Disclaimer: All rights belong to Disney, George Lucas, and all the men and women that created the Star Wars movies, books, and comics. I take no credit, and I do not mean to break any copyright rules. This is simply a work of fiction made for enjoyment. No money is being made. The cover art image belongs to peanutbutterroastedchestnuts. tumblr .com (remove the spaces)
Rating: T for violence, disturbing imagery, and dark themes
Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait. Both my beta and I have been extremely busy with school (exams are the worst). Anyway, I hope this chapter answers some of your questions
Chapter 10
Outer Rim Territories, Unknown Sector, Unknown Region, 39 BBY
Jelucan has to be the most dismal planet I've ever stepped foot on. Located far from Coruscant - far from any other planet, to be precise - this is a planet far worse than Jakku or Tatooine or even Hoth.
The jagged, mountainous landscape seems to encourage the chilly air that flies around me. This is the home of exiled Humans and the native Muunyaks, pack animals enslaved to carry the exiles' belongings and to be sheared for their wool. A sad, dismal life to match the mood of the planet. Or maybe to reflect it.
"Are you sure this is where Qui-Gon said Cad would be?" I ask from the doorway of the starship, reluctant to leave the warmth of the interior. "This is where sad people go to meet other sad people and die." A place I could call home, I think to myself wryly.
"These are the coordinates; I double-checked," Obi-Wan repeats, coming up behind me. "Let's go. We should try and capture him before Qui-Gon gets back."
"I don't think this is a good idea. I'll be useless in a fight," I say, lifting up my bandaged hands limply to prove my point.
"Use the Force," Obi-Wan replies, stepping past me onto the snow-covered ground.
"It's easier when you can move your hands," I mutter, but I follow him. The ship's door closes behind us, leaving us in the cold. The saddest thing is that I can't even pull up my hood to block the icy wind. "I'm so going to kill Bane," I comment as I struggle to try and use the Force without directing it with my hands. It doesn't go so well and just leaves me frustrated and freezing.
Obi-Wan makes a small motion with his first two fingers and my hood flies up. It makes me grouchier than ever the fact that he, a Jedi Padawan, is currently stronger and more able than I am. "We're not here to kill him. Our orders are to capture him and bring him into the Council, or interrogate him here, whichever works out better."
"Those are your orders," I mumble, kicking a rock as we continue our hike. "Sith don't take orders from Jedi." My argument doesn't have much heart behind it; it's hard to care when you're surrounded in such an apathetic place.
"My orders are also to neutralize you if you interfere in any way," he adds solemnly, though there's a hint of playfulness underneath the seriousness. It leaves me to wonder if he actually would kill me or capture me if I tried something.
"Oh, so scary, Obi-Wan. I'm trembling in my boots. You know, if I thought you actually could take me down, then I wouldn't be here."
"Except, as I recall - " He pauses deliberately, " - you couldn't seem to pull up your hood without help," he points out, a ghost of a smile on his face.
He seriously needs to tone down the sass. If I had my powers, I would teach him a lesson. "No thanks to you. Speaking of which, where were you when Bane was kicking your master's butt and I had to sacrifice myself to save him from being decapitated?" A bit exaggerated, I know, but hey, that's me.
"You're just jealous that I can give it right back at you," he replies, and I have to admit, he's not wrong. "And I was retrieving my lightsaber. It fell off my belt when I was climbing up, and Qui-Gon ordered me to get it before joining the fight. I was a little late getting back to the battle."
An image flashes in my head. There's an older Obi-Wan Kenobi, still a Padawan, but older. He's on the metal surface, lying as though he'd just been thrown. He gets up, jogging back towards a fight...he doesn't make it in time. There's a flash of red and Qui-Gon is falling to the ground, a burning hole in his chest…
Shaking the vision away, I bring myself back to the present, knowing nothing good can come out of mentioning that image. We walk silently for a few minutes, a sparse village in front of us. There are a few measly fires burning, and some ramshackle tents erected, but no people in sight yet. Some other strange structures that I can't identify lay around in the snow.
"What did you see?" The young Jedi asks, giving me a sideways look.
"Nothing." Stupid Jedi senses.
"I've noticed you have a distant look in your eyes every time you receive a vision and then you grow silent." I don't respond, and he looks away. No one else has noticed the little tell-sign before. I suppose there's a reason I tend to stay away from people who are unnaturally observant.
"Would you be all rainbows and sunshine if you caught glimpses of death and destruction?" I question, trying to keep my tone light.
"Point taken," he admits, and the silence returns, although this time it's a comfortable quiet. We approach the edge of the village, and yet no one stirrs. "I have a bad feeling about this," he remarks, his hand drifting to rest on the top of his lightsaber.
"Me too. Let's fan out and search." Steeling myself against the pain, I lift my hand slightly, just enough to summon the Force to open tent flaps. There are piles of blankets and spilled food as if the homes had been evacuated quickly. The situation becomes clear soon enough. The fires are dying embers because whoever is supposed to feed them has disappeared. The strange structures we had seen are actually destroyed remnants of huts.
Obi-Wan and I meet up in the middle of the ruined village. "Where did they all go?" I wonder, scanning the area. There are no tracks, and it appears as if they'd deserted recently and suddenly.
"Cad's employer might be an exile here. He's a powerful person if he knew about the Heart of the Guardian and the Mantle of the Force. Maybe he forced them all out."
"For what purpose, though?" I question. Then it hits me. "It's bait. Cad would have told him he was being followed. Then he kidnapped the entire town knowing that the Jedi were in pursuit."
"Those people are in danger," Obi-Wan realizes, turning and starting to jog away. "We need to find them!"
"Stop. We need to think this through." I walk up to his side, gazing up at the mountains in the distance. "They're expecting Jedi to come after the people. What would a Jedi do in this situation?"
"We would track the criminals down and try to negotiate with them. If things don't work, we'd turn to aggressive negotiations," Obi-Wan recites. His creativity really could use some work.
"And what if they use the people as hostages? He'll hold a weapon to the person's head and send his minions to capture you. Then he'll use you as a hostage to get what he wants from the Jedi Council."
"The Council won't trade those artifacts for a Jedi," Obi-Wan states. "When we join the Order we go in knowing our lives are constantly at stake." He pauses. "How do you know how this is going to turn out? Did you see it in my future?"
My eyes roll dramatically. "Of course I didn't see this in your future. You need to let that go. I'm not going to tell you. The only reason I know their plan is because I'm a Sith and it's exactly what I would do."
"Good to know for future reference," Obi-Wan mutters to himself.
"What I'm trying to get at," I say, ignoring his comment, "is that they're expecting a Jedi. We're not going to give them a Jedi."
"You're going to be the one to go in and confront them? Great plan, especially since you can't even put up your hood."
"One, roll back the attitude. Two, you really need to let that go. And three, I don't need to be able to use the Force. You are going to use the Force but I'm going to pretend it's me." We're approaching the base of the mountains now, and if I search the Force using my mind I can sense a lot of fear coming up ahead. "They're in the valley."
"You want me to hide nearby and use the Force while you stick your Sith image in front of them and do the talking," he guesses. "It's actually a good plan. The only thing missing is information. We should figure out who Bane's employer is before we march right in."
"Exactly. We'll do some scouting before we finalize the plan." Only one problem - the mountain terrain is hard enough to get through with all limbs working, and I currently can't use either of my arms. Maybe I can use Force jumps. It'll be painful, but it's the only way.
We scout out the area for a while, hiking and jumping and getting through the tough terrain. When we get to the top we find a good hiding place where we have a clear view of the valley.
All the villagers are huddled in a fenced-in area like cattle, children and adults. There's a large ring of fire, and inside is a large blob…
"Jabba the Hutt?" I question, trading a perplexed look with Obi-Wan. He frowns and looks closer.
"It's a member of the Hutt family, but not Jabba," he finally answers. "One of their distant relatives. They're famous crime lords, but they're not stupid enough to hire a bounty hunter to steal Jedi artifacts."
"What would he even use them for?" My head spins for a few moments as I try to think things through. "Unless…"
"The Sith want their artifacts back," Obi-Wan concludes. "Your master, I mean. Earlier you even said you believed those crystals belong to the Sith, not the Jedi. But why does he want them now after all those years of being in our vaults?"
"He's looking for a new apprentice," I answer, my focus on the scene in front of us. "Maybe he thought that if he had those artifacts the Sith could finally beat the Jedi. But he has a plan in action already, so I don't know why he wants these."
"You know his plans," Obi-Wan says, his attention on me. "Why won't you tell us who he is or what he's doing?"
His accusation cuts through me. I turn to him sharply, my eyes narrowed. "There may not be any lost love between my master and I, but I promised myself to the Sith. Just because I help you and your master on occasion doesn't mean I'm going to betray the person who made me powerful. I owe him my life, and I'm loyal. He told me his plans in confidence, and I'm not going to tattle just because he hates me."
"Last night you said I was the only one who hadn't abandoned you," he argues. "That means at some point, he did. You don't have to be loyal to him if he wasn't loyal to you."
"I can't believe you're using that against me," I reply, shocked and hurt. I was drunk, and I'd thought we would just pretend that the whole conversation never happened. Now he's using it to try and guilt me. I can't believe this. "He saved me. Gave me everything I wanted. I left him, not the other way around. You don't know anything!"
"He saved you? Well, he's hunting you down now. It's pretty obvious, the way you're always running from planet to planet. We can help you. If you tell us who he is we can take him down and you won't have to worry about him catching and killing you anymore. Just trust the Jedi Order!" His eyes are pleading, but he doesn't understand.
"I don't trust anyone, especially the Jedi Order. They sit in their chairs and debate things over until they're blue in the face but they never take action! And my master can't die."
"Why not?" Obi-Wan demands.
"Because if he dies then the Jedi would come after me!" I exclaim.
"You pose no threat to us."
"If my master is destroyed, then I am the new Sith master. I would have to train a new apprentice, and then I would be a threat. You're forgetting the Rule of Two. There always has to be two Sith, no more, no less. I'm only safe because my master lives." The statement is quiet and full of acceptance. Obi-Wan sighs and shakes his head.
"Why did you get mixed up in all this in the first place?" he asks softly.
"I was nine. I had just seen my two siblings commit suicide. My mother abandoned me, and my father...don't even get me started on him. I was scared and alone and weak. I lived in the lower levels of Coruscant, breathing in toxins and always checking my shadow for fear of all the criminals looking to prey on young children like me. I had nowhere to go, and I was lost. He found me and offered me everything I wanted. I had no other choice. No one else cared about me." It's hard to swallow past the lump in my throat. This conversation should have ended long ago. Obi-Wan doesn't press, though, which is a relief.
"Let's finalize our plan now that we know what we're up against," he suggests after a long and tense silence. The change in topic is welcomed.
"Good idea."
Core Worlds Region, Coruscant Subsector, Corusca Sector, Unknown System, 49 BBY
It's been two weeks. My mother hasn't returned. I overheard the landlord mentioning something about a wild party that went overboard not far from here. Apparently a bunch of people overdosed. It wouldn't surprise me if my mother was among them.
Food ran out two days ago. The landlord slipped a notice under the door yesterday. I'm leaving now. Even if my mother didn't die, she obviously isn't ever coming back. I have to accept that I'm on my own now. I need to leave here to find work or to scavenge for food. I'm already weak, both physically and mentally. Having so much stored up hate and anger wears one out.
It's scary in the Underworld. There are druggies smoking in every corner, and alcoholics passed out on every sidewalk. There's no work to be found for someone as young and weak as I am. I've given up. There's a nice, drug-free dark corner that I found, and now I'm sitting here, ready to die. I feel lost and broken. Is this how Xavier and Lillea felt before they died?
As I'm lying here, wearing the same black coat I wore to Xavier's funeral, the dark hood pulled up to cover my face, I hear footsteps. Maybe it's a kind stranger who will put me out of my misery before I suffer any longer.
"I feel so much hate and anger," a coarse and deep voice says. Opening my eyes, I catch sight of an ugly fellow wearing long black robes. The shadows seem to bend to him, and I can sense power radiating from his being. "You sense it, don't you?" he asks.
"You're powerful," I reply hoarsely, my lips cracked and bleeding. My heartbeat races; he really is going to kill me. Suddenly I'm not sure if I want to die or not.
"You want power, don't you? You don't want to be weak, like your mother, or cowardly, like your father?"
"How - how do you know that?" I swallow down a dry throat. Maybe I'm hallucinating all of this. Maybe I'm already dead.
"I am powerful. And I can make you powerful like me. You can be the strongest person in the galaxy. No one will know about your past. Just take all that anger and pain and hate and channel it," he instructs.
"How do I do that?"
"I'll teach you," he offers. "Come with me, and I'll teach you everything I know. Your days of being weak are over."
"What's the catch?" I question, numbly pushing myself up. My weak legs stumble a bit, but I'm up. I'm alive.
"There is no catch. I want you to be my student. The Force is strong with you. I can sense it. Follow me." He turns and walks away, and I don't even hesitate before following. I have no other choice. There is no one else who cares for me, no one who even knows I exist. How he knows me, I have no idea, but I can't pass up on this offer. I have absolutely nothing to lose.
"Who are you?" I question, struggling to catch up to him. His red-rimmed eyes grin down at me.
"I'm Darth Sidious."
Outer Rim Territories, Unknown Sector, Unknown Region, 39 BBY
"Great hostage situation you have here," I remark casually, striding into the open. My bound wrists are hidden underneath the long, flowing sleeves of my black robe, and my lightsaber is attached to my belt in visible view. They have no way of telling that I'm injured.
"Who are you?" the Hutt cousin asks, both him and the Duros bounty hunter showing shocked surprise.
"She's a Sith," Cad hisses. "She was with the Jedi earlier on Gorse."
"We were expecting Jedi, not her!" the Hutt exclaims. "You said the Jedi would be the ones to come. Why is she here?"
"I don't know. But you need to calm down, Yamma. We can still make this work," Bane soothes the slug-like creature. "If she is friends with the Jedi, then maybe we can bargain her instead."
"Hello? 'She' is standing right here!" I call out. The captured villagers are all looking my way. I know I'm commanding all the attention with my look and confidence - not that there's any other distractions on this dump. "And for your information, I'm not friends with the Jedi."
"Then why were you fighting with them against me?" the bounty hunter inquires. "That seems like an alliance at the least."
I roll my eyes dramatically. "Please. Those crystals are Sith artifacts, not Jedi ones. Befriending the Jedi was my way of getting the information on you. Then I fought you for possession of the lightsabers." The lie is hard to get out, since I hadn't told Obi-Wan about it. What if he thinks I'm telling the truth and he deserts the plan, deciding to take advantage of my weakness to kill me instead of capturing Cad Bane?
"You could have let that Jedi master die, but instead you saved him. That doesn't sound like something a Sith would do."
"Everything I do has a purpose," I say, dismissing his accusation. "The Jedi managed to take back the crystals, thanks to your incompetence and you injuring me. We could have worked together, you know. But now I have to kill you."
"You're still injured," Cad argues, but his voice holds doubt. "You couldn't have healed that fast."
"You underestimate me," I answer, my eyes narrowed. This is it. This is where our plan either works or falls apart. Hopefully Obi-Wan can tell that my earlier claims are all lies to disarm this situation.
Cad pulls a Blaster pistol from his belt and fires it towards me. I close my eyes, trusting Obi-Wan to use the Force to protect me.
Time seems to slow down, and I feel my mouth drops to a frown. Did I just admit to trusting the Jedi Padawan? I never trust people. So why now?
Because I need him. The realization strikes me hard and quickly. I need him because I'm injured and helpless. And if I can't trust him to do his part, then I might as well have died on Gorse.
Time resumes as normal, and I feel the lightsaber in my belt rise up on its own, turn one blade on, and angle itself to reflect the blast. Both Yamma and Bane pause in shock, and I step forward, channeling my most evil look. The crime lord and his bounty hunter both take a step back, fear in their eyes. They think I'm using the Force simply by thinking, and that terrifies them.
"You will let these people go," I order. "You will leave this place and travel to a distant planet."
"I will let these people go…" Yamma repeats, under the influence of the Force. Both he and Cad walk over to the pen, open the gates, and step back to let the poor exiled villagers leave. They run, several daring to look back in wonder.
Then the two criminals walk away, probably to their starships. When they're well out of sight, Obi-Wan emerges from his hiding spot not far away. "It actually worked," he muttered to himself. "I don't believe it."
"Let's go," I say in answer, turning around. "We have to tell Qui-Gon his assistance is no longer required." My voice is dull and muted; I'm still haunted by the fact that I had trusted my life to a Jedi. And a Padawan, at that.