Well, here it is, after all this time. My only excuse is that the batteries for the mouse went dead and we couldn't find any for days! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Well, obviously, I don't own Star Wars or KotOR. You know who it belongs to. But I created the new characters!
Chapter Three: Malak's Attack
Canderous took the three of them to an airspeeder at the landing pads, and flew them to Davik's estate, not far from the cantina. They landed in the employees' hangar, and found Davik in the throne room, accompanied by a short man who clutched dual blasters in each hand.
"Nice to see you again, Canderous, as always. Who's your friend?"
"Of course. She's the rider who--"
"--won the great swoop race in the Lower City, of course. Now I recognize you. If you don't mind me asking, Canderous, why have you brought her here?"
"I've seen what she can do, Davik--winning the swoop race, killing Brejik--"
"Something we've all wanted for a long time."
"Well, I asked, and she said she would be very interested in working for you."
"I'm so pleased to finally meet you, Davik," Alora said politely. Davik shook her hand.
"So, you want to work for me, eh?" He chuckled. "I suppose I could use more help, though the Vulkars won't be giving us as much trouble from now on. You sure about this?"
"Very sure."
"Hmm. All right, then. I'll go run a background search on you right now, how's that? If everything goes right, I'll see what I can do for you."
"Fair enough," Alora said.
"Canderous, since you're already here, would you mind giving our friend a tour of the place?" Canderous nodded. "I need to run."
"Goodbye, Davik." Davik and his "bodyguard" left the room.
"Nevermind the tour," Canderous said once Davik was out of earshot. "I know where the Ebon Hawk is parked. Let's go."
Jarek didn't want to trust Canderous. Not a Mandalorian. But, he thought to himself, he had to. If not for Canderous, they wouldn't even be in Davik's estate. Jarek would just have to wait and see how it played out.
"Who was that man with Davik?" she asked as they followed him down the corridor.
"Calo Nord," Canderous replied. "He's a big-time bounty hunter. He's only stuck working for Davik because of the quarantine, too."
Canderous led them to a room in the northeast corner of the corridor where several Twi'leks stood chatting. There were beds in the back, shallow bathing pools near the front, and a footlocker on the other end.
"Greetings, master," a female slave said. "Would you like a massage?"
"Well," Carth said, chuckling. "I sure could use one."
"Not now, Carth," Jarek said firmly. "We have other things on our mind."
"All right, lighten up." Jarek turned to face the slave again, and heard Carth mutter, "Jedi."
"We're not interested in that right now. We need information."
"Information? But I am merely a slave! I'm not even allowed outside of this room. What could I possibly know that you don't?"
"Maybe more than you know. Have you heard lately?"
"Oh," she said, pondering. "Well, there has been a rumor floating around that Davik's pilot was caught stealing spice from the kitchens. Normally he would have been able to get away with that kind of thing, I think, but since the Sith quarantined the planet, Davik has become more tense than ever. They say he was put in the torture chambers."
"Where might those be?" Jarek asked.
"I think in the north end of this area. Just go back through the throne room to get there."
"Thank you," he said, and they left, Jarek in the lead. Following the slave's instructions, they went back through the throne room, and proceeded to the north end of the estate. Jarek would have navigated using the signs hanging from the ceiling, but he couldn't read them--they were written in a foreign language.
He went through a door to his left, but quickly found that this wasn't the torture chamber. A Tarisian noble dressed in fine, silk robes was standing inside, obviously startled by their appearance.
"What are you doing here?" he said. "I gave Davik specific orders not to disturb me!"
"Oh, I'm sorry," Jarek said. "I was just checking to see if you needed...."
"A drink!" Alora said quickly.
"Oh. Well, I don't need anything, thank you. That is kind of Davik to send someone to ask, though. Here, take this tip for thinking of me." The noble pulled out a 5-credit chit and handed it to Jarek, and faked a smile. "Goodbye." And he shut the door.
"Some reward, eh?" Alora said.
Carth chuckled slightly, and they continued down the corridor until they reached the last door. With their weapons drawn, they opened it. The three torture droids hovering in the air turned when the door opened, their eyes glowing a menacing red.
They were ready--Canderous fired away at one droid with his enormous repeating blaster, Carth and Alora took the second, and Jarek threw himself at the third. A coupl of swings and the droid exploded, sending sparks flying through the air. Canderous was handling the other droid just fine, but Carth and Alora seemed to be having some trouble. The droid burned Carth on his arm quite severely, sending him to the ground. Jarek used the Force and stunned the droid, temporarily disabling it.
"Alora!" he called. She took a swing at the torture droid, which was just enough to destroy it. By now, Canderous had finished off the last droid. Alora crouched beside
Carth, and pulled up his sleeve. He was burned from his elbow to his shoulder. Alora took a medpac from her belt and tended to his wound. Meanwhile, Jarek noticed a man in red clothes twitching madly in a cell. He hurried to the console and deactivated the electrical field around the cell.
"T-thank you," he said weakly. "I don't think I would have been able to stand it much longer."
"So, any kind of reward for saving you?" said Canderous impatiently.
"I don't have any credits--Davik took them when I was punished--but I have information. Information that could be worth a fortune!" he added hastily, seeing the look on Canderous' face. "I, er, used to be the pilot of the Ebon Hawk. I know the codes to disable the security system in the hangar around it! With those codes alone, you can steal the Ebon Hawk and do whatever you want with it. Sell it to the highest bidder, or--or ransom it back to Davik, anything you want! Whatever you do, you'll make thousands!"
"Thank you," Mara said. "That's exactly what we need. Now, hurry, before someone sees you!"
"Thanks again," the pilot said as he hurried off down the corridor.
"Okay," Canderous said. "We got what we came for. We should get going."
Eliminating any opposition they encountered on the way, Carth, Canderous, Alora, and Jarek went to the west wing of Davik's estate and entered the codes the pilot gave them to disable the security system at a console just outside the hangar.
"Wait," Jarek said. "Something's wrong." He could sense great danger approaching, but couldn't tell what it was exactly. Just then, a rumbling sound was heard and the ground shook, nearly sending Jarek to the ground.
"What is that?" Alora said as the building shook again.
"I don't know, but there's no time to figure it out now. We need to get to the ship!"
The moment they ran through the door to the hangar, they saw two figures approaching from the opposite end--Davik Kang and Calo Nord.
"It's the Sith!" Davik said to Calo. "They're bombing the whole planet! I knew they'd turn on us some day! If I ever--" But Davik stopped when he saw Canderous and the others. "So, it looks like we have another traitor on our hands," he said.
"I knew it!" Calo said. "You should have never trusted a Mandalorian! He thinks he's meant for bigger things than you!"
"Let's show him how Davik Kang treats a traitor," Davik said.
"Move out of the way, Davik, and we won't--"
"No," Davik interrupted. "You can't just steal my ship and leave me here to die while the Sith bomb the planet into dust! I won't let you! You'll have to kill me before you take my baby!"
"So it shall be," Canderous said bitterly. Jarek and Alora charged forward with their melee weapons, while Carth and Canderous stayed behind and fired with their blasters.
Davik and Calo remained in the same position, blasting away with their pistols. Jarek used his lightsaber to deflect the blaster bolts and dodged the ones that made it past. When Jarek got close enough, Davik dropped his guns and pulled out a long Echani vibroblade. Alora, however, had chosen to attack Calo, who stayed firing with his blasters, keeping her a good distance away from him.
After several moments of combat, Jarek realized he could not beat Davik. He was obviously well-trained. Additionally, he had a shield activated, which Jarek's lightsaber could not cut through that easily. He pushed Davik away with the Force, and jumped toward Calo instead. Calo obviously didn't have a vibroblade on him, as he kept backing away from them. A blaster bolt zoomed past and hit Calo in the arm. Jarek could smell the burnt flesh instantly. Alora and Jarek ceased fighting. Calo backed away even further, and pulled out a gray grenade from his coat.
"You may have defeated me, but I won't go alone. This Thermal Detonator will kill us all."
"Calo, don't!" Davik cried as he stood up.
"Shut up, old man. I don't work for you anymore. Now I'm ending this. Nobody's--" But a sudden explosion interrupted Calo and sent pipes from the ceiling crashing down, landing on top of Calo, and crushing Davik's leg.
"ARGH!" he cried in pain, but couldn't free himself. Jarek and the others turned and headed for the Ebon Hawk. "No! You can't take my baby and leave me here to die! You can't!"
"Watch me," Canderous said. He sealed the loading ramp for the ship, taking one last glance of Davik's horrified face. He joined the others at the cockpit. Carth was sitting in the pilot's seat, starting up the Ebon Hawk. Canderous sat down in the co-pilot's seat, and entered a bunch of numbers Jarek guessed were the launch codes.
"We're going back to the apartment to pick up a few friends first, if you don't mind, Canderous," Carth said, and they took off.
As they were flying, Jarek looked out the window. Buildings were burning left and right, some of them completely destroyed, and the citizens on the street were running around in fear, even the Sith soldiers. He could only hope their apartment building was still intact.
"Malak," Jarek said quietly.
"What?"
"Malak. Darth Malak. He did this. He ordered the strike."
Darth Malak was Revan's apprentice at one time. Revan and Malak were both originally Jedi. They were ambitious to learn the ways of the Jedi. Revan was the reason the Republic even won the Mandalorian Wars. If not for Revan's tactics and strategies, the Mandalorians would have won. But after the Mandalorian Wars, Revan and Malak took a Republic fleet with them out into uncharted space.
Nobody could make radio contact with them and they were never seen for weeks. Everyone assumed them to be dead. But eventually they did come back, but they were not the Revan and Malak they were before. They had become Sith, and they had returned with a seemingly infinite army. To this day, nobody knows how or where they got this fleet, but all they know is that there's no visible means of stopping them at this point.
Malak became proud. He began thinking he was superior to his master. So when a small squad of Jedi boarded Revan's flagship to capture him, Malak fired upon his own master, nearly killing him.
Bastila, who was part of the squad sent to capture Revan, thought him dead at first.
But Revan was not dead.
Bastila, the T3-M4 droid, and the others boarded the ship, blasters held tightly in their hands (those who had hands, anyway).
When they took off again, Jarek looked into the sky. It looked as if it was raining, but the rain was red. Blaster bolts were pouring out of the sky, so many that they blocked out of view whatever it was that was firing them. It would have been beautiful, had it not been so dangerous.
Everywhere, the Upper City streets were crumbling beneath the feet of the citizens and falling to the lower levels. Jarek could hear faint screams in his mind. He could almost feel the panic the people of Taris were feeling.
Jarek could hear explosions and the heavy blaster fire raining down on the streets of the city. The view of Taris looked completely different than it did when Jarek first saw it.
Before, it was clean and sparkling, the sunlight glinting merrily off the building windows. The Tarisians and off-worlders were going about their daily business, some smiling, others staying away from the Sith patrols.
Now, everything was in ruin. Large chunks of buildings were gone, if there was any building left to begin with. People on the streets tried to find somewhere safe to hide, though there was nothing. The streets themselves crumbled down to the Lower City, taking dozens of people down with them each time. Nobody seemed to fear the Sith walking the streets now--everyone was in it together at the moment.
Then, they were off. They flew away from the destroyed city and into space.
An enormous starship hovered above the planet, firing away at the surface. Jarek would have thought there were more ships, considering the amount of blaster fire there was.
"No," Carth whispered. "No, it can't be."
"What?" Jarek asked.
"That ship! I know that ship. It's...."
"Nevermind that, just go!" Carth punched in the coordinates, and they flew off into hyperspace.
"What ship was that?" Alora asked as they were flying.
"The Leviathan. I'm sure of it." Jarek could feel the anger in Carth as he said this, he could hear it in his voice. Jarek had never heard of it, but knew that was the ship Darth Malak was on at that moment.
"What's so special about that ship?"
Carth sighed, but didn't say anything. Jarek knew he was trying to find words to say.
"Saul Karath's flagship," he muttered.
"Saul Karath?" Alora said. "I know that name."
Carth turned and looked at her, his eyes considerably wider. "Oh? Congratulations, then."
Alora blinked. "What?"
"Don't act like you didn't hear me."
"Is something wrong?"
"No. Just go about your own business and stay out of mine."
"Er--I think I'm going to go check out the ship a little," said the young, blue Twi'lek Jarek saw in the apartment. The enormous Wookiee followed her.
Before anything else happened, the ship rocked.
"What was that?" Alora said, trying to find something to hold on to.
"A Sith squadron just came out of nowhere! They've intercepted us. We've dropped out of hyperspace."
"Quickly!" Bastila said. "To the turrets. You need to hold them off so we can get back into hyperspace!"
Alora turned and ran down the corridor out of sight.
Jarek looked out of the window again and saw a Sith fighter zoom past. Light blaster fire was heard and the ship rocked again.
"What can I do?" Jarek said to Carth.
"Try getting into one of those side turrets."
"How do I get there?"
"I don't know!" the pilot said, panicked. Jarek turned and ran to the crew quarters on the starboard section of the Ebon Hawk. Where Jarek expected a passage to the side turret to be, there were four beds. He ran to the one at the north end and examined the console at its foot. There were too many buttons--he didn't know what to push.
There was one button, however that caught his eye. It was a much larger, green button with an arrow pointing left, toward the outside of the ship. When he pressed it, the bed he was on instantly began to descend into the floor. As it was going down, a passage was revealed on the other side of the bed. When it stopped, Jarek looked up. He had to be about six feet under the ground. He got off the bed and ran down the passage. As he had expected, the turret was at the end. Jarek sat down and fired at the first Sith fighter that zoomed past. He missed.
"Come on, focus," he muttered to himself. "You can do this." He had to wait for the perfect moment. He heard distant explosions from fighters Alora had obviously been destroying, but there were too many for her to take on her own. Just then, a fighter flew into view, flying right towards Jarek. "Here we go," he said. Next moment there was a storm of red and green blaster bolts heading at opposite directions. He kept the target in his sights, not releasing any pressure from the trigger. He wouldn't let them get away.
The fighter was closing in fast, but Jarek didn't stop. It was clear to Jarek this ship was going to crash right into the turret, killing him as well. But for some reason, he was glued to that seat. At the last moment, he landed a hit on the vessel's wing, sending it spiraling right past him out of control. A faint explosion behind him and the ship exploded into dust. It was only after that Jarek realized he had been yelling the whole time. Unfortunately, he still wasn't done. There were more fighters still. With help from Alora, Jarek took down all of the remaining fighters.
"Good job," came Carth's voice over the intercom. "That's all of them." Jarek stood up and ran back down the passage and back up to the cockpit. Alora was already there.
"Good shooting," she said.
"Me? You destroyed most of 'em. I just cleaned up the leftovers." Alora smiled.
"We'll have a toast later," Carth said impatiently, punching in the hyperspace coordinates. Then, they were off again.
As they were flying, most of the crew went to explore the ship, but Alora and Jarek sat down at a table, exchanging stories of what happened since the Endar Spire.
Alora told Jarek about how she witnessed a dark Jedi kill a man who guided her through half of the ship, how she escaped in the last pod with Carth, seconds before it was destroyed, and everything that happened on Taris--how she became dueling champion, how she gave the rakghoul serum to Zelka Forn, a doctor in the Upper City, how she delivered the Outcasts in the Undercity to the fabled Promised Land, and how she met up with Mission Vao, the blue Twi'lek and saved Zaalbar, her Wookiee friend, who then swore a life-debt to her.
A while later, Carth put the ship on autopilot and the crew gathered in the kitchen to discuss their destination.
"We're headed for Dantooine," Bastila said. "There's a Jedi Enclave there where we can seek counsel--something we all could use after what we just witnessed."
"Tell me about it," Carth said gravely. "Mission's in the back of the ship. She locked the doors and won't come out."
"Why?" Jarek asked curiously.
"Mission grew up on Taris," Alora explained. "She told me how she left her parents, how she met Zaalbar, how they've been best friends ever since her brother left her alone on Taris...."
"Her brother did what?"
"She doesn't like to talk about it, but I've managed to get her to tell me a bit. She says he went off with his girlfriend, Lena, and they went somewhere looking to make money. She said her brother told her he would come back for her and take her somewhere special once he made enough money. She hasn't seen him since."
"But why are we stopping?" Carth said. "Malak will find us there and raze the planet just like he did Taris. You saw what he did--there couldn't have been a building over two stories that are still intact!"
"Even Darth Malak would think twice before attacking Dantooine. Some of the most powerful Jedi Masters reside there in the Jedi training academy."
"I hope you're right," Carth said.
"She is, Carth," said Jarek, turning to face him. "Malak may look it, but he's not stupid enough to attack Dantooine without a second thought."
"Well, I should certainly hope so. Because we're here."