Shadows of Heroines and Heroes
.:The Shadow of the Saber:.
Alison and HK-47 crept through the old Krayt Dragon's cave. At the very back of the cave stood the ancient Star Map Revan had found. But they weren't looking for the Star Map.
"Statement: Master, I believe I have located to the Ebon Hawk!" HK suddenly exclaimed. "Turn your head twelve degrees to the right and you should see it."
Alison looked in the direction HK suggested, and sure enough, there it was. Alison sprinted over to the Hawk, and found the boarding ramp was down, just as she knew it would be. But would she be able to get it started? That was the question.
Alison and HK walked up the boarding ramp, and found that all the doors had been shut and locked, obviously by Revan. There was also a carpet of sand about a foot deep along the floor of Ebon Hawk in the small boxed in area the three locked doors had made.
Alison walked up to the door that was between her and the central room and found almost all of the controls, voice locked and requiring DNA recognition.
Alison placed her hand on the DNA scanner. After a moment, the computerized version of Revan's voice spoke.
"DNA pattern recognized, state your name!"
"Alison Alyssa Onasi Stareth." Alison said. The alarms suddenly activated and the voice began shouting "Intruder! Intruder!" and before Alison could do anything, three blaster turrets lowered from the ceiling. Except they didn't point at her, they pointed at HK.
"Warning Statement: Intruder shall leave immediately or risk deactivation!" The familiar voice echoed through out the Ebon Hawk; Alison leaned into the voice recognizer.
"Cease fire, Alison Alyssa Onasi Stareth and assassin droid, HK-47." She said calmly, almost amused by it. The turrets instantly pulled back up into the ceiling and the alarms stopped. Then all the doors opened.
Satisfied, she activated the built in air vents and blew the carpet of sand back down the boarding ramp. Then she and HK walked through the corridors of the Ebon Hawk before finally finding their way into the cockpit.
Alison repeated her name into another voice recognizer, but all it did was make the blast shields on the cockpit windows' open. Slightly annoyed, she went into the security room and found the navicomputer voice locked.
"Damn T3 and Mom had to lock the navicomputer and now they're not here." She muttered. "HK, come here and unlock the navicomputer." HK obliged, walking up to the computer and emitting a number of squeaks that were identical to T3-M4.
The roof lights suddenly lit up all through the Ebon Hawk as Alison and HK gained full access to it and the navicomputer.
With that done, the two left the security room and returned too the cockpit. Alison flipped a few switches and pulled a few levers; the Ebon Hawk's engine gave a low hum and they lifted up off the ground.
Smiling happily at her accomplishment, Alison took hold of the controls and guided the Ebon Hawk out of the Krayt Dragon's lair and flew it toward the Sand People's enclave that was not far away.
About an hour later…
HK-47 sat in the pilot's seat and Kinraar sat in the co-pilot's seat. Between the two of them, they managed to avoid the unexpected laser fire from the land-based turrets surrounding the Sand People enclave, with Padme in the lower turret raining their own laser fire down on the enclave, making sure she didn't hit the prisoner's hut.
"Shouldn't Rick and Alison have come out of there by now?"She asked into the intercom.
"Statement: It is possible that the meat-bags have put her into sleep-mode." HK's mechanical voice came over the intercom. "I would much prefer to be down there blasting the meat-bags, secondary Master."
A second voice came over the intercom.
"For the last time HK, you're the only one besides Alison who has access to the Ebon Hawk's controls. None of us would be able to fly her." Padme recognized Rain's voice.
"Why is that?"She asked as one of the domes the Tuskens used as huts went up in flames from her laser fire.
"From what I can tell, Padme, Revan had the controls DNA locked so only herself, her daughters, and HK-47 could fly it." Rain replied over the occasional blaster fire.
"I still don't see Rick and Alison." Kinraar's growl crackled over the intercom.
"Wait, there!" Padme fired to shots right behind the Tuskens carrying her friend and Alison so as to point out where they were. "Wait! HK, there's turret fire, about-" Too late, one of the Tusken's land based turrets hit one of the Ebon Hawk's engines and sent them into a nose dive toward the dune seas.
Thankfully, HK's piloting skills were as good as his targeting skills, and he managed to guide the Ebon Hawk on one engine far enough away from the enclave to avoid being attacked by the Tuskens.
Not that that made the crash any less disastrous, even though the Ebon Hawk was still in one piece when they landed.
Kail, Kevin and Rain managed to pull Padme out of the turret, which was somewhat squashed. She groaned as she tried to stand and found one of her legs sticking out in an odd position, apparently dislocated.
Kail caught her as she started to fall, and she used him as a support to hold her up as she took her leg at the shin, just above the knee, and pushed. There was a sickening crack and she pushed it back into place. It still hurt like hell though.
"How're the others?" She asked.
"Well, Kinraar's shoulder is dislocated, and HK's head was knocked off his chassis when we crashed. Torne is in the med room, we think he has a minor concussion due to the fact his head collided with the wall, but Kevin, Rain and I are reasonably fine." Kail said.
At that moment, they were interrupted by what looked like a HK-50 model, except its voice synthesizer appeared to be malfunctioning.
"Irritated Statement: That inferior HK-47 unit needs another lesson in crash landings." The HK-50 unit said stiffly. "Greeting: Hello, I am JAINA, Journeying Android Intended for Nocturnal Assassinations. I am the proud property of Erick Jolee of the Clan Ordo."
"Wait, I thought you'd been scrapped by those Tusken Raiders." Kail said.
"Disbelieving Statement: Scrapped? Certainly not! When those inferior sand-bags attempted to deactivate me, my Lightsaber Training Level 21 protocol was activated instead. Educated Guess: I believe that Level 21 is extremely dangerous for anyone with less skill that the Lady Revan herself, and perhaps Master Rick, as he is approaching Level 19." JAINA said.
"Okay, back up a moment. How did you even get on board the Ebon Hawk?" Kail asked.
"Explanation: I boarded this vessel when the meatbag owner and inferior design exited it." JAINA said, her head swivelling in a very HK-47 like-way. "Bloodthirsty Request: At this time I would like to go and blast sand-bags and rescue Master Rick." Padme smiled.
"Oh, trust me. Nothing would please me more, but the Ebon Hawk was damaged by one of the Tusken Raider's turrets. It'll take at least six hours to repair it."
"Correction: I was built by Canderous of Ordo. I was given extensive repair skills in case I ever needed to repair a damaged lightsaber. I would be able to repair it within two hours." JAINA said.
"In that case, get to work!" Kail said, and he and Kevin took the droid outside to begin repair work on the engine.
JAINA had been correct. Within two hours, the Ebon Hawk was fired up and they were ready to go back and rescue their friends.
HK flew the ship, with JAINA as the co-pilot this time, due to her being physically identical to HK aside from voice, name, and colour.
They found Rick and Alison on a wooden beam over the top of the Sarlacc, Rick supporting Alison as they tried to crawl up the sandy pit.
Kail, Kevin, and Padme, who was now supported by Rain, all walked out onto the boarding ramp.
"Hey, Rick, need a lift?" Kail called. He reached down and took Rick's (who was still suffering from his fractured ribs) hand as he propelled himself upward with the Force.
Kevin reached down and lifted Alison, who appeared to only be semi-conscious, up onto the ramp, and then JAINA raised the ramp so that they were all inside the Ebon Hawk.
"Well, that's certainly an adventure I'm happy to leave behind." Kail said ten minutes later to Rick, who was lying on one of the beds in the Port Dormitory. "So, what living hell are we traveling to next? Hoth? Malachor V? Blenjeel? Nar Kreeta?"
"Deralia." Rick said, smiling at his friends' mock-optimism. "Alison had a look at the navicomputer when she found the Hawk, Deralia was the first planet Revan traveled to after she left Republic space."
"Okay, Deralia, as in another desert planet?" Kail said in mock-depression. Then he pretended to faint onto his own bed. Rick chuckled at Kail. He would have laughed louder, but his jaw was still healing and it would take a while longer before it was fixed.
"Come on, Kail. If you're going to faint, make it more realistic Kail, and fall flat on your face or something." Rick said.
"Okay, fine." Kail said in mock-annoyance. He stood up and then fell flat on his face on the on the dormitory floor. Then he sat up. "Hey, this floor is hollow!" He exclaimed. He started tracing his finger along the floor. "Look, a hinge."
"Can't really look, due to the fact I have to remain immobile until my ribs heal." Rick said.
"Oh, right." Kail chuckled to himself as he started to look for the lock to open the secret compartment. It took him about half an hour, and then about half an hour more to work out how the lock worked.
By that time he had to go get some dinner for Rick and didn't have time to try and pick the lock, so, somewhat disappointed, he went to the living area to get some ship-glop for Rick's meal.
While Kail was out fixing his own and his friends' dinner, Padme had come in to check on Rick, and found him sleeping restlessly. But it was the square of light at the back of the dormitory.
She slowly walked up and the lock clicked open as she approached. Kneeling down on her knees, Padme reached into the compartment that opened, and pulled out a lightsaber hilt.
However, she didn't see the shadow that was gathering around the hilt and now around her.
But she heard Kail, and for some unknown reason, she hid the lightsaber in the pocket of her robes. She quickly closed and relocked the compartment, sprinting over to Rick's bedside and pretending to only just stand up again.
"How's he doing?" Kail asked as he came in carrying two plates.
"Restless, he must be having another nightmare." Padme suggested. She then walked out of the dormitory, the lightsaber a heavy weight in her pocket. She soon discovered that it was completely empty of crystals.
This meant she'd have to wait until they found some place that sold the correct equipment before she could use her new saber.
For years he had waited, trapped, a shadow where no light could strengthen him, until he found the descendant of the one who trapped him in the first place. Now, the child of the one who vanquished him would be the one to resurrect him…
Alison stirred in her unconscious state, but was still unable to awaken as the dark presence drifted by her through the Force.
Rick watched helplessly as two dark clad figures approached him, both carrying ignited crimson lightsabers. But before they reached him, two other figures stepped into his view. Kinraar, her bronze saber-staff humming to life and Kail, his cyan saber-staff already ignited.
Rick rolled over in his sleep, groaning in pain, and then rolled over again, still groaning.
After a week of flying through Hyperspace, Rick was finally healed and was able to help out around the ship, although there wasn't much left to do.
Kinraar and Kevin had fixed any problems with the ship and Kail, who turned out to be one hell of a cook, had managed, after half of the week of failure, to turn the glop into something decent to eat.
Rick tried to avoid going to see Alison. He upgraded JAINA's training protocols and began training in the garage while Kinraar and Kail sat and watched their friend as he passed level 19, 20, and 21 with flying colours. They were hollow victories since he secretly suspected that the Lady Revan would not be worried if he had beaten all of her supposed training levels.
But by the end of the eighth 'day', Rick could no long avoid going in to see Alison.
Rick slowly made his way into the med bay and sank into the chair vacated by Rain upon his arrival; Kevin was standing off to one side, concern and fear written all over his face.
Rick glanced at Rain who shook her head.
"We've done all we can, you're the one who's got to snap her out of whatever she's struggling to fight."
With saying this short cryptic bit of information, Rain left the med bay, pulling the reluctant Kevin along with her, leaving Rick alone in the room with the unconscious Alison.
He closed the door with reluctantly, and leaned hesitantly closer to Alison, his face almost touching hers.
"Uh." He started to speal and stopped, his mind racing fast, what should he say to her?
He leaned in closer again and whispered.
"Alison, it's time to wake up, now. It's all safe, they're gone."
He did not expect the sudden slight motion from the comatose girl, as her startling blue-green, fear filled eyes suddenly fluttered open as she raised a hand and slapped him instinctively. Rick caught her hand and held it as she continued to struggle and then he slapped her.
It worked, bringing Alison back to full awareness and saving him from being beaten by a girl.
She looked around the med bay.
"We're on route to Deralia?" She asked in a sharp voice. Rick nodded, not saying a word. Alison sighed once and closed her eyes. She had fallen into a natural sleep when he opened the door and let Rain and Kevin in.
It took another three days to get to Deralia, and yet again…
"I can't believe we crashed again!" Kail shouted out into the desert. He turned back to the two protocol/assassin droids. "I thought you two were meant to be programmed to fly this thing?"
"Astonished Statement: One would think that after flying this junk pile to Deralia, the meat-bag would be a little more grateful." JAINA said. She would have huffed if she could.
"Agreeing Statement: Indeed, I have found meatbag's rarely show gratitude too us superior non-organics." HK agreed with his fellow droid.
"The ship already had the location programmed into it. A Ewok could fly it!" Kail snapped at the droid. "I don't believe this. I'm arguing with a pair of protocol droids!"
Fuming, he turned away from the droids and walked off toward the setting sun. HK and JAINA either didn't realize or didn't care that Kail would soon become lost and dehydrated out in the desert, because the two droids walked in the opposite direction and up the Ebon Hawk's boarding ramp.
Rick walked into the engine room to see Kevin and Kinraar in their usual spots attempting to repair the engine.
"How's it going?" He asked.
"We are actually unsure why it is the Ebon Hawk stopped functioning." Kinraar said.
"What do you mean?" Rick asked.
"We're not sure. It's as if the Hawk's engines simply stopped working; there's not a scratch on it." Kevin said. Rick's brows furrowed.
"Really?" He considered this diagnosis. "That's definitely strange. Well, see if you can get it started again. We need to find some kind of city within the next few days. We're running low on supplies."
Kinraar nodded and she and Kevin went back to work.
Padme sat cross-legged in the Starboard Dormitory. Alison was still in the med bay, Kinraar was repairing the engine, and Rain and HK were scouting the area now.
Padme…She heard the voice whispering in her ear.
"What must I do?" She whispered.
Find the Eye in the Master's Heart…
Padme didn't understand the command, but she doubted she'd get anything else.
She gathered the Force around her and it lifted her onto her feet. Then she heard something, a gasp for air. She turned, but no one was there. She then heard it again, this time directly in front of her. And she saw Kail, or a vision of Kail, lying in the sand that had suddenly appeared on the floor.
And there were others, a group of humans were gathering around him, looking at him inquisitively. All of them wore light brown tunics and pants made of thin cloth.
All of them had sandy brown hair; the men had all clipped their hair to an extremely short-almost bald fashion. The women held their hair in five short braids and one longer one going down their back.
One young woman and man in particular seemed to be eying Kail, though more like recognition then inquisitive.
The vision ended, and Padme blinked a couple of times before recovering the use of her body.
She sprinted out of the dormitory to find Rick just coming out of the med bay, helping Alison to stay on her feet as she walked, more like flopping around like a beached fish, having been in a coma for almost a week.
"Kail's in trouble!" Padme said. Rick and Alison both looked up at Padme, startled.
"What do you mean?" Rick asked anxiously. "How do you know?"
Padme shook her head, her hair falling down and covering half her face, with half of her fiery read hair, one horn poking out through the curtain of red symbolizing the color of blood. "I'm not sure. I had some kind of vision in the dormitory. I think he must've gone out into the desert for some reason, and now the Derallians have found him."
Rick bit his lip then turned to look at Alison hesitantly, then back to Padme. "Okay, gather the rest of the crew, we'll go out and see if we can find them."
"Hey, I'm in charge of the crew, if I weren't here you wouldn't have gotten the Hawk opened up!" Alison said, attempting to stand. She fell back into Rick's open and waiting arms. "But this isn't fair!" Alison spat out savagely. "You've only recently recovered from fractured ribs and you're still going to help!"
She tried to twist out of his tight grip and only succeeded in bashing her head against the bulkhead before he could grab her again.
"That's different." Rick said, rolling his eyes and counting to ten inside his head. "At least with fractured ribs, I could still eat. We couldn't even feed you intravenously. Which means your body needs time to rest and recover. You don't want to collapse out there in the desert do you?"
Alison heard the veiled threat, and reluctantly, with an irritated look on her face, she lay down on her bed to rest, more being forced onto the bed by Rick's firm and insistent grip on her shoulder.
Not five minutes later, she sensed a presence enter the dormitory. She recognized the presence partly as Padme, but there was something wrong. She could feel darkness gathered around Padme, and it was spreading toward herself as well.
She would have screamed for help if she'd had time, but all of a sudden she didn't feel the need to. The darkness swept around her, and she felt power beyond belief as it took control of her slowly.
Alison tried to resist as Padme walked closer, her normally pale pink and blue face tattoos replaced by red and black ones, and her eyes were a golden-yellow; but it was impossible. She succumbed to it finally, raising her face up, her blue-green eyes hard jade now.
"The galaxy has been ruled by the Republic for far too long!" Padme whispered in a voice not quite her own.
"Yes, it is time to take back the galaxy for the Sith!" Alison whispered; her voice also somewhat changed.
"For now, we must blend in." Padme said, and her tattoos and eyes and face became normal again.