Carth Onasi Comes Home ch54

Jolee greeted them at the landing pad. The moment Canderous saw the old mans grim expression he felt his chest tighten. Even with Bastila's reassurance Revan was okay he wasn't going to believe it until he actually saw the woman. 

"I won't beat about the bush, things are bad," Jolee said gruffly. His brown eyes looked meaningfully around before he added, "Better to talk in private though. Local authorities are snooping around."

"What about Father?" Dustil interjected, half extending one hand in the mans direction. 

"Alive. And the rest you'll find out in private. No arguments." 

Jolee led them through port towards the docking bay the Raptor was berthed in. The droids brought up the rear of the party. Along the way Canderous saw more than a few uniformed security guards patrolling the corridor. Each man wore a heavy a blaster at their hip and carried a large carbine rifle over their shoulders. There was a wariness about the guards, and a gruffness when they approached people demanding to inspect their cargo or vessels. 

"They've nosed around a few times. Thankfully they are easily suggestible," Jolee softly said when he caught where the Mandalorians attention focused. To himself, Canderous thought the guards were little more than rank amateurs. 

Once aboard the Raptor Jolee led them to the ships small infirmary. Zaalbar stood outside the door, arms crossed over his chest leaning against the bulkhead. Straightening the wookie chuffed a sorrowful greeting. He dropped his arms to his side, shoulders slumped. 

"Your portable bacta tank proved useful," Jolee told Bastila, his fingers going to the control panel. The door opened with a whisper. 

"Revan," Bastila said then put a hand to her mouth. 

Revan was either unconscious or asleep. Either way Canderous decided it was for the best. She floated in the greenish bacta fluid, a respirator clamped to her face providing the oxygen which filled her lungs. In deference of modesty Revan had been left wearing a small pair of shorts but nothing else. 

Even through the haze of the tank the burns looked bad. Canderous could see places where muscle showered beneath the ruins of flesh. The entirety of Revan's right arm had been torched by fire. 

"Carth and Mission, they've been taken hostage by the man who did this," Jolee said. Bastila walked to the tank and pressed her fingers to the shell. 

"Who would that be?" asked Canderous. 

"He went by the name Lassiter Osh, though I can't say that's his real name. Showed up on Wayland not long after you lot left. Claimed to have been a youngling at the Temple with Revan and that probably isn't true either. No doubt Revan knew him, she said his presence was familiar, I just don't think the man was what he claimed to be," Jolee said gruffly. His hand dipped into a pouch on his belt. From inside the old man pulled out a small holoprojector and tossed it.

Canderous caught the disk from the air and switched it on. A cluster of smiling children hovered in the air.

"That's Revan and Malak," Bastila explained looking at the hologram, nodding at the young pair amid the others. Canderous saw a hint of the woman in the small slender face of the girl in the hologram. 

"Supposedly that is Lassiter Osh," added Jolee jabbing a finger at the blonde boy on the edge of the group. But Bastila was shaking her head. 

"No. He was never in their clan," Bastila said peering over Canderous' arm to study the holopic. "When Revan was in stasis I - I studied as much of her life as the Council would allow. No one by the name of Lassiter Osh ever appeared in the records."

"Can't say I'm surprised. He knew Revan, but I can't imagine they were allies," Jolee said gruffly. 

"You think they met when she was a Sith?" Dustil asked from the doorway.

Jolee sighed and shrugged. "I'm sorry sonny. We're have to hope Revan remembers something when she comes to. Lassiter hasn't made contact and I can't find any trace of where he went. If we're going to have any chance of getting your father or Mission back, it depends on Revan's memory."

The Wager raced through hyperspace, carrying its passengers towards the desolate wastes of Nam Chorios. Lassiter didn't dare return directly to Dromund Kass  without Revan as his prisoner. She was probably the only prize which would take the price off his own head. Nam Chorios offered him the place to make an exchange with Jedi, her freedom for the lives of Carth Onasi and Mission Vao. There were people there who owed him favors and he planned on calling them in.

Lassiter sloshed the whiskey in his glass and looked sourly at the control panel. Though he walked out of Czerka with the upper hand he felt bitter about the way events went down. The rim of the glass came to his lips where his hand paused. His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Revan caught on to his lie and he wondered where he slipped up. Tipping the glass he took a mouthful of whiskey, grimacing as he swallowed.

Turning away from those thoughts Lassiter considered his prisoners. Carth was secure in the restraint cage. Since Mission saw how willing he was to inflict pain on her friend the little twi'lek became very cooperative. The battle droid purchased last minute upon arriving to Gizer kept her under guard in the unused crew quarters.

They were suitably contained. But Lassiter felt resentment creeping in. All his carefully laid plans had gone wrong, unraveling in mere seconds. Though the situation favored him, it was some not some smart mouthed twi'lek or Revan's lover he wanted. He should be returning to Dromund Kass a victor instead of fleeing to Nam Chorios. 

Without considering what he was going to say Lassiter strode from the cockpit to the cargo bay to visit Carth Onasi. It pleased him no end to see the annoyance in those dark brown eyes when Carth looked up from the floor of the small cell. 

"Just thought I'd let you know we're heading to some old acquaintances on Nam Chorios," Lassiter said smiling. Carth rolled his eyes but otherwise ignored him.

"Come now Admiral, show some civility," scolded Lassiter. He watched the other man, who made no effort to stand, resolutely turn his face away. A little smirk tugged Lassiter's mouth into a grin. "Worried about Revan are you?"

Silence. 

"She is alive. The fate of your child I do not know. But come now, you know how tough Revan is. She survived my interrogations back at the Emperor's palace."

"You tortured Revan?"

The way it was spoken, with incredulous anger, gave Lassiter a sense of satisfaction. He rolled his shoulders, flexing, with a put on expression of humility. 

"I prefer the term interrogated. The Emperor was most keen to learn what she and Malak knew. All the valuable secrets of the Republic and the Jedi. They were the most challenging people I'd ever had the pleasure to question. Revan was admirably strong."

"You're a monster," Carth sneered. 

"I couldn't begin to hope to achieve what Darth Revan did Admiral. There's the real monster."

Carth shook his head and turned away again. It was obvious the man was trying hard not to rise to the bait. By the way he clenched his fists, knuckles going white, Lassiter surmised there was some control issues when it came to anger.  

"That wasn't her. You broke her, turned her to the Dark Side. Revan would never have done those things if you hadn't tortured her," Carth said through clenched teeth.

"Me? I didn't turn her Admiral. Yes, I tortured her but it was not I who brought her to the Dark Side. That was Malak."