#one shot: fodj

[bardic-tales]

REFLECTIONS (SI X IA)

Novel: Fall of Darth Jadus

Pairing: m!SI (Darth Jadus / Darth Noktis) x f!IA (Cipher Nine / Cynthia Prescost)

Fandom: Star Wars

Word count: 2981

Warning: Suggestive languages and themes, Death of Main Character, Language, disturbing imagery. Minors DNI

Premise: Cipher Nine must come to terms with her Sith lover’s death, but she finds herself overwhelm by her other Sith companion.

Author’s Note: This idea has been floating around in my head since my husband and I both restarted our original characters. Some of it is taken from an RP that we were running in chat while we were questing.

It also takes place during the Heart of Terror Act for the Imperial Agent. We have decided that Adaki is using their Force bond and occasionally Force teleport to be with her physically. He is testing everyone’s loyalty, especially Cynthia’s. After all, she will be his Empress when he democratizes fear and tries to take the Emperor’s place.

SWTOR Fan Fiction tag list

@arrthurpendragon @perasperaadastrawriting @starryeyes2000

If you would like to to be on my tag list for notifications on my SWTOR fan fiction, please let me know. If you wish to be taken off this taglist, feel free to tell me!

1.

The Empire had almost completed its grieving steps and Darth Jadus had been dead for several months before Cipher Nine only begun to understand the full weight of her grief.

Right after Darth Jadus’ death, she went into survival mode, not allowing herself to grieve properly. She had the Empire and its welfare to think about. Her grieving would have to wait. And wait it did.

She sat up in the darkened room and squinted against the blackness.

Nine wondered how she could feel the gap in her life that the Sith’s death left behind. She didn’t know the man long, but he left an impression upon her life that hardly anyone else had.

He just overcame the loss of his fiancée, too, she reminded herself. She didn’t openly weep when he told her the tragic tale of how his fiancée was taken from him and how he searched the entire galaxy for her. It affected Nine in a more subtle way.

While she and Jadus didn’t share a kiss or other similar intimacy, there was a warmth to their interactions. He once told her that he would not pursue a relationship with her until she was sure she understood the dangers of becoming involved with a Dark councilor. Jadus would not lose someone he cared for again.

After enough time in the darkened silence, she was able to fall back into her usual fitful sleep. There was nothing refreshing about it. That was when the dreams would come, her mind’s endless search for her one great tragedy.

The dreams were always the same. Jadus’ death would play over and over in her mind, though from a perspective she never had. She never witnessed his death, but in her dreams, he died right in front of her. The method was always different, but the result was always the same. She failed him.

Quickly, another of these nightmares overcame her. Jadus was standing before her, speaking, but she could not make out the words. Whatever it was, it seemed important, urgent, even.

Nine tried to cross the distance between them, but she couldn’t lift her feet. She took a step forward, trying to fight the resistance, and the distance between them grew. The flagship’s floor crumbled away. A tomblike silence immediately followed, as blinding, fiery stars twinkled around the sundered starship.

I’m only dreaming, she told herself, to wake up, but it didn’t work.

“You failed me, Cyn,” Jadus lamented, reaching for her in vain. “You failed me.”

“Jadus!” Nine cried out as she reached for him. She could almost touch him, almost brush his fingers with her own. This had been the end of her nightmares from the time he was lost to her. He continued to die in many ways. Each time was more gruesome than the last, but the end result was always the same. Nine couldn’t make it to him in time.

Blood seeped from a wound upon his chest and soaked his dark leather outer robe. It pooled within his gloves until it streamed off his finger tips into a widening pool upon the sundered ground.

Jadus dropped to his knees. The bottom of the lightsaber hilt attached to the belt looped around his waist clattered against steel flooring. He looked up at her. His metallic helmet glinted in the neon emergency light. The Klaxon alarm drowned out any other thoughts or sounds, except his voice repeating those terrible words once again. “You have failed me, Cynthia.”

Nine sat up in the blackened room. She blinked against the darkness and tried to get her bearings. Everything looked unfamiliar to her. Gone was the ruined starship, the gore, and her lover. The only thing that remained was the crushing weight of her failure.

Her heart raced, and it was the only sound she could hear in the night’s perpetual stillness. She was utterly alone.

The silence was suddenly broken by the cacophony of the door being caved into the room. It turned end over end until it smashed against the metallic dresser in the far corner of the room. Wires and cords dangled from the top of the metal door frame.

Adaki stood on the other side, his hand outstretched. The Zabrak had used the Force to gain entry into her room. He stood there, his carmine-colored chest glimmering in the naked golden fluorescent hallway light. Twin onyx stripes raced diagonally across his hips, and their pointed tips disappeared beneath the waistband of his loose-fitting raven trousers.

“What are you doing, Lord Adaki?” She hastily pulled the covers over her breasts, pinned the top of the blanket under her arms, and stared at the interloper.

“I heard you cry out?” he said as he stepped into the room, unable to hide the concern on his countenance for a fleeting moment. “Are you alright? What happened? Were you attacked?”

“It was a bad dream,” she said, almost laughing at the outrageousness of the situation. “Are you going to bash down my door every time I have a nightmare, my lord?”

“That sounded like no ordinary nightmare, and they are hardly harmless. Nightmares can cause great damage. A powerful Sith could attack you in your dreams.”

As she continued to press the sheet against her body, Nine turned away from him. She known he couldn’t sense her thoughts of feel her emotions. Most Sith couldn’t. Imperial Intelligence trained her well.

Not well enough, she relentlessly reminded herself. If someone hadn’t placed a block within her mind and dampened her connection to the Force, she would have been able to sense that there were two targets for the dissidents: one on Dromund Kaas and one above the planet, her lover’s star destroyer. Jadus’ words echoed in her mind. Nine failed.

“The Sith in my dreams cannot hurt me.” The skin bunched around her eyes as she stared at the wall. Wetness clung to her thick eyelashes. She blinked the tears away. “He’s only a ghost from my past.”

Adaki set down on the bed beside her. The plush mattress sunk beneath his heavy weight, and her body shifted towards him from the disturbance. His scent drifted to her, reminding her of desert trees mixed with blossoming flowers. The Zabrak’s cologne was like himself: powerful, intoxicating, and a bit sensual. It was the fragrance of desire.

“Was it Lord Jadus again?” The words were unusual spoken by him, coming from a Sith. There was almost a gentleness to his tone, but she knew how treacherous he could be. Since she had traveled with Adaki for a brief time before she met Jadus that first time, she knew he was a brutal man who discarded things like a person threw away trash.

With those doubts in her mind, it still took only a second to lower her defenses. The dream and its aftermath left her vulnerable. The knowledge she failed not only the Darth in charge of Imperial Intelligence but also the man she had come to love left raw, like a pat of butter stretched thinly across toast.

“It always is.” Nine dared not look at him. She swallowed the lump thickening in the back of her throat, but it wouldn’t go down easily. Nothing was ever easy now in the wake of Jadus’ death.

“You will discover the truth behind his assassination, Cyn. You are the best that Imperial Intelligence has to offer. You will unmask the conspirators and bring them all to justice.”

“Fuck justice,” Nine responded coldly. “I will bring them vengeance. I will make them suffer for what they have done. I will make them pay for robbing the galaxy of Jadus’ greatness.”

Adaki stared at her, apparently dumbstruck by her confession. His countenance took on a hungry expression, like he saw her with a renewed sense of passion. It was clear that she surprised him.

“You would make a wonderful Sith, my dear,” he purred. “If only you would let me train you.”

Jadus asked to do the same thing. He had told her that looking at her felt like he was staring into a font bubbling over with raw Force energy. She was a beautiful and terrifying person. That was what had attracted him to her.

Nine had never considered herself particularly unique. She was only a citizen working for the Empire and didn’t feel as if she had any connection with the Force. If she had, she surely would have felt something. And that, itself, had worried Jadus.

Was that the nature of a relationship that an Imperial had with a Sith? One or both of them would meet death. She understood any apprentice that Jadus had would eventually try to kill him. That was the reason that she had refused Jadus’ help, his offer to train her. Any training from any Sith would make her lose her sense of identity and would eventually pit herself against the one who trained her, in this case, the man she had loved.

It doesn’t matter. Nine didn’t kill Jadus, but he was still dead. She was still responsible. She should have anticipated it, should have known that the conspirators would go for the second most powerful Sith in the galaxy. The death of such a prestigious council member would be how she would make the Empire crumble if she were a terrorist.

“I don’t understand what you mean, my Lord.” Nine folded her arms around her chest, still pressing the thin sheet to her body. She felt naked and exposed as her bare shoulder brushed his own.

Adaki leaned forward and watched her. She swore she saw that emotion in his eyes before, but how could she? They briefly traveled together when she was given her first assignment by Imperial Intelligence. That was before Hutta and before she swore fealty to Darth Jadus. There was surely no romance or interest between them, as there wasn’t enough time for it to blossom.

“As I told Lord Jadus,” she said, “I’m nothing special. Nothing that would require training from a Sith of your magnitude, my lord.”

“I have told you before to call me Adaki. Pray, I do not ask again.”

“My Lo — Adaki, are you sure that is wise? People will gossip.”

That was not the only reason she was protesting. Darth Jadus had her call him by his name, too, so much so that he insisted on it much like the Zabrak was currently doing. It made their interactions seem personal and intimate.

If she would have known then what she knew now, she would have insisted on keeping things formal with him. Her heart wouldn’t have been split in twain, otherwise. He might have survived. He might have been at her side now …

“People gossip,” Adaki said. “That is what they do. It would be simpler to stop the sun from rising than to stop the common rabble and their incessant talking. I don’t waste time worrying about what people say behind my back, only I they venture to plotting against me. That is wholly unwise, however.”

“As you say, Adaki,” she conceded.

“You are wrong, you know?” he added. She glanced at him, confused.

“What do you mean.”

“You said you are nothing special. Nothing that a Sith of my magnitude should show interest in. You are wrong. There is something there, elusive, but it is there. You have some connection to the Force, that much is clear. I can feel that much, but it is muted. It is difficult to describe, almost like a limb that has been severed, the memory remains.”

“As you say, Adaki, but I still can’t feel it.”

The truth was that she didn’t feel anything he described. Even if what he said were true, Nine was sure that if she had any connection with the Force that would require training she would have shown talent. Still, she knew there was no sense in arguing with a Sith Lord. It would be a fruitless exercise as his decision was already decided; Adaki rarely changed his mind after that.

How do I know that? Nine thought. There was something more to their relationship, the familiar sensations lighting her memories, but the more she was around him, the more her thoughts felt cloudy, as if she were peering through the memory with a thin gauze of fabric covering the past.

Adaki raised his right hand, but she didn’t shrink away. Despite the fine hair lifting up on her arms, she didn’t sense any danger. He clutched her face and covered her mouth, left nostril, and chin in a tight grasp. His fingers bite into her flesh.

Nine still wasn’t afraid. She felt as if she had finally come home after being lost, as if something from a long distant past had finally clicked into place. It was strange to her that someone like Adaki felt the way he did. She never was led by her heart, always putting the Empire before her needs, but it didn’t make sense that two Sith Lords had made her question her loyalty to her obligations. This was unlike her.

Adaki stared into her eyes, and she looked back. His hand slid down her face until he gripped her chin and jawline, exposing her neck and lips to him. His gaze dropped to her mouth. A chill traveled up her spine, overshadowing any grief she may have felt. It was replaced by an urgent need, the desire burrowing itself within her mind, eclipsing everything else.

Kiss me. If she could have thought straight, she might have considered that maybe he was clouding her mind and guiding her emotions. She may have demanded he leave and allow her to mourn her fallen lover, the other Sith Lord who died from her failure. Instead, the only thing that Nine could think about was the Sith Lord sitting next to her. Once again, she silently pleaded for him to kiss her.

“I can.” He stared into her eyes as he spoke. “You should be able to to. You reach out for the Force, grasping at nothing instead. Constantly and fruitlessly, you try to catch it. You are unaware of this? You are. It is such power. It calls to me. It is … seductive.”

His words traveled through her like the clear note of a tuning fork. The only thing she could feel was desire. Maybe, that’s what he was talking about. She had no experience to draw on nor anything to really compare it to.

All she knew was that he was the opposite of what she knew a Sith should have been. He cared — at least, when it came to her. Adaki was the first one who rushed to her after Jadus’ death, offering to travel with her and lend his aid, and who was she to refuse him.

Her mind felt dull once again, but she wouldn’t look away from him. He commanded her full attention much like her lover did. There was so many things about Adaki that reminded her of Darth Jadus, and it made it easier for her to let her guard somewhat down with him.

He was exciting to her, a breath into a dismal imperial life. She couldn’t deny the way sparks seemed to fly when he stared in her eyes nor could she deny the guilt burrowing deep within her gut. Her other lover’s death was too recent for her, to fresh in her mind.

What should I do? Nine was quickly becoming overwhelmed.

“You have power over it, even if you don’t know.” He bent his head forward and his mouth hovered before hers, the black tattoos revealing to be a dark gray with a splash of crimson flesh from his lips. “You are also reaching out to me, beckoning me, trying to overwhelm my senses. You aren’t doing that intentionally?”

“Doing what intentionally?”

“Making me want you.” The words should have served as a sobering slap to the face, but it had quite the opposite effect. She narrowed her eyes at him, sizing him up like prey. Her tongue darted across her lower lip briefly as she looked him up and down.

“You want me?”

“Absolutely.”

There was one hitch in his plan. His entrance made it so they were not alone. The door still lay against the wall. Cables still hung down from the entrance way, revealing where the door once was.

It appeared that wouldn’t deter him. Adaki leaned down and brushed her mouth with his, a soft gesture that she thought she had imagined until he deepened the caress. His fingers glided along her jawline, up to the side of her face until he lost his hands within her mass of hair. He grasped the dark strands and tilted her head back.

His lips did not leave hers throughout the entire time. He nibbled at her bottom lip, pulling the flesh between his teeth, before letting it go.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she could taste his minty toothpaste he had used previously that evening. . She closed her eyes. This wasn’t what she had planned when they had both retired to their separate rooms that evening, but if she were honest with herself, this was what she had wanted from the time they departed her ship and hailed that first taxi to the promenade.

Adaki pulled away. His mouth shimmered with her saliva before he ran the tip of his tongue over his bottom lip, still tasting her, but soon after that, he recomposed himself and she doubted that they even shared an sort of an embrace.

Nine was the first to speak. “Don’t stop.”

“There are more important matters to attend to, Cyn. Take that frustration you feel and use it to see to your revenge. Don’t let this cloud your purpose.”

[starryeyes2000]

@bardic-tales - This chilly, rainy morning in my neck of the woods is the perfect atmosphere for reading this piece. Kudos. In the space of few words I felt despair, longing, sadness, loss, resolve, anger, desire, and confusion. In all the best ways this reads like a gothic story full of darkness, romanticism, uncertainty, fear, the unknown, and maybe hints of terror to come. And a starship is like a castle. You are giving me Daphne du Maurier vibes. (Now I have a urge to watch Rebecca after reading this.) And as always your prose is gorgeous.

REFLECTIONS (SI X IA)

Novel: Fall of Darth Jadus

Pairing: m!SI (Darth Jadus / Darth Noktis) x f!IA (Cipher Nine / Cynthia Prescost)

Fandom: Star Wars

Word count: 2981

Warning: Suggestive languages and themes, Death of Main Character, Language, disturbing imagery. Minors DNI

Premise: Cipher Nine must come to terms with her Sith lover’s death, but she finds herself overwhelm by her other Sith companion.

Author’s Note: This idea has been floating around in my head since my husband and I both restarted our original characters. Some of it is taken from an RP that we were running in chat while we were questing.

It also takes place during the Heart of Terror Act for the Imperial Agent. We have decided that Adaki is using their Force bond and occasionally Force teleport to be with her physically. He is testing everyone’s loyalty, especially Cynthia’s. After all, she will be his Empress when he democratizes fear and tries to take the Emperor’s place.

SWTOR Fan Fiction tag list

@arrthurpendragon @perasperaadastrawriting @starryeyes2000

If you would like to to be on my tag list for notifications on my SWTOR fan fiction, please let me know. If you wish to be taken off this taglist, feel free to tell me!

1.

The Empire had almost completed its grieving steps and Darth Jadus had been dead for several months before Cipher Nine only begun to understand the full weight of her grief.

Right after Darth Jadus’ death, she went into survival mode, not allowing herself to grieve properly. She had the Empire and its welfare to think about. Her grieving would have to wait. And wait it did.

She sat up in the darkened room and squinted against the blackness.

Nine wondered how she could feel the gap in her life that the Sith’s death left behind. She didn’t know the man long, but he left an impression upon her life that hardly anyone else had.

He just overcame the loss of his fiancée, too, she reminded herself. She didn’t openly weep when he told her the tragic tale of how his fiancée was taken from him and how he searched the entire galaxy for her. It affected Nine in a more subtle way.

While she and Jadus didn’t share a kiss or other similar intimacy, there was a warmth to their interactions. He once told her that he would not pursue a relationship with her until she was sure she understood the dangers of becoming involved with a Dark councilor. Jadus would not lose someone he cared for again.

After enough time in the darkened silence, she was able to fall back into her usual fitful sleep. There was nothing refreshing about it. That was when the dreams would come, her mind’s endless search for her one great tragedy.

The dreams were always the same. Jadus’ death would play over and over in her mind, though from a perspective she never had. She never witnessed his death, but in her dreams, he died right in front of her. The method was always different, but the result was always the same. She failed him.

Quickly, another of these nightmares overcame her. Jadus was standing before her, speaking, but she could not make out the words. Whatever it was, it seemed important, urgent, even.

Nine tried to cross the distance between them, but she couldn’t lift her feet. She took a step forward, trying to fight the resistance, and the distance between them grew. The flagship’s floor crumbled away. A tomblike silence immediately followed, as blinding, fiery stars twinkled around the sundered starship.

I’m only dreaming, she told herself, to wake up, but it didn’t work.

“You failed me, Cyn,” Jadus lamented, reaching for her in vain. “You failed me.”

“Jadus!” Nine cried out as she reached for him. She could almost touch him, almost brush his fingers with her own. This had been the end of her nightmares from the time he was lost to her. He continued to die in many ways. Each time was more gruesome than the last, but the end result was always the same. Nine couldn’t make it to him in time.

Blood seeped from a wound upon his chest and soaked his dark leather outer robe. It pooled within his gloves until it streamed off his finger tips into a widening pool upon the sundered ground.

Jadus dropped to his knees. The bottom of the lightsaber hilt attached to the belt looped around his waist clattered against steel flooring. He looked up at her. His metallic helmet glinted in the neon emergency light. The Klaxon alarm drowned out any other thoughts or sounds, except his voice repeating those terrible words once again. “You have failed me, Cynthia.”

Nine sat up in the blackened room. She blinked against the darkness and tried to get her bearings. Everything looked unfamiliar to her. Gone was the ruined starship, the gore, and her lover. The only thing that remained was the crushing weight of her failure.

Her heart raced, and it was the only sound she could hear in the night’s perpetual stillness. She was utterly alone.

The silence was suddenly broken by the cacophony of the door being caved into the room. It turned end over end until it smashed against the metallic dresser in the far corner of the room. Wires and cords dangled from the top of the metal door frame.

Adaki stood on the other side, his hand outstretched. The Zabrak had used the Force to gain entry into her room. He stood there, his carmine-colored chest glimmering in the naked golden fluorescent hallway light. Twin onyx stripes raced diagonally across his hips, and their pointed tips disappeared beneath the waistband of his loose-fitting raven trousers.

“What are you doing, Lord Adaki?” She hastily pulled the covers over her breasts, pinned the top of the blanket under her arms, and stared at the interloper.

“I heard you cry out?” he said as he stepped into the room, unable to hide the concern on his countenance for a fleeting moment. “Are you alright? What happened? Were you attacked?”

“It was a bad dream,” she said, almost laughing at the outrageousness of the situation. “Are you going to bash down my door every time I have a nightmare, my lord?”

“That sounded like no ordinary nightmare, and they are hardly harmless. Nightmares can cause great damage. A powerful Sith could attack you in your dreams.”

As she continued to press the sheet against her body, Nine turned away from him. She known he couldn’t sense her thoughts of feel her emotions. Most Sith couldn’t. Imperial Intelligence trained her well.

Not well enough, she relentlessly reminded herself. If someone hadn’t placed a block within her mind and dampened her connection to the Force, she would have been able to sense that there were two targets for the dissidents: one on Dromund Kaas and one above the planet, her lover’s star destroyer. Jadus’ words echoed in her mind. Nine failed.

“The Sith in my dreams cannot hurt me.” The skin bunched around her eyes as she stared at the wall. Wetness clung to her thick eyelashes. She blinked the tears away. “He’s only a ghost from my past.”

Adaki set down on the bed beside her. The plush mattress sunk beneath his heavy weight, and her body shifted towards him from the disturbance. His scent drifted to her, reminding her of desert trees mixed with blossoming flowers. The Zabrak’s cologne was like himself: powerful, intoxicating, and a bit sensual. It was the fragrance of desire.

“Was it Lord Jadus again?” The words were unusual spoken by him, coming from a Sith. There was almost a gentleness to his tone, but she knew how treacherous he could be. Since she had traveled with Adaki for a brief time before she met Jadus that first time, she knew he was a brutal man who discarded things like a person threw away trash.

With those doubts in her mind, it still took only a second to lower her defenses. The dream and its aftermath left her vulnerable. The knowledge she failed not only the Darth in charge of Imperial Intelligence but also the man she had come to love left raw, like a pat of butter stretched thinly across toast.

“It always is.” Nine dared not look at him. She swallowed the lump thickening in the back of her throat, but it wouldn’t go down easily. Nothing was ever easy now in the wake of Jadus’ death.

“You will discover the truth behind his assassination, Cyn. You are the best that Imperial Intelligence has to offer. You will unmask the conspirators and bring them all to justice.”

“Fuck justice,” Nine responded coldly. “I will bring them vengeance. I will make them suffer for what they have done. I will make them pay for robbing the galaxy of Jadus’ greatness.”

Adaki stared at her, apparently dumbstruck by her confession. His countenance took on a hungry expression, like he saw her with a renewed sense of passion. It was clear that she surprised him.

“You would make a wonderful Sith, my dear,” he purred. “If only you would let me train you.”

Jadus asked to do the same thing. He had told her that looking at her felt like he was staring into a font bubbling over with raw Force energy. She was a beautiful and terrifying person. That was what had attracted him to her.

Nine had never considered herself particularly unique. She was only a citizen working for the Empire and didn’t feel as if she had any connection with the Force. If she had, she surely would have felt something. And that, itself, had worried Jadus.

Was that the nature of a relationship that an Imperial had with a Sith? One or both of them would meet death. She understood any apprentice that Jadus had would eventually try to kill him. That was the reason that she had refused Jadus’ help, his offer to train her. Any training from any Sith would make her lose her sense of identity and would eventually pit herself against the one who trained her, in this case, the man she had loved.

It doesn’t matter. Nine didn’t kill Jadus, but he was still dead. She was still responsible. She should have anticipated it, should have known that the conspirators would go for the second most powerful Sith in the galaxy. The death of such a prestigious council member would be how she would make the Empire crumble if she were a terrorist.

“I don’t understand what you mean, my Lord.” Nine folded her arms around her chest, still pressing the thin sheet to her body. She felt naked and exposed as her bare shoulder brushed his own.

Adaki leaned forward and watched her. She swore she saw that emotion in his eyes before, but how could she? They briefly traveled together when she was given her first assignment by Imperial Intelligence. That was before Hutta and before she swore fealty to Darth Jadus. There was surely no romance or interest between them, as there wasn’t enough time for it to blossom.

“As I told Lord Jadus,” she said, “I’m nothing special. Nothing that would require training from a Sith of your magnitude, my lord.”

“I have told you before to call me Adaki. Pray, I do not ask again.”

“My Lo — Adaki, are you sure that is wise? People will gossip.”

That was not the only reason she was protesting. Darth Jadus had her call him by his name, too, so much so that he insisted on it much like the Zabrak was currently doing. It made their interactions seem personal and intimate.

If she would have known then what she knew now, she would have insisted on keeping things formal with him. Her heart wouldn’t have been split in twain, otherwise. He might have survived. He might have been at her side now …

“People gossip,” Adaki said. “That is what they do. It would be simpler to stop the sun from rising than to stop the common rabble and their incessant talking. I don’t waste time worrying about what people say behind my back, only I they venture to plotting against me. That is wholly unwise, however.”

“As you say, Adaki,” she conceded.

“You are wrong, you know?” he added. She glanced at him, confused.

“What do you mean.”

“You said you are nothing special. Nothing that a Sith of my magnitude should show interest in. You are wrong. There is something there, elusive, but it is there. You have some connection to the Force, that much is clear. I can feel that much, but it is muted. It is difficult to describe, almost like a limb that has been severed, the memory remains.”

“As you say, Adaki, but I still can’t feel it.”

The truth was that she didn’t feel anything he described. Even if what he said were true, Nine was sure that if she had any connection with the Force that would require training she would have shown talent. Still, she knew there was no sense in arguing with a Sith Lord. It would be a fruitless exercise as his decision was already decided; Adaki rarely changed his mind after that.

How do I know that? Nine thought. There was something more to their relationship, the familiar sensations lighting her memories, but the more she was around him, the more her thoughts felt cloudy, as if she were peering through the memory with a thin gauze of fabric covering the past.

Adaki raised his right hand, but she didn’t shrink away. Despite the fine hair lifting up on her arms, she didn’t sense any danger. He clutched her face and covered her mouth, left nostril, and chin in a tight grasp. His fingers bite into her flesh.

Nine still wasn’t afraid. She felt as if she had finally come home after being lost, as if something from a long distant past had finally clicked into place. It was strange to her that someone like Adaki felt the way he did. She never was led by her heart, always putting the Empire before her needs, but it didn’t make sense that two Sith Lords had made her question her loyalty to her obligations. This was unlike her.

Adaki stared into her eyes, and she looked back. His hand slid down her face until he gripped her chin and jawline, exposing her neck and lips to him. His gaze dropped to her mouth. A chill traveled up her spine, overshadowing any grief she may have felt. It was replaced by an urgent need, the desire burrowing itself within her mind, eclipsing everything else.

Kiss me. If she could have thought straight, she might have considered that maybe he was clouding her mind and guiding her emotions. She may have demanded he leave and allow her to mourn her fallen lover, the other Sith Lord who died from her failure. Instead, the only thing that Nine could think about was the Sith Lord sitting next to her. Once again, she silently pleaded for him to kiss her.

“I can.” He stared into her eyes as he spoke. “You should be able to to. You reach out for the Force, grasping at nothing instead. Constantly and fruitlessly, you try to catch it. You are unaware of this? You are. It is such power. It calls to me. It is … seductive.”

His words traveled through her like the clear note of a tuning fork. The only thing she could feel was desire. Maybe, that’s what he was talking about. She had no experience to draw on nor anything to really compare it to.

All she knew was that he was the opposite of what she knew a Sith should have been. He cared — at least, when it came to her. Adaki was the first one who rushed to her after Jadus’ death, offering to travel with her and lend his aid, and who was she to refuse him.

Her mind felt dull once again, but she wouldn’t look away from him. He commanded her full attention much like her lover did. There was so many things about Adaki that reminded her of Darth Jadus, and it made it easier for her to let her guard somewhat down with him.

He was exciting to her, a breath into a dismal imperial life. She couldn’t deny the way sparks seemed to fly when he stared in her eyes nor could she deny the guilt burrowing deep within her gut. Her other lover’s death was too recent for her, to fresh in her mind.

What should I do? Nine was quickly becoming overwhelmed.

“You have power over it, even if you don’t know.” He bent his head forward and his mouth hovered before hers, the black tattoos revealing to be a dark gray with a splash of crimson flesh from his lips. “You are also reaching out to me, beckoning me, trying to overwhelm my senses. You aren’t doing that intentionally?”

“Doing what intentionally?”

“Making me want you.” The words should have served as a sobering slap to the face, but it had quite the opposite effect. She narrowed her eyes at him, sizing him up like prey. Her tongue darted across her lower lip briefly as she looked him up and down.

“You want me?”

“Absolutely.”

There was one hitch in his plan. His entrance made it so they were not alone. The door still lay against the wall. Cables still hung down from the entrance way, revealing where the door once was.

It appeared that wouldn’t deter him. Adaki leaned down and brushed her mouth with his, a soft gesture that she thought she had imagined until he deepened the caress. His fingers glided along her jawline, up to the side of her face until he lost his hands within her mass of hair. He grasped the dark strands and tilted her head back.

His lips did not leave hers throughout the entire time. He nibbled at her bottom lip, pulling the flesh between his teeth, before letting it go.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she could taste his minty toothpaste he had used previously that evening. . She closed her eyes. This wasn’t what she had planned when they had both retired to their separate rooms that evening, but if she were honest with herself, this was what she had wanted from the time they departed her ship and hailed that first taxi to the promenade.

Adaki pulled away. His mouth shimmered with her saliva before he ran the tip of his tongue over his bottom lip, still tasting her, but soon after that, he recomposed himself and she doubted that they even shared an sort of an embrace.

Nine was the first to speak. “Don’t stop.”

“There are more important matters to attend to, Cyn. Take that frustration you feel and use it to see to your revenge. Don’t let this cloud your purpose.”