Chapter 17: Out of the Dark.
"What do you want to do now Nihilus?" Sion asked.
"The Jedis will be here in five hours, so I suggest being ready for any confrontation." Nihilus said walking to the door.
"Where are you going?" Sion asked.
"I'm going to wait them in the Academy, you stay here, and your apprentice is coming to help you." Nihilus said. Sion nodded and looked through the window.
Hours later, the ships arrived at the planet where the signal of the ship stopped. Fortunately, the Sith fleet didn't attack the ships. "Do they know where are here?" Atton asked.
"Maybe, but they must have orders for not attack us." Kraig said.
"Where are we anyway?" Jolee asked.
"I don't know, the computer doesn't have the information about this system or the planet, but this is where Sion's ship arrived." Bastila said looking the scanners of the Hawk. "Kraig, do you recognize the planet below?" She asked.
"No, sorry." Kraig answered.
"How is the planet?" Visas asked.
"It seems that the planet has a breathable atmosphere, climate: wet. Primary terrain: jungles, swamps and oceans. And there are significant buildings across the surface." Kraig said.
"Wait…is the atmosphere covered with clouds?" Visas asked.
Kraig checked the scanner. "Yes." He answered.
"Dromund Kaas." Visas said.
"What?" Atton asked.
"We are above Dromund Kaas, a Sith planet. I remember from my studies that Dromund is one of the most important planets for the Sith." Visas answered.
"But I thought Korriban was everything for them after the Great Hyperspace War." Meetra said.
Visas shook her head. "No, after the Great Hyperspace War, there were rumors that they settled in a planet of the Unknown Regions and they stayed there inactive until the Mandalorian Wars."
The group stayed silent, they were thinking where the best place to keep Revan was. "Do you have any idea where are they holding Revan?" Bastila asked.
"In the Sith Academy, I heard that's where my formal master, Darth Nihilus finished his training at hands of Kreia." Visas answered.
The group looked at each other, if they were there to rescue Revan, they needed a plan to rescue him. Kraig suggested that they needed to get rid of Nihilus and Sion to make a safe escape. Meetra said that she would get rid of Sion and said that she felt his presence in the nearby ship.
"Well, Sion is on the ship. But where's Nihilus?" Mical asked.
"He is on the planet; I can feel his presence." Visas answered.
"Okay, so what we would do now kid?" Jolee asked.
"I think we need to split up." Meetra said.
"What are you proposing child?" Jolee asked.
"We are going to make two teams, one is going to the planet below to rescue Revan and the other is coming with me aboard that ship to confront Sion." Meetra answered.
"Good idea." Bastila said. "I'm going to lead the team to rescue Revan, we also need to contact the other ships to help us." She said.
The group agreed and contacted the other ships, they told them about Meetra's plan and agreed with her idea, and also the other groups suggested splitting their crew to help the Hawk. When they finished the conversation, they organized the teams.
"Okay, who's coming with me?" Meetra asked.
Mission and Jolee offered to go with Meetra. Visas, Mical, Atton and HK decided to go with Bastila. "Kraig. With whom are you going to go?" Bastila asked.
Kraig thought it for few seconds, then he answered: "I'm coming with Meetra, I have unfinished business with Sion's apprentice; Kryat."
"Okay, we are ready." Bastila said. "Meetra, take us down." She said and Meetra nodded, the other ships also descended to the planet, Meetra lowered the ramp when the Hawk touched ground, the members of the rescuing party started to descend from the ships. The only one who stayed on board the ship was Atton.
"Atton, what's wrong?" Meetra asked worried.
"Nothing, it's… just…" He answered taking a deep breath.
"Tell me you're not scared to fight." She said.
Atton shook his head, "No, it's just… that I need to tell you something." He said.
"It can't wait?" Meetra asked.
"No, it can't wait. I need to tell you something in case of neither of us comes back." He said and took her hand in his.
"Atton please don't talk like that." Meetra said holding his hand tighter.
"Please, will you listen to me?" He begged.
Meetra nodded her head; Atton took a deep breath and started. "Babe, before I met you, I thought life was senseless; I thought that I'd not fall in love again until you came to my life. That night when we first kissed, I knew we have the same feelings for each other. You have accepted me with all my faults and mistakes and I want to be there for you no matter what." He said. Meetra blushed when Atton said these words to her.
"Atton…" She said shyly.
"I love you." He said at last.
Meetra's eyes lit up with this affirmation she longed several weeks ago. A tear of joy rolled down Meetra's face which Atton cleaned whit his thump. "What take you so long?" She asked after clearing her throat.
"I needed the courage, I was nervous about your reaction." Atton said looking at her green eyes. Meetra smiled and took Atton's face between her hands and kissed him, he placed his hands on her back and drew her close as he deepened the kiss. They broke apart for oxygen. "I love you too, flyboy." Meetra said smiling.
Atton chuckled, "Now you're going to tease me?" He asked.
Meetra smiled, "We will discuss this later, after this is over." She said.
Atton nodded his head and whispered to her, "Come back to me alive."
"I will." She answered and gave him a goodbye kiss. "Go." She said. Atton nodded and descended with the group which was waiting for him. Meetra lifted up the ramp of the Hawk and the ships returned to space. As soon as the ship left the planet, Dark Jedis, Sith assassins and Sith troopers started to attack the group. The group split out and blocked every attack that the Sith threw at them.
"Visas, how far are we from the Academy?" Bastila asked.
"3 miles from here; I can feel Nihilus' presence closer." Visas answered, but before they could go to the Academy a new group of Sith, this time bigger started to attack the group. Several Jedis blocked the attacks and charged against the Sith.
"You go and rescue Revan, we'll hold them up." One of the Jedis said. Bastila nodded and part of the group ran to the Academy. Above the skies of Dromund Kaas, the ships got closer to the Ravager, but before they could go inside the hangar, the other ships started to shoot.
"T3! Send a message to Carth and tell him we need backups." Meetra said.
The little droid beeped in agreement and sent the message, fortunately the ships passed through the fire and landed in the hangar. Once the Jedis descended from the ships, they left the hangar. As they started to get deeper in the Ravager, the Sith soldiers attacked the Jedis, Meetra and the group made their way defeating every Sith they found on the way. On Dromund Kaas, the group slashed down the enemies across the way, when they reached at the Academy, there was no Sith at the entrance.
"Where are the Dark Jedis?" Atton asked.
"It's strange, there are always Dark apprentices walking in the hallways just like the Jedi Temple." Mical answered.
"HK, have you have detected any organic life forms?" Bastila asked.
"Answer: Negative female meatbag, I haven't detected any other organic life besides this group." HK said.
Bastila sighed, "Okay, let's keep moving, be careful, there still can be any Dark Jedis here." She said.
The group walked in complete silence along the empty hallways of the Academy, watching every step they made, they reached at the Main Hall of the Academy. Everything was dark, except for the light coming through the windows of the Academy. Atton lit up a torch and saw that all around the main hall were statues of Sith Lords, the group stayed in the middle trying to know where were the Sith.
"Well, if the Sith aren't here, maybe Revan is here." Atton said.
"Yes, you may be right Atton; I'm going to try to find him." Bastila answered, she closed her eyes and tried to sense Revan's presence through the bond, when she sensed, she smiled. "He is here, but I don't know if he's alive." She said worried.
Then, Sith assassins appeared next to the statues of the Sith Lords, they ignited their lightsabers and surrounded the group. "You go and try to find Revan, we will hold them back!" Visas said. Bastila nodded and left the Main Hall. She ran across the hallways until she reached at the cell blocks. She concentrated again and felt Revan's presence closer; she walked few meters and saw two Sith officers guarding the door of Revan's cell. She used a force wave on the two Sith officers, the officers landed unconscious on the floor. Bastila ignited her double-lightsaber and forced the door. Once it was opened, she entered on the room fearing the worse.
She stood on the doorway looking at the man who was sitting on the floor, leaning his back against the wall with his head down. When she walked a few steps, he lifted his head.
She could see him through the dim light that entered through the window and could see that his appearance was flagging, his unshaved face and his pale skin made him look like a ghost; the green circles around his mouth were more visible now, as well as the bruisers, cuts and the stains of dry blood, his hands had ligature marks due to the metal shackles. Even his hair was longer than normal; since his mind was reprogrammed, Revan kept his hair short from the back and from the sides, except for the front where his hair fell like bangs. Also, his shirt was ripped and it had blood stains everywhere.
"Bas?" Revan asked confused when he saw her. "Is that really you?"
Bastila couldn't hold back her excitement of knowing Revan was alive, so she walked to him and bent down next to him. "Yes, it's me." She answered.
"Are you sure?" He asked again. "I feel like I'm hallucinating." He said with a faint smile on his face.
Bastila chuckled, "No, you're not hallucinating." She said and grabbed his hand and led it to her face. "Do you think if I were a hallucination, you could feel the warmth of my cheeks?" She asked smiling.
Revan knew she was right; she was there to rescue him, after three weeks of being tortured and thrown into the cell, his girl finally had come to rescue him. "Baby, it's really you!" He said excited placing his other hand on her cheek feeling the sensation of her soft skin under his fingerprints. They embraced as tears of joy were running down from their faces, she looked at him and she kissed him gently on the lips, when they broke apart, she buried her face in his shoulder and said "I thought I'd never see you again". The minutes went by, but Revan felt the pain of his chest due to his broken ribs, when they broke apart, Revan was breathing heavily.
"Are you fine?" She asked placing a hand on his cheek.
"Yeah, it's just that I have a few ribs broken and it hurts when I move." He answered clutching his left side.
"Come, let's get out of here." She said. She wrapped an arm around Revan's waist and he put an arm around her shoulders. "Okay, this is going to hurt." She said and with their efforts they got on their feet, Revan let out a groan of pain, "Sorry." She said and the two left the cell back to the Main Hall.
Meetra slashed the last Sith trooper of her way, she looked around and saw that the others were fighting the last Dark Jedis, when the Dark Jedis fell on the floor dead, they regrouped with Meetra.
"What do we do now child?" Jolee asked.
"We need to found Sion and Kryat; they must be in the bridge." Meetra answered.
"No." Kraig said.
The others looked at Kraig confused. "What do you mean son?" Jolee asked.
"I remember one tactic that Sion used to said often." Kraig answered. "He said if they were under attack they needed to go to Engineering." He said.
"Do you remember where Engineering is?" Meetra asked.
"Yes, follow me." Kraig said. The group followed Kraig through the decks of the ships, but when they arrived to the lowest decks, more Sith troopers, Dark Jedis and assassins appeared, the group covered each other and when they defeated all they arrived at Engineering.
"They are here." Meetra said. The doors opened and everything was empty, when the group walked inside, the doors behind them were closed.
"Finally, you have arrived." Sion said.
"You're not gonna get out of this alive Sion." Meetra said.
Sion chuckled and drew his attention to Kraig. "It's good to know that a former apprentice of the Dark Side decided to redeem himself after being a coward." He said.
"You don't know what you are talking about Sion." Kraig answered.
"I'm sure he does." Kryat said. Kraig's blood went cold when he saw Kryat. "Long time no see Kraig." He said smiling.
"I see you finally became a pawn of the Dark Lord, Kryat." Kraig said.
Kryat chuckled," And I see you are still the same coward you were six months ago." He said.
"You're going down Kryat." Kraig said. He ignited his lightsaber and charged towards Kryat. The others focused on Sion, with Kraig fighting against Kryat, Sion was alone. The group ignited their lightsabers, but Sion used a force wave sending Mission, Jolee and the others against pipes near there, they hit so hard with the pipes that, they fell on the floor unconscious.
When Meetra saw her friends fell, she ignited her lightsaber and attacked Sion, Sion blocked the attack and swung his red blade trying to hit Meetra but she managed to dodge the attack and jumped over Sion landing behind him.
"Guys, I need help." Bastila said as she and Revan were approaching to the group. Atton and Mical rushed to them and helped Revan placing his arms around their shoulders, when they checked Revan was comfortable, they started to walk to the door of the Academy, but three Jedis fell dead when a lighting of Force struck them.
"Leaving so soon Revan?" Nihilus' voice said from the dark.
They turned around and saw Nihilus standing in one of spots where the light came through the window. "I see that your friends had come to rescue you, but you will not get out of this alive." Nihilus said grabbing his lightsaber from his belt.
Revan got loose of the support Atton and Mical provided him. Clutching his left side he stepped in front of the group. "You are the one who is not going to get out of this alive." He said. Bastila became worried, she knew Revan was weak and needed medical care.
"Revan, what are you doing?" She asked.
"I'm going to finish this." He answered.
"Revan, you are weak and injured. We don't know if you can handle a fight." She said.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine, I only need someone else who wants to fight him." He answered with a faint smile on his face.
"I can help you." Visas said.
"Good." Revan answered. "I'll be fine." He said looking at Bastila. She handled something to him, when he checked what it was; he noticed it was his double-blade lightsaber.
Nihilus ignited his lightsaber, "Two formidable opponents." He said. "A former Dark Lord and a former Sith assassin, now traitors of the Sith."
"I'm not afraid of you anymore Nihilus." Visas said igniting her lightsaber.
"We will see that." Nihilus said holding his lightsaber tighter.
Revan ignited his lightsaber, Nihilus charged at Revan, but he stepped aside making Nihilus to confused, when he saw that Revan was on his left, he whirled his lightsaber until it crashed against one of the blue blades of Revan's lightsaber. Revan blocked the blade and sent Nihilus a few steps back, Visas saw an opportunity and tried to attack Nihilus but he blocked the blow, Revan approached from one of his sides, but Nihilus saw this and kicked Revan making him fell on the ground.
The red and orange blades clashed against other, Kraig was having success in weakening Kryat; Kryat was surprised that Kraig was stronger than he was six months ago. "Where did you learn to fight?" Kryat asked.
"Are you surprise that I can handle a fight?" Kraig asked. "No, not really." Kryat answered and attacked Kraig, he blocked the blade and called one of the lightsaber of Jolee, who was still unconscious, Kraig ignited and tried to stab Kryat, but he jumped backwards, causing that the blade only grazed him. When Kryat saw the scar of the blade, he got angry and charged at Kraig again. Fortunately, Kraig was more agile than Kryat and stabbed him on the chest before Kryat could bring down his lightsaber to attack Kraig. "I'm sorry for this." Kraig said as he retracted the blade of Kryat's chest.
Sion saw his apprentice fall on the floor dead and brought his lightsaber down to Meetra, but she blocked it and with a Force wave he sent him a few meters away. "You know, if you kill me, I'll be back." Sion said getting up.
"What do you mean?" Meetra asked keeping her distance.
Sion chuckled. "I was killed long time before you were born, but neither of the Jedis has being successful in killing me, thanks to my hate I rose again and again every time they left me for dead." He said.
"Then why?" Meetra asked.
"What are you talking about?" Sion asked.
"Why you keep doing this?" Meetra asked again. "I'm sure your immortality has come with a price, the price of your pain, of your suffering." She said.
Sion deactivated his blade and stared at Meetra for long time. "You don't need to do this Sion, you were once a great Sith, but those days had passed, I think it's time for you to rest." Meetra said deactivating her lightsaber. A silence fell on Engineering, Sion stayed silence for long time until he spoke again, "Maybe you're right Exile, I'm still a Sith but my days of glory had passed. I'm only a fool who's following an ideal." He said and knelt on the floor. "Please, strike me down and end my agony, I'm already dead, there's nothing you can save of me. Strike me down and I'll be grateful for all the eternity."
Meetra took a deep breath and walked a few steps, she activated her lightsaber and rose it over Sion's decaying body, she brought down her lightsaber stabbing Sion on the back, a cry of pain toured the entire ship. Sion looked at Meetra and said, "Thanks Exile, I see that Traya was wrong about you." And with that Sion finally died. Kraig walked to Meetra and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you fine?" He asked.
Meetra shook her head, "Yes, I'm fine." She said. The others started to wake up, Meetra and Kraig helped them to get on their feet. "What happened?" Mission asked as Kraig was helping her to get on her feet.
"Sion and Kryat are dead." Meetra said.
"So it's over?" Mission asked.
"I hope so." Kraig said. Then an alarm went off, the red light of the alarm flooded the room. "What now?" Kraig said approaching to one of the terminals.
"Exile?" A voice said through the communicator.
"What is it?" Meetra asked.
"Our scanners are detecting that Sith fighters are coming right to us." The Jedi said.
"What?" Meetra asked again confused.
"Meetra, he's right, dozens of fighters are coming right to our location." Kraig said.
"Who gave the order?" Meetra asked. Kraig checked the archives and saw the answer, "Kryat, that bastard was always good to give orders." Kraig said.
"Let's go before they blow up the ship." Meetra said and the group returned to their ships, the ships went off of the hangar and the fighters started to fire at them, fortunately, the Republic fleet arrived in good time and helped the ships.
Revan felt the pain in his entire body; he was taking a breath before attacking Nihilus again, Visas was watching every move of Nihilus, Nihilus prepared his blade and charged at Visas, she blocked the attack and kicked him on the chest, making Nihilus to lose his balance, Revan saw the opportunity and stabbed Nihilus on the chest. He fell on his knees coughing blood.
"Your plan is over Nihilus." Revan said.
"No…you're wrong Revan…my plan is still working." Nihilus said and coughed blood again, "You cannot stop what's coming, the Jedis are fools who can't see when they have Sith inside the Order." Nihilus said and died.
Revan deactivated his lightsaber and said, "It's over." After that, his world went black. When Revan fell on the ground, Bastila rushed to his side and search for his pulse, when she felt it, she asked for help to carry him. They went outside the Academy, as the Hawk was landing on the planet's surface. The ramp went down and the group climbed on the ship.
"Take him to the med bay." Bastila said. Atton and Mical take an unconscious Revan to the med bay. "Meetra send a message to Canderous; tell him that we need a Mandalorian surgeon quickly, and tell him to meet us on Dantooine, Khoonda Hospital." She said.
Meetra nodded and sent the message, Jolee and Bastila went to the med bay to check Revan's vital signs. "How's he?" Bastila asked.
"His vital signs are weak and the toxin of the Dxunian bull slug is spread in all his body." Jolee said.
"Is there a chance with the Force we can stop the toxin?" She asked.
"No." Jolee answered shaking his head. "I read that the slug itself is immune to the Force, even the toxin is immune to the Force." He answered.
Bastila looked at Revan, who regained consciousness for a short time. He opened his eyes and looked at her giving her a faint smile. "Hey handsome." She said smiling. "Try not to move." She said placing her hand on his chest.
He raised his hand and touched her lips tenderly. "You…look… beautiful today." He said. Bastila moved his hand to her cheek and said "Try to rest. We'll arrive to Dantooine in a few hours." Revan tried to say something but she cut him off placing a finger on his lips. "Shh, you're safe now, you're back with me." She said. Revan smiled and went unconscious. Bastila kissed him on the forehead, "Don't you dare to die on me Revan." She said fighting back tears.