Disclaimer: If you say I own Star Wars or any related materials, I'LL HUNT YOU DOWN AND GUT YOU LIKE A FISH! Because I don't own SW or any related materials.
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Chapter 5
I followed the hallway out and headed to my right. Thoughts were racing through my head. Not the least of which was what if there really weren't any survivors? I supposed that I could keep going on and trying to get to the Ebon Hawk, the ship that got me into this whole mess in the first place. Grudgingly trudging onward, I came up to a relatively large door. Upon opening it, I was met with an unpleasant sight.
It was another mining droid. This one was different from the others. The ones I had faced up till now were insect-like, but this one was rather humanoid. It instantly lifted its laser at me and fired. I quickly ducked and rolled to the side, brandishing my blade. I started to rush at it. Much to my error, I suddenly realized that I wouldn't make it in time, seeing its laser pointed straight at my head.
'No! I have not come this far to be killed. Help me!' My mind screamed in anger.
As if by a miracle, I picked up inhuman speed instantly and sliced the droid in half with one fell swoop. Its remains stood perfectly for a brief moment, but then crumbled down into a pile of metal and wires.
I stood and looked at my hands. I couldn't believe it. After a decade of being cut off from the Force, I had been able to use it again. I barely remembered what it had felt like. But now I could feel it again. It was just whisper of what it once was, like a faraway friend calling out, but it was still there. I stood there and smiled, but turned serious again as my purpose resurfaced to my mind. I still had to check the dormitories and make sure that we really were alone; the "we" being Kreia, Atton, T3, and the psycho droid I had every intention of abandoning.
Moving forward into the next room, I found an environment suit. Beautiful little things, considering they could survive over 1500 degrees, keep heat trapped inside for cold situations, and allowed a breathing ability even in space or other unpleasant places to organics.
I slipped inside it, knowing I'd need it if I wanted to get inside the dormitories through the outside. I made sure the helmet snapped on snuggly, and opened the airlock. I stepped in and opened the outside. Automatically, the door behind shut and the door to the outside slowly opened. I grabbed on to a latch nearby and held on for the few seconds that the air had violently escaped the chamber, trying in vain to fill the endless void of space. After it had calmed down, I headed out onto the catwalk.
I was glad that the station was still generating an artificial gravity field, or else I would have floated out helplessly into space. Moving around the station, I ran into a large vent. The suit's heat sensors showed that the exhaust was over 3000 degrees. The suit might have lasted a few seconds in that heat, but I didn't want to risk it. I activated the built-in comm.-link.
"Hey, Atton. You there?" I asked.
"Hey, there you are. The explosion in the tunnels caused me to lose your signal for a few minutes there, but now I'm reading you again. Wait a second, this can't be right. I'm reading you outside the station. But that can't be right!" He said slightly disoriented.
I looked down towards the station and saw an overhead view through the 'glass' of Atton at the console.
"Try looking up." I told him.
"Huh? What do yo-" He said doing as I instructed him.
"What the heck are you doing up there?" He exclaimed.
"Turns out there might be survivors in the dormitories. Unfortunately, this is the only way there."
"What? I don't think that's such a good idea!"
"Why not? There are people in trouble!"
"First off, they are probably already dead. Second, there might still be a few of those ones that wanted to trade you in for a few creds. And thirdly, who knows what will happen if we stayed much longer."
"Just trust me, alright? I can ask them for the docking codes to the ship. Then we can clear a way for them for other ships and we can all be on our merry way."
"Fine. You'd probably do it anyways, even if I still said no, right?"
"I do believe the boy is learning! Don't worry. I think we're going to be outta this mess soon enough. By the way, I'm stuck out here. There are a few exhaust pipes that are dishing out more heat than my suit can handle. Can you do something about them?"
"Let me see⦠Damn it! I'm locked out from the pipes. They were just turned on too, which means-"
" Whoever's been playing the strings is still here. I'd say that's all the more reason to leave this place as soon as possible."
"Same here. I think I have an idea, but it's a bit of a long shot."
"I'm open to suggestions, even from a Pazaak-aholic."
"You just can't appreciate the fine art of card-playing." He said slightly irritated "I think I could turn off the gravity generator and you could just go right past it."
I widened my eyes "Are you crazy! I'd float off into space!"
"No, not if your environment suit still has jet boosters."
"Oh yeah! I completely forgot about those things. Let me check how much fuel is left"
Pressing a few buttons on the front of the suit, I brought up a HUD inside my helmet and called up info on the suits status. It showed that the suit still had plenty of compressed air, but the problem was that it only had enough fuel for about ten seconds of boosting.
"Crap, there isn't much fuel left in here."
"How much?"
"About ten seconds worth."
"You still gonna try it?"
"Sure, it's better that waiting out here for nothing. I think."
"Okay, I just hope you know what you're doing."
After waiting a few seconds, I slowly started to float upwards. I turned on the jet propulsion towards over the vent's path. I was doing fine. I just had to wait a few seconds and it'll be alright. Suddenly, I had a sinking feeling. After another moment, I realized the feeling was quite literal.
"Damn it! Mates! Someone hacked into the system and is turning back on the gravity field. I can't stop it!"
Looking quickly down, sweating, I saw I was still over the exhaustion and started to panic. I also noticed that my propulsion system went out after my moment's distraction.
"No! Do not panic." I thought a little unsurely. Then I got a better idea. I calmed down, and held my hand out back to where I came from. I searched for that whisper again. I reached out and let go. Then I made it push me over exhaustion vent and to safety. I felt the whisper again, and it was beautiful, though still small. But this time, I felt it was starting to grow, slowly but surely.
My concentration was broken rudely as I landed right on my ass on the grate-like catwalk.
"Mates! Are you alright! Talk!" Atton yelled into the comm-link rather worried. Whether his concern was my life or his ticket out was beyond me.
"I'm fine. Barely made it though. Well, at least I have a straight shot at the dormitories now. I'll be back up there soon."
"Good. Please don't try anything like that again."
"I didn't know you cared."
"Whatever. Once we get off this rock, you can go to Nal Hutta for all I care."
"Your concern is touching." I replied sarcastically.
"Oh great, now what?" He said surprisingly.
I was about to ask what his problem was, but then I realized what got him so riled. Out a little ways, a Republic ship was headed towards the station. It was white and orange and looked something like a hammer or a fish of some sort. I tried to ask Atton about it, but the comm-link went dead. I assumed that the ship jammed communications. I had a very bad feeling about this.
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Author's Note: Sorry it took so long for this chapter, but I finally bought the game and looked over the whole Peragus part. I will hopefully pick up pace on this story, seeing as I have the needed materials and summer is coming up soon. Course, considering how long KOTOR2 is, I may not have even finished it before summer's up. Thanks again for the support.
