Chapter 56: Control
The Force was all around her, thick and heavy and it soaked into her very being, so very familiar, and yet, it was greatly changed from the warm waters of the light, its gentle caress comforting and soothing. It still embraced her, enveloped her completely to the exclusion of all else, was still calming and soothing, but it's clear waters were gone, and what Shaak Ti sat in was an inky black sea through which no light could penetrate, it waters gently rolling with the promise of peace, but also with the threat of whipping into a violent storm at a moment's notice. This was the Dark Side, as terrifying as she had imagined, but so unlike what the Jedi had believed. In it was the familiarity of the Force, but unlike what the Jedi had so often taught, nothing about it was twisted or corrupt. Here, in this place, the Dark Side was balance, and she, as one with the light, was the intruder, the mild disturbance, the gentle waves in place of quiet calm occurring because of her presence.
She felt the darkness reach out to touch her, a light brush of her consciousness, and where the Jedi would usually recoil from such, it was so gentle, so comforting, that she allowed it. The pain in her physical form was soothed, her mind lulled into a calm state of deep meditation, and while she did not allow it within her, she did not drive the darkness away. This was the Force, after all, and while she would not accept the darkness, it was not for her to repel the living, breathing Force away from her. The dark touch brushed her again, but this time, with a smooth, quiet command.
Awaken.
And she did. Her consciousness returning, Shaak Ti slowly opened her eyes, her blurred vision slowly sharpening to gaze around the opulent room, the walls made of black obsidian inlaid with intricate gold, the ceilings high and vaulted, the ground beneath her warm, and the large windows overlooking a roiling sea of glowing red lava, it's radiance bathing the room in stark shadows and eerie light. On the floor before her knelt Obi-Wan, a huge, pale, hulking rancor laying calmly beside him, and the Jedi felt her senses dull, her mind grow hazy as a comforting calm surrounded her. She knew the Sith Lord was exerting his influence over her, but she didn't seem to have the strength to fight it. Here, the Force was not her ally, but a willing accomplice of the Sith.
"Welcome to my home, Shaak Ti," Obi-Wan said softly, and the Jedi felt her chest tighten, her breath held as the Sith produced three Jedi holocrons from behind him and laid them out in a row between them. "Shall we skip the pleasantries and get right to why I have brought you here?" He indicated to the blue cubes. "I need you to open these."
"Now you want to talk?" the Togruta asked, her focus returning as she looked at the holocrons that were stolen from the heart of the Jedi Temple. The Force here may not be her ally, but she could draw strength from these powerful artifacts.
"I don't want to talk. I want you to open these."
"I will do no such thing."
Kenobi smiled. "You Jedi always insist that I will not get what I want, but I always get what I want. Eeth Koth gave me what I wanted, and soon enough, you will as well."
"You cannot force me to open these," the Jedi said softly. "You know you cannot. If you move the Dark Side through me to do your bidding, the holocron will not open. It will only yield to one that draws power from the light."
"I know." The Sith smiled in a way that Shaak Ti interpreted as almost kind. "And still you will open it for me."
"But why," the Jedi asked. "What benefit are Jedi teachings to the Sith!"
Kenobi shrugged, looking the Togruta over as she slowly moved her arms, tested her limits, found that there was nothing binding her, and the notion of escape immediately flew threw her mind. Her thoughts, in explicit detail, immediately revealed themselves to Kenobi, and he very quietly discouraged them, and in an instant, the Jedi Master grew uncertain. Obi-Wan smiled. "You cannot escape, Shaak Ti." Her black eyes were filled with confusion as she looked at him, and then sudden realization.
"You're in my mind."
"I am. You cannot expel me, so don't even try." He smiled, pointing a long finger to his temple. "I have spent time establishing a Force link with you. You can hide no thought from me."
"...how long have I been here?"
"Only two days." He waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "You were unconscious. If it eases you, there was nothing you could have done. The Force demands this of me." He frowned, looking away from the Jedi for a moment. "Although, I have yet to truly understand why. Your capture has not altered my visions."
Shaak Ti pressed her hands together in silent observation of the Sith Lord before her. She couldn't sense his presence in the Force, just as the others who had been near him have said. However, unmistakable was the action of the Force itself, and when she closed her eyes and saw the inky black waters of the Dark Side, they were gently swirling, a whirlpool of energy that gravitated toward the Sith. It was as Yoda had said. Obi-Wan had become a vergence. Curiosity gripped her, and she watched as the Sith Lord frowned, his golden, glowing eyes narrowing in what looked like confusion.
"You believe your actions to be the will of the Force?" she asked gently, and Obi-Wan relaxed. Shaak Ti, like a good Jedi, had quickly come to accept her circumstance and was now willing to learn. She was not fighting the tides of the Force, she was swimming with them.
"I know them to be. It's not for me to decide, my destiny. The Force guides me."
Shaak Ti smiled softly. "That is not the mind of a Sith Lord. That comes from the mind of a Jedi."
"Does it." The finality in which he said it took her aback, and her eyes narrowed as she reevaluated him. "The Force led me to the Sith. I was meant to be here. I understand my Sith brothers have a more destructive approach to the Force, but it is that mentality which had led to the Sith's destruction in the first place."
"Obi-Wan, to bring balance to the Force, we-"
He laughed harshly, and Shaak Ti could feel a deep, gnawing in the center of her mind, an irritation like an itch she could not scratch. "It's Jedi arrogance to believe that the Force must be held in balance by you. The Force will balance itself. That's why it led me to the Dark Side, that's why it brought me to the Sith."
"You think you are so important that you effect the balance of the Force?"
Kenobi shrugged. "I never wanted importance. I wanted a quiet life in the Jedi Order. I wanted to reflect and meditate on the nature of the Force and my place in it. And you, the Jedi High Council, pushed me into importance when I slew a Sith Lord. The Force has shown me the hypocrisy of the Jedi." Those golden eyes seemed to blaze, and Shaak Ti clutched her chest as the air was taken from her, the annoyance in her mind blossoming into exquisite pain that overrode all her senses. The cool and gentle waters had become a tempest in no time at all, thrashing and raging against the tight control of the Sith, and in an instant, they broke through, as if Kenobi had simply let go, had willingly unlocked the chains that bound a terrible power.
"You wanted me to destroy the Sith, but you denied me the power to do so! You ask for us to be compassionate and understanding, and than demand us to remain aloof and unattached! You demand we serve the Force, and than you capitulate to the whims of a corrupt and greedy Republic!" The rancor at his side stirred, growling and snarling and opening it's large, dangerous maw in a roar laced with wrath and malice, and the Jedi fell back, beginning to scramble away, but she found herself unable to move when a voiceless command echoed in her mind, demanding that she remain, demanding that she submit. She pushed past the fear and ignored the command to submit, though she couldn't bring herself to move away.
"Obi-Wan, please, calm yourself!" the Jedi begged, holding her hands out before her as the rancor approached, grabbing hold of the Force and urging it to push the beast away, but the pale, horned creature seemed unaffected, and Shaak Ti didn't know if it was because of her own weakened powers in the presence of the obtrusive Dark Side, or if the rancor had simply been soaked in the Force for so long that it became resistant.
The frantic, desperate plea seemed to have an effect on the Sith, and for a moment, he seemed to shake, eyes closed and breathing deeply, and Shaak Ti could finally feel Kenobi's presence, strong and commanding and forceful as it reached out and attempted to envelop the raging storm. It wasn't working, and the Dark Side thrashed against him, and with a feral growl, Obi-Wan fell to his knees, his jaw clenched tightly and his hand extended out before him. As Shaak Ti felt the Force close around her neck, she watched as the golden eyes seemed to bleed, the edges of his irises turning a jagged, blazing red. The Sith was no longer in her mind, his attention diverted fully to obtaining mastery of the tempest, and she closed her eyes, projecting calm through the connection he had said they shared as she began to asphyxiate.
It worked. Slowly, surely, Kenobi began to regain control, drawing additional strength from the Jedi, and Shaak Ti could feel herself somehow...weaken. Resistance was draining her last reserves, and she was already weary, her body still recovering from the barrage of Force lightning she had experienced a few days prior. The red receded from Kenobi's golden eyes, his breath labored, and his presence once again concealed, the Force like a choppy sea, but a far cry from the tempest it had been moments earlier. As she looked at him, she could feel nothing but pity for the boy that was so clearly lost, the fires of the Dark Side blazing around him, and he had not the strength to keep himself from burning.
"What happened on Kamino?" the Jedi softly asked when the rancor had resumed its relaxed position at the Sith's side. Obi-Wan glared at her, but she simply smiled. "I had heard you were a reasonable man. I will not open your holocrons, and you will not release me. All that's left to do is talk, Negotiator."
After a long silence, Obi-Wan slowly said, in a voice that was husky and strained from his struggle, "You will be pleased to know that the Republic fought the Separatists off."
"That does please me," she said, smiling softly. "You speak as if you remove yourself from the Separatists."
Kenobi scoffed. "Semantics. Are you going to pick apart my every word?"
"Yes."
He sighed, rubbing his temple. "My interests do not always align with the Separatist cause, and as of late, it has been less and less." Shaak Ti held her breath. It was possible that Obi-Wan could be saved. The Sith laughed as soon as she had the thought. "Don't delude yourself. My interests always align with the Sith."
"Oh?" Shaak Ti asked, a faint smile on her lips and a knowing look in her eye. "You always see eye to eye with your Master?"
"Not always, no, but he isn't the only Sith. He and I agree on many things, and while he may be blazing the path to our return, I will be shaping the future of the Order. My way is the only way that Sith may thrive under the continued support of a Force inexorably pulled to the Dark Side."
"You will turn against your Master? You cannot shape the future if he is there to command your actions."
Obi-Wan breathed deeply for a moment. "I cannot shape the future at all like this." The Togruta could feel the man's emotional shift, from pride to something that could almost be regret. "My ability to control the Dark Side has faded, as you saw. One does not achieve mastery by allowing the Dark Side to feast upon you. I need...help."
Shaak Ti gasped in understanding. "This is why you need the Jedi holocrons?" He nodded. "I fear you are misguided. A Jedi holocron will hold nothing for you, the Jedi do not practice control of the Dark Side."
The Sith Lord growled deeply. "You are wrong. The Force is the Force. It ebbs and flows between light and dark, but it is all the Force. A Jedi has as much to teach me as the Sith, and I will become stronger for it. I have seen it."
Shaak Ti's interest in the man slowly began to grow. This wasn't just a Sith, certainly a long way off what the Jedi had believed the Sith to be. Obi-Wan was intelligent and focused, had grown to be a nexus in the Force, had clearly suffered visions because of them, and the pulling of the Force upon him was leaving him violently powerful and dangerously unpredictable. As the Jedi had discussed, it seemed that the Sith were, in fact, their own greatest enemy, as the young fallen Jedi clearly had ambitions that went beyond his Master. If Obi-Wan, Master of the Sith, would be easier to deal with had yet to be seen, but Shaak Ti had a feeling that somehow, it would be preferable. This wasn't a man to be fought. This was a man that needed help, and she could give it to him. If she just-
No. The Togruta shook her head. The thought was her own, yes, but...
Her eyes narrowed. She heard no commands, felt no pull upon her consciousness. She felt the Force within her, gently guiding her actions, but that was all. Was he still able to manipulate her?
"Do you have visions often?" she asked softly, still trying to clear her mind of her rogue thoughts, and Kenobi nodded.
"All the time."
"The Force must...truly favor you, then." Had Obi-Wan been right all along? Was the Force truly leaning toward the dark? It would explain a great deal, if that were the case. Even still, even knowing that the Sith had risen again, the Masters couldn't find them, their sight clouded by darkness and their visions hazy, and from right underneath them, not a single one of them had felt the Dark Side in Dooku, the Dark Side in Obi-Wan. Was the Force actually...protecting the Sith?
Shaak Ti violently shook her head. No. It may have explained everything, but...
"Does it? The Force may have given me power, but it has taken my control."
"You are unprepared for what it means to be a vergence." Again, the Sith's eyes narrowed in confusion, and this time, she felt a push in the back of her mind, soft, slight, simply an easy brush of her consciousness that quietly suggested that she explain. She was going to anyway. "You have become a nexus in the Force, Obi-Wan. Your very presence calls it to you, alters its shape."
For the first time in a while, Obi-Wan was stunned. A vergence. It's what Qui-Gon had called Anakin, the reason the Jedi Master had abandoned him, the cause of all his hatred and envy of young Skywalker. The very reason for his turn to the Sith. Had he always been this way? Was it possible that Obi-Wan had always been a nexus, and the Jedi simply never saw fit to tell him? Or did this only come to pass when he had embraced the Dark Side, creating a vergence of darkness to counter Anakin's presence in the light. That seemed more likely. After all, it was Anakin's discovery that started Obi-Wan on his path to the Sith. But then...why. Why would the Force produce a nexus in the form of Anakin Skywalker, a bastion of the Jedi, when the Force craved the Dark Side? Was he born in response to some Sith misstep over twenty years ago? If so, than why force Kenobi to the Dark Side to become Darth Lumis? Had the Sith lost, and than suddenly regained favor? Obi-Wan frowned, taking a deep breath as frustrations began to mount in his mind. He would have to meditate on this.
"Are you certain I am this...thing?" Kenobi growled, and the Jedi slowly nodded.
"There is no mistaking it. Master Yoda felt it in you as well."
Rage welled up inside him. A nexus. A being so strong, so present in the Force that its mighty river was coaxed and compelled to change course so that it may run towards the source. And Sidious had never told him. Had never explained the cause of his visions, had never taught him the control required to keep him from drowning when the waters rushed over him. No, Sidious chose instead to sit back and watch, allow rage to consume him, provoke and encourage it to rise within him in violent fury, but had yet to teach him how to reel it in when needed. It had been months since he had felt his control fail him, and his Master had yet to show him the way to Mastery.
Sidious was holding him back.
The thought was a quiet one, and one that came from the Force itself. Darth Sidious was fashioning him into a weapon, a sword made of the Dark Side itself, and he kept Obi-Wan desperate and wanting by denying him the instruction he needed to truly become a Master. Sidious was afraid. The realization hit him hard, but it rang true within him, and Kenobi found himself unconsciously grabbing one of the blue cubes before him, Shaak Ti looking at him with interest and...awe.
"I need you to open this..." Kenobi said softly, holding the holocron out to the Jedi, and she hesitantly took it.
"You can do this thing yourself, Obi-Wan. Let go of the Dark Side, come back to us."
"You know I cannot." He ran a hand roughly over his head, leaving the neatly combed blond hair ruffled. "I belong with the Sith. The Force has led me here. Even you must feel this."
"...yes."
"Then please," he said, golden eyes wide and pleading, and the Jedi felt her resolve tremble. "You have already sensed that I do not always agree with my Master, and it's something of a tradition for the apprentice to bring about his Master's end." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "I can do it. I'm stronger than him. But without control, I am nothing but a beast, and the Jedi have made an art out of control. I need to learn. You can help me."
Obi-Wan spoke smoothly, easily, and it was...soothing to listen to him, and Shaak Ti could feel the Force slowly drifting to her fingers, the holocron in her hand faintly lighting at the breath of the Force untinged with darkness. "Even if I could, there is no guarantee that what you will find in these holocrons will be any help."
"I have a feeling they will."
This was it. The Jedi held her breath as she realized what she had the power to do. The Council had talked about turning the Sith against each other, and she now had the power to set this plan into motion. If she helped Obi-Wan obtain mastery, it was only a matter of time before Kenobi rid the galaxy of this hidden Lord of the Sith. That this would make Obi-Wan, a living Force Nexus, the new Sith Master was a risk, yes, but a calculated one. After all, an enemy they knew was far better than one they didn't, and the Jedi had their own vergence in the form of Anakin Skywalker, and Anakin would not go at this task alone. Master Yoda had said that Anakin and Obi-Wan were destined to fight, and if Skywalker could accomplish this when Obi-Wan reigned as the Sith Master, than the Jedi could not lose. Anakin was surrounded by friends and family, supported by the likes of Master Yoda and Qui-Gon Jinn. Obi-Wan Kenobi, after the death of his Master, would be alone, and the Jedi would prevail because of it. Despite herself, Shaak Ti couldn't help but feel...melancholy.
A slight smile pulled at the corner of Obi-Wan's mouth, and the Jedi could feel a sudden rush of delight in the Force. "What are you thinking?" he asked, the slightest touch of the Force on his words, imperceptible in its gentleness, and Shaak Ti took in a long, shuddering breath.
"I see you as the Sith Master."
"Do you..." he said, his voice a low, smooth purr, and the Jedi's breath hitched when she felt the gentle caress in her mind, filling her with warmth and comfort, and despite the soft, gentle warnings in the back of her mind, she felt herself accepting it. "What is it like?"
"It's..." Her breath hitched, stopping the words from tumbling carelessly from her mouth. "You're...powerful. Magnificent. Your presence in the Force is overwhelming."
"And it isn't now?"
She felt it then, deep within her, something that she had realized before but only truly understood now. She couldn't discern her thoughts from the will of the Sith Lord. She knew he was within her, sitting at the very core of her being and slowly, carefully inserting a stray thought, the mildest of suggestions, and she could feel herself tighten when she realized that, upon inspection, she could feel none of the Dark Side within her, none of the snaking tendrils of the Sith Lord's considerable darkness infiltrating her mind, none of what she had been actively searching for. Shaak Ti closed her eyes, shaking when she felt that her mental defenses were solidly in place, and not a crack upon them. And yet, Obi-Wan was within her, and not using a touch of the Dark Side to do so.
His infiltration was a quiet one, one born from the Jedi's own practice of the Mind Trick, but turned against the Master, not to dominate or overpower, but simply to quietly suggest, gently nudge her into having a thought, an idea, a belief. And all without the wrath of the Dark Side. It was the cunning of a Sith matched with the powers of a Jedi, the pure use of the Force turned to sinister purpose, and Jedi Master Shaak Ti had allowed this to happen. She had lent her his control, had allowed him to use her to bolster his hold on the Force, and now, with control firmly in place, Obi-Wan kept the Dark Side at bay, and in a state of calm and control, he had touched the Force, gently coaxing it to influence his target, as so many Jedi had done before. It only worked on the weak willed, the unintelligent, and Shaak Ti was neither of those things, but Kenobi had been applying this practice for as long as they had been speaking. A Jedi would have quit. A Sith would not.
"Answer me, Jedi," Obi-Wan whispered, the sinister light in his eyes growing brighter.
"...yes. With the right control..." She swallowed her words, tightly clutched the holocron in her hand. "You could achieve such heights...you'd be a Master."
Kenobi breathed deeply, seeming to saver the very words in the air. "You're almost there, my dear. Come now, say it."
The Jedi didn't think twice before she breathlessly uttered, "Master."
"Mm, there it is," Kenobi drawled, chuckling as he watched the Jedi seem to waver. "I told you that I was within you, did I not? I told you I would have what I wanted." He pushed the other two holocrons to her. "And you decided to serve me, all by yourself."
"You influenced me! Master, you did this!" She gasped, her hands flying to her mouth when she realized what she had unconsciously said, and Kenobi laughed loudly.
"You have the Force to thank for that, my dear!" Kenobi drawled, reaching out and lightly dragging his fingers down the length of her leg. "I needed you to come to serve me, and you came to me on your own. I barely had to push." Kenobi smiled gently when the Togruta looked away, and he could feel the thoughts in her mind betraying her, quickly sorting through which were her own and which had originated in the Sith's gentle suggestion, but she could find no way to distinguish them. Desperately, the Jedi reached out to the Force, and Obi-Wan could feel it answer with a single command: submit.
"I've learned something valuable from you, Shaak Ti," Obi-Wan whispered. "Subtlety is far more dangerous than forceful subjugation, and with enough patience, one can make a person willingly beg for chains." He flashed her a genuine smile. "Open the holocrons."
Slowly, the blue cubes rose into the air, a soft glow surrounding them, and moments later, the three holocrons were opened.