Crossing my arms over my chest, I stood in the cockpit of my KIM. Through the glass, the rapidly approaching, slightly reddish planet could be seen. Shifting my gaze, I squinted suspiciously at the moon where, according to Sheev's assurances, a small fleet was sitting, ready to pull its master out in case of trouble.
"Captain, report."
"Running on low thrust. Maintaining radio silence. Sensors are also deactivated. Everything is going according to plan; if there really is someone on the moon, they won't notice us," making a short pause, he glanced at me and added: "Just as we won't notice them."
"That is not our concern.ваша задача — to quietly land us on the planet."
"Yes, sir!"
Leaving the crew to perform their work, I went into the mess hall where Mom was lying carelessly right on the sofa.
"We'll arrive soon," I informed her, raiding the refrigerator.
"Working as usual?"
"No. First we'll try to negotiate; if not—it's their own fault."
"As usual," she stated affirmatively. "Times go by, and nothing changes."
"What do you mean?" I peeked out from behind the door. "You're the one who hits first and asks questions later!"
"That's not what I mean. My whole life I've flown to dangerous places, either to stabilize a situation or to catch a dangerous adept. Now it's all the same. You and I are flying after a dangerous adept, to unfriendly natives. I'm willing to bet there will be no conversation... or it will be short."
"We'll see."
Taking out a few pastries onto the table, I began brewing vorka, not without the use of the Force.
"Mom, do you remember our home?"
"Of course. Why?"
"Oh, just because, for some reason, it came to mind."
"I must admit, it did to me too. I feel as if I'm flying to Tython."
"Hm..." stopping mid-step, I looked thoughtfully toward the ship's cockpit. But shaking my head, I dropped onto a free chair. "Do you remember the day I appeared for you?"
"I remember. It was one of the worst, yet at the same time, the happiest days of my life."
"Why?" Surprised by such an answer, I looked at her.
"You can't even imagine how afraid I was. The fear that consumed me then seemed so sticky, all-encompassing; I felt as if I were drowning in it. The whole world receded into the background, all the pain and the anger accumulated over a lifetime."
Stirring the brew, I stared fixedly at her mask, in place of which I seemed to see her gloomy face.
"I had lost too much in this life, and if I had lost you—I would surely have broken. Force, how I worried... Because of me, the room even had to be repaired afterward; losing control, I crushed and mangled everything that was in there."
"Was there reason to be so afraid?"
"There was. Before you, I had two miscarriages. Но when you were already born, when I held you to my chest and you were breathing... I can't even describe those feelings."
Never expecting to hear such revelations, I asked with a bit of a lag:
"Is that why... you don't like to talk about your past? In all our time, we've almost never brought up the subject."
"And that too. Believe me, Shade, my life is better left undisturbed. There are too few rays of light in it."
"It shows. A Forcesaber doesn't ignite for just any reason," I huffed, taking a sip of vorka.
"Exactly."
"By the way, Mom. If I had actually snapped during training, what would you have done?"
"The question doesn't even stand. Of course, I would have tried to help, or I would have stood by your side."
"And what about the Je'daii Duty?" I emphasized the word "duty."
"Do I need to remind you where I saw that duty and what I thought of it?" she turned to me.
"Heh, no need, I know. Но if you are overflowing with hatred, how do you fight it? Standing on the edge, what kept you from stepping over it?"
"You. You were the single thread that held and still holds me back from stepping into the darkness. If you had snapped, I would have snapped too. It was so then. It is so now."
"And instead of one psycho, the Order would have gotten two seasoned maniacs, ha-ha-ha-ha..."
"Yes. Uval clutched the horns on his head at the mere thought. And seeing how you were tossed from one side to the other, that prospect made all the council members tense. As soon as I let you go to study under Tsikuna, they immediately buried me in work, trying to send me further away for longer. By the way, I teased the whole council until the very end that the very same leper who was promised a one-way ticket to the moon ended up saving them all. Ohhh, those sour faces, those lovely disgruntled mugs—how glad I was, I could have looked at them every day!" she recalled with notes of delight in her voice, joyfully pressing her fists to her chin. "In any situation, at any meeting, I made sure to remind them of it, and then I'd finish them off with Saros. Eh... That is the happiness of a mother and a wife. When the mere mention of your husband's or son's name is enough to make everyone contort."
"You are definitely a very bad Togruta. You shouldn't gloat like that," I shook my head, laughing, and added sugar to the vorka. Ziro, running across the table, handed me a soft cookie with a pair of tiny manipulators.
"No, I will gloat! Then and now. If only I had a chance to meet them again, I would meet them just for the sake of spoiling their mood and admiring those beautiful contorted faces!"
"Even death won't fix you."
"And that—is good."
"He-he-he-he-he."
"Shade, when you traveled with your master, what kind of stories did you get into?"
"Oh, maybe we shouldn't?"
"What, ashamed?" she sneered.
"Not without that. Though... listen!"
Thus, remembering home and trading pleasant stories (mostly me), we flew to Dathomir. Even as the ship was just passing through the upper layers of the atmosphere, my mother and I felt something strange. The conversation between us immediately withered. Those strange sensations were so familiar, so... home-like? It felt as if I were standing on the doorstep of my house, had already opened the door, and the favorite aromas of various treats reached out to me.
But they weren't there. When the ship landed, we threw long hooded cloaks over our shoulders and descended the ramp. The planet greeted us with some strange chirping of insects, the munching of small creatures, and a mixture of aromas of sulfur and flowers. A strange combination, and it's good that the latter overpowered the former.
The ground underfoot was soaked with moisture, making every step accompanied by a squelch, and the air was thick with mist, hiding the tops of the enormous, gnarled, intertwining trees that stretched high into the sky. The distance between the main trunks was such that a tank could drive through, but if you climbed up ten meters, you'd find yourself among a solid mass of branches and tree trunks that seemed to support each other.
"Mom, do you feel it?" I turned to her.
"It smells of Tython," she looked at me.
"I think so too. And I also feel suffering. Torture, pain, despair. There was definitely nothing like that on Tython."
"On the other hand..." she paused, "it was on the Rakatan ship."
"Yes. The planet has an extremely unusual Force background. This planet has survived more than one Force storm, and the Dark Side dominates here now. Perhaps these are the consequences of the storms. At the very least, I feel that I can use the Force freely; it won't cause a storm, and that's already a plus." Stretching out my hand, I formed a Force training sphere above it. Fluctuations immediately appeared around the white glowing ball, indicating a disrupted balance toward the Dark Side of the Force.
"What do you think it's connected to?" she scanned the surroundings.
"I suspect it might be Them."
"Are you sure?"
"I have no other hypotheses. But if I'm right, we'll be able to find Damask simply by following the largest source of the Force."
"Hm... Let's go visit the witches first, anyway. They must know something about the world they live in."
"Agreed. Captain, come in," I addressed Ziro.
"Listening," the man immediately responded, appearing before me as a projection.
"We're off. Set up a guard of Qs, lock the ship, and be on the alert. In case of trouble, take off immediately."
"Will be done."
Pulling up our hoods and adjusting our cloaks, we headed toward the temple. To my surprise, almost nothing hindered us below. The biggest problem was the mud underfoot; otherwise, the way was clear. Bushes were practically non-existent, there was no grass to speak of, but pitch darkness was added to the fog. It was supposedly day now, but three factors overlapped: clouds, fog, and trees. Without flashlights or NVGs, an ordinary person would have nothing to do here. I had to actively use my Force sight, scanning the area.
Suddenly, right from the branches spreading over us, a representative of the local fauna jumped at me. Catching the small dinosaur in a Force grip, I crushed it. The dead, mangled body fell to the ground, and two more members of its pack fell apart in pieces nearby. Mom wasn't caught napping either. As soon as the beasts jumped, she pulled them toward her with a jerk and cut both in half with a single sweep, activating her saber for only a fraction of a second.
"Ziro, scan it," I ordered the droid, approaching the corpse.
"Accepted."
The droid immediately flew up and examined the object.
"Object identified. Dathomir fauna representative—Kwi."
"Do they remind you of anyone?"
"They do. Our raptors," Mom stood beside me.
"A good coincidence, eh?"
"Indeed."
While we were walking to the temple, we found several more interesting coincidences between such different planets. Thus, upon closer inspection of one of the few bushes, it turned out that it had grown in its time back in our homeland as well. Neither I nor my mother could physically fail to recognize berries used in alchemy.
There were other coincidences that did not leave us indifferent. For example, the rancors. Encountering one such creature by chance on the way, my mother and I noted—it was an exact copy of the ones that lived on Tython. The rancor itself, having inspected our pair and received a mental blow from two Force adepts at once, preferred not to get involved and quickly beat a retreat, aiding itself with its long clawed arms.
"Cute little beast," I huffed, looking after the creature.
"In the Temple of Science, they would have put it to use long ago," Mom commented phlegmatically, turning.
Walking a little further, we came into the view of scouts from the Nightsisters. Since we intended to talk first, there was no point in hiding.
Five minutes later, the witches snapped the trap. They jumped from the branches right in front of us and immediately encircled us. The ladies worked efficiently, you have to give them that; the cohesion was visible right away.
Six Nightsisters pointed their energy bows at us, and four more had paired metal swords. All were in identical scarlet form-fitting outfits, with hoods and masks on their faces. Dangling strips of cloth hung from their belts, and they had protective metal bracers on their arms.
As I noted immediately, far from all the witches had the yellow irises characteristic of dark adepts. In fact, only two had them, while the Force was felt in all of them.
"Now that's interesting," I thoughtfully scrutinized the natives.
"You have made a fatal mistake by stepping onto Dathomir!" a witch hissed, pointing a blade at my face.
"Calm down. We come in peace. Put that shiv away and let's talk," I said, carelessly waving it off and pushing her blade aside like a toy. After all, the metal was enchanted, and poisoned besides—and when it's poked in your face, peacefulness decreases in geometric progression.
I don't know what bug bit the witches, but my action provoked the archers. Energy bow shots flashed, and plasma bolts flew at us. Colliding with an invisible wall, the plasma dissipated, and silence reigned over the clearing for a moment.
"I will say this once. Do not annoy me!" Taking a step toward the witch, being a head taller, I loomed over her. "I came to talk."
"You came to die," the witch hissed, trying to secretly stab me with a stiletto. Catching her hand with the poisoned weapon, I exhaled:
"The hard way, then."
Holding the witch with one hand, I struck her on the head with the other, sending her into a knockdown. Before she could fall, I pulled her neighbor toward me with the Force. Striking with a full swing right in the forehead, I knocked out the second witch. The body's inertia was such that the crazy woman's legs flew up, and the witch fell flat on the ground right beside me.
At that same moment, Mom jerked backward and, spreading her arms, knocked out two more. Before the others could recover, I was already taking a step toward a swordswoman, pulled her toward me, and, catching her by the arm, stunned her with a blow to the scruff of the neck. While her legs were just beginning to give way, I kicked the next witch in the chest from a turn, forcing her to slam into a tree with subsequent loss of consciousness. Turning, I watched as Mom held the last witch remaining conscious by the throat.
"We told you. Do not annoy us, for we come in peace," Mom said emotionlessly, accompanying every syllable with a mental blow to the witch's head. Yes... with a tone like that, you could only reassure someone of love and friendship, heh.
"Kkhhha," the witch struggled helplessly, unable to reach the ground or somehow free herself from the immortal's iron grip.
Unclenching her fingers, Mom released the witch. Collapsing into the mud, she frantically tried to catch her breath.
"You will lead us to your temple," I said, stepping closer.
"Nev-ver!" the warrior rasped, raising her head.
"You didn't understand," I said, shaking my head slightly and standing beside my mother. "This isn't a request." Holding out a hand, my mother and I simultaneously applied the Force and said in unison:
"You will lead us to the temple!"
Despite the fact that the witch turned out to be partially resistant to the Force and possessed a strong mind, she could not resist our will. On the other hand, this same feature helped her preserve her sanity... probably. Well, yes, her nose started bleeding; well, yes, the woman twitched a bit in a fit; well, yes, her eyes rolled back. But she survived!
"I will lead you," the witch repeated obediently as soon as she was released.
Jerking her to her feet, I inspected her. The blow had been powerful, but short at the same time. If the personality had cracked, then instead of a witch, a vegetable would be lying before us.
"Follow me," she said, brushing off the excess mud and wiping the blood from under her nose, gesturing for us to follow.
As I thought, the coordinates we had did not correspond to the exact location of the temple. Walking behind the witch, we bypassed a couple of patrols, a rancor lair, and several packs of guard raptors, or, as these beasts are called here, Kwi. Finding ourselves in hilly terrain, the witch led us through a gorge, beyond which was a small well-kept forest and a sheer, low cliff hiding among the trees.
The temple was located in the cliff itself. Witches carved in stone stood as enormous columns, supporting the vault of the main entrance. And right above the entrance, a giant witch's face was carved into the rock. An empty elongated arch in place of the mouth and nose, but otherwise it was a fairly handsome face. I particularly liked the eyes with green crystals inlaid in them.
Approaching the entrance, we encountered a guard of a pair of Nightsisters.
"Sister?" the left witch stepped forward.
"Outsiders have come to speak with the Great Daka. I am leading them," our guide said.
"We were not warned of anything," the guards exchanged glances.
"That is because they came without warning," a new voice sounded, and from the gloom of the corridor, another witch came out to meet us. Very short—the kind people say is "knee-high to a grasshopper." The lack of height was compensated for by a bulky spherical headgear. A spacious mantle seemingly consisting of scraps, a wrinkled face, and a sharp straight nose.
"Great One!" the guards recoiled. Following their leader was a whole squad of eight witches, and clearly not of the rank-and-file. These were all Force-sensitives, and somehow wrong ones at that. Like... pumped up with GMOs, or something? Exactly!
Gaining enlightenment, I remembered where I had felt something similar before. I remember on Shikaakwa there was an incident where some Force-sensitive psychos played with a recipe for enhancing sensitivity to the Force, but with disastrous subsequent effects. Now I was catching something very similar to that same feeling, as if the witches were pumped with some junk, making them more aggressive and stronger. Given the local flavor, I would have been surprised if it were otherwise.
There was also another witch here, different from the rest. She wore a long floor-length dress, a solid mask covering her face shaped like a human face, and colorful fabric wings or something like them peeked from behind her back. On her belt, a sword hilt with a guard could be seen. Judging by the sensations, the weapon used the Force to work, but how it was supposed to use it was unclear. From the look alone, it was clear that it wasn't a Forcesaber, but there were no batteries in the thing either.
"You are not welcome here, outsiders. Leave!" Daka ordered, waving her hand for us to get out. Two of her assistants, meanwhile, taking our guide by the arms, led her into the temple.
"We know perfectly well that we are not welcome," I stated each word, giving them weight with the Force. It played into our hands that in the current lighting conditions, there was a void under our hoods in which the mask sensor glowed. "We came to talk."
"I know why you came. He is no longer here," the witch snapped, looking at us maliciously from under her brows. "Begone!"
My mother and I exchanged glances. Both of us understood that the witch was lying and that negotiating peacefully would not work. From somewhere to the side, from the forest, two more groups of witches with a pair of rancors approached us. Tamed beasts clad in armor, with hunger in their eyes, looked at us, held back only by their mistresses.
"Like I said," Mom commented.
"Fine. Then as usual."
Finishing the sentence, I immediately threw off my cloak and drew my saber, simultaneously cutting down a pair of witches standing behind our backs. Mom, conversely, took a step forward, severing the heads of this person's bodyguards. An attempt to quickly grab the talkative witch resulted in her literally dissolving.
"What the?!"
"She crossed into the spirit world. Hid in the temple," Mom quickly informed me, incinerating three at once with pyrokinesis. A wave of fire, like a tornado, swept toward the witches, burning them to the bone in mere moments.
"Then we'll deal with these first. Ziro, hide and report to the KIM; have them work the microwave! Jam all long-range wave frequencies!"
"Accepted," the droid chirped, flying upward.
Blocking that same unusual witch, I looked at her sword. As I thought, this weapon also runs on the Force, but it was green in color. I don't understand... Why does this junk reek so much?! How can one so defile the Dark Side of the Force that a Tythonian would feel revulsion toward it?!
Pushing the sword aside, I tried to grab the witch, but she dissolved into mist and jerked behind my back. She materialized there and struck, but it was not to be. Rocks erupting from the ground forced the witch to go back into the non-material world. I switched to the small fry, letting out a chain of Force lightning on them. Two out of five hit by the lightning survived the strike; the rest collapsed to the floor. Moreover, one survived the strike by her own strength; another's protective Force amulet shattered to pieces.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Mom dodging a rancor's paw, severing that very paw, and then diving right under its legs, cutting those off too. Not to be outdone by her, I took on the second one. The beast has good Force resistance, but it doesn't help it. Tearing a huge rock from the ground, I bowled over the rancor with it at enormous speed, throwing it into a wall. As a result, there was no wall and no rock, but there was a still alive but concussed rancor. Its mistress, flying at me like a raging fury, prevented me from finishing it off.
"Aaaaaaaaagh!"
With a wild screech, the witch jumped straight at me. Taking a step to the left, I let her pass beside me and, with a careless movement, positioned my saber. The witch flew into the Force blade herself and was divided into two uneven halves. On the other side, her partner was trying to shoot me with an energy bow, but the shots hit Tutaminis. The witch hadn't yet realized what happened when my mother's crimson Forcesaber flashed behind her back.
Feeling a threat, I took a step aside, positioned both sabers, and covered myself with Tutaminis on top. Just in time! That same sorceress returned to the fight, and returned charged. A huge, extremely powerful green lightning bolt ran across the ground and struck exactly at me. Tutaminis took part of the strike, dissipating it to the sides; the other part went into the Forcesabers.
As soon as the strike ended, I flexed my arm. Noticing that my shoulder was burning with green flame, I brushed the flame off like dust.
"Survived?!" the witch exclaimed, clearly not believing her eyes.
"Nice try; a tank would melt in an instant," I nodded, twirling the sabers. "But for me, it's clearly not enough."
While the witch was distracted by me, Mom approached her from behind and grabbed her by the neck.
"You won't escape now," her voice sounded like a sentence. The witch tried again and again to break free from the grip but couldn't. Not only was Mom holding her physical body, but she also securely fixed her spiritual component.
"Diiieeeee!!!" a furious cry resounded from the side of me. Tilting my head slightly, I let a sword pass centimeters from my mask. I grabbed the witch herself by the neck. I clenched my fist, a crunch echoed over the clearing, and another one joined the rest of the Nightsisters.
Releasing the body, I approached my mother and her prisoner. Removing the mask from the witch's face, Mom tossed it aside.
"Khhhh..." the witch rasped, but from her face alone it was clear that she wished us a "long" and "very happy" life.
"Shade, her mind is strong. It won't break quickly," Mom shook her head.
"And it doesn't need to."
Releasing the neck, Aala put the witch on her knees before me, holding her by the shoulder.
"Hey. Look at me," I attracted the Nightsister's attention. "What is your name?"
"..."
"Fine, it doesn't matter. Listen, we didn't originally come here for your souls. We need Darth Plagueis. But everything can change, you understand?" After a pause, I added: "I know he's here; that's a fact. Tell us where he is; it's in your own interest."
"..." the witch looked at me with fierce hatred, pursing her lips.
"If you don't talk, we'll go in there after Daka," I nodded back. "And erase everything we meet on the way. Do you really want us walking through your village?"
"No..." the witch whispered very, very quietly.
"There. Well?"
"He is at the excavations."
"Where?"
"I will show you."
Looking into her eyes and sensing no trap, I nodded.
"Then we have a deal." Looking at my mother, I gave the okay with a look to let her go.
Unclenching her grip, she took the witch by the arm and jerked her to her feet.
"Weapons?" Mom held out a hand, and the witch reluctantly placed her sword in it. "Lead the way."
"It is far. We need transport. This way."
The witch went forward; Mom threw the sword to me and followed her. I lingered slightly on the spot, inspecting the weapon.
"Amusing... And how exactly do you use this?" I thoughtfully turned the hilt. From the look of it, the design was very similar to an original Forcesaber, but only similar. While in normal conditions you feed the Forcesaber yourself, this thing took energy from another source. But from where? And such a specific kind.
The revelation came suddenly. Witches. Sacrifice. Suffering. Pain. Rakata... these factors intertwined of their own accord and joined together. Ancient, now-forgotten technologies found their continuation in this weapon, in the witches' technologies. The more the victim suffers, the more torment they experience, mental and physical, the better—the more energy they will give. The entire Rakatan Empire was built on this, and now... I see their legacy, in an even more abominable form.
If until this moment I had been more or less calm and had no personal dislike for the witches, the thought of the Rakatans, the realization that they were essentially continuing their work, infuriated me so much that I crushed the enchanted steel hilt of the sword like paper.
"No... I'll bury you all right here. Whatever else, their legacy shall not live!" the thought flashed. Casting an angry look at the temple, I went away. "And neither shall you."
***
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