FicWad

Disclaimer- As much as I would like to, I don't own anything Star Wars related, nor am I making any profit off this fanfiction. Also, this fic is female Revan/Bastila. If it's not your thing, there are plenty of twu wuv Carth/Revan fics here. Don't whine about not being warned, because I'll just tell you to sod off.

Rakatan Temple Summit- Unknown World

The ascent to the top of the old Rakatan temple had been long and arduous. Droid sentries, hidden mines and grenades, and perhaps deadliest of all, Dark Jedi accompanied by a few of their masters had all tried their best to stop the progress of the group of adventurers. But with the help of her two Jedi companions, Jolee Bindo and Juhani, not to mention plenty of medpacs and stims, Skye Kinoda (also known as Darth Revan, former ruler of the Sith) finally made it to the rooftop where the planetary shield control was located.

"Finally, a break! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Jolee complained as he sat down on a large piece of rubble, which seemed to be a part of a column that had fallen down long ago. After a moment's rest he channeled his Force powers to heal himself, Skye and Juhani. Right before they found the stairs leading to the roof, they had had a nasty scrape with two patrol droids.

Skye laughed as she leaned against the wall. "You know you like it, old man." Jolee glared at her for the 'old man' comment. "After all, you were the one complaining about the lack of excitement back in Kashyyyk. You practically begged me to take you with us!"

Jolee harrumphed and mumbled something under his breath to the effect of "These disrespectful kids today..."

Juhani smiled as she watched Skye and Jolee bicker back and forth. She hadn't seen her friend smile much at all in the past two months, ever since they had to leave Bastila behind on the Leviathan. Ever since then, Revan (Skye often asked Juhani not to call her that, saying that she didn't want to remember the terrible things she had done, but Juhani always responded that she was talking about the good, kind Revan who had saved her years ago) had been quiet and withdrawn. She had also been waking up in cold sweats in the middle of the night. Even though Skye wouldn't mention her dreams, Juhani suspected it had something to do with Bastila and the bond that tied them together.

"Juhani," Skye's calm voice broke the Cathar away from her thoughts. "I found this cool lightsaber crystal back when we were downstairs, and I remember you had an empty focusing slot in your saber. Might be help-" She cut off suddenly, with a look of alarm on her face.

"Skye?" Juhani asked cautiously.

"What is it?" Jolee said, quickly getting up off his makeshift chair and walking to the two female Jedi.

"Something's happened. It's like.. a disturbance in the Force. And it feels familiar, if that makes sense."

"Disturbance? Nonsense! Juhani and I would have felt it too. The stress of all this is getting to you, is all." Jolee snapped.

"Well, old man, maybe you aren't as in tune with the Force as you'd like to be. Juhani not detecting it is understandable- she's nowhere near as advanced in age- I mean as advanced in Force Mastery as you. I'm disappointed in you Jolee," Skye commented lightly, poking fun at the elder Jedi. Jolee was about to complain when Skye continued talking. "But... you should be able to hear a disturbance," she added.

As she said that, her companions heard the distinct hum of a light spacecraft's engine. They heard it approaching closer and closer, then the sound of landing gear being deployed and touching ground on the rooftop. Some of the dust that flew up from it landing blew into the alcove they were standing in.

"...Well. We wouldn't want to keep our mystery guest waiting, would we?" Skye continued, stepping out onto the sun-bleached stones that made up the rooftop. She had taken all of two steps when she felt a hand on her arm.

"Are you sure this is the best idea? We have no idea who it could be!" Juhani asked.

Skye smiled lightly. "Ah, Juhani. We could leave, but we couldn't go anywhere. We still have to lower the shields." Clasping her friend's hand in her own, she continued. "So we have to go through whoever this is either way."

Skye released Juhani's hand to pull her dual lightsabers from her belt, before walking towards the unknown person who was standing a good distance ahead, obviously waiting for their approach. As they came close enough to distinguish facial features, Skye noticed the familiar dark brown hair pulled back into two braids, eyes that showed any change in emotion whether anger while fighting an opponent or amusement at one of Mission's jokes, and those lips -geez, those lips- capable of delivering the most acerbic retorts to someone, (generally Canderous, who really enjoyed annoying her) but mostly, providing kind words to all. Something else suddenly appeared in Skye's mind after recognizing the person waiting ahead as Bastila, something that she'd pushed to the back of her mind to keep herself from going mad with worry over what Malak was doing to Bastila.

---

It had been about three months since the Jedi council had sent them on their mission -a suicide mission, it seemed, givien the danger of taking on the Sith- to find the Star Maps on Manaan, Korriban, Kashyyyk, and Tatooine, so the path to the Star Forge would be clear. Their mission would come to a peak there, where they were to stop Darth Malak by any means necessary.

They had just found the Star Map on Tatooine after luring a krayt dragon out of the cave the map was located in. Of course, they had help in that matter. A Twi'lek hunter had placed mines all around the entrance, but he needed something to lure the dragon into the trap. HK-47, the droid they had purchased to be able to talk to the Sand People, noticed a herd of bantha to the west of the cave entrance, and went over to draw ten over to the entrance. Several Sand People took offense to this, however, but the assassin droid happily dispatched of them, and lured the animals over. The dragon lumbered out, and as Skye's jaw dropped she silently thanked whatever luck she possessed to come looking for the Star Map the same time as the hunter came to kill the gigantic reptile. There was no way they would have been able to fight it.

The mines exploded as the dragon stepped over them; the bantha herd was oblivious to the noise, continuing to eat the fodder Skye had placed on the ground. (She wished she had worn gloves; the stuff smelled awful) After they had received their reward for helping out, they entered the now vacant cave. Corpses from less lucky adventurers were strewn along the dirt. The map lay in the back of the cave. While Skye was finishing up entering the coordinates from the map into a datapad, Bastila mentioned that it must have been the Map's dark side power that drew the dragon to the cave, to which Skye agreed. Placing the datapad in one her belt pouches, she noticed a worn satchel lying against the cave wall. Curious as to what was in it, she walked over and opened it. A holocron was inside. It was obviously well-used, and, turning it over she could make out the word 'Shan' etched into the case.

"Bastila. You need to check this out," she said, tossing it over to the unaware Jedi, who almost dropped the holocron. Skye chuckled softly, which earned her a glare from Bastila; this in turn caused her to laugh even harder.

"Must you be so... immature?" Bastila complained. She looked at the item in her hand, and all the irritation evident on her face vanished. "Oh.. this.. this is my father's holocron. I didn't think we'd come across it."

The fact that her father was dead drifted back into her mind, and her bottom lip began to tremble. She barely had time to think about composing herself before she realized she was being held tightly by the other Jedi. That show of compassion was enough to make the tears start flowing, and she clung to the back of Skye's robes, and cried into her chest, turning the older woman's blue robes a dark blackish-blue. She felt Skye's hand at the back of her neck and her smooth, steady breathing contrasting sharply with her own, erratic shallow breaths. They stayed like that for several minutes, and Bastila could feel though the bond the two shared that Skye was trying to will her own strength to Bastila and take the hurt and sorrow into herself.

'And I'm supposed to be the strong one...' Bastila thought offhandedly. She felt Skye gently push away slightly, and tilt her chin upward with the hand that wasn't behind Bastila's neck, so she could look her in the eyes, which were still leaking tears, even thought her sobs had subsided. Skye's own green eyes seemed to look through to her soul.

"Bastila, it's ok.. it'll all be ok..." Skye murmured. She moved he hand up from Bastila's chin and used her thumb to wipe away the tears that were stubbornly clinging to her face.. and then pulled her back closer to her and kissed her. A chaste kiss really, especially considering the circumstances, but one filled with so much emotion, that it was obviously more than a comforting gesture. It only lasted for a few seconds, and it took all the strength in Bastila not to try to make it last longer. 'Screw the Jedi rules for just this moment,' she thought. She was dimly aware she had a wistful look on her face.

Skye broke the embrace, and was looking embarrassed. She couldn't believe she behaved so inappropriately, taking advantage of the situation to kiss her companion. She hadn't meant to, it just happened. She wasn't sure was Bastila was thinking, she had this weird look on her face. This was not how she wanted to announce her love to Bastila, and now that this had happened, more than likely any flirtation she tried would be cut off before she could think about it. I mean, it had even seemed that Bastila had been enjoying the attention recently, too, even flirting back, as much as her stuffy Jedi ideals would bend to allow, anyway. Crap.

"I'm.. sorry. I didn't mean to-" Skye managed to stutter out, while backing off. She accidentally bumped into HK-47 who was a little ways behind her. The droid moved, startled; apparently it had become so bored it had went into a standby mode. "Um, I think we should head back to Anchorhead now... if- if you want we can stop and talk to your mother before we go.." Bastila only nodded in response, the odd look on her face replaced with a more normal look. Maybe she hadn't noticed the underlying reason for that kiss?

"Yes, we should. I still have to decide whether or not I want to give the holocron to my mother or not?" was all she said. No tone of irritation or anything was in her voice. Well, that's a good start at least.

Skye relaxed a little. Maybe her fears were unfounded after all. "Well, do you think you need it more?"

Bastila only shrugged. "I don't know. Part of me wants to keep a part of my father with me, and another just wants to keep it to spite my mother." She paused, and looked at Skye. She seemed to know what Skye wanted to say, and continued. "I realize such thoughts are not the way of the light side, but... I.. I really don't want to discuss this any further. Can we stop?"

Skye nodded. "I understand how you feel, and I won't press you any further on the matter. I'll support any decision you make." The sky was darkening quickly outside the cave entrance. "We should leave. The desert can be even more dangerous at night."

With that, they left. The trip back to town was uneventful, save for a single wraid attack. Once they arrived safely inside the settlement walls, Bastila mentioned she wanted to go to the cantina, so they made a quick stop.

Bastila and Helena confronted each other, and neither one seemed to give each other much time to explain anything until Skye interrupted them. "Maybe you should give your mother a chance to explain everything, Bastila." She didn't really expect her interjection to help much but it did. Bastila finally found out why her parents gave her to the Jedi, that her mother really was ill, and that her father had went hunting for the krayt dragon in order to pay for Helena's medical treatments.

"I.." Bastila shook her head. "I didn't know. I'm sorry for behaving so badly, Mother. Here, take the holocron." She offered the beaten holocron to Helena, who only shook her hand in refusal.

"No. You keep it. I have enough memories of your father."

"Well, at least take these credits." Bastila pulled out a clip of 500 credits, and pressed them into her mother's palm. "Go to Coruscant and find a doctor. When I finish.. what I have to do, I'll find you."

"But Bastila, I've already told you there's nothing that can be done-" Helena started.

"Please, Mother. I've already lost Father. I don't want to lose you, too," Bastila insisted.

Helena nodded. "Fine. You have your father's determination.. You there-" she said, shifting her gaze to Skye who was standing next to Bastila. "Take care of my daughter, now."

Skye smiled a little. That's all she'd been doing so far during their journey, trying to shield Bastila from harm. Trying being the key word. Bastila often interjected that she could handle herself just fine, and that Skye should focus on defending herself for once, so they wouldn't keep running out of medpacs. "As if she'd let me!" she exclaimed, while Bastila let out a small 'Hmph' in response.

Helena smiled. Apparently, Bastila also got her stubbornness from her father. "Well, you make her let you. Be safe Bastila." She hugged her daughter, and exited the cantina.

Bastila turned to Skye. She looked happier than Skye had ever seen her.

"So, do you feel better now?" An obvious question with an even more obvious answer, but she asked anyway.

Bastila nodded in the affirmative. "I thank you for pushing me to confront my mother. I feel as if a large weight has been lifted off my shoulders," she responded.

"No problem. Glad I could help... Shall we go?" Standing here and talking to Bastila was causing her to turn red, the recent incident still fresh in her mind.

"Yes, I guess we are wasting time, chatting here. Once we find the Star Map on Korriban, we should be able to discern the location of the Star Forge."

So they returned to the Ebon Hawk to head for the planet of Korriban, a desolate planet that was home to a Sith Academy. But there was an unexpected detour- they were intercepted by the Leviathan, a Sith interdictor ship helmed by Saul Karath.

--
"What the hell was that?!" Skye exclaimed, as she and everyone else ran into the cockpit. It had felt like the ship had been stopped mid-flight.

Carth stood up from his seat, turning to face them. "Looks like we're gonna have a little detour, people. Looks like we've been pulled out of warp drive."

Mission had made her way over to one of the view ports. "Um, guys? I'm guessing that's what stopped us." She pointed out to the figure of a massive ship that really didn't require pointing out looming threateningly in the distance.

Carth moved quickly to the port, his eyes darkening in a strange way. "It can't be."

Mission glanced at his curiously. "What is it? It's not something worse than the Sith coming to get us, is it?"

He shook his head. "No Mission, it's the Sith alright. It's just.." He turned to face Skye. "Do you remember the man I told you about, Saul Karath?"

Of course she couldn't forget. How many times had she listened to the man swear he would find and kill him? Way too many times to keep track of, that was for sure. But now wouldn't have been the best time to say something to that effect, she decided wisely.

"Oh, yeah. I remember you talking about him once or twice," she responded, trying to seem like it had taken her a moment to recall the name.

Thankfully, Carth didn't seem to notice. "That's his ship, the Levithan. I'm sure he's not out to kill us, Malak wouldn't allow it."

"Do you think he knows the exact number of our crew? Maybe one of us can hide, and then come to free the others," Bastila offered.

"If we're going to pick someone, we better hurry. Their tractor beam will have us in their hangar in a few minutes," Carth said.

"Well, if we're looking for someone to hide, I can do it. Smuggling was a highly stealth-oriented job, you know," Skye said, looking out at the growing shape of the warship.

Bastila shook her head. "Their whole reason for this is to capture we three," she motioned to herself, Catrh and Skye. "They'd find you eventually."

Skye turned to Mission. "You want to have some fun?"

Her impish grin was all the answer they needed.

---

Skye, Carth, and Bastila were separated from the rest of the group and taken into an interrogation room. Each was put into a electrical-shock type torture machine. They only had to wait a few minutes before Saul Karath himself made his way down from the bridge to see them. Carth glared at his former mentor.

Saul noticed the nasty look, and grinned. "Now, now, Carth. Is that anyway to greet an old friend?

"You bastard. I'll get you for what you did to Telos, even if it costs me my own life," Carth growled.

"Hey, it was the only way the Sith would accept me. I had to prove that I had turned my back completely on the Republic." said Saul. "Surely, you understand all's fair in war?" Carth remained silent.

"You killed innocent people. There is no fairness in that." Bastila spoke up.

Saul snorted derisively. "Typical Jedi talk," he said, as he walked closer. "Lord Malak is on his way here to question you, but I may as well get started for him. You there," he said, turning his focus to Skye. "I will interrogate you. If you lie to me - and I'll know when you do, Carth here will suffer. Tell the truth and I won't torture you much before Malak arrives."

Bastard. He'll torture us both ways.. but it seems like he thinks I'm close to Carth. I hate for him to suffer, but at least it's not Bastila, Skye thought. "Whatever." was all she said.

Saul questioned Skye, and she lied to every question he asked her. In the end, he became so irritated he shocked her so badly she blacked out.

When she eventually came to, Bastila spoke to her.

"Don't try to move so fast. He tortured all of us but you got the brunt of his anger," she said.

"Yeah, I can't believe what kind of person he's become, it's obvious he was enjoying what he did," Carth interrupted angrily.

"The dark side taints and corrupts people, Carth. I fear he is too far down the dark path to be redeemed,"
Bastila replied.

Skye managed to stand up and shake off the dull confusion that comes from being knocked unconscious. Finally able to speak she responded to Bastila's gloomy outlook on Saul's fate. "Everyone has the chance to be redeemed, Bastila." As her vision started to refocus, she noticed that Bastila was in her underwear. She felt the burning sensation rising in her cheeks again.

Bastila smiled sadly. It looked like she was remembering something in her past. "You're right, Skye." She didn't seem to notice the quickly reddening face of her friend.

The doorway opened, and Mission stood smiling at all of them, showing off the skills she had learned from her older brother. Around them the forcefield dropped.

"Hah. Still think I'm just a kid Carth?" she asked, still smiling.

Carth laughed a bit. "Mission, you're more an adult than most people I know."

Mission went with Canderous and the others to secure the ship, while Carth, Bastila and Skye went to find Saul. They recovered their equipment and went to the bridge.

Fighting Saul turned out to be harder than they thought. There were Dark Jedi, and Sith soldiers to deal with as well. Thankfully, all the soldiers they had encountered on the ship on the way to the bridge had helped hone their skills and after a short battle, Saul was lying on the floor of the command room, dying.

"Carth... Carth.." Saul uttered, while motioning with his hand weakly for Carth to come to him. He coughed and a spray of bright red mist sprayed onto his face. Carth went over, and Saul whispered something into his ear. Carth's face froze in shock at whatever Saul had told him. Carth looked down at the man in disbelief.

"You.. didn't know, did you.. haha, re- remember that whenever you look at those you think are your friends.." And with that Saul's head fell back onto the floor with a thud. He was dead.

Carth quickly stood up, still looking at the dead man. "No.. it can't be, it just can't!" he said, trying to force whatever Saul had told him to be false, an evil man's spiteful dying words.

"Whatever it was Carth, I'm sure it was a lie," Skye said quickly, hoping to calm him down.

Carth shook his head violently. "No! Bastila, you knew all along- and you, you knew too!"

Confused, Skye responded. "What are you talking about?"

"Carth, please. Now is not the time, not with Malak on his way!" Bastila responded, as Skye nodded in agreement. Even though she wasn't sure what they were talking about, she had no desire to meet Malak.

Bastila sighed, wanting to end the conversation quickly. "I promise I explain everything Carth. To the both of you. Now, can we go?" she said, turning to leave for the elevator that would lead them to the hangar. Carth left it at that, and followed Bastila, as did Skye.

Entering the blast doors that led to where the Ebon Hawk was stored, they ran into the one person they were trying to avoid- Darth Malak.

There, Skye learned that she was the former Dark Lord Revan, and that Bastila had been there when her mind was destroyed. Suddenly she knew why Bastila had been acting odd back in the interrogation room. She learned the Jedi Council had reprogrammed her mind, but couldn't keep the flashbacks she'd been having from occurring, and so they sent Bastila with her to try and unearth the location of the Star Forge and stop Malak.

"I understand why you didn't tell me, Bastila. I forgive you." Skye said after the shock of uncovering her past had passed.

"Forgiveness, Revan?" scoffed Malak. "And to think you were my master. I used to regret not killing you myself, but now... I have that chance." Malak waved a hand, using the Force to stop Bastila and Carth in their tracks, and withdrew his lightsaber. Red light shone off the plate that was there in substitute of his jaw.

Skye fought Malak, and was clearly stronger than him still after all these years. Malak grew frustrated, and channeled the Force in to a whirlwind to disable Skye and ran off. Skye tried several blast doors before she found him again. This happened twice more, before Bastila and Carth were released from their frozen state. Bastila ran in and pushed Skye back out into the hallway.

"I'll hold him off. You two go find the Star Forge!" was all she said before she shut and locked the blast door.

"Bastila!" Skye yelled, trying to force the door open. Carth pulled her back.

"There's nothing we can do for her here. She's sacrificed her self so we can escape and defeat Malak elsewhere." he reasoned to the distraught Jedi.

As much as she didn't want to, she had to leave. She could only hope Bastila would be safe.

---

And that was the last she saw of Bastila. Until now that is.

"Revan... I knew you'd come for me."

As she said that, her companions heard the distinct hum of a light spacecraft's engine. They heard it approaching closer and closer, then the sound of landing gear being deployed and touching ground on the rooftop. Some of the dust that flew up from it landing blew into the alcove they were standing in.


"...Well. We wouldn't want to keep our mystery guest waiting, would we?" Skye continued, stepping out onto the sun-bleached stones that made up the rooftop. She had taken all of two steps when she felt a hand on her arm.


"Are you sure this is the best idea? We have no idea who it could be!" Juhani asked.


Skye smiled lightly. "Ah, Juhani. We could leave, but we couldn't go anywhere. We still have to lower the shields." Clasping her friend's hand in her own, she continued. "So we have to go through whoever this is either way."


Skye released Juhani's hand to pull her dual lightsabers from her belt, before walking towards the unknown person who was standing a good distance ahead, obviously waiting for their approach. As they came close enough to distinguish facial features, Skye noticed the familiar dark brown hair pulled back into two braids, eyes that showed any change in emotion whether anger while fighting an opponent or amusement at one of Mission's jokes, and those lips -geez, those lips- capable of delivering the most acerbic retorts to someone, (generally Canderous, who really enjoyed annoying her) but mostly, providing kind words to all. Something else suddenly appeared in Skye's mind after recognizing the person waiting ahead as Bastila, something that she'd pushed to the back of her mind to keep herself from going mad with worry over what Malak was doing to Bastila.


---


It had been about three months since the Jedi council had sent them on their mission -a suicide mission, it seemed, givien the danger of taking on the Sith- to find the Star Maps on Manaan, Korriban, Kashyyyk, and Tatooine, so the path to the Star Forge would be clear. Their mission would come to a peak there, where they were to stop Darth Malak by any means necessary.


They had just found the Star Map on Tatooine after luring a krayt dragon out of the cave the map was located in. Of course, they had help in that matter. A Twi'lek hunter had placed mines all around the entrance, but he needed something to lure the dragon into the trap. HK-47, the droid they had purchased to be able to talk to the Sand People, noticed a herd of bantha to the west of the cave entrance, and went over to draw ten over to the entrance. Several Sand People took offense to this, however, but the assassin droid happily dispatched of them, and lured the animals over. The dragon lumbered out, and as Skye's jaw dropped she silently thanked whatever luck she possessed to come looking for the Star Map the same time as the hunter came to kill the gigantic reptile. There was no way they would have been able to fight it.


The mines exploded as the dragon stepped over them; the bantha herd was oblivious to the noise, continuing to eat the fodder Skye had placed on the ground. (She wished she had worn gloves; the stuff smelled awful) After they had received their reward for helping out, they entered the now vacant cave. Corpses from less lucky adventurers were strewn along the dirt. The map lay in the back of the cave. While Skye was finishing up entering the coordinates from the map into a datapad, Bastila mentioned that it must have been the Map's dark side power that drew the dragon to the cave, to which Skye agreed. Placing the datapad in one her belt pouches, she noticed a worn satchel lying against the cave wall. Curious as to what was in it, she walked over and opened it. A holocron was inside. It was obviously well-used, and, turning it over she could make out the word 'Shan' etched into the case.


"Bastila. You need to check this out," she said, tossing it over to the unaware Jedi, who almost dropped the holocron. Skye chuckled softly, which earned her a glare from Bastila; this in turn caused her to laugh even harder.


"Must you be so... immature?" Bastila complained. She looked at the item in her hand, and all the irritation evident on her face vanished. "Oh.. this.. this is my father's holocron. I didn't think we'd come across it."


The fact that her father was dead drifted back into her mind, and her bottom lip began to tremble. She barely had time to think about composing herself before she realized she was being held tightly by the other Jedi. That show of compassion was enough to make the tears start flowing, and she clung to the back of Skye's robes, and cried into her chest, turning the older woman's blue robes a dark blackish-blue. She felt Skye's hand at the back of her neck and her smooth, steady breathing contrasting sharply with her own, erratic shallow breaths. They stayed like that for several minutes, and Bastila could feel though the bond the two shared that Skye was trying to will her own strength to Bastila and take the hurt and sorrow into herself.


'And I'm supposed to be the strong one...' Bastila thought offhandedly. She felt Skye gently push away slightly, and tilt her chin upward with the hand that wasn't behind Bastila's neck, so she could look her in the eyes, which were still leaking tears, even thought her sobs had subsided. Skye's own green eyes seemed to look through to her soul.


"Bastila, it's ok.. it'll all be ok..." Skye murmured. She moved he hand up from Bastila's chin and used her thumb to wipe away the tears that were stubbornly clinging to her face.. and then pulled her back closer to her and kissed her. A chaste kiss really, especially considering the circumstances, but one filled with so much emotion, that it was obviously more than a comforting gesture. It only lasted for a few seconds, and it took all the strength in Bastila not to try to make it last longer. 'Screw the Jedi rules for just this moment,' she thought. She was dimly aware she had a wistful look on her face.


Skye broke the embrace, and was looking embarrassed. She couldn't believe she behaved so inappropriately, taking advantage of the situation to kiss her companion. She hadn't meant to, it just happened. She wasn't sure was Bastila was thinking, she had this weird look on her face. This was not how she wanted to announce her love to Bastila, and now that this had happened, more than likely any flirtation she tried would be cut off before she could think about it. I mean, it had even seemed that Bastila had been enjoying the attention recently, too, even flirting back, as much as her stuffy Jedi ideals would bend to allow, anyway. Crap.


"I'm.. sorry. I didn't mean to-" Skye managed to stutter out, while backing off. She accidentally bumped into HK-47 who was a little ways behind her. The droid moved, startled; apparently it had become so bored it had went into a standby mode. "Um, I think we should head back to Anchorhead now... if- if you want we can stop and talk to your mother before we go.." Bastila only nodded in response, the odd look on her face replaced with a more normal look. Maybe she hadn't noticed the underlying reason for that kiss?


"Yes, we should. I still have to decide whether or not I want to give the holocron to my mother or not?" was all she said. No tone of irritation or anything was in her voice. Well, that's a good start at least.


Skye relaxed a little. Maybe her fears were unfounded after all. "Well, do you think you need it more?"


Bastila only shrugged. "I don't know. Part of me wants to keep a part of my father with me, and another just wants to keep it to spite my mother." She paused, and looked at Skye. She seemed to know what Skye wanted to say, and continued. "I realize such thoughts are not the way of the light side, but... I.. I really don't want to discuss this any further. Can we stop?"


Skye nodded. "I understand how you feel, and I won't press you any further on the matter. I'll support any decision you make." The sky was darkening quickly outside the cave entrance. "We should leave. The desert can be even more dangerous at night."


With that, they left. The trip back to town was uneventful, save for a single wraid attack. Once they arrived safely inside the settlement walls, Bastila mentioned she wanted to go to the cantina, so they made a quick stop.


Bastila and Helena confronted each other, and neither one seemed to give each other much time to explain anything until Skye interrupted them. "Maybe you should give your mother a chance to explain everything, Bastila." She didn't really expect her interjection to help much but it did. Bastila finally found out why her parents gave her to the Jedi, that her mother really was ill, and that her father had went hunting for the krayt dragon in order to pay for Helena's medical treatments.


"I.." Bastila shook her head. "I didn't know. I'm sorry for behaving so badly, Mother. Here, take the holocron." She offered the beaten holocron to Helena, who only shook her hand in refusal.


"No. You keep it. I have enough memories of your father."


"Well, at least take these credits." Bastila pulled out a clip of 500 credits, and pressed them into her mother's palm. "Go to Coruscant and find a doctor. When I finish.. what I have to do, I'll find you."


"But Bastila, I've already told you there's nothing that can be done-" Helena started.


"Please, Mother. I've already lost Father. I don't want to lose you, too," Bastila insisted.


Helena nodded. "Fine. You have your father's determination.. You there-" she said, shifting her gaze to Skye who was standing next to Bastila. "Take care of my daughter, now."


Skye smiled a little. That's all she'd been doing so far during their journey, trying to shield Bastila from harm. Trying being the key word. Bastila often interjected that she could handle herself just fine, and that Skye should focus on defending herself for once, so they wouldn't keep running out of medpacs. "As if she'd let me!" she exclaimed, while Bastila let out a small 'Hmph' in response.


Helena smiled. Apparently, Bastila also got her stubbornness from her father. "Well, you make her let you. Be safe Bastila." She hugged her daughter, and exited the cantina.


Bastila turned to Skye. She looked happier than Skye had ever seen her.


"So, do you feel better now?" An obvious question with an even more obvious answer, but she asked anyway.


Bastila nodded in the affirmative. "I thank you for pushing me to confront my mother. I feel as if a large weight has been lifted off my shoulders," she responded.


"No problem. Glad I could help... Shall we go?" Standing here and talking to Bastila was causing her to turn red, the recent incident still fresh in her mind.


"Yes, I guess we are wasting time, chatting here. Once we find the Star Map on Korriban, we should be able to discern the location of the Star Forge."


So they returned to the Ebon Hawk to head for the planet of Korriban, a desolate planet that was home to a Sith Academy. But there was an unexpected detour- they were intercepted by the Leviathan, a Sith interdictor ship helmed by Saul Karath.


--
"What the hell was that?!" Skye exclaimed, as she and everyone else ran into the cockpit. It had felt like the ship had been stopped mid-flight.


Carth stood up from his seat, turning to face them. "Looks like we're gonna have a little detour, people. Looks like we've been pulled out of warp drive."


Mission had made her way over to one of the view ports. "Um, guys? I'm guessing that's what stopped us." She pointed out to the figure of a massive ship that really didn't require pointing out looming threateningly in the distance.


Carth moved quickly to the port, his eyes darkening in a strange way. "It can't be."


Mission glanced at his curiously. "What is it? It's not something worse than the Sith coming to get us, is it?"


He shook his head. "No Mission, it's the Sith alright. It's just.." He turned to face Skye. "Do you remember the man I told you about, Saul Karath?"


Of course she couldn't forget. How many times had she listened to the man swear he would find and kill him? Way too many times to keep track of, that was for sure. But now wouldn't have been the best time to say something to that effect, she decided wisely.


"Oh, yeah. I remember you talking about him once or twice," she responded, trying to seem like it had taken her a moment to recall the name.


Thankfully, Carth didn't seem to notice. "That's his ship, the Levithan. I'm sure he's not out to kill us, Malak wouldn't allow it."


"Do you think he knows the exact number of our crew? Maybe one of us can hide, and then come to free the others," Bastila offered.


"If we're going to pick someone, we better hurry. Their tractor beam will have us in their hangar in a few minutes," Carth said.


"Well, if we're looking for someone to hide, I can do it. Smuggling was a highly stealth-oriented job, you know," Skye said, looking out at the growing shape of the warship.


Bastila shook her head. "Their whole reason for this is to capture we three," she motioned to herself, Catrh and Skye. "They'd find you eventually."


Skye turned to Mission. "You want to have some fun?"


Her impish grin was all the answer they needed.


---


Skye, Carth, and Bastila were separated from the rest of the group and taken into an interrogation room. Each was put into a electrical-shock type torture machine. They only had to wait a few minutes before Saul Karath himself made his way down from the bridge to see them. Carth glared at his former mentor.


Saul noticed the nasty look, and grinned. "Now, now, Carth. Is that anyway to greet an old friend?


"You bastard. I'll get you for what you did to Telos, even if it costs me my own life," Carth growled.


"Hey, it was the only way the Sith would accept me. I had to prove that I had turned my back completely on the Republic." said Saul. "Surely, you understand all's fair in war?" Carth remained silent.


"You killed innocent people. There is no fairness in that." Bastila spoke up.


Saul snorted derisively. "Typical Jedi talk," he said, as he walked closer. "Lord Malak is on his way here to question you, but I may as well get started for him. You there," he said, turning his focus to Skye. "I will interrogate you. If you lie to me - and I'll know when you do, Carth here will suffer. Tell the truth and I won't torture you much before Malak arrives."


/Bastard. He'll torture us both ways.. but it seems like he thinks I'm close to Carth. I hate for him to suffer, but at least it's not Bastila/, Skye thought. "Whatever." was all she said.


Saul questioned Skye, and she lied to every question he asked her. In the end, he became so irritated he shocked her so badly she blacked out.


When she eventually came to, Bastila spoke to her.


"Don't try to move so fast. He tortured all of us but you got the brunt of his anger," she said.


"Yeah, I can't believe what kind of person he's become, it's obvious he was enjoying what he did," Carth interrupted angrily.


"The dark side taints and corrupts people, Carth. I fear he is too far down the dark path to be redeemed,"
Bastila replied.


Skye managed to stand up and shake off the dull confusion that comes from being knocked unconscious. Finally able to speak she responded to Bastila's gloomy outlook on Saul's fate. "Everyone has the chance to be redeemed, Bastila." As her vision started to refocus, she noticed that Bastila was in her underwear. She felt the burning sensation rising in her cheeks again.


Bastila smiled sadly. It looked like she was remembering something in her past. "You're right, Skye." She didn't seem to notice the quickly reddening face of her friend.


The doorway opened, and Mission stood smiling at all of them, showing off the skills she had learned from her older brother. Around them the forcefield dropped.


"Hah. Still think I'm just a kid Carth?" she asked, still smiling.


Carth laughed a bit. "Mission, you're more an adult than most people I know."


Mission went with Canderous and the others to secure the ship, while Carth, Bastila and Skye went to find Saul. They recovered their equipment and went to the bridge.


Fighting Saul turned out to be harder than they thought. There were Dark Jedi, and Sith soldiers to deal with as well. Thankfully, all the soldiers they had encountered on the ship on the way to the bridge had helped hone their skills and after a short battle, Saul was lying on the floor of the command room, dying.


"Carth... Carth.." Saul uttered, while motioning with his hand weakly for Carth to come to him. He coughed and a spray of bright red mist sprayed onto his face. Carth went over, and Saul whispered something into his ear. Carth's face froze in shock at whatever Saul had told him. Carth looked down at the man in disbelief.


"You.. didn't know, did you.. haha, re- remember that whenever you look at those you think are your friends.." And with that Saul's head fell back onto the floor with a thud. He was dead.


Carth quickly stood up, still looking at the dead man. "No.. it can't be, it just can't!" he said, trying to force whatever Saul had told him to be false, an evil man's spiteful dying words.


"Whatever it was Carth, I'm sure it was a lie," Skye said quickly, hoping to calm him down.


Carth shook his head violently. "No! Bastila, you knew all along- and you, you knew too!"


Confused, Skye responded. "What are you talking about?"


"Carth, please. Now is not the time, not with Malak on his way!" Bastila responded, as Skye nodded in agreement. Even though she wasn't sure what they were talking about, she had no desire to meet Malak.


Bastila sighed, wanting to end the conversation quickly. "I promise I explain everything Carth. To the both of you. Now, can we go?" she said, turning to leave for the elevator that would lead them to the hangar. Carth left it at that, and followed Bastila, as did Skye.


Entering the blast doors that led to where the Ebon Hawk was stored, they ran into the one person they were trying to avoid- Darth Malak.


There, Skye learned that she was the former Dark Lord Revan, and that Bastila had been there when her mind was destroyed. Suddenly she knew why Bastila had been acting odd back in the interrogation room. She learned the Jedi Council had reprogrammed her mind, but couldn't keep the flashbacks she'd been having from occurring, and so they sent Bastila with her to try and unearth the location of the Star Forge and stop Malak.


"I understand why you didn't tell me, Bastila. I forgive you." Skye said after the shock of uncovering her past had passed.


"Forgiveness, Revan?" scoffed Malak. "And to think you were my master. I used to regret not killing you myself, but now... I have that chance." Malak waved a hand, using the Force to stop Bastila and Carth in their tracks, and withdrew his lightsaber. Red light shone off the plate that was there in substitute of his jaw.


Skye fought Malak, and was clearly stronger than him still after all these years. Malak grew frustrated, and channeled the Force in to a whirlwind to disable Skye and ran off. Skye tried several blast doors before she found him again. This happened twice more, before Bastila and Carth were released from their frozen state. Bastila ran in and pushed Skye back out into the hallway.


"I'll hold him off. You two go find the Star Forge!" was all she said before she shut and locked the blast door.


"Bastila!" Skye yelled, trying to force the door open. Carth pulled her back.


"There's nothing we can do for her here. She's sacrificed her self so we can escape and defeat Malak elsewhere." he reasoned to the distraught Jedi.


As much as she didn't want to, she had to leave. She could only hope Bastila would be safe.


---


And that was the last she saw of Bastila. Until now that is.


"Revan... I knew you'd come for me."