Disclaimer- I do not own the rights to Star Wars Kotor 1 and 2 or their characters and likeness.

Ch. 6

...Ebon Hawk somewhere in space...

"How can you be so bold all the time Andrew? If I was on my way to a floating rock full of pure evil, I would be scared witless."

"The truth is Atton I kind of am scared, but I have to stay calm for everyone else. Brianna was already beginning to worry, and I don't want that to happen to the rest of them."

"Yea it's funny you mentioned her cause there was something I wanted to talk to you about." Atton rotated in his cockpit seat to look at Andrew who sat in the copilot seat with his eyes closed trying to rest from his most recent battles. "I overheard our former handmaiden talking to Mira about some things that happened between the two of you back at that ice academy." Andrew's eyes shot wide open, and his focus went fully to what Atton was trying to tell him. "It's about damn time you made a move on her. I mean really you spent more time with that woman than anyone else on this ship. Honestly I thought you could have had her at any time, but you just wouldn't pull the trigger."

Andrew chuckled "Well I guess you could say after mine and your conversation on Dantooine I was given an enlightenment of my feelings for her."

Atton scratched the top of his head and looked puzzled. "Enlightenment, Isn't that when your body is filled with spirituality?"

"Well not exactly" Andrew explained. "Enlightenment is when a light has been shed on knowledge that you previously were unaware of. Such as in the case of my feelings for Brianna, but if you need another example why don't you take a look at this." A mask was then drawn from Andrew's robe, and handed over to Atton. "This was worn by Visas's former master; I took it so it could be a symbolic warning of the dangers of greed and lust for power. For anyone who looks upon that mask and hears the story behind it will receive The Enlightenment of Darth Nihilus."

The mask was being flipped back and forth in Atton's hands as he examined it. "So you're basically supposed to learn a life lesson from this thing right?"

"That's the general idea" Andrew said. "It doesn't seem to have any beneficial qualities about it other than being deeply stained by the dark side."

"Well that's great and all, but I think you might want to work on the name a bit.

Offended by his comment Andrew asked "you got a problem with the name I picked out?"

"Andrew you may be the wisest guy I've ever met, but your creativity is at an all-time low. That title is bland and the fact that you only use his name makes it sound like it's simply another story about a guy in the history books. When naming a morality tale you need to choose something memorable and foreboding that way people will know what they are about to hear is going to teach them a life lesson.

"Hmm you're probably right Atton. How about The Enlightenment of Hunger, considering that's what led to his downfall?"

A nod was given by Atton. "That's better, but there was something I wanted to ask you earlier about your little Echani friend." Surprised that Atton brought her up again and knowing how he judged just about everything, Andrew developed an uneasy fear about what he was going to say next. "When are you going to propose to her?"

"Propose?" Andrew almost fell out of his seat. "I'm not sure we have even confirmed we're boyfriend and girlfriend yet."

Atton just shined his white teeth at him and said "Well I'm sorry I think you skipped over that step when you went and told her you loved her." Andrew was not amused, but he couldn't argue with Atton's logic. "Listen, wasn't that where all of this was going anyway. If not now sometime in the future you're going to want to ask her."

"Oh yea, how do you know she's the girl I want to ask." Andrew said attempting to sound as smug as he could.

"Cause you wear it all over your face. You've been grinning ear to ear ever since you got back on board this ship. I bet she said something very loving and sweet to you right before we left the station."

Andrew tried to hide a snicker from Atton's last comment "In a matter of speaking, I guess she kind of did."

"The point is I know you're at your happiest when you're around her. So don't you think you owe it to yourself to try to find a way to keep that happiness forever?"

"Atton is right." The two men both turned to see that the Red-headed fireball Mira had just entered the cockpit. "You were all that girl would talk about while you were fighting who knows what on that ship. It was like you broke the dam in her heart, and all her feelings came flooding out and streamed towards me."

Getting up from his chair, Andrew leaped over to Mira grabbing her both her shoulders. "Brianna spoke about me? What did she say?"

"Ah, well you see the thing is I started tuning out most of the details when she began ranting about how divine your smile is, but there was one thing I did keep hearing her talk about. She wouldn't stop saying how much she loved you, and how glad she was to be the one you chose."

Confusion took over Andrew now. "The one I chose? I love Brianna, why would I not choose her?"

Atton slyly spoke up from his seat. "You said earlier you weren't sure if she was the one you were going to pick."

"Shut up Atton" Andrew quipped trying to retaliate to the former smuggler's smart aleck remark. At least I can get a woman. The only action you've had lately is from those Twi'leks on Nar-Shaddaa, and they were trying to stick a vibroade through your back."

"Would you two boys behave" Mira interjected. "Listen Andrew, I'm not sure if you've noticed this or not, but Brianna does not have the best self-esteem. She was virtually bullied by her sisters her whole life, she has no knowledge of men or how she's supposed to act around them, and until earlier today Brianna didn't have enough value in herself to recognize her own name. For most of her life she had been considered secondhand to dirt, and she most likely assumed you would treat her in the same manner. She probably thought you would rather want to be with me, or maybe even Visas."

Images of Visas's heartbroken face appeared in Andrew's head "You know right before we went to Telos Visas told me she was in love with me."

Both of Andrew's comrades fell dumbstruck until Mira found her voice again and asked "what did you say to her?"

I didn't feel the same way about her that she felt for me. I tried my best to explain that her, and she seemed to understand for the most part. However, later on at Citadel Station she witnessed Brianna and me getting some what intimate, and I'm not sure she was prepared to see that yet. Suffice to say the last time I spoke with Visas she was still pretty angry. I just hope for now she stays secluded in her room."

"Why? Do you think she is going to try to hurt you?"

"No, I fear she may want to hurt Brianna. I realize that doesn't sound like Visas, but she has been acting really out of character lately. At one point during me and her fight against Nihilus she tried to sacrifice herself in a desperate attempt to weaken him. In her current state of mind she is doing things she normally doesn't do, and because of what transpired in front of her earlier I worry she might want to take out her aggressions."

Mira's hand went onto Andrew's shoulder. "If you want I can keep an eye out for Visas. Make sure she's not heading to the cargo hold with death driven eyes."

"No that won't be necessary. I was going to go to the cargo hold and check in on Brianna anyway."

"Alright you do that, but please think about what we said. You two are the cutest thing I've ever seen, and you belong with each other."

"I will consider it." Andrew looked back and forth from Mira to Atton. "You know if both of you were as persistent with your lightsaber skills as you are with my love life, you'd rival even the greatest Jedi swordsmen."

Atton was spinning one of his two lightsaber hilts in his hand. "Why would we need to? We're Jed Sentinels we do most of our fighting with our mouths."

"Goodbye you two, I will talk to you later." Andrew made his way out of the cockpit and towards the cargo hold. He peaked around the corner of the open doorway to see Brianna going through her usual fighting routine. "Old habits are hard to break are they not?" She unexpectedly turned and accidentally stepped on the bottom of her robe, tripped, and fell to the floor. "Brianna are you ok, I didn't mean to startle you."

Reaching for his hand so she could get up Brianna said "it wasn't your fault I was just being clumsy with my movements."

"I may not be a true expert with this stuff yet, but it would probably be easier if you didn't wear your robe while practicing. I mean it was you who pointed out to me that clothing restricted ones movement when fighting."

"Well I actually wasn't practicing. You see running my patterns is one of the few things I know of that can calm my nerves when I am tense."

"Brianna I already told you. You don't need to be..."

"I'm not afraid for me!" Brianna interrupted. "I'm afraid for you. I'm afraid of what might happen when you face Kreia."

"Brianna I'll be fine. There is no reason for you to..."

"You say you'll be fine, but you don't know that" she interrupted again. A panic was developing in her voice. "What if you kill her, and because of your bond you end up dying as well. You seem to be conveniently ignoring that possibility."

Andrew moved closer to Brianna so she wouldn't get riled up "The reason I'm not worried is because I don't believe that possibility exists for me anymore."

Her tone became more calm "What do you mean it doesn't exist anymore? Did you find a way to sever your connection to that awful witch?"

"Not exactly it's just I don't think I can be killed, at least through the force anway. I noticed that when I fought Nihilus, he couldn't drain me fully of my connection to the force. He took as much as he could to feed his hunger, but no matter how much he stole away I simply regenerated it back. It was like the Midi-chlorians in my body were recreating themselves."

"Wait, Andrew are you telling me you"re immortal?"

"No, I can be struck down by a blade or a stray blaster bolt just like everybody else. What I'm trying to say is that even though Kreia and I are linked, one of us dying will most likely not kill the other, and I think she knows it too. She probably sensed what happened during my confrontation with Nihilus and has deduced the same conclusion I have."

With her body loosening up now, Brianna walked over and wrapped her arms around his neck."You have no idea how relieved I am to know you are no longer tethered to that old witch."

"I am still bonded to Kreia as she is to me, it's just our connection is not lethal anymore."

"Well never the less I am thankful. I wonder how you developed this new ability."

"I think it happened back at the Jedi Temple on Dantooine. I was wandering around the gardens, seeing how the wildlife was taking over, and I guess I sort of had a..." Andrew paused for a moment, because he realized how ironic he was about to sound. "I believe I had been enlightened through the force."

"So your connection to the force has become so strong that now you are virtually a conductor of it?"

"That seems to be the simplest way of explaining it, and I have a hunch your body is doing it as well. You see one of the effects of this new-found gift is that you naturally heal faster than normal. Does that sound familiar?"

"Are you referring to me getting better so quickly, but how? I haven't experienced any great insight into the force."

"Back at the Telos academy when you were near death, I gave you some of my force energy in a desperate attempt to save your life . When it worked and you survived I began to realize what this new ability could do."

"If you gave me your force energy is that why I've been hearing your voice in my head?"

"You've been hearing my voice?" This caught Andrew off guard. "No, that happens more often with force bonds. You must have linked with me when I saved you."

"You mean we're bonded together now?" Brianna said with a smile appearing on her face. "My life is connected to yours?"

Realizing what she was trying to insinuate Andrew grabbed her by the shoulders and placed a light kiss on her lips. "My life has always been connected to yours ever since we first met, and I gazed into those gorgeous blue eyes."

Wrapping her arms around him she laid her head against his chest. "I love you, you mean everything to me; I'm glad to know that if you die I shall die alongside you, because I know I wouldn't be able to live a die without you by my side."

Pulling her closer to him, he ran his hands through her hair. "Why do you care so much about me Brianna? Why am I so special to you?"

Letting go of Andrew's warm embrace, Brianna slowly backed away grinning ear to ear. "Because you saw me as Brianna and not the Handmaiden, even before you knew my name. Until I met you, I had always been treated like an outcast. I lived with my sisters my whole life, and they never gave me any respect; they always referred to me as the last among them, and never stopped denouncing my skills and abilities as an Echani Warrior. Then you wandered into the polar academy one day and caught me off guard. The only other man I'd ever seen was my father, so I didn't know how to act when you decided to come up and speak to me. At first I thought you were going to insult me or make some threat against my life, but you didn't. Instead, you held an actual conversation with me not just a question and answer exchange. You were curious about who I was, what I thought, and how I felt about certain things, and with each topic you asked about you made sure that you weren't offending me in any way. I had only spoken to you for five minutes, and you were already telling me about the force and what it felt like to wield treated me as an equal that day, and that is when I fell in love with you. I may have said that I was only here to spy on you for Atris, but I was lying to myself. The real reason was that I wanted to be closer to you, and I couldn't let you just walk out of my life. Something about you drew me in and I just had this uncontrollable desire to follow where you lead." Brianna's head dipped down to her feet, and then went back to look into his eyes. "Andrew you are the light that brightens my soul. Because of you, I not only learned to care for others, but I learned to care for myself." Reaching up to feel the touch of Andrew's face Brianna asked. "Would you mind if I kissed you again?"

The two leaned into each other, once again sharing their love, and as their lips parted Andrew smiled and whispered in Brianna's ear "Never ask for permission to kiss me. Just do it."

She grabbed him by his neck and pulled him in for yet another passionate kiss. "You have unchained me master Jedi, you shall soon regret it." She teasingly said under deep breaths.

"We shall see." Andrew backed away from Brianna, and moved over to the other side of the cargo hold. "Tell me Brianna, are you ready for another sparring match."

Hands on her hips Brianna looked shocked. "After all that we just said to each other, you wish to cause me harm?"

"No, you misunderstand me. You said going through your routines relaxed you. I was just thinking it would be more beneficial if you were practicing with a partner."

A mocking grin grew on Brianna face. "Oh I see, you want to fight because you're uncomfortable talking about your feelings. I thought you trusted me enough to tell me anything."

"I do, but you keep twisting my words around. Besides didn't you once tell me that when two people fight their emotions are expressed more fluidly than their words could ever convey. I thought you me could share that kind of moment, unless you think I'm unworthy to fully spar with an Echani."

Her grin just became wider and wider. "You are far more worthy than any Echani. I would gladly spar with you my love." The two of them removed their robes and tunics and proceeded with their match up. Not to hurt one another or to prove their skills, but to share their love in the most intimate way they knew how.

Author's Notes- Thank you to those who have read this story so far. I have enjoyed writing it for all of you, and I hope to continue to do so. This chapter was the first one I wrote that wasn't actually based off anything that happened in the game, and for the most part I thought it came out alright. I put a few subtle jokes within it about some of the qualities of my story that I found amusing, and I thought I could make fun of myself. Some were pointed out to me, others I chose on my own. Once again thank you and get ready for the next chapter when our heroes finally arrive on Malachor V.

...End of Ch 6...