.:Giving in to Temptation:.
Alison walked down through the jungle path as she strayed away from the village and its celebration. She felt sick to her stomach and the celebrations weren't helping any. Save the people, destroy a village… have their leader on trial to be hung.
No, Alison wanted no part of this. She wasn't a killer, and she didn't fight wars for others. She was a Jedi not a mercenary!
"Alison?"
That was Rain, Alison reflected as she withdrew further back into the shadows. Confronting Rain wasn't going to be easy or good at this time, especially not now.
"Alison, if you're here come out please. I need to talk to you."
Alison shook her head sourly; everyone needed to talk to her about this and that. Mow she could see why Revan had left on 'vacations' so much, if nothing more than to just escape.
The thought of her mother brought tears to her eyes as Rain left in a downtrodden silence. She missed her mother and father, but going back wasn't the option right now. She was going to have a child, she couldn't afford complications.
Alison turned silently and walked towards the Shardin Temple. There she could feel the Force, there she could find her answer on this Force blinded planet.
Rick looked for Alison, but he couldn't find her anywhere at the party. He grounded his teeth together, why did she have so good at slipping off when she didn't want to be found?
He sighed as a clawed leg started to climb up his and looked at the hissing caat. "All right" he spat out, "I'm guessing you know where she is, take me to her and I'll give you the last bit herring, I have."
He took the fish off his plate and gave it to the caat who purred as she bit into the delicate fish and started to eat it with relish. Rick groaned as he slumped down onto a chair, he couldn't believe he was making deals with a caat to find his wayward girlfriend.
"Does it have to hurt this much?"
A woman's voice floated on the wind as Alison struggled to move a tree branch aside, "is someone there?" Alison called out but received no reply back. "Shush, little one, soon all will be fine. …I hope."
Alison scrambled into the corridor and looked down onto the floor, into a glistening trail of blood. She swallowed and looked up the corridor, the trail continued into the darker room.
She gathered her robes around her and gripped the comforting weight of her lightsaber on her belt and started forward. The sooner she found this child and its mother, the better.
…For both all of them.
Alison walked into the room, as the woman looked up, but there was no fear on her face. "Are you going to kill me, now?" The mother asked coldly, struggling to sit up.
"No." Alison shook her head, "I would never do that."
Alyssa Krast shook her head weakly, "you would if you knew my name, my legacy."
Alison nodded as another spirit detach itself from the wall, "I have entered a place where only the chosen few can go back in time. You are a Sith Lord, one of the seven, Alyssa Krast. This is where you gave birth to your son, and you died in childbirth, not fighting as the texts would have us believe."
"So, we are fated to meet again." Another voice revealed Kari Xarrio, as the shadows parted. "1 wondered where you had fled to, now I realize why."
Alyssa nodded, "so will you do the deed and end my life now?"
Kari shook her head and then suddenly Alison realized something; her sister wasn't insubstantial. She was solid!
"Kari… you didn't lose your body in an accident…" Alison whispered as she watched her sister kneel besides the Sith Lady who was gasping for air now as contractions hit her.
"You won't live through the child's birth, Alyssa. You'll need my help." Kari looked down into the pain glazed eyes of the Sith Lady who shook her head and attempted a smirk which was lost to another contraction.
"You do something for me, without asking anything in return? Yeah right, when hell freezes over."
Kari smiled feral and grinned, "No I do want something from you. And you will give me the knowledge of it if you want you and your child assured living through the pregnancy."
Kari leaned over and whispered her request into Alyssa's ear, who listened and pulled back when Kari was done. "You would do that, for that knowledge? Does either of our parents know of this?"
"Since when has our parent wishes mattered to either of us? Besides, we mortal enemies are going to forever be fighting. One you're dead and your child is no longer an issue to stop you, then we can continue our feud."
Alyssa nodded, "I much prefer the sound of that, than your brother's child being a problematic issue. Shadow's child belongs to me as much as to him."
Alyssa waved her hand and a glowing blue light transferred over to Kari who glowed for a moment, before Kari, glowed orange as her body turned more and more insubstantial.
Alison gasped as she watched Kari's body dissolved and turn translucent. There was not much more to see after that, than Alyssa give birth and Kari help the woman for a time.
How long her sister had stayed there, Alison had no idea. It must have been some days and then Kari left, leaving Krast to her own developments but not before warning Alyssa that they would fight again.
The vision/time traveling ended, leaving Alison weak and feeling tired, she glanced down her stomach. No, she would be some time before her daughter and son where born.
Alison pulled out her comlink, "HK," she spoke quietly, "I want you to detain Victor and have JAINA prep the Hawk for departure, get everyone herded onto the Hawk. I will be there shortly."
"Grievous statement: Perhaps you would allow me to kill mek-bag Victor?"
Alison nodded to herself as she walked back to the village quickly, shimmering through the Temple walls. "After I am done, yes…"
Rain stilled in disbelief at JAINA and H-49K's blasters levelled at them with threatening statements.
"We're supposed to trust you?"
Kail shook his head, "try me. I'm not leaving this place, and you can't make-" H-49K fired a stun bolt from behind into Kail who crumpled to the ground without a sound. "Annoying explanation: That was a warning statement, now pick up refusing meat-bag and enter the Hawk."
Rick clenched his teeth as Shayera clawed him, "we'd better go or this stupid pet is going to kill me as well." He glanced at JAINA, "aren't you supposed to obey me, and no one else?"
JAINA would have sniffed if she could have, instead her eyes glowed like she was glowering at him, "Gleeful remark: You never made any effort to become my Master, therefore, Mistress Alison is and only Master. Now enter the Hawk."
Soon all the Jedi where aboard, including Mia and Torne as well, who had been busy with each other, blankets and cloaks hastily pulled on.
Alison entered the hut, where HK-47 was detaining Victor and smiled at the man.
"We're going to talk."
That was the last civilized conversation made to Victor."
Soon his screams where heard in the village, but not on the Hawk. Before he died, Alison craved her death rose into his chest to let it be known that it was her who had killed him and no one else.
She also craved into the wall, that the Shardin and the Village where to come to terms and end their war.
She left, HK-47 following her happily as she boarded the Hawk and shut herself within the communications room.
Alison had found what she wanted finally. The crystal that had hung on Victor's chest…
The bloodstone crystal of Alyssa Krast...
Kail groaned. "If that H-4 Unit is anywhere near me I'll turn it into scrap!" He snapped as he sensed a vague presence nearby. Only droids had such weak presence in the Force, unless the person knew how to…
"You thought I was droid?" Hannah asked kneeling beside his bed. "I'm hurt." She said in mock-sadness. "I'm also ecstatic because I put a Force cloak around me to hide my presence. And you only just sensed me!"
"Hannah?" Kail groaned as he sat up. He wasn't sure how he would've scrapped the droid, but he intended to work it out and do so. "How did you get onboard the ship?"
"That nice boy, what's his name? Keep looking puppy eyes and Mia?"
"Torne?" Kail exclaimed. "Are you kidding me, he hasn't helped anyone in ages, let alone a complete stranger."
"Well, whether your two friends like it or not, I'll be staying here." Hannah said. "Actually, I'll be staying right here until we're in hyperspace. They can't turn around in hyperspace." She grinned.
"We're not in hyperspace yet?" Kail asked.
"No, we only left Myrkr a few hours ago, and went straight into an asteroid field. Alison's busy manoeuvring us through it at the moment." Hannah answered. "Now, until the stun beam has worn off, you need to-"
"I'm coming in, get decent, or get under the blankets!" Rain said. Hannah ducked behind Kail, hiding so that you'd have to be on top of her to see her. Kail pulled the blankets up further.
"Come in." Kail said, after Rain had opened the door.
"Rick needs you in the Cargo Hold."
"'How am I?' Oh, I'm fine; the stun beams only caused my entire body to go numb!" Kail snapped, standing. He heard a faint chuckle, almost too quiet to hear. "Get out while I get dress. Only one person gets to see me with no clothes on other then my mother."
Rain nodded and left, waiting outside the door. Hannah stood, and Kail point to the small room leading off of the Port Dormitories. The one dubbed 'the War Zone'. Hannah nodded, and crept into it. She tossed some clothes out to Kail, and he left the dormitory.
When he reached the Cargo Hold, he found Rick, Kevin, Kinraar and-
"Die droid!" He fired a bolt of minor electricity from his hand. It would temporarily fry the H-49K's circuit. "That's what happens to droids who shoot me from behind." He said. "And anyone else." He turned to Rick. "Now, what did you want?"
"Well, I was hoping to get H-49K to apologize for shooting you, but I suppose that's out of the question." Rick said. "Why did he shoot you?"
"He was acting on the orders of whoever it was who wanted to leave that very second." Kail snapped. Rick was shocked at his friend's snappish manner lately, but Kail didn't seem to notice or care. "Now, if that's all, I've got some business to attend to." He turned and left before Rick could answer.
"I sympathize with him; he did just lose his girlfriend." Rick said. "But he's acting like everyone's his enemy."
"He's worse then Torne was." Rain agreed. "Perhaps it'd be best not to let him near Alison or the droids for a while." She said. Rick nodded in agreement.
Whatever was up with Kail, Rick wanted to find out before they reached their next destination, which would be as soon within a week, if they ever got out of the asteroid field.
"Come on, I need help getting this piece of junk to Kinraar to fix." Rick said.
"'Piece of junk?'" Rain repeated.
"Sorry, guess I'm not too fond of the droids right now myself." Rick said.
"Any reason why?"
"Could be my own droid's utter disrespect toward me." Rick said. "If my father was here, I'd get him to reprogram her back to a normal training droid. I liked her much better when she listened to me and respected me." He said.
"Maybe that's why she doesn't respect you." Rain said. "Because you don't respect her."
"Maybe," Rick said. "I think maybe I could use some training. And it'd give me something to take my mind off of Kail." He and Rain hauled the disabled droid to Kinraar, and then sought out JAINA.
Rick started himself at level one of the droid's lightsaber combat training, and fought through all the way up to level nineteen without a problem, then to twenty-two with only a little difficulty. Then the training began to get more of a challenge.
"I don't know what happened." Kail said. "One minute I was following Rain into the Cargo Hold to talk with Rick, and the next minute I'm standing there watching an engraged teenager attack a droid and his best friend." He flopped back onto his bunk. "What's happening to me?"
"You lost a loved one." Hannah said soothingly. "Anger, resentment, grief, they're all natural, no matter how much the Jedi used to say they weren't."
She sat down beside Kail. "My mother used to tell me that the only thing that heals a broken heart is time. So time is what I'm going to get you." She stood.
"You're not leaving this room until we enter hyperspace!" Kail said, waving a hand absently at Hannah at putting all but her head in stasis. He sat up. "Whoa, I've never only half-stasised people before."
"Would you mind un-stasising me?" Hannah said.
"Oh, right." He waved his hand and freed her from the stasis. "Sorry, I don't know why I did that."
"I do." Hannah said. "You feel pain; you're hurt, you're angry. You're human." She said. Suddenly, everything that had happened since they'd left Dxun just caved in inside Kail. A dam broke and he was suddenly pouring his heart out to Hannah. She embraced him, wrapping her arms around him, comforting him.
Rick walked up to the door of the Port Dormitory, and ran right into it. He wasn't used to it staying closed when he approached, and he wasn't used to it staying closed when he tried to open it.
He went and got Torne, and between the two of them they forced the door open.
"Oh…" Rick stopped walking in when he saw Kail and Hannah in each other arms, fast asleep and without clothes. The first question that came to mind was: why were they asleep in the middle of the day. The second was:
"What the hell is she doing on the Ebon Hawk?" He said out loud. Hannah's eyes fluttered open as if she'd been awake the whole time.
"Oh…" She stammered.