Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed or Star Wars. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not created with commercial aim. I make no money from it.
Phase 21: Skyfall
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Interlude: A Master and his apprentice
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"Master, is the Dark Side evil?" Aria asked.
They stood on a recreation of Korriban made of memories, observing some questionable training her master had to undergo an eternity ago.
"Or just the Sith?"
"Having second thoughts on what you want to be, apprentice?"
"Just wondering."
"Is a storm evil? An earthquake? The Force has no concept of good or evil but what we assign it. The Dark Side… she is selfish, that's the best way to put it I think. She doesn't care about what we deem moral. She is a force of nature and has the same regard for people. Five thousand years ago, the Jedi deceived the Old Republic into going to war with the ancient Sith Empire. The result was a genocide of the original Sith species and the near extinction to the Force Adepts living in said Empire. The few scattered survivors fled to the Unknown Region and for a thousand years plotted their revenge because they knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that there could be no coexistence – the Jedi and Republic proved that fact. The result? It was the twisted Empire built upon foundations of spite, rage and vengeance all the while the Jedi who burned Korriban and a hundred other worlds were hailed as heroes… How many of those Jedi do you think fell to the Dark Side for committing an unprovoked genocide?"
"The Force is hypocritical then? Or perhaps historians. What would I find if I browsed the data-net on Coruscant?"
"Perhaps… or perhaps intentions and belief matter as much as actions do when the Force is concerned. As for history… The Jedi and Old Republic won that war, they wrote the history that is widely available."
"And it would be as biased if not more than the accounts that survived the fall of the first Sith Empire. I've seen the Dark Council through your eyes, Master. I've seen what you've done in the name of power and survival..."
"In the Empire those were the same thing."
"True enough, I guess. Back then, you might have been an angel compared to your peers, yet..." Aria paused. "I've seen you burn whole worlds, condemn species to genocide merely because pacifying them was too troublesome and it was more cheap to simply exterminate them and import Imperial citizens and droid to make their worlds productive."
"Yet my peers then were so much worse. But nowadays? It all depends on where you stand. Even after Bothawui there are billions upon billions who support and cheer my actions with as many if not more decrying them. Not to mention all those who simply keep their heads down so they wouldn't gain my attention. It is a big galaxy with tens of thousands spacefaring species, even more cultures and all of those have different morals, see good and evil in different light. The actions that makes me a monster to some, apprentice, are the same actions that cause others to respect and hail me as a hero. If you follow in my footsteps you might have to become one too."
"That very well may be the case, Master. However, you offer me something that few would dare – the power to forge my own path, whatever that might be, even if it means embracing the Dark Side."
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Part 4
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KDY HQ
Kuat
Zash dashed through an armoured door a moment before it could sealed and found herself at the back of a hallway packed with KDY personnel racing towards the closest evacuation points. Her very presence sapped in the corrupting energies of the Dark Side made everyone she approached push back and away from her path. The Sith ran within the crowd without even slowing down while behind her the armoured door cracked, twisted and then exploded like a gargantuan anti-personnel charge with pieces of metal cutting through rows of packed people.
A heartbeat later Perrion ran into the hallway and if his handiwork disturbed him, he didn't let it slow him down at all. He followed Zash through the now panicking and screaming crowd, with the Force surrounding him acting as a buffer that pushed or crushed anyone unlucky or slow enough to stand in his way. The Sith reached the evacuation point moments before the Jedi and heedless of the people around her brought the ceiling down behind her crushing everyone unlucky enough to be in the area. She dove through the exit to land on a landing platform at the side of the building and just in time too. Behind her the whole wall blew outwards showering everything with pieces of metal, screaming people and corpses. A large chunk of durasteel slammed into a transport just lifting off and hurled it along with its human cargo to plunge two kilometres down to the surface. Moments later, two waiting air-cars met the same fate before Perrion crushed the engine compartment of a second transport. Only then did he jumped on the platform to face Zash. A concentrated torrent of lighting met him in mid-air only to be caught on his lightsabers. All the attack did was slow down his descend and when he landed on the platform he flourished his blades discharging the arching energy still contained upon them. Two waves of crackling lighting seared the landing pad with enough force to crack it in places and drive off everything on it but the Sith.
The moment his feet touched the ground, Perrion was sprinting, propelled by both the Force and his armour. Blinding light surrounding his left sabre and when he was halfway to his prey he threw it on the heels of a mighty telekinetic push. Zash managed to counter the first attack, which pushed her only a couple of steps back and she deflected the incoming sabre too using her own. When the blades touched, a searing flash of light blew up in the Sith's face temporarily robbing her off her sight.
Usually such a handicap wouldn't have really hurt her, however then and there all she could sense from Perrion was a huge pulsing sphere of Light and Dark Force energy. Zash acted on instinct and still managed to parry his first slash. That didn't stop her from receiving a Force enhances armoured fist to the face, a punch she rolled with while solidifying a telekinetic barrier around herself. Light spots and stars danced in front of her eyes, which wasn't helped by the glow emanating from the damned Jedi. She lashed with her blade felt resistance then her defences popped loudly and she was rolling away barely avoiding a blazing lightsabre.
There was no dodging a kick that cracked multiple ribs and drove the air out of her lungs. Perrion delivered powerful overhead slash that Zash sensed coming in the last possible moment and desperately brought up her blade to parry. This was the worst possible fight for her – facing a master of the blade alone, in a place and time not of her choosing. The Jedi towered above her and servo motors along with Force enhanced muscles pushed their locked blades closer and closer to her flesh. Zash glared at Perrion and the Dark Side swirled around them. Lighting struck all over the landing pad as she unleashed an uncontrolled storm upon them both. A pillar of corrupted energy slammed into Perrion with deafening rumble. It made him stumble yet the Force manifested around him managed to deflect or absorb the strike, while merely the radiating heat was enough to give Zash first degree burns despite her own defences. Another strike landed just behind the Jedi and made him stumble again and this time the Sith was ready and broke the sabre lock. She lashed with strength and speed born of desperation while a third strike blasted them both. Perrion's defence cracked and Zash's blade connected with his armour only for a shield to burn out absorbing a lot of the blade's energy before her attack was over. There was a glowing gash left on Perrion's chest plate, the Force surrounding him solidified back into his odd shield and he was ready to continue his attack.
Zash on the other hand was blown back by the last lighting strike. It singed her and sent torrents of energy through her body. She landed in a smoking lump that twitched spasmodically. As if that wasn't enough, the lightsaber she deflected earlier came screaming back at her. She managed to concentrate enough through the pain racking her body to halt the incoming projectile and acting on instinct, surround her body in a Force barrier.
It was too little, too late. Perrion was upon her again and when he slammed his lightsaber into her side, here defence was enough to slow it down but not stop it. Zash rolled away with every movement making her bite off a scream. The burning blade caught her at the lower part of the chest, vaporizing flesh, ribs and ruining organs. A telekinetic pull jolted her to a stop and this time there was no stopping her pained scream. Perrion towered above her like an angel of death and behind him the skies themselves burned and fell.
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Part 5
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Landing pad
KDY HQ
Kuat
This is what is to be Delkatar Veil, the Dark Lord of the Sith Vael, a General of the Grand Army of the Republic, Mandalore, a monster who set the whole galaxy afire and was hailed as a hero for it, for a second time…
Ever since the day the Jedi murdered you wife, you had been living for this moment. You became a mask of sanity and reason within the Sith Empire so you would live long enough to savour your vengeance. You were among those who engineered the defeat of the Old Republic and a coup meant to reform the Sith Empire itself. You had shattered armies, broken fleets, burned whole worlds to make this possible.
It was all for this moment. Everything you've been through ever since first taking breath in this galaxy had led to this point.
Your armoured form tears through the air, the stratosphere burns high above you as a country sized chunk of space station slowly tumbles through space and begins to fall. You can feel the shock and terror of countless people echo through the Force and all you could say is that this is a fitting background for your vengeance. And then, finally you lay your eyes upon Jerrod Perrion's form and your world grounds to a halt. All the mask you've ever worn are stripped away. All pretences, all justifications are gone.
The Dark Side grants many gifts. You know this. You've taught this. Now, she retracts one of them and you're left floundering. The war doesn't matter any more. The Jedi and Sith, even the two sides of the Force and their eternal conflict are forgotten.
The Dark Side however, she hadn't forgotten you. It is this moment she has been patiently waiting for, a treachery four thousand years in the making. If Perrion falls here, by your hand and you fall with him in the embrace of the Dark Side, there won't be a way back. The war, the real one, would be won, for there would be no one to stop you before its too late and the Dark Side would reign supreme.
At this moment, when all you care about is vengeance, she betrays you. For one perfect moment of clarity all lies you had ever told yourself to bury your conscience are stripped away, all pretences are gone. You stand alone, gazing into the man you used to be, the soldier who sacrificed everything for a second chance and finally understand that you've betrayed everything he stood for… everything you ever stood for. You can see a perfect image of Ashara and know she would turn her gaze away in horror if she could see what you wreaked in her name, just before she picked up her sword to oppose you.
You're alone, falling. Everything you've touched had been destroyed, either by the Dark Side herself or of by the Light that was supposed to represent all that was good in the galaxy. All because of you, the choices you made without a second thought.
Vette, Ashara, Shaak Ti… Bo-Katan… You remember them as they were before you crashed into their lives. The feather touch of soft lips, fiery passion, the moments that made you feel alive and carefree, the moments of love that were gone… Three of those women were already dead and damned, either because of you or by your own hands. Because when you could have done something different, when you could have thought more about them and done something to save them, you thought only about yourself. Bo-Katan… what are the odds you won't destroy her too? You're an unrepentant monster after all. You can't lie to yourself any longer. When you look at the mirror you won't see Darth Vael. There won't be a corrupted and twisted version of yourself fallen to the Dark Side who you can blame.
It's only you. This is the final trap of the Dark Side, what she wants. Your conscience is unbound and the horrors you've wreaked all over the galaxy are devouring your mind. You're alone with your demons when she offers you her dark embrace. She forgives you and more importantly she understands. She is offers you a shoulder to cry upon, a mask called Darth Vael to hide behind from the galaxy you ravaged and more importantly, from yourself.
This is how it feels to be Delkatar Veil. The only truth you have left is vengeance and the Dark Side eagerly offers her power to help you sate it and damn yourself. You accept the offer and it's all done in a moment. All the doubts are gone – you eagerly put your mask in place and your conscience is brushed aside and buried deep below the surface of your mind. There is no more wretched agony over what you've done and it's fading echoes merely serve to stroke the fires of vengeance burning within your chest.
When you reach the platform, the heart of the Dark Side itself manifests around you in a sphere of sickly pulsating malevolent darkness. The mere backslash of your arrival throws Zash's broken body clear off the platform to tumble to her doom kilometres below and you don't even spare her a second thought.
She doesn't matter any longer. The falling skies are irrelevant. Perrion is here, yours to kill and that single thought made all the restrain you ever had snap. When you look at him, your eyes are pools of molten corrupted gold glowing so bright that made your visor shine.
You level a hand at Perrion, who finally turns to face you and the Dark Side jumps to obey your will. Tendrils made of its raw power manifest themselves around you and lash at the bastard Jedi. A small voice in the back of your head whispers that this is wrong, that you're becoming everything that you loathe. That you're finally falling and don't even care.
You dismiss it. It doesn't matter. The Dark Side is with you, Perrion is in front of you and you're going to make him pay for an eternity.
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