Chapter 68: The Battle of Dathomir
Obi-Wan stood on the bridge of the Negotiator and silently looked over the holotable where Dathomir was projected. He walked around the table, zooming in on one thing here, marking off something elsewhere, his golden eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed as he carefully took in all his assets, and the resources of his enemy. The Nightsisters had an unpredictable element in this fight, and Kenobi hated not knowing everything about an opponent before he engaged them, but it couldn't be helped. If Sidious couldn't get Talzin's secrets, than Lumis sure as hell couldn't.
He looked up toward the front viewport to see the red planet hanging large before them. He hadn't been to Dathomir since he was a Jedi so very long ago, and back then, the natural nexus of the Dark Side was cold and oppressive, and it had sent him shivering and mewling before it like a child craving attention from an unfeeling parent. But now, he was strong, his Jedi life cast aside in favor of something much more powerful, more liberated, and truly in command of the Force. Being on the Nightsister's planet had weakened him before, but now the surging of the Dark Side would give him strength. Even just hanging in the sky above the planet, he could feel the pulsing of the Dark Side responding to the infinite well of the planet below. The Nightsisters may command strange, unknown magic, but they didn't control the Force the way the Sith did, and the Dark Side was Darth Lumis' dominion. Dathomir was not exempt from this fact because a clan of arrogant women believed they were strong. The Dark Side would come to its Master when called.
The blast doors hissed open and Cody walked in, the clanking footsteps of General Grievous following closely behind him. Just behind the cyborg came the heavy steps of Pong Krell, the Besalisk's four powerful arms clasped behind his back with binders, and a deep, furious scowl on his face. They walked up the few short steps to the command deck where Obi-Wan stood studying the hologram, and Grievous respectfully knelt, and with a sharp prod in the ribs with the barrel of Cody's blaster rifle, Krell growled as he followed Grievous' example. The clone took his place beside his Master and silently eyed the hologram with him. Neither the General nor the Besalisk moved, waiting for acknowledgment from Lumis that never came. Twice, Krell started to speak, only to have Grievous viciously backhand him across his large, crested face, and with his hands bound, there was little he could do, little he would do in the presence of a Lord of the Sith.
"Cody," Kenobi said softly, his hand stroking his beard as he looked at the marks he had made on the hologram. "Report our status."
"Negotiator, Liberator, and the Invisible Hand stand by at your command, sir. Our strength is the entirety of the 212th, the General's droid army, three rancors, General Grievous, and yourself, my Lord." Krell growled behind them, but Kenobi paid him no mind. Cody did, however, and glared over his shoulder at the Besalisk.
"Grievous." The cyborg rose and bowed when the Sith turned to face him. "How many droids are on the Invisible Hand?"
Grievous made a sound that Kenobi interpreted as glee, but Cody winced beside him. Despite being on the side of the Separatists, Cody's training instilled in him a deep hatred for droids. Grievous wasn't a droid, but he was close enough for the clone's taste. "Two hundred fifty armored vehicles and one million battle droids." Kenobi frowned.
"The B1 droids are useless. How many real droids do you have?"
Grievous gave a sharp, dismissive grunt, his clawed feet tapping a cascading metallic rhythm on the ground. "Fifty thousand that would be to your liking, my Lord."
Kenobi tapped his chin as he processed the information, and Cody quickly entered it into the holotable, and the information was displayed beside the image of the planet. "Krell." The Besalisk looked up and clumsily staggered to his feet, his bound hands and broad shoulders hindering his balance. "What did Dooku say about your future with us?"
"He said I must prove myself worthy of being his apprentice," he growled deeply. "So he sent me to you for this mission." The Sith's glowing eyes narrowed, and Krell quickly looked away and bowed his head. "My Lord..."
"Unfortunately, boys, we don't know the strength of the Nightsisters," Kenobi said in a commanding voice, his hands clasped behind his back as he turned again to face the holotable, and the General and Krell moved to stand around the large display. "They also have something of an unknown element, a powerful woman named Talzin. She claims to have no connection to the Force, but don't let that fool you into believing that she is anything less than a serious threat." He drummed his fingers on the holotable and looked through the hologram at Grievous and Krell, and he frowned. "Cody, remove our friend's restraints, if you will."
The clone did as commanded, and Krell sighed gratefully when the tight binders were released, his tense shoulders relaxing as he rubbed his wrists. "Are we supposed to be afraid of this witch?" the Besalisk asked, and Obi-Wan simply rolled his eyes.
"Of all the things Dooku could have had you do to prove your worth to be Sith, he sent you here. Murder is of no consequence to you, Krell, so he's giving you a challenge. If you want to live, you had better understand that Talzin has powers we don't understand, and she will use them liberally to defend her home." That shut the man up. "Fortunately, we still have the advantage, because they don't know we're coming. Our mission here is to annihilate the inhabitants of Dathomir, not Just the Nightsisters, but the Nightbrothers as well."
"All of them?" Krell seemed to croak, and Obi-Wan looked at him with cold disgust.
"What's wrong, Krell? Are clones the only creatures you are capable of murdering?"
"Clones were grown in a laboratory and they were made to die as we like."
"All creatures were made to die as we like, Pong," Kenobi said, rolling his eyes. "And before you go on about it, yes, this is genocide, and if that's too much for you, let me know so I can kill you myself." The Sith Lord grinned wickedly. "Don't worry. You'll feel much better about it after you've killed a hundred or so. I know I did when I fell, and I only murdered one person, and right after, I was helping to dismember my Jedi brothers. Trust me," he said, laying a hand over his heart. "Bringing yourself to murder these people will be the easiest thing about this mission. The hard part is actually being able to kill them."
The Besalisk growled deeply. "Are these women really so hard to kill?"
"I don't know, that's the problem. Their powers are strange to me. I've seen what Ventress can do, but she is exceptional." He took a deep breath and slowly began to punch in information on the holotable, and three new files appeared in the air beside the other information. He motioned with his hand in the air and selected the three files and laid them out in a line in front of the projection of Dathomir. "Known assets of the Nightsisters are Asajj Ventress, Savage Opress, and Mother Talzin herself." He tapped each of the three files in turn, and their holographic faces appeared, and Kenobi studied them carefully, as if it were the first time he had ever seen them.
"Savage and Ventress were injured in their confrontation with you the other day, weren't they, my Lord?" Cody asked. Kenobi didn't move, keeping his gaze fixed on the information.
"Yes, but we can't count on that to slow them down. Assume they are on the planet, and approach them with the highest level of caution. They are dangerous, and this is their home. I won't have this battle lost due to arrogance on our part. They are Force sensitive, all of them, and it will be an ally to them in this. Never forget that." Obi-Wan looked at his commanders as they nodded in understanding, and he pointed at the hologram, the spot he touched lighting up red against the blue image of the planet. "The Nightsisters make their home here, and there are Nightbrother villages located here," he pointed to each spot as he spoke, the new points lighting up red as he touched them. "Here, here, and here. There may be more Nightbrother villages that I am unaware of, but we will destroy them in our final sweep of the planet if they exist."
"You have a plan?" Krell asked, and Kenobi rolled his eyes.
"I didn't get to where I am by not having a plan. We're going to take out the Nightsisters first. It's no secret who the real threat on Dathomir is, and if we can kill them first, the Nightbrothers will have none of Talzin's support. We have the element of surprise, and we're going to use it where it counts most. Grievous." The General snapped to attention. "We don't know anything about the Nightsisters or the strength of their clan, so you're going to draw them out so we can get a good look at them. Send vulture droids on bombing runs of their temple, and we'll land your forces nearby. There's a clearing in their forest I have used in the past that should be sufficient."
"I will bring my strongest forces," the General rasped, his voice reverberating off the metallic mask, but the Sith Lord shook his head.
"No, you will bring your worst troops. We want to draw them to us, and we're going to lose a lot of droids. Let the B1 droids be torn to pieces as we study them, I don't want to deploy our elite until we know best how to exterminate them. Don't forget, overconfidence is a fatal weakness, and if Ventress is there, so much the better. She knows droid weaknesses, and she'll lead her clan right to their own slaughter. You will keep your elite on standby and deploy them when I give the signal."
Grievous bowed deeply. "It shall be done, my Lord."
"Cody. Bring an elite group of blaze troopers. Your objective is to burn their forests down. I've seen how they move in those trees, and I don't want them having that kind of advantage."
The clone grinned. "Lucky us. Bo-Katan just gave us a new flamethrower that the Death Watch has been using. We were talking about mounting them to the rancors."
"Do it. Just make certain the entire forest is incinerated." Obi-Wan smiled brightly at the Besalisk. "Pong Krell. Your task is simple. All you need to do is execute them all." The Besalisk said nothing, but he nodded in understanding. "After the Nightsisters have been exterminated, we will run a full sweep of the planet and execute the Nightbrothers in every village we find. Just remember this," Obi-Wan said dangerously when he sensed excitement from the men around the table. "We are here because of Asajj Ventress, Savage Opress, and Mother Talzin. Their attacks on the Sith will continue so long as they remain, and it will not be tolerated. All three of them have captured the attention of the Sith, and while Ventress and Savage may be failed apprentices, they are still powerful, and Talzin had dealings with my Master. None of them are to be taken lightly."
Obi-Wan sensed their resignation and their determination, and he sighed heavily. "There's no sense in delaying any longer. Get to your stations and may the Force be with us."
The plan was executed flawlessly. Obi-Wan watched from the surveillance deck of Grievous' attack ship as the vulture droids began their bombing run on the Temple, and the Nightsisters were making the task very easy. One of the benefits of commanding droids was that no matter the battle, no matter how far away, their visual receptors were always on and recording, storing a visual record of the battles they took place in, so there was always a way to retrieve and analyze every battle. They were never left lost and confused, like the Jedi no doubt were after the massacre on Umbara. A droid was always recording, and there would always be something for him to recover.
Kenobi now tapped into the live feed from the vulture command droid as they soared over what looked like a celebration, or what was one, until rapid plasma bolts rained down on them, killing some and scattering the rest like ants as their home within the mountain was struck, sending rocks and pieces of their naturally carved stone statues crumbling down to the ground. With a few quick commands to the droids beside him, the vulture droid soared up high as the others circled around for another attack run, keeping its sensor's fixed on the Nightsisters as they regrouped, many rushing out of their Temple and some running back in, only to reemerge with arms full of weapons. Kenobi saw the unmistakable form of Talzin, quietly talking with one of the women before she turned and seemed to float to the safety of the Temple. The woman that had apparently been left in charge ignited two lightsabers, and she rushed off, the army of women following swiftly behind her.
Ventress.
Kenobi flipped through the different visual feeds, stopping when he came to the ship's external visual readings, and he looked upon the droid carriers in the clearing below, their hatches already open and their droid soldiers marching steadfastly into the forest in tight formation as large tanks lumbered slowly along side them. He switched to the forward camera output when the ship lowered itself into the clearing and settled on to the ground, the ship hissing as it came to rest. Cody and Krell crouched by the exit hatch, ready to jump out and join the troops on the ground, but Kenobi kept the door sealed. This ship was bait, and it would be pointless to spring a trap before the prey was safely inside.
"I got a visual on Talzin and Ventress," Obi-Wan said as he rose from his seat at the surveillance station and past by Grievous' command chair, where the cyborg sat. "Talzin retreated into the Temple, but Ventress is out front leading the charge against us. I don't like it."
Grievous laughed menacingly. "Ventress is nothing!" he started, but the lower point of his skull-like mask was grabbed and harshly pulled forward by the Sith Lord, his golden eyes blazing and angry, and the cyborg was nearly pulled out of his seat as he hissed in pain.
"What did I say about arrogance, Grievous?" Kenobi growled, and Cody rose from his place by the exit, a hand on his lightsaber in case he was needed to aid his Lord. "Besides, I'm not worried about Ventress, I'm worried about Talzin. That witch wouldn't abandon her people. She's up to something." He released the General, and the cyborg rubbed his metallic face with a groan of pain and frustration. "Open the hatch," he commanded to a pair of droids at the controls, and a moment later, the door began to hiss and whir as the locks disengaged and the airlock released. "You all stay here until I give the signal, make certain we are all on the same com frequency. Cody, you come with me. We need to have actual eyes on the situation."
With a nod, the clone fixed his helmet onto his head, grabbed his blaster rifle that was leaning against the bulkhead and slung it over his shoulder. When the hatch open, the Sith and the clone rushed out and ran into the forest, giving the clanking droid army a wide berth and keeping closely to the shadows. When they could hear the sounds of blaster fire, Obi-Wan and Cody climbed up into the dark, twisted trees and sat concealed among the branches and foliage. The forest was not particularly thick, and the trees were very, very tall, and they could see a long way down the marching droid procession. Red plasma rounds were fired from a hundred blasters as they clashed with the Nightsisters, and Kenobi could see purple energy raining down on the mechanical army from the tops of the tall, twisting trees that he recognized as the strange energy bows the Nightsisters used.
At the front of their army was the ferociously spinning twin sabers of Asajj Ventress as she cut a path through the droids, and Obi-Wan could feel himself swell with pride. She was so well trained, so powerful that she was nearly an army unto herself. She may not have been Sith, but she was a credit to the Dark Side. It was almost a shame to ruin such a masterpiece. He watched her athletically leap around the battlefield, cutting droids down and clearing a path for the others to take clean shots from the ground and from the trees above, but even with a woman as powerful as Ventress, there were simply too many droids, a sea of metal soldiers against no more than a hundred Nightsisters.
Kenobi fished out the holodisc from his robes and activated it, the small blue image of Grievous appearing before them. "Grievous, we're looking at a force of about two hundred. Ventress is absolutely wrecking the droids, as we anticipated. They are perhaps four hundred meters from our present location, but their approach is slow."
"What forces do you want us to deploy, my Lord,?" Grievous said eagerly, and Cody had to stifle a laugh. Obi-Wan nudged him for silence, and the clone turned away, eyes fixed on the battle.
"None yet. We wait for her to come and confront you. When she does, we-" A sudden force slammed into Obi-Wan, nearly knocking him off his perch on the tree, and Cody quickly reached out and grabbed him, the Sith Lord tightly clutching the man's armored shoulder as he gasped for the breath that had been knocked out of him. It was the Force, sudden, insistent, disturbed, unlike he had ever felt before. The Dark Side was howling, but not in caution or warning as it had done in the past. This time, it was furious. Anger like he had never experienced gripped him, filling him with such strength that as the Dark Side rushed to him, the bough beneath him began to splinter and break, and Cody had to jump up on to a higher branch as Obi-Wan quickly grabbed control of the Force. He felt it pull once again, stronger than before, but less frantic, less wrathful and more focused, and golden eyes shot up to look down the line of droids to where the Force was guiding him.
He could barely see it at first. It was just a small, green glowing spot in the distance, but as it drew closer, it became larger, more spread out, a quickly snaking trail of green mist that flowed through the air, branching out like roots as it engulfed the trees and was drawn into the large, hanging pods that decorated the thick branches in the forest. Obi-Wan jumped up to the higher branches with Cody, urging the man to climb even higher to get away from the mist that reached out even to the tree they sat upon, but the green haze didn't reach so high. There were no pods upon the uppermost branches. All of it was being absorbed into the pods. Obi-Wan leaned over his branch when he was certain that none of the sinister mist would reach them, squinting to get a better look at the pods below him as they began to glow, than shake, then violently begin to tear apart as vicious screeching filled the air.
Something dropped out of the pod and fell to the ground and lay still, and a moment later, it began to shake, pushing up onto skeletal gray arms and rising to thin, bony legs. Black, eyeless pits suddenly began to glow with green fire, and large, unhinge jaws gaped wide with feral screams, and Obi-Wan and Cody stared in disbelief and disgust as the mummified, decomposing body of a creature long since dead began to move toward the droids. The Nightsisters were raising the dead. Kenobi laid a hand over his chest and felt his heart pounding through his chest as he looked around the forest and saw the entire ground shifting and moving like a swiftly flowing river. The entire forest was alive with the undead, and there were thousands of them.
They were fast. Faster certainly than they had been in life, certainly faster than any dead creature had the right to be, and they were strong, hitting the droids like a wave and effortlessly tearing through them. Blaster fire showered them to no effect, and while they were being riddled with holes, sometimes so severe that limbs would be torn clean off, the undead felt no pain and continued unhindered. They swarmed along the droid forces and tore them asunder, cutting a path through the woods for the Nightsister army, and the women rushed toward the clearing where Grievous had set his command ship. A droid tank hovered close to the ground alongside the women, and a quick glance showed Ventress sitting in the exposed gunner's seat. Even without the Nightsisters' vile reenforcements, Ventress would have gotten through, as expected.
"Grievous," Kenobi snapped into the holodisc as he and Cody ignited their lightsabers. "We have a problem. The Nightsisters have reenforcements." He quickly looked behind him when he heard unholy howling making the humid air around them vibrate. "It isn't good."
Grievous rose from his seat. "How bad is it?" he growled, and Kenobi looked carefully down below and waited for the ground to stop shifting as the undead wave washed away from them and toward the Nightsisters not far off.
"Bad," he hissed, signaling with his lightsaber for Cody to jump down, and the Sith followed closely behind him, hitting the ground running and sprinting to run beside the clone, the two lightsabers lashing out at any straggler they happened to come across. "Deploy your best around the ship. Fan out as far as you can, but keep the wall at least five droids deep. We need to hold this line." He cut the com before Grievous could respond, and by the time he and Cody came upon the clearing, Grievous' elite had formed a perimeter along half the outside edge of the massive clearing, a wall of silver war machines threatening to close around any who entered. There was room for retreat, yes, if the Nightsisters turned to run back to their precious Temple, but there was no getting around the wall of advanced droids without becoming an easy target.
Kenobi and Cody ran past Grievous and up the boarding ramp, nearly crashing into Pong Krell as they barreled into the control deck, and Obi-Wan quickly punched in the proper frequency and commed Dooku. The Count appeared before him a moment later, his stern look dropping away to one of concerned as he saw an out of breath, disheveled Obi-Wan.
"I'm afraid to ask how things are going," Dooku said calmly.
Kenobi replied with a frantic, "It's barely begun, and Talzin has summoned an army of the dead to fight for her." Dooku's eyes widened in disbelief, but Obi-Wan paid him no mind. "I've sent you the frequency for our com channel down here. I want you to stay connected with us."
"Lumis, I'm not-"
"The undead, Dooku!" Kenobi shouted. "I'm not putting anything past her, and you better believe that you're her target right now. Stay connected," he barked, cutting the com and reeling on Cody and Krell, who stood nearby awaiting commands. "Cody, get your boys and the rancors and start burning this place down. There are bodies in those trees, and I don't want to risk another wave of reenforcements, and I'm willing to bet those withering bags of bones burn really nicely. Get the forest on fire, and then put yourself between them and their Temple. If they manage to retreat, I want them to have to go through you first." Cody sprinted out of the room as soon as the Sith had stopped talking. "Krell, you circle around and get behind them. When we've lured them all to the clearing, you make sure they can't go back the way they came. They'll be caught between you and Grievous, and I can't think of a worse place to be." The Besalisk grunted his understanding, and a moment later, he was gone as well.
Kenobi put both hands on the arms of Grievous' chair and took deep, calming breaths. He wasn't afraid. He wasn't even nervous. He closed his eyes and saw Dathomir, blackened with flames and ash, the bodies of gray skinned women, both long dead and newly slain unceremoniously scattered about the damp forest floor. There was silence, thick as the heavy mist in the air, and not a single living thing could be seen, driven away by the boiling presence of the Dark Side. The Sith would win this fight, and Kenobi knew it. Why else would the Force save Savage and Ventress on Serenno, if not to lead Kenobi to exact revenge on Dathomir's children? They were an affront to the Dark Side, with their vile magics, with their undead army, with their mystical leader that swore revenge upon the Sith, who the Force favored. This was the will of the Force. They were simply sent to destroy a pest.
Obi-Wan felt the Dark Side settle within him, a cold chill spreading through his arms and legs as he breathed deeply of the Force and felt it flow through his veins, coursing and pumping within his blood like a rushing river. He could hear Ventress calling to Grievous outside, and with a deep breath, he walked out toward the ramp to the battle waiting outside.
"Fight me alone, Grievous," Ventress said, her voice calm and commanding and so, so confident. In the clearing behind her stood her Nightsisters, both dead and living, all waiting anxiously while their leader spoke to the enemy. "Prove that you're the greater warrior. If I win, your army leaves. If you win, the Nightsisters will surrender to you." Kenobi stood in the hatch's frame, hidden in the shadows and listening carefully. Ventress was...bargaining. That was unlike her. Something was different within his old friend. Something had changed. He couldn't place what it was, but it was significant. Was she really trying to save these women? Did she truly consider them to be family, though they have known each other for no time at all? He took a deep breath and stepped down the ramp, his long strides taking him to Grievous' side, his hand on the mechanical wrist stopping the General from drawing his weapons.
Ventress' eyes widened when Obi-Wan appeared, and he could feel her tremble through the Force. She had been confident before. Now she was afraid. Kenobi breathed deeply, his lungs filling with humid air and the smell of smoke as the forest began to burn. "Shall we make the fight more even?" He asked softly, drawing closer to Ventress, and the woman stepped back, her undead army screeching and hissing, her living sisters pulling back on their bows. Obi-Wan surveyed them, unafraid and detached. Living intermingled with the dead, but all he could see was an army of walking corpses soon to be rendered lifeless once again. In the end, all things returned to the Force. Nightsisters were no exception.
"I-I have no quarrel with you, Kenobi," she stammered, trying to sound more commanding than she felt, but her cracking voice did her no service. "My fight is with Count Dooku!"
"Count Dooku isn't here." Ventress pointed her red blade at Grievous.
"But his pet is! If this is the assassin Dooku would send to destroy me, than fine, but don't bring my sisters into this!"
"Your sisters," the Sith spat, bitterness and anger filling him as he looked upon the woman. "I have been more of a brother to you than any of these witches ever have been, or ever will be! I have always looked out for you, Asajj. I have gone out of my way to protect you from Dooku when you failed and deserved his wrath. I have tried to teach you and train you, and for what?" He glared at the woman, his chest tight and his eyes burning with fury. "So you could turn those skills against the Sith?"
"The Sith betrayed me!" she shouted, lightsaber raised, the tip trembling in her shaking hands.
"And you betrayed me!" He took a few more long strides forward, but this time, Ventress didn't move, and he looked into her wide, alert eyes, once a pale gray now a shocking ice blue. She was changed. The Nightsisters had done something to her. "The Sith may have betrayed you, Asajj, but I was your friend! How could you not come to me when you needed help?!" She said nothing, but he watched those pale blue eyes quiver with emotion, and without thinking about it, Kenobi ignited his lightsaber. "Grievous won't give you a fair fight and you know it." The cyborg growled behind him, but was quickly silenced with a vicious glare. "Out of respect for our friendship, I'll give you the duel you want."
"...and you accept my terms?"
"My retreat if I lose, your surrender if I win, yes." He smiled wickedly as he ignited the darksaber, tossed it in the air and caught it in a backhanded grip, and Ventress didn't waste a second dashing forward and slashing at the Sith, Kenobi easily blocking the sudden barrage as he slipped into his preferred defensive style. He retreated against the vicious onslaught, his movements effortless as the Force guided his blades, following the blinding trails of red and predicting with perfect accuracy where they would be striking next.
Ventress was different. There was a grim resolve within her that had never been present before, a sense of solidarity and fellowship that lent her not only fury, but...peace. Obi-Wan frowned as he looked within his friend, reaching out to sense the darkness within her, only to find it changed as well. This wasn't the blind fury, the consuming rage of the woman that had attracted the ire of Darth Sidious. There was anger, yes, but there was also calm, a peace that had never been within her for as long as he had known Asajj. Jedi betrayal had sent Kenobi down the path to darkness, but Sith betrayal had seemed to turn Ventress away from it. Sure, she had two assassination attempts on Dooku, and he could sense in her that she wanted him to die, believed he deserved death for what he had done to her. But through all of that, despite the anger he felt in her still, he could feel the Dark Side frantically scrambling to dig its claws within her and howling in outrage when it could not. The Dark Side sought to consume Ventress, and she would not be touched.
Ventress ducked down low, swinging her sabers at the Sith's legs, and he avoided them by jumping over her, lashing out with his red blade, and she only barely managed to swing her own weapon around to block it. The blow was forceful enough to make Ventress lose her balance and she fell to the ground, her twin sabers crossing above her just as Kenobi spun and brought the his full weight behind his next swing, the molten plasma sparks showering off the blades and hissing as they extinguished on Ventress' sweat-drenched head.
"Why did you turn away from me, Asajj?" Kenobi whispered, leaning in close and bearing his weight down, and the Nightsister's arms buckled, her elbows digging into the dirt as she struggled to keep the Sith's two weapons from plunging into her body. "Do you fear the Dark Side so much that you would run from it just as you began to experience true power?"
"I thought I had it," she growled through grit teeth. "Then I went deeper, and I grew stronger again, and I did it over and over until it consumed me! There is no bottom to the Dark Side, it just makes you crave more and more and it is never enough!"
"Limitless potential," Kenobi whispered in rapture and bore down on the weapon harder, and Ventress wrists buckled back, bringing his blade mere inched from her face. She swallowed hard, digging her heels into the soft dirt and sliding away, but he stayed with her. His wicked blade was a bit further away now with the adjustment, but it wasn't much better. "I look into the Force, Asajj, and it is rife with darkness. This isn't only the best way, it is the only way, and it is magnificent."
"It's a trap, Obi-Wan!" she cried, her voice cracking as she looked up into the golden eyes of the man that had been the closest thing to friendship that she had ever had. "There is only death and greed and destruction on that path. Can you blame me for wanting to get away?"
Obi-Wan laughed harshly. "Do you truly believe you can escape the Dark Side, Asajj? Look around you. Look what your actions have wrought. You tried to get away by killing Dooku, and all it has done is brought the Sith to your home. The Dark Side will have its due, Ventress. There is no escape..."
Ventress' lightsabers hissed off and she swiftly rolled just as Kenobi's weapons struck the loamy ground. She rolled backwards, planted her hands upon the ground and sprung up into the air, twisting her body as she sensed the darksaber slashing around at her, and she could feel the energy radiating off of the weapon as it just avoided coming in contact with her leg. Her sabers reignited as she landed and she swiftly brought both around to sweep at the Sith, his backhanded darksaber guiding the blades away from him as he dropped to his knee. Ventress swept the sabers up in a wide arch to disengage from the black weapon that sparked against her own blades, the burning hiss suddenly ending when the blades lost contact, and in that moment, Asajj felt searing pain as Kenobi thrust his red lightsaber behind his left shoulder. She looked down to see the crimson plasma burning through her shoulder, and with a shuddering gasp, she dropped her lightsabers, the two weapons hissing off as they flew to Kenobi's other hand, his secondary weapon already secured back on its place on his belt.
Kenobi swiftly withdrew the blade, planted his hands on the ground and whipped his leg around, taking Ventress' feet right out from under her, and the Nightsister found herself on her back, the Sith's weapon at her throat and staring up into blazing golden eyes. Slowly, she moved, and Kenobi allowed it, keeping the weapon trained on her as she got on to her knees and slumped back on her heels. "We surrender," she said softly. Despite his victory, the Sith Lord did not look pleased.
"I never wanted to do this to you, Asajj," Kenobi whispered, and the Nightsister looked away from him. "You forced my hand. This is your doing."
"...I know."
"I accept your surrender," he said, turning from the woman and facing his General. "Grievous. Kill them all."
Ventress' eyes flew open, and she was on her feet and running toward the Sith before she knew what she was doing, skidding to a sudden stop mere inches from the suddenly raised red weapon. "Kenobi, we had a deal! You said you wouldn't kill them!"
"Did I?" he hissed. "It was my understanding that I was to leave if you won, and if I won, your forces would surrender. The terms are unconditional, Asajj, and these are my terms. Your forces will surrender, and they will be executed. The Sith will not stand for repeated betrayals, and you have already attacked us twice. It will not happen again."
"Obi-Wan, please!" She grabbed at his arm when he turned away from her, tears in her ice blue eyes, and Lumis smiled at her kindly, reached out and stroked her pale cheek, and she shivered when she felt sympathy and understanding through the brush of the Force in his fingertips.
"The Force isn't done with you, Asajj Ventress," he whispered, pressing her lightsabers into her shaking palm, her other hand tightly grasping the large, burning hole in her shoulder. She was weak, far too weak to fight, and Obi-Wan leaned over and gently kissed her pale cheek. "Doom is upon you. Run, Ventress. Save yourself." He released her, and she fell to her knees, and the Sith Lord didn't look back. "Grievous, this has gone on long enough. Exterminate them."
The General's arms split into four as he drew and ignited his lightsabers, and in an instant, the undead army swarmed the cyborg when he advanced on Ventress, the creatures screeching and clawing at his metal plating, and with a snarl of frustration, Grievous hacked and slashed at the creatures, cutting easily through them. The droids advanced, opening fire upon the Nightsister army, and the women suddenly surged forward into the barrage of blaster fire when the two double bladed lightsabers of Pong Krell ignited at the far end of the clearing. Krell held his ground, his lightsabers spinning rapidly and easily cutting through any creature that came within reach, and the undead never stopped coming. He advanced slowly, jumping over the mounds of bodies when the dead began to pile up, hissing and writhing on the ground as they lay scattered in pieces. The magic that animated them still hadn't left the creatures, even after they had been bisected, even after heads had been removed from shoulders, and despite the heavy firing of the droids upon the crowd and the furious blade work of both Grievous and Krell, the undead swarm managed to break the droid ranks, and the carefully planned massacre devolved into the chaos of battle.
Kenobi groaned when the droids rushed in to engage the Nightsisters, and he ignited his second saber and joined the fight, careful precision strikes and quick movements seeing the Nightsisters, both living and dead, fall before the Sith. It was effortless, really, to lose himself in the Dark Side and allow it to guide his movements, wide arching slashes removing heads and limbs and cleaving bodies in two, swift spins and quick dodges keeping out of the way of the Nightsisters' energy weapons, quick deflections from his primary blade directing stray bolts of energy shot by the droids into the bodies of nearby women, and slowly, their numbers began to dwindle.
The com on his wrist began to flash, and Kenobi rolled his eyes, deactivated the darksaber and returned it to his belt, and fished the holodisc out of his robes. He answered it just as he swung his crimson blade down, cutting a deep, smoking trail through one of the women. He glanced quickly at the image, returned his focus to the battle, and quickly looked back, nearly dropping his weapon in the process and ducking swiftly to avoid an energy arrow from the Nightsisters bow. It was Dooku, his face covered in deep lacerations and bleeding profusely, his breath ragged and wheezing, his hand clutched to his chest, and he didn't need to say a word for Kenobi to know what was happening.
It was Talzin, and somehow, she was reaching through space and killing him.
"Lumis," he rasped, his deep voice cracking with pain and he devolved into a fit of labored coughing, and Obi-Wan's eyes quickly shot away from the holodisc, quickly scanning the battlefield and coming to focus on the hazy green mist that hung low in the air. He hadn't noticed it before, but as the magic left the corpses too damaged to continue fighting, it began to hang over the clearing like a shroud. He watched for a moment, his red blade moving mechanically as it deflected a bolt here, cut through one of the undead there, and saw the mist moving back toward the burning forest as if beaconed by some higher calling.
"Lumis," Dooku began again. "You must-"
"Stop Talzin, I know. Keep in contact, Dooku, alert me if it gets worse."
"It's getting worse."
Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. "Fine, contact me when you're about to die, then, I want to watch." He cut the feed and pocketed the device and sprinted across the clearing, his hand extended and lightning shooting from his fingertips and striking a wide line in front of him. The living screamed in pain, convulsing on the ground as they began to die, but the undead seemed unaffected, and it only served to draw their attention to him. He suspected such might happen, but it was worth a shot anyway. He cut through the undead as they rushed toward him, slicing off legs as they ran, arms as they reached out to him, heads if they got close enough, and in a few moments, he was rushing ahead of a massive throng that was ravenously following him.
He whistled sharply as he approached the swiftly spinning blades of Pong Krell, and the Besalisk looked swiftly to him and rushed to run at the Sith Lord's side as he passed. "Hold them back," Kenobi quickly commanded. "As many as you can. You won't hold them all, but do what you can to make them regret crossing you. I'm going for Talzin, make certain you bring Grievous and the droids to me when you are done here." Krell dropped from his side as he skidded to a stop, lightsabers held before him as he prepared to face the wave, and Kenobi ran into the burning woods.
With the trail of green mist in the air above him, he easily found his way back toward the Temple. He ran into Cody and his group standing watch just outside the clearing that opened up into the mountain that the Nightsisters called home, burned and charred bodies in heaps all around them, and Yoda let out a roar when he approached, his great claws raking the ground as he bounded toward the Sith, shaking his clone handlers off their feet with his sudden, jarring movements. His hand extended, he reached up and grabbed hold of one of the mighty horns as the rancor lowered its head and hoisted himself up on to the creature's armored helmet.
"Cody, the bulk of the Nightsisters are dead, but that doesn't seem to stop them from getting up and attacking us."
"I've noticed, sir," the clone said, pointing his blue lightsaber to one of the smoking heaps. "They've just kept coming, though not in the numbers we saw earlier. They don't much like fire."
Kenobi nodded. "The hoard is on their way. Keep them out of the Temple."
"Yes, sir."
"Are there many inside?" The clone shook his head.
"Not from what I can tell."
"I'm leaving you with the other two rancors, Cody," the Sith said as he stood atop the helmet. His hands grasping the two horns that swept back out from the creature's skull. "See that their Forces break. When Grievous gets here, command him to lead a sweep of the area. I want to make sure every single one of these witches is dead and stays that way." Eyes closed, he flowed the Force into the rancor beneath him, and the creature lurched forward, galloping at full speed into the darkness of the Temple, his horns colliding with statues and sending them tumbling down, his claws tearing at the foundations of homes that seemed a natural part of the cave around them.
The last time Kenobi had been here, it had been dim and difficult to see, but now he used the Dark Side to guide him, and the cavern was bright as day. They followed the mist, and as they drew closer to its source, he could hear women chanting in a language he did not understand. The mist disappeared behind a wall, the cavern coming to a dead end, but there was no such thing as a dead end to a rancor. With a wrathful screech, Yoda brought both his long arms up, his clawed hands balling into massive fists, and brought them down upon the wall, the stone and rock shattering on impact as though it was made of glass. He rammed his head into the opening, snarling viciously as his horns caught on the overhang, and Kenobi slid off the helmet, his red lightsaber igniting as he rushed into the small room, and his eyes narrowed as he saw Talzin, leaning over a caldron from which the green mist was originating. Next to her was an old, wizened woman, he chanting continuing despite the disruption.
Yoda suddenly howled as he was struck from behind by the energy arrows of the Nightsisters, and he reeled around, roaring as he charged. Obi-Wan felt the creature wasn't hurt, he was furious. He tugged at their Force bond and sent his own wrath and fury into the creature, sending the pale, hulking rancor into a dangerous, mindless rage with a single command within his mind: kill them all. Kenobi quickly looked over the room and met Talzin's eerie, silver eyes and he quickly reached out with the Force and grabbed the other woman, her crackling, wheezing voice screaming in protest as Obi-Wan pulled her toward him, the elder Nightsister flying through the air. He sidestepped out of the way and thrust his blade forward, impaling the woman on the glowing plasma, and her body shuddered as she swiftly died, the mist in the air dissipating as the source of the chanting was silenced.
Obi-Wan quickly thrust his hand out and Force lightning sprang from his fingertips and arched toward Talzin, and the Nightsister Mother met it with a barrage of lightning of her own, bright green in color and cracking with sparks as it collided with Kenobi's blue. He grit his teeth and pressed harder. How could she be doing this? Talzin had said long ago that she had no connection to the Force, that she drew her power from Dathomir itself, and while that might have been true, Dathomir was a nexus of Dark Side energy, and the witch was steeped in it. Her understanding of the Force was different, maybe even ancient, but it was the Force none the less. With a growl, he disengaged from his barrage of lightning and swiftly dodged out of the way, the green bolts striking and scorching the ground where he stood a moment ago. He brought his lightsaber up before him and blocked the arching green electricity as Talzin turned it upon him.
His focus restored, Kenobi pushed out with the Force, the explosive power of the energy he commanded pushing Talzin back, her skull-like visage shocked for a moment before her face hardened. The lightning ceased, and a green, protective force field surrounded the woman as she floated in midair, her body seeming to shift and waiver as if she were made out of the green mist herself. Kenobi pushed the Force at her again, but this time, it passed harmlessly through her. They were at a standstill, both ready to attack the second the other let their guard down, but it didn't happen. The comlink on his wrist began to beep, and without looking away from the Nightsister, Obi-Wan answered it.
"Sir," Cody said swiftly, the man breathing hard into the device. "The Nightsister army has crumbled, all their undead warriors just...stopped. They're dead, sir. All of them. Whatever you're doing in there is working."
"Fan out and check for survivors. Execute any you may find." He cut the com and Talzin slowly laughed, her dark, strange voice echoing in the small room.
"My Dark Jedi," she slowly drawled, her force field dissipating as her feet touched the ground. "How powerful you have become. And how far you have fallen."
"Only to rise again stronger than before." He relaxed the grip on his saber, but kept it poised and ready. He could feel the Force being pulled in toward him and quietly filling him with power. He only needed a moment, and it would all be over.
"I thought we had a deal," she growled, the darker tones of her voice overtaking the lighter ones. "We were supposed to aid each other in destroying the Sith. And now you join them."
Kenobi shrugged, a carefree smirk on his face. "I can't help that they're right. And you were never very helpful on that count." He pointed his lightsaber at the witch. "And now you crossed the Sith for the last time. You overplayed your hand, Talzin."
"My quarrel is not with you, Kenobi," she said, drawing out the syllables of his name in such a way that it make the Sith Lord cringe. "Dooku is dying, and another comes for you. It is already in motion." Suddenly, the Force struck him, pulling at his mind and Kenobi could see the fires once again and the face of the Zabrak Nightbrother within them. This wasn't the brutal fury of Savage, this was the cold, burning hatred of Maul. He was alive. Obi-Wan could feel it.
"How long have you known?" he gasped, and Talzin laughed. The question wasn't fully asked, but Talzin could sense his meaning.
"As I told you before, I can sense all my children, no matter where they may be." She laughed deeply when she saw the Sith's hand clutch tightly around his lightsaber as he pulled the Dark Side to him. "But that is not my fight any longer. You showed Ventress mercy. I can feel her. I saw what you did, and she lives because of you."
Kenobi scoffed. "You think allowing her to live was mercy?" He laughed harshly. "For Asajj Ventress, it would have been merciful to let her die beside the family she treasured more than anything. The Force still has use for her, and the Force is cold and cruel and without mercy."
Talzin began to say something, but a plasma bolt shot through the air and struck the woman in the chest, and she stumbled back. Kenobi rushed forward and brought his lightsaber arching down upon her, and he cut through hard stone as the witch's body turned to green mist and vanished into the air. Kenobi didn't know if she was dead or not. Dathomir seemed to have a strange way of disagreeing with the finality of death. Either way, he couldn't sense the witch anymore. He turned to face Cody, the clone walking carefully into the room, his blaster raised and pointed at the place Talzin had been a moment ago.
"Is she dead?" he asked, and Kenobi shrugged, kicking over the cauldron and spilling a green, bubbling liquid on the ground that hissed as it struck the stones.
"What does death even mean in this place?" he muttered, retracting his lightsaber and returning it to his belt. He pulled the holodisc out of his robes and contacted Dooku, the elderly Count breathing deeply, but evenly, and the younger Sith Lord smiled. "Better?" Dooku nodded wearily, and Kenobi didn't wait for his reply to switch off the device. He didn't understand what had happened here, what power these witches possessed, but he supposed it didn't matter anymore. The Nightsisters were dead.
"We await your next directive, sir," Cody said softly, and Obi-Wan sighed and ran his hand through his hair.
"Pack up the droids. We're headed for the Nightbrother villages and we get to do this all over again."
"Hopefully not all of it." Kenobi shook his head.
"Without the undead nonsense, hopefully. The Nightsisters are dead. The rest are just animals." Cody saluted as he left, rushing quickly to do as commanded, and Kenobi looked over the room and felt the peace of the Force. As always, the Force was with him. He turned and left the room without looking back. He had a genocide to complete.