Twisted Transistor

Part 28 of the Star Wars story.
Enjoy

Twisted Transistor

Once they recounted their story to the Jedi council, the Jedi fell silent and in meditation. No one had ever heard of Darth Ozar, or indeed of any of the other Sith. It was particularly worrisome that a Sith had managed to infiltrate the political world. Wraith insisted to train Turge. The mutant had regained most of his mental facilities but he was still far too fragile for any real use.

Elara stepped in, offering to help rebuild Turge’s mind. Meanwhile Wraith was tasked with the latest mission – an information mining assignment on Nar Shaddaa. Some time ago, the clones had discovered a small shipment of equipment and drugs to an undisclosed research facility on Drommund Kaas. It had not made sense then, and the Republic was too busy establishing on alliance on the Middle and Outer rims rather than waste resources chasing loose ends.

Now it was a different matter altogether.

Wraith boarded a ship with a certain Pym – a Jedi Knight furred Bimm who at first cowered from the menacing human. As time passed however, he began warming up to Wraith and went on and on. Wraith would have been just as comfortable in silence but the Bimm kept on talking. As he indulged Pym, Wraith found himself missing Elara more and more.

They rendezvoused in a quiet street, almost in a ghetto.

“I’m glad you could join us, Knight Pym,” said Kenobi from the forefront. Then he noticed Wraith, who walked out of the shadows and removed his hood. Kenobi’s face let out a momentary look of concern before resuming his poker face.

“And Wraith,” he continued, although it was more of a warning to the others than as a welcome. Three more Jedi turned to glare at him.

He had already met Skywalker and Ahsoka. The third Jedi was a very attractive Twi’lek with blue skin and a very revealing outfit.

She glared the most.

“Hi,” said Wraith as he waved weakly. No one said anything. Pym and Kenobi inched away. Skywalker remained stiff as a board whilst the Twi’lek’s eyes scanned him for weapons. Only one of his twin lightsabers was present on his hip: Wraith assassination training had taught him to hide the other in his sleeve, where he could surprise the enemy. Ahsoka’s fingers inched closer to her lightsaber. Wraith noticed she had a shoto of similar design to her main weapon and had changed her outfit.

“I like the new look,” he told her.

The female Twi’lek crossed her arms. “Is no one going to say it?” She looked around as Kenobi’s shoulders slumped.

“Say what?” said Wraith, partially in challenge.

“You’re Sith,” she spat.

Wraith rolled his eyes very deliberately. “Former Sith,” he insisted. “Why does no one ever listen to me?”

“I don’t trust you,” she snarled.

“I know.” He sighed and looked her dead in the eyes. “And I don’t care. I have a mission to finish. You can either comply and help out or get blasted. Your choice.”

“You’re not going anywhere Sith,” she snarled again. Her foot shifted into a fighting stance. The fifth form, judging by the way she braced herself with her dominant foot backwards.

Wraith allowed his power to emanate from him, creating a thick atmosphere. “I do not have to answer to you,” he said gently. “I am sorry for you, to have become such a violent little girl, but that is no reason to take out your petty anger issues on me.”

Her eyes visibly darkened – he would have laughed at how easy it was to mess with her head. Her hand snapped at her lightsaber.

“Go ahead,” challenged Wraith. “Try to attack me.”

The tension was hung in the air. The Jedi all inched into a fighting stance and Wraith knew he could potentially have to fight off five Jedi warriors.

“Let me make one thing clear,” said Wraith. All the diplomacy was gone from his voice. His power made the air thick and heavy, and the atmospheric pressure made their ears pop and made it hard to breathe.

“I am more powerful than all of you put together. I can cut you all down before you could ignite your weapons. So how about we all behave ourselves and avoid a massacre?”

Kenobi held his hands out. “Master Secura, please calm down. Wraith has already proven to be on our side.”

She relaxed an inch. “You make one wrong move and you’ll taste my sabre,” she threatened. Wraith smiled cockily.

“Let’s just get on with this,” said Skywalker.

“Agreed,” said Kenobi. “We will take different sides of this quadrant. We will be divided in teams.” He paused for a moment.

“I’m fine working alone,” said Wraith. “No one here trusts me enough and we would cover more ground as three units.”

“No,” replied Kenobi. “Jedi work as teams and this is a Jedi mission.”

“I’ll partner with him.” Pym squeezed in between Ahsoka and Aayla Secura and looked up at Wraith. “You have done nothing to make me question you yet. So I have no reason not to trust you,” he squeaked. Wraith couldn’t help but smile at his innocent philosophy.

“I’ll team up with you too,” said Kenobi.

“It’s settled then,” said Skywalker. “Me, Ahsoka and Master Secura will go to the eastern side. Master, Pym and Wraith; you guys take to docks to the west.”

It didn’t take them long to find the ship they were looking for – Wraith now had a ‘scent’ he could follow.

“Excuse me gentlemen.” Kenobi walked out and Pym accompanied him. Wraith pulled up his hood and obscured himself in the black cloak. The crew froze, the crate between them.

“Where is that shipment going?” asked Kenobi.

“Drommund Kaas. Some research facility,” replied harshly one of them. The others glared at the two Jedi and their traditional robes.

“Who owns the facility?”

“We don’t know.”

Wraith looked up. “I think you do. Is the name Ozar familiar?”

The crew members masked their faces with failed poker faces. “I dunno,” replied the leader again.

Wraith ignored him and Force gripped the crate. He crushed it and spilled its contents – a dozen vats of nutrition solutions and enhancement drugs.

“This is going to Darth Ozar’s mutant facility,” said Wraith. Their expressions darkened.

Kenobi held his lightsaber in hand. “You are all under arrest.”

A warning flashed in Wraith’s mind. “Watch out,” he called as he snapped his palm out. From his sleeve, his second lightsaber shot forward and spun. Wraith ignited it remotely and it spun.

From behind Kenobi, a bounty hunter hovered with his jet pack and a sniper blaster. The plasma blade shred through him and the lightsaber bounced back to Wraith’s awaiting hand. Both his lightsabers in hand, he turned back to the crew, who had armed themselves. Kenobi moved to the forefront and used his unique skills to deflect bolts of laser. Pym extracted his lightsaber, an orange coloured shoto, and leapt high in the air. His small blade pierced the second bounty hunter in the neck.

As they realized that they were going to be either killed or arrested, most of the crew ran.

“Let them go,” said Kenobi. “We’ve got what we were looking for.”

From a small office a human swaggered forward, like a bully. “What is the commotion, you idiots – oh shit.” He saw Wraith and began shivering.

“Y- you.” He channelled the Force and extracted a red lightsaber.

“Sith,” squeaked Pym.

“No,” replied Wraith. “Just an apprentice Dark Jedi. I’ll handle him.” He approached the Dark Jedi.

“Don’t come any closer, traitor,” yelled the darksider. He Force pushed a crate into Wraith. The latter kicked it away. The Dark Jedi was still a novice and weak. A good kick was all it took to break his Force powers. He couldn’t even hold his lightsabers in a proper stance. Wraith’s lightsabers spun. Once sliced through the lightsaber hilt and the other through his hand. Before pain even registered in the Dark Jedi, Wraith spun and connected his weapons. He gave his back to the enemy and thrust his weapon backwards, impaling the man. With a spin he beheaded the Dark Jedi.

Wraith gazed at the two stunned Jedi, challenging either to say something. They put away their weapons but their dark looks spoke for themselves: that was overkill, the kind of actions their associated with Sith.

“Hey look at this,” Kenobi was fiddling with a communications grid.

“The bounty hunters are all mercenaries. All the crew were too. They sent a distress message to their HQ. Right where Anakin and his team went.”

“It’s a trap,” said Pym.

“We need to get there quick,” said Kenobi urgently. He looked around. “We’ll never get there in time with speeders.”

“Allow me,” said Wraith. He grabbed a crew member who was moaning in pain and began healing him. As the man sighed in relief, Wraith infiltrated his mind, extracting memories of the Head Quarters building. Then he knocked him out mentally.

“I got the image,” he told the two Jedi. “I can teleport you there.”

The three Jedi were in trouble. The mercenaries, all wearing full Mandalorian bounty hunter armour surrounded them.

“Ozar will be pleased with three Jedi slaves,” said their leader: a bulky man with horns on his helmet. His dark red armour, as opposed to his subordinates’ black, was studded with spines and spikes.

Suddenly two Jedi, Kenobi and Pym, appeared out of nowhere, and on two mercs. The skirmish resumed.

“Surrender now you Jedi scum-” The leader’s head was literally ripped off his neck. His jet pack went out of control, and his headless corpse crashed against the wall before sliding down in a puddle of blood.

Wraith appeared, telekinetically holding the severed head before throwing it away. He disappeared again.

There was only a flash of amber: Wraith’s lightsabers flashed like lightning as he single-handedly felled the mercenaries. One of them threw down his weapon and flew away screaming for mercy.

Wraith Force crushed his jet pack and threw it away. As the man crawled away, wraith telekinetically ripped away bits of his armour. The man turned to face Wraith and crawled away from him.

“Mercy,” he screamed. But Wraith offered none. This man did not deserve mercy – none of them did. He crushed the neck and twisted his head, killing him instantly.

“What are you doing?” Secura’s scream echoed throughout the warehouse. Her blue lightsaber was now pointed at Wraith. “He was pleading mercy. This is a massacre, not a battle.” She looked at Kenobi. “This is Sith work.”

Wraith held his lightsabers at the ready. “I’ve already made this clear: I am neither Sith nor Jedi. You did not see the waves of mutants assault the Jedi Temple. You did not feel the pain and despair of thousands of souls being tormented. Don’t you dare judge me, back off, little girl.”

And that was the trigger. Secura lunged forwards, mercilessly hitting Wraith. He spun and countered. Skywalker and Ahsoka joined in, pushing Wraith back. He conjoined his weapons and attached back. All three of them used the same style, albeit different variants. They were no match for his vicious counterattacks. Kenobi blocked his strike and forced Wraith to switch tactics. Pym spun like a buzzsaw and Wraith found himself surrounded.

He was keeping up with them but they could get the upper hand at any time.

“I’ve already told you,” he said as he kicked Kenobi in the face and smashed the handle of his weapon into Skywalker’s nose. “You can’t beat me.” He Force gripped Ahsoka and threw her into Pym. He blocked Aayla’s strike and elbowed her in the face. With an enhanced leap he flew from the centre and shot Force lightning. Red bolts surrounded the five Jedi, weakening them.

Ahsoka and Pym fell first, followed closely by Secura. Kenobi joined soon after. Only Skywalker resisted. He screamed in pain but for the briefest of moments, touched the Dark Side and resisted Wraith’s lightning.

Wraith stopped his lightning. “You’re not powerful enough to defeat me.”

He teleported behind the weakened Jedi and whipped his fist into his Temple. Anakin fell, face forwards.

“Yet.”

Wraith had already caught a glimpse of Skywalker’s terrible future and for the second time considered killing him and eliminating all that future suffering.

No; the future needed the darkness within Skywalker. Through it, there would be peace and hope again.

Wraith held all five Jedi immobile with the Force and healed them. They yelled and fought back but it was all in vain. Only once they had sworn on their honour as Jedi not to attack him again did he relinquished his grip on them.

Then they proceeded to call the authorities and process the data banks of HQ. There was a lot of information but only one bit interested Wraith.

He finally knew where his enemy was.