Star Wars: Confederacy Triumphant Ch. 04

Obi-Wan was experiencing a level of agony that he never would have believed possible. His Jedi training was forgotten. He had no techniques that could manage this level of searing pain. He silently wished to die just to escape the blinding pain that exploded through his nerves.

"Ready?" Asajj smiled as she savored the moment, beginning to slowly lower him into the sulfur again.

There was no peace. There was only pain. And despair. Everyone and everything he had ever loved was gone. As the burning sulfur hit his knees, the pain exploded again. Growing ever higher, approaching his manhood with each second.

"Here is comes..." Asajj taunted. "Better get your cock up Jedi, or you'll never get it up again!"

Obi-Wan looked down in panicked horror. The sulfur was only inches from his cock, already he could feel the heat on his testicles.

"Think of me..." Asajj continued. "Maybe it will get you hard...buy you a few more seconds..."

There was no serenity, there was only pain. Opening his eyes to stare at his tormentor, he saw the vicious Sith woman salivating and absently massaging her pussy with her free hand as she lower him to his agonizing death. And in that moment, Obi-Wan Kenobi came to know hate. It filled his every remaining fiber, channeling his pain like a lightening rod.

Asajj stopped touching herself and froze for a moment, taken aback by the sudden hate that came over Kenobi's face. It was his eyes that frightened her the most. His seething hatred was convey so palpable that she felt it through the Force. It was stronger than any hatred she had ever known. Intoxicating in its pure malevolence. Even Savage took an involuntary step backwards.

Kenobi rode the burning agony. He let it fuel his hatred. There was nothing left but the emotion. Nothing in the universe left but his desire for vengeance. On Ventress. On the Emperor. On the whole galaxy that had gone mad.

Suddenly Kenobi's half destroyed naked body was lifted violently out of the molten sulfur, ripped from the Force grasp of Asajj and her minion and thrown roughly onto the rocky shore. Asajj turned to see a dark figure lower his hand and stride into the yellow glow of the molten river.

"Count Dooku." She hissed. "So good of you to join us. I was just educating your new apprentice."

"Then perhaps I shall educate yours."

Dooku ignored the vicious snarl of the yellow Zabrak as he appraised Kenobi's missing legs and smoldering body.

"You are a sick, twisted creature." He announced, igniting his crimson blade. "And your insanity has no place in the Confederacy."

Savage attacked first, exploding up the rocky shore towards Dooku. The Count hit the Zabrak with a burst of lightening that brought the creature to his knees. Dooku parried Asajj's attack with his blade as he sent another burst into the Zabrak. Savage screamed helplessly, unable to assail the Sith Lord.

"A pathetic creation." Dooku spat as he dodged Asajj's attacks and pressed his own.

"One ill turn deserves another." Dooku announced as he faced Savage again, sending a powerful blast of dark energy that threw the Zabrak off his feet, falling directly into the molten sulfur behind him.

Savage screamed in agony and he was enveloped in the burning sulfur, his body dissolving in a fiery blaze.

Asajj screamed in rage and pressed her attack against Dooku. He swiftly disarmed her with a flawlessly executed parry and blasted the pale woman with lightening, grinding her into the ground.

"Finish it." She gasped.

Looking at Obi-Wan's charred body, Dooku smiled.

"No. I have far better plans for you, my dear."

<><><><><><><><><><><>><><>

Kenobi stood alone in the massive hanger bay appraising the planet Dathomir behind the ray shield that protected him from the cold vacuum of space. Turning, he swept his dark cloak aside as he paced across the deck on his new mechanical legs. He struggled to walk as he used to, but his gait felt awkward and artificial. If only his knees had not been destroyed, he would have been in far better shape. But part of him realized that his legs had not been his greatest loss that day. Something in him had changed forever. The hatred he felt that day was still present, fueling him.

The elevator shaft doors opened and Asajj was brought forward, flanked by Magna Guard droids, their electrostaffs trained and ready. She smiled mockingly as she approached him. The anger welled up within him as she approached. Seeing Dathomir through the hangar shield brought her to a dead stop, her smile quickly fading away.

"Why are we here?"

"You recognize your home I see." Kenobi said coolly. His voice held none of the playful sarcasm that had characterized his interactions with Asajj for so long.

Asajj glanced at the electro-binders on her wrists and shrugged noncommittally, returning to her mocking sneer.

"If you were half a man, you would have killed me by now." She taunted. "But then you are half a man aren't you. Tell me...did the sulfur claim your cock as well?"

Obi-Wan's fury boiled over. He reached out to silence the bitch with the Force and grabbed her by the throat. Asajj's eyes widened and she felt her breathing constricted by the outstretched hand of Kenobi...choking her from meters away.

Obi-Wan released her and looked at his hand in momentary shock. Asajj's laughter broke his thought.

"I took more from you than I realized, Kenobi."

"I brought you here to see something."

Asajj looked up at her captor, her breath returning.

"Our tracking droids have found that Dathomir is an important planet to you. The source of your power."

Asajj said nothing, her face implacable.

"That's why I've ordered it blockaded. No more creatures like that Zabrak will ever be allowed into the galaxy."

Asajj watched as Trade Federation battleships took positions around the planet.

"Right now we need almost every ship and droid we have." Obi-Wan continued. "And yet I've spared enough ships from the war to isolate your world from the galaxy until the battle droids manning these ships rust themselves to a halt."

Asajj gritted her teeth in rage.

"Every ship on the surface will be destroyed from orbit. No ships will be allowed to land." He continued.

"Asajj Ventress, you have been found guilty of high treason against the Confederacy of Independent Systems. The Confederate Council has sentenced you to death."

Asajj returned his gaze coldly.

"But Count Dooku has used his influence to place your fate in my hands."

Asajj threw her head back and laughed shrilly.

"And you are going to exile me rather than kill me." She laughed. "You think I'll spend my days trapped on Dathomir? You think I won't find a way to escape your blockade? You're a fool."

"Oh, I'm sending you to Dathomir alright."

Obi-Wan turned and walked to the hangar control room, the metal doors closed behind him.

Asajj turned and looked at the Magna Guard droids to her left and right in confusion as they activated their magnetic feet, anchoring themselves to the deck.

Obi-Wan faced her from behind the glass of the control room. Silently, he deactivated the ray shield, depressurizing the hangar deck. Asajj had a fraction of a second to stare at him in shock as the sudden change in pressure blew her from her feet, out into the vacuum of space.

Kenobi watched in grim satisfaction as her lithe form was expelled towards Dathomir. Reaching out with the Force he felt her utter terror as she found herself floating home.

She tumbled, head over heels, alone in the void. She tried holding her breath, but the oxygen exploded out of her lungs, ripping them open within her. She tried to scream, but nothing came forth as her body convulsed in its death throes. The all penetrating cold stabbed into her like a thousand blades as she was pulled ever closer to Dathomir. Her vision faded as her eyes froze solid and she slipped into oblivion.

From the hangar deck, Kenobi felt her die. Repressurizing the hangar, he reflected on what he had just done. It had been the first act of pure vengeance of his entire life. Something that months ago would have seemed unfathomable. And yet, as the doors of the elevator shaft closed behind him, he felt only one thing. Satisfaction.

<><><><><><><><><><><>><><>

Obi-Wan entered the Emperor's throne room on Coruscant with Count Dooku at his side. The war in the skies above raged as vulture droids engaged the last of the Emperor's traitorous clone soldiers. General Grievous led the space assault from the Invisible Hand, cutting off the center of the Empire from all reinforcements. Commando droid swarmed the cityscape, overwhelming what was left of the clones.

As he entered the ornately decorated chamber of the despot who had betrayed and murdered the Jedi, he recognized with certainty that the true battle for the fate of the galaxy was about to be fought here, with his blade.

"We fight as one." Dooku announced coolly.

Obi-Wan nodded grimly. He was not the man he had been when last he set foot on Coruscant. He had allowed this war to push him from the light. Looking sideways at the Count of Serenno, he realized that there was little difference between the two of them now.

"Save your doubts for after the battle." Dooku instructed. "And do not heed his words. His attack will be psychological."

Kenobi nodded as they entered the former office of the Chancellor.

Dooku was attacked by red attired Imperial guard. Blocking the attack, he quickly killed the man.

Obi-Wan swiftly dispatched of a second crimson guard and the two men approached the Emperor's desk, their blue and red lightsabers humming ominously.

The Emperor casually rotated his chair away from the chaotic aerial battle outside his window to face the invaders.

"Ah." The deceiver began mockingly. "My traitorous apprentice. You return to me at last."

Kenobi began circling slowly on the right. The Emperor's burning gaze penetrated him.

"I see you've taken on an apprentice of your own."

"You're Empire is at an end." Dooku declared.

"Order your forces to stand down immediately." Kenobi added.

"I AM the Empire."

Palpatine exploded from his seat, a red lightsaber shooting forth from his sleeve. He spun through the air, nearly decapitating Kenobi as he passed.

Dooku engaged with Obi-Wan at his side. The Emperor moved impossibly fast, his techniques varied and subtle. The three men battled across the office, their blades vying for dominance as the two men pressed their attacks into Palpatine.

Even Dooku's flawless sword mastery struggled to keep pace with Palpatine. Obi-Wan recognized quickly that he was the least skilled of this fight, pulling back, he let Dooku take the lead, only supplementing the Count's attacks.

The Emperor was everywhere at once, slashing, attacking, defending, jumping off the very walls as he struggled to gain advantage in the duel.

Dooku's flawless form did not save him from the impossible speed of the Dark Lord of the Sith. With a sudden burst of unnatural agility, Count Dooku was slashed through the chest, unable to scream as he was cleaved apart. Obi-Wan struck at that moment, bringing his blue blade down on the Emperor's hilt, cutting it in half even as Dooku fell to the ground lifelessly. His weapon destroyed, Palpatine fell to the floor and scampered backwards from Kenobi's weapon.

Pinning the Dark Lord to the wall, Kenobi held his blade to the throat of the man who had destroyed everything he once stood for.

"It's over." Kenobi announced.

"Is it?" Palpatine hissed. "You think you have won?"

Kenobi struggled to control his hatred. The temptation to end the Emperor's life was almost overpowering.

"You seethe with hatred...with anger." Palpatine closed his eyes in pleasure. "It swells within you now. That is my final gift to you."

"Be silent."

"You see now the truth Kenobi. You see the truth of the Force. The simplicity of the Jedi's pathetic code led you to believe the universe was black and white, dark and light."

Kenobi hesitated.

"The universe is grey. The realities of the world only became clear to you when you lost everything. And I gave you that."

"You betrayed and destroyed everything that I once stood for." Obi-Wan replied defiantly. "This path is all that was left to me."

"Oh no, my fallen Jedi. It was YOU who betrayed everything you once stood for. And now you complete your journey."

Obi-Wan tightened his grip on this saber, edging it ever closer to the Emperor's neck.

"Do it. Strike me down with your hatred. And become as I am in the process!"

Obi-Wan pondered the words. He had already fallen so far from what he had once been. Could it be true? Could killing his man be his final undoing?

"Give into your anger Kenobi..." the Emperor chided. "If you kill me it assures the victory of the dark side of the Force!"

Obi-Wan screamed in rage and jammed his lightsaber into Palpatine's throat. He locked eyes with the man, savoring this look of shock that ebbed from his eyes as life faded. Pulling back his blade, he watched as the Emperor's dead body slump to the floor.

Obi-Wan screamed in frustration as he looked down at the blue blade in his hand, once a symbol of peace and justice in the Republic. It no longer suited him. He no longer wanted it.

Raking his blade across the massive window, the glass shattered and the sounds of the battle outside filled the room. Obi-Wan Kenobi disengaged his lightsaber and threw the hilt out the window, watching it descend into the depths.

It was up to him now. He would have to take active control of the Confederacy to insure peace. To insure that the greed and corruptions of the other Confederates did not overwhelm the galaxy. It was his solemn duty. He would bring order and stability. And he would rule with wisdom.