"I do so admire your persistence. Ready to die?"

🪐

Chapter Twenty-Four

🪐

Mando'a Translations

vod/vode - Brother/Brothers

Vode - Refers to the clones as a whole

Adenn Cabur - Merciless Protector

Ni ceta - I'm sorry (lit. I kneel)

Vor entye - Thank you (lit. I accept a debt)

Othanian Translations

Nersh - Fuck

~*~

This was meant to be a discrete, recon mission only. As a result, you had only taken the Kanez with you. Although they often weren't the most discrete group, they could be stealthy when needed and were your best and most trusted team.

The planet was called Sorgan and was nestled among a nearly uninhabitable system in the Outer Rim. It was a forested swamp system and the only one in its system with breathable air. Its isolation and low population was why the Council believed Dooku's new apprentice was training there.

According to Chancellor Palpatine, clone intelligence had come in with reports from the locals about a "red laser sword" being used by a "mysterious person in black robes". After the disaster with Ventress and Savage, Dooku had yet to choose a new apprentice. The Council assumed he had found one and their presence on Sorgan was some sort of training excursion.

While normally more than one Jedi would be sent on this kind of mission, the Council first wished to see if the rumors were true before acting any further. If they were, then reinforcements would be sent to meet you in the atmosphere to face the new Darksider together.

"Landing gear deployed, ETA two minutes," Clik reported from the cockpit, "We've located a clearing near the sightings but far enough away to avoid detection."

Nodding to show you were listening, you pulled the hood of your Jedi robe over your head. Your men were in forest camouflage instead of their normal armor to further blend in a well.

The ship jostled slightly when it touched down but the landing was overall smooth. The door opened and Burner and Drifter were the first out to scan the area. They signed off an all clear and the rest of you filed out.

"The reports came from about ten klicks to the west. We should make it halfway by sundown and the rest of the way by midday tomorrow," you reported, eying the sun in the sky.

The trek through the forest was strenuous but not necessarily difficult. You were more used to barren battlefields than lush forests at this point, and while your men had trained for any situation they were much the same. Still, just as you thought, all of you made it to the halfway point by the time the sun was low in the sky.

You wanted to give your men the chance to hunt for some food instead of depending on ration bars, so you offered to set up camp while they were out hunting. They came back when the sun was fully set with enough wild game to make a passable stew. You allowed the men to have the entire pot while you simply ate a ration bar. They argued, but you assured them that since they caught the game they deserved to eat it.

Once they finished their food, you offered to do the first watch and promised to wake Drifter up in an hour so he could take over for you. There were enough Kanez to manage short shifts and allow all of you extra sleep.

Slipping into a light meditation that wouldn't affect your awareness of the woods around you, you estimated that around half an hour passed before you heard rustling behind you, too large to be an animal.

Eyes shooting open, you leaped to your feet and unhooked your saber from your belt to ignite it just in time to block the wide swing from a bright red one. It was clearly a warning shot that you were meant to block.

"Hello there," you greeted, parrying the next blow with little effort, "I see that you've tracked down our group. Though I can't help but wonder how you knew we were here."

"Oh please," it was a female Iktochi. Her eyes weren't quite golden but they were certainly getting there, which made you slightly suspicious. Apprentices rarely ever connected with the Dark Side enough to be considered true Sith. Ventress never did. Yet this supposed brand new apprentice was already almost there? "I could sense your Force Signature as soon as you entered the atmosphere. It reeks of concealment."

You risked a glance back at your men, wondering why they were still sleeping when it was clear that there was danger near. They were always the first to wake at the slightest of sounds.

The apprentice followed your gaze and smirked, "It would have been impossible to drug the soup, but it was easy to drug the animals."

"And how did you know which ones they would shoot?"

"I didn't. All I needed was to get one right. It seems as though the risk ended in a high reward."

So they were drugged and not poisoned. You could tell they were still alive and well based on their Force signatures and occasional shifting. That was an interesting choice. The easiest, most impactful option would have been to have poisoned them and left you emotionally unstable and easier to defeat. There was something else going on here, an ulterior motive that hadn't been revealed yet.

You had to move this fight away from camp. Using the Force to boost you, you jumped into the nearest tree. The apprentice followed as you suspected she would. You wouldn't be able to run forever, nor did you want to. So, when you deemed that you were a safe distance away from the Kanez, you landed on the ground instead of the next tree. It was less dense in this area, but not completely clear either. Fighting would be a challenge.

Now that you were able to focus solely on the fight, you were able to pick up that the apprentice preferred Ataru, though they switched between that and Djem So intermittently in an attempt to throw you off. It worked at times, though you were loath to admit it. They used the trees to their advantage and bounced off of them in a frightening combination of high and low strikes in order to catch you slipping up in your defense.

Switching styles like the apprentice was doing would not serve you well in this fight, even if, as a Niman user, that was what you specialized in. You found yourself slipping into the familiar form of Soresu. It felt as though Obi-Wan was right next to you, guiding you through the moves as he had often done after he had been declared a Master of Soresu.

Ataru and Soresu were fundamentally juxtaposed. Ataru used large amounts of energy in an attempt to end the fight before it could truly begin. Soresu was the art of patience - of waiting for your opponent to make a mistake and then striking. However, this apprentice seemed to be using the Dark Side to fuel themselves and showed no signs of slowing down.

Above. Below. Right. Above. Left. Below. Below. Blow after blow came, and it was all you could do to block them and perhaps fit in a counterattack that inevitably missed due to the apprentice's speed. Ventress during her time as Dooku's apprentice had shown she was incredibly skilled, but despite all her time under Dooku's tutelage, she was not a match for this new apprentice. Perhaps it was their speed, or their strength, or their clear determination to see you die by their blade. Ventress always enjoyed the chase more than the kill. This one seemed to be the exact opposite.

Nersh. You had to think, and quickly. She was skilled, she clearly knew the landscape and used it to her advantage, and she wasn't giving you a moment to just breathe.

Reaching for the Force, you shoved it in her direction and sent her flying back. You would not waste time and energy by running again. Instead, you would switch to Juyo. You were by no means a master, but Mace had shown you enough that you could-

The apprentice was the one running this time- running right back to camp. Swearing under your breath, you sprinted after them, not bothering to jump through the trees in a direct chase. Your men were your current priority, not the fight.

She had gotten whatever she needed from you during that first round - whatever that was you still didn't know - and now round two had begun and was much more personal.

Despite your best effort, the apprentice still got there first. She hauled Paints up by the back of his armor and held her saber to his neck. Paints was the youngest of the Kanez. He was the last of his batchmates to receive his name. You had given him his name after your first battle with your troops. He wanted to see the galaxy so he could paint murals of it.

Paints twitched as if his mind was telling him to wake up and his body wasn't reacting. You were unsure what drugs were used on them, but as far as you knew that could be exactly what was happening with all of your men. Perhaps it was a sign that they were waking up. You hoped it was that.

"There's millions more of them, isn't there?" The apprentice asked with an innocent tilt of her head, "Surely you wouldn't mind the loss of one. He has such pretty armor. I might take it as a trophy."

Paints wanted to live. He wanted to live to see his brothers become sentients in the eyes of the senate. He wanted to see the galaxy. He wanted to love. He wanted to live. He needed to live.

A crashing wave of hatred, anger and determination arose within you. This apprentice was a danger to your men, to your aliit, who deserved the universe but only wanted each other.

That tidal wave of emotion seemed to settle in your hands and actually sparked into something physical. You weren't entirely sure what it was, but instinct told you to direct that anger at the source. So you lifted your hands toward the apprentice and released.

Force lightning, a brilliant array of colors similar to a rainbow but much more deadly, shot out from your fingertips at the apprentice. It completely missed Paints, diverting around him with ease. The apprentice dropped Paints and let out a terrible anguished scream. It was music to your ears. You wanted to hear more.

Someone grabbed your ankle and interrupted the beautiful song. Turning your gaze to the one who dared to stop you, you paused when you realized it was Ink. He seemed half asleep still but was awake enough to reach out to you.

Right. Your men needed protection from their Adenn Cabur, not from an executioner. You sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. You hadn't realized how loud the whispers from the Dark Side had gotten. They were truly shouts at this point, nearly drowning out everything else around you.

Normally you fought with Anakin and Obi-Wan, and if not them then some other Jedi that had a Light presence to keep you grounded. You always struggled more when you were on your own, but this was the first time you had slipped into the Dark Side by accident - because of that you had much less control over it.

Shaking your head in a futile attempt to clear it, you struggled to step back from the Dark Side to focus on the situation at hand. Torturing the apprentice for what she threatened to do to the Kanez was no good. Interrogation then containment. Jedi did not torture.

"Come with us, apprentice, and no further harm shall come to you," you pointed your saber at the apprentice in warning. All it would take was one swipe and the apprentice's head could be rolling. It would be due justice-

The apprentice let out a rough, choked-off laugh. Her clothes were smoking. She was shaking like a leaf due to what you had just put her through. Rather than feeling guilty like you knew you should have, you felt a rush of joy. If you had held the lightning any longer she would have experienced nerve damage. Perhaps she would have gone insane too. If only...

"I'm no apprentice. No. Not of Dooku, and not of Lord Sidious either," she looked up, and the gold in her eyes seemed brighter.

"You mean to tell me you are operating on your own?" It was a rare occurrence, but the Jedi suspected that with the return of the Sith more Darkside hopefuls would pop up here or there.

The Dark Sider grinned, "I serve my Lord, but I do not have the honor of being an apprentice."

"An acolyte," you whispered. It had been thousands of years since a Sith Acolyte had appeared. Ventress, perhaps, could have been considered one- but she never called herself that nor did she truly fit the title. The Iktochi in front of you, however? She fit the title perfectly.

"There you go." the acolyte looked up at you and grinned, "I thought for a moment you would stay with the Light during our gith, but you were so eager to let go to protect your little clones, weren't you? It was wonderful to see."

That murderous rage arose within you again, and it was much harder to hold it back this time. The acolyte seemed to know this and only smiled wider at the sight of your struggle.

"Why are you here? Why did you attack my men?"

"You let go," was all the acolyte said, "You did it. You did it. You let go. You did it."

Kill her, (Y/n). Do it!

You were becoming annoyed with the repetition and summoned the acolyte's fallen saber into your hand. With Sith Red and Gray Purple shining on her face, you relieved her of her head without further fanfare.

"General!"

A blaster clicked, a shot rang out, and you fell to the ground. It was a stun, nothing more. Your men would never hurt you. Just like you would never hurt them. They knew that right? So why did they stun you? You killed the Dark Sider because she deserved it. The Dark Side was overjoyed, so clearly you did the correct thing.

Good (Y/n). Good.

"We'll fix you, vod, don't worry."

~*~*~*~

"Hecatize was killed by Pavond."

"I'm aware," Sidious replied to Amedaa, in too good of a mood to punish him for his insolence. This was one of Sidious' favorite and most important projects, why would he not be keeping track of every moment of it? Especially when he was the one to send out Hecatize to test Pavond in the first place, "Hecatize's death was unavoidable, and she was much more useful as a sacrifice than an acolyte."

"Are we to proceed with the plans then, My Lord?"

Sidious steepled his hands beneath his chin, "Yes. Although Windu and Pavond repressing the Sith Altar beneath the Temple may have set such plans back. Anakin and Pavond are no longer absorbing Dark Side energy when they are within the Temple. But it is no issue."

Sidious was furious when he discovered the Altar had been cleansed. The Jedi had slowly been weakening for hundreds of years due to the dark energy they were absorbing. Already Sidious was being told that the Youngling Clans were rapidly improving.

Despite his initial anger, Sidious was ultimately impressed. It was incredibly difficult to suppress such a powerful Sith alter, and for two Jedi Masters to manage it on their own was an incredible feat. It was that event that solidified Pavond's place in Sidious' empire.

"Isolation is clearly what strengthens the Dark Side within Pavond. It's time to move on to the next phase of the war. More missions and more battles will slowly break them, and time away from their family will shatter them entirely."

"I'll send out the orders immediately, My Lord."

When Amedda was gone, Sidious didn't bother hiding his grin anymore. He felt positively giddy. Pavond had given into the Dark Side today and killed unnecessarily. They had to be sedated by their men. The Council tried to hide it by reporting that Pavond had been hurt during the battle and Hecatize's death was inevitable, but little happened with those Sidious was interested in without him knowing.

The war was continuing, the Jedi were dying out, Pavond was slipping into the Dark Side more and more as the war went on, and Anakin was stubbornly well adjusted but Sidious knew that as soon as Amidala fell pregnant and he could implant visions of her death in Anakin's mind he would quickly fall to the Dark Side.

Yes, things were going according to plan.

~*~

You woke up in the Halls of Healing within the Temple. It was not a Jedi at your bedside to greet you, but the entire Kanez squad instead. Bonus and Ink were asleep on each other, Screech, Clik, and Burner were playing a card game at your feet, Sparrow was speaking to Madame Chee, and Drifter and Paints were watching you.

"Vod," Drifter greeted when you fully awoke, "You had us all scared for a moment there."

"Yes, it was not just the Vode that were nervous," Madame Che stepped up to the end of your bed, scaring Screech, Clik, and Burner away, "You slipped far into the Dark Side Pavond. You required an immediate energy transfer from myself and Master Yoda in order to be returned to a more light state as soon as you arrived."

Knowing sorry wasn't what she wanted to hear, you instead tried to explain what happened, "I slipped into it on accident. When she threatened the vode I just... snapped. I'm unsure if her status as a Sith acolyte affected my abilities to fight off the Dark Side or not since there's little research on them."

"Yes, and because you saw fit to remove her head from her shoulders, any further research will be done post-mortem," Madame Che snapped, then softened. Your face must have been revealing more of your disappointment in yourself than you wanted, "This was the second time you have slipped far enough to need outside help, and the first was when you were young. It was a mistake, and while you will be grounded here at the Temple for the next week to focus on spiritual healing and meditation, you will not be punished for what happened."

"Thank you, Madame Che," you whispered.

Madame Che gave you the equivalent of a pat on the head through the Force, "You are a good person, (Y/n), and an even better Gray Jedi. It is important to remember that no one has managed what you have ever. Mistakes are bound to be made. What matters is that you learn from this event and strive to ensure it doesn't happen again. It is incredibly dangerous to constantly flip between the sides of the Force."

"I understand, thank you."

Madame Che nodded and left to check on her other patients. The Kanex gathered around you in a loose circle, and one by one placed a fist over their heart and kneeled.

"Ni ceta. Vor entye," they said in unison.

"Why?" You couldn't help but ask.

"We know how important anchors are. Without them, many Vode wouldn't be lost to their instincts and become nothing more than killing machines. We were weak and unable to steady you. You saved Paints' life, and his life is an extension of our own," Sparrow explained with his normal medicinal precision.

"There is no debt to be paid. You are aliit, and everything I did on that mission was for you. I may have lost myself, but I never lost sight of my need to protect you."

The group nodded and got up from their kneeling position. Leaning back into your pillows, you let out a sigh. This was certainly not how you wanted that mission to go, nor did you want to spend your leave time fixing your spiritual presence and meditating.

You did good.

The whispers of the Dark Side sounded strangely familiar.