Father & Son

Chapter V

"Done," Revan remarked as he closed the final compartment that connected to T3-M4's behavioral core. He stood up and reactivated the droid. A slight humming sound reached their ears as the droid's motors began to turn back on. After a moment it beeped and reported that all of its systems were in the green.

Revan nodded and turned his gaze over to the smoldering heap by that had been P9-17 and the security terminal. The droid was scrap. Most of it had been melted away and there was no chance of even the most skilled tech specialist being able to dissect his memory core.

"T3-M4," he spoke absently, trying to calculate the best course of action. "Where's are gear?" The droid chirped its response and Revan swore. "The Rebel is still on the planet's surface," he translated for Arra. "The only stuff they have here is what we had on us."

"It doesn't matter," Arra said dourly. "We've got to find a way out of this room! P9 sealed us in and now the terminal is scrap!"

"Arra, you're holding a lightsaber," he reminded her with a smirk.

She looked down at the saber that was inactive in her right hand. She tightened her grip on it as she studied its beautifully well crafted contours. It felt like it had been made for her. The size and the weight were perfectly balanced and the dark ruins that been emblazoned on the side seemed to speak to her.

Her finger slowly moved up the shaft and depressed the small black button. She heard the hissing sound of the blade as it poured out of the hilt. The light humming sound of the saber filled her ears. With a quick jab, Arra ran the door barring their passage through the center. The durasteel around the blade began to superheat, changing from dull gray to bright orange. Chunks of it began to fall away, sending burning sparks across the ground.

At last, the lock melted away and the door was forced open. Two guards stood waiting outside of the door. Each one held a crimson colored lightsaber in their hands. They leapt at her as soon as they saw her. Arra backed away, allowing them to swipe the ground with their weapons. Revan stepped forward and used the Force to toss a burning piece of scrap metal from the terminal at one of the Sith. He knocked it aside with his blade, but the deed was done. His attention had been drawn away from Arra.

Seeing that only one of the Sith were now focused on her, Arra raised her blade in a defensive stance. Her enemy stepped forward and swung his blade in a broad arc. She quickly brought hers to the left in to block. The blades collided. The Sith attempted to force his weapon to continue. He was physically bigger than her and probably stronger, but she held firmly. He left himself wide open to attack by pursuing this single swing.

Arra took her chance. She pivoted her foot, shifting so that he could press his attack. Both blades came towards her. Before they struck her though, she kicked him in the stomach, sending him backwards. His blade missed her completely and she regained control of her own before it hit her.

Before he could regain his footing, Arra attacked, running him through with her blade. His body collapsed and she turned to Revan just in time to watch him snap the second guard's neck. He threw the body down and turned to her.

"Our personal effects are here," he said gesturing to the table where the interrogation officer's body lay. Arra saw her belt and blaster, but both of Revan's lightsabers were absent.

She quickly took her belt, making sure that her grenades and stims were there, as well as her blaster. She buckled the belt around her waist and holstered the blaster. Then, somewhat proudly, she clipped the lightsaber to her belt, where the scabbard for her vibrosword had been.

"We're going to attract too much attention like this," Revan muttered as he gestured to the outfit she was wearing. They were both still dressed in the skintight ceremonial outfits those beasts on Ison had worn. She had to agree. Walking down the corridors half naked would attract unwanted attention. There were six bodies in the room that they could salvage clothes and weapons from. Unfortunately for her, none of them had been women and therefore all of the clothes were too big. "The computer specialist was a smaller man. You should try him," Revan advised.

Arra sighed as she walked over to the dead tech specialist and examined his clothes. P9 had electrocuted him to death, so most of his clothes had been fried or was now glued to his body by melted flesh. As far as she could tell, his blue armored pants would probably be usable, as well as a torso shield that he had worn. With a sigh she began to unbuckle the torso shield. She pulled it off of his and threw her arms through. Pulling the two pieces together proved difficult. It had clearly been designed for a man and left little room for her chest. She sucked in her breath painfully and tried to force the buckles. They wouldn't connect. With an exasperated sigh she threw it off went for the pants. No dice. Certain parts of his anatomy had been fused with the material.

Angrily, she turned away and looked at Revan. He had pulled on the black under armor that a Sith trooper would wear and was beginning to don the golden breastplate, shoulder guards, boots, and gauntlets. The helmet, unfortunately, was too small.

"No luck?" He asked.

She shook her head. With a sigh, she rolled over the dead body of the Sith that Revan had killed earlier and pulled off its cloak. She threw it around her shoulders and fastened it at the neck. "It'll have to do," she commented.

Revan picked up to the two red lightsabers that the dead Sith had dropped. Weighing them in his hands, he decided upon the one in his left hand and promptly dropped the second one.

"Well go to the hangar," he told her as he clipped the stolen lightsaber to his belt. "If anyone asks, we're doing a routine patrol." It was a weak lie, but it was the best that he could really come up with under these circumstances. A Sith Lord, barely clothed beneath her cloak, and a Sith trooper made an unlikely pair.

Without another word, the two stepped out of the interrogation room and into the hallways.

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Darth Revan watched as his son and his apprentice left the interrogation room. A smirk crossed his face. His son was resourceful, a trait he had clearly gained from his father. The Dark Lord almost felt pride watching the fruit of his loins kill his soldiers. He turned to the comm. terminal and pressed a button.

"HK-47, they're headed towards the hangar," he spoke.

The droid took a moment to process the information and then responded. "Yes master."

He turned to the navigational officer whose computer screen had received the security loop. "I want all security monitoring feeds directed to the bridge," he ordered.

"Yes Lord Revan," the officer replied as he typed the order and sent it to the security room. "It's done," the officer told him after a moment. "We have access to every camera on board."

"Follow the prisoners' progress," he ordered. "Alert me if they are confronted by the droid."

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Arra and Revan soon discovered that their disguises were worthless. Without a helmet, everyone on board recognized him as the Dark Lord's son and the second she moved, Arra's cloak revealed that she was scantily clad beneath her cloak. Both had drawn sabers and were forced to fight their way out of the prison floor.

The turbolift opened and they stepped out into the hallway. There was no one there. Taking this as a good sign, they pressed forward. They wandered about for what felt like hours, knocking down doors, occasionally fighting their way through a small wave of security droids. Altogether, they were no farther along than they had been.

Finally they came into the hangar itself and looked about. There were mostly one man fighters and small scout ships. "We'll each take a fighter ship and jump to hyperspace," he decided as he stepped up to one of the ships. "I'll take the droid. We'll meet up on Dagobah."

"Threat: Stay away from the ships, Meatbag, or I will be forced to dissuade you aggressively."

Revan and Arra quickly turned. A dark orange droid holding a heavily modified assassination rifle stood near one of the ships, blaster raised. Both of them drew their sabers and activated them. The droid unleashed a flurry of blaster bolts upon them. Both dove for cover behind separate Sith ships, allowing the vehicles to take the damage for them.

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Lord Revan stood on the bridge, watching the battle in the hangar with undivided attention. He watched his droid quickly incapacitate the girl and was now locked in a ferocious battle with his son. His attention was snapped away from the battle when an alarm went off. He looked up and turned to face his helmsman.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Incoming vessel," the helmsman replied. "Small star ship by the looks of it."

Revan turned and looked at the helmsman's computer screen with interest. "They're using a cloaking device?" He inquired.

"Not anymore, milord," he replied. "That must be how they got so close without us realizing before."

A slight look of annoyance marred Revan's face. "How close are they?" He demanded.

"They're uh… they're within firing range, milord."

Revan's first impulse was to take the helmsman's skull and bash it into his post, but he restrained himself. Damaging instruments wouldn't be helpful at the moment. "Raise the deflector shields," he ordered. "And prepare all cannons for full attack."

"Too late!" Someone shouted.

The ship shook violently as it was hit by another passing ship. "What happened?" He demanded.

"They're faster than us, milord!" The navigational officer replied. "They flew right over us and fired at our port guns!"

"Damage report, now!" The Dark Lord demanded.

"The main port ion cannon is down, as well as the battery turrets!"

The ship rocked viciously again, causing several officers to fall out of their seats. Revan swore loudly before turning for another report. He didn't even have to ask before the helmsman spoke. "They've hit our main fuel containers! We're leaking fuel into space!"

"We'll go up in flames at this rate!" Revan shouted.

"Sir, they've sent us a transmission!" The communications officer cried.

"Put it on screen!" Revan ordered.

He turned to face the screen and a bluish colored image appeared before him. A woman was sitting on the bridge of the opposing ship. Her hair was just passed her shoulder and very bushy, though it was impossible to determine the color through the hologram. Her piercing eyes were cold and hardened, like that of an old war veteran who had seen death too many times. She was dressed in what looked like black leather pants and a black tank-top shirt. A light violet cloak hung from her shoulders. At first inspection Revan didn't take her as any serious threat.

"Lord Revan," she said calmly, her eyes taking him in as he examined her.

"Who are you?" Revan sneered, his cool composition not dropping in the slightest bit, despite the fact that his ship was in great danger.

"My name is Mara Jade," she replied. "I am a representative of the New Jedi Order. I am under orders to retrieve the two Jedi that you have taken prisoner."

Revan smiled. "So the Jedi are finally resurfacing," he mused calmly. "You almost had me believing that you had been wiped out."

"You are to comply with my orders or risk the destruction of your ship," she continued.

"There are no Jedi on board this ship," he snapped at her. "If you are referring to the two prisoners we took on Ison, you're wasting your time. They've already been disposed of."

"Oh really?" She asked, amused by this. "You know for all I've heard of the great Dark Lord, I'm a little underwhelmed."

"Milord!" Someone in the room cried.

"What?" He snapped as he spun around. "

"The hangar!" The officer replied. "The prisoners!"

Revan turned back to the hologram when he heard Mara Jade chuckling. "By now I'm guessing that our second ship has boarded yours and has found the Jedi we seek."

Revan glanced over at his helmsman, who nodded slowly. "A group of Jedi have just destroyed unit HK-47.

The Dark Lord looked at the security feed that displayed the hangar and saw that it was true. Several Jedi were ushering Revan Jr. and Arra onto a star ship so they could escape.

"Surrender to the New Jedi Order, Darth Revan, or we will destroy your ship," Mara threatened.

He turned back to her and snickered. "Then you're in for one hell of a fight," he sneered. "Cut the feed."

Mara Jade's image vanished and Revan turned away. "Summon the main fleet to our location."

"Yes milord," an officer replied.

Revan turned away from the bridge and stalked out of the room. He had a feeling this wasn't going to end well.

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The two small star ships that had assaulted the Spirit of Rakata were now joined together by a boarding tube. Revan and Arra were safely transferred to the main ship, where they were greeted by two Jedi guards.

"Our leader is in the next room," one of them told Revan. "She wishes an audience with you."

Revan nodded and proceeded into the adjoining room, Arra on his heels. There were seven Jedi on board the bridge of the ship. Mara Jade was sitting in the captain's chair, while the other six Jedi were manning communications, navigation, weapons, and shields.

Mara Jade turned to face Revan and Arra. She held out her hand in greeting, which Revan shook firmly. She studied his face calmly. It was a slight shock to see how close Revan resembled his father. The only difference between them was their eye color. Once her inspection was complete, she spoke. "My name is Mara Jade," she informed him. "I have been ordered by the Jedi Council to escort you and your padawan to our base of operations, outside the empire."

"No," he said firmly, shaking his head. "This could be our only chance! We need to stop Revan, now!"

"Kyle," Mara said, turning to face a Jedi who was station at the weapons' station. "What is the Spirit of Rakata's status?"

The Jedi, Kyle, a middle aged man with black curly hair and a slight stubble growing on his chin, responded quickly. "They're leaking fuel," he reported. "If we ignite the gas, the ship will be caught in the explosion. The Dark Lord won't survive."

"Do it!" She ordered.