Title: A Dangerous Gift
Fandom: Star Wars: The Old Republic
Rating: Teen
Length: 2285 Words
Content warnings: Imprisonment, dubious consent at the very best, talk of brainwashing. Spoilers for the Sith Inquisitor storyline on Alderaan.
Characters: OC (Male Sith Inquisitor,) Andronikos Revel, Rehanna Rist/Nomar Organa
Summary: The Sith engineers a reunion of sorts between two lost lovers.
(Notes at the end of the fic.)

---

It was just too easy.

Nomar Organa fell to the cave floor, his robes singed by lightning and saber strikes; he'd fought hard, but he'd been no match for Baar's raw power. The man's limbs were still shaking from one particularly nasty shock, his saber broken against the cave wall after a particularly bad convulsion. His mouth was clenched shut, but Baar didn't see any blood; he probably hadn't bitten his tongue or cheek, and he didn't see any broken bones or missing limbs. Of course, internal injuries were always a concern. He would have to check.

Andronikos knelt down next to the Jedi, touching his throat; Baar started to say something, but stopped when he realized he was checking his pulse. "Hm," the pirate said, glancing up. "Still alive, Sith. Want me to finish him off?"

Well, that wasn't a surprise. Still, Baar was glad for the mask he'd inherited from his ancestor; he liked not having to hide his expression all the bloody time. And he didn't want to frown at Andronikos; it was a perfectly reasonable question. In other circumstances it would have been an excellent question. "No," he said instead, keeping his voice even. Ever since they'd left the Rist estates, he had been considering what to do after facing this man, should the Jedi survive the encounter. "I have another idea."

"Huh. Thought you guys liked killing Jedi." Andronikos stood up, shrugging a bit. "So what's the plan?"

Baar knelt down, quickly checking over the Jedi's limp body. Finding no open wounds or visible internal bleeding, he reached down and picked him up, throwing him over his shoulder. He was a strong enough man, and there was armor under his robes, but Baar's primary duties as a slave had involved hard labor; this was far from the heaviest load he'd ever carried. It might've been difficult if Nomar had been conscious, but he barely even flinched as Baar lifted him. "This will take some time to prepare. First, we need to find a place where the Kiliks won't interfere. Let's go."

"Those bugs are idiots if they try to bother us, after all the ones we've killed," Andronikos said dismissively.

"There are about to be others involved." He looked to Andronikos. "Keep your eyes open for ambushes, and have the holocomm ready. I'll explain once we're on safer ground."

---

Nomar was out for a long time - plenty time to finish their preparations, to find a safe place far enough out of the nest to provide some safety and make a few calls. The hardest part was the waiting.

Finally, the Jedi shifted in his bonds, breathing heavily through gritted teeth. He was standing against the base of a cliff wall, fortunately a plentiful feature of Alderaan's landscape. Dark energy encircled his hands and feet, holding him upright.

"It took you long enough," Baar said as he started to move, and watched him jerk his head upwards, his eyes narrowed. "You nearly hit your head against the wall. You should be more mindful of your surroundings, Jedi."

"I won't be lectured by a Sith," he said, closing his eyes again. "So what is it to be? I can withstand any torture that you inflict upon me, so if that is your intent, I wouldn't bother. Your time would be better served by killing me now."

"I'm not here to torture you. And if I wanted you dead, you'd be dead in that cave."

"So why am I here then? What have you done to me?" He glared at Baar. "Are you going to hurt me like you did Rehanna?"

Baar wanted to say something to that, but he didn't get the chance; just as he thought of something to say, he could hear the crackle of energy, the deactivation of a stealth field. He turned to the familiar woman. "You arrived just in time, Lady Rist," he said, amused.

She glared at him. "I'm not here to listen to your taunts," she said.

"Of course." And he turned his head, looking back at the Jedi. "I know why you're here. I wanted you to have a chance to talk to him."

She stared at Nomar for a moment, and Baar could see the emotions flashing through her mind, the current of anger and fear running alongside passion and joy. "I was sure that you were going to kill him," she said after a moment.

Baar didn't answer that. What could he say? Most Sith would've killed a fallen Jedi as soon as they had hit the ground, and maybe Baar wasn't the best at being Sith; he'd never asked to be Sith, after all, so him not being the best at it wasn't too surprising. But he didn't need to kill the Jedi; he was beaten. And if he could subvert him instead, it would carry out the same objective... and perhaps gain him an ally among Ulgo's forces that the Empire could use, later.

"Rehanna," Nomar finally said, seeming to have recovered from seeing her appear. "You... you shouldn't have come here."

"Because you don't want to see me again? Or because he was the one who brought me here?" She did not yet approach him, only studying him from a distance. "I... I know I did a terrible thing, bringing you here. When he said you were alive, I thought it might be a chance to make amends. Or an ambush, I suppose... but I've handled ambushes before."

"Rehanna, you have to let me go. Get me out of this place. I have to go back, before they come and find me. The Order knows where I've gone, they'll be searching for me."

"You're lying." Rehanna spoke before Baar could say the same. "You didn't tell the other Jedi that you were coming to see me. They wouldn't have let you come alone, if they'd known the situation."

"They'll still come searching for me! And this is my home planet, of course they'll think to look here. You've already been involved in this once, I... I don't want to see you dragged any deeper into this. I can't let this hurt you any further."

She smiled - no cruelty there that Baar could see, just hope. "I did not think you would still care when I first called you. If there is any good in this, I am at least glad to see I was wrong."

Nomar froze, realizing that he had said too much. "Rehanna, I can't."

"Nomar -"

"I can't," he says again, too quickly, turning his head away. "I... there's no room for passion in a Jedi's heart. I can't be what you want, I'm not..."

Baar turned to look at Rehanna, lowering his voice so that Nomar couldn't hear. If he convinced Rehanna to release him now then he would have to kill them both, as well as the others that he had suggested Rehanna bring with her, who were no doubt hidden in the shadows. And all of the work would have been for nothing. "Look at him," he says softly to the stateswoman, lowering his voice. "Look at what the Jedi have done to him. They have indoctrinated him so utterly and completely that he is denying what he felt for you."

"You..." She looked at him again, her hostility starting to fade. "He always said he had a higher purpose. That the Jedi were protectors, that they had to prevent others from causing harm... that was what he was meant to do."

"At what cost, Rehanna? Tell me this - is he the same man that he was when you were together?"

Rehanna turned to look at him, taking a deep breath. "No," she said softly. "He's not. And I can't let them twist his mind any further."

Nomar stared at her, her eyes wide. "What are you saying? He's twisting your mind, you can't possibly -"

"Can't what, Nomar?" Her voice wasn't cruel, but there was a fire in it now, the fire that one would expect from a woman trying to reclaim something she had lost. "Fight for what I love, the way I should have fought before? I thought that I was doing the right thing, letting you go, but... but they've changed you, they've made you nothing more than another automaton, like the old men that you and I used to joke about when we were young."

"It's not like that! I... I care about you, I loved you then and that was why I had to -" His mouth snapped shut, as he seemed to realize what he said.

Her reaction was not lost on Baar; she probably remembered every word of what had happened that day, had probably replayed it over and over again. "You said then that it wasn't your choice, Nomar. That the Jedi made you leave."

He shut his eyes, his shoulders slumping, defeated. "They said... I had to choose," he said. "I loved you, Rehanna, but they said that... I had to leave if I wanted to be a Jedi. And my family said that we needed the Republic, so that there could be peace on Alderaan. So I had to be Jedi. Even if it meant..."

"...breaking my heart," she finished for him when he did not. She stepped closer to him, her vibrosword still holstered, her gaze softening. "So you hid behind the Jedi, as you hide behind their words now. Aren't you tired of hiding? Are we truly any closer to peace because of these lies, Nomar? Can't we... can't we be honest with each other again, like we were before?"

"Rehanna," he said again, and there was something else in his voice. Baar had been right; he did still feel something, even if he had forced it down. And under the circumstances, when he was bound and at bay... he had no choice but to be honest about it.

She leaned up and kissed the old Knight on lips, and he didn't try to pull away. He started to kiss her back, his body shaking slightly...

Baar smiled behind his mask, and turned to Andronikos, who had been watching the whole thing curiously. He gestured him to follow. The pirate raised an eyebrow, glancing back at the couple, but then shrugged and followed, leaving the others behind.

---

They were quite a distance away from the cliff wall when Andronikos finally spoke. "I take it you left the controls for whatever you were using to keep him tied up with her?"

"I gave her a code. She'll decide when to use it."

"Hm. Dangerous, leaving them alone. He might still try to talk his way out of this."

Baar nodded. "Maybe so," he admitted. "But this will keep them busy, if nothing else. And Lady Rist is a very intelligent woman; I do not doubt she would take precautions -"

The holocomm beeped. "Heh. Guess we'll find out," Andronikos said.

"Indeed." Baar answered the call, wondering which of the two were going to be on the other end. If it was Nomar - which would've meant he was free and had killed or subdued the others around him - he would have to handle him in a more permanent way, after all.

Fortunately it was Rehanna who answered. "Nomar is being transported to one of our secluded estates," she said without preamble. "My men and I have to get him there before anyone else realizes what happened."

Baar nodded. "So you did heed my instructions?"

"Of course. I wouldn't have come alone even if I hadn't. And I know what Jedi are capable of. I'll be careful. But I still have some hope that we can get something back of the man he used to be." She took a deep breath. "I didn't think I would every say this to you, but... thank you."

"There's no need for thanks. I've given you a dangerous gift. Take my advice and be cautious."

"I can handle it. Not many receive a second change at love. I just hope that someday he'll appreciate it as much as I do."

Andronikos shook his head as the comm clicked off. "Seems like an awful lot of trouble for so little reward."

"I consider it an investment," Baar answered, shaking his head. "This will keep him busy, at least long enough for me to get off of this planet with the artifact. Either the Jedi will lose one of its Knights, or this arrangement will spark conflict between Organa and Rist that will weaken their allies in the Republic, as well as Rist's allies in House Ulgo. Either way, the Empire gains an advantage."

"And here I thought you were a softie and just wanted to get those two together again, Sith." Andronikos was smirking at him.

Baar had to laugh, even under the mask. "Can't it be both?"

Andronikos chuckled at that, and let the matter drop. "We're nearly done here now, right? Alderaan's got nice scenery and all, but it'd be nice to be back somewhere a little more modern."

"We'll be back in Thul's lands soon. We can finish our task here as soon as we can reach our contact."

"Sounds good."

Baar nodded in agreement. He had not done a good thing there, no matter how it might end. At best, he'd captured an enemy and put him in the hands of another jailer, no matter how good her intentions might be. Maybe Andronikos was right, and he was being too sentimental. Maybe he was a fool for doing this. But... really, thinking of the look on Rehanna's face when she thanked him, and just how happy she was to have the chance again, he thought he might do it all again.

The two of them kept walking along the roads, back to the outpost.

---

Note: So I found out shortly after starting this that you can try to reunite these two in-game - I'd played Inquisitor a number of times and never saw the opportunity arise, but I found a video of it here. (It does not end well for anyone, save perhaps the Inquisitor and Andronikos.) My idea was different enough from that one that I decided to go ahead and write it out.