Disclaimer: I don't own rights to Star Wars, nor do I intend to profit from this work of fiction.
Prologue:
The Master departs
The always savage energy that permeated Malachor V was replaced by an unusual listlessness, as if the planet had finally released the tortured souls that still haunted its many ruins. Within the Trayus academy the mood was much the same, as a small group of its students gathered at the proving grounds.
"He betrayed us, I can sense it. He took us to the edge of the galaxy and just abandoned us," Atton implicated with a hint of anger.
Brianna offered an argument, "We don't know that, he could have…"
"What? Gone to buy us a few drinks? He's not coming back."
"You dare call him a betrayer Atton? You were a whining, yelping dog when he met you, now you're a wolf with sharp teeth…" Brianna hesitated as Atton eyed her with a savage look, that forbidding look of a murderer.
She continued carefully undeterred, "He has shown you power, power you wouldn't have arrived at on your own, remember that when you make your accusations."
Atton wasn't at all surprised that Brianna's was patronizing him, but he hated to be lectured.
He walked up to the short-haired echani, his nostrils flaring close to her face, "And I assume you are the expert at judging the meaning of his actions, the one who understands his intentions?" he paused, "I would be willing to believe you, if your perception was not hindered by your lust for the Master."
Brianna's white face turned red, she clenched her gloved fists, trying to control an impulse to jump at Atton's neck.
"You say these things, thinking yourself clever Atton, but you only show your foolishness. I will not fall into your trap, or permit your unfounded accusations of the master…."
"I do not need permission from naïve, obnoxious…."
"I think we have heard enough from the both of you on this matter," Visas intervened, "You're both wasting breathe, we need to discover the reason for our master's disappearance, not bicker like children."
Brianna and Atton calmed down a little bit, both a little embarrassed by their arguing and insults.
"I've been thinking," Bao-Dur commented, "we need to check the Republic freighter's logs and maybe scan the ship's T3 N3 astromech droid for any messages. We might find something concerning the General."
"Yes, that's what I feel we should do, I'm hoping that no one destroyed any useful information," Visas agreed.
"There is something else." Mira spoke at last. "The Holocrons - at least the more important ones from the archive room - are gone."
Shock and anger permeated through them, only Bao-Dur looked expressionless.
"Most unfortunate," Bao-Dur murmured.
Of all the members of the party that had proclaimed followers of the the Exile and his mentoring, Bao Dur had shown the least interest in the force teachings of the Trayus Academy.
"Unfortunate? This is a great loss," Brianna cried.
"Let's just go to the ship, perhaps we will find the answers we seek there," Visas said, her tone - for the first time - betraying a bit of her frustration at the whole situation.
Bao-Dur was the first into the Republic ship and went straight to the engine room where the brown tinted astromech droid T3 N3 stood. Atton inspected the ships computer for any messages, Visas and Mira at his shoulders, Brianna further back trying to make sense of the computer language.
As Atton continued working on the computer, Bao Dur walked in with the brown T3 N3 trailing behind. "The droid says it has a message from the General." The astromech droid rolled to the centre of the communication room, a pre recorded holo image of Harlan Keito Villik - the Exile, materializing from the droids projector.
"If you receive this message then perhaps it is not too late, the hyperspace engine on the Republic freighter Kreia came in, is damaged, and so is the sub-light drive. And Yes! I damaged them. In a matter of hours, MALACHOR 5 will be a distant memory, and for eons to come, will become a passing foot note in galactic history."
"In case you are not sure as to what I mean, I've set the mass shadow generator to detonate and I'm afraid :Pause: it cannot be deactivated. So, don't waste valuable time." :Pause:
"You are all confused I'm sure, but if the force means for you to play a further role in the events to come, then my apprentices, by all means you should be able to survive."
"Secondly, the Holocrons I've taken will be kept safely away for future Sith however some will have to be destroyed, because what Nihilus and Sion learnt must remain unknown. This will ensure that no one become capable to condemn the galaxy to desolation." :Pause:
"If you survive, the T3 N3 unit will give you the code for the message I've saved on the ship's computer. Farewell my apprentice and may the force be with you."
"Is what he's said true? Is it impossible to deactivate the mass shadow generator?" Visas asked Bao-Dur.
The Zabrak for the first time openly showed his distress, "Yes, you cannot bypass the countdown protection program once the timer is activated."
Bao-Dur turned and run to the engine room, the rest following closely. The hyperspace engine was spitting sparks, and had an easily audible clicking sound. Bao-Dur became deathly pale.
"I'd need more than a few hours with this, if I'm to make it serviceable," Bao-Dur mentioned.
"I'll help with the sub-light drives," Atton said.
"What do we know about the actual amount of time we have?" Mira asked the Zabrak.
"It can be checked through the last console he used to activate the generator, and that could be from any four of the crushed republic ships on the surface level." Bao-Dur replied, all the while pre-occupied with the engine's wiring.
"I'll go look for the consoles with you Mira; we can split up, find the counter and comm. the ship with the info," Brianna offered.
The two sprinted out, leaving Visas behind in the main hold, where she paced impatiently.
"Bao-Dur, doesn't your remote help you with your work? Where is it?"
Bao-Dur was startled by Visas' question, he looked around the engine room, how could I have forgotten about Remote? It wasn't around, just then a large black domed droid hovered into the engine room.
"G0-T0! Help me with a few fuse components. And have you seen Remote around." G0-T0 surprisingly, only whistled in reply.
"What! Remote! How can that be?" Bao Dur exclaimed.
"He transferred your system to G0-T0's body! What about G0-T0?" The droid answered by simple whistling again.
"G0-T0 is now using your body? Did G0-T0 consent to the swap?" The black domed shape explained the events with longer flutelike remarks.
"He was shutdown?" The remote made a short sound in the positive. "I'm sure. I would've loved to be witness to that. You know, having a big, black orb following me around will take some getting used to: maybe I'll make you, your old body." The Remote made a long winded complaint that bordered on a shriek.
"You prefer this!" Bao-Dur asked, pointing at the large the Remote's new black casing." The droid answered with a softer sound.
"We'll talk about this later, I've got an H.S. engine to fix."
After sometime the Comlink in the main hold crackled to life with Mira's voice.
"You wouldn't want to know how much time we have," Mira remarked.
"Go on!" Visas urged.
"45 minutes and counting."
Less than an hour later the rumblings of a desperate Malachor 5, were answered by the whine of an engine as the lone functioning ship on the desolate planet began to rise up, off the ground.
"I did what I could with the sub-light engines let's hope it'll take us over the gravity well." Atton informed the crew.
Visas sat to his right as co-pilot.
"Alright, this is no Ebon Hawk, so here goes nothing," Atton said.
Mira was behind Atton on the third sit in the cockpit while the rest of the crew was strapped tensely, on the chairs of the main hold. Atton maneuvered the light freighter into to a heaven-bound spiral after avoiding a boulder that would have spectacularly ended their escape. The force was with him and he could sense the Miraluka's unflinching focus as she sent subtle telepathic warnings to the pilot every time they flew towards a falling rock.
The ship ascended very slowly as it came to the edge of the gravity sphere. Atton and crew could sense the drain on the patched up sub-drives, and prayed to the force for guidance. There was only the force guiding his arms as he gradually increased the sub light drives wary all the while that, too much power on the drives and the ship gives in, and plummets to Malachor's depths.
A large rock came jutting down on the freighter on its starboard side, Atton dodged the boulder only to be faced head on with a bigger one. He pulled on the controls to avoid the massive rock and heard a scratch as it scraped the underside of the vessel. The drives had reached their limit and were beginning to jerk and stop. Atton could feel the ship beginning to lose momentum and just as the inevitable horror of descending into the Moon's core was about to be realized, the gravitational pull of the crumbling Malachor 5 eased off , and there sparkling with the lights of distant stars, was open space.