Father & Son
Chapter IV
Revan Shan sat alone in silent meditation as he considered the situation. This mission had turned out very differently than he had planned. The people who had invaded the planet Ison seemed to be a primal, animalistic race that had little interest in negotiation, except for their commander and their master. The two of them seemed different, more advanced than the rest.
He had been assured that the chelin who inhabited Ison were alright and being contained for their own safety. That was the first lie he had detected. The second one was that these people had picked up the galactic Basic language from a chelin negotiator that they had interrogated. This was an obvious lie. Since the Sith had taken over the Republic, Ison had isolated themselves from everyone and anyone. The Sith had not bothered to conquer them yet, seeing as how the planet wouldn't bring them any real benefits. It was more space they could harvest later. Only a very small group of chelin had realized the threat and had contacted the resistance movement. Therefore, there was no 'chelin negotiator.'
The people who had settled on Ison claimed that they were driven from their homes by the Sith and they seemed to know a great deal about Darth Revan, while they knew nothing of the Star Forge. They were not the most convincing liars he had met. They knew more than they were letting on and he could easily sense that every chelin that had been on this planet was now dead. He was only biding his time out of necessity. If these people had information he could extract, it was worth it. He only prayed that he and Arra could get out of this alive.
Revan looked at himself in the mirror disapprovingly. He and Arra had been invited to a feast that night in their honor. Apparently they would be the two Jedi who would save them from the Sith, another obvious lie. As the guests of honor, he and Arra had been given special ceremonial garments of their people. They had fallen under the category of soldiers, therefore, they were dressed in crude, skin-tight outfits that were used to allow mobility in battle. His outfit consisted of little more than pants and boots. He could only imagine what she was putting up with.
With an air of annoyance, Revan grabbed his belt off of a nearby table and buckled it on. He clipped his lightsabers and blasters to the belt. He heard the door behind him slide open and he turned to see Arra enter the room. He chuckled as he saw her intense dislike of the situation. She was dressed in the same skin tight pants as he was, though they had been kind enough to give her a small garment for her chest as well. The only difference between their outfits was that his was black, while hers was a black and purple color that looked similar to the inside of chelin's torso. He neglected to mention this, for fear that she would lose control right there. Her vibrosword was sheathed at her hip, though her other weapons had been confiscated by the commander.
"This is sick!" She thundered. "I'm not even one of their damn kind and they've got me dressed up like a whore!"
"You are wearing the traditional outfit of a warrior. They respect you," he reprimanded.
"Great. Lying murderers respect me!" She sneered in Mando'a, the language that the two of them had adopted as a code.
The two were interrupted by a knock on the door. It slid open before they could respond and Lord Kirak entered the room. He was dressed exactly the same way as Revan was, revealing all of his crimson colored muscle. Revan examined the man before him. He was much taller standing than he had anticipated. He was at least seven inches taller than Revan, placing him at least at seven feet.
"If you would please follow me," he requested. "The feast is awaiting you."
Revan and Arra nodded. They proceeded to follow the alien lord out of the room and through the hallways of the Ison capital. Karik brought them into a large feast hall that was already highly populated by all of the people who had settled in the city of Ison. Revan's shoulders sagged. He had been expecting them to lead him into a pit of kath hounds or field of mines. He hadn't actually anticipated going to the feast.
Revan and Arra were seated at the table next to Lord Kirak. Shortly afterwards, a swarm of chefs made their way from the kitchens and set out several courses worth of food. The aliens in the hall quickly began to devour it greedily, while Revan and Arra inspected their food more cautiously. Most of the food was meat based, which wasn't much of a surprise, based on their hosts razor blade-like teeth. Seeing how Ison was an oceanic planet, Revan quickly deducted that it was some sort of fish.
"Go ahead," Kirak urged him as he drew a small dagger from his belt and cut into a large piece of meat for himself. "It's the finest food that my people can offer!" Kirak tossed the piece of fish into his mouth and chomped on it impolitely. Revan ignored his manners and cut himself a small piece of meat using his knife. He slowly bit into the fish and chewed it thoughtfully. The taste made his mouth water and he was forced to close his eyes in appreciation for the feast.
"Splendid," he remarked as he quickly cut himself another piece of fish.
"I am glad you approve. It is rare that we have guests with as a high an honor as you or your apprentice."
Revan was about to respond, but he was interrupted by a small chirping sound. He looked down and saw that the comm. line on his belt was beeping. "Excuse me," he said to Kirak as he grabbed the small box and pressed a button on the bottom. A small blue holo-image of P9-17 appeared before him. The droid began beeping and ringing an explanation towards Revan. His face paled as he listened to the droid's report. He severed the comm. link and turned to Arra.
"Sith!" He hissed.
"Beg your pardon?" Kirak inquired as he heard Revan's one word explanation for the interruption. Revan turned to Kirak. Good or bad, these aliens were clearly not friends of the Sith and that's what he needed right now. "The Sith are right outside our front door!" He replied. "They took out our base on Hoth and now they're making their way here, to Ison!"
Arra gasped, while Kirak took a moment to digest the information before him. A moment later, he shrugged and turned his head to the sky, eyes closed. A moment later he began to cackle with a manic laugh that sent shivers down Arra's spine. "Your father's coming," he informed Revan. "His personal shuttle just entered the Ison atmosphere."
Revan stood up abruptly. "We have to do something!" He said urgently.
Kirak smiled. "We already have!" He replied. "I sent an ambassador to the Dark Lord the moment you docked here yesterday."
"What have you done?" Revan demanded.
"It will be a simple exchange. Darth Revan will give us back our princess and we will give him his son."
Revan turned to Arra and then back to Kirak. The doors to the feast hall broke open and a battalion of Sith soldiers in gold armor rushed into the room. Revan grabbed his upgraded heavy pistol, took aim, and fired three clean blaster bolts across the room. The blaster shots planted themselves solidly in three different soldiers' foreheads, killing each of them. Kirak quickly rose and knocked the blaster away from Revan. The Sith who were filing into the room all raised their heavy blaster rifles and trained them carefully on Revan.
Kirak quickly leapt to the other end of the room and landed beside the only Sith soldier in the room who was wearing red armor. This action left Revan and Arra alone at the head of the feast hall with hundreds of blasters trained on them. Each of the primal looking aliens was now standing, their swords in hand.
Revan suddenly felt very cold. A dark presence was drawing near. Arra was clearly being affected by its presence as well. "He's here!" He gasped. Revan looked across the room and watched as an honor guard of dark Jedi march into the room. Revan's eyes were instinctually drawn to the end of the procession. For the first time in his life, Revan Shan set eye on his father, Darth Revan.
His heart slammed against his chest as he examined his father for the first time. Darth Revan was far more imposing than any holo-vid or recording had shown. He was dressed in black velvet robes with a red armored chest plate. The Dark Lord lowered his hood and gazed across the room at his son. Revan Sr. and his son were practically identical. Granted, Revan Sr. was undeniably older looking and his eyes were acid yellow instead of sapphire blue, but other than that they were the same.
Revan's honor guard began to walk down the feast hall towards Revan and Arra in two single file lines. There was one final Sith Lord who walked in between the two lines at the very back. Revan and Arra could feel that these were experienced masters of the dark side and that they wouldn't be easy opponents. Revan's hand landed on his lightsaber, but the procession of Sith kept coming. Each one was dressed in black ballistic mesh armor with a black cloak. Their faces were covered with silver masks that were shaped like the screaming faces of humans. The first two were wearing a saberstaff on the back of their waists. The next four displayed twin single bladed sabers on either side of their hip. The last six all wore one standard saber on the left side of their belt. The one in the very back didn't seem to wield any weapon, though Revan was sure it was there.
"We can't take all of them," Revan muttered to Arra. She said something back to him, but he wasn't listening. He could see his father and Lord Kirak conversing with one another at the other end of the room. As he watched them talk a question burned in his mind, more than ever before. Who were these strange aliens? Did they work for the Sith or were they slaves that Darth Revan had conquered?
The extra member of Revan's honor guard walked between the two lines of Sith right up to the table where Revan Jr. and Arra were standing. "Throw down your weapons immediately," he ordered.
Do as they say. You will not survive otherwise.
Revan's fist clenched tightly, but he knew that the voice in his head was right. He couldn't take them. "Do it," he hissed to Arra.
Reluctantly, Arra drew her vibrosword and threw it at the Sith Master's feet. Revan unclipped his two sabers and set them down on the table. The main Sith Master gestured towards another member of the honor guard walked up and took the two cylindrical weapons from the table and handed them to the Sith Master.
The Sith Master stepped aside to make way for his master a moment later. Revan Sr. held up his hand and his subject obediently placed one of his son's saber into his hand. Revan Sr. examined it carefully and smirked. "Standard focusing crystal. Solari gem… and a Qixoni gem. Most likely improved lens, emitter, and power source. That's an interesting combination."
Revan was completely silent as his father inspected his saber. The Dark Lord looked up at his son and watched him quietly. The entire room seemed to go quiet as father and son looked at each other.
"Take them," Revan ordered to his soldiers. "Bring them to Spirit of Rakata and lock them in the brig. "I want to interrogate them myself."
"Yes Lord Revan," the Sith Master replied.
Two of Revan's honor guard Sith stepped forward and came up behind Revan and Arra. They were fixed with Force inhibitors and neural disruptors before they were escorted out of the room.
---------------------------------------
Revan and Arra were standing on board the Spirit of Rakata, Revan's personal flag ship. There were two soldiers who had been assigned to watch them, but no one was really paying attention to them. The neural disruptors were more than enough to subdue the two of them. They were inside the Spirit's interrogation chamber, awaiting the arrival of Lord Revan. A tech specialist was sitting next to the main computer, downloading all of the information from P9-17.
The door opened and an interrogation officer entered the room, as well as an astromech droid, a T3 unit by the looks of it. "Lord Revan wants me to interrogate the girl," the officer said to one of the soldiers.
"Remove the disruptor," the soldier said to his partner.
"Yes sir," was the response. The second soldier walked up to Arra and unclipped the neural disruptor around her neck. As a precaution, the soldier also bound her wrists together so she wouldn't try anything. Both soldiers stepped backwards and trained their blaster rifles on her. They were used to working with prisoners who had just come out from under the effects of the neural disruptor. She would still be hazy for a few moments now that the collar was off.
Arra shook her head to try and clear the fog. The last thing she remembered was Revan giving her the order to stand down. She tried to think back. The last several hours seemed to be nothing but a blur. It took her a moment to regain focus. A quick scan of the room told her everything that had happened. She and Revan were prisoners. He was still out of the loop. Their weapons were on a table next to the droid tech and P9. There were soldiers with weapons trained. In other words, she was all alone with several trained soldiers to fight, her wrists were bound, her connection to the Force was blocked and she had no weapons.
"Perfect," she muttered beneath her breath.
"Sit down, Jedi," the interrogation officer ordered as he pointed to a nearby chair.
Arra did as she was told, more because of the fact that her legs felt like jelly than that she was actually being obedient. The guards kept the blasters trained on her. The officer sat down in front of her and crossed his legs. The T3 unit provided him with a blank datapad and stylus. He took them without acknowledging the droid and turned to Arra.
"Name?" He inquired.
"Leia Organa," she replied calmly.
The officer made a quick note on his pad and looked back up at her. "Home world?"
"Alderaan," she replied.
"Marital status?"
"Single."
"Current occupation?"
"I work for the Czerka Corporation as a secretary on Coruscant. I'm currently on vacation."
"You chose to go on vacation on Ison?"
"I was on a private shuttle," she replied. "It crashed on Bespin. My pilot was killed. Mr. Bindo was kind enough to offer me a ride. He said he had some business on Dagobah. We stopped on Ison to refuel."
The T3 unit chirped and beeped for a moment. The officer looked down at him and then back to Arra. "What is Mr. Bindo's first name?" He asked.
"Jolee," she replied suspiciously.
The officer smiled. Jolee Bindo was Jedi who left the order nearly forty years ago. He met Lord Revan on the planet Kashyyyk. Lord Revan slew him on the planet Rakata Prime. He's been dead since before the fall of the Republic."
Arra was confused. She had never known who Jolee Bindo was. She had always thought that it was a random name that Carth had made up. Apparently that was wrong. They must have been friends or something.
"Where is the resistance movement located?" He asked as he stood up to emphasize his large build and height.
"I don't know anything about the resistance!" She replied as she averted her gaze from him.
"Do not force me to do something unpleasant," he threatened as he raised his arm dangerously.
"Cur," she sneered in Mando'a.
The officer may not have been fluent in the language, but he was sure that he had been insulted. He brought the back of his hand down across Arra's face, breaking the skin on her lip. A small bit of blood began to pool in the corner of her mouth. She looked up at him defiantly. "That it?" She taunted. "Where are the terrible Sith interrogation techniques I've heard so much about?" This brave remark was rewarded with another blow to the face.
"I am not a patient man, Jedi," he commented as he turned towards the T3 unit and began to press several buttons on its mechanical body. "But you will find that Lord Revan is far less amused by prisoners such as yourself. He will grow weary of your attitude quickly. So for your own sake, answer my questions honestly." As he finished speaking, a small panel on T3's body opened and a small surgical knife was dispensed.
"A scalpel?" She said with a laugh. "What good will that do?"
"All in good time," he replied with a sick smile.
He was about to move in on her, but he stopped abruptly when he heard an obnoxious sound. Someone in the room was snickering. He turned to face the guards. They knew very well that he was not pleased when they cheapened the effect of his torture skills by making their presence obvious. However, when he turned, he saw that they were not causing the sound. He looked around in confusion and his eyes landed on Revan. His face wrinkled in confusion. The young man was wearing a neural disruptor. He shouldn't be able to make any sort of noise whatsoever.
"My droid has a secret toy too," he said with a slight giggle.
The technician on the other side of the room yelped painfully. Everyone turned to see the P9-17 had used a droid shock arm to electrocute the man. The smell of burnt flesh filled the room, causing everyone to cringe. P9 turned quickly to Arra and a small compartment opened on the droid's head. A metal cylinder shot out of the droid's compartment and into the air. At the same time, P9 took careful aim with his cutting laser and shot at the Force inhibitor on Arra's arm. The devise deactivated and Arra instantly felt the Force again. She used it to unbind her wrists and jump into the air, deftly catching the lightsaber. Her finger depressed the switch and an orange blade appeared with a hiss. She quickly cut down the two soldiers and the interrogation officer without thinking. Next she turned to Revan.
"You knew that I'd need this?" She asked as she deactivated the lightsaber that had once belonged to Freedon Nadd. Revan smiled as he quickly removed the neural disruptor and Force inhibitor. The two were about to leave, but they were interrupted by the chirping of the T3 unit.
"Destroy it," Revan ordered.
No! The voice in Revan's head shrieked fearfully as he gave the order.
"Wait!" He called as Arra was about to destroy the droid.
Bring him with you. There are certain files in his databanks that we must recover.
"P9, seal off this room now. I don't want any Sith to be able to get in here. Arra, guard the door. If anything gets through I need you to hold it off!"
"What are you going to do?" She demanded.
"We're taking the droid with us," he replied as he rounded on the small astromech droid.
Before it could stop him, Revan had already activated the emergency shut down switch that was on the T3 unit's mechanical body and had begun operating on its behavior core.
---------------------------------------
Darth Revan stood on the bridge of the Spirit of Rakata, looking down at the planet Ison thoughtfully. He was considering what to do with the new alien planet. If they could be persuaded to join the empire, they would prove to be quite valuable. On the other hand, they were vicious brutes and probably couldn't be trusted.
"Lord Revan!" Someone called urgently.
Revan turned around and saw on of the navigational officers looking at him urgently. "What is it?" He asked wearily.
"Security has just forwarded us this security feed," he replied. "The prisoners have locked themselves inside the interrogation chamber."
Revan walked over to the navigational computer and looked at the video before him. He could see his son was operating on his droid, T3-M4, while his apprentice guarded the door. Another droid had plugged into the security terminal and was presumably the reason that the room was locked down.
Revan pressed a button on the computer that opened a comm. link between him and the security room. "This is Lord Revan," he spoke into the comm. Overload the security terminal in the main interrogation chamber."
He turned back to the security feed before him and watched with a satisfied smile as the terminal exploded, and with it, the P9 unit. Revan straightened up and turned to face a personal servant of his that was patiently awaiting any order. The droid was plugged into one of the bridge terminals, monitoring all of the security feeds. He had been secretly hoping that Revan would assign him to deal with the prisoners.
"HK-47," Revan spoke with a smile. "Go down to the main interrogation chamber and stop them. Kill the girl. Recover T3-M4 and subdue the Jedi."
"Yes Master," the assassin droid replied. "Statement: I will blast that girl's bones into space dust."
The droid held up his assassination rifle and began to march off of the bridge. Revan watched him go with a satisfied look on his pale face. Whether or not HK-47 succeeded was irrelevant. This was going to be amusing.