Chapter 34: Re-adjusting
The first thing Siri is aware of before anything else is the Force pulsing through her veins. It swirls around her, seeping into her body, her bones, her soul, as it was always meant to. A shudder ran down her body at the sensation. The onslaught of presences and emotions and thoughts is so overwhelming it sends waves of agony through her head. It's to powerful to drive away, the sensations all coming at once, all she can do is weather the storm. On a scale of light scolding from Sidious with his lightning as a one, to Darth Plaguies ripping through her mind as a ten, she rates the constant full-body full-mind full-Force throb as a thirteen. Because frankly, all she is aware of is pain and ache, little to nothing else.
Her first focused conscious thought that isn't something along the lines of -ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch- is that she is going to kill whoever thought it was a good idea to give her back the Force in a densely crowded area brimming with emotions and thoughts.
Her vision is suddenly an awareness, blurry as it is.
Smell comes next, the smoggy stench of Coruscant assaulting her nose. Though she faintly detects the scent of cleaned fabric close to her, robes. It tickles a hint of a past she keeps shoved away in a damaged part of her memory. Jedi robes probably. She surrounded by them, lovely. Well, at least it's not Sidious.
Hearing follows, though its difficult to ascertain who is speaking around her. There is a sound of a vehicle of some sort coming near, she figures she's being loaded onto it, but she is in no condition to bother worrying about where she's being taken.
Touch come next. She notes immediately she's out of her medical gown she'd been stuck in for the duration of her imprisonment. It almost feels like... did she get her robes back? It feels like them. Strange that they Jedi would give them back to her.
More strange was the question of where she was and where she was going.
She was on a chair, but moving, so a hover-chair. Why? The Force was still an aching throb to touch at the moment, so she shied away from trying to probe the area and get a feel for it. She wasn't bombarded with a sense of danger or urgency, so there was no immediate need to do anything but give herself a chance to settle. She waits as the Force embeds itself back into her inch by inch. She makes the decision that she is never doing this again. This is an ache that isn't going to go away after a night's rest. She has an absolutely massive headache, and Force-ache if that's even the proper term. She's pretty sure if she tried to actively use it at the moment, she'd probably knock herself out. Though, that might be preferable, except she's sure it'd be even worse when she woke up.
She focuses on her breathing, trying to level it out as time passes. It hitches for a moment when she feels a hand on her shoulder. She can't tell if its as a mean to get her to move, to keep her in place, or if it's Kenobi, to offer some foolish comfort. She forces herself to not react to it otherwise; when the hand squeezes softly she'd fairly certain it's Obi-Wan. Though, that concrete sensation does give her something to anchor on for awhile. She can faintly hear a voice, definitely belong to a certain redhead, speaking to her, she just can't make out the exact words. Gentle, apologetic in tone.
If Obi-Wan was the one who decided to give her the Force back there, she wont kill him, but she will break his nose again.
Eventually, she feels a tug up on her shoulders, and there are other hands on her then. Tense hands. Wary hands. Tightly gripping hands. Hands that don't want anything to do with her. Jedi then. She wonders if they are dumping her back in her cell, because frankly, she'd rather die than lose the Force again, go through this again, and definitely not for the stupid reason of avoiding Sidious. Honestly, what had she been thinking? The first trickling of the Force, not as raw energy, but as the Dark, are starting to pool in; and she finds that she despises herself for that suicide attempt.
Had losing the Force truly made her so weak, so much of a coward?
It was true that Sidious was far beyond her at the moment, but to just equate the situation of being taken by him to giving up and dying? That she couldn't bargain, reason, or simple endure and survive? Well, if he set out to kill her and she couldn't get away then yes, she was dead without question. But there is no guarantee, and the faint whispers of the dark she hears are...
Conflicting.
The future is always in motion. But the Force gives her the sense that death, or Sidious ripping apart her mind, was a relatively unlikely outcome. Possible, but not a common thread in the potential immediate futures. That could have an easy explanation of course. That Sidious simply wouldn't get his hands on her. However... the Force disagrees with the quick conclusion, which is a bit baffling. She gets the notion from the Force that he wouldn't kill her, and yet... it doesn't whisper that she should try to go back to him either in the case of him allowing her to continue as his apprentice despite her massive failure on Naboo. Which is a curious thing...
Siri doesn't dig into it, not right now. If she's allowed the chance to meditate she might, but right now, she's a cripple, and oh doesn't that grate...
She flinches when the hands on her shoulder grow impatient and haul her up, lifting, moving, and setting her laying down on some flat surface. Considering that she wasn't lowered that far... an examination table perhaps? Not quite as cold as the oh-so familiar one in Sidious's Coruscant compound, but similar. Halls of Healing then. There are several reasons they might have taken her here. She slowly tests out critical thinking, actual focus on a problem rather than letting her thoughts fun freely and skip from one subject to another.
It aches to do so, but she forces through it. She had regained herself in an enormous cluster of people. The first question is why was she there? That answer comes with a brief recollection: Trial. The Senate had the Jedi bring her out. The Jedi, being the lapdogs of the Senate, obeyed their handlers. Being in a state unable to answer questions or stand trial, there would be questions as to what happened. But how would that for one, lead to her being released from Force Binders, there's no way they brought her out of the temple without them. For two, how would anyone in the Senate have known to equate her being cut off from the Force to her condition?
The answer is rather obvious when she takes a moment to focus on it.
Sidious.
She reflexively swallows and wrangles the rising fear that notion brings. Sidious had someone get her brought back, but made no move to reclaim her. Why? She thinks for a moment: To gauge her status. It makes sense. See if she's even worth bothering with aside from a blaster bolt to the back of her head from a sniper. What he made of that initial assessment, she doesn't know. She does however know he will be watching every move she makes and ever word she says when she's eventually dragged back to-
Her thoughts cut off as she felts a tentative brush against her mind. It takes Siri a brief, split and panic filled second to realize she has basically no none-instinctual shields up at the moment, having been deprived of the Force for the duration of her imprisonment, and SLAMS her mind shut instantly. Her head is in agony at the sudden jarring use of the Force. Her blurry vision turns red with pain, her ears ring, and she's fairly certain that the faint screaming she hears as if at a distance is herself.
She feels that brush again against her hastily contracted shields with intent pushed at the forefront: I wish to help. Mend. Heal. I am not a threat.
Siri feels her hands clenching tightly on the edges of the examination table, the grinding of her teeth as her whole body reverberates with the backlash of reaching for and using the Force far to soon. She struggles through the pain and weighs the risk of letting a Jedi through in comparison to letting the pain continue. She's known pain like an old friend her years as Sidious's apprentice, but this is reaching a level she has rarely ever felt. She also weighs her currently disability VS allowing the Jedi to potentially fix this and get her back into a state where she can at least somewhat defend herself. Obvious choice then.
She allows the presence in with a warning achingly pushed through the Force: Do not go where you are not welcome.
If the Jedi tries going through her mind and memories, consequences be damned she will fight them inside of her head, even if doing so would probably either kill her at this point or destroy her mind. She feels the Jedi get the message, and feel the further intent behind her words. She gets an impatient sense of acknowledgement. The Jedi doesn't care about her memories as of the moment, that she is a Sith and a prisoner, Siri can feel that. Not the average Jedi or Council Member then... oh right, Halls of Healing. The presence is a Jedi Healer. She doesn't even try looking in the direction of her compartmentalized memories of her years as a Jedi; she still gets the sensation that Jedi Healers are always like this though, and shouldn't be trifled with, nor should anyone get between them and their patients.
She warily focuses on the presence as it begins to pour energy in and...
Oh.
Oh...
That feels so damn good.
Siri relaxes instantly as soothing waves of the Force flow through her head, and then down into her body. The backlash is gone in seconds. The steady ache is pushed away. The Healer takes a brief moment to look at her Force Presence as it continues to anchor back into her body, and then accelerates the process. Inch by inch, the Jedi tugs it down and helps rebind it. The Force becomes less and less of a throb to feel and touch by the second. Though, Siri does not reach for it as much as she craves to feel its power at her fingertips. She lets it settle as the Healer does his or her work. Her hearing evens out, her vision comes into proper focus seconds later, and she notes a female Twi'Lek Jedi with hands on the side of her head, eyes closed, standing behind her.
Whoever the hell this is, they are damn good at what they do.
Siri regarded the healer, licking her dried lips, before her voice rasped out, "If I'm ever forced to kill you, I'll be sure to give you a quick clean death, rather than drag it out."
The Healer opened her eyes and gave her a deeply unimpressed look. "My thanks."
Siri gives an almost feral smile in response as her voice turns icy. "Now, get out of my head."
The Healer pulls out without a word, and moves to stand back a few steps, watching her. Siri can feel more eyes on her than just the Healer's, wary and tense eyes, but she doesn't particularly care at the moment. She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and lets it out. The Jedi can go to hell for all she cares, she has things she needs to do before she has to deal with them. Shields have to be properly reconstructed, not just rushed and hobbled together. She lets a sense of -do not disturb me- roll off of her through the Force, and a bit of irritation from some of the presences in the room (bemusement from the one she clearly senses as Obi-Wan), but Siri ignores them and retreats into her head to work.
Siri has never had to completely rebuild her shields before. There's always something leftover, even if the walls to her mind have been shattered or broken through. Crumbling ruins to rebuild upon, or to use as material to rebuild from. There was literally nothing but that hastily erected barrier that dissolved the moment she willed it to. She hissed a little under her breath at the overwhelming sensation of Light from so many Jedi in the temple before she started on her mind. The first is the form of the walls. She remembers faintly that originally as a Jedi her walls had been the many winding pathways of the Jedi Temple, the walls of it, keeping the outside world from getting in.
That had since changed.
When she had started learning darker versions of mental shielding, had started to really accept that she was Sith, she had changed her mental landscape. It wasn't something easily done, something that didn't happen without significant life-changing events and a powerful will to force that change. She had given thought to it at first, deciding what to make of them. She had lingered on that dark cell she had first pledged herself to Sidious in, but dismissed it. She'd give Sidious no kind of nod or empowerment in what she had made. She had thought about a few different locations, ranging from the Black Sun HQ, to even the forests surrounding Ur Manka's home.
She had instead chosen the grass covered hilly landscape of Rondai-2 where she had fallen to the Dark Side.
Where her old life had ended, where her Jedi Master had been murdered by the beast.
Where the Jedi Padawan Siri Tachi had died, and the darker Siri Tachi had been born.
It had been her first touch of the Dark Side without being instructed or guided by the Sith.
It was something hers. Something she didn't owe to Sidious, or even Zannah.
It was a place filled with pain, power... and the last traces of peace she could find in herself. When in deep meditation, it could serve to draw out her power when she lingered on her fall, or, as a haven where she could simply be, without Sidious or Zannah's expectations. Well, unless her Master was in her head for one reason or another. She knew he had seen the landscape, but he had never commented on it. Did he even remember where it was, what it meant to her? She supposed it didn't matter, she had no intentions of ever asking him.
In the distance, surrounded on all sides, were massive towering hills, almost mountains. They served as the basis of her walls. But they were not sheer unscalable cliffs, they could be climbed, but that was a trap. The gigantic steep crests an impossible goal, meant to drain anyone trying to transverse it. Throughout the rise of the hill, she seeded Force Commands of -stop- -exhaustion- -turn back- -tired- - sleep-, all of that and more to inhibit a would be trespasser. That was just the simple stuff, warnings that a Jedi might have in their own landscapes if they bothered with anything more than just walls. But the climbing of the hill was only the beginning, it was behind the hills that she hid what she truly was. The moment an intruder crested the hill and started down the other side was when the dark storm took them. A malevolent whirlwind of the Dark Side that would tear into the trespasser, like the funnel cloud of a tornado encircling the lower plains of her inner mind. There she laid the majority of her efforts to protect her mind, to rip apart anyone who dared enter. Which was another trap in itself. The tornado wasn't a wall, they could enter it, but it would rip at them as they made for the other side.
On top of everything, the whole shields, she threw an veil of insignificance, as if she was unimportant to look at, not there, something to keep her hidden. She could faintly feel the Jedi outside of her landscape tensing as her presence appeared to disappear. She adjusted the veil until it properly fit again, then peeled the top of it back so the Jedi could properly sense her and would stop throwing a hissy fit. Honestly, she was trying to work here! She made another pass at her shielding, inspecting it for flaws, adding more traps and safeguards as she saw fit... yet...
Yet...
Siri frowned at her shielding again. All of these were designed to lure in the unwary and destroy them. She could on demand turn her hills into mountains to barricade entry, but... that was a simple large wall, and all the defenses in the world didn't matter if someone like Plaguies was powerful enough to just blow through the whole damn thing. All of her traps and commands and compulsions and sorcery wouldn't matter if they actually got in and were strong enough to power through. Perhaps she needed something more concrete. She already knew of layers, she used multiple within the tornado with scaling intensity. Maybe... yes... there was an idea. Put actual walls inside of the vortex to halt their advance, keep them exposed to the raging storm of the Dark Side while they tried to find a way through the wall.
What to use...
Well... she drew on her memories of hate and pain for power, why not do the same for her shields? She selected a few layers within the funnel cloud and began to construct pitch black walls. Memories of her training at Sidious's hands. His punishments. His cruel lessons. She layers it by severity and intensity, making the walls more powerful and dangerous the more she gets closer to the edge of the dark vortex, towards her inner mind. She eventually reaches the final area, and decides on three final walls. Her hatred of Sidious had largely composed what had been constructed until now. She uses her Fall to the Dark Side, the power and pain and loss of that event to fuel the first. What came next was something she would never admit to anyone else. She constructed the second of her final walls...
Out of her her hatred of herself.
How weak she had been to get Master Gallia killed. How weak and helpless she had been against Sidious all these years, hated herself for serving him. She hated herself for so many of the things she had to do in order to kill Sidious. She hated herself for murdering Garen, hated herself so much for that. Even if Ur Manka had betrayed her, she still hated herself for killing him, no, for letting herself draw hope from him. She especially hated herself for almost killing Obi-Wan. Hated herself for that time of weakness in that Force Suppression Cell. All of that and more she crafted into her second final shield.
The last one... was one she was uncertain of. She looked back on the battle against Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon Jinn. Of those final moments of the fight, where she had been about to tear through Obi-Wan's mind and drive him insane. She remembers how she had tried to deny what he said, that he loved her. She remembers how he poured that emotion into her, how it had disrupted her control of the Dark Side, sucker punched her and threw her out of the dark depths of being a real, true Sith. She contemplates it for a long moment.
Then she does something she's sure Sidious, hell, even Zannah would be disgusted at.
She crafts that final shield out of her feelings for Obi-Wan. Her old feelings for Master Gallia, for her old friends in the Temple that she had genuinely cared about once upon a time. Of her possessiveness towards Alexi and Mighella. Of her... something with Zannah's Holocron. Force, she didn't even know what to call that screwed up relationship. How she enjoyed the bickering, the lessons, the comradery, that Zannah genuinely wanted her to succeed, how possessive the Holocron was of her and Siri of it in return. Zannah's kind of like a psychopathic aunt she supposes.
It is a shield of light in nature, but mixed in with the Dark, a hybrid type of defense. She rigs the wall to explode outward, forcing the emotions upon whoever springs the trap, like how Obi-Wan forced his feelings down that brief link between their minds. She's fairly certain that if Sidious or some other Dark Sider down the road gets to this final wall, they'll be in for a nasty surprise. She'll have a moment, a brief moment, to take advantage of, and she will make use of it if that time comes.
When she finally finishes she sits in her mental landscape, exhausted.
She wonders if she went overboard or not. Going this deep into a person, into the depths of their mind and soul and Force rather than just picking through their brain was dangerous to both the person and the invader generally. Most didn't need to go this deep for what they needed to find. Sifting through someones memories generally didn't require this kind of dive. A Force Sensitive would rarely bury them this far down from her experience thus far. She shrugs it off, better safe than sorry. She'd had way to many people rip through her head as it is. She'd steadily rebuild and seed more traps in her mind over time, but for now, this would do.
She doesn't leave her mind through. She sighs softly and just... rests. She hasn't been able to do this, retreat inside herself, in her mind within the Force, for well over a month. She wants a moment, a long moment, to do so before she has to go back and deal with the mess awaiting her. The Dark Side in her rumbles for the challenge, always ready and raring to bare it's fangs. Siri brushes it off through. She scrubs at her eyes (mentally, not physically, she'd never show that kind of tired tell to the Jedi) and wonders what they'd do if she decided to just sit in her head forever and not come out. Well, they'd try to draw her out eventually, and boy wouldn't that be a stress test for her brand spanking new shields.
The feels a twang of self-reproach, of hate for that weakness, of that desire to shy away. She studies it dispassionately, contemplative. It's a Dark Side inspired reaction, she's not blind to that. She doesn't think she's ever been blind to that... but...
She's oddly hyper-aware of it now.
She sits in her mind and toys with the thought for awhile before she feels a familiar tap on her shields. It's Obi-Wan. She really doesn't feel like dealing with the Jedi right now, but as much as he IS one, he's also Obi-Wan. If she has to deal with anyone, better that it be him that some other Jedi. So when he taps again, she lets him in, he is one of the few people she will ever allow in this deep, though she does keep her thoughts and memories shielded from him. She's more than amused to feel the -yelp- from him as he tumbles in. She watches as a visage of him appears in the landscape, giving her a disgruntled look.
-Really Siri?-
She gives him a lopsided grin in response.
-The Councilors are getting a little impatient-
"They can piss off for all I care," she said dismissively.
He gives an exasperated sigh. -Are you done rebuilding your shields?-
She glances around and hums to herself. "I suppose."
Obi-Wan follows her gaze around and... freezes. She watches the color drain out of the visage's face. Feels his anxiety and so many more emotions through the Force. -This place... why would you make THIS place your...-
So he recognizes it then.
He shakes his head and begins to back out. She lets him go, mulling over his reaction. He had shown her memories of his feelings, of that loss he had felt and allowed to fester when he thought she had died. He had gone here, she remembered that. He and Qui-Gon had discovered what was left of Master Gallia's corpse (and didn't that piss her off to realize Sidious had blown it apart with turbo-lasers), and thought Siri was dead. This was a painful place for him as it was for her.
With a sigh, she pulls out of her head and blinks her eyes open.
"...re you alright Padawan Kenobi? What did she do?" came the firm voice of a Jedi.
Siri tilted her head up, looking at a dark skinned Jedi Master, Windu if she recalled right, putting a steadying hand on Obi-Wan's shoulders. His real face was as pale as the mental one he had. "She did nothing, I was just... unsettled by where..."
He shook his head. "It's nothing Master Windu."
She eyed Obi-Wan briefly. His keeping the privacy of what her landscape looked like from the Jedi. She hadn't really thought, just let him it, but it served as an unintended test she supposed. She pushed herself to sit up, drawing her legs to sit crossed as she leveled an unimpressed look at Master Windu. "Must it always be the poor Darksider's fault, Jedi?"
Master Windu sharply turned his head towards her, body tense, eyes hawking at her and watching for any sudden movements, before he scowled at her. "Forgive me, Sith, if I treat you with the suspicion you rightly deserve."
She gave feral smile. "Careful Jedi, anger is dangerous for your lot."
"Siri," said Obi-Wan with a groan, "Please don't start needling."
"But it's so fun Obi-Wan," she whined, "And just look at him! He'd be so easy to set off."
Windu glares at her, and is about to respond, before another voice speaks up.
"Hmph, remember you to be a mischievous troublemaker, I do not, Padawan Tachi."
Siri froze before her head sharply turned to see the unmistakable form of Master Yoda watching her calmly from the doorway, his old hands gripping his gimer stick. They stare at eachother for a long moment before Siri reflexively double-checks her shielding and coaches herself to not take any unexpected moves. If there is one Jedi she will not screw around near, it is the Grandmaster of their Order. He could mop the floor with her; she's not even close to arrogant enough to think otherwise. She wont be complacent, never that, but she will dial it back.
"The Padawan you knew, and the person I am now, are two far different people," she answered in a careful tone.
Yoda's ears flick, a slight shake of his head, a displeased look on his face. "Afraid of me, you are. Wish that, I never would, for one of our own, fallen or not, Sith or not."
"I don't fear...," she began hotly.
He pointed his stick at her. "Fear me, you do."
It was final.
And not entirely untrue.
If there were two beings in the galaxy that she truly stood no chance against at the moment. It would be Sidious and Yoda. She'd be able to fight anyone else with at least some prospect of finding a win (maybe). But not either of them, not yet. She doesn't give him an answer though, just glowers at him. He adjusts his grip on his stick, slowly moving deeper into the room towards the table she sits on, then, fearlessly, hops into it and sits cross legged as well a short distance from her. She does NOT like being this close to him, being within arms reach of a blazing light in the Force that grates against her senses.
"Your word I seek," said the Grandmaster, "That harm the Jedi while in our custody, you will not."
She raised an eyebrow. "I'm the prisoner here."
"Make you not dangerous, does that?" he inquired.
She doesn't answer.
"If agree you do, if follow our rules you do, then in a cell, you will not be kept." he offers.
"Done," she says instantly, not hesitating in the slightest.
She is NEVER going back into that cell.
There is a light tap against her shields, and she grinds her teeth, but slightly lowers them to let him feel for the truth of her words. She has no intention of starting anything that will end up with her dead. Either from the Jedi, or from Sidious if she were to escape and him were to find her. Yoda does a brief pass, and his presence is like a sunburn against her mind, before he pulls back, satisfied.
"Mmm, been some time, it has, since last we sat and spoke, Padawan Tachi."
She narrowed her eyes slightly. "If you must address me with a tittle, Apprentice Tachi will do. I am no Jedi, not anymore, pretending otherwise changes nothing."
There is something sad in his eyes, but he masks it and inquires, "Oh? Not a Lord, are you?"
She furrows her eyes. "No? I'm an apprentice. I haven't been dubbed a Lord, let alone passed my sacrifice. Do you Jedi seriously know nothing about Sith anymore?"
"Mmm, forgive an old Jedi, over a thousand years, it has been, since a Jedi last spoke to a Sith," said Yoda, "Always called Lord, or Darth, they wished to be, history says."
Then Yoda gave her a puzzled look, if he felt uneasy about her words, he didn't show it. "Sacrifice?"
She raised a hand and pointed at Obi-Wan, who paled once more, at the implications of her words.
Yoda didn't hide how discouraged that made him. "Cruel the ways of the Sith are, the murder of those cherished, as a requirement."
"If you want to ridicule my Order's ways," she said in warning, "Don't think I won't ridicule yours in return."
"Mmm, refrain for now I will," he said before tilting his head, "But Padawan Tachi, you still are. Release you from the Order, never did we. Officially leave, never did you."
"Are you really going to argue technicalities with me?" she asked, incredulous.
"Mmm, but thought arguing, you enjoyed?" he asked with mock innocence.
Okay, to hell with this. "Has anyone ever told you you're an old bastard?"
Obi-Wan choked out a "Siri!", while she felt others in the room bristling.
Yoda just cackled a bit. "Last to do that, my old Padawan Dooku was."
"Pot meets kettle," she mused.
"Let Dooku here that, you should not," said Yoda.
"I don't particularly care if he does or not," she answered before rolling her shoulders and taking a sweep of the room with her eyes.
Obi-Wan. Yoda. Windu. The Jedi Healer. Two more of the Council she takes a moment to identify, Ki-Adi-Mundi and Even Piell. She sights several sets of Temple Guards outside the door, standing and waiting. "I don't think you're particularly here for small talk, Master Yoda."
The aged Jedi hums softly for a moment. "Many questions does the Council have. Do I have. Does the Republic have. Your willingness to answer, curious I am."
"I suppose that depends on the question," she answers, "And what I get out of answering, because I'll tell you right now, if the death penalty comes up in this 'trial' I'm supposed to be having, you're not getting shit out of me."
"Hmph, foul your mouth has gotten."
She rolls her eyes. "If you have a question to ask, then ask, otherwise," she thumbs towards the rest of the Jedi watching, "I'd prefer to see my not-cell now, rather than be the latest attraction for the peanut gallery."
She enjoys electing emotions from the oh-so controlled Jedi. The glaring from the Councilors is amusing.
Yoda just grunts. "Focus on most important, I will. Hide yourself for a moment, you did, when working on shields you were. In front of me, you were, but feel you, I did not."
"You're point being...?"
"How this Darth Sidious hides, is it?"
"One of several methods he could use," she says, non-committal.
"How this works, will you explain to us?"
"If I didn't know any better, Jedi, it sounds like you were asking me to teach you how to use the Dark Side," she says in a mocking tone.
At that, Yoda gives her an unimpressed look.
"And as I said, what information I choose to give depends on what happens in the trial," she said flatly, "Until then, I will tell you nothing."
Yoda nods slowly and stands. "Chance to rest, you will be given. A week the Senate has granted, no more, no less."
He turns and hops off the table, moving to the door.
"I would like a datapad with holo-net access then," she says, making him briefly pause, "You can make it read only, I don't care, but I have the right to read up on law and prepare myself for trial, do I not?"
"You do," he agreed, "Tomorrow, one will be provided, after modified it is. If lawyer you seek, one will be provided."
"I'll handle my own trial," she says flatly.
Yoda scrutinized her for a moment before shaking his head. "Your choice, that is. Come, to your room, we shall go."
Siri slowly shifted off the table, her feet touching down as she pushed off. She gripped the table tightly and briefly for a moment as dizziness set in. She tapped into the dark, slightly, to take the edge off the sensation, before following Yoda out. The Councilors fell in behind her, Obi-Wan moving to walk next to her, the Temple guard forming an outer circle around the ground. She thought it amusing, three councilors, the grandmaster, and a horde of Temple Guard's for little old her.
"Rules there are, for you," said Yoda as they walked, "Leave your room unescorted, you will not."
Where would she even want to go in here? "Sure."
"If ever interact with younglings, initiates or padawans, you interact, encourage them to use the Dark Side, you will not," said Yoda.
Siri snorted. "Gotta fear those Sith cooties."
Yoda turned and whacked her shin with the gimer stick. "A joke, that is not. Your agreement, I desire, not insolence."
She doesn't react the the whack. "You know, Sidious likes to call me insolent to when I talk back to him as well. Guess you two have that in common. Though, his lightning is more effective than your little stick."
Yoda frowned at her. "Appreciate that comparison, I do not."
Then he shakes his head. "Reprimand, a little whack is, no need there is, for punishment like Force Lightning."
"Jedi have their methods of discipline, Sith have their own," she answers, noncommittal, and then scoffs with derision "And fine, I'll refrain from corrupting any little innocent minds."
Yoda squints at her. "Amuse you, this rule does?"
"The Jedi's paranoia amuses me," she said, "Me trying to turn any Jedi here, at this point, goes directly against the Rule of Two, as my Master is still alive. Not to mention I am still at least a decade away from being ready to take on an actual apprentice, and I have no experience in trying to turn someone dark, or talent in it for that matter, Obi-Wan wasn't even tempted in the slightest on Naboo, must not have tried hard enough."
Ob-Wan gave her an unimpressed look which she proceeded to ignore.
She scoffed again. "Not that Sidious particularly cared for the Rule, taking me on when he hadn't gotten around to killing his Master."
Yoda cocks his head. "Rule of Two?"
She merely smiles tightly. "I believe you were telling me your own rules for me?"
He grunts and turns back around, starting the group forward again. "Use the Dark Side, you will not, without our permission and supervision."
"That," she said flatly, "Is unacceptable."
The group came to a stop again, with the Jedi turning to stare at her.
"I will refrain from most active uses, but I am a Sith, the Dark Side flows through me, it is a part of me," she answered, "I use it sense, to feel, to gauge, to defend myself, for so many things, not to mention meditating, which, I have a long session of coming up when you finish taking me to my room by the way. After that stint in that cell, I need it."
Yoda grunted. "Rephrase I will. Use the Dark Side to harm others, you will not. Use it to corrupt others, you will not."
"Acceptable."
"Master Yoda," protested Windu, "Are you truly going to let this Sith dictate terms inside our own home?"
"Not unreasonable, her request is," said Yoda calmly, "So long as offensively, she does not use it."
"If someone tries to kill me," she says in warning, "I won't hesitate to defend myself."
"In the halls of the Jedi you are," said Yoda firmly, "Harmed you will not be, so long as harm others you do not."
She wouldn't put it past some hot-headed padawan or knight to want to do her in if word got around of what she really was. Nor for Sidious to try something if he really set his mind to, but didn't comment on that. Instead, she turned to what she was sure was going to be a favored pastime: Needling Jedi. "You know, Master Windu, isn't considering this place a home a form of attachment?"
She doesn't hide her derision in the slightest.
She can feel him glowering at her back. "Isn't having feelings for a Jedi against your own rules?"
She smiled and laughed. "I'm a darksider, Jedi, feelings are what I do. Perhaps not generally that kind, but hey, a Sith has no rules other than what those stronger than them force upon them. As for Sidious... if he had known, well, he would have fixed that real quick."
"Fixed?" asked Obi-Wan quietly.
"You don't want to know," she answered, her smile turning grim, "I already gave you enough of a hint in the cell. Revan's Cure is child's play compared to what a Sith can do, and that's only one way he could have dealt with it."
That, oddly, makes Windu go quiet both aloud and in the Force, an air of -disturbed- around him. He's not the only one either.
"Communicate with Sidious, you will not while here," said Yoda after a few moments of walking, picking up where he left off.
"I have zero problems with that," she said, "Though, if he initiates it through the Force, I can't exactly say no."
"Keep your shields up?" suggested Obi-Wan.
She turned her head to give him a look of annoyance. "If Sidious wants in, there is very little I can do about that. If Plaguies was any indication, my ability to keep a Sith Master out of my head is lacking."
Obi-Wan went silent at that. She's really hoping she doesn't have to stress test her shields against Sidious, even with the upgrades, she'd not confident it will necessarily work.
"If contact he initiates, tell us you will," said Yoda.
"Sure," she drawled, "If I'm alive afterwards."
Yoda turned his head to glance at her.
"If you're in someone's head, Master Jedi, it's fairly easy to rupture their brain with the Force," she said.
Yoda shakes his head. "More I hear, less I like."
She smiles with a feral edge. "You've hardly heard anything yet."
"Watchful we will be, if sense a dark presence not your own, interfere we will," said Yoda.
Siri didn't answer, just continued to walk as the old troll prattled one rule after another. Most of it common sense garbage or Jedi paranoia. She resisted the urge to tune him out, but did shift focus when she took note that they weren't the only ones in the hallways they walked. There were other Jedi about, other eyes on her, watching, judging. The Jedi weren't hiding her from their own anymore then. There was an awful lot of subdued trepidation and fear and anger however... even at a darksider...
Unless...
"They know," she said in a soft-tone, eyes side-way glancing at Obi-Wan.
He hesitated before nodding. "Nute Gunray confessed to being pressured by the Sith to Republic questioning. That came up in one of the Senate sessions."
She snorted. "Gunray, that stunted slime. I bet he failed to mention the benefits he gained from his compliance."
"He did mention the Sith influenced his ascension to becoming a Viceroy," said Obi-Wan.
She can't help the eye-roll. "That was more Sidious than me, but I do recall the Viceroy not-so-subtly mentioning rivals that need to be eliminated. He willingly profited off the exchange, make no doubts about that. Though, to the Republic, its the word of the poor frightened Neimoidian against the big bad Sith, so I can guess whose word will be taken."
Then she came to a stop as something occurred to her. "Wait. Was that session public?"
"Yes."
Siri's eyebrows furrow, aware of the eyes on her, and resumes walking. "I see."
Sidious let that go public? It was one thing to be revealed to the Jedi. It was another thing for the galaxy as a whole to be aware of the Sith. Sidious owned Gunray, there was no way whatever was said wasn't ordered. Why would Sidious take this route? What angle was he playing at with this? Sith largely remain in the shadows, casting the spotlight on Siri, and allowing knowledge that Sidious himself even existed to become public awareness... why? He has some scheme or purpose behind this, that's a given, she just can't figure out what it is at the moment.
She has the urge to rub her eyes tiredly, but withholds it. She'll meditate and sleep when she's alone. She's led into a largely uninhabited part of the temple, to a simple Master/Padawan apartment, and shown inside. She wonders briefly how the Jedi would react if she informed them that their numbers weren't what they would have normally been. The Sith influencing the Senate to cut down on the money Jedi Acquisitions received did wonders for cutting down on the Jedi's ranks after all. She cut the thought as she was shown inside the apartment, barren and lifeless without a shred of individuality in its setup. She holds back the distaste she feels and simply lets her eyes wash over it.
She moves to the center of the room and kneels down, not wasting time. "If that's all, I'll be meditating for awhile."
An obvious, and intentional dismissal, one she feels some of the Jedi balk at, being instructed to leave by her. They don't speak out though, and file out, one by one, until there is only the presence of... eight, no, ten Temple Guards lining the halls outside her room. And one Jedi still standing behind her.
"What is it Obi-Wan?" she asks irritably.
"You told me in the cell," he began in a careful tone, appearing to try to sound non-judgemental, "That you had been tasked with raping someone to get over your, infatuation. But you just said while walking here, that Sidious didn't know you cared for me. Which was the lie?"
Damn... he's observant. "Neither."
Obi-Wan doesn't respond for a moment, though he does make a light pass around her shields, sensing for truth, she should be irritated at that, but he is rightfully confused so she allows it.
Of course, then he makes the logical jump. "So who did then, if not Sidious?"
She doesn't answer.
He stands there for a good minute, his eyes boring into her back, before he eventually leaves, when he does, Siri closes her eyes, exhales through her nose, and beginis to meditate, sinking into the Force, and the Dark Side, to sort out her storm of withheld emotions from her time in the cell...
Review Responses:
SwordOfTheMorning: First thing Siri's doing when she gets a datapad is watching those sessions of the senate related to her.
EclipseTobias: Eh... I'll keep what I have. Fanfiction is fanfiction after all. The time travel IF I do it I'm keeping under wraps, but what I intend is not flow walking.
Nerdman3000: Thanks.
1saaa: One thing I loath about time travel, and fanfics in general, is when they stick so damn close to the original plot then diverge right at the end, or only change small things here and there (especially with self-inserts, ugh). The purpose of fanfiction, of AU, of even time travel, is the 'what if this happened instead' and what are the continual repercussions of that change. Certain major events that happened in cannon will happen in a way in here, but everything in-between has largely different hues brought on about the original 'what if' of this story. Things will really take off when we get to the Empire part of the fanfiction (oops, spoiler).