NINE

Somehow, Bastila had known she was going to sacrifice herself before the opportunity had even presented itself. Unfortunately, that certainty, hitting her suddenly as she stood in the empty hallway of the Leviathan, did nothing to douse her fear. She had never been more afraid in her entire life. Not when she captured Revan, not when she fell from the Endar Spire in a tiny escape pod, not when she faced the krayt dragon on Tatooine. She stood less than ten meters from Darth Malak, and all she could do was watch Case's face and cringe in terror.

Case glanced from Malak to Bastila and back, a confused half-smile on her face, like she thought they were trying to trick her. Blood was soaking through the side of the woman's left trouser leg, but Bastila didn't think Case had even noticed it. They were all running on adrenaline, still spiked from the torture at Saul Karath's hands, still humming from the battle on the bridge.

Case blinked. "But that doesn't make sense," she said.

Bastila watched as Case thought about Malak's words, about Bastila's admission. Her expression slowly changed from confusion to realization. "Then," she started slowly, dark eyes boring into Bastila, "everything you've told me was a lie?"

Malak laughed, a horrible mechanical sound that shook Bastila to the core. What have I done? she asked herself. She had betrayed a woman she had admired as a youngling, stolen her entire identity, yet pushed her to remember enough of the Force to lead her to the Star Maps. She had allowed the Ebon Hawk's crew to trust her, to rely upon her, all for the sake of reaching the maps. Bastila couldn't bear to even look at Carth, who was radiating enough self-loathing and hatred to turn ten padawans to the Dark Side. She had betrayed all of them.

Before she could say anything, though, she was stricken by a powerful Stasis field. She struggled but could only watch as Case chased Malak down the hallway of the Leviathan. With a frantic twist, Bastila broke the Stasis fields around herself and Carth. She stumbled to catch her balance, feeling exhaustion soaking into her very bones. "Case will return," she said, feeling the woman's presence through their Bond.

Carth didn't respond. Bastila glanced at him, seeing with some alarm that he was weaving on his feet. His armor sported a large hole in the right flank, scorched around the edge with blaster fire. He growled something low in his throat and jammed an adrenal stim in his thigh. He steadied and finally seemed to notice her. "You have to get off this ship," he said.

"Case must escape with us," she said firmly.

Carth laughed without a trace of humor. "I don't think so, sister. I'll go down myself before I let that schutta back on the Hawk." He pulled a thermal detonator from his pack. "You'd better get started back to the ship," he warned again, and Bastila realized he was going to blow up himself and take Malak and Case with him.

"No, Carth! We need her for the last Star Map! I don't know where it is!" Bastila came to a quick decision and waved her hand before her. Carth was resistant to the Force, but she knew he was injured and exhausted. "You will take Case back to the Hawk," she intoned, voice full of Persuasion.

Carth blinked and shook his head, but his eyes glassed over. "I'll take her back to the Hawk," he said dully. He put the thermal detonator back in his pack.

Bastila hated herself. She had never used the Force to control her companions, but she had to ensure that Case survived—all of their efforts, all of her lies and hypocrisy and betrayal, would come to nothing if Case didn't find the last Star Map and destroy the Star Forge. Pounding boots rang toward them and Case appeared, a new saber slash in her left arm and panting heavily.

"I can't beat him," she wheezed. "We've got to go now."

They hadn't gotten a hundred meters away when Malak stepped out of a side corridor and blocked their exit. "You didn't think you would escape so easily, did you, Revan?" he sneered.

Case looked over at Bastila. Case had a bit of a smile on her face, as if to say, Well, we tried. Bastila could feel Case's anger through the Bond, but the anger was overlaid with forgiveness. "You had to weigh the costs, Bastila," Case said. "I would have done the same thing."

Bastila almost sobbed with relief, and shame. Case had been frustrating, insisting upon obeying Jedi principles only when they were advantageous to a particular situation. As much as Bastila had pushed, Case's aura never moved beyond blue-gray. But she didn't deserve this. Bastila glanced at Malak, waiting with a predatory smile in his eyes, then at the determined glint in Case's.

When it came down to it, there was really only one thing to do. "The Force fights with me!" Bastila shouted, racing forward with her double blades out.

"No!" Case shouted.

Bastila flung herself at Malak, blades spinning in a Flurry. She felt the bulkhead door behind her and pulled it roughly to the ground with the Force. It fell with a crash, and she heard Case pounding futilely on the other side.

Her concentration divided, Malak easily deflected her attack and flung her into the wall. She banged her head and blinked dazedly for several seconds while her mind screamed at her to get up. Malak's huge shadow loomed over her and he grabbed the front of her robes. She dangled helplessly in the air, without even the strength to project a shield.

"Bastila Shan," Malak said. "I have use for you." He clenched his other fist and she couldn't breathe.

Her lungs screaming for air, Bastila reached for the Force Bond she had with Case. She and Carth were on their way back to the ship. They would escape. She felt the question in the Bond, felt Case's fear for her. Bastila knew that she couldn't let Case feel what was about to happen to her. She sent her regret, then snapped the Bond.

Its absence would have left her gasping if she'd had any air left to do it. She was alone, now. Utterly alone—

"Hello?" she heard. Someone was shaking her shoulder. "Come on, new girl, wake up."

Bastila opened eyes that felt like titansteel and blinked blearily upward. An unfocused face peered down at her. Malak! She threw her palm out in a Force Push. Nothing happened. Bastila leapt to her feet, but her knees betrayed her and she sank back toward the ground. Strong hands caught her arms and kept her upright. "No!" she gasped. "I will not turn!"

"Hey, hey, calm down," her captor said. The words penetrated to her spinning head and she realized that the voice was warm, not mechanical like Malak's had been.

She gasped a few lungfuls of air and blinked hard. The blur holding her sharpened slightly into a vaguely human figure. Vintar, she remembered, trying to slow her racing heart. You sacrificed yourself again. Bastila locked her knees and forced herself to remain upright. She raised her hands. "I am well, thank you," she said, hating the tremble in her voice.

The human-shaped blur laughed, not unkindly. "If that's true, Master Jedi, then I am a free man."

"Who are you?" she asked, squinting toward him. Her voice echoed strangely in her ears. She rubbed her eyes and could make out a tall man with broad shoulders and light hair.

"It's the collar," he said, gesturing toward his own neck at a dull metallic torque. "It makes you stupid at first, but you get used to it. I'm Gellan Mar."

"Bastila Shan," she replied automatically, realizing too late that her name might be recognized. But Gellan just continued to watch her with a mildly interested expression, betraying no surprise at her name. They were in a large room, not unlike the area she and Pellek had gone through to escape. Perhaps ten sentients, none Vintari, were watching her with various degrees of interest. Bastila saw that she was in loose white pants and a tunic, her lightsaber no longer on her. The fog around her senses seemed to thicken, and she felt suddenly vulnerable. What have I done?

Gellan seemed to realize her discomfort and stepped away from her. "I'll be over by the window if you need anything. It's a good idea to keep your wits about you in a place like this, at least as long as you can. Half the sents in here have already lost their minds, and the rest of us are on our way. Just cooperate when they come for you and you'll be fine." He started across the room.

"What are you doing here?" she blurted out. She hadn't expected to find another human in this place.

His voice was bitter. "Contributing to the cause, just like you."

Bastila watched him settle into a chair at the window, puzzled at the meaning of his words. She also wasn't sure why she was in this room with the regular "inpatients." That hadn't been her agreement with Tepai. Everything was fuzzy after the collar—she seemed to recall a woozy ride on the alien's speeder, then arriving back at the building Pellek had thought they escaped. They had taken Follani to another room—

Bastila scanned the room for the little girl, but she wasn't anywhere to be seen. "Follani?" she called softly.

She instinctively reached to find the girl in the Force, but a sharp pain shot up her neck and to the back of her eyes, leaving her gasping and clutching a chair for support. She got her breath back to see Gellan watching her thoughtfully. He didn't get up.

The collar kept her from touching the Force, and worse, punished her for trying. What if no one let her out of it? She didn't think she could work her way out like she had on Taris. She'd be trapped here, alone, without the Force, without anyone. Her vague plan would be defeated before it even began. She felt her chest tighten at the thought.

"Bastila Shan," a voice called from the doorway, scattering her spinning thoughts like hifa chaff. Bastila looked up to see a uniformed Vintari consulting a data pad. "Is there a Bastila Shan here?"

Bastila felt a wave of relief. She would not be left in this room. "I am Bastila Shan," she announced, pleased that her voice was calm.

The Vintari looked unimpressed by her serenity and control. "Fine. This way, please." The alien gestured out the door.

She walked out the door and into a long hallway. The alien took her elbow and directed her through several doors and around corners. Bastila tried to remember where they were going, but her thoughts were slippery. Had they turned left the last time or right? Or perhaps they had just gone straight through that door. It would be so easy to just let herself relax into the fog of the collar, not try to remember the turns—

Bastila shook her head sharply. She had to focus or she'd never get out of here.

"Here," the guard said finally, and left her in a room by herself. It was small and featureless, like the cell she had shared with Pellek. There was a small plasynth table in the center with a chair on either side. A fist-sized cube made of out something resembling the metal of the collar sat in the center of the table.

Bastila tugged experimentally on the door behind her and was unsurprised to find it locked. She had to consciously keep herself from searching the room with the Force. She felt terribly unsafe without it.

The door behind her slid open and Tepai entered. She was wearing the same white clothing that Bastila had on and her fur was a very dark gray. The Vintari nodded gravely and extended a hand toward the table. "Greetings, Bastila. Please sit down." The authority in her voice was unmistakable.

There was no point in resisting. Bastila didn't need the Force to know that there were guards outside of the room. She sat facing the door and folded her hands on the table. "Tepai, I told you I would help you if you allowed my companions to leave. I will keep my promise to you, but surely this collar is not necessary? I can do more to assist you without it."

Tepai settled herself in the chair opposite Bastila. She opened her hand to reveal a small device and pressed a button on it. "We know you are quite strong in the Force, Bastila."

Something strange was happening to the fog around Bastila's mind. It seemed to clear in a very specific way, like a hole opening up in the clouds. She could feel the Force, very faintly, as if from a great distance. She looked at Tepai. "What are you doing?"

Tepai acted as if she couldn't hear her. "Please concentrate on the cube."

"What?" Bastila frowned. She glanced down at the cube and suddenly felt a tug of the Force, out of her and into it. "What are you doing?" she gasped. She fumbled around, tried to pull the Force back to herself, tried to get control of herself, tried to do anything. But she couldn't get free.

Bastila lurched forward. She had to get to her feet, had to get out of here. But Tepai held up her palm and Bastila stiffened into Stasis. Bastila stared wide-eyed at the small alien. Tepai was a Force user.

Tepai nodded her head. "Yes. Startol and I use my gifts to help our people. Just as you are helping us, Bastila." Her words were terrifyingly sensible, and Bastila was sure she was filling them with Persuasion.

Bastila couldn't tear her concentration away from the cube, and she felt the Force leaking out of her. She couldn't stop the flow and now couldn't even move. She remembered Gellan Mar's words in the common area, Contributing to the cause, just like you. This is why the Vintari kept the Force users here, to use them for—what?

Bastila could feel herself weakening and was helpless to stop it. For a terrible moment, she was back in Malak's torture chamber, strapped to a table and feeling the Dark pressing down on her. This was not supposed to happen! And then, abruptly, a tendril of the Force was available to her. "You will not have me!" she shouted, and tugged hard on the Force. She snapped the Stasis field around her and knocked the chair backward.

Lightning came easily to her hand. The door behind Tepai slid open and two guards charged inside. Bastila knew she could destroy all of them, just by throwing her palm forward. She saw Tepai's face, surprise and fear showing plainly. The Vintari's head fur was white.

You can do it, too, Princess, Atton had said. Bastila lowered her hand.

The next moment, pain exploded up to her eyes. She thought she screamed before the world went white.

Bastila came back to herself slowly, suspended in a comfortable white fog. She could just stay here forever, forget all about that—something—that she had to do. As long as she didn't open her eyes, she would be safe.

"Hey." Someone was shaking her out of her pleasant doze. "Wake up."

Bastila opened her eyes to see Gellan Mar looking down at her. She groaned. "We must stop meeting like this, I think." The inside of her head buzzed painfully.

Gellan stepped back. "You were letting the collar take you, Master Jedi. That's a death sentence."

Bastila eased herself upright and realized she was in a small room like she had been in with Pellek. She was on the low bench. She squinted across the room to where Gellan was awkwardly standing. He looked exhausted, face drawn and pale. She thought he was near her age, but the shadows around his eyes made him look older. "What happened?" she asked.

Gellan crossed his arms. "After my session, they brought me to your collection room, and you were unconscious on the floor. They told me to bring you here." He shrugged. "I suppose they thought I would know what to do with another human."

Bastila nodded, remembering now the sick feeling of the Force being drained out of her. "You knew what they were going to do," she said accusingly.

"It wouldn't have changed anything to tell you, Master Jedi," he said. "I did suggest that you make it easier on yourself and cooperate, but you obviously didn't. They don't take enough to kill us, just enough to keep their precious Force shields up."

Bastila frowned. "But why keep Force users against their will just to keep other Force users out? There must be more to their plans than that." She looked harder at Gellan. "How long have you been here?"

"I don't know, you lose track in this place. A year, maybe, or two."

Bastila just barely stopped herself before trying to feel Gellan's aura in the Force. "What did you do before?" she asked. It was so hard to gauge people just by their words and expressions.

"I'm a farmer," he said. She must have shown her surprise, because he smiled. "No, the Jedi Temple doesn't get all of us. I was on my way from Deralia to Ithoria to see about a new strain of chula wood when my ship was attacked by pirates. I made the mistake of defending myself with the Force, and they realized they could get a better price for me alive than dead. I woke up here with this collar around my neck." He rapped it with his knuckles. "I hope they had a nice memorial service for me at home."

Bastila shook her head carefully and was able to clear most of the fog. It was still there, lurking seductively in the back of her mind, but she could think around it. She stood. "I have no intention of remaining here forever," she said firmly. "There must be a way out."

Gellan laughed hollowly. "I felt that way when I first came here, too. All thoughts like that get you is disappointment." He gestured out of the doorway and into the hall, business-like again. "The sleeping quarters are unlocked, and you can go freely to the library at one end or the common area at the other. They take us for sessions with the cube every two or three days. The Vintari won't trouble you if you play along, but they'll waste no time shocking you senseless if it even looks like you're trying to escape."

Bastila smiled. "In that case, we will have to not look like we're trying."

Gellan shook his head. "You'll have to forgive me if I don't share your optimism, Master Jedi," he said. "I've taken all the shockings I care to in this lifetime." He rubbed his eyes tiredly. "If you'll excuse me," he said, and left the room.

Bastila watched him go, frowning. So the Vintari were actually buying Force users for their project, whatever it was. She thought suddenly of all of the young Jedi who had gone missing in the last five years. Perhaps not all of them had joined the Force, after all. Perhaps some of them were here. She shivered with a coldness that didn't come from the air. This moon was a Dark place, she was sure of it.

It was surely the will of the Force that she come here, that she help these people. If so, there must be something here for her to find. Bastila took a deep breath and headed toward the library. She had faith that the Force would help her escape, but it couldn't hurt to help it along.

10/2/06 A/N: I'll be out of the country for a couple of weeks and unable to post, so there'll be a brief hiatus in this story until I get back. Depending on the queue time, look for the next chapter the third or fourth week of October. As always, thanks for your comments.