Ahsoka was gone.
It was like a punch in the gut for Ronin. His friend, the only person who could have helped him, was gone.
He stood silently in the background, listening to Ezra's brief report on what had happened on Malachor. She had remained behind, fighting Vader, a Sith Lord. The Jedi hadn't actually seen her die, as the temple had closed between them, but she'd been locked in battle with the Sith. There was very little hope that she could have survived. Even if the Sith hadn't killed her, the explosion that followed would have.
As Ronin listened to this, his anger rose. He had seen a hologram of the Sith Lord once, and now kept imagining stabbing him to death with a lightsaber.
…
Throughout the next few weeks, Ronin's nightmares continued. He lost count of how many times he saw his family and friends die. And each time he woke up feeling worse than before.
Sometimes, the inquisitor would show up in his dreams as well. And somehow, despite the fact she had tried to kill him, those parts of his dreams were the only times they didn't feel like nightmares.
In the past, the nightmares would return every few days, with gaps in between, but Ronin had never had them every single night like this. And what was worse, he had nobody to turn to for help.
Kanan was perhaps the only person outside of Ahsoka who could have helped him, but he hadn't seen the older Jedi at all during that time. He hadn't seen Ezra much either, the younger Jedi had barely left the Ghost since their return from Malachor.
So during these weeks, Ronin kept to himself. He flew the missions he was told to fly, but he barely registered them in his mind. Later on he would reflect that it was only thanks to the Force he had been able to get through them at all.
One day, Hera approached him in the mess hall.
"Hey Ronin, are you doing alright?" she asked.
"I'm doing fine," Ronin said, the same response he gave to anyone who had asked him that throughout the last few weeks. But Hera apparently wasn't fooled by it.
"Walk with me," she said.
When they stood outside, at the edge of the base, the Twi'lek looked at him. "Tell me what's really going on."
Ronin hesitated. He didn't want to talk to anyone about his dreams, or anything Force related at all. But he also knew that Hera would persist until she knew.
"I've been having nightmares," he finally admitted.
"About what?" Hera asked.
"About a lot of things," Ronin said, "about people I know dying, and similar things."
Hera put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry to hear that," she said, "do you know why you have them?"
"No," Ronin shook his head, "Ahsoka thought it might have something to do with the Force, but not exactly what. She said she would help me figure it out, but then…" he couldn't find the words to finish that sentence, but Hera understood what he meant.
"Have you talked to Kanan?" she asked.
"I haven't seen him at all since they returned."
Hera stood up. "I'll talk to Kanan tomorrow," she promised, "I'll see if he feels good enough to help you."
"Thank you," Ronin said, and the Twi'lek left. Ronin looked at the sunset in the distance. He didn't trust Kanan as much as he trusted Ahsoka, but at this point, he was willing to do anything if it meant he would no longer have nightmares.
…
That night, Ronin's nightmare was even worse than before. He saw the Sith Lord, the one that had fought Ahsoka on Malachor, fighting against her again. After a short duel, the Sith stabbed the Togruta in her stomach, and she fell. Somehow, she then walked out of the mist again, completely unhurt, and dueled him again. It ended the same way as the first time. This repeated itself several times. Ronin felt helpless as he watched. After a while, Ahsoka stopped returning, and the Sith just stood there, completely motionless.
Ronin watched the Sith with anger. Ahsoka was already dead, and he knew this was a dream. But that didn't matter. This was how Ahsoka died on Malachor. The Sith had killed her. His anger turned into hatred.
Ronin found that he wasn't frozen in place anymore, and could actually move. He approached the Sith, who was standing completely still like a statue. Closer to him, he could hear mechanical breathing coming from the Smith's respirator.
When he was close, Ronin looked straight at the lenzes where the Sith's eyes would be. "You'll pay for that," he hissed.
"Such hatred." The Sith's mechanical voice took Ronin by surprise. "You will serve my master well."
"Never!" Ronin shouted.
"Then you will die." The Sith ignited his lightsaber. Ronin braced himself for his attack.
But before the Sith could bring his lightsaber down on him, another red blade came into view.
Right as the two weapons clashed, Ronin woke up, still seething with hatred.
It was still night time, but he didn't want to sleep anymore. He wanted to kill the Sith. And who was this master he spoke of? Whoever it was, Ronin would never serve them, no matter what the Sith said. If they tried to get him, he'd kill them as well.
The barracks suddenly felt way too small for him, so Ronin got up and left. He quietly walked through the base until he was past the edge. Once out in the wilderness, he started running. In his anger, he didn't care where he was going. He wanted to kill the Sith, and wouldn't stop until he found them.
His anger and hatred channeled through the Force, and every animal nearby that felt them retreated out of fear. And the animals that didn't sense his emotions retreated when they saw his eyes, which now had an unsettling yellow glow in them.
It was around mid-day when he finally came to a halt. The sun was burning hot, and he had been running for hours. His anger subsided for a moment, and he felt thirsty and hungry. He found a small cave, and sat down in the shadow inside.
There in the cave, his anger fully overcame him. Anger at the Sith for killing Ahsoka. Anger at the Imperials, for killing everyone. Most of all, his anger was directed to the Emperor.
He was behind all of it. The Empire was his. The soldiers that had killed his family, they had served him. They did what he wanted them to do, even if it was indirectly. And the Sith… well they were part of the Empire, which meant he had something to do with them as well. And whether the Sith served the Emperor, or the other way around, didn't really matter. Ronin would kill all of them.
He unpocketet his kyber crystal, and looked at it. It just lay there in his hand, faintly blue. He clenched his fist around it. Rage soared through him. Rage at the Sith, rage at the Empire. He wanted revenge, he wanted to kill them. He screamed out in anger.
When he opened his hand, the faint blue glow was gone, the crystal was red.
Ronin ignored the small part of him feeling uncomfortable at the sight of the red crystal. He was going to make a lightsaber. Ahsoka was gone, but he could do it on his own. He didn't know where that confidence came from, but he didn't question it. He could do it.
Yes, he would build his own lightsaber, and kill the Sith. The only question was, where was he going to get the parts to build it?
The answer came to him instantly, as if the Force whispered it to him.
Malachor.
…
The Emperor was slowly making his way through the remains of the former Jedi Temple, now his Imperial Palace. Most of the bodies of the Clones and Jedi that had died during Order 66 had been removed by this point, with only a few remaining in some of the smaller backrooms, which would soon be cleaned out as well. Some of the walls were also still dmaged from the fighting that had taken place. They would be restored in due time.
The Emperor suddenly stopped. He felt a small shift in the dark side, somewhere within the Palace. There was anger, and hate. But it wasn't his own, or Lord Vader's, who was being operated on elsewhere. This intrigued the Emperor. Was there perhaps a survivor from the purge?
The anger and hate came from a nearby door in the hallway. The Emperor nodded to one of his Royal guards. "Check out that room."
The guard obeyed, and entered the room. For a second, nothing happened. Then the Emperor felt a surge if emotions, and the guard came flying backwards out of the room. Another royal guard, who was standing next to the Emperor, started to spring into action, but Palpatine held his hand up, stopping him.
"Stay here," the Emperor ordered, before making his way over to the room.
The room was nothing special by itself. Just another classroom the Jedi had used to teach their younglings. The room was full of dead children, and a Jedi Master, who was missing her lightsaber. The Emperor paid them no mind. What he did find interesting were the two clones lying in the back of the room. One of them had a part of his leg chopped off, and both had been stabbed through the chest. Considering their position, it clearly hadn't been done by the Jedi Master.
The Emperor felt another surge of anger. It came from behind one if the pillars, near where clones were lying. He looked at the pillar, and noticed a small figure crouched behind him.
"Come out," he called, putting up his friendly father voice. "You have nothing to be afraid of."
After a few moments of hesitation, a young, red-skinned Mikkian came from behind the pillar. Palpatine sat down to be at eye height with the girl. "There's nothing to be afraid of," he repeated. She cautiously stepped closer. He now saw she was holding a lightsaber, presumably the Jedi Master's, in her hands.
"Did you do this?" Palpatine motioned towards the dead clones. The girl nodded. "Impressive," he said. The girl did not answer. She just tightly gripped the lightsaber.
Palpatine motioned for her to come closer. She hesitantly took a few steps. "What is your name, girl?" He asked.
"Akiris," the girl answered after a few seconds of hesitation.
Palpatine got up, a move which clearly frightened the young girl. But to her credit, she didn't try to run. "Well Akiris," the Emperor said, using a soothing voice, "you are very strong. Killing those men is not easy."
"I did it to defend myself," the girl's voice sounded strained.
"And that is good," Palpatine praised her, still using his soothing voice. He held out his hand. "Come with me, I can teach you to be stronger."
The girl hesitated for another moment, before she took it, and then followed him out of the room.
…
Following the encounter at Tahashi station, the Fourteenth Sister travelled back to Fortress Inquisitorius. She only planned to make it a brief stop. She'd quickly write a report of what happened at the station, and then grab her own Tie. If Ronin was flying a rebel starfighter, an Imperial shuttle would not be enough to catch him.
She was about to finish her preparations before leaving, when a direct order from the Emperor came: all inquisitors were to return and stay at the Fortress awaiting a full inspection.
As soon as she had read the order, the Fourteenth Sister crushed her datapad in anger. Of course, right as she was about to set out on a mission more exciting than any of her other missions over the last few years, her fellow Inquisitors managed to screw up badly enough to require an investigation into their organization.
She briefly considered leaving anyway, but decided against it. She had heard what happened to Inquisitors who defied the Emperor, and she'd be an idiot to make the same mistake. So instead she went to the training hall, in order to take her anger out on the droids there.
As she was fighting the droids, her mind wandered back to the space station. Surprisingly, she didn't feel mad about the former cadet escaping. It just meant it would be a more exciting chase, the inquisitor told herself.
But Akiris knew that wasn't all of it. In the hangar, when Ronin had redirected her lightsaber, she could have easily still caught him, and recovered her weapon later. Yet she had decided not to. Sure it meant a more exciting chase, which was about the only fun part of being an inquisitor, but that had not even been on her mind at the time.
No, it was this feeling she'd had when she first saw him. She hadn't even noticed it at the time, but it felt like there was something more important about him. That he wasn't just another target for her to kill, and instead had a more significant role to play. What that role was though, Akiris had no idea.
The Fourteenth Sister's training was suddenly interrupted by the sound of her comlink going off on the other side of the hall. With a single move of her hand she deactivated the training droids, and used the Force to pull the comlink towards her. The moment she saw who the caller was, she sank down into a kneeling position, and activated the call.
A hooded figure appeared in the hologram. The Inquisitor held her head bowed down, not daring to look at him. The Emperor was powerful, and she knew he could easily have her killed if she did something that displeased him.
After what felt like an eternity, the Sith lord spoke. "Inquisitor."
She still kept her head down as she responded. "Yes Master."
"Your brothers and sisters have failed," he said. "The Inquisitorius have failed."
The inquisitor felt panick rising as the Emperor continued. "Your organization will therefore be disbanded."
She was going to die, the fourteenth sister realized. The Emperor would send Vader to slaughter the remaining inquisitors, and she would be killed.
The Emperor's voice pulled her out of her thoughts. "However, I still have use for those inquisitors that still live." Akiris felt a brief twinge of hope. "You have outlived your brothers and sisters, Akiris, and you still have a mission to complete."
The use of her actual name took the inquisitor by surprise. Nobody else had called her by her real name since she had joined the inquisitorius, and she had not expected the Emperor to still remember it after 15 years. She knew better than to show her surprise to him though, and acted as if she hadn't noticed it. "What do you want from me, Master?"
"While the inquisitorius may be gone, I still have need for Force-sensitive agents. You must capture the Force-sensitive cadet you were hunting, and bring him to me." The Emperor said.
"Yes, master," the Fourteenth Sister responded, "I will not fail you."
"Indeed you will not," the Emperor agreed. "You may use whatever means necessary to bring him in," he finished, before cutting the connection.
After the call with the Emperor was over, Akiris let out a sigh. Talking to the Emperor, even if it was through a hologram, was not something she enjoyed. She always got this sense of fear when she saw him, which was no doubt intentional on his part. It was quite unsettling.
Still, she now had a clear mission. Instead of trying to kill Ronin, as was policy among the inquisitorius when it came to older Force-sensitives, she would have to capture him. Part of her wasn't happy about it, as capturing children and making them serve the Emperor was something she absolutely disagreed with. When she was younger, she hated the Jedi for doing the same to her. And what the Empire did with young Force-sensitives was far worse than the Jedi, and she had no doubt something similar would happen to Ronin if she brought him in.
At the same time, she also felt relief. She now realized she hadn't wanted to kill him. And this meant that now she wouldn't have to.
…
Sneaking back into Chopper Base wasn't hard. Since it was only established a few weeks ago, it still lacked a lot of security. Under the cover of darkness, Ronin easily managed to get to the A-Wings. There was supposed to be a guard there, but he didn't see anyone. He got into one of the fighters, and took off.
He was almost clear of the atmosphere, when the rebels finally caught on to him.
"Rogue A-Wing, return to base immediately," came the voice over the intercom. Ronin ignored it.
Once in the vacuum of space, Ronin closed his eyes, and shut the noise from the intercom out. He had to get to Malachor. That's what he focused on in the Force. For a brief moment, he saw a red pyramid in his mind. He turned the ship towards it, like he'd done when he went to the other temple with Ahsoka.
Once knew he was pointed in the right direction, he opened his eyes. One of the rebel cruisers that was in orbit of the planet was moving towards him. He also spotted two A-Wings approaching him as well. He didn't wait until they reached him, pulled the lever, and jumped to hyperspace. As soon as the swirls of hyperspace appeared, the voice coming over the intercom cut out.
…
The journey to Malachor had been two days for the Jedi, or so Ronin had heard during Ezra's briefing. He didn't know for sure if it also took that long for him, because he spent most of it in a meditative trance, after disabling the transponder. He knew he wasn't sticking to the conventional hyperspace lanes, as he used the Force to navigate through hyperspace instead of using the computer. In the beginning it was difficult, as he struggled to keep up with all the different objects that were in his path, but after a while he started feeling more confident. Before he knew it, he had arrived at Malachor.
After leaving hyperspace, he saw a grey planet outside of his cockpit. He could also sense it through the Force. The planet felt cold, and dark.
Ronin used the Force to guide him as he approached the surface of the planet. Soon he spotted a crater, which was partially covered by some sort of stone material. Around the middle, there was a big hole in the cover, and through it Ronin could see something pyramid shaped underneath. There were also several pillars sticking out of the surface surrounding the hole, most of which had collapsed.
Ronin landed his A-Wing next to the large gap in the middle. He got out and looked around. The pillars looked ancien, and so did the temple. But there was also a lot of debris around that looked much newer. He recalled Ezra's briefing he'd listened to. There had been an explosion when the Jedi escaped, and if Ahsoka hadn't been killed by Vader, she probably would have died because of that explosion. Either way, Ronin still blamed Vader to her death, and he would kill him if the Sith had survived.
There was a triangular shaped hole inside one of the nearest pillars. Ronin walked towards it, and noticed it was the entrance to a staircase, heading further down into the temple. He could feel the Force calling out to him, telling him to go further, and so he did.
He walked down the stairs until he was underneath the layer of stone that covered the temple. There, he saw the huge pyramid he'd also observed from above. It had a faint red glow to it. As he watched it, Ronin thought he briefly sensed Ahsoka's presence, but it lasted so short he figured it was probably an echo of her death. Hestarted to approach the temple. On the way he noticed several corpses. Figures who were standing in various positions, completely charred. In between them, there were also several lightsaber hilts. Ronin took a closer look at them. They were different from the lightsabers he'd seen Kann and Ahsoka wearing. Instead of having only a single emitter, they also had two side vents, giving them a cross guard design. Ronin turned one on. A red blade briefly appeared, before sputtering and then disappearing.
Clearly these lightsabers did not work, Ronin wondered why the Force had called him here to build his lightsaber then. He continued on, until he found a door.
There was no control panel, nothing that indicated how to open it. Ronin reached out with the Force, and tried to pull the door up. It lifted up for a short moment, but then fell down again. Ronin thought of why he was here, he thought of the Sith Lords, and he felt his anger rising. With his anger and hate fuelling him, he managed to lift the door up. But before he walked inside however, he noticed a second door behind the first one. He could also feel that it worked the same way as the first, and there was no way to get inside without having someone to help him. He let go of the first one, and it immediately dropped back down.
Turning away from the door, Ronin took his kyber crystal out of his pocket. It was glowing more red than before, as if it was anticipating something. Ronin sat down on his knees, put the crystal on the floor in front of him, and closed his eyes. He let the Dark side energy of the temple flow through him. He saw the Emperor, from his nightmare where he'd seen himself getting tortured to death.
…
He steps over the body on the ground, his weapon ready in his hand. The Emperor is looking at the corpse and doesn't see him.
Several nearby lightsabers start disassembling.
He ignites his lightsaber, the red blade humming to life in his hand.
Some parts from the disassembled lightsabers start floating towards the figure seated near the entrance of the temple.
With one sweep, the red blade decapitates the Emperor.
The red crystal on the ground starts floating as well.
He hears mechanical breathing behind him. He turns to see a familiar black cyborg standing, red lightsaber ignited.
The different lightsaber parts line up around the crystal.
He jumps towards the Sith lord, and slices his red blade across the cyborg's chest, killing him instantly.
The different parts all move closer, attaching to each other, clicking together. The weapon is complete.
…
Ronin opened his eyes to see the hilt of the lightsaber floating in front of him. It looked unusual, being a mix of parts from all the different ancient lightsabers lying everywhere around him, and therefore also a cross guard design. Ronin took it out of the air, and looked at it up close. He wasn't sure how he had done it, but he had taken parts that could still work from all the different lightsabers lying around him, and together they had formed the weapon now in his hand. It looked unusual, with parts coming from both Sith and Jedi weapons, but it felt right. It was as if the weapon was always meant to be this way.
He ignited the weapon, and a beam of red energy shot out of the hilt, shortly followed by two smaller beams from the side.
Ronin stood there for several minutes, admiring his weapon. This was the weapon with which he would avenge his dead friends and family. This was the weapon that would kill the Emperor, the weapon that would destroy the Sith. He was certain of it.
On his way back to his fighter, a plan formed in Ronin's head. He would go straight to Coruscant, to the Imperial Palace, find out where the Emperor was located, and fly his fighter straight into him. And if the old man somehow survive, he'd finish him off with his lightsaber. Surely that would attract the Sith, if they weren't already there, and Ronin would finish them off as well.
There were a lot of issues with this plan, but in his rage, Ronin did not take the time to consider them. He just got into his A-Wing, and took off.
…
From the shadow of one of the pillars, Ahsoka watched as the A-Wing disappeared in the sky. A part of her wished she had revealed herself to Ronin. He had clearly fallen to the dark side, and she suspected her disappearance may have had something to do with it. But she also knew she couldn't do that. She had been saved by Ezra, from the future, and she could nit enter back into the galaxy until the time that happened. Revealing herself too soon, even if it was only to Ronin, could have had devastating effects. If it got further known.
Still, she grieved for Ronin. He'd already been through so much, and she had only had a few lessons with him to teach him to controll his emotions, and that clearly hadn't been enough. And now she couldn't do anything to help him. All she could do was pray to the Force that whatever he was going to do, he would be okay.