Stolen - part 16

Carth glared at the small light, blinking on and off, on the screen. It made absolutely, positively, no sense to him. He had racked his brain for an answer, for a reason, but had come up with nothing. And if the blinking light wasn't bad enough to give him a headache, the no answer more than made up for it.

"The last time I saw you frown like that, Flyboy, it was two minutes after we left the Leviathan," Terra's calm, playful voice danced around in Carth's ears. "What's up?"

Carth raised an eyebrow towards the love of his life. But meeting an endearing face like hers, he dropped the eyebrow and laughed quietly.

"I'm trying to figure out what this blip is doing."

"'Blip'? What technical language is 'blip'?" Terra laughed.

"It's an old distress beacon, from the Mandalorian War," he explained. "I'm surprised we even picked up the signal."

"The Mandalorian War?" Terra echoed in awe. "Those things are ancient. It takes half a millennia to triangulate their position."

"It's on Yavin 4," Carth stated.

"Oh. What it's IDC?"

"That's where we hit a problem. We don't know."

"It wasn't transmitted?"

"Oh no, it was transmitted. But there's no one with that particular identification code.

"Come on, Carth," Terra chided. "The IDC was unique for every soldier. Each code was added to everyone's military profile."

"I know, Terra. It could be that the soldier's passed away and their file's been deleted."

Terra pursed her lips. She saw no reason to argue with Carth over such a small matter. Instead, she approached the screen and stared at the tiny light.

Yavin 4. What was so special about Yavin 4? The Mandalorians didn't attack that moon, and there was no one living there anyway. But... someone had activated that beacon. And it was impossible to tell who the soldier was if their military profile was gone...

But what if that soldier didn't have one in the first place?

Terra turned her head to a nearby ensign, working on the code. An idea struck her.

"An IDC starts off with the soldier's first initial and the first three letters of their surname, right?" she asked the ensign.

"Uh, yes Master Jedi. That's correct," the ensign stuttered formally.

"What are the letters?"

"S. J. A. Z." the ensign recited.

"S. Jaz?" Terra inquired. "Are you sure you've got that right, ensign?"

"Uh," the ensign checked the screen. "Yes Master Jedi."

Terra stared at the screen in surprise. She didn't know what she had been expecting, but that wasn't it.

"So that where you went," she whispered quietly to the screen. "But why, after all this time, have you called for help? What possible need could you have from the Republic?"

"Terra? Do you know this... Jaz soldier?"

"She wasn't a soldier, Carth. She was a general, and a Jedi."

"A Jedi?!" Carth exclaimed. "Why would she be on Yavin 4? Or her beacon at least."

"She was exiled. A punishment for joining the war, and doing what she did. She was the only one to go back and face trial. But... Yavin 4..."

 ----------*****----------

A dome in the middle of dense jungle. Screaming echoed in her ears... Faces, hollow and defeated, bowing down to her. Eyes that had a haunted look. Soldiers scampering away like frightened tachs, all afraid of her.

What was so familiar about this place?

A young man, barely taller than her, with dark brown eyes and darker hair. He stood to attention, but there was something wrong. Something wrong with him... something wrong in him.

"This is not what I expect from someone with your talent, Rand. This is a rookie mistake, and you are no rookie."

"No, Lord Revan. I... I have failed you."

Rand.... who is, or was, Rand?

"I tire of your incompetence, Rand."

"Forgive me, Lord Revan. I... I request a new station. It... It's... it is obvious that I can no longer perform the task that you have set me. I beg your forgiveness, Lord Revan."

"You were one of the best, Rand. One of my finest hunters. And yet you stand before me now, barely able to breathe under the weight of emotion. All over one Jedi. One small insignificant Jedi. The first, I might add, you failed to turn."

"That failure has been my undoing, Lord Revan."

Rand was a hunter? For what? Of what? What happened to him?

"I will permit your request for a new station. Maybe you need a breath of fresh air, and exercise..."

"Whatever you command, Lord Revan."

"Guard duty. If killing is all you're good for now, then I see no reason why you shouldn't use that to defend Sudana against any possible... intruders."

"As you command, Lord Revan."

"Dismissed."

So Rand is alive. But why? Why not kill him for his failures?

"I do not understand it, Revan."

"What do you mean by that, Malak?"

"His incompetence has lost us three Jedi, who could have turned to our cause."

"That is why I accepted his request to change posts. Or do you mean why I let him live?"

"Exactly."

"He could still be of use. Besides, I can feel something in the forest. Yavin is not as isolated as I might have first thought. Rand could be useful to dissuade the intrusion of curious eyes."

"I see. It seems that I still have a lot to learn, Revan."

More than you know Malak, more than you know.

"Terra!"

Terra blinked and found herself staring into the face of a very concerned, yet very handsome, Carth Onasi. And past Carth was... the ceiling?

Terra sat up and looked around, feeling very confused and, for some reason, extremely foolish. She had no idea how she had arrived on the floor of the communications room, but she had a feeling she was about to find out.

"You were just staring at the screen when you just suddenly... collapsed," Carth explained. "I've been calling, screaming, your name for five minutes. You didn't answer me, but... you were saying something. I couldn't make it out, but I take it was bad."

"Umm... how do you manage that?"

"You were frowning all the time. It was like you were really angry."

Terra then felt a strange sensation as she realised that certain parts of her anatomy were falling asleep, or had gone numb. With limbs that seemed oddly detached from the rest of her body, she stood up, and stared at the screen, or more precisely, the tiny, blinking light.

You never joined me after the war, General. So why are you on Yavin? And why are you watching Sudana? Or is it that you've watched enough? Whatever your reasons, Jaz, I'm coming to find out. And I'm going to have you tell me all that you know; I will know it from your own hands. I trust you still remember how to Sign.