Chapter 15 – Rescue (again)

"Everybody strapped down? This could get messy!"

Atton and Bao-Dur watched in apprehension as the cliffs surrounding them started crumbling. The ship was shaking a little bit too much for Atton's taste.

"Something's wrong," he said between his teeth. "I think the cliff we're resting on is falling apart too, not just the ones that have us trapped."

Bao-Dur unbuckled himself and peered out the window. "I think you may be right," he said, sitting back down and refastening his seat belt. "I can see a huge crack forming on the ground below us. I think we're headed for a free fall."

"Not if I have anything to say about it."

Bao-Dur threw a sidelong glance at Atton. The latter's attention was entirely focused on the control panel. "Come on… come on!" he said under his breath, pushing various buttons in an attempt to force the Ebon Hawk free from between the cliffs without completely destroying the one that was preventing them from crashing. The ship suddenly tilted to the left.

"Atton?" asked Bao-Dur involuntarily.

"I know, I know, I felt it too… Dammit!" he exclaimed in frustration. "I just need a little bit more time… we're almost free…"

Then just as Atton was saying, "There you go!" they felt a very large tremor from underneath them. Atton spat out an expletive as the Ebon Hawk dropped. Bao-Dur, not wishing to show Atton his alarm, dug his hand into the side of his seat as the ship started to slip. Atton remained focused on his task. First, I do this; I can panic later. He pushed a few more buttons, and tried pulling the throttle: nothing. He tried again and just as Bao-Dur, closing his eyes, had given up and was starting to resign himself to an untimely death, the ship suddenly jolted upwards and they started moving normally again. Atton whooped in excitement. "Now, that, my friend, is piloting!" he bellowed.

Bao-Dur exhaled deeply, realizing he had stopped breathing when the ship started falling. He opened his mouth to congratulate Atton, but found himself speechless. He slowly loosened his hold on the side of his seat, turned and stared at Atton in sheer admiration. Atton, still feeling the adrenaline pumping, saw him from the corner of his eye and smiled. "Had you worried there for a second, didn't I?"

Bao-Dur exhaled again. "That's… that's a bit of an understatement."

Atton laughed. "Ha! And you guys all thought I couldn't pilot just because I kept crashing. But you've got to admit, when I'm not getting shot at or pushed into cliffs by electrical storms, I can hold my own!"

Bao-Dur nodded. "Yes, after this little experience, I have to say you can."

"All right," said Atton, becoming serious again. "Now we have to figure out where we're going. I mean, were there any clue about where… Whoa! What the hell is that?" What appeared to be a large building had come into view. "I thought everything got destroyed down here."

"Everything was… This… this must have been built since Malachor was destroyed. There's no other way. I think I remember the General mentioning something about a Sith Academy on Malachor. This must be where she went to confront Kreia."

"All right, then I guess I'll just set the ship down right… here…" There was a large area in front of the main door that could easily be used as a landing pad. "Well, it would have been nice to find this spot earlier," he grumbled. "Would've saved us one big headache."

The Ebon Hawk had landed, but Atton sat still and wide-eyed for a moment. After a few seconds of not seeing him budge, Bao-Dur looked at him questioningly. "Is everything all right, Atton?"

"Yeah… yeah… I'm just… panicking now. Give me a minute." He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Okay, I'm all good. Let's go find the others." They both got up and headed to the main hold. They were greeted by a wave of applause. "All right, all right," protested Atton, secretly pleased. "You can thank me later by buying me a round of juma juice at the Telos cantina when this is over. But now, we have to find our lovely ladies who are missing in action. I can only assume that Jena is holding her own in that fight against Kreia, because… well, I haven't had any other… messages, or whatever it is you want to call them. That leaves Mira to try and find."

"I'm here," said a breathless voice from the loading ramp.

Everyone turned to face Mira. She was bloodied and carried strange vibroblades. Mical ran over to meet her. "Mira, what happened to you?"

She shook her head. "I'd rather not talk about it, if you don't mind."

"Well, at least let me have a look at you," he insisted. "You're bleeding! And you with broken ribs…"

"I'm fine," she said shortly. "Besides, most of the blood isn't mine." Her features hardened. "It's Wookie blood." She looked around. "Where's Jena? Did you guys go get her yet?"

"Well, no," said Atton. "We just got here. We were about to…"

His sentence was interrupted by a slight tremor. "What was that?" he asked, concerned. His eyes met Bao-Dur's. "Oh no," he muttered.

"'Oh no'?" demanded Mandalore. "What do you mean, 'Oh no'?"

At that same instant, Atton's comlink activated itself. All he could hear was static. "Jena? Jena, is that you?" he asked frantically.

"…out…"

"What? Jena? You're breaking up, I can't hear you!" The entire crew crowded around Atton.

"…rator… ted… out!" said a faint voice.

"Jena, please! I can't hear what you're saying!" He sounded increasingly distraught. I think I know what she's saying… I just need to hear her say it. Oh, Jena, please don't be saying what I think you're saying…

"…sh…dow…generator… activated… get out!"

It couldn't have been clearer. Mical and Bao-Dur looked at each other in dismay.

"Jena, I'm not leaving you here!" yelled Atton into the comlink.

"…GET OUT! …AN ORDER!"

Atton became ashen. "How much time until it's fully activated, Bao-Dur?"

"A few minutes." His voice sounded hollow and his face looked like death.

Atton ran toward the exit ramp.

"Atton! There's no time!" yelled Bao-Dur after him.

"Jena's still in there, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna leave without her!"

"Atton, we have to leave NOW! It's too late! We have to leave her. If we don't leave now, we'll all die!"

"Then leave!" spat Atton, racing down the ramp. "But I'm not going anywhere without her." He glanced at Mira over his shoulder. "You know how to fly this ship, right?"

"Well… yes… but…"

"T3 can copilot for you. He'll help you out. You guys save yourselves. I'm getting her out of there."

Mira called after him. "Atton! You won't be able to leave! You'll be killed! Both of you!" But Atton had already disappeared from view.

Atton found it rather easy to tell which way Jena had gone. Just like a trail of crumbs… follow the dead Sith. I'll have to thank her for making my job that much easier. He swallowed. I wonder how much longer we've got… No, I can't think about this right now. I just have to get to her. I can worry about what to do then. Just… get to her.

He was quite thankful for his Jedi powers, which enabled him to run that much faster. He knew there was no other way he'd have been able to make it to her on time. That's assuming I can make it to her at all… where is she hiding? He stepped into a very large room with a high ceiling. This is the core… this must be – whoa! He stopped dead in his tracks. In the center of the room lay Kreia, unmistakably dead. Okay, this has to be it. But where's…? He looked to the right of the room.

"Jena!" he exclaimed. He flinched but tried hard to hide the distress he felt when he saw her. She could barely stand up, weakened from the battle. Her face was white and her robe was stained with large patches of blood.

"Atton! I…" She tried to take a step and tumbled over to one side.

Atton ran over to her and tried to help her back up.

"No… Atton… you should've left… Leave me… too weak… I can't… I can't…"

"I don't think so! I'd rather die than leave you here. I told you I'd save you if it's the last thing I do, and that's just what I'm doing. I made a promise, and for once in my life, I'm going to keep it – and you're not going to stop me. Now come on!"

She glanced up at him weakly, her face even paler than before. "Atton…" she muttered and lost consciousness.

Without wasting a moment, Atton quickly gathered her up in his arms. We have to get out of here… I don't know where we'll go, but we have to get out of here.

He turned toward the entrance of the room, and at that moment, felt a large tremor all around him. He went pale. Oh no… The room started collapsing around him. The walls and large chunks of the floor started falling apart, revealing a void all around the room… and his only way out of the room crumbled to pieces. He swore. "Is this some kind of joke? Now what the hell am I supposed to do?" he yelled out into the emptiness surrounding them.

He turned and turned, looking all around the room. No, there was no way out. No way out at all. They were trapped. He would die here, and she with him. He brought her to the center of the room, where they had the least risk of getting injured by falling debris… or to have the floor collapse from underneath them. He dropped down to his knees and sat down on the floor, holding her close, cradled in his arms, and shielding her from harm by leaning over her.

"I'm sorry I failed you," he chokingly told the unconscious Jena. "I guess I should have known that would happen. I've failed at everything I've ever done… And now we're going to die here, and I still can't tell you how I feel about you, because you're passed out." He laughed bitterly. "Well, I guess I might as well tell you anyway, because it will keep me from going crazy. Jena, at first I thought I would die for you to save you, just so I could be redeemed. I thought that's what I was meant to do. And maybe it is… maybe that is why that Jedi saved me. But right now, it doesn't even have anything to do with redemption anymore. Now I just want to save you for you… to die to save you, only because I love you. I've loved you from the moment I first saw you… thought you were a dream. And now the one time you really need me, I can't help you. It's not fair… Now you'll never know how much you mean to me… what I would've done for you." He kissed her forehead and held her closer as more and more debris started tumbling down.

At that moment, he heard a noise other than that of the building falling apart. He turned and tried to see through the thick dust around him. It was the Ebon Hawk. It hovered to his right. The loading ramp opened up. He could barely make out Mical's head peering around the corner. "Atton! Hurry! We can't wait any longer!"

Atton picked up Jena again, got up and ran as fast as he could. The dust was making it hard to breathe. He was starting to feel faint. Only a little bit more… Just a bit more… He leapt up onto the ramp and ran in, hearing Mical yell, "WE'VE GOT THEM! GO, MIRA!" Atton immediately handed the unconscious Jena to Mical, and knelt down to the floor, wheezing.

"Quick!" he gasped. "Get her to medbay. Just as soon as I can… catch my breath… I'm taking over the controls of this ship… A rookie like Mira can't get us out of this."