Dependable Barriss

She turned around with a heavy sigh and deactivated the lightsaber.

“I’ve told you a hundred times Ahsoka – Control your emotions!”

“I know, I know,” the Togruta chanted with a painful expression as she pulled herself back up from the floor. She walked back to the center of the sparring ring to make ready for yet another defeat.

“Come on – I’ve only got time for one more before Skyguy needs me for another stupid –“

“Ahsoka!” she snapped, stepping into the ring with a frown at the level of disrespect she was showing her Master. It didn’t take on her either; she shook her head and took up an offensive stance like always and her green blade materialized with a hiss, pointing straight at Barriss.

“If you lose again I’ll have you promise to show more respect,” she said, hoping Ahsoka would recognize the semi-seriousness of it. She had never been good at casual talk but spending so much time with Ahsoka had given her ample material to study.

“You know just how to motivate me,” she replied through a wry smirk. It was difficult not to return the smile, especially when that glow was in her ice-blue eyes. The sensation was strange and unfamiliar to her but she didn’t hang on to it. Meeting Ahsoka’s all too familiar stance she took up a defensive soresu pose and activated her blade.

Immediately, she felt Ahsoka’s intentions.

Down.

Kneeling, her shoulder collided with Ahsoka’s and she spun around, slashing at a bare back which disappeared in front of her eyes.

Left, up, left.

She rolled aside, threw herself back up and struck left, cringing at the sparks but smiling at Ahsoka’s frustrated expression.

She isyears behind me, she thought and then immediately she reminded herself to dim the swelling pride within but where she could’ve had an entire discussion in her head about such things, she was interrupted by Ahsoka’s next move.

Tap, push and stop.

Breaking out of the lock, Ahsoka tried to do a backflip but just a small tap with the Force and the landing failed. She cried out just before a real Force push sent her into the floor and then a blue lightsaber prevented her from rising again.

“You are beaten,” she said between breaths. “Again.”

Exhaling her frustration, Ahsoka deactivated her weapon and remained on her back. The white markings in her face were drawn together tightly, revealing her disappointment.

“Don’t be discouraged,” she said in an attempt to lighten Ahsoka’s spirits. “At least no one saw you get destroyed by me.”

No one used the section of sparring rings they were using at that time of the evening. They had five of them all to themselves but Ahsoka seemed no more satisfied than before.

“I don’t understand,” she complained and took Barriss’ hand once the blue lightsaber had been deactivated again. “How can you read me so well?”

“Because you don’t keep your emotions in check,” she explained, happy for once to have her be so willing to listen to her. “You’re frustrated, disappointed and eager all at the same time and there is no balance. It’s like –…”

She paused a moment, trying to find the right words.

“Wait so it’s like you can see where I’m looking with my emotions instead of my eyes?”

“That’s one way of putting it yes,” she agreed and turned for her corner of the ring. She pulled a flask of water to her hand, removed the headcover and then dumped the contents on her head. It felt refreshing though it was difficult to get rid of the heat in her all-covering robes.

“You should meditate more often,” she suggested whilst wiping her face with a towel. “Get your emotions in balance. Then you’ll be a much more frightening opponent.”

“Hah,” Ahsoka scoffed. “Maybe that’s just it. Maybe I just need to be more intimidating.”

Snickering, she spun around again to defuse such a silly idea but Ahsoka had already taken it to heart. She stood within an arm’s reach, every sharp tooth in her predatory arsenal on display and her face twisted like she was an animal ready to pounce on its prey. To top it off, she held up her hands and wiggled her fingers like claws.

“Rawr!”

Her stomach cramped from laughing, her knees giving in as she fell backwards. If the three ropes that made up the fence of the ring hadn’t been there she would have fallen flat on her back from laughter, but even though the tickles had her paralyzed, she felt bad for the way Ahsoka slowly realized that she wasn’t the least bit scary.

Not until she leaped in and bit down on Barriss’ neck.

“Ahs –!” she yelped, her laughter dying as something caught in her throat and she lost her breath. It wasn’t painful, it wasn’t dangerous and she knew Ahsoka would never really hurt her but she still froze.

“That’ll teach you to – Wait… Are you alright?”

She stared wide-eyed up at Ahsoka who seemed thoroughly taken aback at what had just happened.

“I- I’m –“she croaked and cleared her throat. “I’m alright, I’m alright.”

The feeling of something being stuck in her throat didn’t go away and her breath was shaky as if the room had gone cold but she was still warm – suffocating in her clothes. Gazing up at her Togruta friend she saw things she had never noticed before; the shape of her lips, the smooth and exotic look of her montrals, the mesmerizing way her white markings moved whenever she talked or did a facial gesture, and her fast-moving chest whenever she breathed. She felt a strong desire to reach up and –

Stop.

She rolled away from Ahsoka and all but leaped to her feet.

“We’re done for today.”

“Barriss please don’t be mad at me!” Ahsoka shouted after her, but she offered no reply. She marched away fast, trying hard to drown out the thoughts by thinking of her Master’s teachings.

There is no emotion.

Ahsoka’s voice called out somewhere behind her but she moved on to the hallway connecting the sparring hall to a long passageway that could take her all the way around the temple. There were tall windows on one side of the walls allowing the light of the moons to shower her.

There is no passion.

She stopped.

Master?

The Mirialan Master’s indigo-blue eyes seized her and she couldn’t hide her shock.

“M-Master Luminara,” she greeted her formally, scrambling to put the veil back on and bowed her head, wondering how she had failed to spot her when the path stretched on for at least a hundred strides straight ahead.

“Padawan,” she replied formally and returned the bow. She was wearing a black robe with tight, light-gray wrappings covering her torso and she had opted for the short, leather-brown veil to cover her hair – had she had any.

“Shouldn’t you be in the library at this time of day?”

“Yes Master,” she said quickly, focusing on quelling her unruly emotions. “Sorry Master. I was helping Padawan Tano improve her lightsaber technique.”

Dark lips formed a smile and Master Luminara approached with her hands out. She instinctively bowed her head again, sensing the light flicker in the hallway.

“My dear Padawan,” Master Luminara said quietly and placed her hands unto Barriss’ shoulders. “You’ve been spending a lot of time with her lately.”

“Yes Master,” she replied and was drawn closer by her Master’s cold hands. Mystified but also relieved, she took the comfort she was given though it felt out of place. Master Luminara had placed a hand on Barriss shoulder before or held her close when she had needed it, but she had never hugged her. Now, she felt her Master’s hands at the brim of her veil, her fingers crawling underneath to dig through her hair.

“Don’t you like me anymore?”

“What?”

She pushed herself back, staring at her Master whose expression had turned on itself. Her dark lips turned down and in outright despair, she screamed at Barriss.

“Why are you doing this!?”

Breathless, she stumbled backwards, the light flickering again and her Master’s fingers refusing to stop crawling through her hair.

“But – Master I –“

Then she realized it wasn’t her Master’s fingers.

“I failed you, my Padawan.”

Screaming, she threw the veil off and raked her hair with her nails uncaring of how much it hurt to get rid of the worms. They were slippery, their tiny teeth biting into her skull and the sound of their screeching when they died filling her ears but she couldn’t think of anything but ripping every last bit of her hair off until they were gone.

“Why are you afraid?”

Her heart pounded like a drum and she kept pulling and tearing her hair to get them out, spinning around herself in a panic until it was everything but her spinning. All of her strength disappeared and she collapsed, still feeling the worms crawling on her skin, nibbling and pinching their way up her neck to her ear until the disgusting feel of a slick body entering her head made her abandon all semblance of control.

She screamed until her voice was gone and then the pain came.

“I found her.”

“Thank the Force,” she sighed and let go of a breath it felt like she had been holding ever since she took off.

"She’s a bit beat-up but otherwise she’s fine,” the Togruta went on through the crackling comms. “I don’t know what happened to her. Think she passed out or something. Did she say anything while you had her on comms?”

“No, nothing she just sort of slipped away,” she replied as the white clouds faded and the planet-wide cityscape of Coruscant came into view, the buildings stretching out as far as she could see in any direction. The howling of the ion-engines was the only sound besides the Togruta’s voice she could hear and judging by the speed and direction, she was about five minutes out.

"Has this happened before?”

“Yes but not as bad as this,” she explained, her voice shaking too much for Fulcrum not to pick up on it.

“She’ll be fine.”

Yena cleared her throat and nodded but there was a lump she couldn’t quite get rid of still stuck in there.

“We’ll be there within a cycle,” Fulcrum continued, the quality of the transmission deteriorating as the large shadow of a stardestroyer passed over Yena’s fighter. “But the – …. –rius… -s… -ill not here. Are you sure they understood the order?”

Her fingers tightened around the controls.

“I told the Captain to attack immediately, as you instructed.”

Captain Heigen had been eager to get into action and it was difficult to believe she wouldn’t have jumped straight to Forba at the given chance. But then again, even her Master had misjudged an imperial Captain – who’s to say she hadn’t as well?

“The stardestroyer should’ve been there by now. If it isn’t there soon, it’s going to be too dangerous to stay. They will have to pull back prematurely.”

“Perhaps I did my work a little too well,” Yena said, praying that the most likely option was the conclusion. “Maybe they died along the way in hyperspace. Perhaps they jumped to a planet near Forba to test their systems before the battle and died that way?”

“It’s not impossible,” Fulcrum pondered as a yellow diode flashed by her instrumentation, indicating that the traffic controller wanted to take over the controls.

“I have to close the connection,” she informed her and reached for the coms. “Please contact me when she wakes up.”

“I will. May the Force be with you.”

And you, she thought but didn’t say it and ended the transmission. With her hands off the controls again, she let the auto-pilot guide her approach to the headquarters of the Imperial Inquisitorius. Reduced to being a passenger again, she could let her thoughts run freely.

It will work out. They can’t possibly have any idea what I did to them.

The first task her Master had given her was far too important for her to leave anything to chance. She had gone about the sabotage with meticulous care, ensuring that everything was as the Togruta had wanted. Whatever plan she had laid out, whatever way the Tessarius decided to arrive on Forba it would be destroyed – she was sure of that. The only thing she wasn’t sure of was what the Grand Inquisitor wanted with her.

They just want a comprehensive report, she reasoned and went over the information she had to give again. The Exactoris had been lost to sabotage as part of a greater plot to liberate the mining moon and her Master was still on the hunt for the rebel group.

But has now decided to return to Coruscant, she corrected herself and went on.

The Togruta Jedi whose name she had unfortunately not heard was dead but if she appeared in the registry, she might have to alter the story a bit. The lightsaber was good proof but even better if a name could be linked to it.

But why in person?

That question had nagged her all the way and she still had no satisfactory answer even as the headquarters appeared on the horizon. Its massive onyx walls reached taller than the Imperial Palace it was built next to and although it had no towers like the latter, the building itself looked like one giant one. If its looming shape wasn’t enough to convince people of its Imperial connection,  the largest Imperial banners she had ever seen hang from the top down its sides with projectors keeping the imposing crimson and white mark of the Empire visible for everyone to see at all times of the day. If there ever was a symbol of oppression then this was it.

Perhaps that is our destiny, she thought and allowed the echoes of the past to creep up on her. She remembered being told by her instructors that they were the beginning of a new era – not only in the sense that they would destroy the Jedi but also in the sense that they would become something more. What that was she had no idea, but clearly they had more plans for the Inquisitors than for them to simply be Jedi-hunters. After all, at some point the Jedi would be dead and then what would become of them?

She was happy to let those thoughts occupy her as the headquarters came ever closer. Large shielded doors opened up to swallow her and she placed her hands on the controls yet again to comply with the landing protocols.

That’s new.

As the Advanced TIE-fighter settled down gently and the ion-engines cut out, she spotted two Inquisitors waiting for her outside.

“Twenty-Seven?”

She leaped down from the Advanced TIE-fighter and landed smartly on her feet. It was the first time in half a cycle she was able to stretch out and she rose to tower above the two Inquisitors waiting for her.

“Correct,” she replied with as much politeness as she could muster up. The three of them were the only ones in a landing bay meant for two lambda-shuttles and from behind, she heard large shielded doors crawl to a close.

Welcome home, she told herself cynically.

“Follow us,” the bull-like man continued without a care to how long a journey she had just been through. Beside him stood what looked like a twig of a woman – or man, she couldn’t really tell underneath the plastoid armor and inquisitorial uniform. Without a greeting, the Twig started off and Yena had no choice but to follow with the Bull behind her. Both of them had their visors down and their lightsabers in hand as if she was an enemy to be watched and not an ally to be escorted. It was pleasantly unsurprising.

Everyone is an enemy to them, she reminded herself, noticing how mistrust and fear were chief amongst their emotions. It was comforting to be back amongst Force users who were unaccustomed to hiding themselves. In the same manner that her Master and the Togruta eclipsed her in power she felt like these Inquisitors were nothing but worms to her. The sensation was gratifying, but the last few days of labor capped her excitement. She was hungry, tired and more than aware of it. To them, however, she made sure only to show what they expected to see.

Just another ambitious Inquisitor on her way to receive a new mission.

They seemed less attentive to her as they entered the main corridors of the headquarters. Soldiers, officers, trainees and Inquisitors of all uniforms walked around them. No one talked, no one smiled and no one exchanged more than wary glances. This was a place where everyone had a job to do and if they failed or showed signs of failing, they were replaced. Violently.

Succeed or die, she recalled though the words weren’t hers. They belonged to her first instructor on Mustafar and as she would never forget the scars, she would probably never forget the words either. It made her hands tighten up into fists to think back on the things her instructors had made her do. The hatred and anguish washed over her like a hot breeze and to calm herself, she brought back her most vivid dream and pictured every passing Inquisitor as being in it. She saw herself cutting them down one by one, screaming, laughing and writhing with glee. The scent of boiling blood struck her nostrils and had she not taken a deep breath she would have rekindled a hunger she could not afford to sate.

Don’t lose control, she reminded herself. Survive.

The busy corridors widened into halls with lifts and stairs leading several stories up or down. This was the main entrance and she felt presences she had sensed before. Not many of those she had practiced with or fought had survived as long as she had, but however curious she was to their fates, she had other business now. The Twig was leading them down and then through a large façade with three double door entrances. Behind those was a hall stretching on far enough that the Imperial cogs on the banners hanging from the end wall were near incomprehensible. Those same banners lined the flanking walls of the hall, hanging down six stories and reminding all of the inhabitants who they served.

“Up the center,” the Bull grunted.

There were thirty-one trainees in bland, black body suits and seven instructors distinguished by their full uniforms walking amongst them as they sparred and performed exercises. She recognized the place as the primary exercise area for the trainees and again, she sensed presences she knew. Her escort took her straight up the middle of the many sparring duos while they fought with training sabers and the Force, most of them unable to fully utilize the latter. Those who had strength and size used it and those who had hatred and will used that. Those who had neither suffered as the Empire wanted it.

I wonder how many of them I brought here.

She could come up with an exact number, but she didn’t want to. Just thinking of it was like tasting something sour and it made her lips grow taut.

I did what I had to do, she told herself, forcing the unwanted emotions out of her system. I’m not like them.

They had almost cleared the trainees when the Force warned her.

Stop.

A bundle of limbs landed in front of her, the clear sound of agony expressed in a feminine cry.

“Forgive me,” a scrawny, amethyst-skinned Twi’lek heaved with lungs out of air.

“Get out of the way schutta!” the Bull raged at the girl, who didn’t rise fast enough to avoid his boot. She grasped at her stomach while he pulled her up screaming by one lekku and threw her on her back.

“Yes Inquisitor!” she cried and got back up remarkably fast. Her opponent didn’t wait for her to regain her bearings. He lashed out with his electrostaff but she ducked and rolled aside. He was a black-clad soldier twice her size and the disparity was immense, but the girl’s suffering changed swiftly. Mesmerized, she watched the girl turn her pain and suffering into anger and hatred with little to no effort. The power of the girl grew immensely and it would’ve been exciting to watch the twi’lek tear the purge trooper apart but the Grand Inquisitor could not be kept waiting.

A shame.

Exhaling her disappointment, she left the spar with her escort and walked from the formations to a side-entrance and up a flight of stairs to an observation room. Large windows offered a great view of the exercise area and scattered seating was in place for a crowd of spectators but they didn’t linger there. They marched all the way through and then to one last door before they had reached their destination.

“I was beginning to think you weren’t coming.”

A moment of confusion gave way to disappointment and resent as she recognized the voice and accepted that she had been misled.

“Inquisitor.”

She pulled off her helmet, marched all the way to the center of the office and stood at ease with the helmet under her arm.

“Twelfth Brother,” he corrected her. He was the fool who had contacted her yet even such a despicable man had a wide and grand office. It had large panoramic windows behind him which offered a stunning view of the surface of Coruscant. Even in darkness it was vivid with artificial lights and buzzing activity but she kept her focus on him as he walked around an oval desk towards her.

“Where is the price?”

All of his face except his gray-lipped mouth was covered by a black helmet which widened into sharp points at either side of his head. His body was covered in bulky plastoid armor the same color of his helmet and it all added up to give him the appearance of an ashen demon. He would have been intimidating too if not for his inability to hide his emotions in the Force.

“Right here,” she said before silence became hesitance and took hold of the dead Jedi’s weapon. Her fingers tickled as they sensed the essence of its former wielder and it almost felt bad to relinquish it.

“I am ready to present it to the Grand Inquisitor.”

His disgusting lips curled briefly.

“That won’t be necessary,” he explained and held out a hand. “Give it to me.”

If not for their unruly presences in the Force, the office would’ve been as quiet as the vacuum of space. It was interesting that they seemed unaware of the fact that she could read them but that could be a trap in itself. Regardless, she hadn’t come to pick a fight or receive any glory. This was just another hindrance on her path to get back to her Master’s side.

“Of course,” she said timidly, sensing disappointment from all of them including the part of her heart that kept telling her she should kill them all. For the three seconds it took to hand over the weapon, she let herself imagine the satisfaction she could achieve from peeling the three of them apart piece by piece.

“Excellent,” he breathed, his hidden eyes on the lightsaber as he turned it in his hand. “The Grand Inquisitor will be pleased to learn of this.”

“I am glad to serve, Inquisitor,” she said and stepped backwards into a heavy arm.

“Where do you think you’re going?” the Twelfth Brother said with another irking smirk on his vile lips. “Do you think you can return from a mission without any results to present to the Grand Inquisitor?”

She should’ve seen it coming from light-years away and as the man clipped the lightsaber to his belt and made a quick gesture at his minions, she felt nothing but embarrassment.

“Beat her, torture her – do as you wish but make sure she dies.”

“As you wish,” the Twig said.

The Bull said nothing.

“Stop her!”

She completed the summersault half a second before the Bull’s head hit the floor and with another Force-propelled leap she was out of the office.

Down.

The humming sound of plasma cutting through the air passed overhead while she slid forwards until something caught her knee and she fell over. Sharp pain erupted from her elbow but she ignored it and rolled around to leap back unto her feet. The Twig was already through the door, the blades back in her hands and the Twelfth Brother coming up behind her.

Distance.

She stepped backwards over a toppled chair and tightened the grip of her lightsaber. The dark side mixed with adrenaline in her blood and she was excited when the Twig leaped at her.

Three and push.

Three parries filled the air with sparks before a push sent the Twig tumbling aside but it did not stop the Twelfth Brother. His blades spinning in his hands, she did not need the Force to tell her what the fool was going to do and she slid forwards on her knees, a bright crimson light passing by above but still too close to her eyes. She trusted her rage to guide her blades and there was a high-pitched scream as she cut through the world blindly, rolled around again and stood back up with the office at her back.

“You can’t run away from this!” the Twig screamed with a thick accent. She was breathing heavily and the lower half of the woman’s helmet had been sliced apart, revealing a scarred, deep-blue jaw with smoky-gray lips.

“Your death will be slow,” the Twelfth Brother joined in as he got to his feet. He seemed untouched and took up position to block any escape down the stairs. The Twig already stood by the windows, leaving Yena no exit but their trap was like a strange jest and laughter was impossible to hold back. She had just killed one of them without any of them being able to react and they still believed that she was the one who should be trying to escape?

“What are you laughing at?!” the Twig asked with ill-hidden concern. “Stop laughing!”

The tickling feel would not go away even as the Twig broke into a charge again.

Three. Left.

The crimson halo of plasma belonging to the Twig stopped on the third rotation. Somewhere in the Force was a spike of shock followed by agony as Yena dodged left, spun around with her blades spinning and then released a wave of hatred. The crash of glass screeched in her ears but the pain only empowered the rising urge to create more suffering. Her cheeks cramped and her stomach filled with excitement at the ease with which she had thrown the Twig out of the window. The Twelfth Brother hesitated, staring at her through his eyeless mask and stepping around uncertainly on the shard-stained floor to get a better position.

“You have no idea who you’re up against,” he hissed bitterly, sounding like a dead man already.

“I know exactly what you are,” she grinned back at him. “More importantly, I know what you’ll be in a moment.”

Shifting his lightsabers from side to side, he broke into a Force-assisted sprint. She had the time and braced, parried both rotations of his blades and then flipped him over to send him flying through the windows into the training hall. The trainees and their instructors had already gathered like a crowd around the Twig and where it would have unnerved her moments ago, she was only pleased to have them witness her power.

They thought I was nothing.

She shivered at the feel of the dark side spreading throughout her veins and the incredible power prickled her nerves all the way to her fingers. There was a voice in the back of her head that whispered words she was supposed to remember, but they induced a strange stinging pain on her chest as if someone had whipped her diagonally across it and she ignored them like they were poison.

I’ll show them what I really am.

Deadly shards slipped down with her and crackled as they smashed into the training grounds. Immediately, her two enemies were upon her but she threw them back with a roar that echoed throughout the hall. They stumbled back up and shouted something at the passive spectators, motioning for them to help but no one moved. Everyone knew how this was going to end and she wasn’t going to disappoint them.

Four.

She avoided the strike and carved straight through the hilt connecting the blades, deactivating both in an explosive manner. The Twig’s shriek ended suddenly as Yena darted past the remains to catch the Twelfth Brother’s swing mid-air. He cried out at the splash of plasma particles, tried to push her back with the Force but her malice outmatched his hundred-fold. Trainees were pressed aside as he went through them, tumbling over on his back in a hard crash he didn’t rise from. The instructors were herding the trainees out of the way, but not fast enough. She was ready to carve through them all to get her revenge, but then a familiar presence struck her like lightning.

“What is the meaning of this spectacle?”

Aching stiffness flared up in her cheeks as her smile died. Everyone else turned towards the voice and she tried to answer at once as she had been trained to do but realized that she was breathing too heavily. With slight embarrassment, she turned, waited a moment and then addressed the Pau’an.

“Grand Inquisitor.”

She trusted the Force enough to turn her back on the Twelfth Brother and focus on her superior. His sharp-toothed smile was there as he walked through a corridor of his minions.

“Don’t hold back,” he said with a deceptively kind voice. “I do want an answer.”

“She tried to steal my prize, Grand Inquisitor,” the Twelfth Brother lied. His uniform was torn, his bruised mask leaking blood and he couldn’t stand upright as he moved towards Yena. He still dared to point his deactivated hilt accusingly at her, however.

“What prize?” the Grand Inquisitor asked and came up before them, his gaze lingering on her. It was intense, his eyes two orbs made of molten lava hovering in a field of the deepest darkness she had ever seen. She could feel him probing her in the Force and she hadn’t lost enough of her mind to try and obstruct him.

“This,” the Twelfth Brother said before Yena could construct a proper answer and held up Adder’s lightsaber for the entire hall to see before throwing it to the Grand Inquisitor.

“Another Jedi dead?” he asked with feigned cheerfulness and caught the weapon.  It made no difference what facial expression he made, the angled, blood-red markings above and below his eyes made him look menacing no matter what. They creased as he kept sending her small glances, but whether that was good or bad she had yet to see.

“And you say this Inquisitor tried to take it from you?” he asked to which the Twelfth Brother nodded quickly.

“This weakling is nothing Grand Inquisitor. Let me –“

“Who is this ‘weakling’ then?” the Pau’an spoke to her as his molten eyes took in her form with clear interest.

“Twenty-Seven,” she replied to his continued pleasure. Whether it was the disparity of ranks or something else she did not know, but the Grand Inquisitor blessed them with another sharp-toothed grin and then turned around.

“Whoever lives will report to me afterwards.”

He walked back through the corridor of frightful eyes and as he disappeared, all of those eyes turned to her.

As you wish.

She smiled, unafraid to show them all how thrilled she was and when she turned to the wreck of an Inquisitor facing her, every last bit of withheld hatred and suffering swelled up inside like a volcano about to erupt and they both knew there was nothing he could do.

Suffer, she demanded as she channeled her overwhelming power and choked him without a care for what the dark side was taking from her in return. He reached out towards her and made an embarrassing attempt to stab her which resulted in him dropping his weapon clumsily. Snickering girlishly, she tightened the hold until he could do nothing but grasp at his throat and wheeze.

You will all suffer for what you did to me.

The scorched scent of fire and the sound of thousands of Jedi fighting and dying filled her head as she saw the temple burning around her. She was standing in the middle of the chaos, squeezing the life out of the men who had destroyed her life. They were running from her, screaming in fear and cowering before her power like scared children – like younglings. Her entire body shook as she fed a hunger she had always denied and it felt like nothing she had ever experienced before. Her heart beat faster and faster, her breathing became shaky and hot and she couldn’t think of anything but taking more and more until his neck snapped and there was nothing more to take.

His limp body dropped to the floor and for five seconds, there was nigh a sound besides her ragged breathing.

“Get back to it!”

She jerked around, but the commotion was just the trainees moving to do as their instructors bid. The fight was still in her blood and watching them file back into ranks and one-on-one matches calmed her to the point where she could comprehend her own thoughts again.

What did I just do?

Soreness spread throughout all of her limbs as the dark side left her used and remorseful, but she had no time to think about it. She bit it back, looked around for the exit and started moving.

She couldn’t keep the Grand Inquisitor waiting.

“Hmm…  I think I got something.”

The old geezer leaned over his console and didn’t look up as he gestured to a monitor right next to him. Hoss kept to the back of the room, not feeling curious really but the Twi’lek moved up eagerly.

Ghoul and Jeq’ru, she reminded herself. Dreem hadn’t told her much else of them before leaving her with them but it was fine. The Twi’lek had a blaster rifle, the old man was experienced and it was most likely safer in the control room with them than on the shuttle alone.

If that is what this is, she thought to herself. They were right above the entrance to the main complex in a room with enough space to jam in four consoles side-by-side before the windows. They had a view of the entire walled-off compound where the ground was awash with people and the skies filled with fighters, transports and shuttles. There was no more fighting at surface level at least, but no one seemed to want to stick around. Troops exited transports and moved out along the roads leading from the compound down into the ground or out into the fields. Medics rushed out to take the wounded into the complex and liberated slaves stood in droves while they waited for a spot on a ship. It was an alright picture if not for the Imperial captives lined up at the walls.

Why do they have to do this?

They had already surrendered but still, they were being beaten, humiliated or worse. Maybe it was fair enough that some of them got what they deserved – it was a slave operation after all but the rebels didn’t ask any questions. They didn’t single anyone out, it was just pointless violence for no other reason than that they could and it was disgusting to watch but she couldn’t look at Ghoul or Jeq’ru without seeing it.

“This isn’t the gate controls,” Jeq’ru commented in an accented voice. There was a frown on her dust-skinned face and she gestured towards the monitor with an arm covered in bits of scavenged Imperial armor.

“No it’s a list of supplies,” Ghoul explained. “I haven’t sliced into the controls yet but the codes got me all sorts of data. Try and download it. Might be useful later.”

“Alright,” Jeq’ru said simply and offered no argument. None of them paid her any mind as they worked the holographic keyboards and for a moment she wondered what she was even doing there.

I should’ve stayed with Dreem, she sighed but then immediately discarded the regret. There was no way she could’ve dealt with another medbay and Dreem knew it too. What use could she be if she was just going to be a crying wreck in a bed right next to Tapham? Still, she was worried about the sea-green fool and his reaction to Tapham’s report. She wasn’t sure what to think about Adder but Dreem was absolutely certain that a Jedi couldn’t be an Imperial in spite of the evidence to the contrary. Like… He didn’t even consider that she might not be who she said she was and that kind of narrow-mindedness wasn’t healthy.

“Quadanium?” the twi’lek spoke up curiously, breaking her line of thought. “Lommite?”

“It’s various construction materials,” Ghoul explained, not taking his eyes off his own console. “But why would they need that here?”

“Maybe it’s not a farming planet at all?” Hoss suggested, trying to be useful.

“Six thousand tons of quadanium,” Jeq’ru read from the list. “A million units of havod. A hundred cronau-approved containment facilities… What is all this stuff?”

Ghoul finally took his eyes off his console.

“Stuff that belongs on ships,” he said thoughtfully. “Big ships.”

 “Stardestroyers?” Hoss suggested, buying herself two sets of eyes staring at her but she couldn’t explain why she had that hunch.

“Yeah that kind,” Ghoul continued. “But why out here? Why not on Corellia where they would have protection? Why on some remote farming planet?”

“Maybe we should ask one of the Imps?” she proposed, seeing the same kind of frown on Ghoul’s face that Dreem might’ve given her, but she wasn’t trying to sound cheeky.

“Maybe, but we’ll have to figure out these controls first,” Jeq’ru cut in and Ghoul nodded, turning back to his station.

“I know these systems front to back and I know these cylinders should give us access, but all of the underground access gates that we don’t have control of have been shut and locked from somewhere else on this moon. We need a password to override the lock.”

The hexagonal web of glowing lines on Ghoul’s monitor was a primitive map of the Imperial installation. Several of the nodes in the web were glowing red and Hoss guessed those were the shut gates he was talking about.

“Well the Lieutenant knew it was a long-shot,” Jeq’ru said but then reconsidered their chances. “Wait… That officer I took the cylinders from. Think he might know?”

“Not likely,” he replied, “but he could know how to get it.”

“One moment,” the twi’lek told them and walked past Hoss to get out of the room. She knew that a couple of Imperial officers were locked up somewhere in the building they were in – she had delivered one there herself after all, but she hadn’t expected Jeq’ru to actually return only one moment later.

“On your knees,” the Twi’lek hissed and decked him in the back of his knees with her blaster rifle. The Imperial officer gave out a cry of annoyance and went down, his teeth clenched more like a man insulted than one in pain although he had plenty of reason to be. His red hair was ruffled up and caked with dried blood, his black uniform was torn and in some places she could see bacta patches on his skin. She recognized him immediately and felt a sliver of guilt though she didn’t know why that was. It had been Adder and Fulcrum who captured him after all.

“What is the password to override the gate locks?” Ghoul asked in a calm manner, Jeq’ru hovering over the Officer like a cliff hawk and Hoss preferring to stand aside. The man’s emerald eyes were suspicious as they looked from Ghoul to her and back again.

“I don’t know.”

“I think you do,” Jeq’ru sneered and pulled his head back sharply with the barrel of the rifle prodding into his cheek. Every breath he took made him shudder with pulses of pain yet somehow he managed to stay calm.

“Is there a way to find out then?” Ghoul asked. “We know you’re keeping more people as slaves down there and all we want is to get them out. You’ve got the chance to do the right thing here.”

“The right thing?” he spat back at Ghoul. “You’re arming dangerous prisoners with blaster rifles and sending them out into the Galaxy! How is that the right th–“

The shot caught her completely off guard and for a second she thought someone had broken in and attacked but then she heard the Officer roar in agony and saw him go down holding a hand to his face.

“The hell are you doing?!” she shouted at the Twi’lek with her heart hammering against her chest. “That was completely uncalled for!”

“Uncalled for?” Jeq’ru shot her a derisive look and hissed. “He’s a slaver! I’m giving him nothing more than what he deserves.”

“Look let’s calm down,” Ghoul intervened but then the blaster rifle came to point at the Imperial Officer again. This time, however, she didn’t have to shout to make the Twi’lek stop.

“Stop!” Ghoul roared at them both. “Lower your weapons! Both of you!”

She hadn’t even realized she’d pulled Shilka before it was in her hand but she didn’t lower it.

“You want to shoot me? To protect him?”

“Leave,” she told her in a voice that should not have been composed.  “Right now.”

Her hand didn’t shake as she kept the blaster pointed at Jeq’ru who stood as frozen. Only her sandy eyes moved between her and Ghoul until the man stepped in the way and Hoss had to lower Shilka.

“I’ll take her outside okay?” he told her with a concerned expression on his weathered face. There was no blame in his voice and she managed a nod. He grabbed Jeq’ru and her rifle before dragging both of them out, her resistance about as effective as a womp rat trying to hold back a reek.

“Why? What are you doing! She was going to shoot me!Gh-“

Jeq’ru’s outraged voice disappeared with a hiss of pressurized air, leaving Hoss alone with the Imperial.

What am I doing?

She stood back, feeling the backrest of a chair against her backside and faintly registered the Officer looking up at her, but he emitted nothing but raspy breathing as she tried to figure out what had just happened. There was no regret at the back of her mind even though she had just pulled a blaster on one of her own but thinking of Jeq’ru like that filled her with resent – with anger. She wanted no part of what they were doing here, she wanted none of this blood on her hands – damned if the Imperials were running a slave operation or not. If the alternative was switching the roles around to enslave the Empire instead then what difference did it make? Were these people really going to make the Galaxy a better place than it already was? Were they trying to destroy the business or take it over?

“Thank you.”

Twitching, she looked at him and found gratitude.

“You’re welcome.”

It might as well have been a stranger she had held the door for in a cantina with the amount of emotion she put into it, but talking made her realize she was still tense. With a deep sigh she let go of it all, spun Shilka a couple of times in her hand and then holstered the blaster.

Muck it in. You’re not getting out of here yet.

“I’m Imerko,” the man said. He had shifted around to lean against one of the front consoles and she could see that the shot had torn a black, sooty scar along his cheek like a –

Like a lightsaber, she gulped and had to shake her head to stop the scent of burned flesh to remind her of Captain Tikira again.

“Hoss,” she replied hoarsely and hurried to search through the utilities on her belt. Fortunately, there was a small individual first aid kit with a bacta patch in it.

“Sit still,” she told him and swatted away his hand as it rose to protest. The smell would go away in time and he muttered another thanks as she all but slapped it on his face. His breathing was already starting to get better and she suspected the Empire had mixed in painkillers with the bacta somehow.

“You want to thank me you tell me that password,” she said semi-casually. The rudimentary map on the monitor was hard to miss and it still had red nodes on it.

“No one but the upper echelon knows that password and I’m… well…,” he motioned towards the plaque of blue and red on his chest but she had no idea what it meant.

“My men and I are –… Well I suppose we were specialists. We don’t really have that kind of clearance.”

That didn’t seem right to her but it didn’t matter. The last thing she wanted to do was torture him for the truth.

“Can you contact someone who knows?” she asked, eyeing him over and inadvertently catching the sight of two distinct shapes outside on the ground. It was Ghoul with Jeq’ru in tow headed for the line of ships departing. Was he just going to throw her on a ship and get rid of her like that?

He said nothing this time but judging by how uncomfortable he seemed, he’d already answered for her.

“Yeah I know you can,” she went on as a plan formed inside her brilliant head. It didn’t sit well with her to torment others but she had no problem with scaring them and she remembered one thing that had done just that to a bunch of Imperials.

“Do you know what an Inquisitor is?”

A few seconds passed by where both of them held their breath but then his eyes widened as if he suddenly understood.

“The Mirialan?”

There was a glorious feeling of victory in her heart that almost made her smile. The Inquisitor must’ve been a known menace around these parts and now it could play to her advantage.

“I am working for the Imperial Inquisitorius,” she explained, making her voice as posh as possible. It was the only way she knew to sound Imperial and it was such a large step away from her usual dialect that even she was impressed.

“Get me the password.”

“But –…” he stammered, showing fear for the first time since she’d met him. “I don’t understand… Why?”

“It’s – uh… Idiot! Do it before the others come back!”

Still hesitant, she grabbed him by his coat and pulled him up, shoving him at the console.

“Now!”

More motivated, he started working on the holographic keyboard but then grinded to a halt and stared at something outside on the ground.

“What is it?” she spoke and followed his eyes. She couldn’t spot what he was looking at, but she did notice that the entire complex had been laid in shade, but how was that possible when the planet had two suns?

And why was the shadow shaped like a triangle?

Why didn’t you listen?

The question had haunted her ever since she first put on the uniform and she had gotten no closer to an answer since then. Not that it would change anything, but it puzzled her why Master Luminara had been so adamant. What reason could she have had to not listen to her own Padawan – the Mirialan fool of a Jedi who had wasted her life devoted to a Master, who in the end had cared less than nothing about her fate?

Barriss stirred, but not to protest this time. She knew as well as the Inquisitor that Master Luminara had abandoned her. It was painful for the both of them to accept, but she had to find out why her cruel Master had appeared in her visions. Why now and not years ago?

So many questions, she seethed, angry that she could no longer readily say where she was headed or what her purpose was. It had been simple; revenge was all that mattered and it had felt good to deliver justice to the Jedi who were instigating nothing but hopeless violence but now… Everything had become complicated. She knew above all else that she had to do something but what?

What can I do that will not lead to her death?

Yena’s whimpering voice rose in her ears and she knew that no matter what horrible suffering the Inquisitor was going to go through, it would be better than letting that vision come true. She knew that fighting the Empire would lead to its fulfillment, but how could she tell Yena to give up now? How could she, when she herself had given aid to Ahsoka?

She’s too clever, she thought with spite. Ahsoka’s compassion was the perfect cover for her ruthlessness and Barriss didn’t understand where cowing to it would lead them all.

I have to stop her. I have to.

Otherwise,how can I protect Yena from what they did to you?

She had long feared going back to that cell and she had offered Ahsoka a taste of it without hesitance but imagining Yena in that place… Closing her eyes and seeing her Apprentice desolate and abandoned like she had been by her own Master was impossible to bear.

Maybe that’s why she never talked to you? she reasoned with herself. She knew what I had done to you.

She knew it was her fault.

“Are you alright?”

Ahsoka’s tired voice brought her out of her thoughts and she had only to turn her head slightly to be struck in the face with that dreadfully two-faced compassion again.

“I’m fine,” she pushed through her teeth, watching as flickers of stars passing by showered Ahsoka’s face with cyan light. In one flash she had narrowed her eyes and in the next she had turned.

Are you starting to see?

All of the natural light came from a small viewport sat above a seven-seat half-circle around the table at which the Inquisitor was seated. The not-so-natural light unfortunately came from tiles in the deck and the Inquisitor made a conscious effort not to think too much about it.

“Is it not possible for this ship to go any faster?” she asked Ahsoka’s back as the Togruta fetched something from the mess area. She was confident in Yena’s ability to handle whatever the Inquisitorius wanted of her, but she still wanted to be there in case any complications arose.

“No,” she said shortly and returned to place a bowl and spoon in front of the Inquisitor. “Eat.”

The ‘food’ graciously placed on the table before her consisted of a thick, dark-blue substance that looked like it was supposed to lubricate some engine part and not be ingested. Still, it was energy and she wasn’t about to argue with Ahsoka about something as simple as that. She picked up the spoon and got to work.

“This is where you’ve been hiding all these years?” she asked, surprised at the savory taste of the substance. “Certainly looks like your quarters.”

The ship was long and narrow with a noticeable rounded shape in the middle section. She’d like to see its exterior as she hadn’t really been awake to do so when she arrived. It couldn’t be worse than the insides and not because it was dirty, but it looked like everything was out there and ready to be used; communicators spread out on tables in the living space as if she was about to pick them up and leave, dressers opened in the sleeping quarters with clothes folded next to them but never put inside, and various consoles and datapads activated although she couldn’t possibly be looking at them all at once. All of those holographic interfaces looked like an artificial lightshow in the combined lounge and cafeteria and she hated the disorder of it.

“Hiding, living, fighting. In short: It’s a home,” Ahsoka sighed in conclusion and stood back to watch the Inquisitor consume the meal. She pulled at the upper edge of her chest piece as if it were too tight. She had opted to remove the armor pads and was only wearing the skin-tight mud-red pieces now. The flexible fabric seemed to meld with the orange skin of her arms, the color scheme only broken by the white and blue montrals.

She trusts you too much.

“So,” Ahsoka continued while the Inquisitor dug out another spoonful. “How bad was it this time?”

“It’s like you said,” she admitted and swallowed the bite. “Worse than ever.”

Ahsoka ran a hand up and down her bare arm, her stance a bit slumped but as vulnerable as that made her look, her eyes were filled with determination.

“I trust you with my life, but I know what the Empire does to people. I know what –… What they did to you.”

Why did I show her? she grimaced and let down the spoon to regard Ahsoka with her full attention.

“Barriss, I have to know that when I contact you again, it’s still you. I need to know that nothing will change.”

“I want the Empire destroyed as much as you do,” she replied stiffly and spoke her next words as calmly as possible. “But I will not sacrifice my Apprentice for that dream. I won’t do what my Master did and abandon my Padawan in favor of following some crazy ideals. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Ahsoka’s rusty-red lips twitched for some reason but then she folded her arms below her chest and grew back a serious expression.

“I won’t force you into that choice,” she gave her and moved towards a table filled with datapads and communicators. It was oddly relieving to hear Ahsoka say those words and she pushed the bowl aside and stood up to join her.

“All of the people I am in contact with fight the Empire in different ways,” she continued as the Inquisitor came to the lightshow. She joined her hands behind her back and looked on as Ahsoka picked up what looked like a communicator made of wood. “Some of them fight them directly like on Forba.”

She picked up another one, this one made of some sort of alloy metal polished to a shine.

“Some of them by instigating sedition and sabotaging Imperial operations.”

The third she held up before the Inquisitor, making it impossible not to see that it was an Imperial design.

“Some of them by trading me information.”

 “You have spies in the Empire?” she asked, slightly astonished. Ahsoka nodded, her lips curving into a smile briefly before her face turned severe again.

“I don’t expect them to give their lives for me or sacrifice their own to keep the rebellion alive and neither will I expect you to do so. We help each other and that’s what you and I will do too.”

“What help are you to me?” she asked, her words sharpened by the dark side but Ahsoka met her hostility with benevolence.

“I know what haunts you,” she said again, moving from the light-filled table towards the Inquisitor. Her blue eyes winced when the Inquisitor took a step back in response. “I know the hatred that’s eating you up from inside and I know how to defeat it.”

She’s lying, she told Barriss but there was nothing she could do to stop the poisonous honesty in Ahsoka’s gaze from infecting her heart. That gullible Mirialan would exert all of her strength just to listen to a glimmer of hope.

“I can’t do it for you and I can’t force you into it,” she went on. “But I can show you how. All you have to do is let me.”

Never, she tried to hiss but Barriss had tightened her windpipe to the point where she could barely breathe. She reached up, about to grasp at her throat when she realized her hand hadn’t moved.

I’m sorry.

Ahsoka was smiling as she advanced again and this time Barriss snared her feet, making it impossible to defend herself. Suddenly struck with dread, there was nothing she could do to stop what happened at the guard office from repeating itself. Paralyzed like in her worst nightmares she stood there while the parasite forced her lips to curve into a smile and made her heart pump like she had just sprinted for her life. She couldn’t reach up to wipe away the orange fingers stroking her cheeks any more than she could dispel the suffocating feeling spreading throughout her chest.

What do you think you’re doing? she seethed at the imposter but there was no reply. Not a hint of an answer as everything before her eyes started to drift away. It was as if she was sliding out of the world and with sudden desperation she dug in her claws, screaming at Barriss to stop but nothing worked. She fell further and further into the abyss while darkness reached for her all around and when finally she crashed unto her back at the bottom, she was greeted by a familiar voice.

“Barris? Is that you?”

No… No please…

Somewhere deep inside she found the strength of will to roll around and push, but it felt like she had aged a hundred years and her arms could not carry her weight.

“Have you forgotten already?”

Crimson light sprung to life every four tile in the floor and illuminated the four walls of her cell. Then despair took her heart and spread itself throughout her body whilst she started scanning the corners of the cell in anxious anticipation of the worms that were surely lurking there.

I destroyed you, she protested meekly as if it meant anything here. I saw you die.

“Barriss,” the creature spoke. It was nowhere to be seen but she heard its footsteps on the metallic floor. “Are you certain that’s what happened?”

She saw something out of the corner of her eye and crawled – scrambled to the corner like a beat dog but there was nowhere to hide from the atrocious sight of –

You?

Stunned, she sat there curled up in her corner while the living image of Barriss Offee walked towards her with a somber smile on its tattooed face.

“Don’t tell me you don’t remember me,” it continued in that serious but not without kindness manner Master Luminara had taught her. “Did you forget I was here?”

I don’t –… she began but she didn’t know what to say. What kind of trick was this?

“I’m you,” the Mirialan Jedi went on like it was a friendly conversation. “And you’re me.”

Her limbs still worked and while she didn’t cease to suspect a trick, she started to climb back up. Her strength returned bit by bit and the despair and anguish she connected with the place she was in disappeared like had it been blown away by the wind.

You’re Barriss, she stated, scanning the Jedi up and down several times to be certain but there was no doubt. The brown, tight-fitting robes, the cobalt and black patterned veil and the lightsaber on her belt told her that this was Barriss – but if that was true…

Then who am I?

“Barriss are you alright?” the Jedi asked. It had stopped, its expression one of alarm as if it thought there was danger.

I’m not Barriss, she told herself, the words resounding within her soul. I’m not you.

It felt like heavy chains had fallen from her figure and she took a deep breath, smiling as she no longer felt her heart ache with unending remorse.

I’m not Barriss, she said again, her lips curling further as she saw how uncomfortable the Mirialan Jedi felt as she said it.

You are.

And you are a monster.

“B-Barriss what are you saying?”

She balled her fists and regarded the thing before her with unbridled loathing.

You betrayed those who trusted you.

“I – I don’t understand – “

You murdered hundreds of innocents and for what? For a Master who doesn’t care about you? For a Jedi order that refused to even consider your words as truth?

The Jedi fell to its knees, tears sliding down its beautiful cheeks. It gave out a pathetic sound of mourning and begged for her to listen but like her Master and the rest of the Galaxy, she didn’t.

I hate you.

Blood spewed from the traitor’s mouth and the intense satisfaction it gave her drove her into the next punch. The Jedi tried to defend itself with flailing arms but it did nothing to stop her. Fueled by rage, she kept hammering at the arms, every blow stronger than the last until they dropped and the tattooed face became undefended. She tore into it, careless of how much her fists started to hurt and careless that her lungs screamed for air. It wasn’t until Barriss was left a twitching mess on the cell floor that she stood back and tried to regain a steady breathing.

I’m not Barriss Offee, she said one more time to savor the truth.

“My mistake,” a deceptively kind voice spoke from behind. “Here are your orders, Second Sister.”

She turned on her heel and offered the Pau’an her best smile which he delightfully returned with one of his own. The coms device containing her orders was held out towards her along with the black helmet of an Inquisitor. There was a scent of sulfur in the air and an unbearable heat but she felt like she belonged. She felt at home and every breath she took strengthened her resolve in the decision she had made to destroy the weak imbecile she had once been.

She took the helmet from his hands, pulled it on and opened her eyes to see Ahsoka’s smiling face.

“Thank you,” she muttered quietly to her gullible friend and added a convincing angle to her lips. It took a few seconds for the heat and scent of Mustafar to leave her nostrils but the important thing was that Ahsoka did not suspect anything.

“I’ll be in the cockpit,” Ahsoka said and let the hand that had caressed her cheek drop to her shoulder for a quick squeeze. The feel of her fingers didn’t leave the Inquisitor’s cheek until Ahsoka had disappeared into the forward part of the ship.

I told you, she reminded Barriss with glee and turned for the aft section of the ship.

She can’t save you.

It was somewhat quiet in the quarters Ahsoka had prepared for the Inquisitor and as she sat down on a thin mat in the sparingly decorated room, she forcefully pushed away all disturbances, settled her breath and prepared to immerse herself in the Force.

The only thing that bothered her was a slight taste of mint on her lips.

“Well done Inquisitor.”

The Pau’an stood at the edge of the balcony with his hands locked behind his back and offered her a quaint nod of approval. The sparring arena was familiar to her and she did not flinch at the sharp sound of lightsabers meeting each other in the pit below.

“Thank you,” she replied formally and made sure to bow her head lower as she approached him. “Grand Inquisitor.”

“The Twelfth Brother has been colluding with his lackeys for quite some time now,” he revealed. “But I thought him to have higher ambitions than being slain by an Inquisitor even I did not recognize.”

His molten eyes were dreadfully curious and there was no ambiguous smile on his face now. Staying under their scanners was exactly what she had intended, but she was careful not to let them know. Instead she pulled on the same guise as she always had.

“He was weak,” she said through a smile she hoped was arrogant enough. “He thought to earn your favor through deceit but he underestimated me.”

“That he did,” the Grand Inquisitor stated whilst his stare lingered on her as if inspecting her uniform. It was spotless save for the helmet she had left in the Twelfth Brother’s office.

“I took the opportunity to glance through your files,” he continued and turned to watch the fight going on down below. She turned with him, wondering if he had known she was going to defeat them.

“Your contributions to Project Harvester are not insignificant. You have a talent for tracking down Force-sensitives.”

In the pit, an Inquisitor she had not taken notice of before was facing off against five trainees. The students attacked one by one, each attempt easily thrown back with a wound to remind them of their failure. None of them screamed or cried out when scraped and burned by the plasma. Instead, they silently queued up again only to repeat their mistakes.

“However, it is the tally of Force-sensitives you have coerced into service that impresses me the most.”

It was a play on words. She had only delivered them to be processed but through her actions of finding them – of torturing their relatives and friends to force them out, she had in effect scarred them with the kind of hatred that would leave them enslaved to the Empire forever. She still believed she hadn’t enjoyed it.

“I wish to put those skills to better use,” he went on as the trainees below completed another painful circuit. “I’m sending you to the Mustafar System.”

Stiffening, she fought back the urge to send him a stare that would surely have revealed her fear.

“The Third Sister will elaborate,” he clarified and motioned towards the pit with a gloved hand. “She will be leading the mission. You are to assist in any way she requires. Is that understood?”

“Yes Grand Inquisitor.”

“Good. Furthermore… your little cleanup hasn’t been the only one. Several numbers are lacking in my registry and I believe it is only fitting that you take on a name more fitting of your prowess.”

She knew there had been some vacancies due to the typical sort of infighting, but she had never thought herself to be settling into one them.

“I expect great things of you, Seventh Sister.”

The arrogant smile she had feigned became real and with a surge of pride in her chest she bowed.

“I will not disappoint you, Grand Inquisitor.”

“See that you do not,” he barked and set off without further word. She watched him disappear through a two-part door and once it had hissed shut, she forced her smile away.

My every move will be watched now.

It was supposed to be a bad thing but she couldn’t get rid of the tingling feeling inside. This was undeniable proof of the power at her disposal – the power she had worked hard for years to achieve but it shouldn’t have mattered as much as it did. This wasn’t about that. All the sacrifices she had made weren’t about the power. This wasn’t what she wanted.

Was it?

“Well fought!” an augmented voice called out in the pit. “You are now only half as disappointing as you were yesterday.”

A collective mumble of ‘yes Inquisitor’ rose from the trainees before they were dismissed, their five sets of footsteps echoing on the grated floor of the arena as they stood at attention and left. Once they were gone, the Third Sister set her gaze upon the Seventh.

“Come on,” that twisted voice taunted her. ”Don’t be shy.”

Every tendon in her muscles felt used and her stomach groaned for sustenance but she could not deny the challenge. She took a step up unto the protective railing and set off to land in a crouch in the arena. She rose with her lightsaber in hand to meet the Third Sister who eyed her through the crimson slits in her black helmet that was similar to her own save for the rounded top. She was as slender as Yena and stood as tall as her Master in the exact same uniform but where her Master had chosen simplicity, the Third Sister had chosen extravagance. A long, onyx cape that was blood-red on the inside reached from her glossy-black shoulder pads to her heels and it gave her a regal appearance although saying that out loud would no doubt have been dangerous.

“Let’s see if you’re as good as the Grand Inquisitor thinks you are.”

Every word was drenched in poison and Yena knew that the Third Sister’s hatred had nothing to do with her. That didn’t mean it wasn’t going to affect her, however.

“As you wish,” she said simply and activated both blades at once. Her opponent did the same and assumed a low stance reminiscent of the standard form every Inquisitor was taught but it was difficult to believe the Third Sister would employ that against someone who clearly knew it back-to-back.

She’s testing me.

Deactivating one blade, she took up a form three pose, pleased to watch the Third Sister tilt her head.

“You were a Jedi?” she asked curiously, the voice filter making the innocent question sound like an insult. She rose again and began circling Yena in the rectangular pit.

“Who was your Master?”

The inquiry stung but it didn’t take away her focus. With precise steps, she mirrored the Third Sister’s movements and kept a distance of eight steps that would allow her enough time to react to anything. She said nothing as they completed a full circle in the arena without hitting a wall.

“I believe I heard the Grand Inquisitor tell you to assist me in any way I require. Are you going to disappoint him already?”

She clutched the lightsaber hilt between her hands, activated the second blade again to further put off her opponent and then took a deep breath to gather what strength she had left.

“I had no Master,” she admitted, the Third Sister emitting a disturbing laughter in response.

But I do now, she reminded herself and exploited the chance to boost the Third Sister’s confidence. If she believed her taunts worked, then all the better for Yena.

And I won’t disappoint her.

She began rotating her blades and then she charged.

“That stardestroyer is supposed to be exploding right now! Why isn’ – “

“Charlie Seven latch unto that dupe before he reaches the main com –”

“Mentke Five you got two bandits on your six! Fly closer to the big one – it aint firing!”

“I can’t –Sh-zkkrzz… –“

“They’re going for the shuttles! They’re going f –“

The coms cut out with a hiss of static and Dreem stirred on his stool, a chill running through his lekku.

“I can’t do this any longer!” Tapham cried in a hoarse voice as he put the coms back down and pushed to get out of the bed.

“Stay down!” Dreem tried but the pilot didn’t listen. His tanned face flushed with exertion as he gave it all he had but the pain was too much. He fell back down unto the sheets and let out a frustrated sound.

“I can’t just sit here while they’re all dying! I’m a pilot! I have to –“

“Rest and recover so you can fight another time,” Dreem reasoned though he felt just as frustrated as Tapham. Every single fighter was in the battle outside and having been steering the flying box earlier, he knew he wouldn’t be of much use in a fighter right now if there had been more available. Perhaps even less so than Tapham who looked like he’d pass out if he took a step forward with all the bacta patches and bandages on his body.

“Sergeant I have to – I have to!” he groaned through his injuries. “I can’t let them all die again… Not again…”

“Even if you could go out there you’d die in seconds and that isn’t going to help anyone!”

They couldn’t see what was happening from within the medbay on the corvette; the coms had been the only source of news but other patients had switched on their coms and he picked up bits and pieces from either side. It was hard to tell who was winning but it was even harder to tell how this had happened.

Trust me, she heard the Jedi say again and this time it made his heart pound. Unwanted thoughts started to knock on the door to his mind but he refused to open it. He couldn’t take any more right now.

“I’m sorry Sergeant,” Tapham croaked lowly. “Flying is the only thing I’m good at and being here instead of –“

“I know the feeling,” he cut in before Tapham’s grief became too much for Dreem. His eyes already felt moist and it wouldn’t help the young pilot if he broke down too.

“I watched my entire village dragged off in chains without being able to do anything. I know how it feels.”

That brought the pilot’s brown eyes to his and he seemed ashamed all of the sudden.

“They’d told us they were safe in the caves – much like here, they promised us nothing would happen yet…”

He couldn’t stop his hands from tightening up as he thought back.

“Yet someone figured us out. The Empire found them and the few defenders that were there had no chance…”

A loud crash resounded through the hull and the less experienced pilot started to shove himself back up but Dreem continued in a somber voice, calming the boy down.

“I thought my blood was going to boil over… The only thing I wanted to do was rush in there and shoot them all.”

Tapham restrained himself, the next unseen explosion outside barely seeming to upset him as he asked Dreem a question.

“Why didn’t you?”

“Because I would’ve been gunned down too,” he explained through a deep breath. He had known it to be the right thing to do just as Hoss had known on the mining moon when she had stopped him, but that didn’t make it any easier.

“If I stayed alive, at least there was a chance I could find them and set them free.”

A chance that’s getting smaller and smaller every day, he had to admit and as if sensing his distraught, Tapham grabbed his arm and reassured him.

“You’ll find them. I know you will.”

Unable to be smitten with his optimism, he still patted the hand and nodded.

“Thanks.”

Then, he heard the unmistakable windup of hyperdrive engines followed by a shudder of the entire ship. The coms died down all around and he looked about for any sign of how the battle had gone, but all he found were equally curious glances.

“I’m gonna find out what happened,” he told Tapham and rose from the stool, his legs creaking. “I won’t be long.”

A lot of extra patients had been crammed into the medbay and the medics were outnumbered ten to one but somehow they still managed. A group of them were categorizing and settling in those who had arrived by shuttle before the jump to hyperspace and he walked over, eyes peeled for anyone he recognized.

There.

“Jeq’ru!” he called and caught her attention. He knew Hoss had been with her but he couldn’t spot her.

“Where’s Hoss?”

A moment later, he added:

“Where’s Ghoul?”