Told ya it'd be only a couple days! And I was right for once!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 23: To Free the Beast

Revan and his companions followed Trusk down the hall, with Atton holding a pistol to his back the entire way. It wasn't long before they encountered more Sith soldiers.

"There they are! They've taken Trusk prisoner!" one of them shouted. There were maybe eight of them, but they were taken out quickly by Revan and the other three Jedi. Trusk definitely didn't seem happy about it, and grew more angry as they progressed.

It was a large level, and it was a while before they finally came to the section in which they were holding the creature prisoner. But it wasn't before they encountered too more waves of soldiers. Revan knew they didn't have long before the halls were swarming with Exchange and Sith.

"Around that corner," Trusk directed them. But as they rounded the corner, they were quickly met with more blaster fire. At the end of the hall were more turrets, as well as…

"Dark Jedi!" Yuthura exclaimed. There were four of them guarding the entrance to the door, as well as soldiers. Someone really wanted this door guarded.

Revan, Yuthura, Quaid, and Visas charged with their lightsabers drawn. They deflected the blaster bolts as they ran, while Atton, Mission, and HK-47 fired with their blasters.

"Warning: watch out, master!" HK-47 launched an ion grenade from his left hand, which instantly disabled the turrets

Seeing an opportunity, Trusk attempted to escape, but was quickly stopped by a strong, metallic hand.

"Condescending command: Do not attempt to escape, you half-witted meatbag, or I will tear you apart, limb from useless limb!" With one hand, he kept Trusk pinned to the wall while he used the other to fire his blaster.

Up front, Revan struck at one of the Sith, who blocked him. In a flash, Revan drew his other lightsaber and struck. Revan aimed blow after blow at the Dark Jedi, who retaliated with strikes of his own. Revan at last saw an opening, landed a blow right across the Sith's side. With a cry of pain, he fell to the floor. The soldiers were still there, but luckily they were preoccupied with Atton, Mission, and HK. Visas managed to finish off the Sith she was dueling with, and Yuthura and Quaid soon finished off their opponents. Yuthura's arm was still injured, but she still held her own very well. By this time, HK-47 had downed most of the Sith soldiers, while Mission and Atton took out the rest.

"Someone really wanted this door guarded," Revan said after the fight was finished. He looked back to see HK-47 dragging a furious-looking Trusk behind him by the collar.

"I can walk, you mechanical moron!" the Sith spat.

"Statement: This meatbag attempted to escape while you were distracted, master."

"Tired of our company already, Trusk?" Revan mocked. Trusk merely glared at him. "Let him up, HK," Revan commanded. HK let go, and the angry Sith got to his feet while pushing the droid away from him. Revan pointed his lightsaber at the reptilian Sith. "Now, open the door."

Hesitantly, Trusk approached the door. He drew a passcard from his pocket and swiped it, then pressed his hand to the panel. With a hiss the doors opened up into a dark, small room lined with computer consoles. The group walked into the room, and surely enough, there it was. Against the corner, surrounded by an energy field, stood the creature they had released on Dantooine. Upon seeing them, it perked up and pressed against the field.

"Revan! I knew you were here!" it exclaimed. "Let me out!"

"I will, just give us a sec!" Revan replied. He turned to Trusk. "Release him."

Trusk nervously walked up to one of the computer consoles. He pressed a few buttons on the panel, and within a few moments, the energy field holding the creature disappeared. It leapt out of its cell and approached Revan. "Thank you," it said to him. "I cannot tell you how much danger we were all in."

"Good to see you, too," Revan added. "Is that a force-restraint collar?"

"Yes. Can you get it off me?" it asked.

"Sure. One sec."

"Do you have any idea what this thing is?" Trusk asked Revan.

"I really am not sure. But whatever he is, he was created a very long time ago by a crazy Jedi, apparently," Revan explained as he removed the collar.

"My father was not insane, though he was certainly not rational," the creature responded, almost in an annoyed tone. "And everything will be explained in time. But first, we must leave. We don't have much time."

"How are we going to get out of here?" Mission asked.

"There's a hangar!" Quaid said. "We can hijack a ship from there! But we have to hurry." As soon as he finished a loud siren sounded from the halls outside.

"What is that?" Revan asked Trusk.

"An alarm," Trusk told him. "Someone must have found out you were here. Sion and the rest of the Sith will be here in no time," he said almost casually.

"That's nice," Revan grumbled. With a wave of his hand, he sent Trusk flying against the wall. He fell to the floor, unconscious.

"What did you do?" Quaid asked, shocked.

"Relax, he's just knocked out. We don't need him, anyway."

"Not to rush you guys, but LET'S GO!" Atton yelled.

The eight of them rushed out of the room. Sirens all around were going off, and Revan could tell there were soldiers around.

"Look out!" Quaid shouted. A large wave of Sith soldiers appeared and blocked their path. A barrage of blaster fire quickly came their way. Revan and the other Jedi deflected the bolts and ran forward to meet them. Revan force-leapt at the mass of armored troops. He landed and quickly cut down the soldier in front of him. He was about to deal with the others when a bolt of force-lightning darted forth right in front of him. The bolt struck and wiped out over half the soldiers. Revan quickly glanced back and saw the creature standing, with force-lightning still crackling around its body. It had an almost satisfied grin on its face.

Revan was joined by the other three Jedi, who easily dealt with the soldiers. "Impressive," Revan said to the creature as it neared him.

"I can command both the light and the dark sides of the force. I'm not proud of it, but the force flows through me differently than it does you," it told him. "And I'm stronger now then I was on Dantooine. My powers have now all but fully returned."

"In that case, you'll be a big help," Revan said.

"Revan, here come more!" Quaid shouted.

Revan cursed and turned to face the oncoming wave of soldiers. This time the creature responded first. A wave of lightning erupted from its hands and struck down all the soldiers at the front of the group. The others weren't sure how to respond. HK-47 took the opportunity to fire a volley at them from his rifle, downing a few more. Revan followed by leaping at the soldiers and cutting them down with his lightsaber. Once all the soldiers were down, the eight of them ran as fast as they could toward the elevator. They only met a few soldiers before reaching the elevator, which were dealt with easily. Once they boarded the elevator and reached the floor, they piled out and fought their way toward the hangar. This time, it was the Exchange they had to deal with. They at last reached the huge doors of the hangar, and they slid open.

To their relief, the hangar was empty. "Pick a ship, any ship," Quaid told them. Revan spotted a medium-sized vessel that looked big enough to hold all of them.

"There!" he pointed.

"Wait, we need to open the doors, first," Yuthura reminded them.

"Atton, get inside that ship and get it ready. We'll take care of the doors," Revan commanded. Quaid tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Up there is the main control room for the hangar. We might have to hack into the computers."

"Mission, follow us!" Revan called to her. The three of them ran up to the control room. When they reached it, there was no one inside. "We need to open the doors," Revan said.

"Move!" Mission pushed through him. She instantly went to work on the keyboard. Within a few moments, they heard a loud groan as the hangar doors opened. They were about to leave when Quaid stopped them.

"Wait! I have a deal to complete," he told them.

"What are you doing? Quaid, we don't have much time!" Revan urged him.

"Hold on! I need to do this. It won't take long." He turned to Mission. "Mission, there's a radar field the Exchange operates from here. Can you disable it?"

"I'll try," she told him. She cracked her knuckles and worked furiously on the system. "That's it! I did it!" she said after a while.

"Great. I have more thing. Can you access the control panels for the docking system in this hangar?" Quaid asked her.

"Quaid, what are you doing?" Revan shouted.

"Just hold on!"

"Revan, the ship's up and running. I just need you to release it from the dock," Atton spoke through Revan's communicator.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, Mission and Quaid got up. "Let's go!" the exile told him.

"Mind explaining what you did?" Revan asked him.

"I programmed the console to send a huge electrical surge through the entire hangar in about five minutes. Every ship that's hooked up is gonna be fried!"

"Clever. I hope you know that might also ignite the fuel tanks here," he warned.

"I know. That'll make it even better," the exile said with a sly grin. "It'll also destroy the control room and their main radar conduit."

"Why? What's this for?"

"I made a deal with Vogga the Hutt. I'll explain later."

They finally reached the ship, where everyone except Atton was waiting outside.

"The ship is ready, Revan. If we hurry, we can get out of here before-"

"The Sith arrive?" an inhuman voice answered. Everyone looked back to see dozens of Sith and Exchange soldiers standing there with blasters aimed. At the very front of it all were Darth Sion and Visquis. "I must congratulate you on managing to get this far," he said mockingly. "But this is as far as you'll go."

"I was a fool to trust you so easily," Visquis told Quaid, pointing a blaster at him. "But thankfully, that's a mistake I won't have to live with."

"Mission, get on the ship," Revan told her. She hesitated for a moment, but quickly rushed into the vessel. "Sion, this hangar is rigged to explode. If we stay here too long, we'll all die."

"All the more reason for you to give up now." Sion saw Visas and his expression changed. "So there you are, you traitor," he growled at her. "Nihilus has seen your treachery, you foolish girl. I'm sure you know this."

Visas said nothing, and glared back at him.

"Believe me, you will pay for what you have done. You should have thought twice before aiding these worthless Jedi," Sion snorted. "You're as good as dead, now. I'm sure Nihilus will be pleased to see you again. I think he'll enjoy torturing you endlessly and hearing you scream for mercy." He laughed.

"Don't listen to him, Visas," Quaid told her.

"No, Sion," Visas hissed. "It's you who will fail. You are the one who is as good as dead. Nihilus won't be happy when he finds you've let me and his prize slip right through your fingers."

Sion glared at her hatefully. He shifted his attention to the creature. "You. Come with us, now. Do it and we'll give your companions a very quick death."

"I will not," it spat.

"No," Revan told it. Everyone looked at him.

"Revan?" Quaid asked.

Revan waved a hand. "It's useless. There's no escaping from this. We've lost," he said in a defeated tone. Sion gave a satisfied smile. Revan turned to the creature. "You should go."

"Revan, what are you saying?" it shouted in amazement.

Revan lowered his head. "I…" he began. Instead of completing his thought, he shot his hand out toward the crowd of soldiers. He sent out a force wave so powerful it knocked over every enemy in the room except Sion.

"GET THEM!" Sion roared. He charged at Revan, who had both his lightsabers drawn already.

Quaid quickly took a grenade from his belt and lobbed it at the downed group of soldiers. It exploded right in the center, taking a bunch of them out.

Sion struck at Revan furiously. Revan in turn parried all his blows while trying to strike back with his own. Sion attempted to land a blow on Revan's head, but he blocked it. Using his lightsaber he pushed and held Sion's blade down to the floor. "Bye bye," Revan mocked, and in a flash he used his other lightsaber to strike off Sion's lightsaber hand. The corpse-like Sith lord moaned in pain. Before he could get his lightsaber with the other hand, Revan sent him flying across the room with another force-wave.

"Quick! Everyone on the ship!" Revan shouted. They all boarded, with Quaid being the last. By this time, Visquis had gotten back up in a daze. Seeing Quaid, he fired a shot at him with his blaster. However, Quaid deflected the bolt with his lightsaber, and sent it right back at Visquis, who fell lifelessly to the floor. Quaid smiled and ran up the entry ramp, then closed it behind him.

Everyone else was getting into their seats. "Everyone, buckle up!" Atton's voice came in over the intercom. Everyone found a seat and strapped in. In a moment, the ship lurched as it slowly rose off the ground. The ship turned and headed for the hangar doors as the Exchange and Sith fired at it from below.

"Yeeha!" Atton yelled from the cockpit. The ship lurched forward and accelerated. It sped through the doors and down a long tunnel. Behind them, they could feel a rumble as the hangar exploded behind them. A column of fire followed them out the tunnel as the ship finally broke free into the atmosphere.

Once they were in the open, Revan and the others breathed a sigh of relief. He slowly unbuckled himself and stood up. "Atton, send a transmission to Jolee and tell him to get the Ebon Hawk ready," he said into the intercom. He sighed again and sat down.

"Close call, eh?" Mission said with a grin.

"Tell me about it," Revan replied.

"So where next?" Mission asked.

"Dantooine," Revan told her. "Where we'll be able to settle this once and for all." He paused and turned to the creature, who was staring right back at him.

"Okay, I've freed you. Now, can you explain to me what exactly you are? And how were you made?"

The creature looked Revan straight in the eye. "I can tell you. But first, we must get off this planet. Then I will tell you everything. I promise you."

"Very well." Revan turned to Quaid. "Now, care to explain what that was all about back there? We must've wiped out almost the entire Exchange back there and their Sith recruits."

Quaid stood up. "I made a deal with Vogga the Hutt. I told him that we would remove the Exchange's blockade if he shipped his huge stockpile of fuel to Telos."

"You got fuel for Telos?" Revan asked excitedly.

"Yes. We pretty much wiped out the Exchange fleet and their vast radar network. It will be long time, if ever, before they get up and running again."

"Great job," Revan congratulated him.

"If you'll excuse me, I need to send Vogga a transmission right now telling him I've done my end of the deal," Quaid said. With that he got up and headed for the ship's cockpit.

Yuthura approached Revan and stood beside him. "Now that this is done, we may have a chance to save Bastila," she said, trying to comfort Revan.

"I know," he replied. "She's still alive, I can feel it. I just hope we make it in time."

In the cockpit, Quaid was busy sending a transmission to Vogga. An image appeared of a sour-looking Rodian on the screen. "What do you want?" it huffed.

"I need to speak to Vogga," Quaid told him.

"Vogga is busy! Call back later."

"Tell him about the Exchange's fleet. It's been disabled."

The Rodian's eyes widened. "Well, that makes quite a difference. Wait here, I'll send you through to him at once."

A few seconds later, Vogga's bloated form appeared on the screen. "Well hello, old friend. I was wondering what happened to you. So, what news do you have about that blockade?"

"Vogga, the blockade is over. The Exchange's fleet has been destroyed."

Vogga looked surprised. "Impossible! The Exchange's fleet destroyed this soon? I did not think you could do it. Are you lying to me?"

Quaid grinned. "If you don't believe me, just look for yourself. I think you'll find their radar field that's been obstructing your transmissions is gone."

Vogga eyed him. "For some reason, I believe you. You have that honest face. But I must say, I am surprised," he gurgled. "So, I guess this means I have to fulfill my end of the bargain now?"

"Yes. You promised you'd send your fuel to Telos. I met my end of the bargain, now it's your turn."

"Well, I am a Hutt of my word. I will send Telos the fuel I promised. And I'll give them a fair deal, as you requested. The shipments will be sent immediately." He paused. "You are strange. Most people would just ask for credits. Not that I mind, but it's very unusual."

Quaid grinned. "I'm an unusual person. Thank you, Vogga. Farewell."

"Bye," the Hutt huffed, and the screen went dark.

Atton flew the ship over to the docks and landed it at one of the empty pads. The eight of them exited the ship and went out into the open. "Jolee," Revan said through his communicator. "Is the Ebon Hawk ready?"

"Yup. Now where have you kids been? I was beginning to wonder what happened to you! I was starting to think you'd gotten run over by a freighter, or something."

"No, but it was a wild ride, I'll tell you," Revan sighed.

"Well, you can tell me all about it later. The ship is all warmed up, and T3's about ready to bust a few bolts if you don't show up. Little droid's been worried about you, too."

Revan chuckled. "Alright, we'll be right there."

Meanwhile, HK-47 was having a chat with the creature,who was now wearing a black Sith robeto help hide his appearance. It had been taken off one of the Dark Jedi, and the hood was drawn over his head.

"Statement: You are an amazing thing, creature. You are not a droid, yet you do not have the squishy parts of a meatbag. You seem to be artificial, yet you are not mechanical! What model are you?"

The creature looked at HK curiously. "I am…complicated," he said nervously. "The force is what gives me life. Now, how is it that you can live without the force? It is very strange."

"Boastful statement: I am a cybernetically-structured protocol droid, built as a custom model and capable of accomplishing a wide range of useful tasks, including language translation and meatbag extermination!"

"What is a 'meatbag'?" he asked the droid.

"Pretty much anything that bleeds," Revan told him.

"Ah. This is a rather unique companion you have here," the creature replied.

"You have no idea." Revan turned to his companions. "We'd better hurry before our new friend attracts some unwanted attention.

It wasn't long before the gang arrived at the familiar Ebon Hawk. Revan couldn't have been happier to see it. The sooner he was off this planet and back on Dantooine, the better. The entry ramp was already open, and Jolee Bindo was outside waving to them as they approached. His eyes widened when he saw the creature.

"Well, hello there," Jolee said to them. "I see you've found what you came here for."

"Yes. Now let's get off this planet," Quaid said. The entire group boarded the vessel. A little while later, the Ebon Hawk lifted off the ground and zoomed into the stratosphere.

Yay! I'm hoping to get this almost finished, if not all finished by the end of the summer. Unfortunately, I need to take some time to work on my other fic, so it might be a little while before this one is updated again. If I could do it over, I would have this fic finished by now. Then again, when I first started I had no idea that I'd be writing a friggin' book. XP Please drop in a review, I'm always eager for opinions, criticisms, etc. So long.