49
Carth was still asleep when Anna extracted herself from him, pulling her robes and the vest he'd bought her back on and strapping her lightsabers back to her hips. She carried her boots out of the cockpit, stealing through the ship silently. A quick stop grabbed her breakfast and a cup of caffa, and she headed towards the ramp. T3 rolled by her and she patted his head as she walked by, the droid chirping quietly before continuing.
She pulled the lever, munching on the piece of cold fish she'd stolen. When the ramp was lowered just the smallest bit she wiggled her way through the crack, dropping silently to the sand.
The Rakata would be waiting for her at dawn. They'd said the ritual would take two hours which, unfortunately, left them enough time to find her (since it wasn't as if they didn't know where she was going). But perhaps she had left even early enough that she'd be inside and gone by the time anyone else awoke.
HK heard her land, of course, and turned his head towards her. "Query," he started. She clapped her hand over his vocabulator, then released it to pull on her boots.
"Sh," she hissed. "Keep guarding the ship."
"Query: Master, are you sneaking off in order to enter a temple full of dangerous meatbags by yourself? I do not recommend this, master . . ."
"I don't have another choice. Stay here, and when they ask just tell them I'll have the deflector down by this afternoon. Do not let anyone follow me. Stun them if you have to." She pointed at him. "No blasting."
"Acknowledgement: It would give me to greater pleasure, master. It is upsetting, though, that you only wish them stunned."
"No blasting," she repeated, then turned on her heel and walked up the beach, heading for the Temple on the hill just above them. A lone gizka crossed her path but nothing else stirred, the grass covered in damp dew that turned her boots an even darker brown.
Up the hill waited several Rakata, studying an old tome that looked as if it was made on actual paper. She drew to a stop, and they turned towards her. One nodded.
"Are you prepared, Revan?"
She gave him a curt nod. "Perform the ritual. And quickly."
#
Carth stormed into the main hold, half-dressed, looking around wildly. No one was yet awake, just him, and she was already gone. Muttering under his breath about how he should have expected it he headed for the ramp, shrugging his jacket on. Partially lowered. That sneaky schutta.
He had been prepared to force his way into the Temple with her, to make the Rakata let him in. He wasn't letting her walk into a building full of dark Jedi and Force knew what else by herself. No way in hell.
He lowered the ramp the rest of the way, storming out and directly into the business end of HK's blaster rifle.
"Get out of my way," Carth snarled.
"Recrimination: I have explicit orders to keep everyone from following master."
"Great," he replied, trying to push the blaster aside. HK didn't budge, and the droid's reinforced metal was far stronger than he was. "Get out of my way."
"Implicit Threat: I only have to warn you once, meatbag."
"She'd deactivate you if you shot m—"
T3 chirped from the top of the ramp disapprovingly, reaching out with his manipulator to grab the back of Carth's jacket and drag him back into the ship.
"Recrimination: You would have done the same thing, trashbin."
T3 replied with a disapproving whistle and parked himself at the top of the ramp.
After a few minutes Carth finally regained control of his limbs, picking himself off the floor. T3 whirred. "You shot me," he protested, glaring at HK.
"Condescending retort: Yes, that is an accurate observation. Threat: If you attempt to leave the ship again, then I will stun you again."
"Let me guess." Carth settled himself on top of the ramp. "Anna told you to make sure none of us interfered."
"Explanation: Of course, meatbag. Otherwise she would scrap me for having blasted you, even with a stun. Suggestive aside: I do hope that I have created no permanent damage, else the master may not have a suitable biological distraction."
Carth felt the smallest flush rise in the back of his neck, but didn't reply as footsteps sounded on the steel behind him. Hurried footsteps. He glanced over his shoulder as Jolee jerked to a stop, tucking his robe around him. He looked . . . almost worried. "You all right?"
"She's gone?" he asked. There was a hint of desperation in his voice.
"Jolee!" Juhani sprinted up the hall, stumbling to a stop behind him. She looked surprisingly disheveled, as if she'd thrown her robes on in a hurry after waking up. "Did you—"
"Yes," he replied simply.
"What's going on?"
"Anna is endangering herself if she goes into that Temple alone," Juhani explained. Carth was on his feet in a second.
"Then what are we waiting for? We—"
"Explicit Threat: I have warned one meatbag already that no one is to follow master to the Temple." HK's gun was held directly at them. Jolee sighed and started down the ramp.
"Jolee, he's serious—"
"We don't have time for this," Jolee replied.
HK began to threaten again, but Jolee's hand merely twitched and the droid slumped, eyes flickering, and he continued on. "Come on, Juhani."
Carth ran after the two Jedi. Jolee glanced over his shoulder. "Stay with the ship."
"I'm comi—"
"Stay with the ship." Jolee's voice left no room for argument, and Carth sagged slightly. Juhani looked back at him sadly.
"I'm sorry, Carth, but I don't believe you'll be able to help," she apologized, before sprinting after Jolee. Carth stared after them, then shook his head and jogged to catch back up.
"Carth," Jolee warned. Something had apparently really shaken him. "You won't be able to go in." He didn't reply. Then he'd wait. He needed to make sure she was all right — that was it. Jolee rolled his eyes and picked up his pace, leading the way up the path to the Temple.
"Juhani." She glanced over at him. "Juhani, what's going on?"
"I can't tell you, Carth."
"Is she safe?"
"Physically I doubt there will be much of a problem."
"Is she in danger of falling?" He thought his heart might stop with the look Juhani gave him. "I have to—"
"You have to make sure the ship can fly once the disruptor is down," Jolee said. "We will take care of Anna, don't worry."
The 'take care' part was what worried him. He'd told her he'd be the one to protect her from herself, not them. He started to argue but Jolee shook his head.
"We'll have enough of a time getting the Rakata to let us in. You are not even able to physically enter the Temple."
Carth remained stubbornly silent as he trudged behind them. As they came out of the canyons they spotted a group of Rakata kneeling in a circle by the Temple ramp, chanting in unison. Anna was sitting at the base of the ramp with her back against one of the decorative supports, dozing with her robe wrapped close around her in the early morning chill.
The Rakata either sensed or spotted them and stood, breaking off the chanting circle. Anna opened her eyes and they could see her mouth move in a vehement swear. "What the hell are you three doing here?" she snapped. One of the Rakata turned and spoke to her, and she waved him off. "I'll handle this."
She started forward. "What the hell are you doing here?" she snapped again. "I gave HK orders —"
"And I disabled him," Jolee said matter-of-factly. "If you go in there alone, you'll be in grave danger."
"Yeah. It's full of dark Jedi and Force knows what else. Of course it's dangerous."
"It's more than that." Jolee glanced at Carth and seized Anna's arm, dragging her away.
"Will you tell me what's going on now," Carth asked, glaring at Juhani. She sighed and shook her head.
"I cannot explain it, Carth."
He looked over to where Anna and Jolee were arguing, then watched as Anna suddenly sagged and let her head fall into her hands then nod, defeated. He swallowed as she turned back to the Rakata.
"Continue the ritual," she ordered. The leader argued, but she cut him off. "Two of my companions will be coming with me. Our plans have changed." He began to argue. "Do you want the Star Forge destroyed?"
He stared at her for a few moments, then turned back and nodded to his companions. They sank back into meditation, and Anna walked over to them. "Carth. You won't be able to enter the Temple."
"I know." He looked back at the Rakata. "How much longer will it take?"
"Not long. We'll wait by the ramp. As soon as it's down we need to be gone." She nodded Jolee and Juhani towards it, and started after them. Carth gripped her elbow. "Carth, I need you to go back to the ship and have her ready to fly."
"I know," he replied. "Just . . . be careful, all right?"
"I will."
"You promise?"
She nodded. "As much as I can promise, yes."
Carth rested his hand on the side of her face and leaned in, searing their lips together. Anna leaned into him, finding his hand and intertwining her gloved fingers with his. "Be careful," he whispered. "And come back to me."
"I will," she answered, leaning into give him another quick kiss.
"Anna, before—" he started, staring down at her. She rested her hand on his face. "Before you go in there —"
Her head jerked away when one of the Rakata yelled, and she quickly pulled out of his hand and took off at a sprint. "Go!" she yelled towards Jolee and Juhani, sending the two Jedi rocketing towards the entrance. Carth stood helplessly, watching as Anna took three steps more and dove through the door, just before the shimmering purple barrier that had fallen a minute before sprung back over the entrance.
He let his hand fall to the side as the Rakata chattered to one another, walking towards what he assumed was their enclave. Carth's shoulders sagged and he turned back towards the beach. As he started down the hill, he straightened back up.
He'd need to tell the others what happened. It wouldn't be good for them to see him looking as if his entire world was ending.
#
Anna lay flat on the floor, panting, her eyes closed. Jolee was holding himself up against the wall panting, and Juhani had fallen on her knees, gasping for breath.
The run up the ramp, while it'd been a dead, insane sprint and had sucked their energy slightly, was nothing compared to the pressure of the dark side bearing down on them. The air in the Temple was thick with it, almost painful, clogging the air and making it hard to breathe. Anna finally forced herself to her feet, closing her eyes and pushing out through the Force to nudge the heaviness away from herself.
"You two all right?" she asked, scrubbing dust off the side of her face.
"Fine," Juhani answered. Jolee nodded and waved her off.
"Then let's get started. The sooner we're out of here the better." Anna unsnapped her lightsabers from her belt and strode into a hallway.
#
By the time he made it back to the ship everyone was awake and looking confused, HK pointing his gun at them. Mission spotted Carth and jumped up and down from her spot at the top of the ramp. "Carth!" she yelled. "Where is everyone?"
"Jolee, Juhani, and Anna are going through the temple." He patted HK as he walked by. "You're fine. No one can go after her."
The droid whirred, but lowered his gun. Carth suspected HK was a few minutes from threatening him for letting Jolee disable him.
"They gonna be all right?" Canderous looked fairly unconcerned, leaning up against the ramp's frame.
"We'll find out soon enough. Meanwhile we need to make sure the ship's ready for the Republic Fleet, so let's give her another go-over." They stared at him, and he waved. "I'm serious. Come on. We don't want to blow up in the middle of the battle or anything."
#
"So far it's been mostly droids. I'm not sure what you're worried about."
It had been mostly droids, with random scatterings of Sith and trainees. No one not using a lightsaber, which made her happy that Juhani and Jolee had talked their way in. She nudged the droid's leg aside, checking for salvageable parts, but nothing jumped out at her.
"It wasn't the fighting we were worried about," Jolee answered, nudging the dead Sith who'd been with the droid. "We should keep moving."
"Agreed."
Anna nodded at them and headed towards the next door, reaching out to press the button that would open it. It slid apart, and the two Sith inside turned towards them. One of them took a step back, eyes widening under her cowl.
"Revan — you are back!"
Anna blinked, then replied with an awkward wave. "Hello?"
"Malak told us what happened to you — that the Jedi stripped you of your power. You are a shell of what you were!"
She blinked again.
"You are not fit to rule the Sith any longer," the other Sith barked. "Darth Malak will reward us well for your head!"
Anna brought her lightsaber up in a block as the first leapt forward, dual lightsabers flashing in her hands. Anna frowned — she wasn't used to having to fight a fellow dual-wielder.
Juhani twirled the lightsaber, crashing it down and forcing the woman to block it before swinging back into Anna, and she dodged and spun underneath the blades. With Juhani distracting her, Anna drove both 'sabers through the woman's chest. The other Sith flew by her head, slamming into the wall with a loud crack. Jolee deactivated his lightsaber, and looked over. Anna was leaning heavily against the wall, rubbing her forehead.
"Are you all right?" Juhani asked, reaching out to touch her shoulder. Anna jerked away.
"I'm fine," she snapped, straightening up. She felt like she'd known that woman fairly well once, though how or why she didn't know. But it'd brought almost what was a flash of memory that disappeared as soon as it'd come, and she shook her head. "Let's keep moving."
Without waiting for an answer she strode forward, opening the next door. Inside was another Sith, this one wearing the silver-plated armor of one of Malak's Sith shock-troopers — the same as Darth Bandon had once been. He was deflecting shots from a practice droid, and before he noticed them he extended his hand. Lightning flashed off his hands, and flew into the droid. The droid exploded in a shower of sparks and fragments, and he turned.
"Ah, Revan," he said. "Lord Malak mentioned that you were still alive. At last - a challenge worthy of me. I intensified my training ten-fold in the hopes to face you in combat!"
Anna's reply was to ignite her lightsaber.
It had been one thing for Malak to call her Revan, for Bastila to confirm it, for some random Exchange mooks to get their hands on some vids and determine that all she could be was Revan. It was something else completely for random Sith to recognize her as the former Dark Lord.
It was making her attempt to put off thinking about her identity a lot more difficult.
She threw her lightsaber, catching it when he parried it back. He picked Juhani up mid-leap, throwing her back into a wall, and caught Jolee in the middle of a block, throwing him after her to leave himself alone with Anna.
Anna herself had stumbled back, another flash of memory threatening to overwhelm her. Why hadn't this been happening before? Was it the concentration of Force in the Temple or was it just a natural fading of the amnesia? She recovered in time to lurch forward, knocking her attacker off-balance as she parried his blow and stabbed forward. He dodged back, swinging wildly as his hand thrust forward and there was the briefest flash of lightning on the tips of his fingers. Anna spun her lightsaber, slicing straight through his wrist. In his moment of pained distraction she thrust her other through his chest.
Jolee was busy picking himself up with a groan when she staggered back, collapsing back against the wall. Her lightsabers dropped to the ground, letting her head fall into her empty hands. He glanced at Juhani, who merely waved a hand, and he settled down next to Anna. "You all right, missy?"
She shook her head. "Since we got in here," she murmured. "I've been remembering. It-it's one thing to be told that I'm Revan but it's something completely different to have random people recognize me as Revan. I-I was trying to not think about it but I keep having all these jumbly memories coming back and it . . . it's overwhelming. I don't know I . . . I can't do this." She choked back a sob. "Jolee, I can't. The entire time I'm here I want to just . . . just kill everything I see, and now we're fighting people who know me and the flashes are getting worse. If it's bad here what will it be like on the Star Forge? What if I kill everyone there? What if I decide it's far easier to just cave and fall again and this time finish the job?"
"Well," Jolee started, glancing up as Juhani sank down on her other side. "Having never been in your precise circumstances I can't begin to know just what you're going through . . ." He sighed. "However, there are several things I can tell you. The first is that, even when I tracked you through the Shadowlands, I didn't believe you were evil. Had you fallen? Yes. But it wasn't evil I sensed in you."
She lifted her head. "What was it, then?"
Jolee closed his eyes, trying to remember back. "More of a resignation, if I remember correctly. Can't expect me to remember everything, hmph. Will you falling now have severe consequences? Yes. But do I think you will?" He shrugged. "From what I've seen, I doubt it. You're smart, and you're strong — which is an interesting combination for a Jedi, I have to say."
"You will be fine, Anna," Juhani comforted. "We will help you resist. We won't let you fall."
"If I do, do you think you'll be able to stop me?" She raised her head slightly. "I mean, I terrify the Jedi and I survived a laser blast to the face."
Jolee and Juhani's eyes met over her head, and Jolee rubbed Anna's shoulder. "Well, I believe you'll be able to resist. You did fine on Korriban and—"
She shook her head. "Korriban wasn't this bad."
"Because you did not know who you were," Juhanai said. "You believed yourself to be the same as any Jedi. You did not have the pressure of your identity weighing on you, and you were not guarding so hard against falling. But now you fear a single misstep." Anna looked up, and Jolee nodded in agreement.
"The Jedi are not supposed to be afraid," he said. "The emotion is too strong. But at the same time nearly every Jedi fears the dark side — mostly because their masters and the Council tell them to. We pair that with the fact that you know you cannot fall because of what happened before . . . It's natural."
"Is it always going to be like this? Am I just always going to live in fear of myself?"
Jolee nodded. "Probably. But I suspect that it will get better in time, once you've sat and thought about it a bit. Unfortunately we don't have time now."
She nodded, swallowing heavily, and pushed herself to her feet. "All right. Let's hope this basement isn't far." Anna stood and walked away towards the next door. Juhani stood, helping pull Jolee to his feet.
"Does she look more tired to you?" Juhani asked quietly. Jolee nodded.
"Just keep up your guard."
