Thanks to everyone who has read and especially to those who have reviewed. I was really, really nervous about posting this story, so it really helps to get the positive feedback… Or even if it's not positive don't let it stop you from reviewing, 'cause I need the pointers!
LuvsDelkoSpeed: I'm so glad you're excited about the semi-sequel! I can guarantee, unfortunately (?) that I will not be going to get Revan in this particular story. Sorry! But, the good (?) news is that this one only has at most two more chapters left to write and then I can move on to something else. However, it is more likely that it will be just another story set in the year and three months in my timeline between the end of the game and when they go to find Revan. I'm not sure I'm up to tackling a Revan story, yet. She's intimidating somehow…
Trillian4210: Thank you so much for your very detailed, encouraging review. It really made me feel a lot better about what I'd written… I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint.
kaizokunami: All credit for the Mira / Dustil pairing must go to SilverShadow667 as I shamelessly stole the idea from her fantastic story, Atton's Motivation. I am glad however that you liked my characterization of Mira, she's a fun one to tackle.
SilverShadow667: This chapter is dedicated to you. It wouldn't be here without your inspiration or my flagrant pilfering of your ideas… Sorry!
Battle Ready
The young human female stood in her cell, staring intently at the cell block door. Her dark hair fell loosely over her shoulders, and she twirled one of the tresses absentmindedly listening to the sounds of blaster fire echoing distantly somewhere on the ship. Other than the voice of her twi'lek companion in the adjacent cell, the hum of the energy shield and the droid that brought them tasteless rations twice a day the blaster fire was the first sound she'd heard in what had to have been close to two weeks. She wasn't the most social of people, even at the best of times, but even still the only thing that had saved her from sheer madness was that she could still hear Jaf even if she couldn't see him. They were the only organic prisoners on the cell block, and as far as she could tell, they had been the only organics on the ship until the blaster fire started.
The door to the block opened and a fairly large spherical droid floated menacingly in their direction. It paused just outside their cells and a holo of a man was projected before them.
"My ship is under attack." The holo began speaking, "That loathsome hutt, Vogga, has sent mercenaries to steal it from me. It is most… unexpected." If the two could have exchanged confused glances they would have. "I will not allow them to take it. I have activated a self destruct sequence, which can only be stopped by me. If they are not repelled this entire ship will be destroyed, including yourselves."
The orange twi'lek, Jafort'or, spoke up hesitantly, "What do you want from us?"
"My proposition is simple. I will grant you permission to move about the ship, under the condition that you stop the infestation." He paused, "If you are successful, you will return here, to your cells, alive. If you are not, you will die, either by their hands, or mine. It is your choice."
"We'll need our weapons," Lorli said firmly.
"Of course," the holo sneered haughtily, "they can be found in the small room just outside this cell block." With that, the holo deactivated and the droid floated down the hallway locking itself into a cell as the energy fields on their cells deactivated.
They stepped out of their cells hesitantly and exchanged that look they had been saving up. Wordlessly they walked out of the cellblock and found the room that the strange droid had referenced.
They retrieved their equipment quickly, and helped themselves to the extra supplies they found there as well. When Lorli donned her robe again, she sighed with relief. While she had only been wearing Jedi robes for just over three months, the last two weeks without them had been torture. She picked up her lightsaber affectionately, igniting the green blade, and twirling it swiftly before clipping it to her belt.
As Jaf hooked his own saber to his belt and placed his large assault rifle in the holster he wore on his back, he grinned at his companion. She felt more for her lightsaber, her creation, than she did most people. He had become accustomed to her tendency towards isolation and her preference for mechanical company and in many ways thought it to be quite refreshing. He had been worried when he had first learned he was to be paired with a young human female that she would talk his ear off, incessantly, as seemed to be their custom. But he had soon found out Lorli was not a very customary girl.
"Ready?" he asked her. She nodded and they headed out into the hallway.
Mira crept along the debris filled corridor staying in the shadows as much as possible to reduce the telltale shimmer of the stealth field around her. The hallway was littered with droid parts and the occasional fresh corpse, evidence of the battle that had taken place. It wasn't hard to follow the Mandalorian, in spite of his stealth generator. She just had to follow the whistle of darts being fired and the distinctive thud of men hitting the floor as the drug took effect. So far they had been lucky, the first six of the men had been spread out enough to take them down without being detected, but that wouldn't last long. She paused at the entrance to a large meeting room where a group of men were gathered. She counted them quickly, eleven, it wasn't going to be easy.
"Start with the ones at the back on the right," a deep whisper came out of the shimmer beside her. Carefully she aimed her rocket launcher at one of the men and the soft whistle of the dart being fired was echoed by the one beside her. Quickly she loaded another dart onto the launcher and before her first target hit the floor she had managed to dart another. She reloaded and fired again as fast as she could, knowing that they would be discovered very soon. By the time the men in the room did figure out what was going on, there were only five of them left, but they were now coming straight for the two, with weapons drawn.
She heard the whine of the stealth field deactivating as she pulled her sabers off her belt and ignited them. The approaching men's eyes widened with fright as the dreaded snap-hiss was heard accompanied by the sudden silvery green glow of sabers which broke through the stealth field before anything else. They hesitated a moment and received a volley of blaster fire as the large Mandalorian appeared out of the nothingness. Mira leapt towards the closest man who was wielding a vibroblade. Swinging her right saber upward violently to knock his blade out of the way, she jabbed from the left side with her shorter blade, cutting through the man's stomach. He collapsed as she pulled her sabers away turning to her next attacker as he sliced into her arm with his blade. She gritted her teeth knocking his blade away from her body and began trading blows with him as another of the mercenaries began to fire his blaster at her. Instinctively her left saber moved to deflect each bolt sending it back to its origin as her right saber continued its attacks on the man before her.
The two men she was fighting collapsed simultaneously and she spun around to see Drex pull his vibroblade out of one of the crumpled bodies that lay in front of him. "You're bleeding," he said pointing to the cut in the middle of her upper right arm.
"You don't look so hot yourself," she said noticing several blaster burns scattered over his large frame. She called on the force then, using its energy to close their wounds and rebuild the burned flesh.
"That's a neat little trick," he remarked dryly as she broke her concentration.
"I'll teach you how to do it when we get together for that drink I owe you," she said with a smirk.
"Mmm," he mumbled to himself as he headed for the door on the far end of the room. She watched him walk away and suddenly remembered her last thought before passing out from his dart. She grinned as his very nice backside disappeared again into the shimmer of his stealth field.
Lorli paused at the end of the long hallway, glancing at Jaf nervously. Noticing her hesitation he stopped and turned back to her. She was practically shaking from her nerves. He smiled at her encouragingly knowing it was her first real fight, "Battle is just like training," he said reassuringly, "except your opponents here are much weaker and you must win." She smiled anxiously back at him, glad to have his calm presence nearby.
She nodded. "I'm all right, let's go," she said as she took a deep centering breath.
Jaf placed his hand over the control and the door hissed open, revealing a trio of rough looking mercenaries gathered around a computer console. The trio turned quickly to face them hesitating only momentarily when the stunning glow of sabers cut through the dim lighting.
Lorli froze a moment, unsure whom to attack. But the decision was made for her as one of the men ran at her swinging his vibroblade wildly. She blocked his blade away easily, and slashed at him tentatively with her own. He blocked her attack and sneered at her as he quickly brought his leg up, kicking her in the kidneys. The pain infuriated her. Her training kicked in full force and a short flurry of strokes later he was laying dead at her feet. She looked up and saw Jaf grinning at her, his tchun twitching amusedly. The other two men now just masses on the floor in front of him. She smiled back at him shyly.
"Your first kill in battle," he said reverently, "it is a good day."
She chuckled nervously as she made her way to the computer console to see what information she could find. She deftly pushed buttons, entering codes and inserting a computer spike expertly into the casing to bypass lockouts.
"The mercenaries' ship is docked at airlock two," she said as she pressed a few more buttons. "There is also another vessel docked at airlock three and a small craft in the shuttle bay." She paused again a moment her brow furrowing as her fingers moved quickly, "I've got the launch codes for the shuttle." She added with a grin. "It's up one level and down the port corridor."
The older twi'lek grinned again as he glanced at the map of the ship over her shoulder. She may be a novice in battle, but the girl was one hell of a slicer. He made his way towards the door silently indicating for her to follow.
Mira followed the Mandalorian down the long corridor as best as she could. It also was filled with the signs of quite a battle between droids and mercenaries, but it was otherwise deserted. Without the whistling of the darts and the thuds of men collapsing, he was quite a bit harder to follow. She tried to reach out and follow him through the force, but he was masking his presence again. She wondered if he was doing it purposefully, just to annoy her, or if it was one of those subconscious things he did when he was hunting. She did see broken parts skid across the floor every so often, and occasionally she could see the shimmer of light his generator created, but for the most part, she was flying blind, so to speak.
She continued creeping forward slowly, towards a door at the far end of the corridor that should lead to the hallway with the turbolift. As she approached the door she quickened her pace slightly and ran straight into the large man, deactivating both of their stealth fields simultaneously.
He wore that same amused smirk as he looked down on her and wrapped his left arm around her waist instinctively. She tensed, her eyes darting to his face in shock from his sudden nerve wracking closeness. She began to try to step back, but he held her there for a moment as he brushed her cheek with his fingertips. "You know," he drawled with an amused chuckle, "if you wanted to be held, you could have just asked."
Suddenly, her anger built up enough to drown out any conflicting emotions she was experiencing and she kicked him violently in the shin as she pushed against his chest and out of his arms. He grunted in discomfort from the well placed kick and eyed her with mild annoyance as she shouted at him, "Damn, it! What the hell do you think you're doing, stopping in the middle of the fracking hallway? And furthermore how in the force am I supposed to follow your invisible ass?"
"Keep your voice down," he growled, "Are you trying to give away our position?"
"I don't see why not!" She said through clenched teeth, "Not like I'm any better off with you than I would be with them!"
"Perhaps you'd like it back in your cell, miss?" He jeered.
"At least when I was there, you kept your filthy hands off me!" She said angrily, as her voice raised again.
"Look what we have here, boys." An unfamiliar voice cut through their argument, "A lover's spat. How sweet."
Mira turned to see that two gamorreans, a twi'lek and a human had appeared in the doorway. Sith Spit. Without a second of hesitation her sabers were off her belt and she ran towards the one who had spoken, slamming her blade against his with the full effect of her speed and weight. She used the force to push the other three away from her and then raised her hand and sent a storm of lightning raining down on all four of them at the same time.
A moment later, she stared almost sheepishly at the blackened corpses lying on the floor in front of her. She slowly turned towards Drex whose eyes were wide with surprise at her sudden display of power. "Remind me never to piss you off… again." He said with a playful grin.
She glared at him a moment, then raised her hand and put him into stasis. "I'm outta here. Have fun," she said as she turned abruptly and headed towards the turbolift.
Vashti lay in bed, staring restlessly into the darkness of the cabin. The warm body of the half dressed man next to her was comforting, but the regularity of his sleep laden breathing was nerve wracking at the same time. She was having one of those nights where her thoughts were relentless, running through memories, scenarios and visions.
She was worried about her friends. She knew it was unlikely that any of them were dead, yet. But it wasn't much comfort that they were in danger because of a task she had sent them on. They had joined her willingly, she tried to tell herself. She needed help if she was going to keep the Sith at bay, and if she didn't, they would be fighting whether they wanted to or not.
She wondered what Goto wanted so badly that he had kidnapped three of her friends to use as leverage. He couldn't have been happy about her negotiating the fuel contract with Vogga for Citadel Station, but she had a feeling he wanted more than that. He wanted to know what she was up to. If he could predict her actions, he could control the economic results. It was so damn mechanical.
She turned towards her companion, barely able to make his form out in the dimness of the room, but needing his presence to anchor her. He would wake up soon, if she didn't get her mind under control, she knew, but she wasn't sure she didn't want him to. He slept more these days than he used to. Of course, getting him to sleep in an actual bed had been much easier since she had started sharing hers with him. But even still, he didn't sleep enough. His nightmares still plagued him often and unless she was with him, he usually refused to sleep in a bed at all. Many times after being away for an extended period of time, either with classes or on a mission, she had found him when she returned home in the cockpit of the Shadow Runner fast asleep in the pilot's chair.
They had purchased the ship shortly after they had taken over the Academy, realizing that they were going to need a small fleet to accomplish the task of rounding up new recruits. Fortunately, Atris had come through with Jedi bank accounts and access codes to purchase the majority of the vessels, but Atton had bought the Shadow Runner with his share of the credits they had managed to accumulate during their travels. He had fallen in love with the small ship. It was similar in size and layout to the Ebon Hawk, but instead of a cargo hold and dorms it had five separate cabins, all decently sized and quite comfortable. She was a fast little fortress as well. He'd paid for all the upgrades to the hyperdrive, shields and guns she could take. Vashti had jokingly begun calling it "The Other Woman", as it was the other love of his life and the object of much of his attentions.
He still intrigued her. It had been almost seven months since they had locked themselves in the cargo hold of the Hawk on that fateful trip, but even still he was a true enigma to her while at the same time being completely transparent. She knew him so completely that she often forgot he was a separate person with his own emotions and desires. And therefore, he surprised her everyday with his own uniqueness. He was becoming a powerful Jedi, quickly improving both his skills and his command of the force, but he still played the fool. She didn't know if it was just out of habit or if he truly preferred people to underestimate him. It was his pazaak face and even she rarely saw him without it.
But now, while he was sleeping he was himself. Powerful, masculine, comforting, Atton.
"I don't know how you expect me to sleep with all that racket you're making over there," he mumbled half asleep. She grinned as she finally gave into her desire to run her fingers over his bare shoulder. "Babe, you've barely slept since we left Telos," he continued sleepily.
She smiled in the darkness, "I can't stop thinking," she said quietly.
He reached out and pulled her close to him, his warm breath tickling her ear. "I only know one way to shut up that brain of yours." He said as he kissed her neck gently and ran his hand over her stomach, inside her tunic.
She giggled, "You can't solve every problem with sex, you know."
"Right, which is why we should always take advantage of it when we can."
"Mmm, good point," she said breathily before turning and kissing him.
He radiated that wonderful soothing warmth that only came from being mostly asleep and made her want his skin against hers. As they kissed, she wrapped her arms around his waist and began sliding her hands downward into the back of his loose fitting sleep pants. He responded in kind by sliding his hands up her back, under her tunic.
Suddenly, an alarm began sounding as the ship dropped out of hyperspace. "Force!" Atton cursed breaking their kiss, "I should know better than to let a droid fly my ship!" He quickly disentangled himself and stormed towards the cockpit, forgetting about her entirely. Vashti sighed heavily, as she threw a robe on over her tunic and pants and followed him. So much for shutting her brain up.
When she arrived in the cockpit, Atton was yelling at the little astromech droid that had been purchased along with the ship. It was dutifully chirping back to him, trying to explain what had happened. Atton wasn't listening though. He was just demanding that the droid disconnect itself… now. Vashti tapped him on the shoulder, "Ummm, Atton?" she said questioningly. He glanced at her and she pointed out the view screen to the very large ship that was sitting there.
"You've got to be kidding me!" He yelled angrily as he finally noticed the vessel and the very recognizable gravity well generators on its profile, which had to be responsible for their drop from hyperspace.
"General," Bao's soft voice came from the cockpit door, "We're being com'd. I think you'd better talk to them."
Vashti nodded as she pushed her way past the zabrak into the security room. "This is Jedi Knight Meres," she said assertively as she flipped the com on, "Please explain why you have detained us."
"Charming as always, Exile," a familiar sneer came though the com.
"Goto," she said with contempt, "What a surprise, I didn't expect to hear from you for at least another twelve hours. I had no idea you had access to resources of this magnitude."
"You should know by now, never to underestimate me, Exile." The droid said haughtily. "Dock in bay three, I wish to speak with you… Alone."
Atton shot her a disapproving look from the doorway and she shrugged helplessly, at least if you're already on board, it'll be easier to break me out… she thought to him with an appeasing smile. "Docking at bay three," she said with resignation into the com before she switched it off.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," he said unhappily as he headed towards the cockpit.