Fury

"They said she's stabilized."

"Good." Quinn rolled his sleeves up and began to clean his hands. "Pierce, move her from the stretcher to the bed. Gently," he added hurriedly. "We don't want to disturb her too much until we know what kind of internal damage she might have suffered."

Pierce gave a nod. He scooped Jaesa into his arms and carried her across the room as if she weighed no more than an infant.

Vette squinted over Quinn's shoulder. She wrinkled her nose. "What's that?"

"Stim," he said briskly, opening the package in one fluid movement that had become second nature over the past year. "Normally, she would be allowed to rest, but we need to know where Ishtaa is, and time is a luxury we cannot afford." He glanced at Jaesa. "I'll need a patch of bare skin. Go adjust her robes so I can give her the injection."

"I'm on it!"

Quinn braced himself against the countertop. She's alive. She's alive. If she survived, then Ishtaa could have done the same.

Steeling himself, he turned to the unconscious girl lying on the infirmary bed and pushed the stim into her skin.

Quesh

She answered the holo.

"Ah, apprentice. The fools managed to arrange the explosives as instructed. Excellent. I was beginning to fear that they'd bungled the job and killed you in the initial blast."

She bared her teeth at the flickering image of her former master. "You're a dead man walking, Baras," she spat.

"An admirable sentiment," he said patronizingly, "but an empty one. You survived the initial blast by my design, but rest assured that you will run out of air and you will die. The only reason you have lived this long is that I thought you deserved to know the truth before you die."

Ishtaa choked out a bitter laugh. "So honored to have earned your esteem."

Baras clucked his tongue. "You always were insubordinate," he said. "A trait you inherited from your father, I suppose."

Ishtaa winced. She sank lower to the ground with a soft grunt; the effort of raising herself up to speak had begun to take a toll on her battered ribcage. "What would you know about it?" she said through gritted teeth. "My father died trying to protect my mother and I. He was a hero."

"Your father was what I made him to be." Baras clasped his hands behind his back and began to pace. "They told you at the Academy that your father was a Jedi."

"Because he was a Jedi," she snapped. "My mother was too. The Jedi Council killed them for their defiance."

"You foolish girl," said Baras. "I killed your father."

She gaped at him, pressing a hand to her stomach as she struggled to breathe. "What?"

"Everything they told you at the Academy about your parents—the Jedi Council, their tragic love—it was all a lie. Your mother was a slave, a whore to the Sith, captured and used for the acolytes' amusement."

"How dare you?" she snarled. "My mother was a Jedi and a hero, as was my father by her side."

Your father was no more a Jedi than you are. He was my apprentice."

Ishtaa stared. Her whole body numbed. "No, this is…You're lying," she shouted. "You're lying!" Propelled by anger, she tried to stand but couldn't. She dissolved into coughs before doubling over, sinking back to her knees on the filthy ground. "It's not true," she said hoarsely. "You're trying to trick me. Get inside my head. I won't let you! It's not true." Her arms nearly gave way. She stumbled forward, propped up only by her elbows. "It's not true…"

"Do you really think me so foolish as to plan an elaborate lie when I believed Jaesa would be with you?"

Ishtaa clenched her eyes shut. "I'm going to kill you, Baras. I swear, if I have to destroy death itself, one day, I will watch you fall."

"Goodbye, apprentice."

Baras vanished, and Ishtaa was again left alone.

Her façade broke.

Where she had been numb moments ago, she now burned. Every bone, every muscle fiber in her body shook with rage. Her eyes snapped open as she arched her back and let out an animalistic scream of pain and hate.

As she screamed, the cavern began to shake violently. The floor rumbled. Cracks began to form in the walls, spider webs and lightning bolts of dark fire. Dust fell from the ceiling in rivers, tumbling over rocks and crevasses as it spilled downwards. The thunderous sound in Ishtaa's ears reached a crescendo.

Then, in an explosion of stone, her rage burst. Weak, shaking with exhaustion and tears, she fell limply into the newly formed crater and slept.

AN: Feedback (reviews) of any kind are always appreciated! If you like this story, please follow or favorite it; that way I know there's people reading it, which motivates me to post more new chapters faster.

Also, be honest-how many of you were worried I was going to go the completely cliche route and recreate "Luke, I am your father?"