Chapter 1: Hard Path

It wasn't always a battle of wills between the two of them. Barriss Offee, former Padawan of Luminara Unduli, now prisoner of the Jedi Order and Luminara Unduli, disappointed Jedi Master. Before the two would be standing side by side one another. Luminara trying to hide her pride behind a mask of content and Barriss showing her love and admiration for her Master for all to see. Now they were on the opposite sides of a prison cell. Luminara looking at her with shame and betrayal, while Barriss was suppressing as much emotion as possible, behind a mask of neutrality.

"Hello Barriss," Luminara said, trying to keep as even a tone as possible. Even with all that had happened to her Luminara always maintained her poise, even under great pressure.

"Hello Master," Barriss said. They hadn't spoken in days. Luminara had been called back from the frontlines to try and get some answers from her former Padawan. "Should I be thanking you for my current arrangements? Or was it someone else who had the insight to have the Mirialain moved from the heat to a more pleasant colder cell?"

"Why?" Luminara said cutting off any chance of small talk.

"I already gave my reasons in the courtroom. You should already know why," Barriss said, trying her hardest to keep herself as composed as possible. Her Master was always an imposing figure, and standing before her in meagre prison garb while she was the definition of elegance in her traditional robes left her feeling a bit underdressed.

"I need to hear it from you." She said, keeping her voice as even as possible. "Why? How could you fall so far?"

"Fall?" Barriss asked in a mocking tone, turning her head to the side. "Master I'm trying to save the Jedi Order."Before Luminara could get a word in, Barriss cut her off. "After Drongar my faith in the Republic was weakened. How could they have allowed a sociopathic monster like Phow Ji to fight in this war? How could they justify that? Was winning this war so important that they were willing to let monsters like him loose? They glorified a man who took pleasure from war. Who enjoyed the suffering of his victims and made him a war hero for the sake of giving the Republic another brave hero. When my faith in the Republic was almost completely gone, all I had left was my faith in the Jedi; that we were doing what was right. Yet don't you see what this war is doing to the Jedi? We have become a tool for the dark side. They've all lost so much perspective that they don't see what they've become.

Luminara knew this was a trap. She knew her former Padawan was baiting her into asking how she could possibly think that, but the only way she was going to get any information out of her was to let her lead the conversation and hope she'd let slip some crucial detail. "Why do you think we have fallen into the darkness Barriss?" Luminara asked.

"I've spent time outside the Temple. I've spoken to the masses that the Jedi ignore and I could see the hypocrisy of the Jedi. I spoke to the people of the Republic trying to understand the growing hate and resentment they had towards us and what I found wasn't an evil plot by the Separatists but rather normal people voicing reasonable concerns that I couldn't defend with a clear conscience."

"Letta?" Luminara asked.

"Yes, she and others like her. It was because of her I had to ask myself the hard questions I had buried for years ever since the beginning of the war and other doubts I had. When I was confronted with these questions my only answer was that the Jedi have fallen so far we can't even see the light."

"Barriss, why didn't you come to me? Whatever doubts you had I could have helped you see through this confusion. The Jedi might not always do things in the most easy to understand ways, but we always act for the good of others and the Republic. I could have helped you see the light," Luminara said, taking a more softer tone. Why couldn't Barriss come to her for help? She knew they hadn't spent much time together since her promotion to knighthood, but Barriss was still her Padawan. She could still have come to her for aid.

"That is exactly why I didn't turn to you, Master. You and the rest of the Order have become so blinded by your false purity that you can't see what you've become. You've all lost sight of how far you've fallen." Barriss said with utter conviction.

"Barriss, no matter what you think we have done, it does not justify what you've done," Luminara said, taking a more stern tone, trying to retake her control in the conversation. "How can you justify your actions? How can you Justify trying to kill you own friend?"

"That was never my intention." Barriss said, moving closer to the barrier. "Before Master Skywalker had managed to piece together my involvement in the bombing, I was planning to bomb the Temple again to prove that Ahsoka wasn't guilty. Or at the very least prove that she wasn't working alone. Getting them to call a reprieve to the trial and gather more information now that all her known accomplices were dead. However before I could plant the explosives I was apprehended by him."

"I can only assume leading your friend into a trap before brutalizing her was in some way you also trying to help her?" Luminara asked aloud.

Barriss looked at her with utter contempt before she scolded herself for losing control. "I did that with the plan of already clearing her name. Ever since Ahsoka had gotten herself involved in my plans I had to get her off my trail and create a smoke screen so I could operate. Once my message was out there that the people of the Republic hated the Jedi and that we had fallen so far, it would've caused the Council to reflect on its decisions and see what the rest of the Republic and I see."

"So is that how you justify killing over twenty people?" Luminara asked with an edge to her voice. "So you could spread your message through fear and violence? Barriss, what made you think that you could get away with doing this? If you had wanted to make a statement, why couldn't you have asked the Council to listen to you?"

"They would have heard me not listened to me. I'm sure if I had followed the rules I would have been granted five minutes to make my plea to them before they'd of shuffled me off to the side like all the other Jedi who are refusing to fight in the war. I knew what I was going to do was wrong, but I knew that if I didn't act there would be more damage done. They needed to see this and not be able to turn a blind eye to it. My message could not be ignored. Everyone I hurt, everyone I killed, I did it all to try and get them to see. I didn't act because I hated the Order. I did it because I loved the Order and hated what it was becoming."

"Barriss, please listen to me. You've fallen to the dark side. I told you once that the dark side always tempts you with the easy path. The quicker path. That it would feel so very good; so very right to do what was easy rather than endure. The path of the Jedi is one of hardship and discipline. Barriss, you've forgotten my most basic teachings," Luminara said, letting her mask fall for a second. For a moment Barriss saw all the weariness in her Master's eyes.

"You also taught me that questioning my beliefs was always necessary. You and the rest of the Jedi haven't stopped to actually think about what you are doing. There's a reason why people hate the Jedi. You and all the Jedi like you are a mockery of the Jedi code." Luminara looked as if someone had physically struck her as she took a step back. Seizing on the opening, Barriss let loose with another flurry of truth. "We Jedi are peacekeepers and negotiators, but all you've done is spread violence and war, furthering conflict throughout the galaxy. How does that align with Jedi principals? Jedi are supposed to respect and value all life, yet our entire Order is using a slave army to fight a war. How does that align with Jedi teachings? Jedi are to respect others' wills and choices, but we've been acting as conquerors for the Republic, forcibly putting entire star systems into our control. I may be a terrorist, but you're a mass murdering warlord enslaving the galaxy with a slave army, and you won't even admit it!" Barriss screamed at the top of her lungs. She began breathe heavily. Her head began to feel light as she began to pace around her cell, letting it all out. "You don't even see how horrid the entire situation is. I feel as though I'm the only sane person in a mad house. All of you have fallen and you don't even have the clarity to see it. You all want to pretend as if everything is okay, but it's not. The Jedi have become elitists, acting as attack dogs for the powerful, while ordinary people suffer and grow to hate us. And we deserve it." Barriss looked at her Master with disgust in her eyes. Whatever she had been hoping to see wasn't there. Turning away, Barriss muttered something under her breath, "Get out."

"Barriss I-"

"I said, get out!" Barriss shouted again at her former Master.

Luminara said nothing more, rising to her full height she looked at the back of her former Padawan before turning around and heading to the door at the end of the hallway. "Barriss, I'm sorry that the best I could do to teach you wasn't enough," She said, before the doors closed behind her.

One week later.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

Barriss exhaled as she felt her heart rate steadying. She heard the distant footsteps of the guards pass by her cell and exit the hallway. Her plan was complete, weeks of scheming and studying would soon pay off. It had been ten seconds since her last guard had passed her cell turning the corner and would be another 30 seconds for the next guard to arrive, and another 50 for the one after that. Today was the day. The tremors in the Force had intensified in the last few days. First the siege of Coruscant that rocked the Temple to its core, and now the storm that was raging in the Force. Master Windu was in battle with a powerful Sith. This was her time, when all the Jedi would be distracted sensing the great battle between light and dark to sense her escape from the Temple.

Opening her eyes, she saw the next guard arrive, closing the door behind him. Reaching out with the Force she began to feel the throat of the guard, and began to tighten her hand. The guard clawed helplessly at his own throat, falling to the ground. She reached out with the Force and grabbed the key card on the guard's uniform and swiped it at the scanner. She then drew the guard into the cell while she began to quickly scan his unconscious form looking for his comm and lightsaber.

She scrambled to remove the com device from his body. Weeks of planning still didn't prepare her for the rush of actually succeeding. With a final tug she managed to wrench the device free of the guard's sleeve. Barriss rushed for the door. No doubt the other two guards had felt the disturbance in the Force and had begun to rush to aid their fellow comrade.

Her hands were shaking as the adrenaline flooded her veins. She ran as fast she could, hearing the cries of her fellow inmates and the sound of her own laughter as she made her way down the lower levels of the prison.

Almost as an afterthought, Barriss looked down at her shaking hands, seeing the comm device. She scolded herself for losing focus of what her objectives were. The Temple guards would no doubt expect her to head further up and try and fight her way to the top, but she was smarter than that. Smarter than them.

The hubris of the Jedi was on full display. Did they really think placing her in the building she was going to blow up was really a good idea? Did they really think that one of the smartest Jedi in the Order wouldn't have made a plan in case she was ever caught?

Barriss opened the comm link's display and began to alter the settings on the device from standard Temple guard frequency to the set frequency she needed.

Making her way to the lowest depths of the prison, Barriss transmitted the signal from the comm to her bombs. While not quite shaking the Temple to its foundations, she'd have to settle with being able to get her out of her current predicament in one piece. She braced herself as the explosion crashed into her body causing her bones to vibrate from the shock wave. Covering her eyes and mouth, Barriss leaped into the smoking hole.

Barriss fell for several hundred feet before reaching out to the Force to slow her descent, landing on the city street. While there were a lot of things she detested about the Jedi Temple, she had to admit, having a Temple built on a city world made it really easy to escape. Right now it was a lifesaver. Barriss rushed from the open street into the closest alleyway.

Barriss looked back once at the smoking crater of the Jedi Temple, suppressing her Force signature, before she began to sprint. The battle between Master Windu and the Sith was most likely going to come to an end soon. When it did the Jedi were going to hunt her down in full force.

This wasn't how it was supposed to be. The Jedi shouldn't have thrown Ahsoka to the wolves; they shouldn't have continued on as if nothing had happened, They shouldn't have ignored her and her cause. The Jedi were supposed to see what regular citizens were willing to do because of their war. See that they had become the villains in this war and that they were falling into the darkness. She didn't know if it was from her own emotions or the foul air that was causing her throat to constrict. Tears began to stream down her face as she ran from one alley to the next. Her Master was gone and nobody of importance was around to see her let her emotions loose.

Barriss ran from the alley to a service tunnel that funneled "fresh" air to the people of the lower levels. Barriss braced herself for the rush of air when the hatch opened. Climbing into the dust-covered tunnel, she began to make her way to her backup plan. She might of been a soft spoken Jedi, but that didn't make her any less dangerous. Given enough time to plan, and the resources she needed, she could beat anyone, even Master Yoda. She knew before the first bomb exploded that she could very well be captured, and needed to plan for the eventuality of the Jedi finding out what she did. Originally she had planned for a confrontation, whether or not she could escape the Temple and run away to fight another day. Or be captured and escape the holding cell they would no doubt place her in if they caught her. Either way, she had planned ahead and made the necessary preparations.

Making her way from the filthy lower levels under the Jedi Temple, she ran even further down the tunnel into the depths of Coruscant. It would take the Jedi only a few minutes to discover that she had left the Temple, and it would take them a few more to realize she would be nowhere they would be able to see, forcing them to call for help of the Coruscant security force, and search the holo feeds for any sign of her. By that time they would she'd already be several miles away from them in a place with no holo recorders.

Before she could become too overjoyed with herself, Barriss took a moment to really breathe in the air that was being pumped into the lower levels. If the putrid air under the Jedi Temple was unbearable, then this was criminal. To think the Jedi Order couldn't even keep Coruscant a safe and a liveable place. How could they possibly expect to keep the rest of the galaxy safe? It was just another failing of a horribly ineffectual Order.

Making her way along the tunnel, Barriss spotted her exit; a small three foot ventilation shaft. Barriss peered out to check the coast was clear before leaping down to the mud-filled garbage dump.

Landing less elegantly than she would have liked, Barriss picked herself up from the mud, wiping off what she could from her body. She may have planned this ingenious escape, but it still didn't make it any easier to actually go through with it. Trudging her way through the muck, Barriss strained to lift her legs though the knee-high mud without the Force.

Before her mood could sour any further, Barriss tried to think of something positive. Looking around at her bleak prospects didn't give her much to be happy about. Especially now with a new covered head-to-toe in mud.

At least that's some good news, Barriss thought to herself. Nobody would notice another filthy lowlife in a sea of filthy lowlives just trying to survive.

Barriss walked down the street with the squishing sound of her wet prison shoes filled with muddy water. Barriss didn't run. Running was the surest way to stand out. Her best bet to fit in was to act broken down and jaded, as if life had taken everything away from her, and left her with nothing, but heartache and misery. A part of Barriss found it uncomfortable that she was able to slip into the role of defeated loser so easily.

Barriss rounded the corner to a run-down old building. Pushing past the rusted door, she ran up the stairwell, heading to her home away from the Temple. Thanks to her dearly departed friend and co-conspirator Letta, she had managed to acquire credits to rent this small hovel.

While it stunk of a mixture of foul odors and had a leaky roof, it was more than enough for her to use for the time being. Plus there were some noted benefits to her new home. The constant power outages helped her avoid being caught on holo feeds, giving her a chance to gather supplies. The pests provided her with a fair bit of companionship that would be needed in the coming days, but for now she needed rest.

Barriss woke to the gentle piter patter of tiny feet as she saw the rats scurry, looking for anything edible. Looking around, it seemed to only a be few hours since she had escaped if her wall chrono was to be believed. Barriss slowly stood up and made her way over to the refresher.

The battle between Master Windu and the Sith had ended. By now the investigation would move from searching for her on foot to incorporating some form of wanted posters and informing the local law enforcement to be on the lookout.

Peeling off the mud-stained prison uniform, Barriss entered the refresher hoping the power was on. Luckily for her, the telltale hum of the sonic emitter activated as it removed the filth from her body. While it was nowhere near as good as the feel of the water showers back at the Temple, just being rid of the dirt did wonders for her.

Exiting the refresher, Barriss went to the small crate on the far side of the room. She began to fumble with the lock as she began put the correct input into the lock, unlocking the crate. While she might of planed for the eventuality of being captured, it still didn't leave her with much time gather resources, lest she continue to allow the Jedi to spiral down this dark path. Looking down in her crate, she pulled out a set of spare clothes, her backup lightsaber, a holo device, a box of ration bars, and water, closing the crate before her new roommates help themselves to her food.

After taking the time to clothe and arm herself, Barriss took a moment to appreciate her fashion choices. She wore a very dark outfit with absolutely no colour; black boots, pants, and a jacket with the only reprieve from the black being a white shirt. She reached out to the table and grabbed her piece de resistance; a black respirator to cover her face and tattoos.

Taking a seat against the wall, Barriss placed the holo device on the ground, activating it as she began to eat her breakfast. The protein bar tasted amazing compared to prison food. While the bar was a special kind of horrible, it beat the bland meals the Jedi prison offered. How did an Order that already seemed to never indulge in any form of pleasure seem to come up with blander and blander meals? It was like they were purposefully trying to make sure there was never any overindulgence of any kind in the Temple.

Looking over at the holodevice, Barriss nearly choked when she read the top headline: Jedi Coup Foiled. Scrolling down the page, Barriss read all about this Jedi coup. How could the Jedi do such a thing? She knew that the Jedi Order had lost its way, but to try and overthrow the government?

The feelings of distrust, fear, and betrayal made sense now. It must have been shocking for the Republic now turned Empire to realise that the Jedi were trying to overthrow the Empire.

The Empire; she didn't even know how to feel about that. She had so many questions. Was Palpetine the Sith Lord or was he the puppet of the Sith Lord? Why would the Senate ever decide to become the Empire? Was the Jedi coup the cause of the formation of the Empire?

Barriss continued to read as much news sources as she could, gathering as much information possible. A picture was starting to form in her head, from what she had read and what she had felt in the Force. She was right about the Jedi being tools for the dark side, both literally and metaphorically. The Jedi had found the Sith Lord in control of the war, and tried to assassinate him. Either Palpetine fought them and was horribly scared, or was caught in the crossfire between the two forces. After the battle, he was able to push for a Galactic Empire, and proclaim himself Emperor. And the Sith now ruled the galaxy.

A well of emotions began to swirl around her. On one hand she was elated to know that she was right about the Jedi losing their way and being lead down a path of ruination. She felt a torrent of emotion suturing in her. Never in her life had she been so right and wished to be so wrong.

Why? Why hadn't she acted sooner? If only she had struck out sooner, maybe she could have warned them, she could have saved them. She was the only Jedi to see through the darkness and tried to stop it. It was her fault; if she had acted sooner Ahsoka wouldn't have been able to pursue this mystery. Letta may still have been alive, and she would have been able to save them. She alone could have saved the Jedi. She alone could have saved the Republic. However due to the intervention of Anakin Skywalker, he unintentionally handed the Republic over to the Sith.

As she continued to search for information as to what was happening, reports were coming in that a siege was being launched on the Jedi Temple. Clone troopers were ordered to kill and hunt down the Jedi under a Order 66. Barriss didn't really know what to do. If she went to the Temple, she'd either be shot and killed by the Clone Troopers before she even reached the steps of the Jedi Temple, or if by so miracle in the Force she did manage to make it all the way to the Temple, she might be seen as an enemy combatant and killed by the Jedi

A part of her felt guilty about not trying to help her fellow Jedi, but another part told her it was the will of the Force. The Force wanted her to escape. It wanted her to live. Her Master had told her there was very little coincidence in the universe, and that most things if not all things were done by the will of the Force.

Barriss continued to read when the article was updated and her world was shattered again. Apparently her Master was found with plans to kill the Supreme Chancellor and have the Jedi take over the Republic. This was an obvious lie. Her Master was the most moral and upstanding of the Jedi. There was no way she'd try to overthrow the Republic.

However the last conversation she had with her Master had began to ring in her ears. Wasn't she the one who insisted that she was right? Wasn't she the one pleading with her Master to see what this war was doing to the Order? Wasn't she the one who asked her to question her beliefs? Wasn't she the one to throw her Master's own teachings back at her face?

Her blood began to run cold. She wasn't the saviour of the Jedi. She was their destroyer. She pushed her Master to re-examine her beliefs, which caused her Master to realise she was wrong. Which caused her Master to plead with Master Yoda that she was right, which caused the Jedi to realize they were wrong. Which caused them to question Palpetine and the Senate, causing them to find out that he was either the Sith Lord, or a pawn of the Sith Lord. Leading to her Master and the Council to plot to kill Palpetine and seize power over the Senate while a transition of power could be made.

She didn't know when, but somewhere in her moment of clarity, Barriss had collapsed to the floor on her hands and knees. The room began to spin. Her breathing became laboured as her sight was beginning to blur. Tears began to stream down her face as she cried for the second time in years. The Order was falling, the Jedi were being hunted and her Master was dead because of her. If she had just talked to her Master she could have stopped all this.

Her grand act of rebellion; her symbol of defiance didn't work. All it took to realize they were wrong was opening up to her Master. All she had to do was ask for help.

Barriss fought back tears and calmed her breathing. This was not the end. Steadying herself, she tried to stop her arms from shaking, and raised back onto wobbly legs, placing her back against the wall for support.

The Jedi had listened; they had realised that she was right. They fought the darkness and saw the truth. They had seen the error of their ways and paid the ultimate price, their home in ruins and their legacy in tatters.

No, this was not going to be the end! The legacy of the Jedi was not going to be one of death and destruction. Barriss pushed herself off the wall. A burning desire to help filled her stomach; her mind began to rush, thinking a mile a minute about what she could do. The Temple was a lost cause. There was no way that she'd be able to do anything about that. The Sith Lord too, there was no way she was strong enough to stand against a Sith Lord who defeated four Jedi Masters. Her only option was to gather other Jedi and fight the Empire with them.

If there were any Jedi left, she thought to herself. For any survivors getting out of the Core Worlds and away from any clones would be their first priority. They would most likely be heading to Republic worlds that the war didn't touch or the remote worlds of the Outer Rim. For a second she thought to try and reach out with the Force to see how many Jedi were left, until she realised that the Sith Lord was most likely scanning the Force to see where and if the Jedi were communicating to each other. A sudden rush of dread filled her; never before in her life had the Force been turned so completely against her. Without the aid of the Force, Barriss was going to have to rely on her tracking ability to locate other Jedi. Coruscant was unsafe for her and any other Jedi.

Looking over to her crate, she grabbed a bag from inside, filling it with all the supplies she needed. She may not have had many resources, but what she did have would not fit into her tiny bag.

Barriss grabbed the ration bars and started to devour them one at a time. She didn't really have the luxury of carrying around several boxes of food. She only had so much space in her bag. Filling it with food might be allow her to last a bit longer, but there were more planets with something edible to eat in the wilderness than planets that had drinkable water. She'd just have to load up on calories before heading off-world. Reaching out further into the crate, she pulled out six bottles of water, and placed them into her bag with one box of food bars.

Barriss continued to eat with one hand and pack with the other. Rummaging through her supplies, she took the small pouch of credits and placed several bundles of credits into hidden pockets in her outfit before attaching it to her belt next to her lightsaber.

She glanced down at her hip, her hand gliding along the length of the device. She knew before that if she was ever caught and escaped, she wouldn't be able to go into hiding with her backup lightsaber on full display. It didn't make it easier have to remove the device from her hip and dismantle it into tiny pieces, until it was unrecognisable as a lightsaber.

Barriss looked into the crate for the extra pouch looking for the shielding pouch for her crystal, placing it into the pouch before throwing it and the remains of her lightsaber into the bag. Barriss released a breath she didn't even realise she held.

She then glanced back at the lightsaber she had taken from the guard and began to dismantle it as well. No doubt a second or third lightsaber would come in handy for her or the other Jedi she would find.

Looking into the crate, she found a pair of twin pistols and two holsters. Both were a standard model, though the one difference was both were engraved with half of her hand tattoos on side of the pistol. Rubbing her finger along the engraving, she remembered what her friend had told her. They were two halves of one whole. Letta had splurged and got it for them as a sign of sisterhood – a symbol that they were in this together.

Barriss grabbed another ration bar, trying to focus on the taste. She took another bite of the bar, forcing it down along with the lump in her throat.

She grabbed the comm she had stolen and placed it on her on her belt. She may not have anyone willing to speak with her right now, but having a comm would undoubtedly have its uses.

Barriss placed a spare set of clothing into her bag. The thin robes would barely protect from the cold. However that was one of the benefits of coming from a species that lived on an ice planet. She could swim for hours in icy waters while a snow storm raged and come out without a care in the world.

Grabbing another bar, Barriss stared at it for a second before devouring it. Despite the protests of her stomach to stop. She reminded herself as she swallowed the bar that there were going to be many days in the future where she would beg to be stuffed full of food.

Looking back into the crate, all that was left was a deck of cards and Letta's favourite food. The ones she swore up and down were absolutely necessary for her to survive. Barriss might have been a Jedi, but that didn't mean Letta was. She needed slight comforts that a Jedi wouldn't have even considered.

She smiled to herself, remembering the first time Letta invited her to try her cooking. Her food was to die for. It was one of the things that helped her realize how disconnected the Jedi had become to the people. She had been at many banquets and formal dinners for the most powerful people in the galaxy. However she never had a chance to sit down and eat with a common citizen of the Republic and see how they lived. It was always about what the most powerful people wanted. The Jedi Order had grown too accustomed to the decadence of war.

Taking the deck of cards, Barriss turned away from the crate. Grabbing another bar, Barriss began to eat as she made her way to the door. Using the Force, she pulled the holo device from the floor and placed it in her bag. She flicked the light switch on the wall, heading out of her apartment. She stopped for a moment to look back at the darkened abode, her form silhouetted by the light of the hallway. Releasing a sigh that was becoming all too much of a habit for her, she headed down the partially illuminated hallway.

Whatever the future held, she knew the force was with her.