Chapter 35
Aspyre was tired of the tests, the questions, the interviews. It was really tiring and all she wanted to do was to rest. She was not even allowed to go to Bastila's funeral. She pressed her knees against her chest and wrapped her arms around herself as she patiently waited for the next man to come and ask her the same questions, perform the same routine on her. Before the next man came, she decided to take a look around the room, which proved to be a mistake, a very big mistake.
The room was not very big, about ten meters wide and twelve long. There were two chairs in the middle, separated by a large metallic table. There was a bright strip of white light installed in the ceiling, which gave the silver colored room a very white feeling. A very familiar white feeling.
Frightfully shaking her head, Aspyre closed her eyes and softly began whispering.
"Please let me out. Please let me out. Please let me out. Please let me out. Please let me out. Please let me out. Please let me out. Please let me out. Please let me out. Please let me out. Please let me out. Please let me out. Please let me out. Please let me out. Please let me out. Please let me out" she went on and on. She was so focused on her whispers that she did not notice the man that entered the room and placed his hand on her shoulder. With a yelp she looked up and was greeted by the kind face of a young man. He had no beard, unlike the others, his black hair was very long, reaching his middle back, and he had bright green eyes. Overall he seemed much kinder that the rest of the old men she had been with.
"Hi" he said with a big smile. "How are you? My name is Kimball, Viccal Kimball."
"My name is Aspyre Venar, nice to meet you" she mechanically said.
"Do you want to take a seat in the table, Aspyre? Or are you more comfortable like this?"
"The chair is fine" she said as she took his hand and walked towards the table. She sat down and Viccal took out a datapad and began reading what it said for a few minutes silently. "What is that?"
"This? It's your file. Here it tells me what the other psychologists said about you."
"What does it say?"
"Nothing important. They all think you are ill; you have schizophrenia, dementia and a few other diseases that are completely wrong. At least I think they are."
"You don't think I'm ill?"
"No. I already heard the entire story from Master Vaandar. We all know you… Revan is suffering from dissociative identity disorder, but what they want to do is very… inhumane shall we say?"
"Of course it's inhumane, most of them were Twi-leks" she pointed out with a soft smile.
Viccal laughed and threw the data pad on the table. He had no books, no suitcases, nothing on him, unlike the rest. He only had his pants, his shirt and his boots. Had Aspyre seen him in the street she would have confused him for a teenager, not an expert psychologist.
"What?"
"You… You are really different from the rest."
"I will take that as a compliment" he said with a smile as he lifted his feet and placed his boots on the table, crossing them and adopting a very relax stance, not even looking at Aspyre. "So… basically what they want to do with you is erase you and bring Revan back. They think they can control her and bring her back to the light, but you think differently?"
"If they bring Revan back" she began for the ninth time that day. "She is going to kill you all, she is going to torture you and take her revenge for what the Jedi council did to her."
"What did they do to her?"
Aspyre pointed at herself.
"Ah… Well then I think there is one thing we can do."
"What?"
"I don't think I will get permission for this… I have had six cases of dissociative identity disorder so far. I actually was the first human that successfully treated a Rodian and a Twi-lek. I performed a modified version of the therapy, but everything worked out well in the end."
"So is that what you're going to do with me?"
"No. You see what I did with them was erase the second personality and revert them to their original persona, get it?"
"So if you did that with me…"
"We would get Revan" he finished for her.
"So what are you going to do?"
"The exact opposite."
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me. I think with enough time I can erase Revan from your mind, and make Aspyre Venar the sole occupier of that pretty head of yours."
Aspyre blushed when he said pretty, but she managed to keep her mind on the business at hand.
"But I asked the others to do that and they said they couldn't erase the original persona in favor of a… an artificial one."
"Yes, I know. Revan is too strong, you are merely a visitor in her brain, blah, blah, blah. I think I have a way I can get her to leave. Permanently."
Aspyre shuddered at the thought of having that body finally for herself, not having to share, not having to deal with having a Sith Lord inside of her. But it felt like stealing, it really wasn't her. And despite the fact her mother was not real; she had taught her that stealing was wrong, no matter how bad the owner was.
"I'm… not sure."
"Why not?"
"This really isn't my body."
"I see…"
The two remained in silence for a long time, each pondering the rather unusual situation she was in. Aspyre really liked the idea of not having to worry about Revan, but would she be able to live with the guilt of having stolen her body like that?
"I don't think… I don't know. I'm tired."
"Look, why don't you go and rest? I'll tell them to give you some time and then you can decide what to do" Viccal said as he rose from his chair and headed towards the door. "Remember the chancellor still wants you shot, so maybe it would be best if you went back to your room and not give him any excuses to do it."
"Thank you. I'll do that."
00
It had been… two months since they destroyed the Star Forge, and in those short months a lot had happened. Aspyre was still in treatment, and the prediction was that she would be cured in a few more months. Republic, HK-47 and Zaalbar had travelled to Coruscant with her, both of them refusing to leave her side, HK programmed to be with her if he considered she was in danger. Jolee had gone to Dantooine after Bastila's funeral, supposedly to try and see what he could do to help in the ruined planet. Aspyre had allowed T3 to travel with him, and the kids had also chosen to go with him. Mission had jumped at the chance to go exploring again, and she had dragged Dustil with her. Of course Republic was not eager to let his son go, and it had taken Canderous' word that he would watch over him. Not that the kid needed to be watched over. Hell, he hated to admit it, but the kid could probably handle himself better than he could. At first he had been more than skeptical about bringing them with him, but when that annoying blue girl set her mind on something, she did everything possible to make sure she got it. Thankfully it had been a quiet journey, the kids were locked in the women's quarters like they usually were, T3 was doing his usual circuit of the Ebon Hawk's systems, and he was alone in the cockpit, smoothly navigating the mighty ship for the first time since he had "acquired" it. It had been a miracle the way the Republic got it out and repaired it, if anything the ship was even better than before. Both the upper and lower turret could now be set in auto fire, which was an ease on Canderous' mind, the hyperdrive no longer hummed like it used to, and the ship felt smoother than before. And it had been him who got to take it for a spin first. Canderous smiled as he remembered Carth's face when he had seen the Ebon Hawk again, and the face he made when Canderous told him he was taking it with him. Now that had been priceless.
"Hey" he heard Mission's soft voice behind him. He half turned and saw the young Twi-lek girl slowly walking his way, wrapped with one of Aspyre's robes she had probably found laying around. She looked drained, but not tired, usually the aftermath of a good time.
"Hey."
"So, you have been really quiet about this. Where are we going?"
"You'll see when we get there; I don't want to ruin the surprise."
"Oh, come on! Just give me one clue. At least tell me why we are going wherever we are going."
"You're going to keep asking and annoying me until I give you something, right?"
"Canderous Ordo, I am impressed. You seem to be getting to know me so well" she said with mock surprise.
"Fine… Aspyre…" he said before he could stop himself, and he saw Mission grinning widely at the fact that he had called her by her first name. "gave me some information about a very important item she… Revan hid in a certain planet."
"What item?"
"You said one clue."
"Fine…. How long until we get there?"
"We'll drop out of hyperspace in about a day and a half."
"I'm pretty sure it's stupid to ask this with you around, but should I bring a blaster?"
"You should always take a blaster with you everywhere you go" Canderous said with the same tone a teacher would speak to his students.
"Fine, fine…" she said before she closed her eyes for a few moments. "You seem tense."
"It's none of your business."
"Canderous, we survived the destruction of a planet, being captured by a Sith destroyer, crashing into a mysterious planet and a battle that changed the face of the galaxy, in your own words, I think it's my business to know why my friend is tense."
Canderous looked at the young Twi-lek staring at him with her curious eyes. He pondered for a few seconds on her. She was not a warrior, she was a survivor, the reasons why she fought were very different from his reasons. It was strange, all his life he had thought that fighting was, everything. A way to prove superiority, a way to test oneself and rise above the limits, a way to conquer and establish order. But as he looked at the young girl next to him. He wished she had never touched a weapon in her life, he wished she had grown in a place where she would have never experienced violence. It was very unusual, and he suspected if any Mandalorian found out, they would most definitely not follow him like Aspyre hoped.
"I spoke to Revan."
"What?"
"Aspyre, she… She asked to be locked inside a force cage and shackled before she let Revan loose. This was before her treatment started."
"What, what, what, what did you guys talk about?"
"Aspyre kind of forced her reveal the location of the mask of Mandalore."
"The mask of Mandalore?" the confused Twi-lek asked. Canderous took a deep breath before he began explaining.
"The mask of Mandalore has been worn by every single Mandalore that we have had. It is a sign of their authority, when a new Mandalore rises, every clan has to either submit to their rule or challenge Mandalore to a duel to the death. This would technically make Revan our Mandalore, but Revan chose to hide the mask, so that the Mandalorians would never be able to reunite under a single leader again."
"I see… But then why would she tell you?"
"The reason Revan did not want the Mandalorians to unite again was because they would pose a threat to her empire and the successful defense of the galaxy against something."
"Something?"
"She wouldn't tell me what."
"Okay."
"Anyways, with her empire destroyed, Revan told me where the mask was in an effort that the Mandalorians would unite again and protect the Republic from this threat."
"Why would the Mandalorians protect the Republic? They hate them don't you?"
"We don't hate the Republic; we just thought that we were better prepared to rule the galaxy..."
"So Aspyre wants you to unite the Mandalorians so that the galaxy is prepared to fight against whatever is coming?"
"Pretty much."
"Now you got me nervous!" she complained to the warrior, how looked at her with a confused look on his face. "I don't like the idea of something lurking out there and not knowing what it is!"
"Relax kid. If you are prepared then you have nothing to fear."
"Easy for you to say."
"Huh… I guess."
"So, after you find the mask what happens? Are you going to go back to Aspyre?"
"What? No, once I have the mask I have to reunite the clans, I have to travel to every possible planet and bring every last Mandalorian together in a single planet, where we will build our forces and prepare."
"What planet?"
"I don't know yet… First things first, though. I have to focus on getting that mask."
"Okay… And did you and Revan talk about something else?"
"Yeah…"
"Did you profess your love for her tactical genius and superiority in the battlefield?" she asked with exaggerated gestures, trying hard not to burst into laughter on his face.
Had Canderous not been strapped into his chair he would have ripped her lekkus off and strangled her to death with them.
"No" he spoke softly, his lower lip trembling slightly as he tried to regain control. "We spoke of other matters. Things you do better not knowing."
"I bet you kissed her, I bet you told her how much you admired her, I bet-"
Mission stopped in her tracks when she saw the look Canderous threw at her. She closed her mouth and was silent for a full minute while the inexperienced babysitter mustered all the patience he possibly could to try to speak to her without yelling at her.
"If you must know" he said very slowly. "We spoke about the Mandalorian war. She revealed very important information to me about that too."
"What?" she dared to ask, hoping she wouldn't be punched in the face too hard. Canderous took a deep breath and was quiet for a few minutes before he decided she was better now knowing about that.
"It doesn't matter… It's not important anymore" he finally said. Mission simply looked at him and waited silently for him to figure she wasn't going to stop bothering him until she was satisfied. "How I have not shot you yet amazes me."
"Me too" she responded with a grin.
"She told me the truth behind the Mandalorian wars."
"The truth?"
"The Mandalorian wars… they were planned by… The Sith."
"What? The Sith? But… Revan and Malak didn't become Sith until after the Mandalorian wars!"
"You're right. Revan turned to the Dark Side before the battle of Malachor V. I don't know what she was talking about."
"You think she was lying to you?"
"I don't think she was lying to me. Aspyre made certain of that. No, I think we don't know everything. But I should have known. Mandalore's tactics, the way we fought… everything. I should have seen it" he muttered before he closed his eyes in anger at himself.
"Seen what?"
"The way he fought. It was too precise, too stealthy, and too quiet. Very unlike a Mandalorian. And his decision to accept other races into the army other than the Taungs."
"Taungs?"
"An alien race, they're the original Mandalorians. Before the war, before the rise of Mandalore the Ultimate, the Mandalorian army was comprised exclusively of Taungs. He was the one that decided to conscript alien races into the army."
"Why should that have told you anything?"
"Mandalore changed a lot. At least that Mandalore changed a lot of things in our culture. I think he was being used. Someone, maybe one of his advisors, wanted the wars to happen, and they helped him. Why I do not know… That is one of the things I need to find out."
"Canderous..."
"But maybe he wasn't being used" he interrupted her. "Maybe he knew…"
"You think he was part of the Sith plan?"
"I don't know. I don't even know what Sith Revan was talking about… I still have much to understand, but for now I'm just going to focus on finding Mandalore's mask and rallying our forces."
"Wait, you said Mandalore the ultimate allowed other races to join the Mandalorians. Does that mean that had he not done that, you would not have been able to become a Mandalorian?"
"Yeah."
"Hum… Well, things took a turn for the best, then! Don't worry about this so much, I think you'll do just fine" she said as she stood up with a smile. "We'll get through, we always do."
"You should stop speaking in plural."
"You should stop speaking in singular" she said as left the cockpit.
Canderous smiled as he focused on the chart readings again.
"Ke barjurir gar'ade, jagyc'ade kot'la a dalyc'ade kotla'shya" he whispered to himself with a grin. "Truer words have never been spoken."
00
Viccal reread the last report we had written before he sent it to both the Chief of the facility and to Chancellor Dilkill. It seemed solid enough. A few more weeks, just a few more mere weeks and he would be able to get rid of Revan. He was going to gain a level of prestige previously reserved only for the founders of the most important schools of psychology and at the young age of 24 he was going to match. The first person to ever perform a reverse therapy for dissociative identity disorder. The books he would be able to write, the interview he would do, he was going to rise to levels he previously had only dreamt of. He finished reading the report and decided it was good enough. He sent it to both of them before heading to say hello to Aspyre. She had been showing remarkable progress and Viccal had started feeling so proud of her. He didn't want her to feel like he was just using her to become famous, so he made it clear that he viewed her as a friend he was trying to help, and not a test subject like he was sure any other of those old idiots would have done. The truth was that he had taken a liking to the girl. She was funny, entertaining, witty and beautiful above everything else. The way she looked at everything with such childish curiosity, such passion for life. It was admirable really. He nodded to the security guards posted at her door and pressed the release button to enter her cell. She looked up from her bed and placed next to her the datapad she was reading.
"What you got there?" he said as he sat down next to her.
"Oh… It's… Bastila's diary."
"I see… Who gave you that?"
"Carth."
"I thought you said we were going to deal with that later. You said getting rid of Revan was your number one priority."
"I know… I guess… I guess it's not anymore."
"Do you want to… do you want to stop?" he asked, the words feeling like poison on his mouth.
"No… We can't really. I guess… I guess I just miss her."
"Yeah, I guess you do…" he said as he debated about the situation. He needed Aspyre in top shape for the treatment and so far he was under the impression that she was. The fact that she was reading Bastila's diary bothered him a lot. He wasn't certain if it would be wise to continue with the treatment without addressing that issue first, but he was under a tightly schedule. If the Supreme Chancellor found any excuse to lash out at them, he would. Finally his conscience won and he silently kicked himself for what he was saying. "I think we should stop, Aspyre. I think we should talk about you and Bastila for the next few days."
Aspyre looked up at him with wet eyes before she closed them and softly nodded.
00
It was pouring heavily when Canderous, Mission and Dustil got out of the Ebon Hawk. Canderous had landed the ship in the only stable patch of land he was able to find, which unfortunately was about a hundred miles away from the place where Revan had told him the mask would be. Which meant they were going to have to trek for about two days in this planet, practically blind. Canderous simply hoped that their signal could be tracked from the Ebon hawk without much difficulty.
"So, where to!" Dustil yelled as he used his hand to get some of his wet hair out of his face.
"North from our position, about one hundred miles! There should be a temple Revan visited! She said she left the mask inside!"
"Let's hurry, I don't want to spend a minute more than I have to in this place!" Mission said as she wrapped Aspyre's cloak tighter around her body. Canderous did the same with his cloak and was very grateful his armor was automatically heated before taking off the rocky path. He took the lead, while Dustil took the rear, and the three of them slowly advanced through the rocky canyon. A few hundred meters to their right a large ocean covered their sight, and to their left, the tall canyon wall blocked their path. It was going to be a very unpleasant trip, but the thought of getting his hands on Mandalore's mask gave Canderous more than enough energy to keep going even in the harshest environments.
What little light the sun had given them under that harsh rain storm, was removed when the night fell, and Canderous found himself unable to see what was a meter in front of him, and many times he stumbled with loose rocks or uneven edges.
"We have to stop, Canderous!" Mission yelled behind him.
"Not yet! We have to cover at least forty miles today! We still need five more!"
"We can't keep walking like this! We're wasting more energy than making progress here!" Dustil complained from the rear. "We have to save our strength so we can cover more ground tomorrow morning!"
Canderous gritted his teeth as he pondered on the situation. The kids were right, in the last half hour they had covered half the distance in twice the time. And he felt drained.
"All right! Over by the canyon wall!" he yelled, pointing to a medium sized hole about fifty meters away from them. "We can rest there!"
Mission happily nodded and they made their way. They climbed the uneven territory and finally reached the hole that Canderous had spotted. It was big enough to shelter them from the rain, and thankfully very little wind actually entered the small cave. Taking off his wet cloak, Canderous sat down and opened his pack, taking out two glowing rods which he threw at the end and middle of the cavern. Quickly checking it was empty, he relaxed his body and observed how the kids huddled together near him, desperately trying to keep warm. Canderous took out a dry blanket out of his bag and threw it at them. Whispering their thanks, the kids dried themselves as best they could and they huddled together. Canderous checked his scanner to make sure there were no live forms near them, giving the area two sweeps to be extra certain.
"Were fine!" he yelled. Even inside the cave, the sound of the rain was deafening. "You two take the first watch! Wake me up in four hours!"
"Okay!"
Canderous laid down flatly, took out another blanket out of his pack and wrapped himself with it. He took out a single energy bar and quickly ate it, chugging it down with some water. He closed his eyes and began thinking about the mask of Mandalore and the brilliant future he would carve for the Mandalorians.
00
FUN FACTS!
Yay! It's been a while. Okay so first fun fact, what Canderous says to himself after Mission leaves the cockpit is: Train your sons to be strong but your daughters to be stronger. It's a Mandalorian saying, I thought it was apt for the situation ^-^ .
We're going to focus on Canderous' travels, but not on this story, in here I'm just going to lay the groundwork for that one, it's going to focus on his travels to gather the clans. I'm thinking of having Mission and Jolee follow him on the Black Ark, since by canon standards they are the only ones that were "available" shall we say? Anyways, I would love to receive feedback on that idea, since I have been toying with it since… well since I started writing this chapter so tell me what you think about that. Thanks!
Because the Old Republic has not been released yet and the info I can get is limited, there might be some discrepancies between the canon stuff and Canderous' travels and the curretn path the story will take, but… meh. I'll try to be as accurate as possible.