A/N: in which rei is a smartass, cori isn't as sneaky as she thinks, and zaara is sad about her friends

tbh I lowkey love this part in-game and how it differs depending on faction. anyway irl things have calmed down so hopefully I can get back to posting about once a week

"You found Revan?"

"Mm. Somewhere about…" Frowning as she pulled up the map display, Rei searched for the area she and Andronikos had been to the day before. It had been late when they'd finally returned from the temple — the thick jungle meant speeders were practically useless — but Rei had wanted to explain the situation to Marr before telling the others.

If she told the others. It could be advantageous to hold onto the information and investigate further.

She finally found the general area the temple was at, pointing to the clearing. "Around here. She wants the Revanites gone as much as we do."

Marr stared at the map in silence for several moments before zooming out on the display, keeping the temple clearing marked. It was far to the north east of the camp, in the opposite direction of the outposts they'd already established. "I believe I know what lies in the wilds beyond our forward camp," he revealed. "If my suspicions are proven correct, I would ask that you accompany the Wrath to investigate."

"Depends on what your suspicions are." Crossing her arms, Rei ran through a mental list of the Reclamation Service teams she'd called to Yavin 4; most had yet to arrive, but the teams from Dromund Kaas had been on the moon longer than Rei herself. "But, either way, I'll have the temple looked into. If I can't oversee it myself, I'll send my lieutenant."

"I'd advise sending your lieutenant. It appears we may have stumbled across the training grounds for the Imperial Guard."

Rei's eyes widened in surprise. That would be far more interesting than the temple, she was certain. "At this rate, we'll have all the Emperor's secrets by the time we're done with Revan." Before she could say more, Satele made her way into the back section of the camp, followed closely by Cori. Rei switched off the map display as they approached, grateful that, at least, T'sereen wasn't anywhere in sight. "Grandmaster," she greeted, voice saccharine. "Will this be it, or is your Barsen'thor joining us?"

"No, Master Neiri is needed elsewhere today," Satele answered smoothly, the barest trace of annoyance flickering across her expression. "We can begin as soon as our agents arrive."

One day, Rei would find a way past Satele's practiced calm.

But until then, she supposed she would have to at least try to cooperate. Suppressing the urge to pace, she tapped her fingers along the edge of the conference table; Rei wasn't sure what was worse — how long all the waiting and planning and negotiating was taking, or the fact that they had to manage it all with the Republic analyzing their every move.

She knew from experience that Sith were hardly the most trustworthy of allies, but it wasn't as if they would always default to betrayal.

If she and Marr and Lana and Evris could all work together, surely they could handle working with a few Jedi.

Though, she supposed, it was likely the Republic forces were being treated with just as much suspicion. Rei knew there had to be a way to force the two sides to cooperate — though she didn't have any idea how — because if they didn't, they'd still be arguing in the camp when Revan brought the Emperor back.

Arguing with Satele probably wasn't helping their situation, either. Not that Rei was going to stop arguing with her.

Luckily, it wasn't much longer before Zaara and Theron arrived — the silence at the conference table was beginning to slip from uncomfortable to outright awkward — and they could begin. Theron had a stack of datapads and Zaara held a cup of caf in each hand, both agents looking a bit overwhelmed; judging by the circles beneath Zaara's eyes, Rei half wondered if both cups were for her.

But she handed one off to Theron, keeping the second for herself and pinching at the bridge of her nose before sighing and beginning. "We nearly lost the second outpost last night after pulling Evris back. One of the sensors was dug up by the wildlife and we just got the new sensor online. Looking at what we're picking up, it's…" Grimacing as she trailed off, Zaara shook her head. "Things certainly won't be getting easier."

"Plenty of solid structures," Theron clarified. "Ruins, mostly, and what looks like a couple of temples. And there's the massassi — we knew they'd be an issue, but it's a lot worse than we expected."

"Massassi?" Cori echoed.

"Native species," Rei scoffed, giving a little wave of her hand as if it were an obvious fact. "They share their ancestry with modern pureblooded Sith. Aggressive species, fascinating language." In truth, she hadn't heard of the massassi either until the night before, when Talos had confirmed the origins of a writing sample Rei had collected from Revan's temple. Evidently, her fifteen minutes of light research was paying off.

Hands clasped behind his back, Marr nodded slowly. "Nox is correct — the massassi are incredibly aggressive. This will make further investigations into the wilds difficult."

He continued on, discussing something about structures and signal ranges, but Rei was only half-listening; only marginally concerned about interrupting, she skirted around the table to stand beside Theron. "Temples?" she questioned, voice nearly a whisper. She held out a hand and wiggled her fingers expectantly, grabbing the datapad as soon as he offered it to her.

Rei scanned the information, most of it making little sense but some of it — the important parts — perfectly clear. Of the large structures that the sensors had picked up, only one mattered, and Rei suspected Marr had come to the same conclusions as she was.

He'd already guessed that the Guard's training facilities were somewhere in the jungle below, but the scans and the architecture practically confirmed it. Someone would have to go in person, of course, just to check, and Rei would be more than happy to volunteer.

Some Sith were more than content to honor the Emperor's secrets, but she was not one of them.

Her premature celebration was abruptly interrupted as Theron reached around her to hand a datapad off to Zaara. "What is this? It's encoded." The question was directed at Marr.

"I could have SCORPIO take—"

"No," Marr interrupted. "That privilege belongs to the Imperial Guard alone. It seems we've discovered one of their training facilities."

Evidently, illusive knowledge of Imperial broadcast signals were just as useful as Rei's not-inconsiderable knowledge on historical trends in Sith architecture.

Rei gave a short sigh and tossed the datapad she was holding onto the table. While she was glad for the chance to get out and do something, she was also conflicted on Marr's response; if it were up to her, they'd be taking the chance to learn whatever they could about the elusive Guard. She didn't suppose Marr would agree. "Good. I'll alert the Wrath and we'll head out. Zaara can monitor our progress."

Marr nodded stiffly. "Agreed." Turning to Satele, he added, "Given the nature of the task and the high probability of sensitive information within the facility, Nox and I have prepared an Imperial team to investigate. Any information related to the task at hand will, of course, be shared."

"Right," Theron challenged, "unless it's sensitive?"

"It's unlikely we'll find anything useful as far as hard data goes," Zaara spoke up, placing a hand on her hip. "It'll be more reliable to bring someone back for questioning. Alive, please, Nox," she added, turning to Rei, "and without any lost limbs this time."

"Thanks for clarifying." She rolled her eyes; that particular incident had happened nearly a year before and really wasn't worth holding a grudge over anymore. "If that's everything, I should get going. We'll send anything relevant to Zaara and find someone to question."

"Absolutely not," Satele argued coldly. "If there is any questioning to be done, it will not be at Imperial hands."

Marr didn't seem fazed. "We can discuss specifics when Nox returns."

"No, she's right," Rei mused, fighting to hold back a grin, "since the Jedi are so well known for their incredibly successful interrogations, and Sith are notorious for failing to adequately reprimand members of their own order. Or — wait, I may have gotten that backwards."

Zaara rolled her eyes. "Just — leave before I adequately reprimand you."

"Hey, slow down, alright? We've got time." Kira surveyed the area in front of them before adding, "We've got time, right, Theron?"

"Yeah, probably. Nox left just a few minutes ago. Not sure about Darth Evris."

Turning back to where Kira, Major Sohms, and Jorgan were trailing behind her, Cori forced herself to slow her pace. She didn't like the mission. The fact that they were fighting their way into a training facility for the Imperial Guard was bad enough — the fact that they were doing it despite telling the Empire they wouldn't was even worse.

The overwhelming Revanite presence wasn't helping, either.

"I thought you said Nox was leaving a while ago?" Davri questioned, coming to a stop beside Kira.

The comm line was silent for a moment. "I thought she was. We talked for a bit earlier and I guess she still had some stuff to take care of afterwards."

Cori was about to suggest they keep moving — just because they had time didn't mean they should waste it — when Kira snickered. "You talked? Was it a particularly exciting conversation?"

"Incredibly," Theron responded flatly. "I learned all about the superiority of Imperial caf."

"First off," Davri began, making a face, "I don't even want to know what that's about. Second, Nox is right about caf. The Empire does it better. Third, I think we're finally in sight of the entrance." She pointed past Cori to one of the temple corners, where the temple entrance was now clearly visible. "If we wait till this patrol passes, we should be able to get in unseen. Or, more unseen than— You know what I mean."

The group managed to make it into the temple without drawing any more Revanite attention. As they moved through the twisting hallway at the entrance, Cori held a hand out to stop them. "There's someone up ahead," she warned, lightsaber already in hand.

"Multiple someones," Kira added.

They descended deeper into the temple, finding bodies of both Revanites and Imperial Guards in nearly every hallway and room. The bright uniform of the Guard sent shivers along Cori's spine; she'd hoped that the first time she'd seen those uniforms a year and a half ago on Dromund Kaas would also be the last time.

After several minutes of walking, they finally emerged into a large central atrium, where they found a handful of the Imperial Guard — the ones she and Kira had sensed earlier, Cori assumed. One of them addressed the others, ranting about Revan and the Emperor and sacrifice. His words turned to accusations and threats as he turned to face their group.

Cori held out a hand, hoping to calm him. "We're not here for… any of that," she assured him. "We just have questions. We need to know what happened here."

"Sacrifice," he insisted. "Die by their hand, die by yours — it doesn't matter. We all belong to him, in the end." With that final threat, he leapt.

Already anticipating his moves, Cori easily blocked his first strike. Blaster fire rang out from behind her and she caught the yellow burn of Kira's lightsaber from the corner of her vision. Between the four of them, they had little trouble holding off the remnants of the guard; there was only one guard and the commandant Cori was still engaged with when she became aware of a new presence behind them. A red lightsaber hissed through the air, slicing neatly into the remaining guard. The commandant flew backwards, crashing into the wall of the temple.

Cori looked back to find both Evris and Nox at the entrance, accompanied by Ashara and Quinn. The dread she'd felt that morning returned; if it had just been Lys that had discovered them, it would've been fine. They were friends. She could talk to her, Lys would understand. But Nox — Cori still didn't completely trust Nox. She'd been nothing but trustworthy and reliable since arriving on Rishi, but as she'd said herself — their goals had aligned. With this, with their interests at odds with each other, Cori couldn't be certain she could still rely on Nox.

"Should I find it admirable that the Republic tried to cross us," the rattataki mused, her voice like ice, "or find it cute you thought you'd actually succeed?"

Lys held out a hand to stop Nox, her saber snapping shut as she crossed the room. "I trust you have an explanation, Master Cori?"

"Of course, Darth Evris." The title felt strange on her lips; Cori wasn't used to such formality with Lys. Then again, she'd never stood between the Wrath and her goal. "Imperial interests or not, this is an alliance. This isn't a task you should've had to undertake alone. Our intent wasn't to deceive, but to help." Cori was pleading now, in expression if not in words; everyone gathered knew the answer was far simpler, but We didn't trust the Sith wasn't an explanation that would help.

She frowned. "Intention or not, we were deceived. It—" She was cut off by the continued ranting of the commandant.

Lys merely scowled in his direction, but Nox gave a frustrated groan. "Tell me, Captain, that you have a sedative or something to shut him up? My solution would be a bit more permanent, and I'm afraid Zaara was quite insistent that we bring him in alive."

Quinn offered a sharp nod and quick of course, my lord before attending to the commandant. With the guard silenced, Nox turned back to the Republic team. "We had to wonder, considering how thinned out the Revanite forces were. I assumed the Imperial Guard had actually made a stand, but I see that wasn't the case. If I were you, I would leave," she suggested, "and perhaps try to explain this to Marr before I get back and suggest we force the Republic out of Imperial space."

Cori motioned for the others to follow, glad that both Davri and Kira remained quiet. They were nearly to the entrance when Theron spoke over their comm line. "I'm guessing that didn't end well?"

"Could've gone worse," Kira admitted quietly. "Never thought I'd say this, but — I'm thinking Marr's our best chance at keeping this alliance intact."

There were, Zaara supposed, worse ways to end a mission.

All things considered, the only real loss from the Republic intervention was Imperial trust which, honestly, hadn't exactly been abundant to begin with. Besides, she couldn't exactly claim she wouldn't have done the same thing, if the situations were reversed. As it was, she'd already spent more than a few hours trying to tap into Republic communications — with varying success.

Although, she hadn't been caught.

Not that any of that mattered. Once both teams finally returned, the nominal amount of cooperation they'd achieved would vanish, and they'd be lucky if they got anything done. What was it that Rei had said? About that Sith thing where we don't tell anyone what we're planning and just take care of it ourselves?

Zaara could work with that.

Leaving Lana in charge — she'd spent all morning coordinating supply runs for their outpost camps, but could handle their team for a few moments — Zaara left the Imperial side of the camp, fending off the few questions she received. If she simply sat and waited for the teams to return, they'd spend the rest of the evening listening to Marr's accusations and Satele's self-righteous defense. Zaara already knew she'd disagree with whatever excuse the Republic had, and blindly agreeing with Marr and the rest of the Sith was an unnerving thought.

Soldiers and Jedi alike moved for Zaara as she stormed across the camp, no one stopping her to question as she headed straight towards the Republic camp. Having a reputation could be better than anonymity on occasion, she supposed.

"So, whose idea was it?" she asked, certain she didn't need to clarify as she approached Theron. "Yours? Satele's? Or Davri's? This does seem like something the Major would be in favor of."

"Tell me, at least, that you see the irony in this?" He didn't bother looking up at her. "The Imperial spy giving a lecture on trust and not going behind your allies' backs?"

"I'm not—" Zaara cut off with a short sigh; she wasn't doing a very good job of smoothing things over. "I'm sorry," she offered, hoping it sounded sincere despite how terse the words were. "I suppose I've gotten comfortable working with you. Add that to the fact that Cori is my sister, and it makes things rather stressful when we end up on opposing sides."

There was a painful amount of truth to her words — the more they worked together, the harder Zaara's job would become in the future. For a moment, it was easy to miss being nameless, identified only through her rank and with hardly any relationships to speak of, and certainly none that could be compromising.

She'd found a friend in Theron, and she hated that it was such a melancholy sort of statement.

"Nox sent your team back first. She wants to stay and clean up and look around and… I don't really want to know, honestly," Zaara explained. "If you can keep your team busy, I can explain things to Marr and Lana, and hopefully by the time everyone's back things will have calmed down."

Theron turned to look at her, running a hand through his hair. "And if things don't calm down?"

A dozen responses flitted through Zaara's mind, from Then we're all dead to Then it's your problem. She held back, not wanting to let her frustration get the better of her a second time, and offered simply, "They have to. We don't have a choice."