-- Chapter 1: The Challenge --
"Ah, Revan… So the mastermind of your battalions and the Republic's savour has finally accepted my call."
The tall figure clad in the mandalorian armour, the finest that could be made, leaned closer to the viewscreen. "To what honour do I owe this fine pleasure?"
Snickers in the background could be heard from Mandalore's ship as the short woman stood with her arms crossed behind her, clasped as she regarded the man called who called himself Mandalore, coldly.
She was Revan…
None knew whether she was man or woman… none except her closest friends; the original Jedi she had brought with her, and her ship's crew, aboard the Cliché.
…The Jedi Order, none but those who could remember her from before she and Malak had left.
Malak and Revan had left the known reaches of space, on their secret quest after she had been appointed Master Jedi in a secret council.
To all outwards appearances, she was still a Jedi Knight, the same with Malak …but really she was his Master now and he was her pupil. They had left to find the Star Forge and the Star Maps, after she had explored the Ancient Ruins on Dantooine.
And then none had recognized her when she and Malak had returned. Of course though, her robes of black and her red on black mask had helped that with her voice altered and her new demeanour, the Force lived around her, lived in her.
She had become the living Force and she was going to save the galaxy, even if she had to destroy it and bring it back alive and struggling from the ashes of war…
Revan was going to save the Republic and destroy it, to save the entire galaxy and she was going to be marked as a betrayer…
She could not see into Mandalore's mask, his mask was his face as was hers now.
But, and Revan smiled impishly, she could sense his aura in the Force, and Mandalore was growing impatient and gnashing his teeth no doubt.
Revan walked slowly forward with her alluring grace and tilted her head in acknowledgement to the viewscreen as she looked into the face of a killer… the face of many deaths and hate.
"A child… a child is dead because of you…" Revan's voice was cold and hard as she spoke ands she did not know why she had said that, until a caress of the Force touched her mind, alone.
She allowed a small smile to flash across her face as she continued on, encouraged by the Force's caress of all the Jedi passed beyond the living world and into the world of spiritual living.
"You've slaughtered many across the galaxy and not just the children… woman, men, boys and girls of all species."
Revan unclasped her hands and the original Jedi activated their lightsabers, blue, green, viridian, violet, silver, topaz, orange, and finally Revan lit her three lightsabers – blue, red, and black…
"It's time justice was measured against your soul and actions." Revan's voice was a snarl as she glared at the familiar figure that haunted her dreams so much now.
"Against me…?" Mandlore shook with unbridled laughter. "You," Mandalore pointed a finger at Revan, "you think you'll be able to bring me to justice?"
Revan closed her eyes inside the refuge of her mask and focused all her thoughts on the ancient teachings, she had learned from Master Kreia, every painful step of the way.
She reached out into the Force and called upon it to take her, too use her as she had used it. The Force accepted her offering and Revan blazed as a pure pillar of light in the Force, black and white mixing with each other, her color turning grey in the center of it.
There was no dark side…
There was no light side…
There was only Revan and the Force all around her…
People formed around Mandalore's bridge, slowly solidifying and growing, some tall and some of them short. Babies, children, woman and men, old and young... They were all the people dead from Mandalore's crusade of bloody murdering and conquering across the galaxy.
"What's happening?" Mandalore swore in mandalorian, as people, appeared out of nowhere on the bridge of the Sacrifice, a Jedi Master called Dorrins, a man Beri who Mandalore had gutted himself, Sara Yun, Pareve, civilians, ordinary people and more…
This was not what unnerved Mandalore… a woman appeared close to him and staggered forward, her stomach gutted, organs dripping out as she clasped one hand to them, reaching a hand out to Mandalore and he unwittingly caught her as she fell.
She was a Jedi…
She was beautiful…
She was short…
She had died horribly…
She was dead…
She was Revan's mother…
Her name was Faelyn…
She was Mandalore's wife…
Teran recognized her…
"Faelyn…? Is that really you? What has she done to you?" Mandalore whispered to the woman who looked up at him and moved her lips, as she faded away.
"You left me and our daughter to kill… She doesn't know you… you will die by her hand, Teran… by her hand…"
"By my daughter's hand…?" Mandalore looked at Revan and suddenly he knew who was behind the mask.
His little princess, he had promised he would return and give the galaxy to her one day… Revan was his little princess and she hated him now, he had killed her mother and so many others…
"Revan!" Malak's voice hissed behind her, low enough so it would not be heard over the viewscreen. "Enough, you've got to stop this, or you'll collapse!"
"I will not collapse until I have made my point…" Revan's voice spoke in his mind, though it was oddly echoed by many voices at once.
Revan moved forward, slowly showing a gracefulness, Malak and their friends knew she could barely hold up at the minute as she spoke to Mandalore.
"Mandalore, I give you the change to honour yourself such as one was once given to Ulic Qel-Droma from the Mandalore of his time. Meet me in battle of leaders of our armies."
She paused and stared intently at Mandalore; "should I win, you and all your warriors, everything Mandalorian will belong to me."
Mandalore was silent for a minute, "and if I win… Revan, then what will you do, beg for life?"
Revan shook her head, "the war goes on without me – our fight is too the death…"
Silence reigned on both bridges, and then Mandalore nodded appreciatively.
"Yes, my lady Revan…" Mandlore grinned, "should I fear anymore summons from you?" He laughed harshly and grinned at his long lost daughter weirdly.
Revan merely laughed in reply and arched an eyebrow at Mandalore's sudden eagerness and interest in her, all the more.
Mandalore eyed his daughter, "anything goes then, and who's your second, for you shall dearly need one."
Revan frowned as she thought; who could she call upon to depend? Definitely she could call and depend on most of her friends; Malak was one of the most prominent fighters, but… Alana could help her from above…
Revan smiled coldly, and spoke out loud in, a firm voice. "Malak Xarro shall second me;" Revan ignored the gasps from behind her as she spoke, meeting Mandalore's challenge with hesitation.
Mandalore laughed as he watched Revan gestureMalak forth, his blue lightsaber glowing in his hands. His face was stony and there was no emotion that betrayed his feelings
"And who will second your second? That frail thing couldn't win a fight against any of our untrained recruits!"
"Malak Xarro will second me, if it would come to that, but I'd be much more worried for your life and the life of your second, than mine or Malak's life." Revan sneered at Mandalore who named his brother Voss, as his second.
"Two days time from now, we meet and fight on Deralia…"
Revan decreed and with a thought turned the comlink off. As soon as the link had faded, she collapsed to the deck in a faint.
"Revan!"
No one's voices where louder than Alana, Malak, and Arren Kae as they dived to her aid.
Alana Song and Arren Kae closed their eyes as one, reaching into the Force to heal Revan and where shocked by what they saw.
"No, Revan… didn't…" Alana's voice was a stutter as she tried to focus on healing her friend and keep from blurting out the secret Revan had concealed for so long.
"Focus Alana… must focus or we will lose…" Arren Kae's voice was strained, hiding amusement and annoyance, though all of her concern was evident as the two women struggled to help Revan in a moment of needed aid.
None of them would sleep for nights to come.
This is the second redraft of this chapter, I'll see how it goes.
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