years, maybe decades, before the last echoes faded completely. As they descended through the atmosphere, she felt more. There were traces of chakra scattered around the land, but it didn't feel like any chakra she had sensed before. It was denser, more potent, and suffused with malice. Even the dregs that were left radiated more power than some Padawans.
"It's the Kyuubi's chakra." Luminara almost jumped when Jiraiya spoke. She had been so absorbed in what she was sensing she had tuned out completely.
"What you're sensing; it's the Kyuubi's chakra," Jiraiya repeated. His voice and face were both unusually somber. "After the attack on Konoha, the day Naruto was born, it felt like this. It felt just like this."
She didn't know what to say to that. He was clearly lost in some memory. From what she knew of the night he was speaking of and what had come after, she doubted it was a happy one. It galled her that she couldn't offer some comfort to her friend and partner, but her limited experience with her own emotions failed her here. In the end she merely reached out and squeezed his hand, a gesture he returned, before she focused once more on piloting their shuttle towards the wreck of the Crucible. It was only just dawn where they were headed, and the morning fog still lay thick and opaque across the forest. She had to rely on the scanners to locate the crashed training vessel and land next to it.
Mindful of the secrets still stored aboard the ancient ship, and not wanting the attack to stir a media frenzy, the Council had politely but firmly refused Chancellor Palpatine's offer to send a Republic investigation team to look into the tragedy. As such, only a dozen or so Temple Guards, along with a complement of forensic droids, were present to secure and maintain the scene. One of them, not a human, she thought, judging by his towering height and build, strode over to greet them as they exited the shuttle.
"Master Luminara, Jiraiya-sensei," he said, marking himself out as one of the Jedi who had received Jiraiya's chakra instruction over the past few years. The deep resonance of his voice, along with the distinctive hauum sound of a blowhole, marked him out as a Herglic. "Please follow me. We've kept everything preserved as best we can."
As the heavily built Guard led them to the site of Naruto's initial battle with the Mandalorians, Jiraiya asked him a series of questions. What sort of weapons had shot down the Crucible? Were there any matches on genetic samples from the Mandalorian bodies? Were any of them wearing any known clan symbols or iconography? Had they possessed any traceable weapons or other gear?
'He speaks like an experienced Jedi investigator,' Luminara noted, mildly impressed. 'He must have spent some time brushing up on modern forensics in the past few years.'
The Guard's answers were, predictably, not very encouraging. All the weapons used had been high quality, but also widely obtainable in the Mid and Outer Rim. None of the recovered corpses had been identifiable, nor had they worn clan markings. It sounded as if the Mandalorians were a dead end, much as Jiraiya had predicted. Even so, it was still worth taking a look around the scene, just in case.
The site of the initial battle proved a grisly scene. Whatever measures the forensic droids had taken to ensure the evidence did not degrade had certainly been successful. Six bodies lay strewn about the scorched trees, surrounded by blood. One, a woman's, had been decapitated. A trail of blood led to where her head had rolled a few meters from her body, still in the distinct helmet. Another had been stabbed in the armpit with a lightsaber. The other four were covered in nearly invisible cuts, as if someone had slashed them wildly with an incredibly fine razor.
"This is from one of Naruto's Fūton ninjutsu," Jiraiya said, gesturing at the four who had been sliced to ribbons. "It's like the Guard said. No clan markings, no unique symbols at all. Not even honor marks."
"That must be deliberate," Luminara said. "Whoever hired them didn't want any chance of being discovered, even if there were survivors."
Jiraiya nodded. "We should send the bodies and armor to Mandalore. They might be able to see something we're missing. Meanwhile, I want to try and breakdown their tactics. For reference, later."
"You think they've attacked publicly before?" Luminara supposed it was possible, but she doubted it. A group of Mandalorians this large would have trouble staying secret for long if they operated openly.
"Maybe," Jiraiya tilted his hand side to side. "Or maybe they'll attack again in the future. We also shouldn't discount the idea that Aurra might be with whatever's left of this group. That could be dozens of commandos for all we know. If it comes to a fight, I want every advantage I can get."
Luminara grimaced internally at the thought of fighting an entire platoon of Mandalorians and agreed. It proved to be grim work, made even worse by the oppressive atmosphere that permeated the area. Over the next half hour, through careful analysis of the various blast marks and insights from the Force, they pieced together a decent idea of how the Mandalorians had fought. Though neither of them had Quinlan's gift for psychometry, there was still ample evidence to work with. The picture grew even more complete when they looked at where Aurra and the Mandalorians had first captured the younglings. What they put together was disturbing.
"They were trained to fight Force users," Luminara said. "Jedi in particular. The blast patterns, the flechettes. Those bodies back there had repulsor weapons in their vambraces. They wouldn't buy such specialized gear just for one mission against children they outnumbered."
"No, they wouldn't." Jiraiya looked thoughtful. "They obviously trained with the idea of fighting Jedi, but I don't think they had a lot of experience actually facing Force users. They had the right idea, but from what Naruto said, it sounds like they made a lot of small mistakes. Ones you only make when you're well trained, but inexperienced."
"A cult, maybe? Some splinter group still holding on to the old grudges?"
"Maybe." Jiraiya frowned. "Whatever they are, it doesn't matter if we can't find them. Let's take a look at the last site. There's something there I want to try and find."
The rising sun had burned away the thick fog by the time they reached their destination, allowing them to see the destruction that had been obscured when they had landed.
"Force," Luminara whispered when she saw the battlefield. There could be no other word for it. Blaster marks and craters dotted the ground. The remains of more than a dozen bodies painted a gory mosaic atop the charred and pocked terrain. Most were barely identifiable as human. Compared to this, the carnage back near the wreck seemed almost quaint. Everywhere she looked, she saw mangled limbs and scattered viscera, along with impossibly damaged pieces of Mandalorian armor.
Worse than any of the gore, worse even than the heavy taint of the Kyuubi's chakra, was the feel from the small patch of ground where Viir had died. There was nothing visible to distinguish it from the rest of the blood speckled dirt in the field, but the Force told a different story. A Jedi's powers meant they often left an unseen impact on the world when they died, and Viir had been no exception. Even without Quinlan's gift of psychometry or Naruto's empathy, she could feel the wellspring of pain and grief pouring from that unassuming patch of ground, as if the Force itself was mourning. She swallowed a sudden lump in her throat, and it took an effort to wrench her focus away.
Beyond the field of butchery lay the trench from Naruto's last attack. It was unlike anything she had ever seen. The closest comparison she could make was a turbolaser strike, but even that paled in comparison. This looked more like a natural disaster than any conventional weapon. Ever since she had been told about it, she'd known, intellectually, that the Kyuubi was more powerful than any being she had ever met, but it was very different seeing the evidence first hand.
"And this was just a fraction of the fox's power," Jiraiya said, his voice once again somber. "Fully unleashed, its attacks can destroy whole mountain ranges."
Luminara tried to picture a single being with such power, but her mind just refused to wrap itself around the concept. It was too far outside anything she had seen before today. "I knew Naruto was strong willed, but for him to resist something so powerful… I think I've been underestimating him. I doubt many Jedi, even Masters, would fare so well."
"Well… it's easy to underestimate him when he keeps acting like such a twerp," Jiraiya said. When Luminara looked at him, he was smiling for the first time since they had left hyperspace. Though his tone gave away nothing but gentle teasing, she felt as though she had just passed some sort of test.
'I suppose it's only natural for him to want to gauge my reaction to knowing about the Kyuubi,' she thought, though she was still a little insulted that he had felt the need. The sting faded quickly, though. Naruto would always be his first priority, and that was the way it ought to be. Attachment issues aside, not that such things bothered her too much anymore, Jiraiya was the only adult in Naruto's life who truly knew and understood all of his secrets. She doubted even Mace was as close to the boy, and it actually sent another of those warm pulses of not-quite-friendship through her chest to see him so protective of his charge.
"Aha! Found it." For the second time in as many hours, Jiraiya's voice startled her out of her thoughts. When she turned to see what he had found, she saw, rather disturbingly, that he was crouched over a severed arm with a triumphant grin on his face. From the bone white skin and long, skeletal fingers, she hazarded a guess that it was Aurra Sing's arm, and said as much.
"That's right," Jiraiya said, still grinning. He had the look of a man who had just won a prize. "More importantly, it's got her scent."
Luminara frowned for a moment before comprehension dawned. "You want to use a tracking Toad to find her" Jiraiya nodded and pulled out a scroll to seal the arm away.
"Will that even work?" She asked. "Surely we would have to at least be on the same planet for them to catch her scent."
"Oh, at least," Jiriaya agreed as he tucked the now sealed arm into his robes. "But I've got plenty of contacts in the underworld. I'm betting at least one of them will know where she is. In fact, I think I know just who to ask first."
Luminara raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Leaving aside how, exactly, you came by these nefarious contacts of yours, what makes you think they'll give up Aurra Sing for you, or that you could even trust what they say if they do? She has a reputation for creative and sadistic vengeance. Criminals are unlikely to inform on her."
"Hey, don't discount the power of my magnetic personality and irresistible charm," he replied, waggling his eyebrows in a manner he no doubt thought was amusing. Luminara tried to convey in her gaze exactly how much it failed to amuse her, while simultaneously suppressing the smirk that tried to pull at her lips. She was not going to encourage him, she told herself. Not even a little. His self-satisfied grin told her exactly how successful she had been at concealing her amusement, but he chose not to call her out on it, which she appreciated.
"Seriously, though, my contacts are solid. Some of them owe me. Others are scared of me. A few I help out from time to time. Stars, some of them are even genuinely decent people who happen to hear things. Trust me, I've been doing stuff like this for decades now. I know how to get good intel out of a source."
"Force knows why, but I do trust you, Jiraiya," she sighed, and it was true. To her shock, she realized she probably trusted him more than anyone else in the galaxy. Somehow, in the almost three years since she had met him, Jiraiya had gone from being a bizarre acquaintance, whom she neither fully trusted nor approved of, to her closest friend and someone she would trust with her life without hesitation.
For just a moment, Jiraiya gave her one of his rare, sincere smiles; one totally bereft of any teasing or obfuscation. She treasured seeing those smiles and found herself returning it gladly. It didn't last more than a handful of heartbeats, but the warm feeling returned, and left her feeling light and buoyed, despite her oppressive surroundings. The Force glowed for a moment, and then it was gone.
"I should call my contact," Jiraiya said, smoothly sliding back behind his mask of insouciance. Despite that, Luminara could still see the smile in his eyes. She said nothing, though, and merely nodded her agreement. Whatever that moment had or had not been, she wasn't willing to sully it with questions just yet. They would come later, but for now, she allowed herself to just be.
Jiraiya pulled out his comlink along with an additional piece of hardware. As he hooked the two together, she recognized what the second device was. It was a high-end signal scrambler and encryption module. Such things were not precisely illegal, but neither were they the sort of thing honest, reputable beings typically had access to. She was, somehow, not at all surprised to see Jiraiya owned one. No sane person would ever accuse him of being reputable, after all. He probably would have been horrified if they had. After a few seconds of fiddling, he entered a long contact code and settled in to wait for a response.
They didn't have to wait long. After just a few moments, the holo-emitter on the comlink blinked into life, and projected the image of a short, portly, female Trandoshan. The woman's reptilian eyes narrowed when she took in Jiraiya's face.
"Oh, it's you. I thought I told you never ta call me again."
"Did you, Cid?" Jiraiya scratched his head, as if confused about something. "Strange, I can't recall you saying anything of the sort."
The Trandoshan woman, Cid, apparently, snorted and rolled her eyes, but didn't press the matter. Instead, she zeroed in on Luminara and jabbed one clawed finger in her direction. "Who's the new face? You know how I feel about new people."
Luminara stepped forward to introduce herself. "I'm Jedi Master Luminara Unduli. I assure you, we bear you no ill intent."
"Uh huh. That's nice, sweetheart." Luminara blinked as Cid dismissed her entirely and turned to Jiraiya, one brow ridge arched expectantly.
"Calm down, Cid. She's solid. You have my word on that. We just need some information."
Cid glared at both of them for a few more seconds before she sighed and shook her head. "Fine. I just know I'm gonna regret this, but fine. What do you wanna know?"
"We're looking for Aurra Sing," Jiraiya said, as calmly as if he were remarking on the weather. Cid's eyes shot wide open at that. "I figured if anyone knows what hole she's crawled into, it's you."
"Yeesh, ya don't ask for much, huh? Ya want anything else while we're at it, like a hypercom relay or the Supreme Chancellor's underwear? I'm pretty sure I've got the coordinates for the Katana fleet around here somewhere."
"Cid-" Jiraiya started, but the irritable Trandoshan cut him off.
"No, don't you 'Cid' me. Have you got any idea how valuable information like that is? What people would do to me if they found out I gave it to a Jedi? Huh!?" Cid swiped a clawed hand across her throat. "I ain't about to put my neck on the line like that, ya hear me?"
Luminara hurried to speak before she could cut off the transmission. "Please, madam, we would not ask for something like this lightly. It is imperative we find Aurra Song as soon as possible."
Cid rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah? What's so important this time, huh? The way I hear, Aurra's been making a problem for you lot for decades, now. So why the sudden rush? She piss in some high-and-mighty's tea or something?"
Luminara frowned. "I'm afraid I cannot share the-"
"She attacked a Jedi training vessel and murdered a youngling." Jiraiya spoke over her, and all the humor was gone from his voice. In its place was a core of pitiless durasteel.
Cid went very, very still when she heard Jiraiya's words. Her nostrils flared and the spines atop her cranial crest twitched a little bit, but that was all. Eventually, she took a hissing breath and her upper lip curled back for a moment, revealing a glimpse of sharp, serrated fangs.
"Well, kriff, kark, and stang." The Trandoshan sighed again. "Last I heard, Aurra was on Nar Shaddaa. Chatter was she was hurt. Real hurt. Came limpin' off some Mando ship near the northern spice market with one arm missing, muttering shit about monsters. That's all I heard, though, and I ain't asking around about it. Not on yer life."
"Thank you, Cid," Jiraiya said. "That helps."
"You can thank me by makin' sure none of this comes back in my head. Ya got that? And don't call me again, either. You always get me into shit like this."
Jiraiya clapped his hands to his heart and mimed a surprised gasp. "Don't be ridiculous, Cid. You know you enjoy our talks. They add a touch of spice to your life. Besides, if I stopped calling, how would you find someone as charming and handsome as myself to talk to?"
Cid stared at him as if he'd suggested she perform a specific sex act with a small bird. "I swear, I'm gonna shoot you in the liver one of these days."
Before Jiraiya could respond, she cut off the transmission. He sighed and shook his head. "You meet such nice people in this line of work."
It took most of Luminara's prodigious self-control not to stare at him with her jaw hanging open. "Was that a… typical conversation with one of your contacts?"
"What do you mean?"
"She told you never to call her again. Not for the first time, either, from what I gathered."
"Oh, that." Jiraiya shrugged. "She wasn't serious."
"She threatened to shoot you!"
He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again and looked thoughtful. "Okay, that part she might have been serious about." Luminara rubbed the bridge of her nose to try to stave off a headache. Suddenly, she sympathized with Cid and her urge to ventilate Jiraiya.
"Hey, don't worry about it," Jiraiya said. "We got the information we needed. I'll smooth things over with Cid later."
She thought about pressing the issue, but decided that way only madness lay. She'd seen firsthand before how Jiraiya's methods, as bizarre and ridiculous as they often appeared, yielded results. Questioning him in his apparent lunacy only led to him giving maddeningly vague answers that usually left the questioner faintly worried for their life. She did not have the energy to endure that at the moment, especially when it wouldn't get her anywhere.
'Besides, if she does shoot him, he may actually learn a valuable lesson,' she reasoned. It wasn't the most worthy of thoughts for a Jedi Master to have, but Jiraiya had a way of driving even the calmest beings into a frothing rage with hardly any effort at all. By those standards, Luminara considered she was doing very well.
"If you say so," she said. "We need to get to Nar Shaddaa."
"Before we do that, we're going to need permission from the Council. And a different ship."
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Naruto thoroughly enjoyed his first few hours on Master Fay's ship. The Dawn Wind was unlike any spacecraft he'd been in before, an intoxicating blend of practicality and beauty. He spent the first two hours of their flight just examining the custom-built yacht, noting all the interesting design and engineering choices, and memorizing the best of them to try out the next time he and Anakin set to modifying a ship. While she still refused to let him fly, Master Fay was at least willing to answer his many questions about her long time transport.
All too soon, though, Mace brought him down from his excitement and told him to meditate on what had happened and on what was to come. Naruto sighed, but agreed without an argument. He knew his master only had his best interests in mind; could literally feel it through their bond, but it still didn't make meditating on his failures on Rago any more appealing. He didn't like dwelling on the past at the best of times, but now, when it was necessary, it hurt the worst.
Nevertheless, he settled down in the small training area next to the living quarters and tried to quiet his mind. He ran through all the different breathing exercises Mace had taught him and reached out to the Force to soothe him and give him guidance as he thought about Rago. Ideally, it would let him consider the events calmly and gain new insight he may have missed otherwise. Predictably, though, it wasn't so easy.
Anger lanced through him like a raging fire as he remembered the attack. First, at the Mandalorians. True, he had killed most of them, both as himself and when the Kyuubi had possessed him. However, the scum who'd murdered Viir had escaped, along with his lieutenant. The injustice of that galled him; all the more because he could do nothing about it. He couldn't even promise to bring the man to justice; not when he had no way of finding him.
Next was his anger at Aurra Sing. She had organized the attack. She had hired the man who killed his sister. She had hurt his friends and tried to kill them. Worst of all, she had enjoyed it. He had heard the sadistic glee in her voice and seen the panting bloodlust in her eyes. Aurra was a monster, plain and simple. Crazy or not, the very thought of her made him grind his teeth.
All of that he could have accepted and moved past, though. He reserved the greatest part of his rage by far, for the Kyuubi. The others may have tried to hurt his friends, and that was unforgivable, but the fox had done something even worse. He had tried to make Naruto hurt his friends. When he remembered the mocking laughter, the pain of his skin burning and his blood boiling, and the terrible, malicious will of the Kyuubi, anger pooled hot in his gut. Red eyes glowed in the darkness behind his eyelids, and he couldn't tell if the growling he heard in his mind was a memory or the present. His eyes snapped open with a wild cry, and he toppled backwards and landed in a heap.
"Damn it," he cursed. Cold sweat had beaded on his brow and soaked through his tunic. When he looked at his chrono, he saw to his surprise that four hours had passed.
'Four hours,' he thought with a shake of his head. 'Four hours and I couldn't even relax once.'
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Things continued in much the same vein for the next day. No matter how much he tried, Naruto just couldn't think about the Kyuubi without wanting to punch a hole in something. Mace tried giving him advice, and even meditating with him, but it didn't help much.
"I don't understand why I can't do this," Naruto growled. "It's just some stupid meditation."
"Calm yourself, Naruto," Mace said, no more bothered by his Padawan's anger than a mountain was by a breeze. "Take a deep breath. Do not multiply your troubles by lashing out. Identify the problem and go from there."
Naruto nodded and took a calming breath. It helped, so he took another, and then another. By the fifth one, he had claimed down enough to think clearly. "I'm angry at the Kyuubi."
"You have meditated while angry before," Mace pointed out. "What is different now?"
His steady presence and calm tone stood in sharp relief to Naruto's antsy, turbulent mind. Naruto latched on to that and tried to borrow some of that calm for himself. Eventually, after a few minutes of mulling it over, he thought he had his answer. "I can't focus through it this time. I can't order my thoughts. It's like when I was a kid; everything's jumbled and I can't sit still."
Mace nodded. "That is to be expected. You are off balance, and sitting still has never been your strength. Fighting that right now will only make things worse. I suggest you go back to what helped you then. If you cannot sit still and meditate, then move and meditate."
It took Naruto a moment to work out what Mace was suggesting, but when he got it, he gave his master a huge eye-smile. "A spar?"
Mace grinned himself, a flash of white teeth that vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared. "If you feel up to it."
Naruto scrambled to his feet, already excited to test himself against Mace. He had yet to edge out a genuine win against his master, but he got a tiny bit closer every time they crossed blades. Before they could start clearing an area for a spar, though, a voice from the doorway interrupted them and made Naruto jump.
"Actually, I was wondering if you wouldn't like to spar with me," Master Fay said, having (once again) somehow snuck up on him despite his advanced senses and empathic powers. Naruto's jaw dropped when he registered what she had said, and even Mace looked caught off guard. The faintest hint of amusement colored her presence, but Naruto was too busy being stunned to take note.
"Y-you. I, um… I thought you didn't have a lightsaber," he stammered. She smiled her somewhat disquieting smile and tilted her head.
"Is that what they're saying about me? Well, it is true, I don't carry a lightsaber with me most of the time, and I do my best to avoid fighting at all, but I do still have my blade. I believe most Jedi are far too quick to resort to their lightsaber rather than resolve conflicts peacefully. That doesn't mean I will wholly part with my lightsaber. Remember, they are an extension of our being, not merely a weapon. So, what do you say?"
"I- yes!" He exclaimed, before calming himself. "I would be honored to spar with you, Master Fay."
Her small smile widened when he agreed, and she held out one hand, fingers splayed. There was a dull thump from somewhere deeper in the ship, and a few seconds later, a silver lightsaber hilt flew through the open door and straight into her waiting grasp. "I'm glad to hear it. Master Windu, if you would care to referee?"
"Of course." He stood up, and together they moved to the training room. With a wave of her hand, Fay cleared the meditation mats off the floor and neatly stacked them in a corner. She and Naruto both shed their outer robes, leaving them clad in their tunics and tabards. Naruto took a moment to dial his lightsaber's power down to training mode, and he presumed Fay did the same when she adjusted a control on the base. Once they were ready, and Mace had taken up a position off to the side, they bowed and activated their blades.
Naruto's blade bathed the room in brilliant orange light. He felt the subtle warmth of the carvings beneath his hands as they lit up with the same glow. The copper of his hilt reflected the light of his blade, giving the appearance that he was wielding a shaft of pure light from an evening sun. Fay's blade, on the other hand, was a deep emerald color. The hilt was simple, with a long, slender design, and a disc-shaped guard below the emitter. Even with her saber ignited, the legendary Master didn't look particularly threatening. Indeed, with her youthful appearance and short, slender build, she looked almost frail. Despite that, she held herself with an easy confidence that made Naruto wary. All his instincts told him the opponent across from him was a serious threat, no matter what she looked like.
They faced each other, unmoving, for several seconds, before Naruto broke the tension. He had never believed in letting an opponent make the first move, and he didn't do so now. With Force enhanced speed, he rushed forward, feinted high, and then spun and went for a low strike at Fay's legs. It was a favorite combo of his, designed to disorient an opponent and give them no time to defend themselves. In theory, even if she managed to defend against the true attack, it would still leave her open for a follow up.
In reality, none of that happened. Rather than block his strike, Fay jumped straight over his head, landed behind him, and kicked him square in the back. Her size belied her strength, and the blow knocked Naruto clean off his feet. At the last second, he turned his fall into a roll and avoided a follow up reverse stab that would have caught him in the heart.
"Not bad, Padawan," Fay said as she turned to face him again. "You have good reactions. Don't over-commit on your first attack, though."
Naruto grinned beneath his mask. Some Jedi may have derided his enthusiasm, but he loved sparring, especially against someone new. There was always so much to learn, both about his opponent and himself. In a way, he felt he understood why Sasuke had always been eager to test himself against new opponents. It was exhilarating. With an enthusiastic shout, he dove back into the fray. Orange saber met green, and the crackle of the blades filled the room.
Overall, Fay proved to be an interesting sparring partner. She fought with a blended style, like most of the older Masters, switching between Soresu and Makashi. Her swordsmanship was excellent, but a little stiff, as he would have expected from someone who hadn't wielded a lightsaber in earnest for decades, perhaps even centuries. Nonetheless, she clearly had kept up with her training, and her superlative Force abilities more than covered any gaps in her blade work.
Naruto threw himself into Juyo as he pressed the attack, taking full advantage of the form's constant aggression and unpredictable nature. He feinted, switched angles, and even varied his speed and rhythm in order to gain an advantage.
Fay steadily gave ground under Naruto's relentless attacks, but her defense proved solid. Each time his orange blade flicked out to strike at her, her own intercepted it. Just before she ran out of room to retreat, though, she shifted tactics. Naruto aimed a slash at her neck, expecting a block, only for her to parry his blade to one side and stab directly at his face. The Force blared its warning, and he bent backwards nearly ninety degrees to avoid a painful welt on his nose.
"Your Juyo is excellent, Padawan," Fay said, as she danced away from his return stab and slashed at his knees. "Master Windu told me you've progressed more rapidly than any Padawan he's ever seen."
Naruto fell back on his Soresu training to block the blow to his legs, along with the next two stabs at his abdomen. "I train a lot. I need to be strong if I'm going to keep my promises."
Now it was Fay's turn to advance. She let loose with a series of quick jabbing attacks. What they lacked in overwhelming power they made up for in frightening speed and precision. Naruto had to backpedal rapidly to maintain his defense. "He also tells me you've helped him develop Vaapad from a mere Form VII variant into a separate form in its own right."
"I just practiced against him while he was teaching me," Naruto said, though he couldn't stop the warm bubble of pride at hearing his Master's praise, even secondhand. "It's not that big a deal."
After a few more seconds, Naruto felt he had a grasp on Fay's rhythm, and took a chance. Rather than just blocking her short slice at his elbow, he dodged towards her, jamming her attack. Before she could recover, he brought his lightsaber around in a rising sweep. In an actual fight, it would have sliced her in two.
Or it would have, if Fay hadn't dropped her own lightsaber, grabbed his arm before he could hit her, and pulled him into a shoulder throw. For Naruto, the world suddenly spun on its axis before the ground rushed up to smack the breath out of his lungs. It was a stunning display of close-in fighting skill and, for most Jedi that would have been the end of the match. Naruto, however, was an even better hand fighter than he was a swordsman, and that was saying something. In the instant before he hit the ground, he twisted his wrist to grab on to her forearm. When he landed, he used his body weight to yank down on Fay, while simultaneously using his legs to push her upwards. The end result was that Fay went sailing through the air towards the opposite end of the room, giving him just enough time to scramble to his feet. She landed on her feet, though, and her lightsaber shot across the room and back into her grasp. Naruto's smile had turned into a full on grin. This was the most fun he'd had in over a week. Everything felt simpler when he was in a fight, especially when nothing was really at stake, like now. There were no philosophical puzzles, no past, no future. It was just action and reaction, problem and solution, a primal dance he'd been training for almost since he could walk.
They traded another few blows, even faster than before. This time, neither of them could gain a decisive advantage over the other. Naruto was so engrossed in attack and defense, parry and counter-riposte that Fay's voice came as a shock.
"You say he taught you Vaapad, but you haven't used it in our spar. Why is that?"
Naruto frowned as he tried to formulate his answer while also keeping his focus on their spar. "Vaapad is… not for me. I can use it, but it doesn't feel right."
"How so?" Fay spun away from a stab and kicked at his stomach.
"Vaapad is all about taking your enemy's hatred and aggression, harnessing it, and sending it back at them," Naruto said. He shrugged off the kick and pushed her back with a flurry of blows. "I don't feel right doing that. Jiraiya-sensei taught me to break the cycle of hatred, starting with myself. Vaapad feels like I'm perpetuating it. I-"
As he spoke, he couldn't help but cast a guilty look at his master. Disparaging Vaapad, even like that, felt like an attack against Mace. The older man met his eyes and gave him a barely perceptible shrug and spoke down the training bond.
'Do not apologize for what you believe, Naruto. You proved you could control Vaapad, but that does not mean I will demand that you embrace it. You are not weaker than I for not using it, merely different.'
Naruto sent a wave of gratitude to his master for his understanding before he had to backflip away from a blow that would have caught him in the lungs otherwise.
"Don't lose focus, Padawan," Fay said, her eyes glittering with the same wild joy he felt. Her voice and Force presence betrayed nothing of her inner feelings, though. "You had more to say." It wasn't a question. Somehow, she had seen right through him. Naruto winced at being called out like this, but there was nothing for it, now. It wasn't like he could have kept this a secret for much longer.
"I've… actually been working on my own lightsaber form," he said. Mace twitched and Fay's eyes' widened. He could feel their shock through the Force. Fay actually disengaged, giving them more space to talk.
"You have been inventing an entirely new saber form?"
"Naruto, you do know you have a long way to go before you even master Juyo, let alone the other forms?" Mace asked with his typical bluntness. Their bond rang with surprise and a touch of confusion. When Naruto glanced over at his master, he saw his eyebrow raised in an expression eerily reminiscent of Obi-Wan. Was that something they taught you when you got a Padawan?
"I know that, master," he said, a touch of irritation creeping into his voice. It wasn't as though he was stupid. "I'm not saying it's ready or anything like that. It's just something I've been tinkering with in my spare time. I wanted to find some balance point between Juyo and Soresu, but without relying on strength like Djem So."
The eyebrow rose further. 'You are attempting to reconcile the two most disparate lightsaber forms into a completely new style of fighting… in your spare time?'
Naruto blinked and realized how ridiculous that probably sounded. 'Maybe?' Mace just shook his head a little as the tiniest of smiles flickered across his face.
"That's an admirable goal," Fay said. "I look forward to seeing what becomes of it one day. For now, though, I have one more question for you. You said you don't want to perpetuate the cycle of hatred. That the first place you had to break it was within yourself."
"That's right."
"Well then, my question is this. Do you hate the Kyuubi, Naruto?"
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Yes, I know, I bucked the trend in giving Fay a lightsaber. My reasoning is, I feel, sound. One, as she said, the lightsaber is not just a weapon. While she objects to how it is perceived as such, it remains more than that to her. No Jedi would willingly give up their Kyber crystal out of pacifism. Two, in my head, she keeps it solely for if she encounters a Darksider. That's why she uses Form II and III. They are the forms most suited for defeating and disabling a Dark Jedi. Three, Fay was my initial choice for Naruto's master. I abandoned that idea fairly quickly, but in the process, I realized she would never let her lightsaber skill decay entirely. What if the Force called on her to take a Padawan?
Also, we finally start to see some of Sidious's long game. Let me know if you think you have an idea of what his plan is. I'll let you know if you're right. Or maybe I won't. I'm mercurial that way. In all seriousness, though, let me know what you think of my portrayal of the Sith here. I really want to get them right.
If you have any questions or comments, please leave a review. They help me a lot. Thank you, and see you next time.