CHAPTER NINETEEN
RAKATA PRIME
Vima stood beside the large rock watching as the ocean waves crashed onto the shore only a hundred meters away. She had responded as Revan had asked her, the squad of elite Mandalorians now digging out the wreckage of something they had found buried in the sand. They had almost missed it on their first pass, until the instruments in their transport began to chirp loudly at deposits of metal. They had landed and moved to the location and discovered what appeared to be the top of some sort of metal casing. At Vima’s instruction, they began to uncover the object.
Vima stood quietly, waiting for them to give her some sort of information. These Mandalorians were very well trained, she had to admit, and they followed her orders without question. She had to admire the loyalty that Revan Panlie inspired in everyone around him. These men and women would die at his order with no questions, and she had learned that his son and the former Jedi Exile Dacen Vorsut commanded the same loyalty among the Mandalorians, and now among the Republic forces aligned with them.
Vima turned when she felt the Mandalorian soldier approaching from the side. “We have uncovered the object Master Sunrider.” The man reported. “It appears to be some type of three person escape shuttle.”
Vima’s heart sank. She had been hoping they would find nothing but pulverized metal from the Star Forge that had crashed here, but as she hurried after the soldier her hopes were quickly dashed.
Vima stopped as she looked at the escape pod. Exactly how Revan had described, it was circular in shape, its glossy black finish wasted away from years in the sun and desert sand. There were several large dents in the casing of the vessel, but aside from that, it was completely intact. Vima reached out and laid her hand on the exterior of the pod, drawing it away quickly as she felt the faintest of dark energies still emboldened on the pod. She turned to the senior Mandalorian trooper.
“Open it!” She ordered.
The hatch was already ajar from some great impact, probably a very hard landing, and three Mandalorian troops simply grasp the edges they could grab and began yanking as hard as they could. The hatch gave way easily to reveal a cramped interior, now flooded with sunlight. Many of the instrument panels either were destroyed or had been taken apart. The smell was foul, and Vima knew it to be the stench of human blood left to ferment. She waved her hand, trying to push aside the dust that crowded the inside of the pod. She could see the three seats, all of them stained with blood, as were many of the instrument panels. One seat in particular looked to have held a seriously wounded individual, as the seat itself and the back of the chair were coated in blood streaks, and there was a small puddle beneath the seat. She could also see the rotted remains of a skeleton in the center seat, and knew immediately that this was the major source of the stench. The skeleton had been picked clean by Rakata Blood Ants, many of which still scurried over the remains. Blood Ants were the scourge of this world, and while they had been purged from the Temple and surrounding areas, they were still a vicious problem on other islands such as this one. A bite from one Blood Ant would bring thousands of the tiny insects from every nook and crevice that existed, and even the bite of one Blood Ant was highly toxic and could make a full grown adult very ill for several days. To be attacked by thousands meant certain death.
Vima looked at her senior trooper. “Do we have scanning equipment?” She asked.
The Mandalorian scout nodded his head. “Our transport is equipped with a fully functional bank of medical equipment Master Vima.”
“Contact the compound.” Vima spoke. “I want the most senior physician there to stand by to be picked up. Have whatever transport we have on stand by deliver him to this location within the hour. I want blood scans of the interior of the pod to include every square millimeter of the exterior. Make sure the pod is fumigated before anyone enters. I don’t want anyone bitten by Blood Ants! Secure this crash site, and deploy whatever means you need to defend it from hostiles.”
“Master Vima… there are no hostiles on Rakata Prime. We cleared the planet many years ago.” The Mandalorian said.
Vima nodded. “Master Sergeant there weren’t supposed to be any Sith escape pods on this planet either, and we just found one. And from the looks of it, it had three people in it, at least one of them seriously injured. Do you want to take chances?”
The Mandalorian grinned. “I will issue the orders Master Vima.”
Vima lifted her comlink to contact Revan.
THE BASTILA
VAINGLORIOUS-CLASS HEAVY STAR CRUISER
ON COURSE FOR CORUSCANT
Revan sat in the large officer’s lounge with Forn Dodonna and his executive officer. The holo images of Vandar, Dacen and Bastila occupied the table at one end, while the images of Brose, Canderous and Carth along with Jolee and General Akman at the other end of the table. Vima’s image was in the center of the table as she reported what she had found on Rakata Prime.
“… right where your young officer said it would be Revan.” Vima spoke.
“Vima… for everyone’s benefit, please repeat what you reported to me an hour ago.” Revan spoke.
“We found a life pod buried in the sand near the beach head.” Vima spoke. “It matches perfectly with the scans that were provided by Lieutenant Vos. It is undoubtedly a pod of Sith manufacture, and the carbon scoring on the outer surface indicates it came from the Star Forge as it was breaking apart above the planet.” Vima’s image fluttered out for a second and then became clearer than before. “I ordered a medical team to our location while my Mandalorian troops secured the site. We had to fumigate the interior of the pod for Rakata Blood Ants. They were all over the interior because of the skeletal remains we found inside. Once that was complete we were able to enter the pod and confirm its origins with a data dump. Not much remained in the computer core, but the techs here were able to retrieve the last few seconds of data before the pod landed.”
The image changed to the scene of a set of hands furiously working the controls of the pod. And then they heard the voice. “Make… Lord Malak… secured… seat! We’re… hit…hard.”
The image ended and Vima returned to the imager. “The doctor here with the team ran DNA and genome scans of the interior, and compared them with known Jedi and Republic records. Much of the blood in the craft was Malak’s. Since lightsabers do not leave open wounds, we can only assume he was further injured as whoever pulled him off the observation deck got him to this pod. The remains are of a child, roughly nine to ten years of age. DNA evidence suggests that the child was a relative of Malak, perhaps a brother? Did Malak have any family? The third individual, the one seen piloting the pod, left no DNA evidence, but according to the doctor here, there is evidence that the interior of the pod was scrubbed before it was abandoned.” Vima paused. “We also discovered that much of the emergency compartment contents were emptied and DNA scans suggest that a fourth individual was most likely in the emergency compartment. We have only been able to obtain a tiny portion of skins cells from within the emergency pod, and until we can get the samples back to the Temple, we can’t determine if they are even human. This is also what caused of the uncontrolled entry and hard landing, as the difference in weight was not accounted for as the pod reentered the atmosphere. As I said, we won’t be able to obtain more firm information until we can bring the pod back to the Temple and conduct extensive scans.”
“How long Vima?” Revan asked.
“I already have a heavy transport enroute to our location Revan. We can lift it from its location and have it back to the Temple within the next two hours. The doctor has already arranged for his medical team to be on standby. I estimate at least twelve hours before we can get any real hard proof.” Vima replied. “But this discovery does prove you are correct Revan. It appears Malak did survive your fight on the Star Forge. And it appears he, at the very least, made it down to the surface of Rakata. The lack of any remains in the area around the crash indicates if he did die… it wasn’t on this island.”
Revan nodded. “Thank you Vima. Contact either myself or Chancellor Thimina with your results.”
Vima nodded in the transmission and her image faded. The room was silent for a long moment as the magnitude of what they had been told sank in. Brose was the first to speak, and he cleared his throat.
“Master Revan… what do you suggest as our next move?” Brose asked.
“I must apologize to everyone.” Revan spoke.
“Apologize for what?” Brose asked. “You had no idea this turn of events could have happened, let alone predict it.”
“I should have made sure he was dead.” Revan spoke softly.
“The Star Forge was breaking up around you Revan.” Vandar’s voice echoed in the room. “Never apologize for not taking a life. You did what you thought was necessary to preserve the lives of those that traveled with you. No blame is there to assume.”
“I agree.” Brose said. “Now that Master Sunrider has confirmed what we all feared, we need to be prepared. Master Revan… again, how should we proceed?”
“Chancellor, I believe we need to operate on the assumption that Malak is alive, and that he will attack somewhere very soon. The Vurk dark Jedi is a signal that he is preparing his forces.” Revan replied.
“This has got to be why we have encountered almost no Sith over the years.” Canderous spoke from the bridge of the WAR MOUNT. “Between metal jaw and this Amaurth pig, the Sith have joined one of the two groups.”
“Revan we are stretched to the breaking point now.” Dacen spoke now. “Atris and Hanna are locked in a vicious battle with Sith forces on Vandelhelm. Brianna has taken command of the entire Cerean Militia at their Prime Minister’s request and is directing the front there. I’ve wiped out the Sith forces here around Haruun Kal, but we are still in the process of sweeping the planet. Half my ground force is still planetside, and I lost nearly a third of my ships in the battle. And I have to try and keep the Korunnai from butchering any Sith troops they do find.”
“I’m back at full strength Revan.” Canderous offered. “I was heading to Cerea to hit the Sith from the backside and then loop over to Vandelhelm. I can take some pressure off Dacen and Brianna, and then help Yusanis and Hanna mop up on Vandelhelm.”
Revan nodded. “Continue that.” He spoke. “The Pure Sith forces seem to be concentrated in that part of the galaxy. There have only been sparse sightings of them anywhere else. I’ll split my Fleet Corp and send half to reinforce you Dacen. I’ll keep half near Coruscant to react to anything that Malak might launch.”
“I can send my Bothan Assault Division to you Revan.” Carth chimed in now. “My Corp is at full strength, and they could use the exercise.”
“What about your son’s Fleet Corp Revan?” Forn asked. “I see them on the board, but no mission is listed.”
Revan looked to the image of Brose at the end of the table. The Chancellor nodded and Revan shook his head. He touched the panel next to his hand and a holo image of Honoghr appeared on the star chart. “Rev’s Fleet Corp is about to hit Honoghr in force. They are going to drop two divisions of Republic and Mandalorian troops onto the planet using the new Republic RVR19 transports. Rev has made contact with the Noghri resistance, and they’ve eliminated four major garrisons already, and have had the shipyard under constant surveillance for the last twelve hours. For all intents and purposes the Sith are fat dumb and happy. His Fleet Corp hits Honoghr in just under eight hours, and with any luck we can destroy the shipyard and push the Sith right out of this system before they even realize what is going on.”
“And if something goes wrong?” Forn asked.
Revan looked at her. “Then we are going to be in a world of hurt.”
“He hasn’t communicated with any Republic or Jedi Intelligence unit.” General Akman spoke now. “How is it that you know this?”
Revan tapped his head. “I know exactly what my son is doing, and for the moment, let’s just leave it at that.”
“I have approved this.” Brose said, more for Akman’s benefit than anything else.
“Revan do you think Malak is truly capable of doing something?” Jolee asked now. “You defeated him, even if he is alive, how was he able to rally supporters to his cause? Where could he have gotten the forces necessary to even confront the Republic?”
“Malak does not receive the credit he should.” Revan spoke. “He was head strong and reckless, and took far too many chances, and he was very weak on the tactical side of things, but he was a tremendous leader. And he was very powerful in the Force. If he did survive, the only way he could have retained power was by showing just how strong he was.”
“But where would he go?” Bastila asked, speaking for the first time. “He isn’t exactly average in looks my love. With his bald head and metal jaw, everyone knew who he was. You had the benefit of a mask Revan, and people would not recognize you right away. Malak did not. Nor did he care to.”
“Then he had to go somewhere where no one would look for him.” Revan said. “He must have gone to Korriban or somewhere along the Outer Rim, someplace very remote. Has anyone been to Korriban since you were there Dacen?”
Dacen shook his head. “Not to my knowledge. It was a graveyard Revan, barely livable, even for a Sith.”
Revan turned to Carth. “Carth, have one of your recon ships investigate Korriban immediately. They are not to land, only take high orbit scans. Compare them with scans we have of Korriban over the years since Dacen was there.”