Chapter 71: A Dark Return
*beep beep beep*
Obi-Wan Kenobi frowns at his comlink. He was just about to settle down for tea and relaxation with his padawan after returning from their last mission. With Anakin and Feemor on a mission to protect Senator Amidala, Yoda on council business, and Dooku trying to hammer sense into Qui-Gon yet again, he'd hoped for some peace and quiet. Apparently not, especially since its Siri calling. He sighs quietly to himself, mouths 'Siri' to Jinzler's raised eyebrow. She rolls her eyes and sighs.
"Just pick it up, Master."
He does so. "What is it, Siri?"
"I've just entered the system with a yacht full of slaves that need their implants removed and a fresh start at life, I could use a place to land."
"You... Siri, where did you get a yacht full of slaves?" he asked, incredulous.
"I might have taken on a slaving organization."
Well... at least she did something productive. "Ah, so you escaped with them?"
He hears a dark laugh from Rain over the comlink, Siri merely answers, "Escape is one way to phrase it."
He narrows his eyes. "Siri, what did you do?"
"Could you make sure Anakin is there? I did kind of do this for him."
Obi-Wan closes his eyes and begs the Force for patience. "Anakin is currently on-mission protecting the senator of Naboo."
"Ah good, aren't the Naboo a bunch of goodie goodies who'd take in a bunch of slaves? Give em a ring."
"Siri...," he grits out in a rising tone.
"Bye."
The comlink beeps off. "I have a bad feeling about this."
"I mean... she fought slavers and freed slaves, isn't that... good?" asked Jinzler.
Obi-Wan purses his lips. "The bad feeling remains all the same."
He dials Anakin. "Hey Obi-Wan, whats up? You usually don't call us during a mission."
"Siri made a mess," said Obi-Wan mildly, "She apparently has a yacht full of slaves she freed and wants you there."
There is a shocked silence for a long minute, so loud he can feel it in the Force from across Coruscant. That boy is ridiculous sometimes. "Is the senator of Naboo there? I don't wish to presume, but the former slaves will need help starting over."
He waits, but rather than Anakin speaking, Feemor does. "Sorry, had to pry the comlink out of numb fingers, apparently she surprised him."
Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "You don't sound surprised."
"Oh I know where she went and who she took on," mused Feemor, "The Galaxy will be a better place without Krayn in it."
He hears Anakin choke out. "S-she went after Krayn?!"
"Oh for Shiraya's sake," comes Senator Amidala's voice, "Give me the comlink."
"Good evening Senator Amidala," said Obi-Wan pleasantly, "Its been awhile."
"It has," she agreed in a mild tone, "I need details, now."
"I have little, apparently Siri Tachi took on a slaving organization and returned with a yacht full of slaves," he answered.
Senator Amidala sighs. "I need half an hour to make a few calls and set something up."
Roughly an hour later, things were a bit out of proportions if one asked Obi-Wan. He watches alongside his padawan, Feemor, Anakin, Senator Amidala and some of her handmaidens, half the Jedi Council, the Chancellor and his guard, a large chunk of medical and security staff, and a news crew as a pleasure yacht sets down on one of the larger Coruscant landing platforms. There are a number of medical frigates set up to handle the slaves for the time being until they are ferried out to their new lives. He purses his lips as the yacht touches down... and feels a chill settle down upon his bones, electing a shiver from him. He isn't even on the ship and his skin is crawling.
"Oh Siri, what did you do?" he mutters.
"Master Jedi?" posed the Chancellor, "Is something wrong?"
"Judging from what I sense," Windu answered for him, "The security staff wont be needed, there are no slavers alive on that ship to take captive."
"Ah, so she took the slaves and fled then?" asked the Chancellor, echoing Obi-Wan's earlier words.
Windu shook his head. "No, she did not. I feel... death. She took that vessel in a way that stains it in the Force."
He turns away from the Chancellor's perplexed expression and addresses the rest of the Council. "No one who isn't a master gets on that ship, and Vos is not stepping foot on it to get a reading, we're not risking him falling. Agreed?"
The Council nods, Fay's lips are pursed tightly, Yoda's ears drooped down.
"I would think the Jedi would be happy," posed the Chancellor cautiously, "That a former Sith took on slavers."
"Its not what, but how," answered Windu, "And from what I feel, 'former' is certainly not accurate."
The loading bay of the yacht opens, cutting off further conversation. Siri saunters out, a self-satisfied smile on her face, a horde of former-slaves hesitatingly at her heels.
She ignores all of them and walks up to Anakin. "So?"
He looks at the slaves streaming out, being directed by medical staff and security. He looks back to the ship. "Krayn is dead?"
"In a manner of speaking," she said, a sadistic smile on her face before she fished out a gold amulet from her clothes that made Obi-Wan's skin crawl, "Here."
Anakin stared at it. "...what is it?"
"A Sith Healing Talisman," she answered.
"I didn't think the Dark Side could heal," he said slowly.
"Not without a price being paid," she answered, "By the way, I named the Talisman."
Anakin frowned. "...okay?"
"Its called Krayn," she said, that sadistic smile stretching wide.
She named a piece of jewelry after the slaver? He stretches out with the Force and touches it...
Obi-Wan rears back, staggers away, turns and bends over to retch all over the ground.
"Master Jedi!" exclaims the Chancellor, "Are you alright?"
Obi-Wan is shaking, he feels his Padawan's confusion and alarm and feels her stretching out her senses for the...
He straightens, grabs her arm, and hoarsely grits out. "Do. Not. Touch that with the Force."
Jinzler's probe shrinks back, and she swallows. "Okay."
He hears a sharp intake from Anakin, who, when Obi-Wan turns, finds is actually holding the damn thing. Rather than be repulsed and horrified, he hefts it in his hand, tossing it up and down in consideration. "Krayn huh."
"Certainly putting him to more use now than he's ever had in his entire misbegotten life," said Siri coldly, voice filled with hate.
Obi-Wan watches Anakin and Siri's eyes connect. Some understanding passing between them, and... and Anakin pockets the abomination. Obi-Wan is rendered speechless by this, the council isn't far behind. Feemor just seems resigned to it. "How is it used?"
"Few ways," she said, "A Force Sensitive can direct the pull from the Talisman and use it to heal a fatal wound with ease. A None-Force Sensitive, to my surprise, can use it by pressing the Talisman to a wound with their intent behind it."
"How'd you figure that out?"
"A few slaves asked what I was doing by making these, I explained it, then one of them just straight up grabbed one and pressed it against another's maimed leg from an old wound, worked like a charm," she admits, bemused, "I ended up giving out a few to the ones who had more long term major injuries."
Obi-Wan swallowed. "And they were fine using these?"
Siri cocks her head, half-turning. "Obi-Wan. What justice means to the Jedi, and what justice means to a slave, are two very different things. Over twenty thousand years of slavery or so called 'indentured servitude' in Hutt space, millennia of utter suffering. You feel what I did and are horrified, they see what I did and they are satisfied."
Obi-Wan considers her words, and stretches out his senses. He samples what nearby former-slaves who overheard the words feel, and samples what Anakin feels...
Vindication.
They feel exactly the same, and suddenly, a lot about Anakin and his issues with adapting to the Order and its rules makes a lot more sense.
"I take it you don't want one?" she taunts, "After all..."
Her smile is downright nasty. "I made quite a few."
Obi-Wan is fairly certain he's not doing well keeping the horror off his face. "No thank you."
"Is there a problem here?" posed the Chancellor, stepping past his guards, standing a few paces behind Anakin, "When I was informed that this dreaded and notorious slaver had been taken down, I would have thought such things would have been cause for a celebration. Certainly newsworthy at least. Yet..."
"Oh, the Jedi just have weak constitutions, Chancellor," she said in a mockingly sweet tone, "I was not particularly merciful in how I dealt with the slaver filth, and they can feel that.."
"Yes, well, considering the issue of slavery is detestable and usually outside of our jurisdiction, they've escaped justice for too long," said the Chancellor mildly before eying Siri, "Speaking of jurisdiction, are we to expect an envoy from the Hutts in response to this?"
Siri smiled sweetly. "I'm not an official representative of the Republic, so it wouldn't matter for you anyway. But, no, considering that I discovered Krayn as he was robbing the Hutts blind and making off with this yacht after stealing a loan from them, they'd probably reward me. It was such a good opportunity that I just couldn't pass it up."
Lie. Truth.
A partial truth, but 'lie lie lie lie lie' echoes from her in the Force far more than truth, along with dark laughter that sends a shiver down Obi-Wan's spine.
"I see," said the Chancellor, "They are a backstabbing lot, aren't they?"
"Oh you have no idea," she agreed, "Now if you excuse me, I have a something I need to retrieve before I'm off. Things to do and all that."
She turns and walks back towards the ship before the Chancellor can say anything further.
"She's rather difficult to pin down for a conversation," muses the Chancellor, "I had hoped to speak to her after she had left the temple months ago, but she disappeared quite quickly. Though I can't disagree with the results. I don't suppose you could ask her for a moment of her time for me, Anakin?"
Anakin shrugs. "Sure."
When Siri returns and steps off the ramp, its like all the warmth has been sucked out of the area. She levitates a large crate, a medallion string hanging from the lid improperly sealed the only hint of what is in it physically. The Force itself writhes and screams around the crate, so many cries echoing from it that tear at his senses and assault his mind. He hears a gasp from Fay, and glances back to see her on the verge of collapse. She whirls and walks briskly away, apparently not able to stand being near such a collection of abominations. Windu stares at the crate with a cold stony look, Yoda... shakes his head and walks away as well. Obi-Wan is tempted to do the same. To him, to a Jedi, it matters not who they were and what their crimes were, no one deserves what he feels. Their life essence trapped inside a bauble to be consumed to heal another. The Dark Side is truly, absolutely, abhorrent...
Siri did this, she did this abominable act.
Obi-Wan stares at her.
"Believe me Obi-Wan, between me and Sidious, I'm the lesser evil."
He remembers her saying that to him once.
She pauses her walk and turns her head to meet his stare. She smirks. She has the audacity to smirk, and mocks, "Sure you don't want one?"
The lesser evil.
Right.
He turns and walks away.
At long last.
It was time to ignite the fire that would burn the Galaxy.
From it, his glorious Empire would arise.
Everything was in place.
Finally.
His apprentice disappearing off the face of the galaxy for a few months had annoyed Sidious, had risked setting him back yet again or to go forward with her a missing variable, but her return to the scene had been just on time, and glorious. The masses would eat it up so readily, slavers who escaped justice receiving their due punishment, along with 'rescuing slaves', all done by a Sith. His apprentice was rather clever, snipping in the bud Skywalker's anger with her, flaunting her power in the face of the Jedi, gaining approval with the public, practicing her sorcery, and sating her long-parched appetite for the Dark, all in one effort, and that ship... oh... the ship she arrived in was so stained with the Dark Side, Sidious had to reign his craving to explore every nook and cranny of the defiled ship until later. For the time being, Tachi needed to drop off her trove of Sith Talismans somewhere secure, but she had an appointment scheduled shortly thanks to Skywalker's prodding. He will admit to no one but himself, he's been waiting for this moment, and many like it, for the last decade, and yet... despite his anticipation he is actually apprehensive.
At the start of his apprentice's rebellion, he hadn't taken her seriously, at all. He still truly didn't, but unlike then, he recognized now that there was a threat with her that is more than an infuriating inconvenience. No one who could wield Sith Sorcery should be taken lightly, and especially not one who appears to take so readily to it. She may have stagnated for the last decade, but now that she is free of the Jedi, and with the upcoming war, she is going to grow. She will grow quickly.
He is quite looking forward to the day they meet in combat again, Korriban had merely ignited his appetite.
"Chancellor," pinged his secretary, "Your meeting is here."
He rechecks his shielding, and makes sure his presence is properly suppressed with extra caution before he presses a button and speaks into the intercom. "Ah good, do show her in."
His apprentice saunters in, a mocking smile on her face, a flourish of her arm and a bow so weak it was either an intentional insult or she didn't care enough to put in anymore effort. Hard to tell which. "Good day Chancellor, you called?"
Such an insolent thing she was. He raises a single eyebrow and motions to the seat across from him. "Please, have a seat."
She does and flops down.
"Anakin has told me, somewhat, of your ideals," mused Sidious, "About wanting to change the Sith to be something... 'better' I believe was the phrase?"
"He tell everyone about what I say?" posed Tachi mildly.
"I am the Chancellor," he rebutted, "And as such, I have a vested interest in the security of the Republic. You, Siri Tachi, are either a potential breach, or a potential boon. This is what I wish to discuss with you."
"Alright, shoot," she said, leaning back in her chair, a mocking smile on her face.
Always so insolent and disrespectful. Sidious finds it odd sometimes of how... fond... he is of it, and her.
He begins his gambit, the only gambit he foresees having potential issues. To be honest, killing off the Jedi Order and making his Sith Empire will be easier then wrangling his apprentice back to her proper place. "I have had briefings on the Sith ever since your public revelation as one. I have noted, one way or another, that the Galaxy has been caught between wars between the Jedi and the Sith Order at the cost of potentially trillions, if not more, lives. So much damage, so much waste, for a mere different in religious outlook on the Force."
He leans forward. "I wish for this to end."
Tachi cocks her head, a faint glimmer of interest in her eyes. "Its a bit deeper than religious outlook, but I agree otherwise."
Deeper indeed, but a supposed non-Force-Sensitive wouldn't understand that, and Sidious had a role to play. "As such, I wished to... test... your commitment to your desire for a better Sith. I can admit I was annoyed when you disappeared, the Jedi warned me likely to ill ends, but I can't say your return here disappointed me, far from it."
"From their point of view, what I did was ill ends," she pointed out.
He says nothing initially, noting the slight pursing of her lips. She's irritated about something. He wont risk her discovering him, so he does not probe with the Force. But... yes... its not hard to figure out her irritation. "Ah yes, Knight Kenobi did not accept your generous offer for one of those... Talismans?"
There is a slight twitch, an annoyance that proved he struck true. "No, he didn't, and it was foolish of him."
"I am curious though, why are the Jedi so... abhorrent of them?" he asked, testing to see how much she'd reveal to his public persona...
She shrugged. "I killed the slavers and consumed their life-force to make them. It uses that life-force to heal with."
That... was not quite true, and not quite a lie either. He was very much aware that the slavers very souls were trapped inside the Talismans, waiting to be consumed. She was blunt and forward enough to a surprising degree, but held back the worst of it. Perhaps she was testing his public persona as much as he was testing her. "I see."
She watches him, face passive, waiting for his reaction.
He leans back in his chair and considers her. "Like I said on the platform, those who partake in slavery have long since evaded justice as a whole. While I believe in the rule of law, I also acknowledge that it has weaknesses and faults, and that sometimes concessions must be made for the greater good."
Her eyes go distant for a moment, a frown on her face. "Be careful Chancellor, on how you use the phrase 'Greater Good'."
He blinks, a little curious where this is coming from. "Why?"
"One person's Greater Good is another person's personal nightmare," she mutters, "Some would use the phrase to justify their own atrocities."
That was precisely the point in using the phrase! Where in the galaxy did she pick up this from? "I'll keep that in mind, but forgive me, I'm rather curious where a Sith picked up such a viewpoint."
She smiled tightly. "A Jedi I encountered during my apprenticeship before I arrived in the temple."
Not Dooku, because he's heard the man use that phrase himself. Not her failed sacrifice, he had watched the recording of it several times. Not Kenobi or Jinn. So who...
Siolo Ur Manka.
Coldness sinks into his gut. A fury he has to contain that the Jedi who almost pushed her into returning from the Dark Side left a taint on his apprentice and her outlook. "I won't press on the circumstances."
"Wise."
He raises a single eyebrow at the comment, the idle threat of her tone, but lets that part rest. "But, do you truly agree with it? One could say how you handled the slavers would be for the greater good."
"I never said it was my viewpoint," she corrected, "I'm aware of it, and I accept the consequences of it."
Interesting.
He considers her, how important it is to try and peel apart what drives his apprentice beyond mere hatred of him. In her words she reveals that she is willing to do what must be done, but... what else? That she... is aware of the price to be paid when she does so? What of it? Who cares? The Sith will use what they will no matter the price so long as it is not disadvantageous to their overall goal...
No.
No, no generalizations. No letting potentially important observations slip by. She has been with the Jedi for a decade now. Analyze it.
If she says she is aware of the consequences of it, that may in turn imply she may wish to not incur said consequences... unless it is those she firmly believes deserve to be on the receiving end of 'The Greater Good', such as the slavers. He does not taste the Force to confirm, not with her right here, but he none the less feels that he is correct in his observation. Good... good... this is potentially important to note. He will have to wean her back into a disregard for civilian casualties most likely it seems.
Blasted Jedi and their influence.
After having considered it for a minute, he slowly nods. "Awareness is rarely a bad thing, especially in the times we are heading towards."
She gives a tight smile. "Funny that you mention awareness, as I have little interest in getting involved with the upcoming war."
One would think she would revel in such bloodshed. "May I ask why?"
"Once you step onto his gameboard, its hard to see the bigger picture," she explained, "Playing Sidious's game only serves him."
Not untrue. Its one of the reason he intends to throw the Jedi headfirst into the war as generals. Put them on the battlefield, force them to be responsible for the lives of battalions of men, force them to deal with logistics, ect... it will keep them from looking into things best left in shadows. But his apprentice studied under him long enough to understand a little of how he functions beyond what one would expect of a Sith. Which is more of an understanding than most Jedi will ever have. It makes her uniquely dangerous in potentiality. There are a few key pieces of information she can never be allowed to find out without actual dire consequences.
He had considered multiple avenues with the inhibitor chips; from only listing the executive orders as a mater of protocol, to mentioning the chips were only to prevent aggression, to not mentioning anything at all, to leaving it as mere paperwork buried somewhere, to giving orders that clones were not to ever mention them. Ultimately, with his apprentice as an active opponent, he played his hand more carefully in order to deal with her correct paranoia in regards to him.
Publicly in the paperwork, in a manual update for the clones themselves, and to all newly born and trained troopers: Order 66 was no longer an order to kill the Jedi, but to capture them and return them to the Jedi Council for trial. It is especially effective in the case of C'Baoth's fallen collection of Jedi, it gives it validity. In truth, it was never changed, and he has doubts that the subject of the Executive Orders will come up often, let alone that one of them was changed prior to the war. His designed ending of the Jedi Order, betrayed by the men they were to lead, hadn't changed. Still... he's not going to flaunt it, he won't desperately hide all traces of it, but keeping it carefully in the open, unassuming...
Well, the best case scenario is to not give her a choice but to get involved in the war, to keep her focus inside the conflict. "I'll have to keep that in mind myself. Now to get back to my initial point, while dealing with the slavers was an excellent start, there is still far more to go to make a 'Better Sith', to prove yourself to the Galaxy. To that end, I wish for you to join Anakin and Master Feemor in guarding Senator Amidala."
"I am a decade behind in preparing myself to face Sidious, and you want me to waste my time guarding a senator?" she asked, incredulous.
"Ah, but did you not say you believe Sidious was influencing things in the senate, in the public?" he posed, "Does that not mean you need to counter that, or raise your own image in turn? Was that not one of the reason's you destroyed the slavers?"
Judging by the look on her face, no, it wasn't. Had she truly not even thought of the public ramifications for destroying Krayn's Organization? Merely done it to get back into Skywalker's good graces? Force, sometimes as much as she pleased him, she could be such a disappointment. Then again, he hadn't quite reached the point in teaching her the fine arts of politics and manipulating the masses. He supposes he will do his duty in teaching her now, without her truly knowing. It amuses him to think she believes she will ever escape him and his influence.
She scowls. "Just because I want the Sith to be better doesn't mean I ever wish to turn them into the kriffing Jedi Order."
"Then what do you mean by it?" he asks honestly.
"I'm still working on it," admits his apprentice, "But the Sith have a tendency to lean towards atrocities..."
She pauses then adds, "...towards those who don't deserve it."
Ha, so what she did to the slavers was acceptable by her standards then? Making it up as she goes, how... amusing.
"Its one of the things that truly irritate me about my predecessors," she said, crossing her arms, leaning back... and planting her feet up on his desk, truly she tries his patience, "They will do things for purely the sake of it, to empower the Dark Side without purpose."
"How so? What must we be on the watch for if this truly goes to war?" he posed, wondering where she was going with this, as empowering the Dark Side WAS the purpose of so many actions.
"Don't be surprised if planetary bombardment happens," she said in a tight, grim smile, "All that death, destruction, horror, despair, outrage... everything will spill out into the Force, empowering the Dark Side and smothering the Jedi."
Oh, he wonders... can he use this? To create another fissure? Or at least more tension between the Jedi and Senate? Is she truly giving him a way to use this wonderful gift? "I am unsettled by the notion of bombardment, but, I'm sorry, what do you mean by 'smothering the Jedi'?"
She gives a coy, vindictive smile, and he knows, oh he knows, that she is about to readily spill the beans. Kenobi and Skywalker may have her favor, but the rest of the Jedi do not. "Sidious is clouding the Force, making it incredibly difficult for the Jedi to receive the Force's guidance or receive accurate foresight. Its only going to get worse for them when the war starts."
He makes a show of sitting back in his chair, a shocked look on his face, rendered speechless for half a minute before he swallows, licks his lips, and asks, "How long?"
"Roughly two decades at minimum," she said, "From where it started to become more obvious. If it was going on longer, it wasn't in a very noticeable manner."
"...and you swear this is true?" he posed.
"Corner Skywalker if you don't believe me, he'll back me up," she said, a sly look on her face, "I trust you will do so, after all, Chancellor, how many decisions have you and your predecessor made relying on compromised Jedi insight?"
"Too many," he said in a thin tone, and honestly, the arrogance of the Jedi; they already admitted to the damage done to them through the Senate by the Sith that Tachi revealed, why not this too while they were at it? They had the chance then to come clean, but now? It will seem like they were hiding it, and lying to those who had trusted in them. Oh they made it so easy, and his apprentice was apparently happy to aid in taking them down a peg whether it aided him or not, "I will ask Anakin for his honest word, then I will bring it up in the next senate session."
Oh the Jedi were in for major public backlash, even before the war was to begin. He's tempted to order C'Baoth to have his Dark Jedi cause an catastrophe, but no, no. He holds his desire back because far better it be if the actual Jedi Order is technically responsible for the start of the war. Its why, after all, he had Gunray look into posting a bounty on Amidala. The Jedi will find Jango Fett, he will leave a trail of evidence to lead them to Kamino, then lure them to Geonosis and it will begin. As a matter of principle, he shouldn't want his apprentice involved with this part in the slightest, and yet...
The Dark nudges him otherwise. It does not hint why, except to express a flicker of delight, a sense of potent rage on someone's part not his own. Something Tachi will do during this will amuse the Dark Side. That does not however mean it will benefit him. Still... he's pleased by his apprentice's latest foray into the Dark Side, he can hardly wait to investigate the slaver ship, so he will allow her to play.
"So," he said, "Will you agree to aid in safeguarding Senator Amidala?"
"What makes you certain they will want or agree to my presence?" she posed, "Small involvement or not, I was there for the Trade Federation Occupation of Naboo, she won't be receptive to that."
"She will if I ask, if I phrase your involvement a certain way," he said with his own sly smile, "So tell me, how does the phrase 'Agent of the Chancellor' suite you?"
She raises a slow, single eyebrow. "You are a bold man, Chancellor. Don't think I don't see you're trying to set a precedent of using me."
"You haven't said no."
"Public image isn't that important to me as of the moment," she said, eyes locked on his, not a greedy, but calculated one in her gaze, "I'll naturally gain it on my time overall so long as I don't stick my finger into the wrong pie. So what else do you have to offer?"
Yes, he thinks he will let his apprentice play, let her stretch her wings, if only to see what she does and delight in what he made of her. "What do you wish?"
She smiles.
Feemor is so incredibly tired of being pulled infront of the Council because of Anakin Skywalker. No matter whether the padawan actually did something to deserve the scrutiny or not. It also puts him at odds by making him sympathetic to Jinn having had to do this for most of the boy's padawan years. The young man himself makes a joke out of it, taking a tally every time.
"The fact that he took the Sith's twisted creation is cause for alarm, Master Feemor," said Windu, fingers pressed together as he sat in his chair in the Council Room, "If it were not for the fact he is on-mission guarding the Senator and hasn't defiled the Temple with it, he would be here himself explaining his actions. There is also the fact of what we felt from him. He was not horrified by it, he was satisfied."
For Force sake, they should know who they are talking about. "The boy was a former slave, surely you realize this?"
"A Jedi must let go," said Windu, "And not be affected by their past and personal vendettas. It is something he had always struggled with."
He is so tired of this. "Jedi come in many forms, Master Windu, Anakin will never be a stereotypical Jedi. Maverick in name, but not like others who take a more guideline view of the code. His own personal feelings do not make him evil so long as he does not act on them in harmful ways."
"And you don't believe taking the Sith's amulet counts?" posed Master Piell.
"He didn't create it, and I don't doubt he would use it to save a life."
"At the horrific cost of consuming someone's lifeforce?!" Master Rancisis.
"He wouldn't see it that way," admits Feemor, rubbing his eyes.
"Pardon?"
"There is nothing the Galaxy that would ever make Anakin not feel that slavers as a whole should be put to death, right to a trial be damned," said Feemor.
Windu frowns. "You do realize what kind of condemnation that is for your padawan, do you not?"
Feemor sighs in frustration and glares at him, earning a look of reproach back. "Honestly Masters? I am sick of getting caught in the middle of this the last few years. Either you want Anakin Skywalker to be a Jedi, or you do not. The boy has a good heart, he can be kind and thoughtful of others, giving when he so chooses to be. I like the young man to be frank, but that does not blind me to the darker parts of his nature. I am not unaware, nor do I refuse to see and acknowledge, that he has a much higher risk of falling than the average Jedi."
"You believe he should be released from the Jedi Order?" posed Fay.
"That is not what I said, as he has not yet done anything to truly deserve expulsion, taking the amulet is highly questionable, certainly, but expulsion for it? No. Regardless that isn't my choice anyway. If the Council desires him gone, then you should be prepared for the consequences of it," said Feemor, "So long as he is a Jedi, he is bound by our laws and rules. He might believe every slaver should be put to death without trial, but he wont actually go and do so. His lineage helps ground him, and more importantly, while he is here being a Jedi, he is not out there, alone and isolated and ripe for the picking by Darth Sidious."
He grimaces. "I don't believe, in hindsight, there was ever a realistic outcome but make him a Jedi once he was publicly known about. If the Council had turned him away at age nine, Darth Sidious would have picked him up and raised him Sith."
"So the crux of the matter is there is no choice but to go ahead and hope for the best?" posed Piell.
"No," said Master Fay, "As I said before. The boy is the Chosen One, and as the Chosen One, he will choose."
"And we have to help guide him to make the right choice," said Windu, sighing, "The righteous thing to do would be to take the Sith abomination Tachi gave him and destroy it, releasing what is trapped inside. However, the correct thing to do in this situation in regards to Skywalker is to let him keep it. Because if there came a time when he could have saved someone important to him with it, and he couldn't because of us... it could be a divide that the Sith Lord uses to an catastrophic outcome."
"So we are to compromise our beliefs, our way of life, for one boy, Chosen One or not?" posed Rancisis.
"From the moment we accepted him, compromise ourselves we did, too old he was," posed Master Yaddle, "But better than the alternative, it was. Correct Master Feemor is. Taken him the Sith would have, if cast out Young Skywalker, we had."
"There are other groups, other, smaller sects that he could perhaps have fit into better and protected him...," posed Master Piell.
"None of which could have a realistic chance in driving off Darth Sidious if he came for the boy," rebutted Windu, "None of which I believe the Sith Lord would have allowed to keep him."
Fay turns her head. "...allowed?"
"I have, unfortunately, spent too much time in the presence of the Sith Apprentice," said Windu flatly, "And have attained an understanding I'd rather not have. From the twisted perspective of the Sith, would their victory not be all the worse for us if he killed the Jedi Order with our own Chosen One? We train him, freeing that effort from the Sith, all they have to do is convert and turn him on us."
Yoda grunted. "Mmm, right you are. But, unrealistic I do believe Young Skywalker joining the Sith..., no, joining Darth Sidious, is. If only, because loath the Dark Lord and what he stands for, Skywalker does."
"That didn't stop him from converting Padawan Tachi," rumble out Master Koon.
"Mmmm, but a thirteen year old fallen padawan, Skywalker is not," said Master Yoda, tapping his stick on the floor, "The most powerful Force Sensitive ever born, he is. Unlikely it is that force him to fall by torture, by overpowering him, Sidious can. Chance for that, grows slimmer year by year."
"There are many other ways for a Jedi to fall, especially one such as Skywalker," said Windu.
"True that is, a careful eye we must keep," said Yoda before grimacing, a look if regret and distaste on his face, "Hoped better for Young Tachi, I had, lost much faith, I have with her last act. But... if inevitable Skywalker's fall seems, if impossible to turn him away from that path it becomes, directed to Tachi he must be."
"You can't be serious!" protested Rancisis.
"I see where he is going with this, and I will announce that I do not like it," said Piell, grumbling after, "Even if it is better than the alternative."
"Alternative?" asked Rancisis.
"Would we rather he fall and join Sidious, or fall and join Tachi," stated Windu, closing his eyes and leaning his head back, sighing heavily, "Both are bad outcomes, but one is vastly worse than the other."
For once in his life, Feemor actually hears something he didn't expect from Fay in regards to Tachi, one of the Sith's harshest critic on the Council. "Unlike Sidious, she would not try to keep him in the Dark Side if he did not wish to stay, if he sought to pull himself out. She wishes her apprentice to willingly join her in the dark, if Skywalker does not fall willingly, if he cannot handle staying afloat and falls, she may in fact pressure him to leave the Dark Side."
Yoda seems curious about her statement. "Believe this, you do?"
"I have had ample opportunity to observe this Sith," said Fay, ancient eyes flickering across the room, "In this, she is honest. She does not want anyone in the Dark who does not wish to be there. However... that means if she does find and take an apprentice, they will be devoted to her and to the Dark Side."
"Its a bit early for that, isn't it?" posed Piell.
"She is opportunistic, if she finds a potential, even if she is not ready she will take it," said Fay firmly, her lips pursed, "She will take an apprentice before this conflict with the Separatists is over..."
Her eyes go distant. "I feel it."
Tachi forfeited the yacht, had no interest in it, which was foolish of her. An asset was an asset, no matter where it came from. Especially this asset, which was so stained with the Dark Side it sent shivers of exultation down his spine. So, Sidious had made a claim about repurposing it, as a former slave vessel that would be used to transport refugees, make a public stint out of it. Tragically, a slaver would take offense to that and blow it up on its maiden voyage, having it assume destroyed. Leaving it solely for him.
He walks down the corridors of the slaver ship in the dead of night, shivering in delight as he trails his hands down hallway walls. The Dark Side whispers of his apprentice's triumphs, her malice and glee, the suffering and torment she afflicted on those here. Terror is embedded so thickly into the air its like breathing in pleasure with every breath he takes. He walks into a room, cleaned of all physical traces of what happened there, but he can sense it. He can feel it. He kneels down in the center of the room, touches the floor, and nearly passes out from the sheer ecstasy of what she did here.
A ritual, Sith Sorcery, and a sacrifice for a truly dark purpose. Multiple times in this very spot. Such an unassuming, barren room, yet it is so very stained. There is a thrum, a 'thump-thump' that echoes in the Dark so divine... and... a hunger. He kneels there for a time, poking and prodding the Force. There are multiple places in the ship like this, he senses, but this is the greatest. Even more, this is where he feels she stored the Sith Talismans for the journey here. It leaves an echo that has embedded so deeply that...
In all honestly...
This room, the ship...
It almost feels as if...
Oh.
Oh.
"Apprentice," he breaths, "There was a reason Sith Sorcery was not done so lightly, so casually. Certainly back in the empires of old, it saw continual, if not daily use across the Sith. Perhaps some did a few rituals a day on occasion. But not like this. Not the same ritual, again and again with so little time between in the same place. Not this specific type of ritual, of sorcery. Have you ever wondered, why the Force screams when using Sorcery? It distorts and bends reality to make your will manifest..."
He chuckles darkly. "How many pieces of jewelry could you fit in that crate, I wonder? A hundred perhaps? Two hundred? More? Did it ever occur to you, apprentice, what repetitiously using such a ritual would do? What such a collective left to embed would potentially create? You thought you were merely making trinkets to protect those you obsess over, and you certainly made enough to ensure their survival assuming they don't outright die. But the consequences of it... reality forced to bend and perhaps even rip; Ritual murder, staining the area and the Force; Life pulled from one form, flowing out of them into another... over and over again."
Molten eyes glean out from under his hood. "But like a true Sith, what do you care of rules or consequences? But... no, you have begun the creation of something you couldn't possibly fathom. Do not worry, do not be afraid. I will complete your masterpiece. There are so many rituals, so many spells I wish to try when I have the chance. I will add my own strokes to this canvas, will augment and bring to fulfillment this delight. We will create the most beautiful of nightmares together..."
He throws back his head and he laughs.
Its been a very long time since Siri had last dreamed of Master Gallia.
Especially when she is not dreaming herself as a young Padawan either. She stands exactly as she is in her robes, her current age, especially so cognitive in the dreamscape. Something is... off. She feels the Force at work here. Its not unknown for the Force to send visions via dreams, but... she's not prone to sleeping visions. She's barely prone to visions at all. So what is this?
She takes a cautious step into her Master-Padawan apartment, and finds her old master standing by the window, looking outside of it at something, a shake to her arms.
"Master Gallia," she greets cautiously.
That presence... feels both like it is and isn't her old master. It was brought here and created by the Force itself perhaps?
"Siri, what have you done?" comes her Master's voice.
Siri blinks, cocking her head. "You'll have to be a lot more specific."
Master Gallia turns, and she looks terrified.
"What have you done?"
Siri wakes up with a sharp gasp in the apartment the Chancellor had given out to her.
She does not get any further sleep that night.
AN: It will be sometime until we get to discover just what comes of this, mid or late Clone Wars timeframe, but when we do... ;dark evil laughter;
Review Responses:
Belial666: Zannah did not, less about taste, more about there being consequences to consuming someone's lifeforce herself (not quite the same as an amulet being used). If she did so to return to life and puppet their body, one, her power will relatively depend on the body in question, if its not Force Sensitive then she will be heavily diminished. For two, if she feasts once, will she be able to stop herself from continuing to want to?
Scarease: I'm trying not to use actual OCs if I can help it in my stories. Taking an actual character and heavily changing them is one thing, but making a new one is another. If I ever do an OC story, being an OC will be the point of it (If I could manage that well).
Everyone else, thanks, glad you enjoyed Siri-Zannah co-slaughtering-terrifying Krayn's slaver organization.