The Sith’s Hard Time Sentence
 

Isabella was a Corellian woman with deep, raven black hair done up in a bun, and royal-purple eyes. The same color as her saberstaff. Isabella was a Jedi Knight of the Jedi Order, and she had been sent on a mission to this planet alongside two of her Jedi brothers.

Isabella was well-known in the Order for being a very motherly woman, and was even considering taking up a position as a Mama. Mamas were Jedi women who took care of younglings within the Order, be they kindern or rejuves.

She was going right up to the scientists she needed to speak with.

The scientist, a Twi'lek with thick glasses, looked around nervously. "I...thank you for rescuing me. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but we need to get moving now. These...gentlemen," He gestured to the gang of Mandalorian criminals Isabella had subdued and bound. "They had me resurrect an ancient virus from mummified tissue. I've never seen anything like it. It could wipe out a planet in a few days. When their boss releases it..."

"Whoa whoa whoa, what are you saying?" One of gang members interrupted. "The boss said we were just going to use it to extort money from the Republic!"

"Shut the hell up!" Another shouted.

"No, he told me he plans to release it into the jet streams. You must stop him." The scientist told her. "He'll need to head to the norther poles. If you take one of their shuttles you can catch up with him."

“I understand, thank you for telling us, doctor,” Isabella nodded. One of the other two knights she was with had their padawan stay behind to keep an eye on the Mandalorians until law enforcement arrived.

Meanwhile, she and her two companions quickly took a shuttle and blasted off, heading for the north pole as fast as the shuttle could take them.

Gavin, a human Master, monitored the shuttle's sensors as she flew. "He'll probably have put the virus into the warheads of several missiles if he plans to release it into the atmosphere. I'll try to disarm them, but I need to get close. Try to distract him. Maniacs who do things like this always love to talk about themselves, why everything they do is justified, so keep him talking as long as you can."

“Yes, Master Gavin. I’m quite good at getting people talking,” she smirked momentarily.

Once the shuttle reached the place where the virus was being held, the Jedi trio landed and drew their sabers, ready to defend themselves or attack as needed. Still, they also reached out with the Force, trying to sense for any extra danger or enemies other than what their mundane senses could tell them.

It was not difficult to find where the other shuttle had landed. Nearby was a trail of blood, leading to a badly mauled Mandalorian.

Chessika, a female Zabrak Master, knelt to check the body. "He's alive, but lost a lot of blood. I'm guessing his boss decided his usefulness was at an end. You two go on ahead, I have to take him back to our shuttle."

Gavin and Isabella nodded, running down the hallways. Eventually, they made it to the control center of the base; which also doubled as an observation deck. There were beautiful mountains, valleys, and seas in the distance… but what took their immediate attention was the strong male Cathar in rather intimidating armor.

“Halt!” Isabella ordered.

The figure slowly turned to face them. "Jedi." He hissed. "I was wondering when you'd show up. You're too late. I've already started the launch sequence. Soon this entire planet will be one giant open grave, and the galaxy will be clean again. No more Mando-filth."

Isabella’s face gave nothing away, though anyone with the Force could sense the disgust and horror she felt at the Cathar male’s words. “You would kill everyone on an entire world?! And even if you did successfully infest Mandalor, there are many other Mandalorian planets and clans in the galaxy that aren’t here on Mandalor. You would not destroy their culture.

“Now, surrender while you still clan, and you will be treated with honor before the authorities take you,” the Human knight commanded, ready to draw her saberstaff.

"You don't get it do you?" He laughed. "The virus only effects humans. But I will still be able to carry it. I'll visit every world they infest, cleaning them all, until the galaxy is pure again. And you can't stop me!

He suddenly withdrew a red-bladed lightsaber from his belt, and at the same time the Jedi felt a huge wave of Dark Side energy wash over them.

“You do realize there are many non-Human Mandalorians, right?” Isabella pointed out with a raised brow.

Any other conversation was cut short by the drawing of a red lightsaber, and a wave of power from the Dark Side. “Sith,” Isabella proclaimed, calling on the Light Side to buffer away the Darkness. “How many times do we have to defeat your kind before you do the smart thing and stay gone?!”

The Sith charged her, leaping up and over her at the last moment and slashing at her from behind.

But the Master intervened and blocked the attack.

Isabella twisted around and went on the offensive, attacking the Sith with masterful precision. She tried to keep the Sith’s attention on her, so the Master could strike at his openings.

"Why do you care what happens to them?" He asked as he countered and parried. "They are monsters. The galaxy will be better off without them."

“There are millions of innocents among them! Children and babies! Besides, no whole people can be punished for the actions of a small handful,” Isabella proclaimed as she went on the offensive with her saberstaff.

"You are a naive fool to believe that!" He hissed, using The Force to throw her backwards. Meanwhile Gavin was behind the control console trying to stop the countdown.

She used the Force to shield herself, only sliding back a few feet before going back on the offensive. “And you are a mad Sith! The Mandalorians are not an army!” She ran forward and locked blades with him. “They’re not even a nation. They’re a culture, an idea,” she explained to the Cathar.

Breaking the lock, she Force pushed him back into a wall. “And ideas are impossible to kill!”

The Sith slid backwards, but quickly recovered. "Kill everyone who holds them and ideas can die." He replied, giving her a grin that was anything but reassuring. "Fear can wither a culture too, by making those who hold ideas you don't want too afraid to pass them on." He held out his left hand, his eyes glowing red.

"Let me show you..."

Suddenly Isabella felt raw terror rising from within her as her worst nightmare played out before her eyes.

“That doesn’t stop them from having them, and others will always have similar ideas and thoughts,” Isabella countered, glaring at him. “The galaxy is too big and has too many people to wipe out something like the Mandalorians.”

She gasped, hands going to her head. Taking a knee, she saw the painful death of everything she knew and loved… but life continued on. Calling on the Light Side, she burned away the Dark Side-induced visions and stood strong once more, looking impassively at tbe Sith. “You see, that is something you Sith don’t understand; fear is weak. Because fear is in illusion. Danger is very real, but fear is a choice. I choose not to be afraid. You have no power over me, Sith. Now surrender while you still can.”

Her little speech saved to both distract the Cathar and give Master Gavin the time he needed to stop the virus.

Taking advantage of the Sith's distraction, Gavin finally managed to stop the countdown.

As an automated COUNTDOWN STOPPED rang out the Sith briefly lost his concentration in his contest of wills with Isabella. For just a brief moment, she saw into his mind.

She saw his pain, his fear, his loss that utterly consumed him, until all he could think of was a final death where there would be no grief, where everything would finally, mercifully end.

It was enough to move anyone to tears for his pain. But then she caught just a glimpse of what ran deeper within his soul, what he truly was, what he had done to countless beings and would do to countless more if he was not stopped. It was horror almost beyond her imagining.

Seeing into his mind brought many conflicting emotions to Isabella. Force, how she wanted to weep for his pain, his sorrow, to hold him and whisper that everything would be okay. To help him and bring the light of life and love and joy back into him.

But at the same time, she saw the horror of what he had done to others, and what he would continue to do if he was not stopped. It was almost enough to overwhelm her, but even though there was emotion, there was also peace. Isabella called on her decades of training and managed to keep his horror and despair from influencing her. Maybe in another time, in a different galaxy, there would have been no choice but to kill him. But thankfully, in this galaxy, they had… options.

As Master Gavin moved in to join her, she moved back, going around the Cathar. While he was distracted defending himself from Master Gavin, Isabella drew the blaster she kept hidden in her robes, set it to stun, and shot the Cathar Sith right in his back.

The Sith yowled like a cat at the pain of the stun blast before collapsing to his knees. Gavin quickly grabbed his lightsaber and withdrew a pair of binder cuffs.

"We need to get him back to the temple as soon as possible." The Jedi said. "Chessika can keep him sedated while we get one of the old Dark Side holding cells ready."

“I agree, Master. Until then, some regular blasts with the stunner should keep him down,” Isabella noted.

Working together, the two Jedi quickly bound the stunned Sith and called for evacuation.

On the way back to the temple, after stopping to drop off the kidnapped scientist and leaving the gang members to the relevant authorities, Chessika approached Isabella. "Alright, he should be out until we can get him to the temple. I have some good news and bad news. The first is that I have his name. It's Ralis, and he is, in fact, a living Sith."

Isabella arched an eyebrow at Chessika. “Yes, I think we could safely say he was a Sith, as evidenced by trained usage of both the Dark Side, and a red lightsaber. So, his name is Ralis? No Sith name?”

"No, he was only a trainee. And that's the bad news." She pilled up a hologram of a teenaged Ralis, along with some text. "I learned this from the warrant for his arrest. He is a veteran of Revan's Sith Empire for a thousand years ago. Somehow, he has come to our time."

“One thousand years ago?!” Isabella gasped, hands over her mouth. “How in the Force did he get here?! Was he put into carbonate?”

But, in the end, it didn’t really matter, did it? After all, they were here now, and they could even collect on Ralis’ bounty. The Jedi Order was never hurting for credits of course, but there was nothing wrong with a bit extra for an emergency fund.

"I don't know for certain." Chessika replied while placing her fist to her chin. "I remember once reading of some Sith attempting to find a way to use the Dark Side to put themselves outside of time at will. It was all theory though, so we cannot know if that's what happened here."

“We’ll just have to ask him again after his trial,” Isabella said with a shrug. “We both know the law: any Sith that’s brought in alive gets Pennified and is kept in the Jedi Order for their rehabilitation. So eventually the boy will answer us himself, though hopefully by then he’ll do it willing, rather than with the threat of a sore bottom,” she mused with a smirk.

"It might not be that simple." Chessika reminded her. "There hasn't been a Sith popping up for hundreds of years. No one alive has any experience with one of them. Who is going to take care of him?"

“I’m sure someone capable will take him under their wings,” she shrugged. “And whilst we may not have been dealing with true Sith, there have been some whom fell to the Dark Side that we have re-raised, so it’s not like we’ll be starting from complete scratch, right?”

Chessika looked to her. "Well, you are more experienced with the younglings than any Jedi I know. Maybe you should do it?"

“Me?” Isabella asked in surprise. “Well, yes, I am one of the best when it comes to the younglings, be they kindern or rejuves…” it was to her credit that she didn’t sound arrogant for saying that. It was a simple truth after all. “But… I haven’t taken care of a Sith before. I’m sure one of the masters would rather do it.”

"I think you might be forced to." She replied. "Some of the old Masters on the council might want to do a lot more than merely spank him. A few of the very oldest remember losing friends to fights with the Sith."

“Yes, but they’re old and wise enough to know that Ralis didn’t kill their friends… there is Emotion, yet Peace,” she spoke the Jedi Code, trying to convince herself as much as Chessika.

"I hope you're right." Chessika nodded, clearly far from convinced.

Once they arrived at the temple Ralis was bound in a straitjacket and placed in a special cell that kept him from using his Force abilities. He ranted and threatened, then fell silent to brood.

Whilst that happened, our merry trio were summoned forth to give their debriefings directly to the Council themselves.

The council listened intently. Then Serrat, a Zabrak master, stood to speak. "We must have the Sith destroyed immediately. It is far to dangerous for rejuvenation."

“Master Serrat!” Isabella’s voice cracked like a lightwhip, and her eyes were hard. “Republic law is clear; all criminals get their day in court. If we killed him during the mission, that would have been one thing, but now? We have the Sith in a cell, and we can give him the same Force-suppressing collar we give to Darksider pennies. If we kill him now, it would be illegal, and nothing less than murder.”

"No, the council has clear jurisdiction when it comes to the Sith." He told her. "We cannot allow it to spread it's poisonous philosophy throughout the galaxy once again. It must be destroyed."

"Master Serrat, I understand your concerns." Master Thalia, an elderly human woman of the council said. "But I do not believe we should give up so easily. Are we not bound by our oaths to at least attempt to redeem the Sith?"

"Far too dangerous." Serrat argued. "Who will care for it? What if it escapes? What if it corrupts the other youglings?"