The Handmaiden ran alongside the wall by the small group of Sith with boma. She threw up her hood and stared at Seth's lightsaber in her hand. Hesitation gripped her, but the Handmaiden had the hilt come out and she ran to the group of Sith. She cut them down instantly.
Seth grinned from a corner. She's training well, he thought as he ran up next to her. Forgot Kreia's here. Kreia was walking behind them. The group of three was on the way to the main terminal.
The Handmaiden stared at the dead Sith and boma; she put the lightsaber back on her belt and began to walk onwards. "You might want that in your hands," Seth said. The Handmaiden reached for it at this statement. "You never know when they're going to attack."
The group walked until they reached a door and met more enemies. The process began over again. The Handmaiden would take on the enemies, but Seth would step in if he noticed she had difficulty. He noticed Kreia never made an effort with the lightsaber he'd given her. It was always slung at her belt; she always used a vibroblade.
They finally reached the main terminal to find the nice Twi'lek who helped them at the Iziz cantina tapping the controls. He had sprung numerous traps on them like poison gas, exploding terminals, and sending reinforcement troops.
Seth glared at him. "You!" he asked. "You almost had me killed." Seth stared at the dead Sith the Handmaiden and he had dispatched. "What are you doing working with them?"
In his native tongue, the Twi'lek replied they'd offered him a good amount of money and that he didn't know that Seth was there. Just a bunch of excuses, Seth thought, shutting the Twi'lek out. This is a waste of time. "Just…get…out…" Seth said slowly. There is no emotion… his thoughts said in his ear. The Handmaiden needs to see mercy… He closed his eyes briefly. The Twi'lek stared.
"Go," Seth said firmly. The Twi'lek thanked him and ran from the room. Seth fumed a bit as he tapped the console. "That act…" the Handmaiden started.
"It was mercy," Seth said. "He didn't mean it as he said." The Handmaiden looked blankly at the console for a few moments. "Why have you an abundance of mercy?" Kreia piped up. Oh, so she talks but not fights? Seth thought, a bit annoyed.
"Mercy?" Seth asked. "He apologized, didn't he?" Kreia gave a bit of a wry smile. "Oh, Exile…" she said with a bit of a chuckle in her voice. "I know your emotions would have gotten the best of you if your…pupil was not present." Seth stared at the console.
"You would've killed him?" the Handmaiden asked astonished. Seth ignored her. Why must she know my emotions? He thought, remembering Atton's mind-shielding speech. It was the best advice he'd gotten off Atton since Peragus, anyway. Seth started to count the number of times the console beeped. Kreia was silent for a few minutes before Seth was finished and they left in silence.
There was a sudden crash and a blade-against-blade sound coming from the throne room, which made Seth and the Handmaiden pick up to a run. Kreia was still walking.
They reached the throne room entrance to see the Queen and Vaklu fighting with swords. But the gigantic beast and General Tobin were in the way. "Move, Tobin," Seth commanded.
Tobin cackled. "Move? You cannot possibly think you can save Onderon, for the job has already been filled."
"You've been warned," Seth said with a stern, sober face. The Handmaiden remained silent; Kreia caught up with the group. The moments of silence after Seth's words were filled with anger.
"Move," he said again. Tobin neither spoke nor moved. He blinked. Onderon is hanging by a thread and you're waiting for some Sith to move, Seth thought to himself. He didn't care anymore. He set out his hand and put Tobin in stasis and plunged his lightsaber in the gigantic beast.
The Loyalist troops proceeded into the throne room. The Loyalists and Separatists began to clash at once. Seth ran into the action and walked right up the Vaklu and Talia.
"You lust for power," Talia said. "Well I am fit for ruling Onderon, Talia," Vaklu said. "And I'm afraid that the time of your reign is coming to a close." They spoke like this for awhile, and Seth didn't understand why. Either fight or have your conversation.
Kavar appeared suddenly; Talia noticed this and Vaklu struck her slightly. Blood appeared from the spot on her cheek. "She's the queen, damn it!" Seth shouted. The Handmaiden was close in step, but Kreia stayed back a bit.
Vaklu looked up from his fight. He watched Seth come up to him and draw Vash's lightsaber.
"A Jedi?" Vaklu laughed. "And his personal kath hound." He looked at the Handmaiden. Both she and Seth wore angry faces. "How can you just come and expect to destroy the Onderon government without a challenge?" Seth asked.
Vaklu nodded. "Indeed I did. But I did not expect two Jedi." Kavar sunk back a bit, not wanting to be caught in warfare. "Are you going to sit back there and play Pazaak, Kavar, or help?" Seth asked as the hilt of Vash's lightsaber glowed yellow. He struck at Vaklu, who blocked with his vibroblade.
The Handmaiden watched, enchanted by the action, wondering if she could wield a lightsaber like that. She jumped a bit when Seth took her lightsaber from her hand and cut Vaklu's arm off from his elbow down.
Vaklu screamed in pain and Seth watched him fall. "Mercy," Vaklu said. Seth stared him in the eyes. The Handmaiden's lightsaber went off and he threw it to the floor. He drew Master Vash's and held it. The yellow friendly glowed among the broken soldiers and rebels. "You have destroyed enough," Seth said. Kavar looked at Seth, knowing some part of the Mandalorian Wars came out in him.
Seth stooped to the broken Vaklu's level. "See this lightsaber?" he asked rhetorically. "It's from Korriban. It's not from a friend, but an ally." He stared into Vaklu's eyes. "An ally killed by Sith." He paused. "Master Vash was in hiding on Korriban, but the Sith murdered her. Although she was no best friend, she was an ally of some sort."
The Handmaiden went to get her borrowed lightsaber off this ground. She watched intently, wondering what Seth would do.
"But mercy to a Sith?" Seth asked. "Never." He spoke the final words and decapitated Vaklu on the spot. The Handmaiden stared in shock, thinking Seth was full of much more mercy than that. Kreia didn't comment and Kavar just stared.
For Vash, Seth thought, although she showed me no mercy. He then looked up at the Handmaiden and Kreia and motioned for them to go.
But Kavar stepped in his pathway. "Can we speak for a moment?" he asked. Seth nodded, sensing a lecture. Kavar led Seth away into a room, stepping over the occasional body.
"The girl," he said right away once the door was shut, "is apprehensive." Seth stared at him blankly. "She needs guidance, not displays of anger."
"Displays of anger?" Seth asked. "Vaklu needed to be killed! He practically wiped Onderon from the Republic—he wanted to kill all those people."
"You wanted to kill Vaklu," Kavar said plainly. He took a breath. "The girl needs guidance on the light side," he said again. "She needs to be disciplined, and taught everything in the ways of the Jedi." Kavar's eyes were smiling slightly. "And I don't know how she entrusted her training with you," he teased. Seth gave a bit of a smile to this. Kavar might be a bit strange, but he always had a sense of humor.
The Dxun jungle surrounding the Ebon Hawk was becoming all too familiar. The Handmaiden was lagging a bit, and Kreia was already on the ship. Seth had waited with Mandalore to get his priorities in order before leaving again and the Handmaiden stopped to practice on cannoks.
Seth looked at the jungle before going on the loading ramp of the ship. There was a slight wind that moved his hair; the heat made Seth perspire more than usual. He had thrown off the cloak of his Jedi robes on the ground.
The Handmaiden emerged from the green and came next to where Seth stood. "The events at the palace had me slightly confused," she said. "You've always displayed Jedi attributes—mercy, love, forgiveness." She stopped after that sentence, not knowing what to say.
Seth sighed and turned to her. "Some people seem beyond hope, and then you start to give up on them. The brutal truth is that not everyone can be saved. It's the same way with illness, a colony gets sick and some die."
"But what about Revan?" the Handmaiden asked. "He was Revan…and he found atonement."
"Revan and Vaklu are different," Seth explained. "I thought, at that time, Vaklu was beyond hope. I thought, at that time, he was better off dead." He paused and looked at her. "And that's exactly how Atris feels about me."
The Handmaiden opened her mouth to say more, but Seth turned away and began to walk onto the Ebon Hawk.
Seth sat in the main hold. The hum of the hyperdrive, the beeping of T3, and the silence of the ship was the only sounds Seth could hear save his own breathing. It was late, and he found himself sleepless again. He needed the sleep. The Ebon Hawk was going to Dantooine. They were almost there, and Atton would wake up, land the ship, and go back to sleep.
But Seth was the reason they were going there. The rendezvous was set for the next day, meaning there was an idle day in between the landing and when Seth went to meet the Masters. He decided he'd begin some training with Mira and the Handmaiden, probably play some Pazaak with Atton to burn up some time too.
But his mind was elsewhere. He couldn't stop thinking about the Onderon palace. Even though the event was quick and not that big, it was huge to him. It replayed in his head, but some part of Seth was glad he'd killed Vaklu. He'd saved people energy and thoughts by killing Vaklu.
He heard some stirring, and figured it was Bao-Dur working on the ship. Footsteps on the metallic floor grew louder as the person approached the main hold. Seth slouched in the chair, not welcoming human contact.
The footsteps stopped abruptly behind him. Seth turned to see Visas standing in the doorway. What, she doesn't sleep either? He thought agitated. "Do you have trouble sleeping?" Visas asked.
It's a bit obvious. "Yes," Seth said. "I can help you," she said. "I can teach you a way to meditate to ease yourself, not control the Force." Seth was a bit skeptic of this.
Visas was standing in the doorway still. "If you want to learn, just go in the cargo hold." She turned and left
I need some sleep, Seth thought. "Hey, Visas, wait…"
Author's Note: Sorry for the very long delay in updates. I guess I could say I was in one of those clichéd ruts writers sometimes get in? Nah. XD Anyways, expect more updates frequently. Sorry for shortness...