Revan and Bastilla spent the next few days together in the Jedi Archives. Bastilla, like Revan, had plenty to catch up on in terms of galactic affairs, not to mention the history of the order since she had left the land of the living. The galaxy was a complex place and Bastilla, like Revan, knew that before she could help the galaxy she needed to understand it.

Revan joined her in her quest for knowledge. Revan was happy to point her where she needed, guide her along a journey he himself had taken not long prior, and was genuinely thrilled to spend his days with her, even if those days were spent in an archive rather than on a battlefield.

But Revan had other motives as well, another driving force behind his time in the archives. As Anakin and Ahsoka took a mandated leave from combat, of which most was spent with Padme, Revan had a sneaking suspicion, a nagging feeling. Revan couldn't shake the sight of Death Watch rounding up civilians and working hand in hand with the Seperatists, nor could he shake the thought of Pre Vizsla uniting the world of Mandalore in the fight against the Republic.

As Bastilla combed through holopads on history, politics, and technology, Revan spent his time searching through old texts from the forbidden sections of the archives, combing through Revanite records and writings. The material he found was disheartening, the cult having created a perversion of everything he fought for and believed in. But it was not a long dead cult that he was after. It was what they held onto that he was after.

Mandalore had not been united under the leadership of a true Mand'alor since Revan slayed Mand'alor the Ultimate in battle thousands of years prior. The mask of Mand'alor had been Revan's prized treasure, the sign of a forever fractured warrior society. But Revan's visions didn't lie. Pre Vizsla was after the mask and if he could bring the Mandalorian people under his rule…

Revan shuddered at the thought.

After days of searching, which involved extensive mediation with Yoda as he tried to follow the path to the artifacts, he finally found what he had been looking for. In a long lost datapad of a Jedi who had deserted the order to live the life of a hermit in protection of their ideals, Revan found the location he had been looking for.

Arvala-7.

Revan breathed a deep sigh of relief, something that was noticed by Bastilla, who was sitting by him while reading updates on the political struggles of Outer Rim systems in the modern Senate in an attempt to understand the Separatist cause of war. "What is it, my love?"

Revan looked over at her and said, "I found it."

She nodded. "Where is the mask?"

"Arvala-7. It's stranded way out in the Outer Rim."

Bastilla nodded and stood up. "Alright, then. Let's get the ship ready."

Revan smiled and shook his head. "No, my love. It's alright. I'll go. It shouldn't be too much trouble. You stay here and keep studying. Trust me, you have plenty left."

She shook her head in worry. "Revan, the last time I let you go alone-"

Revan put his hands on her shoulders and knelt down to look her in the eyes. "Bastilla…I will be fine. I promise. I sense little danger. I'll be back soon."

She was quiet for a moment as she worked through her thoughts, her concern still clear. Quietly, she asked, "Are you sure?"

He nodded his assurance. "As sure as the galaxy is wide."

She gave him a soft smile. "I love it when you say that."

Revan smiled back at her. "I know that you do."

Revan caressed her face and brushed a stray hair that had fallen during her studies back from her eyes. "I am feeling better and I will be safe, Bastilla. Trust me."

She sighed. "It's not you that I'm worried about."

The unspoken enemy hovered in the air between them. Revan nodded. "I know. Me too."

He leaned over and kissed her, the sight shocking several padawans and no doubt angering the librarian that had hovered around them like an angry schoolteacher for the past few days. After a few moments, Bastilla broke the kiss and leaned her forehead against Revan's, her eyes still closed. "You have my blessing. Come back quickly, my love."

The trip to Arvala-7 was relatively uneventful. Once the Rogue Shadow was out of the Temple, through the clouds, into space, and soon after jumping to lightspeed, Revan made the determination to spend the rest of his trip in the ship's meditation chamber, alternating between a calm state of meditation as he cleared his mind and reached out with the force, trying to discern its will, and active combat, engaging droids and working through forms of lightsaber combat.

The trip passed by rather quickly, and after a short nap following a strenuous session in the meditation chamber, Revan returned to the cockpit in time to find the ship prepared to come out of lightspeed. Revan sat down, pulled the lever, and proceeded to watch a desolate desert planet appear in his viewport. Revan engaged the sub light engines and traced a path through the force, reaching out to try and catch a familiar sense.

"Master. Master."

Revan shook his head in shock as he heard the voice calling out to him. As if the force itself had been waiting, Revan looked down to his scanners and settled in on a small settlement near the edge of a large dune sea. Revan stared at it, running his hands through his long brown hair as he did so. Finally, after a moment of contemplation, he pushed the engines to their maximum output and sent the ship flying down towards the planet surface, intent on finding the reason for the call.

It could be the mask. That, Revan didn't doubt. But the sense he got from the force was different. It was much less interested in the mask. There was something else at play. Revan was sure of it.

A few minutes later, Revan landed in a small settlement, the city big enough for maybe a couple thousand citizens. The landing pad was one of three in the center of the adobe-built city. Revan gently set the Rogue Shadow down in the center landing pad and donned a hooded brown cloak over his tan robes. The traditional attire of the Jedi was usually fairly noticeable, and Revan did not intend on being recognized.

Revan slid the hood over his head and stepped off the ship to find a Quarren quartermaster walking towards his extended ramp. Revan quickly slid a few credits his way and remarked, "Little sandy and warm out here for you, isn't it?"

The Quarren shrugged. "I've got a nice bath at home. That gets me all the water I need."

Revan nodded and asked, "I assume my ship won't have any trouble while I'm gone?"

The Quarren remarked, "Depends."

Revan coldly asked, "On?"

"On whether it's the Seperatists or Republic that you're concerned about."

Revan bit his tongue, fighting the temptation to lash out at the Quarren who had slid his hand out while speaking. Revan calmly replied, "I think that it would be best for all of us if I didn't have any trouble."

The Quarren replied, "I don't like caginess, outlander. That sounds dangerous…and danger costs extra."

Revan bit back a curse and tossed the alien a few extra credits before remarking, "For the record…you can tell whoever you want. But I have a feeling it wouldn't end out working too well in your favor."

The Quarren narrowed his eyes. "Is that a threat?"

Revan shook his head. "I have no qualms with you. But there are a lot of people in the galaxy that don't seem to care for decency these days. Playing to that field is a two way road. Fill up my ship for me, please. I'll be back soon."

With that, Revan nodded his farewell to the quartermaster, who returned to the port office with a few grumbles and curses. Revan smirked, knowing that the Quarren would not be letting any Separatist spies know about the ship he had just seen. Revan stopped for the moment at the side exit of the spaceport, reaching out with the force, searching for the mask. Revan quieted his mind and felt the familiar call back out to him from well beyond the city border in the dune sea. His eyes closed, he saw a vision of a cave of darkened rocks emerging from the massive dunes that surrounded the city, the stench of the dark side surrounding the blackened entrance. Revan opened his eyes and nodded. He had his bearings.

Revan exited the spaceport and onto the city street. The bustling ring around the spaceport was extra wide to allow for cargo to pass through but on this day, it was filled by a crowd of people. Revan slid through, his head still covered by the hood but his eyes alert and searching. Revan grimaced as he walked, regretting his height. He stood tall amongst those that surrounded him, his noble gait and stern gaze an exception to the norm in this wildly diverse town. As he walked, he made every effort to avoid those around him, but could not avoid all. Shoulders hit, legs twitched, and many a glare was aimed towards the tall Jedi who offered only an apologetic smile in turn.

But one collision garnered his interest. Revan felt a flicker before a smaller figure bumped their shoulder into his left arm, the figure sprawling into the street. Revan stopped and offered a hand. "You need some help?"

The figure gratefully took it, head down. A long brown cloak held the identity of the perpetrator secret. The figure simply nodded, gave a light bow, and hustled off into the crowd. Revan kept his gaze up, staring at the figure rush off before he realized that something felt different. Something was off. His hand instinctively went to his belt when his blood turned to ice.

His lightsaber was gone.

Revan yelled out after the figure. "WAIT!"

The cloaked thief took off in a dead sprint, his cover blown. Revan charged after him, but the smaller man was adept at navigating that crowd and turning corners. Revan, who was tall and at least making an attempt to keep his powers at bay in the crowd, quickly lost sight of the man but managed to keep a trace on him by use of the force. Revan managed to turn off the main road and down a smaller road through a neighborhood, nearly an alley of sorts. At that moment, Revan abandoned his predisposition to hide his powers and took off in a force sprint, charging forwards towards the running thief before leaping into the air to follow him from the rooftops. Revan charged forward, now barely breaking a sweat. He followed the agile thief for a couple of blocks before sensing an opportunity.

Revan watched as the thief turned down yet another alley, this one unpopulated and scarcely three meters wide. Revan leapt from the rooftops and collared the man on his fall, sending the thief sprawling to the ground. Revan instantly grabbed his lightsaber with the force as he landed on top, hand to the throat, activated purple blade in his right hand and facing down on the thief's face.

To reveal a young girl, looking barely old enough to fly a speeder staring back at him. But instead of the expected shock, she rolled her eyes and remarked, "Jedi. What a surprise. You had to break my perfect streak of nabs, didn't you?"

Revan glared at her and tersely replied, "Most don't steal a Jedi's weapon and live to tell the tale. I'd keep quiet, if I were you."

She responded in kind. "Jedi don't kill their prisoners and they don't kill the unarmed. You can talk tough all you want, but you can't back it up and you and I both know that."

Revan jabbed down, the blade now inches away from her face. "Who says I'm a Jedi?"

She rolled her eyes in response. "Please. You stepped off that gleaming starship hooded, with credits to spare, and wanted things kept quiet. Oh, and you have a lightsaber. I'd say that my guess is pretty spot on."

Revan gave her an almost admiring look and said, "You're not much for fear, are you little one?"

She glared. "I'm sixteen, Jedi. I'm far from little."

Revan chuckled and replied, "Could have fooled me."

She gave him a cocky smile and said, "Pretty sure I have."

Revan heard a click, felt a metal piece probing his abdomen, and looked down to see a blaster in the girl's hand. Revan shook his head and muttered, "How did I fall for that?"

The girl shrugged and said, "I'd say you lost that illustrious focus that you Jedi spend so much time talking about."

Revan raised an eyebrow. "You sure know a lot about the Jedi for a kid stuck in the backwaters of the outer rim."

She grinned confidently and said, "You sure talk a lot for a guy with a blaster to the gut. What's your point?"

Revan shrugged and replied, "I guess I don't have one. Truce?"

She shrugged and replied, "Depends."

"On?"

She gestured with her blaster and said, "Whether you're gonna deactivate that admittedly pretty blade and stand up first."

Revan did as instructed, deactivating his blade and disengaging, standing up and putting his hands up to demonstrate his peaceful intentions. The girl stood up and Revan got his first good look at her. She was pretty, long strawberry blonde hair that leaned more towards the blonde side cascading down as she took off her cloak. Her facial structure, cheeks and jaw, were well defined in the beautiful manner of the warrior princesses of Alaxia Prime that Revan had fought alongside in the Mandalorian Wars, a sign of both beauty and strength. She was cut, strong, and if Revan were honest beyond his quips, looked well past her years if she were sixteen. She stared back at him with bright hazel eyes, studying the Jedi as he studied her.

She was struck by the man who stared back at her as he too took off his cloak. His long hair was dirty blonde, streaks of blonde and brown hair fighting for supremacy. Like her, his cheeks and jaw were well defined, the signs of a warrior. A thick stubble that was fast growing into a brown beard adorned his face. While he was unquestionably the most handsome human that the young girl had ever seen, what caught her focus was not his looks, but his eyes. They were an electric blue that shot through her and seemed to peg her for who she was in an instant. Above all, however, was the sense of recollection, the sense of recognition. Somehow, she couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen him before.

She remarked, "What brings you here, Outlander? I haven't seen you around here before."

Revan was guarded, careful to keep his intentions somewhat buried. "I've got an artifact that I need to find. I traced its history here."

She raised an eyebrow. "Seems like an interesting thing to be going after."

Revan shrugged. "You aren't wrong there. But nonetheless, it's important."

"Do you know where you're headed?"

Revan nodded. "I have a pretty good idea. It's out in the middle of the dune sea."

She rolled her eyes. "That's a pretty big canvas to cover, Jedi. How exactly do you plan on finding this thing?"

Revan replied, "I know where it is. It's in a cave out there. It sticks out from the massive dunes."

She nodded, quietly pondered for a moment, and then said, "I can take you there. If you want, anyways."

Revan cinched his eyebrows, a confused expression crossing his face. "You know where it is…"

"I don't know what "it" is, but I know what you're talking about. Let me guess, massive black cave with blackened rocks in the middle of a dune valley?"

Revan nodded. "Yes. That is the place."

"It's about half a day's journey from here by foot."

Revan was quiet for a moment, working through his options before warily replying, "Alright. I certainly won't turn down a local guide."

She nodded and slipped on her cloak over her black jumpsuit that she had cut the sleeves off of. As she did so, Revan caught a brief glimpse of a tattoo on her right arm before it disappeared as she offered her hand. "Pleasure to work with you, Outlander. I'm Shae."

The trip began rather quickly, with Shae briefly stopping to grab a small bit of supplies before they headed out of the city walls and into the desert. The journey was silent for a while, neither keen on starting a conversation with a complete stranger. Revan looked over at his companion, who was walking along in relative silence and after an hour of nothing but the noise of feet on sand, Revan asked, "Shae, how'd you learn to sneak up on people like that? And pulling a blaster on a Jedi? That isn't exactly the kind of thing that you learn on the streets. Not with the polish that you showed, anyways."

Shae shrugged. "I had a little bit of training growing up before I ended up on the streets."

He nodded. "I figured as much. It must have been with quite the outfit."

Shae tactfully replied, "I guess you could say that. But it's been a while. If anything, I'm getting rusty. You never should have seen a thing. And even if you did, you shouldn't have been able to catch me."

Revan shrugged and slid back his robe, revealing his lightsaber to her once again. "I guess you could say that I had a bit of an advantage."

She rolled her eyes in response. "It's not fair. You Jedi are supposed to stick out like a sore thumb when you have to go after people like me."

He nodded. "I suppose that would only be fair."

She nodded her head in agreement. "It would be."

Revan chuckled. "But the galaxy isn't fair, little one."

She growled. "I'm not little. I'm sixteen."

Revan chuckled. "I'm what, three thousand? Really should sit down and do the numbers. You still look young to me."

She rolled her eyes. "There's really no winning with you, is there?"

Revan nodded in response and quipped, "There's a reason most like to be on my side. I don't lose a fight. And that doesn't simply pertain to the battlefield, either."

She replied in a snarky tone, "Clearly."

Revan was quiet for a moment and then remarked, "We got off the subject."

Shae feigned innocence that Revan saw through as clearly as one saw the Tatooine sun. "Did we?"

He nodded and pressed. "You were about to tell me how exactly you managed to learn how to at least hide your intentions in the force."

She nodded. "Yeah…I guess I was."

She was quiet for several minutes. Revan, respectful of her past that was now quite clearly not the most pleasant, was content to drop the subject and walk in silence. However, after a long period of silence, she began to speak. She had never opened up to anyone before, but somehow knowing that the Outlander would soon be gone, never to return, gave her the peace to share her past, something that she had not done since she had been abandoned what seemed like so long ago.

"I wasn't born a street rat on this planet. I wasn't trained by underground criminals."

Revan nodded. "I suspected as much."

She drew her shoulders back, standing straighter, and proudly said, "I was born a Mandalorian. I am a proud daughter of Clan Vizsla and a loyal servant to the slain Satine, the true leader of Mandalore."

She drew back the sleeve of her tunic, revealing the crest of Clan Vizsla that adorned her inner right arm. Revan widened his eyes and nodded in respect. He said, "My, that is quite impressive. You have my respect. But that doesn't explain how you ended up out here."

She sighed. "Weren't you listening? I stood loyal to Satine. Pre Vizsla led Death Watch and tried to overthrow her and return us to the days of old. I stood up to him, refusing to slaughter my brothers and sisters and threatening to reveal his intentions to Satine. He exiled me, sending me to what he thought was my death in the depths of Nar Shadaa. He sold me to Black Sun slavers. But I found my way out of the underworld and made my way here."

She stood proudly once again. "I am a Mandalorian. I fight for honor. Even if it isn't the way I expected it to be."

Revan was quiet for a minute and then asked, "Shae, why are you doing this? You're no fool. It's no coincidence that you ended up here. You know what's in that cave and you know that I'm after it. Why are you helping me?"

She was quiet, pondering how to answer. Finally, after a few moments of silence, she replied, "Because you're no Mandalorian, Outlander. And that mask is far safer in your hands than in the hands of one of my bloodthirsty brothers."

He nodded and the pair returned to silence, continuing their long walk down through the sea of sand in the scorching heat of the Arvala system's star. After a few more minutes of silence, he remarked, "I had a little run-in with Pre Vizsla myself not long ago."

Shae raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Revan nodded. "I did. I was chasing after a Sith on a planet not far from here and walked into a trap. Death Trap was waiting for me. Pre Vizsla was there with them."

She nodded. "Let me guess. Slaughtering innocents alongside the Seperatists before selling the rest into slavery?"

Revan nodded. "Yeah…luckily, we managed to get Republic forces into the system not long after I was taken away. It may not have made things perfect, but at least it helped."

Revan rubbed the cut above his right eye that was still mending from the strike that the Mandalorian had laid across his skull. Shae watched him and asked, "Pre Vizsla give that to you?"

Revan chuckled. "How'd you know?"

Shae sighed and dropped her head. "He's been laying blows like that to me for years."

Revan looked over, sighed deeply, and slowly asked, "You mean…"

She nodded. "He's my father."

The journey across the desert landscape was long and arduous. While Shae and Revan, both in exceptional physical shape, were able to make the journey without much holding them back physically, it was a mentally draining. The endless sand dunes rolled on and on, the sun beating down on the exposed skin, sand whipping around in the violent winds that gusted about across the endless sea of dunes.

The conversation was nonexistent, something that neither Shae or Revan seemed to terribly keen on changing. Shae had quickly fallen silent after speaking to Revan about her origins and Revan could tell that she was not in the mood to discuss her past any more than she already had. Understanding and sympathizing with the young girl, he remained silent, content to carry on in silence. In truth, neither felt like talking and neither would have had much of a stomach for conversation, anyways. As sand stung exposed flesh and slipped inside any open cavity it could find, the two certainly had no problems with keeping their mouths shut for the time being.

Their arrival at the entombed cave was timed perfectly, as the sun began to drop behind the dune sea as they arrived. Revan took a long look at the cave in front of him. While the rest of the sea was composed of admittedly towering but otherwise nondescript rolling sand dunes, this cave was a massive break from the natural, the brown and blackened rocks standing out from the light tan landscape. The cave itself stood at least forty meters high and while it did not appear to be more than a hundred meters deep from first glance, Revan had no doubt that it fell back into the depths of the landscape and was, in fact, much larger than that.

The cave itself was fraught with dark side energy, the light barely penetrating the overhanging edge. Revan reached out but sensed nothing. Nothing, that is, except for two faint calls in the force.

"Master. Master."

Revan shook the calls out of his head, the haunting sound one that he would love to forget and leave behind the moment that the mission was accomplished. Revan took a deep breath and looked over at his companion. "Shae, I think it's better that you wait here."

Shae looked at him for a moment, chuckled lightly, and slipped her hand behind her back. She pulled out a metal cannister that was roughly a meter in length and pressed a button, with two cylindrical poles flying out of either end of the cannister, revealing a Echani Quarterstaff of simple yet elaborate design. She twirled it about in her right hand, and gave Revan a small, mischievous grin.

"And miss all of the fun?"

Revan shrugged. "Alright. Don't say that I did not warn you."

Shae grinned. "I wouldn't dream of giving you the satisfaction."

With that, they both steeled their beating hearts, quieted their anxious nerves, and headed inside.

The moment they passed through the threshold of light, the room fell into a near black darkness. The unnatural loss of light sent Shae's skin crawling and she instinctively clung a bit closer to the side of Revan, who seemed to have made his peace with his new surroundings rather quickly.

They pushed forward into the cave with careful trepidation, both pairs of eyes peeled down the darkened corridor as though it would do either of them any good. All was silent as they continued to press forward, a silence that was aberrant in its existence. Finally, as they got closer, the calls of the mask growing louder, the pair finally found the reason for the dark presence.

A loud, haunting laugh from above rang out over the cave. No sooner had Revan and Shae both thrown their eyes up towards the roof than did a red lightsaber activate. The blade revealed an Echani woman, her skin pale, eyes silver, hair ghost white. Dark circles surrounded her eyes and her gaze pierced the souls of both travelers. She cackled in glee from her perch atop the cave before dropping down to the ground. She landed with her lightsaber still activated, the glow revealing a stone shrine that held black robes, a single lightsaber, and leaned up daintily against both, a single mask that sent ice cold shivers down Revan's spine.

Her Echani eyes pierced the dark, the woman no doubt able to see the pair despite the little lighting that made its way to Shae and Revan. Revan, no longer willing to stand for the scared fool, drew his lightsaber. The purple glow revealed the pair and gave Shae a glimmer of courage, the abnormal darkness seemingly pushed back from his blade.

Revan narrowed his eyes as he stared at the woman before him. "I believe you have something of mine," The Jedi coldly stated.

She replied, "I have nothing that concerns you, Jedi."

"I beg to differ."

Revan took a step forward and was instantly met with a step forward by the Echani woman, who clearly would not be denied her spar. "We shall see."

Revan gave her one last opportunity to step aside. "You don't know who I am, do you?"

She narrowed her eyes and reached out with the force. Deafening silence hung in the air for a moment before she responded, "I know who you claim to be, Jedi. But you are not him. The Dark Lord that we hold in esteem would have stuck me down, would have submitted me to his will before I even knew of his presence. You are an imposter, and you will be swept aside as such."

Revan took a step back, his left foot forward, his body leaning back on his right leg, the saber cocked in his left arm, over his head, and pointed towards the acolyte. "So be it."

The acolyte, to his surprise, however, didn't charge. She twirled around her saber and stared past him, her eyes, drilling a hole in Shae. "You bring him to fight your battles, little one? You really are a pitiful excuse for a Mandalorian. Your father was right to exile you."

Shae growled, her anger so eminent that Revan could feel it cascading off him in waves. She furiously replied, "You don't know what you're talking about, Teria."

Teria chuckled. "There was a reason he loved me more than you."

Shae screamed in rage. She dropped her staff and threw her arms out. Before Revan knew what was happening, a mighty wave of force energy blew past him, catching Teria and throwing her back against the wall with a mighty crash. Shae grabbed her quarterstaff and charged, leaping over the shrine in one swift move before engaging Teria, her lightsaber reactivated just in time to block a crushing blow.

Teria blocked, parried, and pushed Shae back on the defensive, her blows raining down on the girl who just managed to keep her staff in front of her, alternating blocks from either side in an attempt to keep the fight in front of her. Revan finally snapped into action, leaping to the action as though it were an afterthought, arriving in time to catch a blow that would have slashed across the exposed shoulder of Shae.

Revan took the lead in the fight, employing the Juyo form as he allowed his controlled anger to flow through him in a cascade of dark energy. He pushed Teria back, making sure to keep her focus off Shae and on him. He swung his saber with mighty attacks, his saber staying in his right hand and his left used to levy force energy attacks on her backside in order to keep her off balance.

Shae, determined to not be left out of the fight, charged back around Revan's right side, cornering Teria. Shae twisted her blade and her quarterstaffs split, suddenly turning into two separate blades. The young Mandalorian, clearly trained in all forms of blade combat, entered into an elegant dance, her long reach and well-timed leaps and twirls keeping Teria from opening an attack of her own. Teria managed to lash out with occasional force energy attacks when she locked in on Revan's blade, attempting to throw Shae back and even the odds, but Shae rolled, twisted, and at times deflected with force energy of her own.

Teria was fighting a losing battle and she knew it. After sensing the impending onslaught that awaited her, she managed to summon a mighty push that caught both travelers off guard, throwing them back. She let out a mighty whistle, the deafening sound cutting into the ears of both. As they stepped back and tried to regain their focus, they began to feel tremors vibrate the ground. Teria gave them a taunting grin and said, "Meet my little pet."

The tremors grew louder and louder until they were a thunder in and of themselves. The two travelers turned around and watched as a long, scaly head appeared in the purple light. The angry yellow eyes stared back and caught sight of its prey. And then it released a roar, one that seemed to come from a thousand years of waiting for its ultimate prey. Revan shuddered as images rushed back.

And the Greater Krayt Dragon attacked.

The massive beast charged at Revan and Shae. Shae dove away, rolling off to the side and anchoring herself near the far edge of the wall, her breathing heavy, expression attentive with anger and focus. Sweat poured down her brow, mixing with a small cut on her forehead that was beginning to bleed. She reattached her quarterstaff, twirled it around behind her back, and then took a defensive position, prepared to take on whatever came her way.

She never had the opportunity.

Revan bellowed, deactivating his lightsaber and stretching out both arms. Waves of sand flew up as force energy charged out from his two extended hands. The Krayt Dragon and Teria were both hit and caught at the same time, frozen in a force stasis that both tried their best to fight through, but to no avail.

Revan roared, "You WILL kneel!"

Teria fought it with everything in her, but she could not hold fast against the anger and pure power of Revan. She was brought to her knees in a fit of rage, screaming out as she did so.

The Krayt Dragon managed to last a bit longer, its neck flailing around as it roared and tried to attack Shae. But Revan would not be countered, the Jedi turning his attention towards the dragon and grasping at him with the power of the force. The Krayt Drago roared but was brought to an unnatural stillness.

But as his focus turned towards the dragon, his focus on Teria wavered for a brief moment. Seizing her opportunity, Teria lashed out through the force and pushed both Revan and Shae back, throwing Revan towards the dragon. The stasis field now broken, the dragon charged towards its intended prey. As it dropped its head down to kill the Jedi, Revan managed to flip over from his back to a standing position in time to avoid the swinging teeth of the dragon and leap onto the back of its neck. He landed and immediately drove his lightsaber down, plunging his saber deep into the head of the animal and quickly dropping the animal to the ground in death.

Shae watched the scene unfold in utter shock, not believing the power before her. She had studied the force in secret as a youth after finding that it was the force, in fact, that had helped her develop such quick reflexes. The force had guided her ability to fight, her ability to predict the movements and actions of her enemies. She had used the abilities taught to her by her father to find and procure ancient texts of the Jedi. She had spent years studying and honing what little skills she had in search of the ability to fight.

But this? This power? It was something that she never could have even dreamed existed.

Her distraction and awe was noticed by Teria. Teria, enraged at her embarrassment and the appearance of the rival Mandalorian daughter, charged forward, lightsaber clutched tight in her grip, ready to bring death upon her. Shae readied herself but gulped down a lump in her throat. Try as she might, she couldn't beat back the feeling that one on one, she was no match for a Dark Jedi.

Revan looked over and his eyes widened in panic. He withdrew his lightsaber and charged over towards Shae. He covered the thirty-meter gap in four rushing bounds, springing forward with each step. He leapt on his final step and landed in front of Shae, lightsaber at the ready. He caught Teria's attack, stopping her charge dead in its tracks. He pushed her back and then swung his lightsaber down from both the left and right side of his body before slicing right, nearly cutting Teria's neck.

Teria ducked her head but never had time to realize her mistake. Revan finished his slicing strike by twisting around and bringing his lightsaber to bear, impaling Teria through her torso.

The Echani's eyes widened and she dropped her lightsaber as she gasped in pain. Revan yanked the lightsaber out and twisted around, slicing across with his right hand and sending her head rolling along the ground.

Revan walked past the body and towards the shrine, simply grabbing his former possessions with little fanfare and turning around to leave. He walked back to Shae and nodded. "Come on. Let's get out of this cave."

The return trip was dark and quiet, the only light being that of the moon and the only sound being that of the wind whipping around the sand. Finally, after nearly and hour of quiet, Shae asked the question that had been on her mind for the entire trip. "So…now that you have it, what are you going to do with the mask? I mean…your mask?"

Revan shrugged. "I'm going to bury it. Leave it in the depths of the Temple."

Shae's eyes widened. She hadn't expected a lot of things. She half expected him to lie. And if he were to tell the truth, she expected it to be used for the good of the Republic. She had expected a lot of things. But that answer…that was not one of them. Because looking over at him and studying her companion, she could see the truth of it in his eyes.

She managed to finally come to her senses and ask, "Why?"

Revan replied, ""It's just an artifact. People may recognize it and cling to it, but without the fighting heart and the courageous soul that is hidden away by the mask, it's meaningless. Your ancestors knew that and so do I. I don't come for this mask to rally the people of Mandalore. I come for this mask so that the people of Mandalore may have a choice. This galaxy has had enough warlords commanding the fearful respect of people they care nothing about. I think this time, we eliminate the Revan's and the Mandalore's. Let the people decide. After all, it's their lives hanging in the balance of all this."

Shae nodded and the quiet returned. After a few minutes, she told him, "Thank you."

Revan didn't say anything, but thought to himself, "Always…always do what's right."

The silence continued on for another hour or so, the only sound that of the wind and the rhythm of step after step after step. Revan finally asked his own question that had been sticking on his own mind. "She knew you. How?"

Shae was quiet, silently cursing. She had hoped that the detail would have slipped Revan's mind or at least that after having his prize, he would have just let it go. But he had probably saved her life and there was no question that he had helped her in the long run, so she decided she at least owed him the truth. "Teria Cortus…she was the child of an affair my father had with an Echani warrior princess. Teria was brought into the ranks of the Jedi as a young girl, but she left the order after her master sent her back to the Temple for her cruel treatment of enemies on the battlefield."

Revan nodded. "Ah. I see."

Shae continued. "She came into the ranks of Death Watch not long before I was exiled. We sparred quite a bit and father took quite a liking to her. Certainly more than he took to me. The only good thing that came from my leaving was the thought that I had left her behind. The last thing I expected to see when we entered that cave was her."

Revan put a hand on her shoulder. "Your past doesn't define your path, little one."

Shae smiled, happy to receive the advice, happy to have a companion that both understood her and cared enough to try and understand her in the first place, and happier still that he didn't define her by her former name. She playfully responded, "I'm not little."

Revan smiled and the two returned to a happy silence.

Revan and Shae finally arrived back at the Rogue Shadow as the long sunset finally completed its drop into the sea of desert that surrounded the small city of Kuilil. As they walked through the small city, Revan could see her pace slow noticeably. She began to take a long route through some of the back streetways, rather than the main road that led straight to the hangar. And while that would have angered many or at least frustrated most, Revan was calm, not only allowing it but encouraging it, taking the time to stop and observe different people and places.

The sad truth, Revan knew, was that this was probably the first time that anyone had truly paid attention to her in quite some time. The young girl was fierce and strong, but she was still young and in need of family. Further, her entire reason for being on this backwater planet was leaving in the ship with Revan. Revan felt a pain for her internally. He had robbed her of her purpose, the one thing that had kept driving her and pushed her to overcome so much in her life. He felt a weight of responsibility for her. What would happen to her now?

Finally, after a long walk around the city, she couldn't delay him any longer. Having run out of ways to keep him occupied, Shae made her way to the hangar with a visible reluctance that broke Revan's heart. It wasn't supposed to be this way, Revan knew. She deserved to have people that cared about her, people that supported her, people that pushed her to greatness. Instead, she was about to rely on herself yet again, and now she had no reason to push herself to be better. It was truly heartrending.

At the hangar entrance, she stopped and turned around to him. She took a deep breath and then said, "Alright…here you are."

Revan nodded. He slipped a holopad out of his pack, typed in a few numbers, and then handed it to her. "Shae, this is a line of credit from the Republic. Provided you don't spend like a Neimoidian on vacation, I don't think anyone will notice."

Shae looked down at the bank account in shock and then looked back up at him. "You mean…you're giving me a bank account? That I can spend however I want?"

Revan shrugged and replied, "Well….I wouldn't go buy a mansion on Alderaan, but yes."

Shae was quiet for a moment, still in shock, before rushing over and bearhugging him. She buried her head into his shoulder and whispered, "Thank you…this is the first thing I've had go my way in a long time."

Revan nodded and squeezed her back. After a long few moments, the girl stepped back, wiped a few stray tears from her cheeks, and said in confidence, "You are a good person, Outlander. I mean that."

Revan smiled, held out his hand, and said, "Revan. The name is Revan."

Shae's eyes widened as she put two and two together, recognizing the face, the name, and the understanding of the mask. She instantly felt the urge to drop to a knee and dip her head, but Revan chuckled and said, "Don't get on a knee. I'm just a servant trying to help the galaxy."

She gaped at him before asking, "How…how is this possible?"

Revan shrugged. "I don't know. But here I am."

Shae shook her head and then smiled. "I can't believe this."

Revan smiled. "Most days, neither can I."

The pair were quiet for a moment, neither in much of a hurry to leave. After a few moments of silence, Revan asked, "So…what are you going to do now?"

Shae shrugged. "Honestly? I don't know. But you've given me the chance to have a new start. I won't take it for granted. I promise."

Revan asked her, "Do you know what you want to do with your life? You can do anything now, Shae."

She was quiet for a moment and then replied, "I want to find some way to help my people. Clan Vizsla shouldn't be known for the actions of my father."

Revan nodded, was quiet for a moment, and then said, "Shae, do you want to come with me?"

Shae's eyes widened and it took her a minute before she could speak, she was so shocked. "…Really?"

Revan nodded. "Come. Train as a Jedi. Bastilla and I can help you. You have a spark, Shae. If you train in the ways of the force and hone your skills, you can return to Mandalore and help your clan one day. You can help win this war. You can do great things, Shae. That, I am wholly confident in."

She was quiet for a moment and then asked, "Why are you doing this for me?"

Revan replied, "Because everyone deserves someone that believes in them. And I believe in you. It only took a few moments with you to see that."

She asked, "Don't the Jedi start training when you're a child?"

Revan shrugged. "Yes, but you're a special case. Besides, it's not as though you aren't trained."

Shae was quiet for a moment. After pondering, she asked, "If I do this…will you take care of me?"

Revan put a hand on her shoulder and nodded. "I'll take care of you, Shae. I promise."

Well, I hope you liked it! ALSO hope you saw Episode 9, which I happened to think was the best of the three. So A. They actually used some ideas that I was going to use down the line and B. I think they executed some of it pretty well. I am thinking of turning this story into a trilogy over an extended timeline, inspired by a lot of the old EU stuff that I sued to love. Please review! I want to hear how you like this story, the Revan-centric chapter, and the idea of this turning into a trilogy. GIVE ME YOUR THOUGHTS! Have a great day!