Knights of the Old Republic II: Sith Lords - Volume 2: Telos
Knights of the old Republic and Starwars are owned by George Lucas (I think he owns them both). Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all characters belong to Joss Whedon. I own nothing here. As said by many wise men..and women…please don't sue me.
The timeline for Buffy takes place about three years after the end of Buffy. No exact date has been decided. KOTOR 2 timeline starts right from the beginning of the game. I apologize now for my lack of grammar etc, etc. I've never posted anything I've written until now. This bug has been floating in my skull since I first read Slayers of the old republic by Michael Weyer. It definitely fed my imagination. Thanks Michael. Anyways on with the show. Please comment. It won't get better in quality or quantity without constructive criticism.
Somewhere in the depths of space……
JedI Master Lonna Vash adjusted the small civilian vessel's navigation protocols before bringing the ship back into real space, then she immediately began to calculate the next set of hyperspace coordinates she needed to reach her destination.
A feeling in the pit of her stomach prompted her to stop, it was a familiar feeling, similar to the one she felt only a week before.
Except this time the force wasn't going to let her simply feel it.
A slide show of images and emotions flashed through her mind.
A tall blonde woman with a face from the past….Pain.
A shorter brunette cleaving through spider like droids, then Sith Assassins like a storm…Loneliness.
A tall man with one eye and shaggy dark hair, smiling and joking…Despair.
She opened her eyes and realized that the ceiling had decided to move, or she fell from her chair, it really didn't matter, the vision was more than she had experienced in her entire life as a JedI, it was short, but intense.
"Master?" echoed the voice of her Padawan from the cock-pit door, "Are you alright?".
Vash stood and slipped back into her chair, the pain in her head was nearly unbearable "A moment Kaah" was all she could say.
She was vaguely aware of the Twi'lek slipping into the co-pilots seat, taking over at the controls until she could focus again, it took far longer than she had anticipated, leaving her feeling drained.
"Things have changed my friend" she said quietly as she peeled the vision apart inside her mind, stripping it layer by layer, revealing more images that had been buried beneath the everything.
Her Padawan remained silent, knowing she would explain in time.
"The Exile!…has returned….and she's not alone" she said as she focused on the myriad of faces that flashed through her mind.
"The Exile?" Kaah Ohtok asked as he activated the ships Hyperdrives, "The visions you told me about last year have come to pass?".
"Apparently, though these visions are different than the first ones I received, something changed the flow of the force, the force itself has changed events to compensate…" she sighed and stood up.
"You have the controls Kaah, I am drained and need to meditate" she rested a hand on his shoulder "When we reach our destination be very discreet, our enemy may already know we are coming and we still have much to accomplish".
The cobalt blue Twi'lek cleared his throat "I shall endeavour to be..discreet" he smiled as he spoke perfect trade basic.
Vash smiled and left the cock-pit, moving to the small ships common area, once out of sight she leaned against the wall and felt the tears begin to flow.
She never expected to see those faces again.
TELOS
Bao'Dur raced along a narrow ledge to avoid being spotted by any of Czerka's security patrols, that may have circled around through the valley behind him, the tall Zabrak knew he could remain unseen, no one knew the Restoration zones better than he did.
He glanced up to spy his immediate destination and stopped, something was out of place, he looked around with narrowed eyes, everything seemed normal.
Then the sound of heavy weapons fire reached his ears, it was distant yet it echoed through the area, a short series of explosions followed and then a high pitched whine began to build.
"Someone is having a very bad day" he muttered to his only friend, a small droid the size and shape of a small ball.
The tiny droid floated above his shoulder, it clicked a few times and rushed ahead along the ridgeline "A shuttle you say" he frowned and raced after his friend.
Reaching the top of the ridge, he carefully peeked over, just in case a patrol waited within the ravine on the other side and hesitated as a small dark speck along the horizon came into view.
"An orbital shuttle, they've been hit" he said quietly, noticing the long trail of black smoke pouring from behind as it struggled to remain in the air "They won't stay up there much longer" he realized.
Those words seemed to hang in the air for a moment, then the shuttle dipped too low and caught the lip of a valley wall, not enough to stop the vessel but enough to slow it as it bounced into the air in a slightly higher arc before dipping back down again, clipping another valley wall.
He watched the shuttle skip across the landscape, like it was a rock that someone had tossed across a still pond before it dipped into another valley not far from his current position, a loud boom echoed and smoke poured up from the terrain.
"At least the impact didn't cause a full rupture" he said as he quickly moved over the ridge "Let's see how bad the damage is shall we?" .
It took less than five minutes to reach the valley and the shuttle, Bao'Dur moved fast, ignoring the flames and smoke that poured from one still active engine.
He quickly moved to the rear hatch, safely on the other side of the engine that still burned, noticing the other engine was gone, likely sheered off during an earlier impact with the earth.
The hatch opened rather easily, taking a deep breath he dived into the smoke filled cabin, he was able to make out six figures, one was at the controls and the other five were sprawled out across the rear area, he ignored everyone closer to the door and headed for the pilot, which after a quick check to make sure he was alive slung him over his shoulder and turned towards the door.
With the pilot safely away from the burning shuttle he quickly returned for the next passenger, the rest were smaller or at least lighter, he managed to pick two at a time in order to speed things up, the last thing he wanted was to get caught in a reactor breach.
Within a minute he was down to the last passenger, a young man with one eye who had seen better days, he had saved him for last because his wounds were serious, even at first glance, he carefully picked the boy up and carried him out to the others.
Then he stood back to check them all over, stopping when he saw the face of the tall blonde, he shook his head, surprised to be seeing that face down here after so many years.
A short dark haired woman clad in Echani combat armour woke up first, he quickly knelt beside her and opened his canteen of water "Easy now, that was quite the crash".
Faith looked up at the man who was offering her a something to drink and instinctively wanted to reach out and crush his head, she hesitated though, remembering that this was another galaxy, and that she hadn't felt anything Demony since they arrived.
Besides, the…guys, eyes were full of warmth, and kindness, they actually made the strange alien with spikes all over his skull look kinda yummy.
"Thanks" was all she could say, accepting the canteen she took a small sip before handing it back.
The two of them heard another voice, drawing their attentions "My head…feels like it's been ripped in half".
Faith smiled, the Alien however spoke first "Good to have you back General".
This caught Faith by surprise…General?.
Shayla looked at the alien, still cradling her head with one hand "General?".
The alien nodded as he moved to help her stand "Easy now, You all survived one spectacular crash. Lucky I was here to pull you from that shuttle or you'd all be more than a little crispy, but it's only fair, I owe you more than one General".
Shayla looked at the alien with obvious caution "You know me?".
"You must be in shock from the crash. Have to expect some long term memory loss from that" he turned slightly looking at Faith "Too bad she's not a droid huh?".
"Beep Bop" echoed right behind the dark haired Slayer, causing her to nearly fall over as she tried to turn and move away at the same time.
Floating several feet off the ground was a small ball shaped droid, Faith smiled at the cute little thing "Oh, hey there".
The alien smiled at the interaction, mildly amused at Faith's reaction "Anyway, I'll humour you general, I was one of the Iridonian Mechanic Corps that was at Malachor, Bao-Dur?".
Faith recognized the name and turned to look at him, he was the one Chodo Habat told them about.
"I can see how you'd forget, being that I was the only one" he joked.
Shayla smiled "I remember now, it's been along time".
"Yeah, just to be clear I'd rather not talk about the war if we could. We all went through some tough times after Malachor, and maybe we all did a little forgetting. Guess that's one thing we got better than droids, they can't forget anything, but then you give them a memory wipe and they forget for good" he added.
Shayla nodded, then turned to their friends "How are they?".
"The pilots fine, the old lady, well she's tougher than she looks, the small one is more or less unharmed but your man there is in serious condition, he needs more attention than we can do here" he moved to check on Xander, maybe just to confirm his own assessment "You know General, I never thought I'd see you again. Galaxies a big place, and this is the last place I thought I'd run into you".
"We were told we might be able to find our ship down here" Shayla said, answering his unspoken question.
Bao-Dur nodded as he continued to check Xanders wounds "Well, if your ships in as bad shape as this one" he pointed at the shuttle "I don't think your going to have much luck".
A moan from Atton caught their attention "Well, this is familiar, feels like my last time on Telos" he grunted as he tried to stand up.
"Crashed a shuttle then too?" Bao-Dur asked with a rather sly grin.
"Nope, Pazaak" Atton chuckled as he rubbed his neck.
"That was not the most pleasant landing I've endured, Next time, we should perhaps seek out a more reputable pilot" Kreia remarked as she too stood up.
"Your welcome Kreia. You know, if I weren't such a crack pilot, we could have hit that shield wall or one of those rock faces" he snapped as he gestured behind Faith.
She turned to see what he was pointing at, stopping as she saw the shield wall, a shimmering field of energy that stretched across the landscape, the other side was like a vision of what hell would have looked like, in fact, it reminded her of the hell mouth and the battle with the army of Turok'Han.
"Jesus" she whispered.
"Yes, our current situation is a vast improvement" Kreia snapped back to Atton, both of them ignoring faith's reaction as well as the view.
Shayla stepped between the two of them "Look, we should get going before Czerka's mercs show up".
Bao-Dur shook his head "Their probably already on their way".
"What?" Faith asked.
"I had a little run in with Czerka that involved me ending up in a force cage, I managed to escape during an electrical malfunction, so far, I've managed to avoid them" he explained.
"What caused the malfunction?" Shayla asked.
The Zabrak shrugged his shoulders "Something went wrong underground, the ruins used to be some sort of military research facility, and something reactivated it's defences. Two salvage teams never came back, so Czerka sent in a merc team, later, one merc bugged out with military droids on his heels, they started shooting up the place".
Faith moved to check on Dawn, who was still unconscious, a dark black bruise was starting to form under her left eye, she guessed her eye would likely swell up within the hour "What do you think happened?" she asked as she continued to check for other wounds.
"I don't know, I was already locked up, they thought the salvage teams accidentally turned something on, but I don't believe it. The power was blown out in the fight, that's when I got away" he smiled at the thought "They sent a pursuit team after me, but most of them we're busy trying to re-secure the compound".
A hand snapped over Faith's wrist, she looked down to see Dawn staring up at her "You really suck at being a nurse" she said.
"Glad your awake kiddo" she smiled "Everyone's good for the most part, cept Xan, he really needs some help".
Dawn glanced up at the Zabrak "Hi, nice spikes" she smiled.
"Bao-Dur" he smiled, catching the hint that she had never seen his species before.
"Race or name?" she asked as Faith helped her up.
"That would be my name, my people are called Zabrak" he explained.
"Oh, the guy Chodo told us about" she smiled.
Atton interrupted "We should think about how were going to find the Ebon Hawk".
Shayla nodded "We have no idea of where to look however".
Bao-Dur smiled "I can help you find it, I have access to the shield network. I came hoping to repair whatever damage your shuttle took, but not even I can fix that wreck".
Faith moved over to Xander, "We'll need to make a stretcher for him, then we can go".
Shayla nodded, the group split up to search for anything they could use to transport the shaggy haired JedI, Dawn and Atton meanwhile salvaged their gear from the shuttle.
Within minutes they had constructed a stretcher for Xander and took stock of their remaining supplies and gear.
Faith commented on Bao-Dur's lack of armour and weapons, then remedied that fact by tossing him a suit of armour taken from one of the two mercs she humiliated, Bao-Dur smirked "How ironic, Zabrak Combat Armour".
Faith smiled and held up two different blasters "What's your choice?".
The Zabrak nodded to the rifle in her right hand "The standard Blaster will do, the other is a Carbine, a lot less accurate".
Faith nodded and tossed him the rifle, along with a few power packs, then stuffed the carbine back into the knapsack purchased back at the station.
She was squaring everything away when she spotted the bag with the Sith Lightsabers "Hey Guys, we forgot about the sabers we took from those Dark JedI".
Shayla quickly approached "Hm" she said as she grabbed one and examined it "Standard mass production weapon" she turned it on, the crimson blade stretched out only three feet.
"A short saber, typically use in the off-hand" she said.
Dawn joined her and grabbed one as well, it was also a short blade "What's the damage difference between the ones you made and these?".
"These are much better quality, not as good as custom JedI saber but definitely superior" she explained.
Dawn nodded "Can I see that one?".
Shayla handed her the weapon, Dawn moved off a few meters and activated them both, then began a standard practise Kata, trying to get a feel for the weapons.
Faith watched her twirl around "I keep forgetting that she has your training locked up in her brain, Xander too for that matter" she said as Dawn continued, her two crimson blades dancing around her, she even flipped a few times, Faith wanted to applause but held herself back, a time and place for smart ass comments, this wasn't one of them.
Shayla took the other four and smiled "Faith, try this out".
Faith looked at the weapon she was holding out, it was longer than the ones Dawn was practising with and had a focusing lens on both ends "Is that what I think it is?".
Shayla nodded "Normally only JedI should carry a saber, you however are a natural and we are going to need every advantage we can get".
Faith smiled as she took the weapon and took a cue from Dawn, moving a few meters away she turned it on, two three foot blades erupted, the crimson glow gave her a rather uncomfortable feeling for some reason, but she forced It down and swung it around a few times, her own practise movements were no where near as extravagant as dawn's however, mostly because her Slayer essence allowed her to get a feel for any weapon with a few seconds.
She stopped and spotted Shayla turn on the two of the three remaining weapons, both were full sized sabers, except one was Violet, not crimson.
Shayla frowned, turning the Violet blade off and tucking in her belt "This one is a JedI blade, not a Sith" she said "It was also the one that hurt Xander".
Faith saw the look of worry on the womans face "So that one goes to boy-wonder when he wakes up" she smirked.
Shayla caught the meaning behind faith's comment and smiled "I think that would be appropriate".
She looked to the last one and picked it up, again it was a standard blade, she turned to Kreia who was meditating near Xander "Kreia?" she said holding up the two weapons.
The mysterious woman shot her a disgusted look "I will not suffer such a weapon, if and when I choose a weapon, it will be of my own construction, until then the Sword will suffice" she then closed her eyes again.
Shayla nodded and turned then both off, then attached them to her belt for easy access.
Faith moved to the next bag, spying a few blaster pistols, one of them caught her eye "What kind of blaster is this?"
Shayla nodded, "A Mandalorian Blaster, good weapon, excellent balance and accuracy".
Faith felt the weapon in her hand, it felt like it fit her hand like it was crafted for her, she fished out a few power packs and a holster, then anchored it to her belt.
"Gonna have to invest in a thigh holster" she said as she looked down at the weapon.
Atton turned the corner "Whoa!. Dangerous woman with a Lightsaber and a Blaster!" he smirked "Remind me to not get in your way".
Faith rolled her eyes, "So, we ready to get moving?" she asked Shayla.
The blonde JedI looked around "Everything's packed up, Xander's ready to go, yeah, I think we're good to go".
"Good, cause I wanna break something" Faith smiled and moved to help carry Xander.
Elsewhere….
Giles watched from the safety of a large group of bushes as the military members of their team moved forward, he had to give Buffy credit for actually allowing the three men to do their thing, normally she would be leading the charge.
Buffy slipped up next to him "How's the view?" she asked.
Giles didn't look away from the fading shapes of their team mates "So far so good, I just hope that the technology of this Galaxy cannot pick up the communication sets Lieutenant O'Neill supplied us with".
Buffy nodded "Yeah that would be bad".
"I have to hand it too you Buffy, you're acting very professionally" he commented.
"Okay, I admit I can be the stubborn Slayer on most days, but if theirs one thing I learned it's that men like to feel like their in control, if letting them scout ahead gives them the comfort they need to let me actually lead the group then so be it" she smiled.
Giles could read her like a book "Cari and Shannon are watching their flanks aren't they?".
Buffy said nothing, yet her smile intensified.
"Summers, this is Finn, come in" echoed over their headsets, Buffy reached up and touched the earpiece.
"Go ahead" she smiled.
"Our friend was right on the money, we have a large compound, seven buildings of different sizes spread across the grounds, one large landing pad with what appears to be two defence turrets, hostiles number four zero, we got five setting up what looks like a mine field near an excavated entrance" Riley reported.
"Copy that" she said "Pull back, we'll wait for darkness".
Willow moved to join the two of them, "Buffy, their not far now, I'm guessing only a few miles".
"Can you get a feel for which direction their heading?" Giles asked.
"Right for us, and that base" she said quietly.
Buffy frowned "Not good" she looked at her watch "Our friend said night falls in two hours, if their only a few miles off they'll likely be here before then".
"They wouldn't attack a base during daylight would they?" Willow asked.
"I don't know, all we know is that Dawn and Xander are with at least one other person, Faith did mention that they made a few friends but a lot of time has passed since I talked with her, things might have changed" Buffy said, sitting back against a stump.
Giles began to clean his glasses, a sure sign that he had an idea, or he was confused.
"What's up Giles?" Buffy asked.
He put his glasses back on before speaking "We can either move around the base and try to meet up with them, or we can stay here, set up a fortified position to support an assault, if I know Xander he'll take the base, or try to at least".
"Soldier boy again…" Buffy sighed "I keep forgetting he has those memories".
"At least we know he'll at least try to use some tactics, with our three companions and their experience we'll have an idea of how he might try to assault the base" Giles reasoned.
"We can only hope" Buffy said.
Next Chapter: The two groups of heroes meet, Things are said, Things are done, bad guys get their butt's kicked and many cheesy one-liners are enjoyed by all :D
With that said, a few clarifications are in order. For those that know the game, Master Lonna Vash dies on Korriban…will she still die?. And, how does she recognize the faces of the scoobies?.
Heh, I always wanted to type something like that teehee!.
Chapter two in a day or two.