Chapter Text
When he was a Padawan, Bdubs was brash. He took more risks than most of the other apprentices. The only ones who could match his energy were Tango and Skizz, and the three of them stuck together at every possible opportunity.
Whenever a Jedi Master or some unsuspecting citizen of Coruscant encountered the trio for any reason, chaos was always sure to ensue.
His master was one of the older, much more experienced Jedi Masters. And when Bdubs thought about it, that was probably why she had been selected to take on the loud, reckless Youngling as her apprentice.
Her name was Cleo, and she was, quite frankly, terrifying. She was a twi’lek with sage green skin and a permanent scowl, though Bdubs was one of the lucky few who had seen her real smile. Despite her menacing appearance, she was one of the most kind, compassionate, and loyal members of the Jedi Order. Bdubs admired her immensely, and was thrilled to be her Padawan.
Being a Padawan was fun, but not packed with nearly enough action as Bdubs would have liked. He needed constant action and motion, and he thought that training to be a Jedi, while fun and all, could be quite tedious. Tango and Skizz had agreed with him. Cleo had told him that every Padawan learner felt that way, and that he shouldn’t take the peace for granted.
That was not to say, however, that there was no fun. He and Cleo were often sent on missions. Upholding the peace as Jedi and whatnot. Even rarer, they would go off world.
As much as Bdubs loved Coruscant—he had grown up there, after all—he always relished in the novelty and adventure. Whether it was a Core World or all the way in the Outer Rim, Bdubs loved the exploration of a mission on a foreign planet.
This was one such mission; Cleo and Bdubs along with Tango, Skizz, and their masters, had been called to the Outer Rim world of Ryloth on business of finding undercover Republic naval officers who had been trying to catch some smugglers.
The officers had been sent to Ryloth ten rotations ago and had not since returned, despite the fact that they had only intended to be gone for three. Therefore, the six Jedi were sent to investigate.
It could have been smugglers, of course, but the officers were trained to deal with those and if they had not returned, it meant that something else was likely at play.
Bdubs, Tango, and Skizz whispered excitedly while on the ship to Ryloth, theorizing about what they might be facing on the desert planet.
“How close are we?” He heard Cleo ask Ren, Skizz’s master.
“Just crossed into the Gaulus sector,” Ren answered. He was a human who always laughed at Bdubs’ jokes and was younger than most of the others qualified to train Padawans.
The man who trained Tango was also a human, he was called Wels, and he directed a question to Cleo, “Where is the best bet to search if we wanna find these officers?”
“They were dispatched to Rhovari, I believe,” Cleo said, “It’s just west of the capital city Lessu.”
“Ah,” Wels responded dryly, “So we’ll be scouring a big city. Boys, get your rest now, ‘cause we’ll be on our feet for a bit.” He looked behind him when he spoke to three Padawans, who were pretending that they hadn’t been listening in.
“I’m always a fan of getting some extra sleep,” Bdubs said with a wide smile. He leapt to his feet, stretched, and patted the back of Tango’s chair. “I’m going to go follow your master’s advice.”
He watched Tango roll his red eyes, before making his way to the ship’s sleeping quarters.
Bdubs blinked awake when he felt something harshly. He couldn’t discern what it might have been, but it caused him to sit up quickly. He scrunched up his face in annoyance at his nap being disturbed, but headed to the cockpit nonetheless.
He saw Skizz asleep in his chair, then glanced at Tango who looked not far from that himself, and finally his gaze reached the three Jedi Masters muttering amongst themselves.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Bdubs asked, announcing his presence rather loudly.
“Oh, Bdubs!” Cleo said, turning. “Nothing in particular, but we’re close to landing.”
Bdubs tilted his head. “I meant, what just happened?”
“Not sure what you mean.” Confusion riddled Cleo’s voice as she spoke.
“It woke me up, you can’t just pretend nothing happened.” Bdubs blinked in annoyance. Had they truly not felt it?
“Bdubs… there hasn’t been anything other than light turbulence. It’s just been smooth sailing,” Cleo responded. “I don’t know if this is some sort of prank, or–”
Bdubs looked at her incredulously. “I’m not lying! I swear there was something.”
The commotion had woken up Skizz at that point, and Tango was looking between Cleo and Bdubs as if he expected lightsabers to be drawn.
Cleo simply sighed. “Alright. Well, at least you’re now all awake for the landing.”
Bdubs felt his face warm, embarrassed that his question had created such a scene.
“What was that about?” Tango asked, watching Bdubs carefully.
“It was nothing,” Bdubs responded quickly, “I thought I heard something, but I didn’t.”
The entire time while they were landing, Bdubs couldn’t shake the feeling that something had happened. He was sure that some force—not the Force , but some force nonetheless—had caused his intense reaction, and he wasn’t willing to just ignore it.
They landed on the outskirts of Rhovari, not wanting to draw too much attention to themselves.
The trio stayed faithfully behind their masters and watched silently—though not without playful glances to each other—as the Jedi Masters spoke amongst themselves.
Cleo particularly seemed jolted by this visit, and Bdubs was wracking his brain trying to remember if she had ever said anything about hesitation regarding Ryloth.
The bustling people were sparse, at first, but as they walked closer to the heart of the town Bdubs noticed a general increase in population. It was in viewing the passersby that he understood Cleo’s apprehension.
Nearly every person in the crowd was a twi’lek like Cleo, and Bdubs’ brain finally reminded him of Ryloth history: it was the homeworld of the twi’leks.
It all clicked into place, and suddenly it made sense that Cleo would be apprehensive about being here. She didn’t necessarily have the best history with her people, Bdubs knew that much.
While they were walking, Bdubs heard a noise—it sounded like a person in distress. He paused, glancing around, then slipped away from the group hopefully unnoticed.
The noise of pain-distress-anger whatever it was sounded again, and Bdubs turned to the alleyway he heard it from. With one last look to be certain that the other Jedi hadn’t seen him leave, he ducked into the alleyway, darkened with shadows that made him instantly on edge.
Near the end of the alley where it was darkest, three figures stood over something that, alarmingly, seemed to be a person. Bdubs approached cautiously, silently. His hand twitched toward the hilt of his lightsaber, ready to use it if necessary.
Closer now, Bdubs could see the scene more clearly. The three standing were all twi’leks, and the figure backed up against a wall was a human.
All three were men, and they appeared to be taking turns punching and yelling at the poor person against the wall. From what Bdubs could tell, the human was a teenager around the same age as him, give or take a few years.
Bdubs watched with wide eyes for a few moments longer before jumping out of the shadows and landing a punch squarely in the face of one of the men.
He stumbled backwards with a yell before drawing forward to retaliate, but Bdubs—who had the reflexes of the Jedi—easily stopped him. He shoved the man to the ground, and his hand moved once again towards his lightsaber before he thought better of it.
With one knocked out, Bdubs could focus on the other two men who looked at him with all the fury and anger that he had been expecting. He had, however, joined the fight so recklessly and spontaneously that he had only planned what he would do with the first guy.
He found himself dodging a surprising amount of hits, and could feel his heart rate increasing.
Fortunately, the distraction seemed to help the other boy to stand up and get his bearings, and Bdubs glanced at him for a moment. After a curt nod from the boy, Bdubs smiled and the two of them, back to back, fought together.
Surprisingly, it did not take long for the two small teenagers to knock out the remaining two grown twi’lek men.
Bdubs, breathing heavily, took a moment to look at his unexpected ally. He had white hair, and a mask covering the bottom half of his face. His clothes were all blacks and grays.
Bdubs extended a hand, and the boy shook it once, firmly.
“My name is Bdubs,” He said, mesmerized by this strange person.
“Good for you,” Was the response. It wasn’t harsh or unkind, simply a vague enough answer that Bdubs knew that this white-haired boy did not wish to share his name.
“Are you okay? After that?” Bdubs asked somewhat awkwardly.
The white-haired boy cleared his throat, eyes looking anywhere but Bdubs. “Yes. Thank you.”
“Well, I’ll–I’ll see you around, then.” Bdubs gave a small smile and, not waiting for a response, walked briskly out of the alleyway to find his group.
It would have been too much to ask that they wouldn’t have noticed. Of course they noticed he had left. When Bdubs approached the five Jedi just outside the marketplace, he knew he would be in trouble.
As Bdubs approached, Cleo stared at him with the rage and intensity of several planets’ suns.
“And where have you been?” Her tone was angry, sure, but Bdubs could hear the underlying concern mixed into her voice. She often reminded him of a mother chastising a child.
“I got distracted,” He responded absently. His mind still lingered on the strange boy with white hair and his deep brown eyes which would not look at his.
Cleo narrowed her eyes. “Distracted.”
“Yep,” Bdubs said, “But I’m back now, so we can continue the mission, right?”
She sighed. “If you aren’t going to elaborate, then I suppose so. Come on.”
They walked through the marketplace, and Bdubs was careful to stay with the group while simultaneously avoiding Cleo. She was definitely terrifying when angry, especially when she was angry at him specifically.
He stayed in between Tango and Skizz, but couldn’t muster up the loud joking that he usually excelled at.
Every few minutes, Skizz would point at something excitedly and then Tango would infodump the extent of his knowledge about it. Tango researched thoroughly as much as he could, especially when it had to do with machines, and he loved to talk about it. It was perfect, because Skizz and Bdubs loved to listen to it.
Bdubs only partially understood what Tango was saying half of the time, but Skizz had admitted that he never understood a word of it.
Tango was rambling about the newest astromech droid model, one of which Skizz had pointed out as being for sale at a market stall. They had long passed it, but Tango still had more to say. His speech was interrupted by the Jedi Masters in front of them abruptly stopping.
“What’s the matter?” Skizz asked.
“We’ve sensed something,” Ren responded.
Bdubs, Tango, and Skizz shared nervous expressions with each other.
“Disturbance?” Bdubs prompted elaboration.
“Sort of,” Cleo elaborated, “More like a general feeling of, ‘oh, that’s happening.’ It also means that we now have a location.”
“We do?” Bdubs asked, perking up. They had been walking so long that his legs were starting to feel numb, and he was sure that his fists had bruises from the earlier fight.
Cleo answered, “There is a base just outside of the city not too far from where we are right now. If we go there, we may find those officers.”
“Or we might find something else,” Tango said from beside Bdubs. “We still don’t know why they haven’t returned, right?”
Cleo sighed. “Unfortunately, that is correct. But we shouldn’t let that stop us.”
Wels laughed. “As if any danger level could stop those kids.”
“That’s actually a really good point,” Cleo responded.
Bdubs was feeling quite exhausted by the time they reached the outskirts of the city, and he could see the beginnings of Ryloth’s moons rising. It was too many moons—five of them—to be wasting precious sleeping time, in Bdubs’ unbiased opinion.
They didn’t walk for much longer before approaching a tall building that Bdubs would guess looked like an outpost of some sort.
“Where are we going?” Skizz asked. Bdubs realized that the Jedi Masters had not actually explained anything beyond some senses and instincts. He frowned, knowing that he likely would have no idea what they would be facing.
He closed his eyes for a moment, focusing, listening. He lost all sense of form to the Force and reached out. Perhaps he could find what Cleo had discovered, or even something different that could help their mission.
Bdubs heard silence, the voices of his fellow Jedi fading to the background as he gave in to sheer senses. Trees swayed somewhere days away, the rumble of people in a hurry still lingered from Rhovari, and—Bdubs stopped, almost breaking out of the meditation.
The strange feeling from before they landed the shuttle returned like a heavy stone into a pond. It jolted him, and he absently realized that he had stopped walking.
As his focus faded, so did the sensation. Reality reappeared and he saw his friends looking at him, concerned.
“Is something the matter?” Cleo asked, clearly noticing his shocked expression. Bdubs quickly shook it away, face becoming neutral.
“I’m fine,” Bdubs responded, perhaps a little harsher than intended.
Cleo narrowed her eyes. “You can’t keep secrets from us. Remember honesty. We’re Jedi, not liars.”
He sighed, wishing she did not have that uncanny ability to read him so clearly. “Remember that thing I brought up earlier in the shuttle, when I thought something happened with the ship? I just felt it again.”
Cleo was silent for a few moments. “That’s… concerning.”
“Why?” Bdubs asked, frustrated with her vagueness. “Is it something bad?”
“I don’t know. Which is more concerning than knowing, because I haven’t encountered something like that before. It doesn’t feel like regular disturbances and senses, right?”
He shook his head.
“Right,” Cleo said dryly, “I guess the only thing we can do is keep going.”
“Is it this tower thing?” Tango asked, looking at the tall outpost that they had drawn nearer to. Cleo nodded, and Bdubs was silently relieved that he wouldn’t need to walk much further.
Bdubs couldn’t shake the lingering feeling of something, and it pressed at the corners of his mind. If he reached for it, he could probably uncover whatever was causing it, but he felt that now was likely not the moment. However, the feeling only increased as they approached the outpost.
Tango must have noticed Bdubs shivering, because he nudged him gently. “Hey, what’s wrong?” He asked quietly.
“Just this sense that I can’t shake,” Bdubs replied, glancing at the outpost. “There’s something wrong. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
“It’ll be fine,” Tango said, unconvincingly.
“I’m going to investigate the outpost with my apprentice,” The voice of Wels called in front of them. Tango gave Bdubs a reassuring glance before following his master into the temple. Skizz Ren decided to go as well, feeling that it would be better for Cleo and Bdubs to stay and keep watch.
It left Bdubs standing by Cleo, certainly more paranoid than before. There were only the two of them now, and he tried very hard to lose his apprehension.
Their attention was instantly caught when two figures jumped in front of them, both cloaked. They were between the Jedi and the outpost, seemingly blocking it. Bdubs’ heart raced, and the creeping feeling at the edges of his mind was screaming at him.
The person on the left was holding the hilt of a blade, and Bdubs’ eyes widened. More Jedi? The thought was quickly shut down when a red light extended from the hilt, casting the group into a hue of red through the dim light of the moons.
Cleo immediately drew her saber as well. Bdubs quickly followed suit, his green lightsaber pointing to the ground as he watched both figures. The second had also drawn their equally red lightsaber. Bdubs had never seen red lightsabers before, and could feel the looming, lurking evil in front of him.
Cleo held out a protective hand in front of Bdubs, blocking him from immediate danger as she stared down the figures.
He watched the figure on the right curiously, the strong lurching feeling returning. He tried his best to stay collected.
The figure on the left, directly opposite Cleo, rushed forward in the blink of an eye, and she brought up her lightsaber to block theirs. It made a clashing sound, and Bdubs tried to tear his eyes away from the fight.
It did not distract him enough to not notice the other figure rushing at him, and with some amount of effort he also blocked the hit.
Bdubs spun, ducking down to swipe the lightsaber at the person’s legs, but they easily jumped over it. The cloak flared dramatically as they landed, and the hood fell.
Deep brown eyes tinged with yellow met his, and Bdubs’ eyes widened at the sight of white hair.
“It’s you,” He muttered, blocking another clash of the lightsaber.
“Guilty,” The white-haired boy responded. The mask over his nose in mouth was still there, and it was slightly unnerving.
Bdubs backed away, taking a moment to assess the situation while yells and clashes sounded from his left, where Cleo was fighting.
He didn’t have much time to think as the white-haired boy continued to crowd in on him, and Bdubs didn’t know how many parries he could do before he would need to stop defending and start on the offense.
“What are you doing here?” Bdubs asked, trying to make his voice sound harsher than it naturally was, and he maneuvered another spin, this time around his opponent. He was easily met, though, and the white-haired boy turned to meet his lightsaber once again.
“I could ask you the same thing, Bdubs, ” He responded, “Honestly, you really shouldn’t give your name to strangers. Names have power.”
“Then may I know yours?” Bdubs was almost too late to block another blow, but parried in time. His face was very close to the white-haired boy’s, and they each tried to overpower the other’s lightsaber. “So that we’re even, of course.”
He felt himself being pushed roughly back by the Force, and the shock of it caused him to lose his balance and fall. The white-haired boy stood over him, pointing that deadly red blade directly to his throat. “Etho,” He said simply.
Then, startlingly, the boy—Etho—drew in the blade, and the familiar noise of a retracting lightsaber echoed. He reached a hand to Bdubs, who looked at it for a moment before accepting the help standing up.
Once standing, Bdubs had not released his clasped hand and they stood only a short distance away from each other. He blinked at Etho, confused.
“The people you came for are dead.” Etho released his hand. “There is no reason for you to be here.”
He started to walk away, but Bdubs called out. “Wait! Why… Why did you not kill me?”
Etho turned, a glint in his eyes. “We’re even now.” He then leaped away, leaving Bdubs confused.
When he got his bearings, he rushed over to Cleo, who was now also alone. “What in the Galaxy was that?” He asked, breathless.
“Sith,” She responded darkly, looking behind him in the direction they went. “Oh, I am going to kill that man.”
“You know him?” Bdubs asked, wondering if she was talking about Etho or the other one.
“ Scar ,” Cleo hissed. “He has been antagonizing me for years, and I have never been able to defeat him.”
“What were they here for?”
“Perhaps they thought it was only us, and thought they could deter us from finding the officers that we’re looking for,” Cleo suggested, “They might not know that there are more of us.”
“Etho told me that those people are dead,” Bdubs said, quiet and mournful.
“Etho? Who is Etho?” Cleo asked, voice becoming less level.
Bdubs’ face flushed. “The other red Jedi. Uh, Sith.”
Cleo’s eyes narrowed. “When did you learn of his name?”
“Just now, sorta,” Bdubs ran a hand through his hair anxiously. “He told me stuff while we fought.”
“And you know he was not lying, how?” Cleo asked. Bdubs knew she was just being thorough, but he hated feeling interviewed.
He had no idea how to tell her that he had seen Etho earlier, that he had helped him. Cleo would likely freak out, even if Bdubs had not known who Etho was then.
“Just trust me,” Bdubs said. He knew his voice was shaking and his eyes were no doubt giving away that he was hiding something, but Cleo didn’t press.
The rest of their group returned from the outpost, with none of the officers they had been sent to find. Skizz appeared to be on the verge of tears, which alarmed Bdubs.
“What’s going on?” Cleo asked as soon as the four reached them, concern glittering in her eyes.
Ren grimaced as they approached, ducking his head down. “We found them.”
His tone made Bdubs apprehensive, and he started to worry that Etho had not lied. He had expected it to be a lie in some way.
“And?” Cleo asked, the same apprehension in her voice.
Wels shook his head from beside Ren.
“What killed them?” Bdubs asked, hoping that they wouldn’t say oh, just some instantly cauterizing, blazing hot weapon that does the exact same damage as our weapons but were probably red.
“It’s hard to say,” Ren responded. “There were no wounds at all. Nothing from a blaster or any blade. Tango suspects it may have been some sort of poison or toxin.”
“People don’t just drop dead,” Tango confirmed, “And I don’t know what else could have been so subtle.”
“Was it from the smugglers?” Cleo asked. She glanced at Bdubs, who could tell that she was suspicious of it having been the work of the Sith.
“We’re unsure.” Wels looked between Cleo and Bdubs, at their still slightly unruly state. “Did something happen?”
Cleo’s expression darkened again. “While you were inside, we were attacked by two people wielding red blades.”
“Sith?” Wels asked, a startled look on his face. “Here?”
Cleo nodded. “A master and an apprentice, if I had to guess.”
Tango and Skizz walked over to Bdubs. He noticed that Skizz had evidently composed himself.
“What is happening?” Tango muttered, a conversation away from the Jedi Masters. “What do they mean, ‘Sith’?”
“And what does it have to do with the officers?” Skizz added.
“Well, I don’t actually know much,” Bdubs admitted, “But I did fight one of the Sith. He had all the abilities of a Jedi, but his blade was red—both of theirs were—and he had this… dark presence.”
Tango’s eyes widened. “And you fought one?”
“The apprentice, I think. He was around the same age as us.”
“That sounds terrifying, man,” Skizz said, “And you’re okay, right?”
Bdubs nodded.
Cleo called over to their group, telling them that it would be safest to leave now. They would have to return to the Coruscant Jedi Temple to report their findings, and should head back to their ship to rest before departing.
Bdubs agreed, exhausted. They had received no answers during the mission, and he only gained more questions. As they walked, he wondered about Etho. He wondered what he was doing there, if it pertained to their mission, if they had actually killed those officers. That last thought was not one he was keen to entertain.
Most prominently, he wondered about the strange sensations and if they were connected to the Sith in any way. The questions nagged at the corners of his mind so much that, when they returned to the ship, he couldn’t even sleep through his attempts to rationalize them.