The First and the Last

Chapter 1: Awaken Deception

Finding a Secret hideout behind a waterfall in some Force-forsaken swamp-world chasing after Ventress.

What had Anakin Skywalker done to deserve this?

The swampwater was in his hair now.

Gross.

"Glad I've got a bucket sir," said Rex, watching Anakin as he grimaced and yanked pieces of goop out of his hair.

"Yeah, must be nice," he said flatly, "Comm Ahsoka and tell her to keep a squad by the entrance, it only looks like Ventress had one way in. Lets keep her boxed and capture the damn harpy."

Rex nodded, pulling away briefly to do so.

Anakin frowned as he looked into the dark hallway of the hideout, the doors sabered open with molten lines from Ventress's lightsabers. He has a bad feeling about this, and that was Obi-Wan's line. Like, not bad, but absolutely catastrophic, the Force is swirling and twisting. Like when he fights Dooku, or from what he recalls when he was a boy, staring at Darth Maul in the Theed Hanger and feeling that rage he didn't understand. Except... it was worse. So much worse, like it was etched into the walls of this place.

"Eyes peeled boys," warned Anakin, "This place has Sith written all over it."

Hurry hurry hurry...

The hair on the back of his neck stands straight up. The Force is whispering, but slowly building louder and louder. He's running out of time for something, he doesn't know what.

GO!

Anakin swore, "Forget that, we need to move!"

"Sir?" called out Rex.

"Force thing!" he called back.

Rex sighed and waved the rest of the squad forward. "When the Jedi get weird, roll with it."

Anakin grinned as he kept on moving; he loved his men, he really did. He schools his face as he follows the Force's alarmed guidance deeper and deeper into the hideout, through one sabered door after the other, and then he senses Ventress, and locks onto her. Finally, he bursts into a dimly lit room...

He grinds to a halt, finding Ventress furiously typing away at a panel next to what looked like some kind of suspended animation field, the kind used for incredibly dangerous prisoners. Inside it is a short middle-aged blonde haired woman with pale white skin, black tear shaped tatoos going above and below her eyes, in a skin-tight black jumpsuit. His first thought is to whistle, because... nope, nope, he is happily married, not going there. Then he thinks with his head, and alarm goes through it. Whoever the hell this is, Ventress wants them awake.

"Yes yes yes," rambled Ventress, a beep from the panel, "Its her, its actually her. My Master was right. Zannah... the first..."

Who the hell was Zannah? "Away from the console Ventress."

Ventress turns her head and jabs a button, victory radiating off her in waves. Whoever this is... she's making Ventress think she had won, despite being completely and utterly caged in. Anakin watched as the field flickered and dimmed. The unknown woman pitched forward, and Ventress didn't even bother to catch the woman. Except, blue eyes flew open and she caught herself, grunting as she nearly faceplanted. She groaned and clutched at her head, eyes blinking in confusion and wariness. Anakin... couldn't feel a damn think in the Force about her. Almost like she didn't exist in it, probably some crazy mental shields.

Snap-hiss.

Ventress took a step forward to cover the woman, activating her lightsaber. "Orient yourself quickly Lord Zannah. I'll hold them off."

The woman glances up at Ventress, and then at Anakin as he activates his lightsaber, and for a moment, he thought he felt something probe him. Then the woman's eyes go wide with surprise, a sense of -what power!- seeming to come off her in regards to him. For a moment, there was darkness, icy and sickly in a way Anakin couldn't fathom, coming from everywhere and nowhere that he cant pin down, but then he feels it suddenly vanish, and its place is a... strange uneven light around the woman's presence as she drops whatever shields she was using. She holds out a hand, and from somewhere in the room flies a long lightsaber, likely a saberstaff. The woman catches it, igniting to reveal and almost red purple blade, that she then drives right through Ventress's back.

"Fell for the trap, Sith," mocked the woman.

Ventress stands there for a moment in shock before shakily looking backwards at the woman. There is silence, an almost silent communication, and when Ventress turns her head forward, there's is a sickly smile on her face. Then the unknown woman withdraws her lightsaber, and Ventress crumples forward dead.

Anakin slow blinked. "What the hells..."

"Name's Rain," said the woman, deactivating her lightsaber and before saluting, "Shadow of the Army of Light under Lord Hoth."

Anakin gapes at her. "Under..."

He had studied history. "That was almost a thousand years ago!"

Rain blinked, startled. "Uh... what? Why the kriff didn't anyone come wake me up before now?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Why by the Force did I wake up to a face full of Sith? The goal was to wipe them out at Ruusan, did things not go according to plan?"

"Er..., its kind of a long story," murmured Anakin, fidgeting on his feet under her intense stare, "As for now, we're kind of in a war..."

Rain put a hand on her hip and sighed. "Some things never change it seems."

"With due respect ma'am," asked Rex, stepping forward, just a hint of suspicion in his voice, "What are you doing in a Sith hideout? Why was Ventress trying to wake you up, calling you this 'Zannah'?"

"Easy Rex," said Anakin, putting an arm on his shoulder, "Her presence is light."

"His caution is good," countered Rain with approval, "Hard to know who to trust. As for your question, it was a bait operation, there were a few stragglers that we were trying to catch and make sure they couldn't get away, tempting them with hints and allusions to a powerful Sith Lord called Zannah kept in stasis as a secret weapon," her voice turned sour, "Only it looks like the Sith never took the bait, and no one bothered to come and wake me up."

She frowned thoughtfully. "Or well, I guess a Sith DID take the bait, just... a thousand years late."

Maybe that's why the Force was telling him to hurry, if he'd been to late, Ventress might have figured it out and killed her, there's no way the woman would be at her best if she'd spent that long in stasis. Physically maybe she'd be okay, but not in the Force.

Rex snorted and clapped Anakin's shoulder. "Your kind of Jedi then, sir, since half of your plans end up with you or the commander being bait or springing a trap."

That got a grin out of the woman as Anakin gave Rex a mock glare.

"Your plan seems a bit extreme with a lot that could have, and apparently did, go wrong," said Anakin, returning to give the woman a puzzled look.

The woman shrugged. "It is what it is, I follow the Council's, and Lord Hoth's orders."

Anakin made a sour face. "Yeah... I hear that. Half the bantha shit they pull never makes any sense to me, safe to say that hasn't changed in the last thousand years."

There is an interested gleam in the woman's eye. "You don't say? Tell me, what's your name?"

"Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, general of the 501st battalion of the Open Circle Fleet," he answered.

That makes her eyes furrow. "Hmm. Full fledged war against the Sith then?"

He shakes his head. "Not... not like you'd be used to. Much smaller number of Sith, they're fighting the Republic with a droid army."

Rain hums. "I see. Catch me up later, I want out of this hellhole."

"I hear that," agreed Anakin, "You uh... got clothes anywhere? Temperature is kind of cold outside for just that."

"Not anything I prefer," whined the woman, "Its a set-up Sith hideout, its all Sith reds and blacks."

"I got a spare set of clothes on the Resolute," offered Anakin, "For now, he's my robe."

He offers her the outer robe, and she takes it, sheltering her small frame inside the brown robes... which are a bit big for her. She kicks out from it a little childishly. "Being born small sucks."

Anakin grins. "If you think I'm tall, you should have seen my grandmaster."

His smile dims a bit at the thought of Qui-Gon. "Alright, lets book it. Rex, keep a guard around Rain, a thousand years of stasis might not cripple the body, the Force however she's going to need time to readjust with, don't know if Ventress left any surprises and I'd rather keep our VIP safe."

"Yes sir," said Rex, "What about Ventress?"

"Someone grab her lightsabers, otherwise, leave her," said Anakin flatly.

Let Ventress rot in this hellhole for all he cares.

They strode out of the dark room, and Rain poses a question. "So... Rex was it? Republic army or draftee? You don't feel like Jedi Corps."

"Army ma'am," answered Rex, "I'm captain of the 501st under General Skywalker along with the rest of my vode."

"Vode," tastes the Woman, before her voice fills with dry amusement, "That's Mando'a, right? Mandalore's working with the Republic these days?"

"Uh... that's... complicated," answered Anakin, "Short answer, not the way you think."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Umm... clone army with a Mandalorian bounty hunter as a template," he offers.

"What?"

"Nice explanation, sir," said Rex.

"Long story, its complicated," answered Anakin.

"What in the hells have I woken up to," lamented Rain, "I'm going to need a very thorough briefing at some point."

"Yeah, you'll get one," said Anakin, "Don't worry about that. I'm sure the Council's going to love you."

"Hmm, I'll take your word for it," said Rain with skepticism.

Oh, he liked this one. It was refreshing to see more doubt in the Council, even if it wasn't the same Council. They meet Ahsoka and her squad outside the waterfall, and she gives Rain a curious look. "Whose this?"

"Jedi Shadow from a thousand years ago left in stasis," said Anakin, watching her eyes go wide, "Lets go, gawk later padawan."

Ahsoka nods and schools her expression. "Transport's where we left it."

They move to go, but he stops when he notes Rain stopped moving, the woman's eyes furrowed; he asked with a little impatience, "What is it?"

"I don't feel any other sentient life on the planet," she murmurs.

"Yeah? So?" he asks before blinking, "Oh, I guess there was in your time?"

Rain is rather... quiet, there is an air of unexpected loss around her. "Somov Rit was my homeworld."

This dump had a name?

He immediately banishes the thought as he gets what she's talking about, feeling a bit of shame. It was her homeworld, and there's no living person left on it anymore. "I'm sorry."

She shrugged and muttered, "I'll find out what happened later. Lets go."

He nods, and they make their way back to the transport, lifting off. Judging by the ammount of swamp goop clinging to the robe around Rain, he's going to burn it. He knows from experience cleaning out swamp gunk is an absolute pain in the ass.

"So... you seem rather attached to your homeworld," asked Ahsoka, curious.

Anakin closed his eyes and wanted to bang his head against the hull. Don't bring up painful sensitive topics Snips, c'mon...

"Lived there the first ten years of my life before me and my cousins were recruited by the Jedi," answered Zannah.

Anakin jolts a bit at that. "You were taken into the Order even older than I was at nine standard."

"Your point?" asked Rain, a tad confused.

"Right... oh, oh boy," said Anakin, running his hands through his hair, "I'm not the one going to explain the Ruusan Reformation to you. The Jedi Order you know and the Jedi Order of today are... a bit different."

Rain frowns intently. "Why would my age of recruitment matter?"

"Jedi are raised nearly from birth in the Order," answered Ahsoka, looking at Anakin with fascination.

Oh, oh great. Right. He hadn't told her about how old he had been.

"They're what?" exclaimed Rain, she nearly starts to her feet before sitting back down, an unsettled look on her face, "Why?"

"To lessen the chances of falling to the Dark Side by limiting attachment and making sure Jedi are raised properly within the tenants of the Code," answered Ahsoka.

Rain's lips purse thinly, and her Force presence bristles with... with something both hot and cold. Her feelings on what was said are very easy to read, ground in when she speaks. "So they're indoctrinated from birth then?"

The sudden hush that comes over the transport is intense. All of his men are staring at Rain in surprise and mortification. Anakin swallows thickly, drawing his Force presence in, because this is something he hates thinking about, that makes him squirm inside and shakes all his childhood dreams about the Jedi. Rain's eyes flicker to him, noting the change, and Anakin cant meet her eyes. Force... he can't meet them because deep down he agrees. Its one of the things that absolutely repels him about the Jedi.

Ahsoka's jaw drops. "That's... that not what it is!"

"It's what it sounds to me," said Rain flatly, "I knew my family, it was my love, my attachment, to my cousins that saw me drawn into the Army of Light, and that in itself certainly didn't drive me dark."

There's something in her wording that tugs at Anakin, he's not sure what, but he shakes it away, he wants to be anywhere but here having this conversation... except...

"I knew my mom too," said Anakin softly, "She... was the kindest person in the Galaxy."

"Was?" asked Rain, quieting.

Anakin doesn't answer.

Rain nodded in understanding. "I suppose my cousins, my family are gone too."

Anakin aches with that, because he knows that pain.

Rain sighs. "I have a feeling I'm not going to like the Jedi Order of this day and age if that change is anything to go by. Do all the temple's follow this... age restriction?"

"All the... uh, unless you're counting the Corellian Temple, its just the temple on Coruscant," said Anakin.

Rain frowned. "The Order centralized in one spot?"

"Yeah."

"That's kriffing ridiculous, what if the Sith did an orbital bombardment?" asked Rain critically, "There goes most of the Order in one fell swoop. That change is tactically stupid."

Anakin winced at the thought of it. Even Ahsoka looked squeamish. Neither of them deny it though, because that's something Dooku probably wouldn't hesitate to do if he got the chance.

Rain swore under her breath. "I want a datapad the moment after I get out of a fresher and into a new pair of clothes, I need to look at this 'Ruusan Reformation'."

"You're probably not going to like most of it," mumbled Anakin.

"No, I'm probably not," said Rain sourly, "What the kriff is wrong with the Order? What was Hoth thinking?"

"He umm... kind of died at the last battle of Ruusan," answered Anakin.

Rain ground her teeth. "So what, a bunch of busybody council members came up with these rules and changes? Not the Jedi who lived, breathed, and died to stop the Sith? Did any of the Jedi Lord's have a say in this?"

Anakin stares at Rain with a awed fascination, because holy shit, he wants to put her in front of the Jedi Council and watch her tear them a new one. She's on the fast track to become his favorite Jedi after Obi-Wan and Ahsoka. She's sounding... sounding a lot like what he originally imagined Jedi to be. "I don't know a lot of the politics of that era..."

Rain waves a hand. "Not screaming at you Skywalker, just... I'm going to need a looooong adjustment period."

He nods in understanding, a little relieved. "I understand, going from sl... from Tatooine to the Temple was a long adjustment for me to."

Rain huffed and muttered, "Temple huh? At least you weren't dumped right into battle."

Anakin blinked once, blinked twice, and then exploded. "You were what? At ten years old? Untrained?!"

Rain's taken aback by his anger, her eyes going wide, before she nods. "My cousins and I were, yes. The Jedi and Sith we're both grabbing children from various worlds, so it was an arms race."

Her face twisted. "An arms race of children."

Anakin's stomach is a sickly knot. "Force..."

He wants to time travel.

He wants to time travel and stab people in the face with his lightsaber.

Because its bad enough with Ahsoka being out here so young. Which leads his thoughts back to Jabimm and the Padawan Pack...

He aches, he aches horribly.

No Padawan should be in a war, and especially no kriffing untrained ten year old girl.

There's a bemused look on her face. "Got blown out of my transport ship on the way to my first battle, I tell you that was fun. Survived on my own for awhile, that apparently would make me good material for the Shadows."

Anakin took a deep breath, and slowly let it out. "Apparently."

He's not sure if Jedi recruitment methods improved or got worse since then.

Rain shook her head, letting a soft sigh escape her lips. "The past is the past I suppose, not really a choice but to move on."

Anakin nods in agreement even if deep down his mother's loss and all the scars on his back from the whips still ache. In her, he can see the same thing, even if she keeps it down like he does. Its an air of comradery he... frankly... just hasn't felt in the Jedi at all. He may like Obi-Wan as his friend, his teacher, his father figure even if the man would never call himself that, but... Obi-Wan was the perfect Jedi. Not flawed like Anakin, like Rain. He decides he's going to keep an eye on Rain, and if possible, get her assigned to the 501st. Though... she's a Shadow, she might get nabbed for something else, but she's a thousand years out of date with Jedi methodology...

He supposed he'd have to see.

"When you make a lie, you stick with it. Embellish it, make a story around it that can't be easily broken. Mix it with as many truths to stabilize it as you can. Create explanations that cover anything that might seem off, and hold that lie for as long as possible and milk it for all its worth. Embrace the lie and let it become your identity. When its use is done, cast it off, but if possible, don't destroy it. You never know when you might need to adopt an old persona again."

Darth Zannah hums to herself as the fresher's water splashes down on her face and body, recalling an old lesson she had once taught to her apprentice, and that she had often used herself. The old 'I'm a Jedi Shadow' story had worked several times in her life. She's not sure if forcing her knowledge as pre-Ruusan Reformation instead of post was the right bet at first, but something about the Jedi told her it was the right call to make. She sighs with contentedness at the warm water, running a hand down her face, over her breasts, down her stomach, and lets her arms fall away as the thrum of being awake and conscious again goes through her and it feels so good. It had been a very long time since she had made her choice, her selfish choice, but her choice non the less, to play dead, faking her death, and letting Darth Cognus take the reigns when her apprentice had started to eye that three-eyed freak as her own potential apprentice in secret.

Its not that she had feared dying, or feared her apprentice, but the Sith needed a backup plan incase the Rule of Two was ever broken. Might have robed Cognus of truly earning the right of being a Sith Master by killing one, but eh, devil was in the details, she trained the Iktotchi well enough. And what perfect back-up plan than Zannah herself? Arrogant perhaps, but since she'd managed to off the old bastard Bane herself, she deserved whatever the hell she wanted. It was her right as Dark Lord of the Sith. Of course, things didn't seem to have gone according to plan.

She had crafted spells with her sorcery to wake her up if the Line of Bane was ever broken. She had also left clues that if ever a Master died to early in the training of an apprentice, leaving their training unfinished, there were ways for the apprentice to find Zannah if they went looking for knowledge, so the Rule of Two could be rekindled. In those first few seconds when she sensed a darksider after being abruptly woken up, she thought it had been that, and then she had focused and identified the situation as it was and made a decision:

Being woken up by some idiot acolyte with the Jedi right there was a level of stupidity worthy of immediate execution. Especially when said Jedi was literally the most powerful Force Sensitive she had ever felt. He was thankfully a bit gullible, and believed her readily with just a shaky false Aura of Light put up and a smooth story and explanation. He was full of so much pain and suffering in his past, she could feel it etched into him; so much emotion too. A dislike of the Jedi Council and several ways of the Jedi that conflicted with him. Obviously a little of an outsider if he broke the age restrictions. Perhaps most enticing was the darkness in him hidden underneath.

Anakin Skywalker had murdered before.

"Mmmm," murmured Zannah, slowly dragging her tongue across her lips.

She'd have to do a bit more study of Skywalker, the situation of the Galaxy, and figure out what the hell was going on with the Line of Bane that had caused her to be awoken, not to mention that the Sith had apparently revealed themselves, but... she wanted Skywalker as her apprentice. so powerful... he could become the greatest Sith ever born, a much grander legacy that Cognus. However, Zannah probably wouldn't be able to go back into stasis this time, Skywalker was already stronger than her, than Bane, at least in the Force. It was a matter of the control and knowledge she could offer him that would stay his hand from killing her when he became the apprentice and desired mastery.

She wasn't going to be stupid like Bane had been and assume she could Transfer Essence into Skywalker and win, though it was so damn tempting...

Thoughts for later. She scrubbed herself off, exited, put on the Jedi robes Skywalker had left her, and settled down on the floor to meditate. First things first, she needed to re-attune herself to the Force of this day and age. Second, she needed to fix that shoddy quick job of a false Aura of Light she had put up. It needed to be up to par to withstand the scrutiny of a Jedi Council if she were brought before them, and to withstand the scrutiny of a Sith Lord if one of them were nosy. Third, once she was properly shrouded, she needed to poke the Dark Side a bit and see what she could sense of her time and the future...

Author's Notes:

Moar, moar, MOAAAAARRRR ideas and concepts!