Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars. I wish I did, but I don't. I do, however, ownzors Mr. T's ASS!
We hurried out of the main control of the station and through the airlock that led into the recently docked Republic ship. I led the way with Kreia following patiently behind me and Atton keeping an ever watchful eye on our rear flank. After the inner door of the airlock opened I was greeted with a surprising atmosphere. The interior of the ship was ruined. It was dark. I even went deeper than the old blaster scars of the metal behemoth. The darkness from the ship I had felt in the station was no longer a radiating force. It was the very air itself. I felt frightened there. I felt as though the ship would suddenly come alive and swallow me up, gnashing me all the way down like a sarlacc pit would its meal.
"Fear not, Exile. What you feel is nothing more than presence net of fear. Nothing more than an indication of its source. If you would survive this trek, you must let go of your fear and maintain your focus." Kreia said, though I wasn't entirely sure if it was to support me or simply ready me for worse things. I was somewhat grateful for the old woman. She was strong and steadfast, changing only to better deal with any situation.
"Yeah, well I wish I shared your confidence, lady. This place gives me the creeps. Sooner we get out of here, the better." Atton said, gripping his blaster.
"Silence, fool. If you had anything present up in that place you call a head, you'd know we have barely begun to reach the end of this." She retorted.
"Hey, you know what, we could just leave you here, you damn schutta. How about that"?
I was getting pretty annoyed by Atton's overbearing willingness to fight Kreia. "Look, Atton, we all need to keep it down. I can feel a whole bunch of people around this ship, but I can't tell where they are exactly. I think the surroundings show just how friendly these guys are."
Atton hushed his mouth. I think it might have been shame, but it might have also been that he saw the truth in my words. We continued on for about ten minutes, searching for the engine room that would allow us passage into the Hangar and back to civilization. And back to my lonesome wanderings.
Distracted by thoughts, I was almost decapitated by a sword that came seemingly out of nowhere. Kreia had already drawn her sword to block the attack and as well cut down the attacker as a follow-up. Even a complete idiot could have told it was meant for assassination. It was a humanoid being covered in black clothing that revealed not even the slightest betrayal of flesh. It was almost pathetic to look upon it
"You mean these guys have stealth gear? This just keeps getting better and better." I muttered, angry that my carelessness almost caused my death.
"Again, you allow yourself an opening. Do not allow your enemies any advantage on your part. I may not be able to stop the blade next time." Kreia said, moving on ahead already in her usual fashion.
Thanks, I thought to myself. Kreia turned her head and smiled slightly. Did she read my thoughts? I had wondered on this. She herself had to have been a Jedi at some point. Her presumed mental abilities made me think she was. And her battle skills were superb, possibly even exponentially superior to my own, especially when considering the fight against the HK unit. Kreia was obviously someone he was going to have to mind through the rest of their trek, however long that was to be.
We continued on in silence, noting our surroundings carefully. After five minutes of no incident, we happened upon the grimy, corpse-ridden room that was the bridge. The corpses I noted especially. Many strewn about, and by the number alone I should have been horrified. Though that wasn't what had frightened me. It was the manner in which they were killed. Some of their necks look compressed and bruised, suggesting a violent choking. But many had severed body parts and quickly-coagulated lacerations. Any one who used a lightsaber understood these wounds all too well.
"It would appear we are to be encountered by an unpleasant foe in the near future." The normally stoic Kreia commented.
"I guess so" I replied.
Atton however, did not share our impassive nature to the environment "How the hell can you two be so damn calm? Whoever did this didn't even use a blaster! Look at the walls! No marks! He did it all himself! How can we possibly face something as terrible as that?"
"We'll find a way. Until then, no point in worrying too much about it. Let's just focus on getting out of here, okay?"
Atton calmed down and looked at the computer. An expression appeared on his face as though he had just remembered a forgotten chore "Wait, if that droid had access to everything, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have taken chances of us getting to the ship. I'd be willing to bet he erased the coordinates that might still be on your ship's navicomputer."
"Good point. Well, since we're here, why don't we see if there are any coordinates here that we can use? If we don't get anything, we'll be stuck in the middle of space without any knowledge of any hyperspace coordinates."
"My thoughts exactly."
"It would appear the fool has some aptitude for observation." Kreia said, again criticizing Atton out of some spite.
Atton did his best to ignore her. I sliced into the navicomputer successfully. It normally would have disturbed me slightly that there was virtually no anti-slicing protection on it. I was, at the time, desensitized to abnormality and more distraught over what I found.
"One… just one…" I mumbled disheartened.
"One? What the hell do you mean 'one'?" Atton asked me in a fashion similar to a nervous animal being lead to a slaughter house unknowingly.
"There is only one coordinate left on this computer. They deleted everything else."
"Pray, do stop this whimsical whining of yours and tell us just what coordinate it is." Kreia added, though noticeably more confident in tone than Atton.
"It leads to… Telos? But wasn't that planet destroyed about five years ago? I wasn't anywhere in the war or around that time, but I heard a lot of news in the Outer Rim about it." I said confused at this new revelation and complication.
"Yeah, Malak destroyed the entire surface. Rumor has it, he was looking for some Jedi there, but what are the chances of that? I mean, killing millions just to get at one guy? His own people were on the surface. It doesn't make sense at all." Atton commented.
"Madness never needs the laws of reality or bends to the rules of common sense. Malak was a power-hungry fool; paranoid and ever-fearful." Kreia also added to the conversation.
"Yeah… Let's get going then. Maybe we'll find something there."
I took out the data on the coordinates and we headed off further into the ship of darkness. All the while, I felt the growing presence of evil deep inside. And coming closer.
Author's note: Well, no one seems to be reading it, but I am not about to give up. Someone's eventually to come back. Plus the story is fun to do. I'll be back with Chapter 10 soon enough. You hear me? I'LL BE BACK!