Disclaimer: I did not invent the Star Wars universe or KotOR, and I garner no profit from this tale.

Chapter Thirty-One

When Aithne awoke she felt cold and cramped. She stood up, and looked around and down. She blushed. She was in her underwear. She wished she knew which Sith had stripped her so that she could kill him personally when she got free.

She was unarmed and mostly naked in a force torture cage. There were Sith stationed here and there around the room, and directly in front of her Aithne beheld the interrogation panel. Fortunately for now it was unmanned.

"You're up," came Bastila's voice from her right. Aithne looked over and saw Carth and Bastila standing in force cages of their own.

"Yeah. Where are the others?'

"I heard a Sith say to another that the others are in general confinement," Carth told her. "They're all alive, though, and they're together."

"Hey! You!" called a Sith to them harshly. "Silence!"

Aithne crossed her arms and glared at him. "What? Like we could plot or anything here? We're prisoners, idiot. You can hear everything we're saying. Let us talk. It's really the least you can do."

"You little…" the Sith began. "Why I ought to…"

Aithne rolled her eyes. "But you can't," she interrupted. She jerked her thumb at Bastila. "She's too important, and the admiral doesn't know what we know. He'll want to torture or kill us himself. I suggest you suck it up and get comfortable. You don't have the authority to do anything to us."

The Sith's face contorted with rage. Aithne rocked back on her heels and examined her nails, a bored expression on her face. Truth be told, she was terrified, but the Sith didn't need to know that. And with any luck at all, they'd be rescued soon.

Carth and Bastila stared at her, and Aithne hoped that they felt a little braver. She turned a dizzying smile on Carth. "Now. Mr. Onasi, you were saying?"

"Just…the crew's alright," Carth managed.

"For now," came a new voice, cold and crisp. Aithne shivered. A new man had walked into the room. He was dressed in an ordinary Sith-issue uniform, but Aithne could tell by his decorations and bearing that this was Admiral Karath. He was maybe Canderous' age, with neat, closely cropped gray hair and cold, cold, calculating blue eyes. He was rather short for a military man, Aithne thought, but his chin testified to his determination. His features had probably been handsome once, but years of evil had set his face along less pleasant lines.

"Carth," he said, addressing the pilot first. "It has been a long time. I see that in your case the years have not been kind." He smirked. "I hardly recognized you."

Carth's eyes blazed as he gazed back at his nemesis. "But I recognize you, Saul. I see your face every night in my sleep even as I swear I will kill you for what you did to my family."

Saul chuckled lightly. It was not an amused sound. "You used to be a man of action," he reproached Carth. "Not empty words. And you're an insignificant part of these events anyway. Lord Malak is much more interested in your companions." A Sith stepped up to the interrogation panel.

"Lord Malak" Aithne spat, mimicking Saul's reverential tone. "Can go take a walk outside without a suit."

Saul turned on her. "Of course you would say that. The Dark Lord's hardly done you any favors, has he? I'm sure he'd love to greet you himself, but unfortunately Lord Malak is in another sector at the moment. I'd kill you myself, but I don't think he'd thank me, especially given the history between the two of you."

"What are you talking about, Karath?" Aithne asked, impatient with the admiral's sneering tone.

Saul peered at her curiously. "You mean…" Suddenly he laughed, looking at Bastila delightedly. "Oh, this is too delicious!" He turned back to Aithne. "You really don't know, do you?"

Beside Aithne, Bastila had gone chalk white, and Aithne was suddenly seized with a terrible foreboding that the admiral knew why the Jedi wanted her, knew why Malak had been so desperate to kill her. "Know what?" she demanded.

The admiral shook his head. He was laughing too hard to answer. Finally, he responded. "Oh, far be it from me to tell you. The Dark Lord will no doubt wish to inform you himself." He chuckled once or twice more, than his face abruptly stiffened.

"When he arrives," Saul said, addressing all of them now, "The Dark Lord will no doubt torture you for information and for his own twisted pleasure, but until then, any information I am able to uncover will be rewarded." With that, he snapped his fingers.

Pain seized Aithne, firing every nerve and stretching and compacting every muscle until her very bones felt like magma. Her head seemed to split, and her teeth were pressured near to breaking with her effort not to cry out, but despite herself, she writhed in agony from the torture device.

Beside her, almost worse than her own pain, she heard Bastila and Carth's screams.

"Enough!" barked Saul, and the pain abruptly ceased, causing its own type of torture in the sudden cessation. Her nerves screamed in protest. "I don't want them to pass out before I question them." He spoke to the Sith controlling the device. "Malak will appreciate any information I can give him when he arrives."

"Don't waste your breath, Saul!" rang out Carth's voice, ragged but strong. "We won't answer any of your questions!" His defiance lent Aithne strength, and she stood tall, proud of him, silent, but agreeing.

"I'm sure you won't," Saul said with distaste. "However, we both know your friend's loyalties have proven in the past to be somewhat…flexible."

He looked at Aithne then, amusement in his eyes at that same unknown thing he'd mentioned before. Her history with Malak. Aithne licked her lips nervously. "What are you talking about?" she asked. A fear coiled in her stomach that had nothing to do with the torture.

Saul looked annoyed. "I am interrogating you, not the other way around. You will answer questions, not ask them. It is time to put your loyalty to the test." He looked her up and down critically, before saying. "I doubt torturing you will gain me your true cooperation. Your will is too strong to be broken that way." His eyes kindled in sudden suspicion. "However, even the strongest of heroes has trouble watching those they care about suffering." Aithne froze, hoping he didn't mean what she thought he did. "The interrogation will begin now," he announced. "Each time you refuse to answer or give me a false answer, Carth will suffer."

Aithne's first thought was wordless anguish, followed by rapid, nearly instantaneous calculation of her situation. She had no true personal loyalty to the Republic or to the Jedi Order. Both had seized her and strong-armed her into service. The Republic was corrupted and she had ideological issues with the Jedi. From that standpoint, nothing hindered her from answering Saul's questions and sparing Carth the crippling pain she herself had suffered just seconds ago.

On the other hand, Aithne absolutely despised the Sith. She wanted to hurt them any way she could for the destruction of Telos and Taris. It was the very idea of stopping their evil that had driven her to join with the Jedi at last. Answering the admiral's questions might very well aid the Sith, for all that Aithne had no clue about what the Jedi planned to do with the Star Forge when she located it for them. Anything that aided the Sith, and particularly anything that aided the evil man who had destroyed Carth's life, was to be avoided.

The last thought that occurred to Aithne in the seconds after Admiral Karath had announced his interrogation strategy was that she loved Carth. And Carth Onasi was a staunch defender of the Republic. He was a good, honorable, and trustworthy man. It was part of the reason that she loved him. And it would hurt Carth much worse should she betray the Republic he loved than if she should cause him to suffer and refuse to answer Saul Karath's questions.

She closed her eyes, steeling herself. Finally she said in a low voice, "I won't talk, Admiral. Especially for him, I won't talk. That's Carth, Karath. You know he'd suffer all the more if I talk."

"Aithne," Carth said urgently. "My pain is meaningless. Stay strong! Tell him nothing!"

"I tire of these games," Saul said menacingly. "Now I want answers! On what planet is the Jedi Academy on which you were trained?"

Aithne was confused. Malak had been a Jedi, a companion of Revan. He'd had access to military and to Jedi files during the Mandalorian Wars. And he'd been stalking Bastila and Aithne since Taris. If Darth Malak didn't know what planet she'd trained on, Aithne was a gizka.

She shook her head. "No," she said. "You're toying with me."

Saul frowned. "This is the price of your resistance," he said curtly, gesturing to the Sith manning the cages.

Carth's cry when the beam hit him tore Aithne's heart in two. He turned this way and that, his face so contorted with agony that he hardly looked human. Aithne's muscles ached in sympathy. Her eyes burned, and there was a sour taste in her mouth, but she didn't look away. She owed him that much.

"Enough!" Saul called out again, and Carth slumped, breathing heavily and sweating.

"You see what happens when you try to defy me?" he asked Aithne. "This first question was a test. Obviously Malak knew the Academy was on Dantooine, and it has since been destroyed by our fleet!"

Bastila gasped. Aithne nodded, feeling the weight of hundreds of lives fall on her shoulders as Saul confirmed her suspicions. She'd thought Malak had known. She'd hoped he'd focus on other targets and leave the people on unimportant, agricultural Dantooine alone. Saul smiled triumphantly at Bastila's stricken features.

"Nothing remains but a smoking ruin and the charred remains of your former Masters," he gloated.

Aithne stared at the sadistic, twisted man before her in fascination. Could Carth have been so deceived so as not to see the evil within him years before? Surely not. Aithne felt a sudden rush of compassion for the soul of Saul Karath, twisted and blighted now in front of her.

"What happened to you, Saul?" she asked quietly. "He loved you, you know, this man you're torturing. He doesn't like and respect and look up to people like you. What happened?"

Saul's face twisted in sudden fear, and he looked at Carth. He flinched. "Shut up!" he barked. "I said I would ask the questions! Tell me your mission! How were the Jedi planning on using you to stop Lord Malak and the Sith armada?"

Aithne pressed her lips together. "You could have asked the Jedi Masters on Dantooine that one," she spat finally. "I don't know, and I wouldn't tell you if I did."

Saul looked at her, and she could see his frustration mounting. "Perhaps you need a reminder of the consequences of refusing to cooperate," he suggested, his voice tight, gesturing to the torturer.

Carth screamed as the beam passed through him. His skin was growing red, now, and Aithne could hear the hoarseness in his voice. His fists clenched and unclenched, and she heard every so often a curse in his cries. Tears ran down Aithne's face as she watched Carth thrash in pain. "Stop," she cried. "Just stop, please!"

Saul motioned the torturer to stop. "Yes, you hear him suffering. Don't you care for him at all?"

Aithne glared at him. Hatred surged through her. "I love him enough never to give into you for his sake," she said through her tears.

"One more chance, Aithne Morrigan," the admiral chided. His tone made her name a mockery. "On what mission did the Jedi Council send you?"

Aithne swallowed. "That's a different question, Admiral Karath," Aithne murmured, for this one she actually could answer. She shook her head. "I still won't tell you anything."

Saul growled in his throat. "Perhaps another lesson is in order?" he said, his cool tone at odds with the hatred in his eyes.

Carth began to scream again, but his voice went mid-cry. His hair stood on end, and uncontrollable spasms shook his body. Aithne beat on the wall of the Force Cage, sobbing, heedless of the damage to her hands. When he finally buckled, and fell to the floor of his force cage, unconscious, Aithne fell to her knees.

Saul motioned for the torturer to stop the machine. He looked slightly disappointed. "I'm surprised he did not pass out sooner," he remarked to no one in particular. "Rarely have I seen someone withstand such punishment and remain conscious." He turned to Aithne. "But I see I am wasting my time. When Malak arrives, you will learn my interrogation techniques are considered merciful among the Sith. I will leave you here in your cell with a small test of the horrors you will taste when Lord Malak arrives."

He leaned down and whispered something to the torturer. Aithne started to see him stalk out, but then pain enveloped her.

Her skin was afire. Her bones were molten metal. Aithne couldn't see for the pain and the hot tears that poured down her face. Beside her, Bastila's screams rent the air, but that didn't seem to matter anymore, for Carth lay on the floor of his cage unmoving while the torture beams danced their terrible dance in the cell. Aithne thought he might be dead, and the thought of that gave her more pain than that which the device inflicted on her body, even as her hair began to singe and she lost control of her muscles and crumpled to the floor. Yet even as she blacked out for the second time that day, there was no relief from the pain. The world was pain.

When Aithne came to again, she still lay in her cell. The noise of the Sith had ceased. Her every muscle ached, and her skin tingled. She saw what seemed to be scorch marks on her underwear. But the crushing pain was gone. Looking around, Aithne saw that all the Sith in the room had gone, too. She tried to sit up, but her head nearly split from the effort.

"Don't…" said Bastila from Aithne's right. "Don't try to move too quickly, Aithne. You might not be fully recovered yet. Admiral Karath had his guards continue to torture you even after you passed out."

"I…I think I made him mad," Aithne said weakly.

A ragged laugh sounded. "I think you did," said a hoarse, but dear voice. Aithne sat up, ignoring the pain, and saw Carth, sitting on the floor of his cell, looking terrible, but very much alive. Aithne gazed at him, taking the sight of him in. "They tortured all of us," he said. "But you got the worst of it by far. They didn't torture me much after Saul left, Bastila said, and they hardly touched her. But Saul wanted them to make us suffer. He's become some sort of sadistic monster."

"The Dark Side has perverted him, Carth," Bastila said sadly. "Once you start down the tainted path it leads you ever further into the depths of evil. I fear he is forever lost."

Aithne's very soul rebelled at the thought. "You're wrong, Bastila!" she cried. "The Dark Side can be resisted, and you can always come back!"

Bastila gave Aithne a long, measuring look, seeming to consider something. "I suppose you are correct," she said finally, and Aithne got the feeling she meant more by it than the discussion of ideas of the Dark and Light Sides of the Force. "Sometimes it is easy to lose sight of that hope in the face of such unbridled cruelty, but you speak the truth." She laughed bitterly. "I suppose I'm taking the news of Dantooine's destruction quite hard. First Taris, now the Academy. Is there no end to the killing?"

Aithne closed her eyes, reaching within herself, to the part of the Force that they could never cut her off from, no matter how many force cages they stuck her inside of. A feeling of peace rose up inside her, and she spoke. "There will be, Bastila," she said with confidence and power. "There will be an end to the killing. Somehow I feel that we will have peace, and that those on Dantooine will find that they did not die in vain."

Bastila was silent for a moment, then, softly, she said. "It's strange, in the midst of all this darkness and doubt, but I believe you. However, we should have felt a disturbance in the Force when the attack came. The fact that we did not is a bad sign. I fear the Dark Side is growing stronger, casting shadows our vision cannot pierce. I can only hope that some of the Jedi escaped. Vrook, Vandar, Zhar…I cannot imagine all of them being gone." Inexpressible sadness filled her voice. Aithne, too, mourned for the Jedi, as manipulative and misguided as they could be. She felt a pang for Zhar, especially, and all of the innocent Younglings that would never see Knighthood. "In any case," Bastila continued, "we have lost our one place of refuge in the galaxy."

Carth, more practical at the moment, stood, wincing slightly. "It won't even matter," he answered Bastila, "if we don't get out of here before Saul gets back."

Aithne nodded, rising as well, though her legs shook and her joints protested. "Where is he now?"

"Saul mentioned that Lord Malak was on his way," Carth began. "I think the admiral left to prepare for his arrival…and to report the results of our interrogation."

Bastila interjected. "It is fortunate that you were able to resist the admiral's questioning," she complimented Aithne. "The fate of the galaxy could be changed by revealing the slightest piece of vital information."

Aithne shook her head. "Don't…don't talk about that."

Carth spoke up, looking a little guilty. "I…uh…I have to confess something. There was a…there was a moment- just a moment- when a part of me was hoping that you would just tell him what he wanted to know. Just to make the horrible pain stop."

Aithne closed her eyes. She could tell Bastila not to talk about it, but she owed Carth an explanation. She nodded, and her hair fell into her face, shielding her from his eyes. But her voice kept steady. "If I had you would have regretted it. You would have felt betrayed, because I revealed information, and guilty, because I revealed it on your behalf and part of you wanted me to. Now you don't feel either of those things. Your body will heal." She swallowed. "Your soul wouldn't have. Now…it's just my burden, I guess. But don't- don't think for a moment that I didn't die every second that they were torturing you. I'll…I'll never be able to forget it."

She shuddered, and Carth studied her. Finally he nodded. "You're right. I'm…I'm sorry." His gaze softened. "I don't honestly know if I could have been as strong in your position. To watch you suffer…"

Aithne flinched.

"…I might have cracked."

Bastila suddenly tilted her head as if listening for something. Aithne felt it, too.

"A disturbance in the Force," Bastila explained to the bewildered Carth. "The Admiral has sent his message, and the Dark Lord knows we are here now. Malak is coming."

Carth nodded grimly, and expressed his hope, shared by all, that their rescuer would act before the Lord of the Sith arrived.

A/N: So who knows who's rescuing them? Guess! Just guess! Anyway, I'm hard at work, and the rest of the nightmare Leviathan incident is on its way. In the next chapter: Someone rescues the Ebon Hawk crew, and Carth gets his revenge. Be a dear and review, will you?

-LMSharp