Chapter 54: Faulty Starts
"Siri, wake up."
"Nnnn... five more minutes Master Gallia..."
"I'm... I'm not..."
Siri blearily opened her eyes, finding herself in the halls of healing, with a concerned/hopeful looking Obi-Wan standing beside her bed with a tray of food. She slow blinked at him, confused; the splitting headache she had really didn't help matters. It took her a very, very long moment for everything to hit her. Rather than deal with it, she just groaned, muttered out "I'm not awake enough for this shit", and rolled over away from him, pulling her covers up. Really though, blind embarrassment filled her, she hadn't woken up like that in years, since the early days of her apprenticeship as a Sith.
It took her another long moment to register why. "On second thought, where is Supernova? I'm going to shove my boot up his ass."
"Away on his first mission with Qui-Gon," answered Obi-Wan crisply, "It was best thought that he be away before he causes anymore of a mess."
She slowly rolled over to give him a stink eye. "Oh? And here I was thinking you'd be jumping up and down in joy."
"You didn't chose to turn away," he said flatly, "So I'm not exactly expecting it to stick."
She sighed and rolled back away. "I should have stuck with 'not awake enough'. I have to much of a damn headache for this right now."
"Considering Anakin did the literal impossible and brute force ripped you from the Dark Side, I'm not surprised," said Obi-Wan, "You've been out for a week. Food and water rather than paste fed through a tube would probably help."
"Why so sensible Kenobi?"
"Its how I was raised."
"Terrible influence that Master Jinn."
Obi-Wan sighs, a sense of -still the same as ever- emanating down the bond before he set the tray down on the edge of the bed. Siri grumbled before slowly sitting up, wincing at each throb down her head into her spine. Kriffing shit this was going to become unbearable very quickly. She sat the tray on her lap and plucked at it. All the while, she slowly turned her thoughts back to her last memories before Supernova had shattered her world. The glory of that moment was something she coveted, and was reluctant to mention, so she probably wouldn't, oh how she wanted it again...
And before that...
She closed her eyes for a long moment. "You might be surprised Obi-Wan. Skywalker gave me a challenge, and I'm loath to let him win in any manner."
Obi-Wan frowned. "A challenge?"
"What was it he said," she mused, "No Jedi, no Sith, no Light Side, no Dark Side, no Force, what do I want? Can I figure that out without the Dark Side's input, and my own added rule of no one else's expectations either."
She said that last part giving Kenobi a pointed look.
"I was under the impression," said Obi-Wan slowly, a throb of hurt coming down the bond, "That you wanted the power to kill Sidious, that was your motivation every waking moment."
"Killing Sidious is necessary to survive," and for Obi-Wan to live, "Its revenge, I hate him, its also business as a Sith, I don't become the Master myself until he's dead."
And at least another decade or two of learning. She needed to go back to her hideout at some point to get the Scriptures, and back to Naboo to get Zannah. Oh boy, Zannah was going to be pissed being left on the ship in a swamp for so long. Or... maybe she went into stasis, who knows.
"You still consider yourself a Sith?"
Siri narrowed her eyes at him. "The Sith is an ideology, a way of life, a type of government, a religion. More than just Sith Lords have been called Sith. There were once armies of non-Force Sensitives who were called 'Sith'. The Rule of Two may have stripped most of the rest away, but it does not change the fact that you don't need to have the Force, nor use the Dark Side, to be Sith."
"So, live as a mass murdering psychopath and you too be can considered a Sith," mocked Obi-Wan.
Siri bared her teeth. "If we're going to be technical, I think I'd legally be considered a sociopath thank you very much."
"That really isn't comforting."
"It wasn't meant to be," she snarled, "I know who and what I am, Obi-Wan, what aspect of the Force I currently feel does not change that."
"Yes, we've already been over the fact that you know what you do is monstrous, that the Sith are evil..."
"If not for Sidious, things would be far different."
"Pinning the blame?"
"Its at least partially true," she cut back, "There are aspects of being Sith that I enjoy, that call to me, and on the flip side, there are things about being Sith that I loath, even with the Dark pulsing through me."
"Such as what specifically? You always happen to slip out of conversations about that."
"Such as none of your damn business," she answered flatly, before looking away and clenching her jaw, "Not at least until I've... I've meditated."
He frowned. "You don't seem thrilled with the prospect."
"I meditated once after Ur Manka helped me...," she began before trailing off, a pinched expression crossing her face, "I had to look into myself, it was... unpleasant at the time."
Her eyebrows furrowed. "Though, that was trying meditate with the Light after being fallen. I'm... not technically fallen anymore, I... guess? But I'm not light either, what little I can feel in the Force that isn't a painful throb is... weird."
He raised a questioning eyebrow.
She didn't answer.
The food and water helped a little, but honestly, she was going to need time for this to fix itself.
It could be faster... you could feed off the pain instead... back in fighting shape able to defend yourself immediately...
Siri paused, frowning a little. There was an eager, almost jittery jolt down her spine, a craving at the whisper of the Dark. She squashed the impulse, first rule of the Dark Side, fallen or not, was to control it, not be controlled by it. Still... that jittery impulse rubbed her wrong...
She brushed the thoughts aside. "I hope Supernova got a shitty politician watching mission as his first. Boring as kriff and would serve him right."
"Well, actually..."
Siri threw back her head and laughed. "Really?"
"Mhm, though, I think that was more to allow him time to work on his studies, he's been... lax with anything that didn't particularly interest him."
Siri snorted, smiling at the thought. "Don't doubt that."
There was a ripple of surprise from Obi-Wan that whipped down the bond, she glanced at him. "What?"
"I... don't think I've seen a genuine, none-sadistic or sarcastic or something along those lines smile from you since before the Tally mission," he said quietly, gazing at her with something in his eyes that made her squirm briefly.
That comment was a great way to kill said smile. She scowled at him. "Get off your high horse Kenobi."
"I didn't say anything but to remark that its been gone," he said, "Its... nice to see that again."
Something in her stomach twisted at the subtle sadness in his voice, along with him liking her smile. She just huffed and turned away, toying with the thought. Its not as if she hadn't admitted straight up to him that the Dark suppressed certain emotions, or altered how they were felt. There had been... genuine delight and amusement for a moment there, and despite that it had been at Skywalker's expense... there had been no actual malice behind it, not a single dark tint to it. She won't admit how unsettled this makes her.
She knew what the Dark did, but... feeling this... it made her honestly bubbly for the first time in... in nearly ten years.
She shook her head, frustrated. Why couldn't it be both? Shove the emotions she didn't want or need down, but keep these kind available? Well... obvious answer, the Dark was greedy, it didn't like things that didn't give it power. Being genuinely happy didn't really feed the Dark, now did it?
"Tsk," she grumbled under her breath, she had to meditate and figure this shit out.
Because, as much as she enjoys the dark, she found she liked what she had just felt, she... had forgotten how it felt. There had to be a way to get both...
"So, what happens now?" asked Siri.
"Rest here or rest in your room?"
"You know what I meant."
"Nothing really," said Obi-Wan, "You're still on parole in the Temple for plenty more years. Anything else depends on you."
"The only thing I care to do right now is go back to sleep," she said sourly, "For a week straight."
"So long as you actually get up to eat once in a while, by all means, take the time to recover."
"Yes mom."
"Nice to see your maturity hasn't changed much."
"Turn the lights off on the way out."
He didn't.
That bastard.
She grumbles under her breath, winces when she reaches out with the Force, but flicks them off before huffing and snuggling into her covers to sleep.
She scowls at every Jedi who stares at her wide eyed with disbelief when she is eventually escorted back to her room days later. Some she gets the sense feel like this is another of her 'games', or using a False Aura of Light. Others feel like their entire worldview was turned upside down when they look at her and do a brush against her voice signature for confirmation. At least half of those she passes have some kind of positive or negative reaction, the other half just regard her solemnly but don't show what they think, a sense of -waiting- emanating from them. Those ones are like Kenobi, waiting to see if it 'sticks'.
Makes her want to draw on the Dark purely out of spite.
They're not worth the effort she decides, returning to her room and...
She twitches as she walks in, the Dark coating the place like a strong gust against her, a brief stinging sensation. It takes a moment to adjust before it settles on her shoulders, familiar, its her, and yet... its not the comfort it was. Neither is it uncomfortable, its just there, and shes hyper-aware that its there for some reason. She frowns, a little confused, but shakes her head and walks to the center. She's loath to do this, but she knows she has to. She levitates the furniture out of the way, twitching as the room's darkness clings to her, begging and whispering for her to use it. Was the Dark Side always so whiny for attention?
She shakes it off and settles down, closing her eyes and sighing. She's... really not sure how to go about this. Does she try what she vaguely remembers as Jedi meditation? Does she try Sith Meditation? Both are honestly going to make her lean one way or the other. So, how does she rectify this? She considers it for a moment before she goes to the basics: What does she want out of this meditation? Primarily, to get the damn guilt fit she's expecting over and dealt with. She is honestly curious why it didn't hit her yet. Maybe it was because she hadn't really thought about individual instances? Or because she wasn't meditating in the Light and being forced to confront it? She dwells on that, and then recalls something she wondered about years ago:
Was it possible to meditate on emotions other than what fueled the Dark Side?
Its something she had never tested out... well... in for a credit as they say. Lets rip the bandied off, and probably some skin with it.
She delves for one of the things she's done she will always regret: slapping Obi-Wan's face on some teenage boy and raping them. The mere thought of it instantly makes her stomach clench, and the meditation swirl. It turns out the answer is yes. She can in fact meditate with other emotions, and meditating with regret was a terrible first choice. She clutches her stomach and keels over, forehead pressing against the floor, taking in raged breaths. The physical is quickly blotted out as she is pulled down into a storm that rages around her and rips her raw.
Beatings...
Screams...
Blood...
Pleading for lives...
The hiss of a red lightsaber...
The crackle of lightning...
A neck crushed...
Her own twisted laughter...
"You let him make a slave out of you," Anakin's voice echoes in.
"There wasn't a choice!" she screams into the storm.
Fay's voice rings in. "You could have, and should have, chosen to die instead. You don't even have the excuse of being broken and dominated into this life. You chose to accept the Sith. How many have died, and how many will die yet, because of that choice I wonder?"
"That wouldn't have changed anything!" she shrieked, "He... he would have just found someone else! Put them... put them through everything I was put through, damned them as I was damned, and like I told Anakin, I..."
Ash filled her mouth. "I wouldn't wish that on anyone..."
The storm stops tearing around her and starts swirling instead, breaking away and leaving her in the eye of the storm... and in the center across from her is herself. Only... she's scarred, every wound that had ever healed on Siri's flesh was still there plain as day on the reflection, scars and lightning burns almost completely blotting out pale skin underneath. Blood oozed from seemingly every poor, her lips cracked into a twisted smile, and her hands... her hands looked like they were made of blood, and she knew it wasn't her own. Her eyes were a mixture of blue and molten yellow, full of hate and suffering, and yet...
Her reflection's voice is cracked when it speaks, echoing her words, "I wouldn't wish that on anyone."
Siri swallows thickly. "No."
"Why?"
"Do you honestly think I ever wanted this?" asked Siri bitterly.
"Not in particular, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it."
Siri's jaw clenched.
"The thrill of the kill, of life extinguishing by my will," purred the reflection, "The power, the control, I decided who lived or died..."
"I made the best of the hand I was dealt," snarled Siri, "Maybe to others that's just excuses, but it was MY reality!"
"But I enjoyed it, why did I enjoy it?"
Siri closed her eyes, teeth grinding. The kriff was she arguing with herself in here for?
"Why?"
She should have just shoved it away...
"Why?"
"Because I didn't have that control over my own life!" she shouts, "I lived or I died by Sidious's will and nothing I could do would change that!"
The smile widened, and blood spilled down the reflection's chin. "So I found release in doing unto others as was done onto me, but..."
"It changed nothing," muttered Siri bitterly, looking down into the abyss she floated over before glancing back up, "But do you know what?"
"What?"
"Assuming I was put into the same situations once more, I'd do it all again."
The storm stopped, dark clouds hanging around them.
"Why?"
"Like I told Obi-Wan, I'm the lesser evil," admitted Siri, a grimace on her face, "If I ever succeed in killing Sidious, then it will all be worth it, and I'm... I'm saying that without the Dark active in me, and agreeing with it. Because... because there is nothing that is good left in Sidious from whoever he used to be. Maybe... maybe if I had killed Obi-Wan on Naboo, I would have ended up like him. But I didn't. Maybe I'm still twisted, but I have limits, lines I won't cross, Sidious does not. He'd slaughter billions just because he could if he felt the desire to.
"And I wouldn't?"
Siri took a moment to honestly look at her reflection before she finds an answer that would probably get her shot or stabbed if she ever admitted it aloud. "Not unless killing those billions had an actual guaranteed result of killing Sidious, because that would still likely be less people killed in the long run. Because if Sidious lived, killed me, and took on a new apprentice... it would all just continue."
The reflection chuckled. "I can admit I'd commit genocide to kill Sidious, and still find that as acceptable. Dark, light, or whatever the hell I am now, I'm still kriffed up. Sometimes I wonder why someone hasn't put a lightsaber through me and been done with it."
Siri deflated. "The time for that was a long time ago. After Garen... after I murdered Garen, I would have accepted that in a heartbeat. If Sidious hadn't sent Zannah to me..."
"Fallen on my lightsaber?"
"Fallen on my lightsaber."
The reflection hums. "Honesty sucks."
Siri snorted in agreement. "I know what I am, a monster, a necessary monster to kill a worse one, I really don't see what this is needed for."
"Don't I?"
Siri raises an eyebrow.
"No, I'm not evading it this time. I consider it all worth it, necessary sacrifices I believe the phrase was," said the reflection, before giving Siri a hard look filled with self-loathing, "I admit I'm a monster, but I overlook too much, compartmentalize too much. Those sacrifices deserve better than to be forgotten and swept aside. So I will watch, I will remember, and I will never forget what I did on the path to kill Sidious."
Siri didn't have a chance to scream before the storm renewed itself and surged, colliding with her and the reflection and smothering them together...
Siri kept the door closed with the Force for the next few days, Obi-Wan's concern be damned, she could sustain herself with the Force for such a small trifle time.
She...
She needed the time to deal with it all. She's honestly surprised she can remember the faces and names of so many of her victims, or maybe the Force supplied them. That meditation had ripped her raw and shoved it all down her throat. She'd meant what she said to herself, she'd still do it all again, as much as the thought twisted her stomach. It was all necessary to kill Sidious... she just... wishes the price hadn't been so high, that she hadn't been more cautious, considerate, and calculative on who actually needed to suffer and die. She doesn't want the price to be that steep from here on in. She will kill who she must, harm who she must, but unless there is a need too, or someone she cares for is hurt... she doesn't want any more blood than required staining herself.
The Dark is no longer prowling around the fence, it patiently sits by the gate in the familiar form of a hound, tail thumping slowly on the ground, staring at her through the bars. She doesn't know why the meditation changed that. Everything feels weird and new and strange to her. Offbalanced would be a acceptable term for herself, and she really doesn't want to go out until she's settled.
Except her stomach is letting her know just how upset it is with that idea.
So, Siri leaves, making her way down the hallway with the Temple Guards falling in behind her as she makes her way to the dinning hall...
Only to pause when she hears an interesting topic around the corner, "So, think they'll finally knight Kenobi?"
That's right, he still was a padawan wasn't he?
"Hell if I know," was the reply.
Siri smiled a little, amused. Judging by the age of the voices, padawans running the rumor mill. Some things never change.
"I mean, she's not dark anymore, right?"
What did that have to do with...
"That was what they said his trails were going to be, though, he wasn't exactly the one to do it."
Siri blanks for a moment before fire pours down her spine. The Dark rises to its feet and howls, baying in fury and betrayal before Siri can even fully register what was said. She blinks, and she finds herself already half way back towards her room, or rather, Kenobi's room next to hers. The Dark presses its muzzle against the bars and seeps through, spilling into dark tendrils dripping ooze, reaching for her, begging for her, offering to sate her RAGE. It reaches her, but before it can wrap itself around her, she reaches out with a fist and clenches over the tendrils, binding them together in her grip. The Dark does not control her, she controls it.
She opens the door, steps through, and kicks it closed, spotting Obi-Wan kneeling on the floor on a mat in meditation. She crosses the distance, grabs him by the throat with Force infused strength, lifts him up as she moves, and slams him into the wall as he's jolted out of his meditation. His hands instantly go for her wrists, confused, bewildered, and panicked.
"Was it all a lie Kenobi? Was I just a path to your Knighthood?" she snarls.
"S...iri...," he wheezes, before switching to the bond, "What are you talking about?!"
"DON'T LIE TO ME!" she roars at him, pouring the sense of betrayal down the bond, shoving the memory of what she just heard at him.
The doors fly open and the guard come in. "Unhand him!"
She throws out her hands and pins them to the wall, consequences be damned. If Kenobi is just using her like this, then kriff him, kriff the judicial deal, she's gone.
"Siri, no! Force no!" he shouts down the bond, "I never asked for that! The Council took something my Master said and made it my trials as a punishment for my attachment, though they didn't phrase it like that exactly, its what I took it as."
The red rage is so hard to see through. She stares at him for a long moment, her fury barely abated. "Yet you didn't reject it and demand fair trials? Did you even argue? Or did you agree even if you didn't ask for it?"
"I've already riled and defiled the Council enough over the last few years Siri," he pleads, "My vision's blurring Siri, air, AIR!"
Siri snarled and let him go, dropping him and watching him cough, her gaze cold as she shifts to gripping his forehead instead. "Show me what you think and feel on it, now."
He glares up at her. "Do you truly have so little trust in me?"
"Yes."
The wounded look doesn't even phase her. She cannot, will not, leave this to blind trust and faith. He lets her in, and she doesn't hesitate to look. She's still so furious, hurt by the fact that he allowed that to go through, that he didn't challenge them on it. "I will not be used this way Obi-Wan. You will demand to take your trials, or so help me, I'll go full on Dark again purely out of spite."
"Aren't you already?" he bit out, "Barely a week conscious and already back in it."
The Dark Side is still in her grip, wrapped around her fist as much as its clenched in it, slithering up her arm and dying it black. She takes a deep breath, and lets go, flapping a mental hand to ward it off. The Dark reaches for her still, but she snarls at it in warning, staring down the Dark with narrowed, challenging eyes. Slowly, the tendrils retreat into the form of the Dark Hound, staring at her through the bars as it sits back down to wait.
"Siri... what did you just do?" whispered Obi-Wan, baffled and slightly awed, "You were as dark as you normally were, but you just..."
She made an about face and left him unanswered, only releasing the Temple Guard after she was out of the room...
Obi-Wan is knighted less than a week later.
She hears it in passing, but she doesn't go to see him, and he doesn't come to see her. She also doesn't know if he was knighted because of her, or because he actually went into the Trial Chamber. She can admit she's to much of a coward to ask. The Temple Guard glare at her, and Windu gives her a disproving stern warning, but nothing more comes of her throttling Obi-Wan. So, life enters into what she determines as a normal-adjustment phase. Its business as usual except she's learning to figure herself out.
That comes to a very abrupt halt when Dooku storms into her room in an absolute fury.
She raises an eyebrow at him, unimpressed. "What?"
"It would seem," began Dooku darkly, "Based on what my old padawan overheard in an... encounter on his mission, your Master has replaced you with another Sith Apprentice."
Siri scoffed. "In three years flat? Including time taken to find said apprentice? A tool or an acolyte likely, not an apprentice, not yet at least."
Dooku's jaw set. He was pissed about something, it was boiled beneath the surface.
"Did you know?" snarled Dooku.
"Did I know what?"
"Did you know Komari Vosa was alive!"
Siri blinked. "The psycho Bando Gora bitch? Sidious is really scrapping the bottom of the barrel it seems."
Dooku's face twisted into something like an animal, hand actually going for his lightsaber before he controlled himself. "Komari Vosa was my padawan before circumstances led to her dismissal, on which she foolishly snuck aboard a mission to confront that cult in which she was presumed dead."
Ah... well then. "No, I didn't know she was your apprentice."
"Considering how long you led me on a wild chase, Iris, I find it hard to believe you did not study your target."
"You were Sidious's potential tool, not mine," she sniffed, "Incase you forgot, Qui-Gon Jinn knowing Makashi took me completely by surprise on Naboo. Aside from you being the Makashi master, I really didn't give you much thought."
Dooku scoffed, teeth grinding.
"Why is this important to you?"
"BECAUSE MY GRANDPADAWAN IS IN SURGERY!" roared Dooku, "For a lightsaber wound across his chest and his right arm taken off near his shoulder!"
Siri's insides turned to ice. "What?!"
"Vosa...," Dooku trailed off for a moment, actual grief emanating from him, "Vosa tried very hard to kill her nephew Padawan. If not for Qui-Gon, Anakin would be dead right now. As it is, we don't know if he will live. It depends how deep the saber wound went."
The Dark around the fence in her mind HOWLED in absolute fury, shaking the bars, and Siri howled with them inside, fury rolling through her. "Did Jinn kill her."
"No, drove her off."
Fear surged through her. "Wait, where is Anakin now?"
"Like I said, in surgery."
"On Coruscant, or the planet where he was injured?"
"Where he was...
"IDIOT!" roared Siri, "Sidious doesn't tolerate failure, she has to know this! She's not going to just give up just because Jinn put up a bit of resistance! Do you at least have a team on the way to support Jinn?! Or do you really value Skywalker's life so little?"
Dooku scowled darkly at her.
"Send me after her."
Dooku slow blinked. "What?"
"Send. Me. After. Her," snapped Siri, "Anakin is in danger so long as she's either alive, or free to move about. Especially if only one Jedi is there to guard an immobile boy who moving around could critically injure."
"The Council will never approve that," said Dooku.
"I'm not asking the Council, I'm asking you," said Siri thinly, "You and I will go, now, you have my word I will willingly return, with Anakin alive. Or are we going to pretend neither of us care about the little shit?"
Dooku huffed, grumbling.
"Do we have an accord?"
Dooku stared at her for a very long moment. It was his eyes that gave away his answer, because as much as she had heard what kind of a man he had used to be, he had still trained Qui-Gon Jinn, who trained Obi-Wan, both of who had been terribly attached, who he constantly visited with and was attached to as well. Lineage was important to him, and the fear hiding in his eyes betrayed that. He feared for Skywalker, and, for Jinn. Even for Obi-Wan if what she feels is right, worried that his entire lineage will be targeted by her so-called replacement.
"I'm going to be thrown out of the Order for this," mused Dooku, "But if that is the price I pay for the Chosen One's safety, so be it."
She raised an eyebrow, he merely turned and walked off. "Come, we'll retrieve your lightsaber before we leave."
Oh yes Dooku, play it off as protecting 'The Chosen One'. Anyone would see right through that. Still, when they break through the atmosphere, and a blinking red light shows up as an incoming transmission, all Dooku does is hit the reject button before entering hyperspace and they settle in to wait...
"Corulag huh? That's... Snopps right?"
Dooku glances briefly at her from his place at the controls. "Senator Zafiel Snopps, yes."
He frowns. "Did you find in your spying that he is corrupt? Or is he in Sidious's pocket?"
"Sidious, no. Corrupt? About average for a Senator."
Dooku scoffed derisively. "The fact that 'average for a Senator' fits them in regards to their taint says much about the state of the galaxy."
Siri hummed at that. "Considering we would have likely felt if he died, he survived the surgery. Do we know where Anakin is?"
"Yes, Qui-Gon informed me of which hospital so I could pass it onto the Council."
"Hmm, five credits says the Council figured us out and has already commed him."
"I'm not so foolish as to take that bet."
Siri smiled a little. "You're not going to like this, but we're splitting up when we land."
Dooku went still.
"You are going to go play damage control, and protect Skywalker," said Siri, "I'm going to go hunting."
Dooku regards her for a long moment. "If possible Tachi, take her alive."
Siri crossed her arms. "Hoping the same for her as for me won't end well. You know what the Bando Gora do to their... conscripted. Coupled with Sidious..."
"This is partially my failing," admitted Dooku quietly, "I owe it to her to at least try."
"Do or do not," she said mockingly.
"Do kindly shut your mouth," snapped Dooku.
Siri smiled a little at the rise before going serious as they docked down. "I'll see what I can do. But if I'm put in a position where I have to choose her or Skywalker, you know who I will choose."
He doesn't answer.
Siri takes a moment to refresh herself on what she knows of Corulag. It was a terrestrial world. Mostly human, just a tad speciest. Was on the end of a hyperroute. Big cities, forests of some kind of weird tree in underdeveloped areas. Otherwise she couldn't recall much else, she had been here like... once? Not for Sidious, but for the Black Sun for a delivery.
Then she shifts to Vosa. Current (former?) leader of the Bando Gora. Modestly insane due to the drugs the cult used on its members. Fallen. Former apprentice of Dooku, which meant Makashi. If Dooku's intel from Jinn was accurate, current tool/stand-in apprentice to Sidious. How that would have changed her from Cult Leader to now was up in the air. Sidious wouldn't have tolerated a stark-raving mad pawn that could endanger his own plans, so he probably did something about the madness. Likely gave her training to bring her up to par to be of use. Gave her a few test missions he would have watched over to see for competence, then sent her out to do his will. Possibility of being taught basic Dark Side techniques, maybe the beginnings of another Lightsaber form.
Siri smiled with just a touch of malice. She was going to finally get to play.
She beckons the Dark through the bars again, not opening the gate to it, not letting it in fully, but enough for her purposes. It stretches to her, and she grips it again, binding it to her fist. She wraps herself in the Dark Side, masking her presence as they split up. Hunting another Darksider is going to be an interesting experience. She had kind of done so when teaching Mighella more about the Force as the Sith use it, but hadn't gone too indepth as to not risk Sidious's wrath should he figure out the woman knew more than she would have as a Nightsister. Still, she uses that basis, scenting for subtle hints of the Dark, the mark of the Veil.
Because Vosa isn't Sidious, isn't even close to Siri in experience. She wont have the exposure of using the Veil for years on missions, and sure enough, she locks on. Good enough to fool Jedi, but not nearly good enough to hide from a Sith. Likely Sidious's intentions for keeping track of the psycopath. Siri picks up the pace when she realizes Vosa is moving in the same general direction Dooku is, towards Supernova's subdued light, definitely kept medically unconscious, the boy wouldn't be able to defend himself.
Then she realized that there were other dark presences around Vosa. Right, cult leader. A group of miscreants to do her bidding was something Siri never really had outside of certain Black Sun missions. Siri's most difficult missions, she'd done on her own. She can't say she's impressed. Still, maybe this explains how Vosa actually got at Anakin, if her lackeys distracted or pulled Jinn away. All they were to her was dead men. She'd only agreed to 'maybe' spare Vosa after all.
Siri weaves through crowds and the city, her hood up, presence clouded to any Force-Sensitive with an illuisonary nondescript face for regular beings. She tracks them to an apartment complex, no, top of it, on the roof. She begins vaulting up the fire escape with smothered-Force induced strength. She comes to the roof and crouches, moving along a metal duct until she finds her prey.
Vosa and eight of her sycophants. Siri dismisses the others as unimportant, looking over Vosa. She bore the robes of a Sith apprentice. Her hair was... weird. Gray/white sticking up and outward; did she stick a finger in an outlet or something? She bore two lightsabers at her belt. Hmm... Jar'Kai Makashi? That could be interesting. Otherwise Siri saw no other weapons.
"Mistress, I swear we could..."
"No," snaps out Vosa, "My old Master is on the planet, trying to infiltrate and exterminate the little brat isn't going to work. He could kill all of you on his own with ease. An missile is a much easier, and more sure to work method," she points at a large and tall building several streets away, "Twelfth floor, fifteenth window. The boy is unconscious for the moment, easy kill. Use the Force to direct your aim, and fire."
Then Siri notices one of Vosa's lackeys has a launcher of some sort and is starting to aim right for...
Siri stops thinking, and starts acting. Reaching out with the Force for the launcher, finding its ammo, and crushing it with the Dark Side. The launcher explodes, splattering its wielder all over the place, severely wounding those around him, launching a few off the building. Vosa barely acts in time to throw a hand out and blunt some of the explosion away from her and into her cohorts. All in all, only Vosa and two additions are left standing.
Siri thumbs her lightsaber. Easily solved.
She surges forward, planting a boot into Vosa's back while she's offbalanced, sending her off the roof before twisting, drawing her lightsaber, and running one of the remaining goons through. She pulls out as the other gets their baring and goes for a vibrosword on their back, pulling on the Force to burst forward and bisect him before he can finish getting it out. She hums to herself, satisfied with her work. "There we go, all alone on my lofty perch."
She takes a few steps towards the edge to see Vosa slowing her fall and bracing herself with the Force. "Tsk, that wont do."
Siri grins with malice and throws her hand downward at Vosa, shoving her right back into the freefall with the Force, a satisfying crack as the woman lands on her leg but succeeds in turning her impact into a roll. Without the Force, Vosa would have been paste, ah well, Dooku did want her alive Siri supposed. She takes her own controlled fall down, scaling down a few balconies before landing with a thud on the street, traffic and the public spreading away from the site.
"I must say, Acolyte, your awareness is pathetic," mocked Siri, "All your little followers dead or disabled, and that leg of yours, tsk."
Vosa staggers to her feet, drawing and activating her lightsabers, a hiss escaping her lips. "Lord Tyorsus, Sidious wasn't understating your viciousness."
Siri raises a single eyebrow. Well now..., "Speak well of me, does he?"
"Apparently," growls Vosa, "You are the bar we must all meet, surpass, and kill if we eventually wish to become his true apprentice."
"With no option to leave his service alive otherwise," mused Siri knowingly, watching Vosa twitch, "I'm going to give you one chance to leave this relatively unharmed Vosa. Surrender, otherwise... you won't like the results."
Vosa readies her sabers, and Siri takes a moment to analyze. Curved hilts held horizontally out to the side in an open stance, can lead into many different potential stances or counters. Adaptable, so a point in the psycho bitch's favor. Not that it will do her much good in the long run. "Foolish, but I was hoping you'd choose to fight."
Siri bares her teeth. "No one harms what is mine and gets away unscathed."
"Yours?" posed Vosa warily.
"Skywalker is one of the very few beings I actually like, Vosa," said Siri, "When he isn't being a little shit anyway. You, made the mistake of maiming him."
Siri grips her lightsaber tightly, beginning to really draw on the dark...
Then she falters as for once, she hears the cry of a kyber and reacts to it. Not Bane's Heart, but the other crystal, the one that gives her lightsaber its red color. The screaming of a Kyber hadn't affected her for a very, very long time. Now... now its unsettling. She takes in a deep breath, smothers the feeling with the Dark Side, and resolves to deal with that issue another time...
Apparently her hesitation was the only invitation Vosa needed, because the fool attacked with her broken leg, spinning through the air with a howl, landing in front of Siri, and bringing one lightsaber down from the right, and the other up from the left, in an attempt to bisect. Siri activates both end of her lightsaber, shifts the shaft to block both blades, and then planets her foot into Vosa's stomach, sending her stumbling back.
"Hows that leg feel?" mocked Siri, her eyes trailing to Vosa's side, at the blood leaking down, "Or the shrapnel from the launcher?"
"Pain feeds the Dark Side," snarled Vosa, reaching down to yank a piece out in a small spray of blood and then stabbing it back into her side a little lower.
Siri snorted, intentionally re-injuring one's self to drawn on their own paint wasn't the wisest thing for a quick cheap power boost. "Maybe, but blood loss sure wont help if this lasts long enough."
Siri deactivated one end of her lightsaber, adjusting her grip and thrusting for the woman's heart. Vosa blocked with one saber and swung for Siri's neck with the other. Siri ducked down and thrust a hand forward, sending Vosa flying backwards with the Force. Siri launched herself forward and swung as Vosa landed and rolled. Vosa deflected the blow and staggered away and to her feet, trying to regain balance, a wince as she put pressure on her leg.
"Really Vosa," said Siri mockingly, stabbing and slashing relentlessly, putting her on the defensive, "You lost this the moment you let your guard down and let me get the surprise on you."
"Do you ever shut up?!" spat Vosa.
Siri grinned. "Tsk, Sidious is being stingy again, he hasn't even bothered to teach you Dun Moch, has he?"
"Dun what?"
"Allow me to show you," said Siri before going what she imagined had to be a subject sure to get a rise out of her, "The only reason I didn't immediately kill you on the roof when your guard was down was because Dooku asked that I spare you."
Vosa snarled, her rage bleeding through the Force. "He has the gall? After he threw me away!?"
"Touchy," mocked Siri, activating the other end of her saberstaff as Vosa howled in rage and attacked in blind fury.
The Dark suited Vosa well. The fury, the pain, the betrayal fueled the woman, and with some basic Sith training, she was more than she would have been as a petty cultist with partial Jedi training. But where Vosa is the aspirant, Siri is the reality, and she's done playing. Soresu shines as an unassailable wall of defense, saberstaff spinning to block every block, deactivating and reactivating with months and months of trained precision with the Force's guidance along with it as to not bisect herself, allowing her control and saberuse few users of a saberstaff could ever get, or at least try to learn. She waits for just the right moment...
There, one saber blocked, one saber pulled back to swing, Siri deactivates the end that's tangled with Vosa's, allowing her to bring her other end up as Vosa briefly stumbled offbalance, right through the elbow of Vosa's left arm. The woman shrieks in pain, stumbling back, clutching her stump as the dismembered arm thumps onto the ground. "That, was retribution for Anakin."
She surged forward, shifting her grip and swinging down towards the woman's chest, as if to give her a mirror scar to what Anakin likely had. Vosa panics, backpedaling and swinging wildly to block. Siri clashes, then brings her foot up to kick the woman's remaining hand with Force imbued strength, knocking her lightsaber out of her hand, then twirling with enhanced speed to sever Vosa's remaining hand. "This is because I'm a vindictive bitch, good luck ever wielding a saber again."
Vosa howls and thrusts a stump at her, and for once, Siri's caught offguard when lightning explodes out wild and untamed, slamming into Siri and electing a 'omph' from her as she sent flying back. Siri lands on her back, skidding a little, before pushing off the ground and rising, a scowl on her face. "I'm pretty sure we both know Sidious's is worse, and I've built far more tolerance to that little technique than you."
"SHUT UP!" shrieks Vosa, pulling back an arm to throw more lightning forward.
Siri's had about enough though. Vosa is wild, uncontrolled, and in agony. Its not hard to overwhelm her defenses and grip her with the Force, lifting her up high, then slamming her into the street with a crack. The woman lays there groaning. Siri walks up to her kneels down, places a hand on her head and says, "Sleep."
The Force suggestion is briefly resisted, but Siri chants a soft sorcery, pin-point piercing through to inject the command in like a virus, then Vosa is out. Siri hums to herself, deactivating her lightsaber and putting it on her belt, hefting Vosa up and over her shoulder. Then she sees the crowds and police forces watching at a distance, then she sees camera droids recording at a distance.
"Ah shit, shoulda kept it on the roof," mused Siri, shaking her head and starting off.
The entire Council is due in half an hour.
Long enough for them to wake Anakin up and get him situated, the drugs should be wearing off soon.
Siri stares quietly at Skywalker from her place leaning against the wall in his recovery room. He might have been starting to grow, but... she'd never realized just how small he started out as. Due to malnourishment as a slave most likely. In the bed, hooked up to a temporary ventilator to help his repaired lungs breath, one fist clenching his sheets, the other stump flailing lightly in unpleasent dreams, he looked incredibly frail despite all the power he had lurking within him. Vosa's saber had went right through his rib cage and bit into his lung, how he lasted long enough to get help was beyond her. Force probably looking after its kid she supposed.
Qui-Gon sits at Anakin's bedside, head bowed, hands clasped tightly together. He hasn't said a single word since Siri came in, just a mere nod when she mentioned Vosa had been captured. Remorse, guilt, frustration, self-flagellation rolled off him in waves. Skywalker was his responsibility, and the boy had a very close brush with death on his very first mission outside the temple. Now the boy would be stuck with an constantly shifting prosthetic arm once he's fitted until he stopped growing, and Siri's not quite sure what they used to fix his lungs and ribs, he might need to periodically get those checked/adjust as he aged. She's not exactly privy to his medical information and knows better than to go digging twice.
Anakin stirs slowly, blinking blearily. His arm stump shifts as if to wipe at his eyes, but there's no hand there anymore. He stars at the empty space for a moment before he jolts into awareness, a panicked and horrified choking sound escaping his throat that makes Siri's stomach clench. Qui-Gon shifts out of his seat in a split second, sitting down next to Anakin on the edge of his bed and drawing him into a gentle hug.
"I'm sorry Anakin, I'm so sorry."
Anakin turns his face into Jinn's stomach and starts sobbing.
Siri quietly sees herself out and goes to the next room over where a subdued and unconscious Vosa is being tended to. Dooku stands watch, keeping her under with the Force alongside the medical drugs. His face is a tight mask, a mixture of grief and grimace, sorrow and contempt, many a different mixture. But above all else, a sense of self-failure.
"I'm not going to apologize for taking a hand and an arm."
"I wasn't going to ask you to," answered Dooku, "It's likely for the best. Though it can be worked around and adapted to, a prosthetic hand isn't quite the same for a Force Sensitive in wielding a lightsaber, especially if a control can be installed to disable them if she proves... uncooperative."
Siri hums in agreement. "You do know its very likely she's not coming back in any way, shape, or form, correct? Anakin managing to rip her out of the Dark isn't going to work because she will never trust him inside her head as I trusted him," she smiled a little, "I also can't see Supernova offering to help either."
"It would be the Jedi way to offer to help even after harm," mused Dooku, "But Padawan Skywalker isn't quite there yet."
"He also holds grudges like nobodies business."
Dooku sighed softly. "Likely, for her crimes in the Bando Gora, in addition to this attempted murder, a guarded cell is her fate, and unlike you, it is doubtful she has much to offer that she would be even willing to give. I doubt Sidious would make the same mistake twice giving her anything useful."
"Nothing she's going to tell us anyway," said Siri in consideration, "She did mention there being other acolytes. I doubt she would give names willingly..."
"Pillaging the mind is not a line the Jedi will cross," said Dooku sharply, "We will not breech her shields."
"Your choice," said Siri before shifting focus, "So... how much trouble are we in?"
"I don't find it worthwhile to dwell on the what may be when the what will be shall be upon us shortly," answered Dooku.
Siri grinned at that.
The Council arrives as Skywalker is being fitted with a small portable ventilator until the repaired lung is ready to stand on its own, letting out a soft raspy wheeze with every breath...
"KHOOOOH PUUUHRR."
Except its not Skywalker there anymore, for a second, his form shifted, large, armored, black...
Then it fades away before it can solidify, and Siri blinks back her confusion. The hell had that been? She nudges the Force, but all she gets is a sense of -what may be- that makes Siri frown uneasily, pocketing the thought for later as the Council funnels into the room. Surprisingly, they don't gun for Siri and Dooku right away.
Master Koon speaks first, voice soft as can be through his mask. "Are you alright, Padawan Skywalker?"
Anakin's voice is tight and shaky. "As... as much as I can be, sir-Master."
The council looks him over, gently probing with eyes and the Force. For once, even Windu has a flicker of pity, not that it lasts long; the Council cuts right to the chase after.
"You're just as bad as the rest of your lineage," Windu informs Dooku with frustrated exasperation, "Its going to be you, Master Dooku, who has to go in front of the Senate and the Chancellor to explain why Tachi was out of the temple, with her lightsaber, in active combat. You will not have the support of the Council in this. We'd already received communications from the Chancellor's office that you will be requested the moment you return."
Dooku hums. "Not taking my lightsaber and mastery?"
"Do you want us to?" posed Fay, though it was not a harsh tone, more curious than anything.
"Not particularly," answered Dooku.
Then the council turns to stare at Siri.
"Your report, if you would," said Master Mundi crisply.
Siri could be an ass, but considering the tight rope she's walking at the moment, she gives it.
"You did not consider sparing her accomplices?" posed Master Piell.
Siri raised an eyebrow as an answer, an -was that a serious question?- pulsing off her through the Force.
Piell just shakes his head in disappointment, not that Siri cares.
Fay considers Siri for a long moment. "No desire to run?"
"Why would I?" asked Siri, "The only two people I care about are with the Jedi," not counting the Black Sun leadership, that needed to be kept quiet, Zannah was safe and sound where she was for the time being, "And I've never had a place I'd call home to return to."
"Once upon a time you may have considered the temple that," posed Koon.
"That would be attachment to a place," she said mockingly, evading the answer.
Koon just huffs, returning to watching Qui-Gon help Anakin.
Fay hasn't stopped staring at her yet, eyebrows slightly furred, as if Siri is a puzzle she's trying to piece together, or take apart. "You would protect Padawan Skywalker?"
"With everything short of my life," answered Siri.
"Well, honest at least she is," mused Yaddle.
"Hmm," considered Fay, "You are an enigma, Sith."
"Thanks."
"You are also confined to your room until further notice once we return."
Bitch.
Sidious settled into his pod as Master Dooku is escorted into the Senate Dome. In hindsight, acting upon his moment of absolute rage had been a... miscalculation. But it was to be expected, lesser, unworthy Sith would have gone fuming after the boy himself with what had transpired, he at least had the competency to use someone expendable. Vosa's use had run out a bit earlier than he had expected, he had been hoping to lure Dooku out with knowledge of her survival and have them kill eachother or engineer a situation that killed them both before his planned war began, just a trifle setback he supposed. Nothing significant, and, its now given Sidious a new avenue to abuse.
Sidious should be pissed at this, at Vosa's failure and capture, but ever the opportunist, he realizes he can use this. Because, if its the Jedi taking that first step in publicly using Tachi and not him... any blame is pinned on them, and it sets the precedent for him assigning her missions later on. Oh yes, no matter what the Jedi do, he can still take anything and turn it to his advantage. He'd already read the report forwarded to his office; her going out of the way to save Skywalker can be seen as 'progress' in her 'rehabilitation' from her 'Sith Indoctrination' as the phrase had been passed around the Senate after he trial. As much as it makes him want to retch, its something to make using her publicly later on much, much simpler.
"Master Dooku," begins Sidious, his voice ringing out and demanding silence, "Would you care to explain to this gathered body how the Sith Apprentice Siri Tachi came to be outside of the Jedi Temple in your company?"
Dooku straightens his spine, clasps his hands behind his back, regal tone ringing out as he does. Sidious tunes him out, watching his posture and carefully listening with the Force. That Dooku would commit such an act for his lineage... well, he wouldn't have done that a decade ago, distant as he had been from his padawan. The man had certainly changed, tainted by his padawan and grandpadawan. There was still some potentially for darkness, but, a lost cause in the original role Sidious had planned. Consider what he had done, in hindsight it was a very wise choice in moving on to C'Baoth.
"While your intention was noble," Sidious starts off with, "You very clearly broke court orders for Tachi's confinement to your temple. Even if a promising young life was saved, and a dangerous individual apprehended, the law has been broken."
Dooku's lips purse. "I understand."
So, he'll submit to any punishment then. Hmm... decisions decisions.
"Still," said Sidious, "I will speak for the Senate in that I am surprised any progress has been made so soon in Tachi's rehabilitation."
That gets a briefly confused look from Dooku, and equally confused murmurs around the room.
Sidious smiled a little. "Considering her indoctrination as a Sith, the fact that she was able to even make a friend that she cares enough for to take such a risk outside of Obi-Wan Kenobi, as simple and commonplace a thing it may seem to the rest of us, is noticeable progress, along with the more recent report of her at least temporarily turning from the 'Dark Side'."
He can flavor it as a willing choice, even if Skywalker had somehow done something that still made Sidious's skin crawl to even think about.
His words cause a stir, many had yet to bother reading up on it. So long as it didn't contain classified information, reports on Tachi were made available to the senate as unclassified but sensitive, to not be released to the public without authorization. Not that such leaks didn't happen regardless. Many are fetching for datapads to read on the latest reports. Something more interesting than the normal senate bore. Oh, that will be changing soon enough, once C'Baoth begins the call for separation.
He can see the desire on Dooku's face to speak against what Sidious said, but that will be shooting himself in the foot after taking Tachi out of the temple, now would't it? Tachi has an issue with attachment that should have been driven from her years ago, yes, but she is in no way 'rehabilitated' or even close to it, and those attachments... well...
All they needed was to be severed at the appropriate time.
Sidious gives the floor to the senators to poke and prod and decide a punishment or fine or whatever they deem necessary to Dooku while Sidious retreats inwardly to think on where to go from here. He needs C'Baoth to start the separatists soon if he's to come up with an excuse to extend his chancellorship once his second term is up. He could use this as 'the final straw' for C'baoth to take his leave of the Order, but no... no, the Dark Side urges patience, something far better will happen it taunts him. Sidious considers it for a long moment, there is a hint of mocking to it. Whatever it smells coming will be better for the upcoming separatists, but it will have other consequences, he feels it. Not necessarily outweighing his plans, but a price to pay none the less. He closes his eyes, subtly prying at the future, slithering his way through the Force before he strikes with a viper's swiftness, seizing and grabbing his prey, pulling it to him, and coming out with a single name that makes his eyebrows climb.
Zannah...
Review Responses:
Ethan McCoy: Not all stories have happy endings.
Duke Earl: Look no further, Zannah is coming up next!
Redshirt1453: Eh... less Kota's distrust and more her own distaste with the state of affairs in regards to the clones and the fact that they don't do anything about it despite having all the military guns, ships, and vehicles. Not considering the control chips and indoctrination, the Clone Army would theoretically be very much capable of taking their own freedom. Because lets face it, the Clone Army was a slave army.
AACM25: Hinted in the previous chapter, resolved in this one. :P
Nerdman3000: Siri's had some changes, but its not a complete 180, not even close. She's found some things she likes, and wants to try and see if she can greedily have both. Also, I don't mind long reviews, I luvs them. Details on what people like or dislike lets me know what works and doesn't work. Apparently last chapter worked quite well :D.
Silverhawk88: Yoda will learn something from what Anakin did and exercise it, don't you worry. Will he have changed enough to save the Jedi? Who knows...
1saaa: Mmm... if we want excuses, Anakin spends time with Dooku who is very articulate, maybe he learned it. Truly though, completely accidental.
ItsJustABook: The problem is, Siri genuinely likes being dark, aside from certain parts of it. Also, no, definitely a Tragedy. Like, half way through the Clone Wars is when things really start going downhill.