Chapter Five
A/N : I know it's taken me a long time to get this up, and I sincerely hope people are still interested in the story I still have going. Please read and review, as always, you are my inspiration!
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The landing had not been Carth's best, but what they saw when the exited the Ebon Hawk by far made up for it. "Woah…" Mission breathed as she looked at the beautiful, tropical planet. "It's beautiful." Revan couldn't help but smile when she looked over at Mission. She was right, it was beautiful, there was nothing to question that. But there was something about the planet that rattled Revan. Déjà vu swirled around her, and she was positive she had been there before.
"It's pretty amazing, hey?" Revan asked, resting a kind hand on the young girl's shoulder. It was more than that, it was spectacular.
"Hate to interrupt, but we still need to fix the Hawk so we can get off this planet." Revan and Mission's eyes flickered for a split second in the direction of the pilot. Simultaneously, the two women let out small sighs. "I sort of wish we didn't," Mission whispered in a low enough voice that Carth couldn't possibly have heart. Revan did, though, and she smiled at the young girl.
Turning to face Carth, Revan crossed her arms over her chest. "Alright Carth, what do we need?"
He listed off a couple things. Odds and ends that they would need here and there. Revan sighed, suddenly this planet didn't hold such grand excitement as she had originally thought it did. It seemed pretty empty, the chances of finding anything here were slim to null.
"And we're going to want to find it pretty quickly so we can get back to-" Revan shoved him out of the way and made to reach for her lightsaber. A Duros had appeared out of nowhere.
"Stop, stop!" he exclaimed. "I'm not here to fight!" After a moment, Revan nodded. "I'm sorry," she said, removing her hand from the place where her formidable weapon stayed. "We are new here. Where are we, exactly?"
The Duros took a moment, but at last decided they weren't going to try and harm him. "A place where nothing good happens." For some reason, Revan got the idea that Duros were all pretty pessimistic beings. "You must get away, before-"
From the top of the beach, a battle cry was heard, and before Revan could make to move the Duros, he had run to a hiding place. Revan and the rest of her crew leapt into action. The aliens they fought were like nothing she had ever seen before. She swung her lightsaber and hacked at them as they attacked. "Revan!" Mission's voice cried, and Revan made to turn right as a blade began to descend on her. She slammed her lightsaber against the weapon and quickly used the force to send the alien flying backwards. Sucking in a deep breath, she leapt forwards and finished the creature off with one foul swoop, once again feeling the sickening déjà vu creeping up on her.
She switched off her lightsaber and the Duros came out of hiding once more. "Thank you for killing those murderous beasts!" he exclaimed, and Revan frowned, but nodded. "They were hunting us, trying to kill my crew and I."
"We're looking for some parts to fix our ship, is there anything around here that you know of?"
The Duros took a moment, but at last shook his head. He hesitated again. "Actually yes, there is one place that may have what you are looking for. The One and his tribe, they tore pieces out of our own ship. There is no repairing it. If you can, once you find what you need, transport us to somewhere safe."
Revan couldn't promise that, and the looks from the rest of her crew was supporting her thoughts. She sighed, however, and nodded. "We will ensure you're safety as long as we can get our ship off the ground."
She refused to give her word.
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A while later, Revan, Canderous and Jolee had taken off to try and find The One. It had been hours, and Mission Vao was beginning to find herself succumbing to boredom. The Duros that they had found had a friend, and the two of them were chatting in their language over on the side. "Hey! Is this water safe?" Mission asked, looking at the Duros. They had been there longer. The first shrugged, and the second replied.
"As safe as any water, I suppose," he said. Mission took that as an A-Okay.
"Hey Big Z, feel like taking a bath?" she asked, getting an immediate and unpleasant growl from Zaalbar. Mission rolled her eyes. "Well does anybody want to come swimming? It's hot, and I'm bored."
Junani stepped forward. "I agree, the heat is a bit much, even for me. I am not a swimmer, but I will come stand in the water."
Mission thought for a moment, then shrugged. That was the best she was going to get. She stepped into the water, cautiously moving about, ensuring that she wasn't going to wind up with gilled feet or anything crazy like that, before moving in a bit deeper.
"Mission, be careful! You don't know what's in the water!" Carth scolded, and Mission scowled, crossing her arms.
"You're not my father, Carth!" she shouted back at him, and Carth shook his head, knowing all too well where this argument was about to lead. He turned back to the direction he was facing, which was pointing to the path where Revan and her group would most likely be arriving through.
Mission took a few more steps, and then sunk. She screamed a piercing scream, trying to writhe her way out of the hole she had fallen into. "Help me!" she shouted. Juhani rushed in, immediately followed by Zaalbar and Carth. Zaalbar tugged Mission out of the hole and rested her on the beach.
"Now do you see why I said that?" Carth snapped, and Mission frowned a bit. "I'm sorry!" she gasped out, shocked by how venomous his statement had been. "I didn't expect there to be some big damn hole in the middle of the ocean!"
"That's because you didn't think. You don't know what else is in there, Mission! You're lucky all you did was scrape your legs up!"
Mission felt her eyes welling. She stood up, shoving Zaalbar off her. "I'm fine," she snapped, storming towards the ship. She stopped, though, and bolted in the direction of the path instead.
"Mission!" Carth called. He began to rush after her, but stopped when he saw Revan and the others returning.
She did not look happy.
"Well, I got our parts," Revan said, handing a rucksack to Carth without really paying attention to him.
"That's great!" Mission exclaimed, happily.
"Yeah, but we still can't get off this planet. There's… There's a temple."
Juhani's eyes widened. "Is it the…"
Jolee stopped her. "It's the one at the top of the hill."
Revan nodded. "And I have to go in there."
"But… There are enormous dark side currents coming off of that temple." Juhani seemed nervous, and Revan nodded once more in confirmation. Revan's face didn't show the nerves that she was feeling.
Carth was the one, surprisingly, who stepped forwards. "You're not going in there alone!"
"And who's going to come with me, Carth? You? You'd be dead in an instant if what I think is in there is actually in there. It's probably packed to the rim with dark Jedi. We were told that even Malak has been there once and…" She cut herself off.
"And you." Carth finished. Revan didn't say a word, she couldn't.
"I'm going with you," Juhani said, determination in her voice.
"No, Juhani it's not safe-"
"I'm going too."
"Jolee, please it's-"
"It'll be a hell of a lot safer with us three than with anybody else – no offense to anybody else. We're your best bets."
Revan stared at the group, unnerved by all of this. She didn't want to go in there, but it was the only way. The disruptor field [i]had[/i] to be shut down or else they weren't going anywhere.
"Alright. Let's be ready to go within the hour."