Just wanted to say thanks for reviews!

Chapter Five – The Harbinger

Atton shook his head. "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you right – I must be going deaf in my old age. Could you run that by me one more time?"

Aeryn glowered at the man in frustration as they stood indecisively outside the loading door to the Harbinger, and said with false calm, "Look, I know it's a crazy plan, but-."

Atton interjected, "Yeah, well crazy does seem to be your theme."

"BUT," she continued loudly, "we really don't seem to have much of a choice here. We have to get the drift charts from the Harbinger, and then make a run for the Ebon Hawk. Unless of course you'd prefer to stay here and get diced by Sith assassins."

"And these are my only options? Hell, I was probably better off in my cell!"

Atton looked an equal mix of bemused and angry as Aeryn stepped up to him and glared with all her wrath as she spat, "You're more than welcome to go back. In fact, it would be my pleasure to lock up your stupid a-."

"Enough!" Kreia hissed angrily. Both Aeryn and Atton fell silent at the command. "Our lives hang in the balance, and you two stand bickering like fools. Now is not the time for such divisions."

Aeryn's first instinct was to say, "Well, he started it!" but one look at Kreia's face and she quickly swallowed the retort, instead offering, "Okay, I agree. But unless anyone has a better idea, I think our best chance is to try our luck on the Harbinger."

Kreia was silent and thoughtful for a moment, then said quietly, "I agree with this plan."

With a sigh of resignation, Atton muttered, "Okay, but I know I'm going to regret this."

-

The only sound inside the Harbinger was the hollow footfalls of the three companions. Aeryn could feel the faint presence of the Sith, but feared to use the Force to locate them, unwilling to experience the pain she had felt lately each time she tried to use her newly rediscovered abilities. Moving silently beside her, Kreia said nothing, but Aeryn could practically smell the disapproval coming off the old woman, and it angered Aeryn that the woman's opinion would matter at all.

When they reached the ship's bridge, Atton moved to the control panel while Aeryn frowned around the room. There was blood everywhere – on the walls, splattered across the consoles, pooled on the floor – but there was not a single body. Aeryn shuddered and thought, I never thought I'd feel more afraid NOT seeing a body. If I could just see how they died, maybe I could get a better grasp of what happened here….

"Focus," Kreia whispered softly near Aeryn's ear, causing her to jump. "While you are allowing yourself the luxury of indulging your personal thoughts, we are slowly being surrounded. Prepare yourself."

"Got it!" Atton announced triumphantly, turning from the console holding a datapad and wearing a proud grin. It took only one look at the intense expression on the faces of his female companions to wipe all traces of success from his face. He reached for the blaster at his waist as Aeryn just managed to whip her vibroblade up to block an invisible attack from her right side.

Kreia straightened up as she pulled the Force into herself before sending it out as a blast-wave, knocking the unknown number of stealthfield cloaked Sith back from them. Several of the attackers blinked into view as their cloaks were damaged by Kreia's attack, and Atton immediately opened fire, half crouched behind a chair.

Aeryn leaped toward the nearest visible target, her vibroblade humming as it sliced the air before slashing deep across the chest of the black-clothed assassin. She reigned in her momentum as she suddenly sensed another cloaked enemy in front of her, and using the Force unconsciously, she ducked under the invisible man's longsword as it whistled over her head. Stumbling, Aeryn half fell against the wall as her assailant loomed over her, prepared to quickly finish his work, when Atton swiveled himself in their direction and with one clean shot through the head, downed the assassin.

Though she very briefly wondered how Atton was able to kill a cloaked Sith assassin with one blaster bolt, Aeryn was far too busy fending off blows from one of the final two attackers standing. She feigned left, saw an opening, and thrust her vibroblade into the man's chest, jerking it out again as he sank to the floor. She turned just in time to see Kreia use the Force to choke the life out of the final Sith.

Aeryn felt a shiver crawl down her spine as the man's lifeless body collapsed to the floor with a sickening thud. Kreia turned her sightless eyes to her for a brief moment, before straightening her cowl and moving toward the exit. "We have precious little time. We must flee."

The taint of the Dark Side was so thick on the ship that it was impossible for Aeryn to sense anything specific about Kreia's intentions, yet seeing the old woman so carelessly use the Force for such an evil act was disturbing.

She stood rooted in place, undecided and confused, until Atton touched her elbow and asked, "Hey, you awake?" He followed her troubled gaze to Kreia, who was waiting with her back to them in the doorway. "Look, the creepy witch is putting me on edge too, but she's right that we do need to get the hell out of here. So…let's go. Okay?"

Frowning, Aeryn hesitated a moment before she nodded and defiantly strode past Kreia, leading them easily through the ship that she had lived on the last three months.

-

"Stop." Aeryn's whisper echoed with surprising volume in the empty hallway. "This was my room. There are some things I need to get, so wait here a moment."

Kreia frowned in disapproval, but said, "Very well. Do what you must, but act quickly. Our time here is running out."

Aeryn nodded and opened the door to the small room that had been her home for a short time. Atton followed her, peering around the room curiously, until she cleared her throat sharply. "Uh, can you get out for a minute?" she asked, a little irritated. When all she received was a blank stare, Aeryn explained, "I have clothes to change into here, unless you think I should stick with the miner uniform."

Atton held the blank stare for a few seconds, then said, "I don't get it. I've already seen you in your underwear, so what's the pro-."

Aeryn interrupted by giving him a scathing glare and turning him back toward the hallway with a soft shove. As the door closed behind him, Aeryn slumped against the cold metal, giving herself a brief second to gather her scattered wits.

I don't understand any of this. I feel so lost…where are you Revan? Why are you blocking me? Who are these people, and why are they chasing me? And why are they chasing you? How did the Hawk get here, and why didn't you stop them from stealing it? Damn it all, why are there no answers?

Aeryn sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth as Kreia's voice interrupted her strained musings. I have offered you answers, Exile, and though you may not like them, I can provide them. As you stand here foolishly allowing yourself to be distracted, our enemy approaches, and he will show no mercy. There will be time for this later, but now is not the time.

I thought I told you to stay the hell out of my head, old woman!

And I thought I told you to hurry. Perhaps if you were not so quick to forget yourself, I would not be so quick to do the same.

Aeryn wanted to scream an angry response, but the words made perfect sense to her and she could think of no way to escape the logic, besides resorting to childish name calling. So with a resigned sigh, Aeryn turn to the footlocker at the end of the bed and rummaged through its contents.

She quickly packed everything into her traveling pack, mostly clothes and a few small personal items, but most important was the datapad Revan had given her to deliver to the Jedi Council. And now the Council is gone…. Determined not to let Kreia catch her dawdling, Aeryn snuffed the thought and quickly changed into the black clothes she typically wore, modified from the Sith uniforms she'd become accustomed to wearing.

Dropping flat onto the ground, she fished under the small bunk for a moment, a triumphant smile on her face as she found what she sought. Carefully, she pulled the double bladed Sith War Sword into the light, nodding in satisfaction that it had not been discovered. She had argued with the ship's captain over bringing the weapon aboard because the Republic did not approve of Sith weapons, but over the past few years, she'd become attached to it, despite the darkness that clung to it.

Satisfied that she now had everything of value, Aeryn gathered her belongings and joined her companions in the hallway. She offered Kreia the vibroblade she'd been using, and to Aeryn's surprise, the old woman accepted the weapon graciously. Atton gave the Sith War Sword a wary look, but quickly turned his face to leer at her body. "Yeah, that's more like it. Though, I still prefer the underwear."

They resumed walking down the hallway as Aeryn shook her head at him and asked, "Do you always make jokes when your life is in danger?"

With a look of absolute solemnity, Atton responded, "Always."

A small smile cracked Aeryn's worried face, and she opened her mouth to respond when an icy fear washed over her mind, and she barely resisted the urge to break into a panicked run. Instead, swallowing the terror, she turned back to look down the hallway, and there she saw him: the enemy.

With morbid fascination, Aeryn studied the man, if he could even be called a man, who stood motionless a short distance down the hallway. His skin was gray and broken by deep cracks and fissures, his bare chest large and muscular, yet ravaged by time like an unburied corpse. He gazed unblinking at Aeryn with one large, dark brown eye, the other a dead, milky white. When he spoke in a deep baritone, the soft sound of a death rattle accented his words.

"Welcome home, Exile. I have been searching for you for some time. At last my search is over."

"No." Aeryn turned to stare at Kreia as the old woman strode confidently toward the broken man. "She is not yours, Sion, and I will not allow you to take her."

"Ah, my old master," the enemy sneered at Kreia. "I thought I sensed your presence…weak though it is." He turned his gaze back to Aeryn and said, "If she is your master now, then you are a bigger fool than I took you for."

Feeling her fear transforming to anger, Aeryn muttered to herself, "I am really getting sick of people calling me a fool." She lifted her chin in defiance and was about to speak when Kreia turned back to her and Atton.

"You cannot win this battle," she said with conviction. "Run. I will distract him. Get to the ship. I will join you shortly." With those words, the old woman sprinted toward Sion, using the Force to seal the door behind her.

Both Aeryn and Atton stood in stunned silence staring at the closed door. "Well," Atton finally broke the silence. "I didn't see that one coming."

"You mean the bitter old crone sacrificing herself to save us?" Aeryn asked, still staring at the door.

"Yeah, that's the one."

"Yeah, me either."

After another short silence, Atton shrugged and turned to Aeryn. "So…shall we run?"

With a sharp nod, Aeryn turned away from the closed door. "Yep. Follow me."