Power and Betrayal: Chapter 26

The following morning, Zarvell returned to the Hole accompanied by a Jedi Guard, and found Kari lying against the wall, as if she had not moved from the spot except to have fallen over sideways to go to sleep. As he approached, she continued to lay there looking up at him, motionless.

"So . . . does this mean it's morning now?" she asked.

"It is, and this time I have good news . . . and more good news." Zarvell said.

Kari stretched her arms out and lifted herself back up into a sitting position. "Annie's been freed, and the Tiny Blind Backstabber is one with the Force?" she asked, only half-joking.

"I fear I may have misjudged the threshold of what qualifies as 'good' for you. Perhaps I should refrain from categorization and simply inform you that I have news."

"All right, all right." she said, sounding tired. "Out with it, Your Lordship."

"The High Council has ordered your immediate release, and I've come to collect you."

"Well what-do-you-know? Maybe you're really a good lawyer after all!"

"Would that I could take credit, but it was actually a special order from Miss . . . ." Zarvell hesitated to say Galadina's name, remembering how Kari had previously reacted to it.

"Oh, you can say 'Galadina' now. And I can even tell you all about how I want to fill her eye sockets with water and throw her out an airlock so that it quick-freezes, expands, and cracks the top of her skull open so that her mushy little brains come spilling--"

"That's quite enough, thank you." Zarvell said, interrupting. "You've made your point. But brava on successfully breaking your bonds."

Kari smiled as wide as she could, looking a weird combination of triumphant and smug at the same time. "Thank you! Also, note to self: Lord Z is not that great a lawyer after all. So what's your other bit of opinion-free news?"

"You . . . both of us, actually . . . are being permitted to accompany her and say good-bye. I inquired about hiring you and your ship to be the courier, but they were hearing none of it."

"Note to self: lousy contract negotiator, too." she said with a grin, then in a mocking tone added, "I'm afraid I'm gonna have to fire you."

"You should probably delay my termination until you've actually been released." he said, teasing her in the same way.

Meanwhile, the Jedi Guard had used some sort of keycard along with his handprint on a console across the room, deactivating the forcefield.

"Okay, good advice, Advocate." After a few seconds she added, "And NOW you're fired."

"Fair enough." he said, helping her stand up. "But we do have a few things to discuss now, preferably somewhere private. If you'll follow me, I'll lead you back up to the surface."

She struck a seductive pose immediately, and teased her hand softly across his chest, which stood in odd contrast to the sweet-and-innocent look on her face. "Oh, Lord Zarvell, . . . it is SO ADORABLE that you think this is the first time I've ever been down here...."

Even before she knocked on the door, Kinnan could tell that it was Tangress outside. The infrared pattern she gave off revealed her height and approximate shape, and the way her fur blocked off the amount of heat she radiated--particularly from her head and hands where most races' bare skin would read as much hotter than the rest of the body--identified her as a Cathar.

Plus, he was expecting her.

She was still knocking when he opened the door and said, "Please, come in. Did you bring it?"

"Nice to see you, too." she answered with her a-little-too-common snarkiness. As she walked in and took a seat, she put the box she was carrying on a nearby table, continuing to talk as she did. "Why yes, I'd love a drink. No, no problems at all on the trip here. Oh yes, the warm weather here is definitely a nice change from the ultra-freezing cold of Ilum during--"

"Yes, yes, I get it." he interrupted. "Please excuse me for being a little bit anxious."

"Of course I brought it." she responded with a knowing smile. "You know, you're lucky it's still intact after the incident with Darth Malgus. And I know that look. You're not anxious, you're excited, which means the custom M.F.R. is on the back burner now, right?"

"Well, you're right, but it's not because of this. It's because things have changed."

"Things like...?"

"Dianiss' incarceration, for one. It means getting her assistance is out of reach for . . . well, I don't know how long. Also, apparently the information about Darth Nihilus is still out there somewhere, and . . . ." Kinnan's voice trailed off as he sat down at the table, opened the box, and took out the holocron that he'd asked Tangress to bring back from the vaults in the old Jedi temple on Ilum.

"...and WHAT?"

"...and something's been bothering me ever since you sent that information about the reassembly of the holocron fragments. Look at this."

"Okay." she responded while he held up a couple of the largest fragments he'd collected from the holocron that had been destroyed on his recent trip to Malachor. After an awkward pause, she added, "What are we looking at?"

"Holocrons can be similar in design, but once they're infused with data and functioning, each one is unique. I recognized the design of the holocron that your reassembly simulator program produced. I think it's THIS one."

"Wasn't this the same one that . . . y'know . . . ?" She hesitantly pointed at his face.

"Yes. It's THAT one--the one that nearly killed me and took my eyes. That's why I recognized the fine details without having to look it up. I'd know THAT one anywhere."

"You're not gonna try to access it NOW, are you?" Tangress asked with an obvious note of sudden fear in her voice. She was squinting and lifting a hand toward her face where she could quickly use it to cover her eyes.

"No, no no." he answered. "Nothing like that. It's the just the outside that I need to examine."

Tangress relaxed and put her hand down. "So . . . what are we looking at?" she repeated.

Kinnan picked up the holocron in one hand and continued holding one of the largest Malachor fragments in the other. "I wanted to compare the fragments with the intact holocron up close, in person, and examine them down to the microscopic level."

As Kinnan spoke, his gaze was laser-focused on the holocron, only looking away briefly at the fragment he held and then right back to the holocron.

"...and they match." he added, after a long pause. "They match perfectly. It . . . it doesn't make sense."

"What doesn't make sense?"

"Oh, my dear little Tangress, ..."

"Don't call me that."

"...you don't see the contradiction at all, do you?" he said, ignoring her.

Tangress growled ever so quietly. It took a lot of self-control for her not to react violently whenever he made one of those condescending you're-so-stupid insults.

"It's almost impossible for these fragments to be a perfect match for this holocron. It can't be both intact and destroyed at the same time, now, can it?"

The sense of feeling overheated kept Dianiss feeling a little bit dizzy. It didn't help that none of what was happening to her made any sense.

"You seem confused." Calphayus said. "That is only natural."

"It's not just that." she responded. "I'm feeling so weak right now, and so he's feeling strong."

"Then you must be strong as well, if you are to survive what is to come."

"What do you mean?"

"You feel the Force, do you not? So do I. I was particularly gifted at seeing visions of the past and future, even before we began studying the Phobis devices and became the Dread Masters. Even now, I can see something in your future . . . something VERY familiar."

"What do you see?"

"Do you remember our battle? On the Oricon moon?"

"I think so."

"I sought to use the primal power of inevitability against your strike force, separating your group from each other and allowing you to destroy yourselves. I failed."

"How?"

"I sent you to a future where a growth had spawned from a seed that I also tried to prevent from being planted. You can imagine my surprise when your counterparts in the past knew where to plant it. One of them managed to divine this knowledge from you--even across time itself. It was . . . remarkable."

"I remember that. I could feel Dina like she was close by, but not the others. She felt that the location of that tree was important, and I think she saw it through me."

"Indeed. Having failed to break your paths through time apart from my own, I thought to try the opposite and let consistency be my ally. But again, you defeated my efforts. I sought to draw power from the crystals, but you--in the past--knew which ones to destroy to prevent that."

"I could see it happening in the future, entirely in the Force, and the panic that was causing her. We just . . . acted."

"Yes you did. And that was when I realized that a new path was being laid before me, and that if I followed that path, I could be free."

"But . . . you're NOT free. You said we're on Belsavis. We're in a PRISON!"

"Young one, there are prisons . . . and then there are prisons. We six were locked together, forming a circle that made us all into a powerful nexus from which each of us could focus and draw power. The loss of the one you called Styrak broke that circle, leaving us all with no path into the future but to hasten its destruction.

"You must understand: there is NO prison more inescapable than one of one's own making, and none more terrible than one which promises nothing but loss and suffering and certain death."

"But you survived."

"I did. I saw the path where I could allow you--even help you--to defeat me, so long as I put up a good fight in front of my remaining brothers and sisters before retreating to the throne room. Did it not seem strange to you that, at the end, I allowed you all to freely pass in and out of past and future? That I opened a path to a past where you would just happen to find a weapon to use against me?"

"I guess I never thought about it, not in the heat of battle, anyway."

"And did you not recognize that, in the final confrontation in the throne room, that I did precious little to harm any of you and focused all of my efforts instead on protecting myself?"

"That I did notice. You were the least aggressive of them, so we naturally focused more of our attention on the others."

He gave her a smile that was almost fatherly. "And in doing so, you destroyed the prison that was our broken nexus of power, before that prison destroyed us all. And now, . . . I am free. Free of pain, free of fear, and free of the impending doom that we all experienced."

"I had no idea that being a Dread Master was . . . like that."

"Ah, but I think you understand better than most. I can see that you, too, are tied to a powerful nexus of power that you would someday--someday soon, actually--seek to escape. I see it clearly, and I also see that there is something I can teach you that will help me to continue my freedom here in this so-called prison for a bit longer."

Continue to Chapter 27 . . . .