A Jedi's Love: Chapter 7
I've finally updated. I'm sorry for the wait. Damn exams!!! It will definitely take longer for me to update because this chapter only needed some tweaks when I last posted where as now chapter 8 needs writing. It's starting to get quite complicated to write about with all the little things I've added.
Anyway, enough with the excuses. I'm probably going to fail in my exams anyway and it's not like I revise much anyway.
Tao and Mission were woken up by a lone Hidden Bek, who then took them to get something to eat and soon after the Swoop Track. Mission hadn't spoken since when Tao had kissed her the night before and Carth and Zaalbar were both worried. The young twi'lek had never been so quiet before.
"What did you do to Mission?" Carth questioned, as he watched the red-head getting fitted for the jumpsuit she would wear in the race.
"Nothing". She turned to Carth and motioned to her chest. "Does this jumpsuit make my boobs look to big?"
Carth gulped as he looked at her chest, and took a rather long time to look before raising his eyes back to Tao's face again. "N-no, of course not".
"Good. I like the colour too. I am glad someone in the Lower City has some fashion sense". Tao zipped the suit up fully and Carth noticed how snug it was on her. You could see every curve of her body and the Republic pilot had to admit that she had the figure of a goddess. Just as she tried on her helmet he remembered she hadn't answered his question properly.
"Mission hasn't talked at all today" he continued as she placed the helmet on her head. "What did you do to her?" Tao groaned and took of her helmet again.
"I guess I just gave her a lot to think about" she replied, straightening the jump suit again. She turned back to Carth. "Anyway, I've got a race to win".
Bloody Vulkars. Why did I have to get captured? I could have landed in the Upper City but nooooo, I land in the Under City and get captured by a bloody gang and now they have to dress me up like a prostitute.
Bastila was angry. She had been caught a week ago and there was nothing she could do to escape. Luckily, the Vulkar gang still didn't know she was a Jedi, which was probably a very good thing considering they could very easily just give her to the Sith.
Now she stood in a cage, waiting to see which fool she'd have to kill to escape from this planet. Over the days, she had gathered her strength in the Force, waiting for the right moment to strike. And the time was coming soon.
She could just see what was happening around her. A twi'lek male was guarding her as a multitude of racers and mechanics walked past. However, through the crowd she could see only one person.
The woman was wearing a red jumpsuit that matched her hair perfectly. She was currently sitting on a swoop bike, probably getting a quick talk before the race. But why was she even racing? She was supposed to be working for the Republic, not a lower level gang on Taris.
Bastila reached into her Force reserves and tried to reach out to the woman's mind. Instantly, the red-head looked up, confused. She then turned and looked directly at Bastila. How could she know I tried to probe her mind, let alone who tried to probe it?
The woman shook her head in bewilderment before turning back to the controls. Bastila would have let out a breath if she could have. Well, if she's as good on a swoop as she used to be she should win. I just hope she is still on my side this time.
Tao had been given a quick pep-talk by Gadon and then Carth. Gadon had said that if she was as good as she was boasting then she would do fine. Tao assured him that she was good and quickly waved him away.
Just before going to start she had nearly gotten into a fist fight with a Black Vulkar racer, a Kadas'sa'Nikto named Redros to be precise. He said that she would never win and that she should go back to her job as a whore. Tao hadn't taken too kindly to that and had whacked him in the head. Before she had a chance to kill him, which she would have loved to do, she was pulled back by the Bek mechanics. She had to laugh at how fearful the Vulkar had looked.
Now, she sat at the start line, ready for her first timed run. She looked to the crowd and could see Mission, Carth and Zaalbar in Gadon Thek's personal observation box. Mission looked to have stopped not talking because she could see the twi'lek shouting and cheering her on. Tao turned her attention back to the track just as the lights started their count down.
Suddenly, everything slowed down. This always happened when she raced and sometimes when she had to fight. She never knew why it happened but she was glad it did: it was always a great help.
The lights went from yellow to green. With a flick of her wrist the swoop shot off. It seemed to take forever to reach the first accelerator pad and Tao was sure the swoop had to be going really slow and therefore thought there must be something wrong with it but when she looked down at the speedometer, she was travelling at 250km/h already. That had to be her personal best before getting to the first pad.
As she passed over it, the swoop accelerated to un-believable speeds. She hit every pad, bar one and blasted towards the finishing line. Just before crossing she looked down to see she was travelling at 712km/h, the fastest anyone had ever been in a swoop race.
She just remembered to brake and was lucky she did because if she had been half-a-second later, she would have been made into a human pancake on the ending wall. She breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped off the bike.
Her foot had barely touched the ground before she was lifted into the air by at least twenty Hidden Beks. She laughed as she was carried back to her garage. She must have gotten a good time for this to happen.
She was allowed to get off of the chariot of people. Her Ithorian mechanic through his arms around her and Tao discovered that the weak looking creatures were actually quite strong. "//That was amazing. No one's gonna beat that time. That had to be the best race ever!!!"// he exclaimed. Finally pulling herself back from the mechanic she got to breathe.
"W-what, was... my time?" she asked between gasps.
"// 21.95, the best time I've seen in all my years here!!!//" he shouted again.
Tao looked at him in shock. Wow, that was a good time. I've never been that quick before. I knew I was good but not that good.
Tao went to the stands to watch the rest of the races, after finally getting away from the congratulations. No one even got close to beating her time. Even Redros, who people had told her was the best here, only got 23.23.
However, she didn't look at the races much at all; she was transfixed on a woman prisoner, who currently resided in a cage. Tao studied her form, every part of her body. She was absolutely beautiful.
Tao had never, ever thought of another person being beautiful before, not even her former fiancé Liela. She had loved her true and thought she was attractive but this woman was an angel. After a while of staring at her beauty, Tao realised she recognised her. It was then that she remembered her dream. This woman had been fighting a Sith. This meant she had to be Bastila!
She knew the Jedi was part of the prize for winning the race but she didn't know that she would be put on public display. Breijk, the leader of the Vulkar's, must have done it as a joke of some soughts. Bloody men!!! They don't care about women; they only see us as objects!!! Well, I promise I'm going to kill this Breijk for doing this to her.
After a couple more runs, everyone gave up trying to beat Tao. Now she stood in the winner's circle, as she was presented with gifts for winning the race. She had won a mountain of credits, at least ten thousand, as well as getting given her own swoop bike: the one she had used in the race.
Now, all she was waiting for was for Breijk to give her Bastila. She almost hoped she would end up fighting the Vulkar leader, to make him pay for what he had done to the Jedi.
"People, hear me!" Breijk called, asking for the crowd to quiet down. He scowled at Tao, who simply stood completely still in the winner's circle.
"Her swoop bike was fitted with a prototype accelerator, clearly an unfair advantage. She and the Bek's cheated" the Vulkar leader growled.
Tao simply raised an eyebrow and replied coolly "What accelerator?"
Breijk jabbed a finger at her "Don't play games with me. We know you stole the accelerator from our base, so don't say you didn't fit it to your bike!"
Tao shook her head and sighed, loudly enough for people to hear. "Not only are you a bad looser, but your base's security must be incredibly poor". She looked to the leader with a smile. "And how, exactly, did little old me get into your base, get through your security, kill your guards and take an accelerator that, if I know my swoops, would probably weigh quite a bit?" she teased. Some fans started to laugh at the Vulkar leader, who was beginning to sweat. She added, for the killing blow. "You can check my bike for any 'naughty' alterations if you want".
"No! I don't need to check. The Vulkars are removing their part of the prize!"
"You can't do that!" the Durosian race administrator cut in. "It's against the rules, not to mention this human has done nothing wrong".
"I don't care about your stupid rules. We are the Black Vulkars, your rules are meaningless! If I want to pull out my prize and sell her on the slave market that is my choice!" the man spat in response.
Suddenly, a soft voice interrupted the proceedings. "I may have something to say about that Breijk". Soon after, Bastila's cage flew open and the Jedi quickly dispatched the twi'lek who had been guarding her.
"What? You were restrained by a neural disruptor" the gang leader said in disbelieve, "How could you possibly summon the will to free yourself?!"
Bastila pulled a double-bladed sword to her through the Force and replied smugly. "Never underestimate the power of a Jedi's mind Breijk, a lesson you won't live to regret".
"Vulkar's to me! Kill this woman, kill the swoop rider, kill them all!"
There was a massive panic as fans, mechanics and gang members ran to either get away from, or get into the fighting. Bastila was instantly beset by a dozen angry gang members, who she killed one after the other. Tao, however, had her sights on one person.
Tao charged at the dark-skinned gang leader, but was cut off by another Vulkar. The Rodian swung wildly at her, allowing her to easily duck. She then punched him in the stomach and took his sword. After killing him she went back to Breijk. It was probably a good thing she got stopped, as she would have had to fight Breijk with her bare hands.
She dodged and weaved her way through to him. Upon seeing her he snarled where as Tao stared coldly back at him. In a fit of rage, which came from her hate for men who treated women as not only objects but slaves, she swung her sword at Breijk's head.
Breijk barely blocked. If he had been half-a-second later, he wouldn't have had a head attached to his body. This continued throughout the fight, with Tao dancing around the dark skinned man, hitting him at all angles with him barely keeping up. Despite being in a tight fitting jump suit, her reflexes weren't harmed.
Breijk, in one last desperate attempt, tried to hit her back but ended up having his blade knocked from his hand by the possessed red-head. Tao then kicked him to the ground and held her blade to his throat.
She ran her blade along his throat. "Do you know what I hate more than men" she spoke in a menacing voice. "Slavers" she whispered as she cut the man's head clean off.
She wiped the remaining blood off of the sword and turned around. Bastila was fighting the final Vulkar. Tao didn't bother to wonder where the rest of them had gone for she was too transfixed on the graceful form of the young Jedi.
She watched every twirl, every jump, every muscle movement. This Jedi was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen. Tao heard herself sigh and wondered just how she had become like this.
Bastila sliced the final Vulkar down and looked to see her watching her. It brought a tear to her eye. Bastila walked slowly to the other woman and she remembered the last time she had done so.
Suddenly, Tao felt herself falling into another dream. How can this happen? I'm still awake!
It is the Jedi woman again; that I now know is Bastila. She continues to fight off a Dark Jedi with more menace than I've ever seen in a Jedi. The beauty finally cuts her opponent down.
I look at the remaining Jedi, their lightsabers a sea of colour. I look down to my hand and see that I'm now holding one also, but it is the red commonly associated with the Sith.
Bastila is now standing a bit further out in front than the rest of the group. I look at her beautiful face and can see... tears?
She points at me. "You cannot win Revan". Revan? I'm Revan? How can I be Revan? I'm Tao Fel!!! How can I be experiencing Revan's memories?!
I don't, or Revan doesn't or... I don't know, doesn't say anything instead twirling his or her saber menacingly.
However, the fight is cut short as I feel all the cells in my body cry out in pain. Just before I pass from consciousness, I see the concerned face of Bastila.
Unknown to me however, in the real world back on Taris, I am lying in a heap in the floor with Bastila frantically trying to get me to wake up.
Will Tao remember who she is? What is, or was, Bastila to her? Only time will tell.
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