#ls!revan

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——–

There is a door to another airlock visible just across the Rift from the airlock I just left. That must head back to the main station. Maybe if I tune the communicator just right I can find Carth’s communicator, let him and Juhani know what’s going on. I slowly turn the dial until I hear something other than static. “Come in,” I say, unsure if anyone’s even there, “Come in, anyone. This is Rena Visz. Is anyone on this frequency?” No static. Maybe it’s a one-way frequency? Nobody can transmit on it and talk back to me but they’re receiving? Then again, who would be on the other end? Except for us, the merc by the docking bay, and Kono and Sami, there’s nobody left alive in the Hrakert Station. I can’t help but hope. “If anyone’s receiving this transmission, I’m out in the Hrakert Rift, on my way to the kolto harvesting machinery at the edge of the Rift.

“I found two of the researchers here, a biologist and a biochemist, Sami and Kono Nolan. They informed me that a giant firaxan shark had risen up from the Rift. The current theory is that the installation disturbed the habitat of the giant firaxan, and destroying the machinery should calm it down." I turn away from the station, towards the Rift. “I’m heading there now. Sami and Kono also informed me of some ruins down here, like the giant firaxan was guarding them. I doubt that, but if I’m right about the source of the ruins, the two are related. I’ve seen ruins like these before. Whoever set up shop here were part of a race capable of terraforming on a massive scale. Maybe with this ocean they bit off more than they could chew, like the wroshyr forest on Kashyyyk. And the ruins have been steeped in the Dark Side. Wouldn’t be the first powerful creature I’ve seen in the vicinity of these ruins.”

God, I’m exhausted. To think, I was just on trial this morning. “I wonder how long I’ve been down here. Feels like an eternity.” Sand and rocks crunch beneath my boots, and the metal plating clunks with each step. “Of course I’ll probably end up back in jail at the end of it. If the Selkath aren’t aware of this already, they will be once I destroy the machinery.” A firaxan shark approaches. I activate the emitter and it swims away. “Kono told me they had managed to create a toxin that would kill the shark, but there was never any chance of me using it. Even as little as I know of this ecology, it’s clear that the kolto and the firaxa are linked. That’s why the Selkath researchers changed when the machinery was completed, started attacking the others here. Any damage to the firaxa could hurt the kolto, and anything that damages the kolto will harm the environment. They’re all parts of the same whole. And I think this war has done enough damage already.”

I step in front of the kolto machinery. Sami said four million sangen. Looks like I just need to shift the fuel so that one of the tanks holds four million. “If anyone’s listening,” I say again, making the transfers between tanks, “I’m loading up the Hydrolium fuel to four million sangen. It gets explosive at that point. Parts of the machinery will likely float to the surface. When the Selkath find it, there’s going to be some uncomfortable questions. I recommend the truth. Nobody takes well to being lied to. I should know.”

Four million sangen. The computer displays a warning message so I move back, bracing myself against the wall of the station. A massive bubble of air and kolto erupts as the machine bursts and breaks apart. Metal floats slowly to the surface. And that’s that. “I’m going to check out the ruins now.” There’s a metal bridge that spans across the Rift. I look out across the ocean floor. Through the fog of the display, I see the shark. The utterly massive firaxan shark. The ancient creature is scarred from its collisions with the machinery. But now that the machine is gone, its mechanical reach no longer penetrating its home in the depths of the Rift, the shark descends back down, down into the Rift, letting me pass peacefully. “That seems to have done it,” I say simply. And I continue crossing.

Even through the display, I can clearly make out the shape of the Star Map. I can’t help but wonder if this is just how I found it before. As Revan. If I approached it this way, from this bridge. Met the great shark. The station wasn’t here then, but surely Revan and Malak were able to take a submersible down here. Surely they… I… managed to convince a Selkath to let us see the ancient ruins below the surface, on the edge of the Hrakert Rift. Or maybe we contacted the Republic, or the Sith, or an independent faction. I don’t remember. Maybe the memory will come back some day. Maybe I’ll remember Revan’s entire quest for the Star Forge. Maybe I’ll remember why she… why I sought it out to begin with. Why Malak and I started another war when we’d only just finished one. Malak certainly wouldn’t tell me, even if I asked.

As I step closer, the Star Map activates, just as the others all did. I can’t get at my datapad to download the Star Map, but even as I look at it, I remember. A set of coordinates. Pointing at an area of the map, getting Malak’s attention. “There it is,” I’d said, “That grid there, a parsec from the edge of the Outer Rim.” Barely outside of known space. “The heart of the Infinite Empire.” Infinite Empire? Not so infinite, judging from the state of the Star Maps. But now that I’ve remembered the coordinates, the grid, the planet they lead to, there’s no forgetting them. “I’m heading back now,” I say aloud, “Nothing more for me here.” And I turn back to the main part of the station. No sharks bother me. The invader is gone.

The far airlock takes me to a different part of the station from where I left Carth and Juhani. Not far. But with the suit off I can access my comm unit. “Carth, Juhani, you out there?”

“Rena!” Carth’s voice comes through loud and clear.

“We felt a massive explosion - we were afraid you were caught in the blast,” Juhani says.

“No, that was me,” I say, ”I’ll explain when I see you.”

“Are you back in the station?” Juhani asks.

“Where are you?” Carth asks.

“There was another airlock, let me check my map really quick--”

“Map -” Carth interrupts, “Did you find the Star Map?”

“I did - more than that I know exactly where we need to go.” I pull out my datapad and consult the facility map. “Head down the main hallway, back the way we came. Hang the last left, then the first right.”

“What if we encounter more Selkath?” Juhani asks, “You have the only sonic emitter”

“Shouldn’t be a problem. Like I said, I’ll explain when I see you.”

It isn’t long before they join me, and as we make our way back to the submersible, I explain everything. The mercenary, the sharks, the toxin. The explosion. The map. The memory. Juhani lays a comforting hand on my shoulder, but I shake it off. I’m not so fragile. I either have to live with this or collapse into a pile on the floor. Which, honestly doesn’t sound so bad at the moment. Carth begins the ascension in the submersible. And I sit in silence. Ready to go to jail. Again.

Roland Wann meets us when we surface, but skips over the niceties. “Master Jedi- “ Ugh. “- we received your transmission from the Hrakert Rift.” Oh! Guess that’s where it went. “Is it true? You blew up the machinery?”

“Everything I said was true,” I tell him, “The machinery has been destroyed and the giant firaxan shark is at peace.”

“No!” Roland curses, “That is terrible. That will set our work back years…” He sighs. “It may even cost us the war.” 

“It was either that or risk poisoning the kolto,” I say, “Trust me, this is the outcome you want.”

“While I am glad that you were able to solve our problems, the cost may have ended up being much too high,” he sighs, “But you have done your job and helped us in our time of need, and for that I thank you. Oh, and did you end up finding your Star Map?”

“Yes, I have what I came here for.”

“Good. Good,” he says. And I can tell he’s nervous.

“I assume the authorities are waiting outside the embassy for me?”

“How did you--?” he starts to ask, “Of course. Jedi. Yes, I am to turn you over to them. Of course, we could deliver you directly to your vessel--”

“No,” I interrupt him, “The Selkath need to know what’s happened here.”

“I do hope you’ll reconsider,” he says, “This could jeopardize our entire relationship with the Selkath.”

“Then you shouldn’t have done it.” Feels like a very Revan thing for me to say. “This was inevitable.”

I open the embassy door. The police. Again. “Stop, human!” says the one in charge, “We have detected a number of underwater detonations coming from the vicinity of the Hrakert Rift. You have been known to have asked questions about this, and our spy monitors in the Republic Embassy recorded you leaving in a submersible that descended to the Hrakert Rift. You will come with us immediately to answer for your actions, or we will be forced to take you by force!”

“I will come peacefully,” I say, “We’ve been through this before.”

@averruncusho @ceruleanrainblues @chubbsmomma @darthvendar-blog @80strashbag thank you for reading, you get a tag. @skelelexiunderlord thank you for support, you get a tag.

A/N - yes, I changed the impact of the sonic emitter on the firaxan sharks, but that's because I wanted to make my life easier later. Cope lmao

——–

“You can’t be serious,” Carth says, "You want to go out there with the sharks?”

“I mean, I’d love to not have to,” I say, “but you’re right, this almost definitely has something to do with the machinery, and that’s on the other side of the base. That’s only accessible through the flooded portion of the base. And there’s still two people alive over there, one of them has to know something. We can get environmental suits from storage.” I put out my datapad and consult the map. “And that’s… that way.” I point. “First door on the right.” I lead the way.

The door hangs open, trying to auto-close but the mechanism is impeded somehow. We squeeze through the narrow gap, and find the thing stopping it. One of the base scientists had his hand in the wall panel interrupting the signal and tripping a safety mechanism, and was killed there by one of the deactivated droids, based on the blast scarring. His other hand is wrapped around a round device. Must be important if he held onto it even while dying. The room is dark, but from around a corner I can see a bright flickering light. Something’s still on, then. I should have thought to get my flashlight from the ship. I activate my lightsaber instead, so I at least have something.

The flickering light is the display for a research station. It’s still displaying just fine, the brightness just keeps changing. And there’s a research log still active. Let’s see… Nothing about the current situation with the Selkath, but I see designs and mockups of the round device clutched in the dead man’s hand. A sonic emitter. “This device emits a powerful sonic pulse useful for scaring off or stunning various wildlife,” the notes read, “It normally has an extremely limited range, but in an underwater environment the signal would travel quite a distance. It has proven a useful repellent to several species of firaxan sharks.” Sounds like it could come in handy out on the ocean floor. I go back to the dead scientist and gently pry the device from his fingers. 

I consult my map again. There’s a series of pod-like rooms between here and the envirosuit storage. Four rooms, one with a little hallway room thing jutting off the side and entirely avoidable. And I smell fish. (God, that’s racist, I feel bad for even thinking it, but it… the Selkath have a distinct odor, there’s just no getting around it.) “There are still Selkath in the base, close by.” I pull out my second lightsaber. Carth readies his blaster. Juhani pulls her lightsaber from her belt. We move forward to the next door.

Selkath.

They don’t notice us at first. Three of them, all wandering aimlessly not interacting with each other. Not talking. I won’t strike first. Maybe they’ve recovered? One sees us and screams, and the other two look at us and rush us. Nope, not recovered! One fires a sonic blaster, the other two are unarmed. Striking with their claws. I duck just barely in time and strike with my saber. Meeting flesh. Through the torso, clean. Dead as the saber breaks through. Which feels terrible, he couldn’t even defend himself. I deactivate that lightsaber and the Selkath slumps onto the floor. The other clawed Selkath raises his arm to strike against me, and I slash again with the other lightsaber, cutting off the arm at the shoulder. Carth blasts him before he can strike again, and the force of the blaster bolt knocks him back. Juhani deflects a sonic bolt perfectly, and the third Selkath hits the ground.

I can’t recall fighting an unarmed opponent like this. Maybe with my swords, but this is different. A sword can’t do that kind of damage with such little effort. A sword can break. A sword can be defended against even by an unarmed opponent. Not a lightsaber. I feel sick. And the fish smell isn’t getting any better. I have to figure this out. No one deserves to die like this. “New goal,” I say, trying to catch my breath and at the same time not breathe in the smell, “Get to envirosuit storage without killing anyone else.” I can practically feel it as Carth and Juhani exchange a wary glance. I know, that’s usually out of our control. But there are ways to avoid it. I pull the sonic emitter back out. The report says it scares off wildlife. Maybe it’ll chase away Selkath.

I lay my hand on the next door. Only one Selkath. Makes it a good test. I open the door and immediately activate the sonic emitter. The Selkath stiffens, and when the emitter turns silent, he collapses. But I can still feel him through the Force. Still alive. “Wow,” Carth says, “That little thing packs quite a punch.”

“As long as that punch is non-lethal,” I say, turning it over in my hand. I open the door to the next room and hold out the emitter before I can even get a good look into the room. I hear two Selkath slump to the floor. None others. Double-check my map - just one more room. Envirosuit storage is through the next door. I open it. There are four Selkath, all huddled and clawing at a storage locker. I activate the emitter again, and they all faint. 

Carth and Juhani move past me into the storage room, both going to an envirosuit. Juhani lifts one, pushing her fingers through a massive tear. “This one is not usable,” she says, in awe of the massive tear. Understatement of the year.

“This one’s the same,” Carth says, grabbing another one, “And this one - it’s like they’ve destroyed all the suits.”

I look at the lockers. All in a line, from left to right, the lockers have been broken open, their contents torn apart and spilled onto the floor. All in a line, until you get to the one they were gathered around. After that point, the lockers are untouched. I open the largest locker. “This one’s intact,” I say. I kick the other lockers open - no suits in any of them. “Means there’s only one suit,” I say, “You guys will have to stay behind.” Carth opens his mouth to object. “There’s only the one sonic emitter anyway, it’ll probably work different underwater. You guys are safer here anyway.”

I hear a demented little laugh. Not from Carth. Definitely not from Juhani. Echoing in the locker all the Selkath were gathered around. I gently Force push them to the side and try to open the locker. It won’t budge. “Is somebody out there?” the locker says, “Fishy, fishy, fishy? Coming to eat me, too?” The demented cackle rings out again. “You can't get me, little fishy. Not in here. I'm safe behind my walls.”

“Are you… okay in there?” I say to the locker.

“Oh, yes, yes,” he cackles, “I've got a winning hand right here in this room! These walls and door are six centimeters - no… twelve centimeters! - of durasteel! I'm invulnerable behind my walls! Nobody's getting in here! No fishy, fishy for me!” He cackles again. Then his voice gets low. “When the Selkath went insane and started killing everybody, I locked myself in here! I'm safe in here. Nothing can hurt me in here! No fishy food for me!”

“What made the Selkath insane?” I ask.

“Don't know. Go ask them!” Cackles again. “When the demon screamed it shook every mind in the station. We fell to the ground, but survived. Fishy, fishies, though, they just got hungry!”

Demon? What does that mean? Whatever. “I have this sonic emitter - you can come out and we’ll protect you from the Selkath.”

“No, no, no, no, no,” he whimpers, “That's what the others said. Mercenaries like you. But they're dead. The Selkath ate them! Lunchie-munchie!” Cackles again. “Only the ones left in the south part of the base might still be alive, where the kolto is. Few fishies there! But many, many fishy in between in the water!”

“We’re two Jedi and a Republic soldier. I’d say we can do a fair sight better than mercenaries,” I say.

Cackles again. “Jedi? You're just like the others - fodder for the Selkath. Walking fish snacks. Chomp, chomp, chomp - if you can run you might be fast food!”

Carth lays a hand on my shoulder before I can say anything else. “You’re not going to get through to him,” he says, “The Republic will help him once we restore safe access to the base. We need to move on.”

“Bye-bye!” the locker agrees, “Go look for fishy people. They'll chomp and bite and chomp and bite. Food for fishy - that's you.”

The isolation and trauma have clearly gotten to him, and I’d rather not leave him like this. But Carth is right. We need to move on. We move through the next two rooms, Carth carrying the good envirosuit while I take the lead with the sonic emitter.

At the airlock door, Carth helps me put on the environmental suit and affixes the sonic emitter to my hand so all I have to do is clench my gloved hand to activate it. “Juhani and I will stay here,” he says, “We can defend this area well enough.” I can’t be heard through the helmet, so I just nod my now-massive head. He secures all the seals. Then says, so only I can hear, “Come back to me, okay?” I nod again, because that’s the only way I can communicate, but I wish I could touch his hand more tenderly than the suit would allow. 

@averruncusho @ceruleanrainblues @chubbsmomma @darthvendar-blog @80strashbag thank you for reading, you get a tag. @skelelexiunderlord thank you for support, you get a tag.

——–

A thin layer of dust rests on the bench in my holding cell. It probably hasn’t been used in some time. I dust it off with my sleeve before sitting down and watching court officers catalog the contents of my pack and pockets. “One wrap of tools,” one says, picking  up my droid toolkit and holding it for a camera to see.

“Please take good care of that,” I say, “It means a lot to me.”

“All cataloged evidence will be held in stasis until trial, and if it is deemed non-relevant it will be released to next of kin upon verdict.”

“Or… to the accused upon acquittal,” I say, “Right?” They both look at me, not answering, before turning back to their work. How reassuring.

“Two long swords,” the other says, unsheathing my swords gently, “With blood.”

“Hold for analysis,” says the first, before reaching to the next item, “Ten medpacs.”

“One length of rope, approximately three meters.”

“One datapad, mild damage, retrieved from the back pocket.”

“Assorted droid parts.”

“Encoded access pass, keyed for the Sith Embassy.”

“Hold or analysis. Two Jedi-type lightsabers.”

“Be careful with those,” I interrupt, but I’m not acknowledged.

One of them reaches for the final item. “One metal…” He stops. Scrutinizes it. “…something.”

“It’s an encrypted data core,” I say.

They turn back to me. “What’s on it?”

“I don’t know,” I say honestly, “I don’t know the encryption sequence. I could probably figure it out, if I had a week. But for all I know, it could be just environmental data. Or nothing at all.”

“Not relevant to this case,” the other says, and it gets placed in the bin with the other, I assume, non-relevant items. At least if the worth happens, Carth can return it to the Republic. Even though it for sure is relevant, but even if I did tell them that, experience tells me they wouldn’t listen.

“I suppose it would be a waste of my time to ask what my rights are?” I ask.

“As an off-worlder, your rights are the same as those of any native,” one of them says, “You are entitled to a fair trial, carried out in a timely manner. You are entitled to visitors. You are entitled to a competent defense. An arbiter has been summoned for you.”

I nod. “Cool.”

A haggard-looking Selkath, juggling datapads, comes into the holding area and walks to the desk. “I have been summoned as arbiter for a human?” The desk attendant points at me. I wave. “Ah, Min Rena. Or Min Visz? I have little experience with off-worlders, I am uncertain which is correct.”

“Uh, either is- is fine,” I say, “But what is ‘Min?’”

“I - forgive me, I am unfamiliar with human genders as well, so I opted for a neutral title. If you would prefer a different —“

“No,” I interrupt, “no, ‘min’ is fine.”

He looks relieved. “Good. Good. I am called Bwa’lass, and I have been selected as your Arbiter for the duration of your trial. I will endeavor to prove to them that you are not guilty of the heinous crimes that you are accused of, namely…” He searches through his collection of datapads, and drops several before he finds the one he’s looking for. “Ah, here it is. Namely, initiating violence within the Sith Embassy, murdering members of the Ambassadorial  Commission of the Sith Empire, and disregarding our own laws regarding violence in Ahto City, as well as numerous counts of property damage.”

This does not bode well. “Cool,” I say nervously, “Cool. Uh, Bwa’lass, I don’t mean to be rude, but, uh… I understood I had the right to a competent defense… and you seem…”

He sighs. “I know.” That definitely doesn’t bode well! “but I assure you, my lack of understanding of off-worlders does not impact my understanding of Selkath law!”

“I’m not doubting you there,” I say, “You know definitely more about Selkath law than I do. but sitting here, watching you juggle datapads… I won’t lie, I feel doomed.” He doesn’t say anything. “I have to wonder if I wouldn’t be better off defending myself.”

“While it is true that you do have that right,” Bwa’lass says, “I would recommend against it. Due to your confinement, you will not have much of a chance to build up evidence to pursue your case. Also, I do not believe you off-worlders truly understand the minds of us Selkath. It would be best if you left your defense up to me.”

The door opens again, and Carth walks in, flanked by a Selkath officer on either side. “Rena, this is unbelievable,” he says animatedly, “You haven’t done anything wrong. I can’t believe the Republic embassy hasn’t sent someone to defend you.”

“And admit they know me?” I say with a scoff, “Open themselves up to scrutiny, questions they don’t want asked?” He opens his mouth to say something else, but I stop him by speaking again. “Carth, this is my arbiter, Bwa’lass.” The haggard Selkath gives a small wave, dropping two more datapads in the process.

Carth looks from Bwa’lass, to me, back to Bwa’lass, and to me again. “You’re not serious.”

“Court appointed,” I confirm.

He shakes his head, looking petrified. “I’m going to the embassy -- Roland Wann has to assign someone to your defense.”

“Carth, don’t,” I say, “Don’t involve yourself in this any more than you have to be. The Star Map is more important than me.”

I can see the words on the edge of his tongue - “No, it’s not” - but he doesn’t say it. “We can’t get that without the data core. Which you had.”

“Non-relevant evidence will be released to next of kin upon verdict,” I say, repeating the Selkath officer.

He nods a bit, thinking. Then stops. “Or…released to you when they find you not guilty, right?”

“They wouldn’t tell me.”

The door opens again, and Jolee comes in. By himself. “What are you doing here?” Carth asks, “And how did you get here without any guards?”

“Well, I certainly didn’t use a Jedi mind trick,” Jolee says sarcastically, “That would be unethical.”

One of the guards with Carth scoffs. “A Jedi mind trick would not work on one of my officers,” he says confidently.

“Of course it wouldn’t,” Jolee says, then he raises his hand, “But the old man doesn’t need guards, does he?”

The officer’s eyes glaze over for a moment. “Uh…” he says, “no… the old man doesn’t need guards.” Unbelievable.

“I think you’ll both agree Rena’s defense is the more important matter at hand than my being here,” Jolee says.

“That’s an even better idea,” Carth says, “Contact the Jedi, they’ll send someone to defend Rena.”

“No, they won’t,” Jolee and I say at the same time. “This us all Master Vrook needs to have to be convinced of my ‘evil core,’” I say, “Not to mention the fact that they don’t have enough Jedi to spare. You know, the war? The destruction of Dantooine?”

“The Council also wouldn’t interfere in the legal system of a non-Republic world,” Jolee says, “Sending anyone here to Rena’s defense would draw unnecessary attention to the matter.”

“Malak already knows more about this mission than they’d like,” I say.

“We can’t just stand around and do nothing,” Carth says, “We have to do something!”

“No, you don’t,” I say firmly, “Neither of you have to do anything except testify if you’re asked. And in fact it’s better if you don’t do anything. If anything happens to me, it’s up to all of you to find the last Star Map and stop Malak.”

“Indeed,” Bwa’lass says, finally saying something, “It would be in all of your best interests to let me do my job as arbiter. To that end, I would like to interview my client alone so that we may adequately prepare for the trial tomorrow.”

“We have to do this right, guys,” I say, “Please trust me, I don’t want to spend time in a Selkath jail anymore than you do.”

“In fact,” Bwa’lass chimes again, “the punishment for the crime is death, by immediate execution.”

“DEATH?” Carth exclaims, causing his escorts to tense up. Bad time to say that, Bwa’lass.

Jolee holds Carth back. “Calm down, lad, before you get yourself arrested,” he says, “If Rena says to trust her, that’s exactly what we must do.”

“Jolee, I can’t just --” he shouts. But as he looks Jolee in the eyes… I don’t know what level they’re communicating on, what they say, but Carth relaxes. He looks back at me, like he’s trying to take me in. “Okay,” he says finally, “... Okay.” And nothing more.

“Please escort them back to their vessel,” Bwa’lass says to the officers, who nod and turn to leave with Jolee and Carth. But Carth doesn’t stop looking at me. His eyes are set on mine until they round the corner, out of sight. “Now,” Bwa’lass says, taking a deep breath, “I would first like to ask you a few questions regarding the events that led up to your arrest. I have already been given all relevant data on you and your companions, so that can be disregarded. For what reason did you enter the Sith Embassy?”

“I had been hired as a mercenary,” I say, “The court officers found a pass card with my belongings, I heard them catalog it.”

“Yes, I have record of that,” he says, “I find it unlikely that you are a mercenary, but perhaps the judges will be more sympathetic to your view.” Good to know my lawyer has no faith in me. “What is your prior association with the Sith?”

I scoff. “How much time do you have?”

“I beg your pardon?”

Actually… best not. At best, I’ll be told I’m making a mockery of the court if I say I was Revan. At worst I’ll be believed and executed for war crimes. “Forget it,” I say, “Before I joined the Jedi Order, I was a scout. I’d encounter other scout patrols who were hired by the Sith, and I was amicable with them, but beyond that my interactions have been nearly non-existent.”

“I am skeptical of that,” Bwa’lass says, “as will be the judges. You off-worlders tend to congregate much amongst yourself. I see no inherent differences between your two groups.”

“They’re philosophical differences, for the most part,” I say, “Political views, moral stances.”

“I see,” Bwa’lass says neutrally, “There is no need to elaborate further. That should be all the information I require of you, for now.”

Wait, that’s it? “Um… don’t you need to ask more questions?”

“I have all the information I need.”

“How can you expect to defend me without getting more information?”

“I think this trial is relatively straightforward,” he says with a shrug, “It should be obvious to the judges what has transpired.”

Obvious? “Uh… why don’t you tell me what you plan on telling them? Just… so we’re both on the same page.”

He looks a tad insulted, but with a small sigh, he says, “Very well. You were there by circumstance, not involved in the disturbance. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time on legitimate business, the business of the Jedi Order. The Jedi are above reproach, and none of their Order would have murdered so many out of spite.” 

Oh, boy. “You don’t know much about the Jedi, do you?”

“I have no first-hand knowledge, but the reputation of the Order is well-known. Jedi are peacekeepers, not killers.” Yeah, this little war thing is just an effort to keep the peace, not a major struggle between good and evil.

Evil. That’s… oh, that’s good. “I tell you what, Bwa’lass. There was a Selkath present when I was arrested, her name is Shasa.”

“Yes, I know the name. Her father, Shaelas, has been before the judges numerous times, demanding action against the Sith for kidnapping Selkath youth. However, he has never been able to produce evidence to his claims, and has been summarily dismissed each time.”

“Could it be managed for Shasa to give testimony? She’s a part of the story the judges will want to hear,” I say.

“As a youth, her father must be consulted on the matter. I will make the necessary inquiries prior to the start of the trial tomorrow.” I get the feeling he’s just humoring me, but he doesn’t have to believe me. He just has to do it.

“Thank you. After that your services are no longer needed. I think it’s best if I defend myself.”

He sighs again. ‘While that is your right, I strongly recommend against that,” he says again, “I am versed in all the necessary particulars of this case and Selkath law, off-worlder. You would do well to heed my advice.”

“Bwa’lass, I respect you and your knowledge,” I say, “But to put it bluntly, I think that if I rely on you for my entire defense, I’m not going to survive the trial. You’ve been a huge help, but once you’ve arranged for Shasa to testify, I can take it from there.”

“And if her father refuses?”

“I will cross that bridge when I get there.” The Sith master’s datapad should still be with my belongings. I know I heard the court officers record mine, but they were going through stuff before I got brought to this cell.

“Very well,” Bwa’lass says reluctantly, “You off-worlders are not known for your mental prowess. I shall leave your demise up to you.” He bows his head slightly and leaves.

@averruncusho @ceruleanrainblues @chubbsmomma thank you for reading, you get a tag. @skelelexiunderlord thank you for support, you get a tag.

——–

The disassembly room is the other direction from the Selkath. We took a left to get there, we would have kept going straight to get to the north second of the base. So we backtrack back to where the path diverged and take a left, away from the base entrance.

A door. I don’t like the feel of it. I don’t let Carth or Canderous open it. “There’s a lot of power behind here,” I say, placing my hand on it, “Three Dark Jedi.”

“Don’t tell me you’re nervous,” Canderous says, “Not after you fought Malak.”

“I didn’t exactly win, in case you forgot,” I say, “And I’m not worried about me, I’m worried about you two. They’ll only have to worry about me going head to head, and I can’t fight three at once, which makes it all the easier for them to go after you. I’m not sure your armor can hold up against a lightsaber.”

“Is there any way around?” Carth asks. (Canderous scoffs and rolls his eyes, annoyed I guess at us wanting to avoid a fight. I don’t care if he’s annoyed as long as he doesn’t touch the door.)

I pull out my data pad, look at the base schematic. “… There’s a long way, but there’s a complicated series of pressurized doors in between. Plus there’s no guarantee there won’t be even more Dark Jedi if we went around.”

“I can’t believe you two,” Canderous says, “Especially you, Carth. We both faced greater challenges during the Mandalorian War. And, hells, Rena, you were one of the challenges. And now you both want to turn back to avoid facing a mere three Jedi? You faced more than that on the Leviathan.”

“When - while you were off with everyone else sitting safe and sound on the Hawk? Or when Rena was risking her life fighting Malak alone?” Carth snaps back.

“If it weren’t for me in the ship we would still be there,” Canderous growls, getting in Carth’s face, “We never would have made it out of the hangar if I hadn’t gone ahead and taken care of the guards.”

“Don’t make me laugh - we took out half the Sith on the entire ship; the others could have handled a few troopers in the hangar,” Carth scoffs, “Oh, but you’re right, we never would have gotten out without you.” He rolls his eyes. “No, you ran and took the easy job. Maybe if you hadn’t run from the harder fight, Bastila would still be here and we wouldn’t be in this situation!”

Canderous grabs hold of the fabric around Carth’s neck, teeth gritted. “Do not presume to call me coward when you have not fought my battles!”

“That’s enough!” I hiss at both of them, “We don’t have time for this, and even if we did you two are throwing any attempts at discretion out the window! It’s a wonder the entire base doesn’t know we’re here, let alone the three Dark Jedi on the other side of this door!” Carth avoids my eyes, almost embarrassed, but Canderous huffs and looks away like he’s ignoring me. If you guys want to argue so bad, do it when we’re out of the base, but for now, can we at least pretend to be a united front?”

Carth tugs at his shirt, straightening it. “You’re right, Rena. I’m sorry. We should focus on the problem at hand.”

Canderous says nothing. I don’t expect an apology, frankly. His pride is standing in the way of that. Plus, the only way Carth’s remarks could have struck so deep is if the wound was already open. He’s not innocent here by any stretch - he started the fight in the first place - but it’s definitely not the standard animosity between him and Carth. There’s more than that at play here.

Just like I need them to focus, so do I. How can three Sith be taken out quickly and with minimal injury for us? I could overload a power conduit, but I can’t see any access points here. Yes, we could technically go back to a computer, but every minute we’re here we risk detection and going back to the computer would take precious time. Going around is not the best plan - figuring out those pressurized doors would also take precious time. I wonder… Back on the Leviathan, I was able to figure out Jolee’s stunning trick, and it helped us win that fight fairly quickly. If I can stun even one of these Dark Jedi that will make the fight much easier. They’ll see me the moment I open the door, so I have to do it fast. Focus. One hand hovering over the door panel. “Get behind me,” I say, and they do (Canderous reluctantly.) I reach my other hand out and breathe. Focus. The minute I open the door I need them to be stunned. One… two… Tap the door panel, release the feeling. Two of them are stunned in the middle of turning their heads. The third is not. That’s okay, one is better than three. I jump to the one while Carth and Canderous focus themselves on the stunned two.

The unfrozen one is a master, the others his apprentices. He fights like Master Zhar does, the same movements, the same strength. But then for a moment he gets distracted. Usually, I’d take that moment of folly and gain an edge, but I see the same distraction out of the corner of my eye. Canderous, rather than solely using his blaster rifle, has wretched the lightsaber from one of the apprentices and is using it to attack the apprentice. Unsurprisingly, his form is sloppy and untrained. Lightsabers require different techniques than swords and vibroblades. not only is the weight different, but self-inflicted injuries from lightsabers can be fatal Despite his poor form, the apprentice falls quickly - technique or no, it’s a laser sword, if you can’t defend yourself it does a lot of damage - and Canderous rushes the master with a yell. The sheer force of his rage pushes me aside and catches the master off-guard. If I had come at him with rage, he would have encouraged me to give in to my anger. If I did that for even a second he would have a victory. But a non-Jedi… he isn’t prepared for that. Certainly not one with such brute strength as Canderous has right now. He pushes harder than the master expects, and cuts his head off with a shout.

I’m stunned myself. Why would he have done that? I had this sorted. He could have, would have, gotten himself killed if the master wasn’t so stunned that he couldn’t provide any defense. Canderous deactivates the lightsaber and stands over the corpse. The rage is pouring out of him like a gusher. He’s going to get us all killed if this keeps up! When I finally gather myself, I come up to him and shove him - for a moment he looks like he wants to strike back twice as hard, but he doesn’t. “What the hell was that?”

“You thought you couldn’t handle it, so I did!” he half shouts at me, “What’s your problem?”

“Look, I’m already questioning my capabilities, I don’t need you undermining them, too,” I say, “I said I couldn’t handle three Dark Jedi at once, so don’t put words in my mouth. I had this under control!”

“What does it matter? He’s dead! What does it matter if it was by my hand?”

“It clearly matters to you, otherwise you wouldn’t have cut his head off!” I shout back, “Taking that lightsaber was a stupid move. If you had any understanding of the Jedi you’d know it isn’t just a laser sword - you could have killed yourself! You could have killed me! And good luck freeing Bastila then!”

“I know exactly what it is, and that’s exactly why I took it!” He steps closer, challenging me. To my own surprise, I hold my ground. “I took the bond between him and his vaunted weapon and I used it against him, took the power to kill another. If this were the Mandalorian Wars you would have done the same thing. For all I know - for all you know! - maybe you did! But now? I look at you now…” His voice gets low. He surveys me. Not finishing his thought. Then he sighs. “Forget it.” He tries to step away.

I cut him off. “Say it!”

He meets my eyes, firing darts at me. “You’re not the same person who defeated my people,” he growls, “I could have counted on Revan to fight at my side, but you? Trying to avoid fights? Make them easier? You would have run from this fight if you could have. Revan never would have. Five years ago you bested my people in combat, but now I see fear behind your eyes. You’ve not Revan. Revan would have killed me where I stood. But you couldn’t even stop your own apprentice.”

“That’s enough!” Carth forces himself between us, “Canderous, whatever is going on with you, get ahold of yourself and stop using both of us as your personal punching bags. This is not the time. If you can’t follow Rena then go back to the entrance and wait. Otherwise your fight is with the Sith, not her.” Carth, I do not need you fighting my battles for me! “And you.” He turns to me. “We spent a whole week on Alderaan, a whole week of Master Zhar working with you to keep Revan under control. A whole week to convince you that you’re more than just Darth Revan. Do not let all that time go to waste.”

“What are you talking about? I’m fine!” I say loudly.

“I watched your fingers spark, don’t tell me you’re fine,” he pushes back.

They… they did? I didn’t even feel it. But Carth wouldn’t lie to me, especially not about something like that. If he hadn’t stepped in, I could have killed Canderous. No matter what he did, that doesn’t justify me electrocuting him to death.

Canderous huffs. He was looking for a fight and he’s angry he didn’t get one, but for now I think he’s going to let it go. Whatever is on his mind will come out soon enough, but we have to finish here first. However it happened, these three Dark Jedi are dead, and I doubt Canderous is going to make a habit out of using a lightsaber. It’s not an easy weapon to use. 

@averruncusho @ceruleanrainblues @chubbsmomma @darthvendar-blog @80strashbag thank you for reading, you get a tag. @skelelexiunderlord thank you for support, you get a tag.

a/n - thanks Darth Vendar for unintentionally telling me to update my tag list!

——–

The two assault droids are still emitting a faint hiss as we pass through the large chamber. But more than the slight burn of the machinery, I smell something vaguely… fishy. God, that’s probably super racist. I will just… keep that thought to myself. 

Not “fishy” like “suspicious”, I mean I smell fish. Wow, look at me not keeping my thoughts to myself.

I open the far door and hear something slapping against the floor. A bare foot. I can’t say for certain whether that bare foot is a foot or a flipper, but it’s definitely a bare foot, and it was running away from us. Well, there’s only one direction to go, so that must be where they went. Through another door, followed by more barefoot running away. Now it’s less certain where they went, but that’s not important since we’re where we wanted to be anyway. This is definitely a barracks and a training area. It looks a lot like the door layout of the Endar Spire. A place where soldiers would be. But it also resembles some of the training spaces on Korriban. For Jedi training. “They’re training the Selkath to be Jedi,” I say, “Dark Jedi, this could give them a massive political leg up.”

“Only if it works,” Carth says, “I imagine you have something to say on the subject.”

I chuckle shortly - yeah, no shit - and head for the dormitory in front of me. Four Selkath turn their heads towards the opening door, and their hands go to blasters when they realize we’re not Sith. 

“Intruders!” one exclaims, “Should we sound the alarm, Shasa?”

Shasa - that was the name Shaelas said, wasn’t it? His daughter. She also seems to be the de facto leader in the room. “No,” she says, “wait. We cannot always be running to the Masters for help. We should handle this on our own.” They relax, hands falling away from their blasters. 

“Perhaps this is a test the Sith have prepared for us?” one asks in a timid voice.

Shasa gives a small nod, and turns back to us. “What are you doing here? Only masters and apprentices are allowed in here.”

“My name is Rena,” I say, “Shaelas has me looking into the disappearance of young Selkath. I guess he meant you guys.”

 “I told you your father would get suspicious, Shasa!” one of them says, “He always hated the Sith!”

“My father doesn't understand,” Shasa says to both of us, “He is blinded by his own prejudice!” She turns fully to us. “The Sith are teaching us mastery of the Force. Our alliance with the Sith will bring strength to Manaan and the Selkath people!”

I scoff. “If I had a nickel for every time I heard that,” I say, “I’m sure that’s what they told you, but they were lying to you. They’re manipulating you for their own gain.”

“Republic propaganda,” Shasa scoffs, “The Sith are the victims of lies and half truths! They are not monsters - no more so than the Republic. The Sith have promised to guide us in the use of the Force, as a sign of their good faith.” And they make you use blasters instead of swords or lightsabers? “And once the Republic is defeated, the Sith have promised to withdraw from Manaan and respect our independence.”

Okay. Okay. Uh… no. “You do realize you’re basically forfeiting that independence by working with them, right?” Guys, seriously. You seem smarter than this. “You guys being here gives the Sith political leverage to bring Manaan into their empire. The opposite of independence - they’ll just take Manaan for their own.”

“Spare us your lies!” she exclaims, “The Sith have treated us with nothing but respect and honor! You speak as if we are prisoners here, but we can leave whenever we wish! Our friend Galas chose to leave, and he was returned safely to his home in Ahto City.”

But the others seem a bit less certain. “Shasa,” one says, “what if they speak the truth? Remember what happened at Taris…”  

“Taris is nothing but a Republic lie!” she says.

“I was there!” Canderous says, “It’s not a lie, the planet is decimated. Your ‘honorable’ Sith and their fleet bombed the planet into rubble.”

“Then you are nothing but a Republic puppet, echoing their lies!” Canderous growls and starts to step forward, but Carth stops him. “If the Sith are such monsters,” Shasa continues, “then prove it to us. Surely there must be some evidence of the ‘horrors’ they commit!”

“The Sith are evil, Shasa,” Carth says, “They will use you to conquer Manaan for the kolto.”

“So you say,” she says skeptically, “But why should we believe you? We need physical proof, not the words of some Republic sympathizers.”

“Give us some time, then,” I say, “We will find proof that the Sith are evil.”

Shasa seems unwilling to budge at just my word, but the others seem a bit more open-minded. “Shasa,” one says, “I think we should give them a chance to prove themselves.” The other two murmur in agreement.

Shasa hums slightly. “We will not report your presence to our Sith Masters yet,” she says, “If you bring us proof of Sith lies and torture we will return to our families and report this to the Ahto City authorities. Until then we shall stay here and continue our training in the ways of the Force.”

I nod. I doubt the same story that convinced Dustil will convince them, for any number of reasons. “Surely things are different here on Manaan than they were on Korriban,” I can hear them say, “Our Sith Masters are kind and would never outright slaughter one of us.” Which, of course they would. I have to wonder if Galas really did return home or was just killed and dumped in the ocean. Any suitable proof will be found in the hands of their Master. And somehow I know that that wasn’t the guy Canderous killed. That would be too easy. 

But I also suspect that their Master will be close by. Regular close contact with these kids would be essential for the plan I’m 99% certain they have. Being absent or uncommunicative for long stretches would lead to distrust and suspicion, and they’d be far less useful and effective at the task of taking over. There are two remaining rooms here. The one on the right has nothing but medical supplies and an old bloodied coin. Selkath blood, I suspect. I wrap the coin tightly in a plain bandage. While I suspect it would mean something to Shasa, it wouldn’t mean much alone. There would almost certainly be an accusation that I killed its owner, not the Sith. And what about the body? No, the coin alone does little for me. And so, to check the room on the left. This is a training room, with a droid that I quickly zap, and a door at the back which leads to a short hallway. There’s a sign on the door at the end of the hallway: “do not disturb.” Yeah, like that was ever going to work on me. Of course I open the door.

A Selkath is collapsed on the floor. Not quite dead but almost. And the Sith master standing over him, flanked by two Selkath apprentices. The dying one looks at me. “Please, tell Shasa… the Sith…” One of the apprentices shoots the dying Selkath, killing him.

“Does ‘do not disturb’ mean nothing to you people?” the master shouts, turning around. His anger shifts to confusion upon seeing us. “How did you get in here?” he asks, “Who are— Wait.” His eyes narrow. ‘I recognize you!” Yes, yes, Revan, we know. “Lord Malak was most displeased when he learned you had escaped Taris alive.” Taris? A bit behind on the news, there, aren’t you, bud? “He has promised a great reward to whoever destroys you.”

“You guys don’t get a lot of updates here, do you?” Canderous says. Evidently thinking the same thing I was. “I would have thought Malak would have sent word to his entire army once he told you your identity.” I shrug. The master says nothing.

“Master,” one of the Selkath apprentices says, “give us the honor of aiding you in destroying this enemy of the Sith.”

“As you wish, my eager apprentices,” the Master says. but he has to know they have no chances, not with those blasters. I think the master intends to have us do his dirty work for him and get rid of the witnesses to his murder. “We shall remove these thorns from Malak’s side once and for all!”

Before they can even ready their blasters, Canderous blasts them with his, one shot each. I feel bad for them, really, they were practically dead the minute they decided they wanted in on this fight. That just leaves the master and his double-bladed lightsaber. Carth tries to split the master’s focus but it is razor sharp on me. Without even looking at him, he pushes Carth away with the Force. I try to break Carth’s fall with my own Force - no idea how well I do but I try. but after that Carth stays back. The master wants me to himself.

“So,” the master says, “this is how the great Revan fights.”

“Oh you were just pretending not to know me, then?” I grunt, pushing hard, “Did you do that so the apprentices would want to jump in or were you just playing mind games for fun?”

He swings at my head and I duck. “I must admit, your entry was well-timed. I was going to have to kill them myself before they let slip the truth about Galas. But your timely arrival took that burden out of my hands.” Galas? Wasn’t that the Selkath Shasa mentioned that went back to his family? Which obviously didn’t happen. But she doesn’t need to see the body. I can give her that.

The master brings his lightsaber down over my head and I block it. “You know,” he says. “I expected a Sith lord to be more of a challenge than this.” Shut up. “Although in hindsight I’m not surprised - Malak was able to stop you so easily after all. But I have to wonder…” He pushes hard, and while I’m able to keep his lightsaber from touching me, my knees bend under the pressure. He brings his face close, the glow of his lightsaber illuminating every pore.” …why did he let you live?”

Great question. And if Bastila hadn’t been there I wonder what would have happened. But he doesn’t want discussion. He doesn’t want the truth. He wants to get under my skin. To either weaken my resolve or get me to strike in anger, securing a kind of win in either case. And I won’t give it to him. With as much power as I can muster, I push up against his lightsaber, buying myself enough time to roll out of the way. I make eye contact with Carth. I don’t know, I just… needed to know he was still there. ‘No snappy comeback, Revan?” the master quips, “Have you nothing to say? Could it be that you doubt yourself?”

No. No I don’t. Carth smiles at me. I’m the same person I was last week. The master swings his lightsaber. I think fast. Jump as high as I can manage. And aim my landing for right on top of the master. He can’t prepare. I fall right on top of him and run my lightsaber though the back of his throat.

I take a moment to catch my breath. Carth beams at me. He doesn't say anything, but that’s okay. His eyes say enough.

Canderous scans the room, looking for evidence to show the Selkath. “Think there’d be anything on his computer?”

“Nothing useful - you never keep your secrets in plain view,” I say, “More likely he’ll have a datapad - start checking desk drawers.” I quickly frisk the corpse, which feels as weird as it sounds, to no avail. No datapad on his person.

I hear a small blaster shot as Canderous shoots the lock off a drawer. Yeah, what’s a little property damage when you’ve committed murder? “Good call,” he says, “it’s not even locked.”

“The Selkath trust him,” Carth says, “he probably didn’t see the need for two locks.”

“My thoughts exactly,” I say, taking the datapad from Canderous. I’m not about to read the whole thing, I don’t have the patience. There’s a lot of discussion about politics, the workings of Selkath government. My eyes catch the word “infiltrate”, which becomes “infiltrate the government,” and I don’t read anymore. Exactly as I figured.

I take the datapad and the coin back to Shasa and the others. They gather around me as I carefully unwrap the coin. “It doesn’t mean anything to me, but I figured it would mean something to one of you. Or at least, I should return it.”

One tenderly reaches for it, takes the wrapping. “Shasa,” xe says slowly, “…this is the pin I gave Galas when we were children. There is blood on it.”

But Shasa remains unconvinced. “You could have found this anywhere!” she says loudly, “For all we know, you killed Galas!”

“Shasa,” the first says, xer voice trembling, “I believe them. How else would they have found this pin?”

“Well, I need more proof!”

I don’t want to tell them that Galas’ body is still here. In the master’s office. “If you need more proof,” I say, holding out the datapad, “I took this from your master’s office. It details plans to infiltrate and control the Selkath government.”

Shasa swipes it from my hand, silently reading the lines I skimmed over, her face dropping with every line until she reads the phrase I stopped at - “infiltrate the government.” “I…” she says softly, betrayal dripping from her open mouth, “I cannot believe it. And yet, the evidence is right before me. The Sith wanted to use us to betray Manaan!” She shakes her head and gives the datapad back to me. “I must apologize for doubting you. The Sith are truly as evil as you have claimed.”

The other three nod, utter an agreement. Galas’ friend speaks up again - “We must report this to the Ahto City authorities!” xe says.

“Yes,” Shasa agrees, “we must report this at once. We thank you, human, for showing us the truth. You have saved us from a terrible mistake.” She gestures to the others. “Quickly, my friends - we can stay here no longer. We must flee this foul embassy and warn our people against the plot to corrupt the Manaan youth.” The other apprentices leave before her. “Rena,” she says to me, “you have shown us the way. The least I can do is guide your way. Please, come with us.”

“I’ll find my own way out,” I assure her, “Don’t worry.”

“I am not worried that you will find your way to the entrance,” she clarifies, “The laws of Manaan forbid unauthorized use of weapons, and even though this enclave is sovereign, I fear you will be taken into custody when you leave. Please, come with us. If we vouch for you, we may be able to impact the authorities, the courts.”

I smile. “Thank you, Shasa,” I say, “You are very wise and very kind. I will gladly follow your lead.”

The walk back to the elevator is silent, as Shasa leads us back the way we came. Though she is able to effectively block me from reading her, I can tell she has a lot of missed wheeling about the carnage we wrought on our way here. She may have trained with some of these Sith personally, met them, knew their names. Even knowing their plans, that doesn’t take away their personhood. She tries not to think about it.

As the elevator rises back towards the surface, I can feel the large number of Selkath gathered there, waiting to apprehend us. When it opens, a tall gray Selkath steps forward. “You there, human!” he shouts, “You are placed under the arrest of the Ahto City Civil Authority!”

Shasa steps in front of us. “Please, Captain!” she says, confident, “Allow me to explain! I will vouch for them!”

“Your companions have already explained, child,” he says, “And your testimony will be considered in court. In the meantime I must take them into custody.” He looks back at me. “You have the right to know the charges,” he says, and proceeds to explain, “Though the Sith Embassy here is considered sovereign territory of the Sith Empire,” - as Shasa said - “we have been monitoring an alarming number of weapons discharges and detonations from within the base. Inquiries to the staff of the Embassy yielded no response. It would seem that our contact had been cut. Our cameras recorded you and your accomplices entering the base shortly before contact was lost and fighting apparently began. It is the conclusion of the Ahto City Civil Authority that you are responsible for the disturbance here, and you are hereby placed under arrest. You will come with us to await your trial.”

“I will come with you,” I say, “but let my friends return to our ship. They were only following my instructions and should not be punished for my crimes.”

“Rena, don’t—!” Carth starts to say, but I hold my arm out to stop him. Turn to look at him. I’ll be okay. And if I’m not, they need to find the Star Map without me. To finish the mission.

@averruncusho @ceruleanrainblues @chubbsmomma thank you for reading, you get a tag. @skelelexiunderlord thank you for support, you get a tag.

——–

For me, looking the part is not too difficult. I just pull off the robe tunic. I also stow my purple lightsaber in my pack, and hide my blue one under my pant leg. Mercenaries don’t use lightsabers. I didn’t realize how much I missed my swords. I put them on my belt. And easy as that I look like a mercenary. And you’d think it would be that simple for Carth, but it’s not. He has to leave his orange jacket behind. it’s too easily recognized as Republic colors. But it takes a good ten minutes to pick out some armor that makes him look enough like a mercenary to pass the first security checkpoint. Once he’s done that, though, we meet back up with Canderous and head to the Sith base.

As expected it looks just the same as any other Sith base. It’s very sterile. But it looks like they take this place seriously, if the four war droids are any indication. I’m not particularly worried, though. We have legitimate passes, mercenary passes.

The man at the checkpoint stops us. “Only people who have business with the Sith are allowed inside the embassy,” he says.

I let Canderous do the talking. He has experience here and as an actual mercenary he’ll hold up under scrutiny. “We have business,” he says, holding out the passes, “We were hired as mercs earlier today.” The officer takes the passes and looks at them closer. “Unless you’d rather we go work for the Republic.”

The security officer scoffs, but I can tell, he doesn’t want to get in any hot water for turning us away. “Hmph,” he sighs, “Yes, well, I suppose you really do have business here. Head on in.”

Canderous just gives a small nod and we move past the security desk towards the elevator. That’s the hard part done with, then. The elevator ride is still very anxious, though, and even though I’m certain I can handle whatever’s down there, I’m still annoyingly nervous.

The elevator stops. I take a deep breath. It opens. I let Canderous take the lead again. He looks the part more than I do. He presents our passes to the desk attendant, just like he did upstairs. And so far it looks like we’re in the clear. The desk attendant looks familiar somehow, though, and I can’t tell if it’s a remnant from Revan’s memory, my mind and anxiety playing tricks on me, or if I really have seen him before. Just act natural, Rena, just act natural.

But as I pass, he stops us. “Hold on a moment,” he says, looking at me, scrutinizing my face, “Weren’t you on Korriban a couple weeks ago?”

Shit. I remember. When I hacked the Sith Academy to get Dustil’s info, a Sith trooper got suspicious. I managed to lie my way out of it, but I probably only got away with it because he didn’t want any trouble for himself. And, probably, because he was about to get transferred and didn’t want to take the risk of ruining it. So he did get transferred, apparently, and got transferred here. Play it cool, Rena, act natural. “I’ve never been to Korriban in my life.” And try to keep moving.

He grabs my arm. Carth twitches, but keeps his cover. “No,” the Sith says, narrowing his eyes, “I remember.” He glances at Carth “You and your companion - you were both there!” Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit. “So… you were just a simple tech, transferred from the fleet, fixing something for a ‘Sith master”, were you?” He scoffs. “And now you’re trying to pass yourself off as a mercenary? What sort of fool do you take me for?” I pull my arm out, but escape won’t be so easy.

The elevator opens, and out comes the man from the upstairs checkpoint, followed by the four war droids. “Lieutenant,” he asks the trooper, “what’s the meaning of this? I checked their passes myself. They were hired on this morning.”

“Perhaps their passes were legitimate, Commander Grann,” the trooper says, “but they are not. I encountered them at my last posting. Whoever this woman is, she’s no mercenary. I suspect they’re Republic spies!”

The commander balks. “Sound the alarm! Droids, destroy them!”

Well, shit. It’s okay, I can do this. In a split second, I take a breath. Channel my nerves and anxiety, focus, just like Master Zhar said. Call the lightning to my fingertips. Disable the droids. Overload. I can draw my swords faster than my lightsaber, so I pull them and face the trooper. He pulls his own sword and brings it to meet mine. There’s a fire in his eyes, like he’s been waiting for a fight. Eager. And despite my display of the Force, he thinks this is a fight he can win. And frankly… he has a chance. There’s a lot of strength behind his sword, and more technique than I’m used to seeing from rank and file Sith soldiers.

What’s wrong with me? This man is not my match. I have faced worse threats than this, stronger fighters than this. Come on, Rena. Get off your ass. You can do this. Easy. He brings his sword down over my head but I catch it, scissoring it between my own swords. He tries to push down. I push back. He grits his teeth. Time for an unexpected move. Barely even thinking, I collide his head with my own. Which hurts like hell for me at least, and causes him to stumble. Uneven footing. I sweep his legs out from under him. And now I’ve got him on the ground. I deal the final blow.

But I find myself wishing I hadn’t. Not because I think he’ll be useful or anything. It’s just… like a shadow creeping up in my head. Making me question who I am. Like there has been for the past week. Focus, Rena, focus. You’re no good like this.

While I was focused on my trooper, Carth and Canderous must have taken care of Commander Grann from upstairs. Now Canderous is blasting the war droids for good measure. I decide to stick to the computer. The first thing I do is turn off the alarm. We do not need to deal with troops coming to defend the lobby, and hopefully this means we won’t have to deal with the police when we leave. Next, I don’t want to spend a whole lot of time in here if I don’t have to, so I want to know where I’m going. Best way to know is to check the security camera. Disassembly room - that’s where I’d put a droid I was trying to get information out of. Check the camera… that looks like a recon droid to me, and they are doing their damnedest to get the data core out. Odds are the main thing stopping them is a deceptively simple lock. Recon droids don’t have personality subroutines like utility or protocol droids do. Not generally, anyway. In fact, as far as droids go, there’s not a lot to them. A variety of sensors, a preset route, some basic cartography software, and that’s it. Sure, you can add more bells and whistles, but that just means more stuff that can go wrong. Once you’ve programmed your recon droid, it’ll carry out that programming until it finishes, gets recalled, runs out of power, or is otherwise impaired, like this one. When it’s done, you extract the data core, download the data, wipe it, and start again. Generally speaking, the data core is protected by whatever weatherproofing is appropriate for the situation. In this case, I’d imagine it’s completely watertight. But since this is also a droid for spying, the Republic wouldn’t let it go without some extra security surrounding the data core. Hence, a deceptively simple lock. There’s no computer to access the droid, so there’s nothing to hack. Sure, you could laser your way in, but then you risk destroying the data core.

Not to say there’s not a way to break in, of course. You can break into pretty much anything, depending on how much time and effort you put into it. They’ve had it for twelve hours and haven’t made any progress yet. All of this is moot, however, since I’ve got the key code to access the core, to open the deceptively simple lock. The information on the core still has to be decrypted, but that’s not my concern. I just need to grab the core and go.

“Are you seeing anything about those missing Selkath?” Carth asks.

To be honest I had nearly forgotten about them. Just focused too hard, I guess. “No, but then I was looking for the droid, give me a second.” Okay, Selkath. If I were the Sith, and I was trying to sway Selkath youth to my side, taking them into my base, where would I put them? I’d want to make them feel special, show them that all the hype, all the bad press about my organization just isn’t true. I wouldn’t trust the rank-and-file troopers that staff my base to maintain that facade, though. So access to them would be limited, if not eliminated altogether. So. A part of the base, with only one or two access points, with a dormitory section. Pull up a base schematic… Bam. “The north section of the base. That’s where I’d keep them.”

Carth and Canderous both look at the schematic over my shoulder. “Looks like a strategic spot,” Canderous says.

“I tend to agree,” Carth says - and the fact that he can say that without puking, I swear - “it looks pretty secure. But it also… looks a little too easy. Doesn’t it?” Canderous nods, sort of hums in agreement. Carth points out a relatively large room with no label. “That seems like a good place for an assault droid.”

Hmm. “Let me just check the power levels.” That’s a pretty high level for a room with nothing in it, as far as the computer is concerned. “Good hunch,” I say, “Just give me two seconds…” Alpha, alpha, double bar, beta, sigma, little red star… “Assault droids deactivated, force field down.” That probably won’t be the only obstacle, but it’s a huge one out of the way. “Droid first, then the Selkath. Agreed?” They nod. Cool.    

I follow the schematic down the hallway to the north. If I’m reading this map right, I take the only left, and follow it, then go left again to get to the recon droid. Before I open the door, I place my hand on it. Trying to see what’s on the other side. Echoes in the Force. “Three troopers and two droids,” I say softly, “One of the troopers has grenades, he’s in the corner.” I pull my blue lightsaber from its hiding place. I don’t think I need my purple one just yet. “I’ll take out the droids, then Canderous, you focus on the grenadier. Carth, you okay covering us?”

“You got it.”

Okay. Deep breaths, deep breaths. You can do this. Three… two… one… open the door.

@averruncusho @ceruleanrainblues @chubbsmomma thank you for reading, you get a tag. @skelelexiunderlord thank you for support, you get a tag. (god are any of you even still active)

A/N - I have a new job! I work IT! Which is only one part of the reason that I haven't updated or really written a lot.

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——–

The Republic enclave is in the other direction from the mercenary enclave. I try to keep an eye on the sea, try to keep calm and focused, I just want to get this done. One step at a time. Some Sith try to sling insults and taunts at us, but I don’t pay attention to it. I’m not in any mood to fight or play. I just need to focus.

At the enclave. A dude at a desk - he looks important. “Welcome to Manaan,” he says, “I am Roland Wann. As the official representative of the Republic Embassy on this planet, I am here to help all citizens of the Republic should they require aid.”

Okay, well, aid I certainly require. “I’m on a mission from the Jedi Council,” I say, “Maybe you can help me with it.”

He looks a little shocked. Awestruck, maybe. “Uh… of course, of course. I will do whatever I can,” he says. But then a hint of confusion. “But I am only a simple diplomatic representative of the Republic. I doubt I can be of any use to the Jedi Council.”

“You know more about the planet than I do,” I say, “just by merit of living here. I’m looking for a Star Map, a remnant of an ancient and forgotten race. I had a vision that told me it was on the ocean floor.” A vision. No, a memory. But what does it really matter? I know it’s down there, I just need to know where and how to get there.

A look of understanding passes Roland Wann’s face. “An ancient and forgotten race…” he repeats contemplatively,”… and you think it may be here on Manaan? Hm…”

“I don’t think it’s here, I know it is,” I reiterate, “Does it sound familiar?”

“Well… ” he says slowly, “…perhaps. But if you want to get information about that, you'll have to do something for me first.”

Everyone wants something from me. Everyone wants me to do something for them. Like people take one look at the lightsaber and think “how can I exploit this person for my own benefit?” But here… I don’t have much choice here, do I? I have to get that Star Map. To find Bastila, to stop Malak, to save the galaxy, to end the war. And maybe, if I’m lucky, to make some peace with myself. I sigh. “What do you want me to do?”

“We were using a submersible reconnaissance droid in the ocean surrounding Ahto City and it was... damaged,” he says. Damaged how? “It took a data recording of the outside of the city before being driven off by the firaxan sharks.” Those are pretty ballsy sharks, recon droids are massive. “But while it was returning to the surface it encountered difficulties and was disabled. Its automatic systems floated it to the surface, but we could not retrieve it in time. The Sith were applying subtle pressure to the Selkath authorities for some reason we have not determined, and were able to delay us long enough that they could retrieve the droid before we did. The droid's data centers are heavily encrypted, so it will take the Sith several days, we believe, to get to its data. It was captured 12 hours ago. It is imperative that we get it back.”

“What’s the recording of, out of curiosity?” I ask.

“It's intelligence information about Sith activities on Manaan,” he says, “as well as some oceanographic reports on the local marine life.”

Intelligence on the Sith? Couldn’t that be a violation of Manaan’s neutrality? If the Republic is trying to undermine the Sith, that could lead to kolto sanctions or, worse, being banned from Manaan altogether. He seriously wants to risk that? Am I the only one who cares?

Carth touches my shoulder. “Rena?” he asks gently, “Something on your mind?”

Yeah, something’s on my mind! Does the Selkath’s neutrality, and the very real consequences for violating it, matter to nobody? The Sith are out here probably kidnapping Selkath youth, the Republic is spying on the Sith from underwater, they could both have their rights to the kolto revoked, functionally losing the war, and that doesn’t matter to them? I could turn this over to the Selkath, maybe they’d appreciate my commitment to their neutrality if I give them the data recording. Maybe they’d even tell me about the Star Map, because how could they not be aware of it, even a little? But then again, maybe they wouldn’t for the sake of their neutrality. Then I would have just betrayed the Republic and screwed myself over, twice. I don’t know. My head is too full. I can’t think. “Nothing,” I lie, “It’s nothing.” He doesn’t believe me, but he doesn’t push it.

“You need our information,” Wann says, “and I guarantee you that you will never be able to get it unless we have our secrecy guaranteed against the Sith.”

“Where is the droid?” Carth asks.

“It is heavily guarded, we are sure, in the Sith Embassy here on Manaan.” Oh, you mean the palace that, if I break into it, I’ll be arrested? That place? A place that, if I enter, as a Republic citizen, working for the Republic, could get the Republic trade sanctions on Manaan? Cut them off from life-saving kolto? That place? That Sith Embassy? For God’s sake. “Since we have no remaining soldiers to spare, and certainly not our elite ones, we have no one capable of entering the Sith base and retrieving it. That is what we would ask you to do.”

I… I don’t know. I don't feel very good. “Let me…” I start to say, “... can I get back to you?” I don’t even give him time to answer, I need to go. I step out and go to the window. Look out at the ocean. 

Nope, that’s not helping. That’s not helping at all. That’s making me feel worse. I sit down on a bench and face away from the window.

I see Carth sort of half-jog over to me from the enclave. “I had a feeling you weren’t all right,” he says, sitting next to me. 

“No, I feel like shit, actually,” I say. I smirk a bit. “But then you’ve seen me like this before,” I say, “On Taris.”

He remembers. “No,” he says, shaking his head, “Taris was different.” Different? Different how? “On Taris you were angry. This isn’t angry, this is… scared.”

“I’m not scared,” I say.

“And you’re still a lousy liar.”

“I’m not lying, I swear!”

“Rena,” he says, looking at me gently with those big, deep eyes of his, “maybe you can fool yourself, but I’ve known you for three months, we’ve spent three months in close quarters. Maybe you can fool yourself, but you can’t fool me. You’re scared of something.”

I don’t know what he’s talking about, seriously. “So what, exactly, am I afraid of, Detective Onasi?”

“You’re doubting your own abilities,” he says without missing a beat, “You’re afraid that, even with everything you’ve already done, you can’t do it anymore.”

Wait, what? That’s… that’s ridiculous, that’s not true! That’s- that’s not true at all. “I don’t know why you’re afraid of that,” he says, “I mean, I know why in your head. I’m saying it’s not rational.” So you’re saying this fear, that I don’t even have, that you’re saying I do have, isn’t rational? You’re calling me irrational now? “You’re still the same person you were last week.”

“But I’m not, am I?” I say quickly, “I’m not and I never will be again. I’m completely different now, and nothing you can say will change that.”

“But you’re not completely different,” he says. Yeah, dude, yeah I am. “Forget about Revan for a second.”

“Forget about Revan?” I repeat, “How can I ‘forget’ about it? How can I just ‘forget’ being lied to by the Jedi Council about my identity, having memories implanted in my head, being used, being surveilled - how can I just ‘forget’ that?!”

“Rena, I’m not going to fight with you,” he says calmly, “If the past week taught me anything, it’s that shouting at you is the wrong way to go about this.” Then how can you just tell me to “forget” about Revan? “And since I disagree with Master Zhar that quoting the Jedi Code will mean anything to you, I’m just going to wait.”

Wait, you…? “You talked with Master Zhar?” I ask, in a softer voice.

“He made a point of finding me on Alderaan,” he says, “I was mad about it for a while, but apparently Bastila was reporting back to the Council about you, and my name came up more than once. They put two and two together.”

“And he told you to quote the Jedi Code at me.” Why am I not surprised? 

“‘There is no emotion, there is peace,’” he recites, “He insisted I should say that to you if you got upset, but I thought that was the wrong way to go. And from your change in tone, it looks like I was right.” I can’t help but smile at him. He’s just… so adorable. “As I was about to say,” he continues, “maybe in your head you’ve changed, and maybe just the idea of Revan is having an effect mentally, but physically? You have the exact same skill set, the same physical capabilities you had last week.” Well… “I watched you jump across a room on Dantooine. And you disabled those ancient, massive droids on Korriban. You became the Taris duel champion, stole the Ebon Hawk from Davik, broke into a Sand People settlement and made peace, helped kill a krayt dragon, took on the most dangerous bounty hunter in the galaxy, killed a grand total of four ancient Sith creatures, two of them on your own, and you’re worried you won’t be able to break into a Sith base?”

Well… when you put it that way… “I guess,” I say in a small voice, “Mostly, though, I’m worried what this could do to Republic kolto exports. We’re obviously Republic-allied, it would be hard for anyone to believe the Republic wasn’t involved.”

He gives me a sort of glance at first, like I’m just coming up with more excuses. But he acknowledges that it’s a valid concern. “You and I both know the Sith aren’t innocent in this,” he says, “They’re trying to get their hands into the Selkath government to get more kolto for themselves.”

“So because they’re doing it, so should we.” Really, dude?

“You don’t believe that and you know it,” he says, “I know it because I know you. You’ve said it yourself, the Sith actively want to hurt people, you don’t support that. You don’t believe laws are absolute, and if doing the right thing means breaking a law, then you will watch the law shatter. Don’t even try to tell me you wouldn’t.”

He’s right. Again. I just feel so nervous. So not myself. Whatever that means anymore. I think it would be nice sometimes if I didn’t have to be myself.

Wait. That’s an idea. That’s a good idea. “What if we weren’t ourselves?”

Carth straightens, confused. “What do you mean?”

“As ourselves, we’d never get into the Sith base without risking the Republic kolto exports,” I say, “But the Republic is hiring mercenaries at a prodigious rate, and if I was a Sith diplomat seeing that, I’d want to hire some, too, just to stop the Republic from hiring them. Canderous is still down in the cantina looking into it - if he gets a job offer from the Sith, then we could get into their base, no questions asked. Plus we end up taking Sith money, so everyone wins. Except the Sith, of course.”

Carth smiles at me. “That’s the Rena I know,” he says. He stands and extends a hand to help me up. I don’t need the help but I take it anyway, just because it feels nice.

As we walk back to the Republic base, I buzz Canderous on my comlink. “Next Sith job you get, take it, and say you’re bringing along two other mercs.”

“Sounds like you’ve got a fun little scheme in the works,” he says, “I like it. I’ll let you know when I’ve got the job.”

While Carth was talking to me, Juhani was talking to Roland Wann. “Ah,” he says when he sees us come back, “you’re back. I was just telling your companion here about our possible leads into the Sith base. I assume you will be assisting us, as your friend said.”

“I will, but I’ve got my own lead,” I say, “We know the Republic has been hiring a lot of mercenaries - is it safe to assume the Sith have been doing the same?”

“Well… yes, that’s true, but --”

“The Sith are going to hire us,” I say quickly.

Wann is stunned into silence. It is Juhani who speaks first. “Rena,” she says slowly, “Are you sure that is wise? What if Canderous is unable to get recruited?”

My comlink buzzes. “This is Canderous. I just got recruited by the Sith. The recruiter gave me three base passes - we can go whenever you’re ready.”

I can’t help but give Juhani a smug little grin. “Thanks, Canderous,” I say, “We’ll meet back up with you soon.”

Now Juhani is stunned into silence. “As effective a method as that is,” Roland Wann says, finally able to speak, “it also sounds incredibly risky. I would advise you at least hear the leads we already have.”

“But that’s all you have - leads,” I say, “May way, I already have a guaranteed way in, and an excuse if the Selkath accuse me of breaking in on behalf of the Republic.” He tries to object a little. “I don’t know why you’re complaining - we get in, get your droid information, you tell us about the Star Map, we all go home happy.”

”The Sith base itself is very heavily guarded,” he says, “If they became aware of your presence, I fear you would be quickly outnumbered and killed.”

”I’ve been outnumbered and killed before, I can do it again.”

”You’ve been killed before?” he asks skeptically.

”I know what I said,” I say. I was a Sith Lord, apparently, and I’ve come to discover I still have the muscle memory. I was able to do a pretty good job against Malak, after all.

He gives a bit of a shrug. “If you’re sure, then,” he says, scribbling a number on a piece of paper, “If you change your mind, here is a passcard to get you inside our facility, as well as the access code to the reconnaissance droid. If you decide to try one of our leads, you should find all the information you need to get started inside. As long as you get the data recording back, use whichever method you like.” He hands me the Republic passcard and the slip of paper with the access code. “I wish you luck in your task,” he says, “Should you retrieve the data recording from the droid, return it here to me and we can see about getting you that information.”

“I admit,” Juhani says as we leave the Republic base, “I am nervous about this plan.”

“I don’t see what there is to worry about,” I say, “We have legitimate passes into the Sith base and a cover. Sure, It’ll probably involve a fight, but I don’t think there was ever a scenario where there wouldn’t be a fight.” I shrug, “If you’re so nervous, you don’t have to go. Carth, Canderous, and I can Do it.” She doesn’t respond. ‘We should head back to the ship anyway to put on more inconspicuous clothes. Me and Canderous are definitely going, but he’s only got three passes, so you two can either fight it out or just surrender to the other. Your call.”

She looks at Carth, and the two of them seem to have a completely nonverbal conversation in the space of four seconds. Until finally, “Perhaps you are right,” she says, “I do not think I could pass as a mercenary. I shall stay behind.”