Chapter 7: Back from the Darkness

Artagesh p.o.v.

Artagesh was back in the minimum security wing of Belsavis. After a long, hard, journey, one that took him deep within the walls of the secret Republic prison planet, Artagesh had completed his mission: Baras's sister, Darth Ekkage, had been resealed within her prison, and the zabrak had gotten a mutual acquaintance in the form of Mirialan Jedi Master Timmns.

Of course, not everything had gone the way he had intended. His father, who he had intended to free, was nowhere to be found anywhere on Belsavis. Artagesh had gone to the prison world to achieve two objectives: Stop the escape of Darth Ekkage, and find his father, who had been reportedly imprisoned on an unmapped Republic prison planet not long after he had gone to Korriban to continue his training.

Letting out a large sigh, Artagesh looked around for his apprentice. Admittedly, the zabrak was more than a little glad that Jaesa had decided to join him, as she had a way of talking some sense into him in a way that only a force-sensitive would be able to. Artagesh was in love with Vette, but Jaesa would always be the one he went to if he needed to vent about something. She was definitely the second most pleasant company he kept aboard the Fury.

The zabrak groaned as Jaesa still didn't show herself. What is she doing? he thought, closing his eyes as he thought back a few days.


3 days earlier…

The small group of Esh-kha firing at them went hurtling backwards as Jaesa caused a shockwave in the Force, prompting the ancient prisoners to make hard impacts with the rocks, breaking bones and rendering most of them unconscious. The remaining creature that was still moving tried to pick up its rifle, only for Artagesh to step on it before igniting his orange lightsaber and stabbing him in the chest, finishing the creature off instantly.

Hooking his lightsabers onto his belt once more, Artagesh immediately started walking as Jaesa hurried to keep up with him. It didn't take long for the zabrak's apprentice to start talking again, something he was quickly growing tired of. 'I wanted to thank you for sparing Master Timmns, my lord,' she attempted, trying a different approach, 'I'd assumed you wouldn't take that path, considering everything that has been happening.'

'Just because I have every reason on killing Baras doesn't mean I'm going to kill a Jedi who happens to be in our way,' Artagesh growled, refusing to slow down or look back at his apprentice.

It took an extra five minutes for the zabrak to be pulled out of his thoughts by the familiar voice, 'Artagesh,' she yelled, 'stop seething for one blasted minute and let me talk to you!' Artagesh stopped in his tracks. He couldn't lie, Jaesa yelling took him by surprise. She was usually so quiet and settled that her raising her voice was an incredibly rare occasion, and it generally meant she was extraordinarily upset or angry.

Turning to face his apprentice, who had taken a moment to steady her breathing and calm herself before staring at her master in disbelief. 'Can you truly hate Baras so much that you become oblivious to everything that doesn't lead you to destroying him?' she demanded, refusing to raise her voice, 'I have been trying to make you see what you have been doing ever since we landed on this planet and you won't even put your vendetta on hold for a single minute to listen?'

Artagesh glared at Jaesa, as if he subconsciously refused to open up about the situation. But deep down, Artagesh's attitude was no different to that of an angry child who would supposedly never stop being angry because his parents took away his favourite toy. Refusing to lower his defences, but open to hearing his apprentice's arguments, Artagesh crossed his arms and shifted weight onto his left side. 'I'm listening now,' he stated, 'what do you have to say?'

Jaesa let out a sigh of relief before making eye contact with her master, 'Ever since Draahg attempted to kill you on Quesh you've been keeping yourself isolated from everything and everyone,' she recounted. 'Your team has been without proper orders, your apprentice hasn't received any training whatsoever…'

Artagesh interrupted, 'If guilt tripping me is your strategy it's not going to work.'

'And your wife has been an emotional wreck for days,' Jaesa continued, ignoring Artagesh's interruption.

'Wait,' he insisted immediately, interrupting his apprentice a second time as he uncrossed his arms and stood up straight, 'what's wrong with Vette?'

'Do you even remember what you said to her?' Jaesa demanded, her temper rising, 'demanding to know why you spared her life on Korriban? Saying it in such a way that she thought you were going to kill her? Her running out of the room in tears? That ringing any bells?'

Artagesh stared at the girl in disbelief, 'I said that to her?' he asked, going over the thought in his mind again and again as the realization hit him like an angry gundark. 'I can't believe I actually said that to her. Hang on a second,' Artagesh pulled out his holocom and dialled in Vette's frequency, only to be met with static, 'blast!'

'Someone back in minimum security mentioned something about jammers,' Jaesa explained, a confused look in her eye, 'are you telling me that you really don't remember saying those things to Vette?'

'Everything that happened after Quesh is just a blur to me,' the zabrak explained, turning off the holocom and putting it away, 'I was beyond angry at the time.'

'I noticed.' Jaesa stared at her master in disbelief before clearing her throat, 'Anyway, if I've finally succeeded in opening your eyes, I think we should keep moving.'

Artagesh, who had begun to look incredibly downtrodden, looked up at his apprentice, 'Of course,' he replied, 'let's move.' Without another word, Artagesh turned around and started walking, leaving his apprentice to catch up.


'You're thinking again, aren't you?' asked the familiar voice as Artagesh found himself looking towards the horizon. The Wrath smirked and turned to see Jaesa walking up to him.

'Indeed I am,' he responded, 'dangerous, isn't it?'

'Eh, not really,' his apprentice smiled, 'what were you thinking about?'

Artagesh looked back at the ravine that lead deeper into the prison, 'I've just been contemplating the week's events,' he explained, 'it doesn't matter.'

'If you say so,' Jaesa sighed, dropping the subject, 'I checked with the pilot, he's ready to go when you are.'

The zabrak ensured he had everything with him, 'very well, let's not keep the Emperor's Hand waiting.'

Climbing into the shuttle and strapping himself in, Artagesh waited for Jaesa to be secure before banging on the wall behind the cockpit, 'Ready for take-off!' he called before the shuttle disconnected from the ground and began its ascension into the atmosphere. Looking to his left, Artagesh was surprised to see Jaesa hold in a grunt of pain as the right side of her robes started turning a particularly dark shade of crimson as she quickly pressed into her abdomen.

'Are you okay?' he asked, not wanting to take any chances.

'Yeah, it's fine,' she insisted, pressing harder into her abdomen, 'I got stabbed a couple days ago while I was out scouting, I bandaged it up and healed it the best I could… the ascension must've reopened it.'

Artagesh sighed before reaching over and pressing his hand over her considerably smaller one, 'You need to tell me when this happens, Jaesa,' he insisted, 'I don't mind.'

'Thanks master,' she smiled, 'but I can handle myself.'

Artagesh sighed, 'Jaesa, I say this not as your master, but as your friend: you need to let others help you.'

Jaesa couldn't move too much as it would increase the chances of more blood escaping her and Artagesh could tell she was starting to get light headed. 'You look exhausted, Jaesa,' he acknowledged, trying to appeal to her better nature, to little effect.

After a few minutes of pressing into Jaesa's side, Artagesh was pleased to see that his apprentice had stopped bleeding, though she looked like she would pass out at any time. 'Get some sleep,' he insisted, 'you've earned it.'

Jaesa finally gave in and, within seconds, had fallen asleep in her chair.

Artagesh sat back in his seat and let his mind wander. Now that he had a clear idea as to how he was behaving after Quesh, he realised he would need to set things right with Vette… and he wasn't looking forward to it. 'My lord?' the pilot called over the speaker, 'we're one minute out from the space station.'

'Thank you,' the Wrath replied, turning back to Jaesa. He didn't want to wake her up, mainly because he knew she needed the sleep, the fight with Ekkage had taken a toll on her. But then again, even as a married man he couldn't deny that Jaesa was adorable when she was sleeping, and he didn't really want to ruin that.


Vette p.o.v.

After nearly a week of lounging around on the Fury, doing very little, having nightmares, and waiting for news on Artagesh and Jaesa's location, the first time Vette saw her husband, he was carrying a sleeping Jaesa in his arms and taking her into the medical bay.

Vette, who had been lying on the couch for most of the day, had finally stopped freaking out about her husband's behaviour after Lord Draahg attempted to kill him, though she was still sore about it and wanted to talk to him if he was willing to listen.

Having spent most of her time on the ship, she only went onto the space station if she was getting restless, Vette had, somehow, managed to grow accustomed to being surrounded by an uptight captain, a lieutenant who had probably developed a twisted fantasy involving either herself or Jaesa, and a furry homicidal maniac. But that didn't mean she wasn't looking forward to being able to hang out with Jaesa and, hopefully, Artagesh, again.

When Artagesh first walked onto the ship she didn't know what to think. Her husband was carrying her, sleeping, best friend and took her into the medical bay. Concerned, Vette jumped up from the couch and walked over to where her husband had gone and saw Artagesh working to remove the outermost layer of Jaesa's robes, probably to get a better look at whatever injury had darkened said robes with so much blood.

'D'you need a hand with that?' Vette asked from the doorway, prompting Artagesh to look up.

'Vette,' he said in shock before quickly regaining his composure, 'yes, chances are I'm gonna need some more experienced help here. Can you go get Quinn?'

In no mood to go running around the ship, Vette stuck her head out into the central room, 'Quinn!' she yelled, 'get your butt down to the medical bay! And bring your equipment!' Vette turned back to her husband to see the Wrath staring at her with a raised eyebrow before turning back to Jaesa.

'Can you lift her up for a second?' he asked, not looking away from the blood patch, 'I need to pull the robe off.'

'Can't you just wake her up?' the twi'lek questioned, looking from her husband to her friend and back again.

'The sleep will do wonders for her health,' he explained, looking up at her, 'anyway, she's basically unconscious, waking her up isn't exactly easy.'

Sighing in disbelief, Vette walked over to Jaesa and lifted her up into a sitting position. Gripping the hem of her robes, Artagesh pulled them up and, after a rather difficult process, managed to pull it over her head, leaving her in a simple white singlet and shorts. Well, Vette could hardly call the singlet white, it had been soaked through by at least a litre of blood.

'Kriff,' Vette exhaled as she dumped Jaesa's robe on a nearby chair, 'she's heavier than she looks!'

Just as Artagesh was about to yell for him to hurry up, Quinn finally walked into the medical bay, 'Where have you been?' the Wrath demanded, turning to the captain.

'Apologies, my lord,' the captain replied in his stoic demeanour, 'I had somehow misplaced my medscanner.'

Vette facepalmed as Artagesh rolled his eyes at the feeble excuse, 'Whatever,' he sighed, turning back to Jaesa as Quinn walked over to him and rolled up Jaesa's singlet ever-so-slightly, prompting Vette to stop breathing for a second.

The cut was at least three inches long, running down half her abdomen, was half an inch wide and had a slight green colouring to it. Quinn inspected and sighed, 'This is a deep cut,' he acknowledged, 'she'll be okay but she's gonna need a lot of kolto.'

'Then get to it,' Artagesh ordered, 'I need to contact the Hand.' The Sith left the room without another word and Vette quickly followed him out into the main room.

'Artagesh,' she called, 'I need to talk to you.'

The zabrak stopped at the holoterminal, not inputting anything, 'I know,' he replied, 'but I have a feeling that the Hand is gonna want me to contact them now.'

'Is that a Force thing?' the twi'lek asked with a raised eyebrow.

'No,' Artagesh replied as he input the Hand's holofrequency before looking at her with a smirk, 'just a gut feeling.'

'Yes because your gut is completely reliable,' she joked, smiling for the first time in days.

Artagesh smiled at Vette's joke but didn't respond, instead, he waited for the Hand to answer his call. The two purebloods came up on the holo and the Sith talking. As per usual, Vette ignored most of it, only tuning into keywords. This time, the keywords were Armageddon Battalion, Hoth, and Corellia.

'I'll have the Battalion reassigned to Corellia in no time,' Artagesh replied, 'I'll contact you when I'm done.' The zabrak disconnected and turned to Vette, 'Quinn's busy with Jaesa,' he noted, 'set a course for Hoth.'

'Will do,' Vette replied, walking towards the bridge, 'can I come with? I still wanna talk.'

'We'll have to talk later,' the Wrath explained, 'I'm going alone to save time.'

'If you say so.' Vette stepped onto the bridge and input Hoth's coordinates, sending the Fury into hyperspace. After five minutes of sitting at the main console, Vette took control of the ship once again and docked it at the space station.

'Don't take long!' she called, 'you can't escape "the talk".'

'I know I can't!' her husband yelled back as the sound of the ship's main doors opening filled the Fury, closely followed by them closing.

With nothing else to do, Vette walked into the medical bay and sat by Jaesa as Quinn finished up the treatment.

'She gonna be okay?' the twi'lek asked once Quinn packed up his equipment.

'She'll be fine,' the captain replied as he walked back to the bridge.

Vette had started to nod off when the patient finally awoke from her slumber.

'Where are we?' asked Jaesa in a drowsy voice.

'In orbit over Hoth,' Vette explained after snapping out of her doze, 'you've been out for just over an hour.'

'I feel asleep in the shuttle from Belsavis,' Jaesa muttered, slightly confused, 'how'd I get back to the ship?'

'How do you think?' Vette asked rhetorically, 'Artagesh carried you back.'

'Oh, of course he did,' the human muttered as she sat up.

'He seems a lot calmer now,' the twi'lek acknowledged,' you talked some sense into him?'

'It took three days and a lot of patience, but I got through to him eventually,' Jaesa explained, confirming Vette's theories. 'Have you spoken to him yet?'

'No,' the twi'lek replied, 'I think he's avoiding the subject.'

'He probably doesn't want to think about what he said to you,' the apprentice noted, 'can't say I blame him.'

'No…' the only girls on the ship sat in companionable silence for a few seconds, 'can we talk about something else? What was Belsavis like?'

'Well,' Jaesa started, sliding her legs over the side of the bed, 'it was obviously very chaotic, as you'd expect from a rioting prison, but the nature was some of the most interesting and beautiful I've seen in a while.'

The girls sat and idly talked for a few minutes, taking their mind off the man running around down on Hoth as they remembered how much they enjoyed each other's company.

Just when they'd started running out of topics, their conversation was interrupted by the incredibly loud sound of an explosion.

'What the hell was that?' Vette yelled, looking around in shock.

Pierce, who had started running around the second he heard the explosion, passed the medical bay, 'Whatever it was, it came from the station,' he explained, pulling his rifle from his back. As soon as the lieutenant informed her of the situation, Vette had grabbed her blasters and was on her way out, only stopping when she saw that Jaesa had gotten up.

'Oh no,' the twi'lek insisted, pushing the apprentice back onto the bed, 'you're in no shape to fight, stay here.' Not even wasting time to see if Jaesa obeyed her, Vette raced out the door, nearly knocking down Quinn as the pair of them found Pierce firing at someone outside the ship.

'We're in trouble,' the lieutenant hissed, 'Baras knows Artagesh is alive. It's Draahg.'

Vette looked at Quinn and saw the blood rush from his face. Nevertheless, the two of them primed their blasters and, after ensuring they were both ready, stepped out of the ship and fired at the man who was currently swinging his lightsabers at Broonmark, who was holding him back with his vibrosword.

It was clear that Broonmark was losing the fight, it looked like the Talz was on the verge of dropping his sword and attacking Baras's protégé with his bare hands. Vette, however, didn't want to take that chance, so, priming a small grenade she'd pulled from her belt, she pelted it at the Sith, 'Broonmark, move!' she yelled as the grenade continued its arch towards Draahg, prompting the Talz to break his lock with his enemy and roll out of the way, only to be caught in the explosion and sent flying across the room, as Draahg simply got up and dusted himself off before walking over to finish the job.

Then it was Quinn's turn to do something stupid as he ran towards Draahg, firing a volley of blaster bolts at him as Vette and Pierce continued to provide cover fire. Draahg turned his attention to Quinn as he deflected every single bolt back at the trio before reaching out through the Force and grabbing Quinn's throat, prompting him to stop firing and reach up to pry away an invisible hand to regain the ability to breathe.

Vette, who had been doing so much shooting that her blasters were probably going to overheat, almost didn't notice when Pierce charged Draahg and tackled him to the ground before relentlessly punching the Sith in the face, over and over. Vette ceased fire but, when she saw Pierce receive multiple hits from one of Draahg's lightsabers, the twi'lek charged the Sith as he got up and struck Quinn several times with his lightsabers, prompting her to stop running and fire at the Sith until her guns did overheat, burning her hands.

Draahg took the opportunity and grabbed Vette's neck, not bothering with the Force, as he repeatedly punched her before throwing her to the ground. Her vision fading, Vette could barely see Draahg ignite his lightsaber and stand over her. Resigning herself to her fate, Vette awaited her death, only to hear a new lightsaber ignite as Draahg was pushed away. Squinting, Vette could just about make out a girl with a yellow double-bladed lightsaber duelling Draahg, but the twi'lek's vision faded and she fell unconscious.


Artagesh p.o.v.

Artagesh stepped off the shuttle and made a beeline straight for the hangar. Go to Hoth, reassign Armageddon Battalion, the zabrak had gotten his objective done within an hour, and it had only taken that long due to the travel issues you'd expect on Hoth.

As he stepped off the elevator into the hangar, Artagesh was treated with an unexpected sight: a fire raged beneath the walkway as Jaesa, still in her singlet and shorts, was duelling Draahg with the rest of the crew lying around them, out cold.

Before he could even fully take in the situation however, Artagesh was pulled from his thoughts when Jaesa screamed in agony as Draahg landed a solid strike on her left side before sending her flying backwards, leaving her to writhe on the ground in pain. Not wasting anymore time, Artagesh ignited his lightsabers.

'Get away from them!' he roared, stopping a few metres away from Baras's protégé, who turned and smirked as Artagesh stared in horror at his fallen crew.

'You're looking well for someone I blew up,' Draahg acknowledged, 'your slaves fought well, Darth Baras will put them to good use. Provided they agree to serve him.'

'None of them will serve Baras,' Artagesh spat, 'they are loyal to me and me alone.'

'You do realise that Baras is the Voice of the Emperor, right?' Draahg asked, as he ignited one of his lightsabers, 'with him, the Republic will be wiped out, and the Empire will answer to him, and him alone.'

'Baras is delusional if he truly believes he is the Voice,' Artagesh growled, 'and you are a fool for believing the words of a liar.'

'Except they aren't lies,' Draahg laughed, clearly trying to mock the Wrath, 'they are the truth, and these people you serve are not the Emperor's Hand. You are not the Wrath.'

'Prove me wrong,' Artagesh spat, watching as Jaesa slowly picked herself up and started carrying Vette onto the ship.

'Very well,' Draahg sighed as he ignited his other lightsaber. Wasting no more time, Artagesh swung at Draahg and the two began to fight, incorporating a large variety of lightsaber and Force abilities in an attempt to break the other's defence. To a viewer it would almost look like the two were dancing as they threw everything they had at each other.

As Jaesa snuck out of the Fury and picked up the still unconscious Quinn and started carrying him towards the ship, Artagesh swung at Draahg with a barrage of attacks, eventually managing to deliver a fatal strike to the Sith's gut. Dropping to his knees, Draahg simply laughed as he stood back up.

'Impressive,' he laughed as he turned to face Artagesh, 'but I have a secret: I cannot be killed.'

'Shall we test that theory?' Artagesh asked as he attacked Draahg once again, noticing that Jaesa had to resort to using the Force to get Pierce over the fight and get him into the Fury.

Artagesh and Draahg locked lightsabers and held each other in place, proving to each other that they were equal in terms of brute force. Adjusting his grip on his lightsabers, Artagesh broke the lock and drove both of his weapons into Draahg's gut. Ripping them out of his enemy, Artagesh watched as Draahg attempted to stand back up.

'You… are… the luckiest person… in the galaxy,' Draahg growled as he stood back up, clearly fighting the urge to drop back to the ground, 'but Darth Baras will see your luck run out.'

'Don't be stupid Draahg,' Artagesh sighed, 'give up now and I won't kill you.' Draahg charged the Wrath, who quickly jumped over Baras's protégé and pushed him off the platform into the fires below.

'Poor creature,' Jaesa gasped in pain as she watched the fight from the entrance of the ship, having just gotten Broonmark aboard, 'of all the ways to die I think burning to death is the worst.'

'Are you okay?' Artagesh demanded, walking up to her.

'I'm fine, master,' the girl replied as they entered the ship.

'Good, because I need you on the bridge.'

Wasting no time, Artagesh led the, clearly very injured, Jaesa, to the bridge where they both sat down, 'Let's hope those lessons with Quinn have paid off,' Jaesa muttered as she slumped into the left hand side chair.

'Detach,' Artagesh ordered, prompting Jaesa to press a series of buttons that disconnected the docking clamps. As Artagesh piloted the ship away from the station, Jaesa said exactly what the zabrak didn't want to hear.

'The scanners are picking up ships,' she explained, 'it's Baras.'

'Then shoot at them,' the Wrath responded, 'hold them off I need to find the fleet so I can input the coordinates for the jump to lightspeed.'

Not wanting the Fury to be destroyed, Jaesa switched her station to combat mode and began to shoot at the fighters. Once the apprentice had destroyed three fighters, Artagesh found the fleet.

'Coordinates locked in,' Artagesh explained as he directed the ship towards their destination.

'Then get us out of here!' Jaesa screamed, prompting Artagesh to pull the lever, sending them into lightspeed.

Relaxing, Artagesh looked to his left and saw that Jaesa really was about to pass out again. Jumping up and rushing over to his apprentice, Artagesh helped her up and led her over to her quarters, where he set her down in her bed.

As the Fury shot towards its destination, Artagesh found himself sitting on his bed watching over Vette. He had purposely put off speaking with her before, but he wasn't going to be able to put it off for much longer. Stroking Vette's forehead, Artagesh walked back to the bridge as the Fury came out of hyperspace to be met with the Imperial fleet.

Activating the holocom, Artagesh was met with an Imperial officer. 'This is Lord Artagesh to Vaiken Spacedock,' he stated, 'requesting medical assistance for three humans, a twi'lek, and a talz.

I only realised after writing this exactly how freaking long this chapter was. Consider it an apology for refusing to upload more frequently. Please Rate and Review if you enjoyed this and I'll see you whenever.