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Rise of the Apprentice
I
Her mission had been an easy one. After all, for someone with her skills, breaking into a barely defended military base on the border of the Mid Rim and stealing some more or less unimportant codes was hardly a challenge. Just an every day Thursday.
All she needed to do was to sneak on the planet, join the small group of local rebels that had contacted them in the first place, and let them create a distraction while she infiltrated the place. Easy. Sure, there had been a few more problems than anticipated –seems like the imperials in this base were a lazy bunch that didn’t care about a ruckus in the area they were supposed to guard, resulting in them sending out much fewer troops than anticipated- but it went alright. The only major change to their plan had been that eight members of the local group were forced to flee the planet with her. No big deal, she had thought. She could just drop them off with some of her allies and be on her way.
Then Vader happened.
Now that she stood in front of their cells, she could confidently say that their stay here had not only been more uncomfortable than hers but also resulted in a less fortunate outcome. For all that Vader had limited her movements and let her hungry and thirsty all the time, not to forget mentally tormenting her with visions, it had opened her eyes in the end.
For all that her body was only barely strong enough to keep her upright, she now felt more powerful than ever before.
Her former comrades, however, were not so lucky. They had obviously been tortured, going by their bruises and the dried blood on what was left of their clothes. Also, going by the fact that there were only six of them left, two women and four men, she assumed the other two hadn’t survived her master’s hospitality.
Staring into her cells, seeing them but remaining unseen herself, she wondered if she should feel something. Not to say she didn’t feel anything, there was some emotion she couldn’t name in the back of her mind, but she thought there used to be more.
She also didn’t know if she should rejoice that such weakness was purged from her or feel scared of what she has become.
(The second thought was quickly discarded. There was no place for such blasphemy.)
Finally deciding that she had waited long enough –she wasn’t hesitating, no, only considering her own feelings- she opened the doors and stepped inside, facing the glances of the six cowered figures that went from resigned to confused to betrayed in a matter of seconds.
Her master had given her a mission and she would fulfil it.
She may not have a lightsaber to do the deed, but she had the Force.
“There is one more test you must pass before we can begin your training in earnest.”
“What do I need to do, Master?”
“You will need a kyber crystal and make it bleed.”
She thought she should feel something while she overlooked the extensive grasslands of her native homeworld from her position on top of a hill. Maybe some sort of longing for a life the Jedi had stolen from her when they took her as a child or even a feeling of arriving home, now that she finally returned here.
But she didn't feel anything like that. The closest thing to feeling anything right now was annoyance at her prey for not arriving sooner.
She could feel the Jedi coming closer, hurrying to safe people long since dead. It was somewhat ironic that she would, in typical Jedi fashion, arrive way too late.
Throwing a glance behind her, she saw the burning remains of the small village that must have been there for at least a few decades, enduring natural disasters and Akul attacks for years, only to fall at her hands. From her position, she could just barely see the arms of a corpse sticking out from behind some rubble.
Killing the villagers - not just the men, but the women, and the children too- was different than killing her fellow prisoners had been. Whether that was because that had been only minutes after her fall or because their death after weeks and months of torture could have been mistaken for an act of mercy while the death of this village had been nothing less than a slaughter, she didn't know, but if there was something she understood, then it was that this act mattered more. Her master had told her that it would strengthen her bond with the dark side, and now she believed him. Her connection with it wasn't even close to the one he had yet, but it felt more cemented, more solidified than before.
“Ahsoka?”
Turning around without any haste, she came face to face with a familiar figure.
“Master Shaak Ti,” she said with a pleasant voice that was blatantly fake. “What a surprise to meet you here. You look good, rural life is becoming you well I see.”
There hadn't been many Togruta Jedi at the temple, but Shaak Ti had made sure to stay in contact with all of them. Their species valued the importance of community and companionship greatly; usually, their friends and master took the role of their tribe, but the Togruta Master had thought that they should honour where they came from and thus regularly organized get-togethers for them.
And even so, knowing me for pretty much all my life, she still didn't lift a finger when I was accused of a crime I didn't commit.
A snarl appeared unintentionally on her face. Even while she went through the exercises that Vader had given her to stay in control of the dark side instead of being controlled by it, she felt her emotions growing stronger and her control slipping.
The Jedi Master looked at her with something akin to pity, making her blood boil, when she spoke again. “What happened to you, young one? For you to fall, something-”
“Oh, surprised?” she laughed scornfully. “Isn't it funny how even though I knew about all the flaws and shortcomings of the Order for a long time, I still believed in some of your teachings? You would think I knew better, wouldn't you?”
“That's the dark side speaking through you. It blinds you to the truth-”
“The truth is that the light blinded me for years,” she spat. “But now my eyes are open to the truth and that was no thanks to you!”
The look she sent at her was infuriating. The pity, the sadness; it was as if she thought she was above her, a gracious goddess looking out for the poor souls of those below her. Now that she thought about it, that was probably a good way to describe the entire Jedi Order; a group of people thinking themselves better than others and thus believing themselves justified in doing whatever they thought was necessary. In fact-
“You might think me blinded, Master, but the truth is that you are the one who can't see what's right in front of you, blinded by your own light!”
“Master Yoda always said that once you start down the dark path it will forever dominate your destiny, but I disagree,” she replied, completely ignoring her comment and still remaining as calm as if she didn't stand in front of a foe that was out for her life. “There is always hope, always a path back to the light. Let me help you Ahsoka, it's not too late for you yet.”
She couldn't help herself; she laughed. It was a genuine laugh that grew only stronger when she noticed the slightly disturbed look on Shaak Ti's face.
It was just too funny that the first thing that made her lose her cool was her laughing, of all things.
“I believe the villagers behind you would disagree, Master.”
With that, she jumped towards her prey, leaving her dark cloak behind. Summoning the lightsaber she had been given by her master before her departure to her hand before she even hit the ground, she tried to end the fight before it even began and swung it at her fellow Togruta's head.
Her attack missed by just a few centimetres when her foe took a step back, summoning her own blue lightsaber to match her red one. Not hesitating, she went after her, not wanting to give her a moment to gather herself.
She remembered that Shaak Ti was one of the strongest lightsaber duellists of the Order and that she was particularly accomplished in the use of both the Makashi and Ataru forms. This meant that the best course of action was to never allow her to attack by constantly keeping her on the defence as even the form of Makashi, the more balanced of those two forms, was more offensive than defensive in nature. Considering that she was much better at attacking than at defending anyway, especially with the dark side spurring her along even further, she didn't disagree with that plan at all.
But no matter what she did, she just couldn't get through her opponent's defence.
She slashed at her from all directions as fast as she could - right, left, right, head, legs, right, head - and even jumped around her as much and fast as she could in an attempt to catch her off-guard, but nothing seemed to work.
She bared her teeth in a feral snarl. She should be able to break through, she should be stronger and faster than her. The dark side was flowing through her, burning in her veins. How-
A second later, she was forced to jump back to evade the sword aimed at her throat, feeling the heat of it biting into her skin as it passed her by. Suddenly she found herself on the defence, forced to take one step back after another while raising her blade to block a deadly strike after another just in time to save her life. With every step, her anger and frustration grew stronger; dying now, after finally seeing the truth, reuniting with her master, and gaining real strength was not an option. It was not! She wouldn't accept it!
But if things continued as they were now, her opinion wouldn't matter. Failing on her very first mission was not acceptable; she would find a way to come up on top and return to his side victorious.
Desperate situations required desperate measures, so the next time Shaak Ti slashed at her head, she didn't raise her lightsaber to block it but instead leaned back as far she could and caught her foe's hand with one of her feet as she retreated further back with a flick-flack. Despite her best efforts the blue blade still grazed her right arm while as it flew from her opponent's hand, but she didn't let that slow her down. Using the pain to strengthen herself, she felt her senses becoming sharper than ever before and with newfound vigour, she threw her own saber towards the Jedi's head.
For a single second, she thought that would be it, the shock and sudden panic in her foe's eyes telling her that her move had come as a complete surprise. Unfortunately, Shaak Ti managed to twist out of the way, freeing her arm from her grip by sacrificing her weapon and jumping backwards to create more distance between them.
At first, she wanted to get angry about the failed attack, but on a second glance, she noticed that it hadn't been a complete failure. She might not have decapitated her as she had intended to, but her weapon had seemingly grazed one of her two montrals. Grim satisfaction bloomed in her chest and she could hear the dark side cheer in back of her head, intoxicating her with glee.
Togrutas were capable of sensing the proximity and movement of objects around them by detecting space ultrasonically through their montrals. It was one of the things that made them such effective predators, especially in combination with the Force, but it had the distinct disadvantage that it made coordination very hard should they ever be injured.
Seeing her opportunity, she summoned the blue lightsaber closer to her into her left hand and jumped at the still kneeling Jedi who in turn barely managed to roll aside. Not to be discouraged, she rushed behind her, noticing how all her attacks came much closer than they did before.
She was just about to open her mouth to mock her when she was suddenly thrown backwards by a powerful Force push.
She managed to catch herself shortly after and landed in a crotch only a dozen metre away, but that gave Shaak Ti the time she needed to summon the lightsaber that lied not too far away from her.
She bit her tongue to stop herself from screaming. She had her, victory had been hers! She could feel the outrage of the dark side about the loss of its victim, fuelling her anger even more; at herself for not paying more attention, for had she done that she could have foreseen such a counter and either evaded or blocked it, at the damn Jedi for not just surrendering to her fate, and at the Force itself for not giving her more power.
With an angry cry, she jumped again, flying over her enemy's head before landing behind her and aimlessly slashing at her. Sacrificing accuracy for speed and strength, she pushed on while hammering one strike after another at the Jedi in front of her, feeling the hunger inside her grew with every strike. She was so close! Just a bit more, just a little faster, and the kill would be hers!
At first, she had been annoyed about being forced to fight with only one lightsaber, being used to fight with two as she was, but she was thankful now, for it allowed her to attack with two-handed strikes and thus putting much more power behind each of them.
“You know, Master,” she purred when their blades were locked and they struggled to overpower each other. “The red lightsaber suits you. It goes well with your skin. Maybe you should join me instead of trying to turn me?”
Not allowing her the time to answer, she kicked the older Togruta in the chest, throwing her several meters backwards before she finally landed hard on her back. She was only a few seconds behind, ready to make the final strike, only to barely miss her again ! She wanted to rage but didn't get the chance because she suddenly found herself on the defence again. Somehow, Shaak Ti's movements had the same elegance and fleetness as they did at the beginning of their fight with nothing of the clumsiness that had resulted from her montral injury remaining. In fact, she seemed even faster and stronger than at the beginning of their fight! Even with the additional power of her anger at her disposal, she was still just a little bit slower and just a little bit weaker than her and before she knew it, she found herself disarmed and thrown backwards with a kick against her own chest.
Thanks to her instincts, which had been honed by fighting in a war ever since her youth, she somehow managed to land on her feet even though she was momentarily disoriented and seeing everything doubled. That wouldn't have been enough to defend herself from a Jedi Master, of course, so it was fortunate that said Jedi only stood where she had left her.
“I'm sorry that I couldn't help you,” she said, making her only more outrageous by sounding sincerely apologetic. “I can see now that the dark side already twisted you beyond recognition. The Ahsoka I knew would have never been too blind to recognize that her enemy only played along with her, or that she was lead into a specific position. At least not when it was done this obvious.”
Before she could ask what she meant with that, for there was no way she hadn't fought her with all she had -the insult to her skills would be just too great- her attention was drawn towards Shaak Ti waving her hands to something to her left. She swirled her head around just in time for a mighty crack to rang out before a landslide of mud, as well as the remains of the village she had destroyed and the corpses of the villagers she had slaughtered, rushed towards her.
(“You must beware of losing control. If you do, all the power of the dark side will not be enough to safe you from your own folly.”
“ Don't fight fair. Rules are for the week. As the strong, we stand above principles like fairness and honour.”
“ If you fight, fight to win. Nothing else matters.”)
Even though she knew she couldn't have been blacked out for more than a few seconds, for she would undoubtedly be dead otherwise, she felt as if she had been out of it for at least a few hours. Everything was fuzzy, sounds were muffled, and her thoughts felt unnatural sluggish. Suddenly she was happy about the black armour she had been given; no matter how unused it felt to fight in it instead of the lighter garments she usually wore, there was no denying it that it had saved her from more serve injuries.
She tried to force herself to stand up, to prepare to defend herself, but progress was slow.
Too slow.
Even with her senses being more or less useless, she still could recognize Shaak Ti's form steadily coming closer, not hurried at all. For a moment she wanted to lash out, insulted by the confident attitude of her supposed prey, but the words of her master in her head stopped her. She had let herself go, let herself lose control even though he had warned her of just that, and it had nearly cost her her life.
She should have known better. She had been taught better! Vader and Anakin might not be the same person, just like she wasn't the same person she had been before her fall, no matter whether or not she still carried the same name, but if they had one thing in common, then it was the will to always win. If you had to use underhand tactics, then so be it.
Giving up on getting to her feet anytime soon, she stayed put on the ground, closing her eyes to concentrate on the Force for a solution. She poured her anger - at Shaak Ti, at the Jedi in general, and even at herself - and frustration into the dark side, filling the empty void inside her with agony and fear and pain, and commanded it to serve her will.
It was crude. Just like a wild beast whose will hadn't been broken yet, the dark side buckled beneath her, trying to shake off her grip. It might be willing to give her power, but only so long as it could flow freely. Being controlled wasn't in its nature.
But she couldn't give up now. Time spent in meditation passed differently, but even so, she could feel Shaak Ti coming closer and closer with each passing moment. If this attempt failed, she would die, there was no doubt about that.
Stretching her senses, she reached out to the remains of the ruins of the village she had slaughtered. The fear and pain and confusion of its inhabitants, together with their agony of watching their loved ones die before their eyes, was still there, a dark stain on the otherwise bright presence of Shili, giving her strength.
Using that power felt as if there were dozens of voices inside her head, screaming bloody murder and condemning her while trying to tear her up from the inside, but the pain gave her focus and for a few moments, she saw her salvation.
There, not far away from them on the borders of the nearby woods, she could feel a bloodthirsty presence, probably lured here by the bloodbath she had created earlier. She might not have ever seen the beast it originated from, but she knew there was only one being on this planet that could have such an impressive Force signature; an Akul.
With a concentrated attack, she drove into the beast's mind. Now, wrestling control of such a powerful animal wouldn't be an easy undertaking under the best of circumstances, but fortunately that wasn't her goal. No, she only needed to make it angry, needling it to attack. With that in mind, she didn't bother to subdue it at all and instead tried to manipulate it senses to direct its anger about her mental attack towards the scents of her and Shaak Ti, connecting these two things in its mind.
She knew she had been successful when she felt the Akul growl before it started running in their direction.
Her satisfaction about the successful execution of her plan didn't last long though, because the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was the tall form of Shaak Ti, lightsaber raised and ready to strike.
“Remember,” she said calmly. “There is no death, there is only the Force.”
Time slowed down as the blue blade closed down on her and she reacted purely on instinct.
All her fear, her anger, her pain; every last bit of agony and hatred she had gathered and built up just a few seconds ago, she let it all go at once. In a primal act of self-preservation, she raised her uninjured left arms and just a moment before the lightsaber would have cut right through her, blue lightning shot out of it, not only blocking the attack but actually pushing her back!
The euphoria she felt at that moment was greater than anything she had ever experienced before. She had never really understood drug addicts, even felt disgusted by them, but now she thought she couldn't blame them for craving more of whatever substance they were after if what they felt was even just remotely as fulfilling as this. The immeasurable power of the dark side flourished in her, only waiting for her to command it.
There was nothing she couldn't do with it.
Maybe she would have lost control completely, again, and gone mad by the rush of power flowing through her veins, but the sudden realization that her opponent was slowly but surely pushing forwards, bringing her lightsaber steadily closer to her body, brought her back.
She tried to focus on the power that was streaming from her fingertips, hoping to increase the strength of the lightning, but she quickly found herself hopeless overwhelmed. For the life of her, which was quite literally, she couldn't figure out how this technique worked, to the point where she would be surprised if she could even repeat it on a later date. This, unfortunately, meant she couldn't do anything right now to even her odds, leaving her with no other option than to grow angrier and more desperate while watching the blade came closer and closer.
She couldn't die, not now! Not when she finally fulfilled her destiny!
She didn't accept it. She. Did. Not!
She was supposed to help her master overthrow the Emperor and rule the galaxy with him. That was her future, her destiny.
She would not die!
Then there was suddenly an orange blur and the next thing she knew was that she lay on the ground without a figure looming over her.
Unconsciously stopping her attack, she just laid there for a moment, trying to understand what happened, before she turned around to see the bizarre scene of a Jedi Master fighting a large quadrupedal beast with orange fur. She blinked a few times, feeling oddly numb in body and mind before abruptly her senses returned to her.
Feral delight filled her mind at the realization that her plan had worked just like she had hoped and it took all her willpower to not repeat her previous mistake and let her emotions control her. The Force was hers to command, not the other way around. The dark was side the beast with all the power and she was the master with its leash in her hand.
Shaak Ti was visibly struggling.
The Akul wasn't a fully-grown exemplar, but neither was it a mere cub. It hadn't been able to sink its teeth into her flesh in its initial attack, the Jedi evading too fast for that, but one of its claws had ripped open her right side from her tights to her breasts. While not exceptionally deep, it still slowed her down more than enough.
Shaak Ti had managed to kill an Akul before, had in fact been infamously known to wear its teeth in ancient Togruta tradition on her headdress even in face of objections about such a “barbaric” custom from the rest of the Order, but that had been when she was prepared for it and not yet exhausted from another battle. Injured and exhausted as she was, no matter how calm she tried to appear to the outside, her victory was anything but assured.
Akuls were known to wipe out entire tribes at time, and it was obvious why.
The beast was smart enough to realize that it shouldn't come close to the blue blade in the hand of its prey and more than fast enough to stay out of its reach while still coming close enough to slash at her with its paws times and times again. Considering the fact that it had a shoulder height of almost 2 meters with a body that was a pile of muscles, even a single direct hit would be enough to break bones.
Her opponent was truly lucky that she had only been grazed by its claws before.
After it became clear that she wouldn't be able to hit the Akul with her blade, she tried to create some distance between the two of them, throwing nearby objects that were left of the prior landslide at it from different angles. However, because the Akul didn't bother to evade most of them, that strategy didn't work. Only the biggest and sharpest objects, those that would actually hurt it, were worthy of its attention, everything else nothing but an annoyance to it.
This back and forth continued for some time before Shaak Ti suddenly had time to breathe for more than a second and she used the opportunity to concentrate enough for a direct Force push towards the Akul.
Seeing her chance, she tensed up, ready to jump at her opponent, only to be forced to duck away and let the chance go by when a rock flew directly towards her head.
For a single heartbeat, their eyes met and Ahsoka took great pleasure in seeing the annoyance in the eyes of the ever-calm Jedi.
This set the tone for the next few minutes; Shaak Ti would evade the Akul's attacks, wait for a moment to strike, and then always miss the opportunity for a counter-attack because she was forced to block or avoid whatever Ahsoka threw at her. She even tried to throw something at her in return a few times and as she was one of the strongest Masters in the Order she actually managed to do so somewhat regularly, but because she was never able to follow up with another attack afterwards, it was easy enough to block these attacks while her opponent was busy fighting the Akul again.
With every minute, her movements became slower and her breath more laboured, her injury starting to visibly affect her as she started to favour her healthy side more and more. Then, from one moment to the next, she threw her lightsaber in a big arch while simultaneously directing a Force push directly at her. It wasn't strong enough to harm her, of course, it was way too hastily created to be more than a distraction, but it was sufficient to keep her busy long enough for the lightsaber to cut through the Akuk's head before returning to its wielder.
Were the situation less serious she might have pouted at how anticlimactic the fight had ended. She had honestly expected more from a beast as notorious as this. Well, she thought, not everything can be like in a holodrama.
For a moment both of them stayed still, crouched down on one knee barely a dozen metres away from each other and catching their breath. Then-
“Do you have any other tricks you want to use? If you do, now would be the time.”
Ahsoka smirked. She could see what her opponent was trying to do and to be fair, just 10 minutes ago it would have worked. But she wouldn't get a rise out of her now, at least not this easy.
Not when she had already won.
“Just one, Master,” she replied cheerfully, savouring the image of the powerful Jedi Master brought low to her knees in front of her for one more second. “It's actually one I learned from you.” Then, before the older Togruta had time to think about her words, she used the Force to lift her lightsaber and activate it.
A second later, a red blade emerged from her opponent's chest.
“I expected better of you, Master,” she taunted the still-warm body while she watched it fall to the ground, all her exhaustion forgotten for the moment. “You should recognize when your enemy is leading you towards a specific position.”