Chapter 9: Practical

"There is more to a Sith than pure power in the Force or ability with a lightsaber, often times fighting yourself is a complete waste of time when you can instead bend a person to your will, intimidate or threaten them into compliance, blackmail them, or do a favor for a favor," instructed Sidious as he paced around Siri in their dark candlelit meditation room, "But it must be done without revealing yourself for who you are, or if you must, kill or wipe the minds of those who know after."

"So... you trust no one with your true identify?" she asked.

A thin smile that played across his lips. "Generally not unless I mentally bind them to me. The Sith did not stay out of the Jedi's sight by revealing ourselves unnecessarily."

She couldn't help but gawk. "Mentally bind someone? It's possible to do that?"

Sidious chuckled darkly. "Oh yes, to dominate and enslave someone's mind to you is an advance skill of the Dark Side. It must be done with the uttermost care. If you press to much, you can shatter their mind and render them useless, to little and the binding can be made vulnerable and be broken. It incurs in those dominated an unfaltering loyalty, they are unable to willingly disobey you even if they wanted to, and will look past the most brutal of crimes, rebukes and even punishments, if only to please their Master."

Siri frowned thoughtfully. It... it should have seemed disgusting to her, she knew it should of, but... to make sure she couldn't be betrayed, to have someone she had made force-ably countable on...

"And before you ask, no, I have not done so with you," said Sidious dryly, "It is not advisable to use on one's apprentice, as dominating and engulfing their mind with the binding will weaken their potential."

"I didn't think you had," said Siri snidely, "Otherwise I couldn't hate your guts the way I do."

Sidious bared his teeth, a hissing laughter escaping his lips. "Ah, there it is, you've been to quiet these last few weeks, I was wondering where that bite had gone. Still..."

Lightning ripped from his hands and drove her to the ground. "Know your place my young, foolish, blue-eyed apprentice."

Siri ground her teeth, biting back her scream, until he finished. "Hmph, your tolerance is growing, good, you were much to fragile when I took you in."

Took her in? Hah, right, as if he had been kind in doing so. "That's one way to put it."

He sent another jolt of lightning, but spoke almost fondly, "Insolent little thing. Rise, and walk with me."

She fell in step behind him, waiting patiently for him to speak. She recognized suddenly that they were heading for the exit, he was taking her out of the building.

"These skills I mentioned, some come naturally, some must be practiced and learned," said Sidious, "You will do so today. I want you to intentionally put yourself into situations, dangerous ones, and attempt to find a way out of them that doesn't involve your lightsaber or crushing someone into the ground with the Force. Whether it be intimidation, manipulation with the Force, offering to do something for them, or even seduction, the choice is yours."

Siri chocked a little. "S-seduction?!"

He glanced back at her briefly. "Being born female does have some benefit in certain situations. You are young and not unattractive, your body can be a great weapon if you choose to use it."

"Y-you've got to be kidding me," she said, "I'm under-aged for one thing!"

"And?" he said, "Some people find that all the more enticing."

"No, karking, way," she spat out in disgust, "That's one line I'm not going to cross."

Sidious chuckled. "If you say so, you will learn one day, my young apprentice, such trifle things as laws or lines mean nothing for a Sith in pursuit of their goals."

He led his infuriated apprentice to the door of the facility and motioned out. "Go, and remember that no one is to remember your face, nor are you to encounter any Jedi. You have until sunset, I will be watching."

Siri huffed a little and strode out, drawing up her hood as she went into the smog and down into the festering hellhole that was the Coruscant Lower Levels. She understood what Sidious had ordered, and what he had not said. He was giving her 'free reign', but he was going to watch how she used that 'freedom'. If she acted in anything like to a Jedi, she knew she was going to be in for it. He hadn't admonished her for saving that rape victim last time she was out awhile back, but that was probably because she had absolutely brutalized the rapist and murdered him with a savageness that impressed him...

She scoffed to herself. "Acting like a Jedi? A Jedi wouldn't be caught dead down here actually helping someone."

Besides, helping any one individual down here wasn't going to do anything in the long run. Having a lasting impact would require something far more than putting out little bush fires on the outskirts of the raging inferno the mess of the Republic was. It would require doing something about the senate; Sidious had 'so graciously' given her read-only Holonet access. She had spent a lot of time reading up on the government and its horrifically corrupt and ineffective Senate.

She had asked Sidious once just how they stayed in the senate when they did nothing of real value. How was arguing the price of karking fruit for five hours (she had actually watched that entire debate once out of morbid curiosity and disbelief) relevant to their job? How weren't they voted out of power for wasting taxpayer money and doing nothing? There were disasters both natural and created all around the galaxy they could be addressing, but they only ever saw the senate floor if an effected senator brought it up, and probably to leech money or popularity off the relief effort. And Force forbid if it was an Outer Rim planet, because nothing was going to get done for those so far from the Core.

His answer had been simple: Complacency. It had been like this for so long everyone was used to it, they didn't expect it to change, and did nothing to change it. The mindless masses didn't particularly care about the Republic or the Senate unless they meddled specifically in their affairs. Of course corruption had an effect to, being able to bribe or threaten your way into office and stay there was another reason. He had told her well over half the Senate was complicit in something illegal. So very few actually did their jobs right and actually cared.

Not that Sidious cared about that, he found the whole circus hilarious. Siri half thought he wanted to control the Galaxy just to make them dance to his tune for his own amusement. Siri knew that while something needed to be done about the senate and the failing Republic, Sidious as Emperor of the known galaxy was NOT the answer. Only those with his favor would truly benefit, the masses would either stay the same or suffer.

SHE would be better. She'd make things better, she'd force people to live the correct way, to her designs. Crime and disorder would be wiped out. There would be no more pointless suffering, no more corruption and complacency. The Senate would definitely be the first thing to go. With her at the head, and no worthless senators wasting entire sessions for the few times they actually were in session arguing about pointless things, things would get done so much faster.

Which was another issue she had with the Senate. They got paid obscene amounts of money to hardly ever show up at the senate. Most of the time when they weren't in session, they were pursuing their own re-election or personal interests. Force, if she had her way, all the corrupt ones would be public ally executed, and the ones that actually did their jobs would be elevated. After all, she's was just one person, and only one person couldn't manage an entire government herself, she'd need people to delegate to.

She nodded to herself, an eerily greedy gleam in her craving eyes, a twisted smile on her lips. "I'll be the greatest Empress this galaxy have ever seen, and all will love and adore me."

But that was later, much later, she still had to kill Sidious, and figure out how to circumvent the issue of the Jedi. If she miraculously reappeared one day in Public Office, she was sure they'd be knocking down her door to either arrest or kill a fallen Jedi. Though, she had made note and did a search: Using the Dark Side wasn't illegal, and neither was being a Sith. The Jedi could seriously shoot themselves in the foot if they tried to arrest her for having done nothing wrong (to their knowledge).

Food for thought she supposed, there were plans that could be made out of that.

Regardless, here and now, she had a lesson to practice. She pulled herself out of her thoughts and found herself deep in the lower levels. She paused and took a brief look around; there wasn't much. A corpse here, a dead-beat drug addict completely out of his mind laying against a wall twitching uncontrollably, litter everywhere, a few rough looking individuals eying her and making their way over...

Oh, yeah, great job Tachi, a young, apparently defenseless young girl traveling alone into this area was looking for trouble. Guess she had found her first test without even trying.

"Lookie here," said a decrepit ugly bastard, giving her a look over, "What's a pretty little thing like you doing down in this dump?"

She tilted her head and shot back, "Taking a walk, what's yours? To karking ugly to get a job?"

The man glared at her and reached a hand forward. "Watch it you little bitch!"

She grabbed his wrist and twisted his hand, breaking his wrist and forcing him to his knee's in one fluid motion. "No, you watch it. I'm minding my own damn business, so should you unless you want to find an early grave."

She turned her hooded head to glared at those watching. "Do we have an understanding?"

"Girl thinks she's tough shit," one of them muttered, but made no move forward.

"YOU LITTLE BITCH!" roared the man on the ground, reaching his good hand behind his back and coming out with a blaster.

She drove a knee up quickly into his chin, snapping his head, stunning him, before spinning and slamming the back of her foot into the side of his head, knocking him out. She turned her heat and shot a warning look around her, making those to close back off.

She reached down and grabbed the blaster, pocketing it within her robes. "For my troubles. Unless anyone else has any objections to me taking a stroll and wants to end up like their friend here, I''ll be on my way."

None of them made a move to follow physically, though their eyes did warily. She was an unknown variable in their area. Regardless, she considered that a test in physical discouragement and threatening. She let a smug smile cross her face, having put the trash in their place. Still... she didn't really think she'd find any other way to really test herself down here that wasn't thuggish.

She wandered the streets, keeping her eyes and senses open. But there was nothing about petty robbery, murder, or extortion that she saw. There was some part of her, deep down, that wanted to immediately help, but she forced herself to glaze over it. Finding nothing worth involving herself in, she closed her eyes and carefully reached out to the Force to lead her...

...and let out a small gasp when she felt a world of difference to what she remembered. Had this truly been the first time she had sought out the guidance of the Force after falling? She had used the Force sure, but this... it swirled in suffering and desperation down here. Life was etched into this place, the Living Force around her was dark, tainted into the streets, the people, the buildings. She had been in awful places like this a few times during her few Padawan years off on distant planets, but she had never felt it like this. She had been blind to it... blinded...

Blinded by light.

Having stepped intp the Dark Side, she was a part of the shadows, they were not hidden from her. She could see down here what the Jedi in their lofty temple did not...

So, she reached out for the Force... and felt the Dark Side greedily shove the feeling of this place into her, trying to pull her in a thousand different directions with a thousand different opportunities. It demanded she obey, she could see in her minds eye herself being led further and further down, gripped in it's grasp... dragged along like a puppet to it's will...

Siri shakily moved to a nearby wall and pressed her head against it, breathing in and out in shuddered breaths as she felt the dark try to take her again and again. She tightened her mental shields, but that did nothing. This was the Force itself flowing through her, not another person trying to dominate her mind. She remembered then, one of the first lesson's Sidious had given her...

But be warned, it will challenge us constantly, seek to influence and bend us to it's will. That is why to be a master of the Dark Side, you must dominate it.

Dominate, or be dominated...

So she reached out for the Force, felt the dark hungrily latch onto her and try to bind her...

Only for her to clench her 'fist' into a stranglehold, holding the Force down as it began to writhe against her grasp, barking and biting and howling at her, snarling and snapping like a wild animal. Siri shuddered again, but didn't release. Instead, she forced a thought into the Force.

Where might I find a challenge to test myself?

The growling of the dark slowly abated as she tightened her grasp and ask-demanded it answer her.

And it did.

Unlike the light that had once felt like a friend taking her hand and leading the way, the dark was like a bloodhound that liked to snap it's master and pull on it's leash. She followed it, not deeper into the lower levels, but farther into the same level. The bloodhound was eager, but also growled in warning. It glanced back at her and grinned as if asking, 'danger, do you dare tread'?

A sense of thrill jolted down Siri's spine. 'Of course'.

The Dark Side receded, an almost sinister, ominous laughter echoing through the Force.

Siri came back to herself as she entered through what looked to be a private warehouse district in the lower levels. She frowned, she felt something... dark... in the area, a person, but definitely nothing like Sidious. Nothing like a Jedi either, it wasn't a Dark Jedi. It was... elusive... oddly natural in the dark, and aware of her if what Siri felt was right. Strange, her shields were up tight, how could she be detected? Maybe the Dark was better at finding things that were hidden...

"Hmmm? Is this the one you're talking about?" came an eloquent voice.

Siri turned her head to see a man standing by the entrance of one of the warehouses. He was dressed eloquently, with a magnificent orange and yellow coat with little round blue gems embedded in it. He had a purple turtle-neck underneath, with straps wrapped around it and a belt connecting the two halves of his garb. He had blue eyes, wavy blonde hair, and a strong set face.

The man basically screamed rich pretty boy, though that he was down in a secluded warehouse in the lower levels suggested something illegal...

"Yessss," came an almost hissing, raspy voice, "The presence that echoed in the dark."

Then Siri's eyes shifted to his companion, and went wide.

Standing behind him, half hidden in the shadows of the doorway, was a woman unlike anything Siri had ever seen before. Yellow eyes filled with the dark, incredibly pale skin, black and white facepaint, long brown braided hair, a gold jewel hanging down on her forehead from her hair. She bore black and white robes covering her upper body, save for the lower parts of her arms, revealing muscles that were nothing to sneeze at for a lady. Her legs were mostly bare, save for her robes which hung down from above almost like a winding cloak. She had feathery pauldrons on her shoulders, stretching out behind her. In her hand she held a drawn vibrosword, fists clenching on it tightly as her yellow eyes bore into Siri.

The dark was laughing at Siri again as the woman sized her up, the warning of danger rising steadily. Siri didn't know who or what this woman was, but if it came down to a fight, Siri didn't think she would come out of it unscathed, if at all. She had wanted a situation to test herself on, but this... could get her killed. This woman was not to be trifled with, not with what training Siri currently had.

The woman smiled a sharp smile, flexing her grip on her blade. "What does a feckless worm of the dark seek here?"

The man glanced at the woman, eyes furrowed slightly, as if surprised she spoke, before looking back, hand resting on a blaster on his hip. "Yes, it is most unwise to wander into the territory of the Black Sun."

Siri blinked a few times and cocked her head. "What is the Black Sun?"

The man had a look of disbelief on his face, looking back on his companion, who studied Siri. Siri hissed quietly when she felt a rake across her mind, as if her mental shields were not even there, before the woman spoke again, "She is ignorant of your work, she did not come here for the shipment you are waiting for. She is not here for you."

Siri decided to take command of the situation before they could deduce anything else, and told a... not quite a lie. "I felt your presence and was... curious. I've never met or felt someone like you before."

It was a lie in that Siri hadn't felt her before the Dark Side had released her, but if she had, she would have been curious anyway.

The woman bared her teeth. "You should be careful, little moth, in drawing to close to a flame, less you get burned. A Nightsister is not known for her mercy nor compassion."

Siri tensed briefly, danger rocketing down her senses. Did she attack? Stand fast? Threaten? Flee? Or... downplay?

Siri took a hesitant step back, as if afraid, and that made the Nightsister's smile widen, as if in delight.

The man however merely rolled his eyes. "You can terrorize children in your spare time Mighella."

"A child for now, but not forever," hissed the Nightsister, pointing a bony finger, "The dark clings to her hungrily, steadily suffocating what light remains. She has the potential to be dangerous."

That only made the man smile. "Jealous are we Mighella? I happen to like dangerous women."

The Nightsister scowled, but went silent.

"Still, we're on a timetable," mused the man, pulling up a sleeve to check a watch before glancing at Siri, "Care to make yourself useful?"

"I'd rather be on my way," she began, "But I'm going to assume no is not an answer you will take."

The man smiled. "Ah, we've just met and you already know me so well. I don't like unknown factors just wandering into my territory. You will make yourself known, and useful, or I will have one of my ten snipers put a hole in you, I have no qualms about having a child killed if need be."

A scowl crossed Siri's face as she reached out with her senses, feeling-yes, there were beings ontop of this warehouse, and other buildings, whose attention was on her, with deadly intent. "Very well."

"Good, come," he said, turning and making his way into the building.

Siri followed in behind him, the Nightsister walking at her side, sword still drawn. "Make any foolish moves little moth, and they will be your last."

Siri didn't bother responding.

"It is common courtesy to introduce one's self, I am Alexi Garyn," introduced the man, "You are?"

"Bant Eerin," she lied smoothly.

There was a slight scoff from the Nightsister, no doubt feeling it was a lie, but no other comment.

"Well, 'Bant', let's get underway shall we?" he said, leading her into a room full of various thugs and lowlifes, "We have a shipment coming soon, your going to help us unload and deliver. Prove yourself useful, and maybe I'll have a job for you. I'm generous like that, willing to take in kids off the street."

Despite the situation, Siri's lips twitched in amusement. "I have my own place to stay."

The man flashed her a grin. "Do you? Well, as long as you show up when I ask, then I don't particularly care. If I have to have you hunted down, well, it won't end well. Now, why don't you take off that cloak? It's not good to work in such heat with such clothing."

It wasn't particularly hot, but, she wasn't going to do anything to irritate him. Though, she knew Sidious was going to give her hell for this. She pulled back her hood and took off her outer cloak, setting it down on a box.

"Mmm, I question your taste in clothes," Alexi playfully jabbed, "Full on black leaves much to be desired."

Siri smiled thinly. "Not my clothes nor my choice."

There was a slight raise of an eyebrow, and an unasked question, but Siri didn't acknowledge it. She instead glanced around the room at the gathering of baffled thugs, their gazes going back and forth between Alexi, her, and the Nightsister. This definitely wasn't a common occurrence. "You often make a habit of investigating potential dangers when you have a bunch of people to do it for you?"

Alexi laughed. "No offense to my men, but Mighella is more dangerous than all of them combined. I was in no danger, especially from a pretty little thing like you."

She narrowed her eyes. "The last person to call me that got his arm broken for his troubles."

Wrist actually, but arm sounded better.

"I'm trembling in my boots," he mocked before turning. "The shipment should be arriving soon, come come."

The group followed in behind him into a loading dock and waited. While they waited, Siri decided to... 'keep up her act', shooting the nearby Nightsister curious, but wary glances. Finally, she inched close and asked, "What's a 'Nightsister'?"

Mighella eyed her. "Now why would I tell you?"

Siri scowled and crossed her arms, 'acting' (not really acting if she had to admit) like a child who hadn't got her way. "Hmph."

The Nightsister sneered at her, but didn't respond. Siri didn't need the Force to detect the woman's displeasure, but beyond that, she could feel a subdued tint of unease, of wariness, of confusion. 'Where did this dark child come from?'

Siri wasn't inclined to answer the unspoken question, even if the woman had asked it. Still, the woman wasn't arrogant enough to completely write Siri off, all the more important to not give any reason to make her suspect more than she did. To her, she was just a 'little moth', a girl who dabbled in the dark. In reality, well... okay that wasn't to far off, she hadn't been under Sidious even a year yet, but she did have a lightsaber hidden up her sleeve to drive through the woman's back if it came down to it.

Siri's eyes flickered up as a humming noise filled the air and a nondescript ship flew down through the open loading dock, a man jumping out as it touched down. "Delivered as requested boss."

Alexi nodded and motioned his men forward. Siri followed suit wordlessly, eyeing various wooden crates in the back of the ship. It was probably some sort of contraband. She didn't honestly care, maybe if it were drugs that would ruin lives... but even then, it was the fools on the street's fault for choosing that life.

Even if they had lost everything?

Siri frowned at the compassionate thought and brushed it off. There was always a choice, even if the offered choices were all garbage. She lifted boxes with the rest of them, setting them down towards the back of the loading dock and...

"Watch it you imbeciles!" came Alexi's sudden cry.

Siri turned to see a pair of men lifting a larger and heavier box stagger, perhaps having missed their foot, and pitch forward, the box flying out of their hands. Siri reached out and caught it with the Force, letting it float there for a moment before levitating it over to the rest of the pile.

Alexi stared at her, eyebrow raised, before glancing back at Mighella. "She has the Force?"

The Nightsister didn't look amused. "What did you think I meant when I was talking about a dark presence within the Force? Or when she talked about feeling my presence?"

Alexi momentarily looked abashed before clearing his throat and adjusting his collar. "Well, to be fair, I'm not exactly well versed in matters of the Force. I thought you simply meant a mass murderer or serial killer or something."

Both... weren't exactly off considering the time Sidious had 'weaned' her from her Jedi tendencies with the slaughter of the innocent. She wasn't planning on telling them, though she had a suspicion the wouldn't honestly care. Scum, every one of them, they chose their life, Sidious had forced this one down her throat...

Isn't there always a choice?

Siri scowled darkly at the thought and moved for the ship again, irritated enough to reach out and grasp the rest of the crates with the Force and move them herself. "Am I done?"

Alexi tilted his head in thought, eyes narrowed at her. "Hmm... a second Force Sensitive under my employee would be a boon."

"I'm spoken for," she said dryly.

"Oh? And how much are you paid?" he asked, a fake smile plastered on his face, "I'm sure I can outbid on your services..."

"I'm afraid she's not for sale."

Oh dammit...

"I leave you for but a few hours on your own, and you seem to have found a mess to throw yourself in."

Of course, they didn't need to know that had been what he ordered of her. To be frank, Sidious hadn't planned on revealing himself as he watched his apprentice go about her day until the end, however...

Alexi Garyn... was an interesting opportunity, and Sidious was an opportunist as much as he was a schemer. Garyn was a rising star in the Black Sun, soon to become their Crimelord if rumors were to be true. Having his apprentice within the man's midst could be useful, both as an instrument to influence him, or to kill him if need be. Sidious was not blind to Alexi's 'friendship' with King Ars Veruna of Naboo, who his own Master was starting to grow irritated with. If Ars choose his side poorly, he could imagine the would-be crimelord being killed for his foolishness. With a bit of guidance though...

Rather than having to ravage the Black Sun in a few years, perhaps they could be brought to heel...

It would be an interesting first true mission for his apprentice, though he hadn't planned on one for some time. She wouldn't return to the Jedi, not having fallen, not having killed innocents, but to try and go rogue? If he gave her the chance to slip away, he wasn't sure at this juncture if her growing hunger for the Dark and her desire to kill him would keep her planted. Still... his apprentice needed practical experience, and she would be sure to get it within the Black Sun. Considering their forte, he could envision his apprentice getting her hands quite bloody and dirty during her time there...

He paused his thoughts, feeling the Nightsister trying to slip by his shields. He held up a hand and lifted her off the ground, clenching his fist slowly and closing off her throat, watching her float and choke for a few satisfying seconds. "Now that was unnecessary and rude little Witch. My mind is not a place someone as meek as you should tread."

He threw her against a way with a flick of his wrist and slowly strode forward, watching the nearby men back away, Alexi steel himself, and even his apprentice lose a few beads of sweat down her forehead. Her visible forehead. He had no doubt she hadn't been given a choice in the matter from the Nightsister, but he was a man of his word. When they were finished here, there would be punishment for letting her face been seen. Though if this opportunity panned out, he may lessen it.

A little bit, not by much.

His mouth twitched in amusement before he folded his hands into his robes and stopped next to his apprentice, gaze locked on Alexi. "What exactly do you have in mind for my... ward?"

He placed a oh so 'loving' hand on his apprentice's shoulder and felt her shiver under his grasp, to his delight. She feared him far more than she hated him, and he was going to make sure it stayed that way for a very long time.

Alexi noted the shiver, the fear Tachi tried to hide behind her eyes, but said nothing of it. "Well... I can imagine quite a few ways I could use someone of her talents if you are willing to rent her services."

Sidious smiled a 'benevolent smile', a warning to not waste his time. "I am listening..."

Author's Notes:

Moar divergences! Moaaar!

Maul would have killed Alexi/Nightsister and the whole leadership of the Black Sun in roughly... 6 years if I recall. Whether or not Siri has to do the same remains to be seen, but I like taking different routes, so we'll see.

Review Responses:

IamOneWithTheForce: Makin me blush :D.

NErdman3000: Thanks, I'm glad you enjoy it. The Sith training will continue for awhile...

Breakdown:

The training - Phantom Menace will be roughly 20% of the story I think.

Phantom Menace to Revenge of the Sith another 20%.

RoTS - 'A New Hope' another 20%.

'A New Hope' to RotJ another 20%

RoTJ to the end of the story the final 20%.

Of course, these are just 'plans' as of the moment. We'll see what actually gets written when it happens and what parts take up longer or shorter. But the idea is for 5 sections of the story with various time skips in them.

Perhaps it's revealing something to early, but while Mara Jade may be in the story, Jaina Solo will not be. There is a sad reason she wont be, but it's to way soon to specifically say why or how.