Chapter 12: Meaning.
Two hours later, the group returned to the Outpost, they felt confused after what had happened earlier.
"Guys!" Mission said after seeing the group. "You're back. Why do you have those faces? You didn't lose the holocron, right?" She said trying to make them smile.
"No, we are just confused, that's all." Bastila answered.
"What happened?" Mission asked.
"We just don't know, we were fighting the Sith and suddenly they threw smoke grenades at us and when the smoke cleared, they were gone." Meetra answered.
"Even the ship?" Mission asked.
"Even the ship." Meetra answered.
Minutes later, the two Mandalorians that Mandalore sent to investigate returned very frightened. Mandalore asked them what they found, but they decided to talk in private. The three Mandalorians entered in a room and the door was closed.
"Are you sure of this?" Mandalore asked.
"Yes Mandalore. The Sith went to the swamp zone, they made a mess looking for the creatures." One of the Mandalorians said.
Mandalore went silent. Why the Sith wants this creature? He asked himself. Suddenly a thought struck his mind.
"Do we still have one?" He asked.
The two Mandalorians nodded and Mandalore asked for it. Outside, the group was even more confused, what did the Mandalorians found? The waiting was over, Mandalore and his men went out of the room with a big terrarium.
"What's that?" Mission asked.
"There is something I want to show you" Mandalore said.
The waiting was killing him; the Council had been deliberating for almost a week since Kreia told them about this strange planet where the Force was strong.
"Vrook." Kreia said after seeing the Jedi walking around the main hall.
"Good morning Kreia." He answered.
"Did you have some news about the Council?" She asked.
"No, they haven't made a decision yet." He answered.
"It's been almost a week."
"I know" He said and sighed. "I wish I could go to this planet you talked about and explore it."
Kreia drew a small smile across her face. "Why you don't go then?" She asked.
"And defy the Council? No thanks." He answered.
"Come on Vrook, you know they will continue deliberating until they say no. If you go first, maybe you can explore the planet and after exploring it, convince the Council." Kreia answered.
Vrook was silent; he really wanted to know the old traditions of the Order before these went lost.
"Maybe you are right Kreia, I will go and explore the planet by myself." He answered.
"I suggest taking some Padawans with you, they could be helpful." She said.
"Thanks for the advice Kreia." He said and walked off to the Jedi Archives. Kreia only smiled. The fish has taken the bait. She said to herself.
"What do you have there?" Mical asked.
Mandalore opened the top of the terrarium and extended his arm asking for a pair of tweezers, one of his men handled it to him, when Mandalore took the tweezers he knocked the glass of the terrarium making the creature inside very angry. When the creature appeared, the group was shocked for the creature.
It was a small slug with two large pincers on the sides of its mouth; it had big scales protecting its body from any weapon or predator. At the end of its body, his tail look like two other pincers, but these ones were smaller, also it had eight legs and two red eyes. When Mandalore took the slug with the tweezers, the creature let out a chilling scream.
"What the hell is that thing?" Atton asked watching the slug moving.
"This is a Dxunian bull slug. These creatures are the worst in this planet." Mandalore answered.
"What do they do?" Bastila asked.
"This is a parasitic animal that always looks for a humanoid host. For us, they are commonly known as `The natural serum of truth´." Mandalore answered.
"I think I have heard of these creatures, they are legends in many worlds, but I think the legend is true." Jolee said.
"We used them back at the time of the Mandalorian Wars." Mandalore said.
"For what?" Mical asked.
"For Republic soldiers we captured, we used the slugs to take them information about their plans." Mandalore answered. "The slug enters in the host's mouth and travels through the body, when it reaches the back of the head, it latches onto the brain stem, with its two large pincers bites the brain stem and releases a toxin making the host very susceptible to every question planted, forcing him to answer the questions." He said.
The group was shocked about hearing this information, if the Siths had taken the slugs for a reason; Revan was condemned to be tortured with the slug.
"How long you can live with one of those bull slugs?" Visas asked.
"We don't know, as far as we know, if the slug stays a long period of time, it will start to grow inside the host's body releasing more toxins in the body making him to suffer hallucinations and causing him great pain." Mandalore answered.
"Is there a way to extract the slug?" Meetra asked.
"Yes, through a long and careful surgery, but only Mandalorian doctors can do it." Mandalore said.
The group stayed silent, minutes later they decided to look for the reaming holocrons before the Siths could use the bull slug on Revan to extract him the information. Before leaving, Jolee asked for more information of the bull slug, Mandalore gave him a holocron which had all the information.
The group returned to the place where the ships were and they found the other half of the Jedi group waiting for them.
"We have the holocrons, what now?" One of the Jedis asked.
"We look for Revan." Bastila said. "This is what we are going to do, you will return to Dantooine and inform Dorak about what had happen, we will look for Revan and the holocrons, once we have the location of Revan we will inform you." She said.
The Jedis agreed with the deal and left Dxun, the ships entered in hyperspace and went to Dantooine, in the surface the Hawk was still there.
"So, where do we go now?" Atton asked.
"I don't know. Maybe watching the holocron can give us a clue." Bastila said. She turned on the holocron, but before the recording could start, a message of password appeared. Fortunately, Mission broke the code and they access the recording, an image of Revan about 20 years appeared.
"I have joined the Republic in the war against the Mandalorians four months ago, but I'm not alone in this; a group of Jedis who decided to join me are here, they call us the Revanchists, and I have been marked as his leader, finally the war is going to change.
I have studied the Mandalorians by only seeing them, hidden in places where I can; I have discovered a way to infiltrate in their camps to know what are planning. A way to infiltrate is to capture one of the Mandalorian patrols and disguise as them using their armors and weapons, after entering in the Mandalorian camp, the idea is to stay two or three days and then leave. Once with the information known we will inform the Republic army, to attack before them." Once the record finished, the group stayed quiet, until Meetra broke the silence;
"Maybe this is what Sion talked about." She said.
"What?" Jolee asked confused.
"The day we're escaping from Peragus, Darth Sion told us that darkness is about to fall. Maybe it has something to do with the holocrons and their content." Meetra answered.
"Maybe you are right Meetra." Bastila said. "What if the Siths had found one of Revan's holocrons and they want to know more about his military tactics?" She asked.
"Maybe the first holocron they found was the one hidden in Korriban, they saw it and realized the importance of the information." Mical said.
"If something I have known about the Sith is that they will never stop until finding all the holocrons, all I can tell you is that my formal master has dark plans for the holocrons." Visas said.
"So?" Atton asked. "Where do we go now?"
"After Revan left the Republic space, thousands of legends about him and the holocrons were told by the soldiers and Jedis that didn't follow him to the Unknown Regions." Mical said. "One of the stories said that he hid some of the holocrons in Malachor after its destruction." He said.
"So you're thinking some of the holocrons are hidden in Malachor V?" Atton asked.
Mical nodded; Meetra started to feel bad, she still had the memory of activating the Mass Generator and sensing thousands of lives dying.
"Babe?" Atton asked when she saw Meetra getting pale. "Are you all right?" He asked.
Meetra didn't say anything, she only wanted to be alone, so she left the main hold and went to her room. Her friends were worried, but right now they needed to make a plan about finding the holocrons in Malachor V.
"Atton, set course for Malachor." Bastila said.
Atton nodded, he went to the cockpit and traced route to Malachor, once the Hawk took off from Dxun, Atton prepared the coordinates to the hyperspace jump, but before they could be ready, the ship shook violently.
"What is going on?" Bastila asked entering in the cockpit.
"We are being attacked by sith fighters. I thought that you said they disappeared." Atton answered.
"Yes, I thought that." Bastila said. "Meetra, you and Mission go to the gun turrets and shot to the fighters!" She yelled from the cockpit. Meetra went out from her room and headed to the gun turrets, she started to fire to the fighters, but the fighters eluded the shots. One of the shots hit one of the engines.
"We have lost one engine, we can't go into hyperspace!" Atton's voice said through the ship.
As soon as Atton said that, the fighters stopped attacking the Hawk and left it, the fighters went into hyperspace leaving the Hawk behind.
"Atton, how bad is the damage?" Bastila asked.
"I don't know, but we can't go into hyperspace until the engine is repair." Atton answered.
"Is there any planet near where we can repair the ship?" Jolee asked.
Atton checked the navigational computer of the Hawk. "We aren't too far from Telos." He said.
"How long it could take us to arrive?" Bastila asked.
"With one engine, maybe three or four days." Atton answered.
Bastila sighed. "Okay Atton, trace route to Telos." She said.
Atton nodded and traced route to Telos, he pushed the ship to his maximum speed, without hyperspace, they will be arriving in four days. Atton entered in the main hold and found Meetra coming down from the gun turrets, he rushed to her.
"Babe, are you all right?" He asked placing his hand on her arm. She didn't look at him, but she knew that he was worried. "No." She answered. "I just want to be alone."
"Okay, but if you want to talk, I'm not going anywhere." Atton said. Meetra didn't say anything and she went to her room.
Three days had passed since Revan was taken out from his cell to be interrogated and tortured for the information about the holocrons, but again he was being tortured, this time worse. His screams flooded the torture chamber and the hallways of the Academy.
Inside the torture chamber, he was suspended two meters away from the floor, his hands and feet were hold by metal shackles with energy lines. The Sith removed his Jedi robes, leaving him with his long-sleeve undershirt and his brown pants.
"I'm sick of your games Revan!" Kryat said. "Tell us where the holocrons are and you may live." He said.
"You think I'm a fool?" Revan asked trying to be calm. "I don't know where the holocrons are, even if I knew it, I wouldn't tell you anything." He said.
Kryat was loosing his patience, although we enjoyed watching Revan being tortured, the interrogations never lead to anything. "Raise the power to level three." He ordered to the officers that were with him. They nodded and programmed the computer with the level three and pushed a button. Electricity ran through Revan's body make him to let out a cry of pain which was heard in the whole Academy. Sion was pleased hearing Revan's screams, after all, he was the Lord of Pain.
Revan's body contracted every time the electricity ran through his body, he was starting to felt dizzy, he was breathing heavily when he heard the voice of Kryat once again.
"So, Revan, are you willing to talk?" Kryat asked.
Revan lifted his head glazing at Kryat's eyes. "You are a sick bastard." He said.
Kryat chuckled, but suddenly his face got serious. "You haven't answered my question." He said darkly.
"And I will not." Revan said. Kryat's eyes flashed in anger, he ordered to one of the officers to bring him a special weapon, when the officer handled it to Kryat, he walked around Revan.
"Have you ever heard about the laser whip?" Kryat asked. "It said that this whip has two lashes, one made of metal and the other made of pure energy like the lightsaber. When the two lashes are combined, it causes more damage than when the metal lash is used. You want to prove it?"
Revan felt his heartbeat getting faster, he could feel cold sweat running down his back.
"I'm going to give you another chance Revan." Kryat said, he approached to Revan looking him in the eyes. "Where are the holocrons?" He asked.
"If you are going to torture me do it!" Revan said "I'm not going to tell you anything."
Kryat sighed in disappointment. "I'm trying to give you a way out, because if you keep telling nothing, my master, Sion is the one who will make you talk with a special trick he's preparing, so, do you change your mind?" He asked.
"No." Revan said.
"Well, I offered you a way out, but you refused it, so you have to deal with the consequences." Kryat said, he move his hand and started to whip Revan. Revan only could feel his back burning every time the whip penetrated in his flesh.
"My Lord." Sion said.
"What is it, Sion?" Nihilus asked.
"The group you sent to Dxun, is returning, the have good news." Sion answered.
"Good, they found the slug." Nihilus said darkly.
Sion nodded. "I have received some news from Traya, she said, that one of the members of the Council has gone to Malachor by his own with a group of Padawans, she's waiting for them in the planet." He said.
"Good, this is only the beginning, once we know about the other holocrons, nothing will stop us." Nihilus said. He surely was smiling under his mask.
Vrook and the Padawans walked along the devastated Malachor, they were confused.
"Master Vrook, are you sure these are the coordinates?" One of the Padawans asked.
"I'm sure Padawan, Kreia said it was here." Vrook answered.
They kept walking until they reached at Trayus Academy. "This graveyard is filled with the taint of the Dark Side." One of the Padawans said.
"Yes, I have a bad feeling let's go." Vrook said, but before they could go a hooded figure blocked their way.
"Welcome to Malachor my children."