“Get out of my head!” The clone fired a verbal volley through clenched teeth, seething through an anger Nara knew was imagined, a fuming rage set just behind eyes that focused intently on Nara’s own, “these are your memories, or your contrivances...do not think you can mock what I have become in your absence.”
“You are who you have decided to become. It is not I that is in your head sister...it is you within mine.” Nara stated with simplicity, blinking through the visage of anger with resolute determination, ‘I will not provide her excuse, as Ahsoka did not with me.’ Nara thought to herself, suddenly grateful the Togruta was right there with her. “Before you contrive a rebuttal, look to see sister…” Nara caught the tangential moment the clone had shifted from absolute confidence in her sudden situation to a mild doubt that could only be shared through a combined truth.
The clone did not respond immediately, working internally to direct her thoughts in the manner suggested, while assuring herself it wasn’t a form of trap in the process.
“I offer no illusions, nor misdirection, only a truth taken from you before you could ever think to look for it.” Nara continued, working to establish an equal bounding for continuation.
“We have both been trained in the arts, Nara, I am no fool…” The clone responded, willing, it appeared to trust in something that was quite foreign to her in concept but nowhere near committing to it.
“No...you have been trained. I have perfected it.” Nara stated, her tone suggesting nothing beyond an ease of peace despite the depth and truth within the words themselves.
“This is inherently dangerous Nara, do you deem this wise?” Zannah whispered into Nara’s thoughts, lightly enough to avoid any break in concentration.
‘She is me Zannah, I would not deny her the path that I was provided. What she does with the truth, however, is completely in her hands. If she moves to supplant, she will be destroyed, you my word.’ Nara thought quickly in response, sensing the urgency within the spirit and the hesitation within the clone.
“You are not alone are you…” The clone asked suddenly, taking Nara somewhat off guard with her keen senses. She cast a sideways glance toward Ahsoka in response, “not the Togruta Nara.” The elaboration clarified the point beyond any doubt, leading Nara to smile outwardly.
“I am not, no.” Nara said softly indulging the clone with the well-earned victory.
“I can sense another….” The clone said softly in return, her eyes projecting the truth as angers fire died within them.
“Then you understand that we have returned to the beginning, you can either die with identity or accept that your mission is already complete.” Nara stated, retrieving the long saber hilt with a fluid motion despite the tension that was already in the air. “Sidious will be here soon, this we both know. What is it that we propose to present him sister? That choice is now yours.” She finished igniting both halves of the saber staff before her, holding its bright orange energy beams parallel to the floor beneath her. The charged tones of the blade snapped with exaggerated crispness through the dry static air within the chamber.
Ahsoka placed her back at the wall and slowly knelt down, ready to simply observe as Nara had asked. The code established, and a mutual understanding that would follow, discouraged the Togruta from any terminal action going forward, despite her willingness to accept any incurred cost from interfering with fate itself. She had to focus on her own breathing to remove herself completely from even entertaining thoughts to the contrary, each inhale renewing the trust she had forged with Nara and each exhale a commitment to place in her own trust in whatever game was being played between the two in front of her. Ahsoka remained fixated on the unmoving blades that bathed the white room in a pulsating orange, waiting for another to challenge its dominance while placing her thoughts into the realm of manifestation in the hopes that it wouldn’t. She could feel the seconds of palpable tension pass between the two, the constant probing of the younger sister affirming a chaos of intent and doubt, while Nara remained a constant form of commitment and assuredness. Ahsoka could sense her own resolve cementing itself to the trust she knew she had firmed within commitment to the Barriss clone that had sought a way toward her own truth, driving hard, now, to achieve a balance of that same truth to the mind that needed it most.
‘Zannah, reveal yourself to her...please, then cast your veil...she needs to understand.’ Nara thought to the dwelling spirit, her intent clear through both action and determination.
“You understand, the outcome could destroy her.” Zannah replied, willing but hesitant at the same time to acquiesce to the odd suggestion.
‘I do but unlike me, she does not have the luxury of time nor the vastness of a planet’s surface to discover the truth on her own. We need to know before Sidious arrives...and arrive he will.’ The thought was crystal clear.
Ahsoka could immediately feel a change between the identical Mirialans, Nara welling with the Force from sources she herself could not identify, sources that seemed unwilling to abide to her own call not that long ago.
Nara felt the probing increase in intensity, Zannah withdrawing enough through Nara’s mind to allow the invasive presence enough room to search her out, the clone conceding more effort through soft grunts and facial contortions to infiltrate as deep as Nara was allowing. The moment Zannah felt enough intrusion had taken place, she cut off the invasion through that which it had accessed to begin with, trapping the clones mind within Nara’s.
Although Ahsoka had no idea what was transpiring she felt the flows of the Force shift to an abrupt halt, her eyes fixated on the absent stare of the wide-eyed clone as her body became rigid, falling to her knees with an autonomous thud to the hard flooring.
Ahsoka willed herself to maintain the commitment she had made to both herself and the trust she had in Nara, not moving a muscle in response to the eerie gaze of the absent clone. Ahsoka’s eyes turned in their sockets to look upon Nara’s face, met with a glowing calm, the Mirialan blinking through the seconds as if nothing were happening at all. The pulsing of the saber Nara hadn’t moved a centimeter seemed to spark and snap slower within Ahsoka’s montral, certain that time itself was slowing down. Each registry of the static induced discharge beginning to echo the sentiment through the silence that had ensued. Each breath from the three that shared the room adding a soft tone of life that seemed absent, each flash of refracted light sent through the crystals within the hilt of the saber casting brilliant white shafts of contrast through the orange beams, its own light mingling within the confines and glowing profusely within the calm of Nara’s eyes between blinks.
The clones mouth fell open slightly and Nara knew the trap had been set, that what would be could only be and nothing more. “You see the truth don’t you sister...you see the balance of truth within.” Nara whispered quietly between the two.
“...I do…” The clone responded just as quietly if not more slowly.
“Then tell me what you see.”
“Courage bounding unapologetically across endless grasses, Compassion closely follows with a love deeper than the seas of Mon Cala...Fear itself ready to pounce on the wretched, yet an ally just the same. Countless bones shattered within and without, hearts changed through perception and will, souls reconfigured in a light of absolution and the blood of trillions oozing from the mouth of dominance.” The clone whispered lightly, Ahsoka having a tough time deciphering them separate from the humming of the saber in Nara’s hands. Yet, the woman continued, her eyes remaining unmoving despite the need to blink the dryness from them, “open arms of galactic unity, hands held at times, crushed under the weight of an iron boot at others. I am what I am, what you’ve already deciphered. I am she that is not me, but you that has delivered us all. I am your sister Nara. Nara of the Bendu. We are the ones in the middle…..” The clone began to convulse slightly, Ahsoka sure she would have to rush forward, but Nara only turned her head slowly to assure the Togruta that it wouldn’t be necessary.
“Then you are free of your own prison and the burden upon you. With what name do you identify, she of the Bendu.” Nara said with a depth Ahsoka found almost disturbing despite her own senses calming her nerves.
“I am...Lunara.” The clone decided before falling to the ground in absolute exhaustion, Nara extinguishing the blade the moment the woman’s head hit the floor.
“What...just...happened?” Ahsoka asked the question her mind couldn’t answer on its own.
“She, has chosen wisely.” Nara responded, returning the sabers hilt to her waist, and turning to Ahsoka. “Your trust made this possible...for that I thank you Ahsoka.”
“She had a moment of doubt and a flash of anger, but she saw what I already have. She walked my path with me through Zannah’s aid, went through the same trials without having to make the same sacrifice. At the moment of choice, she made one with her heart despite the suggestions she had been born into inside these damned pods.” Nara paused for a breath, walking slowly to the woman lying on the floor. She placed a hand on the woman’s back, feeling as it rose and fell with regular breaths. Assured that the woman was ok, she turned her over gently, sliding her to the wall adjacent the door and propped her against it, seating herself beside the unconscious clone and resting a gentle hand upon the woman.
“Nara, she wasn’t the only one changed through that…” Ahsoka confided, sure she had sensed more than was admitted, “a balance of truth implies a third and ultimate understanding of something greater.”
Nara considered the comment as she consoled the woman beside her, her fingertips tracing light circles over the woman’s hands, “a consideration for those that remain around us Ahsoka.” Offering a hand forward, Nara continued, “for her memory, and countless others that had no choice, no other path, and no one to deliver them.” Nara closed her eyes, resting her own head against the wall behind her with a deep exhale, “and a firm grasp on the reality that will confront us, one that comes with hope.”
Ahsoka, remaining on her own knees turned fully to face Nara, “I don’t know how we can save them Nara.”
“The how is irrelevant at the moment Ahsoka, what I saw was thousands of souls looking toward me for guidance.” Nara relayed, opening her eyes to snare Ahsoka’s gaze, “and her…” She added with a gesture toward the clone.
“Where? Certainly not here...and if not here...the solution does not become any clearer.” Ahsoka replied, making a diligent effort to remove any questioning sentiment from the statement itself.
“I know it sounds ludicrous, but...home, to answer the question.” Nara stated, closing her eyes once more, “and no I don’t know how.”
Ahsoka stewed over the response, confused beyond herself in ways she couldn’t imagine, “home?” The question was logical she determined.
“Ambria….where else?” Nara’s answer was as direct as it could be.
“The suggestion is quite ludicrous Nara, staying here is definitely not an option...transferring ‘here’ anywhere else is just not possible, never mind ludicrous.” Ahsoka’s confusion had the potential to uncork an irrational anger as it drove toward memory of utter obfuscation and the rambling tenets ushered forth by a certain frustrating Obi-wan. She took a deep breath of her own, setting the dilemma aside for the moment, “what hope comes by way of our coming reality Nara?”
Nara smiled at the question, internally wishing she had asked that in the first place, “something gleaned through the exchange are the answers you yourself have been searching for, answers to the only question we should have been asking ourselves from the beginning…” Nara answered with exuberance, her lips pulling into a smile as she spoke, her eyes opening with a renewing vigor Ahsoka hoped was contagious.
Ahsoka pondered the statement without giving Nara a chance to elaborate, forcing herself to find the meaning herself so as to come to the same realization the Mirialan clearly had. Ahsoka thought back to events both recent and not so, establishing her descent through the darkness on Malachor as a starting point. ‘Interaction Obi-wan would be irrelevant at this point.’ She told herself, her form this day of a fond remembrance in honor of the father figure he had been, ‘Master Yoda’s location would have scrubbed and Vaders citadel was a moot point, Nara herself had been there...Ambria? Again, Nara was there, is now here….what then?’ The ponderings seemed to devise more questions than possible answers as she knelt in the cloning room, staring straight through the damaged monitoring equipment for her elusive answer. ‘Windu’s saber?’ That wouldn’t be important enough for Sidious even if it had shone her a path toward its former owner. She was left with only one question that had the potential to remain outside any possible answer, “Why?”
“Why indeed Ahsoka.” Nara responded, Ahsoka removing her absent gaze through the walls of nothingness and locking eyes with the Mirialan again, “You are one of three reasons why.” Nara continued.
“Me? Surely Sidious knows I will not be turned.” Ahsoka was aghast, pulling her features back as she rocked her head into the wall.
“Look around you woman! He doesn’t need to turn you!” The reply was quite a bit more ferocious than Nara had intended but she felt the answer should have been obvious.
Ahsoka felt like an idiot through the explanation, rocking her head forward with a dizzying force, “he only needs my blood.”
“Precisely Ahsoka. I would wager your M count has had him stewing for this moment for quite some time.” Nara continued, tapering the edge from her voice in a soothing manner.
“Surely the Whills do not abide Nara.” Ahsoka stated, free of the dizzying effects of the snap of her neck forward, she lifted herself to her feet.
“You make a tragic underestimation if you think he will not override any force with the potential to steal his prize, he will damn the Whills Ahsoka, no matter the consequence…”
“Because he is nascent of fear?” Ahsoka wanted to make sure they were on the same page, cutting Nara off unintentionally.
“No being is nascent fear, not one...not even Sidious, despite the aura the man projects. No, the man fears the only thing anyone with power would.” Nara countered, craning her neck to hold Ahsoka’s gaze.
“Losing it.” Ahsoka stated, turning fully to Nara, her arms wrapped tightly across her chest.
“Losing it.” Nara repeated, assuring them both the answer was a shared fact.
“You mentioned three reasons, points of truth toward our understanding of ‘why’?” Ahsoka asked turning her gaze from Nara and out through the opening to the cloning pods beyond. She heard a light shuffling behind her and turned to see Nara stuffing a hand deep into one of the internal coat pockets. She found what she was looking forward and presented the small cube for Ahsoka’s inspection. “Come on Nara, how could he have known about that?”
“As surely as you ask you infer that you have already underestimated him….again.” Nara responded, turning the cube over and over through her fingers before depositing the item in the palm of her hand.
“Fine, then what would he do with it, if for the sake of argument, it was in his possession?” Ahsoka could only continue after the abrupt roadblock cast through the only argument she felt she could make.
“You’ve already seen what the power of suggestion can evoke, providing then that you accept my claims concerning the containment of Abeloth, perhaps you should rephrase the question.” Nara was almost laughing, Ahsoka, despite some surging spikes of her own naivety, absolutely saw the humor in the response.
“Forget I asked.” Ahsoka said, alighting the air with an unforced giggle.
Her facial expression switching suddenly to one on the brink of conveying a dire truth, Nara swallowed hard as the laugh died out in the chamber. Ahsoka sensed the change in direction immediately, canting her head as she tightened her arms across her chest.
“The third reason why is the most formidable Ahsoka.” Nara relayed, lost in her own fear of admission, “there is another matrix.”
‘This was mentioned was it not?’ Ahsoka thought to herself, peeling back her memories through another layer of understanding, ‘always two there are….’ the thought was unavoidable, “Bane…”
“And most likely in the hands of Ani by now.” Nara said solemnly, trying without success to inject some degree of hope into the statement.
“That is what this has been about the whole time then….” Ahsoka unfurled her arms and slapped herself in the forehead. “We thought we were the ones in control, but we’ve played right into the manipulation from the beginning.”
“Sidious had help…” Zannah added to Nara’s thoughts, “suggestive nuances in the guise of impartiality..” She continued.
‘The Zeltran.’ Nara thought, waylaid by loud shouts of self-condemnation and the vicious roar of unspent anger and hatred that echoed through the chamber and vast cylindrical housing beyond. The pods nearest them rattled within the mechanized clamps and suspension droids, roiling the contents of each with agitated columns of rising bubbles. Nara could feel the wall at her back bulge from its framework, her own organs constrict slightly as she began panting for breath. The monitoring equipment began to crush into itself, sending sparks flying madly as the screens shattered into a thousand points of white light.
“WHERE ARE YOU NOW T’ZAR EK!!!” Ahsoka had become as brilliant as the sun, as determined as the stars and as ruthless as the foe that was coming for her.
Nara couldn’t contain the chortle that almost erupted from her, quick as she was to slap a hand across her mouth. An empowered twitter within that couldn’t even begin to describe the enrapturing sense of amazement over what she was witnessing, wondering if quite possibly it was Sidious on the giving end of underestimation for a change.
✦
“You have done well Admiral..” Sidious’ voice rasped within the stale cabin air, Jade confining her attention to the flight controls and navigational equipment despite their dedicated trajectory through hyperspace.
“Thank you My Lord…” Admiral Drummond Cain offered through the open comm channel wavering slightly, shocked to begin with that his Emperor would not leave such details to a contingent of subordinates, but also weary in the knees as he considered his near future and the attention he and his charge were about to receive, “We will have multiple bays open to provide for your fleet Your Eminence.” Cain continued, assuming Silent Fleet would be participating in the operation as well.
“The mistake is yours through assumption Admiral.” Sidious responded with a pinched tone, allowing the man on the receiving end of the transmission a glimpse of the beast within, “present accolades account for the fluidity of your charge, not for the business for which I attend.” Sidious continued, avoiding the mirth and contempt that would have erupted through personal conversation outright. “You will commit yourself to your assigned task and nothing more, as I have already stated, you have done well.” He finished, his voice conveying an even tone, one that mirrored the twisted lips beneath the deep cowl over his deformed head.
Jade saw the simple nod she was waiting for and ended the transmission for him with a simple flip of switch on the small comms bank between them. “We will arrive within the hour My Lord.” She said quickly, after a burst glance at the navcom she had been pretending to study. She clipped the remainder of her thoughts off from the urge to voice them, unwilling to receive the same rebuttal the Admiral had through attempts to glean more information.
“Speak your mind Jade, you seat higher in my regard than those that pander for glory’s sake. If it were legacy that interested you, it would have manifest long ago.” Sidious pierced the silence of the cockpit, broken only by the continuing hum of the ships hyperdrive’s.
“Despite the Admiral’s assurances that there has been no breach of security, the facility has been compromised nonetheless, a gas leak on the lower levels?” She questioned the Admirals earlier response with an authoritative reach through speculation.
“That is something only a former resident would consider my dear. The alarm would seal off the lower levels and force an evacuation of all personnel through the upper levels…providing one a clear path to an intended target within.” Sidious responded, turning slightly her way, his voice almost considerate as it danced through the air between them.
Jade sensed an uneasy tension but could not identify its source. Although far from a comfortable compatriot, spending any amount of time close to the man beside her had never felt menacing by any means. She knew she should voice the concern but also realized the man would only intervene if she were close to a realization of her own. “Something has changed My Lord, I can feel it…”
Jade could feel the man shift in the very ordinary co-pilots seat beside her, the finery of his robes brushing against the metallic framework, “perhaps.” Sidious said, his voice distant but attentive at the same time, an oddity she couldn’t quite explain, “or something that was expected is no longer…”
The supposition of foreseen events taking a turn toward obscurity began to reveal a thin degree of doubt within the woman who was no amateur herself within the realm of improvisation, “the Force will guide our course then…” She proclaimed, mostly for her own benefit. Sidious began to laugh subtly, a hoarse chuckle that conveyed nothing of substance between the two. Jade, assured within the moment that they were now ambling toward an unforeseen encounter, began to build upon the protective shield of raw Force energies she had learned the hard way to erect around any Force user.
“There is only the path before us Jade, let your concerns only fuel what fires you’ve stoked of your own resolve. Let them merit the unbridled affection only the Dark Side could offer and embrace the unknown with the same cruel abandon you would any other situation.” Sidious instructed, folding his hands within the confines of his robes. His voice sounded almost serene to Jade’s ears, a tone he would seldom inflect but always utilize when she sensed him deep within the Force, a tone she knew, very few have ever heard. She turned slightly to eye the man through the limits of her peripheral, the cowl arrested enough from its vigilance to reveal the deformity of the man’s face, the whitewashed and pale skin clinging to bone where it could. His cavernous sockets fielding eyes that were closed surrounded by a pronouncement of bloated wrinkles and oddly angled lines of scarred flesh that had died long ago.
The air felt ripe with an inexplicable tension, offering prophecy to Jade’s earlier comment, then, without any previous sign or warning, the air was ripped from her lungs. Jade felt the urge to contort in agony, the pain of someone ripping her still beating heart straight through her chest cavity, flesh, and all, sent spikes of both raw dread and terror coursing through her spine. The blood in her veins turned to ice, the muscles in her arms turned to stone, the results of both leaving the impression that she was suddenly without hands. She could feel her eyes burn with an intensity that began to paint wild works of unimaginable fantasy, fantasy of the most gruesome and horrid nature. Jade’s bones began to vibrate, threatening to tear themselves free of the structure they create only to be obliterated painful snap by snap until nothing remained. Her mind was tearing itself free of her senses creating dreadful scenario after scenario with new and inventive ways to die.
On the verge of complete outward obscurity, Jade could hear deep wails of a heavy, raspy breathing and the guttural ululations of resolve through her Emperor’s own will as he pushed through the same sensations with a tooth grinding effort. She dared to turn through the pain, open her eyes to the fires that would sear them in her skull to find the man gripping the armrests of the co-pilots seat with white knuckled intent, the sounds of pinging metals and splitting framework joining the cacophony of raucous doom her mind had convinced her body they were enduring. Between bursts of white-hot pain, she could see the man seething his heaving breaths through lips pulled tight and the obvious pain of jaw locking vehemence. As quickly as it had begun, it was over.
Her body hers to command once more, Jade fell into the ship’s yoke, her head within centimeters of crashing into the navigational console. She could only hold herself steady to inhale, ready to endure the pain through her chest and ribs, to find that the pain was gone. The mighty inhale left her gasping to exhale it, choking on the very thing she thought she needed most, only to find that her breath had already been regulated, her heartbeat, erratic, but normalizing. Jade blinked her eyes several times, preparing herself for the continuation of piercing heat and stabbing agony to find her eyesight very much intact and completely pain free. She ran through a self-diagnostic, in fact leaving little doubt that whatever had occurred had been temporary at best, or possibly imagined.
“That was no...mere vision..” Sidious spoke quietly through his own efforts to regain composure, panting through the words while lifting a hand to his chest. Jade could only observe the man working to restore himself to some operational level of sanity while she did likewise, averting even the thought of the question that would need to be asked.
“You would..do best to simply...ask Jade. The truth will be made….whole.” Sidious responded, returning to function as he lifted his head to the continuation of hyperspaces swirling vortex beyond the canopy view.
“What was that?” She took the cue, turning to her Emperor fully.
The man did not move, nor did he answer the question immediately. Sidious lifted his hands to the cowl of his robes and pulled it high over his head, burying his features within its darkness completely.
“That, my dear, is the form of anger in its truest sense. Raw, unrefined. Crude and native to the universe, a malice that could shatter worlds. That, my dear, is the reason you will not face Tano...because that…” Sidious paused for his own benefit, torn between his own greedy desire and a feeling he had not served attention in decades, one that felt foreign and unnatural, and one that he would never name, “...that IS Ahsoka Tano….”