Disclaimer- I do not own the rights to Star Wars Kotor 1 and 2 or their characters and likeness.
Ch 3.
On the flight over to Citadel Station the crew of the Ebon Hawk saw menacing starfighters whiz by them, there was no doubting it was the Sith. Then out of nowhere a giant warship came out of hyperspace and hovered in the starry sky above them. They soon arrived at the docking bay of Citadel Station that was surprisingly still open. As Andrew made his way down the exit ramp he was greeted by an old acquaintance; Lieutenant Grenn, "I tell you, I could hardly believe it when our monitors said the Ebon Hawk was docking, but knowing how trouble follows you around I'm not surprised you're here."
Andrew was hesitant to approach the Lieutenant, considering the last time he was on the station he was barred from leaving until the republic arrived to investigate his involvement in the destruction of Peragus. "What's going on here?"
The stress on Grenn's face became more apparent. "We don't entirely know yet. Just all of sudden Sith ships were coming out of hyperspace, and before we could respond we were over run." He wiped sweat from his brow most likely caused by the panic amd stress of the current situation. "If it wasn't for a distress signal that was sent out to the republic we'd all be dead. They sent operating soldiers from all different parts of the galaxy. We've received help from planets such as Dantooine all the way to Onderon. However the fight is far from over."
Andrew decided this was the best time as any to interrupt his rambling "Grenn listen, do you have a small vessel we can use? We need to get up to that warship."
Grenn looked up to the sky to see what he was talking about. "Is there something you know about that ship that threatens Citadel Station?"
"Not necessarily the ship, but there is someone onboard it that we need to stop or else the planet will be in grave danger." Andrew explained.
"Hmmm alright I believe we can accommodate your needs You can take the transport shuttle, that should be small enough to go undetected by its sensors. However, please hurry, we need to end this battle as quickly as possible." The two men shook hands, and the lieutenant walked away to attend to some other issues and fights happening around the station.
"That ship is from Malachor you know." A fully armored man walked down the exit ramp carrying his signature disrupter rifle at his side.
"Yes I do Canderous, I recognized it as soon as it came into view. That is the Ravager; it was a republic warship that orbited around Malachor while we fought on the surface. "
"I remember the vessel also, it battled with many of our Mandalorian cruisers in the days that ensued there. I thought it had been destroyed in an assault by one of our Basilisks."
"Most likely was, but like a lot of things at Malachor it seems it did not stay dead." Andrew stared up into the sky thinking about the inevitability of having to go back that horrifying place. He could hardly believe that this one part of his past would have such an impact on his future, there was no place in the galaxy he could go to escape the whispers of what happened at Malachor. The guilt of deciding to end the lives of not only the enemy but also his own men weighed on him every day. Anywhere he went he was praised for the actions he took that day by anyone who knew how big of a threat the Mandalorians were, but that still did not deter the nightmares that plagued him in his sleep. Malachor was an impending evil that Andrew would soon have to face, but first he had to deal with one of the spawns of that world. "Mandalore, do you think you can gather some of your clan together and lead a raid upon that ship?"
"I thought you'd never ask. The Mandalorians are always up for a good fight, even if it is too assist the republic." Mandalore pushed some buttons on his armband, and a hologram of one of his subordinates appeared "Round up as many men as possible, and head over to Telos. It looks like we're going to get a chance to blow something up."
"Will do Mandalore" the tiny hologram responded.
The Jedi exile was beaming at what was happening right in front of him. "You are getting way too excited about this."
Mandalore patted him on the shoulder and said "You obviously have a lot more to learn about Mandalorian culture. My men should be here within the hour, and then we can get this party started."
"I wish to join you" spoke the former Handmaiden limping off of the Ebon Hawk's ramp with the red-headed bounty hunter turned Jedi Mira, and the Miraluka Visas Marr following close behind. "If I can offer my assistance to you on this mission I would certainly like to."
Mira felt she needed to speak out against this. "I wouldn't recommend that, you're still badly hurt from that little scuffle you had earlier. You need to stay here and regain your strength. Besides you don't even have your lightsaber."
Andrew put his hand up to halt Mira's protest, and then motioned towards Brianna. "What happened to your lightsaber?"
Brianna's head went down slightly, and her face turned slightly red from embarrassment. "It was destroyed earlier when I fought Atris. I had tossed it at her in desperation and she cut it in half." Her head then went right back up with the same confidence and determination as before. "It does not matter. I can use the force to fight."
Andrew grabbed her by the shoulders and smiled at her. "You are a Jedi Guardian; you shouldn't need to rely on the force to help you through your battles. Remember the lightsaber is a Jedi's self-defense, and when we get to attached to using the power we possess it eventually starts to consumes us. The force is a great ally young padawan, but it can also be a dangerous foe." He then reached into his cloak and pulled out a small metallic lightsaber that Brianna remembered Atris carrying around all the time. "Take this; it was my old saber that I carried in the Mandalorian Wars. Atris gave it back to me to signify that she approved of me becoming a Jedi again, but strangely enough it seems I can no longer identify with it. It's as though it was worn by a different man. So, considering I already have a blade, I'm giving this one to you. Maybe you can put it to better use than its previous owner."
Brianna accepted the gift feeling a great warmth in her heart for the one she confessed her love to merely an hour ago. "Thank you and I believe I already know the former wearer. He is a very kind and generous man, always wanting to help those in need, never wanting to hurt anybody, but isn't afraid to stick up for the ones who can't fight back. These are all the reasons why I fell in love with him."
Wrapping her arms around his neck Brianna proceeded to kiss him in front of everybody, including Visas who had remained silent through the whole conversation until now. "Regardless of whether you have a weapon or not you are still not fit enough for a mission such as this. So I suggest you take Mira's advice and recompose back on the ship. The rest of us can handle things from here."
Brianna broke her kiss and glared over to Visas, almost frustrated with her remark. "I appreciate your concern Visas but I assure you I'm healthy enough for combat, and if you still don't believe me I'd be more than happy to demonstrate for you."
Andrew moved in between the two woman hoping to prevent conflict. "Listen if you think your up for it I welcome your help, but Mira and Visas have a point. You have a major limp and both your arms are still bandaged from force-lightening burns."
"Are you doubting my ability to fight?"
"No, but that is not your fight up on that ship, that's for me and Visas to face. She knows things about her old master that might be able to help me defeat him, so what I'd like to ask you to do is stay her at the station with everyone else. Fight off any invading Sith troops that come along while Mandalore, Visas, and I take care of the Ravager.
Tears started to fill Brianna's eyes, and she slowly walked towards him. For a moment Andrew thought she was going to come up and slap him, but instead she wrapped her arms around his torso and put her head against his chest. "Just promise me you'll be safe up there ok. I can't stand the thought of losing you twice in one day."
Humbled by her show of affection Andrew wrapped his arms around her as well. He had never seen someone who cared for him in such a way before. and deep in his heart he knew he cared for her just as much; which is why it hurt him to see her cry like that. He lightly kissed her forehead and said "I promise that I will come back to you this time, but I need you to be strong for me right now. Even though we will be apart we will still be fighting together, and for each other." He then wiped the tears away from her eyes with his thumbs and gave her a reassuring grin.
Brianna reached up to him and put her hand on his cheek just so she could feel the touch of his warm skin. "I love you."
"I love you too." As those words came out of his mouth he saw from the corner of his eye Visas staring at the two of them, and he could only imagine what she was thinking. Surprisingly all she said was "I will tell Mira to keep an eye on you just in case something happens and you need medical attention", and then walked away.
"Andrew have I done something to upset her? For a moment I thought she was going to pull out her lightsaber and attack me."
He sighed "I got that impression to" them pulled her in closer to him. "Don't worry about it too much though most of that hostility is directed towards me, and frankly I wouldn't blame her. I virtually pulled out her heart and stomped on it right in front of her."
The hold around Andrew's waist got tighter, and he saw that Brianna had buried her head further into his chest. "You mustn't put yourself down like that Andrew, it's not your fault you fell in love with me and not her. Visas is just confused right now, with time she'll make peace with your decision and move on."
"If the roles were reversed would you be able to move on?"
Brianna did not respond, because she knew her answer would only hurt her case. Instead she simply gave Andrew a small peck on the lips, smiled and limped back onto the Ebon Hawk
...Transport Shuttle 1 Hour Later...
Nothing could have been any more uncomfortable. There was around twenty to thirty Mandalorians jammed into the transport. All of them arming rifles, grenades, and many other weapons. No one onboard knew what to expect when they got to the Ravager, but none of that truly worried Andrew because he knew how good of fighters the Mandalorians were and how they thrive in the uncertainty. What made him uneasy was that Visas was sitting right across from him and hadn't said one word since she spoke with him and Brianna at Citadel Station. "Are you ready for the reunion with your old master?" The Miraluka's body was unchanging as though she was unaware that she was being spoken to, but Andrew knew she was only trying to ignore him. "Visas, I think we need to talk about what happened back there."
"What is there left to talk about? I knew you cared for someone, and that I wasn't them. Why do we need to further discuss it?" The words stung her more than they did the exile.
He leaned in closer to her from his seat so their conversation could be more private and heard less from the people around them "You're obviously hurting, it is evident in your body language and in the way you speak. You don't have to put up a barrier and pretend that what you saw didn't bother you, there is nothing wrong with letting your feelings out."
"Wouldn't that give you satisfaction, to know that your little flirtations with the Handmaiden was able to get under my
Andrew stopped her mid-sentence. "She's not the Handmaiden anymore Visas, she's going by Brianna now."
The Miraluka was now looking frustrated from both the fact that Andrew interrupted her, and that he kept talking about Brianna. "So she has finally broken all ties to her former mistress. That is perfect, now she can fix all her focus and energy on you and your tutelage."
That last statement surprised Andrew and made him even more curious about what was going on through her head. "Do you have a problem with me teaching Brianna to become a Jedi?"
Tightly clasping onto her armrest Visas tried to keep her calm demeanor. "I have no issue with anything you two do together. Why do you insist on inquiring into this? Do you fear I'm going to harm one of you in your sleep?"
"I was not suggesting anything of the sort" Andrew answered. "I just wanted to know how you were feeling right now"
Visas had heard enough and snapped. "You want to know how I'm feeling? I feel like I've been slapped in the face and shoved to the ground for the whole world to see my humiliation. I opened myself up to you. I said that I loved you and that I wanted to be at your side, but you denied me of that pleasure. I understood that you longed for another, but I did not realize that mere hours later you would profess your love for her; that was not something I was prepared for."
Andrew just sat back in his seat and listed to her, let himself take all the blows he knew he deserved. "I'm sorry Visas; it was not my intention for it to go down that way. I did not think it would come out so soon. I assure you that I was going to tell you later in private; maybe try to lighten the blow.
Visas turned her head from Andrew and looked at Mandalore who was going over the battle strategy with some of his men. "It would have made no difference in which way I found out. Hearing that news would tear me apart even so." She removed her hand from the armrest, and put it to her heart, and rolled her head back to Andrew. "Why do you not care for me?"
Taking her free hand into his Andrew told her "I do care for you, it's just I", but before Andrew could finish what he was saying Mandalore had signaled that they had arrived at The Ravager and was about to board it. "We're going to get this straightened out later; ok Visas?" She unsurely nodded, and they both got into position for the infiltration.
"Get set to breach" one of the Mandalorian Warriors said to them as they moved to the front of the boarding party, there was a large explosion that broke through the hull of the ship and it was followed by a barrage of blaster fire from both sides of the ship. Andrew and Visas jumped into the fray with their lightsabers drawn and quickly became the deciding factor in the incursion. They moved easily through the corridors cutting down any enemies that got in their way until they came upon a room that Visas recognized. "This was my cell when I was in my Master's keeping. It has been some time since I have last seen it."
Andrew and Mandalore paused for her. "Is there something inside there that you want to get?"
She put her palm to the door feeling its cold exterior, remembering how cold she was when she was on this ship, and how everyday she resided within its confines was even lonelier the last. "I possess no more than a couple robes, but I do have a meditation chamber and if we have time I would like to have the opportunity to center myself."
"Take all the time you need Visas, Mandalore and I will be waiting out here for you."
Menacing columns surrounded the meditation chamber, it had been awhile since she had last seen it. Whenever her master was particularly cruel she would escape to this room to hide away from the pain and separate herself from the physical world. When she was in this place her mind became clear and all her worries faded. Visas sat down in the middle of the room and put herself into a meditative trance. Her thoughts wandered upon her homeworld Katarr and how it used to be. The smell of the tall grass and mountain air was still present in her mind, and she could have sworn she heard the wind blowing past her ears and the subtle chirping of birds. It was quiet but a lively quiet; almost peaceful unlike the dead silence it has now with the surface turned to ash and the mountains turned to rubble. All life on the planet has been wiped clean including the people that inhabited it the Miraluka, she was all that was left of them and she didn't know what she was supposed to do next. Her heart wanted to weep for her planet and mourn for her people, but yet she knew that was not the practical thing to do. Time for tears had passed and even though she was presently mad at him she couldn't help but wonder what the exile would tell her. He would say to let go of the loss of her planet, the burden was weighing her down and if she didn't move on the guilt she held within herself would crush her. So that's what she did. After many years of turmoil, hate, and pain, she finally moved on and let go.
...End of Ch 3...