This is what I have so far. Not too lively, but it's a chapter. I had to rush on this to get it out, so let me know about any typos or inconsistencies. I knew if I didn't get this out it would be a lot longer before I finished more. I might redo this chapter. Can I do that?? Redo it and repost it, I mean.

Speaking of which, it will be a while before the next chapter. My work load just about doubled in the last week, and next week and the week after are going to be pretty nasty. That's what I get for overloading on classes, I guess.

Thanks for sticking with me! I'll get the next chapter out as soon as I can! You're all awesome!

CHAPTER SEVEN

"Life is hard. After all, it kills you." --Katharine Hepburn

Case stared blankly out into the clouded evening, the dim light from the shaded orange sun casting odd shadows against the square buildings of the planet. She had been planning for the past half hour as they drove in the demented machine. She hated the bumps they hit on the ground, feeling thankful for the speeders used in the rest of the galaxy. So far nothing brilliant had occurred to her.

"You want to know why I chose you," Virote said suddenly.

"I'm not exactly a catch," Case agreed, turning to him. She had been wondering that exact thing but had been too preoccupied with an escape plan to care much for the why of things.

"That is true," Virote said with a nod, "but only by our government's standards."

Apprehension pulled at Case, tightening her muscles automatically. She had a bad feeling about this.

"I chose you because I need your help."

Confirmation of her fears did little to relax Case as she stared impartially at Virote. "With what?" She already knew the answer even as she asked it.

"Things on Xent…are not right. Surely you have felt it," he replied, eyes dark as he spoke, "And I knew when I saw you that you could help us."

"Us?" she asked carefully.

"There is a resistance that has been meeting for ten years. We have plans that could help us take our planet back, but we know nothing of real battle, confined as we are in our settlements and cities," Virote answered pointedly.

"And you think I do."

"I could feel it the moment you walked into the Standing. You have killed many more than we ever will with our revolution."

There it was. That word. Revolution. Case felt sick as she heard it. She was thrown back into her earlier days as a padawan traveling with her master to foreign planets. Three times they had fought in revolutions; twice they had stepped aside to let things take their course. And now she was here again. Revolutions were worse to her than interplanetary wars; they were planets trying to kill themselves.

"I assume compromise and negotiations have been ruled out," Case said, feeling herself already kicked into strategy mode. Habit from years before.

"We did try, but it ended in disaster. They killed half of our group," Virote said, anger permeating his voice.

"I'm sorry."

"They died for what they believe in; they believed that the Twelve must be made to listen to the people."

"The Twelve? Those freakish men with the same face?" Case asked, interested.

Virote frowned. "Yes. They assumed control about two hundred years ago. There was a war that tore the planet apart, and just when everyone began to give up, they arrived. No one knows where they came from, but they promised things that everyone wanted; safety, freedom from strife, no war. But I fear we sacrificed choice for mere shadows of those things."

Case listened silently before speaking, turning the situation around in her mind. "What exactly do you want me to help you with?" She would make no promises until she knew what was going on. And yet she felt herself begin to give in; it had always been hard for her to ignore someone asking for her help.

Yeah, and it's been hell for our credit purse. Case could practically hear Atton snort and shake his head at her.

"You are Case Roanoke," Virote said as if her name explained everything.

"Since birth," she agreed. She waited for him to go on.

"I have heard things about you. Your galaxy was at war with itself, was it not? You helped to end that. I would like you to help us end it here."

With a sigh, Case replied, "I didn't do that much to end it. I actually made the next war worse, I think. And I'm not good at large strategies. I'm better at micro operations with only a few people."

"Perfect. We only have a few people," he said, smiling slightly.

She shook her head. "Do you know what you're doing? Revolutions are ugly, and they break just as much as they fix."

"Our planet was broken two hundred years ago. The Twelve set the break, but it was wrong; things haven't healed. They are getting worse; an infection has taken hold. If we don't re-break it and clean it out, we will not survive," he insisted.

"As much as I love the medical analogy, you need to tell me exactly what's going on. What's the infection? The Twelve?" Case asked, eager to get to the heart of the problem.

Virote nodded hesitantly. "I believe so. Although, we're not entirely sure—"

"No," Case cut in, "There can't be any uncertainties. You need to know what you're doing. If you're going to bang heads, make sure they're the right heads you're cracking."

"What I meant," Virote said, somewhat annoyed, "is that they are a part of it, but if they are leading it I am not sure. It started with them, but I believe someone is behind it."

"Why."

"People are disappearing. At first we had no idea who took them or to where, but about eleven years ago there was a man they tried to take. He was the first, we believe, able to fight them and escape, but his wounds were fatal. He told us it was the Twelve. They were taking what he called "Force sensitives" for some unknown purpose, taking them to someone. The man knew but died before he could tell us."

"Force sensitives?" Case asked, surprised.

"Yes. We didn't know what that was. I started to research, and when I did I found the Jedi. That is how I found out about you," he replied, "I could not believe my luck."

"Neither do I," Case muttered. Something was off about the whole situation. From what Virote said, the term "Force sensitives" wasn't part of the culture in any way. The man he spoke of had to be from some part of the Republic, or he at least visited it, but with the amount of lockdown that Virote was describing that would be impossible.

"The Twelve are revoking rights. The marriage you are being forced into is an effect of that. Almost every aspect of our lives is controlled by the Twelve. And they have been killing those who oppose them openly. They make no show about that," Virote said, angry.

Case thought back to when she met the Twelve. She had felt nothing from them beyond annoyance and impatience. Perhaps a little fear, but that was natural when a strange woman nearly crashed on your planet. Nothing she felt would have made her suppose them capable of killing a planet. But she had been wrong about people before. Revan, namely.

"Look, I'm not promising anything, but if you tell and show me everything, and I mean everything, I'll do what I can," she said finally.

"That is all I ask for now," Virote replied with a grin that showed off his perfect teeth. He sobered before his next question. The smile was quickly replaced with a frown. "Your friend, the one who wants to marry you…" he began slowly.

"Atton? I'm not sure he really wants to marry me," Case stressed.

"Nevertheless. I need to know about him. Can he be trusted?"

"There are few people I trust as much as him," she responded solemnly.

"But there is a chance he would betray us," Virote repeated, his voice sharp as a vibroblade.

"No."

"Good. Then I will not have to kill him," he replied. At the surprised look on Case's face, he continued, "I could not have him marrying you. The rebellion needs you, and if he cannot be trusted, he cannot have you. I would kill him during the trials if need be."

"Well, that won't be necessary. But thanks, I think," Case replied, trying to find the humor in the situation. It was tough.

"Then do you recommend recruiting him? If you know him, he is most likely an asset," Virote reasoned.

Atton was most certainly an asset. His Echani training, years of service in both wars, and his travels with Case made him one of the best people they could possibly have to help. At once Case felt homesick for her crew, but at the same time felt relieved to be free; not everyone on the ship could be trusted.

"He would be my first choice," she responded.

"Good. That can be arranged," Virote said, smiling at her.

"So, do you lead this rebellion?" Case asked conversationally, returning his smile.

"In a manner of speaking. Strictly speaking it began with my mother and father."

"Did it? How so?"

"That is for another time. We are here," Virote said, gesturing to the window.

Case turned her head and caught sight of an impossibly large and ornate compound. It was made of stone, something she had never seen before. It was the typical square structure of the planet, but the roof was vaulted into points and carvings adorned the walls and windows.

"It's…huge," she managed.

"It's older than the Twelve," Virote agreed, "My ancestor built it fifty years before the War."

"Hmph. With my sense of direction it'll take me at least that long to find my way around," Case grunted.

"Then it is good I am taking you directly to our station for the resistance. That is much smaller," he said, sounding amused at her comment.

"Fine, but let's not make fun of my directionally challenged brain. I get enough of that from…" Case trailed off. The more she thought about Atton, the more she wanted to know. Why was he on Xent? How had he even found the planet? It had taken her days of being lost in space to find the thing.

"Please follow me," Virote said as the migrauto halted. He practically leapt from the vehicle and helped Case climb out.

"Lead on," Case said with a mock bow.

XXXXX

"Tell me again why we're here," Thayne muttered, ducking a slimy pipe at head level.

"The voices in my head told me to come here," the woman in front of him answered.

"That's funny, really funny Shayla," he grunted, kicking at a furry, scurrying creature running up his boot.

"I thought you'd appreciate a joke," she said amusedly.

They were both crouched in the sewage systems of whatever planet she had dragged him to. The soldiers in the forest had nearly had them at several points, but somehow Shayla had found the duct in which they were now doubled over. He had no idea why they had to go to the fracking planet at all, and Shayla had just uttered some cryptic mumbo-jumbo as explanation that he hadn't bothered to listen to. It wouldn't tell him anything more than he already knew, which was absolutely nothing.

"I didn't ask you to come," she pointed out, holding her glowstick ahead of her to avoid the hold in the metal under their feet.

"Yeah, sure, I should have just taken our other ship off of that planet. You're right."

There was silence from ahead of him. For a moment he almost worried that he had insulted her, but that moment passed quickly. The woman was as sharp and hard as nails when she had to be. He doubted anything he did or said would have that much of an effect on her.

"There's something I should tell you," she said suddenly, her voice rushed, nervous almost. That alarmed Thayne; never had he heard her speak like that. Just the fact that it was her and she was nervous was enough to make him edgy.

"Nothing life-threatening, I hope," he said, attempting to joke.

"Depends on how you feel about Jedi," Shayla replied, calm again.

Thayne shrugged before realizing Shayla wouldn't be able to see it. "Don't care much. I see them like I see the Republic; stuffy, arrogant, generally misguided but well-intending," he replied.

"Thanks. That's better than a lot of people think," she quipped.

Her words suddenly hit Thayne like a punch to the gut. "Wait, whoa! Hold it a second," he called.

Shayla halted and crouched down, turning her head to face him, the dull blue glow of the light in her hand casting odd shadows on her face. She looked inhuman somehow. Thayne tried to wrap his mind around what she had implied.

"You're…a Jedi," he said incredulously. He snorted. "You don't act like any Jedi I've ever met."

"Probably for the best. Most of them didn't try to conquer the galaxy," she said with a slight nod.

"I've known mostly temple-dwellers, so if you've… what?" Thayne felt nerves bunch in his abdomen. "Conquer the galaxy…? That's a joke…"

Shayla hopped on the balls of her feet as she crouched, turning toward him to give him a serious stare. "This is the part I wanted to tell you after we got out of this stink hole. Close quarters tend to make people on edge anyway," she said, sighing, "But no doubt there will be someone waiting to kill us or arrest us once we get out of here. This isn't something I want everyone knowing."

"You tried to conquer the galaxy," he repeated dubiously, "I didn't think Jedi indulged in that kind of thing."

"You mean total conquest? Not normally, no. I…did. I'm Revan."

The world swam around Thayne as an icy fist closed around his heart. He felt fear hit him like a raging bull katarn, knocking the breath out of his lungs. He breathed deeply, trying to keep control. Thayne had heard about Revan's "conversion," everyone had; he hadn't believed it. After the horrors he had seen done by Revan's hand, there was no chance he would trust the traiter. Panic clawed at the edges of his mind as he subtly looked around for an exit; she could kill him before he twitched his little toe. His only chance was to talk his way out of death. He gritted his teeth as he thought about the vow he had made to himself; he wanted anything to do with Revan after the wars. And yet there she was, staring at him, waiting for him to say something in response to her bizarre revealed secret.

"Tell me you're lying," he ground out.

"I would be lying if I said I was lying."

"You…" Thayne started. He stopped and backed away from her. He tried again. "You should be dead."

"Yes," she said softly.

Her appearance was enough to fool anyone, Thayne thought bitterly. Her long, dark hair fell over her shoulders like a wave of black water. It hid part of her pale face and heightened the contrast between her white skin and rosy mouth. Her green eyes were dull as she watched him; no doubt she had received that reaction before. If anyone looked at her, they would never suspect her to the murderer of so many people. Millions dead because of what she had done.

"I think I would kill you if I could," Thayne said, his voice eerily steady.

"And I would let you if I could. But I can't, so you can't," she replied.

"Give me a reason not to try," he said, his voice low. He stared at the filthy water pooled around his ankles as he waited for her response.

"You would die. I can't let you stop what I have to do."

"Like old times."

She paused, conflict revealed in her features. "Yes. I'm trying to finish what I started. Only this time no one is going to be murdered to bring it about. At least not by me."

"Really?" Thayne snapped, "Because I would have thought you'd already killed again. How many beings have died by your hand even since your "conversion," Revan?"

"Hundreds. It wasn't technically murder. Most people don't let me walk away if they want to kill me." She didn't so much as blink.

"And I suppose they all deserved it."

"People don't always get what they deserve."

"I can see that," Thayne murmured, eyeing her.

"Look," Revan said, resting her elbows on her knees as she balanced on the balls of her feet. She looked as comfortable in that position as most people did reclining. "If I don't stop this, the whole galaxy will die."

"Really? Is that what you told yourself last time?" Thayne said nastily.

"Yes. But this time is different," she said. A smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. "I've had a very bad bump on the head and several Jedi scrambling my brains since then. I'm a completely different person," she continued, humor evident in her tone.

"Yeah, I see," Thayne muttered.

"I'm not into genocide anymore. Murder's not my thing either," Revan said with a wink, "If it makes you feel better, I don't remember much about my life from back then."

"Much," Thayne said significantly, "What do you remember?"

Revan frowned. "I know what I was trying to do. I didn't want everything dead. I was trying to save it… in my own slightly masochistic, misguided way," she answered.

"Well, then, you should be nominated for sainthood. Why didn't anyone else think of that? Destroy the Republic to save it. Brilliant."

"I—" Revan cut off and sighed, "Fine. You don't have to like me. You don't even have to stay with me. Just keep out of my way."

Thayne laughed a deep, bitter laugh. "And let you stomp all over the galaxy? No. I'll stay with you. If I have to stop you I will. Don't make me do that."

Revan was silent for several moments, looking Thayne up and down. Then she spoke. "You fought with me," she whispered.

"I did. The Mandalorian War was fine. The Jedi Civil War was the worst mistake I ever made. I stuck it out to the end, though. And I'll do the same here."

"I see."

Thayne sighed, clenching his fists in frustration. "Look, I don't hate you for what you are. I just don't want to see the galaxy go to hell, you know? If you think what you're doing is worth it, I'm in. Just don't give me an excuse to shoot you. I may not be able to resist."

"I'll try my best," Revan replied, "But no promises on that front."

"Just… give me time to overcome my scruples," Thayne grunted, closing his eyes in an attempt to block out the conflict in his mind.

"You have scruples?" Revan asked in surprise.

"A few. They're dying one by one," he murmured. Thayne glance back up at Revan, meeting her green eyes squarely. He groaned and ran a hand over his neck. "I have nowhere else to go. Might as well spend a few days either helping you or stopping you."

"Let's go," Revan said, her voice low.

She hopped on the balls of her feet until she was once again facing the exit of the sewage system. Or at least where they thought the exit was.Thayne followed behind her, his mind still in shock from what she had told him. Anger began to well within him; how could she not tell him? She had lied from the beginning. But so have I, he thought grimly.

"I didn't tell you before because... I didn't think you'd be here this long," Revan growled from up ahead.

"Thought I'd die a while back?" Thayne asked, only half joking.

"Well… yes. But I also thought you were smarter," she replied, a sharp edge to her voice.

"Would it kill you to compliment someone?" Thayne asked, kicking a rodent out of his way. He didn't want to know what was under the water. A shiver tingled down his spine at the thought.

"I thought you would jump ship when you could. You didn't. You'll probably die," Revan replied flatly, picking up the pace as her glowstick began to fade.

"Yeah, well, I'm surprised you're still kicking," Thayne muttered, stepping heavier than necessary to splash water at Revan. The droplets hit an invisible wall and slid back into the mucky liquid at his feet.

"I heard that."

"Damn. That's going to get annoying. Maybe you could just go on pretending you're normal for a while, eh?"

"No time. I told you so I could save our necks later. There aren't nice people running this planet," Revan said shortly.

"Right… so again, why are we here?" Thayne asked. He had made the decision to avoid thinking about the murderer he was traveling with. Not like my past is squeaky clean, he thought darkly.

"For the second time, the voices in my head told me," she replied.

Thayne paused, struck by the seriousness in her voice. "Serious?"

"Serious as kidney failure," she affirmed.

"I thought you said that was a joke!" he exclaimed. The last thing he needed was a schizophrenic maniacal Sith lord listening to the voices in her mind. He couldn't think of a faster way to get killed.

"Yeah, well, I was joking about that," Revan said with a laugh. "Not about the voices. I thought it was funny."

"I don't think Jedi should indulge in humor," Thayne grunted, squeezing through a tighter passage in the pipe system as he rounded a corner.

"No? How about this one; how many armed guards does it take to capture a Jedi?" Revan asked, her voice oddly low.

Thayne stopped dead as she halted in front of him. "I don't know. Twenty," he snapped, wanting to get moving.

"We'll find out," Revan growled, "Find cover."

Before Thayne could blink twice, she was gone. A bang was followed by the sight of a metal grate flying across the room and cracking against the opposite wall; Revan's doing, no doubt. He crouched facing an opening into a storage room, at least twenty soldiers facing him with shocked expressions on their faces and blasters in their hands. Cursing, Thayne dove out of the pipe and into the room, racing for cover as Revan dove into the midst of the soldiers, a brilliant white saber flashing as it danced across the bodies of the men. The double blades sliced through everything around her.

Thayne's blasters were in his hands and firing the moment he could shield himself behind a pillar. After getting off only three shots, however, he was shocked to see Revan clench her fists and a wave of invisible power slam into the men around her. Most went flying across the room, never to rise again. Thayne felt the wave past him, but he was unaffected. She could control who it hit? He found himself fascinated by that fact, wanting to learn more.

He raised his blasters again and shot four men down, all the while keeping an eye on Revan slipping through the ranks like they were nothing more than dolls made of bantha fodder, her weapon searing flesh and dismembering limbs. In mere minutes every soldier was down, all but one. Revan had him by the front of his uniform, limp body hanging inches off the ground.

"Who sent you to kill us?" she demanded. Her eyes were like green ice as she faced the trembling soldier.

"T-t-t-the…" the man choked. His eyes rolled back into his head as he passed out.

Revan sighed impatiently and dropped him to the floor. Thayne moved toward her, opening his mouth to ask about their next move. To his surprise, Revan knelt on one knee next to the soldier and pressed her pale fingers to his forehead. The man coughed, his eyes fluttering open. He croaked a yell as he saw the woman leaning over him. Thayne didn't blame him.

"You can't move, so don't even try. Tell me who want us dead," she growled. Her voice cut through the air, sharper than any blade ever made.

"I don't know!" the man cried desperately, "We just follow orders!"

"Do you?" Revan whispered. She stared at him intently for a moment before breaking eye contact. Her lip curled into a grimace as she looked up at Thayne. "He's telling the truth. Frak." She put her hand back to the soldier's forehead; a moment later he his eyes snapped shut and he lay breathing regularly on the floor.

"What did you do to him?" Thayne asked, walking closer, his gaze locked on the soldier at Revan's feet.

"He'll feel better than the rest of this lot," she grunted, stooping to grab two blasters. She spun them twice before tucking them into holsters on her thighs.

"I didn't think Jedi used blasters," Thayne remarked, trying to recover from the shock of her actions.

"Then I'm not a Jedi," Revan said with a shrug, tying the holsters to her legs for stability.

"You're a freak of nature," Thayne muttered.

"What?" Revan asked absently as she began going through the uniforms of the fallen soldiers, confiscating grenades, security tunnelers, and whatever else she could find.

"Why are you looting the bodies?" he asked, ignoring her question.

"I don't have any stuff," Revan complained, grinning as she found a pair of gammorean gauntlets. "These are nice."

"Stuff…?"

"I need stuff! I can't go wandering the galaxy without a full pack of things. It's a habit of sorts," Revan explained absently, rooting through the bag of an officer. "Echani armor! I love this style," she said with glee.

Thayne watched with a mixture of interest and slight abhorrence as Revan finished going through the soldiers before picking the lock on a large locker. She exclaimed with delight as she pulled out a small crystal. It was a deep red hue with an almost black center.

"They had no idea what this is! I can't believe it," Revan murmured, turning the rock in her hands.

"Now you're going through their lockers?" Thayne said, shaking his head at her. Now he had to add kleptomania to the list of things wrong with her.

"It's a Bane's Heart crystal! An odd one, but I think that's what this is," she said, sounding absolutely enthralled with her find.

"Neat," Thayne replied in disinterest, "As much as I'd love getting killed down here, I think we should get out before they realize you slaughtered a battalion of soldiers."

"I want to use this. Hold on," Revan ordered. She wrapped the crystal in her palm and closed her eyes. Her brows lowered in concentration. Between her fingers, Thayne could see streaks of colored light breaking free from her hand. A moment later Revan's eyes were open and she was working on her double lightsaber.

"Just a minute… there," she said, holding the finished weapon proudly. She switched it on.

Thayne jumped back in alarm as a thicker blade sprang out of the hilts. It was a blood red light now.

"Sithspit. It overpowers the white crystal," Revan grumbled. Her eyes traced the new blades longingly. "But it's so shiny. I can't resist," she murmured to herself.

"Like that fork you have, eh?" Thayne said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What?"

"I've seen you looking at it when you think I'm not watching. You found it in that temple, I'll bet. What is it with you and shiny things?"

"I find them to be pleasant visual stimulation," Revan sniffed, brushing past him on her way to the door.

Thayne sighed, shook his head once more, and trotted after her. He nearly slammed into her as she stopped head, her body rigid. "What?" he demanded, tripping back a few steps.

XXXXX

Revan shushed Thayne quickly. "There's…something…" she murmured.

"Are you sure you're healthy?" Thayne muttered from behind her, "Delusional if you ask me."

Revan nearly laughed at that remark; inside she had never been sicker. Her mission was slowly failing, and if she failed the Republic would fall, the people of the galaxy drowning with them in an ocean of blood and destruction. She closed her eyes, trying to shut out the thoughts. In her mind she could hear the breath of the planet; it was labored and rattled with death. It was not a good planet to be on.

Something pricked at her consciousness, feeling slippery to her mind, as if it did not want to be found. She pursued it, hard pressed to pin it down for more than a moment. It was almost as if whatever it was didn't really exist, like a hole; you could see it, but it wasn't really there. Or more like a void perhaps in that it seemed unconnected to anything around it…

Her head snapped up. She knew where she had felt that before. It was at the end of the Mandalorian Wars, after Malachor's destruction. Wonder spread through her as she realized just who was on the planet with her; it was the Jedi Exile from so long ago. Casey Roanoke, she believed her name was – the only Jedi to return for the trial the Council conducted for those who had disobeyed the Jedi; the only one to resist the darkside. At least as far as Revan knew.

She searched eagerly, fighting to catch the Exile in her perceptions. Growling in frustration as she slipped away again, Revan threw the Force out from her in waves; it Casey was nearby they would let her know. Everything the waves hit resounded within the force, bouncing back to her until… there, that one didn't come back. It just vanished as if it had never been.

"What are you doing here?" Revan murmured, intrigued.

She knew Roanoke had left known space after she had been banished, but to end up here… it was odd even for her.There was something about Casey that was so much different than anything Revan had ever seen before, even prior and during the wars. It was a quiet, invisible power that wound around her, binding everything around Case to her.

Revan turned back to Thayne, a grin lighting up her face. "This mission just got a lot more complicated."

Raising an eyebrow at her, Thayne replied, "That's a good thing?"

"We've got backup," she said. Her smile faded slowly. "That is if she doesn't want to kill me. She could probably do it."

Slight fear touched Thayne at Revan's words. There was someone on the planet who could kill her.

"We'll just have to see," Revan murmured, moving forward. Perhaps there was hope for her mission after all. Kreia had sent backup. Ready or not, I'm here, Case.

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