You Might Die Trying
by: Sam Lincoln
Rating: PG
Summary: In a rebuilding galaxy a disparate band of adventurers try to solve the ultimate mystery. Where is Revan?
Spoilers: Both Kotor games will be gleefully spoiled
You Might Die Trying: Chapter Ten
"What in the galaxy possessed you to think that bringing a passenger on board was a good idea?" Bastila shouted at Colm.
"It was payment for services rendered," Colm shot back. "He got me and mine out of a situation you got us into." The two were standing in Bastila's quarters with the door closed.
"You have no proof of that," Bastila replied, less forcefully. "Besides, that in no way changes things. We have no idea who this Mical person is."
"You're right, we don't, but then again he wouldn't be the first person on this boat who's not been completely truthful with me."
"Have I brought anyone with questionable loyalties onto this ship?"
"You want a list?" Colm retorted.
Bastila took a deep breath, "His mind is shielded from me – which is in and of itself suspicious," she said in a quieter tone. "But he is not who he says he is."
"You don't really think I bought his little story do you? Gren wouldn't release somebody from the brig on the say so of even the Chancellor's son. The kid isn't on the level, I know."
"Then why?"
"Maybe because I didn't want you to have something else to use as leverage on me. Maybe because I didn't take to kindly to your meddling. Lots of reasons why. And don't go apologizing. I know you don't mean it. You did what you thought was right, even though it weren't. I don't need to hear no insincere apologizing, or rationalizing."
"Very well Captain, I won't, but I do regret the decision. It was not well thought out, and showed a shocking lack of trust in you and your men. As for this Mical, he can stay, but you are responsible for keeping track of him. If he turns out to be an agent for the Sith…"
"I know what to do. I've dealt with plenty of Sith agents in the past. Don't fret your pretty little head about it."
Bastila opened the cabin door and Gwyn tumbled into the room. The young woman looked up at Bastila and Colm. "Well?" She asked the pair.
"Mical can stay," Colm told Gwyn.
"He can? Great, oh thank-you," Gwyn squealed. She stood up and hugged Bastila.
"Now Gwyn, he's a grown man, not a puppy. Best you dial that crush back a few notches," Colm advised his engineer.
"Aw Cap'n, I ain't crushing. Mical's just...well he's nice, polite, cute…"
"Why don't you check on the ship's engines," Bastila suggested to Gwyn. "They seemed a little rough when we were leaving Telos, and we are going to need them in top condition soon enough."
"Ain't nothing wrong with my engines," Gwyn protested. "I'll go check 'em just to prove it." Gwyn turned and walked out of cabin.
"I don't think that girl has ever seen the bad in anyone," Colm commented.
"Her innocence is refreshing," Bastila agreed. "But it can't last Captain, it never does, especially not in this kind of life."
"No, I guess it don't," Colm mused.
Colm slid into his chair in the cockpit. "So where are we Tom?"
"Officially we are in the middle of nowhere," Skyre replied. "Nothing but empty space for light years."
Colm looked out the cockpit window. "Kind of spooky," he commented.
"Yeah, they say if you stay out here too long it does funny things to your mind," Skyre replied.
"Spend much time here Tom?" Colm asked.
"Me, no, not a lot...well, some, but not so much as to go crazy, not when I have my friends to talk to." Skyre indicated the small collection of figurines he had placed on the pilot's console.
"Just so long as they don't talk back," Colm advised the pilot.
Bastila stuck her head into the cockpit. "Captain Abrik, may I have a word with you, in private?"
Colm stood up from his chair, "Looks like I've been summoned. Keep an eye on the thing, will you Tom?"
"You bet Captain."
Colm followed Bastila through the ship. They passed the common area where the rest of the crew was sitting. "I know I've seen you somewhere," Colm heard Mira say to Mical. "You've never been to Nar Shadaa have you?" Mical's protestations faded out as Colm entered Bastila's cabin. Bastila shut the door behind them.
"So what's with all the secrecy?" Colm asked.
"I wanted to give you our next destination, but before I do that there is something I have to tell everyone, and I felt it appropriate to say it to you first."
"Let me guess, this is the point where you tell me that we're looking for Revan?"
"What? How did you...did Jolee..." Bastila spluttered.
"Whoa, throttle back there. No Jolee didn't tell me anything. Figured it out all on my lonesome. Didn't take no real great mental leap to figure it out. Jedi Council don't want nothing to do with Revan, and who else would you move heaven and earth to find? Honestly I reckon 'bout everyone on this boat's figured it out...'cept for Cheyn, and maybe Tom..."
"I didn't realize I was so transparent."
Colm shrugged, "Ain't a matter of transparency, despite all appearances to the contrary you are still human, but it gets even better. I know where you're going to tell me we have to go to."
"You do, and where is that?"
"Korriban."
"And how did you arrive at that piece of deduction?"
"Stands to reason, just about everything that has to do with Jedi and Sith winds up including that ugly rock of a world. Why should this little jaunt be any different?"
Bastila sighed. "You are correct captain. I do want you to take the ship to Korriban. It is as close as we can get to the last place Revan visited before he vanished."
"And what exactly does that mean?"
"It means that wherever Revan went, he found his way there by visiting Malachor V, do you really want to revisit that graveyard?"
"No, let the dead stay buried." Colm suppressed a shudder at the thought of the returning to that dead system.
"It is a longshot that we will find any trace of Revan on Korriban, but at this point there are no other alternatives."
"Hey captain," Skyre said over the com system, "Didn't want to interrupt your little confab, but I thought you should know I just picked up an encrypted transmission somebody tried to send out over the holonet."
"Did you block it?" Colm asked.
"Pretty sure I got most of it, but this is some heavy-duty encryption so who knows."
"Thanks Tom, ready the hyperdrive in case we have to get out of here in a hurry, and keep me informed if somebody tries any more transmissions." Colm looked over at Bastila. "I'm going to have a little chat with our new doctor, care to join me?"
"The only way Mr. Skyre would have noticed an encrypted holo transmission is if he was explicitly looking for one," Bastila commented.
"I told you I knew what to do," Colm told Bastila as he walked out of her cabin.
"Yes and I'm sorry I doubted you," Bastila replied as she followed him down the hall towards Mical's cabin. "Now what are you going to do?"
"Oh I reckon this," Colm punched the button to open the cabin door and strode into Mical's room.
"Captain Abrik, what..." Mical began to say before Colm punched him square in the mouth.
Mical toppled to the ground and Colm grabbed the younger man by his shirt collar, dragging him out into the ship's airlock. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't throw you off this boat right now." Colm demanded.
"Captain, don't you think that's a little harsh?" Bastila asked.
Gwyn walked into the room, attracted by the noise. "What's going on?" She asked.
"This don't concern you Gwyn, go back to your cabin," Colm instructed the engineer. He drew his oversized blaster and pointed it at Mical. "Start talking, right now."
"Honestly captain, I have no idea what you're going on about," Mical protested.
"So you don't know nothing about the encrypted transmission that Tom just intercepted?"
"I assure you Captain, it's not what you think," Mical replied.
"Then enlighten me, 'cause from where I'm looking you ain't what you say you are. And that gives me a powerful urge to see how long you can breath in vacuum."
"Captain, don't!" Gwyn shouted.
"I think you should listen to her son," Jolee said as he glided into the room, Cheyn and Mira were close on his heels. Jolee surreptitiously passed a small device to Bastila who glanced down to see what Jolee handed her.
"Stay out of this old man. We've got a leaky ship and I aim to plug the leak."
"Listen to Jolee Captain," Bastila said. "We have nothing to fear from this man." Bastila handed the device to Colm. "Look familiar? I'm sure you saw plenty of them in the wars."
"It's a Republic-issued com device," Colm said.
"Specifically one used by Republic Intelligence. Our new 'doctor' is a Republic spy."
"So not a bad guy?" Gwyn asked hopefully.
"That depends," Colm said. "Start talking or you still take a trip, Republic or no."
Mical sighed. "Very well, I an on the staff of Admiral Carth Onasi, I do...special assignments for him."
"Wait, now I remember," Mira exclaimed. "You were on Dantooine, the guy in the Jedi Temple ruins."
"Yes, that was me, Admiral Onasi asked me to track down the Jedi Exile. And lacking any firm leads once he departed Telos, I guessed he would visit Dantooine at some point to investigate the ruins there."
"Why?" Mira asked.
"Hey, who's asking the questions here?" Colm interrupted. "The here and now is more important than the that was. So why are you here, on this boat?"
"Admiral Onasi asked me to find Bastila and attach myself to your mission. He thought I could assist in the search for Revan."
"The what now?" Cheyn asked.
Mical looked over at Bastila who was pinching the bridge of her nose. "What, did I say something I shouldn't?"
"So let me see if I've got this right," Skyre said to Bastila. The entire crew was standing in the ship's common area. "You stole a ship from Republic Intelligence, recruited Mira here, busted me out of a Kessel prison – for which I'm really grateful by the way. Got Colm to come onboard by offering him said stolen ship."
"And I can't say I'm too please by being bribed with stolen goods," Colm interjected.
"Offered Cheyn more money then you could possibly have," Skyre continued.
"You damn well better be good for that pay," Cheyn said. "I wouldn't want to have to put blaster bolt between them pretty eyes of yours." Bastila glared at the Mandalorian. "Whenever you get the time, that's all I'm saying," Cheyn added quickly.
"Picked up little Gwyn here as a stray, 'course that was more Colm's doing. And then Jolee and Mical invited themselves along for the ride."
"Do you have a point with all this Mr. Skyre?" Bastila asked.
"A point? Now that you mention it...no," Skyre quickly sat down. "No, wait, yes, I did...uh, help me out here Colm?"
"The point is that you went through a hell of a lot of trouble to put together a crew that's really not all that special," Colm said.
"Yeah, precisely...hey what?" Skyre asked Colm in surprise.
"Don't mean for you to take offense Tom. You're a good pilot, but there's plenty of good pilot's in the galaxy who weren't locked away in a spice mine."
"You want the blunt truth captain?"
"I think I know the blunt truth Bastila. What's really at issue here is whether everyone here wants to stay on this boat."
"Uh, what about them that don't know the blunt truth?" Cheyn asked.
"You're expendable," Mira said. "If something goes south it's not like anyone in the Galaxy is going to miss any of us."
"Oh, is that all? I thought it were something more ominous," Cheyn said.
"How can you say that?" Gwyn demanded. "We all got value, every last one of us."
"Little girl, I'm a Mandalorian, my life stopped having value the moment I was born."
"That's horrible," Gwyn commented.
"That's life," Cheyn replied. "Dying in battle ain't that scary to me."
"But we ain't all Mandalorians," Colm pointed out. "And if anybody wants to get off this ship before we go any farther I aim to see them off. Tom, Gwyn, Cheyn?"
"The way I see it flying this ship is better than diggin' for spice," Skyre said.
"Finding Revan'll probably be worth a few credits," Cheyn observed. "Besides, it's bound to be one hell of a fight."
"Cap'n, the way I see it being here is way more interesting than being back home. It'll take more than a few Sith to get me off this ship," Gwyn said defiantly.
"How come you didn't ask if I wanted to leave?" Mira demanded.
Colm turned to face Mira, "I reckoned I already knew the answer. Was I wrong?"
"No, you weren't," Mira admitted. "But you still should've asked."
"So it's decided," Bastila declared. "We are all going to push on to Korriban, and hopefully there we will find evidence of where Revan went."
"Actually, I don't think it is decided," Jolee said. "We haven't heard what our captain is planning."
"Yes, what of it captain?" Mical asked.
"I think it's a fool's errand, but I was hired to do a job, and I ain't backed down from work yet," Colm said. "We got to Korriban. Tom, fire up the hyperdrive, Gwyn, Cheyn, I want you to help me get some gear together for when we get there."
"I thought Korriban was lifeless," Gwyn said.
"That's what worries me," Colm said.
The crew filtered out of the common room, leaving Bastila and Jolee behind. "Stop looking at me like that, they know the truth now!" Bastila protested.
"I would be happier if you actually had told them what your plan is. I doubt they would've been so eager to go along with you."
"I'm here to find Revan Jolee, not make friends," Bastila said harshly before storming out of the room.
Jolee sighed, "That's what worries me."
Skyre brought the Errant Vow out of hyperspace and into orbit around Korriban. "For a planet with such a fearsome reputation it sure don't look like much," he commented.
"Most places don't," Colm agreed. "Generally it's not the place what's evil, it's the folk that live there. Speaking of which, any sign of the bad guys?"
"Not a thing captain, the scope's clear...wait, Sith battle cruiser just showed up. Sorry Captain, it was hiding in the planet's shadow."
Colm bit back a curse and slammed on the ship's intercom. "Bastila, get your ass up here double-quick. Can we get away?'" he asked Skyre.
"Don't think so captain, they're already powering up their tractor beam."
"Do what you can Tom."
"What is so important you have to interrupt my meditation?" Bastila demanded.
"Sith cruiser was waiting for us when we dropped out of hyperspace," Colm replied. "Thought you'd like to know."
"How dire is the situation?"
"I'm doing best I can," Skyre replied, "But we are well and truly humped. No way we can get out of tractor range before they have a lock on us."
"Very well, shut down the engines. Captain, assemble the crew."
"Are you soft in the head?" Colm shouted. "We shut down the engines they capture us!"
"And if we cannot escape before they lock onto us with their tractor beam it won't matter if our engines are up or down," Bastila acidly replied.
"You've got a plan?"
Bastila turned and walked out of the cockpit, "Don't I always?"
"Captain?" Skyre asked.
"She's right Tom, we're humped, shut the engines down before we blow anything out and let's go see what sort of cunning plan our fearless leader's thought up." The two men walked back to the common room where Bastila was already addressing the rest of the ship's crew.
"Now as some of you know a Sith warship was waiting for us, and even now we are being tractored into their hangar bay."
"Why does this sound familiar?" Jolee quipped to himself
"So get ready to repel boarders?" Cheyn asked.
"That would be foolhardy," Bastila replied. "Our only prudent course of action is to allow ourselves to be captured and then break out when the Sith are least expecting it. They undoubtedly will pay special attention to Jolee, Mira, and myself, but the rest of you will not rate as nearly as much of a concern."
"Yep, I've definitely read this story before," Jolee said.
"Let me get this straight, you saying our best chance of escape, is to let us get captured, and then hope that the Sith drop their guard and let us run away?" Skyre asked.
"Essentially, yes," Bastila admitted. "But I'm sure this won't be the first time many of you have been in a Sith detention center, and I am confident you're...unique talents can get you free."
"And then what, we deactivate the security system, you three take out the tractor beam and we all meet back here?" Colm asked.
"That is what I had in mind," Bastila said. "Just following the script," she told Jolee.
Colm shrugged, "Like as not they'll blast us out of existence before we get a chance to pull off any of this off, but just in case they don't, Cheyn, I want you and Mical to stow any gear we don't want the Sith to take in the smuggler's compartments."
"Aye Cap'n."
"What about the rest of us?" Gwyn asked.
"Not much we can do," Colm replied as the ship was jolted by the Sith tractor beam. "Cept wait, and hope Bastila knows what she's talking about."
-to be continued-
Author's Notes: Another chapter down, it's still an open question whether I can squeeze another chapter out. Thanks again for all the reads and reviews.