Taris Part 4
Avner chanced one more look back at Treema and Carth as they left. But, when they were out of sight, he took a deep breath and turned back toward Mission. She grabbed his hand and Avner was shot into a memory.
…
In the flashback, he was on Taris wearing Jedi robes, a few years before the Mandalorian Wars broke out. He was with Treema as well. He remembered how they had been sent by the Jedi council to investigate a branch of the slave trade that had found its way to the planet.
A blue twi'lek had come up to them, begging for them to rescue his little sister from the exchange.
They had done so, Avner rescuing the young twi'lek girl from the small Exchange outpost hidden in the lower city while Treema stayed with the older twi'lek. In the chaos with all of the freed slaves escaping, Avner couldn't see Treema. He was holding the little girl's hand and trying to see over the crowd when she pulled on his hand.
He allowed the girl to pull him through the mass of people, leading to Treema and the now nervous twi'lek. Avner took the girl over to her brother and he let her go, but she didn't want to leave the presence of the Jedi.
"Revan, I have reason to believe that this twi'lek sold his little sister to the Hutts" Treema whispered into his ear.
"What makes you say that?" he whispered back.
"The local authorities said that they have no control over what happens to legally obtained slaves. I got a good read on him while you were gone, he's much more than a concerned brother. His gambling problem led to taking a big loan out from the exchange. He ran out of time to pay" Treema told him, backing away slowly, almost fearing a loud outburst. Shockingly, Avner held his temper, only glaring at the older twi'lek.
"Who are you?" Avner asked.
"My name is Griff and this is Mission" the older twi'lek said.
"You take good care of your sister, you hear me? Meetra told me everything there is to know about you. You shouldn't force an innocent little kid to deal with your mistakes, especially because we Jedi won't always be around to solve your problems" Avner warned. Griff hung his head and led his sister away from the two Jedi.
…
Avner broke from his thoughts when he felt Mission stop in front of him. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he nearly fell from the ladder into the sewers three times before reaching the bottom.
"I really am Revan" he pondered silently, following Mission through the sewers, searching through every door for Zaalbar.
Whenever they got into fights with a pack of rakghouls or a few gamorreans, Avner used his trusty vibroblade while Mission showed him that she was pretty handy with a blaster pistol. He was not shy about commending her for her aim. Between the two of them, they were able to defeat every single enemy that stood in their way to finding Zaalbar.
"Alright, Avner, this is it. This is the gamorrean base" Mission told him, taking a deep breath.
"What makes you say that, Mission?" he asked, still reeling from the memory of Treema/Meetra calling him Revan.
"I can smell them, Avner. Trust me, they are here" she told him, almost questioning his intelligence as well as his sense of smell.
Avner shrugged and gave Mission a sheepish smile before moving to stand behind her as she performed a very advanced security slice on the door. Once the door was open, Avner threw six frag grenades into the room and closed the door.
Once all of the grenades had exploded, Avner gestured for Mission to open the door. She did so and she saw four smoking corpses on the ground. She walked up to the other door and set up a little device to it. After a few seconds, the door flew open and Zaalbar came running up, his fists up in front of his face, looking ready to fight until Mission calmed him down enough to have a conversation.
"Who is this?" Zaalbar asked.
"This is a friend of mine. Without him, I couldn't have possibly gotten you out of here" Mission answered. Zaalbar turned and looked Avner up and down.
"You have saved me from a debt of servitude. The most ancient of Wookiee traditions dictate that I must swear a life debt to you. Avner, being able to understand shyriiwook, was listening to the conversation and he choked on his water when he heard a life debt came into the conversation.
Once Avner was able to stop coughing, mostly thanks to Mission pounding on his back, the former smuggler gestured up at Zaalbar.
"I don't think you want to do that, big guy. You have no idea who I am" Avner confessed. He was met with two very confused looks from his two new companions.
"What do you mean, Avner?" Mission asked.
"I would like to know as well" Zaalbar agreed.
Avner sighed in contemplation. What could he do? But, deep down, he knew that there was only one thing he could do.
"Alright, here's the thing. I don't exactly understand everything so far, but I don't really know who I am. Treema told me something about me that I don't want to believe, but I'm starting to think that she might be right" Avner explained.
"What do you mean?" Mission asked.
"I trust you are both familiar with when Darth Revan was killed by a Jedi strike team, correct?" Revan asked. When both of his companions nodded at him, Avner took another long deep breath.
"Well, I can only assume that Revan was not killed. He must have been taken prisoner instead. Treema told me that I am Revan" he told them. He closed his eyes, bracing himself for an explosion from either the wookiee or the teenage twi'lek, but it never came. They were both shockingly calm, Zaalbar's face completely unreadable while Mission's face was only slightly nervous.
"How do you know she's telling the truth?" Mission asked. Avner shrugged.
"I've been having memories that aren't mine. Visions in my head from Revan's life. But, I don't know for sure. I don't know if it's true or if my mind is just playing tricks on me or what. But, I just want you guys to know just in case it actually is true" Avner told them. He looked between both of them, trying to get a read on what they were thinking. It was Zaalbar who spoke first.
"Revan, I swear a life debt to you" the wookiee said strongly.
"What?" Mission exclaimed.
"No, no, I got this, Mission" Avner said, moving to her other side to stand right in front of Zaalbar.
"What?" Avner exclaimed, looking up at Zaalbar like he grew an extra arm.
"You could have let me get sold into slavery. You could have just killed Mission for getting in your way. You risked your life to save mine. It takes a special kind of person to do that. You could be Revan or you could not be, but you still were willing to lay down your life to save mine. It is because of that that I swear a life debt to you, Revan" Zaalbar told him.
"Are you sure about this, Big Z?" Mission asked, obviously worried about what was going on.
"Absolutely, Mission; even back home on Kashyyyk, Wookiees are being sold into slavery. Today, it was only because of Revan that you were able to find me and save me from a fate that I consider worse than death. I stand by my decision to declare a life debt to you, Revan" Zaalbar responded, leaving Avner in shock.
"Zaalbar, I would be honored to accept your vow" Avner said, bowing his head in respect to the Wookiee.
"Well, if Zaalbar is going to go with you then so am I. I'm not losing Big Z over anything, not even a life debt!" Mission said, standing up tall next to Zaalbar, almost daring Avner to try and stop her.
"Glad to have you aboard, Mission. But, there is one thing that both of you need to realize. We are going to be killing people. Humans, twi'leks, Mandalorians, perhaps even Wookiees. You need to realize that. I hope there are no objections to this" Avner told them. When he didn't get a response from either of them, he pulled out his comlink and sent a call out to Carth.
"By the way, it's Avner, not Revan" he told the wookiee and twi'lek.
"Onasi" Avner heard through the comlink.
"Carth, I got Zaalbar, about to move toward the Vulkar base. How's it going?" Avner asked.
"We're in the sewers, looking for Rukil's journals. Progress has been slow, but we are making progress" Carth told him.
"Do you need me to send Mission and Zaalbar to help you?" Avner asked.
"Negative. Keep them with you. You will need them more than us" Carth answered.
"Noted. We are in route to the Vulkar base then. Keep your ears open" Avner told him, putting the comlink away after getting conformation from the pilot. They went into the next room and grabbed Zaalbar's bowcaster before moving on.
"Alright, Mission. Lead the way" Avner told her. The group of three fought their way to the blue shield that Mission talked about without any sort of trouble.
"I picked the codes off a Vulkar who had a little too much to drink in the cantina one night. The shield will be down in just a second" Mission explained. She wasn't wrong.
They climbed the ladder into the upper sewers and were moving toward the Vulkar base again.
…
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Alright, the group of three is heading toward the Vulkar base. I am still not going to include what happens in the Vulkar base because we have all played the game multiple times and we all know what happens in the base. The story will pick up right after the base. Please review! See you guys soon!