Shadows of Heroines and Heroes
.:One Who Can See Him:.
Biggs sat beside one of the bunks in the Starboard dormitory. Like in the Ebon Hawk, it was the women's dormitory on the Black Saber, but he'd been comforting Brianna for hours since they'd felt the death of their son through the Force.
Now that Brianna was sleeping peacefully, Biggs felt there was another who needed to know of Kail's death. He stood up and slowly crept out of the dormitory to avoid disturbing his wife's much-needed sleep.
As he walked down the corridor and through the garage, Bao-Dur walked up to him.
"How is she?" Bao-Dur asked quietly, his voice grave.
"Sleeping, finally. Still blames herself. I tried to tell her that it isn't her fault, that he made the choice to leave Dxun. Then she got angry at me, said I was talking like it was his fault." Biggs said.
"I can't even begin to imagine what she's going through. Well, I can begin to imagine what she's going through. I have got Padme. But I've never thought about how I'd react if she was dead." Bao-Dur said.
"Uh, Bao-Dur, if you don't mind, there's something I have to do." Biggs cut him off. The Iridonian eyed him for a minute. He felt the other Jedi brush along the edges of his mind and then he nodded and went back to helping Atton build some extra lightsabers.
Biggs walked out of the corridors, and came to the Cargo Hold, where he found Visas, meditating. He thought it better not to disturb her. However, as he passed the door, she turned her head to look at him.
"She is waiting for you." She whispered.
"You knew?" Biggs asked.
"She did. She has always known your thoughts." Visas turned back to the back wall of the Cargo Hold. Shaking his head, Biggs continued his walk through the Black Pearl until he reached the Port dormitory. There was no one here, so he locked the blast door and then sat down, cross-legged and began to call his daughter to him.
Biggs delicately laid the Proton Core at the end of the corridor and nervously began to prepare it for detonation. He breathed a sigh of relief when it started to glow a deep red, but didn't explode.
The Jedi Weaponsmaster pushed his Padawan Braid back behind his ear. He had left the Order before getting any further then Padawan, but even after all these years, he still hadn't cut it off, or at least untied it.
Visas watched him from behind as he set the detonator. He stood and turned to her, giving her a crooked grin.
"Last one. Mandalore is handling the replacement detonator. He said he'd meet us at the entrance to the Bridge."
Visas nodded, but remained silent. She'd barely said a word since they'd boarded the ship and it was beginning to worry Biggs.
At first he'd thought she'd been regretting what they'd done the night before, but when he asked her if it was the reason, she'd smiled sadly and said
"I have no regrets."
So he'd dropped the subject.
The two Jedi turned around and walked down the long corridor of Nihilus' ship.
It was as they passed a sealed door, Visas suddenly looked up, her eyes seeing past the thick adamantium and into cell, and past it to the circular room, where she had once been imprisoned.
"This door leads to my, cell. I had forgotten." She whispered, turning fully to stand before the door.
Biggs turned to Visas, frowning. Then he closed his eyes, reaching out to Visas through the Force.
"Do whatever you feel you need to." He said, nodding toward the door. Visas smiled at him, the smile a mixture of sadness and gratitude.
The Miraluka Jedi raised her hand and the door slid open. Slowly, carefully, she walked through her cell, and into the meditation room.
In the center of the room, surrounded by the mist that swirled along the floor of the room, she sat, crossing her legs and closed her blind eyes.
"Past the surface, there is the Force."
She whispered and almost immediately, she was tormented by the deaths of her people as she was every time she attempted to center herself in this accursed cell.
"Where once there was a world that was strong in the Force, now there is a barren wasteland."
Cries of pain and anguish, men, women, children and babies, all of them crying out within her.
"As the winds blow the through the ruins of Katarr and moves the ashes of my home, my people shall see once more through the Force. Through my eyes, I see not the death of a world, but the chance for rebirth."
The cries deepened, but now there were also whispers, whispers of hope, of joy, a chance to move on, and the chance to see again.
"This body is a prison no longer. Through the Force my chains are broken and I shall see again."
The cries ended, the whispers subsided, and the mists faded. Visas opened her eyes, and stood.
"There is nothing more for me here." She slowly walked out of the cell, and she saw as she had not seen in years. Not just blurs and lights.
She saw clearly, every little detail, the rise of Biggs' chest as he breathed, the color of his skin, the deep blue of his eyes and the crooked smile he wore as Visas stood before him.
Aside from when he'd planted the final Proton Core, it was the first time he'd smiled since Atton had told him the Handmaiden had gone with Kreia to Atris' academy.
Visas saw that Mandalore stood behind Biggs, ready to aid in the final fight against her master.
The three companions walked to the end of the corridor, then made a right turn, and were met by a half dozen Sith soldiers and two Dark Jedi.
Biggs and Visas both ignited their double-lightsabers. Mandalore raised his Heavy Repeating Blaster. And the three companions threw all they could muster at the Sith soldiers and Dark Jedi.
Biggs' cyan blades cut the Sith soldiers into pieces, while Visas' orange blades ended one Dark Jedi and Mandalore overpowered the second with a continuous volley of power blasts from his repeating blaster.
As the final opposition between them and the Bridge fell to Biggs' lightsaber, Visas turned to him.
"This door leads to the Bridge, and my former Master. If you wish to gather your strength, this is the last time." She whispered softly.
"Visas, you don't need to come with me." He said.
"It was never a question of need. And I would follow you wherever your path leads." Visas said defiantly. Biggs sighed and looked down at the floor.
"Visas, when Atton told me that the Handmaiden was gone, I felt a pain I've not felt since the battle of Malachor. I had lost my lover, my soul mate. I do not want to risk losing one who is like a sister to me as well."
Visas felt tears well up in her eyes. She wasn't sure if it was from the pain that he did not love her like he did the Handmaiden, or from the fact that she loved him in the same way, not as a lover, as a brother.
And now she knew she did feel the same way.
"This thing must be done." She whispered.
Biggs looked up at her, a single tear falling down his cheek.
"Then let us end this!" He said.
They turned to the door and push it open with the Force, and all three of them ran up the long Bridge, to where Darth Nihilus stood.
The Sith Lord that stood before them appeared to be nothing but a set of 6'2 high black robes, black gloves and a white and red mask that would cover only the up part of his face, ending at the bridge of his nose. There was no face that Visas or Biggs or Mandalore could see.
Biggs' ears were suddenly filled with a terrifying, infuriating, ear-splitting noise. It ended seconds later, as suddenly as it had begun, leaving Biggs shaken and his body numb and cold.
With much effort, he managed to turn his head and see Visas in the same condition. He couldn't see Mandalore.
"I have come…of my own choice – Visas is not…part of this." He managed. Beside him, he heard Visas' soft voice.
"No…do not harm him. I am the one…who has betrayed you. I am the one…who should suffer." Her voice was even softer then normal. "I will return to you…but please do not harm him…do not to him what you did to me…I beg you."
Nihilus turned the Visas. He spoke, once again in the groaning, ear-splitting voice. Only this time he allowed her to understand him.
"I would not take you. You have lain with a Jedi, you are an abomination, you carry an abomination. But I would make you suffer!"
The Sith Lord raised his gloved hand, as a blast of sickly dark orange energy was fired from it. It came within a quarter of a meter of Visas, and then simply sizzled out, as if it hit a wall.
Visas' eyes widened in shock; not just because of her Masters' failed attempt at feeding upon her life energies, but also because of what he had said.
"You carry an abomination."
Biggs let what little of the Force he could feel to allow him to see as Visas could, through the Force. He saw Visas, bathed in blue and white light, a black shadow standing before her. And around Visas, a bubble of bright blue energy…
Darth Nihilus was feeding on the bubble instead of Visas, Biggs suddenly realized; but as the Sith Lord fed, the bubble weakened. Visas didn't have long before Nihilus broke through and fed on her directly. Unless…
Nihilus began to lose focus on Biggs as he got closer and closer to Visas. Seconds before he broke through the bubble, Biggs broke through of his grip.
Using the Force to speed his movements, he leapt through the air and landed between Visas and Nihilus.
"You wanna feed on a Jedi? Feed on me!" He shouted defiantly. As the energy snaked across his body, all Nihilus fed on was emptiness. And it weakened him. He fell to his 'knees', breathing heavily.
"Even now, the hunger is consuming you. Just as Kreia knew it would." Biggs said. He and Visas ignited their lightsabers in unison, and threw themselves at Nihilus, the Force unifying their movements as one, stabbing, slashing, and striking out with their lightsabers.
And then suddenly they were once again trapped by Nihilus' power. Somehow, even though his robes were in tatters, his shadowed body broken, he continued to feed upon the Force around him.
"He…is too powerful…he…" Visas managed.
"Stay with me, Visas – we can stop him…somehow." Biggs whispered. Then a thought occurred to him. If Nihilus was keeping the ship in one piece, it must be something like a Force bond, and if one end of the bond was damaged, the other would feel the pain.
"Visas…you're his link…to this place. Can you…weaken him through…that link?"
"I…I…will try…" Visas murmured.
She closed her eyes to try and weaken the connection between Nihilus and his ship, but her thoughts were interrupted by Biggs' sudden scream, she looked toward him and saw Nihilus feeding up him, and at the same time, the Sith Lord's robes' repaired.
"Visas…please…hurry." Biggs shouted. Filled with a new determination, and now wishing not just to stop Nihilus but also to save Biggs, Visas felt a burst of Force power erupt from inside her, and the ship suddenly rocked as two of the four Proton Cores detonated.
Nihilus jerked and fell to his knees as the destruction of the ship sent pain into him. Biggs stood immediately, propelled to his feet by the Force.
"Perhaps you are still human enough to feel pain?" He whispered. Then with almost undetectable speed, he activated one end of his lightsaber and drove the blade through the empty space where Nihilus' mouth should have been.
With one last ear-splitting screech, Nihilus fell, dead with a lasting finality.
Biggs deactivated his lightsaber, and sprinted over to Visas, seeing the young Miraluka lying on her side, taking in long, deep breaths slowly.
"I feel…another…inside me…" She whispered, looking up at the father of her unborn child…
"Father?" Biggs looked up. Before him stood a girl of eighteen years, with her mother's beautiful figure and her father's white-blonde hair.
But it was not her body or her hair that drew the most attention. It was her eyes.
Both unseeing, and yet they saw more then anyone in the galaxy, one sea green, the other sky blue.
She wore robes of flowing, pale blue silk, dark mauve sandals, and pale pink gloves.
She was the daughter of Biggs Raner and Visas Marr. She was the result of something Kreia had warned Biggs against, for in her was the power to ascend to a higher plane, one of the Force.
She was Illusen.
Biggs smiled sadly at his daughter. It had only been a couple of months since he'd last seen her, but he had missed the girl terribly. And now he had to tell her of her brother's death.
"Illusen, Kail is-"
"Alive." Illusen cut her father off.
"What? How do you-"
"I have seen him. I have watched over him since he left Dxun. He is alive, perhaps not entirely healthy, but alive." Illusen said.
Biggs breathed a long deep sigh of utter relief and happiness. His son was alive.
"Let me see." He whispered. Illusen held out her hands, and he held them in his.
Kail held his hand out beside him, still to weak to do anything else. A moment later, he felt the warmth of her hand touch his and they held onto each other.
Brianna's eyes fluttered open from the vision. She leapt to her feet and sprinted out of the Starboard dormitory, and ran head on into Biggs.
"He's alive!" They exclaimed at each other breathlessly.
"How do you know?" They both asked.
"I saw it in a vision." Neither of them realized how ridiculous they must have looked and sounded, especially since Brianna was still in her under garments, but they just hugged each other; overjoyed that their son was alive.
Kail's woke but didn't open his eyes. He was trying to gather his thoughts and remember what had happen.
It took a few moments, but it came back to him. Jaden igniting his lightsaber; his own lightsaber being cut in half; and then pain he hadn't thought possible without almost instant death.
And another memory: Padme, igniting her own lightsaber and then -
It was a blank; he couldn't remember anything from that point on. He opened his eyes to see where he was.
He relaxed a little when he realized he was in the Med Bay of the Ebon Hawk. He looked over and saw Padme lying in the bed next to him.
Lying back on his back, Kail held his hand out beside him, still to weak to do anything else. A moment later, he felt the warmth of her hand in his and they held onto each other.
And suddenly he was gripped by a feeling of cold, as if he was buried alive...
Kail ignited his lightsaber and swung it blindly in the darkness. To his shock, he heard a scream of pain, and looked up. Before him stood a tall, cloaked figure, wearing a dark hood and mask. The figure reached up to their mask and pulled it away, revealing -
"Kail!" He heard Padme's voice calling him back. His eyes opened, and in front of him stood Rick, Kevin and Kinraar.
Padme was staring fearfully at him, her face pale, which gave Kail the impression she'd attempted to stand when he hadn't responded to her.
"What happened?" Kail asked. He had seen the vision, but he didn't know what the others had seen.
"Well, you kind of started shaking, And then you were muttering under your breath. I thought maybe something had gone wrong with your life-support system, so-" Padme was interrupted.
"Then she nearly killed her self by detaching her own system to come and get us." Rick said, cutting across Padme's sentence. Kail frowned and nodded.
"Okay, next question. Where the hell are we?"
As if to answer his question, a voice came over the PA.
"Announcement: Attention Passenger Meatbags, and Meatbag Master and Master's consort. This is your co-pilot, JAINA. We are just coming out of Hyperspace above the Fish world of Manaan.
"Oh. Okay, Manaan. Er, why?" Kail asked in a confused voice.
"Because Rain, Padme, and yourself need too heal."
Everyone in the room, either turned or looked over at the door to see Alison standing just outside of the doorway, dressed in garments her mother use to wear.
Even the mask hanging on her belt, was of similar design except for the near shadow bronze stripes running along the edges of the red coloring.
"Manaan's got the best kolto anywhere, in fact's it's the place where it comes from." Alison's mouth curved up into a smile, but it did not reach her cold eyes. "We're running low, and if you keep getting yourself beaten up, then we're going to need a bigger med bay."
She turned and left without another word, leaving the youths to stare at each other.
Kail shivered as Rick looked around. Alison had looked so much like that vision, but no, there was no way she could be the…
"Rick," Kail struggled to sit up, "what Alison did just now, I need to tell you something, there's something wrong with-" Rick shrugged.
"She really does care about us, she's just struggling right now." He ran off after Alison, leaving Kevin to glance at Padme.
"The two of them together?" Kevin asked.
Padme shook her head and winced as she paled, leaning back onto the bed weakly.
"If they're an item, then we're all doomed."
"What are you two talking about!" Kail demanded as Kevin and Padme sighed, shaking their heads as Kinraar growled laughingly.
A light shone into the life-pod, through the tiny window and then he heard voices.
"All right, he's alive, cut her open."
A flash and the sounds of sparks and as metal screeched. The circle shaped hole was pried from the life-pod and willing hands hauled the starving weakened man out of the pod.
Mical shivered in the harsh light as he was laid on a med-sled, and a respirator mask was fitted over his face.
A Selkath doctor appeared over him, its mouth wobbling as he spoke.
"Who did this to you, human?"
"I'm a Jedi Master… Sithsp…took me away, killed my family…" Mical rasped as the Selkath nodded to the Republic soldiers and issued orders.
"You're okay now, Master." A grizzled Republic officer appeared over him, and glanced down in pity at the man. "We'll get you cleaned up and then you can get a job here on Manaan, you'll be right as rain, kid.
"Manaan… they've never got rid of me after all… I lived through their plans. Alison… she's here, I can feel her! I sense her! I'll find her and I'll kill her!"
And as the darkness closed in on Mical, he ranted in his mind, and raged as he jerked in the bonds on the medical sled as medics ran over to his side, shouting orders as the man slumped back into a comma.
She would die… He would make sure of it, but not before she suffered.
Note from the Authors - we're onto chapter twelve, and we implore you readers - please review our story. They would be greatly appreciated and helpful.