Master Brooke Alde looked out across the asteroid, not entirely sure where she was or how she got there. Last thing she remembered was attacking the former Sith Emperor, newly discovered Emperor of the Eternal Empire, with one of her oldest friends as well as two unexpected allies.
Seriously, if anyone had told her a year prior she'd be striking down the emperor with not only a Dark Council member but the newly appointed Wrath of the Emperor (as opposed to the defector who joined her crew) she'd have laughed and said that arranged marriage to Lord Baliss would be far more likely.
As the third daughter, she wasn't much use to her family expect to be married off for alliance purposes. Being the fourth cousin to the Count as well as sixth to Duke Organa, she had all the lower families fighting for her hand. The young noble still wasn't sure how Baliss won that fight, but it was a great relief the day she found she was force sensitive. She ran all the way to her distant cousin for permission to break the marriage contract to start training. The Duke was leery of the fallout between the two houses, but approved her request, and she never looked back once she left until duty sent her back home.
Lord Nafarid's attack soon became personal, first with the death of her cousin – who she admittedly didn't know very well and wasn't even completely sure on how far removed he was- then with her people getting targeted. She almost lost focus when the Sith taunted her with the death of the young girl. If Kira hadn't pushed her to finish shutting the power source down she might have succumbed to despair. That wouldn't be the last time the sadistic dark lord taunted her. Transmitting her master's death had been painful, but unlike Kira who was sent to her knees in anguish, Brooke was engulfed with raw fury and used it to stop Angral's minion.
The Jedi shook her head to clear it. She needed to figure out where she was, not get lost in old memories best left forgotten.
"I've always enjoyed the stars," Valkorion said almost wistfully as he materialized next to her. After striking him down she had been struck by a wave of energy that caused her to pass out. Now here she was standing next to him on some barren rock floating in an asteroid field.
"Great, I died and now I get to spend eternity with you as company. This keeps going from bad to worse…"
"You're not dead yet, I've seen to that," he replied as if it were nothing.
"Why," she asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"We have a destiny yet to fulfill and you are a part of me I would very much like to keep."
Suddenly a giant monolith slammed into the ground behind them. "But the carbonite freezing was imperfect and it is taking a toll on your body. There is nothing more I can do. I cannot save you if do not wish to live. You must fight."
She pulled the lightsaber from her side, and with one last glare at the former Sith Emperor said, "Once I'm done with this, we're gonna have one hell of a talk."
"I look forward to it."
White light bleeding away the darkness, limbs too heavy to move.
"Hold still, you're dying," a voice said. Female, not Valkorion. Her face was blurry and her voice faded in and out. "I may have your cure, but I'm not going to lie, this will hurt.
The Jedi barely had time to process her words before she felt her blood ignite and pulse the burning feeling throughout her body. She could barely think through the pain and the pounding in her ears, coughing as air cleaned out her lungs as she breathed.
"There that wasn't so bad," the voice said once the worst of it had passed. Brooke looked up from her knees to see a blonde haired woman with yellow eyes bowing slightly giving her a relieved smile. She seemed familiar, but Brooke couldn't place her. Nothing made sense.
"Who are you?"
"The effects of the carbon freezing are worse than I thought," she said to herself, a worried expression on her face. "My name is Lana Beniko, and all you need to know is I'm a friend."
"Lana, it's good to see you. Not sure why there are so many of you," she gasped as it all came gushing back: Revan, the events at Yavin IV and Ziost, the first time they met on Manaan. "Seems like saving me is a never-ending mission for you."
"You're not wrong, but we're hardly out of the woods yet. Get your bearings, I need to check on the others. I brought an old friend with me you might like to see."
"Theron," She asked hopefully. She hadn't seen him since Ziost when they departed with a renewed promise to continue their budding relationship. A sad beep to her left caught her attention.
"T7 = unable to locate Agent Shan. T7 = acceptable substitute?"
"More than acceptable little buddy, I missed you," Brooke said as she gave the little droid a hug, who bounced happily in response. "I know I have you to thank for getting Lana this far."
"T7 = missed Jedi. T7 + Jedi = galaxy's heroes!"
"You got that right," she answered as she watched Lana examine the others who had been captured with her. Darth Imperious, Wrath of the Emperor; Ace Kor, Barsen'thor of the Jedi order; Darth Nox, Dark Council member. They had all been on Darth Mar's ship when the Eternal Fleet attacked and had been brought before Valkorion. When Arcann betrayed his father they all attacked, but Brooke had been the one who had made the killing blow, which might explain his presence.
"We need to get moving," Lana announced as the she straightened. "T7, I need you to create an effective diversion like we discussed."
"T7 = excellent at causing distractions. T7 + Jedi = galaxy's best chaos makers!"
"I wouldn't go that far, T7, but if there's anyone who could cover our escape, it's you."
Lana approached the Jedi Battlemaster as T7 slipped away and handed Brooke her lightsabers. She made a mental note to ask Lana later how she was able to get her hands on them. She looked the Jedi over as she attached them to her belt and asked, "Are you recovered enough to fight, Master Alde? I hate to push, but we really must get moving."
"Lana, how many times have I told you to call me Brooke? And you really need to give me a bit of credit. Jedi might not be thrown in caves with giant man-eating worm things and wished the best of luck, but we still can press on when we have too."
"Good," she answered with a wry smile, "because we need that attitude more than ever."
"I have million questions right now."
"And I wish I had the time to answer them. I promise, as soon as we're out of here we'll talk."
"I'm gonna hold you to that," She answered activating her lightsabers. The first wave of sky troopers had entered through the door and more were coming in behind them.
"What kind of prison is this," Darth Imperious questioned once they had dealt with the droids. "It's poorly designed with almost no defenses."
"That's because it's not a prison, my Lord. This is where Arcann keeps all his prized possessions," Lana answered as she knelt to start hacking the controls to the door to the next hallway.
"Possessions," Darth Nox thundered. The Sith pureblood had risen to power after being brought up in slavery. It was no wonder she bristled at the thought of being owned again.
"Yes, my Lord," Lana answered, unfazed. She looked up from where she knelt and asked with a small smile, "Don't you all feel special?"
The door slid open, revealing more sky troopers waiting for them.
"No rest for the weary," Brooke sighed before jumping into the middle of the group and started slashing, Imperious right behind her.
Even though Lana had been informed a month ago by Senya that the others had gotten away she didn't like the fact there had been no contact. Anything could have happened during that time and she was anxious to learn their fate. Lana wanted to find all of them, but it was the trooper that held the bulk of her concern. Despite their disagreements, and there had been several over the short time they'd known each other, Rory had come to mean a great deal to her. Lana was not about to leave her to rot in the Spire. If she did not learn her fate before they left Zakuul, Lana vowed to stay and search for Rory, with or without help.
They had made their way through the Spire and the group was large enough easily dispatch the two knights that had caught up to them as they waited for Koth. The first one got away, but the other wasn't quick enough and the Sith Lord held him in the air as she choked him.
"You knights," Lana sighed, shaking her head, "you never learn how to properly channel your anger."
"Let him go Lana," Brooke commanded from her spot on the platform.
"What so he can come after us again later? Not exactly a good strategy." Brooke crossed her arms in reply and glared Lana at until she let him go, grudgingly. Lana didn't like her orders, but the ability to lead and make decisions was exactly why she was needed.
Just before the knight could get away, a woman with a wrap covering her face dropped down from the ledge the other night had just escaped on. She pulled it off revealing Cipher 9 dressed in Zakuulan civilian attire. If she was here, then that meant the others should be nearby. Lana felt relief as the spy approached the knight who backed away from her.
"You! No… how…"
"Hello Tanek," Cipher 9 purred, smiling sweetly as she stalked closer to him. "I told you we'd escape. Nothing's impossible with the right motivation, and we all had plenty of that thanks to our sessions with you. Oh, and guess what else? We found your knife, the one you kept on your belt and dropped when you grabbed it quickly. You know, when you had taken off thinking you were about to have a good time at our expense?"
Lana felt a combination of disgust and anger well up. Cipher hadn't said who was the target, but from her tone it sounded as if that was a regular occurrence.
"Don't worry, we promise to return it. In fact, Major Horner asked me to send her regards and tell you she can't wait to meet your family."
No, not Rory, Lana thought desperately, her gut twisting.
"Please, leave them out of this! I'm sorry," the knight begged as he fell to his knees.
"Too little too late," she seethed, eyes narrowed before stabbing him in the gut with a hidden blade and twisting it.
"What the hell do you think you're doing," Brooke demanded as Tanek fell to the ground unmoving.
"What you lacked the courage to do," Cipher replied emotionlessly as she searched his body, taking his ID card. "He was far from innocent and would have alerted Vaylin to our position. We need to leave before she gets here."
"Where are the others," Lana demanded.
"Safe," Cipher answered. "We split up to increase the odds at least one of us reaching you. Jack stole a shuttle and got off Zakuul. Dax and Major Horner have cleared the city and will rendezvous once we've escaped."
"Leaving without even saying goodbye? That's just rude."
They turned to see Vaylin standing the way they had just come with at least a dozen sky troopers behind her. She looked them all over before setting her gaze on Lana and sneered, "I've been waiting to meet you."
"Me," the Sith asked, genuinely confused.
Before she could answer a gunship rose from somewhere below and Koth's voice rang out, "Heads down, eyes up, run like hell."
They sprinted to the ship as he fired on Vayliln and sky troopers.
Once safely away thanks to T7 shutting down the city's defenses she deflected questions from the rescued Jedi and Sith with promises of answers once they were safe. She quickly directed Cipher 9 out of ear shot for a briefing of what had happened the past 5 years.
"Short answer? Torture interspersed with brief stints of interrogations," she answered evasively.
"And the long answer?"
She sighed before looking away and saying quietly, "You don't want to hear that."
Lana was about to argue, but could tell it would be useless right now. Instead she asked, "Why did Vaylin say she had been waiting to meet me?"
Cipher seemed to search for the right words before answering, "She would invade our minds seeming to enjoy watching us as we struggled to keep her out or as she twisted old memories into nightmares. Maj. Horner was her favorite target, and she must have had several pleasant memories of you to use for comfort. Vaylin made it her mission to discover who you were and track you down as much as Arcann would let her just as a means to torture her."
Lana was unable to ask anything else as alarms sounded as Koth started shouting to brace for impact.