Theron was just getting over the terrible visions he had seen when the world around him reformed into another prison. "Did you see that?" he asked his friend.
Rhen looked towards Theron and gave the human an inquisitive look. "Saw what? Everything just changed around us," Rhen said. "One minute we were on Dantooine, next we were..." Rhen gestured at the space around them. Theron looked around at the dimly lit room with long shadows cast in every direction, in patterns and shapes that made no sense given the single source of light far across the room. The light was a fiery orange cylinder about three quarters of a meter long. Theron knew immediately that it was Ana's secondary blade; he was sure that he and Rhen were close to getting her out.
"And you traveled with him?" a loud male voice boomed. Theron's curiosity immediately got the better of him and he rushed forward to see what was happening to Ana. He jogged quietly towards the corner of the wall and peered around slowly.
The woman was kneeling in the middle of a circular patch of sand or dirt, dressed in robes that matched the tan and brown tones of the ground exactly. Around the circular patch was a series of pillars that were cast into deep shadow by the lack of light. There was something in how she was slouched that gave Theron the idea that she was... dead, on the inside. No, not dead – defeated. She could care about things, but she couldn't hope for them. She clutched with what little will she had left at the handle of her shoto. What did this? Theron asked himself.
"Yes," Ana replied sullenly. Her red hair was sticking out in split ends, and her skin was covered in dirt. Theron felt his anger rising in his stomach at how this group was treating her. "Which is why, after our battle, I came here." Theron felt his rage drop off immediately. What could that have meant? Had she done this to herself?
"And you want from us... what, exactly?" another droning voice asked. Theron saw a drab, brown shape lean forward from a chair hidden in one of the pillars.
Ana looked up forlornly towards the voice. "The Empire... is no place for me. Not with what's happened."
"So you are asking for political asylum?" a more female monontone asked.
"Not exactly," Ana replied. She lifted her lightsaber up towards her face and Theron saw a lightsaber scar that had burned a clean, shallow path along her left cheekbone. It looked a lot deeper in the heavy orange light.
"Then what?" the first voice inquired again.
"I can't sit idly by while the man I... traveled with -"
"Among, other things," the female voice said. "The reports would leave us to believe such, at least."
Ana sighed and placed the saber lightly on the ground. "Yes. The... report – no doubt written by a man I thought I could call my friend – is correct. On to your first question, though. The war with the Sith is, at least partially, due to my actions and arrogance. I wish to fight with you against him."
"Why would we allow that? As you said, this is your fault. We could merely reveal what you did," the female said. She snickered. "Who you did."
Ana sneered up at the source of the voice. "Keep in mind what I know about your former grandmaster, and the part she – and the rest of you, likely – played in the creation of this Sith. The Republic and Jedi would be... torn to pieces by the riots. Defections on an unbelievable scale would tear your order down to nothing once again."
"You aren't willing to risk that," the first voice stated.
"Maybe. Maybe not. I definitely do know that none of you are willing to risk it. So what's it going to be? Hm?" Ana asked. She stood up defiantly. "Would you rather let the 'lover' of a Sith be a Jedi, or would you rather there be no Jedi to be pretentious about such things at all?"
Theron shook his head and took a step out from behind the wall he was hiding behind. "What are you doing?" Rhen hissed. He grabbed onto Theron's jacket, but Theron merely pushed his friend away and continued towards Ana.
"First off, you'd all be idiots not to accept her," Theron supplied. The monotonous, boring Jedi masters turned towards Theron; their hooded figures were faceless and hostile. Theron looked down at the half-awed and half-angry face of Ana and back at the Jedi. "Second off, what is going on with this atmosphere. Aren't you Jedi supposed to be more forgiving?" There were a series of snap-hisses as everyone in the room ignited their sabers and pointed them at Theron.
"Theron! Stop it!" Rhen rushed out from behind the wall and grabbed his friend's arm. "You can't just interrupt the council: they don't like that. I'm so sorry for my friend, Masters. I – wow, I am so sorry. He doesn't have any manners."
"Don't apologize for me!" Theron hissed at his friend.
"Don't be an idiot!" Rhen hissed back.
"R-rhen? But... you're -" Ana hoarsely grunted.
"Touchy and over apologetic?" Theron asked. He pointed at his blue friend. "Tell me about it."
"Freeze, Sith!" one of the Jedi screamed.
"You can't be real! Rhen was killed!" Ana screamed. She ignited her orange saber and, with an angry scream, leaped towards Theron and Rhen.
Theron and Rhen ignited their sabers and barely blocked the incoming attacks from their friend and the multiple Jedi. "You take her, I'll take the eight or so sabers over here?" Theron asked.
Rhen struggled to deflect the savage, quick blows of Ana's orange saber. "Oh, you get the easy jobs again?" Rhen retorted.
Theron sighed while he twirled out of the way of a saber and kicked a brown robed Jedi across the room. "I'll take Ana, then!"
"Fine then!" Rhen shouted.
"Fine!" Theron shouted back. He reached out with his hand and pulled himself towards Ana with the Force. His shoulder collided with hers and she flew away. Rhen spun behind his friend and began to lock sabers with the fake masters that were attacking them.
"You are a monster!" Ana screamed. She rushed towards Theron and slammed her backhand saber into Theron's. Her saber pushed against his and her physical force caused Theron to slide across the ground slowly, his boots kicking up dust from where they dragged. "You're doing this! You're making me see this!"
Theron broke the saber lock and ducked beneath Ana's wild, emotional swipe. He frowned and swiped a kick at her legs. She jumped over the kick and flipped over Theron. Theron swiped upwards with his saber in a move meant to disarm her, but she expertly deflected the blow. Theron frowned again behind his mask and realized that her moves were all wrong. In the short time he had known Ana, he had recognized her movements in battle were more... graceful. Her attacks against Theron were, on the other hand, erratic and broken; even against Rhen her movements had been smoother.
"What is going on with you, Ana?" Theron shouted as he barely deflected the brunt of her attack with the very end of his white saber. "This isn't you! Literally, this is all fake! I thought that, if any of us knew, you would!"
He saw tears fall from her dirty, angry face and collide with the orange plasma of her lightsaber while it twirled around and around, lightly striking towards Theron. He deflected each incoming blow and slowly began to gain more ground while Ana's angry grunts turned into tearful sobs. When he finally felt comfortable with his reaction time, he glanced over towards where Rhen was artfully deflecting blow after blow from the multiple fake masters with his unique, trademark spinning movements. Theron smiled to himself and turned his attention back to the sobbing mess that was attacking him. "Ana, listen to me," Theron begged. He knocked her saber away with a flourish to demonstrate how much more powerful he was – how he could kill her if he wanted. But he wouldn't – which demonstrated that he was not the monster she thought he was. "Ana – I'm not going to hurt you. This isn't real!"
"You're lying! You are a monster! You are a Sith!" Ana screamed. She slammed her saber into his over and over as hard as she could. Each blow was deflected more and more easily, but with less and less embarrassing flourish. "You can't be... Rhen and Theron. They don't exist anymore! Rhen's dead. You're – "
Theron deflected the saber that rushed towards his midsection and spun around it. He deactivated his own blade and gripped Ana's wrist tightly until the hilt of her weapon fell from her hand. "Ana, I'm not some Sith using the Force to trick you. I'm me. It's going to be okay," Theron said. He let go of her hand and took a step back. "Remember, Ana. This isn't real. You aren't a Jedi – you're an Imperial Knight. Rhen is alive. I'm alive. Remember!"
"Rhen is dead! You're..."
Theron caught Ana's incoming punch and reached up with his other hand. He carefully removed the mask from his face and stuffed it into his pocket. "I'm here!" he said. Her eyes looked into his and she nodded. "I'm here."
"You – you're..." her skin flickered and clothes appeared in the crimson and black customary of Imperial Knights. "You're... not a Sith."
"That's right," Theron said. He shook her shoulder and she shifted entirely back into herself. Her blaster saber – a straight hilt with a secondary blaster button at the bottom for backhand holding – was at her hip. She raised her left hand out and the orange shoto flew up and ignited.
"What the hell is going on, Ther?" she asked.
"Ooh, nicknames. Fun," Theron joked.
"Work in progress. I'll get back to you on it," Ana supplied.
Theron grinned and he ignited his saber. He slipped the mask back on and pointed with his left hand towards the fake Jedi attacking Rhen. "We're trapped in Nihilus' head. We're getting everyone out."
Ana grinned. "Well let me have some fun, first," she said. Her voice grew louder as she shouted to Rhen. "Get out of there, and let me have my entertainment!"
The twi'lek glanced back and nodded. He repulsed the masters and leaped over to Theron while Ana rushed forward and ignited her twin sabers in backhanded jar'kai. "When did her clothes change?" Rhen asked. "And her hair is nice looking again?"
Ana ducked under a green blade from a Jedi screaming about heresy or betrayal. She let loose a series of silver blasts that tore through the robes and left nothingness in their wake. She deflected another incoming saber and cut through a pair of Jedi with her secondary weapon. "It happened to you, too. You were a cyborg Sith, man," Theron explained while he watched. Ana threw her shoto out and sliced the hooded head clean off another Jedi before impaling the last one with her silver blade while the orange shoto returned to her outstretched left hand.
When she stood up, all the remaining bodies fell as one. "That was depressingly fast," Rhen groaned.
"Yeah. Why didn't you fight like that?" Theron asked his friend.
"Shut up," Rhen hissed.
Ana walked over to the two and twirled her lightsabers while she deactivated them. She placed the inactive weapons on her armored hips and grinned at the two men who were staring – a little – in awe of her martial abilities. "What? Were you expecting something less?"
Theron laughed. "Probably shouldn't have. You're scary Ana."
She began laughing. "Well, I suppose it's better than being inept like your friend here."
"Not. Cool," Rhen shouted and jabbed his finger at Ana and the laughing Theron. Rhen sighed in exasperation and stole the blaster from Theron. "Can we just get going?"
Theron shrugged in agreement and placed his hands on Ana and Rhen's shoulders. "Let's go," Theron said.
"Finally," Rhen said. He pulled the trigger of the blaster and the world around them melted. Again, Theron was forced to live through terrible events involving the same creatures. He saw one standing in the middle of a machine and having its life ripped away slowly by the mechanisms. The alien's body fell apart as the energy of the Force that lay within it disappeared; other aliens burst into the room as the machines whirred to a stop. The creatures made negative noises in their strange, distorted language and motioned at the area around them in a combination of fear, anger, and reverence.
Then Theron was on a sandy beach with a man in a mask – Revan – and another man – bald with blue tattoos on his head – slicing through the creatures. Something about the creatures was different, though. Instead of powerful tech and the Force, they were all attacking with sticks and plain metal swords that melted on contact with the lightsabers. Revan let loose a barrage of lightning upon the unsuspecting creatures and they stopped attacking. The aliens fell to their knees and bowed to the two halfway Sith as gods.
Then the images shifted again to the ruined city. The gray skinned aliens marched through burning towers and used strange weapons that disintegrated the running civilians, attacking Jedi, and hostile Imperial Knights. Theron felt a punch in the gut – this had to be the future, then. He took a deep breath to keep himself form hyperventilating. It could mean something else, he reasoned to himself. The Force is not bound by dimensional barriers. He closed his eyes, took another deep breath, and opened them. The visions had given way to a bright Alliance office. There were awards and pictures of powerful people all around, and the name Grand Admiral Taas graced the desk.
"Finally, I was wondering when you guys would get here," Van said. He stepped out from around a corner wearing important looking military dress and hat. He looked at the three very confused Force users and chuckled. "What? You didn't think I'd know this was fake?"
"Um. No," Theron said. He gestured at the desk covered in assorted "rich admiral" knick knacks. "And given you're a high ranking officer in this prison, I thought you wouldn't want to think that."
"I know!" Van shouted. "But that's exactly how I knew it was fake. Who the kark would make me the 'Grand Admiral of Triumvirate Forces!?'" The man laughed and threw his hat like a discus against the window overlooking a beautiful view of Coruscant. "I mean, I can make tactical decisions... I'm just too cocky and let everything get out of hand before I do."
"Not a great battle strategy," Theron said. He walked up to his pilot, threw his arm around the man's shoulders, and guided the pilot back to the rest of the group. "I've seen worse though."
"Yeah – like trusting a crazy ghost girl to help us kill an ancient, dead Sith Lord," Van responded. His clothes faded away to his standard crimson flight suit and dual pistols.
"Don't make fun of her!" Theron snapped. His crew flinched back slightly at the severity of his reaction. "I'm sorry. She... she died so we could do this."
"How does a ghost die?" Rhen asked.
Theron looked over at his friend. "Well, for lack of better understanding... she cut her soul off from the Force. She's completely gone."
The three rescued crew members looked at their feet. "That's... bad, right?" Van finally asked.
"Yes, it's bad, you ignorant, non-Force using, idiot!" Ana shouted. "Ugh. We all looked sad, rea the room. Get a little tact."
Van nodded and grimaced sheepishly. "Yeah. That's why I would never be an admiral," he said.
"No. No, no no no NO!" the voice of Nihilus screamed. The world around the four melted away and disappeared into nothingness. Gray walkways erupted from the black nothingness, and a 2.2 meter tall Darth Nihilus stood at the end of the walkway with a red, sputtering lightsaber in his hand. "You cannot fool me with that false Revan you created to occupy me. You are a Sith. Your 'friends' all saw it. You will die for your betrayal of me. You. Will. DIE!"
"Well, this'll be fun," Theron supplied. He ignited his saber and Force leaped towards the screaming monster.