Revan smiled as he watched his apprentice perform a masterful display of her new power. She was currently engaged with five Sith Warriors at once, and was more than holding her own. Unnoticed by the combatants as they battled back and forth across the combat arena fall, he sat on the spectators' bench and waited.
Spinning her saberstaff so fast that the blades were blurs, she slashed one of her opponents across the chest. Since the weapon was switched to training mode, only a minor burn was administered, but the Warrior was still removed from the excersize.
As her four other opponents converged on her, she back flipped into the air and landed twenty feet away. Reaching out with the Force, she gripped another of the combatants and painfully hurled him into the padded wall. He fell to the ground, out cold. As the remaining three charged at her, Bastila threw her saberstaff forward, spinning it end over end with the Force. Two of them were able to leap over it, but yet another Warrior fell, wounded by the latest attack.
Her last two opponents continued to charge. Grinning, Bastila used one of her favorite abilities, unleashing large jets of lightning from both of her hands.
One Warrior was unable to resist the attack, and the electricity
shocked her into unconsciousness. The other managed to raise his blade just in time, and deflected the blast.
Only for Bastila to leap into the air, closing the distance between them, and slash her blade against his so powerfully that he dropped hislightsaber. Before he could recover, she leveled one end of her staff at his neck, forcing him to submit.
The battle was, however, not over. A single Sith Master was Bastila's final challenge. He stepped forward, and the two combatants squared off, Bastila breathing heavily due to her previous exertions.
As one, the two leapt at each other. A furious exchange of strikes followed, with neither immediately gaining the other hand. Revan's Apprentice was already drained, however, and was slowing by the minute.
The Master, seizing a opening, scored a hit on Bastila's forearm, and the training saber gave her a minor burn.
Bastila leapt high into the air to avoid a followup horizontal slash, and did not return to the ground.
Force Flight was a very rare ability. It required the user to grasp their own body with the Force, and then direct its movement and levitation. It did not take much power to lift one's own body, but the amount of control required was extensive. It had taken Bastila several days to master the ability, but now she loved to use it. She hovered above her opponent, well out of his current range. Calling on her growing reserves of power, she unleashed a massive torrent of lightning on the Master. He grunted with effort but blocked most of the blast on his blade, then immediately counterattacked with a lightning blast of his own.
Instead of deflecting the lightning with her lightsaber, as Revan had expected, Bastila simply reached out her hand and absorbed the energy.
She spun in midair, unleashing two attacks in quick succession. From her left hand, Bastila threw out a powerful Force Pusj that rocked the Master back on his feet, then immediately followed it with another lightning blast from her other arm. It caught her opponent straight in the chest, knocking him unconscious.
Bastila dropped to the ground, exhausted but flushed with victory.
"Anyone else care to challenge me?" she called out proudly, spreading her arms.
Revan grinned. He stepped forward and extended his hand. Instantly, Bastila was forced into a kneeling position. Still not aware of his presence, in a panics she attempted to resist the influence of her attacker. It wasn't easy, but her exhaustion allowed him to completely overcome her power.
He approached her, still forcing his apprentice to kneel on one knee. Looking up, she grinned at him.
"I should have known, Master," she said, unsurprised as he held his blade to her neck.
"Do you surrender?" he asked, smiling.
"Yes," she conceeded, bowing her head in submission.
With a wave of his hand, Revan released his hold over her. He didn't show it, but the effort it took to suppress her power drained him considerably. She wasn't his match yet, far from it, but he was confident that she would be able to hold her own against any Jedi she encountered.
He stood back as she lifted her hand and healed her minor burn - one of the many rarer Force abilities he had taught her in the month since their visit to Hapes.
"What is thy bidding, Master?" she questioned once her burn was gone, knowing he wouldn't interrupt her training unless it was for something important.
Revan knew what she was thinking. She was wondering if he was about to inform her about their plans for the upcoming final offensive into the Core Worlds. Over the past month, the Empire had mopped up all resistance behind its lines and regrouped in preparation for the final assault. The delays were not to ensure victory, which was virtually inevitable, but to minimize casualties for both sides.
Bastila, Revan knew, had been anticipating the final battle of the war with a mixture of hope and dread. She couldn't wait for the war to be over, but did not look forward to so many senseless deaths. Revan felt the same way.
"Come, my apprentice," he beckoned, wrapping his arm around her. "We have much to discuss."
GAP
Three days later, he was lying awake in his bed, thinking to himself. The lights were off and it was still late into the night; he knew he should sleep, but restless thoughts kept him awake. The upcoming battle would be the largest single confrontation in Galactic History; the most ships, the most troops, and the most deaths.
Every single one of those deaths, both civilian and military, would be a result of his orders. It was a sobering thought.
He knew it had to be done. It would be impossible to leave the Republic in peace, however many lives that would save in the short term. The Jedi Council would never allow it to stop warring with the Empire, and would subtly use its influence to force the Senate to comply with its wishes if it had to. A prolonged war of attrition in the end would destroy far more than a single, devastating battle.
And the Galaxy needed to be united to face the threat in the Unknown Regions. Revan couldn't be sure about defeating the True Sith unless the entire Galaxy stood behind him. And that meant, in seven days, The Battle for Coruscant would commence.
In the last month, The Republic had consolidated most of its remaining military at its Capital, leaving the rest of the Core Worlds lightly defended. Revan knew what the Jedi and Senate were planning. They hoped that by putting their entire military together, they could somewhat nullify the Empire's technological advantage through sheer numbers.
They would allow the rest of the Core Worlds to fall, then attempt to cause as much Sith casualties at Coruscant as possible, with the aid of the planet's extremely powerful defense grid. Then, when the battle was inevitably lost, they would retreat to a safe world, strengthen their decimated military and attempt to inspire the rest of the galaxy to
rebel against the greatly weakened Sith forces several years into the future.
It was a plan doomed to failure. It was based on the assumption that the galaxy would want to rebel against Revan's "tyrannical" rule, which was very unlikely, as his popularity in the systems he controlled was unparalleled. But he was determined to keep BOTH sides from suffering such casualties, which would be easier said than done.
Bastila had outwardly handled the news well, but inside he knew she was feeling the same as he did. If anything, she was more anxious about the battle to come than he was. Nearly every night now, his Apprentice was experiencing nightmares about the upcoming battle. She spoke to him about seeing scenes of devastation so vivid that Revan worried that they were actually visions of the Force.
If the Force was showing her these things, they had at least a
possibility of occurring. The Force didn't create visions that were impossible.
He knew these dreams were rattling her considerably. Another Sith Master might have spurned her weakness, but Revan gave her nothing but sympathy.
Revan knew that her capture and imprisonment had affected her greatly. The pain and torture she had undergone would have broken many powerful Sith. The fact that she had remained sane enough to escape and managed to continue her life normally was a testament to her incredible strength and willpower. But she was still a young woman who had survived a terrible ordeal, and no one would have been able to walk away from what she had endured mentally unscathed.
Speaking of nightmares...
Bastila was lying on the other side of the bed, facing away from him, but Revan recognized the signs immediately. She was shifting her body restlessly, her face was glazed with sweat, and her expression was pained.
"Bastila?" he said softly, lightly rubbing her shoulder. She stirred but did not wake.
"Bastila?" he repeated more loudly.
Her eyes snapped open. She reacted with momentary surprise to his touch, still not completely used to sharing a bed with another person. Upon grasping her surroundings, she smiled and shifted closer to him, burying her face in his chest. He embraced her, rubbing her back
soothingly.
"I saw...everything was burning. Skyscrapers crumbling to ruin. The molten lead of destroyed ships plummeting to the ground...incinerating thousands. Not just the soldiers, but the innocent. Children suffocating on smoke in their homes. All of it for nothing..."
"Just go back to sleep. I'm here," he said softly. Bastila shook her head.
"I know we have to attack Coruscant, but...there has to be something we can do. There has to be a way we can reduce the number of projected deaths," she argued.
Revan frowned. "I'm doing everything I can. I've been going over
logistics for days on end. The attack has been timed perfectly. There's nothing else we can do," he replied.
"But..." Bastila began. Suddenly, she stopped and looked up at his face curiously. "Will the Republic know when we attack?" she asked. Revan shrugged.
"An operation this big will be impossible to hide. They know we're coming. They'll be able to narrow the time we arrive to within two minutes. Why?"
"So if they'll know when we're coming regardless...why don't we tell them exactly when we'll arrive?" Bastila proposed.
Revan chuckled. "Just because they'll know the general time period when we arrive doesn't mean I'm going to make it easier for them," he replied.
"I don't mean telling the Republic Military, though of course they'll know too. I mean telling everyone on Coruscant, giving the civilians a week's notice and urging them to evacuate. They won't die if they leave the planet in time," she explained.
He considered this. On one hand, the Republic would gain a slight advantage by knowing the exact time of their arrival. However, thousands if not millions of innocent people might be saved from the knowledge.
"You have a point," he agreed, realizing that his apprentice was right. In fact, he was surprised that he hadn't thought of this himself. Perhaps, he reasoned, he was so used to maintaining military secrecy that this idea had not occurred to him, while Bastila, for all her talents, did not possess a military mind.
"Really? You agree? But how are we going to inform Coruscant's
populace?" she asked.
"I'll take care of that tomorrow. For now, get some sleep. I want you as we'll trained as possible within seven days, and you can't practice if you're exhausted," he said.
Bastila nodded and closed her eyes, remaining in his arms. Soon, Revan drifted into unconsciousness. It was so comforting to have a woman he loved share his bed. At times, their relationship still seemed surreal to him. Just having someone felt amazing.
Before he could fall asleep completely, her voice awoke him.
"After what I just saw..."
"After what you just imagined," he corrected.
"Right. After that...I can't sleep. I feel so tired, but l can't do it," she admitted.
Revan chuckled again.
"Goodnight, Bastila," he said tiredly. He pressed his fingers to her head lightly and, with her defenses down, easily banished her into unconsciousness. She smiled gratefully at him as she finally fell asleep. Revan closed his eyes and joined her.
GAP
Revan followed his Apprentice into the ship's press room, noting the large crowd of technicians that were working feverishly at the broadcast booths. Bastila turned around and faced him. She was wearing her usual near skin tight Star Forge made robes, a sight he never got tired of. He himself was also wearing his Star Forge armor, with the exception of his mask. Per Bastila's request, he only wore it for combat nowadays. It cost him some of his intimidation factor, but as Bastila pointed
out, everyone the galaxy either admired him greatly or hated and feared him already. Besides, not wearing it made kissing his Apprentice senseless so much easier.
"Are you certain this will work, Master?" she asked, worry plain in her voice. He nodded in response.
"I have the best technicians in the Empire working on it, and they assure me that it will," he replied, though truth be told he himself was a little nervous. Taking over the airwaves of every Republic television station simultaneously was a daunting task.
As he moved to speak with his technicians over the process, he thought over the morning's events. It had been difficult, to say the least, to convince the admirals that announcing their exact time of attack to the enemy was a good idea. Eventually, however, they had been convinced that it would have been impossible to conceal anyway, and that much of Coruscant's citizenry, and possibly even some of its soldiers, would flee the planet and be saved.
Revan moved to the podium and ordered Bastila to stand behind him and to his right, both to confirm that she remained alive and healthy and reinforce the idea that she supported him. He had told her not to speak, but her presence would be noticed.
"We're in!" a technician shouted. "You're on in ten seconds, my lord."
Revan nodded and readied himself as the countdown flashed by. Before he knew it, it was time. Revan was on every television screen on Coruscant.
"I apologize for the intrusion..." he began. He had decided to remain calm and not overly emotional or dramatic during this address, while remaining sympathetic and genuine in his words. He spoke for over ten minutes, first notifying the citizens of the time of his attack, defending his reasons for invading the planet expressing his sincere regret at the casualties that would occur, and imploring all who could to flee the planet before their forces' arrival.
"The Empire will accept all refuges who pass through our borders. If you are unable or unwilling to enter Imperial Space, move to any other Republic planet. Fighting will occur throughout the Core Worlds, but nowhere will be as dangerous as Coruscant. Take only the possessions you need. The Empire promises to provide compensation to all who lose property during the battle."
Just as he was about to end the speech and release control of the airwaves, Bastila stepped forward as if to begin speaking. He shot a furious glance at her, she had been ordered to remain silent, but he allowed her to speak despite his anger at her insubordination. It wouldn't do to argue with his Apprentice on live television, though they would be having a long talk later.
"Soldiers of the Republic, I am Bastila Shan. I once fought with you, and served the Republic with the same devotion you possess," she began. Unlike how he had spoken, Bastila's voice was emotional and passionate. Her every word was a powerful indicator of her determination and sincerity, just as they had been during her speech at the Sith Temple.
"I commend your loyalty to that which you serve, but the Republic does not deserve your loyalty. It is a corrupt, oppressive government that only exists for the benefit of a select few bureaucrats. They do not value your service. All of you are being consolidated on Coruscant for the sole purpose of sacrificing your lives in exchange for causing as many Imperial casualties as possible. To them, you are nothing but
cannon fodder! All you will be accomplishing by fighting are invasion is increasing the death toll! The Republic cannot hope to hold the planet, and all the effort on your part would go to waste. Please. Your loved ones still need you, te galaxy still has need of you, so don't throw away your lives for nothing! I'm
not asking you to defect, just don't fight! Protect your loved ones and leave the planet. The Republic doesn't deserve any of your sacrifices. On behalf of the Empire, I promise that any soldiers of the Republic who stand down will be granted full amnesty. The same goes for any Jedi not on the Council. Soldiers, civilians, stay safe over the coming week. May the Force be with you all."
Bastila, who appeared to have taken command of the broadcast, nodded to the lead technician, who cut the feed.
Revan calmly thanked the technicians and exited to the hallway,
motioning for Bastila to follow him. Once they were alone, he grabbed her arm and teleported both of them to their bedroom. If she was surprised by the action, she did not show it.
He released her arm, stepping back a few steps and glaring at her angrily. Averting her gaze, she dropped to one knee and stared at the floor.
"Forgive me, Master. I know I went against your orders, but I thought I could save more lives by speaking my thoughts. If you feel the need to punish me, I will not protest," she said softly.
"I told you not to speak," he started, not keeping the anger out of his voice. It was a direct order, and one you did not argue. Perhaps, if in private, you had told me that you felt the need to say something, I would have permitted you to do so. In fact, seeing as how effective your words were, I probably would have. But I can't believe you..."
"I didn't plan it!" Bastila interrupted quickly. "I just felt like I could reach more people by speaking than you already had."
"And so disobeyed my direct orders in the process!" he reminded her.
"But.."
He reached out with the Force and held her lips together, silencing her.
"Do you remember what happened the last time you didn't do as I told you?" he asked angrily.
This is different. It wasn't in combat or a dangerous situation. We both know I'm a capable speaker, and that there wasn't any harm I could have caused. Should I have ignored an opportunity to save lives just to follow your orders? she spoke in his mind.
Revan sighed as his anger tempered. She was right of course. She had taken the logical course of action, and he realized he couldn't blame her for what she had done. This wasn't like when she had gone after Atris, when she had been clouded by rage and overconfidence, and had had the chance to plead her case with him and had still been denied.
He released his grip on her mouth.
"No one else knew I had told you not to speak, for all they know I had written that speech for you. There's no point in punishing you when no one will know you disobeyed orders. Perhaps...in this situation...I can't blame you for your actions," he admitted.
Bastila remained kneeling but grinned widely, rekindling his anger.
"Listen to me. Whenever we are in combat or a precarious situation, you have to follow my orders. Maybe I overreacted in this instance. But in most situations, despite your increased abilities, I am still far more powerful and experienced," he told her. Bastila frowned.
"You're afraid I'll get captured again, or worse. Since it happened the last time I disobeyed you...that's why you're so hung up on this," she accused.
Revan knew she was spot on. As usual. He was terrified of something happening to her again. But that didn't mean he wasn't right about this.
"All the same, you have to swear to me that from now on, you'll listen to me in dangerous situations. Understand?" he asked, motioning for her to rise. Bastila did so and nodded.
"Yes, Master. Thank you, Master," she replied with a smile, evidently relieved she had gotten off lightly.
Suddenly, her face fell and shesighed.
"I know you're right. I know it was my own stupid fault I got captured. I didn't listen to you, and I'm sorry. Why didn't you mention this before?" she asked.
"I thought you had suffered enough," he replied solemnly. Bastila glanced at the floor, undoubtedly remembering her imprisonment.
"Yeah...I think I learned my lesson. Now though...after how much
stronger I've become, Atris is mine!" she proclaimed.
Revan looked at her closely. He could feel her intense desire for revenge. The second she saw her chance, she would challenge the Jedi Master without a second thought.
"I don't blame you for wanting to take her down, but don't just rush at her without a second thought. She might lure you into another trap, especially if she expects you to gun for her," he warned.
Bastila roughly pulled back the sleeve on her right arm.
"Look at what she did to me!" she seethed, her face darkening with fury as she bared her cybernetic arm.
"Calm yourself, my Apprentice," he said, though the sight of Bastila's cybernetic arm filled him with a surge of hatred for Atris. "You'll have your chance at her, I promise." Bastila took a deep breath and nodded; her anger subduing somewhat.
"One day, she's mine," Bastila vowed, clearly anticipating her revenge with relish. Revan wasn't going to begrudge her. Bastila was now a match for the Jedi Master, if not more than a match for her.
Revan smiled. "You did do well today," he admitted. "You might have convinced a lot of soldiers to stop fighting us, although I doubt Republic High Command will allow their forces to desert without a fight." At her frown, he added. "Every life counts, and you might have saved many today."
Bastila sighed and sat down on their bed, folding her hands in her lap and staring at them.
"It's never enough. Millions are going to die next week, all because of my fucking Battle Meditation. This war should have ended long ago, and we both know that's my fault. All I can ever do is minimize the damage," she said, solitary tears beginning to drip down her face. "Yes, I know that I never intended to do anything but serve the galaxy. But how can I get over the fact that, without my existence, it would never have happened? I should have seen the Republic for what it was! I should have had the presence of mind to defect to the Empire! But I let
the Jedi use me as a puppet, and the galaxy paid the price.
Revan looked at her sadly. She had appeared to recover somewhat, but it was apparent that she might never fully forgive herself for using her powers for the Republic. He hated seeing this torture her, but he hadn't been able to do anything about it.
The didn't mean he would stop trying.
He sat next to her, wrapping one of his arms around her and using his free hand to gently wipe the tears from her face. To his surprise, she tried to shove him away.
"You don't care," she accused angrily, pulling out of his grip. "You just want me to be happy so you can get me in this bed at night. I'm just an attractive woman you keep happy so you can fuck with me!"
Revan lashed out before he could think, grasping her with the Force and throwing her backward, slamming her into the headboard. It wasn't hard enough to seriously injure her, but his Apprentice would be sore later.
"Forgive me, Master," she asked softly, temporarily subdued by his actions. He instantly felt a rush of guilt.
"I shouldn't have struck you," he said hastily. "Are you alright?" He moved toward her, Bastila brushed him off.
"I deserved it. I know you love me...I'm just so..." she looked at him imploringly. Revan knew what she meant. Her guilt and the torture she had suffered had taken a heavy toll on her. Even so, he knew that few others would have been able to hold up as well as she had.
"That's the last thing you deserved," he began, embracing her once again. This time, she didn't shrug him off, though she remained despondent.
"You've gone through a lot, more than most Sith would have been able to recover from. Perhaps this war did drag on longer because of your Battle Meditation, but the one who used it wasn't even you, not really. That was a mindless shell the Jedi created when you were a seven year old girl, after your parents were dead and you lost everything you'd ever known. It wasn't your true personality in control, and even then, your actions were always driven by a desire to do good. And after we
confront the True Sith, I'm almost certain your Battle Meditation will have saved far more lives than it cost. You're a strong, courageous, intelligent young woman, and the greatest person I've ever met."
Bastila smiled slightly at his words, but he could still sense her guilt and uncertainty through their bond.
"Master, I love you, and I'm glad that we're together, but I can't help but wonder if we should be. I know what we're doing is right, but with all the deaths we've caused, even if they've been for the greater good...do we even deserve to be happy? Especially me, after what I've caused," she added. Revan understood how she was feeling, it was a question he had asked himself in the past, but he had made peace with his answer.
"After all we've ssacrficed for the galaxy, and all the time we devote to bettering it, I think we do deserve to have some happiness in our lives. Everyone in war, from the privates to the admirals, has loved ones. If we denied ourselves our happiness, we'd be no better than the Jedi. We make each other stronger, not weaker," he argued. It was a convenient excuse, but it was true nonetheless. His relationship with Bastila steadied him, and he knew it had a similar effect on her. It
was true that a cunning enemy could try to take advantage of his
feelings for her, and vice versa, but even if they weren't together their feelings would remain, and the tension between them would imbalance them both.
"You're probably right, but still..." she began.
"Do I have to order you to be happy, my Apprentice? Is that what it's going to take?" he asked semi-seriously.
"Looks like it," Bastila replied with a slight smile.
"Then as your Master, I command you to do what it takes to make you happy."
"So be it," she said with a slight smile, pulling him into a kiss that he gladly reciprocated. For now, Bastila would be fine, but in the back of his mind he knew that her guilt would remain.
GAP
Over the next week, he and his admirals finalized their plans for the attack. There wasn't going to be any brilliant encirclement or devastating strike that would immediately crush his opponents. They knew him far too well for that; the Republic he planning went well, but would be fighting cautiously and simply, taking no chances. As soon as his ships dropped out of hyperspace, they would form all their ships into a defensive position between him and the planet, then attempt to close the distance between their fleets to nullify the Empire's
advantage in range. It was possible he would be able to pull of some tactical brilliance, but it wouldn't be until the heat of battle that an opportunity presented itself.
Fortunately, he had proved to be skilled at thinking on the fly.
His sessions with the admirals went well. They finalized their landing sights, where massive Imperial ground forces would be deployed to secure the planet's surface after they had opened a route through the Republic's blockade. The main target would be the Jedi Temple, where Revan's sources had informed him the planet's defense grid was stationed. If that was taken out, the Republic would lose its one advantage.
Their fleet's deployments were likewise determined with relative ease, but Revan remained worried. The night of Bastila's capture, someone high in their ranks had pulled their ship out of hyperspace for the Republic, and though the chances of the spy being an admiral were slim, the danger remained. Out of his seven admirals, none were overly suspicious, but their minds were too well fortified for him to read without them noticing. Such an act would cost him their trust, and that was the last
thing he wanted. He knew no admiral would take even a hint of an
accusation of being disloyal lightly.
Bastila continued to train rigorously, becoming one of the most
powerful Sith in the Order. She still had room to grow, but her powers would be strong enough to protect her during the coming battle. In all likelihood, she would be fighting on the ground at one point. Her Battle Mediation, which had so far been invaluable, was likely to be rendered irrelevant by the sheer number of Jedi present. Just as they had the night of her capture, they would ban their powers together and contain her influence, and this time it would be done by the Jedi Council members themselves, according to one his reliable spies in the
Jedi's ranks. None of them could perform Battle Mediation themselves, but that wasn't needed to simply counter it. A massive amount of Force power would be required now that Bastila had become much stronger, but he knew the Jedi would manage it. She would insist on being part of the fighting, and though he hated putting her in danger, he knew he had no choice. Bastila would be expected to contribute to this battle, and Revan knew it was her duty to do so.
He suspected that part of the reason Bastila was training so hard was to keep her mind distracted from recent matters. It wasn't just her guilt and her capture that had been affecting her, Revan had realized; she was still dealing with the pain of losing her parents. Even though it had happened over a decade ago, it was only recently that she had her emotions that the Jedi had imprisoned immediately after she had joined them. Revan admired her even more for still holding up after all she had dealt with.
He wasn't in prime physiological condition himself. Both of them were eagerly awaiting the end of the war, but that didn't mean they weren't dreading the massive battle to come.
GAP
Revan sat in his command chair on the Vengeance's bridge, his
holoscreens arrayed in front of him and displaying the position of all nine thousand of his ships as they traveled through hyperspace. Beside him, Bastila sat crossed legged on her black rug, preparing to begin her Battle Meditation. It was unlikely to be effective, but it was worth a try.
Around the bridge, his admirals were settled at their own stations, their expressions solemn and determined. The ship's crew mulled around them, speaking of nothing but the preparations for battle.
"Dropping from hyperspace in ten...nine..," the navigation officer began. Revan steeled himself and glanced at Bastila, her eyes closed and face deceptively calm. He sent her a wave of reassurance and was given one in return. His mind could barely process the moment; this was it, the final battle of the war, the largest engagement in galactic history, and he was commanding it. The rest of the pitifully defended Core Worlds had already fallen, only Coruscant remained.
"Two...one..."
Millions of Sith soldiers held their breaths as nine thousand ships dropped from hyperspace. At last, they could see the Galactic Captial itself as the prepared Republic fleet organized itself.
Complete silence reigned on the bridge as Revan watched the holoscreen and the distance closed between the two fleets. In seconds, they would be within range.
He stood up and walked to the front of the bridge. Hours ago, he'd given his forces a motivational speech, but now was not the time for an address. Keeping the emotion out of his voice, Revan gave the order he'd been preparing to give for weeks.
"Open fire."
The Battle of Coruscant had begun.