Chapter 5
The Sith
Cold.
Frigid winds of the Force swept across Yoda from the Iktotchi intruder. Yoda shut his eyes tight against the sensation. Breathing deeply, Yoda swallowed hard and drove the bile that threatened to erupt from his throat back into his stomach.
Yoda's lips tightened and his knuckles grew white around the hilt of his lightsaber as he opened himself to the Force. Energy poured into the Jedi Master and wrapped itself around him. The invisible power churned so fiercely that the dust at his feet began to swirl about him. Slowly, the darkness faded. Warmth spread through the Jedi Master's body and feeling returned to his finger tips.
Fiery green eyes unsealed beneath a furrowed brow.
"I've been waiting for this a long time, Yoda," the Iktotchi growled.
"Have me at a disadvantage, you do." Yoda's voice was steady and his eyes remained fixed on the creature. "Know you, I do not."
"Who I am doesn't matter, Jedi! All you need to worry about it is whether or not I'll kill your lady-friend, too."
A rustle of air accompanied Rizza's sudden movement, bringing her to Yoda's left side, her lightsaber ignited in the classic Soresu defensive stance. She set her jaw and gripped her lightsaber lightly—just as she had been taught.
Yoda's eyes widened. Rizza kept her gaze fixed on the creature that stood at the mouth of the cave.
"Find me an easy target, you will not!" Her voice was calm. Her breath was measured.
The Jedi Master regarded Rizza in the Force but could see nothing through the darkness surrounding him. Yoda frowned.
"Unwise it would be, if choose to face both of us, you do," Rizza continued, with a surprisingly confident air.
Yoda glanced sidelong at Rizza, troubled. Maintaining his concentration in the Force, Yoda nodded slightly and turned to face the Iktotchi. The creature's gaze narrowed but lost none of its intensity. His mouth drew into a tightlipped smile that spread to show his sharpened teeth.
"Brave girl, aren't you?" He raised his hand and gestured. Rocks tore free from the walls and hurtled toward the two migru Jedi.
Rizza and Yoda dissolved into a haze of green, leaping and bouncing off the boulders that flew at them. Their green blades sliced through the rocks they couldn't dodge. The Iktotchi's grin widened as the two entered the short narrow tunnel that separated the grotto from the entrance.
The sound of rock being torn asunder halted. Yoda and Rizza landed smoothly, Yoda in front with his blade angled towards the Iktotchi.
"How typical! Do you Jedi think your dancing can save you from my power!" The Iktotchi's face contorted into a look of disgust. The sound of Rizza's ragged breathing filled the air.
The creature raised his hand.
Yoda stood ready.
Rizza calmed her breathing.
The roof above them collapsed.
A muted warning in the Force, and Yoda leapt away.
Rizza was not so lucky.
"Rizza!" Yoda turned frantically, his heart pounding against his chest. He barely registered the creature's maniacal laughter. Wide eyes desperately searched the mountain of rubble.
"Rizza!"
Nothing.
Sweat formed along Yoda's palms, making them slick as he tried to pull away small rocks from the heap.
"Rizza!"
A lump formed in his throat and held his breath at bay.
"Rizza!"
His hands shook uncontrollably as he dug his nails into the dirt and rock.
"Rizza!"
"Can...not…talk…now…" The muffled sounds came from the center of the rubble.
Yoda sighed.
Resting his palms on the rocks, he bowed his head and breathed deeply, searching the rubble in the Force. He ripped through the dark wall that blocked his vision. An eon of moments later, he found Rizza kneeling in the center of the collapse, eyes closed in concentration. She held the rubble aloft around her, making a small pocket within which she was temporarily safe.
Yoda released a breath he had not realized he had been holding.
With a gesture, Yoda hoisted several large boulders from the makeshift prison that ensconced his padawan.
"Now Yoda…you don't really think I'm going to stand here and wait while you pry her free now, do you?"
Yoda sighed and the rocks hurtled into the cave, away from Rizza. He turned quietly and retrieved his deactivated lightsaber from the ground. Staring into the creature's eyes, he hooked the weapon back onto his belt.
"No. Suppose, I do, that you would not." Yoda's voice was hoarse and tight. A deep breath, and he pushed his concern for Rizza aside. With another breath, the fear returned. Yoda frowned. He knit his eyebrows in concentration and stepped forward toward the creature. "Unlike other dark side users, you are. Cold you are, where they are hot. Measured, your attack is, where act, they do, only on emotion."
"That's because you've never faced anything like me before, Yoda. I am your worst nightmare."
Yoda stalked forward at a measured pace.
"You are Sith."
The Iktotchi's eyes widened. "How could you know that?"
Yoda continued, closing the distance between them with each determined step. "Obvious, it is. Suspected I did, when first contacted me, your Master did. Use the dark side you do, but differently than all others. Clear, it is, that destroyed, the Sith were not."
The smug demeanor that the Iktotchi had maintained broke as Yoda neared the mouth of the cave. The Jedi Master was only two meters away and the Iktotchi seemed to recoil at the green flames in Yoda's eyes.
"Stay back, toad!" Fear peppered the Iktotchi's face.
Green plasma burned the air.
Yoda did not break stride.
"Rectify that situation, I will."
Red fire ignited in the creature's hand.
"I'm sure you'll try."
When a combatant faces a Master Swordsman, graceful and rapid flow of the blade is to be expected. It is natural to expect that the attacker will be smooth and unhurried. He should not expect to find openings early in the confrontation. It is imperative, however, that he not become too enamored with the display should he hope to survive the encounter.
The ballet's only purpose is to dazzle and amaze—its function, to startle and intimidate. This fact is the founding principle of Ataro. Its movements are a blur of leaps and slashes. Often, the fighter on the receiving end of Ataro is so befuddled by the speed of the attacks that he is rendered immobile, unsure of where his opponent is or from where the next assault will come from.
This was the Iktotchi's predicament.
The creature moved his blade in response to every attack that Yoda sent his way. He swung his weapon in futile desperation. He thrust wildly and found nothing but air where Yoda had been. His eyes grew wider every second as the Jedi Master overwhelmed his defenses in a haze of green.
The contest was over before it began.
"Aggghhhh!"
Blood spurted from the Iktotchi's severed horns.
The red blade fell to the ground and vanished into its hilt.
Yoda landed softly beside the kneeling creature.
"Disappointing, you Sith are. Easily defeated."
Yoda called the fallen saber to his open palm and frowned down at it.
"Chosen an interesting color, you have. No natural crystal, this color produces. Hmm…answer many questions for me, you will."
Yoda turned and headed back to the cave.
"I'll never answer any question of yours!"
Without breaking stride, Yoda grabbed the creature with the Force and threw him against a nearby bending tree. Three vines erupted from the kriva bushes beside the tree and wrapped themselves around the Iktotchi, whose horns continued to ooze blood.
"See, we shall. Persuasive, I can be."
"Rizza!"
"I am fine."
Yoda's face darkened as she stumbled out of the grotto entrance. The clash with the Iktotchi Sith had drawn him nearly a hundred meters from the mouth of the cave. Three of Migruna III's five moons began their ascent as the last vestiges of the prime sun's light slid below the mountains behind the Jedi Master. Squinting in the twilight, Yoda ran to her. The air in his lungs stuck beneath the lump in his throat. His face grew tighter with each step. As he closed the distance between them, her injuries blossomed into view.
His pulse pounded. "Rizza! Hurt, you are!"
"I am fine." She leaned unsteadily against the cave rock face.
Reaching her, Yoda paused at the sight of the rubble that had encased Rizza—the rocks and boulders were dismantled. Yoda scrutinized the damage. Gasping silently, he noticed the rocks embedded in the walls of the corridor as if hurtled at high speed.
Truly powerful in the Force, she is, the Jedi Master smiled to himself.
His gaze darted from the spot and he desperately surveyed her face. The corners of his mouth drew into a tight line. A red bruise adorned her forehead and her right cheek was swollen. Her dislocated right arm hung limply at her side. Yoda's eyes stung with rage at the sight of the trickle of blood flowing from her nose. Beneath the darkening sky, Yoda's lips grew taut as he reached for her. She closed her eyes at his touch. His hand cupped her chin and he ran his thumb gently over the bruises and swelling, stopping at the coagulating blood.
Gently, he wiped the blood from above her mouth, silent as he regarded her red life-force on his green skin—the Sith's red blade against his green. His hand tightened into a fist. His nails dug deeply into his palm, drawing blood. Muscles tightened throughout his body. A whisper in the distance told him to call on the Force to bring him calm. Instead, Yoda allowed the tension he felt in his body to extend along the part of his mind that kept the Iktotchi tied to the bending tree.
Rizza smiled lovingly up at him as the lines grew taut. Neither of them turned in response to the violent parting of one of the lines across the Iktotchi's chest. Neither heard the creature's screams of agony. Master and apprentice gazed at each other as more vines erupted from the nearby bushes and lashed themselves around the prisoner. Shattered ropes whipped viciously against the Iktotchi's captive body. Screams of agony filled the woods as the vines ensconced him completely, leaving only his head free.
Their lips met, and the Iktotchi bellowed as lines tightened. Their kiss deepened and the sound of straining vines was drowned out by the Iktotchi's screams.
"Your name, tell me."
Silence.
"Now!"
Yellow, bloodshot eyes glared at Yoda from beneath a furrowed brow. Congealed blood caked the creature's severed horns and stained the vines that held him. Staring intently at Yoda, the Iktotchi struggled against the vines.
Yoda sighed.
The Iktotchi bellowed with rage.
"Suggest, I do," Rizza whispered to Yoda, "A more direct approach you take."
Yoda glanced at Rizza and raised his right eyebrow.
At length, Yoda walked toward the Iktotchi, waving his hand smoothly. The nearby kriva berry bushes rustled. Yoda smiled up at his prisoner. The Iktotchi's eyes widened. Reaching into a pouch on his belt, Yoda retrieved a small flask. He opened it casually and leapt up onto the Iktotchi's shoulder.
"Drink this," Yoda demanded as he gripped the top of the creature's head and tipped the flask to his mouth. Growling ferociously, the prisoner struggled harder against his bonds and turned his head repeatedly to keep his mouth away from the flask. The corners of Yoda's mouth turned downward with each attempt. He dug his nails deeper into the Iktotchi's tender skull. Rage burning in his eyes, the Iktotchi rammed Yoda with his mutilated horns, sending Yoda sprawling back to the ground.
Yoda grunted angrily as he tried to right himself.
Rizza giggled.
Yoda glared.
"Try again, you should," she smiled.
Yoda stared at her, frustration stinging his eyes. Rizza stifled her giggles and smiled pleadingly at Yoda. He raised an eyebrow and stood. With a sidelong glance and a half-twisted smile, he leapt back onto the Iktotchi's shoulder. As he landed, more vines obeyed his call and tied themselves around the captive's head, binding it to the trunk. Yoda placed the mouth of the flask to the Iktotchi's lips again. Unable to move, the creature tightened his lips together.
Yoda's face contorted with frustration. "A suggestion, this is not!"
Lights exploded behind the Iktotchi's eyes as Yoda delivered a sharp punch to the base of his skull. The creature cried out in pain and sputtered. Immediately, the flask was at his lips and its contents poured down his throat. Yoda's formidable strength, aided by the Force, closed the creature's mouth tight. He struggled to keep the liquid in his mouth. Another violent punch, more powerful than the one before, forced the drink down his throat. Yoda leapt off the prisoner's shoulder and floated to the ground.
The creature glared defiantly.
"It'll make no difference, Jedi!" he spat.
After a few moments, the Iktotchi's eyes grew glassy and the yellow faded. Yoda watched impassively. Rizza limped to Yoda's side as they watched the prisoner struggle against his bonds, snarling and growling with rage and frustration. When the Iktotchi finally relaxed and looked up at the sky, Yoda smiled.
"Easier to talk to now, I think. Your name, tell me."
"Santee Winn." He answered in a sing-song voice, as if her were a child playing a game.
"You are Sith?"
"No." A smile, followed by a laugh. "No. Had you though, didn't I? No. No. No. Not a Sith. I was going to be, if I had killed you. But…you move too fast." His brows knit together as he stared down at Yoda in apparent admiration. Then the creature laughed. "Toooo fast!"
"How much kriva juice, give him, did you?" Rizza looked concerned.
Yoda's eyebrow arched high on his head.
"How many?"
Winn's face suddenly looked more confused than ever. "How many?"
"Sith!" Yoda snarled. "How many alive today, are there?"
"Oh!" Winn rolled his eyes and laughed. "Two, two, two. Always two. Two, two, two. Always two." He continued his sing-song melody. Abruptly he locked his gaze on Yoda. "Hey! How did you know that I wasn't the Master?"
"Know, I did not. But clear it was, given your lack of skill."
Yoda turned to Rizza. "Only two? Make sense, this does not. Destroy the Jedi, the Sith intend. Two against a thousand, bad strategy that is." He redirected his attention at the captive Winn. "Who is your Master."
"Hmmm…don't really have one, now do I?"
Yoda frowned. "Ordered you to kill me, who did?"
"Oh! Well…that's an entirely different question. I don't know. Never saw his face. Old, though. Like you. Wore a hood. I don't think he trusted me. Didn't tell me much." The creature sighed and his face grew wistful.
"His name."
"I don't know! Darth something. That's how all the Sith are named. Darth—"
The Iktotchi's eyes widened and darted desperately to Yoda. Yoda looked at him quizzically. The creature's mouth opened and closed repeatedly, but no sound came out. Blood vessels on his forehead bulged and sweat poured down his reddening face. Finally, a gurgling sound escaped his lips.
"No!" Yoda screamed, enraged, and the vines ripped themselves apart.
The Iktotchi slumped.
Yoda rushed to his side, frantically pulling the creature up by the shoulders.
Eyes, devoid of life stared back at Yoda.
"NO! NO! NO!"
Rizza's voice was barely above a whisper. "Yoda…"
"NO!" Yoda howled, his head turned to the sky.
Rizza stood quietly, like the three moons above.
When it's time for you to know my name, I'll tell you myself…
Yoda ignored the cold that swept over him. He pounced to his feet and roared.
Migru children in Prime Village, nearly two kilometers away, huddled under their covers, wondering how an Astaak had managed to cross the oceans and enter their woods.
"I've never seen anything like this, Master Yoda."
Her voice reverberated against the durasteel chamber walls as she probed the Iktotchi's prone form. Eyes focused intently on the creature, she quietly placed the oblong instrument she held onto the medical tray by her side. Leaning over the body, she palpated along the flesh of the Winn's neck with her long, thin fingers. She hissed softly between tightened teeth.
"What is it?" Yoda asked, wearily. The Jedi Master leaned against the wall, legs crossed, head down, and massaged the bridge of his nose. Silence. Yoda glared at the lithe young woman who continued to probe the neck muscles of the dead Iktotchi. "Master Arlo! The problem state, or discuss it we can not!"
She snapped her head up and looked directly at Yoda. Surveying him with curious eyes, she straightened and removed her gloves.
"I've only been a Jedi Healer for ten years, Master Yoda," she sighed. She picked up the oblong probe with an air of distraction and examined the glowing data that scrolled by. "Perhaps you should have requested someone more experienced that I."
"Closest available Healer, you were." Yoda bent his head again and rubbed his temples with both hands. "Irrelevant it is. Your findings, report."
"Of course." Placing the probe back on the tray, she walked around the gurney and leaned against the side in front of Yoda. "Obviously his trachea was crushed, which was the proximate cause of death."
"Told you as much, I did." The Jedi Master did not look up. He withdrew his hands from his temples and interlaced his fingers in front of him, bringing his hands to rest on his thighs.
"Yes, you did. What you didn't mention was that the bones in his neck were also crushed."
Yoda nodded. "Suspected as much, I did. A theory, you have?"
"Well, that's the puzzle isn't it? There are no bruise marks on his neck to indicate that anyone strangled him through physical contact. In fact, the muscles in his neck are completely unaffected. It's almost as if someone reached inside him and grabbed just his neck and trachea and squeezed. You said that no one touched him?"
"Touched him, no one did." Yoda's voice cracked.
"You believe this was done by a Force-sensitive?"
"Convinced of that…I am."
"That seems unlikely."
Yoda lifted his head slowly and regarded her with a raised eyebrow. Worry lines formed on Alro's face as she looked into his eyes. Yoda frowned. His eyes stung every time he opened them. He remembered the image he had seen in the river earlier as he had washed his face. His eyes. Myriad branches of blood vessels spread around his now-pallid irises.
Yoda struggled to keep the irritation out of his voice. "Unlikely? Why say that, do you?"
She sighed. Reaching across the body with casual grace, Master Arlo retrieved her probe as she spoke. "It would take a measure of control over the Force that I've never seen or even heard of. We healers have been working on that degree of Force control for centuries and have never come close to attaining it."
"Destroy, this attacker did, not create."
"I'm not sure I see your point, Master Yoda."
"See it, you should. Far easier, it is, to destroy than to create. Of the dark side, this attack was. The attacker, close by he is."
"What makes you say that?"
"Powerful, this attacker is, but see his target, he must. Attacked from the shadows, we were. Sense him now, I do not. But sense, I do, that remain here to admire his work, he will."
Arlo walked up to Yoda and moved the device in her hands up and down his frame. She frowned as messages played across the screen. "When was the last time you slept, Master Yoda?" Her face grew stern. "The question is not rhetorical."
Yoda looked up at her and grimaced, eyes burning with anguish. Convinced he looked as tired and haggard as he felt, he closed his eyes and breathed deeply, calling on the Force. Energy poured into his diminutive frame and he felt the currents smooth his features. Opening his eyes again, he glared up at the Jedi Healer. His voice was unbending. "Fine, I am. Of no concern to you, my rest schedule is."
"I beg to differ, Master Yoda." Her stare was uncompromising. "I'm a Jedi Master Healer, and I can order you to bed if I think it's necessary. I can't have you running around with no sleep." She let the words linger for a moment, then narrowed her eyes. "I'll ask again. How long has it been since you slept?"
Yoda held her gaze for a moment, and then sighed. "Slept, I did, before the Iktotchi died."
Arlo's mouth dropped open. "Yoda! That's almost four nights ago!"
"Rest, I will, when available, the time comes."
"No. I think you will rest now."
"Rizza. How is she?"
"Changing the subject won't change my order, Master Yoda." She looked at him with exasperation. Yoda returned the stare, unblinking. She threw her hands in the air and turned away, sighing. "She's fine. Most of her injuries had healed rather nicely by the time I examined her. You did a fine job putting her shoulder back into place. The time she spent in my bacta tank did her wonders. Right now, all that's left is a slight bruise on her right cheek that should be gone in a day or so."
Yoda nodded. "Good. Good. Meditate, I will. Rejuvenating that is. Meet your intent, that will?"
She turned at looked down at him again, her face stoic. "I suppose. But meditation won't replace sleep, Yoda. You need to get rest. Your anxieties will only be exacerbated by exhaustion."
"Understood."
Yoda pushed himself away from the wall and walked to the medical ship's bay door. Her voice stopped him as he stepped onto the ramp.
"Yoda, please. Get some rest."
"Rest I will, when sleep without dreams, I can."
Fire…
The sky ripped asunder…
Migruna III burst into flames…
Yoda tightened his fists and breathed deeply. The currents of the Force swarmed about him. Sweat poured from his head as he drove the image from his mind. The inferno and the cries of agony that accompanied it faded.
He released the air in his lungs. He pulled the Force into him with a new breath of air and directed its energies to rejuvenate his body. The soothing power erased the chill along his spine. The beads of sweat ebbed and his hands relaxed.
Good. Very good, Yoda. You are learning…
A frigid deluge in the Force swept through him. The Jedi Master bowed his head slightly and barreled through the sensation. He erupted from the icy depths, unfazed. A satisfied smile played across his lips. Yoda opened his eyes and stood with aplomb.
"A new trick, find you must, if hope to intimidate me you do."
Silence.
"Your apprentice, untrained he was. Sent him to die, you did." Yoda's voice was calm and steady. He placed both his hands behind his back and waited.
Winn would never have been a Sith. He was…unworthy. But his death was…regrettable.
"What do you want?"
So impatient! Aren't you Jedi supposed to live for patience?
"Of Migruna III's fate, what do you know?"
Only that all things die, Master Jedi. Only that all things die…
Yoda tightened his fist. Concentrating, he kept his face impassive. "Your role in her death, explain."
A more appropriate question, Master Jedi would be "What is your role in her death?"
"Yoda?"
Yoda whirled around, facing the doorway. Rizza stood in the arch, her face full of concern. Tentatively, she stepped into the room. The creaking boards echoed in the silence. Yoda dropped his head and sighed.
"Interrupt my meditation, you did."
"Talking, you were." She cast her eyes about the barren room. "But alone, you are."
"Need me, you did?"
"My father, speak to you, he would."
Yoda strode to the door, eyes directly ahead as he walked past her. "Keep him waiting, we should not."
As Yoda climbed the ladder to Gandol's home, he heard an animated conversation between Gandol and an off-worlder. Yoda paused at the top rung, tilting his head to listen in.
"To triple, the order, difficult it would be."
"I understand that, Gandol. And I'm prepared to commit whatever resources you need to help you get it done. But the fact of the matter is that I'm running up on a deadline now. To make matters worse, I may not be in a position to get any more in the foreseeable future. This planet being the only source of cadrinium that I've been able to find, I need to make sure I have a sufficient supply."
"Very little left, there is. Mine it we will. Be ready for your shipment, we will."
"Excellent. On another note, do you know if he's on his way?"
"My daughter, I sent. Arrive soon, he will."
Yoda stepped onto the platform and walked into the room. His eyes went wide. Standing in front of Gandol was a tall, elegant man covered with a dark cloak of armorweave. His smooth brown hands clasped neatly behind his back, the politician turned smoothly and regarded Yoda with a smile.
"Master Yoda! Wonderful to see you again. Small galaxy."
