Chapter 21: Jailbreak
Vandar snapped out of his trance. The tiny Jedi Master looked around his chambers. Something had just gone terribly wrong. Master Kavar…something had happened to him! He went to his communicator. "Master Kavar? Are you there?" No answer. "Master Kavar! Are you alright?" Silence. The Master paused and put his emotions under control before he could panic. He switched on his communicator again. "Master Vash, are you there?"
"Yes, Master Vandar? What is it?"
"Find Master Kavar! I think something is wrong. I have just felt a disturbance in the force."
"I'll look for him immediately," she replied.
Meanwhile, Master Vandar decided to contact the rest of the council. He leapt up to his feet and exited the room. He reached out with the force and tried to locate Kavar, but could find nothing. Then his worst fears started to surface. Something was terribly wrong.
Not much later, Kavar's body was brought into the Jedi Academy by Master Vash. The multitude of Jedi Masters gathered around it. There were no apprentices around; they had been instructed to return to their dormitories.
"He was found on the street," Vash explained. "A couple apprentices found him and recognized him."
Vandar sadly gazed at the corpse. His arm had been severed. It was obvious he had been in a fight. He was murdered. By who, they did not know.
"They also saw something," Vash continued. "One of the windows to the academy was broken. It looked like he was thrown out of it!"
"Which one is it?" Vrook asked sternly.
"We don't know, but it was on the eastern side of the building."
Vandar suddenly remembered something. "Where is Master Kreia?" he asked. She was not here. Atris was here, but she had not said a word the entire time. "We must find her!"
"I can go," Vash interjected.
"Are you sure?" Zhar asked her.
"I can handle myself. I just need someone to come with me."
"Take some knights with you," Vandar advised. "And another master. Atris, can you go?"
Atris nearly blanched. She hoped Vandar didn't notice. "Y-yes…" she stammered. Atris couldn't believe herself. She had just contributed to the death of a Jedi Master. She should have told them what happened. But she didn't. She kept silent.
A short while later, Vash, Atris, and a small group of knights broke through Kreia's dorm door. The squad of Jedi stormed in and surveyed the room.
"Oh god!" Vash gasped when she saw the scene. It looked as if a fight had occurred there. Furniture was overturned. She looked toward the other end of the room and saw traces of blood. But worst of all, the window was shattered. "Where's Kreia?" Kreia was nowhere to be found. "She's gone!" Vash exclaimed.
Atris stayed silent. So Kreia had lied. She said she would go to the council, but had fled instead. Atris knew she should tell what had happened, but she couldn't. Why couldn't she tell her?
Vash noticed her silence, for she turned to Atris with a questioning look. "Atris, what's wrong?"
Atris met her eye contact. "I'm fine. I'm just upset about this."
"I know. One of our own has been murdered. This is terrible. Kreia must have had something to do with it. It's obvious."
"But we don't know if she killed him! Maybe Kavar had attacked her first?" Atris suggested.
"But Kavar is not like that! Kavar would never strike someone down without a good reason! Perhaps Kreia attacked him first."
Atris started to say something but her speech got caught in her throat. Vash noticed her behavior and faced her.
"Atris," she asked flatly, "is there anything you wish to tell me?"
Atris's mind raced. Finally, she replied firmly, "No."
Vash could not detect any deception in her voice. But still, she raised a suspicious eye to her. Atris could not believe herself. Now she had outright lied to another member of the council. And yet, she had not been detected. It was a technique she had learned from her own Sith holocrons.
Vash went over and surveyed the scene. "There is betrayal here, I can sense it! Either Kreia has betrayed us, or the Sith have infiltrated us. Or both." She addressed the four knights that were with them. "We need to search the entire academy for Kreia. I'd like you four to seal this area off and let no one in. Atris and I are going to return to the council." The four nodded.
Vash grabbed her communicator and spoke to Master Vandar. "Master Vandar, it is Kreia's room. Kavar was thrown out here. And Kreia's gone. She's nowhere to be found."
Vandar's voice came back grave. "This bodes ill for all of us. Find her. The entire academy must be searched at once. We should also tell the students to be on their guard."
"Yes, Vandar." The communicator went silent.
Admiral Onasi sat by himself in his office in his flagship. After working nearly nonstop all day, he decided to take a break for a few minutes. Now he sat idly in his chair, staring at the window across the room. The window looked out onto the surface of the planet Coruscant. It was a beautiful sight, but it still wasn't enough to take his mind off his troubles. As if the situation with Telos wasn't enough, he now had to deal with more Sith sightings. He tiredly put his hands to his face. Two loud knocks on his door shook him out of his daydream.
Carth stood up in his chair. "Enter." A Republic soldier entered the room and saluted him.
"What is it?" Carth asked him, returning the salute.
"Sir, we have an emergency. We have just received word that Onderon has been attacked!"
Carth's expression turned grave. "Attacked? By whom?"
We haven't confirmed it yet, but we have received reports that it was the Sith."
"The Sith!" Carth exclaimed. He knew it would have happened eventually, with Sith activity slowly rising over the past months. But this wasn't good. "If they're striking out in the open again, that must mean they've re-bolstered their forces!"
The soldier nodded. "It was a hit-and-run strike. Their fleet just appeared out of nowhere, bombarded the planet, then left. The surface wasn't destroyed, but a number of cities were struck."
Carth took a deep breath and paused.
"Should we launch a counterattack, sir?"
The Admiral waved his hand. "I want to discuss this with the other commanders. But we'll get the fleet ready just in case. I'll advise the other Admirals to do the same."
"But sir, what if they strike again?"
"We'll be ready for them. But for all we know, they could be setting a trap." He paused again. "I'm going to go to the Jedi Council and get their advice." He couldn't believe he had just said that. A few years ago, he wouldn't have even considered doing that. But so many things had changed since then. He straightened himself up. "Go and tell the officers to get their troops ready. I think war may have just been declared."
Shortly thereafter, Admiral Onasi had a message sent to the Jedi Council informing them of the Sith's strike and his request for their advice. He hoped they wouldn't take too long to respond. It wouldn't take long before the news of the Sith attack reached the people of Coruscant. It wouldn't be good. The people were still recovering from the last war. Briefly he wondered what Revan was doing. The man had all but disappeared after landing on Nar-Shadaa, and the council had no idea what he was doing. Revan was smart, but always was a tad impulsive.
"Admiral Onasi," a voice came in over the intercom. "The Jedi Council have a message for you."
"Send it in," he ordered. In a few seconds, a blue 3D image of Master Vandar appeared over his desk.
"Greetings, Admiral Onasi."
"Greetings, Master Vandar."
"The Jedi Council has received your urgent message. Unfortunately, we currently have a crisis of our own."
"What happened?"
"One of our own - Master Kavar - was killed," Vandar replied.
"K-Kavar?" Carth stammered. "Oh no. I'm sorry to hear that."
"This is grave news for us all. We suspect one of our own has betrayed us. And we have plenty of reason to believe the Sith were involved in this assassination as well."
"Great," Carth muttered. "Well, I know it may be a tad premature, but do you or the rest of the council have any plans for what to do next."
"We will discuss this. We have just called an emergency session for all the council members to discuss this murder and the Sith attack."
"Well, I don't normally do this, but I want to know what plan of action the council advises for the Republic before we strike back. After the Jedi Civil War, I admit I've gotten to trust your judgment a bit more," Carth confessed.
"Hmm. I find your trust most admirable, considering the past."
"But uh, don't take too long. We'll have to decide soon."
"We are all too aware of that, Admiral. I am afraid I must go. But we will be back with you soon."
"Thank you, Master Vandar. Admiral Onasi out."
The image of Vandar disappeared. Carth turned once again toward his window and looked at Coruscant. The Admiral would have to get the fleet mobilized and ready for combat before the Sith could strike again. This time, they would be ready. However, he couldn't shake a bad feeling that had been gnawing at his conscience. Something wasn't right.
"Revan, if you're out there, I could really use some help," he whispered.
Mission, invisible, slinked stealthily through the halls of the Exchange's prison sector. Two Exchange guards rounded a corner and were headed straight for her. She backed against the wall so they wouldn't collide into her. When they were gone, she resumed. Mission stayed focused on her task of freeing Revan. All she had to do was locate his cell and free him. She also wanted to share with him some of what she had found.
After looking to make sure she was alone, she pulled out the datapad she had stolen off the guard and checked the map. Revan's cell wasn't far away. Then they'd be able to find Atton. Although, if she could guess, he was probably heavily guarded. Ironic, considering Revan was the one they should have been guarding. Then again, they had no idea he was really one of the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy.
In a few moments, she came to a row of cells. There was an armored guard pacing the narrow corridor. She peered around the corner and thought she could make out Revan inside one of them. He wasn't alone. Most of the cells in the corridor were also occupied by Exchange prisoners. She paused and thought about what to do next. She would have to find some way to sneak past the guard. Or…
The guard paused when he heard a sound coming from around the corner. He figured it was another guard, but no one appeared. "Hello?" he called out. Nobody answered. He raised his blaster rifle and went around the corner to investigate. Meanwhile, Revan was noticing all this from his cell. The guard came to the intersection and looked around. No one was there. He shook his head to make sure he wasn't daydreaming. Nobody there. Maybe he was just imagining things. Just when he was about to turn around, something struck him hard at the back of the head. With a grunt, he collapsed on the ground.
Mission gave a satisfied smile. That was another move Revan had taught her. Still invisible, she looked around the row of cells. All the prisoners were now pressed against their energy doors trying to see what had just happened. "Revan? Are you there?" she whispered.
Revan heard and whispered back. "Mission? Is that you?"
"It's okay! I'm gonna get you out of here." She replied. In a couple of seconds, Mission's blue form materialized right outside Revan's cell force field. With a fluid motion she drew out her stolen keycard and swiped it. The blue energy field blocking the cell flickered and disappeared.
"Thanks, Mission," Revan said as he exited his cell. "Wow. I admit I didn't expect you to be able to do it that quickly."
Mission smirked. "No problem, Rev. Nothing to it. But you really should stop underestimating me."
"I guess so," Revan replied, scratching the back of his head.
"Just out of curiosity, what would you have done if I wasn't able to get you out? Not that I'm implying I couldn't do it, of course."
Revan leaned in and whispered in her ear. "I'm a Jedi, remember? I have my lightsaber. I would have found a way out."
Mission glared back at him. "Then why did you have me go through all that in the first place?"
"Because the Exchange doesn't need to know that they have a Jedi in their midst." Revan patted her shoulder. "But thanks anyway, kid."
"I'm not a kid, Rev! I'm sixteen years old! You…never mind. I know you're just teasing me." Mission still glared at him, but pulled out her datapad. "I got some things I wanna show you. I snuck into their security room and downloaded all these maps."
"Alright! Great job, Mission." He leaned in to see the datapad.
"That's not it! I wanna show you something." She pulled up an image of an unnamed level. "There's a huge level at the bottom of this building, but it's not labeled. It doesn't even appear on the security cameras."
Revan examined it curiously. He had a nagging suspicion that they should go and investigate. "We'll go check it out."
"But what about the others?"
"We'll contact them. We're gonna need to regroup."
"How are we going to do that, Rev? We're surrounded by the Exchange, and we still have to get Atton and Mr. Big-Blue-Eyes, which, I might add, we still have no idea where to find."
Revan cleared his throat. "First off, I think I know how to find Mr. 'Big-Blue-Eyes', and secondly, we'll be able to get around the Exchange."
"Oh yeah? How?"
"I have my own ideas."
"Hey!" one of the prisoners called from his cell. "Any chance you could let us out?"
Revan winked at Mission. "Just what I was thinking." He turned to the prisoners. "Would all of you like to be set free?" They all nodded eagerly. "Alright. We'll set you free, but I'd like for you all to do us a favor. Could you maybe make as much chaos as possible while you leave?"
The prisoners grinned mischievously and cheered in response.
"Wonderful! Let's get going."
"Oh yeah, there's a weapons storage down the hall to the right in sector "C" if you need to cause some chaos," Mission advised them.
Revan grinned. "You really did do a thorough job." Mission and Revan worked like lightning and freed every prisoner in the cell block. Within mere moments everyone was free and rushing noisily down the hall.
After that was done, Revan turned back to Mission. "That oughta buy us some time. We need to find Atton, now. Do you know where his cell, is?"
"Yeah follow me. It's not too far from here." Already, Revan and Mission could here noise coming from the rioting prisoners. They sped down the halls toward the second prison block. To their surprise, they didn't meet any guards.
"They must be dealing with the other prisoners," Revan muttered.
"Down here!" Mission pointed. They came to another section of prisoners. Mission led Revan down the hall, eyes following them as they went. Finally, they came to a solitary cell cut off from the rest. Inside was none other than Atton. Once he saw them he leapt up from his seat.
"Guys!" he called to them.
"Hey, Atton. Seems this happens to you a lot, doesn't it?" Revan said.
"Very funny. Just get me out of here." Mission slid her keycard across the panel and the energy field dissipated. A tired-looking Atton stepped out.
"Thanks, guys. I can't begin to describe how much I love not being in a prison cell."
"Anytime, but we gotta get out of here," Revan urged. "But first, we gotta do one thing. Mission?"
Mission nodded. Once they came to the first cell with a prisoner, she deactivated the field.
"We're gonna get you all out of here!" Revan announced. He was greeted by the cheers of the prisoners as they were freed one by one and ran out of the sector. When all of them were freed, Revan addressed the other two. "Alright, that should buy us some time. We need to contact the others. We're gonna need a plan to escape from this place. I'm betting we're going to have to reveal ourselves as Jedi pretty soon, so if there are Sith here, they're going to find out as well."
"Maybe we should call Jolee and have him get the ship ready," Mission suggested.
"Good idea. But we should contact the others, first," Revan advised. He pulled out his communicator.
"Wait, how come you still have yours? My guard took mine off of me," Mission asked.
"Let's just say I 'convinced' my guard to forget to search me thoroughly. Being a Jedi has its advantages."
"Force persuasion, huh? I should've guessed," Atton said dryly.
"Quaid, are you there?" Revan whispered. After a second of silence, Quaid's voice responded.
"Revan? Are you out of your cell already?" he asked.
"Yeah. Me, Atton, and Mission are out. Where are you guys?"
"Visas and I are in my room. Yuthura and HK are in Visquis' throne room."
"Great. Wait-Visas is with you in your room? Just what are you two doing?"
"We're only talking, Revan," Quaid's annoyed voice replied. "There's nothing 'inappropriate' happening."
"Alright. Just making sure. I've seen the way you two have been acting around each other recently."
"Very funny. And she's standing right next to me, just in case you've forgotten already. Anyway, we got word from Yuthura that there's a riot going on and the Exchange has no idea how it happened. You by chance don't have anything to do with it, do you?"
"Oh, I might. It's giving us a very useful distraction right now. Look, get Yuthura and HK. We need to meet up again and find what we came here for."
"Right. Where are we going to meet?"
"Meet us in the prison block. We need to talk," Revan told him. "Contact me again once you and the other two are back together. We need to make this quick. And be careful, I have plenty of reason to believe there are Sith in this building."
"Alright, Revan, I'll call back soon," Quaid replied and hung up.
Quaid put his communicator back on his belt and turned to Visas. "They're out. We need to get the others." Visas nodded. Lately she had seemed withdrawn for some reason. Much more so than usual. "Visas, is there something wrong?" he asked her.
She took a deep breath and sighed. "It's just a feeling I have, Quaid," she whispered. She had just recently started addressing him by his name instead of as 'exile.' "I have a terrible feeling about this. My Master is planning something terrible. I don't know what it is, but I don't think it will be long before he executes it. I fear he may have already started his campaign."
Quaid assured her by resting his hands on her shoulders. "Are you still afraid of him?"
She nodded weakly. "Yes. I fear that though I have left him, he still retains some of his hold on me. I don't know if I'll be able to break free of his influence entirely. I'm afraid I may never be fully free of him until he is dead."
Quaid raised her head so her hidden eyes met his. "You can beat him, Visas. You can get through this. We can get through this. I know it."
She smiled. "You are so full of hope, Quaid. I think it is one of the things that drew me to you in the first place. It reminds me of how…I used to be." Her face grew serious again. "You will have to face my master. And so will I. It is inevitable. But…" she paused. "I want to do it together. I want to be with you at that deciding moment."
"And I with you," he whispered back. Without thinking, he drew her close and hugged her tightly. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him back. When at last they drew apart, she smiled back at him again.
"We'd better get going," Quaid said as he put his mask back on.
"Yes," she replied, and the two left.
Hope you liked this one. If things go right, the next chapter should be out within a few days.