Learn from the Past
Chapter I: A Blast to the Past
Yoda smirked as the Sith Lord backed away from him in fear. He stood just beside the beaten old man, lightsaber blazing by his neck. Palpatine looked terrified. Anakin Skywalker came crashing into the room and saw the small alien threatening his friend. "Anakin!" Palpatine called. "I told you it would come to this! I was right! The Jedi are planning on taking over!"
"Lied to, you have been, young Skywalker," Yoda told Anakin. "Betrayed the Republic, the chancellor has!"
"No Anakin!" Palpatine cried. "The Jedi have betrayed the Republic!"
Yoda and Palpatine could both sense the conflict coursing through Anakin. Both knew that they must act fast in order to secure the boy on their respective sides. "Anakin," Palpatine said softly. "I need your help."
"See through his lies, you must!" Yoda cried. "Staged the Clone Wars he did! Millions of deaths he is responsible for!"
"Let him go, Yoda!" Anakin ordered, clenching his fists. Yoda's ears sagged as he saw that Anakin had chosen the Sith over the Jedi. Yoda leapt away from the chancellor as Anakin came at him with his lightsaber. "Duel me you would, young Skywalker? Fail you will," Yoda warned.
The small alien leapt at Anakin, saber raised. Anakin braced himself and began drawing on the Force to augment his speed. It wasn't enough though. Master Yoda was far more powerful than he was. He had nearly a thousand years more experience than Anakin and it was obvious.
Yoda's lightsaber nicked Anakin's shoulder, causing him to fall back in pain. The Jedi Knight cried out and clenched his teeth, but left the small wound alone. He knew that if he took his focus off of Master Yoda for even a second he would be dead. The small alien leapt at his opponent, tackling him hard. Anakin slammed into the couch in the office and went rolling. His lightsaber went rolling as he landed on the ground.
Yoda deactivated his lightsaber and put it back inside his robes. With a sorrowful expression, he began to walk towards Anakin. He picked up the young Jedi's weapon and dropped it on the ground before him. Anakin tried to grab it with his mechanical arm, but Yoda glared at it and the machine melted away.
"Another Jedi such as yourself there was, young Skywalker," Yoda told him. "Powerful he was. Fell to the dark side, such as yourself. In time, redemption found him and saved he was. Learn from him, you must!"
With that, Yoda began to channel all of his mental energies and threw them at Anakin. The Jedi screamed in pain as images began to burn in his mind. He saw two fleets preparing to clash. An enormous space station was draining the energy of a nearby star behind one of the fleets. On board, a man fought hard against a woman wielding a double-bladed lightsaber. She was dressed in black robes, while he wore traditional Jedi garments.
"I see now why Malak followed you. Even though you are only a shell of your former self, you are still a formidable opponent," the woman said as the battle broke for a moment. "I can't even imagine the power you must have wielded as the Dark Lord. You were a fool to give it up and follow the light side."
"You've been consumed by the dark side, Bastila! Can't you see it's destroying you?" he said urgently, trying to avoid any further conflict.
"The dark side has made me stronger than I ever was before! I have a greater command of the Force than all but the most powerful Jedi Masters!" she boasted with a sick smile. "As Malak teaches me the greatest secrets of the Sith, I will unlock more of my potential! Eventually there will be no limit to what I can accomplish with the Force!"
"Malak will never let you become that powerful. He'll kill you first," the man said with an exasperated sigh.
"Have you forgotten the ways of the Sith already, Revan?" she asked him. "Eventually I will challenge my master. If I am worthy he die by my hands and I will become the new Sith Master!" she explained. "Then I will take on my own apprentice and the cycle will begin again. This is the way of the Sith. It is how we assure our leaders are always the strongest and most worthy."
"You're dooming yourself to an endless cycle of death and betrayal," the man said sadly.
"No Revan," she spat. "It is you who are doomed!"
The woman, Bastila leapt at her opponent, Revan and the battle began again. The images burned in Anakin's mind. He felt as if his head would explode. Every sound was amplified to the point where his mind would throb every time he heard it. The clash of their lightsabers was agony. Their battle grunts were torture. He thought he would die if he kept watching, but Revan got in a lucky shot and kicked Bastila in the stomach, sending her sliding back. The sheer force of the blow shocked Anakin, but now he couldn't look away.
"You are growing weary," she said unexpectedly. "I can sense it! Your strength falters. The light side is failing you, while the power of the Star Forge re-energizes me! Soon this will be over!"
"I have not faltered, Bastila. You have been misled by the dark side," Revan replied calmly.
"The dark side will always triumph over the light!" she screamed. "Malak has assured me victory! You can't defeat me here on the Star Forge! YOU CAN'T!"
She leapt at him again, swinging her blade wildly. This time the pain wasn't so bad for Anakin. Revan seemed to have the upper hand and Bastila was weakening. Her strikes were sluggish and getting slower. She began to lash out wildly as desperation overtook her. Revan saw an opportunity and took it. He sliced Bastila's lightsaber in half, shattering the delicate crystal within. The fight was over.
"No!" she whispered in horror. "This is not possible! You have rejected the dark side. You are a weak and pathetic servant of the light. How can you still stand against me? Why can't I defeat you?"
"Now you see that the dark side isn't stronger than the light," Revan said with triumph.
"Yes," she admitted slowly. "I see you speak the truth. I am no match for you." She was silent for a long moment before looking up. "Please, for the sake of what we once shared, do not make me suffer! End my life quickly! There is no other way!"
Revan was shocked by her sudden request. He shook his head and deactivated his lightsabers, throwing them down. "I could never kill you, Bastila," he said emotion leaking into his voice. Anakin was stunned. The pain in his voice was obvious. He sounded so helpless. Anakin could relate. This man had to kill the woman he loved, where it seemed Anakin would be forced to let his love die.
"What other choice do you have?" she asked. "I have fallen to the dark side! I am the apprentice of the Dark Lord himself! You cannot let me live!"
"You can reject the dark side, Bastila. Return to the light!"
"No," she whispered. "I'm not strong enough. There is too much anger inside of me now; too much hatred and fear. I can no longer find peace in the Force."
"Use our bond then! Take strength from me!" he insisted as he stepped closer to her.
"You always had more strength than I did," she said thoughtfully. "I told you that. I felt so… helpless before your destiny. You were Revan and I couldn't tell you. It was agonizing! Even worse when I began to feel closer to you. I despised myself for it!" Bastila looked as if she was about to start crying. All of her will power was fighting against it. She finally broke down as Revan took another step towards her and embraced her closely. She began to sob relentlessly into his chest. After a moment she regained control of herself and forced herself to continue speaking. "And even now, I feel your strength… it does help me. Thank you. I think I can face the end… if you are the one who ends it for me."
"I love you Bastila. I can't abandon you… ever," he whispered in her ear.
She looked up into his eyes, questioningly. "You love me?" She began to laugh ruefully. "There was a time when I yearned for and yet dreaded those words. I… I loved you too but I could never face who you were." A sudden realization dawned on her. "Malak knew how I felt. Any part of the light within me would be extinguished when I killed you!" Suddenly, anger welled up inside her. She pushed him away from her and turned her back to him. "But what good it love?" she demanded. "It cannot save me from the sea of blackness I am drowning in! I have betrayed everything I ever believed in. How can I atone for that?"
"Help us to defeat the Sith, Bastila. This will atone for what you have done!" he said as he came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders.
"I could join you in your fight against the Dark Lord," she said considering the option. "That alone would not make up for all I have done, but it would be a step in the right direction." She turned around to face him again. "But how would you be able to trust me? How do you know I wouldn't turn on you when you face Darth Malak? How do you know the dark side wouldn't make me betray you again?"
Revan used the Force and called one of his lightsabers back to his hand. He tossed it to Bastila and spread his arms. "I trust you enough to leave myself open to your attack, Bastila."
Anakin gasped. How could this man, Revan, be such a fool! He was a Jedi! She was a Sith! She should kill him in a heartbeat… but she didn't.
"You play a dangerous game… are you sure you want to take this risk?" she asked. "I could end your life and gain Malak's favor with a single stroke of this lightsaber."
"You won't, Bastila. I love and believe in you," he said with confidence.
"You are brave," she said, clearly impressed. "And some would say foolish… but you are also right. The dark side has not fully consumed me. I can't raise my blade against you." She paused, considering which words to say next. "You will go on to defeat Malak. I have no doubt of this. You will have gone from being the Sith Lord himself to the savior of the galaxy… This may not be the best time to say it, but I love you too; with all my heart."
"You aren't afraid to love anymore?" Revan asked with a smirk as he wrapped his arms around her.
"After this?" she snorted. "No. Nothing could make me feel safer than to be loved by you."
Revan bent down slowly and gently kissed Bastila on the lips. She gasped at first, but soon returned the kiss with gentle passion. Anakin felt a twinge of remorse as he thought of Padme. These two were so similar to the two of them. Why was it that this man could save this woman, yet he couldn't save his wife? It wasn't fair!
Suddenly, the scene before Anakin was ripped from his mind. All he could see was an endless white abyss. His mind began to go blank as he slowly began to lose awareness of his surroundings. The white abyss suddenly turned black as Anakin passed out.
---------------------------------------
Anakin groaned slightly as a throbbing headache hit him. He didn't open his eyes, but rather tried to find peace within the Force to soothe his head. It didn't work. The pain wouldn't go away. It was as if there was no place in the Force where he could find serenity. What was wrong? Even in the darkest centers of the galaxy he had been able to find peace. The area around him didn't even feel tainted. It felt… cold.
Space. He thought dully.
As he began to listen, he could hear the light noises of a ship around him. A nearby computer was beeping and he thought he could hear the distinct sounds of someone typing. He slowly tried to sit up, but the pounding in his head over powered him and he fell back with a grunt of pain.
"He's awake," a gruff old voice said quickly. "Mission, go get Juhani in here!"
"Yes sir," a younger more energetic voice replied.
Anakin could hear the distinct sound of boots clanging against metal as the girl left the room. He slowly opened his eyes and waited to regain focus. The lights in the room hurt his eyes, but they did begin to focus. He was in an extremely small medical bay, by the looks of it. He was alone, except for a gruff looking old man who was standing over him.
"Master Windu?" Anakin asked seeing only that the man was black.
"No son," the man replied. "Name's Bindo; Jolee Bindo. Do you know your name?"
"Anakin Skywalker," he replied. "Where am I?"
"You're about fifty light years from Coruscant," the man replied. "You'll be there in about four days."
Four days? Anakin thought dryly. What kind of piece of crap ship is this?
"Head hurts," he replied.
"Just a moment," Jolee said as he filled up a syringe with liquid that was derived from kolto. He injected it into an IV that Anakin hadn't even noticed was in his arm. It immediately took effect and the pain subsided. The drugs began to cloud his mind though.
"Chancellor!" he cried out. "Padme! Obi-Wan!"
"Easy son, easy!" Jolee said putting his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Get some rest. You were pretty banged up when we found you."
"Padme!" Anakin shouted again. He could see her beautiful face in his mind, piercing through the drug induced fog or the pain. "Where is she?" he sat up and his vision cleared. He turned to Jolee and attacked him. He grabbed the man by the collar and forced him up against the wall. Then something caught his attention.
"My arm?!" he gasped.
"Yeah, new synthetic one with a skin overlay," Jolee explained. "Now get off me!" he ordered, shoving Anakin back onto the bed. "For someone who was completely comatose ten minutes ago, you're a spry one."
Anakin's ears quickly picked up the faint sound of purring. He turned around and watched as a cathar woman walked into the room. She was dressed in red Jedi robes, so Anakin assumed she was at least a Jedi Knight, whereas the old man was probably a Jedi Master. He began to reach out with his feelings to examine his surroundings. There were two other Jedi on board, one male and one female. Then there was a wookiee, judging by the primal level of thought, and four other organics. He couldn't discern the species through the Force though, but he could tell that one of them was especially young.
"What's going on?" Anakin demanded.
"Calm down, boy," Jolee advised. "You've been out cold for over a week."
"A week? What's happened? Is the chancellor alright? What about Senator Amidala?"
"Kid, we don't much attention to politics. You'd have to ask Bastila," Jolee advised.
"Bastila? Why does that name sound familiar?"
Jolee nearly burst out laughing, while the cathar merely chuckled. "You are a Jedi, yet you do not know of Bastila Shan?" she asked.
It suddenly came back. The dream of the fight flooded his mind. "She's the Sith who fought that Jedi, Revan!"
"Watch your tongue, boy!" Jolee snapped. "She hasn't been a Sith for nearly eight years!"
"Sith!" Anakin gasped. "You're Jedi! You can tell me! What did Master Yoda do with Chancellor Palpatine?"
"Palpatine?" The cathar repeated. "Jolee, isn't the chancellor's name Kettal?"
"Yeah," the old man replied. "Who is this Chancellor Palpatine?"
"He's been Chancellor for the last eleven years," Anakin replied confused that any Jedi could be so ignorant of politics.
"Kid, a chancellor can only stay in office for a total of eight years, if he makes both terms."
"The chancellor was re-elected a third time due to popular vote throughout the Republic."
"Kid, why don't you start with why you were out in the middle of the Dune Sea by yourself?" Jolee advised.
"The Dune Sea?" Anakin repeated. "I wasn't."
"That's where we found you," the feline woman said with a shrug.
"Just start from the beginning," Jolee advised.
Anakin sighed and took a deep breath. "I was on Coruscant. I was speaking with the chancellor about the General Kenobi and General Grievous. He let it slip that he knew…" he stopped, realizing suddenly that if these Jedi learned about his marriage to Padme, it could ruin them both. "He offered me something. He said he knew things about the Force that a Jedi could never know, things of the dark side."
"The chancellor practices the dark side!" Jolee gasped.
Anakin nodded. "I informed Master Yoda of what happened… but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Master Yoda might kill the chancellor for starting the war. It would have thrown the Republic into chaos!"
"Kid the last war that the chancellor declared was on Malak, nine years ago."
"The Clone War!" Anakin explained. Both of the Jedi looked at him with blank faces.
"Thousands of systems are leaving the Republic and you don't know about the war it's caused?"
Both thought for a minute. "Well, Onderon tried to break away about three years back, but that was taken care of," Jolee said. "That what you mean?"
"Onderon's last attempt to break away was nearly four thousand years ago," Anakin snorted.
"Onderon was only annexed in a few years ago, kid… unless. REVAN!!!!!!"
Anakin was shocked by the old man's sudden change in expression. A moment later, a man ran into the room, dressed in black Jedi robes. He looked to be in his mid thirties with dark brown hair and a hard face. It was the same man that Anakin had seen in his dream.
"What's wrong?" Revan inquired quickly.
"Kid, what year is it?" Jolee asked.
Anakin was confused, but he answered. "23586," he replied.
"By the Force," Revan gasped instantly understanding.
"What is it?" Anakin asked.
"Kid," Jolee said slowly. "It's 19463."