"Hey, you heard about the new MX-170's?"
Mason looked up from his data pad while simultaneously loosening the last bolt on a cover panel as Kriege made his way over.
"Yeah. Not sure about them to be honest. The MX-150's have been pretty damn reliable if you ask me."
Kriege had a crate loaded with replacement parts in front of him, which he proceeded to open and begin laying out for organization while Mason worked on removing the now defunct parts from the internals.
"They've also been in use since the Mandalorian Wars. May have gotten some good tech from those days, but it's all starting to show its age."
The procedure was interrupted by a standard alarm going up, while the hangar bays began to grind open, prompting both to look up at the control room.
"Looks like that medical transport ran into some trouble. Continue with your work, and observe standard boarding protocol when applicable."
Kriege gestured acknowledgement to the control officer before returning to the open panel, taking the parts handed off for organization against their replacements.
"At least they work. I don't know who's designing some of this new gear, got a hell of a time making half the bloody stuff work with these systems."
"Well, unless there's another Star Forge out there we have to make do. Can't help that most of this ship was replicated instead of built."
Another alarm went up, this time a tactical one.
"Incoming boarders! Get to battlestations!"
Before Mason or Kriege made it five steps from that spot, the Distant Star hurtled through the closing hangar doors, landing on the deck with a terrific crash of sparks. The auto-cannons fired away, filling the control room, both men and the few others in the general vicinity with holes, fire and smoke.
The boarding ramp came down with a stuttered groan, Jayden first to the deck with her carbine at the ready. Dana followed with her lightsaber, doing a quick sweep of the area before moving out into the open.
"Get those port doors locked. I'm feeling a lot of activity that side."
While Jayden bolted over to do just that, Izan and Cecile descended the ramp, both ready with their respective blasters. The former glanced at some of the bodies, and for a moment had to cover his mouth with his arm to keep from vomiting at the grotesque sight.
"I thought the cannons wouldn't leave so much behind!"
Dana was still unfazed by the mess, stepping over the charred corpses. "We did revert them to tight firing. There's gonna be a lot of that before we're done."
As if to prove her point, the first wave of troopers came. Dana was ready for them her lightsaber cutting through metal and flesh with a grating whine. Three of them fell in pieces before the rest fell back to defensive positions, giving her time to motion at the door controls and shut it for the moment.
"Cecile! Izan! Get ready!" She motioned to her own positions for them to take up, moving away from hers to ensure that the troopers would not get a quick shot on her once the doors opened back up.
Jayden was sprinting back over when Dana signalled for the next attack. As soon as the doors opened, a thermal charge was lobbed through the gap, followed up by a volley of blaster fire.
"Down!"
She kicked the grenade hurriedly while diving for cover, leaving it to shower the deck in a sizzling ball of fire that ate away the markings on the deck and virtually every crate and contents that had been left in the vicinity.
They returned the favour, causing a mad sprint in the might tighter confines of the corridor beyond. A burst of flame flared through the opening, after which Jayden dashed up to begin picking off any that remained. When it looked clear, she signalled for the doors to be opened the rest of the way.
Dana kept her lightsaber ready as she advanced forward, motioning for the others to follow. "Alright, stay close, be ready for Sith, and don't hesitate on a kill shot. We are not fighting street thugs and pirates here."
Since Sloane had last left the room in a seeming hurry, the most Maarani had heard was an alarm some minutes later, two platoons thundering past the door, and then a shipwide message about boarders. By then, she was completely dull to the fact that it meant impending rescue. All that concerned her was the brief reprieve from Sloane's torture, and the implication that she'd be tortured even more as an inevitable hostage soon enough.
Right on cue, the doors opened to the white haired sorcerer, who strode across the room in a manner that made the slap of her feet against the floor echo about, came right up to the table Maarani was still strapped to and grabbed her fiercely by the chin.
"Call them off!"
"Go to hell." She didn't smile, or even attempt to smirk. For once, her insults were intended to be taken quite seriously. "What is hell anyway? No-one ever explains what it actually means."
Sloane sneered, digging her nails in to the brink of breaking skin. "Every death on this ship will be on your head! Tell them to stand down and I let you go unharmed!"
"Sith always lie. I've got so much blood on my hands I don't care anymore. You've made sure of that."
She quivered just a little when those nails did finally cut in, leaving warm trails down her jawline. Her expression held in spite of that. Nicks on her face were nothing compared to what had amounted to hours of electrocution.
On the verge of delivering another jolt out of anger, Sloane whipped her hand away and gestured to her lightsaber instead, raising it right above Maarani's neck. "Your head it is then!"
Maarani exhaled silently in that moment as she heard the hum of the lightsaber coming down. After all she had been through, to meet her end while lying on a cold table in her underwear, minutes before her friends actually got through to rescuing her.
"Great plan Dana! Now we're stuck!"
The bulkhead behind them had locked down as soon as they passed through, undoubtedly the result of some coordination from the bridge to the defending troopers. All four of them were tightly pressed into what cover they could get as at least a dozen of them fired down the corridor. Even Cecile was actively afraid of taking potentially destructive shots.
"If you think this is what stuck looks like Izan-!"
"Both of you shut up! Dana, you're the better blaster deflector of us, just get me enough time to pick a couple of them off-"
"I can't deflect this many at once! And no I am not using Vahla magic to get us out of this! That's the first thing about dabbling with the dark side that they teach you!"
"Oh yeah, this is totally a dabbling situation!"
"Not the time Izan!"
"Well we'd better think of something-"
Jayden was cut off mid sentence as a different grenade was lobbed right in front of them. This time, she wasn't given time to kick it away, as it detonated virtually on impact, discharging a hard EMP field on all four of them.
She screeched in agony as it wreaked havoc on her leg, causing her to collapse to the floor while the internals groaned and grated, the foot jerking about violently.
Cecile had a similar reaction, wailing in a robotic tone as her limbs flailed about from the overwhelming effect on her systems.
Despite her insistence just moments earlier, Dana threw out a plume of white fire to give them a few seconds reprieve from the suppressing volley, long enough for her and Izan to hastily get Jayden back into cover while she clutched at her malfunctioning leg. Standing there was the most she could do, leaving them with quickly diminishing options as the wall of fire fizzled out.
"Great, just great! One droidpopper and half the rescue team is screwed!"
"Izan would you just stop for once!"
"Initializing DCE defence protocol; hostiles detected."
The three looked at Cecile, who was striding out into the open, her eyes flicking on and off constantly. Her posture had changed entirely from cowering and mostly fretful hiding to full on military mode.
Before the first blaster shot grazed off her shoulder, she began firing. One shot for every Imperial trooper in sight, all right through the head. Clean kills all around.
She stood there for several seconds after, a few smoking holes in her chest and torso, but nothing that had actually penetrated the outer plating of her chassis.
"Hostiles eliminated, reinitializing child care protocol."
When several more seconds passed without sign of follow-up from the Imperials, Dana finally leaned out of cover to take a breath. "Teegs mentioned to me one time that Cecile had been hit with an EMP before, something Carmen told her anyway. I guess we know why…"
Cecile turned her head, her eyes no longer flickering. "What? I have no recollection of being attacked until this mission of yours. And what happened to our attackers anyway?"
Dana cast a knowing look at Izan before hurrying over to Jayden's side again. She had managed to detach her leg in the meantime, though the pain caused by the surge had kept her from actually checking for damage.
"We took out a platoon, still no Sith. Where are they all? Where's Sloane?"
"Probably guarding Teegs." Dana was quick to remove the armor from the synthetic leg, being more careful when it came to the cover itself to avoid damaging it by mistake. A cursory glance didn't turn up any physical damage in the mechanisms. "I'm not seeing anything to be worried about. Let's just give it a minute to discharge and-"
The clunk of a large droid approaching made her drop the leg and rush back to cover along with the others. She had forgotten momentarily that there was a sentinel contingent on board as well.
Right as it came into view, guns at the ready, Cecile stepped back out into the open.
"Fancy meeting you again! Hail to the Empire!"
The sentinel droid was momentarily perplexed by encountering the same droid from before, about to question the occurrence in Binary when four blaster shots tore right through its computing unit.
Cecile remained motionless while it dropped to the floor, until she felt it was time to do a little spin of her blaster set.
"A pity, I quite liked his peculiar dialect."
Izan just shook his head in disbelief before moving up to a more defensive position, leaving Dana to return to Jayden's leg.
"If they are actually guarding Teegs, we'll have to play it smart. If we turn a corner and gun down Sloane's adopted sons by mistake…"
Jayden rubbed at the stump of her leg, having done her best to remain quiet while she waited for her mobility to be returned. "Fine, you point them out, I'll knock their heads in, lightly. I don't think either of them will want to go head first against Sith anyway. Incidentally why the hell didn't you bring this up back when we were planning this?"
With a roll of her eyes, Dana clamped the armor piece back onto her leg and brought it up to reconnect with Jayden herself. "I thought they'd come after us first, we'd cut them down and move on. I don't want Sloane getting ideas when she finds out we just slaughtered them right outside wherever it is she has Teegs locked up."
"Oh yes, she's not going to be bloodthirsty enough with all the bodies we've left so far." After a harsh wince as the leg was reconnected at last, Jayden cautiously put weight onto it until the mechanisms kicked in properly. She sighed in great relief at that.
"She's from Revan's era of Sith. They don't care about the mountains of bodies they climb to their positions, only the ones they bring to their level."
It took a little while for her to breathe in, and realize that she was in fact still capable of breathing.
The lightsaber was hovering just above her neck, held firmly in place despite how hard Sloane's hand was shaking around it. Her lips were taut in a fierce snarl. She was trying to physically push the blade down against the unseen force keeping it at bay.
You will not harm her further Sloane!
Maarani scrunched her eyes shut as the lightsaber flew up over her face, hearing a loud hissing sound before it actually exploded, leaving Sloane in utter shock.
At the same time, the clamps binding her to the table unlatched. She seized the opportunity by twisting up into a charge right for Sloane, throwing her arm against her throat until she had her pinned against the wall, ready to crush her windpipe if given the chance.
"Guess you got the Lady's attention huh?" As much as she wanted to gesture over at her own lightsaber and have it fly into her hand for dramatic effect, it didn't budge from its position even a little.
I cannot protect you for long Maarani. Use this time wisely.
Sloane wasn't even attempting to push her off physically. Clearly there was more to her shock than just the destruction of her lightsaber. After days of torture, she was in full control of the situation at last. And her desire for a great moment had inspired her next words.
"Restore my connection to the Force, and I'll make sure we leave without any more deaths. Kiarna told me that Lasidia could do it back on Sarka. You've been around long enough, I reckon you can do it as well."
The sound of more troops rushing past outside drew Sloane's attention momentarily. More lives to be wasted.
"Stop the killing first."
Maarani pressed her arm in, causing the Sith to choke in an irony that made her grin. "Do it quickly and less Imperials die. Until they get here, they'll just assume I'm being mind tricked and luring them into a trap."
"I can't do it quickly! I don't even know what cut you off from the Force in the first place! Those reports weren't shared out!"
"Eight years ago I crashed on an isolated planet, right after watching my family die! That's what cut me off!"
That made Sloane hiss as she struggled to breathe properly, only to settle down a little as she thought it over, finally tilting her head back to Maarani. "That can't be the case. The Exile cut herself off because of overwhelming death and destruction. The trauma of losing family is simply nothing in comparison to mass genocide."
When Maarani finally began to falter, easing off her throat enough to inhale properly, she wrested herself free and rubbed at the bruised mark now left on her neck. "A hard crash wouldn't do it either. So again, I cannot fix a wound I don't know anything about."
Despite her moment of doubt, Maarani kept her priorities straight, watching Sloane carefully while moving to retrieve her lightsaber. "Bastila had doubts about it as well." Seeing that they were at a stalemate for the time being, she took that window to think on another answer. Something to get out of the whole mess.
"Fine, you wanted to dig around in my head? Maybe I wasn't completely unconscious on that island, maybe I've got more holes in my memory I don't know. You dig that one up, and I'll call that even instead. I'll just go elsewhere to have my head fixed. And maybe while I'm at it I'll ask the Lady to not make your head explode like she did your lightsaber."
Sloane turned her head to the twisted remains of her weapon, and nervously swallowed.
Dana gave a count of five, then raised her lightsaber and spun around the corner.
"Hey! Get off your asses and do something!"
Night looked to Bitter, who was already going for his own lightsaber, then reached for his own with a smirk.
"Good, been a long while since we've gotten to make a Jedi scream."
"You said it brother."
They didn't make it a step forward before Jayden smacked their heads together with a fierce blow, causing both to crumple to the floor while the respective gashes on their skulls began to seep blood onto the floor.
Dana rolled her eyes before stepping over them to get at the door controls. "You sure they're not dead?"
Jayden nudged Night with her left foot. "They look like they've been through worse. What do we do with them after we've got Teegs?"
"Leave them of course. We're not here to assassinate Sith. And besides, it's murder if they can't defend themselves."
By that point, Izan had come around the corner, and the sheer callousness of Dana's tone made him scoff in disgust.
"Being unconscious is the line Jedi draw? Not at normal troopers who don't stand a chance against the powers of the Force? Or does being able to hold a blaster really make the difference to you people?"
That made Dana sigh in annoyance as she continued to work at the controls. "Izan, unlike most, we have to live by hard definitions, no vague areas. Doing nothing means we become like the old Jedi, ready to let the Republic die at the hands of an enemy they can't fight. So we have to treat every single enemy we face as a target to be destroyed, regardless of their capability. We can't go around waving our hands and hoping on the chance that they're not trained to resist being tricked into sleep or surrender."
At that point, Jayden rolled her eyes and grabbed hold of the door, ready to force it open. "If you've been at it long enough to make a speech, you're done trying to slice it open." While waiting for the others to get into position, Cecile still guarding the corridors, she glared at Izan's continued disapproval. "Consider that not so long ago, Mandalorians would just kill anything that they felt made for good sport. Times change."
"That's not even my point Jayden, but what do I know?"
Jayden gripped on hard, and with a nod to the others, grunted while physically pushing the doors open against the grinding of mechanisms in the walls.
Sloane whipped around as soon as she heard the intrusion, very hurriedly moving to the other side of the table that Maarani had laid back down on. She hadn't even sensed their arrival, no doubt thanks to the Lady's intervention still at work.
Before things turned to disaster, Maarani was leaning back up to stop Dana from outright killing Sloane as she charged in. "Stop stop! I need her alive!"
Izan and Cecile weren't far behind, coming to a stop behind Dana while she looked on in shock. Jayden moved past all three, keeping her carbine levelled right at Sloane's head.
"You need her alive? After what she's done to you?"
"Yes, yes I damn well do." Maarani glared right at Dana, having lost sight of just how bad she probably looked at that moment. Appearing maddened wasn't a factor to her anymore. "I need to know how I lost my Force connection. And Sloane can't hurt me while the Lady of Balance has her attention here. And seeing as the Jedi won't tell me…"
Dana looked over at Sloane, for a moment surprised that Izan's description was actually spot on, then back at Maarani. "We never knew, Teegs. Quite a few Jedi went to investigate that island, they found nothing. There was nothing to tell."
"A Jedi who didn't look hard enough. I'm so shocked."
Jayden took a step closer towards Sloane at that, still keeping her carbine aimed true, regardless of the insistence on keeping her alive. "Coming from a Sith who can't see properly."
Maarani rolled her eyes while lying back down on the table. "Everyone shut up and let her get on with it. I'm not going back to Coruscant or whatever for this."
"Teegs I still think this is a bad idea."
"I don't care, I am so done with not getting answers."
"And quite literally letting a Sith who was torturing you these past few days is the way to get them?"
Sloane took a small breath, approaching the table again in spite of the glare she was getting from Jayden. Her hand extended out over Maarani's face to get another reading on her mental scape.
"I am not barbaric, or sadistic, I had my reasons. I don't trust the Lady of Balance, and if you Jedi had any common sense you'd be afraid of her as well. The fact that I am more afraid of an entity I cannot see at all versus the Mandalorian aiming a blaster at my head should say something."
"Just get on with it."
In the midst of it all, Sloane set her attention on Izan while lowering her hand down just above Maarani's face. "You at least were smart enough to take an offer for what it was. Shame you weren't smarter still to know not to bother retrieving these two."
Before the bickering could continue, she brought her fingertips down into contact with her face. Immediately she could feel things were different. Either the Lady was still inhibiting her, or she had stopped protecting Maarani's mind at last.
It didn't take long to find her way towards the memory in question, at which point she inhaled sharply.
"This is a fierce memory block. It'd take a very powerful Force user to place it."
Dana tightened her lip in sad realization. That was one confirmation she didn't want. However implausible it seemed, if really had gone down as Maarani imagined all that time…
"Break it. I need to remember. I need to find out who did this to me."
After a deep breath, Sloane pressed her hand down more firmly, opening up the mental connection. "You do realize that being cut off from the Force is an incredibly traumatic experience. I'm not responsible for the damage this will do."
"If she screams…"
"I'm making myself clear to the Lady, Mandalorian."
Maarani took a breath at last, closing her eyes under the bright light above, and casting her mind back eight years, waiting for that revelation at long last.
A few hours out from Dalchon, I was running low on oxygen. The Rodian didn't tell me the scrubbers were faulty.
Events transpired just as she had recalled many times before. Staring down at the warning lights, desperately searching for a breathable planet to set down on, eventually leaving the Corellian Run altogether in desperation.
The world that she had eventually come across was dominated by a very wide landmass, mostly in the southern hemisphere. Her skill with flying ships was very limited however, and the prevailing weather that resulted from such a skewed landscape forced her further and further out towards the coast as she descended through the atmosphere.
The ship wasn't stable, I was losing control, I…
So many times she had recounted ploughing into the ground, and waking up in a sprawl just beside the ship, with her connection to the Force gone.
Not that time.
I landed?
For the first time since the occurrence, it no longer had the vague feeling of a memory. It had feeling to it, a strong vividness to the biting cold air and sharp droplets of sprinkling rain as she clambered out of the shuttle, gasping for air as her body desperately tried to detoxicate itself from the buildup of carbon dioxide.
"Hello there?"
Tegama came out of her coughing fit with confusion at hearing a man's voice. Moreso when a figure appeared on the ridge to her right, carrying a spear in his right hand. Wrapped in brown fabric from head to toe, save for the eyes, the cloak and hood kept her from seeing any notable physical features. She didn't like the look of him at all, but then he had called out first, rather than catching her by surprise.
At that point, she decided to ask the obvious question. "Who are you?"
The man remained silent, gazing at her with faint yellow eyes that bore a tired look to them. Not quite fatigued, more as if he had seen many things, but was not yet ready to close his eyes forever.
Eventually he moved a bit closer, using the spear in the manner of a long walking stick, but not actually leaning on it for support. Even his hands were wrapped up, save for the very tips of his fingers, pale as the skin around his eyes.
"You are very young for a star traveller. What brings you here?"
Tegama coughed again, more from the lump in her throat resurfacing, as did the flow of tears as she was painfully reminded of why she had fled Ryloth. It was quickly becoming too much for her to bear.
"I don't know. I don't know!"
The man returned to silence for a while as she sobbed, just gazing out over the seas stretching out to the horizon, the mainland behind him. When the tears stopped again, he turned back to her, gesturing his other hand to the path he had come from.
"I have fish and tea to offer. You must calm yourself before travelling again. Decide in your own time."
He turned back in a great stride, the spear clunking against the cold stones as he hiked down the incline without a further thought.
Tegama remained huddled there against the ship for a long while, staring ahead while the waves crashed against the shores some distance below, the wind howled around the craft, and the faint sound of terrified cries of anguish continued to ring in her ears.
When she did get up, it was with more than a few stumbles, lekku tucked into her jacket and arms clutched around them tightly to keep what warmth she could while trying to find her way down the incline. There was virtually no path of any kind to be seen, only the trampled grass where water droplets had been disrupted to guide her way down.
It took her longer still to find the cave that the stranger had turned into a hovel. The door itself was little more than scavenged driftwood tied with grass and sealed by dried kelp. It had also been left wide open, allowing her to peer inside at the fire-lit cave itself.
The apparent owner was sitting by the fire at that point, apparently having started a new brew right after returning based on the faint aroma. As mentioned, there was also a smell of cooked fish about.
With a nervous swallow, she brushed her lekku back over her shoulders and made her way inside.
"Please do not touch the holocrons. The rest I am not as concerned with."
That made Tegama tense, until she very slowly looked to her direct left. A shelf bearing quite a few technical devices was sitting there, held against the wall by rods that comfortably sat in holes drilled by blaster fire. On them were indeed a number of holocrons, two of them notably pyramid shaped, and red.
Many times her mother had warned all four of them about the dangers of such holocrons, and their presence in the cave alongside Jedi ones made her more than a little wary.
"You recognize the repositories of Sith knowledge?"
Tegama stared at them for a while, then nervously nodded.
"Good, more encouragement to not touch them. I do not care for their screeching." He reached a spoon into the pot, stirring it a couple of times before tapping it on the edge and setting it aside. "I also do not care for the long-winded Jedi gatekeepers. Both take far too long to go to sleep. And none will have anything of worth to say to you I'm certain."
With another glance at them, she moved further inside, and finding no seats of any kind, finally knelt down near the fire, very much opposite the stranger. In the darker light, his eyes looked as if they had an uncanny glow to them.
The fire was notably warm, enough to make her huddle a little less and actually start drying off. She still kept the jacket tightly closed up nonetheless.
There was yet more silence for a while, broken only when the stranger opposite moved to stir the pot again, tapping it three times once done on every single occasion. The coverings over his mouth remained, with no indication that he had any intention of removing it.
After some time, when the aroma from the pot had cleared her nose, Tegama breathed in, and finally decided to ask her question again.
"Who are you?"
That time, he made eye contact with her only briefly, a glimmer flashing over his irises, something she put down to being a spark from the fire.
"A man. A man with nothing left but distant memories. A singular purpose, a lost legacy, a deep loneliness. I stopped caring about identity many years ago."
Tegama tightened her lips, silently breathing in. The distant voices had faded away, leaving a more eerie silence in her mind. It took her a few moments to realize he was very lightly reading her thoughts. Clearing them of the anguish she was in. When the voices returned again, she guessed that he had noticed her awareness, based on the way he sat up after.
"Are you Jedi? Are you Sith?"
The man finally blinked, then looked at her directly again. "I would ask you those same questions, and I feel I would get an identical answer. The Force moves in many many ways. Some mysterious, some obvious, some deceptive, and some introspective. It does not care for labels in the end, it knows its own existence and that is all that matters to it."
After a sigh, Tegama returned to huddling. A philosophical debate about the nature of the Force with a strange hermit was about the last thing she wanted.
That was also something that he took notice of. "Perhaps I was once a man of ambition, a man who felt his vision for the future was paramount. Does former status matter if a one-time galactic king is reduced to living in a hovel in Coruscant's depths? What we were is irrelevant to what we are, what we become."
He leaned forward just a little, narrowing those looming eyes in a stern gaze. "Ask yourself that, Twi'lek. What will you become? What will make you choose to return to the galaxy and continue existing? What drives you? These are not questions to ask of others, they are to be asked of oneself."
Shortly after, he moved to stand, motioning to the spoon while moving past to the doorway, picking up his spear from where he had left it.
"Fish is all I can provide for sustenance. There are no other creatures on this island. Not anymore." At the doorway he stopped, taking another opportunity to gauge the weather patterns. "I never did care for fungus, not like some I knew."
He left the door wide open, leaving Tegama alone in the cave with only her thoughts, troubled as they were. There she was, sitting on an isolated planet in the miserable home of a mysterious man, without a clue as to where she could possibly go other than the funeral of nearly her entire family.
Some time passed before she finally decided to reach into her jacket, and draw out the incomplete mess that was her lightsaber. With a soft click, she lifted off the covering to look at her lightsaber crystal, still glistening red even in the fire light. Perfectly shaped as it had always been from the moment she had plucked it from the Cave of Sorrows, so named for an old Twi'lek legend she had paid little heed to when exploring.
All those memories of listening to her mother teaching the others about the meanings of lightsaber colours. How each correlated to a Jedi specialization, and represented the person within. Why red was so popular with the Sith, and why very few Jedi had ever received it as their natural colour.
More time passed before she stopped staring at it, and glanced back at the holocrons on the shelf. All of them had taken on a more sinister look under the growing darkness of an incoming storm. Sitting there, lying dormant, in what she couldn't help but begin to imagine was akin to a trapdoor gutkurr. Waiting for someone who didn't know better to touch them. She didn't know if she was more frightened of the Sith or the Jedi ones.
With a shudder, she instead thought about what she had been told to ask herself again, hoping to take her mind off that. What purpose did she really have? She had been told not to get her hopes up about joining the Jedi from a young age, and without any guidance left in her life, that seemed like tragically sound advice.
And yet, despite how much temptation there was to get angry at the Sith, and go out to hunt down the young woman in white and red that she had glimpsed at that massacre, it never felt like something she truly wanted to pursue. So many stories of the old Jedi and Sith wars told to them all by her mother, of downfall and despair, now coming back in a hauntingly relevant way.
It hadn't yet occurred to her that it was possibly more than a coincidence that she had landed there, until she had thought about those stories again. All the times that her father had interjected, saying how what seemed strange was really the Force at work, ensuring that the unusual and unexpected occurred with purpose.
Perhaps she really was meant to land on that island, meet the sole inhabitant of a lonely planet, and face the paths laid out before her.
Despite all the times she had been told not to follow the teachings of the Sesk'nabsilai, that was all she felt she had left to call on. No help from the Jedi was coming, and she certainly would never take anything from the Sith.
"Please, Goddess, help me. Help me."
A bolt of lightning cracked outside, signalling the onset of the storm.
The crystal in her lightsaber began to faintly glow.
That which does not exist cannot help you, Tegama.
A fierce chill went through her lekku, leaving the tips feeling icy. The voice was both unknown, and yet vaguely familiar. And it terrified her.
She yelped when she felt water seeping around her fingers, rolling away in a panic. One thing she had noticed was that the doorway sloped down outside, meaning it was impossible for puddles to be forming around her from rainfall alone.
With what light there was, she managed to get a look at her fingertips. The 'water' on them was a rich crystal blue, completely unnatural.
So many rivers of tears to drown in.
Tegama grabbed at her lightsaber in desperation, having not realized how much brighter the glow of the crystal had gotten, and whipped around to escape through the doorway of the cave. Instead, she screamed in terror.
Standing there was the dark shape of a Twi'lek woman, crystal blue water seeping from her fiery Sith eyes, dripping down over her form in rivulets that congealed around her feet. The light that reached her hands showed green skin, bearing many many Sith tattoos.
Your time in the light is over Tegama. The galaxy at large will know Sorrow soon enough.
There was little rational thought in Tegama's mind as she charged right through the apparition of the Lady of Sorrows out into the tearing winds and rain. All of the warmth she had gained sapped away immediately. She was shivering by the time she began desperately clambering back up the slope against the slippery grass and flows of water running over it. The only thing on mind was getting back in the ship and making for Arkanis, regardless of whether she had enough oxygen for a safe trip or not.
At the moment she unlocked the cabin shroud, the thrusters detonated.
The force of the blast threw her back down to the rocky plateau in a great plume of fire that made the air hiss as it evaporated many puddles surrounding.
Her lightsaber had clattered well out of reach by then, leaving her sprawled out over mud, stone and grass in a crumpled mess, growing colder than ever from the continued rain.
It wasn't long before she felt herself being rolled onto her back, groaning in pain, completely incapable of doing anything else.
"A pity to squander such raw potential. But I am not ready to counteract the threat you pose. Not yet…"
The stranger unwrapped the cloth around his right hand, bearing more of that sickly pale skin as he brought it over Tegama's face.
"You will not find healing from the light of others, nor the darkness within. We will meet again, and I will begin your training when we do."
His fingers made contact with the five key points of her face as the mind invasion began. Piece by piece, he began blocking her mind off from the Force with every method he had ready in mind.
All Tegama could do was scream in agony as her perception of the universe around was taken from her. No more distant voices of the Jedi, no more greater understanding of cosmic happenings, no more Force.
Maarani broke out of the trance just in time to see Jayden's fist connect with Sloane's cheek.
She made a strange gulping sound, twisted around on the spot, and promptly landed on the floor with a sick thud.
With a deep inhale, Maarani clutched at the side of her head and tried not to scream more. "Oh my fucking Goddess why did you just kill her!?"
"Why does everyone assume I kill people by punching them?"
"Well you did decapitate a cyborg that one time-"
Dana rather forcibly elbowed Izan for that while reaching out to offer what comfort she could to Maarani. "Did it work? Do you remember what happened?"
By then, the confusion, shock and pain had driven her to a frantic state, bordering on maniacal. "The Jedi found nothing huh? There was a man living on that island! He had holocrons and who knows what else, and they found nothing!?"
"Teegs-"
"Hostiles approaching Mistress!"
There was an exchange of glances between the four, all of Maarani's still very much enraged. Dana peered over at Sloane's unconscious form, then sighed in a bothered tone.
"Internal sensors must've seen her lifesigns go down. We need to leave."
"Oh yeah, great work Jayden! Knock out the one person who'd let us walk out of here!"
"You were screaming Maarani! I did warn her that if you-"
"And she warned you that I'd probably scream from remembering! Guess who was right!"
Blaster fire between Cecile and the latest wave of assailants put the argument to an end. There would undoubtedly be far more said between them all eventually, but that had to wait.
"Alright. Izan has your blaster. Just please stay close, you're in no condition to fight on your own."
"I know what condition I'm in, Dana." She grabbed her lightsaber and slipped off the table to retrieve her blaster from Izan, who still looked rather cross from the elbowing, not that she cared any. "Let me guess, you haven't found my clothes."
"Your jacket's still on the ship."
Maarani shoved past, activating her lightsaber and holding it ready while Dana and Jayden went ahead to the doorway where Cecile was still holding troopers off. It wasn't long before they fell back upon seeing the Jedi returning to the defence.
When they drew closer as well, Izan very lightly rested a hand on Maarani's shoulder. "Just don't run ahead okay?"
A glare was all he got in response, causing him to shrug in bothered defeat and head on past. By then, the two had pushed out into the hallway, Cecile keeping near Dana with her cover fire. He went to support Jayden.
Maarani got barely a few steps outside before stopping to stare at the two on the floor. Seeing their positions so perfectly reversed was too much to ignore.
By the time Dana took notice, she had already aimed her blaster at Bitter's chest.
"Teegs leave them."
Her hand tightened around her blaster.
"You don't know what they threatened to do to me."
"Teegs that doesn't matter. This is not the Jedi way, it's-"
A single blaster shot rang out, causing Jayden and Izan to glance back briefly. Dana clenched her hand tightly, looking at the smoking hole in Bitter.
Maarani's dead cold look didn't waver as she stepped over his corpse, glaring right at her. "You don't get to judge me Dana. Not after what I've been through."
She didn't even stop to look at Night, moving past Cecile with an equally cold shoulder. When a trooper glanced around the corner ahead, she took her forehead out with a single blast.
Dana tightened the grip on her lightsaber as her teeth clenched, letting her own emotion drain away before motioning for the others to follow. "You three get to the secondary control systems, get the hangar doors open. I'll keep Teegs from getting herself shot, and maybe think about taking out the energy dampening net while I'm at it."
With a cautionary glance over at Maarani, Jayden nodded, regripping her carbine. "Meet you back at the ship then. Watch your back."
While she went off after her, Cecile shuffled back to lead them ahead, recalling her scans of the ship once more.
"Secondary control systems will be heavily defended. And I am not equipped to slice remotely."
Izan jogged up after remembering to confiscate the lightsabers from both Sith, tossing them into an alcove nearby. "I'm no expert, but I can give it a shot. Just need to find some tunnelers and-"
He stopped upon feeling a blaster pistol nudge against his head, quickly dropping his own and raising his hands.
By the time Jayden took notice and span around, Caura already had him completely vulnerable.
"Try anything and the pinkskin dies."
That made Izan roll his eyes. "For the last time…" In a swift move, he flipped his arm around and yanked her wrist until the blaster dropped, then swung his fist right into her face. The crunch of cartilage against his knuckles made him wince, but the sight of seeing her collapse to the floor with a bloodied nose almost made the pain worthwhile. "Don't call me pinkskin. Damn racists."
Jayden raised an eyebrow, barely stopping herself from smirking. "Well handled."
"I don't have a problem with punching women who try to kill me. That and it's not the first time someone's been dumb enough to get right up close with a blaster." He knelt down to retrieve his, kicking her's away for spite. "Should've pulled a vibrosword instead."
"She's not carrying one."
He glanced down at her, seeing that Jayden was in fact correct, then shrugged. "I swear it feels like they just pull them out of thin air sometimes."
Jayden rolled her eyes while motioning for them to continue. "I'm sure there's a locker we can bust open for tunnelers then. Don't know why Dana bothered trying to get the door open without one."
There was a flare of energy whenever Maarani's lightsaber cleaved through a Sith trooper, an extra spark of sorts to the unstable blade that was barely holding its shape. A menacing screech that matched her cold glare a little too well. The blaster shots on those she couldn't reach simply completed her drive for death.
The only comfort Dana could find in it all was that none of it was actively corrupting Maarani. So long as she remained cut off, the dark side couldn't work its way into permanently changing her. But then, it was only a very small comfort in the end.
"Teegs we're headed this way!"
Maarani made a point of decapitating the next two troopers and gunning down a third before even turning to look at Dana. "That one bruised a rib when he kicked me."
"Look, you'll have to let go of this at some point. We can't go and take down every single Imperial on the ship!"
"Watch me."
Dana threw caution to the wind, gesturing at a nearby storage door to force it open so she could physically haul Maarani inside. At the very least, they wouldn't be hit by surprise attacks from down either corridor.
"Teegs, this has to stop. We are here to get you out, not to enable you to go into excess killing. Murdering a Sith is one thing, but-"
Maarani pushed herself free of the hold with a disgruntled growl, not even trying to hide her contempt. "Don't lecture me. Not after you've been lying, and trying to cover up the lying with alternate stories of how things happened." Both hands were growing pale from how tightly they had clenched onto each weapon. "I'm not going back to the Jedi. I'm done with all of that crap."
That made Dana tighten her grip more, that concerned look fading briefly as she came to that realization. "You are not joining the Sith. If you think murdering the crew of an entire ship will prove something to them, you're wrong."
An eye twitch later, and a hint of violet had started to edge in on Maarani's eyes. "Are you going to really try and stop me? I'm fatebound to the White Terror. Being dark is literally in my blood thanks to you."
The grip on her arms tightened, Dana herself having to walk a very fine line of her own. "Lasidia is out for your head, as is Kiarna, not to mention Sloane for murdering one of her sons. You really couldn't have picked a worse time."
"And what if I just decide to take them out as well, hm? I am done flailing around the galaxy getting nothing but misery and dead friends for my efforts. I have sacrificed so much, and had so much taken away from me, I have nothing left but myself. Funny how the one who cut me off from the Force was actually doing me a big favour in the end, and is the only one to have given me good advice; to think about my own future first."
Dana finally released her grip, looking down in defeat. Her hands clenched in as she looked back up, then gave a spiteful shrug.
"Fine, go get yourself killed or whatever. You gave the Distant Star to Izan, you can keep this one." She began making her way back out, taking a cautionary glance into the corridor again before departing. "I'm sure your parents would be so proud to see you now."
There was no further word from Maarani. By then she was fuming, and undoubtedly anything said then and there couldn't be taken back.
When she felt ready to move at last, she did so without a moment's caution, headed back down the way they had come in search of the officer lockers to rearm and clothe herself properly. What little concern there was for her actions was now long gone.
"Hurry up Izan!"
"I'm trying! Who even programs their locking system with math puzzles?"
He winced and yanked his hand back when the panel zapped him. It was strong enough to leave a sore black mark on his finger, which he sucked at briefly to try and ease the heat before delving back in.
The exchange of blaster fire wasn't helping his concentration by any means. Though the assault had slowed somewhat, probably from the ship running out of troopers to throw at them.
"You sure Cecile can't take a crack at it?"
"No good! I was right, there's anti-droid measures all wired up in here! And I guess anti-idiot measures too seeing as I can't break this!"
Jayden rolled her eyes after picking off yet another trooper, adding to the collecting mess at the end of her corridor. "Fine, read it out to me!"
"Uh, need to complete this set of integers, each corresponds to a pre-determined… what?"
"What is it?"
"I have no idea what this word is! Arithma-something-something."
Cecile fired off a volley while turning her head to look at the panel. "Answer 23, 11 48 and 9 respectively."
"How do you even-"
"They didn't account for a droid reading it instead of mechanically slicing in."
The matching door slid open once he keyed it all in, much to his surprise. "Huh." He closed the panel back up and made for it, slipping into the more secure space of the control room. Several technicians who had apparently been kept at their stations in the crisis had abandoned them at the last moment, and were making for a smaller room further in.
"Jayden!" He waves his blaster at them once they stopped running, waiting for Jayden to pick out a wall to keep them lined up against before he could get to work.
Both she and Cecile weren't far behind, the latter taking up position at the doorway itself. Once the technicians were secure and out of his way, he made for the nearest terminal and began loading it with the tunnelers they had scrounged up.
"Alright, we came in on the port side, right?"
"Starboard!"
"Okay starboard!" The array of command systems was incredibly overwhelming to see at first. So many different functions routed through that one room, and messing around with too many of them by mistake would certainly see them shut down altogether.
Unsurprisingly, the locker rooms were deserted thanks to the ongoing crisis, and more importantly most, if not all were unlocked thanks to the sudden nature of it. It hadn't taken long at all to track down a female officer's uniform that fit her, which brought with it a comfort from the colder temperatures of the ship that she had wanted for days now.
For the first time in a while, she smiled just a little at how well it seemed to suit her once it was on. Her mother had kept the one she wore back during her time on Korriban, only the previously uncomfortable memories were starting to take a new light. It was just cloth and metal in the end, what it meant was entirely down to the observer, nothing more.
And she felt deserving of recognition and status beyond a disgraced pilot.
"Hey! Why aren't you-"
She turned around hastily, having momentarily left her blaster in the locker. Another woman who definitely wasn't just borrowing her uniform and Major rank plaque had entered the doorway, and the way she reached for her stun baton indicated she wasn't about to believe there was a Twi'lek officer in the ranks.
"It's only fair, I still haven't been given my pants back!"
Her hand swiped for her blaster, only Karren was faster and fired at the door, slamming it shut with a hot sizzle of burned metal.
Rather than trying to fumble it open while still hot, Maarani instead went for the next locker and slapped a shield generator on herself, using the few blasts it blocked to charge in and kick the baton out of her hand.
"Those really hurt you know!"
Karren tilted her head at what she guessed was supposed to be a witty comeback, utterly failing as such, and decided to give a proper one of her own. "Yeah, so does this!"
Her fist socked Maarani right in the left rib where she had seen previous bruising during her routine patrol of the cell block, readying another strike when she faltered back in pain.
While Maarani did back off a step, it was only out of mild discomfort as her pain receptors had been well worn by days of torture, leaving her to swing right back for Karren's jaw and following up with a fierce grapple to slam her into the wall behind.
It was then that Karren went for her lekku, digging her nails in and pulling on them as hard as she could, counting on that being sufficient to take down any Twi'lek.
That only caused further upset. Maarani again stepped back from the underhanded assault, gritting her teeth in rising anger as her grip faltered. In that moment, she twisted around and balled her fist again, this time going right for Karren's kidney.
The anguish it caused drove her on, bringing her hand back up to strike at her face again and again, until she fell unconscious altogether.
Maarani let her drop in the most spiteful way she could, stepping over her without a second thought. "Damn Imperials."
All of five steps back out into the corridor after retrieving her blaster, looking to make for the nearest armoury, she stopped again at the arrival of yet another obstacle.
Harton.
Her blaster remained steadily aimed at his head while she moved to a secure position, not liking his calm demeanour at all, especially since he had yet to even draw a weapon.
"Got some pretty strong nerves to come find me like this."
"Actually, I instead have pretty good reasons to." He slowly reached up to his pocket and drew out a holocommunicator, which he set down on the ground with equal caution to ensure he didn't startle her.
The whole thing confused Maarani into asking the inevitable question. "Okay, what's the deal here? Not looking to get back at me for everyone I and the others have just killed?"
"Death is regrettable at times, but not something we frown upon. It is inevitable after all, Great Lady."
That brought memories rushing back to the forefront of Maarani's mind, until she ended up lowering her blaster altogether and moved over to him. She kept her gaze up while kneeling down to pick up the communicator, which she promptly stuffed into her pocket for later viewing.
"How the hell has Sloane not caught you? And if you really are one of them, why let her torture me all this time?"
"The Lady instructed us not to directly intervene. She told us that it was a necessary trial, that we could only act once things had been set in motion by your friends. And so, we act."
Maarani swallowed deeply, now that she wasn't actively looking to kill there was an uncomfortable feeling forming in her stomach. Or more accurately, she was actually starting to take notice of it at long last.
"I'm not apologizing. I am fed up with being trailed about on breadcrumbs of half truths, and…"
Harton nodded with a soft smile, so completely different from his firm, authoritative manner that he had to conduct himself with the rest of the time. "We hide the extent of our existence purely for our own sake. But the time has come to begin moving actively, and now we reveal ourselves."
He nodded at her pocket to reiterate his point, her realization being quite the sight indeed. "Changes are coming to the galaxy. The war will end soon, but peace cannot begin for many years yet. Your actions will be crucial in those intermittent times. And we will support them all, regardless of the path you take."
Maarani glanced down at the uniform again. What had felt so comfortable, so fitting just minutes earlier was starting to feel strange. Then again, she was always rather more volatile with her decisions, and probably even her alignment.
"I'll get back to you on that. I've still got half the galaxy out to kill me, so until they're all gone or given up I'd rather not have a secret army taking action for me. By the way won't Sloane find out now that you've blown cover like this?"
"We have our means of getting about. Wouldn't be much of a 'secret army' if we couldn't get to where we are needed readily after all."
"Right… The uh, shatterspace rifts." She chewed her lip awkwardly at that, contemplating her next move. It wasn't too late to change her mind again, and knowing that the Following had her back as well made things a little easier on the mind. That left one major concern to ask of.
"What about Kiarna?"
"She is attending to concerns of her own, last I heard. I wouldn't worry about her for a while yet, not until the time is right to settle matters."
Maarani rolled her eyes, but took what little comfort she could from it. "Fine, I'll worry about everyone else then. Starting with the droids, although if your lot can just reprogram more that'd help."
The lights flickered as a deep rumble went through the ship, causing Maarani to stumble about briefly. She had a fair idea as to what was responsible. "There goes the energy dampeners. They'll be leaving soon."
"As am I. I wish you luck on your journey, Tegama."
When he turned to presumably find a secure place to leave from, she nodded and went back towards the hangar bay once more. By then, the prospect of taking over the ship single-handedly had waned in appeal. And as Dana had made it clear herself, it would only further alienate her from the few people that could in fact help her with the greatest problems.
A shiver went through Sloane at the moment she regained consciousness. Something felt wrong immediately, and not just the rising aura of death that had gained strength since she had been knocked out.
Her vision was still limited, as was her capacity for channeling the dark side, forcing her to stumble over to the open doorway with far less grace than she would ever allow herself to conduct in.
That confusion turned to cold fury as she collapsed to her knees beside Bitter's body, reaching out to his clammy face. The killing shot was still fresh, and definitely made after she was left unconscious.
The Jedi would have killed him before, and certainly wouldn't have let the others do so before storming in.
The conclusion came to her when she noticed Night leaning against the wall, clutching at the throbbing pain in his head. She disregarded that entirely when rising to her feet, and quite sharply slapping him across the face.
"I told you two not to do it! This was the one time you were not to even make implications or threats, and you still did it!"
"Mother we-"
She slapped him again. Even with the Force at her disposal, it had always been the most demeaning way possible to discipline her sons, but now it seemed she was too late on that count. "You, Night! Be proud of yourself, you're now an only son because you couldn't control your own disgusting urges!"
Before he could get a word in, she went to take his lightsaber, only to discover it was missing. A quick look around didn't reveal its location to her, only that Bitter's was missing as well. "Go get your weapon back from wherever they hid it. At least then you'll have done something that hasn't ruined things further."
Even with no weapons, no powers, and no intent on stooping to use a blaster of all things, she still made a furious pace down towards the hangar bay where it had all started.
"See? I did not in fact just blow the whole ship out into space, thank you very much."
Once again Jayden rolled her eyes on the sprint over to the boarding ramp. The hangar doors were definitely open, and the fact that they were breathing at all did mean that the containment field was working. It still only ended up as a mild comfort against her concerns at Izan repeatedly questioning whether or not he had put in the right command.
"You're the one who should be thanking me. Unless you like the idea of being thrown out the airlock to retrieve the ship from however far out."
"Pass on that. Cecile, better go check to see if anyone sneaked aboard."
While she shuffled off to the ship, he hastily shoved what storage crates remained into a makeshift barricade, keeping his eyes on the corridor approach. "How long would it take them to get back here? Been minutes since the explosion now."
The sight of an officer sprinting up the corridor caused him to duck down in preparation for another assault, only to glance back up and do a double take when he saw exactly who it was.
"Maarani? Where's Dana, and why are you-"
"Haven't a clue, and because I was cold. Since none of you thought to bring me clothes to get on for the escape."
"What do you mean 'haven't a clue'?"
Maarani shrugged while hurrying over to the ramp, still looking over her shoulder in case they were being pursued. "I got a little upset okay? I'll explain when we're in deep space and not being chased down by what's left of the ship's soldier compliment."
She pursed her lips when Dana rushed down the corridor at speed, and glared at her in just the way she expected.
"That was a fast turnaround."
"I've got a good reason for it. Let's go."
Jayden glanced at Izan, who was also avoiding making eye contact with Dana as she practically stormed into the ship after Maarani. The answer clearly wasn't something either of them would like.
"Maybe it's time for another round of cards, with all of five of us perhaps. At the very least it'll-"
She had glanced back down the corridor again, only to see Sloane approaching at brisk pace, and looking even more enraged.
"Scratch that thought! Let's not take the chance with her!"
They were both up in the ship seconds later, heading up to the cockpit where Maarani had already settled in to prepare for a very fast launch.
"Cecile, do we have yet more bombs to worry about or what?"
"All clear Mistress."
"Fine." The thrusters fired up, lifting off the deck enough to safely pull up the landing gear and make the turnaround inside the hangar bay itself, catching a glimpse of Sloane as she marched out into the open with yet more troopers behind before making the final circle for their escape.
As soon as they were out, she adjusted her heading for the nearest region of uncharted space and floored it.
"As I was going to say Dana, Colonel Harton is a member of the Following, and he reminded me that I'm not in a position to take over the Sith Empire yet."
Izan and Jayden blinked in confused disbelief at what they had just heard. Dana herself remained stone faced.
"And while I'm at it, the search for Yuthura is on hold. We're going back to the Corellian Run to that planet I didn't actually crash on. I'm going to search that island until I'm actually satisfied there's nothing to find. I still don't have a clue how to find the man who screwed with my brain, but at least I'll know there's nothing the Jedi could have actually done."
They hit hyperspace at that moment, ending the tension of a follow-up attack from Sloane's ship. It seemed they were done fighting for that day.
It was a while longer before Dana finally chose to speak, and it was not with a pleasant tone.
"How many more did you kill before changing your mind? There is a difference between what we did to rescue you, and seeking out death yourself."
Maarani kept her gaze forward, not wanting to weaken her position in the argument.
"I'm not Jedi. I can't become one, not in the way my parents or my brothers did. It's taken me a long time to realize, but there it is. The Lady of Balance singled me out to help bring about change. That means I don't think she'll let me lean to either side too much, and that includes going full Sith. So I don't think what I do matters anymore, Dana. Either way, it's all headed to the same place."
"Everything we do matters, Teegs. None of us would be alive today if the Jedi had given up twenty thousand years ago 'because none of it matters' when fighting the Sith. It matters to those that they protected, and that hasn't ever changed. I'm sorry you've lost sight of that."
There was no attempt from Maarani to hide her sigh of relief once Dana had finally left the cockpit. Her point about not taking any chastization from her still remained.
"Eight years I protected the Republic, and I nearly lost it all for 'doing the right thing'. I'm not the one with a guilt complex going on, not anymore."
When she finally felt ready to take her hands off the controls, she reached up to the communicator given to her by Harton. Answers to her questions about the Following, and quite possibly help in finding Yuthura, and more importantly her purpose going forward were waiting within.
She placed it back in her pocket and looked to the others. "I'm not turning my back on the Jedi. I just need some space from them for a while longer, until I can focus again."
