Disclaimer: ... I really don't own this. :'(
A/N: I have 50 reviews! Happiness! You're all amazing! Anyway, on to the next chapter. I left you all on a bit of a cliffie last time, but here we are again, and hopefully that will be resolved within the first paragraph or so ;) Happy reading!
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Dustil's mission, in my opinion, took far too long. After what was probably ten minutes but felt like an eternity, he emerged from the temple with Jolee's arm around his shoulders, helping the old man limp down the entrance ramp.
"They left him for dead," he supplied as an explanation. "I have no idea how he survived so long, but… Juhani wasn't so lucky." We bowed our heads in a moment of silence to acknowledge the Cathar's sacrifice. Regretfully, however, we had no more time to spend mourning her.
"We've got to get back to the task at hand." I was no more enthusiastic about it than anyone else was, but someone had to say it. "The ship still needs to be repaired. I'm pretty sure I know where to find the parts. Watch out, though, there's a minefield. Carth, Dustil, I trust you can take care of that? T3 can help you, and Mission?" She nodded. "Good. Get the ship operational, I need to come up with some sort of plan. Did you send a message to the Republic with our location, Carth?"
"Yes," he replied immediately. "And now that the planetary disruptor field's down, we should be able to fight on somewhat even ground."
"Metaphorically speaking, of course. But they have Bastila, and we don't. We'll have to go on board the Star Forge itself if we want any hope of ending this. We find Bastila, and either turn her back to the light (sometimes works but not always) or… stop her from using her Battle Meditation. Then we go on and find Caeli. Carth," I turned to the pilot, "you're literally our only hope. No offense, but you're the one who convinced her we all hate her. Maybe you can turn the tables, convince her the light side is worth something."
"I have to protect her," Carth whispered. "I'll protect her or die trying, and if it's at her hand… it's no more than I deserve."
"Carth Onasi, snap out of it! You're not doing Caeli any good by moping and blaming yourself! Now, the crashed ship is along that path." I indicated the path to the Elder settlement. "Just follow the path and you can't miss it. Oh, and watch out for the plasma vents. Dustil, help him out. Mission, help me get Jolee back to the ship and tell T3 what's going on. Everyone move out!"
Carth and Dustil hurried over to the path before Mission and I had even moved.
"Got any medpacs, Mish?" I asked. "If we patch him up here, it'll be a lot quicker getting back to the ship."
We managed to heal most of his minor injuries and to patch up the major ones: a lightsaber wound to his side, as well as to his left leg. He still walked with a limp when we were done, but at least he could walk.
We made our way back to the ship at this point and found T3 waiting for us. Apparently he hadn't been important enough to Revan that she would come back for him. I decided to take that as a plus.
I got Jolee into the medical bay while Mission filled in the droid on what had happened. A few minutes after that, Carth and Dustil returned with the necessary parts, and they, along with T3's help, began to repair the ship. Dustil took a short break to help Mission heal Jolee, who was feeling much better in no time. Dustil, however, insisted that he get some rest, as he'd just been saved from the brink of death.
Dustil went back to repairing the ship, and Mission stayed to keep an eye on Jolee, so I was stuck with nothing to do and way too much to worry about. I decided to focus on Caeli to distract me from thoughts of Juhani. How we were going to convince Caeli to return to the light side was my main concern. Carth was my secret weapon, but I had to figure out a way to get her to listen to him without simply killing him on the spot. I knew Caeli would never do such a thing, but Revan… I wasn't so sure.
It was at this point that I realized I was pacing. In fact, I had been for some time without actually noticing I was doing it. I stopped abruptly, turning to sit down in the nearest chair, which happened to be against the wall in the main hold. It also happened to be the chair Juhani sometimes occupied during meetings, which didn't make me feel any better.
I shouldn't have told them to go in. I knew there was a risk, we should have just waited. Nobody would have died, Jolee wouldn't have been injured—
"You're doing it again." A voice entered the room, followed immediately by Dustil. "Blaming yourself."
I sighed deeply. "I should've—"
"Don't. Just don't. Look, I know you have knowledge beyond anything any of us could hope for, but that doesn't mean you don't make mistakes. You're just as human as the rest of us."
"Just because I can make mistakes doesn't mean I shouldn't think, though! Had I been thinking, I would have known not to send Jolee and Juhani in there, and Juhani never would have died! I just—" I was cut off by a choked sob. It took me a few seconds to realize it had come from me, and that tears were now pouring down my face. "I've never been responsible for anyone's life before," I whispered. "Or death," I added. "What do I do, Dustil?"
He took several steps forward, knelt in front of me, and met my eyes. His gaze was so intense that I almost looked away, but somehow, I couldn't. "You need to let her go, Athena," he said quietly, but firmly. "What's done is done, and you can't change it by hoping, or by wishing, or by regretting. Trust me, I've been there. You have to focus. All you can do for her now is make sure that she didn't die in vain. Think of the lives that can be saved if Caeli is redeemed!"
Instead of cheering me up, as I'm sure was his intent, this sent a fresh wave of despair crashing over me. "But that puts their lives on my head, too!" I cried. "I have to succeed, I have to save Caeli, or thousands more will die! And if I fail… their deaths will be my fault!"
He gripped my shoulders again, staring at me with those deep, brown eyes. "Athena. Listen to me. If Revan causes any more deaths, the blood is on her hands, and hers alone. You're taking way too much of this on yourself. Just because you're some sort of omniscient being doesn't mean everything is down to you. And if you remember nothing else, remember this: you are not alone. I'm here for you, as are Mission, my father, Jolee, even the droid. You don't have to do this alone. Now, pull yourself together, and focus on the task at hand. We need all the help we can get."
I sniffed, wiped the tear tracks off my face, and nodded. "You're right. Yeah, you're right. Is the ship ready?"
"Good as new," he replied with a grin. "Let's go wreak some havoc, shall we?"
At that moment, the central console beeped. Dustil hurried over. "Incoming transmission!" he called out. "It's the Republic. Father, you may want to hear this."
A hologram of the Republic Admiral Dodonna appeared on the console as Carth, Mission, Jolee, and T3 all entered the room.
"This is Admiral Forn Dodonna to the Ebon Hawk, do you read us?"
"Admiral, this is Carth Onasi," Carth stepped in as the only actual member of the military. "We are receiving your transmission."
"Carth, I'm glad to see you're still alive. We've begun our assault on the Star Forge but are taking heavy losses. How did the Sith ever manage to build something of this scope?"
"The Sith didn't build the Star Forge, Admiral," I cut in, being the only person in the room who actually had this information. "It's… a bit of a long story," I finished lamely.
"Maybe we should order our ships to pull back," the Admiral suggested. "We don't have the firepower to go up against this alien technology."
"You can't do that, Admiral," Carth replied instantly. "The Star Forge is the factory that's been churning out the Sith fleet. If we want to defeat the Sith, it has to be destroyed, or we'll be up against an endless wave of reinforcements."
"Then I suppose we have no choice. But it isn't going to be easy." The Admiral's voice was resigned. "We can't even get our capital ships in position to start bombarding the Star Forge. It's as if the enemy can guess our every move and counter our every strategy. They're too well organized."
"It's because of Bastila, Admiral," Carth admitted. "She's fallen to the Dark Side. We're almost certain she's on the Star Forge now, using her Battle Meditation against the Republic fleet."
Admiral Dodonna stepped to the side and another, much shorter hologram appeared next to her. "This is Master Vandar. A number of Jedi knights have joined the fleet under his command."
"If Bastila is using her power against the Republic, then Malak's fleet is invincible," he said. "Our only hope is to somehow stop her from using her Battle Meditation." He paused. "But where is Caeli Jayde?" He was looking to Carth, but he seemed dumbstruck by the reminder of Caeli's betrayal.
"She's… gone," I responded quietly, still unable to accept it. Fortunately, all the crying was out of my system. I did not want to seem weak in front of the Admiral or the Jedi.
"Gone? She was lost?" Dodonna's eyebrows were raised in question.
"In… in a manner of speaking, yes. She… she left us… on Manaan. She took the data from the last Star Map and came here, leaving us to find it for ourselves. We… we didn't get here in time, she met Bastila, and Bastila…" I fell into silence, too horrified at what had happened to be able to say it.
"Bastila had fallen to the Dark Side," Jolee finished. "She convinced Caeli to join her."
"I failed…" I whispered, so quietly I didn't think anyone heard me.
"We're not entirely leaderless, though, Master Vandar." Carth spoke up for the first time since the mention of Caeli's name. "When Cael… when Caeli left, Athena helped us continue on so that we could find her and the Star Forge." He put a hand on my shoulder. I blinked back the tears in my eyes and looked at him. T3 beeped softly, seemingly in agreement with Carth.
"Me? But I—I don't even know anything anymore, Carth!" I protested, all thought of the Admiral and the Jedi Master who were watching gone from my mind. "It's all different! Ever since she left us on Manaan… It changed! I don't know what's going to happen anymore, this wasn't a scenario that happened in the game!"
"Your knowledge isn't what's important, Athena," said Mission quietly.
"That's what I'm saying! You all could do it without me, I—"
"No, we couldn't" said Dustil. "That's the point. It's not your knowledge we want."
"It's you," Mission finished. "No matter what happened in your game, we couldn't have done this without you! That's why we need you. Not because you probably know the layout of the Star Forge, just like you knew the layout of everything else, but because you are you. And you were a leader, even before Caeli left, and especially after. You were the one who went out on the ocean floor to get that Star Map. You were the one who fought off all those insane Selkath. You were the one who got Jolee and Juhani into the Temple—"
"Which got Juhani killed, and Jolee nearly so!" I was very near hysterical. Sure, it sounded great, but I wasn't a leader. I had never been very into the leadership thing, preferring to be more of a backseat driver or navigator. Kind of an advisor, if you will. That was kind of what I'd been to Caeli, especially once she found out about my knowledge. But then she was gone, and no one knew what to do. All I knew: we had to go for the Star Map, or she would probably fall. But we were too late. She fell anyway.
"It was worth a try!" Mission countered.
"Stop it, both of you!" cried Carth. "You're fighting like teenage girls!"
We whirled on him simultaneously. "We are teenage girls, Carth!" I snapped. Dustil looked like he was trying not to burst out laughing, which only made me more furious.
"All right," said Jolee, "that's enough. You may be teenage girls, but you need to stop acting like it if we're going to get anything done." I deflated slowly.
"He's right," I conceded at last. "We need to get going if we're going to stand a chance of saving Caeli. And we need to stop Bastila from using her Battle Meditation against the Republic."
"Good luck to you all," said Admiral Dodonna.
"May the Force be with you," added Master Vandar. They vanished, and I turned to the crew—what was left of it.
"We need a plan."
"Any ideas, O Great Leader?" asked Mission jokingly.
"Be serious, guys. Bastila and Caeli are trying to take over the galaxy here, and if we can't stop them, no one can. If we can't stop them, the galaxy is lost."
"So what do we do about it?" Mission asked impatiently.
"Obviously, we need to go to the Star Forge. It's pretty straightforward, all the forks lead to the same place. We'll probably run into Bastila first, as she'll be using her Battle Meditation in the Command Center. We'll probably have to fight her. Jolee… I think you should stay here. Keep an eye on the ship, and rest. You were almost killed an hour ago. And if anyone else gets wounded, we'll need you in decent shape."
"Whatever you say, lass. Do you think you'll be able to handle Bastila on your own?"
"I have to," I said. I didn't really even feel scared. It had to be done and I would do it.
"You've always got me," Dustil pointed out.
"I sure hope so, or I'd be screwed." I winked at Dustil, then turned to Mission. "Ready to fight some Sith?"
"Definitely!" She grinned, reminding me again that she was barely fifteen years old.
"Dustil?"
"Damn right I am! And about time, too!" I allowed myself a brief laugh before turning to his father.
"Carth?"
A haunted, desperate look entered his eyes. "For Caeli? Anything." My heart wrenched. His tone had reminded me of the scene from KOTOR 2, where he asks the Exile if he/she found any trace of Revan beyond the Outer Rim.
"We'll get her back, Carth." I knew it would be dangerous, it always was in Star Wars, but I continued anyway. He needed it right now. "I promise."
He simply nodded.
"Now, get us to that Star Forge before it's too late." He jerked out of his thoughts, nodded again, and headed for the cockpit. I followed.
I sat down in the copilot's seat, the seat that had so often been occupied by Bastila, and looked sideways at him, cautiously.
"Carth…" I ventured.
"What?"
"I'm sorry to sound callous or whatever, but I need you focused right now. We can't think about Caeli until we get there, it'll only distract us. I gave you my word we'd save her, and we will, but we need to be one hundred percent focused on the task at hand. Nothing in the past, nothing in the future. Please, Carth, I need your help. I can't do this alone. I don't even know if I can do it with all your help. But I have to try."
His vision seemed to clear. His eyes, which had seemed somewhat dazed and unfocused, still recovering from the shock of the betrayal up to this point, became focused.
"I'll help you, Athena," he said. "If this mission is the death of me, so be it. I would rather die than see anything bad happen to any of you."
"Especially Caeli," I finished quietly.
"Especially Caeli," he agreed. "I don't expect you to understand."
"I do, though. Creepy as it may sound, I've had plenty of time in my life to analyze your emotions, and those of all the other people in this… story, I suppose. Except for Caeli. That's all new to me. And you know what? She's a lot like me, now I think about it."
"I suppose I should find that creepy."
"Maybe. I was a strange kid." I laughed.
He almost cracked a smile, which was a relief. I had been afraid that he'd just died inside when Caeli left. He'd been slowly getting more and more desperate, snapping at the crew more often, and shutting himself up in the cockpit for hours at a time. I was worried for him. I was worried that we wouldn't be able to save Caeli. I was worried he'd take that as a betrayal from me. I didn't want to betray Carth, intentionally or otherwise.
A/N: Yay! Jolee's alive! I just couldn't bring myself to kill him, he's one of my favorites. Tell me what you think! (Oh, and sorry Valkyrie hasn't been in much of this, I wrote it all out of order, and most of this was written before she existed. She's still around, though, don't you worry). Review if you've got a second. Happy Tuesday!
-Athena
