"This is a great risk you're taking." She turned and smirked at him, amused more by the evident irritation on his face that showed he knew she was smirking despite the mask she wore.
"Afraid, Malak?" He folded his arms in front of him, watching her as she moved her hands over the ancient relic.
There was some way to activate it, she was sure of it. If not, it was a return to the Council, to more menial assignments, to more tests of the abilities she knew were far ahead of whatever pathetic standards they were measuring her against.
"If this relic exists, this device the droid spoke of, the Council will only direct you and I away from it. They will be the ones to reap the benefits, not us."
That, and once it was activated it would put a stop to Malak's constant doubts.
"They don't know we're here, do they?" He set his jaw stubbornly at her, and she thought of how it was perhaps the only defiant and stubborn bone in his body.
"What the Council doesn't know won't hurt them," she continued, turning back to the relic. "And whatever it is, I'll be the first to discover it." She would be the first to wield its power, to know its secrets. She would no longer be a newly initiated Jedi Knight, still treated like a Padawan by the Council and told to study and reflect on the archives whenever she expressed an opinion contrary to theirs.
Her future would be hers alone, and it would not be dictated by the antiquated lessons of long dead and spineless Jedi. She would be the first of a new kind of Jedi, the kind that did not fear their own power.
The device finally gave a loud creak, extending its four arms open like an ancient spider. She stepped back and watched as the darkened ruins filled with a bright light.
"They'll have felt it's awakening," Malak murmured, stepping closer to her. "They'll know the ruins have been disturbed."
"They know nothing," she snapped. "Not one of them could have come this far." It was a map; an incomplete map to be sure, but a map all the same. A map leading her to the mysterious device that would give her the power to do unimaginable things.
"Turn back if you're afraid, Malak."
"I'm not afraid." He was defensive, and she felt a twinge of guilt. She had been accusing him of cowardice; calling out his hesitance since the instant they had entered the ruins.
But he was still standing next to her, wasn't he? He wouldn't abandon her.
"Good. There's no one else I'd trust to help me." He smiled faintly.
"Don't worry, my friend," she added, passing a hand idly through the projection, watching the planets align within her fingers, as if she could control them and bend them to her will. "What we find will change everything."
Katrina pulled her fingers painfully through a knot at the end of her braided hair.
It had been the first real vision she had had since Manaan, since rounding up the last of the Star Maps. The rest of her images of Revan were either fevered products of her nightmares or the wishful thinking of her dreams.
But this…this had bore the unmistakable marks of reality, of something that had actually happened. And the words that had ended it, the words she had spoken to the Dark Lord Malak- 'my friend.'…they were chewing mercilessly on her thoughts.
Given a choice of things to invade my subconscious, I think I'd rather have the slaughtered villagers than a concerned and friendly Malak.
She paced about the waiting room of the government office. Juhani and Bastila glanced at her. Bastila's gaze lingered, and Katrina wondered if she too had been privy to the vision, if their bond still connected them in that way.
If it did, the Jedi was apparently going to keep it to herself.
Dustil stood off a ways from them, rubbing his neck. His hair was matted up on one side, and his eyes looked around somewhat contemptuously, as if it weren't for everyone in the room he might have been back in bed.
"You look like you spent the night with a couple Gamorreans," she commented.
Dustil looked at her, yawning in response. He cast his gaze away from her, as if she would be able to see what might have plagued him in his sleep through his eyes.
If anything had, apparently he was going to keep it to himself as well.
"Had you warned me that we were going to be in a waiting room for the majority of the day, I might have stayed back on the Hawk and watched the Twi'lek and the Wookiee argue. That at least might have carried the merit of some entertainment." At the moment, she could tell that the Mandalorian's only source of pleasure was watching the slightly shocked looks on the faces of the various workers who sometimes wandered through the waiting room.
Their shocked looks didn't make much sense. The planet hadn't been conquered by the Mandalorians- somewhat surprising considering its obvious resources, location, and being largely ignored in the grand schemes of the Republic. Katrina made a mental note to ask Canderous about it at the next opportunity.
Well, he wouldn't be bored for much longer. If Phineas can give me the name of the person who attacked us, there will be some definite violence.
"Who are we waiting for, exactly?" Dustil murmured to Juhani.
"A representative of the local governing body, I believe. Revan and Bastila made inquiries yesterday about purchasers of possible weapons used in the attack, and the representative may be able to shed some light on their identity." Juhani turned to him.
"You see one way of approaching the problem. But tell me, with what the Sith have taught you- what would their route have been?"
Dustil looked perturbed at her mentioning of his former political alignment, but didn't seem to fly off the handle. Maybe he understood the Code better than Juhani had thought.
"What does the government know about it? Wouldn't it make more sense to go confront the purchasers in person? For all we know, they might be plotting another attack right now. Better to strike while you have the upper hand."
Then again, Katrina thought with a slight sense of I-told-you-so, maybe the Code only applies to surface reactions.
"And what happens if during the confrontation the person makes a comment that seems to align them to the other side, despite possible personal reasons they may have for their comments? You wouldn't know of these things- you might even kill them before knowing the whole story or whether they were even related to the attack."
Dustil looked hardened.
"Better they die before being able to betray you again." It was this underlying strain of uncontrollable venom that made her fear him. That, at any given moment, he might crack and try to kill her for what she had done to his planet, to his parents, to his mother, to himself.
And if that moment ever came, she wasn't sure it would end without bloodshed.
"If you believed such a thing, Dustil, if you believed that redemption were not possible, how could you have begun the path of a Jedi yourself?" He rubbed his neck, looking ruefully at the Cathar.
Juhani had the singular gift of making the younger Onasi realize things without making him too angry to see it.
"Revan. You're early."Katrina glanced up towards the doorway.
Phineas was more in his element here at the government offices. On the Hawk he had seemed so much smaller, so much more vulnerable. She had felt sorry for him. Here, however, it seemed easier to forget Revan existed, to write him off as a random official rather than an undeniable blood relative.
The Committee had apparently decided that she was no longer worth their collective time, and instead seemed to be opting for a forced reunion between herself and her brother.Whether this was the brother's doing or not she didn't know.
"I see you've brought more of your companions."
"Do you have any information on the list of names I gave you?" He sighed impatiently, perhaps perturbed at her complete disregard for his polite efforts.
"I'm Phineas, a member of the Committee, the local governing body of Anelli." Juhani nodded politely.
"I am Juhani, another Jedi assisting Revan." Phineas glanced at Dustil.
"Dustil." Apparently he didn't like the prefix of Padawan. Her brother's eyes finally roamed over Canderous, who stood with his arms folded, appraising both him and the situation with a calculating stare. A few seconds of silence passed until Phineas finally gave up, turning back to Katrina.
"We have reviewed the list of names that you gave to us. I must say I was surprised when we received word of how you acquired them. Lady Trina and Bastila Ordo, eh?"
The Mandalorian's only response was to raise an eyebrow and stare at each of the two women in turn. Katrina stared back. Bastila, on the other hand, had the unfortunate hitch of a furious blush.
"We have reviewed them for their past connections with you, Revan, and the Sith. This shortened the list considerably. We were able to narrow it down to five possible leads," Phineas continued, looking at them suspiciously as if the inside joke might have been about him.
"All five of these individuals purchased the prototype weapons, as well as being sometimes violent opposition towards the Sith on this planet."
"Did any of them ever meet me personally?" Phineas looked uncomfortable.
"A few." He lowered his voice, stepping closer to her.
"Some of these individuals are members of the Committee, my long time friends and colleagues."
And he was ratting them out for her. He was suddenly her brother again. She let her hand grasp his shoulder momentarily and he looked from it to her before continuing.
"I suppose you could visit each of them in turn and return here to ask me any questions you might have."
"Could you tell me anything about them now?"
"As much as I can that won't incriminate me if they're observing this room," he replied with a smirk, still in that low, cautious tone.
Dustil had crept forward, straining to hear. She felt his breath on her neck and glared at him. He stepped back towards the respectful distance that the rest of the party had been keeping.
"Two are officials: Abbas and Sakh. Another- Haytham - is a highly respected corporate officer within the Anellian Mining Corporation. The last two, Faris and Ruhol, are part of the great many rich and idle men here on Anelli." He glanced around furtively.
"More than that I can't say within the confines of these walls. All their connections with you I've downloaded into your datapad."
"What ruled out the rest of the names on that list of yours?" Canderous finally said.
"They were either researchers from rival demolitions companies, private collectors, or exhibitors who had legitimate reasons to purchase the specialty weapons. Any of them might have a motive, but the five I've given you have the most obvious ones." Her brother seemed to be an odd mixture of physical cowardice and verbal fearlessness. He seemed to shrink when faced with the Mandalorian, but his face and his voice betrayed nothing.
She felt elated. She had names, and she had motives. She would finish whatever the attacker had started, and go back to Carth.
"Thank you, Phineas." She spoke his name for the first time, feeling how easy it was to say, as if she had been saying it her whole life.
I probably have been saying it my entire life.
Her brother nodded.
"Short of hunting down whomever attacked you, it's the least I can do. Return and let me know if you've caught the perpetrator. Anelli's resources are at your disposal if you need them." He gave a slight bow to the rest of her companions.
Something in her watched him as he turned away, back towards the exit, and desperately felt that if she didn't stop him now, she'd never see him again.
"Wait." She turned to Bastila. The only one of the group who knew of Phineas, her brother, and the only one she had hurt hours ago.
"Bastila-"The Jedi nodded without even waiting for her to finish.
Bastila's difficulty with apologies was one of her redeeming qualities- because of it, she never expected them out of anyone else.
The Jedi motioned for the rest of them to follow. Juhani turned, half pulling Dustil with her, who narrowed his eyes at Katrina as if she were sending them away so she could plot against them.
Canderous stood, regarding the two for one more moment, then finally turned and left the room with the rest of them.
Phineas stood, his hands behind his back and his shoulders squared.
"Was there something more you needed, Revan?"
'My friend' echoed in her ears.
"What do you know about Malak?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Malak is dead, Revan- he couldn't have attacked you. I think rising from the dead is a talent only you seem to possess."
"I don't mean in terms of the attack,"Katrina added curtly.
She was asking about something as repulsive as the chewed up arm she remembered staring at in the sewers of Taris. Repulsive and horrific, yes, but difficult to keep from looking at.
"Malak grew up with us, Revan,"Phineas murmured. "He was your closest friend."
"So the Jedi tell me. What they don't tell me is why or how." She watched his hand reach up to pull absent-mindedly on his earlobe- something she did when she was thinking or nervous.
"I liked him. Before you both ran off to become Jedi, or ran off again to become Sith, I liked him. He was never brash or charismatic or as talented as you were, but then again very few of us were."
Malak was nothing but a stock villain to her, perhaps a little more personally so in that it was his words that made Revan live again, his taunting revelation upon the Leviathan that had changed everything. She sometimes wondered what would have happened if he hadn't chosen to give into pride, unable to resist the chance to gloat over his old master. Would she even now have no idea that she was Revan?
Would she even now be standing here, in front of her brother?
"Why ask about Malak, Revan?" Phineas' words intruded on her thoughts. "You aren't remembering anything, are you?"
"Not exactly remembering." She always hesitated before telling someone of her visions, of her dreams. They only cemented the fact that something was wrong with her, that she would have inevitably fell to the dark side considering all the neuroses she was privy to.
But the Force beckoned through her brother, and she went on.
"I only had a vision of Malak earlier, before…" Before I killed him.
"He's only another Sith to be killed to you, isn't he?" He wasn't harsh but she felt worse all the same. "I suppose it's ironic, considering he could barely get your attention as anything else either."
She raised her eyebrows, waiting for his explanation. Phineas smiled.
"You were the important one, Revan. Malak followed you everywhere and in everything. He probably wouldn't have joined the Jedi if it weren't for you." He laughed suddenly.
"You thought him more annoying than agizka when he first started following you around. You hated the way he was always so cautious, how he knew the rules and followed them, whereas you were breaking them before they had even been made."
"They'll have felt its awakening. They'll know the ruins have been disturbed."
She had always cast Malak as the big, dumb Sith animal, the one who needed the leash, who needed to be restrained by the intelligent and discriminating Revan.
She felt goose bumps rise on her skin. Instead, she had been the alpha, and Malak only the slinking beta at her heels.
"I thought he was annoying, but he ended up as my closest friend?" Phineas shrugged.
"He was loyal. You liked that. His parents had died in an accident long before the time the two of you left for the Jedi. I suppose you were the only family he had left."
The anger was there again, and she watched a grim smile appear on his face.
"He could have stayed here. I could have used the company. And then maybe none of this Sith business would have ever happened."
"We made quite a strange trio," he added, "You would get into trouble, Malak would get into it with you while trying to convince you not to, and I would laugh at you both when you came back with your tails between your legs. " His tone wafted down to a somber area, more of a bass than the low tenor his voice usually was.
"The Force must have done terrible things to him to make him even defy you, let alone turn on you and attack."
She wondered what she must have thought in that moment, the moment she fell, the moment she died. She wondered if Revan had known that Malak had betrayed her, or assumed that it was a random Republic ship having broken through her seemingly invincible fleet. And if Revan had known that her apprentice had turned on her, that an old friend had betrayed her- what had she felt?
"Good. There's no one else I'd trust to help me."
She had said the words, even if she didn't remember them. She had recognized her own voice, even in her vision.
Katrina finally nodded in acknowledgement.
"You know you can come to me if you have any other questions. Other than the attack, I mean." She nodded again.
She suddenly thought of Carth right after his friend had told him of Dustil, of his survival and his involvement with the Sith. What was there to say? What could you say other than blind reassurance?
"I'll let you know what our investigations turn up."
"I'd appreciate that," Phineas murmured. "I lost my sister three times. I wouldn't like it to be a fourth."