"Boy, you're lucky I tracked you two in time," the driver said, voice coarse and rough.
Bastila stared. He wore dark brown slacks with many pockets and holsters. His leather jacket was black and tight fitting, with large brass buttons gleaming as one large fold of the jacket covered the other. She'd seen such jackets on republic bomber pilots when they were off duty. His right shoulder bore the symbol on his vehicle. His dark hair was short cut, but ever slightly curled. He sported a distinct, long pair of side burns and he was wearing a larger, thicker domino mask, also bronze in color. He had slightly dark skin, and was also slightly unshaven. Bastila could not make out the color of his eyes, the heavy mask obscured his eyes and nose.
"And you are?" Bastila asked.
"Name's Rae. Rae Nolin. SWAT Officer (Equivalent to Jedi Weapon Master)," Nolin answered, tossing a small bottle of oxygen and a breath mask to her in the backseat. "For your friend."
Bastila panicked as she remembered Juhani, who had gone unconscious. She pressed the oxygen mask to Juhani's face., turning the handle on the bottle.
"Not too much now. Don't wanna burst some vein in her head she might need," Nolin advised.
Juhani's eyes fluttered open after a second. "Mama?" she called out, eyes unfocused.
"Juhani, its Bastila. Do you know where you are?"
Juhani squinted a few seconds before recognition dawned.
"Thank you, Bastila. I'm fine," Juhani said. "We have been made, the two of us."
"You ain't the only one, furball," Nolin said. "I keep tellin' em, 'Don't trust Revan'. 'Revan's running his own game'. Do they listen? Ha!"
"I take it Revan is trusted here?" Bastila asked politely.
"He's the commission's golden boy," Nolin answered as he sped up the vehicle, seeing two more patrol speeders line up behind his from the rear view mirror. "Finest Officer in the whole damn Coruscant Precinct. Tough on lawbreakers. Too ambitious for his own damn good."
"Not fan, I take it?" Juhani asked, sitting up as she sensed the presence of their pursuers.
"Word to the wise, Sister; You don't get that kind of clout in the Department without an intention to pull something major. Everybody trusts him. Everybody but me. But you're just people. They can easily dismiss you as imposters. His supporters will do that. I need hard evidence to move against him. Did you see anything? Anybody?"
Before Juhani could answer, the vehicle was rocked by an impact.
Nolin jerked the controls, sending the speeder careening down. Bastila almost lost her breakfast as the vehicle corkscrewed through the air. She heard the whizzing of vehicle mounted heavy blaster bolts. One punctured the rear transparisteel windshield and tore up the dashboard controls.
Nolin yelled as he pulled up from the dive. Bastila and Juhani felt the lurch of the G-force exerted on the speeder as it pulled up seconds from impact. The pair were banged around badly as the speeder engine shrieked, sparking under the hood.
Nolin pulled out a nickle-plated blaster with engravings on the barrel. He fired through the blasted away windshield in the back. The shots hit one driver, causing him to careen into another. Both tails exploded in mid-air.
"Never try and take on SWAT: We never miss," Nolin said, relaxing as he put his slim weapon back into his jacket. "So," he began turning his head slightly as he piloted. "Are you two really from a parallel universe?"
"How do you know so much?" Bastila asked breathlessly, trying to get her heart to stop pounding.
Nolin grimaced. He focused his attention back on the sky in front of him.
"It all started about a year ago," he began. "Me and my partner Mira? Got an APB over the horn one day in the Coruscant precinct for every officer to make his or her way to the First Intergalactic Bank deep in Little Rodia and just south of Cicero Sector. We'd all gotten calls from panicked bystanders about some perp trashing the place with his mind. It was a disaster. Guy practically brought the ceiling down on the SWAT Unit. My partner's bleeding out, rest of the team's dead, and I'm the only one in a position to do anything," Nolin answered, lowering the vehicle to the surface as they came within range of the spaceport. "Long story short? I eventually drop the guy, two to the chest. Thing is, right before this guy buys the farm, he tells me he escaped from a facility run by Revan, and that people from outside this dimension were aiding him. He'd probably been there to locate information on Revan's spending habits, track the money, but I couldn't prove it."
"We'll help you," Bastila assured the man. "Our mission is unchanged. We're here to kill Revan."
"That so? I want to see the bastard resign in disgrace, but I suppose dead is just as good. But I want evidence first. That way, no one will be able to say I acted on a baseless assumption. They'll expell me otherwise, and the last thing I need is walking around the rest of my days being called 'Exile'."
Juhani and Bastila exchanged a look as Nolin piloted.
When the speeder landed at the spaceport parking area, the three scrambled out of it immediately, following Nolin.
"So, is it really true your version of the Jedi is caught in some sort of never-ending war?" Nolin asked as the trio moved through the throngs of busy soon-to be passengers, the stink from the maintenace pits wafting through smoggy air.
"The Order is charged with opposing those who would misuse the Force," Juhani answered.
"If that is the case, why didn't you simply mow down Revan and his followers?"
"We are not invincible, Officer Nolin," Bastila supplied, "Besides, we are mere apprentices: We have yet to develop our power to its fullest potential, and that is a long way off. A Master-even a knight-would have devastated the area."
"So everything the Senior Investigators have been saying is true. The Force really is too dangerous to safely master."
Bastila wanted to correct him but thought the better of it. A healthy amount of fear was a good thing every now and then.
Juhani, however, chose to disagree. "It takes great discipline."
"Too much discipline, if you ask me. Makes me wonder if this whole 'Jedi' thing is actually worth it. Doesn't seem to do anything but cause problems. I remember when all you needed to do to get by in the Agency was have good reflexes and see into the future slightly. Not anymore. Now we're dealing with a bunch of freaks who have telekinesis. Just thinking of the property damage that alone could cause gives me a headache. And that damnable man wants to make things even worse!" Nolin spat contemptuously
"Be mindful of your anger," Bastila warned. "It will...take you places you don't want to go. Trust me on this."
"Like how?" Nolin asked as he approached an open space hanger amidst the space port clutter and rabble. On it sat a dark colored, delta-wing shaped craft with four large ion engines. A small blue viewport from the cockpit glowed gently and the decal of a green Twi-Lek woman in red lingerie riding a screaming black bird in full dive was highly visible on the front of the craft. Blaster turrets mounted all sides of the craft.
"The Ebon Hawk, ladies," Nolin said. "We're heading to Coruscant. I've gotten a lead but I don't want to tackle it without full back-up. You two up for a fight?"
"I am always up for fight," Juhani answered.
The three went aboard, and Bastila noted the interior had the design features of a military spacecraft, meant for efficiency and not comfort. Benches were hard and amenities few. She sat on a nearby table.
A man stepped out of the cockpit in a brown set of slacks and boot and a garish orange turtleneck sweater. A mottled corncobe pipe stuck out of his mouth and he looked like he had gone a few days without shaving or getting a haircut. Otherwise, he looked robust and healthy, and his skin had a nice tan, complimenting his brown hair.
"Captain Onasi. Used to be in Union Armed Forces, ladies," Onasi said gruffly, holding out a hand. "and you are-?"
"I am Bastila Shan, Padawan of the Jedi Order," Bastila answered. She gestured to Juhani. "This is Juhani of Cathar. also a Padawan."
"What's a Padawan?" Captain Onasi asked.
"I'm an apprentice. Nobody knows where the Order got that word."
Captain Onasi stared at Rae. "Since when did the agency become an order?"
"Long story, and not important," Rae answered.
Onasi shrugged at this and went back into the cockpit.
"Buckle up ladies, this is gonna be a long trip," he called out.
The three sat down.
"He and I fought in the Independence Wars together. Saved him more than once, so I called in a favor. We're in good hands."
"Tell us everything you know about Revan and the capabilities of his followers. We have to know what we are walking into," Bastila stated flatly.
"Where do you want to start?" Rae asked as they all felt the ship lift off.
"Has he displayed any abilities that seem driven by anger, or hatred?" Juhani asked.
Bastila turned to Juhani with a stern look.
"What? We do service to nobody keeping them in dark," Juhani replied.
"Why's that important?" Rae asked.
"Sometimes anger can make someone with the Force very dangerous," Bastila explained. "They're irrational. They make mistakes."
"I haven't seen him display anything like that, really. Why, does anger make you more powerful?"
"No," Bastila answered, telling a half-lie. "It's an empty road, and the price is death before one's time."
"Oh, Nolin answered."But if somebody could control such powerful emotions and harness them, surely-"
"Many have said that," Bastila replied sharply. "They all died. All of them." Again, another half-lie.
"Oh."
"True mastery of the Force requires divesting yourself of emotion, focus on achieving clarity. It's a slow process, and has no immediate benefits," Bastila finished with another half-lie.
"But you two-you two stopped shots being fired at you!"
"A product of years of training. But with technique comes escalation. If we were to teach you anything, eventually you would be facing dissidents. Your galaxy would be dragged into one brutal conflict after another with them. And the stakes get higher and more ridiculous each time," she replied. "Trust us. You're better off as you are."
"But what if the Agency eventually runs into someone who's been experimenting on their own? Some groups came to this one planet a couple of years back. Tython was the name of it I think, and they tried to pool everything they had learned in their own studies. Thank whatever deity is out there that the star Tython orbited unexpectedly went nova, or the Agency could have been swept aside."
"He's right, Bastila. They must know 'something'," Juhani argued.
"To what end?" Bastila asked snappishly. "I am NOT going to be responsible for bringing sin to this galaxy."
"Sin? What you mean?" Juhani asked.
"I mean that I'm not going to be the one whose flawed understanding of the Force ends up leading some poor soul down a twisted path. Let the blame be entirely on them for whatever might arise, but I will have no hand in showing them something I don't even have the wisdom or authority to teach. I think your people have a saying for it: 'Ngujag Awayin Buto Infernu Et Intan-no'
Juhani raised a brow but accepted the argument.
"What'd she say?" Rae asked Juhani.
"It no matter," Juhani replied. "I accept her reasoning."
"But that still leaves the original problem; what if we run into somebody who has done more research? Most Jedi here don't know what the Force is. No one knows how it's transmitted. Some of the investigators think it's some sort of disease or a military experiment that went south and all of us got exposed to it somehow. Does it have an identifiable energy signature? Is it even energy? Most aren't sure they really want to find out. Some answers could really help," Rae argued.
"I'm sorry, Officer Nolin, but some answers are best arrived at on your own," Bastila answered.
"What I no figure out is this," Juhani asked suddenly, perturbed. She stroked her chin slightly as she explained herself. "If Revan already have training aids, why trick us over here? What's the point?"
"Being taught how something should work and then actually seeing it in action are two different things," Nolin replied with a shrug.
Bastila and Juhani exchanged looks for a split second.
"Does he have friends? People who might be in the know?" Bastila asked.
"Well...there is one person. Old Lady K. Has a cozy apartment above this swank little nightclub I use to go to. She's a tough one though. I never managed to get anything out of her. She was his Training Officer. You guys have any mind reading abilities? 'Cause I don't."
"If we concentrate, we may be able to sense surface thoughts. And things aren't the same here. They don't have the proper mental defenses," Bastila answered, turning back to Juhani. "It's worth a shot."
"We'll need weapons," Juhani asserted. "We try finding materials to build lightsabers, Da? They already have ours."
"We'll...I don't see the harm at this point. But what about the crystals? We don't have any."
"Crystals?" Nolin inquired.
"Crystals infused with the Force. They often have a composition similar to quartz," Bastila explained.
"The crystals used in high end monitors and com-links work just as well," Juhani added. "We not know if regular crystals exist here."
"It'll have to do, then," Bastila finished, turning back to Nolin, who was intently paying attention. "Take us to Old Lady K, Officer Nolin. If she knows anything, I'll drag it out of her," Bastila assured him.
Coruscant, Cicero Sector.
"The buildings are...interesting," Bastila said as she stepped off the Ebon Hawk's ramp onto the giant docking pad.
The buildings of this Coruscant were as tall and beautiful as the ones in her own, but these buildings possessed magnificent carvings of faces and animals on all sides, gigantic in scope. Bright neon signs and holograms flashed at designated times and places in the middle of the air as their holoprojectors moved on a methodical path in the air, and strange massive floating globes of transparisteel, done in a clear lattice configuration, roamed the lower parts of the cityscape, bathing the lower parts of the buildings in a ruddy golden light. Dark grey clouds thundered in the distance. A fierce storm was brewing and it would not be long before it was on them. The hover traffic was surprisingly scant compared to her Coruscant, but Bastila figured that since they seemed to be behind in everything, it would take a while before they were choking in air-speeders.
Captain Onasi stepped down the ramp followed by the others. "Been a while since I set foot here," he said, lighting his pipe. "Mind if I come with you, stretch my legs out? I'm pretty handy with a pistol," he said, drawing an ornate blaster with a drum like power cell set in the frame, giving it an appearance similar to a revolver. The metal was done in a blue finish, with a pearl grip.
"Your assistance would be much appreciated, Captain," Bastila said.
Onasi nodded, and the four headed for the turbo-lift that would send them down to the underworks, led by Rae.
"Captain, I have question," Juhani said in the ride down to the underworks, unable to hold back her curiosity. "Why sweater so...orange?"
"Oh, this old thing," Captain Onasi replied nonchalantly. "Morgana loves it when I wear orange. It's her favorite color. I think it makes me look like a particularly sweet and tangy fruit, but when your wife surprises you on your birthday with lingerie and a 'C'mere' attitude, you tend to let the odder things in the relationship slide."
"She's the woman riding the bird on your ship's decal," Bastila added with momentary insight.
"Yeah! How'd you know?"
"I...it's complicated," Bastila answered uneasily.
"That's her?" Juhani asked. She held her fist up to Onasi's chest. "Nice going, dude."
The Captain bumped her fist with his own. "Damn straight."
The turbo-lift stopped and opened, welcoming the four to the bright glitz of the underworks. The streets were packed with rich and poor, alien and human, each seeking their own brand of vice in the maze of casinos, taverns, brothels, drug dens, lining alleys and main roads. The golden light from above shined on all, giving the scene of social ill more bright than it actually deserved.
"By the Force," Bastila spoke above the chatter and hustle of the crowds. "Doesn't your agency do anything about this, Officer?"
"We're only tasked with apprehending violators of the Sensitivity Act, which forbids non-government Force-Users from attempting to study. If a Force User wants to go legit, the Agency is the only way," Nolin answered. "The Government is working really hard to try and develope a cure, get some measures passed."
"What measures?" Juhani asked.
"Y'know, giving the parent the legal option to perform genetic therapy on the fetus to prevent sensitivity. It's very safe, I'm told."
Part of Juhani wanted to yell that the Force wasn't a disease, but what Bastila had said to her earlier-in her own language, no less-stayed her voice.
"They do that where you're from?" Nolin asked as they pushed through the crowd.
"No. Children who are discovered are-never mind. I've spoken too much," Bastila replied, stopping herself. She felt like she was constantly walking on eggshells with Nolin, fearing one small slip could have terrible consequences for this galaxy.
Besides, it wasn't as though she could mention it without remembering how she had been recruited, the terrible day her mother had shoved her into the arms of the Jedi Master sent to collect her.
Just thinking about it brought anger. Anger that Bastila knew was wrong for a Jedi, but she felt it none the less.
The surprised cries of people in front of her forced her away from the painful memory and she struggled to contain her shock.
She was floating a few meters off the ground in place.
Quickly regaining control of her power, she dropped herself back to the ground.
Everyone was now staring, whispering.
Onasi decided to be Damage Control.
"It's okay folks. We're street magicians," he called out.
"Why is she wearing agency clothes?" a woman in the crowd asked.
"Part of the act," he answered.
After a few moments of deciding amongst themselves, the crowd started nervously clapping, applauding the 'trick'.
Juhani took Bastila gently by the arm. "What happened?" she asked calmly as the crowd went back to their business.
"I'm not sure," Bastila lied, realizing her anger had allowed the Dark Side to fuel her power.
Bloody Dark Side, she thought bitterly. It never gave anybody the day-off.
The four continued down the street, not realizing a man in a pinstripe suit and full mask with a t-shaped visor had been watching them the whole time. He disappeared into the crowd, waiting for the right moment to act.
to be continued...
Coruscant, parallel universe
The nightclub was in full form as Juhani walked in along with Bastila, Captain Onasi, and officer Rae Nolin. Juhani and Bastila still wore the disguises this universe's version of Alek had given to help them pass for locals.
Juhani's clothing was red, a set of simple red slack and a tight fitting red leather jacket complimented by black armor on the gloves and shins of the red boots. She also wore a red domino mask and beanie. An officer badge hung around her neck bearing the sword and wings symbol of the Jedi. The Cathar woman's fur had rippled with unease since arriving in this parallel dimension under quite literally the worst circumstances possible, her golden eyes constantly scanning for signs of danger. Bastila sported a set of dark brown slacks and boots., a brown trench coat with a white cotton shirt underneath and a white domino mask. The human Jedi ran her tongue across her braces in distress, still having no idea how she was going to get herself and Juhani home. Her brown hair was hanging limply from her scalp in a long ponytail, her beige skin dirty with the soot of Coruscants underworks. Her face was scrunched like a kinrath pup as she made her way further into this nightmare. Captain Onasi was unshaven, and looked like he hadn't gotten a hair cut either, but most were distracted by the loud, garishly orange turtleneck he was sporting drowning out his brown trousers and black shoes. A corncob pipe stuck out of his mouth as he kept one hand close to his antique blaster pistol. The human pilot had volunteered to accompany them, knowing he was part of history in the making, what with two interlopers from another universe arriving to kill a would be tyrant. He ran a hand through his brown hair, the difficulty of his task setting his mouth into a grim, gormless expression.
The last, Rae Nolin, a true native of this dimension, sported brown slacks that had many pockets and two spare holsters, each containing a spare snub-nose blaster. The collapsible light-baton the Jedi of this dimension sported rather than lightsaber was clipped to his belt, utilitarian in design. His tight fitting leather jacket was black, with oversized brass buttons and an upper corner of the front he allowed to hang unfastened. The right shoulder bore the Order's symbol in a blue and white color scheme. He wore a heavier, metal version of the domino mask that obscured his eyes in shadow. His hair was short cut but slightly curled and he had long sideburns. His skin was slightly darker in tone than Carth's, and he was slightly unshaven. His hook nose took in the scents of the nightclub, the Twi-leks on stage doing the infamous "Fan Dance", teasing all that watched with two giant fan constructs composed of feather covering very nude blue and green and red figures. A band of Bith dressed in white formal wear played corellian saxophones in another area of the large club.
The club was classy, lit by candles rather than artificial fixtures, the smoke from the dancer's stage mixed with the cigar smoke, creating a certain pungent ambiance across porcelain white walls and the red carpet covering the floor. A grand chandelier, also lit by candle, hung over everything, taking up the center of the arching mother-of-pearl ceiling.
It was relatively quiet, most watched the burlesque show, making idle conversation, or hung around at the bar.
The four began making their way through a crowd.
"You guys find a table. I'm gonna ask the barman if Old Lady K is upstairs," Rae said to them, leaving to head to the giant bar set into an alcove in one part of the hexagonally designed establishment.
Bastila, Juhani, and Onasi nodded, each making their way to a table close to the stage.
Before they could sit down, Juhani spotted an unfamiliar man with light brown hair and light skin in a navy blue pinstripe formal suit wave them over from a table that had a semicircular giant bench with leather upholstery. His eyes were a light blue and his hair was slicked back and combed, impeccably parted at the same time. Next to him sat a muscular woman in her late thirties, with short cut white hair and almost pale skin and blue eyes, clad entirely in a black leather catsuit that squeaked as she shifted in her seat. She also wore a black leather cap, like something a military officer would wear. All things considered, she was very beautiful.
The plain black lacquered katana gleamed in its sheath as it rested against her seat. Bastila recognized the woman instantly. It was Arren Kae. Her own version had recently been expelled for hiding the fact that she had gotten pregnant over a decade ago and bore the child. The scandal had nearly destroyed Senator Yusanis' career.
Bastila didn't recognize the man, but she had no choice but to talk to them now, and pray they weren't too invasive.
Carth tapped them on the shoulder. "I'll go case this joint for trouble. Hollar if you need me."
Bastila and Juhani nodded and let Onasi wander off to play lookout. The pair took a seat opposite Arren and the strange man.
The man pulled out a small square silver case, removing a cigarette and jamming it onto a long black stem while Arren ignited the man's vice with her lighter.
The man took a long draw, and was courteous enough to blow the smoke away from them.
"A pleasure to meet you, ladies. Names Jack. Jack Rand. Won the election for District Attorney," the man spoke casually, offering a hand.
"Good for you, Mr. Rand. Was there something you needed?" Bastila inquired politely, taking the hand and giving it a firm shake.
"I saw you walk in with an old acquaintance of mine. I got curious. You two friends with Officer Nolin?" Jack asked, taking a puff.
"We just met. To be honest, we're from out of town," Bastila answered.
"WAY out of town," Juhani added with a small grin. She then stifled a yelp as Bastila kicked Juhani in the ankle under the table.
"Out of town, huh? Where you from, Mimban? Klatooine?" Jack continued, eyes occasionally sliding to the burlesque dancers on stage.
"Talravin. My friend is from Cathar," Bastila answered. "Have we done something wrong, Mr. Rand?"
"Oh, goodness no. Yet, at least. But the Agency still has a great deal to prove to a lot of people that it can keep us all safe from the freaks. And I think it prudent to warn you that one is judged by the company they keep. If you are thinking of counting Officer Nolin among your friends, you might want to make a, shall we say, 'vital reassessment'. He's a troublemaker. Steps on a lot of toes. You don't want to be associated with a fellow like that," Jack finished, taking another drag of his cigarette and passing it to Arren. The man seemed perfectly at ease.
"Has Nolin been involved in something illicit, Mr. Rand?" Bastila inquired, now curious.
"If you call being a fanatic illicit than yes. Miss Arren here knows what I'm talking about. But I think I'll let you see it for yourselves, just so you know I'm not blowing smoke in your direction."
Before Bastila could say a thing, Jack held up a hand. Arren pulled out a Pazaak card with a positive five on its face. On the back of it was a small sequence of numbers and letters.
"My holo-number. If you see him...do anything...give me a call. I can make it worth your while," Jack finished. "I pay my debts. The only good thing being a gambler ever taught me."
"I shall consider it, Mr. Rand," Bastila answered, wanting to end the conversation as quickly as possible. The man had a look of cold calculation that made her nervous.
Everything about him screamed crooked.
"Good. And speak of the Corellian Devil!" Jack exclaimed good naturedly as he spotted Rae sauntering up to them. Bastila watched Arren's right hand slip casually closer to the Katana.
"Jack," Nolin spoke gruffly. "What're you doing here, Jack?"
"Having a drink. What're you doing here?" Jack laughed, seemingly unworried as he reclined in the seat. "It's a free planet, Nolin. I can go where I want."
Rae regarded Arren. "Nice example to set for our daughter, Arren."
"Oh, come now, Rae, you know you like this," she replied in a sultry, silky tone. "I'll get custody back. It's only a matter of time."
"You'd be surprised how long that matter of time can be for a hit-woman," Rae replied casually before gesturing to Bastila and Juhani. The three walked away.
"How you know that man?" Juhani asked.
"Jack Rand was an unsophisticated card shark that was drafted by the Union during the Independance Wars. Strangely he excelled and went into military intelligence, helping identify Force-Users for either conscription or restriction, if they didn't want to work for the agency. He was so good at tracking down Force Users, they called him the 'Jedi-Hunter'. Arren used to be an agency recruit before Jack stole her and put her in that damn catsuit as his own personal hench-woman. And you better believe that bastard's sleeping with her," Nolin answered bitterly. "He runs half the rackets in this city. Even the senior investigators won't touch him."
"I'm sensing unresolved issues," Juhani replied apprehensively.
"If she'd just stuck with it...she could have been a really great Jedi. But she loved power and money more than the Force, and forsook its path," Nolin said out loud, and not really to her in particular.
Bastila's gaze darkened for a split second before she shook off a discomforting idea. She directed their attention back to their all important task.
"You've located Old Lady K?" Bastila asked.
"Yeah. She's making tea right now. I'll take you upstairs," Nolin said, turning his gaze back to Arren.
"Man, Bastila, that divorce must have been NASTY," Juhani said under her breath to her fellow padawan.
Old Lady K's apartment was cluttered. Books lay stacked on the old wood floor, and dozens of unfinished paintings adorned the walls, most of them portraits of humans and aliens she did not recognize. The two sofas were old and moth eaten., covered by equally old and ragged blankets. The air was musty, and Juhani saw wood carvings of animals lining a shelf above the fireplace in the living room, which had paint peeling off the walls. Carth had followed the three up the stairs after they had found him again.
The old woman sat in one of them, wearing a simple, long dress that went past her ankles, draping over sandal-covered feet. The dress was sky blue with a purple polka-dot pattern. She wore heavy, dark round sunglasses, her face creviced and pitted like a mountain. A small right hand clasped a weathered old walking stick with a curved grip. Her left hand had been replaced by a hook.
Bastila did not react to the fact she was staring at Kreia. She simply went along with the funny joke the Force seemed to be playing, although by this point the Force's humor was entirely lost on her.
"Rae? That you?" The old woman crooked.
Rae nodded. "It's me, K. I brought the guests."
"Good, good. Have a seat. I made tea," Old Lady K crooked in her ancient voice, gesturing to the caffa table with four steaming cups of amber tea in white china.
"I would have made more, but my arthritis limits me these days. Damn bones won't cooperate. My eyes even less, though that's due more to my fondness for bathtub gin than anything," the old woman joked.
"You actually went blind drinking?" Juhani whispered out of amazement.
"Well yes and no. I showed up to work drunk. That's how I ended up going blind. I was battlin' the hangover from the seventh Corellian hell when I tried to bring down that one perp. You know the one, Nolin."
"Oh, yeah. She ran into this perp. Some kinda burn victim. Had one good eye. Loaded to the max on pain killers and amphetamines. She puts five in his chest, but he keeps coming. When he finally got a hold of her, she was too dizzy to defend herself," Rae explained. "Heard this all second hand though."
"Bastard gouged my eyes out and crushed my right hand under a speeder he had overturned. I was promptly fired. But I'm pleased to say I never touched the sauce afterward, so there's that."
"That's awful!" Captain Onasi uttered in stunned horror.
"But it sure beats a regular job," the old woman answered, cracking an unpleasant grin as she finished her formerly steaming cup of tea in one gulp. "So tell me, why are you two ladies here?"
"We're here on a mission of galactic importance," Bastila answered. "We need you to tell us anything you might know about your former protege, Revan."
"Revan? I was his Training Officer, but he hasn't sought me out in years. I'm just a simple old woman living above a nightclub nowadays. Why would you think I would know his business?"
"Miss, it's important. Revan is doing something very dangerous. A lot of people could be hurt."
"A lot of people are going to be hurt by the Mandalorian Cartels unless someone acts. What's the difference?"
"The...Cartels are a momentary problem. If Revan gets away with whatever he is planning, he could plunge all Force Users into a vicious, possibly eternal religious war," Bastila answered, daring to speak the words all Force Users in her dimension had not the courage to say out loud but always kept in their deepest, darkest resentments over what the Force had turned their lives into.
"War will exist as long as civilization draws breath. Stop a war from happening? One might as well appeal to a thunderstorm," Old Lady K countered good naturedly.
"It's a conflict our kind will regularly cause. At every opportunity."
"You cannot condemn an entire group for the actions of a corrupt few."
"The choice of one is the choice of us all."
"Ah, I see that the Agency has now resorted to collective guilt," Old Lady K chuckled. "Take it from a woman who knows, girlie: The Agency is an organization hampered by both fatalistic attention to protocol and by endemic short-sightedness. And that is the assessment of a blind woman, I might add."
"It's just caution, there is a reason we take things slow."
"And what happens when you take things so slow that no-one can ever truly get ahead, explore their potential?" the old woman wondered out-loud. "But alas, my point is moot. I have not been in contact with him, so our philosophic debate is un-needed." She reached for her cup, pouring another steaming helping. She rose, feeling the wood statues on the shelf above her fireplace.
"Miss, Revan is putting a great deal of lives in jeopardy. He doesn't have the wisdom, or experience to control the power he is seeking. It will destroy him, be certain of that," Bastila asserted.
"The future can change. And how can you tell he will be irresponsible with this...power? To be honest, I'm not even really certain what it is we're discussing. Is Revan in some kind of trouble with the law?"
Bastila detected the lies instantly. And from those lies she inferred a few things. One, Revan had never ceased contact and maintained a regular rapport with her. Two, the story she had told about losing her sight was a falsehood, and she had lost the hand through some other means.
Third, Kreia was not blind.
She had given herself away pouring the tea. The blind, when pouring something, kept one of their fingers on the inside of the cup to avoid overflow. Kreia didn't do that, meaning either she had very good ears, or she could see very clearly.
"You're lying," Bastila said. "I can feel your dishonesty."
Old Lady K stared.
"Indeed you are powerful, as Revan has foreseen," The old woman spoke with authority, her doddering demeanor gone. She rose, sturdy and firm, all weakness gone.
Bastila and Juhani backed off as she felt the stirrings of the Force erupt in the old woman.
A gust of wind that came from nowhere dislodged the stacks of books. Onasi jumped.
"And now we shall see what your Jedi ways are capable of," Kreia declared, flinging the four with a gust of telekinesis.
Bastila and Juhani instinctively leapt back up, only to remember that Revan had confiscated their lightsabers earlier. Rae was already on the ground, struggling to free his pistol as Old Lady K flung him backward into the kitchen.
Bastila and Juhani both let off a precise pulse of Force energy that slammed into the old woman, knocking her to the floor. She wheezed, but then scrambled back up, summoning her cane to her with telekinesis.
She twisted the curved handle of the cane in the opposite direction, apparently having exhausted her strength with the Force. Bastila could tell already that her technique was inferior, driven by instinct rather than experience. That said, they were very good instincts.
Bright green electricity raced up two sides of the cane, forming a sword shape at the tip. The Jedi pair could tell even from their limited exposure to this universe's weapons that this was all together different from the weak light batons they had been given. The arcs of energy seemed too thick and focused, and the disquieting low hum of the weapon was all too familiar to them.
"An Arc-Sword!" Carth exclaimed. "Aren't those illegal?"
"VERY illegal," Rae gasped, catching his breath and marching out of the kitchen with his pistol drawn. "Drop the sword, K. Or I drop you."
"Years ago, I left the Agency to follow a higher path to the truth of the Force. I am too old to master its secrets, but it is not too late for Revan to guide the Agency down its true path," Kreia answered. "The cartels must be stopped or we shall all pay the price for the Agency's lack of vision."
"You'll destroy your dimension," Juhani spoke firmly. "Surrender. We have no wish to fight you."
Old Lady K raised her weapon only for Bastila to stick out her hand and encase the old woman in a stun field. Whirling energies in a light purple hue dance on the surface of her skin, rippling gently like drops hitting a puddle of water.
"The good 'ol stun power. Never gets old," Bastila said out loud, approaching the old woman.
"Where is he? Who are his friends? Where does he go?" she asked simply, releasing enough of the energy fields hold over her to speak.
"With such power as you command, surely you must see how desperate the situation here is. The galaxy rots in corruption. Only Revan is taking a stand-"
"He'll lead you all to damnation," Bastila interrupted. "Tell. Me. Where."
"So you would truly strike him down, even if he could save our galaxy? What gives YOU the right to decide whether or not we're ready?" Old Lady K asked struggling in the field.
"Because I know what happens when it ends up in the wrong hands. Talk. I will not ask again."
Old Lady K remained silent.
Frustration then made Bastila do something.
"Tell me," she said with naked command, her voice leaping an octave and gaining an echo as her eyes started glowing orange.
"I...I won't. I can't. He's too important."
"Tell me. You know you want to. I command this. Tell me. You cannot avoid telling the truth. Tell me. Tell meeee..." Bastila trailed off in that echo voice.
"I...I...what're...you...doing..."
"I command you to tell me," Bastila repeated.
"Ask for lunch money while at it. I hunger," Juhani added.
Bastila turned to Juhani, still with the orange glow in her eyes. "Hush. You'll ruin it. Besides, that would violate the code."
"What happens in parallel universe, stays in parallel universe," Juhani replied coyly.
Bastila sighed and turned back to Kreia.
"You WILL tell me everything you know...and you will give us lunch money. Not..not TOO much mind you...but a decent amount. Y'know, something we could buy a sandwich with."
"Could I get pickles on mine? I love pickles," Carth asked. Rae pinched the bridge of his nose at the absurdity of the situation.
Bastila shrugged, still maintaining her mind control power. "I don't see why not."
Kreia's will collapsed finally.
"I...I will do as you ask," she spoke, eyes glazed. "Revan has a girlfriend who lives in the upper levels. I only direct Jedi defectors to our hidden bases. If anyone knows more, it'll be her. He trusts her with everything. But he has a bodyguard for her. A man by the name of Bandon. And you will find credits on the window sil in by bedroom. More than enough to buy a sandwich for all of you."
"Good. Now slleeeeppp..." Bastila commanded, releasing the stun field.
The old woman swooned, dropping to the ground.
They had cleaned out Kreia's apartment afterward, seizing holo-discs and anything related to Revan, pouring over them obsessively as they sat on the couch, letting Kreia doze fitfully on the cold floor. Revan had been maintaining a number of bases that were quickly being converted into a familiar temple set-up. For a second and no more, Bastila felt disquiet at her mission, but she pressed on, ignoring the similarities. They even found the address for Revan's girlfriend: A Twil-Lek named Yuthura lived in an expensive condo next to the Senate Tower, room 11-38.
"She's our best lead so far. And if she knows as much as Kreia claims..." Rae let the sentence hang.
"Then that is our next stop," Bastila replied.
The smoke grenade that was tossed in from the window took all by surprise; Juhani's eyes teared up instantly.
The soldiers filed expertly in the chaos, surrounding the four. Before Bastila could do anything, she felt the cold barrel of a blaster press against her head.
"Try anything, freak, and I paint the wall with your skull," the grizzled old voice of a man hissed to her.