The Dark Side

Tytha

I don't know how he escaped. The Jedi had all been cut down, strewn about the galaxy until nothing but corpses remained. But there was a disturbance in my power.

My fighter landed on the black sand beaches of Voss, a soft landing compared to the battle raging on before me.

The lens of my bio helmet displayed multiple life forms on the sand and cliffs, an easy amount to take care of with a few strokes of a hand and a thrust of my sabre.

I walked to the bay door, the heavy clanging of my boots ringing out across the heavily cloudy atmosphere of the cove, bringing many men to a stand still. My station hadn't yet been known, but soon, my name would be feared throughout the galaxy.

A troop of Death Troopers surrounded the tie fighter, forming a blockade around me. I could survey the area.

Stray clone troopers and many Vossian warriors were strewn across the beach, few of my soldiers dotted the black void of ground. Then I sensed something strange.

A Jedi. I scanned the beach, spying heavy blaster fire between the armies. As I scanned the area, my gaze landed on a body laying slack on the sand, a feeling taking over my body.

Rage flowed inside me, my body radiating with power as I felt the anger bubble within me. I took a deep breath and drew my sabre, scanning the beach farther.

As I gazed across to the other side of the cliffs, the dead body shifted behind me. He was alive.

I stepped from the circle of Death Troopers igniting my sabre as my eyes fell back to the Jedi before me.

The rage that had risen within me spiked as I laid my gaze to meet his from below my helmet.

I had never seen this man in my life, yet I knew my master would be disappointed in me if I were to let him live. My years of training forbid it.

I hadn't heard the commotion of another man running down the cliff face until I had been standing a few yards from the Jedi. But the running man would not reach me any time soon.

My feet dig themselves into the sand below the weight of the power that flowed through me as I stared ahead.

The only way to describe the Jedi was vengeful. He looked as if he would turn to my side with the snap of one finger. He wasn't in the light.

I felt a tug in my stomach as his blue eyes bore through me, blazing past the protective screen before my face. I felt as if I was connected to him. And it worsened my temper.

Before he could raise his blade, my hand shot from my side in an emotional decision. I suppressed his consciousness. He was weak.

With a wave of my hand, the death troopers around my ship lowered their blasters and retrieved the Jedi. I turned to the cliffs as the force shifted once more.

I rose my sabre just in time to block a blow from an incoming blade.

I whipped my body to break away from the hold my opponent placed on me. I was met with another pair of blue eyes.

A man with a hearty beard and sandy red hair held a grimace upon his face as he attacked me with grace and patience. I could tell he was a very well trained Jedi, a master. But he was still no match for me.

With another swing of his sabre, I shoved him back with a force blow, reaching to my thigh to draw another sabre.

The red blade glowed in the ever darkening sky, a heavy mist blowing in from the oceans. I felt the spike of fear in the remaining Jedi's mind, though he quickly suppressed it. But he didn't know that that was all I needed.

The slim crack in his consciousness that flooded with fear allowed me to reach into his mind, stopping his last attack.

He fell to his knees as I clenched my fist around my sabre, flooding his mind with visions.

I connected to him through the force, dragging him ever closer to the dark shadowy side of the power, but he resisted.

My mind drew from his fear of me, his fear of my power, strengthening me beyond his wildest dreams.

I hadn't a clue as to what he was seeing through my mind control, but I knew it was painful. As I opened my eyes, I took in the image of the Jedi; his face contorted in terror as tears streamed down his cheeks.

"I-I'm sorry," he breathed, his arms thrown slack to his sides as his sabre vanished from his hands. "I'm so sorry."

I growled, knowing that I wouldn't be able to break him from the damage I was causing his mind. I put him to sleep.

I contemplated what this man could do to fight back, yet I quickly remembered that almost everyone I met was easily influenced under my gaze.

I also knew that the moment I took this Jedi into custody, I lost my leverage over my lead. I needed a loose Jedi to lead me to my quarry.

"Darth Tytha, shall we take this one to an interrogation room?" A trooper asked as the last of the clones and vossians were pushed back to their city.

"No," I growled. "Leave him here."

~*~

"You have done well, my apprentice," Master Sideous crooned as I kneeled before him. "Capturing a Jedi on your first mission is a great feat."

"Thank you master," I responded monotonously.

The Sith Lord was quiet as I rose from my stance before him. I knew he was pleased with me.

"Have you found the children?" He asked impatiently as he stood from his throne. "They are imperative to our cause, Darth Tytha."

"I have not yet found them, no. Our leads on the younglings have run dry. We believe them to never have left the Mustafar system," I informed him, my heavily modulated voice coming to echo in the metal corridor we walked down.

"See that you find a new lead, Apprentice. We must increase our numbers if we are to accomplish our goals," Sideous instructed. He was never cross nor callus toward me, though watching him rule with the iron fist he did made me acutely aware of my actions under his tutelage.

"We will control the galaxy within the month, Master," I assured him as we reached the bridge of the star destroyer. "I can feel everything through this power."

"Good, Good, Darth Tytha," my master chuckled. "Now, question the Jedi in our custody. He may have the information we need to find the younglings."

I bowed my head and strode away from my master as the captain of the destroyer and his head general approached the bridge.

"Darth Tytha," General Tarken voiced civilly as I passed him, turning to face him again once he addressed me.

"General," I offered compliantly as he smiled to me. "You seem to be in especially high... spirits."

"Your success in capturing the Jedi has brought us a great victory on Voss," he mused. "With control of the Kyber temples we will have the resources to provide throngs of weapons for the Empire!"

Though he could not see it, my expression hardened. I wasn't impressed. A company of troopers would never compare to a duel wielding Sith, their crude perversion of the Kyber ineffective on the scale the Empire needed.

"Yes. Good day, General," I turned from him in a furl of black cloak. "I have a Jedi to torture."