17 Unknown location: Ship.

"Ha!..."

The blue-skinned girl sat up. She surveyed the room she found herself in and recognized it as her personal quarters on the ship. Everything here was familiar to her, from the table with a holographic photo to the white helmet resting on the shelf opposite the bed. However, a feeling of something being wrong didn't leave the girl.

She got out of bed and headed for the bathroom to freshen up and clear her head. Dizziness and dryness in her throat troubled her, so she decided to refresh herself. The metallic door opened automatically in front of her, and the girl found herself in a rather small chamber that included a toilet and a sink with a mirror.

With a heavy sigh, she leaned her hands on the same metallic sink, and then the water flowed automatically from the faucet. The girl touched the water but couldn't feel its temperature. The water wasn't cold or hot, but she paid no attention to that. Instead, she cupped her hands and collected water. She leaned closer to the sink and washed her face to avoid splattering the same metallic floor.

After washing, she still felt nothing. She didn't feel the water touching her blue skin or the relief of its freshness. It was as if she had rinsed herself not with water but with shapeless liquid. Then she looked at herself in the mirror. A beautiful blue-skinned Chiss girl with mysterious red eyes and equally attractive black hair looked back at her, accentuating the aura of mystery around her.

Suddenly, the left side of the girl's face began to twitch strangely. It resembled a nervous tic, but instead of her eye, her cheek and jaw were twitching. She tried to stop the twitch by holding her face with her hand, and she did manage to do so, but her fingers still felt the vibration coming from her face.

The feeling of something being wrong continued to weigh on the girl, so she turned and looked at her compartment. As soon as she turned away from the mirror, the nervous tic stopped, so she puzzledly massaged her cheeks and left the bathroom, accepting it as it was.

The sense of unease continued to grow. Everything seemed calm - here she was standing in the middle of a familiar compartment. Familiar? Yes, it seemed that way to her, but she was seeing it for the first time... True, that didn't make it any less familiar to her.

Panic was beginning to set in. She felt deep down that something was not right, and she needed to figure it out. First, she walked up to the table and picked up the holographic photograph from it, only to find... nothing. Just a solid transparent blue screen that her hand could pass through. Perhaps it wasn't a photograph at all, but something else? The girl frowned. No, it was definitely a photograph.

"Oh..." She covered her face with her hand, feeling dizzy. The empty photograph didn't provide her with any answers, so she put it back in its place and walked over to the shelf. The white helmet looked incredibly familiar, even intimate. Why? The helmet was drastically different from the helmets of clones or Mandalorians. However, they shared common roots. The helmet in the girl's hands had dark purple lenses, and its lower part resembled a mini-respirator.

She turned the helmet in her hands a little more and then wanted to put it on, but a fairly loud knock on the door stopped her. She abruptly turned towards the source of the noise and froze. Panic had inexplicably seized the girl, and this feeling frustrated her immensely. It frustrated her to the point that she casually tossed the helmet onto the shelf and confidently approached the door. Unlike the door to the bathroom, this door didn't open automatically, so she pressed one of the buttons on the panel nearby.

The door slid open with a faint hiss, and... there was no one behind it. Beyond her cabin, she could only see the cold metallic wall of the corridor. She cautiously leaned out into the doorway and surveyed both sides of the corridor. She didn't like what she saw at all. Both to the right and to the left, about forty meters from her, the corridor ended in impenetrable darkness.

She didn't like this situation at all, so she decided to go back into her cabin and close the door. She pressed the button again, and the door slid out of the wall with a barely audible hiss, sealing the passage.

"Ha-a-a... Ah..." She breathed heavily as she stepped away from the corridor. Dizziness still plagued her, and now the growing panic was adding to her unease. When the second unexpected knock came, it frightened her to the core. She involuntarily flinched and stared at the same door again. Fear and her own helplessness once again stirred anger within her. She took a step back towards the exit, but stopped, instinctively reaching for her hip, where her...

Lightsaber.

Why hadn't she remembered such an essential item for any Force user right away? Her resurfacing memories reminded her that before going to sleep, she always placed her lightsaber next to her pillow. Rushing to the bed, she grabbed the pillow and tossed it aside. As she suspected, the lightsaber was exactly where it should be.

The girl took the lightsaber in her hands and felt a slight sense of relief. Now, along with the ultimate weapon, she felt a small surge of strength and confidence. She activated the lightsaber, illuminating the entire room with a bright yellow light, and approached the door, pressing the button. The door slid aside as usual, and she leaped into the corridor, determined not to let the visitor escape her.

"Huh?.." But her surprise knew no bounds when she found herself in the cramped bathroom. The lightsaber crashed into the metallic wall with a hissing sound as she tried to come to her senses. She deactivated the weapon and looked around. She was indeed standing in the bathroom now, although just a moment ago, she had clearly leaped into the corridor...

"Ugh..." She sighed heavily, enduring another bout of dizziness.

The Sith girl turned to leave the room when suddenly she heard a crackling sound. She stopped and slowly turned toward the mirror, which at first glance appeared intact. However, she leaned closer to the mirror and noticed a small crack just above the center, to the right. Unexpectedly, the mirror cracked even more, and black lines spread across its surface, starting from that tiny crack.

They continued to grow across the mirror's surface under the astonished and bewildered gaze of the girl until suddenly, the glass surged forward as if someone on the other side was trying to break into the room. The mirror assumed the form of the cracked mask, staring directly into her soul. Before she could even scream, a hand emerged from the mirror, grabbing her by the throat and choking her.

"Khh..." In horror, she saw her contorted face, which seemed to be split into thousands of parts, suffering and fearful in its mask. Each of her faces was there, in agony and terror. "NO!"

In the confined space, a yellow light suddenly appeared. In her attempt to free herself, the girl activated her lightsaber, but it was the most she could do. An invisible force completely immobilized her body, rendering her unable to move even a millimeter. However, moments later, this force sent her into a long flight.

The girl crashed through the metallic door with her back and slammed into a similar wall in the cabin, bending it. She fell to the floor like a ragdoll, utterly powerless to get up. She should have felt pain, but there was nothing—just a sharp drain of strength and despair.

"Cgh..." The girl shook her head to regain her composure and focused her blurry gaze on the doorway leading to the bathroom.

From there, a dark figure emerged through the glass. The mirror behind it was no longer visible, as it had now become its mask, where the girl still saw thousands of her own reflections. She saw herself helpless, unable to resist the enemy or even get up. Meanwhile, the unknown figure withdrew its hands from under its cloak.

The space around them trembled, as if it too feared the masked intruder; metallic floor panels, ceiling, walls, and other objects around him warped under the pressure of the invisible force, and then they all lifted from their places and hurtled straight at the girl. In panic, she covered herself with her hands from the projectiles flying toward her, squeezing her eyes shut.

Desperation and fear led to anger. The fire of rage ignited in her chest, as is befitting any user of the Dark Side of the Force, and this feeling became her fuel. Using the last of her strength, she continued to shield herself from the flying debris and managed to stand up. She then ran toward the entrance door.

However, the opening button was stuck. The girl desperately pressed the red button, trying to open the door, but it wouldn't yield. She had spent too much time on this, and the masked figure had already approached her from behind. He grabbed her shoulder, turning her toward him.

"Kha!.." He grabbed her by the throat again and lifted her above himself, fully extending his arm. "Kh-r-r-r..."

And the girl struggled to break free from the enemy's deadly grip. There was no sign of her lightsaber anywhere, no matter how hard she looked around the almost completely deformed room. The girl had a hunch that she shouldn't look into his face, but she couldn't help herself and gazed into his mask, where she saw herself hanging from his hand, writhing like a fish out of water, trying to escape.

She would have given up already if it weren't for the primal instinct inherent in any living being—the instinct for self-preservation. The Sith continued to fight. She struck the enemy's arm and even kicked at the mask, but her actions had no effect on him. And then, in a desperate attempt to save herself, she used the Force.

The girl pulled her hand back, then thrust it forward suddenly. A feeble wave of the Force didn't take long to manifest, but it was enough to stagger the enemy and weaken his grip. She fell to her knees, not feeling any pain but still aware of the steel fingers of the stranger around her neck.

"Ha-a-a-a!" She finally inhaled freely, taking a deep breath. The girl pressed the button on the panel again, and this time the door opened! Without further hesitation, she sprinted away from the room into the darkness. Even the darkness didn't scare her as much. She ran without looking back, and all around her was darkness. There was no light, only the sound of hurried footsteps indicated that she was still running.

The Sith didn't know how much time had passed, but at some point, she stopped and turned around. From where she had escaped, there was no sign of light. Had she managed to run so far? It didn't matter anymore, as she now had to find her way out of this darkness. She stepped back and bumped into something behind her.

The girl was about to jump to the side, but she felt the dead grip on her neck once again. Someone or something had lifted her off the ground and started choking her, but this time, she didn't feel any squeezing fingers on her throat. She was being choked by the Force.

Footsteps could be heard, and a moment later, a person with a cracked mask appeared before her, circling around her. At that moment, the choking by the Force stopped, and the Sith fell to her knees, coughing violently at the feet of the masked figure. She wouldn't be able to escape. She couldn't escape him. Cold sweat pierced her as she finally understood the truth. She had no choice but to raise her eyes and accept her own death, as befitting a Sith. And that's exactly what she did... But she would have been better off not entertaining that thought because the girl saw the enemy's hand reaching out towards her, emanating intense heat. Even the hand itself was burning with bright fire!

"A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A!!!"