Chapter 4
Gadon was calmly going over a few reports from the base. Medical supplies were running a little low, but aside from that, there was nothing to worry about for today. He would send somebody to the upper city to pick up medical supplies from Zelka's treatment center, those were the cheapest. And with his new Sith uniforms it would be no problem for his people to get past those damn Sith. He heard the door open and he saw Mission Vao, her wookie friend, and the two others that came before.
"Damn, what were their names? Aspyra? No wait, Aspyre, yeah, Aspyre and Carth" he thought to himself.
They came closer and Carth placed the prototype engine in his desk. Gadon called a mechanic and ordered for it to be installed immediately on the swoop bike. Mission was her usual cheerful self and he did the best he could to keep up with what she was saying.
"We held our end of the bargain" interrupted Carth.
Mission threw him a dirty look, but he ignored it.
"Of course, now it's time for me to hold my end" he responded to him. Gadon looked over to the human girl who usually did the talking and found her looking at the ground with a sad look in her face. "Is she ok?"
Carth hesitated for a second before opening his mouth.
"We were trapped when we found the engine; we had to shoot our way out. One of the Vulkars surrendered but she fired before she could stop herself... She's been beating herself up ever since" he said in a quite tone, hoping she wouldn't hear.
Gadon stood listen for a moment and nodded. He didn't mind a dead Vulkar, but he had seen the look on the girl's face before, she was a kind heart, and one of the few left. He knew this must be very difficult for her.
"I have arranged living quarters for all of you; the tournament is in a week, which gives you enough time to practice. Have you ever ridden a swoop before?" he asked the girl with the kindest look he could muster.
"I was the champion of the Deralia track" she replied softly.
Gadon smiled. The girl was a champion, sure he had never heard of that planet which meant she could be making it up, but if it was true, then they were in luck, luck they desperately needed. He mentioned to Zaedra to take them to their rooms and after looking at Gadon with an "I'm-not-some-tourist-guide" look, she lead the way to the rooms.
00
The next week passed by in a blur. Aspyre spent most of the time on swoop bikes. She would race about five times a day, most of the time making impressive records. She broke the Taris national record by two seconds and only one time she came close to crashing. She was accelerating too fast and tried to get on top of the speed pad and managed to get there partially. The result was a rather unstable bump to the right side of the swoop that caused it to spin counter-clockwise. Aspyre held on for dear life, but managed to accelerate just at the right moment to regain some control of the swoop. She crashed against the wall and almost fell down, but with a sudden kick of speed, she went flying back to the fray and managed to finish the track, even though she was behind her best time by ten seconds. There was one thing that still bothered her, and very much. Gadon had told her that the swoop would be unstable once they installed the prototype engine and it would be very likely it would explode after four or five races. So far she had managed to get the best time in her first race every morning, but still it doesn't really take the edge away.
She had tried to speak to Carth several times during the week, but the only time that they spoke he was rather serious with her and only had spoken briefly, he had been scouting for a good position on the swoop track. Her spirits lifted when she thought he would be there rooting for her, but to her dismay, he chose one of the worst seats, front row in the very beginning, those were the ones that saw the beginning of the race, and nothing more. When she tried to tell him that the middle seats where better, he protested saying he could keep an eye on the other racers and he would also have a clear view of the prizes, which meant Bastila.
Aspyre went to her room on the sixth day and took off her clothes. She stepped on the fresher and took a warm shower. She slowly began to feel her aching muscles relax, she felt as her hair got wet and glued itself to her back all the way to her thighs, she took special care of her hair and it took her about half an hour to wash it completely and make sure that there was nothing between her strands of gold and white. She rubbed her entire body with soap, something the apartment in Taris had been missing ever since she woke up and she could not by happier to see it again. She rinsed herself, grabbed a towel and wrapped herself with it, no longer feeling as tired as she did when she entered. She stepped out of the fresher and dropped the towel on the floor. She started putting on her underwear and was halfway done, when she heard the door to her room open. She felt her face go crimson red but thankfully her back was to the door and she managed to clumsily put her tank top on before turning to the door, praying with all her might that it was Mission who was there coming to wish her luck and not him, please, please not him, she had enough embarrassment with him already and he was her commanding officer!
Her face dropped when she saw none other than, of course, Carth Onasi at the door. It was quite clearly, too much to ask for a single encounter with the man in which she wasn't completely embarrassed and humiliated. He stood at the door, his eyebrows raised, looking directly at her. For a second the silence lingered in the air like it had become solid matter and she heard her heartbeat louder than anything else. He simply gazed at her, even though she was visibly uncomfortable with him there; he tried to speak but had to clear his mind of what he had seen only a few moment ago.
"I-I just wanted to wish you good luck tomorrow at the track" he told her. She nodded at him and murmured thanks, thinking that what she needed was some proper motivation he continued. "And you better come back in one piece soldier, when you're done playing in the track we have some actual work to do."
She looked at him and after a brief moment of hesitation she smiled and nodded at him.
"Yes sir!" she said in a formal tone.
Carth smiled at her and went back to his room, fighting back images as they jumped to his mind. He had been impressed by the natural beauty of her body, but that was nothing new, what had amazed him was the large scar in her stomach that started under her left breast and ended on her upper left thigh, exactly where her dress had ended, he recalled. Shaking his head he made his way to room and decided he needed a good night sleep.
00
Aspyre tried to go to sleep; she tossed and turned for a few hours but to no avail, sleep was just eluding her tonight. She put on a pair of pants and a jacket and made her way outside her room to the main area of the base. It was unusually quiet, there were only a few Beks walking around and they seemed pretty busy so she left them alone. She went to the garage to check out the swoop bike one more time; she would feel safer if she at least checked it herself.
She descended to the garage and found it completely empty. For a second she wondered where all the Beks were and a small pun came to her mind. They were hidden. She giggled at her own joke and resolved to tell it to Mission tomorrow after she won the race. She found the swoop and started to check the engine, trying to not make much noise. After a few hours she decided she had done her best to fix any little kinks she had found and the swoop was as ready as it would be. She turned around and saw a small window. Curiosity got the best of her and she approached it, standing on her toes to get a better view. She saw that the window allowed her a great view of the under city and she could see the northern part of the city all the way to the entrance of the sewers. She noticed a dozen or so Rackghouls were running around and silently hoped that everybody was safe inside. She was about to leave when something caught her eye. A man was standing in the middle of the clearing, waiting for the Rackghouls to come to him. She gasped when she recognized him, it was him! It had to be, nobody could carry a blaster rifle that huge and pretend to know how to use it. It had to be the Mandalorian!
She saw him lift his rifle and waited a few more seconds until the Rackghouls came into his field of vision, he opened fire on them and very soon almost all of them were dead. She saw him put away his blaster rifle and pull out a vibroknife. He waited for the remaining two Rackghouls to come closer to him and as one of them leaped; he ducked under it and knifed it in the stomach, ripping it apart as it flew on top of him. The second Rackghoul charged at him and with amazing speed, the Mandalorian turned and grabbed it by its head before it had a chance to bite him, Aspyre watched as he turned and with full momentum, smashed the beast's skull against the ground. She was sure that had she been able to hear, she would have heard the Rackghoul whimper before it died. The Mandalorian, Canderous, she remembered, stood up and looking around him to check for any more beasts, grabbed his rifle and took off, unknowingly being watched by a new secret admirer.
Aspyre saw him leaving her sight and felt a new sensation in her chest. He had been so fast, so precise, so… beautiful? She recalled his movements, he fired ten bolts, all of them hitting their targets; he dropped his rifle and pulled out his knife and quickly gutted one of the beasts, he turned around and smashed the last one against the ground. He had moved precisely, all of his moves planned ahead and it had seemed like it had been one single movement, from the lifting of his rifle to the smashing of the beast, it had been simply perfect. Aspyre left the garage, still remembering the beautiful Mandalorian dance of death she had seen. She went to her bed and with the memory fresh in her mind, drifted to sleep.
00
"The council cannot ignore your transgression" master Vrook said severely.
"You both know very well that passion will lead you to take the path of the dark side, it is inevitable" stated master Zhar in his native tongue.
"it is important that you learn from this mistake, young padawans and never repeat it, you may have escaped the clutches of the dark side this time by the timely arrival of master Dorak, but we must make sure the temptation is never present again" master Vandar said slowly.
"The council has decided… that it is best to transfer Alek to the Jedi Academy of Coruscant and finish his training there" finished master Dorak, a hurt look in his eyes.
Revan felt her knees buckle, she felt the hard ground as it slammed against her legs and she felt Alek's hand lifting her from the ground and holding her up. She could not believe, why were they so blind? Why couldn't they see? They couldn't take Alek away from her; she would not ALLOW them to take him away from her. The five men in the room felt her anger as it began to rise and spread across the entire chamber. She felt as the anger grew inside of her and she felt like she was about to burst. It crawled across the room, contaminating everything, consuming everything, tendrils of hatred and anger ran amok, but not directed at the masters specifically, but at the situation, and a little at herself. Then Alek did the only thing that he knew would calm her. He grabbed her shoulders and turned her towards him, and kissed her.
The pair felt the indignation of the council as soon as they're lips pressed together but then they sensed something else. Revan's anger, her frustration and fear of losing him, all disappeared completely. They did not hide beneath a curtain of calmness, they did not disguise themselves away from view, they vanished, they utterly and completely banished. The members of the council stood in silent awe as they watched what was taking place in front of them. Revan's aura achieved what only those who spend entire days meditating managed. Revan's aura was at peace, true, utter and total peace.
He separated her from him and saw the smile she had in her face, he smiled in return and placed his hand on her waist as she turned to the council. She spoke in a firm voice, no longer begging for forgiveness and mercy, but rather speaking to them, discussing to them.
"Masters of the Jedi enclave of Dantooine" she addressed respectfully. "I ask that you see reason, passion leads to the dark side, I will not discuss that, but there is nothing in the Jedi Code that speaks of love as forbidden, it is encouraged! Truly you can sense how I feel right now. I feel so calm, so complete and more at peace than I have ever been, even after long hours of meditation. Do you not see? Alek makes me whole, he is the one that completes me, makes me want to wake up in the morning and tackle a new day. I ask of you to simply see reason, our love causes no harm, would you deny us that simply because of what the code says? Would you throw our love away without even analyzing it, studying it, learning from it? Please, I am not asking for you to forgive us immediately, I only ask you to do what you would with any other problem, discuss it and see what the right solution is. I know that in your wisdom you will see that I am right. I do not speak out of pride masters, I speak out of experience. Surely at least one of you must have been in love at some point. Surely at least one of you must know how we feel?"
The masters of the enclave were silent for a moment until Master Vandar spoke.
"We will think of what you have said Padawan; we will summon you when we have reached a verdict"
Revan and Alek bowed and made their way to the center of the Enclave. They sat down on the grass and Revan leaned on Alek while they waited for the council decision. He grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to him and hugged her. They drew many looks, both of confusion and some others of a more, judgmental nature, but they could not care less.
"If… if the council decides to send you to Coruscant, them I will quit the order" Revan said firmly.
"Don't worry love, they will see reason. They must see it, our judgment is not clouded, our emotions are not unbuckled, and our love has no taint. They will see reason" Alek responded to her, though inwardly he was reassuring himself. They remained quiet, waiting for the council's response. It took hours, but finally a young Padawan walked over to them and tapping Revan's shoulder, told them the council was expecting them.
"The council has decided that you are right, Padawan Revan. We have come to the conclusion that what you spoke is true. Your relationship does not seem to rely on the passions that we thought. We see it know, you two radiate auras of peace, you seem to be each other's support and you might just be what prevents each other from reaching your respective shatter points" master Dorak explained with a smile on his face.
Revan could hardly believe her ears, a smile spread across her face and she turned to Alek, who had an equally bright smile on his.
"However" Master Vrook added and they both spun around to face him "If we see that this relationship of yours is slowing either of your training, we well go back to our original decision."
Both of them hastily nodded to him.
"We will not disappoint you master Vrook, that I swear" Alek stated.
"We swear, we will become Jedi, and you will be proud of us. We will not falter, we will not fail Masters. And I wish to thank you for giving us this chance, you won't regret it" Revan said, hardly being able to contain her gratefulness towards the masters.
Dorak nodded at them and they took their leave. They were hardly out of the enclave when Revan jumped on top of Alek and they both fell to the ground laughing and barely able to contain their happiness. They rolled down the tiny hill and she ended on top of him, she met his beautiful eyes and slowly drew her face closer to his.
"Thank you, my love" she whispered to him.
"What for?" he asked, only slightly confused.
"From helping me find the words" she said and kissed him.
00
Aspyre opened her eyes and for the first time since she arrived on Taris she felt relaxed, she felt calm, she felt at peace. She had another dream last night, but her memory failed her, she only remembered bits of it. Any other time she would have tried to find out what she had dreamt, but today she just felt so peaceful that she couldn't care less. She got up and felt as if her body was brand new, none of her bruises were there and she felt no discomfort as she stretched her legs. She untied her hair in the rather huge bun that she tied it in when she slept. Even her hair showed none of her usual stubbornness and it simply fell down towards the ground, perfect lines from her skull to her thigh. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw a fresh person looking back at her. Even her scar no longer bothered her. She felt full of energy, ready to tackle the day, as if she had found a purpose in life that refilled her energy reserves. A huge smile was drawn on her face and even the prospect of racing on top of a suicidal time bomb at speeds of 800 mph could do nothing to hinder her happiness.
"When was the last time" she said to herself "that I felt, no scratch that; that I was so happy?"
Aspyre opened the door and went to the main room. Gadon was already there, looking over some papers like he usually did. Zaedra was next to him, forever vigilant. She saw Aspyre coming to them and her hand instinctively went to her blaster. Aspyre rolled her eyes and simply approached Gadon.
"Hey" she said with a bright smile on her face.
Gadon looked up from his stack of papers and checked the girl talking to him. She looked so different from yesterday, what was it, her hair was the same; her riding outfit was the same she wore the entire week. And then he saw it, it was her face, her eyes were no longer red, she was smiling from ear to ear, and she looked like she had a glow inside of her, trying to get out.
"Well, somebody's excited today" he said with a smile on his face.
She smiled even more at him and he felt as if a ray of light escaped from her mouth. He nodded with a smile on his face, the result of the contagious nature of her own, and gestured her towards the main exit. They walked to the race track and to her surprise; she saw that Carth, Mission and Zaalbar were already in their seats, she smiled at them and Carth nodded at her, Mission started screaming and cheering her and Zaalbar roared something about being careful. She approached her Ithorian mechanic and they started going over the swoop, she told him she had tightened some screws last night and how she had fixed some kinks she had found but nothing mayor. The Ithorian told her that her bike was ready and that with all the repairs they had done, the stability would not be a problem, although his neck seemed to compress a little around the sides as he said it. Clearly he was not a very good liar. She thanked him and went to get ready for her heat.
As she passed the lobby, she saw a woman in a cage, wearing a backless skintight suit that barely covered her chest and left her legs exposed. Aspyre saw a band on her head that seemed to send some kind of pulse to her. She seemed disoriented and could barely hold herself standing up, her legs were red and had hand marks and Aspyre assumed she had been smacked multiple times. Her neck and chest showed some bruises and when she got a better look, she was able to see teeth marks on the top of breasts, her legs and even her cheek. She felt sorry for her and went to see if she could help her but a pair of Black Vulkars stood in her way, using their double bladed vibroblades to stop her.
"Stay away from the prize, human!" One of them barked at her.
She took a step back and silently obliged. The sudden realization hit her of who she was. Prize. She was the republic officer they took prisoner. She was the Jedi they were looking for. She was Bastila. As Aspyre was walking away, Bastila managed to lift her head and look in front of her, straight at her, but her eyes looked dead, despite being having a beautiful light brown color, they looked dull, lifeless, even pale. They remained in place for a long time, Aspyre staring at Bastila and Bastila staring through Aspyre, her eyes focused on a galaxy far, far away. After an eternity, she finally lowered her head and slumped forward, her bonds holding her up for display like a piece of meat.
00
After a few minutes she found herself sitting in her bike and waiting for the green light. She saw the red light turn off and the yellow light turn on. She felt a bead of sweat run down her neck and chest and she felt the rush of adrenaline as her body and mind prepared for what was coming. Time slowed to a crawl and she swore a few minutes passed between the yellow and green light. The green light turned on and she kicked off the safety and pressed the accelerator. She felt as the sudden acceleration pushed her back and she grabbed the handles even tighter, she saw the first speed pad to her left and eased into it, it was crucial to get the first pads perfectly or the swoop's stability would be compromised and it would lower her overall time. She felt another burst of speed take the swoop to as fast as it would go and she switched gears. The noise coming from the engine grew even louder as she entered second gear and went for the next pad. She kept progressively getting faster, the world was turning into a blur, she had no idea how many seconds had passed since she first started. Another burst of velocity sent her to the sixth gear and she felt as the bike started to protest and groan. She saw it, a few more meters; just a few and she would reach it, the gorgeous red paint that indicated the end of the race. She passed the finish line and pressed the brakes as soon as she felt it was safe to slow down.
She jumped from the swoop and checked out her time hoping it was similar to the ones she had done before. Her heart jumped to her throat when she saw the time. It was less than what she had done at the track, it was even better than her time in Deralia! She jumped up and down with joy when she saw how good she had been.
18:03. Carth stared at the time on the screen. He could hardly believe it, she had sped like there was no tomorrow, she passed on top of every single speed pad and had not even come closer to touching one of the piles of debris that was on the field. He heard Mission screaming at Aspyre, cheering her and soon found himself whistling and cheering her as she returned to the racer's lobby.
She was skipping happily back to the Ithorian and had he had a frontal mouth he would have been grinning at her. He ran to her and hugged her and lifted her to the sky.
"You did it! That was amazing; nobody is going to beat the time! Never ever, this record will last forever!" He happily told her while he spun her around. She was laughing happily and hugged him back. After a few more seconds of euphoria she ran to her friends and shared the news. Now all she had to do was wait for her to be declared the victor. Sure enough, many racers tried, but none of them managed to beat her. The one that got closest was a member of the Black Vulkars who managed to get a 21:01 track record.
"That's the last one" she said as she saw the last rider leaving the track, a look of murder directed at her. She turned to the front of the lobby as she heard her name being called by the Duros in charge of the inscription.
"And the winner of this year's tournament, riding for the Hidden Beks" he announced "Aspyre Venar!"
She felt her face redden slightly and she walked towards him. She stopped in front of him and he handed her the prizes. He handed her a suit of light cortosis-weaved armor, a true treasure in this planet and 3000 credits. She bowed to him and thanked him.
"And now, to present this year's especial prize, leader of the Black Vulkars, Brejick!"
"People of Taris, before I present you with your so called "Champion" I have a revelation to make. The Hidden Beks used a modified swoop to win this race, clearly giving her an unfair advantage; because of this I am withdrawing my share of the prize!" he stated to the shocked audience.
Aspyre felt her face redden with the shame of the realization. How had she not seen it before? It was true, she realized, she had cheated. She didn't deserve to free Bastila, she didn't deserve her armor and she did not deserve her credits. She respectfully handed the armor and the credits back to the Duros and bowed to him, apologizing to him and Brejick. The Duros however handed it right back at her and turned to Brejick.
"You cannot do this, Brejick! Removing a prize goes against our most ancient traditions!" he replied to him.
"You fool! Your rules mean nothing to me. I am the future, if I want to sell this woman in the slave market, there is nothing you can do to stop me!" he yelled at him.
"I may have something to say about that, Brejick" a very firm and angry voice spoke out.
They all turned around when they heard the voice coming from the prisoner's cage. The woman had freed herself and was standing in front of a dead guard, her foot in his throat and his double vibroblade in her hands.
"What? You were under a neural band restraint! How did you-?" he started.
"You underestimated a Jedi's mind, Brejick" she stated. And her voice suddenly turned icy cold. "A mistake you will not live to regret."
Aspyre elbowed the guard next to her, she grabbed his vibroblade and with a quick somersault she landed next to Bastila and got in a defensive stance. Carth jumped from the seats and he pulled out his blasters, Mission next to him with her blaster drawn. Zaalbar jumped and landed on top of a Vulkar, crushing his neck in the process. They entered a defensive stance and waited to see what happened, although they all had a vague idea of what was going to occur.
"Vulkars to me! Kill the Jedi! Kill the racer! Kill them all!" Brejick ordered.
And then all hell broke loose.