Distraction: Chapter Five
"I do not like to be disappointed," Master Sidious was saying, his wrinkled face contorted with a sneer. I was relatively confident he didn't mean the news of Captain Luitt or his squad.
"A Sith," he continued, obviously angry with us, though not rising from his throne," shows no mercy, nor do they run from a battle."
How could I explain that retreat was the only option? I wasn't going to apologize or grovel at his feet. I'd done nothing but whatever he commanded all my life. Surely, this one incident wouldn't cost me that life. Did bombing half the city out of existence count for nothing?
"Lord Malefic, leave my sight. Lord Vader, you will stay."
I bowed with a curt nod of my head and spun on my heel. Powerful with the Dark Side or not, staying to fight an entire city's populace would've been suicide. At my best estimation, Anakin and I could've struck down possibly half of them but not all of them. The numbers just didn't add up. And although this wasn't the first time, I'd been dismissed from the throne room, only to hear from my comrade later the reasons why- it still bothered me. What did Master Sidious have to say that I couldn't hear? Were he and Anakin in cahoots? Were they plotting against me? The Force assured me I was safe; at least for now, but I couldn't help wonder and worry a little. Paranoia often plagued me – at least when I was here on Coruscant.
I fought the urge to pace while waiting for Anakin's appearance and leaned against the balustrade overlooking the city. This was one of the few places in this building which brought me some solace from my troubling thoughts.
My struggles were interrupted by the entrance of Anakin, who came out and leaned against the balcony, though facing the opposite direction. I waited for him to speak, but he just stood there like a statue, staring back at the building.
"What was that all about?" I asked him after realizing he wasn't going to say anything.
"That?" he answered too nonchalantly for my comfort. "Master Sidious wanted more details. He thinks we're lying to him."
I couldn't help but blow a scornful sound out into the night sky. "He always thinks that. What did you tell him?"
"The truth, which makes me wonder as well. And I'm not just saying this because Master Sidious brought it up, but why did you halt the attack? We should've destroyed the entire city, not leave half of them to reorganize and cause us more trouble. We had a right to eliminate every last one of them, but you insisted we let them be. Why is that?"
Anakin's words troubled me because lately, I'd been asking myself those same questions. Only recently had I been dealing with attributes unbecoming of a Sith Lord. Sympathy, empathy, mercy, kindness. None of these traits were worthy of my time or effort, but they kept bubbling up to the surface – coming to light at about the same time as that damn voice.
Maybe I was losing my mind. Regardless, I couldn't explain any of this to Anakin. He wouldn't understand and would most likely report me to Sidious, who wouldn't hesitate to relieve me of my duties and then my head.
Instead, I formulated an excuse which I hoped would suffice. At least for now. "I wanted to leave an example. Ryloth can still be an asset to the Empire, but only if they're taught obedience. I believe they learned a lesson and we shouldn't have any more problems with them. And besides, some of the best pleasure workers are Twi-Lek. You have to agree to that."
Anakin nodded but still seemed troubled. "I understand, but I'm not the one you have to worry about. Master Sidious has suspicions about your loyalty. Don't give him any more reasons to doubt you. I've kinda gotten used to having you around and besides, you're decent in a fight."
So that was it. Master Sidious suspected I was losing some of my edge – my connection to the Dark Side. That just meant I had to prove myself, didn't it? On our next mission, I would do just that: Show no mercy. Wherever Sidious sent us next would pay double the price. Not fair, I know, but being fair wasn't the Sith way, and I would do better to remember that.