Knights of the Old Republic The Sith Lords

by The Grey Phantom

KotoR 2: my novelization of it! LSF Exile... Eventually going to add cut content... Starts from the awakening in the Kolto tank!

Just to preface this a bit, this is going to be a... novelization of Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords. If you don't know what happened in the first one, don't worry about it, you can still understand everything.

For those of you who are reading this that have played through the game a million times, so you know, I am going to basically cover the entire game from the Light Side Female Exile's point of view, but change to other characters for some scenes... I am also planning on adding ALL cut contact (possibly not the Genoharadan stuff, but that is because we know so little about it...).

If you don't want to read about something you know every detail about, why are you here? Oh, and because this is long and boring and no one is going to read it anyway, I am just going to ask that you leave a review of what is A) good, B) bad, C) I should add in the future (meaning events, lines, etc.). If you read through all this, good for you, you deserve a kidney! (Inside joke... don't worry about it...)

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Knights of the Old Republic:

The Sith Lords

by The Grey Phantom

Chapter 1: Awakening

"Awaken…" Jeyna Shel thought she heard the faint whisper of a woman in her mind. She opened her eyes to find herself hooked to a breathing tube and completely immersed in a clear liquid in a glass tank.

The machine registered that she was conscious and emptied the glass tank of the clear liquid. Jeyna stood and tried to stretch her muscles, they were aching badly.

I must have been out for a long time, where am I? she thought. She glanced around at her surroundings. She found herself in what looked to be a critical condition med-bay. She recognized the tank's substance: kolto. It was the Republic's most powerful healing substance. It was found only on the ocean floor of the water-covered planet Manaan. On either side of the kolto tank she emerged from were other tanks filled with patients with severe burns all over them. The difference between her's and their's was a red-light shining on the patients inside, signaling they were dead.

What happened here? she wondered. She shivered and looked down at herself to discover she was in a med-bay shift, a brown piece of fabric that hardly kept one's modesty. She left the room through the single exit in the room. It was opposite the kolto tank she had previously been in. She walked into a hallway with three doors, one at the end, directly ahead of her and two on either side on the walls. The one at the end of the hall was malfunctioning; the inner lock was spinning and wouldn't allow the door to be opened.

Apparently I can't go this way. One of these other doors must be open though. Jeyna tried the door on her right to find it was locked. Luckily, the door on the other side wasn't. Inside the room was a desk, a bench and a computer in the corner. Behind the computer was another locked door. The computer was currently displaying information on the four, now dead, patients in the med-bay.

It read: "Patient 1 – Miner – Status: Deceased. Patient 2 – Miner – Status: Deceased. Patient 3 – N/A – Status: Healthy, Discharged at 0900. Patient 4 – Miner – Status: Deceased. Patient 5 – Miner – Status: Deceased."

Patient three must have been me, but why are the others dead and not me? Jeyna accessed the option "Patient Treatment. It displayed the previous treatment issued to the patients and also showed options as to how they could be treated now. Under previous treatment, it stated that all patients had been given a lethal dose of sedatives, including Jeyna.

The sedatives killed the others but I survived! What is going on? Maybe the medical logs will give me the answers I need. Jeyna accessed the medical logs and opened the log from three days ago. In front of her, a blue hologram of a woman with short hair wearing a uniform that showed she was part of the facility's medical team.

The blue woman began to speak, "We picked up a battered ship today. I was surprised there was anyone left alive on the vessel but there was: a platinum blonde woman in the ship's med-bay. We also found the corpse of an old woman. There is no sign of what caused her death though. There were three droids that were on the ship. One was a protocol droid; I've never seen this model before. It said that it was an HK-50 (droid names/labels are pronounced by saying each individual letter and number… so H – K – Fifty) unit. There was also two utility droids. One was still functioning, a T3-M4 unit, and one that was broken. The storage bay was locked and strangely enough, so was the Navigational Computer; no one locks those except smugglers! We put the survivor in the critical condition med-bay and the corpse in the morgue. End Log."

Jeyna then accessed the log from two days ago. The woman spoke again, "One of the miners said that they recognized the woman and that he served under here during the Mandalorian Wars. There's a rumor going around that the woman in critical condition is a Jedi! I thought they all died in the Jedi Civil War! Some of the miners want to sell her to the Exchange, but security said no to that immediately. Knowing Coorta (CORR-TAH) and his gang, they won't stop trying to smuggle her out until they are behind bars. End Log."

This is just asking more questions! I need answers, this last log better have some. She accessed the last log, from yesterday. "Ever since that woman or Jedi or whatever she is arrived, there have been more and more accidents. The mining droids are malfunctioning and injuring the miners. Excavation mines are exploding pre-maturely and mistakes that the safeguards should have prevented are still happening. It is like someone or something is trying to cause more problems! Normally, I would suspect Coorta to be behind it all, but it seems too malicious for him. He would never hurt his friends for money, would he? Then again, the bounty is supposed to be so high that you could buy yourself a planet. We've lost four miners already, we have seven men in critical condition and another 19 men with average injuries we just don't have the staff to treat, and that isn't counting all the, relatively, small injuries everyone has been getting. Those of us who haven't been harmed are now on double and sometimes even triple shifts to make sure we don't fall behind. We need to solve these problems soon, or the facility won't have enough staff to stay up and functioning. End log."

Still confused, Jeyna went back to the computer's main menu. There was an option to watch the med-bay's camera and she chose it. Strangely enough, the camera was focused on the kolto tank Jeyna had just emerged from. Next, she accessed the morgue camera. Inside there was nothing but a few tables with sheet-covered bodies on top of them.

I hope there is something somewhat useful in there… she thought. She accessed the "unlock morgue door" option and unlocked the door to the morgue. She shut-down the computer. She entered the morgue and found what looked to be hand-held blow-torch on a table near a corpse. As she picked it up, she heard the voice that she had heard when she was in the kolto tank, again.

"Find what you were looking for amongst the dead?" asked the voice. Jeyna spun around.

"I thought you were dead!" she yelped. She found that what she thought was a corpse was getting up and off the table. It was a woman, wearing a brown robe. The woman appeared to be ancient, with a face that looked like it had been crumpled up like a paper ball and then unfolded. Before the woman put her hood up, Jeyna saw her eyes; they were completely white without pupil or iris.

"Close to death, yes, closer than I'd like. You have the smell of the kolto about you… how do you feel?" the woman replied. Her voice was quiet and raspy.

"I feel a little disoriented," Jeyna hesitated, "was it your voice I heard in the kolto tank?" she asked.

"Yes, I hoped as much. It may be I reached out unconsciously, and your mind must have been a willing one… or perhaps you have been trained for such things?"

"You can touch minds and you can feign death, who are you?" interrogated Jeyna.

"I am Kreia (KRAY-UH) and I am your rescuer as you are mine. Tell me, do you recall what happened?"

"The last thing that I remember, I was on the Republic ship, the Harbinger… what happened to it?"

"Your ship was attacked. You were the only survivor… a result of your Jedi training, no doubt."

"I… I am no longer a member of the Jedi Order. The Order and I have had a… troubled history." Jeyna said ashamedly.

"So it would seem, but your stance, your walk, it tells me you are a Jedi. Your walk is heavy; you carry something that weighs you down. Keep your past though, and let us focus on the now."

"What is this place?" asked Jeyna.

"I do not know. While I slept I was… removed from the events of the world. The ship we attempted escape on and arrived in should still be here; we should recover it and leave. We were attacked once and I fear our attackers will not give up the hunt easily."

"You seem nervous."

"Even as I slept, I sensed much unrest here; I saw strange visions and minds colored with fear. Now everything here is terribly silent."

"Anything we should keep an eye out for?"

"I leave the explorations of this place to you; I do not recover from near-death experiences as fast as the young. I will remain here and I will center myself, though you may wish to extend your search to some clothes, if only to have proper first impressions." When Kreia spoke, she didn't speak to suggest something; she expected you to do it and left no room for excuses.

Jeyna walked out of the morgue, hand-blowtorch in hand, more than a little annoyed by the old woman and her sense of superiority. She stood in front of the malfunctioning door and took the blowtorch to the broken lock. As soon as she had cut through the metal lock, the door opened into a long hallway. She sighed.

Great, here is another hallway with nothing in it. Jeyna approached the end of the hallway to find another sealed door on her left. Above the door, it said "Turbo-Lift" (equivalent to an elevator). Of course the turbo-lift is sealed! It would have been convenient for it not to be.

"This is the exit… but it is sealed… strange… in my visions it was open…"

"Kreia? Is that you?" Jeyna asked the air, confused. Her question was met with silence.

What is going on here? I end up in a strange place, and then find out there is a bounty on my head. Afterwards, a woman I thought was dead just stands up and starts ordering me around! Of course, my day wouldn't be complete if I didn't start hearing the woman's voice in my head! This just keeps getting better and better…

Jeyna walked through the other door; it was next to the sealed turbo-lift. The sight she saw shocked her. In the corner of the room were the rotting corpses of three men. Next to them was a broken down mining droid, still sparking and sizzling from its fried circuits. In the hand of one of the corpses was a mining laser. She picked it up. From the looks of things, this will come in handy. She thought.

She approached the next room, mining laser held close. As she came close to the door to the next room, she heard it again. "Be careful… there is much energy in the room beyond… yet it stems from nothing that lives…"

"Kreia, what's going on?" Jeyna asked the air.

"Can you not sense them? Reach out… cast aside your sight… cast aside what you see, and instead, reach out with your perceptions…" Jeyna attempted to "feel" what was present in the other room. She closed her eyes and quieted her thoughts, and tried to reach out with her mind, into the other room. "Ahhh…you can feel them… the droids you cannot perceive, but the small oscillations of energy… that… you can feel... echoing outwards…"

Jeyna "listened" into the other room with her mind. She could feel the electricity pulsing in the machines located in the room beyond. She could feel where they were all at and she could feel the energy being contained in the tiny droids, flowing through them. Jeyna entered the room.

The moment she opened the door, the droids registered her presence and proceeded to fire their mining lasers. Jeyna hadn't fought for so long, and her aim was proof of it.

Soon, the mining droids were reduced to nothing but sparking metal. Without warning, Jeyna felt like she had suddenly been plunged into icy water. Her ears were suddenly filled with a million tiny noises all culminating into one massive sound that was drowning her. Jeyna's head felt like it was being pierced repeatedly by fiery needles. Then the noise and the pain stopped as suddenly as it had begun, but it was replaced once more by the voice of Kreia in her mind.

"Ah, you can hear it… It is faint, but it is there…"

"What is happening to me? Make it stop!" Jeyna screamed as the pain returned. Her legs gave out from under her and she collapsed writhing on the ground. She heard the noise again, she felt like she was in icy water again. She was covering her ears, trying to block out the sound, without success.

"It is the Force you feel… it has not been so long as for you to forget…" Kreia explained.

"It has almost been an entire decade… No! I don't want this, never again!"

"Do not turn away from it… Listen… feel it echoing within you… Come… I will guide you down the familiar paths, you will need it if we are to survive and escape this place…"

The horrible pain in Jeyna's skull, the unblockable noise in Jeyna's ears, the feeling of being thrust into icy water, all slowly went away, until it was replaced by a feeling: a feeling of awareness that wasn't there before. Jeyna felt joy. She felt like she was basking in the sun without the harshness. She felt like she could hear the heartbeat of the galaxy and that before now she had been blind or seeing the universe through a crack in the door. Jeyna once more knew the Force, but it felt different from what it used to be.

Jeyna pulled herself up off the ground and dusted herself off. She staggered through the room and opened the next door. It led into a massive room. At one end was a great window, displaying the depths of space. Everywhere outside of the window, Jeyna could see massive rocks slowly floating to the right side of the window. In the top left corner of the window was what might have been a planet at one point. It was a planet that was brown and black, which probably meant that the planet was covered in useless soil and sulfur. That wasn't the only thing about the planet that was odd, it looked like someone had taken it and cut it in half. The center of the planet was a blazing inferno.

I think this facility is in the middle of an asteroid field. Jeyna looked around the room to find many droids scattered everywhere. The corpses of the facilities former staff littered the ground. There is no way I can take all of these myself! There must be 20 droids out there! Then she spied a control console at the base of the window. My only chance is that there might be a way to disable the droids from the console over there. But if there isn't, I don't think I will be able to fight my way out of here…

Jeyna hesitated, and then made her decision; she made a mad dash to the controls. The mining droids shot at her, but fortunately, mining droids don't have warfare programming, and therefore don't have much in the aiming department. She made it to the controls and under heavy fire; she quickly accessed the droid controller and shut down the droids in the room. As she did so, a door to the left of her, that was just barely covered by a pink energy field, unlocked, opened, and the energy field vanished. When no one emerged, she entered it herself, mining laser ready to fire.

"Nice outfit! What, did you miners change regulation uniform while I've been in here?" A tall, dark-haired man said. He was in a force-cage. It was a simple machine that transmitted an energy barrier from the top half to the bottom half, creating a cylinder shaped prison.

"I'd keep those eyes up and tell me who you are." Jeyna replied, obviously annoyed

"The name is Atton, Atton Rand. Excuse me if I don't shake hands, the energy field only causes mild electrical burns…"

"Care to explain why you're locked up?"

"Security claimed I violated some trumped up regulation or another, take it up with them if you want, but they stopped listening to me shortly before they stopped feeding me. Now that is criminal." The man named Atton answered.

"What is this place?"

"You mean you didn't come here on purpose? I'm shocked, I really am… this slice of paradise is the Peragus (pare-aug-us) Mining Facility. It's the only supplier of shipping grade engine fuel this corner of the galaxy. Peragus fuel plays havoc with engines, but it gets the job done… at least, if you don't mind the toxic-fume byproducts and trying to mine it without blowing yourself up."

"What do you mean 'blowing yourself up'?"

"Yep, this asteroid belt is one giant minefield, ready to explode. A stray blaster shot here could cause an explosion to make the one that shattered Peragus II look like a kid's pop-detonator."

"What's Peragus II?"

"You know the planet with the exposed core you saw flying in? That was caused by the first mining station that tried to siphon fuel off the planet. That's why they don't allow blasters here. You can't trust a miner jumped up on Juma Juice not to fire a stray shot that would turn the place into a thermal detonator."

"This place is deserted, do you know what happened?"

"You mean before or after the Jedi shows up? Either way, it's a real short story. This Jedi shows up and some of the miners get it into their serrocrete skulls that they can collect the bounty the Exchange has placed on the Jedi. Well, what passes for the law here didn't like that idea, so the two groups started fighting. Then there was some big explosion, I was sitting here for a long time, then you showed up in your underwear and things got a lot better." Atton ended sarcastically.

"Sorry for my ignorance and all, but what is the Exchange?"

"Don't worry about it, but, the Exchange is a big crime syndicate, mostly operated out of Nar Shaddaa. They do spice running (equivalent of drugs), gun trafficking, slave trading, you name it."

"Why do they have a bounty on Jedi then?"

"Don't know, not many Jedi left… wouldn't surprise me if the bounty is high."

"Not many left! What happened to them?" Jeyna was completely shocked by this new knowledge.

"The ones that weren't killed in the Jedi Civil War ended up switching off the lightsabers long ago, but who knows?

"I heard rumors of a war, but a war between Jedi?"

"Yeah, Revan, Malak, and the Jedi that joined them in the Mandalorian Wars. They turned against the other Jedi and held a scrap that almost laid waste to the galaxy. Where have you been? Who are you, anyway?"

"I… I'm… Jeyna… just Jeyna… I've …been… away since the Mandalorian Wars." Jeyna replied, hesitant to reveal any information to this stranger.

"Well, I wasn't there, but like all Sith, Revan and Malak turned on each other, after they turned on the Jedi, of course."

"I was led to believe that Revan saved the Republic and the Jedi too, though."

"I guess… there are rumors all over space about it. All I heard was Revan returned to pay Malak back for trying to kill her in the first place. You know women… I heard how Revan was during the Mandalorian Wars, and it sounded like she was quick to wipe out anyone who crossed her. Dark Jedi are bad enough, but when a woman falls to the Dark Side, you better space yourself before they catch you… Uh… no offense or anything.

"Whatever, Atton, but I have other questions for you."

"Look, not like your half-naked interrogation isn't a personal fantasy of mine, but… Wait a minute... You are the Jedi the miners were talking about aren't you? Where is everybody anyway?"

"I don't know, the facility seems like it is abandoned."

"The miners can't all be gone! But… if they are… I've gotten out of trouble countless times. This facility isn't a military installation, which means we may have a chance. You shut down this cell's security field, and I can reroute the emergency systems so we can get to the hangars. We grab a ship and then we fly out of here!"

"I could probably do that all on my own you know…"

"Well go ahead, go and burn your ship's thrusters. If there's been a lockdown, you're trapped on this level pretty nicely. You're going nowhere. Oh, and don't forget the fact that I have clothes and this security field protects me pretty well from any more outbreaks of noxious gas.

"Fine, you can come…" Jeyna walked over to the force-cage and shut down the energy field.

"Great, now to business, let's get to the command console." Atton ran over to the command console that Jeyna had used to shut down the droids and he began to work. "All right, here we are. Now this console is set on automatic hail. So you may have heard it when you came in. The asteroid field drift charts are constantly being updated, so it sends out a transmission to incoming vessels. Thing is, you can bounce that same transmission back to the comm. Here… and suddenly you've got access to the communications system from the inside. Pure Pazaak (puh-zak), the console is ours. Now, all we need to do is re-activate the turbo-lifts and cancel the emergency lockdown and then – uh-oh…"

"What's wrong?"

"This system has been severed from the main hub, you can't even reroute the system, and it's been cut clean."

"But that wouldn't be common procedure in a lockdown, would it?"

"No, someone tried to lock down the whole level and leave us… you… trapped."

"Can we do anything else with this console?"

"I doubt it; all we have is communications back. For all the good trying to shout in a vacuum will do us.

"Let's see if we can reach anyone on the comm."

"Be my guest, not much else we can do." Atton replied apathetically.

Jeyna rummaged through the different options until she arrived at one titled "Communications". There were only two places Jeyna could try to talk with: the dormitory section of the facility and the hangar control section of the facility. When Jeyna attempted to communicate with the dormitory section, she was met with silence. After a few unsuccessful tries, she tried the hangar control section.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" Jeyna said into the communications system. There was no answer. She tried again. She was greeted by a strange beeping sound.

"Did you find someone?" asked Atton.

"I… I think it is a droid…" she replied. She returned to the communication console. "Droid, identify yourself." Jeyna commanded. Another jumble of beeping noises replied.

"It says that it is a utility droid, a T3 unit from the sound of it…"

"Wait, you can understand that noise? It sounds like a malfunctioning trash compacter to me." Atton said.

"I served with a lot of droids in… well, before…" Jeyna answered. "I'm going to see if he can get us off this level from a console near him." Jeyna turned back to the console and started giving orders to the droid on the other side of the communications system. "There, the T3 unit is going to go search for a way out of here, seeing as we can't go anywhere at the moment."

Jeyna's statement was met with an awkward silence. Atton was standing there, a few feet away from her, clearly trying to look anywhere except where she was standing. He was failing miserably at it. Every few moments he would be looking up at the ceiling or on the floor and then suddenly glanced her way when he thought she wasn't looking. Jeyna stood there, studying him.

"Fool…" Jeyna thought she could hear a whisper of Kreia's voice in her head again. Still amazed at the phenomenon's occurrence, Jeyna tried to speak to Kreia in her mind. She started by screaming, in her head as loud she could, Kreia's name. She waited a few seconds, and then tried again. She continually got the same result: silence, silence physically and mentally. Then she tried a different tactic, trying to communicate quietly in her mind, but concentrating as hard as she could at the same time. She could feel something beginning to click into place, she knew she was about to reach something that would open her mind… almost… it was like she was grasping for something in the dark but she knew she was near it. She almost had it… just a little more… and –

"It must be a hard life to be a Jedi, no family, no husband, no--" Atton's voice obliterated her concentration. She let out a frustrated sigh.

"You know what? How about you save me all the false sympathies and just stop staring at my chest, hmm?" Jeyna said with venom and just a hint of malice in her voice. As Jeyna was yelling at him, she saw something… different in his eyes; it was like… guilt… or was it pity? It might have even been hate, but she had just met him...

"Hey, I wasn't--" Atton was cut off again as bang issued from the corridor that Jeyna had arrived from earlier. Atton shoved Jeyna out of the way and started using the console. "That little trash compactor actually came through… but, wait! He opened the turbolift to the droid maintenance section!"

"The turbolift to the hangar wasn't opening so I told the droid to open the maintenance section instead, and we are going down there. It's strange though, I thought he would have told us on communications, but I am not getting any messages from him…"

"I don't care what happened to the droid, I am not going down there. With all the explosions that these sensors are saying happened down there, there will be nothing but super-heated rock and a few of the mining droids with heavier shielding down there! That is a suicide mission."

"Fine, don't go, but I have to, I need to find a way off this rock and by the looks of things, the maintenance section looks like it is the only chance we have."

"You know what? Even for a Jedi, you're crazy! You are completely crazy! Blast, you are still my only chance of getting off this rock… I'm not going down there, but I'll contact you on your personal communicator if I pick anything up on these sensors."

"Thanks, Atton, It's great to know you cared so much." Jeyna replied with sarcasm soaked words. She walked off and went down the corridor that she had originally come from. She walked back to the hallway with the sealed turbolift to find it wide open. She stepped on the platform, pressed the "Go" button, and the machine began to move.

When the platform stopped moving she stepped out into a short hallway with massive doors on her left and right. There was a locker at the end of the hall next to one of the massive doors.

"Atton here, there should be a locker or crate or something down there with a mining shield in it. It is not that great at stopping blaster shots but if it heats up down there it will definitely come in handy." Atton's voice said through the personal communicator Jeyna had placed in her ear prior to boarding the turbolift.

"Your right, there is," Jeyna opened up the locker, "and look here! It looks like a mining uniform. It might be a bit big but at least I'll have something, right?"

"Clothes? Damn it, I mean, uh, good for you. I mean, no sense you going running around half-naked. It's distracting," Atton stuttered, "For the droids, I mean…" Atton continued to ramble on and Jeyna decided that it would be easier just to turn the communicator off altogether. The uniform was mostly black with dark green sides and a gray belt.

Jeyna was pulling on the uniform when she heard a metallic voice, "Salutation: Hello, Master." Jeyna spun around to find herself face to face with a tall blue-gray droid.

"Who are you? How do you know me?" Jeyna's words came out jumbled as she drew her mining laser, pointing it at the machine's droid equivalent of a chest.

"Answer: To answer your first question, Master, I am a protocol droid known as HK-50."

"You're a protocol droid then, what is your primary function, HK-50." Asked Jeyna, slightly confused as to why the machine was calling her 'Master'.

"Hesitant Answer: Master, I am a protocol droid that is fluent in over 1,500 hundred alien dialects ranging from Gamorrean to Qaurren. I am also skilled in facilitating communications and basic organic protection. This unit is ready to serve. Is that sufficient, Master?"

"Why are you calling me 'Master', I'm not your master."

"Surprised Answer: Master, I call you master because that is what you are. You are the last known survivor of the Republic ship known as the Harbinger on which we were both passengers on our way to Telos on, Master."

"You were on the Harbinger? Do you know what we are doing here then?"

"Statement: Master, the Harbinger was attacked by cloaked assassins and--"

"If it was attacked by assassins, how did I survive?"

"Reprimanding Statement: If you had let me finish, Master, I would have told you. Continued Answer: When the assassins attacked, you must have been drugged into a stupor and then somehow locked into a cargo hold. After which, I have no memory of what happened to you, master."

"Drugged? What do you mean "drugged"?" Jeyna inquired.

"Apologetic Statement: I am sorry, Master, it seems my vocabulator is malfunctioning. By drugged, I did not mean to imply that you had entered a stupor because of a large intake of Juma Juice."

"Then what did you mean by "locked", hmm? Who would have done that?" interrogated Jeyna.

"Statement: Once again, my vocabulator must be malfunctioning, Master, by locked, I meant sealed. But after you were somehow sealed in the Harbinger's cargo hold… I do not know how we arrived here."

"I need to get to the dormitory section and see if there are any miners left in this facility. Do you know how I can get there?"

"Hypothesis: It is possible that you could use an environmental suit in order to walk across the platforms on the outside of this facility and enter the airlock on the other side in the dormitory section of the facility. But alas, the airlock door is locked on this side." The droid finished his hypothesis and proceeded to walk into one of the, now open, massive doors. Jeyna followed him.

Jeyna entered the room and glanced around to find that it was just a droid maintenance room. Nothing seemed out of order, the workbench in the corner looked like it had been recently used and a broken mining droid next to it looked like it was had been worked on not too long ago. Everything seemed to be in order, until she glanced at the feet of the HK-50 protocol droid. There was a mutilated corpse of a red-headed man with goggles on his head laying there.

Shocked Jeyna screamed, "What is that!?" The HK-50 unit tilted his head downward and then looked up at Jeyna again. With a tone that might have been used in order to read a computer manual or to state what dinner was that night, he said, "Statement: That is the remains of the former droid maintenance officer. Musing: In the last few days of his existence, he became increasingly paranoid that someone was going to or already was tampering with his equipment. He even went so far as to voice-lock everything on the level."

Jeyna calmed down and continued with her interrogation, "Did he ever say anything, like the code to the airlock or anything while he was alive?"

"Statement: Of course, Master, the record of his last moments were," HK-50 stood a little straighter and then began to play a perfect voice recording of the maintenance officer's last moments, "Recitation: five droids, they… they're, they're forcing their way into the bay! There burning through the outer door! No! Ahhhhhhh! My leg! They're burning through my leg! Oh! Please… stop! Stop it! No! Please!" HK-50 suddenly changed back to his normal voice, "Addendum: the last few moments of his life varied in decibel, ranging from ear-splitting screams to inarticulate attempts to beg for his life…"

"Wait a minute… if you can re-play that, can't you re-play the code to the airlock?"

"Shocked Query: Master, how could you ask something like that? To do such a thing would go against all of the ethics programming that protocol droids such as myself are believed to possess!"

"Well, if we can't go anywhere on the upper-level and we can't go through the airlock, what are we going to do?"

"Reply: Master, that question has been looping through my system for a long space of time now…"

"And tell me, what is your conclusion?"

"Conclusion: I have come to the conclusion that eventually, a ship will dock with the facility and find us. Until such a time, I advise you rid yourself of all your silly notions of trying to escape, there is no such thing that is going to happen. I suggest that you stay here, shut down, and wait here until such a time."

"Sorry, I can't. Is there any other way I could get through this facility to the other sections?"

"Theory: As I said before, it is possible that you could use an environmental suit to walk across the surface of the asteroid this facility is located in and thereby reach the dormitory section of this facility, but that would be impossible at the moment."

"I think I will decide that. Why wouldn't I be able to?"

"Statement: Because the airlock to the outside of this mining facility has been locked. I know the code, but as I told you before, Master, it will not help."

"Don't move I'm going to look around a bit. I'll be back for you." Jeyna left the small droid maintenance room and re-entered the corridor she was in not long before.

Something feels wrong about that droid. I just can't put my finger on it, but there something else going on here. So many questions and so few answers, it's going to drive me insane if I don't find anything useful around here. Jeyna thought as she entered the room on the other side of the corridor. There were half-built droids by the walls of the room and droid parts were strewn all across the floor. In a corner of the room, Jeyna found three plasteel cylinders (storage containers). Inside she found a few medical packages, an extra mining laser, and what looked like was the maintenance officer's memo recording device.

Jeyna had an idea. With the tiny little recording device in her hand, she returned to the HK-50 unit. "HK-50, how what would it sound like if you said the voice-code?"

"Annoyed Statement: Oh, master, your attempts to trick me into saying the voice activated code in order to open the doors will not work. I am too sophisticated to fall for an organic's trick, master."

"Oh, I understand… it's okay if you can't speak the code because of your inferior programming. I'll just go and find some other way out of here."

"Flustered Statement: Master, as I told you before, I am more than capable of speaking the voice-code. To suggest that my programming is inferior is unacceptable, master!"

"So you mean that you could speak the code, if you wanted to?"

"Tired Answer: Yes, master, I could, but the ethics programming it is supposed I have will not allow me to do so, master."

"Wow that is very impressive… I mean, I don't know many droids that can playback a voice recording of a pass code."

"Annoyed Statement: Master, your attempts at flattery are not helping you, they are wasted on a droid such as I. But if it will temporarily end your pestering, I will speak the code, master." Once again, HK-50 stood a little more erect and his voice changed to that of the now deceased maintenance officer. Jeyna pressed the record button on the former maintenance officer's memo recorder.

"Recitation: Maintenance Control – M4 – 1089." HK-50 changed his voice back to its normal sound. "Will that be sufficient, master?"

"Yes, HK, I think that is all I'll need…"

"Query: What, master?" Jeyna didn't even acknowledge the question. She walked out feeling a bit smug at what she had just done. Jeyna proceeded to the airlock computer console and entered the voice-code using the memo recorder. The airlock proceeded to open into a small room with a few small lockers in the corner. Inside, she found what looked like a giant yellow rubber ball. Jeyna unraveled it to discover it was an environmental suit (think of a big yellow space suit with a helmet that is black instead of clear…). She turned the communicator Atton had given her back on and placed it in her ear in case she had any… incidents when she was helplessly floating in space. She put on the environmental suit and placed the globe of a helmet she found in the top of the locker on her head.

Jeyna opened the airlock and looked into the deep, dark reaches of outer space. On the other side of the airlock, there was a metal path that was jutting out from the main asteroid the Peragus Mining Facility was located in. Jeyna took her first steps in the massive suit to find it was extremely hard to maneuver in. It was like she was trapped in a giant marshmallow and she could hardly move her legs forward. After a few tries, Jeyna found it was somewhat easier to try and wobble on her tip-toes instead of trying to walk like she normally did. Jeyna began wobbling across the platform and realized that it was pretty easy to walk once you got moving.

She continued like this until she reached a small turn. She tried to slow down a bit so it would be easier for her to turn her gigantic suit, but found that even though she stopped trying to move her legs, she kept moving, she had too much momentum and if she didn't stop soon, she would topple over the edge of the facility.

"You have something that will help you… use it…remember, with the Force, anything is possible…" She heard Kreia in her head again. She took her advice. She found that little area in her mind that once frequently allowed her access to the Force, and reached out. She reached into it until she found her inner self. Time seemed to slow down and it allowed Jeyna the time she needed to command the Force. Because she was ready for it this time, the Force didn't hurt anymore. As everything slowed down, she listened and heard something. It was like a heartbeat, it was familiar but strange to her at the same time. It was like an old friend, one hasn't seen for while. The sound of a heartbeat was different from what it once was. Where it once beat steady, strong, and near, now it sounded like it was coming across a vast distance. It was slower and weaker; it seemed a little fainter. It seemed like any jolt to it now would cause it to stop beating and never start up again.

Jeyna, with her new awareness of everything around her, focused her mind and forced her will upon reality using the Force. Her legs slowed down and she was able to come to a near stop and was able to round the corner and travel up the ramp. She felt an inner calm that she hadn't felt in what seemed like ages.

It's been nine years… nine long years without the Force, wandering the galaxy, alone. nine years without it…how was I able to do it? How was I able to turn away from such…bliss? How could I have forgotten the inner peace brought when the Force fills you?

When Jeyna reached the top of the ramp, her thoughts were interrupted by her communicator. "I was picking up a lot of static after you entered the turbolift and then you completely cut out and I lost your signal. But, there's something strange, this monitor says you are on the outside of the facility, that can't be right…" Jeyna looked to the side of her to look into the elephantine window and saw Atton sitting at one of the control consoles.

"Really, maybe you should just glance up for a minute, just to make sure." Jeyna suggested. Atton looked up to see Jeyna in her big, yellow, rubber environmental suit.

"You know what? You're crazy, even for a Jedi, you're crazy! What are you doing out there?" Atton was already somewhat annoyed with the way things were going when Jeyna left him, but when you add the fact the 1) Jeyna acquired clothes, 2) Jeyna suddenly vanished off of his monitor temporarily, and 3) he finds Jeyna on the outside of the mining facility in a environmental suit, he got more than a little flustered.

"There might be some miners left in the dormitory section and I need to see if they are alive. If they are, maybe we can end this lockdown and then get out of here."

"As I said before, you are crazy…" repeated Atton, who seemed like he was extremely surprised by Jeyna's actions.

"Say whatever you want, but I have to try and help them if I can."

"Try not to—wait a minute… what is... I don't believe this—there's a ship coming in, sending a docking code. I have a bad feeling about this…" A flash lit up the asteroid field and a behemoth of orange and white metal appeared as it dropped out of hyperspace. It was a "hammer-head Republic cruiser". The ship looked like the letter "T" tipped on its side. The front end of it was completely orange with the center most part of it made of a clear blue material. All over the ship massive guns stood ready to decimate any opponent.

As soon as Jeyna could see the ship, she knew something was wrong. With her current state of awareness granted by her connection to the Force, she had a precognition ability that allowed her to sense things, objects, people and events, around her and sense what was coming. As the Republic cruiser continued to approach the facility, Jeyna a felt an overwhelming sense of dread as it approached. Using the Force, Jeyna reached out with her mind and tried to "see" into the vessel. She tried and tried with no success. She tried to do what she had done before with the droids and feel what was inside the ship, but she couldn't seem to reach. The ship slowly continued its trek to the gargantuan asteroid the mining facility was located in. She tried one last time. She concentrated with all her might. She felt the sweat beginning to drip off of her eyebrow, but tried to ignore the agitation. She tried to push her senses further and further until— Jeyna felt like she had just had the wind knocked out of her, if she hadn't have been in an extremely hard to move space suit, her legs would have given out from underneath her.

Jeyna's feeling of overwhelming dread was replaced by an overwhelming feeling of emptiness; it was the emptiness of death. The Republic vessel that proceeded to make its way to the facility was filled with death. Jeyna stood there, shocked at the feeling.

"Hey! Are you okay over there! Hello? Crazy Jedi! Crazy, are you listening? Jeyna?" Atton was speaking to her through the communicator again and it pulled Jeyna out of shock.

"I… I'm fine… I just… I just have a bad feeling about that ship, that's all…"

"Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but unless someone can end the lockdown from the dormitory section, that is going to be our only means to escape this place." Atton paused for a moment. "Oh, what now? This is odd, from the looks of things; the facility has just started to vent the extra Peragian fuel in gas form out of the vents on this side of the facility. Be careful, that stuff is extremely corrosive when in gas form."

"Is there any way you can reroute it?"

"No, I don't have any control from here, remember? It's really weird though, it seems as if it was rerouted just moments ago, like someone, somewhere, has control of the facility and rerouted it themselves, but that can't be right… Just be careful, I'll try and find what the problem is."

Jeyna forced her legs to begin moving forward and across the ramp again, it was even harder now that she had come to a complete stop. As she walked, she watched the Republic ship as it docked with the facility's outside visitor docking entrance. It made itself perpendicular to the extended docking airlock and a large pipe proceeded out of the ship to connect with the fuel pump that was part of the facility. When the ship had completely docked and the airlock opened, nothing came through it. Jeyna continued to keep an eye on it as she stumbled her way in the environmental suit. Nothing emerged from the ship. Jeyna had pulled her senses away from the ship earlier but kept herself in tune with the Force in case she missed something with her normal senses.

When she had rounded a corner and was out of site of Atton and the big window, Jeyna found herself in a predicament. One of the vents of the facility began spouting the blue-violet gas of Peragian fuel into her way. She looked ahead of her and saw there were another six vents doing the same thing, but they seemed to only pump the gas out for a short time before stopping for a short time. Apparently I am going to have to time this thing carefully or I'm toast, and that might be an all too literal statement this time. After studying the rate at which the vents spewed the corrosive fuel, Jeyna struggled with her environment suit once more and moved forward to where the first vent was spraying the fuel moments before, she waited a moment for the next vent to shut off temporarily, then jumped forward, she continued to do this until she reached the second to last vent, this was the tricky one. The last vent, the one in front of her, spewed the corrosive gas for longer than any of the others. She couldn't stay behind it and wait for it without being in the way of the Peragian fuel of the second to last vent. Jeyna would have to move backward, wait for a few moments for the second to last vent and the last vent to stop giving off the gas. Then she would have to fly forward as fast as she could in the suit in order to make it past both of them before they began spewing again.

It was time. The vent behind Jeyna shut off and the one next to her was beginning to spray again, luckily, the fuel didn't have much energy behind it so it traveled semi-slowly, but that also meant she had to wait another few seconds for the gas behind her to be out of the way. Jeyna waited until the timing was right, and then wobbled backward. Jeyna found it was a lot harder to move backward in the awkward space suit than forward. She had to hurry; the gas was beginning to come close to her. Right when the gas was about to reach her suit, she wobbled the little bit of the way that was left. Now was the harder part, the part she would have to time even more exact. Jeyna would have to move forward as soon as the second to last vent shut off and then wait for a few seconds and scramble forward when the last vent was about to shut off, otherwise, the second to last vent would fry her. But if she moved to soon, she wouldn't be able to stop herself from moving in time and would end up walking right into the gas.

27 seconds… 22 seconds… 17 seconds… 10 seconds… 6 seconds… 5…4… wait, didn't I start sooner than— Uh… Go! Jeyna scrambled forward and tried to move forward, but couldn't get her legs to move fast enough. If she didn't start moving quicker, she wouldn't make it. She got up and moving as fast as she could, but she didn't think she would make it. She was in front of the last vent when it started up again. She was moving too slowly and had started too late. She wasn't going to make it and she knew it. She willed her legs to move forward but her legs were already exhausted from trying to move the bulky suit.

"You know how to save yourself… open yourself to the Force…"

Jeyna did. She reached into herself and found the little opening to her Force powers. This time, it was a little quicker, and she once again felt like time was slowing down and she heard the faint heartbeat all around her. Jeyna, with the Force in her, willed herself to move faster. With the Force filling her, the fatigue in her legs was pushed away and was replaced with strength. Jeyna propelled herself forward just as the gas began touching the environment suit and began eating away at it. She made it, if she had waited only a few seconds longer, the gas would have eaten a whole in the suit.

With the extra inertia from her jump forward, she continued to wobble-jog her way to the airlock at the end of the ramp. She finally made it through. As the airlock closed, she began removing the bulky suit. When she had completely removed it, she inspected it to find that she was luckier than she originally thought. The suit was blackened on one side and was exceptionally thinner on one side than the other. If she had remained in that gas for only a few moments longer she would have been killed!

The airlock leading back into the facility opened up revealing a corridor with a fork in it. At the middle of the fork was another computer console. Jeyna walked up to it and found that the left corridor would take her to a locked door that led to the actual dormitories of the dormitory section. The other would take her to the mess hall and the turbolift back up to the main level. Jeyna used the console and tried to unlock the door into the dormitories. As she did, the computer gave a notice, "Warning: Dormitory air scrubbers are malfunctioning, back up of toxins released into dormitories, proceed?" Jeyna aborted the opening of the door. Instead, she searched through the console's options looking for a way to either fix the air scrubbers or to shut them down. She found an option to unlock the small storage canister below the console, she accessed it.

Jeyna reached down and found a few packages of emergency med-packs, emergency food rations, and a black breath-mask. Why would there be a breathing mask in here? That wouldn't be standard equipment in an emergency storage canister, either! Someone knew that the dormitory air scrubbers would malfunction. If everyone in this facility is dead besides the person who orchestrated the events leading to their deaths, why didn't they try and collect the bounty on my head?

Jeyna pulled the black breath mask out of the canister and put it on her face. It covered her face from the bridge of her nose to the bottom of her chin in a diamond shape. The black rubber contoured to her face and fit comfortably. Jeyna once again accessed the option to open the dormitories and was once again met with the warning. She continued to open the door. When the door at the end of the left fork in the corridor opened, a light green gas proceeded to come out of the dormitory. Jeyna walked in and was disgusted. All over the room were the corpses of the Peragus Mining Facility's staff. Jeyna recognized one of the women as the medical officer that had voiced her concerns about the accidents that had been befalling the miners.

On the floor, next to one of the dead men, there was another holo-record device. She picked it up and tried to find a way to watch it, but it seemed to just be a recording device. She looked around the room to see if there was anything to play it on. She saw another console that looked like it was hanging on a vertical bar rather than resting on top of one like the other computer console she had used were. As she walked over it, she tripped over a sullustan's (type of alien) corpse and kicked another holo-record device across the floor. Jeyna plugged the first one into the machine and picked the other one up. In front of her, another see-through blue person appeared. This one seemed to be a dark-skinned man with semi-short hair, but she couldn't tell because of the blue color of everything in the recording.

The man began to speak, "There were a bunch of explosions in the facility and they herded everyone into the dormitories to wait for everything to subside. We have enough provisions that if we ration them, we can all survive for about a month, and someone should try to dock with the facility by then. If only we could reach the supposed Jedi up in the medical section, she could probably end this lockdown from the main level, but all of the communications have been cut. Someone has played us for fools, and seeing as Coorta and his gang are the only ones not in here, I think we know who it was."

"We set up a looping code that is automatically sent out in bursts, but the signal is weak. It is a basic military code where the dot equals one, the dash equals five, and the "x" equals ten. But the chance of the distress signal being found is low. Who would be all the way out here in the middle of no where scouring frequencies looking for trouble? The message has the codes to unlock the turbolift back up to the main level. Whatever happens, we'll probably be okay. Just as long as the—wait, what's going on?" In the hologram, blue gas began to rise. The man speaking began to choke and then collapsed onto the floor. The log ended. Well, now I somewhat know what happened here…

Jeyna pulled the first holo-record out of the machine and replaced it with the one that was next to the deceased sullustan. A humanoid creature with huge eyes and ears appeared. It began speaking rapidly in a language Jeyna was unfamiliar with. Suddenly, the memo recording device that Jeyna had found back in the droid maintenance bay began to translate the sullustan's words into Galactic Basic (the basic language of the Republic). "Coorta trying to make security allow them to sell Jedi to Exchange. Tien (the sullustan's name) know Exchange bad, those who get involved with Exchange always end bad. Tien tried to talk with Coorta but Coorta threaten Tien. Tien hear Coorta making plans with droid maintenance officer to steal Jedi and sell to Exchange. Tien wants to warn security but Tien fearful of Coorta and his many threats. Tien wants no trouble, no trouble! But Coorta only--" the sullustan named Tien was cut off as he was hit on the back of the head. The sullustan collapsed and a man appeared in his place.

"Your ears always were too big for your own good, Tien," the man said, "And look where they got you. Make sure he understands what will happen to him if he says anything." The log ended and Jeyna came to a conclusion. That was probably the Coorta person that everyone was talking about in the logs. From the looks of things, he was the cause of all this. He was definitely efficient, thought Jeyna, referring to the corpses of all the miners around.

Jeyna left both of the logs on the console and she checked the transmission the miners were trying to send out. The code read: "X-, …, -.." Jeyna wrote down the code and changed it to numbers. It now read 15, 3, and 7.

Jeyna left the dormitories and walked back to the computer console at the fork in the corridor. She looked through the options available, and then proceeded to walk down the other corridor. At the end, she found an empty mess hall. As she was walking the shock of all the deaths hit her. She fell to the floor and threw up.

Who could care about credits so much that they would kill everyone in this entire facility for it? Are credits the only thing of worth anymore? Jeyna asked herself. She pulled herself back up. She stumbled a bit. The sorrow filled Jeyna continued to move through the facility.

Jeyna entered another room after the mess hall. Inside, she found the bodies of three men. She turned one over to discover it was none other than Coorta; the very man she thought had caused the deaths of the miners. Jeyna jumped back.

I've decided that I have had enough shocking revelations to last me a lifetime. I'm surprised I haven't died of a heart attack yet! If Coorta killed the miners who killed Coorta? Unless, somehow, Atton did everything from his force cage on the main floor. I'm fairly certain Coorta had a big part in this, but I'm guessing his plan must have backfired or something. Unless – Jeyna decided to wait until she had more information before making any conclusions.

In the corner of the room, next to the door, was yet another computer console. There were only two options on this one: A) enter the correct pass code to open the door, or B) watch security recordings. Jeyna tried to open the door by entering the code sequence she had acquired from the miners' transmission: 15, 3, and 7, it failed to work.

Seeing as the security holo-vids were the only thing left to access on the console, Jeyna accessed them and the man Jeyna now recognized as Coorta appeared in blue. "What did you want to talk to me about?" asked Coorta to the console, "I have to suit up and drill the 32-19K asteroid claim within the hour, so talk quick."

The voice of the maintenance officer, emanating from the console Coorta was looking down at, replied, "I heard you had plans for the Jedi, about selling her to the Exchange." It wasn't a question or an accusation, it was a statement.

Coorta replied slightly annoyed, "Yeah, but security already said their piece on that, didn't they? Nobody's getting sold to anyone."

"Are they? I've seen the logs you've been accessing. Maybe the two of us could work something out." Once again, it was not a question; it was a flat out order.

"It doesn't matter what we try to work out, we wouldn't make one hyperspace jump before what is left of the Republic is after us."

"If you have a way off this station, I can cover our tracks and ensure the Republic is not alerted to our presence.

"Well, I may know someone… he works this system for… special jobs. He may want to know the details, but I might be able to arrange transport."

"I've seen the logs; I know you already contacted him. Once he agrees, I can handle the rest."

"Handle the rest? How are you going to do that?" Coorta asked.

"When the time comes, I'll contact you, maintenance out." The maintenance officer left Coorta somewhat confused.

"Since when did the maintenance officer grow some horns?" The log ended with that rhetorical question. Another log started up in its place. The console stated the time the recording was made: 5 minutes after the emergency lockdown began. This time, Coorta was running into the room with two companions behind him. He ran up to the console Jeyna was currently standing next to.

"We almost didn't make it," Coorta was breathing hard, "You murglak! You were cutting it a little close, don't you think?"

The maintenance officer's voice was heard again, his tone suggested he was reading a dull book, not arranging the deaths of innocent people. "It was a miscalculation on my part." He said.

One of Coorta's companions was trying to unlock the turbolift. "Coorta, come look at this, the turbolift codes aren't working!"

Coorta yelled at him in reply, "Try it again!" he turned back to the console. "What are we going to do with the miners?"

The maintenance officer continued to speak in his monotone voice, "They won't be leaving the dormitories. The explosions damaged the ventilation systems causing breeches in the core exhaust conduits."

"But… that will kill them all!"

"Not all of them, but I'm sending a number of mining droids to your location to correct that problem."

"Why are you doing this to me!" screamed Coorta.

The maintenance officer spoke to him like it was ridiculous to even ask such a question, "You? It was never about you. The Jedi is all that interests me. But then you had to harm her. That, I cannot allow. Statement: You are a risk, Coorta." The maintenance officer's voice changed to that of HK-50's, cold, taunting, and metallic. "Statement: Coorta, you are crude, impulsive, and soon… deceased." The holo-vid showed three mining droids entering the room. They repeatedly shot Coorta and his companions. As the three men lay on the ground, dead, HK-50's voice continued to speak, "Mocking Query: Coorta? Coorta, are you dead yet? Smug Statement: I believe I forgot to mention that I reversed the turbolift codes in case you managed to get this far." The holo-vid ended.

I knew it! HK-50 was behind all of this! The accidents, the sedatives to the miners in the med-bay, the dead miners, all of it! And I see how he did it: he posed as the maintenance officer to trick Coorta and his friends to help him. But why would he want to? What use does a droid have for credits? At least I know how to get this turbolift working.

Jeyna entered the sequence she had acquired from the miners' transmission in reverse. The turbolift opened. She proceeded to walk into it and pressed the "Go" button. When Jeyna reached the top, the doors opened up, back into the main level. Kreia stood up from sitting on the floor.

"Come, we must leave quickly, I have felt a disturbance; our enemy is here." Kreia turned and began walking in the direction of the room with the window. "Tell me, what have you found? She asked. Jeyna proceeded to tell Kreia about everything that had happened so far while they walked.

"Is that all?" Kreia asked when Jeyna finished speaking.

Jeyna hesitated, "I keep hearing your voice as I explore this place."

"Ah, yeas, I noticed this as well. It may be that our proximity during our long slumber may have had… unforeseen consequences. We seem to be able to speak without speaking. Perhaps this will pass with time."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Then hope we have little to say to each other, lest it prove distracting." Kreia and Jeyna entered the window room to find a surprised Atton.

"Where did she come from?" asked Atton, "Did Jedi start breeding when I wasn't looking or something?"

"Yes, Atton, little did you know, but Jedi are actually asexual creatures in disguise," replied Jeyna with her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Ha-ha, now what in space is going on?"

"Atton, there is no time to explain here," Jeyna said as she gave him the second mining laser she had found when she was exploring.

"Uh, all right, I'm guessing that Republic ship isn't carrying friends of yours. But in case you haven't noticed, that warship is our only way off this rock."

Kreia was growing annoyed with Atton, "I hope your ability for understatement isn't offset by your skill with a blaster."

"I'm also good at running and drinking, your majesty." Retorted Atton, "Anyway, at least we have a clear run to the ship from here." As the three of them began making their way towards the airlock that was to the side of the massive window, they were interrupted.

"Threat: Master, perhaps I did not enunciate clearly enough the last time we spoke. I suggested that you should shut down, stay put, and wait for rescue."

"No, you were clear, I just don't listen to murderous droids." snapped Jeyna.

"Clarification: I am classified as an assassin droid, master. But assassin droid is such as crude term. The function I perform has been referred to as "wanton slaughter". I prefer to see it as a means of facilitating communication, resulting in the termination of hostilities."

"Wait, so this droid killed all the miners?" asked a shocked Atton.

"Indignant Answer: the miners intended to place you, master, in jeopardy. I could not allow that to take place, so I was forced to negotiate a termination of hostilities. After reprogramming the mining droids to "mine" any organics they perceived, they began to kill the miners, one by one. Then a series of flawlessly timed explosions herded the miners into the dormitories, where I was able to gas them all at once, without wasting time hunting them through the mining tunnels."

"I then administered a large dose of sedatives to the remaining mines in the med-bay. It was enough to kill them and ensure you slept peacefully. Of course, against my calculations, you awakened prematurely. I am ashamed by the inconvenience it caused for the both of us."

"Then why is it you wanted me captured in the first place?" asked Jeyna.

"Answer: It is beyond the scope of my programming to probe the motivations of my clients, master. Suffice to say that I am being well compensated for my services. You have been a difficult target to locate. According to my knowledge, you have been wandering the galaxy since the end of the Mandalorian Wars, leaving little record of your passage. It is as if you did not wish to be found… by hunters, such as myself, or more likely… the Jedi Order," continued the assassin droid.

"Who is this client that wants Jeyna, then?" asked Atton, attempting to stall for more time. As this bizarre conversation was taking place, Kreia vanished.

"Chiding Answer: My programming renders me incapable of revealing the identity of my client, master. However, I am free to say that my client is wealthy and very interested in possessing the last of the Jedi."

"Seeing as you found me in the end, it looks like I didn't do a good enough job in covering my tracks." Jeyna stated, realizing the droid bounty hunter would not be able to tell her anything else about whoever hired it, whether it wanted to or not.

"Admission: It was a matter of chance, master. I happened to be serving as a protocol droid on the Harbinger when you booked passage. After that, it was a simple matter to sabotage the Harbinger and call for retrieval. Irritated Statement: However, when the Ebon Hawk appeared and salvaged you, and I snuck on board, from the wreckage, I was forced into a series of rapid recalculations, culminating in our current situation, master." finished HK-50.

"So what do you think you are going to do now, hmm?" inquired Atton.

"Yes, are you going to try and kill us?" asked Jeyna.

"Answer: No, master, killing you was never my intention, the other organic, yes. If you resist my attempts to return you to your kolto tank, however, I may inadvertently fracture your skeleton in several places to incapacitate you."

'How about you just leave before we turn you into slag?" threatened Atton.

"Weary Resignation: Very well, master, if inflicting pain is the only means to resolve this matter, then you leave me no choice. Initiating battle protocols."

The air in front of the assassin droid shimmered in four places, and then was replaced by floating mine droids. As HK-50 raised his weapons, two mining lasers, towards Jeyna and Atton, the floating mines began moving towards them.

Jeyna and Atton were both aiming their weak lasers at the droids when the miens suddenly exploded prematurely, before they were in range of them. The blast of the four mines made a concussive blast that knocked Jeyna and Atton off their feet as well as the assassin droid. The concussive force hit HK-50 right as he pulled the trigger. The shot narrowly missed Atton.

As HK-50 fell, he continually, fired his laser. Then he stopped abruptly. The droid, while on the floor, dropped the laser, and writhed on the ground. Kreia suddenly materialized right behind it. As the droid stopped moving, he said, "Systems failing, master." They were the last words the droid's vocabulator would ever utter.

"Now that we have wasted enough time with the assassin machine, let us leave." ordered Kreia.

As the three walked into the airlock they had attempted to walk into before they were ambushed by the assassin droid, Atton was muttering complaints to himself as Jeyna walked silently, feeling slightly awkward and at a loss for words. The ancient woman, Kreia, didn't seem affect by what had just happened in the least.

Finally, Jeyna broke the silence, "Who are you really! How in the world were you able to vanish like that and then destroy five droids simultaneously?"

"This is neither the time nor the place for questions." replied Kreia calmly.

"Your cryptic stand-offish routine is starting to anger me." stated Jeyna

"And your stubborn blindness to our situation is equally frustrating. I would have expected more from a veteran of the Mandalorian Wars, but you disappoint me."

"Well we wouldn't have these problems if you would tell me who these attackers are!" shouted the frustrated Jeyna.

Kreia sighed and replied, saying, "They are assassins and they are responsible for the attack on the Ebon Hawk, as well as the Harbinger. I did not expect them to find us so quickly. We must escape this place, if we remain here, we will die…"

As Kreia finished her last statement, the three arrived at the end of the airlock corridor to be greeted by the wide open entry to the Harbinger. During the entire argument between Jeyna and Kreia, Atton was buried in his own thoughts, every once in a while, glancing at Jeyna and then Kreia, then back at Jeyna again. When they entered the Harbinger, he was jolted out of his concentration as Kreia spoke.

"Something is wrong… I sense no one on board," whispered Kreia.

"You "sense" no one on board? Sense any assassin droids creeping up on us like last time?" Atton asked cynically. Both Kreia and Jeyna ignored his outburst.

"When I watched the ship dock, I felt an immense… emptiness… I think it was the death on board this ship…" announced Jeyna.

"Yes, everyone here has been slain, yet there are few signs of battle, no carbon scoring, and no blaster fire. This place has been hit by assassins of a different sort." Kreia said as she studied the small room on the other side of the airlock. The walls of the ship were white, but in the dim light it looked gray. The ceiling was lined with dim lights that flickered every once in a while. The door to the left was locked. The door on the other side was slightly scratched up from use, but unlocked.

"Why are we still on this ship, then? We were better off in the facility! You two are supposed to be Jedi? You know what; you two are the worst Jedi I have ever met!"

"I am no Jedi, fool, but this is the way we must go if we are to escape. If we remain in the facility, we die." Kreia stated. Atton ignored her. Jeyna decided to try and reason with him and calm him down.

"Atton, there's no where else to go, the facility is locked up and we can't go any where from there." Atton continued to ignore the both of them as he jerked his head from side to side, trying to watch everything.

Kreia decided to intervene again, "If the assassin machine was correct, then we cannot reach the hangar… be silent… I need time to think…"

Jeyna had an idea, "When I saw this vessel dock with the facility, a fuel pipe entered the fuel depot, behind the force fields."

"Look," Atton piped in, now calmed down slightly, "I don't mean to cast another shadow on this, but even if you could reach the ship you came in on, it wouldn't matter. You will need the Peragus asteroid drift charts, unless you want to have the shortest flight out of Peragus on record."

"Then why don't we take this ship?" asked Jeyna.

"You mean with the massive crew we brought with us? That's a brilliant idea!" Atton said sarcastically.

"Then what is stopping us from taking this vessel's drift codes?" inquired Kreia.

"Well, nothing, but first we would have to get to the bridge and then--"

Atton was cut off as Kreia spoke again. "It is a sound plan. Now come, our enemies gather while we wait here, debating our course of action."

"Come on, Atton, just trust me, we'll make it out, all right?" persuaded Jeyna.

"All right…," Atton hesitated, "but this won't end well, trust me…"

With Jeyna at the lead, they entered the only door they could. It led right into the ship's bridge. "Wow, Atton, you were right, it was a pain to make it to the bridge," Jeyna said as she walked up to the main computer console. She accessed the asteroid drift charts and transmitted them to one of the extra datapads next to the console. She then accessed the logs as she waited for the datapad to download the charts.

In the first log, a man wearing a Republic commander's uniform began to tell about how the Harbinger had received a distress call from an unidentified freighter, calling itself the "Ebon Hawk", it was claiming it was under attack. When they had arrived, they found the ship was empty except for a T3 droid. The Sith warship that was supposedly attacking it was also completely empty. The escape pods were still in place.

In the second log, the same man from the first spoke about the only thing they had found on the Sith warship: a man that looked like a rotted corpse, but was somehow still alive. Apparently, many disappearances were happening on the Harbinger lately.

In the third log, a woman told of the recent events, and they were much more interesting than the events in the previous two logs. Communications on the ship had been cut and something had happened in the med-bay. The monitors had picked up a scream though. After the scream, a deep, dark, hoarse voice said, "I have come for the Jedi!" the log ended shortly after the commander of the Harbinger dispatched a team to the med-bay to investigate.

The moment the console played the recording of the dark voice, Kreia's cold, icy glare and stony face was replaced by shock. Jeyna blinked and it was gone, once more it was the unemotional face from before.

"How many times must I implore you," she said, "we need to escape, now!" Kreia took off at a jog and flew through the ship with Jeyna and Atton behind her.

Jeyna was bewildered by the woman's ability to run and at such speed, despite her seemingly ancient age. This woman is full of surprises, isn't she? Jeyna thought. Atton was surprised too, his eyes were bulging.

They finally reached the ended the corridor and entered a turbolift. The turbolift began descending. When the turbolift stopped and the doors opened, Kreia walked, rather than ran, out.

"This is the crew quarters of the ship," stated Jeyna, recalling her stay on the ship that wasn't too long ago. She walked a little ways and stopped at a door.

"Are you okay?" asked Atton.

"These were my quarters…" Jeyna said as she opened the door.

"When?" asked Atton.

"Before I ended up on Peragus… its funny, how much things can change within only a few days…

"Be that as it may, we need to continue. If you have anything to do here, be quick about it." urged Kreia.

Jeyna entered her former room and opened a footlocker at the base of her bunk. From it, she withdrew two swords. Atton was slightly surprised by the quality of the blades but he tried to cover it up by playing dumb.

"How are you going to fight with swords if every single one of your enemies has blasters, or at least mining lasers?" he asked.

"These aren't just swords," revealed Jeyna, "these are vibroblades. The metal is laced with a cortosis-weave, a special alloy that prevents even lightsabers from destroying them." She handed one to Kreia, "Here, you need something to protect yourself with."

"These are fine blades indeed." Kreia said, "I appreciate you lending one of these to me, but as you know, it is nothing compared to the power of the Force. Still, this may prove useful, yet."

They left Jeyna's former bedroom and then Atton stopped. "What is it?" asked Jeyna.

"Don't you feel it? Something is bad is going to happen, and soon." Atton replied.

"How would you know that?" asked Kreia, intrigued by his statement.

"You don't live on the outer-rim as long as I do without starting to know when things are about to go down." said Atton, more so to Jeyna than to Kreia.

"That may be true, but we have to keep going!" urged Jeyna as they rounded a turn in a three-way intersection. The door closed behind them, the door at the end of the left pathway opened. It revealed what looked like a rotting corpse of what might have been a man, once. Its skin was gray and was covered in so many half-healed wounds it looked like scales. One of the thing's eyes was extremely swollen and without iris or pupil. What looked like dried blood was caked around it. The other eye was red and brimming with hate.

Kreia drew her blade, "This battle is mine alone. I am not defenseless. He cannot kill what he cannot see, and power has blinded him long ago. Run, I shall be along shortly." Kreia ran off to meet the walking cadaver and the doorway sealed behind her.

"Come on! She may have just bought us some time! We have to hurry before the guy who looks like he sleeps with vibroblades gets bored with her!" Atton cragged Jeyna down the hallway, they were both sprinting as hard as they could.

They arrived in the engine and fuel maintenance wing of the ship. Jeyna accessed a computer console and unlocked the door to the fuel pipe.

"Please tell me you're joking! We are not crossing back over to the Peragus facility?" whined Atton.

"I told you before: you have to trust me Atton. Look how far we have got already!"

"All right… but--" he was cut off when Jeyna suddenly started screaming in pain, clutching her right hand.

Kreia stood waiting in the darkness, waiting for her former student to make a move.

"I sense you, my master, faint… weak…" the voice that came from the Harbinger's logs not long before said.

"Your senses betray you, as you betrayed me." Replied Kreia, calmly.

"After all that has happened, still you live. You are difficult to kill." stated the, still-living, rotting piece of flesh.

"For one as limited as you, perhaps, to have fallen so far and learned nothing, that is your failing."

"The failure is yours! No longer do your whispers crawl within my skull. No longer do I suffer beneath teachings that weaken us. Now you run in search of the Jedi. They are all dead, save one, and one broken Jedi cannot stop the darkness that is to come." yelled the corpse.

"Perhaps, we shall see…" Kreia lifted her vibroblade and blocked as her former student ignited his red lightsaber and swung it towards her.

"The student has become the master." the crackling mass of flesh said as he swatted away Kreia's blade when she took a swing at him. They circled each other as they continued to attack each other.

They locked their blades together, a risky move for Kreia, and she said, "No, you still have much to learn, my young pupil." Kreia saw an opening in the rotted flesh's defense and took it. She plunged her vibroblade into the thing's chest. He didn't even flinch as it pierced his skin and dug into his chest. He reacted by whipping his lightsaber around and with a flick of his mutilated wrist, he removed Kreia's right hand at the wrist. It fell to the ground, and so did Kreia.

Jeyna was screaming and writhing on the floor, clutching her hand to her chest. Atton didn't know what to do; he knelt by her and picked her up. A few moments later, she stopped screaming. Tears were streaming from her face.

"Are you… are you all right? What happened to you?" asked Atton, concerned.

Jeyna's reply was hoarse, "My hand… it felt… it felt like it was dipped in molten carbonite. I… I think that… I think that Kreia, she's hurt…"

"What? How do you know that?"

"I'm not sure, I just… do…"

"Do you think you'll be able to walk?" Jeyna's pride wouldn't let her do anything besides walk by herself, so she wriggled out of his grasp and stumbled on her feet. Leaning on Atton slightly, they walked over to the maintenance entrance to the fuel pipe. Jeyna opened it to find it was just a small crawlspace. They both got on their hands and knees and proceeded to go through. It was a tight squeeze for Atton, but he made it in.

The farther they crawled, the large the space became, until they were able to stand up right. The tunnel was pitch-black but at the end of the tunnel, they started to see a flickering blue light. When they reached the source of the light, they found it was a droid.

"It's a utility droid, it looks like it was hit with an ion charge and dropped here." said Atton.

"I think this might be the T3 unit that unlocked the emergency hatch to the droid maintenance section, before." Atton crouched down and tinkered a bit with the droid and it made a buzzing sound. It powered up.

The droid began making beeping noises as it attempted to communicate. "Can you travel, T3?" asked Jeyna. It beeped in response. It began to take the lead as it opened a door next to it. "Wait a minute!" Jeyna said as she bent down and picked up what looked like a computer part. She decided to take it with her, just in case she needed it. She continued to follow the T3 unit outside of the pipe.

Outside of the pipe, there was a ramp that led up to an arch. A pink-purple energy field covered the opening, preventing them from passing under the arch. Next to the arch was a computer console displaying one option: "End Emergency Lockdown". Jeyna accessed it and the pink-purple force field flickered and vanished.

They walked through the arch until they reached the hangar control room. Atton ran over to the door that led to the main hangar to find it wouldn't open. There was another ramp in this room also. It led up to a window overlooking ht hangar. Through the window, Jeyna could see her escape vehicle, a ship called the "Ebon Hawk". Below the window, was another control console.

"I can't believe this! This door is magnetically sealed! The ship is right out there and we can't get to it!" yelled Atton. The T3 droid began beeping excitedly.

"Then go to the terminal and open it." Jeyna said to the small droid.

"Huh? What is that piece of junk saying?" asked Atton.

"He said he can open the door with this computer component I found near him in the fuel pipe." replied Jeyna.

"How can you even understand that noise? It sounds like a malfunctioning trash compactor to me."

"You know what? I would be glad to tell you all about it when we aren't being chased by stealth Sith killers, okay?" said a panicked Jeyna. She knew something was coming near and that they needed to leave, but she didn't want to leave without Kreia.

"All right, if he can slice the door open from the console up there, don't let me stop him." The T3 unit rolled up to the console and started working with the part Jeyna had given it. The door to the hangar opened. They ran in and opened the ramp to the Ebon Hawk.

Kreia stumbled through the hangar door as they were boarding the ramp to the Ebon Hawk. "Kreia! Your hand, what happened?!" asked Jeyna. Kreia was clutching a bloody stump where her hand was before.

"No, not now… we have… not time," Kreia was laboring for breath as she climbed up the ramp to the Ebon Hawk. They were warming up their engines when hundreds of silver armored men materialized outside of the ship. They ran to board the Ebon Hawk.

Atton closed the ramp, but it wasn't fast enough, there were still the Sith that had already boarded the vessel. Jeyna drew her vibroblade as Atton pulled out his mining lasers. Jeyna jumped out of the cockpit and right into the face of a surprised Sith. She took advantage of his surprise and stabbed him in the stomach. As she fought with Atton at her side, she had some bizarre thoughts, well, bizarre for the moment.

So, I'm playing "Jedi" again… saving the galaxy from evil and making it home in time for lunch, that sort of thing again… One thing they always seem to forget to tell about the heroes is that they really aren't heroes at all. They are just mass murderers when all is said and done. Look at Revan, he was an amazing strategist, fighter, and Jedi, he was a decorated war-hero, but what he really did in the end was killed more Mandalorians than the Mandalorians killed his men… and I followed him… but I'm taking up the role again… after so many years… I'm a Jedi again… but… do I want to be?

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The End for Now!

Until Next Time

The Grey Phantom

Cody Adams