Chapter 13: How Do You Sleep?
Canderous"And they've been haunting my dreams," finished Revan. Her eyes were bloodshot from a minimal nightmarish sleep as she sipped the strong caffa keeping her from returning to those nightmares.
"And that's why you're awake now," concluded Canderous.
Revan nodded. She looked down into the steaming drink. "Feel free to leave once we get to Bakura. I won't hold it against you."
Canderous gripped Revan's weak hand firmly. "Rev, when you told me who you were, I swore to stay with you to the end. And a Mandalorian doesn't go back on his word like that. You've always been up for a little brawl against the Sith, and so have I. You're not getting rid of me that easily."
Revan grinned, her immediate fears assuaged.
"Thanks, Canderous," Revan began. "I-"
Revan slammed forward into the Mandalorian, who, in turn, slammed back into the wall as the ship rocked. A sinking feeling made Canderous suddenly nauseous. Judging by the look on Revan's face, she had the same sensation.
"Get Carth and Bastila," Revan ordered. "And the droids. I'm going to the cockpit."
Canderous nodded and shot away. From his vest, he pulled out some hyper-adrenal alacrity stims.
Perfect, he thought. If anything can wake Bastila...
Revan
It was as she feared.
Revan was not surprised, though. It was as though whenever she had those dreams, the Sith were nearby. Sometimes it was in spirit, sometimes- as now- in huge, invisible ships. She swore under her breath.
"Like I couldn't be doing something else right now," she muttered. "Carth was practically lined up for that promotion, too."
"... boma beast, and now this!" complained Bastila as she, Canderous, and Carth entered the cockpit.
"Sorry," said Canderous, half-listening. "I owe you double."
Bastila was rubbing a couple of fresh bruises on her wrists. "Some wake-up call," she grunted.
Carth, who had looked dazed, suddenly shot to attention.
"It can't be!" he gasped. "We've got to get out of here." Carth leaned forward to start punching buttons.
"No." Revan put her hands on Carth's shoulder, standing herself up straight. He put his arm around her waist.
"Just don't get us blown into a million tiny pieces," he whispered in her ear. "Please."
Revan jabbed him in the side with her elbow.
Bastila squinted out into the distance. "There's nothing there," she yawned. Canderous groaned.
Then the voices began to snake through Revan's head again, as she knew they would. "Carth," she grunted, "open a channel for them."
A hissing language came through the ship, gradually making sense to Revan, as if the language was molding to fit her ears, her mind.
"Don't go."
"Please move," requested Revan. Everyone looked at her strangely. Revan realized that she must be speaking the Sith language. She had not realized that she remembered it so well. "We need to reach Bakura."
"We warned you that you would suffer."
"I won't let you hurt them. You only want me."
"You know nothing of what we want."
"What do you want, then?"
Revan heard a strange, cackling laughter over the channel. She set her jaw and collected herself.
"You will deal with me later," she said in her most persuasive tone. "What good would it do to destroy me in a burst of flame while you're in the charted galaxy. All the scientists in the Republic could track the fire to your ship. Then your cloaking would be pointless."
There was silence, then a slight cackling.
"You know nothing of our technology, either. In fact," the voices said with a chilling tone, "let's give you a little lesson. See how you fare against smaller vessels."
Revan switched the channel off immediately and ran to the Hawk's quadlaser.
"Brace yourself," she yelled behind her. "This could be interesting."
Canderous
They all sat, quietly, holding on to whatever was convenient. The turret's blasts shot into what looked like a void, hitting small targets and causing slight explosions that seemed to be in the middle of space.
"So," began Carth awkwardly, "what was that language she was speaking?"
"Sounded like a bunch of hissing and gurgling to me," answered Canderous.
Bastila stared out in front of her, paler than usual.
"Sith," she replied softly to Carth. "An ancient language of the Sith."
Carth looked at her and arched an eyebrow. "Are you okay?"
Bastila nodded. "Haven't heard Sith since... since Malak."
Carth and Canderous shot each other worried looks. Bastila rubbed her evidently aching head.
"I'm fine," she reassured them limply. "We'd better just... brace ourselves."
The ship shuddered. With a final explosion in front of them, Canderous looked down at the radar. All of the smaller targets that had previously dotted the screen were gone, leaving only one invisible monstrosity.
Revan ran back into the cockpit, hands still twitching. As she knelt down beside Carth, the latter kissed her on the forehead. "Good job," Carth said, putting an arm around Revan.
"Congratulate her later," Canderous snapped. "Rev, get back over to the controls and figure out what we do next."
Bastila gave a quick, strange look at the other three, then got up and walked away.
"Is she okay," asked Revan as soon as Bastila had disappeared. Both men shrugged. Revan nodded understandingly, used to this Jedi behavior by now.
"Open a channel," commanded Revan, pointing at Carth. Without hesitation, he did so.
Hissing poured in through the cockpit. Canderous sealed off the room, so as not to evoke any more odd reactions from Bastila regarding the Sith language.
Revan reverted to that language again, the serpentine sounds slithering out of her mouth almost gracefully. Revan remained calm, though Canderous noticed how her chest was rising and falling with increasing rapidity.
Calm down, Rev, he thought. Just hang in there.
Finally, the hissing ended on both sides of the channel. Revan nodded at Carth to switch off the comm signal. She let out a ragged sigh of relief as she leaned against the cockpit door.
"Well?" asked Canderous nervously. Revan nodded, then moved away from the door so that Canderous could open it.
She turned and walked away, still shaking, in the same direction that Bastila had just gone.