Author Note

I actually wrote this more than a week ago, but I wasn't happy with it, yet it is needed for the story.

Reviews

Selias

It's not just a matter of finding someone to do the training he would also need special equipment and space for the training. Given that's he's only going up against street thugs and the odd super-powered person, who will be prepared for well in advance, he doesn't need real troopers.

Alan

Darth Ravager might still happen in Darth Feleus doesn't work out. There are ways to enhance a person's connection to The Force.

Sith Gothic 3 - Gotham

"The future is not a river to carry us. It is the ocean in which we drown, if we are not prepared." ―Valkorion

Part 6

Bryant Park Hotel. Gotham.

While so far a lot of Kat's training in the ways of the Force had been handled by my extensive written records and involved me helping her to navigate social events there was also a physical aspect to our lessons. She didn't need to learn the basics because she was already able to run from the fights she couldn't win and she could move around the city easily enough, so I moved on to teaching her to use the sword. This was the start of her learning how to use a lightsaber and it was a good way to start figuring out how to call upon The Force in a controlled way. She'd been using it before now, but not on purpose.

With my new income, the military having renegotiated very quickly as they badly wanted my power cells, I'd started renting out more space in this hotel so that I could have a proper training room. It was being put to good use and Selena was learning fast, but combat training would only take her so far. If she was ever to rule as Sith Lord, or Sith Lady if she didn't wish to use the gender-neutral title, she would need more than she had. She needed to be prepared for the future.

Since I'd foreseen myself fighting League of Shadow assassins at some point in the future it seemed a good idea to get Selina familiar with the sword. She didn't have much in the way of physical strength due to her youth and small size, and while The Force could enhance the body in battle, this had its limits. As such, I was teaching my young apprentice to focus more on her speed and agility. Because of this, she would not be learning the Lightsaber from that I used as mine did require greater upper body strength.

She was just starting to learn about Form III, also known as Soresu, the Way of the Mynock, or the Resilience Form, this was the third of the seven classic forms of lightsaber combat that was formally recognized by the Jedi Council of the KOTOR Era and would be until the Clone Wars. Like the Jedi themselves, the lightsabre forms somehow endured.

Given that we were Sith it might seem odd for us to use their styles, but the Jedi had refined the use of the lightsaber over many generations making them very useful, and it made sense to study how your enemy fought. Besides the forms were just the start, most lightsaber wielders went beyond what they were taught, making the styles their own and even adding moves from other forms into their existing fighting style if it suited them.

Soresu was developed during the widespread emergence of blasters as an offensive weapon. Essentially it started off as development on Form I blast-deflect training, because of this, Soresu relied on tight blade work and subtle dodges so as to provide maximum defensive coverage, minimizing exposure to ranged weaponry. Over time, Soresu transcended this basic origin and came to be considered the ultimate expression of non-aggressive Jedi philosophy.

With that in mind, it again seemed odd that a Sith would learn such a form as we were aggressive and there were no people with blasters around for Kat to worry about, at least not for years to come and even then it would be unlikely that anyone outside of US army would use any sort of blaster weapon. I wouldn't be surprised if they never built anything smaller than a blaster cannon, but since I might one day take Kat through the hyperspace wormhole it would be good for her to learn how to defend herself from blaster weapons.

Despite its effectiveness, Soresu was heavily criticized by some users of sabres for its lack of offensive capabilities, as it facilitated survival rather than victory. As an answer to these weaknesses, the highly aggressive Ataru and Shien forms were developed side by side. However, I did have a few good reasons for teaching my apprentice this form.

Soresu relied on an economy of motion and energy efficiency, keeping up constant blade movement to build up momentum and minimize energy expenditure. Form III focused on strong defensive technique to essentially outlast an opponent, waiting until he or she began making mistakes due to frustration or fatigue, before taking advantage of these lapses and countering. My apprentice had plenty of stamina and during a fight, she liked to keep moving, and she would strike when she saw a weakness so Soresu actually suited her.

Kat might change styles later on as she was still growing and as she matured she'd be able to better able to handle the less defensive styles. For now, I wanted her to focus more on not getting killed than in killing other people. If she could hold her ground and wear down a foe she wouldn't need to kill them, she could disable them and flee or let me make the killing blow. I had no desire to turn into a killer unless she chose that path.

Given the weapon that many versions of Catwoman used, one day I'd introduce her to the weapon known as the Lightwhip. Generally speaking, they functioned on the same principles and mechanics as lightsabers, emitting a coherent beam of energy that was used as a weapon. However, rather than the straight, meter-long blades emitted by standard lightsabers, lightwhips featured long, flexible blades that often exceeded several meters in length.

The handle part of the weapon did not contain one crystal, these weapons contained multiple small crystals, and the plasma in the blade had no barriers to keep it straight. Like more normal lightsabers, lightwhips came in a variety of colours and shades, including red, blue, orange, purple, yellow, and green. Even a pink bladed lightsabre was possible, although I couldn't recall ever seeing one. I'd once owned a lightsaber with a white blade.

Wielded in the same manner as a conventional whip, the lightwhip was a rare and exotic weapon, an unfamiliar occurrence among traditional duelists. Due to this, lightwhip wielders enjoyed considerable leverage over opponents. Along with its rarity, lightwhips also featured extra range, the long, flexible energy strand allowing the wielder to attack from a range of several meters. The weapon was also difficult to defend against, as it could simply flex around an opponent's blade when he or she attempted to parry.

However, lightwhips featured just as many drawbacks as advantages. Unless the wielder was already a master with ordinary whips, and strong with The Force, a lightwhip blade was difficult to control, able to just as easily maim an untrained wielder as an opponent, and was weaker than the standard lightsaber blade as it could not always penetrate denser materials when there were few materials that would trouble a normal lightsabre.

It needed to be swung wide to gain momentum for an attack, and it was difficult to use defensively as flexible tassels are not well suited for parrying, leaving the wielder vulnerable to both great speed and brute force. In fact, lightwhip blades were even known to short out violently when struck with enough force. With that in mind, it might be better to train her to use two short blades or even a smaller version of the double-bladed lightsaber like that used by Darth Zannah, but that could wait as it would be a few years before I let Kat down her own weapon.

"I was wondering if you wanted to come on a trip with me," I said to my apprentice.

Since we had an informal master/apprentice thing going I tried not to order her to do things. My style of teaching the ways of the Sith would be very different than others used by other Sith Masters, but I'd never been much like the other users of the dark side.

"A trip where?" she asked.

I told her a little about Smallville, which I had reasons for visiting in the present as it might not be safe to in the future. Kal-EL of Krypton was one of the few beings in this world that I had reasons to fear. For now, however, he was no threat and while that might make it seem as if this was the best time to strike that wasn't so. The light needed its champion to balance it against the dark because that was just how it worked so even if I somehow killed Clark Kent someone else would simply rise up to take his place. I'd learned to accept this and made efforts to stay out of the whole good versus evil struggle.

"You should see more of the world" I advised "and some country air might do you some good".

Kat thought it over.

"Can I bring a friend with me?" she asked.

I'd not expected her request such a thing as Sith aren't in the habit of making friends, even if we might act otherwise, but it wasn't as if I'd ever discouraged her from making real friends.

"Who do you want to bring with you?" I wondered.

She told me about her friend Ivy Pepper. Otherwise known as Ivy "Pamela" Pepper, who had been the daughter of the late Mario and Alice Pepper. She became an orphan when her father was shot by Harvey Bullock, who has been acting to defend James Gordon's life, causing her mother to commit suicide, although I couldn't imagine why as her husband had been a useless waste of skin as far as my research could tell. Young Miss Pepper was on my list of people to keep an eye on, only she was a rather meaningless person right now. Still, it wouldn't be such a bad idea to get on her good idea in the present so that we'd have a connection later when she became more useful. Assuming she ever got that far.

"Sure bring her along," I said.

Kat just shrugged, as if it was no big deal, and agreed to come with before lifting up the wooden blade I'd given her. She had way too much stamina for this sort of thing. Teenagers were supposed to be lazy.

(Line Break)

Smallville. Kanas.

"This was a wonderful idea for a trip" praised Leslie Thompkins.

I'd ended up booking us a couple of rooms in a bed & breakfast that was outside of the town, and while the other customers were old married couples, and therefore rather dull company for my ward as well as her friend, it was the sort of place where nothing ever happened and no one paid us much attention. They just saw a family enjoying an outing. I was sure that Lee saw it as something along those lines even if I had no real attachment to her.

Right now my personal starship, the Ebon Hawke, was in orbit and scanning this town, and no doubt freaking out NASA if it got spotted, all so I could get a better picture of what was hidden in the town before I made any further moves. Information as ever was the key to my success. I always used my knowledge to plan things well in advance as having the correct information was useful when you suddenly had to adapt your plans to rapidly changing circumstances.

Since the town would be the centre of some important events in this world over the next decade or so, it made sense for me to study it well. One of the first things I learned, from the Internet as well as my ship's scans, was that Smallville was within driving distance of Metropolis, and 425 miles from Hub City, both of those major settlements that hadn't existed on my version Earth.

Another thing I'd learned was that Smallville had a heck of a lot of cornfields, and that was an understatement. This part of the country used to feed quite a lot of people in the past and it reminded me of what was called a breadbasket world in the Star Wars galaxy. In that part of existence entire planets were given over to the production of food. Worlds like Courscant would quickly collapse into total anarchy if the breadbasket planets didn't ship their produce in massive bulk freighters to the galaxy's capital.

Smallville no longer grew much food for the people of the USA, due to so much of it got imported, so it was in decline, but still holding on judging by its population. Within the town's limits, that included all the farms as well, lived about 45,000 people, which was a lot for a farming town, and the society was based around Main Street, a location which hadn't changed much aside from being modernised according to what I got off the Internet. Generation after generation had used the same bank, gas station, and library. That sounded very dull to me,

What separated Smallville from other small towns was the meteor shower of 1989. When it occurred, it caused all sorts of problems for the town and its citizens, beyond wreaking buildings and killing some people, problems that were only going to get worse and worse in the years to come. Smallville itself changed dramatically in the years following the first meteor shower. It was dubbed "America's Weirdest Town" by a national news magazine, yet no one seemed to have done any serious investigation in recent times.

The US Government had some years ago declared that the rocks were safe, but no official long terms studies were ever done, and in the short term the rocks weren't harmful so the government group who did the investigation hadn't exactly been wrong, they'd just given up too quickly. Had they stuck around for a while they would have caught the first signs of the strangeness that was to come and if I recalled correctly Lionel Luthor did know something about the importance of the rocks even before the effects on people became public knowledge.

On a more dull note, Smallville has played host to the Lowell County fair and it held an annual Harvest Festival with a pageant in which they crown a local girl Miss Sweet Corn. Seemed like a lot of fuss over nothing to me. Then again there wasn't much going on this town these days, so people found their entertainment where and when they could.

I paid some attention to blueprints I found for places like Smallville Medical Center, which was the town's main healthcare facility. Melville Family Nursery, a greenhouse which produced organic vegetables. Smallville Cemetery, the final resting place for many of the town's residents. It wouldn't shock me much if I got attacked by zombies if I went to the cemetery as the magic space rock seemed to whacky things to living people and might affect the dead.

My ship's sensors had even picked up the Kawatche Caves which were located below a bit of land called Miller's Bend. That location was very important in the show, but the caves were not something I wanted to mess with as they would play a major role in Clark Kent's journey to becoming the Man of Steel. This was not something I wished to get involved in as Superman would prevent this world from being destroyed and while I might leave before then it would be a shame if all my hard work led the nothing because alien power came and destroyed everything.

"Not picking much of the magic space rock on the scans" I muttered to myself.

I'd not meant to say that out loud. Thankfully the tiny version of posion Ivy had gone to the kitchen as part of an effort to secure some vegan-friendly food while Leslie had taken a few moments to go powder her nose. As such only Kat was here and I didn't mind her knowing about what I'd come here to find. Clark Kent was still in Middle-School and Lex Luthor didn't live in this town, as for Mr Kent's friends I didn't care at all about them, no I cared about the Kryptonite.

"Magic space rock?" she asked.

I explained that I was looking for Kryptonite which was a radioactive mineral that made up most of the planet Krypton's structure, including its core. Large amounts of the substance had landed on Earth in October 1989 during a spectacular and destructive meteor shower which struck Smallville It concealed the arrival of the baby Kal-El and his cousin Kara Zor-El. In some of the sources, it was stated that parts of the planet only became radioactive Kryptonite if they passed through a cosmic field of some kind, but that might not apply here and hardly mattered as long as the mineral did what I needed it to do.

Aside from being harmful to Clark Kent and others of his kind, the mineral produced bizarre changes in flora and fauna if the organic material was exposed to the substance for a great deal of time or if there was a lot of its radiation getting spilt out at once. It occasionally bestowed metahuman abilities on humans depending on the circumstances of their exposure to it, such as a girl treated for a rare bone disease acquiring shapeshifting powers.

These people were commonly known by the inhabitants of Smallville as "Meteor Freaks" who for some reason nearly always become killers. Which either meant the humans of this world really couldn't be trusted with power or the exposer to the Kryptonite had both psychology and physiological effect on humans. Causing changes to the body and the mind, which would change behaviour. I would have to find out, further testing required, Construct Additional Pylons.

On the plus side Green Kryptonite when correctly handled made for a really wonderful energy source, and I had the science to make it safe to use as, unlike the locals, I had access to Star Wars technology and that civilization had some experience in harnessing the power of strange crystals. I could use to power a whole bunch of things.

Since this was the only place on Earth where the mineral could be found in amounts worth harvesting I'd decided to come to the source with the 'family trip' simply serving as a cover. Since I wasn't planning on powering starships or superweapons with the substance, I wouldn't need a lot of it, but I might need to return in the future for more.

"If it's so radioactive then U should be able to find it easily," I said.

Thanks to my ship's scans, the results of which were securely sent to one of my handheld computing devices, I already knew where to find some samples of the strange crystals, more than enough for my needs, yet my ship's scans hadn't found nearly as much as I would have imagined, and the show hinted at there being tons of the stuff around.

"The radiation must be minimal beyond a certain range and not measurable if the amounts of magic space rock are too small" I mused "That would explain why Clark isn't sick all the time and why he can stomach the drinking water".

If I recalled more lore correctly his vulnerability to glowing space rock did have some relationship to his power level, a Clark stripped of his powers was no longer vulnerable to the mineral so it would have affected him less while growing up and was weaker. Of course, the quantities mattered as well, the trace amounts in the water he drank and the soil his family grew some of the food he would have eaten while growing up, it must be too little to affect him in any noticeable way.

Before long the scans found the other point of interest I'd been looking for, a crashed alien space ship. When Kara Zor-El ship crash-landed in Reeves Dam during the 1989 meteor shower, somehow its program malfunctioned and failed to awaken Kara, leaving her in a state of suspended animation for many years until the dam flooded out. Since the ship was there, I assumed that this meant this world played host to the Smallville version of Supergirl rather than the Arrowverse version, or maybe she was a mixture of the two. Only time would tell.

Since I didn't want a superpowerful alien flying around it seemed best to leave her in the water. Of course, I felt somewhat tempted to go to her and reorder her mind before letting her wake up, as having a super-powered alien serving me would be a big boon. However, while she might look human she was not, and so my control might be somehow broken, and I did not her coming after me as even leaving the planet might not be enough to escape her.

"I need to collect some samples so that I can design a defence against a future threat," I told my ward "It's nothing either of us needs to worry about for some time to come, I just want to have something in place to handle it in the future. So I want you to distract Lee and your friend for a couple of hours. Go shopping, take a walk, whatever it takes, money isn't an issue, just keep them busy and make an excuse for why I am gone".

Kat soon received my credit card and some cash. She could buy a small house with the card I'd given her as it was the kind only the wealthy could have, and even then you needed a recommendation from someone who already owned such a card just to apply for one. Thankfully I now had an important contact in the business world.

"In fact, it wouldn't be terrible to have a place out here," I said, expressing my thoughts out loud "Take Lee out to find a house, we can rent or even buy. It would be good to have a home outside of Gotham that we can come to if we need to leave town".

Kat was more of a shoplifter than a shopper, but she accepted the task without complaint.

"Have fun with your mineralogy," she said as I headed out the door

Now to collect me some magic space rock.

(Line Break)

Smallville. Kanas.

Since this was only meant to be a weekend away it had been simple enough to avoid contact with anyone important and I'd managed to get myself enough of the mineral for my needs while the girls on the trip with me found ways of amusing themselves. We regrouped at a nice enough coffee shop, a location filled with bored looking teenagers, and I asked what about the girls had been up despite me not really caring.

"We did find a house for sale if you're serious about getting a place out here" mentioned Lee.

She must be thinking that I was planning ahead, thinking about not raising any children she and I might have in a place like Gotham when I could live in what seemed to be a friendly and safe town. Granted most of the people here were friendly and would never try to harm anyone (even if there were a few hundred Meteor Freaks they only make up a tiny fraction of the overall population) but I knew it was not as secure as it first looked.

On the other hand, it wouldn't be so terrible an idea to have a place out here for me to visit so that I could involve myself with some of the events here, which should start in the next couple of years. The idea of replacing my drug-enhanced thugs with drug-enhanced mutants did have a certain appeal and I would have time to set things up well in advanced of when the mutants started to become active around here.

Given enough time and the help of some droids, I could build a proper facility to contain the mutants for study. It wouldn't even have to be here on Earth if I went back to the Star Wars galaxy for some specialised droids and the right equipment. That was something I could think more about later on.

I'd planned to cast Lee aside after a while, but now I was wondering if I should bring her better under my control and keep her around for a few years, she was nice to look at, reasonably intelligent, and if she got pregnant with my child I could just cast her aside as I no desire to raise any children. But again, that was all long term thinking, once I had made my preparations for super-powered aliens, I needed to go back to focusing on expanding my power base in Gotham.

"Let's go take a look," I said, "I can afford a mortgage and until I'm ready to move I can just rent the place out".

Selena made some comment about not wanting to live with the rednecks.

"By the time I'd be ready to move out here for at least part of the year you'll be old enough to decide where you stay," I told her "I'm not giving up my penthouse suite".

Lee smiled at me and that let me know that she approved of this long term plan. Given my interests in the business world, it wouldn't be practical for me to live out here full-time, but she was most likely imagining herself as a smalltown doctor with a child while her husband jetted around the world on business trips when he wasn't at home. It might even work out that way as my plans were nothing if not adaptable.

(Line Break)

Bryant Park Hotel. Gotham.

I ignited my new Kryptonite lightsaber and when I did the green blade sprang into existence. In the darkness, it didn't emit much in the way of light despite the name of the weapon, yet I didn't need much to see by, not when I had The Force to help me sense my surroundings.

After returning from our trip to Smallville, and as planned managing to avoid any contact with the important people in that town, I'd spent days, or maybe it had been more than a week, in mediation within a sealed chamber within the hotel. It wasn't much work to hide parts of the building that I should have no access to with an illusion. If someone with the blueprints came to check things out they might wonder what had happened to certain rooms, but I could deal with that if or when it happened.

I'd spent my time within the chamber imbuing a suitable piece of kryptonite with the power of the Force so as to link myself to the small green crystal that I'd chosen as the heart of this new weapon. This had to be done while I was wearing special protection that I'd created using an old mining shield which blocked the harmful radiation as I might be poorly affected if I spent days or weeks getting exposed to the alien radiation in such confined quarters. It might also give me new powers, but since I was already awesome I didn't think it worth the risk.

Once the crystal had become connected to me via the Force it was transformed in a sense. It didn't change shape or colour, or anything noticeable to mere mundane senses, but to someone like me, the crystal had become a living thing and also bonded to me. Most Force Users never did this with more than one or two crystals in their lifetime, depending on if they ever needed to replace their weapon. I'd done this a few times in the past, and there seemed to be no negative effect from it.

I'd used Luke Skywalker's lightsaber, the one he'd built after losing father's weapon, as I'd gotten the design from the Internet, with some modifications since the design online wouldn't actually work. This sabre was heavier than others I'd used over the years due to it containing a little lead that I needed to shield me from the radiation, as well as some alterations to the emitter so that when the blade ignited some of the alien radiation leaked out, enough to weaken a Kryptonian to the point it would be possible to strike them with the blade. Since the radiation was concentrated within the beam it should kill a Kryptonian if driven into something vital. When the blade was turned off the radiation was completely contained for safety reasons.

Sure I didn't wish to kill the young Superman, as this could lead to this world being destroyed while I was still living on it, but he might not be the only super-powered alien I ever needed to deal with. Then there was the fact that while most versions of Clark Kent were friendly enough there were darker versions of Kal-El out there who I might run into, this world's version could go evil or one from an alternate universe could visit this one, and as such, it would be wise to have weapons prepared in order to destroy them if needs be.

Because of this concern, I planned to create a number of special weapons, such as Batman's Kryptonite spear which he created in order to combat the Superman of his world. In that universe, the Batman constructed several custom made weapons utilizing the Kryptonite that he had stolen from Lex Luthor. One such weapon was the spear, consisting of a metal staff and a tip shaped from green Kryptonite. When combating the Superman of his world, that Batman also utilized his Kryptonite grenades to weaken him before utilizing the spear and almost killing him. I would look into Kryptonite grenades in the near future as they could be effective. A Kryptonite blaster couldn't go amiss either. Blasters converted gas into plasma, and it was possible to make Kryptonite gas, Batman does it a few times in different DC timelines, it seems to work.

Now that it was time to test the new sabre and so with a wave of my hand, I activated the training remotes. They were small, quick, unpredictable in their movements, and they had multiple power levels for the small energy weapon each of the probes carried, which ranged from a slight sting to lethal. They were also capable of being programmed for defensive purposes. If needs be, I could deploy them to aid me in a battle, but I'd not needed to do that in some time.

The Jedi Order used the remotes to train Jedi younglings as far back as the time of Revan to during the waning days of the Galactic Republic and while En route to the planet Alderaan, burgeoning Jedi Luke Skywalker practised against one of these training remotes, using his father's lightsaber. Though initially unable to block the remote's fire, he learned to rely on the Force when his mentor, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, challenged Skywalker by blocking his sight. I just closed my eyes.

"Increase speed" I commanded.

The remotes began to move faster and soon the green blade was moving in a blur as I batted aside bolts, and then started sending them back at the remotes, and this resulted in all the remotes soon all getting blown to little bits. Once that was done I switched the weapon off and headed for the door. I had enough anti-superpowered alien insurance for the time being, and there were other matters that required my attention.