CHAPTER NINETEEN
DANTOOINE
Revan brought his left light saber down across his body with a powerful swing. The blade severed the bounty hunter's rifle in half, leaving him defenseless. He was unable to reach for his side arm before Revan's hand came up and released a massive Force push that sent the scarred Trandoshan flying through the air until he met the unyielding side of the enclave wall. His back was heard snapping as he slumped to the ground.
Revan turned quickly to survey the battle before him.
They had gone out to meet the bounty hunters, thirty-nine Dantooine Jedi Knights and senior Padawans, and the nine Dxun Jedi with Revan, Anja and Arren. Light sabers clashed in the first few seconds sending hundreds of blaster shots back at their owners, bringing down the first wave of bounty hunters. And then the wall of bounty hunters and mercenaries converged with that of the Jedi and the battle was joined in earnest.
The dark jedi accompanying the hunters all carried red light sabers. As Anja had stated there were twelve of them, and while five fell in the first seconds against the better trained Dantooine and Dxun Jedi, the others were holding their own quite well. Revan knew immediately that they would have no chance in the open ground with the hunters being able to target the Jedi while they were locked in combat, and he issued crisp orders to everyone to fall back slowly towards the protection of the enclave walls. The Mandalorian pursuers were sweeping in from all sides strafing the ranks of the bounty hunters, each pass causing dozens to fall under the withering barrage of blaster cannon fire. From the top of the enclave three heavy turrets had been set up and were taking a devastating toll of the bounty hunters, blowing bodies across the field of battle, most of the time missing body parts.
Yet still they came.
There were two entrances to the enclave, the south one leading into the lower training levels and the archives, while the north entrance led to the dormitories and the new medical facilities. Arren and Anja were leading the group of Jedi who were defending entrance to the south entrance. Yuthura had the enclave rebuilt with defense in mind, and the chest high wall and waist high planters were providing good cover for the group. Four others from Revan's Mandalorian detachment were laying down a sizzling barrage of well placed blaster shots that took down bounty hunters every time they fired.
Revan and his smaller group were defending the north entrance, and were slowly being beaten back. The bulk of the bounty hunter force was moving for the north entrance, and four of the remaining dark Jedi were leading them. Revan stood among the defenders, side by side with them. His father had taught him that your men needed to see you were unafraid to fight beside them, to take the same risks. So the blaster shots whizzed past Revan without a second glance by him. He did not flinch when they came close and he acted as if they were involved in a training incident and not a battle for their lives.
Revan turned when he felt the hand on his arm. Dralor too stood out among the fighting, never showing fear as he stood next to Revan. Blaster shots zipped past them, and smoke swirled all around, yet they stood there supremely confident. When the Dantooine Jedi and Padawans saw this, it inspired them to fight harder.
"Revan… one of the Pursuers flew over a civilian estate two kilometers away." Dralor told him, leaning in to be heard over the din of battle. "The estate has been destroyed, but there are three transports on the ground there. They are disembarking Sith troops!"
Revan looked at him. "Sith!"
Dralor nodded. "Heavy weapons teams and Grenadier squads. They were forming up to move on us here. He did not see any armor, but they will be on us in a few minutes, at least two thousand of the scum."
The scream made them look up as one of the dark Jedi had Force jumped over the line of defenders and was attacking them, his light saber flashing. With barely a glance Revan reached out with his hand and froze the dark Jedi in mid air in a Force stasis. Dralor simply brought his Mandalorian heavy blaster up and fired once, the shot burning a hole through the center of the dark Jedi's chest. Revan released the stasis and the body crashed to the ground, blood splashing the ground around the body.
"We need to hold for a few more minutes." Revan spoke calmly.
"Revan… we can not stand against two thousand Sith troopers." Dralor stated the fact.
"We won't have to." Revan replied.
The fully armored figured walked quickly toward the spot where the lone cloaked individual stood on the top of the rise. The figure carried a heavy assault rifle and walked with an almost regal air. The cloaked individual did not move as the armored figure stopped.
"We are moving into position now General." The male voice spoke.
"There is not much time left. The Sith have landed and are moving on the enclave. The defenders are beating back the last of the bounty hunter scum, but they need us to remove this Sith threat." The female voice replied.
They did not turn as the second cloaked figure walked up to them slowly. This figure drew back the cloak to reveal the handsome young features of a human male in his late twenties. That he was a Jedi was obvious to even the most ignorant of people, as his cloak blew aside in the wind to reveal the intricate light saber hilt on his belt.
"We are ready Master." He said.
The individual finally stood to their full height, matching the height of the armored man. The dark brown cloak hid everything else. "General… our friends await us."
The armored figured nodded. "Then we shall go to them."
The young man stepped up next to the one he called Master. "We will be outnumbered two to one Master." He said, his voice betraying no emotion.
"Yes we will." The female replied.
"You are not concerned?" He could hear the soft chuckle coming from his Master. He was always perplexed by this as most of the time she was completely emotionless. Only one topic had ever fueled her emotions and brought forth laughter. She had trained him for nearly his entire life, passing on her considerable skill and knowledge with passion. Even after he had obtained his Knight Hood he had petitioned to remain with her, never understanding why the Jedi High Council saw fit to indulge and support her in her endeavor. Only three times in the last twenty years had the Masters ever visited them, and then it had only been Master Vandar and Master Jolee. Their stay had been short, only a few days, and she never shared with him the conversations she had with the Masters. He was too respectful to ask her about them, knowing she would share the information with him in good time if she deemed it necessary.
They had remained in near exile on her home world. Once a war torn and occupied world, it has been free since the end of the Mandalorian War, her people returning to the planet of their birth from all across the galaxy. It was here they had helped to train nearly four thousand force sensitive individuals, not as Jedi… but as superior soldiers. Why the Jedi High Council had ever endorsed this course of action was beyond his understanding, but now he was about to have his eyes opened to the reasons.
"No I am not concerned Victor Paal." She answered him finally. "Are you?"
"This is the war you have spoken of isn't it Master?" He asked.
The cloaked figured nodded. "Yes. It is beginning."
"Against the true Sith?"
"The Sith of pure blood yes. These will not be like the Sith of old. Their Master is pure blood, savage and ruthless. What we fought during and after the Jedi Civil War were not the true Sith." She answered.
"Under Master Revan's banner?"
"No Victor. Under the banner of all freedom loving people in the Republic." She turned to look at him, the cloak hiding her face from him. "I have never told you about him have I?"
Victor shook his head. "I did not feel it was my place to ask Master."
"The questions burn inside you though." She said. "I can feel your heart race."
"Who would not want to hear the story Master? It was a defining moment in our history." Victor answered. "It was him wasn't it? He taught you to master your passions. Harness the power they can bring, and yet deny the temptation of the dark side."
She nodded. "Yes it was. He… he brought me back Victor. He brought me back from there."
"Brought… brought you back?" Victor could not help but look surprised, even with all his training.
"I was once a servant of the Dark Side Victor. Revan showed me the way back, and held my hand during my time of need. They are personal memories that I hold very dear to me and share with no one."
"Why now Master? Why me?"
"You have the same passions and emotions seething through you that I did." She replied. "They are part of your strength. And you have learned to control your passion… you do not let it control you as I did until I met Revan." She looked out across the expanse of terrain near the place she still called her home. "His son is there you know."
"His son? How do you know?"
" Do you not feel the power of his aura?" She asked. "It burns as bright as his father and mother. He is his father's son, a masterful tactician and warrior. More powerful than I could ever hope to obtain?"
"More powerful than you Master?" Victor was very surprised at that.
She chuckled again. "You think I consider myself the most powerful Jedi in the Order?" She asked, shaking her head. "No Victor. I pale in comparison to the men and women you will meet soon."
"I find that hard to believe Master."
"Believe Victor."
"Is it true? Master Revan's son kidnapped Padawan Tamari from Coruscant?"
"Kidnapped?"
He watched as his Master reached up and drew back her hood to reveal her still soft yellow fur and feline features. Her yellow eyes were bright and alert, her hair now tied in two tight tails. Victor looked dumbstruck as his Cathar Master erupted in a belly laugh.
"Kidnapped you say? Someone once accused his father of kidnapping Bastila." She shook her head. "Those of us who knew her, who saw her during that time, we knew it was something else. Tell me Victor, how do you kidnap someone who shares a love with you so intense it staggers others?"
"You don't Master."
"You are correct. You don't. They did not kidnap the women they love. Those women surrendered it willingly because they shared the same feelings."
Juhani turned back to the open land in front of her as the faint sound of advancing soldiers reached her keen cat like ears. She slowly reached down and removed the light saber at her belt. She activated the blue blade and felt the familiar vibration through her body. She turned to Victor.
"Come Victor. Our friends need our help."
Revan turned back another volley of blaster bolts and watched as they slammed into the chest of the wide eyed Rodian who had fired them. As the body fell to the ground, Revan looked around. Bodies lay everywhere, many missing parts of limbs from light saber wounds, others with massive wounds caused by Mandalorian weapons fire. Among the dead also were some twenty of the Dantooine Jedi and Padawans and nearly all of Revan's Mandalorian troop detachment. They had taken a terrible toll on the enemy before falling, as attested to by the piles of bodies around their cooling forms. Others began to form behind them, some injured. Revan himself did not notice the clean slice across his rib cage that had cut deep enough to pierce his armor and bite into his skin. He had not even felt the blow land. It was Anja who took notice as she came up to him.
"Revan you're hurt." She spoke softly, placing her hand over the wound and drawing on the Force to heal the wound.
Revan closed his eyes as he felt her essence fill him as she healed his wound. "Thank you my love." He told her.
"Revan look!" Arren's voice called out to him.
Revan followed her gaze and saw the hundreds of marching Sith troops coming towards them. He felt the ground rumble as their long range weapons began to try and find the range to the enclave.
"By the Force!" Yuthura gasped. "We can not stand against them! They will over whelm us in seconds!"
Revan felt Anja grip his hand tightly and he could feel her fear through their bond. He looked down at her and gazed into her emerald/jade eyes.
"It is your light that burns in my veins Anja Tamari!" He told her with no small amount of passion in his voice. He leaned over and kissed her hard and intensely. She grabbed his head and returned the kiss.
"Revan! There is no time for that!" Yuthura spoke. "We must get the younglings to your ship! Get them off the planet! We can not hold the enclave!"
Revan turned back to look at the advancing Sith forces. " I will never surrender this enclave!" He spat lifting the holo imager and activating it. "Juhani?"
The Cathar's bluish features appeared. "We are ready Revan."
"Please show these Sith what you and my father did on that day on Korriban." Revan spoke.
He saw Juhani's features twist into an almost feral snarl due to her feline features. "I will be most pleased."
Revan lowered the imager and dropped to his knees in a meditative position. Yuthura stepped up to him. "Revan… we must leave!"
"I will not allow them to force you to abandon an enclave of the Jedi Order!" Revan said. "Never!"
Yuthura took a step back as a greenish glow engulfed Revan. She heard it then, and it froze her in her boots as she turned to the open plains. The Sith had used the only open corridor to travel to the enclave from where they had landed. The land was flat between the twin mounds of hills dotting either side. It was from these hills that Yuthura saw hundreds of armored figures rise as if out of the ground itself and charge headlong at the Sith forces from both sides with an ear splitting howl of a battle joined. The move caused instant confusion in the Sith ranks as their will to fight was instantly ripped from them.
Yuthura's eyes went to where Revan knelt. " Battle Meditation!" She gasped.
Revan did not hear her word as his mind was deep in the battle now. As his mother had taught him he started with one and moved to the other Sith troops in a wave, ripping from them their will to do battle, taking from them their confidence in their skills and in some cases making them completely helpless. In the process, he lifted the spirits of the attacking Cathar troops to new heights, allowing their natural emotions to swirl unchecked, yet he harnessed them as they rammed into the Sith ranks from both sides, blasters and vibroswords dealing out incredible pain and suffering upon the Sith. He let his own confidence and inspiration flow through them like a breeze in the day time sky. Soon he had encompassed the entire battlefield and it was then that it happened.
The Sith ranks broke like a dam.
Soldiers ran in all directions dropping their weapons in their haste to get away from the battlefield. The Cathar troops gave no quarter and no mercy as they waded into battle. Yuthura could only watch in awe as she spied two light sabers among the ranks of the Cathar troops. Two blue light sabers that led the charge from either side were now close to meeting in the center of the once even Sith ranks.
Anja bent down to pick up the beeping imager, and she activated it. Juhani's face appeared, and in the back ground she could see the fighting was intense and brutal, but it was going in their favor.
"The Sith have broken and are running in fear! We have killed over half their number." Juhani reported. "Do you want them pursued?"
Destroy them Anja. Revan spoke to her through their bond. Have Dralor order all the Pursuers to destroy the transports. None of them leave Dantooine alive.
"Revan says to eliminate all of them." Anja told Juhani without hesitation. "None are to escape."
Juhani nodded. "Understood."
Anja turned to Dralor. "The Pursuers! Have them destroy the Sith transports before they leave the surface!"
Dralor nodded and immediately turned to relay the orders to the Pursuers. They had been circling the battlefield and now Yuthura watched them as they sped off in the direction of the civilian estate.
"They are fleeing." A Dantooine Jedi exclaimed coming up to them. "The Jedi do not kill innocents or prisoners!"
Arren looked at him then. "This will be a war unlike any in history. We can offer no mercy or second chances."
"That is not the Jedi way!"
"And as so many of you are fond of telling us… we are not Jedi." Arren snapped.
Yuthura held up her hand before the Jedi could retort. "She is correct. Their intent was to enter this enclave and slaughter even the younglings. They would not have held back." She looked at him. "Nor can we."
"But the Code…"
"The Code will not help us if we are dead." Yuthura said softly. "After this day… every Jedi in the Republic will have become a soldier. Whether they want it or not."
Arren looked at her. "After this day… the Republic will stand or fall on the decisions made thousands of light years from here."
Yuthura met her eyes. "And if they decide not to see the threat?"
"Then this victory will have meant nothing." Arren spoke.
"This is not a victory." Revan's voice came to them. They turned to see him get to his feet slowly, the strain of fighting and using his Battle Meditation exhausting him. "War is never a victory. War is death and destruction. War is a defeat by its very nature. It means we failed." He staggered somewhat, Anja going to him quickly and putting her shoulder under his arm. "I would be most happy if someone caught me."
Revan passed out from the exhaustion. Anja and Yuthura were able to keep him from hitting the hard ground.
"He's right." Yuthura said quietly. "His father said something similar to me many years ago."
"Was the war won?" Anja asked.
Yuthura looked at her. "We are still fighting it."
Next up! Coruscant and the Senate Chambers!