Star Wars: Tails of the Old Republic

Chapter 054

Dantooine — Dark Malice

"You there! Padawan!"

The voice interrupted Tails' thankfully dreamless sleep. He grumbled to himself and checked his internal clock: only thirty-two minutes had passed. Groggily, he looked up at the robed woman who had disturbed him.

"Why are you wearing those filthy, tattered rags? Do you mock the honored traditions of our Order?"

Tails blinked at her and scratched his stomach. "I'm sorry… who the what now?"

"Where is your master? You disgrace the halls of this academy, young Padawan!"

The burnt-orange fox shook the last of the cobwebs out of his head. The not-quite-noon sun shone directly on his face, and if it wasn't for the woman's voice, he'd swear she was a clone of Bastila. "I don't know what a pada-whatever is, but I'm pretty sure I'm not one. Who are you? I came here with Bastila Shan."

The woman looked surprised. "Bastila? I have heard of her. They say she has already mastered the art of Battle Meditation, remarkable for one so young. Though I have also heard she has a foolish pride in her own talents."

Tails refrained from smirking or rolling his eyes.

"But as for you," the Jedi woman continued, "you claim you are not a Padawan? I find this hard to believe. The Force is strong with you. I can feel its presence. If this is some type of jest, it is in very poor taste. The Jedi Order is not a subject for jokes."

'Darn it, I knew I should have gotten a hall pass or something,' thought Tails. "I'm telling you the truth," he said. "My name is Miles Prower, and I arrived here aboard the freighter in the docking ring over there. I came from Taris!"

The woman's eyes widened just slightly. "Oh… please forgive the abruptness with which I first greeted you. It was harsh and unfair. My master often warns me I must learn to control my emotions. I see I have much left to learn. My name is Beleya, and I wish you a pleasant stay on Dantooine. May the Force be with you."

As Beleya went on her way, Tails groaned. 'Your Jedi friends aren't leaving the best first impression, Bastila,' he thought.

Though still groggy, Tails got to his feet and continued toward the Ebon Hawk. All he wanted to do was shower and sleep. But, with another grumble from his again-empty stomach, he wouldn't object to food first. 'Good grief, I just fed you.'

Tails trudged through the hallways, enduring the curious to disapproving stares, until he finally reached the Hawk. His strength drained from him with each step, until even climbing up the ship's boarding ramp was a struggle. He was just so tired. Tired of running, tired of fighting, tired of stupid cover stories to hide his amnesia. He mentally switched to his cybernetic neural net and relied solely on his synthetic muscle fibers to move, just so he could give his exhausted nerves and muscles a rest. Being completely in 'robot mode' always felt like he was sleepwalking, but right then, the mental release was worth it.

The ship's single shower, a simple tube little over two meters high and a meter in diameter, was in less than pristine condition after the escape from Taris. But, it worked, and the little fox soaked in all the sensations, both natural and artificial, as the water blasted his body. He scrubbed himself with robotic precision, but inwardly he broke down. In his mind's eye, Taris still burned, as had Knothole, and much of Mobius. Tears welled from his eyes and mixed with the shower spray, but no other outward change manifested in the boy's body as he washed.

After he finished and dried, he ran into Carth on his way to the bunks.

"Oh, there you are," said the Human. "I didn't expect you back yet. Er, how'd it go?"

"It's complicated," Tails said flatly.

Carth blinked. "Well you sound depressed. How complicated, if you don't mind me asking?" said Carth. "I've been in contact with Commander Lyle of the Aurelius, an old Praetorian-class frigate currently orbiting this system. The Ebon Hawk is being impounded as evidence against the Exchange. We're scheduled for a shuttle pick up tomorrow morning."

Tails processed how much he wanted to tell him. "The Jedi are considering me for training."

"Wait, what?" said Carth. "As in, to join the Jedi Order? I mean, with your talents I shouldn't be too surprised, but this is really unusual. Jedi are typically inducted by age five or so. I'm honestly surprised the Jedi didn't find you earlier." Carth groaned and rubbed his face. "Well, this indeed complicates matters."

The boy filed that curiosity away for later. "I haven't made any decision yet. The Council seemed unsure of it, themselves."

"Nevertheless," sighed Carth. "The Jedi Order is neither part of the Republic government nor officially part of the military command structure, but in these times the Order is given broad deference in their decisions."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, I need to contact Command again, and probably cancel that six AM shuttle pickup from Lyle."

"I'm not going anywhere anyway, Carth, until I get the answers I seek here. We talked about this."

"Yeah, I know, Tails. We would have only gone to the nearest Republic command center, a few days jump from here. A proper debriefing from Army command would go a long way to answering those questions, don't you think?"

'I don't really know,' thought Tails. 'Everything about this — it's all just so wrong.'

"Are… you feeling OK?" asked Carth. "You seem a little… off."

"I'm tired, Carth. I just want to sleep the rest of the day."

The officer sighed. "You'll get no argument from me there; though, I can't guarantee you that long a rest."

The fox grumbled his way back to the bunks. Like the rest of the ship, the bunks were all empty; but, like ghosts, Tails could still smell the previous occupants. He gravitated back to the bunk he shared with Mission, her familiar scent providing him with some small comfort. Closing the shutters, he sealed himself in.

'What am I doing?'

Tails clutched his head and curled into the tightest ball he could, but even his hardened namesakes couldn't protect him from his own thoughts.

Maybe, just maybe, the Jedi offered something he sorely lacked: the strength to make a difference. As long as the boy could remember, he had been told what amazing power he had locked inside of him. A few even went so far as to call him the "chosen one" of some ambiguous prophecy that never made any sense or ever seemed to come to pass. But what rubbish! He was a B-rank Chaos adept at best, no matter how much he thought he could stand with the likes of Sonic, Knuckles, or Shadow. He just couldn't tangle on the same battlefield as they could. Not without heavy armor and air support. Sure, he had a "super" form, too, but compared to the other five, it was a borderline joke — simultaneously the weakest and least energy-efficient of them all.

But maybe, the Jedi could help change that, if they trained him. That Sith governor on Taris was wickedly powerful, able to throw the fox like a rag doll with a mere thrust of his palm. But, if Bastila had been fresh in that fight, he was certain she would have pasted him in seconds. Tails again marveled how powerful Humans could become.

"I just need to be stronger," he mumbled as he slipped back into unconsciousness.

A single distant light dimly illuminated Tails, but all around him was a silent black void.

"Hello?" the boy called. Only faint echoes answered. He walked towards the pale yellow light in the distance. Tails couldn't tell how long he walked over the invisible surface, but minutes bled into what felt like hours, and his heart began to pound in trepidation. Suddenly, there was no more floor, and Tails pitched head over heels, flailing for any purchase. Tails' scream was cut short by impact with another invisible plane, and he clutched his head and shoulder. "Owww…"

The boy's ears picked up a buzz in the background, just at the threshold of hearing, as well as scraping, slithering sounds that slowly rose in volume. His heart rate spiked, and Tails jumped into battle stance, nerves tensed, and the loudest thing he could hear was his own labored breath. Fingers, toes, and tails twitched from anticipation, and the noises crept ever closer. The light in the distance flickered.

"Who's—"

Something wrapped around his leg and yanked him hard into the air before slamming him again into the floor. Tails lashed, but more tendril-like somethings grasped his arms. The buzzing and scraping and slithering exploded in his ears, and Tails screamed. He tried to channel his power, but like a paralyzed limb, it wouldn't respond. He was pulled flung by invisible forces in seemingly every direction, slammed against surfaces he couldn't see. Finally, his tails lit up like fireworks at night, strong golden light carving arcs through the darkness around him, severing the forces binding him.

Tails ran. The dark tendril-like forces tried to trip him, capture him, but with a spin of his namesakes he was in the air, soaring as fast as he could towards the dim light in the distance as the darkness crashed behind him in pursuit. The cacophony diminished, but remained in the background. The empty void started to take shape, and it looked like the light he flew towards was behind a mountain. The light itself took form, and Tails' heart sank. It was fire.

"No…" Tails sped up the rising slope, and when he crested the ridge, he saw Knothole again, the hidden city in flames. "Why?"

His propellers stopped, but momentum carried him forward. He landed and tumbled through scorched earth and ashes. Tails clenched his eyes shut, refusing to see the destruction. There was only the sound of burning timber and sensation of heat on his body. He rested on his knees and clutched his head, weeping. "Why do I have to keep seeing this?" he cried. "EGGMAN!"

"You rang?"

Tails' blood froze in his veins. That voice!

The buzzing noise returned, slowly rising in intensity. Eyes wide as saucers and pupils like pinpricks, the boy looked behind his shoulder. Wreathed in smoke and embers stood the monster who had haunted him waking and dreaming, not in one of his many suits or mechs, but in person. Black unitard, scarlet jacket, blue specs that hid eyes of ink. Roboticized arm. Towering, bulbous, Chaos-twisted mockery of Human anatomy. Mustache that could eat babies.

"You," the boy growled, his own face twisting into snarls.

"Hello, Tails," the man said, voice like stone over gravel. "Like what I've done with the place?

"Murdering…!"

The boy lunged, legs and tails launching him towards his target, his entire body shining in a golden aura born of rage. One tail hardened and stretched into the shape of a needle, and with a turn of his hips he aimed it at the monster's heart.

"Bast—"

A mechanical hand caught the tip of Tails' spear thrust. The halted tail buckled and jackknifed as the body attached suddenly decelerated. The boy barely caught himself as his feet hit the ground, and he poured all his strength into shoving the hardened spearpoint through Ivo Robotnik's chest. The tip of his tail wobbled just inches from the man's chest, but Ivo's unnatural smile only widened.

"Silly boy," the man laughed, "Did you really think you could hurt me? Your fury is delicious, though."

Ivo yanked on the boy's outstretched tail and sidestepped. Tails hurtled forward, unable to stop himself. He collided with the man's other hand, and he felt Ivo's fingertips penetrate his abdomen. The man threw him to the ground, whirlwinds of dust and ash tossed into the air on impact. With a smirk, he casually wiped Tails' blood on his jacket. The boy's aura vanished.

"Poor boy — all grown up, and you're still the same, weak little fox as before."

Tails clutched his abdomen, his wounds bleeding freely; it felt like icicles were invading his body. The buzzing in his ears only intensified, and the scraping, slithering sounds returned. Looking down, he could only react in horror as silver tendrils sprouted from the holes and spread across his belly.

"What, how — no, no, no, NO!"

"Were you aware, boy? Of all your fetid 'Freedom Fighter' friends, you're last I've yet to roboticize? Oh, what fun we're going to have together."

"No, why, cybernetics… not stopping!"

The tendrils spread like fungal roots down his legs and up his chest, silvery plaques covering his skin. The invading nanites had nearly paralyzed him, but Tails thrashed on the ground with the remaining strength he had.

"Writhe, little fox. It will all be over soon, and you will finally be mine."

Ivo's booming laughter filled the air.

Suddenly, the whole scene glitched. The thunderous laughter remained, but Tails was on Taris again, his body paralyzed on the roof of one of the Upper City's great spires, flesh still being consumed by nanites. Shadows crossed Taris' sun, and the atmosphere lit on fire as blaster bolts rained down. Chunk by chunk, the planet was again reduced to rubble, the screams of the populace drowned out by the explosions. When the spire he was on itself collapsed, Tails fell into the burning clouds of dust and debris with it, Robotnik laughing all the way down.

"All grown up," the voice repeated, "The same weak little fox."

Tails screamed until he struck bottom, and the whole world collapsed on him. And then, there was only silence.

For what seemed an eternity, everything lay dormant. His first shallow breath broke the silence. Fingers and toes twitched, and then the pain hit, like he had been chopped to pieces and sewn back wrong. A bird chirped, the first hint he was not where he once was. Tails opened his eyes. Half his vision was normal, but on the left side he saw everything in a blood red tint, and it flickered. He saw dirt, roots, plants. He looked up, and sunlight shone through a forest canopy.

'Was I dreaming? Am I still dreaming?'

He saw a pond not far in front of him, and he stretched his arms out to crawl for it. Only then he saw the damage to his body, and the boy's breath froze in what remained of his lungs. Metallic-looking plaques covered his half-roboticized arms. Patches of flesh and fur remained, abutting synthetic polymers and composites. Most his fingers were mechanical. For several minutes, Tails could only stare. He cried, but his left eye remained conspicuously dry. Working up his resolve, he pulled himself toward the pond. His legs twitched and spasmed, and helped push him along, but his tails dragged uselessly behind.

When Tails reached the pond — really just a big puddle — and saw his own reflection, he let out an animalistic scream, only deeper than it should be and with an electronic warble. Most of his face had been spared, but his left eye had been replaced with a dark camera lens, and silvery tendrils had reached up from his throat all the way up to his ear.

"Not like this," his electronic voice said. "I'd rather be dead than this!"

The boy lay there and wept, only one eye producing tears. His lungs only had a tenth their original capacity. His heart barely had any blood left to pump. Just the short crawl to the pond had left him in agony, his remaining flesh pulling from the synthetic carbon composites. Even now, he was starting to bleed from the seams.

He heard voices in the distance. They sounded almost familiar. He resolved to find them — and hoped they had weapons to put him out of his misery. The puddle was too shallow to drown himself in. He crawled to the nearest tree, every movement an exercise in excruciating pain, and struggled to lift himself up. The boy nearly fainted, and whatever powered his mechanical parts noticeably drained. He could feel his flesh tearing.

Tails wobbled on mismatched legs. His left leg, completely mechanical now, had inexplicably taken a digitigrade structure; his right, a near-useless patchwork of flesh and machine. His half-roboticized namesakes were limp and unresponsive, and nearly his whole spine and abdomen was synthetic.

'I'm like a zombie robot…'

Clutching his chest, he shuffled and stumbled through the forest floor towards the voices, and the final peace he sought. It took every ounce of strength not to collapse into a broken heap, and his pained vocalizations echoed far and wide. The voices led him downhill, and his journey became ever more precarious. Wildlife scattered as he tripped, crashed, and bungled his way down, until one last slip sent him slamming against a tree. He lay there gasping for breath and groaning in his electronic warble as his body bled. It was then the accursed buzzing in his head returned.

"No…"

He looked around, and across a grassy clearing two figures descended into some kind of underground building. Tails immediately fixated on them, but the droning in his head intensified. He clutched his skull. The whole world appeared to darken as if light itself was being sucked out of the environment, the darkness rapidly encroaching the domed structure ahead.

"Hey… wait!"

Tails hobbled towards the structure as fast as his broken, mutilated body allowed, barely noting the strange, stony obelisks jutting out of the ground around it. He nearly fell when he reached the downward ramp. The two figures were much closer now, ready to cross through the looming threshold at the bottom. He instantly recognized one of them.

'No, it can't be!'

The black robes, bronze mask, and smoky aura was unmistakable. This was the same being he had encountered before, on that ship, and had shattered the boy's spine with no more effort that breaking a toothpick.

It was Revan.

Tails fixated on Revan alone — whoever his companion was lost all importance. He trembled at the sight of him, but Revan passed through the threshold without any indication he had been noticed. The broken boy stood there hyperventilating, unsure of whether to follow. The buzzing intensified, and so did the scraping/slithering sounds. He clutched his head in agony.

'Please… make it all stop.'

Then he saw the encroaching wall of darkness rapidly advance, gobbling up the landscape kilometer by kilometer. Tails looked down — the underground structure was the only refuge he had left. He struggled to keep his footing as he descended. The wind howled as the darkness devoured everything in its path. Not even halfway down he stumbled, barely catching himself on the wall. Tails held himself up and scraped across the wall the rest of the way, leaving a trail of crimson behind him. He hesitated only a moment at the gaping doorway. There was little light to see beyond, but the rising cacophony behind him meant he had little choice. Just as he crossed the threshold, the darkness outside engulfed the outside world, sealing him in. There was still a muffled howl coming from outside, beyond the seemingly liquid wall of darkness, and Tails shuffled further inside before a dark tentacle decided to pull him back through.

He could barely see a thing inside, and even then only with his artificial eye. He was on the last dregs of his strength, and whatever had been powering his mechanical parts was nearly depleted. He wondered if he really needed someone to kill him now — surely, he was going to expire on his own in mere minutes. But, if he could die only a moment sooner, it would be worth it…

Tails heard their voices again. Drawn to them, he shifted direction, cautious not to stumble over anything else. Then, he saw them, and hid behind a wall. Revan paced in front of another large door. Tails considered rushing them both, but the sight of Revan terrified him as much as the darkness outside. Oddly enough, Revan looked smaller than his companion, though still taller than the boy.

"Is this wise?" said Revan's companion, jolting Tails out of his suicidal reverie. He tried to focus on him, but Revan's smoke-like aura obscured him. "The dark side is strong in this place — I can feel it's power!"

'That voice… I swear it sounds familiar.'

"The ancient Jedi sealed this archway," Revan's companion continued. "If we pass through this door, we can never go back. The Order wish surely banish us."

If Revan was even slightly concerned, there was no sign of it. He raised an arm to the center of the doorway, and with a mere gesture of his hand, the center lock disengaged. The door slid open.

"Are the secrets of the Star Forge so valuable? Can its power truly be worth the risk?"

Revan entered the far chamber, and his companion reluctantly followed. Confused, but intrigued, Tails struggled to follow as well. Upon entering, a cyan light illuminated the room. A black machine in the center of the chamber opened up like a three-petaled flower. A hologram of something appeared, but it was blocked by Revan, who was in turn blocked from view by his large companion.

Tails suddenly froze stiff.

For the first time, the man was no longer obscured by Revan's aura. He was big — really big. Tails traced his eyes from his feet to his head. The man wore black robes, but with golden-brown, armor-like material over his back, chest, shoulders, and neck. His boots were apparently of the same material, as were gloves and arm guards. Tails stared at the back of the bald man's head… and suddenly fixated on the reddish hair that sprouted to each side.

"Hello, Tails."

The boy forgot all about Revan. He shook where he stood, completely immobile, fixated on the man before him.

'It can't be… it can't be!'

Slowly, tortuously, the man turned around, ample mustache sweeping through the air. He was tall, he was brawny, and he was sported a paunch over his gut. But there were no circular blue specs hiding those dark eyes.

Once again, the scene glitched out, and he was back in burning Knothole with Ivo "The Eggman" Robotnik, laughing to no one but himself. Tails collapsed to his knees, flesh tearing from the strain, staring at the grotesque spectacle in front of him.

"No!"

The scene glitched yet again, back inside the sealed chamber, and Revan's companion laughed to the same psychotic tune. He was less fat, less twisted, less grotesque than Ivo Robotnik, but these differences were cosmetic. The two men were one and the same. There was no other way.

"Poor boy — did you really think you could escape me? Your despair is delicious, though."

"NOOO!"

"AAAAAAUGH!"

Tails burst out of his bunk, obliterating the shutter and plopping on the cold floor of the Ebon Hawk.

"Carth! Bastila!"

He thrashed violently as he patted and squeezed every part of himself, checking for machine parts where flesh should be!

"Mission!"

Tears flowed from his eyes — both of them — as he desperately gasped and wheezed, inhaling full, deep breaths. Two pairs of footsteps followed, one light and one very heavy.

"Tails!" said Mission, bursting into the dormitory wing. Zaalbar was right on her heels. The Twi'lek girl kneeled and scooped the boy up in her arms, but he still shook violently. "Tails, I've got you! You're safe!"

"Robotnik — Robotnik's here," he wailed.

"Robo-who now? Who's here? Tails, please calm down!"

"It can't — I can't…!"

Tails continued to thrash, striking the walls and bunk beds with his tails. Mission held him and squeezed him for several minutes, until finally the boy finally started to calm down.

"I'm here," said Mission. "Zaalbar's here. You're safe, Tails. No one can harm you now."

Tails still breathed hard, but he no longer thrashed. The tears still flowed, and his voice rasped. "I-is Bastila here?"

"Jedi-lady? Uh… she was here until like fifteen minutes ago, then she flew out of here like she saw a phantom or something."

"C-Carth?"

"I think he was in the Com room when Bastila stormed out, then went for morning walk outside. He should still be right outside the ship, I think."

"I need to talk to both of them," said Tails.

"Well, I don't know where Bastila went, but… Big Z, could you go get Carth?"

The big Wookie had already left the room before she got to the man's name.

"What is it, Tails? What's gotten you so worked up?"

The boy's lips trembled, and there was a fresh wave of tears as he inhaled.

"I need to see a picture of Darth Malak — right away."

"Malak?" she echoed. "What do you need to see about him?"

Tails lay there trembling in her arms.

"Because I think I know exactly who our enemy is."