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Knights of the Old Republic: Darkness Falls II - Alliances


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The pale blue emanations coming from the force fields of a long row of individual Force cages was the only source of light in the large darkened chamber. Captive inside the cages were the Jedi Bastila and her group of trainees. They all sat motionless, eyes closed, heads bowed, legs crossed, quiet and apparently meditating.

 

“Someone is not concentrating,” Bastila said, breaking the silence of the group.

 

“It’s m-me, Master Shan,” one timid voice said from inside one of the cages not far away. “I-I-I’m sorry.”

 

“Remember the first part of the Jedi code, Jareth,” Bastila said calmly. “’There is no emotion, there is peace.’ There is no room for fear in the mind of a Jedi.”

 

“Y-yes, Master S-shan.”

 

Bastila inhaled deeply, and then slowly let out her breath. I must be strong for them, she thought. I must be strong, so we can figure a way out of this.

 

Just then, she heard the grating sound of metal on stone. A door was being pushed open. She opened her eyes, searching the darkness for any signs of moment.

 

“Someone’s coming,” she warned the trainees. “Stay sharp.” She stood up.

 

She had awoken here with the others hours ago, with no clues as to where they were, why they were here, or how they had gotten there. They had seen no captors, heard no noises, just the soft hum of the cages in the darkened stone-floored chamber.

 

Lights. Bastila blinked and squinted her eyes as intense light flooded the room. Through the blinding brightness, she could see the hazy outline of four figures approaching.

 

“Who are you?!” she said, as she shaded her eyes with her hand. “I am Master Bastila Shan of the Jedi Order and I demand you release us at once!”

 

“Fiesty, isn’t she?” she heard a smooth male voice say.

 

“Why have you brought us here?” Bastila’s eyes were slowly adjusting to the light. The figures were dressed in black. And one of them wore a long cloak. Oh no, she thought. Sith.

 

One of the figures had separated from the group, and Bastila could hear what sounded like computers starting up. Squinting, she began to make out what appeared to be a laboratory. Counters, computers, chemicals and tubes, a strange looking device that looked like cross between a medical laser and a water pump, and a vertical table with arm, leg and head straps….

 

“What do you want with us?” Bastila demanded.

 

“All in good time, my dear,” the same voice she had heard earlier said. It was the one wearing the cloak. “All in good time.”

 

Her eyesight clearing, the face of the man in the black cloak came into focus. His face was narrow, but not haggard looking, and he wore a short white beard. His hair was longish and grey but a single black streak stood out. But what really caught her attention were his eyes. Deep set, brooding, dark, cold penetrating eyes. Bastila raised her chin in defiance of his icy stare, and he gave her an evil, calculating grin in return.

 

“You’re a Sith Lord, aren’t you,” she said acidly.

 

His dark eyes narrowed with amusement. “I am Lord Vros,” he replied, bowing his head ever so slightly.

 

"Lord? Not Darth?" Bastila asked cynically.

 

"No. Darth's a Sith title. I belong to a... 'higher' order."

 

Bastila frowned slightly. Not a Sith? She was puzzled about him now. “Whatever your plans are for us, you’ll never get away with them,” Bastila said. “The Jedi Council will send someone to rescue us.”

 

With his black robes dusting the floor behind him, he approached the cage. “Well, I certainly hope so,” he replied to her in a cool, measured tone. “I was somewhat planning on it.”

 

“Planning on it?” Bastila frowned. “You mean, this is just a ruse to attract more Jedi here? Why?”

 

Lord Vros just grinned. He motioned at his two companions behind him to approach. They were humanoid basic form, but it was hard to tell what race or species they actually were as they were covered entirely in black and wore a sort of hood over their faces. What did stand out about them was that they carried creatures on their shoulders. Ysalamiri. Unusual and rare furry reptilian creatures that had the capability of surrounding themselves with a Force-neutral bubble. Bastila suddenly recalled that this was how she and the others had been captured from the Almanac and her eyes closed slowly with dread. Without the Force and without weapons, she was powerless to protect the trainees.

 

With his associates in tow, Lord Vros paced slowly down the length of the cages, taking his time to examine the captive trainees one by one.

 

“This one,” he finally said, stopping outside of a cage with a young Twi’Lek male inside. The two men in black deactivated the Force cage and drug the protesting Twi’Lek out.

 

“No! Take me instead,” Bastila pleaded to Vros. “He’s only a trainee.”

 

Lord Vros raised an eyebrow. “Patience, Master Shan,” he said as he led the way to the vertical table. “Everyone will have a chance in due time.”

 

Bastila watched as the Twi’Lek trainee was forcibly strapped to the table, effectively immobilised from moving anything but his eyes. Lord Vros then moved to the strange device, and aimed it.

 

“No!” Bastila shouted. “Please! Don’t kill him!”

 

Lord Vros paused, blinked, then slowly turned his head towards Bastila. “Kill him? My dear, I have no plans on ‘killing’ him, or anyone else.” He flicked a switch and a low hum sounded. “The procedure I’m about to perform doesn’t cause any invasive tissue damage.” He flicked more switches, and the hum rose in pitch and grew in volume. “It will, however, cause him some discomfort,” he said over the din of the machine’s noise. He turned to the henchman standing by the computers. “Activate!”

 

The henchman at the computer bank across the room pushed a button and a hazy green light projected from the device and flooded over the Twi’Lek trainee.

 

Bastila could only grimace and cover her ears from his screams. But after a couple of minutes, they stopped. Lord Vros had turned off the machine. All was quiet.

 

The two henchmen released the unconscious Twi’Lek from the table, and deposited him back in his cage. Meanwhile, Lord Vros had crossed over to the counter with the tubes and chemicals. He stood there, watching as a small vial began to fill with a fluorescent green liquid. After the last drop had been deposited, Vros held up the vial to the light. “Not bad for a first harvest,” he commented, more to himself than to anyone else.

 

“What have you done to him?” Bastila demanded, her gaze flitting between Lord Vros and the unconscious trainee two cells down from hers.

 

With the vial in hand, he crossed the room and stood in front of Bastila’s cage. “I’ve simply removed part of his Force.”

 

What?

 

“This vial contains a physical rendering of the Force that used to surround your trainee. Of course, he may not be as Force Sensitive as he once was, but that’s merely an unfortunate side-effect to the process.” He leaned in closer. “Although, with the amount of new ‘volunteers’ I have now, I’m confident that it won’t be long until I’ve perfected it.”

 

“You’re mad!” Bastila hissed.

 

“No. Just practical and efficient.” He headed towards the door. “Send the new data to my chamber,” he ordered them. “Oh, and you’d better feed our guests. I don’t want them to become weakened from malnutrition.”

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Revan's hand stopped on its way to his mouth with the coffee cup. He felt a ripple in the Force. Bastila. He closed his eyes, forcing himself to concentrate on where the ripple had originated...

 

The Hawk lurched suddenly. A moment later, Disciple's voice came over the comm. "Sorry about that," he said. "I'm not much of a pilot..."

"It's alright, I'll be right there," responded Revan, sighing slightly. Wherever Bastila was, he had lost all trace of her now. "How long until we reach Nar Shaddaa?"

"I'm not sure... again, I'm not much of a pilot... I think we're about half an hour out."

"Understood," he said. His next words were spoken directly to Disciple, as he enetered the cockpit. "Push the engines. I want us there in no more than ten minutes."

"I don't think that's-"

"What are you, the possible police? Just do it," he snapped.

He left the cockpit, heading to the empty dormitory. Bastila... hold on. I'm coming...

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Meanwhile, on board the Ssss, Jasra and Brax still lay together entangled in each other’s arms on the round bed in the middle of Brax’s private chamber.

 

“Well,” she said, finally breaking the silence that had befallen them after their intimate mind-bonding experience. “That was… weird. Memories that weren’t my own, but they were…are…you know what I mean. It was like…”

 

“I know exactly what you mean,” Brax said, as he slowly raised himself off of her. “You feel…complete. As do I.”

 

“Yes,” she said, grinning. “Complete. In fact…I can’t remember ever feeling this good. So rested, controlled, focused…confident. Not afraid of…” She stared up into his eyes. “You’ll never abandon me, will you?”

 

“Never.”

 

She stared up at the hyperspace vortex visible through the ceiling. “Our life forces…they’re separate but feel like they are entangled, lin….”

 

“Linked together as the stars form the Galaxy. Separate but one. Yes,” Brax finished for her. “Our bonding is now complete.”

 

She grinned at him softly. “You know, you looked so uncomfortable in those Jedi robes you were wearing in our mindscape. Much more than me in my skimpy little loincloth.” She then traced her finger lightly down the side of his blue cheek. “Being a Jedi can be so lonely. No wonder Kira became an ex…” She suddenly paused, then frowned. “Our mission. I completely forgot about it.” She propped herself up on her elbows. “We should really check on Atton, see how much longer it is before we reach Omwat. He’s probably a bit worried, wondering what we’ve been doing all this time.”

 

“Atton thinks we're doing what he wishes he and Kira were doing.” Brax said with a wink, and slid out of the bed. “That loincloth was very fetching.” A wolfish grin crossed his lips a moment, as he turned to move to his wardrobe. “I've worn Jedi robes before, you know that now, to infiltrate, but they are rather uncomfortable, yes.”

 

She chuckled at him softly, and pulled herself out of bed, looking at the Jedi robes of her own, strung about the room. “You have clothes I can wear,” not a question, she knew he did. She moved to a wall, and pressed her hand against the right place, the wall opened revealing his wardrobe, it was fairly large. She walked inside, a hundred or so feet to the back of the area, where women's clothing hung.

 

“There's a loincloth back there if you want,” he called. A soft chuckling chasing his words down the closet. She just grinned and he jumped as she mentally swatted him on the rear. “Hey.” He laughed softly, happy, and Wow I felt that, you couldn't do that before could you?

 

I never tried. But, I don't think I really tried this time either, Jasra responded in thought. She realized she didn't even have to think of projecting her thoughts now, or vice versa, for the other to hear them.

 

Brax chose a simple pair of black pants, and a grey shirt, with a simple Zedai robe over it. Jasra picked out just a shirt and pants that fit well over her athletic form. “Let's go talk to Atton.”

 

They slipped into the door chamber, and rotated back to the other side of the ship, slipping out and moving into the cockpit bay. Brax dropped into the co-pilot's seat.

 

“How is it going?” Brax asked.

 

“Done anything fun?” Jasra said immediately after, almost like completing the thought.

 

“No, just watched the boards,” Atton said, adding a bored sigh. “Nice ship you have here though, Brax. I'm sure the Republic has tech as good as this. Not that a lowly soldier like me would ever see it.”

 

“The Ssss is a formidable…,”

 

“Craft,” Jasra finished for Brax. “She is also unique. With some of this stuff…,”

 

“I would be very surprised,” Brax continued, “to know that the Republic…,”

 

“…even has,” said Jasra. “It's beyond most of your tech in small ways, and in a few large ones.”

 

“The cloak for example, is very complex and as far as I know, one…,” said Brax.

 

“Of a kind,” finished Jasra.

 

“Okay, what the hell was that?” Atton had turned his chair and was looking back and forth between the two of them. “You two go in the bedroom and swap half your brains or something?”

 

Brax and Jasra looked at each other, both making a faint 'hmm' sound, they hadn't fully realized they were talking like that. “Something like that I guess,” was Brax's only response.

 

“Well, try not to do it in front of me, okay?” Atton said, flustered. “It's… it’s weird.”

 

“Okay,” Brax and Jasra said in unison. Jasra grinned at Atton, then shrugged with apology.

 

Atton cleared his throat and looked at the nav panels. “We'll be at Omwat in about an hour, which by the way, is about an hour faster than the Hawk would have made it.”

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((Alright, if it'll get you off my back, I'll post something... :p))

 

Revan sensed Kira's thoughts from across the ship. So she had felt it too. He sat down on one of the bunks - and promptly cracked his head on the low hanging lighting unit above him. He rubbed his head as he lay in the bunk, still fully clothed. He tried to reach out to Kira's mind, but she had closed herself to him. He sighed, and rubbed his eyes. It had been a long day...

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((Well >P to you))

 

Kira sensed Revan's mind reach out to touch hers, but she threw up an ice-cold barrier around her mind, effectively blocking him out. He had some nerve...

Stop it. she scolded herself. Don't do this to yourself. You know what it feels like to fall...

She rested her face in her hands for a few moments, breathing deeply to try and regain relative control over herself. Turning back to the open footlocker before her, she continued sorting through her clothes.

There is no emotion...there is...peace...

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Revan was jerked from his state of half-sleep as the Hawk lurched again. He hit his head on the lighting unit again as he sat up. Swearing slightly, he climbed out of the small bed and moved over to the comm panel on the wall, which was beeping at him. "What's going on, Disciple?"

"Sorry about that..." he answered. "We've arrived at Nar Shaddaa."

"Finally..." he muttered under his breath. Out loud, he said, "Take us down. I don't care where, as long as I... as long as we can get to Vogga by foot."

"Understood. Disciple out."

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Kira watched idly as the light on the comm. went out. Sitting in the co-pilot's chair, she looked up as she felt Mical's eyes on her.

"What is it?"

The man shook his head, a silly smile on his face, "I'll give you two one thing, the two of you think alike."

"Oh?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Did you not just hear his orders? They might as well have been word-for-word with yours."

She picked aimlessly at the fingers of her gloves, not answering.

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Revan entered the cockpit, massaging his forehead. He stood behind Disciple, trying to catch Kira's eye, but she ignored him. He reached out with the Force again, but she was still blocking him out. Looks like he would have to apologise the old fashioned way...

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He sighed, shutting down power to non-essential systems as they prepped for landing. "Yes, I do," he said sternly.

She didn't say anything. The next thing he knew, he had shut down main power, stood form his chair and was kneeling next to hers. "I've locked you out of the power grid. We're not going anywhere until you talk to me."

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She looked at him, her expression hard, her blue eyes shinning with ice.

"I listened to you once before, Revan." she said, the fact that her voice was hardly more than a whisper making her words harsher than if she had screamed them in his face, "I listened when you told me that you'd never leave me, that you'd nevver let me go -- no matter what the costs."

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“M-master Shan? He’s c-coming ‘round,” said Jareth, whose cell was next to the young Twi’lek that had been submitted to Lord Vros’ Force-extracting device.

 

“Dak’Ti?” Bastila called out softly. “Don’t try to move. You may not yet be fully recovered from your ordeal.”

 

Nevertheless, the Twi’Lek youth tried, but found could barely raise a finger. Lying very still on the floor of his cage, he very slowly asked, “What happened?”

 

“You were submitted to a device that...’extracts’ the Force from you,” Bastila told him. “How do you feel?”

 

“Tired, Master Shan,” he said with some effort. “And weak. My mouth feels numb, and my limbs feel like lead. But other than that, fine, I guess.”

 

Bastila let out a sigh of relief. “Alright,” she said in a louder voice so all of the trainees could hear her. “Listen to me, all of you. I need your help to make contact with the outside world. I have to let them know what danger lies here for any Jedi who comes to our rescue.”

 

“But how?” a tallish, dark haired human called Macha Te’Narden interrupted. “We don’t even know where we are.”

 

Bastila let out a sigh. At eighteen, Macha was the oldest of the group, and if it hadn’t been for his strong affinity with the Force, Bastila would have been hard-pressed to recruit him as a trainee because of his age. He constantly questioned everything, reminding her of another headstrong Jedi she knew long ago. Revan.

 

But Macha had a point. The best that she could hope to do would be to warn the Jedi away from her and the trainees, which, sadly, eliminated any hope of a quick rescue from this horrible place. “Not knowing our exact co-ordinates shouldn’t matter,” she lied, trying to sound confident enough to persuade even herself. “If I can use the Force to make some sort of contact with a Jedi, any Jedi, they will be prepared for the danger that awaits them. Now, here’s what I want you to….”

 

“But…we’re just trainees,” Macha interrupted. “We haven’t been taught hardly anything yet. And, I thought you said those Ysalamiri creatures ‘cancel out’ the Force around them? How are you going to contact anyone through the Force, if the Force doesn’t work?”

 

Another good question. Bastila sighed again, and surpressed a grin from forming on her lips. Now was not the time or place for doubt. Placing her hands on her hips, and using her best ‘teacher’ voice, she said, “Macha Te’Narden, are you questioning the wisdom and judgement of a Jedi Master?”

 

There was silence. “No, Master Shan.”

 

“Good. Now, you let me worry about the mechanics, and you just do as I tell you.”

 

“Yes, Master.”

 

“Right. With the exception of Dak’Ti, everyone assume your meditation positions and silently repeat the Jedi Code. With everyone of you focusing on the same thing, it will help me make a stronger connection with the Force." That wasn't true, exactly, but with their minds occupied their fear was lessened and she could concentrate better. "Dak’Ti, you just join in when you’re feeling up to it,” she added.

 

“But…” Bastila shot Macha Te’Narden a look that could toast bread. “Yes, Master,” he said sheepishly as he assumed his position on the floor of his cage. “Jedi Code.”

 

Bastila then sat down herself. She could sense the trainees’ fear and uncertainty. She wasn’t sure this was even going to work herself, but it was worth a try.

 

It took her a while for her to get into a deep meditative state, the same type of state she used for her Battle Meditation, but once there, she found she was able to maintain it. She began to project her thoughts outward, desperately hoping that the Ysalamiri’s effect wasn’t a strong as she was led to believe.

 

Jedi, stay away, she thought, trying her best to mask the underlying fear and uncertainty she was beginning to feel herself from this precarious situation she and her young charges were in. There is much danger here. Danger to the Force, danger to all Jedi. For the love of the Force, stay away…

 

Bastila’s meditation was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a piercing scream. Immediately, she opened her eyes, only to catch a glimpse Macha Te’Narden’s eyes before they rolled upwards and he plunged into unconsciousness under the sickly green light of the Force Extractor. Bastila hung her head. She had been so deep in meditation that she hadn’t even been aware Lord Vros and his cohorts had returned for another victim.

 

"Why?" she shouted at Vros. "Why are you doing this?"

 

“My apologies, Master Shan,” Lord Vros said, as he shut the machine off and went to collect his vial, while his henchmen in black removed Macha and placed him back in his cell. “I truly didn’t mean to disturb you. I know how you Jedi like to meditate.” He smiled at her then, but it was not a friendly smile, instead rather evil and cold. “Keeps you calm. Rested.”

 

“You bastard,” Bastila hissed.

 

“So I’ve been told many times,” Vros said, unconcerned.

 

~~~~~~~~~

 

The Ssss smoothly slipped out of hyperspace and into the Omwati system. Jasra grinned as she peered out one of the viewing windows. “It’s beautiful,” she said, looking ahead to the planet Omwat. “Like a deep, green gem with swirls of azure.”

 

Atton looked up. “Hmph. Looks a lot like Dagobah to me,” he said. “You do remember Dagobah, right? Bumpy atmosphere, big swamps, lots of gigantic white, hairy, eight-legged bugs that like to eat you for lunch. Remember?”

 

Jasra slowly turned her head towards him. “A spider, Atton, is an arachnid, not a bug,” she said dryly. “And, yes, I remember it.” She looked at Brax, leaning back in the co-pilots seat cradling his head with his hands behind his neck. “That was the second time Brax saved my life.”

 

Brax cocked an eyebrow. Second? he asked telepathically.

 

The first was when you took me on as a student, she replied in kind. I wouldn’t be here now, my love, if it weren’t for that one moment.

 

Brax smiled at her.

 

“But this is Omwat, Atton,” Jasra said as she slowly turned back to the window. “And Omwat doesn’t have any gigantic, white, hairy spiders.”

 

“Well, that’s good to know,” Atton replied, his focus back on the control panels in front of him.

 

Jasra grinned mischievously. “Theirs are brown.”

 

Atton’s eyes raised to look at her. “Ha. Ha. Very fun….hey? You alright?”

 

Jasra had suddenly gone pale. “Listen,” she said quietly, and she gently closed her eyes.

 

Atton listened. “I don’t hear anyth….”

 

“Shh!” Brax hissed, and he, too, closed his eyes.

 

Atton rolled his eyes upwards, sighed, then ‘listened’ again. Then, his mouth dropped. He heard a tiny, faint, far away whisper in his head. Jedi, stay away… Danger… For the love of the Force, stay away…. Then it was gone.

 

Jasra opened her eyes and she and Brax exchanged looks.

 

“What the hell was that?” Atton said.

 

“You heard it, too?” Jasra asked, raising an eyebrow. She never figured Atton to be that Force Sensitive, but now she was beginning to have second thoughts.

 

“I heard a creepy little whisper in my head, if that’s what you mean. What was that anyway?”

 

“A warning,” Brax said.

 

“Yeah, but a warning from who and for what?” asked Atton.

 

“From Bastila?” Jasra guessed. “Her file said that she…”

 

“Has very powerful meditative abilities,” Brax finished.

 

“Hey, I thought I asked you two to stop that,” said Atton, as he slowed the Ssss on approach to Omwat. He shivered. “That voice in my head was creepy enough.”

 

“Sorry,” Jasra and Brax said together, and Atton rolled his eyes.

 

“Well, if we heard the warning, then the Zedai must have, too,” said Jasra.

 

“Indeed,” Brax agreed.

 

“Well, in a few minutes, you can ask them,” said Atton. The ship jostled slightly as they entered the upper atmosphere. “Ok, Brax, where do you want me to put us down?”

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He stared at the floor for a moment. "I'm sorry. I... Leaving you... betraying you like that... it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life. Harder than having to fight my best friend on the Star Forge... harder than battling an Omwati Warrior on Manaan... harder... harder than seeing Bastila a servant of the Dark Side..."

He regretted those last words the moment he said them. He felt anger rise up inside her, and her eyes flashed dangerously. "Kira, I... She and I... I haven't spoken to her in... Force knows how long. It's... it's over, I... I don't... I can't..."

He trailed off, not sure what to say. She was staring out the window again, as if she were ignoring him.

"Kira..." he said softly, taking her hand in his. "I... I could never leave you again. I... I could never... I could never live with myself if I did."

She still ignored him.

"Fine," he said suddenly. "You don't believe me? I'll prove it." He was silent for a moment, staring up at her from his kneeling position. "Marry me."

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She turned to him, her eyes wide and face red. She felt an overwhelming rush of emotion, to the point where she almost couldn't think...

Her mouth worked furiously, but no words came out. The Exile floundered uselessly for several moments before she was able to get her voice working again.

"Revan...I...I don't...I mean, I'm not...oh, Revan..."

What could she say? The question had come almost completely out of the blue and caught her off guard.

Just then, a message, though extremely faint, cut through her flustered mind, causing her to fall silent.

Jedi, stay away… Danger… For the love of the Force, stay away….

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Revan heard it too. Bastila.

"Disciple, get your ass to the docking ramp!" he yelled, slamming the comm button. "Batton down the hatches. We're going down."

He brought main power online as he sat in his own chair. Not worrying about normal landing procedure, he brought the Hawk into the atmosphere twice as fast as he should have. He slowed the down just in time to prevent the ship from crashing right throught the docking platform.

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