"And my friends? What will happen to them?"
Kreia's laugh sent chills down her spine. She listened apprehensively as the old witch spoke of Visas and Mira, her sisters in all but blood, Mical and Atton, her brothers by association, and Mandalore, who was a surrogate father to her. She was glad to know their futures, after all, they were her family, but she was all too aware of the one person in her crew who had been excluded.
"What about Bao-Dur and the droids?" She had added the droids in so as not to appear too obvious, but it was plain she had failed. Kreia's face stretched into a sneer as she claimed not to be able to see the future of the man Jaelyn loved. It took all of Jaelyn's willpower not to take her by the shoulders and shake the answer out of her; instead she stared into the old woman's face, trying to discern some meaning there, but failed. Heaving a great sigh she resigned herself to the inevitable. "Rest now, Kreia, you're time in this place is over." She turned and walked away as Kreia collapsed on the floor behind her, gasping her last.
Jaelyn ran through the now deserted Trayus Academy, dodging the bodies of the many Sith whose lives she had ended only hours before. She emerged panting, and contacted Atton on the comlink. "Atton? Where are you guys?" She got nothing but static. "Atton? Anyone? Bao-Dur? Mical?" She cut herself off abruptly before her calls became hysterical. Deciding quickly, she set off for higher ground, hoping for a miracle.
Mira stalked through the maze of rock and poisonous gas, muttering to herself. She had seen the Ebon Hawk take its spectacular plunge, but she was hopeful. She knew that their crew was enterprising and skilled, and she wouldn't put it past Atton and Bao-Dur to get the ship spaceworthy. No, Mira was much less concerned about that than she was about Jaelyn. Hell, she knew better than anyone that the girl was tough, but even she wasn't omnipotent. She had no way of knowing about the Ebon Hawk's fate, but Mira was ready to correct that. She just hoped Jaelyn wouldn't ask her where she'd gotten the spectacular collection of battle wounds, courtesy of Hanharr.
Jaelyn couldn't quite believe her luck when she saw Mira stomp out from behind a curtain of green gas. She ran up and hugged her friend, then turned to the matter at hand, temporarily ignoring the other girl's injuries. "Mira…Kreia's dead. I killed her…Sion too. Do you know where the others are?"
Mira shifted uncomfortably. "Jaelyn…the Ebon Hawk took a bit of a fall not long after I left to follow you…but I'm sure the other's are alright."
"The comlink…" whispered Jaelyn. "I tried to call for a lift, and no one answered…" she looked horrified.
Mira tried to look soothing, but she feared the worst as well. "Hey, that doesn't mean anything, maybe the com got broken in the…crash…but that doesn't mean that the crew's not perfectly fine."
Jaelyn looked unconvinced, and the two women sat in shocked silence until suddenly Jaelyn jumped to her feet and hit herself squarely on the forehead. "Of course! I am so stupid!" Mira got up quickly also, looking quite convinced that Jaelyn had finally lost her mind. Jaelyn took no notice, turning to Mira with an incredulous expression. "I can't believe I didn't think of that before!" she cried "Every single person on that ship, except Mandalore, is my Padawan! I have a Force bond with all of them!" Comprehension flashed in Mira's eyes and the two quickly decided that Jaelyn would try to reach Bao-Dur and Mical, and Mira would try Atton, the only one on the crew with whom she could mentally communicate.
Jaelyn sank quickly in to a meditative daze. She reached out with her mind for the one person whose soul she knew better than her own. She found him with the Ebon Hawk, wedged deep at the bottom of a canyon, immersed in repairs. She was pleased, but not surprised, at the amount of progress he had already made. The Hawk would be spaceworthy within a half hour. She brushed his mind softly, conveying her love, trust, and relief that he was alive, and felt him return in kind. She felt him pause in his repairs to talk, and Jaelyn quickly conveyed her location and the fact that Mira was with her.
Jaelyn, we have to activate the Mass Shadow Generator soon. More Sith will come from the Academy. Be careful. I wish I was there to watch your back.
Jaelyn smiled and shot back Me too, but if you were here we'd be watching more than each other's backs and you know it. Get back to work, Tech! I love you…please come as quickly as you can.
He smiled at her pet name for him, and went back to work with renewed vigor. Jaelyn next turned her thoughts to Mical, her Disciple. He felt her at once. Master? Are you all right? His concern was clear through their bond, and Jaelyn found with relief that she could no longer sense any bitterness or infatuation in him. Obviously, Visas had thoroughly replaced her, and she was glad.
I'm fine, Mical. Mira and I are on a ledge overlooking Trayus Academy and we need you guys to come get us so we can get off this planet before it gets blown up again. She felt his businesslike nod through their bond, and withdrew. She looked up to see Mira still in her trance, a smile plastered on her face. Obviously, Atton was laying on the charm, even from this distance. She smiled at Mira as the girl returned to herself, then straightened up with a grimace. "Mira, we need to get moving. I killed everything I came across in there, but I know there are more. They'll be coming for us soon with a vengeance." The two set off at a run in the direction of the Hawk. They never saw the Academy doors open and the Sith pour out.
Atton, T3-M4 and Bao-Dur finally managed to repair the Hawk sufficiently after hours of Atton's swearing, T3's enigmatic beeping, and Bao-Dur's endless patience. As they lifted off, Bao-Dur and Atton pointedly ignored Mical and Visas, who were sitting side by side in medlab, content in each other's company. Bao-Dur gave Atton a knowing look, and together the men prepped for takeoff and flew low over the surface of the dead planet, toward where they knew Jaelyn and Mira waited.
Jaelyn saw the approaching Sith Marauder before Mira did. She drew her lightsaber and activated it with a flourish. "Mira, there are two more Assassins behind you. I'll take the Marauder." Mira grinned jauntily in answer and activated her own double blade as orange as her hair. The two women fought themselves into a back-to-back defensive position, fighting for what seemed like hours until suddenly a few of the farther away Sith disappeared into the smoking crater that could only be the work of the Ebon Hawk's laser cannon. Jaelyn looked up and grinned, but quickly turned back to her bloody task. The Ebon Hawk went in for a landing at the top of a ridge and soon the crew was charging down the slope and engaging the Sith from all directions. Atton and Bao-Dur were the first to reach the pair. Atton seamlessly took Jaelyn's place at Mira's back, and Jaelyn twirled gracefully aside, never breaking her attack. She grinned at Bao-Dur as they began the dance of death they both knew so well. She was only half engaged in fighting; the other half of her watched her students, her family, proudly. Mira and Atton's orange and viridian blades seemed to blur together as they fought, but the two most unorthodox of her pupils also sprinkled their technique with a heavy dose of tricks—grenades, rockets, even mines—that the Sith had no idea how to deal with. Farther off, Mical's blue blades formed a circle of protection around Visas, whose red double blade lay on the cracked ground beside her. She was using battle meditation and other Force powers to assist her friends. Jaelyn's smile grew wider as her gaze lit on HK-47 and Mandalore fighting side by side, their repeaters blasting away at anyone daring to come near them. She spun away from the sight, dodging and dealing blows in equal measure as she finally turned to the man fighting next to her. The silver blade in his right hand and cyan in his left wove twin spells of destruction, but his face betrayed only resolution and calm; there was no joy at the killing from him. At last they reached the end of their opponents, and as one the group turned and sprinted for the ship. There they found T3 waiting with a few cheery beeps and launch sequence already initiated. Atton flopped into the pilot's chair with a grunt and Mira took the copilot's place with little more grace than he. Together they launched the Hawk into the decidedly not beautiful sunset.
Jaelyn left them to it after instructing them not to leave the atmosphere (or lack thereof) just yet. She headed back to the garage, stopping only to thank T3 for having the ship ready for them. As she stepped into the garage she heaved a sigh of relief and looked around for Bao-Dur, then looked puzzled when she didn't immediately see him. She was about to get really worried when he came up behind her, slid his warm hand around her waist and whispered in her ear "Well, I seem to have caught myself a prisoner, and a Jedi no less." Jaelyn smiled at his attempt to cheer her up, but she had too much on her mind to be distracted for more than a moment. She faced him with a troubled look.
"Bao-Dur…I haven't given the command yet. I don't have to, even now. I'm not sure I want to…we've only just gotten over the pain and guilt from last time…I don't want to put you through that again."
He looked thoughtful, as if unsure what to say next. "General…Jaelyn…If this was the same situation, if we were back at that battle, then you might have cause to worry. The pain and guilt then was overwhelming, I won't deny it. But now is not then. What I did then was out of hate, and it was the knowledge that I had destroyed countless thousands out of hate that crippled me. But this time I'm doing it out of necessity. I don't hate those Sith down there, on that planet. But I do know they cannot be allowed to spread their evil, the teachings of Malachor…the wound that ultimately I created. And I do this out of love, not only for you but for every other innocent in the galaxy." Jaelyn smiled at being called an innocent. "I do it so that you won't spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder for more Sith. Now will you activate it? I'd like to be away from here as soon as possible."
Jaelyn stood agape for a moment, then wiped the shocked look off her face, snapped her jaw shut, and smiled. "Remote?" No answer. Bao-Dur looked around the garage quickly, as if realizing something. "G0-T0" he breathed. Jaelyn understood immediately. "G0-T0," she said into the comlink. "Stop threatening the Remote. Right. Now."
"Your concern is touching." They could clearly hear the droid's acidic voice. "But I cannot allow you to eliminate the Sith. Without them the galaxy will be greatly destabilized."
Jaelyn had had enough. "Look, you overgrown trash disposal, we are blowing up this planet whether you like it or not! If this planet remains so does a threat to your precious galaxy, and a threat to your miserable life! But if that's not good enough for you, consider this—as you originally stated, I cause a lot of commotion wherever I go. Remember what I did in Nar Shadaa? That was just a taster. I swear to you that if you stand in my way now I will make it my highest priority to eliminate the Exchange. Permanently. I could do it, too, you know I could. Not only would that disrupt your precious stability but you'd come off quite a bit less wealthy. I will stop at nothing—bombs, assassinations, anything—to bring you down. And maybe I won't be satisfied with that. Your yacht was just a preview. Do you really think you can hide from me? And don't say yes, you forget I have five other deadly Jedi to help me, as well as a merciless assassin droid and the leader of the Mandalorians, and that means all their artillery and influences too."
G0-T0 sounded slightly panicked. "The Mandalorians were disbanded…they are dead."
Jaelyn smiled vindictively. "That is a common misconception not supported by facts. So what'll it be, your lordship? Living with this slight disturbance of the destruction of Malachor and the Sith, or the very great disturbance of having no more wealth, no more safety or peace, and quite possibly no more life? Your choice."
Bao-Dur looked impressed at her tantrum. G0-T0 took a long time to respond, no doubt working out all possible consequences. Finally he said grudgingly, "Very well. Remote, you are free to follow your programming. Jaelyn Kasra, I want no more to do with you. Leave me to my machinations then, if you have no use for them."
"Thank you, Goto, I will." She kept the link open only long enough to be sure the Mass Shadow Generator was really activated, then shouted to Atton to get them out of there.
"Sure thing!" came the jaunty reply, "Where to?"
"Telos!" she shouted back. "This old junk heap needs some repairs!"
"So…that was some speech you made earlier," she said, turning to Bao-Dur and lowering her voice. "It was remarkably long, for you." She slipped into his arms and rested her head on his chest.
"I meant every word," he replied. "I want us to be able to have a future without Sith in it. That doesn't mean I want you to give up fighting, but I had the chance to end a threat to you, and I took it. I have no regrets, no guilt. You?"
She shook her head. "I knew it had to be done, the only reason I hesitated was the uncertainty of what it would do to you. About that future…You know I have to go find Revan, don't you?" He looked at her sadly. "T3 was sent to find me…which means she's in trouble. I can't take you for the same reason she couldn't take Admiral Onasi…by each others' presence, we'd put each other at risk."
"How long will you be gone?" He looked as if he wasn't sure he wanted to know.
"I don't know…but I don't intend to stay and fight anything. Not now. I just want to bring Revan home, and then we'll work it out from there. I'll take T3 for astrogation, I can pilot this thing pretty well, and I'll have Atton check my technique on Telos. I won't leave right away; I owe you…us…that much. I'll be back, I promise. There's one other thing…Kreia, just before she died she told me the futures of my friends…but she claimed not to be able to see yours…at the time I thought I didn't like it, but now I'm glad…we have a chance, at least." At this point they both concluded that words were useless and exchanged a meaningful look. Jaelyn quickly determined everyone on the ship's location—Atton and Mira were occupied in the cockpit, Visas and Mical were meditating in the port dormitory (prudes, thought Jaelyn affectionately), Mandalore was fast asleep in the starboard dormitory, and the droids were powered down. She winked at Bao-Dur. They both got to their feet casually and each sauntered over to a different door, closing both nonchalantly. As soon as hers was safely locked Jaelyn rounded on Bao-Dur with a mischievous smile. He was taking his time locking the other door and pretending to be blissfully unaware of her. She strolled casually over and slid a hand around his waist, mimicking his earlier movement. "Well, I seem to have caught myself a prisoner, and a Jedi no less," she whispered, then said no more as he turned and occupied her with other things than speech.
A/N: This is a one-shot at the END of a story, though I hope it makes decent sense on its own. If anyone is interested in how Jaelyn and Bao-Dur got to this point, tell me. Right now I'm just waiting to see how this does. I submitted this first because this is the only portion I have typed, rather than written longhand.