(I know that the guy was supposed to be after the 3rd Star Map and before the Leviathan but I decided to include him after the final Star Map. One way or another, he appears.)
Bastila looked at the hallway in front of her and she couldn't believe that the whole place was submerged. She thought the Twi'lek mercenary meant partially flooded but she probably misunderstood him.
Bastila slowly made her way to wherever she was going and she looked to each of the ways she could go. She spotted another survivor wearing an environmental suit down the flooded hallway and he just stood there, probably waiting for something. She decided to travel away from the survivor to see the damage and in a couple rooms, the ceiling collapsed onto the floor so she decided to go to the survivor.
She had no way to protect herself except for the sonic emitter but she had no idea if it actually worked. She looked around and saw dead bodies floating by and smaller fish swimming by. She tried not to throw up in her suit, so she just stared at the floor and said the Jedi code to calm herself.
The entire hallway was dark except in a few places, and she guessed that a few lights remained on while most of them went out and there was a flickering light a bit past the survivor. Once she got to him, the survivor noticed her.
"Who's there? You're not Selkath. I can see that much. Are you another rescue team?" He asked, stepping closer and pushing away a dead body.
"I'm Bastila Shan, and I'm part of the Jedi order. The Republic sent me down to investigate."
"A Jedi, huh? We probably could've used a Jedi. I'm a merc the Republic hired a couple days ago to investigate - but all we found was a bunch of insane Selkath killing everything that moves!" The merc said. "All my companions are dead. The Selkath swarmed over us - there were dozens of them! And they...they looked wrong, somehow. Like something had changed inside them. Insane or something... Oh, I'd have gone back to the surface long ago if this complex hadn't been overrun by all those crazy Selkath! There's no way for me to get to the submarine docking bay."
Bastila was convinced that he hadn't slept for a couple days since he was just hanging out in the submerged part of the facility and she wondered how he knew that. "So, what are you doing in the underwater section?"
"I discovered a way to get to the bay and seal off the rest of the base. I just have to find the kolto harvester they built on the Hrakert rift. It's got an emergency override to open the doors to the submarine docking bay and I could get in from the outside. I figured my only chance was to slap on an environmental suit, head out onto the ocean floor and check that harvester out for myself. Besides, it's got to be safer out on the ocean floor than back in there with all those crazed Selkath mutants running around looking for dinner."
"Ok, I'll go with you." Bastila said. 'Is he forgetting about the firaxan sharks?'
"I'm not spending another minute in this facility - not with those psychotic fish people all over the place! I'm heading out to the ocean floor right now - it leads to another complex of buildings. Going through them is the only way to reach the kolto harvester. We should probably stick together, but I won't wait around in here with the Selkath. You can catch up with me if you want - down the hall and through the doors on the right. I'll be waiting on the ocean floor where it's safe." He said, before turning around and walking way very slowly.
Bastila followed him and she immediately saw a massive hole in the wall and that shocked her. "I certainly hope I don't run into whatever made that." She said. The hole looked like something was trying to get it but she couldn't figure out what. The survivor was walking across the sand while Bastila stood in the opening of the hole.
"Come on - hurry up! Don't just stand there, we have to keep moving! The water is filled with..." He said, but Bastila saw it, before he did. A firaxan shark was swimming toward him with its jaws open wide.
"Move!" Bastila shouted but knowing that he won't get out of the way in time, she decided to do something and she used the Force to pull the man back towards her. The man was confused when he suddenly was pulled backwards but then he saw the firaxan shark. The shark was now swimming towards them and Bastila used the sonic emitter on the shark. The shark stopped swimming, floated upside down and twitched a little and then stopped moving entirely and she wasn't sure if she killed it or not.
"You.. you saved me." The merc said.
"Don't mention it. We have to be careful and just follow me." She said and the two of them, slowly made their way across the ocean floor to the other part of the base.
A couple firaxan sharks came towards them but Bastila used the sonic and stunned or killed them. They past a section of the base where there was a firaxan just hanging out thanks to giant hole in the structure. They came to an the other base and they decided to go right.
There seemed to be more firaxan sharks swimming around as they attempted to make their way to the pressure door. They decided to try to get over there as fast as they could. They were about halfway across to the pressure door when the merc screamed. "Ahhh!"
Bastila turned around just in time to see a firaxan shark carry him away and tear him apart. She felt sick as she watched the firaxan sharks feed on him and as the water turned red in that area. She continued on to the pressure door and got in just in time avoiding the same fate as the merc and the firaxan shark following her slammed into the pressure door and swam away.
"He would still be alive if we just went faster." Bastila muttered.
...
Carth, Jolee, and Juhani were waiting for Bastila in the same place where Bastila left. "Do you want to play some pazaak?" Jolee suggested not long after Bastila left, and Juhani looked at him, like he suggested something crazy.
"Sure, if it helps pass the time." Carth said. "What about you, Juhani?"
"No, I'm good. I think I'll just go mediate." She said, and walked away and out of sight, with both Jolee and Carth staring after her.
"Is she always like that?" Carth asked, after they got set up.
"Probably but I think Cathar are just aloof in general." Jolee said. For a while, the two only had pazaak in mind. They listened to the sounds echoing eerily throughout the station.
"It's really creepy down here. I wish Bastila would hurry up so we could get back to the surface." Carth said.
"You are definitely right about that but the only thing we can do is wait." Jolee said. They continued playing pazaak when a patrol droid walked by. "I thought I disabled the patrol droids."
Carth turned around and watched the droid. "I'm sure you did but would you like to deal with the droid?" Jolee just nodded, put down their cards, and walked over to the droid. The droid noticed them and started firing at them, and Carth fired at the droid with a disrupter rifle and the droid shut down.
They watched the droid until a blaster shot destroyed it from farther down the hall. The duo peered around the corner and saw the rest of the droids. "Ok, we are in trouble." Jolee said, as he ignited his lightsaber and Carth raised his weapons along with the droids and a firefight ensued in the hallway.
Carth threw ion grenades at the spider like patrol droids and Jolee was deflecting blaster shots. After a few moments, the rest of the patrol droids were either destroyed or disabled. "Jolee, what happened?" Came a feminine voice from the wrist transmitter.
"Those damned patrol droids reactived somehow." Jolee said, "Juhani what about you?"
"I found a quiet place to mediate in." Came the reply.
"Oh, lucky you." Muttered Jolee and the duo went back into their room when the station creaked similar to a groaning ship when its sinking and the locked doors were being pounded on. "That doesn't sound good."
Carth raised his blasters and Jolee ignited his lightsaber ready for anything. The locked doors gave away and the insane Selkath ran out looking for their next meal. One Selkath saw Carth and Jolee and screeched their fishy little war cry and all the Selkath ran for them. "I hope you're hungry because I'm making sushi for dinner." Jolee said.
"Funny, old man but you'll only be able to make it if we are still alive." Carth said, as he started shooting at the Selkath while Jolee swung his lightsaber.
...
The room Bastila entered seemed empty so she took off the environmental suit. "I don't want to wear that again." She muttered, as she stepped forward and ended up running into several Selkath that were busy feasting on a dead body. "Oh my. Just ignore me." She muttered quietly, but she only took a few steps toward the door until they noticed her.
She saw another dead body with a frag grenade in his hand. The Selkath started shooting at her with sonic blasters which she evaded. After a few moments of being shot at by Selkath, she decided to use stasis on them. She used the force to pull the frag grenade towards her and then her environmental suit and put the suit on the other side of the door. "I have a feeling that I might need this and I will probably regret this." She said, as she activated the frag grenade, tossed it and undid the stasis field and closed the door.
She felt the frag grenade rock the door and part of the hallway where she was and then groaning metal. She walked forward until she ended up facing a purple force field with 2 survivors cowering on the other side and 2 other doors to either side. One door led to a room similar to the one, she came from and the other was probably a hallway but the ceiling collapsed.
She went to the force field and try to get their attention. "Hey, can you lower the force field? I'm here to help."
The white skinned man had a vibroblade in his hand and the dark skinned woman had a blaster pistol. "No - no, you can't come in here! You'll let the firaxa and the Selkath in! No - stay out! Stay out!" Said the man, with a closed fist. Bastila whirled around when the doors behind her closed and locked. "I won't let you open the door for those monsters to get in! I'll suck all the pressure out the chamber! That'll stop you!"
"Kill them! Kill them now!" Exclaimed the woman.
'Are they nuts? What does he think I'm doing?' Bastila thought and she spotted a console and walked over to it just as an automated voice said, "60 seconds to complete depressurization."
Bastila tried to figure out the console but failed trying to figure it out. "Maybe I should contact Jolee but that will take too long." She muttered and she felt like she couldn't breathe for a moment and tried to breathe again. She ignited her lightsaber and plunged it deep into the console and the force field flickered a bit but stayed on. So she decided to plunge her lightsaber into the sides of the floor and luckily for her, the force field went out and the automated voice stopped and she extinguished her lightsaber.
Bastila breathed heavily since she almost ran out of air and she looked over at the 2 survivors. The man dropped his vibroblade on the floor and was now gripping his head and shaking. "No! No! The firaxa will get us! No! The Selkath are coming! No!"
The woman dropped her blaster pistol and was gripping her head and shaking. "No! No!" She screamed which made Bastila wince.
"Calm down. I'm a friend and I'm here to help." Bastila said. 'These people are clearly crazy. Maybe, I should slap them in the face.'
"I...I'm sorry for what I did. I don't know what came over me. I...I just panicked when I heard someone out the door. *sigh* Please, forgive me. I'm just so scared." The man explained.
"We were both scared." The woman said.
"Well, I won't blame you for that." Bastila said, giving a half smile towards the woman.
"When the Selkath went crazy I thought everyone else except me and Sami went mad. We had a few people outside the station when it happened." The man explained.
"The...firaxan sharks just tore them apart... it's like they were frenzied..." Sami said.
"The next thing we knew our Selkath researchers started screaming and...clawing at everything around them. My team... my team was torn apart and eaten before my eyes! Sami and me...I...I thought that we were the only ones left. We heard the Selkath outside at the doors once in a while... and those strange noises echoing through the base." The man explained.
"I'm so sorry that you had to witness that and I'm pretty sure that this base is falling apart." Bastila said, putting her hands on both their shoulders and they just smiled sadly.
"We...thought everyone was dead...dead or insane." Sami said.
"I found only 5 survivors. The 2 of you, 2 mercs, and a insane soldier. One merc was torn apart before me." Bastila said.
The scientist apologized again before introducing himself. "I am Kono Nolan, and this is Sami. We were scientists working on the Hrakert Rift project." Kono said.
"So, why did the Selkath go crazy?" Bastila asked and Kono and Sami began explaining everything that happened and the possibilities of the giant firaxa and what it could mean.
"So what should I do about it?" Bastila asked and they began explaining to her and she had 2 options. One was destroying the machinery by overloading something and the other was poisoning the firaxa and risk poisoning the kolto. Kono and Sami seemed to disagree on how to handle the situation.
Bastila stepped towards the pressure door while carrying her environmental suit with her. "Do you guys have one of these suits?" Bastila asked.
"Yeah, we have two extra ones. Why?" Sami said, pointing to two suits stored in a locker.
"When I'm done with the situation, I'm coming back to get you both." She said, as she put her suit on and stepped through the pressure door.
...
Once she stepped through the door, she was once again the water and at least 75 feet away from her was another pressure door and she followed a path until she found some kind of console and tank. She looked farther down and saw the Star Map which was guarded by a massive firaxa. "That's one massive fish." Bastila said, in astonishment.
Bastila activated the console and decided to overload the machinery since she didn't want to poison the fish and the kolto. It took her a while to figure out how to overload it while fending off firaxan sharks that swam towards her. She assumed that she had been trying to figure it out for at least an hour and half and she managed to overload the machinery.
Bastila looked up at the vent and watched as it exploded, and the explosion didn't seem to harm any firaxan sharks and the giant firaxan moved away from the Star Map. She walked over to the Star Map. The Star Map opened for her and revealed a star system, the same but different and she recorded it into her datapad. When she was done, the Star Map closed and she decided to go get the 2 survivors and get back to the submersible.
Minutes later, Bastila reached the pressure door and entered. She found Kono and Sami in their environmental suits, with vibroblade and blaster in hand. "Now, let's get moving." Bastila said, but stopped and looked in the other direction where she came. The station seemed to be groaning and a loud thud was heard. They heard something else and almost immediately, some insane Selkath spotted them. "Move!" Bastila shouted, as the three made it through the pressure door.
Once on the other side of the pressure door, Bastila turned to face Kono and Sami. "We have to be careful and stay close to me." The three of them began movingly as fast as they could and they were slowly getting closer to the other pressure door and Bastila and Sami were fending off the firaxan sharks with the sonic emitter and blaster.
They were about halfway across when a masculine scream sounded through the commlinks in the suits. "Ahhhh!" Bastila turned around just in time to see a firaxan shark carry away Kono and then he was being torn apart and eaten by the other sharks.
"Kono!" Sami screamed, and started to advance towards the feeding frenzy, until Bastila stopped her.
"Sami, we need to get to the other building. Let's not have Kono's sacrifice be in vain." Bastila said, and Sami seemed to understand and the two of them were soon at the pressure door.
...
Carth and Jolee were standing in the room where Bastila and Sami entered the room, and stripped themselves of their environmental suits.
"Bastila, I trust you did the right thing." Jolee said and then he noticed the woman hiding behind Bastila. "Who might you be, my dear?"
"I destroyed the machinery and got the Star Map. This is Sami, she was one of the scientists. She's had a rough time and we will take her to the surface." Bastila said, and then turned to the scared woman. "Sami, I'm sorry about Kono."
Sami managed a scared smile. "Don't be, you tried your best."
They walked out into the hall and Bastila saw the destroyed droids and dead Selkath. "Jolee, may I ask what happened here?"
"I don't know. My best guess is that the droids reactivated and for the Selkath, I'm not sure." Jolee said, explaining what happened. "Did you find any survivors?"
"Well, I found a merc but he was killed by a firaxa. I saved him from being killed once but the second time, he was taken by firaxan sharks. I then found Kono and Sami but only Sami made it." Bastila said.
"That's rough." Jolee commented but said nothing more. The group continued walking, passed the dead bodies, damaged superstructure and continued to the exit. They entered the room with the terminal that Jolee hacked earlier and they opened the door to the hallway with Juhani looking out the window.
Juhani turned towards them and smiled. "I'm glad you are all right, Bastila. Did you find the...ahhhh!" Suddenly, a red lightsaber was thrust through Juhani's stomach and was suddenly pulled back out. Juhani's eyes widened as she looked at her stomach, and she was bleeding profusely. When the lightsaber was pulled out, Juhani fell to her knees and collapsed on her side and 3 dark Jedi un cloaked themselves.
"Juhani!" Screamed Jolee, as he ignited his own lightsaber, Bastila ignited her own double bladed lightsaber, and Carth raised his blaster pistols, while Sami ran back the way they came. They all felt angry at what he did to Juhani.
The tall bald man with a goatee stood before them with 2 hooded dark Jedi. "At last, my search is over! I was beginning to fear someone else had killed you and deprived me of the pleasure. You may have defeated the pathetic bounty hunter my Master sent after you and countless others, but you are no match for me! I have studied at the foot of the Dark Lord himself!" Darth Bandon gloated.
"How did you get down here?" Jolee asked, tightening his grip on his lightsaber.
"Do you think those Republic subs are the only way way to reach the ocean floor? Malak and Revan found a way down here long before the Hrakert station was built. I acquired a ship and followed the same route Revan and my Master used on their own journey. Then it was simply a matter of waiting for you to return for the Star Map."
Carth was studying Darth Bandon's appearance and then he recognized him from Tana's description of him from the Endar Spire. "You were on the Endar Spire! You killed Trask! You will pay for that!" Carth shouted, as he gripped his blaster pistols tighter.
"You are Malak's apprentice? I can't say that I'm impressed." Bastila said.
"Your words mean nothing to me...unless you wish to beg for your life. No? Then I shall try to make this quick and painful!" Darth Bandon said, as the 2 dark Jedi ignited their lightsabers. Darth Bandon pushed the two Jedi away and made a hand gesture towards Carth.
Carth was aiming at Darth Bandon or the two dark Jedi until he couldn't breathe. He dropped his blaster pistols and his hands instinctively went towards his throat and he seemed to be levitating in the air. He looked over at Darth Bandon who ignited his lightsaber and had it pointing at him but Jolee started attacking the Sith apprentice and Bastila was busy with the 2 dark Jedi
Bastila blocked and traded blows with the dark Jedi and she managed to dispatch one and was fighting the other dark Jedi. Jolee was fighting Darth Bandon and he was almost overpowered a few times but they currently had their blades locked.
Jolee got out of locking blades and dodged the lightsaber and sliced Darth Bandon's leg and then his stomach and he fell to the ground, which released Carth from stasis, who rushed over to Juhani. Bastila dispatched the last dark Jedi and went over to finish off Bandon.
"If I healed myself and killed you, then my Master will reward me and perhaps I could kill that other apprentice. What was her name? I believe her name was something Bell." Bandon said, with a smirk and he quickly injected something into his body and pressed something on his wrist communicator.
"Is he talking about Tana?" Jolee asked Bastila who couldn't answer.
"Ah yes Tana, that's her name. She's such a dark person and too bad since she's a Sith apprentice." Bandon said, knowing full well that they think she is dead.
"No! You are lying." Bastila said, gripping her lightsaber tightly and she wanted to kill him but she didn't want to give in to the dark side.
"Am I now? Deep down, you know what I'm saying is true. You don't want to admit it." Bandon said, and then he stopped moving and remained still.
Bastila extinguished her lightsaber and looked down at the body. "Do you think he is lying about her?" Bastila asked.
"Well, I like to believe he is lying but I don't really know." Jolee said.
"Bastila." Carth said. Bastila turned and saw Carth kneeled next to Juhani, who was lying in a pool of blood. Bastila rushed over and sat on the floor with Juhani in her lap. Jolee was trying to heal Juhani but wasn't able to. Carth went to go find Sami.
"Juhani, stay with me." Bastila said, and if she wasn't shaken up then she could heal her. Juhani's breathing became even more labored and she was struggling to breathe. She just looked up at Bastila's face and closed her eyes and breathed her final breath. Bastila tried to shake her Cathar friend awake but she realized that she died and started crying. Jolee went over to Bastila and began comforting her, Carth and Sami silently mourned for the downed Jedi.
"Come on, Bastila." Jolee said, as he pulled the female padawan to her feet and guided her to the submersible. The twi'lek merc stood up from where he was hiding in the corner and walked towards him. They looked around for the insane soldier from the locker and they found him, slumped against the wall, dead. "What happened to him?"
"Dark Jedi happened. He was standing in their way and they killed him and they flung me to the wall." The twi'lek merc said, and he looked around for the Cathar and he assumed the worst.
The five of them got into the submersible and remained silent on the way up.
...
The five of them walked over to the door and saw a worried looking Roland on the other side and in his hand was a datapad. "You have returned! I was beginning to fear that you, too, might have been lost. Did you find out what had happened down there at the facility?" He asked, and that's when he noticed that the female Cathar was missing and he was wondering who the twi'lek and the woman with the blaster was.
"Your construction woke something up." Bastila said dryly.
"Something was down there? Living in the Rift by the kolto?"
"A gigantic firaxan shark that drove all the Selkath insane."
"That's...horrible. The entire operation wasted by a disaster we could never in a thousand years have foreseen." Roland said. "What was happened to the facility itself? Were there any survivors?"
"Typical, only cares about the facility." Muttered Jolee under his breath.
"This twi'lek merc and this scientist, Sami, were the only survivors." Bastila said.
"Oh that's horrible, but it's good to know that at least someone survived." Roland said. "But...What has happened to the facility? Was it damaged?"
"It's more like falling apart." Carth said. "So technically, it's just a pile of rubble on the ocean floor."
"The harvesting machine was destroyed." Bastila said.
"No! That is terrible." Roland exclaimed, sounding angry. "That will set our work back years...*sigh* it may even cost us the war. While I am glad that you were able to solve our problems, the cost may have ended up being much too high. But you have done your job and helped us in our time of need, and for that I thank you. Oh, and did you end up finding your Star Map?"
Bastila sighed. "Yes, I found it."
"As you can see, by helping us you helped yourself. Perhaps we can work together again in the future." Roland said. The group started walking away from Roland and the submersible hangar. "I'm sorry for your loses."
The group stopped and turned back toward Roland. "Our loses? We only lost one person." Carth said.
Roland pulled something up on his datapad. "You all have bounties placed on your heads and 4 of them have been claimed."
"Read the bounties to us." Bastila said.
Roland looked at them and sighed. "The claimed bounties are for a Mandalorian, this assassin droid named HK-47, some woman named Tana Bell, and a Cathar named Juhani." He said, and pulled something else up on his datapad.
"Wait, what? When were Canderous' and HK's bounties claimed?" Jolee asked.
"They were claimed while you down at the facility." Roland said, and he found the security footage of it. The security footage showed Canderous, wearing his regular clothes, talking to HK-47 in some hangar. The duo were approached by 2 dark Jedi and 4 Sith soldiers and a fight soon started. HK-47 was disabled by an ion grenade and then destroyed by a frag grenade. Canderous was shooting at the Sith soldiers and he mowed them down. He began shooting at the dark Jedi but he was quickly impaled on a lightsaber.
The trio just stared, wide-eyed as they just lost two of the stronger members on their team. "We have to go." Bastila said and the group walked away and stepped out of the Republic embassy. They were arrested and detained by the Selkath authorities and Sami and the twi'lek mercenary were let go.
Bastila ended up testifying to the Selkath judges and they decided to fine the Republic embassy and punish the Republic embassy with less kolto.
...
The trio arrived at the Ebon Hawk and they were greeted by Mission and Zaalbar. "Hey Bastila, what's wrong? Where's Juhani?"
Bastila smiled sadly at the young twi'lek girl. "Come onboard Mission." She said. Once onboard, in the common area, Bastila sat down. "Mission, Juhani is dead. She was slain by Darth Bandon, Darth Malak's apprentice."
"Oh." Mission said, sadly.
"Also, we lost Canderous and HK-47 to the Sith. We are all that's left." Bastila said, sadly and all Mission could do was hug her.
Carth walked over to the holographic table and downloaded the data. A map of the star system appeared along with Korriban, Manaan, Dantooine, the Wookie homeworld, and Tatooine. Carth noticed that their was an unknown planet off to the side and beside it, was labeled the Star Forge. "I've got the coordinates. I'll go prep us for take off." Carth said, as he rushed towards the cockpit.
Not long after, the Ebon Hawk flew out of the hangar, away from Ahto City, and Manaan, before going into hyperspace.