Chapter 60
Planet of Evil
The moment they came out of hyperspace they felt the darkness surrounding the planet, even those with no connection to the force could feel it. The dark side pulsed like a festering sore, to the force sensitive it was a scream for violence and death, an urge to act on their darkest impulses and basest desires.
Juhani caught Melissa as she stumbled from the cockpit, she half carried the younger girl to their meditation spot and helped her sit down. Melissa was breathing in deep shuddering gasps, a mishmash of emotions broadcast in the force from her. Fury, pride, greed, lust were the dominant ones Juhani could sense in the ever changing broadcast
"Little sister stay with me, listen to my voice, breathe just breathe." Juhani coached, taking her hands
Juhani felt another set of hands join theirs, Terri had joined them, but the normally unflappable Terri was also transmitting her raw emotions in the force, her higher strength in the force somewhat masking Melissa
"Help me, sisters." Terri pleaded.
"Of course, just listen to my voice. Breathe just breathe." Juhani said
To the end of her days she would always wonder what made her say what she did, she was about to start quoting the Jedi code but what came forth was something else.
"There is Emotion, yet there is Peace
There is Knowledge yet all is not known
There is both Passion and Serenity
There is Chaos and there is Harmony
Death is not the end for there is the Force.
The Force is Me and I am part of the Whole
The force is my ally and not my Master"
She repeated the mantra several times as the other two concentrated on their breathing, She felt their emotions settle and become less wild and forcefull as she repeated the mantra. The words also soothing to her
A figure moved away from where they were seated shaking his head. The three meditating did not sense his presence as they were desperately regaining their equilibrium. Canderous looked up from where he was reading the newest letter from home in the crew lounge
"Found what you were looking for, Jetti?" He asked
Jolee shook his head.
"They are truly lost. The question is how far will they fall and what the fallout will be." Jolee replied grimly
"And that is why you all nearly lost the war. Life is not black and white. Right and wrong, everything is a shade of grey." Canderous snorted in disdain
"You do not know what you speak of." Jolee snapped
"I may not be able to feel or use this Force you preach of but both the Jedi and the Sith approach it like slaves." Canderous replied
"Care to explain it to me then." Jolle sneered mockingly
"Jedi are the loyal and obedient slaves, the Sith like the revolting slave who wants to be the master. But like all revolting slaves all they manage is to destroy what they want to rule over." Canderous replied
"And what do the Jedi achieve?" Jolee retorted
"Nothing, they die as slaves as they are too afraid to want freedom from their bonds." Canderous, said standing up
Canderous pointed to the loading bay where the three were still in their meditation
"You say they are falling. I say they are free." Canderous said.
Jolee spun around and went to the medbay. Canderous made his way to the male dormitory, it was time to get ready for whatever comes their way. If there was enough time once he was done he would write and send a reply to his wife and children.
Neither men took note of the droid standing in the corner of the lounge, the photoreceptors barely lit, nor did they notice the droid engaging the safety catch on the blaster in its hand.
Even the atmosphere was hostile as they entered it, Ion storms swirling in the stratosphere. The Hawke was rattling as it was being buffeted by the storms. Carth was physically straining on the controls as he lowered the bucking ship to the surface. For the first time outside of combat they were all buckled in to their crash webbing. The shield and lights flickered as an ion bolt struck true. T3 squeeled as it was expelled from the dataport it was docked in, residual ion covering its frame.
Carth could barely give it a glance as the engines shorted for a moment and shut down. Terri acting as co pilot rapidly started up the ignition sequence. The engines whined but did not engage.
"The breakers need to be reset." Melissa said from the navigators seat
Melissa unclipped her crash webbing and staggered from her seat across the bucking deck. Moving to the main walkway she knelt down and pulled up a panel and dropped into the space. The breaker was a burnt out mess. She hissed in pain as she pulled the shattered breaker out. The case below held a spare breaker. Only one problem, one retaining clip was broken off.
"What is taking so long?!" Carth called from the cockpit.
Melissa placed the breaker in place and kept it in place with her hand.
"Start it up!" She called back
Electricity crackled as the breaker received power, before being blown back Melissa heard the welcoming sound of the engines turning over and igniting. She hit the side of the crawlspace hard, dropping down she found herself too numb to move, blood running down her face. Canderous appeared in front of the space and looked at her
"What dumb thing did you do now?" He demanded, dropping into the space.
He gingerly lifted her out of the space and after pulling himself out of the space carried her carefully to the medbay. Placing her on the exam bed, he activated the restraints and activated the scanner function of the bed. He swayed and staggered as the ship kept on bucking, but never leaving her side as the bed was running diagnostics on her. Melissa felt herself slipping into blackness.
The ship stopped bucking as they finally broke through the storm and started their descent to the service. Canderous activated the rarely used medical droid the medbay was equipped with.
"State the nature of your emergency." The droid stated after booting up
"Electrical shock, possible burns. Likely concussion" Canderous replied
"Remove the restraints and expose the patient so examination can commence."
"I will do that." Juhani spoke from the doorway
The Cathar girl was pale and her tunic showed signs that she had been vomiting but she was standing firm despite that. Canderous gave her a nod of respect and cleared the bed.
"I am outside if you need help." Canderous grunted
Melissa woke to a mother of a headache. The room was shrouded in darkness. The lights running across the active medical droid was the only light she could see
"This is a new record for you, both naked and in the medical facility before we touched down." Terri's voice came from within the darkness
"Decided to be proactive and get it over and done with." Melissa croaked out
The bed motor whined slightly as she was raised to a sitting position. Melissa felt the rim of a glass touch her lips, gratefully she gulped down the water being offered.
The droid moved to the door panel and the light slowly increased. Melissa winced at the brightness of the feeble light. A hypospray hissed as the droid administered an anealgesic. Melissa sighed in relief
"If it was not for the fact that you saved all of our lives, I should pull you over my knees." Terri threatened
"And what would your fiancé say about that?" Melissa replied, softly
"She would help me in paddling your butt." Terri retorted
"A ménage , sign me up." Melissa smiled
"That proves that you will live." Terri replied, shaking her head
Melissa closed her eyes before speaking
"How badly is the ship damaged?" Melissa asked
"The ion strike shorted out several systems as well as frying the boarding ramp motor. The com system is fried as well."
"And we are probably surrounded by Sith wanting to enter the ship." Melissa groaned
"Canderous and myself climbed out from the top hatch and dealt with Sith customs already. So you need to get rest and start patching up the Hawke before we even think of entering Dreshdae." Terri replied
"Then let me get to a real bed and get some sleep." Melissa said swinging her legs from the bed
Terri switched the droid off as it started to object to its patient leaving the medbay. She helped Melissa to her bed, feeling Melissa entering a healing trance she slipped from the room.
Carth was standing by the main door as she exited the dormitory
"How is she?" He asked
"Already making jokes about it." Terri replied
"Whatever deity is looking after her must be putting in some serious overtime claims." Carth snorted, shaking his head.
"We will make an offering to her patron later, this was another close one." Terri stated
"For all of us. As much as I want to scream at her for being reckless, she did save us all with that stunt." Carth said grimly
Terri gave a short smile.
"Be prepared for a grumpy and moody teen when she wakes up." Terri warned
"Any particular reason, except being a teenaged girl, of course." Carth replied sighing
"Juhani had to shave her hair for the droid to get to the cut on her head." Terri explained
"Ah, of course, the worst thing in the galaxy imperfect hair. Never mind that it is almost always covered by a helmet." Carth said, rolling his eyes
"How did you survive all this time with that attitude?" Terri teased
"Following the wisdom of grandpa Onassi and my pa." Carth replied
"I am almost afraid to ask, but give me an example." Terri stated
"When the woman of the house is talking while you are busy do not forget to say no after every three times you say yes to whatever she is babbling about," Carth answered
"I just had to ask." Terri groaned, pinching her forehead
"Yes." Carth replied
"Are you following their advice right now?" Terri demanded
"Yes." Carth answered
"Seriously?!" Terri said
"Yes." Carth replied
"Do you want me to kick your ass?" Terri said, riled up
"No." Carth replied, walking away
Terri looked after him in surprise, her anger not abated as she heard Canderous laughing from the lounge area.
"Good one, Fleet." Canderous congratulated Carth
"What can I say? If the advice is good, use it." Carth replied, laughing
The boarding ramp lowered, the rigged engine grinding in protest, taking one look at the scenery outside had Melissa wishing that the door motor had still been damaged. The settlement of Dreshdea was built inside an ancient bio dome designed for terraforming efforts. A few scraggly dead trees were still standing inside the dirty glass dome. The buildings inside the dome were build from the red rock of the planet. In the distance overlooking the dome was a more modern structure built from grey duracrete that could only be the Academy. The wind was howling and eddies of red dust moved through the air. A few ships were standing about in what passed as an airfield. Several were almost completely covered with the red dust of the planet.
Terri, Juhani and Jolee walked past her dressed in Jedi robes, carrying satchels with essentials for several days. Melissa was still unsure about their plan to pose as fallen Jedi. However three fallen Jedi trying to get into academy were more believable than two fallen Jedi and a Mandalorian mercenary trying the same.
Making sure her helmet was sealed properly she set of to the airlock of the dome doubling as the entry point to the colony, her lightsaber hidden inside a medkit maglocked to her backplate. Her sniper rifle and spare blaster above and to the side of the case. She let her hand hang loose close to where her primary blaster was holstered
The boarding ramp lifted behind her as she walked off, seeing the trio get past the Sith sentries by the airlock she casually made her way to there.
One lifted his hand in a stopping motion
"Identification." He snapped
Melissa produced her bounty hunters licence and handed it over. She could feel the man's disgust on seeing it. He barely looked at it before thrusting it back
"Entry fee is fifty credits." He demanded
" Really?" Melissa drawled
"Now it is sixty or services rendered." He stated leeringly
His world exploded in agony as an armoured knee hit him in the crotch. Before his partner could move a blade was at his neck
"I believe all dues are paid." Melissa said.
His partner operated the airlock and the doors hissed open slowly. The blade disappeared. Melissa leaned down slightly
"Was it as good for you as it was for me?" She asked mockingly
She leaned against the side of the airlock hatch, hand firmly on her blaster as the second door slowly cycled open. She had a clear view of the marketplace in front of the airlock. Various beings kept a cautious eye as the second door slowly opened, a large number of patrons were dressed in grey uniforms.
Sidling out of the airlock she scanned the area thoroughly before making her way deeper into the market, looking for a mechanic shop. Finding one she slipped into the poorly lit shop. The Rodian behind the desk kept his hands visible on the counter. He was covered by a plasteel shield in front of the counter. She sensed another presence and switched to thermal. A figure was lying in the ceiling above the Rodian and from the positioning of the body was aiming a weapon at her
"What do you want?" The Rodian demanded in his warbling language
" Breaker switches and fuses for a CEC mark 6 engine, compression coils for the same, Arcissa mark four components and fuses. And a look around your shelves for a few loose components." Melissa replied
"Got the credits?" The Rodian retorted
Melissa dropped a pile of Hutt and Mon Calamari credit chips in front of the Rodian in a receptacle that appeared from within the counter. The Rodian pressed a control and a side door swung open. Melissa stepped into the main room of the shop and was approached by an astromech droid with a hovercart fused to it.
The droid warbled and whistled at her and she repeated her order. The droid turned around and led the way into the shelves. Melissa noticed several war droids in standby mode standing in the corners. Considering the location they were in she thought they doubled as shop security, the idea was reinforced with the amount of cameras in the shop.
Terri looked disdainfully at the athletic blonde woman standing in front of her group, bracketed by three males dressed in the grey uniform of the Academy.
"Honey, if you want me to give you attention trying to pick a fight is not the way to do so. You can try to fight, but you will fail." Terri stated boredly, inspecting her nails as she spoke
"How cute, not here for an hour and already thinking she is top dog." One of the men replied
"Letting your puppy speak for you?" Terri challenged the blonde
The woman lashed out with a fist and the man grabbed his bleeding nose
"The fuck, Lashowe." He ground out
"Shut up." Lashowe snarled, not looking at him
Terri got into Lashowe's space and gave her an appreciative look up and down
"What do you say, we meet up in the Academy and we can see what else you can use that tongue for." Terri whispered in Lashowe's ear.
The trio moved around the woman and barged through her followers. Terri felt a slight touch of support on her back from Juhani as they pushed through the crowd that had gathered to view the confrontation. Pushing past a well filled cantina they reached the airlock on the far end of the dome and was stopped by a set of Sith troopers operating a check point. This check point was more professional than the first one.
Two turrets had a clear field of fire. Troopers were stationed behind barricades. These troopers were dressed in full combat armour. One stepped forward careful to remain out of the others field of fire.
"Student Identification or medallion." He demanded
"And if we have none of those?" Jolee asked
"Then you step back till you can produce one." The trooper replied
"Is there someone we can talk to regarding this?" Juhani asked
"Yuthura Ban. You will find her in the cantina." The trooper stepped back
Once he was behind the barricaded the turrets went from standby to active and the troopers weapons were lifting. Terri turned on her heel and made her way to the cantina
The cantina was dimly lit and was filled with a sea of grey uniforms. The civilians keeping clear to one corner. Terri released a force pulse and found far fewer Force presences than expected in the sea of grey. One very dark aura was at the back of the cantina
Terri pushed through the pulsing crowd to the back, Juhani on her heels and Jolee remaining by the door. A dark blue almost purple Twi'lek was seated alone at a table, her colouring only found on the planet of Sleheyron deep within Hutt space. Terri sat down unasked in front of the woman. Juhani turned her back on Terri to keep and eye on the crowd. Several of which was watching the developing scene.
The Twi"lek took a deep pull from her glass before giving her attention to Terri
"A daring approach, is that supposed to impress me?" The Twi'lek stated
"Depends on who you are. If you are Yuthara Ban, then yes." Terri shrugged
"And what do you want with this Yuthara Ban?" The Twi'lek asked
"Convince her that I am a much more suitable candidate for the Academy than half of those in here, discounting the non force sensitive ones here as well."
"So you were responsible for that pulse. What did it tell you?" The woman continued, playing with her glass
"That there is more to this academy than training the next Sith overlords, unless the ones here believe their force capacity can be unlocked somehow." Terri answered
"Do you not believe in awakenings?" The woman querried
"I only know that they are truly rare. Nomi Sunrider unlocked hers as she was being gangraped on top of her families bodies, somehow I do not think trying to recreate that here will work all that well." Terri said, smirking slightly
The Twi'lek leaned forward
"Not many would mention one of the Jedi's most revered masters so casually, may be you are a Jedi infiltrator, one of the feared Shadows." She suggested
"Then study my aura." Terri offered, leaning forward, extending a hand
The Twi'lek grabbed Terri's hands hand and closed her eyes. Moments later she opened them and Terri stared deeply into the violet eyes
"A lot of power, your aura is dark grey. Though that tells me you are more likely a spy, the Jedi would not willingly let you go." She said
"Who said they had a choice?" Terri replied
"Who was your Master?" The woman demanded
"Berek Katarn." Terri replied
"He dropped of the scope years ago, where is he now?"
"One with the force." Terri shrugged
"And I am to believe you beat him in a glorious battle." The woman stated sarcastically
"I slipped a large amount of a toxic hallucinatic in his evening stew. He was in deep space when his heart gave out while shitting himself." Terri replied
The Twi'lek started laughing uproariously and slapped the table surface with her hand in mirth
"On which planet was this?" She demanded chuckling
"Ithor, he took us there to help me reconnect with the light side of the force." Terri answered
"Why did you kill him?" The woman asked
"He could not keep his hands to himself." Terri answered coldly
"Now that I can believe." The woman replied, all mirth gone
She jerked her head at Juhani
"What is her story?" She asked
"After my masters tragic demise I was send to Dantooine for reflection and recovery. Her master was Kathra, she rode Juhani hard. So hard Juhani snapped and attacked her. I was sent out to bring her back. We met and decided screw the light. The old man we picked up on Tatooine, he has a drinking problem." Terri answered
"Tatooine you say, we had some people stationed there. Their communications went dark, do you know anything about that?" The woman asked
"Her royal highness, Bastila fucking Shan was there with a strike group, we cleared the hell out while she was distracted with your ex students." Terri replied angrily
"Did you see the battle?" The woman continues
"First they wiped out a bunch of local rats, then your people strolled in, dramatically lighting their blades. That's when we left, you do not have to kiss Shan's ass to acknowledge she is good."
"You did not think to help our people?"
"And get killed for trying to help. They were already dead when they decided to throw their little street show. There was no point in staying" Terri shrugged
The Twi'lek sat back
"Good answer, you show wisdom by not sacrificing yourself for a lost cause. Something the hot heads here have yet to learn."
"Are we going to sit here all day and chat or are we actually going to talk about getting into the Academy?" Terri demanded
"You came too late, only twenty prospective are allowed in once a week. And all the medallions are already given out. Curfew starts in two hours and all students have to be back in the academy by then."
"And are the medallions linked to their names or is producing one enough proof of competence?" Terri asked
"If they can not hold on to their medallions are they competent enough to be Sith?" Yuthara asked in return
Terri nodded at her as she stood up. Juhani followed in her wake as they exited the building.
"Well?" Jolee demanded
"We need to get three medallions to get in and we have less than two hours." Terri replied
A cry of pain rend the air. The civilians deliberately kept their heads down. A gap appeared and a barely dressed figure was being beaten down by a semi dressed person in grey. Two others as poorly dressed were calling encouragement to the one doing the beating
"Three medallions coming up." Terri stated
She shifted her lightsaber to her left hand and holding her blaster in the right behind her back. The sith recruit has now progressed to delivering kicks to the barely moving figure
"Feel like a man now." Terri confronted him
The man grabbed at his lightsaber and lit the blade while swinging. Terri's blade blocked his. He gave a superior smirk as he was pushing her blade down and to the side. The smirk turned to shock as a blaster bolt struck him in the stomach
Juhani moved forward scything her blades as his friends were still trying to unclip their blades. Keeping a neutral face, Terri stepped over the prone victim, internally raging at being unable to render help. She searched through the pockets of her target and found a medallion and a student ID. Juhani producing the other required two medallions. Turning around she made her way back to the cantina.
A mandalorian stepped from the alley between the buildings and dragged the prone figure into it. Nobody moved to help, the thump of a blaster bolt striking followed moments later.
Yuthura looked up from her drink as three medallions and three student ID's clattered onto the table in front of her.
"Not even five minutes, I do believe we can expect interesting things from you." She said
" Maybe something a bit more challenging will suffice next time." Terri replied
Yuthara drained her drink and stood up.
"Let us return to the Academy and get you registered. What name are you using?" Yuthara asked
"Terri, Terri Starwind, Juhani Ubisi, Jolee Carthar." Terri rattled off
"Follow me and let your next journey begin."
The colony doctor looked up from his patient to the person who dragged her into the surgery. The faceless figure turned her helmet to face him
"Do you have a question?" A metallic voice asked
"Why did you even bother bringing her here, never mind paying for her treatment?" The doctor asked
"The same reason you have not packed up and left this planet yet. Sometimes people need a little bit of help." The armoured figure replied
"That makes you a lonely minority of one." The doctor responded
"It takes one stone to start an avalanche, one gesture of kindness can do the same." The armoured figure shrugged
The doctor turned to a basin to wash his hands. He noticed the figure moving to the patient and slip something into what was left of the patients tunic before moving to the door and leaving the room.
Curious he checked the tunic, he found a three hundred Sith credit chip and three two hundred Republic chips along with a ticket for the civilian shuttle of the planet. He pushed it back deeper into the pocket of the tunic and returned to the front of his clinic. There was no sign of the armoured figure.
The trio were following in Yuthara's footstep up the sloping path to the academy. A grey uniformed man was laughing his head off as a figure fell down and joined a line of beings in the ground
"Apprentice Mekel. What is the meaning of this?" Yuthara demamded
"Mistress Ban. An experiment to see if fools can attain a semblance of wisdom." The now named Mekel replied
"Explain." Yuthara snapped
"I started my experiment three days ago when we got our recreation pass. I told these fools if they could survive and stand in one place by the end of the leave they will be allowed into the Academy. As you can see they all failed." Mekel replied
"And what did you learn from your experiment?" Jolee demanded
"That a true sith will take what he wants, he will not waste away in an attempt to gain what he wants, if they truly wanted to be sith they would have found a way instead of commiting suicide by thirst and hunger." Mekel answered
"A good answer. Now clean up your mess." Yuthara stated
"Of course, Mistress Ban." Mekel grovelled
Terri touched her nose
"You have got some brown right on the tip." She told Mekel
Mekel furiously rubbed his face and inspected his gloves. He turned red as the credit dropped. Yuthara burst out in another gale of laughter as she walked away. Terri gave Mekel a mocking salute as she followed the Twi'lek up to the door of the academy. Juhani stepped closer to Jolee, using his body as a shield. She depressed a button on what looked like a bounty tracking fob. The device flashed a green light three times, before switching to a flashing red light. Juhani dropped the device and stepped on it, feeling it crunch beneath her boot.
In the Ebon Hawke a similar fob blinked green. Carth picked it up.
He sighed and turned to Canderous
"They are in." He said
"Now we wait." Canderous replied