Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Bastila's Redemption

Chapter VII

Mission Vao sat alone with three other twi'leks. The first was a male green skinned twi'lek, who assisted Mission in new her job. The second was a light blue skinned woman, who Mission had to admit she was jealous of. The young twi'lek was beautiful by all standards. Her skin was soft and smooth, even by the standards of the alien race. The third, was a yellow skinned twi'lek who was dressed in a skimpy dancer outfit. She also had a blanket draped over her shoulders for modesty.

All three of the twi'leks were members of a security team on the planet Taris, which was slowly, but surely being rebuilt. As it was, the planet had not been damaged as bad as many had believed. Unfortunately, there wasn't a single person in the upper city that had survived the Sith bombardment. If any had not been killed from the bombs and falling debris, then they had been pinned under the rubble and had either suffocated or starved to death.

The lower city had been badly damaged by the attack as well. The base of the Hidden Beks had been completely destroyed. Everyone inside had been killed. There had been several Beks who hadn't been in the base that day, but for the most part, the Hidden Beks were no more.

The Black Vulkars had also been crippled by the Sith attack. Their base had been damaged, though not to the same extreme as the Beks' had been. Several had been killed, but now they were back in action and causing more of a nuisance than before. Brejik had been a royal jackass, who had no concern for the law, but things were worse now. Now, the Vulkars worked for a much worse man. They worked for a Mandalorian thug named Darin Ordo. The Mandalorian had been an Admiral in the Mandalorin Wars and was still sore from losing. He would do anything to steal the equipment the Republic was sending to aid Taris and sell it back for more than it was actually worth.

Mission looked over the plans for the base that had been stolen from the newly rebuilt Vulkar base. The Vulkars had a military commander for a leader now, so the base was heavily fortified. Mission had contacted Canderous on Dxun to see if he would lend her any information on Clan Ordo's military tactics. Canderous had been only too happy to oblige. The Mandalorians were supposed to honor the Republic for being good enough to defeat them in war. Any Mandalorian, especially one in Clan Ordo, who did not see the Republic as an honorable adversary was considered a traitor.

The battle tactics Canderous had sent her, along with the plans from the Vulkar plans added up. She looked up at the yellow skinned twi'lek. "Good job, Ajana," she said with a nod.

"Wasn't hard. The Vulkars are pigs. All I had to do was slip a little something into their drinks," the twi'lek, Ajana, replied.

"In any case, you put yourself in great personal danger. You deserve recognition," Mission said with a nod.

"Thank you, Mission, but I wasn't our only spy."

"For goodness sake, Ajana!" The male twi'lek exclaimed. "Don't be so modest!"

Ajana and Mission smiled, but the last twi'lek frowned. "Her modesty is admirable, Zent. Do not discourage it!" She scolded.

Mission suppressed a giggle. She could only wonder how many times she had heard Bastila be all preachy like that. The young twi'lek was used to the way her ally spoke and acted, while the others were still getting used to it.

The most beautiful twi'lek on Taris was also a Jedi Knight, which several found disappointing. Her name was Lapis Beace. She was the only Jedi that had been sent to Taris to aid in the recover efforts. The Jedi had been far more occupied with other planets and affairs such as Telos, the core worlds, and other "Jedi crap" as Mission deemed it.

Anten, the male twi'lek shook his head as he turned back to the plans. "When are we going to storm the base?" Mission asked.

"Not yet," Lapis replied. "We need more information first." The Jedi twi'lek turned back to Ajana. "Can you?" Ajana gave a condescending smile and nodded. Lapis smirked and shook her head. The twi'lek spy was one of the best in the Republic and she knew it. Any condescension was a joke, however.

"What else do we need?" She asked.

"We know how many troops he has and where they're stationed. We need to know how heavily they're armed and if they have and the capabilities of their combat droids," the Jedi responded.

"Not a problem then," the false dancer replied.

"Good. We'll plan for next week," she said with a questioning not at Ajana. She received a brief nod as a reply. "Anten, tell your boss the plan and that we need troops in that military language you people all speak." With a smirk, Anten nodded and departed.

"I better get back to the Vulkars. They were running low on booze when I left," Ajana spoke as she stood up.

"Be careful," Mission warned.

"Never am!" She called back as she left the room.

Mission smirked and looked back at the plan. "We have a shot?" She asked the Jedi.

"More than a shot, I'd say," was the response.

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Revan stood alone in the middle of the Lybrary Desert. He was leaning against his swoop bike holding a canteen of water, sipping it slowly. It was one of the hottest seasons that this planet had and Revan was irritated that he was being made to wait. After waiting in the heat for what felt like hours, Revan saw what he wanted.

A small one man speeder was coming towards him. He waved his arm once to signify that he was there and then he replaced the cap on the canteen. A zabrak stepped out of the speeder and nodded at Revan. The former dark lord tossed his canteen into his swoop bike and began to walk towards the newcomer.

"Revan, is it you?" The zabrak asked.

"No," Revan replied shaking his head.

The zabrak looked puzzled for a second before his face split into a grin and he began to laugh. "You're funny, Rev! You're funny!"

"No, I'm really not," Revan said as his hand went to his lightsaber.

"Eh?"

Revan's cyan lightsaber blade seared through the zabrak's stomach and came out the other end. The former Sith Lord pulled the weapon back out and let the alien fall over, dead.

He fell to one knee and examined the body. There were two things attached to his belt. The first was a lightsaber and the second was a datapad. Revan ignited the lightsaber and a red beam poured out of the hilt. "Oh good," he said with mock relief. "I hate it when I kill the wrong guy."

With a simple trick with the force, Revan shattered the lightsaber and turned to the datapad. The message was short, but it told him what he wanted.

Darth Revan

It is good to see that you are not some pawn of the Jedi, as we first thought. We've built a shipyard on Malachore V. Meet me there and we will talk.

"Malachore?" Revan muttered to himself. "Oh, damn! The academy!" He swore.

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Navin began to thrust at Bastila with an intensity that the young Jedi could barely keep up with. Every time one of her yellow lightsaber blades deflected Navin's silver one, the exile's weapon moved faster than she could keep up with. Navin's attacks had amazing speed, but they're aggressiveness was what Bastila had the most trouble dealing with. Even if the blades connected for less than a second, Navin's sheer force of attack was over powering Bastila.

Bastila jumped to the side brought the second blade of her lightsaber up in a diagonal slash. Navin knocked it away and kicked Bastila square in the hand. Bastila yelped in pain and dropped her lightsaber. The exile took advantage of her opponent and bum rushed her. Bastila was pinned to the wall, Navin's silver lightsaber at her throat.

"That's why the Jedi are weak," Navin spat as she let Bastila go. "They won't get into a fight if their opponent doesn't have a lightsaber to save themselves with."

"The Jedi will not kill a helpless opponent," Bastila replied.

"Killing a defenseless innocent is wrong," Navin corrected. "But what if Malak was sitting her in front of you without a lightsaber? What would you do?"

"I…"

"You would die because of that indecision!" Navin replied.

"I would make sure the fight was fair!" Bastila snapped.

"So you would give Malak a lightsaber?"

"If that made it just, then yes!"

"What would Malak do with that saber?" Navin demanded.

"He would…" Bastila trailed off and then kept silent.

"He would take that saber and put it up your ass!" Navin screamed.

Bastila was silent for a moment. "There's no need to be crude," she muttered for lack of anything else to say. Navin shook her head and stomped off, muttering something about Jedi wimps.

Bastila frowned as she stood up and attached her lightsaber to her belt. In frustration she banged her fist into the wall of the Ebon Hawk, sending a vibration through her hand.

"Observation: Mistress Shan seems to be radiating emotions that I did not know she was capable of."

"Musing: Perhaps Mistress Shan has more similarities to the rest of the meatbags this HK unit has encountered than I originally thought."

HK-47's comments were followed by a series of beeps and chirps from T3. Bastila eyed the two droids with some level of aggravation and then shook her head.

"Query: Is your facing changing to a red color for some specific reason, Mistress?"

"Owe, go and shut down," Bastila snapped as she stomped out of her room and into her barrack. HK-47 ignored the command to shut down and made her way towards the ship's cockpit.

"Query: What is our destination?"

"We're headed for a black rock on the outer rim called Miranda," Navin replied, paying little attention the assassin droid.

"Processing: Miranda, black rock planet. Uninhabitable. Seventeen male and eighteen female meatbags perished due to the poisons in the atmosphere, while eight males and six females were killed by native creatures."

"Warning: Meatbags such as yourself and Mistress Shan will perish if exposed to oxygen on planet after seven point five hours."

"I know," was Navin's simple response.

"Query: What is our mission on such a planet?"

"To kill dark Jedi," Navin replied. If possible, the red lights that functioned as HK-47's eyes lit up.

"Boastful Statement: I am an assassination droid who has killed fourteen dark Jedi, twenty-nine normal Jedi, and fifty-three sith Jedi. That is a total of ninety-six force wielders that have met gruesome ends because of me."

"Request: Send me to slaughter the dark Jedi meatbags and I will bring you the skull of the leader within a day, once you activate my assassination protocols of course."

Navin seemed to consider the thought. The HK droid had been designed to seek and destroy. It had just informed her that nearly a hundred force wielders had died at its hands. The droid would have little if any complications due to the poisonous atmosphere. She had seen it stand up to lightsaber attacks, due to the cortosis weave in his metal. Plus, the exile had tested the droid against force powers. It showed great resistance to any mental force energy that would crush it or any great physical assault. She had attempted to destroy the droid once by electrocuting it. The droid had only absorbed the force lightning and thrown her half way across the ship. It was immune to mind affecting force powers, which she was certain would only weaken her partner.

"Do not get the impression that I could not handle this mission on my own," Navin said firmly. "However, it seems smarter to let you do it and bring back the data we want. Once you've killed the dark Jedi, download every file in their computers."

"Pleased Response: Do not worry, Meatbag Navin. I will bring you the information you seek and the skull of the leader!"

Navin shook her head. "Great, now go bug Bastila."

"Declination: I have not been programmed to carry out any orders from you, Meatbag!"

"Oh damn it," Navin muttered as she turned back to the control panels. She was in for a long ride with the assassination droid beside her.

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Mission and Lapis stood outside the doors would open up into the Black Vulkar base. There were also an even hundred Taris soldiers who were forming ranks behind them. The green twi'lek, Zent, stood just behind the Jedi and the younger twi'lek. There were two heaps of what used to be sentry droids. Lapis had easily destroyed them with her lightsaber.

The Taris soldier each held a blaster rifle in their hands. Zent clutched his repeating blaster rifle tightly as he waited for his two superiors to give orders. Lapis held her single bladed lightsaber in her hand, but waited to ignite it. Mission's hands were ready to jump to the twin heavy blasters on her thighs. Her eyes met Lapis's and she gave a brief nod.

Lapis ignited her lightsaber and a blue blade poured forth. She stepped forward and put her free hand on the door to the Vulkar base. In one quick motion she whirled about in a perfect circle and drove the blade into the door. The area around the lightsaber began to glow. Soon small chunks of the door began to fall out.

Mission bit her nail and prayed that the Jedi's lightsaber was penetrating the door completely. She let out a sigh of relief when Lapis pulled out her lightsaber and used the force to pull the doors open.

"Now!" Mission cried, her hands grabbing her two heavy blasters. Lapis and Mission jumped jumped out of the way and the soldiers in the front row began to open fire. There had been several Vulkars who had planned on throwing plasma grenades and thermal detonators at the soldiers. Instead they received several blaster shots that pierced their armor and ended their lives.

"Cease fire!" Zent cried when he saw that there were no other Vulkars in the entrance room.

"I'll signal when to follow!" Lapis yelled as she ran towards the door. She passed into the next room and quickly disabled the gun turrets. She signaled for Mission and some of the soldiers to follow. The group took down every Vulkar they found with minimal losses. They stationed guards at every door to cover their escape.

"Zent, take some of the soldiers and clear out the base! Mission and I will find the leader!" Lapis ordered as they came to the fork that led to the armory and the command room.

Zent nodded and motioned for the soldiers to follow him as he turned left. Lapis and Mission went the opposite way. The two twi'leks found little resistance as they ran through the corridors. At last the two of them came to the private quarters of Darin Ordo. Lapis pounded on the door once and waited.

After a moment, the door slid open and the two twi'lek women entered. They saw a man who was dressed in red Mandalorian armor from head to toe. He was facing the wall, watching a holovid that the Vulkars had taken a liking to.

"Turn around and fight!" Mission yelled.

The Mandalorian turned to face the two twi'leks. Though neither of them could see it, his face wore a broad smile. He stepped towards them, causing Mission to raise her blasters.

"Don't be too hasty," the Mandalorian warned as he produced a remote control from his belt. With one switch of a button the ceiling panels above them opened and a large cage was slowly anchored down. The two twi'leks froze.

"Damn you," Mission swore.

Inside of the cage, an attractive, yellow skinned, twi'lek was bound and gagged. Ajana wore very little. She had clearly been in the middle of retrieving important data from a high ranking Vulkar, when she had been captured. The yellow twi'lek had explained her plans to Mission before. What she did was perform a dance or two for all the Vulkars, single out the one she needed, buy him a drink, drug it, take him back to his chamber, wait for him to pass out, and steal whatever it was they needed.

"Let her go!" Mission ordered.

"Don't give me orders," Darin snapped as he pulled something from his belt. Mission froze when she realized what he held. A green blade of energy poured out of the lightsaber in his hand.

"Don't hurt her," Mission begged softly. Her words had been soft, but Darin had heard her clearly.

"What was that?" He asked in a mocking tone. "You want me to HURT her!" The emphasis on the word came when he ran the lightsaber through Ajana's spinal cord. Lapis gasped as she watched her dear friend and ally fall over in her cage, dead.

"No!" Mission screamed as she raised her blasters and opened fire. While she continued to shoot blindly, the young twi'lek ran towards the Mandalorian thug. Darin deflected most of her attacks with his lightsaber. When Mission reached him, he simply grabbed her, bashed her on the back of the head with the back of his weapon, and threw her into the cage. Her head smashed into the bars and she fell over.

Darin turned to Lapis who had not moved since the death of Ajana. "I took this lightsaber off the first Jedi I killed during the wars," he said as he began to step towards her.

Lapis raised her weapon to parry a quick attack from Darin. The two of them clashed as their lightsaber blades flashed. The battle was soon a heated one. Lapis was an excellent lightsaber duelist and her force abilities helped her, but Darin's raw skill was far superior to her own. If he too was a force wielder, she would have already lost.

The two broke apart, but kept their weapons raised as the ground around them began to shake. "What in the Force?" Lapis asked as she began to look around. This proved to be her undoing. The Jedi had let her guard down. While she wasn't paying attention, the Mandalorian ran her through with his lightsaber.

"No!" Mission screamed. Darin turned his head to Mission, but left the blade inside of Lapis's stomach.

"You're next," he spat as the blade to his lightsaber withdrew into the hilt.

Author's notes: So there's chapter seven. Not much to say, but chapter eight will be up soon.