Disclaimer: George Lucas owns Star Wars
A Shift in the Force: Chapter Thirty: Breaking of Bonds
AN: So how about that kiss? It took 29 chapters, but we finally made it there. And oh boy is this chapter going to be a doozy! The aftermath of the kiss and some new discoveries.
Sabé ran, she ran from Obi-Wan, she ran after the assassin, never stopping to consider just the gravity of what she'd done; she didn't have the time to comprehend it in the stead of what she needed to do.
The high heels had been lost within seconds, the height making her more unsteady than being flat on her feet. Her lightsaber was held tight in her grip, inactive as she ran (she wasn't as foolish as Obi-Wan in that respect).
She was light on her feet, which was a good thing, because even though the assassin was the same, he wasn't nearly so fleet-footed as Sabé was.
Sabé rounded the corner with a yell of "Move!" to the cluster of party guests still looking for a quick getaway practically threw themselves out of her way, which, Sabé thought, was a wise course of action.
She was gaining on him and would overtake him sooner rather than later, but Sabé didn't give him that much of an opportunity to get away. She reached a hand out, extending the Force as she did so before bringing the hand back sharply.
The assassin gave a sharp noise of shock as he was lifted off the ground and yanked forcibly back, tumbling across the ground as Sabé skidded to a stop, her dress fluttering around her as she ignited her lightsaber, pointing it down so that its violet tip was only a few inches from his throat.
"Don't move," she warned.
It took the palace guards a bit longer to catch up with them, and they were much more out of breath than Sabé had been.
"I'm sure you boys can handle this," she said, deactivating her lightsaber and both guards gave inclinations of their head before snapping binders on over the assassin's wrists before he could make another escape attempt.
"Miss?" one of the guards held the heels that Sabé had discarded on her run. "I believe these are yours."
He cast a pointed look towards her bare feet.
Sabé took the heels. "Thank you," she said, balancing on one foot in order to slip one back on before alternating to the other foot to do the same.
"You are a Jedi, aren't you?" the guard asked dubiously as his partner dragged the assassin viciously upright.
"Knight Sabé Amidala," Sabé said, giving a slight bow, "at your service. Now I think I should go and find my companion and our padawans and check on the king and queen, so if you'll excuse me…"
And she ducked away to make her way back, and it was only then that she was really hit with what she'd done.
Stars, it was going to be impossible to avoid.
"Thank you, for our lives," Senator Organa said, clasping Sabé's hand in his as they saw the Jedi off, before doing the same to Obi-Wan and smiling kindly to their young padawans.
"It's what we do," Sabé said kindly, "it wasn't too much trouble. I spend most of my days undercover anyways."
Queen Breha smiled before stating in evident triumph, "But you are related to Queen Amidala."
"Her eldest sister," Sabé acquiesced. "We speak frequently."
Breha's eyes danced, as though it was some kind of victory to know that she'd been right the first time. "I have something for you," she said and Sabé blinked as a small box was slid into her hand.
She couldn't help but laugh when she opened it to see a gleaming grey bead shaped like a star.
"Knight Kenobi mentioned you usually have a few beads in your hair when you're not on missions," Breha said slyly and Sabé's eyes flicked towards the ginger-haired man as he pinched the bridge of his nose at something Anakin said while Talik hid her giggles behind her hands.
"Well, he's not wrong," Sabé said, her eyes softening slightly before she drew them back to fix on Breha's dark eyes.
"Thank you for the gift," she added, returning the bead to the container and tucking it into one of the pockets on her robes. "It's beautiful."
Breha smiled, clasping Sabé's shoulders, leaning forward to kiss the air next to either of her cheeks, as was the Alderaan custom. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Sabé Amidala. If you ever find yourself near Alderaan, don't hesitate to drop by. My husband and I owe you and your friends a debt."
"That's not necessary," Sabé tried to protest, but Breha held up a hand.
"It's best not to argue with me," Breha said swiftly, a smile curling her lips, "I married a politician, after all."
Exasperation swelled across Sabé's face, but she conceded the point, giving the royals one last goodbye before following Talik up the ramp of the transport, knowing full well that Obi-Wan and Anakin were trailing after her, with Obi-Wan's quiet insistence nearly impossible to ignore.
He wanted answers about what had occurred between them, and Sabé had none, at least, none that she wished to share.
It was a spur of the moment thing, Sabé tried to convince herself, no matter how much her heart fluttered at the very thought of it. And she remembered well how the Force had sang when their lips had finally met.
But the Force was known for sending her confusing signals; Sabé didn't put much stock in it.
She exhaled loudly as they sat down, slumping against the nearest empty seat, her eyes fluttering shut as she did so.
"Master?" Talik turned to look towards her in curiosity and concern. "Are you all right?"
"I'll be fine when we return to Coruscant," Sabé muttered, not even opening her eyes to see Talik's brow furrow in befuddlement.
"We need to talk."
"No, we really don't."
Sabé's arms clutched several datapads and she was on her way to a class on Jar'Kai, as members of the Council of First Knowledge were also in charge of overseeing the Jedi Academy, and she definitely did not have time for this.
Predictably, her heel caught on the floor and with her arms wound around far too many things, Sabé crumpled to the floor, exactly like she had done so many years before when she'd first met Obi-Wan, stumbling and shy and red-faced…it was strange to think how she'd changed so much since that day.
"Yes," Obi-Wan insisted, "we do."
His hazel eyes were persistent and unrelenting and it was a quality that Sabé was coming to despise, if she was being perfectly honest. The beard was driving her mad; there was no way someone should look that good with one.
"I have a class to teach on Jar'Kai, Knight Kenobi," she said stiffly instead, gathering her datapads up once more, avoiding his eyes. "Excuse me." And then she brushed past him.
Obi-Wan opened his mouth to say something, but the words were strangled in his throat; he didn't even know what he could say.
He couldn't say that he hadn't enjoyed the kiss, because it would be a lie. He had liked it very much, even in only the brief moments that it had lasted.
The Force had hummed around them before she'd forced them to part, leaving Obi-Wan with her small blaster and tingling lips.
It hadn't been his intention to have feelings remotely similar to what he'd once had with Siri Tachi with anyone else, but Sabé had a way of creeping up on you.
And Sabé was not Siri Tachi.
"Obi-Wan?"
Obi-Wan ran a hand through his hair before turning to look on Kit Fisto who was regarding him with an expression that could only be described as befuddled.
"Are you all right?" the generally rather cheerful Nautolan asked, considering him with those large black eyes of his.
"I'm fine," Obi-Wan said with a sigh. "It's just—"
"Sabé's making your life difficult?" Kit presumed.
"Something like that," Obi-Wan said under his breath, watching as his friend disappeared around the bend before shifting his eyes towards Kit, noting the knowing smile on his lips. "Did she tell you?"
Kit's smile twisted into a smirk. "She didn't need to; Aayla and I could guess what had happened. She's pretty transparent around us."
"Wonderful," Obi-Wan grumbled.
"She's mostly irritated with herself, I think," Kit added and Obi-Wan's brow furrowed. "She locks down those kinds of feelings really deep down. She's testing her theory, you know."
"The one where a Jedi can love others and still perform their duties?" Obi-Wan guessed. He'd lost count how many times he'd heard about Sabé's theory, whether from the Jedi herself or from Anakin, who always talked about it enthusiastically.
"Yes, that one," Kit agreed, "personally, I think she's doing rather well."
He gave Obi-Wan a rather significant look before making his way on, leaving Obi-Wan to his thoughts.
"Master, you don't look too good," Talik said as she watched her master flick her stylus through Siri's coded message, trying to crack it, but she'd been trying to do that for weeks to little avail.
"You don't need to worry about me, Talik," Sabé said without looking up from her datapad.
"Stress isn't good for the body," Talik said, sounding very much like Vokara Che that Sabé almost regretted allowing her padawan to spend most of her time learning from the Jedi Healer.
"I'm fine, Talik," Sabé pressed, finally looking up from her datapad and Talik frowned, crossing her arms. So Sabé set it down. "Come here." She patted the space on the couch beside her and Talik plopped herself down without much preamble.
"What I'm working on is very important," Sabé said firmly, keeping her eyes locked on Talik's. "Sometimes we have to make the decision to prioritize one thing over another. My health is nothing compared to the information that Siri could have left me with."
Talik opened her mouth to disagree, but Sabé silenced her with a raised hand. "I eat and I sleep, Talik, that is enough."
Talik didn't think so, but sometimes it was hard to argue with her master.
"Padmé probably wouldn't agree."
Sabé smiled, reaching a hand up to cup Talik's cheek fondly. "I'm fine, Talik," she repeated. "I'll sleep a full night when I finally crack this code, all right?"
Her padawan grumbled, but she conceded the point.
"One of us should get some sleep, so run along," Sabé said, nodding towards the sliding door that led to Talik's room and Talik pulled herself upright, making her way off in the direction of the door before turning back to her master.
"Master?"
"Hm?" Sabé hummed, pulling the datapad back into her lap.
"Do you love Master Obi-Wan?"
Talik couldn't help the question that slipped out; the tension between the two since they'd returned from Alderaan, but neither spoke of it.
"Good night, Talik," Sabé said without looking up, but Talik had seen how her grip had tightened on the datapad.
So Talik shut the door behind her, leaving Sabé to her thoughts.
Sabé cupped her face in her hands, groaning in frustration. She didn't have time to think about her and Obi-Wan –she was perfectly fine pretending it never happened– not when she had this curiosity to make sense of.
What kind of code could Siri have used? Sabé was befuddled. It wasn't one that she knew, or anyone else involved with Jedi Shadow missions, though there were only three of them in total, including Sabé herself.
There had to be some kind of key somewhere…
Sabé's eyes scanned over the code before she caught a particular sequence of numbers, the kind that the information in the Jedi Archives was stored with in order to store them on the right shelves.
1259.63.2808
Her eyes narrowed and she shoved her datapad into the pocket on her robes before making her way out of the apartment in a hurry, hailing the first air taxi she could find to take her to the Jedi Temple.
She barely remembered stepping off the transport and walking past the Jedi Sentinels guarding through the night, murmuring to herself when she entered the deserted Jedi Archives.
"1259, 1259," she muttered, making her way through the shelves until she found the right one. "Ah! 1259!" Then she trailed her fingers across the shelf until she hit the small section of ".63" before grasping the right data chip from the shelf to plug into her own datapad.
"Corellia, of course," Sabé muttered as the information filtered in. Now it made sense! Corellia was Siri's home planet. Sabé remembered Siri showing her that very same data chip when they were still Initiates researching planets of their choosing for class.
Then she moved the stylus across the page, sifting for a particular key.
A loading screen appeared and Sabé sighed; this was going to take some time.
Sabé was half-asleep and it was almost daybreak by the time the loading finally completed, but the sharp beep it gave roused her.
She scrubbed at her eyes, blinking blearily as she shifted her eyes to the datapad resting on the table she'd slumped against after the first hour.
Analysis complete, it read and suddenly Sabé wasn't nearly as tired as she'd thought she was, picking up her stylus and watching as the coded message was translated before her very eyes.
Brown eyes widened.
The information revealed was on the planet Korriban, the Sith homeworld.
But why had Siri been killed for it?
She scanned through the data, through what appeared to be correspondence between two unknown persons regarding hidden objects on Korriban. One of the correspondents was looking for either a Sith holocron, or the Gauntlet of Kressh the Younger…the language used made it impossible to tell which it was, or if it was both.
Korriban, though…that was dangerous.
Sabé cupped her chin thoughtfully. Whoever wanted those Sith artifacts, she doubted it was to mount them on their wall. Either a Sith holocron or a the Gauntlet would be dangerous in the hands of anyone, even the Jedi.
But Sabé had to think of the Sith that Obi-Wan had slain on Naboo…it was a rule that there were always two Sith at any time, a master and an apprentice. The other Jedi believed the Sith were still extinct, but Sabé had long since had her doubts, and if a Sith was involved…
"Sabé, you're here rather early."
Sabé almost jumped at the voice, before giving the Jedi a tired smile. "Mira, hi, yes, I thought I'd get an early start."
Mira Orfang was so similar in appearance to Korinth'Kel Dorma that it was almost painful for Sabé to look on the tall Near-Human, skin so pale it was nearly translucent and long dark hair pulled back in two long leather strips.
"I hope you slept well," Sabé added.
"Not in the slightest," Mira said, her dark eyes sweeping over Sabé, and Sabé couldn't help but find it unnerving, recalling that Mira too had a skill in being a Jedi Seer, just as Korinth'Kel had.
Mira's hand was ice-cold on Sabé's arm where she grasped it and Sabé couldn't help but shiver. "What you're about to do," she said in an eerie voice that was so much older than she was, "will require a tremendous sacrifice."
Mira's grip was vice-like and Sabé swallowed, the thoughts already forming in her mind. "But if it keeps something dangerous out of the hands of the Sith…isn't it worth it?"
Mira had no answers and Sabé had plans to make.
Talik was asleep when someone came into her room, and then she was shaken a bit into wakefulness.
"Wazzgoingon?" she slurred, blinking in the darkness. "Master?"
"Tali." Talik could barely see her, but she could feel the bed dip as she sat down beside her. "I've leaving for a deep cover mission."
"In the middle of the night?" Talik asked blankly at the general location of her master.
"It's a very important mission," Sabé said, but there was something off about her voice, something Talik wouldn't notice until later. "It might be a while before I see you again."
Talik pouted.
"Aayla's going to be—"
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Talik grumbled, "she's going to be my substitute while you're gone."
Sabé smiled at the bitterness in Talik's voice, despite knowing that Talik liked Aayla very much. But Talik liked Sabé more. Sabé was the one who chose her, and whom she chose in return, to be her student, not Aayla.
Aayla couldn't really compare to Sabé.
"Don't fall behind on your Jar'Kai while I'm gone," Sabé warned, "or I'll have you train with Keelyvine when I get back."
Talik shivered. "No thank you."
She could just barely see Sabé's smile. "Don't run Aayla into the ground, all right, Tali? Promise?"
"I promise," Talik said, already half-asleep and drifting off.
Sabé pressed a kiss to her brow as she faded away entirely before she stood to ease herself out of the room.
"This mission of yours sounds dangerous," Aayla murmured, regarding her friend as she stuffed a few things in a bag to take with her to the Temple to change into something that was less her.
"They usually are," Sabé said, running her fingers through her long braids. She'd long since removed the beads from the strands and they were safe in a box in her room. "Don't worry about me, Aayla, I know what I'm doing."
"Korriban is a dangerous place," Aayla disagreed, "especially for Jedi."
"Well, then, it's a good thing that I'm not going to be playing the part of a Jedi," Sabé said decisively, but even the thought of what she was about to do made her uneasy. "Keep an eye on my wayward padawan."
"I'll try," Aayla said and Sabé clasped her shoulder with a smile, leaving Aayla to do the same.
"Look after yourself," Aayla added.
"I always do."
Sabé didn't like to think of herself as vain, but if there was one thing about herself that appealed to her vanity, it was her hair, and she felt a bit bad about cutting it, but undercover missions often involved such things.
So she cut the hair to her shoulders and took some ointment to her hair, smoothing it against her head.
Sabé barely recognized herself in the black skintight jumpsuit and the short hair, but that was the point, after all.
She took in a deep breath. "My name is Carina," she said with no inflection, roughening her voice to how Anakin sounded when he spoke the native dialects of his home planet. "I am a bounty hunter who has trained as a Sith traveling to Korriban to find Sith artifacts as a final request of my old master."
And then she lifted two fingers to press to her temple and focused hard, compressing something inside her head rather painfully before releasing it suddenly, causing her to crumble to the ground.
When Carina awoke, it was to darkness. She was disoriented and had no idea where she was. The last thing she remembered was her master giving her a mission to Korriban, and she knew what Korriban looked like, and it definitely wasn't this.
She froze, recognizing the sleek walls and rows of clothes for Jedi Shadows to use undercover. Carina's lip curled in disgust.
"The Jedi Temple," she growled in aggravation.
She'd left the temple when she was barely sixteen, soon after she'd received her prosthesis. The Jedi had been too late to save her, the seed of darkness had grown within her like an infection until it had consumed her.
The Jedi were too foolish to see that they were causing their own destruction, but Carina was not nearly so naïve. The Dark Side of the Force gave her strength beyond all imagination, considerably more than the Light Side had ever.
Carina tried to remember how she'd gotten there, because it was clear no one knew she was there; she wasn't even guarded or restrained with binders.
…she'd snuck in for…
Carina pulled an artificial red gem from her pocket. She'd snuck in for Sith Lord Githany's light-whip.
Jedi had no right to a Sith weapon.
Carina found a dark hooded shawl to hide her face, drawing the material up, leaving only her eyes visible as she made her way out of the room, searching for one room in particular, descending the stairs silently, keeping out of sight of the dim lighting in the night.
The Jedi's security wasn't nearly as good as they'd evidently claimed to be, and it took Carina very little effort to find the room that held Sith artifacts.
Personally, Carina would've liked to strip it bare, but she didn't have that kind of time.
She tapped a code out onto the data-screen and a shelf moved out of the wall, allowing Carina to lift the light-whip from where it had sat for so long, blowing off the dust that had accumulated over the time before focusing in order to dismantle it in the air.
Carina flicked the burnt-out gem aside in order to replace it with the one in her hand and return the pieces to their proper place.
The ignition button was pressed and the red tendrils fluttered to life.
"Now," Carina purred, "I get to work."
It was such a thrill to know you could inflict so much pain, so much fear, to have that kind of power in your hands was like nothing else Carina had ever experienced, and it was almost boring when she'd finally given in and snapped the neck of the Rodian whose transport she'd commandeered, but he'd fulfilled his use.
There was a small mirror that gleamed on the viewport as Carina continued to Korriban at light-speed. The yellow eyes were reassuring. When she'd first woken up at the temple, they'd been brown like the day she'd been born; Carina couldn't remember hating a color quite so much, but yellow was proof of her prowess in the Dark Side of the Force, proof of those she had killed with her power.
She smirked to herself as she came out of hyper-space just above the planet.
"Korriban," she murmured to herself, glee overtaking her as she directed the transport downwards towards the planet, passing over canyons and dried riverbeds before she finally landed on the terrain.
Carina waited for the ramp to slide off before taking the Rodian's carcass and tossing it out onto the dirt, rolling her eyes before shutting the transport behind her and beginning her hike.
The very air of the desolate planet filled her with an energy she couldn't quite describe and she couldn't help but wonder why she hadn't come to the planet sooner.
But Carina's studies had been cut short by her abrupt departure from the Jedi Temple; she hadn't even been aware of Korriban until her master had told her.
And it was stunning in a way that few could acknowledge. Carina lost track of time walking around and taking in her surroundings with something akin to awe.
Dirt and stones crunched under her feet as she stepped into a clearing of some kind and before her was a crumbling temple so unlike the one the Jedi possessed, so much more breathtaking and ancient than the Jedi Temple could ever hope to be.
Statues of hooded figures loomed over her, some of them partially eroded by time, but still standing tall.
Carina was so entranced by the statues and the temple, and the strength of the Force that swirled around her; she didn't realize she was being watched until it was too late.
The dart pierced her neck and Carina's hand shot up with a wince. But even as she swore, her senses dulled and the world turned to black.
When Carina came around, she was suspended in an energy field, her hands and feet locked in binders, but even so, she wasn't completely orientated to her surroundings.
"What did you do to me?" she slurred, her words barely parting through her lips. It took a great amount of effort to even open her eyes a little to look on the one that had imprisoned her.
The Rakata were known for being amphibian-like humanoids with large craniums and protruding eyes on each side of their heads on short stalks, and this one –from what Carina could see– was no different.
"A Ysalamiri-derivative," the Rakata said, referring to the species of animal that repelled the Force, making it impossible to be used when in their vicinity.
Carina hissed between her teeth.
"We don't like trespassers on our planet," the Rakata added, "unfortunately for you, trespassers are subjected to the electrostaff until we get what we want."
"Fantastic," Carina muttered, her head lolling forward. "And what do you want?"
"The thrill of causing unending agony," the Rakata said and Carina barely had time to hear the buzzing of the electrostaff before it was thrust into her mid-section.
Pain rippled and bloomed around her, drawing a scream from her lips.
And somewhere deep inside her, something snapped, and light-years away on Coruscant, Talik Shala began to scream, clutching at her head as the master-padawan bond she shared with Sabé Amidala broke.
AN: Wow! So, a lot was going on in this chapter, but I really wanted to end where I did.
Carina's been in the works for awhile, given the dreams Sabé and Obi-Wan have had (and the mentions on tumblr), and she's going to be around for a bit. I'm actually going to enjoy writing Sabé as the bad guy.
Poor Obi-Wan is floundering about his feelings, and Talik is suffering.
I appear to like having my characters be in pain; things will get better for Carina, relatively.
As always: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!
