Star Wars: Darklight
by AB
Chapter 22
New Apprentices
Tern registered a moan, half-awake half-asleep. He stirred on the bed, under the covers.
"Wait a minute… that's my voice." Tern thought to himself opening his eyes. He tilted his head down releasing a soft moan. He could see Volun's cute butt sticking out of the covers while most of his body and head was under them.
"Ohhh fuck… " Tern hissed realising he was getting a blowjob.
A giggle from under the covers. Tern pressed his hands on the covers shoving his hips up. He did not know for how long before he woke up had Volun been sucking him for but he felt randy, hot and too overly excited to last long.
A few seconds and a few bobbling motions of Volun's head later he felt his toes curb and the butterflies in his stomach herald his incoming orgasm.
Tern lay there panting as Volun's head appeared through the covers, nesting on Tern's neck.
Tern gave a soft moan, pressing a hand across Volun's neck and shoulders, squeezing him closer.
"You are so hot." Volun whispered to him. Tern moaned in reciprocation, unwilling to talk yet. It was quite early.
They had arrived in Tatooine a night and a day ago, allowing the fleet and the soldiers to resupply and rest before he pressed on the offensive against the Sith forces.
A few minutes later Tern untangled himself from Volun and sat crossed-legged on the bed.
"Come, meditate with me." Volun groaned.
"I… you know I am not good at that stuff."
"I know, but you must improve. You have it in you, you just need training." Tern pressed on. Volun scoffed sitting opposite to Tern.
"Close your eyes and concentrate on the Force. Let it guide you." Tern instructed.
Volun closed his eyes, slowing down his breathing. He did not notice he had done so, this time.
A few minutes later and as he was about to abandon it in futility he saw images flash across his eyes, faded.
"Where are you?" Tern asked.
"I… I don't know. A planet, lush green vegetation." Volun breathed slow and deep. "There's a city, in ruins. They are trying to reconstruct it."
"Dromund Kaas, the old Imperial city of yore." Tern commented.
"There's a hooded figure walking amongst the ruins and the scaffolding. He is trying to get out of the city unnoticed."
"Then watch your back. It's not the jungles that are dangerous on Dromund Kaas--it's the people" Tern remembered an old inscription he had once read in the Jedi archives. "Dromund Kaas, where freedom goes to die, and legends are forced on the galaxy. What else do you see?"
"I… it is a boy. He is trying to get into one of the jungles of one of the other continents. He wants to meet someone… again?" Volun stopped in question having realised something. He opened his eyes, looking into Tern's sparkly orbs.
"It's Karek isn't it?" Tern nodded.
"I have to go to Dromund Kaas. He is ready." Volun's eyes grew larger.
"Dromund Kaas? In the Stygian Caldera? Alone? Are you insane? You are the most wanted person in the galaxy by the Sith Order."
"Yes, alone. You have a meeting with your new to-be Master, one of two, one for now. I must do this alone before I ask the fleet to jump and invade one of the core Sith worlds."
"Sometimes I do not understand you." Volun replied getting up.
"Sometimes you do not have to."
Volun stopped dead in his tracks. He had just registered everything Tern had told him just before.
"My new Master? You are him."
Tern shook his head. "No, I cannot be. I love you and you love me. I do not know if it will last an eternity or not but I am and I cannot be both. Your Master must be able to send you into harm's way. I cannot."
"You send me into battle. You have done so."
"I know, ever noticed how I am always close to you in battle since my return? I cannot be your Master, Katosh-Val can and he will make a good teacher to you."
Volun knew he would not be able to change Tern's mind on the subject. "One of two?"
"Yes, more changes for the future. For now, it is him only. You should go and I have a meeting with a Jedi Master before I go to Karek." Volun turned his head round, watching him put his clothes on.
"Jedi Master?" He asked simply.
"Yes." Tern left the room.
"I hate it when he does that." Volun thought to himself heading for the training area and Katosh-Val.
Meanwhile Lavos and Fodelos had gone from talking in the base's cantina to Lavos' room where they had done a quick job of their clothes and were pleasing each other's torpedoes, lips wrapped around them, hands wrapped around each other's waists and buttocks. A light sheet of sweat covering their bodies, making them glisten in the dim light.
Tern, passing outside their room and hearing the soft moans coming from inside, chuckled. "Place two teenagers close to each other and they are bound to want to release some tension together." He thought.
He walked to the hangar bay and boarded one of the shuttles. "Sir, where to?" The pilot asked him.
"Tython." Tern closed his eyes in meditation.
A day and a few hours later he was disembarking.
"It has not been all that long and yet… I feel like it was a lifetime ago." He told himself. He set off for the entrance of what had been the academy.
He arrived, standing in front of the entrance. It was shot by blasters, the academy building itself still stood without much damage to its exterior. "Can you enter?" A voice asked from behind a pillar.
"Master Korhu… you have come." Tern stated the obvious. He did not turn to face the Jedi Master.
He heard the sound of a lightsaber powering up, felt the hotness of the purple blade near his neck. "Did you come all this way from Devaron just to kill me?"
"I can sense the Dark Side in you from lightyears away and yet… why are you fighting for the Light?" The man asked him, the lightsaber still near his neck.
"I was made from the Dark Side, true. But I will not allow it to control my life. Does not true balance come not from denying the monster inside you but from recognizing the monster, accepting you have it and controlling it?" Tern asked. He was calm.
There was no reply for a moment or two then Master Korhu powered down his lightsaber.
"I have never thought of it like so, the Jedi Order preaches different things."
"I know and so it has for tens of millennia… what if it is all lies from both sides?"
"Dangerous road."
"Can't be any more dangerous than death." Tern turned round facing Korhu.
"I received your message." Korhu said.
"Obviously. Did you read it?" Tern's voice was not sarcastic, rather assertive.
"You have any proof of your claims?"
"Yes, but you must also think things are off with her or you would either not be here or you'd be here with half the council and an army to try and kill me."
Korhu did not reply.
Tern produced a holochron from one of his pockets. "Everything you need is in here. I'd make a copy or two before showing it to anyone. I have in fact."
"What is in there?" Korhu took it from Tern's stretched hand.
"Many things. Either the destruction of the Jedi Order or the Destruction of the Sith or both. You decide which, all of you." Tern replied cryptically.
"Have you not already decided?"
"I have decided for me and for those Force-Sensitive individuals who have joined the Coalition. I cannot decide for the Jedi or the Sith. Can I ask you a question?"
"What question?"
"Do you want to end the Force-wars? For good?" Tern gazed into the old man's green eyes.
"You may have as well asked me if I want the weather to always be sunny." It was raining.
Tern chuckled. "If we had more time I would make is sunny." He started to walk away.
"How did you know I would not kill you for setting foot on a Jedi planet?" Korhu asked him.
Tern did not reply. He walked back to the shuttle, boarded it and left Tython.
"Tell the fleet to jump to Felucia and wait for my signal." Tern told the pilot as they left the planet's atmosphere.
"And us, sir?" The pilot asked after sending through Tern's orders to the fleet.
"Dromund Kaas."
The pilot looked at him strangely. "Sir? That's one of the Sith Homeworlds."
"I know. Fly me there."
The pilot looked back at his console, jumping them to hyperspace.
A day and a half later the shuttle descended on Dromund Kaas' jungle regions.
"Smells different here. Interesting." Tern thought as he descended the shuttle ramp.
"Keep here, hidden." He told the pilot through the coms.
Tern walked through the lush jungle vegetation until two hours later he arrived in a clearing with a small pond by the side and a thick canopy of trees, branches and leaves covering the surrounding area.
"There are no birds… " He heard a voice to his left, coming from behind some trees.
"They are hiding, the people in this planet are by far more dangerous than any natural predator." Tern replied.
"I know. I have come as you asked." Karek stood nervously in the middle of the clearing. "I am ready to start my training."
"Are you ready to forgive yourself? To accept who and what you are?" Tern asked him, standing only a few inches away from him, now.
"I am ready to learn how to do… all of what you describe." Tern smiled. It was a good answer. An honest one.
"What is it like?" Karek asked enigmatically.
"What is what like?" Tern replied with a question.
"Not hating yourself." Karek explained, timidly.
"I do not know, peaceful I think."
"You do not know?" Karek inquired, surprised.
"Not personally. Not completely either way." Tern shrugged.
"What do you mean?" Karek frowned.
"I hate me, how can I not? I am a creation of Sith Lords, an abomination of the Dark Side. A part of me believes this. The other one believes the opposite, that I am a person regardless of how I came into this world, and I love me just for being if for no other reason. I seek balance between the two." Tern saw Karek flinch instinctively.
"How can you teach me what you don't know?" Karek continued his questions.
"Is there any part of you who loves you for who and what you are?" Tern asked him honestly, there was no sarcasm in his voice.
"N… no. I guess not." Tern nodded to Karek's hesitation.
"That is how."
Karek nodded, smiling for the first time.
"Isn't that touching? Do you suck and fuck too?" A harsh sardonic male voice came from behind them.
Tern saw three men holding each a lightsaber. He grinned.
"I do actually, unlike you three. Not Karek here but I do."
The man who had spoken laughed. "A cocksucker eh? Like taking it up the arse too? Well who cares. I can sense the Dark Side in you, who is your Master, boy?"
"I do, indeed but there is your first false assumption." Tern pivoted fully around. "I have no Master."
"No Master? You are a kid. Lie to me again child and I will make you… " Tern cut him off, retrieving his lightsaber and powering it on.
"Make me what? Wish I was never born? I wasn't. Enough talk."
Tern blasted them a Force-Wave, sending two flying back. The third man ran to him, their lightsabers clashing.
The Sith took a step back defending against Tern's incoming lightsaber attack before twisting his wrist around attacking Tern. Tern pivoted around bringing his lightsaber above his head with the Sith deflecting the attack meant for his neck.
The Sith pivoted to the left with an attack meant for Tern's lower abdomen, Tern deflected with the Sith warrior pounding at Tern with his lightsaber at different angles. Attack after attack. Tern smiled catching his opponent off guard.
Tern extended his free hand clenching his fist rapidly.
The Sith Warrior was immobilised in place. He struggled for a moment trying to free himself from Tern's use of the Force before the end of a lightsaber pierced him from behind showing on his front in the middle of his torso.
The blade retreated with Tern releasing the control over the Sith warrior. He fell dead.
Karek smiled timidly at Tern, seeking approval for his action. Tern was about to smile back at him when in an instant he saw Tern Force-push him back. A lightsaber flew right past the void he had occupied only a moment before.
Tern guided the thrown lightsaber, using the Force, back to the Sith warrior who had thrown it. The Sith ducked to avoid it, straightening up thinking the danger passed. The lightsaber penetrated his head just as a smile formed on his lips.
"This has gone on long enough." Tern commented and pressed the button on his communicator. "Attack." He commanded the fleet he knew waited to jump in from Hyperspace. Tern had shielded the shuttle on their approach to the planet, using the Force.
Tern powered down his lightsaber, raising both his hands up.
Karek saw his new Master choke the third Sith and at the same time he could see The Sith's bones crack and wither as if under immense pressure.
Within seconds the Sith was dead.
"We should head back to the shuttle." Tern told his apprentice, walking off to the thick vegetation.
Karek followed him in silence.
They walked in silence. From time to time they would see a bright flash above the atmosphere, knowing a capital ship had exploded.
Two hours later they arrived at the hidden shuttle.
"Sir, a Sith armada has jumped in. Should we engage?" General Atos asked through the coms.
"Sir, they are hailing… the surface of the planet, they have not launched any fighters, yet." The radio Officer told them.
"Tern Amargo, I presume?" A male voice accompanied a holographic rendition of a man in dark red robes.
"Yes, you must be Darth Drakus." Tern stated.
"Indeed. I have a task for you." Darth Drakus said solemnly. "Behind me comes Darth Rancor with a small fleet and a Life-Eradicator cruiser." He left that hanging for a moment, watching Tern's reaction.
"My fleet and yours can handle the support ships. You alone must destroy the cruiser. Do that and I join you like Darth Novus."
"Why not have the fleets destroy it?" Tern asked. He was calm.
A small smile crept up Darth Drakus' lips. "Because for one thing the cruiser has a new type of fusion reactor installed. Its' shields will not drop when it fires its' main weapon."
"And for a second thing?" Tern inquired raising an eyebrow.
"You can either do this alone, using the Force or you have not the strength, power and ability Darth Novus claims you do and there is no reason for me to join you… or indeed let you live." Darth Drakus terminated the call.
"Sirs!" The radio officer's voice came through the coms, sounding urgent, even scared. "A life Eradicator cruiser accompanied by a small support fleet has jumped out of Hyperspace!"
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