Private Finding a Padawan

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Arrived in: Breeze Class Shuttle

Planet: Vaklin

Wearing: Enclave's Guardian

Armed With: Nathan's Jedi Lightsaber


Objective: Find Ben Khal


One of the most frustrating things about maintaining his cover as a simple Jedi was the need to use simple equipment. He could only afford to use his most powerful gear in moments where there was so much chaos no one would notice. He had slightly improved gear since being knighted, stuff no one would blink twice at, but it was actually a challenge to resist taking something totally game breaking.

Vaklin was a world that had once given its children to the Jedi. Devastating oppression by the Galactic Empire had put an end to that. The scars of Darth Vader's cruelty were generational, no easily forgotten.

The High Republic was looking to change that. Plenty of Force User's were still being born here.

However, he was here to find one particular one. A Padawan named Ben Khal. Hapan. He had been trying to help another Jedi track down a missing convoy carrying ore. The older Jedi had turned up a weak later at the edge of an old mining down with his head missing via decapitation from a lightsaber.

Stupid. The Dark Jedi were especially stupid and arrogant when they pulled chit like that. Nathan had volunteered to rescue Ben if he was still alive, but it felt like there was more too it. Like the Force was tugging him to Ben.

He didn't know the guy. But it was his duty to stop him.

Nathan stepped off the shuttle in dark blue Jakku Enclave gear, poncho included.

He had his recently constructed Jedi Lightsaber with him, silver with a thick grip, deliberately crafted in a simple manner, nowhere near as complex as his other work to make sure any Jedi that saw it dismissed him as low tier. It was built innocuous, trying to avoid attention, anything that might have hinted that he was more than some recently knighted nobody.

Nathan was searching for him solo. He decided to head out into the desert in the north, where a lot of rocky spires were. That had been Ben's last known location before vanishing with the now murdered Knight that had accompanied him.

He felt ambiguous at being knighted. He had not actually sought Knighthood, merely to do what he needed to do as long as possible without drawing their attention. The original plan had been to simply slip out once the Cult was gone. Disappear. This time for good. No more wars. No more lightsabers.

But having a family... finding...hope...had changed him. He didn't know how to feel about that. The few times he acted genuinely human was around his family and colleagues. To all else, he was an unreadable monolith.

Nathan walked at a steady pace, opening himself to the Force to find Ben...

 

[Ben Khal]

Ben awoke stiff and sore. His wrists were chafed raw from rubbing against crude metal bindings. Pain throbbed through his arms and shot up into his shoulders and neck, the result of having been trapped in an awkward position while he slept sitting up against the hard duracrete wall. His head felt ten times its size, one eye swollen almost completely shut. He was cut off from the Force, his connection blocked by some unseen anathema.

In the opposite corner of his cell, the severed head of Lorn Vanda lay rotting, the stench of decay permeating the fetid air of the prison. Shadows prevented Ben from glimpsing more than the outline of his Wroonian companion's features, but he could see tiny shapes moving in the darkness. Insects and rodents crawled across the dead Knight's face, taking what they wanted.

Footsteps echoed down the hall. A figure appeared before his cell, staring at him through the red glow of the ray shield barrier. One of his Sith captors, a female Twi'lek covered in tattoos to the point where her purple skin was barely visible under all the ink. Her lips pulled back in what may have been a grin or a snarl.

“Good morning.”

Her voice was like nails dissolving in acid. Ben didn't respond, keeping his good eye fixed on her. He knew all about Sith conversion techniques. They would torture and kill the master to get to the apprentice―

"He wasn't your master, was he?" the Sith asked, holding his gaze with sulfuric eyes.

She was right. Ben had only just met Vanda a few days ago. They were assigned to each other for what was supposed to be a simple, routine mission. Maybe Vanda would have become his master afterward, but that... wasn't a possibility anymore.

"You don't care about him."

He did care. It was difficult, having to watch the Knight suffer and die and then having to sit in the cell with his decomposing head. But Ben wouldn't weep or rage over him. There was no deeper connection between them beyond empathy for a fellow sentient being, a Jedi comrade.

"He meant nothing to you."

They couldn't use Vanda's death to corrupt him. Ben shifted his position, trying to relieve some of the tension in his arms and back. She licked her lips as she watched him squirm. Perhaps she mistook his physical discomfort for mental turmoil.

"Are you here to interrogate me?" he asked, speaking for the first time. His voice was hoarse, but his tone was even and strong. Steadfast. "I don't see the point in this line of questioning. You already know the answers."

She laughed. "Am I annoying you, Padawan?" Her smile disappeared as quickly as it appeared, replaced by a scowl. "You may think you're untouchable. But no one is. Everyone has a breaking point. I'm going to find yours."

Nathan Bloodscrawl​

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Nathan walked the desert, going where the Force whispered to him, keeping his Force Presence hidden as he moved through the desert as he spotted a cliff side city that appeared to be abandoned.

The infamous Howling Ruins of Vaklin. Of course. No one went there. Perfect hiding place.

Nathan was very cautious, sticking to the profile of surrounding boulders and ancient wrecks to frustrate the attempts of any spotters there to detect him with range finders as he crawled on the ground to reduce his visual profile as much as possible as he crawled between giant rocks and through large natural dips in the terrain. He classed himself as a Guardian but he leaned too much into the mindset of a soldier to be a traditional one. Guardians face their enemies boldly. Nathan was an opportunist. A pragmatist.

He did whatever it took to come home to his family save using the Dark Side.

His instincts about keeping low and moving slowly were justified as he spotted a dead body in full body armor and helmet, a hole blasted through the helmet visor, lying between the rocks.

Sniper Fire.

Nathan crawled close to the body, which was half covered in sand. He looked like a local scout, armed with a scoped and suppressed GSS-11.

Nathan snatched the half buried rifle and inspected it. It appeared to be in still working condition. But he knew he could not use it. Not yet. Any death detected, even stun, would send ripples through the Force that a Sith would sense. They might not sense an incapacitation as much as they would sense a death but they would sense it. He couldn't afford to alert them. If Ben Khal was alive they would almost certainly try to take him hostage to force Nathan's surrender. That couldn't be permitted to happen under any circumstances.

The only hope Ben had was Nathan not being detected before he reached him.

Nathan tried to work out the approach to the ruins, the most careful, least dangerous way that wouldn't expose him to the sniper that was surely watching out here.

That was when the Force decided to cut him a break.

He noticed an intense sandstorm approaching. It would cover the ruins in minutes. It would cover the whole area.

As soon as it did, he made his move, his poncho the same color as the landscape, camouflaging his movements. The winds buffeted him, the sand fierce, but he was unyielding.

He would reach Ben and know his fate.

Nathan was soon coming onto a mountain path leading to the ruins themselves. He spotted a mercenary guarding the path and slipped by him in the noise of the storm. He had to keep going.

It was a large place to search. The storm swept through all the ruins and he could barely see ahead of him. Even his cyber eyes couldn't see through all that debris.

If I were an arrogant, self absorbed Sith Lord keeping a Jedi prisoner...where would I be? Nathan wondered in his head.

Nathan headed inside a building, keeping to the shadows to avoid detection. He saw signs of habitation, a place being turned into a facility to train Force Users. The Sith in charge here was ambitious. Naturally, he wouldn't allow it.

He stuck to the shadows, watched a pair of mercenaries chatting. One of them held a strange rifle.

"Hey, what is that?" The merc armed with a shotgun asked the one with the exotic weapon.

"Oh, this? It's called a Psychic Delirium Lance. Mind control gun. Boss wants me to start testing it on the Padawans we got in the lower pens." The merc with the lance answered.

"What about the Hapan Pretty Boy that got nabbed?" the other Merc wondered.

"The Boss is seeing to that herself." The Lance armed Merc responded. "Almost feel bad for him. By the time she's done, he'll probably wish he was rather dealing with this gun..."

"Nonsense. He's a stinking Jedi. They all deserve it for getting in the way of guys like you and me..." The other Merc scoffed. "Don't get soft now..."

The other Merc walked away to another section.

Nathan followed the one armed with the lance as he proceeded to what appeared to be an empty barracks section.

Nathan snuck up on him from behind and jammed the unactivated lightsaber against his neck.

"The Lance..." Nathan hissed. "Drop it."

"You won't kill me, Jedi. I am unable to defend myself. It's against your code." The Merc replied confidently.

"Are you willing to bet your life on that?" Nathan asked.

The Merc thought about it a moment and dropped the lance.

Nathan picked it up.

"Y'know, I went up against one of these things...you ever been shot by one?" Nathan asked.

The Merc didn't answer as Nathan set it to control...

"I didn't think so." Nathan replied. "There was a guy on Epica who used these for all sorts of horrible crimes. The control setting in particular. Things he did to innocent people with it were so awful I recommended the Death Penalty after I caught him. They gave it to him. Epica now treats these things like they treat Disruptors. Automatic Death Penalty. Carried out on discovery."

Nathan pointed it at the now nervous Merc, eyes narrowed.

"We ain't on Epica..." Nathan growled.

The Merc looked in Nathan's eyes and knew he would shoot him if he didn't cooperate.

"Wait! Don't shoot me, Jedi! I've seen what those things do!" The Merc pleaded. "I'll tell you whatever you want to know!"

"Where is Padawan Khal?" Nathan demanded.

"Tower at the Northwest from here!" The Merc answered. "Turbolift to it is locked! But there are a long flight of steps next to it that lead to the top. You can reach it going through the generator room."

"How many of you? How many Sith?"

"There's a hundred of us. But the Boss is the only Sith here." The Merc answered.

"And the other Padawans?" Nathan demanded.

"We keep them in Universal Force Cages in a section below us. We've been starving them for about a week now, giving them just enough water to stay alive."

"And you call yourself human..." Nathan sneered. "Move ahead...now..."

The Merc moved ahead and Nathan took some duct tape from a nearby tool box and completely wrapped him in it, leaving only his nose exposed so he could breathe before dragging the now restrained Merc to an open tool closet.

"If you've lied about anything, anything..." Nathan hissed into the Merc's ear. "I'm gonna come back for you after I've dealt with your friends. I will survive. And when I come back...you'll wish I'd shot you with the damn Lance. Don't make a sound..."

Nathan tossed him in there, damaging the magnetic lock on the door by slicing the keypad that controlled it and overloading the circuits so it wouldn't open.

Nathan then crushed the barrel of the lance with his cybernetic arm, leaving the damaged weapon under the bed as he headed to the tower, looking for the generator room...

 

[Ben Khal]

The Twi'lek waved her hand, and Ben's connection to the Force was abruptly restored. It was like being doused in ice water, his senses aroused and his awareness of his surroundings expanding. But just as quickly as it returned to him, the connection was filled with the seething malice of the Sith in front of him.

Having endured beatings and starvation for a week, he was too raw and feeble to fight back. She overpowered him in moments, storming her way into his mind. Torture by chagrin. The conjuration of a person's worst memories to torment them. He knew what she was doing, could sense her intentions, but he couldn't stop her...

Hapes. The stench of burning flesh mixed with the smell of ozone as rain turned the battlefield to mud. Ben was fighting another Jedi. A comrade.

He had made his choice. Home over the Order. The Consortium over the Alliance. He didn't believe the reports of the Queen Mother killing innocents. They were rebels in civilian clothes. They had to be.

"You lied to yourself in the moment," the Sith hissed. "But you never truly believed your own excuses. You didn't care about those 'innocents'."

But he was just a child then. A boy. He believed what he had been taught to believe, followed those he had been trained to obey...

"A Hapan boy lives to please his women. You love what they love and hate what they hate. It's easy to be an obedient pup, isn't it? You don't have to think for yourself."

Ben struggled to lift his head. His skin shone with sweat, droplets trickling from his chin. His blue eyes were unfocused. It was like being held underwater, forced to drown in the current of his past.

"Your countrymen betrayed you, but I won't," the Sith muttered. "Why do you resist your nature? You're a dog. Wouldn't it be good to lay at your mistress' feet, walk by her side, obey her every command?"

"I may be... a dog," Ben rasped, fighting to get the words out as the pressure on his brain increased. "But I won't be your dog... no matter how hard... you... kick."

Enraged, the Sith dug deeper, pressing further into his mind... Only to suddenly stop. Ben slumped forward, gasping for breath. He licked his dry, cracked lips, tasting blood.

The Sith didn't offer any explanation for the sudden end of the torture. She swept out of the room in a hurry. Before the doors could slide shut behind her, Ben felt the Force rip away from him once more. He was alone again.

Nathan Bloodscrawl​

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Nathan, still hiding his presence, had managed to reach the large generator room. It was a nice sized power plant, good enough to apply power to anywhere in the Howling Ruins and then some.

That was why Nathan was sabotaging it. It wasn't just Ben Khal he needed to rescue, it was those other Padawans down below.

So that was why he was sabotaging the generator. Subtle methods used with a blow torch and a hydrospanner. A quick effort, but done in a way that would utterly wreck the generator without needing explosives.

It would take a few minutes, about seven, for the cascade failure to build. He had disabled the warning sensors that would have alerted staff.

In the meantime he decided to slice a nearby security terminal. Expertly getting past its firewalls he found the whole dungeon where the starved Padawans were being held. He also spotted the feed where Ben was being held.

He got an idea.

Much like the Force Choke, his teleportation worked by line of sight.

His eyes widened as he saw what was taking place in the dungeon. A figure that looked like Moya Virtu but somewhat younger was cutting down the guards in that dungeon with a spear he had seen before, during the plague, shutting down the fields

His mouth fell open slightly.

It was Moya De Lifte, AKA Darth Themis .

The part of his wife that was Arianna had told him on the first night she had fused with Vera what and who Themis was. He...had not had a good reaction to it. But he was dealing with so much chit at the time he had been forced to put it out of his head.

Now, seeing her...it all came roaring back.

As power cut through the facility And the Force cages lost their power, Nathan held out his hand towards the screen where the starved Padawans in the dungeon were (For he could see all of them) and closed his eyes. He couldn't worry about Themis right now. The lives of the Padawans came first.

He focused, and as the force cages failed, the Padawans were all teleported to Ben's area, followed shortly by Nathan himself, appearing in front of Ben just as the power failed completely around the facility.

Nathan didn't waste a second, using telekinesis to collapse the Exit the female Sith had left out of a second earlier. He would make another exit.

Nathan's white blade activated.

"Padawan Khal. My name is Nathan Bloodscrawl. I'm a Jedi Knight and I'm here to rescue you." Nathan said. "Can you walk?"

 

[Ben Khal]

Minutes after the Sith left, the power cut out, plunging the cell block into sudden darkness. With it the Force came roaring back with a vengeance. Ben didn't dare let it slip from his grasp. He called upon the cosmic energies around him. The pain of his injuries began to fade, and he felt life in his stiff, injured limbs. He strained against his bindings, and with a surge of strength he shattered the stuncuffs manacling his wrists.

The broken pieces had yet to hit the floor when Ben was suddenly surrounded by presences. He spun on his knees, ready to defend himself, but was instead astonished to find these were not Sith, but Jedi Padawans like himself, starved and weakened. How had they gotten there?

"Padawan Khal."

His head jerked upward at the sound of his name. There was a man standing over him. Older and somewhat grizzled, he sported a five o'clock shadow, but otherwise appeared healthy. He wasn't one of the prisoners, then.

"Who are you?" Ben asked.

"My name is Nathan Bloodscrawl. I'm a Jedi Knight and I'm here to rescue you. Can you walk?"

"I... Yes." Ben clambered to his feet. His stance gradually improved as he continued to draw power from the Force, though he sported a slight limp, favoring his left leg. He was still a lot better off than some of the other prisoners, whose legs had been broken during torture. Ben stood tall before Nathan, fists clenched at his sides. "Let's get out of here."

Nathan Bloodscrawl​

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Nathan did a headcount of everyone he had rescued. He would have stayed to engage the Sith, but he had too many lives to worry about and they were ultimately more important to Nathan than some grudge match with a Sith.

He had an idea. The space port he had arrived at was much too far but that didn't mean another location wasn't.

A Force Wave from him blasted away and entire section of wall in front of him and he took out the scoped rifle he had acquired earlier, spying a hill about three kilometers off and seeing the remains of a mining facility. He honed in on the entrance, focusing on the life force of everyone he was rescuing, and closed his eyes, focusing on the spot he had seen through his scope.

Everyone vanished from the chamber, reappearing kilometers away...right in front of a mine entrance with a nearby smelting facility about two stories tall...

"Khal, these Padawans can't stay out here exposed for long. I've got to get them inside soon, Maybe find if there's a comm system working here...The Military will need to hear of this..." Nathan said, taking out a ration pack from beneath his poncho, tossing it to Ben Khal

"Bottle of water and a few ration bars. It's all I can spare right now..." Nathan said. "I gotta make sure this place is safe enough to inhabit. Divide that pack up as best you can. I'll be back as soon as possible..." he said, heading inside...

 

[Ben Khal]

Ben felt a wave of power emanate from Nathan like waves rippling outward in an ocean. The walls of the prison were knocked down by the blast and sunlight flooded in. Ben's eyes barely had a chance to adjust to the sudden brightness before he, Nathan, and the other prisoners were transported away, arriving in front of the cavernous entrance to a mine.

He really needed to ask Nathan how to do that. It was quite the useful ability.

Nathan handed him a ration bar. Ben tore into the packaging, but only managed to stomach a few bites. Any more and he might risk refeeding syndrome. “Did you not bring a comlink?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. It seemed a pretty severe oversight on what was supposed to be a rescue mission. Regardless of Nathan’s response, he began divvying up the remaining rations while the older Jedi headed inside the mine.

Not long after Nathan left, Ben sensed imminent danger. He turned his gaze toward the horizon, where the faint outline of silhouettes could be seen approaching. Most were standard soldiers in armor, but one of them was a female Twi’lek. The Sith were coming.

“What are we going to do?” whispered one of the other prisoners, a female Rodian. “We’re too weak to fight back.”

“That Knight left us for dead,” another intoned.

Ben said nothing. He could see why the Sith had decided to keep these Padawans alive rather than simply killing them. They were all younger than him, immature and malleable. Perfect candidates for the Sith to break and remake. They needed someone to look up to, a leader who could take charge.

He took a step forward, placing himself between them and their enemy pursuers. It had been two years since he took the Barash, and he had only recently resumed his training, but exile had not dulled his innate talent. He tapped into the wellspring of power within himself, preparing to fight with all that he had left. It might kill him, but if it saved the lives of the others, he would consider the sacrifice well worthwhile.

The Twi'lek Sith and her battalion continued to draw closer, cresting the hilltop...

Nathan Bloodscrawl​

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

"Something is jamming my comlink. I'm not sure what. Figured it was something the Sith had..." Nathan called back as he inspected the ground floor. Not a lot of entrances. Could be fortified in an emergency. No severe structural breakdown beyond a bit of rust. Machines had all broken down--

A sense of danger flooded his way and he immediately raced outside.

The Sith and her minions approached.

And Ben Khal was standing up, about to fight with everything he had left.

The others were too weak to fight. He thought he would have more time. He spotted the Sith approaching the hill top.

Persistent little feth, aren't you? he thought to himself as he teleported the rest of the injured and starving inside.

"Don't move, and don't touch anything..." he instructed, grouping them all together in the barest space on the ground floor where they would be away from the broken down machinery.

He then whispered a spell his adoptive Mother taught him and momentarily shielded the whole building invisibly with the light side of the Force. The building would prevent entry to anyone except light side users and the building itself would be difficult to affect with the Dark Side or the Force in general.

Then he teleported next to Ben.

"This Sith is awfully persistent, I'll give her that... let's take away her minions..."

Nathan's hand stretched into the sky...

Heavy green bolts of electric judgement rained down from a gathered cloud at Non lethal strength, multiple bolts striking the soldiers, some being sent flying a few meters, but otherwise left unconscious. But he deliberately left the Sith unstruck as the other soldiers that remained advanced, but a ton more hesitant.

Nathan's white blade was activated as he waited for the Sith...

 

[Ben Khal]

Ben was prepared to die, giving his life in exchange for those of his comrades. He would have destroyed himself to ensure that this Sith never hurt anyone again. As he stood facing the Twi'lek, he braced himself, as ready as he could be for the ultimate sacrifice...

He blinked, and suddenly they were inside the mine shaft. It was Nathan's doing, of course. He must have teleported them all in here. Ben turned toward the Knight and was dumbstruck to find him casting a protection spell over the cave, barring the Dark Siders from entering. A powerful one, too. Even after multiple uses of teleportation, the old man still had enough left in the tank for that? He must be far more powerful than he looks, Ben noted, his respect for Nathan growing.

But they weren't out of the woods yet. The Sith were still on their way, hungry for blood. As soon as the spell was complete, Nathan once again teleported outside - and he brought Ben with him.

"This Sith is awfully persistent, I'll give her that... let's take away her minions..."

"She's a Sith missionary," Ben muttered. "It's her job to be persistent."

Nathan summoned a storm of green lightning. The Sith troops were struck by the bolts, either killing them instantly or rendering them too wounded to fight. Once again Ben was awed by Nathan's incredible power. "Don't you ever get tired?" he asked.

As the smoke cleared, only the Twi'lek remained standing. She snarled with rage, lightsaber ignited, the scarlet blade growling at her side. With her free hand she made a fist, calling down a lightning strike of her own. Ben raised his hands, barely managing to deflect the tendrils of electricity away from himself. "I can't... hold it!" he exclaimed, straining against the onslaught.

Nathan Bloodscrawl​

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

"Oh, sometimes I do, Padawan Khal. But I've been getting less and less tired as time goes on...and teleporting is one of my less draining abilities..." Nathan answered Ben Khal as the soldiers fell.

When the Sith arrived, she wasted no time. Nathan didn't bother calling for surrender. He was in no mood, and after seeing the state of the Padawans, he knew there was no point in offering this vermin that pursued them any mercy.

When she called down her own lightning, Nathan observed Ben impressively hold it back before concentrating, holding the white blade up and diverting ninety percent of the incoming current from the sky away from Ben, the lightning swirling around his white saber. It was a creative application of Tutaminus. As Caltin Vanagor had once advised. He was having a...conversation with the energy.

In this case, he was converting all that electricity into the energy of the Green Lightning he had summoned and sent it hurling at her off his saber beam as a giant globule of crackling green energy, strong enough to potentially obliterate her on the spot...

He didn't smile as he did this. When it came to Sith, there were no games. Very rarely was there even speaking, and when there was it was solely for the purposes of unsettling them mentally. Nathan had nothing against Dun Moch if it was employed at correct moments.

This was not one of them. This was about removing a dangerous threat as quickly as possible. He would not allow her to get near those Padawans...

 

[Ben Khal]

"Oh, sometimes I do, Padawan Khal. But I've been getting less and less tired as time goes on...and teleporting is one of my less draining abilities..."

Oh. Well, that was a relief.

Nathan defended himself from the Sith's barrage of lightning by diverting the lightning with his blade. Ben recognized the technique not only as Tutaminis, but the very same method Master Vanagor had taught the Padawans. If Ben had any lingering suspicions about their rescuer, they vanished in that moment. Nathan was one of their own kind, a Jedi through and through.

The current changed. No longer just deflecting the energy, Nathan began to convert it into more of the green lightning he had used earlier. The Sith conjured up a shield just in time as the globule of collected energy slammed into her, obliterating the barrier. She emerged unharmed, but clearly stunned by the force of the blast.

Ben read the signs in her face; she knew she was outmatched. Before she could retreat, the Padawan tried to stop her with telekinesis. It was an act of desperation. He couldn't allow her to escape and claim more victims, doing to them what she had already tried to do to him and the other Padawans. But he also knew he couldn't face her fury on his own. He was counting on Nathan to use the distraction to his advantage...

Nathan Bloodscrawl​

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Nathan noted how impressive the control Ben Khal exhibited was as he froze the Sith in place.

Nathan reached out and held her in place with telekinesis, slowly pulling the Sith towards and forcing the shocked Sith's arms into the air as he rotated her to face them. She genuinely struggled to free herself, surprised at the fact Ben had been able to stop her after all she had put him through. But she had become terrified of Nathan, who didn't even seem winded by the exertion.

The funny thing was, Nathan was so low level that she didn't know who the hell he was supposed to be. How had someone so obviously powerful not gotten on the Sith's radar?

Nathan sort of answered her query by pulling out his rifle, which was still set to stun and shooting her four times until he was certain she was out cold, taking her lightsaber and confiscating it.

Then he ripped off panels from a nearby ore drilling vehicle, carefully wrapping the captured Sith in it, the metal screeching as it bent around her. This wasn't unheard of for Nathan. He sometimes took one of them alive. There was a greater chance of this happening if it wasn't a true battlefield. Besides, he needed to know if there were any other operations like hers on this planet

He set her down, keeping the rifle trained on her head, this time set to kill. When she woke, she would know beyond a shadow of a doubt she was no longer in control of the situation, and that she would be shot dead if she decided to try and take control back. A band of metal wrapped and sealed itself around her mouth. He kept the barrel pressed to her face. Anyone left following her that hadn't been taken down by the sky strikes was already in full retreat as he telekinetically lifted her up and carried her to the ore smelter facility.

"You did good, Khal. Nice job holding her in place. Takes guts to keep going after getting put in the grinder." Nathan assured him, knowing he needed words of encouragement as much as medical treatment as he carried the unconscious Sith with his mind into the facility built into one of the mine entrances where the other, far more injured Padawans were. It was important they see their tormentor defeated and helpless, if for no other reason than a sense of psychological closure.

He turned to Ben.

"I know you've been through a lot but I need you to go looking for anything in this place that resembles a long range transmitter. I'll keep my rifle on this fiend..." He said to Khal, keeping the barrel of his rifle firmly against her face...

 

[Ben Khal]

Nathan took the hint and seized control of the Sith. Ben fell to his knees, gasping for breath. He was so exhausted by the whole ordeal, he could barely keep his eyes open...

Breathe. Give it all to the Force, and be free.

Slowly, he got his wind back. While Nathan stunned and bound the Sith, the Padawan clambered to his feet, rejuvenated. He still needed a long rest, but for the time being he would survive without.

The Hapan studied the metal cage Nathan had devised to hold the Sith captive, tearing his gaze away only when the Knight gave him orders.

"I know you've been through a lot but I need you to go looking for anything in this place that resembles a long range transmitter. I'll keep my rifle on this fiend..."

Ben nodded. He didn't react to Nathan's praise of his bravery. It was simply what was expected of him.

Turning, he headed into the mine shaft. A few minutes later he returned, clutching something in his hand. It was a hiridiu crystal. "How about this?" he asked, holding the gem out to Nathan. How did Ben know what it was? Well, he certainly wasn't a communications geek. But gemstones and crystals were something of an obsession among Hapans, and the boy was no different.

Nathan Bloodscrawl​

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Nathan kept the rifle pointed at her face, ready to shoot her if she so much as twitched when she finally woke up while Ben Khal went searching. After ten minutes, he returned with a communication crystal.

"So that's what they were mining..." He trailed. "Well done.

Telekinesis lifted his comlink from his belt, disassembling it in mid air, its wires and circuitry grafting to the crystal and fusing it with its power source, before refitting the control panel.

It broke through whatever was jamming the comlink.

He immediately contacted the local High Republic military as to the situation as well as the local authorities, requesting a Universal Energy Cage. He also contacted the B1 Pilot Droid stored on his vessel because that would reach them the quickest first. It had medical supplies and food reserves.

Either way he didn't take his rifle away from the unconscious Sith 's face. No chances would be taken in the slightest where she was concerned.

The gleaming shuttle was soon sighted over the horizon and set down in an open patch close to the facility.

The B1 Pilot Droid with blue markings stepped off the shuttle and headed to the facility entrance.

"Howdy, Boss! Got here as soon as I could!" The Pilot Droid said, bringing the medical supplies and food he had been asked to bring into the shaft. It had the High Republic Sigil stamped into its chassis.

The med pac opened of its own accord, items like bacta spray and bacta patches, anti septic and more ration bars floated in air. The injured Padawans began to realize that Nathan was so powerful it was genuinely scary. He hadn't even looked at the droid, nor made any of the typical hand gestures. They just hovered in air, still as a statue.

"Whoa." The Droid said a disturbingly Keanu Reeves-like manner.

"I got my hands occupied keeping this Sith captive, Padawan. Treat what injuries you can. When the authorities arrive they'll handle the rest. And then we'll prosecute this witch good and proper..." he vowed quietly.

"Sorry I couldn't get here sooner..."

 

[Ben Khal]

Nathan gave Ben further orders to offer the Padawans medical treatment. But once it became apparent that they were safe, the boy started fading fast. He managed to check over the prisoners, sending the most injured ones into the care of a medical droid. Only after the others were safely aboard the shuttle did Ben follow them; at the top of the ramp, his legs buckled. The others were already in their seats or having their wounds tended to. With some effort Ben picked himself up then collapsed into the nearest chair. He fumbled with the crash webbing, barely managing to buckle himself in.

"Let's get out of here," he mumbled, letting his head fall back against the padded headrest. The events of the past few weeks were finally catching up to him. The strength and vigor he had borrowed from the Force left him, no longer bound by his will. His eyelids grew heavy, and he was soon unconscious, able to sleep soundly for the first time in days.

Nathan Bloodscrawl​

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Days later.

Ben Khal , as it turned out, would need to be placed in a temporary medical coma for what he had gone through after being brought back to Naboo. All the Padawans had been rescued and would soon be on the road to recovery, intravenously fed nutrients in a Bacta Tank. The Sith had been taken for questioning and imprisonment.

Nathan was outside the Breeze Class Shuttle enjoying a glass of hot tea when he felt her approach. He stood up, set aside his teacup and pulled out his lightsaber. He was wearing his black and blue Dooku-Pattern Armor

Darth Themis approached in her old Gulag Era body armor .

"It's been a long time, Morris. It's good to see you..." Themis said pleasantly.

"It was all a lie. Everything..." Nathan said. "You were never a Jedi."

Themis sighed.

"Well...yes...and no..." She began. "I swear on whatever counts as my personal honor, I never gave you any of my Sith teachings, Morris."

"It's Nathan..." he corrected. "Morris Crownwraithe is dead. He died with his family."

"And I am truly sorry. For everything." Themis replied.

"You could never be sorry enough for how Julia turned out..." he snapped.

"I won't contest you. I thought I could guide Julia in the way I never could with you. I...miscalculated..." Themis admitted. "Julia's trauma from growing up...and her abhorrent attraction to The Amalgam...proved too great for me to overcome.

Nathan clipped his hilt back to his belt.

"Because I would not have met Lysandra if not for you, I will stay my hand, this time, and give you the opportunity to flee my presence and never return." He said.

Themis stepped closer.

"Considering everything you are doing under the Jedi Order's nose, you are hardly in a position to dictate terms, my former student. My eyes still see much..." she trailed, circling him.

"I see the actions you take behind the Jedi Order's back. I see the threads you weave across the Galaxy, your shadow reaching that of even the Chancellor himself...I see The Alliance giving up The Hapes Cluster out of sheer exhaustion and laziness, showing only weakness when they should be putting their foot down."

She leaned into his ear with a silken whisper.

"I see you being eventually marginalized and shouted down when you finally make your case for more aggression when Coruscant falls to the Sith...and Coruscant will fall to the Sith, Nathan. I have foreseen it... despite all you are trying to do, your words will be treated as the words of a traitor--"

Nathan seized her by the neck and lifted her off the ground.

"I've had enough of your prophecies, Moya. Enough for one lifetime." he snapped.

"You won't kill me..." Themis said calmly. "Because you know, deep down, in spite of how I failed you and your daughter, that I am not your enemy. And you only ever kill enemies."

Nathan's fingers twitched around her throat, but didn't tighten.

"I did miss you..." she said quietly, struggling to breathe. "You've become more powerful than you were even in the plague. I dare say it...you might well be more powerful than I ever thought you would be."

Nathan's response was to toss her to the ground.

"You'll need my help..." she said, rubbing her throat.

"Like you helped Julia?" He asked bitterly.

"No one could reach Julia. No matter how hard we tried. Winning was all that mattered to her. That isn't all that matters to you. Look at what you've accomplished. Your strategy, your infiltration into the heart of Alliance political power was a master class." Themis whispered. "And you can grow so much more powerful still..."

Themis bowed. "I humbly offer the assistance of the Light Sith, the Serpents of Ashla, and extend an invitation to you to Ankhanos, our Holy World."

"I'm not one of you and never will be...you lied to me..." Nathan said in an oddly soft voice for him, face betraying for an instant just how shattered by heartbreak he actually was over this before he armored up once more.

"Nathan..." Themis said "You don't have to be one of us. I'm not trying to make you one of us. That was my mistake with Julia. I ask only for an audience to make my case. Soon you will have enemies on all sides. Almost more than you can handle. I offer only to take the pressure off."

She produced in her hand a gold plated Sith Wayfinder that pulsed strangely with the light side.

She placed it on the ground between them.

"I eagerly await you." she said, departing.

Nathan hesitated. Then he picked it up and put it in his ship in a canister made of nullification resin, not trusting it before he grabbed a speeder bike of the ship and headed to the Naboo temple.

Nathan was greatly troubled, his face an expression of misery as he road to the temple...

One hour later...


Ben would awaken in a hospital bed in the healer section. He would see Nathan staring out of a bright, sunny window. There was a large cup of gourmet Hot Chocolate with a cap over it, still steaming hot.

"I see you're awake..." Nathan said calmly. "Got you something while I was out. Hope you don't mind. I figure you might like something nice to wake up to after the past few days. I'd have brought food but I wasn't sure how good your stomach would be. The other Padawans are still undergoing Bacta Tank treatment. They will make a full recovery."

He turned to face Ben.

"We recovered your master's remains. His Jedi Funeral is due tonight. My condolences."

 

[Ben Khal]

The next time Ben opened his eyes, he was laying in a hospital bed. Daylight streamed gently through a nearby window, where the hunched figure of Nathan sat in silence. Ben reached out with the Force, trying to get his bearings, and grew slightly anxious upon realizing he didn't recognize the feel of the planet he was on.

"Where am I?" he asked, voice dry and raspy.

He smelled the hot chocolate before he saw it. Sitting up, he tentatively reached a hand out, wrapping his fingers around the cup. The heat felt good against his palm, soothing and grounding him. Slowly he brought the mug to his lips and drank. The liquid was the perfect temperature and consistency, spreading smooth warmth through his parched throat.

"How long have I been asleep?"

Nathan Bloodscrawl​

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

"You're on Naboo, in the Jedi Temple. You've been out a week..." Nathan said to him, expression softening.

"I'm sorry about your master. He didn't deserve that. And neither did you." Nathan said stepping closer. "The Sith who hurt you and the others has been imprisoned and is being interrogated as we speak."

"You've been through the ringer, Padawan Khal. After the funeral...what do you plan on doing?" he asked.

"I operate in both Alliance and High Republic Space, so I can drop you off in an Enclave in the GA if you like...or..."

Nathan paused, thinking of the words before shrugging.

"There is an alternative, if you're curious enough to hear it... though I'm not sure how you'll react to the suggestion." he confessed to Ben Khal

 

[Ben Khal]

Naboo? Ah. They had their own Jedi enclave. What was it called? The Order of Shiraya? Yes, that was it. He supposed it was safer than the NJO, now that the GA was crumbling against the unstoppable onslaught of their enemies...

Nathan mentioned he could give him a ride back to GA space. Ben shook his head, declining the offer, then realized he had failed to respond to Nathan's condolences about Master Vanda. "He wasn't my master. Not really. W-We had only just met when he..." He trailed off, not wanting to think about Lorn Vanda's grisly end.

"I don't know what I'm going to do. I... I've been gone for two years, and I come back to chaos." His brow furrowed, blue eyes filled with confusion and uncertainty. "What do you suggest?"

Nathan Bloodscrawl​