Star Wars: The Old Republic: Masks
Chapter 1: Last Move Remaining
A pounding beat in Revan's ears. He was falling through dark clouds, deeper and deeper into a blissful abyss. Time held no meaning within this darkness. Years could've passed unnoticed and he wouldn't even have blinked. Revan closed his eyes, giving into the peace he felt here.
"Revan," a voice whispered, "Revan."
Revan opened his eyes. He stood on a cliff. A cool breeze pulled at his long hair, whipping the stands out behind him.
"Don't tell me, you were meditating here?"
That voice! Revan turned and came face to face with no one. He looked around the empty plateau. "Malak!" he shouted into the wind. "Where are you?"
"You left me," Malak's voice hissed on the wind. "You abandoned me to the fate you should've taken."
The wind picked up, whipping Revan's hair into his eyes. "It was never my plan," Revan called into the wind. "This was never supposed to happen, Malak. You know what we'd set out to do."
There was no answer.
"We were going to help the Republic," Revan whispered. "All of it had been for the Republic."
"You can lie to yourself all you want," another voice joined in. It was the voice of the young Jedi. The girl who had saved him that day, the last day he had memory of. "But you're Darth Revan, the hero who turned into a blood thirsty monster."
"Then why did you save me?!" Revan shouted at the wind. "I deserved death and you saved me."
"Have you really become so blind?" Malak growled, his metallic voice becoming clearer. Malak appeared before Revan; his tight fitting, red armor gleamed in the shafts of light coming down through the dark clouds. His black cape and the pieces around his waist whipped in the wind. "You should have the answer, Revan."
"Malak." Revan stared at his oldest friend, the one person he'd called his brother and thought of as closer than a blood brother. "I swear you'll be free as well," he whispered. "Even if it's the last thing I do. I'll right this wrong."
"Lier," Malak stated. He drew his lightsaber. "You've only ever cared about two things: yourself and your goals. Nothing else matters. You wear the mask of a false savior!"
xxx
Revan gasped, eyes shooting open. Sweat coated his forehead and a headache beat against his skull. He blinked several times before he realized he was staring at a foreign ceiling. It was the ceiling of that – that ship he'd been rushed off of to help a Jedi… Bastila. It wasn't the ceiling from the flag ship which meant this was either still a dream or he – he hadn't been dreaming when he'd woken aboard that Republic ship.
Sitting up, Revan winced. His shoulder throbbed. If this all was a dream, he knew he would've left out that detail… or would he have? Revan stood and rubbed his shoulder. The room or apartment was run down and looked as if it had seen better days. Revan looked towards one of the long windows and stared at the city which greeted him. He walked over to the window, eyes locked on the scene of upper Taris.
Revan looked at his hand and flexed his fingers. The control wasn't a dream. None of this was. Hell if this was a dream Malak would still be yelling at him. Or something else just as strange would be happening.
The doors into the apartment opened. Revan didn't move. Whoever had entered didn't seem to mean him harm. Which was strange in and of itself… was that the strange part of this dream?
"You're up," a light voice sounded behind Revan.
Still he didn't turn.
"Are you all right?"
Revan turned and nodded. "Yes, of course." He looked at the man for the first time. There was something oddly familiar about him, but Revan couldn't place him. "It's Captain Onasi, right?" Revan asked. He vaguely remembered him from the Endar Spire.
"Yes," the man said slowly as if Revan had gone insane.
Revan laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry guess I'm just a little disorientated."
At this Carth smiled. "Not shocking after what you went through aboard the Endar Spire."
Several flashes came to Revan. He'd been with another man who had decided to be an idiot and sacrifice himself so Revan could get away. The Sith – no, Malak under the control of the emperor had attacked the Endar Spire. But why? He doubted the emperor believed Revan to still be alive. So what had been his target?
"Who was Darth Malak after?" Revan asked. "The Endar Spire should've been on a covert mission, right?"
"That's right," Carth nodded and took a seat. "Malak was after Bastila."
Bastila? Revan had heard that name before, but where? Gah, these lapses in his memory were getting annoying. He felt as if a cloud of drugs had been lifted from him in the past few hours.
"I see." Revan turned back to the window and stared at the city. This wasn't a dream after all. But what could the emperor want with Bastila. Revan groped for the answer.
"Catch."
Revan didn't turn as he sensed a package tossed his way. He caught it and looked at the package. "Rations?" Ripping the package, Revan stared at the food within. "Thank you, Captain." Revan bit into the bland food.
"It's Lieutenant Von, right?" Carth asked from where he sat.
Revan turned to the man for the first. He hid his confusion behind a careful façade. "Yes, sir," Revan said after a moment's pause. It was for the best to play along a bit with this. He paused before asking, "What's the plan?" It took more than Revan cared to admit to ask this. While he'd not been in control for the past few years, it was still strange to be the one asking for a plan. But he couldn't make a plan without knowing more about this situation. Also it just wouldn't be right for a "lieutenant" to take command over a captain.
"We need to find Bastila before the Sith do," Carth started.
Revan sat down on the bed. The ration was held loosely in his hand as he listened to the Captain. It turned out Bastila was young Jedi Padawan of around eighteen years of age. The masters had tasked her with some mission which had been told to none aboard the Endar Spire. Not even Carth or the Captian of the Endar Spire knew what Bastila's mission was only that they needed to head towards Taris and there she would start it.
"Do you know what her mission is, lieutenant?" Carth asked at length.
Revan looked the captain in the eye. "No, sir," he replied in even tones, "should I?" he kept his voice light and even, betraying none of his confusion.
"It's just Bastila hand-picked you to come on the voyage. I assumed that if anyone outside the Jedi knew what was going, it'd be you."
"Err, no," Revan stated. He barely knew what was going on as it was. "I honestly know nothing about the padawan. I don't even get why she'd hand-pick me for anything." Though he did suspect it had to do with his yearlong gape in memory.
Carth sighed. "Bastila's the only reason we've gotten as far as we have in the war. She was among the strike team that killed Darth Revan." He went on to explain Bastila's talents, but Revan wasn't listening.
Kill him? So was it possible Bastila was the young Jedi who had ignored Revan's plea for death and taken him out alive instead? He wouldn't know until he actually saw her.
"We should start searching for Bastila as soon as possible," Carth continued.
Revan nodded, still thinking on this situation. If Bastila had been the one to save him, then there was the question of why the Jedi council would allow Revan to roam around with only a padawan to keep him in check. What were they planning? There had to be a piece of this puzzle Revan was missing. Perhaps, when he had all the pieces, the answer would become clear.
"If Bastila is still alive we might need to speak with the Sith or other people here in order to find the downed escape pods," Revan said this more to himself than the captain. They needed to find this Jedi… or Revan needed to. In the end he would need the help of the order to get to the worlds he'd hidden keys to a plan that he had long since given up on. Now he just might be able to go through with this plan.
"I'd rather avoid the Sith." Carth looked at Revan a look of distrust in his light brown eyes.
Oh, well, that hadn't gone as expected… granted, Revan might want to avoid them as well. "I would as well, but the Sith might be the ones to know where all the pods crashed." Though, on the other hand, Carth was Republic and, if none of the Sith recognized Revan, he would be assumed to be Republic as well. In the end they couldn't inform the Sith that there were two survivors or that those survives were looking for a Jedi.
Revan paused. There was no telling what they could do with so little at their control. If he was right and if what the captain had told him, then the Sith already controlled the planet. It didn't help matters Malak was here. If Revan made any move to make himself noticeable by his-his friend then the emperor in turn would learn Revan still lived. There was too much at stake for that to happen. But if he didn't help this padawan and the captain, where would that leave Revan?
A year was a long time to be out of commission. All the contacts Revan had outside of the Sith would now believe him dead. Then there was the fact those contacts could easily report him as being alive back to the Malak and, ultimately, to the emperor. Also Revan couldn't make a move to make the truth behind this war known without the emperor learning of it and killing Malak. No matter which way Revan looked at it, he was stuck playing soldier until he could move.
In a since the emperor had moved his pawns so carefully, Revan was now pinned in. The only move Revan had was to play out the fact he was dead and now pretend to be this Lieutenant Von.
"We could start at the cantina?" Revan suggested. "The locals might have the information we need to find Bastila."
"All right, get your weapons. We're moving out." Carth stood and took out one of his two blasters. He checked out it.
Revan downed the ration in a few famished bits before going over to the short sword and the blaster slung over the hilt. He vaguely remembered using these weapons to escape the Endar Spire with. He hoped playing along would get him where he needed. But there was no such thing as luck and, in the end, he'd have to rely on his knowledge of the people who had once followed him.
Revan watched the captain out of the corner of his eye. He couldn't trust anyone. In the end he had to assume everyone was an enemy and Revan was alone with little moves, one old plan, and no soldiers or allies remaining to help him in this fight. It was him against the empire for the sake of a universe and the people of the Republic.
(Author's Note: Nothing to say here other than a reply.
Chisscientist: I believe parts of this chapter answered your question. In the book Revan, Revan mentions the fact he had forced himself to forget about the emperor during the early part of the Jedi Civil War. It's my belief that this, as well some other matters, allowed Revan and Malak to escape the emperor's control. This story is a "what if" story on if the emperor had stayed in complete control over Revan and Malak. There are still some asspects of canon here, but, yes, Revan will have all of his memory throughout this story. Thank you for the review :) )