[fic] A Good Man

[Chevron 7 locke]

This can't be real.

 

“Vette...You...”

 

Toryal looked up at his former Sith Master Darth Baras as a single tear formed in his left eye. His lightsaber was laying on the floor but he didn't make a move towards it. His eyes were wide with shock. His former Master looked down at Vette with a cruel smile on his pale face.

 

“I never did like her. And you shouldn't have grown attached to her. I once told you that once a tool has served it's use, it would be wise to dispose of it. Instead, you grew attached to the Twi'lek and she became a liability and a weakness. A weakness I was able to exploit.” Baras stated as he raised his lightsaber above his former apprentice’s head.

 

Vette...I...I should have stopped him.

 

The lightsaber started it's descent.

Vette...I...VETTE!

 

Something snapped.

 

Toryal's lightsaber flew across the floor towards Toryal's open hand and the burning red blade ignited as his fist closed around the hilt of the weapon. Before Baras could react, Toryal's blade shot upward and blocked Baras's blade from severing his head from his neck. Baras took a step backward in surprise as Toryal rose to his feet. The Zabrak's eyes were blazing with fury as he stared at his old master for a moment.

 

“Vette...Vette was the one thing in my life that I held dear. She was the one woman in the galaxy who was able to look past what I appeared to be. The rest of the galaxy looked at me and saw only a power hungry maniac. Vette was able to see behind the illusion and saw what I really was...What I could be.”

 

Baras brought both of his hands up and unleashed a powerful stream of lightning from his fingertips that Toryal was able to catch on the blade of his lightsaber. The older sith continued pouring lightning onto Toryal's lightsaber blade but the Zabrak continued to advance on him despite the heat from the lightning.

 

The rest of the Dark Council looked on in interest as the enraged Wrath continued to advance on his former master who was trying to increase the amount of lightning he was using. “I will end you Baras.” Toryal snarled as he gathered the force around him and unleashed it in the form of a massive wave of raw force energy that caused the floor around the two combatants to crack and begin to shatter. Baras shot backwards away from Toryal, the stream of lightning ending as the older sith collided with the wall at the other end of the room. Baras let out a shout of pain as the Wrath continued to advance on him, using the force to keep pushing him against the unyielding wall. The older sith began to gasp for air.

 

“Tell them what you are...Tell them!” The Wrath demanded as Baras continued to gasp for breath. The Wrath briefly stopped the force push and Baras slid to the ground for only a moment before Toryal grabbed his former master by the neck and effortlessly lifted him up. Toryal's normally kind eyes were blazing with hatred.

 

'Tell them!” Toryal roared in his face.

 

Baras began gasping for air as Toryal's grip around his throat slowly tightened. “I...I am not the voice of the Emperor.” He managed to gasp.

 

“Louder!” Toryal shouted as his grip began to loosen so that the rest of the Dark Council could hear Baras's confession.

 

“I am not the Voice of the Emperor!” Baras said in a voice loud enough to be heard by the rest of the dark council. Toryal reached up with his other hand and his hand gripped the edges of the mask that covered his face and with a single pull, ripped the mask from his face.

 

The mask hit the ground with a thud.

 

Toryal threw his defeated opponent on the ground and reignited his lightsaber and advanced on him. Baras was about to try and summon his lightsaber from the ground where it had fallen but before he could, Toryal slammed his armored foot down on the hilt of the blade and a loud cracking sound was heard as the hilt broke in two. Baras looked up at him and his eyes narrowed.

 

“Deliver the death blow, then. From beyond darkness, I shall strike at you! Someday, vengeance will be mine!" Baras vowed.

 

“Gladly.” Toryal snarled as he raised his blade above his Master's head. He was about to bring the blade down on his former master's head when he heard a weak voice echo from across the room.

 

“Don't...Don't do it Toryal...please don't.” Toryal slowly turned around and saw Vette leaning against the wall. Her other hand was covering the lightsaber wound that Baras had managed to inflict on her. “If you do this...You'll change. Change into something bad.”

 

Toryal looked back at Baras and than back at Vette and than back at Baras again. He stared down at his defeated Master and deactivated his lightsaber. “Know this Baras: The only reason you survive this day is because you will pay for your crimes against the Empire and the Emperor. The Dark Council will see to your fate.”

 

The Dark Council watched but did not speak as Toryal confidently walked across the room and passed the two Sith guards that were entering the room to take Baras into custody. He reached Vette and gently helped her steady herself as they slowly walked out of the Dark Council Chamber.

 

The sith acolytes and other members of the Sith academy on Korriban gave the two of them a wide berth as the two headed for the shuttle that would dock with their own vessel.

 

“Vette...” Toryal said quietly. “I...I'm sorry for what you saw in there. I didn't mean to frighten you.”

 

Vette let out a soft laugh. “I don't know who was more scared at the end of that fight. Me or Baras. But I knew you wouldn't do it.”

 

Toryal was understandably curious. “Vette, I didn't even know if I was going to do it. I thought he had killed you...taken you aware from me. How did you know that I wouldn't do it when even I didn't know?”

 

Vette looked at him with eyes filled with pride and care.

 

“Because your a good man. The kind of man I was able to fall in love with.”

 

Toryal felt a smile threatening to break out on his face and he didn't fight it. “”I'm...I'm glad to hear it.” He said quietly as the two boarded the shuttle.

 

“I really am.”

[machievelli]

A Good Man

Chevron 7 Locke

 

No specific era or location given: A Sith hopeful makes a choice

 

The piece is interesting in three ways. First, the idea that someone was going to get away with claiming to be a higher station (His master claiming to be the Emperor's Voice) That he was allowed to not take his revenge, letting the Council he was before to do it instead, and lastly, that an act of what might be called mercy went unnoticed.

 

As Vette said, there is always that one point where you stop being a good man, and become a bad one. While I don't agree with the 'Strike me down and your fall is complete' attitude, it is well portrayed here. He doesn't take that last step.

 

Too often, people who write from the Sith viewpoint make them as monstrous as possible. It is like the old war movies where every soldier for the other side routinely commits atrocities because as Igor says in Van Helsing; 'It's what I do'.

 

But no society can be fully atrocious, or few would live there. That was why the Berlin Wall originally went up. Compared to even Nazi Germany, a lot of people would have rather died than live under Communist rule. That was also why the wall came down, because after trying and failing, the people said enough. All within 28 years if you start when the wall went up, 71 if you count from when the Communists took over Russia.

 

So I applaud a slightly gentler form of the Sith portrayed here.

 

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