Chapter Eight: She has been here

"Tracer lighting up the sky.
It's another families' turn to die.
A child afraid to even cry out says,
She has been here."

James Blunt, "No Bravery" (slightly altered by the author)

Nar Shaddaa, Landing Pad

She was going to be sick. Very, very sick. Where there had been overflowing life at the last time she had been here, there was now destruction and death. The whole planet was radiating it off. But while on Korriban and Malachor V and even Dantooine it had been… fainter, either because the sheer amount of dead beings was lesser or the cause of the deaths was too long ago, but here on Nar Shaddaa the wound was fresh and still wide open. The first thing she did after exiting the Moon Shadow was racing straight back in and just barely reaching the small 'fresher to throw up.

She dry-heaved a little, this time stealing her for the onslaught that would no doubt come back, by trying to shut herself off in the most possible way. At least now she knew that her guess had been accurate. When they had found out that Atris drank from the life energy of other beings to strengthen herself, Coruscant and Nar Shaddaa had been her first guesses as to where Atris would turn next. Seeing that on Coruscant it was more possible to run accidentally run into Jedi, Nar Shaddaa had been the only logical choice. Being nearer to Dantooine and Korriban and equally full of life it was an ideal target for the power hungry Dark Jedi. Né washed her face, then gripped her cape and exited the Shadow again, letting T3 behind to guard her ship.

Yes, Nar Shaddaa had been home to more criminals than in all the rest of the galaxy, but it had also been a place of hope and temporary safety for a lot of innocent people. In all aspects it had been brimming with life and, though a little overtaxing, still delightful. Now it was… nothing but a big grave. At least the part of the planet where she had landed. It had been the same as the last time, but now there had been no one demanding a landing fee or anything from her. Instead there had been corpses along the whole way toward the inner area of the Refugee Landing Pad. Not one of them seemed to bear any marks of physical violence, but they all had a kind of… dark side marking on them.

If she had only wanted to know if Atris had been here, just landing would have sufficed, but she needed to know if there was anything on Nar Shaddaa indicating where Atris had turned next. She doubted it would be Coruscant or any of the Core Worlds or near Core Worlds, but Atris had proven herself more than once now to be a little delusional now and then. She smirked. "Now and then" is good. More like "always".

She chose to try her luck at the cantina and the pazaak den, concluding that these usually were the institutions on a planet that were the hardest to destroy. But when she entered the Entertainment Promenade this time, no music or chatter could be heard from either doors. Somehow she knew what she would find behind the doors, but again her curiosity got the better of her. She chose to try the cantina first, trying to steel herself before she finally entered.

But nothing could have prepared her for what she saw next. As the door opened an almost unbearable smell was assaulting her, and she called on her Breath Control almost on instinct. The room before her was littered with corpses, both human and non-human, women, men, even children… she recognized some from the Refugee Sector. That man over there… Geriel, the one she had healed. Only to be slautered here… And there… one of the Twi'Leks who had warned her about Atton. And to her right, Nadaa, Adana's mother…

An unspeakable sadness washed over her, and deep down she could feel that something ugly lifted its head. Anger at what Atris had done to those people, and hate at the woman she once had considered a friend. But she squashed it down immediately. She would not give in. It was what Atris wanted, and she would never give her that kind of satisfaction.

But she wouldn't find anything on her here, either. Just as she was about to turn and leave the room, she heard someone sniffle. She turned, attuning her sense a bit. And yes, now she could feel a small living presence under all the layers of death in the room. She even knew the presence. "Adana… it's me. Come out."

The sniffing stopped for a moment, and the presence seemed a little dimmer. As if she was trying to hide. How odd., she absentmindedly thought, using her senses to locate the little girl and moved towards her very slow and careful. "You remember me, don't you? That crazy woman with the orange double-blade who brought you back to your mother? That's me."

She was standing right before the bar, and it felt as if Adana was sitting behind it, still hiding. Now that she was so close, Né could feel her a little clearer, even through the cloaking attempts. It seemed that the girl was trying to decide whether to trust her or not. She tried to help her a little. "You're not sure if you can trust me, right? Well, that's okay. Take your time. But I hope you don't mind if I wait here?" No answer.

Then: "I remember you.", it came tentatively from the other side of the bar. And then the skinny little blond-haired girl came from behind it. She obviously tried to not look around and fixated her gaze totally on the woman before her. And yes, the woman looked just like last time, only this time she wasn't wearing an armor but just some clothes that looked like those the Jedi on the pictures of one of the history books her mother had once given her looked like. And she wasn't carrying a light saber in her hand, either. But other then that… yeah, just like she remembered the woman who had freed her from the squid guy.

The woman smiled, saying: "I knew you would, smart girl that you are." Then she said: "You trust me enough to follow me out of here? 'Cause… that's just not a place a girl should stay in too long."

Adana had been in here so long that she didn't even register the stench anymore, and somehow her child's mind had found a way to block out all the bodies around her, but she felt that the woman before her was feeling… upset and unsettled. She didn't question it as she had always been able to guess how others were feeling, and as she remembered the woman to having done something good to her, she knew she "owed her a favor", as her mother always put it, she decided to comply to the woman's suggestion. "Yes, ma'am."

The woman smiled again. "Very well. And drop the "ma'am". I feel old when you say it."

"Yes, m… how should I call you then?" Nè was a little surprised. For an eleven-year-old girl who just recently had been witness to a slaughter equaling only few, Adana was acting quiet… normal.

"Well… uh… we can worry about the formalities later, now let's just get out of here, huh?" The girl just nodded, tugging along with her. She walked through the corpses without looking right or left and with a determination that told Né that the girl wasn't as hardened as she first had appeared, but she didn't mind. She wanted to be only out of here as fast as possible as well. But then suddenly Adana stopped. Her gaze was glued to one point to Né's left, and within an instant she knew what the girl was staring at. Her mother. Or rather what was left of her.

The body lay there, with the eyes still staring at the ceiling, broken as they were, and the body twisted in an unnatural way.

She wished the child would have the opportunity to say goodbye to her mother, but she also knew that she couldn't let her stay any longer in this room. So she said softly: "Come on, 'Dana, we need to get out of here." and touched by her shoulder. Suddenly the child jerked violently at the touch, slapping her hand away and retreating a few paces. "No."

"'Dana…"

All the unnatural calmness was gone from the girl now, and her presence was pulsating violently. "Don't you ever call me like that again. Only my mother calls me that. And I will not go. I will not leave her."

Né felt the frustration and confusion and fear and downright hate start to build in the child, and she knew she had to do something about it, fast. "Adana… I know it hurts. But we have to leave. Your mother… she wouldn't want you to stay here. She would very much want you out of here."

She tried to put her hands on the child's shoulder, but Adana fought her off, even using clumsy and weak Force pushes. "How could you know what my mother wants? I won't leave her. Ever. I have to stay. I can't… I can't…" And the hate was washed away with a heavy stream of tears running down the girl's cheeks and was replaced by a deep pain.

Although being aware of the danger of Adana lashing out again, Né did the only thing that came to her mind: she drew the girl towards her and hugged her. In an instant Adana hugged her back fiercely, clinging to her like she had clung to Atton that evening on Citadel Station only two weeks ago. She stroked the girl's hair and whispered calming nothings to her.

When the sobs gradually began to die down, Né rubbed Adana's back a little and said: "I can't leave you here, but I think there's something we need to do before leaving."

Adana loosened the embrace a little and looked suspiciously at her. "Like what?"

"Like saying goodbye to your mom and give her the possibility to rest in peace."

The girl seemed to think about this seriously, and then nodded solemnly. "Yeah, we can do that."

With that Adana let go of Né and they both walked over to the body. Né took it upon her to close the woman's eyes and shift her around a little so that would lye a little more naturally. When she was done Adana looked at it approvingly and then said a little thoughtfully: "It looks… as if she's sleeping." Nè just nodded, stepping aside to let the child crouch down. Adana took her mother's hand tentatively, and said in a voice that tightened more and more in the process of speaking: "Hey, mom… I'm… I'm so sorry, but I have to leave now. That Jedi woman who came to rescue me from that squid guy… you remember her, don't you? Well, she came here, and she said I need to go. Mom… Believe me, I didn't ever want to leave you, but I think some of that Jedi woman's talk makes sense. Oh Gods, Mom, I'm so gonna miss you…"

Tears started to run down the girl's cheeks again, and Né gently took her hand away from her mother's hand, saying very softly: "Forgive me for taking your child away, Nadaa, but I'm sure you'd say it's the only right thing to do. Rest in peace, and may you be one with the Force."

With that she gently pulled Adana up and finally led the girl out of the room by her hand. When they were outside, she turned for her ship right away, not one moment intending on leaving Adana on the planet. She was surprised at how easily the child let herself being led to the Moon Shadow but she guessed that seeing her mother's body, and finally having to accept her death had left the child in a shell-shocked state. But she would worry about that later, for now she would see that she brought her off the planet as fast as possible.

When she had reached the ship and tugged Adana into the only bed available on the Shadow she strapped herself in again and told T3 to assist her with getting her ship into the air. Just when she had left the planet's atmosphere and was finally free of the oppressing feeling of death and destruction, she decided to do something she had wanted to avoid at any possibility: she sent a message to Atton through the Force.

Dantooine, Provisional Settlement Grounds

Whatever you decide to do: Stay clear off Nar Shaddaa at any costs. It's not a pretty sight to see.

Atton's head jerked up and the piece of rock he had been trying to levitate crashed down on the ground, making everyone around him turn towards him. It had been her voice. In his head. Again. And it had been accompanied by… what? He furrowed his brow, unaware of the audience he had attracted. Urgency. Desperation. Sadness. Terror. And there had been a picture sent with it. It had been blurry, but there had been…

"What's the matter, lover boy? Gotten some naughty suggestions?", Mira smirked at him.

He blinked and immediately put on a gruff face. "Not funny, Red."

She raised an eyebrow and was about to retort something witty, but the look on his face told her otherwise. He looked downright stressed out. She grew somber at once. "Bad news?"

He nodded. "Very bad news. Get the crew. Emergency meeting in the Hawk's main hold, five minutes."

Well, that was new. Atton acting like a cocky bastard and throwing out orders she knew and could handle (meaning she never took them serious), but Atton acting like a no-nonsense military commander and throwing out orders was certainly a new trait. One she had the feeling she shouldn't mess with. So she just said: "Right. Five minutes.", and dashed off to collect the various crew members that were scattered all over the grounds of the provisional settlement.

Atton hastily excused himself from the group he and Mira had been working with and raced towards the Ebon Hawk. Turned out he wasn't the first, seeing that Visas and Mandalore had just arrived there, probably to have a bit of a break away from the commotion of all the rebuilding efforts.

He pointed towards them without even stopping, shouting "You. In the main hold. Immediately." at them. He came to a skittering halt in the main hold and shortly paused there to catch his breath. Visas and Mandalore arrived shortly after, with Mandalore looking positively pissed at getting yelled at and Visas being her usual composed self. The last to arrive was Mira, with Bao-Dur and Mical in tow.

The first one to speak was Mandalore, sounding not pleased at all. "Now would someone please explain what all this commotion's about? If this is nothing more than a meeting to clear up who's been stealing caffa from us, then so help me…"

"No, it isn't.", Atton coldly interrupted him. "It's so absolutely not about caffa…"

"Well, then what is it about? I sense a great disturbance in you.", Visas chimed in.

"I'd have already told you if you hadn't interrupted me, you know?", Atton answered grumpily but still continued, way more serious. "I just got a… message from Né. It said we should stay clear off Nar Shaddaa at any costs. Something… something's happened there, and it seemed it was worse than here."

Mandalore eyed him curiously. "How do you know anyway?"

"There were… feelings accompanying the message. Sadness and desperation and… terror. And there was… a picture." He didn't know why, but he was suddenly very reluctant to continue speaking. Everyone was looking at him, and he was speaking about something that safe Mandalore everyone of them had a better control about than him. Even Mira was better than him at using the Force.

"Why do you hesitate, Atton? Is it too personal?" Good old Visas, ever the perceptive one.

"No, uh… not really. Uh… Never mind." They were already thinking of him as a big-mouthed no-good, there wasn't really any necessity for further fueling their prejudices. "Anyway, she sent a picture with it. It was a bit fussy… looked like the cantina, though. Full of… bodies, I think. Dead bodies. I guess… that's were Atris went after Dantooine and Korriban.", he finished, leaning heavily on the rim of the holotable they were standing around. Speaking about the whole vision seemed to have a greater impact on him than he had anticipated.

It was quiet for a moment, everyone of them trying to process what they had just heard. Mandalore was the first to speak up again. "If it's true what you said then this Atris woman needs to be stopped. And it seems like she is an opponent not even the Exile should take on alone."

Atton nodded. "Oh, I fully agree. But I doubt she would. Believe me, she was dead serious about that going solo thing."

Mical mumbled something like: "Well, yeah. There isn't any other explanation why you were celebrating her goodbye so loud last night."

Just as Atton was about to lash out towards the Disciple, Visas cut in fast enough to stop any brawl before it even began: "I second Atton's opinion. If we were to follow her, we would break her trust. We cannot allow this to happen. I fear we will have to wait for any new messages."

It was Mical's turn to become aggressive now: "So that's what we are going to do? Sit around here and wait for her to be slaughtered by Atris? Or worse: turned to the dark side? Well, that's not what I had in mind…"

"She never said we had to wait here, right?" Everyone looked at Mira, who squirmed a little at the sudden collective interest in her. "She uh… she just said we shouldn't follow her. But she never said we weren't allowed to do a little investigating on our own, right? And well… there has to be someone to tell Onasi about all the stuff, right?"

Atton was the first to see what she was alluding to. "Well, yeah, you're right. We should head to Telos as soon as possible. Tell Onasi what's going on. And do a little investigating in the Ice Queen's former kingdom. Just in case, you know?"

Understanding dawned on the other ones' faces. "Sometimes that Force-comlink-thing doesn't work properly, right?", Mandalore asked in the round, and Visas nodded.

"Yes, sometimes a Jedi is too far away or has to hide herself and her powers or is hindered by someone else… such as… a captor."

Mandalore nodded towards the Miraluka, and continued: "See? The blind lady knows what I was talkin' about. So, let's just assume that Tekal's not able to use those powers to call on any of you, but still needs help… then she wouldn't mind if we could offer her that help even if she didn't call, right?" The others nodded. "Well, then, we should make sure – just in case – that we also know what that Atris is up to and where to find her."

Atton took the thread up from Mandalore. "Well, I agree. And I'd say, we head to Telos ASAP. Bao-Dur?"

The Zabbrak engineer looked up. "Yeah?"

"How far are you with the power generator?"

Bao-Dur smiled with just enough pride to shine through shortly. "Done. It's operational and should run as long as they can bring something more permanent here."

Atton nodded shortly in appreciation and turned to Mical: "How are their medical facilities doing?"

Mical, for once not scowling or snapping at Atton, said: "Considering the circumstances: perfectly. They've got still enough kolto to treat infections and open wounds, and Bao-Dur could fix one of their medical droids. They should do fine until reinforcements arrive."

The next Atton addressed was Mira: "How about the provisional shelters?"

She shrugged. "Okay, I think. They still need to build up some more, but they're few enough they can handle it themselves."

The last one being asked was Mandalore: "And their defense measures?"

The Mandalorian also shrugged. "Fixed some of their turrets and gave them enough mines and grenades to blow up the next Sith ship that shows its ugly nose on the landing pad. Also repaired one or two of the droids, and taught some of them to use the rifles we could spare. They should be able to hold their own for some time, be it against predators or other assailants."

Atton nodded. "Fine. Get yourself some sleep and see if you need anything from the planet. We're leaving tomorrow morning."

As the people filed out of the room he could swear he heard something like "Now you're talking business, Rand.", from Mical, but decided not to act on it.

In the end only Visas was left, again. "What did I do this time?"

Visas just smiled: "Nothing. Or rather: You did everything right. She would be proud of you, you know?"

He tried not to look too smug, instead put on a rather gruff half-smirk. "Well, just don't let that spread too much. Wouldn't want to ruin my rep as a total screw up, now would we?"

A/N: Ladies and gentlebeings, I introduce to you: Adana The Plot Bunny. While I was writing this, she was jumping in there out of nowh... alright, maybe it was a little inspired by Amber Penglass' "Orphic Verboten" (I really hope you don't mind, Amber), which I just happened to read before continuing "Haunted". Seems, I have a very strong tendency to get influenced by the things I'm reading while writing something.

Anyway, I'm surprised myself at what a direction the story is taking, and I fear I may have been wrong in my first A/N. Seems this one is going to take on epic proportions I never intented it to have. Which is very bad since I won't have any internet access for an infinite amount of time by the end of this week. But I promise, I'll not forget about this story. Every time I'm done with new chapters and find a proper internet access I'll update. Now please take all those sharp and heavy objects down, will you :p

Phoenix - Well, than... savor the almost daily updates while they are still possible ;) And don't go all Vader on my for not up-dating as often as this from the end of this one, yes? Please? ;)

Jedi-Falen - Thank you for not minding, but I just was concerned because a lot of people are very cautious about the whole intellectual property thing (which is their good right, if I might add, although my ultra-left-wing friends would properly crucify me for this :p), and I don't want to offend anyone. All the more thanks for still liking the story :)