Star Wars 1. Bitter resentment, pain, and anger

**Shadows of Heroines and Heroes**

**-- Chapter 1: Bitter resentment, anger, and pain… --

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Alison glared at the wall as she stared at it, for the fourth time that night. It was so unfair, that _she _had been sent away after trying to join her mother and their friends while they met for the - _oh - so - secret -meetings… _

Alison snorted and a stone rose up from the ground besides her to smash against the wall, with a satisfying sound. She glared again, and this time a little bit of lightening danced around her fingertips.

Her mother was Revan Stareth and her father was Carth Onasi, so she should have been allowed to go with her parents and their friends, her masters and teachers, in their meetings.

But no they couldn't have that, she was to young …her mother didn't want her to be forced to grow up like she had, young and carefree until the war, her mother dying and wining all the battles to find out later that she had killed her father, Alison's grandfather

…Mandalore, not Canderous Ordo, but the original Mandalore, Tyro Rai. And then of course there was Malak, the Star Forge, Jedi Civil War; Alison rolled her eyes, it went on and on.

"Alison! Alison Stareth, where are you? I know you can hear me." Mical stood at the entrance of the door, straining his eyes against the dark trying to find her.

Alison hissed silently as she scrambled up quickly, her hand grasping her double lightsaber, pulling it off her belt in an instant as she started to run. She had almost made the ledge, where she could have jumped into the river running along side, but she was too late.

Mical raised his hand up and caught Alison in a Force stasis barely a moment before she jumped and walked slowly up to her. He grinned approaching her like a jungle cat stalking its prey and pulled her away from the edge.

Her face was caught in a furious mask of hate and distaste as he stared at her entranced. She could not move, but her eyes could and she was furious as she struggled to free herself from his stasis field. A memory of a past time similar to this surfaced in her mind as she struggled uselessly.

_

* * *

The thirteen year old girl was playing on the sparring roof, diverting blaster bolts as they flew her way, with practiced ease. _

_Learning how to deflect blaster bolts was easy enough, but Alison wanted more of a challenge as she continually told her mother and teachers over and over again. But her teachers had refused, saying she had to learn to 'pace' herself more so than what Alison did already._

_Her mother was only slightly better, telling Alison she could train with HK if she promised not to destroy him while training. Alison had bounced off happily that day with a somewhat less excited assassination droid._

_Still though, HK had not complained much other than his usually complaints of not being allowed to kill meatbags and it had kept the two of them quiet for at least a time._

_Now Alison was bored and she signalled for HK to stop the barrage of blaster bolts as she turned to the jungle forest. "HK tell my about my mother from the times of wars. When did she build you?"_

_HK explained in great length the first time he had been activated and about Revan from the past and compared her to now. Revan supposedly had changed much, but HK could confide in Alison that her mother did not always control her emotions._

_She sent the droid away after an hour of talking and told him to go and have 'fun.' Though whatever the 'fun' that had HK cackling gleefully, Alison did not ask._

_Alison thought on what HK had told her, with the intensity of a master beyond her thirteen years. If one did control her emotions, but still use them to protect or fight then there was little fault at that._

_So ultimately, she supposed, where it went wrong was then wit the person in fault, really._

"_Alison!" A voice yelled as someone climbed up the stairs._

_That would be Mical or the Disciple, whichever one she chose to call him by. Mical was creepy to her, there as no doubt about that. But lately, he had been well… stalking her, really_

_And he wasn't taking no for an answer. _

_For crying out loud, she was thirteen and he was like how old? Alison couldn't remember his age, but he had been trained by Elaine and Biggs at one point, well two different times during the academy before the Mandalorian Wars…_

"_Ah, there you are Alison."_

"_Oh crap!" Alison thought as she turned to face the leering, face of Mical, the Disciple who gave her a charming smile, full of hidden venom and lust._

"_I see you're training alone out here on the roof, now, now…" Mical clucked his tongue, "That isn't very smart of you, Alison. What would happen if 'something' happened to you by 'chance?'_

_Alison's eyes flashed contempt as she slowly backed away from the Disciple as he advanced forward ever so slowly as well. "I doubt anything would happen to me, up here. My 'Mother' would be very upset if 'something' was to befall me."_

_Alison's contempt was turning into fear as she remembered that her mother and father were visiting Admiral Dodonna and some other old stiff necks for the week._

_Revan had left HK and T3 with her so Alison wouldn't get bored, saying that having her daughter at the meeting would do as much damage as handing a non Jedi a lightsaber to battle with. _

_Alison had pouted at this statement until she had realized that her other was referring to the 'other stiff-necks' who were still afraid of Revan and any of her family, whether blood-kin or not._

_Disciple moved forward and grabbed Alison by the waist pinning her arms to her side as he picked up the slender thirteen years old. "Your mother and every one else important are either busy or away, little doll. No one here will be able to stop me."_

_He pushed her to the floor of the roof and ripped off her outer cloak when a metallic snarl and the arming of blasters, lightsabers, and the furious wookiee roar stopped him._

"_Get your hands off her, Mical!" Mission Vao Onasi stood behind him with Zaalbar, Dustil Onasi, and Yuthura, armed to the boot._

_Death Threatening Statement: You will release Mistress Alison at once, before I use your body for target practice, meatbag pervert."_

_A series of beeps and other sounds also sounded as T3 uncloaked himself on the Disciple's left side, HK on the right with the adults behind him._

_Mical stood and gently picked up Alison helping her up, smiling disarmingly; "no harm done now. I was merely coming up here to meditate when I startled the little hawk and I was just trying to heal her wounds."_

_Indeed Alison's clothes had just that look, sparring and minor rips in her clothes, with the cloak hanging off one shoulder. _

_In a blur of words and howls, Alison had been led away from Mical and the others, by Mission and Yuthura gently and then asked a great many questions._

_No, nothing had happened. She told them, **'He nearly raped me back there though.'**_

"_Yeah I was training, she replied; **'no, I don't want to talk about it.'**_

"_Okay, yeah I'll be careful, yes I'll be fine. **'I do not want to spend the day alone now.'**_

_Mission's eyes narrowed as she questioned the thirteen year old, "Alison are you sure there's nothing you want to tell me about the roof?"_

_Alison nodded, uncharacteristically_ _quiet and Mission sighed, something had happened or nearly happened and Mission suspected rape, but she couldn't just act off that._

_And Yuthura could not find anything either, Alison have already learned and held enough power to block her mind from probes within the Force. _

_Finally the two women dismissed the teenage who immediately scurried off in the direction of Kevin who had silently been waiting outside the door for Alison._

_Yuthura turned to Mission, "so what do we do, now? Something was obviously happening."_

_Mission growled, "That scum was going to rape her! I just know it, Yuthura… but knowing doesn't help me any."_

_Yuthura nodded slowly and arched an eyebrow, "we all felt her fear through the Force, it will not be long before Revan comes racing back to see her. What will we tell her?"_

_Mission grimaced, we hide and ask Bastila to explain what we saw and what we think might have happened?"_

_Yuthura sighed; "the whole idea of living up to the actions of what I've seen and done, doesn't appeal to me much now."_

_Mission nodded glumly, "I'd better be off."_

"_Off to where?" Yuthura was curious as she watched Mission point towards the communication center. _

"_To talk too Revan, she'll be screaming at us if we don't."_

"_I will check up on Alison then..."_

* * *

Rain, Torne and Kevin were looking for Alison to see if she wanted to go swoop racing when they heard Mical. Rain and Kevin immediately speed off in opposite directions, both of them leading towards the adults ultimately. 

Torne raced into the room, his double bladed lightsaber sliding into his hand, its orange blade flashing to life, and swinging to Mical's unprotected head as Mical leaned in for a kiss.

Mical twisted out of the way and crashed to the ground as he pushed Alison away from him, towards the edge of the wall unintentionally, forgetting to let go of the stasis field in his anger.

"You little rat!" Mical snarled and activated his single lightsaber, its violet blade matching Torne's orange blade with a hiss and exchange of sparks.

* * *

"…Mother!" Rain screamed for her mother as she ran, using the Force to increase her speed until the world was merely a blur around her as she raced towards the meeting room. 

"…Grandma!" Kevy ran as hard as he could and harder with the Force, increasing his speed, though he was nowhere as near fast as his grandmother, no one was or could be.

Rain and Kevy burst into the room at the same time, all the Jedi members in the room, jumping with their lightsabers already out, all of the non-Jedi members reaching for pistols and swords as they jumped up startled at the sudden intrusion.

Kevy fell onto his hands and knees as Mission raced to her son's side and knelt besides him, concern on her face as she tried to get him to talk to her. Rain was bent double over as she gasped, out her message to the entire room.

"Di went to find… Alison ...stasis field… told you he was a pervert, trying…to ...kiss…er…"

Elaine and Atton exchanged startled looks, and Elaine turned to Revan, horror in her eyes as she looked at Revan.

"…Revan," Elaine spoke up hesitantly, "why don't I and some of the others go and see…"

Elaine did not get to finish her sentence as Revan blurred from the room, her trail blackened from lightening and her anger as everyone staggered in the room, from her sudden pull of the Force.

Bastila sagged in her chair and groaned, clutching her head as she whispered quietly, no doubt trying to calm Revan down.

"It's no use, I can't restrain her…"

Carth smiled faintly and spoke. "Could we ever restrain her?"

Biggs shook his head as he stretched his thoughts into the Force and glanced at his twin sister Elaine. "We have to stop Revan before she gets to Mical…"

"Yes…" Bastila said faintly, answering the unasked question from the people in the room as Canderous lifted her up into his arms.

* * *

Torne blocked another blow, and threw some lightening at the Disciple, but he was not able to avoid the booted foot that slammed up into his face and fell to the ground unconsciousness. 

Mical smiled as he turned back to face Alison, who was now struggling feebly, barely able to move as her struggles moved her closer to the edge.

"MICAL!"

Revan stood in the doorway; all three of her highly altered, (if there had been a market on Jedi lightsabers, though there were standards, hers would have been counted illegal) lightsabers blazing and ready for action.

She _flew _into the room, sending one lightsaber _literally _right through his leg; her second lightsaber sliced his ear off and scarred his face before he could do anything to stop her.

Mical screamed and fell to the floor, but Revan caught him with the Force and lifted his body into the air, his dangling boots level with her head. Revan raised her right hand, the one not holding the lightsaber staff and stood there, her feet spread shoulder width apart.

His face paled, turning the color of bone white as what little coloring in his face drained away like milk.

Her body was positioned diagonally, her head tilted as she looked up at Mical, the Disciple who _had _and _tried _to hurt her youngest and second daughter.

He sputtered, trying to speak, but he failed, nearly fainting from the pain of his wounds and fear of what Revan was going to do to him.

She brought up her third lightsaber, the only one she was controlling physically to unman him, when something from behind grabbed her and tried to pull her back.

"Let me go!" She shouted and let loose a storm of Force lightening in the entire room, not directing its power as the entire room faded to a cold black, the icy darkness chilling to the bone.

The blackness faded, and everyone saw why. Canderous had pushed Bastila into Elaine's arms and had tackled Revan from behind.

"She's fine." Canderous grunted as he clipped a neural suppressor around Revan's neck. "I only tackled her."

Jolee, Juhani, Bastila, and Visas converged on the bleeding and burnt Disciple and started to heal him with the Force.

* * *

Alison had managed to move the fingers of her right hand, but she was buffeted by the sudden strong presence in the Force… and it was something alien and strange to her, yet not frightening as it should have been. 

Time slowed for Alison as she hung on that edge, her fingers scrambling to find purchase so she would not fall, but she could not move anything but her right hand and that wasn't nearly enough to stop her from falling.

Alison stared into the trees near her for a brief instant, and hazily saw the blurred figure of someone or _something, _and then a pair of eyes, intense blue eyes staring right at her; before she could make anything out of her new discovery, her hand slipped and she fell.

Alison tried to scream, tried to stop herself from falling off the edge, still frozen in stasis, but she couldn't. Screaming silently, Alison fell down through the trees and bounced off the rock wall as she crashed into the river, with a resounding splash and fountain of water.

A large crack sounded dully in her ears as pain flared in her chest, and a few thick branches broke away in the wake of her mad tumble downhill.

_"I think I broke a rib or two…" _Alison thought as she groaned, and was about to try to slow herself down when she looked up at the sudden presence in the Force, and saw another shadow blur across the treetops.

Even in the confusion of her mad tumble, she was able to ask, "What was tha…?" before she crashed headlong into a thick tree stump and slid into the river, bleeding and broken. The darkness never felt so blessed to Alison before.

_"Alison… Ali, you need to wake up now…"_

A voice floated dimly around in Alison's mind as she tried to turn her head towards the voice and started to hack and cough.

"Wha…?" Alison did not finish her sentence as she started to choke all over again and went under the water until something pulled her up slowly. Suddenly she felt her sister, Kari's presence besides her, and she was worried for _Alison. _

_"Alison, I'm going to take control of your body and get you out of this river."_

Alison didn't have a chance to do anything as Kari did exactly what she had said and suddenly, Alison's chest flared as Kari moved Alison's body and started to kick, swimming against the river current.

Once the shore was within reach, Alison felt Kari leave her body, only to appear beside her little sister, grab her under the arms and haul her onto the riverbank.

_"You should be safe here, until help arrives…" _Kari looked away and her eyes were unfocused for a moment, _"Help is already coming. You just stay here and sleep."_

"Kari, why did you come and help me…?" Alison asked between coughing and hacking up water as she started to slip into unconsciousness again.

_Kari smiled sadly and kissed her sister on the forehead. "Because I cannot be there for you…"_

Alison's eyes closed against her will, and once again for that day, Alison fainted.

* * *

It was late during the night, when Zaalbar found the young Jedi girl, whose mother he had sworn a life debt to back on Taris. She was on the riverbank broken and bleeding. He also found Kari beside her, looking lonely as she played with a stray bit of her charcoal outer robe. 

_"You came, finally!" Kari jumped to her feet and looked at the wookiee expectantly. "You will take care of her, right?"_

Zaalbar growled back in reply, his voice a low snarl. _"Of course I will take care of Alison. She is Revan's daughter and part of my life debt as well." _

Kari nodded.

"_I must go now that Alison has help that can aid her properly, and she needs medical attention and quickly, Zaalbar."_ Kari disappeared into the fog that had appeared suddenly without another word.

The tall wookiee crouched down and picked Alison up in his arms, cradling her like a tiny doll.

"_Where were all of the other children, when this happened?" _Zaalbar howled his question, out-loud as he glared up at the sky and the treetops that shook when he looked at them.

Zaalbar shook his head and turned away, walking back slowly to the Stareth resident. Revan was not going to be happy when he returned to the medical bay; she was not going to be happy at all.

Zaalbar just hoped that they didn't have to place a neural collar on her again, even if it would do much to stop Revan from trying to kill the Disciple. His lips pulled back into a snarl and grimace as he thought of the Disciple. He would gladly pull the arms off the schutta but, that should be Revan's right as she was the parent here, not him.

* * *

"HK, I want you to keep an eye on Alison and protect her from anything." Revan's voice was dry and cracked as she addressed her beloved droid. "If anything happens to her, protect her at all costs." 

"I hear and obey, Master." HK left the room as Revan sank down onto the couch, and buried her face in her hands, the neural collar rubbing against them.

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Alison was so tired, very tired until she was able to realize that she could hear and see again. She sat up with a start before anyone could restrain her and tried to get out of the bed she was lying in. 

Torne had fallen asleep waiting for her to regain consciousness was the first to notice that Alison was awake. He sat up, beaming as he ran to the door and hollered for the others to come because Alison was now officially awake.

Rain sat down on the bed gingerly besides her friend and looked carefully at Alison. "How are you feeling?"

Alison swallowed and licked dry lips. "Like I was run over by a Zakkeg," She joked and everyone laughed in the room. Alison was back to normal again.

She did not have to look at her friend's faces to know that they were tense and curious, hoping that she would not remember what had happened.

But that was hopeless for Alison hadn't and wouldn't forget what had happened to her.

She never forgot anything.

* * *

"What are they going to do with him?" She asked; a hard tone in her voice as Kevy shook his head. "He's getting punished, Ali… just leave it at that." 

"No," Alison shook her head, "I'm not staying here anymore… not after this with him still around."

"And just where will you go, Alison?" Rain asked her tone sceptical. "You're not going to be able to walk off the planet like that."

Alison nodded. "I know that's why I'm going to take my flyer, and then I'll get _lost._"

Torne shook his head and grinned. "I'm coming too. What about you, Kev?"

Kevin rolled his eyes at the two conspirers. "I guess I had better see to it that you two don't get in trouble." Rain rolled her eyes at her friends as they looked at her expectantly.

"All right, all right, I'll give!" She threw her hands up in the air. "I'm not going to stay behind and get interrogated by our parents then."

"Then this is what we're going to do." Alison leaned in close and whispered her plan to her friends.

As soon as the plan had been confirmed, everyone left the medical wing, though Alison and Rain stayed together making their way slowly to their planned destination, while Torne and Kevin made their way to the hanger.

Ten minutes later, the four teenagers were away from Dxun and setting a course to take them far, far away. None of them noticed the red assassin droid standing undetected nearby, weapons at the ready.

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	2. Escaping the future

**Shadows of Heroines and Heroes**

**.:Escaping the Future:.

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The _snap-hiss_ of a lightsaber activating could be heard as a sapphire blue blade erupted from the end of the hilt in Rick's hand. It was the lightsaber of a warrior, one that gave him the strength to fight.

Another _snap-hiss _as the yellow blade with a crystal that came from the very same formation as his mother's lightsaber crystals sprung to life.

With these two lightsabers he felt he could take anything on. Right now, all he was battling was a training droid. His father Mandalore, or Canderous of Clan Ordo had built it. The build of the droid was based on HK-47, an assassin droid owned by the Jedi Revan. And with his skills in mechanics, Rick managed to fit it with lightsaber capabilities.

Making sure all the lightsabers were set on the lowest level, he spoke.

"Unit JAINA, activate lightsaber training level 12."

"Training level 12, initialized!" The black droid's eyes flared red, and she raised the two sabers, igniting one blue and one red. "Target must die!" She shouted, and then charged at Rick in a flurry of arm movements only a droid would be capable of.

Rick met the attack not just with by parrying the two lightsabers with his own two, but also with a built up defence of energy shields he'd weaved into his robes with the thread he'd used. The thread had been sprinkled with powdered bark from a Gallopian Steam Plant which had extra resistance to heat and energy. The plant was a rare find on Dxun, but he'd found a grove of it not far from the Mandalorian Outpost.

He parried another attack, swung low, feinted the attack and kicked up, knocking JAINA's arm so that the red lightsaber was thrown from her hand and hit the floor, inactive.

Now just contending with one lightsaber, Rick easily overpowered the droid, sending her flying into the wall with a well-aimed kick to the chest.

"Training Level 12: Passed. Record Time: 13.6 seconds. " She said in her mechanical voice. "This Unit will now sign off." Rick sighed.

"Well, that was an easy 13.6 seconds. Too bad my Master Jedi skills only get me 13.6 seconds to relax." He said to no one in particular after an eye roll at his own biting sarcasm. "Now, back to the problem at hand…"

Rick walked out of the room and onto the balcony. At this time he was living in the war tower of the Mandalorian Outpost. He could see everything within two miles from the balcony, though at this time of night there wasn't much to see.

* * *

"So what if I turn sixteen in two days? So what if I'm the oldest? I am _not _Mandalorian material. I don't have the fighting spirit, and I don't have the killer instinct. Hell, I can't stand the sight of blood! What kind of Mandalorian is that, huh_ father_?"

"You tell me."

He had not expected this, and before he could turn to see the speaker a hand had been place over his eyes and he heard the hum of a lightsaber, felt the heat of the blade at his throat. Rick rolled his eyes under the hand, guessing who'd snuck up on him to do this.

"Tell you what?" He whispered. "That your lightsaber is made out of unrecognizable black iron, with a Telgorn Jolt Cell, a Phobium Emitter, and a Pontite Lens. It has a blue blade the color of the Tatooine sky, and two focusing crystals: Jenruax and…" He focused on the hum for a moment. "Opila. Or that you're about six foot, with a head of flames and horns? Am I right… Padme?"

"Very clever, Ordo, very clever..." The Zabrak girl said, lifting her hand from his eyes. Rick was yet to discover _why_ she called him by his last name (Clan name) and not his first name. She did it to everyone, except the Handmaiden and Juhani, whom she had a certain respect for, and her parents. Rick smiled at what else he'd noticed about the lightsaber through the Force.

"By the way, the next time you threaten someone with your lightsaber, you may want to up the power level so it does more the give your victim a tickling sensation."

Rick went back inside before Padme could come up with a witty reply.

"Are the rest of you going to come out of hiding?" He asked, his Jedi Senses going haywire about the two Force sensitives besides Padme, around him.

He noticed a shimmer in the air not far away, in one of the corners of the room. A second later, Kail Raner had deactivated his stealth field and appeared, his white blonde hair catching the light of Padme's still activated red lightsaber, and becoming almost as fiery as Padme's was.

That left one last friend to be revealed, and she did this by letting out a small growl and lightly dropping from the ceiling to land on her feet. In front of Rick stood a six-foot walking carpet with dark brown fur.

"Okay, now that's you're all visible, I'd like to ask why you're here?" Rick stated.

Kinraar, the Wookie, growled. _"We heard you shouting." _She spoke in her own language. Having grown up very close friends, the four had learned each other's language. Only Padme, who was half Zabrak and Kinraar were native to something other then basic, and could therefore understand each other quite clearly.

_"We thought perhaps you could use some company._" Rick smiled at the Wookie, the Zabrak girl and Echani boy.

"Thanks guys." He walked over and sat down on his bed.

"But it'll take more then you three to fix this problem."

"You really don't want to be in the Mandalorian Army, do you?" Kail asked.

"Being in the army itself, I may have been able to handle. But my father wants me to actually lead the troops by the end of this year. I'm not capable of that. I can't lead troops into battle. I have a hard enough time getting myself into one…well, except doing battle against the training droid that is. Did I tell-" He suddenly stopped, looking up.

"Does anyone other then me sense a slimy faced blonde with an odd obsession with himself?" He asked, standing and Force-pulling one of his lightsabers into his hand.

Padme closed her eyes, calling on the Force around her. She was an expert in battle, but her Force abilities were nothing compared to Kinraar or Rick.

"Disciple!" She snarled. There weren't many things that could get Padme angry but the Disciple was on of them. The main reason was because he'd tried to have an affair with her mother.

"_Do you think we should go see what's happening?_" Kinraar asked. Kail opened his mouth to say something, but Rick held up his hand.

"My father told me to stay here no matter what." He said. Kail frowned, looking a little disappointed. Rick smiled mischievously. "So we can't let them see us."

Kail's face lit up with the same look of mischief Rick was wearing, and the two walked back out onto the balcony, Kail activating his stealth field as they went.

Kinraar raced out onto the balcony and leapt clear off it, calling a vine to her hand with the Force. Next to Kashyyyk, Dxun was her favourite planet due to all the trees. Rick followed suit while Padme gathered the Force around and her leapt from branch to branch of the jungle trees.

* * *

The four companions sped through the Dxun Jungle, following the Force to the location of the Disciple. They were sure that whereever he was, their parents would soon bring some action.

They were right. Kinraar and Rick swung up onto an extra thick branch not far from the settlement Revan and Carth had founded, the shrubs below parted for no visible reason, and Padme landed on a branch just above them. They watched as Revan's youngest daughter, Alison, was placed in a stasis field, and then they saw the Disciple prance out of one of the rooms toward her.

"That sick pervert!" Padme hissed, her hand going for the lightsaber at her belt.

"Don't do it Padme." Rick whispered. "If you do I'll freeze _you_ in Stasis."

Reluctantly, Padme pulled her hand away. Then they heard the snap-hiss (or several, actually) as Revan rushed Mical, holding one lightsaber in her hand and the rest with the Force. Mical accidentally knocked Alison over the edge into the river that flowed behind the balcony of her room.

Rick raised his hand before thinking, hoping to slow her fall. However, his focus was broken when he saw a muscular man carrying a large handheld blaster cannon sprinting forward. However, Rick's father, Canderous, did not fire his cannon, but took a hold of Revan in an attempt to keep her from giving the Disciple a worse fate then death for a man.

He didn't do a very good job and Rick suddenly saw his mother walking forward, which was enough for him. Between Canderous' fatherly instincts, and his mother's Force abilities, they'd find him pretty quickly.

* * *

"Let's get back to the tower." He looked back to the river for a moment, but there was nothing they could do for Alison. He took hold of a jungle vine, looked down to see the shrubs returned to normal and some plants parted in the general direction of his tower home.

Padme's shadow could be seen leaping from branch to branch, so Rick turned and nodded to Kinraar and the two took hold of a couple vines and swung back toward the tower.

As Rick landed on the balcony, what met his sight was shocking.

"HK-47?" He asked, stunned.

"Warning: Approach with caution, Meatbag. Assassination Unit JAINA is-"

"Assassination Unit?" Rick shouted. "What are you talking about?"

"Threatening Statement: This unit will not be spoken to like that by an inferior Meatbag." HK-47 raised his blaster rifle and was hit with an ion beam coming out of the shoulder of Rick's former training droid.

"Gleeful Announcement: Unit JAINA is now signing on! Full Name of Master: Erick Jolee of Clan Ordo." The charcoal black, feminine HK-50 version said.

Not taking notice that HK had been temporarily disabled, Rick shouted at him. "HK-47, return her to her former, wait, did you just say I was your master?" His brain had just registered what JAINA said.

_"I believe that is what she said."_ Kinraar growled. _"You seem to have acquired an assassin droid, just as my uncle's life debt family has."_

At that moment Padme landed lightly on the balcony, and Kail climbed up onto it as well.

"Canderous is coming!" Kail whispered urgently. "I almost lost my stealth field trying to get back here in time."

"Well, you three better get out of here. He said I was to train 'in solitude tonight, so you will be ready for your ceremony tomorrow' Those were his words, I believe."

"We're gone." Padme said, stepping back to the edge of the tower, dropping herself backwards. Kail smirked, and then vanished under his stealth field, and Kinraar raced to the balcony and Force-jumped forward and swung toward a jungle tree on a vine she'd pulled into her hand.

"Hopeful Query: Is this Canderous a Meatbag to be dealt with in a bloody fashion?" Asked JAINA. Frowning at the droid's sudden bloodthirsty nature, (_damn you HK,_ he thought) Rick deactivated the droid and pushed HK-47 under his bed so his father wouldn't see him.

* * *

"Rick." Canderous' gruff voice called as the door to Rick's quarters unlocked and slid open. "Ah, good, you've finished training."

Rick nodded.

"Good, because your ceremony is not tomorrow, it is to be done tonight."

Rick felt like he'd been slapped. His mouth fell open, though, luckily his father took it as surprise instead of utter dread.

"You have, fifteen minutes to prepare." Canderous said, checking his chronometer. Rick murmured nervously as Canderous placed well polished purple Mandalorian armour, the colour of Mandalorian Royalty on Rick's bed, then left.

Rick stood staring at the armour for about a minute, then closed his eyes, trying to think of a solution to his problem.

"I've got to leave." He whispered decisively. He picked up the Mandalorian armour, and pulled it on over his robes. He then clipped his lightsabers onto the utility belt, and turned to the balcony. He couldn't do this alone, he'd need-

"You weren't planning on sneaking off planet without your loyal comrades in arms were you?" Rick turned to the location of a synthesized voice. Two people, clad on full-body Mandalorian armour, stood next to a dark furred Wookie. Kail took off the helmet of his red armour, smiling at his friend. "We'll be with you 'til the end mate."

"You can say that again." Padme smiled as well as she pulled off the helmet of her yellow armour. "Come on, we've got a ship waiting in the hangar in the Stareth Settlement."

Rick suddenly stopped dead.

"The Stareth Settlement? I'm going to have to sneak past the Lady Revan?" He hissed, his face turning pale. "Are you crazy!"

"Quit complaining and come on." Padme said grinning and pulled on her helmet and took hold of Rick's hand. Then he pulled away.

"Wait, there's something I want to take." He said, sprinting over to the charcoal-black assassin droid, and reactivating her. "No questions; just follow us quietly." He whispered.

"Statement: Of course Master. JAINA is built to serve." Said JAINA, and they raced out onto the balcony and climbed down onto the jungle floor, fleeing the Mandalorian Settlement.

Underneath Rick's bed, HK-47's eyes lit up in a gold demonic way.

* * *

Rick, Padme, Kail, Kinraar and JAINA sprinted through the jungle, making short work of any Cannok or Boma that was dumb enough to cross them. After a while, Rick's chronometer beeped.

"Fifteen minutes passed, my Father would've discovered I'm no longer in my quarters by now." Rick whispered. "We have to hurry."

It didn't take them long to reach the Stareth settlement, though sneaking into the hangar was another story. They had to take three detours to avoid the guards, and then had to wait ten minutes while two of Alison's friends sped off in the direction of the Med Wing.

But finally, they made it to the hangar, and to the _ship_.

"You said you had a ship, not a Mynock's leftovers." Rick said, looking at the pile of junk they were using as their escape vehicle.

"Oh, quit complaining and get on." Kail said. Once on board, the Echani boy rushed up the front of the cockpit, being the best pilot they had, his father had learned from Atton Rand, and then taught Kail.

"Hold on, I haven't learned how to, er, actually take off yet." Before Rick, Padme or Kinraar could say a thing, he'd started the ship up, lifting them up off the hangar floor.

"Well, that wasn't as bad as I expected." Padme said.

"Did I mention I haven't learned how to enter hyperspace yet?" Kail said. Rick opened his mouth and closed it again. Then he opened it again.

"Are you kidding? What has your dad been teaching you? How too fly a remote?" He shouted.

"No, he just let me fly our shuttle inside Dxun's atmosphere and did the take off and landing." Kail shouted back. "Don't worry, so long as I can work out the coordinates we should be able to make the jump to lightspeed."

"And are you sure you can do that?" Rick asked.

"Well-"

_"Move over."_ Kinraar said, shoving Kail out of the pilot's seat. "_My uncle taught me how._" She said, flicking switches as they exited Dxun's atmosphere. "_Where are we going?_"

"Tatooine!" Rick said. "Mum said that was where Revan left the Ebon Hawk!"

"The Ebon Hawk?" Padme said in awe. "Wow."

Kail stood back up from the spot Kinraar had pushed him. "Well, I think this is the beginning of a great adventure." He said, smiling.

* * *

Please Read and Review!


	3. The Trouble with Tusken Raiders Part 1

**Shadows of Heroines and Heroes**

**.:The Trouble with Tusken Raiders Part 1:.**

Rick was woken from his rest rather rudely as the shuttle they'd dubbed 'The Mynock's Last Meal' landed.

"What's wrong?" He shouted, pulling on the black tunic and pants and the dark red leather vest that made up his robes. He left his cloak in his footlocker for now. He doubted he would need it on the desert planet.

In the cockpit, Kail and Kinraar struggled to steady the shuttle, which proved difficult even though they were in Tatooine's atmosphere.

"_We seem to have hit a sandstorm. Between it and the condition this bucket of bolts is in, I'm surprised we've remained airborne this long._" Kinraar growled. "_I take it back, we are no longer airborne._" As soon as she had said that, the _Mynock _crashed into the sands of the dune sea.

"Is everyone okay?" Rick groaned, sitting up, groaning again when pain shot through his body. "Oh, I think I fractured a rib or two." JAINA stood, her blaster rifle in hand.

"Statement: Meatbag Master, we are to expect company. Several sand-bags are approaching from various directions, and will be upon us in exactly 15.4 seconds."

Rick looked up, and saw about a dozen Tusken Raiders rushing forward raising their Gaffi Sticks.

"Oh, this could be a problem." He said, trying to stand. He managed a standing position, but couldn't move much aside from that. Kail, Padme and Kinraar seemed less injured then he was; Kail and Kinraar had crash webbing and Zabrak bones didn't break that easily. They ignited their lightsabers.

"JAINA; enable lightsaber training level 18 for enemy sand-bags." Rick said.

JAINA's glowing red eyes flashed to blue, and she placed the blaster rifle in a sling on her back, pulling one red and one blue lightsaber from the compartment between her robotic chest and legs.

"Sand-Bags Must Die!"

She said, igniting the lightsabers and cackling with more inherent evil than an average droid. The Tuskens reached them in exactly the time JAINA had said. JAINA and Padme were the first to engage them in battle, attacking them with a flurry of twin lightsaber attacks that were ruthless in efficiency. Kail and Kinraar waited for them to get closer before doing battle, though their attacks carried more power.

Rick tried to hide himself in the ruined shuttle, knowing he wouldn't do much good in battle. But one of the Tuskens found him and alerted some of its group.

Gathering the Force around him, Rick unleashed a wave of Force energy that threw the Tusken's backwards, some landed unharmed but stunned in the sand, and some were thrown into the wall, breaking their necks as they hit the durasteel.

Kail saw the Tuskens thrown out of the _Mynock_, and guessed who'd done it.

"Rick." He shouted at Padme, who was temporarily free of a Tusken's grip to kill. The fiery haired Zabrak sprinted over to the _Mynock_, finding Rick lying on the floor of the shuttle.

"Padme, behind you!" Rick shouted as one of the Tusken's regained his senses. He was too late; the Tusken hit Padme in the back of the head with a Gaffi stick. Rick narrowed his eyes, letting his anger get the better of him.

The Tusken dropped its Gaffi stick and tore at the neck of its strange robes, but it couldn't escape the death grip Rick had on it and died from strangulation.

Three more Tuskens ran into the Mynock. Rick prepared to unleash another Force Wave, but one of the Sand People raised its hand and fired a tranquilizer dart from a wrist launcher.

The small, three point dart hit Rick in the side of the neck. The sedative on the tips took effect immediately as Rick slumped over onto the ground. He got a small cut from a piece of the Mynock, just above his left eyebrow as he fell.

Kail and Kinraar felt their comrades as they fell, leaving them alone against the small army with the homicidal droid. Not that that was a bad thing, but with three against six-dozen, they were beaten quickly.

They weren't captured before the battle got to Kinraar; the capture of Padme and Rick and the fierce battle caused her to enter her Wookiee Frenzy. She killed every Tusken that came within reach of her saber or fists.

The Tusken that carried the wrist launcher fired two shots. One hit Kail in the chest and he was out. The second hit Kinraar in the arm, but in her frenzy it did little to stop her. It took a dozen more Tusken's and at least two-dozen tranquilizers to knock her out.

"Well, this certainly isn't good." Kail's voice echoed as Rick woke up again, an acid aftertaste residing in his dry mouth. For the second time in about an hour Rick woke from one near lethal threat to another. This time he was in some kind of hut. He was sure a moisture farmer had once owned it. His hands were tied behind his back to some kind of pole.

Padme and Kail were in about the same position, though Padme was still unconscious from the blow to her head, and Kinraar was being held in a small cage. Rick guessed that she'd already been tied to a pole and broken free, due to the rings of missing fur around the Wookiee's wrists.

"So, does anyone know what happened?" Rick asked.

"From what I could tell when I woke up, we are being held captive to be sacrificed in some kind of ceremony in honour of the mighty sarlacc, whatever that is." Kail said. Rick groaned, in pain and fear (pain hid the fear well).

"Just what we need, I leave Dxun to avoid becoming leader of the Mandalorians, only to crash onto Tatooine to be fed to a man-eating pit with an attitude by a bunch of two legged kath hounds in freaky robes."

Kail laughed quietly despite himself. Even with death facing them, Rick still found a way to joke about it.

Rick tried a couple of times to untie the ropes with the Force, but somehow the Tusken's had managed to nullify the Force inside the hut.

After hours of silence, Padme stirred, her eyes opening slowly, wincing slightly.

"Oh." She murmured, seeing where they were. But unlike Rick and Kail, she didn't just sit there. She started to twist her hands around. Rick heard a sickening crack and Padme smiled as she slid her hands out of the ropes. Her double-jointed thumbs had snapped under her palms and then back again as she walked over to untie Kail.

"You do know it's very freaky when you do that, right?" Kail said as Padme began trying to untie and break ropes.

Kinraar suddenly roared. "_We've got company!_"

A dozen Tusken Raider's filed into the hut, and were astounded to see Padme free. Half of them rushed at her while the other half divided into three groups to take Kail, Rick and Kinraar.

After a bit of a fight, the Tusken's managed to subdue the seething Zabrak girl. Four lifted Kinraar's cage while the two left split up, both untying Kail and Rick from poles but not their wrists. Then they were pushed toward the exit of the hut, probably their death.


	4. The Trouble with Tusken Raiders Part 2

**Shadows of Heroines and Heroes**

**-- The Trouble with Tusken Raiders Part 2 -- **

At first Alison's plan had been good and it _had _worked, except for one problem, her. She had yet to recover from the Disciple's attack and _avoid_ being mothered and fussed over by her friends.

Rain had been leery about leaving Alison on her own, sticking like glue with Alison when they had started to make their way, slowly to their destination point.

It was lucky for Alison that Rain had insisted on taking it easy, because Alison had nearly fainted more than once.

Rain hefted Alison's arm onto her shoulder as she whispered words of encouragement into Alison's ear, carrying her friend into the shuttle. Kevin met them in the doorway and took hold of Alison's other arm to help Rain ease their friend into the pilot's chair as they inspected her.

"It's not good." Rain shook her head. "Where's my brother? I'll be able to help her better if all three of us combine our strengths." Rain was referring to her skill of medical healing both through the Force and physically.

Rain had been taught by Jolee and the Disciple long before this day and knew of other, more archaic ways of recovering health and strength from Revan and her mother, Elaine.

"He's in the engine room," Kevin shook his head, "and we don't have time. Besides, we need a lookout just in case someone chances on upon us."

Rain could not argue his advice and sighed as she accepted his reasoning with a nod.

"All right, fine then." She comm. Torne and explained briefly what they were going to do and Torne agreed, reluctantly to stay on the lookout until they were done.

Five minutes later, Alison came to with Kevin and Rain staring into her face with anxious and concerned looks.

"Good you're awake!" Rain hugged her best friend tightly before she remembered that while she and Kevin had healed Alison, old traces of pain would still bother Alison. She let go quickly.

"I blacked out?" Alison mumbled as she looked around her at the shuttle in slight confusion and annoyance.

"Yes, but not for very long... Do you think you can fly us out of here? I'm going to go and work on the engines, with Torne, if you can." Kevin said. Rain shook her head.

"Wait a minute, Kev, we may have healed her but Alison needs to take it easy for a couple of d-"

"NO!" Alison shook her head. "I'm the only one out of the four of us, expect for Kev, who _could _fly a shuttle properly!" Alison took a deep breath and closed her eyes, calming down for the sake of her position and friends. "I'll be fine, really I will." She looked pleadingly at Kevin, who nodded and looked at Rain.

"Why don't you go and catalogue our supplies? At least this way, she won't be moving around much." Rain stomped away, after setting one worried glance at Alison who smiled weakly at Kevin.

"Thanks." She mumbled in his ear as he hugged her carefully.

"I know, don't worry, Ali." Kevin replied and left her to her devices in the cockpit. Alison blinked away tears, if she and Kevin hadn't been related, then they would have been able to love each other.

The shuttle took off without any other hitches and soared into the space as Alison plotted a course for Tatooine. They needed to ditch the ship and go back to where her mother had hidden the Ebon Hawk. In the cave of the Krayt Dragon Revan had killed with the hunter Komad's help.

Alison leaned forward, as her Force senses kicked in, telling her what the scanners were about too tell her.

"Sithspit! Sandstorms!" Alison hissed vehemently and swore loudly as she slapped the communit. "We're going to have some rough turbulence from sandstorms incoming."

Alison reached up above her head, ignoring the sting of pain as she stretched her muscles and flipped several controls, bringing up the engines boosters and opening the gills on the side of the shuttle that her mother had installed on the _Meow_.

The gills were merely an untested theory, but Revan had said that if it worked then the shuttle would be able to glide even if the engines were cut, if the power and height would allow for gliding.

Alison closed her eyes and pulled down on the trigger.

"I hope you're right about thi-" Alison never finished her sentence as she fainted onto the controls. The _Meow _reacted immediately, the gills flaring open at exactly the wrong moment, catching the full force of the sandstorm, and the _Meow _went flying end over end.

"Alison! Alison, pull up! Pull up!"

Kevin screamed frantically into the communit as he grabbed tightly onto the now vertical ladder and swung in mid-air as the shuttle started its downward plough into the planet outside.

Torne hung beside Kevin, his arm bet at an odd angle, his face slowly going slack and then he was limp completely.

"Damnit, Torne!" Kev grabbed his friend's belt with the Force and pulled Torne up besides him, hooking the boy's arm under the ladder rung so he wouldn't fall crashing to the deck when the shuttle, if it ever did, righted itself.

Kevin didn't have to wait for long as a sketch of Alison fainted on the controls carved itself into the bulkhead in front of Kevin. Damn Torne's force powers of carving images _after_ they happened.

"Damn it all! Why did she have to faint now?" Kevin swore as Torne opened his eyes and grabbed instinctively at the ladder before pulling himself out of the rung.

"Where's Rain?" He asked just before the _Meow _crashed and the lights flickered out, sending the two boys spiralling to the deck, in the blackness.

Rain came to with a moan, starring at someone's hairy hide.

"Where are we?" She asked as a bandaged head peered up at her voice.

"Hey, sis, you're awake, finally." Torne rolled his eyes. "We crashed and now we're waiting for Kevy to finished scouting out the area before we can move on."

"Uhh, what are we sitting on, exactly?" Rain looked at the mountain of hair on the back and was able to see two curved horns on a head that turned to look at her before turning around again.

"A bantha, it's a big hairy-"

"All right, Torne, I get it, I get it!" Rain said snappishly at her brother as Alison rode over to them.

"The other group's in trouble and we're going to go and _rescue _them from the Sand people and-" She suddenly stopped speaking and stared open mouthed as a red droid emerged from the ruins of their shuttle.

"HK, what are you doing here!" She yelled before she remembered to keep her voice down.

"I am reporting as ordered, Master." HK said and his red eyes glinted as Alison fumed. "Master Revan ordered me to protect and watch you and I do detect that there are several meatbags moving with the Jedi meatbags towards the Sarlacc beast."

"Come on." Alison urged her friends and looked at HK before she mounted the bantha, "You're coming too HK and don't kill anything unless I tell you, okay?" HK would have sniffed if he could have, but HK was only a droid.

"I hear and obey, _Master." _He started to stalk stiffly away as Torne jumped onto his separate bantha now that Rain was awake and joined up with Kevin, riding side by side.

"What other group, Alison?" Rain asked as she and Alison rolled side by side, a curious look on her face.

Alison smirked and smiled back with a rare brilliance of happiness and a smug look on her face.

"Rick Ordo and his friends, Padme, Kail, and Kinraar…"


	5. Pride and an unwanted rescue

**Shadows of Heroines and Heroes**

**-- Pride and an unwanted rescue --**

Alison watched grimly as Torne sketched out the hut and its contents with his unusual Force power.

"Look," Rain hissed pointing to silver lines within the rope. "It has cortis weave threaded through it." Kevin shook his head.

"Mom said that Revan gave them some of the stuff the last time she was here with the Ebon Hawk; so they helped her hide it. I have no idea why though."

Everyone turned to Alison who rolled her eyes.

"Mom said that if anyone could hack into the nav computer, and that's near impossible unless you know all about the traps and lockouts, then they'd be able to go where she had been and that it would not have good results."

"Odd…" Kevin echoed scratching his head. "You'd think that Grandma would have hidden it somewhere less easy to find and—"

"Yeah," Alison interrupted with a smile; "but even if Rick and his friends had found the Ebon Hawk, it wouldn't have done them any good. I'm the only one out of us who could even hope to break into the Ebon Hawk." She smiled and grinned, as her three friends waited expectantly for new burst of knowledge.

"We've got HK, or rather I have HK, and I am _Revan's _daughter, so if the chieftain's niece hadn't been killed in the fight, then, _Rick and his friends wouldn't be in this trouble right now."_

Kevin suddenly grinned. "I see where you're going with this, Alison." And then he frowned. "But won't they require a challenge like the Krayt Dragon?"

She nodded. "Yes, I think so… I'll have to duel with the Chieftain for Rick's life, after I er, _barter_ for the others' life."

"Wait," Rain asked, suddenly jumping into the conversation, "what do you mean barter?"

"And how and where are you going to duel?" Torne asked, the two fifteen year olds asked with confused looks on their faces.

"On a wooden beam, overtop the Sarlacc. They won't be able to resist the challenge." Alison replied firmly and Kevin groaned covering his face with one hand.

"What's that?" Torne asked, looking from the grim Kevin to the equally grim and somewhat excited Alison. Kevin shook his head.

"You and Rain don't want to know, you don't want to know." Kevin repeated this twice as Alison rolled her eyes.

"Look Kev, it's not that bad and I'm doing it, no more arguments." Alison watched as the large procession made their way to the Sarlacc slowly stopping every now and then, packing and unpacking their huts as they went.

"I need to get down there and see what the situation is like, damnit!" She whispered jamming her fist against the ground in annoyance.

"Inquiring Statement: Perhaps I may be of some help, Master."

Alison nearly jumped as HK spoke, standing behind her, his weapon out ready for action and his red eyes glinting in the dark. She looked at him and a sudden thought struck her and she glanced again at the big weapon in his hands.

"HK, tell me everything that happened when my Mom first met with the Sand People when she was searching for the Star Maps."

Torne stood and walked over to his sister. "Hey, Rain could you help me tie this?" He asked, holding up his half splinted arm, pain creasing his face.

Rain looked up from where she had been dozing and blinked as he as down besides her. "Oh, why didn't you say anything early, Torne? I could have healed it."

Torne made a face and gritted his teeth as she tied the splint tighter. "You were unconsciousness at the time and we had to make tracks out of there before the Sand People came to investigate our crashed ship."

Kevin raced in, interrupting their conversation. "Come on! Alison says it's time we went in and rescued the others!"

Alison watched as HK showed her the map of the area he had scouted out and pointed to a small point in the diagram.

"So the Ebon Hawk was placed here, and that's where we need to go." She sighed, and turned to the droid. "If I hack into the Hawk, can you fly her to here?" She pointed to the landmark on the map as the droid nodded.

"Gleeful Statement: I will be happy to fly the Ebon Hawk there, if I could perhaps-"

Alison cut the droid off hurriedly. "Yes HK, you can fire the turrets while you swoop down and we climb aboard if we need you to, okay?"

She turned to the two captives HK had gathered and started to disrobe the smaller one of the two.

"On second thought, here..." She tossed the larger pair of robes at HK, who fired his rifle automatically at the offending object. "Put this on and come with me. We're going to use these to get by the guards while Kev, Rain, and Torne create a distraction."

"Suffering Statement: Yes Master, I will obey…"

Alison and HK entered the Sand People camp without further trouble expect for the cold fact that she _had _had to point the Sand People guards towards her friends' camp.

There was no getting around it, and Alison knew it. She hated it, but this was what it was like to be in charge.

Make the tough decisions, do the impossible, be the leader, let others take risks before yourself. To become the leader was to assume a role in life that, few were able to excel in…

It was unfair, plain and simple.

"Am I doing the right thing?" Alison whispered to HK, as she watched the group of selected warriors sneak off too her companions' campsite. They, the Sand People, would reach the Sarlacc tomorrow if they kept or rather, could keep moving at their current pace tomorrow.

"Appeasement: Yes, Master, you like your mother understand the need to sacrifice the lesser for the greater goal. Few meatbags can realize this, especially during times of great stress."

Alison shivered at her companion's words. She was like her mother, in many ways and this was the only thing that she could do. Suddenly the urge to rip off the sand people wrappings, just so she could feel the open air on her tear stained face was overwhelming.

"Come on HK, keep up your guard and follow me. No killing unless necessary." Alison flicked her fingers at a pile of crates, causing them to fall and the Sand people in the immediate area to rush over to the pile of crates, leaving the path to the captives' tents clear.

_Rick jerked in his bonds as something powerful came closer towards him, two figures dressed in black clothing, one of them all too familiar. _

_They turned as one to regard him as he tried to step back, away form them, the taller one raised it's lightsaber, while the shorter of the two figures called out to him ... or tried too. _

_He turned to the door of light, the one way he knew he could escape but the door slammed shut when he reached it._

_Rick turned around to stare at the shorter of the two figures again. He… she… whatever ever sex it was, lifted the face mask off and reached to lower the cowl of the hood shadowing the nameless person._

_Rick squeezed his eyes tight and hoped that he wouldn't see the face before he…_

"Rick! Hey, man wake up!"

Rick opened his eyes to stare at himself bleeding in his bonds. Kail was looking frantically at the door, while Padme stared at him, was that concern on her face?

Kinraar merely looked at him with the aura of curiosity and the 'I'll-leave­-it-for-now-but-tell-me-when-you're-ready' look.

"What… what happened?" His mouth was dry and Rick had to swallow several times before he could speak properly.

"_We can only assume you had a vision or a nightmare."_ Kinraar growled softly so not to attract unwanted attention form the guards. Rick shook his head as he shot back.

"Jedi don't have nightmares, they have visions!" Rick retorted harshly, his face paling at the thought of the vision he had just witnessed.

Padme nodded unconvinced. "Then you had one hell of a vision, I- err that is we thought you were going to kill yourself there."

"Sithspit!" Kail interrupted Rick's retort to Padme's sentence with a curse, "the guards must have heard you screaming because they're coming to check on us!"

Rick was startled and curious at the same time. "I was screaming?"

Before Kail could answer his friend, two sand people entered the hut.

Silence followed them.

Alison entered the hut and looked straight at Rick, dead center in the middle of the room. She was able to see Kail, Kinraar, and Padme out of the corner of her eyes. They looked a little beaten and bruised but none too worse for wear.

Torne and Rain rushed in and she started to cut Kinraar's cage into pieces with her lightsaber. Thankfully it wasn't made with Cortis weave unlike the ropes, Alison thought as Torne released Kail and Rain cut Padme free.

Dragging Kinraar out of the cage, even with the Wookiee helping was no small feat and Alison was exhausted before Kinraar was finally out.

"Here." Torne reappeared and started to help Rain move Kinraar to the Ebon Hawk, leaving Alison alone with Rick.

"Who the hell are you?" Rick asked as she removed the face wrappings and stared determinedly at Rick. He blinked, was that the one of the people from his visions? No, it couldn't be…

"Hello, Rick." She smiled at the gaping teenager. "Guess you could say I'm here to save you and your friends."

"You're a, a girl? Alison, Stareth, Revan's daughter?" Rick stuttered in surprise, sagging in his bonds. "Great, my father's going to kill me when he hears, that _I_, _the future Mandalore_ _was rescued by a girl._" Rick rolled his eyes as Alison stared at the future Mandalore.

"What did you say?" She asked in a quiet low voice as Rick snorted at her.

"I'm being rescued by a girl and thank you, no!" Alison was furious now and it was starting to show.

"Well, maybe I won't put myself and my group into jeopardy the next time you and your friends are in trouble and try to _rescue _you from certain death!"

"Please." Rick rolled his eyes. "If it's not already embarrassing enough that I'm listening to thi-" Alison suddenly turned around, catching a gaffi stick on her double-sided lightsaber but not before one caught her, punching through her shoulder.

"Ughn…"

She slipped to the ground and the last thing she saw before the darkness closed in on her was Rick and the Sand people chieftain staring down at her.

Alison shook her head as she woke and looked up. She was tied to a pole being carried between two banthas, far off the ground.

"Ouch." She closed her eyes as she felt the dull headache of the concussion start.

"You're awake. Huh." A Mandalorian snort echoed; "Some rescue that was." Alison tried to turn her head to look at the sneering voice and groaned.

"Lay off, would you? I'm trying to remember something here."

Alison racked her brains for the technique she was thinking of. Her mother had already used the language ripping technique with the Sand People, but she had to make sure that it was going to work.

"Hey sand butt, get me your leader!" Alison shouted at one of her guards and rattled her bonds, the metal making a clanking sound on the poles as one of the guards turned to glare at her.

"Yeah that's right, I'm talking to you!" She shouted. "Get me your leader! I want to talk to him NOW!"

"Are you crazy?" Rick hissed in her ear as she stared back at him. "You're frigging insane!"

"Shut up you, idiot!" Alison fired back, glaring at Rick, "You got us into this mess, and I'm saving your butt, so keep a lid on that hole you call a mouth!"

"This isn't my fault!" Rick hissed. "If you hadn't gotten yourself captured, then we could have been far away from here, and I would be on the Ebon Hawk-"

"Hah!" Alison laughed scathingly. "Only HK and I can fly the Hawk now, without T3 and Mom to unlock the Hawk."

She was suddenly dropped to the ground, as Rick shouted out in surprise. Two pairs of arms dragged her up onto her feet and stood her swaying before the Sand People Chieftain.

She stared the Chieftain right in the face, and smiled, wincing inwardly at the pain in her shoulder from the wound that one gaffi stick had made punching straight through her bone and flesh.

"I know you and I can understand each other, and I want to duel for his life."

Alison waited desperately for an answer, and when none seemed forthcoming, she blurted out.

"My mother retrieved a Krayt Dragon Pearl for you! I'm her daughter, that's got to mean something in your code of honour!"

The Sand Chieftain turned to look back at Alison and shook with laughter as he spoke rapidly and pointed to the Sarlacc and the wooden beam they were dragging along.

Alison almost nodded and shook her head.

No, my weapons and his," she pointed to Rick, "they must be returned." The Sand Chieftain shook his head.

"Your weapons would give you an advantage that we do not have. You will not fight with them, but with our gaffi sticks. Should you win, you and your boyfriend will go free, lose and your boyfriend will stay with us and you die."

The Sand Chieftain laughed. "If you would have us believe that he is loved and worthy of this duel, you will show us how much you care for his life."

Alison stood, shell shocked for a minute as the words hit home. Show the Sand people how much she _cared _for _him_! She closed her eyes and nodded in defeat, though she was seething as they cut Rick down. Her boyfriend indeed! Why that lousy self-centered jerk could go boil his-

"Hey, what's happening?" Rick demanded limping over to Alison's side as she fumed, staring at the ground. She looked up and grabbed his face in her hands with startling speed, knocking both of them to the ground.

She kissed him fully on the lips with passion enough to convince the Sand Chieftain who laughed and turned back to his companions.

"What, what was that for, Stareth?" Rick swore as he looked at her in surprise.

"I have a name, you know," Alison replied tartly, tying her long silky black hair into a high ponytail behind her back with a strip of leather. Rick grounded his teeth in frustration.

"What's happening, then, _Alison_?" She looked at him with distaste.

"They wouldn't let me duel for your life unless I made it look like I really, _really _cared for you." She wiped her mouth and spat on the ground as she stared at him and pointed to the Sarlacc. "Duel, to the death."

Before Rick could say another word, several Sand People dragged him off and Alison was hauled off as well, to one end of the wooden beam balanced precariously over the Sarlacc's throat- mouth?

She stripped off the stolen Sand people's robes and her own black robes as well, leaving her dressed in her black pants and a slim shirt, the sleeves cut off, leaving her pale arms bare.

"Let the duel, began!"

A sand person bellowed and Alison stepped cautiously onto the wooden beam, mirroring her opponent. She walked quickly towards the center and was upon the warrior before he had time to raise his gaffi stick, striking downwards in a stab.

She struck his foot and he howled as he brought up his own blade, cracking it on her ribs, as she leaped up into the air in a backwards jump and landed somewhat wobbly.

Alison glared at the warrior and crouched as she moved closer to her target. "Just a bit closer..." She whispered to herself as she and the warrior edged closer.

"Alison, control yourself, don't let your emotions get the better of you!" Rick yelled and was cuffed by one of his guards for his efforts.

He wiped blood from his mouth and glanced up at the warrior who struck and he suddenly knew that Alison wasn't duelling with the Chieftain; she was fighting a decoy!

"You," he snarled and got to his feet tiredly, "you lied to her!" _Why am I complaining about this all of a sudden? Or fearing for her safety!_ Rick asked himself as the voice in his mind suddenly came to life.

A cry brought his attention back to the duelling fighters as he watched the decoy warrior strike her shoulder that already sported a wound. Alison went down with a shriek of pain and fell onto the wooden beam, miraculously not falling off into the Sarlacc below.

The warrior stood balanced precariously over her as he raised his gaffi stick and hooted his victory to his tribe. She closed her eyes and felt out with the Force for the nearest weapon that she could grab.

Alison's eyes snapped open as she reached and jerked his robe hard, pulling in the direction that would cause him to fall off the beam. He fell hard as she grabbed his gaffi stick and whirled it one handed above her head.

Her eyes went hard, the blue-green color no longer twinkling as she stabbed the stick through his chest and out his back.

"That's for earlier this evening." She whispered in the gasping warrior's ear filter before she let go of the robe.

The warrior fell screaming as Rick was released from his guards' grasp and he stumbled down the sand hill to the wooden beam. Alison was sprawled on the beam and as he reached the foot of the board she rolled off, too exhausted to try to save herself.

She tried to make her numb fingers grasp the wood beam, but they were slippery with blood and she couldn't keep holding it at any rate.

Alison closed her eyes as tentacles started to crawl up her legs but she was suddenly jarred by a grasp on her wounded arm, enough to bring a pained cry to her lips.

"I don't think you came all this way, just so you could die for me!"

Rick was on his stomach, her only lifeline to getting out of here now. He had their weapons clipped to his belt and he wielded his double blade, slicing through the tentacles that were grasping her legs.

He hauled her up and she stared numbly at him as he dragged her into a sitting position on the beam.

"You were fighting a decoy!" He shouted above the raising noise of the sand being whirled around as the Ebon Hawk soared up over a sand dune towards them, its turrets blazing, all three of them.

She looked into his eyes still as he stared back at her silent for a brief moment. Images flashed through her mind, of when they were children, her and Rick playing together, other images, the Hawk's secrets revealed to her.

"_Mommy, can I have the Ebon Hawk for my birthday?"_

_The little girl looked up eagerly at her mother as she sat in her lap, playing with the flight controls of the thankfully shut down ship. Revan laughed as she settled Alison in her lap more comfortably. _

"_You want the Ebon Hawk for your birthday?"_

"_Yes!" Alison's eyes were bright as she looked at her mother happily, "I can fly her already and I'm your daughter! And I'm turning…turning six! Please?" Alison asked; her face suddenly downcast at the look on her mother's thoughtful face._

"_Yes, you can have the Hawk," Revan started to say, "but not until you're older, okay dear?" _ _Alison jumped off her mother's lap._

"_Okay… Thank you, Mommy!" She ran to meet her translucent sister who had just come through the door. _

"_Kari!" Alison squealed in delight. _

Rick hoisted Alison up onto her feet and looked up as the familiar shape of the Ebon Hawk slowly came closer to them.

Kail and Padme appeared on the ramp, Padme being supported by Rain and Kail closely shadowed by Kevin.

"Hey, Rick, need a lift?" Kail shouted and waved as the ramp was brought closer to Rick who shot himself and Alison up into the ship as they roared away.

Maybe things would get better now, Rick thought as he grinned back at his friends.

Just maybe...


	6. Shadow of the Saber

**Shadows of Heroines and Heroes**

**.:The Shadow of the Saber:.**

Alison and HK-47 crept through the old Krayt Dragon's cave. At the very back of the cave stood the ancient Star Map Revan had found. But they weren't looking for the Star Map.

"Statement: Master, I believe I have located to the Ebon Hawk!" HK suddenly exclaimed. "Turn your head twelve degrees to the right and you should see it."

Alison looked in the direction HK suggested, and sure enough, there it was. Alison sprinted over to the Hawk, and found the boarding ramp was down, just as she knew it would be. But would she be able to get it started? That was the question.

Alison and HK walked up the boarding ramp, and found that all the doors had been shut and locked, obviously by Revan. There was also a carpet of sand about a foot deep along the floor of Ebon Hawk in the small boxed in area the three locked doors had made.

Alison walked up to the door that was between her and the central room and found almost all of the controls, voice locked and requiring DNA recognition.

Alison placed her hand on the DNA scanner. After a moment, the computerized version of Revan's voice spoke.

"DNA pattern recognized, state your name!"

"Alison Alyssa Onasi Stareth." Alison said. The alarms suddenly activated and the voice began shouting "Intruder! Intruder!" and before Alison could do anything, three blaster turrets lowered from the ceiling. Except they didn't point at her, they pointed at HK.

"Warning Statement: Intruder shall leave immediately or risk deactivation!" The familiar voice echoed through out the Ebon Hawk; Alison leaned into the voice recognizer.

"Cease fire, Alison Alyssa Onasi Stareth and assassin droid, HK-47." She said calmly, almost amused by it. The turrets instantly pulled back up into the ceiling and the alarms stopped. Then all the doors opened.

Satisfied, she activated the built in air vents and blew the carpet of sand back down the boarding ramp. Then she and HK walked through the corridors of the Ebon Hawk before finally finding their way into the cockpit.

Alison repeated her name into another voice recognizer, but all it did was make the blast shields on the cockpit windows' open. Slightly annoyed, she went into the security room and found the navicomputer voice locked.

"Damn T3 and Mom had to lock the navicomputer and now they're not here." She muttered. "HK, come here and unlock the navicomputer." HK obliged, walking up to the computer and emitting a number of squeaks that were identical to T3-M4.

The roof lights suddenly lit up all through the Ebon Hawk as Alison and HK gained full access to it and the navicomputer.

With that done, the two left the security room and returned too the cockpit. Alison flipped a few switches and pulled a few levers; the Ebon Hawk's engine gave a low hum and they lifted up off the ground.

Smiling happily at her accomplishment, Alison took hold of the controls and guided the Ebon Hawk out of the Krayt Dragon's lair and flew it toward the Sand People's enclave that was not far away.

About an hour later…

HK-47 sat in the pilot's seat and Kinraar sat in the co-pilot's seat. Between the two of them, they managed to avoid the unexpected laser fire from the land-based turrets surrounding the Sand People enclave, with Padme in the lower turret raining their own laser fire down on the enclave, making sure she didn't hit the prisoner's hut.

"Shouldn't Rick and Alison have come out of there by now?"She asked into the intercom.

"Statement: It is possible that the meat-bags have put her into sleep-mode." HK's mechanical voice came over the intercom. "I would much prefer to be down there blasting the meat-bags, secondary Master."

A second voice came over the intercom.

"For the last time HK, you're the only one besides Alison who has access to the Ebon Hawk's controls. None of us would be able to fly her." Padme recognized Rain's voice.

"Why is that?"She asked as one of the domes the Tuskens used as huts went up in flames from her laser fire.

"From what I can tell, Padme, Revan had the controls DNA locked so only herself, her daughters, and HK-47 could fly it." Rain replied over the occasional blaster fire.

"_I still don't see Rick and Alison."_ Kinraar's growl crackled over the intercom.

"Wait, there!" Padme fired to shots right behind the Tuskens carrying her friend and Alison so as to point out where they were. "Wait! HK, there's turret fire, about-" Too late, one of the Tusken's land based turrets hit one of the Ebon Hawk's engines and sent them into a nose dive toward the dune seas.

Thankfully, HK's piloting skills were as good as his targeting skills, and he managed to guide the Ebon Hawk on one engine far enough away from the enclave to avoid being attacked by the Tuskens.

Not that that made the crash any less disastrous, even though the Ebon Hawk was still in one piece when they landed.

Kail, Kevin and Rain managed to pull Padme out of the turret, which was somewhat squashed. She groaned as she tried to stand and found one of her legs sticking out in an odd position, apparently dislocated.

Kail caught her as she started to fall, and she used him as a support to hold her up as she took her leg at the shin, just above the knee, and pushed. There was a sickening crack and she pushed it back into place. It still hurt like hell though.

"How're the others?" She asked.

"Well, Kinraar's shoulder is dislocated, and HK's head was knocked off his chassis when we crashed. Torne is in the med room, we think he has a minor concussion due to the fact his head collided with the wall, but Kevin, Rain and I are reasonably fine." Kail said.

At that moment, they were interrupted by what looked like a HK-50 model, except its voice synthesizer appeared to be malfunctioning.

"Irritated Statement: That inferior HK-47 unit needs another lesson in crash landings." The HK-50 unit said stiffly. "Greeting: Hello, I am JAINA, Journeying Android Intended for Nocturnal Assassinations. I am the proud property of Erick Jolee of the Clan Ordo."

"Wait, I thought you'd been scrapped by those Tusken Raiders." Kail said.

"Disbelieving Statement: Scrapped? Certainly not! When those inferior sand-bags attempted to deactivate me, my Lightsaber Training Level 21 protocol was activated instead. Educated Guess: I believe that Level 21 is extremely dangerous for anyone with less skill that the Lady Revan herself, and perhaps Master Rick, as he is approaching Level 19." JAINA said.

"Okay, back up a moment. How did you even get on board the Ebon Hawk?" Kail asked.

"Explanation: I boarded this vessel when the meatbag owner and inferior design exited it." JAINA said, her head swivelling in a very HK-47 like-way. "Bloodthirsty Request: At this time I would like to go and blast sand-bags and rescue Master Rick." Padme smiled.

"Oh, trust me. Nothing would please me more, but the Ebon Hawk was damaged by one of the Tusken Raider's turrets. It'll take at least six hours to repair it."

"Correction: I was built by Canderous of Ordo. I was given extensive repair skills in case I ever needed to repair a damaged lightsaber. I would be able to repair it within two hours." JAINA said.

"In that case, get to work!" Kail said, and he and Kevin took the droid outside to begin repair work on the engine.

JAINA had been correct. Within two hours, the Ebon Hawk was fired up and they were ready to go back and rescue their friends.

HK flew the ship, with JAINA as the co-pilot this time, due to her being physically identical to HK aside from voice, name, and colour.

They found Rick and Alison on a wooden beam over the top of the Sarlacc, Rick supporting Alison as they tried to crawl up the sandy pit.

Kail, Kevin, and Padme, who was now supported by Rain, all walked out onto the boarding ramp.

"Hey, Rick, need a lift?" Kail called. He reached down and took Rick's (who was still suffering from his fractured ribs) hand as he propelled himself upward with the Force.

Kevin reached down and lifted Alison, who appeared to only be semi-conscious, up onto the ramp, and then JAINA raised the ramp so that they were all inside the Ebon Hawk.

"Well, that's certainly an adventure I'm happy to leave behind." Kail said ten minutes later to Rick, who was lying on one of the beds in the Port Dormitory. "So, what living hell are we traveling to next? Hoth? Malachor V? Blenjeel? Nar Kreeta?"

"Deralia." Rick said, smiling at his friends' mock-optimism. "Alison had a look at the navicomputer when she found the Hawk, Deralia was the first planet Revan traveled to after she left Republic space."

"Okay, Deralia, as in another desert planet?" Kail said in mock-depression. Then he pretended to faint onto his own bed. Rick chuckled at Kail. He would have laughed louder, but his jaw was still healing and it would take a while longer before it was fixed.

"Come on, Kail. If you're going to faint, make it more realistic Kail, and fall flat on your face or something." Rick said.

"Okay, fine." Kail said in mock-annoyance. He stood up and then fell flat on his face on the on the dormitory floor. Then he sat up. "Hey, this floor is hollow!" He exclaimed. He started tracing his finger along the floor. "Look, a hinge."

"Can't really look, due to the fact I have to remain immobile until my ribs heal." Rick said.

"Oh, right." Kail chuckled to himself as he started to look for the lock to open the secret compartment. It took him about half an hour, and then about half an hour more to work out how the lock worked.

By that time he had to go get some dinner for Rick and didn't have time to try and pick the lock, so, somewhat disappointed, he went to the living area to get some ship-glop for Rick's meal.

While Kail was out fixing his own and his friends' dinner, Padme had come in to check on Rick, and found him sleeping restlessly. But it was the square of light at the back of the dormitory.

She slowly walked up and the lock clicked open as she approached. Kneeling down on her knees, Padme reached into the compartment that opened, and pulled out a lightsaber hilt.

However, she didn't see the shadow that was gathering around the hilt and now around her.

But she heard Kail, and for some unknown reason, she hid the lightsaber in the pocket of her robes. She quickly closed and relocked the compartment, sprinting over to Rick's bedside and pretending to only just stand up again.

"How's he doing?" Kail asked as he came in carrying two plates.

"Restless, he must be having another nightmare." Padme suggested. She then walked out of the dormitory, the lightsaber a heavy weight in her pocket. She soon discovered that it was completely empty of crystals.

This meant she'd have to wait until they found some place that sold the correct equipment before she could use her new saber.

_For years he had waited, trapped, a shadow where no light could strengthen him, until he found the descendant of the one who trapped him in the first place. Now, the child of the one who vanquished him would be the one to resurrect him… _

Alison stirred in her unconscious state, but was still unable to awaken as the dark presence drifted by her through the Force.

_Rick watched helplessly as two dark clad figures approached him, both carrying ignited crimson lightsabers. But before they reached him, two other figures stepped into his view. Kinraar, her bronze saber-staff humming to life and Kail, his cyan saber-staff already ignited. _

Rick rolled over in his sleep, groaning in pain, and then rolled over again, still groaning.

After a week of flying through Hyperspace, Rick was finally healed and was able to help out around the ship, although there wasn't much left to do.

Kinraar and Kevin had fixed any problems with the ship and Kail, who turned out to be one hell of a cook, had managed, after half of the week of failure, to turn the glop into something decent to eat.

Rick tried to avoid going to see Alison. He upgraded JAINA's training protocols and began training in the garage while Kinraar and Kail sat and watched their friend as he passed level 19, 20, and 21 with flying colours. They were hollow victories since he secretly suspected that the Lady Revan would not be worried if he had beaten all of her _supposed_ training levels.

But by the end of the eighth 'day', Rick could no long avoid going in to see Alison.

Rick slowly made his way into the med bay and sank into the chair vacated by Rain upon his arrival; Kevin was standing off to one side, concern and fear written all over his face.

Rick glanced at Rain who shook her head.

"We've done all we can, you're the one who's got to snap her out of whatever she's struggling to fight."

With saying this short cryptic bit of information, Rain left the med bay, pulling the reluctant Kevin along with her, leaving Rick alone in the room with the unconscious Alison.

He closed the door with reluctantly, and leaned hesitantly closer to Alison, his face almost touching hers.

"Uh." He started to speal and stopped, his mind racing fast, what should he say to her?

He leaned in closer again and whispered.

"Alison, it's time to wake up, now. It's all safe, they're gone."

He did not expect the sudden slight motion from the comatose girl, as her startling blue-green, fear filled eyes suddenly fluttered open as she raised a hand and slapped him instinctively. Rick caught her hand and held it as she continued to struggle and then he slapped her.

It worked, bringing Alison back to full awareness and saving him from being beaten by a girl.

She looked around the med bay.

"We're on route to Deralia?" She asked in a sharp voice. Rick nodded, not saying a word. Alison sighed once and closed her eyes. She had fallen into a natural sleep when he opened the door and let Rain and Kevin in.

It took another three days to get to Deralia, and yet again…

"I can't believe we crashed again!" Kail shouted out into the desert. He turned back to the two protocol/assassin droids. "I thought you two were meant to be programmed to fly this thing?"

"Astonished Statement: One would think that after flying this junk pile to Deralia, the meat-bag would be a little more grateful." JAINA said. She would have huffed if she could.

"Agreeing Statement: Indeed, I have found meatbag's rarely show gratitude too us superior non-organics." HK agreed with his fellow droid.

"The ship already had the location programmed into it. A Ewok could fly it!" Kail snapped at the droid. "I don't believe this. I'm arguing with a pair of protocol droids!"

Fuming, he turned away from the droids and walked off toward the setting sun. HK and JAINA either didn't realize or didn't care that Kail would soon become lost and dehydrated out in the desert, because the two droids walked in the opposite direction and up the Ebon Hawk's boarding ramp.

Rick walked into the engine room to see Kevin and Kinraar in their usual spots attempting to repair the engine.

"How's it going?" He asked.

"_We are actually unsure why it is the Ebon Hawk stopped functioning._" Kinraar said.

"What do you mean?" Rick asked.

"We're not sure. It's as if the Hawk's engines simply stopped working; there's not a scratch on it." Kevin said. Rick's brows furrowed.

"Really?" He considered this diagnosis. "That's definitely strange. Well, see if you can get it started again. We need to find some kind of city within the next few days. We're running low on supplies."

Kinraar nodded and she and Kevin went back to work.

Padme sat cross-legged in the Starboard Dormitory. Alison was still in the med bay, Kinraar was repairing the engine, and Rain and HK were scouting the area now.

_Padme…_She heard the voice whispering in her ear.

"What must I do?" She whispered.

_Find the Eye in the Master's Heart…_

Padme didn't understand the command, but she doubted she'd get anything else.

She gathered the Force around her and it lifted her onto her feet. Then she heard something, a gasp for air. She turned, but no one was there. She then heard it again, this time directly in front of her. And she saw Kail, or a vision of Kail, lying in the sand that had suddenly appeared on the floor.

And there were others, a group of humans were gathering around him, looking at him inquisitively. All of them wore light brown tunics and pants made of thin cloth.

All of them had sandy brown hair; the men had all clipped their hair to an extremely short-almost bald fashion. The women held their hair in five short braids and one longer one going down their back.

One young woman and man in particular seemed to be eying Kail, though more like recognition then inquisitive.

The vision ended, and Padme blinked a couple of times before recovering the use of her body.

She sprinted out of the dormitory to find Rick just coming out of the med bay, helping Alison to stay on her feet as she walked, more like flopping around like a beached fish, having been in a coma for almost a week.

"Kail's in trouble!" Padme said. Rick and Alison both looked up at Padme, startled.

"What do you mean?" Rick asked anxiously. "How do you know?"

Padme shook her head, her hair falling down and covering half her face, with half of her fiery read hair, one horn poking out through the curtain of red symbolizing the color of blood. "I'm not sure. I had some kind of vision in the dormitory. I think he must've gone out into the desert for some reason, and now the Derallians have found him."

Rick bit his lip then turned to look at Alison hesitantly, then back to Padme. "Okay, gather the rest of the crew, _we'll_ go out and see if we can find them."

"Hey, I'm in charge of the crew, if I weren't here you wouldn't have gotten the Hawk opened up!" Alison said, attempting to stand. She fell back into Rick's open and waiting arms. "But this isn't fair!" Alison spat out savagely. "You've only recently recovered from fractured ribs and you're still going to help!"

She tried to twist out of his tight grip and only succeeded in bashing her head against the bulkhead before he could grab her again.

"That's different." Rick said, rolling his eyes and counting to ten inside his head. "At least with fractured ribs, I could still eat. We couldn't even feed you intravenously. Which means your body needs time to rest and recover. You don't want to collapse out there in the desert do you?"

Alison heard the veiled threat, and reluctantly, with an irritated look on her face, she lay down on her bed to rest, more being forced onto the bed by Rick's firm and insistent grip on her shoulder.

Not five minutes later, she sensed a presence enter the dormitory. She recognized the presence partly as Padme, but there was something wrong. She could feel darkness gathered around Padme, and it was spreading toward herself as well.

She would have screamed for help if she'd had time, but all of a sudden she didn't feel the need to. The darkness swept around her, and she felt power beyond belief as it took control of her slowly.

Alison tried to resist as Padme walked closer, her normally pale pink and blue face tattoos replaced by red and black ones, and her eyes were a golden-yellow; but it was impossible. She succumbed to it finally, raising her face up, her blue-green eyes hard jade now.

"The galaxy has been ruled by the Republic for far too long!" Padme whispered in a voice not quite her own.

"Yes, it is time to take back the galaxy for the Sith!" Alison whispered; her voice also somewhat changed.

"For now, we must blend in." Padme said, and her tattoos and eyes and face became normal again.


	7. Back to the Parents

**Shadows of Heroines and Heroes**

**-- Back to the Parents --

* * *

**

Revan sat staring moodily at the river, as she lay on her stomach on top of the roof. She had been avoiding the others and _him, _ever since she had nearly killed _him _and her friends to.

It was mutual avoidance.

Carth, Atton, Biggs, and Elaine had known that Revan did not particularly like the Disciple, saying that he would get into trouble one day, flirting with every woman he saw and deemed pretty.

He had even tried to court Revan's hand once himself, and Revan had responded by almost cutting off his. It had worked, very well.

Bastila sighed as she made her way up to the roof, watching her friend who was silent, as silent as the dead. Revan's presence in the Force was defiantly noticeable and her absence was taking its toll on Bastila as well, especially in such close proximity.

Bastila leaned against the stone and caught her breath, rubbing her forehead tiredly. She would never learn why Revan had built this erratically strange settlement on Dxun when she could have stayed any number of places on the planet or on another more secluded area.

She had once asked her friend as to why Revan had built one here, and Revan had given her this look and then told her.

* * *

_"Do you see that tomb over there, Bastila?" Revan asked, pointing towards Freedon Nad's tomb. "That tomb there holds great power and is powerful in the Force." Bastila struggled to understand Revan's cryptic answer. _

"_But Revan, that tomb is of the dark side, it's corrupted and a danger to all things living peacefully!" _Revan gave her a small smile.

"_Then I wonder what I was Bastila, because my parents were great Sith Lords. The greatest of their time, as you and I both know."_ _Revan did not shiver like Bastila had, remembering what the two of them had seen last night, in a nightmare of Revan's.

* * *

_

"Revan, how are you feeling?" Bastila asked as she stood beside Revan, looking down at the river. Revan snorted bitterly.

"How do you think I feel, Bastila? I haven't seen Alison since she slipped off the wall, Mical tried to rape her, I nearly killed him like I should have and I've got this damn invention of my own on _my bloody neck!"_

Bastila sighed and stayed quiet as Revan ranted a bit more, and then she looked around in surprise.

"Revan, where's HK?" Revan stopped in mid-rant and looked at Bastila, curiosity getting the better of the heroine.

"Surely you've seen him tagging along with Alison, haven't you? I told him to protect her after Mical tried to rape her."

Life had its errors and mistakes, and now Bastila wished she had never mentioned HK's absence.

"Damn it!" Bastila swore and dropped to her friend's side as she fiddled with the collar. Revan had constructed it so that ever time the prisoner tried to use the Force, they'd get a light zap of electricity, even though they could not use it at any rate.

But its ultimate secret was that only a Jedi of the light side and a Master could release the collar. Not the victim, no matter who they were or what alignment in the Force they held.

Revan was suddenly thrust back into the world of life, as Bastila released the neural collar around her throat. Revan would have fallen over on her knees if Bastila had not steadied her a moment before.

Revan closed her eyes and searched the planet, probing the life around her for her daughter.

What she found instead was emptiness.

Alison and all the children of the Jedi and non-Jedi were gone.

They weren't here.

Revan screamed.

* * *

Dinnertime was very quiet as the entire group minus the Disciple ate their dinner.

Revan ate slowly and mechanically as she spooned the food into her mouth without any life at all. Carth sat to her right, concern creasing his face as he watched his wife barely eat, Bastila on her left with Canderous besides her.

Down the table, Elaine sat with Atton, very much like Revan, no life at all. In fact it was the same, mostly for all the women at the table, and the men had to stay alert.

"Revan, come on let's go to bed." Carth spoke gently too Revan as she reached for her tenth bottle of Tarisan ale. Atton watched as Carth lead the drunk and unresisting woman away, mostly everyone following them out of the room.

* * *

"Let's go." Canderous' voice was gruff and hard as he went to the Disciple's cell where he had been left without food or water for a couple of days now, actually a week.

Atton, Biggs, Canderous, Zaalbar and Dustil filed into the cell holding area as Mical sneered at his captors.

"What have you decided to do now?" He asked, the gaunt face staring at them leering all the more. "You're Jedi, and we're _too _thinly stretched to kill any potential, or so I have heard from Rev-" Dustil stepped forward and slapped the Disciple with the Force.

"Don't you ever talk like that again in front of me; if it had been my choice, I would have let my mother kill you there and then..."

"Oh, has the boy gone all soft now?" Mical laughed and spat at Dustil's feet as Zaalbar and Canderous both restrained the younger man. Atton edged closer and smiled grimly at Mical.

"I knew there was a reason why I hated you and it's proven after all these years. Only reason I never killed you was because Elaine asked me not to."

He jerked his thumb at Biggs. "Same reason, Elaine and Brianna asked that we not kill you, otherwise you would have died back there on the ship or Dantooine no matter what then."

Biggs leaned in closer and spoke. "Death isn't good enough for you, it's too quick so we're going to play 'let's dance to the razor's edge',and see how well you deal with it, Mical."

He spat onto the ground at Mical's feet and unlocked the cell as he, Atton, and Canderous pulled the weakened man out and placed a neural disruptor, the same model that Revan had on earlier, and left moving quickly towards the hanger bay.

Jolee and Bao-Dur met them in the hanger bay on the Black Pearl, named for an old folk tale from Deralia about Pirates who sailed on the seas and not the sky. It was an old myth tale told over and over again, though it was only fantasy.

* * *

They climbed aboard the Pearl and dragged Mical towards main hold but stopped when they saw a red haired figure in their way. She grabbed the Disciple from them and hauled him by his only remaining ear to the life pod. She threw him in with the Force and bent down to talk to him.

"Now, _Mical _seeing as death is too good for you, I'm going do the same thing you did with your teachings." Mira spat in his face and growled. "This pod can't be unsealed by the user, so I figure that if I leave you in here long enough, with all the space floating around you, you'll have lots and lots of time to meditate on your crimes."

"You're, letting me live?" Mical asked and shook his head. "No, you wouldn't do that."

"Exactly pretty boy, so you're going to think long and hard about your actions." She smiled dangerously and closed the door shut and sealed it as she watched the pod shoot away into space, her husband Bao-Dur standing besides her with his arm on her shoulders.

"It's too good for him, still." Mira whispered brokenly. "I warned Elaine and Biggs then, I warned them."

"None of us could have seen it coming. It's better this way, Mira." Bao-Dur said quietly as he hugged his wife tightly.

Upon return, the husbands all went back to their wives, and sat awake through the night comforting them.

* * *

"Carth, she's going to be all right."

"What?" Carth sprung out of the bed and realized that it was Revan who had spoken. He knelt down in front of her and clasped her hands gently, as though she was a fragile doll that might break.

"Who's going to be okay, Revan?" He asked as she looked at him through a tear-streaked face, though the sadness was mixed with the fierce pride of a mother.

"Alison… Alison and the other children are going to be fine, Kari's with them." Carth pulled Revan into an embrace as her body shook and carried her to bed. He just sat there for a long time after she had fallen asleep, cradled against him like a child.

_Kari was with them…_

_They're going to be fine…_

_She's going to be all right…_

Carth just wished he could share his wife's optimism. There was a lot more out there, that shouldn't be messed with at all and knowing his daughter, she would end up in trouble.

He just hoped that she could get out of it before it killed her.

"Come back, Alison." Carth whispered, tears shimmering in his eyes. "Come home before it's too late."

* * *

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	8. Seeing Double

**Shadows of Heroines and Heroes **

**.:Seeing Double:.**

Kail was awake, but he kept his eyes closed, instead using the Force to scan the room he was in. There were two other life forms and both were strong in the Force.

In fact, he could sense a great many Force energies in the building. This was strange since he was no where near as powerful in the Force as Rick or Kinraar, and neither of them would normally be able to sense Force powers outside of the room they were in.

He turned his scan to himself. He'd been stripped of his weapons, and was no longer in his robes. Instead, he was only wearing a pair of pants.

Kail opened his eyes, turned to the two guards and gathering the Force into his hand, he unleashed a blast of Force power in a wave of energy.

The guards had obviously not been expecting the attack, or they would surely have been able to stop it.

Kail stood and searched the room. He found some clothes in a footlocker at the end of the bed, a red tunic and some beige pants, and some rope and a small vibrodagger in a plasteel container in the corner.

Dragging the guards toward the back of the room, Kail cut the rope into separate lengths. He used some of it to tie the guards up, and then attached the rest of it to his belt. His mother had taught him that anything can be made into weapon, and he was beginning to appreciate those lessons.

Sneaking out of the room, he held the vibrodagger tightly in his right hand, his left hand hovering around the rope.

Cautiously, Kail found his way through the building and managed to locate a computer console. Looking around, he found a stack of unused datapads in a box.

Kail smirked as he swiped one of the datapads and turned back to the computer and managed to hack in and download the building layout to his datapad, and that made his pathway a little easier.

He turned away from the console with the intention of heading straight to the exit of the building when he ran head-on into someone.

Both Kail and the other boy were knocked to the ground. Kail looked into the face of the boy, and suddenly had the feeling he was looking into a mirror.

They had exactly the same face and the same white blonde hair colour.

Only the other boy had his hair cut extremely short like all the other male Derallians. And his eyes were green, not blue.

"What the-?" Kail started, but the boy clapped a hand over his mouth, then held a finger to his own, telling Kail to remain silent. When Kail nodded, the boy relinquished his hold over Kail's mouth, and signalled for him to follow.

Kail was led back down the halls and then into a side passage that led to a spiral staircase. The other boy pulled out and activated two glowrod and tossed one to Kail.

The two teenagers crept down the stairs; they both excelled in stealth skills so avoiding detection was easy.

When they had finally reached the bottom of the stairs, the teenager turned around to Kail and spoke.

"Now we may speak. If the guards had heard you, they most certainly have placed you under arrest." Kail was stoic.

"Okay, first thing's first." A dramatic pause for good measure. "How the hell do you look like me?" The boy shrugged.

"Of that, I am unsure. What's your name? It may help me come up with an explanation." After a second's hesitation, Kail obliged.

"My name is Kail Raner." The other teenagers' eyes widened in shock.

"Raner?" He looked away for a moment, his lips curving into what looked like a not-quite-believing smile. He turned back to Kail. "My name is Jaden Raner. My mother is Serene Raner."

"My father is Biggs Raner."

"Serene's long lost brother is no longer lost it seems." Jaden smirked. "He was taken with the last Master to be trained as a Jidai."

"Jedi." Kail corrected.

"Yeah, whatever. So, if you're Biggs' son, and I'm Serene's son, then that makes us cousins." Jaden said. Kail nodded.

"It's a small galaxy. So, er, why exactly did you bring me here?" Jaden's smirk disappeared and was replaced by a thoughtful look.

"It's a long story."

"As far as I know, I'm not going anywhere." Kail said, taking a seat on the cold floor. His cousin sat down next to him.

"It started not long after your father and the old Master's daughter, Revan, were taken by the Jidai-"

"It's _Jedi_!" Kail whispered tersely, annoyed now.

"The old Master fell into depression at losing his only daughter. The rumours were that the depression drove him away from the Light Side Deralia was once covered with. He began to delve into the Dark arts and then he took an apprentice."

"Who was Revan's mother?" Kail interrupted as Jaden shrugged, not answering his cousin's question.

"She was once a beautiful young woman, the daughter of a powerful white-witch. But the old Master polluted her thoughts and twisted her into a tool of the Dark Side."

"And she was-" Kail tried to ask but Jaden ignored him again.

"Now she is gathering all the powerful Force users to her, and hoping to squash the light off Deralia forever. According to my mother, only three Force users remain between the Master and complete domination of the city, and then the planet."

"Jaden!"

"Yes?" Jaden asked.

"You keep ignoring my questions!"

"I didn't ignore them; I just didn't answer them. Because I don't know the answers..." Jaden said.

"Okay." Kail took a deep breath. He'd only known his cousin a few moments, and already he was becoming frustrating. "Do you know who the three remaining Force users are?"

"Yes, I do." Jaden said. Kail waited for a moment.

"Well? Who are they?"

"Oh, right." Jaden said. He seemed to have not noticed that Kail's question had also held a second question. Most people would think that, but Kail had pulled the same trick dozens of times; the two of them were obviously more alike then he first thought.

"The three Force users are an old woman named Tennenia, or Nia; a girl named Paige and, er-" Jaden trailed off. Kail closed his eyes, gathering the Force around him. He opened his eyes, but only half, using a technique Visas Marr had taught him.

What he saw amazed him. Not only was Jaden surrounded by Light Side power, he was practically swimming in it.

Kail shook himself out of the way of sight, seeing normally again.

"It's you, you're the final Force user!" Jaden nodded.

"The three of us have gone into hiding down here. The Master has made two failed attempts to abduct me, and there have been several attempts on Nia's life. Thankfully, Paige has avoided his notice for the moment." Kail stared at his cousin in shock, and rested his head on his knees.

"This Master of yours, does he live here?" Jaden did not answer, only giving his cousin a scathing look.

"No, Jaden, listen to me!" Kail's eyes and face shone with desperation. "I'm not alone here, my friends and I crashed on Deralia, there are eight of us and we're all force users." Jaden paled.

"This is not good, not good at all."

As if to accompany his words, a tremor shook the building twice as thunder rolled above them in the sky and lightening flashed.

The Master had returned…

Rick led Kinraar, Kevin and Kail down the streets. Padme walked at the back of the group; Torne and Rain were walking behind Rick, and the droids were in front of Padme.

"Rick, look out!" Padme shouted. A bolt of lightning, guided by the Dark Side of the Force, had struck through the sky toward Rick only to be cancelled out by a second bolt of electricity emitting from Alison's hand.

Rick turned back to look at Alison. A lot of people may have thought it strange to see a Jedi use Dark Side Force powers, but Revan and Jolee had taught them that a Jedi did not need to fear the Dark Side, but rather, to feel the Dark Side, call upon its power and let the influence pass through them.

Rick was only ticked off because Alison was out of the ship.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He shouted.

"Thank you so much for saving my hide, Alison." Alison said in a mocking tone. "Oh, that's no trouble at all." She glared at him. "And before you start, I feel absolutely fine."

Rick narrowed his eyes, but he did feel that she was completely recovered. Normally, he would have found this suspicious. However, after everything he'd learned and everything he'd seen, he'd grown into the fact that the Force could do a great many things.

Kail looked up toward the ceiling.

"My friends." He whispered.

"What?" Jaden asked, his face betraying little emotion as to what he was feeling.

"I told you I wasn't the only one, my friends are in danger up there!" Kail stood and began to run toward the stairs.

"Kail, you can't go up there!" Jaden shouted, but his cousin had gathered the Force and focused it into his legs, and was now speeding up the stairs almost faster then the eye could see.

Kail reached the top of the stairs and quickly opened the door. He was met by four guards, four unconscious guards.

Not caring how they had gotten that way, he continued his rush through the hallways of the building, quickly finding the exit. Then, when he was outside of the building and stripped of its protection, things started to go wrong.

As soon as he'd stepped out onto the street, he felt a dark presence approaching him. He turned around, and saw a tall, dark robed figure walking towards him.

Kail would have given up a lot to have his lightsaber with him; especially when the robed figure ignited a crimson saber.

Kail detached the rope from his belt and prepared for an attack. If this, person wanted to hurt him, he'd being putting up one hell of a fight first.

As the figure grew closer, Kail spun the rope and cracked it like a whip in the figure's direction. The rope-whip, guided by the Force, dodged the attack from the lightsaber and encircled the figure's wrist.

Kail had intended to pull on the rope and hopefully disarm the Dark Jedi, but his plans were ended when the Dark Jedi did the pulling. And Kail felt the rope twist in his grip, and then it had twisted around _his_ wrist like a snake, ending in a tight knot.

He tried to untie it but the rope twisted up as he brought his other hand toward it, and he had to pull it back to keep from having both his wrists tied.

"Well, that was much easier then I thought." The Dark Jedi hissed.

"It isn't over yet!" Kail whispered. He narrowed his eyes, and the crimson lightsaber was ripped from the Dark Jedi's slackened grip. Kail held out his free hand and caught it, then quickly cut himself free.

"Look who's unarmed now." Kail said, smirking a little.

"Well, it certainly isn't me!" The Dark Jedi held his arm out next to him, and two more lightsabers seemed to appear out of nowhere into his hands, both igniting.

Kail's eyes widened in horror as the Dark Jedi rushed toward him. He held up his one lightsaber to block one attack, but he still expected to feel the searing pain of the second lightsaber.

It never came, there was just the hiss of two lightsabers meeting then parting.

"About time you showed up!" Kail said as he and Padme worked in unison against the Dark Jedi.

It was no longer two lightsabers against one. Now it was three lightsabers against two.

The two crimson sabers and one blue saber were blurs in the air as they beat the Dark Jedi back. Padme and Kail moved as one, striking, blocking, slashing, and stabbing.

Then the Dark Jedi suddenly propelled himself into the air with the Force, not even making the physical effort to jump into the air. He did a back flip and landed a few meters out of reach of the lightsabers.

Then he unleashed a Force storm upon the two teenagers. They tried to catch the lightning in their lightsabers, but the lightning quickly overpowered the sabers and shut them down.

Once again, Alison was there behind them and using her own Force lightning to block his.

Padme stood and joined her own Force lightning with Alison's and they started to use the lightning to give the Dark Jedi a long and painful death.

Then the Dark Jedi began to cackle evilly. He held up his hands and with sudden and unexpected power, the lightning was blasted back at the entire group.

"Why is it, everywhere we go, we seem to upset someone?" Kail questioned from his bed, sensing that Rick had regained consciousness. He opened his eyes and saw Rick sitting up and looking over the beds. Rick suddenly sat up.

"Where are Padme and Alison?"

Kail also sat up, maybe a little faster than he should have. But he didn't care. He looked around the room, but he could not see Alison or Padme anywhere.

The two boys heard a door open, and Rick's mouth fell open when Jaden walked, frowning at them.

"Oh, er, you're awake. I am guessing that you've discovered the disappearance of your friends then?" Jaden asked.

"Where is Padme?" Kail demanded, in a way he had not thought he was capable of.

"I'm afraid that when the Dark Jedi rendered you all unconscious, she took those two with her. It is likely she will try to turn them to the Dark Side and make the strongest her apprentice."

"Then we have to save them!" Rick said, trying to get up. However, his body had still not recovered from the thousands of volts of electricity that had coursed through it and he almost fell flat on his face.

Luckily for his pride, Kail was strong enough to use the Force to catch his friend in a Force grip and lifted him back onto his bed.

"I agree we must save them, but rushing up to the mountain palace at only half health is suicide." Kail said.

Reluctantly, Rick agreed, and he lay back down to rest. Kail, however, turned back to look at Jaden. He was no longer feeling the half hearted excitement about learning his family was bigger then his mother, father and half-sister.

He was now feeling a sense of foreboding, and he felt like something was pushing him away from Jaden.

Then Kail's body suddenly jerked and he saw something in his mind's eye. Padme, fighting him, no, it was Jaden! Everything was black and white except their blood red lightsabers.

The vision ended and Kail was left shaken. Force visions were never something to be relied on, but something about this one was trustworthy. It had been too realistic to ignore.


	9. The Eye in the Master's heart

**Shadows of Heroines and Heroes**

**.:The Eye in the Master's Heart:.**

Padme stood up in her cell. Alison and her wore neural restraint collars around their necks, making it impossible for them to use the Force.

This was why Padme was so glad she'd grown up not relying on the Force like the old Jedi used to. Having grown up on Dxun, she'd often had to use her own physical strength and body to escape her foes, not the Force.

This meant that the so called Master had about as much chance of keeping her in the tiny stinking cell as Rick had of becoming Supreme Chancellor.

Smirking at the thought, she walked over to the bars of the cage, estimating how wide and high the gaps between the bars were. Then, with extreme care and skill, she used the flexibility of her body to its fullest, sliding through the gap in the bars by twisting, sliding and rolling.

Within minutes she was free of the cage. She looked at the guard, asleep on his shift. If she'd had the Force she would have fried him with Force lightning.

She'd just have to settle for strangling him with her bare hands, which she did immediately. Then she grabbed the small deactivator from his pocket and pressed the button, aiming the beam at the sensor on her collar. There was a beep and a click, and the collar snapped off.

She felt the Force rush back through her and breathed in, as if she was inhaling its power.

Then she waved her hand and ripped the door of the cell off of its hinges.

"Here." She said, levitating the deactivator over to Alison just for the sake of using the Force. Alison took it out of the air and pressed the button. There was a buzz, but nothing happened.

"What? Why won't it work?"

"You thought you could escape that easily?"

A voice said from a small microphone in a corner on the ceiling. Padme clenched her fists and closed her eyes in frustration.

"Only one of the Neural Collar deactivators is there! If you want the other one you'll have to find it! Since you don't know this place well, I'll give you a hint. It's in the Master's heart."

Padme's eyes opened.

"The eye in the master's heart." She whispered. She looked at her shadow. "Lead me to the Master's heart." She ordered in the deeper, darker voice she'd used earlier.

Some kind of shadowy form separated from Padme's shadow and began to move along the walls.

Padme turned to Alison.

"I'll be back." She said and Alison noticed that her voice was normal again. Then she turned and sprinted after the spectre.

"No, Padme, wait!" Alison tried to call out to the girl, but fell back on the pillow drained and as weak as before she had left the ship.

The spectre led her to a tall statue of a woman, made from dark stone. Padme walked over to the statue as the spectre rejoined her shadow.

And she saw, where the statues eyes were, there was an empty hole on one side, and a sky-blue gem in the other.

"Find the Eye in the Heart of the Master!" Padme said. There was a great scraping sound, like stone moving on stone, and something behind Padme moved. She turned and saw the wall that used to be behind was not there anymore.

But there was a staircase leading down to what Padme guessed was a labyrinth.

She walked down the stairs, and the wall began to close up again. Padme ignored it, continuing down the stairs.

Alison crawled out of the bed, fell onto the floor and pulled herself along the floor, slowly. She reached the guard's station and found a medical hover chair in its console besides the dead man. How long it took her to get up into the chair, sitting, Alison didn't know.

"I am never going to be able to live this down." She mumbled as she bucked up the strap across her waist and tapped in a few controls.

Alison lurched forward and zoomed out of the room, but she had a pretty good idea as to where Padme was going, she only hoped it wasn't too late.

A beeping noise from her boot caused her to curse as she grabbed the comm. link.

"HK, I told you not to contact me!" Alison swore as she turned sharply around one corner.

"Apology: Forgive me Master, but I was ordered by secondary Master Rain to tell you that the Ebon Hawk has been repaired and then we are on our way to save you and the horned meat-bag-"

Alison heard the _snap-hiss _of a lightsaber igniting. Then she heard Rick's voice.

"Kail, deactivate that _now_! Save your strength for the battle ahead."

Alison heard the humming of the saber stop. She'd suspected for a while the Padme had feelings for Kail, she wondered if it was possible that the feeling was mutual, just neither of them knew it.

"Okay, good. Put Rain on, then, HK." Alison said. A moment later, she heard Rain's voice.

"Where are you?" Rain demanded.

"In some kind of dark hallway, I think. It could be a corridor for all I know." Alison said. "Padme's run off, looking for a deactivator."

"What do you mean a deactivator?" Rain's voice was sharp and accusing as Alison slapped her forehead. She shouldn't have mentioned it, while talking to Rain.

"Well, er, I kind of have a neural restraint collar around my neck, as of right now." Alison said.

"HK, speed up the flight check!" Rain shouted. "Okay, we'll be there as soon as possible, for your sake and ours, Kail's driving us mad."

Alison laughed at that, and then found herself in front of a tall stone statue. She looked around; there was no sign of Padme, but this was the only hallway she's seen, and it ended in a dead end.

She was about to turn back when one of the walls began to lower down into the floor. Padme walked out, the deactivator in one hand and a blood-red stone in the other.

She handed Alison the deactivator, then walked over to the statue. While Alison deactivated and discarded the neural collar, Padme levitated the stone up into the air toward the empty hole that was one of the statues eyes.

As soon as the stone was inserted, the statue began to shake. Then the statue and the block of floor it was standing on fell backward, revealing-

"Stairs! Why is it always stairs!" Padme complained. Despite her complaints, she began walking down the stairs. Alison followed on her repulsor chair, still not entirely recovered even with the Force returned to her.

At the bottom of the stairs, they discovered several Sith Holocrons, a dozen archaic Sith lightsabers, and a large stone case holding hundreds of shining lightsaber crystals, all powerfully tuned into the Dark Side of the Force.

"We have found what we were seeking!" Padme's voice had become that of the Sith Lord again. "Gather what you can safely hide." She said, turning to Alison.

Alison sped around the room on her repulsor chair, taking two lightsabers, one of the Holocrons, and a handful of crystals.

Padme let the Force guide her hand toward a lightsaber hilt, one that was curved for extra manoeuvrability. She then grabbed a handful of crystals herself, and hid the both the saber and the crystals in a pouch at her belt.

She then grabbed a couple Holocrons, and then Padme walked back up the stairs, Alison following in her chair, both of them slightly weighed down by the power of the Dark Side they now held.

It was only the beginning of the nightmares to follow.


	10. Judgement and Battle Part 1

**Shadows of Heroines and Heroes **

**-- Judgement and Battle Part 1 --

* * *

**

Padme and Alison managed to leave the building without any further hitches until they reached the middle of the field. There was shouting as Derallians jumped up from various concealed hiding places as the Ebon Hawk roared in the air above.

Alison raised her arm to shield her face from the dust as the Hawk hovered downwards, stopping short of landing with its ramp lowered as several figures leaped out of it.

"PADME!" Kail fell downwards, breaking his fall with a roll and coming up besides the half Zabrak, half Mandalorian and crushed her into a rib breaking hug.

"Raner, what the hell are you doing?" Padme gasped out as he crushed more air from her.

"Kail, let her breathe or you'll be weeping at her funeral." Alison laughed harshly as she watched Padme push him away with a bit of extra Force.

"Yours, maybe Stareth." Padme replied and arched an eyebrow at Rick. "You took your time." Rick looked back indignantly at Padme.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Rain looked close at Alison's face and frowned at the chair her friend was sitting in.

"Alison, how are you feeling?" Alison glared back at Rain as Rick turned to look at her.

"I'm fine! Why, is there a problem?" Rain just stared wide-eyed at Alison, "You're sitting in a med chair and you're not complaining at all? Rick, haul your butt over here and tell me if I'm seeing an illusion or something."

* * *

Lightening crackled overhead as thunder rolled in the darkening sky. The wind picked up and howled as it blew the young Jedi' robes around their ankles and behind them the as dust rose.

"We're not done yet!"

Jaden looked down at Padme and Kail, utter hatred on his face as he stared at them, Kail holding Padme protectively, again.

Blood ran down the left side of his face and dyed the various strands of white blond hair it touched as the boy leaped from the cloud and landed with his lightsaber activated.

Padme and Kail broke apart, Kail pushing his secret love to the ground behind him as he brought up his weapon to bear on Jaden.

"You won't hurt her or anyone else I promise you." He said in a low voice, his eyes narrowing as Jaden grinned.

"Try me."

* * *

Rick grabbed the buckle that was clinched around Alison's waist and unclipped it, hauling her into his arms quickly before she could protest.

"Wait!" Alison yelled sharply in his ear and pointed up at the sky as a black robed figure stood on nothing, watching the battle between the two youths, laughing.

Alison's eyes flashed and for a brief instant Rain saw yellow and red in her best friend's eyes as Alison reached over and pulled Rick's lightsaber from his belt and activated it.

"Close your eyes!" Alison yelled out, and the lightsaber shot form her hand like a javelin, propelled by the Force.

It went right through the black figure's chest and the laughter stopped as she turned to look at Alison.

_"You,"_ she said, pointing a single finger at Alison. _"why are you still alive?"_

Alison motioned for Rick to put her down, digging her elbow into his gut when he refused. He dropped her and grabbed an arm as Alison raised her right one.

"What are you trying to do?" He shouted over the screaming wind as Alison struggled to control his lightsaber.

"Bringing the fight to the true heart of our problems." She shouted back, the wind making her eyes tear up.

Rain staggered to their side as the wind increased.

"What do you mean? Shouldn't we be worrying about theblonde one over there?"

"No, they can take of themselves." Alison shook her head. "It's not enough! I need more power to strike her." Rick was thunderstruck.

"What the hell are you talking about, Alison? You just lost my lightsaber, and now you want more? Do you know how long it took me to make that!"

Alison closed her eyes as her lightsabers sprang off her belt and Rain's as well, activating in the sky as they shot like javelins into the dark cloud of black furry.

_"Die, mother, die like you should have all those years ago!" _The voice that issued from Alison's mouth was not her own, but a much harsher and deeper voice, more guttural and raspy, as Alison's lightsabers, her double bladed cyan, the single topaz and two interlinking silver and violet flew upwards.

Rain's interlinking lightsabers, green, violet and silver followed with Rick's two more interlinking lightsabers blue and yellow, as they connected in mid-air, turning the blades orange, the now linked lightsaber, the last to follow, whirling in the dirt imbued cloud.

Rain looked startled and Rick grim, the same thought was racing though their minds as they clung to Alison who seemed oblivious to the increasing gale.

_What was happening to Alison? Why was she changing like this? What was she changing into?_

Two screams rented through the air, as the day turned to night and blackness descended on them all.

* * *

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	11. Judgement and Battle Part 2

**Shadows of Heroines and Heroes **

**.:Judgment and Battle Part 2:. **

* * *

Jaden swung his blood-red lightsaber with the utmost speed and accuracy and neatly severed Kail's cyan double lightsaber in half. One end then faltered and died, the other end was damaged and was now only at half power.

With another display of speed, Jaden pulled his own single lightsaber back and drove the blade into Kail's stomach.

Padme screamed in fury and anguish as Kail fell to his knees. Jaden, his lips curling into a dark smile, removed his lightsaber from Kail's body and backed away.

Kail screamed, not just the pain from the lightsaber blade, his stomach acids were burning away at him from the gaping hole Jaden had made.

Padme reached to her belt and withdrew one of her lightsabers. She ignited the crimson blade and lunged for Jaden, her eyes burning with hatred.

* * *

"Alison, snap out of it!"

Rain's voice got Alison's attention as did the hand slapping Alison's face, knocking the enraged girl back into Rick.

"What did you do that for?"

Alison's hand shot out and grasped Rain's throat in a tight grip, choking her best friend without a second thought.

_"She must die!"_ Alison spat out, her eyes changing to the colour of a Sith as Rain's face turned blue in front of her, their faces almost touching each other.

_"Fool! Distracted as ever!"_ A laugh caused Alison to drop Rain. She fell gasping to the ground, Rick at her side, talking rapidly into his comlink as Alison followed up to meet the Master, still standing on nothing.

_"Look at you," _the Master snickered openly, "_you have resurrected yourself in the body of a sixteen year old girl, instead of a proper Sith Lord or Jedi. Someone foolish enough to harbour you, dear daughter."_

_"I'll live longer in a younger body and this young girl is not as helpless as you have decreed, Mother. You do not realize who her mother was, do you, Mother?"_ The rough voice still issued from Alison's mouth and as she spat at the Master, a grin stole across her face.

_"I think I'll let you see just how powerful Stareth's daughter is." A hollow laugh echoed as the Master gasped in sudden recognition._

_"Stareth's daughter? No, she, Revan, Revan and Malak died."_

_"Not Malak's daugher, that would have been Kari, who I know we are well acquainted with. No, this is Onasi and Stareth's dauhger. Enjoy, Mother, she'll be the last thing you'll ever see."_

* * *

"What, what's going on?" Alison looked up with a confused look on her face and saw the Master in front of her.

"No!" Alison shouted and called her lightsabers back to her, Rain and Rick's falling to the ground as Alison clutched her double bladed lightsaber in her hands.

_"You'll die before you could hope to save them."_ The Master snarled and pointed a hand towards Rick and Rain far below them on the ground.

"This isn't over yet." Alison warned the dark master as she jumped off the invisible ledge and back towards the ground.

The dark master smiled and looked on at Alison.

_"Oh you'll wish it had been, you'll wish it had been."_

* * *

Jaden staggered back under Padme's vicious attack against him, her crimson lightsaber a blur as she swung and struck and stabbed at him.

Then, without warning, Jaden suddenly deactivated his lightsaber and raised his hands that blasted volts of cyan-blue electricity.

At first, Padme was able to catch the lightning in her lightsaber blade. In fact, it started to bounce back to Jaden, but it seemed to enter his body and simply cease to exist.

Then the lightning snaked its way into Padme's lightsaber hilt and the blade faltered and died. But the lightning continued, and it surrounded Padme and began coursing through her body, lifting her up off the ground.

And something else was happening. As the lightning emitted from Jaden's hands, he started to change. His skin paled, and then began to turn grey. He appeared to grow older and his face changed into a much older man's.

His white-blonde hair became a grizzly mane of grey hair. And his seemingly innocent green eyes grew into bloodshot eyes with black pupils like a beast.

Padme's eyes widened in horror, horror that quickly fuelled her anger further. At first it seemed Kail's cousin killed him, now it was apparent that some shape shifting freak killed Kail.

This anger gave her the strength to feed on the Dark Side power, rather then be harmed by it. As she did this, the black and red tattoos slowly became visible again, signifying the spectre that had taken possession of her mind and body.

"What! What is happening? No Jedi can do that!" Jaden hissed, recoiling fromher.

_"You think me a Jedi?"_ Padme hissed. To demonstrate how unlike a Jedi she was, she started to contain the lightning into a large sphere of dark side energy and lightning, and blasted it back at Jaden.

* * *

Thankfully, Rick and Alison and the others were a little too distracted to see her display of power.

"We've got to get out of here!" Rick shouted over the gale and Rain rolled her eyes at him.

"_You think?" _Rain said in his mind with the Force.

Her throat was still recovering from Alison's attack, though Rain refused to believe that it was Alison who had done it. The eyes, the voice, her mannerisms, they all spelled one thing, Sith possession.

"Rick!" Alison's shout echoed in his ear. "Get Rain to the ship and cover your eyes!" Rick grasped Rain around her waist and hauled her upright.

"What about you?" Rick hollered back, over the increasing wind.

"Just do it!" Alison shouted back as she raised her lightsaber and twirled the double cyan blade above her head, grinning eerily as the dark Master stopped short a few meters away from her.

The Dark Master raised a single hand and spoke in an ominous voice as Rick and Rain covered their eyes.

_"Your friends will die first... And then you will suffer."_

* * *

Jaden was struck by the sphere composed of the lightning Padme had generated.

But Padme wasn't done with that. She was just beginning.

_"Time to turn the tables."_ She raised her hands and the Sith Spectre energized her with Dark Force powers, and a blast of sharp violet lightning launched from her fingers.

"Go on, kill me!" Jaden shouted. Upon hearing these words, Padme suddenly ended the lightning attack. Just when he thought her Jedi instincts had gotten through, Jaden felt a claw like grip around his throat and, try as he might, he couldn't remove it.

Padme smirked as she watched Jaden struggle to escape the grip she had on his throat. She raised one of her hands and pulled it toward her, dragging Jaden along the ground by the grip on his throat.

_"Death is far too easy a punishment for the crime you committed!"_ She snapped. Again, just as he was about to die from strangulation, she released him, and then, with speed to rival the Lady Revan, Padme's blue lightsaber had erupted from the end of its hilt and Jaden was suddenly a limbless body.

Her robes now splashed with the Sith apprentice's blood, and her face almost unrecognizable under the dark tattoos, Padme still refused to let Jaden die.

She now suspended Jaden in the air in front of her, blood pouring from the stumps that had once been his limps, and was pondering what painful way to kill him.

She decided she would electrocute him and then strangle him until the powerless Sith eyes faded into a death glaze.

His screams could hardly be heard over the thunder in the sky above, but what she could hear was music to her ears.

Then, when she sensed he was almost gone, she halted the lightning once more, and lifted her hand, curling the fingers just slightly and encircling Jaden's throat.

Moments later, Jaden was dead. Narrowing her eyes, Padme hurled the charred, torn and bruised corpse through the air and away from their present location.

* * *

Alison grinned.

"Not if I can help it. Take this, Sith scum!"

She ran straight at the Dark Master, raising her blade to seemingly stab the woman through her stomach as the dark master brought her own weapon to block and slashed through empty space as Alison leaped up in the air and sliced off the master's head with a single laugh and hiss.

Alison hit the ground and walked away, leaving the headless corpse smoking on the ground, various limbs still twitching. She stooped to pick up the lightsaber the dark master had only shortly ago used.

"_And so the circle of life completes itself with death."_ Alison spat on the ground as her eyes blazed with power, the dark energies gathering around the dark master increasing.

"Alison! We've got to get to the ship, come on!" Rick appeared out of nowhere, and grabbed her arm pulling her towards the ship as the dark master's body exploded.

"Alison, what have you done?" Rick gasped hoarsely as they sat on the floor, exhausted yet alive.

"I don't know, Rick, I don't know." Alison whispered brokenly, staring at Rain's still form in a daze. "I don't know."

* * *

Padme fell to her knees beside Kail, her face tattoos back to the normal pale pink and blue. His face was pale, the stomach, groin and chest of his robes were soaked in blood, and his eyes were blank and staring.

And yet, as darkness fell around them, Padme felt a tiny flicker of life within him, and she felt a great power stir within her. Not of the Dark Side or of the Light, and yet of both at the same time.

Through the Force, Padme took hold of what small flicker of life was left in Kail, and breathed new life into it, her own life.

And as Kail's life strengthened and Padme's weakened. Padme wondered if Bastila had felt the same exhilaration and pain she was feeling, when she had saved Revan after Malak's betrayal.

* * *

"You nearly killed her, you idiot." Torne snarled and pushed Alison away from his sister. "Get away from her! Get off the ship! You don't belong here, bloody Sith!" Alison felt the tears well up in her eyes.

"No, I'm not a Sith. I don't know what happened to Rain. Pl- please Torne, I just want to help."

"HELP?" Torne shouted, his face turning red with anger. "You're the reason she's dying in the first place! You're a Sith, Alison, it's in your blood, never figured it take this long for your true colours to show!"

"NO! I am not a Sith! And it's not in my blood, my mother never turned to the dark side!" Alison starred at Torne in horror. "I, I, I'm-"

"A liar, Alison, you're a murder and a liar!"

"No."

* * *

Padme and Kail were found not far from where Alison had killed the dark master as Kevin and Kinraar searched for their friends.

"So why is it that every time we land somewhere, Alison, Rain, Rick, Padme, and Kail always seem to get the most fun out of our misadventures?" Kevin joked as he lifted Kail onto the med sled and Kinraar lifted Padme into her arms, carefully cradling the unconsciousness girl.

_"Would you enjoy being bashed and beaten like this?" _Kinraar asked Kevin who shook his head.

"No, but getting out of the ship every now and then would be good for us, instead of repairing it." He rolled his eyes as they entered the ship and headed to the med bay. "I mean, it's only so long before HK and JAINA will start to make death threats with us _organic meatbags _always onboard the ship, I even heard that Grandma made a point of having your uncle come out every once and a while."

Kinraar laughed, though it was more of a growl at Kevin's statement.

"She did that and more, I doubt we'll go to Kashyyyk though I'd dearly love to go back there sometime."

"Why?" Kevin asked as he hooked up extra IVs to Kail so he wouldn't die from the massive shock of blood loss.

_"Because the Ebon Hawk is the only ship that would be allowed to land there, unless my Uncle has made changes to the law there and our parents would be able to trace us easily." _

"Oh, right!" Kevin shook his head and looked over at Padme in the secondary bed besides Kail. "She's going to be alright?"

Kinraar finished hooking Padme up to the life support system and nodded in reply.

Before either one of the two could say anything else a shout echoed through the ship. Kinraar cocked her head as Kevin turned around.

"That's Torne!" He said sharply and then the two of them were off running towards the direction of the shouting, which was increasing in volume.

* * *

By this time everyone else on the ship had come to see what the shouting was about and what they saw surprised them.

Alison was trembling, as she backed up against the bulkhead behind her, Torne his face red with anger and Rain lying on the bunk, sleeping off the damage she had sustained in the fight earlier.

"What's going on here?" Kevin demanded as Rick stepped forward and placed his hand on Alison's shoulder.

"She tried to kill Rain, she's turning into one of the Sith, we should kill her so we don't have to worry about her later!" Torne ranted as the other youths looked wide-eyed at the young boy.

"_There is no reason for this, Torne, you would be best to stop now." _Even though Kinraar held no life debt to Alison, she was protective of her Uncle's life debt family and this was no different. Rick looked at Kevin who shook his head.

"He's not going to calm down."

"What are we going to do?" Rick asked in a low voice. "You know him better than I do."

Kevin nodded. "Get her out of here and we'll deal with Torne and keep him distracted."

Rick nodded and pulled his outer robe off and wrapped it around the still shaking Alison and gently coaxed her towards the door and out into the main hold, making their way to the communications room.

* * *

"Alison, Ali, listen to me." Rick sat in front of the shaking girl and grasped her hands lightly. "You're fine, don't listen to what Torne said, okay?"

"But, he, he said-" Alison stuttered as she looked at Rick, all her barriers stripped before him.

Rick cupped her face in one hand and smiled softly.

"My mother once told me about a dream that your mom had one night. She said the exact same thing to your mother and that was not to believe everything that other people said."

He was silent for a moment.

"It was like this, how you're acting now, similar and it worked."

Alison stared at Rick, lost for a moment before she realized that with the impish grin on his face and the lights glinting down on his brown hair, he looked, well, handsome really.

"Rick-" She started to say and then stopped when he frowned. She closed her eyes and pulled him closer to her, as she hugged him, seeking refuge in the only thing close to her right now.

Rick didn't know how he ended up holding Alison in a hug, almost kissing her, but he did. He sighed and leaned back, Alison cuddled in the crook of his arm, leaning on his chest as she slept, breathing softly.

He picked up the small datapad she had slipped into his robe's inner pocket and activated it, but saw nothing expect the single word, Manaan. Sighing, Rick placed it back in his pocket and keyed a message to HK and JAINA, telling them to plot a course to Manaan.

He leaned back into his chair, careful not to wake Alison up as he looked down at her, watching the light catch on her hair, tinting it blue black in some parts. She _was _beautiful...

He smiled softly and tilted his head back and closed his eyes, falling asleep in moments.

Finally quiet could be heard on the Hawk as it soared through hyperspace, everyone except for the droids sleeping.

* * *

JAINA's eyes glowed as she looked at HK, and they glowed with pleasure as HK cleaned his rifle.

They would make the perfect match, just the two of them…

* * *

Please Read and Review!


	12. One who can see him

**Shadows of Heroines and Heroes**

**.:One Who Can See Him:.**

Biggs sat beside one of the bunks in the Starboard dormitory. Like in the Ebon Hawk, it was the women's dormitory on the Black Saber, but he'd been comforting Brianna for hours since they'd felt the death of their son through the Force.

Now that Brianna was sleeping peacefully, Biggs felt there was another who needed to know of Kail's death. He stood up and slowly crept out of the dormitory to avoid disturbing his wife's much-needed sleep.

As he walked down the corridor and through the garage, Bao-Dur walked up to him.

"How is she?" Bao-Dur asked quietly, his voice grave.

"Sleeping, finally. Still blames herself. I tried to tell her that it isn't her fault, that he made the choice to leave Dxun. Then she got angry at me, said I was talking like it was his fault." Biggs said.

"I can't even begin to imagine what she's going through. Well, I can begin to imagine what she's going through. I have got Padme. But I've never thought about how I'd react if she was dead." Bao-Dur said.

"Uh, Bao-Dur, if you don't mind, there's something I have to do." Biggs cut him off. The Iridonian eyed him for a minute. He felt the other Jedi brush along the edges of his mind and then he nodded and went back to helping Atton build some extra lightsabers.

Biggs walked out of the corridors, and came to the Cargo Hold, where he found Visas, meditating. He thought it better not to disturb her. However, as he passed the door, she turned her head to look at him.

"She is waiting for you." She whispered.

"You knew?" Biggs asked.

"She did. She has always known your thoughts." Visas turned back to the back wall of the Cargo Hold. Shaking his head, Biggs continued his walk through the Black Pearl until he reached the Port dormitory. There was no one here, so he locked the blast door and then sat down, cross-legged and began to call his daughter to him.

_Biggs delicately laid the Proton Core at the end of the corridor and nervously began to prepare it for detonation. He breathed a sigh of relief when it started to glow a deep red, but didn't explode. _

_The Jedi Weaponsmaster pushed his Padawan Braid back behind his ear. He had left the Order before getting any further then Padawan, but even after all these years, he still hadn't cut it off, or at least untied it._

_Visas watched him from behind as he set the detonator. He stood and turned to her, giving her a crooked grin. _

"_Last one. Mandalore is handling the replacement detonator. He said he'd meet us at the entrance to the Bridge."_

_Visas nodded, but remained silent. She'd barely said a word since they'd boarded the ship and it was beginning to worry Biggs. _

_At first he'd thought she'd been regretting what they'd done the night before, but when he asked her if it was the reason, she'd smiled sadly and said _

"_I have no regrets." _

_So he'd dropped the subject._

_The two Jedi turned around and walked down the long corridor of Nihilus' ship._

_It was as they passed a sealed door, Visas suddenly looked up, her eyes seeing past the thick adamantium and into cell, and past it to the circular room, where she had once been imprisoned._

"_This door leads to my, cell. I had forgotten." She whispered, turning fully to stand before the door._

_Biggs turned to Visas, frowning. Then he closed his eyes, reaching out to Visas through the Force._

"_Do whatever you feel you need to." He said, nodding toward the door. Visas smiled at him, the smile a mixture of sadness and gratitude. _

_The Miraluka Jedi raised her hand and the door slid open. Slowly, carefully, she walked through her cell, and into the meditation room. _

_In the center of the room, surrounded by the mist that swirled along the floor of the room, she sat, crossing her legs and closed her blind eyes._

"_Past the surface, there is the Force." _

_She whispered and almost immediately, she was tormented by the deaths of her people as she was every time she attempted to center herself in this accursed cell. _

"_Where once there was a world that was strong in the Force, now there is a barren wasteland." _

_Cries of pain and anguish, men, women, children and babies, all of them crying out within her. _

"_As the winds blow the through the ruins of Katarr and moves the ashes of my home, my people shall see once more through the Force. Through my eyes, I see not the death of a world, but the chance for rebirth." _

_The cries deepened, but now there were also whispers, whispers of hope, of joy, a chance to move on, and the chance to see again. _

"_This body is a prison no longer. Through the Force my chains are broken and I shall see again." _

_The cries ended, the whispers subsided, and the mists faded. Visas opened her eyes, and stood. _

"_There is nothing more for me here." She slowly walked out of the cell, and she saw as she had not seen in years. Not just blurs and lights. _

_She saw clearly, every little detail, the rise of Biggs' chest as he breathed, the color of his skin, the deep blue of his eyes and the crooked smile he wore as Visas stood before him. _

_Aside from when he'd planted the final Proton Core, it was the first time he'd smiled since Atton had told him the Handmaiden had gone with Kreia to Atris' academy._

_Visas saw that Mandalore stood behind Biggs, ready to aid in the final fight against her master._

_The three companions walked to the end of the corridor, then made a right turn, and were met by a half dozen Sith soldiers and two Dark Jedi._

_Biggs and Visas both ignited their double-lightsabers. Mandalore raised his Heavy Repeating Blaster. And the three companions threw all they could muster at the Sith soldiers and Dark Jedi. _

_Biggs' cyan blades cut the Sith soldiers into pieces, while Visas' orange blades ended one Dark Jedi and Mandalore overpowered the second with a continuous volley of power blasts from his repeating blaster._

_As the final opposition between them and the Bridge fell to Biggs' lightsaber, Visas turned to him. _

"_This door leads to the Bridge, and my former Master. If you wish to gather your strength, this is the last time." She whispered softly._

"_Visas, you don't need to come with me." He said._

"_It was never a question of need. And I would follow you wherever your path leads." Visas said defiantly. Biggs sighed and looked down at the floor._

"_Visas, when Atton told me that the Handmaiden was gone, I felt a pain I've not felt since the battle of Malachor. I had lost my lover, my soul mate. I do not want to risk losing one who is like a sister to me as well."_

_Visas felt tears well up in her eyes. She wasn't sure if it was from the pain that he did not love her like he did the Handmaiden, or from the fact that she loved him in the same way, not as a lover, as a brother._

_And now she knew she did feel the same way. _

"_This thing must be done." She whispered._

_Biggs looked up at her, a single tear falling down his cheek. _

"_Then let us end this!" He said._

_They turned to the door and push it open with the Force, and all three of them ran up the long Bridge, to where Darth Nihilus stood._

_The Sith Lord that stood before them appeared to be nothing but a set of 6'2 high black robes, black gloves and a white and red mask that would cover only the up part of his face, ending at the bridge of his nose. There was no face that Visas or Biggs or Mandalore could see._

_Biggs' ears were suddenly filled with a terrifying, infuriating, ear-splitting noise. It ended seconds later, as suddenly as it had begun, leaving Biggs shaken and his body numb and cold. _

_With much effort, he managed to turn his head and see Visas in the same condition. He couldn't see Mandalore._

"_I have come…of my own choice – Visas is not…part of this." He managed. Beside him, he heard Visas' soft voice._

"_No…do not harm him. I am the one…who has betrayed you. I am the one…who should suffer." Her voice was even softer then normal. "I will return to you…but please do not harm him…do not to him what you did to me…I beg you."_

_Nihilus turned the Visas. He spoke, once again in the groaning, ear-splitting voice. Only this time he allowed her to understand him. _

"_I would not take you. You have lain with a Jedi, you are an abomination, you carry an abomination. But I would make you suffer!" _

_The Sith Lord raised his gloved hand, as a blast of sickly dark orange energy was fired from it. It came within a quarter of a meter of Visas, and then simply sizzled out, as if it hit a wall._

_Visas' eyes widened in shock; not just because of her Masters' failed attempt at feeding upon her life energies, but also because of what he had said. _

"_You carry an abomination."_

_Biggs let what little of the Force he could feel to allow him to see as Visas could, through the Force. He saw Visas, bathed in blue and white light, a black shadow standing before her. And around Visas, a bubble of bright blue energy…_

_Darth Nihilus was feeding on the bubble instead of Visas, Biggs suddenly realized; but as the Sith Lord fed, the bubble weakened. Visas didn't have long before Nihilus broke through and fed on her directly. Unless…_

_Nihilus began to lose focus on Biggs as he got closer and closer to Visas. Seconds before he broke through the bubble, Biggs broke through of his grip. _

_Using the Force to speed his movements, he leapt through the air and landed between Visas and Nihilus._

"_You wanna feed on a Jedi? Feed on me!" He shouted defiantly. As the energy snaked across his body, all Nihilus fed on was emptiness. And it weakened him. He fell to his 'knees', breathing heavily._

"_Even now, the hunger is consuming you. Just as Kreia knew it would." Biggs said. He and Visas ignited their lightsabers in unison, and threw themselves at Nihilus, the Force unifying their movements as one, stabbing, slashing, and striking out with their lightsabers._

_And then suddenly they were once again trapped by Nihilus' power. Somehow, even though his robes were in tatters, his shadowed body broken, he continued to feed upon the Force around him._

"_He…is too powerful…he…" Visas managed._

"_Stay with me, Visas – we can stop him…somehow." Biggs whispered. Then a thought occurred to him. If Nihilus was keeping the ship in one piece, it must be something like a Force bond, and if one end of the bond was damaged, the other would feel the pain. _

"_Visas…you're his link…to this place. Can you…weaken him through…that link?"_

"_I…I…will try…" Visas murmured. _

_She closed her eyes to try and weaken the connection between Nihilus and his ship, but her thoughts were interrupted by Biggs' sudden scream, she looked toward him and saw Nihilus feeding up him, and at the same time, the Sith Lord's robes' repaired._

"_Visas…please…hurry." Biggs shouted. Filled with a new determination, and now wishing not just to stop Nihilus but also to save Biggs, Visas felt a burst of Force power erupt from inside her, and the ship suddenly rocked as two of the four Proton Cores detonated._

_Nihilus jerked and fell to his knees as the destruction of the ship sent pain into him. Biggs stood immediately, propelled to his feet by the Force._

"_Perhaps you are still human enough to feel pain?" He whispered. Then with almost undetectable speed, he activated one end of his lightsaber and drove the blade through the empty space where Nihilus' mouth should have been._

_With one last ear-splitting screech, Nihilus fell, dead with a lasting finality._

_Biggs deactivated his lightsaber, and sprinted over to Visas, seeing the young Miraluka lying on her side, taking in long, deep breaths slowly._

"_I feel…another…inside me…" She whispered, looking up at the father of her unborn child…_

"Father?" Biggs looked up. Before him stood a girl of eighteen years, with her mother's beautiful figure and her father's white-blonde hair.

But it was not her body or her hair that drew the most attention. It was her eyes.

Both unseeing, and yet they saw more then anyone in the galaxy, one sea green, the other sky blue.

She wore robes of flowing, pale blue silk, dark mauve sandals, and pale pink gloves.

She was the daughter of Biggs Raner and Visas Marr. She was the result of something Kreia had warned Biggs against, for in her was the power to ascend to a higher plane, one of the Force.

She was Illusen.

Biggs smiled sadly at his daughter. It had only been a couple of months since he'd last seen her, but he had missed the girl terribly. And now he had to tell her of her brother's death.

"Illusen, Kail is-"

"Alive." Illusen cut her father off.

"What? How do you-"

"I have seen him. I have watched over him since he left Dxun. He is alive, perhaps not entirely healthy, but alive." Illusen said.

Biggs breathed a long deep sigh of utter relief and happiness. His son was alive.

"Let me see." He whispered. Illusen held out her hands, and he held them in his.

_Kail held his hand out beside him, still to weak to do anything else. A moment later, he felt the warmth of her hand touch his and they held onto each other. _

Brianna's eyes fluttered open from the vision. She leapt to her feet and sprinted out of the Starboard dormitory, and ran head on into Biggs.

"He's alive!" They exclaimed at each other breathlessly.

"How do you know?" They both asked.

"I saw it in a vision." Neither of them realized how ridiculous they must have looked and sounded, especially since Brianna was still in her under garments, but they just hugged each other; overjoyed that their son was alive.

Kail's woke but didn't open his eyes. He was trying to gather his thoughts and remember what had happen.

It took a few moments, but it came back to him. Jaden igniting his lightsaber; his own lightsaber being cut in half; and then pain he hadn't thought possible without almost instant death.

And another memory: Padme, igniting her own lightsaber and then -

It was a blank; he couldn't remember anything from that point on. He opened his eyes to see where he was.

He relaxed a little when he realized he was in the Med Bay of the Ebon Hawk. He looked over and saw Padme lying in the bed next to him.

Lying back on his back, Kail held his hand out beside him, still to weak to do anything else. A moment later, he felt the warmth of her hand in his and they held onto each other.

And suddenly he was gripped by a feeling of cold, as if he was buried alive...

_Kail ignited his lightsaber and swung it blindly in the darkness. To his shock, he heard a scream of pain, and looked up. Before him stood a tall, cloaked figure, wearing a dark hood and mask. The figure reached up to their mask and pulled it away, revealing - _

"Kail!" He heard Padme's voice calling him back. His eyes opened, and in front of him stood Rick, Kevin and Kinraar.

Padme was staring fearfully at him, her face pale, which gave Kail the impression she'd attempted to stand when he hadn't responded to her.

"What happened?" Kail asked. He had seen the vision, but he didn't know what the others had seen.

"Well, you kind of started shaking, And then you were muttering under your breath. I thought maybe something had gone wrong with your life-support system, so-" Padme was interrupted.

"Then she nearly killed her self by detaching her own system to come and get us." Rick said, cutting across Padme's sentence. Kail frowned and nodded.

"Okay, next question. Where the hell are we?"

As if to answer his question, a voice came over the PA.

"Announcement: Attention Passenger Meatbags, and Meatbag Master and Master's consort. This is your co-pilot, JAINA. We are just coming out of Hyperspace above the Fish world of Manaan.

"Oh. Okay, Manaan. Er, why?" Kail asked in a confused voice.

"Because Rain, Padme, and yourself need too heal."

Everyone in the room, either turned or looked over at the door to see Alison standing just outside of the doorway, dressed in garments her mother use to wear.

Even the mask hanging on her belt, was of similar design except for the near shadow bronze stripes running along the edges of the red coloring.

"Manaan's got the best kolto anywhere, in fact's it's the place where it comes from." Alison's mouth curved up into a smile, but it did not reach her cold eyes. "We're running low, and if you keep getting yourself beaten up, then we're going to need a bigger med bay."

She turned and left without another word, leaving the youths to stare at each other.

Kail shivered as Rick looked around. Alison had looked so much like that vision, but no, there was no way she could be the…

"Rick," Kail struggled to sit up, "what Alison did just now, I need to tell you something, there's something wrong with-" Rick shrugged.

"She really does care about us, she's just struggling right now." He ran off after Alison, leaving Kevin to glance at Padme.

"The two of them together?" Kevin asked.

Padme shook her head and winced as she paled, leaning back onto the bed weakly.

"If they're an item, then we're all doomed."

"What are you two talking about!" Kail demanded as Kevin and Padme sighed, shaking their heads as Kinraar growled laughingly.

_A light shone into the life-pod, through the tiny window and then he heard voices._

"_All right, he's alive, cut her open."_

_A flash and the sounds of sparks and as metal screeched. The circle shaped hole was pried from the life-pod and willing hands hauled the starving weakened man out of the pod._

_Mical shivered in the harsh light as he was laid on a med-sled, and a respirator mask was fitted over his face._

_A Selkath doctor appeared over him, its mouth wobbling as he spoke._

"_Who did this to you, human?" _

"_I'm a Jedi Master… Sithsp…took me away, killed my family…" Mical rasped as the Selkath nodded to the Republic soldiers and issued orders._

"_You're okay now, Master." A grizzled Republic officer appeared over him, and glanced down in pity at the man. "We'll get you cleaned up and then you can get a job here on Manaan, you'll be right as rain, kid._

"_Manaan… they've never got rid of me after all… I lived through their plans. Alison… she's here, I can feel her! I sense her! I'll find her and I'll kill her!"_

_And as the darkness closed in on Mical, he ranted in his mind, and raged as he jerked in the bonds on the medical sled as medics ran over to his side, shouting orders as the man slumped back into a comma._

_She would die… He would make sure of it, but not before she suffered._

_Note from the Authors - we're onto chapter twelve, and we implore you readers - please review our story. They would be greatly appreciated and helpful._


	13. Manaan

**Shadows of Heroines and Heroes**

**-- Manaan --**

**

* * *

**

"Manaan…! Why Manaan? I mean, out of all the places we could have gone, we had to go to Manaan!" Kail could be heard complaining to Padme as she closed her eyes and sighed again.

"Because we need more kolto and Alison decided to come here. Now shut up, Kail, I want to sleep!"

"But what about_ her_ being the only one able to control the ship; except for the droids…? Mind you, we've got the basic stuff like lights, food and water, and the guns, but no flight controls, nothing else!"

"Just as well you're not flying," Padme muttered under her breathe as Kail continued to complain to her. She shunted his voice out of her thoughts and settled herself more comfortably into the bed, as comfortable as she could get right now.

Kail _did _have a point though, with Alison being able to control everything _if_ and _when _and she desired to…

* * *

"Hey, guys, we're going to be landing in a moment or two, but if you guys need anything just give us a call, okay?" Kevin popped his head in the med bay for a moment before he left to make his daily visit to Rain.

Rick had only raised his hand to knock when the door to the communications' room whooshed open and stayed like that for a moment before he stepped inside, it shut just as quickly behind him. His glaze was immediately drawn over to Alison as she seemed to dwarf everything in the room.

"We've-"

* * *

"Landed, I know." Alison frowned and cut Rick off as she stared at the datapad in her hands. "Rick, if I ask you to help me with anything, would you? Even if you didn't know what it was that I needed from you?"

"Can I take the _I-don't-know _answer?" Rick asked trying to joke his way out of the tight corner; Alison had backed him into with her sharp words and crystal like manner.

"No."

"Then I'd guess I'd have to be there to _help you _nothing more, nothing less."

Alison turned to regard Rick and there was a hint of a challenge in her eyes.

"You ride swoop bikes at all?"

"I'm not bad." Rick laughed as he realized what Alison was hinting at. "There is no way, sister! You couldn't beat me on a swoop bike. Not once in a million years!"

Alison merely smiled and walked closer until they were an inch apart, leaning up on her toes to look into his face. Her lips brushed his and he reached out automatically to take hold of her, tilting his head down to kiss her when…

"I thought I was more than a friend to you, Ordo."

Alison slapped him hard and drove her knee into his groin, before she left, a hint of darkness swirling around her.

"The race starts in an hour, get to the track and we'll see who's better." Alison called darkly over her shoulder as Rick glared at Alison's departing back.

* * *

"_I'll get you, Stareth, just you wait." _Mical watched as the young girl storm away from the ship and the young boy race after her, grasping her by her arm, speaking rapidly in apparently angry tones.

He grinned and walked away, the robes of an ambassador trailing around his ankles. She was going to suffer, her and that lover of hers.

They would all suffer…

* * *

"Alison, stop now and save your pride. You know I'm going to win in the swoop race." Rick grinned expectantly at the girl's back as she talked to the port official and 'persuaded' him to let them go without paying any docking fee.

"You are so going down." Alison shot back, no humour in her voice as she glared at Rick and walked towards the Republic Embassy.

"Why's that?" Rick asked, running slightly to catch up to her as she walked quickly down the street. "Damn she can walk fast!" Rick thought as he matched her pace.

"You've never looked at the swoop track scores have you?" Alison asked, a smile on her face now as Rick shook his head.

"HK, recite to me, the track scores of the races recorded in your database."

"Ah! Where did they come from?" Rick jumped as he noticed HK and JAINA standing behind them, silently.

"Disgruntled reply: We followed you off the ship, meatbag Master." Alison nodded in agreement.

"HK, the records please?"

"Proud statement: Certainly Master Alison…"

Alison started to laugh as she watched Rick's face struggle to keep his cool as the list of scores was recited.

"Well I'll still win against you anyways." Rick shrugged as she pulled him, still laughing into the Republic Embassy.

* * *

Roland Wann was no longer the Republic's head embassy leader on Manaan though his nephew called on him regularly for help via comm. Not that his Uncle faulted him for that. Manaan was a tough place to reside in when you were the Embassy leader.

So when young Phillips called him today asking his Uncle if he'd come to the Embassy personally this time to help with some _rather strange visitors, _he had been intrigued and agreed to the summons. Now, Roland Wann wished he hadn't.

He recognized the two visitors and there was going to be hell loosed upon Manaan when they went touring.

"Uncle Roland!" Phillip greeted his Uncle rather hurriedly as he hauled him into his office and knocked off a quick salute, and gave his uncle a hug as well before he started to pace.

"You've got to help me! There's two Jedi Masters out there and they want to speak to me! ME! I don't know how to handle Jedi. We're stretched as poorly as it is right now, with the business of the kolto and the kidnappings…"

"Kid, sit down before you pop a brain vessel and listen to me." Roland sighed as his high-strung nephew basically collapsed onto a couch and stared wide-eyed at his uncle, hands fidgeting still.

* * *

Alison sat on the bench as Rick stood besides her, leaning against the wall as they waited for the Republic Embassy officer to come back out of his office.

"I think you scared him away, Rick." Alison nudged her companion besides her with a grin on her face as she crossed her legs and stared up at him.

"What me?" Rick shook his head, completely serious. "You just had to bat your eyes at him and he was off like a gundrak fried by a lightsaber."

"Me?" Alison arched an eyebrow. "You were the one scowling every time anyone did as much as glance at my face."

"I did not!" Rick snorted and crossed his arms over his chest as Alison stood up and looked straight into his eyes.

"You're jealous of me." She whispered softly, staring as though she had never seen him before.

Rick brought his arms up to guard himself just in case it turned out to be the same thing that had happened on the Hawk' earlier during the day.

"I-" Rick did not finish his sentence as the door to the Embassy's office opened suddenly and the two teenagers flew apart guilty. Alison had a hint of a smile on her face, while Rick was slightly blushing as they greeted the two officers and followed them into the office.

"Now, Jedi Masters, how may we help you?"

Phillip's voice was a bit squeaky and his hands shook as he clasped them behind his back, his eyes boring into Alison's intently as his Uncle watched the three youths and sighed mentally.

"_This is going to be disastrous." _He thought disparagingly.

Alison inclined her head towards the officers.

"We've just arrived here on Manaan and some of our crew are gravely injured. They're aboard our ship right now, but we need to stock up on some kolto and other various supplies before we could _possibly _leave."

_"Oh no, they're going to ask for the whole damned planet before they leave here." _Roland thought, sinking futher into despair as the young girl glanced at him curiously before returning her attention back to his nephew.

Rick nodded and jumped in. "And with the limited medical care we're able to supply, they need to be moved to a medical facility as soon as possible, as we do wish for them to live."

"I'm sure we could manage that, though for the kolto, you'd have to talk the Selkath Council. But I'll arrange an appointment for you, if you wish, Jedi Masters-" Phillip trailed off respectively as he waited for Alison and Rick's last name.

Alison smiled and winked at Phillip. "It's Stareth and Shan Ordo." She pulled Rick out of the room as Roland Wann sputtered and coughed as Phillip flopped down into his chair with a happy look on his face.

* * *

"I think I'm in love, Uncle."

"You think you're in love with Stareth's daughter, Phillip? You're insane, Phillips, totally insane." Roland rubbed his forehead as he hauled out a bottle of strong spirits. "She just had to go and get married and have a daughter, didn't she?"

"Who had to go get married, Uncle?" Phillips sat up, confusion on his face as he stared concernedly at his Uncle.

"You remember that story about the issue with the kolto I use to tell you about when you where younger?" Roland continued his narrative not letting his nephew answer. "That was _that _Jedi's daughter just now."

"Oh," Phillip still had that dreamy look on his face as his Uncle went on talking, "she's very nice looking, Uncle."

"Boys!" Roland growled under his breath as he watched the two youths walk out of the embassy on the security camera.

The girl turned to wave and wink at the camera, as she walked off towards the race track with her companion trailing her.

"Bloody Jedi!" Roland growled as he threw his glass away and grabbed the bottle out. "It's never going to end, is it?"

Phillip looked up asbently at his Uncle, "what's never going to end

* * *

"Look! It can't cost that much to race on the track, just because we're new-timers! We even have our own swoops!" Alison tapped her foot as she argued with the Selkath race official who shook his head.

"You both must pay the price specified or no race."

After five more minutes of arguing, Alison and Rick were allowed to join the racers in the racing lounge, where a bunch of other riders where dressed and waiting.

* * *

A runner came in just as Alison and Rick had finished suiting up, both discarding their robes and over tunics, for sleeveless shirts.

"The race is to be post-phoned until tomorrow and all riders will be required to attend the banquet and either dance with another race or bring a partner.

"What did he say?" Rick hissed into Alison's ear as he leaned down. "This is supposed to be a simple racing matter, not a dance and dinner as well." Alison giggled.

"Oh come off it, it'll be fun to go to a dance and it'll be good to relax anyways." Rick gave her a blank look.

"You… relax? Since when did the world fall apart?" Alison punched him lightly on the shoulder as she glared at him.

"Har, har, Rick, I just hope you have something _good _to wear to the dance or else." She left him, humming an old tune as she walked out of the room.

Rick rolled his eyes and ground his teeth as he heard her shout his name once. He struggled into his clothes again, and then he heard Alison call out again. Expect this time she screamed and her scream, her voice echoed throughout the room and his _mind. _

Something was wrong.

* * *

_Kevin and Rain met Rick and Alison as they left the courtroom and looked expectantly at the two teens and the killer droids standing off silently to the side. _

_Rick sighed. _

"_How did our parents ever deal with those Judges?" Alison rolled her eyes. _

"_My mom did and your mom stood besides her with whoever else was there at the time."_

_Kevin chuckled as Rick ground his teeth and looked straight ahead._

"_Hey come off it, Ali – your mother got thrown into jail all the time when she was here, remember?"_

"_That's because she was helping the greater good at the time, and she didn't clear her actions with the Judges beforehand, not that she should have though." _

_Rain shook her head at her boyfriend in all but name and looked over at Alison and mouthed a word at her friend. Alison nodded and rolled her eyes, _

"_So right, Rain, just so right."_

_Rick and Kevin shrugged as Rick continued to go on._

"_The first judge ummm, what was his name, Ali?"_

_Alison almost ploughed into Rick, when he used her nickname and worked her mouth soundlessly for a second, before she sputtered out. _

"_Judge Shelkar. He was all for the kolto licensing for the Ebon Hawk considering they're indebted to my mother. And Judge Jhosa, and Judge Kota, they were for it as well…"_

"_Yes, that's it! And the other two judges, umm…" Rick trailed off again as Alison supplied the other two names, Judges Naleshekan and Duula. "They were against it."_

"_Well we'll head back to the Hawk then and get Padme and Kail to the med center on Manaan, then." Kevin said as Rain pulled Alison off to the side, just a little ways from the two boys._

"_You're okay, now?" She asked, staring hard into Alison's face, searching for a sign of anything. _

"_Yes, I'm fine." Alison sighed heavily. "Look, I'm sorry for Deralia, Rain, I don't know-"_

"_It's alright, Ali." Rain shushed her friend. "You weren't responsible for it. I'm not going to holding it against you." _

_The two girls embraced in a quick hug and then Rain smiled at Alison. _

"_You like him, don't you?"_

"_Rick?" Alison asked as Rain nodded and smiled softly. "He's not bad, though sometimes I want to beat him up with how he acts." Rain laughed as Alison shook her head, a sly smile on her face. "You like Kevin too, don't you?"_

_Rain suddenly looked down at her feet as she crossed her arms, _

"_Yes, we're both that way, I was going to ask you, but with everything going on and all."_

"_Hey, it's okay, Rain! Go ahead and date the poor boy." Alison grinned. "You're the perfect match for each other, you know that, right?"_

_Rick and Kevin watched as the two girls talked to each other neither of them having a clue as to what they were talking about._

"_How long do you think they're going to be?" Rick asked. _

"_No idea, maybe we should go and ask?" Kevin asked. _

"_Right, you have a death wish or something?"_

"_No, but Kail and Padme do need to get to the medical center as soon as possible." Kevin said. _

"_Right, let's get them moving then." Rick said. _

"_Never mind, they're coming now anyways."_

* * *

Rick dashed around the corner to see Alison and another man lying in a tangle on the floor, but she had a look of pure terror on her face and the man's face was one of utter hatred.

"Mical!" Rick was over the gathering patrons' heads in a moment and landed by Alison's side in a second, using the Force to throw the Disciple against the wall with a resounding thump.

Rick hauled Alison up, pushing her behind him as he reached for his lightsaber secreted, in an inner pocket of his robe.

"Rick, don't!" Alison whispered shakily in his ear. "The Selkath will lock you and possibly me up. We can't have a fight here on Manaan with him."

"Can't we?" Rick retorted quietly. "Alison, he tried to kill you, you didn't see your mother after you fell off! If my parents hadn't been there, I think she would have killed him."

"I know she would have killed him and so would I! But we can't do this here, not right now!"

Rick clenched his fists as he let go of his lightsaber as Alison pulled him closer into a tight one-sided hug, standing diagonal towards Mical. Her breathing was faster than normal and her skin paler than usual.

He glared at the fallen man as the Disciple looked up at them, with humour in his eyes.

"Scared you, little girl, didn't I? That scream of yours was _quite _impressive, I must say."

"Watch your mouth, Sith!" Rick snarled, anger twisting his features as he started to call upon the Force.

Mical laughed and drew upon the Force with his own power, letting his aura build as Rick's did too.

"Rick stop it, he's too strong right now! I want to go back to the ship. NOW!" Alison tried to pull her friend away from the rapist Jedi but Rick would not budge an inch as he stared at the Disciple.

"That's right little child." Mical grinned eerily. "Run away like your daddy did, run away like mommy, be the good little child, and hide away. We'll come and find you when we're ready to gut your little precious after I have some fun with her."

This time it was Rick's turn to be scared as Alison's Force Aura erupted in a furry, she made no move to attack the Disciple, she just focused her thoughts on him and Mical began to wilt under her mental attack, both physically and mentally.

* * *

"Together." Alison whispered as Rick hauled her out of the racing bar.

"Together what, Alison? Tell me please?" Rick asked, desperate to keep her attention on something else before she did exactly what her mother had nearly done, or worse.

She looked at him strangely for a minute, her face oddly slack and lifeless seemingly. _"Together, we are stronger than alone, united we are undefeated, broken and we are vanquished."_ Alison whispered and folded into his arms like a doll.

"I'm not going to sleep tonight." Rick groaned as he contacted the others on their comlinks.

* * *

By the time he had gotten everyone on the comlinks, Alison had recovered enough to tell them all that the Disciple was here and he was going to try and make her suffer and all of those she loved as well.

No one was relaxed after the message had reached through the comlinks. It wasn't a vacation anymore; it was a test of survival and friendship, mingled with love.

Padme stood to go to the bathroom, while Kail slept peacefully, finally, on his bed in the Selkath Med Ward. She was relieved that he was asleep.

He'd been very stressed out since Alison had contaced them, warning them that Disciple was somewhere in Ahto City, and that he was out to hurt Alison in anyway he could. Padme suspected it was because he didn't want her in danger.

As she finished her business and looked into the mirror, her eyes flashed a deep gold and her tattoos darkened for just a moment.

"You needn't worry about me, Kail." She purred. Then she felt a spasm of discomfort go through her body as she was gripped by one of Kail's visions.

_

* * *

Kail opened his eyes to see the Disciple standing with his back to him, with what looked like a holovid in his hand._

* * *

The vision was short and fast, but it was enough to reassert Padme's persona over the Sith specters'. She tried to run, but she was still in pain from the stomach wound she'd given herself when she'd tried to heal Kail.

Though he was still severely weakened from the loss of blood, Kail had recovered most of his health back on Deralia when Padme had healed him. Padme, on the other hand, was now trying to heal herself, having opened many of her own wounds while healing Kail with her own life.

Though she'd spent about three hours in the Kolto Tank, the worst wound, the exact same as Kail's old wound, was now wrapped with a Kolto bandager and she still suffered if she tried to move to quickly and to much.

So she walked as fast as she could, and was just in time to see the Disciple, dressed as one of the Republic's doctors, walk somewhat wobbly into the room she and Kail were sharing.

Wishing she hadn't hidden the lightsabers on the Ebon Hawk, Padme crept into the room, not taking her eye off of the Disciple. He obviously hadn't expected her to be right behind him, because he had spent a few moments searching the many pockets of his coat for a vibrodagger, then he knelt next to Kail's bed, hiding, and stared intently at the door.

So Kail wasn't in any danger until someone opened that door. _Good,_ Padme thought.

She guessed that, having lost an ear in his battle against Revan, the Disciple was a little deaf and slightly less agile, so she flicked her finger at the door and it locked with a small click.

Disciple didn't hear it, but Kail did, even in his unconsciousness. His eyes opened wide, and locked onto the Disciple.

Before he could say a thing, the Disciple had clapped a hand over his mouth and pulled something from another pocket in his robes. With a small click, he placed a neural restraint collar around Kail's throat to prevent him from calling upon the Force.

Though he struggled, Kail was still too weak to do anything without the Force, especially when the Disciple put the knife to his throat.

"_Too far." _Padme thought. She could have allowed him to wait for her to supposedly come back in while she thought for a plan. But she drew the line at threatening her new-unofficial boyfriend.

Despite not being armed and Kail having a knife at his throat, Padme still charged the Disciple, and, having the element of surprise, managed to knock the dagger from his hand.

"I've got you now!" The Disciple now moved his free hand to throw Padme onto the ground and clench her throat tightly with both the Force and his hand.

* * *

Seconds later, the door was knocked off its hinges by a first suspicious, now enraged Wookiee, who, upon seeing Kail lying semi-immobile on his bed and Padme on the verge of being strangled by the Disciple, launched herself forward and took hold of him by the throat.

"Padme, get the collar off!" Kail shouted as, remarkably, and frustratingly, the Disciple somehow broke free of Kinraar's grip and Force-pulled the dagger into his hand, and stabbed it into Kinraar's shoulder.

But it was too little, too late.

"_I need not both arms to squash you, Mical!_" She snarled. She thrust her uninjured arm forward and sent the Disciple flying backward through the air and crashing through the window. She was about to follow him when she heard a groan from Padme and saw blood gushing out of the reopened wound in her stomach.

The loyalty to her friends overcame the battle rage, and Kinraar rushed to Padme's aid as Kail attempted to step out of the bed, only to fall into Kinraar's ready grip as she lifted Padme off the ground.

She gently laid Kail back on his bed, and then Padme in her bed, then rushed to find a medic to help Padme.

In the back of her mind, a single thought haunted her, and left her vulnerable to a spreading darkness. The Disciple was going to pay.

"_Perfect…" A voice purred in the confinements of its closed home. "This one will do nicely as well." A brief flash of red and yellow lit the area and faded as laughter echoed whisperingly in the growing darkness. _

* * *

Thank you to all who have reviewed so far, and here's to hoping you'll keep reviewing because all the feedback we get helps! 


	14. Swoop Wars Part 1

**.:Swoop Wars:.

* * *

**

Rick gave a sigh of relief as he and Kinraar walked out of the Medical Facility. He was tired, hot, and dirty. Had he not been given a job by Alison to get himself some half decent clothes to wear to the dance, he'd have gone back to the Ebon Hawk, had a shower, and then crashed into one of the beds for a while.

Unfortunately, he could only have a shower, and a quick one at that. So, despite being near exhausted, he rushed into the refresher on board the Ebon Hawk, had a quick shower, and then dashed back out again.

Alison had said the dance didn't start until midnight that night; unfortunately, Rick was making new clothes for both himself and Alison, and he never made _half_-decent clothes.

So, after racing around Ahto City with Kinraar in tow, he bought the best materials he could afford, which Kinraar carried for him, and then dashed back to the Ebon Hawk.

When he finally got started on the clothes, it was about six PM galactic-standard time, leaving him six hours to make the clothes, try them on there owners, then prepare for the dance.

Three hours later, he'd finished. The clothes weren't exactly formal, but they were semi-dressy. Well, his was only _semi_-dressy. He first examined his choice of attire. A pair of dark sea-green pants made of fine linen, a short sleeves turquoise tunic of soft silk, and a dark-green almost black leather jacket with indigo lining.

Then he turned to examine the dress he'd made for Alison, exact to her request. It was a floor length dress, the kind Padme would never be caught dead in, made of sapphire blue silk that sparkled like real sapphires, with a v-neck, and a slit down the back.

With the two sets of clothing complete, he neatly folded the dress and put it in a bag, then put his clothes in another bag and the shoes in a box.

Then he used the Force to levitate all three packages in front of him whilst he went in search of Alison, making a mental note to deal with the state of his robes, which were torn, frayed, burned, and had been splashed with a dozen types of mud and even blood, after the dance.

* * *

It didn't take him long to find Alison, he just followed the strings of curses and the odd thump here and there; in the cockpit with HK-47 and JAINA. A pair of legs was that was visible of Alison, as she was underneath one of the service panels fixing something. JAINA upon seeing Rick approach; slung her rifle over her shoulder and walked forward. 

"Sarcastic Greeting: It is most gracious to be in your presence once more, Meatbag Master." She said, sarcasm dripping from her mechanized voice.

"Mistress Alison was just adding security to make sure slimy Fish-Bags did not try to break into Ship 1468-AR."

Rick turned to Alison for a translation as she pulled herself up and obliged with a mocking grin; "She said that I'm adding extra security so the Selkath don't stick the slimy noses where they don't belong."

"Oh, okay. On a better note, I've finished your dress." Rick announced, giving Alison the bag with the dress in it. Alison grabbed the bag out of the air, and opened it, examining her dress.

Seemingly satisfied, she grabbed her shoes from the box, and walked out of the cockpit.

"Keep increasing the security." Rick said to the droids as he turned to go after Alison.

"So what do you think?" He asked, trying to keep up with her fast pace as she took the shortest route through the ship to get to the Port dormitories.

She paused in the doorway, and stared at him coldly; "I'll tell you in a minute."

"Why?" Rick demanded, inching closer to Alison, "why not now?"

Alison glared at him, "while I _may_ like you, we are not close enough _yet _for you to see me undressing, or naked for that matter. Now get out!"

She planted a hand on his chest and pushed him out of the doorway with the Force as it slammed shut in his face.

Rick glared sulkily at the door, "fine," he muttered under his breath. Rick did not have to wait long before the door opened and Alison stepped out, dressed in the newly made dress.

She smiled at him and walked slowly forward, taking care with each step, "thanks Rick. It's lovely…" She leaned in and gave him a soft peck on the cheek before she looked him up and down.

"Aren't you going to change as well?" She asked, rather archly, staring at his ruined robes with disgust, quickly moving away from him. "Yours smell horrible!" She exclaimed and looked down at her now _ruined _dress in annoyance.

"I was planning to fix them after the…" Rick never finished his sentence as Alison glared at the ruined dress.

"…Darkness!" Alison slapped her forehead with a white gloved hand and sighed; closing her eyes she called upon the Force and _cleaned _her dress.

Focusing the Force on Rick, she _repaired _his robes within two minutes and then left to visit the communications' room, but not before telling him to get his clothes on soon.

He nodded, and ran back to the Port dormitory, shut the door in case one of his room mates came back soon, then he quickly stripped of his robes, then pulled on the pants, tunic and jacket.

He'd weaved the dress with materials that could adjust the temperature in case it got too cold, so Alison wouldn't have to worry about getting cold.

He, on the other hand, could, which was why he'd made the jacket as well as the tunic. Not that he expected it to get too cold. He was just thinking ahead.

* * *

He walked into the communications room, and found Alison conversing with Kinraar, but when she saw Rick coming, she stopped talking and walked over to him. 

"Well, you certainly look…well, you look quite handsome in something other then Jedi Robes." Alison said. "Shall we go?"

"I'm ready when you are." Rick said, taking Alison's hand. The two of them walked down the Ebon Hawk boarding ramp. "Hey, did you get the location of the dance?"

"There's some kind of sub waiting to take us to the old Hrakert Station. That's where the dance is." Alison said. "We'll find it in Docking Bay 3."

Rick nodded when he saw the docking bay door and the two of them walked in to see that there was a submarine waiting for them. Actually, there were about a dozen two-seater submarines for different couples.

* * *

Alison led Rick to one sub in particular, he wasn't sure why and insisted she drive; which he wasn't too sure about either, but he didn't have a choice. 

Alison was, apparently, a girl of many skills. It turned out that she could drive a submarine, almost as easily as she could fly a ship, and they arrived at the Hrakert Rift in next-to-no time.

As soon as they stepped out of the submarine, Rick saw that the station had been changed an awful lot since his mother and Revan had been there. For one thing, it had lights of about a dozen colors, and it had six tables with an assortment of foods from different worlds for different species.

Rick led Alison over to a table with food from Naboo, Corellia, Coruscant, and other places he wasn't familiar with, but it appeared that Alison was, as she exclaimed at some of the various foods with delight.

"Oh, look!" She pointed to a certain dish, "that's a Deralia cream tart, you have to try one, Rick. They're very sweet and good!" Alison was grinning as she swiped two off the table and gave him one, biting into the other tart immediately.

"Very sweet?" Rick asked, eying the tart with suspicion as Alison sighed.

"Just try it, Erick! Trust me on this," Her eyes pinned him with such deep emotion, that he gave in and bit into the tart.

"Hey, it's not bad!" Rick inspected the tart with curiosity as he ate more, "pretty good actually."

Alison nodded, "I told you so, dummy!" She ventured towards a salad and steak of some animal or other and waited as Rick dished up his plate of mostly meat and a few various greens before she moved away form the table, looking at the others for anything else of edible food.

"Rick, that's not going to sit well with your stomach later on." She smiled warningly as he inspected something that looked like an overgrown steak of nerf herder.

"Why? What is it?" Rick asked as she laughed, "that's special food from Kashyyyk, trust me you don't want to eat it."

He gave it one last lingering look and left it alone as she pulled him away from the tables.

Alison looked around for something to drink and found nothing to satisfy her taste. Sighing she pulled out her comlink and commed HK over a secure channel.

"HK, you remember that drink I told you to grab before we left the ship? Well bring it over here; I'm going to need it before the night over."

"I thought HK was on the ship." Rick was standing besides Alison now, a speck of mouth hanging on his lip. Alison rolled her eyes at him, "close your mouth when you talk, and don't talk with food in it."

Rick hastily wiped his face off with a napkin and frowned at her, waiting for a reply to his question, "aren't the droids, still at the ship, though?"

"Rick, they're not _just _droids! Why do you think they have names!" Alison grounded her teeth in annoyance, "of course they're not still at the ship, they came down here at the same time we did, perhaps a bit before. They're assassin droids, one of the primary functions in their protocols are to protect their masters aka us."

"Is that why JAINA treats me so coldly?" Rick asked, thinking as to how Alison was treated by JAINA compared to him. JAINA addressed Alison with her actual name and _'Mistress' _as to Meatbag Master for him.

"What do you think?" Alison scoffed and looked around the room, shifting the weight to the other foot.

"Why don't we go and find somewhere to sit down?" Rick suggested, thinking that this would be a good way to get back in Alison's good books if she was more comfortable.

He led her a little ways towards one of the tables, where the lights from the water and lights underneath played across the table, painting blue shadows across her face as they sat down.

* * *

They started to talk for a while and then continued to eat their meals in silence, each waiting for the other one to make the first move. 

By this time, HK had already brought Alison the item she had told him to bring her, one bottle of Tarisan Ale from her mother's private stash on the Ebon Hawk.

Of course though, this was only a small cache of the valued Tarisan Ale, her mother had somehow managed to secure the recipe form Mission's brother Griff and him as well, and then she had started to make the stuff and it tasted great! 'Course this was the real stuff, originally from Taris, Alison expected that her mother had left it on the 'Hawk on purpose for when Kari and Alison were older.

"What's that?" Rick asked, looking her glass, she was drinking.

"Nothing you'd like, handsome." Alison replied, pulling her glass away from his hand, and shielding her thoughts with the Force as he tried to probe the answer from her.

He grinned dangerously and leaned in across the table, "Try me."

"You ever have Tarisan Ale?" Alison asked, watching as Rick nodded, "thirteenth birthday, and a drink on each birthday after that. You know the Mandalorian culture, or at least you should." Rick snorted and rolled his eyes, "we both know that it's no lie, that your mother is really the true Mandalore."

"Better not advertise that, or your father, no matter how much he loves you, will beat you to a pulp. _He_ is Mandalore …even if my mom and your dad did whatever it was to gain him the title." Alison shot back and both the teens glared at each other for a moment.

"I'm leaving if this is how the evening's going to be!"

* * *

Alison jumped up and stumbled on the heel of her shoes falling backwards with a little exclamation; Rick leaped up an instant before she grabbed onto the Force to steady herself and caught her instinctively, holding her a couple of inches above the ground in a classic dancer's dip. 

Alison grabbed onto him as well, with her own instinct to keep from falling as the sudden burst of music followed their movement.

His eyes met hers as he pulled her back up and placed his hand around her waist and grasped her other hand in his. She reached up to his shoulder and reached it only when he bent down a little.

"_This is going to be a long night," _Rick thought, grimacing in anticipation of the pain his back and shoulders would be in the morning.

"_I'll fix it later, Rick." _Alison's voice popped into his head, and he suddenly realized something. He and Alison where bonded through the Force now.

She smiled at him as they started to dance and whispered softly, "took you long enough to figure out, handsome."

* * *

"You see? I told you, they would fall in love and tonight would be perfect to push them even closer!" Rain looked at Kevin who rolled his eyes and shook his head. 

"All right, fine! You were right, Rain, all right?" Kevin closed his arms around Rain and pulled her out into the dancing floor, "now let's dance and forget about everything else, okay? We're supposed to be enjoying ourselves, not gossiping over Alison and Rick."

Towards the middle of the second dancing round, Alison lifted her head up from Rick's chest suddenly and he glanced down at her in concern and read of rejection; "what's wrong, Ali?"

She sputtered and started to giggle, pointing over to a dark corner of the room. "Look over there, Rick; look at that couple over there!"

Rick turned and looked at where she was pointing, and nearly choked. "What the hell are those _two _doing?" He exclaimed in shock and surprise.

* * *

Alison giggled again as she pulled out her comlink and echoed Mission Vao's famous words; "HK, get yourself and JAINA a room, before you do anything else. She turned her head to look at Rick, "looks like they were trying to make out as umm, well droids would." 

There was an awkward silence and Rick swung her around as one of the spotlight centered on them. "Have to keep dancing dear, they're watching us." Alison grinned, "The crowd, Kev and Rain, or the droids?" Rick chuckled dryly, "all of them, I think."

"Then let's give them something to watch," Alison smiled and let him swing her up over his head and down and around in a complicated move.

Eventually the dance moved into its fourth round and the spotlight left them, focusing on the other dancers as Rick and Alison left the dance and returned to the surface. She shuddered as they walked on the top side, passing the Republic Embassy.

* * *

Rick frowned, "you're not cold are you?" Alison nodded and hugged her arms around her as she sneezed. Rick took off his jacket and hung it around her shivering shoulders, "I think you had too much to drink." Rick said as she swayed dizzily. 

"Wait! I want that pet!" Alison pulled Rick towards the pet dealer, Nubassa, and pointed to the caat, hissing in its cage. Nubassa looked up in surprise.

"You want her? Take her and go, just go!" He thrust the cage and all at Alison who caught it as she stumbled back, while Rick gathered up all of the food supplies and extras.

Alison opened the cage up and let the caat crawl up onto her shoulder, its soft cuddly fur rubbing against her cheek. Rick reached out to pet it and it hissed at him, arching its back and digging its claws into her shoulder.

"Ouch!" He exclaimed as it swiped at him and glared at the offending paw. "That's one evil little beast, you have there."

"How dare you!Shayera is no beast!" Alison screamed at him and stomped her foot, forgetting she had high heels on and tripped backwards.

Rick reached out to grab her, but Shayera clawed him again scarring his face right above and below his right eye in three bright stripes; and he fell heavily onto Alison, both of them crashing into the ground.

* * *

She looked up at him and placed her arms behind his neck and pulled him closer. He let her pull him down until they were mere inches apart and they kissed, lovingly for a minute. "Wow." He breathed as she smiled tentatively at him, lying beneath him on the ground. 

He pulled her up and gathered her in his arms, kissing her longer and more deeply this time. Alison closed her eyes as she clung to Rick, everything else did not matter.

She was finally at peace… He was finally happy for once…

They loved each other and finally, they knew it.

* * *

"_This should prove interesting." The voice echoed in the darkness, as it watched the two youngsters fall prey to their emotions and hidden feelings. _

"_I wonder just how long, it will take for him to fall prey… he has much to learn before she will betray them all. The tears she'll cry afterwards, he'll never get to see when I am finished with them."_

_The laughter that echoed in the dark room, echoed and did not end as lights pulsed, a new aura flashing in the Force strongly, steadily growing as Rick and Alison kissed outside of the Ebon Hawk at the foot of the ramp._

_A lover's kiss and death's cry, waiting for them inside, the seed of corruption and fear; growing in their hearts, forever more… _

_Pain and learning coming to pass and grow; trust and loyalty, now a whole new perspective in their lives... Lies and twisted conceit gone and yet, it still shadows their eyes. _

_And all of this because of their love for each other, now…

* * *

_

Thanks to all you **Readers **and the **Reviewers **as well. Please keep reviewing and we'll try to have the second part of Swoop Wars up soon as possible. 


	15. Swoop Wars Part 2

**.:Swoop Wars Part 2:.

* * *

**

Rick woke about an hour before dawn, but not where he had expected.

In fact, he wasn't exactly sure where he was. And his memory of the night before was a blur, although he remembered being slashed by Alison's new 'pet'. It was nothing he couldn't heal, but the fact it had scratched him at all ticked him off.

But not as much as discovering that he was lying next to Alison in the same bed, their clothes discarded in a corner of the room, and absolutely no recollection of how he'd gotten there.

So, being extra careful not to wake Alison, he climbed out of the bed, at which point he made another frustrating discovery: he had a massive hangover.

Pulling himself into his clothes with some difficulty, he staggered out of the room and found Kevin and Rain having breakfast. Looking around, he realized they were in the Hotel owned by Ignus, in Ahto East Central.

"Well, look what the kath hound dragged in." Kevin sniggered, handing Rick a mug of caffa to help him with his hangover. Fifteen minutes and four mugs later, Rick was beginning to feel a little better

…until Alison's new pet caat walked out of the room he'd come from, planted itself on the chair next to him, and began watching him with murderous eyes.

"What's with that thing?" He asked as Rain laughed and reach over to scratch After a few minutes of sitting there with the caat staring at him, Rick couldn't take it anymore and got up to leave.

"Tell Alison she needs to be at the Swoop Tracks by twelve-thirty." He said, and walked out of the Hotel, intending to go visit Kail and Padme before heading to the Swoop Tracks himself, it turned out he'd slept in till eleven o'clock.

* * *

"Well, it's nice to have a visitor we know." Kail said, as Rick walked into the Medical Facility. Rick turned to see Kail, not just standing, but he was also fully dressed in his robes, with a blaster at his belt; he had not yet replaced the lightsaber he'd lost on Derallia, so until he did the blaster would have to do.

"Kail, you – you're standing."

"Yeah, I noticed that." Kail joked. "Two trips to the Kolto tank and one night in a healing trance have helped a ton."

"How's Padme?" Rick asked.

"She's doing okay." Rick turned to find Padme, also dressed, coming out of the room the two had shared while needing the help of the facility, which they obviously didn't need anymore.

"Although the doctor said not to do anything too active for the next couple of days, we're free to leave."

"Even though I feel perfectly…" The Zabrak girl staggered, but Kail was by her side in a second, helping to support her. "…fine." Padme groaned, "Okay, so I'm not as invincible as I thought."

"No, you're not, and you're going to straight to the Ebon Hawk to rest, Padme." Kail said; then he smiled. "Or maybe it'd be more appropriate for me to call you Your Highness, because for the next couple of days, I will be you completely loyal servant."

Smiling as mischievously as Kail, Padme turned and kissed him. "Okay, first order: find me a hotel room with a view screen, I want to watch Rick and Alison, go head-to-head in the greatest Swoop Race since Revan on Taris."

"Yes, my queen." Kail said, supporting Padme as she walked out of the Medical Facility. Laughing and shaking his head at the two, Rick ran after them, and they walked together for a bit, then Rick headed off to meet Alison at the Swoop Tracks.

* * *

While walking toward the Swoop Tracks, Rick tried to piece together the events of the previous night. He had a vague memory of falling onto the ground and kissing Alison, and then the small, tender kiss turned into a long, passionate kiss that continued until they'd fallen into the bed in the hotel room, while stripping off all their clothes.

Having worked out the basic idea of the previous nights' happenings, Rick could relax as he walked into the men's changing rooms, where he found an empty cubicle and got changed into his Swoop riding gear.

When he came out of the cubicle, he found three other racers: one was a Rodian with extremely green skin; greener then he'd ever seen; one was a Twi'lek with blue-green skin and a long scar going down the side of his face; the third was a man a bit shorter then Rick, though he wore a full helmet that covered all of his face.

Rick walked out and saw Alison just coming out of the women's changing room, also wearing Swoop riding gear. Another three racers came out after her: another Twi'lek, though this one's skin was a light shade of violet, and she had no scar; another human, who had short purple-dyed hair and deep, piercing green eyes.

The final seemed human, though the lower part of her face, from her nose down, was hidden under a brown cloth.

She also wore a helmet which hid most of the rest of her face, though Rick could see a pair of yellow, animal-like eyes staring back at him.

All eight racers walked to their respective Swoops, and climbed into them. As the light in front of them went from red to yellow, Rick turned to Alison, who smiled a challenge at him from the cockpit of her Swoop.

"_Loser buys dinner tonight."_ She sent through their bond.

"_For the next week as well, and that's not counting space travel!"_ Rick sent back.

"_Deal!"_ The light turned green – and they were off!

The Swoops tore across the waters, and just seconds later it was obvious this would not be a clean game.

As Rick's swoop approached the Rodian, he saw something round and shiny in the Rodians hand, which he then released to come hurling toward Rick –

Who hit a trigger on his controls and fired two quick shots ahead of him. One hit the flash grenade and blew it up before it reached him. The second hit the right engine of the Rodian's swoop, which then blew up and sent the Rodian crashing into the sea.

Alison didn't wait for any provocation though. As soon as the human woman overtook her, Alison fired three shots from her Swoop and blew the woman's Swoop into a thousand pieces, turning the woman into a smoking corpse which fell harmlessly into the ocean to become Firaxa-chow.

The next victim was hit by both Rick and Alison. The two of them were completely equal in speed; then a Swoop rider, the Twi'lek man, came up between them and passed them.

Both teenagers thumbed their laser triggers and turned the Twi'lek and his Swoop into a giant ball of fire, which disappeared under the waves of the ocean.

This left Alison, Rick, and the two masked racers. Seconds later, the man threw a grenade into the engine of the woman's swoop when she got ahead of him. Amazingly, she knew it was there, and hit a button that launched her from the Swoop bike and high into the air.

She fell back down and disappeared like all the others.

* * *

When the final racer came up between Rick and Alison, the two of them both shifted gears on their Swoops and slammed toward him to crush him between them.

He put on a burst of speed and before they could do a thing, Alison and Rick slammed into each other.

Seconds before the two Swoops imploded on themselves, Rick let go of his handlebars and was pulled backwards off the seat, while Alison used the Force, and pulled herself up into the air and away from the explosion that followed.

About two hours later, Rick allowed himself to sink down beneath the surface of the ocean. As soon as his feet touched the ocean floor, he bent his knees and propelled himself upwards, bursting out of the water and into the air at which point, he flipped, rotated and landed on his feet on the Ahto City docks, uninjured, though he looked like a drowned rat.

A moment later, Alison pulled herself up onto the docks as well.

"If I ever get my hands on that filthy, foul-playing, race-stealing, mask-wearing freak, I will kill him and then bring him back to life so he can clean up the mess, then I'll kill him again and dump his body in the ocean." She said furiously, her eyes shadowed and dark.

Rick nodded quickly as he brushed back a strand of wet hair. "What you said." He said.

* * *

"Well, that's quite an insult, Alison; though I've heard Elaine and your Mother use more colorful language."

Rick and Alison both looked up and saw the Racer who'd caused them to have to swim back to Ahto City. Rick rushed at the man, and was pushed backwards by a jolt from the Force so strong it took a moment for him to recover his breath.

While he did that, he looked questioningly at Alison, and found her rushing forward and being pushed back as well.

"How do you know her name?" Rick asked, catching his breath.

"Do you really want to know? Well, I suppose you do." The man reached up, and pulled off his helmet.

"Disciple?"

Rick threw himself forward, his lightsaber flying from his belt into his hand, one end already ignited, and attempted to cut the Disciple in half.

He was met by another blast of Force energy that left him lying on his back, once again short of breath.

Back at the hotel, both Padme and Kail shivered in unison as the vision ended. Their eyes met, and they both raced for the door; Padme to go and help Rick and Alison, and Kail to try and stop her from leaving.

There were a few moments fighting and rolling around on the floor, which ended with Padme on top, proving she could handle the Disciple, as Kail was much stronger than him.

They saw Rain and Kevin already heading toward the exit of the hotel, with Alison's pet caat, Shayera, right behind them.

They got to the docks quickly, to see Alison and Rick about to get kicked off the docks by the Disciple.

But he hesitated when he sensed the Force-Sensitive gather behind him, and many lightsabers ignite.

He turned, smiling, and then had to duck quickly to avoid receiving a blaster bolt in the head. He ignited a lightsaber of his own, and then rushed at Padme first, expecting her to be the weakest after spending a couple of days in the Medical Facility.

The poor, deluded fool.

* * *

Padme, still holding a grudge against the Disciple for threatening Kail, ignited her red and blue lightsabers, and they met with Disciples double-bladed red saber with more power then he had expect, causing him to over balance and trip backwards.

Rain and Kevin leapt at the Disciple, their viridian, purple and green lightsabers, blurs as the three sabers went through three different parts of the Disciple's arm, almost simultaneously.

Mical screamed in pain and fury and unleashed another blast of Force energy and knocked all of them down. He would not be denied his revenge by mere children!

Out of the air, appearing from nowhere a dark blur suddenly fell onto Mical and sent him flying to the floor with a snarl. Alison struggled up right and looked on in surprise as Torne and Shayera attacked the Disciple with fierce intensity.

Kinraar joined them almost as quickly, as Rick and Alison looked at her, "where did he come from?" Rick asked just as confused as Alison. Kinraar grinned and howled, "I _made _him see some sense."

"Never mind, I don't want to know," Alison mumbled as she turned to look at the fight. Somehow while they were all preoccupied Mical had managed to escape _again. _

"_Damnit, won't he ever die!" _Alison clenched her fists as the thought rang through her mind and over to Rick across the bond. _"Ali, are you okay?" _Rick asked; concern hearable in his voice as he probed her thoughts gently.

She didn't answer him though, whistling to Shayera, who came bounding up and jumped up onto Alison's shoulder, meowing playfully.

"Right, let's move out, people, we should get back to the ship before anything else happens."

Rick followed her, frowning; she hadn't answered his question and she wasn't going to.

* * *


	16. Sparring and Issues

**-- Sparring and Issues --**

* * *

As soon as the group got back to the ship, Torne disappeared from the group, hiding somewhere on the ship. Alison and Rick went off and secured the communications room quickly, while Kail and Padme went to the port dormitories.

HK and JAINA had stayed in the cockpit per Alison's orders, which left Rain, Kevin, and Kinraar alone; though Kinraar excused herself from the room, heading towards the starboard dormitories.

Rain turned to look at Kevin who shrugged, "something's going on, Kev;" Rain warned her boyfriend, "and that _something _is not right."

"So?" Kevin snorted and shook his head, "what do you want _me _to do about it? Until we know everything, let alone _anything_ we can't do anything!"

"No," Rain shook her head, "we can do something."

"What's that?" Kevin asked as he followed her to the cargo hold and grabbed the blanket and pillow she threw at him.

"Go to sleep."

_

* * *

It's dark in here, dark and cold… very cold. I turn around but the dark doesn't fade. It's what's inside of me and I embrace it with every day and night of my life._

_I'm sitting in the hidden compartment, more of a hidden room. Revan really did a number to this ship when she redesigned it. Funny to how it let me in, when the ship's locked by Alison still._

_Maybe Alison already unlocked this compartment, I wouldn't know. It's not my ship, not my responsibility._

_My soul… the color of black… My life… the color of white… I'm a living lie, I suppose. I hate what's happening to me and I enjoy it. I'm different and I'm yet the same as always._

_I haven't forgiven myself yet… I never forgave her. I don't know what to say anymore. I've lost that youthfulness I use to have and now I'm growing up._

_What will I do when I see my parents again?_

_It's very dark and cold in here, the voices are never silent. And as I sit here all my knees to my chest, there's a tear that's crawling out of my eye._

_Is anyone out there listening? Can they hear the pain and danger that surrounds us? I need them to see… the pain and danger… _

_I need them to see._

* * *

Alison glared at the datapad she was trying to read and finally gave up chucking it across the room, ignoring that it hit Rick in the face as he looked up at her growl of annoyance.

"Ow!" Rick swore lightly as he felt his eye, the one Shayera had scratched, "watch where you're aiming those things!"

Alison rolled her eyes, "you'll live, the last time someone was killed by a datapad was," she paused and titled her head back in her chair looking at him upside down, "never."

"What's wrong, Alison? You're awfully grumpy today, aren't you sleeping at night?" Rick ducked as another datapad made its flight across the room with a snarl.

"Don't tempt me Ordo, or I'll deck you."

Rick used the force to call his shirt and boots to him as he climbed out of bed and buckled his pants and belt up. Running a hand through his messy hair he looked into the mirror and traced the scar crossing over his eye.

"I don't know whether to heal this or not, Alison." He grinned at her as she rolled her eyes and crossed over to where he stood, resting her head on his chest as she looked at his reflection.

"Leave it." She said after a minute of scrutiny and turned back to look at the ship schematics again for the fifth time in the hour, "it makes you look different."

"Okay… different as in how; Alison?" Rick asked in a distracted voice as he probed the wound.

"I like it. Come on, let's go and spar. We never finished our swoop race so we'll spar for the dinner." Alison turned to find Rick still probing the wound and she nearly snapped and stomped over to him.

"Here!" Grabbing his face, she traced the wound with two fingers of her right hand, the middle and index finger as a green light shone from them.

"There, now let's go before I break the wall in half." Alison walked away as Rick followed tracing the scar still, to only find that the scar had not healed but faded with his keen sense from the Force.

They got to the cargo hold as the rest of the others filed in to the room as well.

* * *

"What are you lot doing here?" Rick asked as he removed his inner and outer robe, and pulling gloves on as well as an eye shield.

"We're learning?" Kail smirked and laughed at Rick's glare.

"We just wanted to watch and spar as well perhaps," Rain interjected quickly and removed her own inner and outer robe as well, sitting on an overturned crate.

"Let's go Rick. I'll still beat you, with or without an audience." Alison's smile was feral and eager as she crouched, waiting for him to attack first.

Rick moved in first letting Alison come close to him but kept her short of reaching him. With his height, he had a bit less of an advantage being forced to lean down to strike at her more easily.

Alison darted in and out of his range, weaving around him like a dancing circle of death and the wood rod.

She struck him three times in quick succession, striking across his shoulders, on the leg, and managed to glance a blow off his ribs but not managing to dive out of the way when his rod came crashing down on her shoulder.

Alison fell to the floor stunned and slightly winded as Rick twirled the rod above him and brought it down in the mock salute of a death blow. Shewatched through her slightly blurry vision as the rod came bearing down towards her. Rick wouldn't hurt her…

* * *

"_He would…" _another voice whispered, _"He can and he will…"_

"_Don't listen to her! Ali, I know you're better than that, just listen to me right now."_

Two voices sounded in Alison's mind as time seemed to slow for her the rod taking forever to inch its way closer.

"_Get out of my head!"_ Alison screamed in her mind and then she snapped.

* * *

Alison pulled herself with the Force underneath Rick and jumped up, stabbing backwards with her rod, striking him in the small of his back.

She twisted even before he was able do turn and belted him across the shoulders, throwing her rod away she grabbed onto him and flipped him onto the ground.

"No one tells me what do!"

* * *

Review please! 


	17. Kari's message

**Kari's Message**

* * *

It was a massacre. 

After Alison had beaten Rick, she had challenged the others and then had left a room full of groaning bodies.

"Where did she get those skills? I can hardly breathe!"

"You'll be fine, Kevin. Here let me help you sit up."

"Who cares where she got that knowledge? I think she broke my arm."

"Well of course it would have been broken the way you keep blocking her blows with your arm, Kail!"

"Thanks Padme, when I ask for painful criticism, I'll let you know."

"You're welcome, Kail."

"Thank you, Rain; I guess we better help the others out now."

"_She had the strength of the great Bacca himself… Kashyyyk does good to honour the Stareth family."_

"Torne? How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, Rain, just fine." Torne's eyes flashed black as he spoke and his wounds healed without a second thought.

Everyone looked around at the carnage in the cargo hold and then at each other. Rick spoke through a slightly swollen mouth.

"No one better get on her bad side."

"Agreed."

Everyone in the room spoke as one and nodded as they started to trudge to the appropriate dormitories. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Rain tripped herself just in front of Kevin as he walked out of the room. "Rain!" Kevin exclaimed as she gasped when her side was rudely met with the floor, "are you okay?" 

"That hurts." Rain hissed as he picked her up and carried her to the medical room and locked the door behind him. He placed his hand as gently as he could on her side and began to heal her with the Force.

Moments later after applying a kolto strip to her waist, Rain healed most of Kevin's injuries, the more serious ones she left for the kolto to deal with.

They were in the middle of a kiss when a voice interrupted them.

"Ahem."

Rain and Kevin looked up but did not break or fly guilty apart. And then Rain and Kevin's mouth dropped open.

"What the hell are you doing here!"

"We need to talk."

* * *

"Right… so why are you talking to me and not your sister? I had thought you and her would me more inclined to talk to each other. You've never talked to me and Kev." 

Kari's eyes where filled with pain and amusement as she stared back at her two targets, two of the only people aboard the Ebon Hawk, that she could talk to now, excluding the others.

"I can only talk to you, Kevin, Torne, and the droids." Kari informed Rain and Kevin, "everyone else is corrupted or slowly being seduced, slow enough that they will not notice it until it is too late to stop it."

"But how are they being seduced!" Kevin blurted out, "We've hardly been near any place of great Sith power, anything related to the dark side!"

Kari laughed softly, "Dxun is powerful in the Dark and the Light side of the Force, young Kevin Vao Onasi. You have traveled to Derallia, my mother's home planet; _that _place as well holds powerful Sith and Jedi artifacts."

"And all those other places?" Kevin challenged his cousin boldly, his eyes determinedly staring back at her with power. "What of them?"

"What of them indeed, Kevin…" Kari smiled as she sat down on the bed, crossing her legs as she looked at him intently. "Dxun, Tantooine, Derallia, Manaan, and now you're headed to Mykr."

"Mykr?" Kevin shook his head, "that place is blind to the Force, why would Alison tell the droids to fly us there?"

Kari laughed and smiled, her eyes twinkling; "the one thing people always forget to remember is that this is my mother's ship and she installed more than anyone could imagine. Ever imagine," she sighed, "that is."

"What's so crazy about Mykr though? Why would Alison go to Mykr if she's possessed and controlled by a Sith Lord from the ancient times?"

Kari shrugged, "from everything I know and have seen; I suspect that the spirit of Alyssa Krast has not been able to fully control my sister because of…"

Kari trailed off as Kevin and Kari stared at her and stopped speaking and looked away at the wall intently.

"Because why!" Rain demanded and jumped up. "Kari, we need to know why if we're to free the others from this possession!"

Kevin nodded grimly, "I've seen possession first hand in the forms of my parents and others, isn't pretty. Rain's right, Karigan, you have to tell us!"

"Or what else will you do, young Kevin?" Kari replied her eyes flashing with anger, "what will you do? I am already beyond your reach; you cannot hurt me or kill me."

"That matters not with the Force as my ally." Kevin raised a hand and a ball of electricity appeared, glinting dangerously."

Kari laughed bitterly, "Padme was first and Alison second, Kinraar's anger _was _and _is _loyal, but misplaced. Kail's slowly following Padme with his heart of blind love. Rick's going to fall as well with Alison and their love."

She paused, "are you following as well? Become the _fourth _to be possessed by the Sith spirit?"

Kevin glared at Kari before he reluctantly let the white-blue lightening fade from his hand, though his anger did not fade as easily as he slammed his fist into the bulkhead besides him.

Rain restrained him gently and turned back to Kari with a mixed expression, "when Alison tried to choke me, that was Alyssa breaking through her barriers, wasn't it?"

"Yes, and that is partly why you took so long to recover," Kari revealed, "because Krast was trying to take you over and partly because I interfered as well, and on your behalf."

Kari arched an eyebrow at the two shocked youths. "This trip to the planet Mykr shows me several things," Kari nodded her head slowly as she recited all the details. One, Alison feels the need to distance herself from the Force for a while. Two, Krast is not in full control and Alison is able to be present most of the time.

There was another awkward silence and Kari spoke briefly.

"At least in control, more or less…" Karigan trailed off, yet again as the two youths stared at her.

"And what's the third option?" Kevin asked curiously, as Rain healed his hand to perfection.

"Three, you must learn to trust in the most _unusual_ allies, for those who may be your enemy, might find a common ground when together you destroy another enemy of theirs."

Karigan turned to leave as soon as she finished speaking when she was stopped …again with more questions.

"That's it? Nothing else you can tell us?" Rain shouted and Karigan turned around gravely to face the young Jedi Knight.

"Your brother, though he seems different and surely mad, to some …is not under the Sith possession. He has undergone a transformation that you would not understand."

"Tell me!" Rain screamed.

* * *

"_Power beyond light, and growth to death, this is what he shall be. For he no mere being; by night, he is as black as evil, and by day, he is as pure as light. Beware, for this no longer, the child, you once knew."_

* * *

This time Karigan left them alone as Rain slumped dejectedly onto the bed, "what's that suppose to mean, Kevin?" 

"It means I'm different."

Kevin and Rain turned around at the new voice, and thier mouths dropped open in shock.

_"What's happen..." _Rain thought untill the intercomm beeped shipwide.

* * *

Alison's voice interrupted Rain's thought as the intercom echoed throughout the ship. "Everyone buckle in, we're landing in ten minutes." 

Alison turned the intercom off and smiled as she eased the yoke up, "lock and load, HK, JAINA – this is going to be a smooth ride."

"Cautious Statement: Master, I do hope that you are not being sarcastic?"

"Of course not HK, my Mom and Dad taught me. I know what I'm doing." Alison grinned dangerously, and the Ebon Hawk dove into Mykr's orbit without warning suddenly.

She flipped and spun the Hawk through the air skilfully as the ground roared up to meet them. With not a moment to lose, Alison brought the Hawk out of her steep dive and hovered gently onto the ground.

"We're here. Landing complete." Alison called out over the intercom and smiled at the droids. "See that was fun, wasn't it?"

Neither of the two droids replied.

* * *

Review please! 


	18. What To Do When You Can't Feel The Force

**.:What To Do When You Can't Feel The Force:.**

* * *

"Mykr!" Kail exclaimed, pacing up and down the Cargo Hold. "Why did she have to pick Mykr, of all the planets in the-!" He shivered as they entered Mykr's atmosphere, and in doing so, entered the Ysalamiri Force-Dead bubble. 

"Great, no more Force! If Alison manages to find what she wants on this planet, without the Force, I'll-!"

Padme rolled her eyes at her boyfriend. "You know, I seem to remember you complaining like this when we arrived at Manaan as well." She said, standing up so she could push Kail down into a sitting position on one of the steel containers.

"Yeah," He said. "But this time I have a reason to complain! I can't feel the Force anymore! Which means I can't feel you through our-!"

He was interrupted again, this time as Padme wrapped her arms around his and gave him a long, passionate kiss, partly because she loved kissing him and partly to quiet him down.

She felt the tension in him vanish as the seconds turned into minutes and they still didn't part.

The sixteen-year-old Zabrak girl and the fifteen-year-old Echani boy staggered out of the Cargo Hold toward the Engine Room, never parting, even when Padme flicked a switch to close and lock the door behind them.

They didn't want any interruptions.

* * *

Rick looked up and down the corridors of the Ebon Hawk, but there was no sign of Kail, Padme, Torne or the two assassin droids. 

Frowning, he continued down the corridor and turned off to pass the medbay, and came into the center room. He walked over to the room Juhani the Cathar had often inhabited to meditate.

The door was closed, which didn't stop Rick from investigating the strange noises. Inside, he found the black nocturnal-assassin droid and the rust-coloured assassin droid with a number of their outer layers slid open and many circuits were somehow connecting.

Somewhat disturbed by the lack of awareness and the actions the droids were committing, Rick was none-the-less satisfied that he'd found two of the five missing crew-members.

Alison was in the cockpit, and she'd told him she was alone there. Kinraar was working on her mechanic skills and looking after Alison's 'pet' in the Starboard Dormitories, and Rain and Kevin were in the Port Dormitories. That left the Engine Room, the Cargo Hold, and the Medbay.

He crept up to the closed door of the Engine Room, and heard a number of sounds coming from inside. Sounds that told him he'd die if he opened the door, so he turned and scoured the rest of the ship, finding absolutely no sign of Torne.

Guessing that the other Jedi had found one of the many hidden compartments of the Ebon Hawk, Rick retreated to the Cockpit, where Alison, who had taken piloting the day before, had just completed the landing sequence, and was standing to come and find him.

"So, why did you choose Mykr, of all places?" Rick asked as Alison embraced him.

"I don't know exactly. I guess I just felt drawn here, despite there's no Force to draw me here." Alison answered, kissing him lightly. A second later, the sound of a small explosion came from the Starboard Dormitories. Half-worried half-irritated, the two Jedi sprinted out of the cockpit in the direction of the Starboard Dormitories.

They were met along the way by Padme and Kail, Padme holding a blanket up to her chest, apparently not wearing anything; Kail was wearing a pair of shorts and was struggling to pull on his tunic as they too ran in the direction of the Starboard Dormitories.

The noise obviously had not reached Rain and Kevin, and Rick doubted Torne would've come running for anything short of a dozen Sith Interdictor Ships, so that left it up to them to deal with whatever was happening.

But when they got there, they found Kinraar, her face fur slightly singed, and six delicately and near-perfectly constructed lightsabers in front of her.

"_Please forgive the explosion. The last lightsaber didn't turn out too well and well…_" She gestured toward a few scraps of metal and half a dozen shards of crystal not even the size of Rick's smallest finger-nail.

"What happened to my caat?" Alison demanded. Kinraar turned and lifted the stunned and slightly singed caat up off the ground before handing it to Alison. Rick had to stifle a laugh after taking one look at the caat's face.

Thankfully, Alison was too worried about her (evil) pet to notice, and could no longer feel his humor through the Force, which meant she wouldn't begin shouting, or kicking, or any of the other things she may do if she knew he'd laughed at her stunned caat.

"Well, if that's all, we'll…er…" Kail stammered over the last sentence. Rolling her eyes, Padme took his hand and led him back to the engine room.

"We're going to scout the area in about an hour, we landed outside the city." Rick called after them. Kail waved a hand back at him to show he'd heard, and disappeared around a corner with Padme.

"_Alison, Rick, before you leave, I actually made these two of these lightsabers for the two of you, as a gift to two friends._" Kinraar said. Kinraar lifted two lightsabers and tossed them to their new owners. "_Just in case you find need of them; I'm afraid they're both short lightsabers, as are the two I've made for Kail and Padme, but I was running short of materials._"

"Thanks, Kinraar. They're brilliantly made." Rick said. And he meant it; Kinraar had a gift with mechanical construction, especially when it came to lightsabers, and it was always an honour to do battle with one of her handmade lightsabers.

He was pretty sure even Revan and his mother carried one or two, though their lightsabers almost never faltered, so Kinraar's gifts were rarely used.

Kinraar stood, attaching two of the lightsabers to her fiber belt, and taking the other two down the corridor, hoping Kail and Padme had not yet resumed their mating-ritual.

* * *

Kail was relieved to have a lightsaber at his belt again, even though it was a short one, and he could barely use it without the Force guiding him. All the same, he was thankful for Kinraar's gift, though at the time of receiving it, he'd been a little preoccupied. 

Now, with Rick and Alison and Rain out scouting the area, and Padme and Kinraar and Kevin all doing their own thing; Kevin was examining and taking apart mechanical devices, Kinraar was engrossed in building something top secret, she wouldn't reveal to anyone, and Padme was practicing her melee skills with a vibroblade; Kail had time to examine it.

_

* * *

The crystal is the heart of the blade - The heart is the crystal of the Jedi - The Jedi is the crystal of the Force - The Force is the blade of the heart - All are intertwined: The crystal, The blade, The Jedi. We are one. _

* * *

His mother had spoken those words once, when his father had just taught her to wield the Force. She'd constructed her lightsaber out of pure electrum, and those words had come to her through the Force. Now they came to him, despite the lack of Force. He would construct a new lightsaber soon, and his would be greater then his mothers'; and greater then his fathers'. 

He rolled the short lightsaber over in his hand; the handgrip was made of Mandalorian Iron, something he'd not believed existed til Zaalbar had discovered some in one of the Mandalorian Caches.

The activation switch was a small gold button, and when he pressed it a beam of pure turquoise energy burst from the end. The blade was a little over twenty inches long, about half of a normal lightsaber blade, and gave off a light hum.

Pressing the button again, the blade vanished back into the hilt, and he stood; without taking it apart, he wouldn't be able to see what else was used in its construction, so he settled with clipping it onto his belt, and then went in search of Padme. It had been just over two hours since Rick and Alison and Rain had left; they'd said they'd only be half an hour.

"Alison, it's raining." Rick looked at his girlfriend and shook his wet hair out of his eyes, "can we go back now?"

"No," Alison giggled as she twirled in the pouring rain and looked at him, "the rain's beautiful, Rick, why do you want to go back anyways?"

"Because I'm wet and cold and its pouring rain."

Rain laughed at Rick, "We've been through worse Rick, don't tell me you're getting cold feet about a little bit of water." She pulled him in closer while Alison was paying attention to something her caat had found.

"Alison's finally at peace with herself, don't ruin it, or try to force her to do anything she doesn't want to." Rain hissed, and gripped his arm painfully in a tight grip, "she's healing, so let her be…"

* * *

Alison looked back to see Rick and Rain talking intensely and shrugged as she went off ahead and came to a clearing, full of rocks and trees. 

"So how come you're hiding out here?" She asked to the silence and was met by Shayera's purr as Torne detached himself from the boulder he had been leaning against and looked at Alison.

"I don't know, Ali, I was never hiding."

Alison shook her head, "you've been avoiding us, avoiding me… everyone. I miss our late night talks, Torne, don't you?" Her blue-green eyes stared into his intently as he looked back down at her.

Younger than Alison, he was still growing and now he was several feet taller than her, his shoulders had finally filled out, though he was still the lanky kid she had always known.

"I've changed Alison, so have you;" Torne replied gravely as she sat down on a rock and looked out over the lake that rippled with the rain's falling patterns.

"I know…" Alison said quietly. "And I'm fighting it, fighting her… but once we leave this planet, I'll never remember that I knew this so clearly until Alyssa Krast is gone."

Torne smiled lightly at her, and his smile actually reached his eyes this time, "you were pretty impressive in the cargo hold, Ali…" He looked out at the lake as well, his face as readable as stone now. "You fought with the strength of more than one."

Alison nodded, and cocked her head as Shayera meowed, "they're coming this way, are you going to stay?"

Torne paused, "I… I don't think so. It's one thing talking to you, but to the others? It's impossible."

"No, Torne's its not." Alison sighed, "talk too Rain, talk to the others, join in the crew again. Even if you're not the kid I knew before, you're still Torne, and I remember you."

He looked at her, "you don't mind that I'm not the same that I was before all of this?"

"Why should I?" Alison snorted and turned as Rick and Rain came into the clearing, stopping dead when they saw Torne and Alison and Shayera.

* * *

Torne stood up, "Rain do you want to come back with me to the ship? I'll race you there," He grinned sheepishly as Rain smiled and pulled her brother into a hug. 

"Come on, kid, you're going to loose though," Rain warned her brother as they ran away laughing, but before they turned the corner Torne smiled at Alison and mouthed _thank you _as the two siblings ran away.

"How on earth did you get more than one word out of Torne?" Rick asked in a bemused voice as Alison pulled him into a hug, holding him close to her.

"It's not that hard, Rick… he's just lost, confused."

She pulled her hair back and looked at Rick, the rain running down his face as she frowned, "do you sing at all?"

Rick shifted on his feet as he pulled her into the cave behind her and watched as the water from the ledge played reflections across her face; "not like you're thinking of, Alison, probably not."

"Well listen to this then." Alison smiled and started to sing to Rick for some time. When she had finished, he smiled and brushed her hair back from her face as she looked up at him.

It was going to take them a long time to get back to the ship, Rick realized as they kissed, a long, long, long, time.

* * *

Padme came back onto the Ebon Hawk after scouting the general area around them. "Well, it's pouring rain outside." She said, discarding her drenched cloak. "That may explain why Rick and Alison and Rain are late getting back." Kail nodded. 

"Well, looks like we've got some time to kill. Care to test your vibroblade skills?" Kail asked Padme who followed him into the Cargo Hold, where they both grabbed a pair of swords, Kail holding a vibrosword in one hand and a shortsword in the other.

Padme walked to one end of the Cargo Hold, two longswords in her hands, and spun around to see Kail standing at the other end of the Cargo Hold.

Both had stripped down to the bare minimum, so as to be completely free to move. This left Kail in a pair of shorts that he slept in, and Padme in a two part set of undergarments. Kail would've found their choice of attire amusing if he'd not had every intention of winning the sparring match.

Padme nodded her head, and the two teenagers rushed at each other, swinging their swords fast and strong, and soon all they heard was the constant clang of the swords hitting. Neither seemed able to overpower the other, both seeming to know the others next attack before they made it, and where therefore able to defend against it.

* * *

Finally, after another hour of constant slashes, parries, strikes and blocks, the two Jedi parted, returning to either end of the Cargo Hold, not tired in the least, but realizing they were getting no where with their sparring match. 

"I hereby declare the battle a draw." Kail said, and Padme laughed as she returned her two swords to the holder. Kail returned with a canteen of water, and they both took a few gulps before redressing and leaving the Cargo Hold. They found Rain and Torne drying themselves off in the garage.

"Where are Rick and Alison?" Kail asked.

"Don't know." Rain said. "They wanted some time together without company."

"Well, that explains why it's taking them so long." Padme said. "By the way, Kinraar's on a construction spree at the moment; so don't go into the Starboard Dormitory, unless you want to learn what it's like to be a Wookie's punching bag."

She reached into the pocket of her robes. "On the subject of the former, she made these short lightsabers for the crew." She handed two short lightsabers to Rain and Torne, and then another one to Rain. "It's Kevin's. He's on his own kind of construction spree with the two droids. Don't ask."

"Don't tell." Rain answered, sliding Kevin's new lightsaber into a pocket of her robes. "Well, it's getting late, and I'd like some sleep before we all head out tomorrow. Goodnight fellow Jedi, I'll be in the Port Dormitory."

With that, Rain turned on her heel and left the Garage. Shrugging, Padme followed her, leaving Kail and Torne in an awkward silence until Torne also left. Frowning, Kail unhooked his short lightsaber.

If he was going to be the best Jedi he could be; it was time to start learning to use a lightsaber without the Force. He held the hilt in one hand, and hit the activation switch; the turquoise beam shot out, and he fell into Form I of the seven lightsaber forms.

* * *

Read and Review please 


	19. New Risings

**-- .:New Risings:. --**

* * *

Kail finished form seven, the _Way of the Vornskr _and deactivated his short lightsaber. It may have taken him a little over two hours, but he'd managed a mild mastery over each of the forms, and without the Force. 

Of course, he'd been practicing them since he was five years old, his mother had insisted on him being trained to face danger as early as possible; stating that Dark Jedi wouldn't hold back just because he was five.

Deciding it was time to get a little sleep Kail hooked the lightsaber onto his belt, and headed toward the Port Dormitory. Hopefully when he woke up, Rick and Alison would be back with information on what they were planning on doing while on the planet.

One good thing about not feeling the Force: both Kail and Padme were free of Force visions during the night, which seemed to become more and more frequent lately.

Kail woke the next morning completely refreshed, and, seeing that Kevin and Torne were still sleeping, got up quietly and only realized after he'd gotten to the Garage that Alison and Rick had not returned.

Shrugging and muttering under his breath, he fixed himself some of what some would call breakfast, and others would call a tray of katarn manure, and not just because of the smell, from the food processor, and then went and sat down at one of the three small tables that took up the corners of the Garage.

It wasn't long before Kinraar woke, and she came out and got herself some breakfast, before leaving him to his own and heading in the direction of the Engine Room, taking with her one tray of food, and another tray covered in mechanical bits and pieces.

"What exactly are you making, Kinraar?" Kail asked as she left. An indistinct grunt told him to mind his own business. Frowning at the Wookiee's disappearing form, Kail stood and went over to the workbench. Nothing was missing, which had to mean Kinraar had her own supplies and her own tools.

_

* * *

The crystal is the heart of the blade - The heart is the crystal of the Jedi - The Jedi is the crystal of the Force - The Force is the blade of the heart - All are intertwined: The crystal, The blade, The Jedi. We are one. _

* * *

He stumbled back away from the workbench, tripped over his own feet and fell flat on his back. It wasn't possible to hear something like that, not here on Mykr. Not in the ysalamiri anti-Force bubble. 

"Maybe I'm just going crazy…" Kail whispered. Then he shook his head. "Great, now I'm talking to myself. I _am_ going crazy!"

* * *

Torne was tired of the ship and hiding out in the little caches, but it was safer there. His refuge and time to talk to Kari and Illusen, well at least once they were off Mykr. 

He supposed he should talk to Alison about keep the Hawk's controls locked, still as though she didn't trust the crew, though maybe that was a good sign.

And then maybe it wasn't, but at least the droids could and would fly the ship at any rate. Torne smiled at that thought; Rick didn't know what to do with JAINA, much less wanting anything to do with her.

He shook his head, at least with Alison she treated JAINA respectfully; keeping them from being killed and all ...and _she was _dating Rick. Torne wondered about that, too. With Alison's relationship with Rick, once again the Stareth family was related to the Mandalorians again, twice over.

"Torne?"

He jumped in spite of himself and turned around to face Alison who was standing in the shadows, looking out at him from under her hood.

He looked closer as he saw the hood and clothes she was wearing; they greatly resembled Revan's garb from before and during the Wars.

"How come you're all dressed up like that?" He asked, gesturing to her clothes. "I thought you weren't going to be your mother."

Alison frowned, "I'm not being my mother, and if you start down that lane, then take a look at yourself. You're going into exile just like your mom and uncle."

Torne stiffened, a flash of anger lighting his flash, "You have no right to speak to me like that, Alison."

"I have every right, when you push all that is human away from you." Alison looked at him with anger, "And your sister, Rain? What about her? You barely stayed around yesterday with her, from what I gleamed out of the security cameras."

Torne's temper flared as he pointed a finger in her face, "You stay out of my life, Stareth! Stay out of my life!"

Alison shook her head, standing her ground, "If I didn't care, Torne then I'd have dumped you as cargo long ago. Buck up and grow up."

"Why did you come back here? Too annoy me to my death?" Torne growled as he placed his hands on his hips, glaring uselessly at Alison who glared back at him with the same amount of anger.

"I'm going on an exploration, coming or rotting in here?" She asked bluntly and turned away, "Kinraar, Kevin, and Rain are coming with me; stay here and rot or grab your weapons and come."

Alison left the room and Torne stood there for a minute before he grinned.

Finally maybe something good was going to happen.

* * *

_  
She was nearly finished packing. Finally after all these long years of living dead to the Force she was going to get to go and experience it all._

_To be free soon, like her Father had been before he and her mother had crashed here; and then eventually left. Like her brother and sister before her…_

_You're too young to leave yet, her mother had told her, when she had begged to leave with the family. And you have a purpose here, even if it takes time to show itself and you can't feel the Force._

_Just several more days...

* * *

_

Rick came back into the Ebon Hawk, looking around for Alison. She'd ran ahead of him on their way back, which resulted in him trying on his own to find his way through the rain soaked forest. Now he was back inside the Ebon Hawk, soaked to the bone and dripping all across the floor as he walked into the Port Dormitory.

He grabbed some dry clothes and went into the Refresher for a shower. He got back out, wearing a black coat, grey tunic, and brown trousers. He only had one pair of boots, and they had been soaked in his trek back to the Ebon Hawk.

He found Kail in the Garage, eating, and Padme at the work bench, adding a vibration cell to one of her Zabrak Vibroblades, swords she'd earned when she'd turned thirteen.

She'd been so proud of herself back then, it had been before she'd earned her lightsaber, but even after she had, she continued to take care of the swords, even though she rarely used them anymore. This was one of those 'rarely' times.

* * *

She looked up as Rick entered, nodded at him, then went back to her vibroblade. Rick walked over to the food processor, got some katarn manure, and went and sat down next to Kail to eat. 

"Excuse me." Kail said, getting up. It was a rare thing indeed for anyone to make it through a meal without bringing it back up again, so he didn't notice very much as Kail fled the room, nor did he pay much attention to the retching sounds that followed a few seconds later. Rick shook his head and began eating the glop formerly known as 'food' on his plate.

Kinraar came in for a few minutes after a while, and then left again after taking some parts from the workbench. Alison joined Rick after a while, though she wouldn't say where she'd been or why she was wearing her black hooded robes.

"I suggest we wear civilian clothes when we head into the city." Rick said. "I don't think the folk here are too fond of Jedi."

Alison nodded, and kept eating. Kail came back, a little pale faced, but seemingly completely fine aside from that. He eyed what was left of his manure, then lifted the tray and dumped the contents in the trash compactor. They'd eject it into space during their next Hyperspace jump.

"I'll go get changed." Kail said after Rick repeated what he'd said to Alison and Padme. "I'm not going to be left behind on the ship." Padme nodded in agreement and they went through different exits toward their respective dormitories.

They came back a few moments later, Padme dressed in clothes that resembled her mothers' when Biggs and Elaine had first met her on Nar Shaddaa. Kail wore a pair of grey trousers, a white tunic, a blue denim coat and a pair of dark brown boots.

"Well, we're ready." Kail said. "Alison, you may want to change, I doubt the natives will like you very much if you are dressed like that."

"Noted..." Alison walked over to the cleaning dispenser and dumped the empty dish in it and left the room.

* * *

Kail looked at the dispenser and gulped, turning green; "how can she eat that stuff and not have trouble with it coming back up?" 

Rick shook his head, "I'd rather not know."

He quickly departed from the room and tracked Alison down by the odd grunt of pain here and there, echoing faintly in the corridors.

Alison was kneeling on the floor, clutching a pillow as she groaned and whimpered. "Hey," he said softly entering the room, "are you okay, there?"

Rick knelt down besides Alison and wrapped his arms around her as she shuddered against him, crying from the obvious pain she was in.

"I… I'm fine." Alison gasped out between shudders and grunts of pain, "it's just that…" She broke off with a confused look on her face and shook her head as Kevin entered the room.

"Okay, you two love birds, you'll have to hold your desires until after the visit to the village. Come on, everyone's waiting for you lot."

Rain sighed with relief when Kevin appeared unhurt with Alison and Rick following him. She grinned at him, "see? It wasn't so bad."

Kevin shook his head, "next time I get to hold the straws and then the rest of you get to tempt death."

* * *

Halfway through the forest, HK and JAINA who had silently been shadowing the large group went into their assignation-modes; bring up their respective weapons to fire when— 

"Shayera!" Alison laughed as the caat jumped, using Rick as leverage and into her arms, purring contently. Rick glared at the caat who had stolen Alison completely from his attention and his arm space around her waist.

Shayera purred loudly and looked at his with her sharp murderous like eyes and slowly closed one eye, yawning so he could get a good look at her fangs.

Rick growled and clenched his fist, that caat was nothing but trouble.

"Halt!" The loud voice rang out into the silence as a bunch of village folk broke through the forest, various weapons pointed all in their general direction.

Rick stepped slightly in front of Alison shielding her with his body, "now what?" He asked out of the side of his mouth with a grimace. "I told you, you should have changed."

"Humph." I have no need to hide what I am and besides…"

"YOU!" Another voice rang out, as a young girl stared at Torne, "it's you!"

"Uh, hi… do we know each other?" Torne asked in the awkward silence.

"Not yet, we don't." The girl turned to the man who had called for them to halt. "I'll vouch for them, Victor… They won't do anything to bring us harm."

"Bah. Jedi, they're all the same, always want something from you and never give anything in return." Victor snarled and pointed to Alison who had remained in her robes; "she doesn't stay under my roof and if she does, then I'll throw her to the Garcia and see how they have fun toying with her."

"That's enough!" The girl shouted and slapped Victor on the face hard, before Rick could even make a move. "I'm a Jedi too, Victor and so where my parents and brother and sister… or did you forget that?"

She turned to Alison, "Never mind him. We'd better get going soon, it'll be dark quickly and with the Garcia out and around, being out here is not a good idea."

* * *

"Yes, I've heard of them, let's get out of here soon." Alison said in a faint voice, weak enough that Rain looked up sharply and Rick turned around. 

"Hey!" Rick grabbed her shoulders, "are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes," Alison whispered as Rain who had been at the back of the group crossed over to Alison who seemed very tired and exhausted, "It's normal to feel like this…"

"Feel like this…? Alison, what's wrong with--" Before Rick could get another word in the nameless girl interrupted his thoughts.

"Come on," the girl who had greeted them …or rather Torne, shook her head. "Let's get you to the village and we'll get you looked over there."

The group trudged off, with the two disgruntled droids in the rear.

"Insertion: I thought we were going to blast some meatbag scum on this planet."

JAINA cocked her head and her eyes gleamed, "That mek-bag, Victor did threat our mistress though…"

HK chuckled as a droid with his skills only would, "Insulting thought: And then he shall dance later on when they're all sleeping for insulting Mistress Alison."

JAINA cackled, "Excited thinking: Indeed."

Kail turned to look at the two droids, who returned his stare. After a moment he nodded and turned back to the path ahead.

* * *

"Vornskr!" One of the men at the front of the group shouted. 

Rick, Torne, Padme, Kinraar, and Rain all fell into fighting stances. Kail fell into Form VI, though he was using two vibroswords, and Alison assumed Form VII, also with vibro-double-blade.

It didn't take long to kill off the Vornskr pack, between the flurry of sword attacks and the volley of blaster fire. When all the Vornskr lay dead, they continued toward the nearest village.

On board the Ebon Hawk, two lights flickered in the Engine Room, and stopped flickering, only to become two glowing blue eyes. The faint light of the eyes showed smudged, slightly dented, rust-colored amour plating. The thing let loose a mechanical cackle, stood, and exited Ebon Hawk.

They were staying at an inn in the closest town to where they'd landed. Rick, Kevin and Kail shared one room, Alison, Padme, Rain and Kinraar shared another.

Torne had insisted on a room of his own.

* * *

Rick was currently giving JAINA a few upgrades, and a few new surprises. "Okay, I've added four new lightsaber fighting sessions, each one using a different style. You're welcome to go through them later, just don't use them on anyone who doesn't attack me first, got it?" 

"Statement: Yes, Meat-Bag Master." JAINA said. Rick frowned at the droid' lack of respect, though he was sure the new adjustments he'd made to her chassis would change her tune.

"Okay, show me lightsaber training level 26." Rick said. JAINA cackled with glee, and ignited the lightsabers she held – all of them. The assassin droid looked down in surprise, the let off another cackle of glee and surprise. Rick was sure JAINA would smirk if she could.

"So, how do you like your two new arms?" Rick asked, standing back to examine his handy-work. Not as good as Kinraar's, but still a well done job, considering his specialty was cloth, not machine.

"Gleeful Statement: Unit JAINA will enjoy decapitating enemies of Meat-bag Master Rick with new extensions. Unit JAINA will now present lightsaber training level 26."

At that, the assassin droid rushed forward, swinging the red, blue, purple and silver lightsabers at the training droids Rick had set up.

They were lucky the room was large enough to fit the Tarisan sewer Rancor and two Bantha's, or there may have been a slim chance she'd have decapitated them as well.

* * *

Rick suddenly looked up as he heard shouting outside. He, Kail and Kevin approached the window and saw some kind of devilish creature hidden in the shadows of the inn, firing volleys of blaster bolts from its Mandalorian repeating blaster. 

Grabbing his vibroblades, Rick headed for the door.

"Suggestion: Master, I would highly recommend you remain where you are," came JAINA's voice. "Unit H-49K will easily take out those trying to stop it's approach and shall arrive here in an estimated six minutes and four point two seconds."

"Unit H-4 what? What are you-?" Suddenly, the answer dawned on him and he frowned. "_Kinraar!_" He shouted in Shyriiwook, just to make sure Kinraar understood he was not happy. He could speak very few words in the wookiee language, but his friends' name was one of them.

Kinraar came into the room, growling in annoyance.

"Tell me, Kinraar, why is it that there is a droid outside with a very distinct resemblance to HK and JAINA, and that JAINA appears to know it's name?" Rick said slowly.

Kinraar shook her head. "_I – I have no idea what you're talking about._"

"You know Kinraar, despite the fact you've spent most of your life around humans, you're still not a very good liar." Rick said. "How did R-4-watsitsnumber come to be in existence?"

Kinraar suddenly went into a detailed and very entertaining reason of why R-49K had been built. It was, to say the very least, entertaining. It was also fictional.

"Y'know what, I don't really need the true version, just get it to stop killing people." Rick said. Kinraar nodded, and left the room. She returned a few moments later with H-49K, who seemed to have calmed down.

It resembled HK-47 mostly, except its coating appeared to be made out of rusted bits of metal, and its eyes glowed with a piercing evil looking blue, which seemed to see everything in the room at once.

"Conclusion: Location secure – this unit will now shut down." With that, the blue eyes stopped glowing and it's 'head' slumped.

"Thank you, Kinraar." Rick said. "Let's deal with it later; has Alison worked out why we needed to come here yet? I'm beginning to feel somewhat naked without the Force."

* * *

"Come on, you're too stubborn for your own good." 

"No, really, I'm fine …Mia! Give me my clothes back!"

Mia shook her head at the enraged Alison standing half undressed before her. "Not until you let you examine you. You've thrown up nearly every meal we sit down to eat, and you're sick half the time."

"So?" Alison shot back, "I don't care, I'm fine, Mia; now give me my robes!" Alison grabbed her robes from Mia and had reached the door just as Mia called out to her.

"Say you're fine, Alison… but what if it's not you who's sick? What if it's something more precious than your life?"

Alison turned around, fury in her eyes, the flames from the small contained fire in the stove catching her eyes and reflecting its lights. "Shut up Mia; you do _not _know what you're talking about!"

Mia closed her eyes and sighed, "You need help. Alison, please don't throw my help away this time."

Alison growled, "I never threw your help away before."

"Then why did your son die before? He died at two; you left to return home that day, why didn't you stay the one day longer?"

"HE DIED BECAUSE OF THE BLASTED SITH WARROIRS WHO DESTROYED MY SHIP AND MY FAMILY!" Alison screamed back at Mia, tears running down her face; "I did everything I could to save Bryan..."

"Then don't let something hurt your baby now, Alison." Mia shook her head, "This is Mykr, you can't feel the Force here; let me help you this time. Please…"

Alison hesitated, as Mia looked at her sister-in-law, "please, I miss Bryan too. And Don as well…"

Alison nodded her head once slowly and nodded it again as she sank to the ground and started to undress again.

She said nothing as Mia started the examination and then grasped her silent friend's hand, "I miss them too, Mia…"

The girls looked into each others eyes briefly, the pain and love unspoken for their lost relatives in their face. They didn't need to speak, they knew.

* * *

Rick stepped out of the small hut that was serving for the boys right now. The village leader, Victor and its men were extremely protective of Alison, Rain, Padme, and Kinraar, though Rick suspected that Victor would rather gut Alison expect for _that _girl's insistence. 

Mia, a young girl about his age and she had some authority or at least control over Victor as it seemed currently. Rick had only seen Alison during the meals and even then she didn't too well.

He was jumpy now and founding himself, cursing the day Alison had brought them to Mykr, blinding them from the Force.

Rain's cryptic messages of letting Alison heal did nothing for him. If she wanted to tell him something, then why not just up and out with it!

* * *

"Hey Rick, you might want to stop before you leave the village." Kevin looked over at the young man who shook himself and looked at the village doors in surprise before glancing at Kevin. 

"What are you doing here?" Rick asked as he moved to the side so the passer-bys could get through the path he was blocking.

"I was looking for Rain, but I couldn't find her;" Kevin smiled tightly, "strangely enough _Torne's _been able to visit that girl Mia and he's caught a glimpse of Alison once or twice."

"Alison!" Rick suddenly felt if his chest had been crushed in two. "If she all right; is she safe? What are they doing with her and when is she going to come back to us?" He grabbed Kevin's arm tightly as he slammed the older youth back into the wall behind him.

"Let go of me." Kevin said, staring coldly into Rick's eyes; the two youths stood there for a minute before Rick released Kevin's arm and shook his head.

"Sorry," Rick muttered, "I'm just—"

"Worried and concerned about Alison. I know." Kevin grinned slightly at Rick, "she'll make your hairs go grey before the year is over."

Rick nodded, a grin reaching his face this time, "that I can believe, that I _can _believe."

"KEVIN!" A blue blur of clothes came streaking out of an adjacent hut and burst into his arms, knocking him to the street in the mud. It was Rain and she was beaming as she hugged her boyfriend happily, kissing him strongly.

"I'll just leave you to get reacquainted." Rick trudged off forlornly, leaving the happy couple alone. Further up ahead, he saw Kail and Padme locked in a kiss as he brushed past them

* * *

"Hey, brownie, if you're going to mope about, why don't you haul your butt over here and help with some supplies?" 

Rick looked up at the man who had called him brownie due to his brown hair and glared at the man who chuckled and stuck out his hand.

"I'm Hector, my brother's Victor but don't let that blow you away. So want to help out?"

Rick grinned, "Thanks. Anything would be better than just thinking and moping right now."

"Great!" Hector grinned and pointed to a crate, "we lift these and move them over to the barricade about ten clicks from here, think you're up to that?"

"Yeah, I'm stronger than I look anyways." Rick rolled up his sleeves and bent down, picking up a smaller crate.

"So what's this barricade for then?" Rick asked, curiosity pushing his growing concern for Alison aside briefly as he focused on the task at hand.

"Did you hear about the Garcia? My brother probably let that slip once or twice when they corned you and the Lady Stareth back there in the jungle a week ago."

"Yes the Garcia where mentioned once or twice, Rick furrowed his brow in thought, "and why are you calling _Alison _the _Lady Stareth?_ I mean her mom, is called _the_ Lady Revan usually, but Alison has a title!"

"The Lady Stareth? Of course she has a title, mekk – I mean why wouldn't she; really?"

"Because Alison is a normal human being…?" Rick snorted and dumped the crate in the barricade and shook his head at the eerie silence as he looked around. "Hey, Hector… isn't this barricade supposed to be guarded?"

Hector looked up, "yeah mekk, hello doesn't barricade work in your Jedi vocabulary?"

"Yes it does and how do you know I'm a Jedi?" Rick grounded his teeth as Hector inspected the barricade's computer, his fingers flying over the control panel.

"It's all in your stance, and build. You and your group were mostly staggering somewhat like you're recovering from being out at sea or a drinking binge. And you're kids, so I expect that you're all deeply connected to the Force more so than a drinking binge."

Rick sighed, "No lying there; so we're all Jedi." Going to run to Victor now and tattle on us?"

"Well, Jedi… as much as Victor and I hate each other, running to him doesn't seem so bad right now." Hector pointed to his screen that he was staring at so intently; "I hope you can fight without the Force, Jedi. We've got a whole pack of Garcia raining down on our heads!"

"You're at war?" Rick asked as he pulled out his vibroblades, Hector nodded. "We've been at war for over three years, as the Lady Stareth could attest to."

Hector's eyes went cold and hard as he stared at Rick, "aim to kill nothing less."

Rick nodded and gripped his weapons as his heart went cold, how well would he be able to fight against an army and for how long?

* * *

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	20. Death of the Heart

**Death of the Heart**

* * *

Rick swung his sword with all his strength. It did little to his opponent's body due to their thick armour, but there was now a deep dent in the armour pushing into the side of their chest. Without a second thought, Rick swung again and severed the man's head.

By this time, the two couples he'd past on his way her had realized there was a fight happening, and had come to join him, Hector, and two other men who had shown up not long after the group of attackers had appeared. That equaled eight against about two dozen.

"Rick! Behind you, mate!" Kail shouted as he danced around the four swords he was being attacked by, (two warriors) in the way his mother had taught him. Rick ducked as the man in front of him stabbed and it went right into the throat of the attacker behind him.

Padme, despite not being able to use the Force, was a living weapon. She didn't even need the two hand-made short swords; her fists and boots were dangerous enough as she ducked, kicked, punched, jabbed and side-stepped around her opponents, taking on three at once.

Kevin and Rain were fighting back to back, not because they were surrounded, but because they fought well back to back, not letting anyone sneak up on them; as well as being able to take out any who came with a meter of them as they continued to rotate.

Short version – despite their youth, the five Jedi were a force to be reckoned with as they tore through the Garcia warriors, leaving a scattering of corpses in their wake.

Finally, there were none left, and Rick leaned on his swords for support, a dozen small cuts on his face and a long gash on his waist. Well, that would teach him to get some armour before entering the next battle without the Force. It was time to get out his Mandalorian armour again.

* * *

Kail and Padme looked up as Rain walked in. Unlike the cabin where the girls were staying, (where none of the boys were permitted) anyone could walk into the boy's cabins.

"Something wrong…?" Padme asked.

Rain shook her head. "Not, wrong, exactly." She said. "Just… hard too do something about."

"What is it?" Kail asked.

"Kevin's birthday is in less then a week." Rain said quickly. Kail's and Padme's jaws dropped.

"What do you want us to do about it?" Padme asked. Less then a second later she said, "Yes, I won!" Kail looked down at the Pazaak game. She had indeed won – they'd both already won two games, and Kail had exhausted his side deck, meaning he could do nothing when he added the eight to fourteen.

Rain did not seem to notice this little exchange, as she simply continued the original conversation. "I need your help to give him a kind of birthday party. Except maybe not a party…I don't know, I'll check with some of the woman in the village, see what they can tell me about birthdays."

With that, she turned and left the cabin as if she'd not meant to go in. "Ever get the feeling she's hiding something?" Kail asked.

"She has seemed reluctant to be around us without Kevin lately." Padme agreed. "So, let's add this up. I've beaten you in the last six games; you owe me a new lightsaber part for each of them."

"Yes, my lady-queen." Kail mock-bowed and stayed down when, Padme threw her inactive lightsaber hilt at him; "Gamorrean sister!"

"Monkey-lizard!"

"Boar-wolf!"

The insults continued until they'd both exhausted the vocal chords, at which point they sat down and began playing Pazaak again.

* * *

Rick found the Ebon Hawk where they'd left it, and was thankful it was still there, considering all the rain they'd had in the past week. According to Hector, the rain was common, but not so much that they had six days in a row of nothing but torrential downpours.

Many townsfolk believed the Force could be used to manipulate the elements, and that the Garcia where using the Force to weaken their defences.

That belief certainly explained Victor's dislike of the Jedi, which made it all the more necessary to quickly find what it was Alison had come here for; and leave as soon as possible.

After half-an-hour of going through the war zone that Kail, Kevin and Rick claimed looked liked a wardrobe; Rick finally found his Ceremonial Mandalore Armour. It was not the armour of the actual Mandalore; Rick wouldn't receive that until, one: he was at least eighteen, and two: he could defeat his father in single combat. Neither of which wouldn't be happening for at least a year.

That was if he returned. At all…

Until then, he would've worn the Ceremonial Mandalore Armour, the armour of Mandalore's most trusted general. That would've being the key word.

He could've laughed at his situation; he'd left Dxun to avoid fighting, and so far almost all he'd done was fighting: first they'd had to battle their way off Tatooine, then on Derallia they'd battled 'the Master' and his apprentice Jaden.

On Manaan they'd had another close encounter with the Disciple, and now, on Myrkr they'd landed right in the middle of s civil war.

Donning the Ceremonial Armour, Rick went to the refresher – the only place on the Ebon Hawk with a mirror – and looked himself up and down. Despite the fact his father had had the armour custom made by Suvam Tam, Rick saw that it no longer suited his tastes – when he'd left Dxun, it may have, but no longer. Sighing, he removed the armour, placed it in a footlocker with an impenetrable code (unless you were Padme), and headed toward the exit of the 'Hawk.

As he passed the communications room, he saw that a message had come through (though with the weather they'd been having, it surprised Rick that it was anything more then static). He hit a few buttons, and the message came through.

Three words was all that came through; "_It is time._" It was an audio message, so Rick didn't see the face – but he had an idea of who might.

One of two people: Kail may get a vision if he heard the message, and, if that failed, Rick might ask Torne to see if he could make one of his sketches.

* * *

The Handmaiden sat in the Cargo Hold, as she usually did. Only this time, she was not practicing Echani fighting forms; the last of the Handmaiden's was meditating, trying to focus on the Force as Biggs had taught her earlier that day.

No matter how hard she tried, she could not seem to focus; could not feel the Force as Biggs explained it. 'It is like opening your eyes and seeing for the first time…" He had whispered, and then had a look of anguish on his face, as if remembering something best forgotten. "…and to lose it is to lose oneself, like waking and finding yourself without sight, sound or smell."

"You still can't get it?"

The Handmaiden looked up. He had come so close to her without her knowing – normally it was impossible to get near her without her knowing; to get close to her at all. And yet he had done it. He had broken her shields; broken down the walls she had built; and it was him for whom she had broken her oaths to Atris.

The Handmaiden shook her head. "It is there, I can sense it, but to hold it…" She sighed, and shook her head again. "…it is easier to try to hold the wind."

Biggs smiled, and sat down in front of her, crossing his legs. He then pulled a small, shiny white stone out of the pocket of his Padawan robes, and placed it between them.

'The crystal is the heart of the blade' The Handmaiden looked up. That voice – she'd heard it somewhere, she was sure of it.

"Close your eyes." He said softly, as if he hadn't heard the voice. The Handmaiden gave him a quizzical look. "Close you eyes." He repeated, a bit firmer. The Handmaiden obeyed, closing her eyes, choosing to ignore the voice for now.

"Good, now picture the crystal in your mind's eye. Can you see it? Don't speak; just nod your head if you can." She nodded, after a moment or two, and it seemed forced. That was good.

It meant she was separating from the physical, allowing herself to become one with the Force.

'The heart is the crystal of the Jedi.' Again, the voice, where was it coming from?

"Now focus on a colour, fill the crystal with that colour until it glows too bright to look at."

The Handmaiden gave a slight nod, showing she understood. For a few moments, nothing seemed to happen. Then the crystal that sat between them showed a faint silver glow. The silver slowly changed to a pale pink, and grew brighter, and the colour darkened slightly into a bright magenta.

Then it began to rotate, spinning anti-clockwise, first slow, then faster, and faster until it was nothing but a bright magenta blur, its light dancing off the walls of the Cargo Hold.

"Now, open your eyes, slowly, and keep your focus on the crystal." Biggs whispered in his gentle voice. The Handmaiden obeyed, slowly opening her eyes. She gasped in amazement when she saw the reaction her thoughts had had on the crystal. She lost focus on it, and it stopped spinning. But the colour remained.

'The Jedi is the crystal of the Force.' And suddenly, she recognized the voice.

"I…I don't understand." The Handmaiden whispered.

"You bonded the crystal." Biggs said. "I carried it with me for years trying to get a reaction from it, but all I could do was levitate it into the air." His gaze flickered to the crystal for a second, then back to the Handmaiden. "But it reacted too you, it reacted to your connection to the Force."

* * *

"But I don't understand. I've been trying so hard for hours to feel the Force, how did it work this time?" The Handmaiden asked.

"My old Master used to tell me that the Force does not respond to hard work, or orders, and that it cannot be controlled." Biggs said. "A Jedi could want to use the Force, could focus on using it, for days and get nothing. You have to let the Force come to you, in its own way."

He looked at the crystal. "Your crystal represents your heart, your power. It is best to keep it near."

'The Force is the blade of the heart.' Arren Kae spoke to her daughter through the Force.

"I knew someone once, who had bonded a crystal to herself much in the same way as you have, though she did it on purpose." Biggs looked at the Handmaiden for a moment, as if sensing her mother's voice through her.

Then he continued, "But she lost the crystal along with her lightsaber in a battle against a Sith warrior. He gave the lightsaber to his Master as a trophy, and the Sith Master used the crystal to corrupt the Force with the Jedi, forcing her to the Dark Side through her bond." Biggs closed his eyes for a moment, as if another unwanted memory had surfaced.

'All are intertwined: The crystal, the blade, the Jedi.' Biggs opened his eyes. Was it possible that he…? No, he couldn't have heard her voice.

"Be careful not to lose it. Having a crystal bonded to you enhances your Force connection like…" He thought for a moment.

The Handmaiden had noticed that Biggs likes to use poetic examples a lot of the time. "…imagine a river flowing into a lake. Well, your Force connection is the river, and the crystal is the parting that opens you up further into the lake that is the Force."

"'You are one.'" Biggs said this as Arren Kae's voice spoke, and he smiled. So he had heard the voice.

* * *

Rick returned to the boys cabin to find Torne and Kevin both pushing again the steel doors, trying to get in. Rick increased his pace. "What's happening?" He called as he got nearer.

"We're not sure." Kevin said, stepping away from the door for a moment. "But whatever it is, Kail and Padme are both locked inside, and we've heard a lot of fighting noises inside – I doubt they've had an argument that's gone that far, so that leaves one thing."

"Someone's attack them." Rick said. As soon as he said it, he suddenly realized how quiet the village had gone. He looked around. Past the barricades, he saw the glimmer of stealth shields in the afternoon sun.

He turned quickly to Torne. "Sound the alarm; there are at least two dozen Garcia on the other side of the barricade, and they're closing the distance pretty damn quickly."

Torne didn't argue. He turned on his heel and raced off to the center of the town; Victor could often be found there, and he was the only one, except maybe Mia, who could sound the alarm.

Then he and Kevin turned to the door, and began to try and push it open, just as they heard a loud and anguished shout from inside.

* * *

"No!" Kail shouted. It was too late; the assassin's vibrodagger struck home, the bloodied point sticking out of Padme's back. The Zabrak girl jerked backwards from the force of the dagger penetrating her chest.

Time seemed too slow for Kail as she fell back, landing on the hard wood floor of the boys' cabin in slow motion.

But he didn't have time to run to her side, to try and save her. There was still three assassin's standing, one holding a short sword, one holding a vibrodagger, and one seemingly unarmed.

The one with the dagger raised her arm, and threw the dagger at Kail so fast it was almost impossible to know she'd done it, except that he had the Echani ability to perceive events before they happened. Not very well, but enough to keep him alive.

One of his vibroswords hit the daggers head on, sending it flying back at its owner. The unarmed one, who seemed to be the leader, moved so fast even Kail's battle precognition had trouble locking onto him, and caught the dagger just as the door behind Kail burst open.

It was at his throat almost before Rick, Kevin and two of the village warriors stepped over the threshold. They froze when they saw the dagger, and Padme's body lying nearby.

Kail stared hatefully into the assassin's eyes. Aside from his eyes, his entire body, including his hair, was covered, making it impossible to see his face. "Go ahead, do it!" He taunted. The assassin's eyes widened, the dagger wavering, edging closer to Kail's throat. The Echani boy didn't even flinch.

"You've taken what mattered most to me." He snarled. "You can't take anything else that will hurt more then her death." The deep blue eyes that looked into his seemed to go out of focus for a few seconds.

* * *

Then the assassin reached into pocket of his light armour, and pulled out a small grenade. Kail saw it was just a gas grenade, though it could've been a plasma grenade for all he cared.

The dagger remained exactly in place as the assassin threw the gas grenade at the small group that had burst into the room. They coughed for a few seconds after it exploded, and then passed out.

No one outside seemed to notice what was happening. The reason was given when Kail heard the sounds of battle; blasters being fired, swords scraping against other swords of quarterstaffs, grenade explosions.

It was the last thing Kail heard as the assassin suddenly spun and kicked Kail square in the side of the head.

* * *

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	21. Mourning and Crystal Feelings

**-- Chapter 21: Mourning and Crystal Feelings --**

* * *

Mia and Torne raced down the path way to the hut that had set off the fire alarm in the computer system. She knelt in a passage off to the side and gestured for Torne to join her as they crouched in the shadows watching for anyone to leave or enter the area.

They did not wait more than one minute before several figures stumbled out of the doorway, two hauling a fighting figure as well. He was resisting with effort, but obvious no match or at least not in the right condition to resist the tormentors. His muffled voice grunted and let a shriek loose in anger or frustration.

Mia jumped out of the darken passage before Torne could stop her. Swearing to himself as her roughspun cloak slid off his fingertips, he rushed after her, pulling out his lightsaber, even though he didn't have the Force.

It would still cut and hurt if he hit anything with it, and make him look the part of an opposing figure.

Mia leaped to the attack the two closest to her while, Torne turned to deal with the two other assassins, struggling with their hostage or companion, whoever he may be.

He swung his lightsaber up and to the left, cracking an arm and stabbing through the taller assassin's throat.

Torne grimaced in grim understanding that the wound was fatal, deftly spinning to kick the dagger one of the assassins had dropped and sliced the man's throat.

Not pausing at the horrible gurgle and spray of blood exploding from the dead man's throat, Torne turned and levelled his lightsaber at the remaining two figures.

"Surrender, if you want to live!" He called out as he faced the last two remaining assassins; Torne couldn't see where or how Mia was doing in the darkness, he only hoped that there was no one else left.

Mia slinked out right up behind the assassin who had grabbed the other weakly struggling man and holding up a long wicked looking dagger.

"_A bor shenarive! Nevaris de coope le meeth… Shui nora u chany!"_

The man cried out and Torne shook his head, how he wished Alison or her sister and mother where here right now. They might be able to piece out what this man was saying, but his intent was clear enough.

Either he killed whoever was his hostage or let him go…

* * *

Torne brought up the lightsaber again to try and intimidate the man, when suddenly he sagged and blood dribbled out of his mouth, shock registering in the yellow eyes as he fell forward.

Mia looked at Torne who nudged the killed assassin, "if there's more like him, the alarm needs to be sounded."

Mia nodded and looked back to the hut, "the others are fine now. I pulled them to safety. I'll get help and we can take them back to Alison's hut. It's more protected than here."

Torne shook his head, "no… not if Alison's secret is to be kept a secret, Mia… Take them to my hut and we'll be better off there. Kail won't be able fight-"

"Padme is dead, Torne." Mia interrupted abruptly, staring into his eyes. "Knife wound to the back, pierced the heart directly. She bled to death."

Torne took in a deep breath and shuddered, _"thank the Force; it wasn't you…"_ he thought but pulled Mia into his arms and crushed her to his chest instead. "Damn." He whispered, "Damn."

Mia kissed his cheek and then hoisted the rest of the boys onto a sled that she had uncovered earlier. Torne picked up Padme's body in his arms and looked the pale face; at least Padme had found peace now.

He hoped that she had for her sake.

* * *

Rick woke up in the darkness as a cool cloth was placed over his eyes. He grabbed at the hand instinctively as another smoothed back his hair. "It's good that you are awake now, how do you feel?"

Rick frowned as the hazy memories jumped around in his mind at hyper-speed and then everything came back to him.

"I… I'm fine now." He paused, "I think…"

The voice spoke again, relief in it. "What do you remember?"

"Padme…" Rick's voice turned hoarse as he sat up, "she was hurt."

"Yes, Padme was hurt. How badly was she hurt?"

"You saw her wounds, why don't you tell me."

"No," Rick swallowed as a tear slid from his eye and down his face, "that'd mean that I would have to admit that she is…"

The voice spoke again, "that what? I won't know until you tell me, young Ordo."

Rick drew in a shuddering breath, "that she is dead. Are you happy now!"

"No, we still have a war to fight." The woman stood up and left him, "you and your friends… should they wake up are to stay here no matter what you hear or may feel."

Rick was about to move when he saw Kail and Kevin the room with him on the beds, Kail deathly pale and Kevin looking slightly better.

* * *

Rain was restless as she tried to sleep so she gave up and left her hut. Strange that she hadn't seen Padme recently, but Rain figured going to find the wayward zabrak, half mandalorian would only result in interrupting Kail and Padme in an embarrassing moment.

She started to get out of her bed, but her sleep-fogged brain did not register that she was sleeping in a hammock and this resulted in landing on the dirt floor of the ground.

She spat out dirt from her mouth and listened to the night around her, and watched as the orange glow of light played over her hut wall…

"_Wait… there shouldn't be an orange glow…" _Rain thought, as she scrambled over to the hut door and threw it wide open. Yells and screams as torches carried by people were to be seen.

The lights, screams, and flashes of light caught on metal clicked in Rain's mind as one. War, they were fighting a battle in the village. "Kinraar!" Rain shouted grabbing her weapons and cutting the wookiee's hammock with a swipe of her vibrodagger.

"_You better have a good reason for doing that, little one." _Kinraar growled as she glared up at Rain who tossed her weapons onto Kinraar's chest and pointed out of the door, "fighting, we've got to help."

Kinraar didn't argue as the two girls raced out the door into the thick of battle. They were needed, whether the village wanted their help or not.

They where Jedi…

* * *

Alison lay awake in her hut, listening to the screams of men, women, and the youths as they fought, fell wounded or died. She clenched her fists in annoyance, staring up at the ceiling of he darkened hut. Mia had threatened to tie her to the bed and bolt the door.

Mia had done both that, except she had left two blaster pistols, one blaster rifle, and a long-sword in case their 'guest' woke up and proved violent or harmful to her.

Alison heard the patter of feet and some grunts before the door to her hut slammed opened and Torne stumbled through backwards, blood running down the side of his face in a jagged cut.

Alison pulled up the blaster pistol and blasted a hole through his assailant's face. Torne slammed up against the wall and relaxed briefly, glancing at Alison and their 'guest.'

"I see Mia made good on her threat," he told her, grinning as he wiped the blood off his forehead in vain.

"Shut up and give me access to the computer grid. I saw the gun turrets on the way in here, I can reprogram to fire on the enemy."

Torne blanched, "no way, you could hit the villagers or us! I'm not going to do-"

"What do you suggest?" Alison retorted in annoyance, "The war won't stop until we show the people that their knowledge of the Force is wrong. We can't even frigging use it on this planet!"

Torne glanced at her and sighed, giving into her fierce determination; "all right then. But be careful, I'll guard the door and our 'guest.' Good luck."

"Okay," Alison nodded as she typed cryptic codes into the datapad that Torne had tossed her, hooked into Mia's computer terminal, linking to the entire computer database.

* * *

Mia looked up as she crashed into Rain and shouted above the roar of battle, "Have you seen your brother? We got separated in the fight!"

Rain pulled Mia up, "not to long ago. He got pushed into a hut and then stayed there. I'm assuming he's okay, I saw his assaulter killed by a blaster shot."

Suddenly the turrets on the village wall whirled to life as they fired, bursts of plasma and blaster fire shot through the night, blasting away weapons from the Garcia and killing a few in the process.

Ten minutes later an amplified voice echoed over the PA system.

"Attention! Everyone will throw down their weapons and surrender to the Villagers. The leader of the Garcia will report to the flag area, where Mia and Victor to negotiate the release situation with the Leader of the Garcia."

An impressive display of holographic images of snipers around the village encampment dispelled any thought of rebelling.

* * *

Rick rolled over. Whatever he'd been dreaming, it hadn't been pleasant. After a moment of thought, he remembered what it had been: Kail, bowing down before someone or great power: a Force witch; Rick remember she'd been called that.

Only after remembering that did he realize Kail was not laying down, though there was a few spots of blood every here and there, which was obviously a trail the Echani boy had left. Rick tried to stand; if Kail had gone out in search of Padme…well, he could let him find her in the condition he was in.

But he was obviously not fully recovered from the gas grenade (how Kail had managed to move was beyond him), and could not move without falling over. This happened twice before he decided to get back into the bed. Which was when a thought occurred to him: he remembered once he'd seen the Lady Revan use some sort of Force technique to move part of herself away from her body. Maybe…

He closed his eyes, focusing on…on what? He focused on himself, tried to picture two of himself. Then he tried focusing on Kail, then focusing on the Force itself.

Nothing.

"Damnit, Kail!" He shouted, punching the bedside table. His body jerked as his thoughts drifts between Kail and Padme, and he fell into a comatose state.

Kail staggered through the battleground that had used to be the village compound. Everyone was so busy fighting they didn't seem to notice one lone teenager staggering through the battlefield. He wouldn't have cared if either side had noticed he was unarmed. Right then nothing mattered to him.

He made it to his destination: the Morgue. He weakly pushed the door open, where he found dozens of dead soldiers. But he wasn't looking for a soldier; he was looking for a girl.

And he found her. Her clothes had been cleaned, as had her wounds. It didn't matter to Kail, she was dead, and that meant wounds no longer bothered her.

He spun around suddenly, his Echani sense picking up another life form behind him. At first there was only a faint glow, and then the glow expanded till it became Rick.

"How…?"

"Something Revan taught me." Rick examined himself. Everything was the same, except his skin was deathly pale, and his eyes were not quite as coloured.

"Revan 'taught you'?" Kail asked. "I thought we weren't able to use the Force here?"

"Maybe this particular power isn't a Force power." Rick suggested. "Like your Echani sense, it isn't humanly possible, and yet you can do it here without the Force."

"Sensing is one thing, projecting yourself away of your body is another thing entirely." Kail snapped. Rick held his hands in defence. Kail murmured an apology, and then turned back to Padme's body. "Why did they do it, Rick…?" He asked. "Why did _they_ have to come after _us_?"

Rick had no answer.

There wasn't any.

* * *

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	22. In the Wake of the Force

**.:In the Wake of the Force:. **

In the great hall, there was a celebration. The village of Myrkr had won a great victory against the Garcia that day. Everyone was drinking and laughing and showing off for the women.

Well, almost everyone. Kail slipped out not long after Victor's speech. He wandered around the village for some time; it was freezing outside, and he was only wearing a short-sleeved tunic (what he'd worn earlier that day), but he kept wandering. Eventually he found himself near the prison where most of the Garcia that had been captured were being held.

He trudged inside; the guards didn't say anything as he walked in. At first he wondered why, and then he saw.

"Hey!" He shouted. One of the guards was holding a woman down while the other tried to…

Kail couldn't bear to think about it, and he refused to let it happen. For the first time in six hours he felt more then plain grief; he felt burning, utter rage. His vibroblade was out of its scabbard, and before he knew what he was doing, he threw himself at the first guard, the sword going through his back and, judging by the woman's scream, through his chest and almost stabbing her.

Kail reacted with split second timing when another came at him from behind. He swung his sword over his shoulder while kicking the guard in front of him in the groin. Both guards went down, and Kail stabbed his vibroblade through the last guards' chest.

He was finally able to get a good look at the woman in front of him. She had red-brown curls that reached just-past her shoulders, a round face with fair skin, and bright green eyes like emeralds. She glared at him hatefully, obviously not caring he'd just saved her from being assaulted.

"_Vis shar diarè!_" She snapped. Kail took a step back, and she stood, also taking a step back. The moonlight caught her face, and Kail saw she couldn't have been more then seventeen at the most. That made him all the more disgusted with the men he'd just killed. "_Vis shar diarè, sorta lae fiyal!_"

She pointed toward the cages. Kail looked at them for the first time; they were all filled with young woman or girls no older sixteen. Kail's eyes widened in horror when he realized why.

He took a step toward her, and she backed away again. Sighing, Kail thought for a moment on how to show her he meant no harm. Before he could come to any conclusion, he heard voices from outside.

"Where the hell are they?" One said.

"Probably having some fun inside." Said another.

"Well, we can't let them spoil all of them." A third said. Kail spun around, pulling a vibrodagger from his belt. He raised the dagger, aimed and threw in one fluid motion. At the same time, a second dagger flew past him. Both hit the first of the men to enter the prison, on in the abdomen, the other in the throat.

"_Al'tari so krei!_" The girl cried. She rushed past Kail, pulling both daggers from the dead body. Three feet from the second guard, she leapt forward, driving both vibrodaggers through his chest.

"Lookout!" Kail shouted. But she couldn't understand him, and was hit hard across the face by the third guard, who was at least three feet taller then Kail, and she fell unconscious at his feet.

Kail snarled at the man, who returned the look with even more ferocity, unsheathing a vibrosword from a scabbard on his belt. Kail raised his vibroblade, and struck at the mans' sword, changing direction at the last minute to strike at his chest. The man was obviously a better swordsman then the ones before him, and the fight continued for five minutes.

It ended with the vibrosword cutting an inch in Kail's side, and then going through his abdomen. Earlier that day, Kail would have been both terrified and stunned. Now all he thought of was being with Padme again.

Rick noticed his friend putting down his drink after Victor's speech, and walking out of the building. He moved to go after him, but Alison put a hand on his shoulder. "He needs time." She whispered. No one would've heard her if she'd shouted. They were either too drunk to hear, or they just didn't hear over the exited speech going all through the Great Hall.

Sighing Rick nodded. He couldn't imagine what Kail was going through. The Echani boy was had fallen in love with Padme, and then she had been ripped from his life, killed by a Garcia assassin.

Rick took another gulp of Telosian brandy from his goblet, and gazed at Alison lovingly. "So, have you found what it was you needed to come here for?" He asked. She shook her head.

"Not yet." She said. "But I keep getting the feeling it's nearby. Especially during the battle, something called to me."

"Perhaps the defeat of the Garcia?" Rick suggested.

"Aren't they already?"

Rick shook his head. "They lost a battle today. The Garcia general was captured, but the leader was still back at their camp." He said.

"How do you know that?" Alison asked, taking a sip of her Tarisian ale.

"I over heard Mia telling Torne." Rick answered. "The leader is actually a woman, and she helps the Garcia in battle from their own village." He lowered his voice. "The Garcia leader uses Battle Meditation."

Alison choked on her drink, coughing for a few moments. When she stopped, she turned a shocked gaze back to Rick. "What do you mean? Battle Meditation is a Force power!"

"I know that, but you weren't in the battle. If you hadn't gotten those turrets working, we would have lost." Rick said. "Even without the Force, I could feel the symptoms of Battle Meditation used against me, and when Mia said that the Garcia Empress uses magic to turn the tide of battle…it's just too much of a coincidence to be anything but Battle Meditation, and that means the Garcia have learned away around the Ysalamiri."

Alison gave her boyfriend a weary look. Even without he Force, she could always tell if he was lying or not, and there was no hint of a lie in his eyes. "If that's the case, we are going to be at a serious disadvantage tomorrow."

"What do you-?" Rick never finished his sentence; two young boys suddenly ran into the Great Hall, heading straight for Victor. One of them whispered in his ear, and a look of half-horror half-rage appeared on his face.

"The Garcia, they are escaping!" He shouted. "To the prison!"

"…heris vei lerial!"

Voices', speaking a language Kail wasn't familiar with.

"Shaido lae so jii tih!"

Kail sat bolt-upright, throwing his hands forward out of habit. To his utter disbelief, both the Garcia women were thrown off their feet and across the room.

"Well, you were certainly right about his power." The older of the two women said, in Galactic Basic! As if reading his thoughts, the woman gave him a leveled look. "What, you thought we were incapable of speaking the Outsider language simply because the rest of the Myrkr folk are limited to one language?"

Kail opened his mouth to answer, then snapped it shut again, glaring at the woman, who had to be in her late seventies. And yet she crossed the room so fast and with such grace as if she was no older then his mother.

"Well, boy? Speak!" She snapped. The other woman, and Kail realized once again that she was not a woman, but the same girl he'd helped back in the village prison, stepped forward.

"I brought him here, he is my _siya'toh_!" She said. She did not falter under the older woman's acid glare. "You will leave my quarters now!"

The older woman eyed the girl for a moment, then her face softened. "You always were stubborn. Like your mother." She walked toward the door, but turned before leaving. "Do not be too long with him. The Gathering begins in less then an hour."

With that, she left the room, leaving Kail alone with the girl.

After a few moments of silence, the girl walked over to a water basin on one of the walls and filled a glass with water. She walked over to Kail and sat on the bed, handing him the cup.

"Drink." She said. He eyed the cup suspiciously. From what he'd heard from Victor, the Garcia, were very sly and good at killing. Then again, this was the same girl he'd saved from Victor's men. The Garcia may have been the ones that attacked, but Victor's men seemed to be the savages he made the Garcia out to be.

"Drink!" She said again. Kail obeyed this time, drinking until the cup was empty, and then handing it back to the girl. He made a move to sit up, and then froze.

"I'm not wearing anything…" He said. The girl didn't seem to find this a shock, although when she found that he was uncomfortable, she did the last thing Kail expected; she stripped of her own clothes.

She saw the shocked look he gave her and returned a look of misunderstanding. "You were uncomfortable showing your body to me, so I showed my body to you." She said.

Kail, who had not been interested in seeing another woman's naked body for the rest of his lifetime, was absolutely stunned, and found himself looking at the girl in somewhat overwhelming detail.

"Well, you need to get up some time." She insisted. Kail gave her a nervous look, and she returned it with a curious look. Sighing, he crawled out of the bed.

"Where do I find some clothes that will fit me?"

"Over by the door." She said.

Kail nodded, and walked over and grabbed the clothes. They were not his; his were probably rags by now, considering how many cuts and the two large wounds he'd received from that vibrosword. He suddenly realized there was not a single trace of any wound on his body.

"How…?"

"…did you heal so fast? You didn't, Mistress Karan healed you with Spirit magic." The girl answered.

"Spirit magic?" Kail asked. The girl nodded, she looked over at her clothes.

"_Hei shar mirendè._" She said, and her discarded clothes floated over to her and slipped back over her body. Kail had felt a flow of the Force when she'd done that, the chant was obviously her way of touching it. "You are a powerful Spirit Master, you used it when you first woke up."

Kail nodded, understanding. "So, how many of the Garcia-?" The girl hissed. "I'm sorry, that's probably what the villagers call you. What should I call your people? What should I call you for that matter?"

"We are the Shardin, and I am Hannah of the Far Shadow clan, also of the War Priestess Temple." The girl answered. "I aid the Lady Tyu'landra in the art of Spirit calling, the ability…"

"…to turn the tides of battle?" Kail asked. "My friend's mother also has that power, though it's very rare among the Jedi. It's called Battle Meditation where I come from."

"Jedi, is that your clan?" Hannah asked. "Or your Stronghold?"

"Er…" Before Kail could answer, the sound of a gong being struck echoed through the building they were in.

"Forgive, I must leave you for a time." Hannah said. "As my _siya'toh_, you are restricted to my quarters unless in the company of myself, or any of my Clan Sisters. Do you understand…?"

"Kail."

"Do you understand, Kail?"

"Yes." Kail said meekly. "I understand."

Hannah nodded as if satisfied. "I will return within a few hours. Then we shall talk more of you and your clan, and of your power."

"…and so tomorrow, we shall burn the Garcia village to the ground, and rescue those taken prisoner by the savages." Victor said, and the audience cheered.

Everyone except Rick and Alison, and the rest of the crew; who only cheered half-heartedly… So far they had lost two friends to this good-for-nothing war, and they were not as willing to throw away more lives for it. Nevertheless, they would have to take part in it if they wanted to save Kail. It didn't mean they had to like it though.

"Come on, I need to see if the blacksmith's finished my armor." Rick said, taking Alison's hand. The two of them slipped out the back way, followed by the rest of the crew.

Once outside, they split up, Rick, Torne and Kinraar heading toward the blacksmith (why nobody on this planet had armour custom made by droids was beyond them), while the rest headed in the direction of Alison's private hut.

It only cost a few credits for the armour to be remodeled, even though the job done on it was spectacular, and it was made so that Rick could use the Force while wearing it.

It still resembled Mandalorian armour, but now it was a mixture of turquoise and silver, instead of purple, and the helmet had been remodeled to resemble Mandalore's helmet. Rick smiled as he donned the armour back at the hut, as Alison pulled on her black robes.

"So tell me, why were you kept out of the last battle and not this one?" Rick said; his voice extremely different now that it was filtered through the helmet.

"Simple." Alison said, putting the war mask on. "I promised to stay out of the more dangerous fighting. Of course, by the time that starts, no one will be looking out for me so I'll just have to get involved." Rick was sure she had a smirk underneath her mask.

But the battle didn't begin until the following day, so the two stripped away their armour, and the crew separated to their respective huts.

For five hours after Hannah returned from 'the Gathering', whatever that was, Hannah and Kail discussed the different aspects of the Force/Spirit magic.

Hannah told Kail that the Ysalamiri created a bubble of Force Suppression around themselves; and that some kind of barrier had been set up around the temple to protect them from it, so that they could continue using the Spirit magic.

They discussed the different names certain Force power's had, such as Force Stasis being called Spirit Paralysis.

And they compared each other's strength; just chanting, Hannah was almost as strong as Kail. When he tried to teach her to use the Force without chants, he was sure her midichlorian count tripled and she almost sent of him through the wall.

After that, Hannah began teaching Kail a Force power long forgotten by Jedi and Shardin alike; the ability to walk in dreams. Which technically, Rick and Revan had both gotten halfway to by projecting part of themselves away from their body.

That was the first thing Hannah taught him, and he mastered the ability, at least over short distances, after just an hour of practice.

"You're doing really well, Kail of the Clan Raner." Hannah complimented. "But the time is late, too late to begin teaching you to walk in dreams, though I am sure you will grasp that just as-" As she touched Kail's arm lightly, he was gripped by a vision.

…_Hannah ran through the temple, fur cloak falling from her as she ran. Behind her, blaster fire rained down upon the guards of the Battle Priestess Temple. She froze as a figure walked around the corner, a vibrosword in his hand. Hannah backed away, but wasn't fast enough to dodge the sword being driven through her…_

With the sharp intake of breath, Kail was free of the vision.

"What? What is wrong!" Hannah demanded.

"I…I get visions sometimes." Kail said. He turned to look at his new friend. "I saw you die." He whispered. Hannah's eyes widened.

"What?" She asked. "Where did it happen?"

"I'm not sure." Kail said. "It was some kind of stone corridor."

"That sounds like the War Priestess Temple." Hannah got up off the bed and headed toward the door. "Come with me, we're going to tell Mistress Karan what you saw."

Before Kail could object, Hannah took his hand and pulled him from the bed (Kail was unsure how she'd become so strong) and all-but dragged him out of her quarters.

"These corridors…" Kail said. "This is where you were killed."

Hannah stopped so suddenly Kail almost went straight past her. "Here, in this hall?"

"Not this one specifically, but these corridors."

Hannah nodded, and then began pulling him again, until they reached the center of the Temple, a room filled with hundreds of lit candles, filling it with light. In the center were six women, all wearing flowing white-silk robes.

Hannah quickly explained what had happened (minus the lesson's they'd been giving each other), and each War Priestess (apparently, Hannah wasn't a full Priestess, and that was why she'd been in the battle instead of using her Battle Meditation) took a place in a circle around Kail. His body jerked; he'd never had a vision forced upon him like they were doing.

…_Hannah ran through the temple, fur cloak falling from her shoulders as she ran. Behind her, blaster fire rained down upon the guards of the Battle Priestess Temple. She froze as a figure walked around the corner, a vibrosword in his hand. Hannah backed away, but wasn't fast enough to dodge the sword being driven through her…_

Flash!

_…Mistress Karan swung her quarterstaff in a flurry of attacks, fending off the first of the attackers. Behind her, the remaining five War Priestess's surrounded the Lady Tyu'landra as she joined her Battle Meditation to the battle…_

Flash!

_…Rick ignited his lightsaber, stepping toward the young woman before him. She spun her short sword, mocking him. Behind her, two Garcia Handmaidens readied their quarterstaffs for battle…_

Flash!

_…Victor raised his sword, and shouting a war cry, and the villagers rushed forward toward the Shardin village, and the War Priestess Temple. From the top of the Temple, Kail and Hannah could see their approach. They had come out of no where, leaving no time for the Shardin to send messengers to other Stronghold to call for aid…_

Kail gasped for air as the visions ended. He was on his hands and knees, shaking from head to foot, unable to move. Around him, the War Priestess's sighed as they stepped away from him.

They too had exhausted their power forcing the visions out of him, and if the visions were true, it was the last thing they should have done – Victor would attack them, and they had no power to stop him.

Hannah laid Kail on the bed. "With any luck, a night of sleep will get your strength back." She said. She helped him get changed out of borrowed clothes, and into some sleeping garments, then set up a makeshift bed on the floor, draping her cloak over her. Kail went out like a lightsaber, and Hannah was not far behind him.

The following morning, Kail and Hannah were up early. The sleep had indeed helped him regain his strength, as it had the War Priestess's, who were gathering in the center of the Temple with the Lady Tyu'landra, who was preparing to use her Battle Meditation to help them in the battle against the villagers. Kail and Hannah would watch from the top of the Temple for the villagers.

Rick and Alison stood together in the undergrowth.

"Tell me again how we got roped into leading this small force into the Temple?" Alison whispered so only Rick could hear.

"We didn't." Rick said. "We woke up, and suddenly we were leading them. I'm actually not sure why or how it happened." He unsheathed his sword, and Alison swung her double-sword.

"Oh…" Alison ducked as one of the guards passed by. As soon as he was out of sight, they led their small invasion force up to the wall of the temple, and began climbing the ladder hanging from an escape window.

Once there, they split into two groups, Alison leading one, Rick leading the other; neither were very happy and neither would be there if Kail wasn't somewhere in the Temple.

Victor raised his sword, shouting a war cry, and the villagers rushed forward toward the Shardin village, and the War Priestess Temple. From the top of the Temple, Kail and Hannah could see their approach.

They came exactly as expected, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. Hannah cupped her hands to her mouth and let loose a war cry of her own. "_Elesto vae Syaron!_" A war cry that called for the strength of Syaron – Hannah's grandfather.

"_Elesto vae Yusanis!_" Kail echoed her cry, except with his own grandfather's name. It was also the signal that the villagers had arrived, the entire Temple would now be on alert. There job done, Kail and Hannah both darted down the stairs.

Kail had realized the night before that, since he could once again touch the Force, he could now use a lightsaber again. During the five hours of talking, Hannah had given him everything he'd needed to construct a new lightsaber.

In the end, he'd tapped into the Force further then he ever had before the manipulated a piece of metal into the perfect cylinder about thirty centimeters long, complete with the emitter matrix, power cell, two power crystals, a viridian crystal, and a focusing lens. The blade and hilt were both perfect and he now had it in his hand ready to use.

And not five minutes after they'd started for the middle of the Temple, they'd been ambushed by six villagers, all of them carrying blasters. Kail's lightsaber deflected the bolts until they got up close, then Kail knocked them all over with a wave of Force energy, stunning them.

"Come on, the less we kill, means the more we will have when Victor's crimes are revealed." Kail said. Hannah nodded, and they rushed past the villagers before the effects of the Force wave wore off. They reached the center of the Temple just in time to help Karan fend off the some villagers. That was, until Kail realized who was leading them.

"Rick!" Kail called. Kail waved a hand and separated his friend from one of the Shardin Handmaidens who were protecting the Lady Tyu'landra. Rick looked shocked to see his friend.

After a quick explanation, and after Kail told Rick everything he'd learned about Victor from Hannah, not to mention what his men had been doing when Kail had been captured, Rick agreed to help find Victor to stop anymore needless killing.

"Well, I changed the direction of two visions." Kail said to Hannah as they left the center room. "Now, as long as I stay with you, and we avoid raining blaster fire, I can keep you alive." No sooner had he said that then about a dozen blaster wielding villagers rushed came at them from behind.

Kail spun, deflecting blaster fire while Hannah began chanting. Each and every one of the villagers was placed in stasis.

"Not bad, for a Garica girl." Kail and Hannah spun around. Victor stood in front of them, and he was carrying – a lightsaber!

"Where did-?"

"I get this?" Victor ignited the orange blade. "Your friend, the boy wearing the Mandalorian armour, had it. He'll have a bit of a headache if he's found in time. Can't say the same about his girlfriend or any of the ones following-…"

Kail had ignited his viridian lightsaber and charged at Victor. The man swung the stolen lightsaber, clumsily, but still managed to block Kail's attack; he'd obviously expected to be able to use the lightsaber like a sword.

Seeing he wouldn't get very far with the lightsaber, he blocked Kail's second attack, and punched him in the side of the face. Kail staggered back, and didn't have enough chance to react before Victor threw a flash grenade that exploded in his face.

Up until that moment, Hannah had been somewhat reluctant to use to Force to its fullest, without chanting, after seeing what she'd done when Kail had taught her to do it. Seeing Kail fumble around blindly for his lightsaber destroyed any such reluctance.

"Big mistake, swine!" She hissed menacingly. She held her arms out beside her, focusing completely on Victor, and thrust her arms forward as if pushing something.

Sensing the power, Kail ducked, and rolled to the side, out of the way of the pulse of energy. Victor had no such warning, and was lifted off his feet and thrown backwards half a dozen meters and crashing from one of the walls.

Hannah rushed to Kail's side. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine. But we need to find Alison and Rick." He closed his eyes suddenly, his need to find his two friend taking over. He unintentionally used the power Hannah had been teaching him the following night.

Kail appeared beside Rick. His friend had a nasty head wound and a blaster shot wound in his shoulder. Alison was lying not far away from him, a blaster wound in the chest.

The way he was, he couldn't heal them, so he memorized the place they were, and returned to his body.

When he got back, he described the place he'd been at.

"That's not far from my quarters." Hannah said. "Can you see okay?"

"Yeah, now hurry up, we need to get to them." He said. Hannah helped him to his feet, and they sprinted down the hall in search of Rick and Alison.

Several hours later, night had fallen, the villagers remaining loyal to Victor had fallen back, and both Rick and Alison had been healed by the War Priestess's.

Victor had admitted to every crime he was accused of, after half an hour with the War Priestess's, and the remaining villagers and Shardin had signed a peace treaty, becoming allies.

But it would not be long before they left. Kail looked across the room at Hannah, who was having a drinking competition with Torne and Hector.

Hannah, who it seemed had drunk a lot in her life, was only just becoming affected by the alcohol, where as Torne had been acting drunk for a while and Hector had already passed out.

Kail sighed, unsure what he was feeling at that moment. Unsure if he was just redirecting his feeling for Padme toward Hannah, or something else. Well, it didn't matter. Tomorrow, they'd be leaving, and he'd never see her again.

For that reason, he retired to his quarters early.


	23. Giving into Temptation

.:Giving in to Temptation:.

Alison walked down through the jungle path as she strayed away from the village and its celebration. She felt sick to her stomach and the celebrations weren't helping any. Save the people, destroy a village… have their leader on trial to be hung.

No, Alison wanted no part of this. She wasn't a killer, and she didn't fight wars for others. She was a Jedi not a mercenary!

"Alison?"

That was Rain, Alison reflected as she withdrew further back into the shadows. Confronting Rain wasn't going to be easy or good at this time, especially not now.

"Alison, if you're here come out please. I need to talk to you."

Alison shook her head sourly; everyone needed to talk to her about this and that. Mow she could see why Revan had left on 'vacations' so much, if nothing more than to just escape.

The thought of her mother brought tears to her eyes as Rain left in a downtrodden silence. She missed her mother and father, but going back wasn't the option right now. She was going to have a child, she couldn't afford complications.

Alison turned silently and walked towards the Shardin Temple. There she could feel the Force, there she could find her answer on this Force blinded planet.

Rick looked for Alison, but he couldn't find her anywhere at the party. He grounded his teeth together, why did she have so good at slipping off when she didn't want to be found?

He sighed as a clawed leg started to climb up his and looked at the hissing caat. "All right" he spat out, "I'm guessing you know where she is, take me to her and I'll give you the last bit herring, I have."

He took the fish off his plate and gave it to the caat who purred as she bit into the delicate fish and started to eat it with relish. Rick groaned as he slumped down onto a chair, he couldn't believe he was making deals with a _caat _to find his wayward girlfriend.

"_Does it have to hurt this much?"_

A woman's voice floated on the wind as Alison struggled to move a tree branch aside, "is someone there?" Alison called out but received no reply back._ "Shush, little one, soon all will be fine. …I hope."_

Alison scrambled into the corridor and looked down onto the floor, into a glistening trail of blood. She swallowed and looked up the corridor, the trail continued into the darker room.

She gathered her robes around her and gripped the comforting weight of her lightsaber on her belt and started forward. The sooner she found this child and its mother, the better.

…For both all of them.

_Alison walked into the room, as the woman looked up, but there was no fear on her face. "Are you going to kill me, now?" The mother asked coldly, struggling to sit up._

"_No." Alison shook her head, "I would never do that."_

_Alyssa Krast shook her head weakly, "you would if you knew my name, my legacy."_

_Alison nodded as another spirit detach itself from the wall, "I have entered a place where only the chosen few can go back in time. You are a Sith Lord, one of the seven, Alyssa Krast. This is where you gave birth to your son, and you died in childbirth, not fighting as the texts would have us believe."_

"_So, we are fated to meet again." Another voice revealed Kari Xarrio, as the shadows parted. "1 wondered where you had fled to, now I realize why."_

_Alyssa nodded, "so will you do the deed and end my life now?"_

_Kari shook her head and then suddenly Alison realized something; her sister wasn't insubstantial. She was solid!_

"_Kari… you didn't lose your body in an accident…" Alison whispered as she watched her sister kneel besides the Sith Lady who was gasping for air now as contractions hit her._

"_You won't live through the child's birth, Alyssa. You'll need my help." Kari looked down into the pain glazed eyes of the Sith Lady who shook her head and attempted a smirk which was lost to another contraction._

"_You do something for me, without asking anything in return? Yeah right, when hell freezes over."_

_Kari smiled feral and grinned, "No I do want something from you. And you will give me the knowledge of it if you want you and your child assured living through the pregnancy."_

_Kari leaned over and whispered her request into Alyssa's ear, who listened and pulled back when Kari was done. "You would do that, for that knowledge? Does either of our parents know of this?"_

"_Since when has our parent wishes mattered to either of us? Besides, we mortal enemies are going to forever be fighting. One you're dead and your child is no longer an issue to stop you, then we can continue our feud."_

_Alyssa nodded, "I much prefer the sound of that, than your brother's child being a problematic issue. Shadow's child belongs to me as much as to him."_

_Alyssa waved her hand and a glowing blue light transferred over to Kari who glowed for a moment, before Kari, glowed orange as her body turned more and more insubstantial._

_Alison gasped as she watched Kari's body dissolved and turn translucent. There was not much more to see after that, than Alyssa give birth and Kari help the woman for a time._

_How long her sister had stayed there, Alison had no idea. It must have been some days and then Kari left, leaving Krast to her own developments but not before warning Alyssa that they would fight again._

The vision/time traveling ended, leaving Alison weak and feeling tired, she glanced down her stomach. No, she would be some time before her daughter and son where born.

Alison pulled out her comlink, "HK," she spoke quietly, "I want you to _detain_ Victor and have JAINA prep the Hawk for departure, get everyone herded onto the Hawk. I will be there shortly."

"Grievous statement: Perhaps you would allow me to kill mek-bag Victor?"

Alison nodded to herself as she walked back to the village quickly, _shimmering _through the Temple walls. "After I am done, yes…"

Rain stilled in disbelief at JAINA and H-49K's blasters levelled at them with threatening statements.

"We're supposed to trust you?"

Kail shook his head, "try me. I'm not leaving this place, and you can't make-" H-49K fired a stun bolt from behind into Kail who crumpled to the ground without a sound. "Annoying explanation: That was a warning statement, now pick up refusing meat-bag and enter the Hawk."

Rick clenched his teeth as Shayera clawed him, "we'd better go or this stupid _pet _is going to kill me as well." He glanced at JAINA, "aren't you supposed to obey me, and no one else?"

JAINA would have sniffed if she could have, instead her eyes glowed like she was glowering at him, "Gleeful remark: You never made any effort to become my Master, therefore, Mistress Alison is and only Master. Now enter the Hawk."

Soon all the Jedi where aboard, including Mia and Torne as well, who had been busy with each other, blankets and cloaks hastily pulled on.

Alison entered the hut, where HK-47 was _detaining _Victor and smiled at the man.

"We're going to talk."

That was the last civilized conversation made to Victor."

Soon his screams where heard in the village, but not on the Hawk. Before he died, Alison craved her death rose into his chest to let it be known that it was her who had killed him and no one else.

She also craved into the wall, that the Shardin and the Village where to come to terms and end their war.

She left, HK-47 following her happily as she boarded the Hawk and shut herself within the communications room.

Alison had found what she wanted finally. The crystal that had hung on Victor's chest…

The bloodstone crystal of Alyssa Krast...

Kail groaned. "If that H-4 Unit is anywhere near me I'll turn it into scrap!" He snapped as he sensed a vague presence nearby. Only droids had such weak presence in the Force, unless the person knew how to…

"You thought I was droid?" Hannah asked kneeling beside his bed. "I'm hurt." She said in mock-sadness. "I'm also ecstatic because I put a Force cloak around me to hide my presence. And you only just sensed me!"

"Hannah?" Kail groaned as he sat up. He wasn't sure how he would've scrapped the droid, but he intended to work it out and do so. "How did you get onboard the ship?"

"That nice boy, what's his name? Keep looking puppy eyes and Mia?"

"Torne?" Kail exclaimed. "Are you kidding me, he hasn't helped anyone in ages, let alone a complete stranger."

"Well, whether your two friends like it or not, I'll be staying here." Hannah said. "Actually, I'll be staying right here until we're in hyperspace. They can't turn around in hyperspace." She grinned.

"We're not in hyperspace yet?" Kail asked.

"No, we only left Myrkr a few hours ago, and went straight into an asteroid field. Alison's busy manoeuvring us through it at the moment." Hannah answered. "Now, until the stun beam has worn off, you need to-"

"I'm coming in, get decent, or get under the blankets!" Rain said. Hannah ducked behind Kail, hiding so that you'd have to be on top of her to see her. Kail pulled the blankets up further.

"Come in." Kail said, after Rain had opened the door.

"Rick needs you in the Cargo Hold."

"'How am I?' Oh, I'm fine; the stun beams only caused _my entire body to go numb_!" Kail snapped, standing. He heard a faint chuckle, almost too quiet to hear. "Get out while I get dress. Only one person gets to see me with no clothes on other then my mother."

Rain nodded and left, waiting outside the door. Hannah stood, and Kail point to the small room leading off of the Port Dormitories. The one dubbed 'the War Zone'. Hannah nodded, and crept into it. She tossed some clothes out to Kail, and he left the dormitory.

When he reached the Cargo Hold, he found Rick, Kevin, Kinraar and-

"Die droid!" He fired a bolt of minor electricity from his hand. It would temporarily fry the H-49K's circuit. "That's what happens to droids who shoot me from behind." He said. "And anyone else." He turned to Rick. "Now, what did you want?"

"Well, I was hoping to get H-49K to apologize for shooting you, but I suppose that's out of the question." Rick said. "Why did he shoot you?"

"He was acting on the orders of whoever it was who wanted to leave that very second." Kail snapped. Rick was shocked at his friend's snappish manner lately, but Kail didn't seem to notice or care. "Now, if that's all, I've got some business to attend to." He turned and left before Rick could answer.

"I sympathize with him; he did just lose his girlfriend." Rick said. "But he's acting like everyone's his enemy."

"He's worse then Torne was." Rain agreed. "Perhaps it'd be best not to let him near Alison or the droids for a while." She said. Rick nodded in agreement.

Whatever was up with Kail, Rick wanted to find out before they reached their next destination, which would be as soon within a week, if they ever got out of the asteroid field.

"Come on, I need help getting this piece of junk to Kinraar to fix." Rick said.

"'Piece of junk?'" Rain repeated.

"Sorry, guess I'm not too fond of the droids right now myself." Rick said.

"Any reason why?"

"Could be my own droid's utter disrespect toward me." Rick said. "If my father was here, I'd get him to reprogram her back to a normal training droid. I liked her much better when she listened to me and respected me." He said.

"Maybe that's why she doesn't respect you." Rain said. "Because _you_ don't respect her."

"Maybe," Rick said. "I think maybe I could use some training. And it'd give me something to take my mind off of Kail." He and Rain hauled the disabled droid to Kinraar, and then sought out JAINA.

Rick started himself at level one of the droid's lightsaber combat training, and fought through all the way up to level nineteen without a problem, then to twenty-two with only a little difficulty. Then the training began to get more of a challenge.

"I don't know what happened." Kail said. "One minute I was following Rain into the Cargo Hold to talk with Rick, and the next minute I'm standing there watching an engraged teenager attack a droid and his best friend." He flopped back onto his bunk. "What's happening to me?"

"You lost a loved one." Hannah said soothingly. "Anger, resentment, grief, they're all natural, no matter how much the Jedi used to say they weren't."

She sat down beside Kail. "My mother used to tell me that the only thing that heals a broken heart is time. So time is what I'm going to get you." She stood.

"You're not leaving this room until we enter hyperspace!" Kail said, waving a hand absently at Hannah at putting all but her head in stasis. He sat up. "Whoa, I've never only half-stasised people before."

"Would you mind un-stasising me?" Hannah said.

"Oh, right." He waved his hand and freed her from the stasis. "Sorry, I don't know why I did that."

"I do." Hannah said. "You feel pain; you're hurt, you're angry. You're human." She said. Suddenly, everything that had happened since they'd left Dxun just caved in inside Kail. A dam broke and he was suddenly pouring his heart out to Hannah. She embraced him, wrapping her arms around him, comforting him.

Rick walked up to the door of the Port Dormitory, and ran right into it. He wasn't used to it staying closed when he approached, and he wasn't used to it staying closed when he tried to open it.

He went and got Torne, and between the two of them they forced the door open.

"Oh…" Rick stopped walking in when he saw Kail and Hannah in each other arms, fast asleep and without clothes. The first question that came to mind was: why were they asleep in the middle of the day. The second was:

"What the hell is she doing on the Ebon Hawk?" He said out loud. Hannah's eyes fluttered open as if she'd been awake the whole time.

"Oh…" She stammered.


	24. Conflict

**Chapter 24: Conflict

* * *

**

Alison was furious and drained. She watched as Rick and Torne forced the door open. She had been about to trip the door lock so they could just get in, when she saw another alarm go off and focused on that.

It was the health indicator. Alison had wired it to record everyone's current bio status into the computer, so they'd be able to be read as codes. Therefore when an unidentified code came up, Alison was not pleased.

"Computer, identify unknown code." Alison hissed sharply in the Ratakan language as she started at the numbers scrolling across the mini-screen.

"Processing." The mechanized voice replied and was silent for several minutes before the answer was shown.

_

* * *

Species: Human_

_Gender: Female_

_Height: 5'6_

_Home-world: Mykr_

_Class: Battle Priestess_

_Force Ability: Battle Meditation_

_Hair Colour: Red-brown_

_Eye Colour: Green_

* * *

"So she's a stowaway from Mykr." Alison drummed her fingers for a moment before she placed the girl's name.

"Hannah…" Alison looked thoughtfully at the face frozen on the screen and smiled dangerously before she pulled the bloodstone out.

"_Hannah…" _

Hannah jerked as her name was called, raising eyebrows in the room. Rick was berating Kail while Torne merely stood within the doorway. Rain was looking after the now silent girl who seemed shy within the presence of others.

"Hannah, what's the matter?" Rain asked, tilting the girl face up to look into hers.

Hannah shuddered, fear in her eyes as she stared back into Rain's face. "Someone's calling me… they're scaring me… I can't… it's like… death and darkness. I'm so alone…"

Tears fell down the girl's face as Rain rocked the girl back and forth in her arms. She sighed and shook her head.

"Torne, come here for a moment." Rain whispered something into her brother's ear, and he nodded, striding out quickly, calling for Mia as he made his way towards the cockpit.

Alison wasn't happy, Rain knew that; she only hoped Kail, Torne, and Mia had a good explanation.

_

* * *

"Hannah… why did you, come onboard? Why did you leave Mykr?"_

Hannah stared off into space and thought back, _"leave me alone!"_

A predatory grin seemed to light up the darkness around; "we'll talk later, when I call for you. Wouldn't want Kail too miss Padme to much now would you…? Or has he not told you, just' exactly' how much 'fun' they use too have?"

* * *

The darkness lifted, and suddenly Kail was in her vision, calling her name worriedly as she tried to speak but felt an oppressive force pushing down on her.

She couldn't keep her eyes from fluttering, even with the Force or her chanting. There was a stronger, darker power at work here.

Kail growled as Hannah slipped into the comma and turned to face the door where Rick and Kevin stood blocking it.

"Let. Me. Through." Kail forced out as he stood there, a whirlwind of power rising.

For a moment it looked like the three boys would come to blows, but then they parted and Kail stormed towards Alison's location in the communications office.

If Alison couldn't control the monster she had forced out, then they were all doomed.

* * *

Alison sat back and thought about her mental attack on Hannah. Truly it hadn't been made to present an evil figure, just a very well hidden intensive probing into the girl's life, history, strength, weakness, all the above and beyond that…

"ABCDs. Dreadful are they not?"

Alison laughed out-loud, as she faced her translucent sister standing besides her. "Above and beyond the call of duty, Karigan. So tell me, Kari, why did you make the pact?"

Karigan sighed, "It's complicated to understand." She shrugged, "I wanted knowledge, power… and I wanted to be more." She paused for a minute, "and with my father, since mother was 'unavailable' after a time."

"Don't you ever get mad that Malak tried to kill our mother?" Alison asked, staring at her sister who nodded.

"Sometimes, I do… but then I also remember him before everything else and I love my father. Besides, it turned out for the best in a fashion." Kari smiled sadly, "though I can only say that since I 'never' went through what Mother did."

Alison nodded slowly, "indeed… Did either Mother or Malak ever discover why you became a Force Spirit, or how for that matter?"

Kari sighed, "no, they worked for a while trying to find out why and then stopped. If they did, then they never told me. I think they where resigned to the fact, I enjoyed this form as much as being solid."

Alison nodded thoughtfully, "you can clear off, if you'd rather not face Kail with me."

Kari shook her head, "no you're with child. I'll stay, 'just' in case."

* * *

Kail brushed past Torne and Mia who didn't stop him as they stood guard at the door into the communications office. Neither said anything, though Torne would have dearly loved to drum some sense into Kail.

Mia and Alison had forbidden interaction. Ali hadn't been pleased that they had smuggled Hannah aboard either. Torne shrugged to himself; he wondered how Rick would react when he found out that he was going to be a father.

Alison was sitting in her chair, reading the display charts scrolling across her screens but she turned around when he cleared his throat or rather growled out a greeting.

"You hurt her, scared her beyond necessary!" Kail accused, pointing his finger at Alison who stood up slowly.

She sighed, her expression sadden as she looked at Kail, unaware of the shadowing mirroring him. "What about Padme? She died in the battle, you forgot about her pretty fast, Kail. What about your love for her?"

Kail turned red and clenched his fists; "Padme is dead! What I felt for her no longer-!"

"No longer what matters? Kail, she loved you and you loved her!" Alison glared at the younger youth, "she may have died on Mykr but her spirit joined the Force! She still lives!"

"I loved her. I still do… I… I'm just trying to figure everything out right now." Kail felt the tears streaming down his face.

"She's not alive anymore; they placed her in the burial chambers and dressed her up for her tomb. Padme is gone, and I still love her; she won't ever come back by some miracle… it'd be impossible. Only the Sith would possibly be able to resurrect a zombie in her body!"

Alison glared at the fifteen year old boy, but something in her expression softened, "I know what it is like to lose a loved one, Kail."

Kail looked away, "what would you know of loving a dead one?"

Alison looked into his eyes, "I lost a husband and son to the Sith, leaving Mykr once before Kail, I know what its like." Kail stared wide-eyed at Alison as she sighed, "Hannah may stay on this ship but she pulls and proves her weight. I only need to push a button or pull a trigger to rid any pests."

Kail closed in the distance until he was inches from Alison, "you wouldn't dare."

Alison smiled back, a hardness that Kail could not match in her eyes, "try me; I'll go to whatever length I must to protect all of us. You'll regret it, trust me."

For a moment it looked like Kail was going to strike Alison out of rage when several things happened at once.

* * *

Rick, Mia, and Torne burst into the room, their lightsabers blazing and ready for action, levelled at Kail. Kari moved from her silent seat and placed her hand on Kail's shoulder.

It was icy cold as he tried to jerk away from her grasp; "don't do this Kail. Let it go and flow out of you."

"Let… go… of… me…" Kail gasped as the life-force slowly drained out of him from Kari's icy cold touch.

Kari ignored him, "Alison wake Hannah out of her comma and I'll release Kail if he promises to behave."

Kail nodded, though whether that was because of his weakened state or agreement was questionable. Alison closed her eyes and opened them, "she's awakening now." And Kail left as Kari followed him to make sure nothing 'dangerous' happened.

Rick clipped his lightsaber to his belt and crushed Alison into his arms "Thank the Force, your sister was here to stop him."

Alison didn't say a word as she trembled in her boyfriend's arm, glad that it was all over. She hadn't been scared for herself, but for their child…

She had never been so scared in her life…

"Yes, Rick, thank the Force… I'm all right." Alison whispered as the ship's computer landed them onto Dathomir.

* * *


	25. Building Trust

**.:Building Trust:.**

* * *

Over the next day or so, while Rick, Torne and Rain scouted the area around the Ebon Hawk, Kail and Hannah both spent most of there time in the Starboard Dormitory. However, during one particular time when Kail had gone out with Rick and Torne, Kinraar was asked to keep an eye on Hannah, since she was still new on the ship.

But Hannah didn't leave the Starboard Dormitory. Instead, she continued practicing touching the Force without her incantations. She accidentally reached out to far and began manipulating Kinraar's training battle against Rain with her Battle Meditation.

"Hey!" Rain suddenly realized how she had suddenly started losing. "Stop that!" She said. Hannah jumped in shock.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She said. "I'm not used to having this much power, and sometimes I lose control of it."

Kinraar nodded. "_I remember when I first learned I could use the Force. I also took a little while to get used to the power of it._"

Rain shrugged. "I suppose that's okay then." She sat on the end of the bed Hannah was sitting on. "Why did you come?" She asked.

Hannah had been thinking that question herself. "I'm not sure." She said. "There was something about Kail, I felt like he was calling to me. Or pulling me..." She shook her head. "Okay, that just sounds weird."

Kinraar shook her head. "_On the contrary; I have read about such things. They are similar to Force Bonds, except there is no actual connection._"

The wookie thought for a moment. "_It is like a piece of iron and a magnet. The closer they are, the harder they are to separate. Prolonged exposure to each other may also cause a permanent connection, or a real Force Bond._"

Rain gave Kinraar a questioning look. Kinraar shrugged. "_I did some research back when we were on Dxun._" She said.

"Wow, Dxun. That seems like so long ago." Rain said. "I wonder if we'll ever-…" She stopped, seeing a sudden longing in Hannah's eyes. "Something wrong?"

"The pull, it's started again." She said. "I don't know how, or why." She closed her eyes, giving in to the pull, letting herself drift into the Force.

"Do you suppose we should tell Alison and Kevin?" Rain asked. Kinraar looked at Hannah for a moment, and then shook her head.

"_Wait till we find out what it is._" She growled. "_If it is important, then we will tell Alison._"

Hannah suddenly started shaking, and both Kinraar and Rain could feel the Force flowing into her. Actually, it was so powerful, they were sure it would be visible to someone who could see with the Force.

"Night Sisters." Hannah mumbled. She opened her eyes. "We've got problems." She said. "In the form of hideously deformed woman using evil spirit-I mean, using the Dark Side of the Force."

"_Okay, now we can tell Alison._" Kinraar said. She and Rain both sprinted out of the room, leaving Hannah on her own in the room. After a moment's thought, Hannah stood and left as well.

Kinraar and Rain found Alison in the Garage, adding some adjustments to HK-47.

* * *

"Something wrong?" She asked when she saw her friend and the wookie come into the Garage. Kinraar nodded.

"Hannah felt a pull toward Kail, and now she says that they are in trouble." Rain said. Alison looked at her friend for a moment.

"Let's go ask her." Alison said. "We'll find out what she saw."

Rain nodded, and she and Kinraar lead Alison to the Starboard Dormitory.

Then too the Port Dormitory…

And then too the Cockpit…

_"She must have known you would want to question her about it._" Kinraar said. "_The look in her eyes, she believed what she saw was real, and she would not waste time._"

Alison muttered something under her breath. "Okay, let's go find her." She said. "Rain, go get Mia and Kevin, Kinraar, get the droids ready."

Hannah sprinted through the desolate forest of Dathomir, following the pull she felt between her and Kail, letting it guide her to him.

She heard the sound of electricity, and a scream of pain. Seconds later, she came upon Kail, Torne and Rick, all of their lightsabers ignited, facing off against six hideously deformed women.

The six women were hurling bolts of force lightning at Kail, Rick and Torne, who were only just managing to hold it off with their lightsabers.

Hannah raised her hands. "_Aliccio romendè!_" She chanted. A blast of Force energy erupted from her, knocking the Night Sisters sideways. In two steps and two strokes each, the three Jedi rushed forward and killed each of the Night Sisters with their lightsabers.

Only then did they turn to look at her.

* * *

"Not that we didn't appreciate the help." Kail said. "But what are you doing out here?"

"I…" Now that she was there, Hannah felt embarrassed to say why she was there. "I felt you…pulling me." She said. "I thought you needed help."

Kail was about to say something, but Rick cut in. "While we would have eventually overpowered those…women on our own, you did help." He seemed to be somewhat reluctant to say it.

It seemed he was torn between his childhood best friend, and his new lover. "We would have been exhausted by the time we managed to beat their lightning attacks and not much use for quite a while. This way, at least the battle ended quickly."

"Look out!" Torne said, and he fired a blast of Force energy to catch a bolt of lightning.

"This ain't over yet!" Kail unclipped a short lightsaber and tossed it into the air. It landed in Hannah's hands.

Suddenly, Hannah felt like she had been born to hold a lightsaber. It felt so…right, in her hands, and she activated with no hesitation, using it as the other three had before to catch the lightning rather then be electrocuted by it.

"We are many, and you are few." Said the leader of the current party of Night Sisters (there were eight of them this time), and the Force lightning ceased, though all four of them could sense Force shields surrounding the eight women.

"Throw down your weapons; you need not die on this day."

"Not gonna happen, old lady." Rick said. He called upon the anger he'd felt with Kail back on the Ebon Hawk in the Cockpit, and fired his own bolt of lightning at the woman.

Unable to protect herself from electricity with her Force shield, the woman was killed by the electrical shock.

* * *

Then the whole scene erupted into chaos. So chaotic it was hard to tell who was winning, especially when Kinraar and Kevin joined the fight. They were followed a few minutes later by the three homicidal droids, Rain and Alison. With the whole crew in the battle, the Night Sisters didn't stand a chance.

Kail winced as Hannah dabbed the slash along his stomach. The Night Sisters didn't have lightsabers, but in close range, they had very sharp daggers and a few short swords.

Kail, Kevin, Rain and the droids had been the only ones to suffer to badly though, so what was left of the crew was dealing with the wounds. Hannah had been the one taking care of Kail.

In the Garage, Alison was busy taking care of a long cut on Rick's arm. In the Port Dormitory, Torne and Mia were healing Rain, who had by far the worst wound, where a Night Sister had managed a shallow stab to Rain's shoulder.

And in the Cargo Hold, Kinraar was dealing with Kevin's wounds. The three droids were standing in a corner waiting for the two crew mechanics to repair them.

"So, why did we come here?" Rick asked Alison as she finished healing him. "I mean, so far all we've seen are a few Rancor and now the Night Sisters."

Alison bit her lip. "I'm not sure." She said. "But, like Myrkr, I'm sure I'll find the reason why soon enough."

For the next couple of hours, nobody spoke much to anyone else, except Rick and Alison, Mia and Torne, and Kail and Hannah. Okay, so that's about half the crew speaking to someone else.

* * *

Either way, Rick and Alison were now in the Cockpit, Kail and Hannah had moved (with bedding) into the Engine Room for privacy, and Torne and Mia were talking in the Port Dormitory.

Rick looked at Alison for a moment. "What's wrong Ali?" He asked. "You've been hiding something from me."

"It's nothing." Alison said. "Really, I'm just tired." She added. Rick didn't seem convinced, but he dropped the matter.

"I think I need to center myself." He said. "If anyone needs me, I'll be in the Cargo Hold. Knock three times and come back later 'cause I'll be meditating."

He walked out of the Cockpit, none the wiser of what Alison was really hiding from him. He got to the Cargo Hold, and closed the door.

Almost immediately, he sensed another presence. He wasn't sure what, but he was sure that they were there.

Ignoring the presence for now, he sat down, and began to enter a meditative state.

In the corner of the Cargo Hold, a young woman materialized. She wore a white flowing silk dress, with white pearls embroidered impossibly into the fabric, and a pair of mauve sandals. She had long wavy white-blonde hair, with one crystal blue eye and one normal green eye.

"My brother has become unreachable." She whispered. "So I shall show him through you." She walked over to Rick, and held her hands either side of his head.

"See through the eyes of a Seer, Erick of Clan Ordo!" Rick shuddered, and was plunged into a vision.

* * *

…_a young girl with white-blonde hair and emerald green eyes sat with a holovid of a swoop race in front of her. Beside her, her father, and Echani General, sat looking at his daughter with pride in his eyes…_

_…They were joined not long after by a young woman, not even twenty-five yet, carrying a toddler in her arms. The woman had a long red-brown hair cascading down her. The woman looked lovingly at her husband as she sat down on the other side of their daughter…_

* * *

The vision ended. Rick's eyes were wide open in shock. When the vision had started, he had mistaken the little girl for Kail's mother. When it had ended, he knew the girl to be Kail's daughter!

And the mother had been…

Rick stood up, turned on his heel, and went straight to the Engine Room next door. He was about to knock on the locked blast door, but then thought better of it.

If Kail was doing what he thought he was doing… well, Rick respected his friend enough not to interrupt him.

And so he turned away, and went in search of Alison. He wasn't sure whether or not to mention his suspicions. He wasn't sure how she would react to them. For now, they would remain his suspicions only, he decided.

Hannah remained awake long after Kail had fallen asleep, exhausted but happy. She couldn't sleep, not since that voice…

It was always there, in her head, when she slept. Darkness, projecting fear into her… She had fought it, every time her eyes closed. But she wasn't strong enough. In her dreams, she was never strong enough.

But as much as she tried to remain awake, exhaustion caught up with her, and she fell into a deep sleep.

Hannah opened her eyes, slowly. She was standing atop some kind of ancient structure, perhaps a temple or palace. She looked around, and was met by a lightsaber descending upon her.

* * *

In an instant, there was an emerald green lightsaber in her hand, and she used it to block the red lightsaber.

A kick to her middle sent a seizure through Hannah's body, and she doubled over, before rolling to dodge another attack. She came to her feet and spun around to meet another attack.

None came. She looked around, but no one was there.

"Who-?" She began, before she was plunged into darkness.

Kail's eyes were open in an instant as soon as her heard Hannah's cry.

"Hannah?" He said, trying to wake her. She didn't respond. "Hannah!" He shouted.

She could hear his voice, but it was across an impossible distance. "Help me." She cried. And then he was beside her.

Hannah jumped back, stunned. "How did you get here?"

"Here?" Kail looked around. "I'm not really here." He said. "I'm a projection of your own needs, the need for protection." Kail took a step toward her. "And I _will_ protect you!" He said.

And then she was awake.

* * *

Rick, Alison and the rest of the crew had all heard Kail's shout. Rick had raced to the Engine room, while Alison deactivated the lock from the Security Room.

He found Kail with his arms around a distressed Hannah; whose face was streaked with tears as she laid her head on his shoulder. Kail turned to look at his friend, shrugged, and then turned back to Hannah.

Rick shook his head, and turned and left the Engine Room, closing the blast door behind him.

They waited another three days before leaving the Ebon Hawk again, while everyone recovered. When it was finally time to leave again, they went in two groups: Rick, Kinraar, Kail and Hannah in one group, Mia, Torne, Rain and Kevin in the other.

Alison was staying back on the Ebon Hawk in case they needed to make a quick getaway. Rick was unsure whether it had been her first choice, but after an almost unnoticed conversation with Mia, Alison had decided to stay.

They didn't run into any Night Sisters, thankfully, though what they did run into was almost as bad.

The Dathomirian Witch's, while not evil, had a somewhat strict society: women were the superior race, men were nothing more then servants; something Rick, Kail, Torne and Kevin were not too happy about.

* * *

Thankfully, after Alison arrived, the Force using witches allowed each of the women to make a claim for the men.

Despite the order of things, Alison, Kevin, and Kinraar were sent to one hut, Rick, Hannah and Rain to another, while Kail, Torne and Mia were called to the Great Hall by the High Council.

"Our spies saw you in battle against the Night Sisters;" said the oldest looking witch, the one described to Kail, Torne and Mia as 'the Old One'. "You have great powers."

"But…Rick was the one leading us." Kail said. "Why not bring him here?" Kail asked.

"That one…he has a corruption within him;" said the woman to the left of the Old One. "You three, however, have either fought off corruption, or never been corrupt."

Not one of the three teenagers knew what the woman meant by that. As far as they had seen, none of their friends had shown signs of corruption, except perhaps Alison back on Derallia.

"Never the less, it was you two young men who were in the party that fought the Night Sisters originally." The Old One said.

She turned to Mia. "And you girl, are here because you have claimed one of them as your own, and it was necessary for your presence."

"We have called you two boys here," The woman on the right of the Old One said. "Because you have the power to help us vanquish the evil of the Night Sisters... We wish for you to teach our warriors how to use the Spirit Magic we use as you do."

"Spirit Magic…?" Kail repeated. He exchanged a look with Mia, who was also interested in the name the Dathomirian Witches used for the Force. "And you want us to teach you?"

The Old One nodded. "We are few and far apart. Without the power to defeat them, it is unlikely we will survive the next full turning of the moons." She said.

"You needn't answer right away. There is a hut not far from the Great Hall; you will remain there until we send for you, or when it is time for the Hunt."

Kail, Torne and Mia all bowed/curtsied, and then were escorted out of the hall.

* * *

Hannah sat on the bed in her hut, looking out for any sign that Kail had left the Great Hall yet. She sighed and laid back on her bed, unable to think of anything else to do, she decided to start practicing with the Force again.

She reached out to it, and seized hold of the cup of water beside her bed, making it levitate into the air.

Then she tipped it upside down, and caught the water in mid air, folding it and manipulating it. Eventually, it took the shape of Kail, with perfect and exact detail, despite the fact it was small enough to fit in her hand.

Hannah focused on cooling the temperature around the small water statue, and turned it to ice.

"Nice trick." Rain said. Hannah jumped and lost focus, dropping the statue out of the air. Rain caught it with a small nudge of the Force, and Hannah took it out of the air.

"I just felt like keeping myself busy." She said, sighing.

* * *


	26. Anger and Memories

**.:Anger and Memories:.

* * *

**

Authors Note: I was not playing the game to get the dialogue of Mira's Jedi Path, I was getting it from a jumbled mess of words, so I can't be sure which answer goes to which questions and so on. Hope you enjoy it anyway.

* * *

"No!" Mira waved her hand, levitating a piece of debris that had once been part of a bed with the Force. "It's not right!" She shouted, and she threw the piece of debris across the room, slamming it into the blast door. She had long since sealed it, unable to face any of the crew of the ship the currently resided on. Not since the news Illusen had brought them.

"She was too young!" She shouted, she ignited her lightsaber, and began cutting apart the many objects in the room, fueled by anger and pain.

"Why did you do it, Padme?" She sobbed, finally too exhausted to do anything else. "Why did you have to leave Dxun?"

_

* * *

Biggs led Mira toward the pit in the center of the platform on Nar Shadaar, not far from where he had been opened up further to the Force. Now it was Mira's turn. Even as she looked around in confusion, he could sense the small flicker of the force begin to grow._

_"What's wrong?" She asked, looking around. "Why are you stopping?"_

_"Close your eyes –" Mira looked sceptically at him, but at a calm stare, she obeyed, closing her eyes. "I want you to hear Nar Shadaar. Feel the currents of Nar Shadaar, the ebb and flow of life."_

_'Feel the currents here on Nar Shadaar, the ebb of life. A simple kindness can be given to another.' His voice echoed in her mind, both wise and powerful. 'This is the Force. And all our choices, from the greatest to the smallest, affect each other. And the echoes travel.'_

_She could hear something. First it was nothing more then a faint buzzing, but as it grew louder, she could make out voices. Thousands of them over lapping, echoing around her, stronger, and louder, tearing her mind apart…_

_'Awaken Mira.' His voice was calm, as it always was, and she opened her eyes, expecting the voices to cease. But they didn't, they just kept growing, and she couldn't stand it._

_Her head in her hands, she began crying, shiny tears sliding down her cheeks. _

_"What's wrong?" Biggs asked, still clam, with a hint of worry in his voice._

_"I can feel this... planet..." Mira sobbed. "I can't shut it out. It's louder now... it hurts. All these people..."_

_"Then stop trying to shut it out…" Biggs whispered soothingly. "Find a centre in it, focus on my voice. I can help you to calm the chaos in your mind, if you will let me…" _

_"That's what I want." Mira insisted through the tears, Biggs could tell she was trying to convince herself more then him. "I'm sure of it, more than anything._

_"I want to become like you." She said quietly, firmly. "I want to be strong, and I don't want to be afraid or alone anymore." She looked into his eyes. "Are you going to train me?"_

_"Only if you want me to, Mira..." Biggs answered. "I have shown you the way; I cannot force you down that path."_

"All right - I think I'm ready to try, then." Mira said, looking skyward.

* * *

"Mira?" Bao-Dur was at the blast door Mira had sealed. "Mira, you need to come out."

"No I don't!" Mira shouted. "I don't need to come out because the only reason _I_ came, is dead!"

"Please… then let me come in and talk to you, Mira. Locking yourself away won't help any of us." Bao sighed; he was as torn up about Padme dying as Mira was though he was struggling to be the stronger one for the two of them.

So far he hadn't failed. Well, completely…

Bao turned around and left the room in a daze. Mira had locked herself away; he couldn't change the codes, something that he had never encountered with his wife before.

They needed help, fast. He needed to talk to Elaine and Biggs.

* * *

Elaine paced back and forth in Revan's room as she stared worriedly off into space. Revan was going through her lightsaber practices with ease, though under the cool calm collectedness, she was worrying about much more.

The fact that one of the children had died on their own 'self imposed quest' was not a surprise too Revan. Quests such as these often where accompanied by danger and disaster, hiding at every corner they turned. The fact was that that she could not express this to the grieving parents and she did not wish this upon any of her friends wasn't of any help.

"How can you just stand there doing that?" Elaine asked suddenly, turning around to face Revan who glanced up at her old friend and closed her lightsaber down, clipping it back to her belt fluidly.

Revan shook her head and countered Elaine's question with one of her own, "how can you stand there, grieving like that, Elaine?"

"What the hell do you mean!" Elaine exploded, "a child died! Padme… Bao and Mira's daughter is dead because we weren't there to protect them! Because they ran away… because of…"

The mad woman's rant sputtered off, leaving her accusations unvoiced and Revan sighed very soft. "Because of Mical… Alison, Rick leaving the planet, their friends' loyalty to them? Elaine; there is no way for sure you, Mira, Bao-Dur, or even I," Revan smiled bitterly, "the seemingly unbreakable Revan...could have protected Padme."

"Then why couldn't one of us have died?" Elaine whispered as tears started to slide down her cheeks and she sat down on the low stone bench craved from the wall.

Revan didn't say anything as she hugged her grieving friend, truthfully what more could be said? Asking if it would have hurt any less had one of the adults died and left the child to grieve instead; would that make it better?

* * *

An hour later Revan and Elaine where sparring with their lightsabers, nearly equally matched blow for blow.

"You've been training." Revan smiled lightly as she strained against Elaine's lightsaber, pushing her old friend back two paces before Elaine tried a sideways sweep with her second lightsaber.

"Can't let you hold the greatest lightsaber duelling title here." Elaine shot back as Revan flipped over her head and landed behind Elaine without a second to waste.

"Try me." Revan's eyes flashed in the light and suddenly she everywhere at once and Elaine could hardly counter her friend's attacks when all of a sudden it stopped and Revan was gone.

Elaine gripped her lightsabers and waited listening to the silence in the room but there was no noise forthcoming. She turned to find someone else standing behind her, her brother Biggs there.

* * *

"Biggs, did… how, what's happening?" She asked, stuttering over her words as her teeth chattered uncontrollably with the cold.

Biggs shook his head and removed his robe, wrapping it around Elaine's shoulders. "We need to get out of here, you're freezing to death."

Elaine was barely able to register her brother's words as she shivered even more, thinking rapidly.

_What had happened? How had she ended up here and then her brother appearing out of nowhere as well? Where'd Revan… _

"Revan…" Elaine whispered numbly as Biggs snorted in annoyance. "You put too much faith in her, Elaine. Invoking her name won't help us now – we have to get out of this, ourselves."

Elaine shook her head and threw her brother's robe back at him. "No, you idiot! It's not anything to do with, Revan-!"

"Weren't you just practicing with her, sparring before this happened?" Biggs pointed out and Elaine sighed in exprastion as she nodded.

"Okay, fine!" She grounded out, throwing her hands up in the air, "so maybe she 'has' something to do with this. But the point of the fact is that if we don't act, then darkness will be the only thing in our life."

Biggs raised an eyebrow, "and you plan to get us out of here how?"

Elaine smiled, "life and love will always hold a path back to the light… whether or not; it be in our hearts or in life." She called upon the Force, summoning up the feelings of her love for Atton and her children, glowing with a brilliant light that blinded Biggs before she grasped his hand.

* * *

"Mira…" Elaine whispered as she staggered a little before regaining her balance as she ran off to Mira and Bao-Dur's room.

Biggs shook his head and turned to look at Revan. "What the hell did I get pulled into that 'thing' for!" He demanded, throwing his arms up in the air as Revan shrugged.

"I though you'd find it useful, in the future maybe." She said and slipped away quietly, to wherever she was retreating to.

* * *

Elaine slipped past the sleeping Bao-Dur and into the room where Mira was sitting stone-faced on the floor, her knees drawn up to her chest.

"You have to accept it, Mira." Elaine said, standing in front of the grieving woman.

"Why?" Mira challenged, jumping up with a look of extreme hatred in her eyes. "Why did 'my' daughter have to die? Why not yours or someone else's child? Why me!"

Elaine merely looked back at her friend, "you don't mean that, Mira. You're just upset about Padme right now."

A knife appeared in Mira's hand as she placed the blade up against Elaine's throat. "And if I kill you, maybe I don't mean that either?" Mira hissed, the blade in her hand shaking.

"Go ahead. Will it bring Padme back to you?" Elaine whispered back as Mira trembled, staring at her friend and shuddered, dropping the dagger to the ground.

"No…" She whispered as Elaine enfolded her within a hug as Mira sobbed, letting all her grief wash away.

* * *


End file.

Star Wars, Adventure, Romance