Knights of the Old Republic: Dark Forces, Chapter One

(Authors Note: This is my first attempt at a fan fiction, so be gentle with me J. You'll note that there are several events that are mentioned that did not occur in the original version of the game. My additions are not actually my additions, but deleted content from the original game. I've always wanted to have the story as it should have been. Cheers :)

KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC

DARK FORCES

CHAPTER ONE

The Ebon Hawk limped away from the charred remains of Malachor V, its engines spewing smoke. Malachor could withstand the unleashed power of the Mass Shadow Generator only once. A second time had rendered the dark planet asunder, setting the shattered Malachor adrift in space. The events that had led to the destruction of the planet were known to only a few, and all of them were assembled on the wounded Hawk. All of the Exile's party had been changed by their experiences on Malachor, some more than others.

Mira the Bounty Hunter sat alone in the Hawk's medical bay, staring at the unconscious form of Atton Rand. His torture at the hands of Darth Sion had been terrible, the entire left side of his face having been ripped and scarred. His chest was in similar condition as was his right arm. His left arm had been cut off at the elbow. Mira had volunteered to look after the wounded Atton to escape the crush of emotion that was emanating from her companions. She had always been able to feel the emotions of people; a gift that she now knew stemmed from her force ability. The Handmaiden's grief, Mandalore's anger, Bao-Dur's worry and Visas' remorse had all smothered her like toxic gas. Atton had long been accustomed to hiding his emotions, which was part of the reason Mira even consented to talk with him at times. And he certainly had no emotions in his state, and he was also unable to speak, giving Mira alone with her thoughts. But everytime she had sought to find peace in her mind, just as the Exile had taught her, she had been unable to. It was that moment, only a few hours previous that invaded her mine, constantly returning her to the same moment. Giving up on her meditation, Mira went back into her mind, back to the place that she could no longer escape.

'I say we fire a rocket at her right now,' Mira said quietly, looking down at the meditating Kreia, 'and blow her screaming, burning body into the heart of this planet.'

'It wouldn't work' Atton disagreed worriedly 'if there were other distractions, maybe, if she wasn't telepathic, maybe.' Atton turned his attention away from Kreia to look at Mira. 'If you want to kill her like that, you need something else to occupy her attention; otherwise you might just wound her. And then we'd all be in trouble.'

'This battle will not be decided by weapons.' The Handmaiden said in a soft voice

'You are wrong.' Visas said firmly. 'Manipulation is Kreia's strength, not battle. We have a chance... we just have to figure out how to make use of it.'

******************************

Kreia sat alone in the centre of the Trayus Core, meditating silently, her mind scanning the area. All her plans and scheming had finally come to ahead, with the Exile exactly where she wanted him, running aimlessly through the twisting corridors of the Trayus Academy. The Huntress was also somewhere in the academy, that much was evident when she had felt the near death of the beast that she had sent to stop her. But no matter, Kreia thought, for the Huntress would be unable to defeat her.

What Kreia had not expected was that the huntress would attack her with something so crude as her mounted rocket launchers. The thought that the she would try to kill her in such a primitive way had not occurred to her, and because of that had almost been effective. It was her reflexes that saved her, as she spun out of the rocket's path, sending her sprawling on the floor.

'We've come a long way, Kreia...' Mira said quietly, her rocket launcher aimed at the weakened Sith Lord, 'don't bother getting up.'

'Ah, the huntress.' Kreia said, not moving from her position. 'To come alone... you are braver than I thought.'

'She is not alone.' The Handmaiden said, striding onto the eerie red stage, with Visas close behind. 'We stand with her. And with her, stand all the Jedi.'

'And now I come in, saying something suitably heroic.' Atton said lightly, his lightsaber in hand.

'Children with lightsabers...' Kreia said contemptuously, getting to her feet slowly. 'But not Jedi I think. Come close, let me look upon you and see what the exile's teaching has forged.'

Darth Traya slowly walked in front of them all, taking in their features. Finally she said 'An assassin, a slayer of her own kin, a blinded slave... and a fool. Which of you wishes to try yourselves against me? As you can see, I am unarmed.'

'You, perhaps?' She said, turning her attention to the Handmaiden. 'Come, child, where you walk, it is not far from battle, slaughter, and the blood of your sisters.'

The Handmaiden sprung into action, her lightsaber activated, as she took up an Echani form and attacked Kreia. The others came to her aid attacking the Sith Lord from all sides. Kreia kicked Atton square in the chest, letting the force blow him across the Trayus Core, sending him sprawling on his face. At the same time she knocked Mira out of the way, using the force to push her into the rising Atton. With only two opponents left, she levitated Visas into the air, out of her way, while she concentrated on the Handmaiden, who was now struggling it the Sith's force grip.

'Think.' Kreia hissed at the struggling Handmaiden. 'Think before you throw away your life for him. Think of everything you will lose by dying. Your lusts unfulfilled. A dance, unfinished. A love, requited. Think before you give it up so quickly.'

The Handmaiden shook her head defiantly. Kreia gave her a bored look and clenched her fist. Brianna's airways immediately contracted, the lack of oxygen to her brain rending her unconscious. Kreia dropped her to floor, and turned her gaze to the levitated Visas.

'And you, blind one' Kreia said, her voice dripping with malice 'you have hungered to strike me down ever since you saw the bond the Exile and I share.'

'Can you feel the Force running through me, even past the veil, past your bloodied eyes?' Visas shot back quietly, though with no less venom. 'You know you cannot win. The Force runs strong within you, Traya, but in the howling of a storm, it is difficult to hear the whisper of the blade. You have forever been the blind one. You were given a gift few are ever given, and yet you let your gift of sight warp you, tw-'

Without so much as a flinch, Kreia unleashed force lightening on the defiant Visas, who shrieked in pain before she was thrown into a nearby pillar.

'You think your existence under your Lord was torture, Miraluka?' Kreia said calmly to the unconscious woman. 'I will make you see.'

'And you.' Kreia now said glancing at Mira as she struggled to rise. 'You were stronger than I thought - to spare the beast that wished to kill you. I felt it, faintly, even here on Malachor. Come, huntress. You have tracked me so far and killed many beasts to be here. Cast away your past for this moment.'

The two remaining Jedi Apprentices flew at Kreia, Atton taking her from behind and Mira confronting her head on. It made little difference to Kreia, who used the force to blast Atton of his feet, while using force statis on Mira. Locked in a barrier of the force, Mira could do nothing but struggle as Kreia turned her blinded eyes on the fallen Atton.

'And now... at last, the fool. You only delay the inevitable. You have been difficult to sense before... but not now. You can cloak your mind only for so long. It is only a matter of coaxing the right thought to the surface. Your desire to protect the Jedi... and the hope that will kill the guilt inside you.'

Atton got to his feet and threw himself at Kreia his lightsaber aimed at Kreia's neck. With an apparent ease the Sith Woman dodged the first stoke aimed at her neck, and the immediate follow up strike aimed to slash her chest open. Launching herself into the air she aimed a kick at Atton's arm, breaking his wrist and sending his lightsaber skidding across the floor. Coming back to earth she used the force to blast him into submission, leaving his smoking, crumpled form on the floor.

'And that is the last of them.' Kreia said to Sion, who had stalked out of the shadows a squadron of Sith Assassins behind him. 'Take them. They are strong in the Force... and they will have their uses. I will remain here and await the one who comes. But wait...' Kreia said as the Sith Assassins began moving the defenceless apprentices. She walked up to Sion. 'My gift to you Lord Sion. You can have the fool...'

******************************

Mira was brought back to the present as Atton moaned fitfully, tossing slightly on the medical bunk. She quickly checked his vital signs, settling back into her chair once she was sure he was fine. She could still sense the emotions of the others, though they had abated somewhat. Mira scanned the ship, sensing the emotions of each of her companions until she settled on the east chambers. She knew the Exile was there, but she could sense no emotion from him, nothing at all. She had expected anger, and possible grief or regret but she could sense nothing from that room. It was as if he wasn't even there, as if he was, indeed, a wound in the force.

Atton stirred again, thrashing slightly and moaning in fear. Mira gently applied an anaesthetic stim to his flesh, his twitching becoming less frequent as he settled back into sleep. And with sleep came his dreams.

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Atton suddenly woke up, his eyelids flying open. He staggered slightly, collapsing on one knee and breathing hard. He kept his head down to catch his breath noting that the floor was no longer the strange, glowing red stone that it had been in the core, changing instead to a hard, crude looking granite. Atton suddenly sensed someone's presence and jumped to his feet, his hand going straight to his belt. The pain shot through his body, his broken wrist throbbing, but worse was still to come. Neither his lightsaber nor his blasters were present. He looked up slowly, to be confronted with the shattered form of Darth Sion. Sion grinned at him evilly, and activated his lightsaber, the blade glowing red in the faint light.

'And I get the fool.' Sion said tauntingly

'Funny' Atton said defiantly, sizing up the Sith Lord 'That's just what I was thinking.'

Sion brought the strength of his will to bear upon Atton, rising him up into the air and throwing him against the wall, pinning him there. He waked up to the helpless Atton, his steps echoing ominously along the empty corridor. Staring at Atton for a moment, Sion sliced smoothly through Atton's arm, a vicious pleasure showing on his face. Atton collapsed on the ground, a scream escaping his lips, the pain racing through his body as he grasped his ruined limb. Sion looked at him in a satisfied way, turned on his heel and marched away from the cowering Atton.

'Running away?' Atton said weakly, staggering to his feet. 'I'm not done with you yet.'

'Nor I you.' Sion said evilly, levitating Atton into the air again. 'I will remake you. So when I look upon you it shall be like a mirror. Then I shall let you die.'

'There's... nothing you can do to me' Atton coughed defiantly, as Sion applied pressure to his windpipe. 'Take your time.'

******************************

Atton bolted up from his bed yelling, struggling away from the phantoms of his dreams. Mira came from no where, pinning him down to the bed even as he tried to throw the Bounty Hunter off.

'Lay down you nerf herder!' Mira grunted, trying to keep the struggling Atton from ripping his sutures. 'If you rip out those stitches you'll be sleeping in the morgue permanently!'

Atton stopped struggling briefly, allowing Mira to push him back onto the bed. She injected him with a stim that eased the shaking in his limbs. He became calmer and then fixed Mira with a shifty smile. 'Quite a nice way to wake up really. A beautiful woman trying to get into my bed.'

'Don't even think about it Atton' Mira said icily, retaking her seat. 'In your condition you wouldn't last five minutes with me. Of course you wouldn't last five minutes with me anyway.'

'Ouch' Atton said lightly before he fixed her with a serious eye. 'Is it bad? Pretty bad judging by the look in your eyes. And why are suddenly using stitches to keep me together? Gone back to the dawn of time have we?"

'You have to be quiet Atton. You lost a lot of blood.'

'Did he stop Kreia?'

'Well that depends on your definition of stop I suppose. If you mean he fought the Sith witch, put his lightsaber through her chest and then blew up the entire planet just for good measure then yeah, I guess you could say he stopped her.'

Atton sighed deeply and looked down at his missing arm. 'He did a good job.' He commented.

'You don't have to worry yourself about him' Mira said grimly. 'The Exile took care of Sion too.'

Atton exhaled loudly then looked around. 'Where is everyone? Not that just you on your own isn't a wonderful dream come true but...'

'The rest of them were hit pretty hard, Atton. They're healing.'

'What about you?'

'I'm a bounty hunter.' Mira said indifferently. 'You never get hit in my line of work.'

'You're not a Bounty Hunter anymore, Mira. You're a Jedi.'

'Sometimes I don't seem much difference in either profession."

Atton shrugged weakly, feeling the urges of sleep coming to him. He muttered quietly; 'How's the Exile?'

'I don't know Atton. He got us out of the Academy, found you and then headed straight to the late Kreia's former chambers.'

'Has anyone been in to see him?'

'Not even Mandalore's been brave enough to try. He went in there and hasn't been out since. He didn't even say anything to Bao-dur and that Hunter Killer droid.'

'What's he doing?'

'For the most part he's just sitting there, looking at her.'

'What, you don't mean...?'

'Oh yes. He brought her body back onboard the Hawk.'