Savage-Time Chapter 34 (Patreon)

[Coruscant, Jedi Temple]

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Obi-Wan didn’t know if the decision they made was the correct one but it would certainly have far deeper repercussions if the rest of the order found out about, despite what many political enemies or otherwise would say the Jedi Council wasn’t an all-powerful organization that controlled what every Jedi did every day and every moment. The council was merely first among equals and even in it the only reason people listened to Master Yoda for so long was the experience he could bring to resolve problems, experience that nowadays seemed out of touch with the happenings of the galaxy.

Perhaps it was unfair to think so but Master Yoda hadn’t encountered any Sith himself, he had been born after the last Sith war and grew in a galaxy at peace, a galaxy ripe with corruption and issues that had been long since attributed to the errors of the past, errors that Yoda had witnessed but did nothing about.

“We made the right choice Obi-Wan there is no need to feel guilty” the voice of Master Windu was as uncompromising as ever but Obi-Wan felt the empathy he had towards him in the Force and that despite his harsh words he cared for his fellow Jedi, Anakin didn’t think so but his former Padawan was never the best at reading other people.

“Every choice carries consequences; this is no different. They made their choice Obi-Wan and it is our duty to see them punished for it, we will make sure nothing like this happens ever again” Shaak Tii speaks without hesitation but she had always been one of those who stuck more closely to the rigidness of the code.

“Will we inform the rest of the council of what has transpired here?” he notices that Shaak Tii turns to Windu and looks almost expectantly at him.

“I don’t believe we should tell the whole council, secrets can spread if told too many times,” when Obi-Wan is about to protest Windu continues “but this is an important matter that should be discussed, I will inform the rest of the council discretely and if the need arises we will speak of it on the next council meeting”

That mollifies Obi-Wan, they aren’t doing anything in secret, not completely at least and while he doesn’t want to face any censure at the hands of his friends he will gladly receive it in this instance. Windu’s actions speak more than any rumor about his ambition to lead the council.

“The matter of Grievous remains undiscussed and with the war back on before schedule we have lost any opportunity to talk about it at length, sending the rest of the council out first may have been a mistake” Obi-Wan believed that he should also have been one of those chosen to go given the excellent track record he has kept since the war started but this time his links to Anakin have given him some bad publicity and Obi-Wan’s command has been held back in order for people to quickly forget about the tragedy of Coruscant.

“We will interrogate him but not in the conventional sense before handing him over to the Republic to face the courts, already those who specialize in machines and droids are downloading his memories, it won’t be a perfect thing though as only half of his brain is augmented” Windu doesn’t seem to be satisfied with that but Obi-Wan doubted that they could get into his head even if they tried. The cyborg while cowardly at times had enough hate for the Jedi to make any attempt a failure.

“I believe that eliminating him as a threat is better than leaving him to the courts” Shaak Tii was becoming more ruthless as time passed or perhaps Obi-Wan had simply never noticed the ferocity with which she approached justice.

“It is not our place to decide that” Obi-Wan answered

“Maybe it should be” was the quick retort of the Togruta.

“That sounds like something Anakin would say” Obi-Wan couldn’t help but laugh at the look of discomfort that appeared on Windu’s face as he mentioned that, Anakin had some radical ideas about justice but he always ended up in a tangle when Obi-Wan asked why to have a republic at all if he wanted to make all the decisions himself.

“Then perhaps he is wiser than I thought” Shakk Tii left before she could see the incredulous look of Windu, Anakin wouldn’t believe this when he told him later, thinking about his former Padawan also made him question just what he was doing now that he was grounded on Coruscant.

He said that he had to catch up with Padme but it had been more than a day since he had left, he just hoped he hadn’t been roped up in another cultural festivity of the senator, those three days without contact were enough to last a lifetime, not to mention that it had been up to Obi-Wan to train Ahsoka for those three days.

If Obi-Wan didn’t know better he would say Anakin was breaking the Jedi code and while he could see his Padawan doing so Obi-Wan knew that Padme, who had been a long ally of the Jedi, would ‘help’ him break the code. Even in his own mind Obi-Wan feared using any other euphemism.

“Obi-Wan” Windu put a hand on the breaded Jedi’s shoulder “What has you so lost in thought?”

Not willing to admit that he had been thinking about the possibility of Anakin breaking the code Obi-Wan said the first thing that came to his mind “Mandalore”

“Mandalore? Why?” Obi-Wan cursed himself for saying that but his thoughts often moved in that direction even subconsciously or rather in a certain duchess’ direction. Obi-Wan couldn’t shake his head so he went back to what he always did and grabbed his beard as he put on a thinking pose.

“Th Deathwatch group has been very silent and while I trust in the New Mandalorian peace movement I worry about the consequences of losing the leader of the neutral faction along with all the star systems that pay tribute to Mandalore” Obi-Wan would have patted himself on the back for that quick response but he wasn’t around Anakin.

“True, the mere thought of having to juggle both Sith and Mandalorian warriors is frightful, Jedi intelligence has been somewhat unreliable before but we have some people who can visit discretely and inform us if anything pressing happens”

“I may not do that kind of work anymore but I have some contacts left and Mandalore is far from the public eye perhaps I could go” This had nothing to do with Satine or so he told himself in the privacy of his mind.

“I will alert the rest of the council about your new mission” with that Windu was gone and Obi-Wan would forever deny that he felt some anticipation about his visit to Satine.

___________________________________________

[Onderon System, Dxun]

Savage Opress

I was currently in a staring contest with the nighthunter that Merrin had domesticated, the animal for some reason was hyper-sensitive to whatever move I made when I was in close proximity to Merrin and while I could have just broken its mind with the Force like any good Sith would have, Nox had decided that I should learn how to domesticate the creature the old fashioned way.

This was the reason why I had spent the better part of an hour at this, while Nox was training Merrin in the background. After another minute passed I decided that enough was enough and grabbed it with the Force, an invisible hand was gripping the pseudo cat and I was about a movement away from making it explode in the air by the sheer pressure I was applying while the Maalraas was doing its best to cry out for help.

Luckily for me and unluckily for it Merrin was deep in Sith meditation so I could do whatever I wanted with it.

“Savage stop that, training is over” Nox’s voice called out distantly and suddenly I became aware of the fact that my control over the Dark Side had been slipping away from me and I was very close to falling to a berserker state.

I let go of the nighthunter who hissed as he scampered away from me and went to sit beside Merrin “So it was another test of will”

“More like a test for patience and I’m honestly surprised you lasted so long, I didn’t figure you as the type to enjoy awkward silences” Nox called out mockingly before he threw some lightning my way, I quickly ignited my lightsaber and redirected it towards him but he only smiled as the electricity passed harmlessly over his ghostly form.

A second later Merrin received her first dose of Force lightning and just like I had done and much like everyone else who had been on the receiving end of such torture she screamed, despite that I noticed that she never broke her meditation and soon her connection to the Dark Side was greater than before.

“You see that,” Nox said while pointing at Merrin “that, is dedication”

“I did the same when I was trained by Count Dooku”

“I wasn’t talking about her, I was talking about me,” Nox said as he pointed at his face with his thumbs “I’m training both of you at the same time without compromising the other’s education”

“You had me staring at an animal for more than an hour!”

“Yes and I have taught you about patience as a Sith which is harder than teaching a Jedi how to be aggressive” Nox nodded to himself as he spoke

“That is a lie! It’s easy to make a Jedi aggressive”

“I’m not talking about this era’s pathetic shadow of what the Jedi are, I mean a true Jedi, now shut up and conjure lightning before I call all the other animals inside this temple here so they can chase you”

“That isn’t much of a threat when I could easily kill them all” I pointed out to the ancient ghost who was either becoming more insane or had no idea about how to teach.

“You clearly haven’t seen the newly modified ones that your droids made in your absence, droids don’t stop for anything as long as they have energy and I don’t have to tell you that its easier to have an animal bred than to catch others”

“They’ve been breeding the ones that mutated!?” no I can’t help but be curious about how they look and how dangerous they truly are if even Nox is using them as a threat.

Nox says nothing but a sharp whistle-like sound comes from his ghostly form and soon I can hear the growling of a beast, the heavy thumps of an animal bigger than what Merrin had tamed, running directly to me comes the from of a Maalraas that has clearly been heavily enhanced the body no longer lithe, instead of taut muscles that are for rapid striking the nighthunter is filled with bulging flesh that certainly leaves an impression and as it opens its mouth I notice that it has more teeth than it should.

I was so surprised by the mutation it has endured that I don’t attempt to dodge it, some part of me also wants to see just how strong it is. I quickly reinforce my body with the Dark Side and wait for it to crash against me. I don’t have to wait long before it does and it sends me spiraling onto the other end of the room even as reinforced as I was I feel like I have a broken rib and my skull is rattling from the hit.

The animal then waits at Nox’s feet as if it was the most normal thing to do.

“Are there really more of them? And when did you have time to teach it what to do?”

“The others are not that impressive, this one is a descendant of your previous pet and I didn’t train it, the droids did. They presented it with an image of you and whenever it charged at it they rewarded it with lots of meat, then they trained it to respond to the whistling as a signal for it to charge at you” Nox explains all of that as if it made perfect sense.

“But how did it find me?”

“I showed it where you were”

Without saying another word I start practicing my ability to throw lightning around.