Niki (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
niki_chidon) wrote2010-02-14 10:37 pm
niki_chidon) wrote2010-02-14 10:37 pm
Fic: Nights of the Old Republic 23/? (KotOR, femRevan/Carth)
Title: Nights of the Old Republic (23/?): Trapped
Author: Niki
Fandom: SW: KotOR
Disclaimer: Still not mine.
Notes: I take some liberties with the dialogue and story lines... even some characters. This is called ’creative licence’ aka ’so I didn’t remember the exact wording of that line’ aka ’but it made no SENSE in the game’.
Previous parts: Prologue, Chapter 1, Interlude, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter 20 and Chapter 21
Chapter 22: Trapped
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Everything they had spoke of, all the promises Carth had made seemed to vanish into thin air when they realised Leviathan was on their tail. Shin could see the fire of revenge in his eyes again, and feared for his life.
Bastila, too, was worried but mostly about his focus.
”Sister, if you think we'll ever get out of that ship without killing its captain, you have another thing coming!” Carth fumed.
”We don't have much time,” Shin reminded. ”We need to come up with a plan.”
Think, woman... Shin knew Saul Karath would concentrate on Bastila, Carth, and maybe herself – after all, they were the three people described on those datapads the dark Jedi hunting them had. That took them out of the equation. So who to trust with freeing them all?
Mission could very likely do it but Shin's protective instincts worked overtime when it came to her. Jolee Bindo she didn't know well enough to trust, and Juhani... she just couldn't bring herself to trust her that completely either. Canderous could do it but would he get a chance? A big bad mandalorian would surely be guarded heavily.
It was not a real contest, in the end.
”Hey, pet,” she said, turning to look at HK-47. ”I'm counting on you.”
”Statement: I am ready, master!”
- - -
Well, she had been right. It was painful to see Karath and Carth interacting. Carth's scream when Karath showed off the torture possibilities of their cells was even more painful.
She still had time to wonder about Karath's attitude towards herself. It was like the man expected her to know him, to know Malak. And there was that hint to her ”flexible loyalties”. What was that all about?
His interrogation also felt unreal, somehow. Their side had to know the answers to all the questions he was asking already, and it made no sense if they were to be killed anyway.
Shin knew she could stand some pain, if only to deny Admiral Karath the pleasure of... no!
How could he have latched onto her one weakness? Carth. Seeing, hearing Carth in pain brought her to her knees (and she could swear she felt his pain...) but only physically. She couldn't let it break her.
She wouldn't betray his faith in her. ”My pain is meaningless!” he had shouted, and she had to believe him.
The news of the destruction of the Jedi Academy on Dantooine hit them hard. From Bastila's posture behind the forcefield that trapped them Shin realised she believed it fully. And if Bastila believed it, so would Shin.
Still she wouldn't talk.
She knew Karath wouldn't stop the torture even if she did – it was obvious he was enjoying it too much. But he'd never know how close she'd been to cracking, Carth's every shout breaking her heart.
In the end he passed out from the pain, and his former friend merely remarked how surprising it had been for him to survive that long. Karath gave up with the questioning but told the guards to go on with the torture, just as a taste of what was to come.
The pain hit Shin from inside and out – the attack on their nerves opened the link between her and Bastila and every sensation was doubled, both through the bond and in the Force, and the pain... painpainpain... then, blessed oblivion.
- - -
”Don't try to move too quickly, you might not be fully recovered yet.” Bastila's voice was the first thing Shin heard when she slowly came to, her whole body aching.
”Admiral Karath had his guards continue to torture you even after you passed out,” she explained, and Shin sat up slowly, looking around. She could feel Bastila's concerned gaze from the cell next to hers, and just make out Carth's form in the cell behind hers.
”You guys okay?” she asked, and disliked how weak her voice sounded.
”Are we...? Shin, are you okay?” Carth asked.
”I'm fine. I'm just so sorry...” she started, closing her eyes, remembering Carth's shouts of pain.
”No. There's no reason in the world for you to be sorry. It wasn't you hurting me,” Carth said insistently.
”It tore me apart seeing you in so much pain.”
”I have to confess there was a moment – just a moment – when part of me was hoping that you would tell him what he wanted to know. Just to make the horrible pain stop.”
Shin met his eyes through the distance, Bastila in the middle completely forgotten. ”I almost did. But...” she tried to grin. ”I knew you wouldn't respect me in the morning.”
His quiet laugh felt like kolto to her system.
Suddenly there were blaster shots from the other side of the door, and in a second it opened, revealing HK-47 looking as smug as a droid with unmoving facial bits could.
It opened their cells, and while Carth thanked it in words, Shin hugged it, kissing its forehead. ”I'll steal you an even bigger gun, pet!” she promised.
She then turned to look at Carth, standing there in his Republic issue underwear. She'd never seen him... even when they'd... She rested her hand on his cheek.
”Are you okay?” she sent a wave of Force healing through his body, even though she knew all he was suffering from at the moment were the memories of the pain.
”I am now,” he smiled, covering her hand with his in a gesture that was fast becoming familiar.
”We really should go,” Bastila said, in a manner one coughs to remind people they are in the room.
”If I remember the layout correctly, we should find our gear over here,” Carth said, leading the way after they had freed the rest of their companions from a cell nearby.
”We really have gathered a lot of stuff,” Shin said, staring at the pile of their belongings that had been dumped into a storage room. ”And is that... HK, is that a corpse?”
She stared at a soggy mess that looked like it had been a viper kinrath once.
”Explanation: You told me to pick it up on Kashyyyk, master,” HK said. ”Clarification: You never told me to get rid of it.”
Shin remembered asking HK to pick up a few freshly killed kinraths to bait the ”ceremonial beast” with, and they had only needed one for the job but... ”You mean you actually lugged it all the way to Ebok Hawk?”
She stared at the droid, then shook her head. ”Oh, never mind. Let's leave it to Malak.”
- - -
In the end it was decided that Shin, Bastila and Carth would try to reach the Bridge to release the Hawk the others would try to reclaim.
”I'm counting on you, pet!” Shin said as they were parting ways.
”Why thank you,” Canderous drawled.
”Correction: The Mandalorian meatbag will find that the Master was referring to me.”
”You keep him in his place, pet!”
- - - - - - - - - -
Continued in Chapter 23.
Author: Niki
Fandom: SW: KotOR
Disclaimer: Still not mine.
Notes: I take some liberties with the dialogue and story lines... even some characters. This is called ’creative licence’ aka ’so I didn’t remember the exact wording of that line’ aka ’but it made no SENSE in the game’.
Previous parts: Prologue, Chapter 1, Interlude, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter 20 and Chapter 21
Chapter 22: Trapped
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Everything they had spoke of, all the promises Carth had made seemed to vanish into thin air when they realised Leviathan was on their tail. Shin could see the fire of revenge in his eyes again, and feared for his life.
Bastila, too, was worried but mostly about his focus.
”Sister, if you think we'll ever get out of that ship without killing its captain, you have another thing coming!” Carth fumed.
”We don't have much time,” Shin reminded. ”We need to come up with a plan.”
Think, woman... Shin knew Saul Karath would concentrate on Bastila, Carth, and maybe herself – after all, they were the three people described on those datapads the dark Jedi hunting them had. That took them out of the equation. So who to trust with freeing them all?
Mission could very likely do it but Shin's protective instincts worked overtime when it came to her. Jolee Bindo she didn't know well enough to trust, and Juhani... she just couldn't bring herself to trust her that completely either. Canderous could do it but would he get a chance? A big bad mandalorian would surely be guarded heavily.
It was not a real contest, in the end.
”Hey, pet,” she said, turning to look at HK-47. ”I'm counting on you.”
”Statement: I am ready, master!”
- - -
Well, she had been right. It was painful to see Karath and Carth interacting. Carth's scream when Karath showed off the torture possibilities of their cells was even more painful.
She still had time to wonder about Karath's attitude towards herself. It was like the man expected her to know him, to know Malak. And there was that hint to her ”flexible loyalties”. What was that all about?
His interrogation also felt unreal, somehow. Their side had to know the answers to all the questions he was asking already, and it made no sense if they were to be killed anyway.
Shin knew she could stand some pain, if only to deny Admiral Karath the pleasure of... no!
How could he have latched onto her one weakness? Carth. Seeing, hearing Carth in pain brought her to her knees (and she could swear she felt his pain...) but only physically. She couldn't let it break her.
She wouldn't betray his faith in her. ”My pain is meaningless!” he had shouted, and she had to believe him.
The news of the destruction of the Jedi Academy on Dantooine hit them hard. From Bastila's posture behind the forcefield that trapped them Shin realised she believed it fully. And if Bastila believed it, so would Shin.
Still she wouldn't talk.
She knew Karath wouldn't stop the torture even if she did – it was obvious he was enjoying it too much. But he'd never know how close she'd been to cracking, Carth's every shout breaking her heart.
In the end he passed out from the pain, and his former friend merely remarked how surprising it had been for him to survive that long. Karath gave up with the questioning but told the guards to go on with the torture, just as a taste of what was to come.
The pain hit Shin from inside and out – the attack on their nerves opened the link between her and Bastila and every sensation was doubled, both through the bond and in the Force, and the pain... painpainpain... then, blessed oblivion.
- - -
”Don't try to move too quickly, you might not be fully recovered yet.” Bastila's voice was the first thing Shin heard when she slowly came to, her whole body aching.
”Admiral Karath had his guards continue to torture you even after you passed out,” she explained, and Shin sat up slowly, looking around. She could feel Bastila's concerned gaze from the cell next to hers, and just make out Carth's form in the cell behind hers.
”You guys okay?” she asked, and disliked how weak her voice sounded.
”Are we...? Shin, are you okay?” Carth asked.
”I'm fine. I'm just so sorry...” she started, closing her eyes, remembering Carth's shouts of pain.
”No. There's no reason in the world for you to be sorry. It wasn't you hurting me,” Carth said insistently.
”It tore me apart seeing you in so much pain.”
”I have to confess there was a moment – just a moment – when part of me was hoping that you would tell him what he wanted to know. Just to make the horrible pain stop.”
Shin met his eyes through the distance, Bastila in the middle completely forgotten. ”I almost did. But...” she tried to grin. ”I knew you wouldn't respect me in the morning.”
His quiet laugh felt like kolto to her system.
Suddenly there were blaster shots from the other side of the door, and in a second it opened, revealing HK-47 looking as smug as a droid with unmoving facial bits could.
It opened their cells, and while Carth thanked it in words, Shin hugged it, kissing its forehead. ”I'll steal you an even bigger gun, pet!” she promised.
She then turned to look at Carth, standing there in his Republic issue underwear. She'd never seen him... even when they'd... She rested her hand on his cheek.
”Are you okay?” she sent a wave of Force healing through his body, even though she knew all he was suffering from at the moment were the memories of the pain.
”I am now,” he smiled, covering her hand with his in a gesture that was fast becoming familiar.
”We really should go,” Bastila said, in a manner one coughs to remind people they are in the room.
”If I remember the layout correctly, we should find our gear over here,” Carth said, leading the way after they had freed the rest of their companions from a cell nearby.
”We really have gathered a lot of stuff,” Shin said, staring at the pile of their belongings that had been dumped into a storage room. ”And is that... HK, is that a corpse?”
She stared at a soggy mess that looked like it had been a viper kinrath once.
”Explanation: You told me to pick it up on Kashyyyk, master,” HK said. ”Clarification: You never told me to get rid of it.”
Shin remembered asking HK to pick up a few freshly killed kinraths to bait the ”ceremonial beast” with, and they had only needed one for the job but... ”You mean you actually lugged it all the way to Ebok Hawk?”
She stared at the droid, then shook her head. ”Oh, never mind. Let's leave it to Malak.”
- - -
In the end it was decided that Shin, Bastila and Carth would try to reach the Bridge to release the Hawk the others would try to reclaim.
”I'm counting on you, pet!” Shin said as they were parting ways.
”Why thank you,” Canderous drawled.
”Correction: The Mandalorian meatbag will find that the Master was referring to me.”
”You keep him in his place, pet!”
- - - - - - - - - -
Continued in Chapter 23.