Star Wars: Daughter of the Dark Force

Chapter 5: The Hunt, and Its Ensuing Slaughter

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Anyways, enjoy the chapter!!! Comments are invited, I'd love to know what you think. :)

Kimmy (AKA DarthKemberli)

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CHAPTER 5: THE HUNT, AND ITS ENSUING SLAUGHTER

"The responsibilities of the Council stress me out. I prefer to spend my days training Padawans without having to worry about the politics that have been taking over the Council as of late."

 - Brak Li, Jedi Master

Sweat poured down my face. Aetheria had been warm, but I had never experienced such scalding heat as what slapped me in the face when I stepped out of the Star Princess onto the rocky ground of Mustafar. Though I had done some research before leaving the Executor, nothing could have prepared me for this heat. I found myself admiring Brak Li and his apprentice for having the courage to live here. Well, it made sense. Humans weren't meant to live in heat like this, so hiding here was a good idea.

I laughed to myself. Good idea or not, Vader had found them, and I was here. To exact his judgement.

The Star Princess secured, I placed my lightsabers on my belt, within easy reach. Vader had returned them to me a week ago, once he sensed that I no longer had any inclinations to suicide. He knew that the dark side whispered to me, its seductions too strong for me to pull myself away. I had accepted the dark side, and I cherished the way it allowed me to channel my anger into power. Vader no longer feared that I would run or destroy myself.

I returned my attention to my mission. Closing my eyes, I reached out with the Force. Almost immediately I pinpointed two hazy presences somewhere to the east. Brak Li and the Padawan, Teah Rubees. They weren't too far, but I saw that I would have to travel through a rickety-looking metal fortress suspended over a slow-moving river of magma to get to them. Perhaps they were even living inside it.

Using a technique that Vader had showed me, I concealed my presence so that even Master Li could not sense me through the Force. I began walking towards the fortress, adjusting my cloak on my shoulders even though I was sweltering. At least my skin would be protected from any flying sparks.

The Imperial records I had looked at identified Brak Li as a Jedi Master of high reputation during the Old Republic. Born on Coruscant, he was trained through his initiate by Master Yoda and had been a Padawan learner to none other but Master Mace Windu himself. He had sat on the Jedi Council for a short time, but resigned his position, finding the prestige and responsibility too demanding. He had taken Teah Rubees under his wing shortly before the commencement of the Clone Wars. Understandably enough, the records had held next to no information on Rubees, except that she had been born on Tatooine and was saved from the slave industry by a Jedi Guardian who had sensed her affinity to the Force.

The fortress was abandoned, but it wasn't quiet. The metal beneath my boots groaned in an alarming way as I tried to step cautiously. I guessed that this place hadn't been used in years, meaning that Li and Rubees probably lived beyond the fortress. Dead modules lined the walls of the particular room I was passing through. My curiousity got the better of me and I approached one of the many holoimage generators in the middle of the room. They were large, rectangular in shape. Clearly holoprojectors for the viewing of an airfield. I remembered from the records that this planet had been the hiding place of the Separatist Council during the Clone Wars. I remembered, too, that Vader himself had been sent by the Emperor to murder them. When I dipped into the Force, I sensed a slight undercurrent of darkness and distress. Yes... Here on Mustafar Vader had been gruesomely injured. By whom I couldn't begin to imagine, but those injuries had forced Vader into the body suit he constantly wore. I wondered if Vader had sent me here because he wanted to avoid the memories... Instantly I reprimanded myself for daring to think so disrespectfully of my master.