Chapter 3

I had expected the welcome to be somewhat colder from the Jedi – I had expected all of them to at least look at me in distaste, if not outright rage. After all that I had done to them, all of them that I had killed and after all of them that I had betrayed, there were still some that welcomed me with open arms. Granted, there were some that I had known for years and had genuinely looked like they wanted to spit in my face, but I was too blindsided by the warmness of others. Master Zhar had done something that he hadn't done since I was very young, he had hugged me – he was more notable of the many masters I had served in my life for his hugs. A more common being might mistake their actions for utter foolishness and naivety, but I knew the Jedi very well. I knew that even when I thought I was alone, somehow they would be watching me – it would be sometime before I was allowed true privacy to do what I wanted. It was then that it would be safe to contact the empire and then I would be able to return to my work, and possibly destroy this enclave.

The first week was somewhat unbearable and so incredibly boring – I was to meditate for five hours, have lunch, meditate for another three hours, Master Dorak would then drone endlessly about the history of the Jedi and that was my day. I had been one of the best students with this subject as a Padawan and I had retained most of that information, but now, now I could recite a complete timeline of the founding of the Republic and the Jedi half asleep. Something that did arouse my interest however and it was the fact that the last time I had seen Bastila was when she attacked me on the shuttle. In fact, when I tentatively slipped past the neural disruptor and tried to locate through our bond, I discovered that she wasn't even on the planet and it made my blood boil momentarily. Did I have to do all of the work myself?! While that fool Dorak was droning on about long dead politicians and Jedi Masters, could he not feel the seed of my influence within the girl's mind?

How incredibly stupid! It just baffled me how they couldn't feel something wrong with the girl and it annoyed me that they were putting her at risk. Not because she would die, I could care less about her life and her happiness – as long as she was simply alive, it would not affect me. If I toppled over one day in the courtyard because of something that the impetuous little child did to get herself killed, I would not be a happy man. Oh if those fools sent the girl to her death, I would slaughter them all in my anger and I would burn this planet to the ground before leaving it. They needed to touch her in the Force, they needed to feel the fact that she and I were bonded, they needed to understand that what happened to me affected her and what happened to her would affect me. If they did not discover it soon and if I did not see her soon, I decided before slipping back into a meditative trance in my assigned quarters, I would go directly to them and tell them myself.

Looking up to the calm deep blue sky that hung over the courtyard that I had spent a lot of my childhood free-time in, I sighed deeply. This courtyard might have been the only redeeming thing about this place in my opinion – it was the only place that seemed remotely peaceful throughout my apprenticeship. Some of her earliest memories were of escaping the yammering of my peers to this courtyard to absorb the quietness and meditate. Kreia's initial lessons of feeling something through the Force began here, and I couldn't help but replicate the same lessons as I sat on my knees in almost the same spot years later. I didn't care if this placed burned down, but at the same time, there were some places here that did mean something to me.

When I heard a pair of footsteps behind me, I opened my eyes and turned my head slightly to give my audience an indication that I was listening. For the most part I had been ignored by the younger Jedi and that was a good thing, I did not have a lot of patience for children to begin with and I'd prefer not to use what patience I had on Jedi children. Actually turning my head to take the boy and the girl in, I smothered a chuckle at their facial expressions. They had no doubt heard about my presence here and wondered where the scary, evil Lord of the Sith was, well – I reflected dryly – he wasn't that far away. I was sure that these two were cursing their masters at this point in time, "You two are interrupting my meditation?"

"We're sorry my lord," My widened from my right ear to my left ear, either these two were not comfortable with referring to me by my actual name or maybe the Force of my personality was forcing the rightful title out of their little pee-brains.

I felt my annoyance grow, but I still managed to sound calm to them, "What is it?"

"The Jedi Council requests your presence in the Council Chamber," The girl told me with a respectable strength in her voice, "Padawan Shan is in the chamber as well."

A smile spread across my lips as I assimilated that information for a moment, I could see no other reason that she and I were being summoned by the Council together. I knew how they were going to react – they could react no other way and if they did, I would be forced to defend myself. I had grown fairly good at circumventing the neural disruptor and I think if I exerted myself even further I could pull it off. If I was going to be attacked by the Jedi Council, which I would readily admit that there was a slight chance of that happening, I would not be caught off guard so easily. And when I easily rose to my knees, I offered the children an easy smile and turned to begin in the direction of the council chamber.


I had been in this chamber countless times in my life, so much so that I could actually remember remarking to Malak that I had gotten in too much trouble and I had been the age of that boy and girl who had summoned me. I made my final stand to the Jedi here before going taking up command of the Republic Military, I had witnessed my first master's exile in this room, it held a great deal of memories for me. Now it would host another set of memories, as I stood before another council and prepared to be berated for something that I did. But this set of memories was different, I was no Jedi in this instance – I did not take orders from them, as if I had obeyed them when I was a Jedi in this first place. But I patiently stood there in front of Master Vander, Vrook, Dorak and Zhar, listening to them talk and occasionally shifting my gaze to the glaring Jedi Padawan Shan beside them.

With my arms folded behind my back, I stood lazily in front of the present members of the council and put on a patronizing expression. I was no longer a child – I was no longer some rebellious student to punish for putting Kath Hound waste in Master Vrook's boots. I was the Dark Lord of the Sith, I commanded countless legions of men and women ready to do my bidding at a simple word. I struck fear into the hearts of the deadliest warriors in the galaxy – I had decapitated Mandalore the Ultimate and had destroyed planets, the fools would not talk to me like mere child.

"Silence," I snapped easily, earning a scowl from all in the room, but they did stop lecturing me as if I was still under their authority, "You have some nerve to talk down to me – I have not been a Jedi for quite some time and even then as I recall correctly, your opinions didn't mean much to me. The girl and I are bonded and I and I alone possess the power to sever the bond, any attempt that you make to do so will not only cause great physical harm to both myself and Bastila, but mental as well. Master Dorak, do the archives say anything about side effects of this bond?"

The man shook his head and leaned forward in his chair, "No, care to elaborate."

I smirked and began to pace, occasionally sharing a look with Bastila, "I'd take great pleasure in informing you what would happen – now keep in mind that I did not do this intentionally, the girl got the best of me when I expected to capture her, I placed the bond there because I intended on transforming her into one of my servants. But when she captured me, I knew that it would prove to be a great insurance policy, because the Jedi will not risk a life or risk harm coming upon s-…"

"With you? I'd bend that rule," Bastila snapped at me before she could help herself.

I chuckled as the Masters admonished her with a look and then back to me to give me the signal to continue. If there was one constant about Jedi Masters, they did pay attention to Sith knowledge very closely if only so they knew how to do destroy it or fight against it, "…as I said… it is a great insurance policy, because if I die, or if I am seriously injured, not even mortally wounded, but simply greatly injured, it will cause her to lose her grip on reality and never get it back, and she'll die, fast."

Dorak raised an eyebrow, "Your death will cause hers?"

"Yes, either right at the point of my death, or the madness she'll fly into will cause her to take her own life," I nodded with a pleasant smile – but then I sobered slightly, "But, the tradeoff is this, if she dies unnaturally, it will wound me quite gravely, it will not kill me, but it will take several years for me to regain my former strength. Nevertheless, if you insist on sending the Padawan on dangerous missions where her life is in danger – I will not be pleased and when I'm done, you won't either. I must insist that she remain close to me, for her safety and for mine."

Vrook snorted, "You are in no position to dictate terms."

I had to quell the anger that rose up within me at the sound of the old-man's mocking tone, something that I had heard for years and dreaded, but I would no longer be intimidated by this man, "Alright then – how about I make a promise, I promise you this Master Vrook, if Padawan Shan is killed and I am wounded because of that I make you this promise. I will tie you up with this collar around your neck, and I will inflict unimaginable pain upon your Padawan and I'll make sure she's alive through the whole thing. Then after she finally loses the will to live, I will finally kill her, and then I will move to your Padawan, and yours, yours and finally yours Master Vandar. I will not break the bond, and I will not risk her life – she will remain under my protection or I am going to slaughter everyone in this enclave and I will start with the children, working my way up to you fine gen-…"

Dorak and Vrook seemed quite disturbed, Zhar was not terribly shocked and Vandar seemed troubled – this was not the reaction that I had expected. In fact I was quite sure that all of them, universally, would allow my request but keep the girl from me at all times. I knew Zhar and Vandar very well, I knew what their expressions meant, and when I looked to Bastila, she wore an expression of utter shock on her face, something that I had seen on her face through all our encounters. I decided to try and give her a show of good faith as well as the council, "Do not fear Padawan Shan, this bond is not that intrusive, we can hear each other's thoughts, communicate with each other, sense each other's feelings – but this bond cannot influence your actions, I, or the Dark Side itself cannot somehow take control."

Dorak interrupted me, "So it is not corrupting?"

I shook my head, not taking my eyes off of Bastila, "No – there are such bonds, but this is not one of them, it was something developed by the ancient Sith Lords to communicate with their deadliest of servants and to spy, not dominate their mind – providing that neither of us die – it is quite harmless and can be a great asset."

"No – we cannot allow Bastila to be in contact with the Sith," Vrook practically spat the last word out at me as his objections grew louder than the chatter from the rest of the council, "With the neural disruptor you are no threat and can be defeated…"

The laugh that escaped me was unintentional to be sure, I had only been here a week and it was still not time to lord over them the fact that this thing was pretty much useless. It was only a matter of time before I could completely remove it from my neck, but I was still just as deadly by circumventing it. With my hands folded around my back, I relished his look of confusion on his face and took the more direct route. I would be purposely ambiguous as to whether or not I could and had circumvented the collar, but allude to the fact that I could do it, "Master Vrook, seeing as you spent the entire length of the Mandalorian War scaring students with how far I had fallen to the Dark Side, you wouldn't know this: I was captured by the Mandalorians once, they thought that a collar much like one could entrap me."

I smirked as his face fell, "The collar was electrified, but I fought through the pain with the force of my own will and it eventually destroyed itself – the collar didn't hold me, and truthfully, I could replicate the same results with the charming o-…"

"These collars are not electrified, so you can't repeat that," Zhar interrupted.

True – but the difference was that I was going around the neural block using my will instead of charging through the pain to use the Force. I turned to him and smiled warmly, I didn't hate Zhar, I thought he was a fool but I did not despise him like Dorak and Vrook, "You've known me since I was a child Master, you know I usually don't stop until I find a way around something that is keeping me trapped."

Before he could respond, I addressed this all again, "Here is how this will play out, you execute me, Bastila goes mad and more than likely kills herself, if Bastila dies, I will kill every living thing in this enclave. Strip me of the Force then? The Dark Side of the Force has a way around that – I am in the perfect position to dictate."

Vandar sighed and lowered his head – his opinion was what ultimately mattered on this council, "We expect something in return for keeping Bastila out of harm's way."

"I will not divulge military secrets, and even if I did, how would you know that I'm not leading you into a trap?" I grinned at the distraught Jedi Master – he, like his peers obviously didn't like to be boxed into a corner. If they stripped me of the Force, the ancient ritual to regain it would be a small price to pay, if they executed me, their precious weapon would kill herself, and if she died, all of them would die.

In layman's terms – I won and they didn't even know until it was too late.

"How are you producing so many ships?" Zhar inquired lightly from his side.

I rolled my eyes, "Wouldn't you like to know."

"How?" Vrook repeated more firmly, "We demand that you tell us!"

"Make me you insipid, sanctimonious fool," I glared vibroblades at him as he did the same exact thing to me – he did not like being called names. I then fixed him with a mocking glaring and folded my arms over my chest, "Oh that's right – you can't! to make it simple Masters, you might have me – but I have the girl and if the girl is put in harm's way and killed, you will suffer for it, remember that when thinking-…"

Before I was about to finish and storm out to leave them to think about it, I was momentarily taken aback by how Bastila reacted. I had not expected her to react this way, to throw herself on the sword for the Jedi – I had not expected it at all. I had expected some sort of self-preservation instinct to kick in, but no, she would rather risk being killed to just wound me then to preserve herself. It actually made me reconsider severing the bond, but no – no it was clear that I would not have to go that far yet. Until I had to do so I was content to sit and watch her have a little episode in front of the one group that it was most unadvisable to do so in front of and the more that I listened to her, I grew more pleased, she was quite vocal.

"Masters – if I might add a little sanity here, what good could possibly arise out of bowing the wishes of a Sith Lord?!" She screeched at them and I silently observed that my manipulations were tearing down the wall of emotional control fairly quickly and it was all so delicious to watch, "He is probably making this entire situation up!"

I cocked my head, "If this collar was removed, I could prove to you that the bond is quite real – and no, I have no other wish then to secure my own wellbeing and unfortunately for you my dear, that means that I must protect you at all costs."

"Will no harm come to Padawan Shan?" I was quite surprised to hear Master Vandar ask me that question – he either believed that I hadn't overwhelmed the collar and wouldn't seek to influence Bastila or he was resigning himself to the situation he was in and deal with my actions later. Either way, I knew that I had just triumphed.

I nodded, "I will make sure that she suffers no harm."

"And can you do it without the Force?" Zhar questioned from beside him.

I nodded again – despite the fact that I could touch the Force, I could keep the girl safe without openly using it. Physical training mattered just as much as Force use, I knew how to use vibroblades, blasters, I had made sure be well rounded with all weapons. Besides, a slight nudge to an enemy in the Force would not attract the attention of the Jedi – so yes, I was in the perfect position to protect her either way. The girl would have to get used to it – I would never sever the bond until I was sure that she was beyond my reach and so long as we were bonded, her safety mattered as much as mine did and I, as the Dark Lord of the Sith, would allow no harm to come to her. If I had to do it within the confines of the Jedi, I would do so.

"I can and I will, provided I am allowed to use weapons?" I asked lightly.

Vandar nodded, "You'll have access to all we can provide, except lightsabers."

I smirked inwardly… it wasn't the lightsaber that made the Sith dangerous, it was the Sith that made the Sith dangerous. But outwardly I nodded, and looked to Bastila, "I take it that you and your little friends will not mind my presence?"

Bastila huffed and shook her head, "They will! Why is this necessary?!"

"Must you display stupidity at every turn!" I groaned and rolled my eyes, she had her moments – but otherwise I had pretty much revised my opinion of her. The girl was a top grade idiot – she was a special pawn of the Jedi and nothing more, "If you die or are seriously harmed, I will be seriously wounded both physically and through the Force. Since you insist on being an imbecile and trying to get yourself killed at every turn – I must take it upon myself to protect you from yourself!"

She looked affronted, but Master Vandar stopped her, "And Padawan Shan, keep in mind that if you harm him in any way, or if some tragic accident should befall him – that it will be you who suffers the most, in case you didn't pay attention, you'll-…"

"I know Master," She snapped irritably and nodded, "I'll go mad."

"It would seem that your fates are intertwined and there is nothing we can do about it at this point," Vandar said, possibly not realizing or choosing not to throw the fact that I had set these events into emotions, "I do suggest that until such time that Lord Revan is convinced that he cannot manipulate you, you force yourself to get along with him. It would be advisable to let no harm come to e-…"

I had long tuned him about and reflected on the situation that I found myself in, so Vandar was aware of why I wouldn't break the bond with Bastila – alright. Now I was in a position to secure our mutual safety because the girl wasn't capable of doing it herself. Finally, I was in a closer position to alerting my forces of my location so that they could extract me from this glorified prison. And I would have to accomplish this while still wearing this accursed collar and it momentarily overwhelmed me that I would have to accomplish this without my full connection to the Force. I would have to use all of my cunning to get through this without injury.

"Lord Revan, you will do nothing to endanger her," Vandar commanded me.

I narrowed my eyes but nodded with a touch of sarcasm, "I would never do that."


This would be amusing if I were not the victim in this situation.

I had experienced a lot in my relatively short life: I had won a war, I was on the verge of winning another one – I destroyed entire planets, converted legions of Jedi and conquered half of the Galaxy. However, I had never been in this position in recent memory. Probably not since I was a Padawan myself had I been forced into something like this and even then it was tolerable – I had Malak with me. Thanks to the Jedi Council's infant wisdom however, I had been moved from my secure room and now I was sharing a dormitory with Bastila and several other young female Padawans. I felt out of place here to say the least, especially with one of the more peculiar girls that lived with Bastila – the one who would not stop looking at me.

She had already bluntly reminded me that I had slain the previous owner of this bed on my ship a week and a half ago and now, now she was looking at me in utter fascination. I had expected the council to cover my legacy and my reputation in a layer of foreboding and make it clear that I was not be emulated, let alone explored, but this child obviously was ignoring such warnings. Even as I sat cross legged on the bed, trying to center myself, I couldn't quite achieve while I felt the girl's eyes boring into the side of my head – my annoyance grew by the seconds.

"Child – do you have something to ask me? You keep staring at me," I snapped.

She blinked but nodded, "Y-You're really Darth Revan?"

I scoffed inwardly, what a stupid question, but I smiled at her, "In the flesh."

"Do you remember the Battle of Althir III?" She asked me quietly, presumably trying not to attract the attention of her dormitory mates. I nodded and quickly thought back to that battle of the Mandalorian Wars. The Mandalorian's had conquered the planet years before and on that planet – I was still considered a hero for invading and liberating the planet from the Neo-Crusaders, so much so that the planet was loyal to me to this day. It served as a heavily fortified fallback position if they Republic should ever push us back to the Outer Rim, it was a good war trophy.

Besides, their ship and weapon building skills proved useful in pacifying the rest of the sector – it was just one less place I had to worry about, "Are you familiar wit-…"

"My father supplied off world metals to the Althiri," She explained quietly, and I could practically feel the emotions that stirred within her at mentioning it, "My parents were caught on world when the Mandalorian's invaded, we were forced to stay there until the Republic took back the planet. I wish that you had gotten their earlier – because my father was killed two months before I was born by a Mando."

I quietly repressed the fact that the story did tug on my heartstrings and raised an eyebrow, was this Jedi Padawan expressing her gratitude for me invading a world and cutting down hundreds of Mandalorians? She couldn't be more the twenty years old if what she said was true and she was looking at me with a childlike intensity.

"Well, I apologize for the indignities that your family, as well as all of the other families affected by the war had to suffer at the hands of the Mandalorians," I said, picking my words very carefully, "And I think you exposed one of the reasons that I went to war in the first place – but if I may ask, I feel you have an intense resentment of the Mandalorians, why are in this place that prevents your revenge?"

It wasn't so much a manipulative question as it was a genuine question, why would she deprive herself of that? It was an active policy of my empire to exterminate the remains of the remaining clans on sight – she would be a useful asset on that front if she could be bent the proper way. And by the way she reacted to my question, she was not entirely opposed to the idea and that was a very good sign. That quite simply meant that she was pliable and, provided that she kept our conversation to herself, it would not take a lot to make her fall to the Dark Side. It wasn't the indignant anger that Bastila would fall into, or the self-righteous amusement that a Jedi Master would wear, it was as if she just didn't know. She spoke as if this was all she had ever known and she couldn't imagine anything else, "It's all I know."

"The Jedi did not want me to go to war, they would have preferred that half of the Galaxy burned down before they did anything to stop the Mandalorian's advance, in fact, if I were a betting man – I'd say that they'd have not done anything until Mandalore himself had arrived at the Capital," I allowed some the very old irritation at the subject to slip into my voice, "A Jedi's life is tinged with emotional repression and what they call justice, but again, it was not the Jedi Order that liberated Althir."

The seed of doubt had been planted – excellent.

"I-…I will think of-…" She was cut off, but I knew that it would work.

"Do not speak to him Jeral, his words are poison," Bastila snapped from across the room and I grinned inwardly, she and I had not shared a cordial word since the council meeting hours ago. Turing and looking at her and her little group studying, I raised an eyebrow and my lips actually quirked up in utter amusement at the girl.

Had I really been reduced to this? Part of me wanted to mold and turn Bastila into the machine that she could become, part of me just wanted to… well "worship" her and the other half wanted to strangle her for putting me in the position that I was in at the moment. She was so very lucky that she was very attractive and very powerful or I would not be planning her conversion, but her long and painful death.

"I'm simply having a conversation with the young lady, and as much as you may not like it my dear Padawan," I stretched out the word and paused on it on purpose to try and point out that the pretentious girl carried the ego of Jedi Master, "I am stuck here with you, and I will not sit in a corner and stare at the wall all day. You can spout your arrogant commands at me all day – but unlike these lovely ladies, I do not have to abide by them. Now what is it that you're studying? I can help you."

The girls look hesitantly towards Bastila and it was very clear to me in that moment that this dormitory operated under a leadership hierarchy with her at the top. The girl was very, very annoying, sure – and she was bigheaded and very unstable, but perhaps she could see that I could a valuable tool in her pursuit of Jedi knowledge.

"Keep in mind my dears," I said, looking at all of them, "I was not always the big, bad and evil Dark Lord of the Sith that your beloved Masters make me out to be on a daily basis. I was once a Jedi like you, and I was told that if I had not gone off to war, I was very close to being promoted to the rank of Master. I figure that if we're going to be living together, we should at least try to get along – am I alone in this?"

The girls were silent for a moment, ignoring the glare that Bastila was sending them, and then one of them finally broke from the pack. She was a young Twi'lek girl, she couldn't have been more than eighteen years old and by the lack of lightsaber – I surmised that she was behind in her training. There were so many opportunities for new weapons here, first the girl whose family was Althir and now this girl who was behind. I could complete her training, "We're studying Force Bonds – Master Dorak is interrupting normal lessons with this – it's quite unusual."

I smirked and looked at Bastila, "It's that so?"

She scowled and forced a nod, "Yes – a little too late, but yes."

"As it happens," I said with the biggest smile on my face as I got up from the bed and sat down in an empty chair in their little circle. The irony of this moment didn't escape me, but perhaps it was time that Bastila knew how much control that I really had over the Force. Perhaps it was time she know that I was a Master of all the "I studied uncommon Force Powers when I was a Padawan and I focused my studies on Force Bonds – over the years I mastered the art. Admittedly, I've gone down a darker route and mastered the dark forms of Force Bonds-…"

I chuckled as Bastila bared her teeth at me and then I turned back to the group with a charming smile. By the time I was ready to leave Dantooine, these girls would be putty in my hands, Bastila too, "…but I'm still a master of the forms that Dorak is trying to teach you, or teach you how to avoid… how can I help you?"

And that finally broke the ice between me and the rest of the girls, I could sense that they had been hesitantly curious, but now they weren't hesitant anymore. I could surmise however that Bastila still hated me with a deep passion and it would take more than helping her study to unfreeze her to me, it would take much more.

I began by explaining the more simplistic form of Force Bonds, that of a Master to their Apprentice, I explained how it allowed two Force Sensitive wielders could communicate from massive distances, through hellish battles and even if one of the bond mates was in a comatose state. I didn't tell them that I regarded the Jedi and their bonding methods as weak – I didn't tell them that these bonds typically were so incomplete that they deprived the bonded of their true potential. I didn't tell them or Bastila for that matter that with a bond, I could rip the knowledge out of the minds of those who I had bonded with. They would discover all of that in time.

And by the time I was done, I would teach these young Jedi the true power of the Force – and their little leader would be my apprentice and nothing could stop me.

I smiled at them as they expressed their understanding, this was becoming easy.