The Undercity proved to be living up to its name in everyway. Mostly because of the depressingly long elevator ride. I swear, I had never been on a lift that took so bloody long to get anywhere.
"So, Sarna, what's it like, being a sith I mean?" Breni asked, breaking the silence.
Sarna shrugged. "Dunno. What's it like being a jedi pawn?"
"What do you mean by that?" Breni demanded, putting a hand on her vibroblade.
Rolling her eyes, Sarna explained, "What I mean is, can you sum up what it's like to be a jedi in a few simple words? I suppose I could tell you that its boring with lots of paperwork, but that doesn't really answer your question does it."
"Er, no," Breni admitted. "Not really. I suppose that if I told you being a jedi involved lots of sitting cross legged for hours that wouldn't really sum things up either."
"Exactly," Sarna said, beaming Breni in a surprisingly friendly manner. "There's a lot more to things than just the stereotypes people attach to them."
And on that semi-philosophical note, the elevator door opened. I had instructed everyone to come out on guard for trouble, so Carth and Breni jumped out, weapons at the ready, while I hid behind Sarna with my blasters. If there was trouble or rakghouls waiting for us, we would be ready.
"Ack! Don't hurt us!" And instead of rakghouls, we discovered two filthy men cowering in fear. What a wasted entrance.
"Ah, sorry about that," Carth muttered, lowering his blasters slightly. "We were just worried about rakghouls."
"We're not rakghouls, honest!" One of the grubby beggers whined. "We just stand here and collect the toll!"
"Toll?" Breni asked.
The other ragman slapped the other upside the head. "Nothing! Didn't say nothing. Welcome to the village!"
"Go on you two, clear out of here!" A new voice called, and the two men stumbled away into a garbage heap. I turned to face the new voice, a slightly less filthy young woman. "Sorry about that, they try to beg from anyone who come off the elevator. I'm Shaleena."
"A pleasure," I answered with a smile, extending my hand.
In case your mother never told you, good manners cost you little and can gain you everything. Even if you don't think anyone can give you anything or be of any use to you, being polite is always a good idea. They might just turn out to know something useful or come in handy later. If you stomp around like Malak and his cronies kicking puppies and threatening everyone, you do get results. However, you also inspire fear and resentment. It is far better to be loved than simply feared, though I personally find it best to be both loved and feared. If you can't make someone love you fear is fine, but don't go for that right off the bat
"Uh, nice to meet you," Shaleena said, blushing slightly as she took my hand. She wasn't half bad looking, with a delicate jaw line and deep dark eyes with long eyelashes. If she hadn't been so malnourished or filthy, she would have been rather attractive.
A tragic waste, as is so much of the galaxy. As I have found in my travels, the Republic, and by extension the jedi, are rotten to the core. Their much vaunted freedoms and altruism are nothing more then convenient disguises for the truth: They want the rich and powerful to stay on top and everyone else to stay downtrodden. One thing that will change in my empire, everyone will have a chance to rise to their full potential. Under my rule, naturally.
"Tell me, have you seen a young twilek with a wookie come through here recently?" I asked.
"Oh, you mean Mission and Zaalbar?" Shaleena asked. "They came through here not too long ago, they come through here pretty often."
I nodded my thanks and flipped Shaleena a five credit chit. She could obviously use it. "Thank you. I'm also looking for any Republic survivors or salvage from those pods. If you come across anything, let me or one of my friends here know."
Catching the chit, Shaleena's eyes widdened slightly. "Oh wow, thanks! I will let you know if I hear anything. Mission and Zaalbar headed off that way about twenty minutes ago. If you hurry, you might catch them."
I saluted and lead our party off through the slums. It was bad down here, and crowded. Hundreds living in squalor and filth, sickness, starvation, and a thousand other problems. I frowned slightly. I'm not on a crusade to make the galaxy a better place for anyone but me, but places like this always upset me. These people could be useful, contribute to the economy, serve in the army, have useful skills. From what I knew though, they had been banished here for no better reason than that their ancestors had committed a crime or been politically incorrect. It was stupid really. If you made them into slaves and cared for them properly, at least then you would get some use out of them. But no, they were sent down here to starve and die. Stupid really.
"You there, stranger, you have a strange glow about you. Yours is a terrible destiny."
I spun to find the source of the voice, finding an old man crouching in the shadows of a hut. I frowned. He was apparently force sensitive, and might even have the gift of foresight.
"Carth, Breni, take a look around. See if you can find any information about possible Republic survivors hidden here," I ordered.
For a moment, Carth looked like he might refuse and Breni looked like she wanted to stay, but then Sarna spoke up. "Well, be off you to, Ferc gave you an order." Blessed military discipline.
With an officer speaking, even a sith one, Carth saluted and led Breni off. I squatted down in the hut while Sarna stood guard. "Just what do you mean by that old man?" I demanded softly.
He coughed and gave me a gap-toothed grin. "You have a glow about you, I see it around people sometimes, those who have a great destiny. Sometimes it is a good one, and sometimes bad. But I see it around you."
"Do you know what it means?" I demanded. As any force user knows, the future is a fickle thing. It is possible to foresee something, and then take actions that actually prevent what you have foreseen from ever coming to pass. That doesn't mean the ability is useless, only that like any advise it must be taken with a grain of salt.
"I know not. Perhaps you are the one to lead us to the Promised Land?" The old man asked his eyes gleaming slightly.
I frowned, did he know of my plans? Of the Star Forge? "What do you mean, Promised Land?"
"It is a legend of my people, a place where we may go to be free. I sent my apprentice to seek it many days ago, but he has not returned. I fear for his life, but perhaps you may succeed where he has failed."
Ah. A savior myth. You would be surprised at just how often jedi get hailed as foretold heroes and saviors by various cultures around the galaxy. It's not that they see jedi in particular, just that jedi tend to meet the worst of the stereotypes about heroes. I mean think about it, when was the last time you saw an ugly jedi? With the force, most of them tend to be fairly charismatic as well, not to mention even the weakest of jedi knights is a fairly formidable warrior with a deadly weapon. Wrap all that together and you get the generic savior.
"I see," I said, standing and dusting myself off. "If I see anything like that, I'll let you know."
"Very well," The old man sighed. "Dark Lord."
I froze, then glared back down at him. "What do you mean by that?"
He shrugged. "I see that in the past, you wielded a dark and terrible power. You served only yourself, and you would have brought ruin to the galaxy if you had not been swayed from your path. Now you must choose, to be what you once were, or something else entirely."
"So that's how it is then, old man," I rubbed my jaw and shrugged. "I'll tell you what, if I come across anything, I'll pass it your way. But no promises. As you said, I'm the Dark Lord, not the Light Namby-Pamby."
"I do not know which is worse," the old man murmured. "The darkness that binds, or the light that blinds."
Once again I found myself staring at the old man. He was right you know, when I thought about it. The dark side led to idiocy like what Malak had pulled, but the light side led to a bunch of weak, blind fools like the council who really needed to get laid. I brushed it aside. Time enough to worry about when I was off this wretched world.
As we walked away, Sarna leaned in close and whispered, "What did he mean my lord, about the light and the darkness?"
"That it's possible to end up overly devoted to one side of the force," I answered. "Quite wise actually. Perhaps I'll have to become to first Grey Lord of the Force. I rather like the sound of that actually. Grey Lord Revan. Probably not as much fun as being Dark Lord Revan though."
Sarna didn't quite know what to make of that it seemed, but she masked her confusion quickly enough and said, "As you say, my lord."
"Enough of that, we don't want Ms. Ceekret Jehdi to realize I'm not an amnesiac," I ordered, and Sarna nodded.
"Of course Ferc."
With that on my mind, I led Sarna over to where Carth and Berni had been talking to a group of villiagers. They saw us coming and broke off, Carth nodded to me. "Bastilla was down here. They said she was taken by one of the swoop gangs, probably the Black Vulcars like Gadon said."
"Mission and the wookie came through not long ago as well, they went toward the southwest about half an hour ago," Breni added.
"Excellent, let's see about catching up to them," I declared.
We headed for the gate, when the sound of screaming caught my ear. I broke into a run, and found the gate guards restraining a woman.
"HEDAR!" She was screaming.
"No! No Hester, we can't open the gate, the rakghouls would kill us all!" The guard was telling the hysterical woman.
"But he'll die!" Hester wept.
I looked out the gate, and beheld the rakghouls. They were filthy monstrosities, mutants of the most horrific kind, slober dripped from their gapping maws as they shambled all to swiftly forward on four misshappen limbs. Pressed up against the gate was a hysterical man, in moments the rakghouls would be upon him and tear him limb from limb.
There was no reason for me to save him really. No profit to be gained, no followers that would aid me in reclaiming my throne. But I have a secret for you, one you cannot share with anyone. I didn't join the Mandalorian Wars for the profit. I didn't do it for the challenge. I didn't even do it for the fame and glory. I did it to save people. One thing you should know about me, I wasn't always a jedi. Once, I was a boy on a world who's name I had forgotten. A little boy who's sister had been taken by slavers, and who was willing to do anything to get her back. I stole, I begged, I even tried to kill to get her back. And I couldn't. But the jedi could, and when they came and asked me to come with them, I agreed, on the premise that they save my sister. They did. And that's when I decided to be a jedi.
When I looked at Hester, crying for the life of her husband, I was reminded just why I had set out to be a jedi. Of the same reason I had abandoned that life. For I too had loved, another padawan of the jedi order. Our romance was brief and passionate, and doomed. The masters caught us, and I was sent to Dantooine while she remained on Coruscant. She was long gone, the last I had seen of Meetra she was as broken a woman as any I had ever laid eyes on.
But I had sworn on the day we were parted that any organization that forbid love, passion, life itself, was not one I would remain a part of. Yet now I was torn. The sith had let me satisfy my passions to the extreme, but that had been my doom as well. There had to be another way.
"Lord of the Grey," I murmured.
Breni's eyes widened and she started to turn toward me, but my hand was already in my haversack. I tossed Breni her lightsaber, and then pointed at the guard nearest the gate. He stumbled against the activation button, and I charged forward, blasters in hand.
"Watch my back!" I roared to Breni, and I dived in front of Hedar, firing as I went. One rakghoul went down to my fire, another too shots from behind, probably Carth's or Sarna's. Breni was at my side, her lightsaber a blur as she decapitated another beast. I felt the warm breath of the last one as it rushed me, it's jaw inches from me. I hit it with a massive wave of the force, and sent it flying, tracking it as it fell and sending half a dozen blaster bolts home in its flesh.
And once they were dead, I grabbed Breni and kissed her full on the mouth, pulling her close to me. At first she stiffened and resisted, but then she relaxed and leaned in close, holding me tight as well as we played tongue huttball. Then I let her go and smiled broadly at her. "Something to remind you that the jedi don't know everything," I stated jovially.
She just stared at me wide eyed, her mouth silently moving. One word. Revan. I smiled and nodded at her, slapping her on the back and turning to the man we had just saved. He was holding his wife and rocking her gently as she wept into his tunic. The gate guards were gaping at me, total awe on their faces. Carth was regarding me with newfound interest, and Sarna was standing overwatch. She winked at me when she saw me looking at her, then went back to covering the gate with her rifle. I loved that woman.
"Thank you," Hedar said, his own eyes shining with unshed tears. "Thank you stranger."
"Carth, see to them, tend any wounds they have," I ordered. "Secure the area and stay here in case any other Republic survivors make their way here. Shoot any rakghouls you see and do what you can for these people. I'm going hunting. Sarna, Breni, let's move."
I turned and strode away into the dim undercity, Breni clinging to my side.
Lord of the Grey. I would find the middle path.
Preferably between two woman. What? Oh come off it, I said Lord of the Grey, not Lord of the Goody-Two-Shoes.
Author Note:
The most important thing I added to this fic is that loading screens now come with Mass Effect style elevator conversations. No really, from now on I think I'll have those for every elevator ride.