Darth Vader. The name rings through Asajj's mind, even as the terrible power holding her against the wall suddenly alleviates, allowing her to drop forward and land on her hands and knees. She does not immediately rise however, her head lowered as she just… breathes.
Her saber hilts land in front of her a moment later, skidding to a halt at her fingertips. Barely even thinking, Asajj snatches them up… only to just as quickly put them away, back on her belt. Fighting Darth Vader was impossible. He was… impossible.
Strangely, rather than anger her, that thought… elated her the more she considered it. This impossible man… this impossible Sith Lord… wanted HER. He wanted her enough to come all the way here to Kamino, tracking her down while she was on a mission that nobody outside of a select few knew about, just to reveal himself to her.
"You… want me for yourself."
The hooded Sith nods.
"Dooku would use you up and toss you aside whenever his Master decided you were more of a threat than an asset. This is the way the Banite Order works, Ventress. They might buck their trends and bend the Rule of Two here and there, but they will never truly break it. Only one Apprentice. Only one Master."
Asajj bites her lower lip at that. She doesn't doubt what he's saying, but at the same time…
"Is there not a world where… where Dooku supplants his Master and takes me as his true Apprentice?"
Far from getting angry at her for asking questions, Darth Vader… chuckles.
"I'm afraid not. And deep down, you know that's not the question you should be asking."
Twitching, Asajj shivers. She contemplates that for a moment. He's right. She knows the question she wants to ask. She just doesn't think he'll answer her. In fact, if this were Dooku, she would be absolutely certain that asking would get her either tortured or outright killed. But Vader seems to be pushing her on so…
"Who… who is Darth Tyranus' Sith Master?"
Even now she tenses up in anticipation of punishment. And if not punishment, then surely her question will be met with derision. How dare she ask for such infor-
"Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine."
Asajj goes absolutely still, her eyes widening and her jaw dropping open as she stares up at Vader in disbelief. What little she can see of his mouth curls up into an amused grin again.
"Indeed. Palpatine is Darth Sidious. He is Dooku's Sith Master. And Dooku will never overthrow him. He's not powerful enough for it. Not to mention… he's nothing but a temporary apprentice in Sidious' eyes. A replacement for the last apprentice he lost, until the Sith Master can get his hooks in the man he truly wants to be his apprentice."
Blinking rapidly, she almost wants to deny it for a moment. And yet, the inherent truth of Vader's words continues to reverberate through the air. She's never seen the Dark Side used in such a way, to reveal instead of conceal, but she doesn't even have to reach out to the Force to know Vader is telling her the truth. The Force is the one reaching out to her, all but bombarding her with the honesty of the Sith Lord's words.
"Who… who does Sidious truly want?"
The smile drops from Vader's lips and for a split second Asajj thinks she might have overstepped finally. But just as she's about to apologize and take it back…
"Skywalker. His ideal apprentice is the Chosen One. Who else?"
Asajj's breath hitches as she mulls that over. It makes sense, actually. She'd heard that Anakin Skywalker was supposedly the Chosen One of Jedi Prophecy. Dooku had even spoken of it once, mostly because his former Padawan, a Jedi Master named Qui-Gon Jinn, had been the one to bring Skywalker to the Jedi Temple before his death.
Of course, Dooku had seemed rather… dismissive of the prophecy and the entire concept of a Chosen One. He'd also been dismissive of Skywalker in general, so Asajj had been as well. Admittedly, that dismissiveness had led to her underestimating Skywalker once or twice over the last couple of months since the Clone Wars started. He had turned out to be a capable warrior.
And… if she were being honest, she could see it. There was a darkness inside of Skywalker that the Jedi seemed to ignore. He was far from the ideal Jedi, but that combined with his power… would in turn make him the ideal Sith. Especially given how much younger than Dooku he was…
A maddened cackle slips free of Asajj's lips before she can help herself. It's just a second or two of hysterical giggling before she catches herself, but she's still embarrassed by it. Meanwhile, Vader tilts his head to the side as he stares down at her, studying her.
Flushing, she feels the need to explain herself.
"A-Apologies, I… it's just all turned out to be so pointless, hasn't it? Sidious is the Chancellor, which means this entire war is just part of his scheming. And Dooku isn't the leader of a movement or some all powerful Sith Lord, he's merely a puppet who can barely see his strings. But then what does that make me? I was never going to be anything but a pawn to them, was I?"
Vader shakes his head.
"No. But then, that's why I'm here. To make something more of you."
A shiver runs down Asajj's spine. She knows… so much more than she had an hour ago. Too much, even. If Dooku or Palpatine found out what she knew, they would kill her without a second thought. Though…
"If you were able to track me here, you must know what my mission was. I don't know what's holding Grievous up but-!"
"Ah, yes. You don't need to worry about that. The mission to take Kamino has failed, through no fault of your own. The Republic caught on and General Grievous was forced to pull back his fleet. I asked him to delay your recall orders so I could come talk to you myself, however."
Surprise after surprise. Though finding out that Grievous was on Vader's side was honestly not nearly as surprising as some of the other things she'd learned since this conversation started. Still, it helps solidify the decision she's already made, deep down inside.
Pushing herself up off of her hands and to one knee, Asajj bows her head in supplication.
"Lord Vader… I-I swear my allegiance to you. Please, take me into your service. Do with me as you will. All I want… is to be more than just a pawn."
SNAP-HISS~
The telltale sign of a saber being lit up causes Asajj to flinch, even as the familiar glow of Sith Red comes down to within an inch of her shoulder and head. As he begins to speak, he moves the saber back and forth from shoulder to shoulder.
"I accept your oath, Asajj Ventress… and I take you as my apprentice. From now and forevermore, you will be a true Sith. Arise… Darth Shar."
Another shiver runs down Asajj's spine and a wide, beaming grin spreads across her face as she stands to her feet… before her new Master. Darth Shar. She was Darth Shar now. Her elation could not be understated, truth be told. Perhaps sensing that, Vader's tone is surprisingly gentle with his next words.
"You are not the first, mind you. Nor will you be the last either. I am not of the Banite Order. I am of the True Sith and the old ways. However, it will likely be some time before you meet my other apprentice. Darth Varice has her own tasks to accomplish."
That cools Asajj's excitement just a tad. But not as much as Vader perhaps expects it to. On the one hand… competition. On the other hand… competition! She didn't mind such things. No, rather, she was eager to prove herself to Vader. Eager to earn her way with him. With that in mind…
"What is thy bidding, my Master?"
Vader pauses briefly, before gesturing towards the exit. Asajj moves forward and together they leave her hiding place side by side. This deep in the stilt-city's bowels, there's still not much danger of being discovered, even as they start making their way back up.
"You will rejoin Grievous and continue to feign loyalty to Dooku and the Confederacy for now. Neither he nor Sidious can be allowed to believe that anything is amiss with their so-called 'Grand Plan'. That means continuing to string them along for a little while yet."
Asajj, or rather Shar now, nods at that, biting her lower lip as she stamps down on her insecurities. On the one hand, she wanted nothing more than to stay at Vader's side so that she could win out over her fellow apprentice, this mysterious Darth Varice.
On the other hand, Vader had come here without Varice at his side, had he not? So it was likely that Varice was also not able to spend much time at his side, instead somewhere out there in the greater galaxy, serving the Sith Lord's Will.
She would not act the part of a spoiled bitch, whining and demanding to be allowed to stay with him, not when she'd just sworn allegiance. She would prove herself worthy of his power and-
"In the meantime, take this."
Asajj blinks as Vader suddenly pulls a Sith Holocron out of nowhere and holds it out to her. Her jaw drops as she covetously takes the small pyramid from his gloved hand and holds it gingerly in her own.
"I have taken the liberty of recording some lessons for you on that holocron. Follow them closely whenever you have a free moment to yourself. Learn from them and become stronger."
She would! She-!
"If you can complete everything that holocron has to teach you, there might just come a time when you become strong enough to take down Dooku all by yourself."
Asajj stops in her tracks at that, gaze flicking between the holocron and Vader as her mouth goes dry. Even now, having betrayed her former Master at the drop of a hat after learning how duplicitous he was and how replaceable his own Master saw him as, Asajj hadn't thought for even a moment of being strong enough to face Dooku… let alone beat him.
And yet… she had felt Vader's immense power. There was no doubt in her mind that he would destroy Dooku in a straight fight, even if for some reason he wasn't immediately aiming to. So it would make sense that one of HIS holocrons would be powerful enough to-
"Coming?"
Realizing she'd gotten caught up in her own thoughts, Asajj swallows and hurries to catch up.
"Apologies, Master. I… was caught off guard. I promise, I will not squander this gift."
"I know."
Asajj tries not to flush at the faith he seems to have in her. It feels almost surreal even now. And yet… she won't let him down. She swears she won't…
In fact, she could already think of a way where she might be able to prove herself the better apprentice over Varice, even if she was forced to spend some time apart. She might be Dooku's 'apprentice', but she was far from the only Dark Side Acolyte that was serving under him on the side of the Confederacy.
Perhaps, if she got the chance, she could feel out whether Sev'rance Tann might just be interested in upgrading Masters as well…
-x-X-x-
After making sure Ventress gets safely off planet, Vader finds himself pondering just how things went. The decision to keep his true identity a secret from the Dathomirian woman might just come back to bite him in the ass, but he also knew for a fact that she wasn't ready to learn his true identity just yet.
Even if Anakin Skywalker was dead and gone, finding out that he shared a face with the Jedi Knight would have made it far more difficult for Ventress to come to terms with his power. Besides, there was a bit of an equilibrium now.
Ahsoka, or rather Varice, still didn't know his Sith Name, something a bit hypocritical given what he'd said to Ventress down there in the bowels of the city. Meanwhile, Ventress did not know his true face. This created… balance.
He was considering getting a mask moving forward though. While Grievous might know his true nature, the General had needed more honesty than Ventress. In the end, all Ventress or rather Darth Shar needed was to taste his power and know that Dooku and Sidious wanted nothing but ill for her. To know that she would find true purpose serving Vader instead was all she required.
Grievous was more… independent. He had his own purpose already and there was no changing that. Instead, Vader had to make it clear that their goals lined up, and that the cyborg general would only see true results if he worked with Vader rather than his former masters.
Of course, there was still the possibility that Vader would one day have to deal with Grievous himself… but he actually did hope it wouldn't come to that. If all went well, then Grievous might just be allowed to go his own way peacefully when everything was said and done.
Though first, Vader had to make sure all went well. Which was why he was still on Kamino even after seeing Darth Shar on her way. It was as he'd told his wife back on Coruscant. By coming out here, he was killing two birds with one stone. Three if you counted Grievous and Ventress as separate birds.
That said… part of him hesitates. Because when he'd been giving Ventress an example of his power earlier, flooding that small space with his Presence and Power, Vader had also felt something interesting… the presence of another on Kamino steeped in the Dark Side.
Only, there was only one other Force User on Kamino. Jedi Master and High Council Member, Shaak Ti. The Togrutan had been placed in charge of watching over the Clone Production back at the start of the war. But there should have been no reason for her to exude darkness into the Force…
It was tempting to get to the bottom of things, but he risked much by confronting her instead of focusing on what he'd actually come for. The biochips should take priority, in the end. But then again, these two things didn't necessarily HAVE to be exclusive…