Okay, what can I say? The number of reviews recently is… disturbing to say the least XD. Please, take a few seconds to write down your thoughts on my writing. It is crucial to me that you share your opinions with me – it will certainly help me to improve my writing if I know from you what I'm doing wrong and what I'm doing correctly. Also, I've just started college so my time of doing nothing is over XD. I'll try to find time to write the next chapters but I don't know how often I will be able to post it.

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Chapter 17

She was on Coruscant. The sun was already setting, illuminating the tall skyscrapers. She was standing with Revan and Alek, observing the distant building of the Jedi Temple. Once again, the Jedi Council forbade them to intervene in the war against the Mandalorians. But she was aware that her companions already made their mind.

"If we want to stop the Mandalorians, we must act now. They've already conquered a few dozens of systems along the Rim. And you know what they did to us on Flashpoint" Alek said, trying to convince her. "The Jedi Council is wise but will take too long to deal with this threat. The Council seems content to watch, to debate, while entire systems fall to the Mandalorians. They will only grow more powerful with time. We must act now, Meetra" he repeated.

Meetra was fully aware of what Mandalorians are capable of. She was there, on Flashpoint. She was captured alongside other Jedi, including Alek. He never spoke of what he suffered from the hands of the Mandalorian scientist – Demagol. The only testimony of what he's been through was his bold head. But he didn't have to talk about those days. Even while still in her cell, Meetra could easily hear Alek's screams, echoing through the Flashpoint Stellar Research Station.

"We will use our might, to aid the Republic in its time of need… as we have promised. Join Revan and I, together we will battle this menace" Alek added. Meetra didn't know what to think of his words.

She somewhat suspected that Revan would choose to fight alongside the Republic. She guessed that it was his Mandalorian blood that called him to battle. And knowing Alek almost her entire life, she was sure that he would join him. She knew in the back of her mind that she would also want to come. Many nights in her youth she dreamt of battle, of glory.

But when their journey to Suurja turned out to be disastrous, she lost her will to fight. However, she couldn't find a flow in Alek's reasoning. And they were her friends. The three of them and Bastila were always together. What would it say about her if she abandoned them now when they needed her the most? What if she refused to stand by them when she could always count on them? Throughout her entire life, Revan and Alek were a certain constant to her. They were always by her side.

"Meetra" Revan spoke. She looked at him. He wasn't in the Flashpoint Station with them. A few days before being captured, they parted ways and Revan left Suurja, not telling where he was going. But wherever he was, it surely left some scars on him, just as the Flashpoint left scars on her and Alek. She could see it on his face. "Please. We need you. People can say that one Jedi wouldn't change anything. But I know you, and I need you. I need your help. If we want to stop the Mandalorians, we must act together." She noticed a subtle glance that Alek cast at Revan. He wouldn't say it out loud, but deep inside, he blamed Revan for what the Mandalorians did to them… what they did to him. And he was aware, just as Meetra was, that the Mandalorians were Revan's kin. "We've always been together – the three of us" he continued. Meetra noticed that he excluded Bastila. At least he didn't want to drag her into the war. "And we can't go separate ways now. We'll need each other in what the future has in store for us. I won't force you to do anything but I must ask. Will you go with us? Will you help us?"

Revan wasn't that kind of man that would ask someone for help, even his closest friends. Meetra saw clearly that it was difficult for him to ask her to come with them. It almost caused him physical pain.

"I will" she replied, nodding her head hesitantly.

"Is the device ready?" Meetra asked via her communicator. She was standing on the bridge of one of the Republic cruisers, just outside of the Mass Shadow Generator's reach. Or so Bao-Dur claimed. The space above Malachor V was filled with ships – both Republic's and the Mandalorians'. Alek was standing right next to her. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Set and activated" Bao-Dur replied calmly. This was it, the final moment of the Mandalorian Wars. In just a few seconds she was supposed to witness the annihilation of the entire Mandalorian fleet… and that part of the Republic's Navy that was in close proximity to the Malachor V. The fate of the Galaxy laid in her hands. A catastrophe was waiting only for her word.

"On my order then," she said, faking calmness. She watched the simulation of the explosion of Bao-Dur's machine. She watched the Republic ships for a while longer. They all served under them, willing to fulfill every order just to get rid of the Mandalorian threat. And now, they were about to die in the same way as their enemies.

"General?" Bao-Dur asked after a moment of silence. The Iridonian was waiting only for her word. Just one word. "General? Let's get this over with" he urged her on. But Meetra was lost in the world of her own thoughts.

She wasn't accustomed to this – to giving orders. It was something that Revan was good at. But he was captured on Althir III and his soldiers were butchered by the Mandalorians. It happened a month ago and they haven't heard of him ever since.

"General?" Bao-Dur asked again. She felt Alek squeeze her shoulder reassuringly. He wanted her to know that he was with her.

"We owe it to him" he whispered. Meetra knew he was right. She took in a shaky breath.

"Do it" she said quickly. For a moment she was afraid that Bao-Dur didn't hear her but then, the space above Malachor V shone brightly as if a supernova exploded right next to them. A bright light forced her to cover her eyes. First, there was silence. But after a few seconds, she heard thousands upon thousands of screams throughout the Force. And then, there was nothing.

"Do you know why we have called you here?" Vrook asked her. He and the rest of the Jedi Masters were sitting in the Council Chambers in the Temple on Coruscant. Most of the Masters looked at her accusingly. She knew that there was no hope for mercy. Not after what she had done on Malachor V.

"I came because I wanted to" Meetra replied proudly. She wouldn't show remorse if they were not willing to show her forgiveness. "Not because you summoned me."

"As Revan summoned you" Kavar spoke. She turned to look at her old Master. Even he wasn't showing any signs of sympathy towards her. Once again, she felt betrayed by them. "So you have come full circle to return to the Jedi."

"Why did you defy us?" Zez-Kai-Ell asked her. His gaze was a little softer but still harsh. "The Jedi are the guardians of peace and have been for centuries. This call to war undermines all that we have worked for."

"Is Revan your Master now?" Atris asked. Out of all of the Jedi Masters gathered in the Chambers, her gaze and her voice were at most filled with the accusation that came dangerously close to hatred. Meetra looked at the Grand Master of the Order as she spoke. "Or is it the horror you wrought at Malachor that has caused you to see the truth at last?"

"You have shut us out" Zez-Kai-Ell spoke again. "And so have shut yourself to the Galaxy."

"You are Exiled" Lonna Vash announced. Meetra looked at her with disbelief. She expected to be punished but not to be exiled from the Order. "And you are a Jedi no longer!"

"There is one last thing," Vrook said. Meetra didn't look at him at first, still watching Lonna with disbelief as clear as day on her face. "Your lightsaber – surrender it to us" he ordered.

The Council Chambers blurred, but the words still echoed in her mind. "You are Exiled, and you are a Jedi no longer! You are Exiled, and you are a Jedi no longer! You are Exiled, and you are…

Awaken, Meetra heard inside of her head. This one word breached into Meetra's mind, penetrating it like a blaster would penetrate a flesh, cutting off Lonna's words. Even unconscious, she twitched, regaining her senses. She felt a liquid around her and when she tried to lift her eyelids, she felt the same liquid pour into her eyes, stinging her. She heard the sound of the liquid being drained. It took her a few seconds to realize that she couldn't breathe normally – she had a breathing mask on.

She felt a breeze of cold air on the naked skin as the liquid continued to drain. Her short hair was sticking to her forehead and falling into her still closed eyes. As the level of the liquid was dropping, she felt herself falling steadily until she hit a glass with her head. She risked opening her eyes.

Her vision was blurred but at least there was no liquid entering her eyes. Meetra supported herself against the glass in front of her, but it turned out to be a mistake. The glass pane lowered itself with a hiss and at the same time, Meetra lost her support and fell to the ground. She hit the floor with a soft thud.

She felt cold after a sudden contact with the ground. Only then did she realize that she wasn't completely naked – she was dressed in a one-piece suit that clung tightly to her body. As her senses were returning to her, she noticed she was lying down in some sort of a medical room – around her was standing a few kolto tanks – all of them were empty.

If it wasn't for the fact that she was completely and utterly exhausted, she would have jumped right onto her feet when the terminals around her started to beep simultaneously. She looked down. The small computers around her were signalizing that she was alright. Summoning all of her strength, Meetra forced herself to stand up. Immediately, she discarded the breathing mask, taking in a few shaky breaths.

She was located in a round room that certainly served as the medical center of wherever she was. Except for the kolto tanks, there were also plenty of syringes, scattered all over a small table, while some were lying on the floor. Unconsciously, Meetra reached towards her right arm after noticing the needles. What surprised her was the fact that indeed, there were a few wounds after the injections. She had a feeling that she should remember where the scars were from but no matter how hard she focused, she couldn't recall the event that caused her to acquire them.

She was still a little dizzy, but her senses were quickly returning to her. As well as… the Force? It can't be, she wondered. Meetra hasn't felt that eerie feeling since… Since the Malachor V, she realized. A thrill ran down her spine. She wasn't sure if she should feel excitement… or dread.

Deciding to think about that later, Meetra headed towards the only door in the medical room. She assumed that this should be the way out. She could wonder on her Force connection later. The instincts learned during the Jedi training and later perfected during the Mandalorian Wars told her that she should learn more about her current situation.

This doesn't look like the Harbinger, Meetra mused. She remembered being on board of the Republic ship. They've said that they've been looking for me. That the Republic needed me. She snorted. They needed her when it turned out that the Mandalorians were superior on the battlefield. They needed her during the final moment of the Wars. But when she needed them after the Council has judged her… they stood idly by. They didn't say a word.

The last thing she remembered was a doctor coming into her dorm on board the Harbinger. This would explain the injections, she realized. But why she couldn't remember what happened next, or, most importantly, why wasn't she anymore with the Republic, she had no idea.

The ground beneath her wasn't shaking, indicating that she wasn't on the ship anymore. After passing the door, Meetra found herself in a small hall that was ended with another door. She walked past it.

Now she was in a much larger room, fully glassed, that had numerous off-shoots. She didn't know why, she guessed it was the Force that told her to do it, Meetra opened the door to her right.

She stepped into a room that looked like a morgue. There were multiple beds, some occupied and some free. Meetra counted a total of three bodies – each one was covered with a white sheet. Not knowing exactly why she approached the nearest body and uncovered the sheet.

She put the sheet back to its original place as soon as she saw what was beneath them. What used to be a face was now a rotting mess. She forced herself to not vomit whatever she had in her stomach.

Despite the fact that she knew she should leave this room after what she saw, she approached yet another body. With trembling hands, she uncovered the sheets once more.

This time she wasn't greeted with the same sight as before. She saw an old woman beneath the sheets. Her hair was as white as snow. She wasn't moving but Meetra couldn't notice any signs of what could cause her to get to the morgue. She wasn't sure what she wanted to find but the Force was trying to tell her something, of that she was certain. Unfortunately, it's been too long since the last time she listened to the Force and Meetra couldn't quite figure out what it was.

She was examining the old woman as she felt the Force swirl around her. There was something about her that Meetra couldn't quite put into words. Found what you've been looking for amongst the dead? Meetra heard in her head. It was the same voice she heard while floating in the Kolto tank. A split second later, the old woman caught her hand. Meetra jumped in surprise.

"Would you mind helping an old woman to stand up?" what Meetra thought was a corpse asked. She was just staring at her, not being able to speak a word. "What, haven't you seen someone as old as me before?"

"I… I recognize your voice" Meetra replied, finally able to speak.

"Yes, I had hoped as much. I slept here too long and could not awaken. It may be I reached out unconsciously, and your mind must have been a willing one. Or perhaps you have been trained in such things?"

"I have never seen one sleep so deeply" Meetra countered, still hardly believing her eyes. "You looked dead, just a few moments ago."

"Close to death, yes, closer than I'd like. You have the smell of the kolto tank about you… how do you feel?" The woman replied, swiftly changing the topic.

"So you can touch minds… and feign death" Meetra summed up, not answering the question. "Who are you?" she asked.

"I am Kreia" the old woman introduced herself. "And I am your rescuer – as you are mine" she added, though Meetra didn't understand what was that supposed to mean. "Tell me – do you recall what happened?" Kreia asked, dropping the topic of Meetra's health condition.

"The last thing I remember, I was on board a Republic ship, the Harbinger…" she replied, recalling the events that she memorized. "What happened to it?" she asked, hoping to receive an answer on why she wasn't there anymore.

"Your ship was attacked" Kreia answered bluntly. "You were the only survivor… a result of your Jedi training, no doubt" she added. Meetra could swear that she heard Kreia's voice crack a little – almost unnoticeably.

"I am no longer a member of the Jedi Order" Meetra countered sternly. You are Exiled, and you are a Jedi no longer!

"Your stance, your walk tells me you are a Jedi" Kreia replied calmly. "Your walk is heavy, you carry something that weighs you down."

"The Jedi Order and I have a… troubled history," Meetra said, pushing the negative memories out of her head. She didn't want to contemplate on that in this situation.

"So it would seem. Keep your past – and let us focus on the now." Kreia replied. Meetra gave a silent sigh of relief that the old woman didn't press on.

"All right – what's going on? How did we get here?" Meetra asked, looking about the room they were in.

"I do not know. I was removed from the events of the world as I slept" Kreia answered honestly. "A survey of the surroundings may provide the answers we seek. The ship we arrived in – the Ebon Hawk – must still be in this place. We should recover it and leave" she added sternly.

"Why do we need to leave?" Meetra asked, not knowing where the sudden haste came from.

"We were attacked once, and I fear our attackers will not give up the hunt so easily" Kreia explained her. "Without transport, weapons, and information, they will find us easy prey indeed."

"You seem nervous, worried," Meetra noticed, examining the woman in front of her. Despite the hood that covered Kreia's eyes, she could easily see that she was nervous. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Even as I slept, I felt much unrest here" Kreia explained, sharing her worries with Meetra. "I saw strange visions, minds colored with fear – now, everything here feels terribly silent."

It took a moment for Meetra to realize what Kreia was talking about, but as soon as she did, she knew she was right. The whole place seemed… abandoned. And Meetra learned it the hard way in her past that it's never a good sign.

"I would find out as much as you can about this place quickly" Kreia, said. "I fear we will need to depart as suddenly as we arrived."

"We'll see. There's got to be someone left alive around here" Meetra countered. Another thing she learned during the Mandalorian Wars – to not take anything at the face value.

"You may wish to extend your search for some clothes" Kreia commented, with a subtle hint of amusement in her voice. "If only for proper first impressions."

"Fine" Meetra agreed. "Aren't you going to come with me?"

"I leave you to the explorations of this place" Kreia replied, sitting back at the bed that she was lying in recently. "Here I will remain and attempt to center myself.

Meetra was clever enough to realize that the old woman considered their conversation to be over. Rolling her eyes slightly, she left the morgue.

Returning to the same room she was in recently, Meetra turned right, deciding to go in the direction that remained a mystery to her. She opened the door, only to reveal another small room. It didn't have any purpose in Meetra's opinion. It was empty – save for a single corpse and a damaged droid. The odor of the rotting flesh was almost unbearable.

Covering her nose and her mouth, Meetra quickly strode towards the only door she noticed, hoping to get away from the awful smell as soon as it was possible. She opened another door and nearly passed out by a sudden wave of the unbearable odor.

In the next room, there were even more corpses, filling it with the smell of the rotting flesh. I will find out what happened to them, Meetra stated. But first I need to get away from that foul odor.

She had seen death more than once before. But the rotting corpses were something that always terrified and disgusted her. She crossed the room in a few quick steps and opened yet another door, secretly hoping to not be greeted by other rotting corpses.

This time she was lucky. The room was empty – completely empty. No destroyed droids, no corpses, nothing at all. Continuing on, she passed towards other rooms – some with corpses, some without. The route was taking her straight forward until she found herself in what looked like a dressing room – some wardrobes were standing against the wall. And a few corpses lying on the ground. Meetra rolled her eyes again. Apparently, this was something that she would have to get used to.

The only door was located to her left. She approached it, only to stop dead in her tracks, as she felt someone's presence in her mind.

Be careful, there is much energy in the room beyond… yet it sterns from nothing that lives…

Kreia? Wh-? Meetra thought, wondering how she was able to hear the old woman in her mind.

Can you not sense them? Reach out… cast aside your sight, cast aside what you see, and instead, reach out with your perceptions, she instructed her.

Meetra did as she was told to. Taking in a shaky breath, she closed her eyes and channeled the Force, trying to get an understanding of what Kreia meant.

She felt a presence in the next room. But it wasn't a presence of a living creature that she was so used to. Trying to sharpen her hearing, Meetra heard a stifled clanging of metal against metal. Droids, she realized.

Ah, you can feel them, Kreia noticed. There was a subtle hint of pride in her voice. The droids you cannot perceive, but the small oscillations of energy… that you can feel… echoing outwards.

What am I supposed to do?

Remember your training… a Jedi is never defenseless, Kreia replied, and her presence in Meetra's mind disappeared as soon as it appeared.

But it's been too long since the last time I used the Force… Kreia? Meetra tried to contact the old woman, but it turned out to be a waste of time. Once again, Meetra took in a shaky breath and opened the door.

Acting on her instincts perfected during the countless campaigns in the Mandalorian Wars, Meetra summoned the Force to herself. She was surprised, to say the least, that she actually managed to do it.

A wave of energy erupted from her hand, reaching all the droids in the room. Meetra felt a burning in her fingers but somehow she knew that what she did wasn't the same as the followers of the Dark Side do. Deciding to contemplate on that later, Meetra turned her focus back to the droids.

But there was no danger left. The droids were destroyed. Allowing herself to relax, Meetra dropped her battle stance, once again gazing at her hand. She felt it. She felt the Force return to her. A subtle giggle managed to get past her lips. Soon, that giggle turned into full laughter. Genuine, happy laughter. Hesitantly, Meetra focused herself on one of the damaged droids and once again summoned the Force, closing her eyes.

She opened it back a few seconds later, noticing that the droid was now floating in the air, only because of the Force that was coming from her. Experimentally, Meetra waved her hand. The floating droid followed in the same direction. Happy with the result, Meetra dropped the droid.

Ah, you can feel it again, Kreia spoke to her again. Do not turn away from it. Listen… feel it echoing within you. Come, I shall guide you down the familiar paths – you will need it if we are to survive and escape this place.

I never want to lose it again, Meetra replied, still happy with the recent events.

She left the small room and once again headed towards the only door that she could find. Soon, Meetra found herself in a room much larger than any of the previous ones. In the center of it was a large stone sculpture, surrounded by numerous computers and terminals. There was also a much larger computer to Meetra's right, standing right at the viewport. Through it, the Exile could clearly see dozens upon dozens of asteroids and distant stars, shining brightly on the blackness of empty space.

Following her senses and the Force, Meetra turned left, heading towards the door at the far end of the room. There was a strange feeling that was getting stronger and stronger the closer she was to the door. But it's been some time since the last moment she could feel the Force and Meetra had no idea what it was that she was feeling.

Ah… beyond this door someone yet lives, Kreia informed her, once again invading her mind. Be mindful… his thoughts are… difficult to read… But you have nothing to fear from this one… and he might yet prove useful.

Not answering in any way, Meetra opened the door and found herself in what looked like a detention room. There was only one person locked up. A human male.

"Nice outfit."

Okay, that would be it for today. Please, let me know in the comments below what you thought of this chapter and make sure to add this story to your favorites and follow it. See you soon.