Leon hadn't taken his eyes off of the unconscious form of Marien since they'd pumped her full of painkillers the night before. He tossed the drive from hand to hand nervously, trying hard to look at Mari without seeing her arm. The bones were bent in a myriad of different directions from just above her elbow all the way down to her wrist. Leon's brow furrowed – when he had gone out of control, they hadn't been able to pay attention to the trap. It was his fault that this was happening.
But that didn't stop his mind from wandering. Behind the constant stream of worry for Mari running through his thoughts, he couldn't take his mind off of the Black Robed man. He had shown up out of nowhere and disappeared just as suddenly. "I don't know. Was it a Jedi?" Erea had asked after knocking out Mari. She had grimaced while looking at the arm.
"I doubt it. When I had to heal you two he basically told me to figure it out," Leon had replied. "A Jedi wouldn't have helped us anyways."
"Yes... Well, as far as I know, there aren't any Sith left on Coruscant. Any that were in the Sith's records responded to Lord Revan's summons when he took over," Erea had explained. She frowned. "An Imperial Knight?"
Leon shook his head. "No... that – I don't know. He wasn't an Imperial Knight."
Leon was quiet as he stared at Marien, his mind finally silent for a moment. The Chiss woman shuddered in her forced sleep. Slivers of pain slipping through? Or something else? He pocketed the drive and clutched woman's good hand. Her shivering seemed to slow and eventually stop. They needed to get her off planet, soon. "Are you any closer?" Leon asked Erea.
The redhead sighed. "Not any more than I was five minutes ago when you asked last," she responded. Her fingers kept clacking against the holopad. "Triumvirate government is preventing all ship sales on planet, and finding black market deals isn't as easy on the holo net as one would think. In fact, most people think it's difficult, so it's damn near impossible!"
"Don't snap at me!" Leon growled. He stood up suddenly and the chair he had been sitting on flew backwards to clack against the wall. Mari flinched in her sleep at the noise. Leon growled and crouched next to her again.
"I'm trying, Leon," Erea sighed. She turned from the holopad. "I'm looking, but I'm not finding anything."
Leon groaned inwardly. "I know. I just... She's our friend. We need to help her."
"I know," Erea replied. She put the holopad down and walked over to place her hand on Leon's shoulder. "We will. Just give me a min-"
"Or you could just listen to me," a calm voice interjected as the doors slid open. Leon's vibrosword was out and at the Echani's throat before the door was even open. "Well, you're faster than I thought. But, I'm faster than you thought."
Leon glanced down to see a combat knife poking into his gut. "Call it a draw?" Leon asked, pulling his weapon down. The Echani shrugged and sheathed his knife. Leon stepped back from Deranis and, in a few steps, was back at Marien's side. He glanced at her for a moment, then looked back up at Deranis with hard eyes. "Why are you here? How did you find us?"
The Echani looked around the room. He raised a hand and pulled a small disk from his belt, then tossed it into the room. The device beeped as soon as it hit the ground. "Okay, we're safe in here. No outside signals can come in, no inside signals can get out," he stated. Deranis walked away from the door, which shut behind him with a pressurized hiss. "I found you by following the tracer tag I put on you in the Red Vong's hideout."
"You tagged us?" Erea asked.
"I'm not talking to you, girl," Deranis said gruffly. He pointed at Leon. "The way you and the Chiss acted when he lowered his weapon, he's in command here."
Erea scoffed indignantly."I'm his commanding offic-"
The Echani put his hand up and Naga was silenced. "The way you moved... you're dependent on him, on what he thinks. You follow. He is a leader, it is only natural. When he makes a movement, you subconsciously mirror it. I could see it. Don't feel bad, I could see my own stance doing the same."
"What do you mean?" Leon asked. His fingers were stretched out, brushing against Mari's shoulder. The human contact seemed to be lessening her suffering, if only a little.
"Leaders attract followers. There's only going to be more of us as time goes on," Deranis explained. He began to ignore Erea again. "Leon, that's your name? I placed a tracker on you when we met. You are level headed, clever, and obviously a good enough fighter to make it in and out of there alive. I have been listening to your problem on my way here, and I believe that I have a solution."
Leon perked up. "Tell me," he demanded. "Why help us, and what do you propose?"
Deranis nodded. "Queen Jool is not honorable. Jool's a Hutt, after all, but it was preferable to working for the Triumvirate; Jool was the least corrupt gang leader in power in all of Coruscant. Unfortunately, in her desire for power I no longer believe that to be true. She sent me to the Red Vong to uncover the processes used in the creation of their new Vong Spore," Deranis explained as he drew the curtains. "She was planning on selling to the Triumvirate before the data... mysteriously disappeared."
"That could have changed the tide of the war!" Erea hissed. Her eyes were wide. "To use those would have been... horrible."
"Yes, it would have been void of honor," Deranis agreed. He crossed his arms and turned to Leon. "When I met you, I knew you were Sith on Coruscant, I knew a dangerous secret, and then you let me go. It confused me, honor behind enemy lines. But it earned my respect as well. I knew that I would need a new purpose once I left Coruscant, and you need a ship. Queen Jool came into possession of a ship almost six months ago. Never uses it, merely flaunts the power that comes with owning such a piece of history. Let me come with you, and I'll help you liberate it from her ownership."
"What piece of history?" Leon asked. He hadn't moved, as if he was trying to drain the pain from Marien. "What type of ship is it?"
"A smuggling freighter, named after some sort of bird," Deranis replied.
SWSWSWSWSW
"Ah, don't you just love it, Darling?" Jool asked Deranis and Leon as she led them around her base.
Leon had gained a highly viable level of street cred from being the one to take down the Red Vong. Single handedly according to the eye witness account of Deranis the Scalpel himself. Overnight, the mysterious 'Blue Blade' had become somewhat of an urban legend, one that reminded the scared people of their long lost Gray Jedi.
So when Deranis pulled the new kid on the block into Jool's office, the crime lord was overjoyed. The Hutt was always on the lookout for new talent to expand her empire and up and comers, while always a risk, held the greatest potential as a long term investment. And one who broke through the fighting between the Vong and Triumvirate military alone to kill the Shaper, one of Jool's biggest competitors? Well, there was no risk involved with overestimating his skill, was there?
Deranis' plan was simple enough. Use Leon's new fame as a warrior in the underground to bring him in on Jool's operation. Once in, Jool would give the two thieves' a complete rundown of the facility, including the location of the Ship, Jool's crown jewel. The whole thing, as a plan, was sound. But it reeked of... deja vu to the young soldier. But when had he ever been in enemy territory trying to steal a ship before?
"Well?" Jool insisted.
"What?" Leon asked. He shook his head. "I'm sorry, I was lost in thought."
"A sign of a sharp mind, Darling," Jool said, assuaging fears of her rage. "The ship, it is amazing, is it not? It was left here by a very famous figure almost two standard years ago. I keep it stocked with the same items it was left with, just to keep the price up. Once this war is over, the price will skyrocket."
Leon glanced up at the black and red ship, one made in the usual disk-like shape of a Correlian freighter. "What is it?"
Jool laughed. "Why, Darling, you don't know the stories? That is the Crimson Eagle!"
Leon's breath caught in his throat. The black and bloody crimson of the ship seemed to glow, now, with the fire of a fate that had forgotten it until that moment. This was the ship of Darth Revan.
SWSWSWSWSW
"You'll stay here with Deranis, darling," Jool told Leon as they neared the sleeping quarters for members of Jool's cartel. "I'll be setting up a job for you two. You make money, you get money, and all that. Just don't leave until then – I have a surprise for you." The Hutt smiled and waved, then made to leave.
When the door shut, Deranis narrowed his eyes. "She didn't tell me about a surprise," he growled. He pulled his blaster from his back and primed the power cell. "We need to get to the Eagle now, and hurry to pick up your crew on the way off planet."
"I have a bad feeling about this," Leon whispered to himself. He took his vibrosword from his belt and the sword snapped into place. The two men quietly ran from the room and towards the hangar.
"... the deal, Darling," Jool's voice wandered from within the hangar as the two approached.
"Deals change, Hutt," a voice snapped in response. Leon frowned – the voice sounded oddly familiar. "Be thankful we leave you with your enterprise at all." There was the familiar snap-hiss of a lightsaber igniting and Leon's eyes widened. "Where are the Sith?"
Leon tossed his vibrosword to his left hand. "What the kriff are you doing?" Deranis hissed, but Leon wasn't paying attention to him. Leon reached down to his belt and unclipped the lightsaber. He burst into the hangar while igniting the blue blade and room turned to glare at him.
The blonde Jedi snarled. His time in bacta had healed most of his wounds, but the pain and rage remained. "I've been wondering when I would get to kill you," the Jedi growled. He jumped forward, his new lightsaber rushing towards Leon's head.
SWSWSWSWSW
Van reviewed the notes of his deal with the Hutt, Queen Jool. Some said she had played a not insignificant part in the defeat of Krayt some eighty years prior, but had since become just another Hutt crime lord on Coruscant's mid-levels and below. She was a criminal... but criminals had their uses. Now, the Triumvirate could capture the Sith and data drive Ana was hunting in one fell swoop. The operative could be pulled out, and the war could be won in the span of a day.
Van was torn from his reverie by a beep coming from his holo communicator. He pressed the accept button and Ana appeared above his desk. "I have a copy of the drive's data that I acquired this morning. I'm sending you the information now," she said with an excited smile. "This could be what we're looking for."
"Have you seen what's on there?" Van asked hurriedly. His eyes were wide.
"Most of it was under some pretty heavy encryption," Ana said, shaking her head. "It'll take the techs months to wade through it all. But don't worry, we only need that one thing."
Van nodded and clasped his hands. "Perhaps the original drive itself will have a way to override the encryption," he said quietly. Ana looked confused. "A Jedi and trooper strike team was sent in to capture the Sith. We received a tip from a local crime boss in return for a lump sum of credits. We'll have everything in our hands soon."
To Van's surprise, Ana was not happy. "You don't kriffing understand then!" she hissed. She shook her head and slammed her fist into the wall of wherever she was. "That Jedi is going to die."
"Why?" Van asked, starting to get worried.
"Because one of the Sith might be just as strong as Theron," Ana shouted. Her eyes were wide with fear and worry.
"Force..." Van groaned as he looked up. "It's too late, they are already there."
Ana shook her head. "Then may the Force be with them."
