Chapter Nine: Loose Ends/Friends

Another room, different, created out of the shifting puzzle of the skyscraper. Blue, floating pieces of white and pink, fluffy. All five were there - Carth - the brown trenchcoat, faded at the elbows, threadbare , a favorite, picked up at random from Taris, over a set of casual cloths, a orange jean jacket/vest and pants - the center of the conversation, the vortex.

"And why me?"

"And why not you? There are plenty of reasons why, but if you are going to focus the thrust of your argument in that manner, I ask why not? We need a pilot - I am running this like a military operation, you know the protocol, there needs to be an Observer over the computers and systems -"

"T3 would be the Manuel to my Observer, I presume -"

"Yes, you two would run the ship -"

"But there are plenty of others -"

"Yes plenty of other people who would be liabilities, who could be leaks, when they are let into my council, when I let them into this circle, this party. Secrecy is a virtue, Carth - keeping you the pilot limits the number of those in the know, since you have already traveled with us."

"I came pre-packaged it seems -"

"What does he know?" asked Mission curiously. "What do any of us know of importance?" making a point as well.

"Everything" said Reven vehemently, and then responding to Carth "We all come pre-packaged to certain roles, delivered to fix certain problems. It is the Force, it is duty -"

"Then why not someone who uses the Force, Reven?" asked Mab, leaning up against a wall - she felt for Carth, and wanted to extricate him, and at the same time was a little hurt by his denial, lending this question a slight cruel, cold edge, dismissing him if he didn't matter - non the less, Carth looked at her gratefully - they were always one team, they always had each others back.

"That would do the same - widen the circle. And I do not want any Jedi that aren't essential to the mission - they'll interfere, they'll have their own plans, based on their own observations."

" And I wouldn't? Last time I checked I had a brain on my shoulders, even though it is one that is befit of a mystical connection - can't remove it like a chip out of a droid, my gray matter is turned on permanently - know how sad that must makes you -"

"Regardless" irritated - "Being a non- Jedi means there are certain things that can restricted from your access."

"I'm sharing everything with Carth if he comes with."

"In time you will learn discretion."

"Maybe you will learn friendship" retorted Mab.

"I would settle for respect" said Carth, a stiffly. "Perhaps I should demand it - like Mab made certain demands -" turning in her direction.

All three stared each other, Carth offering a smile towards and receiving one - the air had lightened, a bit of playfulness added.

Reven paused -"This is embittering to you", he said towards Carth, a different, softer tone -"I... I had not looked into - what is the problem? What am I missing-":

"I was suppose to be done for six months - after Taris."

"Yes. It's clear now. I'm sorry - I avoided -"

"Maybe I have your respect then - i just assumed you were blasely reading our minds at every second -"

"it wasn't out of respect" said Reven softly, gloomily, turning away. "It is harsh... Will you come? You have the choice - and I envy you for it." more to himself.

Carth paused. "I will come." He shook his head as if waking from a dream - astonished -" of course I will come."

"Good - for a second there I thought you had become complacent, flabby - that you were surfeiting on the love of your family, in a sort of softness -" He spoke sharply, delicate, careful in his venom, his cutting.

There was extremely awkward pause.

"My family" heavy emphasis "is what keeps me going. And I've been fighting for years - more than you - I have more decorations then you, I've done more. The only reason you - " Carth hesitated -

"Say it."

"The only reason you're in a position is because of your power, not your selfish striving. I've been on the long dusty road, and I know you need something at the end of it - the shock of it suddenly disappearing after seeing it for so long as a hope - well it was a little to much. I've composed myself - I'm acting at my appropriate level now. Don't worry about me... or my flab. "

"...Excellent." And although Mab wished he would stop, and Reven himself seemed reluctant to go on - to her piecing perception - he continued. " Good, because there are some in the universe who feed on it, who find the "flab" as we've taken to calling it" - conciliatory, but the result was icy, neither smiled - "as a meal. They sizzle the fat, they cook it- it makes them salivate. It's a dish. it draws them in as prey. I need a strong crew - a harsh crew. "

"So you say. But the fate of the lean doesn't seem to be any better" He stared directly in Reven''s eyes at the word lean. "They die all the same."

"Yes... -"

"Reven, you make it sound like I'm not going to be able to come" said Mission in terror.

"Of course you aren't coming, darling."

"She's coming" said Reven, slicing the silence.

"What? No! First of all you contradict yourself - "

"So I do. But she's coming"

"It doesn't make any sense -"

"She can work on the ship as the quarter master. All we have right now is a extruder, true, but we will pick up supplies - not here, I wish to leave as soon as possible - but at another port. She can run the vessel when we're gone and busy, purchase furniture, equipment - she has mechanical and repair skills as well - she will be a useful addition."

"Reven, there has to be some kind of place we can leave her at - probably with the Jedi. She can learn and grow -"

"I am not leaving her to the Jedi" said Reven passionately "I am not leaving her behind."

"It doesn't make any sense to me"

Reven turned to Mission "She... they can rail all they like - in private, later -" he said, turning to Mab with a powerful glare "but they won't change my mind. You're coming, don't worry. Pack your things."

"They already are! I was worried you'd leave me behind if i wasn't ready in a second."

Mab felt a swift stab of pain go through Reven, and she herself was touched as well - it was pure foolishness however, to take this urchin with - she was also a little outraged at how Reven always got his way so easily, but she used to it as well, accepting - and there were certain things she would not concede. That knowledge - of the line, the secret strength inside - allowed her to deal with his imperiousness, to watch the proceedings - the preceding every day, of his indomitable will exacted ruthlessly, without question - with a certain amount of detached calm.

Carth, responded to the "they" - Reven had turned to the gunslinger briefly at it -" said "I don't...quite agree with it, but as long as she stays on the ship, I think it will be fine. And she does seem like a good crew member. She can keep stores and help T3 clean. Speaking of the ship, can we go see it?"

"It's connected to the building. We'll leave soon - but first there is one other person I would like to convince to accompany us." Reven turned as to go, doing this, inserting the artificial pause and wait, so they would come along with him, preferably at or near his side.

"I want to talk to Serik as well." asserted Mab.

"Serik" said Reven distractedly.

"T3 and I were thinking about going to see him" said Mission - "We just forget I guess"

"We haven't gone to him once" said Mab, the full weight of this dawning on her - guilt " I think we at least owe it to him to check up on him before we leave."

"Very well" said Reven coldly, not disguising his repulsion at this idea - "I have reports - he is recovering. The serum reacted negatively to his biology - I feel this is most likely because of his species."

"Where is he staying?" asked Carth (across a bridge of hard yellow light over a gap; the building had split, a piece of it separating, budding off)

Reven paused, thinking, and then began to close his eyes -

Mab: "I know - he's somewhere around the northwestern side, same floor as us. I had been looking for him a couple days back - the nurses around there... they had fingers marks, deep in the flesh, on their arms and neck. And a bit of a unnerved, on edge skittish look in their eyes. Obvious sign he was somewhere in the vicinity. I'm sure he was terrorizing them deliberately, and then pretending it was accidental - so he could hurt them without them resisting. Cover it up with an eccentric manner. So if it hasn't moved -"

"It hasn't. He's in room 21B12."

"Great."

"Let's make it quick."

"He helped us off the planet Reven. I don't think we would have accomplished it otherwise."

"For his own personnel gain, may I remind you."

"Really - see how far this has gotten him. Laying in a sick bed - real personal gain there- alone, possibly dying.

"Torturing the medical staff"

"Look and he left the planet to help it - I feel you are glossing over that."

"Yes - just like the Bandsaucian Merker, feeding his herd good food and making sure their safe - to help them. That's what it's for."

"No one is altruistic to you."

"Perhaps - perhaps everyone's true motives are selfish, but his come from a place that is vicious and savage."

"Well why don't you tell that to his face. I'm sure it will help. Make him feel good. Just what the doctor ordered." said Carth dryly; they were standing outside of their door.

Reven looked surprised, and turned to Mab. "You have a tendency to make me forget where I am."

"And you one that makes me forget where I'm going." There was a slight smile on both their parts.

- "Oh, and Carth, I will tell him - he'll be delighted. Preen."

They entered - Serik lay on his side, turned to the energy wall away from them - a dark green color. Beginning in it, deep, suspended, blooming and spreading, and then protruding out of the exterior in folds were light pink flowers, like plant jellyfish. He was covered in nothing but his simple, brown ponco, dragged over him, slipping a little off the shoulder, revealing the start of his scaly, plated spine, knots of great muscle and tendon.

"Mab... and the others."

He turned to face them, rolling - Mab recoiled slightly - his eye and the skin around it, on his forehead and cheek was still deformed - the flesh flaky and gray, crumbling, the eye expansive, pushing and shoving away everything else, jumbling and compressing it together, compacting it in rolls and folds and squished, protruding meat, huge, bulging, a sickly yellow.

"It frightens you. Good...good."

Mab walked over to him - determined to glide over or ignore his strangeness, and at least try to be compassionate - and reached - "Are you okay?"

He grabbed at her from underneath the blanket - the fingers, monstrous, wrapped around her forearm. It was horrifying how he perverted, preyed upon, exploited the most simple gestures of sympathy and kindness - she did not think he could help it - or as philosophers on free will would say - more specifically the conflicting biological freedoms of various species, how they compared and related - he didn't want to help it. "I am good. Yes. I will survive."

"Why aren't the droids orbiting you - why do you have a physical blanket?" Her mind quickly flashed to thoughts of specism - prevalent and constant because of her stay on Taris - the second reason for this vague jump was the soft, low, fleeting idea: "are the other Jedi like Reven...? - a visual of the brown nurses treating the Transodoscen with the same cold disdain.

"The droids were adjusted to the heat that would give me the most pleasure, make me the happiest - I became like a creature sunning on rock. Yes... like a lizard sunning on a rock - Just like a lizard Mission; no reason to hold in the chuckle - "

This had the opposite effect he - or at least his words - seemed to intend - she paled and stared away.

It was...delightful, yes, but I find... I need harshness. I need - harshness, perhaps to spark the fighting spirit, I need it - to destroy this demon venom inside of me. And destroy it I will. I have been struggling for long hours."

...I told them I enjoyed the smell of my blanket - it reminded me of home. While this is not necessary untrue, it's real purpose was for them to call their machines away - advanced they are, but I doubt they create scents at the level my species can. If I told them I didn't want to happy - I think they would I was insane - it certainty more of argument. I don't waste time convincing and debating people who are suppose to my servants. "

"Do the nurses visit you often?" asked Mab

"Yes - they are force users. They seek to heal me. I enjoy their presence. They are unlike droids - in so many ways."

Reven seemed to realize the meaning behind this - or read into it one that was his own -" Well I am glad you are thriving on their companionship" pointedly.

"Yes. I hunger again. I eat again. It alarms them." hew said almost conversationally. "I will grow stronger, and keep growing. I will consume and consume - I see their fear of me in their eyes - my...hungry vastness. I... rule here, like a lord in court. They hover around me." he said this pleased, but also as if this is how it should be - there was nothing revolutionary about it - all was in place.

"What exactly is wrong with you? We all came back fine -"

"The transformation was painful - it...broke me. And I did not return whole, or in my original form. I have been mixed, mutated - I am thing blended, various snarling parts all in disarray. When they brought me here if they would have acted quickly they might have saved me completely - but instead they tied to comfort me, make me feel good" contemptuous "- when will those with the power to heal by destruction arise?" the last part a off the cuff, light remark."

"I hear the the Exile is looking for new recruits." said Reven sardonically.

"Yes... but she does not heal at all... and it is not destruction she uses either. She is...like many women of the human race I find - he paused delicately at this, smiling sinister at Mab, trolling for a response - " She prefers to smother than attack. To steal the breath, the life. No, no she not my master. She is in fact my greatest enemy."

Can you imagine how terrified they were, how intimated they were, when I learned of Taris' demise. One wept in fear. I was awful."

"I'm sure you were" Mab said, thinking she understood him, trying to connect dutifully.

He rolled onto his back and grabbed her, wheezing deeply from his chest, staring into her eyes "Don't patronize me - when I want your respect, which comes only in shivers and cries, I will take it from you, rest assured..."

She extricated her arm gently. "Very well. My apologies. I"m sure you were very sad - how about that? I feel for -

I'm sorry. " He shooed his head, lost. "I am... not in full control. As you humans would say I feverish. Metaphorical of course, on my part.

I smell your fevers by the way. How they delight me - that one thing I am missing here - the Jedi are to controlled. Tight asses. Their assholes are tight." His eye rolled slightly - "I feel we are pushing our welcome. You need rest."

"Rest? No - I surfeit on it."

"Regardless, I think we should go. I just wanted to check up on you and say - "

"I don't need your thanks. Be gone then, if that is all you come with, carrying in your mouth - like an alligator carries teeth cleaning birds. I don't want to hear their weak chirps, not truly your own, not truly inside of you and your fangs are clean enough I find, the 'thank yous' have perhaps done too much - perhaps have chiseled some away with so much cleaning. You are toothless. Your mouth full with them, the fake creatures. Nothing you say means anything - if I actually asked you for something you would deny in, it a song of birds." The last part with a slight hint, a timbre, a vibration of a self pitying whimper, a bit artificial - a facile whine, thick,rich, indulgent.

"Serik - " began Carth.

"What do you want -" began Mab, and then changed her tact - she did not want to play into whatever he was setting up. He could ask himself - "Good luck. I sincerely hope you get better. You have a great mind - perhaps you can put it to use on Coruscant."

"Yes... I plan to eventually. The nurses whisper sweet nothings about my future in my ear, about their plans for me, arrangements - once again, my future is something I seize. Tearing my part of the future from the whole - it leaves the edges jagged, rough, covered in blood."

"We'll see you around - I'm sure." They turned to leave - "Wait!" He cried out in a voice hoarse, vicious. "I am coming with you."

"I don't think so friend" said Reven quickly. "You are -"

"I am strong! Every day more and more comes to me. This too will pass, I am climbing out it. I will be lucid - and you do not want me lucid and not in you company - for I will use that sanity to plan your - No. Excuse me! Excuse me! I want to come with you. You leaving, yes. Somewhere. Your ship needs a medical officer, if it's a mission. Is it? It is, isn't it."

"I -" began Reven.

"He has a point" said Mab. "he is gifted."

"But will he really get better?" said Carth

"The reports say yes. And I sense heath in him - How much of his illness is he using to exploit?" Reven came close and kneeled down "No more of this, Serik. You may have gotten away with it with the nurses - none of it on the ship. We aren't here for your amusement. And stay away from the girl"

"I need to come with. There is no cure. It's entangled - in my soul. Wrapped around it, like a DNA helix of barbed wire. I need to travel with the greatest Jedi of the century - you can cure me.

And I want more."

"You want to pay back The Exile. Harm her?"

"Such a being can't be harmed. What does she have to lose. Nothing. That is what allows it. That is what allowed the act. I simply wish to stop her."

Reven paused -

"I am sick because of you."

Serik let this float in the air.

"Yes. You can come with us. You're right Mab - his mind is sharp. Carth, will you help him onto the ship. I will give you - "

"I do not need help." said Serik. He grabbed the staff near his bed, and stood; his poncho slipped, but he caught it, the fabric bunched up in his claw. It hung down from his stomach to his feet, revealing a strong chest, scarred with age.

"Very well. T3 go with him to prepare the ship. Lead him. Make sure no one stops him. We be along shortly - hopefully no more then a hour."

- "Serik. The ship. Be careful on it. Do not - it has gone through much. It has a - it is a harmful place I feel."

"What exactly did you get it?"

"I will explain in time."

Reven stood immobile for a moment, looking around at the rest of the group - "There is one final person I believe we should retrieve - an individual who will be of great utility to our mission. He was on The Exile's council - he has given us all the valuable information he posses, but merely having someone along with us who was there as the events took place will surely have use. He's been here, in seclusion, the whole time - healing they say, although if it's taken him three years and counting, I doubt how much healing he is actually doing. Rest perhaps...nothing but rest - which is...unlike him."

"On the War Council..." said Mab, racking her mind.

"An old... comrade of mine. A Jedi Knight - Malak."

He gave another broad look, covering all of them "Shall we?" He held up a hand - "room reset"- the walls began to melt away, the flowers caught in a suddenly appearing beam of light, a substitute rectangle surrounding them, seizing them, and then retreating, the beds and equipment pulled into the walls - a circle underneath them opened up and they fell, once again, Mission covering her eyes, a slight exuberant "weee" escaping her lips. They were deposited on a floor of red, which moved beneath them, a magic carpet changing direction and angle, taking them along a pre-set path through obstacles that proved to be not so barring -

"There's a building whose walls are composed entirely out of waterfalls, I've heard, and passing through one is like moving through a fine mist, cold, or a sharp prickly cascade of tiny droplets, thrown your way by the wind - the computers modulate the intensity and type. Here it's nothing - not even a warmth or a shiver - " said Carth -

"And we ourselves" began mission " visited one that was made out of butterflies - that flapped against your face as you walked where there were no doors - where there were doors, it was an open space, ringed by... well bouquets of colorful insects!" pleased with her description.

"You had to push slightly (responding to the first part of Mission's sentence) - but they yielded with a grace - and it felt like... what did they say?"

"A lover's eyelash batting against one's cheek - many of them, of course" said Mission, blushing moderately.

"Why aren't people starving?" grumbled Reven.

"What?" asked Mab incredulously, a chuckle in her voice, a smile on her face -

"Why aren't people on this planet starving? Then I could at least complain about all this ridiculous, sentimental decadence."

Mab laughed - "With the phrase " how can we have buildings out of living creatures, when there are people starving"

"Exactly" said Reven, a hidden grin.

Carth: "The flip side of social injustice ah"

"One of the few"

A stone cube neared closer to them, a light brown on the outside, a pillar of light, of infrastructure on top of it, to the front a gap in the ceiling for many stories, a skylight. It emphasized the fore space in gold; a shower, transmitted and bounced through the twists and turns and openings, to walk through. There was no door, only a reddish brown curtain, on golden rings, aged by light - Reven stopped by this boundary, took a slight breath, and pushed it aside.

The room had signs of a long habitation, and along with that, of a man who valued comfort, a sort of cluttered, plush comfort of many things. There was a balcony of stone coming off, letting in a great beams, the walls were lined with tomes of paper and leather, and scattered about where many wooden desks, chairs and sofas, (one a few where dumbbells and exercise straps - there was a huge metal weight by his bed) and collections of flowers and herbs in jars, vials, vases, tubes, and balls, most of them smoking - incense. On one wall was a primitive kitchenette unit, archaic - a pot of water boiling - and a few bags of food - many utensils and tools hung over or jutted out of drawers - he cooked by hand. Mab focused on the shelves first,and noticed many of the pages of the books were mismatched, and thickly cut - that is some extended further out from the spine than others. One that was open - with grand illustration and lettery - revealed that the writing material was mufti-layered, home made, composed of separate pieces pressed and molded together - flower petals.

Flowers and plant life of old, flowers of dust, flowers found in brittle secret places, flower and plant life that crumbled at the slightest rude touch, releasing fragrant odors - Mab had a vision of the man - she caught a slight glimpse of him, he was a strange, melancholy giant - walking - she also saw his staff - on the sides of building, on secluded roofs, and through ancient corridors, when health permitted, dim faded lands, a slow, leaning wanderer, searching out and finding these fragile fountains of a dying scent in corners and dead ends, and collecting them, as fragile as he - so knowing how to handle them, with infinite gentleness and sadness - bringing them home, and either crushing them with a fist, a magician preparing a charm potion, or delicately working with them, pressing them together - a large book was spread wide on a spindly desk, and across it's pages a dark brown beetle raced, creating looping letters - there was also an inkwell, and a quill with a great feather near by - he did it manually as well.

At the glimpse of Malak she realized the room was also that of a man who paced, of a man who spent long days inside, a man who was trapped and surrounded, and switched his position many times a day, to no avail. A wounded monk.

He lay in a mighty bed, head propped up, reading a book - naked (and Mab was instantly attracted to the strong, clean lines of his body - unlike Reven, his muscle and strength didn't deform him, hunch him in and down, but straightened him) - his skin was a yellowish pale color - droids orbiting him, projecting beams.

Reven glanced at the bots - "The setting on warm bath? You were always a hedonist, Malak" his voice as restrained as ever - she felt his emotions as slight vibrations in this taut, unchanging line, and nothing more.

Malak closed the book and turned, staring in surprise - the back of his head was covered in a metal plate, (from it came four blue gray strips, tattoos, two across the prodigious dome of his head, to a little above his eyebrows, the others by the sides, curving, shorter, these pointed at their ends) and over his left eye was a thick scar* going all the way to the cap - his left arm was also mechanical, and while his legs were muscular and healthy, Mab sensed in them no tension, no energy - they was unused (which explained the massive pair of Walkers next to the bed, by the cane and long staff - bright yellow, like a construction droid, where the boots of blocky steel) There was a ruined grandeur in him, a weariness, she saw - like a great house come undone, like the groaning of a wooden ship at sea.

* She was surprised to see a scar on him - she only saw "permeant" wounds in the midst of isolated battlefields, and cut off planets under siege. Normally a scar was the mark of the lower class - on severely socially stratified planets - or those attempting to emulate them - she remembered one boy in her school - perfectly able to heal himself, with full, unhindered access to cheap, easy medical help - keeping a scar on on his cheek. He also had slicked back hair, and carefully modulated thuggish ways - shifty, sneaky - rat like, a skinny thing. It was especially unnerving to see such a thing on a Jedi - plain ugliness was something else of course, expected perhaps. Jedi were known for not altering their faces, and so uncomely visages became almost honorable among them, like heraldic symbols, great noses of power, great chins of a vanity free mind - as the sentinel cathedral readily attested to: a sort of beastly grandeur, an intricate, complex, faceted ghastliness.

Malak looked up from his book and turned in shock "I sensed you coming - but... I thought I imagined it."

"Do you often imagine old friends walking about?" laughed Reven.

"It appears so" said Malak, losing his momentum, a sort of trailing, slow whisper, as he turned towards Mab, his eyes widening - he was punctured, he was penetrated and softened.

Reven moved quickly, back and forth, like a predator pacing, or weaving a circle of death around some eying prey - a wary, slow moment. Carefully: "This is Mab Argonberth . She is helping on a mission - she is...an oracle."

"I'm behind the times it seems, Reven." His face beginning to flush, mouth opening and contorting, stretching more and more.

"Yes... we have catching up to do."

"Many things have been kept secret from me -"

They stared at each other, and Malak broke the silence, turning to Mab -"Hello Mab "his eyes intense at the moment, something dramatic on his mind, some gigantic feeling occupying him "my name is Malak."

"Malak, I know it must be quite the excitement seeing me again. I... my heart" Reven face grew a strange expression - it was placating and yearning.

Malak turned to Reven, his brow furrowed and quizzical. "You're bringing together the entire war council, I presume. Kae as well?"

"yes, all that aren't dead or turned"

"It is a small group, Reven - I think you can just use their names." His eyes constantly darted towards Mab.

"...All but the Disciple and"

"her name" Malak face hardened, and Mab saw a terrible temper beneath his surface, a terrible righteousness - an angel of justice. She realized his twisted forehead was not demonstrating confusion, but was the start, the sign of a seed - a seed of rage. She had misinterpreted his facial expressions - something she realized more and more she was doing.

"And Bastila. All but the Disciple and Bastila Shan. I killed her, or as good as killed her. I broke her and struck her down." (Now Malak was avoiding her all together - deliberately not allowing his neck to turn. She felt he was not even peering out of the corner of his eye, as he had been doing previously - it was as if he was man completely ashamed or hurt, and ignoring someone fully. He was focused fully - with an air of this being purposely, the result of volition - on Reven. )

"Did she deserve it?"

"Her crimes -"

"That's not the question - "

"I did what was necessary."

"Did she deserve it"?

"She was your friend Malak! You are not unbiased"

"Don't use that word! She was more than a friend. She was a comrade - we walked in battle together! She saved my life multiple times - she bleed for me!"

"Yes, she was more! Yes, she was your leader; she lead you and you followed blindly -"

"I was gone before the slaughter of the Mandalorians; you know that! I was wounded before that and sent away" and Malak grabbed and dropped his legs in absolute frustration.

"There was atrocities before that! I know! I know! Atrocities I have never revealed, to keep you safe!"

"Did she -"

"Yes! Yes! ( in a strange voice, a husky bark/yelp, higher pitched than he normally spoke.) What I've done will save lives!"

Malak continued to stare, but leaned back, as if some battle was won, exhausted. Carth could contain himself no longer; both his excitement and his desire to cut the intense tension: "General Malak, you don't know me, but I served in the Mandalorian Wars, and it is honor - "

"That title... I don't find a pleasing anymore." Malak looked away. "I don't find it something to hold onto."

"Non the less you did great things" said Reven; his body was slumped, energy released, once again conciliatory.

"Did I?" asked Malak - standoffish.

Reven stared at him, as if looking as some disaster, a hint of horror in his face - as a direct result of this, as if it was the next step, he pulled a chair near the bed and sat down - he spoke in a voice that was the most emphatic she had ever heard from him, leaning in "Malak, how are your injuries? It's been three years; why aren't you walking again? Why are there still burns on your back?" Reven had forgotten the rest of the group completely at this point; Mab felt excluded, and a very uncomfortable watching - Mission had backed up more and more, until she had snuck out completely.

"The grafts and limbs haven't taken - my body rejects them. And I don't want...more machinery. I don't want become more of machine then I already am - I am afraid... I won't be able to hear the pump of my own heart at some point - I'll forget what it sounds like. And it won't matter anymore - I won't even care.

"When you travel with us I can heal you, I believe - we can work together on it. Kae as well - you know her, you know her abilities."

"Many have tried, Reven."

"Yes, but they don't have the same connection that we have - we are friends"

"Are we Reven?"

"You left me Malak - it wasn't my fault -"

"A man learns things in war; gains perspective. I didn't say we lost our friendship because of... the parting or what caused it. That was your choice - I made mine. Maybe I just gained a better view of who you are, over the course of time -"

His eyes strayed over to Mab

"i can explain everything -"

"I ordered troops to their death, I sacrificed ships, and destroyed the rings of planets - just to hold them. The coldness I did it with - the way I used the troops - they way I used everything - it made me think of you."

Mab felt a deep bolt of explosive rage rush through Reven - he swiveled his body to the three and spoke coldly, imperiously "Get out."

"We'll meet you down the hall?"

"It doesn't matter. Get out."

Carth and Mab moved away quickly - as they left they glanced at each other, raising their eyebrows "Holy shit." said Mab.

"That - "

"He shouldn't have invited us."

"He - I think he really expected Malak to give him a great big hug - and then he could show to us it was just like old times...the two rebellious padawans, Malak and Revan." Mab said, feeling a surprising truth in the statement.

Carth looked at her appreciatively and began to say something - Mission revealed herself from around the corner " I hate conflict" she said, head pointing downwards.

"Don't we all."

"Some people seem drawn to it" said Carth -

"And by some people, do you mean everyone in this party?" asked Mab,smiling. "Soooome people" she said, drawing the word out, deepening her voice, and gazing at everyone; they chuckled.

"Honestly" said Carth "it's just when you have people with a lot of power and energy, and you compress them together - the compression being the forces of stressful situations -"

"Some people just shouldn't be in the same room together -"

"Ever" said Carth, and they all laughed again.

"It was like that with the Bosses on Taris - they were their own universes... and when they collided - it was always an event..."

"Everyone's an universe. And it's always an event" said Carth

"You and your romantic generalizations"

"hey I've see it all"

"Yeah I'm sure you have - oh Mission" said Mab, turning with concern to the girl. "I'm surprised - you haven't removed your tattoos yet - I figured for sure you would do so before we left."

The girl played with the keys of her wrist computer - ( she had just gotten one, and had only taken a few classes on Faculty Focus {a sort of philosophical/psychological doctrine to avoid data overload, and the frantic parceling of days into nothing by bits of stimulation and information} - meaning it was still a compulsive distraction, a dangerous, degrading one she was mastering slowly - one that still had her fingers, however, dancing meaninglessly, eyes pulled by fishhooks of songs and pretty models. What she was doing was giving attention to these things as a sort of avoidance - a new, modern age blush and aversion of the eyes, the aversion of the eyes this time not to a blank space, but a colorful one, and the blush a splash of color across a screen, instead of a face. Indeed this habit - of avoiding socialuncomfortableness - was one of the first cautioned against) for a little bit before hesitantly volunteering information about the mad curving pattern of black, still not looking up fully - eyes blank - when she did so - "Yeah, I figured - I can't just scrub away my past. I have to confront it. Live with it. What better reminder than one my skin? I've decided against it completely. I'm a hundred percent sure - I'm going to keep it."

"That's a unforgiving philosophy - Revan's been influencing you, hasn't he."

"I think he's a genius" said Mission - a bit defensively.

"He's in conflict with his own past right now." said Carth grimly.

An hour later Mab heard the two men coming.

"You still wear a suit" asked Reven, a sort of happy wonder, nostalgia in his voice.

"Yes I do. You stopped I see."

"Yes. I wore one to Dxun. It was burned off me. Besides I've moved beyond that. Just like the books - they are Fetish Items to me."

"There is noth - "

"You always liked that sort of thing, I realize, as I think back. Trinkets."

"You were quite the fine dresser yourself."

"Now... you know where the word fetish came from? Primitives - and current days mystics, of course - used to carve small figurines of pregnant women, and phallic gods. Fetishes. They were people, the best, most evocative beings. That primal beings at the heart of the race. That's the only thing I need. That's the only thing I need to surround myself with, carry with me. People. "

"But with you they would still be an object in the end - just a statue, enchanted to come to life and dance for you. Still an object, at the root. Carved by you, and brought to life by you. At least with my books I acknowledge that. At least I acknowledge that I transcribe them myself.

'I can't believe that" Reven said; said to the whole concept, the whole idea Malak was advancing of his character. They stepped into the room; Malak wore a finely cut black suit, with a red tie - over it was crimson leather coat, glossy, stiff, buttoned down - the opening bottom, which swished out, revealed that his pant legs were covered by intricate metal chassis, a wire frame - the inside of the yellow boots - the rest of the contraptions floating behind him. He swung his legs widely, and marched, stomping straight, using his cane as well - the rest of his room ceased to drift behind him and Reven, and went, on circles of light, down another hallway.

"Normally I have the entire device attached to me, and I can hop along like a jackrat - I felt like actually walking today. No doubt it was soon become too much of a burden to bear. "

He moved closer awkwardly, a production - and held out his hand to Carth. "Hello Mr. Onasi... and , I am told." As he stopped in front of them, there was several clicks, and parts of the bars shifted or moved slightly.

He clasped both her hands in one giant grip - he was huge, larger than Reven; a broad shouldered tower. "Mab" now turning to her " - Revan's told me of your gifts. I'm glad I've had the chance to formally introduce myself." He held the shake longer than the others, staring with fascination - and then he let go, and looked away, once again an act of suppression or aversion.

"We should leave - it is overdue." Mab felt a slight tension in Revan, and then a large circle containing them began to move towards the edge of the building - it projected out, fully, the air and breeze hitting them, and then began to move around the spire, descending. "It's quite easy to avoid people when you can move through an ever changing structure" said Reven - "Never have to say hello, or make small talk. Or I should say, never have to respond to small talk that is really a disguise for something else." As way of explanation "There were a few knights looking for us. More questions, no doubt. I've had my full of them - it's time for action. It's time to do."

"Malak, did anyone from the council ever visit you?" asked Mab.

"A few times - for nothing but information. I gave them what they wanted - I talked about the council, my injuries, Bastila and Vuncroy and my journey... back to the Inner Core on the medical ships. The great leap frog back; the entire army leap frogging back. And... I spoke of what happened on the medical ships...

"If I may ask - how where you injured?"

"Near the end of the war the ship I was on was ambushed. Every bone in my body was broken - I was technically dead for a few days. Floating, I believe, in the gap of space, for little bit. And now... the lower part of my spine is still not functioning. How it hurts - " he said, the last part sudden, a quick cringe of agony, a plaintive suck of air, child like in it's honesty - the yellow gadgets behind him quickly floated around his legs, and then drew in, forming huge boots, like that of WM almost, mech like - then Malak began to levitate, and several pieces once again came off, shifting, assembling, and projecting; an active jumble, like a bunch of blocks, not fitting together, forced against each other by rubbing hands - within the movement - Mab spied, past the distractions - the wire frames were now opening up, and thin, limber pieces, moving as manipulators, were folding and molding his leg into a lotus position - the yellow pieces, at the end of all their transforming, now where formed into a chair, a levitating square that projected with a slope forward and backwards.

"The chair is my common mode of transport - the boots are for combat, and quick, controlled movement - although let me tell you, the few times I've tested it out it's been wild; a real ceiling banger - and the frames are for simple standing - for when I would have to give speeches, or present in front of a crowd, the engineers told me." He gave a bitter laugh - "Wearing the boots or the frames - it's too much pressure, it's too painful - a trembling tension, racing up my entire body."

The platform continued to circle; eventually it melted back into the building at it turned - it slide in. They walked to a wall; it folded open and there lay the ship - a semi circle of metal, two engines; off of this semi circle, from the middle of it, came a long rectangle topped with brown, pointing horizontally forward. To the left of this rectangle, connected to it, was another rectangle, this one shorter and stoater, on it's side; it was bordered by a ridge of brown as well. Truly it was a curving shape, almost an extension of the semi circle (not exactly however, it was slightly smaller, shrunken) with the ridge 2/3 of the way through; it continued curving until it reached the end of the ship. To the right of the main rectangle, the cockpit, was a space, and then another shape, short and stoat as well, also curving to the end, with a brown ridge on the side facing the cockpit. WM-33 stood away from the ship, guns raised -

"So the rumors are true" said Malak, looking upset.

"Correction: No fleshtube of girthy proportions, the rumors are false. The reality is far more terrifying than gossip would lead to believe -" The droid lit up one of it's guns at this point - a buzz.

"You slaughter my old soldiers - you reap them like corn in a field?" said Malk, turning to Reven quietly.

"They are your soldiers no longer - I've meet them in battle - there's nothing left of them. For only a few could I even claim delusion as their motivation - their is darker corruption for the rest.

- Put away your weapons WM. You'll frighten the civilian populace -"

"Interjection: But master, you have your weapons - I see your flimsy light saber attached to your belt."

"My sword is a symbol of grace and dignity - people feel protected when they spot it - you on the other -"

"Guilt Causing Statement: So I should simply hang my head in shame, master, and hide away - I all one giant weapon after all. One bloody death machine. "

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea" responded Reven flippantly - "Get on the bottom

of the ship - we're heading out. And no, don't, as we fly over the city, aim your weapons and make killing noises, don't loom like some terrifying apparition, like some -"

"Helpful Suggestion: Metallic bird of prey master. Oh, master, we've had this conversation so many times - the definition of civilian is far too broad. I can't kill innocents, that restraint is far to embedded in me, but just change the meaning of the word, tweak it just a little -"

"I prefer not to at the moment"

"Declaration: Loyal service deserves to rewarded master; I hope you keep that in mind."

"I was thinking a nice retirement, WM - maybe in the body of a cleaner droid -"

"I'm sure Mission wouldn't mind having an intelligent doll" said Mab

"Profession: Oh master, how you wound me. I feel...so unappreciated." WM skulked away, slipping itself underneath the ship, and folding itself together - lifting the vessel slightly.

"I see this creature enjoys it's job" said Malak, disgusted.

"Why create something that doesn't, if you don't have to?" asked Reven. "There's...enough slaves in this battle... in this galaxy."

"Yes, and why not enjoy it yourself, if you can - while you're at it. Right? Or perhaps... why not just let all feeling fall away?" said Malak, staring piercingly - Reven turned away.

"Let's get on board." A door opened on the ship and a bridge folded down, from the rectangle coming off the cockpit line - at the same time the rooms ceiling rose, and the exterior twisted and then vanished. "Welcome... to the Ebon Hawk."

"Where did you get this ship? Why this one in particular" said Mission eying the battered hull, the dull colors, the strips of brown - the grayish steel came in many pieces and flaps; only the brown strips where solid and smooth. "It's a smuggler ship, isn't it." She walked towards it with apprehension - something was off about it - there was a reason Reven had chosen it.

"It's extraordinary fast ship - one of the fastest on Taris" said Reven, dropping this last part delicately.

"Why Taris?"

"That is why I went, mostly. To find a ship that we could travel in. Travel the galaxy. As coincidence has it, WM encountered this very ship hen he first captured - it was owned by The Exchange - a testament to it's value -'

"Enough! But why! What the fuck Reven!" becoming visibly upset -

"We will travel the galaxy enclosed, encased, within nightmare metal - encased within whispers. This ship is part of the planet that Exile killed - it is a piece of this emptiness. A space that flies through space - a piece of nothing that jet through a physical nothingness. We journey in it - a journey of torment. Our theme is the Exile - we most be surrounded by her at times, constantly in contact, constantly influenced - we must be haunted. Haunted in halls and in bunks , haunted at every corner - alone. Alone with nothing but the fire of the stars and soundlessness of the abyss - "

Mab had continued walking along, and was now up to the entrance ramp - she slammed her hand against the side, hitting metal. "Masnifest dammit! It will be miserable - you're making us miserable!"

"Yes, misery! Yes! This isn't joke, this isn't an adventure; your going to see things more terrible then any of us - it isn't game. This is the Rubicon, this is the boundary right here - don't cross it if you think this is going to be easy, don't cross this line is you can't stand to surrounded by coldness!"

Mab shot Reven a look of loathing and frustration, and walked in - Malak caught her arm - "We can talk of her. I can tell you all about her. And we figure this out - maybe it's better this way. We can use this as a deciphering stone to solver her mystery -" He followed her in. Carth went afterward, running his hand along the metal, head cocked, as if listening to something - Mission came, hands around body.

They entered the ship like people walking into a dark cave.

They sat around a metal circle in the center of the ship; a hologram projector which Reven had slotted in the information chip. T3 and Carth were moving back and forth, preparing -

"So this the remnant of her attack; a chunk of what was lost, removed from the whole -" said Serik (the man wore a wrapping on bandages around his right eye, at an angle, taking up more then half of his forehead, not covering his nose - a few of the strands hung loosly)

"Yes" said Reven irritably

'...I will use it to remember what she did exactly to the rest of the planet... There will be no vermin here; I think that is the clearest evocation, what will make what she did real, what happened the most real to us - there will be no vermin on board."

Reven looked away, displeased at Serik realizing this, bringing up this point, detached as well - "Yes...The ship was cleaned before hand... It was littered with carcasses."

"This ship is so creepy!" said Mission

"Reven doesn't want us to be happy" said Mab, biting her lower lip, glaring. Part of what Serik had said - "a chunk of what was lost" resonated with her. It was true - this was a shard of death, this was some tumor removed. They would travel in this piece of madness - it was worse then just visiting the Old Council chamber - it would be with them always, and they completely buried in it, at all angles - it was claustrophobic, contricting - devoured by ghosts, swallowed by spirits - they were trapped in it, and Mab had visions of her wandering the halls during long hours, disturbed and filled with ennui. The ship would set the motif for their wanderings - it would set the mood, and turn them into a crew of the guilty, the sinners, the walking wounded. It would gather them together into this category - it would set this shared attribute above all else. Her fantasies of fun, family and a budding relationship with Reven, where he eventually opened up to her, were utterly crushed - more so because he so clearly demonstrated his intent to oppose that and develop something else - she was enraged,

"Your happiness is not my concern."

"We're stuck here" Mab said -

"We'll get used to it" said Carth, passing by.

"I hope not -" a breathy, furious pout.

"Where are we going first, Reven?" asked Malak - Carth already seemed to know.

"Korriban. To find Arren Kae. I think we should find her first - my master has always been near the edge. I fear she will fall - I don't want to risk it. She knows much of many things."

"Was Kae your master as well?" Mab asked of Malak.

"No - Kae raised and trained Reven since he was five - every time we met it was precious. Kae and Reven traveled a lot, so this happened fairly frequently - Kae was still a historian at this point, wasn't she?"

"Yes - "

Well, at age 15, he left her, and traveled a year with other masters - we were always good at bossing them around, deciding where we wanted to go, so we were always near each other, we always intersected and met up." He chuckled " Sixteen we both stayed at Coruscant, and then at 17 we went to Dantooine. Kae used to teach there, before her travels - we thought maybe she would have returned. But no, her school, her offices, were closed down - Dorak took her position."

"Did you guys have contract with Bastila?"

"Bastila was on Coruscant with us, and Dantooine as well, when the war was beginning. She was very opposed to our efforts -"

"Bastila was opposed to everything" said Reven, turning away.

"Perhaps only everything you did - with good reason." retorted Mab.

Reven stared at her blankly, and then stood up - "Carth, are you ready?"

"Yes, I think we can leave -"

"I'll go check up on him" said Mab quickly.

She walked down the hallway to the cockpit - Carth stood at the control board, rotating and examining holograms and figures, as per his position - T3, Manuel Pilot, made {and examined} physical changes to the ship and it's hardware, while Carth observed the computers processes - together they made sure that what the computer reported was true, actual and that it was operating correctly - a danger - one would say the only danger - in war; corruption of the AI, of the sensory devices - that is why ships which could be operated automatically, at a distance, were so large and redundant (and why personnel were not enhanced, and did not use advanced equipment; so that too could not be tampered with - they only wore devices that prevented this very assault) ; it was a fantastically complex system all the way up the military ladder to verify reality - a program of checks and balances, for if such a weakness was exploited even once an entire army could be easily destroyed (the Republic of course were experts in this, and demolished with ease forces that did not use this style of warfare.)

Every function of the ship had a physical, accessible reality, and every function of the ship could be sustained physically, by hand - the basic heartbeat of a fleet was controlled by AI, and individuals in VR projecting from safe planets, but if for some reason this ever had to be cut off, or began detrimental to the heath and goals of the fleet, the soldiers inside, scurrying constantly, ants within a tree, could keep it alive - the pumping of a heart by hand, the pumping of a heart with a clenched fist.

*the overarching symbol of the Observers (which was a prefix to a position) was an eye over a stream, while the symbol of the Manuels was an telescope over a wrench, with movement marks - three white lines - behind it. This was the type of work that was generally needed to prevent the the entire army from becoming a reckless machine that could march into destruction without anyone noticing, with all bound to it - it was also in place to prevent the development of some sort of possible enslavement, or at least to have ways to combat it.

"You look snug" she said - the man wore gloves, and an orange hat, pulled out of his pocket in crumbled ball form.

"It's cold in here, isn't it."

"Yes it is." she said, swallowing. "How long to Korriban"

"About three weeks, actually - It's right on the outer rim."

"Manifest, that's a lot. I'm going to go insane in here, really."

"Hey; you can practice and train. It won't be that bad." He paused - "Actually I don't know. I don't know what you're going through. Let's... let's talk sometime. My rooms always open. I want to understand."

"I don't think I can explain it. It's like - how would you explain the absence of something, that other people can't even sense. The sudden absence of sight to people who have never been able to see - it's not just blindness, it's something worse - it's a gap, it's more conspicuous. There's the knowledge of the loss - Ah whatever - look, are we picking up supplies?"

"Yeah, we'll swing by a spin launcher. - here we go" Carth pushed enough button, and they lifted up, and then launched out of the building, spinning upwards into the sky, into the blue and green, directly at the moons, directly at the artificial stars of the orbiting machines - " Reven doesn't want to stop anywhere in this area, but later we definitely will. Mission has a whole list of things she wants - she's taken it quite seriously. She even wants bacon - I haven't had bacon in ages - thought was just something on my planet."

"Malak said he would like to cook too - "

"Well that's great - we got the dreamer, the dreamer of foods she's never seen, and then someone who can put on a little show making them. One is inspiration, the other can carry it out - With those two, it seems we have enough creativity - "

They laughed -"We should probably pick up an entertainment system as well"

"Fill this place with some noise"

"Be good wouldn't it."

"Yeah" said Carth thoughtfully "Yeah I think it would.

They shot past the horizon, into space - all of them, Serik, Malak, Carth, Mission, Revan, T3 and Mab stood by a window looking at the retreating planet - it glittered with the lights of energy towers and billions of flowers; circling it were skylabs and stations; docks and villas, in constant orbit, rotating in themselves, shining as well, donuts and balls and triangles and lines; the water between the deep building sent off a blue, sparkling light - it was an orb bursting with color, constantly shifting and undulating, red and orange and purple and green, waves moving and roll and spreading -

"The City of Jewels" said Carth. "...This...this is what we're fighting for."

Revan stared a minute longer, and then walked away, towards his room.