Question Blue Harvest Teaser

3642 BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin)
Balmorra The Colonies Area of the Galaxy

As retreats go, ours was in very good order.

The Cold War, and the uneasy truce, that both the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic had been suffering through, glaring at each other while sharpening knives, had ended on Balmorra. It was an industrial world, predominantly covered in battle droid factories and munitions plants, ceded to us in the Treaty of Coruscant, though never truly won by force of arms. Rebellion seemed to be the main pastime of the citizens of Balmorra, and though we always suspected the Republic was secretly supplying the populace with arms and other aid, we could never prove it.

Until today.

My Mistress and I had come to the suburban world on the orders of Darth Marr, head of the Circle of Defense of the Empire, to investigate for the who knew which time why the production quota had not been met again. My Mistress, the inestimable Darth Vannacen, had been attempting to be the velvet glove over the iron fist. She went from factory to warehouse, as regal as a queen and as beautiful as a goddess, listening to the workers complaints, touring plants for poor working conditions first hand. She was as welcoming and as warm as Darth Vader was menacing and terrifying.

There were days I envied her ability to walk into a room of strangers and instantly own it. She could do more with a low cut silk gown and a toothy smile than most people could with a suitcase full of cash. Meanwhile I had been her eyes, basically poking my nose where it wasn't wanted, seeing things that weren't meant to be seen.

Unfortunately I had 'seen' a complete Republic Legion in the process of unloading their armor division from a disguised freighter and had managed to transmit that visual back to my Imperial betters. This caused the Republic commander to come to the decision that upping his time table was better than allowing things to devolve into debate about our formal complaint in the Galactic Senate. So, with that piece of fine Republican logic he launched the New Sith War single handed.

His attack suffered for being so far ahead of schedule which allowed our retreat, turning a massacre into one of those quietly desperate actions which future historians look back on to describe as 'their finest hour'. We were having to sacrifice a lot of equipment to make room for the men as the circle around Sobrik Space Port got smaller and smaller. Still, discipline was good and the men were glad to have myself and my Mistress with them, covering the retreat.

They say a Sith Warrior is a division unto him or herself, and Darth Vannacen and I were doing all we could to live up to such a heady description. On the end of the runway of the field, desperately pushing back to give the troopers time to board the last few transports we could scavenge. It was our most desperate hour, so of course, that was when the Jedi would show up.

It is eerie fighting a Jedi.

While their Padawans' faces still betrayed their fear and excitement of the battle, the masters were another matter; their faces were blank. They came at us with no expression of anything on their faces, as flat and emotionless as a battle droid. It was as though they were under the effect of some narcotic, immune to fear and heedless of danger. Even when cut down their eyes were just as empty dead as they were alive.

Unfortunately I was still terribly new at this, despite Darth Vannacen's best efforts to make me realize that battle was something serious, with dangerous, permanent consequences. I had only been her apprentice for a couple of years and as she was wont to constantly remind me, my habit of showing off my abilities with the more acrobatic forms of Ataru were extremely counter productive. “A light saber battle isn't a game, young one!” she would scold me. “You don't get points for style!”

I was fighting a pair of Jedi, a bearded master with coal black hair and two little lines of gray at the corner of his mouth and his Padawan, a green eyed blonde with beauty even those ridiculous robes the Jedi wore couldn't hide. A few dozen meters away Darth Vannacen was battling a pair of masters and making them both look like fools while we protected the last squads that were giving us cover with a thick blanket of blaster fire the Republic troops were eagerly returning. “This is our world!” I shouted at the blank face of the Jedi. “You are violating the treaty! You are attacking us!”

“Your evil ends today, Sith,” the Master told me mechanically as though an automaton.

His feint forced me left, towards his Padawan and my giving nature got the best of me. As I landed from my leap, the girl thought to attack me from behind, but I lashed out with my foot and planted it firmly in her gut, bending her over and expelling her air forcefully. She staggered and half fell backwards, but the master was much faster than I expected. Suddenly he loomed in front of me and his blade filled my vision such that I could feel the heat of his blade, millimeters from my neck, when a bright scarlet blade flashed across my line of sight, flying through the air. It was my mistress's saber that blocked his killing stroke, knocking his blade so hard both he and his blade were spun away from me. It had saved my life.

Time seemed to stop as I looked over my shoulder and realized what she had done, throwing her blade, leaving herself defenseless. I raised my own blade to throw it, to buy her time to call her sword back to her, but before I could do anything I saw the eerie blue white glow of a saber grow out of her stomach as the master she had been fighting took advantage of her selflessness and literally stabbed her in the back. As if from light years away I heard my voice scream, “NO, Mistress!”

A green blade rose in my vision as I rushed towards her, but I was done being charitable as my left blade snapped up to block the Padawan, then with my other I struck, taking her arm off below her elbow. Her scream rung in my ears, but I didn't care as I finished my hop over her falling arm and saber to snap a kick to her jaw, knocking her sprawling. I came around just in time to see her Master had recovered.

For a split second rage flashed across the Master's face as he realized I had maimed his Padawan and was trying to bring his blade back in line, but I ducked under his sword and spun, bifurcating him from left hip to right shoulder. In the distance I heard a scream, a wordless female howl of rage from where the Padawan lay, I heard the frantic cries of the troopers urging me on board as I leaped and dove over blaster bolts thick enough to run on as I tried to get to and save the woman who had saved me.

Our eyes met, her on her knees, gasping as her murderer pulled his blade from her and for the last time I felt her through the Force, felt her reach out with her last strength she fell forward, both dodging his decapitation stroke, commanding the Force to pick me up and fling me into the transport. I rolled to my feet and tried to leap back out to her aid, but six men frantically rose up to stop me. They shouted there was nothing I could do. That I had to let her go. I struggled and cursed them as they held me and the ramp was rising, the ship was rising, and I saw a smile on my Mistress's face as she died and I felt her become one with the Force.

Things are coming along and I thought you guys would like a little teaser trailer as it were. Let me know what you think!

I found this line particularly interesting (Good build-up to the observation, it completely sells the point, whether I'm missing it or not):

“Your evil ends today, Sith,” the Master told me mechanically as though an automaton.

One thing about the Jedi philosophy of negating all emotion, the mechanical side of "do or do not", is that it promotes the lowest common denominator of sentience. What then, is a Jedi Master, but an inhuman cog in the machinations of The Force, a Force, the corrupt politicians of the galactic government du jour?

The Sith philosophy of embracing the hate is barely better than acknowledging that negative emotion as the "one thing we've got (in common)".

So, where is the evil here? Black hat, white hat, the cat in the hat?

It should be fun to see how the rest of the story builds out.

That is one thing that always bugged me about the Star Wars universe...

On the one side we have the "there is no emotion" people that are all emotional to some degree (just because you don't show it on your face doesn't mean it is not there, but simply saying 'evildoer, you will not face justice' when backed up with the waving of swords does seem to indicate a degree of emotional response instead of detached examination and evaluation of the situation).

On the other side we have the "let your hate make you strong" crowd... But that fails to match up to the Sith Code. Anger is only one emotion and the rage is but one expression of passion. What about all those other emotions?

It seems like the ideals were deliberately twisted to shoe horn both sides into nice little boxes of so-called good and evil... Being emotional and embracing your emotions does not make one evil/bad. Similarly becoming emotionless does not make one good. I seem to recall that many sociopaths lack human emotion...

To me, it is clear that both sides have been manipulated and twisted over time and neither is a pure expression of the force or of the ideals claimed in their respective codes.

That being said, I eagerly await the next installment. All hail the logic of the Sith!

I am a core Star Wars fan and I do agree that according to the code it can be understood that you have to be emotionless. What most Jedi failed to see the deeper meaning that the older code touched on better. There is no emotion, only peace is not the same as Emotions, yet peace. One is in denial and the other accepts your emotions, but to continue to strive for inner peace. Sith acknowledge that peace is a lie, there is only passion. They see the Jedi striving for peace, but mistake it for outer peace the absence of war. However without conflict there is no motivation to grow or even live. Apathy is the route most Jedi take which is the loss of their soul.

I am a Bendu Knight I love live and fight using the Force to protect hearth and home. I follow the Living and the Unifying Force not some strict code, remaining in balance, stronger because of it.

I shall look forward to this story as well. I have enjoyed both your Star Wars tales and your Whateley contributions.

Hugs
Sara

Thanks, Sara! It's in the que awaiting release so stay tuned!