Note: Not much to say here really. Another villain becomes more and more visible as I deepen a subplot, and Maris gets some love. There isn't much else to it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not even the clothes on my back.

Episode 8 - Shadows of Coruscant Part 1/3

Summary: Starkiller, apprentice to the deceased Darth Nihilus, was tricked by Darth Sidius into becoming a puppet of the Jedi through a force mind-wipe. He was renamed Varus Wynn and assigned to Anakin Skywalker as his second Padawan alongside Ahsoka Tano.

Following a lead from the former Sith, Starkiller, they found hostile droids unlike anything Skywalker recalled the Confederacy producing and skeletal remains. As well as a Sith Holocron linked to Revan that was implanted into Varus's mind. All with technology that was linked with the Force on a fundamental level.

The following investigation shed light on the fact that the Star Forge was still alive, and the Dantooine Council had left the information classified, hoping no one would investigate too deeply. Anakin Skywalker was assigned to follow the trail of Revan left in Varus's mind to find the Star Forge for the Republic.

Thus far they have landed on Dantooine and have aided Mandalore the Preserver in preventing a war between the Republic and Mandalorian clans; and entered an ancient tomb of the Infinite Empire. Inside Ahsoka and Varus both encountered illusions. Ahsoka's illusion was of of her team fighting in an evil, choking place in Coruscant. She ended the illusion by entering the fray to stop them and was met by a Sith Varus. Meanwhile, Varus encountered a version of himself, twisted and dark by the temple, and was forced to end the illusion by promising to himself to eventually remember who he was.

They found the locations where the Star Forge coordinates are hidden, and are on the way home to rest.

Despite the Jedi's hopes, sins of Starkiller's past are catching up to Varus. Maris remembers him after Starkiller murdered her Master, and sees him in the Temple. She has been told it is classified, and to leave it alone. She spent time in mourning, and has improved while Ahsoka was gone.

And an unknown power is having the Jedi be legally stopped and contained in their travels for a very short time. Obi-Wan has investigated the matter and found that a large number of Jedi who are stalled eventually come to find difficulty in the Force for some unknown reason.

Sidius/Palpatine rubbed his temple and picked up the next paper. It was a bill to increase taxes across the board on everything from a drug called aabilitricion to a mineral called zynofide, or was it the other way around? 'A' to 'Z', how comical. He stamped it as no and moved on.

You didn't get increased wealth in taxes by choking the crap out of your people, you left them the means to increase their wealth, and yours in turn, under the illusion that it was for their own good. Leader's didn't stand on their own feet, they stood on the shoulders and heads of everyone else. Raise up everyone else, you raise yourself up. Why couldn't these stupid Senator's figure that out yet?

Leading was a lot like gardening. Choke and discipline and snip off the ones that held everything back, and give a lot of crap and manure and pretty speeches to the rest.

Speaking of which… He pulled up the next sheet. It was a speech for him to give today. It was the usual junk being said in a different way, with one or two paragraphs being based on the more recent events to hit the Republic. Everything was reworded and reordered but it still resembled the stuff he said every stinking day of his long miserable life.

He had to resist the urge to go out and choke the life out of a lowly scum. No amount of boredom was worth blowing his cover.

His cover was necessary. With his two faces he lead the Confederacy and Republic against each other. He ensured the war was intense, yet lengthy. He gave the Republic their army and purpose, and he gave the Confederacy a reason to leave with carefully placed taxes and bills meant to cripple specific planets into desperation. Every day more than five thousand battles were played out in places against targets of his choosing. Every day both sides grew more desperate. Every day both sides looked to him for guidance and strength.

Soon, very soon, he would finally have the power and authority in the Republic to be able to do anything he wanted without any need for paperwork. He would be able to begin the final phase of his plan. A plan formed by the Sith Lords under Revan not that long ago.

Purge the Jedi and tip the balance of the Force.

Become Emperor.

Expand and grow in strength.

Wipe the True Sith into oblivion.

Save the Galaxy.

Of course Revan, and the others that followed him into being Sith Lords believed that to be the end of it, but Sidius wanted to be able to enjoy the fruits of his labor.

He wanted to stay Emperor and rule.

The door dinged and he shook himself out of his thoughts. As he had done every day of his life, he put on his 'Palpatine' mask and coughed into his hand. With a bright, eager, cheerful smile he called, "Come in!"

In walked Windu, Yoda, and Obi-Wan. Jedi scum. How convenient that they worked for him.

"Ah!" He said cheerfully to his 'minions', "Come in come in!" He waved his hand to the extra chairs. Windu nodded appreciatively and sat. Yoda used his walking stick to trudge with very slight difficulty to his chair and then jumped up into it with a nimbleness beyond his years. Obi-Wan gave Palpatine a friendly warm smile and sat down as well.

"It is good to see you Master Jedi! I hope you have something of interest for me. I weary of. All. This." He picked up a handful of papers on his desk and plopped them back down unceremoniously. With real feeling he said wearily, "If I had known how much paperwork was in a single day, I might have taken an extra few minutes to think if I truly wanted to do before putting myself up for election."

Sith Lord or Republic Chancellor, he truly would have taken a moment longer to consider if having the whole galaxy in his palm was worth it.

Yoda chuckled. Sidius/Palpatine appreciated the old coot to a small degree. The little green Master brought a smile to his Palpatine side. "Without work, life is not worth living."

"Ah, too true, unfortunately." He returned the chuckle.

Windu, in his ever serious way, spoke up, "I wish we were here to relieve you of the tedium, Chancellor, but a serious matter has come up." Here was a warrior Sidius respected as a rival. Windu was a no-nonsense man. He did let his hair down at times, so to speak, but they were only when he could afford to do so.

If only he was a Sith. He would be a strong one. Ah well, more's the pity.

"Of course, how presumptuous of me." Palpatine nodded apologetically. "What is the matter?"

Obi-Wan produced a video recording from his robes and handed it to Sidius/Palpatine. Windu said, "Over the last few weeks, Jedi have been detained at the Coruscant Star Port at various levels of security. None of them are harmed, only detained for a period of time, and then let go. The guards always claim it to be a security snapfoo or something going on with their database and services."

"Do they do it within legal means?" Sidius/Palpatine wondered. He inserted the disc into a slot in his desk and the holographic image popped up before them all. It showed a Jedi and his Padawan student at a desk waiting to be released.

"They do, which is why our Jedi have not made a fuss of it." Windu said wearily. "The only ones being selected are outgoing Jedi that scatter across the across the galaxy. With the targets so scattered, they do not realize there are other's being selected. A number of them were also… embarrassed."

"Embarrassed? I didn't think your Order was capable of emotion." He returned half-seriously.

Obi-Wan motioned to the holographic image in front of them, and Palpatine gave it his attention.

The Knight and Padawan were both meditating. Along with them on the table was a pitcher of water, two glasses, and a bunch of small… beads? As Sidius/Palpatine watched, the pitcher, glasses, and beads all lifted into the air and floated around the room. It was a basic, simple Jedi meditation. They enjoyed doing Force Levitation as a kind of mental practice. It was practical, he had to give them that.

Suddenly the objects stopped moving, shook slightly in the air, and fell. The glass containers shattered and the beads rolled across the floor. The Knight and Padawan looked to each other in naked shock. Their controlled facades were broken for a moment before they recovered.

Another image appeared. Same situation, same room possibly, different people. Glasses, beads, chairs all being lifted. A few moments after they had started, it all fell apart.

A third image was presented. This time Sidius/Palpatine studied it closely and marked how long it took for the Jedi to be brought into the room, left behind, to start meditating, and how long before their 'practice session' was broken. Approximately two minutes total.

Sidius felt something horrifying tingle in the back of his mind. He didn't much care about Jedi themselves, but there was something completely wrong about what was being presented. Mostly because whatever it was that was going on, it wasn't being done by him. Sidius had the nudging feeling that a new piece had been put on the board, and he couldn't figure out how to move until this new strange piece was understood.

His hand was stilled ruthlessly by whoever the mastermind behind this move was.

He kept himself composed inside, while his Palpatine mask he allowed to slowly open his lips in silent numb shock. At last a total of ten images were presented. "There are many many more." Windu said. "Hundreds. It wasn't until recently that we came to realize there was a pattern in who was being detained."

"Jedi." Sidius/Palpatine guessed as a statement.

The silence answered his question for him.

Obi-Wan roped his arms together and spoke up, "I went there to speak with the manager as an inspector, but he knew I was coming. He had set his workers up to keep me going in an infinite loop. I had to sneak around and watch them closely before I came across this disc. I've gone to looking in records for information on the manager as well, but it comes up plain. Nothing special. Too special. The manager's profile was about as average as you can be. I've even gone to the police and security forces. Since he is acting by legal means, and not moving outside the bounds of them, they cannot take action."

Sidius half-way smiled inside. The orchestrator of this plot was clever, knew how things worked, and did it silently. More than that, the mastermind knew how to be lucky. As dangerous as such a shadow player could be, Sidius almost enjoyed the idea of having a person worth fighting in his own way. Palpatine frowned sharply, "So, to be clear, what do you think this 'manager' is doing?"

The three Jedi glanced between each other. "No one is harmed. If anything, the Jedi are well taken care of. At first we guessed the manager was looking, combing through the Jedi for one in particular, or perhaps slowing us down in our efforts to lead peace efforts. But this recent finding leads us to speculate it may be more of an… experiment of sorts."

"Experiment." Sidius/Palpatine repeated.

Certainly made sense. Experimentation required a control, the Jedi being placed in the rooms; and one outside of control, which were everywhere and always seen. The only question would be: What was the hypothesis? What was the experimenter trying to learn?

"An experiment of what?" Sidius/Palpatine wondered out loud.

The Jedi looked as clueless as he was. "Dire, this mystery is. If affecting the Force, it does. Look into it, we must!"

If they had already looked through means on their own and been lead in circles, only to come to him. Clearly they wanted their Supreme Chancellor to look into it.

"I couldn't agree more, Master Jedi." Sidius/Palpatine said.

The Jedi left promptly and Sidius assigned the investigation over to some of his most trusted shadow agents in the Republic. They swore to get to the bottom of it.

How would I describe how the last week has gone? I'm not sure. Perhaps I should start from the beginning… We go to Dantooine and encounter this Mandalorian leader who is trying to deal with a rebel clan who had taken the planet. The rebel Klasin clan were left to a single city that they took hostage.

Something I didn't understand at the time was… they trusted us. They trusted us, their enemies, enough to go in and get the hostages out of the way. And we trusted them not to stab us in the back for it. I expected them to in the back of my mind… I was always watchful for if an attack would come, but it never did. If anything the Mandaloriens did most of the work! We just kept a building from falling on all of our heads in the following bombardment… which I guess was exactly what they intended for us to do.

Then we went down some elevator, and I messed up. Tree-Hugger told me to trust him and in the Force, and I didn't. I got a lecture and was told to look people in the eye. All the people whose life I put at risk, he wanted me to see them face to face…

"And did you?" Theumas asked.

I'm back at his psychiatry room on the battle cruiser. He had been assigned to The Blackfish, as it turns out the ship is named, back when we left Coruscant. He had been working on the crew, but also made sure to have permanent reservations for me once a week. I don't know if it was merely coincidence and he was asked to fit me in as a permanent patient, or if he was assigned this post just for me. Either way… the whole things feels overly done just for me. I don't need handouts and I'm not a complete charity case.

I nod to his question. I walk around the room and pick up a knickknack to look over. It's not that I'm all that interested in them, but looking in his eyes while we discuss… me… makes me nervous. I need something to focus my attention on.

"I did." The object in my hands in a glass dolphin. It looks so elegant and full of grace. Truly a beautiful creature. "I walked through the people and… I saw them. I don't remember their faces now, and I didn't even then -there were simply too many- but I did see a lot that I wasn't expecting."

"Such as."

I put the dolphin down and remember their faces. "Fear. Defeat. Giving up on life."

He frowns pitifully. "Unfortunately that is a common scene in war. I've never been directly in battle myself, but I have dealt with many who come away from it, clone brothers and civilian. Civilians live out their simple lives and then suddenly have bombs and explosions and guns in their face? Having no worry one moment and then being starved or wondering if the next moment will end with a bullet in your temple? It takes a strong mind to endure in sudden changes as drastic as that."

I hadn't thought specifically of that, but it makes sense. That was what I saw in the people. "But I also saw… hope. It was dim, but there."

"Good, good. What did you feel from it all?"

It may be a psychiatrist question, but it's not one he asks often. "Burdened."

"Of course, it's a lot of people on your shoulders."

"Yes, well… That's the problem." I sigh. I sit back down and put my face in my hands. "They shouldn't be on my shoulders."

He doesn't say anything. The seconds tick by, and I continue on just to fill in the silence. "No one should have to trust and put their faith in me. I know how I am."

"You didn't try to hurt them on purpose."

"I know, but its… it's just wrong. People shouldn't depend on me, because at the end of the day I won't give a single thought to them. They should go follow someone who actually gives a rats ass." I throw my head back and stare at the ceiling. It's a nice ceiling.

"It's more than just the people isn't it?"

I laugh slightly. "You're the psychiatrist, how long did it take you to figure that out?"

"When you walked in. Well, actually I didn't, but every single thing in life is connected. Our moods, one event from another, people." He pulls out a ruler and thoughtfully hits his chair arm with it. "What happened next?"

"Next we gave them up to the Mandaloriens and left for finding the Dantooine temple. Quaint little place. Could use a dose of yellow. Some paint. A flower here and there. I saw a memory of Revan and followed it out to some 'Infinite' temple. We went in. The place was… dark. Empty. We encountered a door with a bunch of nonsense written on it and we split up along either side."

"Was there anything special about this 'nonsense'?" He asked.

"Uh… it was a ridicules rhyme. Time for Peace, time for War. Stuff like that."

"Ah."

"Anyway." I continue. I frown at the memory. "My door had me against a Sith illusion. He used a red lightsaber, red eyes, lightning, and attacking out of the darkness. It took everything I had to live, and even then I barely survived. His lightning was so powerful." I can still feel the tingling in my arm.

"But you made it." Theumas said. "That is something to feel proud of."

Too bad I don't feel so proud. "Yeah…"

"Something about the fight bothering you?"

The image of the Sith strikes my memory. His mask. His saber. His eyes. His hands and body was a medical nightmare. "Yeah… everything. His fighting style matched mine perfectly until he pulled lightning out and hid in the shadows like a snake. His stance… The way he held his saber. Even the way he held himself! It was all me!"

Theumas reclined further in his chair in thought. I continued, "He… he even sounded familiar in a creepy way, and I don't mean creepy as in he sounds similar, but creepy as it monstrous. Half of his body was metal and muscle sown together. Odds are his voice was disfigured just as much as the rest of him."

"Why do you think he was so similar to you?" Theumas wondered.

"I don't know." I say in aggravation. "It's just…" I stop as a thought hits me. "It was an illusion. The Dark Side was thick in the area… What's to say an evil version of myself was presented." That would explain quite a bit, but is that really it? Does the Dark Side do that? Did it go into my head, pull out the opposite of myself, and throw it at me as an enemy?

Would also explain why the creep was always going on and on about me remembering stuff.

"I can't begin to tell you, Varus. I'm sorry."

"I know, I know." I concede. "You're not a Jedi. I shouldn't expect you to."

I made the creep, I made myself a promise to chase after my memories too… I tell him as much.

Theumas said, "We already discussed your memories, Varus. You said you weren't concerned."

"The creep said I was afraid."

"Varus… Remembering who you are is important, but it's not the end of the world. You can live your whole life without the past if you want. You have a new life, just as much as you had an old one. It is entirely your choice. You shouldn't be concerned just because a 'creep' tells you otherwise. What does it matter what he thinks?"

I close my eyes and let his words go over me. It is as he says, I wasn't concerned before, and to a large extent I still am not. My gut tells me I don't want to know my past, not just because I couldn't care less, but as if I truly do not want to know. I have a good life now. I have people I can trust. I have friends, in a way. The only thing missing is getting out of the Temple and getting to know more people.

But at the same time, I promised myself. How can I trust others or expect them to trust me if I can't even trust myself? This is all stuff I told the creep back at Dantooine, but going over it again helps.

"I know a lot of what my problems are…" I admit slowly and hesitantly. "I have difficulty trusting. It's not just that I can't trust people, I don't want to depend on them, I don't want them depending on me, and I don't want them trusting me… it may be that I don't trust myself yet as the reason or something else but… I made a promise in there. It was a promise I was forced to make perhaps in order to get out, but if I break it, what's to keep me from breaking others? Master Skywalker and the Jedi as a whole are on me about thinking of the future in my actions, thinking of repercussions, consequences. I saw in the Mandaloriens honor and sticking to their words even when it was pointless, I mean," I laugh. "Mandalore literally took his boots off, shook the dirt off them, and handed his shoes to Tree-Hugger. It was a ridicules promise, but he kept it. Tree-Hugger still has those shoes! He's gonna hang 'em."

Theumas watches me closely, and smiles. "That is good. Promises are an important thing. People are only as good as their word, is the phrase I've heard at times. I applaud you, and hope you can keep it." He glances up. "I'm sorry, I've kept you. It's time."

"Thank you." I stand up.

He laughs. "And that's a phrase I thought I would never hear from you. General Skywalker must truly be getting through to you."

"Yea… well…" Tree-Hugger is unlike any teacher I've ever heard of. I guess that helps me take his words seriously.

"Varus." Theumas says as I start to leave. He walks to me and grabs my shoulders gently and looks me in the eyes closely. "Two things. One: A warning. Do not overburden yourself with what you find. Take it one piece at a time, take it slowly, and go after the next piece when you feel ready. It is dangerous mentally and emotionally to suddenly remember too much, if you succeed."

"Alright."

"Two: When you walk out, no matter what you may find in the future of your past, there is one thing you need to walk out of here with."

"What?"

"You are Varus Wynn."

"Thanks, I already know that." I roll my eyes.

"No." He shakes me slightly. "You are Varus Wynn. You have stood amongst Jedi and participated in war amongst Mandaloriens. You entered a dark place and fought an illusionary Sith. You found the Revan Holocron -yes, I heard-. Even if you find you were born as Bubba from a little farm on the wart of Naboo, you are Varus Wynn just as much as you are Bubba. Bubba didn't join the Jedi at an old age and fighting Mandaloriens, and Varus didn't grow up as a dirt farmer. But at the same time neither one changes who you are. Names, identities are just symbols of a person." He pokes me in the heart. "What matters is this. No matter what name you find, place, family and old friends, this physical beating heart would have never changed."

I stare at him touched and numb. He ruffles my hair and shoves me backwards out of his door before closing it in my face.

"Ass…" I mutter.

I return to my room and plop down on my bed. This thing they call 'Force Addiction' apparently also comes with something called 'Force Exhaustion' if you don't feed the addiction. Oh, and lo and behold It's called exhaustion for a reason… All I want to do is sleep. Just how long will this crap last? It's been five days already since we departed Dantooine and Tree-Hugger told me it usually lasts two at most.

Which can be made even shorter by meditating and "releasing the addiction into the void" or some crap. I didn't get it. I find it takes a lot less brainpower on my part just to let the exhaustion do as it wants.

Ahsoka is over on her bed messing with her data pad. "What are you playing?" I ask.

"I'm not playing. I'm mailing Maris. Letting her know of how my mission went."

That's the friend with the sob story who she is keeping in her apartment like a lost puppy, right? I can see the resemblance. Ahsoka and her should start a 'moody' club.

Ever since the temple girly has been short-tempered and has moments where she just stops and seems distant. The short-temper I can attribute to her calling this whole charade a big waste of time and resources, but the rest of it is beyond me. It's been better ever since we left… Whatever illusion she encountered really shook her up, but come on. It's been five days. Get over it.

"Send her my love." I yawn.

"Fine."

Ok… not the reaction I was expecting. "Girly, I was joking."

"I know." She smiles.

…

Now if I ever encounter this Maris person, the meeting will be very very awkward, and require me to make a lot of explanations because she thinks I love her, and… GAH! "You're just loving this aren't you?"

"Yep."

I groan into my pillow. You know what? I don't care. I'm too tired to care. Not that continuing up my daily exercises are helping matters. My brain is exhausted, my body is beat, and my 'soul'-Force-thing is empty and going through addiction. The pillow feels good. "Minus two." I let her know.

"One of these days you are going to explain to me the meaning behind these points…"

"I'll let you know as soon as I figure it out myself." I yawn. I turn over. I sleep.

Sometime later I wake up to the sound of Tree-Hugger collapsing on his bed between mine and Girly's. "Tough day at the office?" She asks.

"Yes… Meetings… all day. Clone generals, Republic generals, Generals, followed by more generals, senators, Palpatine, Windy (I think he was trying to say Windu), Obi and Jar-Jar, Padme… Some things have come up I need to attend meetings for when we return…" He sighs. With his eyes closed, his shoes still on, and not even bothering to take off his outer jackets he crawls under his covers. He drawls out sleepily, "No more talk. Must sleep. I'm pulling rank on your butts." A few seconds later he is snoring.

Girly and I glance at each other and chuckle. I have nothing to argue about, I was already asleep. Ahsoka though looks like she could use it. Yea, she's better since when we first pulled her out of the 'Infinite' temple, but she could use a day of a whole lot of nothing, and a couple nights. I'm including myself in there, of course.

The sound of her data pad dinging woke her. Her clouded, fog-filled mind blurred into dimmed clarity. She felt her arms tied behind her in a rope, her legs tied to the base of a chair she was sitting on, and all around her was darkness. No, it wasn't darkness, it was a very dark room. The walls were black and broken. Sparks flew out of a corner, and there was a slight reddish tint to the air.

Her data pad in her pocket dinged again and she shook the grogginess out of her mind. Calling on the force she pushed away the effects of whatever drug she was on, but it never improved. She wasn't drugged.

Maris Brood blinked and examined the area more closely. There was a doorway in front of her. The door was on the floor broken in pieces.

She didn't know where she was… last she recalled was opening a door and… nothing. Well, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out she was kidnapped and put somewhere, the only questions was where?

She resisted at the ropes, but her body wouldn't cooperate. She wasn't drugged, but she felt that something was hindering her internally. She closed her eyes and left herself open to the Force, hoping to get an idea what was wrong with her- and felt nothing. The Force was not responding to her at all! How-

The sound of boots shook her out of her thoughts. She turned her head to see a cloaked figure walk around her from behind. The man, for he had shoulders too wide for a woman at first glance, stopped before her and turned slowly.

The sight made her draw in breathe, only to choke on noxious fumes. Wherever they were the place was filled with enough toxic smoke to fill her lungs if she breathed in too much. His face was filled with festering boils and massive third-degree burns that made it look as though his face was falling off the bone. She could clearly see some bone on his lower jaw amidst the red muscle and raw sick skin. His skin was a sickening green, and where it wasn't green it was deeply yellow or red with a deep tint beneath the skin. His eyes drooped as though they were melting along with the rest of him, and his eyes were a sickening yellowish/grey, as well as red iris's of a Sith.

The skin below the face was cracked, burned, covered in boils, or was falling off his bones. His finger nails were gone and left behind huge bleeding cracks on his fingers where it looked like he might as well had ripped them out.

Despite it all, his façade was amazingly calm. He showed no pain. He showed no hatred, no displeasure, no impatience… only calmness. Every nerve in his body was screaming in agony, and he stood before her calmly, without a hint of it showing in his eyes or face, as though pain meant absolutely nothing to him.

As his eyes fell on her, his empty calmness seemed to spread into the air. The dark ship was black as night, sucking in all color, all flavor, all emotion into itself like a hungry beast. It left behind only despair and void in its place. The feeling was alien to Maris, and made her violently ill to her stomach. This wasn't hatred, this wasn't rage, this was a side to the Dark Side she didn't know could exist. It was nothingness. It was pure, empty, unadulterated death.

Without the Force flowing through her veins, she felt empty. An emptiness matched by the absence of her Master. In its place was nothing. She was nothing more than a shell made of water held in by a bag of skin and flesh.

"Wh-who are you?" Maris choked out.

The Sith watched her. He blinked, but it wasn't of boredom or surprise or… there was nothing. It was almost like looking at a robot in his temperament.

"I?" The man said. His voice echoed deeply without tone and lacking expression. His voice barely spoke in the air nor caused vibration. His voice was small and weak, barely a whisper. Yet it sounded loud to her as if it echoed through the Force itself and screamed of power in her mind.

This… man… wasn't a man. He was something more. His voice alone screamed that. If he was truly a man, then he was a Force-User on the very edge of mortality.

"I have gone by many names." He said. "Even now, this one's name is meaningless. The Jedi have recently come to call this one by the title of his position: Manager."

"I-I am not familiar with you." Maris said as strongly as she could. Despite her efforts, she couldn't keep the fear out of her voice. She was strong, she knew that, but this man was unlike anyone she had ever met. She didn't even know how to categorize him in her mind. Was he a Sith? Was he a figment of nightmares? Was he a very sick man incapable of emotion with a completely messed up voice box?

The man looked at his hands and examined them, turning them over and back again. "No. I can imagine you do not."

The data pad in her pocket dinged again. The sudden high-pitched sound made her jump, and the man turned his head to the side curiously. "Persistent, aren't they?" He asked with barely contained curiosity.

Maris clinched inside at his words and actions. His emptiness, his lack of expression, his words that were elusive and said nothing while answering her at the same time… He was powerful, but he could also very well be truly insane or mentally retarded. Either prospect combined with power was not a combination she wanted to see.

The man reached down with purpose, neither fast nor slow, into her pocket and pulled out her data pad. Maris's eyes, and stomach, both lifted at the sight of some of his skin having grabbed onto the cloth, ripped off his hand, and hung dangling from her side. He didn't seem to notice. His eyes were on the view screen of it.

He touched the pad a few times, leaving blood in his path, and dropped it in her lap. "You have mail. You may answer it later."

"Thank you?" She said automatically. She coughed from the hot air and felt her eyes sting and water. "What do you want from me?"

The man sat down on his ankles and looked up at her. His hands clasped together under his chin thoughtfully. The seconds ticked by and she grew agitated, "Well?! You kidnap me, tie me here, and -" she kept herself from adding 'cut her off from the force'… The last thing she wanted was for him to know just how much control he had.

The man returned to standing and produced a couple of items from his pocket. First he dumped a couple beads on her lap. There was nothing special about them, but after a moment it felt like they were shaking at a very fast and small resonance. Not enough to move them, but enough to vibrate through her lap. The second item was a small holoprojector.

He walked around her, grabbed her wrists and- untied her? Maris immediately jumped up to run, but an invisible wall hit her and pushed her back down into the seat. Whoever this man was, he could combine Force Push and Force Levitate, a difficult combination in contrasting physical laws, without moving or saying anything. She was pinned down. "Now, now, now. Is that any way to act toward your host?" The Sith asked.

Never had she met a Force-user who didn't at least use his hands or voice in some way along with their power to give it form. Even Masters still do. He was doing it with nothing more than his mind. He wasn't just a Sith, or Master. He was beyond that!

He returned to sitting on his ankles before her and picked up the beads. He twirled them around in his fingers. He examined the small silvery bead from every angle. "Interesting little device, don't you think? It's funny how scientists can know things about the Force the Sith and Jedi do not. For instance how a very specific part of the brain is used in calling on the Light or Dark Sides."

He opened his palm flat and the bead rolled around slightly as its vibrations made it move across the almost-flat surface. "Or how a simple sound resonance frequency can numb the same part of the brain…"

Maris's eyes bulged slightly for a moment. The beads were emitting a sound that cut her off from the Force?! Was that even possible? Clearly… She didn't think her brain felt numb or odd in any way, but then again the atmosphere around her was giving her so many things to worry about a simple 'tingling' sensation was impossible to notice right now.

"I've never claimed to be an engineer, in life I was more of a scholar or psychiatrist to be honest, but this… this is an invention worthy of my acknowledgement." He continued. He looked up at her scared expression and explained, "This thing was invented by Czerka to be employed against Sith, but they didn't make it known too well that it was just as employable against Jedi. Just a different frequency. If I had known that little tidbit when I came to Coruscant, I might have gone about things differently."

"Why are you telling me this?" Maris asked cautiously.

He shrugged. "I haven't had anyone to talk to in a while."

"Heh…" She forced a bad laugh. "You might have tried paying a hooker to stand your smell for five minutes just as well."

He didn't last out in anger at the insult, or aggravation, or anything. Right now she wished he would! Everything predictable about the Sith was in their swiftness to anger and hatred, but this Sith was completely unpredictable! How she wished he would show something! Anything! Yell at her! Slap her! End the damn silence and get it over with! The empty silence was killing her, driving on her nerves every second. She felt she was choking in anticipation, waiting for the moment when his calm façade would go crashing down like a volcano and kill her.

Instead all he did was blink at her. He wasn't stupid, he registered the insult, he just didn't care. It was beyond him. He removed the handheld holoprojector from her lap and flipped it on.

The person being portrayed instantly caught her full and undivided attention. Never in a million years would she forget the person, nor his eyes.

"I believe you are familiar with him." The man said. "His name is Starkiller."

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