Title: Exile's Fall
Author: Xephinetsa
Game: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
Pairing: Female!Exile/Darth Sion
Disclaimer: Kotor II + all characters are © to Obsidian + LucasArts
But Aishi and Janos Rato are © to me!
“The hyperdrive is up and running again,” Bao confirmed, refixing the lid over the top. He packed up his toolkit and turned to Atton. “Did you manage to repair the hull damage?”
“Uhh… well, you see…” the scoundrel nervously scratched at the back of his neck. “There was a slight, er, problem that prevented me from starting-”
“What happened?” Bao cut in with a sigh.
“Let me show you.”
Bao picked up his toolkit and followed Atton to the cargo hold. He scanned the room, his gaze falling on a small, battered astromech droid, tucked away in the corner. “Atton… what did you do?” He rushed forward and knelt down before T3. “Well, there was an incident with a ladder – it wasn’t on purpose.”
The Zabrak shook his head sadly after a quick look at the damage. “I suppose I’ll have to fix him. You go on ahead and repair the hull.”
Atton hesitated in the doorway, then turned back to face Bao-Dur. “One last thing,” he began, waiting for Bao to respond.
“What is it?”
“Please don’t tell Aishi. You know how fond she is of the little droid.”
Bao-Dur sighed again and gave Atton the slightest of nods. Content that the Zabrak would not breathe a word of his mistake, Atton left the cargo hold and retrieved the discarded ladder from where it lay.
He had work to do.
Aishi woke in a dimly-lit chamber to the sounds of screaming and the whir of an active force-field. She could vaguely remember entering the tomb and some kind of gas that had knocked her out. When she tried to move, she found her feet were chained. Almost immediately, panic rose up inside, but she managed to force it down and take a deep breath to calm herself. She could hear the sound of a force-field, but her view was clear. Cautiously, she moved her hand forward, only to pull it back quickly upon being electrocuted by the invisible field. The sound of maniacal laughing filled the room, echoing off the walls until it died away, leaving her to wonder where the sound had originated from.
She didn’t have to wait long to find out.
A tall man in his early twenties with ghostly pale skin and a dirty mess of hair that looked as if it could’ve once been blonde stepped into the light. Before he could open his mouth to speak, Aishi’s comlink buzzed into life. “Hello? Please come in.” When there was no reply, the voice began again. “Hello, can you hear me? Please respond.”
Two pairs of eyes were fixed on the comlink. Watching; waiting. “One last time. If you do not respond, then I’m assuming something has happened.”
She bit her lip. Had it been an hour already? She had no idea how long she’d been out. “Okay. We’re leaving to report to Mandalore.” At the mention of Mandalore, the stranger activated a blue-bladed lightsaber and sliced the comlink in half in one swift movement. Now, as he moved closer to the force-cage, Aishi stifled a gasp.
She recognized him from somewhere.
“Nothing but static.” Aishi’s Mandalorian escorts took one last look at the tomb entrance, then started their journey back to camp. The urge to glance back and make sure nothing was following grew stronger and stronger with each step they took. Soon enough, it was too much and they turned back to find the source of their discomfort. Someone was in fact following, but it was not a ghostly Sith apparition as they had expected; it was only the Zabrak tech-expert that travelled with the Exile looking cold, wet and ticked-off. “Ah! Thingy! I mean… uh-”
“Bao-Dur.”
“Right, right. What are you doing out here alone?”
“I’m making my way to your camp. I’m going to check on Aishi. Take me to her.” His tone was monotonous and softly commanding.
“Umm, she-”
“-Will probably be wandering around somewhere, if she’s not still in the medbay,” the other cut in, shoving his elbow into his partner’s stomach.
Bao said nothing. His gaze was intimidating; and seemed to see right through them.
“Take me to her,” he said again.
“Right. Follow us!” They turned back toward the camp and led him through the dense jungle growth and up winding paths until they finally reached the outpost. After searching the entire camp and finding no trace of Aishi, he stalked over to the Mandalorians that had escorted him. “Where is she?” Bao demanded. They exchanged glances. “Well?” He grew more impatient by the second.
“I remember now! She told us to tell you that she was out with a Mandalorian patrol so you wouldn’t get worried.” This particular comment earned the recruit another elbow in the stomach. “Ouch! Stop doing that!”
“Idiot,” the other hissed. “You blew it.”
As he tended to his bruised stomach and ego, Bao glared at the second recruit with smouldering eyes. “I’ll ask you one last time. Where. Is. Aishi?” He dragged the question out as if he were speaking to a child. At last, the recruit gave in. “She went to explore a Sith tomb.”
Atton closed the small hatch on the side of the ship and wiped the oil from his face with the back of his hand. He took a step back to survey his work, accidentally knocking over his toolkit and scattering tools everywhere. “Dammit!” he exclaimed. Reluctantly, he got down on his hands and knees, and cringed at the mud soaking through his pants and gloves. When he had gathered most of the tools together, a small, monkey-like creature grabbed a hydro spanner and took off with it. “Hey! Get back here you thief!” He jumped up and stumbled after it, splashing through puddles and earning himself two very wet feet. He slipped on the mud and fell forward, face-first into a pile of dung. The creature let out a high-pitched squeaking that almost sounded like a laugh; dropped the hydro spanner onto Atton’s head and disappeared into the bushes. The scoundrel pushed up off the soaked jungle floor and did his best to wipe the dung from his face; which only served to spread it further.
And so it was that a very dirty and agitated scoundrel entered the Ebon Hawk that day. He ignored Kreia’s sarcastic comment, which was quite unusual for him, as he would almost always have a comeback. He dumped the dripping toolkit in the cargo hold and locked himself in the ‘fresher without a word.
“Janos… is that you?” Aishi asked uncertainly. “Janos Rato?” She noticed a glimmer of recognition at the mention of his name. “Yes… that’s what they called me, right? Janos.” He spoke as if he’d only just discovered who he was. “We served in the war together,” she continued.
“Served? What do you mean served? The war still rages! The Mandalorians have me surrounded – they have us all surrounded! But for some reason they only send small patrols. They’re waiting for me to break. Waiting for me to come out into the open so they can butcher me on the spot!” He turned to her, a crazy look in his eye. “I am the only survivor!” His eyes darted left and right, as if they had a mind of their own. “You will die, Mandalorian! You will be tortured to death! But not before I get some information from you, even if I have to force it from you! Wait… I will force it from you!” He let out another maniacal laugh, lightning sparking from his fingertips.
“Well, this explains why Mandalorian patrols have been going missing recently.”
“Yes! I have tortured and killed them all! Listened to their dying screams for the Republic! We will win the Mandalorian Wars! We will! And you, scum, will be just another enemy casualty!”
“Janos… don’t you remember me? General Aishi?”
“Don’t play games with me! General Aishi is dead! I am the only survivor!”
With that, he switched off the force-field and zapped her with lightning, causing her to fall to her knees and convulse with shock and pain. “Tell me! How many troops are out there?”
“The Wars are… over. We – we won. I…”
“Wrong answer!” He zapped her again, with more force this time, all the while cackling insanely. Her wound reopened, allowing fresh blood to pour out and stain her clothes. “Same question! Answer truthfully or suffer the consequences!”
She coughed up more blood, shaking all over. She couldn’t speak; her throat was dry – ever so dry. When he received no answer, he let out another round of lightning; taking pleasure at watching her suffer. He would not listen to reason, he was beyond that.
Janos was gone.
All that was left was too convinced that the Mandalorian Wars still raged on. He had been locked away inside himself for so long that he no longer possessed a grasp of reality. He now lived inside his own nightmare, and there was no way back. It pained Aishi to see him like this; but beside the pain, hidden away, was also anger.
A small spark that soon became a flame.
A flame that soon became a great, roaring fire.
She let out a loud, piercing scream that shattered everything in range. Ancient Sith pottery broke into a thousand pieces; the very roof and walls began to crumble. Her scream sent a shock wave that shook the whole tomb. Janos clapped his hands over his ears, but could not block out the bloodcurdling cry. His entire body was lifted into the air and thrown against the wall, splattering crimson liquid all over. What remained of the body was ripped apart by the sheer force behind the scream and was no more.
Aishi stopped screaming and opened her eyes to review the chaos. Everything around her was destroyed. She, the source of the carnage, sat in the middle of it all; the only thing untouched. Before she had a chance to even think about what had just happened, a great rumbling sound filled her ears.
The tomb was collapsing.
Run, Exile!
“Of all the times to creep into my head-”
There is no time for this! You must escape!
“Fine, fine! But this isn’t over!”
She leapt to her feet and bolted out of there; running through the many twisting corridors that made up the tomb until she made it to where she had started. As rocks twice her size crashed down around her, she forced herself the last few meters and dove through the exit, out into the pouring rain. A pair of black leather boots was not what she was expecting to see at her current eye-level, but as she craned her neck to look up, Bao-Dur and two Mandalorians clad in blue armour were a welcome sight. “Are you okay, General?” he asked, pulling her to her feet. Her knees caved almost instantly and he grabbed her waist before she could fall. “You’re not fit to walk.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! I-” her protest was interrupted as he lifted her off the ground and into his arms. “I can walk. I’m just…”
“General! It’s alright to get help sometimes. Don’t let your pride get in the way. No one will think any less of you if I carry you back to camp.”
So she shut her mouth and rested her head on his strong shoulder, secretly relieved that she didn’t have to walk. The power she had felt in the tomb was gone. She felt drained; as is all of her energy had been sucked out of her.
And, for once, she was glad of the permanently gloomy Dxun weather. The rain streamed down her cheeks, hiding the tears that now flowed freely from her eyes.