Bastila sat on the couch of the cramped apartments living room with Juhani, surveying the contents of the the cloth bag as she -re-emptied them on the table, having been forced to remove them earlier to teach Rae something.
"Well, what you think?" Juhani asked, gesturing to the spare parts she had salvaged from both the vehicle accident they had had earlier as well as the parts to the confiscated Arc-Sword they had stolen from this Universe's Bandon.
Bastila eyed the contents- three flat power coupling emission ports, some sort of low grade energy cells, power transmission coils, and the crystal portions of the com-links donated by two of Canderous' soldiers.
"I think," Bastila replied, leaning forward, "That we are in business."
The two were still wearing the disguises they had come to this universe with, Bastila a set of dark brown slacks and shoes, a white long sleeve shirt, Domino mask and brown leather trench coat, and Juhani with a totally red set of slacks, black-colored armored boots and gloves, also with a domino mask and beanie. she wore a necklace with a police badge from the Jedi of this dimension, ID numbers stamped clearly in front. The apartment was an unpleasant, off white color, with a single large holo-projector in the living room. Captain Onasi had tried to keep himself occupied after coming here to hide from the Jedi Defectors of this Universe's Revan. His garish orange turtleneck sweater nearly distracted from the brown trousers and boots, and his unshaven, needing-a-slight-trim look for his brown hair.
Bastila picked up a small hydro spanner out of a set of three, all with a welding laser modification and set to work, taking the jumbled, disorganized mess and beginning to craft something.
"You're making lightsabers, aren't you?" asked a rough voice that originated from the entrance to the apartment.
Bastila looked up, staring at Officer Rae Nolin (Jedi Exile of universe 11-82). His leather bomber jacket, tightly closed around him with oversized brass buttons and a front flap he left undone at a corner near the top, was smudged with dirt and the mud from the under works after Bastila had hurled him out of the apartment after discovering he had accidentally made a Force Bond with her, which had allowed him to discern a truth she had desperately tried to keep hidden from this universe's Jedi: That the Force had a Dark Side to it. His dark slacks, lined with many pockets and two spare holsters on the sides were also caked in the dirt. His boots were scuffed, marring the polish. He also wore a domino mask, but one made of a heavy, angular metal material that concealed his eyes behind dark slots. His skin was slightly darker than Carth's own tan, and he had short cut curly dark hair with long sideburns.
Bastila had been trying to keep the bond between them closed but it was becoming more and more difficult. In the hours that had passed since it occurred, he had slowly been gaining more and more knowledge from her. At an exponential rate. Juhani insisted he needed to be shown the way for his own protection but Bastila had refused, citing that they were only padawans.
"Yes, Rae, we're making lightsabers. I must ask that you try not to construct one with what you've learned from me. You could hurt herself," Bastila admonished gently.
"Only because you refuse to teach me," Rae growled in frustration.
Bastila ignored the barb and continued her work. Rae already knew a good deal. There was no point in refusing to work while he was around. But that did little to ease Bastila as she watched Rae prowl about. She sensed the darkness in him, faint but there. It had tasted her power and wanted more.
Bastila and Juhani used everything, joining together the coupling ports with the micro circuitry of the com-links and the power cells, the transmission coils were fused into the design, giving both definition to the ad-hoc weapons as an efficient energy distribution system and as the inner layer of the hilt as parts of it were wrapped around the design and joined at specific points in the circuitry, left unfinished on one side.
Bastila used the welding laser, cutting parts of the com-links' now dissected frame, and fitting it to the small, thumb sized storage unit of its former crystal equipment, piecing together the new chamber and setting it into the unfinished hilt, joining it to the circuits. She grabbed another hydro spanner, slicing the tube-shaped tool in half on both sides and extracting its contents. Everything would be needed. She took the spare tool's welding laser, disassembled it and began using the Force to alter the tool down at its molecular level, causing the broken down laser tool to start fusing with the energy-cells contact points, telekinetically adjusting it and fusing it also with the pen shaped tool's lens and magnetic alignment module. Captain Onasi went over and watched in fascination with Rae as he witnessed the components start to melt together, twisting and shifting at their points of contact, melting into the other mechanisms and the inner wall of the device. Bastila took a com-link crystal, a small faceted yellow gem cut in such a way that it would not have been out of place if it had been mounted onto a ring, and set it into the crystal focusing chamber which sat above the laser tool ignition node and under the focusing lens. She then took some of the circuitry and power cycling systems from the Arc-Sword, fitting it into her design, while passing the rest to Juhani as she worked on hers. She fused all of this together into her new hilt, joining the innards with the outer shell of the sliced apart hydro spanner, sealing it together with her welding laser, which she then used on her trench coat, slicing small strips of it off and fusing the strips together on the hilt, giving the finished weapon a brown grip. The 'ON' button from a com-link served as the activation stud for the weapon. Bastila then passed her tool to Juhani so she could finish her weapon, which followed similar methods. In a nod to Bastila, when Juhani finished she did something similar to her own jacket, slicing strips of the red leather away and fusing it to her hilt for the grip.
The pair stared at their weapon. Bastila's was the length of a single hilt, but possessed two silver, flat emitters with a few scratches. The brown leather grip felt comfortable in her hand.
"Stand back," Bastila ordered everybody as she stood up. Everyone went to one side of the room while Bastila went to the middle. She said a little prayer: This had been a rush job, using emergency crafting techniques. Hopefully it wouldn't blow her arm off.
She hit the small activation stud recessed into the hilt.
Two flat, light yellow blades with a diamond shaped tip sprang out of the weapon at both ends. The hum was slightly higher than a normal lightsaber.
Bastila gave and experimental twirl of the weapon before shutting it off. The crystal it used had never been meant for this sort of thing. It could easily fail, cracking in its chamber and causing either one or both of the blades to short out if put through too much stress. She would have to use it only when left with no other choice.
Bastila went to the end of the room where Captain Onasi and Rae were standing. "Now you, Juhani," she called out.
Juhani went to the center of the room and confidently turned the blade on, the hilt covered with a red leather grip and bearing a flat emitter like Bastila's.
A flat, light yellow blade snaked out, its tip slanting diagonally like a single edged sword, straight in shape.
"Flat blade. That take getting used to," Juhani remarked before shutting it off. "I no like color though. If only I had blue crystal..."
"Beggars can't be choosers, Juhani," Bastila replied in her cultured accent. "We take what we're given."
"You right. At least we have weapon," Juhani replied.
"No kidding," remarked Canderous Ordo as he stepped in through the entrance, having watched Juhani turn her blade on. A burly figure clad in a black, pinstripe business suit with a large wide brimmed black hat and shoes, a red armor vest thrown over his suit and carrying a medium sized repeater with a drum-shaped power cell and a foregrip attached. It appeared to only use iron sights. His face was concealed by an engraved mask with a t-shaped visor made of a dark, glossy material. "Those weapons put any Arc-Sword currently on the black market to shame. How'd you build those things, Jedi?"
"Trade secret," Bastila answered. Canderous had no idea that the Juhani and Bastila he was currently in an uneasy alliance with were not from this universe, having arrived less than a day ago from their own dimension to kill this dimension's Revan.
"Bah, Jedi and their secrets. Word of advice? Don't play everything so close to your chest. It'll cause people to mistrust you if you do it enough times," he remarked, his accent casual, yet strangely refined and eloquent, like most versions of this particular individual.
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Bastila replied in dry fashion, hooking the weapon to her belt. "Now let's go speak to Revan's girlfriend."
Canderous had arranged shuttle transport, careful to pay in actual credit chits instead of an electronic transfer, fearing the Jedi currently hunting them could trace them with such a mistake. Bastila had a chance to lose herself as she watched the outside race by the viewport of the small, flying wing shaped orbital shuttle, curiously bearing a decal similar to the Ebon Hawk Captain Onasi flew, save this one had a human woman, in a white dress waving her hat excitedly as she rode an exaggerated, archaic design of a ship that primarily used ancient rocket technology. the city's buildings of this version of Coruscant contained staues of animals and large carvings of faces built right into the design, giving the whole city a unique look.
The sector they were flying to seemed primarily to be a zone for transparent, mushroom shaped buildings containing parks and lakes within, and giant, cube shaped arcologies that dotted the cityscape atop a giant, tree like structure that grasped all of the buildings, stretching out over twenty kilometers in every direction. Bastila's mouth dropped in amazement at the unique superstructure as the shuttle maneuvered its way to a docking station in one of the transparent arcologies. Bastila and Juhani noticed that tree designs seemed to dominate the painted surfaces of the docking bay as the shuttle landed.
Everyone filed down the landing ramp, Bastila took in more of the sights. The docking bay was quite stylish. Red banners blew gently in the open air along the walls and the disembarking lines were surrounded by velvet rope. Band music played festively over the loudspeaker, mostly instrumental, with clarinets, trombones, and saxophones featuring heavily in what was played. Bastila turned and stared outside. The dark storm she had spotted since coming here approached the city ominously. the walls and surfaces were covered in painted tree designs, with images of foxes and deer entwined in the design also.
The group got in line in front of customs. The docking area was massive and rife with other travelers of every species, each filing into their own lines at their own security checkpoints.
When the group reached the front, they were obstructed by an old, dark skinned man behind a cherry wood desk, guarding the turbolift passage to the arcology proper. A number of ceiling turrets and floor turrets kept him company. More turrets than Bastila was sure she and Juhani could overcome.
Bastila and the Cathar woman stepped through a small door-sized frame of sensors. Alarms started blaring and the turrets went active, all fixing menacing green lasers on their torsos. The two froze.
The old man sat in the desk, dressed in a green pinstripe suit. He was wrinkled yet dignified in his ancientness, sporting a well maintained goatee of graying hair. He was bald, and he wore a white eyepatch over his left eye, bearing a decal of a sunflower wrapped around a blue caterpillar. He didn't look up as he continued bringing his security stamp down on papers he took from a large stack to his left, setting what he stamped to his right.
"Sensors picked up high end energy weapons of an unknown design on both of you. What is your business in the arcology sector?" the man asked in a weathered, slightly hoarse tone, still stamping papers and not looking up.
"You don't need to know our business," Bastila answered, waving her hand in a discreet motion.
The man glanced up, his good brown eye raking them over as he stared with an expression of surprise. "Oh? And why is that, young lady?" he asked, folding his arms.
Bastila blinked in surprise. She considered turning her full power on the man but thought the better of it.
"I'll handle this," Rae spoke, making his way past the two. "They're with me, Bindo."
Bindo stared before breaking out into a smile.
"Rae!" he greeted. "Fancy running into you! So, the precinct still have you on the Cicero beat?"
"Underworks beat, actually," Rae answered casually. "Listen Jolee, can you make an exception here? Agency business."
Jolee glanced at Canderous. "What sort of agency business requires a Mandalorian's help?"
"The same kind that could do without the prejudiced musings of a nosy old man," Canderous snapped.
Jolee eyed him. "Don't try and threaten me, Mando. I'm a former investigator. I could confiscate that blaster of yours in a heartbeat."
Canderous hefted his weapon, causing a few onlookers to back away. "Just try, Jedi."
"Canderous!" Bastila hissed. "Be silent."
"Whatever. Stupid old man..." Canderous grumbled.
Rae glanced back at Jolee. "Help me out here. For old time's sake. Sooner we're gone, sooner the Mando's out of your hair."
Jolee looked at the group before sighing.
"Okay, Rae, because it's you. One time only, though," Jolee muttered, switching off the turrets and opening the turbolift with the security keypad built into the table. "Try not to start any trouble."
"Thanks Jolee," Rae nodded, gesturing to the others to follow him. As they walked past, Juhani whispered in Bastila's ear.
"Hey, Bastila," she asked. "Wasn't there Jolee Bindo in Exar Kun War?"
"As a matter of fact, there was. Didn't he leave the order?" Bastila wondered.
Rae, misinterpreting her question, spoke up. "Oh, Jolee? Old man was the best detective in the Agency. Hell, even the government occasionally consulted him for the really weird cases. He retired from the Agency
"What happened? I mean, Mister Bindo doesn't seem like the kind of guy to be stuck behind a desk," Onasi asked.
"Same thing that happens to a lotta folks, Carth: A woman. In this case, his wife of 23 three years finally forced him to settle down, making money a safer sort of way. But nobody ever really leaves the biz," Rae answered.
"Bet you he wouldn't trade places with ours," Bastila said under her breath, remembering the circumstances 'her' Jolee had left the Order under.
"No kidding," Juhani replied with a snicker.
The transparent walls of the arcology gave a fantastic view of the outside, the bright orange sun now only a pinpoint of light as storm clouds began to fully obscure it. Light rain began to drizzle the outside, running in sheets down the walls. This level of the arcology was the consumer level, filled with the stores and restaurants, jammed as neatly together as possible and yet still managing an untidy sprawl throughout the whole of the level as civilians bustled about, the light jazz over the announcement systems playing with magnificent clarity. Bastila noticed that most of the men, alien or not, seemed to wear a pinstripe outfit, or if they were alien the equivalent, while the women wore a long dress that stopped at the ankles, or again the cultural equivalent.
"I always wanted to come to the Arcology Sector but I could never find the time," Carth remarked as he and the others gently brushed pass countless civilians. "I was thinking maybe me and my wife could live here." he was clearly enchanted with the place.
"Wouldn't be the worse place you could pick, pilot," Canderous remarked, staring at an ice cream shop. "Hmmm...ain't had the cookie dough in a while."
Carth stared at him. "I didn't know Mandalorians liked ice cream."
Canderous stared back. "My people have never been able to resist the decadent sin that is the banana split. It's a warriors dessert."
Carth raised a brow. "How is ice cream a warriors desert?"
"Because we use it to test ourselves whenever we get a tooth cavity," he answered. "The pain is unimaginable. If you can take that kind of pain, you can take anything."
"Uh...wow, dude. Just...wow. Leave it to your people to turn a treat into an instrument of torture," Carth replied darkly, wide-eyed.
Canderous stared.
"Onasi, anybody ever told you that you take things way too literal? I was making a joke," he replied bluntly.
Carth snapped out of his surprise. "Oh, you were?" he laughed, scratching his head nervously. "Uh...sorry."
Canderous continued to stare at him.
Carth fidgeted. He spotted a man selling hot caffa behind a kiosk belonging to a pair of Rodians not far off.
"I'll be over there," he said quickly, heading to the kiosk to end the awkward moment.
"That man has his head so far up his ass, it wouldn't surprise me if he could see his own heart beating," Ordo remarked as Carth left temporarily.
"That's disgusting!" Bastila grimaced, exposing her braces.
"But true," he rejoined as Carth came back with a steaming durafoam cup of caffa. "Okay. I'm ready. Where's Revan's girlfriend?"
"Apartment 87, level C," Bastila reminded him. "We need to take one of the turbo-trams."
As the group filed into the turbo trams, Transparisteel cubes with repulsor lift channels on the inner rail to propel them either up, down, or side to side in the network of tram tunnels, also made of transparisteel, the layout was made easy to understand by a color code for each sector the tram went to in the arcology. Ergonomics had been fully considered, including economics. Bastila's Coruscant didn't have anything like this massive network. And the place was bathed in the gaudy yet strangely appealing neon signs denoting certain areas and commerce centers. Dura-Marble had been laid into the floors, of a variety that featured a white hardstone with red veins, chemically manufactured for added strength and hardness while reducing weight. Water fountains marked the borders between sectors for foot traffic
The tram slid upward and then to the right in an opaque tram tunnel before opening up into a vast cube shaped chamber painted in what would have been considered oil-in-water colors, but far brighter. Green cherry blossoms framed the brick archway into the apartment courtyard, which featured what appeared to be a life sized statue composed of milky jade, depicting a humanoid shape in a meditative trance, sitting in the lotus position.
Bastila raised a brow as she, Juhani, and Rae all felt the tingle of Force energy from the statue.
"What is that statue doing here?" Bastila asked.
"Oh, that?" Carth spoke up. "That's called 'The Contemplator'. It's been here for about two weeks now. No one knows where it came from. People have been showing up more and more to see it. They are calling it the seventh wonder of Coruscant."
"That's not an ordinary statue," all three Force Users said at the same time. Bastila glanced uneasily at Rae for a second before approaching the object. She ran her hands across the smooth surface of its head, trying to discern its purpose.
"Force User of sufficient knowledge detected," the statue spoke in a hollow electronic tone, an inner white glow from its torso appearing with each spoken word.
The power from it suddenly became a torrent. Bastila was half tempted to start absorbing the power but resisted, pulling her hand away from the object.
"Juhani," Bastila whispered. "It's a holocron."
"The whole damn thing?" Juhani blurted in disbelief, going over to it.
"The whole damn thing," Bastila repeated. "Holocron, state maker and point of origin."
"This Holocron was commissioned by The Jedi High Council of Universe 89-67, an extremely technologically advanced dimension in comparison to other timelines within the multi-verse. The ship this device served on was on a dangerous mission. No further details are available without proper clearance."
"Holocron, you recognize me as Jedi?" Bastila asked.
"This device registers and interprets your brain patterns. This device senses great fear in you. Limited access is permitted."
"How did you end up here?" Carth asked, bewildered.
"Upon being salvaged, the Revan of universe 11-82 attempted to breach my security protocols. He was unsuccessful, and instead placed me in this courtyard."
"Any idea why?" Bastila asked.
"This device is not programmed to anticipate military strategy. It is a teaching tool and weapons fabrication unit, nothing more," the statue answered.
"Teaching tool? And what sort of weapons?" Canderous inquired.
"This device carries within it a trove of data regarding the nature of the Force, techniques that utilize it, as well as lightsaber combat styles, three of which are utilized only within this device's particular universe of origin," the statue answered. "However, only one with sufficient knowledge and brain patterns matching that of a Jedi Knight or multiversal equivalent are permitted access. The device will automatically lock down if the Dark Side is detected, or if Force User lacks sufficient wisdom."
"Oh, kek, I am so stupid," Bastila muttered, face palming herself.
Juhani turned to her friend. "Why? What wrong?" The fur on the Cathar woman bristled.
"Revan found this device, but he couldn't get in, right?" Bastila asked, growing more distressed by the minute, "And this holocron is from an extremely advanced version of the Order, right?"
"Your point?" Rae growled, folding his arms.
"Now I'm guessing," Bastila begin, pacing about as it hit her, "that this universe's Revan found the technology to jump between his continuity and ours from the ship he salvaged the holocron from. I'm also guessing there were no survivors, nobody he could get to open the holocron for him."
"Correct. There were no survivors," the Statue added.
"So that explains why he chose to send his version of Malak into our dimension: He was flying blind. He had no idea what he would encounter. He just hoped there was a version of the Jedi he could convince to help him, or, if convince was out of the question, kidnap."
"There is flaw in theory, Bastila," Juhani stated, stroking her furry rounded chin. "The Jedi of this universe have no proper mental defense. Jedi Council would have to have known Alek was lying."
"Would they know?" Bastila countered, pacing back and forth faster. "Or would they be totally blown away by the fact that somebody was from a parallel dimension and needed their help? How could anyone, even a Jedi Master be expected to remain impartial to such an unheard of phenomenon? We're not just off the beaten path, Juhani," Bastila replied, taking the Cathar by the shoulders, "We're neck deep in desert sand."
"Wait a minute. You two aren't from our dimension?!" Carth asked, mouth going slightly open in surprise.
"Dimension hoppers? Y'know, this reminds me of a really awesome martial arts film I saw once," Canderous chuckled.
Captain Onasi turned to Rae. "You knew about this?"
"Sorry Carth. Need to know basis," Rae answered.
"So, Jedi, do the Mandalorians exist in your universe as they do in mine?" Canderous asked.
"Yes. Unfortunately. They wear much more armor than yours do, however," Bastila spoke with authority.
"More armor, huh? Hmmm...we have been meaning to bulk up personal defense lately..." Canderous trailed off, intrigued.
"He must have figured out once he got us over here that we would never willingly help him open the holocron. So he what does he do? He lets us escape, knowing our powers are more advanced than his. Knows we'll go after him, follow every lead to him so that we could attack at our leisure, because he holds the secret to going home, the thing we want most. And he knew we'd get the information out of Kreia, knew we would go here, find this holocron, and do what he could not. And we did just what he knew we would," Bastila finished, slumping against a support pillar, also covered in the oil-in-water colors. "Bloody hell, his goons are probably on their way here as we speak."
"There's still hole in theory," Juhani replied flatly. "It only works if everything goes to plan. Dozen things could have happen between Dantooine and Coruscant. How could he know we come here to Coruscant in particular?"
"That's the easy part: Rae was with us," Bastila replied in just as flat a tone.
"He must have known I'd hit Coruscant. Where else could we have gone? It's the center of government for the entire galaxy."
"Rae," Bastila said with a dark smile as she unhooked her lightsaber from her belt. "You are such a liar. This bond we have works both ways. Exactly as you intended."
Juhani stepped between the two. "I thought we had decided you no kill him."
"That was before I realized my mistake. Think Juhani, When we first met Rae, he asked us if we were really from a parallel dimension. Now remember when he also said that he hadn't been able to dig up anything solid on Revan? So how could he know enough about the situation to ask us that question?"
Juhani slowly craned her head to Rae. "Is this true?"
Rae scoffed. "Crazy talk."
"Is it?" Bastila asked with a sneer. "Remember Jack Rand? He called Rae a fanatic. Why would you call a police officer, even a very demanding and scrupulous one, a fanatic? And why was Kreia on a first name basis with Rae at all? And how was it Bandon found us? It was Rae who directed us, acted as an advisor, told us about the lead he had. He told Bandon where we'd be, sent him a message through the Force. He was bonded with him to. And did you check my injuries personally, or did Rae simply tell you I was on the verge of death?" Bastila wondered.
"I never lied to you about your injuries, Bastila," Rae snapped, clearly insulted. "You would have died, had I not aided you."
"Perhaps you're telling the truth, but even if you are, you still had an excuse to weave as tight and as close a bond as you could, so that you could learn everything you wanted to know simply by glancing into my mind," Bastila rejoined coldly. "It's something you were doing as far back as Dantooine."
"What does she mean, Rae?!" Juhani demanded, pulling out her flat bladed lightsaber, switching it on in half a second and angling the blade towards him. Canderous leveled his repeater at Rae also.
"Our friend is not what he appears. He's a cipher, forming bonds, siphoning the will of others. When he bonds with them he gains information, and he can share information also. In a few hours he'll know everything I know. And then he'll be able to share what I know with all his compatriots. Instantaneously," Bastila finished, broken at the revelation that she had failed, despite all her efforts. "And since he's bonded with me, he'll use that bond to help him open the holocron whenever he wants, along with anybody he gives the knowledge to."
Bastila stared sadly at Rae. "You have no idea the kind of pain you'll bring."
They heard clapping at the top of the staircase leading to the second floor.
Revan stood close to the floors railing, leaning over and looking down. He wore a dark brown, formal business suit with white pinstripes. His face was concealed by a mask the color of bronze, with a single, thin black visor to see out of. Bastila saw both her and Juhani's original lightsabers clipped to his belt, Bastila's a simple hilt of brown metal with a silvery, slender, bowl shaped emitter. Juhani's was made of reinforced stone and quartz banded together in a candy cane pattern, the face of a gargoyle at the top of the emitter shroud. It was point five times longer than Bastila's. Next to him was a Twi-Lek woman in her mid-thirties, wearing a long white dress that stopped at her ankles. Her skin was light violet, with a pale pallor near the face, and she had violet eyes. She was a stunning beauty, and her bare arms were wrapped around Revan's.
"Bravo, dear Bastila," Revan spoke in a husky, authoritative tone. "A bit late in the deduction, but my admiration to you figuring it out."
Canderous leveled his weapon at him.
Revan stretched out his hand and the weapon was yanked from the Mandalorian's fingers and was sent skittering to the floor some distance away.
"That IS a useful power," Revan noted. "The Cartels days are numbered, Ordo. Go and tell your boss I said that."
"Humph. We'll see," Canderous scoffed.
"You don't know what you're doing, Revan. This technology, this power, was never meant for you," Bastila argued, desperate to make him understand.
"Sorry, Bastila, sometimes you have to be baptized by fire," Revan replied. "But nonetheless, you have done what I wanted you to do. And I said that if you did what I wanted I would let you go. I'm a man of my word."
Revan reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small com-link.
"It's over, Alek. They'll be leaving shortly," he spoke into it before putting it away.
He turned to look down on them again. "Alek and a team are standing by a copy of the device set up in my room. The coordinates are set for your universe. You can go home."
"It no work like that, Revan. We stay until job finished," Juhani asserted.
Revan put at hand to his chest as though stricken. "What, kill me? You were brought here under the guise of terminating me simply because I share a name with 'your' enemy and stopping my attempt to spread the mysteries of the Force to my Jedi. You have clearly failed in both regards. Go home. No one will blame you. The situation was an unknown anyway."
"The Dark Side will spin the galaxy off to war!" Bastila nearly shouted. "Ask Rae. If you have a bond with him like I do, you'll know all about the wars, the bloody feuds, the cycle of destruction."
"I've been considering that, Bastila," Rae spoke up suddenly, surprising Juhani by calling her brand new lightsaber to his hand and angling it at her. "From what my bonding process allows me to know so far, all I can conclude is that the polarization between light and dark is entirely the fault of your Jedi, who would stubbornly promote one way of thinking, even if it would destroy them. Me and Revan will see to it 'our' order does not suffer from such bias," Rae replied. "Drop your weapon."
"Don't listen to him," Bastila hissed at Revan feverishly. "His philosophy is corrupting. The Dark Side-"
"-Is simply another side of the Force like any other, and its time our agency stopped being so short sighted," Rae countered.
"No! The Dark Side is Fear! Anger! Hatred! All your worst emotions influencing how you act, all of the time! Only with proper training will you be able to avoid its terrible effects!" Bastila exclaimed, approaching Revan. "It has fueled countless atrocities. The more you call on it, the more addicted you become."
"Is it stronger?" Revan asked.
Bastila shook her head. "No. Merely quicker to learn."
"Then perhaps we'll need it. We want the Jedi to be strong, do we not. And getting strong, quickly, could count for something in the end," Rae argued.
Revan stared at Rae. "I...I don't know, Rae. She seems rather frightened by it. I'm starting to think I should hear her out."
"Don't bother! She's too set in her ways! Too biased. She could simply be saying that to mislead you. Maybe the Dark Side is stronger and her Jedi are simply too afraid to admit it or too cowardly to try and master it. Either way, she's served her purpose! We don't need her imput," Rae snarled.
Revan and the woman took a step back. "You...seem different Rae. You alright?"
Bastila and the others all glanced at Rae, who shook his head as though he was dizzy. He regained his composure after a second. "I'm fine," he answered. "Just send them back."
"He feels cold to you, doesn't he, Revan?" Bastila pressed, seeing a way to reach him. "You're getting goose bumps on your skin just looking at him, aren't you?"
"I...thought it was simply chilly," Revan answered uneasily.
"It isn't. Search your feelings. Feel through the bond with him. Close your eyes-"
"Enough!" Rae ordered, pulling out a pistol and firing it into the air. "Send them home, Revan."
"Something...cold," Revan said, going stock still as he stretched out his senses. He reeled back when he felt the darkness in Nolin's body. "What...what the hell is that?" he gasped, taking a step away from the railing.
"That's the Dark Side, and Rae is being corrupted by it as we speak," Bastila answered. "Revan...I know like it seems you're doing the right thing...but you and Rae and Alek are in way over your head. Look what it's doing to him, Revan. That'll be you very easily if you continue."
"She lies!" Rae hissed. "She's afraid. ALL of her Jedi are afraid. And they're letting THEIR Mandalorians walk all over them, butchering everyone! All because they're too scared to defend what's theirs, TAKE what's theirs!"
Rae edged Juhani's weapon closer to her neck. "I'm not going to watch as my Jedi, my galaxy is destroyed. Go home. NOW!"
"Stand down, Rae," Revan suddenly ordered.
Carth leveled his antique, revolver-shaped blaster at Rae. "Something's happened to you, Rae. You've changed. And not for the better."
Nolin stared at them all before grabbing Juhani and holding the lightsaber half a centimeter from her throat.
"Nolin...do not do this..." Juhani whispered.
Several brown and white garbed Jedi agents, all wearing business suits and domino masks, filed out of several apartments above, aiming at him.
"You're siding with them?! They came here to kill you!" Nolin raged, slipping further.
"Nolin, with how you're acting, I'm starting to think she's right. There's way more to this than I thought. I'm suspending my operation until I can figure out how to deal with this 'Dark Side', whatever it actually is."
"Suspend? You can't suspend! We're too committed. The Investigators have to be overthrown so my Agency can be saved."
"Your agency?" Revan asked crossly, stunned he would use such a possessive term. "This power you've gotten from the woman-it's gone to your head. Stand down or be exiled from the movement, I will not ask again."
Bastila sensed it before Revan did. Rae had made up his mind.
Bastila telekinetically wrenched Juhani free, prying his arms away from her and pulling her forward as Rae fell to the Dark Side, screaming as he levitated off the ground, slamming bubbles of Force energy in to the balconies and floors above, flinging his lightsaber and killing three agents who fired at him instantly. Revan drew a pistol, but Rae screamed again, and his power yanked the weapon out of Revan's hands and crushed it. He slammed Revan and his girlfriend into the turbo-door of the apartment behind them.
Carth fired, aiming right for Rae's head, no longer knowing this enraged beast that had been a war buddy. Rae lifted Carth up, crushed his ribs, and flung him into a pillar, where he made a sickening thud as he impacted.
Canderous dove for his discarded repeater. He wheeled around on the ground. Firing.
His torso was peppered by rapid fighter repeater shots, but Nolin didn't go down. He screamed again, a sound which chilled everyone present to the bone as he lifted up a Jedi agent he'd blasted with rubble via the Force.
"No, Rae! DON'T DO IT!" Bastila shouted as the maelstrom that was Rae's power started tearing down large chunks of the apartment complex.
Rae focused his anger on his Jedi captive. The Jedi screamed, torso combusting, fire spreading out from the inside as his body was reduced to ash, life energies draining into Rae and closing the wounds Canderous had inflicted.
"I will not allow my Agency to be destroyed!" he shouted. "My power is manifested. I shall spread it to all Jedi. We shall bring order to the galaxy."
Rae turned, still levitating, unleashed a pulse of invisible energy that destroyed the wall in front of him, exposing the outside of the city, the wind from the city flowing into the complex.
"Since you've lost your nerve, Revan, I will be taking command of our organization," Rae growled, turning to Bastila, who lay in a fetal position on the floor, desperately trying to keep Nolin's bond from corrupting her mindset. "Since you are the reason I have at last come into my own, I will offer you this one opportunity to flee. You cannot stop me Bastila. I've grown beyond your fearful, self defeating philosophy. Flee while you can...or I shall change my mind about showing mercy."
Rae floated out through the hole, lowering himself into the city beyond.
Bastila finally found the strength to stand. "Oh, that is just bloody great," she scowled, gazing at the hole he'd blasted.
Revan jumped down, staring also. "What have I done?" he spoke in a tired stunned voice.
"You caused your ally to fall to the Dark Side," Bastila answered, tone unsympathetic. "We must kill him, quickly. He's this universe's first true Dark Jedi. You are not prepared for this. He'll turn anyone he can, and the risk is doubled if they're bonded to him." She could feel Rae's anger in the back of her mind, coiling around her heart like a snake.
"But I don't understand! Why did he fall?" Revan asked.
"Rae always had natural aggression in him. And wasn't he your strongest supporter. Fanaticism to one's cause can lead to a fall, and he may have had a lot of issues with his wife."
"Right..." Revan trailed. "The divorce with Arren...I'd almost forgotten. He wasn't okay afterward. Got cited and suspended for excessive force," Revan finished, staring again at the hole. "Pun not intended."
"Well, whatever it was that caused him to fall, he's going to take it out on all those Jedi who will say no to him. It'll be a slaughter," Bastila replied, helping her friend up. Canderous stood and went to check on Carth, placing two fingers on the neck to get a pulse. He got it. Carth was battered, but would survive if he got medical help.
"Gotta hand it to you, pilot; You're tougher than you look," Ordo remarked.
Carth let out a painful wheeze. "Just shut up and get a doctor," he got out.
"Say please," Canderous teased.
"Screw you."
Alek finally took the opportunity to venture out of Revan's apartment. Other civilians who had been hiding in their apartments finally dared to come out also. Alek was dressed in a white turtle neck sweater and white slacks with black shoes. His bald head glistened with sweat, as he pointed a particularly long barreled blaster out. "Is it over?" he asked, spotting Revan.
"Not by a long shot," Revan answered, before turning back to Bastila. "Let me help. Maybe it's not too late to reach him. If I can just talk to him-"
"You've done enough," Bastila snapped, her own anger once more getting the better of her. "None of this would have happened if you had left well enough alone. Every second we waste here he grows more powerful, and I grow closer to giving into my anger. Where is he going?"
"He's going to the old Precinct on Ossus. It was an abandoned facility I refurbished. It's also where the ship the holocron came from crash-landed," Revan answered. "I'd been studying it for three weeks before you'd arrived. It had been on the surface of the planet for close to five years before anyone found it."
"What he want from place?" Juhani asked.
"Besides being full of recruits drawn to our cause? The technology of the ship is very advanced. Who knows? Rae wanted to push forward more and more lately in trying to unlock its secrets. I advised caution-"
"He had already developed thirst for power by that point," Juhani interrupted. "We must go to this Ossus."
"No," Bastila said with naked command. "You and Alek will go to whatever passes for Jedi Headquarters here and you will prep them for Nolin's arrival. Make them understand however you can, because when Nolin shows...it's gonna be bad. I and Revan will journey to Ossus and try to stop Nolin there. Revan, you will arrange for this giant holocron to be transported with them."
"This device possesses flash-training capabilities, and it will be willing to facilitate to others as long as a proper Jedi is giving authorization," the statue spoke. "This device is also hardwired to the main computer of its service ship, and can provide long range explication between star sectors."
"So be it. We're off to Ossus," Revan sighed. He looked up at Alek. "Heal the man, and arrange for a tow vehicle."
Alek nodded, pulling out a comlink "All defector units, this is Alek. I'm gonna need a shuttle for transport outside the apartment complex at Qel-Droma Arcology."
"Wait, outside?" inquired a voice on the other end.
"Yes, Officer. Outside the Arcology. Park by the big giant hole," Alek replied, whistling a little as he stared out into the cityscape the hole exposed as he set his power on Carth. "Hope this place has insurance."
Revan turned to his girlfriend, Yuthura, who leaned against a wall on the second floor, arms folded and clearly in shock. "Yuthura, honey? Go home and get some rest. I'll call you later."
"Did...did you see what he did?" she whispered, sliky voice hoarse. "How are you going to stop him?"
"I'm not sure, honey. It really is a sort of 'play by ear' situation as of this moment," Revan answered matter-of-factly. "I'll make it up to you. I promise."
Yuthura stared at him with beady eyes. "I can't do this anymore, Revan. It's over. I'm not tying myself to a weapon."
Revan stared, in disbelief, as Yuthura marched down the stairs, past him and the others, and to the turbo-lift.
Before he could rush to her, Bastila stopped him, holding him by the shoulder as the turbolift door started to close.
"Let go of me!" he hissed, pulling out of the padawan's grasp as he rushed to Yuthura, hand just barely managing to stall the engraved turbolift door before it could close completely.
"Yuthura, what did I do wrong?" he sputtered. "Tell me what I did. We can fix it. I swear we can fix it."
"I'm not going to watch your power consume you Revan. This is all beyond me," Yuthura answered, tone hard. "I'm not going to watch any child I might have had with you suffer the same fate that man has. No sir," she continued, arms folding again. "Savior. Conqeror. Hero. Villain...it doesn't matter. You won't be the person I met. I'm sorry, but you're alone."
Yuthura reached out, expression softening as she touched his mask with the back of her hand. "Goodbye, Revan. I'll send you a postcard or something, if you live."
All Revan could do was stare and remove his hand from the turbo-door's path, letting it finally close.
"It was for the best, Revan," Bastila said gently. "Love is just as dangerous as the unthinking anger Rae has harnessed. It can lead to passion, which can just as easily lead to the Dark Side."
"Easy for you to say!" Revan exclaimed with a tortured whisper. "I met her in college. We'd been steady for two years!"
"She would have taken you to the Dark Side. Just like she's leading you to it now!" Bastila snapped, concealing her worry as she felt his quaking anger. "Control your emotions! Now!"
Revan clenched his fists, taking a few deep breaths as his anger subsided, replaced by sorrow and heartbreak.
"I said control your emotions," Bastila urged again.
"But...I got my anger under control!"
"But not your despair," she countered. "Control it, Revan. Let go of them."
"But...but I love her," he spoke in a small wounded voice that cut through Bastila's training for just a second.
He's in pain, she allowed herself to realize. Terrible pain.
Her expression hardened. He had brought it on himself.
"Stop it then," she said harshly. "You got what you wanted. Your Jedi will know the secrets of the Force. If you were not prepared to accept the limitations that come with it, you should not have coveted it in the first place. As long as you still hold onto your love for her, and the new despair and heartbreak that now come with it, you risk corrupting yourself. Let go of it, for your own good."
Revan reeled back at her words. He studied her, suddenly starting to genuinely wonder what he had brought down on his head before he nodded, partitioning his emotions away in a thorned cage in his heart. A strange calm suddenly flooded him. His task was now simple again. His life was now simple again.
"You're right," he spoke tonelessly. "Let us devote ourselves to the task at hand."
Bastila just stared at him before snorting in contempt.
"Hope it was worth it Revan," she muttered, summoning Juhani's stone lightsaber from his belt and handing it to her cohort. "I really do."
Juhani let out a throaty growl of pleasure as she held her original weapon again. "Aw baby, you miss me?" she asked, peering into the hilt's gargoyle face.
"Hey!" Carth called out as Alek finished healing the last of his ribs, standing up. "My ship! I can get us to Ossus easy. I can fly us to where we parked it!"
"An excellent idea," Bastila said approvingly.
"Can he corrupt everyone linked to him?" Canderous asked.
"No. The person has to willingly embrace the Dark Side. But he will try and influence them to his way of thinking with the bond, that much is certain," Bastila answered. "We don't have much time."
Canderous approached Revan. "I will accompany the Cathar and your lackey to the Coruscant Precinct and bolster its defenses with my own warriors however I can."
Revan stared. "You? Help us? Why?"
Canderous waved his hand dismissively. "It is not altruism that forces my hand, merely the situation. If Nolin is allowed to control the Agency, than not only will we be dealing with Jedi Sorcerers, we'll be dealing with murderous, angry Jedi Sorcerers that can dissolve people with their mind. My people will have no chance against that. But make no mistake Revan, once the crisis passes...it's on."
"I would have it no other way," Revan replied cooly.
Canderous chuckled. "I like you, freak. You've got guts. You'd make a good Mandalorian with that attitude."
Revan chose to ignore the comment, turning and walking closer to the hole, staring out. The storm had finally arrived, and thunder and lightning flashed in the skies, the bolts of lightning cracking through the air like war drums.
As Bastila, Revan, and the now healed Carth filed into a bronze colored Agency Airspeeder via the hole Nolin had made, she watched as various civilians started coming out of their apartments, surveying the damage done to their home. Revan's agents were providing medical aid to anyone who'd been injured.
"So Bastila," Revan asked as he piloted the Airspeeder away from the Arcology. "Do you still intend to kill me once all this is over?"
Bastila, sitting next to him in the front, with Carth relaxing in the back after his traumatic ordeal, decided to answer. "I'm debating the possibility," she replied, uneasy.
"Was it...was it really so bad, what I was doing?" he asked. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen...I just wanted to protect my galaxy. I was trained to be civic minded. Politically savvy."
"The Force is not politics," Bastila snapped, her tolerance of this man already at a low ebb. "Power...Love...Influence. A Jedi does not desire such things."
"Then tell me, Bastila, what does a Jedi desire?" Revan asked, gripping the piloting stick tightly in frustration.
"A Jedi desires to serve the Force, to spread peace. To consider the consequences of every action he or she takes, and whether they affect others. You're going to want to get rid of your fine clothes, give up your possessions."
"Wait, " Carth spoke, sitting up. "Your Jedi swear off owning stuff, in your universe?"
"We take a vow of poverty, yes. And your Jedi will have to take that vow too, or they risk corrupting themselves," Bastila answered, turning back to Revan. "Hope you're ready to spend the rest of your days owning nothing but a lightsaber."
"Why are the rules so strict?" Revan asked, now unnerved at what he was hearing.
"Possessions would limit you. The whole point is to recognize that it is simply crude matter, and therefore tying yourself to it is pointless. Letting go of attachments will allow you to achieve clarity. Oneness with the Force."
"I just let go of my girlfriend. What did you have to sacrifice?" Revan asked bitterly.
Bastila stared hard, the thunder and rain flashing outside the enclosed vehicle cabin and casting her face in shades of black and white.
"My Father," she answered. "I had to swear off ever seeing my father ever again."
"How could you give up seeing a parent?" Revan and Carth both asked, incredulous.
"Easy. I was a good Padawan," she answered, reclining in her seat, forcing her terrible anger at the memories back down. "That's what you signed every Jedi in your dimension up for Revan. Is it starting to hit you now, the kind of commitment you've forced on them?"
"I could never force someone to give up their loved ones," Revan answered defiantly.
Bastila threw a cynical glare his direction. "Have fun with all the Dark Jedi, then."
"I...I mean, there's got to be another way...right? It can't be so cut and dried..." Revan said to himself.
"It is," she spat. "Deal with it."
Revan focused on piloting for the rest of the trip to the address of the landing pad, Carth had parked his ship on.
