Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic III
The Shadows Cast by Darkness.
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Chapter 1: Into the Unknown
"Rest now, Kreia. Your time in this place is over."
A sigh escaped the lips of the black-cloaked woman that stood before him and her body fell to the floor. After so much suffering, Jancen Frost took a small measure of peace knowing that his teacher, Darth Traya, had found her own peace, and died simply Kreia. Jancen Frost sighed and clipped his lightsabers back to his belt. The fight had been a long one, one that had been just as emotionally draining as it had been physically. But now at last, he felt as though he were finally perfectly in tune with the Force. Upon his last visit to Malachor V, he had been a different person. He had been impulsive and brash, and acted before he thought. He had not tried to understand the why. He had not tried to understand why the Mandalorians had begun their war, but now he did.
Now he knew what Revan knew. Now he knew about these "True Sith" and the threat they posed to the Republic. It was these Sith that were responsible for the Mandalorian Wars, and Jancen had his suspicions as to why.
Of course, none of that would matter if he didn't get off Malachor V.
A giant tremor shook the Trayus Core with thunderous force and Jancen could see massive chunks of rock fall from the surrounding walls. He turned around, prepared to run back through Trayus Academy to the Ebon Hawk, but another tremor shook the planet and the stone bridge that led to the academy crumbled under another rain of cave stone. Jancen gave a weary sigh and slumped his shoulders. So this was to be his ultimate fate, was it?
'If it is,' he thought, 'I suppose that'll be that.'
He walked to the center of the platform he had fought Kreia on and sat down. All around him, the cave and the platform crumbled. Stone crashed against stone, shattering in slow explosions that roared with the fury of a dying planet.
'Bao-dur must've activated the Mass Shadow Generator,' Jancen thought abstractly.
Another chunk of cave-stone crashed through the platform, alarmingly close to where Jancen sat, but the born-again-Jedi did not move. Jancen had accepted his fate, and despite all the things he would've liked to do, Kreia's revelation that his actions had brought, and would bring, peace to those who so desperately needed it was more than enough for him to die happy with. Only moments later, when he heard the familiar hum of the Ebon Hawk's ion engine, did Jancen move.
'Maybe this isn't my final fate after all.'
Right on cue, the Ebon Hawk rose into view and Jancen smiled as he sensed more than saw Atton Rand frantically gesturing for him to get in before the whole planet collapsed around them.
Jancen's lips split into an ear-to-ear grin as he released his perceptions into the Force. He could feel surroundings in all their immense entirety and let the Force fill him completely. Rising from sitting into a low crouch, Jancen launched himself through the air, propelled and guided by the Force, toward the Ebon Hawk. At the apex of his jump, Jancen flipped forward and further used the Force to slide open the Ebon Hawk's topside access hatch and effortlessly guide him gracefully through that small opening. When he landed on his feet, the Handmaiden, Brianna, was there to greet him. Their eyes locked, and both smiled as they saw the other was unharmed. Next instant, Brianna pressed her first two fingers onto the ship's Intercom and spoke.
"He's in Atton, get us out of here!"
"Roger, will do," came Atton's reply as, shortly after, the Ebon Hawk gave a massive lurch and shot toward the Malachorian sky. Jancen and Brianna both walked toward the cockpit, bracing themselves against the inner walls of the ship as the Hawk pitched and shook as it fought the increasing gravitational forces that were crushing Malachor into itself. As they neared the cockpit, Jancen and Brianna could hear Atton cursing as he fought to control the bucking freighter.
"What's the problem?" Brianna asked.
"Bao-dur's…blasted Remote," Atton said through gritted teeth, "It activated the Mass Shadow Generator!"
"What does that mean?" Brianna asked again, more urgently.
"The Mass Shadow Generator creates intense gravitational forces," Jancen explained, remembering how Bao-dur had explained things 10 years ago, "It basically creates a powerful gravitational vortex, sucking everything within range into its core; crushing them"
"Basically, we're screwed!" Atton interjected.
"But there has to be something we can do!" Brianna said desperately.
"Well…I'm open to suggestions!" Atton said as he forced the Ebon Hawk around another piece of debris.
Jancen stood silent and still as he contemplated the situation.
'There is something we can do. The Force would not have brought my friends to me if it intended us to die here.'
Jancen knew there had to be a way out. He knew it was there, he just didn't know where. Slowly but surely, Jancen could feel the Ebon Hawk's speed decrease moments before Atton shouted likewise. Jancen knew that time was running out and slowly, a tense urgency crept through his muscles. Through the Ebon Hawk's windshield, Jancen could see rocks crumbling from the sides of the cave and get sucked down toward the planet's core. Jancen reached out through the Force to search for a solution and could feel the individual currents of gravity pulling on the particles of rock and even on the Ebon Hawk itself. That's when it hit him.
"Currents…" Jancen muttered out loud.
"What?" Brianna asked.
Jancen didn't answer. Instead, he left the cockpit and stood in the hallway. Once there, Jancen extended his arms and placed his palms against the cold metal of the ship and let his perceptions flow through the Force, spreading throughout the ship and into the surrounding space. He could feel himself spread throughout all he could perceive. He was the ship, he was the falling rock, and he was the currents of gravity pulling on the rocks and the ship. He waited there, as the Ebon Hawk began to descend toward the center of the gravity field created by the Mass Shadow Generator. He waited while he slowly felt more and more of the gravity currents pulling the Hawk down. He could feel them all, and that's when he made his move. Jancen felt for the points of contact between the ship and the gravity currents, and then sent a massive surge of energy through the Force and disconnected the ship from the currents of gravity pulling it down. The Ebon Hawk gave a sudden, powerful lurch and Brianna and Atton were thrown from their current positions standing next to the galaxy map and in the pilot's seat respectively.
That's when the Ebon Hawk's engines kicked in.
No longer inhibited by gravity, the Ebon Hawk shot forward and hurtled skyward.
"Atton, get back on the controls. Push the engines to full!" Jancen barked, straining with the effort of keeping the ship disconnected from gravity.
Atton scrambled back into the pilot's seat and immediately followed Jancen's orders.
As the Ebon Hawk continued it's frantic flight away from the Trayus Core, Jancen struggled to continue to keep the ship disconnected from gravity.
"This must've been how Nihilus raised the Ravager,' Jancen thought, still keeping the bulk of his focus on keeping the Ebon Hawk disconnected from gravity.
As the Ebon Hawk tore toward space, Jancen could feel the strain of holding back gravity seep throughout his body. He hadn't anticipated this to be as taxing on his reserves of Force Energy as it was. The longer he held on, the more and more he could feel his perceptions closing down. He began to feel as though he were suffocating and that's when Jancen knew that the point of Force Exhaustion was fast approaching and that he could only hold on for another few moments. He looked up and saw that their race was almost over. Space was almost upon them.
'Come on, come on, come on!!!'
Suddenly, he could feel Brianna place her hand on his shoulder, and he could feel her own Force Energy flow through him. She was giving a piece of her own strength to allow him to keep them all from being crushed by the Mass Shadow Generator. A few more seconds, and the clouds of the Malachorian sky gave way to the starry blackness of space. Jancen reached out through the Force and sensed that the pull of gravity was much weaker, weak enough that the Ebon Hawk could overcome them on her own.
Jancen released his power and disconnected from the ship, as well as surrounding space and pitched forward on to his knees.
"Hey, you alright?" Atton half shouted over his shoulder.
Jancen took several deep breaths and rose to his feet.
"Yeah, I'm alright. Just a little Force Exhaustion."
"Force Exhaustion?" Atton asked, curious.
"It's when a Jedi or Sith uses almost, if not all, their reserves of Force Energy. Contrary to popular belief, the powers of Jedi and Sith have their limits."
"Speaking of Sith," Atton said, a hint of disdain coloring his voice, "Where's the old witch?"
Jancen took a deep breath and Brianna looked at him concernedly.
"She's dead," he said after a while.
"Tch, good riddance," Atton scoffed smugly.
"Hey, that's not fair, Atton," Jancen responed, though his voice sounded weak.
"Oh yeah? And how is that not fair? She tried to kill you, and all of us! Look at how she used you! How she used all of us!!!"
"Yeah, she did. But she was also more consumed by pain, and the hate born from that pain, than any of us could possibly imagine."
"That's still no reason to do what she did."
Jancen nodded in agreement but said nothing; Atton and Brianna both took the hint.
"So where to?" Atton asked.
"Telos. I need to speak with Admiral Onasi. And after that..."
Jancen trailed off as the realization of what he was about to say fully sank into him.
"After that?" Atton prodded.
Jancen sighed, he knew what he needed to do.
"Into the Unknown Regions."