Korra and Mako continued their dinner with the others, after coming up with a plan to handle the White Lotus. Tenzin and Asami informed Korra she'd have to explain the technology of the wider galaxy and the science behind it, tomorrow. It was one of the reasons Raiko had withdrawn his decree of exile against her. "I'd be happy to tell you more about it, Asami," Korra said. "Here's hoping that Raiko doesn't do something stupid with it or provoke the Empire with some ridiculous war machine."
"I will do my best to ensure that doesn't happen, Korra," Tenzin said. "What people want most is a sense of security. And the idea that they can interact with the Empire as equals, as opposed to inferiors."
"The later will always be an illusion, Tenzin," Katara told her son, remembering what she had seen in the wider galaxy. "A simple moon had billions living on it, while our world has yet to exceed three hundred million. I'd afraid of guessing the number of people who live under the Empire's banner, across the stars."
"The Water Tribes can stand on equal footing with the URN," Lin said, before looking at Mako and Korra. "Hopefully, the Imperials will share that sense of diplomatic courtesy."
"Sadly, many of them don't," Mako answered the unspoken question. "In the wider galaxy, people tend to expect worlds to be unified under a single ruler. The ones that aren't are usually seen as backward at best and barbaric at worst."
"I saw a hint of that, out in space," Katara said. "Specifically, from Grand Moff Tarkin, who seemed to enjoy talking down to us, as if being ignorant was the same as being stupid."
"Well, count yourself lucky that it's Vader and not Tarkin in charge of the Empire's operations here," Korra said. "I get the feeling that he'd be far more demanding, less willing to avoid a fight, and indifferent to who would suffer, Imperial or Elemental."
"That reminds me," Katara said as her family reflected on what Korra had said of Tarkin. "Mako, I heard that Tarkin almost killed you during a mission you went on for the Empire." Lin was shocked to hear that, angered Tarkin would endanger the Firebender she saw as a son.
"There was a dangerous fugitive on Tarkin's homeworld," Mako began. "She was a rogue agent who could use the Force and had a lightsaber, so Vader decided it would be a good test for me." Tenzin and Lin noted a hint of admiration from Mako at this method of instruction, bothered at how he and Korra liked that Vader's lessons frequently put them in real danger. Korra had often acted as if Tenzin's caution was evidence of distrust on his part. "I caught up to Reva, as she was named, and chased her through the city Tarkin lives in," Mako explained. "I got onto her ship right before it took off. Then, all the sudden, something hit it, and both I and Reva were sent flying out a hole in the exploding vessel. She survived as well, and I had to kill her atop a mountain. When I returned to Vader's star destroyer, the admiral in command is explaining to him how Tarkin ordered the ship shot down, to stop her from escaping. Next time I saw Tarkin, he claimed that he didn't know I was on board, but added how everyone was an expendable asset when it comes to the Empire's wellbeing."
"I've encountered people like that before," Katara said, remembering an assortment officers from the Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom, and one from the Northen Water Tribe who were as much a danger to their subordinates as to their enemy.
"Well, now you know why you should be wary of him," Mako added.
"How does this guy remain in a position of power?" a shocked Lin asked.
"Apparently, he's an effective administrator," Korra said. "And he frequently glosses over how most of his victories in battle come from disregarding his fellow Imperials. I get the feeling that he's less willing to play with Mako's life or my own, now, just because Darth Vader is our patron."
"Because Vader demoted that admiral to commanding a garbage barge?" asked Lin, thinking that was how the Empire punished its members in that situation.
"Because Vader didn't care for his excuses above Eriadu, and strangled him to death," Mako clarified. This surprised the Airbender family and Lin. They had heard how Darth Vader was an exceptionally powerful figure in the Empire, and how only the Emperor could reprimand him, but they hadn't expected to hear that Vader could kill fellow Imperials for displeasing him. Granted, endangering Mako's life was rather extreme, but immediately after the offense without even a hearing? This Empire had a strange idea of justice. Pema decided to change the subject and asked when the young couple would bring their children to Republic City.
"That is one of the things I wanted to talk to you about, Lin," Korra began, looking at the police chief. "I know that the Imperial garrison which surrounds them in the South Pole probably won't be...welcome, to say the least. The thing is, outside that security detail I set up, you are the only person I see as qualified to protect them or be trusted with them."
"Well, I'm flattered," the chief replied, having never imagined Korra would trust her to such a degree. "I can find a suitable place to put them, and some people I trust to guard them. I'll make sure you can have them close, and I won't let anyone, offworlder or local, endanger them." Mako hugged his boss, thanking her for this. Tenzin was pleased to see how much Korra and Mako trusted the chief. Asami offered room at her mansion, and Lin said she'd look it over, after arranging for Hiroshi's house arrest. Korra and Mako were a little nervous at that, but Asami assured them that her father was a changed man.
"Well, maybe there will be room for our ship in your garage, as well," Korra smiled to the other woman. "I'm looking forward to showing you how to fly it." After dinner, with Lin and Asami leaving the island, Tenzin and Pema contacted the Western Air Temple, to check on their kids. Ikki asked when they could return to Air Temple Island, and Tenzin assumed it would be in two weeks. Jinora told her father how Agent Kallus was an impressive Airbender, quite interested in learning more about the Air Nomads.
"Well, if he needs help reading the scrolls, you are there," Tenzin told his eldest daughter. Pema brought Rohan to say hello to his older siblings' holograms, and they said goodnight. Meanwhile, Korra and Mako got ready for bed in the guest room, when the ghost of Aang appeared.
"It's a relief to see you still trust the people you knew, before going into space," the Air Nomad began.
"Trust isn't the problem, but capability," Korra said. "Lin is the only one on Elementia who has the right combination of both. Or did you entrust your kids to say the Nonbender engineer who was wheelchair bound his whole life?"
"Teo died before Bumi was born," Aang replied. "But yes, there were times I was worried he, Kya, or Tenzin might be targeted by someone opposing me. The White Lotus was more than up to the challenge. But I understand that you doubt more than just their capability. Their loyalty is unshakable, and they are committed to helping the Avatar maintain balance in the world."
"Maybe they don't like my idea of balance," Korra replied. "Maybe they are too comfortable with the familiar. Perhaps, they would deny the changing world and attack those who embrace it, as heretics."
"Perhaps you, not the White Lotus, is making the trouble," another ghost, Roku, said. "Perhaps change is inevitable, but maybe, you are implementing that change too fast. Maybe, you should pay more heed to tradition and the lessons of history."
"Well, we kill our most dangerous enemies, instead of imprisoning them, deprived of their bending or not," Mako stated to the Fire Nation Avatar, before looking at Aang. "If the White Lotus leader does betray us, we won't assume he's an isolated case. After all, when you did the first, Ozai escaped to spearhead a Firebender rebellion and Yakone raised two boys to make trouble for Republic City. When you did the later, you got hit in the heart with a lightning bolt as the Earth Nation was crushed."
"That was a massive error, I admit," Aang replied. "I never suspected that Azula had infiltrated Ba Sing Se, but I should have known that the Dai Li would make trouble. While sparing Ozai and Yakone did cause problems, I won the war because Zuko was convinced to change his ways, after being persuaded to acknowledge the truth. He only got the opportunity because I saved him twice. By the way, I heard your comparison between the Sith Code and his journey to turning on his father. While there are certain similarities, I don't think Zuko himself would agree on the comparison."
"When I heard the Sith Code, I thought of Sozin," Roku added. "He discarded the morals and rules we were raised to believe, the boundaries of the Four Nations, his friendship with me, and our country's reverence for dragons, to pursue his dreams of world conquest. Ozai killed his own father to ascend to the throne and cared nothing for his own children. Zuko rediscovered the traditional Firebender beliefs and went on to implement them."
"After discarding what he was taught to believe in his whole life, turning on the main authority figure he was raised to worship, and imposing his will to change his country for the better despite many thinking there was nothing to fix," Mako replied. "I guess that, like all philosophies, whether it inspires good or evil depends on who hears it."
"But some philosophies resonate more with good people than with evil," Aang brought up. He and Roku recognized Korra and Mako were tired and bid them goodnight. As Korra went to bed, she saw an unfamiliar shape in the distance, similar to a specter from the spirit world. She wondered what it was, but was so exhausted, she cuddled up to her husband as they drifted off to sleep.
While Korra explained the materials and elements of outer space in her workshop, Asami could see that Korra was paying more attention to her father Hiroshi than to her girlfriend. Given Hiroshi's past betrayal, it was unsurprising Korra would be distrustful of him. Hiroshi asked how common Tibanna gas was on Elementia.
"Nonexistent," Korra replied, glaring at the former Equalist. "A gas giant close by might have some, but unless you have offworld partners, it's not an option. So, I guess that Bending will remain the dominant fighting style here for the foreseeable future."
"Avatar Korra, I know you and Mako don't trust me, and I can't blame you," he said. "I was so determined to avenge Yasuko, that I lost sight of myself, and that which I loved. I almost destroyed my greatest treasure because of my obsession, and I will never forgive myself." Korra thought to herself that, perhaps, Darth Vader could help him move on and come to terms, given his own shame. But then remembered how Hiroshi deliberately tried to kill his daughter in a fit of rage while Vader had been tricked into thinking his wife had betrayed him at the height of an argument. Asami decided to show Korra the initial spaceship she'd built to stop the argument brewing between her girlfriend and her father. The prototype was tiny and cramped, compared to the ones Korra had seen, with far clunkier equipment. Sitting inside, Korra thought it smelled a little strange and climbed out.
"Is something wrong?" Asami asked.
"There's a stench that worries me," Korra said, closing the capsule after leaving something inside. She made a gesture, and a tiny spark appeared within, and then a giant flame, frightening Asami, Hiroshi, and the other engineers present. After a minute, Korra opened the hatch again, and everything was blackened and smoldering. "You need to be careful about the atmosphere you are creating in a ship. On most worlds, a tiny spark would just be that, but there was so much oxygen, it set off a giant fire. You wouldn't have suffocated, you'd have been burnt to cinders almost immediately. That applies to the spacesuits, as well." The engineers all wrote that down, with one asking Korra about the weight a ship would have to lose to exit the atmosphere.
"Look, the technology I spent over a year with, had advanced so much that weight wasn't really an issue," the Avatar answered. "There are some ships built in space, which aren't even supposed to land on the surface. Smaller shuttles ferry things to and from the vessel."
"What about fuel?" one of them asked Korra.
"Who here is familiar with liquid oxygen?" Korra replied, with the majority raising their hands. "That would be a source you can get in abundance here. Still, if you are worried about weight, I question how you will solve the problem of air, food, and water storage. Also, there is the problem of reentry."
"I have been working on a heat shield," one of the engineers brought up. "The real question is how we build a rocket capable of breaching the atmosphere."
"You're forgetting about how we break orbit and reach Ares," another brought up. "After that, I'm sure we can begin traveling the stars."
"No, you can't," Korra said. "It could take up to a year to get to Ares, if the planetary alignment is right. When you get there, you'll have to wait for that alignment again, which only happens once every one and a half years. Anything outside our sun's orbit, is out of the question without outside help." Korra was frustrated at how she had to play expert on space travel to people who had pursued the idea in earnest two weeks ago. Asami had started working on a rocket ship as a side project only a month earlier. Credit where it was due, she'd managed to get some good ideas from her brief time in Darth Vader's yacht, but the science was still in its infancy on Elementia. And with the URN distrusting the Empire, getting Imperial specialists on starship construction was impossible for the moment.
As she faced her own challenges, Korra wondered how Mako was doing at the mass funeral for fallen policemen.
Mako had returned to the station after the funeral which Lin Beifong had eulogized, with such guests as her mother Toph and Tenzin presiding. Lin had been very convincing when she said that Detectives Lu and Gang had been among the best of the force. In truth, they had been extremely incompetent, lazy, and had only attained popularity with the other officers because others thought their bullying of new recruits was funny and how they bought drinks for everyone frequently. The only reason Lin hadn't fired them, outright, was because of their tenure as officers for over a dozen years. Lin, herself, considered them and many others to be a toxic leftover from her mother's tenure as police chief. Mako was still wearing his police uniform when he returned to headquarters.
"So, you still remember which uniform you're supposed to wear?" an obnoxious voice asked. Mako looked over and saw Sergeant Zhou, still in his wheelchair, as he couldn't afford better prosthetics. Some might think that his abrasiveness was the result of resentment over how Darth Vader maimed him. But according to his old partner, Lin Beifong, he was an extremely unpleasant person even when they were in the academy.
"Of course," Mako said. "Do you remember your brother is sleeping off a bad hangover with a broken arm?"
"Saikhan is fine," Zhou replied. "You know, I never trusted you. It's hard to trust someone who doesn't drink, its unnatural."
"Maybe I don't think downing ten shots upon getting onto the force makes you a better cop," Mako replied, remembering the hazing that Zhao tried to force on him. Lin had been trying to ban such rituals, but she had faced stiff opposition. "Maybe I don't think acting like an asshole is a good way to interact with witnesses or suspects."
"Listen here, boy, I was catching crooks before your mama lied down fo-"Mako punched the sergeant in the nose before he could say anything more. "You insolent ashmaker, you've really done it now!"
"No, Zhou, you have," Lin interrupted, having returned to the station. "This police force protects all people in Republic City, and our membership is as diverse as the United Republic itself. There is no room for racial harassment here, especially of your fellow officers. If you can't recognize that, you have no place, here. You're fired."
"You can't fire me!" Zhou yelled. "We're short staffed as it is! And it takes more than just you to fire me!"
"I've put up with your crap for over twenty years, Zhou!" Lin snapped. "I've just about had it! Which is why I made sure to talk to various officers who've had problems with you, and assemble this," the chief said, holding up a folder she'd retrieved on her desk. "Between all the harassment of your coworkers, all the bullying of various visitors to the station, your flagrant disregard for accepted procedure, and your insubordinate attitude toward me, I have enough to fire you today. I thought I needed every officer I could to hold things together after the Hutts attacked, but I don't need you! You are nothing but a headache for me, and the majority of hardworking officers." She paused for a moment to catch her breath, as she'd clearly been holding these feelings for a long time. "You are free to challenge this, but if you fail, you lose your pension. I'd be more than happy to take it from someone so undeserving, but I want you gone, now! The sooner you leave my life, the better! Until then, get out of my station!" Zhou was about to say something, but several officers picked up his chair and carried him out of the building before he could.
"I never thought the day would come," Shen spoke up. "When we are finally rid of Zhou."
"I've been looking forward to this for a while," Lin said, before turning to Mako. "I think it's time you meet Dr. Guo. The sooner you get this over, the faster you can return to work." Mako reluctantly followed Lin to the shrink, asking about his qualifications as the chief led him to the office. She explained how he'd led several new breakthroughs on treating people with trauma. Those treatments required trusting him, and he'd done a good job of keeping their secrets.
"And what about when you ask him about our sessions?" Mako brought up.
"He'll tell me if he thinks you'll hurt someone, or yourself," Lin replied. "If he thinks you are incapable of returning to work, or if you will have a meltdown under the pressure. But let me put it this way: some time ago, he had a patient which Saikhan was convinced had killed someone. No matter what Saikhan did, Guo wouldn't reveal what this guy had said. Later on, Guo said that, even if his patient confessed to a past murder, he would keep it a secret."
"Well, I suppose I can give him a shot," Mako said, before pulling out a device he'd gotten from the Imperials. "But I'd like to make sure no one else is listening, with him unaware."
"Alright, I can agree to that scanning," Lin said, hoping that her favorite detective would be receptive to the therapy. And that, perhaps, he'd convince Korra to receive it as well. Lin decided a joke was in order. "Zhou dismissed this new practice as wimpy."
"Well, that's a point in its favor," Mako said with a chuckle as they arrived at the office.
Mizuki had gotten up early in the morning to continue her Jedi lessons with Luke at her side. Luke was trying to avoid talking to her, as he processed his attraction toward the Firebender Princess. After they trained against the laser-firing remotes, both when they were blindfolded and when they weren't, Luke had struck up a conversation with the clone troopers present at their hidden refuge.
"Your father was often called 'The Hero With No Fear' by the propagandists on account of how daring he was on the battlefield," Cody had revealed. "Jumping onto a slaver ship headed to Nar Shaddaa to save someone you've only just met is certainly something he would have done. Though given his extensive training and experience by the time I met him, he wouldn't have needed General Kenobi to save him."
"Well, I was just wondering how I could save Mizuki," Luke said. "I didn't see a way to do so unless I got on that ship."
"Your father, and even myself, had that problem on many occasions," Obi-Wan said. "There was a time we were guarding a senator, and a probe droid hovered up to her window. It dropped a pair of Kouhuns into her room, through a hole it drilled, and the poisonous insects, starved by the assassin who sent them, made for the closest prey. Your father sensed them in time, and killed them, while I jumped to grab the droid which was our only lead. Through a penthouse window, at the top of a Coruscant skyscraper."
"And you managed to hold onto it?" an impressed Mizuki asked, surprised Obi-Wan had survived such an experience.
"Until its owner destroyed it with her sniper rifle, forcing Anakin to catch me with the speeder he stole to catch up," Obi-Wan replied. "How things went from there, is a story for another day." After they completed their obstacle course, Luke and Mizuki sat down and got a drink. Cal appeared and asked if they had any questions.
"Uh, who else is fighting the Empire?" asked Mizuki.
"Well, there are a few senators who complain about the latest Imperial overreach, some are rumored to support active insurrections, a few I'm sure Obi-Wan knows, like Bail Organa," Cal said. "But if they are, they've survived by keeping their violent resistance at arm's length, through intermediaries. As for the ones more...active in fighting the Empire, there are many worlds with local insurgencies, but a few are active in the wider galaxy, like Saw Gerrera and his Partisans." Obi-Wan looked up and asked if this Saw person was from Onderon.
"You know him?" Merrin asked.
"Anakin, his apprentice, and I were involved in training him, to fight the puppet king the Separatists had installed," Obi-Wan said. "The only thing that stood out about him was how full of himself he was. His sister was the leader, but she was killed right before the Seps retreated, and I heard Saw blamed himself. Honestly, it isn't surprising he started fighting the Empire. I'm guessing Cham Syndulla of Ryloth is also fighting them, as well."
"Syndulla didn't trust outsiders before, and now he refuses to have anything to do with them," Cal said. "I hear he's still alive, but his group has been ground to nothing at this point. As for Saw, well, he's very committed to the fight. To the point I'm starting to think its all he has to live for. In addition, there have been a few times where he or one of those Tognath Twins he keeps around says something like 'We're in this mess because the Jedi were too soft' and how we should be more aggressive."
"That was a viewpoint even Anakin struggled with," Obi-Wan admitted.
"Well, another reason why he and some other Rebel leaders don't like me, is because, apparently, I'm too in love with the spotlight," Cal began.
"Well, if you make a habit of drawing attention to yourself with the Empire ruling the universe, then-""I didn't mean it like that," Cal said. "Yes, there are times I try to show the galaxy that, despite what the Empire claims, the Jedi survive. Yes, there are times I try to publicize how you can defy the Empire, but what they really have a problem with, is how I do everything I can to receive the proper credit."
"Proper credit?" asked Obi-Wan. "You mean, hunting for glory. A Jedi should be above such pettiness."
"That is what Master Tapal, Master Yoda, and every teacher I ever had claimed," Cal said. "We went forth into battle, almost died, did things no one else could, saved entire planets...and never partook in any parade, medal ceremony, or accepted an interview. Then Order 66 came down, and all those victories are claimed by regular officers, some of which were the biggest danger to the missions in question, and Jedi are said to have been hugely incompetent. Perhaps, those same officers blamed their own screwups on the Jedi who shunned the spotlight, even before the Clone Wars. For example, I heard how Ranulph Tarkin was the fool who nearly lost the war he started, only for Plo Koon to defeat the Stark Pirate Combine, but he's now called the Hero of Troiken, and even when Plo was alive, he was barely mentioned in accounts of the battle, outside some soldiers' journals. In fact, Master Skywalker, and to a lesser extent yourself, are the only Jedi that the average galactic citizen might think were heroes instead of fools and traitors. Because he always accepted whatever honor was given to him, and frequently shared it with you, as well."
Obi-Wan was surprised, as he'd never considered such a point of view. Jedi rarely accepted honors or such things which celebrated them, as vanity was a dangerous thing. They had always considered those who stole their glory to be harmless fools. But perhaps that was another mistake they made.
"I never knew the specifics of how Palpatine rewrote the narrative regarding the Jedi at war," Obi-Wan said. "So, you think that hogging the glory will protect you? Or that you need protection from other Rebels?"
"Some of these Rebels outright hate Jedi," Cal said. "I never thought the Order could fall, at all, so I'm getting as much protection as possible, now. After all, if more people know your greatness, it's harder for others to sideline you."
"Also, Master Kenobi, there is something else," Greez spoke up. "There is a reporter, living here, hiding from the Empire for publicizing the wrong things. He's been working on a project to outline Jedi beliefs and practices. Because honestly, the Jedi Order needed something it never had: a PR department."
"What?" asked Mizuki, unfamiliar with those letters.
"Public Relations," Greez said. "The Jedi Order was extremely secretive, and insular. There is a lot of basic information about it that I didn't learn until Cere and Cal told it to me. As a result, it's adversaries could spin all manner of lies about them, and since the Jedi almost never acknowledged these claims, they went unchallenged. It is hard to question the Empire's stories about all the horrible things it says regarding the Order, when the Order was an enigma that didn't even try to explain its side of things." Obi-Wan nodded at that, remembering how, after he befriended them, he had to explain many basic things to Bail Organa and Padme Amidala because of how nonexistent their knowledge of the Jedi was, beyond a few old legends and secondhand stories of Jedi missions. As Obi-Wan went to meet this documentarian, Luke was faced by the Magnaguard Mizuki had encountered previously. He switched his lightsaber to training mode and began dueling practice. Mizuki smiled as she watched him move, clashing his blade against the droid's staff. After she dueled the droid, they would go on to practice telekinesis. She looked forward to seeing Luke take his sweaty shirt off, when they did so. Hopefully, she'd be able to introduce him to her own father, sooner rather than later.
After Bossk arrived at the site of the distress signal, Bumi and Kya asked what they could do to help. "Look on that board and tell me if any new dots appear," Bossk said, pointing to a console. As they moved closer to the ship, the Trandoshan scanned the inert vessel. He didn't detect anything building up to an explosion, or any hull breaches. Just then, a new dot appeared. Bossk looked at it, calling it a Chevlex Haulcraft, but it quickly spun to the other side of the massive vessel adrift in space, and took some time to respond to hails.
"We're Corellia Tradeship 223," the voice on the other end replied. "We're responding to the distress call, same as you I'm guessing. Why don't we land on the starboard airlock, while you land at the port, close to the bridge?"
"We're headed to Lianna," Bossk said suspiciously. "Why are you out here?"
"Oh, just making a run to Morlana," a different voice said. "See you inside the ship." With that, the link went dead, and the Haulcraft docked. Bossk docked onto the ship, satisfied they weren't pirates, before going to the airlock. After the seal was made, Bossk joined Bumi and Kya, giving each of them a blaster pistol while he kept his carbine close at hand, it's strap around his shoulder. After leaving the Hound's Tooth, Bossk turned around and entered a sequence to lock the ship behind them. He then readied his blaster carbine for trouble.
"The derelict, or the other responders?" Bumi asked Bossk, wondering which he was worried about.
"Both," the Trandoshan said. After the door closed, Kya checked her bag of Water she could bend. Even after she had learned how to bend in space, she couldn't count on water being common enough to bend, so she brought her own. The bridge was on the other side of the door, and they were quickly joined by a man in his mid-to-late twenties with a beard, coming out the door on the other side.
"I'm Kassa," he said, his hand close to his blaster, his voice revealing he was the one who mentioned Morlana on the call. "I take it you are bounty hunters."
"I am, these are my friends Bumi and Kya," Bossk said, his blaster pointed away from the stranger. Kassa noticed how they didn't seem to understand the writing around them. He asked if they needed help finding their way.
"This is all...new for us," Bumi said, before thanking Kassa for his help. Kassa, realizing they weren't a threat, went to the main computer. The ship was called Acheron, Corellian passenger ship number 426. Looking about the bridge, they saw several splashes of blood, and shredded clothes. But there were no bodies or even pieces of bodies. Kassa found what looked like the captain's log, mentioning picking up an escape pod signal.
"They brought the pod onboard, but there were two unknown creatures within," Bossk read from the datapad. "They fled into the air vents, but then, a few days later, the log stops." All the sudden, they heard sounds of movement from within the air vent, and the four of them pointed their blasters toward it. But the figure which came out wasn't an animal, but a Human.
"Don't shoot, please!" he yelled, albeit quietly. "Try to be quiet, they might hear us."
"We heard the distress call," Kya said, trying to calm him down. "What happened?"
"I'm not sure," he said. Looking closer, this man was wearing what looked like a ship's uniform. "I was working in the galley, when all the sudden, an alarm started blaring. The passengers were ordered to stay in their quarters, with the captain saying over the intercom a pack of wild animals had boarded the ship. Then, I saw the head chef get yanked into the air vent above me, by some grey arms. I hid in a locker, then I see the lights go out. After a while hearing screams and other racket, I snuck out when they stopped. I could barely see anything when something bit me." He showed a bandaged arm.
"Did you see what attacked you?" asked Kassa.
"I'm not sure what it was," the crewman said. "It had a big nose, but no eyes. I knocked it away with a pan, and I got to the nearest first aid kit."
"How long ago was it?" asked Kya.
"About eight hours," he said. "I've been awake for about twenty." She came up, revealing she was a doctor, and offered to help the survivor. Unrolling his bandage, Kya saw a rather bizarre bite wound. It was almost black, and there wasn't any sign of scabbing over. All the sudden, he complained about having a headache, even though he had no head injury. Then, he started shaking, and blood darker than normal oozed out of his eyes and mouth. Spikes erupted from his shoulders and back, with his body twisting further. Bumi pulled his sister back as the crewman's clothes were ripped apart by the transformation. His skin turned grey as his skull molded into a new shape. There were no apparent eyes, only this flattened snout on the forehead, clawed feet, and three-fingered hands. The creature roared, showing its sharp teeth on both the top and bottom of the mouth. At that moment, Kassa shot it repeatedly, killing it.
"We should get out of here," Kassa stated the obvious.
"What about other survivors?" Bumi asked.
"Doubtful at this point, and even if they are still alive, I get the feeling they are now like our porter," Bossk noted.
"We can't leave, yet," Kya said, remembering her training as a Waterbender healer. She hadn't spent as much time studying diseases as physical injuries and infections. But she knew enough to know how to approach this. "We need to find out where they came from. For all we know, there is a whole other ship with these things. There must be a way to find out where that escape pod came from." Just then, Bumi thought he heard something in the ceiling.
"Look out!" the Airbender yelled, as one of the ceiling panels caved in. More of the same creatures came in through the hole, as Bossk and Kassa opened fire. Kya saw one and fired her blaster pistol for the first time. While the creature was hit, it wasn't stopped and spat something at her. She managed to dodge it, figuring their spit was as dangerous as the creatures' teeth and claws. One of the monsters pounced on Kassa, and he struggled to hold it back without being bit. Bumi blasted a horde of the monsters into the frontal viewport, shattering it. Bossk's claws allowed him to grab onto one of the crewmember's chairs, his carbine secure with its strap around him, but Bumi dropped his blaster, as did Kya, as they held onto the consoles, desperate to avoid being sucked into space. Kassa had dropped his blaster, trying to hold onto a cable, but at that moment, the abomination bit his right arm, causing him to scream in pain. Thankfully, Bumi caught the pistol before it could fly out into oblivion, and shot the creature, causing it to release its grip on Kassa and fly out into space. Bossk hit the shutter switch, closing the opening, just as Kassa hit his head on the front of a chair.
"Look out for more!" yelled Kya, remembering her training as a healer. Taking out the Water from her pouch, she immediately began applying it, first to Kassa's bite wound, and then to his Forehead. He mumbled thanks in his daze, unaware of what she was doing, as Bumi and Bossk went to the main console.
"There are supposed to be around two thousand people on this ship," Bossk said, noticing how Bumi didn't understand the writing. "All the escape pods are in their bays. No wonder, the captain overrode the ability, no pods can be launched."
"So, no one can launch a lifeboat?" asked a shocked Bumi.
"I'm thinking he was more worried about this disease spreading," Kya said, remembering how, as a doctor, she was instructed on quarrantine.
"Too bad he couldn't scuttle the entire ship," Bossk said, looking at a console. "Damn, I'm locked out of navigation at this terminal. Alright, we need to go to the engine room. I got some explosives, and then we get out of here, along with any survivors we can pick up on the way."
"What about contamination?" asked Bumi.
"We'll need a decontamination, after this," the Trandoshan said. "Alright, leave Kassa in that docking pod, over there." Bumi and Kya placed the unconscious man in the pod next to his own ship. "We'll get him when we get back, or when he's turned into one of those things." With that, the trio headed deeper into the passenger ship, being wary of any air vent they approached. It was going to be a long detour from the search for Bumi's daughter.
So, now you see how some people might disagree with Mako and Korra's conclusion about the Sith Code. Who that mysterious figure is, will be a surprise. Korra being a rocket scientist was inspired by For All Mankind. One of the things Lin is still angry with her mother about, relates to the Police Force. This was a few hints about why Lin dislikes Toph's approach. As for Cal's point, well, I noticed how the Jedi seem completely disinterested in explaining their side of things, content to be seen as mysterious monks no one knows anything definitive about. A trait which ultimately gave them no shortage of trouble they could have avoided. In addition, letting those less deserving steal the glory instead of taking credit, because of some sense of humility, is a similar problem.
Those familiar with the Alien franchise will see the nods to it. And there are a few hints about another Star Wars character, here, along with a monster from KOTOR.