AN: Hey everyone. I finished chapter 5 and figured I could reward your patience with a new chapter. For my fans of RotEA I am still trying to work on it but progress is slow going. Writing this story just feels easier in every way most nights. Sorry about that, but I just can't ever seem to figure out what to write for RotEA.
Blah blah... usual disclaimer about this being a rough draft.
Hope you enjoy it!
Crossroads: Rough Draft of Chapter 4
"What does this say?" Vette asked me as she pointed to a phrase written in Aurebesh.
Vette and I were sat in the living room of the ship on the couch teaching each other our languages. It was just the two of us. Pieces of paper with scratch marks containing both English and Aurbesh characters were scattered about all around us.
Serenity had left to draw up a plan to assault the Arms Factory with Quinn. She offered me the choice to come along and help plan out the assault if I so wished but I didn't really see the need, I wasn't no master strategist. Besides, learning the language would be far more helpful in the long run.
I studied the words on the paper trying my best to remember what English characters the Aurebesh letters translated too.
"Something something Vette for being the best," I slowly sounded out.
"I know I am," she said jokingly. "But it's 'Thank you Vette for being the best'."
"I thought…" I paused to look at my notes for the word for the letter T and H. "Trill and Herf were written like this," I said writing out the way she had shown me earlier.
"They are but don't forget that when they're in combination they change into Thesh," she said drawing out the Thesh symbol.
I rubbed my temple as the headache started to form.
"Who came up with the dumb idea that certain letter combinations needed to have their own character?" I complained aloud.
"It's not dumb. It lets you save time while writing and is easier to showcase the differing pronunciation in a word. If anything, your language is dumb."
Vette was slowly picking up how to write in the English language but every time she began to think she knew what she was doing, an exception to a rule would pop up and shut her down.
"Believe me, I don't think you'll ever find any English speaker who would disagree with you on that," I chuckled out.
We descended into mutual silence for a few moments before Vette broke it looking kind of nervous.
"You know I looked up English on the HoloNet and came up with 0 results, nada, zip. No one's ever heard of it before. Where are you from exactly?"
I could feel the crestfallen look descend upon myself.
"I don't want to talk about this Vette," I said trying to get away from the conversation.
"Why not? Every time any mention of where you are from come's up you ask us to drop it. Why? Why do you refuse to-"
"Because it's gone!" I screamed out not able to take the rage building inside me anymore. "It doesn't exist… not anymore," I said calmer and quieter.
I heard footfalls as someone entered the room from the airlock and stepped on a crumpled piece of paper.
"Everything all right in here? The teaching getting to your head?" Serenity jokingly asked as way of greeting.
"Something like that," I deflected. "Did the two of you draw up a battleplan?"
"Yes, and we should head out now. I can regale you of it along the way."
Vette and I stood up from the couch.
"Then we'll both go change into our armor and be right out."
"Do hurry, and I'm driving this time. Wouldn't want you to get us shot down again," she said cheekily.
I let out a sigh.
"Still going on about this?"
"I still find it rather enjoyable so yes," she replied.
I rolled my eyes at her.
"We'll be right out."
When we got in the crew quarters Vette spoke up.
"About before, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"
"No I'm sorry. I didn't mean to blow up at you. Just... forget about it, Vette, please. We have a job to do. Let's focus on that."
"Get down!" a random soldier screamed out as an artillery shell landed near our position kicking up dirt and debris all around us.
We had safely made it to the Imperial outpost nearest to the Arms Factory. The only problem was the field between us and the Arms Factory was a no man's land.
Artillery shells raining down upon the ground had left holes everywhere that soldiers used for cover as they tried to make any headway. Occasionally you could spot a strewn body part amidst the field that had been separated from its owner.
"My lord Sergeant Tulsar and his men have established a small offensive line near the defensive line of the factory but that's on the other side of this no man's land. We're getting torn apart out here, we need to pull back," said the captain of the company we were leading.
"Negative!" responded Serenity. "We need into that factory no matter the cost, it's imperative to the war effort. We'll lead the way, have your men follow closely behind us."
The plan to get into the factory was different from how it went in the game. Here we had a company of troops who were supposed to act as a decoy assault force. It would force out the personnel in the factory to come out and defend it. Leaving our little trio an opportunity to sneak in when most of the defenses had left.
Unlike the game, this place truly was a fortress, and we would have had no hope of being able to get in and out of this place by ourselves.
"Yes, my lord," the captain replied unsurely. I couldn't blame him. Without access to the Force this must have seemed like a suicide mission.
That reminded me to check on Vette. She was taking cover in the hole we were in, putting her hands over her head to try and shield herself from the dirt raining down upon us from the explosions.
"Vette!" I called out but she couldn't hear me over the sound of the explosions.
I got up right in her face.
"We're about to charge straight through this place and we're taking the lead! Keep your head down and stick close to Serenity alright?"
Vette looked kind of worried, but I saw her nod her head in acceptance at me. I peered over the top of the ridge and saw multiple machine gun nests set up that could easily mow down the company as we tried to move up.
I ran back over to Serenity.
"How's it looking out there?" she asked me.
"Not good," I answered truthfully. "There are multiple machine gun nests set up between us and the next piece of cover! We might be alright, but I wouldn't count on much of the company making that march!"
Serenity looked angry and upset at that piece of news.
"It's unfortunate but we don't have a choice!"
"If you give me a bit, I might be able to increase our chances!"
"How so?"
I activated my Stealth ability as a response.
"You are a lot more visible than before!" she pointed out.
"I know but I'm hoping with everything going on they won't notice me making my way through the field! I'll make my way over to the guns! Once you see that I've destroyed them, then you can lead the company out! Should help to alleviate the losses!" I stood up to get ready to start making my dash across the field.
"And if you get spotted while you're trying to cross? What then?"
"Well then while I'm getting mowed down by multiple machine gun nests you can use that as a distraction to get the company across!" I said as a morbid joke.
Serenity didn't seem to find it funny.
"If you die on me out there, I will kick your ass! Good luck!"
"Thanks, I'm going to need all the luck I can get."
I stood on top of the ridge and activated Force Speed as I started dashing my way for the turrets. Even with my enhanced speed it would still take me a bit to reach the turrets as they were far away.
I was about halfway to the first nest when the universe decided it hated me and landed an artillery shell about 15 feet to my right. The shell exploded, and although I may have been near the outer edge of the blast radius, it was still powerful enough to send me flying through the air.
I hit the ground hard and rolled along, feeling the air leave my lungs. When I finally stopped rolling, I was laying supine on the ground. My body was hurting all over and there was this terrible ringing in my ears.
The stealth ability hadn't deactivated upon my landing thankfully, for if it had I would already be dead. I pulled my HUD up and saw that my health bar was down to 65% and the Force bar was down to 80% already. I wasn't sure what the exact cost for maintaining Stealth was but whatever it was it was horribly inefficient.
I forced my arm to move after it protested at me not to. Placing it over my chest I muttered Dark Heal to myself as I saw the faint green light pop up and begin healing me. The light might expose me but being able to move without issue was more important right now.
Double checking my health bar, I saw it was at 75% now so I used Dark Heal one more time to bring myself up to 85% or more accurately 86% as my natural regen had kicked in and slowly started healing me.
I saw that using Dark Heal took 10% of my Force bar each time and had left me with 55% of the Force bar after the Stealth upkeep. I stood up, feeling sore but able to move. I knew I had to finish up quickly or I would run out of Force.
Reactivating Force Speed, I quickly made my way to the first gunner's nest. There was one rebel manning the gun turret and three other soldiers stationed there with him to help protect him.
I went over to the two soldiers who were stationed close together. I pulled out both my lightsabers, positioned one behind each soldier and ignited them. My stealth ability deactivated as the blades sprang to life and jutted out from the soldiers' front sides.
Pulling them back out, the bodies fell to the floor like a marionette with its strings cut. The rebel on the turret craned his head at the noise but didn't have time to react as I swiftly cut off his head. The last soldier, a bit quicker on the draw, began raising his rifle to shoot at me. Before he could though I Force pulled him towards me and had him impale himself on my saber.
Quickly checking how much Force I had left I saw the bar was at 40% but rising seeing as there were no abilities draining it at the moment. Wanting to let it recharge in case I needed it I hopped on the now unmanned anti-infantry turret and begun spinning it around to face the other two nests.
I opened fire on the nest, focusing on the enemy turret first, and made short work of it, the power of the anti-infantry turret ripping through the men stationed there.
Unfortunately killing those men seemed to have been enough to cross me over the threshold I needed to hit the next level. The light that burst out around me was enough for the final nest to take notice of what had happened to their friends. The man on the turret quickly spun it around and started firing at my position.
I returned fire and actually managed to get a lucky shot, hitting the gunner in the head. Before he had died though he had managed to fire off one last volley which was headed straight for my position. Feeling a warning in the Force, I entered Stealth and quickly abandoned my positioned. Not a moment later that volley hit the power cells for the turret causing the whole thing to detonate in a miniature explosion that wiped out the nest completely.
I activated Force speed and ran over to the last nest. On the way I could see that Serenity and Vette were already in front leading the company to try and get to Sergeant Tulsar.
I arrived at the nest just as one of the remaining three soldiers tried to hop onto the gun turret his dead comrade had fallen off of. Unfortunately for them I was faster. I activated my lightsabers as I arrived in the middle of the three and spun around in a circle, my lightsaber leaving lethal cuts in its wake.
With the three anti-infantry nests destroyed I decided to make my way to Sergeant Tulsar and his men. Serenity and co would have to deal with artillery shells and any random enemy troopers holding a defensive line but there wasn't much I could do about the artillery strikes. As for the enemy troopers they should be fine to handle that themselves.
Activating Force Speed once more I dashed ahead to find Sergeant Tulsar.
After running for a bit, I found Sergeant Tulsar in another bombed out hole. He and his men had set it up as a makeshift forward operating center. This place was surprisingly quiet. The sounds of the battle happening in no man's land could still be heard in the distance, but things were relatively peaceful.
Tulsar's men took up arms at my approach but lowered them when they noticed I was a friendly. Tulsar ran to greet me immediately as I slid down into the hole.
"My lord!" he said with a salute.
"Sergeant, how are your men holding up?"
"A few recon squads have attempted to dig us out, but we're entrenched hard my lord. We can hold this position as long as the enemy doesn't send a considerable force after us. If I may my lord, where are the rest?"
"My fellow Sith and the company are on their way here now, I merely ran ahead."
"Very good my lord."
"Do you know what you're here for?" I asked.
"No, my lord. They merely sent us out here and told us we needed to hold this position at all costs."
An explosion rang off in the distance and the Sergeant and I ducked our heads as dirt started raining down upon us.
"You and the company are going to be launching an assault on the Factory to draw out it's defenders."
"My lord, forgive my insolence, but we're going to need a lot more than a company to take this factory."
"I know, that's why you're not taking the factory. I just need you to do enough damage that the factory's defenders come running. While you have them distracted, my friends and I will sneak in."
"Understood. My lord if I might ask one favor of you?" he asked unsurely.
"What is it Sergeant?"
"The rebels have set up multiple defensive turrets along the approach. They are unmanned and automated but heavily armed. My men haven't been able to crack the encryption on them. If you were to destroy them it would help to save a lot of my men, plus I would be happy to reward you handsomely."
"How handsomely are we taking here?"
"I'd be very willing to pay to help save some of my men." He rummaged around his pockets and pulled out a pile of credits. "700 credits my lord, if it pleases you."
I reached over, grabbed the 700 credits, and pocketed them.
"Consider those turrets defunct Sergeant. Get me some explosives that can be remote detonated."
The Sergeant nodded his head immediately and called out to his troops.
"Get the lord some explosives… now!"
The troops not on guard duty started scrambling to find me enough ordinance. Once they had amassed enough explosives, they ran over to me with the explosives packed into a small backpack.
"Your explosives my lord," the trooper stated as he handed it to me.
Right before I grabbed I the pack I heard footfalls. Turning my head, I watched as Serenity and Vette slid their way down into the hole.
"Nice of you to join us," I said. "How's the company?"
"Only a few casualties. One squad got unlucky and was hit by an artillery shell as we were marching, but besides them the company is good to go. Getting rid of those turrets really helped, good job," responded Serenity.
"Wow a compliment, that's new," I joked.
"Don't get used to it. What's with the explosives?" she asked pointing to the bag the trooper was still holding.
Turning back to the trooper I grabbed the pack and slung it over my shoulder.
"Helping out the Sergeant for when they begin their distraction assault."
"I need you with me. We need to get in position."
"I'll deal with these turrets quickly. You and Vette head towards the cliff edge, I'll meet you two there."
I dug out the detonator from the pack and handed it to the Sergeant.
"I'll let you know when you're clear to detonate them. After you do though you need to begin your assault immediately, clear Sergeant?" I asked the man.
"Crystal sir! I'll make sure the men are ready and thank you."
He turned and began speaking with the captain of the company.
"How much?" Serenity asked when I turned back around.
"How much of what?" I asked her.
"How much are you being paid? Only reason I can see you doing this."
"What? It can't just be because of my altruistic nature?"
Serenity raised an eyebrow at me calling me on my bullshit.
"700 credits," I answered seriously.
"There it is. This better not end up making you late."
"I'm always punctual, don't worry about that."
Serenity nodded her head at me and turned to look at Vette.
"Come on, we need to get in position," she said to her.
Vette nodded her head at her and turned to look at me.
"Don't forget to give me my 20%," she said. At least she was acting like her old self.
"You're not even helping me with this one."
"You agreed to give me 20% of the credits made on missions. Never specified I had to be there."
"You and your specifications," I groaned out. "Fine, you'll get your money, but only after we're done here, and you've helped out. Now stop wasting time and get going," I said shooing her off.
Serenity and Vette climbed their way out of the hole and began their trek to the cliff edge overlooking the factory.
I checked my Force bar and saw that I had regened back to full. I climbed out of the hole and activated Stealth and Force Speed. As I ran towards the factory, I spotted the turrets the Sergeant wanted me to handle.
Like he said they were unmanned. There were a few soldiers and rebels scattered about the defensive line but none of them were stationed near the turrets. I dashed my way from turret to turret, planting explosives as I went.
I finished planting the last explosive and saw that I still had a little over half my Force bar left. I ran my way over to the path that would scale the cliff edge. I deactivated my Stealth ability once I was out of sight to save on my expenditures.
Along the way I radioed into Sergeant Tulsar letting him know the explosives had been planted and he was free to detonate them. Shortly after that I heard a wave of explosions go off in the distance and knew the assault had begun.
I got to the cliff edge just as Serenity and Vette were arriving.
"See told you I'd show up on time," I said as I skid to a halt next to them.
"What the-" Vette started to say as I suddenly appeared. "How are you here already?"
"I just gave myself a little speed boost with the Force." I turned and looked at Serenity. "I called the assault in, they've begun. Are we ready?"
"We will be in a second. You got here so damn quick I haven't even had time to set the rope up."
Serenity dug into a small pack they had brought along and brought out a stake and some rope. Digging the stake firmly into the ground she tied the rope into a tight knot around it. After that was finished, we went prone and looked over the cliff edge at the factory below.
"Now we wait," Serenity said.
Luckily, we didn't have to wait long as defenders started pouring out of the factory's main entrance to go try and help reinforce the defensive line. We waited until the last bits had trickled out. Afterwards Serenity threw the rope down the cliff's edge, and we silently slid down the rope into the canyon below.
Sneaking in through the front we found we didn't have to deal with any resistance. It looked like most of the factory had been left defenseless except for the automated defenses and droids. I'd have to remember to thank Sergeant Tulsar and the company for doing such an excellent job.
We silently crept our way through the facility, keeping our wits about us as we tried to go unnoticed. We got onto an elevator and climbed up to a higher level where Rylon was supposed to be. As the elevator was climbing, we received an emergency transmission from the Sergeant.
"Sergeant, we are supposed to be radio silent. This better be good," Serenity said as she answered the call.
"My lord, I apologize but we need you to sound a retreat!" The sound of battle and men dying could be heard in the background. "The captain's down and there are too many reinforcements for us to deal with! We need to pull back!"
"Negative Sergeant! We need you to hold that position."
"Serenity-" I started to say.
"No, I know what you're going to say. If they pull back, then all those reinforcements come back to the factory. We'll be trapped. We can't fight our way through that many people."
"Listen to the sounds, they're getting slaughtered out there," I said. "We're going to need way more time to finish up here and get out than they can provide us."
"So, you propose I just let the enemy flank us? And how exactly are we going to get out of here?" she asked me.
"I don't know yet, but we'll figure out a way."
She was silent for a few moments as she contemplated the course of action to take.
"Sergeant order a full retreat," she eventually said.
"Right away my lord! Thank you!" he said before disconnecting the call.
"I hope you know what you're doing," she said to me as the elevator came to a stop.
"So do I."
Stepping off the elevator we turned the corner and were surprised when we came face to face with a squad of Republic soldiers. Luckily, they were just as surprised as us to see us there. We reacted first going on the offensive.
Vette took down two immediately with a couple well placed headshots, before she rolled into cover. Serenity threw her lightsaber, bisecting one before it returned to her. And I cut down the two closest soldiers to me with one swipe of each saber.
This left three men who finally caught up with the situation and realized they were being attacked.
"Sith!" called out the trooper in the back loudly before hitting a button. An alarm started blaring off through the base. Another two shots rang out from Vette's blaster dropping two more of the soldiers.
"Well, they know we're here now," said Serenity as she snapped the last man's neck with the Force.
"Which means we should hurry," said Vette.
The three of us took off in a full sprint towards Rylon's quarters.
"Take a left up here!" Vette called out. She had the blueprints for the factory pulled up and was directing us to our destination.
Reaching Rylon's quarters, it was apparent that he and his men were aware of our approach. His men had set up a defensive position and he was there on holo.
The men leveled their guns our way as Rylon spoke.
"Sith I know why you're here. Be aware that these are the finest troops I've commanded in all my decades of duty."
"Then they'll make for a good warm up," responded Serenity.
Rylon spoke to his second in command next.
"Captain Eligyn, engage at will and hold the line. I'm coming with reinforcements, Rylon out."
Captain Eligyn pulled his gun out and pointed it at Serenity.
"You're about to find out what we're made of."
Serenity pulled out her lightsaber and Vette and I followed suit pulling out our weapons.
"Believe me when I say Rylon won't be here fast enough to save you," she said.
"You don't intimidate us. We've killed your kind before."
"Is all you know how to do talk or is there more than just hot air up in your head?"
It seemed that Eligyn didn't like that as he scowled before calling out for his men to attack.
Vette, quick on the draw as ever, immediately started returning fire. Serenity leapt into the fray, and I directed the fingers of my off hand at one of the side troopers before frying him with a bout of Force lightning.
The battle was a slaughter that ended quickly. Turns out when normal troopers try to go up against Force wielding Sith, and especially Force wielding Sith who are the main characters of their story, they lose… badly.
Captain Eligyn was the last to go down after I deflected a blaster bolt back at him that hit him in his stomach. Still needed some work but I was at least getting better with the deflections.
Eligyn fell to one knee after the impact and Serenity and I moved in to finish him off.
"I don't understand," said Eligyn as we neared. "The commander should have been here by now."
"Take heart Captain in at least knowing that it wouldn't have made a difference," said Serenity.
Serenity raised her lightsaber above her head to strike him down but stopped when we heard the sound of a minor explosion coming from where we entered.
Looking back towards the entrance we saw Rylon walking in with the camera above the entrance sparking.
"Please enough of this," said Rylon as he arrived.
"Commander, no! Run! Save yourself!" said Eligyn.
"Just put him out of his misery Sith."
"You're not even going to do him the courtesy of telling him the truth before he dies?" asked Serenity.
"Commander… what? I don't understand…"
"I'm sorry Captain Eligyn. All these years I have been a loyal soldier of the Empire," Rylon said before he pulled out his pistol and put one last shot into Eligyn, putting him out of his misery.
Rylon brought his hands together and closed his eyes for a moment seemingly in prayer.
"It was unfortunate they were on the wrong side. They were excellent soldiers and exceptional men," he said lowering his hands back down to his side.
"If so, why not recruit them?" asked Serenity.
"My mission was never about recruitment. The life of a spy is a slippery one. I've had to become a Republic soldier and in doing so I've done things against the Empire that have sickened me."
"Everything you've done though has been for the greater good Commander," replied Serenity respectfully.
"I've been believing- hoping that was the case my friend. I know why you're here. I knew one day Lord Baras would eventually have to eliminate me but I'm proud to have been of service all these years."
"It is an honor to be the one that gets to kill you," Serenity said with a bow. "Though I am sorry it has come to this."
"We often are forced to do things we would rather not in the line of duty, aren't we friend? Before I embrace my end though I must ask. In love… or maybe weakness, I told my son my secrets. I know you had to cover my tracks, but did he at least meet his fate well?" asked Rylon, a hopeful glint in his eye.
"His chin was held high Commander, you would have been so proud of him," Serenity said gently.
"Then I can die with a smile," he said pulling out his blaster but not pointing it at us.
"Commander," I said butting in. "After we're done with this, we're going to need a way out of here and going back the way we came isn't going to be an option. Do you have anything that could help us?"
Rylon dug into his pocket and pulled out a small data disk and a keycard.
"My personal shuttle is on one of the landing pads outside. This keycard will provide you access, and the data disk contains the security clearance codes necessary to fly out of here safely," he said providing us with the shuttles coordinates.
I took the keycard and data disk and pocketed them.
"Thank you, Commander."
"It's my pleasure to assist in any way I can."
Rylon raised his blaster pistol and started firing off near miss shots at Serenity. Then he fired a few directly at Serenity which she nonchalantly deflected to the ground around her.
"Tell Lord Baras it has been my greatest honor to serve him."
"I will Commander," Serenity said as she stalked towards him. Rylon gently closed his eyes as she approached. No indication of fear prevalent on his face. Stopping in front of him she said, "Rest easy now," before she swiftly stabbed him through the heart.
Seeing as the fight was over, we all put our weapons away.
"That was kind of you, what you said about his son," Vette said towards Serenity.
"The man was a hero. The least we could do was let him think his son was one too. Those codes?" she asked me.
I pulled them out and handed them to her.
"Great then we-"
She stopped as her holocommunicator started beeping. Pulling it out and answering it Quinn came into view.
"My lord, I believe we've got trouble. I heard your entire conversation with Commander Rylon."
"Lieutenant if I found out you've been spying on me you won't survive the reprisal you'll receive when I return."
"Not spying on you, my lord. As I told you, I've been surveilling the Jedi investigator. Apparently, she bugged Rylon's quarters and as she listened in on your conversation, I head what she heard. She knows everything, my lord."
"Lieutenant this is very bad news," Serenity said gravely angry.
"Agreed my lord. I've been tracking her movements. She was heading to her ship, but I had my men move in and cut her off from the Republic landing bay. I am systematically blocking her avenues of transmission and escape, herding that Republic scum to her only hope, the spaceport at Sobrik."
"I'm heading there now. If she escapes before I arrive Lieutenant, I am holding you responsible."
"Understood my lord, but you will need to hurry back. She is currently a lot closer in proximity to Sobrik than you are."
"How is she travelling?" asked Serenity.
"She is travelling on foot but I'm afraid there is one more thing, my lord. My men who engaged her report that she's wielding a lightsaber. It seems this investigator is a Jedi Knight. I would advise caution when facing her."
"Understood Lieutenant. We'll arrive in time, just make sure to stall her until we do," she said than disconnected the call. As she ended the call I leveled up once more to 17. Still wasn't where I wanted to be at as we finished this planet, but it was at least close.
"We need to hurry," she told Vette and I before dashing off with the two of us close behind her.
We were descending down the elevator to the hangar the Jedi Knight was currently trying to escape from. We had made record time returning to Sobrik thanks to Serenity essentially flooring the gas pedal on the shuttle. She almost got us shot down flying into Sobrik so quick and in an enemy shuttle but thankfully we were able to transmit the clearance codes in time before the guns opened fire.
The three of us dashed off the elevator as soon as the doors opened. We saw the Jedi Knight in the hangar's massive doorway being delayed by two Imperial customs agents.
The Jedi Knight turned around and spotted us, either sensing us or hearing our frantic footsteps. I watched her wave her hand at the two agents, and they ran for it.
"You're too late Sith," she said as she turned our way. "I already transmitted the conversation between you and Commander Rylon to the Jedi Council. Noman Karr has his proof. Now Master Karr and his Padawan will track down and expose every Sith agent in the galaxy."
"Oh, that was not smart to tell me. Now all you've done is really piss me off and seeing as you're the only enemy combatant around I'm going to have to relieve my anger on you. Believe me, you won't like it," said Serenity.
"I will not fall today. Not to you. My intentions and motivations are clear. As is my mind."
"You're cocky. Stupid but cocky. At least you have more spirit than most Jedi. Most of the time they just blather on about peace and serenity, not to be confused with the Wrath here, before they die," I said.
"We Jedi have purity of purpose. We seek neither thrills nor satisfaction. Unlike you, I am calm, and it will be your undoing."
"Ahh damn, spoke too soon. Listen lady can we just get to the part where we fight, you're boring the crap out of me," I said.
"Should we come to blows the Dark side will fail both of you. Save yourselves. Surrender, and the Jedi Council will give you every opportunity to discover redemption."
"Hell no! I'd rather be dead," said Serenity and I simultaneously. We looked at each other briefly and it felt like we gave each other a mental high five.
"Attack me and you will be," said the Jedi.
"Finally, that sounds like an invitation to get this party started," I said drawing out my primary saber.
Serenity and Vette followed suit pulling out their lightsaber and blaster pistols, respectively.
"So be it," muttered the Jedi before she too pulled out and ignited her lightsaber.
I started off the attack firing off Force lightning out of my left hand at her. She brought her lightsaber up and blocked it.
While she was blocking Serenity moved and swung at her. The knight for her part took it in stride. She redirected the lightning I was firing at her back towards Serenity, forcing her to put her guard up.
While this was happening, Vette was flanking around her trying to get a clear shot. Seeing as my lightning was hindering us more than it was harming her, I stopped.
When the lighting stopped, Serenity immediately went back on the offensive. I joined in with her, coming in with a swing at the Knight's backside when she was stuck in a deadlock with Serenity, but she kicked out behind her and hit my hand forcing me to miss.
As I stumbled backwards from the kick Vette fired at the Knight's backside after finally getting around her. The Knight disengaged from her deadlock and backflipped over the incoming blaster bolts, avoiding them.
I have to admit, she's a lot more talented than I would have given her credit for.
"Any bright ideas?" I asked Serenity as we regrouped.
"Keep the pressure on?" she asked unsure.
I shrugged in acceptance. "Works for me."
Serenity and I spread out, encircling the Jedi Knight. She kept her eyes focused on both of us, flickering between us. Serenity took her front and I circled around behind her.
Catching Vette's eye, I signaled for her to fire on my command. Vette nodded in acceptance.
The air was thick with tension as we all stood there in a pseudo-Mexican standoff. I motioned for Vette to fire, and she did. Blaster bolts started barreling the Knight's direction and Serenity took that as her cue and sprinted at the Knight.
The Knight once again backflipped over the blaster bolts but I had already anticipated this. I leapt at where I envisioned her landing and was poised to strike the Knight's backside while she was busy with Serenity. I was not prepared for the Knight to slap away Serenity's lightsaber and then turn around and Force push me midair.
I went soaring through the air and the back of my head impacted the wall first, the helmet luckily keeping me from snapping my neck.
I fell to the floor feeling the strength leaving my body. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was the bright orangish glow coming off Serenity's eyes as she assaulted the Knight.
I sat up abruptly from the bed, panicked that I'd find that Jedi still around, but a hand rested on my chest and pushed down on me gently.
"Easy," came the voice.
I could recognize that voice anywhere but if that didn't seal the deal the black curls and vibrant glowing eyes did. She was sat there in a chair by the bed clad in her casual garments.
I stayed sitting upright but leaned back against the medical bed.
"Judging by the fact that I'm not dead I'm going to assume we won?" I asked Serenity.
"We did. The Jedi is currently in lock up and is going to be sent to Baras."
"You spared her?"
"She has intelligence on our Padawan. Not attempting to gain that information would be stupid," she reasoned out.
I put up a hand placatingly.
"Wasn't trying to argue against you. I would have done the same thing. Most Sith wouldn't though. They don't always think ahead and would rather just cut down an enemy."
"I am not most Sith," she said simply.
"On that we can agree." I looked around and took note that we were on the medical bay onboard the Fury.
"How long have I been out?" I asked her.
"About 5 hours," she answered. "The medical droid couldn't believe when he examined you."
I raised an eyebrow in a questioning manner at her.
"It said that, despite how hard you hit that wall, that you showed no signs of bruising or any injury at all. Besides being knocked unconscious you seemed to be perfectly healthy."
Felt a little drowsy waking up but other than that I did feel fine. I slung my legs over the bed and rested them on the floor. The metal was cool to the touch against my barren feet. Looking down I saw that I was in casual clothes, which meant someone must have changed me at some point.
"Yeah, I'm kind of unnaturally durable," I said rolling my shoulder as it popped.
"Another gift from your benefactors?" she said putting the word gift in air quotes.
"So, it would seem. Anything big I missed?"
"Even unconscious you regained some of your old power. I saw the light flash out of the medical bay after I hung up the call on my master."
If she saw that then…
I immediately fully stood up from the bed and planted my hands on both of Serenity's shoulders. She was still reclining in a chair, so it left me overlooking her.
"Did Quinn see it too?" I asked seriously but frantically.
Serenity gave me a weird look.
"No, he was in the cockpit but-"
"Good," I said cutting her off. "Listen to me, under no circumstance can Quinn ever be allowed to find out, understood?"
"Why?"
"No, no answering with a question. It's a simple yes or no. Do you understand?"
"Fine, Quinn won't be informed. Now why is it so imperative that he not find out?"
"I-I can't tell you that," I said solemnly, dropping my hands from her shoulders, and looking the other way.
There was an uncomfortable silence that grew between us. I couldn't man up enough to turn back and look at her.
"Eventually you're going to have decide whether or not you trust me. Especially if…" she trailed off.
My intrigue grew more than my shame did and I turned to look at her.
"If?" I prompted.
"I've been doing some research while you've been knocked out," she said motioning to the multiple datapads scattered about at her feet. "I've put together some theories on the cause of the strange phenomenon that happens to us but haven't confirmed anything yet."
"And what's the leading theory?" I asked intrigued.
She crossed her arms over her chest as she glared at me.
"I'll inform you of my theory when you inform me of why Lieutenant Quinn can't be told of your powers."
I winced at the heated remark.
"I understand," I said disappointed.
The silence once again grew between us.
"Should I even bother asking how you knew Quinn had joined us?" she asked.
I didn't respond, knowing she wouldn't like the answer I would give.
"Typical," she spat out before she stood up from her chair. I watched her storm out of the medical bay and across the deck towards her room before she shut the door behind her.
I leant against the medical bay doorframe watching her go. After her door slammed shut, I could only let out a sad sigh.
"She seems pissed off. What, do you snore or something?"
I looked up from the door and saw Vette standing there.
"What?" I asked not understanding.
"It makes sense to me. I would be kind of angry too if I had to listen to somebody snore for 5 hours straight."
"She watched over me the entire time?" I asked, not truly believing it.
"Yeah, she seemed rather distraught." She paused and thought over her wording. "Or at least more phased than she normally is. Wouldn't leave your side except to contact Baras and then after that she went right back to sitting in that medbay. So, how'd you manage to piss her off this time?"
I shrugged lightly at her.
"Oh, you know, I just had to be myself."
Vette nodded in understanding.
"Yup that would do it."
"Thanks Vette, really feeling the love here," I said sarcastically.
"You're welcome," she said with a teasing grin. "You want to work on Aurebesh and English? I've been practicing a little and I think I'm starting to understand when I comes before E," she said excitedly.
I gave out a small chuckle.
"That sounds great Vette, but maybe we could work on that later. Right now, I think I have to work on getting along with Serenity."
"Oh okay. Yeah, that's fine, we can work on it later," she said trying not to let the disappointment come through.
I reached out and gave her shoulder a light squeeze.
"I'm sorry Vette, I really am. I promise we can go over it tonight, but right now I have to find a way to take my foot out of my mouth."
"Daunting task," she teased.
"Don't I know it?"
It was then that I saw Quinn step out of the cockpit. He made his way past us without so much as a second glance and headed for Serenity's cabin. Knocking on the door, he patiently waited until she opened it.
"Yes Lieutenant?" Serenity said seemingly annoyed at the interruption.
"Apologies my lord, but I just wished to inform you that coordinates are locked in, and we will be arriving at Nar Shaddaa in 6 hours."
"Very good Lieutenant, thank you."
Quinn bowed lowly to her. "Of course, my lord. Should you require anything else all you need do is ask."
I scowled as I watched Quinn's interaction with Serenity. Turning my head to the side slightly I could see Vette making out a fake gagging motion.
Serenity didn't say anything more to Quinn and he bowed one last time and took his leave. Her and I locked eyes for a brief moment before she turned away and closed the door back behind her.
"Ouch," said Vette. "Looks like you have your work cut out for you. Good luck," she said with a wave and walked off.
I walked over to Serenity's door and raised my hand to knock. I froze up trying to figure out what to say to her. I could tell her I was sorry, tell her I trusted her, but none of that would be very believable without a gesture of good faith. A gesture that I couldn't afford to make.
Steeling my nerves, I knocked gently on the door. I waited for a bit and didn't get a response. Thinking she didn't hear my knock I knocked once more, louder this time. When she didn't respond this time, I knew she was purposefully ignoring me.
"Serenity will you please just unlock the door so I can come in? Don't make me go grab my lightsabers and cut a hole in the door cause you know I will."
I waited with bated breath, but the sound of the door lock disengaging never came. Dejected, I backed away back towards the crew quarters.
Strangely I felt like I could feel a sad presence growing stronger as I got further away.
"No dice?" Vette asked as I returned with a crestfallen look.
I shook my head no and looked off to the side. Putting a fake smile on my face I turned back to Vette.
"Well seems I am free. Want to get to work?"
Vette tilted her slightly and gave me a slight pitying look, which hurt more than I wanted to admit.
"Sure," she said and patted the seat next to her on the bed.
We spent the next few hours together until we arrived on Nar Shaddaa. Baris gave his usual "I'm scary fear me and do my bidding speech."
Throughout the speech I kept quiet but watched Quinn out of the corner of my vision. I could never directly tell, Quinn was too good of a spy for that, but I think he was watching me during the debriefing.
Quinn's gonna be a problem that won't be taken care of for a long time. That'll make things more difficult to operate with, but I guess I'll have to work within the constraints.
"My lord, we have fully landed. You are clear to disembark any time you wish," Quinn said to Serenity.
"Thank you, Lieutenant. Torrid, Vette, gear up," she said in a very businesslike and emotionless way towards me.
I was going to argue with her to have Quinn stay on the ship, but it seems like I caught a break this time.
All right, a level 18 tackling a minimum level 20 planet. Not to mention I'm going to need to upgrade my armor again… which is going to cost credits. Ugh, why does everything have to circle back around to grinding out more side quests.
AN: The following section was the original ending to the chapter but after writing it I thought that having the two learn they were bonded after Balmorra was too quick. So, it's being cut out of the chapter. This will either get moved (obviously after having been rewritten to account for the passing of time and growing of bonds) to after Nar Shaddaa or after the interlude mission between Nar Shaddaa and Tatooine.
Enjoy the director's cut?
I waited once again with bated breath, and just when I was about to give up and turn tail, I heard the sound of the door lock disengaging. Pressing the button, the door slid open, and I stepped inside. Serenity was lying in her bed, back resting up again the wall, with a datapad in hand.
She didn't look up from her reading as I stepped inside.
"Doing some more research on that theory of yours?" I asked trying to keep the conversation light to start.
She looked up briefly from her datapad at me before her eyes fell back down to her reading.
"Is that all you have to say to me?"
I let out a sigh.
"No, but I thought it would be nice to start casually."
She didn't respond and kept her eyes locked on her datapad.
I made my way over to her bed and sat down on the edge of it.
"Thank you for watching over me. Vette told me you stayed with me then entire time except for when you spoke to Baras."
She shrugged as if it wasn't something to be thanked over but didn't say anything.
"I know everything about me is frustrating. I defy every bit of logic you've seen in the universe up to this point. I constantly go off base without asking for your permission and you, for the most part, are understanding about that. Then, after you spend your time making sure I'm okay, all you ask for is a bit of honesty and I can't provide that."
I must have piqued her interest because I noticed her turn her head slightly towards me and look at me from the corner of her eye.
"Look as crazy and unbelievable as it may seem, I do trust you, even if I can't always show it. I want to be honest with you, God do I want to be honest with you! And I try to be when I can, but there are secrets that I know that no one can ever find out about. And there are things I will say or do that I can't explain as much as I or you might wish."
I paused trying to formulate my words. She put her datapad down on the bed and turned to give me her full attention.
"I just hope one day you can understand that I do trust you, implicitly so. Even if I can't always show it."
"It takes a lifetime to build trust, yet only a second to break it," she said speaking up for the second time.
"Yeah," I agreed softly.
I felt the bed shift as she crawled over it towards me. She came and sat down next to me, our shoulders resting against each other.
"You know, as stupid as it may be, I actually do believe you when you say you trust me. But your words say one thing while your actions say another and that's just… infuriating," she said tiredly.
"I know, I'm sorry."
Serenity laid back down on the bed, blowing out a breath.
"Damn this bond. Things were so much easier when I didn't care," she said aloud to herself.
"Bond?" I questioned.
She spared me a sideways glance before she reached over her head and patted around looking for her datapad. Eventually finding it, she handed it towards me. I was still new to reading Aurebesh but I think the main title said Details of the Force Bond.
My brow scrunched in confusion and wonderment. We had a Force bond? What exactly does that entail?
While I was wondering this Serenity noticed my bewilderment.
"Sorry I forgot you can't read Aurebesh," she said reaching back over to grab the datapad.
"We have a Force bond?" I asked just to confirm.
I saw her eyes widen in surprise and her hand froze midway towards me.
"My Aurebesh still needs some work, but Vette's been a good teacher," I gave as way of explanation.
She nodded in understanding and lowered her hand back to the bed.
"It's my working theory. I haven't confirmed anything yet but it's about the only thing that makes sense."
"What does having one mean exactly?" I asked.
"Not entirely sure. There is surprisingly little on the matter. I guess it is a rare occurrence, and when it has happened before it doesn't seem like those involved took detailed notes of their experiences. I've been reading any information I could find on them but a lot of it is just theoretical. What it means for us… well I have no clue."
I was silent for a bit as I contemplated what this meant for us. Eventually though I felt the need to ask the most important question of the whole matter.
"And how do you feel about all this?"
She leaned back up from the bed and raised an eyebrow questioningly at me.
"You find our we're bonded and the first thing you ask me is how I feel about it?"
"It's only appropriate. This seems like a big deal, and it must have been a big shock to you, so yes, how do you feel?"
She rested her elbow on her thigh and her head in her hand.
"Honestly I don't really know yet. I don't think it has quite sunk in yet. Caring for another person is an annoying problem I didn't want to deal with."
I winced at her remarks. They were kind of harsh, but I appreciated that she was at least being honest.
"You're focusing too much on the negatives in that statement instead of the positives," she said after seeing my reaction.
She did basically say that she cared about me so that is nice.
"I suppose you're correct."
"I know you haven't had as much time as I have to think about this but how do you feel?" she asked turning the question on me.
"Maybe I'm naïve but I'm honestly rather happy about it. That is if I'm understanding this bond correctly, and granted I'm probably not, but I'm happy it chose you."
I saw the light dusting of blush starting to form on her cheeks. Maybe sensing what I was looking at, she turned to try and hide her face from my view.
I didn't comment on it and an amicable silence grew between us.
"I guess Vette's done a good job at teaching you Aurebesh," Serenity idly commented.
"Yeah, she's a good teacher and an even better student. She's been picking up English a lot quicker than I honestly expected her to."
"Good for her," Serenity said but I detected what sounded like a hint of jealousy sprinkled through her words.
"I'm sorry, did you want to learn English too? I didn't know."
"How could you of? Not like you bothered to ask."
"Serenity would you like me to teach you English?" I asked her with as much seriousness as if I was asking for her hand in marriage.
She turned my way and looked at me.
"That would be nice," she said.
I let an easy smile find its way onto my face.
"Great, we're going to need some writing instruments and paper."
She got up from the bed and moved about her cabin, grabbing what I requested. Over the next hour we worked together. Me teaching her English, and her helping me to learn Aurebesh.
We had sat in the middle of her bed, our backs resting against the wall, as we scribbled out on the papers. Occasionally we asked the other to check the other's writing to see if we were doing it correctly but otherwise, we worked quietly.
Despite the silence between us things weren't awkward, they were in fact quite the opposite. We both enjoyed each other's company without the need for discussion. Eventually, I felt something fall on my shoulder. I looked over to see Serenity had slumped over and was now resting her head on my shoulder.
I was going to move her down to the bed so she could rest but stopped not wanting to lose the close contact. I sat there, dipping down slightly and extending my arm out behind her so she could rest easier, and felt her ease in closer to me. I told myself I would just wait five minutes and then I'd lay her down to rest.
Five minutes passed and I once again told myself I'd wait just another five minutes. This continued on for a bit until I felt my eyes grow tired. I closed my eyes just to give them a momentary respite.
Just five more minutes I told myself once more before I fell into sleep's grasp.