CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
--Jakku--
"This is it."
Rey panted, bending to her knees, as she finally caught up with Atha. While it was hardly her first time in exploring the wreck of a ship, she had never before had to follow someone who did not at all convey that he knew where he was going. All that grappling up, swinging left, grappling down, swinging right... all while her companion moved at a speed too fast to keep up with.
Once she had caught her breath, she straightened up and glowered at Atha. "Why did you even need my help in the first place if you could jump around like that?"
"I needed to conserve energy," Atha said without looking at her. He approached the object of his interest-- a rotund table with monitors and buttons all around it -- and set about turning it on. To Rey's surprise, the controls all lit up properly with no issue.
"I didn't think anything worked on these ships," she murmured in awe.
Atha merely grunted in response as he got to work, pressing and flipping various switches. While Rey watched him, she heard a sound come from behind her. Instinctively, she drew her staff and turned around, expecting it to be Bar'derro and his gang or some other scavenger.
Instead, it was a man she had never seen before standing in front of her. Approximately in his forties, he had brown hair and forlorn gray eyes, which were fixed on Rey. Behind her, Atha looked up from his work.
"Ah. Well isn't this a pleasant surprise." Atha chuckled softly. "How nice of you to join us, Jaden Korr."
"Atha Prime," the man replied. "What are you doing here?"
"An excellent question -- one I must ask of you as well. I wouldn't think a forgotten Star Destroyer would be of interest to you."
"It's not." Jaden nodded to Rey. "She is."
"What?" Rey took a step back, giving the man a suspicious look. "Why me? I'm just a scavenger."
Jaden shook his head. "No, you are far more than that." He then looked back at Atha. "What is she doing here with you?"
Before Atha could answer, the three of them heard another sound and all looked up to see the ceiling being torn open by a pair of claws. A chunk of metal went flying into the air as a large Mandallian Giant peered into the Ravager.
Rey groaned to herself. "I would really like to wake up now."
--Mandalore--
"So, you must be the man I've heard so much about."
Kadar glared up at the gold and red-clad man before him, fists clenched in anger. "Atinar. Do you have any idea what you're--"
"That's Mandalore the Vengeful to you," Atinar snarled, positioning his war droid to aim its guns at Kadar. "You would do well to remember that, dar'manda, unless you desire your death be much sooner."
"You're repeating the mistakes of your predecessor by siding with these Sith!" Kadar gestured to the battle surrounding them. "All of this... this is them exploiting you for their needs!"
"No," Atinar growled. "This is them helping us remake Mandalore in a better, stronger image."
Kadar sighed, shaking his head. "That's what they want you to think. They needed you to so that you would do their bidding. But in truth, they don't care about your desires at all."
"It doesn't matter!" Atinar retorted. "Let the Sith believe what they want. When the day comes that they ask us to do something we see as against our values, we will have the numbers to drive them straight to dar'yaim."
While Atinar went on, Kadar felt Tral inch closer to him, putting something in his closed fist. Feeling the object in his hand, Kadar recognized it to be a hilt. He did not dare look at it and instead kept his gaze on Atinar.
"Bold words, Cabur, but they mean nothing," he said to the Mandalore. "Because when that day does come, you will be too fearful of the Sith to even dare stand up against them. You will be putty in their hands. Mindless pawns of their game. Is that how you want to be remembered, Atinar? As Mandalore the Pawn?"
"How dare you." The barrels of the Basilisk started to glow as Atinar charged up its guns. "History shall remember me, Kadar, whereas you shall be buried beneath the sands of time, forgotten."
"Honestly, I'd prefer it that way," Kadar muttered. "I don't deserve to be remembered for anything I've done. In fact, I would love nothing more than to fade back into obscurity; just another face in the crowd."
Atinar grunted. "Then I will make sure you die as you lived: alone and broken."
"You and me both, pal."
With that, Kadar kicked on his jetpacks and jumped up into the air, igniting the Darksaber in his hands. Atinar quickly reoriented his Basilisk's guns to aim at Kadar and fired. The blast went into Kadar's abdomen just as the white Mandalorian dropped down and drove the ebony blade into Atinar's chest. The Mandalore screamed in pain as he and Kadar fell off the Basilisk.
The last thing Kadar thought of before everything went black was Vessin.
I'm sorry, he thought as darkness consumed him.
--The Resurgent--
All around him, things were falling apart.
It was something he should have foreseen from the beginning. If not when he rallied his followers, then he should have when he enlisted the Marked Ones and Kylo Ren. Betrayal was simply par of the course for dark side users, whether they were Sith or not. Why did he think it would be different for him?
Because he was a fool, that's why.
Darth Taral finally reached his destination and stepped into the lab. He nearly lost his balance as the Star Destroyer shook again but he quickly recomposed himself and made his way over to the solitary stasis tube in the room. After operating the control panel to open the tube, he stepped back as the cylindrical tube raised and Darth Sedriss stumbled out from behind the steam.
"I-- what...?" The Dark Lady of the Sith took a moment to recover her senses before looking around the room. Her eyes then fell on Taral and they narrowed. "You?"
"Lysira, wait." Taral raised his hands to his helmet and removed it from his head, meeting the woman's eyes with his own. "I mean you no harm."
Sedriss scoffed. "What, like you meant no harm on Dromund Kaas? I'm not falling for any more tricks, Varon."
"I assure you that this is not a trick." Setting his helmet down, he took her hands in his own. Before she could retreat her hands, he said to her, "I know about Kalon."
She froze, her eyes widening. "You...? How?"
"Brisha told me." He tightened his grip on her hands. "Lysira... I don't want this anymore. The Sith, the First Order... they don't do anything for me. They were never mine to begin with."
He sighed before pulling her closer to him, looking deep into her eyes. "My first and greatest mistake was leaving you. I want to rectify that. I want to make up for my betrayal.
"I love you, Lysira. Know that, despite all that I have done, that has never changed."
Lysira said nothing at first, her eyes boring deep into Varon's. Then, slowly, she leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips.
"I'm going to hold you to that," she said quietly.
Varon simply nodded, enjoying the closeness that the two of them were sharing. However, the enjoyment was short-lived, for the Resurgent shook again and he was reminded of the reality of the situation.
"We should probably leave," he said.
"Yes," Lysira murmured. "That would be most wise."
Hand in hand, the couple ran out of the chamber, as everything that had been of Darth Taral fell apart around them.
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