[fic] KOTOR: Origins

[Starsword]

Hey all. This is my first fic here. Enjoy.

 

Star Wars

Knights of the Old Republic

Origins

 

CHAPTER 1

 

 

 

In the skies above Dantooine, a flaming wreck of a ship sped downward, toward the lush, grassy hills that would become its resting place. Almost two thousand meters above the ground, the transport broke in two, the bottom half and front half continuing in slightly altered trajectories.

 

Both of the pieces landed with an almighty slam. Birds miles away took flight in fear. Grass caught fire instantly and began a scorching blaze of heat and death that enveloped anything it touched.

 

Near the tail section of the spacecraft, bodies littered the soft ground and broken bits of machinery and metal trashed the once pure grassland. None of the corpses moved, save one.

 

A small boy, barely older than seven, opened his eyes. He felt dizzy, tired, and shocked. He tried to sit up, but only managed to cause his stomach to purge itself. He lay back on the grass and panted.

 

What happened? Where am I? Where are Mom and Dad? Questions raced through his mind at dazzling speed, and the only answer present for all of them was, I don't know.

 

The boy sat again and found he was able to stand. His vision cleared, and he concentrated until he could hear again. He relaxed when he found that he could still use his magic.

 

He heard screams in the distance. A mile to his left the front section of the transport burned. More screams were heard. The boy looked around, checking to see if anyone was moving, then decided that he should probably go to where the grown-ups were. They would know what to do.

 

He called on his magic and he began to run. He feet moved as a blur, tearing the grassland up like a herd of wild nerf. The spacecraft wreck grew larger, and within moments, he was within the wreckage an in a sea of blood and shouts and pain and noise.

 

The boy looked around as he heard someone calling out frantically, "Help! Help me! It's too big!" The voice, he knew belonged to a girl, and he knew that heroes always helped people who needed it.

 

The boy moved toward her voice, and moved around a wing from the fallen transport. A young girl, no older than he, was struggling to lift a large piece of flat metal that was very firmly pinning a tall boy to the ground. He hands gripped the bottom edge and bled a little, but she continued to try anyway.

 

The boy moved toward her, and said, "You can't lift that."

 

The girl glared at him. "He's going to get hurt if I don't. Will you help me?"

 

The boy nodded fervently. That was why he had gotten onto the ship in the first place, to help people. His mom and dad had said that he was meant to help people.

 

He found his magic inside his mind again, and tried to lift the large chunk of debris. Even with the two children's combined strength, it was too heavy. The boy pinned moaned in pain; the metal was beginning to knife its way into his underarm.

 

"Come on, Alek, help us! Use your powers!", the girl urged, and the boy watched as the tall kid, Alek, closed his eyes and began to push up on the debris with one hand.

 

Somehow, impossibly, the metal lifted off of the boy, and their united strength hurled it off of Alek. He got up painfully and said, "It hurts."

 

The girl nodded. "It's ok, the grown-ups should be here soon."

 

An engine exploded and sent a shower of sparks and sharp bits of metal flying. The three children were thrown to the ground, and metal rained down around them. The pieces that would have hit them floated a few inches away before dropping down to the ground.

 

The boy panted with exhaustion from using his magic so much. It had never been this difficult before. They crawled underneath a broken wing for shelter from the firestorm raging a few feet in front of them.

 

Alek and the girl caught their breath, but the boy suddenly had an immediate urge to listen. He strained his ears, and heard a terrifying sound; a little girl was crying.

 

The boy stood again, although his body was weary, and he walked out into the destruction again. "Where are you going?" the girl asked, but the boy began to walk toward the sound he heard, the sound he knew he heard despite the loud noises emitting all around him.

 

He came to a pile of littered junk from the transport, beneath the second wing that had stuck itself in the grass, and underneath it, he knew, lay the source of the screaming. He pulled pieces off of the pile, slowly dismantling the tomb in which the baby cried.

 

He yanked off a large piece of metal. He gasped and his eyes widened as he saw a small girl, only around three or four, holding herself and bleeding from her ears and many cuts on her face. She had dark hair, and was holding it as though it might protect her.

 

The boy said, more calmly than he thought he could have, "It's ok, I've got you. Come on out. It's safe." She sniffled, than got out with him. He picked her up with some help from his magic, and was beginning to walk back to the wing where the girl and Alek sat when they both shouted simultaneously, "Look out!!!"

 

The boy turned around, and shouted fearfully as the other wing from the spacecraft, began to fall. He ran for the safe wing directly ahead of him, but he was too small and too tired to use his magic. He would never make it.

 

He looked forward and saw Alek and the girl reach out both of their hands and pull backward at the same time. The boy felt his body and the girl's fly forward, just out of reach of the falling wing, and they landed on the grass beneath the shade of the safe wing. Behind them, the falling hazard struck the ground and blew up a large pile of dust and metal.

 

The boy realized he was alive, and simply lay on the grass, trying to get his breath back. He sat up and saw the girl he had rescued sitting up against the wing, also trying to rest. The boy smiled in relief, and he too pressed his back against their impromptu bomb shelter.

 

Barely seconds later, men wearing robes came in speeders and ran to the crash site. They freed other trapped people and began to put hurt beings inside of medical shuttle. The children were quickly herded into another shuttle and strapped in, speeding away from the burning crash site.

 

A kolto bandage was wrapped around Alek's hurt side and arm, and then the three were left alone. The girl spoke up, "I'm Ailyn Strider."

 

"Alek Squinquargesimus", the boy named Alek said. "Call me Squint."

 

"Revan Sunrunner", the other boy said, and he smiled.

 

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EIGHT YEARS LATER

 

 

Bastila swung viciously at her attacker, her bright yellow blade slamming into his blue one. Sparks leapt from the two swords and fell to the ground, and Bastila locked her blade with her opponent's before spinning around and away, dropping lower to the grass in a fighting stance.

 

Ruun Delkor laughed again, and this only fed Bastila's anger. "Come child, you think you have enough skill to defeat me? Put your blade where your mouth is." He beckoned with his free hand.

 

Bastila let out a growl and launched herself into the fight, sending a series of stabbing cuts, slashes and jabs that should have made it past Ruun's defenses. However, the older, more experienced padawan turned all of her strikes away too, just as he had done with her Force abilities. Bastila vaulted away several feet, high into the air, and as she came down she slammed her lightsaber down towards Ruun's head.

 

His blue lightsaber caught the attack and a Force Push from his free hand sent Bastila flying to the side, landing painfully on her back. Bastila coughed and doubled over when she tried to stand, and she threw up.

 

Ruun laughed even harder now, and his close band of friends gathered and cheered him on. "Ready to give up, now?" he taunted. "Or are you going to go running home to Daddy?"

 

Bastila locked eyes with him and gave the petty fool a look that would have frozen a kinrath. "Don't you ever speak about my father again!" She ignited her lightsaber again with a snap-hiss and tackled the bigger student with a full-on sprint. The surprised Ruun fell over but managed to land on top and knock Bastila's saber away.

 

Ruun had her pinned, but Bastila still struggled to get away from his grip. She concentrated all of her mental power on Ruun and nothing happened; the enemy was simply too strong.

 

Ruun held his lightsaber above her, aiming it downward to her chest. Bastila held her breath; all of her anger was gone, masked by fear.

 

"Not so tough now, are ya, sweetheart?" Ruun looked at his friends and winked devilishly. He got off of Bastila and stood. She began to back away, but Ruun swung his blade in a malicious arc, and the tip of his glowing sword scraped both of Bastila's legs.

 

Her tan robe leggings burned and the skin beneath charred. Bastila let out a cry of pain as her legs felt like they were on fire. She slumped onto the ground, defeated, and knew that this far from the Jedi Enclave, out in the middle of the plains, where she had agreed to duel Ruun, no one was coming for her.

 

Delkor stood victorious over his enemy. He raised his lightsaber high above his head and roared his triumph...

 

Suddenly, his blue blade was snatched away from his hand and smacked neatly into the palm of another.

 

Bastila turned and saw the interloper was a man with shortly cropped dark brown hair and wearing the robes of a Jedi. On one side of him was a very tall Jedi as well; he towered over the others. On the other was a blonde-haired female, a Jedi too.

 

Ruun stared at the three in astonishment, then his face glowered. "Revan. Why don't you go bother a Master about some stupid question or something and leave me and my friends to our business?"

 

Revan tossed the lightsaber up and down in his hand for a moment, as though pondering the question, and then said, with a hint of a challenging smile, "Nah, I'd like to play too."

 

Bastila's eyes widened in horror as she heard Revan speak, but before anyone could react, Revan had hurled the lightsaber handle directly at Ruun's face, and it slammed into his forehead, right between his eyes. Before Bastila could believe what had happened, the three Jedi were already in motion.

 

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Revan shot forward and landed neatly in the middle of Ruun's group of friends. His lightsaber floated into his hand and activated, its brilliant blue blade snarling energy into existence. Before the other padawans could react, he moved his arm in a neat, precise arc that reached out and barely clipped the top half of their lightsabers.

 

Half of six weapons fell to the grassy ground.

 

Alek was already moving before the pieces hit the ground. He landed compactly on the ground and remained in a crouched position; ironic, considering Alek was much taller than Revan. He repeated his friend's maneuver, and spun around with his own blade, shearing the legs of each and every padawan in the group.

 

Finally, Ailyn had been watching the two Guardians do their job. As the wailing students began to fall to the ground, she stuck out both of her hands and called the Force to them. Power gathered at her palms, and she sent a massive wave of invisible energy into the padawan's bodies.

 

Six humans lifted into the air, and six humans fell to the ground.

 

And so, three point five seconds after hurling Ruun's lightsaber, Revan stood over his enemy, blade pointed at his head.

 

Ruun looked up and rubbed his head, then backed away quickly from the sky blue blade of Revan. He snatched his lightsaber from the ground, pressed its activation stud, and whirled around to face Revan. The other man angled his blade to guard.

 

Ruun looked around at his fallen companions, at Revan, then at his companions again, and instead of admitting defeat, his face twisted into a vengeful mass of flesh. He charged at Revan and the two blades locked together in a brilliant clash. Revan twirled his blade once and the two swords disconnected. Before he could manage another stroke, a yellow blade the same hue as the stars of Tatooine intercepted Ruun's blade.

 

Bastila held the enemy at bay with as much physical strength as she could muster. She didn't dare look back at Revan. "This is my fight", she said through clenched teeth. Through the Force, she felt Revan nod silently and back away, leaving her to finish what she had started.

 

Ruun blinked away astonishment and the old smirk didn't return. He was silent, and his face still held anger born of humiliation. Bastila gripped her saber tighter and spun around, breaking the contact between the blades.

 

Ruun swung at her head viciously and Bastila barely blocked the blow. She parried and almost caught him in the side, but he sidestepped her stab and twisted around, sending an elbow to her skull.

 

Bastila fell to the ground again and her vision flashed brightly. Behind her, Revan flinched and tensed his muscles, preparing to move. Bastila shakily stood and managed to raise her lightsaber again.

 

Ruun attacked with a ferocity he had not shown before, and Bastila could feel her arms weakening and her reflexes slowing. Ruun spun again and this time she could not evade his Ataru. His blade bit into her arm, and she felt her blade being thrust away. She backpedaled, trying to put distance between herself and that evil bar of plasma.

 

She knew it was worthless. And somehow, she was not surprised when she felt Ruun hurl the lightsaber at her back, for what was sure to be a killing blow. She felt Revan reach out for the sword and miss it by inches. In the last few fractions of a second before impact, Bastila gave herself to the Force.

 

She felt something move her body into a spinning roll, and she twisted her arm around and reached out and snatched the lightsaber handle from the air. She completed her rolling turn to face Ruun, and with impossible strength hurled it back at her opponent.

 

Ruun could have moved in time; after all, he was a much more experienced student than she.

 

Bastila, however, would not let him. Somehow, using the Force as a guide, she took Ruun's will to move in an imaginary hand of energy and crushed it, leaving nothing but dust.

 

The blue lightsaber stopped in mid-air about two centimeters from Ruun's face. Revan was holding his hand out, and with a flick of his thoughts the blade shrank back into the hilt and he let the weapon fall to the grassy plain.

 

Bastila felt the Force leave her and realized that the blade had been set to full power; she would have killed Ruun.

 

She suddenly felt very weak and fell to her knees. She held her head in her hands and watched as Ruun ran away from the scene as fast as he could, probably back to the Jedi Enclave.

 

Bastila could not stop herself, and she began to cry.

 

She felt a gloved hand on her shoulder. It was far warmer than she expected. "It's alright, Bastila", Revan said. "Everything's going to be alright."

 

Bastila willed herself to stop spilling tears. "What- what have I done?"

 

Revan, she saw, smiled at her. "You defeated your enemy. That's all."

 

"But I almost killed him! You stopped me!"

 

"No you didn't." Revan showed her Ruun's lightsaber. The power knob was turned almost all the way down. "It would have only burned him, that's all."

 

Bastila breathed in deeply, allowing Revan's words to comfort her. She breathed out her emotions, finding an inner tranquility in the older padawan's presence. "Thank you.... Revan."

 

He said, "I'm sure you'll return the favor someday", and he grinned again.

 

Alek walked over and gestured at the fallen padawan's who were still laying on the grass, likely in fear. "What're we going to do with the clowns?"

 

Revan shrugged. "Ruun will be back soon. Wouldn't be surprised if Vrook showed up just for kicks. We'll wait for them."

 

Bastila felt fear grip her again. "The master's- no, we'll be in so much trouble.!" She tried to stand again, but Revan forced her to sit on the grass.

 

"Calm down; relax."

 

Bastila was beside herself. "How can you relax? We just had a full on duel with seven other students! How can you possibly just sit there, and-"

 

Revan sighed and talked over Bastila. "What are they going to do to us, kid? Throw us in detention for a week? What's more important, showing that jerk that he can't push you around anymore, or be a good little schoolgirl and never get in a little bit of trouble?" Bastila became silent and exhaled loudly, trying to clear her thoughts. "It's not as if they're going to torture us, or ban us from the order. Come on, you did great. Feel proud of yourself, not ashamed."

 

As he finished speaking, speeders began to appear over the hills a distance away. Revan could feel Ruun in one of them, and he smiled as he thought of the ridiculous stories he was making up. And he was supposed to become a Jedi?

 

As a final preparation for the masters' arrival, Revan, Alek and Ailyn used the Force to forcefully move the moaning padawans' bodies in a neat line across the grass. When Vrook stepped out of his speeder, the three bowed deeply and gestured proudly at the "art display". Bastila gulped.

 

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After they had been cleared from the training room, where they had been forced to do extra chores and exercises, Revan was sitting in the mess hall finishing a roast nerf steak when Ailyn sat next to him matter-of-factly. She brushed a golden strand of hair out of her eyes; she wore it loose and wavy, but not long this time of the year.

 

"That was wrong of you to make it seem like she wouldn't have hurt Ruun", she said, and sat with her back to the table.

 

Revan swallowed and remembered the scene. "You mean, it was wrong for me to switch the knob? The kid was on the verge of a mental breakdown. And besides, it would be.... debilitating for her to learn how dangerous she is."

 

"Dangerous? She has more anger and emotional strength than even you have, Rev." Ailyn tilted his head to her so that he would look at her seriously. "Do you realized how close she was to going over?"

 

Revan nodded. "I don't know, Ailyn. She's angry, sure, but she's also one of the toughest Jedi I've seen, adults included. She wouldn't stop, wouldn't give up." He lowered his voice. "And there's something special."

 

Ailyn nodded. "You noticed it too?"

 

"Ruun wouldn't just stand there that way. Either she's a damn good sentinel at age 12 or she has a special power." Revan took another bite and used the time it provided to digest his thoughts. "I researched it after we were allowed to use the computers again. I think the words 'Battle Meditation' relate greatly to what we saw."

 

"Did you tell anyone?"

 

"Are you kidding? Only one of two things would happen. A: the masters would ignore me. B: the masters would ignore me. No, I'll just keep an eye on her from now on."

 

"And who deemed you watchman of the Jedi trainees, Rev?" Ailyn said in a mocking tone.

 

"Someone has to do it, Ailyn."

 

"You're only fifteen."

 

"And I'm damn smarter than half the Council!" Revan said a little louder than he meant to.

 

Ailyn's face lowered, and she said softly, "You know, someday your overconfidence will tear you down from your throne." She stood up and left.

 

Revan sighed and returned to his meal. The hidden message was not missed.

 

The Dark Side? What's she playing at?

 

What's the worst that could happen?

 

 

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Well, what do you all think? Did you catch the ironic dialogue in there?

 

Tell me your thoughts.

[machievelli]

read

[Starsword]

thanks, mach

[HIGH ON PIE 14]

I do!

 

This was an interesting start to a fic. I like the integration of KOTOR characters with a few original characters. The ironic dialogue was quite amusing. Revan knowing about Bastila's battle meditationfrom the start was a good idea that just fit in so well with the KOTOR plot. I hope you write more and welcome to the CEC!

 

~HOP

[Bee Hoon]

Starsword, be patient People will comment when they have time. Things will probably get better once exam season ends (is it now? My timetable is out of sync with everyone else's) and holidays begin. It also helps to comment on other stories as well, especially if you offer constructive criticism.

 

That having been said, double-posting is a bad thing It's only allowed in certain circumstances (i.e. posting new chapters), so please cease and desist!

[Starsword]

OK, thanks for the tips. Sorry about the double posting.