With A Heavy Heart
Summary: Reven is not captured by Bastila nor is Malak successful in his betrayal. Will Revan take a chance with the woman he loves and forge an alliance with the Jedi against the true threat or are they all too late?
"Lord Revan the Jedi strike team has boarded the Revanchist and as you predicted Lord Malak's ship is moving toward our vessel now." Admiral Hessle reported.
"Very well Admiral signal my honor guard to deploy and remind them if a single hair is removed from Bastila's head they had better hope she kills them because I will do far worse. While I wait for my guest to arrive please open a channel to the Leviathan and have all personal move to the secondary deck." Revan replied.
"At once Lord." Hessle complied and soon the bridge was empty save for Revan.
"Malak my foolish apprentice did you truly think to betray me in the midst of battle?" Revan asked.
"No my Lord I heard that a Jedi strike team had boarded your ship and wanted to make sure you had another ship to relocate to should the battle go ill." Malak said doing his best to be convincing.
"Why Alek I didn't think you cared so much about me…" Revan replied ominously "Very well if you wish to think I will entertain your pathetic attempts to betray me and take my place through the shadows and from a distance instead of coming to take what you want from me you are gravely mistaken. I would have thought that you learned that lesson at Telos it seems I was wrong. Very well then execute order 56 bring me Malak alive kill the rest."
Meanwhile while Revan was dealing with Malak and preparing for Bastila she was in a fight for her life."
So this is how it ends Bastila thought as she felt a lightsaber swinging towards her back as she engaged another Dark Jedi who was fighting her with two lightsabers. And then the lightsaber stopped and she felt the force leave the Jedi who was behind her one of the other Dark Jedi has killed him with a thrust with their own lightsaber.
"Remember Lord Revan's orders she is not to be harmed!" he yelled over the din of battle.
So Revan wants me alive why? Does he think to turn me or is he still just as in love with me as I am with him?
"Bastila run get to the bridge Revan wants you alive use it to your advantage none of them seem willing to harm you delay him until we can join you!" One of the Knights yelled at her "Go we will handle this!"
On the bridge of Revan's Flagship
"Hello Bastila" Revan said in a voice she had not heard since he left for the Mandalorian War. "I am sorry I didn't come to see you after the war was over but the council doesn't approve of their knights meeting with 'Sith Lords' but wait your not yet a knight are you despite the battles you win for the council, your dutiful obedience to the Jedi Code, and your firm devotion to every edict the council gives they refuse to make you a knight don't they?"
"Revan if you think you can turn me to the dark side by playing to my pride you are mistaken" Bastila replied coldly.
"My dear sweet Bastila why have you grown so cold? Are you still mad that I asked you to stay at the enclave rather than follow me to war? Or are you mad that 'I fell to the dark side'? Or is it that you are afraid to allow anyone to get close to you so you cannot be hurt?" Revan asked sounding both serious and concerned.
"Why Revan why did you fall to the Dark Side? Why did you betray the very reason you went to war and left me behind in the first place what made you do it? Bastila said on the verge of tears.
Slowly Revan turned around and she saw his face and gasped realizing that unlike Malaks his face was unchanged his eyes still that brilliant piercing blue. "But how is this possible Revan how is your face unchaged?" Bastila asked.
"Because I never truly fell to the Dark Side I am who I always was walking the path the Kreia showed me that of a grey Jedi." Revan replied. "Who told you I fell anyway was it the council?"
"Yes they said they never saw your face but they could all feel the taint of the Dark Side within you even at the great distance that separated you from them." Bastila replied.
"Interesting Bastila do you remember the promise we made each other so many years ago? Where we swore we would never lie to each other? I did so them my face the accused me of using the force to cloud their minds and hide my true face." Revan replied.
"But why, why would the council lie to me about this?" Bastila now visibly shaken asked.
"If I were to guess it is because they feared if you knew the truth that I was not 'Darth Revan' you would join me instead of fighting me." Revan replied "but I believe we are about to have guests."
"Guests?" Bastila started before being interrupted.
Statement: Master it seems that despite my previous warnings to not rely on those meatbags you call you honor guard you continued to trust them and they have allowed this female meatbag jedi to make it this far. HK-47 observed as he dragged a beaten and restrained Darth Malak behind him. Hopeful Query: Master have you been saving her for me to kill you know how it wounds me that I am not allowed to kill the original meatbag?
"No HK" Revan sighed "You are not allowed to terminate Bastila in fact refer to Bastila as mistress or any other title she desires."
"Mistress really Revan?" Bastila practically yelled at him. "Droid if you feel you must address me you may refer to me as Padawan Shan."
Statement: Very well Padawan Shan I will no longer designate you as a 'meatbag'. Question: If I am not allowed to terminate her my have you not already done so master you are quite skilled at killing meat-sentient beings if my memory cells are correct? HK continued.
"HK that is because I have no interest in killing her she is my friend and I do not wish to see her harmed. Update protection designation Bastila's safety designated equal to mine only if forced to chose between us is mine more valued and if she is the treat lethal force is disallowed unless absolutely vital to my survival." Revan commanded.
Statement: Very well master I comply Padawan Shan designated safety second only to Masters. Statement: I have brought you the meatbag you insist is called Malak he is fully restrained as per your orders. HK seemed to almost seethe with anger at these orders.
"Thank you HK take Malak to the holding cell and then shut downl I will send for you if I have further orders." Revan then opened a channel to the secondary bridge ordering them to return to the main bridge after setting a course for Dantooine "I wish to speak with the Jedi council face to face."
"Revan?" Bastila asked "Are you surrendering to the Council?"
Revan Laughed "No Bastila I am going there to do two things first turn Malak over to them for justice and second to see if I cannot forge an alliance with them against the true threat."
"The true threat? Revan I don't understand." Bastila now confused by Revan's statement.
"It's a long story and I do not wish to tell it more than once and the council needs to hear it but the short version is the council was not as wrong as I thought when I left for war." Revan replied with a hint of sadness.
"But if that is true why didn't you return to them and tell them that?" Bastila asked still not believing what she had heard.
"Two reasons one I tried and they wouldn't see me without me wearing a neural disruptor collar which I refused to do. And second I know what they did to the Exile she gave up everything in on that day on Malachor V to save the republic! She was a hero and when she needed the council to aid her in her time of need; as she had done willingly for the Republic and to a lesser extent the council showed her so much of their famed mercy and compassion that they Exiled her forcing her to walk the unknown regions alone and without the force." Reven angrily replied "And I image that would have been a kindness compared to my own fate."
A few hours later as Revan's fleet moves into orbit around Dantoonie.
"Please open communication with the Jedi enclave and request permission to land also message HK and tell him to bring our prisoner to hanger 1." Ravan commanded
"Right away Lord." One of the communications officers responded.
"Darth Revan to what do we own the misfortune of your company?" Came the angry voice of Master Vrook out of the speakers on the bridge.
"Master Vrook please call me Revan I despise that you label me with the title Darth I title I did not ask for or want. In any case I wish for three things and then I will leave first you may remember the Jedi Knight Alek once Darth Malak I am going to hand him over to you to judge and do justice as you see fit. Second I wish to be allowed to land with a promise that you will not attempt to harm me or my companions. Third I wish to meet the Council the masters who are not hear are free to join via hologram of course as a token of my sincerity my fleets will not be attacking at any of the several week points so Master Kavar should be able to join us." Revan stated diplomatically.
"Enough Master Vrook you can voice your anger at Revan later you may land I promise that no harm will come to you or your companions while you are here." Master Vandar said avoiding further argument.
"Thank you Master Vandar we will be landing shortly." Revan said. "Bastila would you like to come along I did promise you answers and I will need your help in this."
"Mine but why Revan?" Bastila asked.
"Because of our bond the Jedi masters fear looking into my mind and risking falling to the Dark Side but they should have no issue looking into yours and I can show you what they need to see though our bond." Revan replied "If you don't wish to come I understand this will make the process faster however."
"Of course I am coming with you I let go without me once I didn't see you for year there is no way you get to leave me behind again so easily I love you too much." Bastila said.
"Now there is the Bastila I know and love I knew I get though the Ice Queen personality again." Revan joked.
Dantoonie Jedi Enclave Bastila's POV
The first thing I noticed as we walked from the landing pad to the Council Chambers was how empty the enclave was. Then I realized Master Vrook must have wanted to keep everyone away from the one considered the Dark Lord of the Sith.
"Greetings Revan." Snapping me out of my thoughts as Master Zhar welcomed his former apprentice while Revan had studied under all the masters here he had told me Zhar was his favorite.
"And to you as well Master." Revan replied warmly "It has been too long but I don't believe I had the opportunity to return safely until now."
"Fair enough young Revan I see you have brought Alek back with you and Padawan Bastila as well but who is that droid dragging Alek I wonder?" Zhar questioned.
"Ah that would be HK-47 my personal assistance driod." Revan replied
Statement: Master that is a gross misstatement of my functions I am an assassin droid who has been unable to perform its designated functions for sometime now. HK said with a fair bit of anger I was left wondering if that was even possible then I remembered how skilled Revan was with droids.
"HK if you do not wish to become the personal assistance droid for my Admirals youngest daughter who will no doubt have you painted pink and playing dress-up have having tea parties with her in addition to losing all your combat functionality you will cease to complain about this. However if the Jedi knight that Vrook has tasked with attempting to get a neural inhibitor around my neck you may blast him." Revan replied
Statement: You are a cruel master, and don't worry master I had noticed the Jedi meatbag behind us from the moment we left our ship I will be happy to disintegrate him. HK said with a hunger that sent a shiver down my spine.
"It will be alright child if Revan wished us dead he would have done so all ready the collar will not be needed. Please join the others outside now." Master Zhar stepped in to resolve the tension before it escalated.
Council chambers
"Hello Masters I see you are surprised to see who I brought with me. I imagine when you learned your strike team had failed that Bastila was either dead or being turned to the Dark Side to serve me and yet here she is. As you can see she has not been harmed or restrained which leaves only one reason why she is here because she chose to come willingly with me." Revan replied almost mocking Master Vrook who's emotions threatened to spill over.
"Enough Revan we are not here to listen to your taunts speak your peace and leave." Master Vrook replied keeping his composure if only barely.
"Very well Mastar Vrook as you wish." Said Revan as he removed his mask revealing his face unchanged "Where would you like HK to leave Alek for you to deal with latter?"
"We have setup a Force Cage in the training area you may leave him there." Master Dorak replied.
"Very well HK place Alek in the force cage." Revan replied.
Statement: Very well master I will do as you wish with meatbag. Came HK's robotic voice albeit with a hint of sadness.
"Now that Alek has been dealt with I would like to get to the true purpose for my being here. Everyone you may wish to sit down as the story I am going to tell is a long one. Our story begins at the end of the Mandalorian War I believe you are aware that I fought a one on one duel with Mandalor the Ultimate after I had won the duel the Mandalor told me he had been manipulated into doing battle with the republic he told me the manipulator was a sith lord who survived the Great Hyperspace war and build an empire hidden in the Unknown regions."
"So that was what you set out to find after you left the battle claiming to be in pursuit of the last of the Mandalorian fleet." A new voice not a jedi a soldier by his appearance a Commander he must have been the republic's representative to the council after hearing about Revan's arrival here. "And even if his story was true why not tell the rest of the Republic forces? How could you hope to defeat an empire with only a third of our total fleet especially since most of your ships were damaged after the final battle?"
"Hello Commander Onasi it is a pleasure to see you again I wish the republic had more soldiers like you during our war with the Mandalorians to answer your questions his story was true I know because I found the sith lord, I chose not to tell the republic for two reasons first I no longer trusted in the republic after losing count of how many times I was told aid could not be sent to me my plans were too bold and it was unwise to push that fast. No matter how many victories I won for the republic your leaders never trusted me, afraid that due to my followers own loyalty to me I would betray the republic after the war so aid never came and we were forced to use the shadow mass generator to end the war because your leaders were to cowardly to follow me to victory. And the second reason was I worried that if the Sith empire found out how battered our forces were they would attack us at that moment and doom the republic and the Jedi order. I had hoped to avert a war with this unknown threat by killing the emperor thus forcing the empire to wage war with itself and give the republic time to ready itself for a war with this empire." Revan continued almost as if he had expected these questions. "While I understand that you will have many questions as we go I must ask that you wait until I finish my tale then I will gladly answer all of them."
For the next hour I listened with a mixture of shock and horror as Revan recounted his encounter with the Sith Emperor and how he broke Revan and Alek now Malak and bent them to his will ordering them to find the star forge and be his new vanguard for the invasion of the republic. Then Revan explained how slowly he forced himself to fight off the Emperor's influence and began a plan to prevent the destruction. He pulled a holomap out of his robe and showed how instead of destroying the factories on the planets he conquered he used them to build his fleet so that he would not have to rely on the Star Forge due to its corrupting influence.
Master Vandar was the first to recover "So Revan now what a Sith Empire lurks at the fringes of known space and the republic is crumbling how do we stop this threat?"
"Mastar Vandar there is but one choice we have this foe is going to require every jedi knight you have as well as those of mine who have not been corrupted by the Dark Side as they will betray us for the Emperor the moment he arrives. Therefore, I will be dealing with those within my ranks whom I cannot trust. Furthermore, the senate will have to be dissolved it is too corrupt to be of any use and we need to fold the republic military and the Revanchist forces into a Galactic empire if you will to resist the forces aligned against us." Revan replied in a flat emotionless voice.
"Hold on a second here Revan you must think we have all gone crazy disband the senate end the republic! There is no way we would accept those terms!" Carth shouted at Revan
"Look Carth your dedication to the republic is admirable I imagine you view yourself as fighting for the people of the Republic right?" Revan interrupting his argument "Those were the same reasons I joined the Mandalorian war you wish to know the lesson I learned during those wars it was that the republic the senators who rule only care for themselves so long as the core worlds were safe and their comfortable lives were maintained they did not care about the plight of the mid and outer rim worlds you served on the front lines most of the war before I joined the war the only reports that we knew were accurate were what other knights assigned to observe the conflict while waiting for what the council called the true threat to emerge. On the Holonet the public was fed lies they were told the Mandalorian's advances were being blunted and once the Jedi were willing to fight the war would soon end. I still remember the message those broadcasts would end with 'Don't forget what the Republic has done for you now is your chance to give back to the Republic.' That was how they planned to survive they would throw anyone who would join into the meat grinder any refugees of military age were drafted warned that unless they did so their families would starve. Their families warned to keep silent about the nature of the conflict if they wanted to keep those who they loved away from the more dangerous battle lines. That Carth is the Senate your defending they do not care for the people however if you were to ask the people of Taris what they think of my they call me a hero not just for what I did in the Mandalorian War but when I took the planet from the republic I ended the cruel actions of the Exchange and Nobles, ended the exile of those banished to the undercity, and oppression of the Aliens on Taris to the common people I am a hero can you say the same of your senators?"
"As fascinating as that notion is Revan." Came Master Vrook's irritated voice "you have also failed to address why we would willingly side with the Dark Lord of the Sith who claims there is the remnant of an ancient Sith empire lurking out in the unknown regions."
"Master Vrook I am amazed that you out of all the masters are protesting. You were the loudest voice claiming that the true threat was still out there and we needed to wait and yet when I return and tell you that I have found that threat you protest still. And once again may I remind you that I am not the Dark Lord you believe me to be if that were the case I would have broken Bastila ignoring my own feelings for her and blown you and the rest of this enclave to dust from orbit." Came Revan's icy retort.
"Enough!" I was tired of the arguing I knew I was the ace in the hole and I was going to use it. "You don't want to believe or trust Revan fine, you are scared of what will happen if you stare into his mind fine. Look into mine Revan shares his memories with me and I do the same with all of you will this work for you Master Vrook?"
"Well Padawan if you are so sure you can resist the Dark Lord then I guess my complaints are meaningless." Master Vrook retorted haughtily.
"I believe I can offer one last piece of proof that I mean no harm to the Republic only to the corruption that shackles it. I have with me my entire battle plans for the invasion of the Republic I started it jest before I began the war I knew exactly where my fleet and Malak's were going to strike, where the Republic would retreat to, how you would reinforce after the first wave of attacks. I was so practiced at this from the Mandalorian War that I knew how many ships I would lose before the battles would even be fought I knew exactly which fleets would run at the sight of me and which would fight. I knew every detail of the battles before they happened, everyone always wondered how I won the Mandalorian Wars with such ease, this was how I did it I planned how I would fight the war from the day the first of the Mandalorian raids started Meetra helped me at first I needed the full Republic fleet to push the Mandalorians back but when I was ready to join the war I could do it with a third of the fleet. The reason I won the Mandalorian war was I already had I had done it twenty times prior every detail was planned out where they would retreat what my losses would be how I would pursue. In the end I struggled for two reasons when I did request help I was refused by the Senate the same people who loved to broadcast my success as their own over the Holonet as well as by Admirals more worried about their rank and political future then winning the battle. The other reason was the Mandalorians learned and forced and without additional aid I was forced to resort to what happened at Malachor V." Revan stated simply. "But in any case here is how the Republic will fall if we cannot forge an alliance."
As I looked at the map I felt a mixture of awe and terror. Revan had already devised a method to counter my Battle Mediation he had fake thrusts that if not repelled could cripple the republic. But what was worse was he would allow us to learn of them with just enough time to respond and I would have to be sent to counter each of them and they would all occur on opposite sides of the galaxy from each other forcing me to spend days in Hyperspace out of the fight; meanwhile Revan would simply take more worlds from the Republic the key worlds they needed to stay in the fight. He had four fleets for every one of ours and had no qualms in using it if what he showed us was true and I knew it was, He would not have to attack Coruscant at all! The massive fleet the Senators had been keeping in reserve although it was far smaller than any of Revan's own fleets. Instead of one last battle there would be nothing Coruscant would be cut off from the rest of the galaxy and messages would daily reveal to the people of the Coruscant who was to blame the Senators who had grown fat lining their own pockets instead of serving their people. The very people the Senators claimed to serve would demand they be removed the home fleet would join Revan willingly not because he promised to care for the people below him but because he offered proof Taris would be the first of a hundred examples bolstered by his own men telling the Republic forces how the mighty Revan would join them in the common mess hall for every meal eating randomly with the crew everyone from the Grand Admiral himself to the newest recruit. While the republic forces subsisted on horrible rations that one could barely be called food and two were slowly running low Revan's own forces ate food real food that even nobles would not protest to eat.
That day marked the end of the war and when the Sith invaded five years later we were ready for him and true to his word Revan stepped aside after the war was won returned to me and the Jedi Order and a new government was formed which followed Revan's example of caring for those they were in charge of