All that has faded me within

Chapter 1.

Now

“ Commander Ventress” The sound of the lieutenant’s voice echoed out across the grand hall in which Ventress stood. It’s lavishly decorated walls and marbled floors added to the structures grandeur. Dominating all else that adorned the hall, was a large bronzed sculpture of what appeared to be a Jedi master. No one who had ever been granted access to this part of the superstructure knew exactly who the statue had been erected in honour of, nor why Asajj Ventress kept such a grand memorial of someone who was so clearly of an order she had long since lost faith in. No one dare ask.

Asajj herself stood at the foot of the said sculpture, studying the small cylindrical form of a lightsaber hilt that had until now, lain on a small display dais. Her flawless pale face was set in a neutral expression, she betrayed no feeling when she turned to face the lieutenant who had so unceremoniously interrupted her thoughts.

“ This had better be important lieutenant, my time is precious as I am sure you are aware.”

There was a faint flicker of anger in her eyes that betrayed her, she sensed much apprehension from the large, well build rattatakian man before her.

“ We have captured the clone commander as requested commander.” He said without a second thought.

Ventress’ dark eyes flashed a paler shade and she quirked a slender brow in amusement.

“ Indeed? Have him brought to my personal dungeons at once, perhaps he will yet yield answers to a few of the questions I have to ask.”

She now turned to face the lieutenant, her expression unforgiving,

“ Perhaps Count Dooku will learn the location of the republics most needed facilities after all?”

The brawny rattatakian man saluted and next proceeded to exit the grand hall. Asajj watched him leave, only when she was certain she was alone did she turn to face the large sculpture of the Jedi master once more.
“ Soon I shall have a new master, he will complete my training” She paused for a second as painful memories flooded her mind, “ Your death will be avenged, I promise you that.”

Her eyelids fluttered closed into a silent vision. Images that once had scared her as a child now told of what could be a promising future. But through it all, there was still something missing. A void that could not be filled, perhaps never would be, that of her master.

**********
Then.

“ There were too many of them, I could not hold them all! It is impossible.”

The voice of Ky Narec’s 16 year old Padawan met his ears. He looked up from his work bench littered with various tools and shards of metal, to take in the sight before him. There his pad wan sat cross legged, surrounded by several rocks of varying sizes.

“ Jedi have used this exercise for years padawan, I assure you, it is not impossible.” Ky responded gently.

The girls face was a picture of frustration and defiance. Still he ignored her silent protests adding,
“ Try again.”

He had barely looked back down at his work when he heard another exasperated sigh escape her lips. She had been an exceptional student, even though her training had been started much too late on in her life with regards to what the Jedi council preferred. He often wondered if it were the circumstances in which they met that had made her so special. On the battle field, he a victim of a potentially lethal crash, her…the spoils of war.
He would not have survived without her knowledge of her home world, he had been stranded, thought dead by his order. She had become the focus of his efforts. Through her he hoped to unite more people on this war stricken rock, set an example. Without him, she would most certainly have perished that day.

Narec found himself jolted from his thoughts by the sound of rocks falling to the floor one by one. This was quickly followed by another exasperated sigh from his apprentice.

“ Try not to think about how great a quantity there is, focus on the group as you would a single rock, as a whole.” He urged, he didn’t like to prompt his student, but sometimes he had little option.

Once more, the pale rattatakian girl closed her eyes, telekinesis had never been her strong point, while she accelerated in such arts as mind tricks and sabre skills. She was determined to master this too. Slowly but surely, the circle of rocks began to teeter then rise from the ground. As if the girl had sensed her masters amused gaze on her, she opened her eyes and beamed triumphantly.

“ Anything is possible when you can focus clear on your goals” He said, followed by a wince as the rocks tumbled down again.

This time his padawan seemed undeterred. A puzzled look crossed her face as she rose from the ground.
“ You have been working on that since we started training this morning, what is it?” Crossing the room, she walked to the workbench where her master stood, she peered over his shoulder, brow furrowed.

“ It is a long range holo-transmitter, hopefully.” He mused, continuing to tinker with the makeshift device. “ I am hoping to be able to get this to pick up the signal of any republic ships in the systems nearby, perhaps via them I can finally contact the order.”

Asajj understood perfectly. While the holonet was completely non existent in this backwater system, her master was stranded here. All off world transport was virtually non existent, either that or it was controlled by the enemy war lords. No smugglers ever landed here out of fear. This truly was an isolated desolate place. In a strange sense, while she knew this pained him, it comforted her. She had lost everything until she met her master, he was now her everything. Together they had united clans and brought some sense of peace to a world that only knew war. Some clans even regarded both he and her heroes…something that Rattatak had never known.
Ky Narec was the best thing that could have happened to Asajj and it would tear her in two if he left now.

Something inside her stirred, something confusing and something she knew she would have to repress. It was forbidden was it not? To have attachment? Or was there more to this? There was no part of her that wished to give her master a reason to go and so she pushed it back down inside herself, replacing it this time with mock interest.

“ Do you think it will work?” She quizzed half heartedly.

“ Possibly, but it is only makeshift, there can be no certainties.”

It was then he felt something change in his padawan. Perceptively she moved away from him, only to be startled as he reached out and grabbed a hold of her forearm to prevent her from leaving.

“ Asajj…” For a moment all words left him and she stared back at him with dark eyes, searching his thoughts. “ …If…if I am able to make contact with the republic or my order, I would have you return to Coruscant with me. I would wish you to complete your training and study as I did at the Jedi temple.”

Unsurprisingly, she looked away,

“ And I am honoured at the thought, but you would leave the people here now? When we have come so far and close to defeating the war lords clans? At least stay until our task here is done…there would be peace.” Her voice was ever so slightly raised now, hammering what she said into her masters mind.

Slowly, he reached out to her, placing one hand softly against her cheek and turning her face back to look at him. Something inside him too stirred then, something he had felt before this moment but knew it was something upon which he could never act. She would be the end of him, he knew it. But he had never been able to disagree with some of her better points.
“ You cannot leave now.” She added with emphasis to each word.

He had already made his mind up, all the pain he sensed inside her, he could not go. Not now.

“ Very well, I shall stay until our task here is through.” His tone was somewhat wistful, but sincere all the same. She was right in some respects. The order had not so much as sent a search party to look for him. If they had intended to look for him at all? The thought picked away at something else he had kept repressed for too long. Why had he stayed this long? Surely if he had been determined enough he could have left this force forsaken rock? It all came back to a couple of things, his oath as a Jedi…and her.
He had watched her grow, going from strength to strength with her training. So what had changed? Why did he feel guilty for so much as looking at her now? She had exited the room shortly after that thought and Narec felt the need to let out a sigh of relief. A Jedi should not think the things that he so badly wanted to. He opted to spend the rest of the afternoon meditating, it would do him some good to clear his mind.