5 Disturbance in the Force

A green-skinned and rather short humanoid creature that looked old seemed to be frowning as he gazed at the burning corpse of Qui-Gon Jinn, beside him was a man in brown robes.

"There is no doubt, the mysterious warrior was a Sith." Said Mace Windu.

"Always two there are, No more, No less; A master and an apprentice..." Replied Yoda as he looked back at the smoldering remains of Qui-Gon.

"Which was destroyed, the master or the apprentice?" Asked Mace Windu, Yoda remained silent.

Yoda probed and felt something as he closed his eyes, 'A great disturbance in the Force, I sense... The Sith an apprentice must have been.'

Meanwhile, on Tatooine, Leo entered one of the better houses of Mos Espa; A Rodian stopped him in his tracks and began talking and threatening him with a blaster; Leo smiled coldly.

'Force Dominate.'

He looked at the Rodian with cold eyes, "Don't move, no matter what." The Rodian froze mid-speech.

Leo smirked as he made a grasping motion toward the Rodian, "Force Drain." The Rodian trembled in pain as it became an empty husk and fell on the ground lifelessly.

"Sorry, This house is now mine." Said Leo nonchalantly as he used Telekinesis to lift the corpse and threw it in one of the rooms then closed the door, 'I will have to get something to burn the husks... later.'

He checked the house and disposed of what he disliked, then he sat in meditation. 'I will stay here for a few days, Let's plan tonight.'

The night passed and he spent it all planning in meditation. The two suns rose in the sky; he left the house and bought food, some books, a cloak, and many small living creatures in bulk. He spent a few hundred credits since it was daytime and he didn't want to draw suspicion with Force Dominate.

As he was walking back to his new house, he heard a few people talking...

"Lor-Vetan's shop has burned down! he is missing as well, it seems he died in the fire."

"But how did it happen?"

"Perhaps an accident while fiddling with something dangerous? Doesn't matter. He had 2 slaves, one is missing and the other one was freed."

"Who cares?"

"In any case, I heard the slave is looking for the other one everywhere... This parts good, he put up a good price for whoever finds the little one."

"That's something..."

Leo walked away, 'At least he is doing fine, I wrote the letter but he ignored it. Anyway, good luck finding me...'

He had written in the letter that a Jedi had taken a liking to him and he had left the planet to train as a Jedi; It was the best excuse he could come up with and he knew Burin would accept and move on in time. This would also explain why they were freed before Lor-Vetan's strange demise.

Leo returned to the house and ate some food then looked toward the little creatures he had bought in bulk, 'Time to test my theory...'

He took out two rat-like animals that were smaller than his palms and put them in front of him and held them there with Telekinesis.

'Force Drain.' Glowing red mist came out of one of them but he didn't absorb it. "Transfer" he muttered with extreme focus.

He portrayed his intent with a clear image of what he wanted to the Force as he tried to manipulate the red mist.

The red mist moved slightly to the side but still came toward him, 'Stronger!' he tried with all his power.

The red mist didn't do as he wanted instead, it stopped and converged into a single point. He didn't give up and continued.

It became a very small shining red orb, Leo tried to transfer it and it worked this time. The orb went to the body of the other creature but was rejected.

'Force Dominate.' He used it on the creature and tried again, this time it worked. The orb settled inside the creature.

He felt a connection with the creature even after he let go of his Domination, he was amazed, 'I tried to see if I could transfer the glowing stuff of my drain ability to another being but something completely unexpected happened, what the hell is this?' he wondered.

He couldn't control the creature like domination or do anything else, 'The connection is not with the creature, it is with the orb! It's inside... What's the point though?'

He couldn't move the orb either, he sighed, 'Useless...' He tried to cut his connection and the creature exploded, Its blood splattering around.

Leo froze in shock, 'What?! If I cut the connection with it, it explodes? This...'

He smiled menacingly, 'What a great ability! I can put these orbs in people I can Force Dominate and have their lives in the palm of my hand...' he began laughing joyfully.

'Let's call it, Force Seed. since it's like seeds of loyalty that can blossom from inside and make people explode...' he decided and began experimenting.

He made another one and put in a creature then let it free. He could feel the connection and could distinctively tell where it was through the connection. 'There doesn't seem to be a range as well, as long as it is within Force, I can make it explode... great!'

"Let's see how many I can have at the same time.' He began putting Force seeds one by one.

When he had put 8 of them, he felt a great strain to make the 9th one. 'My limit is 8 Force Seeds that means 8 people under my control... Is it okay to make others my slave?'

'It is either me or them and I am selfish, so yes it is okay. I won't treat my subordinates like Slaves, even if they are... Maybe I am becoming what I hate? As long as I am free then it doesn't matter...' he headed for the place criminals and such gathered. He took 8 of the creatures with him.

'This advances my plans by leaps and bounds... My Force Drain is unique; I feel no great hunger and it gives a permanent boost and has great potential; Perhaps it's because of my great desire to become powerful, I got this ability that lets me grow stronger and stronger. My desire for power was not to kill but to truly break the chains that hold me back, maybe that's why?' He thought on the way. 'Doesn't matter... I have it now and I am gonna nurture it.'

He reached the place, it was a bar of sorts, he had concealed himself under the cloak which also helped with the heat.

He approached the one in charge and used Force Dominate, "Who are the 8 strongest people here with ships?"

The owner of the bar began naming them and showed the location of each one to Leo.

Leo memorized them and left silently. He approached the 1st one and used Force Dominate, it made the usual headache during this technique much greater than the previous uses, 'His will is strong!'

"Meet me outside the south of the city in an hour or you will die, remember this." He whispered and drained one of the creatures under his cloak, made a seed, and had it go inside the man's body.

He continued the same with the other 7 and left the place with a smile. He could feel their locations through the connection. 'What a wonderful ability I discovered by accident!'

An hour later, he stood outside the south of the city with 8 very angry people that had their blasters pointed at him.

"Kid, what did you do to me? Don't think I won't kill you." Said one of the two humans of the group.

Leo smiled in response and raised his hand, "Sorry, goodbye." He snapped his fingers and the man exploded; blood, body parts, and guts splattered all around. He was ready to dodge and make the others die instantly as well but they didn't open fire, his smile widened.

The others froze in fear. "Demon!"

"Don't come near me!"

"@$%#$@$" (Unknown Language to Leo)

Leo approached them without fear, his eyes glowing red which caused the others to step back in fear.

"I have a task for you and if you accomplish it, I will set you free and grant you appropriate credits. If not... Well, you know what happened to your friend. Are you ready or... not?"

They wondered what kind of monster had targeted them and cursed their luck, his figure looked like a human kid but his eyes were like that of a demon. Only his eyes were visible under the cloak.

They nodded toward each other feeling helpless, after all, their lives were above all else. "We are." The only remaining man in the group said; He seemingly became the leader, the others held respect for this man except for a single other being and Leo noticed that.

Leo was pleased, "Great, The task is simple. There is a Zabrak with red and black skin; I need you to hunt him down for me, he is very injured at the moment, he was last seen on Naboo; He calls himself Darth Maul, Wields a red Lightsaber but is not part of the Jedi, don't engage in close combat. You have 4 weeks if you don't return till then you will die regardless. I want him alive but if he is dead, bring me his corpse and his Lightsaber. This task you will accomplish or die trying so try your best, your lives depend on it; I don't care how you do it but don't mention me anywhere, I will know and you will die. One of you should remain behind, I have a different task for him."

He waited for a moment for his words to settle and then said as he used Telekinesis to make his cloak flutter a little which caused the others to step back a little, "Go now."

They quickly left and began arguing with each other, Leo couldn't care less as he looked at the Twi'lek that had remained behind, 'By 4 weeks, Darth Maul will regain his power and if they go after him then, it will only expose me; The time limit is absolutely necessary as for this last task.'

Leo said calmly, "I need you to search for something called a Holocron. Find as many as you can and bring them here, if you see a lightsaber, bring it also. I will provide you with credits so don't hold back. I will reward you greatly if you succeed. You have 4 weeks as well."

The Twi'lek female was the only one who was calm during the entire exchange and didn't even flinch as the man near her exploded. Her gaze had been locked on Leo after the had exploded the man with a snap, her gaze was filled with desire.

She smiled, "Sure, I am a Mercenary who works solo so you can count on my ability Sith Lord but I don't want credits. I want to learn what you can do."

'She knows about Sith Lords and has identified me as one? Does she want to become a Sith? Interesting...'

Leo chuckled, "What makes you think I am a Sith Lord? Do you think you have what it takes?"

The Twi'lek's smile became bloodthirsty, "Just a feeling... I am Dia." (Means Ice in Twi'lek language)

Leo felt a good premonition from the Force, "Good. If you succeed, I will consider it. I am Darth Maleficus."

Dia grinned, "Great." She left immediately with fire raging in her eyes, 'Finally a ray of hope! If I learn the same power as that of the Jedi, I can beat them and take back my sister... I won't waste this chance!'

Leo was intrigued, 'A Twi'lek mercenary interested in the Force? She probably has a history with the Jedi or something else... Maybe she is a power-seeking maniac or a battle seeking one? I have to research her story and motives carefully... Besides, I know nothing, how can I teach her anything?! She might not even be Force-sensitive! A Sith Apprentice means betrayal... It's best if I don't distract myself with this, let's train a little and then proceed with the second part of my plan.'

Leo felt like he had truly taken the 1st step and having power over other beings felt strangely intoxicating. 'The Choice to make an Empire is right. Force Seed was a blessing, So Lucky! In any case, These 7 people will die whether they complete their task or not, my existence can't be known. Maybe I can spare the Twi'lek? I have to scheme and plan ahead with all possibilities in mind...'