Taris Part 5

Back in the outcast village, Carth and Treema were waiting for Avner to return.

"I hope Avner is doing alright out there. He's been gone a long time" Carth interjected into the silent night.

"He is strong and he has the Force as his ally. I am certain he will return soon" Treema assured him.

"What? You're talking about him like he is a Jedi. What are you saying?" Carth asked, paranoia lacing into the conversation once again. Treema was about to retort, but she felt a warning and ignited her purple lightsaber immediately.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" she snapped. Through the elevator came Mission and Zaalbar, hands up in the air.

"Mission! Where's Avner?" Carth asked.

"He sent us back here from the Vulkar base. He told us to tell you guys that he will be along shortly" Mission told them, closing her eyes.

…

Avner had just sent his sword right through the stomach of the final Vulkar lieutenant when he looked at his two companions. He could see the demons in their eyes, the beings that they had killed that day were starting to take a toll on them.

"Mission, Zaalbar. I need you two to go back to the outcast village through the main gate. Tell them that I will be alone shortly" Avner told them.

"What? What about the mission? What about the task at hand? We can help you!" Mission exclaimed.

"I know you can" Avner started.

"Then why are you sending us away? You don't have to do this alone! We aren't helpless, you know! I'm not just a kid!" Mission shouted, pacing through the room.

"Mission. Mission! MISSION!" Avner yelled, getting louder and louder with each repetition of her name. She turned and looked at him, a sheepish expression on her face.

"I know you can help me, but I need you two to meet up with Carth and Treema. Treema is in charge, so whatever she needs you to do, I'd like you to do. The biggest issue here is that we need to find a way to get off this planet. Now, get going" Avner told them, tossing Mission his comlink. Mission looked like she was arguing with herself, but she complied.

With his companions gone, Avner took a deep breath and pulled a lightsaber out of his backpack. It was the lightsaber from the Endar Spire. He ignited the blade and saw that it was purple. He took another deep breath and was off to the garage.

He never saw Mission looking at him with wide eyes as the elevator door closed behind him.

…

Mission opened her eyes to see Treema Krius with a big smile on her face.

"He sent us here and said that you were in charge, Treema. He told us that we need to find a way off this planet" Mission told them.

"Well, we can't really do anything until Avner comes back. Without the swoop accelerator, we can't enter the swoop race. Without entering the swoop race, we can't rescue Bastila. If we can't rescue Bastila, we can't leave the planet" Treema explained.

"So, what do we do now?" Carth asked.

"Now, we wait. We wait for Avner to meet us here. That was the plan this morning and it is the plan now" Treema told him. She put a hand up to curb the objections.

"Until the day that the galaxy dies we will operate as though it never will. Is that a problem?" Treema asked, looking at her three companions, narrowing her eyes at all three of them one at a time. She got no response.

"Aww, I feel special. You guys are arguing about me again!" Avner shouted from behind, causing the group sans Treema to jump.

"Where's the accelerator?" Carth asked, noticing that Avner only had his backpack and vibroblade.

"I already gave it to Gadon. That's why I took so long. You will also be happy to know that we all have rooms waiting for us in the Hidden Bek base and we all have transportation to the swoop race tomorrow" Avner told them, motioning for them to follow him out of the undercity and to their beds. Once they got there, the small group congregated into Avner's room.

"Alright, what's the plan?" Mission asked.

"Tonight, I am going to finish off the lower city dueling ring and tomorrow morning I will ride in the swoop race. Then, we need to find a way off this planet" Avner said simply, almost like it was going to be easy.

"What about the rest of us?" Carth asked.

"I don't know about you, but I'm going to the cantina for a drink. As long as we are all back tonight and ready to go tomorrow, there is nothing to lose. But, if you are not here when we are ready to move out tomorrow, we will leave without you" Treema told them. Zaalbar decided to stay at the Bek base to nurse his injuries while Carth went to play soma pazaak. Mission and Treema decided to go watch Avner fight.

When they got into the dueling chambers, Avner had just over ten minutes to wait before the match started. He told Zax he was ready to fight before moving back toward the teenage twi'lek and his older sister.

"Alright, whatever happens to me in this fight, I need you to remember that finding Bastila is the key. If I die, you need to ride the swoop bike tomorrow. Then, you will need to find a way off this planet. Bastila's safety comes ahead of mine. Protect her at all costs. I hope I will be around to help, but if not, good luck. May the Force be with you" Avner told them, turning and leaving without giving them another chance to respond. He was off to fight the last match in the history of the lower city dueling ring.

Nobody noticed, however, when Zax pulled a guard off to the side after Avner walked into the arena.

"Did your men remember to place the energy restrictions on the Stranger's weapons?" Zax asked.

"Yes, sir" the guard answered.

"Good, monitor the energy field as well. Make sure that the Stranger is limited as much as possible" Zax ordered.

"Yes, sir" the guard said, leaving Zax's presence quickly.

"You will not survive again, Stranger" Zax whispered, turning his massive body toward the view screen.

…

Avner had just heard the starting announcements conclude and he pulled out a blaster and shot two shots at the trandoshan. They hit the beast's armor, but they didn't leave a dent. Confused, Avner shot at the animal three more times, two of the three hitting their targets, but there was still no damage. Now angry, Avner went to engage his opponent in a melee fight, dodging a couple of shots from Tanglow's weapon that left scorch marks on the wall of the arena.

"Did I forget to charge the energy cell?" Avner asked himself. He put his vibroblade up to block a slash from the trandoshan. The weakened metal of the vibroblade shattered instantly. Avner felt the wind leave him as the alien's foot hit his sternum. He fell back and did a reverse summersault, landing on his knees.

Tanglow sprinted at Avner and dove at him, attempting to impale him with the full strength blade. Avner bounced to his feet and kicked at the trandoshan's knee. The alien hit the ground and rolled. Avner got to his feet and looked across the ring to see a scowl on the alien's face.

The two circled and Avner took a deep breath, noticing that the alien was favoring his left leg. The trandoshan's blade was in front of him. Avner dove at the blade and grabbed it in his two hands. He looked up to see the trandoshan in the air jumping toward him. Avner saw the alien holding a short sword in his hand and gulped. The trandoshan landed on top of him and Avner was nowhere to be seen.

That is, until a sword cut through the alien and a bloody Avner kicked the trandoshan off of him. He held the sword up over his head and saluted the crowd before something in the back of his mind told him to dive to his left. He did just as a thermal detonator exploded, sending him flying across the ring.

The next few moments were especially tense as neither fighter was moving. It seemed like both were dead. A draw had never happened in a duel to the death before, so nobody knew what to do.

But, it wasn't a draw. Avner jumped to his feet, raising his arms in victory for a couple of seconds before storming out of the dueling ring, right at Zax.

"What the hell was that all about?" Avner shouted, causing the hutt to shake right on the spot.

"I don't know what happened" Zax stammered.

"That is the biggest load of bantha poodo that I have ever heard!" Avner shouted. At that point, Treema and Mission had entered the bounty office to congratulate Avner on a job well done. They weren't the only ones watching what was going on.

"I have an army" the hutt warned when he saw Avner putting his hand on the trandoshan's blade that was hooked onto his belt.

"Yeah, I have a wookiee" Avner snapped.

"What do you want?" the hutt asked, his voice shaking.

"I want every credit you made off me today" Avner hissed. Zax pointed him to a chest that held 21 thousand credits. Nodding, Avner moved to walk away but stopped at the last moment, hesitating before walking back to Zax.

"What is it now?" the hutt whimpered. Avner shrugged and kicked Zax in the midsection area. Zax yelped in shock and Avner threw a frag grenade into the Hutt's mouth. He left the cantina and went back to the Hidden Bek base, completely ignoring Treema and Mission trying to talk to him.

He didn't even hear the sound of the hutt exploding or the sight of the hutt being splattered all over the walls of the bounty office.

…

Treema and Mission followed Avner until they heard the explosion of the hutt.

"Don't look, kid. It's not a pretty picture" Treema warned. Mission bristled at being called a kid and looked anyway, only to look back at Treema with wide eyes before vomiting the entire contents of her stomach onto the ground.

Treema laughed and helped the teenage twi'lek back to her room in the Bek base before going to the next room to check on Avner. She knocked on the door to his room but got no response. She knocked again but still received no response.

"Avner, I know you're in there! Open the door or I swear to all that is holy that I will come in there and make you talk!" Treema shouted through the door. Again, she got no response from Avner.

"You have five seconds to open this door or I'm coming in" Treema warned. She counted to 5. 1, 2, 3, 4, 4 ½, 5 before she picked the lock with a hair clip and walked into his room, shutting and locking the door behind her. She turned on the light to see Avner lying on the bed with a pillow over his face.

"Alright, little brother. Start talking. What's up?" Treema asked, sitting down right next to her brother. It took a few moments, but he started talking to her.

"I killed that hutt. I wanted to do it and I liked it" Avner muttered.

"Why did you do it?" she asked. He sat up and looked at her.

"I was so mad. He tried to get kill me and I don't like that. I don't know why, but I looked at him and I just got this feeling, this really bad feeling. He had slaves, Treema. I don't know how I know that, but I do" he told her.

"You killed him for having slaves?" Treema asked. He nodded.

"Yes, but I still killed a defenseless being. I didn't even do that when I was smuggling" he told her.

"Avner, hutts are never defenseless. If you were to walk out of there, what makes you think that you wouldn't have had bounty hunters coming after you until Zax felt you two were even?" Treema asked. He shrugged.

"Avner, I'm listening" she told him.

"I don't know who I am, Treema. I don't know if I am Avner or Revan. If you're Treema or Meetra. I just don't get it. My head doesn't feel like it's mine right now" he exclaimed.

"You're the only one who can figure it out. I can't help you figure it out" she told him. He groaned.

"Avner, I'm going on a little expedition and I don't think I will be back by tomorrow. Do you remember what I said about how we don't wait for anybody?" she asked. He nodded.

"I need you to take command of this mission, Avner. When you win the swoop race tomorrow and rescue Bastila, she is going to do everything in her power to control everything and there is no way you will be able to get off this planet with her in charge. She has a great power, but she has no knowledge of leading" Treema told him.

"Where are you going? Why can't you stay and lead?" Avner asked. She gave him a small smile.

"Oh, Avner. You saw me drop my disguise aboard the Endar Spire. Bastila only knows me as the Jedi before. Carth, Mission, and Zaalbar only know me in this form now. Explain to me how that is going to work out in our favor" Treema told him. He tried to come up with an argument, but he couldn't find one.

"Exactly. I will do my best to join with you before you leave Taris. But, this is why you must promise me that you will do everything in your power to get Bastila off this planet. With or without me" Treema told him. He hesitated again, but gave her a reluctant nod.

"Thank you, Avner. Don't forget; with the Force as your ally, anything is possible" she told him as she began toward the door.

"Wait, Treema. When I was in the Vulkar base, I used this lightsaber and it was easy. It really felt like I had done it before, like the weapon was part of me" he told her. She walked back and gave him a hug before releasing him and giving him a smile that did not reach her eyes.

"Remember what I told you when we first talked in the apartment, little brother. You will find the answers you seek" Treema whispered. She didn't give him any time to respond before she walked out the door. Avner ran out the door to try to catch her, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Dejected, Avner went back into the room and locked the door. But, try as he might, he didn't sleep a wink that night. Just too much on his mind.

…

AUTHOR'S NOTE: We are getting closer and closer to getting off Taris. Both times I have tried this story, I have absolutely hated writing about Taris, but it is part of the job. Treema will be back, believe me, but it will take some time. I know exactly when she will be back, so be patient.

I hope I will have more time to write in the coming weeks and months. I'm really enjoying rewriting this story and I am happy with the quality of story that it is so far. I hope you review and thank you all for reading and supporting me and this story as it grows.