The Days That Are No More

[Brandon Rhea]

At his very core, Jhon knew that what he was about to say would be one of the most difficult moments of his life. He didn't know if he could trust her, whether she would run back to the Sith or return to the light. Was there even such a thing as light anymore?

There was so much truth in her words. He did lead the declaration of war against the Sith after the destruction of The Will of the Force. Jhon didn't even know for sure if it was the Sith. They were so quick to jump to conclusions, so eager that they gave the Sith propaganda machine a reason to claim that it was not the Empire that destroyed the vessel. Could they have been right? Was the Alliance and the Jedi too keen on going to war against the Sith?

The battle masters within the Order were certainly keen. Jhon had tried to push back on that before the war began, during the decade of cold war, but perhaps his time as acting Chief of State corrupted his noble intentions. He never thought that the Alliance would be able to avert war, but that he would be the one to launch it? That he would shoot first, and ask questions later, along with the rest of Alliance military command and the New Jedi Order?

Perhaps in that particular moment, the dichotomy of good and evil added a few shades of grey.

You gave them that power and now, now we are paying dearly. Perhaps it was not Andraste that was the greatest failure of his life. Perhaps it was that failure, the one that fueled the fire of war and allowed Andraste to march to the beat of its drum, that was the real issue.

I watched my friends die in battle, I watched how strangers put their lives before mine so I could continue the quest to bring 'peace.' That battle... no, that was the wrong word. It was a massacre, the triumph of Jedi and Alliance incompetence in the war. It was a moment that showed the galaxy that if the Alliance were to lose this war, it would not be at the hands of the Sith. It would be at the hands of the failed leaders of the Alliance.

You told me: We may have lost Salecumai, but we just won the psychological battle. What psychological victory? We won nothing, peace is a lie, at least you Sith have something right. She was right. What psychological victory? The two people in that conversation... look at them now. One lost her memories and suffered from the trauma of that horrifying day. One was a Grand Master so broken under his own failure that he had to run away and hide in the Empire. There was a psychological victory, but it wasn't the Jedi's. That victory belonged to the Sith demogouge Jhon spent that meeting mocking. Well played, sir. You win.

"You muttering, spineless piece of garbage," Jhon spat, playing the role of the Sith Lord, hiding all of those emotions away. "First you ran away from the Jedi, now the Sith. You're worthless. You mean nothing to anyone and they mean nothing to you, isn't that right? Poor little Ebberla Daw. Boo hoo. Be a Jedi. Be a Sith. See if I care. Just have the courage of your convictions next time you join whatever Order is most convenient for you."

 

[GABA]

Muttering? Spineless? Garbage?

For Ebb, those were fighting words, for any Corellian, one could guarantee they would be spitting out mouthful of teeth if they came across someone more hot headed than her. Though it wasn't to say she wasn't angry, her fist clenched so tightly her knuckles turned white, her nails dug deeply into the palm of her hand.

"Who are you to speak of courage?" she hissed taking a forceful step forward, her finger now angrily pointed at Jhon, "I know more Hutts who are more honorable than you. You know nothing of what I went through, what I had to endure?! My pain?! My suffering?!" Ebb felt her voice rise and stopped herself, she didn't want to draw a crowd. She took a quick glance over her shoulder, she felt uneasy that no police, local or Imperial, had shown up to investigate.

But then again, if Jhon was a Sith, there may not need to. Then again, if Jhon was a sith, why was he holding back from shutting her up now? Her hazel eyes fell back onto his lightsaber hilt, her angry heart slowed its pace as the curious thought crossed her mind as to why he still carried a blue blade and not red like the Sith she had seen and met. Perhaps, he was lost too, like her, was lost on who they really were, what they were meant to fight for. Believing it would have to be one way or another, but never the option that was ever considered, trapping them both in absolutes and in the dark side.

"You're wrong Jhon." she spoke, her voice still carrying its agitation. "I did what I did so I could continue to fight, I don't believe in throwing away my life so vainly, it was spared and I took it." Ebb's eyes left the hilt of his saber and back to him, "You meant something to me, so did the Jedi. And I must have meant something to you too, if not, then why did you pick me to be your Sage Master? Why did you follow me out here to this alley?”

 

[Brandon Rhea]

"No, Jhon was wrong, but that name no longer has any meaning for me," he lied. "I am Darth Vitium, Lord of the Sith and loyal servant to the true Empress: Andraste."

The very words disgusted him. Even in his current state, he'd never join the Sith, let alone aid Andraste in ruling the galaxy... at least, not willingly. Assuming the role of Sith Lord reminded him of just how dangerous a fragile mind can be. Even the strongest Jedi can fall prey to temptation and corruption. They don't have to want to. It is simply the nature of a confused soul.

"You meant something to me too...," Jhon said, his voice betraying his remose before he realized he was falling out of character. "...because you showed me that the best the Jedi had to offer was pitiful and weak. You came crawling back from that battle dutifully carrying the message of the Sith who bested you. The only reason I made you Sage Master was process of elimination. You were the strongest of the weak, the best of the worst. Slightly less incompetent than every other possible choice."

He smirked, playing up the act. "Congratulations, Ebberla. You're a master of failures. I thought I'd follow you out here to see if you'd finally risen above an Order that will soon be in ashes."

 

[GABA]

Hearing Andraste’s name made Ebberla wince. She shook her head refusing to believe him. Darth Silentius also used the same words to describe her and yet she proved him wrong in every aspect. She may not have had the extrasensory powers of the Force, but she still had her wit, her strength and on top of it all, her will.

“Weak?” she snapped, “So says a Sith who still serves a dead woman, so says a Sith who’s Order was pushed back down beneath the feet of a non-Sith Ruler! Tell me Darth Vit…vita..veta…Vitamin?” Ebb waved her hand quickly trying to recall what he had called himself, obviously something he saw on his morning cereal box, but she moved on quickly, “Do you have the power you crave, did you break free from the chains, or are you still chained to the will of another? Chained by the own imprisonment of your passions?”

The Corellian questioned, her chin lifted and a sense of confidence returned. Perhaps the Force didn’t abandon her as she readily accused; she was a woman who believed everything happened for a reason, perhaps what she experienced was its reasons. Without the Force, she saw the flaws of the Jedi, as her Sith Keeper wanted, but it backfired, it also allowed her to see the flaws of the dark side, of the Sith, Darth Silentius and Darth Vitamin were more than enough.

Ebberla Daw remembered why she fought.

“Passion is a lie, there is only suffering, let go.” Ebb whispered softly, she took another step forward, hand extended, she didn’t know if it was a good idea, but she had nothing else to lose at the moment, “Come with me Jhon, back to the Jedi. We’ve made our mistakes, we cannot help the galaxy alone. We’re not gods as people make us to be. Power is an illusion, there is only the Force. Darth Vitatim is that illusion, its a trap, a never ending cycle of your own self destruction. You know that, right mindfulness. Even the gal with memory issues remembers.” she said tapping her head, then extend her hand once more, "Come home with me Jhon."

 

[Brandon Rhea]

Amidst all this emotional upheveal, with all of the lies and deception coming from him right now, he never expected Ebberla to afford him what he was just given: an opportunity. Not for himself, but for her. A way for her to go back, to fix the things in her life that he was unable to fix in his.

Maybe he wasn't even aware of that. With all of the emotional turmoil, maybe this was his subconscious mind, the one who knew that his time in Imperial Space was a fool's errand, trying to break through the surface and reach not just Ebberla, but Jhon himself? Perhaps this was Jhon's way of telling himself to do what he knew was right, yet what he knew he couldn't do. Not yet.

"Then go," he snarled. "Run back home, little princess. The Jedi are dead to me, and you will be dead with them if you go back. Yet please, go. I beg of you to return there. The ivory towers of the Jedi are the only place for the weak and cowards like you. Power is not an illusion, as the Jedi will soon find out, nor is Darth Vitium an illusion."

And that was the most curious lie of them all. He was assuming the identity of someone who did not exist, yet somehow who assumed his own. There was a lesson in there, one he would soon have to learn.

"The Force has set me free," Jhon said. "Enjoy your time back in the chains."

 

[GABA]

Ebb withdrew hand when he began to speak and in a way, though she wouldn't admit, she was hurt he didn't accept. However, she knew too Jhon would needed to have wanted it, she knew she couldn't force him to change his mind unless he wanted it.

The Corellian begun taking slow steps backwards, careful not to turn her back, she still wasn't sure if Darth Vitium was just toying with her before he would strike. His jeers though struck the woman's nerves in a sense of him just being annoying with his taunts. She stopped before the mouth of the ally and addressed him.

"Very well then Darth Vitium. Bring your darkness, your minions and death, and I will show you the Jedi and I are stronger than any word you mutter and any darkness you summon, you have my word on that. Your own illusions have blinded you, you have already failed before this battle has even begun."

On her last word to Jhon, Ebb took another step backwards before sprinting off, losing herself in the maze of alleys and buildings. Stowing away in bars, looking for the right people she needed to talk to in order to get back to the Galactic Alliance. Though she may have felt lost, she now had direction. She knew where she needed to go, a challenge to get there was nothing she couldn't accomplish, the odds she could easily turn in her favor; she wouldn't even need to switch to a Corellian overdrive.

Ebb thought those of fools to doubt her, she knew she was strong, she knew how to play the odds in her favor. However, though Ebberla wondered if she would be strong enough for her return to the Jedi. She had yet to find out how much had changed since she left for Ossus.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

Through victory, I gain strength.

Those were the words of the Sith, part of a code that had guided them for millennia. Most Jedi rejected the teachings of the Sith outright. For the most part, the majority of Sith teachings should have been rejected, albeit understood from the point of view of a Jedi. Nonetheless, before today, Jhon never really considered the truth in those words.

He had won, in a way. Through his deception and lies, he had helped bring a lost soul back to the Jedi, and found a new strength—a new appreciation for redemption—along the way. It was not his own soul, but one that he condemned to perdition the moment he shared with her the secrets of the Skywalker heritage. She still didn’t remember, with her memories gone, and Jhon didn’t know how she would react if she ever found out again, but he knew that she could at least find one thing now that she was on her way back to the Jedi: peace.

For while one part of the Sith teaching may have been true in this context, another was not. Ebberla was wrong. Peace was not a lie. She was finding it again. Whether she returned to the towering heights of Coruscant or the quiet, rolling hills of Tython, she would find the solace and tranquility she needed in order to find peace again. She deserved it, more than most. More than Jhon.

Part of him yearned to chase after her, to tell her that it was all a ruse and that he would return to the Alliance with her in order to find his own peace again, but he couldn’t. That was not his quest, not right now. He was in Imperial Space for a reason: to find Andraste and, if possible, to find Geist Weiss. Jhon would not stop, he would not rest, until he found out what happened to Andraste and atone for failing her. There was only once place he could go.

Onward.