Chapter 13

(Leviathan)

Malak's eyes snapped open and he growled low in his throat as he failed to locate Revan through the force, clearly he was suppressing his aura so he couldn't be tracked. But was he doing it deliberately and under his own power, meaning he was still the man he had once followed? Or was he doing it because the council had succeeded in wiping his mind and forming a new personality within his body, hence changing his aura? It was a question that kept narring at him. Was Revan who he had been or was he someone blank slate created by the council? While the Jedi seemed convinced they had killed Revan's mind and implanted a new one, his actions on Kashyyk seemed to indicate they had failed. His mind switched to his apprentice and wondered if he would manage to kill Revan and his friends. Either way he had sent some of his best assassins with him so he should have a good chance of doing as he was ordered. He wanted Bastila Shan captured and converted and soon. He needed her battle meditation to make his conquest of the Republic go all the quicker. He even thought if she was easily consumed by the dark side then she may make a more malleable apprentice than Bandon, who wished to replace him and couldn't be trusted.

"I will have her Revan, no matter how much you try to protect her," he whispered to himself, but wishing his former friend was able to hear him. He suspected Revan had his own interest in Shan, especially if he was still himself and taking her from him and making her his own would hurt him all the more before he was killed. Something he still wished to do was cause Revan pain, even if it was only his shadow that he hurt.

+TR+

(Tatoonie, cantina)

Revan came to a halt as he felt a suitable shift in the force as if someone was searching for him, tightening his suppression of his force aura he moved to theback table with his group. He knew it had to be Malak looking for him through the force. Who else could it be? He was certain Malak was feeling somewhat uneasy now he knew he still lived. In fact he was sure on a level he refused to contemplate he was afraid of this news. Malak's fall to the darkside had changed him much more than he probably suspected, more to the point he was certain his former friend refused to even consider how depleted he now was to what he had once been. Sitting at the table with Bastila to his left and the three newcomers in front of them, Carth and the others quickly found tables of their own and began to order drinks.

"Now we can get some answers," Bastila muttered, still wary of the newcomers, or more importantly their past connection with Revan.

Revan understood why she was on guard, especially as to how they had found them, but he hoped she would wait before launching anymore suspicions on his people. He leaned back in his chair and used the force to raise a barrier around their table after the waitress had brought them their drinks, this way no one would be able to hear anything they said.

"We can talk now," he told them as he looked around to ensure no one had noticed anything, and no one had not even Juhani and Jolee who should have sensed the barrier going up. Zayne was too busy talking to Jarael about something and from the looks of the way they were talking it was personal and had nothing to do with what had just happened. "I've raised a force barrier so no one can overhear us," he added with a grin.

"General, what is going on? Why are you here helping the Republic?" Niks inquired first before either of his two friends could get a word in.

"I was captured during the ambush although had it not been for Bastila I would not have lived long enough to be captured, she saved my life," Revan answered, deciding to start at the beginning. "I was brought back to the temple where the council tried to destroy me. They tried to erase everything I am or ever have been so they could create a new loyal personality into my body to control and use to try and uncover the secrets that led us down the path we took that they believe led us to turn to the dark side," he continued and the anger and hatred that this news caused in Revan's supposed allies wasn't lost on Bastila. "They failed as the force protected me. I still have work to do and so I allowed them to believe they had succeeded in their task and I played along," he paused as he opened the force barrier to allow the waitress to bring them their drinks before raising it once more. "It took time and our little joint on Taris before they decided I had to be trained as a Jedi. I again pretended to have none of my old strength or powers even though it galled me to do so, but once that was complete they gave me the mission of helping Bastila track down the star maps that she had seen through the force bond we share," he continued before taking a long gulp of his Corellian brandy.

"You share a force bond with the Jedi who captured you?" Melkor inquired with clear worry.

'More than likely worried about how it was affecting his mind,' Bastila thought.

"I do Melkor, but don't worry I'm still myself, your worries are the same Bastila herself had about the bond," Revan assured him with a chuckle "She too thinks the bond might alter our personalities when you should both know that is impossible, force bonds can't allow us that much influence," he stated.

"Sorry General," Melkor responded feeling suitably chastised.

"Are you actually going to help them find the star maps, General?" Niks asked.

"I don't need to find the maps Niks as I already know where the Star Forge is, but while I play along with the search I gain more of their trust for when I reveal my true identity or it gets revealed another way and having a core group for what comes next is going to be important," Revan explained. "Until I met you here, I had no idea if any of my people have survived Malak's purge as I'm sure there was one once he had believed me dead," he spat, his tone suddenly going cold sending a shiver up Bastila's spine.

"There was General, but you had already made it clear what those of us loyal to you and our true mission were to do if Malak turned. We fled as the purge started, heading to the rendezvous point you had told us to head to," Jarrik spoke up after downing his entire drink, something Bastila didn't recognize. "Not everyone made it, some ships were lost as they tried to flee, or were just destroyed as your forces tried to gain control of them," he continued with a dark look in his eyes. "It was a slaughter and Malak didn't care how many he had to kill until he was certain all who were loyal to you were dead. Everyone who made it eventually arrived at the rendezvous point and that is where we have been waiting for you to return to us," he stated. "We've kept our ears to the ground for any news of you, search parties were dispatched to keep an eye out, just in case you turned up on any of the major planets, especially those with the Star Maps on them," he explained.

"How many of you are there?" Bastila couldn't help but ask, as she listened intently to their story and realized Revan wasn't as alone as she had thought. If these three were any indication he still had many followers out there waiting for him."

All three looked at Revan as if seeking his permission to answer her question. Revan turned and looked into Bastila's eyes and could see the concern she felt at this turn of events. Before she had believed him to be on his own and reliant on her and the others in their group, as such he represented little danger to the Republic and the Jedi. But now she had just learned that a large group of his followers still lived and were waiting for him to return to them and lead them once more. That must, in her mind, make him a bigger threat no matter what he had already told her of his true mission, which was in fact to save the Republic and the Jedi from themselves and the True Sith which waited out beyond the Galactic Rim, although Bastila didn't know that part just yet.

Bastila stared into Revan's eyes and tried to convey her need to know this, in her mind, very important information. Finally she felt him lightly touch her mind to get a sense of how she felt. She didn't fight his light probe. She had no intention of betraying him, but she was alarmed about this new twist and how it would affect a war she believed was already destructive enough without adding a third side to the mix.

Revan was relieved this new information wasn't making her think of betraying him to the council, and he supposed he could understand why she was alarmed to learn he still had some kind of force, including ships and men. She was concerned they may be as bad as the Sith who now followed Malak. She couldn't know they were only the most loyal of his followers. Those who he knew without doubt were loyal to the cause they had sworn to complete. Those he knew would never turn as Malak and those who followed him had.

"Tell her," Revan finally said, turning back to his men so they could see he trusted Bastila with the information.

"We don't have a complete run down just yet, but from what we can gather of what we saw before we left we have close to one thousand ships gathered at the rendezvous point," Melkor answered, knowing an order when he heard it. He just hoped the General's trust in this Jedi was justified, but he guessed having a force bond with her helped in that regard. "That includes battleships, destroyers, fighters and carriers," he added and almost smiled at the look of shock his answer caused to appear on the Jedi's face.

"W..What about ground forces?" Bastila inquired, doing her best to regain her sense of calm even as she was shocked there could still be so many ships that supported Revan. The council had no idea just how big Revan's force must have been even before Malak betrayed him, or maybe even just before the fleet they led vanished into the outer rim.

"We lost a lot of good people in the war and the purge didn't help in that regard," Niks growled in response as did the other two, the losses of their friends and allies was hitting them all hard. "Best we can tell we number at the least two to two and a half thousand men and women, three if we are optimistic," he finally told her as he regained control of his emotions.

Bastila felt the sudden coldness that answer caused in Revan's mood, she felt his anger and regret as he realized just how many of his people he had lost. She felt a spike of terrible anger aimed directly at Malak. It was pure anger and hatred, but instead of filling her with dread she understood why it was there. The loss of so many people who had followed him, believed in him had to have hit him hard and any good leader would feel the loss, unless like Malak they had no heart and were nothing but uncaring murderers. This was in her view more proof Revan wasn't as dark as the council had led her to believe, that there was still good in him and that what he had been telling her was true.

+TR+

(Leviathan)

Malak almost looked up in alarm as he felt a cold slither of anger and hatred aimed at him slam into his force senses, the source had to be Revan. It was the first real proof he had that the Revan he had known before was still alive, that the Jedi had not succeeded in reprogramming his mind. If they had succeeded in erasing who he had once been, then why would he be feeling such anger and hatred towards him? It was clearly something he just learned or maybe his apprentice had actually captured Shan. That would be more to his personal agenda. He not only wanted to break Bastila Shan to ensure she used her battle meditation to aide in their conquest of the galaxy. He wanted personal revenge on the bitch for saving Revan when he had tried to kill him, plus defiling the woman who was clearly the focus of Revan's lust would make his victory all the sweeter for him. It would cause Revan untold pain. He ignored the small voice at the back of his mind that warned against angering Revan too much. The pulse from Revan quickly faded, stopping him from trying to use the force to attempt to locate him. Still in time the woman would be his, of that he had no doubt as Bandon knew better than to fail him.

+TR+

(Jedi Temple)

Vima's eyes snapped open as she felt a shift in the force, powerful and centered exactly where Bastila and her team were on Tatoonie. It was Revan. It had to be which meant the council had failed to eliminate his mind. How she had no clue, the entire council had been part of the attempt and with their combined powers it should have worked. Her first instinct was to warn her fellow council members, but then she remembered the fact that her daughter was missing and the council had refused to allow her to try and find out what had happened to her and to the team she led. Revan had been friends with Ari, and it was one of his bases they had been sent to investigate. He would be the perfect person to go and find out what might have befallen her daughter and her team. That is if she was right and what she had just sensed had indeed signaled Revan's continued existence. But she would have to be careful. Her fellow council members wouldn't take her keeping this suspicion to herself all in the name of trying to help her daughter very well.

She would wait either for another sign or she sensed her daughter was in real danger before making contact with Revan. It wouldn't do to jump the gun and possibly doom them all. She would take no risks where Ari was concerned. She just had to hope none of her fellow council members had sensed the same thing she had.

+TR+

(Tatoonie)

Revan finally managed to regain control of himself and push the surge of hatred and anger he felt aside, still it didn't fully subside and he doubted it would anytime soon. He had led millions of men and women through the war and the losses had been huge, but it was clear they had lost even more than he had suspected in this new war he himself had started. He vowed their sacrifices wouldn't be in vain, they would succeed in their mission and he would make Malak pay for those of his people he had killed in his damn purge. Never in the years he had known Alec had he ever thought he would one day become such a monster, the price they had paid for daring to try and use the Sith religion as a cover was now abundantly clear.

"Rikka," he all but growled. He had to know if his friend and aide had survived.

"Rikka is alive General, we had to all but drag her off the Revenge before it exploded as she was intent on finding your body if it was there," Niks assured him, seeing the dangerous glint in Revan's eyes which meant had the answer been negative he was sure someone here might have ended up in a world of pain. "She was in command of the fleet up until yesterday when we got word we found an old ally of higher rank to assume command until your return," he told him.

Revan frowned, wondering at the odd way of saying that. "Who?" he demanded to know.

"General Surik," Jarrik said with a smile. "She was strangely enough found on one of the planets our fleet orbits, at first she was thought to be a Republic spy and from the report we were sent Rikka went down with Kaz'oh to deal with them only to find it was Meetra Surik and Rikka quickly offered her command of the fleet. Now that Malak has betrayed you she is your closest friend and highest ranking serving soldier, even though she left us before we left for the outer rim," he explained. "Her reputation and loyalty to you is well remembered in the fleet and her taking command was quickly accepted without any problems and it has, according to the message we got, revitalized our moral as some were beginning to think we'd never find you alive," he added with some hesitancy at the end.

"Finding General Surik has been taken as a sign we'd find you soon enough and here you are General," Niks stated with a smirk. "It has to be the will of the force that you both are returned to us within a day of each other," he added to which the other two nodded in agreement.

Revan was so relieved to hear Rikka was still very much alive, even more so on hearing Meetra had been found. He had to agree with Niks, the force had to be involved in them both being found by his people right on the heels of each other. He tried not to let too much of what he was feeling flow through the bond. He didn't want to give Bastila the impression he was in love with another woman. Although he still had very strong feelings for Meetra. He was in the middle of trying to win Bastila's heart and thinking of his past lover wouldn't help in that regard.

Bastila was hit by multiple feelings through the bond as the three men talked about Meetra Surik. She knew the name of the woman who the council now called the Exile very well. Clearly she was the woman Revan had been thinking of as they landed on this planet, once again she was hit by the feelings of loss and love, now however there was also happiness and anticipation. Clearly there was more to the story of Revan and Surik that anyone knew. She frowned at being unable to fight off the pang of jealously she once again felt as she realized this.

'Damn it, why do I care?' she thought to herself while doing her best to keep anything of what she was feeling from leaking through the bond to Revan.

"General, you are coming back to the fleet, aren't you, now that we've found you?" Melkor asked, jolting both Revan and Bastila from their inner thoughts.

"Not just yet. We've got work to do here, but once we are done then I will bring my team to the fleet," Revan responded, shaking of his confused thoughts and feelings. "Melkor, I want you to take your shuttle and head back to the fleet to tell them you've found me. I also want you to explain my companions are all under my protection and are not to be treated with anything less than the respect any of my people are to be given," he ordered with a hard glare at Melkor.

"Even the Mandaloorian?" Melkor asked in surprise.

"Yes even him. Canderous is not one of Fett's people," Revan answered calmly. "He is a soldier who kept his honor during the war. Had he seen Fett at any point after the Cathar massacre he would have ripped his heart out for the dishonor his actions brought down on the rest of their people," he explained.

"Can he be trusted, for that matter can the Jedi in your party and the Republic flyboy be trusted?" Jarrik inquired with genuine curiosity. "They clearly don't know who you really are. Can you honestly say General once they do know they won't go running back to the Republic and the Jedi and tell them?" he asked.

Revan didn't answer straight away. Instead he downed what was left of his drink, then glanced back to where Carth, Canderous and the others sat at the two tables just behind them. All of them were drinking and talking, but you could see they were also keeping a close eye out for any possible attacks. He watched them one at a time and wondered what would happen once they knew who he really was. Carth especially wouldn't be so easy to convince to keep the truth to himself, considering how he felt about Malak and those under his command especially Saul Karath. He doubted that learning he was traveling with the man who had once led them would help him keep his cool. He would have to ensure that when his true identity was revealed he kept a close eye on Carth.

"Perhaps not all of them, but I still trust them to help me stop Malak," Revan finally answered and turned back to face them. "One of the Jedi already knows the truth as does Bastila and both have sworn to keep it secret, that they have done so proves they can be trusted," he mused. "You have your orders Melkor, tell them to get the fleet ready to move," he ordered. "We have a mission to complete, but keep your guard up we can ill afford for the Republic or the Sith to find out we still exist as a fighting force. Is that clear?" he asked.

"I understand General," Melkor assured him with a nod before getting to his feet as Revan dropped the force barrier. "Do you have any other messages you want me to covey Jaks?" he asked, slipping back into using Revan's cover name with ease.

"Just tell them I will see them soon and that they are not to take any risks until I get back," Revan responded.

Melkor nodded and quickly turned and left the cantina, he felt a surge of adrenaline as he fully came to accept that Revan was really still alive and would soon take command once more. Once that news spread through the fleet he knew any drop in morale that still existed would be wiped out.

"What do you want us to do?" Jarrik inquired as he watched Melkor depart.

"You will join my team in our work here. We have to deal with the sand people as well as find the Star Map hidden on this planet," Revan answered, as he knew that now that the force barrier was down the others could hear what they were saying. "But first Bastila and I have someone else to meet here, so stay here and keep an eye out for anymore Sith," he added, before getting up and waiting for Bastila to join them.

Bastila suddenly realized what Revan meant by that, she had almost forgotten about having to see her mother. She had to fight the conflicting emotions she felt at having to see her after so many years. She had no clue what she would say to her, but she doubted her mother would be able to say anything she truly wanted to hear. She felt Revan's hand affix itself to the small of her back and begin to lead her away from the table and to the end of the bar. She could already see the shadow of her mother at the far end, her body hidden by an overhanging ceiling. She took a deep breath and hoped the meeting would at least be cordial, she focused on Revan's hand on the small of her back and found it helped her to focus herself while trying to ignore the pleasure she felt at the contact.