Chapter 7: The Sith Base
Long time since I uploaded anything, and I apologize. I'm back for now, so please, read and review. For all of you who have already reviewed my story, you are the only reason I am struggling to bring you another chapter. The longest one I've ever writted actually, so please, enjoy!
Disclaimer (sorta forgot about 'em): I don't own star wars or any related content. In this chapter, and of the previous chapters, or any future chapters I may write.
Taris 15:22 Local Time, HQ
Mission walked in the room quickly, and sat down next to Kira, who was simply staring at her hands in shock. "Kira? What's wrong?"
"I-I... Who am I?" She asked shakily, not looking up from her hands. She hunched over as another wave of memories flooded her mind.
Mission gave the other occupants a 'get out of the room, we need a girl talk' kinda look. Fearing Mission and Kira's combined anger more than the Jedi's, Carth moved to wake up Bastila, who was still curled up on the floor.
The door closed behind them, but Bastila's cries of indignation still penetrated the closed door. "What's going on Kira?" Mission asked softly.
"I..." Kira took a deep breath, and slowly looked Mission in the eyes seriously. "Mission, what I'm about to say can not leave this room. And you can not talk to anyone about this. Promise me."
Mission's lekku twitched slightly. "Kira, you're scaring me."
Kira's demeanor calmed down, but her face was still both fearful and angry. "Mission, promise me."
The Twi'lek nodded as calmly as she could, "OK."
Taking another deep breath, Kira prepared herself for what the innocent girl she was coming to view as her sister would think of her now. "Mission, do you remember how I told you my memories were- were damaged by an electrical conduit before we found you?" Mission nodded curiously, but remained silent. "I'm beginning to think that may not have been the first time my memories were erased. The Jedi council wiped all my memories before that, and placed new memories in my mind."
Mission looked down in sympathy for her friend, and cursed the hypocrites. The Jedi were known on Taris as heroes of the Mandalorian wars, and to those in the Lower City, they were known as people who championed justice by attacking slavery when they had come in, lightsabers blazing, five years ago. They did all those good deeds, and then turned around and wiped someone's identity from them? No one deserved that kind of punishment. "But why would the Jedi destroy your memories?"
Kira glared at the distance as if remembering some long forgotten memory. "The Jedi do not kill their prisoners." She said, as if she was quoting someone. "They made a slight concession for me. Instead of killing my physical body, they simply wiped my mind. They killed who I am"
"But why would they do that?" Mission demanded, tired of Kira's uncharacteristic hesitancy.
"Because of who I was... and still am I suppose." Kira closed her eyes to hold back a slight swell of liquid behind her lids. When her eyes slid open, a yellow glint had replaced her natural brown. "I am Revan, once the Dark Lord of the Sith."
A dazed Mission only shook her head, trying to make sense of what she had heard. "Revan was a woman?"
"Huh." Kira chuckled harshly, and turned to face the Twi'lek again- this time her eyes were simply tinted in a sickly yellow hue. "Unless the Jedi changed my gender as well as erasing my memory."
Mission shared a small smirk of her lips with Kira before continuing their conversation. "Yeah, but even if that is who you were before, do you really think the Darth Revan who... did those things, would protect someone like me? I'm a street urchin. A blight on this planet."
Kira glared at her. "Mission, you are not a blight. You are smart, beautiful, and an asset to this team."
"That's exactly my point!" Mission declared triumphantly, but accepting the compliment silently. "The Darth Revan I heard about would never do what you are doing. You are doing good in this galaxy."
"That's just the point Mission, I haven't changed. Even as a Sith Lord, I tried to kill only my enemies, do minimal damage to noncombatants and reward my allies. And I still killed the innocent by the millions." Kira said, looking at her hands that were, for once, ironically free of blood.
Mission grabbed her by the shoulders, and shook her once to get her attention. "Kira, listen to me. The Jedi gave you a chance to do good again. You are not Revan, you are Kira, the amazing woman with a heart big enough to protect a person like me."
Kira glanced away from Mission, and snorted sarcastically. "Right, the Jedi only did it to assuage my guilt. Hmph. They just wanted to hack into my memory." She snorted cynically, but a sad smile eventually played across her face. "But thanks Mission, I really needed to hear that. Thank-you."
"Hey, your like my sister now. What hurts you hurts me." Mission said as she hugged the older woman.
"Thanks Mission, for everything." Kira said, embracing her blue skinned sister.
"Sheesh, stop thanking me already," Mission laughed "besides, when did you find out about being... you know..."
Mission instantly regretted bringing up that subject again as Kira pulled back from their embrace, and looked at the wall across the room. "I just found out." She said, shaking her head feverishly. "But I guess this makes you privy to one of the best kept secrets in the galaxy: The true fate of Darth Revan." She said dramatically, spreading her arms out theatrically. Mission laughed again, thankful for the return of levity. "How do you think Zaalbar would react if I told him?"
Mission didn't really need to think about that one. "Big Z?" She shrugged slightly. "Eh, his people have a very serious code of honor, and you telling him about who you really are would probably gain you more respect in his eyes than you'd lose for doing what Revan did."
"Alright, I'll talk to him next. But don't mention this to either Carth or Bastila, they'd report me in an instant, and I'd rather not find out what would happen if the council found out about my continued existence. I'll teach you some other ways to protect your mind from Jedi mind reading, but for now, play Pazaac in your head, it's what Revan... I thought my assassins to fight Jedi."
"Flip the 9-card, total score is 22; change sign to negative 3, total score is 19" Mission mumbled to herself. "Gotcha, I'll send Big Z in."
Bastila tapped her foot, but that was the only sign of impatience behind her otherwise stoic Jedi-face. Mission stepped out of the apartment, and mumbled something to the Wookiee, and looked out towards the distance in thought.
Bastila looked at the young girl, but couldn't find any betraying emotions on her usually perky face. Delving into the force proved just as fruitless, as she was assaulted with a mantra of numbers that seemed to be floating around in the Twi'lek's mind. No doubt she could overcome the meager defenses, but even if that wasn't immoral, she doubted she could pull it off without alerting Mission. Defeated, Bastila resumed her foot tapping, much to Carth's annoyance.
Zaalbar walked in the small apartment, and growled a greetings to his master. "Master, there is something I can help you with?"
The fur-less female nodded sadly. "Yeah. Pull up a seat, I need to talk to you."
Zaalbar blinked in confusion. He had been a slave once, and as far as he had figured from the slavers, and those in the Lower City of Taris, fur-less masters always wanted to be in power, and tried to make him as uncomfortable as possible as a show of their superiority. Not wanting to disrespect his master's generosity, the large Wookiee sat in the small metal twig the aliens called seats, as if they thought he could somehow fit in them. "What is the problem, master?"
Kira shook her head, and smiled slightly. "First things first. Stop calling me master. Even if you decide to continue to serve me after I tell you this."
The Wookiee would have raised his eyebrow, if he had hair concentrated in only one place on his head. "Very well... Kira."
The fur-less female closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. "Revan never attacked Kashyyyk, but what do you know about her?"
Zaalbar growled in confusion. "I simply know of her through the many rumors I have overheard. She was a military genius, and was one of the few Sith who fought with honor."
Kira nodded slowly. "She also burned entire worlds: like the Mandalorians she had fought to stop. She used the Force to destroy all in her path, without mercy."
"I do not mean to contradict you mast- err, Kira, but she also fought with bravery, and protected the worlds she controlled faithfully if given the chance. Why does she matter any more, she is dead."
Aghost of a smile flickered across the humans face. "No, she has just been reborn." Kira whispered to herself. "Zaalbar, you swore to follow me until your life debt is paid, right?"
The Wookiee bobbed his massive head. "Yes, and that vow still holds, as strong as the Warshauer vines of Kashyyyk."
"Zaalbar, you swore that promise to a woman named Kira Revan, or rather, Kira Inado, as the Jedi would want her to think. If who I am makes you uncomfortable, I want me to tell you, and I will order you out of my service."
Zaalbar shook his head with determination. "I will serve you, whoever you are, for as long as I owe you my life. This I have sworn, and this I will uphold."
"No! Listen to me first." Kira demanded. "I am, or rather was, Revan. Darth Revan. My mind was wiped by the Jedi, and I only just found out."
Zaalbar looked at the ground for a fraction of a second before looking the human in her eyes. "Then I wish to absolve my vow to Kira Inado."
Kira nodded, slightly surprised. She had offered him freedom, and she sould uphold her bargain, but it was still surprising to see the honorable Wookie dissolve his life debt. "I underst-"
"And now I make a new vow." Zaalbar interrupted. "I swear to you, Revan, that I will follow you until I fulfill my life debt. Through death, or otherwise. Let this life debt be as strong as the vines of the great Warshauer tree."
"I suspected as much." Kira nodded. "Very well, I accept your vow. Though I must know, why do you follow me? Besides your honor?"
Zaalbar looked at her before shrugging. An odd gesture from someone so large. "I trust you." He said simply. "The person you are, Revan, is honorable, and she is someone I can put my life on the line for. Whether you know it or not, you are a good person. No other alien, human or otherwise, besides Mission, has ever treated me as you have on this planet of steel. As an equal."
"Your suffering would have done me no good. I may have been honorable before the War opened my eyes but now... I want you to know that if your death furthers my goals, you will die, just as anyone else on my crew."
"You are a better person than you believe yourself to be, Revan."
"We will see." She said, fully knowing that she would do anything to further her cause. "And don't tell Carth or Bastila about this. Mission knows, but only talk to her about... me... if you know for sure you are alone. If you feel a tingle in the back of your mind when your around Bastila, or any Jedi for that matter, just cycle through hyperspace routes. It makes it difficult to read your mind through the Force."
"I will follow you, wherever you go, Revan."
Kira smiled at the Wookiee's show of loyalty, even if it was only due to his life debt. "Thanks Zaalbar. Come on, we better go, or Bastila will be angry with us for taking so long. She's already mad enough to kill a rancor."
Zaalbar growled in acknowledgment "Too bad she wasn't with us when we attacked the Vulkar base."
Kira stopped mid step and stared at the large Wookie. Did he really just make a joke?
Bastila already knew there was no way she could read a Wookiee's body language, so as soon as Kira and Zaalbar stepped out of the apartment, she began to mind probe the large alien. As with Mission, Bastila was assaulted with a myriad numbers, though the ones in the Wookiee's mind seemed to be arranged into... hyperspace co-ordinates? What the hell was going on here?
"Well, now that you're done talking to them" Bastila said, indicating the two non-humans, "what were you talking about?"
Kira crossed her arms angrily. "Oh you know, Malak, the Sith... Darth Revan." It was stupid and compulsive, but watching the Jedi Princess squirm at Kira's true name was worth it. If she was being completely honest with herself, Kira still felt angry towards Bastila for bringing her to the Jedi. It would have been better to just die on the bridge of her ship, but she would make due with what she had.
Absolute horror crossed Bastila's face, though Kira still couldn't use the force well enough to sense any specific emotions. "Very well then." Bastila said with a surprisingly firm voice. "As the commanding officer here, we need to start looking for ways of Taris being that none of you thought the find an escape."
Kira leaned back and smiled as she began to feel the force flowing through her, and with it's return, she could taste Bastila's fear and uncertainty. Unlike most Jedi, Bastila was bottling up her emotions rather than releasing them into the force. If she was still the Dark Lord, she might have turned Bastila to her side, but if Bastila were to lead the Jedi, and teach other Jedi to bottle up their emotions, it would not only weaken their pathetic order, but it would also serve to help Revan in her campaign against the True Sith, who fed off the emotions the Jedi released into the force.
Plots and tactics flooded Revan's mind, until Carth snapped his fingers in front of her face. Revan shook her head quickly, and blinked rapidly. "Sorry Captain, what where you saying?"
Carth breathed out a long sigh, though Revan suspected his irritation was focused on their resident Jedi Princess rather than her. "I said, Bastila is now taking command."
"Is she now?" Kira sneered at Bastila over Carth's shoulder. Carth wisely stepped out of the way
"Indeed I am, this is my mission, and I will see it through. Besides, it's not as if you thought you would maintain control over my mission, did you?"
Kira flashed a tired, but winning smile that she had used whenever she requested aid from the Jedi Council during the Mandalorian Wars. Of course, her smile and speeches hadn't been very successful at the time. "Actually, I did. You see, if I am the only one in this group who knows about military tactics without a standing bounty. Carth is a war hero and even without the orange jacket screams Republic pilot. And as for you Bastila, I doubt I really need to say that the Sith are looking for you. If the Sith believe I am the leader of this group they will not look too closely at you, potentially blowing our cover." Kira reasoned, already seeing doubt cloud the young Jedi's stormy gray eyes. "And if our cover is blown, we may have to kill innocent civilians that get in our way." Bastila's mind was instantly made up for her, her Jedi training not allowing her to put the innocent in danger. A part of Revan laughed silently at the Jedi and their adherence to such a limiting code.
"Very well, you make a good point." Bastila reasoned. "I can see how this plan is best for all, but I expect you to inform me of any plans you may have."
Kira nodded, without any intentions of upholding her own end of the bargin. To do so would be as limiting as the Jedi Code. She had no problem with lieing if it helped her cause, and though the truth is a sharper blade, lieing and deciet is more readily available. As the entire group began to follow Kira, a brave green Twi'lek approached her after the potential catfight, and bobbed his head nervously. "Canderous wanted to speak with you in the lower city Cantina." Or perhaps he was just more afraid of this 'Canderous' than he was of her. A bad mentality, really. And potentially fatal.
"Canderous huh? Sounds Mandalorian to me. Alright we'll see him in a bit." Kira said, waving the alien off.
Bastila stepped up, and naturally contradicted her. "What are you thinking, going to see a Mandalorian in the Lower City?"
Kira shrugged. "Best lead we have. He may know of a way off the planet. And it wont take long. Mandos like to get straight to the point. In conversation and battle, so, the only outcomes are we get information, or we relive a merc of his life."
Bastila huffed angrily, but followed behind Kira's small entourage as they headed towards the elevator to take them to the Lower City. As much as she wanted to argue, she had to admit, Kira did have a good point, and it was their best lead, but Bastila wanted to be the one to lead this mission. Not out of some perverted need to have unlimited control or glory, as Carth no doubt btelieved, but following the person she believed to be the supposedly- dead- but- only- amnesiac Dark Lord of the Sith wasn't exactly comforting.
Carth shrugged to himself and suppressed a laugh. As suspicious of Kira as he was, she was at least a good leader. And now that he thought about it, it was strange how she ended up becoming the unofficial leader, despite him being a military captain, and Bastila being a Jedi. Bastila thought she would become the leader, but he had no doubt Kira would spread her influence over the Jedi. She got to people like that, he thought ruefully.
Taris 15:41 Local Time, Javyars Cantina
Kira entered Javyars Cantina, and easily spotted the Mandalorian. He didn't have on the signature armor of a Mando, but he was sporting a snake tattoo and a hand canon that was about the size of a small human.
"Canderous of... Ordo?" Kira asked, jutting her chin at his tattoo.
Canderous looked up at her in surprise. Usually people, even other mercs, were at least slightly intimidated, but she just stared him down with her cold, emotionless eyes. "Yeah, that would be me. Now, I saw what you did after the swoop race, and I could use your help."
"I'm listening." Kira encouraged him, waving off the waiteress' offer for a drink.
"I stayed on this back water planet because Davik promised me a good deal of money, but recently, he hasn't been paying what he promised. So I figure, it's time to blow the Sith blockade. Unfortunately, the anti air turrets on the ground would take me out, so I want you to break into the Sith base, here on Taris, and acquire the launch codes. Then, I'll tell you the rest of my plan to get us off of this blasted rock."
Bastila groaned. She already knew where this was leading, and though it was futile, she just had to interrupt. "Surely you can't place your trust in a Mandalorian! You know how they are."
Canderous growled angrily, but Kira beat him to the punch. "Yeah, I do. That's why I trust Canderous. There a five important types of honor that I believe in. Mandalorian, Cathar, Wookie, Sith, and Yuuzhan Vong. Don't ask about the last two, because you wont like the answer. I still don't like the Vong's form of honor, but it sure as hell exists, in a weird twisted way."
Bastila shook her head, but kept silent. Afterall, if this was the will of the Force, who was she to argue with it? But what in the name of the Force was a Yuuzhan Vong anyway?
Canderous shook his large head in amusement. "I gotta say Kira, I think we'll get along just fine. Meet me here when you get the codes, don't take too long."
Taris 15:53 Local Time Droid Shop
"Yes, I can charge the droid to Davik's account. Take good care of T3, he is a very good droid."
Kira looked appraisingly at the small silver droid she had just bought with Davik's money. Unfortunately for him, he probably wouldn't be alive long enough for him to realize he had just lost four thousand credits. At least, if Canderous was anything like all the other Mandalorians she had met in battle. "Yeah, we'll take good care of him."
Kira and her crew plus the new edition of T3 left the droid shop quickly, and headed down the street towards the Sith Base.
"Bastila, Carth." Kira stopped and addressed her 'allies'. I want you two to take cover behind those crates, and protect our backs. Don't let anyone leave the base, and kill anyone who tries to exit. After they hear about the attack, the Sith are sure to try and block our escape. Hold them off for as long as you can, while Mission, Zaalbar, T3, and I infiltrate the base, and steal the launch codes. Any questions?" No one answered, so she plowed ahead. "Good, and I want radio silence. Can't let the Sith track our position."
Carth and Bastila walked into the shadows stiffly. That was a military order if ever they saw one. No room for arguing the plan, though utilizing all aspects of the battlefield.
Carth turned to Bastila and shook his head. "A civilian conscript, Bastila?"
"Shut up Onasi." She snapped in reply, and drew her inactive lightsaber.
Kira cracked her neck impatiently as T3 hacked the door with his mechanical arm. Mission was working on jamming the camera's, and had since put them onto a looped feed.
The droid whistled excitedly as the door opened. Kira stepped forward, and was confronted by a female receptionist. "Hey, what are you doing here? I don't have you listed as an appointment today."
"It must be an error, check again." Kira said, still moving forward towards the desk.
"No, you really don't ha-" Her words were cut off as she was blasted across the room by an invisible hand.
Mission chuckled. "I can see why you didn't want Bastila to be here for this."
Zaalbar made a throaty roar, what Kira supposed must have been the Wookiee equivalent of a laugh.
Kira hardly let the joke sink in before she began barking out orders again. "Mission, make sure the receptionist is alright. T3, hack the console and upload the schematics of the base. Zaalbar, secure those doors.", as she herself jammed the lock on one of the doors to prevent any Sith from flanking them.
Mission checked the Twi'lek's neck, and found a strong pulse. She had likely broken a rib or two, and would be bruising all over, though it was unlikely the woman would die. Mission ripped the woman's shirt sleeves, and used them to bind her hands and feet, as well as create a make shift brace for her ribs.
T3 beeped rapidly, and sent the map of the Sith Base to Kira's datapad. "Alright, let's move. Zaalbar, you and T3 stay here while Mission and I go on ahead, and retrieve the launch codes." Kira said, already marching away with the blue Twi'lek at her side. "T3, I want you to interface with the console, and wreck havoc throughout the base. The less resistance we meet, the better." Kira called over her shoulder, and drew her dual bladed sword with a bloodthirsty grin towards Mission, who tried to match it. "Zaalbar," she called out again. "Make sure to keep the camera's on a loop. Don't want any surprises."
A series of growls and whistles followed them out the door. Mission drew her short sword, and vanished under a stealth generator. Kira nodded to the spot where the girl had been, moments before, and entered one of the doors her datapad showed as a dead end.
"Hey, your not supposed to be in here!" An angry soldier in polished armor yelled. The three other soldiers flanking him drew their blasters in unison. "Put your hands in the air, and drop the sword. Your outgunned."
Kira raised an eyebrow in dark amusement. "Really?"
One of the guards fell with a gash in his unarmored neck, and a second fell as the Twi'lek materialized with a sword between the plates that were supposed to guard his stomach.
"Kill h-" The rest of his sentence was a cut of by the rush of blood through the gash in his neck. Kira smiled as she followed through with the attack, then threw her sword at the final Sith as a make shift spear.
The Sith jumped to the side, but he was too slow. His shoulder plate and bone crunched as the sword pinned him against the wall.
Mission drew her blaster fluidly, and planted a laser between his darkened mask, ending the pitiful crie that was gurgling out of his throat.
Kira nodded approvingly towards her companion, and yanked the sword out of the Sith's shoulder with a sickening pop, as the body slid to the floor, leaving a trail of blood where his open wound slid against the wall.
"Let's move on." Kira commanded briskly.
Mission followed the older woman out the door, and shimmered out of visibility without looking back.
The next room showed up as the 'interrigation room'. Might was well see what interrogation techniques the Sith were using now that she was no longer in command. Kira thought briskly.
The two women entered the room, and Kira released a disappointed sigh. One Duros was locked in an energy cell, and he bore some scarring from electricity, but he didn't have any other physical damage.
"A, human, you are not one of the Sith, are you?" The Duros asked with a shaky voice.
"No, we're not. Why are you in that cage anyway?" Mission asked.
Kira studied the Duros in the cage for a moment. "Wait, you're that Duros we saved during the Sith raid in our apartment building."
The alien seemed genuinely surprised as he answered. "Yes, yes I am. It is strange to find a human that can tell us apart. I am grateful for what you did, but I was seen as I was disposing of the bodies, and taken to this base. Please, you must let me out!"
Kira shrugged. It wouldn't get in the way of her mission, and she would lose nothing by help him, he might even help her in return in the future. "Alright, step back please." Kira removed the silver cylinder from her waist, and activated the blue beam before plunging the lightsaber through the energy field. The lightsaber began to glow, and cackled with electricity, but a few seconds later, and the energy field began to shimmer out of existence as the blade overloaded the cage.
"A laser sword?" The Duros' eyes grew even larger than normal. "Thank-you human, I have nothing to repay you with except my sincerest thanks."
Kira shook her head. "You might want to save your thanks for now. I can't have you alerting the Sith to our presence so-" Kira lifted the Duros by the throat with the force, and slammed his head into the floor.
Mission stared at the body. "What the hell did you do that for?" She demanded, trying to mask her fear with anger.
"He will live." Kira informed her. "Now come on, before the Sith find out we are here." And without a second glance at the body, left the room.
Mission followed behind her slowly, shocked at how easy it was for Kira to make a decision like that. Maybe that's what she meant when she said she was still Revan. With one last look of pity at the Duros, she ran after Kira, who was already carving through the next room of Sith.
Carth sighed in irritation at his situation. They had shot a lone Sith on patrol and dumped his body over the walkway, but no reinforcements had come to defend the Sith Base. He was beginning to suspect that Kira just didn't want them to follow her into the base. Red flags were raising in the back of his head, and for once, he highly doubted it was simply his ever persistent paranoia. There was something truly dark about the amnesiac woman. If she even did have amnesia for that matter.
"So, Bastila, how well do you know Kira, I mean, she seems kind of strange to you, doesn't she?"
Bastila cursed under her breath, but quite enough that Carth didn't hear her. She knew this would come up eventually. "I don't know anything about her beyond what the background check on her informed you." She lied. "She is equally a mystery to you as she is to me. Why?"
"Well, she was recruited on our stop at Dantooine, where we picked you up, so I assumed her last minute recruitment was a result of the Jedi's involvement in the military operation."
The ever-stoic Jedi groaned. Carth had already made his opinions of Jedi in the military known to her, and half the frakkin' galaxy. "First of all, the Jedi act as defenders of the peace by taking up arms during war time." Bastila ignored Carth's sarcastic snort. "Furthermore, no, I do not know why Kira was accepted to the Endar Spire, but I think the Force may have willed it." Bastila finished, staring off at the Tarisian sky line.
"Yeah, right." Carth muttered quietly, and looked around for anymore Sith targets, but found none. Kira had defiantly manipulated them to stay out of the way. For all his distrust in her, Carth had to admit that Kira was a damn good leader. Perhaps too good. Her tactics reminded Carth of the slaughter Revan wrought over Malachor V when she killed off all her less-than-loyal soldiers. Get those you don't trust out of the way, and use your allies as a shield as well as a weapon. As much as he saw parallels between himself and those Revan killed over Malachor V, and his constant paranoia, he didn't exactly distrust Kira. He was wary of her, of course, but he would follow her at the very least.
Mission activated her energy shield, and charged into the room with the large battle droid. Thanks to T3's slicing abilities, the turrets near the elevator had been deactivated, and an ion grenade had taken care of the droids shields, but its weapons were just as dangerous as ever.
"Sooner would be better Kira!" Mission cried as a beep alerted her to her rapidly depleting energy shields.
Kira didn't answer, but only closed her eyes, and stretched out her arm. The familiar ocean that was the force surrounded her until she felt like she was on the edge of drowning. Purple lightning danced across her arm, and shot out to enveloped the droid. The Sith war machine shuddered and began to collapse as smoke poured from its motivators and photoreceptor. "Mission!" Kira called weakly, already slumping to the floor. "Blast it, it's just disabled.
Mission pulled out one of her blasters, and planted a few quick rounds into its 'head', before spinning on her heels, and rushing to Kira.
Kira groaned as she slid down the sterile wall, and sat with her back to said wall. "Just need... to rest a bit." She panted. "Harder than... I remembered."
Mission leaned her shoulder against the wall, and watched curiously as Kira's eyes shut, and her breathing seemed to slow down to almost nothing.
The Twi'lek girl began to fidget nervously as she counted to a hundred twice, then three times, and the older woman had yet to stir. "Kira?" She finally asked cautiously.
An eye suddenly snapped open violently, but Kira smiled without any fatigue behind it. "Forgot how much I loved Jedi healing trances. Only thing they're really good at to be honest."
Mission shrugged, trying to keep up an air of bravado. "I wouldn't know." She said coolly.
Kira smirked as she caught Mission's worry. "Don't worry, a little practice won't hurt me. How long was I out?"
"About three and a half minute." Mission replied.
"Ah, not too bad, it'll need some work though." Kira shrugged as she accepted Mission's hand up.
The two woman entered the elevator, and Kira soon closed her eyes, and seemed to leave her own body once again as the elevator began its slow decline down into the depths of the base. Mission sighed in annoyance. Hopefully the elevator ride wouldn't be too long.
The elevator doors opened to reveal a short corridor that terminated at another door. Kira opened her eyes slowly, and shook her head at Mission. "Mission, stay here. There's a Dark Jedi in the next room."
Mission looked down at the floor, and nodded sadly. Didn't Kira trust her?
Seeming to read her mind, and that was actually a very likely possibility considering who Kira really was, the older woman patted the Twi'lek on the shoulder sympathetically. "It's not that I doubt your abilities Mission, far from it. Your one of the few non force sensitive people I would want at my back if I was fighting Dark Jedi." Mission turned her eyes towards Kira hopefully. "I just doubt I will need to fight him. But if it does come to battle, shoot off the the sides, it's harder to dodge or block bullets that have no intention." Kira grinned, and clasped Mission's forearm. "Just remember, play Pazaac in your head, and he wont be able to get in your mind."
"You can count on me Kira." Mission said, bouncing on the balls of her feet excitedly. It meant a lot to her if the former Dark Lord of the Sith assured her that she was capable of taking on a Dark Jedi, or, at least acting as backup against one.
Kira grinned at her youthful excitement as she entered the Governor's office.
"Who dares interrupt my meditations?" The lightsaberless Sith growled. "I thought I told you, no interruptions, I-" His face turned a paler shade of white than any Sith corruption could achieve. "L-lord Revan, forgive my outburst." He said nervously.
"Oh shut up you." Kira growled angrily, falling a little too easily into her old persona. "Now, give me the codes, or I will end you. Surely you do not believe you, a mere apprentice could take me, when your master, Malak, failed to do so, while cowering behind his fleet."
"N-no mi lady." He lied. Revan didn't seem as dark as he would have expected. He sensed only a sliver of darkness, equally balanced by her light. The governor's eyes searched for any advantage, until his eyes fell on the Twi'lek girl in the hall. The governor suppressed a grin as he began to take control of the child's mind.
Kira smirked as the Sith's eyes fell on Mission, just as she planned. As an apprentice, the governor would likely spend precious seconds trying to invade Mission's mind. While Mission didn't have much training to resist the Force, she was strong-willed, and could last for the few seconds it took to dispose of the traitor.
The governor looked up in surprise as he slammed into a mental wall. "Governor, you really didn't expect that to work, did you?" Kira asked mockingly.
The governor was lifted off his feet by an invisible iron grip around his neck, cutting off any air flow. "P-please... Mercy." He gasped.
"Believe me, killing you is a mercy compared to what I used to do to traitors. There are techniques in the Force that can suck the very life from you, as I feed on you for days, perhaps weeks, in some cases, months." Kira grinned darkly as she snapped the governor's neck with a flick of her wrist. "Your lucky I'm so benevolent these days." She told the broken corpse.
Mission looked away from the body of the dead Sith as Kira downloaded the Sith launch codes. "Let's go Mission." Kira said, and pointed to the elevators. "Mandalorians aren't known for their patience."
"R-right." Mission stuttered. She cast a last glance over her shoulder, and shuddered at the gruesome display. The Sith's neck was bent at an awkward angle, and blood was flowing freely from his mouth and nose. Somehow, seeing someone lifted off the ground and having their neck snapped without any physical contact just seemed so much crueler. Mission had lived on Taris long enough to be very familiar with death and violence, but this was just too much. She felt herself falling into Kira's surprisingly soft arms as darkness collapsed around her.
Carth rubbed his eyes to keep himself alert, not that there was any particular need to. There still hadn't been any Sith patrols since the single soldier he had shot half an hour earlier, and he and the meditating Jedi hadn't seen anything interesting.
Just as he was about to voice his concern to Bastila, Kira marched out of the base, followed by her three companions.
"What took you guys so long?" Carth asked.
"The governor was apparently a Dark Jedi." Kira shrugged nonchalant.
Bastila narrowed her eyes at Kira. "And you managed to kill him? Quite... impressive." She said skeptically.
"Perhaps. But the Sith don't train their apprentices as well as I remember. Now come on, I want to get off this planet as soon as possible." She said with a nervous glance to the sky where she could see the Leviathan. 'I know what you are planning Malak. It is no use. You and I will have a little talk when I return. These Sith are a disgrace to everything I worked to build. To have fallen so far, and to have learned nothing but destruction, that is your failing. Even with the might of the Star Forge I still have the power.' She sent through the weak bond she still maintained with her apprentice.
Bastila and Carth fell into step unquestioningly. Bastila chewed over Kira's declaration about the Sith. 'Didn't train their apprentices as well as she remembered?' What did she remember then?
I can not tell you how long this chapter has bothered me. After rewriting it a couple of time from scratch, I sat on this for a few weeks, constantly changing it. I'm still not completely satisfied with it, but damnit, I need to get off of Taris.
