Chapter 73 – Dark Side

During the month Lyn spent surviving on Hoth, Layan was not only establishing his holding and ties with senators of the Republic, he was also planning the few preparations left to do before the beginning of the war.

This way he would be able to focus on Lyn and his own training.

"Query: What do we do now?"

"We find the local headquarter of the Black Sun and I transform the brain of the leader into a mush to make of him a puppet which will give me access to all their resources. That way, even if the Jedi found about my holding, I'll still have a backup plan."

"Statement: Cockroaches are really hard to kill. These pitiful meatbags were already around in the past and are still here. I thought the Jedi would have wiped them out."

"The underworld was always a topic of mystery. Extremely powerful entities such as the Sith empires and the Eternal Empire were destroyed but underground organizations always stay. They are seen as annoying as mosquitos but don't threaten the interests of the most powerful and are often linked to them.

The best example is the Hutt Cartel, they control the Hutt Space for who knows how long but never were wiped out, they were tolerated. There is something else than a good managing of the situations. To my mind these slugs must be hiding something big enough to threaten the Republic and the Siths whatever era it was."

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While Layan and his homicidal maniac droid were planning another series of murder, Lyn was riding the Icetromper on the surface of the white world of Hoth.

The Icetromper made her win a lot of time, but due to his sheer weight, he was making a deafening sound and was warding the local fauna. Lyn had first to find a cave to let it rest and then hunt for food.

Today wasn't a good day, her rations were empty, and she couldn't hunt due to the rise of a snowstorm shortly after she found a shelter to pass the night. She was now seated inside a cave, snuggled into the fur of the Icetromper and trying to not think to her howling stomach.

Normally, one day without eating was bearable but the extreme cold was making her metabolism asking for more food to sustain herself.

"When he comes to pick me up, I'll have to show him my thinking of his training."

Hunger and cold was worsening her mood and she could feel how I was affecting her use of the force. It was the same type of feeling she had at the beginning of her training with Layan when frustration was empowering her strikes.

"The dark side, he talked about it, but It doesn't feel as frightening as he told me."

Lyn never really had any opportunity to tap into the dark side, but it doesn't mean Layan reprimanded her when she was unknowingly using it. He stopped her to go any further as he wanted to teach her and that he wanted someone by her side when she'll really discover the way to use the dark side.

This training on Hoth was for her to discover it by herself and use it, though only instinctively and without real knowledge of it. Layan undergone the same thing in the past, or in the future, it's complicated. He exiled himself on Hoth while leaving the lead of his organization to a trusted lieutenant and searched to prove a theory.

Nihilus was said to be different from other dark lords of the Sith. He was a personification of hunger itself, thus the name of Lord of Hunger. He became a wound in the force which pushed him to satisfy his never-ending hunger which encompassed worlds whole.

If the dark side of the force pushed him to satisfy an insatiable hunger, then maybe that's what was the dark side, something related to survival itself and he could discover it only after pushing himself to the edges.

On Hoth, all her thoughts would be focused on her survival and short-termed as the living conditions would prevent her to think after this.

The real falls to the dark side happened due mostly either due torture or an accumulation of frustration.

"It's pushing me to survive, empowering me. I can feel the strength in me. That must be what he was talking about, some may become drunk by this feeling of power and lose their way."

She could feel it, it was different to the way she felt the force before. It was raw, strong and pushing herself to unleash her inner powers, and go beyond her limits.

It was like a roaring fire. She could feel her feelings becoming stronger and an obvious strength was coursing through her entire body. She could feel she could fight against an entire pack of savage beasts if she had to.

As she was contemplating the sensation, the wind at the entrance of the cave stop blowing. The snowstorm was over and she may be able to catch a prey before nightfall, but she would have to hurry as the sun would set in less than an hour.

"All right, I'll go outside big boy, wait for me inside the cave."

Leaving all her belongings inside the cave except for her lightsaber and the military binoculars, she ran out of the cave.

Stepping on the mirroring snow, she ran at the top of a hill to look down the valley through the optics. The thermal vision soon spotted something on the snow, a pair of Pantran Whitefangs, the fastest predators of Hoth.

"Sure, so soon after the storm, it could only be ice-cats."

Pantran Whitefangs, or Ice Cats were as fast as the Tauntauns, were carnivores and had the particularly to have no body fat, mostly muscle and so had to constantly hunt for food.

"A blaster would have been so much better than a blade."

Making her best to approach discreetly the two Ice Cats, she was worried because of her body stiffened by the cold and the oncoming fight would be difficult against such swift and agile creatures.

Raising in in the air with a force choke, she jumps with her blade and decapitated the stunned creature. The other one, maybe its mate ran at Lyn with anger who had to throw herself on the floor to dodge in time a paw which would have left a bloody wound on her stomach.

Rolling on the snow, she raised up just in time to avoid a deadly bite directed at her neck. Once again throwing herself on the ground, she force-pushed the beast which was consequently bewildered and rush at it to stab it.

The beast, faster than Lyn by a large margin, rushed out of reach and fled after understanding the threat Lyn was to his life.

Lyn was happy she would be able to eat, but night was coming fast. She had to hurry to drag the Ice Cat to the cave before nightfall.

When she arrived to the cave, night has fallen since a quarter of an hour even though she hurried to come back.

As she was nearing the cave, she was struck by a bad feeling and a sensation of pain.

Stepping inside, she saw the Icetromper half crouched on the floor and using his horn to try to ward a white intimidating predator, a Wampa.

"Sithspawn!!"

Letting go of the dead ice cat, she rushed to the Wampa with her lightsaber and lashed at the Wampa.

The creature tried to protect himself with his paw, only to have it sliced in half. The creature roared and wobbled backward, but Lyn didn't let him go this easily and separated his head from his body with a slash of her blade.

"Big Boy! Tell me you're okay!"

Now closer to the Icetromper, she could feel its pain through their bond, she could feel it as if it was hers. The fur of the Icetromper was covered in blood. The poor beast was barely standing, half crouched against one of the walls.

"I'll fix you up, you'll be as good as new."

Using her healing skills at her best, she stopped the hemorrhagic, and the slits made by the claws of the wampa were scaring over.

"I'll finish to heal you tomorrow, big boy. For now, I have to eat or I'll faint of tiredness."

She was already tired before leaving to hunt, after the two fights, the healing and the walk in the snow, she was dead tired.

Lyn wasn't an expert at hunting or survive into the wild but could imagine what part were eatable on the creature due to his similarities to other beasts she knows.

Watching over the grilling meat on the spike above the small campfire, she was thinking to her fight against the wampa.

When she killed the Wampa, she felt it, not only anger, but the feeling of domination and might, it was like gambling, addictive.

"Yes, it has its inconvenient but the advantages are so great; Why would the Jedi ban the dark side if self-control is all what is needed to use it correctly?"

Lyn formation of the dark side had not even started and Layan was far from being an expert. He knew about it before his reincarnation, and now he obtained the knowledge from a Sith Holocron. The two of them were still far from knowing all the ins and outs of the dark side.

Her only knowledge of the dark side came from stories and Layan's history lessons. Extremely powerful Jedi such as Revan, Traya, Skywalker and innumerous others fell to it. But how? It was the question she was asking herself.

Jedi are teaching self-control and meditation in the order. With this much preparation, how could it happen so many times so through history?

Factors were multiples: Torture, resentment, anger, jealousy, thirst for knowledge, brainwashes, influence from mind affecting technologies, thirst for power… Too much reason to fall to the dark side existed, and no matter how strong someone is, the dark side can corrupt it.

It requires an iron will and self-control and discipline to use it without being controlled by it. The Je'daii were an order of such but the merit must also be given to Tython and its moon which could tell when someone was off balance.

Tython was affected by the slightest disequilibrium in the force. Too much light or too much dark side and here comes earthquakes, tsunamis and storms which could destroy the planet.

"I'll have to ask him for more details about it. Good night, big boy."

She slept peacefully, even though she had to get out and put the dead body of the wampa far enough from the cave for it to attract the predators, otherwise the smell of blood and dead meat would attract them, and a dead body stink.

Next morning, she finished to heal Big Boy the Icetromper before they resumed their travels. She travelled during days on his back, maintaining the same way of life.

Finally, after three weeks, she finally saw the base Layan choose as their meeting location. Using their force-bond, she contacted Layan via telepathy to indicate her success. Now, she only had to wait for him to come by tomorrow morning.

Thinking about it, she felt a bit sad to separate from Big Boy, but he wouldn't like Ossus climate and couldn't fit in the Phoenix even though she was sure Layan must have ships big enough to carry it.