Disclaimer: All non-original characters and ideas mentioned here is SW material, not owned by me. Like countless others, I'm just playing in the Lucas Universe, inspired by Episode 3. Only the Forgotten Ones are OCs so far.

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Jedi Hunter

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The Shadow Hunter was as fast as it was sleek and deadly, but no amount of Hyperdrive power could defy the inevitable stretch of lag time spent traveling between locations. Vader's closest destination was still hundreds of parsecs from Coruscant, giving him plenty of time to sit in the void of Hyperspace, utterly alone.

It had given him time to think, for his consciousness to catch up to the exploits and tribulations of a numbed, ravaged body, eyes closed behind the black helmet. No amount of reflecting could change the truth of the matter.

Padme is gone. After Mustafar, the world I knew burned down around me. I can't breathe. I cannot live without this armor, and is that truly living?

Jedi or Sith, honesty with oneself remained important. Perhaps, especially, if you were Sith. The shell of unfeeling metal that the droids had woven around him still seemed uncomfortable, heavy. The prospect of wearing it forever still terrified him beyond imagining.

I will not, then, he stiffened up, focusing on the future to dampen the horrors of his present. The power that I began learning to save her- it can also save me. Someday I will be free of this mask, and then I will possess the power to make the galaxy whatever I wish.

Of course, Vader knew the person behind his present circumstances, the mental image undimmed by his daydreaming. This is all the fault of Obi-Wan. Everything leading to this nightmare could have been avoided if he had not betrayed me. If the Jedi had not betrayed me.

Again, his unrestrained anger flowed out, causing the ship to rock slightly even while in motion… but he reined it in before anything crucial was broken. That is another area I must train in if I am to succeed- I must learn to conserve the rage for the proper moment, as my Master has done.

If there was any part of the master's power that impressed Vader, it was that. It hadn't taken long after the incident for him to deduce that the former Supreme Chancellor must have been planning the current state of affairs- the war, the clones, everything- before coming into office; perhaps much longer. Yet, Vader had already sensed a wrathful, destructive vengeance in the master whenever his true power came to the forefront. His master bore an unmistakably bloody grudge against the Jedi Order that coaxed simple anger and hate into an art form when he chose to use it.

To keep all of that hidden away, completely concealed under the well-mannered, even meek role of Senator Palpatine, for over twelve years… That was the zenith of self-control if Vader had ever seen it. No doubt that his master possessed greater control over his emotions than even his vanquished Jedi tutors had. Greater power, as well. There has to be a connection.

That was to be the first step, then; to refine the blazing furnace of anger in his gut so it would only burn when necessary. Here when he needed it; gone when he did not.

The first step would have to wait- Chorax was down to five light-minutes and counting. Triggered by the early warning alarm, the holo-display to Vader's immediate left lit up, creating an image of the planet in question. Details on the Forgotten that was supposed to be living on this dusty hideaway popped up alongside the display, accompanied by the text of his master's own notes- a succinct evaluation of the man Vader had to kill.

Forgotten Jedi- Kahl Gonak, Human Male from Contruum:

'In many ways, Kahl Gonak is the perfect exemplar of the Forgotten, and why it is that we must eliminate them swiftly. This young man left the Jedi at the same time you were made a Padawan, shucking off the hypocritical Jedi Code for his own liberation. His power to draw upon the Force is not as dangerous as it is exotic- the smugglers who used this planet as a sanctuary have talked. They say he draws upon this planet's own energies to fight. Earthquakes, rock and mud slides, floods… all will answer to his call. Gonak must be killed, before his talents can harness the energies of an entire galaxy of natural disaster out there waiting for him.' –Master Sidious

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The planet Chorax, from what the Shadow Hunter's almanac data suggested, had long-since become a victim of its own success. An unremarkable hunk of dust and rock, it still bore the scars of its collision with a meteor millennia ago- the surface was crisscrossed with craggy impact lines. These kilometer-deep valleys had been the perfect hiding spots for any given number of the galaxy's lower functionaries… especially considering it was practically the next-door neighbor to Thyferra, the home of all Bacta in existence, making for an easy smash-and-grab.

Such lowlife scum had a way of talking about their adventures, Vader knew, that had eventually dulled the planet's only viable function- a secret hideout was useless when it wasn't secret anymore. Before long, various rumors about the Polith system getaway were thick enough that any legal inquiry in the system would inevitably begin there. Now, most sensible smugglers stayed well enough away from the place.

A case of being too perfect. Still, this Kahl Gonak hasn't moved out along the rest of his smuggler friends. He is hiding in plain sight. He thinks that no one would ever come to this mudball with the power of the Force behind them.

Vader's respirator muffled a light puff of air out, momentarily opaqueing the view screen. He is about to receive a rude awakening.

The Shadow Hunter was barely halfway through the cloud layer when it picked up other engine signatures lighting up on the ground. Vader stared at the screen's four blue ion flares- and the small ships they represented- with quiet indifference. Obviously, the mountainous planet was not entirely dead. Shadow Hunter's computer counted off the patchwork rigs, two of which were already on an intercept course with him.

Vader ignored the rest of the smuggler ships for the time being, instead pushing a fraction of his shields and communications energy into acceleration and weapons.

Directly through a pearl-white cloud bank, and there they were. Two vessels approached Vader's ship head on flying side by side, their pilots either idiots or madmen.

Or, Vader supposed, perhaps they do not yet know whom it is they face.

The two vessels drew closer, providing an odd contrast in size. The left ship was only an old starfighter- a junky Hornet Interceptor, by the looks of it, but the strange Courier ship on the right nearly dwarfed Vader's own. While the first ship aped the thorax, eyes, and gossamer wings of hornets that were endemic to any number of worlds, its multisectioned partner held a large wing on its port bigger than the rest of the ship put together, and an angled row of three engines along its right. Without these two modular sections chained to it, the vessel would have been only slightly larger than a starfigthter as well.

The two ships hadn't fired yet, but Vader knew their intent was to stop him- why else would they fly directly towards him, acting as wingmen should? Mechanical hands descending to the fire-control buttons for the first time, he locked and launched two concussion missiles from Shadow Hunter's horizontal spikes against the larger ship, and then sent a pair of thick green lasers lancing downward at the Hornet through the clouds.

Once the Hornet was destroyed, the Courier ship gave off a series of small pops from its bow that were the only indication of it's having launched chaff to confuse the missiles. Both were foiled by this, veering off to crash into random space debris that not even Vader's powerful sensors could make out yet, but the second explosion still crisped its rear plating.

Concentrating in earnest now, he drilled the ship's gargantuan left wing with lasers, punching through it… but the vessel remained sturdily in one piece, and now it could shoot back.

The same moment the Courier was able to track and fire with its own weaponry, Vader hauled the flight controls hard, sending Shadow Hunter into a velocity-enhancing spin to knock away any of the countless pink spheres the ship's Pulse Cannon might tag him with. The needle spin only quickened the rate at which the two ships passed each other by. Just as the enemy ship and its tiny pulse shots passed out of sight, Shadow Hunter trembled from a good handful of red laser hits to the rear shields.

That vessel must have rotating blasters, he decided firmly. No matter- this rebel pilot's tenacity will be his undoing. Hauling the controls the other way to kill the spin, he shook off the last of it cornering around to face the target again. It was folly to try and speed up this meaningless conflict. While he hadn't sensed any strong Force presences aboard the courier ship, he hadn't found any on the planet yet either- the vessel might well be Kahl Gonak's own.

Instead of shying away from the head-to-head exchange as he had done previously, Vader reduced thrust, depressing his targeting reticule onto the ship's main section as it forced a sharp turn of its own.

Not fast enough- the next barrage of green struck the engines on the right instead, the row of pods acting as a weak shield for the ship as it completed its elongated turn.

The ship and its deceased wing mate had remained silent thus far, but Vader recognized irritation and a fair bit of youth faintly coming over his communications, broadcasting from a site on the surface. "Rancor Eater, this is Gonak", came the annoyed voice. "You need to break off now, before he vapes you. Didn't I tell you not to intervene with this Sith Lord?"

The ship Vader now knew to be the Rancor Eater completed the turn even while its captain added his gruff voice to the mix. "No can do, Kahl. He's killed Grigsby. He dies. End of story."

Behind his mask, he narrowed his eyes. Idiotic of them to broadcast in the clear like this, even if it really didn't make a difference- Shadow Hunter's decrypt package was top of the line.

"Damnit Poc, just go! I told you I can handle him!" That was Gonak's nattering voice, again. "Just fly away with the others- I want to be alone for this one."

Gonak had just saved him the trouble of having to interrogate the enemy crew once they were helpless, but obviously the gruff captain hadn't gotten the message. Of course, that didn't really matter in the end. The captain of this ship had challenged the Lord of the Sith; Only one ship could survive this encounter

Vader snapped off another sequence of shots, drawing close enough to strike individual parts milliseconds after he'd targeted them. Instead of retorting with another pulse barrage or its rotating blasters, which he could now see clearly on the main wing, the Rancor Eater dove for one of the meandering valleys Chorax was known for, trailing another cloud of charred debris and plating- its own.

No, he gripped the fire controls with hands of durasteel, you shall not escape me. The other ship still occasionally harassed his shields with the rotating turrets now as he duplicated the dive into the valley, but all parties involved knew the ship was partly crippled, no longer able to mount any kind of real defense except for running into the valleys.

It actually took three full salvos, two short periods of pacing the target while waiting for the heavy blasters to recharge, before the structural welds connecting the ship's three modules gave out completely. Even then, its main section continued downward, trailing smoke before tumbling, slamming into a sheer cliffside.

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Barren as the areas above Chorax's valleys were, it was no surprise that any visual readings Shadow Hunter would able to get of the target was interrupted by rocks and dirt- the whole surface area was the nothing but rocks and dirt, the spot where Gonak's transmission had come from no exception.

Stalking along the rough ground between natural edifices, Vader had never intended to blast Kahl Gonak on the ground from behind his ship's shielding. That was the coward's way, the way the smugglers he had just killed might have done it.

Wherever Gonak was, he would find him, and defeat him in a straight battle, as it should be. The archive data indicated he had built a Lightsaber before renouncing the temple, and he eagerly anticipated the moment when that perfectly balanced green blade would clash with the red Sith Lightsaber Vader had built himself in the past week. He'd had no choice.

I had to, because Obi-Wan stole my old one, stole it away and left me helpless, to die the most painful death imaginable. Betrayal. More anger came with those thoughts, and more power along with it.

That power was answered by the weapon he'd been searching for, along with the man he'd been searching for, as both stepped out from the shadows behind a tall spire of rock.

Kahl easily fit his voice. Whereas he had left the Jedi temple at the tender age of fourteen, he was now a man of twenty six, thick brown hair that must have been handsome a while back molded into a messy mop over Kahl Gonak's strangely meaty face. Vader would have expected to see such a mug on the departed captain of the Rancor Eater, not on a young renegade Jedi. Beneath that, Kahl confined himself to a simple leather flight jacket and black pants, again looking more like a hotshot mercenary than a Jedi.

Instinctively, Vader matched a sideways pacing to Gonak's own, passing through the obstacle course of rock spires without a pause. His target drew his saber, and Vader did likewise..

"So you killed him", Gonak spat, matching his earlier transmission with the bitter accusation. "I saw you. Poc surrendered, and you still shot him down. No honor amongst murderers, I see."

"He challenged me", Vader rumbled back as though that would explain everything. "He could not be allowed to live."

Gonak twitched, now gathering a noticeable reserve of dark side power to him. "Damn show-off, thought he could keep you away from me. You're the Sith Lord Darth Vader, if I'm not mistaken."

For a beat, Vader froze. Someone had tipped Gonak- and possibly the rest of his allies as well- to his coming. Who? This mission was meant to be a secret, with only few others knowing of it…

"You would be correct, young Gonak", he replied darkly. "Now, face me with all of your hatred and might- I promise I shall make your destruction painless."

Vader felt more of the Force gathering in the other man. "So you say. But just because you got lucky against some hoary old smugglers doesn't mean a thing against me."

"In my experience", Vader answered in infinitely precise tones, "there is no such thing as luck."

Gonak's brow furrowed like a storm cloud. "We'll find out." He lunged, whipping out his emerald green blade that closed in on its mark before crashing against Vader's red saber, already in a strong parrying position.

Surging forward, Vader pressed the parry into a strong side slash away from Gonak's own guard, cutting the air inches from his face before he came back with a flashy spin, not quite knocking the blood red blade away from him, but giving pause to Vader's advance. Just as quickly, he retreated from it, back flipping onto a rock that put him a full head taller than the Sith Lord.

Gonak didn't wait on his perch. His own saber darted down towards Vader's neck, taking advantage of the high ground, but Vader kept coming, shrugging the ineffectual attacks aside and putting his muscle into a backhand counter directed at Gonak's waist. Like the last one, the blow seemed to miss at the last second, as though the fallen Jedi's body was elastic.

By stretching out with his senses, Vader could now sense the anomaly. There was something amiss about the way his blows continued to miss no matter how well he targeted them. Gonak had some experience as saber duelist, but not nearly as much as his assassin had accrued over the years. By all rights, he should have been minced a minute in; instead, Gonak was drawing him out, provoking him into a tiring prolonged exchange even though he knew himself to be at a disadvantage.

Enough of this waste of time. As Gonak dodged backwards yet again, Vader let his saber guard fall and concentrated. The monstrous rage poured out at Gonak, immediately causing him to relax his own weapon and fight the power that threatened to choke the life out of him.

Gonak was not the only one having trouble controlling himself- Vader's bloodshot, organic eyes swam with the images that had fueled his power. Sandpeople, worthless occupants of a planet just as barren as this one… His mother's body, cradled in his arms… and Obi Wan, still ever the preacher, screaming down at him from his safe spot on a hill of black ash instead of helping him, watching him burst into flames…

'You were supposed to bring balance to the Force, not turn it to darkness!'

Suddenly, Kahl Gonak looked very much like one of the Sandpeople, choking and coughing behind its mask. Vader drifted for a moment and turned him into Obi Wan, advancing while Kenobi's eyes widened and his throat contracted. Finally, there was little left to come out- Vader was momentarily spent.

And Gonak was still standing. Even while resisting the Force choke with all his power, he'd still somehow avoided the saber lunge. Just for a moment, Vader let his heightened senses drop… and discovered something on the lenses of his helmet that even the Force had not shown him.

Until now, he had not paid any attention to the dirt under Gonak's boot soles. Why would he? Dirt was dirt, useless to either combatant, or so he had thought. The pickups in his helmet offered every detail of its movement, the ground shifting beneath Gonak's feet…

And each shift exactly in time with Vader's slashes, as though his blade was a metronome.

So this planet is literally his ally. But the Dark Side is stronger than a mere planet. It is the other half of the Force that spans millions of mud balls like this one. All that is required is to draw out that energy, and Gonak will prove no match.

Thinking this was one thing. Doing it was another, even for a Sith Lord. Already, Gonak was dodging Vader's blow again, coming back with his own saber with a renewed vigor Vader could not help but feel jealous of.

Jealous, and frustrated. Before the incident, I could do cartwheels over this little whelp's head. With this blasted suit, I can't jump at all.

Finally, just when he thought Gonak would never tire, he caught an opening in the young Jedi's guard. Breaking his maxim of aggressive pressure attacks, he managed to move both bulky legs to the left of the green saber so that he was no longer between it and one of the tall rocks they had been fighting near.

The rock did not last long- barely a second was required for the intense heat of Gonak's saber to burn through the rock spire but that second was all Vader needed. He swept his blade around the left, coming within inches of Gonak's neck before something else blunted it.

Remembering that he was still exposed to a reprisal, he dropped back a bit out of alarm. But no- Gonak's speed had kept him alive at the cost of his saber, moving it back by reflex to block Vader's weapon with the handle. The weapon now lay in two pieces on the ground, revealing a rare Corusca Gem imbedded within the tube.

He didn't need to look at Gonak's face to tell he was furious at losing his weapon- a weapon that had been by his side for twelve years. Vader sensed a strengthening aura of pure rage around Gonak now, and prepared his own saber for the final blow before that aura could do anything more.

The ground beneath Gonak's feet reacted so abruptly that Vader didn't understand what he was seeing until a few seconds after the fact- not only did the ground whisk Gonak's shaking form out of harm's way, but it also shook beneath Vader's glossy black boot soles, treating Gonak and himself like a pair of opposed superconductors.

The shabby rock spires around them began to fall apart, further distancing the two combatants with a choking cloud of dust. A fraction of the grit caught in the speaker grille of the helmet, but Vader ignored it- a small earthquake was no place to get distracted over semantics, and that seemed to be exactly what Kahl Gonak was doing.

Finally, Vader felt Gonak's Force-presence shot upward from the shielding dust cloud, weaponless but suspended on a pillar of rock more than three times the size of anything he'd seen on the planet before. Gonak was standing upright with his fists balled up, his face twisted by the wrathful madness he had sensed earlier.

Gonak was shouting something impossible to hear over the cracking noises that were now coming from the earth beneath Vader's feet. Refusing to stumble, he sidestepped and was immediately thankful he had- Gonak's increasingly wild Force anger had sent an earthquake fault line cracking towards where he had been, and the dry shale crumbled before it like a massive eggshell.

As strange and impressive as he found this power, there was no time for reflection- remembering even through his rage that such a maelstrom would eventually devour itself, Gonak had put his powers to work in raising a circle of tall stalagmites around Vader's figure like a round little cage, ensuring that his next quake line could not possibly miss.

Instead of trying to cut the imposing spikes, which Gonak had no doubt swathed in multiple layers of fast-drying mud from the river to the east, Vader raised his saber to the skies, gathering momentum and plunging it into the earth seconds before the fault line reached him. The beam of red sank halfway in before sticking, and now Vader could see the line stopping, losing the threatening crackling noise that had deafened his helmet's pickups.

In fact, he realized in shock, the quake had gone completely silent. All the rugged rocks and mud Gonak had raised in his tantrum were halted, and he really hadn't expected his saber to stop the fault line either. Something is amiss here…

Covered in dirt from the battle, his two optic lenses could still make out what was amiss- Gonak had stopped moving atop the pillar of rock he had created, and another one of his small dust clouds was obscuring any detail of his body, except for the persistent glow of two red beams at the top of the column.

Red beams coming out of his eyes… is that some sort of Force technique?

He knew what those red beams were- lightsabers. Two of them, sticking directly through Gonak's pupils in what constituted the most gruesome death Vader had ever seen, with his own scissor-decapitation of Count Dooku striking a close second. Then there was Master Windu and the younglings- maybe not the ugliest death I've ever seen, he corrected himself. All death is ugly, no matter how quick and clean you try to make it.

The being responsible for this particular bit of savagery had not yet show their face from behind Gonak's kneeling corpse on the pillar, still cloaked by the dust storm raging around it. Vader raised his saber again to an en-garde position, wary that the new arrival might well abandon his or her weapons for a chance to surprise-attack the Dark Lord.

Then he felt the being's Force presence in place of Gonak's own, and his eyes prowled the billowing sand clouds even more carefully. "It has been a very long time since we last met." His deep voice called out to the sun-baked sand. "I can see your flare for the dramatic has not yet ceased. Reveal yourself… Asaajj Ventress."

This confirmed what he already knew- no trial proposed by his master would be without its surprises. No one ever told him it would be an easy mission to accept.

Just how he liked it.

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M: Bah, I was striving for likean hourtrying to find a good wording to end this chapter, whether to reveal the new warrior's identity or not.

(SPOILERS FOR NEXT CHAPPIE)

I double-promise that the next chapter will not have Ventress just leaping in to fight Vader- there was too much continuous fighting in this chapteralready, and she's in for the long haul of this story as an enemy of the remaining four Forgotten, all of whom are either equal or greater than Kahl Gonak's level of strength! Next chapter up in about a week.