And now for Chapter 12! Yay! At the beginning is a long-anticipated scene (for some people) as well as a VERY important scene in the end. As for Atton, don't worry if his part now seems trivial, he'll be more important later on. ;) Mission will be, too.
Also, I have a very important announcement at the end of this chapter.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 12: The Chase
Quaid, Jolee, and the rest of their group hurried toward the Khoonda settlement. Quaid had to get to the Ebon Hawk and find out what was wrong.
"Force, I'm getting too old for this," Jolee moaned as he ran.
Quaid turned to him and grinned. "Are you serious? You're never too old to fight the Sith. How could you ever tire of this?"
"Save the jokes, kid. I'm old and cranky, and you ought to know that by now."
Quaid chuckled. As the settlement came in sight, an idea occurred to Quaid. "Jolee, could you do me a favor."
"Why not?" he replied sarcastically.
"I need you to take the rest of the Jedi and go over to the government facilities and inform them of the situation."
"What about you?"
"I'll be fine, Jolee," Quaid assured him. "If there's one thing I learned in my exile, it's how to be self-sufficient."
Jolee rolled his eyes. "Kids these days."
Upon reaching the settlement, Quaid split off with the rest of the group and sped off toward the docking port. As he rounded the corner the Ebon Hawk came into view, and suddenly Quaid felt a disturbance. Something definitely was not right. The entry ramp was down, as it had been left, but HK-47 was not in sight.
"Great," Quaid muttered to himself. He slowly crept up the Ebon Hawk's ramp and into the inner hull of the ship. No one was in sight, and the interior seemed eerily quiet.
"Atton?" he called out. No answer. "Mission?" Silence. He decided for one last attempt. "T3? HK?" When no answer came, he knew something serious was wrong. He was hoping they had just left the Ebon Hawk temporarily, but he felt that wasn't the case. He walked further inward in the Ebon Hawk's garage when he noticed HK-47. On the floor.
"Force! HK!" The droid didn't budge. He seemed to be in some kind of stasis. "Uh oh," Quaid said aloud. Concentrating, he reached out through the force and sensed something foreign on board. Cautiously, he turned left and proceeded toward the Ebon Hawk's starboard dormitory. He crept up to the doorway and looked inside. The sight caught him totally off guard.
Squatting in the center of the room was a small, crimson-robed female. A peculiar veil hung over her head, covering both her eyes. Quaid felt darkness within her, but that's not what he sensed first. The first thing he felt from her was pain. She was carrying an immense amount of pain…just as he was. But he could not afford to ponder their similarities.
"What have you done with the crew?" he asked her flatly. She said nothing. She merely stood up and ignited a crimson lightsaber. She moved in to attack him, but Quaid raised his own green lightsaber just in time to block it. The two stood there with lightsabers locked.
For a second, he was able to notice her face. She had rather young features, and Quaid found her rather attractive despite being able to see only the bottom half of her face. "Who are you?" he asked as their lightsabers grinded against each other. Once again, she was silent and withdrew her lightsaber to attack again. The two exchanged furious blows.
The loud cracks and hisses of green against crimson filled the atmosphere as they fought. She was very fast and precise, and her speed almost caught the better of Quaid more than once. Quaid saw an opening in her defense, and, before he even realized it, thrust his lightsaber at her. The green blade slashed and cut open her side. She cried out in pain and fell to the floor. Her lightsaber clanged against the floor and deactivated. When it was done, she stood there kneeling on all fours in front of the exile, who was dumbstruck.
"Please…" she whispered. It was the first time he heard her voice. There was much pain behind her small voice. "You have defeated me. It is as I foresaw. Please, finish me off quickly."
Quaid stared down at her and shook his head. "I'm not going to kill you."
She only frowned. "I yield. It was never my wish to fight you. I…I submit. Please kill me."
Quaid felt suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of pity and compassion for her. He didn't know why, but the sight of her like that saddened him greatly. "Look, you're hurt," he stammered. He knelt down and tried to help her up. "Here. I'll get you to the medbay." Without warning, she collapsed.
Quaid panicked for a moment, fearing the worst. He was relieved to find out she was still alive. Mustering his strength, he lifted her off the ground and carried her to the medbay. There he gently laid her down on the bed inside the small room. Taking a medpack, he rubbed some kolto on her fresh wound. This was one of the times he was grateful that lightsabers cauterized wounds instantly.
He stood up and quickly ran off to find the crew. He went back to HK-47 and deactivated the stasis he was in.
"Angry statement: Some meatbag has tampered with my systems! How dare they insult me by placing me in stasis! Why, the audacity of it!" Finally, HK noticed the exile. "Query: I don't suppose it was you, was it? But oh no, you were the one who reactivated me. I am sure it wasn't you. Perhaps it was that Atton meatbag! Why, the insult to think that he could deactivate me like that!"
"Your welcome, HK. And no, it wasn't Atton," the exile answered him.
"Surprised query: Really? Do you know who it was? If so, I would really like to know who so I could terminate his or her existence."
Fearing for the woman's life, and not wanting to have to deactivate HK, Quaid lied. "No, whoever it was isn't here. Are the others on the ship, too?"
"Answer: I do not know, master. I blanked out before I saw what was happening."
"Well, I'm going to search the ship. You stand guard outside. I'll look for the others."
"Resignation: As you wish, meatbag."
"She must be another assassin," Quaid realized as he ran to the cargo hold. "That's how she snuck in without being seen." He reached the cargo hold, and as he predicted, Mission, Atton, and T3 were all there in stasis. Kneeling in front of Atton, he waved his hand and brought her out of stasis. Her eyes instantly widened to the size of plates.
"Quaid! Oh man, am I happy to see you. What the heck happened? Did you see her? Who was that girl who broke in here?"
Quaid hushed her. "An assassin snuck on board. She put you all in stasis after she broke in." He went over to Atton and brought him out of stasis.
"Well, you're a sight for sore eyes, Quaid," Atton said dryly. So, who's the schutta who mugged us? I'm surprised HK didn't see her come in."
"It was a Sith assassin, Atton. They're experts at stealth." Quaid released T3 from the droid stasis.
"Wroop! Wroop! De-deet did-deet!" the little droid buzzed.
"No, you're fine, T3. I don't think she damaged anything."
"So, uh," Mission stuttered. "Did you happen to find the person?" Quaid nodded.
"I did. She's in the medbay right now."
"Medbay?" Mission asked, wide-eyed. "She's still here?"
"Yes. We fought and I injured her. She passed out and she's in the medbay right now."
"Geez." Mission slumped against the wall.
"Hey, don't worry, Mission. She's comatose right now, and injured, to boot. Besides, even if she wakes up, I've got her lightsaber." He held it up for her to see. He paused and then continued, "It's weird, too. She's blind, I think. Atton, come with me." Atton complied, but Mission followed out of sheer curiosity.
"There," Quaid said, pointing at Visas's delicate, crimson form. Atton and Mission both eyed her with intense curiosity.
"Wow…" Atton muttered. "I don't believe it?"
"What?" Quaid asked.
"She's a Miraluka. I haven't seen one of them in this part of the galaxy ever."
"The Miraluka?" Mission asked. Quaid's mind instantly recalled the stories he had heard about a race of force-sensitives who saw everything through the force. He also heard about a recent tragedy befalling them recently.
Atton nodded his head in response. "Yeah. They're some sort of race that are blind but 'see' things through the force. There was an entire colony of them on Katarr, but it was wiped out a long time ago."
"What happened to them?" Quaid asked.
Atton shrugged. "I don't know. One minute they're there, next minute they're all dead. And then this one pops up out of thin air. She's the first Miraluka I've seen in this sector."
"Well, I'm keeping her here for the time."
"You can't be serious!" Mission protested.
"I have to. I don't think she's a danger, Mission. Call me crazy, but I just feel it. Even if she's hostile, we could use her for information. We have to keep her here."
"But, Quaid, I-" Mission began, but she stopped.
Quaid placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Hey, just trust me, alright? I'm sure Revan or Bastila would do the same thing if they were here. Just play along for now, kiddo. That's all I'm asking."
Mission blushed. "A-alright." Quaid smiled on the inside. Despite her protests, he knew from experience that Mission was one to find good in everybody. It was something he wound up admiring about her.
Surprisingly, Atton seemed rather comfortable with the situation. At least, if he was disturbed, it didn't show. "What are you going to do now?" the scoundrel asked.
"We have to stay put and wait for the others to return."
"May I ask why?" he asked.
"I'll fill you in on the details in a second, I promise. Right now, we don't have time to lose." Quaid spoke into his communicator. "Jolee? Are you there?"
"I'm here, junior. What's up?"
"I just caught myself a nice, juicy, Sith."
"Oh, did you?" Jolee asked, not sounding surprised.
"She's passed out right now. She mugged Atton and Mission, and she tried to sabotage the Ebon Hawk, I think. I need you to get over here right away. But first, tell the others to make sure their ships are secure. We're going to need them."
"Will do, kid."
Revan and Bastila arrived back at the academy's archives and examined the console the Sith had tampered with. It appeared they had arrived just in time, because apparently the Sith didn't have time to clear the data.
"That's curious," Revan said as he examined the data. "They were examining tombs. They were looking up the locations of the different tombs on Dantooine."
"I'm not surprised," Bastila remarked. "Sometimes people seek tombs of ancient Sith Lords or Jedi Masters because they believe them to be places of power. Others simply seek rare or valuable artifacts that might be contained within."
"Yup. They've downloaded the location of these two tombs. One appears to be of someone called 'Arturus', the other is one called 'Trusk'. Does either name sound familiar?"
Bastila shook her head.
"Well, I'll bet my lightsabers that they're headed for those tombs. Arturus is south of here, Trusk is somewhere west of here. I'm going to download it into my datapad. You might want to do the same."
Bastila complied, and after a few seconds the information was downloaded into their datapads. After they were done, they hurried back up to the surface to meet with Yuthura Ban. On the way, Revan received a signal from Quaid.
"Revan? Are you there?" his voice asked.
"Yes, Quaid? Did you find out what happened?" He and Bastila listened eagerly.
"Yes. A Sith assassin managed to break in and put everyone under. I found her, though. We ended up having a little chat with our lightsabers."
"Did you kill her?" Revan asked.
"No. She passed out and is in the medbay, right now, recovering from her wounds. I'm going to keep an eye on her until you get back."
"Good. And make sure the Ebon Hawk is prepared for takeoff." He put away the communicator.
Revan and Bastila met up with Yuthura near the hangar. "Yuthura!" he called. "Any more luck with the tracking?"
"I've only managed to track one," she responded as she examined her device. "It's heading north. They've apparently split up, and I don't know where the other has headed."
"Well, we think we know where there headed," Revan told Yuthura. He approached her and showed her the data on his datapad of the tomb. "That's where the other one is headed, I'm sure of it."
Yuthura examined it for a moment and nodded her head. "Well, if that's true, we'll need to split up if we can catch both of them in time."
Revan thought the matter over quickly in his head. The only solution he liked was one he wasn't very comfortable with. "Alright," he said at last. "We'll have to regroup. Bastila, you and Yuthura will go down and investigate Arturus's tomb. Quaid, Jolee, and I will travel to Trusk's tomb." He paused. "I'll take the Ebon Hawk to the tomb. You'll have to go with Yuthura in one of the other ships."
Bastila sighed and nodded. "Very well, Revan."
"We must hurry. Let's get back to the settlement," Yuthura suggested. The others couldn't agree more, and soon they were all headed back to Khoonda.
Bastila and Revan met outside the Ebon Hawk next to the entry ramp. "Me and another shuttle will follow them west," he told her. "The rest of you will have to go south to Arturus's tomb."
"Revan!" Quaid called. "Everyone is here! The Ebon Hawk is ready for takeoff!"
"Alright!" Revan called back. He turned back to Bastila.
"Be careful, Revan," she whispered to him.
He smiled. "I will. Just don't you go off getting hurt, okay?"
She nodded. "I'll try." After a quick glance to see if anyone was looking, the two Jedi embraced each other. A quick farewell kiss, and Revan walked up the ramp into the Ebon Hawk.
"Take care, princess," he called.
She waved back at him warmly. "Farwell!" And with that, the ramp folded up into the Ebon Hawk. Without pausing, Bastila took off with force-enhanced speed toward Yuthura's shuttle.
"Alright, guys," Atton said as he flicked a few switches. "Let's get this crate in the air."
"I've downloaded the coordinates of the tomb into the Ebon Hawk's system. That's where we're headed," Revan told him as he strapped himself into the copilot seat.
As he prepared for takeoff, Revan wondered briefly about their 'prisoner'. He still didn't know the Sith's name, but what was even more mysterious was why a Miraluka would suddenly appear at this time in this part of the galaxy. He could only hope they would get the answers once she came back to consciousness.
The Ebon Hawk lurched, shaking him out of his thoughts. Slowly the ship rose into the air and turned as the ground beneath it got smaller and smaller. A blast from the thrusters propelled the ship forward and toward their destination.
The Ebon Hawk streaked through the stratosphere of Dantooine as it closed the distance between them and the Sith. At last, they reached their destination. "There!" Revan said, pointing. "That must be it!" He saw a hill that jutted up from the rest of the plains, and carved into it was what appeared to be an entranceway of some kind. A little further down he saw the black hull of the Sith ship.
They were not unnoticed, for red blaster bolts soon came at them from the surface. "Quaid," Revan called on the intercom. "Get into that turret and fire at whatever's shooting at us. Atton, take us down right there!" He pointed at a clearing next to a clump of trees.
Meanwhile, Quaid rushed from his seat and headed for the Hawk's underside turret. Once there, he took the controls and aimed at the ground. Below he could see several small figures that looked like turrets planted around the tombs entrance. He fired several volleys at the turrets as the ships descended. He managed to take three of the five turrets before the Ebon Hawk landed. To his right, he noticed the Jedi's shuttle touching down next to them.
The shuttle in turn fired at the turrets, and eventually the remaining two were destroyed. He released the controls and headed for the main hold. There, Revan and the rest were gathered. "We didn't take any damage, fortunately." Revan told them. "But we'd better get out there quickly. Mission, stay here."
"But Revan," she protested.
"Mission, you have to stay here!" he told her. "Please, just look over our new friend, okay?" he asked her. Without even noticing her look of discontent, he focused on Quaid and Jolee. "Let's go join the others."
Outside, they met up with the Jedi from the other shuttle. Before Revan could say anything, dark Jedi poured out of the academy's entrance, all drawing their lightsabers. Revan immediately ignited his blue lightsaber and his short, violet one. The rest of them imitated him, all igniting their lightsabers.
A hellacious battle ensued, with the cracks and hisses of the lightsabers drowning out all sound. When the battle was done, the Sith lay dead. Revan silently thanked the force that they hadn't suffered any casualties, yet, although a couple had been injured. Revan had the injured taken into the medbay inside the other ship. The rest he summoned to follow him inside the tomb.
Inside the dark hollows of the tomb, Revan felt a strange sensation upon entering. It was a very different feeling than what he felt when he had walked inside the tombs of the ancient Sith Lords on Korriban. He felt power, for sure, but unlike in the Sith tombs, where he felt darkness and a sense of unrest, he felt strangely calm and centered. Before them lay a long hallway sloping downward. He motioned with his hand and the rest followed him. Quaid and Jolee flanking him, with the other five Jedi following close behind. The hallway was lined with dark-brown bricks that had faded over the years. Cobwebs hung everywhere and roots had started to seep through some of the walls.
They proceeded quietly down the hall until it leveled off. There, Revan could see it stretching level for a short distance and then split upward to an entranceway to what appeared to be a room. "Quaid, follow me, he whispered." The exile nodded and followed him. They crept up the hall along the wall until they were below the hall leading up to the entrance. Inside they could hear the voices of what no doubt were more Dark Jedi. Revan could make out two voices, although he was sure more were in there.
"You imbecile! There is nothing here! We have already raided this tomb once, what makes you think we would find something else? I told you we wouldn't find anything!" said an angry male voice.
Another angry male voice responded. "We came here on orders from Sion, worm! If you want to disobey him, then-"
"Sion is a fool! Even Nihilus says so! We have only wasted our time by coming here."
"Then we'll have to hope our other party finds something inside the other tomb."
"Then let us hurry out of here—wait a moment! We are not alone."
Revan cursed under his breath. He could hear lightsabers being activated. Finally, a voice yelled, "Jedi! They have followed us here! Kill them!"
Six Dark Jedi erupted out of the tomb. Two were assassins, but the other four had the look of Sith marauders, a type of Sith skilled in lightsaber combat. Revan reached out with his hand and force-pushed them away, giving the other Jedi time to catch up to him and Quaid. The Dark Jedi got up and engaged Revan's squad. The group fought intensely in the small confinement of the hallway.
One Jedi was unfortunate enough to receive a lightsaber wound through his side. Before his attacker could finish him off, Quaid stepped in and cut the lightsaber arm off the marauder and force-pushed him into the wall. Revan managed to down another marauder while Jolee was preoccupied with one of the assassins. The sheer number of Jedi involved ended up saving their lives.If there were fewer Jedi to assist him, there would most certainly be more casualties.
Once the last Dark Jedi was down, Revan gave orders to the other five Jedi. "Move these bodies out of the tomb," Revan commanded the Padawans. They complied and started dragging them away. Meanwhile, Revan, Quaid, and Jolee decided to examine the tomb of Master Trusk.
The room was mostly bare, save for a few holocrons and a large sarcophagus. A few statues of what appeared to be ancient Jedi line the walls. A couple plasma lamps set by the Dark Jedi illuminated the surroundings.
"It doesn't seem they have taken anything," Quaid observed. He examined a nearby holocron and found it had been tampered with. "I wonder what they were looking in these for?"
"Who knows?" Revan remarked. "But they wouldn't get much. These holocrons are too old and damaged to really get much out of them. Still, we should examine them just in case."
Meanwhile, Bastila, Yuthura, and the rest of the squad made for Arturus's tomb. After the short journey, they came to the coordinates where the tomb was supposed to be located. Below, Bastila had indeed spotted a black ship parked next to a small cliff overlooking a plain. Suddenly, Bastila felt a strange sensation when seeing the cliff. Something seemed oddly familiar… She pushed it out of her mind and struggled to focus on the mission.
Like Revan's encounter, the two ships were fired upon from below. As the ships descended and the blaster bolts pelted the shield around the ship, Bastila noticed several Dark Jedi gathered around the entrance. A group of four turrets fired at them from below.
As soon as the ships touched down, the Jedi streamed out of the ships to meet the wave of blaster bolts. Bastila deflected several blasts with her lightsaber and bounced them back onto the turrets, managing to destroy two of them. Yuthura Ban raised her hand and a wave of energy bolts streaked at the turrets, disabling the other two. With them out of the way, they could now focus on the Sith rushing madly at them with lightsabers activated.
Bastila focused with all her might on everyone around her. She focused on the Sith and slowly sucked away their will to fight. She focused on the Jedi around her and bolstered their willpower and their vigor. She was using Battle Meditation, her ability that ended up saving the Republic more than once.
It was working, for the Sith seemed to hesitate as they rushed to meet the Jedi who showed no signs of fear. She tried to remain in meditation as long as she could until a Dark Jedi came over to attack her. Breaking her concentration, she jumped into the air and brought her lightsaber through his chest, dispatching of him quickly.
She rushed in to join the fray, hoping the effects of her Battle Meditation would not go away too quickly. She and Yuthura fought side by side as they cut down the Dark Jedi around them. Yuthura swung her purple lightsaber in rapid, precise motions while Bastila twirled her yellow lightsaber at her enemies. When all was done, the Sith lay dead and a few Jedi were injured. Her Battle Meditation had indeed saved them from casualties.
Finally, with the skirmish over, Bastila had time to examine her surroundings. When she finally took everything in, she felt a wave of nausea sweep her. Before her lay the strangely familiar cliff side. Cut into the rocky wall was the entrance to the tomb. Beside it lay a huge boulder, which had undoubtedly been moved from the entrance by the Sith in their attempts to enter the tomb.
Bastila felt sweat gather on her temple as she realized where she had seen it. It was the same place she had seen in her vision. The vision she and Revan had shared the last time they had been on Dantooine. Apprehension gripped her, and suddenly she felt uneasy. Yuthura, noticing this, asked Bastila if she was alright.
"Oh, I'm fine," Bastila said, pretending. "I just might be coming down with something." She mentally kicked herself. It was a poor excuse, but she couldn't afford to back out now. She had to finish this mission. She had to see what was inside the cave. "We must go inside and see what they were looking for."
"Very well," Yuthura responded, still unsure about Bastila. "Dustil, get those two Jedi and follow us in. The rest of you get the injured to the medbay."
Bastila and the others walked up to the cave's entrance. They stepped inside and into the dark interior of the tunnel. The bricked tunnel led them down a level path until Bastila could see a doorway. That must have been the tomb. She could feel her apprehension rising. But she had to see what was inside. Something was inside the tomb - a presence that was barely there. If it were a sound, it would be almost like a leaf falling in the woods. She wondered if anyone else could feel it.
She and the rest arrived at the doorway. Bastila raised her hand and concentrated as she forced the door open with the force. The Sith had obviously not gotten this far. They had arrived just in time. She stepped inside and beheld the ancient surroundings. Yuthura lit a plasma lamp, and the room illuminated in a soft glow. The tomb wasn't big, but it was still spacious. In the very center of the room was a large sarcophagus, but that wasn't what caught Bastila's attention.
"The Sith had to have been looking for something in here," Yuthura observed. "Maybe a holocron or an ancient weapon."
Bastila didn't pay attention. Her eyes were fixed on a very peculiar thing. Behind the tomb lay a statue, about the size of a man. It stood upright and was made out of what appeared to be gray stone. It was man-like in appearance, but the resemblance stopped there. Bastila struggled to recall an alien species that looked like the statue, but she couldn't find any.
Embedded into the statue in several places were what looked like gray crystals. They stuck out on the shoulders, spine, knees, and other places. They ran up the spine and up the back of the head, curving up and around until they stopped just above the eyes. The hands had four large fingers, and the arms were folded across its chest. Three large toes protruded from the feet. The face of the statue almost resembled a human, but there were differences. The ears were very large and pointed.The nose was merely two slits, almost like a serpent. The mouth was merely a flat line hewn into the stone. The eyes were very large and were made out of two of the gray crystals.
Bastila felt nausea sweeping over her again. Suddenly, she felt weak. The eyes. She had seen them before… Could it have been? Was it the ones she saw in the vision? "It can't be," Bastila whispered to herself. The others were too intent on searching the tomb to notice her. Bastila stared intently at the statue. Something was not right with it. Something was very wrong. She slowly approached the statue and extended her hand. She had to touch it. She didn't know what was happening. It's like the statue was calling her. There was something hypnotic about it.
Yuthura casually glanced back and saw what Bastila was doing. She looked like she was hypnotized. "Bastila, what are you doing?" she asked her nervously. Bastila didn't answer her. Bastila was so close now. Her fingers were merely inches from it. "Bastila, what are you-"
Yuthura's speech was cut short as the room lit up like a star. White lightning bolts erupted from the spot where Bastila's fingers met the statue. The only other sound was Bastila's screams echoing through the chamber. "BASTILA!" Yuthura screamed. Suddenly, the lightning stopped, Bastila's screams ceased, and the room returned to normal. Bastila seemed to stagger for a moment then collapsed to the ground, limp. But what horrified Yuthura the most was what she saw next.
Back at Master Trusk's tomb,near the entrance, Revan collapsed on his knees. Suddenly he felt weak a pain erupted in his chest. He placed a hand over his heart and sucked in a deep breath. Something was terribly wrong. He felt a disturbance, but it wasn't in the force. He felt it through the bond.
"Bastila," he whispered. The realization hit him like a freighter.Something had happened to Bastila.
"Revan! Revan, what's wrong," Quaid asked when he saw Revan collapse.
Revan stood up swiftly, and without a word, he dashed to the Ebon Hawk.
Oh no! A cliffhanger! Sorry, I guess I've gotten a little fond of those. Was the last scene shocking enough? Wait until you see the next chapter! I'll try to get it posted within the week.
This is concerning a question from a new review:no, there aren't two Ebon Hawks. :) Revan takes the Ebon Hawk to Master Trusk's tomb, Bastila travels in one of the ships the other Jedi used to get to Dantooine. The Ebon Hawk and a Jedi shuttle went to Trusk's tomb, and the two other Jedi shuttles went to Arturus's tomb. Hope that clears that up.
ANNOUNCEMENT: Since this is based on KOTOR, I have moved this and all my Star Wars fics to the 'games' section of the Star Wars category. This is especially important for anonymous viewers. If you cannot find this story in the 'movies' category when trying to find it, it is in the 'games' section. :)