A Shift in the Force: Chapter Fifty-Five: Bond Across the Stars

AN: I'm glad you guys liked the last chapter, I really enjoyed Sabé's chat with Bendu, and I'm also really enjoying how none of you guys really know where this fic is going; your responses to the chapters give me life.

And the possibility that Depa should've been Sabé's master is grounds for an AU, I swear…


The Outer Rim had been becoming a bit volatile as of late, Depa couldn't quite explain it, it was like an unease rippling towards the Republic, still, she hadn't thought it had stretched in to the Mid Rim, but here she was on Obredaan with her old master, arms painfully set in binders and the Force dimmed within her.

They had been sent, or had sent themselves, both being part of the High Council, to investigate a group of warriors known as Jin'ha on Obredaan believing they'd been mining cortosis, an ore that was incredibly conductive, causing lightsabers to short out when it connected with the ore. Unfortunately, they'd been correct.

She wasn't sure how they'd gotten the drop on the two Jedi, but their numbers and blowing their ship out of the sky couldn't have hurt their odds.

Depa's body ached beneath her robes, and she couldn't very well soothe her injuries through the Force, as slippery as it was, when she was focusing all of her efforts on trying to connect with another mind that was not her old master beside her.

Sabé, she thought, and a thread of a bond snapped into place while lightyears away, a Force-wielder jolted where she was trying to replace her astromech's center foot with a more manageable wheel.

"Depa," she said out loud, standing so suddenly that Arthree beeped in concern.

What is it? Sabé sent back. I can barely feel youYsalamiri?

Depa twitched. She hadn't realized that Sabé was familiar with the effects of the Ysalamiri on Force-users. Something like that…I don't suppose you'd be willing to offer some assistance?

Then she could practically feel Sabé's sly smirk curling across her lips. A Jedi Master asking an Exile for help? My how the times have changed.

Depa stifled a smile.

What planet are you on?

Obredaan, Depa replied, somewhere caught between fond exasperation and being flattered that she was willing to go out of her way just on her word.

We'll be there shortly, Sabé informed her before the presence faded from her mind.


"Help will come," Mace said with a certainty that Depa couldn't help but admire, undoubtedly thinking of the distress beacon their ship had managed to send out before the crash.

"From the most unlikeliest of places," she agreed and he turned to consider her with a frown and Depa blinked, looking over his shoulder to see a grappler line lodge above the barred window through which Depa could clearly see a figure with a worn Jedi Temple mask.

Sabé gave a jaunty wave as she locked two detonators in place. Might want to cover your head.

Depa was only given a split second warning before her head vanished and the window blew out to leave a gaping hole in its place. Sabé was usually a bit more subtle…

But Mace was stunned, his eyes blown wide, radiating shock.

The figure that shot through the jagged opening to land lightly on their feet was an unknown, wearing military-styled clothes with protective armor on their arms and one leg and a mask over their face, a very familiar mask. It was not worn by anyone outside the Temple Guard…just who was this?

The door was blown open and a member of the Jin'ha rushed in, only to be downed with a sharp bang from the figure's blaster pistol that was easily holstered before they turned to Depa.

Mace blinked. Was his old Padawan…smiling?

"Tell me, should I get used to you dropping everything at my call?"

A derisive snort echoed from behind the mask. "Count yourself lucky, darling," the figure, the woman, said. "I just so happened to be in the area."

"Oh?" Depa arched an eyebrow and the woman waved a hand, unlocking the blinders over the master's arms with a thread of the Force.

"You're lucky I like you," the woman said, offering her a hand, pulling her upright and offering her a blaster, switching it to stun, earning her an amused look.

"Sabé," Depa chuckled as she took the blaster and Mace blinked, "perhaps we must stop meeting like this."

"For once," the Jedi Exile said, "it's not me that's getting into trouble, so maybe you should consider keeping your own head down for a change."

Depa laughed and Sabé twisted her head towards Mace and he could almost imagine her face behind the mask, eyes narrowed and lips thinning into a line, but the next second his binders had fallen to the ground as well.

"Amidala," he remarked coolly, "do I want to know how you found us so fast?"

"That's Captain Amidala, to you," the woman replied, her words equally frosty, "of The Dawning." She tilted her head towards Depa's though and his old Padawan gained a rather unperturbed expression. Sabé pointed a finger close to the Chalactan's nose and Depa blinked, leaning back slightly. "You and I need to have a chat after all this, darling."

Realization cleared Depa's eyes. "I look forward to it," she assured her.

"We'll see about that," Sabé grumbled under her breath, making a gesture with her hand. "Come on. We've got to find your lightsabers and get out of here before too many reinforcements show up."

She stepped over the corpse, offering a hand to Depa, who took it, and Mace couldn't help the distaste on his face at the sight of the quick kill.

"Don't judge me by your standards, Master Jedi," Sabé said as she turned her eyes towards him, and even though they were hidden behind the mask, he could feel their weight and sharpness. "I'm no Jedi, and even if I was, a Jedi Shadow would know that often violence is unavoidable."

He scrutinized her silently, but she had already turned her back and he watched how Depa's hand lingered on her shoulder for a brief moment, how Sabé leaned into her briefly before pulling back.

There were yells down the hall and Sabé's unease rippled. "That's not good."

"What is it?" Depa asked, her hands clasping the blaster tightly as they all avoided a Jin'ha that was thrown through the air and out the window opposite.

Sabé pulled her quarterstaff off her back as the offender stepped into the light, swallowing thickly. His dark hair was as wild as she remembered caught in her own fingers, the yellow Kiffar tattoos across his cheeks more obvious in the light than in the dark. He towered over her, but Sabé couldn't let herself be intimidated.

"Quinlan," she said, "you're looking well."

"Carina," the Kiffar Dark Jedi responded easily with a casual smirk, "or is it Sabé again?"

"Sabé," Sabé responded flatly.

He made a soft humming noise, appraising her. "Not used to you wearing so much clothes…"

Mace's surprise was practically palpable, but Depa's was less so.

"I don't think this visit is for pleasure," Sabé said, tightening her hand over the quarterstaff. She honestly hadn't been expecting to see him again, their moments together during her time as Carina had been fleeting and filled with heat and desire.

Aayla was going to kill her.

"Come to kill me, Quinlan?"

He smiled but it sent another spike of unease down her spine, calling the 'saber to his hand. "There are some things that should never come to light, Beautiful."

"Depa," Sabé's voice calm, deadly calm, "you and Windu should run. The other hall will take you to your lightsabers."

"What about you?" Depa was quick to ask.

"I'll be right behind you." And then she struck, giving the pair time to dart down the corridor, Mace sparing a look back to see her catch a crimson lightsaber against her quarterstaff. That was no simple weapon…

"Master, come on!" Depa's voice spurred him into action and he left the two ex-Jedi to their spar. He had never felt so useless without his 'saber and the Force.


He knocked off her mask and Sabé tried not to feel irritated as she was backed against the wall, the heat of Quinlan's 'saber against her quarterstaff.

The next thing Sabé knew, his lips were on hers and Sabé's eyes widened. Of course, she was no stranger to being kissed, much less by Quinlan Vos, they had done this dance rather a lot, but it was definitely not the time to do that in the middle of a duel.

Sabé brought her legs up, kneeing him sharply in the groin, making him grunt as she pushed him off her.

"Didn't I ever tell you not to take any liberties with me?" she asked coldly.

Quinlan chuckled darkly. "It never bothered you before."

"The last time we slept together I was a Sith," Sabé retorted, unimpressed. "And I don't fancy having to tell Aayla that I was banging her old master."

There was a flicker of something there, at the mention of Aayla. Sabé knew the story of how Aayla had been brought to the Temple, of how Quinlan had heard her call systems away and brought her to the Temple, to safety. Things had been so much simpler back then, she lamented, back when they'd been children, back when they recited the Code thoughtlessly, back when none of them had been touched by the Dark Side.

"Touched a nerve?" Sabé smirked before sliding her mask back into place and his 'saber battered against her staff, anger pouring off him.

"How dare you," he seethed.

"How dare I?" Sabé's eyes darkened behind the slits in the mask. "You left her, you abandoned her!"

"I had no choice!" There was a flicker of regret there, gone in an instant and replaced by his rage. "The Council—!"

"Kriff the Council!" Sabé snarled. "You had a choice and you chose wrong and my friend lost everything!"

She had never spoken of Aayla to Quinlan, of course, she hadn't really remembered her properly until she'd come out of the bacta tank, but it dawned on Sabé how utterly furious she was about the whole matter, even though it had happened when they were all sixteen.

That was how Aayla had ended up with Quinlan's old master Tholme, with the Jedi treading carefully around her, worrying of her potential to Fall to the Dark Side after it had already touched her.

Sabé and Aayla had that in common, but in Sabé's case, she had chosen to give them every reason to doubt her, simply because she was done pretending to be someone she wasn't. Aayla was the better Jedi, Aayla had always been the better Jedi.

Quinlan flinched and Sabé couldn't help but be satisfied with it. She twisted the quarterstaff around her arm and spread her feet, holding one hand out in front of her.

"You don't want to fight me, Quinlan, believe me," Sabé warned, her fingers twitching, the Force swirling around her, cloaking her in its presence.

Sabé had never inspired much fear as herself, but the Jedi had always portrayed a rather serene personality, the Sith had cared little for that. The Force-wielder knew that advantages to fear, though, she knew to take advantage of what she had, and lamented to what she'd lost.

"Afraid to lose?" he goaded with a wide grin.

"Afraid to win," she replied without inflection, her eyes fiery and her voice cold. Sabé had never felt so much like Carina than in that moment. Carina had never lost confidence in her abilities where Sabé had faltered…and Sabé needed to stop thinking of the two as being two separate beings when they were the same, just different parts of her.

Still, Sabé might've been defeated in battle before, but as Carina, the only ones that had gotten a one-up on her had been those that had tried to have her killed from a distance when she was distracted by Obi-Wan and Anakin.

Something inside him faltered, and that gave Sabé more than enough time to act, thrusting a hand forward, channeling the Force forward with violent blast that sent him flying.

Sabé didn't look to see where he'd landed, only drawing her mask through the air and replacing it over her face as she took off after Depa and Mace.


"What about Sabé?" was the first thing Sabé heard when she slid down the stairs, firing off two shots at a pair of Jin'ha that got in her way.

"She seems to be doing fine," Mace mentioned a bit wryly as Sabé kept her other blaster pistol aimed down the hall as she turned her masked face inward to see the former master and Padawan with their lightsabers in their hands now, a few stunned Jin'ha on the ground.

Sabé arched an eyebrow, a movement that was hidden, but a trickle of something that was sent along the fledgling bond she had with Depa, steadily strengthening. That would be almost flattering.

Depa cast a smile towards her.

"At least one of you is a good shot," Sabé responded dispassionately, not even blinking, "and at least you're slightly less useless with a lightsaber."

Mace's eyebrow twitched and Sabé smirked, drawing the quarterstaff to lock it at her back, lifting her comlink to her mouth. "Jay, we're going to need another pick-up."

"You always need a pick-up," the droid complained and Sabé rolled her eyes. Honestly, maybe she should've tried not to scramble his circuits quite so much when she was reprogramming him, because she was pretty sure that that was part of the reason he was sounded like a bitter, put-upon child that never got his way and barely did what he was told to.

"Just do what I say, Jay, or I'm shutting you down for forty-eight hours," she barked.

"You couldn't afford to shut me down for forty-eight hours," Jay-Seven informed her flatly, "that would decrease your survival of any job by sixty-two percent."

Sabé blinked. "That's vaguely insulting," she said in reply. "I managed just fine before you and I still turned out all right." She looked down at her mechno-arm and thought of the varying scars littered across her skin. "Mostly all right," she acquiesced.

Sabé returned the comlink to her hip, about to sigh fondly when Mace interrupted her thoughts.

"Where's Vos?"

"Probably knocked out somewhere," Sabé shrugged, unconcerned. "My Force Wave packs a bit of a punch."

"So we heard."

Sabé's eyes narrowed and she fired her blaster accurately without even looking. "Is that judgment I'm hearing, Master Jedi? From someone who found himself drugged with Ysalamiri and completely thankless to the person that came and saved his sorry hide?"

"I am not thankless," Mace corrected, "I just think you went about it the wrong way."

"You sound like Yoda," Sabé grated out, wishing she was as far from Mace Windu as possible. "And I mean that as an insult."

Her comlink beeped.

"Come on, darling, The Dawning awaits," Sabé inclined her head towards Depa slightly, before taking off. "Hurry up or get left behind!"

Mace had so many questions, mostly about why on earth Sabé Amidala was referring to his former Padawan as 'darling' and why on earth she seemed largely unfazed by it.

"Master." Depa's eyes were sharp, undoubtedly picking up his line of thoughts from the expression on his face, despite their Master-Padawan bond long since broken on the night of her Knighting Ceremony. And then she followed after their masked companion without a second thought. Her faith in Sabé was very misplaced to his own mind.

But his choices were limited as it was, so he followed after in time to see Sabé blow out a portion of the wall with a violent display of the Force.

His jaw tightened. The power Sabé displayed put him ill at ease. Nothing Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker had described of her during her time as a Sith had really described the depth of her strength, but Mace remembered before she'd Fallen, and she would've never been capable to doing what she had done a moment ago.

There was a loud whirring of an engine amidst the firing of blaster bolts and he blinked as a small freighter flew close, twisting around to extend a ramp.

"Get on the ship, Master Jedi, or I'm throwing you," Sabé said without inflection after Depa had already made the jump, aiming a shot just over his shoulder and making his ear ring. He doubted that she'd needed to cut it that close, but he didn't really know her at all.

He honestly believed that she was going to throw him if he didn't move, though, and it was probably better to do as she asked, especially since the laser cannon mounted on the top of the ship had twisted and begun firing on the Jin'ha trying to keep them from escaping.

Sabé was half a step behind him, swinging up onto the platform easily and rushing up the ladder in the direction of the cockpit, leaving the Jedi pair to follow after.

"There are several fighters on our scope," the hulking security droid that Mace recalled as being the one to guard Sabé during her coma in the bacta tank all those months ago.

"I can see that," Sabé snarled, sliding into the pilot seat and taking the clutch. "Get the rear cannons, Jay, now!"

The droid was fast as it lumbered past them, and Depa settled quickly into the droid's vacated seat and the Force hummed a suggestion to Mace, forcing him to look around quickly for a seat, because he couldn't help but get the feeling that Sabé's flying was going to be worse that Anakin Skywalker's was said to be.

"Hang on to something," Sabé advised, pulling the console up sharp enough that Mace felt as though his stomach had been left back at the Jin'ha's facility.

"You're going to kill us," Depa barely managed to say when they turned sharply.

"Not today, darling." Sabé's smirk was practically heard in her voice. "Tomorrow? Well, that's another story."

His old Padawan shook her head in what could have only been fondness. Mace had so many questions about their apparent relationship. Of course, the pair had been on friendly terms when Sabé had still been a Jedi and Sabé had saved her life on one of Depa's missions…but there was something else, something Mace couldn't put his finger on…

There was a sharp blast outside the ship.

"One left," Sabé grunted, twisting the console again, sending them into a spiral. "C'mon, Jay!"

"I can only do so much," the droid grumbled over the comm and Depa's knuckles went white as she gripped the arms of her seat.

"Try harder," Sabé barked, performing another elaborate twist.

"I don't think your ship is going to handle this!" Mace couldn't help but gasp as his insides curdled.

"Oh, she can handle it," Sabé laughed, pressing a few buttons above her head as there was another explosion from outside the ship, so none on board noticed the tracker latching onto the hull of the modified VXC-series auxiliary Starfighter, Sunrise that Sabé hadn't yet found a use for. They swung around and Mace thought he might've seen a male figure with yellow Kiffar tattoos watching them from the blown out hole that Sabé had left behind, but then the stars streamed into lines as they shot into Hyperspace.

Sabé turned her head to give Depa a look, but what it was was impossible to tell behind the mask and his old Padawan's lips curled slightly, like they were having a silent conversation.

"You can use the comm-system to call for a ride," Sabé said finally, twisting to look to Mace. "But I need a word with Depa."

The Korun Master looked to Depa, arching an eyebrow, but she seemed rather unperturbed as she stood to follow Sabé out of the cockpit only to pause as Mace cast a look her way.

"Be careful with that one, Depa," he warned.

"I trust Sabé Amidala with my life," Depa said without inflection, with the certainty a master had in a student. "That's not misplaced."

But Mace had to wonder.


"So, you figured it out?"

Sabé looked remarkably calm once she'd removed the mask from her face, her brown eyes clear as she sat on the lower bunk of the bed, Depa sitting on the round chair opposite her. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Depa smiled sadly. "You were Master Yoda's Padawan by then, you were so in awe of him…it wouldn't have done me good to fracture your training by putting doubts in your head."

Sabé rubbed at the center of her forehead. "Maybe you should've," she muttered, "Yoda and I never really clicked."

A frown marred Depa's lips. "I'm sure that's not true."

Sabé arched an eyebrow. "Our bond was so brittle that it snapped easily during my Knighting Ceremony. We never mastered the art of speaking through our bond."

Dark eyes widened in surprise. It was true that many Master-Padawan pairs never quite managed it, but to discover that she had succeeded where Yoda had failed was something quite different. And even stranger when Depa had been able to call to Sabé at such a distance, their words easily understood.

"It wasn't easy being his Padawan," Sabé leaned back slightly, a curved finger pressing against her chin. Depa wondered if she'd picked up the motion from Obi-Wan Kenobi or if it had been the other way around. "I learned a lot, but I lost a lot too." She cast an unreadable look to Depa and Depa interlocked her fingers tightly.

"I felt I wasn't ready for the responsibility," Depa admitted before smoothing a hand over her wound braids. "I was barely twenty, only ten years older than you—"

"I wouldn't have minded."

Depa smiled sadly. "I know…but who knows if you would've been better as my Padawan. What's done is done."

Sabé pursed her lips thoughtfully as she considered Depa. "Maybe not as Master and Padawan, but I sense the Force has more in store for the pair of us."

Depa suspected the same. She didn't think it was a coincidence how they had found themselves together whether at the Temple or on missions when Sabé was younger, and she definitely didn't think it was just by happenstance that Sabé had found herself robbing a building that Depa had been in at the same time. The Force kept bringing them together for some reason…

"I have no doubt," Depa agreed.

Brown eyes narrowed at her slightly and Depa couldn't help but get the feeling that she intrigued Sabé somewhat on a visceral level. Sabé had never had a bond with a Master like Depa had once had with Mace, it was clearly something she was unfamiliar with, despite having a close bond with her old Padawan, Talik Shala.

"Where are you planning on going once you leave us?" Depa asked her instead.

"It was suggested that I go to Malachor."

Depa was quite certain that her heart stopped for a solid few seconds. "Malachor?" she couldn't help how weak the word came out.

"Bendu told me that's where I'd find the answers I sought…but I'm not so sure." A crease appeared between Sabé's eyebrows.

"Are you certain you want to go there alone?" Depa didn't know who this Bendu was, but she remembered the stories about Malachor, and they boded ill.

Her lips twisted faintly. "Don't worry about me, Depa, besides, this is something I need to figure out on my own."

The Force hummed around Depa. She knew that Sabé was right, but she also knew that what would happen next would be something Sabé would not expect.


Kit Fisto and Nahdar Vebb landed on the outskirts of Corellia, waiting as a VCX-100 light freighter appeared overhead, dropping down out of the sky to land lightly on the grass not too far away.

The ramp descended and the pair of masters that the pair had been sent to collect descended, looking largely unharmed.

"I thought they'd be worse off," Nahdar admitted, slightly put out that neither of the masters seemed to be in need of his healing abilities.

"They are rather skilled," Kit chuckled, "perhaps it is the ones who attacked them that you should be more concerned with."

Nahdar almost rolled his eyes, but by then the pair had reached their sides.

"Masters, we're glad you're all right." Kit bowed reverently as the ship behind them lifted off to shoot into the sky. "The High Council was most concerned when they received your distress beacon."

"We received a bit of help," Mace cast a glance towards his former Padawan who gave a serene smile in return.

"Sabé sends her love, Knight Fisto," Depa informed him kindly and Kit blinked his large eyes.

Then he grinned. "Does she?"

Nahdar scowled.


"Didn't want to stick around to stay hello?"

Sabé pressed a few buttons in front of her, flicking one switch and checking the fuel gauge and making sure everything was working properly.

"Of course I wanted to stick around, Kit's one of my closest friends but…" Sabé gritted her teeth together. "There just isn't the time to talk, to explain everything." One day she was going to sit down with Aayla and Kit and do just that, but not yet.

"Plot a course for Malachor."

"Plotting course for Malachor," Jay-Seven intoned and a button on the console glowed green as they shot forward into Hyperspace once more.


The tracker was working, the coordinates being monitored in the datapad in her hand.

"You know what to do," the figure on the image-caster intoned through static. "You won't fail us."

"No." Red eyes gleamed. "We will not."


AN: Malachor is probably going to take up the entirety of the next chapter, but it's going to be so good! I'm super excited about it.

In other news: I'm getting out of class in two weeks so you guys might get a few more updates over the summer.

As always: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!