Title: "Redemption"

Summary: Carth tries to find Revan as she goes to the Rakatan Temple.

Author's Notes: This story is inspired by a clip I watched on YouTube of a 'Dark Side Romance Ending' in which Carth confronts Revan on the Star Forge after she's killed Malak. I didn't exactly like Carth running off and leaving Mission behind back on the 'uknown world', so I wrote this to try and explain what happened.

My thanks to Alice for being a great beta as well as inspiring me with her own redemption story.

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Carth Onasi, blaster in hand, slowly peered over a large outcropping of rocks and rubble. Off a short distance away, the Rakatan Temple beckoned, its large central spire rising high into the air like a dagger aimed at the heavens. The Republic Captain shivered at the imagery, but forcefully got a hold of himself. From where he crouched, he could see no sign of Revan, Jolee or Juhani. He needed to get closer, but there was a slight problem – half a dozen rather large rancors playing and tussling in the fields surrounding the construct.

Carth narrowed his eyes, his lips twisting slightly. Difficult, but not impossible.

An army of rancors, Dark Jedi or even Sith wouldn't have kept him away – not when there'd been a promise to keep.

-O-

Several hours before…

"Will you stop that pacing, Republic? You're turning the sand beneath your feet into glass."

Carth abruptly paused in his strides under the Ebon Hawk to glare at Canderous Ordo. The older man coolly gazed back at the Republic officer, and then casually dismissed him by returning back to cleaning his heavy repeating blaster. His newly acquired Mandalorian battle armor shone under the Rakatan sun, with the helm resting on a boulder nearby. Carth felt uneasy about that. Wearing that armor, the mercenary looked…colder, more determined, ready to follow and execute any order given to him – especially one from Revan.

"I'm sure Revan's fine, Carth," a voice said from behind, interrupting Carth's worried musing. "If Jolee and Juhani hadn't gotten to her before the Rakatans opened the temple, they would have been back here in no time."

Carth smiled tightly as he glanced over his shoulder at the young Twi'lek repairing one of the 'Hawk's landing struts with a Wookiee nearby, handing tools to her.

"I know, Mission," Carth said. Even from miles away, the ancient temple could be seen. Although he was no Jedi, a pit still formed in his stomach as he stared at it. "I just can't help feeling that I should be there with them as well."

"You don't think Revan can take of herself?" Mission Vao said as she wiped her hands on an oily rag Zaalbar had handed her.

Carth shook his head. "It's not that," he said, sparing another uneasy glance at the far off Rakatan structure. "I mean, you heard Jolee and Juhani. They both said this place is suffused with the dark side and that its focal point is that temple." His face hardened. "I'm just afraid that with Revan in the center of it, she won't be able to keep a clear head."

Mission frowned but didn't respond. Slowly, she said, "I – I didn't want to say this but, I've been worried about Revan ever since we escaped from the Leviathan and had to leave Bastila behind. Sometimes, I'd walk past her door and I could hear her almost yelling in her sleep. It must've been nightmares because she'd say Bastila's name from time to time."

"Can you blame her?" Carth said, shaking his head. "One minute she thinks she's a soldier turned Jedi, the next, she's told by Darth Malak himself that she's actually the most hated and feared person in the galaxy." He sighed. "Hell, it was a lot for me to take in. I guess I didn't help things any when I couldn't face her for a while."

"No, you sure didn't," Mission said flatly. Carth winced a little at the accusation but could think of no reply. The rest of the crew had taken the news of Mirelle's true identity in stride, much to his surprise. Memories of Telos had been just too fresh in his mind. Would things have been different if he'd been a little more forgiving? He just didn't know.

Mission checked one more setting on an open panel and then had Zaalbar close it up. She chewed on his lip for a bit before speaking. "It's – it's been a while since I could really trust anyone, especially having lived in LoCity. All I ever had was Big Z to watch my back. I've been with you guys almost a year now, going from one side of this galaxy to the next looking for these Star Maps." She swallowed. "Griff's an okay brother, but you guys are…my friends and I really don't want anything to happen to you."

Carth felt a tightness that gripped him like a vise. He could understand Mission's reluctance to trust anyone. For him, trust had been almost impossible after what had happened to Telos and the betrayal by Admiral Karath. Grudgingly, he'd grown to respect Lt. Mirelle Dana as they'd first escaped to Taris and then to Dantooine where she'd been tapped to not only become a Jedi Padawan, but also lead him, Bastila and the others on an odyssey across the galaxy. Somewhere along the way, he'd felt something he'd thought long dead deep within his soul slowly come back to life. His heart belonged to Mirelle even before he'd consciously realized it.

But betrayal, unfortunately, had one more vicious joke to play on Carth.

He could still hear Saul silently laughing at him as he lay dying at his feet on the bridge of the Leviathan. Karath's final act of malice:

"You…didn't know…did you? You blind fool…she's...she's Darth Revan…"

Carth had nearly lost his mind at that moment – everything that he feared had come to pass at Saul's words. However, rage had slowly been replaced by pity as he'd witnessed how distraught Mirelle had been at the revelation – especially with the damning confirmation made by Darth Malak.

The final leg to the Star Forge had been a long one, but one filled with cautious, if reluctant, reconciliation. Carth had known bitter regret for too long to let it darken his life once again. He'd seen how Mirelle…Revan…had struggled with her sanity and had tried to provide the support she'd desperately needed. Even as they'd arrived at Lehon, the Rakatan homeworld, Carth had still caught the struggle going on in Revan's eyes.

People often seek each other out in times of great stress and turmoil and the night before Revan was to meet with the Rakatan Elders in front of the Temple, she sought out Carth. She seemed so at peace as she walked up to him on the beach, barefoot, with a small, white flower placed in her hair.

The thundering surf did little to dim the passion each saw in the other's eyes. With the stars glittering high in the Rakatan night, they made love under the gathering darkness. Afterwards, as they lay in each other's arms, Carth held Revan as she cried on his chest, weeping desperate tears onto his skin. She confessed that there was still a part of her that was afraid of Malak, afraid of the power within the Star Forge…and afraid of not being strong enough to resist the pull of the dark side.

Carth held her tightly and promised her, right then and there, that he'd be at her side to make sure he'd save her, not only from the Sith, but also from herself. The next morning, Carth woke to find Revan gone…and the flower she'd worn carefully placed in his jacket pocket.

Carth now glanced once again at the tall spire of the Temple and his sense of foreboding deepened. A chill suddenly went down his back. Something had gone horribly wrong – he just felt it. He said as much to Mission as he abruptly turned and marched purposefully up the loading ramp.

"Oh, so now you're a Jedi, huh?" Mission breathlessly said as she ran after him. Carth walked into the main cargo hold, opened up a weapons locker and started picking out items.

"Don't forget Dustil's Force sensitive, Mission, even if he started out in the Sith Academy," he replied as took off his orange jacket and slid into Echani Medium Battle Armor. "I know next to nothing about the Force, but I'd think he must've gotten the ability from either one or both of his parents." He finished checking the charges on his personal blasters, grabbed a bandoleer of assorted grenades and made for the exit.

"Hang on a sec!"

Carth turned and watched Mission run down a passageway towards her quarters. Moments later, she came back holding a worn-looking thick belt embedded with controls and delicate looking circuitry.

"Hmm," she said, eyeing Carth's armor. "I don't know how well this'll work with that on, but I think if you use it sparingly and either stand still or walk very slowly, you might be able to make it past anything that comes your way."

Carth's eyes widened slightly. "You're giving me your own stealth field generator?"

"You wish, grandpa," Mission said with a laugh. "This is only a loaner. There're still a lot of rancors between here and there. You'd never make it by yourself, so this should give an added advantage. Besides, I've added a few special modifications myself so it should work the way I described."

She wrapped the belt around Carth's waist, tapped on a control, checked a tiny readout and then nodded to herself. "You're good to go."

Carth couldn't help smiling. "Thanks, Mission. Something tells me it'll come in handy."

Mission sobered a little. "Just find Revan, Carth." Then, with a twinkle in her eye said, "...and bring back my belt, of course." Before Carth could say anything, she rushed up and gave him a quick hug.

Returning the embrace for the barest of moments, Carth then disengaged himself, grabbed his gear and ran down the ramp.

-O-

Several hours later, Carth carefully made his way through a stone ravine leading up to the main plateau where the temple stood. Mines and other nasty surprises along the path had hampered a trek that should have taken at most an hour. The tall grass covering most of the ground hadn't helped. Every few meters he'd had to don a special visor that allowed him to see the faint metallic outlines of the buried charges. Some of the mines he'd been able to avoid, others took precious time to disarm so he could go through.

Looking over some boulders, he could still see the rancors playing or lounging in the sun off in the distance. He just needed to make one last bend and then it'd be a straight run towards the temple entrance. Rising from the cluster of rocks, Carth started to round the bend when the ground suddenly rumbled. He froze. Throwing himself flat against one side of the ravine, he hit a switch on his belt just as a rancor came into view.

The view around him suddenly shimmered and turned a dull grey as the stealth field enveloped him. Lurching forward on two stubby legs, the ten meter tall rancor stopped a short distance away and sniffed at the air with its flat nose, it's brown, scaly hide glistening in the sun. It growled deeply as it took an even deeper breath, it's massive clawed hands digging furrows in the ground. It's large bulbous head angled ponderously in one direction to the next, as if homing in on something. Carth's insides clenched as the massive creature's tiny eyes swung in his direction…stopped for an instant…and then kept going. Carth sighed guardedly.

Thank you, Mission...

He remained stock still, waiting for the massive carnivore to turn around and rejoin its brethren. Finally, it snorted in boredom and turned to leave when the ground rumbled yet again. A deafening roar split the air above. Carth's head snapped up and gaped in shock as the Ebon Hawk flew low over the ground. It hung suspended over the ground for a few seconds before it thunderously accelerated up into the clouds.

"What the hell?" he said in loud astonishment. Too late, he slammed his mouth shut.

Even with the diminishing din from the Hawk's departure, the rancor's head reared up and swung in his direction. It rumbled ominously in its throat and sniffed here and there, it's nostrils flaring as it sought the source of the sound. Carth considered making a run for the temple. He took one step and then cursed silently as two more rancors joined the first, blocking the ravine. If he tried to run back the way he came, the stealth field might fail and he'd be easily spotted.

Sweat beaded on Carth's brow as he tried hard not to breathe. The first rancor's tiny, yellow, beady eyes narrowed as they fixed on his area.

Baring it's jagged teeth, it leaned in closer.

-Continued-