Warning & Author's Note: F/F scene ahead. Not sex and won't really affect the plot so if you don't like it, just skip the chapter. Please no homophobic or demeaning comments, you've been warned so skip if you don't like. Also, most of Alek's monologue comes from KOTOR 2. I don't own the rights to the game or any of the characters. This chapter is much longer than the previous ones because I wanted to resolve everything in this chapter, but if you like the longer chapter format let me know!
Meetra shoved her way through several Jedi to advance further into the humid, cramped room. She was late for the meeting due to internally debating whether or not to come. She finally decided to just so Alek and Selena and all of the other rebellious Jedi would stop harassing her about it. By time she arrived at the recruitment meeting, Meetra was agitated and bitter. If the Council, if Atris, knew she was stuffed in a utility closet with the Revanchists or whatever they were called, they certainly would lose their respect for her.
Although she was late, the meeting hadn't started. Calming her riled emotions, Meetra glanced around the tight space. About fifteen other Jedi filled it, Revanchists and potential recruits. It was remarkable how the introverted Selena managed to gather such a force in such a small amount of time. All because of one vision. Perhaps the Force was encouraging this, driving these Jedi to the edges of the Republic and the Outer Rim. But if so, was it the dark side of the Force or the light?
Alek's colossal figure brushed through the crowd. He parted the throng of Jedi as he approached the front of the room. Meetra huffed as she noted him chatting with other Revanchists instead of beginning the meeting, so she scanned the room again. Towards the furthest corner she examined a body slightly shorter than the rest, with the hood of their cloak covering their face. It must be some scared Padawan, Meetra decided. She leaned forward to peek at the face, and uncovered familiar features. Bastila! They can't be trying to recruit her, she's only a child. Meetra shivered despite the heat. These diverters possessed an icy determination. No, Bastila probably came of her own decision. Maybe she was curious like Meetra was. Perhaps her Master sent her to investigate the rumors of rebellion. If that were so, Vima would surely tell Atris and the others that she attended the meeting. Meetra yanked her own hood over her head as Alek leapt on a platform to begin his speech.
"Thank you all for your bravery in meeting here today," Alek hummed in the rhythm of a politician. "It proves that you are the Jedi that the Revanchists need during these difficult times. You all know that the Republic is at war and that the Order does not plan to act due to fear of the unknown. Do not heed the words of the Jedi Council. The Republic will fall if we do not act now. Already the Mandalorians have taken three systems along the Rim. They will only grow more powerful with time. Come stand with me," he persuaded in a confident tone she never heard on Dantooine. Some in the front of the crowd eagerly nodded and murmured in support. "We will use our might to help the Republic in its time of need. Join Selena and I. Together, we will battle this menace."
A nervous voice dissented from the back of the crowd, "What about the warnings of the Jedi Council?" It sounded like Bastila.
Alek answered sternly, "The Jedi Council is wise, but it will take too long to deal with this threat. We must act now to stop the Mandalorians." To all, he addressed, "The war is real. The suffering is real. The death toll the Mandalorians inflict is all very real." More Jedi joined in the excited hushed agreements. Meetra supposed he was right—the holovids of late bore more and more ill news, and it was obvious to even the youngest citizens that only the Jedi could redirect the Mandalorian onslaught. Instead of preaching in hidden rooms, Selena and Alek should try to reason with the Council. Surely they will understand eventually.
"I am proud Selena and I will be taking up our lightsabers for the good of the Republic, without the blessing of the Council. The Council seems content to watch, to debate, while entire systems fall to the Mandalorians. If we don't act now, there may be no Republic army to assist in the future. It is within our power to end the war. And the Council chooses to debate behind closed doors while planets burn. I have made my choice," he concluded. "What do you choose? To protect the Republic or to allow it to shatter?"
The front section of the crowd erupted into cries of support. Alek grinned as they surrounded him to commit to the Revanchists. Meetra remained where she stood and pondered. Bastila's lithe body brushed behind her and out of the room. An elderly blue Nautolan soon followed her. Clearly not all were daring enough to defy the Council. In the last few days Meetra researched as thoroughly as she knew Selena once had, and if the holovids were trustworthy, she figured that the Republic could only last another year with such poor results. The Mandalorians would strike at Coruscant at the first moment of weakness, and if that were to happen nothing could save the Republic. But was it worth an unauthorized rebellion? Would splitting the Order in two be beneficial after the war? What the Revanchists truly needed was to convince the Jedi Council to use the entire Order to protect the Republic. Selena and the Chancellor failed to do so with their diplomacies, she knew, but maybe one with a close relationship to members of the Council would be more successful.
Meetra inhaled then stepped in line to join the Revanchists.
Before her were six other Jedi; the others who attended the meeting left or were undecided. The other Revanchist recruits were an Ithorian Knight she did not recognize, a female Chiss Padawan, and four human Knights she vaguely knew, Talvon Esan, Cariaga Sin, Xaset Tarep, and a young blonde only called Nisotsa. Buzzing with inquiries, they swarmed Alek and his colleagues, who attempted to pacify the recruits so that they would type their names into a datapad. Meetra felt detached from them. She avoided this rebellion since the beginning, trusting that the Council's decision was best. Selena was right; the Republic would fall without Jedi to save it. But Meetra was not like these other Revanchists. Blatant disobedience of the Council was wrong.
Alek caught her gaze and grinned. "I'm glad you finally decided to join us. Selena will be too."
She grabbed the datapad from his hand and typed "Meetra Surik" into their files. "This shouldn't feel so wrong," she murmured. With conviction, she informed him, "I'll join your Revanchists, but only if the Council approves of you going to war."
"You know they do not, Meetra," the Guardian sighed.
"Then let's work together to obtain their authorization. The three of us." Selena wasn't present, but Meetra knew she would support her. Now they could be friends again.
After several days spent in guilty solitude, Meetra emerged from her quarters late one night to pace about a lonely corridor. Now she could be friends with her peers again, but interacting with her former instructors on the Jedi Council broke her. She loathed to pass by Kavar as he taught a clan of apprentices, but even entering the library where Atris worked destroyed her. It had been three days since last they saw each other; surely the historian suspected something awry. Meetra betrayed them by joining with the Revanchists. But the death toll was too enormous to ignore any longer. The only way to rectify the situation was for the Council to agree to send Jedi to aid the Republic. Selena tried her best during her diplomatic encounters, but this was a task Meetra knew only she could accomplish.
There is no emotion, there is peace, Meetra recited to soothe her anxiety. While she breathed deeply and rhythmically, she summoned the courage to knock on the metal door. Clink clink clink. In three moments the door slid open and Atris appeared to greet her. "Meetra," the Master voiced in surprise. "It's late."
The young Knight nodded. I should have waited... "Can we speak?" Meetra asked with a pounding heart.
"Of course, come inside, it's just...late." Atris ushered her former student into her rooms. Unlike most of the Temple's living quarters, the rooms owned by Masters and Council members had enough space to move and even meditation chambers. Meetra examined the different layout and Atris's personal touches—holocrons and crystals and stark white walls. "What can I help you with?"
Meetra stiffly sat atop a backless chair, hoping she wasn't intruding. "I'm struggling, Master. You know I have complete faith in your judgement. I would never go against you or the Council."
"What are you saying?" Atris cautiously ventured.
Her heart banged harder. Not long ago she battled a Sith in combat but didn't feel the intensity of the fear that now overwhelmed her. There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no passion, there is serenity. "I believe that the Jedi Order has a responsibility to protect the Republic if it cannot defend itself. I know it's just a government, but if the Mandalorians win this war there won't be a government. Just death. I know that the Jedi aren't supposed to be warriors, and we don't have to be. We can be protectors."
Atris listened in silent disappointment. "And what will happen if you go?" Her voice echoed calmly and steadily. "Will you succumb to the bloodlust of war? Will you begin to enjoy killing Mandalorians? Will you feel hatred instead of peace? Will you fall to the darkside?"
"No, I won't, I won't let myself," Meetra promised.
"But what if you do?" Atris countered, hotly raising her tone. Yet her voice almost choked—were those frustrated tears?
"Maybe young Knights and Padawans alone are susceptible, but with the wisdom of the Masters with us that temptation would diminish." Meetra stood and stated, "The Republic needs the Jedi and the Order needs to protect their own. But why should we choose between the two? Master Atris, you must convince the Council to send Jedi to help with the war. With the Masters' support none will fall to the darkside and the Republic will be saved."
Atris approached her and uttered, "That is something I cannot do."
"Why not?" Meetra challenged.
"Don't you see?" she cried. "This is no average war, there is something dark influencing these Mandalorians. I thought you understood!"
"I do! But if that is so, then the Republic surely is lost. Whether you will it or not Jedi will go and fight. Why not give them their best chance?"
"So you've made your decision?" Atris bit. "You'll go, abandoning your precious life or surrendering to the darkside?"
Meetra paced about a tiny section of the bedroom. "I won't go if it means disobeying the Council. But I don't think sacrificing the Republic is right."
"We're not sacrificing the Republic," her Master gently corrected. "We must know the true enemy before we fight it. Master Vima foresees a terrible future for the Order if we are not cautious."
"Selena foresaw a terrible future for the Republic if the Mandalorian rampage was left unchecked."
Atris sighed, "The Council will not change their position."
"Will you try?" As an afterthought she never intended to say aloud, "For me?"
Despite the anger earlier in the conversation, Atris placed a reassuring hand on Meetra's shoulder. "The Council will not change their position."
"Will you?" She was met with silence. "Please?"
Atris stared at the floor. "I...have no desire to. What you plan is...is admirable, but the price will be great." She slid her hand down Meetra's arm and held her wrist. "Let's forget about this."
Meetra interlocked her fingers with Atris's tightly. "I don't want to." Her heart fluttered when she realized how close she and Atris were, how intimately their skin touched. The Master noticed as well and her palm began to sweat.
"You're going to leave anyway," Atris stated in realization.
"I don't know."
"Don't go," she pleaded, unlacing their fingers.
Meetra gazed into her beautiful, deep eyes, finding fear and guilt and grief. And affection. Master and Knight searched for solutions in the other's eyes. But then their eyes shut, and their timid lips kissed. She didn't know who initiated it. At first Meetra almost didn't realize it, for in a way lips felt exactly like skin yet somehow completely different. She attempted to capture everything—the heat of her breath, the wetness of her mouth. Suddenly she remembered that such intimacy was supposed to be wrong and forbidden, yet it seemed so blissful. Meetra kissed Atris deeper and buried her fingers in her pale locks; Atris moved her hands to the young Knight's face and caressed her cheeks. While Meetra moved her lips and tongue with the unskillful passion of a novice, she realized that this kiss meant something different to each of them. To Atris, it pleaded Stay. To Meetra, it persuaded Come.
They separated when the wrongness of their action revealed itself. Atris wiped her mouth in shame. "Come with us," Meetra blurted. If the Council member already broke one facet of the Jedi Code, then another would be simple.
Atris shook her head. "We shouldn't have done that."
"I'm sorry," Meetra apologized, although it did not feel like a crime to her.
"No, you're not. I need to be alone," Atris demanded.
"Will you consider—"
"Get out," she weeped, and Meetra could do nothing but obey.
Reminiscence was the highlight of Selena's final ascent to the Jedi Council chamber. There was no guarantee it was her final ascent, but her intuition convinced her so. She had obeyed the Chancellor and collected an astounding number of Revanchists, and the Republic could wait no longer for their aid. Meetra solemnly informed her that it did not seem likely that the Council would agree to send Jedi to the edges of the Rim even if the Revanchists proposed it, but since they would be en route to Taris within a standard day it could do no harm to ask.
The Council would possibly exile her for such a disobedient betrayal, so Selena reminisced about her life with the Jedi. She could not even remember life before them; the inevitability of her separation from them frightened her. Selena felt less like a confident Jedi Knight and more like a wary Padawan, like the restless Selena who trained under Arren Kae. Since her childhood as an Initiate the Masters ingrained the Jedi Code into her mind and soul, and now she abandoned those sacred tenets to butcher Mandalorian invaders. No. Disagreeing with one decision does not mean I will abandon the Jedi Code. I will not.
"You requested a meeting with us?" Vima Sunrider tested knowledgeably when Selena strode inside the Council chamber. Of course she knew—apparently Bastila stormed out of Alek's final recruitment meeting, and surely told her Master everything.
"I did, Master." A quick glance at the Council members' harsh, disappointed faces proved they all were informed completely, thus attempting to conceal anything would be futile and disrespectful to all they taught her. "I won't lie to you, Masters, I am the truth behind all of these rumors. I think through our previous discussions you know my stance about the war. I never intended to disobey or betray you, I only acted as I believed best and right. And I discovered that many others believe the same as I. We only want to protect the Republic and the innocent lives it contains. So, we hope that the Council would realize that the Republic needs all the aid it can get. The Revanchists are decided; we will leave soon. But agreeing to join the war would be best for both the Order and the Republic. The Order shouldn't be split lightly."
Stares and more waves of disappointment were their response. Until Atris cut after a pregnant pause, "What did I tell you? Such arrogance and self-righteousness. The darkside has already consumed her, all of them! To think they know better than the collective wisdom of the Council—"
"Atris!" Vima silenced sharply. Somehow the understanding young Master transformed into a merciless krayt dragon. Clearly Meetra's conversation with her ended more poorly than she realized. Returning her focus to Selena, Vima breathed, "I apologize, Selena. We have failed you from the beginning. We failed to find you a proper Master, we failed to believe your prophetic vision, and now we failed to convey our decision to you so that you would agree with and support us. You are not to blame, we are."
Selena was certainly shocked. "No, I will take responsibility for my decisions," she countered. "And I will take responsibility for organizing the Revanchists. But I thank you for the sentiment."
Kavar grunted, "If it is support you seek from us you will not receive it. But if individual Jedi leave, that is their choice to make."
"And you will allow them to flee the Jedi Order without consequences?" Atris gasped. "It is betrayal! Willful, darksided rebellion!"
"Would you suggest imprisoning them then?" Zez-Kai Ell rebuffed.
"You and your followers may go if you will not obey the High Council," Vima decided, "but if you return do not expect a warm reception."
Exile. Selena nodded and stated, "I expected as much." She bowed to them as she prepared to leave. "Goodbye, Masters, and truly—thank you for all that you taught me."
During Selena's final descent from the Council chamber, strange freeing feelings greeted her. She was fearful and ill-prepared, but she trusted in the Force that her actions were right and would save the Republic like Arren wished. Selena pulled out her holocommunicator from her robe, and soon Chancellor Cressa's regal figure appeared.
"Supreme Chancellor," she addressed. "It's time. The Revanchists are ready for war."