AN: This fic about halfway spoils Shadow of Revan, and halfway completely deviates from and rewrites the plot. This fic itself is only planned to go through the Forged Alliances questline leading in to the main Shadow of Revan quests, but things from SoR might be mentioned. If you're still working your way through the questline and want to be surprised, you probably should bookmark this for later.

There are a lot of characters. Very few of them are canon. You have been warned. There's a quick reference sheet on my tumblr (liesbreathedthroughsilver) if you get completely lost.

General fic warnings: SWTOR/SoR spoilers, strong language

Chapter warnings: none.

It was the third night in a row that Iapyx had woken up sweating. One look at the chrono confirmed that it was way too early for her to be awake. She pushed her hair out of her eyes as she sat up. The voice still echoed in her head like a command, a compulsion… Bile rose to the back of her throat, an unpleasant taste she had been trained to ignore but disgusted her nevertheless. There was something almost familiar about the voice, which was unsurprising. It was her dream, so of course her brain would pull something familiar from her memories. What worried her was that the dream had made it past her filter unscathed. Even after bypassing REM sleep completely, the voice had given her the same message.

I am coming. Prepare for me. All will fall.

The nine words were grandiose even by her sister's standards, and Sith Lords were known for their melodramatic speeches. More than that, the message was a command. There was no choice or doubt. Iapyx was naturally suspicious of certainty, but even awake she felt truth in the words. It unsettled her. There were no certainties in Intelligence, fewer certainties in war, and even those had been destroyed by defection. She took nothing for granted, but she knew someone was coming, and they would conquer.

Her heart whispered that she would prepare for their coming, but her head refused. She would not be so easily manipulated. This was a dream… right?

Iapyx's thoughts were interrupted by the door sliding open. She squashed her brief moment of alarm when she recognized her cousin.

"Yes, Eua?" The childhood nickname seemed appropriate in the darkness. Not for the first time, she wondered on what a strange childhood it must have been from the outside. Four children, raised by smugglers and bounty hunters, failed Sith and fallen Jedi, had grown up to become what their parents had struggled with or against—Republic Military, Imperial Intelligence, Jedi Knight, and Sith Lord. In all fairness, the second one should probably be struck from the list; whatever Iapyx was now, traitor or enlightened, she didn't work for Imperial Intelligence.

"You've been having the dreams too, haven't you?" Euruia asked.

"Yes. I take it they're not normal dreams, as we're probably getting the same message," Iapyx said, merely stating the obvious out loud. "What about the rest of the crew?" Iapyx slept by herself in the secondary barracks; Lieutenant Brash in particular had been adamant that he would not sleep in the same room as a former Imperial. And as Iapyx had rejected all of Andor's propositions thus far, she had the bunk off the medbay to herself, while Brash, Cey, and Andor shared the main barracks. Ruia shared Captain Emras's chambers, as she apparently had for the last year.

Ruia shook her head. "The captain hasn't," she said with certainty. "I mentioned it briefly to Cey, and he said none of the others have had strange dreams either."

Iapyx quickly considered the options. "Do you think they've been hearing it too?"

"Nia? I don't know," Euruia asked. "I haven't spoken with her in weeks."

"Why don't you contact her, and I'll check with Peli." A flash of distaste crossed Ruia's face at the mention of Iapyx's sister. "That way we can narrow this down to either locational or relational."

"I guess," she concurred. She sobered suddenly, and asked, "What… Who do you think it is?"

The answer was not one Iapyx liked to admit. "I don't know. If it's not locational, if Nia and Peli are hearing this…"

"It must be an ancestor, right?" Ruia said, seeking confirmation. "That's how the Force does these things."

"Or perhaps a vision of the future," Iapyx suggested.

"I think it might be both," Ruia whispered. "I am—"

"Don't!" Iapyx cut her off. "Saying the words… gives them power." A shiver ran down her spine. "Peli is almost certainly asleep. I'll contact her tomorrow, midday." Given the opportunity, Peli preferred to be unconscious for as much of the morning as she could manage. As a Sith Lord, that was quite a lot.

"I'll call Nia in the morning. The reasonable morning," she clarified with a forlorn look at the time. "Thanks for proving I'm not insane."

"Or that we both are," Iapyx countered as her cousin left. Ruia gave a final wave behind her head as the door slid shut, leaving Iapyx alone again. Unwilling to try sleep again, she pulled up a datapad and got to work.