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Chapter 29

"I wonder why you even need me here, kid," Jolee said after he and Revan reached the computer terminal where was a holoprojection of an alien. It was a strange creature with an odd shape of a head. It had a tall cranium and two eyes that protruded from each side of its heads on short stalks.

"Someone had to lower down that force field, and I didn't like the possibility of being crisped to death" Revan replied with a small smirk. "I needed someone to do the dirty job for me."

Jolee rolled his eyes at that, but couldn't suppress a small smirk that found its way onto his covered with cringes face. But his smile faded away, only to be replaced with a concerned look, as he was eyeing the holoprojector in front of him.

"What is this thing?" he asked, not even hoping for a reply, though Revan cared to answer.

"It's possible to say that a guardian," he said, coming closer to the old machine. "When I was here the first time, I was almost killed. The holoprojection asks a series of questions, and if you don't reply correctly, the defense mechanisms are being turned on. I and Malak spent some time trying to figure out the way to get an access to the Star Map."

"And do you still remember the correct answers?" Jolee asked with a concern in his voice.

"You could say so" Revan replied. "After I gained access, I reprogrammed the security system. The questions and answers are now prepared by me" he said, approaching the holoprojector. The machine let out a series of noises when it sensed a form of life coming closer. "Oh, one more thing," Revan said, turning to Jolee. "Don't be surprised about some of the answers. I phrased them when I was dangerously close to the Dark Side. Just stand still, let me do the job, and you can ask questions later" he said, showing clearly that there was no place for arguments. Jolee nodded in response showing that he understood.

"Life forms detected," the holoprojection of the strange alien said with a mechanic voice. "Determining parameters. Initializing neural recognition."

It remained silent for few minutes, the only sound coming from the terminal was a steady beeping.

"Primary neural recognition complete," it said after a while of remaining silent. "Preliminary match found. Begin socialized interface. Awaiting instructions. Greetings. This terminal has not been accessed for quite some time."

"I came to gain access to the Star Map," Revan said simply, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Accessing. Yes, I have found the Star Map in original system memory. Access is restricted" the holoprojection replied.

"I came to gain access to the Star Map" he repeated with a calm voice.

"Your request requires additional security access. You must be made to match the parameters I have been supplied."

"Let's begin," Revan said.

"You travel with a companion and have encountered complications. You and your friend are captured and separated. If you both remain silent, one year of prison for each of you. However, call your friend a traitor and he will serve five years, while you serve none. He is offered the same deal, but if you both accuse each other, you both serve two years. What do you do? What do you trust him to do?"

"I'm unsure what my friend would say. I accuse him to be safe" Revan replied with a peaceful voice. He immediately felt a heavy look from Jolee on the back of his head, though he ignored that.

"The temperament of a companion is unreliable at best. You wisely trade the threat of one year or five, for none or two. In this instance, your friend is unreliable. His family has been a mire of treachery. I judge the answer correct. You display the proper behavior to match the pattern in memory. Evaluation will continue."

"Go on with it then."

"Hypothetical: you are at war. Deciphering an intercepted code, you learn two things about your enemy. A single spot in their defense will be at its weakest in ten days, and they will attack one of your cities in five days. What do you do with this information? What is the most efficient course of action?"

"I prepare my forces to attack in ten days. I do nothing in the city" Revan simply replied. The sense of being watched by Jolee only grew, but still, he ignored that. He would answer his questions later.

"Very good," the alien said. "If you had moved to evacuate the city, you would have alerted the enemy of their lost codes. Ultimate victory required the deaths of the people in that city. You wisely ignored sentiment in your decision."

"That's right. The deaths of those people would spur my forces on" Revan added with the same emotionless tone. He could sense the growing anticipation in Jolee who was still standing in silence behind him.

"Very good reasoning," the holoprojection said. "I will apply it to the rest of the evaluation. You begin to match the pattern in memory. Hypothetical: remove the ongoing war from the previous example. Consider enemy states to be weak and remote. With no external threat, your empire stagnates. Your people become complacent and begin to question you. Same scenario as before: you discover an impending attack, but also a weakness that will come after. How do you react?"

"I think I'm not going to like the answer" Jolee murmured softly, but it fell on Revan's deaf ears.

"I let the attack happen" Revan replied simply, pretending he didn't hear Jolee's comment.

"Of course you do. It makes the most strategic sense. Your people will rally beneath you against the common foe. As their eyes turn outward, your rule will strengthen. The trappings of war grant many opportunities. You have matched the pattern in memory. I recognize you, and will fulfill my designated functions."

"Give me access to the Star Map" Revan ordered simply.

"Yes, you are ready. Soon you will recognize the proper course to follow. The Star Map is yours. This unit has now completed its primary duty and has finished with this subject. Executing final action. Activation of Star Map commencing. Parameters reset. Stasis initiated. End communication."

With this, the holoprojection turned off, and the Star Map opened itself. Just as on Dantooine, a small orb has flown upward. Just as before, the projection of the Galaxy has appeared. The dark forest of Kashyyyk was now lit by the hologram that presented billions of stars. Very well known regions of the Inner and Outer Rim along with the Core Worlds and the Hutt Space illuminated the darkness around Revan and Jolee. The Unknown Regions remained in darkness, with only a few stars standing alone in the dark.

Revan came closer to the ancient device and knelt next to it. Then he plugged in the small datapad into the port and began downloading of the content.

"I always thought that the term 'Star Map' was something conventional. I never assumed that it can be understood so literally" Jolee said breaking the silence. He came closer to Revan and studied the hologram with a great interest. "I can't believe how precise this map is. The present hyperspace routes are placed here, but also those that don't exist for quite some time already. For example this one: This route between Peragus and Taris has not been used for few millennia at least. It doesn't even exist in the Jedi Archives on Coruscant anymore. It must have been existing for thousands of years already."

"Around thirty thousand years" Revan clarified. "The records from the Star Maps allowed me to move so quickly through the Republic. Using of these routes allowed me to take them by surprise many times."

"I see" Jolee replied simply. "So, I must say that your answers were… intriguing at least" he said, changing the topic. Revan smirked at that and turned to face the old man.

"Yeah, I told you" he answered with a small laughter. "But hey, I've phrased this questions and answers when I was as close to the Dark Side as never before or after. Things are different now."

"But still, these answers were… Unsettling. I never imagined that you would put them like this. But, nevertheless, I hope that you are changed now."

"I am" Revan replied, standing up. The datapad was now in his hand. The Star Map behind him started to shut down.

"So what now?"

"Now I have to make sure that nobody finds it again" he replied and tossed a thermal detonator in the direction of the terminal. The machine and the Star Map exploded in the cloud of fire, sending dozens of small pieces into every direction. After few seconds, the forest went silent and dark again.


"Hurry up!" Rex shouted.

It's madness, it's madness, it's madness! Bastila's mind screamed. The muscles in her legs ached terribly from the exhaustion. They've been running for quite some time already, being forced to fight their way out from the Rwookrrorro village. She was forcing her legs to carry her onward, though she met some resistance from them.

I'm going to kill him if the Shadowlands haven't done that already, Bastila thought. She was extremely angry with Revan, and couldn't wait to meet him. It didn't matter to her what he expected when he ordered them to rescue Zaalbar and make cause Czerka Corporation some troubles, but she was going to get the ideas like that out of his head. After all, Revan was good in disturbing everyone's business. Next time, if he wanted such thing to be done, he would have to do it on his own.

And now they were being chased by a bunch of mad Wookiees and dozens of Czerka employees. If it wasn't for the Jedi Code she still partially believed in, she would never agree to such a suicidal mission. Rescuing Zaalbar was the easy part of the plan that Revan forced upon them. The difficult part was to actually return to the ship. If only they thought about Revan's plan and how to put it through.

Bastila stated that simply blowing up few Czerka offices was, saying it politely, stupid. Bastila's robe was burned now in few places and the shards of buildings were falling around them. The young Jedi Padawan had to cover her head with her hands to protect herself from the heavy pieces.

Her raging emotions were additionally ignited by the fact that she was going to face her mother on Tatooine. She had no idea how low was the likelihood of meeting that Twi'lek woman here on Kashyyyk who had the information concerning Helena Shan, but it happened. And from what she knew from Revan, they were going on Tatooine right after leaving the Wookiee's homeworld. It's pointless to say that she was a little… stressed with this scenario.

Bastila didn't hate her mother. She was above such simple emotion as hatred; she just never felt love to her – in opposite to her father. But perhaps, meeting her mother also meant meeting her father? She really hoped so.

Bastila suddenly noticed the wooden floor beneath her approaching rapidly her face. In her trace of thoughts, she lost the awareness of her surroundings and stumbled upon something. She acted like in a trance – her limbs refused to obey her commands, and she would undoubtedly fall to the hard ground if it wasn't for a pair of hands that caught her.

"Wake up, Princess!" Fox shouted directly into her face. She had no idea what was happening to her. Her current state reminded the one she was in back on Revan's flagship. She shook her head violently to return to the present.

"Wolfie, Carth, launch the Ebon Hawk" Fox shouted again, this time to his wrist communicator. Bastila looked over her shoulder.

Right behind her was Canderous who was holding the unconscious Zaalbar in his arms. Right next to him was running Mission; her blue Lekku were bouncing up and down with every step she took. Since the very moment they rescued their Wookiee companion, the young Twi'lek didn't leave his side for a single second.

"And what about Alen?" the voice in Fox's communicator replied.

"He hasn't come back yet?!"

"No. And he gave no signs of life either."

Fox let out a deep sigh, while Bastila was slowly deciphering the information she just heard. They were going to leave Kashyyyk in mere minutes, and Revan still wasn't with them. And Revan still wasn't with them. And Revan still wasn't with…

"We cannot leave without him," she said desperately to the man running beside her.

"Only two more turns and we are back on the ship!" Rex shouted.

"I know" Fox replied, clicking something in his communicator. "I'll try to contact him, but I don't know if he's going to answer the call" he added, looking apologetically at her. "Alen, do you copy? I repeat: Alen, do you copy?"

The only response was silence disturbed only by the heavy sounds of footsteps and cracking of the old wooden floor.


"Alen, do you copy?" Revan's communicator spoke, taking two men by surprise.

"Alen?" Jolee asked with a small grin, eyeing Revan with the look that clearly showed that he expected some explanation.

"I'll tell you later" Revan replied with a similar grin. "This is Alen Royce," he said to his communicator. "What's the matter?" he asked, but the only sound that was coming back was highly distorted, most probably by the thick layer of trees.

Revan pressed few buttons in his communicator, trying to make it work, but the effect was still the same.

"By the Force, it was working just seconds ago" he muttered more to himself. He tried to switch the channels. This time the effect was much better than the previous one.

"This is Alen Royce," he said to his communicator once again, hoping that someone on the other side would respond. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait long.

"Alen, this is Wolfie, do you copy" the voice of his best pilot replied. Revan sighed with relief. Even if the sound wasn't perfectly clear, it was still quite easy to figure out what the person on the other side was saying.

"I do, Wolfie. What's the matter?"

"The rest of our group has done some mess up here, and they are now retreating. We have to launch immediately."

"I won't manage to get back from the surface. Try to buy me some time."

"We have no time, Alen" Wolfie replied, not even waiting for him to fully finish the sentence. "I can already see them rapidly approaching the landing pad. This and our sensors have picked up a ship coming to Kashyyyk. It'll drop out from the hyperspace in twenty minutes, no more."

Revan bit his tongue at that. At first, he intended to yell at Wolfie for breaking his word, but the information he received successfully silenced him.

"Do you know where is this ship coming from?" he asked in a calm tone.

"From Coruscant" was a simple reply. Revan let out a groan.

"Launch the ship immediately. Set the coordinates to Tatooine, and don't wait for me on the landing pad. There is a lake just a few kilometers south from here. I'll meet you there. In twenty minutes we must be off this planet. Also, block the possibility of sending any messages from the ship, that's an order. And prepare a spare place for one more person" he said and turned off his communicator immediately, not even waiting for the response.

"How is your running, old man?" he asked Jolee with a cocky grin. Hermit replied with a similar smile.

"Maybe not the best, but certainly I'm good enough to keep up with a young kid like you," he said, teasing him.

"Well, we'll see about that" Revan replied and immediately launched in the south direction with Jolee following him closely behind.


"What do you mean we're supposed to leave?!" Bastila asked enraged. She was still panting heavily from the run, and she was greeted with the fact that they were leaving Kashyyyk without waiting for Revan to return from the Shadowlands.

"He contacted me. We're supposed to meet him few kilometers south from here" Wolfie explained. He and Carth were now igniting the main engines of the Ebon Hawk. The ship suddenly shook violently from the impact. Bastila looked out through the viewport, only to see the bunch of Wookiees rocking their ship.

"Prepare the main ignition," Wolfie said to Carth. The Republic pilot clicked few buttons on the launching console and the ship was airborne once again. The wind knocked out most of the Wookiees, and those who didn't fall were crisped to death by the fire coming from the engines. The smoldering corpses were now falling on the wooden platform right beneath them. Bastila closed her eyes unwillingly at that sight.

"Activating the stabilizers," Carth said, pulling a lever. The ship came from the small rocking into a gentle glide.

"Alen said that there is a lake not far from here," Wolfie said, clicking something on the main panel. "Head south, Carth, and stay low. I don't like these clouds gathering around us."

Bastila, who was still in the cockpit, looked up through the viewport at the pilot's words. In fact, there was a lot of heavy clouds that started to gather on the sky above them. She instinctually made a step backward when the sky was lit by the lightning, that was immediately followed by a loud thunder. The young Jedi Padawan caught a metallic handle for support.

"This isn't going to be an easy flight," Wolfie said to the ship's communicator to let know all of the crew. "Hold on to something, guys."

The flight wasn't long, but it couldn't be called 'uneventful'. Many times they have hooked against the tops of the taller trees, and the lightning more than once showed right next to them. To top it all off, it started raining, causing the pilots to have a straitened vision, and the storm completely blocked the radar's possibilities.

"Are we there already?" Carth asked quietly. Wolfie only shrugged his arms.

"I have no idea. I can't see a thing through this rain, and the communication is most certainly broken. Do you think you can locate him?" he asked, directing the question at Bastila. She nodded hesitantly.

"I should be able to do it" she replied and reached out with the Force in order to find all too familiar presence.

She found him with no difficulties. Fortunately, the aura wasn't affecting the Force in any way. But something was strange.

Right next to Revan there was someone else. This person's Force Aura, whoever that person was, wasn't a hostile one – it was more like indulgent to everyone around him. That was something that surprised her. She hadn't felt that presence earlier, but Revan seemed to be okay with that.

"They are close," she said when she realized that the two pilots were actually waiting for the answer.

"Hold on a second," Carth said. "They? I thought that Alen went there alone."

"He told me something about another person coming with him" Wolfie replied. "How far are they?" he asked, directing another question at Bastila.

"No more than four hundred meters" she replied hesitantly.

"Lower the loading ramp," Wolfie said to the second pilot.

Carth again pressed few buttons and the entrance to the ship was now opened and was waiting for the rest of the crew.

"There they are," Wolfie said, looking through the viewport, even if the vision was blurred.

There, on the beach, were running two men. No more details were coming to Bastila's eyes due to the heavy rain still pounding against the Ebon Hawk.

"Rex, Fox, go to the loading ramp and help them get on the ship," Wolfie said through the ship's communicator. Bastila left the cockpit and headed towards the ship's entrance as well.

She came just in time to see Revan and someone else being pulled to the interior of the Ebon Hawk. Both men were soaked wet and were panting heavily.

Revan's companion was old. That's what she could say after casting one glance at him. And he was black. She had no idea who that man was, but he was wearing the remnants of the Jedi robes, so, most probably, he was, or used to be, a member of the Jedi Order.

She didn't pay any attention to Revan until she felt him tapping slightly her shoulder and saw him passing her by. She followed him with her eyes, only to see him disappearing in the cockpit.

"Are the coordinates ready?" Revan asked when he entered the cockpit.

"Set and ready" Wolfie replied with a steady voice.

"Bring us out from this storm then, and jump into the hyperspace" Revan ordered. The two pilots nodded their heads in agreement, and, after few minutes, they left the Kashyyyk system.

None of them noticed a small ship following them from a safe distance.


Revan tossed his wet robe aside. He was in his own quarters now and was changing into some spare, dry clothes. Jolee seemed to be totally okay with getting a small room next to the cargo hold.

The datapad was all wet but, fortunately, the rain didn't get into the inside of the small device. He sighed with relief and placed it safely on the bed.

He was alarmed by the sound of the doors being opened. He turned around only to see Bastila standing there, with her arms crossed on her chest. She had somewhat enraged expression.

"What is it, my dear?" he asked, acting as if he didn't notice the look Bastila was giving him. The woman fully entered the room and shut the door behind her, making also sure to nullify the sounds that were about to come from Revan's quarters with the Force.

"You really are arrogant, do yo…" she started in a high, angry tone, but was disrupted by Revan's lips suddenly being pressed against her own.

Bastila was taken aback by the sudden action. She even tried to push him away, in order to be able to yell at him, what was her original plan when she was walking towards Revan's quarters, but the man in front of her was holding her firmly.

Revan's hands were embracing her, bringing her as close to him as it was possible. One of his palms rested peacefully on her hip, while the second one was making small circles on her back.

The kiss he gave her was nothing like their first kiss they shared on Dantooine over five years ago. They got so familiar with each other, that this action seemed to be the most basic thing to do in life, in Bastila's opinion. The way their lips were dancing in the battle for dominance, many times being supported by their tongues, it all seemed to be so… natural. Like this was the best place where both of them could be – in a room, alone, sharing their moment of intimacy.

At this point, all Bastila's thoughts about yelling at Revan escaped her mind, only to be replaced with a single, most simple, and yet most complicated thought: desire. The female Jedi felt that at the back of her head, and something erupted in her belly at the image of how she would satisfy this urge. She wanted it to happen, she couldn't deny it, but that didn't change the fact that she was still a little afraid.

But as their kiss was continuing on, and the love it expressed was slowly being replaced with lust and desire, so has the fear started to escape from Bastila's mind. The young Jedi didn't know what was happening until she felt her legs hit the edge of Revan's bed. She then felt herself being lifted upwards; not by the Force, but by a physical strength of the man who was still standing in front of her.

The moment of her being airborne didn't last long, though. She was almost immediately tossed on the bed behind her with Revan following her closely. The man returned to kissing her, but this time he attacked her neck, allowing Bastila to breathe normally for some time.

"You know that this goes against the Jedi Code?" she whispered slightly with a voice filled with lust, though she quite didn't understand why she said that, cause all the Code, all the Council and all the Order could go screw themselves. She never felt so good, and the meditation certainly wasn't so comforting and so relaxing, as laying under Revan – the man she truly loved – was. For the first time in years, Bastila had a feeling of being where she belonged to. She couldn't understand why the Code forbid such an action when it just felt so good, and so… right.

"Good thing I'm not a Jedi" Revan whispered back into the smooth skin of her neck, sending shivers down her spine. Bastila could feel the desire in his voice, and in his actions as well. She knew that at this point Revan's mind was probably turned off, and he was acting only on his instincts, but she didn't care about that. In fact, she also gladly blocked all the arguments for them not being together like this. She just wanted to enjoy the moment, and to spend that night with the man she loved. She wanted to fall asleep, using his chest as a pillow and allow the steady beating of his heart to put her asleep, but that was a far future.

Right now she just wanted to spend a sleepless night in Revan's arms.


Revan was laying on his back, with Bastila using his chest as a pillow. They both were exhausted from their previous activity, but they couldn't just fall asleep. If they did, the whole moment would just pass by and the sad reality of the Galaxy to save would return. So they were just laying there, naked, embracing each other, holding as for a dear life.

The slow minutes were passing by, and Revan felt an uneasiness growing in Bastila, though she didn't even flinch. He was eyeing her carefully, trying to read her mind from behind her. The female Jedi must have sensed his gaze, cause she lifted her head and looked into his eyes. She gave him a tired, yet satisfied smile, but Revan saw this. That uneasiness behind her happy gaze.

"What's going on, Bas?" he whispered quietly, caressing her face. There was no trail of lust in his voice anymore – there was only love left.

Bastila didn't reply at first. In fact, she cast her head downwards, directing her gaze at the nearby wall. There was this one, single thought that terrified her right now, and she couldn't come up with how to say it.

"Come on, Bas, you can tell me" Revan whispered after yet another few minutes of silence, trying to urge her on.

"Was I your first one?" Bastila whispered back, as quickly as she could, acting as if these words never escaped her mouth. Few, extremely long moments of silence passed by before Revan finally managed to come up with a response.

"No," he said simply. Bastila felt as if the whole Galaxy has suddenly fallen on her head. Such one simple word caused her to feel as if someone ripped her still-beating heart right out of her ribcage.

"Who was she?"

"You're not going to like the answer."

"Who. Was. She." She repeated, this time accenting every single word. Revan let out a heavy sigh that was immediately followed by yet another word that caused her to feel as a dead one:

"Meetra" was the simple response. Before she could say anything, Revan continued on. "I regret that night with her, and I'm glad I don't remember a single thing. I was drunk right then, and I had like an existential crisis or something like that. This, and the Mandalorian Wars waging on caused me to stop thinking rationally. I have no idea what got into me right then."

"Did she… did she carry your baby?"

"No. Most probably it was because of the amount of the alcohol I drank, that she didn't get pregnant, and I'm happy of that. We both have agreed to never come back to this, that it was a single moment of weakness."

"But you love her" she more stated than asked. She felt him nodding in affirmation.

"I love her, but as a sister. She and Alek were my two first friends in the Order, and I would give my life for her, but I don't love her in a romantic way. This one is reserved only for you."

"And yet, somehow it didn't stop you from going with her to bed."

"I was drunk right then. I know that I have no rights to justify myself, but this was a single accident. We have never done that again."

"I know that I shouldn't, but I forgive you that," Bastila said after a moment of silence. "If this really was only a single time, and she didn't get pregnant, then I'm able to forgive you. But, under one condition" she quickly added, before Revan could say anything. He raised his eyebrow at her.

"And what is that?"

"Show me again that you choose me over her."


Revan and Meetra did WHAT?! I have no idea how that came out XD It's funny how the words are coming from the keyboard themselves XD. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you did then write a comment about that. I think that I will publish one more chapter before the summer holiday, and then the frequency of updating will increase, yay XD So see you so guys in the next chapter ;)