Chapter 1: Taris Part 1

When you look at me, young Lord Jedi, what do your grey eyes see? Do they see a fallen Jedi, seduced by the lure of the Dark Side, hungry for power? Do they see a broken man, a lost soul, desperately clinging to the last shred of humanity left in him after the assassination of all those Mandalorians? Do they see a Dark Lord, a cruel being with a burning hatred for everything that lives? A Sith Lord who finds pleasure in tormenting those around him? Bending the Force to indoctrinate commoners, control armies, topple governments?

Or perhaps there lies more wisdom beneath the steel of your eyes. Perhaps you see me for what I truly am. The true reason why I took up the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith. The real purpose of the Jedi intervention during the Mandalorian Wars and the brutal annihilation at Malachor V. Perhaps you may even see the necessity of the Jedi Civil Wars.

What are you, Jedi Knight? A mere puppet of your cruel Council? Or have you seen beyond the false mantras of your Order?

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Dawn awoke with a massive headache. Stinging surges of pain pulsed through her brain as she sat up in the strange bed. The room she found herself in was dimly lit. It was an apartment of some sort, with three beds, a small kitchen bordering a living area and a workbench pressed against the wall.

"Glad to see you awake, instead of trashing about in your sleep," Onasi said.

Dawn looked around and saw that Onasi was talking to Sarryn instead of her.

Onasi handed Sarryn a box, which turned out to be painkillers, and a glass of water. "Thought you could use some of these."

"Thanks," Sarryn mumbled. With slightly shaking hands he took four pills out of the box and swallowed them in one go, flushing them with the water. For a moment he closed his eyes and felt the fluid and medicine doing their job. When the worst sting eased, he took another look at the room and saw that Dawn was awake. "You might see if Dawn needs any,"

Onasi turned and looked at Dawn and nodded as he took the box and went and got another glass of water before taking both to Dawn.

Dawn took two of the pills out of the box, swallowed and flushed them with the water. "Thanks," she said. "So, what happened?"

"The Endar Spire was boarded by Sith troopers. We managed to escape in a pod, which crashed in Taris' Upper City. You both were knocked out by the impact, but luckily, I wasn't. Pulled you both out and into this abandoned apartment. I checked you both and don't think either of you've sustained any further injuries."

Dawn stiffly got out of the bed and did some stretches. Aside from some sore spots she didn't feel anything serious, so she figured she got lucky. She noticed that Sarryn did the same.

"You okay?" Sarryn asked as he looked at Dawn.

"Yes, I think so," she said.

"How long have we been out?" asked Sarryn.

"The whole night. I've done some investigating, but haven't found out much about the location of the other marines. Many pods have crashed in the Lower City and some even further down, in the Undercity."

"That's wonderful Onasi," Sarryn said absently minded. "Well, good luck with that Onasi. I'm out of here." He wanted to head to the door, but was stopped by Onasi's hand firmly taking hold of his shoulder.

"What do you mean good luck with that? Where are you going?" Onasi inquired with a cocked eyebrow.

Sarryn turned around to face him. "Listen chief, it was never my intention to actually stay with the Republic. I detest them, just like I detest the Jedi Order and the Sith. I'm fed up with being told what to do and right now is an excellent opportunity to bail. So, the best of luck to you, I hope you'll find what you're looking for." He turned and looked at Dawn. "If you want, Dawn, I wouldn't mind showing you the sights."

Dawn looked at Sarryn and Onasi as she tried to determine who to go with.

"Sarryn," said the voice in the back of her mind.

"I'll go with you," said Dawn as she moved to follow Sarryn.

Onasi grabbed and held Sarryn's shoulder tightly. "Wait a second, you can't swear an oath to serve the Republic and bail out when things get a bit difficult. Our comrades need us."

Sarryn merely shrugged. "Can't see why not. I nearly was nearly killed by a blood red lightsaber, thanks to the Republic. Bad repayment for all my efforts, don't you think?" He pushed Onasi's hand away. He and Dawn headed for the door.

"What about Bastila?" came Onasi's silent words. Sarryn stopped dead in his tracks, causing Dawn to bump into him. "I thought you liked her. I thought you've sworn to protect her." His words hit home, one by one. "Right now, we have no idea where she is. Maybe she is captured by some local gang. It's not hard to overwhelm a knocked-out woman you know, even if she's a Jedi Knight. Force knows what they're doing with her right now."

Dawn closed her eyes and let out a sigh. "He's right, Sarryn," she said remembering a story Buffy had told her of her junior year in high school, where Buffy had been drugged and almost sacrificed to a snake demon.

Sarryn looked at Dawn and suddenly for some unknown reason saw in his head exactly what she was remembering. First, he was getting visions of Revan and now he was seeing visions of a blonde woman fighting a large snake creature. He remembered what Trask had said of Dawn, that the Jedi had been interested in her. The question why. He also had questions to ask them about himself as well, and he was sure Bastila Shan knew the answers.

He turned around to face Onasi. "Listen here, mister pilot. I'm going to keep my job as lieutenant for a little while longer. But as soon as we have established that our Jedi Commander is safe, Dawn and I are out of here. Capisce?"

Onasi breathed a relieved sigh, but eyed the pair with suspicion. "I don't know what to think of this but I don't think I have another option. I guess I should be glad you've seen reason?"

"So, why is this Bastila so important?" Dawn asked.

"She has a rare gift the Jedi called Battle Meditation. Bastila's power can influence entire armies. Through the Force Bastila can inspire her allies with confidence and make their enemies lose the will to fight," Onasi said.

"Sarryn," Dawn whispered as he looked at her. "I think you and I need to talk."

Sarryn nodded in agreement. "You're right."

Suddenly Dawn heard a voice call out her name. She looked at Sarryn and Onasi. "Did either of you say something?" she asked.

Carth shook his head indicating he had said nothing.

"No, I didn't say anything. Why?" Sarryn said.

"Dawn." The voice said again. This time Dawn could swear it was Buffy.

"Buffy?" Dawn said looking around as a portal suddenly snapped into existence in front of her.

Sarryn and Carth took a step back away from it as Dawn watched and smiled when Willow stepped out of the portal before it vanished from existence.

Willow looked around before spotting Dawn. She quickly grasped the teenager and hugged her tightly. "Hey Dawnie."

Dawn returned the hug and smiled. "Hey, Willow. Was that Buffy I just heard?"

"Yes," said Willow happily. "She sends her love. And when you're done here, I will be returning us home."

Sarryn coughed, "Dawn, who is this? And where did she come from?"

"This is Willow Rosenberg. She's mine and my big sister's best friend. And where she came from that's a long-complicated discussion. Maybe we should all sit down," said Dawn as they sat down in the available chairs. Dawn then let out a breath she hadn't known she had been holding. "Sarryn, on the Endar Spire I lied about the amnesia. I didn't know you or Trask and I wasn't sure how you would react to my story. I wasn't born in this galaxy, in this dimension. Well technically I wasn't even born, I was created using magic."

Carth frowned. "Magic?"

"Magic is hard to describe. I guess it would be similar to what you consider the Force. Willow here is a witch." Dawn said. "You see I was created to hide this Key that would open the doorway between dimensions. This hell god, Glory found out I was the Key and used my blood to access the Key. See Glory's sole goal was to return home. So, she used my blood and opened the portal. Now there was only a couple ways really to close the portal and that was either I had to be dead, or I had to be gone."

"Buffy, that's my sister, was going to sacrifice herself for me to close the portal. See I was made to be Buffy's sister but I'm kind of her daughter because I was made using her blood. Anyways I stopped Buffy from jumping because I knew there was something I had to do. I knew I had to jump in the portal and come here and so I did. And the rest you all know," Dawn finally concluded.

Sarryn looks to Willow, "And how did you get here?"

"I theorized that Buffy and Dawn shared more than just blood," said Willow. "They share the Key. So, I created a ritual based on the one that originally brought Dawn here. Then using Buffy's blood, I opened the portal and stepped through. Once Dawn is done here with what she has to do, we will go back the same way. Only this time I will use Dawn's blood to open the portal. So why don't you all tell me what is going on here."

Dawn nodded. "After I jumped in the portal, I woke up on a spaceship called the Endar Spire. How long I had been there or how I got there is a mystery."

"I don't know how you got there," said Sarryn as Dawn looked at him. "But Trask said you had been there for two days."

Dawn nodded. She looked back at Willow. "I assume that is where the portal dumped me. I woke to find the ship under attack. Sarryn, Trask and I made our way to the escape pods."

"So, who is this Trask?" Willow asked.

"Trask Ulgo was a soldier assigned to the Endar Spire along with myself and Sarryn Baill." Onasi said. "He was killed helping us to escape."

Dawn sighed. "He was killed by a Dark Jedi. From what I get the Jedi are like Buffy back home. Defenders of the peace, protector of the innocents."

Willow smiled. "Yeah that does kind of sound like Buffy."

"Dark Jedi are just the opposite they are Jedi that have gone bad. They and the Sith are bad guys around here. Anyways we escaped the ship in an escape pod and crashed on this planet. Carth got us to this apartment where we have been hidden since last night while Sarryn and I rested up from our injuries in the crash," said Dawn as she paused.

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"Dawn," said Sarryn. "I have questions just as I am sure you do. The first I think should be did you have a vision of Revan?"

"I didn't know his name," said Dawn. "But I think I know what you are talking about. When you look at me, young Lord Jedi, what do your grey eyes see?"

"You did see it," said Sarryn with a sigh. "I think the question on why we are sharing visions can only be answered by Bastila or the Jedi. That said I had another vision. I saw a blonde woman, I don't recognize her, fighting what looked like a snake creature of some sort."

Dawn blinked as she looked at Sarryn knowing that he too had seen the memory as it played in her head. "The blonde is my sister. I only know that instance as a story, I wasn't there to actually see it happen. In the world Willow and I come from, my sister is kind of like the Jedi except she doesn't fight Sith or dark Jedi but demons and vampires. The snake thing was a demon. You are right, we need to talk to Bastila or the Jedi and find out why we are sharing these visions."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The next morning Dawn, Willow and Sarryn ate the breakfast Onasi had bought and was now sipping on mugs of coffee. Willow and Dawn listened as Onasi and Sarryn went over things Sarryn knew about Taris and what Onasi had learned during his short investigation. It was an urban planet; the entire landmass was cultivated into one big city.

Carth had a strong suspicion that Bastila's pod had landed in an area known as the Undercity. His eyes shot to Carth, who was cleaning his blasters at the workbench. "You almost ready to leave, Onasi?"

"Hold on, let me put these things back together."

As he continued working Dawn's mind turned inward. Carth had found out that Taris was surrounded by the bulk of the Sith fleet. It had the planet in lockdown, completely blocking all traffic going in or out. She didn't know the fleet's goal, nor did she truly care. She only knew that if she needed off this planet if she was to complete what she had to do.

After Carth was done and all geared up, they left the apartment. They had barely taken three steps out of the apartment when they saw an altercation taking place. On one side were a pair of Duros and Dawn and Willow noted how similar the race was to the fabled "grey aliens" often mentioned on Earth. They looked quite alike with their large heads, grey skin and big pupil-less eyes. At the moment, they were facing a trio of Sith, one officer and two soldiers.

Quickly Sarryn grabbed Dawn by the arm and started walking the other way. "What are you doing?" Dawn asked shocked. "It looks like those Sith are going to kill those aliens."

Sarryn nodded. "Exactly. No need for us to become witnesses."

"What the hell, Baill? Do you want to leave those guys to die?" Carth sounded utterly as shocked as Dawn.

Dawn looked at Sarryn and something within her broke as Sarryn found himself flung by an unseen force down the hallway. She turned back toward the aliens as she drew her sword. As she passed Willow, she handed the weapon to her friend as she pulled out her blaster.

"You'd better tell us what you know of the Tarsian underground, alien scum," the officer was hissing. "Otherwise, we will make your lives very difficult and very painful."

"We know nothing of this underground," one of the aliens replied. "We are just honest merchants trying to reach our work…"

"And where are your work papers?" the officer demanded. "All aliens must show clearance before they can proceed anywhere in this city!"

The younger of the Duros shook his grey head. "There was a patrol here just yesterday and they found nothing! Why do you Sith keep bothering us?"

Without a word, the officer fired point-blank into the alien's chest, sending him down to the ground, dead. "That's how we Sith deal with smart-mouth aliens!" he stated with a sneer. "Now you get up against the wall before I lose my temper again!"

Dawn coughed letting the Sith know they were there. "I would leave them alone if I were you."

"So, we have more troublemakers here! Humans hiding out with the aliens?" His eyes raked over them, taking in the professional appearance of Carth and he leaped to a conclusion. "They're Republic fugitives! Quickly, get—"

Before the words were out of his mouth, Carth had quick-drawn and fired his blasters, cutting him down. Willow moved in and slammed the sword Dawn gave her into the throat of one of the armored soldiers, right at the vulnerable point. The man choked as he went down. The other soldier dropped to his knee and aimed at Carth but Dawn rushed in to kick him in the side of the head, sending him rolling on the floor. Spinning, Sarryn jammed the sword point into the man's upper back, a lethal blow.

Sarryn yanked his sword out and wiped it on the dead officer's shirt. "Damn, I wish they didn't have all this armor. Makes it harder to cut with just a vibro."

Willow handed Dawn the sword before turning to face the Duros. "Are you alright?" she asked them.

The alien nodded as he looked down at his companion's body. "Poor Xgil," he murmured. "He should never have talked back." He looked up at the others. "My thanks for your aid, humans."

"It's no problem," said Dawn as she smiled.

"Why do you let them treat you like that?" asked Willow.

"As you saw going up against a Sith can be bad for our health," he replied. "This isn't the first time the Sith have come here to bother us. Hopefully, it will be the last."

"Won't someone come to check on them?" Carth asked as Sarryn knelt to search the Sith. He pulled a sword off the officer's body and pocketed a couple of credits.

The Duros shook his head. "Do not worry. I will move them to make it look like they were killed somewhere else. That should keep the Sith off the trail for a while. My thanks again, humans." With another bow of the head, he started to drag the bodies away.

"Then we will leave you to it," Sarryn said. "Good day." He turned and led Dawn, Carth and Willow down the hallway. Once out of sight of the aliens he spun on them and looked intently each of them in the eye. "In case you three haven't figured it out yet, we're in deep trouble. Onasi, you and I are Republic marines in Sith territory, we could be shot at, at any minute." He then looked at Dawn and Willow. "And just by being with us, so could the two of you. Our top priority is keeping a low profile."

"We would lay low better," said Willow as she looked at Carth and Sarryn. "If you two weren't wearing those uniforms. I'm fairly certain that would have tipped him off. To lay low we all need a fresh set of clothes. In fact, I should change as well. I stand out on a planet that the population doesn't recognize Earth fashions."

"That said," said Dawn. "I will agree we can't stop and help everyone. It will draw attention to ourselves. But we shouldn't idly standby and watch someone get killed either. On Earth just by turning our backs and refusing to take action we can be considered to be accomplices. Being involved in a murder investigation won't help us to lay low."

Sarryn sighed in frustration. But he did see Dawn's point. A murder investigation would not help them.

Carth glanced to Sarryn, who was hefting the Sith blade in his hands. "Wouldn't you be better off with a blaster?"

"Never been good with those," Sarryn stated. "I'm better with a blade, trust me."

The apartment block housed a number of homes, all connected to a circular hallway. Sarryn and Dawn quietly slipped into each house to search for credits and other valuables.

One of the apartments wasn't empty. It was inhabited by a woman and she wasn't exactly thrilled by their sudden appearance. "What are you doing?" she screamed while pointing a vibroblade at the intruders. "You can't just barge into other people's homes."

Dawn and Sarryn quickly held up their hands as a sign of peace. "Ma'am, I am terribly sorry to frighten you like this," Sarryn said. "We can assure you it was never our intention and we apologize deeply for our ill behavior. Why don't we just quietly leave and we all pretend this never happened?"

The woman looked a bit surprised at the eloquent man. "I… you aren't one of Holdan's mercenaries?"

"We aren't," answered Dawn. "Might I ask who this Holdan is, and why he would send mercenaries after such a beautiful woman such as yourself?"

The woman smiled weakly at the compliment, but collapsed on the couch. Clearly, she was very exhausted and deeply troubled by something. Sarryn and Dawn sat on either side of the woman and wrapped their arms around her shoulders to comfort her.

"Holdan is… he is one of Davik's dogs."

"Davik?" Dawn said as she looked at Sarryn, who shook his head. The name didn't ring a bell with him.

"Davik Kang? The Exchange's local crime lord?" The woman eyed Dawn and Sarryn like they were daft.

"Truth to be told, ma'am, we've just arrived in this part of the city," said Sarryn.

"Please, call me Dia," she gave Dawn and Sarryn weak smile. "Well, Davik owns all crime around these parts. Holdan thinks he is protected by his status of top dog. The slimy bastard tried to… tried to…"

As Dia's voice broke Dawn pulled her closer against her. "But he didn't succeed?" she asked gently.

Dia sniffled. "I cut him with my vibroblade and scared him off. Hurt his ego, of course. He has put a bounty on my head… I've been hiding here from the bounty hunters ever since."

Sarryn and Dawn looked at each other and they both nodded at the unspoken thought, they would help the woman if they could. "If we ever run into this Holdan we'll try to talk some sense in him," said Sarryn.

"You'd… you'd both do that?" Dia asked uncertainly.

Dawn gave Dia a warm smile. "I don't know about my companion," said Dawn, "but I come from a world where men are like that. In fact my own sister thinking she was in love slept with a man once who was interested in only one thing, sex. Once he got it, he dumped and moved on to the next woman. My sister was heartbroken. So I have a thing against men who think they're superior to women and can just use us as they please."

"Dawn is right," agreed Sarryn. "Someone has to make him realize he has to be a good little boy and behave."

"But… he's with Davik and Davik is part of the Exchange. You two might get in trouble as well."

Sarryn smiled wickedly. "Then we'll just have to make him feel so ashamed that he would never talk to anyone about it."

"You both are a very brave." Dia said as she looked at first Dawn and then Sarryn, clearly deeply impressed. "He usually hangs out in the cantina in the Lower City. That's also where Zax the Hutt has his bounty office. But you might not be able to get there, not with the current lockdown."

"There's a lockdown?" Sarryn asked.

"Rivalry between two local gangs has spun out of control. It's an all-out war down there, so the Sith have closed all entrances to prevent it from spreading to the Upper City."

Sarryn gave Dawn a quick glance, who returned with a troubled look. This was bad, they had to go to the lower parts of the city if they wanted to find Bastila. "You reckon we could sneak by them?" he asked Dia.

Dia shook her head. "Not a chance, each entrance is guarded around the clock by a solider. Please don't try anything foolish on my behalf." She actually looked a bit frightened.

With another squeeze and a warm smile Dawn reassured the woman. "Don't worry, Dia. We intend to live on in freedom for a very long time. But if we find a way around the lockdown and happen to come across the prick that tried to hurt you, I'll personally make him regret putting a bounty on your head."

"Thanks," Dia whispered. "I don't know what I've done to deserve this, but thank you. For your listening ear and kind words."

When Sarryn and Dawn stepped out of the apartment they told Carth and Willow what had transpired inside. "So much for laying low," Carth said.

"The thing is," said Dawn. "There is no guarantee that we will find this Holdan. But if we do, I think Sarryn will agree that we will be talking to him. But as much as I don't like it, if we want to get off this planet, we can't go out of our way either. Helping people we come across is one thing, going out of our way is something else."

"Now you understand how Buffy feels," said Willow as she looked at her friend.

"Yeah," said Dawn.

"Either way, it was a good chat, we've learned a lot about the situation here," said Sarryn.

"A lockdown of the Lower City. That will give us some trouble," said Carth.

"And don't forget the Exchange," Sarryn reminded. "Things can get proper dangerous if those people operate here. We have to watch our step on two fronts: don't piss off the Sith, don't piss of the Exchange."

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In the daylight, Taris looked a bit better. The silver skyscrapers shone bright in the morning sun, casting shadows on the walkways below. As the quartet exited, they saw some droids working around a fallen escape pod with a pair of Sith troops overseeing it. They quickly moved on to merge with the crowds of civilians walking about.

"Nice place," Dawn said.

"Reminds me of Nar Shaddaa," Sarryn stated. "Only the smell is a lot better."

They kept the walk up, passing by shoppers, people heading to work, the odd Sith soldier and others. They saw a man standing on a corner, trying to preach about "the evils of the aliens among us!" Dawn shook her head as she leaned in toward Willow. "Reminds me of L.A." Willow grinned.

They were passing by a large doorway when Willow paused. "This looks like a good place to get some supplies and a change of clothes." The others agreed as they entered the emporium.

The owner of the Equipment Emporium, as the store was called, rewarded them with a bit more information about the situation. She told them the escape pods would all be scavenged right now, either by the Sith, one of the swoop gangs or Davik's men. She also mentioned that things had gotten worse ever since the Black Vulkars took over control from the Hidden Beks. The Beks were pretty alright as a gang, but the Vulkars were just brutal. On top of that the Exchange was an ever-looming threat, always lurking in the background, cleverly avoiding the Sith.

When they finally exited the store, Willow was now clad in a loose dark tunic and dark pants with a blazer-like jacket. A long vibrosword was attached to a scabbard on her back. Dawn was clad in leather pants and dark leather top with jacket. She wore a long vibrosword attached to a scabbard on her back and her blaster sat in a holster low on her hips.

"You kind of remind me of Faith," said Willow.

Dawn let out a sigh as she remembered the last time, she saw the brunette Slayer. "Not someone I wanted to be reminded of."

Sarryn glanced over at Dawn as another vision flashed into his mind.

Dawn sat with Joyce Summers tied to the older woman's bed as Faith Lehane paced the room as if waiting for someone or something.

He blinked his eyes as he looked at Dawn.

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As they walked Dawn noticed that Carth was staring thoughtfully at her. "Something up?" she asked.

"Wha…?" The question caught him off-guard. "Yes, of course something is up. My ship has been blown up and I've lost a lot of colleagues and friends. And now I'm stuck here on this Sith infested planet looking for my commander with the help of an…" He looked alarmed as he realized what he was about to say.

"You don't trust people, do you?" asked Dawn as Carth shook his head. "I have something to do here, I know that much. And I am almost positive Bastila has the answers I seek or she knows someone who does."

"She's right," agreed Sarryn. "Trask mentioned on the Endar Spire that the Jedi were interested in Dawn for some reason. On top of that I have questions of my own. When I first met with Bastila, something strange happened. I felt a weird connection, like I somehow know her from before."

He gave her an uncertain look. "But you've never met her?"

"No, not that I know of," Sarryn admitted. "Then there is something else. Twice now I have found I have a similar connection to Dawn. Twice now I have seen things that I had no way of knowing, things from Dawn's past."

"That's… strange indeed." Carth contemplated on her words quietly. "Maybe it has something to do with the Force? They say it can do strange things to a mind, terrible things even. So that's why you both want to find Bastila? To ask her about these connections?" He then looked at Dawn. "And why the Jedi are interested in you."

"That's the main reason."