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Chapter 13: Chosen to Fall
"I know why you are here..."
Revan began slowly, sitting casually in a chair at an Ahto city restaurant and slowly sipping a glass of fine Alderanian brandy as his mask sat upon the tabletop. If there were any doubts as to Revan's true identity during his initial appearance on Manaan they were quickly crushed when the Manaan government released the sensor data taken of Revan as he entered their city casually. As a guest with no criminal records on the watery world, Revan fell under Manaan's neutrality agreement with both the Sith and Republic. Without charges, the Selkath could make no move on Revan and instead chose to give the former Dark Lord of the Sith his space. Diverting any Sith or Republic interlopers, the Selkath did an admirable job of keeping Revan and his two guests separated from the volatile situation that had already been strained on Manaan. Brushing a hand through his wild; shoulder-length brown hair, Revan focused his eyes on Helena and Eric Shan. Both of whom took the two seats open on the table across from Revan and sitting in silence as the former Sith Lord turned bounty hunter absently rubbed his well-trimmed goatee.
"You said you know why we are here?"
Helena began impatiently, the treatments she had been given by the local Healers draining any semblance of patience she had. Eric Shan sat stiffly, staring at Revan as if he could unravel the other man's plans by his hard gaze. Revan ignored the look and continued, his voice laced slightly with the effects of his drink.
"Why do I bother with the two of you when I could simply snatch your daughter from under the Jedi's collective noses and leave the galaxy to its fate? Is that not what you wished to know?"
Eric Shan nodded stiffly while Helena shifted in her seat, unable to meet Revan's eyes for a moment. Finally collecting herself, Helena met Revan's bloodshot brown eyes.
"You gave up your daughter to an Order that denies her a normal life. She is taught from the beginning to suppress and ignore her emotions and do what is in the interests of the greater good of the galaxy. Oft times what is in the interests of the greater good is questionable and during war the line between right and wrong, good and evil blur further. First of all it is obvious to me that you both have had a life filled with uncertainty and danger... I can feel it in your auras and I know you didn't want that kind of a life for your daughter. You gave her up for her own good and I am sorry to say she is being used as a bloody shield against the Sith I created. Hell she was used against me and I must say the girl is quite effective if not a little too bold for her own good. You gave up your daughter, your flesh and blood for her to have a better life but instead she has fallen into a life you tried to spare her of. I can respect your decisions and I will tell you freely that your daughter excels where lesser Jedi would wilt and crumble under the strain."
Revan took another sip of his brandy, setting the glass on the table and standing slowly as he began to pace.
"I can see the two of you are good people and I find myself at a crossroads. I look at the two of you, I see your sacrifices and your suffering and that of your child and I see the cause of it. Me. The Mandalorian wars were a series of slaughters orchestrated by an ancient race to cover another war. A war being waged on the far edge of our galaxy and beyond the expanses of the nothingness between the other galaxies... The war is as ancient as time... Good and evil, the light and dark constantly bearing down on one another and seeking dominance. While light can exist in darkness, darkness cannot exist in light. There is an imbalance in the way of things, the Force and it is slowly weakening the Jedi as a whole. Given enough time the Jedi may even one day be blind to the Force's will. This may sound like a simple rant to you but there is a very real war being fought and I don't mean with ships and machines and soldiers. I mean within us all."
Revan paused in his pacing long enough to turn and clasp his hands at the small of his back as he continued, his eyes never leaving the Shans.
"I was given a vision during the war of soldiers marching on the Jedi Temple and turning on the Jedi. I had thought by their appearance that they were Mandalorians but I could feel through the vision that they were Republic soldiers..."
Revan did not speak for some time, the restaurant abandoned aside from its owner whom Revan had paid handsomely to close the establishment for the day.
"I knew then the threat to the Jedi Order would come from those we served. I couldn't allow that to happen so I had a device created and placed on Malachor V and I waited until the Mandalorians and those I saw who were least loyal to the Jedi, to me were within range. If you've seen recent holos of Malachor V you can guess the result. It was strange sending so many of my own men, my friends, even one of my former Masters to die there but it was for the greater good. What good could there be in a galaxy ruled by darkness?"
Helena and Eric looked slightly ill at the casual way Revan spoke of the deaths of hundreds of thousands. Malachor V was merely a graveyard and the floating hulks of thousands of ships both Republic and Mandalorian drifted in that shattered world's orbit, their crews still entombed in their destroyed bulkheads.
"From there I sought out an advantage to use against the Republic when they turned on us. Numbers alone would overwhelm the Jedi and the surprise of the betrayal would claim too many... I found an ancient map on a dead world and from there, Malak and I sought the Star Forge. The glory of the Infinite Empire."
At this, Eric Shan's brow rose as he spoke, unable to resist the thought of an ancient relic. He was a treasure hunter after all.
"Are you telling me that thing actually exists? I've only heard the barest of clues buried in the ancient ruins of the worlds I've been on of the Infinite Empire and they all spoke of the Star Forge."
Revan took in a deep breath and released it slowly, nodding.
"The Star Forge is very real and it is what fueled my war for the first year against the Republic. Endless resources and ships and droids... technology the likes of which even the best of the Republic's scientists could only dream of and a way to end the threat to the Jedi. Of course the Order needed to be restructured or the Star Forge would only be handed over to the Republic and I had to look further from the Star Forge to find the answer. The Sith of the Great Hyperspace war fled beyond our sight and we thought them dead but they live still and Malak and I held council with them for a great many weeks before we were given an opportunity that would bring an answer to my visions. We would be the Sith's ambassadors to the Republic... We would reeducate the galaxy in the ways of the Sith and in so doing prepare it for their arrival..."
Revan kept his eyes focused on the two humans, watching their faces shift to looks of confusion and irritation to horror.
"I had no intention of just handing the galaxy over to the Sith but I had to satisfy certain quotas to keep them from looking too closely into my affairs. A Jedi Master here or there a world, a few thousand slaves and all was well. In the meantime I worked on building a droid that could stand the challenge of a Sith or Jedi and I made HK-47. I had begun work on mass producing a series of newer but much less efficient models of HK-50's on Malachor V but my plans were... shall we say interrupted by a breakdown of my command."
Eric Shan nodded in understanding, though he was having difficulty believing Revan's story it did make sense in a twisted way.
"You were betrayed and overthrown."
Revan returned the older man's nod and turned his back to him, swallowing before he continued. On Coruscant, Malak spoke a similar tale to the Jedi High Council.
"From there on, Revan and I became curious as to the effects the dark side would have upon us and we lost ourselves in the violence. Revan maintained control but in the end that became his flaw as he needed to control everything. He became paranoid and ruthless and I questioned his authority. It was how I lost my jaw. I in turn went quite mad and you know the rest..."
Malak, former Dark Lord of the Sith finished the tale Revan had begun on Manaan to the Jedi Council, revealing for the first time the true depths of their reasons for falling. Silence filled the High Council chambers as the holograms of Master Vrook and Vandar flickered in the towering spire of the Jedi Temple. After a long silence, Atris finally spoke.
"So... you are saying that Revan had a vision of the Republic turning on the Jedi and destroying the temple and that the True Sith are staging an attack on the Republic?"
Malak nodded slowly, his eyes weary from his tale.
"Revan showed me part of the vision... of a Jedi Knight turning on us to side with the Republic and I saw him slaughtering his fellow Jedi and- and younglings... it was... beyond anything I could have expected of a Jedi then. I suppose Revan and I showed you what Jedi were capable of..."
Nomi Sunrider's pale eyes narrowed though she kept her remark of Sith to herself. Malak was making steps towards redemption and she couldn't in good conscience destroy him as she had Ulic when she had cut him off from the Force years before. Her once red hair faded to a bright white, though some stray marks of red could still be seen as it shadowed the Jedi Grandmaster's features. Finally finding her voice, Nomi Sunrider lifted her eyes from the Council Chamber's floor and locked them with Malak's.
"How is it that the Sith do not attack now that Revan and yourself are no longer their emissaries?"
Malak sneered slightly as he responded to Nomi's question.
"They feel the deaths of Jedi still, they felt the death of Taris and much more terrible than Bandon, these Sith have patience. They have already waited a thousand years for their revenge and who is to say they won't wait a thousand or even four thousand more? They orchestrated the falls of Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma. They did the same for Revan and I and they also pressured the Mandalorian Clans into fighting their war. Even Freedon Nadd's uprising was a part of their plan. They send assassins and spies deep into the Republic and watch from the shadows as we destroy ourselves and do their job for them. Revan and I at least knew this but I doubt Bandon even considers it or cares. We took action for the greater good and we failed... we failed horribly..."
Several of the High Councillors voiced their agreement to Malak's statement, drawing a flicker of pain in Malak's aura that several chose to enjoy. Malak was learning his lesson and they could scold him as much as they wanted. He was broken and would be no threat to them again. As if reading the mood in the room, Malak clenched his artificial jaw, his regenerated skin tightening against the mechanical jawline as his rebuild muscles clenched and his jawline twitched.
"You still aren't listening to me. We need to move the Jedi to hidden locations. Avoid this war and let it play out until the True Sith and the Republic reveal their hand..."
Master Aleco Stusea chose that moment to voice her opinion.
"This is all based on a vision and while the threat of the True Sith is a legitimate one it is not one we are unprepared for. You said yourself the soldiers in your vision wore full armor and helmets obscuring their features... armor very similar to the armor your Sith wear and it is very likely that the Jedi Revan saw in his vision was himself. Visions have a way of clouding the future... We can't take what we see at face value or our actions to prevent it may very well cause the events to unfold. My fellow Masters and I have had visions for years, Vandar himself had a vision of your friend, Ian Kenobi becoming a great Jedi and yet he is dead to the Force, a weapon Revan tried to use against us and what of the children and Jedi the figure in Revan's vision slew? Symbols of innocence and betrayal. You must admit that both yourself and Revan have murdered and betrayed."
Nomi Sunrider chose that moment to speak, calling a silence over the Council she had been Grandmaster of for nearly a decade.
"Time will tell us what actions we must take to ensure the safety of our Order and the Republic but until that time there is the more immediate threat the Dantooine Council has uncovered as well as the whereabouts of Darth Revan . They are our primary concerns..."
A majority of the other Masters, with the exception of Kavar and Atris agreed and it was decided that a party of Jedi would be sent to Manaan to invite Revan to a meeting with the High Council if he was willing to speak. Malak looked extremely troubled but remained a silent statue as the Council continued speaking, ignoring his presence until Atris suggested Malak go. To this, the Council stopped and took stock of the situation. Were Malak to join Revan again it would be a grave threat but Malak was perhaps the only one aside from Atris that could make Revan see the truth of his visions. That perhaps they were not what they appeared. A shame the visions were given to the Jedi Order four thousand years before they were needed. And to be so horribly misinterpreted could only have been called a tragedy.
On Manaan, Revan had just finished his tale of the reasons behind his actions and had retaken his seat, downing the remains of his brandy in one gulp.
"You ask still why I confide in you?"
To this, Helena nodded shakily while Eric merely sat there, still and looking pale.
"You didn't run when you thought I was there to kill you. You weren't resigned to your fates either and you offered yourself in the place of your loved one. I'm still Mandalorian and Jedi enough to respect honor when I see it and despite my better judgement I respect you."
Eric Shan finally found his voice and called to Revan as the former Lord of the Sith poured himself another glass of brandy.
"How can you speak of your crimes so calmly... How can you live with it?"
Revan's left eyebrow shot up as he lifted his glass and swirled the drink a moment, taking a sip and savoring the burning liquid.
"This is a war... I am a tactician. I look at the numbers of who will be lost and what will be gained and I calculate the outcome. Its simple mathematics when you look at it from the outside. When you see the situation with an open mind. While the Jedi and Republic have kept order in the galaxy for thousands of years, peace is a whole other matter. How many have died because of the Great Hyperspace war or the Hundred Years Darkness or the Light and Darkness wars? Even the Great Sith War is an open wound and my war, this Jedi Civil war if you will is going to have lasting effects. The potential for destruction is there, yes but who writes the history texts but the victors? Who is to say a thousand years ago that the Sith were so terrible as we were told? They are terrible, I admit but they have honor where others I would have called allies do not. They kill with purpose and they kill with indifference. They do not relish the kills as a whole. They feed from death but they do not care, they do this not for power but for revenge. A thousand years ago the Republic and the Jedi exacted what can only be viewed as genocide of the Sith race labeling the race too dangerous to be left alive. A race full of Force sensitives and the descendants of ancient outcast Jedi who believed that through passion strength could be gained and not through the Jedi's beliefs of patience and hope in the Force. The Sith believed in power, not the Force. They believed they could control fate if they were strong enough and believed enough and in the end the Jedi and Republic, the beacons of justice and light in the galaxy had them all but destroyed."
Revan took a generous swig of his brandy and continued, his voice still strong, through slightly dry.
"The Mandalorian wars were ignored by the Jedi Order as a whole and it was in that war that I saw the Jedi's faults. Not just the ones who had followed me and fallen but the way of life I had sworn to uphold and had turned my back on to protect what my oath had entitled. I went to war to save the Republic and in doing so I saw how unworthy the Republic was of my saving. I saw that the flaws in their government ran so deep that it rivaled the corruption of even the darkest Sith Empire and I see that I was wrong in going to war to save the Republic. My visions furthered my belief and I was left with only my own strength and the loyalty of my soldiers. With that I tried to change the galaxy, tried to convert the Jedi, the only family I have ever had to see what I saw to do what I did and to think how I thought. Victory does not lie in a battle, vanquishing your foes at the end of your own blade. Victory, true victory comes in a belief. Making your enemies believe what you believe and ensuring your beliefs live beyond your race. It is why the Sith have been so mighty, why they also have my respect."
Revan was silent for some time, choosing his next words and ignoring the looks of disgust on the Shan's faces.
"I have only been good at killing. As a Mandalorian I was too thoughtful, too easily distracted and as a Jedi I was too arrogant, too bold or too questioning. What are our beliefs if no one questions them? Are they truly perfect? Are they truly the guide we should live by? If the entire galaxy believed what the Jedi did and followed their rules they would die out in a few short generations yet Nomi Sunrider, who was not a Jedi until her husband's master trained her and had married a Jedi is now the Grandmaster of the High Council, dictating terms to us that she herself did not uphold until later. Her daughter and her have a ridiculously obvious attachment and she condemned Ulic Qel-Droma to blindness and pain when he was so close to redemption. This is well known because the Mandalorians had a vested interest in Ulic. He had bested their leader and they honored him greatly for it and suffered because of Exar Kun's folly."
Irritated, Revan rounded on the Shan's his features set as he drove in his final point.
"How do you know what you've been told is true? How do you know that history is what it seems? How do you know those ruling you have followed your beliefs, your laws? When I learned of these things I felt betrayed, wronged and used. I felt violated to have these terms dictated to me by someone who did not follow those beliefs so I took matters into my own hands and I led my soldiers and my growing empire by example. I had my faults but I never asked another to do something I myself was unprepared to do. Can you say the same of Jedi High Council or the Republic's Senate or High Chancellor?"
A muscle in Eric Shan's jaw twitched and Revan could sense frustration emanating heavily from the older man as he chose his words.
"I can say, honestly that the Republic has never in my lifetime condoned genocide and I doubt the Jedi have either for that matter. How is it you can judge the actions of Jedi a millennium ago? There are long-lived species in the galaxy, yes but how many of those alive during the Great Hyperspace war are alive today?"
A vicious smile crossed Revan's mouth and he took his eyes from Eric Shan's face and looked down to his drink.
"Apathy can be as great a crime as genocide if give the right circumstances. If one is to be uncaring, apathetic when others need them... If people with great gifts that can make a difference do nothing are they not helping those who commit evil in continuing their ways? By not stopping them are they not in a way responsible? We should all be held responsible for the corruption and greed and evil that surrounds us. I was stopped before I could finish shaping my Empire but who is to say it was for the better? To give up freedom for security is one thing, to give up security and freedom in favor of ignorance I cannot ignore."
Without listening for their responses, Revan collected his mask from the table and turned to leave, pausing at the doorway to the restaurant and turning to them.
"I am probably going to be in a very large amount very shortly with both the Sith and the Republic so I suggest the two of you check with the local Republic base for some personal security. I won't be able to watch your backs all the time but I will do my best. I'll tell you right now your importance to me has gone down drastically with the reawakening of the Force within me but I still see the wisdom in sparing the two of you. I don't have the potential enemy in your daughter and I ensure that you don't fall into the hands of the Sith to be used against her. I still need her powers to teach Bandon a bit of a lesson and even though I know I can invite a great deal of pain and agony on that fool it is too soon and I need the Sith distracted..."
Turning, Revan left the Shans to their thoughts, leaving his unease at facing Darth Nihilus and Sion again unvoiced. As far as the Republic and Jedi had been concerned Bandon was the only threat and Nihilus and Sion were his mere lackeys. Revan shuddered briefly at the memory of agonizing pain and uselessness that had encompassed him when he had been torn from the Force's embrace. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Revan remembered the help it had been seeking a distraction from his weakness by working alongside Mira and learning from her as much as she had learned from him. Mira had shown him that life went beyond the Force and for that he would forever be grateful to her and for that he would show her the wonders of the Force. With a smile that was entirely lacking in cruelty, Revan made his way to the Bloodraven intent on contacting Mira and meeting up with her as soon as possible.
"I think its time I took a new apprentice..."
Revan said to himself, covering his face with his mask and moving through the streets of Ahto city, unseen in the shroud of the Force he wrapped around him combined with his stealth field. He may have been confident in his abilities and in Manaan's security forces but nothing was stopping a sniper or two from taking a shot at him for a kilometer away and he was just too weary from his conversation with the Shans to bother with that nuisance.