AN:
Another of my miserable AUs!
I originally envisioned this as just having the present-day storyline with occasional flashbacks, but as I went to write this I found that the flashbacks were becoming just as long as the actual story.
So this became a story with two timelines that will eventually meet. To pull that off I knew would require significant planning, so I've mapped out every chapter of this story already. Hopefully, that means updates will come in a relatively timely manner.
I really wanted to show enough of the past to justify why Vader is the way he is, and I was also interested to explore what Sith training would actually look like, particularly when starting from scratch as opposed to someone who already knows the basics of using the force.
With that said, you can probably imagine that this is going to get pretty dark. I'm not going to use the content warnings because I don't want to guarantee what this will or will not contain, but proceed with caution. I won't make anything needlessly graphic, but content wise everything is fair game.
Now - Six Years After the Invasion of Naboo
Carmiya looked at her padawan. It was clear he was nearly bored to tears but was making a commendable effort not to show it. Carmiya smiled to herself. Nej had only been her padawan for a few weeks and was still in that stage where he wanted to do everything perfectly, lest she decide she'd made a mistake in choosing him. From her previous experiences, she knew that in another few weeks the novelty would fade, and Nej would no longer bother to stifle his yawns at boring meetings like this.
At the thought, Carmiya had to stifle her own yawn. Some Jedi master she was. She blamed it on the almost musical tones of the voices of the gacerites. They seemed to have some sort of soporific power.
In all truth, it had been a dreadfully boring mission. They were merely acting as the Republic's representatives in the negotiation of a trade treaty between two neighboring planets, Gacerian and Majoor. There had been days on end spent going over tedious details. Not exactly what a child playing make believe as a Jedi knight envisions, Carmiya thought dully. But necessary nonetheless, and given that she now had a padawan who was only 13 years old, Carmiya knew that she was going to be assigned to the boring, safe missions more often than not for the foreseeable future.
All in all, the mission had gone quite smoothly. She had been able to help the Garcites and Majoorans reach compromises on a few contentious points, and they had come up with a treaty that pleased both planets. The only slight hiccup was a discrepancy in Majoor's weapons inventory which she had noticed while inspecting their trade records. The discrepancy was large enough that Carmiya had reported it to the senate just in case, but she very much doubted it was anything more than a bookkeeping error. She would do her due diligence and follow up on it nonetheless.
When at last all the wording was finalized and the treaty signed and everyone had shaken hands, Carmiya turned to her padawan. "So tell me, what did you think of your first mission, Nej?"
Nej frowned slightly then immediately tried to hide it. "Um… Well… It was really interesting and I learned a lot about trade and…" the padawan's voice faded as he clearly struggled to think of something else positive to say.
Carmiya chuckled slightly. "You can tell me the truth, padawan."
"Well…" Nej still seemed to be struggling for words, "I guess… it just seems such a small world so why…"
"So why did the Republic bother to send us?" Carmiya completed his thought.
Nej nodded, seeming to relax some now that she'd asked the question he hadn't wanted to risk. "I mean… I know that we're supposed to safeguard the entire galaxy and all but…"
"But that hasn't been a reality in your experience," Carmiya concluded, with an encouraging smile. "Well, it's quite simple, Nej. What trade route do these planets lie along?"
"The Hydian Way," Nej answered quickly.
"Yes, exactly," said Carmiya. "A critical trade route for the republic. Now, we've already lost Eriadu to the Separatist movement. That's limited access to some corners of the galaxy but nothing overly critical. But if we don't keep expansion region worlds along the Hydian satisfied… well, our position could become a lot more difficult."
Nej frowned. "Neither is a significant military power."
Carmiya nodded. "You are quite correct, Padawan. The Republic would have little trouble either invading or blockading a world like this if they were to declare for the Separatists. But at what cost?"
Nej's frown deepened. "It would start a war."
"Yes, it would," Carmiya agreed. "Or perhaps I should say that it would start a war sooner because I fear that an eventual war may be inevitable… But there you have it. We are here firstly as a show of goodwill and secondly as a subtle reminder of the Republic's power. The carrot and the stick if you will."
"Oh," said Nej, looking thoughtful.
"On a happier note," Carmiya added, "I thought we might do a little sightseeing before we head back to Coruscant. The Garcites tell me that we don't want to miss the singing forest."
Her padawan's eyes lit up. "Can we really?"
Carmiya smiled.
The singing forest, Carmiya decided, was a little eerie. It was beautiful in its way. The trees would sing their resonant chords then as the wind shifted you heard something like a glissando as the tones changed.
At first, Nej seemed simply overjoyed to be there. He ran around, his lekku bouncing against the back of his head, and sang out trying to match the notes of the trees. But after a few minutes he stilled and walked back over to her. "I don't feel right," he said with a frown. "It feels… kind of cold."
She knew exactly what he meant and knew that he was not really referring to the air temperature. Carmiya nodded. "A Jedi must trust his instincts. Perhaps we ought to leave this place."
Nej agreed and set off behind her.
As they neared the edge of the forest, the cold feeling intensified. Carmiya walked faster, watching to make sure Nej was keeping up. She had a very bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Sabers at the ready," she whispered to Nej, drawing hers.
He looked at her with wide eyes as with hands that shook slightly he pulled his own lightsaber off his belt. She knew full well that he had never before drawn his lightsaber for anything other than a training exercise. But there was no time to think about that now.
The two lightsabers, hers blue and his green, illuminated the trees surrounding them. The tone shifted to an ever more eerie series of chords.
Out of the corner of her eye, Carmiya could have sworn she saw one of the trees move. She turned to face it and gasped as a third bright line of light lit up the forest, this one the red of fresh blood.
"Nej, run!" she shouted.
But he had yet to move a step when there was a choking noise and Carmiya watched as her padawan was pulled towards the red light.
Focusing her mind, she tried desperately to pull against the invisible power. But it felt like she was trying to pull a planet out of orbit for all the good it did. Instead, she sprinted towards the light of the red saber, her own blue one held aloft.
She got there just in time to see the red blade driven right through her padawan's heart. "Nej!" she screamed, knowing already that it was no good.
A black cloaked figure turned towards her slowly. The red light illuminating his face, she could see that he wore a mask on the bottom half of his face with a hood concealing most of the top half. The only thing she could make out were two amber eyes.
The red blade came towards her, and stunned she only barely managed to stop it, perhaps an inch from her face. The cloaked menace held it there pushing with more force until Carmiya was sure her arm was going to give out.
Desperately, she leaned backwards, away from where the blades met, then managed to spin around until she was at her opponent's side. She swung her saber up towards his chest, but he deflected it, seemingly without any effort.
He slashed at her legs in return. She lowered her lightsaber to parry but instead found it knocked out of her hand with the strength of the blow
The Sith - for she was sure that was what he was - let out a low laugh that sounded a bit garbled, as though it was going through some kind of modulator perhaps.
As the crimson blade came towards her, she had a mere moment in which to wonder if perhaps the weapons inventory discrepancy had been something more than a bookkeeping error.
And then there was only the force.
Then - One Week After the Invasion of Naboo
Obi Wan approached his master who, unlike the handmaiden and the gungan, had yet to dismount the bald, horse-like creature he rode. He wondered vaguely what Qui Gon was up to this time.
"Well, we have all the essential parts we need," Qui Gon said. Then predictably he added, "I'm going back. Some unfinished business. I won't be long."
Obi Wan smirked knowingly. Qui Gon was always getting involved in some mess wherever they went. It simultaneously drove Obi Wan insane while also being the thing he most admired about his master. "Why do I sense we've picked up another pathetic life-form?"
"It's the boy who's responsible for getting us these parts," Qui Gon said as Panaka passed him the reins of the other horse creature. "Get this hyperdrive generator installed."
"Yes, Master. That shouldn't take long," was all he said in response. So… Qui Gon had now decided to adopt a random child in addition to the outcast gungan they had already picked up. That made sense. Obi Wan had long since ceased to be surprised by his master's antics.
Qui Gon turned his steed around and the other followed as they started back towards the settlement.
Obi Wan sighed and turned to the single remaining astromech. "Well, I suppose we had best get on with it then." The blue droid chirped happily in response.
Within 10 minutes he'd finished getting the hyperdrive in place, and the blue astromech was running diagnostics. It was just then that Obi Wan suddenly felt a peculiar feeling wash over him. It was as though the warm desert air had suddenly cooled by several degrees. He frowned. A moment later he sensed a feeling of worry tug at him through his bond to Qui Gon.
"Take off," Obi Wan told the pilot. "Now."
Ric Olie looked surprised but instantly complied nonetheless.
"Towards the settlement. Fly low and look for Qui Gon," Obi Wan told the pilot. Ric Olie did exactly as he instructed, flying just a few feet over the peaks of the dunes.
"There!" Obi Wan exclaimed a minute or so later as he saw the two horse-like creatures sprinting back towards them. Worry coiled in his stomach. Where was Qui Gon?
He spotted him a moment later. Qui Gon appeared to be engaged in a deadly dance with a partner dressed in black. Quick flashes of light flared as his master's green lightsaber saber met a crimson one.
With a level of precision that spoke to years of experience, Ric Oile lowered the ship down a few feet from Qui Gon so that it was hardly more than a foot off the ground. Obi Wan watched as Qui Gon leapt onto the platform. The pilot punched a button, and the ship shot forward, away from the black cloaked figure with the crimson blade.
"What was it?" Obi Wan asked, kneeling beside his master who had collapsed to the ground, panting.
"I'm not sure," Qui Gon said between gasping breaths. "But it was well trained in the Jedi arts. My guess is it was after the queen."
"It is only lucky that we had the hyperdrive installed by the time that thing showed up," Obi Wan remarked.
"And here I thought you didn't believe in luck, Obi Wan." Qui Gon said, an amused twinkle in his eyes. "But yes, quite fortunate indeed. We shall escort the queen to Coruscant and then we shall return here."
Obi Wan gaped at his master for a moment then quickly tried to hide it. Apparently, he could still be surprised by Qui Gon's antics after all. "Master, with all due respect… we barely escaped that thing once. I am sure whatever unfinished business you have with that boy is hardly important enough to risk coming back."
Qui Gon chuckled lightly. "You still have much to learn, padawan. I on the other hand am quite certain that it is of vital importance to the future of the galaxy that I return here and conclude my business with Anakin."
"Dramatic much, master?" Obi Wan asked, smirking slightly.
Qui Gon only smiled mischievously.