Knights of the Old Republic is not mine, but the property of Lucasarts and Bioware. I thank them humbly for their most generous contributions to both the Star Wars universe and gaming. :)

I get no cash from this story, so lay off the lawsuits.

Until the End

Turning Point

She'd already changed her clothes. At some point between the temple and the beach, she'd already managed to change out of her Qel-Droma robes and into some black ones she'd salvaged from the corpse of a dead dark Jedi master.

And she was… so at home in them.

"Why, Revan… I think the fool is actually in love with you…" Bastila sneered. Carth spared her a short glance before turning his head to gauge Revan's reaction to the other woman's allegation. He stared at her and she stared back for what seemed like forever as Carth tried to divine her thoughts. He wished, for once, that he had the Force… just so he could know instead of guessing.

You're better than this, Orin. So much better. I forgive you… for everything. For Jolee and Juhani, for Bastila, even for Telos… if you'll just come back like I know you can. He thought at her, knowing she could hear it. Her eyes narrowed for a second as she got the message, but then she slowly, almost mournfully shook her head.

"Join me, Carth. It's not too late—you can still rule the galaxy at my side," she said, her voice low and unreal, but surprisingly laced with regret. Carth grasped at that regret, let it give him hope, but it seemed like it wasn't even her talking. It wasn't her… the one standing before him was nothing more than a shell of the woman he loved. It wasn't her.

He shook his head back and as he did, got a sinking feeling that he was going to die. He didn't really care… he could have died any number of times on their journey… but now, he knew it. This was the end. And he didn't really care. He couldn't move, knew that if she moved to destroy him, he would not be able to lift a hand to fight back.

"The Captain does not speak for everyone, Revan…" he heard Bastila say through the haze clouding his mind. Carth gawked at her, watched as Canderous vowed his loyalty to the Dark Lord… as Mission resisted.

"Big Z and I will never join you…" the young Twi'lek said, her voice thick with tears. Zaalbar growled something and Revan laughed, startling Mission visibly. She jumped and started to back away from those who were her friends.

"Zaalbar would kill you if I told him to, Mission. Follow me, and it won't come to that," said Revan, extending her hand to the girl. Mission backed away further, frightened and unbelieving. Carth watched Revan advance on her and suddenly the haze cleared. He carefully began to move toward Mission. If he couldn't save Revan, at least he could die trying to protect what seemed to be the last innocent soul in the galaxy.

"Get out of here, Mission. I don't need you anymore," Revan said. Carth didn't miss the hint of pleading in her voice. She was asking Mission not to make her kill her…

"No! I'm not going to stand around and do nothing while you destroy the Republic. I can't do that. I can't just let this happen!" she said. Carth finally reached her, stepping in front of her and standing between Mission and the resurrected Dark Lord.

"Mission… we can't win this…" he whispered to her without taking his eyes off Revan. She stood no more than two meters away from him as though she didn't have a care in the world. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her mouth had the slightest smirk to it like she was amused. He's seen her adopt the stance many times before… but never with the kind of malice that he saw in her now.

An hour… that was all it had taken. An hour between Jolee and Juhani running up the beach to accompany her into the temple. An hour ago, she had been a servant of the light and now… now she was again the Dark Lord. How easy it had been for her to fall… he should have known. He really should have known…

"I haven't given up on you," Carth said quietly. "I know you're still in there somewhere, Orin. I will save you." He spoke to her in almost a whisper, willing his words right through the shell and into her heart. He imagined his Orin trapped within the monster… he spoke to her directly, trying to pour the words into the confined soul of the good woman he knew. He would release her—he just had to find the key.

Revan's smirk widened, but her eyes softened, and for a moment, Carth thought that maybe he'd actually gotten through. Then Bastila laughed and the spell was broken and the moment lost.

"Carth, we can't let them get away with this…" Mission said, trying futilely to push her way past him. But Carth raised his sword benignly just to stop her from moving forward. He glanced at Revan then turned to face Mission.

"We won't, Mission," he said quietly. He used his Dustil voice, the one for those serious Dad-kid conversations—conversations they'd had far too few of. "But we can't stop them if we die here."

Mission stared past him for a moment, presumably at Zaalbar, her eyes brimming over with tears. "I can't just leave…" she breathed, pleading with Carth to give her another choice. He wished he could. Sweet Force, he wished he could.

"I need you to trust me, Mission," he said.

She nodded and sniffed, meeting his eyes. "I can do that," she whispered.

"Then run. Up the beach toward the temple. I'll be right behind you."

Mission swallowed hard and nodded again, picking her pack up from the fine white sand beneath their feet and ran up the beach. Carth sighed with relief when it became obvious that they weren't going to follow her.

Carth stepped away from the group, his eyes never moving from Revan's. She stared at him, like his was a face she couldn't quite remember—but wanted to. Then he ran, hoping they'd consider him as small a threat as Mission. He ran as hard as he could in his heavy armor and tried to listen for followers, but when he finally stopped just near the temple clearing, he found that he was still alone. He turned back toward the beach to see the Ebon Hawk rise from the beach and shoot up into the atmosphere.

He sighed and spun slowly, feeling suddenly drained. No more deadlines, no more quest… no reason to rush. Carth let the fatigue fill him up and weigh him down as he made his way toward the temple in search of Mission.

"You might want to be careful," he heard as he passed the remains of some old ship's thruster assembly on the path. Carth stopped, turning to see Mission sitting on a boulder a little further up the path. She was watching him, but her eyes looked empty, like she was just staring into space. She was hunched over, her elbows resting on her knees and her chin on her balled fist in an uncharacteristically pensive pose. Carth raised an eyebrow in question. She sighed.

"That wreckage is leaking plasma. I just watched a gizka bite the big one…"

"Oh," Carth said, cautiously stepping away from the area and over toward Mission. He sat himself down on an adjacent rock and peeled off the breastplate of his old republic modular armor. He'd had it since Taris… it seemed like a lifetime ago. The snaps on the sleeves came apart easily enough and he dropped them, too. He took a moment to let the breeze cool his skin a bit through the natural fabric of his shirt, then shrugged into his jacket.

No reason to rush.

They sat there silently for a long while, watching the rodents skitter through the sand in front of them, every few minutes flinching when one would wander too close to an old mine or the plasma leak. Seemed the appropriate thing to do, somehow. For all their work up to this point Carth, for one, suddenly felt like this whole 'save the galaxy' gig was now someone else's problem. He was officially out of the game.

"Did you mean it?" Mission finally said as the sun started to dip behind the watery blue horizon. The sky began to darken, but the silhouette of the system's nearby gas giant grew brighter as the light faded.

He wished Orin was there watching it with him. It was something she'd… well, she would have… appreciated.

"Mean what, Mission?" Carth answered tiredly.

"Did you mean it when you said we would stop them? Or did you just say it so I would run?" Mission looked at him pointedly, her eyes piercing him and demanding truth. He sighed.

"Right then? I just wanted you to run, Mission. She would have killed you, maybe Zaalbar, too. I just wanted you to run," Carth answered, shaking his head, but avoiding her gaze. She looked away, biting her lip and sighing loudly.

"So you're giving up?" she asked, still looking out at the ocean instead of him. She spoke quietly and calmly, like this was just like any number of random conversations they'd had over the last few months over games of Pazaak.

Carth took a deep breath, knowing how she'd take it if he said what he was really feeling right at that moment. He did want to give up. He just didn't have anything left.

"No. I'm not giving up," he made himself say. Maybe if he said it enough, it would start to be true.

"Good," she said. "Now how do we get to the Star Forge?"

Carth, Force help him, started to laugh at that. How indeed? The disruptor field might be down, but even if it was, they were exactly one ship short of having a ship. Certainly, Mission knew this…

"What's so funny?" Mission stood up and stared him down, crossing her arms over her chest and tapping her foot. Carth shook his head and snorted.

"You know where we can find a ship around here? Because, sister, the pickings look pretty slim to me," he answered, making a show of opening his arms and looking around.

"Well, Mister Smarty-Pants," Mission quickly replied, "How did Bastila get here?"

Carth opened his mouth to answer, but realized she had a point. They both looked up the hill through the waning sunlight to the shadow of the old temple at the summit. Could it really be that easy? He raised his eyebrows as a plan started forming itself.

"Mission—remind me to give you a medal for this," Carth said, smirking at her as he leaned down to pick up his discarded pieces of armor and weaponry.

"That's two now, Geezer."

Still working on At the End of All Things… it's never far from my mind, actually. Quite maddening, I can assure you. :) But I just couldn't let this little gizka hop away. Thanks for your patience, everybody.