Keeping the Galaxy Intact

[ForceFightWMe12]

He inclined his head once more, a faint smile playing about his lips. "My apologies, Tysy." he said, his eyes flashing intuitively again. He straightened once more, his ice blue eyes flashing from the Jedi to the HK unit.

 

"I must confess, there's a bit that I know about Jedi, but...that fact I wasn't clear on." There was no air of deception or malice in his face or the air about him - to all the world, he seemed as if he had very little intent to do more than explain away the trouble. "In fact...that is why I had come here last night. I saw you fight in the cantina - and I knew that that wasn't any sort of normal fighting style. I was curious...and hopefully, that won't kill the cat this time around."

[Tysyacha]

Tysyacha's expression brightened, and she smiled with genuine pleasure. "Oh! You're interested in my dueling techniques--how I managed to get out of that stanging vise-grip that one drunken schutta had on my neck. Very well. It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to train someone, or at least teach them something they didn't already know." She motioned for the man to stand, and he did so and stretched.

 

"Please forgive me. It's 0600 hours, and I'm wondering if you'd like some breakfast. It's the least I owe you after your detainment by my--erm--bodyguard droids. Not some chunks of dehydrated astronaut fodder, either, real breakfast. Perhaps you'd care to join me and my friend Rika for some at the Spacelanes Hotel Cafe?" A relaxed glance.

[ForceFightWMe12]

His careful words had brought about a stronger reaction than he had thought - he hadn't thought that she would get sidetracked so quickly, especially when he had made the small slip of her name.

 

From being detained to invited to breakfast...well, he would say that he wasn't doing too bad for himself.

 

"I think I would enjoy that quite a bit." he said, flashing a smile. He rubbed distractedly at his biomail arm as he took a few steps towards the Jedi, his gaze turning to HK. "Again, I thank you for your hospitality, HK. It was quite a pleasant night."

 

With the innocent tone of his eyes and voice, it was rather difficult to tell whether he was being sarcastic or not.

[Grace]

Rika roused herself and left the dorm she'd finally managed to sleep in. To her surprise, she found Tysyacha and the two droids with a stranger. For a short time, she held back, listening to the conversation. But then, Tysyacha offered to allow the stranger to join them for breakfast and Rika frowned. She came into view, glaring darkly at the stranger. She didn't know who he was and therefore, she did not trust him... not even after seeing Tysyacha conversing with him in relative friendliness.

 

"Someone you know, Tysyacha?" she demanded, her voice a cool, commanding tone, which cracked sharply in the confined space. "Or perhaps someone who stuck his nose where it didn't belong?"

 

She examined the man from head to foot. "Mechanic, by the look of you." She turned to Tysyacha and said softly, "I realize I said we'd need a mechanic, but if a stray who happened to wander aboard the ship is the best we can come up with I can't say I have much faith in our quest's success."

 

Turning back to the man, Rika raised her voice and said, "No more dodging. Your name. Now."

[Tysyacha]

Tysyacha again cleared her throat, but with a tone of nervousness and deference this time instead of one used to intimidate and command attention. How could I allow myself to get distracted so easily? she thought, feeling a bit ashamed. She turned to Rika, hoping that she would accept her own explanation of the night's events.

 

"Apparently," she began humbly, "after we'd both gone back to the hotel, our present stranger boarded the Ebon Hawk. HK-47 and T3-M4 were roused to attention, being on either standby mode or guard patrol, and they intercepted him. HK, like you, was not pleased to find him aboard the ship and treated him as he would any other potentially hostile intruder." A slight blush. "He took this man prisoner and sealed him in the cargo hold for the remainder of the night. I got up before you did and went here to Snello's to check on the ship. HK informed me of the situation, suspecting that our extra bit of 'cargo' was a potential thief or vandal, and I ignited my sabers and went to confront the prisoner.

 

"Surprisingly, he'd taken nothing and damaged nothing. Instead, he says he was at the cantina last night where I was fighting my three duels. As a spectator, he was interested in my fighting techniques, and he came to the Hawk to see if he could find me. For one, I believe him. I detected no trace of deception in his voice when I spoke to him just now, and I've learned the rare Miraluka technique of Force Sight. When I look at this stranger, I see pure white neutrality, no trace of darkness."

 

Rika still looked rather displeased, so Tysyacha bowed deeply in Jedi fashion. "Forgive me, Rika. It seems I've let my own ego get in the way of using more rational common sense, and since Jedi are to have let go of their egos a long time ago, I feel ashamed. It's been a long time since I've shown anyone the secrets of my fighting style, and I was flattered that this stranger was so interested as to try and find the Hawk."

 

She looked up and to the man. "What now? I can't call you Oy, ty, which in my native tongue means 'Hey, you!'" A small smile played at the corners of the prisoner's mouth, but neither Rika nor the two droids shared Tysyacha's flash of humor.

 

HK stepped forward. "Veiled Insult: In my opinion, for him, Oy, ty shall suffice."

[ForceFightWMe12]

"In my opinion, that will work just fine as well." he murmured softly. Running a hand through his hair, he shook his head a bit to dishevel it. It was the type of hair that didn't look so good when it was flat and controlled - not to mention it felt extremely uncomfortable.

 

"My apologies, Miss," he said, inclining his head in a slight bow, his arms behind his back in a military fashion. "I don't mean to cause you any sort of fear or mistrust. You were correct - I am a bit of a mechanic myself, and as such, I can appreciate a good ship when I see it. Not only did I come seeking Miss Odnova, but I had also heard rumors that the Ebon Hawk had been docked somewhere in this sector. When I saw the way that Miss Odnova fought, I thought that she was certainly the legendary owner of this ship - and I was curious to see it again. I haven't seen the Hawk since the destruction of Taris, so I feel that you might understand my curiosity."

[Tysyacha]

Tysyacha took a visible step backward. As far as she could recall, the planet of Taris had been utterly decimated by Lord Malak and the Sith, a world of billions of residents reduced to ash in the blink of an eye. All so the Sith could make sure that one Jedi, Bastila Shan by name, did not escape the planet except under their own custody.

 

Had this man seen the Ebon Hawk around the time of Taris' destruction? How?

 

"Excuse me," said Tysyacha, "but as far as I know, the Sith struck the planet of Taris almost without warning. No one saw the barrage of superheated laser fire coming, or at least none of the commonfolk. As I recall, the only way this vessel escaped the onslaught was that Revan, a former Sith Lord and one of my previous Masters, stole and commandeered the ship from a Tarisian crime lord named Davik Kang right before the lasers wiped everything out. He had his crew with him, and unless you were one of them or had some marvelous backup plan to stay alive on the Tarisian homeworld, there is no way you'd be standing here right now and telling me this."

 

Tysyacha put her hands on her hips. "Or, perhaps you're one of Davik's men, or a rare remnant of Malak's forces who knew what was going to happen beforehand. A sleeper cell, so to speak, who would have his own transportation off the planet and would have seen the Ebon Hawk on one of his many missions to destroy it. You have just made a critical mistake, my friend. Who would have been in such a position to have seen the outside of the Hawk, let alone the inside, since Taris died except one of the Sith or the Kang criminal elements looking for such a well-known vessel?"

[ForceFightWMe12]

He held up his hands in a defensive surrender, blinking slowly as he looked at the captain.

 

"Please, please, Miss Odnova. Your accusations are quite painful." he said, "I assure you, I am no criminal - nor am I a...Sith. I tend to stay away from political sides like that - I find that it's quite a bit more self-preserving to be on your own side.

 

"As for joining Davik's version of the Exchange, I regret to inform you that I despise such petty crimes and the criminals that commit them. I suppose you could define me as a freelancer - I travel from planet to planet looking for work. Davik had invited me - and I went to see him simply for credibility. If one finds that you have been personally invited by one such as Davik, one tends to believe that you're pretty good. I gracefully and gratefully denied his request, obviously - but not before seeing the Ebon Hawk.

 

"When I left, the Sith had not set up their blockade as of yet. Their ships were orbiting the far side of the planet, last I heard - rumors of Republic movements in a nearby sector were thick on the streets. I decided it would be smart to leave before any trouble broke out."

[Tysyacha]

Tysyacha nodded. "I apologize for levelling these suspicions against you, but since the events of the past seven years, I have learned that you can never be too careful about whom to trust. You are beginning to earn mine, and in time, I hope that I will do the same also." She turned to Rika. "Rika? I'm willing to trust your judgment on whether you'll allow this man to serve as a mechanic aboard the Ebon Hawk if he wishes to do so, but I believe that time is of the essence. Snello has always been a rather shady garage manager, but after tonight, I suspect some of his criminal connections might come looking for us."

 

Rika stood, considering the situation carefully, and Tysyacha again spoke to the man.

 

"Out of curiosity," said Tysyacha, "have you heard of a Jedi by the name of Bastila Shan? Supposedly, she was the reason the Sith destroyed Taris. Bastila had a rare talent called Battle Meditation, which allowed her to turn the tide of even the largest skirmishes of war. The Sith wanted her alive, and they would not let her escape Taris unless she was in Force stun-cuffs and under their custody. The reason I think you might have heard of Bastila is because she was offered up as a prize in a swoop race, and the whole main metropolis of Taris couldn't stop talking about it."

 

And I, mused Tysyacha, can't stop believing she's the Sith in my dreams.

[ForceFightWMe12]

A flash of...something moved suddenly across the man's penetrating and expressionless eyes. Recognition? Intuition?

 

Bastila Shan...

 

"Well...I wouldn't say that I know her." he said, his eyes scanning his gloves for a moment. "I have heard of her - I think most of those within the Republic during those years had. She was our hope, and our only true weapon against the Sith. We all had our beliefs of victory in her - when her cruiser went down, we were all afraid for the fate of the war. I can't say that I knew that she was being held captive as a prize. I wasn't on-planet at the time."

[Tysyacha]

Tysyacha heard her stomach growl rather insistently, and she knew that the three of them could easily continue their conversation over something more substantial than the freeze-dried nerf jerky stored in the cargo hold. "Please, come," she beckoned to Rika and the man with a mechanic's looks and unruly dark hair. "The Spacelanes Cafe is waiting, and for what it's worth, I don't think anyone would try to kill us in broad daylight in front of a bunch of hungry restaurant patrons." Reluctantly, Rika nodded.

 

The Spacelanes Cafe was, as to be expected, crowded, noisy, and heady with the scents of frying breakfast food. For one, Tysyacha felt her mouth water copiously, and she wondered if the others were experiencing the same phenomenon. The maitre d', a wiry Rodian clad in a clean white apron, showed them to a small, round corner table built for four, but just barely. They were shown flimsy menus listing a couple of misspelled entrees, but other than that, the restaurant was more than passable.

 

"I take order?" This from a tall, thin waiter with, Tysyacha thought, only the most basic grasp of Basic. When she showed him the menu and the platter of two fried krayt dragon eggs and bantha bacon, he raised an eyebrow. "Egg-gg-gs?" he asked.

 

"Yes, eggs," said Tysyacha gently, knowing firsthand the pratfalls of learning a foreign language, but still a shade irritated. "And bantha bacon, please, with juma juice." At a wide-eyed look from Rika, the Jedi Exile shrugged. "Keeps me awake. For most, it's a depressant, slowing their nervous systems down, but for me, it's a great stimulant." She smiled, and the waiter bowed to them, almost touching his forehead to the table.

[ForceFightWMe12]

The man smirked to himself, shaking his head slightly as the Jedi ordered a glass of Juma Juice - surely it was hardly later than seven in the morning? Even by most galactic standards, that was quite early to be drinking. He didn't make any notice of it, however - he simply returned his eyes to the menu in front of him.

 

When the waiter asked in clumsy, stuttering Basic, he glanced at the man over the top of the shabby pamphlet. His eyes moved back to the menu within seconds - and yet, he seemed to have already ascertained where this man had come from. It was so strikingly obvious because he spoke a few words in an unfamiliar language that caused the waiter to pull back slightly in surprise. He returned a few words in the same guttural language, in which the man responded in kind. The waiter scribbled down the order, and his eyes stayed on the menu, oblivious to the looks that the others were giving him.

[Tysyacha]

Rika and Tysyacha both looked astonished, their mouths agape. What language was that, sir, they seemed to be saying, and where in the kriffing galaxy did you ever learn it? If this man truly was a mechanic, however, perhaps it should have come as no surprise that he knew the waiter's native language. Customers naturally came in all shapes and sizes and tongues, because broken machines knew no language or cultural barriers. Tysyacha felt rather humbled at her slight rudeness to the waiter. "Tell him I'm sorry if I sounded terse," she mumbled, and the man did so.

 

After Rika had given her order as well, the waiter left the three of them to their own private conversation, no matter if they could barely hear themselves think, let alone talk. Cafes like these had a congenial atmosphere where the clinking of plates and silverware far prevailed over the murmurs of intelligent discourse. Ah, well. The Force, at least to Tysyacha and Rika, provided them with acute hearing to listen to the man.

 

"As I said," began Tysyacha, "or as you might have ascertained during our brief three-way conversation back aboard the Ebon Hawk, we're in need of a mechanic. We are on a mission for some--er--reconaissance. We both know some Jedi techniques, and right now we're trying to find a Jedi that's only been talked about in historical holocrons lately. We believe that he can teach us Force styles and ways of fighting and persuasion that no person in the galaxy has practiced ever since he disappeared.

 

"Rika and I are not simply amateurs, either. We believe, or at least I do, that the Sith have not been completely defeated. As an old Master of mine once said, 'the Sith is a belief', and as long as this belief prevails or is at least prevalent in sentient minds, the Sith will never be vanquished. Nevertheless, I believe the galaxy's in danger again."

 

Tysyacha folded her hands in front of her and smiled wryly. "I'm not asking you to play hero. The Force knows I'm not one. I'm a duelist with a high body count, even though I've never slaughtered anyone during one of my entertainment-only fights. You might say my past has been shadier than most. Even bounty hunters would blush.

 

"Nevertheless, I am not on the side of the Sith, and I'll be cut in two before I see them take the world again. I've heard of Darth Revan, and Malak. Revan has been redeemed, I've heard, but Malak almost laid waste to this whole galaxy on his quest for unlimited power. We need to find this particular vanished Jedi so we can learn from him. Otherwise, I doubt that what little I do know will do much good against a still-remaining Sith threat. Rika knows more than I do,"--a smile at Rika--"but we think this Jedi can help us be far more beneficial to the cause of the Light and the Republic. In order to find him, we need a ship in good repair, and that's why we need you."

[ForceFightWMe12]

The man folded the menu and handed it to the waiter's waiting hand before he disappeared. He took in their looks of incredulous surprise with little notice, seeming entirely unperturbed. Rather than sitting forward and explaining how he knew such a language, he simply returned their gazes with a nonchalant one of his own.

 

As Tysyacha explained her story - one that he already had an inkling of, if the rumors of her being the Jedi Exile were true - he listened intently and leaned back in the seat. He raised his arms, elbows resting against the booth's back as he watched the two of them, drinking in her words with a look of attention - but not of surprise, or even intrigue. When the woman mentioned that both she and her companion were versed in the ways of the Jedi, he raised a surprised eyebrow - but other than that, he hardly reacted.

 

"Hm." he murmured. "Searching for Revan while being able to stay on and repair the infamous Ebon Hawk..." a smirk curled his lips, "When can I start?"

[Tysyacha]

"When Rika says you can start." Tysyacha gazed at the man matter-of-factly. "She's the one who rescued me from vomiting into a trash-bin outside the latest bar where I'd been dueling. It was she who offered to take me under her wing and teach me more of the skills I'm supposed to be learning instead of how to knee a drunk punk in the chest." She rolled her large blue eyes. "That man is dead right now. He was hanged, or rather lynched, after our duel for being a cheater who pulled a sneak attack. I can't truly say I allowed it to happen, because I'd passed out as it did."

 

An involuntary shudder ran through Tysyacha. According to the code of the Jedi, she was supposed to have enough self-mastery to rescue herself from the throes of semi-consciousness and turn back the wrath of the angry and inebriated mob. However, she had failed, and Tysyacha no longer considered this any big surprise. She was, after all, an exile, and after being away from the Jedi training rooms and meditation chambers for seven years, she found she no longer had the fortitude she once did.

 

"I'm sorry it happened," she said sadly, "but I'm not at all sorry that I'm still alive."

 

"Can you believe it?" This from an indignant matron at the next table, markedly better-dressed than the rest of the customers and even Tysyacha herself. Perhaps she had been served by the same waiter with the sketchy (at best) grasp of Basic. "I thought one of the basic requirements in order to be a waiter was knowing how to read the menu. For shame! When I asked for griddle cakes, he said, 'Cakes? It dessert, we not have cakes.' I wanted to slap him. Griddle cakes, you fool, not dessert cakes! You know," she said to her companion, "that's what's wrong with the whole galaxy these days. In their search for ever-cheaper labor, bosses everywhere are paying obtuse and uneducated proles to do every sort of job. I'd hire a droid to wait on me instead! At least droids are required to know a multitude of languages and to read menucrons."

 

Tysyacha bristled at the woman's loud and commanding tone of voice. With a slight push of the Force, she sent the woman's tall glass of water tumbling into her lap.

 

"Ohh!" The matron stood up and snorted with disgust. Her lap was wet, and the folds of her floral-print dress were clinging to her stomach and below. "Blast these tipping tables! How does the manager of this cafe think he can get away with such things?"

[ForceFightWMe12]

"Very well then," he nodded in ascent, his eyes moving from Tysyacha to Rika. "It seems that my fate is in your hands, then."

 

He leaned forward towards the table now as their conversation paused - and all ears and attention were focused on the obnoxiously loud voice of the rich prit who sat a few feet away. She was irritating, it was true, but he didn't particularly care - he had adjusted to these types of people long ago.

 

His eyes flashed warily to Tysyacha...and he didn't need to look to know what had happened. The woman's exclamations explained quite enough. He didn't take his eyes away from the Exile's. Rather, he watched her with a look of...disappointment?

 

"I thought Jedi were supposed to have better control than that?" he asked, his tone quite smooth, even though he raised a disproving eyebrow.

[Tysyacha]

Again, Tysyacha felt her face redden. Why did she care so much about what this stranger thought? Perhaps it was due to her desire for more self-mastery, or even to protect her own self-image. Still, she knew that what she has done was inexcusable not only in the eyes of the Jedi, but of anyone else who might have known about the "tricks" she could play using the Force. She bowed her head to the man meekly.

 

"They are," she said, "and I'm sorry to say that I'm one more example of what a Jedi should not be and what they should not do. I've been--out of practice for a while, what with the seedier lifestyle I've been leading for the past two years. The Jedi Council and I have not been on the best of terms, if there is even a Council now."

 

After a brief and tense pause, she continued, "The last three Jedi Masters of whom I heard were said to have been slain by a Sith Lord, Darth Traya, who is also dead."

[ForceFightWMe12]

He eyed the woman for a few moments more before turning his eyes to the dessert listings that had been left on the table. He wasn't intending on ordering anything beyond what he already had - after all, it was only breakfast - but it gave him something to do.

 

"I assure you," he answered her in a low voice, "There have been many Jedi - often believed to be the best of their time - that have lead lives that are far worse and far more volatile than that that you are living now."

 

As she mentioned something about 'if there even was' a Jedi Council, his eyes flashed up, looking at her in surprise. "The Council...is dead?"

[Tysyacha]

Tysyacha nodded. "Yes. The last five members of the Jedi Council are all either dead or imprisoned on their own recognizance for embracing the ways of the Sith. Masters Vrook, Zez Kai-Ell, and Kavar were struck down by a powerful Sith Lord named Darth Traya. She lured them to the ruins of the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine"--using me, as a matter of fact--"and destroyed them, causing three deep wounds or 'echoes' in the Force.

 

"As for Master Lonna Vash, she confronted an apprentice of Traya's called Darth Sion within one of the tombs upon the Sith world of Korriban. Sion unfortunately slew her in a lightsaber duel, and I sorely regret that I was not there to aid her in her final battle. Master Atris, the final Jedi of the Council, remains in her self-contained fortress upon the planet Telos as a prisoner. She claimed a very brief apprenticeship as the second Darth Traya, but I was able to convince her to turn back to the Light before it was too late.

 

"There are Jedi upon Dantooine again, in a rebuilt Enclave, but none of them are the original members of the Council you once knew. I taught each of them the ways of the Force, and now hopefully they're training Younglings in preparation for the future. I left them there because I needed to find Revan."

 

Tysyacha closed her eyes for a brief moment and spoke of each in turn:

 

Mira, the spunky red-haired daughter of a Mandalorian, now a Jedi Sentinel.

Mical, known almost exclusively as the Disciple, a stalwart Jedi Guardian.

Visas Marr, a Miraluka and former Sith, Mira's Master as head of Sentinels.

 

Atton Rand and Bao-Dur would have been added to the ranks of the newly-reborn Jedi Order, but Atton had given his life in a duel with Darth Sion. Bao-Dur had also sacrificed himself upon Malachor V to defend her and the galaxy,

along with G0-T0 and his own remote droid. Their loss still pained Tysyacha.

 

"Mical almost turned to the Dark Side, knowing the feelings I once had for one of my other companions named Atton Rand, but I was able to make him see that envy only led to madness and destruction in the end. If he and the others are still upon Dantooine, they're the last hope for a Council that the Jedi Order has." She sighed softly. "As for Atton, he's one with the Force."

[ForceFightWMe12]

He listened as she spoke of all that she had been through - the people she had known, and those she had watched die. He was intrigued, and couldn't help himself. Never before had he met someone who so readily spoke of such things.

 

"I see...." he murmured, looking down at the dessert card once more, unsure of what his eyes were showing. "I'm sorry to hear that. It must be difficult for one to go through so much loss - and the fact that the Council is gone....well, that just makes things even more difficult. I knew the Council had gone into hiding with the rest of the Jedi - I didn't think they would all die so easily."

 

No, no. The Council he knew had been far stronger than that...

[Tysyacha]

Impulsively, Tysyacha reached out a hand, unsure if the man would take it. "Traya caused much damage in the galaxy," she said at last, her voice quivering a little. "Jedi are supposed to heal this damage, but I cannot, as the echoes she caused echo still. However much it pains me to speak of this, I must, as I believe it is only a merciful prelude for what is to come." Mind games. Tortures. Sion's instruments. Iron law.

 

Rika looked at Tysyacha with a concerned expression, and the Exile smiled. "I'm sorry to be such a damper of everyone's spirits on this beautiful morning," she sid with a wink. "Can I interest anyone in my extra piece of bantha bacon? I can't eat four."

[ForceFightWMe12]

He pulled his hand back on impulse - she had been reaching for his bio-mail arm...he wore those gloves for a reason. He put it inconspicuously beneath the table, nodding to the waiter as he delivered an order almost identical to Tysyacha's. The only thing different was his drink - he took water, as opposed to juma.

 

"The Jedi have always been around." he murmured, lifting his human hand to take his fork, "I'm sure they'll return...somehow."

 

His eyes held a strange expression to them, and he kept them downturned to the plate before him. A faint smile played about the edges of his lips as he began to cut away the eggs.

 

"I have my own - I think I'm quite safe, thank you, Miss Ondova."

[Tysyacha]

Tysyacha nodded. The waiter brought Rika a hot plate of warm griddle cakes, and as the three ate, the Jedi Exile decided to take another calculated risk. The clamor of half-shouted conversations certainly provided sufficient cover for her next words:

 

"I've told you that we need to find Revan in order to learn his techniques before we fight the Sith, but have you ever thought that something else could be worse? The Sith are evil and malicious, yes, but even they were once outcast Jedi. Lately, even in this dilapidated and working-class area of town, I've noticed tracking chips lying about in rubbish bins and oddly-shaped screens lurking in the corners of public places. The Republic wants to keep us safe, and yet what are we truly willing to sacrifice in safety's name? Because of the war with Darth Malak and my recent confrontation with the Sith triumvirate, it seems we've all been driven into a perpetual state of fear.

 

"Not by looking at Rika," Tysyacha added quickly with a whisper and a wry grin, "or at you, but listen closely, now. Can't you feel the vibrations through the Force? People are not only talking too loudly, but too tensely, as if something were about to reach out and grab them. They're safe in this humble cafe, but for how long, it seems? What if this threat Traya warned me about in her last minutes of life refers not to the Sith or even the True Sith, but something less obvious and possibly right under our noses?"

 

The man's eyes bore into hers again. Tysyacha felt rather stupid, like a schoolgirl who had suddenly entered 2 + 2 = 5 into her mathematical datapad. "Lock me in a sanatorium if you want," she said half-apologetically, "because saying something could be worse than the Sith is like saying someone could be more evil than the mythical Devil of Earthling origin. Still, I'm worried, and I'm worried that whatever's out there could take us by surprise while we're looking for Revan." All to keep us safe...

[ForceFightWMe12]

He watched her a few more moments before she began to apologize, his eyes falling again to his food. The same unidentifiable look was in his eyes.

 

"I know what you speak of." he murmured softly, not looking up from his food as he popped a bit of eggs into his mouth. "Malak and..." he seemed to stumble for a moment, "Revan left quite a bit of panic in the galaxy - especially with the Republic...faltering, as it is.

 

"I also understand when you say that there is something lurking beneath the surface that may be worse than the Sith. To me, the Sith represent death - and we all know that there are worse things in life than death."

[Tysyacha]

Somberly, Tysyacha nodded, a furtive look in her eyes. "Speaking of Revan--if I were a former Sith Lord, and now a Jedi, in hiding and trying to search for this nameless threat, where would I go? In what place could I hide and not have anyone suspect it?"

 

She put a meditative finger to her lips. "Certainly not Dantooine. My comrades and former companions aboard the Ebon Hawk are there, and since they are Jedi, they would sense Revan if they thought he was upon the planet's surface. Of course, not even Jedi know everything, and Revan is so skilled that he could perhaps cloak his presence in the Force. I don't know. Dantooine is just too--obvious a hiding place.

 

"Not Nar Shaddaa, either. Granted, it's one of the best planets on which to hide in the entire galaxy, but not if you're a Jedi. Master Zez Kai-Ell concealed himself there in seclusion for a time, but I found him, and besides, Nar Shaddaa is still overrun by crime lords and corporate magnates, much like this planet, but on a broader scale. If I were Revan, I'd avoid that world and all of its eager bounty hunters hungry for a kill.

 

"Onderon? No. Queen Talia rules there, yet some of its citizens still harbor a bit of resentment towards the Republic. Revan still is said to have abandoned the Sith for the sake of the Republic; ergo, he's on their side. He'd have to be careful there, and if I remember correctly, political intrigue wasn't exactly his cup of juma juice." That's mine. "As for the other planets I know of or have traveled to, here's the short list:

 

"Kashyyk? Wookiees and more Wookiees. Revan would stick out like a broken droid.

 

"Manaan? Same thing. The Selkath might or might not welcome him back to Ahto City.

 

"Tatooine? Revan visited there, I've heard, and he's not exactly a Sand Person.

 

"That leaves Korriban. A logical choice, since it borders on the Outer Rim and would serve as a good launching pad. Still, the energies of the Dark Side run strong there, and just how kriffing hard would it be to spot one living being among the scores of skeletons and the ancient tombs of the Sith Lords?" She turned to the stranger.

 

"Any ideas? I assume you've worked as a mechanic on several worlds I don't know."