Stop number two on the Sith World Tour was probably going to be better than Korriban, but Jaina wasn't looking forward to it. And of course, as they got close enough that they could see Dromond Kaas from the Jade Shadow's viewport, an argument broke out again.
"Dad," Ben said, "we took her to Korriban. You know, Sith homeworld? And far from turning on us, she defended us."
"I know," Luke said.
"I mean, those tuk'ata were pretty vicious, and she got them obeying her and leaving us alone."
"I know, Ben, I was there." Okay, maybe it wasn't so much an argument because Luke wasn't giving him another side.
There was a long pause. "And there was a whole pack of them and-"
"Ben," Luke said sharply. Even if he wasn't arguing, he was apparently over listening to this.
"Quit while you’re ahead," Jaina advised.
"Like you do?" Ben shot back.
That might have gone on, except Vestara interrupted by returning to the cockpit after her sanisteam. She looked around at everyone watching her and asked, "Okay, what now?"
"I was considering whether it would be wise to take you with us to Dromund Kaas," Luke said, before anyone (Ben) could say otherwise.
"Oh?" she said. "I thought it was acceptable for me to accompany you. What made you change your mind?"
"I didn’t say I had changed it. I was simply reconsidering," Luke told her, nodding towards the planet. "That’s an extremely dangerous place. And very, very strong with the dark side."
"I fail to see how it’s different from Korriban, or any of the other places on Jaina and Natua’s list." Vestara spoke calmly, but she folded her arms in the fashion of a teenager who was Not Happy.
"There are some interesting historical aspects to this world. Things that perhaps only you and I know, depending on what you’ve learned from Ship," Luke explained. "Such as the fact that this world was a colony of the Sith Empire, but faded into obscurity until after the Great Hyperspace War. It was rediscovered by a Sith armada wandering for two decades. Sound familiar?”
A muscle in Vestara's cheek twitched. So… yes.
"They rebuilt this world. It became the capital of the next Sith Empire. Until that fell. Its next round
of rediscovery came by someone who rejected the Rule of Two, who thought that there was more than enough of the dark side to go around. He founded a religion that would become known as the Dark Force. There’s an ancient temple there still. It was serviced for centuries by the Dark Prophets. It’s so steeped in the dark side that it formed its own nexus- one so powerful it interferes with all weaponry and technology except for lightsabers."
"Well," Vestara drawled, "it's good that everyone here can handle one then, isn't it?"
"I think you see my point."
"That there are similarities between the origins of this culture and my own? Being are beings, Master Skywalker," she said. "The galaxy is old, and there are only so many stories in it."
"And Sith are Sith."
"Meaning that I’ll be irrevocably drawn to this dark-side nexus."
"Master Kyle Katarn succumbed to it," Luke said, and Ben and Jaina both looked at him in shock. They'd never heard this story. "He was brought back to the light side of the Force only by his pupil. Ben’s mother."
"Ironic that a Jedi Master was saved from the dark side by a woman who used to be the Emperor's Hand," Vestara said coolly.
"Mara was never a Sith."
"So what's your solution?" she asked. "Here are your options as I see them. One: kill me. End of problem. Two: leave either Ben or Jaina behind to watch me, reducing your group to two Jedi
instead of three Jedi and me. Three: take me with you. It’s your ship, your mission, and your call. But if you honestly believe I’m going to be tempted to turn on all of you by simply being on a Sith planet after all you’ve seen from me, you should start thinking about Option Number One. Because anything else is going to either hamper you or distract you. And frankly, I’m tired of it."
Okay. Jaina didn't like Vestara, and she was surprised the girl had actually said that, but she kinda had to respect it. It wasn't like she'd never wanted to say that to Luke, to be quite honest.
It was quiet for a moment, till Luke said, "The similarities between the history of Dromund Kaas and the Lost Tribe’s own might make it appealing to them. They might see those commonalities as destiny. Fortunately for us, there are a very few places on this planet with solid ground, so it will narrow our search. Unfortunately, that works both ways- if the Tribe is hiding out here, we’ll be fairly easy to spot. We need to watch one another closely. If Master Katarn could be swayed, then any of us could. Not just Vestara."
"Probably not you, Dad," Ben said.
"Probably not," Luke allowed. "I’ve been there and back. I like it here better. Let’s go, and remember… it’s going to be soggy down there."
*****
"Uncle Luke, you take us to the nicest places," Jaina said as they made their way to the Sith Temple. The terrain on Dromund Kaas was terrible and meant that they had to Force leap to solid spots on the ground, it stunk, it was rife with dark side energy, everyone had a bad feeling about this, and it only got worse the closer they got to their destination.
Luke stood for a moment, seemingly searching the landscape. "Anyone sense anything?"
.
Jaina paused to stretch her senses for a moment, even though doing that on a Sith planet was never exactly pleasant. "Other than the obvious, which is a metric ton of darkside energy, I can’t sense anything."
Vestara shook her head. "I can't feel the presence of anyone familiar here."
"Nope," Ben said.
"All right," Luke said. "Be aware that this world hosts ysalamiri. It’s possible if the Sith are here, they’ve figured that out and will be making use of them to hide themselves.”
"It’s also possible we might fall flat on our faces if we Force-leap near a tree," Ben said.
"That, too."
What they really wanted right now was to have to be especially careful when Force jumping not to get too close to any ysalamiri with their Force-blocking bubbles, sure. It didn't even work so well, and often one of them would misjudge and have to pull themselves out of marsh water. They'd have to clear brush with their lightsabers. Everything was terrible. The Sith were terrible.
"I think I liked Korriban better," Jaina said, pushing her hair out of her face.
"Yeah," Ben agreed. "At least it was a dry heat."
"And it had puppies," said Vestara. "Who doesn't like puppies?"
Luke lifted a hand, silencing hem. "We're about two kilometers away. I'm sure we're all feeling it. It's just going to get more intense. We should be very careful."
They continued on without speaking. And sure enough, that dark, pressing feeling just got worse when they go to the Temple, where Luke stopped them again twenty meters away and drew his lightsaber, but didn't ignite it. "What do you sense?" he asked quietly.
"That nexus," Jaina said immediately.
"Yeah,” Ben said. “And... some Dark Force manifestations, but not close. Not yet, anyway."
"It’s so strong," Vestara said, sounding entranced.
"Vestara," Luke said, sharply enough to get her attention again. "Do you sense any signs of the Sith or Abeloth?"
She shook her head, looking a bit like she was shaking it off. "No. That nexus pretty much drowns out anything else."
"Agreed,” Luke said. “Let’s look for more ordinary clues. Stay in the courtyard, where we can all see one another. If anyone finds anything, comm me. Stay away from the direct entrance to the temple, though. When we go in there, I want us to do so together.”
So they looked around for a while, with Jaina growing increasingly frustrated with this whole mess. And maybe that was part dark side influence, but let's face it, she didn't need dark side influence to get frustrated. She'd much rather just find the Sith and punch them out than to have to keep looking, and to leave here and go to another planet where they both felt terrible and found nothing again. It was almost a relief when everyone commed that they'd come up short and met up again in the courtyard.
"I don't like this," Luke said. "More than half a dozen places searched and no one’s found anything. Nothing at all."
"Well, the galaxy is a fairly large place," Ben said, sounding like he was trying to be reassuring.
"Of course, but we should still be finding something. If nothing else, I'm surprised Abeloth hasn't... taunted us in some way. She needs an audience. This inability to find anything at all, about either her and Ship or the Lost Tribe-" He shook his head. "It’s not adding up. She’s not hiding from us because she’s afraid. She’s hiding because she’s planning something. Combine that with the same inexplicable disappearance of the Lost Tribe… And when Abeloth and the Lost Tribe drop out of sight to plan something- it’s going to be very big, and very bad."
Even Vestara looked unhappy about that, but it was Ben who sighed, "Well, I don't think we're going to find them here."
"I think," came a voice, "you already have."
There were ten Sith Sabers, coming down the steps of the temple with their lightsabers ignited. At their head was someone Jaina had never seen before, but who she'd bet was Gavar Khai. Vestara's dad, and the guy who was in charge of this whole thing. Jaina assumed that Vestara had tipped him off, and lit her own lightsaber just as the others did.
"You're so predictable," Luke said, obviously figuring the same thing Jaina had. "You should try varying treachery with actual trustworthiness on your future infiltration missions."
"I didn’t,” said Vestara, sounding actually maybe a little scared.
"My embarrassingly malleable daughter does not lie," Khai said. "Such promise. And such disappointment. Your mother is dead, Vestara."
Wow, that was cold. It was something that didn't need questioning on whether it was true somehow, and Vestara's shock felt very real.
"What?" she gasped, and asked, "Did- did you kill her?"
"No. But I did not stop her from being killed. I will start fresh. A new wife, a new child. Both are easily replaced." Khai turned to the other Sith. "Take them."
And then he Force-leaped down the stairs and charged at Vestara.
Of course there were nine other Sith to worry about, and frankly Jaina had Vestara at the bottom of her priority list here, so she started with the Sith closest to her. The Sith had the advantage of being able to use all the dark side energy here, but Jaina didn't need it. If she was anything, it was a born fighter, and she knew how to switch off and keep herself totally calm and collected in the middle of a fight like this. She was sort of subconsiciously aware that she was fighting back to back with Luke, but not close enough to get in each other's way, and between the two of them they were a pretty good team. Sith would attack, and only be able to get so far because either Luke or Jaina had dispatched them, and at least once a Sith took out another Sith because he got overconfident and didn't know what he was dealing with here.
She was aware that Ben was doing his own fighting against a couple Sith, and that Vestara was dealing with her own father. But since the Sith were coming at Luke and Jaina harder because they were a bigger threat, there wasn't much they could do to help, even if by the end of the fight it was the two of them surrounded by Sith bodies at their feet.
Jaina looked around and saw that Ben had won his fights, and there was Vestara, standing over the body of Gavar Khai. Better Vestara than him, she supposed.
"You okay?" Luke asked, walking over to them.
"Yeah," Ben nodded. "A burn on the shoulder, but should be all right. You?"
"We'll need the bacta salve, but otherwise fine," Luke said, but he was focused more on Vestara.
The Sith girl was staring at her father's body, and when she looked up she looked shell-shocked. From Jaina's experience the Sith were ruthless enough to do stuff like this all the time, but in this case apparently it was taking a major toll. "I- I had to kill him," Vestara managed. "I had to kill my father…"
It looked like no one really knew what to say, and it wasn't hard to imagine how she must be feeling right now. And Jaina did something she very rarely did, for someone she didn't like. "I had to kill my brother," she said, and Vestara looked up at her, trying not to cry. "I knew it was the right thing to do. I did it to save my own life and the lives of many others. I still miss him. You'll miss your father, too."
"I... I had no choice," Vestara said.
"No, you didn't. Other than to be cut down yourself," Jaina said. "It was the right thing for you to do, too. But you’ll still miss him… and wish there had been some other way."
Vestara nodded, but she looked grateful, and Jaina's words seemed to help. She took a deep breath, calming herself.
"There were only ten," Luke said. "They figured out where we were going somehow."
"I didn't-" Vestara began.
"I don't think you did," he said, and Jaina thought she detected a note of apology there, since he clearly hadn't thought that at the beginning. "They probably assumed we’d do exactly what we have been doing- investigating planets traditionally associated with Sith history. Khai probably chose this place because of the nexus. They could send a smaller team and still be stronger."
"Or so they thought," Jaina said. She was getting some very real experience in Sith-killing.
"That means their main flotilla is somewhere else."
"They're with Abeloth," Vestara said, like the words just came out. "I sensed it in my father. He- he questioned my loyalties, so I questioned his. And I was right. He no longer identifies with the Lost Tribe. He’s with Abeloth now- and I bet the rest of the flotilla is, too."
"You’re sure?" Luke pressed.
She nodded. “I think… she was doing something to him. His mind- he wasn’t the way he used to be. I think that’s why I was able to win against him at all- because he wasn’t as focused. He was so proud of being Sith, so proud of what the Lost Tribe had accomplished. Now he’s- he was- blindly following Abeloth. And if my father succumbed, then I am certain the others did." She looked away again, swallowing hard. “He was a strong man."
"So now the Sith have gone from wanting to capture Abeloth to wanting to serve her," Ben said slowly. "And we still have no clue where to start looking for her. Or them."
"The trail’s gone cold,” Luke said. “I think our best bet, for now, is to regroup and head back to Coruscant. We’ll talk to the historians, share with them everything we’ve learned. Maybe we’ve overlooked something."
Ben smiled. "It'll be nice to get back. Kinda tired of attending the Mobile Chapter of the Academy."
[NFB, NFI, OOC okay! From Ascension by Christie Golden, with some stupidity removed!]