Date/Time Started: 1/9/08 2:30 P.M. Central Time

Author's Notes: Yes, I started this one two minutes after I finished the last. Let's see how long it takes me to finish this one!

--

Chapter Two: The Soldier

For the record, it wasn't her fault.

It was all Malak's fault, she knew. If she hadn't been so sick of all the battle plans she poured out because he had no knack for warfare, she wouldn't have wandered off in the first place. She needed a break, and she hadn't taken her two-hour break for the day, so she signed out and took off.

If he was smart enough to make his own battle plans, she wouldn't have used the break until later, therefore eliminating this from ever happening.

It wasn't her fault she was lost. There were many fleets and Republic armadas stationed on Suurja at this point, and she ended up not being able to tell one from another without a general—maybe a captain—announced to identify with.

At least she'd been smart enough to take off her tell-tale helmet—more like a mask, really—before she left. Anyone could tell who she was just my looking at that mask. While it did come in handy for intimidating prisoners with the blood-like stains flooding down it and shielding any facial injuries during battle, it was something of a trademark mask, one that only Revan would choose to wear.

So, therefore, Revan had simply left it.

Revan hadn't realized that she was inside her mind while walking again, and after a moment she collided into someone.

"Whoa, watch it, soldier!" The slightly agitated voice grasped her arm to keep her from falling. In an instant it retracted. "Oh, you're a—what's a Jedi doing here?"

But maybe it would have been a slightly better idea to steal the scoundrel uniform she'd packed with her for undercover work. Being caught as a Jedi wouldn't be much better than being caught as Revan.

Revan took a moment to look over who she'd crashed into. The man straightened his ugly orange jacket and smoothed his chocolate brown hair. He looked apologetically at Revan.

"I'm sorry," He held his large, calloused hand out for her to shake. "I didn't mean to be so gruff." Revan shrugged.

"It's all right," She accepted. The man began walking off. Revan, with nothing much better to do, followed.

"What are you doing?" She asked him.

"I'm on break right now, Master Jedi. I'm heading to the make-shift cantina." The man explained. Revan beamed.

"Great! I'll go with you." The man stopped walking and turned to Revan, who crossed her arms and set her hazel eyes straight into the man's auburn.

"Forgive my audacity, Master Jedi, but why are you here?"

Revan shrugged again.

"I'm here because I'm not there." She answered cryptically. The man frowned, pulling back slightly.

"I guess so," He cocked an eyebrow. "But that's not the answer I was expecting."

"Well you never know," She winked at him. "Maybe I'm here because I'm secretly hiding from Malak and I got lost."

The man barked out an incredulous laugh, holding a hand to his stomach as he leaned backwards.

"Right, and I'm Revan."

Revan blinked for a moment before remembering that no one here knew her face. She blinked again, and then burst into outright laughter.

"Oh, you're funny!" She bade him to keep walking. "What's your name?"

The man stared at her for a few moments before continuing his walk toward the makeshift cantina; Revan following a few steps behind him.

"My name is Carth Onasi."

Revan cocked an eyebrow before replying. "Captain Onasi? From the Telos fleet?"

"Correct."

Well, it was a half-good thing. The Telos fleet was stationed two or three fleets away from where she was supposed to be, so by the time Malak figures out that she's late coming back from her break, it'll take him a little while to get to her. That way she could have a few spirits with her troops and get to know them a little bit.

She liked Telos in itself, anyway. It was a nice, tranquil planet. And it was one she wasn't willing to sacrifice, no matter now many others she had to abandon to win the war. There was something about that planet that made her want to leave it untouched.

But this could also be a bad thing. After all, Admiral Saul Karath was leader over the Telos fleet with them. The Admiral had been a sort of suck-up to her and Malak from the start, thinking they would give him more power and wealth if he was more helpful than any other Admiral. He had spent many long nights in Revan and Malak's personal quarters, and he had seen Revan many times with her mask off. Even if she had put on a different set of Jedi Robes (which she could now admit, a few months after leaving the Jedi behind, that she needed to make a new pair) and changed her eye color, the man would still recognize her.

And report her to Malak, who would find her before she drank her first alcoholic drink.

Still, Revan had often said that life in general wouldn't be very fun if she didn't take risks sometimes.

"Well?" She caught up with the still-walking Carth Onasi as she saw she'd fallen behind. "Let's get some drinks, huh?"

--

When he said a makeshift cantina, Carth meant it.

It was a tent, basically. A rather huge tent that peaked in the middle at about fifty meters and spanned the width of a ship. All the Telos soldiers that were off duty at the moment collected in and around the tent, consuming alcohol and any kind of food the cooks in the back could come up with.

The Captain led Revan up to the bar and took a seat, making sure there was an empty space beside it for Revan to sit in. When she was seated, Carth stared at her with an eyebrow raised.

"You were really serious about coming here." It wasn't a question. It was a shocked observation. It made Revan laugh.

"I was very serious about following you here," She answered. "Since I'm lost, I kind of have no where else to go until Malak finds me."

He took it as a prolonged joke, Revan realized as he barked out another laugh. She grinned as well, highly amused.

The bartender approached them, and it took him a moment to recognize the robes Revan was wearing. He blanched, his eyes widening.

"You're a—"

"I know I am," Revan interrupted.

"What are you doing here, in this dirty old place?" The bartender spoke in a whisper.

"Would you believe she got lost?" Carth joked. "That's all she'll tell me."

"Is Revan doing another inspection?" The bartender asked. "She usually sends word before officials."

Revan shook her head. "No inspection. I'm here because I'm bored and I want to drink."

The bartender seemed to still not believe her, because he stared at her for several moments. Revan stared back laughingly, smirking as a bead of sweat appeared on the bartender's brow.

"We'll just have two jumas," Carth broke their concentration, holding an index finger in the air. "To start with."

The bartender nodded and left.

"So tell me really," Carth said after the bartender disappeared to find their drinks. "What are you doing here?"

"I don't know why you won't believe my story," Revan insisted, folding her fingers together and laying her arms on the bar.

"Because it's so strange," Carth replied. "A Jedi, getting lost? It just doesn't sound very natural for a Jedi."

"Nonsense!" Revan turned to the captain, looking quite aghast. "Jedi get lost all the time!"

"Do they?" Carth raised an eyebrow again.

"Of course! Haven't you ever heard of Master Keiran Halcyon?" Revan asked loudly. Many people turned to watch Revan. Carth shook his head. "He was the one who pushed back the Afarathu pirates from the Corellian System."

"What about him?" A guy behind Carth asked, sidling up to the pair.

"He was lost." Revan stated matter-of-factly. A collective gasp played throughout the cantina.

"Are you serious?"

"I am," Revan nodded. "You see, Master Halcyon was supposed to be traveling from Corellia to Talus, but got lost along the way and ended up landing on Tralus instead. And as anyone with a sense of direction knows, Talus and Tralus are on different sides of Corellia. Master Halcyon was very put-out when he discovered his mistake.

"Anyway, he was in the process of turning back to Corellia to make his way around to Talus when the Afarathu attacked. And since he had a brand-new lightsaber, a tank full of fuel, and a team of restless fighters, he led and won the battle to push them back."

"How do you know that?" Someone in the crowd yelled.

"Well, Jedi back then didn't realize the uses of summarizing." Revan explained. "When he told his superiors about the battle, he also mentioned that he was there because he'd gotten himself lost in the first place. I simply found the holorecord with him on it and played it."

"No way!" The cantina started in rounds of laughter, echoing enough to reach outside the tent.

"Unbelievable." Carth murmured. Revan grinned widely, nodding.

"It's true. The truth about Jedi? They're not as suave and collected as they like people to think they are." Revan leaned back, crossing her arms and smirking. "I've got a million stories you would probably never hear from anyone else."

"Tell us!"

And the stories began.

--

Two or three hours later, Revan had finally talked so much that her throat ultimately closed up on her, and she began getting hoarse.

"All right," Carth called through the cantina, which had strangely filled up and poured outside without the last few hours. "She's had enough. Back to your stations, men."

The soldiers grumbled loudly as they either turned and started drinking again or went back to their duties. Revan laughed, sipping another glass of juma juice.

"That was fun," She rasped. "I haven't talked that much since my last speech."

"Do the Jedi not like it when you tell things that degrade them?" Carth asked. Revan shrugged.

"They don't, but they deserve a little degradation, don't you think?" She flicked her eyes in Carth's direction before placing them back on her juma. "After practically abandoning the Republic for dead because they think there's something behind the war." Revan sputtered. "Of course something's behind the war!"

"Why would the Jedi leave us for dead if there's something behind the war?" Carth asked. Revan sneered.

"Because they're cowards. They think getting involved in this war will lead us to the Dark Side and we'll hinder the Republic more." She confessed.

"Well…." Carth half-shrugged. Revan now cocked an eyebrow.

"What?" She asked. Carth held a hand up, shaking his head. "No, really. What is it?"

"Well," Carth swallowed cautiously. "Revan's been making some pretty harsh moves lately. Not that they aren't helpful, and not that they don't get us farther and farther toward defeating the Mandalorians, but they're pretty callous moves. We've abandoned three worlds so far because Revan and Malak didn't deem them 'worth saving'."

Revan frowned. When had she said that that was the reason for abandonment?

"Are you sure that's the reason?" She asked.

"That's what Admiral Karath told me." Revan laughed coldly.

"Forgive me, but Saul Karath is an idiot." She explained, ignoring Carth's offended and stunned look. "He hears one thing and thinks another. Then he proceeds to tell his troops exactly what he thinks, not what he hears, and it gets us in trouble."

Revan took a drink of the juma juice, staring off into space in front of her. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Carth as he compiled what she said into his mind and hacked through it.

"But he's still one of your most trusted Admirals," He said, almost to the side. Revan nodded.

"Yes, because he gets the job done."

"So why is Revan abandoning so many planets?"

Revan was silent for a long time. She finished off her glass of juma and the bartender came to refill it. She smacked her lips, satisfied with the amount of alcohol she had in her. It wasn't too much to make her actually drunk and make stupid moves, but enough to make her senses a little cloudy. Finally, she'd chosen her words as wisely as the alcohol would let her and she spoke.

"It's…." She frowned, licking her lips to gain moisture. "It's not exactly abandoning worlds. Those few worlds are weak—not in the bad sense," She stopped and held a hand up in her defense. "But they are in fact very weak, and defending them would waste more resources than we have to give."

"Yes, that's what the Admiral told us," Carth prodded. "But there has to be another reason behind it. My men and I don't feel very proud of ourselves—as proud as we should be, really—when we leave the unprotected and vulnerable worlds alone."

"Captain, I wonder if you're familiar with the saying 'keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.'" Revan asked, folding her hands together and squeezing them. Carth shook his head. "It basically means that you can know everything about your friends, but you have to know more about your enemies."

"What does that have to do with leaving worlds vulnerable?" Carth asked incredulously, rearing backwards slightly. Revan shook her head.

"The Mandalorians want to take over worlds of the Republic that will anger us into attacking them," Revan explained at long last. "If we give up certain worlds and seemingly leave them for dead, they won't bother with them. They'll think that if we don't think the world is worth our time, we won't come to their aid and fight if they invade. So they bypass that world and head on."

"What?" He stammered. "That can't be right. That kind of thinking…. That's not normal thinking!"

"No, it isn't." Revan admitted, shaking her head sadly and shrugging. "Unfortunately, it's Sith thinking."

Revan took a moment to graze over the tip of Carth's mind; close enough to read emotions but not close enough to be noticed. He was panicked, and that was expected. The word "Sith" caused many people in the galaxy to rethink their situations and second-guess their friends.

"Did you say 'Sith'?" He asked, almost reaching for his blaster. Revan shrugged.

"You didn't think that the Mandalorians staged the whole attack by themselves, did you?" She asked, glancing over at him while taking another sip of the alcohol. "Not that it wasn't in their capacity to do so; it just never would have occurred to them to take on the whole Republic to gain glory if someone hadn't had influence with them and suggested it in the first place." She cracked her knuckles. "I hate to say it, but it looks like Mandalore the Ultimate has been duped."

Revan knew she was treading in dangerous waters. Simple captains in the army shouldn't have to know the intricate battle strategies and problems that the generals, admirals, and overall leaders have to deal with. But she couldn't not answer the questions. Something about this man's innocent features made her ability to lie nullify itself, and her attempts to hide the gory details become nonexistent.

"So what are we going to do?" Carth asked quietly. "I'll do anything I can to help the Republic. Anything."

No, Revan thought miserably. You won't.

She knew he wouldn't take the sacrifices Revan was discovering she was going to have to take. He was too good for it, she could tell. Even just skimming the brim of his thoughts, she could sense the pure whiteness of his essence, and had to restrain herself from trying to bask in it.

Still, it was a nice gesture all the same. Not even most of the Jedi knew what kind of trouble they were heading into. No doubt they would all try to leave once they found out, but by that time Revan and Malak hoped to find the Sith threat and destroy it, so a lack of followers would mean nothing. However, this man knew the whole story now. He knew that the Sith were lying behind the Mandalorians, no doubt waiting for the war to end so they can come in and clean up. Still he was asking to help in any way he could.

It deserved some recognition.

But Revan also knew that there was little a captain could do for himself or his troops. It would take an Admiral to create a big enough following to help, and a powerful one at that.

"There's nothing you can do now," She started, closing her eyes and firmly ignoring the extremely disappointed look on Carth's face. "But later…."

"Yes?" Carth asked at the pause, trying to prod Revan into an answer.

Revan had her eyes closed still. She relaxed her mind and opened her Force Sight into the future. She already knew some of the things that would happen in vague outlines: a life-changing tactic, a grand explosion, and a new life were three things she'd already seen, though for the life of her she couldn't figure out what any of them meant.

But she wasn't searching for herself, or the Republic. This time, she was searching through Carth's future.

"I see…." She concentrated harder on the visions in her mind, forming them into sensible blurred outlines. Carth, obviously catching on to what she was attempting, shut his mouth and visibly relaxed beside her, determined not to scare her or break her meditation.

"I see a ship. A Hammerhead–class cruiser. It's exploding over a planet." Revan frowned. Visions weren't usually this eager to speak to her. Typically she had to coax them out, speak to them mentally and encourage them to come to her. These visions were running towards her, as if she had her arms wide open and were expecting each and every one of them.

And she intended to describe each one.

"Now…." She fought for words. "It looks like a Dynamic-class cruiser. This ship is very important for some reason," She explained. "I can't see much more about it. There's a woman, too. She's a new Jedi. You have to stay with her. If you leave…." Revan felt a moment of unfathomable despair for some odd reason. "Everything will go wrong."

"What else?" Carth asked quietly. "What about my family?"

Once again the visions of the future were jumping to her before she could ask for them, and she had to use a long pause to decipher their meanings.

"There's… I see something about a boy." She neglected to tell him about this much further. Somehow it didn't seem right to tell him the boy wore a Sith uniform, and the woman that Carth had to stay with had a hand to his throat, trying futilely to restrain herself from breaking his neck. "He's extremely angry, and a little frightened."

"But is he okay?" Carth now sounded worried. "The boy: it's Dustil, I know. Is he unharmed?"

"He's fine." Revan reassured. "That's all I can see."

Carth sighed, clearly relieved she hadn't said anything bad. Dustil must be his son, Revan guessed. The poor guy. What an emotional roller coaster he would go through when he figured out that—

"There you are!"

Revan jumped. She had just opened her eyes and breathed a little bit, and hadn't sensed the presence of another storming angrily toward them until he'd spoken.

And then there was a hand on the back of her robes, hauling her upwards and on her feet. She squeaked slightly.

Behind her, Malak sighed. "Don't worry me so much. I thought the Mandalorians got you."

Revan choked out a laugh. "Don't insult me, please. I might be buzzed, but I'm not irresponsible."

Carth was still sitting in his seat. He had let go of his drink, dropped his jaw, and widened his eyes enormously at the sight of Malak. Depicting Revan out of a crowd when she didn't have her character-forming essentials with her was hard; everyone knew Malak, even if he changed his clothes and hid his face. He had a certain brutal aura that no one could mistake.

And it was visibly taking Carth by surprise.

In an instant, he was on his feet and saluting. Revan whimpered, tugging on the back of her robes. Malak let the fabric go, only to grasp tightly onto Revan's arm.

"Commander Malak," Carth acknowledged. Malak bowed his head in recognition.

"Soldier," He started. "I suppose you're the one who can tell me what this one's been up to for the last few hours?"

"Oh, I didn't do anything!" Revan whined. "I got lost through all the squads and battalions, found this guy who looked like he knew where he was going, and followed him!"

"You'll forgive me if I don't take your very influential word for it, I'm sure," Malak shot back.

"She speaks the truth, sir!" Carth piped up. "At least, she said she was lost and followed me to the cantina, sir."

"See?" Revan stuck her tongue out.

"Is that alcohol?" Malak asked, smelling Revan's breath. "Have you been drinking? What about your duties?"

"I did them all before I left." Revan shrugged aimlessly. "Or were you too worried to notice that the next three battles are conveniently lined up and placed on your desk?"

"I—" Malak stopped, thinking back to when he searched the ship and surrounding areas for the woman. "You're still in trouble." He turned to regard Carth. "I thank you for keeping a watch on her. She's not usually like this, but when she wants a break we'd better give it to her or we won't see her for hours on end."

Carth—still standing at attention—nodded briskly before saluting again. "You're welcome sir. Anything to help out the Jedi."

Malak began dragging Revan off in the opposite direction, murmuring threatening comments like "I'm going to beat you senseless," and one of his personal favorites, "the next time you do that, I'm going to tear your jaw off!"

Revan shrugged, finally stopping her resistance and simply walking along with Malak. She hoped inwardly that the captain Carth Onasi would remember what she told him about the future. She didn't know why the apparitions came to her so eagerly, but they did, so they must have been important.

Oh, well. The future was the future. And for now, she didn't have to worry about them. The spies in the Mandalorian ranks said that they were trying to retreat back to Malachor V, and Revan was intending to go in a hot pursuit.

--

Connan slapped her eyelids as the memory released her roughly, rubbing as hard as she could, trying to make herself cry so the moisture would return to her eyes. She would analyze and evaluate the memory later; it had been a particularly long memory and her eyes were suffering for it.

And then there was a hand on her shoulder, and for a moment she jumped. Then another hand pulled her face upward and spoke softly to her.

"Calm down, it's only me. Hold your head back and open your eyes."

Connan complied immediately, tilting her head backwards against the cargo hold wall. She struggled with the second part, but ultimately succeeded in slitting her eyes open. After a few moments, a cool liquid dropped into her eyes and she shut them again, desperate to keep the moisture inside the lids.

"Feel better?" The man asked, sitting back with his back against the wall or the cargo hold, like Connan, releasing his hold on Connan lightly.

It was common knowledge to the crew of the Ebon Hawk that whenever a memory struck Connan, she would flee to the cargo hold. Likewise, if the cargo hold door was shut, it was probably true that she was having another memory attack.

"Yeah," Connan finally answered, opening her eyes and blinking around. "That feels better."

Then Connan realized who was in the room with her, and who her most recent memory had been about.

Once again Connan nearly leapt off of the cargo hold floor, staring at Carth like she'd seen him for the first time.

"How long have you been here?" She asked, turning a deep shade of red.

"Ever since Revan called Saul Karath an idiot." Carth answered, laughing. "I have to admit, it's rather refreshing to hear it come from someone other than me."

Connan slapped her hands to her eyes again, trying to stop her face from turning any more red. Carth had seen more than half of the memory!

"You never told me you had seen Revan before," She asked suddenly. "In fact, you said you hadn't seen her, but you'd seen Malak."

"That's exactly what that memory said, didn't it?" Carth explained, leaning back and crossing his arms. "I never knew that you were Revan, even then. When I met you on the Endar Spire, there were enough facial and personality changes that I could tell between two different people. There was no way to associate one Jedi between another."

Connan sighed, trying to overcome her humiliation at having seen Carth before.

"And those predictions I made…." She muttered mostly to herself.

"Some of those, I have to admit, were hard to believe." Carth shrugged. "I visited Dustil after the war ended, and I was sure there was no anger or fear in him. Then the Sith attacked Telos and he disappeared, and I was convinced you'd gotten the visions wrong."

"What about the other ones?" Connan asked, feeling a bit creepy by making such predictions about Carth, being so sure they were about him, and having them involve her anyway.

"Truth be told, I forgot about the other predictions for the longest time." Carth started. "Then the Endar Spire started being attacked and blew up, and I remembered that you had said that would happen."

Connan nodded, understanding completely. As she had watched her own memories, she had been amazed by how on-the-mark they'd been, and how uncaring she'd seemed to them simply because there could have been so many ways to interpret them. It seemed foolish to her now, because in her mind this was the only way things could have turned out.

Connan then began thinking about the other prediction she'd made, that if he left the woman from the Endar Spire, everything would go wrong. It had been like a silent, past plea for him not to leave her, she figured. It made her turn red again. She knew now that if he had in fact left when he realized that she was Revan, she would have obliterated everything in her despair and anger.

Connan bit her tongue, her pride refusing to mention that last prophecy.

"Since I'm sure you're not going to ask," Carth could apparently tell what she was thinking, because he crossed his arms and smirked at her as she glared. "I'm going to go ahead and tell you what you want to know."

"Oh?" Connan dared, sitting cross-legged in front of Carth. "What do I want to know?"

"You want to know about why I didn't leave you when we all figured out that you were Revan." Carth answered, his eyes flashing defiance. "And the answer is simple: I chose to stay because you are and always will be Connan, not a Dark-Sided, evil Revan, bent on taking over the Republic."

"I did not try to—"

"Yes, yes, I know." Carth cut her off before another tirade enveloped her. "You weren't taking over the Republic."

"And I wasn't evil." Connan argued. Carth shrugged, standing up and offering Connan a hand. She took it gratefully, pulling herself up beside him.

"You've told us often enough," Carth answered. "Now come on. Mission made me come in here twenty minutes ago to check on you, and she's going to freak if you don't come out anytime soon."

"Yes, I did tell her I'd play pazaak with her when the memory came." Connan admitted as the cargo doors opened. "I sort of ran out on her for it."

"That just means you have to play double!" Mission's voice called through the ship. Connan laughed.

"Fine. But I want alcohol."

--

Date/Time Finished: 1/28/2008 3:04 PM Central Time

End Notes: For the record again, it did not take a billion weeks like it looks like. A lot of it was holidays and work that I had to do in the class. Sorry. On to the next one!

And yes, for those of you who have asked, the title sort of is derived from Wicked the Musical. It's one of my favorite songs on the soundtrack, so I used it.

Amme Moto