Chapter 23: Whispers of the Sith
Obi-Wan was out of breath and tired, sweat dripping down his face and soaking through his robes as he took step after step up the steep, jagged slopes of a red mountain, the diminutive Jedi Master riding comfortably on his back. At the base of the mountain was the Nightsister village, but Obi-Wan and Yoda had landed the ship on the opposite side of the Temple as to not disturb the warrior women. They were not headed for Talzin and her dark magic anyway; their goal, Yoda had informed him, was an ancient shrine at the top of the Mountain.
"No way," Kenobi grunted, hoisting Yoda up higher on his back, "is this a real part of Jedi training."
"What know you of training, hmm?" Yoda chuckled, three fingered hands tightly gripping the Jedi's shoulders. "Much bigger than you, Qui-Gon is. Carry him, you could not."
"Yeah, yeah, rub it in, why don't you..."
"Almost there, we are."
"I'm going to take of my clothes."
"Obi-Wan. Do not this."
"No, really, they are coming off." He unbuckled his belt, and Yoda deftly flipped off his shoulders when Kenobi shrugged his robe off. "It's hot, it's humid, and I've been climbing for three hours. I'm going to have to burn this robe." He pulled the light fabric of his undershirt over his head and neatly folded it all together. He felt the little Master's eyes on him, but he was too tired to care.
"Scars, you have, that before, you did not."
"Oh," Kenobi looked down at himself, deep scars covering his otherwise pale skin with the physical reminder of his failure of Athiss. "We were attacked on our first mission."
"Report this, Quinlan did not."
"It was pretty embarrassing. He was probably just covering for me." He didn't lie, it was embarrassing. That he had been so close to the Sith Lord, that he had seen him in the creature's mind, had heard him, only to lose it...he hated himself for that failure, and it wouldn't happen again. He was on the trail now, and he wouldn't lose it.
"Suffer for this mission, you have, Obi-Wan."
"It'll be worth it when the Sith are gone." He tucked his folded robes under his arm and knelt. "Come on, up you go." Yoda climbed up on his bare back, his three toed feet gripping his ribs as the Jedi stood and continued up the mountain. They went the rest of the way in silence, Obi-Wan comforted by the Master's calm. As he suspected, Yoda had nothing to fear from this place. Dathomir was steeped in the Dark Side, but with the Master clinging tightly to his back, Obi-Wan didn't feel the chill associated with the Dark Side at all, as if the Master was warding it away. Even in a place of oppressive darkness, it couldn't even get close to Yoda. Kenobi closed his eyes and felt within himself, and while he still felt the Dark Side deep within him, it was silent, waiting, patient.
They didn't get to the shrine at the top of the mountain for a few more hours, the time extended due to the mountain becoming increasingly difficult to climb, and Kenobi's own decreasing energy. The top was a welcome relief, and Obi-Wan staggered on the plateau, his legs unused to a flat surface. The shrine stood large and dark and ominous, twin statues resembling the warriors of the Nightsisters flanking the dark pit the shrine led in to. Yoda jumped off Obi-Wan's back, walking slowly toward the Shrine.
"Master, wait!" Kenobi was out of breath and worn out, but he suddenly felt the chill. Something powerful was in there. "I sense the Dark Side."
"Fear it, do you?"
"...yes, Master."
The Master chuckled. "Hurt us, the Dark Side cannot. Come." He didn't wait for the Jedi, he just shuffled inside the darkness. Cursing under his breath, Obi-Wan quickly followed. He walked as close to Yoda as he could; the darkness within the shrine seemed to recede before the little creature.
"Master, how did you know of this place?"
"A nexus of the Dark Side, this is. Powerful, are the Nightsisters, but not this powerful. Caused it, something else has."
Kenobi felt the darkness shift around him as if it was responding to the power of the Master, and he felt fear grip him; this was exactly what happened on Dromund Kaas. He knelt, closing his eyes and shaking, but Yoda did not move. He was clam, watching carefully as the darkness shifted and formed into a large, serpentine creature, eyes blazing yellow. Yoda looked up at it, unconcerned, and laid a hand on Obi-Wan's trembling shoulder. The creature reeled back, hissed, and lunged at the Jedi, but the Master extended his hand, and the serpent collided with an unstoppable force, hissing in rage and pain and darting away, glaring at the Master from the shadows.
"How...how did you-"
"Jedi, we are," Yoda said softly. "Touch us, the Dark Side cannot, if one with the Force, we are."
Obi-Wan felt his own darkness hitch inside him, rising up in opposition to the Master. It was there, it was present, and it had touched the young Jedi, had marked him and powered him, and Kenobi knew it had changed him. He looked to Yoda, though, and the darkness retreated, growling savagely, but it was all show; there was no threat of the Dark Side with the Master beside him.
The darkness twisted and reformed, the snake dissolving into the shadow of a robed woman, yellow eyes blazing behind a pale white mask. Yoda looked at her curiously. "Like your Temple, this is," the Master said softly.
"Yes. But there were more, they-"
"Hush, Obi-Wan. Know, I do."
The shadow floated closer, but stopped suddenly and hissed in frustration, unable to come closer to the Jedi. "Why have you come?" the feminine voice demanded.
"To learn." The Master tapped his stick on the ground. "Changed, the Sith have. In what way, we must know."
"Learn?" The shadow laughed, a beautiful, melodic, sinister thing, and Obi-Wan felt a chill run up his spine, the desire to stay tugging at his being. "Have you come to learn from the Sith, Jedi? Are you to be my new apprentice?" Every fiber in Obi-Wan's being screamed yes, begged to accept the invitation, but it was stopped suddenly, the feeling sucked out of him by a sudden rush in the Force.
"Dead, you are," Yoda drawled. "An apprentice, you cannot take."
"If I am dead, how can I be here before you?" The shadow drew closer, but not close enough.
"An illusion, you are, born from the Dark Side. Hurt us, you cannot." The shadow hissed and raged, howling through the Force itself, but it didn't draw closer, and through his anxiety, Obi-Wan could feel the calm control of the Master, the raw power of the Sith spirit, and he could feel that the specter, despite all it's power, couldn't stand against the Jedi Master. Slowly, his shaking stopped, and he rose to his feet, watching the spirit as it raged.
"Master, what can we possibly learn from this?"
"Patience, Obi-Wan." The Master held his hand out and he grasped the spirit with the Force, the writhing creature suddenly screaming, high-pitched and frantic as the Dark Side receded. When Yoda dropped his hand, the specter was diminished, crawling slowly upon the ground and much, much smaller than before. She may have been an imposing Sith Lord before, but now, the spirit was little more than a young girl. She crawled closer to the Master, closer than the robed woman managed to get, but still stopped a ways from the Jedi.
"What do you want?" the spirit asked, voice thin and frail.
"Feel the Dark Side, the Jedi can. But clouded, it has become. Sense the Sith, we cannot. Difficult it is, to see the Dark Side, when hidden, it has been."
"The Sith have changed," the little girl wheezed. "Once, we were many. Now, we are two. As many, we were strong. As two, we are stronger. As two, we hide. As two, we grow strong."
"Stronger, the Light is."
The spectral girl laughed. "It doesn't matter. The Light no longer knows the Dark. We have been driven to change so that we might survive our extinction. We have grown patient. We have grown powerful. When you know us, it will be too late."
Yoda sat, placing his three fingered hands on his knees, and, glancing about, eyes focusing on the deformed specter, Kenobi sat next to the Master. "Is this what you wanted, Master?" Obi-Wan whispered. "I can't see how this helps us."
"Feel the Force you must, Obi-Wan, and clear, it will become. Meditate on this, we must."
"...what, here?!"
"Nothing to fear from the darkness, there is." Obi-Wan's blue eyes darted about the darkness, watching it shift and turn and shift into different beasts and creatures, but no matter what it became, it stayed far, far away from the Jedi, the power of the Light easily holding off everything the Dark Side tried to throw at them. Despite the anxious pit in his stomach, Obi-Wan took comfort in the Master's calm and command, and he breathed deeply, closed his eyes and slipped into meditation with the Master.
As he eased his way into the Force, Obi-Wan could hear the darkness softly whisper "The Force shall set you free."
Two things came out of the Jedi's meditation on Dathomir. First, Yoda began to understand the shifting nature of the Dark Side in a way that he had never understood. The Sith were changing with the tides of the Dark Side, shifting and transforming like the shadows in the shrine to suit their needs, their situation, to continue to thrive. That was the danger of the Dark Side. The Jedi always saw it as seductive, as a way to greater power, but it was not simply that. It was seductive, yes, but power was not the only motivator to give in to the Dark Side. This made things more difficult, more dangerous for the Jedi, who had based their understanding of the Dark Side on the Sith Lords of Old, and that reality had been dead for thousands of years.
The second thing to come out of this was a sense of understanding for Obi-Wan. Like all Jedi, he had been told that the Light was stronger than the Dark, and he didn't believe it. His own use of the Dark Side was all the proof he needed to know that darkness was stronger, but sitting with Master Yoda for all that time had shown him otherwise. The Jedi were just as strong, if not stronger, and he knew that, given enough time, he could become just as strong as the Jedi Masters. The time he had spent in meditation with Yoda had strengthened him, bolstered his defenses, and by the time they left, Obi-Wan did not fear the Dark Side, did not feel the pull of the darkness within him, but he did hear a nearly inaudible buzzing in the back of his mind, softly whispering to him. Master Yoda controlled the darkness, commanded it, and it obeyed. Obi-Wan wanted that, and to get it, he'd have to dive deeper into his studies
The third thing, which was much less important, was that they left Quinlan Vos in a state of frantic panic.
"Two days!" he howled, chasing after Obi-Wan as he went to his room, bare chest and back covered in dirt and scrapes and sweat. "Two days I was left waiting here!"
"I didn't think we were gone that long."
"Lost in the Force, you were, Obi-Wan."
"You think?!" Quinlan reeled on the Master. "Master Yoda, I understand the need for...whatever it is you did. But two days!"
"Important, the task was."
"Honestly, Quinlan, you're starting to sound like me."
Quinlan howled in frustration and stomped down the hall, punching the console and entering his room, the door sliding swiftly closed behind him. Yoda chuckled. "Worried, your friend is."
"I know. I'll fix it."
Yoda smiled. "Return to Coruscant, I must, to share with the Jedi what I have learned."
Obi-Wan nodded, bowing deeply. "Thank you for all your help, Master. I feel much better."
"Strong, you are, and more grounded, you have become. Forget not what you have learned. Remember, Obi-Wan. A part of all living, is the Dark Side. Learnt to control it, master it, reject it, you must."
"Of course." He bowed. "May the Force be with you, Master."
"And with you, Obi-Wan." Yoda nodded his head and left, shuffling down the hall to his own ship, and Obi-Wan shut his door and made his way into the shower, washing two days of dust and sweat from his aching body.
It took Quinlan less than a minute to throw the doors open, brown eyes narrowed at the shocked man in the shower.
"Kenobi, you- "
"Learn to kriffing knock, Quinlan!" The Kiffar found himself Force pushed with such ferocity that he struck the far wall of Obi-Wan's room, the metal creaking and groaning as it bent. He slid down the wall onto the floor in a crumpled heap, resigned to die on that spot. He sighed after a moment and opened his eyes, and was met with Kenobi's swiftly tapping foot, arms crossed and a towel wrapped around his lean waist. "See what you did to my wall?"
"Me?" The Kiffar jumped to his feet. "Me?! You pushed me!"
"Only because you didn't knock! If you knocked ever, we wouldn't be having this problem!"
"Two days, Obi!"
"Master Yoda said not to worry until three days had passed."
"I thought he was being...mystical and dramatic!" Obi-Wan rolled his eyes as he pulled on a new set of robes. "You know how the Masters can be! Always talking all cryptic and in riddles."
"Really Quinlan, worrying doesn't suit you." He patted his tattooed cheek, used the Force to correct the dent in the wall, and left the room for the cockpit, the Kiffar following close on his heels. "Can you leave the anxiety to me? I'm the one that's uptight."
"I just don't like being left behind!" Quinlan crossed his arms and fell into his chair, watching Kenobi type in the new coordinates and push the accelerator, speeding off toward the hyperspace route. "I wanna go on adventures to Sith Shrines! This is the second one I've missed."
Kenobi smirked, leaning back in his chair. "Honestly, you're like a child."
"Where are we going?" Before Obi-Wan could answer, the Kiffar's eyes lit up. "Obi-Wan! We should go to Mandalore!"
"...what."
"Mandalore is close, isn't it! We should go!" He smiled slyly, leaning in close to the other Jedi. "They have a lovely port and lots of bars."
"We aren't going drinking again, Quin."
"Why not!"
"Because last time, I woke up with two girls that I didn't know after a night I don't remember! That isn't fun, Quinlan!"
"Oh, baby, I'm sorry. Let me make it up to you, we can go drinking and you can have drunken sex you do remember."
"...that's the best idea I've ever heard."
"...really?!"
"No, Quinlan!" Kenobi thrust the accelerator forward, and engaged the hyperdrive, and the Kiffar grabbed the seat just as the ship made the jump, his body nearly flying to the back of the ship with the sudden movement.
"You can't avoid a conversation like that again, I learned from the first time, you little brat!" The ship eased into the speed of hyperspace, and Quinlan sighed, settling into his chair. "Didn't we talk about letting go?"
"We did." Kenobi swiped his fingers over the console, bringing up the information he had been gathering over the course of their mission. "That isn't how I let go."
Quinlan rolled his eyes. "If that's not how you let go, then what's the problem? You stay in control, you don't get attached, you have experiences."
"If that's not how I let go, then what's the point?"
"You have a girl on Mandalore. Let's go see her!" Kenobi tensed, and Quinlan regarded him carefully. "Look, Obi-Wan, if you like this girl, then- "
"I can't, Quin. I don't like this girl, I love her, and that isn't going away." Obi-Wan sighed, staring intently at his data, the information distracting him from the subject. "I don't want to deal with that kind of pain. She certainly doesn't want to see me, and seeing her will hurt."
"...are you worried about falling to the Dark Side?" The sharp blue eyes shot to him and glared at him with disdain, but the Kiffar held his ground. "I mean it. Are you worried that being with her will lead you to the Dark Side?"
"Don't be stupid, Quinlan. I wouldn't fall for something so...undignified."
"So what's the harm in being with her?"
"It's against the Code, Quinlan!" Obi-Wan cleared his research. He obviously wasn't going to get anything done. "I am trying to better myself. I am trying to be a great Jedi, because one day, I'm going to sit on the Council, and I don't want to be like Qui-Gon!" He was holding his breath, blue eyes wild, and he sat back, breathing deeply and running his hands over his eyes. "Sorry. Sorry..."
"...wanna have sex with me then?"
Kenobi burst out laughing, all the tension suddenly released. "Not today, but thank you."
"So where are we actually heading?"
"Eos." Quinlan arched his eyebrow. "One of your lava planets, Quin. I cross-referenced your list with mine, and two planets match up."
"Can we please stop by a port!" Kenobi just glared at him as he got out of his seat, stretched, and headed down the hall.
"We'll be in a port when we refuel." He could hear the Kiffar cursing as he entered his room, silence following as the door shut. With a sigh, he settled on his bed, eyes closed and focused on the Force. His time with Yoda had helped a great deal. He had learned much about the nature of the Force, the strength of the light, but Obi-Wan felt...incomplete. Breathing deeply, he reached inside himself, felt his frustration, his anger, the feelings of betrayal he always carried with him, and he felt the Dark Side stir, growling to life and he felt the familiar rush of pleasure that came with the flow of power. This was how he released. Quinlan would not understand, but it was ultimately the same as the Kiffar's release with alcohol and sexual pleasure.
He began to feel balanced and whole as the Dark Side filled him, slowly, controlled, just enough to feel the power roll in him, just enough for his body to burn with the pleasure that came from the release of emotions. He knew Master Yoda would disapprove, but there was time to meditate on what he had said as well. There wasn't any reason he couldn't do both, especially not when a small, smooth voice, just barely a whisper echoed in his mind without end. It had started in the cave on Dathomir, persisted through his meditation, and now, in the silence of his room two days after it began, he couldn't ignore it any longer.
The Force shall set me free.
He believed it as he sat there. The release of his emotions was liberating, the pleasure he got from doing so a reward for complying with the whisper. He wouldn't do this often, he promised himself. After all, he wanted the power that Yoda possessed, the strength to make the Dark Side bend, but he wouldn't have that if he submitted to the whims of the Dark Side. But Quinlan was also right; release was necessary, and this would be his.
The Force shall set me free.
The Jedi Code made him a master of control, but it also chained him. He knew this, and never really minded it, but now, the very idea conflicted with the smooth voice in his mind. The Jedi served the Republic, a system that promised freedom to those within it, and yet, the Jedi served. The Jedi life was a life of servitude, and nobody seemed to mind. The idea sparked a new fire at the heart of the Jedi, rage smouldering inside him, and he quickly tightened the control on his emotions before they consumed him.
The Force shall set me free.
Obi-Wan knew he wasn't free, knew that by containing his emotions, he was tightening his own chains. He didn't fear the Dark Side. Yoda had taught him there was nothing to fear. The Sith spirit made him fear the Dark Side, fear of that which sat within him, but that fear was gone now. He would be strong. He would have the power that Yoda did. And he would be strong enough to feel the release of his emotions, knowing he could cage them if he needed to.
The Force shall set me free.
"Wonoksh Qyâsik nun. The Force shall set me free."
A few hours later found the Jedi on Eos, looking down from the cliff they were stationed on, lava flows running slow in a river beneath them. On the far bank was a factory. And in that factory, a droid army was being manufactured.
"On Eos, yes," Obi-Wan said softly, his com in his hand and the tiny image of Mace Windu floating before him. "I'm telling you, the factory is active. Quinlan has the microbinoculars, he's watching them being made."
"You are certain of this?" Windu asked, his face stern, brow furrowed in concentration.
"Certain, yes. They are being manufactured at an alarming rate. Quinlan, what are we at?"
"Roughly ten droids a minute. Want me to do the math?"
Obi-Wan grinned as the Kiffar walked over. "Knock yourself out."
Vos took the com. "Master Windu, we're looking at ten droids a minute. That's six hundred an hour, fourteen thousand four hundred a day."
"Quinlan, I can do basic math," Mace drawled, and Obi-Wan snatched the com back.
"That's over five million droids a year, Master. What could the Trade Federation want with that many droids? And, before you answer, let me remind you that they recently invaded Naboo."
"This factory isn't working at its full capacity either," Quinlan drawled. "The mechanics in there can easily double the output."
"This can't be the only droid factory owned by the Trade Federation either. I know they use the droids to protect their ships with their cargo, but even they don't use this many. This is an army."
Mace nodded. "Master Yoda told us about your vision, Kenobi, and it's starting to make sense. If you did see the future, then perhaps the war you foresaw involved this."
"Alright!" Quinlan grinned broadly. "We get to do it, right? We get to blow up the factory!"
Both Windu and Kenobi glared at the Kiffar. "You've been wearing Mandalorian armor too long, Quin," Kenobi drawled. "We can't just blow up our problems."
"Why not?"
"Because," Mace growled, "the destruction of a Trade Federation structure would cause huge problems in the Senate, especially with Nute Gunray's impending trial."
"If they are preparing for war, than that would just accelerate it, and the Republic can't win." Quinlan glared at Obi-Wan, but the Jedi brushed him off. "The Republic doesn't have a standing army, they would be crushed if it came to war, and there aren't enough Jedi to fight a war on our own."
Quinlan yawned. "So, Master Windu. What now?"
Mace crossed his arms, silently reviewing the footage the Jedi sent. "We cannot openly act against them." Both Jedi exchanged a look, but Mace held up a hand. "That doesn't mean we will do nothing. Are you two alright with continuing the mission?"
"Yes." The answer was in perfect unison, both Vos and Kenobi grinning broadly.
"Then you two will explore the worlds that are part of the Trade Federation, the Techno Union, the InterGalactic Banking Clan, and all their subsidiaries." Windu smirked when the Jedi's jaws dropped in disbelief. "The list you gave us, Kenobi, matches up with these organizations. If the Sith are interested, there must be a reason. Find out why."
"Yes, Master!"
"And, for the sake of the Force, boys, try not to draw too much attention to yourselves."
"Master Windu," Obi-Wan purred, a cocky expression on his face. "Subtlety is our speciality."
