Chapter 21: – Silas – I pulled off my Nightingale armor, placing it back into my inventory so its enchantments could do their thing and repa
Chapter 21:
– Silas –
I pulled off my Nightingale armor, placing it back into my inventory so its enchantments could do their thing and repair it, though honestly, I still hadn't bothered to figure out exactly how those enchantments worked. Now dressed simply in a plain t-shirt and blue jeans, I settled into my seat on the spaceship as we blasted once again into hyperspace.
My system screen popped up directly in front of me, glowing softly.
[Congratulations on completing the side quest path of the liberator! The slaves of Tatooine are free, and most are escaping the planet before the Hutts return in force!]
I read the message quietly and nodded. It wasn't much, but it was all I could offer them right now. I'd given those slaves scattered across Tatooine a real shot at freedom. They would have to take advantage of it themselves, though. I knew a lot would probably die trying to escape, but many others would surely make it off-world safely. I wished I could've done more.
Especially considering how fucked they'd be if the Hutts rolled back in with their massive warships, bombarding the planet from orbit.
Unfortunately, we could only tackle one planet at a time, and right now Naboo needed our full attention. As a hero, that irritated me, but we all had limits.
Suddenly, another blue screen appeared right in front of me, brighter and more prominent this time.
[Congratulations! For successfully completing the mission and slaying Darth Maul, you, Silas Thorn, and your partner Vista will be given appropriate rewards! The young hero Vista has been granted her own special lightsaber! One that she can call to her side at any time, it will never break, and she cannot burn or cut herself with it!]
Missy was gonna lose her freaking mind…
[Silas Thorn has been granted the ability: Wound in the Force. Force powers, Master Abilities, and Thinker abilities will now flow around you, unable to touch you unless you allow them to!]
My eyes widened in shock. Holy shit! That was insanely OP, especially in this universe! A grin spread across my face. Good luck to any Sith asshole trying to fuck with me now! I laughed, excitement bubbling through me. This was a total game-changer.
Barely a second later, I heard a loud squeal of delight coming from Missy's room. She burst out into the main area of the ship, her mask off, her blonde hair bouncing around her face as she excitedly waved a lightsaber—thankfully switched off.
Although I knew that wouldn't be for long. Any kid with a lightsaber will immediately start playing with it. That was just a natural law.
"Oh my gosh, Silas! This lightsaber just popped up in front of me on my bed! It's so freaking cool, and I am totally keeping it!" She flicked it on, the blade humming to life with a vibrant green glow. "Look! It's green!" she cheered, waving it around enthusiastically, her blue eyes practically sparkling with excitement.
I cringed slightly as she swung it dangerously close to the ship's walls and floor. "Whoa, Missy, careful!" I cautioned her quickly. "You're gonna accidentally space us if you're not careful!"
Missy immediately blushed, switching off the lightsaber hastily. "My bad," she murmured sheepishly, though she continued bouncing with barely contained excitement.
A second later, the sound of urgent footsteps echoed through our section of the ship. Obi-Wan Kenobi rushed into the room, his brow furrowed deeply in concern. "I felt a disturbance in the Force," he announced, eyes scanning the room with cautious intensity.
His gaze fell on Missy, who was holding her new green lightsaber, still grinning broadly. Obi-Wan frowned, crossing his arms as he tried to maintain an air of mature authority. "Where exactly did you get that, young lady?"
Missy and I exchanged mischievous glances, a silent understanding passing between us before she straightened her posture confidently.
"THE FORCE GAVE IT TO ME!" she declared proudly. "You know, for helping all those people on Tatooine!"
Obi-Wan sputtered, clearly flustered, and ran a hand through his hair as he struggled to find his words. "That's not—no, the Force doesn't work like that! Why does all this weird stuff keeping happening around you both!?"
I snorted loudly, leaning back casually in my seat and raising an eyebrow at him. "If it doesn't work like that, then how exactly did she end up with a lightsaber? Where else would she have gotten it from?" I teased.
"I—I don't know!" Obi-Wan admitted, looking utterly defeated. His eyes flickered to me briefly, then quickly returned with a sudden intensity, narrowing suspiciously. "Wait a minute," he muttered slowly, stepping closer as he scrutinized me carefully. His eyes widened in shock, a mix of confusion and concern crossing his face. "I can't sense you anymore! Something is very wrong here!"
Missy glanced at me curiously, tilting her head slightly. "I can sense him just fine," she stated plainly, shrugging lightly.
"That's because I'm letting you," I informed her with a casual wink. Turning back to Obi-Wan, I feigned innocence and shrugged nonchalantly. "I didn't do anything special. The Force itself made it so people can't use Force abilities on me."
Obi-Wan's face flushed slightly as he sputtered again, shaking his head vigorously. "No, no way! The Force would never willingly create someone who is essentially a wound in itself! That doesn't make any bloody sense!"
"Well, it seems like it just did," I replied smoothly, offering him a teasing smile.
Frustration radiating off him in waves, Obi-Wan finally threw his hands up and stomped toward the exit of the hold. Neither Missy nor I offered any explanations he wanted, and he muttered irritably as he left, "I'm going to go inform Master Qui-Gon about all this madness!"
As soon as he disappeared from sight, Missy and I burst into quiet laughter, shaking our heads.
Qui-Gon came in a bit later to give Missy and me some kind of stern lecture. He was going on about not abusing our "unique relationship with the Force" or whatever he thought the source of our powers was. He also added something about not giving his young padawan a stroke, clearly referencing Obi-Wan's earlier freakout.
"Seriously, you two," Qui-Gon said, his voice patient but firm, "you need to be responsible with these strange abilities of yours. They aren't toys."
He even tried to take away Missy's new lightsaber to make his point, but the second he grabbed it, it vanished instantly from his grasp and popped right back into Missy's hands.
Her eyes lit up with pure delight. "See? I told you, Qui-Gon!" Missy cheered, practically bouncing with excitement. "The Force gave it to me, so it's mine!"
Just like my ghost bike, she could summon the lightsaber wherever and whenever she wanted, a fact that clearly thrilled her. Without another word, she dashed out of the room to go show off her awesome lightsaber to Anakin and his mom.
With everyone occupied, I was left to chill by myself for the next few hours as we approached Coruscant. I sat quietly, watching the stars pass us by at lightspeed—always a mesmerizing sight.
That's when Padmé and her body double Sabé walked in. Except this time, Sabé wasn't wearing her queenly makeup anymore, and they both wore casual space clothes.
Padmé looked especially nervous as she approached. "Silas," Padmé began hesitantly, wringing her hands, "there's something I really need to tell you. I've been lying to you and everyone else onboard this whole time—"
I smirked and cut off the fourteen-year-old queen before she could finish. "If you're about to tell me that you're actually the real Queen of Naboo and the girl next to you is your body double, don't worry—we already know. Literally, everyone on this ship knows. Except maybe Anakin and his mom, since they've been holed up in the engine room. Anakin's a good kid, making sure our new hyperdrive doesn't explode and kill us all. You know, since we did get it from Watto's junk shop, after all..." I rambled a bit with a shrug.
Both Padmé and Sabé sputtered at me in shock, their faces turning various shades of red.
"Everyone knows…?" Padmé mumbled to herself in disbelief. She let out a silent scream, covering her face with her hands in complete embarrassment.
Sabé sighed, offering a reassuring pat on her friend's shoulder. "Clearly, we need to work on our disguises," she said dryly.
I chuckled, shaking my head. "Honestly, it wouldn't matter much anyway. Just assume everyone on Coruscant who isn't a Jedi is going to try to kill you or screw you over at the first opportunity. No disguise is gonna fix that." I finished with a small laugh.
Of course I would do my very best to keep them safe though. Especially since this wasn't canon and any parts of it had been throughout fucked at this point with my intervention...
Padmé lifted her head, pouting adorably. "Well, now I'm even more worried!"
—
Finally, we reached Coruscant. Thanks to our Jedi clearance, we didn't have to wait in endless holding patterns. Considering Coruscant was literally the busiest place in the galaxy, that would've sucked ass.
Don't get me wrong—this sleek Nubian starship was pretty awesome. But cramming over a dozen people into a ship designed for maybe half that number was starting to wear thin, especially since there was only one bathroom onboard, and it wasn't exactly a five-star experience.
Star Wars bathrooms didn't use water...
Yeah... It was better not to think about it. Sonic showers weren't all they were hyped up to be either.
The moment the ship touched down softly onto the Jedi landing pad, I breathed a sigh of relief.
Missy stood next to me, still decked out in her green superhero costume. Unfortunately, she didn't have any spare clothes with her. My inventory was full of spare outfits, sure, but nothing even close to her tiny size. Honestly, I didn't have the heart to tell Missy she was starting to stink a little. Knowing her, she'd probably die of embarrassment on the spot.
"Hey, once we get inside, maybe we can snag you some fresh clothes," I suggested casually, nudging her gently with my elbow. "You've been kicking a lot of ass, you know. New clothes might be good."
Missy gave me a suspicious look, narrowing her bright blue eyes. "Are you trying to say I smell?" she asked accusingly.
I forgot for a second she was so smart!
I quickly raised my hands defensively and lied. "No way! Just thought you might like something more comfortable, that's all."
She stared for another moment before shrugging with a small sigh. "Yeah, that sounds good. This costume's cool, but not exactly made for lounging around."
The sleek ship ramp lowered smoothly, and we followed behind Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Padmé. The Naboo guards and Padmé's other handmaidens stayed aboard for now, keeping to themselves on the increasingly stuffy ship.
As we descended the ramp, an impressive welcoming committee stood waiting on the landing platform. Yoda was there, looking very curious. Mace Windu stood next to him, his expression stern and unreadable. Several other Jedi masters, whose names I never bothered to memorize, stood quietly behind them.
Look, I liked Star Wars as much as the next guy in my previous life, but memorizing every Jedi's name? No thanks. I only ever bothered learning the names of characters—like certain sexy Togruta from numerous rule 34 forums, for instance.
Shaak Ti stood off to the side, and my gaze immediately drifted her way. Her striking red skin was exotic as hell, and the way those tight Jedi robes hugged her curves made it impossible not to stare.
Damn, alien women in star wars had some nice curves.
Shaak Ti must've sensed my attention, because she glanced over at me, raising an eyebrow with obvious amusement. I quickly flashed her my best charming grin, hoping to smooth over getting caught blatantly checking her out. She just rolled her eyes at me, shaking her head slightly, a faint smirk on her lips.
I also felt Missy kick my leg, although it didn't really hurt.
"Welcome to Coruscant," Mace Windu's deep voice rumbled as he stepped forward, breaking my distraction. "Master Qui-Gon, Padawan Kenobi, it is good to see you both returned safely."
Qui-Gon nodded respectfully. "It's good to be back, Master Windu. We've brought some… unusual guests."
Yoda hobbled forward slightly, his green eyes studying Missy and me carefully. "Unusual indeed, these young ones are. Feel the Force strongly around them, one of them I do. The other, I feel nothing..." he said while staring at me. I allowed him to sense me for a brief moment, and he looked surprised, before nodding at me. "Mistake I made, sense this one fine I do as well," he chuckled when all the other Jedi masters furrowed their brows since they couldn't do the same.
Yoda was honestly the only one I would outright trust here to use force powers on me other than Missy.
Mace Windu's eyes traveled up and down me before lingering on Missy for a long moment. He pursed his lips, clearly skeptical.
"I see our resident Sith decided not to dress the part," he remarked dryly, folding his arms and staring at me.
I snorted at being openly labeled a Sith in front of everyone. "You may refer to me as Darth Awesome if it pleases this Jedi court," I declared sarcastically.
Qui-Gon sighed deeply beside me, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation, while Kenobi snorted softly, muttering something about my behavior being "uncivilized."
Missy shot me a glare and kicked my leg discreetly, signaling me to behave. She then turned her attention back to Windu, speaking earnestly, "Please ignore my partner's terrible sense of humor, Master Windu. We are heroes, honestly! My hero name is Vista, and his is Dragonborn," she explained with sincerity, gesturing towards me.
The red-skinned Togruta Jedi, Shaak Ti, tilted her head curiously, stepping forward slightly. Her voice was smooth and composed. "Why exactly do they call you Dragonborn?"
"I kill dragons and devour their souls to make myself more powerful," I responded with a perfectly straight face, making sure to keep my gaze locked on hers.
There was a collective moment of silence among the Jedi masters as they exchanged skeptical looks. Shaak Ti's eyebrows rose slightly, clearly unconvinced, and she shook her head gently, dismissing my claim. The others followed her lead, except Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, whose eyes widened with sudden realization.
"So that's why you hunted down those Krayt dragons on Tatooine," Qui-Gon murmured softly, his tone contemplative, exchanging a knowing glance with Obi-Wan.
Mace Windu cleared his throat, regaining everyone's attention. "I'm still not convinced you're not a Sith. And superheroes?" he scoffed lightly, skepticism evident in his voice.
"Hey!" Missy pouted indignantly, crossing her arms over her chest in frustration.
Ignoring her, Windu continued seriously, "I believe you should be brought back to the temple for interrogation. We need to know what you know about the Sith, especially since another Sith—the one known as Darth Maul—was killed by you on Tatooine. That's suspicious!"
Missy stepped forward in front of me. "You realize Silas was the one who killed that Sith, right?"
Mace Windu looked unimpressed, rolling his eyes dismissively. "Records show that Sith frequently kill one another. That alone doesn't prove anything about your allegiances."
Missy's mouth opened again, clearly about to argue more heatedly this time, when Yoda's calm voice broke through the tension. "Under arrest, Silas is not. Authority for that, Jedi do not have."
Mace sighed, visibly displeased, but reluctantly nodded. Yoda glanced around the group thoughtfully before adding, "To the temple, we all should go. Avoid eavesdroppers, we must. Besides, speak with young Missy and young Skywalker, I wish to do."
Mace Windu gave one final irritated look before turning away.
I was kinda bummed he didn't like me very much, but I'm sure I'd turn his opinion around soon enough. Especially with what I had planned…
Well—planned—was more of a loose term, but it would all work out.
—
We reached the Jedi Temple a short while later. Anakin was promptly given a room to stay in with his mother, Shmi. For some odd reason, the Jedi wanted to speak privately with Missy and Anakin without me around. Padmé and Sabé were also assigned Jedi guards and their own quarters. Tomorrow, Padmé was scheduled to address the Senate as the Queen of Naboo, planning to plead for assistance.
I internally snorted at that, already knowing exactly how that was going to turn out.
As for me, I was thoroughly enjoying myself, leisurely exploring the Jedi Temple with a beautiful alien right beside me. Her intense eyes kept close tabs on my every move, though she remained outwardly composed and reserved.
Feeling playful, I leaned in slightly, teasing, "Like what you see, Master Jedi? So, was the attraction from earlier mutual, or is this just business for you?"
Shaak Ti snorted softly, giving me a wry look. "Not a chance. You might be handsome for a human male, but I'm a Jedi Master. I would never forsake my vows to the Order simply to indulge in some fleeting fun."
"Darn," I replied, feigning disappointment. "And here I thought losing my V-card to a sexy alien would definitely make for an unforgettable story back home."
She raised an eyebrow at me, clearly amused despite herself. "Your 'V-card'? Honestly, you humans and your peculiar terms."
I shrugged. I don't even know who I'd tell, anyway. Maybe Vicky—she'd probably get a kick out of it. Amy? Definitely not as much...
Truthfully, I wasn't exactly being serious. I didn't think I would ever be the kind of guy to randomly hook up, especially not with multiple girls clearly interested back home. That time a week ago with Hildra and Panacea didn't count—it was a chance for a threesome! I'd been intensely attracted to both of them too.
...I was still pretty annoyed that my system had interrupted us...
As we continued our stroll through the elegantly lit halls, Shaak Ti frowned, clearly bothered by something. "It's quite frustrating," she admitted after a pause, "not being able to sense your emotions. I'd very much like to know how you're hiding them so effectively."
I smirked playfully, leaning closer again. "Trust me, Master Jedi, you're better off not sensing my emotions right now. They're all quite… horny," I concluded with an exaggerated wink.
She rolled her eyes dramatically, though a faint smirk betrayed her amusement. "Of course, they are," she sighed. Shaak Ti glanced at me sideways and then shook her head lightly, clearly amused. "Perhaps you should find a way to work off some of that... horny energy."
Her voice dripped with reluctant distaste at her own choice of words, making me laugh outright.
"Horny energy, huh?" I chuckled, crossing my arms and raising an eyebrow at her. "Well, Master Jedi, what exactly did you have in mind?"
"Well, I've never had the opportunity to duel a Sith before."
I groaned, rolling my eyes dramatically as I ran a hand through my messy blonde hair. "Seriously? We're still on this? How many times do I have to tell you—I'm not a Sith."
Shaak Ti leaned closer, a playful smirk tugging at the corner of her lips. "Qui-Gon's reports were quite detailed, you know. They specifically mentioned your fondness for throwing around lightning. That seems rather... Sithy to me."
"Sithy?" I echoed, my voice filled with mock indignation. "Is 'Sithy' even a word now?"
She shrugged gracefully, her slender shoulders moving fluidly beneath the tight robes that hugged her enticing curves. "It might as well be. Or perhaps you're simply too afraid to face a Jedi Master?"
"Afraid?" I scoffed, feigning offense. "I literally took down a Sith assassin just a few hours ago. Fear isn't really my thing."
Of course, it helped that Jedi Force powers couldn't touch me anymore unless I allowed them. Shaak Ti didn't know that yet, and she was about to find out in a pretty amusing way. With a cocky smirk, I gestured towards the hallway. "Lead the way. Let's see if a Jedi Master can keep up with me."
Her eyes sparked with excitement and something else as she led me confidently down the wide cinematic corridors toward the Jedi Temple's training area.
Our playful challenge quickly caught the attention of passing Jedi Knights, curious Padawans, and even excited younglings who began whispering eagerly among themselves, following us to see the upcoming duel. I imagined they didn't get a lot of entertainment around here.
"Looks like we have an audience," I observed dryly, glancing over my shoulder at the small crowd forming behind us.
Shaak Ti merely smiled serenely. "Good. Then they'll get to see how a Jedi Master handles someone as overconfident as you."
"Overconfident? Ouch," I mocked, clutching dramatically at my chest. "Right in the ego."
"We'll see how cocky you feel after the duel, Dragonborn."
XXX