I still don't think a disclaimer is necessary, but what do I know?

Star Wars and all information pertaining to it is the property of Lucasarts Ltd. Knights of the Old Republic is the joint property of BioWare Co. and of Obsidian Entertainment. The short story both preceding and following this disclaimer is an unauthorized piece, spawned from my own imagination. As such, the plot and any original characters are the property of the author. Any money made from this story is against the consent of the author, who is not receiving one thin dime.

Chapter 4

Revan nodded. "That's what I was thinking too, but depending on how friendly the locals are we might not even need to do that." She nodded in consent and left, a lot on her mind to think over. "Which leaves you and me for the communications dish, Jaq." Revan shot him a feral smile, which made Atton's blood run cold. He had a feeling that it would be a long job.

As it turned out the Communications problem was nothing more than a crossed wire, so Revan was unable to give Atton the full third degree. Of course Revan already knew everything about Atton he would have wanted to know anyway, but he enjoyed seeing the ex-deserter squirm. Over the next couple of hours the rest of the teams filed in to report completion, and stayed to discover the solution to the fuel problem. Revan gave them both his and Bastila's plans, and they all agreed that borrowing fuel from the locals would likely be a quicker solution. Fortunately the Hawk still had short-range scanners, which picked up a large congregation of organics nearby: possibly a settlement. The strange thing is that they also picked up a humanoid organic on the Ebon Hawk itself, crawling slowly toward the service hatch.

"Gorrhnak, set your bowcaster to stun and try to pick him off from the service hatch." Revan ordered, in his element. "Carth, go outside the main hatch and cover him." The Republic officers scattered, the remainder of the crew heard the faint sounds of a wookiee bowcaster in rapid fire, and the owner of said bowcaster returned.

"My master explains that there is a human-sized organic on the top of the ship. It has an oval shaped, red head and white fangs. It looks quite vicious, and is not deterred by his bolts." The 3PO unit translated Gorrhnak's roars. Both Mandalorians stepped forward as if to offer their services in apprehending the beast, but it chose instead to come to them. A loud thump was heard from the direction of the service hatch. Revan motioned for the Mandalorians, Gorrhnak and HK-47 to draw their weapons and to fire when target was in sight.

The figure Gorrhnak described indeed came in, but white cloth-covered brown-booted legs could be seen moving the fearsome head. Given that the face was frozen in a silent roar, Revan gathered that it was merely a shield. The soldiers all began to fire, catching the creature in a storm of blaster bolts that were rapidly increasing in strength. Some of the earlier, and therefore less powerful, ones simply glanced off the shield. As the blaster power was dialled up the figure simple abandoned the shield. Despite the lack of covering, the being was weaving jumping and dodging so fast none of the crew (with the possible exception of the droids, but no one was very interested in listening to them at the moment) could identify it save for its blue colour.

Whatever it was it was extremely agile, being able to avoid even being nicked by the super powered heavy repeating blasters of the Mandalorians and HK-47. Finally Revan motioned for them to cease fire, drawing his lightsabers in the process. Atton, Katia, and Bastila all followed suit. The being finally stopped moving, but it was hanging in a patch of shadow. The Jedi could sense it looking at them, sizing them up, before it leapt at them. More specifically it leapt at Revan, its own blue lightsaber igniting. Revan was so caught off guard that he was only barely able to parry the violent strikes. Even after regaining his concentration it was difficult to defend, the strange being moving so fast. Finally it got in a strong kick to Revan's stomach, flooring him, and got its saber under his chin. Of course this meant it was forced to stop moving, and it became identifiable. It was a Nelvaanian, a blue-furred wolf with human proportions and opposable thumbs. He, for its build identified it as male, had straight black hair that fell to his shoulders and wore Jedi robes. His coal-black eyes were filled with anger, panic and fear, but Revan sensed that none of them were directed at him.

"Norkos?" Katia's questioning voice cut through the stillness. The Nelvaanian Jedi ignored her, and continued to stare at Revan. The sound of the remaining lightsabers deactivating followed.

"Are you quite finished trying to kill me?" Norkos asked in a low, cautious voice. Revan nodded, and the blue lightsaber at his throat retracted. Norkos replaced the silvery cylinder on his belt and stood at what Revan, a military man through and through, recognized as parade rest. "Grand Master Shan, Master Mayin, Master Rand. My apologies for attacking your crew." He addressed the members of the Council.

"No apology necessary Jedi Norkos." Bastila returned. "You acted in self defence." She helped Revan to his feet, and motioned to the rest of the crew to lower their weapons.

Katia stepped forward. "Norkos, allow me to introduce Mandalore and Proeliator Skirata, Mandalorian soldiers, Admiral Gorrhnak of the Republic Navy, Lanzhou Urumqi, former smuggler, and of course Padawan Revan who needs no further introduction." Each crewmember gave some form of greeting as they were introduced, which Norkos returned with a deliberate nod. At Revan however, the Nevlaanian Jedi offered his hand.

"You are very skilled with a lightsaber Padawan. I look forward to the opportunity to fight beside you." Revan extended his hand to accept Norkos', but HK-47 interrupted him.

"Observation: Master, it appears that the meatbag Onasi has levelled a modified Arkanian blaster pistol at the meatbag Norkos. His muscle tensions indicate that he is about to fire a highly charged blast." The assassination droid supplied helpfully.

Revan looked up to find that it was indeed the case. "Carth, no!" he shouted at the officer, a fraction too late. A large burst of orange energy had emanated from the barrel of the pistol, headed straight for Norkos. Too fast to follow, the Nelvaanian's blue lightsaber had ignited and been brought around to deflect the blast back towards Carth. The officer jumped to the side, but the blast caught him in the arm. Katia, resident healer, leapt forward to diagnose the injury. It had been a strong shot, and would have been fatal had it hit on target. As it was it blew a chunk of flesh out of Carth's elbow, exposing the joint. It could be healed with the facilities on board, to a point, but would require professional attention in time. She lifted the unconscious officer and carried him to the Medbay.

Canderous, the consummate professional, gave Norkos a grilling on his specific statements. "What makes you think you'll be fighting with us?" he asked the Nelvaanian, who was actually his equal in height. His voice was gruff and a little harsh, but then it usually was.

Norkos looked at him. Just looked. For a long time he stared into Canderous' t-shaped visor. The rest of the crew were shocked to see the Mandalorian, who was frightened of nothing that anyone present knew, actually shifting his weight in a nervous gesture. The Jedi finally spoke. "You require fuel. There is some in Rokrul village, nearby. But you must aid us first." He explained. Revan noticed that his Basic was beginning to fracture. He wondered how long it had been since Norkos had left the Academy.

Several eyebrows, or similar body parts, rose. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but what exactly are you planning to make us do?" Lanzhou's artificially amplified voice piped up.

Norkos shifted his gaze, but to Revan rather than Lanzhou. "I will leave the explanation to our chieftain. Chose a small party and follow; Rokrul is not accustomed to outsiders." He instructed before taking several slow and deliberate strides to the exit hatch.

Revan glanced among his crew. "Mandalore, Proeliator, and Gorrhnak should stay and guard the ship. They're the best shots, and so will be able to defend with the most accuracy. I don't think Carth will be going anywhere for some time, and Katia needs to stay and heal him. T3 and Lanzhou should fine-tune some of the repairs. So who else wants to come?"

Atton and Bao-Dur immediately shook their heads. "We should stay and help with the repairs." Atton suggested. Bao-Dur voiced his concurrence. HK-47 straightened, if it was even possible for him to do so.

"Observation: Master, you could be in grave danger from the indigenous non sentient life forms on this world.

"Statement: I would be violating the programming you gave me as a bodyguard droid if I permitted you to leave this vessel without my accompaniment." Apparently that meant that he was coming, an assumption that was substantiated when the assassin loaded his Mandalorian heavy repeater with a new power cell.

"And you certainly aren't going to be leaving me behind. This time." Bastila added the last part under her breath, so that only the super-sensitive hearing of the droids could understand it. They both wisely refrained from commenting.

---

Norkos led the group through a wide landscape of mesas that reminded Bastila of Dantooine. The comparison was oddly soothing. Norkos had little trouble moving about normally, but Revan and Bastila had been forced to don personal artificial gravity generators (a neat little unit that Bao-Dur had devised). HK-47 was equally comfortable in Nelvaan's low gravity; Bao-Dur had installed the assassin/protocol droid with a modified version of the unit.

They two Jedi, and droid, followed their lupine guide along a long, winding path. Bastila had the feeling that they were being judged by Nelvaanian scouts. She probably wasn't far off either. "Tell me about our new friend." Bastila was a little shocked by Revan's voice. But then again, she should have been expecting it.

It took the Grand Master a moment to sift through her memories of Jedi apprentices until she found the ones containing the blue furry Knight. "He was one of the first apprentices. He was far too old to ever be considered for training, under normal circumstances, but we were just happy to find someone. Mira took him under her wing, which sometimes makes me wonder how he turned out so well." Revan chuckled a bit. Atton had relayed the stories of Mira's escapades in great detail. "He was a Guardian from the start; never very strong at solitary meditation, but the calm he achieved in battle was awe-inspiring. He actually developed his own combat style, incorporating his natural agility and the traditional Nelvaanian warrior shield he carries. He passed the Trials within only a few years, and then he vanished. I suppose he came out here to act as Watchman." The memories made Bastila smile, remembering simpler times. Comparatively.

Revan may have intended to respond, but it was at approximately that point that Norkos indicated a good-sized hole in the base of one of the mesas. They were herded in, and came out of the slick earthen tunnel amidst an underground colony of Nelvaanians. Everywhere they looked there was activity. White-haired elders relating legends to children, slender females caring for infants or cooking food, broad-chested males returning from the hunt or sharing stories of their adventures. Female Nelvaanians were about half the height of the males, which still put them at chin level to Revan. They were far more slender, doubtless from generations of being the 'gatherer' half of 'hunter-gatherer,' and wore long tan robes and their black hair up. Children, or at least those who were able to move on their own, were more quadrupedal than their parents. They also wore long robes, but theirs were a darker brown. Males wore short cloth skirts, and nothing else. Black geometric tracks covered their muscular torsos. Each male appeared to possess a primitive spear and shield painted as some sort of demon spirit. Norkos barked out greetings to many in the harsh language of his species, which were always returned. Only once did their party stop, before a very old Nelvaanian. Bastila wasn't sure, but if she had to guess she would say that this male had been present at the time of the Gank Massacres. After a short conversation, Norkos drew his companions up.

"Padawan Revan, Maser Shan, allow me to present Vallasos, shaman of Rokrul village, and his apprentice Orvos." Vallasos bowed low, and a small Nelvaanian boy was visible peeking from behind the elder's dark brown robe.

"It is an honour to meet you, sir." Bastila informed the shaman, respectfully bowing her head. Norkos' translation brought a smile to the old wolf's face.

Revan matched the bow. "Greetings Shaman Vallasos. May the flame of your wisdom burn ever bright." Revan spoke in Bothese, a language Vallasos was familiar enough with to cause him to bark excitedly.

Norkos translated. "Shaman Vallasos asks me to tell you that your courtesy reflects well on you. He wishes you well on your task, and bids you good day." The Shaman bowed low, an act that was mimicked by the Jedi, and hobbled off. "Come. The Chieftain awaits." Norkos led his new friends a short distance further. At the far end of the colony was a dome-shaped hollow. Inside was a tall Nelvaanian male, with protruding ears. He, unlike the other males, wore long leather pants. He was surrounded by depictions of Nelvaanian Demon-spirits. Norkos descended to sit with his legs folded under him, and directed the other Jedi to do the same. A brief conversation in Nelvaanese preceded the introductions. "Padawan Revan, Master Shan, I introduce you to Torzs-Fonok, Chieftain of Rokrul Village." Both Bastila and Revan extended their greetings, the former in Basic and the latter in Bothese. The Chieftain motioned for them to rise.

"Master Shan; Tales of honour come before you, as it is with Apprentice Revan." Torzs-Fonok told them in highly fractured Basic. Revan bristled slightly at the use of 'Apprentice,' but Norkos explained that the term 'Padawan' was unknown to the Nelvaanian hierarchy. "But, third warrior-companion silent. Cause bad feel among Rokrul."

HK-47, who truly had been attracting fearful stares from the Nelvaanian populace, turned from surveying the demon-masks. "Greeting: I am HK-47, Hunter-Killer droid unit constructed by former Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Revan. I am programmed in protocol and assassination.

"Threat: If you attempt to harm my master, Chieftain meatbag, I will be forced to vaporize you." The chieftain chuckled at 47's candour.

"Worry not metal-man. I have task for Apprentice Revan and mate." He assuaged calmly, not in the least angered by the assassin's threat. Bastila blushed at the implication, but the chieftain ignored it. "Cubs from village disappear. Sotesteg in east stealing them." The chieftain broke off into gibbering spells in Nelvaanese.

"You want us to go after your young?" Revan conjectured. Torzs-Fonok nodded. Revan glanced at Bastila, and then at 47. "Alright, we'll do it. Give us the rest of the day to scout the area and come up with a plan." Torzs-Fonok acquiesced, and Norkos led them back to the Hawk. Moments after alighting the exit hatch Revan had whipped his makeshift crew into action. T3 had hyper-sensitized the life-form indicator, and Bao-Dur had modified the ship's particle shields to act as a vague cloaking device. The other Jedi, except for Atton as he had to help fly the ship, had arranged themselves in a meditation circle. Their goal was to block the ship and her occupants from the senses of any dark Jedi that may be lurking about. Lanzhou and Atton did a grid-pattern search of the area to the east of Rokrul. Sure enough, the tuned up scanners discovered a large group of humanoid lifeforms beneath one of the mesas. Lanzhou landed the ship a decent distance away, and the team began to plan.

Courtesy of T3's scanner system, Revan was orating to a digital map of the installation. It was not terribly large, but it had entrances facing each of the cardinal directions. "Alright, this is our objective." Revan indicated, unnecessarily, the map behind him. "Note the four entrances, this means we'll have to spilt up. Katia, how's Carth?" he asked the impromptu healer, who had just entered from the Medbay.

"Stable, but still unconscious. That shot would have fried a Hutt, he's lucky to be alive." She cast a playful glance at Norkos, who had the good grace to look abashed under his business-like features.

Revan sighed. This was going to be more difficult. "Alright, I want at least one Jedi per team. Atton, Proeliator, Canderous: you take the west entrance. T3's scanners pick up the most lifeform readings from there, so be ready to fight." In his tension Revan forgot to address the burly Mandalorian by his title. Canderous didn't seem to mind. "Gorrhnak, Bao-Dur, Norkos: East entrance. We don't know how often they do a grab, so be on the lookout for Nelvaanian cubs coming in." Norkos' face was the epitome of detached emotion, but he was radiating anger and nervous tension. Revan hoped he would be able to control that anger. "Lanzhou, T3, Katia: South entrance. Yours is the least heavily defended, so try and locate a computer terminal. If you have the time, look around for the holding cells." T3 chirruped his understanding. Lanzhou looked no different than he usually did. "HK-47, Bastila, and I will take the north entrance. Our task is to locate the force-user of the base. True Sith are not force-sensitive, so I'm guessing Maleficus planted one of his lieutenants here to run the operation. Everyone get ready; thirty minutes to zero hour."

---

"T minus five, four, three, two, one, now." Simultaneously four plasma mines burst around doors facing each of the cardinal directions. Moments following the detonations the building was infiltrated by four teams of three. Revan's, consisting of Bastila and 47, fortunately encountered no real resistance, save for a veritable labyrinth of corridors. As it was T3 actually contacted them on 47's comm unit to inform them that he had unlocked the security door to the central keep of the base. Behind this door lay their objective.

The room was spherical, all but the flattened floor. There were only five organics in the room, by HK-47's count. Two were tall, wearing deep purple hooded robes trimmed in gold. They carried curved-tipped spears and had barbed tentacle beards. Two others had the same beards, and same blood-red skin colour, but they were much larger in all aspects of the word. Theirs fingers were sharpened; they wore knee-length battle skirts, and carried long curved swords.

The final being was unlike any of the other four. The serpentine body and quadruple limbs clearly identified it as Taral, Maleficus' apprentice. A sharp movement of one of Taral's hands, and the robed figures departed. Another motion, and the large Massassi brandished their blades and moved forward. Bastila and Revan ingoted their lightsabers and HK-47 hefted his heavy repeater. Heavy drumming from aforementioned giant gun on one of the warriors' chests slew it, and Revan and Bastila tag-teamed the other into confusion before decapitating him. Wordlessly Taral drew a silver cylinder from his tunic, depressing a button to activate the longer-than-usual crimson blade.

47 fired, Taral deflected the bolts skywards. Bastila took this opportunity to lunge to try and catch him off guard. Needless to say she failed, received a clunk on the head from the Hysalrian's staff for her troubles. Revan was more cautious. Using the Force he lifted a solid block of obsidian from its place behind the serpentine Sith Lord. The block shattered, raining down millions of tiny shards. Incredibly strong tail muscles propelled Taral to safety, and then he really entered the fight. It was at the moment he turned to the offensive that he made the first sound Bastila ever heard him utter: a blood-curdling war cry in a language she had never heard of. The long green tail thrusted its owner in all manner of directions, making him very difficult to hit. Not even HK-47's super-sensitive photoreceptors, or Revan's intense combat form could penetrate the seemingly random scattering of attacks and blocks. The last thing Revan saw was a flash of brown that came at him too quick to dodge. Bastila's last sight was a scaly lump catching her in the stomach. HK-47 himself lasted long enough for a red beam of pure energy through his chassis to convince his processor that it needed to shut down.

dramatic chord

Not much to add to this, but you didn't really expect them to just hop off the planet without doing some menial task did you?

R&R, eternally grateful