Chapter 64: Umbara
"This," Anakin Skywalker said, pointing to the hologram of a sleek, arrow shaped ship with smooth, curved edges, "is an X-70B Phantom-class prototype that we pulled out of the Jedi archives. This ship was a prototype in the Sith Empire before it was destroyed." The Council murmured, and Anakin nearly rolled his eyes. He was angry, and he didn't want to be there, but dealings with the Sith had to be rushed through the Council first. He tapped a few things on the datapad, and another hologram floated alongside the previous ship, nearly identical in every way, but while the prototype had been a personal, single passenger craft, this new ship was much bigger, containing an upper and lower deck, several cabins, and plenty of room for living space. Were the ship not so heavily armed, it would have appeared to be more luxury yacht than warship.
Anakin pointed to the image of the sleek black ship with red accents. "This is the Umbra, the personal ship of Obi-Wan Kenobi. This is a custom made ship with a fully functional stealth drive, engines that can out-speed nearly anything we have, and an arsenal strong enough to down a heavy cruiser on its own, if it's in the hands of a talented pilot." Anakin's face fell. "Which, unfortunately, it is."
"How does this information help us?" Mace asked, the Master seeming to be just as bored as Anakin was. He wanted to get back out to the fighting just as much as Anakin did.
"This ship is one of a kind," Skywalker said, "which means that we can know it's him as soon as we see it. If it isn't cloaked." Anakin groaned loudly. "Which it often is..." He shook his head. "Look, even being able to identify this guy is a good start. That ship is allowing him to get places he has no business being. Like Kamino. Like...above Mon Cala where he can steal our ships."
The entire Council seemed to collectively groan. Anakin was personally involved in this. It wasn't Skywalker's personal command ship, but being stranded on a world with no land after a Republic victory over the Separatists was humiliating for the young General, and it greatly diminished the sense of achievement he had felt. Anakin and his clones had to ask the local Mon Calamari for aid in returning to Coruscant, and young Skywalker would not soon forget what happened. Upon his return, he spent the entire day with Qui-Gon researching, and by the time he was through, he knew everything about the Umbra, and the more they knew about Obi-Wan, the better chance they had of beating him. Qui-Gon seemed to think that, like Anakin, Kenobi had a fondness for flying, and if the Sith Lord was at all similar to Skywalker, than that ship was far more than just a ship. It was a point of pride. A weakness.
"If we can destroy that ship of his, not only will we deprive him of a devastating weapon, but we're really, really going to piss him off," Anakin said. "We've been spending this war treading very carefully around this Sith Lord, and he's torn us apart for it." He took a deep breath and looked around the room. "I say we stop giving this Sith space and hit him where it hurts. You don't want to take his stuff, but I say we take it and see what happens. We hit his weak points, like he has done to us."
"This doesn't seem like the Jedi way," Master Plo Koon said, and Anakin crossed his arms.
"Masters, if we don't do what must be done, there isn't going to be a Jedi way to protect! Obi-Wan and his Sith followers are going to take us apart. He's already started! We need to end this, and quickly." There was silence that followed, cold and uncomfortable as each contemplated what Anakin said, and under the oppressive weight of the Force, Quinlan Vos stood, a smirk on his lips.
"You going to kill him?"
"...that isn't the intent," Anakin said softly. "But if it comes to it, I will do what I must."
Vos nodded. "Alright, we have a plan then! You find that ship, I'll go to Mandalore and start poking around that girl of his."
"Master Vos, you can't-" Mace started, but was cut off by a sharp, quick laugh from the Kiffar.
"It'll just be a diplomatic mission, don't worry! I won't cause any trouble." Quinlan didn't wait for the input of any of the Masters. He just turned and left, walking out of the halls with a long, even stride. Defying the Council wasn't anything new for him, and they'd forgive him, like they always did. After all, the Masters trusted Quinlan Vos as a fellow Master. They weren't going to catch Obi-Wan. Kenobi would go down fighting, if he went down at all, and Quinlan seriously doubted that they had the power to do that. Not when Obi-Wan was fueled by the power of the Dark Side. Not when Quinlan had only barely tasted it, and was filled with power he never had before. Steeped in it, Kenobi must have been terrifyingly powerful.
He tried to resist, but it was becoming harder and harder to do so, especially when there was so much darkness all around them, especially when battles were made easier when he allowed anger to drive him forward, especially when victory was guaranteed if he just reached out to the Dark Side and lightly touched it. So many lives were saved when he allowed himself to simply tap into that anger, that darker part of the Force. Every day, millions of lives were pointlessly claimed by the war, and all of it could end in a moment if the Jedi saw the bigger picture and, just for one simple moment, touched the Dark Side, filled themselves with the strength to destroy the Sith once and for all. They could do it. He could do it. For all the dead, for all the murdered Jedi. For Eeth Koth, Shaak Ti, Saesee Tiin, for his Master, Tholme...
Fresh anger ran through him as he climbed into the Jedi starfighter, the R3 unit lowered into its place on the left wing beside the cockpit. His Master had died early in the war, but the wound was still fresh as if it had happened yesterday. How he died was suspicious at best. He had been shot several times, yes, but there had been signs of plasma burning. The droids in that particular battle were elite assassin droids, and they were equipt with plasma rounds, but it could just as easily have been from a lightsaber. The Jedi did not really investigate. They simply lacked the time to, but to Quinlan, it mattered, and it weighed on him. Like Qui-Gon, when he so long ago never knew how Obi-Wan supposedly died, Vos couldn't simply let it go, couldn't forget, couldn't heal, and the pain was leading him to hatred for the Separatists and the Sith that were responsible for all this pain.
He pressed the ship into the air and flew up and up until he broke through Coruscant's atmosphere, flying into one of the hyperspace rings that floated in neat lines in orbit, and the ship bolted forward as it jumped. Ahsoka would forgive him for leaving her behind. She hated diplomatic missions like these, preferring instead the action of the battlefield, and though she was actually at the Temple, so was her friend, Barriss Offee, which was a rare occurrence, and the Togruta had expressed a desire to spend time with the friend she missed. It was an ideal time to run off on this important mission. After all, he had no way to guarantee Ahsoka's safety, but Quinlan knew he would be fine.
The Sith were the problem. The Sith had always been the problem, and with the Dark Side, Quinlan could be strong enough to destroy them. He recognized the dangers, of course. He knew the Dark Side was a road best not traveled, but Quinlan had always walked the line, and now, he was falling. It wasn't far, and it wasn't fast, but he could tap the Dark Side at will now. He could be a Jedi still, even when he could hear the sweet whispers of the darkness in his mind, could feel its chill grasp upon him that constantly called for him to reach out and take its frigid hand. The Council's official position on the Sith at this moment was to allow the Sith to destroy themselves by somehow spurring Obi-Wan against his Master. And now Quinlan was in a unique position to perhaps make that happen.
He had asked Obi-Wan for help, and he had meant it. His old friend walked with the Dark Side like it was a treasured companion. He had control and poise, and he may have been Sith, but there was nothing lost about Obi-Wan Kenobi. Deep within him, Quinlan could see his Jedi friend, could feel him inside the Sith Lord, and he felt that the Jedi plan may actually work. Together, he and Obi-Wan could fight the Sith. Together, they could destroy the Master that pulled the strings, they could destroy Dooku, who was responsible for every single death in this war, and with the menace to the galaxy dead, there war would be over. Two deaths to save countless billions. What did it matter if it took the Dark Side to do it? It would be worth it.
He needed a teacher. It was true that he had touched the Dark Side, used anger to fight harder and stronger than before, but he recognized that he was just scratching the surface of his potential. A Jedi couldn't teach him what he needed to know. He needed Obi-Wan. Quinlan had seen Kenobi struggle with control, had listened to him explain his plight, had understood and sympathized with his friend, and the next time he saw him, Obi-Wan was focused. The Jedi could barely sense it when his fingers moved through the Force, when his will was made manifest within its waters. Obi-Wan knew about touching the Dark Side, controlling it, using it without losing himself. He also knew what it meant to lose that vaulted control, to allow the Dark Side to consume him, and more importantly, Obi-Wan had found his way back from the brink.
Since he was a Padawan, Quinlan Vos had always stood straddling the line. His rare ability left him open and exposed to deep feelings and intense emotions, and it was this that allowed him such a capacity for understanding, but it also left him susceptible to darker things. Until recently, he had walked that fine line with the sure footing of a Jedi Master, but now...
He was a Jedi, just like he had always been, and sometimes, sacrifices needed to be made for the greater good. Obi-Wan would help him harness this power. Obi-Wan would help him achieve his full potential. Together, they would end the war. They would destroy the Sith. And finally, Kenobi could return home.
Umbara had left the Republic to join the Confederacy. As far as Obi-Wan was concerned, that should have been the end of the matter. The reasons for their succession was unclear, but it ultimately didn't matter. The Umbarans wanted nothing more to do with the Republic, so they had left, and the Republic responded with a full-scale invasion of the planet. Kenobi hadn't intended to get involved here. The war was running fine on its own without his involvement, but on the command of Darth Sidious, here he was. Kenobi had no idea why the fighting for the planet had been so intense, but he supposed it didn't matter. One way or another, it needed to end so he could find the source of the darkness that the Sith Master had sensed, and if it was Maul, eliminate him. That would be a difficult task to accomplish when there were a hundred thousand clones shooting at him.
Obi-Wan had run into several fights during the war thus far, and many of them ended in strategic losses in order to cover up his secret primary objectives, and while there was always a sense of satisfaction in manipulating the Jedi like that, he was tired of losing. This fight, he would win. This time, he brought his Sithspawn. The Negotiator and the Liberator covered their approach to Umbara from space, and the native Umbarans covered them as they landed in the capital city with hundreds of transports carrying droids, Kenobi's clones, and a thousand altered Korun and Twi'lek soldier slaves to the Dark Side. The Umbaran Shadow Warriors had been doing an admirable job at fighting back the might of the Republic, but with the aid of the Sith Lord, they could do far more than just hold the line.
The Umbaran military leadership welcomed Obi-Wan with a great deal of respect, and they promptly told the Sith their situation. Republic forces under the command of Jedi Master Pong Krell had recently taken control of a strategic airbase, and they were drawing ever closer, despite heavy losses to their clone forces. It was a major problem, and the hunt for Maul simply could not happen unless the Jedi was taken care of. Pong Krell was a fearsome warrior who once taught Obi-Wan how to fight with two weapons in hand, and while most Jedi did have some proficiency in the art of Jar'Kai, Kenobi knew Krell to be one of the only living Masters of the style. Not only that, but listening to the Umbarans made it clear that Krell was much more brutal than the other Jedi when it came to warfare, and that alone was reason enough to deal with the man. Obi-Wan was good, but it may have been a bit much even for him to deal with a former Sith Lord and a relentless Jedi Master at the same time.
He commanded Cody to work together with the Umbarans and listen to their plans, as they knew the land, its traps, its hiding places. After all, the goal wasn't simply the recapture of the airbase. It was the complete extermination of the Republic forces stationed there. The plan was simple. Surround the base, cut off their supply lines and their means of escape, and move in, and with the Umbaran knowledge of the misty swamps and shadowed terrain, this could be easily accomplished with the might of the Sith Lord's army. With the plan set, Obi-Wan mounted his armored rancor and set off with the army toward the Republic holdout.
Like all things Kenobi got involved with, the plan didn't exactly go off as they had intended. The Republic forces were far greater than the Unbarans had said, and not only were they swarming around the occupied airbase, but they had been scouting the swamps and trying to learn how to use the high-tech Umbaran ships as well. With a swift command to Cody to continue to lead his men to surround the airbase, Obi-Wan jumped off the rancor, activated his lightsaber, and charged toward the airbase with the Korun and the Twi'leks following closely behind him.
The Sithspawn swept through the battlefield like a plague, and having never faced such a foe before, the clone ranks began to break and fall under the furious onslaught. These weren't the droids they were used to fighting, nor were they anything like any other creature they had faced. These monsters thrived on fear, grew stronger with pain, and easily pierced through clone armor with spears tipped with vibroblades. Like the droids, the creatures seemed to move with a single mind, but unlike them, they were independently intelligent killers that weren't just ruthless and without mercy, but cruel as well.
With the aid of the Sithspawn and the three rancors that followed closely behind him, Kenobi cut a path up to the airbase and immediately set to disabling the ships that had the power to easily send the entire fight into chaos at the Republic's behalf, and with his Sith soldiers and his rancors drawing the majority of the attention, Obi-Wan made short work of the ships. He climbed up on one and looked at the single chair that sat on the ship's frame and he frowned. There was no wonder the clones hadn't taken to the air, these ships were unlike anything he had ever seen. There was no cockpit, no controls that he could see, and it was very likely that these were designed specifically for the technologically advanced Umbarans. Regardless, no chances could be taken, and he drove his lightsaber into the top of each and every ship, the ship's triangular loop-shaped wings trembling as the engine within was destroyed by the plasma blade.
He looked over the expanse of the landing pad, filled with hundreds of clones as they fought back the Sithspawn, the rancors, and now the Umbarans and the soldiers commanded by Cody, but Obi-Wan felt that something was...wrong. He closed his eyes, effortlessly deflecting blaster fire back at the clones who shot at him, and he felt the surging satisfaction of the Dark Side as it ravaged through and around him. There was a problem. On the battlefield were hundreds of clones as they died to defend their hold on Umbara. There was Cody, Shaak Ti's blue lightsaber in his hand and a blaster in the other, tearing through ranks of his brothers that opposed him. There were the rancors, mindlessly raging through everything, be it clone or disabled ship or barricade. There were the Umbarans, ferociously fighting to rid their world of the invading army. There were the Sithspawn, charging forward heedless of their injuries so that they may tear into those that stood in their way. And still, through it all, something was missing.
Pong Krell was nowhere to be found.
Kenobi's golden eyes drifted up to the command tower, tall and imposing over the airfield, and he leapt off the ship, his lightsaber blazing as he ran toward his rancor, effortlessly cutting down every clone in his way, deflecting stray laser beams as they flew toward him, his Sithspawn army fanning out before him and engaging the combatants that may have otherwise overwhelmed him. Using the Force to enhance his physical abilities, he jumped up on Yoda's back and ran up to grab the horns protruding from the shielded helmet over his large head. Using the Force to command the beast, the rancor turned, its clawed hands on the ground and its head lowered, and he charged full speed at the open hangar bay and rammed into the far wall with the full force of his considerable strength, and the wall buckled. With a roar of blind fury, the rancor tore at the battered wall, each strike causing it to bend further, until the steel finally gave way, splitting along one of its welded panels. The rancor reached its clawed hand into the gap and ripped it aside, and a moment later, Obi-Wan jumped off his place between the massive horns, and Sith Lord and rancor ran side by side through the command tower.
There weren't many clones inside, and those that were found themselves quickly struck down. Most of the clones were out on the airfield, fighting and dying against a much larger force, and those that tried to follow were held back by the rabid might of the Sithspawn. By the time Kenobi reached the top, there was no resistance, no stray clones left to fight, and still no Jedi Master. But there was the Dark Side, so thick in the air that Kenobi could feel it on his skin. There was no mistaking it. This was what Sidious had sensed, and this was why Kenobi was here. Closing his eyes and breathing in the Dark Side, he reached out and pulled the sealed door to the command room open, Yoda reaching his strong arms in and holding the straining doors while Obi-Wan stepped inside, leaving the massive white rancor to wait outside for him.
The doors slammed shut with a resounding, metallic clang, the mechanisms whirring as it sealed shut once again, and then all was peaceful. The Dark Side was thicker here than outside, and Obi-Wan closed his eyes, his lungs filling with it and his heart slowed to match the easy throb of the power around him. It was calm here, unlike the raging fury of the battle outside, and the peaceful, inky waters lapped at his being, drawn toward his natural pull as an undercurrent of power was slowly given life in its depths. The calm of the Dark Side perfectly concealed the power that lay just underneath the surface, and Obi-Wan felt in command of it all. This wasn't the violent storm he anticipated. Maul wasn't here. Instead, sitting in the middle of the large, circular room, was Pong Krell, one pair of hands resting on his lap and the other on his knees, his eyes closed in meditation and a pleased smirk upon his face. Obi-Wan relaxed the hand that held his lightsaber, but he did not switch it off. Caution was of the utmost importance, even when he knew exactly what it was that he faced.
Krell opened his eyes, and they widened with surprise for just a moment, and then a delighted smile crossed his face as he rose to his staggering full height. "Obi-Wan!" he called in a deep, husky voice, and Kenobi raised his saber. The Besalisk simply chuckled. "It has been a long time, my friend. Red suits you."
"Hiding in a tower like a coward while I slaughter your men doesn't suit you, Jedi." At that, Krell just laughed, and Obi-Wan couldn't keep the smile off his face as he extended his hand, calling the Jedi's two folded double sided hilts to him. Krell made no move to grab them. "I suppose this is the part where I get to ask you why you would kill your own men like this."
"Because I can," was his swift, brutal reply. "I could have asked you the same, long ago. The word is that your first murder was Master Sar Labooda." When Kenobi narrowed his eyes, the Force stirring with his confusion and the power that he was calling to himself, Krell laughed and put his four hands in the air in surrender. "Depa Billaba is awake. She told us what you told her about her sister. The word spread quickly."
"She recovered?" A sly smile tugged on his lips. "I'm truly impressed. I'll have to tell her so before I break her more permanently." He pointed his lightsaber at the center of Krell's chest. "On your knees, Jedi." He wordlessly did as he was commanded, and the Sith circled around him, the saber trained on the Besalisk as he reached through the Force and found...excitement? Deep, pure satisfaction, none of the resignation or calm that came to be expected from a surrendering Jedi.
"I'm no longer naive enough to be a Jedi," Krell growled after a long, tense silence, and the Sith just chuckled.
"I understand the feeling."
"I know you do, Obi-Wan," he said quickly, his head snapping around to watch as Kenobi slowly circled, taking him in, feeling him through the Force, and though Pong had his defenses up, he still felt the Sith Lord's raking touch in his mind. "You were so far ahead of us all. A new power is rising. I have foreseen it."
At this, Obi-Wan stopped, and he could feel the Force gather around him, not in pulling, frantic warning, as it had been so quick to do as of late, but in interest. For once, the Force was still, silent, watching. "Explain," Obi-Wan whispered, his voice barely audible over the humming of his lightsaber, and the Besalisk lowered his head.
"The Jedi are going to lose this war, and the Republic is going to be ripped to pieces from the inside! In its place is going to rise a new order, and I will rule as part of it!"
That settled the matter completely. Krell was too dangerous to allow him to return to the Jedi, but worse than that was how accurate his vision had been, and if one Jedi could predict the future, what was keeping others from somehow doing the same? Sidious had been right to send him to Umbara, even if it wasn't for the reason they had intended. The Force had other plans, and it clearly favored the Sith if it would lead him to this fallen Jedi. And Pong Krell was fallen. Even further gone than Kenobi had been himself when he embraced the Sith. Up until the end, Obi-Wan had wanted to destroy the Sith, use the Dark Side to fuel his powers to assist him in what must be done, but Pong Krell had no such delusions. He wanted power, pure and simple, and he had embraced the Dark Side for it. All that remained now was to decide what to do with this Dark Jedi.
"When did you begin having these visions?" he asked softly, and the Besalisk looked away, the crest on his head lowering as he thought.
"Maybe half a year ago," he grumbled, looking back to the Sith. "The other Jedi don't see it, but I do!"
"Have you told anyone?" Krell shook his head.
"They would not believe me if I did. I remember what they did to you. And I have not been back to the Temple for a very long time. Tell me, Kenobi," he growled softly, shifting on his knees so he could turn to face the Sith that stood behind him, "if you had a chance for power, would you tell the ones that would deny it to you?"
"No," was his swift, immediate answer. "Our motivations were different, but you and I embraced the Dark Side for power."
"Yes!" He placed his four hands on the ground and scrambled to the feet of the Sith Lord, the red, thrumming blade mere inches from his neck. "I serve no side but my own, and soon...my new Master!" Kenobi looked down at this former Jedi and felt the Dark Side thrashing inside him, not in fear, but in eager submission.
"Was this your plan, Krell?" Kenobi asked, and the large man seemed to shiver in excitement.
"After I succeeded in driving the Republic from Umbara, I suspected that I would have gotten Count Dooku's attention." He grinned deviously. "I didn't think I'd get your attention, though."
"And what did you expect would happen? The Sith don't take well to Jedi."
"But they took well to you." Obi-Wan laughed, deactivating his saber and shaking his head as he turned from the Besalisk and walked toward the large glass window overlooking the airfield, the red and blue of blaster fire still flying as the last of the clones made a final stand. "I heard Dooku lost his last apprentice," Krell said as he rose, slowly coming to stand beside Kenobi at the window. The Sith barely acknowledged that the Jedi had moved at all. "And nobody has ever said that you have an apprentice."
"I am an apprentice myself, what need have I for a student..." He could feel desperation and disappointment from the Besalisk, but through it all was a lust for power and a willingness to get what he wanted. It would make him willful, yes, but a Sith that wasn't difficult to tame wasn't worthy of being Sith. "And I'm afraid you missed your very small window of opportunity. Dooku has already replaced Ventress with a man nearly as big as you."
Kenobi smirked when he felt the Dark Side swell, the cool embers stoked to an absolute inferno of rage and unchecked ambition. In Krell's pale yellow eyes, Obi-Wan could see murder, pure and wrathful, and within this fallen Jedi, he saw the solution to one of his many complications. "I can kill him!" Krell snarled, his voice warped and vicious, and he suddenly dropped to his knees, forced to kneel before the Sith Lord with the gentlest press of the Force upon him. The Dark Side within Obi-Wan Kenobi had always been hidden, and it was to the Jedi Order's constant frustration that they could not feel him within the Force, but now, Pong Krell could see it.
His own anger and ambition that fueled the Dark Side within him had always felt like a blaze of power and strength, overwhelming and untamable, but now that Krell could see within the infinite well of darkness that was Obi-Wan Kenobi, his own enhanced power seemed...insignificant, as nothing before the might of the Dark Side that this Lord of the Sith commanded. He was a single drop in the raging tempest that he knew Kenobi could command, and while it may make others feel small, it made Krell understand that all that power could be his if he was bold enough to take it. He had so much to learn.
"Master, please," Krell said frantically, kneeling lower and looking up at the Sith that was gazing out of the window with disinterest. "If you won't take me, allow me to kill this other apprentice! I have killed before, it would be my absolute delight to kill this pretender if it means I would be trained!"
"I believe you..." Obi-Wan said, his voice distant as he watched a blue lightsaber down below cut through a clone and rush toward the command tower. The blaster fire had stopped. "I know you are powerful, but the creature that serves Dooku had been raised in darkness, and you are only just discovering it."
Krell scoffed. "I have embraced the Dark Side! I have done so for months!"
"As I said," Kenobi snapped, "you are only just discovering it. You may have used the Dark Side to kill a few clones, you may have led an entire battalion to its death today, but that just makes you a butcher, not a Sith. This apprentice of Dooku is wild, untamed, out of control, and very powerful. You'll need to harness power worthy of a Sith Lord to beat him."
"Teach me..." Krell pleaded, his begging stopped when the door hissed open and a clone ran in, a blue lightsaber clutched in his hand. Krell jumped to his feet, snarling viciously until Kenobi walked calmly to the clone. The lightsaber was deactivated, and clipped next to his blaster at his hip, and he saluted.
"Sir. The Republic forces have been defeated. Umbara is ours."
"Defeated," Obi-Wan said softly, "but not killed."
Cody shifted his weight back and forth, his eyes trained on the hulking Jedi by the window. "We captured a fair number of them. They were trapped in the barracks and surrendered as soon as we broke in. I told the troops to hold their fire, since you appreciate survivors."
A long finger tapped his chin as he thought. "How many?"
"Nearly two hundred, sir."
Kenobi whistled. "Call the shuttle and get them on board the Negotiator. If they resist, execute them."
"As you command."
"Have our transports come for immediate pickup, I want to be out of here by evening. The Umbra is still in the capital. I want you to get it and bring it back here." Cody nodded, but didn't move. "That will be all, Cody," Obi-Wan said insistently, but the clone didn't move, his eyes fixed on Krell.
"And the Jedi?" he asked, his voice a dangerous whisper, and Kenobi looked back at the Besalisk.
"There are no Jedi here, Cody." That was enough. The clone saluted and turned to leave, the door sliding open, and Obi-Wan got a glimpse of Yoda's shielded face looking through the door that was far too small for him before it closed. Kenobi smiled and turned back to Krell, delighting in the eager, submissive swell of the Dark Side within the Besalisk. "I'll do what I can to prepare you to become Dooku's apprentice, my old friend," Obi-Wan drawled, calling the discarded Jedi's weapon's to his hands and attaching them next to his own on his belt. Again, the Jedi knelt.
"Thank you, Master," he said softly, respectfully, looking up to meet the golden gaze of the Sith. "How long will it take?"
"For our purposes? Not long. It doesn't take much to see the full depths of the Dark Side, and it will take you less than most." Kenobi shrugged. "A week, perhaps. But to see it is far different from knowing it, and that will take you many years. Walking beside the darkness is no easy feat."
"I will learn," Krell insisted, enthusiastic and excited and filled with the lust for the power promised to him, and Kenobi couldn't help but laugh.
"I do hope you manage to keep that enthusiasm. Your first lesson begins now."
Krell felt it before he saw it. The intense pain of the full wrath of the Dark Side upon him, not in his mind, but in his body as blue bolts of lightning struck him, danced over his skin and left searing, burning black marks upon him. After that, the pain had blinded him to nothing but writhing agony upon the floor, his large, thick hands clawing at the ground but finding no purchase, his back arching as the electricity forced every muscle in his body to tense, every nerve to catch fire, and he could hear distant screaming, unrelenting and agonized, and only after a while realized it was his own.
It stopped when he thought his heart would burst, and he slowly opened his eyes as he lay there panting and gasping for breath. Before him were two fine black boots, and he looked up to see Obi-Wan squatting before him, looking at him with golden eyes that blazed, but were not unkind. "Lesson one," the Sith said softly. "This is really going to hurt."