Power

02.

"Good, again." Maul says, watching from the platform above me. I ready the double bladed red saber as more training droids enter the room. I spin the blade and slice the first two in half. I throw my saber to cut through the next three charging towards me and raise my hand to my right to crush the one there with the force. I catch the saber without looking and shut it off. Maul looks at me in silence for a moment, before floating down to stand in front of me.

I look up at the man who saved me and trained me. In the years I've spent here training, Maul has become like a father to me. He has taught me everything I know, and he has showed me my true potential. The power that I have always possessed.

"You are ready, Grand Inquisitor."

...

"Grand Inquisitor." Lord Vader says to me as I walk towards him. "I have a mission for you."

"Yes, Lord Vader." I say, staring at him through the eyes of my mask.

"You will join your sisters on the planet Bracca, a rather bothersome Jedi has been discovered there."

"Yes, my lord." I turn to see Maul waiting beside the door for me.

"I have a gift for you, Lyra." He tells me, offering me the smallest smile he possibly could.

"And what is that, Master?" I ask him. He leads me to the hangar bay and motions to a beautiful ship.

"This."

I look in awe at the ship docked in front of me.

"It is yours, and will carry a crew in which you will command. It has room for the squadron of Purge Troopers that will be under your control." Maul tells me. I remove my mask to truly meet his gaze.

"Thank you, Master. I cannot express my gratitude." I say. He places a hand on my shoulder for a moment.

"Enjoy it, young one. Return to me when you are finished." He walks away as six Purge Troopers walk to me.

"Let's go." I tell them.

...

I watch from the cockpit as we land beside the second sister's ship on Bracca. The ramp to my ship opens, I slowly walk out onto the dirty terrain. The second and ninth sister quickly fall to one knee as I walk towards them.

"Grand Inquisitor, we weren't expecting you." The Second Sister tells me. I look down at her, and her counterpart to the right.

"Lord Vader informs me that you both have been having trouble finding the Jedi." I say, looking to gaze at the Bracca rigger crew standing in front of me. "Failure is not tolerated, Second Sister. Now find him."

"Yes, Grand Inquisitor." They both quickly stand and walk to the crew, I follow them. The crew looks at me in complete terror, though one of them looks strangely familiar. I watch him carefully as another crew member begins a speech. Memories of the temple when I very first arrived flood my mind, then come flashes of my time meeting the younglings. Finally, it all clicks.

"To the empire, we're all expendable." The crew member says.

"Yes, you are." I say, stabbing my saber through him from behind. The crew member with red hair's eyes grow wide, he's the one. I remember him quite clearly. Just before he can reach for the lightsaber hidden on his back, I reach out my hand. He floats into the air and soars to me. "Cal Kestis, oh how you've grown." I drop him to the ground in front of me, he gasps for air. "If only Jaro Tapal could see you now. Weak and hiding, like a coward." I see the anger build in his face and smile, he finally ignites his saber, clashing it against my own.

"Who are you? How do you know me?" He shouts. I simply send him soaring to the ninth sister.

"I found the Jedi!" She says, dropping him off a cliff. I look back to the second sister.

"Make sure he's dead, if he's not then kill him. Do not fail me." I tell her before walking back into my own ship.

...

I walk from the training room at Fortress Inquisitorius to the hangar bay, the Second Sister has arrived back. I stand with a squadron of purge troopers as the ramp to her ship opens. She walks down it and towards me, head hanging. Her troopers exit after her, no Jedi in sight.

"Grand Inquisitor-" She starts, I raise my hand.

"Where is the Jedi?" I ask. She hesitates.

"He got away-" Before she can finish I clench my fist and she comes soaring towards me, reaching towards her throat. "He had help." She just barely manages to get this out. I drop her to the floor in front of me.

"What kind of help?" She coughs and looks up at me.

"It was a ship." She slowly rises to her feet. "Cere Junda was aboard." I pause for a moment.

"Master Junda lives." I brush a hair off the Second Sister's uniform. "It is time for a padawan to kill the master who failed her, Trilla." She nods, then walks off with her troopers.

"You did well, Lyra." Maul says from behind me. "Come with me." I follow him through the halls to the empty training room. "Remove your helmet, little one. I want to see your face." I pull the mask from my face and meet his eyes. "Lord Vader has given me the task of naming you a Sith Lord, apprentice."

"Now?" I ask him, he nods. I quickly lower myself to one knee as he ignites his red saber.

"I hereby name you Darth Verloren, warrior of the Sith." I look up at him. "Rise, daughter, and join the ranks." I stand and face him, nodding to him. "I am immensely proud of you, Lyra."

"Thank you, Master." Together we begin to walk from the training room. "Master, you never told me why you saved me back at the temple." He nods.

"In you, I saw potential. I saw a lost girl with unbelievable power that could not be harnessed within that temple. And in you, I saw myself. I wanted to give you what I never had."