Chapter 10- Leviathan

It was time, time for my trial. I was not only ready, but excited. Sure they had my lightsaber but I it would be no trouble getting it back.

"Agent Sexy Nerf Herder Two thou-"

There was an awkward silence. I was already on trial, and the judges sat at their tables ready to read out my charges. I just stood there, smiling.

"Is something wrong?" I said finally, realizing they weren't going to speak.

"You find this trial humorous? Creating a false name for yourself in a hearing is no laughing matter?" Another judge announced.

"Oh really? I thought it could lighten the mood."

"What is your name?" Called another judge.

"Jaq. Happy?"

"Not particularily. Jaq, do you have a second birth name we can address you formally by?" asked the first judge again.

"Yes. Jaq Awesomeness."

"Well, Jaq Awesomeness, you have been charged with four counts of murder, two counts of vandalism, nineteen counts of eye witness public indecency, one count of physical abuse, one count of attempted murder… and one count of not taking a court hearing seriously."

"Are you kidding?!" I shouted in rebuttal.

"Dead." Said another Selkath who had not yet spoken. "A state you may be in if this case isn't taken with the utmost seriousness. Do you have someone representing you?"

"No your honor… honors… I didn't really have much time to call a lawyer, I was locked up for a day and a half don't forget."

"Things aren't looking good for you today mister Awesomeness."

"Neither are they for you." This left them confused.

Using the Force I unclipped my manacles that held my hands behind my back. I pulled down the light from the roof and using the Force shattered the glass of each one. Each shard I fired at another judge until only half were still alive. Soon turrets activated and protruded from the walls. They engaged. But I flipped back. A large shadow covered the window from the outside. Death was to come to the judges and I would ensure that they understood that. The glass window behind the judges shattered as an spray fire shot into the courtroom. A missile soon followed and everyone in the room, with the exception of myself, was terminated. This massacre would have no doubt caused a riot of some sort but was no time to discover who the pilot was either.

I ran out from the courtroom and past an office door, outstretching my arm as I ran the lightsaber found its was back to me. I took no wasting seconds in cutting down any Selkath who stood in my way. The continuous bowling down of the fish was quite a delightful experience.

As the entrance to the building opened my vision was flooded by the blinding light of the afternoon sun. I could see nothing but hear the world around me. It was marvelous, there was so much death. I could smell the fires, the ash, the burnt blood. I could hear the explosions, the debris, the cries of pain. I dare not see through the Force and ruin my image. I figured though that I had to move on, so I opened my eyes and allowed my eyes to adjust.

In front of me civilians were ducking for cover and the Republic were helping most to safety. Beside the Republic the Selkath fought. The Selkath never took sides, my assumption was that the Sith engaged in fire first. The Sith were helping very few civilians and causing more harm than good, regardless, their purpose was to defend me. Manaan had become a blood bath. Above the manifestation my ship, the Sleheyron's Bishop, hovered above the scene and gunned down any who even appeared as though they were to fire on me.

The landing ramp lowered and I moved. Around me the Bishop's guns were tearing the square to pieces. The city was falling and the revolution had begun. I ran up a large piece of debris protruding from the ground, I escalated into a sprint and leapt onto the ascending ramp. Below me scores fell to warfare, just another meaningless casualty.

I felt her presence on board. I moved in to the cockpit and discovered the Jedi I had turned awaiting me, piloting my ship. Her arm had been replaced with cybernetics. She wielded a new lightsaber and no robes to speak of – instead she wore formal dress garments. She was lovely, as spectacular as the scene below. I sat in the co-pilot's chair and gave the order to move.

"Let's get the Hutt out of here!"

"Where to?"

"Space, anywhere but here!"

She punched in a few buttons on the pilot's console, but I didn't see which one. There was no need to look at the NaviComputer, she knew where to go. With that the ship roared into action and left Manaan behind. I closed my eyes and contemplated, a recently discovered hobby of mine. The revolution was false, there would be no uprising today. The future of Manaan will be grim however and the Sith will triumph. I saw the Selkath and the Republic winning the battle, most of the city's Sith being arrested. Others secretly taken prisoner by the Republic and decimated before their eyes. The Sith would be weak after this, but… but soon… I saw a fleet of Sith. I saw an armada of Sith fleets. An invasion would transpire, the city would fall to the Sith eventually though not any time soon.

"Hello? Anyone there? Are you hurt?"

I hadn't realised she'd been talking to me.

"What, uh… no. No I am not hurt, why? Are you?"

"No. Are you sure you didn't take a knock to the head, you look pretty stunned."

"I'm alright. Where are we headed?"

She looked at her console for a minute, then at me, then at a datacron she had placed in her lap whilst I was deep in thought.

"My orders are to take you to Karath. He would like to see you, aboard the Leviathan."

"Your orders? You're already a trustworthy Sith then, hey?"

"I was a strong Jedi. I was very strong in fact. Just because I wasn't a master didn't mean I wasn't offered. I always intended my opponents to undermine me, to underestimate me, and to belittle me. Little did I know that my opponent would see through this false mask and best me… and… and… spare me. For that you have my thanks."

"It is clear the Dark Side flows through your veins. I felt it appropriate to spare you. The thanks are not needed, I must thank you for allowing me to teach you. What is your name, Dark Jedi?"

"My name? My name is Naresha."

Naresha, a beautiful name. For the first time since I met her I realised her complexional beauty. She was gorgeous, with long brown hair and blue eyes. I did not love the girl but I felt something similar. It was a familiar feeling, yet so lost, so forgotten. A feeling of lust.

"I felt what you did," she began. "in the Force I felt you escape, but fail." It was true. I had almost completely forgotten that I had already made an escape attempt. I was malnourished and quite hallucinogenic.

"What did you feel?"

"In the Force I felt you flee, you snuck, and you killed. You brutally tortured someone, an innocent. A little boy."

It was true. I had escaped overnight, a small human boy had found me just outside the holding cells. I was curious as to why he was there, but he just stared and eventually began to wail in fear. He had ruined my attempts to escape, so I killed him. And not straight away either. I picked him up by the throat with the Force, choking him until he frothed at the mouth. He spat it up when I released, he could no longer cry. He had no energy left in him. So I decided to drain him, torture him beyond death. I picked him up by the throat once more, this time in hand rather than in Force. I squeezed until he stopped squirming. I felt him still live, the boy was faking death. So a zapped him with the Force a few times to awaken him before throwing him into the ocean. He flew far and the lack of energy and the immense amount of exhaustion prevented him from staying afloat. He sunk like a wookiee.

"I killed him, yes."

Before it was just business. I had to kill, it was my job. But now I felt grief, and guilt. These traits I had not felt since joining the academy so long ago. This left me concerned, that inner me, my past – it was all trying to claw it's way back out again. It wanted me to become Anton once more. Anton? No, that wasn't right. Anter? No. I remember thinking that I had to stop the nonsense. I had to stop thinking about the old me. I was Jaq, I would always be Jaq. And no puny little Rand was going to get the better of me. …Rand…

…

Hours passed and we were still floating aimlessly in space, or at least it felt aimless. Space was just a massive void, an emptiness. We had left hyperspace ten minutes prior, there was a risk that f we had kept going we'd hit an asteroid in the field that the Leviathan had hidden itself within. The Leviathan was massive, an exception example of a flagship. The Leviathan was the beast of metal that destroyed Taris. It had left the metropolitan into a quarantined world only populated by flames, rubble, swamplands and rakghouls. It was terrifying but it was a marvel.

We boarded it, the large hangar was located underneath the base of the ship. Inside scores of Sith fighters lined the docking racks. I hadn't particularly liked the fighters, they were weak and did little damage. They were, however, really fast. It was quite an odd feeling, never since owning the Sleheyron's Bishop had I ever examined elements of a ship like I was now. It was a comforting thing having Naresha pilot the chunky ship.

She lowered the exit ramp and followed me out. She put a hand on my shoulder and stopped me.

"This is where I take my leave, Jedi hunter."

"You aren't coming?"

"No. I leave for KorribanAcademy tomorrow."

"Are you sure you can't join me? I'd quite like a co-pilot. I can request a transfer."

"No that's quite alright, I am sure we will meet again. Goodbye. And… thanks."

"Thanks."

Naresha turned and walked away and I just watched. She was my friend, my only friend. I had almost entirely repressed any memory I had of Khar. Khar didn't understand me the way that Naresha did.

I turned away, too scared that if I looked back I'd shed a tear. I couldn't cry, I'd only been with the woman for a few hours and I already missed her. I didn't love her, no way. But she was my friend, a close friend.

Around me there were people running everywhere. There were three corpses piled up in the corner of the hangar and smoke lined the roof. Something had gone terribly wrong. It seemed as though that there had been a battle, one that had happened only an hour ago. Using my intuitive skills I assumed that the reason the wreckage was still being cleaned was because the Leviathan had just arrived in the asteroid field. It could be too dangerous to navigate the hangar (if it were damaged) while the ship was moving through space.

I entered the elevator but was forcibly stopped. A light blinked on inside the lift. I read the words 'Error, forced stop on Level 02'. I stepped out into the hall. I was on some kind of customs level. Above me there was a small fire that had been lit. It seemed as though recently the Leviathan had been attacked – this confirmed my suspicions. To the left was the lift that would send me to the Bridge. To the right was a man, a man in customized orange robes. A man with a pale bald head and a cybernetic jaw.

Malak raised his hand and choked the customs officer in front of him. He crushed the fragile man with ease. Deciding to avoid the conflict I moved off to the left passageway. Entering the lift I set off again. I only needed to go up one more level before arriving at the Bridge.

I entered. Fire spilled out and it seemed as if a Jedi duel had occurred within this very room. In the center was Karath's dead corpse. The Admiral looked as though he had died in pain. I hadn't been in his service too long, but still, he was my master. A Sith officer approached me, I recognized him as a retired teacher from the Malachor V Academy. He likely retired, (as he survived) as rumor had it the TrayusAcademy was destroyed in a massive battle or something that took place there. The Academy was still being used, that was for sure, but it was fare smaller. The officer was in red armor of similar make to the standard issue armor that the soldiers had. His helmet was removed.

"Jaq. Karath is dead…"

"So I can see. What in the Hssiss happened here?"

"A Republic Agent came in here and murdered everyone, Karath included."

I wondered if it was the same agent that was present on Manaan.

"Who do I serve now? Am I a free man?"

"You took the oath, Master Jaq. You are never going to be a free man. Not while you serve Lord Malak."

"I serve Malak?"

"Yes, and while you serve the Master you will always be expendable. You are no more than another man with a weapon ready to do his bidding."

"What is my mission then?"

"Darth Malak has no missions for you yet, but you may carry out the orders Karath had left you. Those are to go to Nal Hutta and kill a traitor. The traitor is a Bounty Hunter who turned Jedi in the recent years while we had our backs turned. I have a mission for you, of secondary priority. You are to fly to Coruscant and eliminate Viper Platoon. They are believed to be responsible for the recent assassination for Darth Frove."

"Is that all sir?"

"Uh-"

He was interrupted by the opening of the Bridge door. In entered Malak raging with the Dark Side.

"Where is Karath?" He yelled.

The ex-teacher turned to him.

"Lord Malak, he has fallen. Revan-"

Revan? Revan is dead…

"Revan is no concern of me! Who was it that ordered a full lock down? Who isn't letting me off my own ship?"

"Protocol dictates tha-"

"I wrote the protocol!"

He punched the man in the face and then grabbing his throat threw him through the front viewing port. The glass shattered and I was pulled towards the vacuum of space. Three live soldiers (one an officer) were even sucked into space. Four wasted casualties. Malak turned to exit in a rage but stopped when he caught sight of me.

"Are you Revan's assassin?"

"Me? Yeah."

"I look forward to doing business with you."