Chapter 27: Ships In Space
In a far corner of space, unregistered in Republic archives, the Leviathan moved. On board was its commander, Admiral Saul Karath. Around him, soldiers and technicians mingled. He saw one of the soldiers salute the other. Then the doors to the bridge opened and the man Karath was waiting for stepped in. His superior, Darth Malak.
The Dark Lord made his way to the admiral who greeted him with good news.
"Lord Malak, the Star Forge is operating at nearly 300% capacity!" Karath said. "Far beyond our expectations."
Unfortunately, the news did not please the Dark Lord.
"I am more interested in the young Jedi Bastila and her Battle Mediation," Malak dismissed. "She can delay us in the long run, which might buy the council time. We need to find her quickly. Even with our unlimited resources from the Star Forge, the council may have a plan. No doubt they are looking for the source of fleet. But if we get Bastila on our side we will be invincible. Have you learned how she escaped the destruction of Taris?"
Saul nodded. "She was aided by Carth Onasi, a decorated War Hero of the Republic and a legendary soldier. During the Mandalorian Wars he was honored many times for his bravery."
"You know this man?" Malak guessed from how informed the admiral was.
"Yes, Lord Malak. He served under me when I still followed the Republic. You could say I was his mentor," Karath told him.
"Interesting, how did you acquire this information Admiral?" Malak asked.
"An eye witness Lord Malak," Karath said as the door to the bridge opened again and the witness entered. "Here he is!"
Saul waited till the witness stayed beside them. A short man with a turban and goggles on his head as well as a suit of armor underneath his blue vest.
"Calo Nord a bounty hunter was there when Bastila and Carth escaped the planet," Karath continued. "Apparently they left him for dead."
"A Jedi and a War Hero," Malak spoke in an impressed tone. "It's a wonder you survived the encounter."
"I'm hard to kill Lord Malak," Calo stated. "Even your bombs missed me in the destruction. I managed to escape Taris by finding a ship that was lucky to have survived as well."
"Calo has agreed to help us capture the young Bastila, for a very hefty fee of course," Karath told Malak. "But I assure you he is well worth the price. His reputation as a bounty hunter is well earned."
Malak nodded in acceptance to the offer and looked at the hunter. "Her companions are nothing to me Calo, but I desire the young Jedi taken alive if at all possible.
"Lord Malak forgive me there is something else," Karath voiced before asking. "May we have a private audience away from the ears of the common soldiers.
Malak's eyes narrowed. "I trust you are not wasting my time, Admiral Karath."
"I promise you will be very interested in what Calo has to tell you about Bastila's other companions Lord Malak," Karath said.
They went to a private area of the ship in Malak's personal quarters. Calo showed him a recording he on his wrist that showed images of Carth and Bastila, as well as Canderous Ordo and-
Malak's eyes widened as he beheld the last man with them. "It can't be!"
"Few know his face," Calo said. "But I did a job once that paid well under your former master."
They looked at the face of the last man.
"I saw him during that job," Calo said. "I didn't recognize him at first, easy to forget."
Malak's fist tightened. "You will have very much earned your hefty fee if you can kill him. In fact, I'll offer you ten percent more. Kill him and capture Bastila, I don't care about anyone else! I also extend this offer to the rest of the Dark Jedi! Whoever kills him and brings me Bastila will be handsomely rewarded!"
It took Karath just a few minutes to write detailed descriptions of both Bastila and the one Calo had identified as Calak Star on his datapad. He soon sent it to every Dark Jedi in the known galaxy. They'd alert the Sith Fleet if they saw them, and Karath would forward it to Calo who would take on the hunt if any Dark Jedi who spotted the two failed.
…
Back on the Ebon Hawk which was making its way to Tatooine, Calak and his crew sat in the main hold. Most of them anyway. Canderous had secluded himself in the garage where they had a Swoop Bike on board. Recalling his time in race on Taris, Calak decided to keep the vehicle. Who knew, he might run into another world or two that had these races? They ate food they'd packed before leaving.
"So tell me Bastila, Juhani," Calak looked at each of his fellow Jedi.
"How did you both join the order? I'd just like to know more about you both."
"Yes, I suppose I can understand your curiosity. Given the bond we share," Bastila said.
"Um, he wanted to know about me as well, Bastila," Juhani reminded her. "And we don't have a bond. Not like you two at least in the sense that you are joined."
"Oh right," Bastila's face seemed to redden a bit in embarrassment.
"Well I suppose we should get to know each other as much as possible."
"Hey don't forget about the rest of us!" Mission said.
"Oh I know you well enough Mission," Bastila said. "You've been on Taris since you were young, correct?"
"Yeah, and my brother took care of me then... left," Mission said. "But hopefully I'll be able to find him on Tattooine when we get to Czerka Corporation. Hopefully whatever settlement we land in will be where he lives in. There aren't many settlements on Tatooine Mission, and from what I've heard only one Czerka Corporation in the whole planet," Bastila said. "It's in Anchorheaad as well. I heard Revan and Malak visited there once so it seems the force has brought us altogether so we so can all fulfill our own goals."
She then turned back to Calak. "But back to how I became a Jedi, I was found with the force at a young age as most padawans are. I lived on the planet known as Talravin, an only child of my parents.I had to leave them to join the order."
She looked down.
"You seem sad about it," Calak noted.
"A child is too young to understand the sacrifices that must be made," Bastila said. "Now that I'm older I see that a Jedi must sacrifice much for the good of the Galaxy or things will be much worse. We must put aside our emotions, fear, anger, even love to do what's best."
Calak shook his head. "I don't understand that. You aren't allowed to love?"
"Emotional entanglements can be dangerous," Bastila explained. "Love begets jealousy and that can lead to the dark side."
"And my anger led to me going over to the dark side," Juhani said. "I couldn't control it and I nearly slew Quatra. I failed the test, and am lucky that I was brought back before I could come something worse."
"But anyone can get angry if pushed far enough," Calak said. "It's part of being-"
"A Jedi must be above such things," Bastila interrupted. "It might be okay for the common people of the Galaxy but not for those that have the gift of the force."
"But-"
"Calak! You must believe it!" Bastila insisted. "It's the sacrifice we have as a Jedi. I had to leave someone behind I was close with, and now I am one of the few things that truly stands in the way of Malak taking over the Galaxy."
Calak had a feeling the topic of debate was over. He took a breath to calm himself and decided to take the conversation in another route. "Who were close with?"
"My father," Bastila said. "He was a treasure hunter and when I was young before I joined the order... I was very close to him unlike the one I wasn't on good terms with."
"Who weren't you on good terms with?" Calak asked.
"My mother, I wasn't on good terms with her. She pushed my father into treasure hunting and used up all the credits," Bastila frowned. "She was happy to give me to the order. I remember crying and begging my father not to let it happen."
Calak could imagine a toddler Bastila crying out Daddy! Don't make me go!
"But if I hadn't been with the order, Malak would be even closer to conquering the Galaxy now," Bastila reasoned. "I do wish I could meet my father someday, but unless we get the force itself to arrange that it's impossible."
She giggled slightly. Calak then turned to their Cathar comrade.
"What about you Juhani. How did you come to be a Jedi."
"It's not very remarkable," the cat woman said. "Though I was older than most when I was accepted. It all started back when the Mandalorians first began their campaign against the Republic. They targeted worlds that were on the very edge of the Outer Rim which would not be noticed."
"Was your homeworld there?" Calak guessed.
"Yes," Juhani confirmed. "The Mandlorians had heard of us, we had a reputation as warriors and that appealed to the Mandalorian version of 'honor. They attacked our world and many of us were slaughtered. My parents carried me as a baby and we fled to another world. One that was not very welcome."
Calak could feel the pain in Juhani's eyes.
"I'm sorry."
Juhani looked at him. "It's alright. I eventually found the Jedi on Dantooine and I vowed to become a protector of the innocent."
"I'm guessing there's more to it?" Calak asked.
Juhani nodded. "Yes, but I don't feel comfortable sharing it right now."
"That's alright," Calak said as he took his last bite of food.
They played a bit of Pazaak, trained with lightsabers and then went to bed. They'd probably get to Tatooine by the time most of them woke up. Great, arriving on a dessert planet in the morning. Things would get hot real fast. Calak lay on his bed which warmed up in response to his weight. Canderous lay in the bunk in front him, Carth meanwhile stayed in the pilot seat with T3, and Zalbaar remained in the main hold. Calak soon dozed off to sleep, which he knew he'd need. He didn't know how long he'd be on that hot world. Days, weeks, hopefully not more then that. He tossed and turned in his sleep, dreaming a clear dream. No, it was another vision he realized. He saw something glowing, there were no figures present this time. The glowing object looked just like the Star Map they'd found on Dantooine, but it was within a rocky formation of some kind that was slightly dark. Still had enough light to make out the interior of the cave and Calak felt a moderate amount of heat through the vision.
In what felt like an instant, he awoke from his dream. Calak yawned and lay back down for a moment, still feeling sleepy. But he had a feeling Bastila had seen that vision as well. She had the last one after all. Not the first couple though. Calak lay in bed for a while as the drowsiness slowly left him. As he rested for a moment though, he suddenly felt the ship shake slightly, indicating they had landed at their destination. With that knowledge in mind he decided he'd probably had enough rest. Canderous snored in the bed next to his. Calak rose and dressed in a fresh set of Jedi robes he'd packed. He headed to the cockpit where Carth probably was. The pilot and veteran yawned. Also in the cockpit was Bastila.
"We make it to Tattoine?" Calak asked.
"Yeah," Carth said. "I was up all night. I need to get some sleep!"
He walked off to do so. Calak then turned to Bastila. She had a knowing look in her eyes. As he looked in those eyes, Calak couldn't help but feel drawn to them. His heart seemed to skip a beat as he looked at his fellow Jedi.
"You've felt it yes? Another vision like the one we had on Dantooine?" Bastila asked.
"Yes," Calak nodded.
"Tattoine is a dessert planet," Bastila said. "I'm surprised anyone put a Star Map here."
"Maybe Tattooine wasn't always a desert?" Calak suggested.
"That would have been thousands of years ago," Bastila said simply. "In any case did you see what it looked like?"
Calak nodded again. "Seemed to be inside some sort of cave."
"The Star Map would likely have to be in some kind of shelter to protect it from the relentless winds and sandstorms. I suspect there are many such caves in the Dune Sea. Who knows how far we'll have to go?"
"Well we have that swoop bike on board," Calak reminded her.
"Perhaps but that's only large enough for one person to sit in," Bastila reminded him. "Wouldn't be wise to go off on your own. There are plenty of dangerous things out there. Sand People, pirates and slavers possibly, Krayt Dragons. There might even be some Sith minions on this world."
"We don't have a choice really," Calak said.
"You're right," Bastila sighed. "No doubt things will become clear when we find the Star Map. Lets just hope we won't run into any trouble on the way."
"With our luck so far that's unlikely," Calak said.
"No such thing as luck," Bastila told him. "Only the force. Perhaps the dark side seeks to destroy us and sends all these obstacles, or we are meant to gain strength through experience."
Calak shrugged. "Just have to push forward. We'll start around town."
They'd need their strength for the battle ahead. Soon the rest of the crew was up and they were helping themselves to breakfast.