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Chapter 17: Escape

Revan barely had time to hide his saber as he sensed Bastila break free of the control of the neural disruptor. Shaking her head, Bastila slowly looked up to see herself surrounded by smoldering corpses. Still shaken from the neural disruptor's hold on her, Bastila did not notice the lightsaber wounds of the corpses as she centered herself and opened her cage. Searching the room shakily, Bastila came towards Brejik's corpse and pulled her lightsaber from his belt, turning to the only person who remained standing in the room.

"If you think you can collect me as a prize you're sorely mistaken!"

She hissed to the blurry figure in her vision. Revan stared at Bastila.

"Bastila?"

The Padawan's bravado fell away as shock and relief played across her face. Squinting, Bastila stared at Revan before she stammered, covering up whatever she had allowed to fall through her Jedi facade.

"I-I don't believe this. You- you're one of the soldiers with the Republic aren't you? Yes, I'm sure of it!"

Revan eyed her appearance and scowled.

"Here."

The former Sith Lord shrugged off his obsidian cloak, careful to hide away his lightsaber and handed it to Bastila. Bastila took the cloak and wrapped it tightly around herself.

"Now then..."

Bastila began as she looked around her.

"What..."

Revan snorted.

"They didn't want to hand you over, so I had to use some persuasion."

Bastila stared at the corpses that littered the Swoop tracks, horrified.

"What? You- You've killed them all!"

Sighing, Revan began walking away.

"If you'll follow me, Princess Padawan. I'm sure Commander Onasi will fill you in on the details."

Bastila seemed to calm slightly at the name.

"Carth Onasi is alive? Perhaps I underestimated you."

Revan smirked at the display.

"Hiding something, Miss Shan?"

Revan reveled in the deep crimson color of Bastila's cheeks.

"Who the devil are you anyways?"

Revan's smirk widened. Bowing, he offered.

"Why I am the Dark Lord of the Sith."

Bastila blanched before Revan laughed openly.

"What?"

He asked as she backed away from him fearfully. Sighing, Revan's eyes narrowed.

"Are you alright?"

Bastila began breathing heavily before she whispered something and fainted. Moving quickly, Revan caught her before she could hit her head on the floor and cause any more damage to her psyche. Revan cursed under his breath as he lifted Bastila into his arms and rushed from the Swoop tracks.

"So this is your friend?"

Mission asked as Revan entered the lower city apartment he and Carth had held up in. He had thought it too risky to take Bastila to the upper levels, and the Beks were not pleased with the trail of corpses Revan had left at the race tracks, though none seemed to make the connection to the wounds and a lightsaber.

"Yes."

Revan snapped, causing Mission to frown.

"Okay, okay, sheesh. Carth and Big Z should be back in an hour or so. They said they have a lead for you. Just remember, I'm going with you."

Revan's lip curved into a half-smile.
"You're part of the team now, Mission. Why wouldn't I bring you along?"

A moan drew Revan's concerned gaze to Bastila.

"I think she has a concussion and is suffering from the after-effects of the neural disruptor."

Mission looked down at the young woman in concern.

"Do you think she's going to be alright?"

Revan nodded.

"She's strong."

By the time Carth and Zalbaar returned, Bastila had awakened and calmed significantly. Whatever she had allowed to slip in her confused state was adequately covered up by her act as Revan liked to call it.

"I managed to free myself as I recall. All you did was slaughter everyone in sight."

Bastila gave Revan a pointed glare. Rolling his eyes, Revan turned away.

"Come on. The Vulkars have been giving us all trouble since we got here."

Carth snorted.

"Yea but you killed EVERYONE."

Frowning, Revan did not respond.

"So how are we going to get off Taris?"
All eyes turned to Mission as she spoke. Carth cleared his throat.

"Well... I suppose some good did some out of Tauryn's exploits at the Swoop track. He caught the eye of that Mandalorian that works for Davik and he says he may have a way off planet."

Revan raised an eyebrow and Bastila scowled.

"A Mandalorian? We can't trust a Mandalorian!"

Bastila scoffed. Revan looked insulted for a moment before he covered his slip and remembered where that reasoning was coming from.

"She must really hate me..."

"Canderous Ordo. If I'm not mistaken he was a General in that clan before they were wiped out in the battle of Althiri. He wouldn't risk a slight yo his honor by betraying us, especially with a history like that."

Carth growled angrily.

"Like any of those beasts know the meaning of honor."

Mission and Zalbaar exchanged glances and Bastila stared at Revan curiously.

"How do you know so much about Mandalorians?"

Bastila asked, eyes narrowed. Revan's shoulders tensed for an instant before he brushed the comment aside.

"You make it a point to learn the ways of your enemies."

"And your people."

Revan added silently as Bastila continued to stare at him suspiciously and with a large amount of anger.

"You're hiding something..."

Bastila hissed, causing Carth to immediately jump to the attack as he pulled his blaster and pointed it at Revan.

"No!"

Bastila quickly used the Force to wretch the blaster quickly form Carth's hands.

"What the Force are you doing Commander!"

Bastila screeched. Carth looked surprised for a moment before he scowled and glared pointedly at Revan.

"You said he was hiding something and He's been acting very peculiar. Especially walking around here with a lightsab-"

Bastila's glare turned from Carth to Revan.

"Give me the lightsaber. You are not a Jedi. The lightsaber is the mark of a Jedi and you are not allowed to carry one, Tauryn."

Revan looked between the two and then to Mission and Zalbaar for support. He couldn't let Bastila see the saber, she would definitely recognize the hilt.

"Well ya see..."

Mission began, drawing Bastila's glare.
"I kinda... scrapped it the other day."

Revan quickly played along.
"Yea, she wanted to see if she could figure out how it worked and the damn thing nearly blew us all up."

Carth nodded in acceptance, he had not seen Revan handle the saber for several days now. Bastila looked skeptical, but did not invade Mission's mind to see if she was telling the truth or not. Turning her now curious eyes to Revan she spoke calmly.

"Where did you get the weapon?"

Bastila asked. Revan's jaw clenched as he decided on what he wanted to say.

"I grabbed it on the Spire when the ship was going down. I figured we could use everything we could get our hands on."

Bastila looked thoughtful for a moment before Carth spoke to defend his comrade who he had nearly shot moments before. His guilt getting the better of his suspicion.

"Yea, good thing too or we'd have been still looking for a uniform to get into the Undercity by now."

Revan licked his lips as he leaned against the wall and ran a gloved hand through his spiky auburn hair. Bastila seemed to accept this and reverted to a neutral Jedi facade.

"Now then... Where do we meet this Mandalorian?"

Revan raised an eyebrow.

"We?"

Bastila glared at the former Sith Lord.

"Yes, we. Do you think I would trust the fate of the Republic and the Jedi on a Mandalorian?"

Revan brushed the comment aside, knowing Bastila was trying to bait him.
"Someone sure has a high opinion of herself."
Revan muttered.

"Why you! How dare you!"

Carth grinned as he stepped aside and watched the two argue.

"How dare I? This is not the time nor the place for your or Carth's prejudices over Mandalorians. We need this and it is likely our ONLY way off this Force-forsaken rock."

Revan turned to Mission.

"No offence."

Mission shrugged.
"I guess Taris is a bit of a dump."

Turning back to Bastila, Revan covered his slip.

"I don't like the idea of trusting a Mandalorian mercenary. But I'd much rather deal with him and a gangster than the jawless Sith Lord orbiting this world with a thousand ships. We need to be cautious and you running around flurrying your lightsaber and shouting: I'm the one you're looking for! Isn't going to help. You need to lay low, Bastila."

Revan knew how much Bastila hated staying behind and he understood her wariness of him. The guilt at his previous actions were tearing away his resolve and all he wanted to do was rush over to her and hold her tightly to know she was real.

"It's a luxury. One I can't afford right now and do not deserve."

Revan could see clearly by her reaction to him that he had scarred her deeply with his betrayal. Slamming his fist into the wall, Revan cursed.
"Is this as low as I can possibly get?"

Revan shouted to the room of now silent occupants. Bastila stared at the burning passion in the man with sadness and the others looked on with shock and trepidation.

"He is not the same man, Bastila. It is not fair of you to take it out on him..."

Bastila tried to calm herself and looked away from Revan.

"No matter how much he deserves it!"

Bastila glared back over her shoulder. Revan backed away from the wall, panting heavily and shaking his head.

"No, there's no time. Malak... he isn't patient."

Bastila's eyes shot to Revan. She could feel the man's subconsciousness forcing itself to the surface and she was filled with hope and at the same time dread.

"Is he remembering?"

"We need to get off Taris before Malak incinerates the planet."

Mission gasped and Carth scowled.

"He's right."

Carth added, earning Mission's terrified gaze.

"But... The entire planet? Why would he do such a thing?"

Carth's scowl deepened.

"He did it to Telos to prove a single man's loyalty. He'd do it here if it meant winning the war."

Carth added with malice. Revan quickly gained control of his anger and subtly built up his mental shields so Bastila could not sense his thoughts.

"He may just destroy the planet out of spite if he finds out Bastila escaped. And he would destroy it after he captured her because it would be useless to him."

Bastila's eyes narrowed as anger won the internal battle within her.

"How do you know so much about Malak?"

Bastila hissed. Revan snorted.

"You don't join the Republic military without learning a thing or two about your enemies. I asked around with a lot of the men and women that served with Malak and Revan. They say he was the kind of man who would charge impatiently into battle without a second thought. People who are impatient also tend to have explosive tempers and since he is a Sith Lord as well... I'd hate to see whatever Sith Tantrum Malak could throw."

Carth rolled his eyes, though he felt considerably less tense and Bastila smiled sadly.

"He's so much like he was... But he's not the same man."

Revan sighed as the argument melted away.

"So... Where are we meeting Canderous?"

Revan asked. Carth scowled.

"Already met him in the upper city Cantina, he wanted to meet you but had be send along the message."

Carth handed Revan a datapad which Revan scowled at.

"That's all huh?"

The former Dark Lord chuckled darkly.

"I suppose life would be boring without Mandalorians or Sith Lords anyways."

Bastila stared between Revan and Carth with narrowed eyes.

"What exactly does this Mandalorian want you to do, Tauryn."

Revan's eyes snapped to Bastila's. For a moment he glared at her and waited for her to correct her mistake, but she wore the perfect mask of arrogance and Jedi indifference.

"She must be going along with this charade until her Masters tell her what to do."

Revan shook his head in disgust before glaring back at Bastila.

"No, this is your fault, she's probably just as mad about it as you are."

The former Sith Lord failed to argue that he was lying to her about his identity as she was to him, but went along with the charade.

"At least this way I won't have to deal with Carth's whining as much or blasterfire."

"Apparently Canderous wants us to break into the Sith base and get the Sith's orbital defense codes so we can run the blockade. A good plan except for one minor detail."

Bastila nodded her agreement.

"Yes, the Sith would surely change the codes if they discovered that their base was attacked..."

Revan smirked.

"Good girl."

"Exactly. Luckily... the Sith weren't counting on a droid and an invisible blue girl."

Revan quickly outlined his plan to stealing the Sith's codes which surprisingly both Carth and Bastila agreed with. Mission was ecstatic and excitedly prepared for her mission. Near the Sith base, Revan accessed one of his accounts he held as the Dark Lord and pulled enough credits to purchase the T3 astromech droid Canderous had made for this job.

"Alright Mission, what's the plan, one more time."

Mission grinned widely.
"I follow T3-M4 and he creates a distraction while I sneak into the governor's office and copy the codes down."

Revan nodded, his eyes scanning the Sith base.

"Good, be careful kid."

Mission scowled for a moment but happily skipped off as she vanished into thin air. Revan mirrored Mission's scowl.

"Sith-spit, there's a Force sensitive in there."

Making certain he was far enough away from Bastila to not attract her attention, Revan slowly allowed his presence in the Force to be known. As he desired, the bald Sith governor came out of the front of the base with a heavily armed squad and looked around the area in alarm.

Bastila's head snapped up from the report she was filling out and she gasped.

"Oh no..."

Darth Malak gazed down upon Taris from the bridge of the Leviathan, significantly paler than normal.

"It can't be... No, impossible."

Shaking his head, Malak turned away from the planet and stared at his bridge crew.

"Revan can't be alive. Even if he was, what would he be doing on this insignificant world..."

Malak's eyes widened.

"Bastila."

Malak crossed his arms tightly across his chest and stared through narrowed eyes at Taris.

"Officer, send for Admiral Karath."

A nearby officer bowed and hurried away.

Bastila turned to Carth and Zalbaar. Both appeared bored as they played Pazaak with each other.

"I should have told him he was Force sensitive! He's been unconsciously using his powers... Force I hope Malak did not sense that..."

Bastila knew it was a futile hope, anyone on the planet would have sensed that.

Revan cursed as he saw the open alarm on the Sith governor's face.

"I overdid it..."

Revan would have laughed had the situation not been so dire. Casting his eyes upward to the familiar and malevolent presence orbiting the planet, Revan winced.

"You summoned me, Lord Malak?"

Admiral Karath asked as he clasped his hands behind his back. Malak eyed Taris for a moment before speaking.
"The search for Bastila is taking too long. We cannot risk her escaping Taris. Destroy the entire planet."

Admiral Karath's eyes widened.

"Th- The entire planet Lord Malak? But... There are billions of people on Taris... we'd be slaughtering countless innocent civilians... not to mention our own men still on the surface."

Malak's towering form snapped around as he brought his nose to Saul's.

"You're predecessor once made the mistake of questioning my orders. Surely you are not so foolish as to make the same mistake?"

Admiral Karath visibly paled and backed away as he raised his hands in front of him in a placating matter.

"O- of course not Lord Malak. But it will take several hours to position the fleet..."
Malak turned around, crossing his arms over his chest once more and glaring at the floating world.
"Then I suggest you begin immediately. You are dismissed, Admiral."

Admiral Karath bowed.

"Yes... Lord Malak."

As the Admiral left the bridge, he leaned against the bulkhead. Memories of his own world flooded his mind. How or why he had ever gotten himself in this mess was a mystery to him. Shaking his head, Admiral Karath squashed the pity he felt for his men and the people of Taris as he began giving the orders to position the fleet for the bombardment.

Darth Malak closed his eyes and scanned Taris with the Force. He could sense Bastila's distorted presence in the Force, though not enough to lock on to her and he could sense dozens of other Force sensitives scouring the undercity for Bastila as he had ordered. Searching deep within the Force, Malak felt something vaguely familiar, though he could not confirm it was who he feared it to be.

"I will not make the same mistake twice, Revan."

Malak's mind snarled as he glared through his bridge's viewport.

Bastila's alarm grew when she felt the probe through the Force, Malak sent out.

"Force, he knows!"

"Carth, Zalbaar. We need to leave, now."

Carth and Zalbaar both looked up and frowned.

"Wha-"

Bastila shook her head.

"We're going to meet with this Canderous and hopefully Tauryn and Mission will be back shortly."

Carth glared at Bastila in suspicion for a moment before he sighed and collected his gear. Zalbaar quickly gathered his own and Mission's gear along with Revan's. Bastila pulled the hood of Revan's obsidian cloak over her head and followed Carth as he led her to the lowercity Cantina, where Canderous was waiting.

Mission returned safely along with the trash compactor as Revan called it. He had never liked astromech droids and this one in particular seemed to make more noise than the others he had been forced to endure the presence of.

"Where to now?"

Mission asked as she eyed Revan. The former Dark Lord motioned for Mission to follow and led her to the lower city Cantina where they met with Canderous and the others.

"I guess I could drag you all along... make it look like you're an assassination squad or something."

Canderous waved dismissively at the others as he spoke directly to Revan. True to his word, Canderous brought them all directly to the base of Davik's operations. Revan was thoroughly unimpressed with Davik and his operations. It was just a well organized group of thugs that Revan would take pleasure in decimating if he had the time. Davik seemed wary of the large and diverse group and locked them away in his guest wing as he spoke with his pet bounty hunter.

Calo Nord seemed suspicious and was always ready to challenge Canderous, but there was something about the one in the group called Tauryn Katarn that didn't fit. He could have sworn he had seen the man before, when he was filling a contract during the Mandalorian wars, but he was not sure. Narrowing his eyes, Calo listened as Davik talked about things that meant nothing to him. The alarms of the base suddenly sounded and Calo's eyes snapped to the door of Davik's office as a terrified lackey rushed in.

"The Sith, they're bombing the planet!"

Calo shot a single blast into the hysterical alien and followed Davik as they made their way to the Ebon Hawk.

Canderous and Revan glanced at each other as the alarms in Davik's base sounded and the entire facility shook.

"What? I didn't do it."

Canderous smirked as he lifted his repeating blaster.

"Time to have some fun!"

Mission quickly sliced the lock on the door and the group quickly made their way to the Hangars, where T3 managed to slice into the computer systems and unlock the doors. Revan and Canderous lingered as Carth and the others readied the Ebon Hawk.

"What exactly are we waiting for?"

Revan asked as he looked around him warily. Whatever was making the building shake was definitely not something he wanted to have bear down on him. In the back of his mind he felt a deep sickness that was nauseating him. It was as though thousands of voices were screaming into his mind.

"Them."

Canderous snarled as Davik and Calo Nord rushed into the Hangar. Davik stopped in mid sentence of what he was saying to Calo to sneer at Revan and Canderous.

"Well look what we've got here... Thieves in the hangar..."

"I'll take care of them Davik!"

Calo snapped excitedly.

"I've been waiting for this for a long time."

Suddenly, a blasterbolt tore through the hangar and a walkway collapsed onto Davik. Calo leapt clear and looked up angrily.

"Damn those Sith, they'll take this whole hangar down around us!"

Calo glared at Canderous as the Mandalorian laughed. Canderous' laughter died when Calo pulled a Thermal Detonator from his armor and depressed the switch.

"You may have me outnumbered and outgunned... but this Thermal Detonator will blow us all to bits!"

Revan smirked cooly. Calo's mind reeled suddenly with a revelation as he saw that smirk.

"I know that smirk... but from where..."

Eyeing Revan for a moment, an explosion ripped through the hangar and Calo barely had time to deactivate the detonator as he screamed and a walkway collapsed on him. Revan felt Bastila's power spike and turned to see her at the landing ramp, holding her left hand out, concentration etched on her features. Looking up, Revan saw debris and remnants of the walkways hovering several yards above him.

"I'd say I saved you this time."

Bastila smirked a smirk similar to Revan's and used the Force to send the debris harmlessly away from the Ebon Hawk. Canderous said nothing, refusing to acknowledge that a Jedi saved his life and Revan smirked for a moment before his mind caught up with their situation. Revan quickly rushed to the Ebon Hawk's ramp and stared out of the cockpit as red turboblaster fire rained down on the Tarisian cityscape. Mission walked into the cockpit and gasped as she saw the scene.

"Wha- Why?"

Mission fainted in her shock, much to Revan and Canderous' relief. Zalbaar quickly caught Mission's falling form and carried her to a bunk ear the rear of the ship.

"Dammit, we've got incoming fighters. Someone needs to get on those gun turrets."

Bastia had already seated herself in the copilot's seat and was frantically working the Ebon Hawk's deflector shields. Revan and Canderous looked at each other and smirked as bloodlust ran through their veins.
"Lets get some payback. Top or bottom?"

Revan asked. Canderous shrugged and followed Revan as they situated themselves in the gun turrets. The two Mandalorians quickly dispatched the Sith fighter squadron and the Ebon Hawk quickly flew free of the gravity well of Taris and the Sith fleet, jumping to hyperspace. Revan's excitement at the concept of a battle quickly turned to sadness.

"Oh Force, Mission..."

Revan quickly made his way to where Zalbaar was fussing over an unconscious Mission.

"She'll be alright. She's just in shock..."

Zalbaar said hopefully. Revan nodded, biting the inside of his cheek and drawing blood. The former Dark Lord allowed the bitter, metallic taste to calm him some and entered the common room of the Ebon Hawk where Carth was already raising hell about what their next move would be.