My Empire of Dirt, Part One
Chapter 48 / My Empire of Dirt, Part One
There was an ominous roar coming from the landing ramp, like a crowd cheering over a steady drumbeat, and what sounded like an entire electro-harp section.
Polla exhaled under her mask. Closed her eyes. Counted to ten. Ignored the giant Wookiee patting her awkwardly on the shoulder, the Tee-Three beeping at her to move, the doubled voice from Tenny-bro in the Zabrak kids saying frack knows what in ancient Sith.
"Silence!" She held up her gloved hand, and remarkably, they all quieted. Now there was just the noise outside. "When," she demanded, "did I ever say I liked electro-harp?"
"I assumed," the emperor offered. "Shall I make it stop?"
"Please." Cold sweat was trickling down her back. She closed her eyes and began to count. On the stroke of eleven, the electro-harp stopped.
"Come on," Carth whispered. He squeezed her fingers, hands warm even through gloves.
Polla opened her eyes and saw his clean-shaven face through the mask's eye vent. He was smiling, teeth only a little bared, eyes only a little nuts. She nodded and allowed him to lead her down the ramp, the others trailing behind.
Outside, the air was strange and gray. A long red road of stone led to a set of steps, and above them towered an ancient-looking building covered with statues of contorted humanids who were either fracking or being dissected. Kind of hard to tell-the stone was so weathered and worn.
Hundreds-maybe even thousands-of red-robed sents lined the road. Many had the red skin Polla had been told to expect from pureblood Sith. (Who knew Sith were a thing?) Behind the red robes, most wore black and gray. There weren't a lot of other colors-every now and again, a brighter splash of skin or hair; but for the most part, her new minions seemed incredibly dichromatic.
The closer ones all had red, glowing eyes, like the Creepazoid, (as Tee-Three called him), was watching their progress from every angle he could.
"Well?" Tenny-bro murmured in Takan's body.
"Adequate," she sniffed.
The comm on her wrist beeped. Polla glanced down.
Coord r HIS summer plc. Eta 2d. Don't die.
Was plc an acronym? Abbreviation? Was eta estimated time of arrival? Was HIS Tenny-bro or something else? Fracking Revan Starfire. If they were supposed to have the same brain, why didn't the woman make more sense?
"Your… summer palace?" Polla sighed. "Really, Lord Tenebrae?"
"I'm having yours redone." Takan smiled at her and gave her a boneless bow. Poor, possessed kid.
"With extra torture rooms?" She tried to sound cheerful. Carth coughed and nudged her arm.
"I think you will find the facilities adequate."
"Hopefully. By the way, I'm expecting a… guest. In two days' time. I hope you've outdone yourself. She's a very dear friend."
Carth sighed, like he got it. The droid beeped something like an inquiry.
"Any friend of yours… that escaped the cull, would naturally be a friend of mine." Takan's teeth were so white they looked blue.
Here we go.
Since no one was else was moving, Polla stepped forward, forcing them all to follow behind.
The crowd around them cheered-even the ones not possessed. Then, they knelt in near-unison. Eerily silent suddenly, except for the drums, pounding away ominously.
The air smelled like sulfur and mold.
Polla's comm beeped again. She glanced down at her wrist.
NO TK Cllr off! Vimp!
"Where is Vimp?" she demanded. "They… should be here."
"Vimp?" Tenny-bro frowned. "I'm afraid I don't know. We had all of your old servants purged."
"I could have yours purged as w-" Zaalbar's low rumble half-drowned out the rest of her response.
Their path widened, as they approached the temple steps, which were was blocked by a row of guards. Ahead of them, at the top of the stairs was a hover lift covered in flowers. From this angle, it looked like an extra floater from a parade at Pioneer Day, back home.
The guards parted, letting them pass. Polla kept her chin up. The mask was playing hell with her peripherals. How the frack had the real Revan worn one? Was it a Force thing? Maybe Jedi could see through metal? She squinted. On top of the stairs, resting atop the hover lift was what looked like a long, metallic box, tied with several blood-red bows.
"This must be the surprise?" Polla guessed. It looked like a coffin, which… really, shouldn't have come as a shock.
Please don't let it be anyone I know or anyone rotting and decomposed because I don't want to be fracking sick all over Revan's welcome back to evil party….
Frack. What if she really is evil? It occurred to Polla that this was a thought she should have had before.
"Well?" Takan and Zepth had stopped walking. Their eyes-and a hundred other red, glowing ones besides-all looked at Polla, expectantly.
"What?" She'd missed something. Carth touched her arm. When she swung her head around, she couldn't see Tenny-bro, and that made her nervous.
"I just said-" Creepazoid raised his voice, echoing it through a dozen sents near them, including the guards. "I just said, your surprise arrived early. We were able to use an unmanned ship for transport since we didn't have to worry about life support! I hope you appreciate the effort."
Carth's steps faltered. He must have gotten who it was immediately, but Polla was still focused on what the frack Revan had meant with her acronyms, and trying to convince herself that just because something looked like a coffin didn't mean it was one, and how the frack was she not going to trip going up the steps in these robes.
"No," the Republic hero whispered. He dropped Polla's hand, broke into a run.
Zaalbar roared and the Tee-Three beeped. The Tee even launched itself after him, moving in repulsor jets faster than anything Polla had ever seen on an astromech before.
Ahead of them, two red-robed figures abruptly produced glowing blue quarterstaffs and crossed them together, blocking his way.
"No!" Carth repeated. "Bastard! You… you murderer!" His hands went to his blasters and for a sec, it looked like he was about to shoot the guards-but a rapid-fire blast of Shyriiwook and droid beeps stopped him in his tracks.
"Alive?" He turned his head towards the Tee as if it knew. "He's alive? Are… are you sure, Mission?"
"Carth?" Everyone was looking at them. Of course, because we're the stars of this fracking nova. Polla walked forward, craning her neck to see. At her approach, both guards retreated, kneeling at her feet, in a way that… might have been funny, were their situation less fracked.
The coffin-shaped plat on the hoverlift that was covered in red bows had green, blinking lights on its side and the frozen features of a man, inset like some kind of frieze. It still took her Polla sec to figure out who the man was, because really, the kid could be anyone with his mouth frozen open screaming like that.
"Is that... a carbonite chamber?" she ventured, finally. "You froze… Darth Malak in carbonite, just for me?"
"I suppose his old face was more familiar," Zepth said. The asshole brought the Zabrak's boy's hands together as if he was clapping with glee. "What shall we do first: thaw out your consort? Remove your collar? Have lunch and then the tour?"
How about grab Carth's carbsicled son and leave? But there were thousands of sents surrounding them, and the Hawk was low on fuel, and Polla didn't think even the real Revan could get them out of this one.
"The tour," she shrugged. Figure out the bolt holes first. Idiots didn't even lock down the Hawk. It's just sitting there on the landing pad waiting for us to come back. As soon as Real Revan shows up with Sei, we're outta here.
She can keep this fracking planet and this fracking Sith Empire of… dirt.
The Emperor chuckled. "As you wish."
Xxx
There was a song that Morgana used to play when they were first living together. A song she'd sing along to in the fresher when she thought Carth couldn't hear. She had a sweet voice, although rarely in tune. Carth remembered the melody, but only a snatch of the verse: something about 'not knowing what you've got til it's gone.'
Now, as Carth held the hand of the woman who had never been his wife, walking with her up the steps to the frozen carbonite statue of his son, on a Sith planet beyond the reach of any star chart he'd ever seen, that song was stuck in his head like a scratched holodisk.
"He'd better be okay," he muttered at Zepth. The poor kid was still possessed, him and Takan both, like Tenebrae wanted a stereo view.
Dustil's mouth was frozen in the rictus of a scream, his hands twisted like claws. It looked like he-or Malak-had gone down fighting.
Xxx
"He's a fighter," the Besalisk observed, holding the squalling red-faced infant upside-down by one claw. "You can say that!"
"Good," Morgana smiled up at Carth. "This world needs more fighters, doesn't it?"
"That a knock against the Fleet pilots?" Smiling, Carth brushed her hair back from her forehead and planted a kiss there. "Because I think our kid's gonna be an interstellar pilot, not just one of you grav-jockies."
"He'll be what he'll be," Morgana murmured. "But it might be nice to have an Onasi man closer to home."
Xxx
Home.
Say, somehow they got out of this blasted mess. Then what? Coruscant was a cesspool, Telos was still radioactive-even if one of the restoration projects finally had got off ground. Sure, Zaalbar would welcome them back to Kashyyyk, but what would Dustil do on Kashyyyk? Would Dustil even want to stay?
Would… would Carth?
Would Revan?
Polla Organa kept walking. She seemed calm, but her hand trembled in his, warm, even through those gloves she had on.
The doors to the Sith tomb-or whatever it was-were at least ten meters high. They opened into an arched, empty room, hung with banners that all had the same red and black gear symbol Carth had come to associate with the Sith. The cloth was new and bright, contrasting strangely with the weathered stone. It wasn't until they crossed the expanse and reached a side corridor that Carth noticed the dust in the corners, what looked like spider roach webs above in the rafters. The air smelled musty with disuse.
"This is your suite." Tenebrae was possessing the two kids as well as six other servants now, escorting them through hall after hall of cold, stone walls, complete with lurid frescoes out of some Holovid villain's lair. "The three of you-and your… animal-should be quite… comfortable."
Zaalbar's lips pulled back from his teeth, but he had the sense not to say anything.
Comfortable? Yeah, right. If they had ice in their veins. The rooms all led into one another, elaborate archways opening like the cabins on a warbird. Everything was stone. Damned if even the bed didn't look like it was made of stone. It was big enough for six. Apparently, True Sith didn't believe in sheets.
Polla walked over the stone table set by the suite's only window and peered out of it. "It's very… rustic," she offered. "Do we really need so many guards outside?"
"We have our rebel factions," Takan's body chuckled. "I would hate something to happen to you before our union is complete."
"Right. Wouldn't want that." She glanced at the door, mask making her face a blank oval. "Leave. Now."
The six escorts turned and walked in unison out the door, which slid shut behind them.
"You too, Lord Emperor." She pointed at both of the Zabrak kids.
"After you." He gestured towards the door. "We have business to attend to, you and me. I thought we could eat in the small, dark blue dining room? It's quite right for two. I'm already waiting for you there, in a form you will find familiar."
"You… are?" Waver like panic in her voice. "Good luck with that one, because I'm pretty busy. We have to unpack, and… do things."
"I'm afraid I must insist."
Polla's masked face turned towards Carth and then back. He watched her hands curl into fists, then one of them fall, almost casually to the holster at her belt. "No," she said. "I'm afraid I must insist. To the hell with y-"
The next instant she was splayed on the ground, hands and legs outstretched, making a hoarse, gasping sound.
Above her, Takan chuckled. "I may have been too indulgent of late. Remember our balance, Revan? At the moment you are merely my dirt daughter. A fleshling as helpless as all the rest." Tenebrae's hand was out like he was doing this to her. He lowered it, and Polla's entire body almost seemed to flatten under an invisible weight-
The world went white-
And then Polla lying on her side on the floor with the mask off, gasping, and Carth had both blasters in his hands. Pointed at her. At her. He looked up. Zaalbar was now in restraints, and ten Sith guardsmen with glowing sticks surrounded them all.
"...of a ronto. And frack your mother too!" Mission added. All the lights on her dome were flashing red.
Five minutes, he cursed to himself. This much of the world can change in five minutes. They'd timed it over and over. The huttspawn couldn't possess him for longer than that, never seemed to be able to do over and over-
And some day, he won't be able to do it at all. Somehow. We'll find a way. I will.
Carth was very, very tired of being jerked around.
"You see, Revan?" The chuckle was ancient. It didn't belong to the face of a kid younger than Dustil. "You cannot win. Not when I hold your leash."
Even under the robes, Carth could see the smuggler's panic: chest heaving, hands shaking as they reached for the mask. She clambered to her feet.
"Are you okay?" he whispered.
Polla's breath hitched, as she adjusted the mask back on her face. "Sure." She shook her head.
Then she practically fell into his arms. She was stiff and shaking, with his hands still holding blasters clasped awkwardly around her waist. A stranger in a mask.
"It's going to be okay," he lied. "I've got you."
"Give me one of those guns." Her voice was muffled against his jacket, raspy and metallic through the mask's mic, as she plucked one from his hand. "You can have the Aratech back. I want the disrupter. Something the asshole can't deflect."
The pistol he'd given her earlier was gone from her hips. It took Carth another second to notice it, on the floor.
She already tried to shoot him. She tried to shoot one of the kids when Tenebrae was in them and he was trying to crush her-
"Be careful." Don't kill the kids, it's not their fault-
"Two days," she muttered half under her breath. "Then it's all her show. Who the frack is Vimp? What's a cler? Clurr?'"
"What?" It took Carth a moment. "You heard from her? Again?"
He'd hardly dared believe her the first time she whispered it in his ear, both of them standing awkwardly in the fresher, because Tenebrae was too fastidious to 'spend time with bodily functions,' as he'd put it.
"Uh huh." She flashed him her wrist. She was wearing the comm openly, brazenly. Just like the ridiculous five lightsabers still dangling from her belt.
The abbreviated Aurebesh was as familiar as Fleet commands.
Don't take the collar off. Very important.
No kidding, Freckles.
Carth frowned. He had expected… more, somehow. Something.
She's too busy to send you a love letter.
"Two days?" He whispered. "What else did she say?"
"I got the earlier one. ETA two days. This was his summer palace. And we need to not die." Her voice was a hoarse rasp in his ear.
That... almost sounded like her. "We won't," he promised. "No dying."
"Who the frack is vimp?"
"Very important."
"What?" She squinted at him. "What's very important?"
"Not to-"
"What was that now?" Tenebrae speaking in unison behind them. "I do love your plots and counterpoints, Revan!"
"Frack you," she snarled, pulling away from Carth. "When I get the Force back I'll make you pay. I'll strip the flesh from your bones!"
Xxx
In wartime, you get used to a lot of hopeless crusades. Desperate stands. Times you don't expect to win, but you fight because there's nothing else to do. When Mission broke them out of Malak's torture cells on the Leviathan, Carth hadn't expected to make it. His goals had abruptly narrowed down to a sniper's scope: kill Saul Karath. That had been all that was left-all that was allowed.
To hope for more was tempting the fates.
Xxx
Two days. Are you expecting her to save you? Two days and then two dark lords will be here: Revan and Malak both. Two days and then what?
Who are you saving here, Onasi? What's the real objective?
His thoughts were brutal. Ruthless. He almost wished he had orders, that the decision would rest with someone else.
But you left the Fleet. You saved her before. This is on you.
"Hang on a sec." Mission's voice. "What's happening in two days?"
Behind her, the guards and servants filed out again-one-by-one. Carth automatically noted Mission's position by the door and Zaal's opposite.
"Need to know, Tee." Polla's voice sounded tired. "Hey, mind if my droid tags along to our dinner, Teneb-Tenny-bro?"
"In fact, I do mind. Oh, ho. But-" the Zabrak kid gestured. A click and the two halves of the Force collar around her neck clattered to the floor. "If you want to strip the flesh from this vessel's bones right now, that's fine."
Zepth's body took a step away from Takan as if to give her room. They both had the same, fixed smile on their faces.
The door slid shut behind the last of the guards.
Polla froze.
Carth froze.
Zaalbar whimpered something at Mission, too fast to catch.
Polla kicked one of the collar pieces across the floor. It clattered. She folded her arms, her stance too poised to be real. "Thanks, but I'm rather fond of these two. Kind of a matched set. You know?"
"Hmm…" Zepth circled her, like a kath after a scent. Takan stood still, and somehow that was worse. "That's odd. I can't sense-"
"You have no sense." But it was obvious that her confidence was rattled, her imperious manner slipping.
Zaalbar whined.
"Very odd. Did the Jedi do this? I can't sense you at all."
The Zabrak kid lifted his hand, and a jet of blue light sparked, knocking Polla to the ground before any of them could stop it.
Polla yelped, a helpless, high, thin sound that set Carth's heart on edge. She yelped and scrambled away, rolling desperately across the floor, as Carth jumped in front of her, as Zaalbar jumped in front of him, as Mission's voice blasted behind them both.
Somehow the mask Polla was wearing fell off again, went spinning across the floor and into a corner.
"Leave her alone!" Mission commanded, sounding exactly like the real Revan. "Or I swear I'll blast your face off!" Mission extended the flamethrower they'd installed on her chassis.
"Will you?" Zepth had that crazed smile on his face. "Who is she?"
"I'm the actress she hired to keep you distracted," muttered Polla from the floor. "And you're fracked, because Revan's coming here now to kick your ass, Tenny bro. In the flesh."
Polla scrambled to her feet, one hand holding the blaster, but her gloves were torn and she favored one side now as if he'd burned her. She holstered the blaster and pulled out one of the lightsabers instead, holding it out gingerly, as her fingers fumbled at the switch.
Nothing happened. "Frack," she muttered.
"That's right," Mission added. "I'm coming for you, Tenebrae. And I'll leave your entire planet a scorched hellhole… so frack off."
"In two days," added Polla, still fumbling with the lightsaber.
It's probably Force-locked. Some of them are. All he could do was shake his head.
She shot him a puzzled frown.
"Soon," Mission snapped. "She is merely my harbinger. My servant. Because… I mean, obviously, this was a trap. So… release my servants and I'll get here. When I'm good and ready. But if you harm them…." She let her voice trail off, ominously.
"In two days," Polla repeated. But she glanced at Carth again, not Mission. "You… uh, sent me word already, Lord Revan."
"Always keep the element of surprise," Mission snapped. "Maybe it will be two days. Maybe two years. But I will raze this installation into ashes. I will make all that you possess empty stardust. I will end you, Tenebr-"
"Shut up," Polla snapped at her. "You're coming here in two days. You… promised."
"Did I?" Mission almost sounded like herself for a second.
"You know you did-" Real panic in Polla's voice now. A half hysterical sob. "Fracking hell, Revan Starfire, you-"
White light. A blink. A heartbeat, and then Polla was standing, holding a lit lightsaber, holding it all wrong with her left hand. A different one than the one before-maybe. Two others were scattered on the floor as if she'd dropped-or discarded them too.
The green blade wavered a little as she pointed it at the Zabrak kids.
Their eyes weren't glowing now. They looked terrified, not even going for their own weapons.
"I said, don't move!" Polla hissed again. The blaster was in her injured hand, and several bolts lined the wall between the kids-so neatly spaced they could have been run by an auto-cannon. "Next time, I won't miss!"
The room's electronic display by the wall was a scorched and smoking mess, as if she'd shoved a lightsaber into it.
Zaalbar had his own vibroblade out too. And Mission was across the room, plugged into what remained of the terminal. The door's seals appeared to have been sealed shut. There were shouts coming from outside. Shouts and what sounded explosions.
"Ten minutes, sis," Mission chimed. "Maybe? We have about five minutes before they break down those doors… or… maybe twenty, if they're dumb. There's an access panel overhead, it'll be a tight squeeze for Big Z, but we can make it work."
Polla's eyes met Carth's, across the wavering, green line of her particle blade. "You back?"
"Yes." He drew his blaster, but frack if he could shoot the kids. It wasn't their fault! It wouldn't stop anything.
"The Tee and Zaalbar think they can get us out of here." Her eyes flickered warily towards the kids and then back to him. "Knock them out and let's go."
"We want to help," Takan interrupted. Takan and not Zepth. The kid had picked a hell of time to join the side of the angels. "She's right. He's coming back. It won't be long-he only left because he doesn't like to die and you were shooting-"
"I wasn't going to kill you." Polla sighed. "So he runs when one of his zombies gets killed?" She fumbled with the lightsaber, shoving her blaster back in her belt. "Asshole."
Carth was strangely happy he didn't need to plead for their lives. His wife would have-he wasn't sure what the real Revan would have done. What she would do.
She's coming here. We just need to make it until then. She's coming here to rescue us. I need to have faith in that, let go of my fears….
Zepth jerked, stiff to attention. His eyes began to glow again.
"Oh, no," Zaalbar groaned.
"What game is this?" Zepth and Takan were speaking in unison. Again. "Where is the real Revan Starfire?"
"Coming for your ass, loser." Polla nodded at Carth. "Two days. Like I said. We're just the intro."
"Oh!" Takan's hands clapped together stiffly. "This is extraord-"
Carth thumbed the catch off his blaster, dialing it down to stun and fired before the emperor could finish the sentence. One. Two. The kids collapsed like balloons in a gravity well.
"They're stunned," he announced. We have fifteen minutes-maybe." Carth found his voice. "Maybe… before he can get in me again, but you should knock me out too. The three of you should run-if I stay here they won't kill me. Not when they know she's really coming-"
And someone needs to protect these kids.
"You want us to leave carbsicle here with you?" Polla frowned. She waved the still-lit lightsaber around, so carelessly it made him wince.
Xxx
"Huh." Polla raised an eyebrow at the dead Sith governor of Taris. "Nice shot, Onasi. Is that a real lightsaber?" She bent down and picked it up.
Remembering what had happened in the conapt with the blaster, Carth winced; but Polla Organa tossed the thing easily in her hand, weighing the hilt.
"Feels off," she muttered.
"You're an expert now at lightsabers too?" She'd be a good fighter, if she didn't keep putting herself in insane situations, acting like she was invincible.
"How hard can it be?" Polla did something, and the thing actually ignited from both sides, hissing red.
"Two particle blades?" Carth laughed, mainly to hide his unease. "Come on now, how does anyone fight like-"
Polla twisted the weapon in her hand, for a millisecond, the blades seemed to spin, flashing in a perfect, deadly circle.
"Careful-" he warned her. "You can't just pick that up and-"
The hilt flipped out of her hand and sank into a wall, then deactivated with a sharp click, clattering to the floor.
"Did I do that?" Polla didn't even sound sure. "Was that me, or-"
"Scout Organa." Bastila's voice was like ice. She and the Tee-Three they'd picked up stood in the doorway. "The astromech has downloaded the codes we need to pass the blockade. The mercenary is waiting for us in the cantina. Leave… that alone."
"Thought you might want a freaking laser sword," Polla muttered. "Since you lost yours."
Bastila made an exasperated noise but then raised her hand. Incredibly, the governor's weapon flew into her hand like it was magnetized.
Carth had worked with Jedi in Fleet, even had General Revan herself comm him congratulations. He'd had that asshole Malak D'Reev try to read his mind, heard Kavar Vaklu speak at the Fleet Academy, and certainly had enough lectures from Masters Ancilla and We'kai on the doomed Endar Spire; but he'd never actually seen the Force in action, not like the grounders talked about. Lightning, making the ground shake, freezing blaster bolts in midair… it half sounded like magic.
A part of him, had maybe never really… believed. Until now.
The lightsaber flew into Bastila Shan's hand like it had been magnetized. She spun it around unlit twice herself-but then, when her fingers opened, it flipped over, actually floating in the air before pinwheeling slowly back down to the ground.
"Ugh." Hope of the Republic made a face, and kicked it across the floor. "The weight's all wrong. It's… garbage."
"Told you," Polla muttered.
"We will keep our feet firmly on the path ahead," the Jedi murmured. The words sounded like a prayer.
Xxx
"How do I switch this thing off?" the real Polla asked. "How come there's no weight in the blade?"
"Just put it down," Carth tried to stay calm. "They… have some kind of auto-switch that kicks in, when a Jedi isn't controlling the blade."
How far he'd come, from wondering if the Force was real.
"You want me to leave it for carbsicle? The others… I think they're broken." Polla set it down gingerly. The thing sparked for a second longer than Carth liked on the floor, but then it switched off.
"No." He didn't want to do this. But everything logical said it was the best option. If I go with them, Tenebrae will follow. And what will happen to the Zabrak kids? If Dustil stays with me, the Emperor will have no reason not to hunt the rest of them down. They'll have .
"You're taking Dustil with you," Carth ordered her. "I'll stay here with the kids."
"Huh?" Polla frowned and shook her head. "No. No way. We can't leave you behind."
"I don't like this," warned Zaalbar.
"Take Dustil with you," Carth repeated. "Zaalbar can carry him, he's probably the safest of us all frozen like that-"
"Don't be dumb," Mission chirped. "We all need to split together. You think they bought that Revan's really coming thing?"
"But she is." Wasn't she? Wasn't she? Had Polla lied?
"Yeah. She'll be here in two days. She commed." Polla had already moved across the room, shoving the deactivated blade back on her belt with the others. Now, she was kneeling in front of Dustil's carbonite frame, swiveling the dials. "One sec."
"What are you doing?" He went to her. She'd turned all the dials back down to nothing. "You can't unthaw-"
"Wait. Waitaminute. You've been talking to Polla Revan? Really? This is… ginormous? Why didn't you tell me?" Mission was using Revan's voice again, low and furious, but Polla didn't even turn her head. Instead, she held up her hand, motioning them both to silence.
"I told Carth. I told all of you just now. With Tenny-bro."
"But not me and Big Z? Before?"
"Need to know." The Deralian glanced over at Zaalbar. "I would have told you, Furguy, but we were never alone together. Anyway, now you know. Big, bad real Revan's coming to get us out of this mess. She promised." Polla made a face. "Also, she's kind of a bitch."
Carth had assumed they knew. It was dangerous to speak freely, with Takan's loyalty in question, and all three of them capable of being possessed at any time. But he'd assumed that Polla would have pulled them both aside, warned them, given Mission time to come up with a plan-
But she had never even given Zaalbar the comm. That crazy kid had tried to handle it all herself.
Achingly familiar, as a response. Revan had done the same far too often. Up until the end.
Xxx
"I've got this, flyboy." The sun had reddened Revan's nose-strangely at odds with the black robes she'd started wearing for show on Korriban, and for some reason, never removed. "Whatever's in that Sith temple, it's something I put there. This is my problem. My fault. My fight."
"Dumb kids," Jolee muttered, glancing at Juhani. She gave him an imperceptible nod, and then and there, Carth knew they'd follow Revan into that blasted temple no matter what she commanded.
"You already said it's like, Jedi-only." Mission adjusted the clasps of her body armor. "But I don't see why you can't take Jolee and Juhani. We're a team, right?"
"No tree has one leaf," Zaalbar added.
Canderous shrugged, and went back to polishing his repeater. "Dar'jettai osik," he muttered under his breath.
"Don't follow me," Revan said to Juhani, as if she knew they would. "I mean it. This is… real darkness. The less of us we risk the better."
"Oh? You know there are real Dark Jedi in there too, kid?" Jolee folded his arms and snorted. "Course you do. And we can sense them, same as you. You think you can take on a dozen? Two dozen? All on your lonesome? Or you think they're gonna throw you some welcome home party?" He frowned. "Truth, I'm not sure what's worse."
Revan glanced up at the sky, where the hulk of the Star Forge loomed overhead; visible, even through the endless blue distortion of the energy shield they needed to bring down.
"Yes." Her voice was dead. "In this place… I can beat them all. Don't ask me how I know, but I can… I can hear it. There's… power here. And it's… mine."
"Sure that's not just the Sith crazy?" Jolee frowned. "Be careful, kid."
Sometimes Carth wondered. If she'd had nothing to sacrifice. If the lives of her friends hadn't been in her way… would Revan have fallen at all?
Or would she have returned with not just Bastila, but an army of Dark Jedi at her back?
XxX
"Don't-" his protest to Polla was too late. Even as Carth watched, the carbonite glowed white-eyed around his son's face, glowed and dissolved. Dustil's body flopped to the floor in a hiss of steam. "You can't just-we need a medic!"
"No time." Polla pushed her mask up over her hair. "He's got the Force? We need him to fight all of these fracking Sith-especially if we don't have you."
"You can't just… unfreeze someone from carbonite and expect them to fight!"
"Revan's not actually coming here." Mission's voice was stubborn. "She would've commed me. I'd know."
"You're a droid." Polla sighed. "I know everyone around here mankafoots around that fact; but it's true. You're only a droid. Her coming was need-to-know. Your orders are to get us to a fracking safe spot. Now."
"Do something, friend Carth," Zaalbar groaned. "They are both lost cubs in this place."
On the floor next to Polla, his son's body twitched, and gasped, mouth opening wide-
"Dustil." Carth threw himself down, grabbed his son's hands, stared into the wild-eyed eyes that didn't seem to be able to focus. Were they Sith yellow, or was that a trick of the light? "Dustil, I'm here." He squeezed his son's hands.
"You think Revan's a bitch, Polla Organa?" Mission made those words in Basic mechanical, like a real droid's voice. "Observation: You are hopelessly naive. If your deliberate… ignorance regarding my true capacity has obstructed the real Revan's plans, I will be forced to terminate our alliance. Permanently."
"Red," Dustil whispered. His eyes blinked rapidly but didn't seem to see. Carbonite blindness. Carth had heard of it, just like he'd heard about the Fleet using carbonite to transfer prisoners too dangerous for conventional methods; but he'd never seen it before. "Where is she? She's supposed to be here."
Carth dropped his son's hands, hysteria a bitter pill in his throat. "She's coming," he said dully. "She's coming, Malak."
"Captain?" The asshole was surprised, at least. His son's blind eyes turned towards Carth, unfocused, shot with red. Were they yellow? Or was the carbonite effect? The light? "Your son is… here. We are all… here."
The two Zabrak kids were still unconscious on the floor. Carth had only heard of carbonite freezing-smugglers used it, maybe some less than savory branches of the SIS; but Dustil wouldn't be able to walk-not right away. Even if he's still Malak.
"Dustil, if you can hear me, I'll see you soon. You need to carry him, Zaalbar."
"Yes." The Wookiee crouched down next to his son's body. "We need to go."
Would Malak kill Polla? "Revan's coming here, Malak. But I swear to the stars if you let any harm come to any of us, I'll…." How can you harm a ghost? Carth had spent more sleepless nights than he could count pondering that question.
"I'll shoot him first, flyboy. No big deal." Mission was using Revan's voice, all wrong. "Unlike some people, you should have faith in my abilities by now."
"Go now," he told them. Zaalbar already had the access panel open, was scooping Dustil's barely conscious body into his arms. "If I stay here, he won't… he won't know where you are."
Polla frowned at him, then nodded slowly. "Here." She unsnapped the comm from her wrist. "Take this, okay? And actually fracking comm her. Not like it's blowing any secrets now." She forced a smile. "Tell Seiran I said hi. See him soon."
"Then how-?" And then he got it. "Mission. You still have the codes to Revan's commlink?"
"Tell her she'd better pick up this time," Mission snapped. "I don't know what I did to make her mad at me, but she hasn't commed in ages!"
Carth did know. He remembered his wife, head in her hands, holding the guilt of the Organa deaths like a blaster to her own head.
Xxx
"Mission could have done this, Carth. She has the ability, and she's-changed. She's not-I don't trust her."
"No one changes that much." But he had wondered too. The headset she'd used to link directly to the droid had remained where it was until he took it himself, what seemed like ages ago, when he and Canderous fled the Jedi Temple with Revan's son-
Xxx
But Polla's alive. And Revan knows that now. And she's coming here. Here to another fracking Sith place, where she was a Sith before. Here to where her old husband, Malak D'Reev is Force-possessing the body of my son...
I have to give her a chance.
"She'll talk to you now, I think, Mission."
He hoped.
Xxx
The world was black and the Force screamed: the dull drone of fear, and hate, and anger so typical to a Sith planet. Malak's face was buried deep in something furred that smelled foul-like musk and blood and fear. His body was boneless, bent and wrong-and the Captain's voice, the one familiar point was silenced.
It took some time for consciousness enough to return to register the familiar: the taint in the Force so familiar, what he had known all along confirmed.
Kaas. This is Dromund Kaas.
I can't see! The Telosian boy's voice, a panicked squeal in his thoughts. Was that my father? I heard him! How the frack is my father here?
The world shook and jostled and Malak had no answers in the darkness.
And yet, a part of him reached out stretching across stars towards the light-
Xxx
The door slid open, illuminating the darkened room. A man's silhouette in the frame. Tall and fat, almost familiar.
"I thought Vrook and that Twi'lek would never leave." Over-enunciated voice. "Given the circumstances, it seemed prudent to wait for their departure before revealing myself."
Where Mekel was, there was light and seeing. They stretched towards it across stars-
All three minds all collided again like a hover train coupling. You're back. Wherethefrack were you I thought you were dead. Not dead. Contained in carbonite. Tenebrae shipped us to Dromund Kaas, I think. Revan is here, he said, but I cannot sense her-
Frack you, Malak. We don't give a frack. Telos! You're back!
Relief flooded through both of them, loosening their focus enough to snap the world around Mekel Jin into bright relief. Suddenly Dustil was just there, like a pattern overlaid on top of his own. Everything, their thoughts, mingled-
"Master Klee?" Mekk could see. He wasn't blind. Darkness resolved itself into gray and they saw through Mekel's eyes, the Eosian standing in front of him, the medix walls. Mekel realized he'd closed his eyes again, was rubbing them with his fists. When he looked up again, Klee was spackled with red and black afterimages.
Blind? Telos, why are you blind?
Fracking carbonite. I don't know.
"Mekel? My master will return soon. Whatever he says… know that his real attention is on Dromund Kaas. Revan has distracted him, but she will need our assistance here… as well as there."
"Revan?" Their thoughts blurred. One of them laughed. "Which fracking one?"
Revan. She is on Kaas. Malak refocused his attention across the stars.
See you later, asshole, one of them thought.
"What?" Master Klee sighed. "How did you know about the actress?"
"Is that what she's calling herself?" Laughter bubbled into hysteria. You're alive. I thought I was alone…. "Sheris is an actress now?"
"Sheris?" Klee frowned. "I assumed Revan had her killed in the explosion."
They both laughed. Dustil and Mekel… both. Malak wasn't laughing, Malak was distracted someplace else-across the stars, swung over the back of a Wookiee, staring at some red-headed bint in black robes. Their eyes were in and out of focus. Out of focus, she did kind of look like Revan, but in focus-
In focus Mekel suddenly knew where he'd seen her before. At Moms. Hanging out with dear old Lammikins and the Mando'ade like she was practically clan herself.
Telos? What the frack is that smuggler babe doing on Dromund Kaas?
Xxx
"Hi," she said flatly, staring back. "Can you see now? You're… Dustil? Carth's son? Or, like…" she laughed nervously. "The fracking asshole Emperor said you're possessed by the ghost of Darth Malak."
"Who are you?" Their voice was hoarse, like Malak wasn't making it work right. Dustil should know her name-it had been on the vids. She'd even said it. But frack if they could remember now.
"Polla." She frowned. "Polla Organa. Can you walk?" She gestured to her belt. There were like, three fracking lightsabers there. "If I give you a weapon, can you fight?"
They were moving, their body was swaying back and forth, slung over the shoulder of a Wookiee like a tub of meat.
"What is that smuggler… babe doing on Dromund Kaas?" It was like an echo. Malak's voice, their thoughts. All three, too mixed.
"Babe, huh?" The smuggler raised her eyebrow. She had one of Dad's blasters on her belt. He'd recognize it anywhere. "A frack load of mistaken ident."
"I sealed the blast doors behind us. Pathetically easy!" A new voice interrupted from somewhere behind the Wookiee. Feminine. Smug. Familiar. "Do you think some droid could hack into a Sith fortress and seal this passageway from outside intrusion?" Familiar whir of astromech treads. Even though she'd put a bomb in his neck, Mekk sent a surge of happiness through the bond at the sound of her fake, fracking, vodered voice. "No. A regular old droid couldn't do this. I have a name, Polla Organa, and you'd better start using it."
"Mission!" Mekel seized total control for a sec, struggling in Dustil's body; bringing him to the forefront enough to struggle in the Wookiee's arms. "Put me-put us-down."
"Us?" Polla Organa tilted her head. "Us who?"
Blue rolled up to them. Someone needed to touch up that orchid on her chassis again. Her dome flashed. "Sithboy? Not Sith Lord?"
"Yeah. Mostly. It's kind of hard to explain-"
Mekk was actually happy, but then again, he had a body safe on Coru. Dustil forced the feeling of jealousy away before he had to think about what and who he was really jealous of.
Let me do this, Mekk. Let me talk to her. Keep Malak the frack away-
If you want to speak to Red's memory template or her droid, I have no objection. Malak's thought was distracted-obviously more interested in Master Klee, now that his wife wasn't in the picture.
"Oh!" Mission beeped, swiveling her dome around. "Guys, take the right-hand fork up ahead. I'm glad to see you, Dustil. Your… carapace is a real mess."
"I was just frozen in carbonite" It had left a fine, gray dust on their-his-clothes.
"Yeah." They both stepped aside, let Telos take over. Mekel felt his own invisible arms envelop the other boy, pushing Malak back to Coru, all the way back. "We-I can walk. It's… okay. What the frack… what the frack's going on?"
"Well…" the smuggler began.
"Stow it," Mission chirped. "We really do need to keep moving through these tunnels."
Despite Dustil's protests, Zaalbar's arms tightened their grip.
Xxx
"Mekel. Listen to me." A hand on the boy's arm squeezed it sharply, jerking him upright and sending another lance of pain to his gut. "Tenebrae will possess me. Soon. He can control Malak through you. He hopes to control Revan in this way. Through your Force bond. If one of you dies, so does the other. Do you understand?"
Dark laughter. In two places at once. Malak's concentration splintered away from the woman who wasn't Revan, the obsession with the droid, back to here. "I comprehend more fully than I ever did before, Klee. Where is my wife now?"
The Eosian took a step back, dropping their arm. "Not here. Somehow she arranged to have some minor actress kidnapped in her stead-"
"In addition to the Organa woman?" All Malak's laughter now. He felt the other two splinter away, their attention captured by that droid and the woman who was the smuggler the Jedi used for Revan's mindwipe? On Kaas? "Oh, Red. What kind of game is this?"
"Organa-?" the Eosian shrugged. "I don't… there is much I do not know."
Xxx
Not really that hot, all this Sith banthashit. She looked better in that dress.
Dustil realized that Mekel was leering at Polla Organa and made him stop. "Put me down," he muttered, even as the world tilted and stretched between Coru and Kaas again. "We can fracking walk, okay?"
"Dustil?" The droid-Mekk kept stubbornly calling 'Blue,' like she was Mission, beeped at him again. "You look like hell."
"Right back at you." He struggled in Zaalbar's arms until the Wookiee set him down upright. Things came more into focus, which didn't make things any better, as that revealed that they were basically trekking through a dusty ventilation shaft. Probably straight into a turbine fan, if I know Sith engineering. "How the frack did you guys get here?"
"It's a long story," the smuggler muttered. "But the good news is, Revan's coming to rescue us in two days. She commed and told me. And Seiran-my husband's-with her. So this is temporary." The woman took a deep breath. "We just need to break out of this evil Sith fortress and hide out for two days."
"Oh. No fracking problem then." Upright, the world was slightly more unsteady than he'd expected. He wobbled and then Zaalbar was there, supporting him. "Where the frack is my father?"
The Wookiee yowled something that sounded like a question.
"He wants to know if you're okay now. He says you smell like rotten meat and… dark wood. Rotten? There's no real idiom."
"Evil?" Polla suggested. "Are you possessed by Darth Malak and evil?" Her hand, Dustil realized suddenly was resting on the hip of her belt, fingers curved next to his father's blaster.
"Yeah-I mean, no. I'm not fracking evil." Mostly. He had to concentrate not to see a different room. A different place. To keep Malak back, but Malak was distracted, now, talking to Master fracking Klee, of all sents-and Mekel was surprisingly quiet, caught between them like a tethering line. "My father was… he was here. Why did we leave my dad back there?"
"Because he ordered us to." Polla grimaced, squeezing past him and Zaalbar, looking down the shaft in front of them. "Huh. Can we jump over that?"
The Wookiee moaned.
"He says he can jump and throw us cubs."
"Great." It figured. Here comes Father to rescue me and-wait! There he goes again, off to save someone else, leaving me to be tossed around by a Wookiee. Thanks a frack of a lot, Dad!
"I disabled their security cams, but I can't do anything about the Force-sniffers." Mission rolled closer. "Sith can... sense other Sith? Right? Or… whatever you are, Dustil?"
"Sometimes." They had trained for that. "There's ways to hide, but I never paid enough attention-"
But I did. Revan taught me. Mekel, there again, like warm breath on his neck. He nodded their head. "We can hide, Blue. No prob."
It felt like flipping a switch, the way Mekel did it. One second they were there-and the next-
Flip side was, it was hard to see with the Force when you were masking it. Like walking around with a blast shield on your head.
"Dustil?" The Tee-Three sounded confused. "The oscillations of your voice just shifted by a percentage of nine degrees away from the relative alpha sine-"
"Because it's me, Blue." Mekel pushed through. "I'm here too."
"Who is me?" Polla interrupted.
Zaalbar whined, seemingly asking the same thing.
"Mekel Jin. I met you… at my moms' brothel."
"That just seems like a wrong sentence," Polla muttered. "Oh! You were that kid, with the Mandalorians? Right. But how…? Did you die too or something?"
"No."
Zaalbar growled softly.
"He smells more bad wood approaching. Or evil… whatever." Mission frowned. "There's an exit up ahead, leads to one of the vent turbines. We'll disable the blades and then cut through the forcefield, if there is one… and then… jump. I think it's kind of a long drop. Did you guys bring any rope?"
"Rope?" Polla Organa snorted. "No."
"We'll figure something out," the Tee-Three said. "I think it's only like, twenty meters. No big deal."
Xxx
"Sit." Molla Organa had led them to the front sitting room, the one for company and not the back living room, with the vids and the auto-cooker and the pneumatic couch. "I'll fetch the interstellar comm."
"Mother?" Korrie squeezed her hand again. "You can't call her. You can't call anyone. She said not to."
"We can't just… stay here, Korrie." Molla Organa had already vanished down the hall, her feet beating the sound to the door, but Polla kept her voice quiet still the same.
"Why not?" Her son frowned. "You can dye your hair too. We're ages away from the Core. And Batti says if I keep practicing, I can ride Dancer solo soon."
"Dancer-"
XXX
The hessi's meter-long tongue swiped at her hair, tangling the strands as she waved the brush at him threateningly.
"Stay still!" Polla said. "I need to finish brushing those mats out before the competition."
The hessi stomped his eight clawed hooves and switched his tail. His ears swung back, and his tongue retracted, exposing sharp, pointed teeth.
"He doesn't speak Basic, Pollie." Da sounded like he was going to laugh, not help, leaning over the fence post. "Animals respond to tone, not words. You gotta coax him. Sweet talk." He made a series of clucking noises and the hessi's ears swiveled in his direction. "Here. Give me the brush-"
XXX
"Dancer's…" Real? "He's still here?"
"He's a hessi," her son rattled on. "They don't keep him on the farm anymore, Aunt Moll says; but he stables with the herd over at the Gerstein's pasture. He's nice. He only bit me once."
"You need to put mud on that," she told him. "Or dermafix, if you've got some."
"Batti sprayed it with some stuff." He displayed an unmarked arm. "The rash went away."
"Good." I didn't use the 'stuff' once and my arm itched for a week. Thought I was gonna take the skin off the way it-
She wiped at her eyes. "You said Darth Revan had a message for me."
"She's not Darth Revan! Not now!" Her son sounded shocked. "She saved us and now she's gonna save everyone!"
Sure. Because that makes sense. Going off to a Sith planet to face an immortal, omnipotent emperor by yourself… totally makes sense.
Maybe it does when you're nine. When Polla Organa was nine, she still believed that a magic throkkà bird came every solstice and left a woven basket full of sweets.
When I was nine, I don't remember anything. Or, almost. The taste of too sweet iced crema and the smell of an ocean.
That could be Polla too, how the frack would I know?
"Mother?" Korrie held out a datachip. "Here it is. The message."
"You said you'd tell me what that message said," Molla reminded her from the door. She had the old-fashioned bulky comm unit (that doubled as a bid projector) in both hands, which she set down on the table with a plunk. " You promised." She sat down next to Revan, dark eyes assessing her coolly. "You know what I think about promise-breakers?"
"That they're scum. Yes." Revan met her eyes and tried not to blink.
Xxx
"I'm not mad that you lied to us, Pollie." Ma was doing the yelling on this one, while Da glowered in the corner. "Sometimes a little lie helps. But you broke your promise. You promised never to take the speeder past Adaston town limits, and you and Sara were halfway to Biscay when that Beya Organa finally told us what was what! What were you thinking? You're not even licensed yet!"
"I just wanted to see the concert." Arguing wouldn't help and she knew that.
"Then you should have taken a runner, like all the other kids. Your word is your binding promise! You can't get by in this galaxy if you break promises-"
Xxx
"I won't break my promise," Revan added. "I'll-I'll tell you what she said. My word is my… binding-bond. My word is my bond."
I'll tell you if it's safe. Every irrational instinct Revan had screamed to tell this woman everything. To throw herself in Polla's ma's arms.
"Your word is your bond?" Molla snorted. "Is that some Jedi saying? Because around here we don't trust-"
"It's something my mother told me," Revan snapped. "I remember her saying it. Sometimes a little lie helps, but my word is a binding promise."
"Oh." There was a long, slow pause. The creases around the woman's eyes deepened, and she gave a sudden, rude snort, reaching for one of the napkins to wipe her eyes.
"It's… it must be all up there. In your head." Moll's expression softened, and then she blew her nose. Sound like a shot.
Korrie giggled, somewhere in the background, but for a moment, the world was only big enough for two.
"Yes." Revan nodded. Good and bad. "I remember everything, but it's not… me."
"I can almost see it. Her. In you," Moll sounded like she was confessing a secret. "Sometimes. The way you look at me, but then-"
"I'll tell you what Revan says." She wouldn't react, wouldn't let her voice waver. "Because I promised."
"Damn right you will," Moll muttered and plugged the chip into the projector.
Revan's own face, sketched in blue, appeared in front of them, backlit by the wall.
Xxx
Dar sat, straight as a lightsaber, her hair tumbling loosely over her shoulders, mouth thinned to a grim line. It appeared that she had recorded the message in one of the ship's closets.
"Hello, Revan," she began, in Rakatan. "Our son has been instructed to give you this chip. By now, you are no doubt fulminating about my betrayal. Know that it is not one. I am giving you a gift-one that I have never-"
Xxx
"What language is that?" Moll interrupted.
"Rakatan," Revan said, automatically pausing the recording because Ma-Moll never asked only one question. "The language of the Star Forge builders. It's more than thirty thousand years old."
"Everyone knows who the Rakata are!" Moll scoffed. "But you can speak their language?"
"Yes."
"Huh. I didn't know anyone could do that." Molla tilted her head.
Her commentary seemed to be done, so Revan began the recording again.
Xxx
"I am giving you a gift-one that I have never had."
"When Malak and I first found Tenebrae's servant on Rakata Prime, the Star Forge was a deactivated hulk, and the Sith worlds had all regressed to near anarchy. Left to its own devices, the Empire would have splintered into factions, torn itself apart within a generation.
But the Rakatan computer guided us to them. We came and found a man who spoke with Tenebrae's voice. To me. He said that I was their savior. The savior-of the Empire and Republic both."
"It was-"
Xxx
"What's she saying now?" Moll interrupted again.
Revan closed her eyes. "She says an ancient computer sent Malak and her to the Sith on Rakata Prime and told her she could save the galaxy."
Revan would have mocked the conceit of that concept, had the computer not also Revan the same thing on her own quest to find the Star Forge.
And not only did I believe it, but I gave it the personality of a fourteen-year-old Twi'lek.
"You can't trust machines," Molla warned.
Bolts set down the tray of tea cakes with an aggrieved whine and stalked away, treads of his feet creaking like they needed oil.
Xxx
"Tenebrae's words were both truth and lies."
"I was arrogant. Desperate. Being Sith'ae'rah was… difficult. Sometimes I wondered if my gift was a lie. The dark side had made all of us stronger than we had ever been before-even me. Maybe… especially me."
Her own expression grimaced, smiling painfully. Even in the recording, their eyes seemed to meet.
"It would be easy to deny responsibility for all of the unfortunate events that preceded and followed, but I cannot. The Kashyyyk computer offered me its resources. I used them to create the specifications for a mass shadow generator that destroyed all of our ships-and the Mandalorians-at Malachor V. And I knew, even then, what the death of so many would do to the rest of us. That was… planned."
"But I… I envisioned us as galactic enforcers. Our transformation would give us strength to enforce peace. Forever. And the computer promised us weapons and technology, as well as a planet of refuge. Mal and I… I thought that we would recover ourselves on the Rakatan homeworld, then bring our forever peace to the Sith Empire too. Return to a balance between light and dark, before we returned to the Core to conquer it."
"The computer may have made certain… assurances, but the idea behind Malachor V was mine. Mine." Her expression was set in stone. "It had the power to eliminate the Mandalorian threat, but I conceived the means, the vision of our transformation. The deaths at Malachor, the fall of so many Jedi-those are things on my conscience. Not yours, Fragment."
"And that bit?" Molla asked.
"She said Malachor V wasn't my fault." The rest sent an uneasy prickle along the back of her spine. That memory she'd seen in the holocron, a fragment of their fall.
"Malachor… Five? Are there five of you, Korrie?" If Molla was joking, her voice was deadpan.
"No." He shook his head. "Mother means the planet. She had to blow it up to annihilate all the Mandalorians so they wouldn't hurt us again. But a bunch of Jedi died there too. And plain old soldiers, but it was the Jedi dying they needed. Father told me. It was a big, secret trap."
Revan didn't want to imagine Malak's version.
"I can't really see an Organa destroying a planet." Moll frowned. "But I suppose that was just her. Not you."
There was no adequate response, so Revan began the recording again.
Xxx
"I have to consider the possibility that my thoughts were already corrupted. By the computer, or the dark side. Maybe even by Tenebrae. He lies. Know that he lies. He had already possessed Malak on Korriban. Korriban was the last of the maps the computer sent us to, and he was there. It was there that he told me to come to him. He said it was my destiny, the only way to save my husband."
She pushed the hair back from her face. "That was before. Before Malachor. That was when we knew we had to finish what we had begun."
"But I didn't… come to him to save Mal. I took our fleet to Rakata Prime because they had what we needed. I knew that was my destiny-to do what was needed."
In the recording, her image was a washed-out blue. "My destiny, Fragment. Not yours. And it is still."
"Dodonna, Rensha-our most senior Republic advisors-mutinied when they realized that Malachor V had been more than a Mandalorian trap. They took their ships and fled. I don't know what happened to the Jedi aboard those ships. It would have been dangerous to leave them alive. My gift, combined with the others… all Force users within range had been touched with the corruption, the madness from so many deaths, so many Force-sensitive deaths… not that a Null death means less. But theirs are more… quiet. My gift was to shield others, but on that day I did not. On that day, I let the others… the other gifts… amplify their end."
"On that day, I felt everything they did. I became… what I became."
She blinked slowly. "After successfully springing our own trap, I led us into another."
"The Emperor was dying because he was overextended. He created entire worlds populated only by his voice and then forgot about them. Left them to starve, to die, squandered the resources they had, replaced them with nothing. We… all of us, were young. Full of strength and vitality. And I… I had the unique brain chemistry required to activate the Star Forge, restore their resources. He needed us. Me."
"When I realized the-"
Xxx
"Your face," Molla murmured. "I can tell it's bad from your face."
Revan stopped the machine again. "Yeah," she nodded. "Korrie… maybe you should go… play outside?"
"Oh, no." Her son scowled. "I get to hear this too."
"He hears too. You can't coddle them," Molla added. "Least, not when they're supposed to be important mucky-mucks someday."
"Maybe," Korrie qualified. "And maybe I'd prefer to be a hessi jockey or like, a brave Jedi instead."
"Good for you!" Molla Organa tugged his topknot and he smiled back. "You be you, kiddo."
"Tell us the rest, Mother." Her son folded his arms and sat up straight.
Revan took a deep breath. "She says... there was this… computer. And an immortal Sith Emperor who can possess bodies. The computer… brought us to the emperor? And he-the emperor-possessed Malak." Let's leave out the rest. The rest where I killed a lot of people and tortured the rest of them. Made them Sith. Made them follow me… so I could be some Sith Asshole Emperor's spark coil.
"Hmmm." Molla raised her eyebrows but said nothing.
"Father was possessed?" Korrie smiled. "And now he possesses people. Cool."
It's not cool. "It's not cool, Korrie. It's wrong."
"But isn't it like this Polla lady is possessing you?" Her son fiddled a hole he'd torn in his pants leg, pulling out the threads one-by-one. "I figured that out myself. It's like that." His eyes met hers. "It's not bad, though. You're nice. And she wouldn't be my Aunt Moll if you were just Revan."
"That's true." Molla Organa added. "I didn't raise my daughter to go listening to promises from machines. I think you know that." Her eyes were dark brown and as direct as a shot of vodkar.
Neither of them understood. Which was for the best.
"I need to go after her."
"That may be as may be," Molla said. "But I think you need to listen to what she's saying too, and not go off half-woven."
Revan nodded.
Xxx
"When I realized the bargain we had struck with the Empire was untenable, I attempted to undo it. Undo him. The computer helped me create a virus that would make most Force-resistant species immune to his touch-"
Xxx
"And you trusted it?" So did I. So did I.
"Trusted who, now?"
Revan blinked. "Sorry, I mean she… she realized she'd been tricked by the Sith so she had the computer create a virus to stop them."
"The Jedi Plague." Her son smiled at Moll. "That's what we called it on Coruscant. I got 'nokulated. Have you been?"
"Against the Rodian pox," Moll told him. "And Antilles Fever. That's what most folks get around these parts. We should look into your vaxxing, come to think of it."
"Which computer is she talking about?" Korrie's head turned to Revan.
"The one on Kashyyyk. The one that I found… a long time ago. With you." That memory, probably reinforced by seeing the vid the HK had shown her, seemed real as yesterday."
"My dear," Molla Organa sighed. "Didn't anyone ever tell you not to trust ancient machines? Or any machines. Bolts?" She raised her voice. "Speaking of, did you get those cakes for our tea? Bolts?"
"They are here, Mistress." From the sound of it, no one has adjusted the droid's voder in years. He slammed the tray down on the table with more force than necessary, and swiveled around, clanking across the floor on its metal, prehensile toes that seemed too big for the rest of his body.
"Have one." Moll gestured at the plate. "Choca crema. They're her-"
"Favorite. I… remember." Revan couldn't stand choca, but she took one and bit into it, all the same, swallowing and trying not to grimace.
"Hmmm…" Moll was frowning at her.
Xxx
"... A virus that would make most Force-resistant species immune to his touch-and with the assistance of my allies, we began its distribution through Imperial space. My long-term goal included inoculating sentients in the Republic as well, but we needed to conquer the Republic before we could save it."
"I knew Malak was compromised, but I hoped that by assigning him to oversee the work done by the Selkath scientists, he would gain an understanding of the threat. Others… who had been infected by Tenebrae proved capable of rebellion. There were even a few sentients who were infected by the plague after possession who made full recoveries, divested the emperor entirely from their minds."
"I had hoped… initially, at least, I had hoped to save Malak. He had grown increasingly unstable after his defiance with Telos-so much that by the end, his madness outreached any practical use. I… orchestrated Deralia as a trap for him. But he fired first. Perhaps one of his advisors-or mine-betrayed me. I still don't know how he knew the exact moment of his projected demise."
"Perhaps the Emperor knew my thoughts. He is not as much of a fool as he appears. If you face him you need to be careful-"
Her voice broke off, and a smile twisted her lips. "But I will make every effort to ensure that you never face him, Fragment. I believe I can neutralize him, but I have to account for every possibility."
"Thus…" She spread her hands wide open. "My story. Truncated, but accurate. Malak can confirm. Others… can confirm. Parts of it."
Xxx
"That was a long bit, right there," Molla put her crema cake down, and poured a cup of tea.
"She says she tried to save Malak, but she couldn't." She glanced at Korrie, who was just staring, eyes wide. "She...thinks she can stop Tenebrae."
"There were a lot of words for that," her son had choca on his face.
Molla handed him a napkin. The weave looked like it was from their own stock-by the silvery glint to the threads. "How?" Molla asked. "Do you think this High Emperor mucky muck is as bad as everyone's saying?"
"I believe her. About him." She glanced at Korrie. "She would never have left Malachor if she didn't think it was necessary."
"You have to stay here," her son muttered. "She said you would."
Xxx
"Tenebrae needed me to access the power of the Star Forge. There are other installations. Other facilities made by the Builders. Some are for ships, others…." The calm expression returned, like a mask over her features. "Others can synthesize sentient life. They all draw on the Force, all require power. Raw power. Mine that is now yours."
"Without you, he has nothing. My hope is to fool him, for a time. I know him, and you do not. You need to avoid him, as much as you need to avoid Davad Arkan. Leave them to others. Leave Tenebrae to me."
"I leave Korrie in your hands. The Genoharadan contract imposed by Malachi remains in effect until he comes of age when he is twenty-five Standard. You both will be safe on Deralia-for a time-but he needs your protection."
Xxx
"She says she's got this." Revan paused. "And she also confessed that she lied to us about the Genoharadan, Korrie."
It has to be a lie. You may think you know the fracking Emperor, Revan-but I… I know you. You'd never put our son in danger. You left him before with a man you hated because he was the strongest protector you knew.
Korrie blinked and opened his eyes wide. "She said she lied about the Genoharadan?"
"Is that the ancient order of assassins that will kill you if your Ma doesn't stay here to protect you, dear?" Moll leaned over and looked at Korrie.
Revan knew that look.
Her son swallowed, looking back at Revan. "Yes. Them. Did my mother say she lied about the Genoharadan?"
Revan stared back at him, without blinking. "Yes."
Incredibly, Molla Organa laughed. "See the way she's staring, Korrie? If you want to get away with a lie, don't scribble it on your face." She shook her head. "Both of you are horrible liars. I guess I'm not surprised. When you do things right, you shouldn't need to lie at all."
Blast! Revan exhaled. "Neither of us would risk you, Malachor. Not me, and not her. We both want you safe."
Except, a disturbing part of her remembered that she-that Revan-had.
What is the life of one child compared to billions? Everything. Nothing. If I can save both, I will.
Her son looked away. "She told me you'd stay if I lied well."
Revan wanted to strangle Dar just for that, but she pitied the woman too. "I will come back," she insisted.
"She said that she would too," Korrie muttered. "But that's a lie."
Xxx
"If I fail, there may still be hope. The virus. See that it and its inoculant are distributed throughout Republic space. There is also a rumor I was chasing, little more than whispers, about a Rakatan prince…" Dar's image wavered, suddenly, words slowing down to a whine. "...imprisoned in a dimensional fold… a relic from their…tech-logy. The Prince...himself... too dang...ous… et tt-"
Xxx
The feed snapped out, abruptly. The self-powered chip went dark.
Revan blinked at it and tapped the side.
Nothing happened.
"Why'd it stop?" Korrie asked. "Can you make it go again?"
"I don't know." Revan picked it up, tapping the bottom. The entire thing was sealed-just one of those cheap, self-recorders they sold at Small-Marts, space stations, across the galaxy. It had a Coruscanti tax stamp.
"Let me see?" Moll plucked the chip from Revan's fingers and shook it in her hand. "Battery," she announced. "Cheap crap, really. It's run out of juice."
"Revan left me a message in a self-powered chip without enough charge?" That didn't sound likely. Why the frack didn't you just write it down, Dar?
Too much risk. This message only needed to be heard once. She would have allowed sufficient power for that-
"I didn't know it could run out." Korrie looked guilty. "Can you… can you fix it?"
"Bolts?" Molla was handing the chip to the Organa house droid, but Revan knew the answer already.
"No. They're solid state. One piece. The recording is in the battery and when that goes-"
"Polla is correct, Mistress. Inexpensive devices such as these are meant for short-term recordings. They are quite popular with smugglers, espionage groups, as well as sentients of limited means-"
"I was watching it over and over to go to sleep. You were in a coma and it was all I had." Korrie bit his lip. "I'm sorry, Mother. I must've used it all up."
"Bolts?" Moll whipped her head around. "You just called her Polla."
"Was that incorrect of me? The biometrics are not a match, but the speech patterns and general cognitive response-"
"It's fine." Polla's mother sighed. "Make yourself useful, you bucket, and patch into the ship auctions in Derra City today. I expect we'll need to get her something fast if she's going to manage going all the way into Sith space to get the rest of our family back."
"You don't have the credits for-" Revan's protest was automatic before she'd even thought it through.
Molla scoffed. "You might have blown up a Star Forge or two, but that doesn't make you an expert on Organa finances. The settlement we got from the insurance was quite substantial. It's supposed to be for Abasen's future-" she shot a fond look at her grandson, napping in the bassinet by the window. "But I expect he'd like a mother too. And you can pay us back."
"We are rich," Korrie chimed in. His chin was set in a hard line.
"So you keep saying," Molla smiled at him, ruffling the top knot on his head. "But your Coru credits aren't worth a hill of banthashit out this far on the Rim."
Xxx
The chair she sat in was like a polished throne, gleaming and white, with the family crest stamped upon the floor in blue and silver under her feet.
Leeshansintina Evalyn Arabel, First of Racharn looked out the window of her throne room at the city spinning below and crossed her feet at the ankles. The jewels on her new shoes clicked together.
"You had choobs," Aramis Makeon, Third of Her Name and Best Friend to Racharn murmured. "Assassinating your own mother with a programmed chap. That was like… kind of evil, you know?"
"She was going to let Leeshy die."
Once there had been five Leeshansintina Racharns. Now there were only two.
Two... and four embryos from a clone lab, that Leesa had stuck back in deep freeze while she consolidated their holdings to include the D'Reev estates.
"Thanks for helping me go through this stuff, Aramis."
The dark-haired girl looked up from a pile of plimsi. "The idea was, we were gonna finish quick and then go check out those lost Jedi rumors."
"Slumming it with the second tier?" Leesa scoffed. "Please. We already know it's not Dustil Onasi, so who cares?"
"That Mandalorian bodyguard of his is so cute, though. Have you seen him? And he's in the Makeon Commemorative Hospital. We could check him out if you don't want to chase after this Loanin thing-"
"I think you need a new hobby." Had Leesa ever been so carefree? Oh, yeah. Right. She had been. Like more than half a rote ago when there was nothing more complicated to freak out about than whether that guy in the orange jacket was actually Carth Onasi.
Since the plague and political upheaval and stuff, life up here in the clouds had become both stressful and dull. Being First was really not as cool as she'd once imagined.
In the chair next to hers, Aramis Makeon was rooting through hard copies of the D'Reev secrets like a nerf snuffling for edible fungi on a border world.
"What's Ziost?"
"A planet?" Seriously?
"Yeah, I know that. I'm looking at the freaking map, but I mean... Dromund Kaas? Oh! Korriban! I've heard of that one! That's one of the Star Forge planets." Aramis lowered her voice like she was in awe. "Did Senator D'Reev leave you guys the Star Forge?"
"Don't be ridic." For one thing, Leesa had seen the forensic bios from the debris. For such a huge explosion, there hadn't been very many casualties. Like three, and at least two seemed to be dead already.
And none of them matched Revan Starfire or Korrie D'Reev's genetics. And that was a fact that Leesa was in a rather… unique position to know.
That also meant that technically… probably… none of this intel was even hers, to begin with.
That's why they were making copies of it, like right now.
"Why are these planets on this interdicted list, if they're not Star Forge? Are they Exchange? Hot pirates?" Aramis flicked her braid at Leesa. "Ooo. Sources for more kolto?"
Leesa shrugged. "Don't be so dramatic! I think that's like, the lost Sith Empire? D'Reev had some deal to control their media. Guess I do now?" She giggled. "At least, like… for now. My little sister swears up and down and sideways that Korrie's not dead."
"Arry too." Aramis shrugged. "Kids. They have to grow up sometime."
Discovering the Sith media archives had been one of the few not-boring things in Leesa's life lately. "Hey, did you know they all think Darth Revan was a man out there in Sithland? I saw this whacked-out vid where he knocks up Bastila Shan and goes off to fight evil in the Unknown Reaches-"
"These Unknown Reaches?" Aramis pulled up the map of Sith space. "Cause we know them now, so…."
"Don't be a zotz." Leesa rolled her eyes.
XXX
