Chapter 15.
Disclaimer: I do not own KOTOR. Don't look so surprised.
And yes, I know that I've been gone for forever and a day. I'm making up for it, huh? I hope to be sending in a couple new chapters before I start college again. I do plan to finish this story, but it could be awhile.
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"Zara Nixie."
"Something wrong with that?" The woman in question snapped to the Jedi master Vrook. Her challenging tone was unmistakable. "And I've got better things to do then have you stare at me like a creep."
The Jedi jerked his head back. "Arrogant child!"
"I'm thirty years old." She retorted. "And if this is about my dream, get to the point already. If not, get my ship fueled up so I can get off this deathtrap."
"Deathtrap?"
She snorted. "You think Malak doesn't know where you are? Fools." The disdain was almost palpable. "He's got spies, same as anyone, and I doubt it would be too hard to destroy this little spot from orbit. He might miss a bit, but he'd hit you sooner or later. After all, he reduced Taris and Telos to ashes just the same way. He wouldn't hesitate."
There were a number of solemn glares.
"It's good strategy." She shrugged. "No loss on his side. Only loss on yours. And if this place is crispy black rubble, there's a pretty low survival rate, if there is one. I'd start sending stuff to Coruscant. Safer there. Malak doesn't have the power to get that far, probably won't ever."
"Why do you say that?"
"I did some spying for the Republic." She grimaced. "Malak kills people who disappoint him, even if the disappointment was inevitable. He's killing off the people who can make strategy. Makes the troops afraid. They'll start deserting for either the Republic or another Sith who they think can take on Malak."
"How long were you a spy?"
Her smile was very grim. "Long enough to know that if Revan were still alive, he would have gotten to the Core long ago. He was smart, saving the infrastructure of the Republic without being overly oppressive. He was charismatic enough that people liked him, even if he had just taken over their world." She snorted a little laugh. "And I got close to him once—a little too close for my taste. He was so powerful… but not so dark. Ambivalent, I'd say, walking a line. A man with a mission. And he let me walk past him, I know he did."
The Jedi masters passed each other a look that went unnoticed by her. "Revan was ever strong." Vandar said croakily.
"So, my dream?"
"You shared it with Bastila, who told us about it in great detail."
"Since when do I share dreams with her?" Zara jerked her head at the Jedi standing in the corner. "Last I checked, there weren't any bonds in my head. Not strong enough to dream-share and I know that takes a helluva bond. Those don't spring up overnight." Her eyes narrowed as she delved into her head, finding a thick silver cord that connected to Bastila. She could have sworn it hadn't been there before.
"It is the will of the Force, I suppose."
"Pfft." She crossed her arms over her chest. "What aren't you telling me?"
"You need training."
Zara could handle a diversion. She rocked back on her heels. "You think the Matukai allow the ways of darkness to be taught? The dark side corrupts the purity of the body, old man. The only 'training' I would need is how to make a lightsaber, which I don't care about. I can pick one up easily enough." She threw a hilt, the Cathar's, across the room. Two more skidded next to it. "I'd like to leave now."
"To investigate the ruins?"
"I don't give a damn." That wasn't the exact truth.
"It could mean saving the galaxy!" Bastila exploded. "Surely you cannot turn away from a chance to save the helpless from Malak's regime of brutality?"
"Regimes fall." Zara said. "And new ones rise. Happens on the Outer Rim all the time."
"You want more Tarises? More Teloses?"
Zara sighed. "Not really, I guess. So, when do we head for the ruins? The sooner we start this little save-the-galaxy quest, the more galaxy there is to save."
"You will—"
"I've got a crew, you old fart." Zara snapped at Vrook. "Bastila's the only 'addition' you're giving me." A smirk played at her lips. "Maybe we shared the dream, bucko, but I'm the one it originated in, unless I miss my guess. I'm helping because I feel like it, not because I'm yours to command."
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"Seriously creepy, here." Mission looked around the tomb with wide eyes. "Feels icky."
"That's the corruption of the dark side." Zara said. "A Matukai can be neutral, or gray, but this is darkness. It's a decay that slowly destroys your body and sometimes your mind. Stay away from it. A Matukai must remain pure in mind and body."
"Why so many dark Jedi, then?"
"The Matukai are not like the Jedi. Matukai can have family, relationships. Jedi cut themselves off from everything but the Jedi. Yes, it makes them a strong organization, a force to reckoned with, but it also leaves some obvious fracture points. There is no one right way, not really. All I can really say is that Jedi and Sith are extremists."
"Jedi are not extremists." Bastila snapped haughtily.
"Sure, princess." Zara rolled her eyes. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."
The central chamber was massive and reeked of rust and mold. A tall, spidery droid made Zara stop, mouth setting into a thin line as her memory tugged.
It spoke, some language she almost recognized.
"We can't understand you." Bastila said.
Zara didn't recognize the next language at all. "Not that, either." She told the droid.
The third language, liquidious and sinuous, Zara knew. "Selkath works." She wasn't sure how she knew that the droid understood her—that didn't really make sense—but she knew it did.
"I can reproduce the languages of any of the slave species of the Rakatan Empire." The droid said. "You are like the ones who came before, not slave or Rakatan."
Zara's lips pressed into a thin line as she felt Bastila through the bond, the woman tight-stretched and anxious, almost fearful as something below the bond struggled weakly. She wanted to hiss in irritation.
The Jedi were keeping something from her.
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"So this is a star map." Zara murmured, circling the thing that reminded her a little too much of a poisonous flower. Three prongs of black metal had bent back to reveal some kind of stone that threw out blue, green, and gold light and formed a massive map. She could see corrupted pathways, centered around one particular area.
"Korriban, Kashyyyk, Manaan, and Tatooine." Bastila murmured.
"Reference points, I bet." Mission muttered.
"We'll have to go to those planets." Zara said with absolute certainty. "This data won't get us anywhere. We'll probably find more maps on those planets." She jabbed at the map. "They've got all sorts of other planets and stars marked, but those four are the important ones."
"Yes." Bastila chewed her lip. "We'll have to talk with the masters."
"No. We'll tell them that we're gonna need money and supplies if we're gonna be hopping around the galaxy. Then we pull some basics on our four planets and go. The sooner we save this galaxy, the sooner the Jedi can leave me alone."
Mission grinned. "And the sooner it's just you, me, and Big Z!"
Zara gave her shoulder a fond squeeze. "Yeah, exactly. You two and me. I'll show you the best bars on the rim… maybe we'll get Canderous to tag along for that adventure."
"So you like Canderous?"
Zara shrugged. "What's not to like? He's a warrior in his prime with nice, beefy muscles. And when Mandalorians aren't trying to take over the galaxy, I'm actually quite fond of them. Good drinking buddies."
Mission narrowed her eyes a little. "Didn't you mention something about siblings?"
"I'm half Mandalorian by blood, not that it means anything to the Mandalorians. My half-siblings fought in the wars. I didn't meet them in battle, though."
"Which side of the wars?"
"They're Mandalorian through and through." Zara flicked her braid over her shoulder. "But they stuck by me when I got out of the wars. Only left in the last year or so, pulling a big job. We're s'posed to meet up sometime soon, but I don't think that's happening. My Black Jade got blown to bits and so did the communicator."
"Really?" Bastila asked.
Zara flicked her purple eyes to the Jedi woman. "It is, of course, a possibility that we'll meet them somewhere. Tatooine is a popular spot with Mandalorians and smugglers. A den of villainy and treachery, one might say. Korriban is also a smuggler's haven, but nobody stays there a minute longer than they have to." She felt both gratified and worried by the flicker of alarm in the woman's eyes.
What, exactly, did Bastila have to worry about?