Chapter 23
It wasn't going to be a good day by any measure of the word. Fleet Admiral Saul Karath was loath to play the role of messenger. The Dark Lord didn't take well to bad news and more often than not the barer of such news never walked away from delivering it. Perhaps with an ice-breaker... some good news might temper the Dark Lord's wrath.
He swallowed hard, squared his shoulders and walked up to the forefront of the Leviathan's bridge where his master stood gazing out at the great streaming void of hyperspace. "My Lord," Karath began, "the Star Forge is working at two hundred percent capacity. Far beyond our expectations."
"I am more interested in the young Jedi Bastila and her battle meditations. Have you learned how she escaped Taris?" Malak said succinctly without turning.
"She was aided by Carth Onasi a decorated war hero of the Republic and a legendary solider. During the Mandalorian wars he was awarded many times for his bravery," there was a bit of pride and nostalgia in the Admiral's voice for his former protégée.
"You know this man?" The Dark Lord had been swift to pick up on the inflections in Karath's voice.
"Yes, Lord Malak, he served under me when I still followed the Republic. You could say I was his mentor."
"Interesting..." Malak murmured half-committedly. "How did you acquire this information, Admiral?"
This was the perfect opportunity, Malak had planted the prompts and seeds and for once Karath wasn't going to be the giver of ill-news. That lay on the poor sod that had come to him seeking an award for the intel he brought.
"There was an eye witness, Lord Malak."
Stepping forward with the arrogance of the reputation he had gained was Calo Nord. Wearing his- if not a bit frayed and singed- blue long coat, his white mushroom hat was equally battle-worn.
"A bounty hunter?" There was disdain in Malak's voice. "You allowed a bounty hunter on my ship?" The disdain turned to a growl.
"My Lord, Calo Nord was there when Bastila and her companions fled. Apparently, they left him for dead."
"A Jedi and a war hero, it's a wonder you survived the encounter," sneered Malak striding past Karath- who he shoved aside.
"I am hard to kill Lord Malak," he said in his own pride.
"Calo has agreed to help us capture Bastila for a very hefty fee of course. But I assure you he is well worth the price. His reputation as a bounty hunter is well earned."
The diminutive bounty hunter seemed to smile at Karath's praise. He even seemed to stand a foot taller.
"Calo Nord. Yes, I recall now. You're that cowardly little pimple that gives a count of three before you allow grenades to do your work for you."
The smile faded. His face contorted into a grimace. Calo's hand snapped up to his throat as he desperately tried to rip the collar off his coat free.
"I despise cowards like you, little pimple. Shall I count?"
Nord was gasping—clawing desperately at his throat, desperate for air. He fell to his knees, his face red from suffocation. "One. Bastila's companions are worth nothing to me Calo but I want the young Jedi taken alive if at all possible."
Nord was mere steps away from death. Still on his knees, tears leaked from his eyes pooling in the underside of his goggles.
"Two. Life is mine to give or take. You live by my whim. You are easy to kill Calo. Remember that." Malak loomed over the bounty hunter watching passively as the man was dying.
Nord was now prone on the floor gasping for air as would a floundering fish. The Dark Lord's boots were near Nord's face. It was tempting to just kick the man's face in but Malak refrained from giving in to temptations.
"Three. Whatever information you think you have I want; you are not getting paid for it. Do not think for one moment you can hold it hostage from me little pimple." Malak released his hold on the little man who rolled over on his back drawing in great welcoming gasps of coveted air.
He stepped on the man's neck. "Understand?"
Nord tried to swallow enough spit to form the words that became clogged in his throat. "Y...ye...yes."
Malak pushed a little harder, any further and he would crush the vertebrae in Nord's neck killing him.
"Yes Lord."
"My Lord there is something else you should hear." Karath interrupted. "May we have a private audience away from the ears of the common soldiers?" All of which were watching the scene play out while trying not to be seen watching.
"I trust you are not wasting my time Admiral Karath." Malak was never one for exhibiting patience even when he was a Jedi Knight.
"I promise you, you will be very interested in what Calo has to tell you about Bastila's other companions Lord Malak."
The boot was removed from the bounty hunter's throat. "Very well. And we will see if the information you have is worth the price of your continued existence." With that Malak strode past the small man down the long-necked corridor of the bridge and disappeared into a port-side door.
Nord struggled to his feet but his strength and what dignity he had left was failing him. Karath watched passively offering no assistance. "You will do as bidden."
Nord should have known there'd be no apology for the treatment that befell him. He should never have expected to be praised for his initiative to seek out the Sith and give them a bountiful harvest of information concerning one particular companion of that Jedi bitch. Nord knew the Dark Lord could not be manoeuvred or manipulated as Kang had been but he overestimated his own value because of what he held. It had a been a mistake to try. Unsteady feet followed the wake of the Dread Lord. And he knew when he entered that he had to do more than bow for he also knows that the information he carries of which he thought to make him rich might very well end up getting him killed. But now he had no choice but to follow though. Lord Malak would surely know if he uttered a single falsehood.
Going down on one knee Nord bowed his head. "My Lord." He waited for the prompt to be allowed to continue to speak. He would not make the same mistake twice in treating Malak like Kang who had allowed him great latitude.
"Tell me of Bastila's companions."
Calo didn't raise his head. He didn't dare. "You know of Onasi but the other..." the once proud bounty hunter quivered, his fear stabbing his mind like shard of ice. "The woman is a Nagai who calls herself Skye Ravensong. In a handful of days, she took the title of Arena Champion and she won the season opener swoop race in record timing. She is skilful. Jedi reflexes. My Lord, I recognised her. She had another name, another title. Darth Revan. Dark Lord of the Sith."
Malak whirled. "You should be more careful with your words, pimple."
"Master, it's true. Ravensong is Revan."
"Revan is dead!"
Nord didn't even see the Dark Lord move before he was upon him holding him aloft by the neck he had used the Force to choke.
"I..." cough..."Ha...haff...proof..."
Malak dropped the little bounty hunter. "Show me."
A hand trembling reached into one of the many pockets within his blue long coat and seized upon a small disk. He removed it from the pockets and surrendered it to the darkness looming over him.
Malak used the Force to take the holo-projector from Nord's hand and activated it. Upon doing so it activated the blue holo-projection of Skye Ravensong.
Malak simply stared for a moment. Impossible! It couldn't be true! She was dead! She was dead! If she were alive he would have felt her through the Force! He turned on Nord- for the foul trick the lying little pestilent pimple would die for such deceit. He reached out into the Dark Side of the Force, allowing it to fuel his body, feeding into his hatred.
Nord scrambled backwards his fear a putrid canker.
"It's true Ma...Master. Revan lives! And she's with the Jedi."
The anger had not abated in the Dark Lord but he drew it back from mindlessly reaching out and venting it on the bounty hunter. He could not deny the possibility of his former mater living. If Bastila had survived the bombardment of Revan's old ship, then it was distinctly possible the old Dark Lord had as well. But it didn't explain why Malak couldn't feel her through the Force. Even now he had no sense of her. Then again, Revan had been very good at concealing her presence from other Force users when the need suited her. He had to know for certain. He had to see for himself.
"You will seek them out and bring them before me. Onasi has no collateral value but the Jedi Bastila and Revan you will bring them before me, alive. Exceed this mandate and you will taste my great displeasure, little pimple. Now get out."
Nord bowed once and scrambled as quickly as possible out of audience chambers. Never before was he so grateful for the breath he drew in. Dealing with intergalactic crime bosses like Kang and the Hutts, Nord thought himself ready to deal with the Sith. He could not have been more wrong.
KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR
Just as Skye was leaving the woman's quarters Zaalbar approached her. He seemed agitated and concerned. Behind him was Mission looking just as disconcerted as her woolly friend.
"I was checking our food supplies in the cargo hold and something isn't right," he said.
"What do you mean 'isn't right'?"
"Someone has been in the emergency stash of food. Mission and I asked everyone but nobody knows anything about it." The Wookiee grunted.
The young Twi'lek nodded vigorously in agreement. "Yeah it wasn't any of us. It's weird."
"You might want to check the food stores the next time you're in the cargo hold." Zaalbar said.
"And you can't solve this little mystery on your own Big Z?" Skye folded her arms over her chest giving him a disappointed look.
"He's good at fixing things and making grenades- not so good at sleuthing." Mission tried to help. "Besides you got those fancy Jedi mind tricks and you got that scout eye thing you do, bet you can suss out who's been nicking the food. There 'aint no poodoo anywhere so I don't think we have an animal problem."
"Right. Okay. I'll go check it out." She proceeded to do just that. First was an elementary course of action: check the supplies. It was as Zaalbar said they had been disturbed and no one in the party would have done this. So, there must be another explanation.
Apparently, this was where Zaalbar's detective skills stopped.
Upon closer examination, there were no half-eaten or torn packages that would indicate the thefts were from pests or vermin thus Mission's observations proved correct. It was more like some unknown person has been conducting clandestine raids on the stores. Whoever the thief was they had managed to avoid detection by any of the crew. Thus far. This seemed to indicate the stowaway either had a stealth generator or was very very small.
Skye would have to search the ship if she wanted to find the culprit. She didn't need Jedi skills or scouting skills to use common sense. Thus, the Jedi went to engineering where Teethree was busily humming to himself as he was conducting routine maintenance on the systems.
"Hey Teethree, I need you to use your scanners and search for lifeforms on the ship, excluding known occupants. We've got a stowaway."
The little astro-droid bleeped compliance. From the cylindrical disk of his head popped out his built-in-probe-sensors and began to twirl in his earnest sensor-search. Within moments, Teethree bleeped his success.
"Men's dorms eh? Good work," she patted the droid on his head then sprinted out the doors to the men's quarters. When she got there, she found nothing. But she heard the patter of bare feet on metal. There had been someone here but they were small enough to fit under the floor panels of the ship's ducts where all the cabling was housed. They sounded as if they were headed back towards the cargo hold.
"So, we have ourselves a duct rat..." Skye murmured as she sprinted to the hold just in time to see a tiny grimy human girl climb out of the duct works, who squealed when she saw the Jedi approach her.
"Kapona! Yooba na abdes nee choo!" She shouted frantically backing into the corner, looking nervously at the hatch. She seemed to be debating whether or not she could make an escape. She must have decided she couldn't hide any more so she remained rooted on spot.
"Hold on. Who are you?" Skye's voice wasn't sharp but it was authoritative. A mother's stern voice.
The girl shrunk backwards until her back was now pressed against the bulkhead. She offered no more explanation other than to repeat the garbled words. Then she hid her face behind her hands.
Trying to understand an alien language was as much intuitive deduction as much as it was reading body language. Having an uncanny knack for understanding linguistics Skye reasoned out what the girl was trying to convey.
"I see you or you see me?" the Jedi questioned keeping her voice smooth and steady.
"Me nah esowon," the girl said and once more hid her face.
"You... you're hiding."
"Me han esown na es istide," the girl appeared to be unsure of Skye. "Yooba non eswon na ghis."
"I didn't get all of that but sure." Skye shook her head, shrugging.
"Saha na esowan brigstag. Bristag me laesfa."
Skye thought about what she had heard trying to piece together the bastardized language the girl was speaking. "This is a starship, you're hiding in a starship and this is your home. I understand."
"Yooba eh gon-disen," the girl came out of the corner; her tentative steps were like those of a once-tamed pet now turned feral.
"Yeah you said that before. What is gon-disen?" Seeing the hesitant steps, Skye decides to make herself less imposing by sitting tailor style on the floor of the bay.
The girl laughs and points to Skye. She takes four more steps closer but remains standing.
"Something about me yes, but what?" Ravensong said more to herself than to the strange little girl.
The child smiles and pats her chest. "Gon-disen me."
"Something you like. Yes gon-disen means you like it."
The girl nodded. "Yooba eh goss gon-disen.
"Oh! You like me. Okay." Skye grinned. "Sure, I like you too."
"Yooba na abds."
"Na abdes you said that when I first met you."
The girl hits her leg and continues to say the word.
Ravensong frowned at first at the girl's actions, almost telling her not to do such a thing but it would have been wrong. You cannot understand a foreign language without context. The action and the words were tied together. She was hitting herself and continued to say the words. There was a logical leap to the definition.
"Na abdes... adbs means hit is that it?"
The girl frowns and hits her leg again" Abdes, na adbs gon-disen."
Okay... not to hit but something else, the result of being hit is pain. But no that's not it. You feel pain when you're hurt... HURT! "Abdes doesn't mean hit... does it? It means to hurt. 'Na abdes' is not to hurt. Right?"
"Yooba na abdes," it was the sound of a plea.
"No of course not I'm not going to hurt you. Don't worry about it okay?"
The girl nods and finally fully trusting Skye enough to sit next to her.
The Nagai pointed to herself. "I'm called Skye what are you called?"
"Me Sasha."
"Sasha. Pretty name. See now we're making progress." Ravensong smirked.
The girl giggled at the teasing comment.
From the cargo bay's threshold Bastila and Juhani both lurked watching as Skye was dissecting the girl's strange mangled cannibalization of the Mandalorian language. It was taking time but soon enough Skye was actually talking to the girl in her own language. To Juhani it stirred up more memories. One of her and Revan. She wasn't much older than Sasha when she first encountered the captivating Knight...
KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR
Juhani sprinted across the busy streets of the Upper City of Taris. They had been here for only a few weeks. The Revanchist and her Jedi. They came to drive out the Mandalorians who had taken over after the Covenant had abandoned their vigil over the planet during the Padawan Massacre.
So, excited to just to get a glimpse of the Jedi, the girl hadn't been watching here she had been going and careened directly into a side of a kiosk selling hot savoury pastries. The impact knocked several of the pastries over, many of which toppled to the ground.
The human owner sneered at the little Cathar ignoring her mumbled apology and saw only a thief not a child trying to pick up the mess she had made. He grabbed her little spindly wrist which was so easily snapped in his thick meaty hand should he choose to do so.
"You little fracking fur-licker! I should cut off your thieving little hand!" the rotund baker snatched a bread knife slammed the girl's hand onto the counter-top of his kiosk and brought the blade to bear.
Juhani let out a terrified squeal- many humans and other aliens ignored the cry; no one cared for the fate of thieves or the lower cities denizens, they got what they deserved.
"This little one is not worth the trouble." Boomed the voice of a Jedi, stilling the raging hand of the baker before he could strike.
"She's a thief!" the baker sneered, spittle frothing at the comers of his fat thick lips.
Revan looked at the mess, the crying trembling girl and back to the baker. "I doubt that. I hardly think a thief would want attention drawn to them. If she was, you would have lost some of your pastries without ever noticing it."
"Ha! She only wanted to create a distraction. All them fur-lickers are the same. You know what they're like."
"No, why don't you tell us." A new male voice called out from behind the baker.
"You know, thems fur-lickers are all dirty..." the human stopped mid-sentence as he saw the face of the speaker: a male Cathar.
The baker paled: a Jedi Cathar.
"You were saying..." the Cathar demanded.
"Er... er... not you of course Master Jedi. But that-that one's a thief. Just look at her! Scruffy, ditty thief I saw her taking my goods!"
"Seems to me human she was trying to clean up a mess she created like any sentient taking responsibility for their actions, accidental or otherwise." Revan commented dryly. "Isn't that right little one?"
Juhani nodded. Her eyes never leaving Revan's and even though the baker still held her captive, she had stopped struggling. Her fear had abated in the Jedi's presence- she knew she would not be harmed. Not now.
The Jedi approached. "I suggest this. You let the child go in the name of fairness and you won't lose the hand that's holding her hostage. As a Jedi I cannot abide child abuse."
The child's hand was dropped immediately as the baker looked on in horror at the Jedi before him, knowing she was deathly serious.
"Now I'd buy some of your pastries but I'm not so sure they're entirely hygienic given the state of your apron." Revan went on in a causal conversational tone.
"Oy I wash my hands. I'm a clean baker, Master Jedi. I got me health certificate," he tapped the signage on the corner of his stall with fat index finger, "I got my pride."
"Very well, two dozen then." Revan flipped the man a credit chit.
"And what about thems that been broken? I can't sell them."
Revan looked at the broken pile, "call it a lesson in manners, fortunately it wasn't that costly."
The baker rubbed the wrist of the hand that had once held Juhani. "I'll wrap your order, Master Jedi," the voice was subdued and reserved. He gave a last scathing look at the Cathar child he knew to be a thief; all their kind were even the Jedi ones. The Nagai- the damned knife-ears scared him; she sympathized with the fur-lickers but she was a powerful Jedi, a war hero. He did as told and hoped never to see the likes of her again. He couldn't see the back of her soon enough.
Revan opened the box of pastries and knelt before the young girl. "Go on take one or two," she offered a smile that caused Juhani to duck her head bashfully, the equivalent of a Cathar blush. The ten-year-old hesitantly snatched two of the pastries and began to earnestly much on them as if she had not tasted food in months. Indeed, she looked like a near starved waif.
"So, tell me youngling, do you have a name?"
Juhani forced a rather large bite down her throat, her golden eyes starring wide. "I...I...I'm Juhani."
"Juhani. Pretty name. Tell me Juhani, where were you off to in such a big hurry? Now I know you're no thief so no need to worry on that account."
Another duck of the head. "I...I... wanted to see you up close," she all but mumbled.
"Great another admirer," a tall boxy human male grumbled, rubbing his bare blue tattooed head. "Just give the waif the box of food already Revan and let's be on our way."
"Ease up there Alek," Revan chided her friend. "Tell you what, why don't you and the others go on ahead, I'll catch up."
The one addressed as Alek rolled his eyes and gave out a long-suffering sigh of a man long experienced with his friend's nuances and bleeding heart. "If we stop to help every impoverished child on this rock we'd never get off it."
"Alek if we don't stop to save one life we will never save any." Revan said calmly. "Go on now. I said I'd catch up."
Juhani watched as the other Jedi started to depart but one lingered, a human female with soft unruly cut brown-blonde hair. "I will stay if it's all the same." She rested her long fingered hand on the Nagai's shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze.
Revan capped her hand over the other woman's and gave her a tender smile. "Don't you think we ought to introduce ourselves. We're being ever so rude," the human smiled teasingly.
"Right. This charming individual is General Meetra Surik, Knight of the Jedi order. And I am Revan, General and Jedi Knight."
"You... you're the one they call the Revanchist. You lead the Jedi!" Juhani gasped starring at the beautiful Jedi who had already captured her heart and her imagination.
"I am."
"I thought you wore a mask."
"Most of the time I do. Today I don't." She touched the girl's cheek caressing the soft fur. Their eyes met. "Juhani you are a very special girl. I can feel the Force in you."
"I wondered when you'd say," Meetra said looking at the youngling. "Ten years old, they may take issue with training her."
Juhani could only stare. "The Force! I have the Force?"
"All living creatures are touched by the Force it is in all of us. But to control it, to tap into it, that takes something special. A Force user." Meetra explained.
"And you can with training use the Force Juhani. You can become a Jedi."
"Will you be my master? Will you train me?" the ten-year-old dropped one of the pastries she had been eating onto the ground and took Revan's hand. "Please? I promise to obey all your rules; I'll be a good Padawan. I won't get in the way. I... I won't be a bother."
Revan shook her head. "I'm sorry but I can't take you with me. I go to war and that is no place for a child, even one with the Force. But if you go to Dantooine there is an Enclave there. It's smaller than the Temple on Coruscant, but the training is equal. And I think the agrarian world will better suit you than another sprawling mega metropolis."
"Me, a Jedi." Juhani smiled. She a Jedi, just imagine it! At that moment, she vowed she make this dream come true. She would make her way to Dantooine; she would become a Jedi just like Revan.
Revan handed the box of savoury pastries to the girl. "Now here take these home with you. They may only last a meal or two but it'd be a shame for them to go to waste."
Juhani starred at the box as if it were some kind of joke. Hesitantly she took it and cradled it to her chest. "Thank you," she muttered.
Revan smiled. "When this war is over, I'll find you on Dantooine as a Padawan."
"I'll be there." Juhani said with a great measure of pride. "I'll make it happen."
Revan stood and then as a master she stood before the young Cathar girl. "Until that time, may the Force be with you, Juhani."
"And with you Master Revan. Oh! And with you too General Meetra." The girl was positively beaming.
KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR
Juhani pulled from the fond memory, her smile just as bright as it was on that fateful day. Now here again another little girl's life would forever be altered because of one Nagai Jedi.
The two had been talking for quite some time, long enough that Skye seemed almost fluent in the girl's garbled language. It was difficult to determine what the two were talking about, but whatever it was the child seemed to go from relaxed to unsure to relaxed again.
"Sasha look this isn't your home but I know where it is. There is a man... a Twi'lek named Lurak Sulas on Dantooine that has been looking for you. And he will take you to your parents." Skye informed her new charge gently.
"I can go home, home?"
"Yes. It will take a bit of time but yes. We're going to Tatooine right now and we can't afford to turn around but I'll contact the Dantooine port authorities and have them get in touch with Lurak. He'll come and pick you up and bring you to your parents, your true parents. Until then you'll stay on the ship with us."
"There is a Mandy here. Hims might make me slave again." Sasha said apprehensively.
"No, he won't I can promise you that, in fact I can promise no one on this ship will hurt you. And I know Big Z looks scary, but he's a nice Wookiee. You'll like Mission and the other two ladies on the ship are Jedi just like me, you have nothing to worry about."
"What about the orange coat?"
"Oh him? He's a complete twit with saw-dust for brains but he's relatively harmless."
Sasha giggled.
"Carth is a daddy himself, he has a son and would never hurt any child."
"All right you, up and at'em. It's time to meet the others. Now remember they are not going to hurt you. And they won't be able to understand you like I can well maybe Grandpa Candy."
"Him the Mandy?"
Sky nodded. "Yep. Come on now we better get you settled. Oh and no more stealing rations. If you're hungry you tell one of us and we'll get you sorted."
Sasha nodded. "I promise no more taking."
"Good girl."
Skye made the introductions all around and preceded to inform Carth of his new job.
"You want me to baby-sit! Why me why not Mission?" Carth snipped.
"Because you're the only one available that doesn't scare her. Grandpa Candy..." which gained a snarl from the Mandalorian, "...is a Mandy," she finished the sentence as if the guttural objections from Canderous never happened. "She's been a slave of them for a while, not exactly a good foundation to build a relationship with. Big Z is well big and hairy not the cuddly teddy bear sort either. Mission is going into Anchorhead with the rest of us on the account of her brother. I want Jedi at my back someone I completely trust. Plus, like I told Sasha you were a father, you know kids. And someone has to stay behind to watch-dog the ship that 'aint an astro-droid. That's leaves you flyboy."
"Blasted woman you actually think for one moment I'd shoot you?!"
"I trust you to protect this child."
Carth's face was still darkened
"You are still a paranoid." Skye said nonchalantly. "That being said, I know you're not your typical blundering jarhead trooper and I know you'll protect the girl."
Carth's rage was palpable. He got into the face of Skye. "Feel free to mock me, but don't you say a word against our troops!"
Skye grinned. "Just so we're clear… I am free to mock you?"
Carth stomped out of the hold grumbling.
Bastila moved forward and placed a hand on her bond-mate's shoulder almost affectionately. "Skye, insulting Onasi isn't..."
"What- the Jedi way?" A dark eyebrow arched up.
Bastila shook her head. "I was going to say the wisest course; he is after all the primary pilot on this ship. He may just decide to crash it if only to be rid of his Jedi passengers."
"Pfft, he'd never do that," the Nagai grinned, and winked to Mission. "He'd scruff up that hideous orange jacket of his."
The other women laughed at this.