"Should we help him, Captain?" Five-U asked Ford as they watched Ben and Vestara duel outside Hego Damask's bunker.
"I don't think we can," Ford replied simply. "If anything, we'll probably make things worse. Better to just watch and hope that Ben wins."
"And if the Sith wins?" Five-U asked nervously. "We'll have no way to get out of here before she slices us into spare parts!"
"Good thing Ben isn't going to lose then," Ford countered confidently.
"Well, I wish I had your confidence," was all Five-U said as he and the captain continued to watch the duel.
Indeed, one would think that Five-U's doubt would be unwarranted, as the viciousness of Ben's attacks drove Vestara back as she desperately fought to defend herself from being struck down; yet, even in her desperation to defend herself, she couldn't help but note a tinge of yellow coloring Ben's eyes. Inwardly, she smiled at this.
In his mind, Ben completely forgot all that his Jedi training taught him over the years of fighting the temptations that the dark side of the Force brought about. All he wanted to do was kill Vestara and avenge Jaina and Jag's losses. Never would it have ever crossed his mind that he would no doubt end up like his late cousin, Jacen, were he to successfully end his ex-girlfriend's life.
But for all the power he poured into his strikes against Vestara, there was a tradeoff with Ben's ability to fight, as his giving-in to his anger and hatred to his former love, for what she did to Jaina and Jag, was eroding his concentration. This allowed the Sith to take advantage of Ben's overall sloppiness from his strikes as she finally found the opportunity to stand her ground and parry his blade off to the side before elbowing him in the nose. The Jedi stumbled back from the attack, and before he could recover, Vestara launched a kick into his sternum that sent him flying back to the ground.
But Ben used his free hand to send out a Force wave that also knocked Vestara back to the ground, allowing himself ample time to leap to his feet and rush in to finish off his ex-girlfriend. However, he only managed to cut a deep furrow where her chest once was, as she had already rolled back over her shoulder and ended up in a crouch. She then blocked several more slashes intended to end her life before she allowed herself to collapse to her buttocks and swung out a leg to trip the Jedi backward.
The latter, though, saw the attack coming, so he flipped back a few meters and landed on his feet like a sand panther. This gave Vestara the precious few seconds she needed to leap to her feet and quickly block several incoming lightning bolts with her lightsaber. She weathered the storm of the Force-electricity before Ben cut it out and decided to rush her. But Vestara wasn't overwhelmed, as she was able to meet his next incoming strikes like the practiced Sith Lord she was. They traded several more strikes before she managed to spin through his defenses and launched a solid uppercut beneath his jaw. He fell to the ground again, but didn't lose momentum in combat as he kicked out both feet into Vestara's kneecaps.
The Sith screamed in pain as she collapsed toward Ben. And her agony only piled up when she fell straight on top of the blue blade that pierced her torso; only this time, she didn't seem to muster any strength to wail, as she felt that strength steadily erode into nothingness thanks to the burning heat of Ben's blade.
She was, however, able to look her ex-boyfriend straight in the eyes and smiled; a genuine, warm smile, not a malicious one that Sith were known for. Yet her dying words couldn't be more Sith.
"I'm glad... that I was finally... able to... get you to... embrace... the dark... Ben."
And when he knew that his former love was gone, leaving behind only the empty shell of her corpse still impaled on his blade, Ben knew, with a heavy heart, that he had revoked any claims of being a Jedi.
.
Luke streaked away from an exploding clawcraft he just destroyed when he suddenly felt a powerful surge in his heart. He initially feared that he was suffering from cardiac arrest for a moment, with a thought in the back of his mind telling him that dying from a heart attack in the middle of a space battle would be an embarrassing and demoralizing way for the Jedi Grand Master to die from. But after the moment came to pass, and the feeling was gone, Luke was able to determine what he just felt, even with a battle still raging around him.
Ben.
He knew he had just lost his boy.
But not to death. It was to something much, much worse.
.
He couldn't believe what he just did. After all these years, of avoiding the temptations that his late cousin Jacen tried so hard to force him to give in to, Ben had finally fallen to the dark side of the Force when he murdered Vestara. He didn't do it to protect himself, as Vestara had intended to take him alive; sure, she intended to capture him, but he was the one who was aggressive in the duel, not her. He was the one who had been coerced, had been goaded, into fighting her; she was merely protecting herself, even if she had ulterior motives for doing so. And he had done it for Jaina and Jag.
He couldn't deny it. He felt it to his bones. He had immersed himself of the dark side, and he couldn't forgive himself. He couldn't forgive himself, not because of what he did to his ex-girlfriend, but because he fell for one of the oldest Sith tricks in the book; he gave in to the passionate loathing he felt for the one he once loved, and he used it to end her life.
The worst part of it all? She gave him her blessing for using the dark side. Her blessing! Ben couldn't couldn't feel more shame for himself even if he tried.
Even if he could be pardoned and redeemed for his murder of Vestara, even if it came from his own father, he would know that all of his effort to stray away from Darth Caedus's footsteps had been all for naught, and that would haunt him to the end of his life. No matter what he could accomplish from this point on, the fact that his late Master's intentions of turning him dark would forever taint Ben's soul.
.
"You owe me a hundred credits," Ford said to Five-U as Ben deactivated his lightsaber and shoved Vestara's corpse off to the side.
"But you pay me," Five-U pointed out. "And I didn't even know we even had a bet!"
"I'll take my currency in pornozines," Ford concluded, ignoring Five-U's last statement.
Five-U gasped in shock as he looked to his captain. "Are you serious?!"
"You owe me a debt, Five-U," Ford countered as he met his first mate's gaze. "That's for doubting our valiant Jedi Knight."
Five-U sighed in defeat. "But what are you going to do with the pornozines?"
"What do you think?" Ford replied vaguely as Ben rejoined the droids.
"So, are we continuing with the tour?" Ben interjected, his tone now having a dark edge.
Ford and Five-U looked at him. "Of course. If you'll follow us."
The captain led the way back into the bunker. As they traveled back down the halls of Hego Damask's home away from home, Five-U came to Ben's side and asked, "Hey, man, are you okay?"
"As okay as I'll ever be at this point," Ben answered, his tone still dark.
"You've gone to the dark side, haven't you?" Ford asked, not turning around as he continued leading Ben and Five-U down the brown, featureless hall.
"It's that obvious, huh?" Ben asked.
"I've been around dark siders long enough to know their general attitudes," Ford said. "Of course, I think your turn to the dark just made it a little bit more convenient to accept your ancestry."
"What, was this Muun Hego Damask also a dark sider?" Ben asked with a snort.
"Actually, he was," Ford answered, bringing out widened eyes as a reaction from Ben. "One of the greatest dark siders ever. One of the most powerful Sith." Ford turned his head back as he kept on walking. "He even trained Palpatine."
His turn to the dark side temporarily forgotten, Ben asked, "Okay, that's a bit surprising. But that still doesn't tell me how he could be an ancestor of mine if we're not even biologically compatible."
"Like I said, once we get to the library, I'll show you," Ford said.