Chapter Text
Asajj Ventress, who had been raised by Emperor Palpatine and the Sith since she was no more than a mere child, and had been trained in the ways of the Force for an equal amount of time, knew that the Emperor would not be happy about her failure at Yavin. In fact, she knew, it would be the exact opposite. Even as she looked about the strange planet she had now found herself on, some sort of warm, grassy planet that seemed peaceful enough, except, Ventress knew, it was also a ferocious place, full of predators and danger – she could sense it in the Force – she knew full well that the Empire had suffered their first major loss in the war.
They had been at war with the Rebels for quite some time. Despite the fact that the Rebels were indeed still a threat, the Empire had managed to crush them at every turn. It was mostly the discovery of the Death Star plans, and what had possibly happened with them, that had been the most worrying to the Emperor and the Empire as a whole, especially considering that if the full weaknesses of the Death Star were discovered, it could prove to be a major turning point for the Rebels. Their greatest weapon, turned against them, at least, Ventress thought wryly, if Motti and Tagge didn’t somehow manage to destroy the Empire first.
The Emperor putting the Death Star in the hands of those imbeciles was perhaps one of his greatest mistakes. The Emperor in general – Ventress could not say that she had much love for him. He seemed to care nothing in terms of the Sith and the Empire, for how much he proclaimed that he did. Had he ever? Or had he even used the matter of the Sith in order to perpetuate his own goals?
The Emperor had never been a man of sanity, but as the war had gone on, it seemed as if whatever was left of his sanity had completely gone.
Ventress looked around the grassy savannahs of Vaal. It was a beautiful place, it was said, but also quite dangerous. She could sense the wild animals that still lurked in the underbrush, waiting for her, waiting to pounce at her. She would need to be cautious.
For now, it seemed, the best she could do was try to find the nearest outpost and leave. Even getting there, however, would no doubt be a problem.
And it was.
It was the hyenax that attacked her. Vicious creatures, almost akin to the kath hounds of Dantooine themselves, except for their dark brown fur that grew along their backs and neck, skin streaked deep with black, and long, curving claws. Even as they lunged at her, however, Ventress managed to fight them off all too easily. She could not help but be almost filled with scorn at their efforts. After all, what were they against a Dark Jedi, one with mastery of the Force, small as it was next to, for example, Lord Sidious or Vader or even Terminus, weakened as he was? What were they against any Sith, or even any Jedi?
The hyenax, from what Ventress had read, were hierarchial creatures. So when they appeared later in the evening, when Ventress was still tending to her wounds, Ventress could not say that she was exactly surprised, especially when they laid the pack leader’s body, whom Ventress had killed earlier, at Ventress’ feet. It meant, she could only assume, that she was now the leader of their pack.
They would be useful to the Empire as a whole. This Ventress knew. The Empire needed all the allies that they could have in this war against the Rebels. Obedience would be duly rewarded, and failure – Ventress knew full well that failure would be punished. That was the way of the Sith.
Heading towards the outpost, the creatures at her back, Ventress found the nearest outpost, perhaps the only real sign of civilization in a savannah world that seemed to stretch out for miles. She had seen planets like this before, and had been to harsher planets – indeed, her homeworld of Rattatak, from the few memories that she had of it, was one of the harshest planets in the galaxy. A dry world, almost akin to Korriban in its atmosphere, where gladiator games made up the government, and where infighting amongst her people was quite common. Her old home of Dathomir…she could not say she had many memories of it. Indeed, when she tried to recall memories of Dathomir, she couldn’t. It was almost akin to attempting to grasp empty air. She could remember images of her biological parents, and feelings, but nothing more than that. Merely impressions, as impossible to grasp as empty air.
But now was not the time to reminisce.
As Ventress entered the outpost, she could hear the faint sounds of chatter. Reybn, the leader of this lowly expedition to Vaal, before Ventress had been sent to Yavin if only to attempt to deal with the Rebels, saying, “…and I’m telling you, I never thought I’d say this, but I think being stationed on Vaal was the best thing that could possibly happen to me. I mean – look at this place! It’s beautiful!”
Ventress narrowed her eyes. So apparently, Reybn and the others were more content to lay back, to sunbathe and chatter and sightsee instead of doing actual work for the Empire.
The faint sounds of chatter died down as Ventress entered, and Reybn looked up, smiled a sort of smile that was probably supposed to be charming, but instead just angered Ventress further. “My Lady,” he said, “It’s good to see you. We were just, well…”
“You weren’t doing work, were you?” Ventress said.
Reybn was practically falling all over himself in order to justify what he was doing. “Listen, I can explain; we were stationed on Vaal too long – ’’
“Indeed?” Ventress said. “If I didn’t know better, I would say that you were enjoying yourself, Sergeant. This is a military operation, a military mission – this is not shore leave. Do you understand that?”
“Well – ’’
“I have had quite enough of you,” Ventress said. “You claim to be loyal to the Empire and its cause, and yet here you are, sitting around sunbathing and sightseeing instead of doing what needs to be done. Instead of filing reports, you see this as nothing more than a vacation. It appears that the Emperor had assembled the wrong crew.”
Behind her, the hyenax snarled.
Reybn’s eyes widened. “What are those things?”
“Those are hyenax,” Ventress said. “My new allies. It appears that your work is finished here, Sergeant. All of you have failed the Empire for the last time.”
The hyenax attacked, and for all Reybn and the others shot at them, the hyenax were ruthless, tearing them apart almost as if they were prey that the hyenax would hunt in the savannahs. Reybn’s screams of pain (interlaced with pleas for mercy that both Ventress and the hyenax duly ignored) were quickly drowned out by the hyenax’s growls and snarls of fury. At last, when Reybn lay dead, his Imperial uniform soaked with blood, along with the others, and the hyenax’s mouths were stained with blood and the bits of skin and cloth that they managed to rip away from the soldiers, Ventress turned towards them.
“You have done well,” she said. “I only hope that you will continue to do as well in the future. Remember that obedience to me and the Empire will be duly rewarded, and failure will be duly punished.”
The hyenax snarled assent.
Ventress boarded the shuttle and headed towards Coruscant. She knew full well that the Emperor would not be pleased with her failure at Yavin, but whatever happened, she would face the Emperor’s wrath. What she had done, after all – it had been her failing, in a way, not being able to kill the girl, Mara Lars. Terminus had become bizarrely obsessed with her. Was it perhaps because she had managed to cut off his leg in her first confrontation with him? He definitely seemed to act like it, although perhaps there was something more to it. Terminus had been long dissatisfied with the Emperor – something that Ventress and Vader both could not quite blame him for – and perhaps with Mara, the girl – perhaps, in a way, he felt as if he could have a second chance.
Perhaps.
Ventress almost wished that she could go with Terminus and Vader both, but she knew full well that her place was here, with the Empire, serving the Emperor and its people. It had been what she had been trained to do since she was but a small child. It was her duty, and she would fulfill it to the last.
As the shuttle docked on Coruscant, Ventress headed out towards the glittering cities. Coruscant was indeed beautiful, although she would admit that at times, she was overwhelmed by how large it could be. Even her homeworld of Rattatak had not been as massive. She could not help but marvel at how far the city extended, the speeders that headed around the city, the glittering buildings and neon signs.
Coruscant itself had remained as it always was, in terms of the glory it possessed – in terms of its loyalties, it now lay under the Empire, and the Emperor had not necessarily done things if only to improve those in the slums below; he had spoken of it, of course, but he had never quite gotten around to it. Indeed, the only truly positive thing that Ventress could really say was that they managed to eliminate slavery on Tatooine, and that was mostly due to Vader’s work. Ventress could understand why Vader would want to do such a thing, especially considering his former status as a slave, and what he had seen there.
Vader had not often spoken of his status of a slave, but it colored much of what he did, and how he saw things. Even thinking about it, the rare moments he had spoken of it (not to others, mostly to Ventress and Terminus, who he trusted most), Ventress could not help but be outraged by it. Who would treat a child like that? Watto had been kinder than his previous owner, Gardulla, but that didn’t really say much.
“I don’t exactly forgive them,” Vader had said, “And I don’t necessarily forget.”
Which was, no doubt, a good thing. Forgiveness was not a thing of the Sith. The Jedi, perhaps, with their insistence on rising above such “base” emotions such as vengeance, but in the end, what fueled what they did if not their passion? Anger, hatred, aggression, a desire for power, desire – those were dark emotions, yes, but they were nonetheless necessary if only to keep the Sith strong. To keep them going in every word and every deed, to strengthen them through every battle that they faced, to make sure that they never faltered. That no matter how many enemies they faced, they emerged victorious.
Ahead was the Commander, a strong, self-assured man with features that reminded Ventress almost of a noble. He bowed as Ventress approached. “My Lady,” he said, “It is good that you are here. I believed you had perished on Yavin.”
“I am hard to kill,” said Ventress. “The crash-landing on Vaal was difficult at first, but I managed to make it to the outpost.”
“I see,” said the Commander. “And the hyenax? What of them?”
“I will bring them to the Emperor,” said Ventress. “We will take time if only to train them, but it can be done. They have accepted their new leader too well.”
The Commander raised an eyebrow. “You slew their leader? That is…impressive, my lady.”
“I did,” Ventress said. “But there is no time for talk, Commander. I must speak with the Emperor.”
“It may take a while,” the Commander said.
Ventress raised an eyebrow. “Will it?”
“He’s in a bacta tank at the moment,” the Commander said. “He was gravely injured on a mission to Moriband. The details are vague, but he’s in critical condition. So you may have to wait.”
Moriband.
Ventress had never been to the Sith homeworld before, but she had heard stories about it, about how the Sith first took Korriban, as it was originally called back in the times of old, the times of Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma (the Emperor had imprinted it into her head about how proud the Sith’s history was, and how great they were), about the Lord Revan, who had once set up an Academy on Korriban, only to destroy it once the Jedi had all but brainwashed him back to the Light (even thinking about it was enough to revolt Ventress. It was not as if she had expected anything else from the Jedi, corrupt and arrogant as they were, but even that…one would have thought, at least, that the Jedi had reservations about such things. Apparently that was not the case), how the Sith had turned on one another when they had attempted to reclaim the Academy – the Emperor must have gone there in an attempt to reclaim Moriband and ultimately failed. But what had happened to him? Had he fallen victim to the predators that now populated what was all but a dead world?
Moriband was nothing more than a dead world now, a shadow of what it had once been. The Emperor had been furious about that, Ventress could still remember, speaking of Revan’s treachery. “He could have made the Sith greater than they ever were, could have made them strong, glorious, and instead he surrendered to weakness, and fled. What nature of a Sith would do such a thing?” And Ventress could not disagree. Others spoke of Revan with reverence, speaking of his tactics, his genius, and that was true enough, but Revan himself was a coward. When he could have reclaimed his identity and made the Sith greater than they ever were, he instead turned to the way of the Jedi.
Much like Vader and Terminus. Vader and Terminus’ minds had not been wiped, the Jedi had not all but reprogrammed their identity for the Jedi were all but extinct now, and those who existed could not do such a thing, for all their other reprehensible traits (perhaps one of their few qualities that was not completely reprehensible), but they had turned nonetheless. No doubt out of weakness, and love.
Love. The Emperor had imprinted it in her mind again and again, tried to teach her again and again, and so did Dooku.Love is a weakness amongst the Sith. Love leads to mercy, and mercy is weakness. Sith do not love, Sith do not have attachments, for they only hold one back from reaching greater potential. She had cared for Vader and Terminus in her way, but perhaps it was because they were both broken as she was, and in a way, all she truly had. And it was one of those reasons that she was not Sith.
Dooku liked to remind her time and time again that she was not truly Sith. Sith have no fear. And I sense much fear in you. And though Ventress had vehemently denied it, she still had moments of fear. She thought that she could try and hold them back, to suppress them, to overcome them, but they were never truly vanquished, and she was still ashamed of such things. She was no Sith. She had the potential in her, but she knew that she was not quite strong enough.
But one day, she would be strong enough. And from there, she would strike down Sidious and take her rightful place, no doubt, as Empress. Make the galaxy as it should be shaped. Perhaps Terminus and Vader would come with her, and do the same. The galaxy would be as Sidious originally promised, as Dooku originally promised, as others originally promised, before they broke that promise.
In the present, Ventress tried to conceal her emotions, to preserve her image as the Dark Jedi Lady who never showed any vulnerability, any kind of weakness, around her troops. Cold, commanding even in spite of the flaws that threatened to hold her back, ruthless, a woman to be both worshipped and feared, and she turned towards the Commander. “When he is fully healed,” she said, “I will speak with him. We have much to discuss.”
“Of course, my lady.”
Ventress departed to her private chambers. She was not terribly injured from her crash-landing on Vaal; she had suffered worse injuries before. Whatever Dooku and others said about her, she was strong, she was tough, she had always been, ever since she was no more than a girl. Still, she had burns all over her from when she had crashed on the planet, when the TIE fighter she had been flying before the wretched smuggler had shot her down – she had been so close, so very close, to getting rid of Mara Lars, and the smuggler took away her victory in one stroke – and she would need to tend to them. She injected a medpac into one area she had been burned, her arm, and winced as the numbing agent of bacta spread over her. It hurt, it stung, but the injury was not as bad as others she had suffered, for example, in the Clone Wars. Another injury, near her left shoulder, where one of the hyenax – currently in the Commander’s hands; the Commander had seemed quite nervous about the hyenax, but he had nothing to fear; they would not attack unless she ordered them to. They would follow her because she was a leader, because she had proven herself to be a worthy opponent – had clawed her. Again, far worse injuries than this.
Ventress settled into a meditative position as she waited for the Emperor to awake. He would no doubt awake shortly, and she would have to tell him everything – about Terminus’ betrayal (and even in spite of herself, she could not help but feel a twinge of sorrow in her. It was inevitable that Sith would have to fight Dark Jedi, but even so, she had grown to care about Terminus more than she had thought possible. Not suitable for Sith or Dark Jedi, but they were not Sith or Dark Jedi, not truly, and perhaps that was one of many reasons the Emperor detested them, though he knew they were useful and not quite failures), about her failure at Yavin. But for now, Ventress meditated, allowing her fury, her hatred to wash over her, giving her power, giving her strength, as well as thoughts of a future where the Emperor was overthrown and she truly had a chance to prove herself.