Star Wars: The Dark Empire

Episode 1 – Exodus

Part 8 – The Rescue of O'Dus

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O'Dus prison, Mass containment area

Jadan Iscarn, only true apprentice of Sith master Rengath Fer'rer, marched between the many rows of containment cells; glaring periodically at prisoners that he recognized. Weaklings, how could they have fallen away from dark side? What had possessed them to betray Master Fer'rer, why had they willingly doomed themselves, joining the losing side? Jadan spotted a young man in one of the cages that he recognized as once being one of his greatest supporters. Traitor, Jadan knocked him with the Force into the cell's shielded walls, causing a massive flux of electricity to pour into the young man. He screamed; smoke pouring from his body, the smell of burning meat filling the area. Flames burst on his skin, the horrid sizzling of boiling fat adding to the stench. The man finally stopped screaming, but his body continued to smolder. Jadan turned, unmoved, noticing that the nearest other prisoner had vomited at the display. Another wet herself in fear. Others in the vicinity had different expressions of controlled dread and defiance, but even there fear lurked just below the surface, oozing though the pores of their skin. Jadan shook his head in disgust; they were cowards as well, cowards and traitors.

Jadan continued walking between the numerous cells, absently noting a strikingly beautiful woman with long black hair out of the corner of his eye. He stopped, and turned to get a better look. Although all the women in the academy had grown noticeably more attractive during the time after he had left during the academy, during the time they had been turning away from the dark side of the Force, Jadan was sure he would have noticed this woman before. Her beauty was striking.

Jadan reached the woman's cell, and tapped into its databank about the current inhabitant. 'Lucia Cabanic' was the name it gave, and then churned out details of her birth planet, rank, age, height, weight and a whole host of other useless information. Jadan quickly stopped looking at them though; he was far more interested in looking at the woman's face. She was currently deep in meditation, and did not so much as glance up at him. So this is the woman Marka married Jadan noted mentally. But something was wrong; she looked different to the Lucia that Jadan had known; who had been amongst his supporters. She was stunning, far more beautiful than the old Lucia who had merely been plainly pretty; her facial structure was different too. That couldn't all be Dark Side markings being undone. Yet Jadan was sure that he had seen that face somewhere before.

The young woman opened her eyes, blinked, but otherwise gave no indication of shock. Jadan stared into her irises, he was certain Lucia had had brown eyes before they had turned yellow. That couldn't be right; this woman though definitely had blue eyes. Jadan snarled, the colour reminded him of Marka, the greatest betrayer of them all. Yet there was something appealing about the innocence in that face. Jadan then noticed that the roots of her hair were a different colour to the rest of it. Again, that couldn't be right, Lucia had been one of the few with naturally black hair, or so Jadan had believed.

"You have no right to wear your hair like that," Jadan grated. The style was meant to show the pure blackness of the woman's heart, and was often backed up by black make-up. But this woman was a traitor; she had no right to be claiming dark purity for herself. Jadan focused on the Force, the air thickening around the woman's head. Then it burst into black fire. Lucia shrieked, but no sooner had the sound escaped her lips when the flames where gone. Her hair, now purged of dye, hung reddish-brown and curly.

Jadan stood stock-still, he recognized her. She was the other Jedi; the young pretty one, the one Marka had captured. Jadan's breath caught as he realized the ramifications. Marka had married a Jedi, a Jedi! He had fallen far further than Master Fer'rer had ever thought. And yet, this information could be the death of his rival. Jadan certainly didn't want Marka returning to the Dark Side, he had been a thorn in his side for too long already. No, it would suit his purposes far better if Marka were dead, and this Jedi might just be the perfect excuse to kill him. What was her name again? It was short…Clay…Kae…Kaya; that was it.

"You've come up a lot in the world, Kaya," he said, she twitched slightly at the use of her true name. "From Jedi prisoner, with no life expectancy, to wife of one of the most powerful Sith in the empire." The nearby prisoners started looking incredulously from him to her, obviously they hadn't known.

"He is not a Sith," said Kaya quietly, her blue eyes leveled at him. "He never truly was. And he never will be."

Jadan was taken aback, she wasn't afraid! She was regarding him as though he were beneath her, something vile but not particularly dangerous. I will break you he swore, and set about to do just that.

"Turning the academy, bold move," he commended her mockingly. "Was it your idea or Marka's?" he continued without waiting for an answer. "I've been interrogating your lackeys, interesting bunch, truly interesting. They use Sith fighting techniques, have a Greys philosophy on moderation and seemed to have developed morals that can only be described as Jedi." Jadan sneered "You've created a new order between you two, aren't you proud. What're you going to call them, the Cabanics?"

Kaya stood up boldly to face him. "These men and woman," she said, gesturing at the prisoners all around her, "Will be backbone from which the Republic will draw its strength in the coming war." The others nearby were looking at her as though she were mad and dangerous.

"Ah yes, five hundred ex-Sith against the might of the Empire," said Jadan loudly, stepping back and raising his arms as though he were speaking to an audience. "Which includes, by the way, a mere three and a half thousand fully trained Sith." He lowered his voice again, and smiled. "But of course, you've all been captured, you're not going anywhere."

Just for spite he added, "Marka will be carrying out your execution as soon as he turns back to the dark side. It won't be long now."

Kaya shook her head "Not true, he came close yesterday, but he is as strong as ever now."

"He had half a bottle of Sith poison injected into him," Jadan laughed "Nobody has lasted more than a day with that amount in them, and he also had the tender mercies of thirteen of the choicest holocrons," Jadan shuddered slightly at the thought, then finished "I repeat, it won't be long now."

She merely smiled.

"Anyway, how do you know? What are you, bonded?" Jadan laughed weakly at his own joke. "No matter, he can't last forever. He's been in there five days already; even if you did get him out he would still fall. Sith poison cannot be purged, there is no antidote, it can't be beaten. Holocrons of that type can drive even Sith masters insane, Marka doesn't stand a chance. And he's not going anywhere."

"By the time this day is done, you will know exactly how true that statement is," she said smugly.

"What is that supposed to mean, little Jedi?" Jadan snarled.

Kaya smiled again, giving that annoying, superior, all-knowing smile. At some level this excited Jadan, his loins stirred at the though of forcing himself on her. But the timing wasn't right. It would hurt and scar her certainly, but he needed to expose more chinks in her armour for it to break her. Then she would fall. Jadan had enjoyed breaking the other Jedi woman's spirit, and this one was even prettier. Instinctively Jadan realized he had now the perfect new avenue with which to attack.

"Do you know what we did to the other Jedi that we took?" he said, knowing that the memory of her companion would hurt Kaya.

"What other Jedi?" she said, confusion written all over her face "I was the only one taken alive."

Jadan's face lit with glee, the softhearted fool hadn't told her. "The other woman, Belaya. Oh come on now, surely your loving husband told you about her."

"He told me that I was the only captive taken," she admitted.

"He lied to you," Jadan goaded. "She is still very much alive. Of course, she has seen the folly of her old path."

"You monster, what did you do to her?" whispered Kaya in horror.

"Not just me, the entire Sith circle. She begged for death many times, but we would never give it to her. She soon began to see our point of view."

Kaya was silent for a moment, and then she asked, "That's why Marka's father was killed, wasn't it? I always wondered, and he would never tell me. His father tried to rescue Belaya, before she was taken away."

Jadan nodded. "Very good, little Jedi. Too bad your lightsaber skills and Force potential don't match your wit and spirit, you would be formidable." Sensing weakness he continued, "I'll arrange for you to meet with your aunt, you will see how much more…unrestrained she has become."

"You animal!" she shouted. "No, you are much worse than an animal, no animal is needlessly cruel."

"I am a Sith," he said mildly. "I wonder, when you fall to the Dark Side, will you get bored of Marka and share your passions with me? Your aunt was enjoyable, but you look a real treat."

Kaya flushed angrily, but the defiance stayed in her eyes. "Marka is a better man, and more powerful than you will ever be. He will unman you."

Jadan snorted and scoffed "I'm not scared of him, he's…" Suddenly huge red lights on the ceiling began flashing, sirens wailing warnings.

"Attack alarms!" shouted Jadan. Who would have the nerve to attack Dus? "Demetrius, Aro, come in, over…" he raced off contacting his two bodyguards who had survived Arn, forgetting totally about Kaya.

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The 'Archon', Space, Pandema system

Carth smiled as salvos of lasers and missiles smashed into the last two Empire cruisers. Slowly they began to shatter, hundreds of explosions rippling through them, the Archon's crew cheering them on. The way was now clear for them to send down their shuttles onto the prison moon. Carth had had a good mind to send bombing teams to wreck destruction on Pandema and its three industrial moons, but Lorn had warned him that all of them had massive shield generators powerful enough to last a day of continuous pounding from a fleet the size of the Republic's. No, as much as he regretted missing the opportunity, they had to be in and out as quickly as possible. The planet and its moons had defenses enough to seriously cripple the Republic fleet if it got any closer, that much was obvious from scan, Lorn had warned them also. Even now their long-range missiles and lasers were inflicting damage to the Republic fleet, not enough to be significant, but certainly not negligible.

"That was the last of them," Carth said into the command console "All landing pods prepare to disembark."

There was nearly a minute of 'Rogers', a petty officer on the bridge marking down all the ships that were ready. When he was satisfied that all the landing pods still in commission were ready, he gave the thumbs-up to Carth, who gave the order.

"All pods away. Good luck." He then patched through to a fighter-bomber squadron. "Blue Alpha, do you copy?"

"Roger, Admiral," replied the squadron leader, his voice crackling with static.

"I need for you to defend the pods as they descend, but particularly pod Y6-23. Nothing must happen to it." That was the pod his son Dustil and daughter-in-law Mira were in. The pod also contained all the other Jedi on the mission except Bastila; and as such its survival was highly important for the sake of the mission. Carth quickly convinced himself that was why he was taking the excess precautions. As he watched the pods drop from the various ships, ignite their engines and shoot towards the black moon, Carth wondered which among them would be the vital one.

"Sir, we're picking up multiple signatures of enemy ships approaching," called a dark skinned officer from besides the Archon's sensor array "It could be as many as many as eight thousand!"

Carth quickly moved to see what he was talking about. Sure enough massive readings were coming in. They were still far enough away though that only the Archon's sensors could have picked them up.

"How long have we got?" said Carth to the officer, taking a quick note of his rank, which was sub-lieutenant, and his nametag, which read 'Chaka Guni'.

"Around twenty minutes, if they come in slowly so as not to expose weakness, sir," sub-lieutenant Guni replied.

"Get Lorn on the line," Carth growled, hating the fact that he would have to ask the other man for advice. "In the meantime, warn the other ships to prepare for incoming bandits. And tell Mission to hurry up with getting that multi-laser operational. I have a feeling we're going to need it."

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The 'Jaeger', Space, Pandema system

"…You know it's the only way!" said Lorn exasperatedly. "Nobody else in the fleet has any inkling of the Empire's tactics or how to counter them, and if I'm constantly relaying my suggestions to you, we will waste valuable time that could cost many lives, maybe even the battle. I have experience in…"

"ALL RIGHT!" Onasi shouted from the other end of the line, cutting Lorn off. "But just remember that I'm the Admiral here. And tell Bastila to begin her Battle Meditation, the first few minutes of the landing on Dus are going to be crucial."

Lorn turned to Bastila; she was already in a meditation position. Lorn had never seen Battle Meditation before; it wasn't practiced in the Empire, he intently watched the light shifting ever so slightly around the Jedi Master. The comm.-link with Onasi's voice a few seconds later snapped him out of it.

"Admiral to all ships. I am delegating the temporary rank Sub-Admiral to Commander Lorn. Obey him as if he were me…until further notice."

Lorn stiffened angrily. The last part really hadn't been necessary, and had just been said to spite him. Nevertheless, he now had rank second only to that of the Admiral, if only for the duration of the battle. No doubt that bloody stalker will demote me as soon as it's over, provided of course that they won. Then he noticed Lieutenant Hael checking him out with far more interest than he had ever seen before. She turned away, face burning; quickly enough that Lorn knew his suspicions were correct. He knew from experience that nearly all women were drawn to power; the more power, the greater the appeal. Round three to me

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Pod Y6-23

Brianna Kae was going through all the calming meditation exercises she had ever learned, crammed between Mical and a Republic commando, whose name she did not know. She had never been an excitable person by nature, and years of Echani training had taught her to mask her emotions. She had never been afraid when engaging the enemy physically, but this, plummeting from the sky into enemy territory with a chance of being shot down before she had even set foot on the ground; it terrified her. Since she had reached adulthood nearly eight years before, she had only ever been truly afraid once before: The day Jezebel the Exile had come for Atris.

The pod started to shake violently. Brianna grabbed something and gripped onto it tightly, her jaw clenched and eyes wide. The fact that others sitting in the crammed circle were looking even more afraid did not help. Four in the shuttle were seasoned Republic commandoes, and while they certainly did not look relaxed, they didn't appear about to throw up or urinate, which was how Kaah and Dustil were looking. Mira though, who was sitting opposite Brianna next to Dustil, smiled and gave a thumbs-up. For a moment she considered turning to see how Mical was faring, but the pod shaking even more violently dashed the impulse out of her head. Dustil bent over and retched noisily, the smell of bile filling the enclosed space. As the shaking subsided into its previous level of shaking, which now seemed positively smooth by comparison, one of the younger commandos followed Dustil's example. Brianna had to go through a calming technique to prevent herself from doing the same.

Brianna could see some of the monitors on the ceiling from where she sat. Most were giving various readouts too quickly for her to make sense of them, but one was a monitor showing little blips that indicated the other pods. One dot winked out, then another, they were being shot at! Not much in contrast to the amount of pods, but the thought of being shot down still made Brianna feel sick. The smell of vomit did not help.

Finally the shaking stopped, and the pod finally flew smoothly, shaking ever so slightly as the engines changed gear. The monitors showing what was outside came to life. One of the commandoes remarked to another how much easier the entry into a moons atmosphere than to a planet's. Brianna was busy collecting her scattered wits; she looked into the television monitors, and gasped. The entire moon's surface was black rock, with sharp jagged cliffs and valleys everywhere. In the distance a volcano poured out black smoke, and every so often vents spurted out green gas that looked volatile enough to eat away metal. She squeezed harder on the thing that had been such a comfort to her. It moved, and its fingers entwined hers. Brianna blinked, and turned to Mical, who wasn't looking at her but smiling in a very self-satisfied way; unwittingly she had grabbed his hand during their decent. Mira grinned from the other side, pointing them out to Dustil, who still looked half ill. Kaah snorted, and looked away. Brianna felt her face heat, but she did not let go Mical's hand; it fitted in hers.

The fleet of tiny ball-like pods skimmed just above the surface of the moon, their destination quickly coming in sight.

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O'Dus prison, top levels

Mira leapt out of the hovering pod, falling a few meters. She rolled as she landed, absorbing the impact, and immediately was on her feet, lightsaber ready and ignited. Dustil landed beside her, the other three were already down. As soon as Dustil was up and signaled that he was all right, although still quite pale, the five Jedi ran in the direction of the control room, or rather towards the area where Lorn had told them to expect it. Their mission: to deactivate the main detention center, releasing the prisoners, and deactivating the automatic defenses.

"Quickly," cried Kaah, who was the most senior Jedi among them, "The Sith will surely try to execute their prisoners as soon as they realize that we're here to rescue them." Mira shook her head as they ran. Men, no matter which species; couldn't help but state the obvious.

A group of perhaps thirty legionaries noticed the Jedi and moved to intercept them; a well-placed thermal detonator from Mira's modified grenade-launcher dramatically reduced the odds though. The remaining soldiers barely had time to recover before the Jedi were upon them, and did not pose too much of a challenge. They ran on, encountering basic defenses, booby traps, shielded rooms, war droids and some forms of defense that they had never seen before. Nothing a basic premonition sense couldn't detect beforehand, though, and a lightsaber cut through. Mira and the Jedi burst into the controls room, startling the Empire technicians, who reached for laser pistols far too late.

Mira immediately tried to hack into the network. "Damn it, they have eight layers of security systems." Each one could take her hours to break through.

"We don't have time for that," cried Dustil. He seemed about to continue, but then lights went out. The screen Mira was working at and all the other screens winked out as well.

Mical de-activated his strange half-green, half-blue double 'saber, the lack of its light plunging the room into complete darkness. "That should take care of it," he said evenly, and moved out of the room, the other Jedi quickly falling in behind him. Mira could have kissed him when she finally fathomed what he had done, with the power to the room cut the system went offline, and so would the automatic defenses and the containment cells. In a massive oversight, the Imperial forces had not thought to install a back-up system in the O'Dus prison. They would pay the price in full now.

"We need to secure a path for the prisoners to escape," said Kaah, who had taken the lead again "They're going to be confused, scared and defenseless." Mira had to bite back a sharp retort; did the Twi'lek think they were stupid?

"I think we secure the west side of the compound," said Mical. Mira was about to ask why the west side was better then any other, when the roar of a colossal explosion that sent gigantic black boulder hundreds of meters into the air, nearly deafening her. The shock of it lifted her off her feet; she landed hard on her hands and knees, only just managing to hold onto her lightsaber. Echoes of it groaned hoarsely back from nearby valleys. When Mira looked up, she saw that the entire western wall had been shattered. All the other Jedi turned to stare at Mical.

"I told some of the engineers in the first wave of commandoes demolish the western wall," he explained, his cheeks going red. "We needed a point to evacuate the prisoners from, and the western wall was as good as any. I think they were a bit overzealous with the amount of explosives."

A bit, the whole wall was in ruin, they had only needed a large hole. Hopefully they hadn't killed any of the people they had come to rescue. But the plan had been a good one; certainly the shock of the explosion would have sent the guards into disarray. When the other Jedi continued to stare at him Mical blushed brighter and said, "Well, are we going to secure it or what?" Mira suddenly realized that there was far more to Mical than she had originally realized, there was courage in that one, determination and a brain. She wasn't the only one; a new light of respect for him glowed in all the Jedi's eyes. Kaah nodded, and the five Jedi set off at a run towards the western side of the compound.

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O'Dus prison, Mass containment area

Kaya broke her mediation, stood up and stretched; ignoring the quizzing look Ramon was giving her. She stepped out of her shielded cell the exact moment that it deactivated. There was a moment of shocked silence, and then the voices started, jubilant shouts of 'We're Free!" and the like. The sound from five hundred voices quickly grew deafening. Ramon moved to her side determinedly.

"How did you know that was about to happen?" he demanded.

Kaya stood shock-still "I don't know, I just…knew."

Ramon studied her face for a moment, perhaps searching for a sign of deception. "Well, we've got to get out here before we're recaptured. I guess that 'Never' person came through for us after all."

Kaya nodded "Yes, and that means the Republic will be here. Ramon, you have to lead everybody to safety. In Marka's absence, you are in charge."

Laman and Banali joined them, as Ramon retorted, "You lead them to safety; I'll go into the catacombs and find Marka."

"If do that, both you and him will die."

"Please, let me do this. I have to prove my loyalty to him."

"You will get your chance," Kaya promised, "As soon as everybody is safe and you have that Force-inhibitor off." Ramon tugged angrily at the ugly metal contraption that adorned his and every Sedan ex-Sith's neck. Kaya raised her voice to a shout, "Everybody in the centre of the room move to the sides, quickly!" men and women scurried to the sides, driven by the urgency in her voice.

Kaya set off at a run, Ramon, Banali and Laman in her wake. A booming explosion shook the room, driving them off their feet. Kaya looked up; cracks were snaking across the ceiling. Black rocks the size of houses broke off, smashing into the floor with titanic force. Chaos reigned for half a minute as rocks fell amongst them, everyone running out of the way as quickly as they could. As soon as the rocks stopped falling, Ramon ordered all of them together for a head count. Thanks to Kaya's timely warning and the premonition sense they all had (which even Force-inhibitors could not block), nobody had been hurt.

Kaya started to speak, but immediately some began turning their backs to her "Listen to me," Kaya said desperately, "With these we are all sitting ducks." She said grabbing at the inhibitor around her neck "You have to listen!" she cried frantically.

"We heard what Jadan said," said young Unor coldly, half-turning back towards her. "You're not Lucia, you're a Jedi!" If most hadn't heard before, they certainly knew now. Unor began to step towards her menacingly, dozens at his back "You are the reason this happened to us, you and Marka. It was your ambition to turn us into tools for the Republic." Ramon stepped in front of him, Banali and Laman at his sides. Laman's Greys backed them up, with others that walked closer to the light side, or had a special loyalty to Marka joining them. But they were a minority, and the atmosphere was quickly turning murderous. Most though seemed not to want to get involved; they were too weak from lack of food, water and sleep; coupled with torture.

"Look, I know there is some explaining to do," said Kaya "But this is not the time or place. Republic forces have entered this complex; they're here to rescue us. Imperial troops are coming as well, they've been ordered to kill on sight. We have to get to the west side of the compound."

"How do you know this?" Banali whispered to her.

"She has a gift," Laman answered for her. "I'm not sure how it works, but I think it would be best to trust it."

"Truce – for now," said Unor angrily, "But this is not over by a long shot."

Ramon smiled. "Then we go," he said, and briskly took charge of them.

As Kaya watched him pick up a little girl who looked near death, carrying her as gently as he could, she suddenly found that she liked him a lot more. He had changed a lot from the womanizer who had cared about no-one besides himself. As the five hundred Sedan ex-Sith moved towards the western wall, many practically dead on their feet and others helping their even worse off comrades, Kaya turned in the other direction.

"Where're you going?" asked her friend Banali.

"I have to find my husband," she replied, and ran into the deep catacombs of the prison. The vision was clear; he would need her. She had to be there for him.

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O'Dus prison, Middle levels

Jadan, Demetrius and Aro ran into Rengath's view just as the huge explosion ripped though the prison. Rengath was only just able to keep his feet; Jadan and his bodyguards as well as the woman besides Rengath weren't so lucky. Jadan pulled himself up brushing his black pants angrily.

"Master, there is a group of Jedi among the attackers," he reported, sounding both excited and vicious at once.

"How many?" Rengath asked. He certainly wasn't afraid of a few poorly trained Jedi, they would certainly be no match for Sith. But they were only five Sith in the complex currently, enough Jedi could overwhelm them.

"Five."

Rengath smiled, they could have dealt with twice that number. "Take the others," he said "and kill them all. But spare me one woman; I would enjoy having another Jedi for sport. Don't you agree?" he said to the woman beside him. Huge scars criss-crossing her face and Sith tattoos covered every inch of her exposed skin, making it barely recognizable as a human being's.

"Yes, master," she rasped out of her reconstructed voice box, a strange glint in her yellow eyes, which rested in black hollows.

"Master," said Jadan, giving a quick glance at the scarred woman. "May I have a private word?"

Rengath nodded, Jadan came closer to whisper in his ear what he had learned about who Marka's wife really was. Rengath snarled; that could cause unnecessary complications. "I'll keep her with me," he said, motioning to the scarred woman. "You take the other two." Best not to expose her to any part of her former life, she might begin to have serious doubts about her path. Anyway, three Sith should be more than enough to deal with five measly Jedi. "Take as many soldiers as you need. Don't return to me until all of them are dead."

Jadan nodded, and ran out of view with Demetrius and Aro, drawing his lightsabers as he ran and talking into his comm.-link.

Rengath quickly reviewed the tactical situation; there was little he could do to stop the prisoners from escaping, there were simply too few legionaries stationed on the complex and now the defenses were down as well. But his fleet was easily within striking distance. If they destroyed the Republic fleet, they would kill all the prisoners, or even re-capture them. Rengath was loath to lose all his retainers, but it was better than them escaping to the Republic to become Jedi enemies. He patched through to his fleet Admiral, and ordered him to attack. The Republic fleet would be engaging the resident fleet in a few minutes, eleven thousand rusty Republican ships against eight thousand superior, state-of-the-art Imperial. Rengath's fleet was nearly five thousand strong. Against such numbers the Republic wouldn't stand a chance.

There was still the problem of Marka; there was a chance he would get out of his cell now that everything was off-line. Despite everything Rengath still wanted Marka to return to him, men and women with his potential came only a few times a generation. He still hadn't turned to the dark side. Then Rengath turned to the scarred woman, remembering the history she had with Marka. Perhaps she could be used to push him over the edge.

"Come with me," he said to her "we're going to catch our traitor before he gets far."

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O'Dus prison, the ruined western wall

"You are the Sith from the Sedan academy who rebelled against the Sith teachings?"

Ramon nodded, looking half-bemused at the deep-purple alien Jedi who had spoken. He was basically humanoid, but no human ever had those appendages hanging from their head. Fortunately the other four Jedi were all human, so were most of the Republic soldiers with them. Even still, Ramon found it disconcerting looking into the face of the non-human Jedi, he'd never seen anything like him before. In the Sith empire, besides the Arnon's, there were no non-human sentients, they'd all been exterminated millennia ago.

A white haired Jedi woman motioned to a small ravine just beyond the destroyed wall. "There are shuttles ready to evacuate you all."

Ramon nodded, and gave his thanks. "Just a bit longer, hold on little one," he whispered to the girl in his arms. She needed water, and fast.

Further away, the purple Jedi cried, "Here comes the first wave, brace yourselves!"

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O'Dus prison, deep Catacombs

Marka braced his body against the thick metal door, pushing with all his might. The Force-inhibitor around his neck blocked his ability, but he could still sense things through it, and he knew that the electromagnetic lock on the door had deactivated, making escape possible. Even so, the inhibitor rendered him all but defenseless; so unless he could arm himself quickly when he got out, he was as good as dead. The Holocrons were still screaming, determined to undermine his efforts to escape. Marka ignored all the visions they planted in his mind; grimly pushing as the heavy metal door slowly began to move. His volatile emotions seethed just below the surface, but he had control over them.

Finally a crack appeared between the door and the passage. Marka panted and pushed, his muscles straining to the point of tearing. Slowly the crack widened, slowly he began to see true light again for the first time in five days. It hurt his eyes, but he kept pushing. His back ached, his legs were burning with agony; his shoulder was being crushed against the metal; even though he was using his arms to expand the area the pressure was being exerted on. Finally the area was large enough to slip through, he fell on his chest and rolled under the door as it sealed again with a squelch.

Marka came to his feet unsteadily, his glowing yellow eyes regarding the three wrecks of men before him. They must have been released like him with the cells down, although they had only been in shielded cells, judging from what Marka could see behind them. His cell had probably only been sealed with the metal door to prevent the sound of the holocrons from affecting anybody else outside.

He knew their names, they were spoken like a curse among the Sith. Maugrim Babbadon, Anamos Yukil and Idrus O'del, the three Sith Masters that had attempted to overthrow Darth Messiah nearly ten years ago. They and their four apprentices had managed to ambush the Sith Lord while he was alone, while their combined forces had attacked Pandema. Nobody knew what had happened in the fight, but somehow Darth Messiah had overwhelmed seven of the most powerful Sith in the Empire single handedly, many of them Yoshi Ma masters. There had been rumours about that fight, that the Sith Lord had used some special technique to defeat them all, some even said that he had a unique weapon of unimaginable power. All the apprentices had been killed, but the Sith Masters had been taken to O'Dus to live out the rest of their tortured existence, a constant reminder to the others and their replacements.

Marka stared at the three slobbering old men, unable to put a name to each of the faces. They had aged thirty years in less than ten. All skin and bone, their hair thin and white and gums rotting, open sores leaking pus all over their bodies. Madness glinted in each of their yellow eyes. This was what Dus did to its prisoners over long periods of time, the dark side tormenting all of its inhabitants. Guards had to be rotated off the moon every two weeks to prevent them from succumbing to the madness as well, and duty on O'Dus was by far the least popular prospect for the legion. The three old men started advancing on him, their steps unsure but determined. Their mouths worked, as though they were trying to speak, but all that came out were demented noises. One of them snapped his jaws hungrily, pulling futilely at his Force inhibitor; another extended his arms towards Marka, who was slowly backing away until his back hit the wall.

The last reared up and spoke with a snarl. "At last we have you, my Lord. Your rule ends this day."

Marka gave a start; he'd expected another incomprehensible noise. These mad old Sith obviously thought they were facing Darth Messiah again; their advance was now oozing with violent intent. Why did they think he was Darth Messiah? Regardless of their demented reasoning, they intended to kill him. With nowhere to run except through them, Marka had to defend himself.

Marka charged, diving feet first at the lead Sith master, who did not react fast enough. The blow shattered the man's brittle ribcage, and Marka landing on his chest drove two ribs though his lung and into his heart. The second caught Marka from behind immediately as he landed, attempting to lock his arms and bite his neck. Marka broke the lock with practiced ease, and rammed his palm up the man's nose, forcing the cartilage into his brain. He was dead before he hit the floor. The last backed away, growling and spitting.

A dark shape loomed behind the last Sith master, and an orange blade snap-hissed as it ignited and sliced into the hapless man. Marka backed away as a Sith woman covered with tattoos and scars stepped into the light, her lightsaber threateningly low. Marka turned to run; unarmed and with his access to the Force cut off by the inhibitor he stood no chance against her, and found himself face-to-face with Rengath Fer'rer.

"Going so soon, my apprentice?" hissed the Sith master.

The Sith woman came up behind Marka, who stood frozen still, and held her now deactivated lightsaber to his throat while her other arm roamed around his body. "He's a handsome one," she croaked through a voice box that sounded like it had been surgically repaired. She licked his ruined left ear and bit softly into his neck as her left hand strayed down towards his crotch. Marka stood absolutely still, trying to ignore the waves of revulsion, mingled with arousal. He then felt even more revolted for feeling aroused. The Sith poison magnified it all, it was all Marka could do not to lash out at the woman. If she were alone, he knew that he would have had some hope of being able to disarm her. But with Fer'rer in front of him, he did not stand a chance. Silently he fought again against the hold the Dark Side's hold on his emotions forcing himself to feel nothing at all, as her touch grew ever more nauseating.

"You remember Belaya of course," said Rengath, watching the scene before him with mild interest. "The Jedi your father tried to rescue."

Emotions of that fateful day welled up. Marka's veins were rivers of emotion, every heartbeat bringing of more of them into his brain. His vision filled with red, as he remembered again what Rengath had forced him to do to his own father. Marka's face was screwed with controlled rage, black veins coming into view and his face going greyer as rage smothered all his other senses.

'Help me, please,' he pleaded softly into his heart. Like a miracle, he felt all of Kaya's love and faith in him pour through the bond, washing away all his dark emotions away. His vision slowly cleared, and his mind. He'd been a fool to block her out; he was not strong enough to redeem himself from bondage to the dark side alone. Only Kaya's unfailing love could save him.

She was coming.

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Stay tuned for 'Redemption and Despair', Part 9 of Star Wars: The Dark Empire Episode 1 – Exodus