Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 22

"Well, now that we just killed a planet, maybe one of you can tell me what's going on" Meetra demanded when they found themselves in the safety of hyperspace. "Because between assassin droids, a Sith Lord that looks like he sleeps with vibroblades, and being target practice for a Republic warship, I was better off in that stupid kolto tank!" she nearly screamed.

"The Republic warship was the Harbinger" Kreia explained calmly. "It was seized on its way to Telos by the Sith – they sought you, Jedi."

"Speaking of, they weren't the only ones who were looking for me. Care to explain how you tracked me down?" Meetra asked.

"You were difficult to find, but… the coincidence was on our side" Kreia told her. "When I learned that you were on the vessel, I knew the Sith would not be far behind. When we intercepted the Harbinger, it was already overrun by our enemy, though they remained hidden. Atton was able to board the Republic ship and transfer you safely to the Ebon Hawk. Unfortunately, just as we made the jump to hyperspace, the Sith fired upon us, nearly destroying the Ebon Hawk. We were forced to leave the hyperspace before reaching our destination and we ended up on Peragus."

"Why did you hire Atton to help you?" Meetra asked all of a sudden. She heard the pilot stop operating the Ebon Hawk's controls, though it lasted merely for a split second. But Meetra noticed the breakdown in his actions and heard a sharp intake of breath.

"And why does one hire a mercenary?" Kreia replied with a question of her own. Meetra failed to hear a subtle sigh of relief that escaped Atton's mouth. "As you can possibly see, I'm old, too old to rescue a Jedi from clutches of the Sith and fly a ship. I needed someone who could do those things for me."

"Fine" Meetra replied, accepting Kreia's explanation. "So why are these Sith looking for me?"

"Because you are the last of the Jedi. Once you are dead, then they have won" Kreia replied with a tone that one uses to describe the weather.

"I am not a Jedi" Meetra countered. "Not any longer. Besides, what does it mean 'the last of the Jedi'?"

"Exile or not – the Sith believe you to be a Jedi Knight, and that is all that matters" Kreia replied. "And answering your question, the Jedi Civil War destroyed the Jedi. By the war's end, barely a thousand Jedi remained. Many fell in battle… and many more were seduced by Revan's teachings. To top it off, not long after the end of the war, the Jedi Order scattered across the Galaxy, becoming easy prey for the Sith. It was simply a matter of time before they would be wiped from the face of the Galaxy."

"What about the Jedi on Dantooine? And Coruscant?" Meetra queried, refusing to believe what the old woman had said.

"The Jedi Academy on Dantooine is nothing more than a crater that echoes with the ghosts of dead Jedi" Kreia revealed. And the Jedi Temple on Coruscant lies empty. The waters in the Room of a Thousand Fountains have fallen still, in reverence to the Fallen Jedi… and those now lost. Many Jedi blamed the teachings of the Jedi Masters for Revan's fall… and the civil war that followed."

"If any survivors still live, we need to warn them" Meetra commented immediately.

"Perhaps, but they are Jedi no longer" Kreia countered. "If the Sith have not already slain them, then they will not help you, nor can you help them. I've heard that even some of the Jedi Masters have left the Order and blended into the crowd, rejecting their previous lives."

"Then how do we stop the Sith?"

"That… is not an easy question to answer" Kreia replied honestly. "This threat is greater than any you know… and I do not believe it is a battle that can be fought."

"If we don't stop them, they're going to keep coming" Meetra commented, refusing to drop the subject.

"We cannot hope to triumph against them alone," Kreia said after a moment of hesitation. "To stop them, you will need weapons, allies, and… a teacher. In the end, I fear it may not be enough."

"What do you mean?"

"You fought in the Mandalorian Wars, and it cost you everything." Meetra felt a pang in her heart caused by the truth of Kreia's words. "Are you willing to sacrifice as much again?"

"The Mandalorian Wars were my choice" she replied honestly, without a moment of hesitation.

"You are not listening to me" Kreia hissed. "This is not like any field of battle you have ever fought in. Think carefully on your choice. If you choose to fight, if you choose war, it is a path few turn from once the first steps are taken. It carries with it a terrible price. And in the end, you may find you have nothing left to sacrifice."

"I have nothing to lose now" Meetra admitted. "How bad could it be?"

Kreia snorted at that. "Like so many Jedi, you hear, but you do not listen. You have much to learn. But we have spoken long enough" she added calmly. "And my wound pains me. If you have other questions, find me in the crew quarters… there, we will speak more."

"Hey, don't stop your long, boring rants on my account. I was just getting sleepy-eyed" Atton interjected from his place at the ship's consoles.

"Also, in private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools" Kreia commented as she turned around to leave the cockpit.

"Look, uh, not like I care or anything, but you might want to go check on our passenger – especially with that hand of hers," Atton said, turning around in his chair.

"She seemed well enough for someone who had just lost her hand" Meetra replied sarcastically, turning around to face Atton.

"I think she was barely keeping it together" Atton commented. "I'm surprised she's able to stand with all that pain rolling off of her."

"What are you talking about?"

"Are you blind?" Atton asked, not believing his ears. "If I were her, I'd be screaming like a stuck mynock." He scratched his head in embarrassment. "Well, I mean a very strong, manly mynock. I think she's just too proud to show any weakness… especially in front of you."

"That's odd" Meetra commented.

"Is it? In case you hadn't noticed, she won't say two words to me, but she'll talk your ear off any chance she gets" Atton replied. "Apparently, what you think matters to her… a lot. She wants you to respect her. Besides, we haven't got much else to do until Telos."

"When exactly did you get sensitive?" Meetra queried, slightly amused.

"Oh, don't give me that. All it takes is being around people enough to read them. You should try it sometime" he replied.

"I'll go check on her, then" Meetra decided and turned around to leave the cockpit. "Are you sure you'll manage here on your own?" she teased him.

"Don't worry, everything's under control" Atton reassured her, turning around the chair to face the consoles again.

Meetra found Kreia in a meditating pose in one of the crew quarters in the west wing. She was sitting on her knees, not facing the entrance. The hood of her robe was covering her head.

"Have you come for more answers?" she asked, sensing Meetra nearby. "There is little more left to give."

"How is your wound?" Meetra asked, genuinely concerned. "When you lost your hand, I felt it too."

"That does not surprise me" Kreia replied honestly. "Any more than you hearing my thoughts when we were apart. The pain, however, was unexpected; if I could, I would have shielded you from it."

"And if you had died, would I have suffered the same fate?" Meetra asked after a moment of wondering about her words.

"Possibly, yes" Kreia admitted after a moment of hesitation. "And I fear it works both ways" she added after a moment. "I would not wish to test it… nor should you."

"I have never heard of a link like this before" Meetra stated, analyzing what she had heard. "Not in Holocrons, nor in the Jedi histories."

"I confess its nature eludes me as well" Kreia agreed. "But the Bond is strong, and its roots run deep. It seems the Force flows easily between us – when one of us manipulates the Force to heal or strengthen ourselves, the other is aided as well" she mused aloud. "A powerful technique indeed – though, as we have noticed, it has its drawbacks" Kreia summed up.

"So what do we do now?" Meetra queried, analyzing everything she learned.

"I do not know" Kreia admitted, though no shame was detectable in her voice. "The Sith struck more swiftly than I thought. And they will not stop until they have you in their grasp. If you fall, all the Galaxy will echo it. Those Sith assassins can sense their prey through the Force – it is like a hunger. They feed… and grow stronger… when they are near Force Sensitives. The stronger their prey is in the Force, the deadlier they become. As long as you were cut off from it, you were able to evade their sight. But after Peragus, I fear that you will be no longer shielded from their eyes or the eyes of their Masters. The stronger you grow, the more will come. It is a different war these Sith wage, a thing of silence and shadow. They strike from the darkness, hiding from the face of the Galaxy until all Jedi are exterminated. For them, it is all that matters… all that ever mattered. After all the Jedi are gone, then the Galaxy is theirs, no matter whether the Sith or the Republic rules… it is the dark side that shall reign, unchecked" Kreia wondered, revealing more and more to Meetra as she saw that the young woman was willing to listen.

"We can't allow that to happen" Meetra countered, terrified by Kreia's words. "Whether it makes me a larger target or not, I can feel the Force again, slowly building within me" she revealed, for the first time speaking about the Force inside her. Kreia nodded her head in agreement.

"If my suspicions are correct, perhaps the damage you suffered was not as permanent as you thought. It is not an easy thing, to cut one off from the Force. Such a thing has been done before when the Jedi have pronounced sentence on their own… and exiled them, as they did you. But never have I heard of someone losing the connection to the Force. I cannot provide you with an answer right now. Perhaps later, as I meditate on this, I will learn what had happened to you.

"If one can be severed from the Force, then there must be a way to reverse it," Meetra said, refusing to let go of the Force once more.

"It is possible that such a thing can be undone" Kreia agreed. "Our link… may have had other consequences. Perhaps you can hear the Force again… distantly, through me. If so, then there is hope. I may be able to teach you, train you to feel the Force again" she offered. "Whenever I travel with you, I shall impart what I can to you, through my words and presence" she continued as Meetra silently agreed.

"You have no idea how much your help means to me" Meetra replied gladly, holding back tears of happiness. In an onrush of emotions, the young woman closed the distance that was separating them and embraced Kreia. The older woman returned the embrace, though she did it reluctantly. "Thank you" Meetra muttered into Kreia's robe. The older woman cleared her throat.

"I would see to that fool in the cockpit," Kreia said, stepping away from Meetra. "And remind him of our destination. I would not want him attempting to veer from Telos."

"Atton is far from perfect" Meetra agreed, releasing the older woman from her embrace. "But he isn't a fool."

"He is a fool and an imbecile" Kreia countered, straightening her robes. "His potential lies downwards, not up. Watch that one" she warned her. "I might have traveled with him, but his thoughts are slippery… I do not trust him, and nor should you. Such a man serves himself first… and his 'allies' next."

Sion walked towards the front of the Ravager's bridge. He was passing a line of soldiers whose life essence has long since been drained out of them. He walked towards the black silhouette that was standing right at the viewport. The living corpses watched closely his every move.

"The Jedi Order is finished" Sion spoke, not bothering to show any kind of respect to the man in front of him. Or rather a being in front of him. "I did what with all your power, you could not do."

"Your eyes betray you, Sion" the other being spoke in an ancient Sith language. The words were filled with the Dark Side and lingered around the ship, remaining there as terrifying whispers. "My apprentice would have already returned to me if this were true – the Jedi is still out there" he countered.

"There is more, Darth Traya yet lives," Sion said, ignoring Nihilus's words. "You did not kill her as you assumed," he said in an emotionless tone. Nihilus let out something that could only be described as a roar of anger. "Our alliance is finished" Sion declared. "I have no need of you" he added and turned around to leave the Harbinger.

"No, you need me now more than ever" Nihilus replied, causing Sion to stop dead in his tracks. "You are weak, driven only by your hatred and lust for power."

"I have never needed you" Sion countered angrily and ignited his lightsaber. He turned around and charged at Nihilus, only to be stopped by a Force Storm that erupted from his hand before Sion could get too close to him. The Storm caught Sion and those who were right behind him and caused them all to fall to the floor of the ship.

Sion knew perfectly well what Nihilus was doing. He had seen it time and time again. This wasn't a simple Force Lightning; it was a technique in the Force that allowed him to feed on the lives of others. But Sion had seen and denied death more times than he could count and Nihilus's power couldn't affect him. While a few Sith assassins fell dead to the floor, caught by Nihilus's attack, Sion stood still, facing the onslaught with nothing more than his anger. He refused to let go of life.

"Careful, Sion" Nihilus spoke, stopping his attack. "Or your anger will be your destruction this day. You know this to be true. Now, leave… while you still can" he said, turning around to once again face the viewport.

Reluctantly, Sion did as he was told to. He wasn't a fool and he knew that a duel between them would be pointless. One of them refused to die while the second one fed on the lives of others. "I have never needed you" he repeated as he walked to the exit of the Harbinger's bridge.

"How's our passenger?" Atton asked when he noticed Meetra entering the cockpit. "She still aging?" he added sarcastically.

"For someone without much to say, she sure says a lot" Meetra replied, leaning against the Ebon Hawk's fascia.

"Yeah, to you, maybe" Atton countered, still operating the consoles. "I don't usually hear much beyond 'fool' and 'imbecile'. She's lucky she's a Jedi, or someone would've killed her years ago" he commented. "I mean, how old do you think she is? She may have been good-looking once, but it takes some hard living to make creases like that." Meetra raised an eyebrow in amusement at that statement. She might have been skeptical about Atton, but many times he turned out to be that kind of a man that couldn't be disliked.

"'Good-looking'? Are you that desperate?" Meetra asked him, sitting next to him in an empty chair.

"Hey, I just got out of prison" Atton replied with a small chuckle. "If we had a decent navicomputer, trust me, we'd be dropping out of hyperspace into the Nar Shaddaa Red Sector right now," he said. Atton failed to notice Meetra's expression going sad for a split second. "After spacing that old witch of course" he added after a moment.

"Are we still on course for Telos?" Meetra asked, changing the topic.

"Like we have a choice? It's the only place Peragus had logged in their astrogation charts" he replied, still not looking at her. "If you thought Peragus was dead, then Telos is a dying world they're trying to breathe back to life" he informed her. "We should be there before too long. You can check our course on the Galaxy map if you want – it's on the wall behind me."

"That's not necessary, I believe you" Meetra replied, looking straight into space outside of the viewport. "Look, Atton, I wanted to apologize," she said, still not looking at him.

"Oh, really?" he asked with sarcasm as clear as day in his voice. He didn't stop his actions for a split second, still making sure if the Ebon Hawk was capable of jumping into hyperspace and if it was repaired correctly. "And what would you want to apologize for?"

"For what I did back on the Harbinger" Meetra replied, still refusing to look at him. "It wasn't fair from me to accuse you of treachery when I had no proof," she said, risking to glance at him. Atton was still focused on the consoles but she could read from his expression that he was listening to her. "It's just… I've been through a lot lately and I learned it the hard way to never trust anything blindly. But it was wrong for me to act towards you as I did. I'm sorry" she said, feeling much better after sharing what was nagging her.

"Hey, don't be" Atton replied cheerfully. "I'm not going to pretend I understand what you've been through, but I can see a reason behind your actions. And truth be told, I must admit I enjoyed being pressed to you in that way" he added, blinking at her with one eye.

"I was being serious there, you jerk!" Meetra faked outrage, but it proved to be difficult, due to Atton's words.

"As was I" Atton replied with a small chuckle. "Deadly serious." Meetra laughed at that, not being able to control herself any longer. Atton joined her and soon the cockpit and the nearby rooms of the Ebon Hawk were filled with their laughter. It took them a moment to calm down. "So… what happened?" Atton queried when an uncomfortable silence threatened to fall upon them.

"To what?" Meetra asked, turning in his direction.

"Oh, don't give me that" Atton replied with a roll of his eyes. "There were plenty of times back on Peragus where a lightsaber would have been helpful. So – where's yours?" he asked. Once again he failed to notice Meetra's expression turning into a sad one.

"My lightsaber was… taken from me, by the Council" she replied after a moment of hesitation and a fresh wave of pain overwhelmed her. Even after all these years, it still was a memory that she was reluctant to come back to.

"Oh, yeah?" Atton asked, noticing Meetra's sad tone. "I thought a Jedi was supposed to be married to their lightsaber" he tried to lighten up her mood with a small joke. Meetra only hummed in response. "Guess I heard wrong" Atton murmured, scratching the back of his head. "Were you a single hilt or one of those double-bladed Jedi?" he asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

"It was a single hilt" Meetra replied, reliving in her memories the moment when she first constructed her lightsaber. It was around twenty years earlier, though the memory was still fresh. She was an enthusiastic teenager back in those days and she couldn't remember a moment of her life when she was happier. She remembered how proud she was when she managed to build her lightsaber before Alek did, or when she showed her new weapon to Revan who envied them both because he was too young to be allowed to construct his own lightsaber. Meetra closed her eyes to hold back two tears that threatened to run down her cheeks.

"Hmm, thought so" Atton replied, risking a glance at Meetra. He noticed that this conversation was painful to her, though he couldn't quite comprehend why. And even worse, he didn't know how to change that topic. "It wasn't red, was it?" he queried, hoping to somehow pull Meetra back from the painful memories. She looked at him as if he had grown out a second head.

"It was blue" she replied coldly. Brings out the eyes, she heard her younger self speak in her memory. "The most beautiful azure color that you could possibly imagine. As vibrant as the Dantooine's sky during a sunny day, or the waters of Manaan" she lost herself in daydreaming. Even though her lightsaber belonged to the past, she couldn't help but smile at the memory.

"I never imagined why the Jedi were so attached to their lightsabers" Atton admitted. "But hearing you speak about it like that… damn! To lose it was like losing a part of yourself" he more stated than asked.

"I don't want to talk about it, to be honest," Meetra replied.

"All right – forget I said anything," Atton said, not daring to push further. An uncomfortable silence fell between them and was interrupted only by the humming of the engines and the steady beeping of the controls. Atton was grateful that he had an excuse in the form of piloting the ship because otherwise, he would have no idea what he should do.

"Can I help you somehow?" Meetra asked, changing the topic to break the uncomfortable silence. "I must admit, I've always wanted to learn how to pilot a starship, though I never got an opportunity" she admitted, slightly ashamed.

"Really?" Atton asked, surprised at what he had heard. "Not even during the Mandalorian Wars? Surely, you must have piloted a fighter at least once."

"Well, I did it once" Meetra admitted, smiling shamefully at the memory. "But I was doing it only because the pilot had to go relieve himself" she chuckled. "I was afraid I was about to crush that vessel, because I had no idea what I was supposed to do, even though we were just returning to the hangar. Later, that pilot had told me that he turned the autopilot on and I realized that I've only made a fool of myself with the tantrum I threw" Meetra laughed, finding the events to be funny when she described them. Atton laughed as well.

"Well, you see, piloting the ship isn't difficult," Atton said when they both calmed down. "I mean unless you must navigate the fighter during the battle and you have to work just on your instincts to survive, but piloting a vessel like this through the hyperspace is a child's play, to be honest. Anyone could learn that."

"Well, then I'm willing to learn" Meetra replied, straightening herself in her seat. "If you are willing to teach me" she added teasingly, causing Atton to be momentarily at a loss of words, though he quickly snapped out of it.

"We could start now if you want" Atton offered. "We still have around two hours until we reach Telos. Might as well introduce you to the basic controls, though I won't be able to learn you how to pilot a ship in a few hours. It takes practice, you know."

"I know" Meetra replied and smiled. "Then let's begin."

Okay, that's all for today. Sorry for having to wait so long but recently I wasn't having a good time. I've got kicked out of college and had to move back to my old house and I've been quite devastated about it but everything's fine right now. As always, I'm asking mostly for reviews because they are the greatest motivation for me to write the next chapter.