Author´s note: Wheee! Lots of yummie reviews!
J: Thanks, but . . . you do realise that I wasn´t really asking for review-bribes, right?
Brynn: Yeah, that´ll do fine. :)
KOTOR freak: I´ll do my best, although I´d rather be slow than sloppy.
Undead American: Thanks.
ACE: Well, no need to wait: Read on.
snackfiend101: Well, thanks again. But as for a hint . . . well, do you really want me to spoil everything?
"Jiaguin" : Nice to finally have you here :). Now how about I get right back to writing as soon as my massively swollen head dimishes, eh?
Anyway: Onwards!
...I told Juhani I would know what to do. I told myself.
The black figure slowly walked closer, illuminated by the lights of his shuttle.
What a lie. What arrogance.
He stopped just outside of the distance Keena figured she could clear in a single Force-powered leap.
I. Do. Not. Have. A. Clue.
He was dressed in a simple black robe, quite similar to the brown one he had worn four years ago. As he stopped his hands moved up with deliberate slowness and pulled back the hood.
The painful pit in Keena´s stomach turned into a gaping abyss.
Eskon´s once handsome features were almost unrecogniseable. His flesh had turned a dead, grey color, far worse than the deathly pallor Malak had worn during Keena´s final meeting with him, and he looked unfathomably old. Almost as if his flesh was so corrupted and dead that it was starting to flake off. His neat hair and beard remained, although turned to a white color. The slice Malak had taken from the right side of his face had been replaced by some sort of synthetic flesh, the same color as his real skin, imitating strips of exposed muscle.
The worst thing though, the worst, was the small pair of sickly yellow eyes that now pierced into Keena´s.
Her lungs pressed against the bottomless pit her stomach had become as she took a deep breath to blurt out a reply.
´´Hello . . . Eskon.´´ She didn´t recognise her own voice.
´´It has been a long time Keena.´´ The voice was the sonic equivalent of a pus-infected wound.
She couldn´t think of a reply, and could only stand there and hug herself as the true scope of her failure came crashing down on her weary shoulders.
´´Great things have happened in the last four years´´ he continued´´great battles been fought, and history has been made. And you, of all people, have been noticeably absent from it all.´´
She had wanted to see him. Now, looking at him, she didn´t know how she felt. All she knew was that it hurt.
´´How cou . . .´´ her voice died away into a pitiful squeak. She tried again. ´´How could you turn, Eskon? You? You were always the most loyal of us all.´´
Eskon´s already grotesque features were made even more so when his face twisted into a grin.
´´More loyal than you proved, certainly´´ he said accusingly, and yet with a hint of amusement. ´´Leaving me behind the way you did.´´
Keena felt like she had been punched in a fresh wound. Her old sorrow, her old shame, came flooding back out.
´´I´m . . . I . . . I´m . . .´´
´´Sorry? Did Revan say similar to you on Brim´´
´´I tho . . . thought you were dead . . .´´ she said in a broken voice.
´´And do you remember what our last communications were, Keena? Do you´´
Slowly and painfully, she nodded.
´´And´´
´´I . . .´´ she fidgeted, but there was no escape from the truth. ´´I drew upon the Dark Side . . . when Malak did what he did to you. I was about to murder him . . .´´
´´And if you had you could have saved the galaxy much suffering´´ he laughed at her obvious pain. ´´But I digress.´´
´´You asked me not to.´´
´´Yes, like the good little Jedi I was at the time. I remember clinging to life, hoping to use my last moments to save you from falling.´´
Keena nodded, close to tears. ´´Yes.´´
´´And what was your response, dear Keena´´
She lowered her face into her palm.
´´I said . . . "Why not"
He sniggered. ´´And those were the last thoughts I had with me as the darkness closed in.´´ A bony, grey finger pointed at her. ´´Of you, asking why the Light Side was worth clinging to.´´
I´m so sorry. She mouthed the words, but no sound came out.
´´I came to on the Star Forge. A pity you never went there while it still existed. It was a marvel, a wonder. Capable of so much more than just producing fleets. Revan and Malak used its Force-powered technology to repair my body.´´ Eskon lifted up his shirt to reveal his chest. The same grey synthetic flesh that replaced the missing parts of his face had been used to repair the hole through his torso. The display also revealed how shriveled his physique had become. Once trim and muscular, Eskon was now a walking skeleton.
´´As a nice side effect, the implants also let the Dark Side flow more freely through me. I was careful not to let them realise my true power. If they, too, would have undergone the same procedures my advantage would have been lost.´´
´´Eskon . . .´´ she said weakly´´. . . you could . . . you . . .´´
´´Could what´´ he sounded thoroughly amused. ´´Well: Could what, Keena? Your reek of doubt.´´
She had no answer, and he chuckled slightly.
Keena looked into his sickly eyes with her tearful ones. ´´Why are you doing all this Eskon? We fought to end a war . . . not to start one. Why´´
Eskon revealed his yellow teeth in another hideous grin. ´´Why´´ He cackled. It was a truly hideous sound. ´´Dear Keena, this whole war is incidental. A means to an end, that´s all.´´
´´And what end is that´´
´´The tomb Keena, that´s what. The tomb of Hojir Karr.´´
Despite everything Keena blinked. Say what?
She had heard of it, of course. Supposedly the burial place of one of the very first Dark Jedi; a place of monstrous power for those willing to pay the price for it.
´´Eskon . . . that´s a myth.´´
Again, that hideous cackle, and Keena started to wonder if he was even sane.
´´Yes, I thought so too. Merely an ancient rumor, put together from half-truths, misinterpretations and legends. But it´s real. As she searched for the Star Maps Revan also found clues as to its whereabouts.´´
´´What´´
´´Somehow, somewhere, she discovered writings that mentioned the immediate surroundings of the planet of Hojir Karr´s final resting place. Immediate on a galactic scale, of course. Now: Revan was a strategist, first and foremost, and the Star Forge gave a quicker road to her goals. She didn´t quite give up on the tomb, though. Which brings me to the very reason why we´re here.´´
Eskon gave a dramatic pause, looked at her intently, and Keena wondered what was going on behind those yellow eyes.
´´You, Keena. You hold the key to finally unleashing the power of the tomb.´´
´´Me? What´s going on, Eskon? What does anyone want with me´´
´´Don´t you remember the last scouting mission Revan sent us on? The one where she gave us different coordinates and sent us away for weeks? That was it, Keena. She intended to calculate the tomb´s location by piecing together the information in our reports, and match it with the clues she had found.´´ He chuckled, in a slightly self-depreciating manner, it seemed to Keena.
´´My sabotage on board the Storm happened to destroy your half of the information. So even though Revan had me, without you my information was useless. Still, with the Star Forge at her disposal it had only been a pet project of hers anyway. Almost immediately after your escape she started the Sith War, and soon became too engrossed in her strategies to bother with it again, and I was the only one she had let in on it.´´
´´So there you have it Keena: My entire war effort has been about finding you.´´
´´All . . . about . . . me´´ How many people have died? How many people has he killed to find me? Oh, Force, I try to fade into obscurity and this is what happens because of it?
´´Yes, Keena. I chased scattered reports of you to the sector around Brim and realised it would be the best place to start looking. I dispatched Kisi and some of my finest Dark Jedi to work undercover to find you, while my fleet kept the Republic distracted. And finally it all paid off, when Pol Svikari contacted me, saying you had come back out of hiding.´´
´´You knew Pol would fail to capture me . . . didn´t you? You knew he would point me in your direction. It was all a trap.´´
Eskon slowly clapped his withered hands. ´´Exactly. And it worked like a dream. Here you are. And now: To business.´´
He held his hands out dramatically. ´´Join me, Keena. Give me the secrets hidden in your brain, and you can take Kisi´s place as my apprentice. You will be second-in-command to the greatest Sith Lord of our era.´´ Eskon held his clenched fist up and his sickly eyes shone with passion, although his voice was cold and dead. ´´Join me and I can show you true power! Power to squash anything in your way; even Revan´´
Keena blinked back the tears. It´s all gone. All my friends. Everything I cared for; tarnished and destroyed.
´´Join you? Join you in yet another battle for galactic dominion? Forge an everlasting empire? I never desired to rule.´´ What else do you have? came a nasty inner whisper.
Pol smiled. ´´No Keena. No. Ruling is not in my nature either. What is the point of ruling for a tiny moment of history, when all things eventually come to an end, and are forgotten? There is only one way to truly leave a mark, Keena.´´
Eskon´s eyes blazed with something wild, something monstrous. ´´I will bring about the true meaning of destruction´´ he said slowly and with pure, hateful venom. ´´I will carve my name in the face of this unworthy galaxy, leaving behind ruins and ash, and a legacy of terror that will never fade away.´´
Keena thought backwards. Thought about the noble Jedi she had known, and compared him to the creature standing in front of her.
The thought of becoming . . . this, would have terrified him. More than anything.
´´And you . . .´´ she said in a weak voice´´want me to help you do this´´
Eskon took a deep breath through his nose, as if savoring a pleasant odour.
´´Yes, Keena. I can sense the anger within you. The doubt, fear and despair. I sense the strain this brings about. It is . . . delicious, in its own way. But . . .´´ he waved a hand over his horrible face´´. . . in choosing the Dark Side, in giving yourself over to it completely, there is no doubt. There are no questions about your path. No indecision. Only a crystal-clear purpose.´´
Eskon laughed at the reaction Keena was unable to hide. ´´And that is what you have desired for so long isn´t it´´
She felt like she was standing in a void, with nothing to keep her from falling.
Could he be right? Could it be better to drown myself in the darkness, than to keep on going like this? All this horrible doubt . . .
´´Join me, Keena.´´ he said seductively´´Join me.´´
No shame . . .
She looked up at the creature that had once been Eskon.
But I wouldn´t be me . . .
´´Eskon . . . I . . . I don´t know what to do . . .´´
Eskon´s face went blank, and his eyes stared into nothing. It took Keena a moment to realise he had sensed something through the Force.
After a few moments Keena sensed it as well. The oh, so familar aura of battle, above the planet. And yet the feel of it was different. Like something was manipulating the flow of the Force on a massive scale.
´´Sorry Keena, but our time has been cut short. It looks like I´ll have to make the decision for you.´´
A sharp spike of fear lanced through Keena has his hands went under his cloak and came out with two lightsabers.
The crimson beams hissed to life, and Keena´s numb hands automatically raised and activated her own weapons.
She felt a massive surge of Force power before streams of lightning erupted from Eskon´s fingertips on both hands.
Keena raised the lightsaber beams in defense, catching most of the attack, but some of it made it through. Even with the Force shield she hurriedly raised the sheer power of the lightning jarred her.
And then he was on her. He shot at her like a blur of black, grey and glowing red, swinging at her like a whirlwind.
Keena frantically drew speed from the Force and wove the mismatched blades into a defensive wall against the savage assault.
It didn´t take her long to realise that despite his withered frame Eskon possessed terrible strength. Each hit jarred her arms, and she was slowly driven backwards.
Keena tried to think back to their sparring sessions; tried to remember some flaw in his technique or predict his movements. All it gave her was memories of happier times as he swung his lethal weapons at her.
It made the whole thing even more tragic.
Finally, Eskon sent both lightsabers in a low swing. Keena parried and let the force of his attack propel her into a blackflip, creating distance.
A massive wave of Force hit her before her balance had recovered. Keena´s back met the rough-hewn mine wall, the air left her lungs, and the lightsabers fell from her grasp.
Eskon came straight at her, sending out Force lightning as his vanguard.
Keena knew from experience that she wouldn´t be able to shield herself from Eskon´s terrible power. She lept vertically, barely avoiding the assault, and let the Force hold her suspended for a heartbeat before she kicked the wall and sent herself into a somersault away from it.
A piece of debris from the crash, moved by Eskon´s will, hit her in the air. The graceful landing Keena had intended was turned into a painful slam on her side.
From the ground, she desperately threw her hands out and sent rubble and boulders flying at him. He casually raised his hand and the improvised missiles bounced away from him harmlessly.
He´s so powerful. So horribly powerful.
Eskon charged at her again and Keena held out her hands for the lightsaber hilts, desperate to get them before he closed the gap.
The two cylinders sailed through the air and she could almost feel them in her palms . . . and then they stopped; halted by Eskon´s power.
And then he was on her.
A red lightsaber slashed across her stomach. Keena´s world became a place of searing agony, smelling of her own burnt flesh.
He got me!
As she bowled over her cheekbone met Eskon´s knee, and she was thrown backwards.
The back of Keena´s head smashed against the rocky ground, and once again her vision dimmed.
Is this how it ends . . . ?
The excruciating pain of Eskon´s knee digging into the wound as he knelt down on her brought her back.
´´You should have taken my offer Keena´´ came his voice through the haze of pain´´but I get what I want anyway.´´
´´Eskon . . .´´
His hands went to her temples, and for a moment nothing happened.
Then a red hot spike made out of pain stabbed into her skull. She couldn´t even scream. And as her senses parted for the agony Keena felt her memories being forced to the surface, and felt Eskon´s diseased fingers run through them with all the care of a butcher cutting a piece of meat.
Unwillingly she saw in her own mind the journey Revan had sent her on, the star coordinates she had found. And as she did, so did Eskon.
And then it was over.
Keena was dimly aware of the knee being lifted up from the lightsaber wound; although that pain had become secondary to the one in her head.
´´I have it, Keena.´´ came Eskon´s quietly intense voice through the haze. ´´I know where to find the tomb. Soon the galaxy will feel the true fury of the Dark Side. Planets will cringe in terror at the mention of my name, and an era of fear and carnage will be ushered in.´´ He lifted Keena´s head up by the hair to look her in the eyes. ´´There is, however, the matter of what to do with you . . .´´
´´Darth Eskon´´
Keena managed to focus her gaze past Eskon, towards the mine entrance. Either her ship hadn´t fit through the entrance or she hadn´t been willing to risk navigating through.
Revan, wearing a strange, ochre-colored robe, had entered the mine. There was rigid intensity in her eyes that Keena didn´t know what to make of
´´Ah, I might have known´´ said Eskon.
´´Carth´s fleet is here, Eskon. And so is Bastila. You can sense it. Your surviving ships will be subdued soon enough. Give up and you can live to fight another day.´´
Eskon just laughed that grating, ugly laughter of his. ´´No, Revan. I only sent an expendable part of my forces to Brim, and those three battleships in orbit were just a precaution. And my full force will soon seem insignificant anyway, when I´ve destroyed the other Dark "Lords" and bring the full power of the Sith to bear against the galaxy.´´
Revan activated her turquoise lightsaber and fixed him with a steely look, but it wasn´t the one Keena had gotten to know during the war. This one looked only skin-deep.
´´But right now, Eskon, you are right here. And there are reinforcements on their way even now.´´
´´Oh, Revan´´ a hint of mocking theatrics sneaking into Eskon´s cold voice´´would you strike down yet another old friend´´
The barb clearly stung, but Revan stood her ground. ´´Yes.´´
If it hadn´t been for the slight hesitation, Keena might have been more impressed.
´´Ah? But you are right of course; I am right here.´´ A grey finger moved to point at the Blue Wing´s wreck. ´´And your furry little lover is right in there, although I´m sure you´ve already sensed that.´´
The only hint was a momentary build-up of vile energy, before the roof above the wreck shattered into dozens of huge boulders.
´´No´´
Revan´s hand shot out and the rocks hung in mid air, hovering just above the wreck.
Eskon chuckled, sent his hands out in a wide wave, and the entire mine roof came loose.
Keena had time to reflect on the possibility of dying along with Revan at Eskon´s hands, before the falling rocks ground to a slow halt.
Revan was straining for the discipline necessary to maintain the telekinetic feat, as Eskon made for his shuttle.
´´I look forward to our next meeting, Revan´´ he shouted as he lept into the cockpit. ´´Rest assured it will be a day to remember´´
The shuttle blasted out of the mine, throwing gravel over Keena as she lay on the ground, clutching her stomach.
The sick, vile presence that was Eskon slowly faded away, leaving behind only a foul aftertaste in the Force.
Keena´s eyes met Revan´s.
´´You sure have a way with people.´´
-
Revan closed her eyes, and eventually managed to find enough calm to hold up the rocks without straining. She lowered her arms and sat down in a cross-legged position.
Keena was still curled up in a fetal position, about fifty feet away from the former Sith Lord. The pain that lanced through her with every minor movement quelled any ideas of getting up. She briefly wondered if Eskon had somehow modified his lightsabers to inflict extra pain.
´´Keena´´ Revan´s voice was filled with the ring of barely subdued emotion. Fear´´Keena, are you hurt bad´´
´´Stu . . . stuff your concern´´ she managed to croak out in reply.
Revan lowered her eyes to the ground.
´´Where´s . . . the cavalry you promised . . . anyway´´
´´I´m getting feedback from the battle through my bond with Bastila. It is still raging on. There won´t be any help right away. I was lying.´´
´´Yeah . . . you´re good at that.´´
´´Keena . . . please . . .´´
How the hell does she summon the nerve to sound hurt?
´´What, oh Dark Lord? More apologies´´
There was a silent pause as Revan took a deep breath. Keena painfully raised her throbbing head to look at her. The look in her "friends´" eyes was painfully familiar. It had been the look in every mirror for four years: Pained, and lost.
´´What happened to you, Keena´´ Revan asked in a carefully balanced voice´´Where were you all these years´´
´´Oh, want to . . . know my story . . . do you´´ Keena gritted her teeth at the pain of talking, but the old familiar anger gave her the drive to push on.
´´Okay: After I recovered, physically, I just drifted at first. As far away from the new war as I could. Didn´t know . . . what to do with myself. You saw to that . . . started the job but didn´t finish it. Anyway: I needed credits for food, and just sort of fell into smuggling. It provided . . . plenty of lonesome hours. Plenty of time with just hyperspace for company. Time passed . . . and I started to figure that even if I couldn´t get over . . . what had happened . . . maybe I could at least learn to live with it.´´
A coughing fit hit her then, with each cough sending spears of agony out from her injured stomach. Eventually the worst of it faded away.
´´But then . . . heh . . . one year ago I was sitting in a cheap restaurant, picking at my plate, when the news hit the holoscreen. A live feed from the . . .´´ she forced the foul-tasting words out´´ . . . awards ceremony. After all this . . . after everything you´ve done . . . you were given the Cross of Glory. And of course the stupid monkeys around me started cheering. I couldn´t take it! The injustice . . . the cold, stinging irony! I couldn´t face this stupid galaxy anymore´´
Her rising voice gave birth to another coughing fit hit, just as nasty as the last one.
´´So I . . . I went to J-3109. The greatest nothing-planet . . . I could think of. And once I´d set down, I activated the self-destruct on my ship. I didn´t even want the possibility of returning.´´
The half-truth of it stung her tongue.
Liar. Spineless liar.
´´But what do you know . . . seems the Force wasn´t done playing with me. By some wild, one-in-a-fifillion happenstance . . . your buddies crash into my backyard. One thing leads to another . . . and here we are. And Eskon of all people, because I . . . because of what you did to him, is on his way to bring living hell to the galaxy. Good job Revan, no matter what you call yourself, good job. You always manage to have an impact.´´
Revan lowered her eyes and a shudder ran through the sitting Sith/Jedi, and Keena wondered if she´d actually been stifling a sob.
´´Keena: How did things get like this´´ Revan said in a hoarse voice´´How did I turn so rotten´´
´´Oh, here it comes´´ Keena growled bitterly and painfully´´First start me talking about something simple . . . then get to what you really want. I know your tricks.´´
The former Sith looked up with moist eyes. ´´Please, Keena. You´re the last one of my old friends, who isn´t dead, or lost. I killed Malak . . . Eskon is what he is . . . Bandon is dead: Malak sent him after us . . . I still wonder what would have happened if he´d blurted out my old name.´´
Keena took a moment to ponder whether Bandon´s death meant something to her. A quick inner search found nothing. Nothing at all. That simple fact in itself brought forth a certain sadness for Bandon.
He deserved better than to die unmourned.
´´I don´t know if it was something that happened in the war, if I was already corrupted when I sought out the Star Maps, or if it was just them that did it . . . or what. I don´t know if I sought them out before or after deciding to take over the Republic, it all mixes together in my head. Ever since the Leviathan I´ve been leading this . . . this half-existence. It never leaves my mind. I never get any peace. I have to know Keena´´ she said pleadingly. ´´I have to know what happened to me.´´
Keena quietly seethed on the ground for a few moments.
´´I don´t know much about . . . these "Star Maps", or the Star Forge, or what power those things had.´´ She waited for the latest coughing fit to pass. ´´But if you really want to know . . . I think it´s very simple.´´ She again raised her head to look her "friend" in the eyes, and injected all the venom she could muster into her voice. ´´I think over time you just grew to love the power.´´
A silence fell, and Revan closed her eyes and her head hung.
Keena could taste her misery.
´´Got what you . . . wanted, did you´´
It was becoming harder to focus, and the rocky ground under her cheek felt farther and farther away.
Keena managed an inward look through the Force. Her own aura was weakened. Fading. And the pain was getting steadily less intense.
Is this how it ends? Are these my final moments? With bloody Revan for company?
Eventually she was vaguely aware of a ship landing just outside the mine.
And then the world faded away into nothing.
