Note: This is some color stuff. I did research on that! I am not just pulling crap out of my hat here!

Episode 11 - Builder's Valley Part 3/3

Ahsoka could say she had a lot on her plate.

Her master had spent the entire trip to Tatooine with a bad temper, which resulted in her and her fellow Padawan, Varus, in taking as much control as possible to try and keep them from being killed. It was nothing in particularly new to her, she knew her Master well after years under him. He almost seemed to represent the later periods of the 'path' her own personality might send her down in later years, and she made efforts to fix mistakes in herself that were evident in him. The outright anger in the face of his mother's killers, or rather the species, was a completely racist problem on his part, and one she had no desire to share. Not to say she wasn't sympathetic. It was just… complicated. She felt for him, but his rashness had never come out this intensely in as long as she could remember, and it frightened her partially.

Then there was Maris. Her friend wasn't answering calls or emails, and had all but disappeared off the face of the universe. Ahsoka wished could she could have done more, but logically concluded that Maris needed her space. Then there was everything Maris said…

Ahsoka wasn't as quick to jump to conclusions as Anakin, nor threw punches like Varus (while it helped snap Anakin out of his mindset beautifully), but she still felt easily. Varus was a good guy underneath all the cursing and many (many) layers of outright crap. He was one of the most honest and open people she had ever met. Not exactly in information, but in how he acted. Every mood he was in, and his every thought, was obvious. Not just the anger and attitudes, but the efforts to improve and moments where he seemed almost… brotherly in an annoying way.

But Maris said he was a Sith. It was utterly ridicules at first thought, but then weren't Sith brash? Varus was, but unlike any Sith she could imagine, he was making efforts to improve. He has had plenty of opportunities to mess things up (more), and he doesn't. He could have killed her on Dantooine after she had gone through the illusion. She was alone, she was vulnerable, and instead of hurting her, he tried to help in his own way.

He wasn't a Sith, it was as simple as that.

But then the illusion kept returning to her… His red eyes, his anger, his pain. Never had she believed someone could have so much contained in a single person.

Ahsoka shook her head to shake off her thoughts.

Master Anakin managed to buy a small transport capable of hyperspace on the Republic's tab. "It looks like crap." Varus gaped.

She had to admit, it kind of did. But then it wasn't like they could buy a luxury cruiser. The ship was puny and made up of primarily rust.

"Yeah, well, it's the best I could do. Sorry." Anakin said apologetically.

The four of them boarded the vessel and glanced around. It was a single room vessel. They lost their luggage to the Sand People and not enough money left to buy much. "The next destination is Manaan. Two hours away."

"Good. I need to eat." Varus sighed.

"Varus, you had chances to eat ten minutes ago while we were shopping around..."

"I wasn't hungry then…" He whined. Anakin rubbed his temples to keep off a headache, and set a course for Manaan.

Yeah, definitely not a Sith. Ahsoka smiled.

"Padawans, would you come here?" Anakin called.

"We're already here, dipshit." Varus blurted out.

Anakin bristled, and turned to see Ahsoka gaping at him. "Varus." Anakin said heavily.

"Sorry." Varus frowned and lowered his eyes. "That just… came out."

Anakin nodded and looked up at the assassination droid. HK stood perfectly at attention to the side of the single-room vessel. He may have forgotten for the moment it was a small ship, but it was little comfort to see the thing with them. He was used to droids, but assassination droids? That drifted too close to tinnies and the Separatists droids, and it was too much of a grey area in terms of good versus criminal. If Varus could control the droid properly, make it be civil and pacifist, that would work. But the droid by very nature was programmed to take the most hostile option possible, and crack stupid one-liners the entire time. (No matter how much Varus loved the lines.)

The Knight had half a mind to toss the droid out the air lock right then, but he saw the way his apprentice looked to the droid. It wasn't so extreme as love or admiration for a pet, but it was… still comfort. It was a side Anakin had not expected. Wheras almost all people were put off by hostile droids, even terrified, Varus was different in that he seemed quite comfortable and relaxed with HK by his side.

But then again, Varus wasn't most people. He was formerly the apprentice to one of the coldest Dark Lords in existence right then… Was it any wonder that Varus found companionship in something as cold as a robot designed to kill, murder, and maim, all while having an unnatural difficulty dealing with people of flesh and blood without getting on their bad-side first? Anakin never looked so far into Varus's past life as to see what kind of enviroment he was raised in. But the most logical conclusion would be that Starkiller, as a Sith, was raised entirely around darkness, soldiers, and 'bad' droids., or just nothing in general. Varus wouldn't be raised around other children unless it was for competition. He wouldn't have good food to enjoy the sheer pleasure from time to time, he wouldn't… he wouldn't even be exposed to the existence of woman in any capacity. A Sith Lord didn't sound much like the kind of person to sit down with him and go through birds and bees.

Varus probably assumed breasts were made of muscle, making woman twice as strong as him in upper-body strength.

"Yes?" Ahsoka asked. "You wanted us, Master?"

Anakin blinked. "Yes. Yes! Right, ok. " He reached into his pocket and pulled something out. "While we were still back on Coruscant, I got you both something, but I didn't feel you two were ready. Thankfully the… Sand People gave them back without an issue when I asked. I don't care about them keeping the cloth and other material, but these things were special."

In one hand he pulled out a little green crystal. In the other hand he had a small datadrive. He first held up the datadrive. "Ahsoka, Senator Amidala knows you wanted to see the orchestra-"

"Concert." She corrected.

"-thing with her, but with us away, she arranged to have a copy made." Anakin handed it to her, and Ahsoka squealed in delight. She had so many tastes it was sometimes hard to tell exactly what was appropriate to give her. Her new found taste in boys was not one of them, namely that civil war leader whose name surpassed Skywalker… She often thought of him. But thankfully Padme reminded him of the music, and gave it to him to hand off. He didn't much strike his padawan as a concert person… Maybe it was orchestra in the form of concert? Force forbid it was rap or heavy metal! He had no idea, and he didn't care to find out.

"Varus. I know you wanted a new color, green I believe, in your lightsaber. This is a lightsaber crystal." Varus's eyes bloomed open. "Before I give this to you, understand two things." Varus nodded rapidly. "First, the color is significant. Not some spiritual psychic mumbo jumbo you think it is, but the brain is actualy wired to produce certain undertones of emotions when it sees certain colors. Red is passion, energy, strength, power, love. Yellow is joy, happiness, intellect and general cheer. Blue is tranquility, calmness, confidence, faith. Purple is mostly considered royalty, but can be considered the pride of nobility in a good way, such as dignity. Very rare colors is black and white which are evil and purity."

Varus turned his head slightly in thought. "So… it makes you these things?"

"No, it is… ok. When you see the blackness of space, what do you see?"

"A lot of nothing."

"Go on."

"Its… nothing. A lot of empty space with dots of stars and there is so much of it can swallow us all whole. Just nothing."

"Swallow in a good or bad way?"

"Bad?"

"Black is often associated with fear and the unknown, and always considered negative just as the depths of space is feared for being unknown and filled with nothing. Black is not evil in itself, Varus. It is a color worn in funerals as respect, and acknowledgement that something bad as happened. It is used in formal occassions because it also makes up power and elegance in a fashion. It… doesn't actually mean things in a literal sense, but it does makes you feel things." Anakin held up the green crystal. "And green, as what you wanted, has a very strong emotional correspondence with calmness, safety, and growth."

"You already said calmness. With blue."

"Colors can share different parts of feelings. Blue is considered calmness from depth and wisdom rather than safety and growth. Its all very complex. I didn't much care of the color-association classes myself. Most of what I'm saying I got off the holo-net." He chuckled. "But regardless. Varus. You showed great growth lately. I lost my head to my past, and may have cost us greatly, but you and Ahsoka both focused on the mission, and kept us -mostly me- from getting us killed by Sand People. You have a mouth. You have a temper. You should not have attacked me, but you did it to defuse a situation, and then to keep my bottled up emotions from exploding out on the wrong people. I recognize that, and I couldn't be prouder than to say you earn the color green more than the rest. You have improved by leaps and bounds since I met you, and I have no doubt you will continue to do so."

Varus's eyes could not have possibly gotten any wider. The boy was frozen and in clear shock. He didn't extend his hand out to take the gift. He didn't do anything except stare at him. 'Has this boy never really had positive reinforcement?' Anakin wondered gravely. In truth, he knew the answer. The answer was no. Sith Lords were not about positive reinforcement. They were not about gifts. The most positive reinforcement Varus had probably earned in his life was NOT being injured, tortured, or worse and being allowed to eat, sleep maybe, and just live.

Anakin felt his arm ache from having it extended so long, and Varus still didn't take it. The boy seemed to fumble with himself shamefully, not sure what to do. "Take it, Varus." Slowly, Varus reached up and took the crystal with such care, Anakin was convinced it was probably the first true gift he had ever received as a reward. The thought angered him, no. He was incensed, but he shoved the emotion away. The last thing he needed Varus to see was the Master getting absolutely livid and thinking it was about him, when it was about his prior treatment.

"The second thing, Varus, is how to put it inside the saber. We have a few hours. I am going to sit with you, and show you how. I'll do it with you a few times, but don't think it will be fully done today. I'll explain the details when we sit down together and do it and then I want you to do it on your own to produce the final product. It will be your saber. With your color. In time, you will come across pieces of sabers you can put around the crystal to create a hilt you feel is best suited to your hands. But it will be yours."

Varus could only nod and stare at the green crystal in his hands. His hands cupped around it, and the young man turned away to hide what was probably tears appearing. Anakin put his hands on his shoulders and said, "Your welcome."

Varus wasn't trained to thank people from the heart. That would come in time, but his body language and held back tears did all the talking for him.

Ahsoka looked between them happily. "So…" She began. "You said you… 'loved' eh?"

Varus transitioned from his mood to perky and fully attentive at potential gossip and blackmail so fast it could give him whiplash. You could almost see his ears perk up like a dogs and his back straightened completely.

Anakin felt a pit settle in his stomach. He had… hadn't he?

As much as he wanted to deny it, he could already see the comprehending in his little Padawan's eyes. She was putting the pieces together. She knew him well. Just as well as Obi-Wan did, and Obi-Wan knew he was at least infatuated with Padme. His own former Master assumed he was past it, but… she? Anakin just had to go and blurt stuff in Varus's face in front of her. Anakin sighed very, very deeply. There was no denying it now. Ahsoka was getting her normal massive smile that only meant she put the pieces together, and loved every moment of it.

This was going to be a long… long… trip.

"What I am about to say… does not leave the confines of this ship… Under pain of me hunting you both down and… uh- being imaginative about… stuff." He threatened weakly.

"Ohhhh! Stuff!" Varus mocked, "I'm shaking in my boots already."

Maris cursed her luck. She tracked Starkiller to Tatooine, she gathered information on where he crashed, and managed to follow the native's tracks to some massive valley and out. She figured she was several hours behind, but she was gaining on him. She hadn't slept much, when he had. She didn't take breaks, while he took a relaxed pace. Now someone blocked her way, someone large and armored.

The figure stood just out of talking range, stood easily ten feet or so, and was armored with twenty tons of metal. She figured it to be a droid at first, but it's movements and stance was too fluid, too fidgety. Droids take precise movements and move abruptly. They don't waste it. They don't fidget.

Bounty hunter? Bounty hunters tended to fit into one of two categories. Tech or skill, or a bit of both. One relied on a ton of armor, technology, and nearly endless credits poured into weapons. The second was almost like a Republic agent with little more than a basic pistol, and was just as dangerous from a different way. This one leaned overwhelmingly in the former. He most certainly wasn't a run-of-the-mill mercenary. He was more like a walking armory crossbred with a rhino tank, and given wings.

The wings themselves were odd. They weren't wings per say, but rather a number of appendages that extended out of his back and hovered close to his body like a squad of fighters in formation. Each one was a long rod that held themselves using gravity.

One of them was chipped and sparked with electricity like it had been recently damaged.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"Classified." He said.

Of course, just like everything else had been in her life all this time. Jedi, Republic, everything was classified and protecting a villain. "Why am I not surprised." She said. "Stand aside. I have no quarrel with you. I am hunting my quarry. I will capture him and-"

"But I have a quarrel with you."

Maris looked to him curiously. She didn't know him.

But then that fact didn't seem to matter to him, because the next moment he was on her so fast she barely had time to pull out her lightsaber and block his twin-massive-broadswords. Correction, blocking wasn't the best way to describe it. More like she was run over and tossed aside. It was like being hit by a mountain that flew across the ground in half a second. Never had she seen anything move that fast.

She landed heavily and rolled across the sand. She jumped to her feet and realized just how defenseless she was.

Before long, she lay on the ground with her arms broken, her lightsaber off in the distance, and a broadsword to her throat. She had seen master's fight, but this… this thing was beyond her. This man was beyond even Azhaak Ti. Helpless, she realized he had only used a portion of his power. His 'wings' hadn't moved, but looked like they had more functionality than just hovering there. His flying was definietely more of a manipulation of gravity.

He brought a broadsword to her throat. The swords were untarnished from having clashed with her lightsaber. "Who sent you?" She coughed out blood.

"The Republic." He answered.

In that single word, her whole word crashed.

The Jedi, the Republic, her own people, found it more proper to protect a vile assassin than their own?! They sent this thing after her just to protect their investment!?

The Republic and Jedi wanted her dead.

She had no home anymore…

The thought didn't send her into anguish as she figured it would have, it didn't make her sad or cry, no. It infuriated her. Anger unlike anything she had ever experienced rose in her chest until she felt like her skin was on fire. She was betrayed. Everything she ever knew was destroyed or a lie. Except, Zhaak and Ahsoka.

"You seek to protect Starkiller!?" She spat. "You were sent to stop me and keep him from the justice due him?!"

"No. I am tasked with his execution." The man responded. "And I will not have you take my prey."

He raised his sword to behead her, and she gasped, "Wait wait wait wait wait!" He hesitated and she smirked despite the blood coming out of her mouth. "You want him too eh? You know where he's going?"

"Doesn't matter. I will find him. I will end him."

She scoffed. "Of course it matters. His path will send him far and wide. You did well to track him here, but good luck on his next stops."

He tilted his head slightly, curious, and lowered his blade. "You know where his path leads?"

She smiled widely. "I know where his path leads."

Whether she realized it or not, her red eyes spoke with madness and unbearable desire only as strong as the fire in her heart and the amount of power the Force was putting behind her Justice.

"Jedi Master General, Sir." A man saluted and bowed simultaneously.

Obi-Wan blinked in surprise and smirked, "Just one title is fine, thanks. What can I do for you?"

"Sir, I come from the Enforcement Services. I bring information I was told would interest you."

Obi-Wan leaned back in his chair and thought. "Enforcement Services… Oh!" He remembered. While it was the primarily 'police' force on Coruscant, the only connection he had with them currently was the death of that 'Manager' fellow, and they had promised to provide their findings. "Of course."

The man presented a magnetically sealed briefcase with a DNA-Swiper ontop as a lack. "Going a bit far aren't we?" The Jedi asked as he swiped his thumb across the panel. After a moment it dinged a positive note, flashed green, and the briefcase popped as it unlocked and ever so slightly opened.

"I wouldn't know sir. I was told to bring it, and speak to no one. If you accept the documents, I shall take my leave."

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow curiously, but nodded. He opened the lid widely and pulled out the first set of papers. The papers were crisp and hot, practically off the press. On the front page was a picture of the 'manager' at the time of his death, and a second photo on the second page of the same man before he looked like an ad for Death and Disease Inc.

"This looks like it belongs to me. Thank you."

The man snapped to attention, saluted, bowed, and said, "Jedi Master General, Sir."

"Enough of that…" Obi whispered as the man left.

When the door closed, he sighed to himself and wondered at the rediculasness of his office. Sometimes he dreamed of moving to a quaint little place and becoming a hermit. With his contacts on Naboo, it would be a good place to pick. He'd get a little garden, go for a swim in the morning, visit his ex-Padawan and the wife, and teach their dozen kids things their parents don't want them to know.

Yes, wife, despite how much everyone thought, Obi-Wan wasn't stupid. You take a young, attractive, go-getter Senator who is attracted to a Jedi, and take the same Jedi who is also young, attractive, and a go-getter on everything he wants and snarky enough to make it funny; and the result is never ever as 'calm' as the said two people pretend to be. The boy had been professing to having dreams of her his entire apprentice, heck, the kids first words were 'Are you an angel?'. The Senator was just loving and warm and needed backup just as much as the kid, who was all alone in the universe, does. No, they could pretend all they wanted. Obi would go right along with it.

The day they finally reveal it he is going to laugh so hard in their face!

And just who the heck did they think was hiding them? The Council may not know Anikan the way he does, but they weren't this stupid. Oh well, he'll continue to collect on favors they will owe him and have free dinner for every single day of his retirement.

Obi-Wan opened the first file and analyzed it. It was nothing special. He reported the death of someone once, but nothing else. He opened the second file. It was on the woman who the Chancellor killed. As suspected, she died from a bolt to the head, but the interesting thing was that her life was nothing abnormal. She had no criminal record or charges or record of any kind outside of the normal census.

The thing about the census that hit him hard, was that she was found to not have the Force.

How could she not have the Force, and yet be able to use it on the entire Senate?

Obi-Wan put that information aside for the moment and moved on to the next. Again, nothing special. Well, actually, this third person was convicted for minor robbery. A side note says he was witness to a murder once.

Fourth file, fifth file. Obi moved through a total of ten files, and his brow furrowed deeper as each one passed. A pattern started to emerge, and it scared him. Not just because it said a lot, but because it said little. A note was provided along with the files on various aspects of the files. Such as the locations and time of each person's death.

Six things were written on the last page, and were things for him to notice about the ten files.

Every location and time was linked to each other in a chain because the next person in the chain always witnessed the priors public death.

Every death was between fifty-five to sixty days apart.

Every death resulted in a minor robbery of a mask possessed by the prior dead. Being just a mask, most were not brought up on charges.

Every 'before' and 'after' picture looked like the person's skin was decaying from the inside out at the time of death.

The first death was involving a worker recruited to be scavenging the same place and date as the crash of The Ravager. The flagship personally piloted by Darth Nihilus.

At the very bottom of the page it said: "You welcome." - The Revanchist.