"So my father could also create Force lightning?" Ashla asked her grandmother one day.
"Yes, any Sith Lord with natural arms can do something like that," confirmed Vesta Nome.
"Master Windu would not like to know who my father really was. But I would like to be able to do something like that too," said Ashla and her grandmother saw the longing look in her granddaughter's black eyes.
"To do that you would first have to expose yourself to the Force lightning, just like your master was exposed to in Palpatine's office."
"Then in theory Mace Windu could learn something like this faster than me, because Palpatine has already half taught him?"
"Depends on how you define 'half'. Theoretically, it should work with just one arm," replied the old Muun with a smile.
"What do you think? Should I bring Master Windu with me?" Ashla asked her grandmother.
To her surprise, the old woman agreed. They met in the foundation's salon, which was located in the extensive property where Dr. Rugess Nome had lived. Vesta Nome had prepared sweet dumplings and both Ashla and Mace Windu really enjoyed them.
Vesta Nome tried not to broach the subject of Jedi and Sith, and Ashla felt that this very exclusion fueled the suspicions of her master, who politely but formally and stiffly answered the old Muun's questions about their new life on Clak'dor VII and in return, he posed questions about the work of the Dr. Rugess Nome Foundation or talked to her about Ashla's studies. This conversation went well until Mace Windu asked a very specific question.
"When was the last time you saw your son?" he asked, thinking he was bringing up a harmless topic.
"That was when Hego was fifty-seven years old, so forty-seven years ago."
"And from then on you had no more contact with him? When he lived another thirty-four years? "What happened?" asked the Jedi Master.
"He only came to settle his inheritance matters in this house because he and my husband had appointed each other as heirs due to the lack of children. He only took a few things from the library and some ... um ... art objects, but otherwise left me the house and everything in it. And he forbade me to make any further attempts to contact him. That's all."
"Why didn't he want any more contact?" Ashla wondered.
"He didn't like that I was married with Dr. Nome and he hadn't known that all these years. I assume he felt betrayed. But I couldn't tell him earlier back then."
"You left Hego Damask's father for Dr. "Nome?" asked Mace Windu lurking.
"Caar has always wanted to move away from Mygeeto, where he moved from Muunilinst fifteen years earlier for work reasons. And after Hego left, he had received an offer on Muunilinst to head the treasury branch of the IBC there. He agreed, but I didn't want to go to Muunilinst for certain reasons."
"Why was Hego Damask gone and how old was he then?" asked Mace Windu.
"He was five years old and went to boarding school here in Weogar," Vesta Nome explained.
"And when did he finish boarding school?" asked Mace Windu.
"He was sixteen then and moved back to Muunilinst to take over his father's company."
"Damask Holdings, I assume. And you didn't see each other then?"
"He lived there with his father and his first wife's family. What was I supposed to do? I would rather have Dr. Nome married," replied Vesta Nome, slightly bitterly.
"So Caar Damask reconciled with his first wife and you came away empty-handed," Mace Windu suspected.
"No, Caar had remained married to her for the entire fifteen years he had lived on Mygeeto. Even after I met him. I knew about this first marriage. That's just the way it is with many rich Muuns that they have two or even more wives," Vesta Nome explained to the Jedi Master and her granddaughter.
While Ashla seemed simply taken aback by this turn of the conversation, a look of disgust crept around the Korun Jedi Master's mouth.
"Well, what can I say? My mother also gave me to the Jedi Temple because she met a new man and he didn't want me. I don't hate my mother because of that. But I don't want to see her anymore either," explained Mace Windu, looking at the old Muun woman with a slightly contemptuous look.
"I didn't give Hego away to be able to marry Dr. Nome. Besides, he also looked after Hego here in Weogar and raised him."
"But if Hego Damask only found out so many years later that you were married to Dr. Rugess Nome, then that would mean that you didn't live together as a family here - like Caar Damask did with his other family on Muunilinst. Then you and Hego were separated, even though all three of them lived here? Why?" Windu continued to inquire.
"This is complicated," she said with a dismissive gesture of her long white hands.
"Because Dr. Nome was already married too?"
"No, he wasn't!" Vesta Nome replied firmly.
"But, Master… that was all so long ago," Ashla tried to defuse the situation.
"Ashla, confusing relationships like this are exactly why Jedi reject family ties. Well, that's probably why Hego Damask was never married later," Mace Windu said seriously to his padawan.
"Well, I'm at least glad that he dared to do it for my sake at least once," Ashla replied with a mischievous smile.
It didn't take long before Mace Windu and his padawan set off to leave the Nome estate and their hostess again. Since then, Mace Windu has avoided taking Ashla to her grandmother's house.
The next time Ashla visited her grandmother, she first apologized to her for her master's behavior.
"You didn't tell him that your father was a Sith Lord."
"No, of course not," Ashla reassured her grandmother.
"Oh, leave it alone, my child. I would rather like, he thinks I left my husband for someone else than have him know I was married to a Sith Lord this whole time."
Ashla's black eyes widened. "What? Caar Damask was a Sith Lord too?"
"No, not Caar Damask. Dr. Rugess Nome. He was Hego's Sith Master. And his true name was Darth Tenebrous."
"Oh, so there are Sith Lords who were married," Ashla said in amazement.
"Yes, and that's exactly what your father never forgave me or him after he found out."
When Ashla visited her grandmother again, the latter had a surprise for her. The old woman and the girl walked through the spacious hallways of the multi-building property, finally stopping in front of the door of a room on the west side of one of the cuboid buildings.
"Just go into this room," Vesta Nome encouraged her granddaughter.
Ashla, now thirteen years old, entered the room while her grandmother locked the door from outside. Ashla paused. She was cold. There seemed to be no light in this room and the air was stale and musty. Dust and other rubbish that had probably been stored there for decades crunched beneath the soles of their shoes. Ashla never imagined that the otherwise clean and immaculately maintained Nome property could have such dirt! Why did her grandmother tolerate such sloppiness? And why had she locked her here now? What was in this room that she could want?
Suddenly a light bulb in the ceiling came on, its beam of light directed at a slender, medium-sized figure standing in the middle of the room, wrapped in a black hooded cloak made of Zeyd cloth, which was held together in front of the chest by the characteristic argentum-colored Sith clasp. Ashla saw the Emperor's ragged face - his cleft chin and prominent nose, while the Emperor's eyes were hidden from her frightened gaze in the darkness of the hood. Ashla winced. What had her grandmother arranged? Would she now be handed over to Palpatine as a new apprentice, just as Vesta Damask had handed Hego over to Tenebrous?
The Emperor gave her no time for further consideration. He raised his right arm and suddenly blue force lightning shot out of it - straight towards Ashla. The young girl desperately tried to reach her lightsaber with her right arm. But the concentrated energy charges that Sidious fired at her caused her limbs to twitch uncontrollably and helplessly, without her being able to do anything about it. Ashla dropped and rolled to the side to somehow avoid the Force lightning. But the Emperor had his eyes on her, and his lightning bolts followed her wherever she rolled or crawled. The seconds turned into minutes, the minutes turned into hours as Ashla fought the battle of her young life.
She screamed in pain and, driven by that pain and her anger at her grandmother's betrayal, crouched and used the Force to perform a giant somersault over the Emperor. She had never achieved such breathtaking speed during this maneuver before in the Jedi Temple or during training with her master in Weogar. Where did this indescribable speed suddenly come from? Was the power of the Dark Side, which the Emperor masterfully controlled, now being transferred to her, just as his force lightning had given her master the power to send those lightning bolts back to their origin?
Ashla felt the Force lightning suddenly stop following her. She decided to use her new top speed to finally activate her lightsaber. The hiss of activation and the green glow of her blade calmed Ashla in her flight and gave her additional powers.
Ashla swung wide as she flew directly above the Emperor. She felt her blow hit. As she jumped closer to the ground on the other side of the Emperor, out of the corner of her eye she noticed the Emperor's head detaching from his torso.
The moment Ashla's feet touched the ground, there was a metallic clink. Sidious's head had hit the dirty floor. Ashla let out a triumphant scream of joy. She had done it! Finally the Emperor was history! She had avenged her father, Darth Plagueis aka Hego Damask! This was the gift her grandmother wanted to give her. But now this Vader would rule in his place. Or Tarkin? Ashla wasn't entirely sure who was No. Two in the Empire after Palpatine.
But that was ... far too easy, it struck her suddenly.
She hesitantly walked over to Palpatine's remains. She lifted the severed hood from her head. A droid head that had simulated the Emperor's facial features while functioning! While she stared into space in disappointment, the door to the room opened again. Ashla saw her grandmother standing in the doorway, smiling.
"Well, how did you like that, my child?" she asked with a harmless grandmotherly smile, as if she had just given Ashla a new dress to try on.
"That tin can almost killed me! That wasn't funny!" Ashla snapped.
"I told you a few weeks ago that in order to use Force lightning, you have to experience it firsthand. And if I had just put the naked droid there, then the hatred you need to withstand such attacks would not have been ignited in you," explained Vesta Nome.
"Can this model also do other simulations?" Ashla asked her grandmother eagerly, pointing to the droid that had been deactivated with a blow.
"I just fed Palpatine to him recently. But Count Dooku, when he was still a Jedi, is also available. And lots of other Jedi. Your master wouldn't like that. I think he's also included as a simulation. This droid is already very old. Your father probably trained with him."
"Well, with how easy it was for me to defeat him, father was probably going to get bored with him soon," Ashla said with a smug grin.
"Well, that was but the beginner level," Vesta Nome replied with a mischievous smile.
"The Emperor would certainly be offended if he found out about this," Ashla replied, giggling.
After two weeks it was that time again. Ashla sat with her grandmother over tea and talked about old times in the Jedi Temple.
"Do you know what happened to that other Togruta who voluntarily left the Jedi Temple after she was falsely accused of murder?" Vesta Nome asked her granddaughter.
"Unfortunately, I don't know," Ashla said sadly. "The last time I saw Ahsoka Tano, I was with her and Senator Padmé Amidala on Raxus Prime, where Padmé had met with Separatist Mina Bonteri to discuss peace negotiations between the Separatists and the Republic. Ahsoka really wanted me to be with her back then, probably because she didn't want to stay alone in the garden with Mina Bonteri's son Lux again like the last time she visited. While we sat in the shady garden pavilion and drank something and talked, Lux always had looked at her in a quite strange way. That was really disgusting!" hissed Ashla, twisting her mouth in disgust.
After they finished their round of tea and biscuits, Ashla was led back into the training room by her grandmother.
"You have to gather the strength in your shoulder blades. From there, the force can then increase through the arms and then a real thunderstorm comes out of the hands," said her grandmother, giving her a few tips along the way.
This time Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin was waiting for Ashla. The girl looked puzzled for a moment, then drew her lightsaber, only to be unexpectedly showered with red Force lightning from Tarkin. This time Ashla confidently fended them off with her lightsaber. Noticing Tarkin's Force lightning weakening, she sheathed her lightsaber and held out her hands. A few puny red lines came out of her hand. They were still visible when Vesta Nome opened the door to the training room again.
"That's very good for a start," she said with a cheerful smile.
"Why is my Force lightning red and not blue like other that of other Sith," Ashla wanted to know.
"I got my tricks from my husband and he always created red Force lightning. But I can only do it in theory," explained the grandmother and shrugged her shoulders.
"Why did you choose Tarkin this time? He can't use Force lightning or anything else," Ashla wondered.
"To achieve the surprise effect again. And besides, both Tarkin and Tenebrous start with a 'T.' I thought that would fit. "
"Can I fight Darth Tenebrous sometime?" Ashla asked eagerly.
"Oh, believe me, my child, you wouldn't survive that. And I would find it humiliating to set it to beginner level for you," replied Vesta Nome, shaking her bald head vigorously. Ashla felt that there was another reason why her grandmother didn't want this and she calmed down.
When Ashla returned to her master, Mace Windu looked at her critically and darkly.
"What's wrong, Master?" she asked with a decidedly innocent tone.
"Ashla, I have felt for some time that the Dark Side of the Force is surrounding you more and more. And I have a feeling your grandmother had something to do with it. What are you doing there in the Dr. Rugess Nome Foundation actually?" he asked sternly.
Ashla lowered her head. "I've been practicing how to deflect Force lightning. "My grandma has a droid that can produce lightning," she said sheepishly.
"And why didn't you ever tell me about this?"
"I thought you would get angry because Palpatine treated you so badly with his Force lightning," she replied quietly.
"Well, for that matter, I pretty much disfigured him too—or he himself, for that matter. But I would like to take a look at this droid. First thing tomorrow," Mace Windu ordered.
"Yes, I'll call Grandma soon…"
"No, you won't call her. And if you do, then the last time you'll be with your grandmother, or whatever else she may be," Mace threatened.
He sensed that his padawan was uncomfortable with that idea. Was it because of their last visit together to Vesta Nome?
"It's no problem at all," Vesta Nome explained to the suspicious Jedi Master with a bright smile as she led him and Ashla into the training room after the obligatory tea and pastries.
"Why is it so dirty here?" Mace Windu wondered.
"Well, the enemy doesn't always choose spotless places to attack," Vesta Nome replied with a subtle smile.
Mace Windu said nothing, but nodded in agreement.
Ashla and Mace Windu looked at the curtain, which suddenly slid aside, while Vesta Nome stood in the open door to watch what was happening. Ashla gulped as she recognized the figure and face of Lux Bonteri in the middle of the training room, raising his hands to...
Thick bundles of red lightning erupted from Ashla's delicate white fingers to singe Lux's dark brown hair, burn through his clothing, aim at his green eyes, while Mace Windu stood by, frozen in shock, to see what his Padawan was up to.
After about three minutes, Lux Bonteri was completely blackened. His facial features and figure suddenly disappeared and the argent-colored droid remained in his original appearance, motionless and deactivated. Ashla knew that she had fried several of his circuits with her Force lightning this time.
"Ashla, how can you do that?" asked Mace Windu, frown lines forming on his forehead.
"You know, Master, I've always hated this guy. "I just couldn't help it," Ashla explained with an amused and defiant smile.
"Who was that anyway?" Mace Windu wondered.
"Oh, you don't know him, master. He's an acquaintance of Ahsoka," Ashla explained.
"Oh, then I'm not surprised," Mace Windu replied a little softer, only to continue harder again. "Did your grandmother teach you that?"
"No, she learned that spontaneously when the droid showed her the boy for the first time," Vesta Nome hastily replied to her granddaughter and Ashla nodded eagerly.
"What other simulations does this droid have?" asked Mace Windu skeptically, while Ashla's secondary and tertiary heart skipped a few beats in shock.
"I'm happy to start a quick run through," replied Vesta Nome courteously and pressed a button. The Emperor, Dooku, Darth Maul, Darth Vader, Wilhuff Tarkin, Mas Amedda - and Lux Bonteri appeared one after the other. Ashla breathed a sigh of relief after the search was complete. So her clever grandma had thought ahead and deleted all the Jedi simulations from the training battle droid's memory.
"But apart from the Emperor and Dooku, the others can't produce any Force lightning, and the last three can't even use the Force," the Jedi Master wondered.
"Well, I don't know that many Sith. So, for variety, I had to make do with other people Ashla doesn't like," Vesta Nome replied with an apologetic smile.
After another half hour, the master and padawan's visit to the Nome house was over.
"Ashla, I was worried at first, but I don't think it's wrong if you continue to visit your grandmother," Mace Windu said after the two had arrived back at her apartment.
"Thank you, Master," Ashla said, and Mace Windu could feel at least a thousand stones falling from her three hearts.
"How does your grandmother even know that Palpatine is a Sith? Apart from me, Master Yoda and Obi-Wan, no one knows this and he himself doesn't admit it on the Holo-Net and doesn't show his red lightsaber in action like Vader does," Mace Windu asked his padawan again suspiciously the next day.
"I told her how you wanted to face him that day," Ashla replied, glad that it was true and that her master didn't feel any inner conflict in her.
"Have you told anyone else?" Mace Windu asked sternly.
"Of course not," his padawan assured him.
"Then make sure it stays that way," he admonished her and Ashla breathed a sigh of relief, happy to have avoided this dangerous cliff.