Chapter Fifteen: Landing
It was dark and cold within the cargo hold.
Kreia had stopped to pick up a number of supplies from various areas. If they did get away with Bastila and Malak, they'd have a long way to go on foot. So it would be good to have emergency supplies.
For now, Revan was fiddling with his lightsaber.
Activating it again, he managed to get the blade a lot more solid this time. Revan smiled and gave it a few experimental swings. Only a few sparks. "Got it!"
"Not quite," said Kreia, who he'd thought had been meditating. "The blade is usable, but you'd be a fool to consider the bare minimum a success."
"I think I'm doing pretty well, given that I'm figuring it out as I go," said Revan, annoyed.
Then the intercom came on, and Aedal's voice came on. "This is your captain speaking, we'll be making port for repairs soon enough. We've largely shaken our pursuers so good job, all of you.
"We can look forward to some shore leave, soon enough. And maybe a bit of raiding on the side."
Revan sheathed his lightsaber. "Do you hear that? We're landing."
"Yes, I had noticed," said Kreia thoughtfully. "Aedal holds a casual attitude toward horrific actions. It ill befits a leader in any position."
Did she know Aedal? If she did, and Revan asked her, she'd be evasive. "He's a Mandalorian.
"It probably suits his men just fine."
"I can sense many things below us. Familiar plants and places..." said Kreia thoughtfully. "Has it truly been so long?"
"Hmm?" said Revan. "You've been here before?"
"Yes," said Kreia. "Melida Daan was one of many battlegrounds during the Wars with Exar Kun. One of many places where Jedi and Sith clashed to see whose ideal was stronger. Though I fear neither succeeded."
"Right, so, did you fight any Dark Jedi?" asked Revan.
"Many," said Kreia. "Though most of them were after the war proper had ended. The order was devastated during it, and I was not originally a combatant." She paused. "We have some time to wait. Have you ever heard the story of the Sion the Healer?"
"No." admitted Revan.
Kreia nodded. "I thought not.
"It's not a story the likes of Vrook would allow to be told, and Zhar would think it harmful. It's the story of one of the most powerful Sith Lords of the Exar Kun.
"Sion the Healer was a Jedi of immense power and ability. Where many Jedi remained distant from those they healed, Sion used his emotions. He channeled them into powerful abilities, compassion, love power. He could heal injuries that modern medicine could do nothing about. He could restore sight to the blind in an instant. Let those born crippled walk again."
"So how did he fall to the Dark Side?" asked Revan. That was usually how these things went.
"When the Sith War began, the Jedi Council came to believe that emotions of any kind were a liability," said Kreia. "Sion was pulled from active service for fear he would become a Dark Jedi.
"Eventually, discontent with his treatment, he abandoned the order. He began to walk the galaxy as a healer. His Master, an archivist, helped him to escape the order on Dantooine. But the Jedi took this as a betrayal and sent Knights to draw him back. A paranoid decision that would create the very thing they sought to prevent."
"Sion escaped them and took shelter with the Sith. Among them, he became a powerful Sith and ascended in their ranks. Soon he was reborn and fell upon the Jedi as vengeance incarnate. Sion became among the most feared and deadly of Exar Kun's subordinates. His undying purpose led him to act as the greatest of his assassins. And when Exar Kun was defeated, Sion led in his place.
"He channeled his rage into everything he did, gaining greater and greater power as he did. No defeat could shatter his resolve. And so long as his resolve held, he could not be killed. Eventually, he faced his former Master in single combat on a faraway world."
"Who died?" asked Revan. "You? Or Darth Sion?"
"What a stupid question," said Kreia, automatically, before realizing what she had admitted. She'd probably been planning to make a big reveal of it at the end.
Revan smiled. "So, you were the one who let him go free."
"Yes, I was," said Kreia. "And I put my lightsaber through Sion's heart myself. Though I was blinded in turn." And she drew off her hood to reveal her pure white eyes. "A technique he learned to wield in the healing of the blind. When Sion fell, he learned to cause blindness.
"But, of course, that is not where things ended. A Jedi, Dark or Light, may survive their physical defeat and gain victory through death.
"In Sion's case, his ultimate defeat came at the hands of his own apprentice. A young Mandalorian boy who was assigned to the agricultural corps. Sion taught him everything he knew and meant for him to be a successor.
"When Sion was killed, that boy killed Sion's other lieutenants. Then, with his followers, he took their heads to Mandalore. He bargained himself a position in Clan Ordo."
"...Aedal," said Revan. "It was Aedal, wasn't it?"
"Yes," said Kreia. "Sion mistook a total lack of principle for wholehearted devotion to the Sith Code. The one is simply desiring power at any cost. The other is a religious dogma meant to lead to that power.
"Aedal calculated that the Sith were failing and that his rule over them would be a tenuous one. That is the way of the Sith, the strongest must always rule. And the subordinate always seeks to destroy his superior.
"Desiring stability, he sold out his cause, his religion, and his comrades. All for a comparatively secure position among honorable thieves. He, the paragon of the Sith, dismissed their entire ideology as an inconvenience. It was a grievous blow to their moral, and many actually came and repented to the order after it. The rest had no leader and fled into the darkness.
"Ironic. The Jedi spent their entire history trying to destroy the Sith. And Aedal did more damage to it overnight than they could have.
"And the Sith could not even call him a traitor. For through his betrayal of the Sith, Aedal had obeyed their code to the letter. He gained power and prestige among the Mandalorians. Meanwhile, the Sith floundered and fell away. And in the darkness, they were nothing.
"Ideology is everything. It is what we strive for; it is the lens through which we perceive the universe. A thousand battles in the physical realm may be lost, and a cause will not die. Yet, to be defeated as an ideology, that is a grievous wound indeed. And change is the only remedy."
"Then what are you doing working for the Jedi?" asked Revan flatly.
"The order is far from perfect," admitted Kreia. "But remains far preferable to the alternatives. And, in any case, it is my hope that the Jedi Masters may learn the error of their ways. Not all are as zealous and closeminded as Master Vrook.
"You must realize, young Revan if you were a Sith, you would have been killed a long time ago."
"If I were a Sith," said Revan, "I'd be running this place."
Kreia paused. "Perhaps, you would." Then she rose up. "Still, we will have to get off this ship soon. I fear that if we disembark after we make port, it will be nearly impossible to get free."
"Why can't we just free Malak and Bastila now?" asked Revan.
"Don't be foolish, young one," said Kreia. "Such a course of action would be dangerous, and a direct assault is not always the best way. Follow me."
Opening the door, Kreia led Revan through the halls. Oddly enough, they saw nothing and no one. Sometimes Kreia would take a side passage or head into an alcove, and they'd hear footsteps. Yet she knew when someone was coming and always responded.
"How exactly are we supposed to get down without escape pods?" asked Revan.
"One should never underestimate the power of the force, combined with practical thinking," said Kreia. "We are now low enough to the ground to enact an alternative plan." Opening a door, she walked into a room with an airlock leading down. Opening a locker, she drew out two sets of parachutes and handed one to Revan.
"Parachutes?" asked Revan, slinging it up.
"A primitive means of slowing ones fall, but entirely practical," said Kreia. "Come, we have little time. You do know how these operate, do you not?"
"Yes, of course," said Revan.
The door opened, and several Mandalorians entered. Instantly they raised their guns. "You there, stop-"
"You have seen nothing and no one," said Kreia, voice hard. "Any sense of unease you experience is but nerves. Understand?"
"Right, of course." said the man. "I've seen nothing and no one."
"Leave us," said Kreia.
The Mandalorians turned and left, closing the door behind them.
Kreia moved over to the controls and opened the hangers. They slid open beneath them as freezing air shot upwards. Below, Revan saw a vast stretch of forest flowing beneath them. Kreia remained composed as always.
"Aedal will notice if you leave this thing open!" shouted Revan over the noise.
"If he notices, that cannot be helped!" shouted Kreia back. "Leap, now!"
Revan did so and leaped. As he did, the air flowed around him, and Kreia leaped down as well. The ship shot away from them as both their parachutes deployed. Kreia must have used the force, not trusting Revan to do it. Now they were floating.
Looking up, Revan saw a vast mountain range and a huge fortress. The capital ship seemed to be heading toward the fortress. It was built tall and strong, with black towers and spiked crenelations, as if for show. And the energy shield surrounded it.
Revan didn't lie, he kind of wanted one. "That is..."
"A fortress of significant power," said Kreia. "It was not here when last I set foot on this world."
Down they went into the trees. As they did, Kreia force pushed them little by little, so they ended up moving their landing zone. At last, they plunged through the foliage. Revan warded off leaves and branches and then was hanging in the air. Struggling, he drew out a knife and cut himself free, before falling down into the water. He choked as murky, disgusting water filled his mouth and pulled himself out, spitting it. Stumbling out of the bog, he leaned against a tree.
Kreia walked out, apparently having no gotten wet at all. She didn't even look affected. "Well, you've certainly picked an excellent place to land. Maybe next time we can drop into a boiling pit of lava? Save ourselves the humiliation.
"Any reason we couldn't pick somewhere a bit dryer?"
"It isn't the location, it is who we will meet there," said Kreia, before looking up. "Zez-kai Ell, you need not conceal yourself."
Out of the trees came a large man in furry brown robes. His head was bald, but he had long sideburns and a mustache. With him as a pretty twil-lek girl with violet headtails and pale skin, speckled with violet. She was wearing a padawans robes and looked on edge.
"As always, Kreia, you are attuned to your surroundings," said Zez-Kai Ell. "What has brought you out here?"
"I might ask you the same question," noted Kreia, being difficult for the sake of it.
"We're hunting slavers." said the girl.
"Yuthura, I believe I told you our course was not yet set," said Zez-Kai Ell.
"But Master Zez-Kai," said Yuthura, "slavers are operating here. And they're not Melida or Daan. So we can wipe them out without having to worry about politics." Wow, a Yuthura was in favor of wiping out the absolute slime of the galaxy. Clearly, she was deviant and had to be sent to the agricultural corps before she went Sith.
Laser-brained hypocrites.
"Such a thing may be necessary," said Zez-Kai Ell. "However, one should never decide on a course of action until you understand the situation. It may be that the slavers have other business in these parts. Or that they may have powers at their disposal beyond their ability to handle."
"You mean like a battleship filled with Mandalorians?" asked Revan.
"Mandalorians?" asked Zez-Kai Ell. "I saw the ship, but I had not expected them to be present."
"They recently attacked a starport in the capital," said Kreia. "Young Revan here pursued them with my student while I was infiltrating their ship."
Zez-Kai Ell closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "...Well, that is the worst-case scenario I envisioned.
"I had hoped merely to report on events to the local government of their location. If Mandalorians are present, however, we will have to take action directly.
"Tell me, who are those who have been captured?" How did he know two people were captured?
"My student, Malak, and a young member of the Agricultural Corps named Bastila." said Kreia. "Suffice to say that their loss would be an immense blow."
"Well then, we will at least have to stage a rescue," said Zez-Kai Ell. "Still, there are other powers at play here. There is a mine under operation, worked by slaves from Mileena and Daan. It was my intention to arrange their rescue, if possible.
"But when I encountered the mine, I sensed something. Something... dark."
Kreia shifted. "At the moment, it is of no consequence. We should make camp and make a plan for a rescue."
"Or," said Revan, "hear me out here. We get ourselves a long-range communicator, point out this place to Zegil. He sends in the cavalry, kills everyone inside, and we save Bastila and Malak during the chaos."
"We should free the slaves before we kill everyone else," said Yuthura.
"It is not the Jedi way to make our first plan the complete eradication of our enemies," said Zez-Kai Ell.
"Yeah, but it is Zegil's way," said Revan. "These guys humiliated him and seized two of his guests. And they started a shooting war on Holy Ground. That's something that's unprecedented.
"They violated our most sacred religious ground. There has to be a payback, or the Force Gods will withdraw their support."
Revan halted as he realized what he'd said. Kreia raised an eyebrow. "Have you reembraced your ancestral beliefs, Revan?"
"Does it matter if I did or not?" asked Revan. "The Mandalorians have violated every rule of war that Melida and Daan have in common. Every single one of them needs to die as an example to future rulebreakers. The punishment has to be brutal, excessive and fast or more people will do the same.
"If they get away with this, it will set a dangerous precedent."
"Escalating the situation further could have major unintended consequences," said Zaz-Kai Ell. "Some sort of reprisal or reparations may be necessary, but total war is never a preferable outcome."
Kreia sighed. "Why don't we discuss our options while we walk."
A profound nonanswer if there'd ever been one.
Of course the Jedi had no intention of supporting the massacre of those responsible for the worst violation one could possible commit on Melida Daan. They might tolerate other religions so long as they bowed and scraped, but they did not respect them. So what if the most important cultural and religious landmark on the planet had been marred, it wasn't a nexus of force energies or whatever. Just a bunch of buildings believed to be sacred from those poor deluded Daans and Melidas who hadn't learned to be good peaceloving citizens like the rest of the sheep.
So the worst crime in this planets history was going to be met with a slap on the wrist, while Zegil would be the bad guy if he wanted justice.
No.
It wasn't going to happen.
Because Revan wasn't going to let it happen.
