A/N: I just want to apologize to the lengthy break I had from this story. I just had way too much work to be done and the creative part of my brain was sidetracked by my LOTR fanfic. I am so glad that you loyal reviewers and readers alike have stuck this out with me. So without more hesitation: Chapter 13.

Chapter 13:

In the Belly of the Beast

"Of course, they're blowing up the planet!" Landyr cursed as they raced towards Davik's private estate. "Why would they not be? It's so damn logical!" Everywhere there were debris and people screaming. There was a sickening pleasure she felt as the fires burned and buildings crumbled. It was the feeling she had when she thought about Malachor V.

"Ge'tal, will Mission get everything in time? We told her the plan and where to get the droid, but will she follow through?" Canderous tried to jostle Bastila as he inquired about their plan. They had been planning for a week. Mission knew exactly what to do.

"She'll get it done, I promise. Plus, the Wookiee will make sure everything goes smoothly. Having the Lower City go berserk as they vie for power, will distract enough Sith. The base will not be as full as you think. Plus, they may not want to work for the Sith now that their superiors gave the order to blow this place sky-high." Landyr swerved the speeder as a piece of a building fell to her right. This caused Bastila to awaken and scream as she almost fell from the speeder. Luckily for her though, Canderous' hands wrapped about her, holding her in place as Landyr righted their course.

"Careful, you idiot." He barked at the driver.

"Don't make me throw you out, Canderous!" Looking back she saw Bastila looking at her with hatred in her eyes. "Morning, Bastila. Just getting you to safety, you know, what I'm supposed to do as your bodyguard."

"You're selling me to Davik. You're not helping me at all, traitor!"

Landyr scoffed. "And that's where you're wrong. We had to make it look as if we were going to deliverer you to Davik, because his men were watching. So here's the plan: We take you to Davik, conquer his estate and steal his ship and my medicine. Meanwhile, Carth and his crew, consisting of Mission, Zaalbar and a droid, will break into the Sith base, stealing the launch codes. We get off the planet and zoom away. Only thing that wasn't accounted for was the total annihilation of the planet, so the time frame has shortened. I say we have about an hour. Any questions?"

"You're insane, aren't you?" Bastila grinned as she accepted the plan. It was missions like this that got her youthful blood boiling with excitement. She lived for the thrill, something her Jedi masters scolded her on. It also was a pretty sound plan, discounting the variables. She just hoped it was going to work.

"Most definitely," Canderous answered for her as they pulled into Davik's garage.

"Ready, team Awesome?" they heard her ask. They answered positively. She spoke into her com-link. "Ready, team Jacket?"

"Aye, beautiful. See you on the other side. Don't die." Carth's gruff voice spoke back. She relished in hearing it. "And don't do anything stupid."

She smiled to herself. "How about a competition: 60 minutes to win it?" After getting an affirmative, she confirmed it, "Charge!"

Half way through her takeover of Davik's estate, Carth com-linked her. "Kasra, there might be a problem. There's a Dark Jedi here…" His signal was dying as static came over. He said a name but she could not make it out.

"Carth, a little busy," she spat as she ducked from a blaster shot, dropping flat on the ground. "Say that again."

"Dark Jedi, here, problem." Carth's own voice was filled with heavy breathing as he faced his own battle. The hatred or fear in his heart shook his voice.

"Can you handle it?" She took down the ones shooting at her. She had gotten separated from Canderous and Bastila. It was better that way she supposed. They wouldn't be worrying about her as much. Plus they covered more ground.

"Maybe. I'm not sure how skilled he is. I, kind of, wish that Bastila could have come with us now."

"She's a bartering chip, Carth. Plus, you got this. You promised me you wouldn't die." She finished checking the corpses of the dead mercenaries. Standing as she buckled the grenades to her belt, she said, "Do me another favor. Check for Chaar there. I'd like to get him off this planet, preferably alive."

"Landyr…" His concern flooded across with the normal static. He did not say anything. His heart forbade him to do so.

She growled in frustration. "Carth, seriously, time limit. Fifteen more minutes before I come to save your sorry ass."

"Got it." came the weak reply.

"Bastila, watch where you're deflecting those hits!" Canderous swore as the ricocheting blaster fire singed his pants. The two of them had taken out most of the base while Landyr frolicked about. Well, that's how Bastila saw it. She and Canderous made a pretty good team, much better than she would have done with Carth. She respected Landyr's decision to have her, Canderous and herself on their team. They were a deadly combination and they were needed to take out the bounty hunters. Carth's team on the other hand needed to be less skilled as they had less opponents to deal with. Or at least that's what she thought.

"Back me up better then!" she snapped.

Landyr flew a pod racer in out of nowhere. The woman jumped from it mid-flight before it crashed into the wall, killing more of their enemies. "Stop fighting!" After she got looks from the two of them, she explained, "I didn't know how to park it…"

"Where the hell did you find that, ge'tal?" Canderous asked as he covered her as she ran towards them to take her position at their side.

"Oh, the room next to the rancor head room. By the way, that was a pretty cool room… Where's Davik?" She ducked as more blaster fire was aimed at her. Following Canderous' gaze, she found the vulgar man standing in a stupid looking purple suit of armor right next to… "Is that Calo Nord?! Are you serious?" She almost peed her pants right then and there. That was the most infamous bounty hunter in the universe. He was the one that would be able to kill them. She had to take him out and fast.

"Ge'tal, aim for the neck." Canderous returned fire at the pair. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the redhead dart forward, dodging the poor shots of Davik. In her hand was a little gray grenade. "Ge'tal!"

The woman grinned from ear to ear as she launched the deadly explosive at their enemies. She swiftly retreated and threw herself behind their barricade, landing solidly on her back. A satisfying blast sounded and there was no more fire. Looking from their posts with caution, they saw so much debris. "Did I take out the ceiling with that?"

"Looks like it. Let's go." Bastila surged forward, running up the ramp of the Ebon Hawk. Landyr did a little victory dance as they raced after the Jedi. Canderous smirked and shook his head at her, commenting on her stupidity and recklessness.

"Team Awesome: successful. Status Team Jacket?" she called into her com-link as they entered the Hawk. She, Bastila and Canderous found themselves piling into the cockpit and beginning to work the systems. She stayed clear of the buttons as she was not good at piloting ships, but let the other members of Team Awesome start the ship.

There was no answer. She tried again. "Carth, status?" Nothing. "CARTH FRACKING ONASI! ANSWER ME!" she screeched, her echoes bouncing off the walls of the cockpit as the engines roared to life. Bastila sent her an odd look before continuing to press buttons.

Finally there was something. "Hey, sexy. Bit busy. Call you in a few. Just finishing off this Dark Jedi." Carth was breathing even heavier now and was grunting from exertion much more than was normal. There was a definite female scream that had sounded in the background.

Swiveling dangerously, she said, "Canderous, Sith base, pronto." The crazed look in her eyes told him that she was desperate to help their friends out. Not that he wasn't, he just didn't care as much. He nodded and the Ebon Hawk cleared the garage as the ceiling caved in.

Dodging the blaster fire from the armada, they swerved across the city until they reached the part that housed the Sith base. Landing in the loading bay and bounding down the ramp, Landyr raced forth with some extra desperation in her steps. The first two enemies she saw were downed immediately. She surged past them, searching for Carth, Mission, Zaalbar, and the droid.

The rooms she checked held nothing. Splicing into a terminal, she saw that no life forms remained on the first floor. Deciding she would venture to the second, she informed Canderous and Bastila who had just entered the base.

The carnage she found was not surprising and as she stepped over the large battle droid to get to the elevator, she understood the trouble the four of them had. Going down, she commed up to Canderous. "Shut down any conduits down here and make sure the blast doors are closed."

"Roger."

Going forth, she edged towards the far room. At the end of the hall, she could hear masculine screams coming from behind the door. They sounded like Carth. Drawing her gun, she proceeded forwards. Taking a breath before entering, she cleansed her head of any irrational thinking and then pressed the button to open the door. She strode in and was not expecting to see the sight she did.

Mission, Zaalbar and the droid were locked in stasis in electric cells while Carth was being tortured in his. He was awake and staring at her, gasping for breath. He was shirtless and was taking severe electric jolts. It was every three minutes that they ripped through him. Approaching slowly, she found no enemies. Coming to Carth, she knelt before him, analyzing the effects of the electricity on his body. "Jacket, you're in trouble." She almost puked as she could smell his frying flesh.

"Oh, Landyr," a dark male voice came from behind her. "You were always so caring. Step away from him… now." She slowly rose, but still did not look at the person. She knew who it was.

"I trusted you, you know that? You helped me realize my addiction problem… THEY TRUSTED YOU! How could you betray us?" She shook with anger, her fingernails making imprints in her palms. Her eyes closed as she tried to bat away the tears. Facing him would pierce her heart so.

The man scoffed. "It was mostly easy, aside from the initial guilt. They offered me two options: severe torturing or cooperation. Of course being the strict Republic man I was, I chose torture. Unfortunately, through the process, they streamed a holovid of them dismembering my wife. They said if I did not cooperate, my children would face the same fate. And now my children are alive still."

"We could save them!"

"Don't make any promises you know you can't keep," he said threateningly. The man came closer, laying a hand on her left shoulder. "Oh, when I was there, I learned something. Something about you." His hand snaked about her waist, holding her tight to him as his palm grazed her stomach. "Why does Malak want Bastila so much? …Because she knows where you are." His voice, barely audible, tickled her ear as he pressed up against her.

"Why would I matter to Malak, other than my service under him and Revan during the War?" Landyr watched Carth's eyes go wide as another shock went through him. He whimpered from the shock, not wanting to alarm her.

"It was definitely your service under them. There is a rumor going about that you carry the heir to the Sith Lord. Malak wants the babe killed. And he wants to do it himself." He held her a bit tighter. "Tell me, have you had your cycle recently or any other signs?" He took her silence to be an affirmation that he was right. "Question is: which one of the Dark Lords is its father? My guess is that it's Revan's. And that Malak secretly loved you. Which would explain why Malak tried to kill Revan. Oh, well, we'll just have to see."

Suddenly the power cut out and there was a loud hissing sound. Before them, they could see nothing. A second later, she heard the click of a blaster being loaded. There was a rush of wind as the assailant pressed the barrel to her enemy's head. In the deepest, most guttural voice she had ever heard, Carth growled, "Let her go, Dacob Chaar. Or I'll blast your head off."

A/N: I feel like you hate me now with that twist. Ugh. Don't worry, I definitely laid some hints for the pregnancy thing. Not really too much hinting about Dacob Chaar though. Sorry. This chapter focused more on Carth and Landyr, which as of late this story had not seen in about three chapters. I'm glad they are back together. Them being cooperative is much preferred to them fighting.

Questions: From 1 to 5, how much do you hate me for the twist? Did you know Landyr was pregnant? Did you think they were really going to sell Bastila to Davik? Did you think Chaar would come back like that?

PS: I totally almost asked who you thought the father was. I'm so stupid.

PSS: I found out that I received the Presidential Scholarship from my university and I am going to graduate Summa Cum Laude. YAY! Senior year is almost over!