Star Wars: Darklight
by AB
Chapter 9
A Jedi to lead them
Tern snapped out of it shaking his head. He darted out of the amphitheater after Cyra.
"You were Force-Sensitive all along? Why hide it?" Tern stood in front of Cyra, his hands on his waist. "Did you know?" He turned his head to Volun.
"I always suspected, but no I didn't know for sure. Mum never told me but she first trained my brother and now you. I hadn't seen much of it as I was very young but I suspected." Volun shrugged his shoulders.
"I hid it because I did not want anyone knowing, not you, not them – she pointed at the amphitheater – not the Sith or the Jedi. I've become really good at hiding my Force affinity." She walked them to a bench near the atrium's entrance and sat down.
"Now the Sith do not know about me, not even Darth Solus knew I was a Force-Sensitive. Now we have the element of surprise at least in this regard. They think the Jedi are not in, and that the Coalition is without the aid of the Force. There is something you need to understand Tern… and Volun. All warfare is based on deception. The Sith deceive us and we deceive them… or we lose."
"You could have told us…?" Volun mumbled.
"No, I could not. You could not have known, Alkon could not have known, Tern could not have known. Ura knew only because I saved her from Sith warriors."
"Ura knew? How? She said nothing, she did not… " Tern exclaimed.
"Exactly. She's a thief and an information broker with the underworld. She knows how to keep secrets. It was a required lie. First to avoid the Jedi and Sith knowing, then after the fall of the Republic to battle the Sith. If any of you knew you could have compromised it with your reactions alone. I did not tell my older son and I was training him. This is the end of this discussion I think?" Cyra was not angry but she was firm about this.
Volun sighed. "I know where I got my stubbornness." Volun stated.
Cyra gave a laugh. "No, that is all your father sweetheart." She tussled her son's hair before planting a kiss on his forehead.
"Will you now teach me of the Force and how to use a lightsaber?" Tern asked.
"I will teach you all that I can about lightsaber fighting, it will take ages and as for the Force, all you have to do is to close your eyes and shut the world out, and the Force will teach you more than I ever could." Cyra replied.
"Okay. When do we start?" Tern grinned.
Cyra shook her head in disbelief. "Patience Tern, patience. For now, we need to organise the battle of Tython and the war against the Sith."
"Then we'll need to fight in Tython and the Sith."
"What better way to learn than in the heat of battle?"
"What better way to die than to go face Darth Solus and his Master without training?"
"Oh no, they are mine. I have to kill Solus to absolve myself of what I did to the galaxy by bringing him into this world, and his Master for seducing him to the Dark Side." Cyra switched from compassionate teacher look to vengeful deity look in the blink of an eye.
"How can you be sure you can manage to kill them both?" Tern asked almost in disbelief.
"Because I have to. Enough talk, we have things to do." Cyra stood up and left.
"Sometimes… " Tern mumbled.
"You don't get her?" Volun giggled. "Yeah neither do I. Come on let's go see what needs doing around here. Honestly nothing would get done if it wasn't for the two of us." Volun winked at him as he stood up from the bench. Tern grinned and followed him.
"Where do you need us today, sir?" Volun walked them to the hangar bay. He and Tern liked working or doing chores in the Hangar bay where they could see outside the protective shield and the various craft.
"Oh hello Volun, we are running training exercises, you and your friend can help with the x's today," one of the officers told them. They nodded and headed to where the new x-wings where in the hangar bay.
One of the squadrons returned to the hangar bay. Volun and Tern had to behave as if they were during an actual battle. They plugged in the recharger for the ship's core, supplying the anti-matter core with the fuel it required to create matter, anti-matter fusion. They changed the life-support canisters supplying the ship with oxygen with new ones, ran a maintenance boot-log to the astromech, cleaned the weapons ports as well as the engines and other integral engineering parts of the ship from grime and whatnot. They had to be able to do all this in less than thirty seconds to be battle-ready and efficient.
Three hours later Cyra asked for them both to go to the training area.
"Where's Alkon?" Tern asked thinking he would be training with the man. Instead he saw Cyra holding her lightsaber waiting for him.
The training area was a large rectangular room with several different areas for different training needs.
Cyra raised her hands next to her head and powered up the lightsaber. "Defend yourself."
"Can I leave my st… " Tern had not time to finish his sentence. Cyra pulled him in using Force-pull and swinging the lightsaber in front of his gut. Tern did not try to fight the Force-pull, instead he went with it launching himself on the air landing behind Cyra. He used the Force to bring the lightsaber to his hand and powered it up just as Cyra turned round, their sabers locking up above Tern's head.
"Would you tell a Sith Lord to wait? I think not, now fight." Cyra used her lightsaber to push him back and flat on his back. Tern rolled back and away from her before trying to use Force-choke on her. She stopped him by using Force-push. "Predictable, don't have a signature move, you will be predictable. Predictable will get you killed." Cyra thrashed, thrusted and slashed at him.
"Guard your flank."
"Don't leave your face unguarded."
"Use the Force." She constantly gave Tern observations and corrections as they fought.
"Don't let your opponent dictate the strategy of the fight, you won't outlive it." Tern gave a cry pushing her back then pulling her in, jumping over her, his body forming a wheel landing on his feet then pulling Cyra back in towards him. The emitter of his lightsaber, powered down, touched her back, between the pelvis and lower torso.
"You're dead." He announced.
"So are you, good quick thinking, wrong to pull me in knowing I'll die, my lightsaber is pushed up against my torso, you power up your lightsaber I power up mine, we both die."
"Y… you'd do that?" Tern let her go. Cyra turned round belting her lightsaber.
"Yes, why not? I'm dead anyways I might as well take you with me." She removed a tuft of hair from her face and smiled. "But for a youngling, good going there."
Tern grinned, "who are you calling a youngling?" He asked Cyra powering up his lightsaber.
"I see… no holding back then, let's get you trained." Cyra and Tern continued sparring until neither could stand from the tiredness.
"Go rest, Tern, tomorrow we go on a different kind of mission. It should be interesting." Cyra gave a peculiar smile and left the training area.
"I hate it when your mother says "interesting"." Tern walked to Volun who had come to the training area about an hour earlier.
Volun chuckled. "Yeah, my mother can be interesting when she says interesting." Tern shook his head at Volun's grinning face.
"Really now?" Volun giggled.
"Yes, now let's go, you need a shower." Volun dragged Tern to the room they shared.
"I do not smell!" Tern protested trying not to laugh.
"Indeed, you don't smell… " Volun tried to keep serious. "You reek."
Tern felt so tired he just let Volun drag him to their room, undress him and almost throw him in the sonic shower.
Tern stood there almost asleep waiting for the sonic shower to start.
He moaned feeling wet, warm lips on his penis. It jumped to life eager for the pleasure it knew was about to receive.
Tern opened his legs some to give Volun more access, placing his hands on Volun's hair to steady himself.
Volun suckled on Tern's meat-stick, his tongue slurping and teasing the piss slit. He used a hand to hold Tern's hips feeling them move back and forth faster as he stimulated his lover, and his other free hand travelled below between Tern's legs tickling the perineum before teasing Tern's virginal rear orifice.
"Oh… more… " Tern whispered feeling Volun's finger penetrate him. Now moving his hips back and forth fucking Volun's face also meant fucking himself on Volun's digit. It was not the first time Volun pleasured him so, and he desired more.
Volun got the hint pushing in a second finger. Tern groaned pausing for a second feeling some discomfort before resuming his swaying back and forth.
He felt so tired he did not even have the strength to scream as his orgasm overwhelmed him, whimpering and moaning.
"By the Force… " Tern mumbled as Volun stood to his feet.
"I take it you liked that?" Volun asked opening the shower door. He turned off the energy to the sonic shower. Tern just nodded emphatically.
Holding hands, they lay on the bed with sleep overcoming them swiftly entangled in each other's, hands and legs.
"Wake up sleepy head." Tern woke up, his hands instinctively searching for Volun's warmth.
He groaned trying to speak. Volun giggled, "my mother wants us in the hangar bay asap. Come on get up." Volun was already in clothes.
Ten minutes later they were standing in front of The Pilgrim.
"What's so important that we couldn't sleep more?" Tern yawned.
"War. We are at war in case you forgot. Forget sleeping until it's done." Cyra snapped at Tern. "Board, this mission is secret so I'll brief you all on the way. I don't want anyone else listening in to this. General Gavor knows, should be good enough." Cyra boarded The Pilgrim.
"Should be enough?" Tern asked.
"Yeah, in case we go missing, someone else in here knows where we are going and the mission objectives." Alkon replied boarding The Pilgrim.
They left the planet's orbit and jumped to Hyperspace. Cyra met them in the communal area.
"We're going to the swamp world of Malastare. We are going to meet with some… old friends of mine."
"Old friends?" Even Volun did not know what she meant or who.
"Yes, throughout my lifetime I've met other Force-wielders and Sensitives who did not want to affiliate themselves with either the Sith or the Jedi. I have called a meeting with them in Malastare to try and convince at least some of them to join us although I think the use of the Life-Eradicators for the first time a few days ago might have swayed some of them before we even met with them."
"That was horrible… " Tern whispered.
"Yes, it was and even if some of them are Dark Side users, they do not agree with either the Sith or what they just did." Ura did not look at all pleased at hearing that more Dark Side users could be joining them.
"No. We are supposed to be killing those fuckers." Ura complained.
"They are not the Sith." Cyra tried to reason with her.
"I do not care. All Dark Side users are the same. They must all die." Ura replied stubbornly.
"Even Tern?" Cyra tried to bring out sympathy for one of their crew.
"Yes. I do not care for him." Ura's face showed no sign of emotion.
"You are becoming what you hate. Your feelings are clouding your judgment." Cyra responded getting serious as well.
"I do not care if I must become my enemy to defeat my enemy, to slay those who slew my family and my whole fucking village, I will!" Ura's face now distorted by anger and loathing.
"How are you any different or better than the Sith then?" Tern snapped at her.
"Shut up child, I do not require to be better, only to exact my revenge on them."
"You are Sith then." Ura let out a scream of hatred and charged at Tern, her hands extended out in front of her, wanting to grab his neck.
Tern flicked his wrist Force-pushing her back. He powered up his lightsaber.
"Enough! Tern put that thing away. Ura, I order you to go to your room and stay there until we return to Tatooine after which you will be given a new post." Cyra Force-held them both.
"No, fuck this shit, I will not take orders from one who will side with Dark Side users. When we return to Tatooine I will leave the Coalition." Cyra let go of them, Ura left for her room.
"Well… that went well." Volun looked at his mother.
"We all have a path to follow, Ura must follow hers and we ours. Alkon where do you stand?" Cyra looked at the man sitting on the opposite end of the table.
"I am with you, boss-lady." Alkon smiled.
"I've told you not to call me… " Cyra sighed making Alkon chuckle.
"Should take a few hours to arrive at Malastare, I'll see you all then. Tern… best avoid Ura's room." Cyra left for her cabin. Volun played holo-chess with Alkon to pass the time. Tern passed the time in their room.
"Ma'am, we're coming up at Malastare." Garos notified Cyra through the intercom.
Tern came out of the room with Volun looking him with a raised brow. "You know if you are going to close yourself in the room for five hours… we can have fun together."
Tern chuckled, "not everything is about 'that'. I was doing other things." Tern replied cryptically.
"Garos, land us over there by the clearing, we'll walk to the meeting place, it's not far. Only me, Volun and Tern will go. Alkon you guard the ship, if Ura tries anything… do what you must." Cyra left The Pilgrim's bridge.
"I guess we are to follow her then." Tern shrugged walking out of the bridge after Cyra.
The Pilgrim landed and the three of them walked to the meeting place. Half an hour later they arrived.
They were alone in the spot, deep in the swamp jungle.
"The humidity around here is… suffocatingly interesting." Tern complained.
"Yes, now try imagine walking around in circles in this humidity to meet an old… friend." A voice spoke behind them making Tern spin around powering up his lightsaber.
"Put that toothpick away child lest you injure yourself with it." A man wearing black and green clothes with a red cape and hood appeared out of the thick vegetation followed by a teen girl.
Tern looked over to Cyra who nodded to him to calm down.
"Varog my old friend, how are you?" Cyra took a few steps forward greeting the man with a small bow of her head and cross shaking of their hands with her palms looking up. A sign of respect and a show of her intentions, displaying her hands to show them empty and thus not threatening or holding a weapon.
Varog reciprocated. "This is my apprentice, Hara. I see you have a new apprentice?"
"Yes. Are the others coming?"
"He is not entirely Light Side is he?"
"He is complicated, like the rest of us."
"If you trust him… he is not like Bragus is he?"
"No. No one is like him except for those that are."
Tern stayed silent observing the conversation between Cyra and Varog. He did catch Hara looking at him and Volun here and there.
"The others will come, you called and the Sith are growing ever more powerful… again. Where did you find your new apprentice?"
"Wondering the cosmos. Did you hear of a Sith attack on Tython?"
"No, when did this happen?"
"Oh almost half a year ago. The Sith assassins were after him, I could not but aid him in his hour of need, we sort of stuck together after that."
"Ura?"
"Ah… which family has no problems? Our paths seem to have diverged of late."
"Indeed, I would have never thought you would take on a Dark Side user as your apprentice, Cyra." A voice spoke to their left. Tern and Volun turned their heads to see a woman followed by a young boy coming out of the vegetation.
"Ravela Iro, long time no see. New apprentice I see?" Cyra replied in a pleasant voice.
"Yes, this is Karos Eor, and don't try to avoid the question, the boy is strong with the Dark Side… and the Light? What are you up to?"
"Tern Amargo is his own being, and much like you having an affinity to the Dark Side does not mean anything bad."
"I see… " Ravela scanned Tern from head to toe. "Well if you're sure, there's something… off about him."
"There's much you don't know about everyone." Tern replied in a neutral face.
She laughed. "He speaks. Cyra's training you well I see, as cryptic as always."
"Oh no, that's my natural Dark Side charm." Tern quipped trying not to grin.
Volun snickered trying to stifle a giggle.
Ravela laughed heartily. "Oh I like this one." Tern could feel himself blushing.
"Enough, where are the others?" Cyra uncrossed her hands in front of her torso leaving them to fall by her sides.
"This is it, I'm afraid. Only three lines left, and Umaga is not coming out of hiding 'until the two Sides of the Force are no longer fighting each other' as he put it." Varog mimicked what Volun supposed was Umaga's voice.
"The others?" Cyra looked sad.
"Killed… Yaron, Fadel Soru and Calod Walorf killed by Sith the last few years. Omali Nirom killed by Jedi, he turned bad." Varog replied.
"I see… well better than nothing. I need you to join our Coalition against the Sith. Tern and I are not enough. We need more Force-Sensitive users as Generals."
"No. I am not joining anyone." Ravela replied almost instantly.
"I'm in." Varog also replied fast.
"You can't like what the Sith are doing." Cyra confronted Ravela.
"I don't, but I also do not want to take sides in this like my teacher before me did not, like his did not, like none of our teachers have not since before the Clone Wars." Ravela stated.
"Do you know they are using Rakata machine designs to… extract Dark Side energy from Force-Sensitive children and use it as a weapon?" Tern enquired clenching his fists. He could not understand how anyone not a Sith would not want to join a fight against them.
"Yes, but both Karos and I have our sorrows, we do not wish to join something that will only inevitably lead to more sadness, fear and sorrow." Ravela replied dismissively.
"And here I thought that Dark Siders liked those feelings." Volun whispered.
"Sorrow? You have sorrow? Who doesn't?" Tern could feel anger rising from within.
"Ours are… " Ravela tried cutting him off but Tern would have none of it.
"What? Special? Different? More powerful?"
"Yes, do you have any idea what it feels like… " Ravela was interrupted.
"… losing your child because a Sith would not accept you not giving him over? He killed your son right in front of my eyes with you unable to do anything about it? No, I suppose Cyra knows, I don't… I know what it feels like to have never known parents, to have never had parents, the sorrow that comes from a deep-seated feeling of complete loss at never having had a family or having… been born from someone, to feel completely afloat without any person or location to call home or to recognise as one. The sorrow that comes from being created from the Dark Side of the Force and being unable to accept the Darkness inside, to allow the monster the freedom it demands. You think you have a monopoly in sorrow and fear? Don't make me laugh." Tern stared intensely straight at Ravela's deep blue eyes.
Ravela as well as the others were left stunned and speechless.
"Tern… " Cyra sighed releasing a deep breath. "Well I suppose you would learn sooner or later. Now what will it be Ravela?"
"How did you know…? Cyra tell you?" Ravela asked him.
"No..a friend asked me to meditate a few months ago… I pretended to ignore her like a kid tries to ignore his mother but… I did not actually ignore her… I pretended I was not meditating but I do. The Force sings does it not? When you can listen to it?"
Ravela took a look at her apprentice who nodded at her. She locked eyes with Cyra. "We will join you… for now. Lead the way to your ship."
"What of yours?" Volun asked her.
"It is an old junk. We all came together. We'll go with yours." Varog replied.
They walked back to The Pilgrim in virtual silence. Tern and Volun could not but check out the other two teens. Karos looked to be slightly older with jet black hair reaching his green eyes. He looked to be athletic. He was taller than them and looked heavier as well. Hara looked to be of the same age if not slightly younger. She had blond long hair reaching just above her buttocks, slim waist, a nicely developing chest and long lithe legs. Her buttocks too looked nice and curvy. Tern felt hornier than usual, with both Hara and Karos exciting him, but then again it seemed as if everything and anything excited him of late.
Volun too was feeling very butterfly-in-stomach and penis chubbying up.
They arrived in The Pilgrim and left the planet's surface.
Volun, Tern and the other two teens sat in the communal area feeling awkward until Volun broke the ice.
"Looks like we're in it together now." He smiled.
Karos smiled back. "Yeah, it'll be different to sit in one place for long… we are used to moving from planet to planet… avoiding Sith and Jedi alike. Our mentors are lone wolves."
"Yeah I know what you mean, my mum's the same." Volun replied with Tern nodding his agreement.
"So what's next?" Hara asked them.
"Tython, next we return to Tatooine, I brief everyone involved in the plan I have and we attack the Sith forces blockading Tython in our first major battle against the Sith since the fall of the New Republic." Cyra told them entering the room with the others.
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