Chapter 13: Plunge (Part 2)

Screams were a thing of beauty, a melody, a lullaby to every Sith's ears.

What Sidious heard now was no exception. All he had to do was give basic instruction, a little walkthrough, and place someone his apprentice would think deserved it in front of her, and, watch the sparks fly. The empty room he had put some Twi'Lek criminal bound to a chair in lit up with flickering blue light as Force Lightning ripped from his apprentice's fingertips. He tapped his lips in thought for a moment, watching only half the blue streaks impact their bound target.

"Focus my apprentice, you must have focus," he ordered, "Direct your hate to it's target, do not let it roam freely, it is a waste of your hate and your energy."

Tachi paused briefly, narrowing her eyes, before her face morphed into a hateful sneer and she thrust her hands forward.

He watched the blue-white energy burst from her hands, all of the streaks surging into, and through, it's target. The Twi'Lek screamed in agony as its flesh slowly melted, it's lekku turning into shriveled up prunes. She wasn't powerful or focused enough yet to turn Force Lightning into its most lethal forms, but she could easily, if but slowly, cook someone to death, and of course use it as an offensive tool in a fight. The smell of burning flesh brought a soft smile to his lips. His apprentice was slowly coming into her own. She took to Force Lightning well, not as well as he had, no one would ever be as skilled with it as he was, but she would be proficient with it. He did briefly wonder what would be her specialty; he supposed he'd find out eventually.

"Good, goooood," he rasped with dark approval, "But you must be mindful of where and when you use this ability. Using it while masking yourself and the ripple it would case in the Force is... something even I have difficulty with without taking special precautions. Nearby Force Sensitive will feel it; the range of detection will grow with your power, your presence, and the intensity you put into the lightning. Even the act of unmasking yourself to briefly call on the power will radiate your presence like a beacon."

She nodded slowly, walking forward and poking the melting corpse, coming away with gooey flesh that she flicked off her finger with distaste. "We're going to be practicing that, aren't we?"

He chuckled. "You know me well my apprentice. Until you can sufficiently mask your use of the Dark Side to come off as nothing more than a brief disturbance or distortion, you are forbidden to use the ability outside of this place."

She gave a wry smile. "Let me guess, punishment every time you detect me?"

"Within reason."

"Is there a trick to it?"

"I will not give the answer freely, but consider the veil of the Dark Side, and how it may hide you and your actions."

Siri tilted her head. "Veil?"

He paused; he hadn't explained that yet, had he? He considered how to answer that without giving something away. "Years ago," not that many, but she didn't need to know that, "My old Master and I willed a shift to the Force, tilting, no, not a tilt, not even a mere paradigm shift, but a tangible alteration that could be felt by anyone with the Force. Surely you, before you came under my tutelage, must have felt the clouding within the Force, making it more difficult to perceive the future or receive guidance from the Force for the Jedi."

Siri blinked. "Oh. That makes more sense then the Force just suddenly getting mucky. How'd you manage that?"

"Months and months of meditation," he said dryly, "Where we challenged the Force itself for sovereignty."

She grew wary. "And it just let you?"

"No counterforce rose against us."

"That doesn't mean it did nothing," she said uneasily, "You don't need to challenge someone directly to work against them."

Sidious didn't immediately respond. Frankly, she might not be wrong. It was something he'd have to meditate on later. "Or, you underestimate the power of the Dark Side, of two Dark Lords of the Sith of Bane's line at their peak."

Siri said nothing, her gaze betraying nothing, and even her emotions had stopped swirling, save for a tint of fear. Subtly, he peered through the bond...

Using the Force is one thing, challenging it like that would get us destroyed.

He sighed with annoyance. "You still see the Force as your ally, a higher power, when it is your servant, your slave. It must be dominated and brought in line. In time, you will understand. Now, return to the task on hand, how might you use the veil to hide your actions?"

Siri pursed her lips and held up her hand, levitating the staff on the floor into the air. She began to spin it with the Force, and he could feel her probing the area around it, seeing how her act sent small ripples though the Force. It was not something she would learn quickly, but he would be patient. He had altered his schedule as much as he could to focus on keeping her reigned in for the next year or so. By then, he figured he'd have broken her out of her teenage defiance, if not sooner. She would be much more skilled and powerful, he would press her to her limits and push beyond. After all, he had to get her over the Jedi's coddling into the conditioning of a Sith.

Then...

He thought of her personnel file, of the Jedi noted to be her acquaintances and friends, smiling cruelly.

Then it would be time for her trial.

Her sacrifice.

Where she would both prove herself worthy of the Sith and damn herself beyond anyone tempting her with the light again...

*Knock knock knock*

Master Dooku stared at the door to his old Padawan's Master/Apprentice apartment in the Jedi Temple, feeling unusually awkward. Force, when was the last time he had even spoken to his apprentice outside of a com-call? Face to face? After Xanatos fall? There was Tahl's death... but did a quick 'I'm sorry for your loss' between missions really count? He and Qui-Gon had ended the apprenticeship on a foul note, to be sure, but... standing here and now, at his padawan's door, was all that ever needed to happen to potentially renew that relationship. Not that Qui-Gon had particularly reached out either, but Dooku didn't really blame him. He hardly ever made himself available to.

*Woosh*

The door opened and young eyes peered up at him, slightly startled, before bowing. "Master Dooku, welcome."

He wonders. Had he even met Obi-Wan Kenobi before now? The boy would obviously know who he was, few in the temple that weren't creche infants did not. But personally...

He felt a tint of shame.

He didn't know his grand-padawan at all. Had never reached out to offer even the slightest of advice.

Dooku tilted his head in greeting. "Padawan Kenobi, is your Master present?"

Obi-Wan nodded slowly and stepped aside, moving back into the apartment. "He is."

Dooku took a moment to look the boy over. There was a slight sagging under his eyes, and his presence had an air of lasting melancholy about him. Almost like... no, exactly like Qui-Gon had after Tahl had passed. Who had the boy lost to gain that? Dooku briefly flicked out a datapad from his robes, calling up his padawan's latest missions (he only looked at them to keep an eye out for his former student, nothing more, it was not with a sense of longing, it was not!). Within the last year, the pair had only been on two missions, a waste if Dooku was asked, mainly sticking around to focus on Obi-Wan's studies and classwork as a cited excuse to reject missions. Before that was a sixth month censure (an absurd duration) and before that...

Ah, the High Councilor fiasco. The deaths of Master Gallia and Padawan Tachi.

He wondered, was Tachi Obi-Wan's Tahl? He had a hard time imagining it, they didn't know eachother half as long as the elder pair did. Unless the Padawan was letting himself obsess and linger over what couldn't possibly have been a long relationship, on the 'what could have been'; but considering Qui-Gon's still surviving issues over his own loss, the man just might share in the misery and let it stand.

"Are you going to stand out there all day, my old master?" came Qui-Gon's dry voice.

Dooku bristled briefly, pocketing the datapad and walking in, chin held high and composed. "I was taking a moment to collect my thoughts."

"Oh?" said Qui-Gon, sitting cross legged on the floor at a table across from his padawan, sipping tea briefly, "What mission does the Council have for us that it would require you as a messenger?"

A sharp jab, to say Dooku wouldn't visit otherwise. Not quite untrue either. "No mission, my young Padawan."

Obi-Wan snickered a little. "Young."

Qui-Gon gave him a dry look and reached over to tug on his padawan-braid. "Brat."

"I simply... decided to ascertain how my Padawan and Grand-Padawan are doing," said Dooku carefully.

Qui-Gon gave him an unreadable expression for a moment before sighing. "Yoda?"

Dooku winced a little and nodded. "Yoda."

Qui-Gon shook his head. "The troll should mind his own business. Honestly, is he that desperate that he sent you after us? We will sort ourselves out when we are ready."

Dooku withheld the flinch, keeping his gaze cool with a slight tint of disapproval. "Regardless of the Grand-Master's interference..."

He hesitated. "It is long overdue Qui-Gon. I should not have distance myself as I did, and leave you to three apprenticeships without hardly a word of non-condenscending advice to give."

There was a slight narrowing of his Padawan's eyes. "Oh? Did Xanatos end that way simply because you weren't there to advise me in my inexperience?"

Dooku scowled darkly, insufferable little... "That is not what I meant, Jinn, and you know it."

"Master," murmured Obi-Wan, "He's come here in earnest, surely you feel that."

Qui-Gon looked away briefly, jaw-strong set, before sighing and motioning to the table. "Sit, my old Master, Obi-Wan can pour you some tea."

There was silence for a few minutes, as three generations of their line sat and sipped tea together, before Qui-Gon spoke, apparently deciding on a neutral subject, "How fared your forage into the Outer Rim?"

Dooku huffed a little. "Forage would be an apt description I suppose. A sentinel's work is never simple, but spending weeks or months on end hunting down Dark Side artifacts or investigating various ruins, cults, and the like, is trying at times."

"Cults?" asked Obi-Wan uneasily.

"We are hardly the only Force-Practitioners in the galaxy young Obi-Wan," said Dooku before frowning, "And many others are not nearly as benign as the Jedi Order, far from it."

He glanced towards Qui-Gon. "Though my Padawan did have one he favored to an absurd degree."

Qui-Gon gave him a look. "The Whills, the Guardians of Jedha, are a sect that deserves respect."

Oh, Dooku forgot how much he enjoyed needling his Padawan. "Was that it? Or were you always so obsessed with their ridiculous myths and legends."

He smiled teasingly. "Chasing immortality is hardly a Jedi trait after all."

Qui-Gon scowled, but Obi-Wan looked fascinated. "Immortality?"

"The Whills believe it is possible to retain your sense of self after death," mused Qui-Gon, "I've been in contact, on and off over the years, with one of their Shamans on the matter."

"What happened to 'There is no Death, there is the Force'?" poked Obi-Wan, joining in on the teasing.

"And now you've corrupted my Padawan, Master," whined Qui-Gon with mock exasperation.

"I've hardly corrupted the boy, Qui-Gon," said Dooku, "After all, I have yet to even speak a word about some of your more... amusing... misdeeds during your apprenticeship."

Qui-Gon narrowed his eyes. "Yet?"

"I reserve the right to."

Qui-Gon sighed heavily.

"Surely you weren't that bad as an padawan, were you Master?" asked Obi-Wan innocently.

"I'm going to choose not to answer," said Qui-Gon bluntly.

Obi-Wan cracked a grin before something self-depreciating crossed his face. "Well, I doubt you beat me on leaving the Order to fight in a war."

There was a hint of a flinch there, an air of shame about the Jedi Master. "No, but leaving you behind in that circumstance was just as bad."

"Consider it a joint effort then," said Dooku firmly, the pair of them were already melancholy enough without this being added in, "And move on."

Sufficiently chastised, both Master and Padawan retreated to drinking their tea.

Obi-Wan was the one who broke the silence, "So... Grandmaster..."

Dooku wasn't quite sure what he felt right then and there, hearing that word come from his grandpadawan's mouth. A tingle of pride perhaps?

"...what did Yoda pull you out of to come here?" asked Obi-Wan, "He didn't interrupt something important, did he?"

"He pulled me into another mission first," said Dooku, "Tell me, Master Ur Manka is still talked about in the temple these days, is he not?"

Obi-Wan's eyes went wide a bit. "Yes he is, Master Drallig mentions him at least once a week, usually bemoaning us in comparison."

"Well, between you and I, the battlemaster in my time did the same," said Dooku conspiratorially.

"And mine," added in Qui-Gon.

Obi-Wan snickered a little.

"Well... Yoda received word from Master Ur Manka some time ago," said Dooku, "In which, the venerated elder..."

"Which one?" teased Obi-Wan.

"Hush Obi-Wan," said Qui-Gon, eyes intently on Dooku.

"Venerated elder being Master Ur Manka," clarified Dooku, "Reported that he was dangerously ill, and feared he was not long for the world."

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's faces turned serious, and a tint of sad.

"He wanted Yoda to come and pick up a project of his," said Dooku.

"A project?" questioned Qui-Gon.

"Stray, he means," mouthed Obi-Wan.

Qui-Gon reached for Obi-Wan's braid again, but the boy leaned out of range.

"Master Ur Manka was, apparently, trying to redeem a Fallen Padawan and bring her back from the Dark Side," said Dooku, still amazed at the audacity of the deceased master.

Qui-Gon stroked his chin thoughtfully, Obi-Wan on the other hand looked startled. "He what? I thought you couldn't come back from the Dark Side...?"

"Well, from what he told Yoda he was making a good effort of it, but feared his death would undo the progress he made," said Dooku, "Unfortunately, when we arrived, the home was empty, and a funeral pyre had long since burned down."

"Thus passes a legend," mused Qui-Gon.

"What about the Padawan?" asked Obi-Wan.

"From what we felt... we suspect she was lost again," said Dooku, "A wasted opportunity, especially with what intel was passed on."

"Intel?" questioned Qui-Gon.

"It is to be kept between the two of you," warned Dooku, "Apparently, there is a powerful dark side user killing Masters and abducting their padawans to forcibly turn."

A look of horror crossed Obi-Wan's face. "Y-you're not serious?"

"He wouldn't jest, not about this," said Qui-Gon slowly, carefully, before nodding at Dooku, "I thank you for the warning then, I'll keep my senses peeled when we are away from the temple."

Dooku nodded back crisply. "I doubt the council will make it public. I am being tasked on investigating all missing Jedi reports to see if any lead to this threat."

"Be careful Grandmaster," said Obi-Wan, a little anxious.

"I plan to be," agreed Dooku, "But this beast has been allowed to roam free for who knows how long."

The room grew silent as the trio finished their tea.

Obi-Wan broke the silence again, "What was the Fallen Padawan's name? Do we know who her Master was?"

"Master Ur Manka said the Padawan identified herself as 'Iris', but not only is the name false, he did not give us any other information in which to identify her," said Dooku irritably, "If we had a firm identification for both her and her dead Jedi Master, it would have served as a precise starting point for my investigation."

Obi-Wan frowned for a moment, head tilted, eyes distant. "Iris..."

"As I said, the name was false, the only Iris currently in the order is a four year old initiate in the creche," said Dooku before pausing, something occurring to him, "Unless you knew of a Padawan who went by that as a nickname perchance...?"

Obi-Wan shook his head. "No, just... the Force was... nudging me I guess...? I'm not sure why."

There was a chance Obi-Wan might have known whoever this 'Iris' was, but, without further identifiers the notion was a rather useless. "The Force has been rather vague as of late, hasn't it?"

Qui-Gon snorted. "To put it mildly."

Dooku smiled a little before turning to Obi-Wan. "So my Grand-Padawan, tell me of your apprenticeship thus far. How has it been under my badger of an apprentice?"

Qui-Gon huffed a little bit, smiling though as Obi-Wan started in on a tale...

Obi-Wan was breathing raggedly, exhaustion pulling at his aching bones despite not doing anything. He watched an older version of him and his master battle a blurry dark figure on a walkway in some kind of power complex. He squinted, trying to make out who the figure was; all he could see was a dark version of Jedi robes, a red saberstaff spinning back and forth to easily redirect their attacks and lash out with physical hits or force attacks. He caught a flicker of blonde hair and blue eyes, a female human figure, a sense of familiarity that he couldn't quite place...

Then the woman planted her foot right into Obi-Wan's chin, knocking him from the walkway onto one far below. He landed with a wince and laid there for a moment, catching his breath, before he struggled to rise to his feet and leap back up. There was a steady stream of panic rising in Obi-Wan's chest as the dark warrior lured Qui-Gon towards a hallway of laser gates. He knew he had to get there in time, they could barely hold off the woman together. If he was cut off from his master for an extended period of time...

He rushed, only to be blocked by the laser gates coming into play. Thankfully his master and the dark woman were separated as well. The older Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon spoke to the woman, though Obi-Wan himself could not hear what was said. There was an air of frustration... of conflict... about the woman, but when the shields came down, the fight resumed... only for Obi-Wan to get caught behind the last laser gate, watching in horror as his Master rapidly started to lose the fight, and then Qui-Gon was disarmed, the woman's saberstaff pulled back to run him through as the older Obi-Wan screamed for her to stop, screaming a name...

Obi-Wan jolted awake, a startled and fearful gasp escaping his lips. His heart pounded relentlessly for a minute's time before he slowly began to calm himself and release his emotions to the Force. He laid in his bed, trembling at the vision that had taken him, before he sat upright in his bed and rubbed his eyes tiredly. There was an air of warning, of potential, about the vision, and that woman, why did she seem so familiar? He just couldn't place it. Rather than sleep, he settled into meditation, probing the Force for answers it seemed to clouded to give...

Author's Notes:

Anyone got a Dark Side Force Power they'd suggest Siri specialize in? Or just lightsaber excellence + average in Force abilities?

Review Responses:

Random Mobile Suit Pilot: Well Herro thar. And yes, she will be hunting down other named Jedi. There's going to be a little timeskip next chapter, rather than go through Siri's training again, and she'll meet a Jedi she has to kill that she'd really rather not...

Obi-Wan will pop in here and there, but Siri is the main focus of the story. There will however be plenty of Siri/Obi-Wan moments after The Phantom Menace. No more spoilers about that tho. :D

Nerdman3000: A funeral pyre would hide evidence of poisoning. But... it's not to say she didn't feel something. I'll just wing it on the guess date, I don't plan to actually go into the mission itself, just wanted it referenced in a chapter or two.