A/N: Sorry it's been longer than usual. I had midterms... that sucked. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter and prepare for the next one. A Sith not seen since, oh... Chapter 1, will be returning, as will everyone's favorite overtly-tatooed Sith Lord. Why, you ask? To quote the venerable professor River Song... "Spoilers..."
Theron wandered through the forests of Dxun apart from the rest of his crew. Ever since what had happened on Korriban, Theron felt himself avoiding them. They were not exactly trying to bridge that gap either, though. Theron breathed in the air of the forest moon; the air was filled with life, the din in the background Theron had not even realized he would miss until it had been gone. In stark contrast to the life outside of him, Theron was felt empty on the inside. He swore he could feel an echo traveling through his gut. He shuddered as he remembered the feeling of Vash's life flowing from her and into him. Theron knew he had devoured everything that had ever been Lonna Vash. Worse still was the ache for more. Devouring more life, more Jedi and Sith. Rhen... Ana...
Theron walked across a battlefield as old as Vash and slipped the mask – even older – onto his face. Rhen had discovered, during the flight from Korriban to the landing site on Onderon, that Lonna Vash was a Jedi Master during the Mandalorian Wars. She had been four thousand years old. Dxun, as luck – or the Force's twisted sense of humor – would have it, was the site of one of the first Mandalorian battles against the Old Republic.
Theron glanced over his shoulder at his allies who were still situated close to the shuttle that had taken them from Iziz to Dxun. He felt his fists clench as he saw Rhen shoot a worried glance his way. "They think I'm broken," he said angrily.
Aren't you? Revan asked.
"Talking to myself won't help matters," Theron said. He ran his hands across the mask that covered his face and clicked his communicator off.
Theron, what you did... it wasn't your fault. It –
"It was exactly like my dreams. I killed Vash just like I kept seeing myself kill Rhen and Ana. I felt her life run through my veins, and it is taking all my willpower to keep myself from doing it again," Theron interjected. He clenched his fists and continued walking from his friends.
I had a friend with that same curse. She got over it, so can you, Revan replied.
Theron ignored the voice. You just can't believe something good could happen. The Force moves in ways you cannot understand, Theron. Your curse was the only way to bring Vash peace. The only way to save Rhen.
"Or will it be the death of him? Of Ana?" Theron questioned. The voice had no answer. Theron let his head fall. "That's what I thought." He raised his hand back to his helmet and reactivated comms.
"Are you guys almost ready to go?" Theron asked. He turned around and saw three blurry faces pointed towards him. The mask's sights zoomed in and Theron could see worries similar to his own plastered across each of their expressions. They tried to hide it, but Theron knew.
"Yeah," Van finally said. He walked towards Theron first and the others followed him.
Theron's eyes hardened behind his mask and the telescopic vision returned to normal. Theron turned so his jacket would whip around him and followed the map on his mask. The crew of the Eagle was going to a Temple – a tomb – of an ancient Sith Lord who had once laid claim to the planet visible above the group's heads. Freedon Nadd had been dead longer than Revan or Vash, and rumor had it that his Ghost had been re-killed before Revan had even been born. Unfortunately, his Dark power remained, a powerful conduit for the Sith. The Triumvirate's intelligence suggested that they were already there, hunting down his artifacts and channeling his power.
Theron led the six mile trek through the dangerous terrain of Dxun, where the weapons of a war fought millennia earlier still waited to kill. Droids, mines, traps. The moon was a dangerous place for any explorer to visit, even Jedi. Theron deactivated his lightsaber as the last of the attacking cannoks fell lifelessly to the ground. He turned from the creatures and began walking on, even as the others began talking again. He could hear every few words coming from his shipmates' conversation, "... talk to... help..."
Theron growled beneath his mask. They wanted to help him? What the kark would talking do?he asked himself. Theron clenched his fists and focused on leading his group to the tomb where an army of Sith were waiting to grant Theron the sweet, cathartic release that could only be gained from beating the kriff out of a Sith. Just like that night that Theron felt occurred years before, yet had only happened less than two weeks prior.
"Theron?" Ana asked from near his shoulder.
Oh, they're good. Sending her talk sense into you? Revan snarked. Theron shoved the voice from his mind and ignored Ana's pleas for his attention. … sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I –
"Theron, come on," she said, worry permeating her voice.
"What do you want?" he snapped, finally. He glared at Ana through the corner of his vision, and the mask fed him updates on her mental state. Breathing heavy due to exertion and imbalanced seratonin levels. Pupil dilation and intense focus on user suggests emotional connection as source of worry. Prognosis:Target for manipulation.
Sorry, it's still on Sith mode. Revan apologized. Guess I never got a chance to fix that.
"Theron, we're worried about you. After whatever happened at -"
"You don't even remember everything that caused this, Ana," Theron spat. The woman pursed her lips and stared at Theron's masked visage. With a mental jolt, Theron noted that her pupils were linked with his even through the mask's lens. He sighed and cracked his neck. "Ana, you think I'm crazy. You think I've imagined entire swaths of our first mission. That I'm not actually hearing Revan. And with... whatever this is? Gann, Horn, and Soon are gonna have you lock me up."
Ana's eyes fell to the ground for a moment before returning to his. She zipped up her jacket – her armor had been damaged and she was back in her casuals – and the edge of the jacket's red leather covered her jaw. "I'd never let anything happen to you," she finally whispered. Theron turned his face towards her, unsure if he had heard correctly.
Theron glared at her for a moment, then sighed internally. He half-smiled behind his mask. "Oh, you want me to play damsel in distress now?" he joked.
Ana shot him a mocking look, but her eyes were full of relief. "Are you kidding? I could use a break from saving your hide."
"Oh, I've saved you more times," he replied with a grin. He looked up the path to make sure he was following the map, then returned his attention to Ana, his expression anxious. "I'm – I'm just not sure what's happening. Between Nihl and..." Theron waved his hands in front of his chest. "The galaxy's getting weird."
Ana nodded. "Yeah, so are you," she acquiesced. "I didn't know you could get more weird."
"Har har," Theron replied. He locked his jaw behind the mask before continuing. "I'm serious, Ana. Whatever happened, you can feel it echoing too, right? There's a shadow crossing through time, from the future. Something is coming, and it feels just like this echo inside of me."
Ana stared at Theron, her eyes filled with worry. Then she grinned and laughed at him. "Oh, come on. You're just trying to joke with me," she said. She laughed again.
Theron began to reply that he was, in fact, serious. However, he was cut short by the ending of the road at a huge cliff face. "We're here," he said with a gesture down at a huge temple jutting out from the valley. Far below toiled Sith troopers, droids, and Dark Lords themselves. To attack would be suicide. "Well, I'll get the four hundred in the northeast quadrant."
"Oh, Force..." Van whispered as he saw the odds that the group was going up against.
"Yeah. We'll try to keep the Sith off you," Theron said as he tensed his legs.
"What!?" Van asked. "I'm just excited I can finally be of use!"
"In a fight against thousands of Sith?" Rhen asked – in a manner both dumbfounded and patronizing.
"Um... tactics?" Van replied. He shook his head and rubbed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger. "You idiots need to learn how to think tactically. I know you Jedi are accustomed to 'slash slash Force Force' and all, but these odds are a little beyond even you."
Theron stared at Van. "Okay. So what do you propose we do?" Theron growled. Van gestured with his hand towards the Temple. "Well?"
Van sighed in exasperation once more. "We can climb down the spires of the Temple, avoid a full frontal assault that would only get us killed," the pilot pointed out. He pulled his pack off of his shoulders. "When we left Coruscant, our armory got stocked with new weaponry. We can leave trip mines for the Sith so they can't follow us into the tomb."
Theron nodded, but grumbled jokingly, "Well, I kind of wanted to kill a bunch of Sith. It's cathartic."
"There'll be tons inside," Van said in mock sympathy. The pilot smiled smugly and walked ahead of the others towards the upper edge of the temple built into the cliff.
"Well..." Ana began. Then she took off at a full sprint, calling on the comms, "Last one there is writes my mission report!"
"No fair!" Theron shouted after her. He took off at a sprint, leaving the confused Rhen and Van behind him.
"But it's my plan. I wanted to get there first," Van said sadly. He turned to talk to Rhen. "This -"
The twi'lek was already racing after Theron and Ana. "Just leave the normal guy to walk through the jungle alone. Great friends you are. Ah, sithspit."
SWSWSWSWSW
Why didn't Meetra's friends do this? Revan asked. It could've saved them so much time and, well, they would've been injured less. Theron almost asked what that could have meant, but was distracted when one of his feet slipped momentarily down the surface of the pillar. Theron's grip tightened around the cable connected to the top of the pillars and, in his flailing, Theron's boot brushed against Rhen's lekku. Ohhhh... that's why.
"Hey! I don't like feet on my face," the twi'lek hissed upward. Theron shrugged in a half-hearted apology, and the group continued downward. The climb down the tomb's outer face was treacherous, as the constant wind and rain that drenched the planetary forests of Dxun had slowly weathered the stone face down into thin, smooth pillars of wet, deadly slick stone that reached hundreds of meters into the sky. The tomb looked eerily like a dead spider laying on its back on the floor. The remaining venom? The Dark Side that leaked out from every pore and stone of the monstrous temple-tomb below.
Rhen dropped the last fifteen feet from the pillar to the roof of the tomb. Theron and Ana soon stood next to the twi'lek, and the three of them waited for the slow, normal Van to climb carefully down the pillar. Over the comms: "I hate you guys."
"Eh, you love us," Rhen joked. Eventually, the grumbling pilot was able to, carefully and without injury, reach the stone roof where his shipmates waited.
"No. No, I hate all of you," Van grumbled while he rubbed his hands. "I hate all of you so much."
"Oh... tsk you're going to hate us a lot more," Theron said. He motioned for the others to follow him to the edge of the roof. He approached the lip of the stone at a crawl and glanced into the valley full of Sith warriors in the midst of strenuous training sessions.
When the rest of the crew arrived, also laying on their bellies so as to not be seen, Theron motioned downward. "That's a ten meter drop," the masked man said. Rhen, Ana, and Van all looked down the edge to the entrance of the tomb. Theron looked over at Van. "While we can survive that without shattering our legs, you can't."
As the implications dawned on Van, he shook his head wildly and hissed, "No. No, you are not levitating me down there. You will find stairs, or something like that. I'm not -"
Theron growled and lifted the pilot into the air. Van slapped his hands over his mouth to prevent a scream of rage from rushing into the valley and alerting the hundreds of Sith below. Theron guided the floating form of his friend down to the entrance and out of the line of sight of two Sith troopers. "He's going to hate you for that," Ana said, her shoulder brushing against Theron's as she whispered to him.
Theron gulped as a perceived electric shock ran from her body to his, and he fought to stay focused so that Van would quietly and safely reach the rock floor below. The Gray Jedi ceased his efforts of controlling the Force as soon as the resistance of the stone floor pushed against his power. "He's down," Theron told the others at his side. He motioned with his hand and pushed himself into a handstand. He grinned beneath his mask and allowed his weight to shift towards the edge. His body rushed, flipping, through the air and adrenaline shot through his mind. He caught his body with barely a meter to spare and landed silently on the stone floor. He saw in the corners of his vision two blurs – one black/blue and the other crimson – land beside him. Theron turned to the entrance to see an angry, unhappy Van glaring at him.
Theron shrugged as if to say, "What?" The pilot's eyes narrowed and a glare that could melt durasteel shot from them. Theron scoffed and grinned to himself and walked with the other Force sensitives into the entrance of the tomb while Van activated the trip mines just outside of the doorway.
"I hate you," the pilot grumbled to Theron as they entered the building. Theron laughed to himself again.