Chapter 2: She Rises from the Ashes
By Jen DeClan & Synyster Shadow
The threat assessment board on The Seeker began to chime, lighting up, filling the cockpit with a pulsing red glow. The alarms blasted their whining sirens.
Without looking, Vasa tossed Gunner a headset. "Monitor their transmissions while I calculate a new trajectory."
"What's going on?" Flynn demanded as he caught one of the bars mounted on the ceiling to keep his balance.
"Sith fighters!" Vasa snapped.
Flynn yelled back for everybody to grab onto something. "This ride's gonna get a little bumpy. Want me on the quad guns, Swag?"
"Nope. Gunny, go do your thing. Flynn, take his seat. Go! Now!"
"They're dividing into two groups," Gunner told Flynn as he rose from his seat. His palms beginning to sweat, he dashed from the cockpit.
"Hold on," Swagger advised as he changed vectors and The Seeker barrel-rolled and then came up behind one of the fighters.
Flynn's eyes were intent on the instrument's panel main screen. "Twelve o'clock!" he shouted; the Sith fighter disappeared in a gout of flame.
Vasa crowed his enthusiasm, slapping Flynn on the back so hard he pitched forward. "Ha! That's one."
Swagger expertly swerved the ship just as two of the fighters fired bolts across her bow. He jabbed a finger at the panel screen. "Tell me when one of the red blips turns green." He raced out of the cockpit and Flynn glanced backward to see him climbing a ladder up to the second quad laser chair.
"Green! Two o'clock!" he yelled.
Another blip was gone and Flynn heard Gunner shout and a loud, echoing thud that sounded like he had punched the ship in triumph.
"Flynn, switch all power to front deflector shields now!" Swagger's command rang throughout the ship.
Flynn pulled the switch down. Grinning, he saw the indicator light labeled front/rear go green, indicating that the shield power had switched to the front half of the ship.
Another blip, and then another disappeared.
The Seeker rocked suddenly and slewed to the side. Swagger came back and slouched in the pilot's seat, breathing as if he had just finished running a race. His momentary respite was soon over; he did a visual and his fist crashed down on the dash. "Two more!" He gazed out the main view screen. "Where's the fracking ship they're coming from?"
There was a loud explosion and a snarl of blue energy leaped over the instrument panel. The lights winked out then came back on line. Swagger took another visual and swore. "They're coming about, Gunner," he bellowed.
He jammed the yoke back, twisting it to the right. The ship flew straight down, then Swagger stood the ship on her side; at full speed he aimed her at one of the fighters. "Shoot 'em as we fly by. Flynn, when we get even, switch shields to starboard."
"Even? Are you sure that's a good idea?" Flynn murmured, clutching the armrests on the chair with white knuckles. He knew better than to question Swagger, so he stopped talking and did his job.
Gunner took out one fighter and Swagger's special jury-rigged laser blaster mounted on the quarter panels of the ship, took out the other.
"Good shooting back there, Gunny!" As he said it, Vasa wondered what it was about Gunner that made him offer the occasional compliment or slap on the back.
He and Flynn sat quietly for a moment, the only sound in the cockpit their heavy breathing and a soft, non-threatening blip from the navicomputer. Flynn slowly turned his head; Swagger stared straight ahead, the red glow of the cockpit making his eyes hellish pits.
"Fighters mean there's a ship. Knowing our luck, a big ship." Swagger called back to the rest of the crew. "We have to get out of here. Mav, sorry, but...."
At Swagger's words, Maverick rushed into the cockpit. He was breathless and looked pale – Vasa's evasive maneuvers always made him a bit queasy "Swagger, we must get down there. She needs our help."
Swagger turned his head to glare at him over his shoulder. "Dammit, Mav, I'm not going to place all our lives in jeopardy just because you think someone on the planet might need our help," he snapped.
"If a bunch of Sith fighters take us out, we won't be able to help her anyway," Flynn said quietly. He, too, looked at Marrex as if he did not really believe there was someone to save.
Maverick glared back at Vasa, fully aware he was disobeying orders which never ended well, but a small voice in his head screamed that if they didn't get to the woman who had called for him, the consequences would be much more severe than just a life lost. "Swagger, please…"
"Guys?" Gunner's voice interrupted him. The kid walked into the cockpit, a confused expression on his face. He pointed his finger at the viewport. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Katarr supposed to be all green and blue?"
Maverick stopped mid-sentence as his eyes followed Gunner's finger, and he, too, stared out of the viewport with confusion. The planet they were hovering above was nothing like what he had seen in holobooks – there were no lush green forests that covered the planet's characteristic mountains and stopped at the white ice caps, no sparkling blue oceans that glittered like lightsaber crystals even from space. Instead they were looking at a plain brown orb, a shade darker than Tatooine, almost like…
"Korriban," Carth said with visible contempt in his voice, standing next to Marrex.
"Flynn, what kind of fracked up hyperspace coordinates did you calculate?" Swagger aimed a finger at his friend. Flynn seemed to have arrived at the same conclusion because he was already punching instructions into the navicomputer to pull up the galaxy map. He stared at the screen in disbelief for a second and took another look at the planet before them.
"Everything checks out," he muttered. "This is Katarr. And if this is Katarr…"
"What the muffin effing heck happened here?" Gunner finished the sentence for him. Nobody laughed at his latest substitute for a curse word.
"That's it," Swagger pressed a few buttons and grabbed the yoke. "I'm not sticking around to find out." The ship started to move, but Marrex lunged forward and grabbed his shoulder.
"It's even more important that we find her now," he whispered, adding a certain tone of persuasion to his voice, even though he knew the certain tone hadn't worked for about ten years now. "And if we don't rescue her, we're still not even."
Swagger shrugged his hand off. "I'll say it one more time, Mav – I have no intention of getting vaporized or captured by Sith. There has to be a fracking capital ship nearby, and I value our lives higher than an I-owe-you."
"Did you circle the whole planet during the approach?" Carth asked suddenly from behind them.
"About seventy percent," Flynn replied, tapping the mini-map on the console. Carth strode over to him and narrowed his eyes, analyzing the situation. "We approached from here," Flynn highlighted the part of the map where they had exited hyperspace, "and now we're here." He dragged his finger along a trajectory line to a blinking white dot more than halfway around the planet from the exit point.
"Seventy would be enough for the scanners to pick up anything," Carth said, more to himself than the others. He zoomed out the map. "There. If there is a capital ship here, it's behind that moon. Means we have an opportunity to land on the planet."
Swagger spun his pilot's chair to face Carth. "Explain."
"A capital ship or a star destroyer trying to remain out of sight from a planet would orbit one of its moons," Carth went into naval tactician mode, seemingly unperturbed by Vasa's intense gaze boring into him. "As long as it remains in cover on the dark side of the moon, it's virtually invisible to the radars on the planet. The moon acts as a jammer. Of course, it also blinds the ship to incoming traffic – that's probably why there was a fighter patrol."
"And how long would it take for the ship to exit orbit if it so desired?" Flynn asked, matching Carth's official tone.
"Obviously it depends on the size and gravitational pull of the moon, as well as other factors, but in military theory it's about forty standard minutes."
"Theory, huh?" Swagger said. "I don't do theory. We'll make it quicker."
"Disable all comm devices and fly low," Carth advised. "I daresay you have a radar jammer installed on the ship. It's not really a match for a capital ship's scanners, but at low altitude it would let us circle the planet safely."
Swagger smirked and nodded. "Impressive, Republic." He pulled on the yoke, changing course, and activated the jamming device. "Flynn, disable the comms. Okay, Mav, we have a thirty minute window to find this woman of yours. Make it twenty so we can jump to hyperspace safely."
"Thank you," Marrex said, relieved. He closed his eyes and tried to recall the cry he had heard. He needed to recreate the same feeling of certainty about going to Katarr he had felt on Sanctuary, because they had only twenty minutes to search the whole planet. His eyes flew open and he pointed to an area on the holomap of Katarr.
"Take us down there, Swag. She's here somewhere…I can feel it," he said, his voice full of resolve.
Swagger gave him a questioning look. "First, I'm not landing the ship. You're taking the shuttle. Best for low altitude flying and we'll be able to jump to hyperspace more quickly." He cut the main engines and maneuvered The Seeker into orbit. "Second, sense and now feel, eh? When you get back, Mav, you and I are gonna have a long chat and I'll expect to hear the truth."
Marrex silently cursed himself to seven hells for letting that slip, but it was too late. He tried to look as if he had no idea what Swagger was talking about and said, "Shuttle it is, but I'll need a pilot. You know I can't fly the thing."
"Another thing we'll have to do something about," Swagger smirked. "Your Republic friend can do his bit for the crew and give ya lessons." He gestured at his crewmates. "Flynn, Gunny – go with Mav."
Carth took a step forward. "I'll go as well," he volunteered.
"No," Swagger snapped. "Shuttle only holds four, so mystery woman wouldn't have a seat. Besides, your mind might be sharp but I wouldn't risk you in a fight so soon after getting smashed." He glanced around at the crew. "Well, what are ya waiting for? Chrono's ticking, boys. You've got eighteen minutes."
The Seeker was equipped with a small orbital shuttle which could hold a crew of four and some cargo – although for Swagger Vasa "cargo" usually meant "vic". Flynn strapped himself in the pilot's seat and Maverick handed him a datapad he had downloaded the coordinates to. Flynn pulled a lever and the shuttle detached from the ship and entered the atmosphere a little faster than was absolutely necessary.
Gunner was having trouble folding his long legs in a comfortable position in the cramped shuttle. "Anyone ever been to Katarr before?" he asked to break the somewhat awkward silence.
Mav shook his head silently, but Flynn replied, "I have. Once. Didn't enjoy the food at all." He was frowning in concentration as he guided the shuttle through a small patch of clouds.
"There," Marrex pointed at a small cluster of dome-shaped buildings when they emerged from the clouds. "She must be in that town."
Gunner looked at him strangely. "Captain Vasa's right, Mav. There is something strange about you," he said, as if he had only just caught on. Marrex ignored him.
Flynn set the shuttle down in a forest clearing on the edge of the town – it was so small it was more like a village than a town. The forest didn't qualify as a forest either – more like a group of trees without a single green leaf, blade of grass or patch of moss. Gunner lowered the ramp and they slowly exited the shuttle, shocked at the deafening silence around them and the way the sand felt like ash under their feet, as they walked the surface of a planet which, unbeknownst to them, had been robbed of all life, save one.
Marrex checked his chrono: fifteen minutes. Flynn excelled at quick landings. "Alright, let's move. Chrono's ticking, boys," he repeated Swagger's words. He took the lead as they broke into a run. Marrex wasn't worried that Swagger would actually leave them behind if they didn't return on time – he took care of his crew – but with a very serious talk ahead of him, he didn't want to peeve the captain off even more.
***
She felt as if tiny ice shards pierced her flesh almost bringing on hypothermia, carrying a creeping numbness and weakness to her limbs.
She had no idea of how much time had passed since her world had been destroyed. There was no external sound—not even the concept of sound left, except the harsh keening that tore the tender tissue of her throat.
Survivor's guilt twisted inside her like a Tatooine sand worm as she dragged the bodies of her kin to the giant funeral pyre just outside the city. Her hands were torn, the nails ragged, bruises on her legs and arms, from ripping down branches from the dead trees and piling them in the ditch that stretched several kilometers on the sides of the main road that led to the town.
She brought sacred oil from the temple and anointed the bodies then set them on fire. Over and over, until she had no strength left.
Embers floated down. She could feel their fiery touch upon her bowed head as she sank in abject misery on her knees. They created a delicate lacy pattern as they ate through the hood of her blikaata hood. The metallic gold rim/sensor that shielded the pouches where other species would have eyes, felt uncomfortable as the fire heated its edge.
"I am...the last." Her voice faltered. She could not cry; could not find solace by shedding tears and was not allowed the release from the pall of death that covered her home world.
She considered throwing herself into the flames and join her people. She even took a few steps forward, feeling the heat on her skin. And that is when the Force that was as natural to her as breathing, twisted in upon itself just as Marrex set his foot down upon the surface of her world.
She existed in a black void, one devoid of sight other than through the Force, but something was penetrating that darkness—a tiny pin prick of light. Someone else was here! Someone in which the Force flickered like the eternal flame in its urn in the temple. Like that tiny spark, it did not disperse much heat, but the meaning behind it was clear.
"I am here. You're not alone. Come to me. There's so little time left."
A voice! Soft. Male. She turned from the funeral pyre and the ashes that had risen came back down and settled on her clothes, her skin, turning her into a grey shadow.
* * *
Marrex stopped so suddenly, Gunner plowed into him. Flynn, deceptively agile for his height and size, side-stepped so he would not step on the kid's heels.
"Chrono's ticking," he drawled. He followed Maverick's intense gaze and his mouth dropped open.
They saw fires with billowing smoke, but it was what was coming out of the ashes that were falling like black rain, that caught and held all three men's rapt gazes.
"Whaaa?" Gunner gulped and took a step back and would have fallen over a tree limb if Flynn hadn't reached out to steady him.
Marrex moved to the female, thinking she was an apparition for a moment. She seemed made of the ashes of the dead. She stumbled to him and held out her hands, trembling.
"You came for me."
The voice he had heard in his head! Marrex took her hands and something passed between them that moment that was electric. "We have to get out of here."
"Thank you, Kyron Marrex."
"How do you know my name?"
"You are the great echo I have felt on the edge of hearing and now I 'see'. I 'see' you and what I 'see' in you, Kyron Marrex, gives me hope other worlds may be saved from the same horrible fate."
She sank against him, her knees buckling and he scooped her into his arms and staggered back to the others. Flynn humphed as Marrex handed her over to the stronger, bigger man, but he was grinning. "Swag owes me one hundred credits. He said you wouldn't find her—odds were a hundred to one and me being the ornery cuss I am, well, I took the bet."
"Let's get out of here. This place gives me the creeps." Gunner motioned for them to hurry and he was first in the shuttle, warming up the engine, engaging the repulsors as Flynn, huffing and puffing, dumped the woman into the spare seat. Marrex buckled the crash webbing.
"Looks like she passed out," Gunner said as he lifted the shuttle off and docked with The Seeker. Swagger wasted no time. As soon as they exited the shuttle, he swung his ship around and she disappeared into hyperspace. There were five minutes to spare.
"She need to go to medbay?" Vasa asked as he tucked his flying gloves into a pocket on his flak vest. They had gathered in the main hold and the captain was getting his first look at his new passenger.
"She's in shock. She's the only survivor." Maverick tried to avoid the penetrating eyes.
"I'll be interested to find out what she knows." Swagger draped an arm about Marrex's shoulder and pulled him inexorably to his personal captain's quarters. "Right now you owe me the truth." He struck the locking panel on the wall and Marrex found he was alone with the volatile man.
Swagger released his iron grip on Marrex and took a chair. He seemed calm, but there was an edge as sharp as the blade of his favorite dagger to the man. He pulled a death stick out of his pocket and lit it, taking a deep drag.
"I'm waiting."
Marrex was not stalling exactly. He was just trying to find the right words. "I...was a Jedi."
There was no reaction other than it looked like Vasa clamped his teeth down harder on the death stick than normal. Then the dark brown eyes changed to hard obsidian and Swagger got up, folding his arms over his chest.
Marrex told him about being a Jedi general in the Mandalorian Wars, of following Revan to war, of losing his connection to the Force after the catastrophe at Malachor V. "For some reason, and I think it's connected to this woman, I am starting to get it back."
Swagger had listened, never interrupting, his features stone. "So, when you hooked up with me, you did not have the Force."
Marrex nodded, feeling a sense of impending doom. Swagger had never spaced anybody to his knowledge, but he was quite vocal when it came to his dislike of Jedi. He swallowed a lump down and shook his head.
"No, I was just that mess Flynnie found in the cantina and talked you into taking on. Don't blame him."
Swagger uncrossed his arms. There was barely contained violence in his movements. "My debt to you is paid and so is his. Mav, I hate Jedi! I have my reasons. We're headed to Nar Shaddaa and when we leave, I'm cutting you loose."
Marrex opened his mouth to argue and was startled when Vasa pulled a vibroblade from under his bunk and the tip came up to rest against his jugular.
"Are we clear?"
"Hey, in there!" Flynn knocked loudly and would not stop until Swagger swore under his breath and slammed a fist on the panel that opened the door.
Flynn took the situation in with one look and squared his shoulders, bulled Swagger back, not paying attention to the vibroblade he held at the ready, and placed himself between him and Marrex. His green eyes flared.
"You are not gutting him! You are not dumping him somewhere! So the fracking big deal he's a Jedi!"
Marrex's eyes widened. "How'd you know?"
"Fleet—that was his nickname and I'm calling him by it, talked about you while he was in his juma-induced coma. I questioned him in private while we were in hyperspace." He clapped a big hand on Marrex's shoulder. Flynn filled in the blanks Marrex had not told Swagger, only because, to Maverick, it would have been flagrant bragging.
Swagger's eyes became black slits and the set of his jaw was intractable. He flicked the butt of the death stick to the deck and ground it out beneath his boot. "He's still a Jedi and the woman is a Force sensitive." At Flynn's surprise, he added, "I do my homework."
"Swag, I'm going to put it to you like this: Mav goes, I go."
"M-me, t-too!" Gunner stood in the cabin doorway. "Frack it!"
When Swagger's eyes met his, Gunner nodded resolutely and his swearing told Vasa more than a steady stream of words from Flynn.
"Mutiny?" Vasa's tall frame trembled with rage.
"No!" Marrex shook his head violently. "I'll go, dammit, Swagger! Don't take this out on them. They're good men."
"All of you get out while you still can!" Vasa hissed, twirling the vibroblade with deadly expertise.
Flynn made Marrex follow him out of Swagger's cabin and down to the storage hold where they could be alone. "Give him some time." He touched the panel on the wall and the door whooshed closed.
"Why does he hate Jedi so much?" Marrex wasn't sure he'd get an answer, but he had to ask.
"Better to hear it from him, but since he won't tell anybody but me, guess I'll tell you." He eyed Gunner, who beat it back to the cockpit. "It was during the Mandie Wars. Swag is half Echani on his mother's side. His sister was 14 when she was attacked by a drunken Republic officer. Tried to rape her, and when she fought him, the jerk broke her jaw and left her in the alley outside the local cantina. She was grabbed by some slavers, who paid the local medic to fix her up, and then they took her off planet. Swag killed the officer. He was 16, so he got the minimum sentence because he was under age--two years in a juvenile detention facility. I won't even tell you what they tried to do to him there, but it was the beginning of his reputation as a killer. His mother was in the Echani military, serving under General Yusanis, and could not take a leave, even to help her son. After he served out his time, he and his mother reconciled. From what Swag told me, importance of family was instilled into him by her. She promised him she would quit the military and they could be a family. She was really sorry for not intervening at his trial."
"What happened to his sister?" Marrex was getting a bad feeling he knew the answer.
"The slavers still had her. Swag told his mother he had to find her, and then they could be a whole family once he brought her home."
Marrex nodded, understanding Swagger's decision. Two years with slavers was two years too long.
"They found the slavers, and while they were extracting his sister, his mother was called to battle. I guess she figured she owed one last fight to the general. Revan led the battle. He killed General Yusanis, and one of the Jedi under his banner killed Swag's mother." Flynn gave a brief nod when Marrex curled his lip in anger.
"Yeah," he continued. "It...broke something inside him. Made him the man he is today. He told me he had to become tough—tougher than anybody else—because, after losing his mother he was even more determined to protect his sister. He became a warrior—a tough warrior—and pushed anything soft, any part of him that cared, down deep. The people that matter to him are taken from him, so it's safer not to care at all. It's easier to maintain the tough guy image and smoke killer designer drugs and be as sharp and cold as the steel he wields than to risk losing someone else." Flynn paused, his eyes watching some far away scene.
Marrex let out the breath he'd been holding. "He's got one hell of a reputation."
"To the outside world," Flynn agreed. "But when you became part of his crew, you entered that small circle of folks he allows himself to care a smidgeon for. He felt betrayed when you turned out to be a Jedi, Mav." Flynn uncrossed his arms and they fell loosely to his sides. "He told me this when we first met. He was after me as a bounty—hard lesson to be taught, a messy, bloody corpse to show others that going contrary to Vogga the Hutt's wishes ain't a wise decision. I knew who he was. Rep done preceded him. I tricked him into playing cards and getting drunk—well, I slipped something into his drink. Funny, though, Swag ain't a mean drunk. He was---well, dammit, fun. We hung out. I won big that night at pazaak." He sniggered. "In one night, due to my tutelage, on his 20th birthday he got lewd, rude, screwed and tattooed." His chuckle deepened as he recalled the memory of that night. "We got the same tattoo and hit it off, so instead of offing him like I would've, I offered him the credits I made that night and a deal. We put on a show for Vogga using some very realistic blood squibs, making Swag look like he carried out the hit. Swag got paid, bought The Seeker and I signed on as his first crew member. Later on, we became partners. Been brothers in arms since that night."
Marrex turned away, shoulders slumping. "I...hate to leave. This ship, the crew....I understand where he comes from, Flynnie. I lost a lot of people I cared about in the wars. But..."
Flynn crossed his muscular arms over his broad chest. "You ain't leaving. I wasn't bluffing. Neither was Gunny. Swag knows that."
"I'm surprised you don't feel the same way about Jedi," Marrex muttered, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice. "I mean, you being a Mandalorian."
"I wasn't a Mandalorian by birth. My parents had been taken prisoner and ransomed, but I was adopted by Clan Ordo." He smiled as memories of Jek-Tir, Canderous Ordo's Clan brother, came back to him. He pictured the tall, broad-shouldered man with his shock of white hair gathered in a pony tail high on his head, wrapped with skull fragments and the teeth of his enemies. He saw again the scarred visage and blue-green eyes that had always looked like the Manaan sea. The man had been a tough taskmaster, always drilling Flynn and making him push his strength to its limits. Jek-Tir had died in the Mandalorian War on Dxun. Flynn had been young, only allowed to set mines and carry ammunition packs for the more grizzled and experienced warriors. Jek-Tir had kept him out of harm's way, telling him to return to the entrenched base for more supplies. He ended the brief history lesson by saying, "When I returned to the path I found Jek'Tir and his entire squad dead, slain by lightsabers."
Marrex had listened with ever-growing dismay. He rubbed the stubble on his chin and his grey eyes were apologetic. "Seems like you and Swag have your reasons for hating Jedi."
"Hate 'em?" Flynn shrugged. "Naw, it was war. What Swag has to come to terms with is that you ain't the Jedi who killed his mother."
"No, but I was on Dxun and I might have been one of the Jedi who took out Jek-Tir and his squad."
Flynn grimaced. "Not really helping your cause any, Mav. " His eyes twinkled. "I don't hold grudges, unlike that mean son-of-a-muffin in there." He sniggered and Marrex snorted a laugh, too.
"We make a good team." Flynn grinned, quirking an eyebrow playfully. "Give Swag some time to come to grips with it. Right now, he's living in the past. Once he comes back to the present, he'll make the right decision."
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