Chapter 24

(Jedi Temple)

Vima awoke feeling somewhat sluggish after the nightmare she had just had. Letting out a sigh she couldn't help but wonder if her daughter was still alive or had she already been killed? But she refused to acknowledge that thought. She knew if Ana had been killed then she would have felt her passing through the force.

So far she was certain Ana still lived, but had been captured either by Sith or a group who had previous ties to them. The base they had been sent to scout had gone dark straight after Malak's betrayal of Revan had taken place. So it was possible the people there had been loyalists of Revan who had split from the Sith now that their leader was believed to have been killed.

Was it possible that Ana and her team had been captured not by Sith, but by some surviving loyalists of Revan? If so would they prove a danger to her and her team just because they were Jedi or would they show mercy? It was hard to say because no matter her new found belief that Revan may not be as lost as she had once believed she didn't know his current feelings about the Jedi as a whole.

Considering what the council had tried to do to him she didn't fool herself into thinking that Revan didn't hold some anger and hatred towards them. 'Would he put the blame on all of the Jedi or just the Jedi Council?' She wondered. Rubbing her face she got up and got herself a drink of water before returning to her bed, lying back down she closed her eyes and prayed she would have no more nightmares.

+TR+

(Leviathan)

Malak stared at the pad in his hands which detailed the latest reports from his empire. So far everything was going according to his plan except for Revan still being alive. Every move he had made had gone without a hitch except for succeeding in killing his former friend, all because of that damn Jedi bitch Shan. She had to interfere and save him instead of leaving him to die as he had deserved as far as he was concerned. Now Revan was out there hunting him, of that he was certain after he had felt the rage and hatred Revan had felt only a few hours before. No way could a reprogrammed puppet caused such a disturbance in the force that he and probably everyone other force sensitive had felt it. Revan had a plan of that he was certain, but for the life of him he couldn't fathom what it was. So far he seemed to have played the meek puppet the Jedi council had tried to make of him bar a few instances such as on Kashyyk. Perhaps he was trying to win the trust of Bastila Shan for his own purposes. Perhaps he wished to corrupt the young Jedi just as he did just for his own revenge.

But then what of his other companions, the Mandalorian, the Twi'lek, the Wookiee, the Republic pilot and of course the other Jedi in his party? What did he plan to do about them if his plan did involve corrupting Shan? Or did he plan to use them to try and get his revenge? Still such a small party could pose little trouble to his empire. Even if he got Shan on his side he doubted Revan would get anywhere close to him to strike. Suddenly it became clear why he was still playing the puppet and that was so he could use the Republic forces and Jedi to help him get a chance to kill him. Why else would he play such a useless role so long, he planned to actually gain their trust just so they would help him get close enough for his one chance at revenge. Bold just as he would expect from his former friend, if the Jedi ever suspected Revan still lived they would kill him and his former friend must know that. Still dismissing Revan as a non-entity was a mistake and he refused to make it, he needed to find him and kill him, especially if he managed to get past Bandon. Korriban and its dark side nexus would give Bandon and his assassination force a huge advantage when Revan finally turned up, but would Revan be able to use the dark side as he had done before? Would he dare risk it now he knew half of his people had turned against him and fallen to the dark side. Would he now consider using it now that he knew it was more dangerous than he had previously thought? If he would not use it then again that would play to Bandon and give him even more of an edge, but if Revan remained true to his original plan and indeed uses the dark side as needed then Bandon would have to be on guard. He had seen Revan in the grip of the dark side before and it was far from a pleasant memory, for it was the day he had lost his lower jaw during a deadly battle in the outer rim against aliens he believed were allied with the Sith Empire hidden there. Later Revan claimed what had happened had been an accident, and that he hadn't been the target of his last swing which had so deformed him, but even now he couldn't believe that. It was that incident that had burned away the last embers of Alek Squinquargesimus died and he truly became Malak and an enemy of all he had once stood for, perhaps Revan had not intended to strike him, but in the end the result was the same.

Revan had to die before he could bask in his success when he finally crushed the Republic he had once set out to save, he already had his main gambit ready on the Star Forge which thanks to his capture of Dorak and fourteen other Jedi he could now put into full effect. Thus should Revan ever reach him, he and he alone would have the ultimate edge in that duel.

He almost hoped Revan did indeed succeed in reaching him so he could show once and for all he was the better of the two of them. But he was not blind to the fact that luck could play a factor and help Revan and thus he had to be killed before reaching him.

If Bandon failed, then he would have to find another apprentice and someone who Revan might hesitate to kill. Shan would be perfect for this role, his previous goal of just corrupting her for her battle meditation fleeing his mind. Now she would succeed Bandon should he fall. She would then serve at his right hand and if he was correct that Revan had an interest in her then he might hesitate to kill her outright thus giving the girl the chance to kill him in turn. Yes, it would be the perfect revenge, both on the girl for daring to save Revan's life and on Revan himself for continuing being a problem. Now he just had to hope the girl could be captured before they reached Korriban.

+TR+

(Ebon Hawk)

Revan strode into the cockpit after getting the call from Niks that they were almost to their destination. He had to admit he felt slightly nervous for the first time in many years. To finally be back with his fleet and with his people, to finally be able to see Rikka and Meetra and so many others again.

He glanced to his left as a bleary eyed Bastila soon joined them, having been awoken by Revan's restless thoughts since the call from Niks had come. She had at least managed to get dressed before joining them, thankfully the others, especially Carth remained asleep but she was still worried how the man would take the truth that was about to come out.

"Approaching destination in five, four, three, two, one," Niks counted down before he hit the switch that dropped them out of hyperspace.

The sight that greeted Bastila took her breath away as she beheld the fleet that they now approached. She had never seen anything like it and she began to wonder how the Republic had let themselves fall so far that they could not call upon such numbers now in this new war.

"By the force, so many ships," she whispered.

"Far more than you reported by far, I believe there has been some sort of screw up in the numbers you were given," Revan stated with a growing smile. "Maybe just maybe more of our people survived than we knew," he added to which Niks nodded in agreement.

He had not seen it at the time they had left on their mission to Tatoonie, but now he could see it clearly, there was clearly far more ships than the numbers had first indicated when they left.

"We're being hailed by the Revenge," he reported.

"Put it up on the speaker Niks," Revan ordered unsurprised to hear the new flagship was again called the Revenge.

"Ebon Hawk we have you on screen, please head for docking bay nine," a voice stated. "General Surik and Rikka will meet you there General and welcome home," the voice added, sounding almost giddy to Bastila.

"Copy that Revenge, it's good to be back," Revan replied and then nodded to Niks to comply. "I guess we better wake the others and hope Carth doesn't lose it when he learns we are not where we are supposed to be and more to the point who I'm and where we are," he added with a wary sigh.

"Trust in him to at least listen to your story before he tries anything," Bastila advised with a wary look of her own showing she didn't even believe her own words. "Still just be ready to defend yourself just in case his first reaction is to shoot," she warned.

Ten minutes later and the entire crew was up and ready, some were still yawning and grumbling, but Canderous and Carth were both wide awake having been used to been awoken at all times during the war.

"So we've reached Korriban already?" Carth asked sounding somewhat nervously.

"No we are not on Korriban Carth, and neither are we at Manann," Revan answered causing the other to frown in concern.

"Why the hell not? Where the hell are we?" Carth demanded to know.

"That is not going to be easy to explain, but the simple answer is we are about to land on the flagship of my fleet," Revan told him with a heavy sigh and hoped this didn't turn violent, it was the last thing they needed.

"Fleet, what kind of fracking fleet could you have?" Carth exploded. "You were a lonely god damn foot solider back on the Endar Spire before finding out you could use the force and became a Jedi padawan," he argued.

"Not everything was as it seemed Carth," Bastila cut in hoping to sooth the republic pilots volatile temper. "Some things had to be kept secret for the good of the mission even from some of you, as this mission has progressed however the truth has become known to some of you, but not all," she continued as Carth glared at her. "Jaks Toulan never existed as a real person. He was a cover persona the Jedi council tried to create within the person standing before you," she explained. "He was my prisoner and I brought him to the council thinking they would question him and maybe try and redeem him not try and murder him," she spat the last part, surprising Carth so much he almost forgot why he was angry in the first place.

"Murder him?" Mission asked in surprise having never heard of Jedi being accused of being murderers unless they had become Sith.

"He suffered terrible wounds at the hands of a viscous attack by Malak and I managed to save him, however I was told by the council that the damage done to his mind was too great to be healed and that the only way to save him was to create a new persona using their combined power and I regret I believed them, but it was a lie," Bastila explained feeling once again the terrible sense of betrayal and revulsion she had felt once Revan had explained this to her and she had felt what he had felt during the procedure through their force bond. "They felt he was too dangerous to survive as he was and thus forcibly tried to destroy his original persona which caused him untold levels of agony. He was protected by the force thus the attempt failed, but I was unaware of this until we headed into the Shadowlands back on Kashyyk," she went on.

"Then who is he Bastila?" Jarael inquired, looking to Zayne for some sign of what he thought of this reveal only to realize by looking into her fiancé's eyes that he already knew the truth. "You know?" she whispered.

"I had my suspicions after what we saw on Kashyyk and what happened back on Tatoonie so I confronted him when we left to collect the water units for the Sand People. He admitted the truth but assured me he was not our enemy," Zayne admitted, hoping Jarael would understand why he had not told her. "I promised not to say anything in response, and I trusted him to tell us when the time came," he added.

He waited with bated breath as Jarael considered this before nodding in acceptance of his explanation, this relieved him greatly and he quickly pulled her into a quick loving kiss which she eagerly returned.

"Who else knows who the frack you are?" Carth demanded as his anger grew once Zayne hat finished speaking.

"Canderous, Jolee, Niks, Jarrik, HK and Juhani," Revan answered as he lowered his hands to his belt and well within reach of his lightsaber once he noted how close Carth's hand was to his blaster. "Also Melkor knew as well, he and his team were scouts sent out to find me and bring me back home," he stated.

"Home? And where is that and who are you?" Carth demanded to know.

"I'm Revan and home is my fleet. At least that part of it that stayed loyal to me and to the Republic and didn't side with Malak," Revan replied and watched and waited for Carth's response.

+TR+

(Leviathan Class Battleship Revenge)

Meetra all but ran towards docking bay nine with Rikka hot on her heels, finally Revan was about to return to the fleet and they could then start gaining their revenge on Malak and his followers and once that was done they could turn their attention to completing their original mission. As she entered the bay she took note of the large number of troops lining up to greet their returning leader. Someone had clearly passed it down that the Ebon Hawk had arrived and that Revan was aboard.

Stopping in front of the troops with a clear view of the shield that kept the bay pressurized as the Ebon Hawk came in for landing. The ship looked kind of old and beat up and yet as Meetra looked at it she couldn't help but feel a connection to this ship even though this was the first time she was seeing it.

"What a hunk of junk," she heard one of the nearby troopers mutter and for reasons beyond her felt the need to defend the ship.

"Hey… it may not look like much, but this ship is far more than it looks, okay?" she hissed, glaring at the trooper who quickly shut up and nodded somewhat stunned. "It got Revan home didn't it?" she inquired.

"Yes General," the trooper agreed with a quick nod.

"You okay General?" Rikka asked with a strange look in her eyes.

"I just get the feeling that this ship is not all it seems to be, that in another time it would play an important part in both Revan's life and somehow my own," Meetra explained as best as she could.

"That almost sounds like you've sensed that through the force," Rikka pointed out, stunning Meetra who realized that the young Twi-Lek was correct.

She suddenly had the first real hope her connection to the force would come back completely. How else would she have sensed what she just had just from seeing the ship come into the hangar? Maybe the council had been wrong and her connection hadn't been severed but damaged and it was just taking time to heal. Maybe given enough time her connection would come back fully.

"What do we do about the Mandalorian?" Rikka inquired.

"We let Revan deal with it. It is his choice to bring the Mandalorian back to the fleet and it is up to him to get the others to accept it," Meetra responded. "If he can," she added with clear doubt in her voice.

"There may also be a problem with Shan being on board," Rikka pointed out.

"Again that is on Revan's shoulders and he will have to make the crew accept her being on board, although they will be probably accept the Jedi far easier than the Mandalorian," Meetra replied with a simple shrug.

"I hope so, something tells me she won't be leaving anytime soon from what Melkor told us," Rikka shot back making Meetra scowl somewhat.

She was still very uncertain what to feel about Bastila Shan and her force bond with Revan, a man she had a past with. A man she had been very much in love with, not something she had expected to find during a war, but the relationship had formed quite quickly once she joined the fight, and had lasted until she had left the fleet after the final battle of the war. However, neither she or Revan had ended their relationship before she had left. They had just parted without saying anything and now she didn't know just where she and Revan stood in that department. But whatever the case she knew the force bond between Revan and Bastila was going to complicate everything from this point onwards, and that realization really bugged her.