Chapter 68
She had rehearsed this moment in her head so many times as a child.
Then as the years passed on Rattatak, such musings grew distant with every month that passed on that miserable world. It was only as she was taken from there by Dooku that the tiny spark of hope to see the world of her birth, gained strength again.
It was seemingly stamped out by Dooku's training and the constant whirlwind of preparations for the war.
Then at last, when open hostilities began, it was moving from one mission to the next. Never stopping, always chasing the next goal, the next victory, the frantic drive to prove that she was worthy of the mantle of apprentice.
Never had she had so much time to just think and reflect.
All the effort, all the pain and what had she actually achieved?
She couldn't care less about the CIS or Dooku's political goals for the corners of the galaxy he wanted to carve out for himself. Her assertions of loyalty to the Separatists had all been lip service at best. Asajj had hardly ever seen the normal people that fell under the CIS banner, only meeting with the megacorp executives, Grievous when he was still alive, then Durge and the droids of the CIS war machine.
None of the people of her own supposed 'nation' even knew she existed. She was never lauded as a 'hero' and Dooku preferred it that way. The ways of the Sith were in the shadows and it wasn't as if her appearance was the type that would fit on a propaganda poster.
Now, once again, she truly had nothing but her own skills and power to show for all her hard work and toil.
The Crusher's landing thumped through the hull and she stared outside the forward viewport at the night time landscape of Dathomir. Everything was lit in the light red gloom from two of the planet's four moons hanging overhead. It was easily one of the least idyllic places she had ever seen and the local wildlife made it even worse.
This was home?
No, there had never been a place where Asajj could say she had ever felt 'at home'. It felt like an entirely foreign concept to her experience in life. The place where she could always come back to, sleep, recuperate, eat, be safe, where a family was. There was not a place in the galaxy she could ever associate with all those things.
"So are you going to just sit there and stare?"
Asajj slumped her shoulders in weariness as the entirely too cheerful voice of her annoying benefactor? Helper? Travel companion?... echoed through the cockpit.
Mizal stood there, hands clasped behind her back, an ever present smile on her face and rocking back and forth impatiently on her heeled boots. Seemingly oblivious and uncaring of the effect it was having on her bosom.
Asajj couldn't understand how the female togruta could stand having no support there. Her own weren't as large, but still required the typical underwear harness that females of the species that had them generally wore. Yet Mizal had none of those issues or didn't seem to have any traditional clothing at all.
The self-declared explorer of the galaxy had a single suitcase and that was it. She had produced no clothing from it or covered up during the entire journey to Dathomir. Even when they had briefly stopped in the Denon system to get some much needed medical attention for Asajj's ribs, the togruta continued to casually walk about and everyone just continued to ignore her!
It was a maddening mystery that Asajj really wanted to figure out.
Even when she had finally broken down and asked Mizal, the eccentric simply replied, "I appear only when the situation won't be complicated and when I can derive some amusement from it."
The next inevitable question was simply why?
"You could say I had a very long period of hermitage, where I eventually ceased to care about it."
Asajj shook her head, her attention returning to the present.
"Of course not, I want to meet… my people."
The words felt very strange, even alien on her lips.
She secured the ship's systems into standby mode. Just in case the reception did not turn out to be friendly or something went wrong.
When they were standing at the ship's lower exit Asajj couldn't help but ask, "Are you sure, Mizal? Last chance."
The togruta laughed in her typical hearty fashion, "Oh, just over a week together and I've really influenced you. Do you truly care about me, Ventress?"
"No, don't be ridiculous. I'm thinking more about the Nightsisters. If they object to your presence, then they'll try to kill you and I've sensed enough from you that I doubt they'd survive."
"So you care about them then?"
Asajj gritted her teeth. "Argh, why every time we talk you try to play mind games?!"
"They're not games, Ventress. As I said, I wish to meet your people, not fight them."
She slammed on the controls and the embarkation ramp lowered on slow hesitant actuators and hydraulics.
They walked out to regard the landing area.
It was a large flat plateau near one of the many mountain ranges, at the edge of a distinct forest of giant bramble trees that seemed typical to the planet.
These specific coordinates were ones she had illicitly learned from Dooku's files. It indicated it was the closest the Nightsisters got to an official landing zone for those who wanted to acquire their mercenary services. It was known only to a select few. Dooku had theorized that the landing point itself was not the only one and that the Sisters used the locations to immediately know who was potentially visiting them.
She stretched out with her senses and found only wildlife.
"Hmm, that way I think," Mizal mused and they headed into the forest.
Some of the critters Asajj was sensing made her very glad her lightsaber and blaster was holstered on her hips.
The boughs of the brambled forest were now directly overhead, partially hiding the red moonlight, leaving patches of pure darkness at ground level. There was very little noise bar the odd shifting breeze that carried a very odd smell that she had no real word for.
For some time they kept a steady pace towards the towering mountain that was slowly coming ever closer. The wildlife was strangely docile and despite clearly being aware of the two interlopers in their forest, were content to either ignore or simply leave. It was very odd behavior, considering she knew that rancors, nydaks, bane back spiders and chirodactyls called this planet home. Thankfully none of those were close by. She could only ascribe it to the influence of the Nightsisters being at work.
"We're being watched."
"Yes, there are roughly a dozen of them, flitting and jumping through the branches above us."
Asajj stretched out with her senses, but again found nothing. "How can you sense them and I can't?"
"It's quite simple, Ventress."
"Really?"
The thumps of feet against the ground behind them stopped any further conversation.
Four Nightsisters were there, two armed with glowing energy bows, already primed and ready to fire, whilst the other two had long curved knives with edges that glowed green. Their crimson form fitting clothing were optimized to blend into the background, along with hoods and masks that shielded the lower half of their faces. Their legs and feet were wrapped with a similar material, with the shoes integrated, ending halfway up their thighs. As gear for fighting, it was clearly optimized for Dathomir, maximum flexibility and moving silently. The only criticism she had was the patch of bare skin on the upper thighs - where the dathomiri white skin stood in stark contrast to the rest of the outfit.
More sisters revealed themselves overhead and to the sides, aiming more energy bows.
"More strangers come to Dathomir."
The voice didn't seem to come from a single point and seemed to echo from each sister.
"I was born here, I've returned to speak to Mother Talzin," Asajj retorted.
"Relinquish your weapons," the chorus demanded.
Mizal slowly reached for her pistols and pulled them out with two fingers on the handle. Then promptly dropped them to the ground in front of her.
A sister immediately grabbed them and retreated.
"Let's go, Ventress. Your kin are feeling quite agitated for some reason, I wouldn't test them unnecessarily," Mizal hooked her thumbs into her belt and carefully studied the closest Nighsister, who was looking very uncomfortable being under that scrutiny.
Asajj unholstered her blaster but found herself very reluctant to part with her surviving lightsaber. She winced as she unhooked it from her belt and stared at its ribbed, curved hilt. It was the weapon she had designed and built under Dooku's tutelage. Its strength and power had served her well, seeing her through so much.
Perhaps if she truly wanted this to be a new chapter of her life, then she would have to let this go as well.
She opened her hands and turned them over, dropping both weapons to the rocky earth at her feet.
Another sister claimed the weapons and rushed off.
"Now you will both die."
Asajj gritted her teeth in anger, loosening her fingers and gathering power to throw out Force Lightning all around her. She could probably hit every sister in close range, but the ones at long range were problematic and she'd have to be very nimble to dodge that volume of fire, which was not a gamble she was confident of winning.
Mizal rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Really girls? This is how you treat guests? Sure, we might be uninvited-"
"Stop!"
The voice cut through the impending storm of violence and the threatening explosion of the Force.
The authoritative voice came from above and a tall dathomiri in extravagant robes, with extensive tattoos on her face, floated down to land smoothly behind them.
"Mother Talzin," Asajj greeted, bowing her head.
The light of recognition entered Talzin's silver eyes and she immediately gave an imperious gesture to the sisters around her, who lowered their weapons.
"The universe throws more surprises my way it seems," she said, her voice echoed with many behind her in the Force. "I knew one day that you would return to us, just not when. Not to mention with such a unique companion." Talzin stared at Mizal and her eyes flashed with green briefly. Asajj saw some brief emotion pass through the Mother, but it was too fleeting to recognize.
"Captain Mizal, at your service and a pleasure to meet you Mother Talzin," she introduced herself, including the ridiculous bow of greeting. "I just so happened to arrive to lend aid to your estranged kin when she was in trouble on her long journey here."
"Hmmm, and saw fit to accompany her all the way?"
"I'm an explorer and when I heard about your people… let's just say I'm insatiably curious about how the Force and the people who practice it have evolved."
"We will speak later," Talzin said in answer. "Child, what name do you go by?"
"Hal'Sted always called me Asajj, I took the surname Ventress for myself."
"That he at least bothered to give you the name your mother chose for you at least affords him some credit. Is he still alive?"
"No," Asajj said shortly.
"Good riddance. No doubt, you are wondering why you were given to him."
"He died when I was young, I never thought to ask. I've only ever had theories."
Talzin nodded, "It's quite simple, Asajj. I sought to bring the Nightsisters off this rock, to ascend our reach into the stars. We had grown too content here where our power was at its strongest. Inevitably, we made enemies and Hal'Sted's pirates controlled the narrow hyperlanes to the system and our only access to the rest of the galaxy. If we wanted both access and protection, we had to give him something of equal worth."
"Me," Asajj said flatly.
"Your sacrifice ensured that we were protected when we were at our most vulnerable, when we had no modernized weapons or strategies for defense. The Nightsisters owe our very lives to you, child. For that, you will always be welcome here, our knowledge and power, for you to learn. We will within reason also aid you in your endeavors.
"But come, we will discuss this further in the more comfortable surroundings of the village."
Walking the expansive halls and corridors of the Jedi Temple was always a serene experience. It was rare that you saw anyone rushing anywhere, the only real exception being in the Halls of Healing.
After six days in hyperspace, with the constant background droning of engines, life support and computers in the cramped cockpit of a Fang fighter, I had a distinct need for open space and silence.
Naturally, it didn't take long for that silence to be disturbed. I really should've just found a mediation chamber in retrospect.
I stopped as I was about to pass a turbolift, just in time for the door to open and nearly 1.6 meters of gangling limbs encased in shaggy fur to barrel straight past me.
The young wookiee, seeing that he had nearly bowled over a Jedi padawan, froze abruptly and started to turn around. Only for his human companion to rush out of the turbolift, crash into his back and bounce off.
"Ooofff, Gungi, what are you doing?" the young male Jedi adept groused.
The wookiee rasped a sharp warning note with further growling harmonics, which the translator attached to his belt rendered into a tinny, "Quiet, Petro!"
"Why are you- Oh."
I arched my left brow at the young adepts and it didn't take Jedi senses to determine that these two were 'up to something'.
"Adepts Gungi and Petro. Is there any particular reason you are in such a hurry?"
"Uh, no, none at all, Padawan," Petro smiled nervously.
"I know I've been generally away from temple life for more than a year now, but if I'm not mistaken, things haven't changed enough for adepts of your age to be out of class at this time of day."
The boy winced and stared intently at his hirsute partner in crime. The wookiee to his credit felt guilty and angry at his friend for getting them in this situation. Petro only felt fear and his mind was frantically trying to come up with excuses.
"Uhm, we were just… just…"
"Give it up, Petro," said Gungi with annoyed growls.
"So where are you both supposed to be?"
"Lightsaber practice with Master Drallig," Gungi answered promptly, throwing sideways glares now at his friend.
I immediately empathized with them both. I also had the misfortune to be assigned to 'The Troll' for a year in lightsaber class during my time as an adept. Cin Drallig was the Order's Battlemaster and the Temple's Chief of Security. His disposition and temperament was not pleasant in the least. He was a stickler for protocol and firmly in the orthodox faction of the Order. He made up for it by being considered among of the finest lightsaber duelists that were currently alive, which he shared with Yoda, Windu and Dooku.
However, being good at your job didn't necessarily make you a good teacher.
Every school I had attended in my previous life and this one, had a teacher like that in some manner. It was almost a natural law it seemed.
"And what made you think skipping his class would in any way lead to a positive outcome?"
"We just…" Petro began explaining but his shoulders just slumped in visible defeat.
"Look, I get it, I've been in that class. He drives you hard, he's a perfectionist that tolerates no fun and his lessons on dueling theory could easily double as anesthesia in the Halls of Healing. However, he did not get to the position of Battlemaster by goofing off. He's not nice, because anyone trying to kill you one day will not be nice. What he's teaching will one day save your life. Understand?"
Petro nodded miserably, whilst Gungi thumped his chest.
"Good, now back the way you came, suck it up and take the punishment he's going to hand out. More than likely running a dueling sequence for a hundred repetitions. I will be enquiring on the matter with Master Drallig at the end of the day, so no further delays."
The two adepts shuffled off back into the turbolift, the doors closed and they returned to the temple's lower levels.
"Nicely handled, padawan. Are you sure you don't want to enquire about a small stint as a teacher at the academy?"
I turned to face Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was standing further down the corridor in his typical outfit, though minus the armor pieces.
"Master Kenobi," I greeted with a bow.
The master approached me and returned it. "Welcome back to Coruscant. I trust that… matters on Mandalore are in hand?"
The subtext of his question might as well have been flashing in giant holo letters above his head.
"Yes, master. There was an altercation with a CIS assassin penetrating the Guard, which was handled efficiently. No one died and he's currently in holding being thoroughly interrogated, though what can be learned from him in the end, may be of little use."
"Good, good. May I join you on your walk?"
Of course a master would know what I was actually trying to do.
"Certainly, master," I smiled and gestured the way before we both fell in step and headed off.
We walked for nearly half an hour in complete silence.
He let me set the direction and honestly I was just 'going with the flow'. We ended up going through the Room of Thousand Fountains, the Halls of Healing, the Lake level - which was an expansive menagerie used by Jedi to study various fauna from around the galaxy, and it was as we were walking along one of the expansive mezzanines of the temple's ziggurat, when my own curiosity could not be contained any more.
"What is the situation, Master Kenobi?"
He smiled knowingly as our little game of silence ended. "There is something of mystery afoot, Ahsoka. Routine deep range scans of the northern reaches of the galaxy intercepted an encoded message in Wild Space, Sector K2. This would normally be of no interest to us, except for the fact that it uses a holonet encoding protocol that hasn't been used for nearly three thousand years and there is a similarly old Jedi distress signal in it."
"I see, that is interesting. Could we be looking at an ancient Jedi system that only now decided to broadcast? Or perhaps even a time capsule of sorts?"
"Perhaps," Obi-wan stroked his beard thoughtfully. "The fact that its origin point is in the Chrelythiumn system, with a clear proximity to Separatist space means that the Council has decided to send Anakin and myself in a cloaked ship to investigate."
I couldn't help the weary sigh I let out. "When do we leave?"
"There are some issues still with the ship itself, but the Temple engineers indicate it should be ready by tomorrow."
"I hope it's a nice and roomy ship, master. At best we're looking at eleven days going that far north, not accounting for any travel delays."
"It will be adequate for our needs, Ahsoka."
"Can I have a look at the actual message?"
"Nothing particularly classified about it, Anakin has a copy."
I gave a quick peek through the bond. "And of course he's in the hangars working on the ship."
"Naturally," Obi-Wan smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow." He patted me on the shoulder and walked off to the exit of the mezzanine.
I pulled my senses slightly back to get a better view of just what ship we were going to use.
No way, I thought in awe.
'Hey Snips, what do you think?' Anakin thought.
'Well, it's definitely Corellian. It looks like an evolution of their YT line.'
'Yep, this is a 1300, CEC just delivered the first production runs of this new model.'
I ruthlessly squashed the impulse to just punch my fist into the air and geek out.
'What problems are you running into with it?'
'Despite being state of the art and very modular, it just doesn't have enough in its reactor for a cloaking device, so one of the cargo bays is getting a secondary compact reactor installed to run our cloak exclusively. The fuel feed lines to the new reactor is a nightmare of complexity working within an already existing design, so to simplify things we are also installing a secondary fuel tank and running the lines through extra conduits we are installing ourselves. We've already swapped out the slow civilian Class 2.0 hyperdrive for a militarized 0.8 as well, should shave a decent chunk off our travel time.'
'Weapons? I can only see a single dorsal cannon.'
'There's another on the ventral, but we're putting in a concussion missile launcher with a hefty magazine in the nose between the forward prongs. Eventually, if we keep using her, I'd want to see about changing the single cannons to autoblaster cannons, so we can have some active missile defenses as well.'
'She have a name yet?'
'Emissary.'
'Really?'
'Not my idea, Snips. One of the other engineers thought it up and it just got a life of its own.'
'Well, at least I haven't unpacked my stuff completely yet. Oh yeah, how long was the estimate for Resolute's repairs by the way?'
The Battle of Sullust hadn't been kind to what I considered my warship. A wing of CIS tri-fighters had managed to fight and slip its way through the defenses to blast the port flight bridge to scrap, killing every crewmember who'd been there. Resolute was currently landed on Corellia for repairs.
'At least three weeks.'
'Kuat would've done it in two,' I grumbled.
'Not going to get in a banter over this, Snips. I need to concentrate here. We wouldn't want our reactors to fail before we even traveled a light year, now would we?'
'Fine, fine. I'll get busy.'
Asajj paced back and forth on the balcony of the small living quarters that had been 'gifted' to her by Mother Talzin.
The village of the Nightsister clan was built out of a formation of nearly a dozen tall spires within a gigantic space that had been hollowed out of the mountain. Each spire formed a literal island and in the space between, the ichor steadily flowed, casting everything in an overall green glow. That wasn't enough for lighting, so the sisters used a mix of fire torches and modern lighting, powered by a buried fusion reactor.
Food was mostly grown outside the mountain at lower altitudes, a task given to the Nightbrothers. The dathomiri diet was mostly hunted meat and mushrooms grown inside the mountain, with it further supplemented by grains and other fruit harvested from forests.
"You should really try this Brula fruit, Ventress," Mizal said from her chair as she was squeezing out the sap into her mouth. "Mmm, just a few though. Apparently, too much leads to hallucinations and blurred vision."
"I'm not hungry," Asajj snapped.
"You're going to need all your strength for the training."
"I don't need or want training, I want to kill Dooku!"
"Ventress, surely by now you realize that any training you got from Dooku was carefully edited to keep you manageable. The Sith are forever concerned with gaining power and the preservation of it. The apprentice is always kept at a disadvantage. Everything from the lightsaber forms you learned and the Force techniques will all be accounted for. The only way you triumph is by going beyond his teachings, developing your own style, by becoming the true you and not his apprentice.
"Killing Dooku is also not enough. You know that there is someone more powerful behind him. Even if you succeed, the Dark Lord will simply find a new apprentice or come personally to avenge Dooku's death. Your anger at Mother Talzin is blinding you."
Asajj stopped and glared at the togruta.
"What? Did you think she was seriously going to just give you a squad of her finest Nightsisters to outright attack Dooku in his palace on Serenno? You have no knowledge of how they work, fight or their ways. You'd be a liability in any team with them. Not to mention any knowledge you had about Dooku's security systems is obsolete now. He'll have changed all the codes, installed new systems. He might think you're dead, but he's not stupid. He will have learned from his master's ways and have a contingency for your possible survival in place."
"Just… stop Mizal. Stop trying to turn me to the Light!"
"Now where would you get the idea that I've been trying to do that?"
"This entire trip!" Asajj irrationally wished her hair was longer, just so she could rip them out in frustration.
"I am simply making you see the truth, any steps into the Light you are taking are of your own accord." Asajj turned around, leaned on the balcony railing and cradled her head, unable to tolerate looking at the togruta any longer. "Stop moping, it's unbecoming of you. Sit and eat, Ventress."
She slammed her fist down on the balcony railing, sat down and began to eat with as much dignity as possible, even though her stomach was rebelling against her.
'What is the point of freedom if I'm still being denied and told what to do at every turn!' she thought angrily.
Mizal finished her fruit, sat back, put her legs up on the railing and leaned back, interlacing her fingers behind her head as if she was lounging at a beach and not inside a hollowed mountain. "Ah, that really hit the spot. You know who you remind me of, Ventress? A long time ago, thousands of years, during the old Sith Empire, there was a particular Darth who sat on their Dark Council."
"The Sith actually had a council?" Asajj asked incredulously.
"Oh yes, though don't imagine for a moment that it was a model of cooperation. Most of them spent the majority of their time plotting to undermine each other and if necessary kill. For the most part, yes, they ruled their empire and the masses with marginal success. This Darth, she was a Sorceress, an old term to refer to someone who specialized in the direct manipulation of the Force, with the lightsaber as an afterthought. She was near legendary in this regard. You think you can use Force Lightning, but compared to her you're throwing an electric taser dart.
"She could wipe out entire companies of soldiers and it was a rare Jedi who could redirect and defend against her power. It was that strength which saw her eventually rise to that position on the Dark Council, naturally, over the bodies of her master and rivals. Yet, would you believe that this woman began as little more than a slave, the lowest of low in the old Empire with nothing to her name but the clothes on her back?"
"That is very unlikely," Asajj retorted, chewing on a piece of Burra fish thoughtfully.
"It might seem that way, but strength in the Force, raw cunning, cleverness and determination saw her through at the end of the day. Such was the nature of the old Empire."
"And I remind you of her? Really? You speak as if you were there."
Mizal chuckled. "That is a conversation you are far from ready for. Let's just say I'm a very good student of history and just happened to have a good source that was uncorrupted by time or distortion of facts. So yes, you were both slaves and were both found, raised in the Force by different masters. You were both betrayed by your masters and left to die or thought dead. She pulled the pieces of her life together and rose to the challenge."
Asajj looked at Mizal with suspicion, "Why are you, a Jedi, using this Sith woman as an example?"
"Anyone who does not study and know their enemy is just asking for defeat at their hands. The galaxy owes Darth Nox a great debt for her later actions, even though those who remember are vanishingly few. The fact that there is any life at all in this galaxy is no small part due to her."
"A Darth saved the galaxy? Now you're just making it up. Stop it."
"Your belief, thankfully, has no bearing on the facts. The course of history can hinge on one person, whether they be Light or Dark, Force Sensitive or not, Ventress. Whether something like that is to be your future or if you're just going to die an ignoble death at the hands of either Dooku or his master, is up to you."
Asajj put down her fork, wrestling with herself as a crazy notion occurred but somehow it just seemed… right. "Would you train me?"
Mizal laughed heartily, slapping her hand on the table. "Oh, ha ha, that's a good one. Now tell me, why would I ever train a former Sith, someone with the blood of many Jedi on her hands? Who has yet to show an ounce of remorse for her actions."
"Dooku's master is your enemy as well."
"True, yet do you really think that you could ever truly defeat him? You don't even know who you truly are yet? Jedi, Sith, Nightsister? Who are you, Ventress?"
"I must defeat him. The order to kill me came from him. It's a matter of survival. As for who I am… I- I- I don't know."
"Then make that choice, Ventress and come to me with certainty in your heart, then I will decide."
The Emissary was underway, powering through hyperspace northwest from Coruscant along the Namadii Corridor Hyperlane.
I was idly walking through the circular main corridor of the light freighter with a feeling that was hard to put into words. This ship was not the future Han Solo's Millennium Falcon, being practically factory fresh and having gone through a refit at the hands of Anakin and the Temple engineers, but the bones of it were there.
I had even flown it briefly towards the hyper point and I felt I had to pinch myself to make sure it wasn't a dream.
A fully militarized YT-1300 with cloaking was a beast of a machine, and when she got her autocannons in all arcs, it would be even better.
I truly could imagine the Emissary being a fast moving nightmare of an anti-fighter platform in the middle of a fleet engagement. Spewing out missiles, streams of blaster fire and sweeping space around her, whilst easily being able to take a decent amount of punishment.
Having just a half-squadron of them patrolling around the Resolute would firm up defenses considerably, especially if their cannons were also on anti-torpedo duty, although a fleet version wouldn't have cloaking devices.
Just the thought of coming up with a true credit cost value to attach to these cloaking devices was rather daunting, considering the history of development involved Sidious himself secretly commissioning someone on the CIS side to actually do it. Then for it to fall into the Republic and Jedi's hands for further R&D to eventually produce the one currently sitting on board the Emissary.
"Snips."
I paused and backtracked slightly to peer into the only empty cargo hold on the Emissary.
Anakin was seated in the center of it in a meditation posture and beckoning me inside.
"Master?"
He gave me a brief evaluating look, "Come inside and close the door behind you."
'Uh oh,' was my only thought and I dutifully obeyed.
He gestured to the hard floor in front of him.
"What's this about, master?" I asked when I had seated myself.
"Now that we have relative solitude for the next ten days, I want us to focus on the lightsaber for a bit. Specifically, in a one-on-one situation with no other factors coming into play. I realize that will be a very rare scenario and about the only opponent we'd conceivably face like this would be Dooku but-"
"No master, your foresight is picking up on something. I'm sensing it as well."
"Really? What are you seeing? It's maddeningly vague for me."
"The pressures of the war are ever increasing, master. The death of a Jedi is not just a statistic. Every loss means inevitable sorrow and mourning will follow among that Jedi's peers and friends. It ripples outward and eventually it will hit someone harder than normal, who is unable to deal with it because of everything else happening."
"They will fall."
"Yes, and we will be forced to respond. Placing us in the difficult position of trying to stop them and even having to strike them down to avert disaster."
Anakin ruffled his hair with frustration, "I agree, but what I'm feeling here is more immediate. I think the danger lies at our destination."
That he would pick up on the actual residents of the Chrelythiumn system through his foresight was probably another Chosen One thing.
My own Prescience was just cutting off the moment we entered that system.
It was an utter blind spot.
It was extremely disconcerting and I had been avoiding really thinking about it, in an effort to manage the fear that was producing.
Even trying to see beyond that point in the probability line wasn't working. It was like my path through time was approaching a black hole. What made it even worse, was that the blind spot was completely extra-temporal. One moment the future was its usual flowing river, and in the next, there it was. It was as if my gaze alone had triggered it.
Only my outside context inner nature was acting as a shield to the fear.
How to deal with the three denizens of Mortis - beings who could control the Force in a way that made even the mightiest efforts of Sith, Jedi and every other sect in history look like children playing in a shallow pond - was a question I had pondered for many years and sleepless nights.
"I think, master, that when it comes to Chrelythiumn, we are entering a similar effect to the Shroud."
His eyes widened in alarm, "It's of the Dark Side?"
"A poor choice of words on my part, master. It is a blind spot to me. It's utter nothingness."
"The mystery deepens, first an ancient Jedi code and now even our senses are being dulled. This feels like a trap, but I'm struggling to imagine anyone with the kind of power to even affect your senses in such a manner."
I nodded, "Even more frustrating, we can't stop or turn this ship around. We would have to explain why to the Jedi Council, which would expose knowledge we don't want the enemy to have."
Always being a man of action, rather than introspection, he hopped to his feet, "The clock is ticking then."
I stood, took a few steps back and summoned both blades from my belt. "Not much space in here, Skyguy."
"That's good actually," he said as his own blue blade snap-hissed to life in his right hand.
I lit my blades and took my current stance of horizontal left blade, whilst holding the right blade, low and pointed directly at my opponent.
We locked eyes as Anakin raised his blade into a high guard.
I thought about a simple direct thrust to his chest.
He would counter with a riposte twist and twirl his blade to my head.
He would attack with a classic Falling Avanlanche.
I would sidestep at the last moment, attacking the reverse of his blade with my right, whilst my left swiped at his right side.
He would duck and power into my midsection with a shoulder to knock the wind out me.
No.
Try this, I would open a high-low swipe with both my blades.
He would block and riposte my left blade, with a single arm, whilst releasing a Force Push with just enough strength that would stop my right.
I next saw him intending to actually bull his way straight through my defenses with a sudden charge of Force Speed.
I would dodge right and attack his back as he passed me.
He would have his blade twirling behind his back in a reverse grip to deflect that.
We had still not moved a single muscle, yet we were clashing blades and fighting in the future.
Our perception of it came back and we aborted the probability line.
I intended another attack, with both blades attacking his left side, but one would be a feint.
He simply managed to catch both before I could disengage with my left to change the angle.
I next perceived his own attack was trying a lunging stab to my midsection.
I would step back and riposte with my left blade, whilst my right blade would surge out of my hand to spin right for his neck.
He would catch and stop my spinning blade cold with TK and begin wrestling me for control.
I would be in no mood to get into a Force strength contest with the frakking Chosen One and would use the bond to my blade to shut it down completely.
With its threat temporarily out of the picture, I brought my remaining saber into a two handed grip and jumped on him with my own Falling Avalanche.
He would have no choice but to abandon control of my right blade to counter me.
He absorbed and held my attack, blocking it with a strain that told me that my strength work was at last paying off. I would then reignite my fallen blade, bring it under TK control and try to attack him from behind.
Stop.
We were back in the present.
Frakking hell.
I was somewhat gratified to note that Anakin was in much the same boat I was. A frustrated frown on his forehead, along with a single drip of sweat running down it. He had clearly reached a level of precog, combined with just how well we knew each other, that any sparring and duels we had would always be a matter of how much action we would allow in the present moment.
He tried again, a forward lunge to my weaker left side.
I would bat it away, stepping forward into his guard, with my right blade coming around to lop an arm off. He would be forced to step back in retreat.
I would step back as well, sensing that he was trying to lure me into overconfidence.
We were back In the present again.
I started to actually step left.
He countered by stepping to his right and so we began circling each other with our guard up.
Each moment, we plunged at each other with attacks, deflections, ripostes, mixing in Force tricks with TK, trying to gain the upper hand - all of it happening in the future.
He would feint to my head, then actually attack my right side.
I would deflect and step back, twirling my right blade to try and keep his blade busy, whilst my left surged forward straight to his eye.
He would dodge by simply leaning his neck to his left and duck under my swing to punish him for such a bold move.
In the present, the strain of simply being patient and waiting for the true mistake was testing both of us.
His next attack would be to my neck.
I would raise my right blade in a reverse grip to deflect it off course and in the same motion swipe for his left shoulder. My own left blade would swipe for his hip.
He would retreat backward with a burst of speed, use his own blade to slap away my left blade, before throwing Force Push my way.
I would cancel the Force Push out with my own, then send both my blades spinning at him with TK.
He would block and deflect both weapons with enough strength that forced me to pull them back, lest he rob me of control.
I brought both blades back to hover at my sides and fell into an unarmed combat stance.
In the present, Anakin shook his head and extinguished his blade, but kept a ready stance.
"What was that, Snips?"
"Figures, I was hoping to surprise you with that one, Skyguy," I chuckled. "I've got two perfectly good hands and feet, it would be a shame not to use them in a fight as well."
"I see, as interesting as that was, Snips. Let's actually get some physical sparring done here. We will not have as easy a time against the real enemies we will face."
I shrugged and in the same movement slashed straight for his face with my right blade.
He dodged back with a lean, igniting his blade simultaneously and slapped the rear of my blade to try and knock it out of my hand.
I let it happen, bringing both hands to my remaining blade, whilst grabbing the flying blade with TK.
Anakin and I fell into an almost dancing rhythm with our single blades clashing back and forth, whilst I kept my right blade hovering to the side.
With no words needed, we kept ourselves to a more realistic level of reflex. Testing ourselves with forms, parries, blocks, deflections, ripostes from every angle, whilst keeping a solid ground base, with no fancy footwork or acrobatics.
We ended up going for a solid six minutes before I made an inevitable mistake with an angle of parry, he pounced on it and his blade hummed dangerously mere millimeters from my neck in the next moment.
"Point to you," I acknowledged.
He smirked.
We reset and continued.
After three minutes I managed to sneak my blade through the smallest of gaps after he was slightly late in recovering from an overhead horizontal block.
"One, one," I grinned.
He wiped the smile off my face by tagging me next on my leg when he maneuvered my defense a bit high.
In the end, after a full hour of this, with sweat pouring down our faces, the score ended up being seven, three, in his favor.
"Very well done, Snips."
"I still lost," I grumbled, wiping my montrals and lekku clear of sweat.
"I do seem to recall you barely managing a point in this exercise last year," he grinned at me and I even felt a hint of pride from him at my achievement.
It was an oddly heartening feeling. "Well, Skyguy, you can bet your last credit, I'm going to beat you at least once on this trip."
"Bring it on, Snips."
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