For a moment, Malak keeps watch. One minute. Two minutes. Finally, the man who ran from them appears, exiting the narrow opening of a cavern and rushing towards the group of mercenaries piling up crates on a pallet hover-truck.

Malak reaches for his comm.

"Revan."

She doesn't pick up.

"Revan, do you copy?"

But of course, her comlink is off.

In less than a minute, the crates are loaded into the ship. Then, the last man hurries in, and the access ramp starts retracting. Malak violently presses the "call" button.

"Revan, you're in trouble, get out now!"

But it's useless. There's nothing on the other end. Not even static. Nothing.

"Kriff."

And then the small freighter takes off, and Malak just stands there, staring like an idiot. It takes him a few seconds to actually pick up his comlink, his eyes still fixed on the ship that is now darting past the mountain ridge.

"Carth?"

No answer.

"Lieutenant Onasi?"

"What?"

"I'm going to need a pick up. Fast."

"Wh… what happened?"

"I'll tell you when I get onboard. You're not going to like it."

Carth doesn't like it.

"So, you lost her."

Malak scrunches his nose, doing his best to keep his thoughts from straying beyond the literal meaning of the words.

"Yes, Carth, I lost her. Not that she can't handle herself but it is a concern. Now if you track her comlink until they jump into hyperspace we may still narrow down their destination to…"

Both his and Carth's comlinks beep simultaneously. There's no voice, no holo. Just one word on the tiny screen:

"Dxun."

"Great. That's great."

"Are you being sarcastic? Because I can never tell with the jaw thingy."

Do. Not. React.

"Suffice to say you may forget what I've just said about her handling herself."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean let's hope they blindfold her and she doesn't touch anything."

"Wh… are you insane? Never mind, don't answer that. Why would you say that?"

"Because it happened again."

"What happened again?!"

"The reason she saved me on the Star forge. She touched an obelisk and zoned out completely. A flock of shyracks could have jumped her and she wouldn't even have noticed. When I shook her out of it she was trembling like a dead leaf."

Carth pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs.

"You think she remembered something?"

"I know she did. Now, Korriban is one thing. But it's not where our fall started."

"You mean…"

"I mean Dxun was a carnage. A muddy, bloody, never-ending carnage. And the first time she and I stayed so long on the front lines. The things she saw, the decisions she made… there's no way she's ready to relive that."

"So you're telling me that Dxun is where you fell? I've always heard it was Malachor."

"You're right. In a way. Malachor was probably the point of no return. But Dxun was the turning point. The last time we fought with honour, and for what? The bodies, the blood, the smell… And if it hits her all at once…"

Not that he is eager to go back either. But it won't be a shock per se, not with all the that's happened in between and that he, whether that's fortunate or not, hasn't been able to forget. Revan on the other hand…

"You're afraid she'll fall again."

"No, I'm afraid post-traumatic stress will fry her brain on the spot."

"Oh. Yes. Yes, she's been… strange, lately."

Strange. Slightly optimistic, but not inaccurate.

"I'm glad you share my assessment. Now can we please be on our way?"

"Sure. Just punch in the coordinates and I'll take care of the rest."

Malak nods and complies, taking Revan's place in the co-pilot's seat. And then, it hits him: she's not here. For the first time since the Star Forge, she's not here. It should be a relief, an intense, blissful relief, and yet… it's anything but that. It's that disquieting, anomalous feeling of emptiness, like an echo in an empty cave, or the eerie, monotonous hum of a phantom ship's comm frequency. It's that memory of standing atop the Ancients' temple, alone, and knowing that it's his doing. It's the most irrational thing. They've spent months dreading one another, fighting one another, trying to kill each other… She's been gone fifteen minutes. Not a day. Not a year. Fifteen minutes. He's a pathetic, pathetic fool.

The flight is long. Long, and mostly silent, which is probably for the best. Every once in a while, Carth gets ups to stretch his legs and asks him to keep an eye on the dashboard. So, he keeps an eye on the dashboard, and that is the extent of the conversation between them. Oh, they could always address the ronto in the room, but it's a very, very big ronto, with a whole litter of rontlings, and so, keeping schtum and staring at an imaginary object in the distance like the emotionally stunted men he's quite certain they both are is probably the safest, most reasonable alternative. There's no way a simple conversation can even begin to account for anything he's done, nor ease any of the grudges lieutenant might rightly hold against him. For all their differences, he suspects their opinion on that point aren't too doesn't a single time occur to him that Carth is bored out of his mind, and that, his whatever-she-is-to-him having been of a somewhat uncooperative nature in the face of his repeated inquiries, the man might seize the opportunity to start his own private investigation. No. He doesn't think of that. Not once. Well, maybe once. At least no more than a few times. But Carth is bored. Bored, worried, and curious. He hasn't told him, of course, but he knows. Other people's emotions are always easier to sense than one's own.

"So what happened?"

Malak pretends to be caught off guard, but knows it is unlikely that Carth will be fooled.

"Hm?"

"Between you and Revan."

"Well she told you, didn't she?"

"Well you were there. And a couple sentences about some kind of Force vision of the two of you making out – not that I needed to know that – doesn't count as an explanation. Plus, how does one even make out with you of all people?"

"It's complicated."

"No kidding."

"I meant the story!"

"Yeah, that too, I bet."

There's a short, yet highly uncomfortable silence.

"Was that what all the yelling was about?"

Surprisingly, Carth doesn't seem to mind the question. Or at least, he's upset enough that he'll take the opportunity to vent it out just a little, even to him, which, all things considered, is all the more astonishing.

"Look, she's kept me in the dark, she won't even talk about it, she won't listen to me or let me try to help and if I so much as question your motives for being here or leaving the Sith she flies into a temper and starts ranting about my needing to let go or whatever Jedi nonsense is at the top of her head at the moment. I mean… Isn't there a line in your code about serenity or something?"

"Their code. Which she's never been good at following."

"Oh and you were?"

"I never said that."

"And what do you mean by their code, anyway? Aren't you with them now?"

"With them, yes. But just because the jedi sent me on a mission along with you does not mean they have accepted me back into their ranks."

"Is that what you'd like?"

Yes. No. Maybe. I don't know!

The only sound that makes it out of Malak's throat is a defeated, warbled sigh, and frankly, that's about as intelligible an answer as he can come up with at the moment.

"Guess that's a no, then," Carth says with an eyeroll.

They do not talk again until they reach Dxun.

As soon as the ship lands, both of them reach into their pockets, fumbling for their comlinks.

But there's nothing this time. Judging by Carth's expression, there's nothing on his side either.

"Can you launch a comm-scan?"

"I'll try but if she doesn't use her comm the signal may be too weak."

Carth toggles on a switch, presses a button and rotates another one. After a minute or so, he bends forward, frowning at the display.

"I take it there's no Revan?"

"Well there's something alright, but if there's a comlink its signal's too weak for me to pick up over that."

Malak gets up and bends over the dashboard to get a closer look. The Lieutenant does a good job of repressing his urge to flinch, but, quite predictably, Malak can tell it's there.

"Where are those energy readings coming from?"

"Some kind of stone structure in the jungle. About eight miles from here."

"Do you think they saw us land?"

"Can't tell. It's pitch black out there, and with that weather it's unlikely they physically saw us, but if they've got decent scopes…"

"Then let us not waste any time."

"Wait wait wait we can't just walk in there without a plan."

"You know what she would have said? We have two hours' walk to come up with one."

"Yes, and look where that got her. Heck, look where that got you."

"We have no idea what these mercs are doing, what their defences are or if they actually have any, and if a stone structure is all your sensors can pick up then that's likely the extent of what we'll discover by staying here. We do, however, have a few hours of night left, and while it does slightly increase the probability of one of us inadvertently setting off a mine, our chances of being detected are considerably slimmer than they will be in the morning."

Carth gets up as well.

"I'll go ask the others what they think. Stay put and keep an eye on the scopes."

Malak 'stays put', though he cannot say he appreciates the term.

When Carth comes back, he's followed by Juhani, Mission and Canderous.

"You four can go as soon as you're ready. The others and I will guard the ship and keep it ready for a quick exit."

"Agreed."

Without another word, the four of them exit the ship and step into the hot, heavy rain. Mission puts her goggles on. The rest of them can find their way in the dark.