Chapter Seven
Disclaimer: I do not own KotOR.
"I heard about the break-in at the Sith base," Canderous said by way of greeting. "Very nice. Everyone who was at the Base save the Sith governor is apparently dead and word has it he's too terrified of you to take any action against you. What did you DO to him?"
"Nothing," Revan replied, perplexed. "I suppose it could just be my incredible awesomeness shining through."
"Well it certainly isn't your modesty," Carth muttered.
"Modesty is for lesser mortals," Revan insisted, crossing his arms.
Bastila coughed. "I actually agree with Revan. Sith are easily intimidated by strong personalities and Revan's taking charge at the Swoop Race was evidently too much for him," she lied.
"I see," Canderous replied, looking unconvinced. "So you have the codes, then?"
"The Sith governor just handed them over," Revan confirmed.
"Well if it worked out then I suppose there's no point worrying about little details like 'how'," Canderous decided. "So are you ready to go to Davik's estate? I can just pretend I'm recruiting you and you'll need to stay on as 'guests' until you're properly vetted, which gives us plenty of time to rob him blind and steal his ship."
"Are we really sure we want someone with so little loyalty along with us?" Carth demanded.
"Why not?" Bastila asked rhetorically. "We elected Revan to be our leader, after all, and I'm not sure he even fully comprehends the meaning of the word."
"Which is exactly why we don't need to bring along any likeminded companions," Carth insisted. "At least Mission and Zaalbar seem to be loyal to each other and from what I've heard Zaalbar is loyal to Revan. If I could just understand him I'd be sure…not that any of this would help if Revan decided to kill us all and Mission and Zaalbar backed him up…"
"You're really paranoid," Bastila noted.
Revan glanced over. "Is he? I didn't notice."
"The sad thing is I'm not sure if he's being sarcastic or if he truly didn't care enough to notice," Bastila mused, shaking her head.
Canderous cleared his throat. "If you two are quite done pretending that you get any say in whether I come along or not, I suggest we get going."
Revan, who actually did have a say in such matters, held up a hand. "Wait. While I appreciate you enabling me to get T3, I have to ask: am I going to need to hand him over to Davik or will you be expecting him back? Because if so then I'm willing to scrap the plan and just slaughter my way to whatever ship's available."
"Davik will be wanting T3 back but if I tell him that I still need it and make up an excuse as to why he should let us keep it long enough for us to escape with it," Canderous assured him.
Revan eyed Canderous suspiciously. "And you don't think I have an unhealthy attachment to T3?"
"Not at all," Canderous replied, shaking his head. "I was quite attached to my Basilisk war droid back in the day…"
A slow smile spread across Revan's face. "You know, I think we're going to get along just great."
"The Sith are a greater menace than Revan, the Sith are a greater menace than Revan…" Carth repeated to himself like a mantra while Bastila patted his arm sympathetically and resolved to drag them all to Dantooine as soon as possible.
- -
"Admiral Karath, are we any closer to locating Bastila?" Malak demanded, much more interested in observing the planet below him than in facing his subordinate.
"Not yet, my Lord," Karath admitted. "But given a little more time…"
"Given a little more time, Admiral, and she and Revan will find a way off the planet and disappear," Malak snapped.
Karath started visibly. "Revan? I thought he was dead."
"So did I," Malak said dryly. "But then I decided to watch a local Swoop Race and, well, he's not."
"But…he was hit by a ship. How is he not…? What are your orders, Lord Malak?" Karath asked, still looking stunned.
"If obliterating his ship wasn't enough, let's see if destroying the planet he's on will be enough to kill him," Malak replied, sounding genuinely curious as to whether or not it would be.
"Revan, now's hardly the time to be daydreaming," Bastila hissed, elbowing him from in the stomach and bringing him back to reality. "Davik will be here any minute."
Revan blinked. "That's so weird. I usually don't start hallucinating until I've had more drinks than it takes to kill a Mandalorian."
Canderous eyed Revan with new respect in his eyes. "We should really think about making this alliance of ours a longer-term arrangement than just getting off the planet."
"So what were you daydreaming about?" Carth asked, knowing full well that he probably didn't want to know but that that kind of thinking would land them with a Mandalorian on their epic quest to…well, they didn't have an epic quest yet but they probably would at some point.
"Oh, that," Revan shrugged. "Apparently Malak recognized me from the Swoop Race and ordered someone named Karath to raze Taris to see if that will kill me. He also mentioned Bastila as he thinks if they wait much longer than the two of us will escape the planet together, but he seemed mostly concerned with killing me."
"I'm starting to suspect that swearing a life debt to you wasn't the safest thing I could have done," Zaalbar remarked. "Although if they won't come at you directly..."
"Swoop Racing sure is big news, huh?" Mission mused. "Even the bad guys watch it."
"Saul!" Carth hissed, his eyes flashing.
Bastila glanced over in concern but no one else seemed interested. "It's a good thing that once I arrived we actually started getting things done then, isn't it?"
"Hey, don't look at me," Revan said defensively. "I was all for hurrying up and getting off this rock but Carth kept insisting that we do such stupid things as 'rescue Bastila' or 'help feed the homeless orphaned kittens' or whatever."
"Aren't you supposed to be the leader?" Canderous asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Technically," Revan admitted, "but if I don't do at least some of that stuff than Carth tends to lecture me. Loudly and incessantly."
"I've known my fair share of lecturers," Canderous said fondly. "Of course, I've killed most of them, too. Good times…"
Carth really didn't like where this conversation seemed to be heading so he was relieved to see who he supposed must be Davik heading towards them. He was less relieved to see Calo Nord again.
"I see you couldn't make it on your own, Canderous," Calo taunted. He tilted his head. "Didn't I tell you two to stay out of my way?"
"Yeah,but that was yesterday," Revan said, as if that made any difference. "Besides, this is just a coincidence."
"Oh, no, I can handle myself quite well, Calo," Canderous assured him. "But when Davik picked you up I realized he must be desperate so I decided to do him a favor and find five people more competent than you. It took me roughly half a minute at the Cantina to find these people."
"Now, now, boys," Davik laughed. "Save the violence for my enemies or for my personal amusement later. So these are new recruits then? I think I recognize two of them. You won that Swoop Race earlier today, didn't you? Although I thought that girl was supposed to be a slave?"
Revan shrugged. "You really want to try to enslave a girl with a double-bladed lightsaber?"
"Hm, no I suppose you do have a point," Davik conceded. "And attempting that very thing wiped out the Vulkars, or so I hear. No word on what happened to the Beks, though."
"They pissed me off," Revan said simply.
Davik's eyes lit up. "I see. And your companions are all capable enough? I can definitely see us working together in the future, after I've given you thorough background checks. It wouldn't do for me to hire a spy or a plant, now would it? I'll give you a tour of the facilities and then you can stay on as my guest for the next few days."
"And if we decline your offer?" Carth asked.
Davik shot him a look that clearly said he was being stupid. "Then why the hell would you come here in the first place?"
"…Point," Carth admitted.
Davik peered closely at T3. "Is that my T3-M4 droid?"
Revan tensed, his hand twitching towards his vibroblade.
"It is," Canderous confirmed. "Although I still need it to get those launch codes for you, especially since security is bound to be tighter after that break-in a few hours ago."
"Oh, is this your droid?" Revan asked innocently. "You should know that I was forced to pay 2000 credits in order to pick him up for Canderous so…"
Davik nodded. "Of course. I'll see to it that 2000 credits are delivered to your room by the time our tour is concluded. Now, our first stop is the Ebon Hawk. It's the only ship on this planet capable of outrunning the Sith blockade you know…"
- -
The smart thing to do would have been to head straight for the Hawk but Revan 'couldn't remember the way' and was quite happily robbing every room he came across.
"Would you like a massage?" a Twi'lek in the room he was currently in asked.
Revan opened his mouth to respond in the affirmative but Bastila beat him to the punch.
"Thanks but no thanks," she said firmly. "We're in a hurry."
Revan's shoulders sagged as he realized she had a point. How long could it possibly take to destroy the planet, anyway? "I'm at least robbing the room," he announced. No one seemed to care, so he quickly went to work. He was about to leave when a thought occurred to him. "Hey, say we were theoretically out to steal the Ebon Hawk right out from under Davik's nose. Would there be anything we might need to know?"
The Twi'lek looked at each other.
"Not unless you didn't know the Ebon Hawks' security codes, in which case I suggest you talk to the former Ebon Hawk pilot, Hudrow. He should be in one of Davik's interrogation cells," one of them offered.
"See?" Revan said smugly as he moved on to the next room. "This WAS a good idea."
"We could have asked them without stealing from them, you know," Carth pointed out. Revan shot him an incredulous look and he sighed. "Right, forgot who I was talking to for a second."
The next room had an angry Rodian in it. "What is this?" he demanded. "I was told I would have privacy and here I am, interrupted, and not even by a slave girl!"
"Bastila used to be a slave girl," Mission offered, ignoring Bastila's glare.
"I was almost a slave but not a girl," Zaalbar added.
"Well 'almost' and 'used to' aren't good enough," the Rodian sniffed.
"Look, we're sorry to disturb you and we'll leave in a minute, we just have to take everything that isn't nailed down first," Revan informed him.
The Rodian started. "What? You can't just do that?"
Canderous raised an eyebrow. "Do you really care if we steal from Davik? And if so, is it worth your life?"
The Rodian slumped. "I guess not…"
"Great!" Revan beamed as he quickly proceeded to do just as he said.
A few more burgled rooms later, Revan and company found themselves standing before a man in a Force Cage.
"Are you, by any chance, Hudrow the former pilot of the Ebon Hawk?" Carth hazarded a guess.
The man in the cage looked surprised. "I am, actually, and may I say that that was oddly specific?"
Carth shrugged. "Go ahead."
"That was oddly specific," Hudrow repeated.
"We're planning on stealing the Ebon Hawk so we need your security codes," Revan explained.
"Wait, what about me?" Hudrow asked.
Revan blinked. "What about you? We already have a pilot. Although…how inclined are you to lecture me for not rescuing babies out of burning trees?"
"…I would probably just do it myself," Hudrow announced.
"Competent, too," Revan mused.
"But all of this is quite beside the point since I am already willing to pilot," Carth quickly spoke up.
"I'll give you the codes if you let me out of here," Hudrow offered.
Revan eyed the console. "It looks like another puzzle…let me tell you, that is a pretty convincing method to get people to not free prisoners. What's to stop me from overloading the Force Cage – which I can do right now – and then taking the security codes from your corpse?"
"Nothing," Hudrow replied. "Except that I don't have the code on me so I'd have to verbally tell you."
"Touché," Revan acknowledged. "Bastila?"
Bastila sighed. She knew she'd regret stepping up to solve the puzzle to save that Duros earlier. "Fine…"
Five minutes later, Hudrow was free. "Okay," he said. "If you'll just give me your data pad I can enter the codes."
Revan did and Hudrow quickly entered them before running off in case Revan decided that killing him was worth the effort (it wasn't). Shortly afterwards, the estate started shaking so they could only assume that the attack had finally started and so hurried along to the Ebon Hawk. When they reached the hanger bay, they found Davik and Calo already there.
"What's this?" Davik demanded. "You've decided to betray me and steal my ship, Canderous?"
"How in the world did you draw that conclusion just from us being here?" Mission demanded. "Maybe we're just looting the place. Or we could be lost. We weren't really paying attention on your little tour, you know."
"But Canderous has been here before," Davik pointed out. "And ARE you here to steal my ship?"
"The point wasn't that we weren't going to do that," Zaalbar explained. "Just that you shouldn't skydive to conclusions like that."
"Well if you're not going to deny being here for my ship then I'm not going to just stand by and get robbed!" Davik announced. "I'll see you dead first."
"Look," Revan interjected. "We could have the typical cliché 'who gets the ship' fight or we could realize that we could all die at any moment and just all go together."
"We could do that," Davik agreed. "Except that it's my freaking ship and I don't want to."
Revan shrugged. "You're loss. Canderous?"
Canderous held up a blaster and shot Davik in the head, killing him instantly.
"Okay, now I know bringing him with us is a bad idea," Carth declared.
"Why?" Mission asked. "He looks useful."
"And Mandalorian honor prevents them from killing their superiors without a good reason so unless Revan decides to kill you, you should be fine," Zaalbar continued.
Carth groaned. "SO not helping, guys."
"Everybody freeze!" Calo ordered, holding up a thermal detonator. "Davik may be dead but I refuse to share a ship with Canderous so you either let me take the ship or I'll blow us all to pieces."
"But if we stay here we'll die anyway," Bastila pointed out.
"SO not my prob-" Calo started to say before the ceiling collapsed on him.
"I guess it kind of was," Revan commented. "Okay everyone, let's go."
With that, they hurriedly piled onto the ship and Carth headed for the cockpit, the rest trailing behind him for lack of anything better to do.
"You know, if there's one thing I hate worse than being forced to go out of my way for other people who really should learn to be self-sufficient, it's being forced to go out of my way for other people who really should learn to be self-sufficient and end up dying within a day or two due to a planet-wide attack. I'm officially adding this to my list of reasons to kill Malak," Revan announced.
Bastila started. "You have a list of reasons to kill Malak?"
"I do now," Revan said grimly. "It's not a very long list, granted, but that was two days of my life that I'll never get back."
"At least the people in the Under City should be okay," Mission consoled him. "And maybe even some of the people in the Lower City."
"But the people in the Under City were even more annoying and helpless than the people in the Upper City!" Revan complained.
"I recommend you take what you can get," Zaalbar advised.
"Incoming!" Carth shouted. "Sith fighters are attacking us! Someone needs to get to the gun turret and take them out."
Everyone looked to Revan.
"What?" he demanded. "If I'm really the leader then I'm choosing to delegate. Canderous?"
"Why not?" Canderous replied. "I've never liked people who try to kill me who don't also happen to be Revan."
"Yes, well then you really should hurry up and get to the Sith killing," Bastila said quickly.
After Canderous left, Mission turned to Zaalbar. "Hey Big Z? This used to be a smuggling ship, right? You want to go see if there's any contraband left on it?"
"Sure," Zaalbar agreed. "If only to make sure you don't take anything. Do try and remember you're fourteen, Mission, even if you're not a child."
"So where should we head to?" Carth asked. "Any Republic-friendly planet with a decent population should enable us to hook back up with the fleet and-"
"I vote Nar Shaddaa," Revan said immediately.
"I vote Dantooine," Bastila countered.
Carth considered his options. "No and why?"
"There's a Jedi Enclave there and we really need to see if Revan's Force Sensitive before he goes and accidentally kills someone for annoying him," Bastila said, appealing to Carth's self-preservation instincts and his awareness that he often annoyed Revan.
"Dantooine it is," Carth announced.
"I hate you both," Revan glowered.
"You'll get your own lightsaber if we find out you are," Bastila enticed. "And if not then you can head to Nar Shaddaa from there."
"That works," Revan allowed. "Now if you'll excuse me, I plan on taking a nap. Wake me when we get to Dantooine."
- -
An obviously younger Malak complete with fully-functioning jaw paced nervously before some ancient ruins. "Are you really sure this is a good idea, Revan? I mean, the Jedi are already annoyed enough that we ran off to go lead the Republic fleet, took a good portion of the Order with us, and then disappeared for months on end. If we go in here, that might be the straw that broke the bantha's back. We might never be able to go back. Ever." Clearly, he expected the severity of the situation to make some impression on his companion.
"Then let's not go in," Revan suggested, his voice sounding muffled behind the cloak and mask he was wearing. "I don't really care either way but I need to get to the Cantina by six because I've got a date…"
"You're not supposed to try and talk me out of this!" Malak exclaimed, throwing up his hands in frustration. "You're supposed to be assuaging my doubts!"
"Oh," Revan said. "How about 'don't be silly, Malak, the Jedi won't give a damn that we're breaking all of their most sacred tenants left and right and they'll gladly welcome us back with open arms.'"
"It would help if you could at least try to be convincing," Malak critiqued, rolling his eyes.
Revan was unrepentant. "Beggars can't be choosers. And that would sound a lot more convincing if this mask didn't prevent eye contact…"
"Why are you wearing that ridiculous get-up anyway?" Malak demanded. "You can't even see if you're a man or a woman."
"I have to wear this," Revan insisted. "Do you know how hard it is to get a date if the girl knows you could have her tortured and killed if it doesn't go well?"
"Ladies and gentleman: the Savior of the Republic," Malak said sardonically.
"Look, I didn't even want to be here. You're the one who said that this was a good idea so it's unreasonable to expect me to convince you to go through with this," Revan declared, crossing his arms.
"You think it's a good idea, too," Malak claimed, finally deciding to stop stalling and walk through the doorway. "You just didn't want to put forth the effort to do it so it was up to me to convince you…again! I swear, without me you'd never get anything done."
"And I would be much happier for it," Revan noted as he followed his friend into the darkness. "Which really makes me wonder why I keep you around."
"Because it would be too troublesome to make me leave?" Malak suggested as their voices faded away.
- -
"I don't know what time it is, but it is most certainly too early," Revan grumbled as he stumbled out of the Ebon Hawk. "I see we landed on Dantooine, then."
"Yeah, a few hours ago," Carth confirmed. He was standing a few feet away from the ship. "What's going on? Bastila tore out of here looking like she'd seen a ghost and said to send you to the Council when you woke up."
"I have no idea," Revan answered, yawning. "I did have a dream about Revan and Malak exploring some ruin on what appeared to be Dantooine. Maybe that means something?"
"No one ever tells me anything!" Carth complained.
Revan stared at him. "But…I just did, Carth. I told you everything. I don't know anything else and I won't know anything else until I go see what Bastila's Jedi friends want."
"Just go," Carth sniffed, turning away. "And you people wonder why I have trust issues…"
"You have trust issues?" Revan repeated, surprised. "I honestly had no idea. Nor do I really care, come to think of it…"
With that, Revan made his way into the Jedi Enclave without further incident but once inside was stopped by a girl with a brown ponytail and equally brown robes. "You!" she cried. "How dare you disrespect our order by not wearing the proper Padawan robes?!?!"
"Do these 'Padawan robes' look anything like the ones you have on right now?" Revan inquired politely.
The girl looked surprised. "Yes, they do."
"Then you're answer is: because they look stupid," Revan answered pleasantly. "Now if you'll excuse me…"
"But how else will people know you're a Padawan?" the girl continued stubbornly. "Not everyone can just sense the Force in you like I can, you know."
"You can sense the Force in me?" Revan asked, intrigued. "I guess that answers that question. Still, I wonder why Miss 'Republic's Only Hope' couldn't…"
"Are you planning on answering my question?" the girl asked a little awkwardly when he didn't continue.
Revan blinked. "What? Oh, I'm not a Padawan and if I were I still wouldn't wear those stupid robes so back off."
"But…I thought…" the girl stammered.
"I don't care," Revan informed her before continuing on his journey.
He finally found Bastila in a room with two humans, one Twi'lek, and one member of a species he didn't recognize.
"Ah, it is good that you are here," the unidentified life form greeted him. "I am Master Vandar and these are Masters Dorak, Vrook, and Zhar." The identified Jedi Masters nodded their heads when Vander named them so Revan could tell who was who. "Bastila tells us you dreamt of Revan last night."
Revan shot her a puzzled look. "Why were you in my room last night?"
Bastila flushed. "I was not in your room last night!"
"Then how did you know I dreamt about Revan?" Revan asked reasonably.
"She had the dream too and she sensed your presence using the Force as you apparently have a Force Bond with her and thus you're clearly Force Sensitive," Vrook explained with a long-suffering sigh as if Revan should have been able to piece this together on his own.
"Why do I have a Force Bond with Bastila?" Revan demanded. "Does this mean we can read each others thoughts? Because if she's been reading any of mine about her, she'd probably kick my ass."
Bastila glared at him.
Dorak coughed. "Near-death situations usually bring on Force Bonds but they are such tricky things…it might have just formed due to your proximity or your strength in the Force. Or maybe you two have a shared destiny…"
"As you are clearly skilled in the Force, Master Zhar will be teaching you to be a Jedi," Vander announced.
Zhar nodded. "Normally it takes years and years of mental discipline and hard work and if you're too old – which would be at, say, eight or nine – then you're a lost cause and if you want any training you must join the Sith. You have six weeks."
"That's not to say that if you're nine so we can't train you and you grow up and learn the ways of the Sith but feel very badly about what you did then you can't become a Jedi that way," Dorak added.
"…You people are insane, you realize that, right?" Revan asked. "And this six-week fast-track program sounds like it would be a lot of effort on my part. And you can't just want to train me out of the goodness of your hearts; you're fighting a war here. Maybe I don't want to get involved."
Then Vrook said the magic words. "Let me handle this. Force knows I've had enough practice over the years…You get to make your own lightsaber. As these are very special circumstances, you'll even get to make it double-bladed."
Revan's eyes lit up. "It's a deal."
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