A few minutes later, inside the storage room of the ship, that was more like that of a series of holding rooms for prisoners.
‘My thoughts were confused, and heavy. I have overindulged on dark side energies, and could feel the dark side influence gripping my mind, twisting my thoughts and pulling on my emotions every passing second.’
‘The carefully created inner balance between light and darkness was broken. The shadows were desperately trying to gain control of my mind, knowing that with every passing second, their influence over me will wane. As I struggled to rebalance myself in the force. Forcefully channeling the light side even as it burned me from the inside.’
‘I walked between the rows of empty cages until I reached one in a dark corner, my mind still distracted by my inner battle. I stopped beside the cage and looked towards the fearful presence that was desperately trying to hide on the opposite side of the cage. I was looking at it, but it still stubbornly pretended not to be there. A fickle of annoyance burst into my mind, and I almost gave into the temptation to pull it out from the shadows. Only to take a sharp breath, as I realized what I just thought.’
‘Instead, I took a slow breath and spoke up.’
“I can sense your presence. There is no reason to hide anymore.”
‘I waited for a little more, struggling to contain my emotions. Then I saw a small form began to move forward. It slowly, hesitantly stepped out of the shadows into the mechanical white light that was reaching only half of the cage.’
‘As she finally stood in the light, I was able to see that she was a human girl, about the same age as me.’
‘Great, another pipsqueak! The dark thoughts whispered into my mind. Why don’t you catapult her out of the ship? There is already enough trash here… Including you…’
“Very funny..” — ‘I spoke to myself, causing the girl to flinch.’
‘She was looking at me fearfully. I saw that more than a few shivers ran over her already injured and weak body. Yet in her eyes I saw something I didn’t expect... Recognition, and a stubborn will to fight?
Why would she want to fight with me?’
‘The voices answered. Because you are her enemy, can’t you feel her presence, weak… yes, but she is one of them. A jedi to be… how cute… why don’t you stifle her light before it spreads? It would be so easy for a mighty Grey Lord as you… he-h-h…’
‘This time, the whispers spoke in the voice of the trandoshan boss I just killed.’
‘This time it was me who flinched, raising my hand in front of my face. Trying to focus as a sneer broke out of my throat.’ — “I have already killed you… why won’t you shut it!”
‘The girl glared at me. Her sharp eyes burrowing into my own.’
“You... those eyes… that strange skin... you are a sith! You will have to kill me, because I won’t turn to the dark side, no matter what!” — ‘The girl stated, and I couldn’t care less about her turning to the dark side or not.’
‘I blinked away the shadows that were clouding my sight and finally the dark thoughts seemed to retreat.’
‘Stubborn as ever…’
‘The whispers spoke using my own voice this time.’
‘No matter, we will meet again… Nizzal… We both know that you belong to me… In time… You will understand-stand-and-ad-d...’
‘As the last of the whispers disappeared, I could feel a tremendous sense of relief and tiredness pressing down on my mind and body.’
‘The worst thing of all was the fact that I somehow managed to run into a jedi youngling... she is not even a padawan... great.’
‘I exhaled a long and desperate sigh.’
“Wha-what are you doing? I won’t yield!” — ‘The girl shouted at me, seeing how I reached for my lightsaber.’
‘I made a quick and precise cut with a flick of my wrist... The electronic lock on the door cut apart easily, giving way in the path of my blade. Feeling drained and uninterested, I began to walk away from the cells. Looking for the bridge.’
‘I needed to get away from here. I didn’t even care where. I just wanted to enter hyperspace, then get into a bed and sleep.’
‘The girl behind me seemed to be confused... She sauntered to the door of her cage and hesitatingly stepped out of it. Seeing that nothing bad had happened to her, she slowly began to follow me from a safe distance...’
“Why did you let me out? I am a jedi... Sith and jedi are ancient enemies... Didn’t you know?”
‘I felt my headache pulse with even more pain as the girl kept pestering me. Why is she following me? She could just take one ship from the hangar and leave…’
“Tell me, how many sith did you see, or speak with in your life?” — ‘I asked sarcastically, still unwilling to let that slight pass like that… I was not a sith for force’s sake!’
‘She seemed stumped for a second. Then she answered predictably.’
“None, I mean one... you!”
‘I stopped in my tracks for a second, a million and one arguments coming to my mind to debunk her idiotic statement. Alas, I had a feeling that my arguments would have fallen on deaf ears.’
‘Suddenly a loud grumble resonated through the corridor, and I realized that it came from my stomach. No surprise there… I used up a tremendous amount of energy.’
‘On a whim, I decided to change my direction from the bridge to the ship’s cantina, but only after I released another annoyed sigh.’
“If I am the only sith you ever met, then how do you know that I am indeed a sith?” — ‘I humoured the girl, while continuing my walk.’
‘I didn’t really care about her. She wasn’t even a proper padawan. What could she do against me? I have just flatlined a bunch of bloodthirsty trandoshan.’
“Well... your glowing yellow eyes are telltale signs... and your sickly looking skin... both of them are signs of heavy dark side exposure...” — ‘The girl lectured me on my fricking condition, but that was not what bothered me. What bothered me was that she was right.'
‘Not that I was going to acknowledge that.’
“Now, that is at least partially true. Yet I have another question for you. What if there are dark side users who are not Sith?”
“I would think that you are trying to deceive me... except... I didn’t really know what you could gain from doing so...” — ‘She seemed troubled for a moment.’
“Oh, bless the force... someone actually using their brain...” — ‘I stated, almost surprised that she seemed to actually consider my words. My annoyance towards her immediately lessened considerably.’
“If you are not a sith, then what are you?” — She asked.
“I am a member of the Order of the Grey... It is a secretive sect of a sort... We excel in using both the light side and the dark side while searching for balance between the two.” — ‘I answered.’
“If you speak the truth,” — She narrowed her eyes on me before adding. — “then I will apologize. Thanks for letting me out of that cage…”
‘I stopped and turned around in the corridor, quite surprised by the sudden turn of events. I saw her face flinch for a moment, seeing my most likely glowing yellow eyes... Yes, they will probably stay that way for a few days or even weeks after drawing so deeply on the dark side.’
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“You are welcome.” — ‘I thought about what to say next, then added.’ — “By the way, my name is Nizzal. If you want, you can call me Nizzy... most of the people do it anyway... Oh, my full name is Nizzal Grey... What is yours?”
“Hi.. My name is Kalifa.. I used to be a jedi youngling... but I don’t know what I am anymore... They probably think that I died... I was kidnapped from a training exercise, but that was weeks, if not months ago... I heard them talking, that I will be released on an island where they will hunt me down for sport... They were currently searching for other preys for their sick game...”
“Hmmm... Yeah, that sounds much like what I heard... they were trying to add me into their collection... Wasn’t one of their brightest moments...” — ‘I felt a smile stretch across my lips.’ — “Oh, well, I guess it was in a manner of speaking, getting electrocuted and stuff.” — ‘I couldn’t help but chuckle at the memory.’ — “At least those scum won’t trouble anyone anymore...”
“What do you mean by that?” — ‘Asked Kalifa, clearly confused, and I just realized that I have spoken those thoughts out loud. Ugh… I guess the dark side influence wasn’t completely shaken off yet.’
‘Suddenly feeling ashamed of myself, I started to search for some sort of excuse to justify my previous slip up.’
“Well, they wanted to hunt me down to...” — ‘I began but was interrupted.’
“No, what do you mean by they won’t trouble anyone? Did you kill them?”
“Ah, no, not all of them.”
‘Hearing that, Kalifa seemed to consider just walking back to her cage, but she quickly changed her depressed expression as she heard my next words.’
“Some were killed by pirates, but I would say most of them were indeed killed by me.” — ‘It felt good to brag about my recent achievement, no matter if it was unusually risky. Those scum definitely deserved it.’
“You... you must be joking... you are around my age... How would you manage to...” — ‘The girl, Kalifa, was clearly unwilling to believe me at face value, which irked me tremendously.’
“Look, I have no inclination to prove you anything... but the facts are given you were freed by me. I was the one who chased away the pirates as well. Besides killing most of the trandoshans. Therefore, this is my ship now. So if you want to come along, you are free to do so, but you will do it under my command.“
“Since I am not a sith, I don’t feel any need to kill you or to turn you to the dark side... I kind of had enough for this day, you know? I simply want to eat something... and I am already dreading to find out what kind of sick shit these types of trandoshan psychopaths placed on ice in their kitchen... So I don’t need anymore questions or troubles for the day...”
“Sigh... Just come along quietly and eat whatever edible we find... Or if you are stubborn, you can take one of the fighter planes and leave wherever you want...”
‘She seemed to consider my statement, then she nodded towards me, and said...’
“I will stay, I think. I am pretty hungry... as well.” — ‘She said sheepishly.’
“Good, then come, it is time for lunch...”
‘Kalifa nodded silently and began to follow me in a somewhat closer distance. We walked for a whole thirty seconds, when she suddenly asked...’
“Are you sure that you killed all of them?”
‘Force... help me not to put her back into that damn cage.... Be understanding... She must be happy to see someone who didn’t want to kill her at first sight... I should be patient... Yet, I am kind of emotional right now... I mean, seeing how those fucking pirates treated me after I saved their fat asses kind of fucked me up...’
‘Then I gathered an unusual level of dark side energies... and a good chunk of it is still circulating inside my body... Oh, and that meant I had to constantly suppress this burning anger inside me... and that didn’t help my general mood...’
“By the way, can you bring me back to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant?” — ‘Came another question from Kalifa.’
‘I froze mid step and turned around just to look at the girl in the eyes.’
“Look at me,” — ‘I began with a dark tone, that suggested nothing good.’ — “do you remember what you called me the first time you saw me?”
“Oh...” — ‘She seemed to realize the problem.’
“Yes, what do you think will the jedi think if I appear like this before them?”
“...” — ‘She remained silent this time.’
“Exactly, and that means. I would rather jump head-first into a sarlacc’s open mouth, then go any closer to Coruscant ever again... Especially after what I just endured from those idiotic elders... They think, I didn’t realize what they did... fuckers used me as a cheap bait, while acting so magnanimously... Thousands of years passed by and nothing really changed... Heh, not that I ever expected otherwise... Yet, I don’t feel the slightest happiness from getting exactly what I expected... They can drown in their own shit and I wouldn’t care! Do you understand, so don’t ever bring up the Jedi Temple in front of me ever again!”
‘I turned away from the human girl... and continued my walk, meanwhile, sinking deeper and deeper into my own thoughts.’
‘I might have overdone it a bit, seeing how hurt she looked… It’s all because of this dark side energy that I am constantly losing my shit! I am not supposed to be this emotional… I scolded myself for the second time today.’
‘It’s a shame, really...’
‘Some people think that knowing human nature is a blessing, and sometimes it is... Yet if you had enough knowledge, it would become a curse as well, a curse of inaction.’
‘As you continuously expand the magnitude of the scope, of that which you look at the world as a whole. You will continuously see the bigger and greater connection over a bigger and bigger time period... You will find yourself planning and thinking not in days, weeks or years anymore... But in hundreds of years or even thousands of it, while new and new variables continue to appear constantly, forcing you to accommodate them into your plan.’
‘If you have so much time, you have so many things to lose. You will inevitably slow down to an overly relaxed lifestyle. You will laze around days and nights doing nothing but thinking about useless stuff and planning about your future actions, meditating, reliving old memories hundreds of times. Or simply imagining possible adventures, using your visions to see through time and space. It is easy to get lost in your own memories... especially if there are so many...’
‘Whatever... the jedi council betrayed me without blinking an eye. I wasn’t going to follow their bidding for five years in the first place, especially since I was innocent to begin with. I merely used them as they did use me. It was an ideal chance to gather information about the current Republic.’
‘I couldn’t help but smile as a vicious thought resurfaced in my mind.’
‘It would be interesting to see, what the galactic senate has to say about threatening a helpless child to join the civil war, or she would be sent into a mining facility for twenty years... I guess I will write a nameless story, about my overly cruel fate and send it to the media...’
‘I want to see that green fuck boil in his own sweat!’
“Hehehe.... I can already see it.“ — ‘I chuckled to myself. Outrage in the Jedi Temple! The wise council of the high and mighty Jedi has decided to start forcing children into war, even outside of their order.’ — “Heehhehe....”
“.... Are you sure that you are not a sith?” — ‘The girl asked.’
“Cough... cough, cough... don’t ruin my fantasising! Can’t I hold a rightful grudge?”
“.... That is exactly what a sith would say...” — ‘Kalifa said in a low tone.’
“And how the hell would you know that!? Since I recall that you never even met one?”
“I read about them in the archives...” — ‘She began almost whispering this time. There was something alarming in her tone, but I couldn’t care about it at the time.’
‘Instead, I burst into another rant.’
“Your archives! Spare me your childish impulses, please... What level of information would you possibly be able to reach, if you are not even a padawan learner? I just searched your archives a few days ago, and even on the padawan level of authorisation, there was about eighty percent of general historical information, which you can access from anywhere... The other twenty percent was mostly a bunch of half truths and propaganda... Ouch!!”
‘A dark premonition came over me, signaling an immediate threat appearing right behind me, but I couldn’t move out of the way, as Kalifa grabbed one of my lek in a tight painful grip, that sent cold shivers throughout my skull.’
“Hey, let go of my lek.... What are you doing? That hurts, stop!” — ‘My lek has snaked around Kalifa’s arm, squeezing it in a subconscious attempt to free itself to which she also tightened her grasp on the soft flesh.’
‘I cried out in a sudden mix of panic and pain, only to feel the now familiar touch of a blaster pistol pushed into the middle of my back.’
“Shut it and stop squeezing my arm or I swear that I will tie a knot on your leks! You must indeed be a Sith, to curse my order so much in that short time we met.”
“What!? You can’t be serious.” — ‘I protested immediately.’ — “I am the victim here! Listen, if you don’t let me go right now, I am gonna teach you a lesson you won’t forget!”
Suddenly, there was a blue burst of light filling the corridor, followed by the heavy sound of a collapsing body.
In the middle of the corridor, a human girl stood with a shocked expression and shaking hands. Staring at the body of the unconscious twi’lek. The girl had the beginning of panic induced tears in her eyes. Then she let out a long, relieved sigh. Finally realizing that the gun she secretly picked up and accidentally pulled the trigger in the middle of their scuffle was the same gun that the kidnappers used to capture her, and probably other targets, alive.
It was a blaster specifically made for neutralising targets without causing them permanent harm. Aside from that, it hurt like a bitch, something she experienced on her own skin not so long ago.
As she calmed down, she felt a sense of accomplishment and smugness washing over her body. She caught a sith alive, something that even Master Obi’Wan Kenobi couldn’t accomplish. She crouched down next to the most arrogant twi’lek she had ever encountered, carefully checking if she was truly unconscious. Before deciding to speak up.
“Who is the boss now? You sith scum!”
‘She straightened up, slowly. Thinking about her next action.’
“With that said… I need to find something to tie you up… Of course, first I will take this saber of yours. She picked up the blade and ignited it out of curiosity.”
Her mood has plummeted somewhat when she saw the brilliant silver color. She directed an annoyed and slightly envious glare at the stupid girl sprawled out on the floor.
“How would a stinking sith get her hands on a beautiful blade like this? I bet she stole it from someone… Hmph!”
That said, she turned around and left to search for something to tie up the fool. She wasn’t willing to figure out how she might react when she realizes what had just happened.
Kalifa gulped drily as the thought haunted her.