A/N Okay everyone, sorry for the delay first of all. Life is turbulent to say the least, I'm going to try really hard to do at least one chapter a month, if I can do two awesome, if not I'll try really hard to get at least one a month.
Second, I'm changing some cannon events not a huge amount but a couple of smaller things here and their. Lastly we are finally getting into Force powers. Fair warning Force users are going to be very powerful, I'm talking Force Unleashed and EU Palpatine, crushed starships, uprooting buildings, powerful. Just be warned if you don't like that version of the Force.
I'm pretty proud of this one, let me know if it's any good. Thanks for stopping by and thanks for your feedback.
Chapter 11
Infiltration
We all sat waiting for Canderous to respond, the mercenary turned enforcer was looking me in the eye; gauging if I was insane or not. After only a moment he grinned back at me and smacked a hand down on the table with a laugh.
"That's the spirit of a warrior, I like it." He leaned forward in his chair before continuing. "Getting into the Super Tower that houses the communications hub won't be the problem, I have a way in. The problem will be getting into the control center and holding it long enough to break the encryption. Both a competent strike team and skilled tech specialist will be required. And here you are, everything I have been looking for, literally falling from the sky into my lap. Can't remember a time in my life where luck has favored me like this."
"As much as I hate to admit it, I feel the touch of the Force in this." Bastila said, gazing into the middle distance, as though seeing something no one else could. Through our bond I could feel power flowing through her in a steady steam, though I couldn't tell what she was doing with it. Her eyes cleared and she looked right at me, gaze thoughtful. "The Force is guiding us, this might be our only option." she didn't sound happy about it, but at least she wasn't arguing.
"I have seen Jedi do impossible things, seeming to know things they shouldn't and anticipate dangers without any signs or warnings." Canderous said, looking thoughtful himself. "The ways of the Force are a mystery to me, but we can use every advantage we can get."
"I assume you have a particular communications hub already picked out?" I asked, bringing everyone back on task.
"I do," he pulled the holo back out along with a small data pad. He set the holo back on the table and tapped a few quick commands on his pad. A holo image of a Super tower appeared over the table, the image zoomed in and a tiny section of one of the floors, about a third of the way down the tower, glowed orange. "I give you 'Communication and Transportation Operations Center 018," he said pointing to the glowing section, "This one primarily controls local transports like cabs and supply vehicles. It's only sixty floors from the top of the tower, two hundred and twenty floors of Sith personnel and storage stand between it and the nearest pedwalk entrance. Because of that, it isn't heavily guarded, as far as we can tell, it's staffed with four technicians in the control center and six guards on patrol outside at any one time."
"How do we get in?" Carth asked, studying the holo.
"I have a special commission out for a top tier astromech, the pinnacle of limited AI, designed specifically for slicing. It will be able to bypass the tower's security and guide you from the pedwalk entrance to the control center, while masking your presence from security." Canderous explained, "Once you're in however, it will be on Mission to slice into their systems and get the codes."
Mission nodded thoughtfully, "I'll need better equipment, I don't have the processing power to beat Sith security in any reasonable amount of time. We are talking top of the line stuff, thousands of credits at least."
"I'll give you the name of our supplier, I suggest heading over there once we are done here." he said and slid a credit chit across the table to her.
Mission pressed her thumb to the edge of the chit to see it's credit balance and her eyes widened. "That's a fortune!" she gasped, looking down at it bug eyed.
"Fortunately Davik is footing the bill." Canderous said with a mean grin.
"Okay, so assuming we get the codes what's our extraction? Going back down through the tower will be suicide." I said, taking another drink of my ale.
"Here," Canderous said, manipulating the holo to highlight a landing platform a few floors above the control center. "I'll be waiting in transport nearby, when you are thirty seconds out from the platform, contact me and I'll pick you up." He punctuated the sentence by sending all of us a private comm code. He took a moment to look at each of us in turn, making eye contact looking for disagreement or treachery or who knew what. When he was satisfied he continued, "If you all agree to take this job, I have a mission briefing ready. It contains everything we know about the tower and it's security, along with my own recommendations." He stood from his chair and stepped to the door. "I'll let you discuss this in private, just ping my comm when you're ready."
We watched him go and turned back to the table, everyone deep in their own thoughts. I took the moment to gauge the emotions around me. Mission was a little nervous but mostly excited by the challenge. Carth was focused, deep in thought, though there was an anxious under current to his emotions. Zaalbar was like a placid lake, completely calm and unflappable. Bastila was scared, touching the bond I felt fear of being captured again burning a cold pit in her stomach. Though she was also resolved to do what was necessary.
Mission turned to me, grabbing my attention, "I can still feel you through that bond thing you know." She said, lekku twitching with the barest movements. "It's kind of nice, you're so calm, and intent. Makes me feel less nervous about this whole thing."
I squeezed her hand and grinned, "I trust that we can handle whatever comes our way, we've done pretty well so far."
"The Force is definitely involved," Bastila said, looking between Mission and I while a dim flame of annoyance sparked inside her. She seemed to get irritated every time she was reminded of our relationship. "There is no other explanation for everything that has transpired since we arrived here."
"He obviously has the Force, couldn't sneak up on him to save my life, he always knows, it's unnerving as hell." Carth interjected, surprisingly he was smiling and just sounded amused.
"Yes he is strong in the Force," Bastila said, managing to make it sound unimportant, though Mission squeezed my hand under the table, fighting the urge to flinch at the words. "But so are you and Mission." she met Carth's eyes as she spoke.
That got everyone's attention, surprise flashed through every person in the room except Carth. Fear surged through the man followed quickly by anger, he glared daggers at Bastila too angry to speak. I was more surprised by the fear that spiked within Mission after the initial surprise. I made a note to talk to her about it later.
"Why does that fill you with such rage Carth?" Bastila asked, taken aback by his reaction.
"This is why people hate the Jedi," he growled at her, "always sticking your noses where you aren't welcome."
"You knew?" she asked, truly shocked. "Why didn't the Jedi train you? You are definitely strong enough."
If looks could kill Bastila would have been vaporised on the spot. Only the iron control under his rage, kept me from drawing down on him out of fear he would attack her.
"Woah, Carth," Mission said, reaching out of hand to him in a placating gesture, "What's going on? You look like you want to kill her."
He stayed silent long enough that I thought he wouldn't answer, the tension in the room slowly building to the point that I felt fear flash through Bastila. "The Jedi came for me when I was less than two years old," he finally said through clenched teeth. "Fortunately my mother was a very good attorney, she fought a legal battle over custody of me for nearly three years before the Jedi gave up. The legal battle bankrupted us. It took my parents years to dig their way out of debt. Then to top it off, they came for my son less than a year after he was born." His anger was so intense that it felt like a fire burning all of us.
"My mother was prepared though, she thought they might come for my children. So she spent years building her practice up until we could tie them down in the courts for years. When it became clear that we would never give up our child, someone in dark robes broke into our home and attempted to take him in the middle of the night. When I shot them, they lept out of my son's eighth story window and disappeared." He turned his gaze to me and only my years of combat and commanding men kept me from withering under those enraged eyes. "That's why I'm suspicious of Force users, and the Jedi in particular."
All eyes in the room turned to Bastila. Of course we all knew that the Jedi were determined to get Force sensitive children. I had heard some dark stories, but never first hand like that. I felt my own anger roil in my gut, if someone tried to take my child I would probably just kill them. He showed a lot of patience to fight it in the courts as far as I was concerned.
The young Jedi blushed guiltily, and looked away from us. "You're joking," Mission said, outraged. "You knew they did things like this?"
"People with an especially strong connection to the Force need to be trained for their own protection, as well as for the protection of those around them." The defence sounded rehearsed and weak, as though she didn't believe it anymore than the rest of them.
I felt Carth's anger flash and he opened his mouth to argue but I intervened before we could get even more off track, "Now isn't the time," I said sharply, getting everyone's attention, "it's obvious that this is important and we can discuss it later, but not now. We have a job to do and we need to focus on that. Fighting amongst ourselves will only get us killed." I looked back and forth between Carth and Bastila emphasizing my words. Gratitude bloomed in Bastila though her face stayed neutral, while Carth still looked ready to argue. I stared him down, waiting patiently for him to calm. The man was being torn up by grief and rage, though eventually he let out a deep sigh, nodded once, and took a long draft of his ale. He managed to let go of his anger by an obvious effort of will; though the grief was still weighing him down like a dark cloud.
"Good, now the way I see it, we don't have any other option but to attempt this mission. If no one has a better option, I'm going to call Canderous back in here and accept his offer." I said, the commanding tone in my voice getting everyone back on track.
"This plan is stupidly risky," Mission started with a sly grin, trying to distract everyone from the sudden tension, "we'll be walking right into the Rancor pit and spitting in its face. Though going into the sewers and storming the Vulkar's main base of operations was just as bad and we made it out of that. I say we can do it, and having Canderous owe us a favor could be worth a great deal."
"One must hunt the prey available," Zaalbar said with a grin of his own, "We are strong and this will be a hunt worth our strength."
"Zaalbar's right, this opportunity has presented itself, and who knows when we might find another." Carth said, still suppressing a bubbling anger, "it's our best option and we need to act fast. And it will be good to fight the Sith again, I'm sick of gangs and thugs."
Bastila sighed audibly, but when she spoke her words were simple. "I'll support your decision."
"Good, it's decided then." I pinged the comm code Canderous sent us and a few seconds later the man stepped back inside the room.
"So what's it to be?" he asked, taking his chair with a curious glance around the room.
"We're in, send us the briefing and we'll get started." I said simply.
Canderous grinned in satisfaction, though I could feel relief blossom in his chest. He needed us more than he let on. "Excellent," he quickly tapped out commands on a data pad he pulled from a pocket, and the whole group got alerts that a data packet had been received. "I would suggest heading to our tech supplier, Janice Nall, to secure equipment for Mission. Then head to Danoth's Armaments, for the rest of you. Rorick is the only one of you who has the type of equipment you'll need if things don't go smoothly. The chit I gave Mission is an expense fund, use it at your discretion." He paused looking us over and nodded to himself, satisfied. "Time is of the essence with this one, you need to hit the comm center no later than nightfall the day after tomorrow."
"Why?" Carth asked.
"That is another thing I'll be keeping to myself." Canderous replied simply. "I have a plan to get off this world, this is the first part of it. Until you have succeeded and shown I can trust you I'll keep the rest of it to myself."
"Well, we had better get to it then." I said, sensing that he would not be moved to reveal more.
"Good luck," he stood with me and held out a hand. Acting on a whim I grasped his forearm instead of his hand, causing him to grin in surprise. "We're all going to need it."
We said goodbye to the enigmatic enforcer and headed out. The same hostess was waiting for us in the hall, she escorted us out thanking us for our visit and welcoming us back any time.
The tech specialist Canderous pointed us too was only a few minutes away by speeder, in a small shop nestled between a specialty market that sold mostly seafood and an arcade of some variety. The market stank terribly, I couldn't imagine how the businesses around it stayed afloat, or why they hadn't taken out a hit on the owner.
A small holo sign above the door said 'Nall's Tech', inside the walls were lined with various pieces of tech organised by function and from the cheapest at the bottom to the most expensive at the very top of the displays sealed behind thick pieces of plastex, protecting them from sticky fingered customers. At the wall to our right a plump, cute Twi'lek with deep yellow, nearly orange skin, stood behind a small counter tapping idly on a very expensive datapad. Below her next to the counter were a line of droids plugged into charging stations. She looked up when we entered and smiled a bright smile that took her from cute, to enchanting. "Welcome if you need help with anything just ask." She called in Ryl when she spotted us.
I nodded to her and smiled before turning to Mission, who took one look at the walls full of datapads, various scanners, interface components, computation cores, AR interfaced glasses, and began vibrating with excitement. She had a small fortune burning a hole in her pocket and if I didn't curtail her she would walk out with half the shop.
"Only what we need for the mission." I said softly, getting an instant spike of disappointment and a severe pout for my efforts.
"You are no fun whatsoever." The pout was so intense I couldn't help a grin.
"Nope, no fun allowed." I said moving past her and up to the counter giving the Twi'lek woman a genuine smile of my own. "I'm here to check on an order for Canderous." Her smile dimmed instantly, prickling fear seeping from her, though to her credit, none of it showed on her face.
"Of course sir," she said in Ryl, with a high musical voice. "I have nearly completed the droid, I'm going through the final adjustments to the AI. I should have it done the day after tomorrow."
"Excellent," I replied in the same language and turned to glance back at Mission, who was drooling over what looked like a portable AI computing core. "I believe she will be needing some assistance." I said with a chuckle, watching my short lover stand on tiptoes to get a closer look.
"Of course." she said again and stepped out from behind the counter to assist Mission. The rest of us waited in silence while the two young Twi'leks discussed the equipment we needed. Janice seemed to warm to Mission immediately, her emotions calming and then becoming excited as they spoke.
After nearly an hour Mission seemed satisfied and headed to the counter with Janice to pay for her new toys, eyes gleaming with excitement. When I saw the total I nearly choked, but Mission's emotions were extremely pleased, she thought it was a good deal so I decided to trust her and kept my mouth shut.
"Twenty two thousand?" I asked as we exited the shop, raising a brow at the extremely happy expression on her face.
She bumped my hip with hers, a huge grin spread across her face, "She sold me all this barely above cost." her eyes were still gleaming as she pulled out a small black computing core. "This computer cluster alone is worth almost fifteen at resale. Whatever her deal is with Canderous, I basically paid half price." she put the core back in the bag and grinned, "And I really did need all of this for the type of encryption I'll be up against. Plus, it was barely a third of the expense budget, I doubt we will need more than forty thousand to outfit Carth and Big Z."
Carth's eyes bulged, "He gave us over sixty K?"
Mission just winked at him as we got back into our speeder and headed off for our next stop.
Mission was nearly correct, by the time we left Danoth's Armaments we burned through nearly all of the remaining expense fund. Most of it went to an extraordinarily large piece of chest armor that managed to fit Zaalbar via its interlocking plate design, and three Blastech SPDR-21's. The small personal defence weapons were modified to be nearly silent and barely bigger than a heavy blaster pistol with a folding stock, allowing it to be easily concealed. The small intense Mandalorian woman who owned the shop would only show them to us once we mentioned that Canderous sent us, then she was more than happy to show us a surprising amount of illegal weaponry.
Fortunately Bastila refused anything other than a light combat suit that would fit easily under her oversized robe. "With the Force, I don't need a blaster." Was her only response when Mission tried to convince her to take a blaster. When Mission pointed out that her borrowed lightsaber wasn't exactly subtle, the young Jedi just grinned, "I don't need a lightsaber either." The way she said it made everyone, excluding me, shiver.
Satisfied that the team was outfitted as well as we could be with our own equipment and the new blasters, we thanked the scarred Mando in her mid forties and left the shop.
The flight back to the Bek's base was a short one. No one felt much like talking on the way so we rode in silence, Mission nearly sitting in my lap on the rear seating, snuggled comfortably into my side. Despite myself I was becoming used to her affectionate nature and was growing to enjoy it a great deal. So it was that when we landed in the hangar, I was more interested in getting Mission alone than I was in going over the briefing.
With our new bond still open she could feel my interest and grinned broadly as she sauntered away from the speeder with swaying hips and her bag of tech over one shoulder.
Bastila's spike of irritation broke through our moment, "We have work to do." she said sharply, bringing us up short.
"Later, she's right we need to get a plan together." I pushed the thoughts toward my bond with Mission on a whim just to see what would happen, and I was surprised when she nodded in response.
"Go get set up in Bastila's room, I'll bring us something from the kitchen." Mission said heading out of the hanger.
I stopped to stow the new weapons in my room before meeting up with the others. When I arrived Bastila's door opened before I could reach it, and I saw her sitting at her small dining table while Carth went about making a pot of Caf in her small kitchenette. Zaalbar was lounging across her sofa taking up the whole thing by himself.
I sat at the table with Bastila deciding that a cup of Caf sounded great. I busied myself looking up any information that I could about Davik Kang and Canderous on the local net, while waiting for the Caf to brew. Apparently Davik was quite the local figure, seen publicly as a rich philanthropist and thrill seeker. He had been all over the galaxy hunting just about every sort of dangerous predator out there. While at home on Taris he donated millions of credits every year to charities. His public image sparkled, there wasn't any hint that the man was in fact a high ranking member of the Exchange. He put a great deal of effort into keeping his public persona, which was odd to say the least. Most in his position did their utmost to be completely forgotten, yet he was a well known figure. It smelled of ambition to me. Gaining public support to leverage within the exchange to completely take over their activities on the planet. But I couldn't be sure.
Canderous on the other hand was a ghost, I couldn't find a single mention of the man anywhere no matter how hard I looked. It seemed just as much effort went into hiding Canderous as casting Davik in a shining light. That though made much more sense, the less attention garnered by him, the better for Davik.
I was brought out of my amature sleuthing by Mission as she entered the room with a rolling tray. She managed a pot of stew and a large round loaf of a dark sweet smelling bread. Mission passed out bowls, once everyone had some she rolled the tray over to Zaalbar and handed him the rest of the pot with a large serving spoon. The wookiee held the pot and the serving spoon in his massive paws making them look like a normal bowl and spoon by comparison.
While everyone ate, Mission explained the slicing equipment and how she would use it to get into their communication system. While she explained the finer points of Sith encryption to Carth and Bastila I brought up the briefing on the large holo screen across the room. Flipping my chair around I sat with my stew and started going through the provided information.
Canderous plan was a simple one: use the new droid to hide the strike team from security, take a staff lift up to the administration level from a ground entrance, eliminate the enemy guards, slice the communications, and extract with the codes. My main concern was how to keep the Sith from immediately changing the codes once they discovered what we had stolen. Canderous solution was to leave a virus that would mess with planetary communication and then blow the room, making it look like plain old terrorism.
While that might buy us some time, I wasn't sure it would be enough. More than that though it would cause a huge amount of trouble for the normal populace. Knocking out a few sections, and messing with civilian traffic for days. His plan would cost the taxpayers millions until the virus could be purged and normal operations restored.
Fortunately I had Mission, when I pointed out my concerns she just grinned at me, already a step ahead. "That's easy, I'll leave a digital trail that points straight to patrol route access, while hiding my access to the flight codes. I'll download a number of them, some that show us as private contractors, and some that identify actual Sith ships. I'll make it so that they can find my tracks for the contractor codes if they look hard. When we leave the planet using the codes for a Sith cargo hauler they won't have any reason to suspect anything." She grinned looking very pleased with herself, "It will look like some desperate smugglers hired a crew of mercs to get Sith patrol routes to slip past the blockade under official Contractor licenses. After I flood their command ship with every virus I have, it will take them days to even figure that much out."
"If it's that easy why hasn't anyone pulled something like this off yet?" Carth asked, paused to take another bite and chew before continuing. "We can't be the only well trained people with financial backing on the planet."
"The custom astromech," Bastila interjected before Mission could answer, "Getting past Sith security protocols is extremely difficult. As I understand it, they have encryption far beyond what they should. Combined with the fact that this planet is suffering economic and social stagnation, it probably took Davik months to get his hands on the tech necessary to build the droid. If this scenario was playing out on Coruscant there would have been a hundred different organizations subverting their security in the first week."
"I got my hands on a set of Sith armor, when I linked my own system up to it, I found that it had four times the processing capacity of my own wrist comp. They seem to have made massive jumps in technology." I added thoughtfully.
"The secret of the Sith's manufacturing has been both the Republic's and the Jedi's highest priority. They seem to have infinite resources, and no one can figure out how. Revan and Malak came back from the unknown regions with a new fleet filled with ships unlike anything the Republic has ever come across, and a seemingly unlimited number of battle droids. To amass such a force in so short a time has completely confounded the Jedi and the Republic alike." Bastila added, confusion and frustration obvious in her voice. I winced at my old name but no one other than Mission noticed, she gave me a pointed look and I felt warm reassurance push at me through our bond. I felt Bastila's mind look
"So the droid makes us a blind spot, then we take this life for maintenance workers. Take out the Sith on the administration floor, then hold communications until Mission is finished." Carth outlined, studying the schematic. "That room only has two exits, so if an alarm does go off, we'll be boxed in and surrounded with literally thousands of Sith in the tower. It should be fine." He groaned, obviously not impressed by the idea.
"There are only four techs in the room, and even if double what Canderous thinks are on patrol, it won't be impossible. We've dealt with worse." Mission said grinning, she was getting excited, especially by the opportunity to take on an encryption AI.
"Rorick and I will be able to sense threats before we meet them," Bastila said, taking a drink of her Caf, "That should tilt the situation in our favor."
"Fast and quiet, death following every mistake, a true hunt." Zaalbar punctuated the words with a huge bite of stew, grinning around his spoon.
"Glad you're so excited." Carth said, rolling his eyes.
"Fortunately it's a very simple plan, otherwise, the two day prep time could be a serious problem." I said, finishing off my bowl. I leaned back in my chair contemplating the schematic, one thing we really needed was some explosives. "How many thermal detonators do we have left?"
"After the ones we allocated to sell, four." Zaalbar replied, finishing his own stew and setting the pot aside. "Though we do still have half a dozen concussion grenades."
"That will have to do."
We spent the next several hours going over everything about the operation until all our minds were spinning with the details. I would be dreaming about that schematic, I was sure of it. When it became apparent that we all needed a break I called a halt and sent everyone off for the night. I was about to leave with everyone else when I felt Bastila's emotions through the bond like a hand on my sleeve asking me to stay. I sighed internally not wanting to deal with the young Jedi, but deciding it was probably better to get whatever she wanted out of the way, I went over to pour myself another cup of Caf while everyone else left. Mission gave me an interested look and a comforting wave of emotion before she left. It continued to surprise me, how warm and supportive she was, despite her harsh upbringing.
"What is it?" I asked, when the door closed behind them, sounding more irritated than I intended.
Bastila sighed and sat down at the table, while I took a drink of my Caf. "You don't remember anything about the Force," she began carefully, as though knowing what she was going to say would upset me. "But you have an extreme amount of power."
"I understand that I need to be careful if that's what you're worried about." I interjected.
"It's not just being careful," she said looking me in the eye, "Strong emotion can cause a Force sensitive to lash out without even realising what they are doing." I could see where she was going and I had very little patience for it.
"You can stop there," I said holding up a hand, "I have an entire life in my mind, a life of being a normal man, with normal feelings. Getting angry, being happy, feeling lust, I'm not going to try to suppress my emotions and there is nothing you can say to change that. So if that's all you wanted to say, I have some things I need to do."
Frustration flashed in her emotions, though she pushed it down immediately. I could tell she was irritated and confused as to exactly why. "You don't understand the danger you pose." she said sharply, "Just one moment of anger and you could ki…" She was interrupted by the whine of a blaster shot as a smoking hole materialized next to her head. I had drawn and fired so quickly that even with her Force enhanced senses she barely registered what had happened.
"I don't need the Force to kill when I'm angry," I said pointedly, "Anyone can get angry and kill. Waving a hand through the air to break someone's neck, or shooting them in the head, either way they're still dead. The trick for normal people is learning to deal with strong emotion without lashing out. As I said, I'll not be repressing my emotions. You and the Jedi, made me into what I am, and you have to deal with the outcome." I turned and walked to the door, fighting an urge to grin at her shocked expression. I paused at the door to look back, "And next time Mission and I have sex, I expect you to keep your opinions to yourself." With that I left her still sitting there looking surprised and confused. She obviously saw that playing out differently.
The next two days played out slowly, I spent my time in the Bek's training room, putting myself through an intense training regimen to judge my body's recovery. Testing my strength, endurance and flexibility, though I didn't try to draw on the Force again, I wanted to know what my body alone was capable of. I also sparred with anyone who was willing, both hand to hand and with training weapons. It quickly became apparent that no one in the Hidden Beks could match me. Carth was a very good shot, but both with training sabers and bare handed, he couldn't last more than a few seconds. Mission was more of a challenge surprisingly, she was unpredictable and sneaky. She also was more than willing to try distracting me with her body only to try to break my bones. The only one that soundly kicked my ass was Zaalbar, not really to anyone's surprise. The wookiee had more than a foot of height on me, and was almost double my weight. I also found out after he left me bruised and battered on the mat, that he was nearly a century old, and had been learning to fight and hunt since he could walk.
At night Mission and I made love and slept in each other's arms, surprisingly Bastila managed to keep her fuming annoyance and jealousy to a minimum. I must have made an impression, because she pretty much avoided me and kept our bond muted.
The morning before our attack was a lazy one, we were planning on being up late into the night, so everyone slept as long as possible. At around noon, a knock woke us. When Mission and I finally rolled out of bed, Zaalbar informed us that Gadon had been able to find a buyer for our pilfered weapons and explosives. Even at black market wholesale rates and Gadon's ten percent for finding the buyer we were still looking at close to seventy thousand credits once it was all said and done. That news brightened Missions mood immensely, which became apparent as she dragged me back to bed until nearly two, when hunger finally forced us out of our room.
We ate in Bastila's room again going over any last minute changes and concerns; though the Jedi pointedly ignored both of us, instead speaking her thoughts to either Carth or to thin air as though talking to herself. I was getting irritated with her attitude, but Mission found it hilarious, watching a prim and proper Jedi pout like a child was something she couldn't get enough of. When the meeting finally broke up a couple hours later, Mission motioned for me to go ahead. Her emotions were confident, she knew what she was doing. I shrugged and decided to let her and Bastila have a little talk.
Mission watched Rorick leave Bastila's quarters with a smile. No denying it at this point, she loved the man. Though she was just as surprised by the fact as anyone. She avoided emotional attachment like the plague, she had lost too many people in her life; the fear of further emotional pain had kept everyone but Big Z at arm's length, until now. She thought she was immune to romantic love, meeting this new and changed Revan had shown her that her peoples wisdom on Soressi Ythurra was correct after all. She thought the idea of meeting someone that just fit with you was a fantasy, but meeting the smart, strong, ruthless, when he needed to be, but also funny and affectionate man had changed her perspective. Barely a week together and she couldn't imagine going on without him. Not to mention he was hot enough to melt her panties. He was quickly becoming more important to her than anyone else, and this young Jedi was starting to annoy her with her constant disapproval and jealousy. What's more the poor thing was too emotionally stunted to even realize that it was jealousy. She didn't really know how their bonds worked yet, but she could get a general sense of the other woman if she focused hard enough, as she was doing now. Confusion, frustration, lust and fear swirled around her like a fog. Though the moment she felt the emotions, Bastila's face darkened and what felt like a wall slammed into place around her, completely blocking Mission out.
"What do you want, Mission?" The beautiful young Jedi asked sharply.
"We need to have another talk Bastila."
"I don't believe we do," the other woman snapped defensively, "and it's quite rude to read someone without their permission."
Mission just snorted at that, "Please, like you ask permission before you go snooping around in other people's minds."
"That's different!"
"Oh? And how exactly is it any different?" Mission asked calmly, knowing that it was just frustration at being on the other end of it. Bastila opened her mouth, then paused and glared at her before closing it. "That's what I thought," Mission moved over and sat down at the table across from her with a small smile. Not mocking, just pleased that she was able to see the hypocrisy. "Bastila, I know you're afraid, I know that Rorick intimidates you, I know that you're consumed by worry that he might go bad."
"I'm not afraid," she replied, sounding uncertain and defensive, "I'm just cautious, none of you understand how powerful he is. The amount of damage he could do if he falls again." She glared at Mission as though she were being purposefully obstinate. "And you encouraging him to embrace such insidious emotion is foolhardy at best, and disastrous at a galactic scale at worst!" her voice became more impassioned as she spoke until she was nearly shouting at the end.
Mission gently reached out and took the young woman's hand in her own. Bastila stiffened but didn't pull away, which surprised them both. "Bastila," Mission said and waited for her to look up from their hands to meet her gaze. "I want you to actually look into Rory, not with fear, just feel him as a person. Try to forget about who he was and just listen." The young Jedi looked at her for a long moment, wary and paranoid, she was so emotionally spun up that it felt like some kind of trick to her, but something about Mission's calm certainty convinced her.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. After a moment Mission felt the wall around her drop and her presence quest out, following the bond back to Rory. Mission felt surprise from her lover and a wall formed around Bastila's presence keeping her back. She pushed calm reassurance to him, willing him to let Bastila in. Feeling a spike of bemusement from the man, he nonetheless let the wall drop. Bastila slowly quested forward, timid and unsure of herself. Mission gave her hand a squeeze, pushing warmth and welcome to her through the medium of her bond with Rorick. Letting herself fall deeper into the connection, she felt Rory sit on their bed and relax back getting comfortable, as though inviting them to do what they would. She took a deep breath and relaxed into the sensation of Rory's presence in her mind. She felt his confusion and doubt about whatever she was attempting, but she also felt his trust and acceptance. He trusted her, even if he didn't think anything productive would come from it.
Mission let her connection to Rorick deepen while Bastila carefully poked her way around inside his mind, looking deeper and deeper into his inner self. They both could feel her uncertainty and nervousness, half expecting him to suddenly lash out, throwing her from his mind. He didn't however, feeling Mission's presence so clearly embracing him through their bond, was more calming to him than any of them expected. Something about the closeness and intimacy of the bond soothed the former Sith Lord, leaving him feeling calm and infinitely patient. He just lay there enjoying Mission's presence, allowing Bastila to go deeper than she ever had before, looking right down to the base of his soul. None of them knew how long they stayed like that, completely quiet, barely breathing, melding their minds to the point that if a Jedi Master had been present to sense what was happening he or she would have attacked instantly to stop Bastila from being influenced.
Something that none of them knew, was that such delving into another being, inevitably formed strong emotional connections, and for a Jedi having such connections could hamper their ability to sacrifice each other if the need arose. As such it was highly taboo for any Jedi to peer too deeply into another, for any reason.
Bastila knew that it was a taboo, but it had never been explained to her exactly why it wasn't allowed. So in the moment she made a decision that changed her, unaware of how much, she plunged deeper until their connection became a mingling of souls. Any deception between them became impossible, he clearly saw her ambitions, fears, hopes, and she saw the same in him. She was forced to admit to herself that she was attracted to the man, and accepted the jealousy she felt for Mission's relationship with him. At the same time Rorick admitted that he was attracted to her as well, though never once even considered the idea of pursuing it because of a combination of her age, her status as a Jedi, and his relationship with Mission. Bastila felt some resentment about her age being a factor, she was only a month from being twenty years old, Revan was nearly thirty it was true, but he looked not a day over twenty five, and his memories were of being that age. She was surprised to find that Mission was four years her senior, since she looked the same age as Bastila herself.
Most importantly Bastila learned that the man so deeply connected to her soul was no longer Revan, even beyond missing the memories of his old life. She could feel the life experience of Rorick had permanently changed who he was. Even if his memories resurfaced, the man known as Revan was gone. In his place was a deeply grounded, logical, intelligent man that felt deeply, but had a firm hand on his emotions. Someone who was balanced between action and caution, joy and rage, capable of both complete ruthlessness and bone deep love.
Overwhelmed by the strength of his mind and emotions, Bastila was completely drained when she finally felt satisfied with what she saw, and drew back from the connection. Pulling back into herself, she opened her eyes with a deep sigh and sat back in her chair wincing at the stiffness in her muscles, at being kept in the same position for so long.
A moment later Mission opened her own eyes and smiled across the table at her, "Feel better?" she asked, squeezing the young Jedi's hand. Bastila started at the realisation that they were still holding hands, but pulling away didn't seem as important as it probably should have.
"Surprisingly I do." she replied with a genuine smile. "My concerns over your relationship seem a little silly, though all my training tells me it's dangerous. After what I felt from you both, makes me think that perhaps it won't end in disaster."
"Good, that's what I was hoping for," Mission gave the younger woman a bright smile and stood from her chair, stretching out cramped muscles. "From the moment our bond formed, I knew that he wasn't the Dark Lord anymore. He's too good, and too strong willed."
"There is darkness in him." Bastila cautioned, "Not like before, but it's there."
Mission just laughed, "Of course there is, he has been fighting and killing for nearly a decade from one war straight into another. That leaves scars on the mind, darkness is inevitable. Just as I know there is darkness in me from the life I've lived, the point is to not let it overshadow joy and love."
That was nothing like what Bastila had been taught all her life, emotion was to be shunned, pushed away and controlled. Darkness to be squashed immediately and abandoned. Though now that she had been so deeply connected to both Revan and Mission, she had to call those teachings into question. Her impression of them had been of two good, honest people. Yes they had darkness, but they also had joy and a vibrancy not to be found in the Jedi. She looked down at the table brow furrowing in concern. Despite chafing at their restrictive practices, she had never really questioned the ways of the Jedi before, and doing so brought her a great deal of uncertainty. Like considering that the sky might in fact be purple, even though you had seen blue every day for your entire life.
Bastila was brought out of her troubled thoughts by a hand coming down on her shoulder. She looked up into Missions smiling face and saw understanding there. "Why?" she asked, not sure how to put into words what she needed to know.
"Because you were starting to break down, being exposed to evidence that everything you were taught could be wrong, well," she paused face turning thoughtful. "It's not easy, you needed to come to terms with how things have changed and your part in it all, before we took you into a life or death scenario. You do feel more calm now don't you?"
She nodded wordlessly in response, still unsure of everything she had seen in their minds.
"Good, working through everything will take time, but at least you don't look ready to break down anymore. When your life's on the line, keeping your shit together is vital. Emotional growth can come after." Mission said, grinning to lighten the mood between them. "For tonight, we have a job to do, you think you're up to it?"
Bastila took a deep breath and let it out slowly, focusing her mind onto the task before her. Despite long years of practice it wasn't as easy as it should have been, though she managed it. Looking up into Mission's vibrant violet eyes she nodded. "Yes, let's get ready."
I stood in my own room half an hour after our little mind melding experience. The room had basically become nothing more than storage since Mission and I started sleeping together. I was strapping on my full battle armor, tonight would be all or nothing and I was going prepared. As I buckled on my blasters I considered the situation with Mission and Bastila.
The whole thing had been a strange experience, I trusted Mission with my life, but it was still deeply discomforting to have her invite another person into my mind. I understood why she did it, Bastila had been slowly breaking down under emotional stress that she had never been trained to handle. If something wasn't done, she would have been as likely to get us all killed as she was to be helpful. Still it was an intimate and invasive way of putting the young Jedi at ease. Not to mention that it had become very clear over the course of our connection, that the young Jedi was quite infatuated with me, and Mission was also interested in her, though not to the same extent. I wasn't sure how I felt about that, though now wasn't the time to work through it.
Blaster pistols in place, vibroblades at my back, and my customized Mandolorian armor under it all, I attached my silenced blaster carbine to the single point sling on my chest and attached a few concussion grenades to the harness from the footlocker at the foot of my unused bed. Thoroughly ready for whatever the night would throw at me I sat back down on the bed and took a deep breath, calming my nerves. There were always nerves before an operation, everyone fears combat and death, at least to some extent. The moment that fear leaves you is the moment to find another line of work. Another deep breath in through my nose and out through my mouth, a heavy sigh and I climbed off the bed, grabbed my helmet, tucked it under my arm and left the room.
As I made my way down to the hangar I mentally checked on Mission to find her nearly finished getting ready in our room, I could feel her excitement as she attached her new electronics to her pilfered combat suit. She was extremely eager to try them out.
When I entered the hangar I found everyone else already there, Carth was sitting in the open hatch of the speeder we had been using the last few days, the same gear we used for our mission into the Undercity. Zaalbar leaned against a wall next to the speeder in his new chest armor with his Bowcaster on his back and the silenced PDW on a sling across his chest, looking so small compared to him it seemed to be a toy. Instead of his stolen double bearded axe he had a single vibrosword in a scabbard on his back under the bowcaster, as well as a bandolier of grenades over his shoulder.
Bastila was in her oversized robe sitting on the hood of the speeder with nothing under them but her borrowed lightsaber and a set loose black pants and shirt.
"Bastila," I called walking up to them, "Why aren't you wearing your armor?" While I knew that Jedi were dangerous and could defend themselves against attacks with the Force, it seemed foolish to me to go unarmored.
"Armor limits my range of motion, and if we come up against something I can't handle with the Force and a lightsaber, having armor won't make a difference." she explained sounding completely confident, she seemed much more calm and in control than she had earlier that day. Apparently Mission's gamble had been a success.
"I already tried, it's no use." Carth added, giving Bastila an exasperated look.
"Excuse me if I don't take a pilots opinion into account on matters of the Force." Bastila snapped back irritated.
"Listen here princess, you aren't a Jedi yet, and you definitely don't have the experience in warfare to ignore the advice of seasoned soldiers!" As the two bickered I felt Mission come up behind me and take my hand. I looked down to see her grinning up at me, amusement at their antics clear on her face. She was wearing her light combat armor, her blasters holstered at her hips, and the PDW on a sling on her chest like Carth and myself. She also wore a new interface visor over her eyes and had a satchel over one shoulder filled with her new toys.
"I contacted Janice earlier, she's going to stay late so we can pick up the droid on the way." She said, still grinning at the increasing irritation from Carth and Bastila. They were really into it now, just plainly shouting insults at each other.
Time to get serious, "Enough!" I shouted using my command voice, it was just as effective on them as the hardened veterans I used to command, or at least I remembered commanding them. "While your childishness is amusing, we have a job to do. Time to go." I wasn't pleased about taking Bastila without armor, especially since we just bought her a new set, but she was still a Jedi even if young so I decided to let it go.
The trip to pick up the droid, passed quickly and in silence. We arrived just as night fell on the surface several kilometers above us. The world was lit by the bright lights of a vibrant city making the overall change in light levels minimal, the most noticeable change being the sky holes shining with blue and red artificial lights around the rim, instead of allowing sunlight to shine down.
We only stopped for a moment at the cute Twi'lek's shop. Mission hopped out of the speeder and ran inside while Carth slid into an alley around back to wait. Only a couple minutes after she entered, the back door opened and she led a shiny silver and blue astromech out of the store. The little thing looked innocuous other than gleaming brilliantly in the low light, from it's fresh polished paint. Carth opened the cargo compartment in the back and the little droid floated up into the bay by itself. My eyes widened, getting repulsers into a droid that small was an extremely impressive feat, and no doubt outrageously expensive.
Mission jumped back into the speeder and Carth took off out of the alley and back into the skylanes before she had even buckled herself in. "Our new droid is T3-M4, and he is our droid," she said once she was settled, "surprisingly Davik had him programmed to accept the person who showed up to claim him as his owner, not Davik himself."
"Not really surprising actually, if we're caught the droid won't lead back to Davik. Anonymity is worth the possibility of losing the droid." I replied looking out the window at the bright lights below.
"Alright, two minutes to our infiltration point." Carth called back as he maneuvered us through the skylanes.
"How long do you think it will take for the droid to crack the security?" Bastila asked from the seat next to Zaalbar in the back.
"I can't be sure, probably no more than a few minutes, he is really state of the art, never seen anything like it before. Once the little guy is in, he won't have any trouble completely controlling their systems." She explained, bubbling with excitement.
"I hope the thing lives up to expectations or this is going to be a short trip." Carth said from the front, while maneuvering us smoothly through the traffic in the busy skylanes.
"Janice is a real genius, if half of what she told me is true, this little guy will be nearly unbeatable as far as encryption is concerned." Mission said.
"We're coming up on our entry point so will find out pretty quick." Carth said, heading towards the Lowercity section of our target supertower. He brought us into one of its lower parking hangars and settled us down near the entrance.
Mission opened our door and I followed her out and around to the storage compartment. Carth released the hatch and came around to join us as the little droid gently floated out and to the ground.
"Okay T3, stay close this is our target building." Mission told the little droid as everyone else huddled around. She pulled out her new data pad and scanned the tower's blueprints. "Through those doors at the north end of the hangar and down about twenty meters." She said pointing off to our left.
"Alright everyone ready?" I asked taking a moment to meet the eyes of my team one by one. I got nods of agreement in return, though everyone was feeling a bit nervous, they also had a determination under it that told me all I needed to know. "Alright then, no deadly force until we reach the objective, unless we have no other choice. Lead the way Mission."
She nodded and headed off across the parking structure, the rest of us following close behind, trying to move as smoothly as possible through the surrounding speeders. We passed a few people on the way to the doors, but they took one look at us and quickly moved away, probably assuming we were a group of mercs hired by the Sith.
Mission led us to the northern doors of the structure and down a large well lit corridor, conspicuously missing trash and debris. That far down in the Lowercity section of the tower it should have looked much worse. Someone came through and cleaned the place recently. We moved quickly and quietly as she continued on to a nondescript set of doors.
T3 moved up to a panel next to the door, but Mission motioned him back. "I got this one T3." she said, pulling out her datapad and jacking into a port next to the doors. After a few quick taps on the screen, she grinned and the doors slid open revealing a bare grey lift. "Code locked maintenance lift, zero, Mission Vao, one." She said and quickly moved inside. Carth rolled his eyes while we followed her in.
"Okay T3 you're up," Mission said motioning to the panel on the inside of the lift, "Mark this lift as down for maintenance, and block it off from the central computer. We need to be able to use it without anyone knowing."
"Acknowledged= easy task." the little droid replied in beeps and whistles.
"Huh." I said mildly surprised.
"What?" Carth asked looking over at me while the little droid plugged into the lift and got to work.
"I understood him." I said confused, I didn't remember learning binary, it was a complicated and difficult form of communication that wasn't easy for humans to learn in general. It must have been a hold over from Revan.
Carth gave me a perplexed look like Duh, you understand every other language why are you surprised?
I just shrugged remembering that Carth didn't know about my past and if I didn't want to be shot in the back I needed to be more careful. With how much he hated the Sith, there was no way he would take that revelation in stride. "It's a hard language, I'm just surprised I haven't gotten rusty." He narrowed his eyes for a moment as if sensing the deflection but then shrugged himself and turned back to the doors, waiting patiently. In the back of my mind I felt Bastila relax when he turned his attention away.
I pushed reassurance at her through the bond as the lift doors closed and started our long journey up the tower.
"Task= success." the little droid beeped happily.
"How long will the ascent take?" Bastila asked, looking up at the ceiling of the lift as though staring through it.
Mission looked down at her pod and tilted her head to the side in thought. "It's only a few floors to the tower's control annex in the Lowercity, from there to the Sith's comm center, about seven minutes, It's a little over four kilometers from the annex to the comm center in the Uppercity."
"And we can use this lift the entire way up?" Bastila asked.
"Yeah there are a few lifts like this that go from the foundations of the supertower all the way to the roof. They can only be accessed by maintenance personnel so we should have a clear shot without any stops."
Bastila reached out with the Force as the lift slowed, she searched the area above them carefully looking for any sign of anticipation or fear by those beings she could feel beyond the lift doors. Fortunately the level they stopped on was almost completely deserted. Only a few scattered minds were there to be found, despite the massive size of the level.
She followed her companions out of the lift and deeper into the Supertower, making their way quickly to a maintenance control center. She and Revan both held up two fingers at nearly the same time informing the others of beings behind the simple grey doors before them.
Revan motioned Mission towards the doors as he drew his blasters and took a deep breath. As he let it out Bastila could feel his mind calm to that razor fine blade of focus she had felt when first reaching out to him while she was still a captive. He went from a normal young man with amusement in his mind, to what felt almost robotic in it's control and laser focused on the task before him.
When the doors opened with an almost soundless susurration of air, he took one step into the room and fired two shots so quickly that the people in the room didn't even have time to notice him. Two soft thuds followed, and everyone else followed him in a moment later to see a room filled with computer terminals and screens. Sitting at two of those terminals was a young female human and an older male zabrak. They were both unconscious from Revan's stun bolts, with their heads laying flat on their consoles.
"Okay T3, take over the security systems first then operational control." Mission said looking down at the little droid. It beeped out an affirmative and rolled over to a console, extending an arm with an interface coupling and slicing into the system.
"Okay Carth," Revan said turning to the pilot, "You stay and guard T3, we'll contact you when we are ready to extract, it will be on you two to get back down to the hanger and get out with our speeder, we can't have the Sith tracking it back to the Beks." Carth nodded though he didn't look happy about it.
A few short minutes later, when the little droid signaled that it had taken control of the security systems, everyone else filed out and headed back to the turbolift. The ascent was a quiet one, while Bastila and Revan both searched the floors above for signs of trouble through the Force. Despite herself she was annoyed that the man was better than her at sensing feelings despite not remembering anything about the Force. But she had to admit that it was better to have more than one person searching for danger.
When they neared the target floor a few minutes later Revan winced and opened his eyes, Bastila felt his spike of alarm and pulled back into herself.
"What is it?" she asked.
"I think someone might have noticed me." he said softly, looking concerned.
"What?" Mission gasped, flooding the lift with her own alarm.
"I touched a mind a few floors above us that seemed to realize I was there. I pulled back immediately, but we need to hurry just the same." He explained, taking hold the blaster rifle attached to his chest. "There's one in the hall just beyond the doors, the others are farther in, follow my lead."
With that the lift came to a stop and the doors opened soundlessly. Revan stepped out turning immediately to the left and fired off a quick burst of fire that sounded like the muted buzzing of insects outside a window. When she stepped out after him she saw a Sith trooper in silver armor slumping to the floor with half a dozen blaster holes in the back of his head. Blood and brain matter flowed freely from the holes and sloshed down over the Sith's formerly pristine silver armor.
Reaching out with the Force she caught the dead trooper and lowered him slowly to the floor maintaining the silence. She tried desperately to suppress a shudder at the grizzly scene, she thought that her battle against Revan on his flagship would have deadened her somewhat to the sight of death. But even after watching all her comrades die it seemed she was still far from comfortable with bloodshed.
The former Sith lord turned his gaze to her with eyes gleaming like emeralds and gave her a single nod in acknowledgment. Despite her complicated and conflicted feelings toward the man, that piercing gaze made a thrill run down her spine, she tried to ignore it, but was only half successful.
She was distracted from further musings by Revan moving farther down the brightly lit corridor, motioning to an intersection of halls. He stopped at the edge of the corner and motioned her to stand next to him. When she was in position only a hands breath away, she felt his mind touch hers, "Same again, can you sense them?" the words floated across her mind making her shiver. She valiantly suppressed her shock at hearing his voice in her mind, but wasn't quite as successful at ignoring the thrill his intimate presence sent through her. Doing her best to ignore it she reached out and felt the Sith just beyond the corner where they crouched. Fixing them firmly in her mind she nodded to him and readied herself.
Revan spun around the corner firing his carbine almost before the Sith were in sight. She was right behind him, sensing the life already flickering out of Sith, as the low hum of his weapon pierced the utter silence. She reached out and took hold of the two dying Sith before they could fall, keeping them suspended in the air and floating them back down the corridor to lay them both gently on the floor before Revan.
"Alright Mission, get one of these doors open, we need to hide the bodies." He said turning to the pretty Twi'lek with none of the warmth in his emotions she was coming to expect. At that moment he was completely cold and focused. Though to her surprise Mission felt much the same as she walked a short way down the hall and jacked into the security pad of a door that looked identical to all the others in the corridor. Maybe two people can have strong feelings for each other and still maintain perspective when the need calls for it. They seem to be working well together and not letting their feelings affect the mission. We really need to find Mission a nickname or something, what kind of person names their child 'Mission' anyway?
Her wandering thoughts were cut off when the door hissed open revealing a small closet filled with cleaning supplies. Without being asked she reached out with the Force and lifted the three dead Sith, guiding them carefully into the closet and setting them back down in a pile in the corner. She didn't have the delicate control necessary to remove the blood from the corridor but it was better than nothing.
Mission tapped on her pad for a moment and the closet slid closed and it's lock clicked securely. Revan waited only long enough for Mission to turn back to them before he was off again leading them deeper into the level.
They came upon three other Sith patrolling the floor, and quickly dispatched them in the same manner, then hid the bodies in the handicaped stall of a public refresher. Everything seemed to be going to plan as they were approaching the communication room, when Bastila felt a chill of danger through the Force. Revan felt it as well, he motioned them all to stop before turning to her, a question in his eyes.
"I feel it too," she whispered, gently probing the Force for answers. "Someone is coming," she paused closing her eyes and reaching out. Almost at once she felt the presence of someone steeped in the Dark Side the moment her mind touched it, the presence pulled in on itself trying to hide, but she could still feel it a couple floors above and moving closer by the moment. "I think a Sith found us, I can feel someone steeped in the Dark Side coming this way."
"T3 come in," Mission whispered into her com, she waited until the little droids voice beeped in response then continued, "lock down this level we have company, slow them down as much as you can." The little droid whistled and acknowledgement, she could hear Carth in the background asking something but Mission cut the connection before he could finish. She walked up to the Comm room doors and sliced in.
"They know we're coming," Revan said, closing his eyes and tilting his head to the side, "Four men inside, they have blasters aimed at the door."
Bastila decided it was time for her to show them what a Jedi could do. Wordlessly she pulled Lorna Taiso's lightsaber from her robes and activated the deep blue blade. The snap-his of the blade filled the quiet hall as blue light bathed the walls. She could feel sudden fear blaze behind the door, as the technicians saw her through security monitors and became aware they were facing more than mercenaries.
Mission looked back at her as she stepped in front of the door with the blade held in a simple high guard at shoulder height. While Bastila couldn't claim to be a master of lightsaber combat, she could do something that few had mastered. Reaching deep into the Force she allowed the flow of power to sweep her up, embracing it as power rushed through her body. Guiding it gently she fell into something of a trance that her masters had said was somewhere between Force precognition and Battle meditation. In this state she subtly influenced combat around her, making her enemies slower, less coordinated, and more easily afraid, while at the same time anticipating their actions and decreasing her reaction times. It was because of her unique ability to meld the two Force powers that she began training with a double bladed Lightsaber. Between the Double bladed saber's unique benefits in defensive combat and her 'Personal battle meditation' as she had come to call it, along with her focused training in Soresu the defensive form, she could become a walking shield wall. Her defenses were incredible, though the same could not be said of her offense.
She centered herself and nodded to Mission, the Twi'lek tapped something on her datapad and the doors slid open silently. Instantly her borrowed lightsaber blurred before her as if of its own accord, deflecting a sudden flurry of blaster bolts fired by the terrified Sith hiding inside. The first few shots were sent down and away safely into the floor, then she began advancing into the room continuously deflecting bolts with nearly perfect economy of motion, only moving exactly as far and as fast as necessary to intercept the shots. The Sith were hiding behind desks and computer stations only exposing enough of themselves to fire at her as rapidly as they could pull their triggers. It didn't save them though, even as she stepped into the room, Revan was already behind her, aiming just over her shoulder, trusting her completely to defend them while he took careful aim and opened fire. His shots were preternaturally fast and accurate, two shots left his carbine in less than a second landing squarely between the eyes of both the closest technicians. The other two registered the attack and ducked back down just fast enough to avoid a similar fate, blaster bolts zipping over their heads so close that the smell of scorched hair filled the room.
"Surrender or die." He said from behind her, she could feel his cold, focused mind burning in the Force like a beacon. He was drawing on the Force, filling the words with a subtle compulsion powerful enough that she nearly dropped her lightsaber despite not being the focus of the words. She shuddered, fighting the urge to step away from him. Even subconsciously his power is incredible, it's no wonder he started his own Empire. She wasn't surprised when two blaster pistols slid out across the floor as the two Sith stood slowly with their hands up.
"On the floor, hands behind your head." Revan barked the command keeping his carbine trained on the closest man. The young human had large brown eyes, they were wide with terror as he glanced between his fallen comrades and Revan's blaster. He seemed hardly to notice Bastila standing there with an ignited lightsaber. The other man was an older human, his hair going grey at the temples, he was afraid, but not to the same extent as his younger counterpart. He was the first to lower himself to the ground on his stomach and interlace his fingers behind his head.
"Davis, get on the ground son, don't just stand there." The older man said from his place on the floor. His words snapped the younger Sith out of his fear enough for him to flop forward onto his stomach shaking the whole while. Without being asked, Zaalbar walked up to the men and set about binding their hands behind their backs with zip ties, while Mission made her way across the room and interfaced with the Sith's communication systems.
"Alright, this is going to take some doing," She said tapping furiously at her pad, before connecting it to a small computing cube she pulled from her pouch. "Even with the new equipment, their encryption is tough."
"How long?" Revan asked, taking a position at the door aiming his carbine back down the hall from where they had come.
"Not sure, but at least a few minutes."
Zaalbar finished securing the men and took a position on the other side of the door, and pulled his bowcaster from the sling on his back. Bastila stepped up behind them and reached out with the Force, spreading her awareness through the Supertower around them. She felt the Dark Side presence at once, it was still coming closer, though much slower than it had been. It seemed as though he was running down a set of stairs a few floors above.
"Hurry," she said, loud enough for Mission to hear, "The Sith is coming, and he's powerful." She could feel the anger and anticipation emanating of the presence as it barreled on. He was young and eager to prove himself in battle against a Jedi, he was also arrogant, not even trying to hide himself in the Force, counting on his ability to overwhelm them. Who was the other presence? She thought. The other one hid the moment I felt it, while whoever this is wants us to know he's coming.
"There are others coming," Revan said, distracting her from the Sith, "On the floor below us, their cutting through the doors of a stairwell down the hall." She focused on his presence in the Force and followed it, sure enough there were at least twenty Sith Troops on the floor below, their emotions fearful, but determined.
"Stay here, protect Mission." He told them both and sprinted out of the room. He took a sharp right after about ten meters and disappeared down a branching hall. She felt him arrive at a set of stairs a short distance away and pause. After a few moments he moved forward again, his mind cold and focused as a blade. He paused at the top of the stairs and waited, she couldn't make out his plan, only that he had one and he was confident in his success.
Deciding to trust him she refocused on the Sith as he charged down the last few flights of stairs to their level. She felt him pause when he reached their floor, she felt the Dark side swirl around him like a vortex then blast out away from him. No doubt blasting the stairwell door out of its frame, it was an impressive amount of power, he was definitely strong.
"He's coming Zaalbar," She whispered to the wookiee, "There." she pointed down the hall to a corridor that branched off to the left about twenty meters down. She felt the huge wookiee move beside her, his mind was filled with the anticipation of a hunter about to come face to face with dangerous prey. "Now!" she said, opening her eyes just before the Sith came into view down the hall. She saw a small silver ball flash down the corridor as though it had been fired from a cannon. It slammed into the wall of a cross corridor directly in front of the Sith and exploded with a blinding flash of light and an explosive shriek of noise that was nearly incapacitating even where she stood twenty meters away.
She felt murderous rage flare up in Force as the Sith took the blast full in the face, barely getting up a barrier in time to save himself from disfiguring damage. It still hurt a great deal however, pain and rage poured off the Sith as he went down on one knee clutching his head. Zaalbar wasted no time, he was already crouching and bringing up his bowcaster while the Sith clutched his head and screamed in pain. The massive weapon roared as a streak of bright green plasma flashed down the hall toward the Sith. Much to Bastila's surprise the Sith lept back, avoiding the shot by centimeters. Zaalbar wasn't surprised as another shot lanced down the hall immediately after the first forcing the Sith back down the hall and out of his line of fire.
The floor beneath them lurched as an explosion rocked the building. She was thrown from her feet as a thunderous roar erupted from down the hall where Revan had gone. She slowly got back to her feet, ignoring the slight trembling in her legs and searched the Force for Revan, sudden fear gripping her throat. If he was dead, no she wouldn't think of it. After a moment of searching she found his presence moving back towards them down the hall from the direction from the explosion. Breathing a sigh of relief that he was unharmed, she looked down the corridor grateful she hadn't impaled herself on her borrowed lightsaber, as a thick cloud of dust and smoke billowed out towards them. The presence of the Sith below them were gone, their sudden violent deaths leaving a ripple of pain and despair in the Force.
"Mission," Zaalbar growled as he stood next to her, looking nothing but mildly annoyed by the explosion, "are you hurt?"
"I'm fine," she called back, climbing to her feet next to the control console. "Though some warning would have been nice."
"How much longer?" Bastila asked, still watching the corridor, waiting for Revan to emerge from the smoke billowing thickly, obscuring most of the hall.
"Another couple minutes!" Mission called back.
Bastila felt a disturbance in the Force, at the same moment that Revan came charging out of the smoke and back into the comms room. He slid through the door on his back, then flipped over and fired a barrage of blaster bolts down the corridor before even coming to a full stop. She felt rage and pain spike from down the corridor at the same moment that the red glow of the lightsaber could be seen through the smoke. It flashed through the air so quickly that it appeared to be a solid red disc of light. Blaster bolts deflected into the floor, the ceiling, the walls, Revan's constant stream of automatic fire flashing down only to be swatted aside. Though she did notice that none of the bolts were sent back towards them. Revan knew what he was doing, constantly changing his point of aim as rapidly and erratically as possible. He aimed from the Sith's head, to his feet, to his groin, left arm, and so on, making the Sith put his total focus on surviving the onslaught. Just when Bastila thought Revan might overwhelm him the Sith leapt back into the corridor from where he'd come, diving behind cover.
"That bought us a few seconds, but that won't stop him." Revan said climbing to his feet and reloading his carbine with a new powercell.
"Impressive for a republic dog," they heard a deep amused voice echo down the corridor to them, "you have fought Sith before."
"Killed more than my share." Revan called back, his emotions spiking in amusement, which caused the Sith's to flare up in irritation.
"It won't help you now," The Sith's voice was tinged with amusement, but his emotions were filled with pain and rage. His portrayal of being in control and unaffected was soured by the clear pain in his emotions. "You won't make it out of the tower alive. But maybe, if you were to surrender the little padawan with you, I might be convinced to let you live."
Revan laughed audibly, "You no one of the big problems with being utterly evil all the time, no one ever believes the bantha shit."
"Fine, I'll give you something you will believe," the Sith raged from down the hall, all pretense at amusement gone. "Surrender now, and I'll kill you quickly, make me come down there, and your deaths will be very, very slow."
"Big words from an acolyte so stupid he didn't notice a concusion grenade land on top of him. Tell me, how will your master take that mistake? I bet he's going to be thrilled with your cunning plan to block the blast with your face." Revan shouted, mirth clear in his voice. The words surprised Bastila so much she actually giggled despite herself. Mission laughed loudly from her place at the console, while Zaalbar snorted and grinned.
"I was surprised that it worked," the big wookiee added loudly enough to be heard down the hall, "He must be very young, this is probably the first time his master trusted him to dress himself." While the wookiee continued the taunting, Revan motioned them both back behind cover and out of the doorway. "It's probably the last time his master trusts him to change his own diaper." the huge wookiee continued then slid out of the door and pressed his back against the wall.
No sooner had he quit speaking than the Sith shrieked with rage and charged down the hall towards them. Revan wasted no time, he immediately opened fire sending hundreds of shots down the hall to meet him. The Sith's red blade flashed, battering away the barrage easily as he flew down the corridor powered by rage and deep in the Dark Side he moved faster than any normal human could have. The whole while, Revan stayed completely calm, his emotions as impassive and focused as Bastila had ever felt. He was completely confident, so much so that if the Sith had been thinking clearly he would have realised the trap. As it was he charged straight on, blinded by rage, the moment he passed the corridor that Revan had come from a scant minute before a concussive blast echoed down the hall. A blinding flash of light and pressure wave blasted into the comm room making everyone but Revan cover their ears and close their eyes. Revan was expecting the explosion and was protected by his helmet from the onslaught. Bastila embraced their bond instinctively while she crouched behind the cover of the doorframe. She could feel his satisfaction as it blazed to life inside him and he sprang to his feet, drawing his vibroblade in the same motion. He sprinted down the hall heading directly for the stunned Sith who had just barely felt the danger in time to protect himself from the worst of the blast. It had saved his life but left him blind, deaf, very nearly unconscious. He had just enough of his senses to raise his head as Revan bore down on him. The young acolyte of the Sith barely had time to widen his eyes in fear when Revan drove his blade through the younger man's right eye. Bastila saw the Sith jerk violently through Revan's eyes, then felt the swirling darkness of his Force presence vanish from her perception. Still watching through his eyes, she watched him reach down and grab the fallen Sith's lightsaber and wipe his vibroblade clean on the dead man's robes. He stood, pocketed the lightsaber and turned back to the comm room, walking quickly he ducked back inside, Bastila could feel him grinning behind his helmet.
"Well that was exciting." he said, as he crouched by the door and reloaded his carbine.
"I thought we talked about you scaring the shit out of me." Mission said from her place by the control console. Her voice was irritated but Bastila could feel fear and relief in equal measure.
"Be mad at me later, how close are you?" he responded, focusing his attention back down the hall, his carbine held at the ready.
"Almost, another few seconds." Mission answered, staring intently down at her datapad, as though willing it to hurry.
Their attention was drawn to Revan's comlink as it beeped rapidly. "Yeah?" he asked, activating it.
"You guys have a problem." Carth's voice came through the small device sounding almost panicked.
"What is it?" Bastila asked, trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice. She could feel something through the Force but she couldn't tell what it was, only that it made her uneasy.
"I'm pretty sure you have a Sith assassin heading your way." His words made Bastila shudder, Sith assassins were deadly opponents for any Jedi. For someone as inexperienced as herself, she didn't know if she could handle one.
"How do you know?" Revan asked, sounding like he was standing in a park talking about the weather. No fear, no nervousness, just the same cold focus crushing everything else in his emotions.
"Normal sensors aren't picking anything up, but T3 has registered a few anomalies on the multispectral sensors. Last time I saw something like that was when we had a Sith assassin on board cloaking themselves." Carth explained, sounding more nervous than ever.
"Yep that sounds like Sith camouflage." Revan said, so utterly calm it made Bastila's eye twitch. Does nothing ruffle him when he's like this? "Get out Carth, Mission is just about done, get the droid and get out. We'll contact you once we extract."
"No way we're leaving you here!" Carth shouted back over the comm.
"Have T3 lock down the tower as tight as it can, save for our escape route, then get out. Now Carth!" Revan said, putting the full weight of command into his voice. Carth didn't know it nor did Revan himself, but Bastila felt him pull on the Force infusing the words with power and authority. Such was the effect that even though she knew what he was doing, and the order wasn't aimed at her, she still had to stop herself from charging for their exit route. The fact that it seemed to have no effect on Zaalbar irritated her enough to distract her from her fear.
Revan cut the connection and turned to look back down the hall eyes narrowing. Bastila sensed it too, a darkness making its way toward them from the same corridor the other Sith had come, it was faint but it wasn't actively hiding anymore. She was about to step forward to face the assassin when Revan held up a hand stopping her in her tracks.
"Done!" Mission called surprising them both and drawing their attention from the hallway. They glanced back at Mission to see her rapidly replacing equipment into her satchel. Though the distraction was for mere seconds it nearly cost them their lives.
Bastila felt a sudden surge of the darkside and acted on years of deeply ingrained training. Throwing up the most powerful Force barrier she could muster, she grabbed Revan around the hips and yanked him bodily from the doorway, enhancing her physical strength with the Force. A blast of Force lightning slammed into her barrier less than a second later. Despite the amount of power she put into her shield, the lightning barely slowed as it blasted the construct apart and flashed through the control room to slam into a console on the opposite wall, burning a fist sized hole through the machine, leaving it a blackened and smoking ruin.
Before they even hit the floor Revan's arm was moving, pulling the last concussion grenade from his bandoleer and launching it back through the doorway. The moment it passed through they hit the floor and Revan activated the grenade, a flash of light and overwhelming crash of noise drowned out the scream of rage and pain Bastila felt from the Sith outside. Revan's action took less than a second, so fast that the Sith assassin didn't have time to react. Bastila could the Force shroud drop with the explosion revealing an enraged, yet excited female presence that held considerable power in the Force.
In the next instant they crashed in a heap on the floor, Revan's armored frame slamming down on to her with enough force that if not for a minor Force barrier around herself, he would have cracked her ribs. While Bastila laid on the floor trying to get her breath back, Revan was already climbing off of her, drawing the vibroblade at his back.
"You're fast, and you managed to kill my apprentice, no easy feet." A husky almost sensuous voice said from outside the door. "I must admit I'm impressed."
As Revan walked into the doorway to challenge the Sith Bastila felt him reach out to Mission through their bond, something passed between the two of them then she saw Mission turn back to an undamaged console and get to work, furious tapping away at the controls.
Getting to her feet she couldn't see Revan's smile but she could feel smugness radiating off of him like a fog, though below that smugness she could feel his ever present blade like focus. It was so well hidden that she could only feel it through their bond, not through normal Force perception. He was throwing up false emotions, an old and reliable trick when fighting Force users, not to mention extremely difficult to accomplish.
"He was your's huh?" he said, his satisfied grin obvious in his voice. Bastila edged closer to him, her borrowed lightsaber in hand but not activated. "You should have taught him to play with children his own age, I'm afraid he barged into a game he was ill equipped to play."
"Pretty, arrogant, dangerous and strong in the Force," the Sith laughed from beyond the door sounding closer, "How have you not plucked up by the seekers?"
"I tend to avoid your kind when I can, things usually end this way." He replied, casually spinning his blade in an elegant pattern through the air.
"Yes I sense the darkness in you," Bastila still couldn't see her but she could almost feel the lazy smile on the other woman's face, her voice soft almost sultry. "You are no stranger to blood and death."
"I suppose so, unfortunately." he said, false amusement fading, allowing his razor focused will to bare down on the Sith.
"Yes there it is." The satisfied smile was clear in her voice now. "You know this doesn't need to end badly, if you surrender I will spare you." Bastila could feel her just a few feet from the door now, just a couple steps from Revan. "You have too much potential to simply kill. What a powerful Sith you could become, given the right training."
Revan snorted in sardonic amusement. "You have no idea." Before the Sith could say anything in response the durasteel door between them slammed closed with far more force than it should have. He turned and motioned to the other exit at the back wall of the control room, but he never had the chance to speak. Barely a second after the doors slammed closed a massive Force blast ripped them free of their hinges catching Revan and launching him across the room to land in a heap by the far wall.
Surprisingly the first of their group to react was Zaalbar, he fired two quick bolts from his bowcaster and pulled a vibrosword from the scabbard at his back. He held the two handed weapon in one massive paw like a single handed blade and charged the Sith assassin as she strode through the wreckage of the doors. His sudden attack and the surprising speed at which he moved seemed to startle her. The black robed woman whipped up her duel saber in time to parry Zaalbar's heavy overhand attack, but he surprised her again by stopping the blow cold and angling a quick horizontal slash at her midsection instead. He moved with such speed that she had to jump back to avoid the attack. He pressed his advantage coming down on her with a storm of lighting quick blows, his vibrosword darting through the air like a dagger. If he was fighting any normal opponent the fight would have ended there, but he was fighting a Sith. She regained her composure instantly and met his attack with a sneer, her beautiful human face twisted with anger and disdain. Before Zaalbar could react she held out her hand and lifted him bodily off the ground with the Force. The massive wookiee roared with rage and strained in the invisible bonds, but to no avail. With a flick of her wrist she sent him flying across the room to slam into the opposite wall, smashing a number of monitors and leaving a small dent in the durasteel wall beneath. Bastila heard a number of his bones break on impact, sickening snaps, echoing through the room.
Bastila hadn't been idle for the moments of distraction Zaalbar granted her, while Mission rushed over to Revan lying limp on the floor, she gathered the Force around her preparing her combat trance. The moment Zaalbar left the ground, she launched herself forward moving faster than the human eye could follow, covering the distance to the Sith in an instant. She brought her blade around in a wicked side cut that should have taken the Sith's head from her shoulders. The Sith stepped back at the last possible instant and brought her blade up in a hurried block, taken off guard by the speed and power behind the attack. Bastila looked into the eyes of the Sith, absently noting that the woman was not only beautiful but she was also young, no older than Mission. Honey blond hair framed a flawless heart shaped face, full lips and high cheekbones the woman could have been a model if not for the sneer of hatred twisting her face and her unnaturally yellow tinted eyes. Yet despite her appearance, Bastila could feel the dark side flow through her like a torrent, whoever she was, she was a prodigy.
"Ahh Bastila, how nice of you to show yourself," the woman said, her sneer becoming a grin of victory. "Half the planet is looking for you girl, how kind of you to surrender yourself to me. Darth Malak will be very pleased with me when I deliver you to him." The Sith tried to force her back with a sudden Force push, but Bastila was prepared for the move, she also fought with a duel saber and knew that tight quarters crippled the weapon. So when the Force push came she was already braced with a powerful shield wrapped tightly around herself. Taking advantage of the Sith's momentary distraction she broke the lock of their blades and spun inward slashing for the Sith's exposed left leg. It was no use however her opponent performed a perfect handless cartwheel easily dodging the attack and slashing for Bastila's neck in one smooth movement, blades flashing so quickly that Bastila had to jump back to avoid a quick and messy death.
With the distance the Sith gained from the attack, she flashed forward in a blur of speed pressing her attack like a storm. Bastila could do nothing but fall into the Force relying on it and her training to defend faster than her mind could process. Allowing the Force complete control over her body made her defence nearly impregnable, but it also made it impossible for her to attack. Thus she knew it was only a matter of time. Eventually she would make a mistake and it would be her last. The Sith knew it as well, she could feel the woman's gleeful disdain all but flaunting her victory through the Force.
Then it came, through the haze of combat and discs of whirling light as their sabers clashed, she felt Mission help Revan to his feet. He stumbled and fell, concern for him caused her to break concentration for just a fraction of a second. It was more than enough. The Sith instantly capitalized on her mistake, scoring two quick hits across her calf and another across her upper arm. The cuts were shallow, not nearly life threatening, however the sudden pain caused her to stumble back and in that moment the Sith struck, thrusting her left hand forward blasting Bastila with a Force push powerful enough to send her flying back into the opposite wall like a meteor. She barely managed to wrap herself in the Force before she struck hard enough to dent in the durasteel several inches. The room shook and several screens cracked from the sudden wave of kinetic energy rippling through the walls. Bastila felt multiple ribs crack under the impact and fell limply to the floor near Zaalbar.
Before darkness claimed her she managed to look up in time to see Mission firing a barrage of blaster shots so quick and precise the Sith actually took a step back under the onslaught. Though when a wicked grin spread across her face and she stepped forward parrying the wave of shots harmlessly away, despair gripped Bastila's heart and she fell gratefully into the darkness that beckoned to her.
I looked up in time to see Bastila flash across the room in a blur smashing into the wall with more force than a fall from orbit. Watching the solid durasteel wall buckle under the impact filled me with awe and dread. I had seen Sith and Jedi fight before, but this one was more powerful than most. She was strong, immensely so, and I knew that we stood no chance of getting out of this alive. My helplessness before that kind of power filled me with impotent rage, the fact that this little girl could so easily pick us apart like children when we were so close to success made my blood boil. While I watched Bastila fall limply to the floor and groan in pain I felt something sweet and dark tickle that back of my mind, while the sight of her broken on the ground fed my bubbling fury. Then Mission stepped away from my side to open fire on the Sith shooting with the kind of speed and precision that would have had her promoted to lead a marksmen unit in the Republic Navy. I was distracted from my shock that Bastila survived the impact by Mission's incredible skill with her blasters. She was so fast and accurate that I could feel frustration from the Sith as she batted away the bolts, despite her snide grin. Though the terror gripping Mission as she slowly took step after step under the constant barrage, made me see red. The injustice of it made me want to scream, so close to success, and brought down by a girl little more than a child while I could do nothing but sit on my knees and watch.
As the Sith took another step and Mission fear turned into panic, the dark sweet thing tickled the back of my mind again. I could feel it call to me as my rage burned beneath the surface. The Sith paused to look directly at me then, batting away blaster bolts like they were soft rubber balls thrown by a child. It hit me then, she was playing with us, she could have subdued us all with the Force and held us captive by herself until reinforcements got there, instead she picked us apart, breaking us for her own amusement. When the realization hit me, her smile widened, feeling my rage and despair. With a quick jerk of her hand Mission's blasters flew from her hands to clatter across the floor. The young Twi'lek, showing more determination than any of us expected, acting instantly, she pulled a dagger from her boot and charged forward to bury it in the Sith's cold heart. The Sith actually laughed in delight and held out a hand stopping Mission cold, and slowly lifting her off the ground. Mission dropped her dagger and clutched at her throat while the Sith continued laughing.
"My my," she said looking at Mission with cold amusement, "you have more spirit than I would have expected. Perhaps I'll keep you, I could always use a good body slave." she taunted, eyeing Mission with more than a little lust, while Mission managed to spit at her despite still clutching her throat. It only prompted the Sith to laugh harder with genuine if cold and cruel smile. "Oh yes, I'll enjoy you a great deal."
The deep seated terror clutching at Mission's mind started to break something within me. The cold thing in my mind reached out to me whispering sweetly of power and vengeance. The Sith turned her beautiful face to me and smiled cruelly enjoying my impotence, my rage, my frustration and fear.
"Nothing is sweeter than the utter defeat of an enemy," she said, still smiling and turned Mission in the air to look at me. The panic in her eyes caused more cracks to form within me, allowing the cold sweet thing to whisper louder, promising me power. "Watching the hope drain from their eyes," she paused to exhale in deep satisfaction, "there's nothing quite like it. So tell me, soldier, how does it feel to be utterly powerless, to watch your friends fall?"
I finally focused on the cold thing in my mind, letting it draw my attention within myself. Following the sweet whispers of intent, they led me back to the star pulsing with power within myself. But instead of shining pure and white, it was darkening, though still just as luminent in my mind. Dark wisps of energy seemed to surround it as the whispers grew louder still. So this is the Dark Side. I thought idly, feeling detached and unaffected. Some part of me knew that what I was about to do was probably a mistake, but the rage in my mind, and the soul clutching fear in my lover pushed away any hesitance I might have had. Keeping my focus on the dark pulsing power within I opened my eyes and met the gaze of our tormentor.
She smiled wider eyes seeming to glow subtly in the flickering lights of the control room. "There it is," she said, voice low and pleased. "The rage, the hatred, you are strong, I can feel it now. You have potential, I think I'll keep both of you." she turned to look at the still choking Mission, "One for pleasure," she turned back to me, "the other for pain." And she laughed, sounding truly pleased with herself.
That was it, whatever was cracking within me broke under the weight of that laughter. That she could sound so pleased with our suffering like it was a game among friends. I felt my resistance to the power within shatter and I reached for that darkness like a drowning man reaching for solid ground. The power flooded me instantly like an ocean being forced through a garden hose. My body burned, power flooding my limbs and washing away my pain. Energy crackled through the air around me, coalescing into dark wisps that swirled around me like a mist.
I met the Sith's suddenly surprised and fearful eyes, then stood and flexed the awesome power flowing through me. The durasteel of the walls and floor around me groaned and buckled under the force of my rage. The two forgotten Sith technicians flew across the room to be pinned against the walls. What remained of the computer equipment in the room crumpled in on themselves, metal screeching in protest. The Sith's eyes bulged in shock, she dropped Mission and sprinted forward, dual saber poised to take off my head. But she seemed to be moving through water as I watched. She had covered nearly five meters in two long strides before Mission's feet even touched the ground. Yet to me she was moving so slowly it was an easy matter to hold out a hand and flex the power once more. I plucked the Sith up into the air, crushing through her pitiful Force shielding like tearing tissue paper. She just stared at me with wide panicked eyes, utter shock and terror flooding her emotions like a sour river. She opened her mouth, but whether it was to scream, beg, or attempt to reason with me, it didn't matter. I was beyond caring. I flexed the fingers of my hand and the raging torrent of power with them. With a thought her bones began snapping under my will. She opened her mouth wider to scream, but I was holding her throat so tightly no air could escape. The sickening cracks of her bones snapping echoed through the room all the while Mission and Zaalbar looked on with wide shocked eyes. Once all the bones in her arms and legs were turned into pulp I grew disinterested, feeling she had been punished enough I thrust my hand forward launching her out the door of the control room and down the corridor with so much force she flew over a hundred meters until finally slamming to a stop on wall of a T-junction. The force of the impact completely shattered her body, leaving little more than a dent and smear of bloody pulp.
With the threat over I became aware of my surroundings more fully, feeling the emotions of my companions clearly. Zaalbar was utterly shocked, in awe of my display of power, under it he was afraid, the first time I had felt that emotion from him. I turned to Mission expecting so see horror and dread in her eyes. Instead when our eyes met I felt concern, there was definitely fear there, but it wasn't for herself, she was afraid for me.
"Rory," she croaked out through her abused throat, taking a step forward, "You still with me?" she held out a hand to me, and it was enough. Feeling the warm concern blooming through the bond in the back of my mind, a bond I was still subconsciously powering even then, allowed me to pull back from the dark power. It had served its purpose but it was pushing me for destruction, and I couldn't allow Mission to come to harm. Forcing myself to focus on the warmth of our connection, I let my anger flow out of me and the power along with it. I noticed that the bright spot of my connection to the Force began returning to it's normal white brilliance, though not as pure as it had been before, it was still reassuring.
I took a step forward and opened my arms for Mission, who stepped into my embrace and sighed in relief. "Sorry I worried you, but we have to go." I said, holding her close, tucking her head neatly under my helmeted chin.
"Yeah I know." she said, squeezing me tightly for a moment before stepping back.
I reached down and gently lifted Bastila into a princess carry holding her unconscious body against my chest while Mission moved to help Zaalbar to his feet. Taking one last look around the destruction of the control room and marveling that I was the one that caused most of it, I shook my head, pushed away the sudden uneasy feeling building in my gut and led my team out of the tower.
Darth Malak sat alone in his private meditation chamber. Eyes closed he was deep within the ebb and flow of the Dark Side, looking for inspiration as to the young padawans location. He burned with rage that she continued to elude his forces. The idea that a teenage girl, no matter how talented, could confound the might of the Sith made his blood boil. He was just getting ready to call admiral Karath and choke the life from his pathetic body, when a ripple in the Force made him stiffen in shock.
Somewhere below on the planet, a presence in the Force bloomed like a dark star in his perceptions. Power unlike any he had felt since the death of his master. Sucking in a shocked breath he reached out to the presence trying to get a sense of who it could be but before he could get more than a fleeting sense of rage, the presence vanished. The dark lord of the Sith sat in perfect stillness for many long minutes scouring the Force for any sign of the presence before deciding that whoever it was, they would not show themselves again.
Relaxing his posture he opened his eyes to gaze at the starfield beyond the window of his meditation chamber and considered his options. His mind recalled his old master and his complete and utter humiliation at his hands, when he 'punished' Malak for his attack on Telos, resulting in the loss of his lower jaw. The memory caused the Dark Lord to shiver, the feeling of utter powerlessness was something he would never forget. Looking into the cold emotionless mask of his master as the man took him apart like a child. The visceral fear of power like that spurred him into action.
Pulling a comlink from his belt he contacted admiral Karath. After only a few moments the admiral's face appeared before him, looking calm and composed.
"How may I serve my lord?" the admiral asked, voice as calm and controlled as it always was.
"Move our fleet into position for a full bombardment admiral." Malak said, his voice was mechanical and controlled not showing the deep uneasy feeling settling in his stomach.
"My lord?" Karath replied, mild surprise breaking through his mask of calm.
"Glass the planet admiral, leave nothing left standing."
"What about our troops on the ground?"
"Pull all non essential personnel back as quickly as possible without causing suspicion. Leave the rest."
"It will take several days to evacuate all non essentials my Lord."
"You have forty eight hours." Malak said and ended the transmission. He tried to relax but the presence in the Force would not leave his mind. He knew no matter who it had been they needed to be dealt with as soon as possible. He could not allow something like his old master to remain alive. The losses would be great, tens of thousands of ground troops, and hundreds of millions of credits in lost war assets. But he would recover, the Star Forge was opening more and more of it's secrets to him. Soon he wouldn't need flesh and blood troops at all. As long as this new threat was destroyed, nothing could stop him or his Empire.
He kept repeating the thought over and over in his mind like a mantra trying desperately to push down the unease and forget the image of the Mask that still haunted his dreams.
