Title: Destiny's New Path
Summary: A what if. What if it wasn't Revan on the Bridge when Malak fired on his Master's ship? Suddenly the Apprentice is betrayed by the Master, and Revan then infiltrates the ranks of the Jedi. The Dark Lords mission: turn Bastila to the Dark Side of the Force.
Disclaimer: George Lucas and Bioware own the basis of this FanFic. I am merely entertaining the idea that I am good at making Star Wars stories (stupid ideas).
Author's Note: Erik wants an explanation – and Carth's about to make a huge mistake.
Chapter 13: Seth's Secret
Finally back at the Ebon Hawk, there was a small argument about what to do the following day. Mission out-right refused to be left behind, seeing as her brother was somewhere in the Sand people Enclave, and Zora insisted on coming, since they needed HK to translate, and she'd been the one to buy him, therefore he'd respond to her as his Master.
Kayle would be going, of course, and the final set of robes would be worn by Bastila. Kayle was unsure the reason she didn't want to be left on the ship, they he suspected it had something to do with the strange urges he'd felt through their bond the night before.
As night fell on Tatooine, everyone went their separate ways. Bastila, doing her best to avoid Erik's detection, snuck down the corridor in the direction of the cockpit. Carth and Canderous both went in the direction of the Living Area/Garage, followed closely by Zora and HK. Kayle, Zaalbar, T3 and Mission decided to play a game of Nar Shadaar rules Pazaak, and went in the direction of the Port Dormitory. Erik went in search of Bastila. And Juhani and Jolee went into the Cargo Hold to practice lightsaber combat.
Zora found Carth cleaning his blaster, and Canderous working on his heavy repeating blaster at the Workbench. Ignoring the Mandalorian, Zora walked over to the Swoop they had stored on the Ebon Hawk, crawled under it, and began adding some upgrades she'd bought from Yuka Laka.
She came back out a few moments later. "You're watching me. Again."
Carth looked a little taken aback, then he sighed, and spoke, "I was hoping you hadn't noticed."
"I'd have to be blind to not notice." Zora said.
"Well, I ah... I've just been admiring you." Carth stammered. Zora gave him a questioning look. "Not, uhh, not anything like that, though..."
"I've been watching you in action. Your, your skills... you have a natural talent that is incredible." Carth said. "Not that, ah, all I do is watch you or anything. I don't mean anything by it."
Zora smiled. "I don't mind you watching me, Carth." She said, making to go back under the swoop, until Carth spoke again.
"Ha! Why didn't you tell me that sooner? You would have saved me a lot of trouble." He said, laughing. Zora laughed too. "I will say one thing, however. We've come a long way with your help. Whether it's the Force or fate or just dumb luck... I'm glad you're here. We probably would have never made it this far without you. I... should have said this long before, instead of doubting you. I, ah, hope you can forgive me."
"Is that it?" Zora asked flatly.
"Er…is what it?"
"I mean is that how you ask for forgiveness?" Zora asked, in a way that reminded Carth of a judge passing judgment on a known criminal.
"What am I supposed to say?" He asked. "I was wrong. I was a stubborn fool. I... Look, I have trouble admitting it when a beautiful woman has my number...ok?"
"You think I'm beautiful?" Zora said in mock-surprise.
"I'll, ah, take that as a yes. I'm glad that's settled. Shall we... shall we get back to what we were doing?" Carth suggested. Zora stood.
"Carth, there's something I need to tell you." She said. "But not here, come with me."
While this was all happening, Erik, after following Bastila all around the ship (she'd somehow slipped out of the cockpit before he'd gotten to her), finally cornered her in the Med Bay.
"We need to talk about what happened between us." He said flatly.
"We've... we've already been over this. It was a moment of weakness, a stumble brought on by unbridled passions. But my emotions are firmly in check once more." Bastila refused to look Erik in the face. She purposefully kept her eyes focused on the floor, and continued speaking, "We need to stay focused on stopping Darth Revan. And I want the others to stay focused as well. I don't want them to get suspicious and start gossiping about our little encounter!"
"'Little encounter'?" Erik snapped. "Since when did sleeping with someone you love become such a small thing?"
"Until our mission is over we need to act with discretion." Bastila said, ignoring what Erik had said. "We shouldn't speak of this anymore... not until Revan is defeated!" Bastila walked toward the door, but Erik grabbed her arm.
"Bastila, I can't do that!" He said. Bastila narrowed her eyes in concentration – she needed to concentrate hard on what she wanted to do when she was around him – and Erik was thrown backwards, forcing him to let go of her.
"Try." She said, and turned and left the room.
Zora looked lovingly into Carth's eyes. "Carth, something has happened. Something I would've thought I was over. Something that all the training in the galaxy wouldn't have prepared me for." She leaned in closer and lightly kissed him. "I think…no, I know. I love you."
If Carth was shocked by this little revelation, he didn't show it. He kissed her back. When they pulled apart, Zora's eyes were shining with happiness. "That certainly wasn't as hard as I'd thought it would be." She said.
"Bleep-boop-beep-beep." The droid said, which translated into an accusation that Kayle had cheated.
"What makes you say that?" Kayle asked the droid.
"Boop-beep-bloop." The droid answered, which translated into 'How else could you have beaten me?'
"Perhaps it was skill?" Kayle suggested.
"Beep-bloop-bleep-beep." The droid insisted. Which translated into 'Pazaak is random cards – skill has nothing to do with it.'
To emphasize its point, T3 zapped Kayle with its shock arm. After a few moments on the floor staring at the droid in irritation, Kayle scrambled to his feet and handed the droid his one hundred credit chips.
"I hate playing Pazaak against a droid." He muttered. Zaalbar nodded in agreement. So far, Mission and T3 had wiped the floor with the wookie and the Jedi, ending up with over five hundred credits. "What does a droid need with credits anyway?"
"Bleep-boop-beep-boop." The droid said. Mission laughed. Kayle frowned.
"What do you mean, you won't tell me? I'm your owner!" Kayle said. The droid responded by zapping him again. Kayle looked a little irritated for a moment, then all four of them burst out laughing (well, Mission and Kayle did – Zaalbar's was a strange grunting sound, and T3 just made many different sounds at once).
Canderous was in the Garage, doing what he liked best – well, what he liked second-best – which was modifying and upgrading his weapons. Zaalbar had also given him Bacca's sword for the night to add a few upgrades to it. Kayle had said it was a sign of trust if a wookie gave their weapon to you, whether it is for a year, a month or one night.
So he'd spent an hour or two strengthening the vibration cell in the blade, and added one of Kayle's power crystals to it, which seemed to give it an odd green glow. After that he had gotten to work on his own weapon, a Mandalorian Repeating Blaster. There wasn't much to do, as it was already at almost top capacity in power, but it didn't stop him opening it up and adding another power cell, just for a little extra power.
It was only then that he noticed the Cathar Jedi, Juhani, had entered the Garage, and had begun upgrading her ruby lightsaber. He finished his blaster cannon, and walked over to her. "Mind if I watch?"
Juhani nodded toward a seat to indicate she didn't mind. Canderous took the seat and watched as Juhani tightened the emitter fixture on her saber, then added the Barab Ore that Bastila had given to her. After a moment's hesitation, she also added a glowing silver-blue crystal after taking out the red one. To Canderous' surprise, she handed the still open lightsaber to him for inspection.
He took the saber after a second of hesitation, and rotated it in his hand to get a good look from all angles. "Judging from what I know of lightsabers, it seems to have been constructed quite well." He said after a few moments. He handed it back to Juhani. "A mighty weapon constructed by a mighty warrior." Canderous could've sworn the Cathar's cheeks coloured underneath her fur, but he wasn't sure.
Deep in the heart of Yavin IV, in the lowest room of the darkest temple, the Mantle awaits…and shadows gather around the Heart…look deep to find its glow…and do with it what you will…
Kayle's eyes opened. A vision, but not of the planet they were currently at. Yavin, or at least one of its moons, held some secret they had to find.
Kayle slid out of his bunk, and looked around: he saw Carth, and sleeping – and right next to Carth was Zora. Shaking his head, Kayle looked further down the row. Erik, Seth, Zaalbar on his extended bed, and Canderous. Jolee would likely still be awake, and if not, he'd be asleep in the med bay, which had comfortable beds.
He turned and exited the Port Dorm. After scouring the ship, he found that only T3 and HK were still awake, and that was because they didn't need sleep. Sighing, he walked over to the workbench and took out the lightsaber he'd gotten from the Dark Jedi. Why had she been so familiar to him? And why was he so reluctant to dispose of the lightsaber?
With another sigh, he took out some tools and dismantled the lightsaber, showing him a bright red ruby, a Loridian Gemstone, and an Adegan Crystal. He looked at the pieces used to construct the lightsaber. Aside from the handgrip, the Dark Jedi had used a Dragite Lens, and Improved Deflection Emitter and a Telgorn Jolt Cell Mark II; it was obviously not the first saber she'd constructed.
Shaking his head, he returned the ruby to its rightful place, and closed the hilt.
"What was it?" Kayle looked up to see Bastila standing there. "I saw nothing to do with the Star Maps or the Star Forge. What could it be?"
Kayle shook his head. "I don't know. But I think we need to find out; after we leave Tatooine." He got up. "By the way, next time you plan on sleeping with someone, warn me. I had a few uncomfortable sensations through the night."
Zora woke up slowly, not wanting her dream to end. Then she saw it wasn't a dream. "Hello." She whispered softly, seeing Carth lying beside her. "Well, we certainly acted quickly." She said, kissing Carth. "I didn't want our night to end."
"It doesn't have to." Carth said.
At that moment, Kayle came into the room. "Okay people, time to get up!" He said.
"You were saying?" Zora said, chuckling. She Force-Pulled her clothes off the floor and into her hand, gave Carth one last kiss, then wrapped herself in her cloak and went to have a shower. Kayle followed her, in case Carth decided he wasn't happy about the interruption.
Half an hour later, everyone split up, Mission, Zora, Kayle, Bastila and HK-47 leaving the Ebon Hawk and going in the direction of the gate that was the only exit from Anchorhead, Erik, Jolee and Juhani would replenish the supplies needed for the trip to Yavin, and the remaining crew members would guard the Ebon Hawk (which meant sitting around playing Sabacc).
Seth typed in the access code to the footlocker at the end of his bed. After a moment, an electronic voice said, "Your name, please."
"Seth Kelpak." Seth answered. There was a click, signifying one of the locks were deactivated. Then the voice spoke again, "Subject shows correct vocal pattern. Computer will now scan retina pattern."
Seth knelt in front of the footlocker, and a small scanner popped out of the second lock. It extended until it was equal with his eye, then scanned.
"Subject shows correct retina pattern." The voice said, and a second lock clicked. "Computer will now begin Trivia Test."
"Begin test." Seth said.
"You are in combat with a Dark Jedi who serves an enemy of yours. There is a pause in the combat. What do you do?"
"Attack him again." Seth answered.
"True or false: it is passion that fuels the Force?"
"True: Passion, and desire... that is what brings conflict, which gives power." Seth answered.
"You discover an aspect of the Force that gives you great power. Do you share it and strengthen your army as a whole or keep it to yourself?"
"I keep it to myself."
"Who do you serve?"
Seth was silent for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was filled with pride, "I serve Darth Revan, the Dark Lord of the Sith!"
With those words, the third lock clicked and the footlocker opened. Inside was an archaic, rune covered vibrodagger, a curved lightsaber hilt, and a strange blue stone. Seth smirked, then pulled a small blood-red stone from a pocket of his robes and placed it next to the blue stone, the closed the footlocker and safely locked it again. It was the crystal he'd stolen from the Jedi's footlocker while she was sleeping, an aspect of the Force that could strengthen his army as a whole, or its power could be focused toward one individual: him.
The Sith Apprentice stood and walked out of the Port Dormitory, heading in the direction of the Garage/Living Area; maybe Zaalbar would be interested in having a game of Pazaak.