Disclaimer: I don't own the Star Wars universe or Star Wars KOTOR, George
Lucas and Lucas Arts do. They also own all the Characters and Worlds
contained therein. The characters created by me for this story are all
that I own.
Manaan – Underwater Base
We were walking down the corridor when a drunken Twi'lek made a remark about Cathar's. Juhani bristled but I stepped between her and the drunken man. He laughed and made some comment about it not being any wonder that they had crushed her world so easily. Then he asked me how much I wanted for my Cathar slave. I got irritated myself and told him that she was no slave. Suddenly the man peered at Juhani and said "I know that... Hey wait a minute... you look familiar somehow... Hmm... now where could I have... No, he's dead and likely she is too."
I started to get a sinking feeling that and he confirmed it when he repeated his offer of money for her and said "The females make amusing pets, but males should be put down like the animals they are. I remember one time on Taris..." Juhani yelled at him asking him what he had done on Taris. He smirked and said "You were the little Cathar I was going to purchase. But those Jedi came and stole my pet away from me." He taunted Juhani some more and then asked again how much I wanted for my pet. Juhani growled "I will see you dead for what you have done to my people!" and made a motion toward her lightsaber. I grabbed her arm and said "There is no emotion..." Juhani shuddered and calmed and said "...There is peace." The drunk was muttering to himself and choose to run off saying something about he would have her yet.
We continued walking and Juhani thanked me for preventing her from striking him down, but she was worried about what he planned to do. I nodded and decided that we should return to the ship and discuss this new problem with the others. As we returned to the Ebon Hawk the Twi'lek was waiting for us with two Selkath thugs. It was not a wise move on his part; Juhani and I were more than capable of fighting the three of them. The Twi'lek fell to the ground mortally wounded he laughed and told Juhani that he had killed the Cathar for the pleasure of killing her race. I was shocked and Juhani was seething barely in control of herself. I reached to her and asked her not to let herself fall to the dark side. She looked at me and I could see her calm down, the man tried to keep provoking her though, telling her how he had killed her father and then come looking for them but could not find them till he saw her on the auction block. Juhani spat "You... You killed my father, you killed my people, and you treat us like animals... You deserve to die!" I spoke to her softly and said "Do not give in Juhani. You are stronger than this." The Twi'lek spat blood and said "Give in and embrace your hate! You're no better than me! You're nothing!"
I looked at the pathetic Twi'lek and shook my head and said to her "Do not do it Juhani, you are not an animal." She looked at me pleadingly and cried "I... Help me please! Do not let me give into my anger again." Juhani had become a younger sister to me, and I cared for her greatly. I gripped her shoulder and said to her "There is no emotion..." I was using my Force powers at the same time to drain off some of her anger and diffuse it. I didn't know how I was doing it but I made myself a center of calm for her. She felt what I was doing and relaxed and finished "... There is peace." Rationality returned to her and she said "No, I will not do this. He may die, but it will not be out of my vengeance." With that the Twi'lek gave a last hate filled gurgle and died. We dragged the bodies over to the sea and dumped them in letting them drift away. And then we returned to the ship arm in arm.
Bastila saw us enter and turned and walked away, I realized that she had misinterpreted what she had seen, but I didn't feel that I could go after her right then. Juhani still needed to talk to me desperately. We talked for awhile about what she had felt and she calmed down and told me she wanted to meditate for awhile. I nodded and went to find Bastila, she was talking with Jolee and I didn't want to interrupt them so I sighed and decided to just try and get some sleep. It had been an emotional roll coaster of a day and I was starting to feel numb. The next day when I got up, I felt tired and depressed; Bastila was still shutting herself away from our bond. The situation with Bastila seemed to sap my strength away from me. Bastila was still avoiding me and I realized I was seriously starting to feel pretty aggravated with the entire situation.
Everyone seemed busy this morning and I shrugged and decided to take HK to the droid shop and see if they had any upgrades for him. I picked up a few things and we walked back by the Republic embassy, I knew I was being stupid but I decided to just take HK and I down to the underwater base. It just didn't seem to matter and I didn't want to be around anyone this morning. HK was a more than decent backup anyway and he was undemanding company. I probably should have seen if Zaalbar wanted to go as well but I didn't want to step back onboard the ship. I admitted to myself, I was avoiding seeing Bastila.
I found that I actually enjoyed the trip down in the submarine; I felt the aggressiveness of the firaxa sharks but was able to persuade them that the submarine was not food on the way down. I stepped out of the submarine into an eerily quiet base. Extending my force senses I could tell that there were several beings alive down here but they all seemed wrong somehow. I stopped my half meditation and decided to investigate further. The first person I ran into was crazed with fear , he was one of the mercenaries that had been sent down he told me that the Selkath had come out screaming and croaking and had attacked his companions. Some of them had left using one of the submarines but they had been attacked when they left and he had heard the explosion of the submarine. Hmm, interesting the sharks would let people come down but they would attack them if they tried to leave. I told him to wait here and that I would see what I could do. I know he thought me mad.
As I walked through the base I came across several bodies, all clawed up and some of them with appendages torn off. I finally came across some of the Selkath's and realized they were all insane; they didn't even talk anymore just screamed at me and attacked madly. HK and I killed them and I realized I was feeling more awake now. This wasn't going to be a walk in the park like so many of my recent forays had been. I started using my force senses to check every room before I entered and HK and I stalked through the underwater base. In one of the rooms I found a data pad that recorded the work of one of the scientists on a sonic emitter that could be used on the outside of an enviro-suit to drive off the firaxa sharks. I located the emitter it described and stashed it in my pack. We came upon one of the heavy assault droids and I suddenly realized how much I depended upon Bastila's force powers to attack these. It was all I could do to remember my lessons and disable it for short periods. I paused a moment after it had been destroyed and went over the lesson in my mind and though about what I had done wrong. I resolved to use the force on every droid that attacked us down here until I got the hang of it again.
We found a man whimpering in a locker but he would not come out, he was mad with fear and nothing I could do, would persuade him to come out. I asked if he had enough food capsules and he laughed and said no, I gave him a few and told him that I was going to make sure the base was safe for him to come out. He laughed and started talking about me being fishy food. I shook my head and went on. We finally cleared all the Selkaths and patrol droids from the first part of the base and I told HK to make sure it was safe for me to come back. He couldn't wear and enviro suit so I would have to go to the second part of the base myself. We would stay in touch though using our communicators.
I meet another survivor in an enviro suit in the underwater part of the facility but he wouldn't listen to me when I told him that the first part of the base was now safe. Instead he said something about going out to the ocean floor and ran off. I was still struggling with learning how to move in mine and I watched him with frustration as he left me and headed down the hall. I got to the entrance he indicated just in time to see him carried off by one of the larger firaxa sharks. I swore to myself then sighed, if only he had listened to me. Using my force senses and the sonic emitter I was able to make it safely to the second section of the under water base. There were a few more Selkath to fight there and I found two people behind a force field. They stared at me with shocked eyes when they saw me and I could tell that they were close to breaking under the stress of what they had seen. They broke down when I spoke to them and one of them in a panic started a depressurization cycle in the room I was standing in. I used my lightsabers to break though the force field separating me from them and stopped the cycle.
I used the force to calm them and to persuade them that they were alright now and managed to get them to talk sensibly to me. The two of them apologized to me for reacting like they did; they explained that they had felt so afraid. They told me what had happened at the base, they had disturbed a huge firaxan shark. They said it had been screaming inside their head and that's when the Selkath had all went insane and attacked everyone and so had the firaxan sharks outside. They thought that maybe the monster was the parent of the firaxan sharks outside and that it fed directly off the kolto. It must have been living deep within the rift and been disturbed by their construction. They introduced themselves as Kono Nolan the head scientist at the station and Sami, Kono wanted me to use a toxic chemical to kill the monster firaxan but Sami argued that they had no idea what it would do to the environment, it might even kill the kolto. She suggested that I try destroying the machinery that had caused the monster firaxan shark to appear even thought it would set back the Republic efforts to gain more kolto. I nodded and told them I would try destroying the machinery, I thought the idea of using a toxic chemical in the water an extremely risky and potentially environmentally deadly choice.
I went out to the ocean floor again and found the Kolto Control as Sami had described to me. I extended my force senses and could detect something almost sentient in the water with me but it was not that close. Interesting I thought. I proceeded to follow her directions on how to use the fuel to cause a pressure explosion in the tanks. It succeeded and with a mighty explosion the harvesting device slid into the rift. I shook my head and waited to recover from the blast and sensed something watching me. I turned around to face the largest firaxan shark I could imagine. It was the sentient presence I had felt. It watched me but showed no signs of hostility; I proceeded past its watchful gaze to where I hoped the Star Map was located. As I went further I could see it in the distance and approached it being careful to record the data for review later. I felt a bit guilty that I had run off and done this on my own but I was feeling better and not so depressed. The trip had certainly cleared my head.
I went back to Kono and Sami and as I had expected Sami was pleased with what I had done and Kono ranted and said that he would make sure the Republic was informed of my actions. I nodded and told them I would make sure rescuers were sent down as soon as possible. I went back to the area I had left HK and we started back to the submarine. I stopped feeling something odd and realized that we had unexpected guests. I could feel an evil presence waiting for us, Dark Jedi. I informed HK and we proceeded cautiously. As we approached I grew more certain of where they waited for us. I motioned HK to stop and we activated our energy shields and I prepared myself for what I was certain would be a challenging fight.
Bastila had finally gotten tired of avoiding Cait and had went looking for her thinking it was unlike her to ignore the fact that they needed to find the Star Map. She could not find her anywhere on the ship and started to ask her ship mates if they had seen her. Juhani looked at her curiously and it was all Bastila could do to not bristle at the other woman. Juhani sensed her anger and looked at her asking what the matter was. Bastila told her that she was looking for Cait and Juhani told her that she had not seen her since last night after they had confronted her father's killer.
Bastila was startled and asked when this had happened, Juhani looked at her oddly and told her of meeting her father's killer and how Cait had once again stopped her from giving into her anger. She had talked with her late into the night Juhani told Bastila but she had not seen her after that. Concerned now they both started looking for Cait and realized that HK was also gone. They decided to go to the Republic Embassy and see if anyone had seen her in Alto City and were informed that she had already gone down to investigate the base accompanied by a battle droid.
Bastila was hard pressed to control her expression and she thanked the soldier and stared at the smooth water of the empty submarine bay. Juhani and Bastila stared at each other and then at the water feeling helpless. Bastila had been trying to get information from the bond but she was getting very little sense through it. This usually happened when Cait was concentrating on a single mindedly on a task. At least she knew that Cait was still alive and well. Bastila and Juhani extended their force senses trying to find Cait and ran into an unexpected presence. Dark Jedi and one of them was strong with the presence of the dark side. She could sense Cait as well shining with light force energy. Bastila and Juhani waited with senses extended tying to determine what was happening. Shortly they detected the deaths of all of the Dark Jedi and only Cait's presence remained.
They saw the submarine rise back up though the docking area and Cait and HK got out from it. Cait looked at them and raised one eyebrow asking them how long they had been waiting for her. Bastila stared at her looking for any signs of injury but Cait appeared entirely unhurt, not even a hair out of place. When had she grown so strong that she could single handedly defeat three Dark Jedi one who had been strong in the dark side with out apparently any effort? And how dare she frighten her like that and then look so casual about the entire thing.
This wasn't supposed to be how things went; she had broken things off with Cait so that they could both concentrate on the mission like they were supposed to. Instead here was Cait going off on her own to find a Star Map not even bothering to tell anyone where she had gone. Just taking that horrid droid with her for company. And acting like nothing was wrong with it, not only that but she was shielding herself from the bond which was something she had never done before. Had Bastila made a mistake, had telling Cait that there was no hope of a relationship started her down the path Revan had took? What was she supposed to do, she had done what her training told her to do but now it seemed that had been the wrong thing to do, Cait was shutting her out and Bastila was scared of where it could lead especially given that the next placed they had to go was Korriban.
I could tell that Bastila was furious with me but I wasn't in the mood, she had been the one to tell me everything between us had been a mistake and I was still smarting over that. I was aware that I was acting like a brat when I asked her causally how long she had been waiting for me to get back. She glared at me and replied that they hadn't been waiting long and I replied that was good I would have felt bad about keeping them waiting. Juhani was looking between the two of us and I could tell the she was extremely uncomfortable with the over obvious politeness.
I couldn't tell what Bastila was thinking, but then I never could she had always kept a part of herself shielded from the bond. I knew she had secrets she was keeping from me, they hadn't bothered me before but it bothered me now and reflexively I did something I had not done before. I shielded myself from the bond, it made me feel bad to do it but she deserved to feel how it felt. How dare Bastila throw my love back in my face and then think that things would just merrily run on as they had before.
I stepped past the both of them saying that I needed to report to Roland Wann on what I had found and did they want to go with me. Bastila and Juhani fell into step behind me and it was all I could do to stop my pain from showing. I got myself quickly back under control and reported what I had found down at the station and the steps I had taken to resolve it. He winced over the destruction of the base and commented that the price may have been too high but I commented that taking the risk of destroying all the kolto by using an untried toxic chemical would have been worse. I could see that I had made my point and I turned over the toxic chemical to him for further experimentation. I took my leave of him and stepped out of the Republic Embassy only to find a waiting Selkath authority delegation. I chuckled and told them that I would come along peacefully and explain my actions.
The court session was extremely interesting, with part of the judges aware of the station and part of them not. While they argued over whether or not to the Council needed to be told I waited patiently. Finally the head judge persuaded the others to be silent about the research station and asked me what had happened. I told them about the giant firaxan shark and how it had driven everyone in the station insane. Then I told them that I had destroyed the harvesters so that the shark would leave the station alone. They argued among their selves and I could tell they had some type of creation myth about them being descended from such a being, they called it the Proginator.
I was doubly happy that I had taken the action I had and I reported the results of the court session to Roland, emphasizing that the Selkaths believed that the giant firaxan was their ancestor. He shuddered over what might have happened had I used the toxin to kill the shark and thanked me for taking the right action. I smiled and realized that Bastila had come in behind me and heard my second report. She smiled at me and complimented me on my actions. I looked at her and nodded non-committaly and felt sad as the smile dropped from her face and her eyes shadowed. I wondered what was wrong with me that I was being so cruel to her, and I cleared my throat and suggested that we take a walk out to see the ocean if she would do me the honor of accompanying me. Roland stared at us both but I said nothing only politely thanking him for his comments and respectfully taking my leave. I think he eventually just decided that I was excessively formal in my ways.
Bastila hesitantly accompanied me out to watch the waves and I reluctantly lowered the shield I had been keeping over my feelings, I felt her gasp beside me as my feelings of pain, anger and sorrow made themselves known. I said nothing but continued staring out over the waves. She was silent beside me and I could feel her staring at me but I refused to look at her. She fidgeted but would no lower her own shield in return so I once again raised my own feeling disappointed. She bowed her head and I glanced over and could see that she was struggling not to cry in such a public place. What in the hell was she hiding? What did she know about my past that she refused to tell me? Jolee had said there was something dark about me and I had felt that it was locked in the past that I didn't know. I had grown more and surer that Bastila and the Jedi knew more about my past than they would admit and they were not telling me what it was. I suspected Bastila was under direct orders not to tell me but that only slightly blunted my feelings of frustration.
I could think of only one place we could find relative privacy to talk and took her arm and lead her back to the ship, she didn't argue and I could see her bringing herself back under control as we walked back. She went toward the ship but I lead her around to the other side out toward the ocean where there was a stack of crates we could sit on and talk. There were no camera's floating around here, and no one from the ship could exit without us hearing the ramp. This was as close to private as we had gotten in along while.
I apologized to her for going down to the Rift without telling anyone, only saying that I hadn't been thinking clearly and that I had wanted to get away from everyone for awhile. I know she knew that I meant that I had needed to get away from her. She still looked sightlessly out over the landing bay and frustrated I asked her "What are you hiding from me Bastila; I know you know something about my past." She started violently and stared at me and started to leave but I gripped her arms and prevented her from leaving. Then I realized that she was actually afraid of me and was instinctively drawing on the force to push me away from her, I stepped in closer and wrapped my arms around her and bound them together and stared at her saying "I told you long ago that I would never hurt you Bastila, I meant it then and I still mean it." She blinked and I could feel her letting the force drain away as her face whitened in realization that she had almost attacked me.
I wondered what I had done that she knew about to make her think that I would harm her. I closed my eyes and though with anguish what was I before I lost my memories, I had no criminal record that I knew of what could the Jedi know about my past. Had I perhaps gone mad with grief over my planet being destroyed and slaughtered and tortured Sith perhaps? Had I fallen to the dark impulses I had listened to so many Sith soldiers recount in their own falls? Had the blow to my head which took away my memory saved me from a life of dark hatred? Would I be wearing a Sith uniform now if it hadn't happened?
I asked her "What did I do that would make you so afraid of me, that you would think that I would hurt you. What did I do? Did I lash out at the Sith that attacked my world? Did I... did I torture them perhaps?" I waited for her to answer me and she refused to meet my eyes only shaking her head. I sighed and asked "Did the council forbid you to discuss what you know about my past with me?" At that she stilled and then reluctantly nodded. I nodded and said "Nothing much I can say then, orders are orders. I guess I'll have to ask when all this is done. No matter how bad it is I would rather know the truth." She looked at me searchingly and I meet her eyes directly and dropped the shields over my emotions and let her know that I was certain that I would rather know the truth no matter how bad it was.
I reluctantly let her go and she turned toward the ship and then hesitated and said "I don't want you thinking that I don't care for you Cait, this is hurting me as much as it is you. I just don't know what to do, my training says one thing but my heart says another."
I said "Just don't shut me out, I can't stand it. I love you and it hurts almost too much for me to bear." She turned and looked at me and I could see that she was crying. I pulled her back into my arms and held her and thought of how much I loved her and depended on her. Bastila wrapped her arms around me and accepted my comfort and I felt her pain and confusion though our bond. She had dropped part of her defenses; I shuddered and apologized for my boorish behavior telling her how sorry I was that I had hurt her. She apologized as well, telling me she had never meant to hurt me so. Finally we shared a short sweet kiss and I could feel that she did indeed love me but she was very frightened of her emotions for me. I could think of no way to reassure her except to show her as much as I could that she had nothing to fear from me. I finally released her and we walked back aboard the Ebon Hawk and prepared to leave Manaan for Korriban. I still had no idea how we were supposed to move around on a Sith controlled planet but hopefully some plan would make itself apparent.
To take my mind off of things I cornered Jolee and asked him to explain what he had meant when he said his adventuring days were over. It took quite a bit of arguing with him but he finally began to tell me of his smuggling days, he had been involved with smuggling food and supplies to the citizens of a system called Ukatis whose king preferred to keep his people poor and hungry so he could control them. He had stolen most of the food and supplies, he said he considered it a tax on the greedy and that stole was such a harsh word. I chuckled at that and he scowled at me but continued saying that he had only been caught once by a lone Ukatish frigate. He thought the force had deserted him but that had proven to be a lucky day, he paused and looked sad and I wondered what had happened. He went on said that was the day he meet his wife. I wondered what had happened to make the memory both happy and sad. He said that he would prefer to drop the subject and I did.
Manaan – Underwater Base
We were walking down the corridor when a drunken Twi'lek made a remark about Cathar's. Juhani bristled but I stepped between her and the drunken man. He laughed and made some comment about it not being any wonder that they had crushed her world so easily. Then he asked me how much I wanted for my Cathar slave. I got irritated myself and told him that she was no slave. Suddenly the man peered at Juhani and said "I know that... Hey wait a minute... you look familiar somehow... Hmm... now where could I have... No, he's dead and likely she is too."
I started to get a sinking feeling that and he confirmed it when he repeated his offer of money for her and said "The females make amusing pets, but males should be put down like the animals they are. I remember one time on Taris..." Juhani yelled at him asking him what he had done on Taris. He smirked and said "You were the little Cathar I was going to purchase. But those Jedi came and stole my pet away from me." He taunted Juhani some more and then asked again how much I wanted for my pet. Juhani growled "I will see you dead for what you have done to my people!" and made a motion toward her lightsaber. I grabbed her arm and said "There is no emotion..." Juhani shuddered and calmed and said "...There is peace." The drunk was muttering to himself and choose to run off saying something about he would have her yet.
We continued walking and Juhani thanked me for preventing her from striking him down, but she was worried about what he planned to do. I nodded and decided that we should return to the ship and discuss this new problem with the others. As we returned to the Ebon Hawk the Twi'lek was waiting for us with two Selkath thugs. It was not a wise move on his part; Juhani and I were more than capable of fighting the three of them. The Twi'lek fell to the ground mortally wounded he laughed and told Juhani that he had killed the Cathar for the pleasure of killing her race. I was shocked and Juhani was seething barely in control of herself. I reached to her and asked her not to let herself fall to the dark side. She looked at me and I could see her calm down, the man tried to keep provoking her though, telling her how he had killed her father and then come looking for them but could not find them till he saw her on the auction block. Juhani spat "You... You killed my father, you killed my people, and you treat us like animals... You deserve to die!" I spoke to her softly and said "Do not give in Juhani. You are stronger than this." The Twi'lek spat blood and said "Give in and embrace your hate! You're no better than me! You're nothing!"
I looked at the pathetic Twi'lek and shook my head and said to her "Do not do it Juhani, you are not an animal." She looked at me pleadingly and cried "I... Help me please! Do not let me give into my anger again." Juhani had become a younger sister to me, and I cared for her greatly. I gripped her shoulder and said to her "There is no emotion..." I was using my Force powers at the same time to drain off some of her anger and diffuse it. I didn't know how I was doing it but I made myself a center of calm for her. She felt what I was doing and relaxed and finished "... There is peace." Rationality returned to her and she said "No, I will not do this. He may die, but it will not be out of my vengeance." With that the Twi'lek gave a last hate filled gurgle and died. We dragged the bodies over to the sea and dumped them in letting them drift away. And then we returned to the ship arm in arm.
Bastila saw us enter and turned and walked away, I realized that she had misinterpreted what she had seen, but I didn't feel that I could go after her right then. Juhani still needed to talk to me desperately. We talked for awhile about what she had felt and she calmed down and told me she wanted to meditate for awhile. I nodded and went to find Bastila, she was talking with Jolee and I didn't want to interrupt them so I sighed and decided to just try and get some sleep. It had been an emotional roll coaster of a day and I was starting to feel numb. The next day when I got up, I felt tired and depressed; Bastila was still shutting herself away from our bond. The situation with Bastila seemed to sap my strength away from me. Bastila was still avoiding me and I realized I was seriously starting to feel pretty aggravated with the entire situation.
Everyone seemed busy this morning and I shrugged and decided to take HK to the droid shop and see if they had any upgrades for him. I picked up a few things and we walked back by the Republic embassy, I knew I was being stupid but I decided to just take HK and I down to the underwater base. It just didn't seem to matter and I didn't want to be around anyone this morning. HK was a more than decent backup anyway and he was undemanding company. I probably should have seen if Zaalbar wanted to go as well but I didn't want to step back onboard the ship. I admitted to myself, I was avoiding seeing Bastila.
I found that I actually enjoyed the trip down in the submarine; I felt the aggressiveness of the firaxa sharks but was able to persuade them that the submarine was not food on the way down. I stepped out of the submarine into an eerily quiet base. Extending my force senses I could tell that there were several beings alive down here but they all seemed wrong somehow. I stopped my half meditation and decided to investigate further. The first person I ran into was crazed with fear , he was one of the mercenaries that had been sent down he told me that the Selkath had come out screaming and croaking and had attacked his companions. Some of them had left using one of the submarines but they had been attacked when they left and he had heard the explosion of the submarine. Hmm, interesting the sharks would let people come down but they would attack them if they tried to leave. I told him to wait here and that I would see what I could do. I know he thought me mad.
As I walked through the base I came across several bodies, all clawed up and some of them with appendages torn off. I finally came across some of the Selkath's and realized they were all insane; they didn't even talk anymore just screamed at me and attacked madly. HK and I killed them and I realized I was feeling more awake now. This wasn't going to be a walk in the park like so many of my recent forays had been. I started using my force senses to check every room before I entered and HK and I stalked through the underwater base. In one of the rooms I found a data pad that recorded the work of one of the scientists on a sonic emitter that could be used on the outside of an enviro-suit to drive off the firaxa sharks. I located the emitter it described and stashed it in my pack. We came upon one of the heavy assault droids and I suddenly realized how much I depended upon Bastila's force powers to attack these. It was all I could do to remember my lessons and disable it for short periods. I paused a moment after it had been destroyed and went over the lesson in my mind and though about what I had done wrong. I resolved to use the force on every droid that attacked us down here until I got the hang of it again.
We found a man whimpering in a locker but he would not come out, he was mad with fear and nothing I could do, would persuade him to come out. I asked if he had enough food capsules and he laughed and said no, I gave him a few and told him that I was going to make sure the base was safe for him to come out. He laughed and started talking about me being fishy food. I shook my head and went on. We finally cleared all the Selkaths and patrol droids from the first part of the base and I told HK to make sure it was safe for me to come back. He couldn't wear and enviro suit so I would have to go to the second part of the base myself. We would stay in touch though using our communicators.
I meet another survivor in an enviro suit in the underwater part of the facility but he wouldn't listen to me when I told him that the first part of the base was now safe. Instead he said something about going out to the ocean floor and ran off. I was still struggling with learning how to move in mine and I watched him with frustration as he left me and headed down the hall. I got to the entrance he indicated just in time to see him carried off by one of the larger firaxa sharks. I swore to myself then sighed, if only he had listened to me. Using my force senses and the sonic emitter I was able to make it safely to the second section of the under water base. There were a few more Selkath to fight there and I found two people behind a force field. They stared at me with shocked eyes when they saw me and I could tell that they were close to breaking under the stress of what they had seen. They broke down when I spoke to them and one of them in a panic started a depressurization cycle in the room I was standing in. I used my lightsabers to break though the force field separating me from them and stopped the cycle.
I used the force to calm them and to persuade them that they were alright now and managed to get them to talk sensibly to me. The two of them apologized to me for reacting like they did; they explained that they had felt so afraid. They told me what had happened at the base, they had disturbed a huge firaxan shark. They said it had been screaming inside their head and that's when the Selkath had all went insane and attacked everyone and so had the firaxan sharks outside. They thought that maybe the monster was the parent of the firaxan sharks outside and that it fed directly off the kolto. It must have been living deep within the rift and been disturbed by their construction. They introduced themselves as Kono Nolan the head scientist at the station and Sami, Kono wanted me to use a toxic chemical to kill the monster firaxan but Sami argued that they had no idea what it would do to the environment, it might even kill the kolto. She suggested that I try destroying the machinery that had caused the monster firaxan shark to appear even thought it would set back the Republic efforts to gain more kolto. I nodded and told them I would try destroying the machinery, I thought the idea of using a toxic chemical in the water an extremely risky and potentially environmentally deadly choice.
I went out to the ocean floor again and found the Kolto Control as Sami had described to me. I extended my force senses and could detect something almost sentient in the water with me but it was not that close. Interesting I thought. I proceeded to follow her directions on how to use the fuel to cause a pressure explosion in the tanks. It succeeded and with a mighty explosion the harvesting device slid into the rift. I shook my head and waited to recover from the blast and sensed something watching me. I turned around to face the largest firaxan shark I could imagine. It was the sentient presence I had felt. It watched me but showed no signs of hostility; I proceeded past its watchful gaze to where I hoped the Star Map was located. As I went further I could see it in the distance and approached it being careful to record the data for review later. I felt a bit guilty that I had run off and done this on my own but I was feeling better and not so depressed. The trip had certainly cleared my head.
I went back to Kono and Sami and as I had expected Sami was pleased with what I had done and Kono ranted and said that he would make sure the Republic was informed of my actions. I nodded and told them I would make sure rescuers were sent down as soon as possible. I went back to the area I had left HK and we started back to the submarine. I stopped feeling something odd and realized that we had unexpected guests. I could feel an evil presence waiting for us, Dark Jedi. I informed HK and we proceeded cautiously. As we approached I grew more certain of where they waited for us. I motioned HK to stop and we activated our energy shields and I prepared myself for what I was certain would be a challenging fight.
Bastila had finally gotten tired of avoiding Cait and had went looking for her thinking it was unlike her to ignore the fact that they needed to find the Star Map. She could not find her anywhere on the ship and started to ask her ship mates if they had seen her. Juhani looked at her curiously and it was all Bastila could do to not bristle at the other woman. Juhani sensed her anger and looked at her asking what the matter was. Bastila told her that she was looking for Cait and Juhani told her that she had not seen her since last night after they had confronted her father's killer.
Bastila was startled and asked when this had happened, Juhani looked at her oddly and told her of meeting her father's killer and how Cait had once again stopped her from giving into her anger. She had talked with her late into the night Juhani told Bastila but she had not seen her after that. Concerned now they both started looking for Cait and realized that HK was also gone. They decided to go to the Republic Embassy and see if anyone had seen her in Alto City and were informed that she had already gone down to investigate the base accompanied by a battle droid.
Bastila was hard pressed to control her expression and she thanked the soldier and stared at the smooth water of the empty submarine bay. Juhani and Bastila stared at each other and then at the water feeling helpless. Bastila had been trying to get information from the bond but she was getting very little sense through it. This usually happened when Cait was concentrating on a single mindedly on a task. At least she knew that Cait was still alive and well. Bastila and Juhani extended their force senses trying to find Cait and ran into an unexpected presence. Dark Jedi and one of them was strong with the presence of the dark side. She could sense Cait as well shining with light force energy. Bastila and Juhani waited with senses extended tying to determine what was happening. Shortly they detected the deaths of all of the Dark Jedi and only Cait's presence remained.
They saw the submarine rise back up though the docking area and Cait and HK got out from it. Cait looked at them and raised one eyebrow asking them how long they had been waiting for her. Bastila stared at her looking for any signs of injury but Cait appeared entirely unhurt, not even a hair out of place. When had she grown so strong that she could single handedly defeat three Dark Jedi one who had been strong in the dark side with out apparently any effort? And how dare she frighten her like that and then look so casual about the entire thing.
This wasn't supposed to be how things went; she had broken things off with Cait so that they could both concentrate on the mission like they were supposed to. Instead here was Cait going off on her own to find a Star Map not even bothering to tell anyone where she had gone. Just taking that horrid droid with her for company. And acting like nothing was wrong with it, not only that but she was shielding herself from the bond which was something she had never done before. Had Bastila made a mistake, had telling Cait that there was no hope of a relationship started her down the path Revan had took? What was she supposed to do, she had done what her training told her to do but now it seemed that had been the wrong thing to do, Cait was shutting her out and Bastila was scared of where it could lead especially given that the next placed they had to go was Korriban.
I could tell that Bastila was furious with me but I wasn't in the mood, she had been the one to tell me everything between us had been a mistake and I was still smarting over that. I was aware that I was acting like a brat when I asked her causally how long she had been waiting for me to get back. She glared at me and replied that they hadn't been waiting long and I replied that was good I would have felt bad about keeping them waiting. Juhani was looking between the two of us and I could tell the she was extremely uncomfortable with the over obvious politeness.
I couldn't tell what Bastila was thinking, but then I never could she had always kept a part of herself shielded from the bond. I knew she had secrets she was keeping from me, they hadn't bothered me before but it bothered me now and reflexively I did something I had not done before. I shielded myself from the bond, it made me feel bad to do it but she deserved to feel how it felt. How dare Bastila throw my love back in my face and then think that things would just merrily run on as they had before.
I stepped past the both of them saying that I needed to report to Roland Wann on what I had found and did they want to go with me. Bastila and Juhani fell into step behind me and it was all I could do to stop my pain from showing. I got myself quickly back under control and reported what I had found down at the station and the steps I had taken to resolve it. He winced over the destruction of the base and commented that the price may have been too high but I commented that taking the risk of destroying all the kolto by using an untried toxic chemical would have been worse. I could see that I had made my point and I turned over the toxic chemical to him for further experimentation. I took my leave of him and stepped out of the Republic Embassy only to find a waiting Selkath authority delegation. I chuckled and told them that I would come along peacefully and explain my actions.
The court session was extremely interesting, with part of the judges aware of the station and part of them not. While they argued over whether or not to the Council needed to be told I waited patiently. Finally the head judge persuaded the others to be silent about the research station and asked me what had happened. I told them about the giant firaxan shark and how it had driven everyone in the station insane. Then I told them that I had destroyed the harvesters so that the shark would leave the station alone. They argued among their selves and I could tell they had some type of creation myth about them being descended from such a being, they called it the Proginator.
I was doubly happy that I had taken the action I had and I reported the results of the court session to Roland, emphasizing that the Selkaths believed that the giant firaxan was their ancestor. He shuddered over what might have happened had I used the toxin to kill the shark and thanked me for taking the right action. I smiled and realized that Bastila had come in behind me and heard my second report. She smiled at me and complimented me on my actions. I looked at her and nodded non-committaly and felt sad as the smile dropped from her face and her eyes shadowed. I wondered what was wrong with me that I was being so cruel to her, and I cleared my throat and suggested that we take a walk out to see the ocean if she would do me the honor of accompanying me. Roland stared at us both but I said nothing only politely thanking him for his comments and respectfully taking my leave. I think he eventually just decided that I was excessively formal in my ways.
Bastila hesitantly accompanied me out to watch the waves and I reluctantly lowered the shield I had been keeping over my feelings, I felt her gasp beside me as my feelings of pain, anger and sorrow made themselves known. I said nothing but continued staring out over the waves. She was silent beside me and I could feel her staring at me but I refused to look at her. She fidgeted but would no lower her own shield in return so I once again raised my own feeling disappointed. She bowed her head and I glanced over and could see that she was struggling not to cry in such a public place. What in the hell was she hiding? What did she know about my past that she refused to tell me? Jolee had said there was something dark about me and I had felt that it was locked in the past that I didn't know. I had grown more and surer that Bastila and the Jedi knew more about my past than they would admit and they were not telling me what it was. I suspected Bastila was under direct orders not to tell me but that only slightly blunted my feelings of frustration.
I could think of only one place we could find relative privacy to talk and took her arm and lead her back to the ship, she didn't argue and I could see her bringing herself back under control as we walked back. She went toward the ship but I lead her around to the other side out toward the ocean where there was a stack of crates we could sit on and talk. There were no camera's floating around here, and no one from the ship could exit without us hearing the ramp. This was as close to private as we had gotten in along while.
I apologized to her for going down to the Rift without telling anyone, only saying that I hadn't been thinking clearly and that I had wanted to get away from everyone for awhile. I know she knew that I meant that I had needed to get away from her. She still looked sightlessly out over the landing bay and frustrated I asked her "What are you hiding from me Bastila; I know you know something about my past." She started violently and stared at me and started to leave but I gripped her arms and prevented her from leaving. Then I realized that she was actually afraid of me and was instinctively drawing on the force to push me away from her, I stepped in closer and wrapped my arms around her and bound them together and stared at her saying "I told you long ago that I would never hurt you Bastila, I meant it then and I still mean it." She blinked and I could feel her letting the force drain away as her face whitened in realization that she had almost attacked me.
I wondered what I had done that she knew about to make her think that I would harm her. I closed my eyes and though with anguish what was I before I lost my memories, I had no criminal record that I knew of what could the Jedi know about my past. Had I perhaps gone mad with grief over my planet being destroyed and slaughtered and tortured Sith perhaps? Had I fallen to the dark impulses I had listened to so many Sith soldiers recount in their own falls? Had the blow to my head which took away my memory saved me from a life of dark hatred? Would I be wearing a Sith uniform now if it hadn't happened?
I asked her "What did I do that would make you so afraid of me, that you would think that I would hurt you. What did I do? Did I lash out at the Sith that attacked my world? Did I... did I torture them perhaps?" I waited for her to answer me and she refused to meet my eyes only shaking her head. I sighed and asked "Did the council forbid you to discuss what you know about my past with me?" At that she stilled and then reluctantly nodded. I nodded and said "Nothing much I can say then, orders are orders. I guess I'll have to ask when all this is done. No matter how bad it is I would rather know the truth." She looked at me searchingly and I meet her eyes directly and dropped the shields over my emotions and let her know that I was certain that I would rather know the truth no matter how bad it was.
I reluctantly let her go and she turned toward the ship and then hesitated and said "I don't want you thinking that I don't care for you Cait, this is hurting me as much as it is you. I just don't know what to do, my training says one thing but my heart says another."
I said "Just don't shut me out, I can't stand it. I love you and it hurts almost too much for me to bear." She turned and looked at me and I could see that she was crying. I pulled her back into my arms and held her and thought of how much I loved her and depended on her. Bastila wrapped her arms around me and accepted my comfort and I felt her pain and confusion though our bond. She had dropped part of her defenses; I shuddered and apologized for my boorish behavior telling her how sorry I was that I had hurt her. She apologized as well, telling me she had never meant to hurt me so. Finally we shared a short sweet kiss and I could feel that she did indeed love me but she was very frightened of her emotions for me. I could think of no way to reassure her except to show her as much as I could that she had nothing to fear from me. I finally released her and we walked back aboard the Ebon Hawk and prepared to leave Manaan for Korriban. I still had no idea how we were supposed to move around on a Sith controlled planet but hopefully some plan would make itself apparent.
To take my mind off of things I cornered Jolee and asked him to explain what he had meant when he said his adventuring days were over. It took quite a bit of arguing with him but he finally began to tell me of his smuggling days, he had been involved with smuggling food and supplies to the citizens of a system called Ukatis whose king preferred to keep his people poor and hungry so he could control them. He had stolen most of the food and supplies, he said he considered it a tax on the greedy and that stole was such a harsh word. I chuckled at that and he scowled at me but continued saying that he had only been caught once by a lone Ukatish frigate. He thought the force had deserted him but that had proven to be a lucky day, he paused and looked sad and I wondered what had happened. He went on said that was the day he meet his wife. I wondered what had happened to make the memory both happy and sad. He said that he would prefer to drop the subject and I did.