Chapter 4
Shatter

Making their way off the prison deck was relatively easy. With the riot control systems out of joint and all the cells open, the guards that hadn't been shot down by the crew's rampage were now dealing with creatures from dozens of races and worlds - many of them broken and insane by Sith. The pain and the rage lanced through shields that had already taken a beating from the Dark Jedi's tortures earlier. Force-healing could take care of her physical wounds, but not the mental ones.

Jamming the lockout on the lift, the three of them piled inside, going against the stream of rioting prisoners who were trying to shove the Sith back the other direction

It was a short, tense ride to the command deck. Over the comlinks they had retrieved from their belongings, Canderous paged them.

"This is Canderous. We're at the Ebon Hawk. Like we figured, it's under heavy guard. But don't worry. We'll find a way to take care of them. Juhani has some of them distracted. We can take care of the rest."

The signal cut. Carth actually chuckled. "And knowing Canderous, it's going to be spectacular."

Juhani had waited for the alarms to sound, and the hangar bay was soon full of guards. Ah, the struggle not to give in to her fear, her rage. Her blood burned as she battled, slicing and killing cleanly. It was almost like dancing, the way of battles.

She blocked an incoming blaster shot, sending it back to its origin and knocking down the unlucky Sith trooper. A wave of her hand, and the reinforcements rushing through the door were scattered like dry leaves in the wind.

She could not hold out forever, but she would try. Throwing off the three guards that had tried to get near, she was catching her breath when a cold shiver ran through her. She slowly turned to face them.

Dark Jedi - three to her one. At least one was a master, and two were apprentices. The master held a double-bladed saber of the same ruby as her own.

She held her blades at an aggressive neutral. "Greetings," she said.

"You've fire and anger in you, Cathar. It's too bad you would not cross to our side. You must be loyal to the dark-haired human...the one I had the chance to break..."

Juhani narrowed her gold eyes. No, do not submit to provocation. She would wait for their attack...To attack in anger would be to fall into their trap, to allow her will and discipline to crumble.

"She screamed, you know," the Master taunted. "I don't think there's going to be much of her left, especially with the admiral having another go at her."

Juhani made no move.

"You'll join that human soon enough, Jedi..." the master made a signal, and the whole lot ran for her.

Fending them off with her lightsaber was difficult at best, and she barely escaped fatal wounds on more than one occasion. Clambering over cartons and metal crates, she tried to find a vantage point where she could launch into a better attack. One of the apprentices was dead now - her head rolling under a workbench as her body crumpled at the base of the storage pile.

When Juhani could climb no more, she leapt, controlling her fall to tackle one of the Dark Jedi and snap his neck. She was down to the Master, but his Force powers were making her movements slow and sluggish, her reactions like a Tarisian drunk. The master conjured up a handful of bright blue sparks. Force lightening - pure Dark Side fury turned to a weapon.

Behind him, a fuel tank had taken damage, the flammable liquid draining in a slow river from a crack in its side, pooling around the Dark Master's feet.

He reached out his hand to strike Juhani down when he heard a shout behind him. "I wouldn't do that."

The Master turned around and Juhani felt her heart soar. Canderous! Elements of Air and Fire, she never thought she would welcome the sight of a Mandalorian! The iron-haired man smiled wickedly and signaled to Juhani. Juhani prepared to make her leap.

A second later, the Dark Jedi started to charge Candrerous, who stepped out of the way, leaving him facing HK-47. The droid let out a tinny, disturbing chuckle, and engaged the flame-thrower.

WOOSH!

It wasn't more than a second, but the whole hangar bay was in flames! Juhani narrowly got out of the way of the fire, but the Dark Jedi master's moment of distraction proved fatal. Between the fuel on his tunic and the puddle at his feet, he was immolated before the fire suppression systems had a chance to kick in. Noxious white fumes hissed out from jets in the walls and ceiling, depriving the fire of the necessary oxygen.

Mission and Zaalbar went first, having nothing to enhance their resistance to the dwindling amount of breathable air. Slamming the ramp controls down on the Hawk, they stumbled aboard, but ran out of wind soon after. Canderous and the Jedi followed, and the droids brought up the rear, slamming the ramp controls and engaging the life support systems before the organic crewmembers blacked out.

"They'll restore the air in here as soon as the fire's out," Canderous said. "Jolee, you said you were a pilot. We may need one, since I don't know..." Canderous found himself unable to say the words.

Jolee just nodded and swung into the pilot's seat, warming up the controls.

The command deck was free from the chaos and the rioting that had overtaken the prison deck, but it was still a nasty fight. More than once, Bastila or Kairi would have to pull on the Force to heal themselves or him. And he had used kolto bandages he'd stolen from the medical bay more than once himself.

The pain did not matter. He had enough of that back in detention block. Right now, Carth's vision was a red haze. He would get to that bridge. He would kill Saul, in the slowest, nastiest way he would be able to manage.

Sith troopers? A volley of blaster fire and down they'd go.

Dark Jedi? Well, there were a couple, but Kairi and Bastila fought like they were possessed. A short clash of sabers, and they were lying on the floor, embracing the void.

They had some help, too. T3-M4's little hacking job drove the security droids on the ship berserk. One of them was a prototype assault droid that had wiped out most of the troops that had been in the Command Deck barracks, catching them unaware as they slept. All of this helped speed them through the command deck and up to the bridge.

The Leviathan's bridge was designed to impress and convey official superiority as much as it was a command center. The vaguely triangular room had vast transparasteel windows that allowed a sweeping view of the stars outside. The center walkway led up to a dais for a commander to have full view of a battle. A command chair and terminal were off to one side. Junior officers and technicians worked in trenches on either side of the command walkway.

Saul was waiting for them with a handful of his best troops, and looked upon Carth with frustration, and anger, but also an unmistakable pride. "Very resourceful, Onasi. You learned your lessons well from me."

Carth raised his blaster and glowered at his former mentor. "The only thing you taught me was betrayal and death, Saul."

Saul gaped at him. "Don't be a fool. I am giving you and your companions a chance to surrender: a chance to live. Darth Malak himself is on his way. He will be arriving at any moment!"

"He speaks the truth, Carth," Bastila admitted shakily. "I can feel the Dark Lord's presence approaching."

"Malak will destroy you, but if you throw down your weapons now, I will ask my master to be merciful," Saul warned.

A chilling whirr cut through the still air of the bridge as Carth disabled the blaster's safety. "I've seen enough of Sith mercy."

"You always did like to do things the hard way." Saul shook his head in exaggerated resignation. "Lord Malak would have preferred live prisoners, but corpses will have to do."

Carth's focus narrowed down to Saul. This was it! This was the revenge he had craved for so long, and he let his restrictions fall. The women had their hands full with the Sith troopers and honor guard, but Saul was going to be his alone.

Saul was armed, too. An Sith assassin's pistol perfect weapon for him, Carth thought. They chased each other from the center of the fracas and into the technician's pit. All he knew was how badly he wanted this Sith admiral's neck. Carth's shot struck Saul in the right hand, forcing him to drop his pistol. Roaring with anger and pain, he leapt at Saul, grabbing him by the uniform and tossing him about, slamming him into panels and bulkheads, resorting not to blasters, but feral rage.

When Saul tried fighting back, Carth struck hard. He blocked a punch coming for his face, and retaliated by kicking Saul viciously in the gut. Saul was coughing up blood, a sight that spurred on Carth's cruelty, but made a distant part of him horrified.

"So, how are my threats now, you son-of-a-Hutt? Not so empty anymore?" He landed another punch on Saul's face and heard the crack of bone.

His? Saul's? Not like he gave a damn.

Carth threw Saul again, sending his old mentor to land on a terminal and roll into a chair. Shakily getting his feet, Saul tried to back away, but was no match for fury personified. He lost count of the blows landed – both on him and from him. All became hate and fury, and wanting to strike over and over…

Slam! Saul was shoved against the wall again, and Carth grabbed hold of his neck and started to tighten his grip, making the old man gag and turn bluish.

Afraid of me, Saul? Good...How do you like that?

"Now, you know what it's like. Now you know what they felt on Taris...what you did to all those people on Telos..." With one hand still crushing the life from Saul, Carth drew his blaster and put it to Saul's forehead.

"Carth, no!"

Kairi. She was standing at the top of the stairs leading to the technician's pit. Her eyes were wide with horror, and the green blade of her lightsaber was retreating back into its hilt.

That horrified part of Carth realized that she and Bastila must have finished mopping up the rest of the guards up there, and that she had sensed the unguarded savagery he felt. In that moment's hesitation, he slackened the grip on Saul's neck.

"Carth...Carth..."

Bastila had joined Kairi on the stairs. "The Admiral is still alive?"

The blaster warmed up, whining softly As Carth again made ready to fire. "It's time to finish this."

Kairi was making for the stairs, but even she had to know that she wouldn't be able to stop him. "No, please...don't do this...it's going to destroy you."

"I'm already dead!" he roared. "Don't you understand what this man has done to my life? Do you know the pain he's brought me?"

Bastila was now pleading. "Killing him will not ease the pain, Carth. Do not become what you despise."

"It's over. Let Morgana rest," Kairi said gently.

Saul didn't have long. Carth could see that now. Covered in blood, eyes glazing over...he was broken, dying. With the last of his breath, he was trying to speak.

"Carth...must tell you...must tell you something..." His voice was a thin rattle, punctuated by bloody coughs. He leaned close enough to Carth's ear to whisper.

And he would remember those words for the rest of his life.

"You didn't know. Did you?" Saul laughed weakly. "Remember my dying words. Remember them whenever...whenever you look at those you thought were your friends!"

With those last words, Saul stopped breathing, his eyes glazed over and sightless. Carth let go of Saul's neck, and the admiral's corpse slid to the floor. Raising his blaster, he violently emptied the clip into Saul's broken body. The head exploded, the torso a gutted, flaming ruin.

Dropping the empty clip, he reloaded his weapon, still looking for an outlet for his anger.

He was distantly aware of Kairi's shriek behind him, breaking through the anger. He shakily looked at his "handiwork," then slowly turned his blaster on the two Jedi standing on the deck above him.

Bastila saw the look in Carth's eyes as he turned away from Saul's corpse. It didn't take Jedi powers to know, only to confirm. Carth got the truth he was looking for - the terrible whole of it.

"He said...it can't be true, can it?"

Kairi must have sensed something terribly wrong, but she would not be able to comprehend with her capacity to understand only emotions. "Please, Carth. Whatever he said, he was just trying to hurt you."

Carth ignored her. "Bastila, it is true, isn't it? And...and you knew! You and the whole Jedi Council. You knew the whole time!"

Another vote to damn you, Admiral Karath. He was never supposed to know. "Carth, it's not what you think. We had no other choice! Please, you don't understand."

Carth glowered at her. "So make me understand!"

"Not here, Carth," pleaded Bastila. "Please, there's no time. Malak is coming. This isn't the place. Please, Carth, I'm asking you to trust me for just a little while longer."

Kairi took his arm. Carth shrugged it off, an action that must have puzzled her. He seemed to be weighing his options and seeing no better alternative.

"I'll trust you, Bastila, but as soon as we're off the ship, I expect some answers."

"I'll override the docking bay security," Kairi said. "I'm not as good at this as Mission, so it will take me a bit. Guard the door in the meantime."

Bastila didn't hesitate, rushing up to the bridge's blast doors, and powering on her lightsaber, the double yellow blades humming with their quiet power. Carth stood his position, his eyes straying from Saul's corpse to Kairi and back over to Bastila. Settling his internal debate, he ran up to Bastila, blasters ready.

Kairi was hard at work on the controls - distracted.

Carth dropped his voice so that she couldn't hear. "How can you trust her?"

"You've done quite well at it up until a few minutes ago," Bastila replied curtly.

"Before that, I hadn't known what she was!"

"And if you had?"

Carth let out a rude curse. "I...I certainly...How the hell can you Jedi even THINK about trusting her after what -"

"You don't know the whole story, and we've not the time for it. Once we're on the Hawk, I'll explain, but not here and not now."

"She's endangering the Republic."

"Her knowledge might be the only thing that can save the Republic. That's why we took the chance. As for endangering the Republic, you're the one who's been doing that."

"Hey, I had my shot at Saul and took it."

"Not what I'm talking about." Her eyes narrowed. "You've presented a dangerous temptation that could undo everything!"

"Me? What in the -"

Her voice dropped to barely above a whisper. "Remember what I told you?"

"Done it!" Kairi hit the last set of codes on the panel and rushed towards the blast doors, powering up her saber. "We're still going to have to fight our way to the hanger bay."

It was like a nest of vipers. Sith troops, in their all-covering armor, rushed forward to meet them only to fall by lightsaber or Carth's pair of blasters. It all blurred as they hurried through the twisted, dark corridors. Kairi had to slice the elevator controls to get them to the hanger deck. Through it all, no one said a word. It was almost out of fear.

Kairi sensed their unease, but there wasn't time to ask why. All she knew was that something Saul said with his final words had been enough to send Carth careening out of control like a swoop crashing into rocks. Bastila was nervous too. Kairi could feel it rolling off her, a sharp staccato feeling.

There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no chaos, only harmony. Whatever it was, they would have to survive long enough for the explanation.

The door slid open, and another battle. They could see the maze of blast doors and hanger corridors before them. It wouldn't be long now. Guards cried out and fell with the sizzle of sabers and the whine of blasters. Smoke, sweat, ozone, and blood made the air reek. Finally, they managed to reach the lift to the hangar level.

The worst was to come.

Kairi took point, concentrating on calm to try and block out the feeling of death. Just what had Saul told Carth, anyway? That sadist could have said anything to feed Carth's fears and shatter the frail trust he had just started to restore. And the matter of his confusing words during interrogation. History? Flexible loyalties? Kairi felt her guts knot, and cursed her lost memory all the more. She knew she had more of a past then the file stated, but the small and unexplainable happenings on their journey were adding up in a terrible way, even if they still made so little sense.

The blast corridors were even more claustrophobia-inducing. Red lights above, and dim white lights along the walls provided uneven shadows. The floor was little more than grating, with impenetrable darkness below. The trio stepped carefully, listening for enemies.

Their comlinks broke the silence. "It's Canderous. We took care of the guards. We're inside the Ebon Hawk and all systems are go. As soon as you guys join us, we can get out of here."

"Acknowledged," Bastila said, cutting the transmission.

They weren't alone in here. Kairi could sense the person close by. Sheer, overwhelming malice enfolded him like a shroud and the Dark Side held him like a vortex. She felt it hard to breathe, the sheer power of all that emotion like hands on her throat.

Darth Malak - it had to be.

"You feel his presence, too." Bastila said. It wasn't a question. "He's waiting for us."

They twisted their way through the maze of blast doors and cargo grating, fast approaching the Ebon Hawk. As soon as they thought they could make it, however...Kairi's grip tightened on her saber as she approached the door. It opened before she could touch the controls. Sure enough, the Dark Lord was waiting for them.

It was like bright, painful light in her eyes. All that Darkness around him almost brought her to her knees in sheer pain. Kairi threw up her strongest efforts to push back against it, but it only served to lessen it enough to stand. Malak wore a gray cape over his broad shoulders, and a red bodysuit. His face had become mottled and ashen, the tattooed patterns on his shaven head standing out more vividly. The lower half of his face was covered in a metal mask, and his voice came through a synthesizer.

He stared directly at Kairi. Fury, annoyance…recognition? "So, we meet again."

Kairi could not move, but Bastila still had enough wit to act. "Darth Malak," Bastila said, powering on her saber.

Carth had his blasters at the ready and shot both barrels into him. "Down you go!"

Malak laughed off the shots as they seemed to warp around him. With a flourish, he pulled his lightsaber. Kairi dropped into fighting stance, powering hers on. No, she had to defend them. Even if she were taken down, she had to give them the chance to get out of there.

Malak cocked his head and addressed Bastila. "I hope you weren't thinking of leaving so soon, Bastila. I've spent far too much energy hunting you down and your companions to let you get away from me now." There was a cold smile in his mechanical voice, a malice that was absent from even HK-47's homicidal ranting. Kairi was still being knocked by the evil tangle of emotions coming from him, even as a streak of cruel satisfaction started to rise from it.

He stepped towards Kairi, tilting his head to get a better look at her face. Kairi brought her saber up to better defend herself, stopping Malak from getting closer. "Besides, I had to see for myself if it were true. Even now, I can hardly believe my eyes."

His red saber lifted to mirror her own as he threw his emotions at her, almost causing her to fall. A sense of being cheated, deprived of something he wanted badly…His voice was like the sharp blade the torturer used on her leg, every word like a jab. "Tell me, why did the Jedi spare you? Is it vengeance you seek at this reunion?"

"It would take a Jedi, drawing heavily upon the Force to get this far, this fast...If you weren't..."

Kairi shook her head, even as she willed her grip on the saber steady. "Reunion?"

"I've known for some time that you were no mere translator or protocol assistant. Bastila has other reasons for keeping you at her side. You held a blade like a Jedi even on Taris..."

Malak laughed. "What, you mean you don't know? All this time and you still haven't figured it out?"

"You cannot refuse. Evaluation must continue. You must match the pattern in memory - your memory..."

As improbable and as crazy as it seemed, the pieces were there...

"According to the file, you're a translator, but why would Bastila bring one aboard? Why not a protocol droid or a computer? And the Sith speak Basic. Why would she be hiring on a translator? Isn't it strange that a civilian translator, added to the roster at the last minute, just happens to survive the attack?"

Malak was reveling in this, sadistic surety and smug confidence burning into her along with his seething wrath. "I wonder how long you wound have stayed blind to the truth. Surely, some of what you once were must have surfaced by now. Even the combined power of the Jedi Council couldn't keep your true identity buried forever, could it?"

"The goal was to capture Revan alive..." Bastila shook her head and stared into the distance before answering.

"The Jedi don't believe in executing their prisoners...No one deserves execution, no matter what their crimes."

"No…" she whispered. "I…my name is…"

Malak cut off her denial with a savage outburst of fury. "You cannot hide from what you once were, Revan! Recognize that you were once the Dark Lord - and know I have taken your place!"

The battle turned against Revan's forces, the deadly dance of Sith snubs and Republic fighters. Revan shouting orders that went unheeded as the reports came in that the ship had been boarded. The Jedi were coming…Standing firm as Bastila's team poured through the bridge doors. Summoning the honor guard for a last stand against the intruders...

Kairi could barely speak. "I...I'm...No, that isn't possible-"

"You do not yet remember, Revan?" He seemed to curve the name into a weapon, swiping with brutal accuracy. "The Jedi set a trap. They lured us into battle against a small Republic fleet. During the attack, a team of Jedi knights boarded your ship."

Bastila fighting Revan on the doomed ship...the explosion of the plasma conduit beneath Revan's feet…painful white fire… Revan's collapse to the deck, lifeless. Bastila had run over and taken off the heavy Sith mask, eyes wide with curiosity and shock...

"The Jedi strike team captured you, and the Council used the Force to reprogram your mind; they wiped away your identity and turned you against your own followers."

"...What better weapon is there than to turn an enemy to your cause, to use their own knowledge against them?"

Kairi tried to make a sound, tried to deny what she knew now had to be the truth, but Malak kept hammering, peppering his words with projected emotion. Of course, he would know about her…Revan's…empathic weakness…

"You must have seen flashes of your old life in your dreams, Revan - memories bubbling up to the surface. Surely, you must remember the battle in which you were captured..."

"I...I...no, Revan was killed!" But even as she spat out the denial, she knew. No, make it not true! Make her fall to this deck, dead as she should have been long ago. Even as she tried to reach for strength, from Bastila and Carth, it would not come. Bastila was distant from her, withdrawing from the bond as much as possible. Bastila had every to want to be free of her. Small wonder she had always looked upon her with vague and almost-hidden revulsion. And in Carth, there was only anger and blame. He was seeing her as the monster that cost him everything - even more to blame than Saul. His guns were wavering. He wanted to shoot her dead, and she was a scant step from begging him to do it.

Alone.

"I fear this quest for the Star Forge could lead you down an all too familiar path," Master Vrook's stern voice and suspicious feelings. "That's why we can ask for no less than perfection..."

Malak grabbed on to her sudden realization, almost laughing at her vulnerable state. "I always knew that one day the title of Dark Lord would be mine. When the Jedi strike team boarded your vessel, I saw my day had come. I ordered my own ships to fire on your bridge. I thought I could destroy all my enemies with a single, glorious victory! I never dreamed the Jedi would take you alive from the wreckage."

"They say the Force can do terrible things to a mind," Carth said, staring out the window of the apartment on Taris as if he hoped to see Bastila in the vast cityscape. "It can destroy your memories, and wipe away your whole identity."

Kairi didn't dare look behind her. "It's true, isn't it, Bastila?"

"It's true," Bastila admitted in a choked voice. "I was part of the strike team sent to capture Revan...to capture you. When Malak fired on that ship, a plasma conduit exploded and you were badly injured. We thought you were dead. Your mind was destroyed, but I used the Force to preserve the flicker of life in your body. I brought you to the Jedi Council. They were the ones who healed your damaged mind."

"And gave me a new name and identity...a lie." Even under torture, she believed she could trust Bastila...but it was just another lie, wasn't it? Bastila was not her friend, she was her handler, just as the others had tried to warn her. "Did you consider this mercy, Bastila? The Council should have let me die."

Bastila stammered. "The Jedi hold all life sacred, even that of a Sith Lord. I could not just let you die, Revan. Not if it were possible to save you."

"And if we'd known," Carth hissed. "We would have put her to death, then arrested your entire Order for treason."

"Normally, the Council would not accept an adult for training," The Twi'lek master looked gravely at Kairi. "But this is a...special case."

"No," she said. "That's not the case. You needed the fragments that were left of Revan's memories, didn't you? You kept me locked away on the Endar Spire like a prized holocron. And what happens after the Council gets what it wants from me?"

"Revan...Kairi..."

"You pretended to me my friend, and the Council also lies about their intent, saying I would help others when all they wanted was to help themselves!"

Bastila was astounded. "How can you say that? Malak nearly killed you, but the Council gave you another chance to live. They gave you a chance to redeem yourself by defeating the Sith!"

"That wasn't their intention," Carth said quietly. "I heard them...I didn't know what it meant at the time. It's not just...just her you lied to and used. It's all of us. All of us who have risked our lives on this. How dare you ask the Republic to trust the Jedi? Sitting out the Mandalorian war, then giving aid and comfort to the enemy…"

An enemy…THE enemy…that's all I am to him now…

With a wave of his hand, Malak beckoned to Kairi. "Even now, I can sense you faltering, remembering the glory and power that was yours."

She seemed to find a sudden strength in the pain, hand curling around the saber. She didn't want to live through it, but she wanted to make sure he didn't either. Maybe that would atone for an existence she never should have had. "No, Malak. You killed Revan. You and the Jedi Council."

"The Jedi Council were foolish to let you live. I won't make the same mistake." Malak seemed disgusted and Kairi could sense disappointment. "We shall finish this in the ancient Sith tradition: master versus apprentice, as it was meant to be!"

He dropped into fighting stance, ready for the attack. Carth raised his gun, but Malak was quicker. With a mere gesture, Malak had Carth surrounded in a purple energy field, helplessly frozen in place. Kairi saw out the corner of her eye that Bastila was frozen as well.

Parrying an attack from Malak, Kairi dodged and struck him. The glancing blow hit her robe, and the smell of the burnt fibers was unmistakable.

Red and green clashed together as their macabre dance continued in the tiny room. A jolt of power from his hand sent Kairi sprawling, frantically calling up a defense against it. Malak used the opening to escape, opening the blast door and running off. Kairi followed.

The deck was a convoluted maze of blast doors, blind alleys, and open cargo bays. The red and white lights all looked the same after a while. Sound echoed in the chamber, making it hard to tell where Malak had gone. He could be anywhere - or nowhere. Even using the Force to find him was hard here - Malak was throwing up false shadows to try and keep her off the trail.

It was easier to find Malak than to think of the revelation, though.

She was able to pick up Malak's trail again in through a blast door in the axis of the ship's corridors - a central room mostly used as a storage area. Picking the lock on the door, she readied her weapon. Malak was waiting for her.

"So, we come to how it should be - you and me, Revan. To the death...yours."

"To ours, Malak," she said, grimly saluting him.

As Malak charged again, Kairi dodged, but Malak was swift. His saber glanced her arm, inflicting searing pain that jolted from her arm and into her whole body. Gritting her teeth and struggling to keep hold of her saber, she blocked the slash coming in for her neck and countered with a swipe to Malak's leg. It connected! Malak cursed loudly, his rage making him stronger, but he didn't have the regenerative abilities she did. His footing was unsteady and he staggered back from her.

Another flurry of attacks. Kairi strained against Malak's powerful swings, her injured arm screaming with pain. One of her counterattacks knocked the saber from his hand. It powered off, rolling just out of Malak's reach.

Before she could strike the final blow, Malak's hand flew up and she was shoved violently against the bulkhead, her ears ringing with the blow. Her lightsaber was thrown from her hand on impact. As she fought off the unconsciousness threatening to swallow her, Malak crushed her lightsaber under his boot. Now she was defenseless. He lifted his hand, and a jolt of sickly orange energy surrounded her, ripping open the wounds she had hastily force-healed so recently. Wounds from the torture, from the fighting to get to this point, from the battle itself. Blood seeped from cuts all over her body. She screamed from the incredible pain, but felt a certain sanctification in it.

It felt good to suffer. Her ending was coming, and she was going to welcome it.

There is no salvation - there is oblivion...

Carth and Bastila had freed themselves only seconds before and opened the door to see Kairi's broken body sprawled on the floor as Malak was taking his time and slowly taking her life.

Carth hesitated, but Bastila did not.

"This isn't over, Malak!"

He turned his attention from causing Kairi a slow death over to the new challenger. Pressing a panel, a heavy blast door started to drop in the middle of the room. Bastila charged ahead.

"Take her and get out of here!" Bastila said. "Carry out the mission without me."

"No. Leave –" he stopped. Damn it, Bastila! He's too strong, don't -"

Bastila ignored him. There wasn't time for it now. "For the Jedi!"

The blast doors sealed shut behind her.

And Carth looked at his feet.

She was sprawled on the floor - bloody and burned, her black hair covering her face like a half-mask. Carth tried to will his hand to rise, to use the blaster in his grip. One shot...just to make damn certain Revan was dead this time - no Dark Lord, no Jedi Council and their resurrection schemes, no more betrayal...

But he could not hold his hand steady.

Kairi…

It was a small part of him that wouldn't let him pull that trigger. That damn irrational part of him wouldn't listen to the anger and need for revenge. His hands wouldn't obey him. The most he could do was holster his gun rather than lose his grip entirely.

He let out an anguished scream of frustration. He'd have to figure this out later. Before he had chance to change his mind, Carth picked her off the floor, running for the Hawk.