Revenant part 4: When reflection stares back.

A lone figure stands in front of a small pile of rocks set on the top of a small hillock. The air is fresh and warm, carrying the scents of nature and running water. The view is magnificent; cascading down from the hill is a bright green carpet of grass and in the distance, the warm glowing orb of the evening sun hangs in the bright blue sky. It is peaceful, serene and important to one person. She is here, now.

Her hands, covered in soft brown fur, are dirty and bruised from where she has dug the rocks from the soil. Slowly, she reaches into her deep red tunic, pulling from the recesses a small candle that glistens in the deep red of the setting sun. With care, she slides the final rock into place. The candle is placed gently on top and lit. Her eyes close and the faint breeze wafts gently pulling at her mane of dark hair. With a sigh, she remembers.

"Juhani, come on in!" Belaya calls to her from the warm lake and Juhani smiles slightly. "The waters really warm, it's lovely!"

"I prefer not to today, I am happy to sit and watch you enjoy yourself, after all we have both earned this." Juhani gazes at Belaya with a strange feeling of both sadness and joy. Funny, she never considered she would ever have a problem such as this to deal with. "Take your time, Belaya. I shall still be here when you come back."

Belaya snorts and with a splash of water, runs back onto the beach to land next to her friend in a flurry of wet skin. Juhani forces the feeling of desire away and gazes out to sea, trying to resist temptation.

"It kinda spoils the point of me dragging you down here, especially after all the time it took me to force you into that bikini." She grins and reaches to touch one of the straps of the black Bikini wrapped around Juhani's furry body. For just a second, her fingers stay for too long and then they are gone. "You're such a Rancor when it comes to enjoying yourself. Relax that warrior steel of yours and have some fun with me."

"I have never been able to relax very well," Juhani mutters, even as Belaya's fingers stray once more to caress the fur on her shoulder. She shudders. "Please stop it, I have to resist this. It is un-Jedi like." "I do not see the point of trying to relax. I am a warrior, a Cathar and a Jedi. We do not relax, we remain ever vigilant against the darkness."

"Oh, poodoo Juhani," Belaya grins and her other hand joins the first, stroking fur and massaging muscle until she draws a groan from her Cathar friend. Even warriors, especially Jedi, need to relax, and besides... I have something to ask you."

"Ask me?" Juhani whispers, the pleasure of Belaya's massage running through her entire body, swamping her desire to clamp down on her emotions. Always so strong they've been and now they burn. "What is it you want from me?"

"You, and one night." She murmurs and Juhani turns to her in shock. "I want us to spend the night together, as lovers."

"But, but, we are Jedi. Such physical attraction is... is forbidden!" Her mind reels at the image of them together, wrapped in each other's arms and she shivers at it. "If Master Quatra were to find out. She would most likely never speak to me again!"

"Just one night, please." Belaya whispers and her soft voice is like honey to Juhani's ears. "Hold me, make love to me and let's watch the stars together. I love you and I want to be with you. Forever."

Her eyes open and she's back in front of the Cairn. She reaches up softly and wipes the moisture from the wet fur under her eyes. Gently, ever so gently, she leans down and kisses the very top rock before stepping back.
"It was not meant to be, my love." She whispers and bows her head. "I wish I could have been there, at your side, as it could have been. But all that passed when I fell to the darkside, all that passed between us made our love become just friendship. I wish I had been there as a friend instead. Maybe we could have escaped, my warrior skills, your Force powers. But speculation of what may have been is useless."

She steps back and her eyes moisten again as she completes the ritual.

"May you find peace, my friend. May you find light. For though you are not Cathar, your soul burns with such a soul. As a Jedi and as a warrior, you have earned the peace now given. Rest well."

With a final bow at the cairn, she walks away towards the glimmering lights of the Jedi enclave.

Tangelos Tabana gas mines: Republic flagship: 'Endar's Spirit'.

"Bloody council!" Jolee muttered, striding backwards and forwards in Carth's quarters. "One minute its, go here. The next its come back, without a thought for the people they're ordering to run around."

"Well, it isn't all that bad surely, after all your moaning about wanting a little peace and quiet?" Carth murmured, staring at a report on repairs to his ship's hull. "I would have thought you'd welcome the request for us to return to Dantooine... that's why I told you that they wanted you and her to go back."

"It's not me I'm worried about!" Jolee growled in annoyance and Carth looked up at that. The old Master's face was drawn. "I'm worried for Bastila, you know as well as I do that she needs rest! Gallivanting across the galaxy is not what she needs right now!"

Carth had to agree. The battle with the Sith fleet had been an interesting and now a slowly tedious one. They had arrived, after almost a week of hyperspace travel, at the Tabana gas mines with time to spare, thanks to the excellent Republic Intel. Carth had set about arranging his fleet into a well-set pincer for the Sith fleet.

The only problem had been that Intel had greatly underestimated the numbers of ships that the Sith were willing to commit to this enterprise. Carth himself had wondered at first about the validity of such numbers that had been given to him.

With the Star Forge now a smear of hydrogen plasma, the Sith had lost not only their main source of new ships, but also the means to power them. He had been busy himself when Revan had left with his Jedi friends to find Bastila and Malak. With a complement of Jedi, Carth had managed to force his way into the lower section of the Star Forge and had discovered that the forge also distilled the energy it was collecting into high-energy plasma gas. This had been how the Sith could afford to fuel such gigantic numbers of ships with such few gas mines that the Republic could locate.

Now, with the forge destroyed they must be desperately short of fuel, and the commitment of the number of ships to this battle had shown that.

Carth's battle contingent of thirty gun ships and four battle cruisers plus, of course the Spirit herself, had found themselves almost outnumbered by a factor of two to one for the ships and nearly six to one for the fighters and bombers.

He knew now, as it had been at the battle of the Forge, that it had been Bastila who had saved them. She had taken one look at the huge difference in forces and had walked quietly with Jolee to the mediation suite.

"You never did tell me what you two were up to."

"Hmph, well for starters I told her not to," Jolee sighed. "That was a big mistake."

Two hours before the battle for the gas mines: Spirits main corridor.

"Kid, you can't be serious!" Jolee looked at her with worry. "Damn it, you may be skilled in battle meditation, but have you seen the numbers of capital ships out there? What happens when the fighters and bombers swarm us?"

"I have dealt with such numbers before." Bastila looked at him with no sign of concern. "I can do it again."

"Kid, there are dark Jedi on those ships, they know who you are and what you can do. If they concentrate, how hard will it become?" Jolee felt her shiver and he sighed. "I don't want to see you hurt in some foolish attempt to sway the battle."

" I have to try." Bastila shrugged. "I doubt very much that the Dark Jedi on those ships can assault me here. Besides, as I have already told you, I have to do this."

"Why?" Jolee gripped her robe. "I may be an old coot dammit but I ain't blind! Stop trying to be a martyr."

"That is not what I mean to do." Bastila looked at him with annoyance. "If I do not do something, we will have to retreat and give up the gas mines to the Sith. All those innocent people, I have to help the Jolee, I know I can."

"Kid, we can still run." Jolee watched her face become distant and he sighed. "Bastila, lets run away. There's no shame in that, even for Jedi. Besides, old men like me come to realise that running away is perfectly alright, probably all because of our habit."

"Habit?" Bastila's voice was faint and distracted, her eyes unfocused. "What habit?"

"Living." Jolee let go of her robes. "It's quite addictive and I don't want to give it up."

"We could have run about five minutes ago..." Bastila's eyes cleared and she looked at Jolee with apprehension. "But, the three interdictors that are about to appear behind us, defeat that idea."

Jolee looked at her face, the terrible determination. "Kid, if they do try and block you, how far would this push you?"

"I... I have no idea." Jolee watched as her lightsabre flipped into her palm and began to spin. "But have you got any better ideas?"

"Well, no." Jolee grunted, the whippersnapper had a point. "Okay, but I'm coming in with you. If you start to struggle, I'm pulling you out!"

"If you do that, we're all dead or captured." Bastila gazed at him and sighed. "I have to help. So that we can survive and the innocent people on the gas mines will as well."

"Ah hell," Jolee growled and scuffed the floor with his boot. "If Revan finds out, there'll be hell to pay!"

"He won't find out, because we won't tell him. Come, I must prepare."

Grumbling, Jolee followed her into the meditation chambers that had been built for them. Bastila walked softly to the centre of the room, her lightsabre snapping to her hilt with a click as she reached the middle.

"Jolee, I need total silence." She glanced at him and smiled apologetically. "I think I may need every ounce of concentration for this..."

"Okay," Jolee flung himself into the corner of the room and stared at her. "I still say this is too risky, and you're going to get my wrinkly ass kicked by your Jedi boyfriend."

"Revan..." Bastila's mind whispered to her, his face grinning in her mind. She sighed and concentrated on getting comfortable. "No, I cannot think of you at this time, my love, I have to concentrate..."

Bastila slipped into her meditative kneeling position, her mind channelling the Force with expert ability. She could feel the ships around her, and she dove deeper, weaving past the metal, pipes, ducts, equipment, to come face to face with all the living people on board them. Slowly, she began to weave the Force threads of her battle meditation among them, connecting them to each other, and to her. It was a laborious task, but eventually she completed it.

Thousands of soldiers, troops, crew and commanding officers whispered to her. She could feel the ebb and flow of the Republic armada, feel it's emotional and moral state. They were afraid, the sheer numbers of the Sith armada, frightening. She gripped the mass of threads that formed the fleet in her mind, and sent a vast amount of positive Force along them. She could feel the moral of the Republic shift and the crews buckle down to attack the Sith, felt the pilots focus and begin to outmanoeuvre the Sith fighters.

There had to be a balance in battle meditation, Bastila needed a place to dump the negative emotions, fear, panic, and disorientation that she was drawing away from her troops and crews. As it had always been, the perfect target was the enemy.

She stretched out, pulling the Force threads of battle meditation with her mind. Her goal was the Sith fleet, and the masses of capital ships and fighters hurtling towards them. Slowly she began to focus on the Sith fleet. As she touched the first of the vast interdictors, Bastila found that the ship's crew and officers were hard to bind to. She focused on the crews of the turbolaser batteries and tried to touch and bind her battle meditation to their minds. A sudden pressure on the threads she was weaving made her groan in startled shock.

Suddenly, the few threads she had managed to weave into the Sith crews were brutally snapped and she fell back with a scream.

"Ah hell! Hang on kid!" Jolee slid to his feet and ran across to the disorientated Jedi. Bastila had fallen back onto the carpet and her eyes were wild. "Bastila? What happened?"

"I... I don't know." She shivered. "I... my battle meditation was broken by something."

"You see? I'll bet the Sith have those damn Jedi pumping something against you. They knew you'd be here with us on the Spirit, thanks to our little council spy." Jolee watched as Bastila slipped back into her meditative pose and he shook his head. "Bastila, no! I won't have my Padawan do this again."

"I have to get past it somehow. The attack startled me, that's all. I can defeat it if I focus harder." She opened her eyes and smiled apologetically at him. "You were right, Jolee, they knew I would be here. Those Sith are placed on each capital ship to stop me."

A sudden shake rattled around the room and the two Jedi heard the muted calls of alarms.

"Kid, how long will you be able to keep this up?" Jolee watched as Bastila breathed deeply and stared at him.

"For as long as it takes, Jolee." Ignoring his grumbles, Bastila closed her eyes and let the Force take her once more. "I must concentrate!"

She felt the quiet serene of the Force beat through her She began to weave her battle meditation once more, spinning the threads of Force faster and faster, too well aware of the limited time she had available. Even as her threads reached out to one of the Republic capital ships, she felt a sudden agonising loss. She gasped in pain, as the thousands of crew on board one of the Republic ships, cried briefly out, as it fell to the Sith bombers. She could feel their terror as the ship, 'The Intolerant', spiralled out of control, it's fusion plasma cores igniting in a massive firebomb. She screamed, feeling the terror of all the people linked to her through her battle meditation, feeling the last few gurgling cries of the dying crew of the Intolerant.

"I have to concentrate! Remember, emotion, yet peace..." She thought, focusing on the humming strands of the Force. They crackled with the sudden demoralised Republic fleet. "Focus, draw the negative, enhance the positive. Use the lightside to reinforce their own."

Bastila felt the negative emotions of the Republic fleet swell around her, trapped by her ability with battle meditation. Feeling out to the Sith fighters and bombers, swarming around the Republic vessels like angry wasps, Bastila focused the vast negative mental energy and sent it screaming into the threads of Force, linking her to the enemy.

She watched as the Sith pilots felt a sudden crushing feel of defeat overwhelm them. Suddenly, the battle began to shift, as the Sith fighters and bombers began to fall, outmanoeuvred and outfought by the focused and determined Republic fighter screen.

With a sigh, Bastila focused her minds gaze on the Sith capital ships, still holding their own against the Republic. She could feel it now, now that the Sith Masters had shown their hand. The Darkside hung over each ship like a cloud, a legacy from the Star Forge.

Somehow, and she had no clue as to how, the Sith Masters had drawn on that source, to attack her during battle meditation. How, she had no idea, except that these Sith Masters could also be capable of battle meditation, to a far less degree. Obviously they had planned this for some time, and now it was a battle of wills.

Carth watched his fleet's fighters slam around his flagship, chasing Sith fighters in a mad dog corkscrew of a battle. So far, the Republic fighters were winning, scoring at least three kills to every Sith's, He prayed to the Force that it would be enough.

The loss of the intolerant, along with Admiral Hackter, had been a crushing blow on the right flank, the defence was slowly beginning to fail over there. He watched as another of his gun-ships took a hit to the side, watched as vapour and moisture spurted from the gash, watched as people died.

"Helm, take us to the Intolerant's position. I want the Spirit as command ship on the right flank!" Carth felt the astonishment around him. "Then, tell the squad leaders to fall in, tightly. If Bastila's battle mediation can provide us the edge, then it's up to us."

"Sir?"

"We're losing too many ships, even with Bastila giving us the edge. They have the advantage in numbers, and can soak up the loss of vessels, we can't. So, I don't intend to play that game." Carth glanced at his captain, whose face was drawn in a tight line. "When they've pulled in as tightly as possible, set a course for the flag ship of the Sith fleet. I want our 'fist' to hit it as hard as possible."

"Sir, will Bastila be able to hold her concentration under fire? We need whatever aid she can provide."

"I hope so, she's far stronger than she looks."

"Course laid in Sir." The helmswoman announced. "I have laid in an intercept for the 'Hammer of Vengeance'.

"Engage, lets spit in the Sith's face and see how they like it."

Bastila felt a shudder in the physical world, but her mind was far too focused on the Sith fleet to pay much attention. She could see now what faced her. If she tried to bind the crew of any of the Sith capital ships, the Sith Masters, while far too weak in ability to combat her skill, could use their combined powers to assault the threads of Force that bound her to the crews. Now she focused on the main capital ship, the Vengeance. With her skill, she could see the darkness was at it's most powerful here. Whoever was co-ordinating the attack against her, he or she was on this ship. She focused all her power, forging her battle meditation into a single point and threw herself at the oppressive gloom surrounding, and shielding, the Vengeance from her skills.

"Sir, the 'Shield of Coruscant' has taken major damage!" One of Carth's crew span around and gave him the worrying news. "Twenty or more of her crew are down, engineering reports that the fusion reactors are spiking due to plasma damage!"

"Understood," Carth muttered, ignoring the looks of horror around him. "Come on Bastila, give me a hole, the skill to see it... anything!"

"Admiral, this is madness!" Serrvul shook his head. "We're taking heavy losses even with her battle meditation."

"We have to give her time," Carth glanced at the tactical display and winced at the crimson red splashes across his fleets display panels. "They knew we were coming, they know about Bastila and her skills... We have to hold on until she can open the way, then we can give em the sucker punch!"

Bastila felt the tendrils of the darkside whisper to her, so seductive, so familiar... now, so very, very deadly. She focused on her own inner soul, her own lightside and pushed her way into the cloud. She could feel it, cloying and oppressive as it drifted around her, smothered her. Focusing, she began to weave the threads of the Force between herself and the crew, so hard now that they were cloaked from her, as if in fog.

As the first few threads connected, she gasped at how determined the crew of this ship was. In fact, they carried so much gloating confidence that it bordered on arrogance. She had to finish her battle meditation, and fast. Bastila began to weave once more, tipping the scales in the Republic's favour once again.

A sudden brutal shove in the Force made her cry out, and she felt the Sith Master suddenly fighting against her, using the combined focus of all the fellow Sith Masters to fight her. She felt them tear at her, rip at the threads that surrounded her. A few snapped, the backlash slamming into her with a surge of pain. Staggering, she felt them attack her once more, the claws of a darker battle meditation sinking into her. She struggled against it feeling the darkside sink into her meditation and begin to tear at the centre. With a deep breath, she began to concentrate.

"Focus, centre and strengthen." She thought intently. "Weave and bind, protect and focus. Then attack, tip the scales."

She concentrated, hard, and felt the darkside claws lose their grip on her and the threads of her battle meditation. With a shudder of exertion, Bastila forced the collecting negative mental energy of the Republic into the Sith capital ship.

"Sir! The Sith front is collapsing at the flag ship!" Carth's head snapped up and he felt the exhilaration of his crew. They had lost hundreds of fighters and bombers and two more gun-ships had been crippled. "Master Bastila was successful, praise the Force."

"Keep an eye on that formation. We have to hope Jedi Bastila can keep this up." Carth glanced at the message Jolee had sent to him using the internal message system. "I hope she can hold up to the strain...."

"Sir?"

"They knew we were coming, knew that Bastila would use her battle meditation against them. Looks like she's fighting whatever protection they gave those vessels."

"Alpha wing reports ready to engage.... the rest of the fleet is prepared to strike the flagship and support vessels."

Carth closed his eyes and the message burned in his eyes. "The strain is incredible, I think they have eight or nine Sith Masters united against her. She can't keep this up forever, hurry... Jolee." He sighed. If Revan ever found out what the betrayal of the council had put Bastila at risk to...

"Engage with all gun-ships. Keep us out of range, but give supporting fire. I have to keep Bastila safe so she can give our pilots and other capita ships the edge they need."

Carth willed Bastila to help as much as possible. "I need you more than ever Bastila, help my ships win!"

Bastila grunted in agony. She could feel the intense pressure of the Sith Masters throwing themselves against her own exceptional skill. While her skill with he Force and battle meditation allowed her to fend them Sith off, while giving support to the Republic, the sheer power of the eight or so Sith against her, meant they were attacking her with brute Force.

"Brute force and emotions...." Her mind whispered calmly, even as another assault made her wince in agony. "Anger, rage, all negative emotions."

She felt the Republic crew of the Independent panic as they slipped into crossfire between two Sith dreadnoughts. With a grunt of exertion, she made the pilot remember that space was three-dimensional and the Independent slid upwards out of the crossfire, firing back with renewed vigour as the crew's moral lifted into determination.

She groaned as the Sith Masters assaulted her again, feeling her attention waver to the ship and it's crew. They attacked her and she felt agony course through her as each Sith Master brutally ravaged her mind with the darkside. She couldn't stop it, and her scream echoed into the Force.

Jolee was near panic. Bastila's body had stared to drip with sweat and shake with the terrible draining exhaustion that came from focusing this much Force into one discipline. Now he watched in mounting horror as a trickle of blood slid from her nose.

"Oh Hell, they're killing her!" He gripped her and shook her by the shoulders, but Bastila remained in her meditation, almost stubbornly. "Come on Bastila damn it, don't be so stubborn!"

Bastila shuddered. Summoning all her ability with battle meditation she forced the Sith intrusion into her mind back with sheer bloody will, but the danger was far from finished. She could feel the Sith Masters on the various ships, and especially their leader, waiting for another opening where they could attack. Yet, they remained hidden in the cloud of darkside Force that coated the Sith vessels.

"Revan, help me..." She thought, a shiver of fear coursing through her. "They knew I would be here, somehow they know how to attack my meditation... How do I fight such anger and rage?"

A sudden thought struck her. "They are using all the negative emotions that come so easily with the darkside. Using them to attack me, disrupt my mediation. But that in itself is a weakness to their version of battle meditation. They are using the darkside to power their weaker skill, brute force against my ability. But I can use that!"

She gathered her wits about her and strengthened her own battle meditation as much as she dared. She could feel them, poised and waiting for her to attempt an attack once again. Bastila smiled, she had other ideas. Carefully, she began to draw the negative energy into herself, storing all the fear and apprehension that the Republic was still generating. She could feel it, a darkness that fought against the bonds she held it with.

"They want me to try and form a link with the crew?" She paused for a second to centre herself and then ran at the capital ship. "Very well, let's form one with the Sith Master!"

She felt his shock, sudden delight and then aggressive response. He and his fellow Sith moved to attack her, their own joined Force threads, hidden by the dark fog that covered the ship until now, shimmering into view.

She struck, dodging past their initial mental blows, focusing on the threads that bound them in Battle meditation. They were weak, unfocused due to a lack of ability, and she struck. She bound part of her battle meditation directly into their own Force threads and she could feel their shock at her decision. As they moved to dissolve the bond, a sudden fear coursing through them at her unusual attack, Bastila let the massive surge of negative energy flow out of her and into the single thread linking her to the Sith Masters. They screamed, she could feel the massive negative energy crash into them like a wave, making them panic and become totally incapable of focusing the Force. She struck, linking the entire Sith fleet into her battle meditation, crippling them.

Carth could see the sudden difference to the Sith fighter pilots, capital ships gunners and Captains. Bastila's intense use of battle meditation now allowed his hugely outnumbered forces to outperform the Sith. Slowly, the main tactical display began to show the results edging in their favour. Carth had decided at that point to attack the Vengeance alone, counting on both the Vengeance's crew being so crippled by Bastila's battle meditation and his capital ship's hugely improved weapons, hull and actual size.

The Spirit had stormed into the battle like a hurricane, spraying deadly bursts of turbolaser fire. Although the Vengeance tried to back off, Carth had trapped it between the disarrayed fleet behind it and his own forces. Unable to escape, the Spirit pounded it into scrap metal, until it's fusion bottles detonated in a massive flash, that took most of the fighters guarding it with it in a expanding fireball.

Carth's gunners had scored the destruction of two more interdictors as the fleet crumbled into disarray with the loss of their Capital ship. With her added logistical support for the fighters and bombers, plus her larger weapon delivery, the Sith forces had slowly and inexorably been beaten back. Finally, they'd vanished into hyperspace on random vectors, much to relief of Carth's battle weary crews.

Carth had walked into the meditation suite to tell his friends the good news, to congratulate Bastila on her excellent assistance, only to find it empty. A patch of blood on the floor had made him panic and rush to the medical bay, to find Jolee looking pale and annoyed.

"I told her not to overexert herself dammit!"

"Is she alright?" Carth asked and Jolee shrugged.

"The medics are in there now, ah hell Revan's going to have words with me." Jolee sighed. "I'm an old man, I don't need some young hot blood yelling at me."

With a hiss, the medical bay door's slid open and a nurse walked slowly out, holding onto a trembling Bastila.

"The doctor says that Jedi Bastila is to rest for a few hours, then have some food. She is not to overexert herself again for the next few days."

"I am alright." Bastila muttered her face pale. "It was hard work to fight off all the Sith Masters, but I did it."

"You almost got yourself killed!" Jolee growled at her. "I won't have my Padawan doing stuff like that, understood?"

"Jolee," Bastila huffed and then sighed. "Yes, Master Jolee."

"Good. Now, come on." Jolee took her hand and began to escort her down the corridor. "You need sleep young lady."

"I cannot sleep with so much to be done. What about the fleet?" Bastila glanced at Carth who smiled.

"You've done more than enough Bast. You managed to give me a hole, right into the Sith fleets capital ship. Once we got the Vengeance, it was all over. I guess I owe you my ship, my fleet and my life."

"No, I did what I was sent to do, nothing more."

"Possibly," Carth smiled at her. "But I think I still owe you big."

"Enough chit chat!" Jolee commanded. "Come on, bed..."

"I am not tired," Bastila lied. "We have so much to do still..."

"Hmph, not you."

Jolee had pulled her all the way to her quarters, despite her arguments to the contrary. He'd forced her to take off her belt, and boots, made her creep under the covers of her bed and drink a glass of fruit juice taken from the food synthesiser, even as she spluttered at him. The soothing sedative that Jolee had slipped into the fruit juice he'd offered had slowly worked it's magic and the two friends watched her fall into a deep sleep, before creeping out of the room and heading back to Carth's office.

Present: Carth's office.

Carth watched his friend shake his head in sadness and he stared at the message glowing on his desk's holo-viewer.

"Well, we have to do what Admiral Dodonna asks." He said looked up at Jolee. "Mind you, at least I'm not shoving her and you onto a cramped shuttle."

"You're not?" Jolee stopped pacing at him and looked at him. "Then how are we getting there?"

"With us, I've been told to pass command of the fleet to Captain Frie'rre and his ship. They'll hunt down the remains of the fleet while the Spirit returns to Dantooine."

"Hmmm," Jolee frowned and walked around the desk to stare at Carth's orders from Dodonna. "Why would they want you back at Dantooine? I don't trust them, they're being elusive on purpose and that was one of the reasons that made me leave in the first place."

With a hiss, Carth's door slid open and a pale, exhausted figure stood in the doorway. Bastila leaned against the door's frame and her turquoise eyes flicked from friend to friend in concern.

"What is going on you two?" She whispered her voice quiet and tired. "I could feel your annoyance from my quarters. Now, stop being foolish and tell me what's going on."

"Sorry kid," Jolee muttered with embarrassment. "I kinda get carried away when people order me around. I got used to doing what I wanted while on Kashyykk."

"Yeah, sorry Bastila." Carth smiled faintly at her. "I know you needed rest, I'm sorry that we woke you up. To answer your question, we've all been ordered to Dantooine. You me and Jolee."

"Us?" Bastila slowly walked into the room and Jolee slid a chair across the room with the Force so that she could sit down. "Thanks, Jolee. So, we have all been ordered to return to Dantooine? What about the Spirit."

"Apparently, Carth's been ordered to bring her along too. They've passed command of the fleet to another ship and captain. So, whatever it is, it's important enough to require both a war hero and one of the latest Republic ships."

"Did it say who asked us to return?" Bastila asked softly and as Carth shared a glance with Jolee she sighed in reluctant admittance. "Did it say anything about Revan?"

"No, sorry Bastila, just that it was a request by the Jedi council." Carth shook his head, feeling helpless as she slumped slightly. "I could find out for you if you want. We've got a couple of hours before I order the jump to hyper. If you want I can try to hook up with Dantooine, see if he's there."

"Yeah kid." Jolee said, glancing at Carth. "We could comm him, find out where he is. Perhaps you could visit him if they are giving us time for relaxation. After all, I know how much you miss him and you could do with some fun."

"No point," Bastila murmured, her eyes closed. "He is on Dantooine, and he is worried." Her voice was faint, but focused. With her eyes closed, she stretched out with all of her feelings and Force abilities, despite her exhaustion, to cross the vast distances that separated them and touch her bond mates mind. Her face creased in sudden worry, Revan's horror coursing down her enhanced link. Her eyes snapped open in defence and she swallowed dizzily. "He needs me, now!"

"Woah, kid." Jolee placed his hands gently on her shoulders and she wobbled in the chair. "You can't help him if you're in the medical bay suffering from physical and mental stress exhaustion. Look, we can't do anything until we reach Dantooine. That'll take a few days, even with the Spirit's faster hyperdrive. I suggest you take the time to meditate, sleep and eat something. You're exhausted from using your battle meditation and need rest."

"I'm fine," Bastila murmured sinking back down onto the chair, trying to keep her eyelids from closing. "I have to write my report, change into something clean, this robe's sweat stained."

"Don't be daft," Carth murmured and Bastila glanced at him. "After all you've done, the least I can do is write a report. I agree with Jolee, you need a good meal and some sleep. I've already told the helm to set a course for Dantooine as soon as repairs are complete, so when you wake up we'll be on our way."

"You two spoil me." Bastila slurred sleepily as her exhaustion claimed her. "I couldn't sleep now, I have so much to finish."

"Kid, this is your Master speaking here! Get your young butt into bed, let me and Carth handle everything!"

"Yes, Master Bindo." Bastila smiled, shaking her head, and Carth shook his own vigorously as he watched her slowly slide off the chair and walk, with a slight wobble, towards his door. As the door hissed shut behind her, Carth glanced at Jolee with his own look of worry.

"Why does she have to push herself so hard? I mean, I remember what she looked like when that nurse brought her out of the medical bay. She could have killed herself!"

"Guilt," Jolee sighed and turning Carth was shocked at how old he looked. "I thought she was beginning to cope with it on her own, hell maybe she was. But she still has the lingering traces of guilt over what she did, what she succumbed to. Revan made her forget all that and, I think, together they were coping. Now she misses him and with nothing to take her mind off her past, nothing to help her realise she's a Jedi once more... well, she's beginning to brood."

"Hmmm. Well, if you're right, and I think you are, then this trip back to Dantooine may be just what she needs. Revan, some time off and the calm of Dantooine to meditate in."

"Carth, to be frank I think the council wouldn't ask you me and Bastila back from a mission like this unless something more important was happening. I have this terrible feeling that both Revan and Bastila may be in danger once more." Jolee shivered slightly at the memory of Bastila's vision. "She needs rest, as you say. She's a good kid, powerful and struggling to cope. Hell, she was until recently. My lessons, what little I've been able to give so far, have helped her examine her feelings... but it'll take months before she is truly free of the guilt over what she did. So, until then..."

"Until then, we do what I'm sure Juhani and Mission do for Revan, and Revan does for her." Carth interrupted and Jolee cocked an eyebrow. "We help them pull back from what they did. Even though Revan can't remember what it was like to be the dark lord... I've seen it when fragments of his past hit him, watched him tear himself apart trying to undo the damage that the Sith caused," Carth's eyes flickered to the dark window and the glinting points of light. "Helped me save my son from his own path, even though he didn't remember walking it. The least I can do for him, for my son as thanks, is keep an eye on the woman he loves."

"We both will," Jolee said quietly, a small smile appearing on his wrinkled face. "We'll keep her safe."

Carth nodded and glanced once more at the instructions from the council on the pad in front of him. They remained unchanged, full of mystery.

Carth, This is Admiral Dodonna. At the request of the Jedi council on both Coruscant and Dantooine, you are hereby ordered to pass command of the battle group onto Admiral Frie'rre and set course for Dantooine. I know that Bastila's skills with battle meditation are sorely needed with the fleet, as are you. However, something has the Jedi worried enough to request that both Jolee and Bastila return with you. I don't know the details Carth, just that Revan returned from his mission with news, dangerous news. So, I want you to go with him and whomever he chooses to go. I know he'll be in the middle of it. Oh and I have one good piece of news, Captain Denara will be assigned to you as a bodyguard. She's almost as much of a veteran as you Carth, I think you'll like her.

(Look, unofficially? Those of us who fought at the Star Forge know that we owe Revan, hell and Bastila, our lives. Without the two of them we would have been defeated. So, unofficially? Take care of them as much as possible Carth, Jedi may be powerful, but they aren't invincible. Watch your friends' backs.)

Admiral Dodonna, Commanding officer of the Republic Navy.

"You know, I think that Revan may need Bastila as much as she needs him. Whatever it is that has them spooked?" Carth dropped the pad and looked once more at Jolee's worried expression. "Revan will be in the middle of it and he's going to need someone he can trust with his life. I don't know how I know, I just do. Maybe some of your Jedi sense is rubbing off on me."

"Possibly. This old man has seen stranger things in his life. Heh, like walking rugs." Jolee joked, trying to lift the depressed atmosphere of the cabin. "Well, I'd better go and start to pack up the stuff I don't need into my bag."

"Right. I've got to go back to the bridge. My shift doesn't end for another four hours. Besides, Admiral Frie'rre has asked me to come up with a plan of action to track down the scattered Sith that Bastila's skills provided us. We should be jumping into hyper in about two hours or so, so take your own advice and get some rest, Jolee."

The two friends parted company, both wrapped in their thoughts and the lights in Carth's office dimmed automatically to save power. On the desk in Carth's office, the pad glowed with the worrying words of their orders. For a while it was the only light in the whole-darkened room, until the screen spluttered and died.

Bastila's Quarters.

Bastila lay in her bunk, deeply asleep. Her eyes flickered and, in the dark, her fingers gripped the bed coverings as though they kept her alive. Her clammy skin was moist with perspiration and a whimper escaped from her lips. The vision of her being covered in black liquid had returned, only this time she could feel someone laughing tauntingly as they watched her futile struggle against the evil of the darkside.

"Why resist me? You gave in once; you can give in again. Just think about what I can offer you Bastila. For all your pathetic belief in the light, in your love... You will be mine!"

With a scream, Bastila woke from her bed and thrashed about in the dark. Her eyes shone with terror in the dark and with dry cracked lips she stammered.

"Lights on full! Oh, Revan... what... I... lights!"

She fell out of bed with a thump, onto the warm carpet of her quarters and her eyes darted around in fear as the lights shone into the room. Glancing down she saw that the thin sheets had wrapped themselves around her body, clinging due to the sweat that plastered her skin. The feeling was so like being covered in sticky fluid that she tore at them until she was able to roll onto the carpet, face down.

She lay there, panting, fighting her animal instincts as her head tossed around for an attack that never came. Ever so slowly, her breathing slowed and she scanned the room with alert eyes, shivering at the shadows in the room. Eventually, she glanced down, and then glared at the sheets, ripped and torn around her. Even as shame coursed through her at her lack of emotional control, she shivered in cold and distress.

Slowly, with the help of the older code that Jolee had taught her plus some of the meditative skills he'd been able to pass on in the little time they'd had together, she stepped away from her fear, faced it until it was just a lingering sensation down her spine. Slowly she stood up and staggered across to the mirror.

With a click of servos, the taps in the sink trickled cold water into her palms and she splashed it across her face, gasping at its waking sensation. She looked up into the glass of the mirror and sighed at the sight that met her in the neon lights.

Staring back at her was an ordinary woman, eyes rimed with bruised flesh from lack of sleep, much too pale skin, shaggy hair in two pathetic pigtails and nothing remarkable at all in her features. Not for the first time, she wondered what it was Revan saw in her. What it was he loved about her. With a sigh, she shook her head and crossed to a small table and chair, sinking into them with a long moan.

"What were you thinking, Bastila?" She thought mournfully. "Why try to overexert yourself in that battle. You should have concentrated on the fighters to give the republic the upper hand. Instead you tried to take control of the whole battle and push it totally to the Republic's side, why?"

She knew the answer and hoped that the fact she could admit it to herself meant that despite the restless nights, now that she was away from Revan... The guilt that sometimes still welled up when she met a trooper or pilot who praised her for her actions at the battle of the Forge...she was coming to terms with her fall. Being away from Revan, from his love for who she was, had hurt her more than she wanted to admit, even to herself. Right now, she needed him and he wasn't here because of duty. Now, with a sudden crisis it seemed they would be thrown together again, with no time for relaxation in each other's company.

She turned and stared at her bed. The nightmare still lingered in her memory and the bed remained unappealing. She shook her head at the thought of a Jedi being afraid to sleep, but the nightmare had been unpleasant. Jolee had wondered if it had been a vision as well, so she decided against sleeping until she felt more settled.

Bastila glanced round for something to take her mind off her depression and picked up her battered rucksack. After a few moments of rummaging around, she found the three grubby chips she'd been looking for and slipped the first into the reader. For now, she just wanted to feel that people cared about her.

"Bastila honey, it's Helena. Just wanted you to know that your mother, despite all claims to the contrary is still alive. They're still doing the preliminary tests, but so far the signs are good. Look's like we'll be able to get to know each other for much longer than I had originally thought." Bastila smiled despite her lingering nightmare and sank back to listen to her mother's voice. "On a side note, I had a Master Vreik come to see me. He has asked that if yours truly feels up to it, and if the treatments actually work, would I like to come and work for the council here on Coruscant. Apparently they would like an experienced hunter, me so they say, to take some of the Jedi recruits and take them to some of the more exotic planets I've been to. Describe the flora and fauna, dangers ect. The pay is quite decent, and they'll give me a ship! I don't know what I did to deserve this, but with whatever time this stuff gives me... I intend to use it to the full. So, hurry back dear, as I want to spend a little time with you and your young man.

Take care, my daughter.

PS- Don't be angry with me, I had to send Revan a thank you gift."

Smiling, Bastila plucked the chip out of the holo display and tucked it back into her bag. Her mother had commed her a few days after the treatments had begun at the hospital. She'd been pale, and had looked sick. However, despite that, her eyes had sparkled with delight and surprise as the Force had granted her an extension on her time in the galaxy. Bastila had been pleased to see and hear her, and even more pleased with the promise at the end of her message. Revan, it had seemed, had impressed Helena greatly. With a small shake of her head and an affectionate smile, Bastila plugged the second chip into the holoviewer and hit play once more.

"To my love, with all my heart. Well, I told you I would comm as much as possible and I apologise, my love, for the week's delay. The cargo hauliers have been yanking the Hawk all over the damn galaxy so far, and comm time was too short to transmit this before the next hyperjump. I miss you," Bastila felt her heart tug at her soul and her stomach lurched. "I miss you terribly. It's funny, but the first time? It was when I came into the crew lounge yesterday morning and you weren't there ordering your morning caffa.... I just stared at the mug, you left it in the cupboard, and you weren't there. I miss you, as I've already told you in thsi comm a few hundred times. I'm just glad that the bond still seems to work. I can just feel you, I know you're alive and that keeps me going, knowing that I'll see you hale and hardly in a few weeks."

Bastila agreed. Through all her week of meditative training with Jolee, preparing to use her battle meditation and dealing with those crew less inclined to forgive her, and she couldn't blame themfor killing so many of their comrades, the only thing that kept her going was the bond. She sighed and paid attention once more to the message that had continued as her mind had wandered.

Mission, Juhani, and even Canderous, say hi by the way. Mission says to ask if it's okay to borrow your perfume. She sniggered at that, something going on?" Bastila smiled again. The little Twi'lek and her had originally been at loggerheads, it seemed that Mission was still trying to irritate her as much as she could. "Juhani has been busy, trying to turn the back cargo hold into a Jedi meditation and combat chamber... She's fed up of the Hawk being our transport and having little mod cons for us.

She watched the tiny image of the man she loved shuffle slightly and look at 'her' with a trace of longing.

Bastila, I... I just want to say that I was wrong. The waiting is unbearable... I so want to hold you again, kiss you... Remember our pledge, about it being perfect? Well, I want you to know that my life is almost perfect as long as you are near me... I love you Bastila Shan, my sweet princess of the Jedi. Come home soon."

Bastila stared at the holo of Revan as it froze. Once again, even after she'd listened to the short message over and over, it had made her eyes moist. In her cabin she snorted quietly. The big, powerful, non-emotional Jedi distraught over a lover's message and now sitting in her cabin trying not to cry. She shook her head, imagining what the council and especially Master Vrook would say if they could see her now. She felt good, however, at seeing his face, listening to his voice. It had only reminded her that soon she would be back on Dantooine.

Scrubbing her face, she glanced at her bed and sighed. The sooner she got back in, the sooner she'd wake to find them in hyperspace and one night closer to her love. With a final loving gaze at Revan's frozen light features, Bastila slipped up from the chair and, after obtaining a few towels from the refresher to act as blankets, sank back into sleep.