A/N: I do not own Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic 1 or 2, or any of the characters within. Nadira Obsidian is my OC version of the Exile.

Chapter 8: The Enemy of My Enemy…

Just Before the Last Mission on Dxun…

The group sat around waiting restlessly for Nadira and Visas to return. Each member exuded anxiety but none more than Atton. Every few minutes or so, he would get up and pace around the holoprojection console at the center of the room. His face was set in tight lines as though he were focused on something. Groaning in frustration, he grabbed a glass of caf off the counter and threw it back like a shot, ignoring how the drink burned the inside of his mouth and throat. Mical watched him in disbelief, having seen steam rise from the liquid just seconds before. Rand slammed the glass down and leaned on the counter.

"Why isn't she back yet?" he growled.

"I doubt she would have found Master Kavar quickly," Mical answered, voice tentative. "It may well take her as long to track him down as the others."

Atton stiffened and Mical braced for the backlash. But he only ran a hand through his brown hair and began to pace some more. "I should have gone with her."

"She wouldn't let you, remember?" Bao-Dur pointed out.

Atton grunted in response, a certain sulky ring to its tone.

"Hopefully Mandalore and his contact can be….trusted." The mechanic hissed the last word with loathing, agitated nearly as much as Atton. The others were surprised because of how calm the Iridonian usually was under the worst of circumstances. He'd been more on edge however since he learned of Nadira's alliance with Mandalore. Though he kept himself in the rigid discipline they'd all come to expect from him.

Shaking his head, Atton turned to the console and replayed the communication from the Mandalorian camp.

"This is Kelborn of the Mandalorians to the crew of the Ebon Hawk. Jedi Master Obsidian had asked us to apprise you of the status of her mission in her stead. Mandalore, the Miraluka and Obsidian were preparing to take a shuttle to Iziz, the capitol city of Onderon, when we were attacked by stealthed warriors. It took all our man power combined simply to defeat them, but your friends managed to make it through the battle unscathed." He chuckled through the vocoder of his helmet, as though he found this detail amusing. "They immediately took advantage of the reprieve to board the ship and get underway. The meeting with Mandalore's contact is on according to his last report before departing. We will not hear from them again until they have returned. Let's hope that your leader knows how to blend in as well as she can fight. The people of Onderon are on the verge of civil unrest as you might have guessed. If the locals discover she sneaked on to the planet, they'll treat her as a spy."

"Of course, he had to throw that one in," Mira commented. They all knew the penalty on Onderon for espionage and treason, alleged or proven.

Bao looked over at Atton. He had zoned out again. "It's too far." Atton whirled to look at him as he spoke. "With the distance separating us, you won't be able to sense her from here."

"We'll see," he replied though not in anger.

"She may even be masking her Force signature to hide from the Sith that infiltrated the Mandalorian camp," Mical added.

"That's what worries me." Rand's eyes narrowed as he looked to each member of the crew in the hold. "How did they find us anyway? Even the Onderon militia hadn't found us yet, and they had a better trace on us than the Sith did."

"It is an excellent point that the fool makes," Kreia said as she entered the hold.

Atton whirled on her. "What, finally decide to grace us with your presence, you old hag? Look this discussion is just for people who are actually concerned about Nadira. So why don't you go back to your quarters and meditate?"

She turned to face him, presence chilling the room in her anger. "If you think that I am not concerned for her welfare then you are an even greater fool than I had guessed. Her safety is my chief concern. My second is the success of her mission which was why I was meditating. The peace of solitude away from your mindless prattle allows me to monitor her progress."

"You can sense her from this distance?" Mical asked.

"No, she has hidden herself in the Force. It is well that she did. Her pursuers draw ever closer. But I can sense the ripples she leaves in the Force, masked or not. The consequences of her actions may as well be a signature she leaves behind. She is fortunate though that the Sith here are the lesser drones and not the lord we must eventually confront. Or such a tactic would have been discovered and she would be dead by now."

Atton sighed in relief, somewhat glad to know that Kreia was no more able to sense her than he was. Though her last statement was less than comforting.

"However back to the fool's question—"

Atton's jaw tightened, eyes burning into Kreia like ion lasers.

"—it is possible that the Sith have spies on the planet or the moon. Even people high up in the ranks working for them in Iziz. That may even explain why we were shot down when we arrived here. The transmission did say that our arrival was anticipated."

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"If that is so," Mical murmured, "then she could be in even greater danger on the planet than she was here on Dxun."

At this, Atton turned to walk out the door.

"Where are you going?" Mira called out.

"I'm going to check the perimeter real quick," he answered as he lowered the landing ramp. "Wanna make sure the leftovers from the Mandalorian camp aren't waiting outside to ambush us while she's gone or her when she comes back."

Mical started walking after him. But Bao caught him.

"If he's right, he can't do the search alone," Mical protested.

"He'll be fine," Bao assured him. "We'll know if he finds trouble. You may have noticed but he doesn't do things quietly."

Atton stopped as he got several meters away from the ship, taking a deep cleansing breath. His heart finally began to slow, and he was better able to find his center. Reaching out again, he tried to sense where Nadira was or at least if she was alright. Nothing. Rand cursed inwardly. The last time he couldn't sense her, she'd nearly been buried alive. And Kelborn's update of her status had been anything but reassuring. Then he remembered Kreia's comment about tracking her. Turning his face skyward, he closed his eyes. He slowly shut out all distractions, from the rain soaking his ribbed jacket to the sounds echoing through the jungle. He reached into the stream of the Force, letting it wash everything else away. Slowly, he felt the currents of the galaxy, its patterns and flows, the ripple-effect consequences of each decision made by every living being. They buffeted against each other in a relentless cadence, stirring the life force of the universe without end. He then narrowed his focus to find the Jedi he sought—what she had accomplished, and what had become of her. Her wake on Onderon murmured faintly, her last movements obscured but clearly tainted with urgency. Come on, Nadira. Where are you?

A hand on his shoulder broke through his concentration and he acted. Spinning, he instinctively drew his lightsaber in place of the dagger he had used in the past when he was caught off-guard. It didn't happen often, but no one who managed it ever lived to tell the tale. This inbred reaction was burned into his body's consciousness, his hands moving without thought. He blinked in shock and froze to find Nadira's throat on the other side of his blade.

She chuckled nervously. "Good to see you missed me," she commented, somewhat out of breath as she eyed the blue blade suspended between them.

"Nadira!" he gasped, torn between relief, irritation, and fear at what he'd almost done. The blade hissed as it retracted into the hilt and he hastily clipped it to his belt again. He nearly drowned in the cacophony of his turbid emotions, each voice fighting to be heard at once. His hands grabbed Nadira by the shoulders and pulled her tightly to his chest.

The Exile gasped in surprise at the motion, eyes wide as he held her. But half a second later, just as she'd relaxed in his hold, he thrust her back again at arm's length, shaking her.

"What took you so long?" he sputtered. There was a hint of color in his face and she wondered as to its cause. She searched the pilot's hazel eyes, wide with fear. "And what were you thinking cutting us off like that? Do you have any idea how much—we were worried about you?"

"I couldn't allow the Sith to follow me to Master Kavar." Her tone was quiet, eyes distant as she studied Atton.

"The last time you went off the map you almost got yourself killed! Don't ever do that to me again!" he burst.

Her brow furrowed, then smoothed as she stared at him in question. "You were worried about me," she breathed, uncertain.

"Are you kidding?" he questioned in disbelief. Though, there was a hint of evasiveness in his tone. He cleared his throat to cover the change. "Do you have any idea what that witch would do to me if you didn't come back?"

She shook her head, eyes knowing. "You were worried about me."

Atton stared at her as though she'd missed his previous explanation. "Yeah. Again, you're the only one who can control that scow's homicidal tendencies. I may not have much of a life, but I like it much better without her ending it. Or worse." He shuddered.

Nadira examined her pilot with narrowed eyes offset by a knowing smile. She didn't dispute his excuse, but she suspected his motives to be nobler than that. "Well I'm glad that you hold my arbitration skills in such high esteem."

Silence fell between the two, leaving only the sound of the falling rain around them as her blue-grey eyes locked onto his.

"So, anyways, we installed the replacement parts Mandalore gave us," Atton quickly changed the subject. "The Ebon Hawk's all patched up and ready to go. Uh…we should tell the others you're okay."

"Yes, that would be wise," she mused smoothly, following him. Then lengthening her stride, she made a point of brushing past him as they walked. At her touch, he faltered in his steps, watching her climb the ramp into the ship. His mouth hung open as he stood entranced. She spun at the top of the ramp and placed her hands on her hips. "You coming?" she purred, enjoying this thoroughly.

His jaw snapped shut and he tried to force a scowl, not entirely succeeding as he stormed up the ramp. Her grin widened, renewed hope growing in her heart. She reminded herself they hadn't yet hit a port where Atton could make good on his intention to leave their company. But as he'd gazed at her, she couldn't extinguish the flame his eyes had stoked. And now her eyes followed him as he went into the hold. If the time comes, she resolved, I'm going to cherish what time I do have until then. She sighed, taking the same path he had.

Many of the crew jumped up and rushed over as she entered. One-by-one, they expressed their joy to see her alive, quickly followed by a multitude of questions as to the success of her mission. It took some time for them to settle down long enough to hear the answers they sought.

"We encountered a few problems in Iziz. Apparently, the problems there run much deeper than we had anticipated. Some factions in the Onderon military are stirring the people against Queen Talia. They're led by General Vaklu, ironically the queen's cousin."

"Guess he got a little power-hungry," Bao-Dur commented.

"Looks like," Nadira agreed. "His right-hand man, Colonel Tobin, is the one who nearly shot us down."

"Remind me to introduce myself the next time we run into him," Atton chimed in cheerily. "I wanna thank him personally." His eyebrows lowered, the corners of his mouth rising in a devious way that inspired fear and amusement simultaneously.

"Well it seems that neither of them hold the Jedi in very high regard since Master Kavar is aiding the Queen. Heh, neither does the rest of the planet for that matter. Well, after sorting through a number of complications, we finally got the meeting back on track. But as I greeted Master Kavar in the cantina, Col. Tobin and his men surrounded us." She sighed heavily, massaging the bridge of her nose. "Kavar had to run for it while we covered for him. Then we had to fight our way out."

"Nice of Kavar to help you out," Atton scoffed.

"He had to warn the queen that Vaklu was on the move." She paused, eyes turned downward in pensive expression. "Besides, I wasn't about to leave him open to attack." She gave an ironic laugh and shook her head. "Just like old times…"

Atton's attention sharpened at her nostalgia.

"'Old times'?" Mira cocked her head curiously.

"I'd suspected the two of you had been close by how you spoke to each other," Visas commented, a ghost of a smile on her face.

"I'm glad that meeting with him again wasn't painful for you," Mical added. "Then again, I always had the feeling that the Council's ruling did not sit well with him. I even got the sense that he'd opposed it. He couldn't say so publically of course, but—"

"Who is this guy?" Rand demanded frustrated at being excluded. He turned to Nadira, trying to mask his uneasiness. "How do you know him?"

The Exile sighed, a sad smile tugging at her lips. "He was my Jedi Master before the wars…my trial before the Jedi Council was the first time I'd seen him since. And the last…till today."

While Atton was relieved at the clarification, it surprised him to see Nadira so unsettled. The Jedi was unusually somber after her trip to Onderon, but he supposed it made sense after this poignant meeting. For a Jedi, their Master was the equivalent of a surrogate parent as well as their teacher. And to see him now in this chaos, still affected by the tenor of their last meeting even and especially after a decade of life in exile…he couldn't imagine. As he watched her, he noted the change in her stance. Her commanding presence had been replaced to some degree with an air of deference, making her look much younger… More like a padawan, he realized. She's afraid of what he thinks of her. He shook his head marveling and a little thrown to see her so subdued.

"But the ambush forced him to withdraw," she finished.

"Wait! So you didn't even get to see him?" Mira asked, leaning forward in frustration.

"No," Nadira admitted. "With all that's going on, he's a high profile target. Vaklu and his forces could try to use him to get to the Queen. Kavar needs to lay low for a while, but he said he would contact me when he could. That may not be until things settle down."

"If he favors the survival of the galaxy, it had better not be," Kreia murmured in an authoritative tone.

"Well things aren't going to calm down on Onderon anytime soon," a gravelly voice drifted from the shadows. A warrior stepped out from the corridor leading to the landing ramp. He was covered from head-to-toe with armor. "Fortunately, I don't think we're going to have to wait that long."

Mira, Bao-Dur and Atton all trained their blasters on him. Though it would have done little good—this man was as solid as a statue behind those cortasteel plates.

"What are you doing here?" Bao-Dur's tone was dangerously quiet.

"Relax." Even through the vocoder, they heard the man's amusement filter through. "I'm not here for a rematch. Your bunch is almost as jumpy as 'Republic' used to be."

"Oh, I doubt Admiral Onasi would have let you on board the ship with what you've told me. It's okay guys," Nadira assured them. Mira and Atton slowly lowered their blasters, Bao-Dur only following suit after a reassuring nod from the Exile. Bowing his head to her in deference, he laid the weapon across his lap, eyes locking onto the intruder, watching him closely.

"Kelborn's had word from your Jedi friend on the planet," he told Nadira.

"Is the way clear?"

"Hardly. We need to head back to the camp to work out a plan to reach him."

"Did the message indicate—"

An electronic beep sounded, and the man activated a comm device on his wrist band. "Yeah, what is it?"

"Mandalore, I have something. You need to see this."

"Very well, Kelborn. I'll be there soon." Deactivating the comm, he turned to the Exile. "There have been developments—we need to move out."

The others turned to look at Nadira. She nodded and followed after Mandalore. The others slowly filed out after her.