And Miss Flip-flop joins the party with lots of copy-pasta at the end of Part 1. (Seriously, I know Force turns are supposed to be pretty dramatic, especially Falls, but Jaesa actually has no character of her own besides her alignment, whatever you choose it to be. Bit of unusually poor writing there on BioWare’s part.)
EDIT: added a bit where Akuliina shows her yandere side.
Chapter 5: Lord of the Sith
Nomen Karr was a deranged wreck of his former self, and all Akuliina had done was refuse to roll over and die when they dueled. And there may have been some taunting, as well. Jaesa Willsaam, battered by the loss of her first Master, her parents, and several of her friends, and surely feeling the corruption of her current Master even now, had just barged into the room. She looked upset, and frightened, but determined. A true wannabe Jedi heroine. “Your men outside let me pass, so I assume I’m expected. Cease your sadistic attacks on my Master, now!” She was young, perhaps the same age as Akuliina, but she looked younger than Akuliina. She was pretty, with long dark hair and large sad brown eyes.
“Jaesa, no!” Nomen Karr snapped. “I told you to stay put! How dare you defy me!”
“I have long been waiting to meet you, Jaesa Willsaam,” Akuliina said, putting on the air of a noble hostess. She was good; he almost couldn’t tell how weary she was after the long battle with Karr. “I know you already know my name. You are most welcome.”
Karr interrupted her. “My sacrifice for nothing! Stupid child, for all your power, you have understood nothing!” He thrashed in his bonds, rocking the chair he was tied to.
Jaesa’s face grew horrified, and she looked like she was going to cry. “What… what have you done to him, Sith? Has this been inside him all along?” She shook her head. “No, it can’t be. No one can hide such darkness. Somehow you’ve turned him mad!” Karr continued to mumble to herself.
Akuliina fixed her with a challenging look through half-lidded eyes. “What are you going to do about it, Padawan?” Somehow the attention she placed on Jaesa seemed very… intense. There were probably powers at work he couldn’t see and would never understand.
Jaesa took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders and reaching for her double-ended lightsaber. “I’ve come to put an end to this conflict, Volkova. You killed Master Yonlach and my… my parents. Now you’ve twisted my Master into some abomination. I felt every torturous moment you put him through, and it must end now!”
“Then come stop me,” Akuliina taunted her. “Come strike me down!”
Jaesa’s mouth hung open for a second in shock. “No, I… is this more trickery? Do not taunt me, Volkova, I will not be played with!”
“But it’s so much fun,” Akuliina answered, smirking. She held out her arms invitingly.
“I warned you,” Jaesa hissed, and ignited her lightsaber.
“Wait!” Nomen Karr wailed from his chair. “What have I done? Jaesa, no…”
“Prepare to die, Sith!” Jaesa cried, tears in her eyes, and she attacked.
Akuliina stepped back and let her come, and he worried even as he stood guard over Karr. Was she too weary to go on the offensive, or was she simply testing Jaesa?
And how would this duel turn Jaesa to the Dark Side? From what he understood, the best way to make a Jedi unstable was to attack them emotionally. That had been done. But as for turning them to the Dark Side, to get them to throw off the chains of self-righteousness, the proclivity towards weaknesses such as undue mercy, the leniency towards chaos that Jedi seemed to have, that seemed much more difficult to him. Surely one didn’t simply change one’s mind just like that. Was it the intensity that Akuliina directed at Jaesa? Would that be the cause of her conversion?
“So strong,” Jaesa muttered, her face set, breathing hard. “You are a rampaging beast.” She swung down and Akuliina barely blocked in time. Quinn tried to control his breathing; he’d almost had a heart attack.
“You’re quite strong yourself,” Akuliina said, also breathing hard but still looking more calm. “But you cannot hope to stand against me.”
“I think I’m doing quite well,” Jaesa retorted with a flick of her lightsaber. Yellow clashed against scarlet, again and again.
Akuliina’s face twisted into a wicked smile, all her calm veneer evaporating into murderous glee. “You think so, do you? I’ve been holding back. Have you?”
“Holding… back?”
Akuliina let out a roar that made the Padawan stumble back, then increased her tempo, battering at Jaesa’s defenses. Oh thank goodness, she wasn’t as tired as she’d been letting on. Jaesa ducked and rolled away, springing up with a slash that made Akuliina break off her follow-up charge, the yellow double-bladed lightsaber swirling viciously towards her head. Jaesa was also attacking more quickly, her face pinched with concentration and emotion.
Quickly enough to make mistakes, for when she next attacked with a shrill cry, Akuliina blocked with both sabers, then somehow wrenched her opponent’s saber from her hands while kicking her backwards. Jaesa fell to the floor, her lightsaber clattering towards Quinn’s feet. He stepped forward quickly and put his foot on the hilt, to make sure she couldn’t recall it easily. He could feel it humming gently through the sole of his boot. Maybe he ought to switch it off.
“I could kill you instantly, if I wanted to,” Akuliina said softly, stalking around the fallen girl, lightsabers loose and ready in her hands. “But let’s see what you do now.”
“So… frustrating!” Jaesa growled, almost in tears yet again, but this time not from sorrow. She sat up, clenched her fists and shook them at her sides. “I cannot defeat you! I could never defeat you! It was… was it all lies? Everything?” She glanced over at Karr with a look of betrayal. “He told me that the Light Side was stronger – that it was why I could see through the facade of those who were dark. …But it’s not true, is it? I am no match for you. The Dark Side is clearly… stronger.” And something had changed in her that even he could see. So quickly. Whatever Akuliina had done, it appeared to have succeeded.
Nomen Karr struggled again. “You haven’t completed your training, Jaesa! When you have fully communed with the Light Side of the Force, no Sith will be your match!”
Akuliina snorted. “You are a Master of the Light and I’m a mere apprentice; why couldn’t you beat me?”
Jaesa took a deep breath and pulled herself to her feet. “All my life, I’ve put up with deceit and denial. I thought the Jedi would be different. You’ve shown me otherwise. You’ve exposed Master Karr for what he is. It’s your power that reveals a person’s true nature. I can sense what is hidden, but the fear you inspire forces truth to the surface. …I want that.”
Akuliina raised an eyebrow. “I was sent here to kill you.”
Jaesa clasped her hands. “Please, don’t be foolish. I’ve only just begun to taste the dark side. Let me and my special power serve you. Imagine having someone who can see through the deceptions of your rivals and enemies.”
Akuliina stared at her for a long moment, as if judging the sincerity of her words. “That would be convenient. But you think you want to be a Sith? Like me? Think it through carefully, girl.”
“I want to become Sith. The Light has offered me nothing. The Dark looks to offer me everything.
“You are already Sith, you just didn’t know it yet,” Akuliina said. “And your skills with a lightsaber are none too shabby. Fine, I’ll take you on.” As if this hadn’t been one of her goals all along.
Jaesa nodded. “Thank you. And I can only improve with you as my mentor. What do you wish of me? And what shall we do with Master Karr?”
“Karr will be delivered to Dromund Kaas, and my master will determine his fate.”
Jaesa frowned. “Isn’t that… a death sentence?”
Akuliina shrugged with a wave of her hand. “Why so worried for him now? We cannot concern ourselves with the plight of someone such as him.”
“I see. There is an attractive simplicity to that credo. I like simple. I am ready to learn your ways, my lord. And I look forward to aiding you any way I am able.”
“Good. It may take some time, to overcome your former training, your Republic-instilled pacifism-”
“No need, my lord.” Jaesa’s face twisted. “I reject all of that fully. I’ve been repressed too long. I’m ready to let go of all that. I… I want to destroy your enemies. I… want to kill those I hate.”
Akuliina blinked. If the change in the Padawan seemed sudden even to her, then he wasn’t just imagining things. “Do you then. Well. Then. That makes the first part of your training very easy. But we’ll discuss it more later.” She gestured to Quinn, who removed his foot from Jaesa’s lightsaber, then retrieved it telekinetically, switched it off, and handed it back to Jaesa. Then she turned to the Imperial soldiers who waited at the entrance. Quinn stayed alert, in case this was a ruse and Jaesa attacked Akuliina immediately. “We are finished with Karr. Bring him to Darth Baras.”
“Yes, my lord.”
They hauled Karr to his feet and led him off. He mumbled and stumbled, truly insane. “No… no, this cannot be… my fate. Who are you to preside over me? You… you are… nothing. I am… I am Nomen… Karr!”
“How sad,” Jaesa said, watching them. “He’s just a failed old man in the end.” And then she smiled, a hard, eager smile. “And now I am free, for the first time in my life.”
“You are,” Akuliina said softly from behind her, mirroring her smile. “Free of the scheming nobles of Alderaan, free of the expectations of your family, free of the nonsensical restraints of the Jedi. Power is the most important benefit of the Dark Side… but freedom is its greatest gift. Use it well.”
“I will… master.”
Akuliina contacted Darth Baras the moment they returned to the ship. “Master, I bring excellent news.”
“I am all ears, my apprentice.”
“I defeated Nomen Karr in battle, and he is on his way to you as a prisoner as we speak.” Baras was silent a moment, his mask giving away nothing. “Master?”
“I apologize, apprentice. I was only surprised for a moment. It’s been so many years since I’ve seen him face to face. And now… to have him within my power, to do with as I please… You have given me a great gift, and for that I thank you.”
“And may I present to you Jaesa Willsaam, my apprentice. Jaesa, this is my master, Darth Baras.”
“Greetings, my lord,” Jaesa said with a little bow.
“You’ve endured a lot, young one. But you seem to have come through it rather well. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Jaesa smiled. “I am very pleased with the outcome.”
“I sense her devotion to you, Akuliina. However did you manage that?” He seemed truly surprised, though Quinn didn’t know him that well. It was possible Baras hadn’t foreseen this outcome. Quinn would not have believed Akuliina could turn Jaesa himself if he hadn’t seen it.
“It seems I can be very persuasive,” Akuliina said carelessly.
Baras nodded and straightened; Akuliina sensed the gravity and drew herself up to her full height. “There’s no denying you are a master of the Dark Arts now. Only the most accomplished among us are named as Lords among the Sith. You have more than earned the distinction. I hereby confer the title of Sith Lord upon you.”
“I am honoured, Master,” Akuliina said, bowing with a pleased smile.
“Through your exemplary service, you honour yourself,” Baras assured her. “Now, celebrate as you see fit, then return to me here on Dromund Kaas in one week’s time. I have great plans for us.” The holoprojecter winked off.
“Wow, a Lord. I’m impressed. Go you!” Vette said from the corner of the room, applauding softly.
Akuliina turned to Vette with a proud smile. “Thank you, Vette.”
He bowed to her, his own heart filled with pride for her, and that he served her. “Congratulations, my lord.”
She nodded to him. “You’ve both been a great help.”
“Service is its own reward,” he said.
Vette snerked and pointed a thumb at him. “Yeah… what he said. Though if you’re getting a raise, Lina, can I have one too?”
Akuliina chuckled, then turned to Jaesa. “Some introductions are due. You’ve already met Captain Quinn. This is Vette.”
“Heya,” Vette said. “You must be Jaesa. Sorry about everything, I know it’s been rough.”
“Why should you be sorry?” Jaesa said. “The veils have been lifted from my eyes. I might finally be where I need to be.”
Vette shot a confused look at Akuliina. “Oookay. Anyway, I’ll show you around the ship, okay?”
“All right, I’d like that.”
He could feel the two young women sizing each other up as they headed down the corridor to the crew quarters, trying to determine where the other ranked on the ship. Jaesa’s role as Akuliina’s apprentice made sense, but Vette continued to be an anomaly. Actually, Jaesa might outrank him slightly, unless Akuliina decided otherwise. That would have to be sorted soon. It wouldn’t do to discuss it during an emergency. But now was not the time to speak of that to her. “So now you are a Lord of the Sith, and your power grows. Where are your sights set now, my lord?”
She raised a clenched fist with a confident smile and his heart skipped a beat. “Now we crush all the Empire’s enemies and bring the Republic to its knees.” She fairly shone with fearless determination, mixed with a strangely mature purposefulness, and it was exciting to see.
He indulged in a slight smile. “I hope to be there when you finally bring it down, as you surely will, my lord.”
She cast a teasing glance at him. “If you’re sure I can do it, then I’m sure you’ll be there. But what’s all this ‘my lord’ for? Surely just because I’ve been promoted doesn’t mean that you’d change your tune, does it?”
He bowed his head. “I don’t wish to be disrespectful, my lord.” And she’d said that the Sith title of Lord outranked her social title of Lady.
She tossed her head. “I don’t care. I came to like it the other way.”
Her wish was his command. And… to be honest, it pleased him too, that he could call her something special while maintaining his deference. Even though those were dangerous thoughts to think. “Very well. What are your orders, my lady?”
She nodded to him approvingly. “Set course for Dromund Kaas. I am going to bed. Make sure they don’t kill each other.”
“At once, my lady.”
She got to know Jaesa a bit over the hyperspace jump back to Dromund Kaas, and found that Jaesa was more interested in finding out what she could do as a Sith than talking about herself. “My past is boring. You already know most of it. Now, I can do whatever I want as long as I don’t piss off someone more powerful, yes?”
“Quite so. You have complete freedom. The only restraints you have are those you place on yourself.”
Jaesa’s eyes glowed with excitement. “Then I can go drink my weight in alcohol and sleep with five men at once, if I want to?”
Akuliina raised an eyebrow at Jaesa’s choice of vices. How old was she, anyway? “If you’re still alive afterwards, I shan’t stop you. Actually, I wouldn’t stop you even if you got yourself killed. You must take responsibility for yourself. If you end up doing something stupid, I’m not going to save you.”
“Danger only makes things more fun, you know. I’m excited for this as much as for the opportunity to fight to my full potential. You don’t know how I’ve been starved of sensuality among the Jedi. When we arrive on Dromund Kaas, permission to go hunting?”
“Granted. But lay a finger on Quinn and I’ll cut it off.”
Jaesa smiled. “Of course I wouldn’t. He’s your man. Also, he’s a bit old and dull for me.”
Akuliina smirked. “Trying to say something about my taste, apprentice?”
“No, master.” Jaesa giggled. “Just that you needn’t worry about him regarding me.”
“Good. Then go find whoever you please. Experience as much as you can, and not just with sex. Get comfortable in your own skin. I need you ready to go when Lord Baras deploys us again.”
“Thank you, master. I think I’m going to enjoy serving you.”
“I think you will, too.”
They’d returned to Dromund Kaas, and he found that while they had been on their mission, she’d had the guest room of her apartment renovated specially – computer consoles occupied half the space now, and a proper desk by the window, arranged into a miniature command centre just for him. He could do all that he did on the Fury without having to go all the way out to the spaceport. It was fantastic; he could set up a link to the ship and download all his data automatically and keep working without missing a beat. Jaesa had been set up in a different room.
He went to find her, to thank her, and eventually found her on the balcony. Dromund Kaas’s incessant jungle rain had paused briefly, and she was watching the twilight creep across the city with a glass of wine in her hand. She looked contemplative, even melancholy.
He’d intended to thank her immediately, but somehow what came out of his mouth first was: “What are you thinking about, my lady?”
“Someday,” she said, very matter-of-fact, “some sneaky little Sith upstart will find a way to assassinate me. Probably in a method that does not involve facing me in combat.”
What brought on these fatalistic thoughts? Was she thinking about Karr’s fate? Geselle Organa’s death? Maybe even about the visions on Tatooine, weeks ago? “You are too strong to be defeated so easily, my lady.”
She looked at him calmly. “This is my eventual fate. I’m not going to die of natural causes, Quinn. I know my skills tend very strongly towards one side of the spectrum; if I can see it coming, or if I can turn it into a straight-up battle, I will win. Otherwise, I would likely not see an assassination until I was already dead. Which is why I intend to keep around clever people like you to prevent such things.”
“I’m honoured by your trust in me, my lady,” he said. “I will do my best to defend you from underhanded tactics.”
“You and Vette both, each in your own way. Jaesa is already proving to be too much like me to be of much help in that regard, except perhaps for her special ability.” So she had more interest in her followers than as pawns that amused her. That was a little gratifying. Sometimes it was hard to tell. She looked back at the horizon and smiled wistfully. “Perhaps it will be my child who will kill me.”
“Your child, my lady?” For some reason the idea that she might have a child… bothered him. Irritated him. But she didn’t have a child, as far as he knew. So why should it bother him?
“Oh yes. Family tradition.” She gestured broadly at the city below them. “You know a little about why Sith fight each other so much, don’t you? To prove their strength, to consolidate their power, to eliminate rivals…”
“A little,” he said. It was hard to miss, even all the way from Balmorra, even if he didn’t understand it.
“It is inevitable that all Sith turn on each other. All Sith. And in my family, it’s always parent against child, once the heir has reached an appropriate age and been trained properly. They do not inherit, otherwise.”
He frowned. “Forgive my outburst, my lady, but that sounds rather awful.”
“I realize it’s not what most families call ‘normal’,” she said, a little bit sharply. “Most families love each other so much they would not try to kill each other. My family loves me so much they expect me to kill them. They’ve given me everything I need. All I must do is become strong enough to claim the rest.”
“Do you want to?”
She hesitated. “It is not if I want to or not. If I were to take my inheritance and not kill them, it would be their solemn duty to plot against me every moment to make sure I wasn’t too weak to rule. They wouldn’t kill me… not until I’d produced an heir of my own… but it would make life hell for all of us. Far better to simply slay them and have done with it. My great-grandmother did not kill her parents, as I recall. When her oldest son was ten, I think they succeeded in killing her and raised her children to adulthood. And they did not make that mistake.”
He shivered. “So that’s why you said you can never go home. Why you said you must hate them.” He felt sorry for her, just a little, though he knew she would disdain any pity. He couldn’t imagine such a life. “And you must raise your future child to kill you? How will you feel, if they succeed?”
She looked at him then, and he shivered again; her face was fierce and hard. He couldn’t tell if it was her true feelings or simply a mask. “Proud.” She turned without another word and headed back toward the door to the interior.
He still hadn’t thanked her. “My lady!”
She stopped and turned back towards him, still looking defiant. “Yes?”
“Thank you for your gift. It will be most beneficial.”
“Gif- Ah, yes, that. I am glad you like it.” Her expression melted into a smile. “And I know you’ll make good use of it.”
He came to attention. “Absolutely, my lady. You can expect only the best from me.”
“I do, Quinn. I do.”