Chapter 11: The Sith Master

Galen and Ahsoka stood at the ramp of the Rogue Shadow. PROXY piloted the ship towards the Invisible Hand. He could sense two distinct force signatures, one was Palpatine, and the other was Count Dooku, or Darth Tyranus. Galen had read briefly about Dooku. He had read about his time in the Jedi Order and his turn to the dark side. His power in the force was incredible. This Sith could not be taken lightly.

He looked to Ahsoka, who gave him a thumbs-up. Despite his many attempts to convince her to remain aboard the Rogue Shadow, she remained stubborn and persistent about accompanying him. He was worried about her, and at the same time, he reminded himself that she was considerably more skilled than she once was. That did nothing to ease his mind. He was still concerned. He didn't like this at all.

"Master," PROXY said, interrupting Galen's thoughts. "I am now disrupting the shields to the hanger. Be prepared for resistance."

"Acknowledged," He replied simply.

He turned to Ahsoka. "You sure you're up for this."

"Absolutely. I'm not about to let you go alone."

He simply stared at her, and then returned his gaze to the ramp as it began to lower.

The droids outside were not prepared for a ship to suddenly appear in the hanger bay. As the Rogue Shadow suddenly appeared, they were initially not sure what to do. Galen jumped, and Ahsoka followed close behind, both igniting their lightsabers while in the air. When the droids spotted what appeared to be Jedi, they began to fire.

Galen launched himself towards the nearest droid, decapitating it and impaling it. He then turned and forced pushed two more into a nearby wall. He turned for a split second to watch Ahsoka. She was using Shien to deflect and reflect blaster bolts. She then began to use Sith Shien to fell many others. Like him, she maintained a reverse Shien grip. Grinning to himself, Galen used force speed to fell seven droids quickly. He then quickly switched to Shien to reflect some bolts back.

He and Ahsoka met back to back, and reflected bolts at the remaining droids. When the final droid collapsed to the ground, both deactivated their weapons, scanning for additional threats. When they found none, they gave each other a nod, and Galen began to use his senses to locate the Chancellor.

When they did find him, Galen would have to play along. He did not want anyone knowing Palpatine's true identity. If it was known by anyone else, the results could be catastrophic. Palpatine would undoubtedly play mind games with him. While Vader had never played mind games with him during training, he knew that the Sith were fond of them. He would not be a victim of such games.

Galen and Ahsoka held their hilts in their hands as they ran throughout the hallways. The whole way, there were no droids waiting for them. Something was wrong. Galen had always fought his ways through hallways and rooms. He was never use to empty hallways and it only made him suspicious, perhaps even paranoid. He had to admit to himself that he wasn't acting normal ever since Vader's betrayal.

His pondering was cut short when they both stopped in front of the lift that was supposed to take them to the Chancellor. Galen tried hard not to tense. He was ready for this, but at the same time, in much doubt.

The lift opened to reveal six Super Battle Droids. Acting quickly, Galen unleashed force lightning and instantly disabled the droids; they all collapsed simultaneously. As he withdrew, Galen realized that he did while he did draw anger to use force lightning, he did not fully give into anger. Never before had he been able to control his anger. This gave him a slight comfort. He was slowly abandoning the ways of the Dark Side.

As soon as the lift began to descend, Ahsoka turned to look at Starkiller. Lately, he was thinking about a lot. While it was not her business to pry, she wanted to know. She wanted to help him, but she wondered if he even wanted her help. Although she had grown to understand him better in the past few weeks, he was still a mysterious person. He was not just a Sith or just a Jedi. He was something much more complex. Those names merely defined certain things about him. Ahsoka knew nothing about his parents and his birth home. Starkiller claimed that they were unimportant because they were in the past. She could sense that somewhere, it did matter and that he was lying to himself.

Ahsoka paused. She was more than concerned for him on a level of friendship. She acknowledged that she may actually harbor feelings for him. Only once before Starkiller had Ahsoka had feelings beyond friendship for anyone. Lux Bonteri was the only boy that ever attracted her attention. His attraction to her was immediate, and she initially ridiculed him. She remembered their first and only kiss, which she was unprepared for. While annoyed, she did find some joy in it. Now, their relationship could not continue. He was a senator. He had duties. She had duties. They simply could not see each other.

Starkiller, however, was far different than any other male she had seen. On the outside, he was a kid, but on the inside, he acted far more mature and serious than most his age. Not one did he stare at her as other guys would. For that, she was grateful initially, but now that she had feelings, would he ever acknowledge her as more than friends, or was their relationship was to be merely friends?

Galen was too busy going through his thoughts to notice Ahsoka staring at him. He fought to gather his emotions and keep them suppressed for a time. He also decided to strengthen his mental shields. It may not be necessary, but he didn't want anyone reading his thoughts. Time and time again, he tried to push his feelings of rapport for Ahsoka aside, but found that he couldn't. More than once, he had tried to dismiss these feelings as fake, a hopeless cause. She would never love him if he admitted his feelings. They were just friends, nothing else.

The lift doors opening brought both of them back to reality. The observation deck was empty of life and droids. Only the Chancellor occupied the room, bound to a chair. He carried his usual look of neutrality. Taking a deep breath, Galen began walking towards Palpatine, Ahsoka walking by his side.

The chair swiveled around and the Chancellor watched the two as they made their way to him.

"Chancellor," Galen bowed, maintaining a stoic look.

"We've come to rescue you," Ahsoka finished.

Palpatine looked beyond them. "Count Dooku."

Galen and Ahsoka turned to watch as the Sith Lord enter the deck with two Super Battle Droids flanking him. Ahsoka and Galen both held their lightsaber hilts in hand.

"We'll take him together," Galen whispered to Ahsoka.

She nodded.

Dooku jumped to the lower ground, taking out his lightsaber.

"You two should have brought help. You can't defeat him. He's a Sith Lord."

Galen tensed a bit. Palpatine was playing with them. He merely nodded, activating his lightsaber, Ahsoka doing the same.

"I expected someone else to rescue the Chancellor, but I guess I must settle for two children."

Galen said nothing as he got into a stance. Ahsoka also got into a battle stance. Both used reverse Shien grip.

Dooku activated his lightsaber. Galen raised his blue blade and charge forward.

Anakin and Obi disembarked from their fighters into the bay. As both looked around, their blades at ready, they noticed that the droids had already been destroyed.

Anakin bent down to look at one droid.

"This was the work of a lightsaber," He concluded.

"Yes," Obi-Wan Acknowledged. "It seems we are not the only ones rescuing the Chancellor."

Anakin then sensed a familiar presence. At first, he dismissed it as Dooku, but then, he realized that it radiated with the light side. He began to consider who he knew with this signature. Then, he realized who it was. He thought he would never see her again.

"Ahsoka."

Galen immediately recognized that Dooku used Makashi. Dooku seemed to be able to outmaneuver him and Ahsoka. The blade hilt he carried allowed him to control his blade greatly. Despite the many attempts to blindside the Sith Lord and flank him from all sides, neither him nor Ahsoka could get to him. They couldn't outmaneuver him. They had to overpower him with brute force.

Dooku then pushed Ahsoka with the force. Galen gave a glance to see if she was hurt. Seeing that she was just caught off guard, he turned to resume his use of Sith Shien, rapidly attacking him and doing so with economic, yet deadly, force. Dooku continued to block and parry with relative ease. He could not break the Sith Lord's defenses. Galen grew frustrated. He fought better than this. He had defeated a master of the Jedi High Council, but yet, he could not bring himself to go on the offensive for long. He was often force to go on the defensive more than once. He needed to change that now.

Ahsoka, meanwhile, had gotten back up, the two SBDs firing upon her. She deflected the fire with ease and cut the droids down with no effort. She then returned to join Galen as they both used Shien to try and overpower.

From a distance, the blades seemed to be rapid blurs as Galen and Ahsoka used a combination of Sith Shien and Juyo to keep Dooku on the defensive. Galen then realized that he was fighting only with his lightsaber, forgetting his force powers that he had. Suddenly, he remembered Ahsoka. He would only be able to use his force abilities if it was a one-on-one battle. If Galen used force abilities, he risked hurting Ahsoka and putting her in mortal danger. He would be forced to battle by lightsaber for now.

As the three lightsaber came together in a lock, Dooku used the distraction to catch both Galen and Ahsoka in a force choke grip. They were both thrown into different walls. Galen used the force to soften his impact with the wall. He fell flat on his stomach, feeling temporary pain. Ahsoka, who had not learned to use the force to soften her landings, hit the wall head-on. She collapsed on the ground, unconscious. Galen watched as Dooku collapsed a walkway on her.

Suddenly, Galen found himself calling upon his anger. Rising, he slammed into Dooku. Dooku was forced back a few meters. Galen then began to use Juyo full force, channeling his anger. He was getting faster and stronger with every passing second. He began applying force lightning into his attacks. He did nothing to control himself. It was raw and untamed fury that fueled his every move. Suddenly, everything seemed nonexistent to the Jedi; the only thing that mattered was Dooku.

The duel continued as Dooku and Galen fought their way back of the room where the elevators were. Galen struck everywhere at once, enhancing his speed and strength with the force. The two blades met in a lock. Both opponents shifted their blades to gain an advantage. Dooku ripped a piece of equipment from the wall and hurled it at the Jedi, attempting to blindside him. Galen retreated from the lightsaber lock, catching the incoming missile, using the force to throw it back at Dooku. The Sith Lord cast it aside. Galen used this distraction to charge a force repulse, unleashing it when Dooku resumed his attention. His opponent fell flat on his back. The Jedi them proceeded to grab some more debris and slam it against Dooku as he struggled to rise. The debris caught him, sending him sliding a few meters away. Galen jumped to Dooku, waiting for his opponent to get up. The Sith Lord rose to his feet. Wasting no time, Galen proceeded to attacking again, scorching his opponent's knee and arm. Dooku held his lightsaber to defend himself, but did so with little success as the blue blade performed two overhead strikes with much energy. The crimson blade was battered aside. Dooku then found himself lifted by the force. Galen jumped out, spinning him around, disorienting him before charging up a force push, which sent Dooku flying back towards the chancellor.

Galen began walking towards the Sith, who struggled to rise, but could not do so. He had multiple scars and burns that rendered him unable to move. The Chancellor looked on, a look of surprise and admiration

The Chancellor gave a nod of approval. "Good. Very good. Kill him."

Galen looked down at the now "powerless" Sith Lord. It would be simple just to kill him, but it was not the way of the Jedi to kill an unarmed opponent. If he was a Sith, he would most likely kill Dooku on the spot, because it was simply the way of the Sith, the way of the dark side. Now, however, he was a Jedi, and Jedi tradition demanded that he spare an unarmed opponent. He felt his anger began to subside and the light side returning. He hesitated, not sure what to do.

Suddenly, he felt two new force signatures. He turned his head to witness Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker entering the room.

The adventure continues. What will happen now? Stick around to read. As always, favorite, follow, and REVIEW. PLEASE REVIEW!