"I swear I'm gonna strangle that Twi'lek," Carth muttered, slouching in the pilot's seat and glaring into space. "She has the worst timing in the 'verse."
"Says who?"
Carth spun the seat around to glare at the true target of his vexation. "Says me. Would you stop sneaking in here?"
"I wasn't sneaking," Mission defended. "Is it my fault you're always distracted when I walk in?" Carth ignored the jab and spun back to stare out into space. Mission sighed. "It's not like I did it on purpose. I know you two are crazy about each other. Trust me, if I'd known, I wouldn't have walked in like that. " She grinned cheekily. "I woulda snuck in with a holorecorder."
"I bet you would have." The bite of anger edging Carth's voice had lessened.
"Look, don't stay mad at me forever, okay?"
"I couldn't even if I wanted to."
"I know," Mission smirked as she left. She'd heard the chuckle under that last statement. Both of them knew there would probably be opportunity for a retry sooner rather than later.
"You are strong, child. But I will break you."
"AAAHHH!!!!" The Force Lightning ceased for a moment, just long enough for Bastila to finally drag a rough breath. It caught in something bordering on a sob as she gasped against the pain. Two days and already the pain threatened to undo her. She couldn't let him know. "I'll never fall to the dark side!" His only response was to send another burst of Force Lightning shooting through her body. "You think torture will turn me, Malak? You are a fool."
The Sith Lord chuckled as he paced across the room. "Torture? No, dear Bastila. You misunderstand. This is but a taste of the dark side, to whet your appetite." He crossed back over and caressed her face with one pale hand. Bastila jerked her head away, all she could do strapped down as she was. "When you finally swear loyalty to me," Malak continued, "it will be willingly."
Just the thought made her blood boil. "Never!" she protested vehemently, pulling against the restraints.
"Such resolve in your words. But I see the truth in your heart. The dark side calls to you, Bastila," the Dark Lord gloated, yellow eyes gleaming. "You hunger to taste it. Become my apprentice, and all its power can be yours!" The lightning flew from his fingers to the ceiling as he laughed, then he turned all of it on her. She groaned in agony, unwilling to scream, unable to keep silent…
"Bastila!!!" Kenna rocketed up in her bunk, heart pounding, image of her friend burned into her eyelids. She sat gasping as her breathing slowed. It was just a dream, it was just a dream…No, it wasn't. It was a vision. Of what… the tears came. The tears she'd held back through so much; Karath torturing Carth, Carth's anger over her being Revan, realizing she truly, deeply loved a man who--at the time--hated her. This last image was too great a strain on the damming wall, and Kenna smothered her face in her hands and wept. Someone knocked on the door. "What?" she managed around the lump in her throat.
"It's Mission. Carth told me to tell you we're almost there. He figured you might wanna be in the cockpit. Are you okay?" The Twi'lek stuck her head in the room, concern etched on her face.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks, Mish." Kenna ran her hand through her tangled hair. "I'll be out in a minute."
"You sure you're okay? You look like you've been crying."
"It was just a dream. I'm fine, I promise."
"Okay, if you say so." Mission disappeared from view. Kenna took a deep breath to calm herself down. Calm down. If you go in there all upset, Carth'll get worried, and he need to focus on flying. AND he'll wanna know why you're upset. She shuddered at the thought. Reliving that nightmare was one thing she never wanted to do again.
Kenna made her way to the cockpit, wiping her eyes and hoping they weren't too red. She walked up behind the pilot's seat. "Mission said we're getting close?"
Carth looked up at her. "Yes, we're almost to the location where the Star Map paths intersect. I thought you probably wouldn't want to sleep through that."
"You were right. Thank you." She smiled.
"Are you alright?" Carth had noticed the red around her eyes.
Kenna nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. I promise."
He didn't believe her. "Did you dream about Bastila?"
Kenna didn't answer for a long moment. She didn't want to tell him, but she didn't want to lie, either. "Yes," she finally whispered. Carth punched the autopilot and turned to give her a hug. Kenna buried her face in his chest and clung to him for support as the all-too recent memory boiled to the surface. "I'm sorry, I can't…"
"Shh…you don't need to tell me anything, beautiful." He rubbed her back. "I don't need to know." After a moment, he amended that statement. "Unless you want to talk about it. In that case, go right ahead."
Kenna shook her head. "If I never have to relive it, that'll be fine with me. He was…" She stopped herself, refusing to give voice to the sobs tearing at her throat. Carth held her closer.
The computer beeped at them, forcing Carth to let go of Kenna and put the Hawk back on manual control as he brought it out of hyperspace. "Well, there it is," he commented as the space station loomed up in front of them. "The Star Forge…I've never seen anything like it." He looked up at Kenna for a second to offer her an encouraging smile, then returned his attention to the controls, hands moving over them with the ease of familiarity. "I'm transmitting these coordinates to Admiral Dodonna. Maybe a quick strike by the Republic can cripple the Sith fleet." He finished and leaned back in the seat. "Message is away. Now we can just wait for the Republic to show up. We should be safe here, we're outside their sensor range." Almost as if planning to make a liar of him, the computer emitted a string of alarmed beeps.
"What's that?" Kenna demanded, afraid she already knew.
Carth punched the cutoff button with more force than was necessary. "A small vanguard of Sith fighters, coming in hard!" Sith's blood, where did they come from?? "Someone needs to get on those gun turrets." Kenna was already running for the ladder. "Take them out before they report our position to the main fleet!" Carth hollered after her.
Everything is finally going my way. You are not screwing it up for me now, you sons of schuttas. Kenna scrambled up the ladder, grabbing hold of the control for the gun sticking out of the top of the Ebon Hawk. Her fingers were mashing the buttons before she was even all the way in the seat, with two nearly simultaneous explosions as her reward as she got settled in. Well, four left. She spun the turret in the direction of the closest fighter, continuous stream of laser bolts spewing toward the fighter as it zigzagged away. Kenna cursed to herself and whirled to fire at another one, catching this one in the cockpit as the Hawk rocked under her.
"Hurry up!" Carth hollered at her.
"I'm trying!" Kenna yelled back, lining up her sights on the fourth fighter. Two shots earned her an explosion that showered the Hawk with debris. Feeling her frustration mount as she missed several shots in a row, the fifth pilot was apparently a master at dodging, she muttered under her breath about what she was going to do to Malak when she finally got her hands on him. She could hear Carth muttering to himself in the cockpit as he maneuvered the Hawk to avoid getting fried. Kenna allowed herself a brief smirk as she finally blasted the fifth ship into space dust. One more to go. She could breathe a little easier knowing there wouldn't be other ships firing on her while she concentrated on this one. "Gotcha!" she muttered as a laser bolt finally slammed into the wing cannon of the attacking ship. "All clear!" she called to Carth as she scurried downfrom the turret. The Hawk pitched sideways, tossing her off the ladder and into the wall hard enough she saw stars.
"Oh, we got problems," she heard Carth groan. "We've flown into some kind of disruptor field. All my instruments are jammed! We've got massive overloads in all systems!" She scrambled to her feet and into the cockpit. Carth's hands were flying over the controls as he struggled to keep the ship steady, a near impossible task. "I'm picking up a single planet in the system , I'll try to put us down there. Hold on. This may be a rough landing," he warned as the Hawk rattled hard enough Kenna heard Mission holler in alarm.
"Whew, talk about your rough landings, Carth! What's the matter? You're flying like you've been on an all night Tarisian ale drinking binge," Mission teased after Carth managed to coax the Ebon Hawk down in what was admittedly one of his rougher landings.
"That disruptor field fried our stabilizers," Carth explained. "We're lucky we made it down in one piece." He frowned. "But if we can't find the salvage to make repairs, I won't even be able to get the Ebon Hawk airborne again!"
"During our rather rapid descent," Juhani spoke up, "I noticed the hulls of many crashed ships scattered across the landscape. Perhaps the parts you need can be found among the wreckage."
"The Cathar's right," Canderous agreed, "This planet's a technological graveyard. I saw dozens of downed ships out there. That disruptor field must've wiped 'em all out. But where could it be coming from?"
"Even if we get the stabilizers fixed, we'll have to find and disable the source of that disruptor field before we can take off. Otherwise we'll just end up crashing again," Carth pointed out.
"That disruptor field could wipe out the whole Republic Fleet," Kenna murmured, concern darkening her grey eyes.
"You're right!" Carth looked worried. "That Sith fleet we saw must have some sort of protection against the disruptor field. We have to find a way to disable it or the Republic will be slaughtered!"
T3 beeped and warbled, causing Mission to turn and fiddle with the computer. "T3's picking up massive power fluctuations on the ship's sensors. They seem to be coming from some type of large stone structure to the east…it looks like some kind of ancient temple."
Something about the temple sounded extremely--eerily-- familiar to Kenna. "Let's go check it out." Maybe there's something there…I've been here before…I know it.
"Good idea," Carth agreed. "If that temple's generating power it probably has something to do with that disruptor field." I'm coming with you, Kenna. Don't even try to leave me here.
"Hey, don't forget about Bastila, guys!" Mission reminded them, as if Kenna needed reminding. "We still have to rescue her, too."
"I only hope we're not too late," Juhani commented, concern written across her normally calm features, "Bastila has been Malak's prisoner for a long time. If he can turn her to the dark side she will join him and the Sith will be invincible."
"Bastila would never turn to the dark side!" Kenna protested, memory of her dream boiling to the surface again. I hope.
Jolee sighed. "I fear Bastila will find the lure of the dark side difficult to resist. She is strong in the Force, but she is also impulsive, willful, and proud--as you once were, Revan."
Kenna mentally recoiled at the use of that name. "Don't call me that," she begged, "I'm not Revan anymore." Never again.
"I am glad to hear you say that," Jolee smiled. "Now that you know your true identity I was afraid you might slip back to the dark side. If Bastila feels as you do, there may yet be hope for her."
Kenna smirked to herself. I'll never slip again. She looked over at Carth out of the corner of her eye. Not when I've been given such a very good reason to stay on the path of the light.
"Well, if Bastila is on the Star Forge like you think, Jolee, then we can't rescue her until we disable that disruptor field. The sooner we investigate that temple to the east the better," Carth insisted. "We can probably find wreckage of a downed ship along the way. If we're lucky, we can salvage some stabilizers from it to get off this planet."
"I hope everything works out as smooth as you make it sound, Carth." Mission sounded like she'd decided to play the pessimist.
"So do I, Mission. So do I." Carth looked over at Kenna, who was lost in thought. She looked up at him. I'm coming with you, beautiful. For once he hoped she had read his mind. He'd stressed 'we', hoping Kenna had picked up his not-so-subtle hints that he was coming with her whether she wanted him to or not. From the look she was giving him, she had.
She knew he wanted to come. She wanted him to come, too. But the danger on this place… What good is it having a war hero around if you don't trust him to take care of himself--and you??? That was one point her more cautious side had to concede. "Alright, Carth, Juhani, you come with me. The rest of you stay here and make sure nothing happens to the Hawk." Even though she pretended not to, Kenna saw Mission's "What-did-you-expect?" eye roll and Carth's sigh of relief. It'll be fine. You need to stop trying to protect him. He's managed to survive rougher stuff than anything you can remember. Remember those scars? If that's the worst he got from the Mandalorian Wars, you need to be letting him protect you, instead of trying to do it the other way around. But I'm trying to protect him from me. Not something else. Me. The former Dark Lord of the Sith. I'm afraid this planet will bring that side of me out. I can feel it calling me. Tempting me…This place feels entirely too familiar. No repeats of last time. Whenever that was. Kenna lead the way down the ramp. She saw Mission pulling out her pazaak deck out of the corner of her eye. Apparently the Twi'lek was still trying to beat Canderous. If you didn't win the first thirteen games, Mish, what makes you think this time will be different? She smiled to herself. Good thing they were playing Republic Senate rules.
Carth saw Kenna's hand tighten almost imperceptibly on the hilt of her lightsaber as they started crossing the beach. And she says I'm paranoid. Still, her instincts were rarely--if ever--wrong, so if she thought something was wrong, something was probably wrong.
Tightening her grip was reflex as a wave of foreboding all but slammed into Kenna as the sand crunched under her boots. Something was wrong. She wasn't sure what brought on the certainty that things weren't right; it looked like any other white sand beach to be found in the galaxy, complete with brilliant blue water lapping placidly against the shore. But there was something chillingly sinister under the veneer of beauty. I know this place, I'm sure of it. I've been here before, even if I can't remember it. That's how I know something's not right.
The war cries of a small group of aliens who appeared around an outcropping of rock at the edge of the beach shattered the air as they charged, proving her right.