"Do you have any idea who it is?" asked Mical.
"It's probably one of the Handmaidens," said Bao-Dur.
The figure stopped. The door to the hangar bay opened.
"You are not the Mistress," she said, dismayed. "How did you come into possession of our landing codes? What have you done with my s--what have you done with the other Handmaidens?" Her hand went to a small shaft hanging from her belt. "Answer me."
"We are Jedi," said Visas.
"The Mistress is the last of the Jedi. There are no others." Red-tinged anger flickered in the Handmaiden. "Why have you invaded her Academy? Are you agents of the Sith?"
"Please," said Mical. "We only wish to inspect the holocrons that Atris kept--"
"The Mistress did not keep Jedi holocrons," said the Handmaiden, suspiciously. "Why would you have any interest in them?"
Then what would be Atris' interest in them, if she was a Jedi? Visas wondered, raising her eyebrows beneath her veil. But it would clearly be a bad idea to suggest to the Handmaiden that her beloved Mistress had been corrupted... they stood in silence for a moment, and Visas realized that Mical and Bao-Dur were waiting for her to say something. But she could not think of anything, or at least anything that would help the situation. "I assure you," she said, thinking wildly and coming up with nothing better, "we are Jedi."
"You are dressed as Jedi," the Handmaiden admitted. "And you carry the weapons of Jedi. And if you were Sith, you might have already attacked me. But the Sith can be subtle," she went on, pacing a few steps. "The old one, the one who came to Atris before the Exile's return was Sith. She corrupted the Mistress."
Kreia, Visas thought with a cold chill. She shook it off as the Handmaiden continued. "But if you are not Sith, you would not have any interest in Sith holocrons..." She stopped; her life-color flickered. That faint red tinge was still there.
The Force called a warning; Visas activated her lightsabre and in an instant clashed with the Handmaiden's staff. The Handmaiden twisted and disengaged, quick as lightning and just as powerful. The other end of the staff slammed into Visas' gut before she could see it. The sharp electric burst and the strike knocked every thought from her mind as she doubled over. Two snap-hisses behind her; Visas reached out and pushed with the Force just before Bao-Dur landed in front of her. The Handmaiden slammed back into the door and slid down, stunned. A hand gripped Visas' arm and pulled her to her feet, Mical.
She stepped around Bao-Dur and held the tip of her lightsabre in front of the Handmaiden's face. The Handmaiden stirred, and went cross-eyed as she stared at the bright yellow sabre. "If we had been Sith, you would be dead now," said Visas coldly.
The Handmaiden twisted the staff handle, collapsing it. "You may shut off your lightsabre," she said, subdued. Visas, feeling no duplicity in the Handmaiden, did so. The Handmaiden rose gracefully to her feet. "I am confused," she said. "You fight with a form that is neither Sith nor Jedi. You are aggressive, yet you show mercy."
"I am a Jedi," said Visas.
The Handmaiden bowed. "Please, forgive my assault. I needed to ascertain whether you held the taint of the Dark Side. I will guide you."
The three Jedi exchanged glances--or as much as they could, with Visas' eyeless sockets concealed beneath her veil. They followed the Handmaiden up the ramp from the docking bay.
"Why was it neccesary to attack us?" asked Mical.
"Battle is the purest form of expression," replied the Handmaiden, leading them through rooms filled with computer equipment. "Even when a person lies, you can see their true selves in how they fight. There is no holding back in battle. Everything is laid bare."
"I see."
"There were more Handmaidens, when I was here," said Bao-Dur.
"They have gone in search of the Mistress." There was a twinge of something--anger, shame--in her. Visas noted it cautiously. She could still see the red. And there was something else there as well; something deeper. It was faint, almost not there, as though it had been suppressed over long years. But there was that faint whisper, nonetheless--the Force ran through this Echani.
They had arrived in what seemed to be a central chamber, a circle with several doors leading off from it and a thick pillar in the middle. "We are fatigued from our journey," Visas said, thinking quickly. "Is there someplace we may rest?"
"You may use my sisters' rooms," said the Handmaiden. She opened a door to a large antechamber with six doors set in the walls. "The first room on the right is mine; all the others are empty. If you require anything of me, please let me know. I will be attending to the environmental systems in the second computer bay."
"Thank you."
The Handmaiden bowed and left. Visas picked one of the rooms at random and nodded for the others to follow her in. They needed to talk about this.