"Statement: Oh Master, it is you! If Droids could feel anything i would feel joy and bliss! Oh wait, droids do feel and i'm feeling that." HK joked.

"Revan..." Mandalore murmured, stepping forward. He had turned the laser sight on his blaster off, but still held it at the ready, the safety off. "You're here."

Tysy smiled, giving a nervous laugh that was more like a twitter. "I'm glad
for the happy reunion, but something's wrong. Terribly wrong. Revan, I
must know--are you in league with a woman called Bastila Shan?"

Out of sheer survival impulse, the Exile grasped for Revan's hand and
held it tightly. Together, they both writhed almost imperceptibly, as
if struck by a sudden jolt of electricity. With the cursed gift of her
partially-healed wound in the Force, she touched Revan and made
him see. See and hear the new promise of the woman he'd known...

An end to the whole mess.

Hypersuffusion. Via the Force. An end to the wars, to the bloodshed.

Am I evil? Who is evil? They or I?

When the speech was done, and the visions--the Holocron, the chair--
then the Exile fell apart from her former Master. Terror swept over her.

Only then can the Force have a clean slate...

Aerl was quite puzzled by this 'reunion' that seemed to be going on. He didn't know Revan. Well...he'd heard of him, sure. Who hadn't. But something didn't sit well with him.

Mandalore obviously was familiar with Revan, but still maintained a guarded posture and a finger on the trigger. Unusual way to greet a friend, Aerl thought. But, then again, Mandalorians were... odd like that sometimes.

Jack appeared somewhat guarded as well, Aerl thought. Or maybe it was fear. After all, Revan had been a Sith lord once. But he had also sort of bailed out on the Republic some years ago, so there was the possiblity that Padawan Jack was wondering if Revan could have re-embraced his Sith ways again.

Tysy obviously had some sort of deep 'connection' with Revan, as evident by her sudden and urgent hand holding. Though, Aerl reckoned, that could just be some sort of Jedi thing. Still creepy though, especially here in the 'Jedi House of Horrors.'

The droid, the very same one that had trained a blaster on him the first time they had met, was acting very oddly. Aerl had been around droids long enough to recognise an assassin droid when he saw one. And assassin droids were never happy to see someone. Well, not unless they were planning to kill them.

And that's what bothered Aerl. Someone was trying to kill them. And he wondered if the droid was part of Bastila Shan's plan.

Unobtrusively, Aerl slowly sidled up to Mandalore. "Erm... is it just me, or are things here just a little...." He nodded towards HK. "...odd."

"A little?" Canderous asked, his tone quiet, "Try a lot. I knew who Revan was years ago - hell, I fought alongside him -- but I can't be sure this is the same person. Meanwhile, we got a baby jedi looking like he's about to $h!t his pants, Tysy having some kind of spasm through the Force, and an Assassin Droid falling in love. I think that qualifies as really weird."

Aerl nodded and discreetly stepped back. Strange to finally have the Mandalorian agree with him for once, he thought. Of course, Aerl suspected there were more 'wierd' things ahead of them.

"So," he said to the group. "I hate to be the one to interrupt this reunion among... 'friends', but Revan never answered Tysy's question about being in league with this Bastila person."

His eyes narrowed slightly as he regarded the tall male Jedi. "So... are you?" he asked suspiciously.

"You think this is weird? Try looking at it from my point of view. Several hours ago I was heading down to the libary to do some research to shut my master up, now I'm looking at a boody sithlord and I'm being insulted by some grumpy old man who hides inside a envirmomental(sp) suit."

"I- Bastila?" Revan looked up for the first time since Tysy's vision of the words and promises that had come from this place. What's happened? He wanted to ask, but couldn't shake the memory of the woman's words, the woman who he had once loved.

Hypersuffusion. Via the Force. An end to the wars, to the bloodshed.

He didn't understand, and he wasn't any closer to understanding. But he still traveled through that vision, exploring the memory of all that Tysy had seen, and found here on this planet. Bastila? Who- what are you doing? An end by way of.... what? He had heard of Hypersuffusion before. Wasn't it a- a theoretical phenomenon that had never been experienced? He thought he had read something once, somewhere on Dantooine.

Revan was still for a few more seconds, trying to digest all that he had heard. "I-" he stuttered quietly, "I know Bastila."

At least, I think I do. He turned helplessly to Tysy, for the first time losing any confidence that he had formerly had; he felt bewildered and lost.

"You do not stand with her," the Exile said gently. "If you did, you
would have taken us to her. To death, if what she says is true."

She gazed at Revan with patience, sorrow, understanding. Hers
was the look of an apprentice who had come to see her Master
in the darkest throes of doubt, but knew he'd be the stronger for it.

A rock and a clump of dirt crumpled from the ceiling, dropping and cracking on the ground in the silence. Mandalore stood a bit more at ease, seeing Revan's reaction to the events that had been relayed to him a moment before. He seemed as bewildered as they were, which boded well for them.
"We should get going." Canderous said, "We don't know what else is down here...and personally, I have a bad feeling about this place."

"Yes, we should." Revan said. He momentarily pushed the image of Bastila and her words out of his mind; later, when they were safer, he would ask questions. But as for now, he needed to keep his focus.

"Proud Statement: Wherever you go Master, i shall blast meatbags at your side," HK said. He would smile, unless he was a droid. Then he turned to Tysyacha. "You too Mistress."

There! He said it again! Meatbags! Aerl thought to himself. I don't trust that droid. Well, I don't trust any droid, but especially not him. Note to self: make sure the Mandalorian is inbetween me and the droid at all times in case of 'accidental' or 'stray' blaster fire at any 'meatbag', i.e. me.

"So," Aerl asked aloud, "which way do we go to get out of this joint?" He looked at Revan. "You, erm, didn't happen to leave a trail of bread crumbs or something in this labyrinth to navigate your way back out, did you?"

Tysy shook her head. "No, but I do have...this..." She reached deep
inside herself, within the wound that had not healed in the Force. Not
completely. She gritted her teeth again and waited for its pain and
intense gravitational pull to subside. When it did, she reached forward
and felt a wall. Not a wall--a door. She gently pushed it open, and the
light of the sunset of Ziost almost blinded them all with its radiance.

"Query: How did you do that, Mistress?" asked HK-47, rather puzzled.

"This place, or these tunnels, are filled with the Force. Over-filled, or
hypersuffused. I thought that if I could channel the emptiness that
I felt within myself, and the pain, into the hypersuffused catacombs,
that we would find a way out." Tysy smiled wryly. "Looks like we did."

Once they exited, all they could see across Ziost's baking desert horizon
was sand and sand. Tatooine had nothing on the desolation of this planet.

"I may have found an exit," announced the Exile regretfully, "but I still don't
know how to find the Ebon Hawk. Revan--it's your ship. Any ideas?"

"How in the hell did you know that would work?" Mandalore muttered, whether to himself or the Exile wasn't clear. For all he knew, that was a blind guess...and they could've all ended up split in half on a molecular level or else trapped in some dark, endless void for all he knew.

Tysy slipped her hand into the Mandalore's, not caring if anyone else saw.
"I didn't," she said. "I only had faith, and a guess based upon what I
knew about these tunnels. I believe Bastila turned the hiding places
of the ancient Sith into a death trap for unwary Sith and Jedi.

"Hey--what's that shimmering in the distance?" She squinted her eyes.
"It could be a mirage, but in my experience, mirages haven't been so
solid and elliptical--!" Suddenly, she broke into a run fueled by her
Force Power of Master Speed. Dragging Aerl, Jack, the Mandalore,
and HK-47 along with her, the Exile lay flat to the desert sand and
kissed the hot metal entrance ramp of the not-so-illusory mirage.

"The Hawk!" she cried. "Let's board and get off of this Force-
forsaken world before the Dark Side decides to consume us all!"

The Mandalore boarded the Hawk quickly after Tysy, his arm wrapping around her waist for a moment.
"So the ship gets a kiss but I don't? That seems hardly fair." he said quietly, grinning beneath the metal of his helmet.

Tysy giggled. "Sshhh," she said gently, and removed the Mandalore's helmet.
Stroking Canderous' cheek, she pressed her face to his, and they embraced.

"Sheesh! Get a room, you two!" scolded the voice of a teenage Twi'lek
in the Exile's mind. Mission--Vao? She'd helped Revan on his quest to
destroy the Star Forge. No matter. The Exile was safe now, warm.

She turned slightly within his arms and whispered a Mandalorian vow:

"Mhi solus tome--We are one when together.
"Mhi solus dar'tome--We are one when parted.
"Mhi medin'ul an--We share all.
"Mhi ba'juri verde--We will raise warriors!"

Tysy smiled. "I will be your wife, Canderous Ordo, until after the galaxy
dies and the Sith conquer. I am yours throughout all battles, during all
wars, until the end of time. I am your second-in-command, servant,
lieutenant. Ya--tvoya' dvukh! This I promise through the will of
the Force, and in the name of Mando'ade, the father of your clans!"

She rested her head against the Mandalorian's shoulder, remaining still.

Note: The Mandalorian wedding vow was featured in a recent issue
of Star Wars Insider magazine. I found it fascinating, and I hope y'all did, too!

He held her close, his head turning and bending to rest against hers as she spoke.

The Mandalorian wedding vow...

His gauntleted hand ran through her hair, his eyes watching the movement idly. And of course, being a man of few words, he could hardly think of what to say.

"If you will have me, Tysy, then it would be my honor to be your husband. I love you, Exile, and I have for a long time."

HK boarded the Hawk and noticed Tysy and Mandalore.

"Statement: Mandalorian, if you hurt my Mistress in any sentimental way, i'll blast you, even without Master's or Mistress' permition. And now with that said, i believe i shall go to my position of usual : the garage. Everybody knows where to find me."

"Nice work you bucket of bolts. You've just ruined a romantic moment between the two." Joked Jack before looking at Aerl and waited for him to make a smart or funny reply.

"Statement: Shut up you! If it weren't for Mistress, believe me, you would be lying face down! Besides, it had already ended, meatbag."

"You shut it you bucket of bolts. I may be a mere apperentic but trust me, I have the power to switch your currects to make you think you are a fembot." Warned Jack, giving HK an evil look "Just think, you properly owe more to Tysy than I do."

Aerl was last before Revan to board the Ebon Hawk. He witnessed the end moment of Tysy's and the Mandalorian's embrace, and then the exchange between the droid and the Jedi Padawan.

But all he could do was stare at the uncovered face of the Mandalorian.

I've seen him before.... Aerl thought. But where?

But what he said to Mandalore was, "Oh, erm...sorry for staring, big guy. I was just...well, expecting something a little more, I dunno,... 'scary' or 'scarred' underneath that helmet of yours. You know, more 'Mandalorian.' But you're just... normal looking." He snorted. "Go figure...." He shook his head in disbelief as he headed for the cockpit. "If no one has any objections, I'll start her up. Don't want to overstay our welcome, now, do we?"

"Yeah, we'll see who's face'll be scarred if you don't shut your trap." Canderous called after Aerl, then in a lower tone, added, "Insolent brat."

While his statement wasn't exactly friendly, his tone wasn't angry either, which his words seemed to imply. Perhaps Aerl was beginning to grow on him...

Tysy laughed, expressing her merriment and happiness without fear.
"Shut your trap," she said, snickering. "Oh, Canderous, you sound
just like Atton Rand--i-i-if that doesn't bother you too much."

The Mandalore had an expression that others might call "brick face,"
"stone wall", or such like. This only made Tysy laugh even harder!

"I'm sorry, love. It's just that--sometimes Jedi have more of a dark
sense of humor than others think they would." She smiled. "Come.
Let's think of a plan of where to head next. We can finish tonight."

At the word "finish," she gave Canderous a kiss right below his jaw.

"Whisper: God, i hate these lame love things, but if it's with a master of mine, i have got to endure it." HK whispered.

"Query: Say, i have seen you Mandalorian. Are you not Canderous Ordo that travelled with Master some time ago?"

Canderous raised his eyebrow's at Tysy's words. "Tonight, eh?" he muttered.

"Query: Say, i have seen you Mandalorian. Are you not Canderous Ordo that travelled with Master some time ago?"

The Mandalorian turned toward the droid, only now becoming truely aware that his helmet had been removed. He was breathing relatively unfiltered air for the first time in...years. It was a strange thought indeed.

"Regardless if you mean Tysy or Revan, yeah, I'm him." he answered HK, "Are you not the very assassin droid who said that 'love' was shooting a person in the kneecaps with a high-powered sniper rifle?"

"Answer: Indeed, i am HK-47. To me, "Love" is indeed that. The very thought of what you Humans call "Love" ensickens and disturbs me, seeing meat...erm, i mean, organic flesh all over the place and you organics pressing your slimy mucus-covered lips together in the Cargo Hold, just like Master did with that Bastila." HK told him.

"Hrrm." the Mandalorian murmured. That droid was still as out-of-whack as ever. Turning towards the main hold, he guided Tysy into the room, his arm still around her waist.

"Anyway...plans. What've we got to work off of?"

Revan reappeared from the back sections of the ship, ignoring the ongoing discussion. "It looks like she's in one piece. I don't see anything unusual, or out of place, but I still am a bit uneasy."

He glanced over at Tysy and the helmetless Canderous for the first time, and then at HK and Jack. "Well, are we busy with a happy little reunion party, or what?" He said, smiling slightly.

"Yeah yeah, laugh all you want, 'Knight'." Mandalore answered with a grin, "HK and me've seen you and our friend Ms. Shan in the cargo hold before -- damn, I think that was supposed to be kept secret..."

"Agreement: Canderous is right. I have it recorded on my databanks. Just let me process it for a moment..." HK said. Suddenly, a holo-record came out of his photoreceptors showing Bastila and Revan talking.

"Mockery: Oh Master, i love you, but i hate all of that you stand for! But still i think we should go and press our slimy mucus-covered lips together in the cargo hold!"

"Extrapolation: There Master, now did i humiliate you enough?"

"Eh, ha ha..." Revan laughed uncomfortably. "Alright, that's enough - didn't know you guys enjoyed that kind of eavesdropping. Or, Canderous, was it just 'cause you wanted to learn how to do that sort of things should the need arise?" He looked back up into the Mandalorian's face, smiling again.

"As for you, HK," he paused. "I guess it just shows you that you just can't understand Jedi women; I can't either." He suddenly stopped, as the thought of Bastila brought back the voice and visions he had seen when he had first found Tysy.

"Mockery: Ahah, take that Mandalorian!"

"As for you, HK," he paused. "I guess it just shows you that you just can't understand Jedi women; I can't either." He suddenly stopped, as the thought of Bastila brought back the voice and visions he had seen when he had first found Tysy.

"Statement: Master, that just shows you that you are really my Master, and not some stupid meatbag who built me. Except for Mistress of course."

As overjoyed as Tysy was to be the Mandalore's wife and reunited
with Revan at last, she knew there was serious business ahead.
One or more of them--Jack, Aerl, Revan, herself, or even T3-M4
or HK-47--could find their graves very soon where they were going.

But where were they going? The Exile could only guess, and
at this point, her guess was as good as anyone's. "Bastila believes
that she is still serving the Light Side of the Force. Where would
she go in order to meditate and figure out how to carry out her
plans? Certainly not here on Ziost, a Sith homeworld. "My guess
would be Coruscant or Dantooine." She turned to the group.

"Your thoughts?"

"I don't know," Revan replied. "Your guess is as good as mine. I don't think she ever said anything that would lead me to some planet - I think those two our are best bet." He paused and stared into space, trying to think. "The only other place I could think of would be Talvarin, her homeworld, but I have no reason for her going there."

The Mandalore scanned the faces of those present, his mind working out any details that may have been hidden from them in Bastila's words.

"Well, hang on a sec." he muttered, "We just came from Dantooine, didn't we? That's where we found the Masters dead...if she was the one who killed them, then why would Bastila have hung around? That wouldn't make any sense...unless we missed something..."

"Good point." Revan said, having no clue what the Mandalorian was talking about. "So that would leave Coruscant, wouldn't it? Unless, like you said, you missed something." Er, Tysy? What is it you found on Dantooine? He thought.

Tysy turned to Revan, and the rest as well, and explained what she'd found.
The wounds in the Force that were not healed, but bursting with too much
energy. The ghosts of those she once traveled with, her former apprentices.

"Master," she said to Revan, "upon Dantooine, there lie the rebuilt ruins
of the Jedi Enclave. A Jedi Master named Atris tried to restore it, but she
turned to the Dark Side and then back to the Light before she could finish
her work. There I left my apprentices, people I'd taught in my travels as
an exile with Darth Traya. The Jedi are no more, thanks to their deaths.
I left them there in hopes that they would rebuild the Order. I failed.

"Visas Marr was a reformed Sith, a Miraluka and a Jedi Sentinel. She
taught me to 'see' through the Force, and now she is one with it.

"Mira was a former bounty hunter, and her father was a Mandalorian.
She was a Sentinel, too, set to train Younglings in the ways of the
Jedi. She'll never get a chance to teach them what life is, because
she's lost hers. Bastila, why did your hypersuffusion strike at all?!

"Atton Rand was the pilot of the Ebon Hawk when he traveled
with me on my past journey. Darth Traya said he was a fool, but the
only mistake he made was in thinking that if the echoes in the Force
were filled, then all would be well. Oh, Atton, I truly abandoned you!

"And Mical, the Disciple, the one I forsook to fight in the Mandalorian
Wars. I taught him how to commune with the Force, and the price
he has paid is death and betrayal. How could I have left him behind?

"How could I have left them all, when Bastila's brought death to Dantooine?"

Revan shook his head, feeling an even deeper sense of hopelessness. He was starting to fear that this same thing had happened elsewhere, perhaps even happening right now. But how were they going to stop - Bastila, if she really was the person who had murdered these last Jedi?

He hoped fervently that there was some mistake, and this was not the woman he had once loved, but something told him it was. I thought I knew you... you weren't the kind of person to do this, even when you fell. This is beyond any evil there, even.

Bastila, what have you done? "Tysy - we've got to find her, whatever the cost." His voice shook for a moment before he added, "I'm not going to let this happen, no matter what I have to do personally."

Tysy nodded gravely. "In Bastila's mind, we are the Sith, and now
we must make our stand against her. If we fail, the galaxy will die."

(Hence the title: The Stand of the Sith! Neat, huh? ;))

((Very nice, Tysy XD))

IC:

"Well then," the Mandalore said, hefting his helmet again. Placing it on his head, he turned it first one way, then the other, and the short hiss of a pressure lock sounded, strapping the helmet in place. "We'll just have to not fail, won't we?"

"Statement: No, but that is impossible, considering my meatbag blasting skills, and Masters lightsaber skills."

"Just a thought," Commented Jack "Why would Bastila head to Coruscant? There's nothing there but city and an empty temple which holds more traders than Light force aura. It's weird that it's alot easier to name planets which are strong in the dark side of the force than with light aura."

"Statement: Perhaps the meatbag wanted to feel in home."

Aerl had heard the others talking back in the main hold, but he was too far away in the cockpit for him to hear what they had been saying. Not that he really cared to participate in the conversation at the moment. He was just happy to get away from the dust. And Bastila. In his opinion, she had just gone too far with setting up holograms and automated traps. Anyone could have been caught in them, Jedi or Sith.

"Oh, crap," he said quietly to himself. "Almost forgot." He tapped in a brief message at the comm station, but didn't send it yet.

"Say, anyone care to tell me where exactly you want me to go?" Aerl shouted from the cockpit through to the main hold. He frowned then. The question hadn't come out quite right. "I mean," he added quickly, in order to avoid any caustic comments from the Mandalore, "the navicomputer isn't too great with approximations when it comes to hyperspace travel. I need at least a specific destination."