Author´s note: Wow (again), MORE compliments. I´d better not screw up!
I sure am glad everyone is enjoying my fic so much.
Lee: Thank you. Twice. :) And the rest of you too, of course.
In case there is any confusion: I´m posting this chapter twice, since the first time I forgot to put this note on it.
Anyway, here is chapter seven of Struggle. I hope you like it, but if you don´t please let me know why so I can do better. I´ll try to have chapter eight done by Wednesday, so you won´t have to wait long for more.
Thanks again for all the great feedback.
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The two walked in calmly and gracefully. Both wore the customarily unremarkable hooded robes of the Jedi. And both shone with the Force.
Keena pulled the Force around herself hurriedly, dulling her own precence down to a candle. Her greatest skill had always been to manipulate her own Force aura. In the years following the Storm she´d always kept up a certain barrier to keep any possible Sith or Jedi Masters from tracking her down, and she´d gotten quite good at it. Hiding this close, however, would be a different matter entirely. Not to mention the fact that Bastila, at least, had almost certainly studied any and all files involving Revan extensively.
Keena cussed silently.
What are the odds of them showing up now? I mean . . . what are the odds?! The Force is playing with me!
She forced herself to relax, for practicality´s sake, if nothing else.
Just keep it cool. Your hood is up, you´re sitting in shadow, it´s been four years, and you´re probably the last thing on their minds.
They walked up to the table, and one figure stepped forward. She kept her hood up, but the group could make out her face.
Bastila Shan. Aside from the change in wardrobe to more traditional Jedi garb she too looked more or less the same as she had during the ceremony.
She gave the group a little smile, and Keena could feel her subtly give her aura a little check. She must have been content with what she felt since she greeted the three without breaking pace.
´´Greetings . . . I . . .´´
Mission got up, ´´Oh, stop being little miss Jedi!´´ and gave Bastila a hug.
The Jedi stood awkwardly for a moment before returning the affection. Mission had told Keena that throughout the whole thing Bastila had been nice, but always somewhat formal and distant. Clearly she had warmed up, at least somewhat.
Zaalbar rumbled something.
´´Nice to see you again Bastila, I´m glad the Council could spare you.´´
Her smile widened a bit, seemingly against her will. ´´Well, all right: Good to see you all too.´´
The second Jedi stepped forward and lowered the hood designed to accommodate the two lekku draped around her neck.
The purple Twi´lek smiled. Somewhat shyly, Keena thought. ´´Hello.´´
She was greeted with not quite as much familiarity but nevertheless friendliness.
´´Hey, Yuthura´´
´´Hello.´´
´´Groowrorrr.´´
Carth gestured towards Keena. ´´This is Anna Kolm. Mission and Zaalbar were shot down during a, uh, mission, and she helped them.´´
Bastila´s look went from neutral to thankful and she held out her hand and spoke in a soft, even voice. ´´Well, you have my thanks for that, miss Kolm.´´
Bastila Shan. The one who had saved Revan´s miserable life. It could all have ended on the bridge of that damned ship; Revan destroyed by the very Sith evil and treachery she had embraced. It would have been the perfect justice. And Keena would have been free of her shadow.
But no. A single padawan´s overdeveloped sense of compassion had driven her to save the wretch, even going so far as to create a Force bond in the process. Which had of course led to her getting badly burned. Keena couldn´t work up much pity.
She did her best to look shy and projected an aura of wow-a-Jedi awe and shook the hand, feeling the familiar callus caused by gripping a lightsaber regularly. The princess did more than sit back and influence fleets.
I am getting so sick of all this gratitude. Can´t you people just let me quietly kill your great and glorious saviour? Heh.
´´My pleasure, master Jedi.´´ For the second time that day she had to turn a bitter laugh/snort into a cough. She´d never been comfortable with the adoration she got from the soldiers during the war. Bastila didn´t seem bothered.
The two Jedi sat down and ordered non-alcoholic drinks.
´´So, did you guys happen to bring reinforcements with you?´´ asked Mission.
´´No,´´ said Yuthura, ´´we came alone in a small shuttle provided by the Council. The fleet is stretched thin as it is. Besides; we don´t want to draw too much attention to Bastila´s comings and goings.´´
´´Fair enough´´ said Carth, ´´Anyway . . . I get reports of course, but I´d like to hear it from someone who´s been on the front lines: How´s the war going?´´
Bastila sighed. ´´It goes. We lose sectors, we gain sectors, we retake sectors, we lose sectors again. It´s a stalemate, really.´´
´´So why did the Council send you here? Don´t get me wrong: I appreciate the help. But the fact remains that this is a very unimportant area. I still have no idea why Eskon´s even targeting it.´´
´´Well, it may be unimportant,´´ said Yuthura, somewhat more loudly than neccessary, ´´but if he breaks through your fleet he´ll have a much easier access to more important sectors.´´
The two Jedi exchanged glances, Yuthura took out and activated a tapping-dampener and Bastila went on in a whisper.
´´But there is something else. Something the Council is very worried about . . .´´
Bastila paused and looked at Keena. ´´Please forgive me, Miss Kolm, but perhaps you could . . .´´
´´Aw, c´mon, she´s okay. She can keep a secret; can´t you, Annie?´´ piped in Mission.
Oh, you bet I can.
Keena forced on a smile and got up. ´´No, no, it´s okay. "Top secret" and all that. I just saw you three sitting there and wanted to say hi.´´
Yeah, nice to see you, O saviour of Revan. Let´s never do it again.
Something changed in Bastila´s face and she frowned slightly. ´´Are you all right?´´
Damn! She must have sensed something off. Or seen something odd in my eyes.
Keena threw up a casual smile. ´´Sure. I´ve just been feeling a bit under the weather lately.
´´Really, Annie, you should see a doctor.´´ said Mission.
´´Perhaps I can help . . .´´ Bastila reached out to touch her, and Keena knew she was going to check her aura for sickness or injury, the first step in using the Force for healing purposes.
Keena´s hand shot out and clamped around Bastila´s wrist. She immediately cursed herself silently. The reaction had been too quick and the grip too tight. A fact not lost on Bastila.
´´No, that´s all right´´ she said stiffly, then coughed, hoping it would excuse her voice. ´´I´ll visit the sickbay on the Retaliator´´ she said in a friendlier tone, then glansed at Mission. ´´Promise.´´
´´See you guys.´´ She nodded respectfully at the two Jedi before walking out, hoping they would ignore the incident.
She had a mixed opinion about the dismissal. On one hand it gave her an excuse to leave the presence of these two Jedi before they saw through her. But it also made her miss out on Eskon´s agenda.
Oh, well, what does it matter? It´s not like it really concerns me anyway.
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Keena let herself into her room at the Friendly Tach. She´d gotten what she´d paid for: A bed of lower-average quality, a small eating area, and a standard fresher, like one might find in a military issue shuttle.
She let herself fall backwards onto the bed and closed her eyes.
So; Jedi Bastila Fleetkicker Shan, Jedi Yuthura Ban, General Carth Onasi, Zaalbar and Mission. All at the same lousy planet at the same time. All drawn there in order to stop Eskon and defend the Republic from Sith tyranny and savagery or die trying.
And here was Keena herself; Come out of inglorious retirement in order to kill one of her old friends and . . . well, damn if she knew what to do with the other one. Talk to him? Fight him? Join him?
She put her hands over her face. Join him? In the empty, pointless existence Revan and Malak had thrown themselves into?
Keena cursed. On one side was the Republic and the Jedi, the ancient forces who had maintained stability for thousands of years and stood as beacons of ideals and hope in the galaxy. The forces she´d once devoted her body and soul to. The forces that, depending on her mood, she wasn´t worthy of, or who weren´t worthy of her.
On the other side were the Sith. Savage, monstrous followers of a perverted code of bloodshed, betrayals and death. The code that had been the cause for more misery and death than any other single idea in history. The code that in the darkness of the night, in the horribly honest privacy of her thoughts, made a certain kind of sense.
And then there was the middle. The terrible, hollow, pointless middle. Being constantly chafed between the two sides.
As much as she tried she had never been able to make one of the choices outweigh the others.
Keena sighed. As usual, her pained thoughts led to their ultimate source.
Her enemy. Her tormentor. The one who had kept on twisting and hurting her even after she escaped.
Her friend.
´´Why did you do it Revan . . .?´´ she found herself murmuring out loud. A fresh kind of pain she´d all but forgotten about poked through.
´´Why did you have to be so rotten . . . ?´´
There was a knock on the door.
Keena´s eyes snapped open. She wasn´t sure if she had fallen asleep or not.
There was another knock, followed by Pol Svikari´s voice. ´´K? Got some of you stuff here!´´
She got up, rubbing her eyes and walked towards the door. She looked through the peephole. It was Pol all right, for better or worse.
Keena kicked her backpack out of the way of door and opened it.
Pol greeted her with his standard self-satisfied grin and waved a small kit in front of her eyes.
´´Try saying I don´t come through for you, kid. Just try it.´´
Keena cleared her throat. ´´Ahem: "You don´t come through for me". How was that?´´ she asked without any real humor.
He just laughed. ´´You got my money?´´
She reached into her pocket for the ill-gotten credits. ´´Sure. Where´s the rest . . .´´
Pol ducked as a dark figure lept over him and through the door, planting both feet in Keena´s chest.
She flew backwards, impacting hard with the edge of the bed.
The black-cloaked, black-hooded figure strode in, followed by two of it´s kind. Stealth no longer being an issue they dropped the shields over their Force auras and Keena felt the same sick, twisted evil she´d felt from Revan those four long years ago.
Sith.
Though dazed she forced herself to focus and called the blaster rifle to her hand as she slid to the floor.
A red lightsaber illuminated the room as the leader esily deflected the bolt. One of the other one sent his saber out as a spinning missile, slicing the rifle cleanly in half.
She tried to call upon the Force, to attack them, to give herself strength, to do something but they were using their own combined power to suppress hers.
The leader moved forward and kicker her in the forhead.
Keena´s world exploded into bright stars and pain as her head met the floor.
She was aware of one Sith grabbing each of her arms and pinning it down.
´´Sorry kid,´´ said Pol from the doorway, not even bothering to hide his amusement. ´´What can I say? The Sith offer a lot of credits for you.´´
The leader sat on top of Keena´s chest. ´´A pity,´´ came his smug voice as he put his hands on her temples, ´´Lord Eskon promised us a challenge.´´
She felt the warmth leave her body. Felt the Sith drain her life force and combine it with his own, leaving her limbs cold, numb, and unmoving. It was a perverse, horrible feeling, and for the first time in a long time she was genuinely afraid.
Her numbing mind reflected briefly on the backpack she´d so casually kicked aside earlier, and the object in it. The one she couldn´t bring herself to throw away, despite the urge to leave her past entirely behind her. It might as well have been on another planet.
Eskon sent them? Eskon sent them after me?
It was true. He really had become a Sith Lord.
Yes! Think about Eskon. Think about Malak! Think about REVAN!
The familiar rage swelled inside her, fueled by fear and grief, like never before, and brought her mind back online.
She could sense the Sith. Sense their life . . .
Keena reached out through the leeching connection with the leader, yanked at it with her mind, reversing the flow, feeding both of their life energies back into her body. It felt glorious, a sweet nectar of strength and life. Life torn from a lesser being.
The Sith screamed and recoiled. His companions were momentarily stunned and unsure. Keena used that moment to feed her newfound power into her numb muscles.
Bloody . . . SITH!
She threw them off, her muscles, tingling with power, barely noticing the strain.
Keena backflipped over the bed and held her hand out, beckoning to the object she knew so well. It flew out of the backpack and into her waiting grasp, fitting like a piece of a puzzle.
She landed, eyes blazing, and activated her lightsaber.
The beam bathed her in a ghostly blue light as she took a fighting stance. She sensed the Sith´s momentary uncertainty . . . a moment of hesitant fear. She loved it.
The leader shakily got to his feet and three red sabers hissed to life.
´´Lord Eskon wants you alive,´´ growled one, ´´but he said nothing of intact!´´
The two on each side of the leader feinted, while he jumped forward, saber aimed for a lunge.
Keena regocnized the move for what it was and simply moved her hand and flipped the bed in the air. The lunging Sith smashed into it and fell to the ground with the upside of the bed on top of him.
Before he could react in any way Keena lunged forward and put her saber through the bed.
She held the saber above her head and fixed her stare at the other two.
´´Well, me on the other hand: I don´t want you maimed, just dead.´´
They said nothing. Instead they slowly moved away from each other, and started inching towards each of Keena´s sides.
She stood her ground, saber held high, muscles tensed for immediate action.
The hiss of lightsabers was the only sound in the room.
Keena´s eyes darted between them as they stopped on her right and left, trying to judge their body language, trying to get a premonition of their next move through the Force.
Her eyes suddenly stopped on the one standing between her and the fresher door. A plan formed.
Her lightsaber flew out of her hands and arched towards his right side. He instinctively moved his saber to deflect an attack, but the weapon went wide and missed him completely.
Keena ran past his left side and caught her lightsaber. The Sith followed, moving his weapon for a stab at her shoulder.
She rushed through the door and ducked just as the attack would have hit and put her own saber into one of the water pipes on the wall.
The water rushed out, turned into scalding steam by the lightsaber blade, and hit the incoming Sith in the face.
He screamed, staggered backwards and flailed his saber at Keena blindly.
She cut him down easily.
The remaining Sith, probably hoping to catch her off guard, rushed in with a wide swing. Keena parried, sending his saber beam into the doorjamb and kicked out at his stomach.
He jumped backwards, yanking his blade out of the wall. A push of Force power sent the piece of wall he´d just cut out into his face.
The Sith only needed a moment to recover; but that moment was all the time Keena needed to leap at him, call his dead companions´ lightsaber to her left hand and slice both weapons across his torso. He fell down into three parts and oblivion.
Pol was gone.
Keena stood stock still for a few moments, surveying her handiwork.
Even assuming they had been the only Sith on Brim it would be best to make herself scarce.
She hurriedly put on her cloak, picked up her backpack and went out into the empty, poorly lit street. A single Force-powered jump put her on a rooftop. The buildings in this area were so close toghether jumping between them would be an easy way to travel without being noticed. Eventually.
She leaned against a large steam release and let herself slide down into a sitting position. Her blood was cooling down, and with a clearing mind the questions were coming in.
How had Pol known they were looking for her? Why was Eskon looking for her? His cronies certainly hadn´t been inviting her for a social visit. Did he want her as another Dark Jedi in his service?
And the question of the moment: What now?
´´Revan´s Jedi buddies on the one side, Eskon´s Sith on the other . . .´´ she murmured. ´´It seems all mixed up.´´
Eskon sent Dark Jedi after me. How did that happen? Oh, Eskon . . . I´m so sorry . . .
She was torn out of her dark musings by the sounds of running feet on the street below. Feet that by the sound of things went straight for Keena´s rented room.
More Sith?
She risked a quick check with her Force senses. She felt two people, both strong in the Force. So strong, in fact, that she hurriedly withdrew rather than being detected.
Keena crawled toward the edge of the rooftop and peeked over it.
Across the street a female figure in a nondescript, hooded robe was standing outside the door to her room, glancing up and down the street. She turned her head, apparently listening to something being said inside the room, and ran to the other end of the building, to the reception. She moved with a smooth grace. Like a cat.
A few moments passed. Then another, somewhat shorter female figure identically robed exited the hotel room. The other one joined her a few seconds later.
´´The receptionist couldn´t tell me much.´´ said the catlike woman in a heavy accent. ´´He said a human woman had rented the room a few hours ago. About five foot ten, dark hair, pale skin. Nondescript clothes. Nothing more, really.´´
´´Three Dark Jedi killed with a lightsaber . . .´´ said the other woman in a soft voice. Keena´s entire body tensed. ´´And we just missed it.´´
´´It´s three less for us to worry about; still, it seems odd. This would be a foolish time and place for the Sith to play out their constant infighting.´´
´´Yes, putting it mildly. Especially if the Council is correct in their suspicions.´´
I know that voice . . . She felt sick.
´´I´m certain they are´´ purred the other woman, Juhani, Keena now realised. ´´It would certainly explain a great many things.´´
I would know it anywhere . . .
´´Yes. I´d better contact Bastila . . .´´ They started walking down the street.
"The Dark Side has it´s hook in you, my friend. And there is no escape, ever."
It was her.
Revan . . . is here. Now.
The two Jedi stopped and whipped around as Keena´s feet met the street.
´´Hello . . . Revan.´´
