Star Wars: Hidden Fates

Chapter 13: Bastila, Leilani, and Damian

  "What do you mean I am not ready to be a Sith yet?" Bastila used the force to toss a chair in anger. "I have killed many people to prove my allegiance to the Dark Side."

Bastila felt undervalued by the Jedi. She left because she thought the Sith would appreciate her skills. She felt like they did not want her to use her full potential. She struggled to believe the Jedi were looking out for her.

She wanted nothing more than appreciation and validation to always use her skills in the force.

Darth Orku was a slender-tall male with dark skin and coily hair with dark brown eyes when not drawing immense power from the Dark Side. "You keep ignoring me but I want you to kill someone close to you. I don't care who, just someone you know and bring their head."

Bastila remembered her failed attempt to assassinate Trinity-Sky, her former best friend. If she could not kill Trinity-Sky, who that she knew would be an easy target?

However, that was in the past–despite it being recent. Bastila needed to draw more power from the Dark Side to take someone down. She could not kill Revan, because he never left the temple. Her only options were to try to kill Trinity-Sky again or find Leilani and end her.

"Maybe you might run into a close friend on your way here." Orku sent Bastila coordinates to a small planet on the outskirts of the Republic. "I want you to persuade the leader to join the Sith empire. If successful, I will accept you finally as an apprentice but you will earn my respect if you manage to kill someone close to you."

"It is unlikely I will run into someone that once was close to me but I accept this opportunity to prove my worth." Bastila went on her way.

Meanwhile, Leilani had arrived first. She paid for her ship parking and headed to the inner city. The city was Korshua, the capital of the small planet named Na-kerm.

It was a beautiful city. The air was clean, the sun shimmered. The weather was warm. The buildings were well polished by maintenance droids.

As Leilani was walking, she kept bumping into the locals who did not see her. The locals were a species with great height known as Hrigons.

Hrigons were mostly slender humanoids. They stood about six feet tall on average for females and six inches more for the average male. Members of the species had yellow skin with wavy dark yellow hair with purple eyes.

Leilani stood about five feet and two inches. She was short for the average female hybrid so the Hrigons kept bumping into her because they were not used to looking down unless they were needing to get something off the ground.

A tourist droid approached Leilani from the front. "Welcome to Na-kerm, the cleanest planet in the galaxy and the number one jewelry maker."

Leilani squinted an eye in confusion. She thought to herself. "I was sent to mediate a negotiation so the Republic can keep a jewelry planet?"

The droid noticed her lightsaber. "You're a Jedi. How can I be of service?"

"I need to see the leader of this planet for an important meeting, whatever his or her name is." She looked at the tall and gray droid.

The droid began to walk to a shuttle. "Please follow me, Master Jedi."

Leilani gently put her hand up to tell the droid that it was wrong. "I am not a Master, I am a Padawan."

The droid looked like it was about to malfunction. "Error: The term Padawan is not in my database."

Leilani huffed. It was pointless to discuss this with a droid. "Let's get moving."

After several minutes of traveling on the shuttle, they arrived at a tall-fancy building. It appeared to be made of gold, silver, and the finest jewels in the galaxy.

She exited and headed to the front entrance. Two guards were standing in front of her.

Leilani looked up. "Excuse me, down here."

The guards looked down. "Sorry miss, we did not see you."

She muttered, "Of course you didn't." Then she talked with a gentle voice. "I am Padawan Leilani Tylin. I was sent to mediate a negotiation meeting."

The guards opened the door. One of them pointed in a direction. "Head down the hall to your left and take the elevator to the fifth floor. There, President Carsen Sdhuioblio will greet you and the respective representatives of the Empire and Republic."

As Leilani was walking, she was trying to figure out how to pronounce the president's name. She was so distracted that she did not notice the beauty of the building. "Sd-Sdhuiii-Scdh— ugh, hopefully he introduces himself."

When she got to the fifth floor, she knocked on a door.

It was the president that answered. "Is this some prank from a worker's teenager?!"

"Down here, sir." Leilani bowed. "I am Leilani Tylin, a Padawan Learner, not a Master Jedi." She felt the need to add that because she was burnt out from people assuming she was a Master.

The president straightened his bronze-colored suit. He wore bronze khaki's with charcoal black shoes. His hair went down to his chin and was scented with cologne. "I am President Carsen Sdhuioblio. You may address me as President Carsen. Foreigners have difficulty with my surname."

Leilani entered the room. There was a small-shiny rectangular table that was surrounded by five leather chairs. The Republic representative was already present.

She gently bowed and said the same thing she did to the president.

The Republic representative looked perplexed. He was wearing a nice suit that complimented his olive skin and black hair. "Is your Master nearby?"

Leilani shook her head. "No, I was sent by myself with someone else who should be arriving shortly to mediate this negotiation."

She took a seat as a service droid brought her tea in a fancy cup. Leilani took a sip and winced in disgust to the taste of the tea. She liked tea without add-ons but this tea needed them.

Then another padawan walked in the room. It was her friend, Damian Garnt. (Dam-eee-anne Guh-are-n-t).

Leilani bit the inside of her cheeks. She wanted to not blush. She had a crush on him. Little did she know, he felt the same about her.

Damian placed some holopads on the table and took a seat. "I trust these will be beneficial to the negotiations."

Leilani picked up a holopad and turned it on. "These are plans of the Sith empire! How did you acquire them?" Her eyes widened a little in surprise.

He had a feeling he was impressing Leilani. His mind was not remembering relationships were forbidden. "Hard work and skills from Jedi training."

Before Leilani could ask for more details, Bastila Shan walked into the room. Leilani was doing her best to remain calm. She was not expecting Bastila to be the Sith representative.

Bastila looked at Leilani and then the Republic representative. She decided she would attack Leilani after the meeting to take her out by surprise.

Leilani could see the pain in Bastila's eyes, the look of inner turmoil. She could feel a conflict of pain from her feeling of purpose. Leilani needed to find a way to reason with Bastila and convince that she has more good than bad. Leilani wanted to save her.

President Carsen walked in the room and took a seat. "Alright, let's begin."