Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Depth of One Soul
Chapter Three: Introduction
System shields powered up; in a massive systems check, electricity surged and rerouted itself throughout the circuits and relays of the Corellian VI, forcing Carella and Elianne to withdraw their eyes for a moment as the ceiling lamps glared to life. Darkness receded and retired from the mechanical commotion into the storage and engine compartments. Stark light illuminated the pores of Carella and Elianne's features, letting them both, for the first time when no sense of urgency hung upon them, perceive the other for whom they physically were.
Out of the corner of his eye, still working on reviving navigation and defence systems, Kay'l could only watch on as two flickering black silhouettes skimmed around the infrastructure of the command ship, the Valin Harvester, in smooth attack formation. A5, jittering forward as its sensors kicked into action, had seen it too.
"You have got to be kidding," he whispered dryly.
In the lone instant that followed, Kay'l barked a derogatory exclamation before the ship felt a sudden jerk to one side. The lights in the commons room swayed from side to side; Carella instinctively grabbed the armrests of her seat for balance, and Elianne thoughtfully did likewise.
Kay'l stormed out of the cockpit and up through the hallway in front of them, keeping his left hand on the wall for compensation. "I don't believe this," he muttered, befuddled though as resolute as he had been heading back to the ship. "Looks like we've got company – and we haven't even detached from this blasted Sith frigate yet."
For an instant, Carella's features lit up to speak, though she quickly realised arguing about it now was pointless.
"They don't even care about damaging their own airlock – or anything else from the look of it."
"Zaithla'in is not behind this," Carella mumbled blankly, her eyes staring down at the floor plating, as if absorbed in and not prepared to share her own inference, for the moment.
"Well, whoever it is, they're not coming on us slowly. These shields won't hold this kind of targeted firing for long. And neither will that ship's grav well if we go down..." Kay'l paused for a moment, searching for any other option whilst giving the two a chance for their own suggestions.
"Well, this ship's got one piloted turret. You two take the controls and do what you can. Once Varon gets back I'm wasting no time getting us out of here," Kay'l ordered, setting off across the main room and rushing up a set of stairs in a far corner, fixing a headset comm-link over his right ear with his free hand. Carella and Elianne looked about in dumbstruck wonder. The ship rocked about again, and Elianne looked at Carella somewhat accusingly, before the woman stood and made a rush for the cockpit. The child fearfully followed her.
Lifting his feet up over the last leg of a ladder, Kay'l stretched down onto the horizontal gunner's chair, glanced over the system schematics, flicked a few switches, and buckled in non-committally. Only seconds later, an ion bolt scored the Corellian VI's surface, denting the turret pane in front of him. Kay'l cursed, but he did not hesitate. Screen relays charged and loaded, green lights flared to life, indicating an array of subsystems had gone online, and the dark, mottled twin-handled joystick raised itself upon a panel in front of him. Running his hands through its edges, he felt the ambition, the beatifying surge of adrenaline rushing through him. The turret moved – uneasily at first, as the joystick clearly told him; but it was functional. Surrendering a warm grin across his revived features, Kay'l clutched the worn instrument in his hands, then spun the target scope round hard.
The fighters came in quickly. Compensating, then estimating, Kay'l watched the ship glide through open space as calmly as a gentle breeze. Bringing the turret round just as they made their run, Kay'l hunched over the scope and squeezed the trigger, launching two beams of ion energy towards one. The starfighter evaded just in time, sensing its danger before Kay'l had opened fire. Shaking his head in readiness, Kay'l focused on the next fighter's run, coming in from an angle too far away from the turret's current direction for him to compensate for in time, though he tried just the same. More ion blasts pounded the blue energy shield, rocking the ship around in their wake.
Sighing, Kay'l locked his eyes onto the next run, squinting at the tiny, glimmering starfighter with renewed intensity. He had only wait for it to come in range.
"Kay'l, is that you?" a voice fizzled softly over the headphone in his ear.
"Carella?" Kay'l answered hesitantly, taking a moment to recognize her. "W-...-what are the shield levels at?" he called. The fighter lithely flew by, his return fire discharging into open space.
A thin static returned to the intercomm a few seconds later. "... Looks... like it's at 46, if I'm reading it right," she replied. "Wait... no, is the blue ring the armour plating?... 28. I think. Is there anything we can do?"
Kay'l thought for a moment between firing rounds, intently watching both the fighters while he still kept an eye out on what little he could see of the airlock to his left. They didn't have much time left.
"Take a look at that panel just above your left leg – you're sitting in the pilot's chair, right? Well, go to it. There's a green button just to the upper left of its centre. Hit that. It should be powered up by now..." he trailed off.
"Okay," Carella mumbled helplessly.
Right below Kay'l's gun turret, a small, thin auto-targeting laser twisted and raced into action, opening fire in short, controlled bursts at the nearest enemy starfighter.
"That'll teach 'em," Kay'l thought aloud, bringing the turret to bear on the next one's attack run. This time, the ship dived in a straight, direct course, surprising him – likely targeting the cockpit, Kay'l guessed. One shot at that unprotected glass when the shields were down would take them out entirely; though that would mean the pilots must think the shields would soon be breached.
Regardless, Kay'l took his time, aimed, waited, and fired, preparing to veer alongside what he assumed would be the ship's flight path. The targeting sensors read a clear, direct shot; he felt some peace of mind pass through him as the turret fired two ion blasts right into the oncoming fighter.
In one sparkling explosion, the craft veered out of the fiery cloud with one wing sundered, imploding against the superstructure of the Valin Harvester just above Kay'l's lookout.
In the din of the explosion, Kay'l cursed aloud; the impact was more than strong enough to have rocked him off his feet if he'd been standing in the cockpit. The controls jerked away from him, out of his reach, and it was a few seconds before he grasped the joystick again and aimed at the remaining fighter. Many long moments passed before Kay'l heard anything from the intercomm again.
Carella looked up at Elianne, whose forehead was bleeding, though she'd managed to stand. A5 had been knocked to the ground beside her – fortunately it hadn't fallen on top of her. "You alright?" Carella asked gently.
Elianne timidly lifted herself up and into the co-pilot's chair, then nodded.
"Alright," Carella said soothingly. Her eyes regarded the young child with a look of compassion and elder pity, before the wake of the situation panged at her senses once more. Intermittently, she turned back to the panel readouts, and her face quickly changed complexion. "Kay'l... shield readout 9, declining quickly."
"Blasted targeting system!" Kay'l shouted, running through the next one's preferred trajectory in his head as he talked. "These should have been replaced more than ten years ago. And not that I'd think that's a problem, well until now..."
A glare lit up the cockpit screen as the last fighter shattered into a billion shards; though as it had already taken some engine damage by the smaller laser, Kay'l could not take full credit for it. He sighed. "Great. Now all we have to do is find Varon."
Some static broke through the intercomm, as well as an astonished sigh. "Waiting won't be necessary," a low voice responded.
Kay'l's reflexes already clicked into action, unbuckling the belt and reclining the seat back to get out of it more easily. "Well... fantastic!" he said, continuing once he sat down in the pilot's chair beside them. "So, did you take down that hyperdrive?"
"What? You didn't hear the explosion?" Varon said, seeming surprised. "The entire engine room was obliterated, along with our Sith friend. The hangar's rigged for explosion. I doubt it'll destroy the ship entirely, but that's what we'll have to live with."
Carella grimly dropped her gaze, now standing beside Varon. "She is dead, then."
"Well, things here haven't been too quiet either. You sure that Jedi's dead?"
"Sith, you mean," Varon corrected, glancing at Carella, "though the Order believes she once may have been a Jedi. I met her just as I entered the engine room, and nothing could have escaped that blast."
Suddenly Carella jerked away, and stepped back. Varon sensed it almost before he could see it, and stretched a hand out to her. "There was nothing you could have done, Carella. The Force was an asset to her, not a calling, and you and I know she cared nothing for you. This is a loss you must overcome."
"No," Carella said simply, bitterly, backing away further until she turned and left the cockpit, likely to head to one of the dormitories. Meditatively, Varon sighed, then seemed to forget the issue, as if nothing of the matter remained unsaid.
Kay'l waited for a moment, passing by the silence as the ship disengaged from the Valin Harvester's air lock. "Do you honestly trust her?" he asked. Both had seemingly forgotten Elianne's presence, who still sat in the co-pilot's chair, as Varon stood behind them.
Varon's voice returned to how it had been when Kay'l had first met him, that of sounding completely unaffected by the entire situation around him. A moment passed before he answered him. "Her fate is yours, Kay'l.
"But what do we have here?" Varon asked genuinely, looking at Elianne now with his full attention. "And where have you been off to?"
Still looking very shy, with dried blood plastered on her forehead and tangled hair, Elianne smiled faintly.
"Come. I'll get that cut of yours looked at," Varon said with a comforting smile, holding her hand as she stood to walk out of the room beside him.
"Heh, if you can get anything out of her, I'll be doubly impressed," Kay'l murmured conveniently, carefully checking the coordinates and controls one last time. The scanners read three incoming short-range fighters swerving along the Harvester's prow, though Kay'l paid them little heed, knowing they'd be out of their reach before it mattered. As he straightened the ship, the hyperspace coordinates were almost calculated.
"Wait," he added. "Varon."
"I'll tell you later," the Jedi replied, his voice almost a whisper. Ringing so clearly, yet so softly that Kay'l thought it came from his own mind.
"W–here..." Kay'l stammered, one arm widely gesturing to the starscape before him. He turned his head back to see him.
"Anywhere," Varon smiled reassuringly, then turned to walk with Elianne to the med room, hand in hand.
Some place with bustling activity, his heart told him. Kay'l's mind wandered, but didn't fall too farfetched from his operations up front; the starfighters were coming in range. In a few heartbeats, the engines rared with electricity; the readout screens flickered with overcharged energy; and Kay'l punched in the coordinates. In one smooth, seamless, mindblowing transition, the faint stars froze in time, and nearby Baranor and Corun waved their fond farewell, blitzing into the space behind before a trail of blue-white energy subdued the ship, and the Corellian VI was nowhere to be found.
Kay'l watched the controls display for an hour longer, slouched in the back of the pilot's seat, before his eyes finally carried a weight of their own, calling him to sleep.
"Hold the fort, kid," he mumbled, patting A5's smooth armour plating before wearily making his way down the small corridor into the main room. The droid whistled a very faint reply, engaging itself out of standby.
Looking about, Kay'l saw the main room was empty, completely devoid of any sign of company. The humming engines purred too loudly for him to hear any talking, so he walked over towards the starboard dormitory at his left, keeping a hand on the wall as he checked the refreshments distiller. Grabbing a mug, Kay'l filled it with cold water, and took a sip; it bore a hint of carbonate, and his lips cringed slightly, as he continued walking.
Rounding the bend, Kay'l saw Carella and Elianne in adjoining beds, sitting down, talking to each other. Elianne was looking the other way, but Carella's eyes caught Kay'l immediately; soon enough Elianne stopped talking, and caught him as well.
Feeling as if someone had put him under a spotlight, Kay'l shyly kept his casual persona, and called, "You two alright?"
Carella looked up at him, a private, demeaningly wounded tone about her features. "Yes. We're fine."
Kay'l took another sip of his water with a roguish, unfazed look about him. "Alright. Well, you just tell me and I'll get something for you," he continued. "It'll be a long trip... just to tell you..."
"Kay'l," Carella said. "Could you leave. Please?"
Berating himself in his mind, Kay'l immediately felt wounded. He knew she could not possibly have any clue of what he was thinking. Truth enough, his eyes had scarcely left Elianne; and his mind, partly in embarrassment, still aimlessly sought for a reason to stay by the girl. He thanked his own consciousness for being so tired this night, for at least she, they, would not notice his response as anything more significant than mere weariness. Slowly, he brought his feet backwards, turning the other way with incredulous strain. Elianne disappeared from him, her face full of life, innocence, childhood mystery. But it was something else – at least for Kay'l, as he well knew. No regular child had – could have – touched him that way before; and in a way it frightened him, just as much as it bedazzled the reach of his imagination.
"Star giants, inter-galactic planetary webways, and the endearing unknown," Kay'l mouthed, though he couldn't tell if his own ears had heard it under his breath or not. Sauntering across the ship, he reached the portside dorm moments later, his mind wavering until his eyes noticed Varon lying down in the furthest bed from the entrance.
In a familiar way, both immediately seemed to accept the other's presence without directly looking at each other; Kay'l sat down on a bed one space away from the Jedi, whose eyes were open, and blankly looking between the ceiling and wall to his left. Sighing, Kay'l ungraciously laid himself down and relaxed, then sat up again after a short while, his eyes imparting his deep thoughtfulness to the cold, metal floor.
"So, where did you get this ship, anyways?" Varon asked helpfully, breaking the obvious shroud about Kay'l's heart.
Kay'l looked up, raising his chin out of his fingers, faintly grinning. "X-4100 Star Cruiser Transport/Rapid Assault Unit, the latest technology out of Corellia for the Republic dominion. 5000 tons, 60 feet, and room for 16 passengers... and 3 turrets if I ever get the credits. This baby's packed with potential as essentially a portable command bridge in any star fleet, and there's only been six ever made, all Republic design." Kay'l sighed, resting his arms on the back of his neck. "Oh, she's not the best you could ever hope for – mostly old parts that need changing, or needed to a few decades ago. A rare, expensive antique, really. But in the right mechanic's hands, she's a force to be reckoned with."
"I take it you didn't find this on the black market, then?" Varon added slyly.
"Oh, it's still charted as owned by the Republic right now," Kay'l admitted, just before he had considered that that detail might work against him in the wrong ears. "She fought in one of the Republic's many wars not too long ago, like the rest of these X-4100 ships. There's not too many of them left, I've heard, though I know of at least two more the Republic holds on Coruscant or some other Core World as some kind of reserve escort. This babe was brutally hit in the war, I think in some skirmish off an asteroid field. When no one replied back on the intercomm for long enough, it was presumed destroyed. Hey, it took a lot of spare parts and weapons changes to rework this beauty up again, but I managed it."
"You were one of the original crew with the Republic?"
"I was one of the young engineers," Kay'l said, nodding, "or pilots, or something like that. The other men who came out of it just left me with the ship as salvage – and considering they were essentially given a free ticket out of the Republic with no past record, they had good reason to get away from this. But I did it: I hid this thing well enough from the most prying of eyes, and by the time I finished it, pretty much everything but the shields were replaced or rewired. Man, if these shields hadn't been intact, I probably would have left her for scrap anyways. They pretty much alone saved our hides getting out of here... or leastways a ton of ship repairs."
Varon left a pause before he continued. "And what does the Republic know?"
Kay'l's features quickly returned to their weary, non-committal demeanour, as they had been moments ago. "I... I suppose they've given up the hunt long ago. Records this far out from the Core Worlds never make it into Republic hands – leastways ones that would recognize an old signature. There's a reason I've kept outside of Republic territory for a while, of course... though I suppose you want me to head back there soon."
Nodding in contemplation, though not at Kay'l's question, Varon clasped his hands and sat up. He closed his eyes, breathed in deeply, and slowly relaxed.
Kay'l's past enthusiasm quickly fled him, soon to be replaced by his returning, brooding thoughts. "So, what do you think of the girl?" he asked.
"Elianne?" Varon said passively. "Strong, good-minded, young girl. I'm afraid of what influences this ship will have on her, but she does deserve her place here."
"You mean Carella?"
"No, not particularly." Varon said with a smile, ruffling the folds of his robes. "I'm afraid what influences the girl will have on Carella, actually."
Kay'l turned his head away contemplatively, too tired to follow Varon. "You knew her once?" he asked.
"I knew she was here. Her records were in an academy I chanced upon before hearing of that equipment transaction on Baranor." Varon sighed. "She has a good heart, and I hope that will be enough for the rest to come."
"What rest to come?" Kay'l asked, though he didn't expect Varon to reply very quickly.
Suddenly Varon turned to him, and looked Kay'l's eyes measuredly. "You've seen her past, haven't you?" he asked.
Kay'l took a moment to discern Varon's meaning. "Yes."
"Then you know why I wanted to find her," Varon answered him.
"But... but what does she actually do?"
Varon's tone became gentler and more subdued. "She has a talent for the Force that has never been seen in anyone, young and old. And it goes far beyond whatever communication you had with her today. I..." He paused. "I don't know what she is capable of, but with strong training, her powers could quite truly be limitless."
"What do you mean?" Kay'l asked.
"I cannot tell you." Varon sighed, slowly lying back down. "But you have been touched by her. Of all the gifts I have ever seen, you should cherish this greatly... treasure this... greatly."
Moments later, when only silence and the soft hum of the hyperdrive rippled through his senses, Kay'l looked down again to the floor in thought. What those half-truthful answers could have meant felt too rhetorical to understand, at least tonight. He knew there was nothing he could do; and slowly, eventually, he lay back down again, put his hands behind his neck, and sighed. And soon enough, his eyes fell, his mind wandered, and his heart dreamed of a lost mind.
What came, felt soft, yet rigid; a veil covered his fingertips. The stars flew by. Galaxies waned. Structure mounted, inflated, reproduced. The insides of the ship ran warily through his mind... feeling the room: the other dorm. Where Elianne was lodged. Her eyes. Cool, pallid, serene. Like distant lightning.
Varon stood before him. Dark robes unfolded, behind him, the hilt of his lightsabre raised; though no blade poured forth. Carella, the opposite side, facing his direction of vision, her outfit that of a calmed, laid-back smuggler, silver breastplate, durable outwear. The stars still flew by, darkness in sight... Locked in sight, scope. True dreams wavered before, wearing out with the waxing time. Eyes half-open; closed; blinded. Future, necessary. The past hid beyond memory. Stars. Planet, with three moons revolving around it. A fourth barely visible.
A chambre. Metal ironworks ramp. Steam rose, gasses, pouring from under his feet. Disappeared. Varon, Carella, Elianne... disappeared. Industry: computers, robots, droids, servants, painful, will-ridden, mindless slaves.
Clear, precise, peacefully tranquil, a mind-blowing expanse of stars, galaxies and furnaced gas giants cast a preternatural aura upon sentience, caressing the strands and fibres well veiled beneath the mottled, heavy black robes of a silhouette. The starscape could often have dazzling, befuddling affects upon the home-weary, despite however many years of experience one bore in its navigation. No one would ever say why the ever-changing depths of space could hold one so captivated; for they would merely bid another to experience it for oneself. One, here, pondered long and hard on this interpretation.
But clouds soon fizzled away clarity, giving way to...
An eye blinked open. What was he to make of this? The recognition of a glimpse at the ceiling had already clarified his thoughts between his truths and his dreams. But why? What became of it?
Suddenly Kay'l felt his eyes. And shoulders. They were still tired, it seemed. Not unnatural for space travel, of course, as one rarely had the comfort of a soft, welcoming bed that wasn't tossing about; but his mind couldn't get off the subject. Stark, yet stagnant, the dream remained in his mind, fixated there, as if taunting him to travel its depthful revelation for a while. But he couldn't, he mused. Where, how... he had forgotten. Why, he had forgotten too, if ever he had known. What memory he had left felt like a cancer inside his memory, and it so cooly tempted him to follow its transparent footsteps, into... where, he didn't know... His mind hurt. His head, too, swayed and rocked in the shadowy corner of his bed, turned away from the lights in the room, to better reflect on his fresh memory.
Was it a memory? A dream, perhaps. It didn't sound, or feel, like the vision he shared with Elianne. Grassy fields, he remembered. Something didn't seem right – nothing had felt right since he had taken up the Harvester commander's offer to meet Varon as an escort. What followed through his mind, enrapturing his emotions, aspects and anxieties into one figure of awe, did not coalesce, logically. But he still tried to understand, to recognise and piece together the fragments he could into an iconic mural with which to base his ideas, conclusions, and inferences thereof, upon.
"You alright?"
It came from behind him; instantly, Kay'l's thoughts turned to Carella, slowly recognizing the voice as hers. Reluctantly, he rolled around to face her, thin crinkles covering his weary, disheveled cheek bones, as his eyes strained to see her clearly against the bright lights on the ceiling behind her. Gradually, his lips loosened and twitched slightly, Carella's only indication he seemed to be responding.
"Here, I brought you something to drink," she said hesitantly, extending a plate between her hands, holding one of Kay'l's steel mugs.
Kay'l still couldn't see what emotion was etched on Carella's face for this kind act even if he wanted to, though he heard her well enough and resentfully sat up. Taking the mug with both hands, he didn't nod his thanks until he had taken a first sip... which turned out to be a bad idea. When a droid couldn't get ingredients right, a woman who didn't know a thing about the qualities of black beans or the reasons behind its indulgence was far from a better option. His lips cringed, though he didn't doubt she'd gullibly take that as a compliment. "Thank you," he rasped, coughing.
Carella nodded, and might have smiled from the way Kay'l was looking at her. Carefully, she put the plate on the bed beside him, and stayed in front of Kay'l for a few minutes, somewhat blankly.
"Varon's been at the controls since I got up," she said, "but he told me to give you this. It's something that little droid of yours seemed to spend some time making while the rest of us were awake."
"Well, that explains the bad taste," Kay'l lied, flashing Carella a smile.
Carella looked unsure of his meaning, but knew it was a compliment all the same. Stepping back a few paces, she leaned against the wall in front of him.
"So..." Kay'l managed after drinking most of the brew in half-disgusted, tribulating torment. "What exactly were you and Elianne talking about last night?"
Carella's face suddenly soothed, and she sighed. "Oh, nothing important. I'm... I'm sorry I had to kick you out there; it's just, you were kind of disturbing the 'moment,' you know?"
"That's... alright, I guess," Kay'l said non-commitally. What she was talking about he didn't try to understand. "But since when did my ship's dormitories become strictly male-female? I mean – I wasn't out on the controls that long for you three to just come to an arrangement."
Carella grinned, letting out a giggle. "Is there a rule we don't know about? Nothing was said against it, Kay'l... – And I presume you'd have had it differently, wouldn't you?"
"Well, perhaps," Kay'l admitted, dropping his gaze as he realized his own trap. "My bed is on the other side," he hinted.
"Nothing's being planned behind your back, if that's what you're after," Carella stated. "Where exactly are we going, anyway?"
"That depends on what Varon's been doing at the controls, I guess," Kay'l said, sighing. Putting the mug on the tray, he lifted himself up using both hands and stretched.
"Alright," Carella said shyly, reaching out to get the tray again; but Kay'l stopped her.
"No, it's alright. I'll get it, thanks."
Slowly, Kay'l followed Carella into the main room, where Elianne was sitting sheepishly. Looking around, Kay'l put the tray down and went over to the cockpit, stopping at shoulder's length behind the pilot's chair.
"And what are you doing?" he asked demeaningly. A5 whistled hesitantly beside him.
"I trust you've slept well?" Varon asked, spinning the chair around to face him, a sincere smile across his lips.
Kay'l thought for a moment. That dream, and dealing with Carella so early in his 'spacial' morning, was hard to rate. "Where are we headed now, then?"
Varon looked back at the coordinates as Carella walked in behind Kay'l. "That's what I hoped you'd tell me. I've been there before, though why do you choose to go there?" he wondered, daring a guess. "Its neutrality?"
Kay'l stood casually, curious of Varon's meaning. "What? Manaan?"
"-Manaan?" Carella asked, coming to stand beside him.
"It's an aquatic world, covered by oceans. The Selkath keep it as a neutral world between Sith and Republic interactions, hoping to benefit in the profits of its kolto industry to both sides," Varon explained. "There's only one city above the waters, so I presume that's where we're headed."
"Look," Kay'l said, putting a hand on the back of Varon's chair, "I know a high-up weapons merchant who usually deals at that station. And not to be mean to you guys, but there's a lot of work that needs to be done on this ship before I'm going to take her to whatever places that I don't want to go."
"What's his name?" Varon asked.
"Cassus Fett."
"A high up bounty hunter," Carella added, her eyes widening into a surprised glare. "Even I've heard of him, and he means business. And you're one of his partners? I'm impressed."
"Well, strictly trading partners," Kay'l explained. "I've never seen him do any of those legendary exploits you've probably heard of, or even how good he is with a gun. He's really a soft guy when you get to know him," he added, smiling.
"I hope that's good news, then," Varon said. "You're taking a risk in coming to him now, if that Sith syndicate of ours has sent word of anything yet. Your name may fetch a high bounty before this is over, Kay'l."
Carella shook her head slowly. "If Zaithla'in is truly dead, I doubt many will weep for her loss. She had no superior, as far as I know."
"That would be good," Varon agreed, "but I wouldn't count on it. Sith organization is distant, yes, but not immaterial. That deal she was working with included the Exchange, and if they didn't get their half of the bargain... we'll have to stay away from most busy trade worlds for the time being."
"Agreed," Carella said, nodding.
"Well, then, where exactly is it that you want us to go?" Kay'l said, raising the question he'd been longing to ask for a while now. Since then it hadn't ever been clear why they needed to go anywhere at all, so long as they had finally lost the Sith near Corun and weren't being looked for. Or why they even needed to stay together, for that matter.
"You want the truth, don't you?" Varon's face was clouded with an aura of vacuity, and he looked away contemplatively, bringing a hand to his chin thoughtfully as he leaned back on the chair. "Our lives are on the line. The next soul who discovers our presence as the murderers of a Sith Lord will not hesitate to take the renown of becoming our untimely assassin. You may think this an inconceivable notion, for no one knows of us, except by your vicinity to the explosion as per the Exchange's records and Carella's service (and presumed death) onboard that ship. But this is not an ordinary matter, or possible assassin, who would be hunting us: we would be facing either another Sith Lord, or aspiring servant of the dark side of the Force. Killing them will not be easy. And if this happens, we would be massacred should we part ways, and fight him alone."
"Well, that's nice to hear," Kay'l said, beginning to sound infuriated. "So you mean to say I've got an entire crew walking the decks of my ship to save my hide when I have nothing to do with this?"
"Captain, it's obvious we don't see eye to eye. You mean to seek an end to things, and I respect that. But there are greater powers involved here than you know."
"You ask me to destroy myself – is that it? Running, hiding – we wouldn't be living – we'd be surviving – and barely, at that."
"Then are you a survivor?" Varon cornered. He paused. "Look. We'll reach the Pyrshak system in three days and be at Manaan soon after. Until then, I suggest you all start your training. There's much to discover in our time here, and much more if we decide to stay together later on. But also much danger. You will all need to learn the ways of the Jedi, as... unfortunate as that may seem."
A5-T171 let out a draining whistle in the silence that followed.
"But... how?!" Kay'l said, staggered.
Rising to a stand, Varon put a hand on Kay'l's shoulder. "Relax...
"You can feel it within you, something inside of you, can you not?"
Kay'l cocked one eyebrow.
"You have never considered it, sure; but yet you have always known."
Again, the pilot's gut instinct desired, sought a way to refute what he heard. Kay'l had felt it, indeed, though not before a few short days ago, and one long, dreaded sleep.
"Follow me, Kay'l. If you can manage it (which you have proven to me already), then I most certainly can train you. A power of unimaginable strength rests dormant, deep inside all of us. None of us can feel it, like you might vainly try to right now, as I once did before you. Free your mind; you have only to hone your grasp, and it will come to you in time."
Kay'l stood there, beside Carella and Varon, in awestruck wonder, perceiving Varon with every move, every meticulous detail woven about him and his actions. "Well, this is... this is all highly enlightening, but... since when did you think you could train me? Why do you want to become my master? – I mean, is that your way of making amends – commandeering my ship after murdering my employer and butchering her command ship's entire crew? I'm a good fighter, sure – great if you say so – but if you think you can come in and just generally 'toy' round with my entire life from this instant... what in blasted hellfire gives the idea I should just come along and follow you?"
Varon's features no longer took on that condescending look of calm and patient scholasticism, yet again, they did not show frustration or anxiety.
"Calm your mind," he said softly. "Awaken those setting thoughts within your memory. Now, soothe your arms. Feel that aura around you."
Between anger and frustration, the moment Kay'l closed his eyes to blink, he felt it. The anger rose inside of him; his diaphragm compressed to speak, retaliate what Varon had said. But nothing came. The words did not register, his mind did not concentrate, and he found himself, against all supplications, holding his breath.
Carella's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets.
"Now open your thoughts. Feel it; and come with me," Varon began, passing through the hallway with a bemused smuggler in tow, as Carella stared at Elianne in disbelief.