CHAPTER 13
"No... no, please..."
The farmer stumbled backwards, gray hair hitting one of the parked speeders as he fell to the grass. He groaned, clutching his head as a shadow fell over him.
"Tear his legs off, leave the rest for the kath hounds."
The voice was low, coming from somewhere behind the speeder. The farmer looked up from the ground as something fluid began to push through his fingers. A mass of fading blue stood above him, edges of the sun shining behind its cyclopian head like a crown of light.
"No." The voice behind the helmet responded. "We're going to lash him to the back of the speeder. Fifty credits is a lot of money for a nobody dirt farmer. I think he's bought himself a ride."
"N-no!" The old man tried to bring himself to his knees. "A-anything, take... take my wife and children instead."
"You miserable old fart." The Mandalorian pressed an armored boot to his shoulder and kicked him to the ground again.
"That was so pathetic I think I'm actually going to go out of my way to make you suffer."
The old farmer swallowed, feeling the sole of the boot press gently against his windpipe. The blaster carbine hovered above his face, pressure of the boot slowly increasing as the voice behind the Mandalorian helmet continued to speak.
"I think the ride is just going to be the start." It said. "I think we're going to ride back to your little mud hole and you're going to watch while I take you up on your offer.
Then, you sniviling kath hound, the real pain is going to star-"
That was as far as the voice got before the pressure on the farmer's throat was gone, along with the boot that was applying it. He heard screaming, an explosion... two explosions... a speeders engine roaring... no more screaming. He forced himself to his knees, blood from his wound now flowing down half his face. He felt heat pressing against him, and through his clear eye saw the trail of speeder debris and the pillar of flame where the Mandalorians had parked their makeshift convoy. Bodies were scattered across the field, armored Mandalorians and their ill-equipped Duros allies. Most of the armor was dented inwards in several places, deep enough that anything hitting them that hard could have sent them into shock from concussive force alone. The farmer struggled to his feet, hand held against his bleeding head. His lip quivered as he fell again to his weathered knees and began rehearsing a story that would make him a legend.
"That was impressive." Canderous said, returning the last unused thermal detonator to its pouch. "I don't think I've ever seen a drive by punch."
"Not a force punch to an armored head at ninety seven kilometers, I imagine." The Stranger looked behind him as the speeder cleared the last of the hills, the site of their massacre now far behind them. "I kind of hope, anyway."
"I was wondering on Taris, but I never got a chance to ask..." Canderous glanced at the Stranger in the driver's seat beside him. For the first time, Ordo really looked at the Jedi who'd rescued him and a motly crew of Republic celebrities from an exploding planet. The Stranger was younger than him, maybe Onassi's age but twice as... what was the word? Womanly. Face wasn't rugged or chisled enough to be a man's, let alone a warriors. Yet here the Stranger was, easily one of the most fearsome Jedi Canderous had met in a long while. Almost incredibly so. The speeder hit bump, and the sun of Dantooine caught in the short flow of the Stranger's raven hair. His eyes were bright, almost yellow. Unnatural, in humans. Usually a sign of disease. The Stranger's skin was pale, also unnaturally so. Like he'd spent his entire life away from the sunlight. All of this Canderous thought in the two seconds pause he'd taken to finish his sentence. "...what are you going to do after you kill him?"
"Who?" The stranger glanced at him. "Oh, Malak? I don't know. I might not even get a chance anymore, it's gotten complicated."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"Yes, well, to be honest the murderous rage is starting to wear off anyway. Malak needs a good thump, maybe a few of them, but it'd kind of a waste to just kill him." The Stranger swerved away from one of the solitary trees dotting the fields, his yellow eyes watching Canderous rather than the path ahead.
"That doesn't sound like any Sith I've ever met." Canderous asked.
"Oh, you've met every Sith?" The Stranger asked, swooping past another rock and raising an eyebrow at the Mandalorian.
"Of course not." Canderous admitted. "But I've met my share, and for a high ranking Sith you're... different."
"Should I put on a mask and act all spooky? Or foam at the mouth and scream declarations of murderous intent?"
"That sounds more like a Sith, yeah."
"Adorable." The speeder hit a narrow ramp of a hill, sailing through the air and landing hard, the Stranger making a deft recovery and continuing through the fields even faster than before.
The temple ruins came suddenly into view, enormous stacks of moss covered stone looking out over the empty fields, the dead king of grass. The speeder slowed to a halt, bits of an ancient stone road breaking through the grass beneath them. Before it stopped, the Stranger leapt over the side, landing deftly on the uneaven ground.
"What are we supposed to do out here, anyway? You never said." Canderous asked, stepping out of the speeder.
"Halt a disturbance in the force." The Stranger said, moving towards the temple. "From what I can sense, and I can sense a lot because I'm pretty awesome and Jedi are predictable, we're dealing with a padawan who got a little angry at the mean old Jedi Order and decided to come out here and sulk."
There was a low growling in the distance as the Stranger paused, a half dozen kath hounds circling from behind the temple.
"Oh no." The Stranger said, holding a gloved hand to his mouth. "Kath hounds."
Canderous strained, lifting his heavy blaster from the back and slinging it over his shoulder.
"I'm on it." His words were cut off almost immediately by the whir of the charging power cells and the sudden, unmistakable, world shattering sound of a Mandalorian heavy repeating blaster . The ground around the ruined temple exploded, waves of dust and showering debris fed by the constant torrent of raw energy. Pieces of stone, dirt and kath hound rained down around the Stranger, smaller pieces bouncing off his head as he frowned, covering his hair with a hand.
"ENOUGH!"
The shout cut through the roar of the weapon, now slowly turning into a dull whine as Canderous released his finger from the trigger. Dust drifted past them as high as the temple stairs, spreading across the field as bits of stone began to creak, then groan, a single stone pillar falling forward from the temple ruins and disappearing into the dust. A shape emerged at the top of the stairway, masked by shadow and poised aggressively in the ruined doorway. The Stranger squinted through the dust, eyes suddenly widening.
A red blade pierced suddenly down from the figure's side, glowing fiercely behind the smoke. Canderous adjusted his weapon, raising it towards the top of the temple steps as the figure raised an empty hand, the air around Canderous splintering and reforming into a physical, almost crystalline prison.
"I will be your doom." The voice was a woman's, its accent heavy... its feeling cold. A Cathar, it had to be. He'd know the sound anywhere. Clever, of the Council.
Surprisingly clever.
He might even compliment them for having the foresight to set this up.
"Yes, this is where I meet my match." He strolled towards the temple through the dust, gesturing around the grove in a grand fashion. "Struck down at long last by my arch nemesis, the great Sith Lord, Darth Kitty Cat. The Mandalorians did the galaxy a favor when they glassed your world."
There was a roar, an enraged yowl as the sith shot from the moss-covered doorway with a lightning flourish into the air, saber drawing back for the killing blow. As her fingers clenched tightly around the hilt and her arm began to swing forward, the unarmed stranger simply stared. She was faster than he could comprehend. To the human, she was still standing on the top of the stairs, still-
She slammed suddenly into an invisible wall.
Revan flicked his wrist, sending the Cathar crashing into the grass at his feet. He shoved his hand forward, shooting her back up the steps. She tore through them, stone and dust falling from the smooth trail behind her. She continued flying until she struck the stone archway of the temple door, cracking it like glass before falling to her starting part at the top of the stairs. The silver of her lightsaber hilt flashed in the Dantooine sun for a moment before it landed in the gloved hands of the stranger. The red beam flashed forward.
"Hm." He swept it to the side. "Crystal's poorly focused."
The saber flashed, spun in a whirl of crimson light before stopping at the man's side.
"Hilt balance is off, but it's not bad for your first try."
The cathar groaned pushing herself onto her knees.
"What do you want from me?" She asked, bits of stone falling on her from the ceiling. The hilt of her saber struck her forehead without warning, bouncing off and rolling along the temple floor.
"Round two. Let's go."
She groaned, looking down at the stranger standing in the middle of the grove. Calm. Pale. When he attacked, she'd felt a sudden swell of power from him that there had been no trace of before. He was strong. She stood, body aching, and opened her hand as her saber hilt was flung from the floor into her palm. The red beam flashed as she shot downward, sliding along the groove she'd carved in the temple stairs. She focused her attention forward, gathering the force in front of her and holding it there like an invisible shield. He wasn't going to catch her off guard again. She pulled the saber back, left hand held in front of her as she prepared to leap off the trench's rapidly approaching end. When her front foot first hit soil she sprung upwards, blade slashing down across the empty air. She reared back, the force of her swing clearing away the lingering dust in front of her. She turned, instinctively, in time to see the stranger standing behind her.
The foremost stone column of the temple shattered as Juhani was thrown through it. The second column buckled and cracked at the midsection where she struck it, but did not shatter. She fell in a heap on the floor of the temple, bits of stone and dust following her. She coughed, barely able to pull herself to her knees.
"That was a force pull!" The voice was drifting up from the grove. "It's the opposite of a push. A push is what I did the first time. You'll learn all this stuff when you go to the Jedi Academy."
Juhani crawled to the doorway of the temple, propping her sitting form wearily up against its frame.
"I attended the academy here since before I can remember."
"Oh, man. Awkward." The stranger leaned against one of the still intact columns at the bottom of the stairs.
"I am a failure. I slew my master. Gave up everything to embrace the darkside. To embrace power... and now I find I lack even that."
"Yeah, you're pretty awful."
She turned her head, looking down at the Jedi.
"Why do you come here? To mock me?" She asked.
"That's probably going to be the best part, but no. The council asked me to clear a disturbance in the grove, so here I am." Juhani chuckled softly. "And now I am a pest to be cleansed. Why do you not finish your task?"
"Give me a minute, damn. You're awfully impatient to get face planted again."
"I would rather not draw out my end." Juhani leaned her head back against the doorway, closing her eyes. "I suppose, deep down, I always knew this is how it would end."
"Statistically, it's a pretty safe bet for most people to assume I'll off them, yeah." The man said.
Juhani opened her eyes, turning her head to again stare at the man leaning nonchalant at the foot of the stairway.
"...Who are you?"
"I'm the Mysterious Stranger."
Juhani forced herself onto her feet, grimacing and nursing what must have been a half dozen broken ribs.
"Stranger, then. I assume there is some reason, when you bested me so easily, that you have still not killed me yet."
"Yeah, that would be because I'm not going to kill you. I'm just going to do the next best thing and send you packing back to the Jedi academy."
"I can never go back. I slew Quatra... in anger... such a crime is unforgivable."
"Alright. First of all..." The stranger stepped away from the column, gesturing with his hands as he talked. "You, could never kill a Jedi Master. I mean, don't get me wrong, they're awful compared to any decent Sith but they're still like... up here." He raised a hand to chest height. "You? You're like... down here."
He lowered his other hand to his thigh.
"Well. Maybe... more like... here."
He crouched, bringing his hand to his knees.
"Secondly." He stood suddenly, pointing at the academy building just visible in the distance. "Unforgivable is not a word they understand. Naga Sadow could walk in there and they'd take him back in a heartbeat as long as he said he's sorry."
"But... Quatra..."
"Yeah, look, even if by some miracle of the force you managed to actually kill a Jedi Master, for real, then I can't think of a better safeguard against a you turning to the darkside again. I mean, you have screwed up. You have screwed up monumentally but you've got no incentive to go back to the darkside. Most Jedi end up turning because they've been so sheltered and conditioned to avoid it that they have no idea what it's actually like. So whenever they get their first taste of it they go completely crazy with the idea of how powerful it could make them, all the people look like ants, the galaxy is mine, blah blah blah and BAM Korriban's got a new student."
The stranger began walking up the shallow trench in the stairs towards Juhani.
"But you? You've already done it. You took the easy path. The cheater's path. The morally bankrupt path that was suppose to give you an edge, and what happened? What did you do with all your vaunted dark power in the face of a real Jedi?" The stranger stopped one stair below Juhani, staring up at her, face breaking into a knowing smile.
"You took three tons of rock to the face."
He reached up, hand outstretched.
"What's your name?" He asked.
She stared at his hand a moment before taking it.
"The Humbled Student."
