Qui-Gon resisted the urge to sigh as he felt something through the Force, 'What has he been doing now?' He wondered, trying not to show how anxious he was.
It was bad enough, making sense of one anomaly in the force, now he had another: Anakin Skywalker, a Tattooine slave that the Jedi could clearly sense had the Force within him to a great degree. The child had offered them shelter at his dwelling with his mother. Hence how the trio ended up staying the night in a slave's home.
Interesting events just kept on coming during this mission: Trade Federation rebellion, clumsy Gungans, unconventional/helpful Sith Lords and now a Force-sensitive they just happen to come across? The galaxy isn't supposed to be that small of a place.
"Qui-Gon Jinn?" Shmi Skywalker called, looking just a bit uneasy as she poked her head around the corner.
"Yes?" He asked politely from where he sat.
"There's...someone here to see you," She commented, eyes tracing back to the door repeatedly, as if pleading him to go to it.
Qui-Gon blinked as he straightened up, 'What? When...How did he...?' He wondered in confusion as he headed to the door, letting it slide up and permit a gust of wind and sand in.
Or at least, it would have, if the Sith Lord wasn't holding up his arm to create a Force-shield against the sandstorm, protecting himself and the door, "Do not look so surprised, Jedi. Unlike your Padawan, it doesn't suit you," Vader commented evenly, shifting a bag held over his shoulder by his free arm.
"You...feel farther away," Qui-Gon noted cautiously, raising an eyebrow at him.
Vader nodded in understanding, "A brief trick, making my Force-presence linger elsewhere for a short time, giving the illusion I have not moved. Our "friend" seems so fixated on me that he has either forgotten about you entirely for the moment, or simply cannot bring himself to focus in on any other presence. I thought it best not to give him an impression of where you might be, on the far chance he has a moment of clarity," The Sith Lord explained as he brought the bag off his back and handed it to the Jedi Master.
"What is-This?" Qui-Gon asked curiously, a bit surprised by the weight. Cyborg limbs had their advantages, apparently.
"I was unable to find the proper items for a replacement, but I...happened into the possession of certain objects I felt it would be a waste to part with," Vader elaborated vaguely.
The Jedi raised an eyebrow before looking in the bag. He almost dropped it as he looked back up at the Sith in surprise, "Vader, what did you do?" He asked suspiciously.
Vader pondered the best answer for that...
Flashback Montage
"Do you have anything to pay for this?" A grumpy human vendor asked dryly, bravely unimpressed by Vader's intimidating appearance.
Vader was about to comment when a Devaronian just barely bumped into him, yelling over his shoulder, "Watch it!"
The Sith Lord glanced at the horned pick-pocket with almost palpable annoyance before said thief suddenly found themself stumbling into a large Gamorrean, causing the boar-like being to spill its food. The swine-ish biped looked down at his sand-covered snack, flaring his nostrils as he looked up with a low and fang-filled snarl. The Devaronian had all of two seconds to look terrified before his face met a meaty fist, sending him into an Aqualish, who ended up accidentally knocking over an entire stand. Within second, it devolved into a street brawl with several other bystanders.
The human vendor watched the event with amusement, raising an eyebrow as Vader placed several peggats on the table, "I believe this shall cover it?" Vader asked knowingly. The human decided to pretend like he never saw how several objects had flown into Vader's palm from the direction of the street fight, nodding as he let the Sith collect his goods.
"Pleasure doing business with you."
"You are fortunate that no one has crashed into the settlement after purchasing such mistreated and broken equipment," Vader commented dryly, his inner mechanic insulted from one parsec to another over these scam of a shop.
"I told you, for the last time, it's not broken!" The Klatooinian shop owner argued rather vehemently, despite sweating nervously. This customer was very...intimidating.
"Saying a lie repeatedly won't change the truth, no matter how loudly you proclaim it," Vader retorted with an eye roll, resisting the urge to force choke the fraud. He wasn't sure why, really. Maybe he just didn't want his first force choke in this timeline to be wasted on a lying vendor.
"Look you snarky tourist, if you're just going to insult my business-"
Tempting, though.
"Hey, buddy, I think you're in the wrong place," A purple Elomin, missing half her horns, warned as they sat at a rather expensive bar, attended only by some of the richer folks in Mos Espa. Interestingly, it had a strangely wide door.
"I would rather be on any world else, save one," Vader agreed neutrally. He didn't like bars in general, but at least the high class ones made the effort of trying to look like civilized businesses rather than the cesspools he usually thought of them as.
"No, I mean this bar. This is where Jabba's bounty hunters hang out after a good payday- which is today," She forewarned, "They don't take fondly to...other patrons when their around."
"Words of experience?" He asked, glancing at her broken horns without moving his head.
"...Something like that," She answered with a sigh as she got up to leave, "Don't say I didn't warn you."
Jabba the Hutt would normally be annoyed at seeing his henchmen thrown out of a bar like children, but this was not normally. In truth, he was actually a bit relieved. He paid good money to keep this place in good shape and have a Hutt-friendly booth, not a common feature in a galaxy filled with mainly bipedal sentience. Not to mention they knew how to fix some of his favorite beverages just right.
Yet for some reason, his underlings got the horrid idea he'd want them at the same bar as him. In truth, he had intended on this being a place for a little peace and quiet for him. And from experience, telling your grunts to scram wasn't a good idea- that always seemed to be the moment a crime lord needs them in the most criminal underworld.
Accompanied by two guards, in case anyone got annoyingly stupid, he moved his way into the establishment...
He was honestly amused to see a black clothed humanoid, with a skull-like mask, sitting at a booth with the Bith barkeeper collecting several blasters as payment for a drink. Jabba was considering hiring him if he could steal all those blasters off those common thugs. Common thugs he might be overpaying, by the looks of things.
Though, how the stranger drunk that drink without removing the mask, he didn't know.
After all, Vader wasn't about to advertise he had a retractable straw in his mouthpiece.
Jabba couldn't help smirking a bit as he saw a game of Holochex on the table. It had been a while since he had good competition...
"..." Vader didn't even have words for the Rodian trying to mug him in an ally. He almost felt sorry for the fool whose desperation for food and/or money must have overpowered his survival instincts.
That didn't mean he was going to overlook this.
Question was how deal with him...
End Flashback Montage
"You are in all likelihood better off not knowing, Jedi," Vader answered carefully. Best let the Jedi use his imagination and assume the worst for now.
"Right...," Qui-Gon acknowledged as he held the bag of "goods" with questionable origins and legality to even possess in most of the galaxy.
"Keep them away from the boy," Vader advised sternly as he turned back into the storm.
Qui-Gon closed the door before the sand could get in, deciding not to even ask how Vader knew about Anakin in any form.
"...Was he a bounty hunter?" Shmi asked curiously as Qui-Gon walked by from where she had been watching.
"Ms. Skywalker, it would be much simpler if that was the case," Qui-Gon answered, half amused and half exasperated.
"Is he going to be alright in that storm?" Shmi pointed out with a raised eyebrow, deciding her guest wouldn't elaborate more on the mysterious visitor.
"Likely, yes," Qui-Gon answered, knowing Vader was likely a bigger danger to most than any storm. Looking down at the bag in his hand, he wondered where he was going hide this from Anakin. Or JarJar for that matter. And there was a small part pondering how he was going to explain it to Padme, 'I'm going to need a loooong meditation session soon.'
Meanwhile
Being a Sith was not without challenge; quite the opposite in fact. To be a Sith was to embrace challenges, to overcome and manipulate them to one's own fullest advantage. To adapt and persevere when a new type of problem couldn't be dealt with in the usual methods. And ultimately, to face a Sith's greatest opponent every day. Not themselves, no. Unlike the Jedi, they saw their own selves and vices as things to harness and wield like any other weapon.
No, the greatest opponent of the Sith was the Force itself.
The Jedi knew only the calm, serene relationship with the Light as a mystery to unravel with time and understanding. The Sith dueled and sparred and fought every day with the Dark Side of the force. Not in hatred or loathing of its followers, but in testing. The Dark Side detested weakness, be it in mind or body. It was much like a great beast that would loyally aide one, but only as long as they did not waver in their strength while constantly testing their might and resolve. The only difference was that the Dark Side often rewarded those that claimed victory against it, strengthening their bond.
If the Force- or more specifically, the Dark Side- had a voice, it likely would express some praise for the Line of Bane, ever strengthening the two greatest champions it could have at one time. And perhaps that was why Bane's way worked so well. The Apprentice and The Master, The Dark Lords of the Sith. Two entities, each generation gaining more power, had almost the exclusive attention of the Dark Side rather than it leaping between thousands of Sith.
But that was no longer the case, and Sidious hated it.
In his private apartment on Coruscant, it was so tempting to just start destroying and thrashing everything, then use some mind-techniques with the force to make the staff replace everything before forgetting everything. But he didn't need the extra distraction right now. After all, theJedi might be paranoid enough right now to sense it.
This new entity was a mystery he could not afford to remain in play without unraveling its origin and intents, and soon. Too much had been riding on this, generations of work all building up to this grand step in taking back the galaxy for the Sith and wiping out the Jedi.
Okay, he was exaggerating a little bit. They had more than a few back up plans. Not quite as clean as the original plan would be though, or as clean as civil war and genocide could be in any case. Not to mention turning the decadent republic into an empire was about the simplest solution in terms of galactic domination. It would take recalibrating, but yes, the plan would ultimately still work even if he didn't become the supreme chancellor.
No, what truly infuriated the Nabooian Senator wasn't a hiccup in the grand scheme of things. Nor was it even that his home planet was involved in this hiccup. It was this unknown...Sith, as begrudged as he was to admit the being as such. The Dark Side's attention was almost exclusively focusing on this new player, as if it had been called to heel. Even Darth Plagueis, greatest master of manipulating the Force, had never had the Dark Side so eager to answer his call.
Not to say the Dark Side was ignoring Sidious, oh no. While it offered no aid in giving him an extra foothold into this newcomer's mind, it was more than willing to aide with anything else; cloaking his presence, subtly reading and twisting minds, even glimpses into the near future. Yet, he could almost feel the Dark Side's eagerness in connection to the stranger.
But if there was one thing Sidious was enjoying about this, it was being able to sense the unease and fear of all the Jedi in the temple. Oh how Sidious almost cackled as he drank it in before he remembered the cause of that reaction. And the other Dark Siders across the galaxy, their own fear laced into awe. But even if he stretched out his senses, he didn't get any sensation of relief or joy, or any darker equivalents, at them sensing the new presence.
So far, no one strong in the force apparently knew who this was offhandedly.
Perhaps the thing bothering him most wasn't just the this Third Sith so much that it was happening now, right at this crucial moment. And as bizarre as it was, this new player seemed to be traveling with the Queen of Naboo. What became of the two Jedi was anyone's guess since most would assume any force user was in fact a Jedi. Still, that wasn't the point. The point was that to interfere with this plan, with the invasion and occupation..?
To Sidious there were two possibilities, neither of which he liked. One was that this Sith and whatever secret line or group he had emerged from, had found a way to spy on fellow Dark Siders through the force without being detected. It made sense in a way, as the Line of Bane was primarily hiding from the Jedi, most didn't think about hiding from other Sith.
The other option was that his master, Darth Plagueis, was playing him for a fool. He had trouble seeing that, if only because of how hard it would be to hide it from Sidious, but he knew not to put anything by his Master.
Still, he was a bit anxious now. If Plagueis was double-crossing him, he might have been aware of Sidious's intentions.
Perhaps, Sidious decided, he might have to "surpass" his master before becoming chancellor rather than after. But it'd be hard now. Every Dark Sider- No, every force user peroid would be on their toes for the foreseeable future, much less the Dark Lord of the Sith.
Another less pleasing topic was Darth Maul, his so-called apprentice. He had advised the assassin to tread carefully if confronting this unknown party became unavoidable. But he knew, in the deep wells of the Dark Side, he knew that Maul was very displeased with this event. He was obviously confused and likely unsure if Sidious knew who or what this being was…a smart assumption to make, to suspect one's own master. Sidious just wished this was some scheme of his. At least then he'd know what was going on.
Still, Maul was likely to get killed if he went after this dark source and Sidious knew he would. At least that meeting might provide some insight into this individ-
His eyes widen as the Dark Side whispered to him. Apparently, that confrontation was going to happen.
Right Now.
Meanwhile
Darth Maul could say one positive thing about this trip: He discovered he enjoyed meditating during storms. There was something soothing yet focusing for the violent Dark Sider about tuning into the Force while in the midst of a display of Nature's Wrath raging about just outside the cave.
But no amount of meditating could have stayed Maul's shock at the speed the mysterious force presence was suddenly moving at…out of the city too. It was on a vehicle, a speeder most likely, but to where? To a ship...?
No.
With wide eyes, a strange and confused mix of excitement, rage, and fear built in the male Zabrak as he realized it was coming in Maul's direction. He wasn't a coward, but even just logically Maul knew he couldn't escape in the storm. That this foe was riding through this weather painted a disturbing determination to confront the young Dark Sider.
In all his life, he only felt like this on one occasion: In a spar with Darth Sidious himself…one where the Dark Lord brought a great deal of power down on his student, more than Maul had been ready for. But at the beginning, there had been that moment, that ominous feeling of an oncoming storm that was after him and him alone.
Maul didn't like the implications.
The presence stopped. He couldn't tell how far or close, such was the magnitude of the presence's weight in the Dark Side, but it was definitely in the area.
Whoever it was, it was hunting for Maul
The red skinned humanoid held his composure as he stood in the cave, saber gripped firmly in hand with a finger at the button.
'...I know you're there,' Came a whisper into his mind as all else became eerily quiet.
He flared his mental defenses, refusing to allow his mind to be tricked and played with.
'I have no use for such tactic on a dog such as yourself,' It...he taunted, his voice seeming to echo in the cave, if only to Maul's mind.
Maul refused to respond, not falling for the bait. He could fend off a mental assault, but he doubted he could win an actual battle of that nature.
'Does it anger you? To know that your master refuses to teach you fully? That he holds back his teachings?' The voice was like a whisper in his ear, but loud and clear in his mind.
Maul continued to glare at the only entrance into the cave, knowing any assault would have to come from there.
'How little you truly know. Sidious would never train a true apprentice so poorly before sending him on such an important task,' He mocked even as Maul went rigid.
He knew Sidious. He knew who his master was. But how...?
'An assassin, a disposable tool on the other hand...?'
The voice trailed off as Maul noticed something very important.
He had focused so much on the cave entrance; he didn't notice how deep the shadows around him had become.
'Let me show you the True Power of the Dark Side!'
Maul's eyes went wide before he heard the first crack, as the ceiling began to collapse. He made a force-dash for the opening, almost feeling the sand fall on his back before it fell off from the speed of his run. He privately cursed having to leave his speeder, likely to be crushed in the cave-in.
That thought was immediately forgotten as he saw something that would haunt him to his final days.
The quiet had not been in his mind.
There was a large...hole in the storm, a wide area where the sandy winds flew around and refused to entire, with his cave right in the center of it. As if kept back by a glass wall...
*Kuuuuuuh Kerrr*
Or a great Force.
*Kuuuuuuh Kerrr*
Instinctively, somewhere, he knew what he'd find when he turned around to face the breathing. That didn't mean he could delay in doing it.
*Kuuuuuuh Kerrr*
Upon the hill above the former cave stood a large, ominous black figure. In one hand was a lightsaber, the other held in a clenched fist, holding the storm at bay.
If it had been his younger years, before he met Sidious, he would have thought this to be the Dark Lord of the Sith.
On some level, he still did.