Are We Meant To Be? *2nd book of the Other Half Trilogy*

~ Ch. 21 ~

                                     Acarna's POV

     "I knew they had left, but.....why would they go to Tatooine?" I asked my Mother. She had just contacted me and told me that my mission to rescue my Brother from these Rebels, has changed from Lothal and I was getting a Star Destroyer, along with my new Padawan...........which both are arriving in a half hour. "Most likely supplies. I am also ordering Agent Kallus to permanently join you on this Star Destroyer. I am sending you our newest and most elite one. It is called Grey Wolf. Also, I have promoted Agent Kallus to Grande Commander. He will be in charge of your people on board Grey Wolf and be who they answer to, but, you are the true leader and shall be who he, and everyone else aboard, will answer to. Make sure to notify Dargeo and Zalaan of this change. Also, Starkiller is now coming home and you shall be the one in charge of those two. Make sure they stay in line. I shall send Talon, Maladi, or Starkiller if something happens to any of you three. May you prevail Acarna." Mother said. We bowed to each other and ended the transmission.

     I walked out of the room and went to mine. When I got there I fell on my bed and laid there, thinking. Who is my new Padawan? Is she going to be a pain in the ass? I'm pretty sure I was a pain to Master Starkiller.......maybe. Then, I realized that I had to ask Master Starkiller something and left my room again. It took a few minutes but, I finally found him.

     "Master? May I ask you something?" I asked him. "Of course, what is it?" he asked. "That........trick, that you and my Mother know how to do. Do you think you could teach me the basics of it before you leave? Like.......right now perhaps?" I asked him. He thought for a few minutes, then shrugged. "I don't see the harm in it. Perhaps it will be good for you to learn. Come, to the training room we go." Master Starkiller said, and I followed. We entered and he had me stand in the middle of the room.

     "Now, what I am about to teach you is a lost art of the Sith. Your Mother and I are the only ones who have fully mastered it. The others have tried but, never seem to draw the right amount of energy that it takes. Either they lack it or they don't have the full understanding of it. This is not you basic hypnosis. That, you can use on any non-force user. This hypnosis will allow you to control a force user for a limited amount of time. You may be able to do this, or you may not. It took me years to master. Your Mother was able to learn and master it faster than I could. You were 10 years old when she finally mastered it. Now, I don't expect you to get very far today but, we shall start. First off, we need a force user so....." Master Starkiller turned to the door and Zalaan entered. My breathe caught in my throat. Is Zalaan willingly doing this? Or is something else going on? Zalaan stood directly across from me. I was asking him with my eyes if something was wrong. He didn't look at me.

     "Zalaan has volunteered for you to test this on him." Master Starkiller explained. I didn't take my eyes off of Zalaan. Something has to be up. Zalaan isn't one for volunteering. "Now, first things first, let the dark side of the Force enter your mind, body, and soul. You must be one with it before you can truly begin." my Master explained. I nodded and focused on the Force and within seconds, felt the familiar comfort that it brought. I opened my eyes and saw my Master smiling. "Good, now that you are one with the Force, empty your heart of any and all feelings that you have. For you to master this, you must become like a void. A void of everything and nothing. No emotion. That is the key! If you have any emotion left in your heart, you will never be able to master this." he explained, this is when I looked at him. "But, in order to even access the dark side of the Force you have to have anger, hatred and fear. How does this even work?" I asked.

     "True, true. But, this trick is an exception because, it is as old as the beginning of the Force. This technique was used by the Jedi of old but, was then later banned as darkness, when the founder of the Sith betrayed them and thus, the Sith were born. My Master explained it all to me, but, it was very confusing. It confused him as well but, somehow, he was able to use it. He was killed during the Clone Wars. Then, I went into hiding. Now, here I am! Teaching this old technique to you, so that it may carry on. Now, enough idle prattle. Focus!" Master Starkiller said. I could see the glint of eagerness in his eyes before I turned back to Zalaan and focused, letting go of all my emotions. I reached out my hand and touched Zalaan's forehead. I could feel that he was twitching and I opened my eyes and my Master looked ecstatic.

     "That is the fastest I've seen anyone get to this technique in only a short amount of time. Granted, only very few knew this but, I am so proud of you!" he said, walking over to inspect Zalaan. I looked at Zalaan and saw that his usual blue eyes were a shade of green. Starkiller walked around Zalaan and nodded his head in approval. "Good, good, this is wonderful! But, of course I should've known that this trick would come easily to you, giving that your Mediclorions are just as high, if not even higher than your Mothers. But, to see if it works. Give him a command. Don't make it big, you have to practice longer for even larger commands. Have him walk to the door and back for now. This is not a verbal command. It is a command of the mind. Go on, try it out." he said. I held out my hand towards Zalaan and thought, "Go to the door and come right back. Go." I opened my eyes and Zalaan started to walk to the door and back. Master Starkiller applauded. "Now, one last thing. To stop controlling someone. This is the easy part. Just close your connection to the Force. Oh, and they won't remember a thing." Master Starkiller said, then nodded for me to end my control over Zalaan. I did exactly what he said and closed my connection to the Force, and Zalaan's eyes became their blue again. He was about to collapse and I caught him before he hit the floor. "Oh, I forgot about that." Master Starkiller said. Zalaan shook his head and was brought back to reality.

     "Well? How did you do?" Zalaan asked me. I was about to answer when Agent Kallus came over the com system. "Princess Acarna, your Star Destroyer has arrived and you are requested at Landing Bay One." he said then ended it. "Come, both of you. It's time you three leave and continue on your mission. I have already arranged for your things to be on the Star Destroyer so there is no need to go to your rooms and pack." my Master said, helping me get Zalaan to stand. "Can you walk?" I asked him. "Yeah, I'm good." Zalaan said, and we headed for Landing Bay One.

     When we arrived I saw Dargeo talking to some young girl in all black, with a hat that reminded me of the Nightsisters of Dathomir. I looked in the opposite direction and saw Kallus giving instructions to some of his new workers, probably engine checks and all. Zalaan and I walked over to Dargeo and my Padawan, while Master Starkiller went over to Kallus.

     "Ah, Acarna, I was just getting to know your new Padawan." Dargeo explained. I looked at my Padawan and she bowed. "Formalities are not needed young one. Tell me, what is your name?" I asked her. She stood up straight. "I am the 7th Sister." she said. Wait a minute........."You are from the Inquisitor Tower?" I asked her. "Yes, the only female. The Empress took notice and switched me to be trained as a Sith. Under you, my Master." she explained. "Okay then. First things first. You need a name. A proper name. You are a Mirilian correct?" I asked, wanting to make sure. "Yes, Master." she said. "Okay.......your name shall be Barriss. We don't want to affiliate you with Inquisitors now do we." I said. Zalaan and Dargeo nodded. "Yes, I think Barriss fits her." Dargeo agreed. "Now that that is settled. Come, we shall begin your training." I said, walking into my Star Destroyer, Grey Wolf. The others following behind and my Padawan Barriss at my side.

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[ Okay, before anyone says ANYTHING!!!!!! Yes, I know there is a lot "up in the air" about if Barriss really is the 7th Sister or not. But, as you can see, I am making her the 7th Sister. And I seriously believe that Barriss really is the 7th Sister. Now, I could be wrong or right. But, that is why this is my OPINION that she is the 7th Sister. And I will not hound on you if you believe that Barriss is not the 7th Sister. If you don't than that's fine with me. So, now that that's out of the way. What's gonna happen now that Acarna has a Padawan? And what was up with Zalaan "volunteering"? Did Starkiller find out about Zalaan and Acarna's past relationship? And the question some of you are DYING to know!!!!!!!!!!

Do Ezra and Boba Fett know each other from before Boba joined the crew?! Stay tuned!!!!

Specter 7 out!!!!!!!!!!!! ]