Carth sat in the pilot's seat, silently sipping yet another cup of caffa and wincing at the bitter taste. He pushed back the stubborn lock of hair that was forever falling in his eyes and grimaced as he realised how much it needed washing. Since leaving Telos he hadn't done much else other than pilot the ship, even though he was supposed to be sharing this responsibility with Zalbaar. He only ate and slept when Mission and Bastila forced him to. When he tried to sleep images of a dying Revan flashed through his mind, making a restful night impossible. The perpetual worry that twisted his stomach into a knot meant that even the most appetising of food made him feel ill. The best thing to do was to stay alert and keep his mind busy, and the only way he could think of doing that was to take control of the ship.

"Do you lack faith in my abilities?" Growled a voice close behind him. Carth jumped, sending the hot liquid in his cup flying in every direction. Zalbaar had shocked him. Firstly, the hulking Wookie, who normally had all the subtlety and stealth of a herd of crazed bantha, had managed to sneak up on him unnoticed. Secondly, he was speaking Basic. Zalbaar very rarely spoke the standard language of the Galaxy, preferring to talk in his native tongue. He only ever spoke in Basic when he felt that what he had to say was a matter of some urgency. This was an effective strategy as it ensured that when he used the language, everyone knew that what he was saying was important and they afforded him their full attention. This happened now. Carth straightened in his seat and swivelled it around to face him, shaking his hand clean of the spilt caffa.

"Of course not. I've know you for years now, I know that you're more than capable."

"Then why won't you let me fly the ship, like we agreed upon?

Carth looked away, avoiding his eyes. "That doesn't have anything to do with you." He mumbled. He could feel Zalbaar's stare burning into his head and he shuffled awkwardly in his seat.

"What does it have to do with?"

"I… I just like to keep busy. That's all."

"Why?"

Carth sighed. Zalbaar wasn't going to drop this without getting a proper answer. "It keeps my mind from drifting."

Zalbaar was silent for a long time, and Carth began to hope that he'd heard enough. But then he began to speak once more. "I know that you must be despairing, that you feel powerless to help her."

"I should be able to protect her, Zalbaar. I made her a promise."

"I know how you feel."

Carth looked up sharply, suddenly angry. "How could you possibly know how this feels?" He hissed.

"You may have made a promise," Zalbaar growled. "But I have a lifedebt. I made a sacred vow to spend the rest of my life with this woman to protect her, and I'm unable to do so because she's on the other side of the Galaxy."

"I'm sorry." Carth murmured, suitably chastened. He lowered his eyes back to the floor, his cheeks burning. How could he have forgotten about the lifedebt? If there was anyone who could know how he felt, who needed to help Revan as much as he did, it was Zalbaar.

Zalbaar shrugged off the apology, waving his paw in a manner that suggested Carth had been forgiven for his lapse in memory. "You do her a disservice by behaving in this way."

"Well, what am I supposed to do?"

"Eat. Sleep. Make sure that you're strong and healthy. Keep your armour in good condition and a weapon always close at hand. Be ready for when she needs you. It's what I've been doing for four years."

Carth looked hard at Zalbaar, who held his gaze steadily. Finally, after a long pause, Carth sighed and pushed himself out of his seat. "Try not to crash us into a moon." He grumbled as he walked past Zalbaar. Zalbaar laughed and dropped a heavy paw onto Carth's shoulder.

"I have one more piece of advice for you."

"What's that?"

"Shower. I doubt Revan will want an emotional reunion with a man who smells like a kath hound during mating season.

Carth left the room feeling vaguely insulted, but still chuckling. He passed Mission on his way out. She waited until he was out of earshot and then turned to Zalbaar. "Your talk worked, then?" Zalbaar nodded. She threw her arms around him, or as far around him as they would go, and hugged him tightly. "Thanks Big Z. I was starting to think we'd never get through to him. And Revan would kill us if we didn't take good care of him."

Revan concentrated as hard as she could. Another voice had recently joined the female one. She struggled to hear what they were saying but she could only catch single words or broken sentences.

"…assault…brought them back…"

"…hiding them… where…"

"…locked…quarters…"

Revan tried desperately to make sense of what they were saying. But she must have been thrashing again, or maybe she made too much noise, because she felt the familiar prick in her arm and she sank back into her dazed state before she could figure anything out.

Jana opened the door and peered out into the passageway. Revan lay behind her, silent and still. She had just given her another dose of sedative to ensure that she wouldn't attract any attention while she was gone. The last thing she needed was for Revan's cries to bring people running to her room, where they would discover that Jana was gone. She stepped tentatively out of the room and carefully slid the door shut, wincing at the loud click that it made. She began to walk down the sandy corridor in the direction of her father's quarters.

She had a very bad feeling about breaking into Drystan's rooms during the daytime, but when she had heard that he was out on a hunt she couldn't let the opportunity pass her by. Miki had sauntered into her room earlier that day, catching her in the middle of whispering her message to Revan. She had straightened and backed away quickly, hoping that he hadn't noticed anything unusual. There was no need to worry. He had been too busy eyeing her body through her loose robes, barely bothering to conceal what he was doing. She had crossed her arms over herself and asked as politely as she could, although through gritted teeth, what he wanted. To brag, it seemed. For close to an hour he had bored her with long winded descriptions of his "great deeds", all of them either exaggerated or completely made up.

Something he said did spark her interest. Revan's lightsabers. Miki told her that they had been recovered during the assault on the Rakata settlement, and that Drystan had let him hold them. This piece of information had set Jana's mind whirring. She knew that if Revan woke up, if she was strong enough to try and fight her way out, her chances of succeeding would be improved considerably if she had her lightsabers. Jana had to get them. The idea gripped her like a fever; she knew she wouldn't be able to rest until Revan's weapons had been returned to her. Very cautiously, she had begun to question Miki. Revelling in the attention that Jana suddenly lavished on him, he soon told her everything she needed to know.

So now here she was, standing nervously outside the door that led to her father's room. It was slightly ajar; it appeared that he hadn't bothered to lock it before leaving for the hunt. She slipped inside. Even though it was a bright day the room was dark, and she had to squint to see through the gloom. She took a few hesitant steps forwards, her arms stretched out in front of her to make sure she didn't bump into anything. She scanned the room carefully, her eyes now beginning to adjust to the low light. Miki told her that Drystan had locked the lightsabers in a battered crate. It was this that she now looked for.

After a few minutes of frantic searching she found something that fit the description. It was a dirty footlocker, dented in several places and scorched with blaster fire, stowed under a small desk in the corner. Jana dropped to her knees and crawled towards it. She pulled a thin lock pick out of her back pocket and began to work on the lock (this useful skill she had learned from her mother when she was a small child). It wasn't long before she heard a small click. Grinning to herself, she flipped the lid open and peered inside.

The footlocker was full of useless items that Drystan kept for reasons best known to himself. A lot of it was salvaged from the ships that had crashed on the beach. It was more obvious why he kept some of the things, such as the dusty bottle of whiskey. In the middle of everything, in what was clearly a position of honour, were the lightsabers. Jana reached out to touch one of them. Her fingertips were inches away when she heard a noise. Snatching back her hand, she hurriedly got back to her feet and crossed the room to the window. She yanked back the curtain and looked outside.

A group of men were crossing the beach, shouting and laughing, her father in the lead. She ran back to the footlocker and plucked out the lightsabers, shoving them roughly into the front of her robe. She slammed the lid back down. Casting one last look around the room to make sure she hadn't left anything disturbed, she walked through the door and made her way back to her own room as casually as she could.

Luckily, she encountered no one on her short journey. She soon reached safety and slammed the door behind her, letting out a sigh of relief. Before anyone could walk in and see her with the lightsabers, she pulled them out of her robes and ran to Revan's bed. Gently, being careful not to wake her, she lifted the mound of pillows her head was resting on and slid them underneath.