The True Sith-5

Title: The True Sith
Author: Heroes Die
Game: KotOR
Characters: Revan, Carth, Canderous
Disclaimer: Everything here belongs to the all-awesome Bioware

Chapter 5

Revan strode down the loading ramp onto the scorched landing platform of Mustafar. The air shivered as pockets of lava exploded in plumes against the wavering platform shield, the heat making it intensely uncomfortable under her layers of clothing. Flanking her were Carth and Canderous, HK following behind, all three doing their very best to look menacing—all of them succeeding. The blasters they toted next to the selectively chosen knives and assorted weapons hanging on their belts were enough to convince the waiting Mustafarians that they meant business and were aptly chosen to serve as bodyguards for the Dark Lord.

The being that swept its head low in greeting was, most likely, whoever served as the leader of Mustafar itself. With the protective suit on against the heat, the being's form was hard to make out, but Revan could tell its body was humanoid, tall and slender, the only hint of its face being a wiggling snout that drooped underneath large goggles. It kept its head bowed, but its snout betrayed its anxiety to her—that and the Force reeked of its bewilderment.

Revan stopped several feet away from it, hearing her 'bodyguards' behind her stop in step accordingly. The Mustafarian raised its head to her hesitantly.

"Greetings, my Lord," it announced. "I am Du'rovian, your most humble servant." The Mustafarian bowed its head again and gestured for her to follow it inside the compound. "I hope we will be able to serve you in whatever capacity you need. I sincerely apologize for the miscommunication while you were in orbit. The comm. coordinator responsible has already been punished which, I hope, is to your satisfaction. But," he added quickly, "if you want instead to take care of matters yourself…"

Revan could tell by the timbre of its voice that it was male but more obvious still was the fear radiating off of Du'rovian for the oversight of not letting Revan deal with the offending Mustafarian herself. At least, that was what he thought, but even as Darth Revan she wouldn't have wasted her time on such a trifling thing. "Du'rovian," Revan said. "I came here for a purpose, not to look after petty matters of your government."

"Uh- of course, I apologize." He glanced at her small entourage and then back at her. "Perhaps I can offer you and your companions rest and nourishment while I look after what you need, my Lord."

Revan gave the slightest of nods and trailed the Mustafarian into the compound and through twisting halls. The compound was simple, sheets of grey durasteel comprising walls, floor, and ceiling, and it grew very monotonous as they traced Du'rovian's path through what seemed like the same corridor over and over. All of them were all relieved when the Mustafarian stopped outside a door next to a large common area, entered a code, and bowed again, his arm extended towards the intended room. Revan was impressed to find the room extremely lavish and cooled to a comfortable temperature, so unlike the hallways. Soft, plush couches lounged off to the side, a waterfall splashed in the middle (an incredible waste of water for a planet such as this) that created small droplets on the black tiled floor. Various etchings of history-turned-art wound around the walls. A counter along one of the walls was set up with drinks, mostly water.

Revan didn't let any of her impressions show in her body language, her mask covering the rest, and turned back to Du'rovian who was eagerly awaiting her approval. "This will do for now. While I wait, I need everything emptied from my vault and brought here, and I don't want to be kept waiting long."

He nodded and quickly backed out of the room, the door sliding closed behind him. HK took his place as sentry beside the door. Before any of them could start talking, Revan held up her hand for silence. With a quick darting of her eyes, she activated the scanning mode on her mask and swept her gaze across the room, checking for any listening devices or hidden cameras. She brought her hand back down, signaling it was safe, and unclipped the mask.

Canderous stretched and sat down on one of the couches, setting his blaster down at his feet. "I think that went well."

Carth nodded his agreement, albeit with a grim set to his face, and made his way over to the counter to grab three glasses of the precious water. "Seeing as how we didn't have to resort to violence, I guess I'd call it successful." He handed out the water and sat on the same couch as Canderous. "But how long can you do this, Revan? This can't be the way it's going to go down for every place we head off to or it's going to take its toll."

Revan set her mask on the table, and the familiar visor glared up at her. She took a long draw from the glass and settled into a firm nerf-leather chair, not answering Carth's question and really not wanting to. Right now, there were more important things to talk about than herself.

She set her shoulders and put on her business-first manner. Thankfully, Carth didn't press his question further. "I want this thing to be as short as possible, and I'm sure you guys don't want to spend any more time here than you absolutely have to—" she said, holding up her hand, "of course, with the exception of HK." Revan heard the droid settle down behind her who had been shuffling in protest at her words; most likely HK enjoyed the prospect of having to bully these guys around. "The Mustafarians should be back soon with what I requested and after that we're back out." What Revan didn't mention was that one of them was going to be heading off in a different direction. Her eyes were stuck on Carth's face, drinking in the last of him while she could.

He noticed her attention and frowned, questioning her look.

A tentative knock on the door interrupted any answer she could have given him and Revan clasped her mask back on. She was surprised: they had been quicker than she expected, but if they had guessed at what she wanted while she was still in orbit they would have had time to gather the stored boxes and bring them to a compartment near the guest room. Revan stood, gestured with the Force and the doors opened silently to allow in a group of Mustafarians carrying large boxes. They huddled unmoving by the door.

"I'll take those." Revan didn't even motion with her hands but removed all of the boxes with Force, lifted them into the air, and then settled them gently on the ground. The carriers stood dumbfounded. She sent them skittering off with a simple look in their direction.

Canderous stood as soon as the door had closed and started inspecting the contents of the boxes, lifting the lids and nodding in appreciation for their contents. "Well, I'll say this, you have excellent taste." He lifted a particularly expensive rifle that she had picked up on Mitre Prime. He took it back to his seat, clearly enraptured by the rare weapon, and started inspecting it. HK moved from his spot as sentry and managed to pick up the one bundle of items from a semi-open box that she hadn't wanted to look at. He held a couple of lightsabers, only a few of the many in the box. Revan didn't remember how many there were, but she did remember that she had killed Jedi Masters for those particular ones. HK set them back down when he noticed Revan's gaze.

Revan took off her mask once again and drew a deep breath, staring at one particular box in the back. With a little hesitation, she made her way over to it, the one thing that she had come for within reach—the one thing that would send Carth back to the Core. Slowly, she opened the lid and pushed aside some random objects she remembered nothing of to find a simple black holo-disk.

She went back to where Carth was seated, his eyes going back and forth between her and the disk. Revan dropped beside him and laid the device on the table in front of them. He looked at her questioningly. "Just watch," she said and pressed the activation button.

Images coalesced in the air as semi-translucent blue pictures flashed by, each depicting a provocative scene, captured recordings from the war: a city melted down to steaming glass, a gun pointed and discharged at a girl's head while the mother was towed away, prisoners shackled and shuffling into the belly of an unfriendly ship, bodies piled in heaps as smoke billowed from their corpses, these gruesome spoils of victory…and the images kept coming one after the other until…

Carth finally said, "Stop. I've seen enough."

Revan noticed that Canderous had turned from the blaster and was watching the images with disgust growing on his features, but when it ended he quickly turned away and tried to focus once more on the blaster.

"This," Revan gestured at the image frozen above the play disk, "is why I need you to stay behind. All of this is why you need to help the Republic build itself up from the chaos I left to it."

Carth started shaking his head, now understanding what she was trying to say. "Rev…"

"Please, Carth. I know it's hard, I could barely make up my mind about it, but I need you to go to the Republic and do some good there instead of trying to do good somewhere where it doesn't exist. If you come with me, the galaxy will be left in shambles. It will never recover, and the Republic will collapse. That's not my guess, it's a certainty. It needs help, and I would do it except the cause of the destruction needs to be stopped at its source. Where I'm going…"she paused before she said the words that made her decision final, "where I'm going you cannot follow."

Carth felt his hold on her slipping away so fast it was like holding a suddenly severed rope. Visions of Morgana lying dead in his arms pounded in synch with his heart and her face was dissolving into Revan's. He couldn't stand the thought of losing her, and his voice stammered out his churning emotions. "No…Revan, I'm not about to…"

She let him try and find a reason, an excuse, anything to convince her that she was wrong, but Revan saw the more he thought about it and fought with himself, the more he understood. She felt the burning of tears threatening her composure but held them back. That would only make it harder. "Carth, I know you understand. I can't take those I love to a place saturated with the Dark Side. I have to be prepared to risk everything, and I'm not willing to gamble your life." Revan clenched his hand in hers. He had to understand now. He had to stay in the Core. The Unknown Regions would kill him if he went, she could feel it…..It would probably kill her too.

Carth sighed from the bottom of his chest, his throat tight. "Revan, you know I don't want to leave you, not when there's a chance I can help…" he swallowed hard, composing his thoughts. He did understand logically what the right thing to do was, but logic and emotions never had much to do with each other. Was he willing to give her up? No that wasn't it. Revan was involved with something…beyond him. And he didn't want to admit it. It wasn't about being brave enough to face it. He simply lacked the skills to face whatever it was, to help Revan rather than be a hindrance. There was good he could do here too, just as she said but…but. But. Always another reason. Finally he brought himself to make the choice. The right one.

"I do understand. I love you, Revan, and I would go with you to the ends of the galaxy…but I understand. You're right. Just…promise me that you'll come back."

Revan let out her held breath and they leaned in together, the kiss that followed an expression of desperate passion and awakening anxiety. They came out of it smiling but with the heavy knowledge that was probably the last time they would see each other, the last time they would steal the other's breath away.

Revan whispered into his ear, "I love you, Onasi." She squeezed his hand. "I'll have a ship prepared for you. I'll need the Hawk for the rest of this."

He nodded. Canderous and HK were busily trying to pretend they couldn't hear their discussion, giving them a modicum of privacy. Revan reluctantly broke contact with Carth, moved to the wall where there was a comm. unit, and made her desire for a ship clear. The Mustafarians were more than willing to supply her with one and the time that it took to make it ready for flight was short-lived. Before she was ready, before either of them was ready, it was time to part.  

Du'rovian was the one who entered and informed her of the ship's read-to-fly state, also cautiously enquiring about the boxes. "Do you wish to have them moved to one of your ships, my Lord?"

"No," Revan replied firmly. "I want you to burn them."

Du'rovian's eyes widened behind the goggles and his snout flapped but he wouldn't dare disobey, the thought of all of the profit he could make selling them obviously causing him distress. Canderous and HK looked like they wanted to object also, but bodyguards of Darth Revan would never speak their dissent, and so they remained quiet. Carth was beckoned by Du'rovian who said he would gladly take him to the prepared ship, and so they weren't even allowed a parting embrace. Carth was allowed only to stare at Revan's mask as he departed, hoping that her eyes followed him behind the dark visor of an old enemy. And they did.

They stared at each other for as long as eye contact remained, and as soon as Carth rounded the corner, disappearing beyond grey walls, she felt his loss in her life like a hit to the stomach.

He was gone.

As Revan made her separate way back to the Ebon Hawk she tried not to think of how Carth would feel as time went past. Would he hate her for sending him back, hate himself for not following, worry about her, try to follow her?

Every Mustafarian in her path tried their best to steer clear of her as she marched down the narrow halls, but she barely noticed it. The Unknown Regions had her attention and she tried to think about that rather than cling to the memory of Carth. She needed to distance her feelings from him now; it would only hurt the more she thought about it, like pushing a thorn into her skin. Sure you brought the thorn closer to you, and you would remember it, but it would only create a larger wound as time went on. Carth was special to her like no one else had been, but there were some things she would have to sacrifice to get to the Unknown Regions. Love was one of them. Revan wasn't going to become another Morgana for Carth, and this way—or so she thought—would save him more pain in the end.