A/N: Sorry about that. Here's the thing, kids: depression is fun. Really, really fun. And by fun, I mean the other thing.

Hopefully this is the only major disruption the CAU is going to get. I'd like to keep it rolling and updating twice a week, but it's occasionally difficult to do anything when my brain is actively against the idea of ... well, anything. It doesn't help that I was hung up on this chapter for some reason, but figured I should just bite the bullet, go ahead, and update. sighs. Leave me a bit of love, if you feel up to it.

11: With Friends Like These

Carth trailed his finger down Revan's spine, grinning at the way she grumbled under her breath and tucked herself tighter against his side. "You're sure you're alright?"

Revan scoffed. "Carth, it's been a month. I think I'm mostly recovered."

"You're dedicated to not letting me worry." He brushed a few strands of hair from her face as she frowned up at him.

"I think that's a task even I couldn't pull off. I'm pretty sure you worry about worrying."

"What? That's ridiculous."

Revan grinned, throwing her leg over his hips and pulling herself upright. He rested his hands on her waist and grinned back at her. "You would worry about galactic rotation if you could, I swear."

Carth pulled her back down to him, bringing his hands up to cup her face. "Who says I don't?"

When they were an inch apart, the silence of the nighttime Temple was broken by a loud, insistent chirping. "I don't know who that is," Revan muttered. "But I'm going to kill them."

"Don't answer it." Carth kissed her urgently as her comm continued to chirp in the background. Finally Revan drew back, wrapping her black outer robe around her bare shoulders as she stood. He frowned and propped himself up on his elbows as she answered the call.

"This is Revan."

:: I hope I didn't wake you. :: Thaymina appeared above the disk in her hand. Revan scrubbed at her eye.

"Only a little," she replied. "What is it?"

:: I was hoping that I might borrow you, :: she said. :: There is someone I'd like you to meet. I've arranged a meeting on Nar Shaddaa in four days, if you're interested. I can give you a ride, if you're amenable. ::

"Who is it?"

:: An acquaintance of mine. I believe you'll find each other … mutually interesting. ::

Revan sighed and looked back at Carth. He shrugged. "Sure. I could do with a visit to the Shad. Carth is coming, though."

:: Great. I'll be on Tython sometime tomorrow — I can give you a ride to and from. :: Revan nodded. :: I'll see you then. ::

She hung up and dropped her comm onto the table. "What do you think that's about?" Carth asked.

"No idea." Revan turned back and let her robe fall with a sideways grin. "But more pressingly … where were we, flyboy?"

#

"This place belongs to my friend Khoshekh's sister's employer," Thaymina said as their speeder docked at a Nar Shaddaa sky palace. Carth helped Revan climb out of the back, and looked around suspiciously. "She's agreed to let me borrow it — at the moment, she's doing business on Balmorra — as long as we put everything back where we found it and I forward her a large sum of credits at my earliest convenience."

"And why did you drag us out to the ass-end of Hutt space?" Revan asked.

"There is someone I want you to meet, but it had to be on neutral ground." Thaymina led them deeper into the structure, past several large stock terminals monitored by several droids. "And it will take some explaining."

"How so?" Carth asked. Thaymina stopped them in a large central room, comfortably furnished and stocked with a copious amount of alcohol. Revan pointed at it.

"Am I allowed to drink? Because I honestly need a drink." Thaymina frowned. "Alright. I won't."

"Before you panic," Thaymina said, holding up her hand. "She's a Sith contact of mine."

"Oh, great," Revan said. "I have a several-million credit bounty on my head and you're taking me to see a Sith."

Thaymina laughed. "Honestly, I doubt she'd care. The only reason I suggested this meeting is that she and I have spent nearly a year discussing philosophy — your philosophy." Revan blinked. "We had a chance meeting here on Nar Shaddaa. During it, she revealed that she had learned about you via a cult on Dromund Kaas dedicated to you, using … rather flawed information."

"Me? I have a cult?" She turned to Carth, looking a bit like a kath hound pup with a favorite toy. "Carth, Carth, I have a cult."

He shook his head and looked up at Thaymina. "You realize there will be no living with her after this."

"Anyway, I offered to pass on copies of some of your pre-disappearance writings. We've spent some time discussing them via holomail … and I thought you may be interested in meeting her, if only to learn more about this cult."

"Yeah, they could be useful. When is she getting here?"

"Should be any minute now. You are … alright with this? We can leave if—"

"No, no," she waved her hand. "It's fine. I'm not worried."

"Anna—"

"We can take care of it if anything happens," she said, pointedly.

"Alright," Carth said. "But I'm keeping my hand on my blasters."

"I don't think it will be a problem," Thaymina said. "She is not that good at being Sith."

"I take offense to that, Master Galon," a smooth, Imperial female voice said. They turned to a door on the opposite side of the room as it slid open. A petite Rutian Twi'lek strolled through, wearing ornate, white and black robes and a tight-fitting, white open-faced helm. It made her look older, more experienced, but Revan thought there was something very young about her — especially for a Sith Lord. A young Togruta trailed behind her, oddly wearing brown Jedi robes and looking rather surprised to see them. "I am a very good Sith," the Twi'lek continued. "The rest simply aren't trying."

"Lord Nkiruka," Thaymina said, extending her hand. The Twi'lek Sith took it. "Are you still having trouble with Darth Thanaton?"

The Twi'lek rolled her eyes. "An unbearable amount, to be honest. And you were working with an alliance?"

"An unbelievable amount of politicking. I would take front-line healing any day." She shook her head, stepping back. "As pleasant as it would be to catch up, that is not why I asked you to stop by." Nkiruka inclined her head, and Thaymina motioned to Revan and Carth. "These are … distant … relations of mine. I—"

"I've heard my reputation precedes me," Revan interrupted, stepping forward and holding out her hand. She trusted this woman about as much as she trusted any Sith, but she did think Thaymina had decent judgment. After all, she was descended from her. Hopefully some of her good sense had leaked through — and perhaps some of Carth's paranoia. "I'm Revan."

Nkiruka hesitated, but took her outstretched hand. "I can feel your power," she said. "But it is difficult to believe your claim three hundred years after your disappearance."

"You have your friend the Emperor to thank."

She scoffed. "The Emperor is hardly my friend."

"That's what I like to hear." Revan stepped back. "I doubt I can prove it to you, but I am Revan. I mean —"

"No, no." She waved her hand. "Regardless of what logic dictates, I cannot deny the Force. If you are Revan, how did you survive?"

"I was imprisoned by the Emperor, out in the Maelstrom Nebula."

"Oh. Interesting."

"How so—"

"Excuse me," Thaymina interrupted. "While you two speak, might I talk to Ashara?"

The Twi'lek glanced at her companion and shook her head. "I take no issue with it."

Thaymina motioned to the Togruta with a warm smile. Ashara looked between her and Nkiruka — the latter nodded — and followed. "How is that interesting?" Revan repeated, leaning her hips back against a couch.

Nkiruka crossed her arms, shifting weight onto one leg. "At the very least, you concern the Emperor enough for him to keep you alive despite the expenditure of resources and power, which must have been sizable. We know remarkably little of his motives. I find it curious."

"Fair enough," Revan said. "It is. I even spent the last three centuries linked to his consciousness, and I don't know much about his plans." Nkiruka nodded, and Revan glanced at Carth. "So I hear there's a cult."

"Now that she knows that," Carth said. "I won't be able to handle her."

Nkiruka laughed. "There is, indeed, a cult," she confirmed. "The Revanites, on Dromund Kaas."

"They're on the Imperial capital world?" She nodded. Carth shook his head. "Bet the Emperor loves that."

Revan snorted. "I can't imagine they're very popular."

"Not at all. There are a number of high-profile members, but it is all quite secretive."

"I'm surprised they know enough to have a cult. It's my knowledge that my encounters with the Emperor were …" She glanced at Carth. "Kind of embarrassing for him."

"From my conversations with Master Galon, I am quite aware that they are very misinformed. They believe you were male, for one, and that you killed the Emperor and took his place on the throne."

Revan laughed hard enough that she had to grab Carth's arm. He looked partially shocked, then gradually amused. "Really?" she asked.

"They certainly seemed convinced of it."

"Believe me, if I had, everyone would have known."

"That is what I suspected." Nkiruka laughed quietly. "Especially once I met Master Galon. Is it true you have mastery over the light and the dark sides of the Force?"

Revan nodded.

"If you're going to talk shop, I'll look for those parts you wanted," Carth said. Revan nodded again, and he kissed her temple. "Yell if you need me," he murmured, glancing uneasily back at the Twi'lek. She frowned.

"I'll be fine, flyboy." Carth headed back towards the front room. Revan watched him leave. "Sorry," she said. "Carth is … well, he's Carth. He's not the most trusting."

"Who is?"

"True enough. But yes. I can use traditionally aligned powers with no physical toll. I'm still determining the extent — after all, it wasn't like I was practicing the last three hundred years — but it seems to apply to most."

"Amazing," Nkiruka said, rubbing her jaw. "Then they had at least one thing right — you are neither Sith or Jedi."

She waved her hand. "I find the division pedantic at best, and misguided at worst. They have more either wrong, or in common, than either side is willing to admit."

"Then how do you draw your power? If the Sith use emotion, and the Jedi discipl—"

"I cheat." She straightened, stretched her arm out, and effortlessly raised the room's central seating — a large, heavy table with two curved booths around it. "The reason is a matter of debate among every Master I've known — the Emperor was hardly different. Some is emotion, very little is discipline. My first Master called me the 'heart of the Force,' whatever that means. My last simply believed I benefited from a rawer connection to the Force than most … and an inclination to ignore rules.

"As for using both sides of the Force, perhaps it can be taught. If I ever figure out how I do it, perhaps I could pass it on. That remains to be seen."

Nkiruka studied her curiously as Revan set the seating area back down. Normally, she would have been wary of trying to open a Sith up to her own personal Force philosophy — partially because her experiences, and her returned memories, made her especially wary around Sith; and partially because there was a heftier ideological difference making the gap between gray and dark wider than between light and gray. But there was something about this one, between her willingness to meet with a Jedi Master on the eve of war and her stated disregard for the usual hierarchy. Something that, Revan realized uncomfortably, reminded her a little of herself.

"And how did you end up a Sith?" she finally asked. "They aren't usually welcoming to non-humans and non-Purebloods."

"I did not have much of a choice. I was a slave before a Sith stumbled across me — I understand there was some expense involved in my acquisition. After that, it was a matter of survival — something I am particularly adept at. Watching racist Sith, civilians, and personnel stutter in my presence is a benefit."

Revan chuckled. "Good."

"There is much I could do in the Empire, for my people-" She motioned to herself. "—and others like them. I grew up in the Empire. There is much that could be salvaged, and much that could be reformed. I found myself in a position to do so."

That would be no small order. Revan pressed her lips together, nodded, and leaned back against the table. "Well. That won't be easy."

"Of course not."

"The Emperor would be especially displeased, I'd think."

"If the Emperor ever wishes to discuss the issue with me, he may. I have not allowed my underlings to enslave billions with no punishment, have I?"

Revan almost laughed. "I'd be careful what you wish for. As someone with first-hand experience 'discussing' things with the Emperor, it tends to be a one-sided conversation."

"Then I'll ensure he never knows the extent of my endeavors."

"Probably for the best, I—"

There was a shout from out by the terminals in the front room, and the thud of something hitting the ground. Revan spun with a swear and took two steps back towards the door. If they'd been followed — there was no telling what was out there, but Carth was, and her hands dropped to her lightsabers. Something else fell over with a metallic clang — probably one of the droids.

"—put that blaster down, droid—" Carth yelled as she got closer.

"STATEMENT." Revan froze for half a second. No. It couldn't be — could it? "IF YOU ARE HERE, MEATBAG, THEN—"

She burst through the doors, Nkiruka hard on her heels. A large red, humanoid droid with prominent combat mounts was standing over Carth, an enormous blaster rifle in hand. Revan stopped in her tracks, not able to believe her own vision.

"HK?" she asked, an unintended waver in her voice. Both Carth's and the droid's heads snapped over towards them — the droid immediately trained his blaster on the Sith behind her, and Carth took the opportunity to scramble back to his feet.

"Warning: Master, there is a meatbag behind you," HK replied. "Allow me to delete it before—"

"No, no!" Revan waved her hands frantically as she started forward, then stopped in her tracks. It was possible that this wasn't HK. She'd built him to be robust, sure, but three hundred years was a long time for anything to survive in the galaxy unpreserved. This could be something of the Emperor … she was certain he knew of HK, could believe she'd trust him, and then… "HK-47, run diagnostic binary-seventy-six and report."

The droid straightened and lowered his gun, his eyes flashing repetitively. "Query: If an unladen thranta is traveling between House Organa and House Thul, how many times should the Emperor wipe his ass with a sheet of sandpaper?"

Revan grinned. Carth glanced back at the Twi'lek, her lips drawn up in a careful smirk. Thaymina appeared in the doorway behind them.

"I heard—" Her eyes widened, and she stepped out into the room. "Is that—"

"The number of rotations between binary solstices on Tatooine," she replied, stepping forward and gently lowering HK's gun.

"Statement: Master, it is very good to see you again," the droid replied. "You are much more tolerable than the meatbags I was formerly forced to call that."

"How did you …" She waved her hand. "No, no, never mind, I honestly don't want to know." Revan turned to Carth, her hand still on HK's gun. "You okay, flyboy?"

Carth dusted himself off with a frown. "I cannot believe that, of all the Force-forsaken things in this galaxy, that survived."

"Hey!" Revan protested. "That is my favorite assassin droid, Carth Onasi." HK's head turned towards the pilot, and his emotionless features somehow seemed smug.

"Statement: Master," HK began, turning back to her. "My former masters sent me hunting you and the whiny meatbag, but upon arriving my primary data core has reactivated. Plea: I sincerely hope you do not plan to disappear again. Most of the meatbags I must refer to as 'master' do not appreciate my many talents as you do. Query: Might I also return to my former masters, and make them exceptionally former?"

"Yes."

"No!" Carth hissed. Revan cleared her throat.

"Uh. No. Don't do that, actually." HK turned his head back towards Carth, then back at Revan. "HK-"

"Appeasement: Very well, Master, the insufferable meatbags may continue their fleshy lives."

Revan sighed and looked back to Nkiruka, who was now leaning back against the wall. "Sorry about that," she said. "HK is very enthusiastic."

She shrugged, though she straightened and looked back at Thaymina. "Are you finished with my apprentice?"

"I am," Thaymina replied.

"I've told her she is free to leave whenever she wishes, if you were wondering."

"I thought as much."

Nkiruka nodded and turned back to Revan and Carth. "I am glad Master Galon allowed me to meet with you. It was quite an honor, and that is not something I say lightly."

"Be careful out there," Revan replied. "And, do me a favor — don't tell anyone you saw me."

There was the briefest flicker around the Twi'lek's lips, like she almost grinned. "I am not concerned with the Emperor's or Malgus' need for your head, I assure you. Ashara?"

"Here, my lord." The Togruta appeared behind Thaymina, who moved out of the way. Nkiruka nodded to Revan and Thaymina once again and started for the sky palace's speeder pad.

"You know," Revan said, looking back at Thaymina. "It strikes me as particularly un-Master-like to let a Padawan wander around with a Sith Lord."

Thaymina shrugged. "What can I say? I'm not a very good Master, and what the Council doesn't know will not hurt them. Ashara chose her direction. I simply gave her some advice — and my contact information."

"I knew I liked you for a reason," Revan said wryly. Carth frowned. "Don't look at me like that."

"I really don't think … that can't be safe."

"I'm not going to be a Jedi Master that forces others to follow the Code," Thaymina said. "Ashara made her choice and assured me that her mind was clear on the matter. Is it safe for her? No, but neither is it safe for me, or for her new master, or for anyone else in the galaxy. I am looking to build paths that may allow us to settle the matter diplomatically, however unlikely that is."

"Suggestion: Diplomacy is often inefficient," HK interrupted. "Blasting troublesome meatbags is always preferable."

"Thank you, HK," Revan said.

"Is it actually HK-47?" Thaymina asked. The droid bristled.

"Statement: I am the original, first-model HK-47. All inferior models have been deleted. Threat: Inquire again, and I might delete a meatbag in this room."

"Right, forget I asked."

Revan sighed heavily. "Don't worry, HK. With the way this war is going to go, you'll have plenty of meatbags to blast."

"Statement: You always know just what to say, Master."