Brinna's stomach was churning as she stepped up to the computer on the bridge of the Leviathan and began tapping her way through screens. Behind her she could hear the sounds of Carth and Bastila searching corpses and containers for anything that might be useful to the mission. Her nerves had been nearly frayed since she had found the Ebon Hawk caught in Saul's tractor beam but now the tension seemed somehow infinitely worse. For one, the malevolent presence of Malak was drawing nearer and nearer, causing the Force to twist and turn within her so that she felt all of its dark and light edges most acutely. As if this wasn't enough, there was an almost palpable sense of hostility emanating from Carth and Brinna felt the panicky conviction that he now despised her, though she could not fathom why.

It was like being alone in the deep, dark of space without a single light, as if every star in the galaxy had suddenly been extinguished. She felt alone and afraid, lost without a friend in the universe to guide her. She stood at the center of all events but couldn't say why this was, had not even the slightest idea of the reasons behind it. The urge to scream was so strong it pressed into the back of her throat with enough force to nearly make her gag. Biting down hard on her lower lip, Brinna punched in a series of commands that led to the opening of the docking bay doors.

We have to get out of here, she thought. We have to get off this ship before Malak gets here. If we don't make it in time…

She found herself unable to complete the thought. The natural course would have been to say that they would die but, somehow, this didn't seem dark enough. Though she was not eager to become one with the Force just yet, Brinna had the eerie sense that death would be a mercy compared to what she would suffer if she ran into Malak.

Turning from the computer, she saw that Carth and Bastila had finished their search and were standing near the doorway leading off the bridge, keeping a careful eye on it in case any other Sith should head their way. Not a single word was spoken as Brinna hurried to join them. They simply all began to run, heading off the bridge and toward the elevator that would carry them to the hangar level.

As soon as they stepped off the elevator, Brinna's com crackled to life and she could hear Canderous's familiar, gravelly voice. "It's Canderous. We took care of the guards. We're inside the Ebon Hawk and all systems are go. As soon as you guys join us we can get out of here."

"Copy," Brinna said, killing the link. A tiny ray of hope was lit within her; the tiniest sigh of relief escaped her. If they could just get to the Hawk, all would be well—or at least that was what she tried to tell herself. Unfortunately, the price was high and she wasn't in the mood for buying.

Fighting their way through Sith soldiers and dark Jedi, Brinna felt the confused tapestry of Bastila's emotions via their Force bond. Bastila was using all her might to block Brinna from penetrating too deeply, closing off a small part of herself. As a result, much of her feelings were left out in the open and Brinna didn't even need to probe to feel the fear and worry and the sense of guilt that were eating away at Bastila's defenses. It was clear that Bastila was suffering and it frightened Brinna to think that something could actually affect the seemingly stoic Bastila as much as that. Not even her encounter with Helena had inspired such strong emotions in the young Jedi.

The constant low tone of the ship's alarm had seemed to drill itself in Brinna's skull by the time they were on the home stretch leading to the Ebon Hawk. And yet the closer they drew to where the Ebon Hawk waited, the stronger the malevolent side of the Force grew and Brinna knew before the final set of doors was opened who would be waiting for them on the other side.

"Darth Malak!" Bastila said, disgust and loathing in her voice.

Carth reacted so quickly Brinna almost didn't see him move. "Down you go!" he shouted, leaping to attack Malak but it was all in vain. With the slightest flick of his hand, Malak used the energy he channeled via the Force to send Carth down. Though he did not appear to be injured, Carth did not leap to the attack again.

Malak laughed and Brinna's stomach roiled even more violently. There was something about the sound of that laugh that made the fine hairs on the back of her neck stand up, that made her feel as though something was just beyond the reach of her consciousness…

"I hope you weren't thinking of leaving so soon, Bastila. I've spent far too much energy hunting down you and your companions to let you get away from me now. Besides, I had to see for myself if it was true. Even now I can hardly believe my eyes…tell me, why did the Jedi spare you? Is it vengeance you seek at this reunion?"

The sense of something tickling at the edges of her consciousness increased as Malak fixed his gaze on Brinna and though this was the first time she had laid eyes upon him, there seemed something strangely familiar about that gaze. His use of the word reunion sent a wave of cold fear washing down her spine. "Reunion? What are you talking about?"

"What?" Malak asked, staring intently into her eyes for a moment more before throwing his head back and laughing that laugh that made Brinna's skin crawl. "You mean you don't know? All this time and you still haven't figured it out? I wonder how long you would have stayed blind to the truth. Surely some of what you once were must have surfaced by now. Even the combined power of the Jedi Council couldn't keep your true identity buried forever, could it?"

It was obvious just how much mirth Malak felt on the occasion. His little speech was punctuated by short bursts of sadistic laughter and Brinna's head soon began to swim. His words seemed to strip the flesh from her bones, to leave her exposed in a way she had never before felt exposed. The more he spoke, the more the thoughts pushed free of the edges of her consciousness and moved to the forefront.

Memory after memory rolled over her. She remembered Carth saying that the Force could do terrible things to a mind, that it could change a person's very identity. She remembered Bastila talking about turning an enemy to one's cause, about how there could be no greater weapon. She saw her Jedi masters from the enclave, calling her a special case, telling her they normally didn't train adults, warning her that the dark side might prove very tempting to her. Especially clear was the evident distaste that Vrook had shown for her all along and that had always mystified her.

A flash and her recurring dream played vividly through her head. In it Bastila's face was so set with determination it could have been carved from stone. She didn't even blink as the Jedi around her were cut down. Bastila's attention was reserved for a figure in black robes, face concealed by a black mask and head covered by a black hood. The figure held a red lightsabre and the weight of it, the feel of it was so very familiar… An explosion flashed, followed by a burst of pain and then blackness.

Now it was daytime on a warm planet. The sky was a clear blue and strong sunlight shone down upon the gray stones of the ominous structure that rose up from the otherwise placid ground below. A breeze stirred the palms and the shushing sound of a sea could be heard whispering through the air. It might have been pleasant if not for that gray stone structure. It might have been a paradise. But the structure itself seemed to pulse, seemed to radiate a malevolence so strong one could almost taste it.

High atop this gray stone structure a figure all in black paused. It was not the salt wind or the sight of the palms or the bright sun that held the attention of the figure. It was the evil of the gray stone structure that interested the figure. Whether this figure belonged to a man or a woman, young or old was impossible to say. Swathed in black from head to toe in shapeless robes, face concealed by the black mask, there was no telling who or what the figure was. Black gloved hands reached up for the mask, tugging it aside, freeing the face.

My hands! a voice screamed.

The mask was removed and the face exposed—a rare sight indeed. Revan's name was known and feared and loathed throughout the galaxy but very few could say who Revan was, where Revan had come from, what Revan looked like. Malak knew, of course. So did the Jedi masters; they had once been Revan's masters, though now they were Revan's greatest enemies.

And I know. It was the same voice but now it was moaning in pain and despair rather than screaming.

Salt wind played over the newly exposed skin, stirred the dark, disheveled strands of hair that had escaped the familiar tail. The face was Brinna's. The body was Brinna's. The smile of sheer delight that spread over the face, the smile of one absorbing and reveling in the evil of that gray stone structure, was Brinna's.

"You cannot hide from what you once were, Revan," Malak said, his voice penetrating the fog of recollection, returning her with a jolt to the Leviathan. "Recognize that you were once the Dark Lord—and know that I have taken your place!"

Though she knew deep down in her soul that the words were true, every fiber of her being rebelled. Her brain felt dull and the voice continued to moan, though wordlessly now. It was impossible that she could be falling, falling as she was standing on the solid metal floors of the behemoth Sith ship; and yet she was falling.

"I'm…Darth Revan?" Brinna asked in a voice that did not seem to be her own. "How is that possible?"

"You do not remember, Revan? The Jedi set a trap. They lured us into battle against a small Republic fleet. During the attack a team of Jedi knights boarded your ship. The Jedi strike team captured you and the Council used the Force to reprogram your mind; they wiped away your identity and turned you against your own followers."

She was functioning; functioning but no more than that. Her mouth moved automatically, sound coming out of its own accord. Her mind had ceased to function. "How did they capture someone as powerful as Revan…I mean, me?"

"I helped them, Revan," Malak replied, pride and relish ringing through his voice. "I always knew that one day the title of Dark Lord would be mine! When the Jedi strike team boarded your vessel I saw my day had come. I ordered my own ships to fire on your bridge. I thought I could destroy all my enemies with a single glorious victory! I never dreamed the Jedi would take you alive from the wreckage."

Why did she struggle for understanding when it really didn't matter anymore, when nothing really mattered anymore? "But why did you betray…your master?"

"You mean why did I betray you, Revan," Malak sneered, enjoying her confusion, her denial. "You are the one who taught me the ways of the Sith: the strongest must rule if we are to survive! You knew I would one day challenge you for supremacy but you underestimated me. I acted sooner than you expected and seized the Sith throne with a single, brilliant stroke!"

"No, I don't believe you, Malak!" A burst of denial in the eleventh hour, when it was already clear that all had been lost, that everything she had known and believed was nothing more than an illusion.

"You must have seen flashes of your old life in your dreams, Revan; memories bubbling up to the surface? Surely you must remember the battle in which you were captured?"

"Bastila, is this true?" She needed to know. She needed Bastila to make the final cut, to drive the blade into her heart. Then the betrayal would be complete, then there would be a handle protruding from her chest to match the one protruding from her back.

"It's true," Bastila said. Some dim part of Brinna—Revan?—felt Bastila's agony but it left very little by way of impression. "I was part of the team sent to capture Revan…to capture you. When Malak fired on the ship you were badly injured. We thought you were dead. Your mind was destroyed, but I used the Force to preserve the flicker of life in your body. I brought you to the Jedi Council. They were the ones who healed your damaged mind."

"But the memories I have…where did they come from?" Amara's face, her mother's laugh, the sound of her father's voice as he sang to her while they glided through the never ending depths of space…

"The Jedi Council didn't restore your wounded mind, Revan!" Malak interjected. "They merely programmed it with a new identity—one loyal to the Republic! They tried to make you their slave!"

What was left for her? She could turn her back on Bastila, she could scream and rage but it wouldn't make untrue what she already knew to be true. To do so would be to heap more satisfaction onto the pile in which Malak was already reveling. Later, perhaps, she would truly feel the anger, truly feel the rage of what the Jedi had done to her, what Malak had done to her, what she had done to herself. For now all she knew was she did not want to give Malak anything, not one single thing.

"I understand, Bastila," Brinna said. "You had no other choice."

"Forgiveness, Revan? You are weak; I was right to betray you," Malak said scornfully. "You are not fit to rule the Sith! A small part of me has always regretted betraying you from afar. I always knew there were some who would think I acted out of fear, that I did not want to face you. But now fate has given me a second chance to prove myself. Once I defeat you in combat no one will question my claim to the Sith throne; my triumph will be complete!"

"Your power is no match for the light!" Brinna said, despising him with all she had in her. She didn't know where the words came from, they were simply there and they were simply the truth.

"The Jedi Council were foolish to let you live. I won't make the same mistake. We shall finish this alone in the ancient Sith tradition: master versus apprentice, as it was meant to be!"

Once more, Malak called upon the Force, using his power to put Bastila and Carth in stasis. Her feet were swept out from under her as she was hit with his Force powers as well, her body swept in a dizzying circle that increased the sense of violent nausea she had felt ever since she had realized the horrible truth. When it finally wore off, Brinna fell to the ground with a heavy thud, her eyes burning with unshed tears. Bastila and Carth were still in stasis and she had no choice but to leave them behind so that she could pursue Malak. Propelling herself through the doors, she found him, and she crouched into a low, defensive stance as he gestured to her mockingly, challenging her.

Brinna was alone—but then she hadn't felt as though she had anyone else, not since Saul had satisfied his vindictive nature by whispering his dying words to Carth. Devoid of friends, devoid of comfort, devoid of anything other than the simple need to defeat Malak, Brinna reacted by using her own command of the Force to boost her speed and her resistance to Force powers.

As the battle raged, she could not say for what she was fighting. The need to defeat Malak was rooted within her very core but the truth of the matter was she could not say if this was Revan's need to defeat an insubordinate apprentice, to punish that apprentice's insolence and so reclaim the Sith mantle or if it was Brinna's need to save the galaxy from that Sith mantle. All capacity for rational thought had fled her when she had been assailed by the flood of memories and she was now acting on pure instinct alone.

Her body was a machine. Her muscles bunched and flexed, her mind utilized the powers of the Force to aid her in battle. She kicked, she leapt, she parried Malak's lightsabre and struck out at him with her own, its blade little more than a dazzling blur. Her skin was singed with wounds she didn't remember seeing and sweat poured over her face and into her eyes but she barely even noticed the physical discomfort. Her vision was a narrow, white tunnel focused only on Malak and a low keening in her head compelled her to continue running after him each time he ducked through another set of doors. Like a rat in a maze, she pounded in hot pursuit after her prey, overwhelmed by her need to finish what had begun long ago.

Perhaps her rage had blinded her or perhaps she was becoming exhausted by the seemingly endless battle and pursuit. Whatever it was, it caused her to lose her guard, allowing Malak to put her in stasis. Though she could not move, her mind remained active, sending signals to her limbs preparatory to the moment where the stasis would wear off and she would once more be able to attack Malak. Before he could so much as raise his saber against Brinna, though, Bastila rushed into the room.

"This isn't over, Malak!" the younger Jedi spat out, her dual-bladed saber held out before her. Brinna could hear footsteps pounding down the corridor and she knew Carth was not far behind.

"Your friends do not give up easily, Revan; you always could inspire loyalty. But even the three of you together cannot stand against my power," Malak sneered.

"For the Jedi!" Bastila cried, striking out at Malak, her blow on the mark, causing him to grunt in pain. "I'll hold Malak off. You two get out of here! Find the Star Forge!"

"No, Bastila, he's too strong! No!" Carth screamed, as the doors between the room in which she and he were standing and that in which Bastila and Malak were fighting slammed closed. He rushed over to the door, frantically trying to open it and Brinna felt her body jerk as she regained control over it once more.

"The door's sealed, we can't get past! Come on, we have to get to the Ebon Hawk!" Carth cried, his voice edged with a mixture of rage and fear.

"What about Bastila? We have to help her!" Brinna cried in response, the words tearing from her raw throat. Her body was so tense and so tired that her muscles burned in protest. She could barely resist the urge to try to tear the door down with her bare hands.

"Bastila doesn't stand a chance against Malak, but we can't help her. Not here," Carth said, with savage, brutal honesty. "We have to get off this ship and find the Star Forge. That's the key to beating the Dark Lord! Bastila sacrificed herself so we could get away. We can't let her sacrifice be in vain! Come on!"

Brinna felt her body moving without even being aware of commanding it to do so. Her head seemed filled with a gray fog, images of rage, fear, horror, joy, all emerging like restless spirits. She felt wild, uncontrolled, like an animal incapable of rational thought, propelled by instinct alone. She wanted to scream and sob and tear the Leviathan apart.

Somehow she managed to follow Carth to the Ebon Hawk. She could feel the loading ramp moving as whoever was steering the ship barely waited for the two of them to get onboard before they rocketed out of the Leviathan's bay. The larger ship's cannons fired on them and Brinna could hear Canderous shouting about fighters in pursuit.

It was instinct that also caused her to look at Carth, to seek out something that had once seemed safe and peaceful to her. The look on his face nearly undid her completely and she turned her head away with a low moan of pain. She lost all sense of time as images from her past—both real and invented by the Jedi—raced through her mind, voices and songs and sounds all coming at her in a deafening jumble, colors so bright and vibrant that they seemed to pierce through her eyes. It was impossible to say how long it lasted. It seemed like an eternity and a short blip in time, all at once. When she finally returned to the present, she saw that Carth was no longer in the room with her and her legs began to move, carrying her to the ship's common room.

The rest of the crew was already gathered there and Jolee and Juhani stared baldly at her. They knew of her thoughts for she had been helpless to protect her mind, helpless to erect a wall that would keep them from accessing her emotions via the Force. She found that she was too sick and weary to care.

"Where is Bastila? What happened on that ship?" Jolee asked, his eyes darting from Carth to Brinna, Brinna to Carth.

Carth answered, his mouth set in a grim line. Brinna could see his pain and it sent a slice of bright white pain through her chest. "We ran into Malak. He would have killed us, but Bastila sacrificed herself so we could get away."

"You mean she's…she's dead?" Mission asked, her voice quavering.

"Bah," Jolee scoffed. "Malak won't kill her, don't be foolish. He'll want to use her battle meditation against the Republic. Turn her to the Dark Side and the Sith will always be victorious."

"We can't help Bastila—not unless we find the Star Forge first," Brinna said, without realizing she had intended to speak. Out of every emotion that she felt, she knew which one was propelling her actions now: desperation.

"Not so fast," Carth said harshly. "We've got a bigger issue to deal with here. They deserve to know the truth about you. Do you want to tell them what Malak said, or should I?"

"I don't care what Malak said!" Brinna told him, the words ripping out of her with a ferocity that frightened her. "I'm not Darth Revan, I'm Brinna Warrim."

"Revan?" Mission asked. "What…what are you talking about? Is this some kind of joke?"

"No, it's no joke," Carth assured her. "The Jedi Council captured Revan and erased the Dark Lord's mind, programming in a new identity. Saul Karath told me on the Leviathan and Bastila confirmed it!"

"You're Darth Revan? This is…this is big," Mission said, clearly fumbling for words. "Do you...do you remember anything about being the Dark Lord?"

Brinna gritted her teeth and fought for control over the mess of her mind and emotions. She answered truthfully. "Small bits. A few strange dreams and visions. That's all."

"Just a few flashes? That's it? Nothing more? Then I don't think there's a problem. It seems to me that if you don't really remember anything about being Revan, then it doesn't really matter anymore. You are who you are now, right?"

"Of course it matters!" Carth cried, his voice incredulous. "How do we know more memories won't come flooding back? How do we know Revan won't suddenly turn on us? The whole time we've been chasing after Malak we've had his old Sith Master right at our side; listening to our secrets; hearing our plans!"

Every time Carth called her Revan, it cut like a knife. What did she feel for him now, for this man she had loved wholeheartedly, who had seemed to return something of her affection but who now seemed to hate her with every cell in his body?

"But I'm not the Dark Lord anymore!" she shouted, desperate for her crewmates to believe her, desperate for Carth to listen, desperate to convince herself. "I'm Brinna Warrim. I'm one of you!"

"I don't see the Sith Lord standing here, I see a friend who's been with us through thick and thin!" Mission insisted. "Remember—Malak's the one who tried to destroy Taris!"

"I agree with Mission. "I swore a life-debt to the person you are, not to the person you were," Zaalbar added, turning to face Brinna. His growls seemed to pierce something within her, causing a great, sticky blackness to ooze out of her.

"Big Z and I will stick by you," Mission told her, moving to stand next to her and placing her arm supportively around Brinna's waist. "We owe you our lives; we won't desert you now!"

The words of Mission and Zaalbar caused a dam to break and she could feel herself openly weeping as she looked at the others. For the first time since they had known one another, Brinna found herself leaning against Mission for support rather than the other way around.

"How can you say that, Mission?" Carth shouted, his voice taut with rising emotion. "The Sith bombed my home world! Revan took away my family and destroyed my life!"

He blamed her but then could she really claim that she did not understand why? Though it made her feel as if her soul was shattering into a million pieces, she listened to his words—listened and understood.

"Everyone knows it was Malak who gave the order to attack your people, Carth. You can't blame Revan for that," Canderous said, coming to Brinna's defense.

"I…I suppose you've proven yourself to be a friend of the Republic by your actions so far…Revan. But can I trust you? Can any of us?" Carth asked, sounding as if wild rancors could hardly haul the words out of him. It hurt Brinna far more than she could say to listen to how he chose to frame his sentence, to the words he employed. He lobbed the hated name at her like it was a plasma grenade and that caused her more pain than anything else. Once, she knew, he would never have dreamed of causing her any pain. But, then, could she blame him when she herself had once caused unimaginable suffering?

Revan caused it, not me! a fierce voice insisted. I'm not Revan!

Still, she had to know, not only for her sake but for the sake of the mission. Her agony was indescribable but there was a bigger picture on which to focus and whatever it cost her, she would focus on it. She had to, not only for the sake of Bastila and these people whom she had come to consider her friends, not only for the sake of the Jedi, not only for the sake of the nameless millions peopling the galaxy, but also for her own sake.

Carth's question wasn't invalid though. She had to know if the others trusted her because if they didn't there was no hope of their mission succeeding. Facing them now, she found that she was terrified, afraid they would reject her, cast her out and leave her alone in the cold. Regardless of her confused emotions, regardless of the blurred line between what was real and what was Jedi fiction, Brinna knew what it meant to be alone.

"What about you, Jolee?" she asked, turning to the elder Jedi.

"What about me?" Jolee shot back, in a manner that implied she was asking him a truly asinine question. "I already knew who you were, though it wasn't my place to tell you. Better off you know, if you ask me. Does it change anything? I'm not here to judge you. You'll do what you'll have to do and I'll help if I can."

Stunned as she was at this revelation, it did not last for long. His cryptic comments suddenly made sense to her and she knew that he wasn't putting on a show of false bravado. For a moment she was very angry with him for not telling her, for letting her go on thinking that she was something she was now being told that she was not. However, her anger melted quickly as she realized just how humbling it was that he had known what she had once been and had stuck with her just the same, putting his own life at great risk. He could be annoying at times but she had always felt that Jolee had faith in her, that he believed in her and that had always meant a great deal to her and always would.

"What do you think, Canderous?"

"You defeated the Mandalore clans in the war, Revan. You were the only one in the galaxy who could beat us. We had never met one like you before, and never since. How can you even ask if I will follow you? Whatever you are fighting, it will be worthy of my skill. I'm your man until the end, Revan, no matter how this plays out," he said, his admiration clear in his voice, making Brinna squirm.

She didn't like how he called her Revan and she didn't like how he now seemed in such awe of her because she had once been the cruel Sith Lord, yet it didn't surprise her. Admiration of might had been deeply ingrained in Canderous, to the point where those who didn't know him well would likely think it was the only thing that mattered to him. But Brinna had watched Canderous learned, had watched him grow throughout their mission and she knew there was something decent deep down inside of him. His struggles had not been easy and she admired him for taking the path less traveled as he had of late. Now she knew that, in may ways, she and Canderous led parallel lives.

"What do you have to say, HK-47?" she asked, more to give herself a break from the onslaught of emotion she was feeling than because she really wondered what the droid would do for she doubted he'd miss any opportunity to spill blood, even if she was now bent on following the path of the light.

"Commentary: I am…experiencing something unusual, master."

"Why? What's happening?" Brinna was wary. The last thing she needed now was yet another unusual occurrence.

"Answer: My homing system is a function of my assassination protocols…that which I told you had been deactivated. This was not. It seems that the homing system deliberately restores my deleted memory core upon…upon returning to my original master."

"You mean…Revan?" she asked, her eyes growing wide. She could hear the others gasping and making sounds of disbelief.

"Affirmation: Correct, master. Sith protocols maintain that all droid knowledge be deleted before assassination missions, and restored upon return. I have returned to you and my full functionality is now under your personal command. It is a distinct pleasure to see you again, master."

"I'm not exactly Revan anymore, HK-47…" The words were said not so much to warn the droid as to reassure herself.

"Observation: That does not matter, master. I am your droid, regardless of your actions or personality."

"Wow. What are the chances of that happening?" Mission asked, her voice filled with awe and disbelief.

"Remember we're talking about the Force, here," Canderous said gruffly, rolling his eyes. At this point, Malak himself could drop out of the sky and I wouldn't bat any eyelash."

"Good point."

A strained half smile on her face, Brinna turned to the other droid. "you won't abandon me, will you T3?"

Her reply was an excited burst of beeps that made Mission smile.

"I knew the little guy would come through for you—droids don't hold grudges," the teen told Brinna.

There was one member of the party with whom she had not yet spoken but as Brinna looked over at Juhani, she could feel the other Jedi reaching out to her via the Force and knew it was best if they spoke in private. Exchanging a brief nod with the woman whose life she spared, whom she had turned against the dark and back toward the light, Brinna turned her gaze to Carth once more.

"Well, Carth—will you stand with me against Malak?"

"Well, the others seem to trust you…and I don't see any other way that we can stop the Sith and I suppose that Malak is the real enemy here… I really don't have any other choice, do I?"

The answer hurt, though she tried her best to conceal her pain. "I'm not Revan anymore, Carth. You have to believe that," she pleaded. Her desperation was plain in her voice and it caused the others to turn their eyes away but Brinna was beyond caring. She could bear everyone else abandoning her but she could not bear his abandonment. She could not imagine herself continuing on without him. He was not only a part of her life, he was a part of her very being.

"I want to believe you. You've proven yourself time and time again during our mission, but this is a little much for me to wrap my mind around," he told her, his voice hesitant.

"How do you think I feel?" she asked, bitterly.

"This must be even more of a shock to you… I don't know how you even keep going. I guess we both just have to find a way to push forward. Don't worry—I won't let my personal feelings get in the way of my assignments or this mission. But don't forget: I've sworn an oath to defend the Republic! As long as this mission stays on course I'll stick with you. But I won't let you betray the Republic under any circumstances!" he declared in an impassioned burst.

There was an uncomfortable silence as the others studied the floor and Brinna kept her eyes fixed on Carth's, not bothering to hid the depths of her agony from him. Finally, he looked away from her, sighing and scuffing a boot over the Ebon Hawk's vented metal floors.

"So I guess that's it then…" he said, his voice quieter. "We keep going. We've still got one more Star Map to uncover if we're going to find that Star Forge and save Bastila, so let's do it before it's too late."

With those words, he turned on his heel and strode off toward the cockpit. A frown creased Canderous's face and a thunderous look descended on him and then he too strode off toward the cockpit. Brinna had a feeling he and Carth wouldn't be sharing a soothing cup of tea but she was too weary and too troubled to pursue it. If the two of them came to blows, so be it. She wanted only to speak to Juhani and then to be alone for a bit so that she might attempt to process everything she had learned.

Sensing this, Jolee gave her a brief pat on the arm and then cleared his throat gruffly when he saw the tears that welled in her eyes as a result. He headed off for the sick bay. Mission threw her arms around Brinna and hugged her tightly.

"You're my big sister, Brinna," the twi'lek said. Reaching up, she tugged a little painfully on a strand of Brinna's hair. "You should get a decent cut, sis. Come on, Big Z, let's take these two buckets of bolts into the cargo bay and see if we can't make them look more presentable."

HK's string of threats trailed after him as he and T3 followed Mission but they only availed him a burst of laughter from Mission and a growl of warning from Zaalbar. Brinna watched them through blurry eyes, her heart pounding painfully in her chest as a result of Mission's compassion.

"How…how can you possibly be Revan?" Juhani asked from behind Brinna. "The one…the Jedi whose troops saved me on Taris… It was Revan, leading an army out to defeat the Mandalorians. It was you… I knew when I heard that you had become the Dark Lord of the Sith that something was wrong with it. The woman who saved me, who I…I have come to care for, could never go completely to the dark side."

"I do not know who that Revan was," Brinna answered honestly, her shoulders slumping under the weight of a terrible past that she could not remember, a past for which she was responsible even though she could remember nothing of it. "I am not her."
"It is good to know that you have truly changed," Juhani said. Brinna could feel the sincerity of the Cathar flowing to her via the Force. It calmed her for a moment, made her feel that whatever anyone wanted to call her, whatever the Jedi had programmed into her, she truly was Brinna Warrim. "It gives me some hope. I do not think now that I will fall to the dark side. I only have to look to you and follow by your example and there is no way I can fail."

"You will do fine, Juhani." She felt the weakness of the words but knew that Juhani could feel the flow of her emotions, emotions that said much more than any words Brinna could have spoken would have said.

"That is especially meaningful coming from you. I will never forget what you did for me, even if you do not remember it." Juhani looked at Brinna for a moment more and then headed off in the direction of the women's bunks.

For the first time since Malak had taken such delight in pulling her world out from under her feet, Brinna found herself alone. Though she had wanted some time to sort things out, she found that now that she had it she was terrified. Her breathing and her heart rate quickening, Brinna felt her stomach lurch, causing her to run for the commode.