Welcome again! I must thank you guys, cause my story is now in top 50 stories from the category of 'The Old Republic'. It is a huge milestone for me, since this is my first fanfic, and I hope that you'll continue supporting my work, as you have been doing till now. As always I ask mostly for reviews and all the rest! Also, I want to ask those who are following my story and didn't add it to their favorites to do it right now XD I have nineteen follows more than favorites and I'd like these two numbers to be equal XD so I ask politely that you add 'Price of the Sacrifice' to your favorites.

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Chapter 30

Bastila was emanating with righteous indignation, as she was storming through the empty corridors of the Ebon Hawk. She was lucky that everyone was minding their own business, and she was able to head towards Revan's quarters without any complications. She was angry and rightly so. It wasn't because of what she and the former Dark Lord have done. Strangely, she found it to be an easier way to clear her mind, and to focus, than while meditating.

But there was one thing Revan has done to her that enraged her to no end. It was something that proved just how arrogant the man she loved was. Bastila didn't know yet what she would do to him, but she didn't care about that in that moment. She only wanted to get into his quarters and yell at him.

She reached the doors to his room rather quickly. She didn't bother to knock; instead, she just opened them violently with the Force, alerting the man inside of her presence. A large smile appeared on Revan's face when he saw who entered his quarters. He was laying on his bed and, apparently, ignored Bastila's angry expression.

"Hello, Bas" he greeted her and tried to lift himself to come to the woman, though he was put to stasis by Bastila with the Force.

"Don't you dare to 'Hello, Bas' me right now!" she exclaimed with anger, blocking her voice from spreading through the entire ship. "You have no idea in what danger you are right now!"

Revan had a terrified expression on his face. Never before had he seen Bastila so enraged, and he knew that the angry woman was a dangerous woman. But he couldn't even flinch, nor say any word due to the stasis field surrounding him.

"YOU DARED TO MAKE ME A HICKEY!" she shouted in anger, pointing at the spot on her neck. Indeed, there was a red mark that clearly said: 'Revan was here'.

Revan's eyes widened in shock and fear, as much as the stasis field allowed for it. He remembered suckling at that very spot, and how it caused Bastila to moan in pleasure.

"I can't believe how arrogant you are!" Bastila kept shouting. "At this point, the Council was actually right about you! You couldn't wait with doing this, could you?" she asked, even if he couldn't answer. "My mother is on Tatooine! What am I going to do with it?!"

Revan at this point was terrified to the very bone. If Bastila inherited her temperament from her mother then he was more than sure that he didn't want to meet her. He heard the stories of how dangerous and annoying mothers could be, especially when it comes to protecting their daughters. He used the Force to release himself from the stasis field, even if only a little, what was rather easy, cause Bastila wasn't keeping her focus well.

"And what is the chance that we'll meet your mother on Tatooine?" he asked, escaping the grasps of the stasis field. "It's a big planet."

"And what was the likelihood of me meeting a Twi'lek on Kashyyyk who told me about my mother, hmm?" Bastila replied with a rhetorical question. "I'll tell you: it was close to none, but, nevertheless, it happened, and that gives me this feeling that we'll meet her there, and…"

"Oh, come on," Revan said, interrupting her. "You haven't seen her for how long? Sixteen years? You are an adult now, what can she possibly do to you? Will She give you a smack or what? You're exaggerating."

"Exaggerating?!" Bastila exclaimed, wringing her hands to emphasize her bewilderment. Revan always was easy-going, but she didn't share this feature, and in that moment it annoyed her to no end. "She will kill me if she sees it" she added. The anger in her voice moved over and was now replaced with something similar to fear.

"Exactly: if she sees it" Revan replied, standing up, and walking to the shorter woman. "You can come up with something to hide it. It shouldn't be that difficult. After all, it's not that big."

"But how can I hide it?" Bastila asked with the same fearful tone. "It's not like I'll put on any additional clothes. My regular outfit is going to be too much on Tatooine, let alone a scarf, or something like that."

"Then dissolve your hair. You don't have to be walking around all the time with this fancy haircut you have" he said with a small smile, but it wasn't mimicked by Bastila. In fact, she grew even more irritated, and the anger returned to her in its fullest.

"Do you want to say that you don't like my haircut?" she asked with a gaze that could easily kill anyone. In order to make her attitude look even more menacing than it was in reality, she put her hands on her hips, trying to look down on the man in front of her what was rather impossible, because he was few inches taller than her.

"What?! I haven't said anything like that" Revan replied, surprised at the insinuation. Despite he encountered many women in his life, he still couldn't believe how the representatives of the female gender were able to interpret something the way they wanted. And still, he couldn't quite understand how they were doing it.

Bastila seemed to not be totally convinced with Revan's words, but, nevertheless, she gave up on this. Yet still, she was eyeing the man in front of her carefully, searching for any signs of falsehood, but she found none.

The young woman sighed in resignation. Despite all of her Jedi training, she still was feeling nervous about meeting her mother. She was only five when she was given to the Order, but still, she remembered the temperament of the woman who gave her life. Bastila had no idea how her mother was going to react upon seeing her, but she doubted she'd like it.

"We'll be dropping out from hyperspace in no time," Revan said, changing the topic. "I would change clothes if I were you. It may get a little warm on Tatooine."

"A little" she mocked, turning around to walk away to her quarters. Revan's words did little to soothe her still raging emotions. Somehow she knew that her fear was irrational, because, after all, she was already an adult. She had her own private life, and her mother had nothing to do about that. Bastila could take care of herself, especially when Helena failed at that.

But still, she felt nervous. Jedi were supposed to live in celibate, and the red mark on her neck clearly showed that disobeyed that. It's not like she was feeling guilty, or anything. In fact, she found herself relaxing much easier in Revan's arms than while meditating. Her fear was caused only by the possibility of her mother seeing the hickey.

Bastila breathed in heavily, even if to soothe her nerves only a little. She had to keep her focus. Their mission was much more important than the personal things between her and the woman who gave her life.


Revan walked into the cockpit, just in time to see the Ebon Hawk leaving the hyperspace. In front of them appeared Tatooine, in all of its notoriety. The two suns illuminated the surface of the planet, that was entirely covered in yellow and orange – sand. The former Dark Lord cursed silently under his nose. He really hated that planet, and he hoped to be off of it as fast as possible.

"I'm setting the course to the port in Mos Eisley" Carth reported. He started clicking something on the terminal only to be stopped by Revan.

"Head towards Anchorhead," he said, earning a questioning look from the pilot.

"Anchorhead?" Carth repeated, making sure that he heard it correctly. "But nothing is there. I mean, it's a small town with practically nothing."

"At least it gets along with the planet standards" Revan replied. "And think of it, Carth. Mos Eisley is the largest spaceport on this cursed ball of sand. If someone wanted to hide something here, I think he'd rather do it in the wilderness."

"He has a point, Carth" Wolfie commented. It's not like he was going to oppose Revan's words, but he had to give his opinion, as the copilot.

"I hope you're right" Carth murmured in response, changing the course of the Ebon Hawk.

In no longer than a minute, the City of Anchorhead reached their eyes. In fact, just as Revan said, it was a wilderness. Houses were built with the sandstone, with no glass where the windows were. This town and the entire planet itself was a complete opposite to the better part of the Galaxy, especially the Core Worlds.

Revan walked out from the cockpit and headed towards the exit of the ship. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but he could swear, that, as they were getting closer and closer to the spaceport, the more and more of Tatooine's heat was coming to him. It was impossible though, due to the obvious fact that the Ebon Hawk was still locked from the inside, and, even if they have already entered the planet's atmosphere, it wasn't long since they've left the vacuum of space.

Revan turned towards the garage of the ship. He could be respecting those who were following him, but there was no way he was going to suffer the planet's hard conditions. A small, evil smile appeared on his face, as he was approaching the room where Rex, Fox, and Canderous were living. He didn't bother to knock at the door – he simply opened them wide with the Force.

"Suit up," Revan said, entering the room. "We've arrived" he added, stating an obvious fact. He received a collective groan in a response, but he decided to ignore that. The former Dark Lord wasn't waiting for any verbal reply – he simply left the garage, knowing that they won't disobey his order.

Immediately after he left the quarters of three men, he stumbled upon Bastila. She wasn't wearing her regular, form-fitting outfit. Instead, she wore a simple, non-Jedi dress that wasn't matching her woman curves so much. It was a modest, beige cloth that wasn't see-through. The young woman apparently followed his advice, because she let her hair go freely. They weren't fully straight, because of the ponytail that Bastila was always using, and they were falling down in cascades on her back.

For the first time in few years, Revan saw Bastila looking so… normal. There wasn't a better word describing her. She didn't look like a Jedi with an extremely rare gift who was training her whole life. She looked like a simple girl, or a very young woman, from any world. Revan was surprised how much he liked seeing her that way. Their lives would be so much simpler if it wasn't for the War, the Jedi, and the damned Force.

"I don't think that a lightsaber comes along with the dress you're wearing," Revan said, after noticing the weapon hanging from her belt. "It's too much conspicuous."

"If you think that I'll move anywhere without it, you're sorely mistaken" she replied with arms crossed on her chest. "I feel much safer with it."

"My presence isn't enough for you to feel safe?" Revan teased her with a significant smile.

"Well, somehow it wasn't enough back on the Endar Spire" she replied with the same smile. Revan had a hurt expression on his face.

"It hurts, you know" he replied, bringing his hand to his chest. Bastila couldn't hold back a small chuckle that escaped her lips. Revan was perfect at faking.

"You're not getting changed?" she asked, changing the topic. "After all, you've said that it might get warm on Tatooine."

"Actually, I was going to" he replied.

"So why did you come here? From what I know, your quarters are in the opposite direction."

"I had to inform the rest to suit up" he replied simply, earning an annoyed expression from Bastila.

"They're coming with us?" she asked, hoping that somehow the answer would be negative.

"Yeah" Revan responded, noticing the scowl on Bastila's face. "And what? You don't like them?"

"I just hoped that we could spend some time together" she replied. Revan let out a small chuckle, after hearing that.

"As much as I'd love to, Bas, we haven't come here on vacation," he said, putting a lonely strand of her hair behind her ear. "If we complete our mission sooner, then we will have a lot of time for ourselves" he added, partially lying to her. When we complete this mission, I must leave you, he added in his mind, making sure that Bastila didn't sense it with their Force Bond. He didn't want to do that, but he knew that it was his destiny. Or a cruel joke from the Force.

"I hope you're right," she said, unaware of Revan's true intentions. She walked closer to him and embraced him, placing her head on his chest. "I love you, you know?"

"I know" he replied, swallowing the gulp in his throat. "I love you too" he added, placing a delicate kiss on top of her head.

"Well, if we're supposed to hurry, then I'd recommend you to get changed," Bastila said, walking away from him. "I want to spend with you as much time as it's possible" she added with a playful smile that was mimicked by Revan.

"Right away, my dear" he replied, giving her yet another brief kiss, this time on her lips.


"Don't open the loading ramp before our return," Revan said to Carth who was standing behind him. "Keep the ship locked down all the time on Tatooine. We don't want the heat to make its way on board."

Carth only nodded in response and opened the loading ramp for the five persons to walk out from the Ebon Hawk. Revan, Bastila, Fox, Rex, and Canderous quickly abandoned the ship, wanting the heat to remain outside. As soon as they placed feet on the ground, the loading ramp was closed by Carth.

The first thing that came to their sense was, of course, an extremely high temperature. The strong, hot wind was blowing into their faces, caring with itself the mites of a harsh sand. It was attacking their skin, once in a while making small cuts in it. Revan cursed silently as the sand made contact with the ravaged skin on his left shoulder where his Mandalorian tattoo used to be. Fortunately, he still kept his infected shoulder bandaged, so the omnipresent sand couldn't make its way there.

The temperature was so high that it caused immediately the group of five to start sweating. The small droplets were quickly appearing on their skin, soaking into their clothes. They started to make their way towards the exit of the landing pad. Strangely, no one came to collect the landing fee.

They exited the landing area and found themselves in the small backstreets of the Anchorhead City. Fortunately for them, this part of the town was still covered in shadows, despite the presence of two large stars on the sky above them.

The city was quite aloud, despite it being a small, Force-forsaken place, just like the entire planet. People here seemed to not care about the place where they were living, and everyone was simply doing their daily job, as they were supposed to. Most of the citizens looked like farmers, though Revan had serious doubts if anything could grow here. But they couldn't be living just from the import, could they? Most of them were wearing linen clothes with small holes every here and there. What surprised the former Dark Lord was the fact that they all were wearing shirts with long sleeves and equally long breeches. Some of them had even a pair of gloves on their hands.

But, nevertheless, people here seemed to be enjoying their lives. They were chatting with each other, and cracking jokes, as if they were living on some other, habitable world, like Alderaan. This amazed Revan. He couldn't imagine how anyone would find life here bearable. If he grew up here, he would catch the first better ship that would take him away from this place. And yet these people were resigned to their fate.

They walked in silence through the street that was filled with dozen or so stalls. The merchandises were loudly advertising their products, trying to get the attention of the shoppers. They had literally everything for sale. Starting with some small fruits and vegetables, ending on the parts of the farm equipment. The merchandises were outshouting each other, trying to get as many purchasers as possible.

Revan halted suddenly, telling others to do the same. Something was wrong. The Force was shifting madly around them, and he sensed something on the other side of the wall they were standing at. It felt strangely… familiar. As if he were back in…

Of course! What he sensed were the Dark Jedi from his, or for that matter, Malak's Empire. That's why the sensation was so familiar. It was somewhat similar to what he felt when his former apprentice was around, yet this one was a little less… furious, enraged. The Dark Jedi that were sent by the current Dark Lord, were simple adepts – not even fully lost to the Dark Side. They would be a childish play for him.

"What is it?" Bastila asked. She wasn't so much aware of the Dark Jedi presence as Revan was. Revan smirked slightly.

"A trap" he replied simply, looking upward. The wall in front of them was very high, but for someone who was using the Force, jumping on top of it wasn't that difficult.

"Next move?" Bastila asked another question, earning a wider grin from Revan.

"Spring the trap" he replied and jumped atop of the stone structure in front of them.

As he expected, he noticed three Dark Jedi on the street below him. They did very little, if anything at all, to camouflage themselves. The group of three was standing in the middle of the larger street, dressed in the regular, dark-grey robes that were covering them from their feet to the top of their heads. They had black hoods, gloves, and boots. Their faces were covered with some kind of a scarf that was hiding everything, except for their eyes. They sucked, to say the least when it came to locating their target; Revan was right above them, and they didn't sense him. At least they were holding their lightsabers in their hands, and not kept them clipped nonchalantly to their belts. But still, it wasn't going to help them much.

Revan jumped gracefully off the high wall, landing silently behind the group. They still were unaware of his presence. The former Dark Lord smirked at that. It was all too easy. He walked carefully to three men, and ignited his lightsabers, piercing the first two immediately. The third one had little time to react, as Revan's lightsaber was thrown at him, and the poor man fell on the ground, cut in half. The former Dark Lord looked around, but no one seemed to care about this whole situation.

Revan's companions quickly joined him when they heard the characteristic noise of the lightsabers. They were greeted with the sight of three corpses laying lifelessly on the ground. Bastila scowled at the sight. Even if she took part in this war for quite some time already, it was still disgusting seeing the dead bodies like that.

"Sith assassins here?" she asked, raising her eyebrows so high that they hid under her hair.

"These pathetic excuses for the Dark Jedi were no Sith" Revan replied, looking at the corpses with disgust in his eyes. "But yeah, they were the assassins."

"Did Malak really think that they were going to be any match for us?" Bastila asked surprised. She eyed the dead bodies once more and then cast her glance back at Revan.

"I don't think so" he replied. "Malak might be a foul, but he isn't that stupid. I think that their presence here has something to do with the Star Map. In my opinion, they were only the scouts. They were supposed to deliver the information about our whereabouts. Of course, if they could, they would fight us. Anything to gain something in Malak's eyes."

"So now…" Bastila started and was cut off by Revan who finished for her.

"Now Malak will know that we're on Tatooine because he lost contact with them."

"Is he going to come for us?" Bastila asked slightly nervous. The perspective of meeting the creature that used to be Alek terrified her, even if Revan was still with her.

"I don't think so" Revan replied after a second or so of hesitation. "Tatooine is under the control of the Hutts. Coming here with the Armada would mean just as much as declaring an opened war against them. I don't think that it's something Malak can afford" he said, looking at her. The answer seemed to calm Bastila down, as she visibly relaxed. "Come on guys" he now said, turning to the rest of their small group. "Help me clean this mess."

Rex, Fox, and Canderous silently obeyed, and helped him with getting rid of the bodies. Normally Revan would do it with the Force, but he didn't want to draw any attention. It was a miracle that practically no one noticed this entire situation, and he didn't intend to push his luck any further. So the four men dragged the corpses away from the middle of the street and hid them somewhere in the shadows of one of the many houses. This entire action wasn't challenging in anyways, but the Tatooine's heat was making the simplest tasks difficult. The sweat was now coming freely down their bodies, especially under their armpits and on their faces, hindering their vision.

Bastila was watching them slightly amused. It was funny seeing the four soldiers being exhausted with such simple work. Especially Canderous. This mountain made of muscles was now sweating as the meat at the butcher's when it was being cooked over the fire. The clothes of every one of them were now soaked up with sweat, and soon, an irritating smell came to Bastila's nostrils.

"Enjoying yourself, Princess?" Revan asked her with a teasing smile. "Don't you want to help us?"

"No, no" Bastila replied quickly. "I'm fine here. Besides, you seem to like your task at hand, and I most certainly don't want to deprive you of the fun you're actually having" she said with a playful smile.

"Come on, go ahead" Fox interjected, dragging the second corpse aside. "We left one especially for you."

"I must refuse" Bastila replied, faking an apologetic expression. "You really seem to be enjoying what you're doing. I can't just walk into that and destroy all the fun you have. Besides, you're practically done" she added, and turned her head away, pretending as if there wasn't laying the third dead body.

The young Jedi touched the spot on her neck where Revan's lips made the red mark. She sensed her mother somewhere around, or that's what she thought. After all, she hasn't seen her mother for quite some time, so there was practically no way that she would know how Helena Shan was detectable in the Force. She hasn't met her since she's learned how to use the Force.

But her Jedi instincts told her that her mother was somewhere around here, in the Anchorhead City. She took in a large breath, and slowly let it go. She quickly felt a hand on her right shoulder. She didn't have to open her eyes or use the Force to know who it was. It could only be one person.

"What's happening, Bas?" Revan asked with a whisper. There was no trace of his previous teasing tone. This time his words were gentle, caring, loving. Bastila smiled unwillingly at that. She slowly reopened her eyes, noticing that the rest of their small group was few steps ahead, giving them space to talk freely.

"It's my mother" she replied after a moment of silence. "I sense her here."

Revan didn't respond immediately. He just nodded his head, meaning that he understood. He was still keeping his hand on her shoulder, and now he gently pulled her towards himself, causing her to rest her head against his arm. Such walking position was highly uncomfortable, but she didn't mind that. This simple action showed her just how much of a support Revan was for her. She didn't need words or anything like that. She simply needed the comfort of his body being close to her. She wanted to have this undeniable confirmation that he was there for her. And this is what she received.

"Are you afraid?" he asked after a moment. Bastila thought about that for a while, before shaking her head in contradiction.

"No. I know that I'm not supposed to be afraid of her. After all, I haven't done anything wrong, it's just… it's just that I don't know how I'll react, Rev. I haven't seen her for a long time, and I… I don't miss her. I'd rather see my father, but I don't know if he's there with her."

"I'll be there for you" he replied, embracing her slightly. "As I always am."

Bastila looked upward after hearing that. She had the expression that was clearly saying 'don't give me that bullshit'. Revan met her glare and replied with a playful smile that quickly melted down the cold look that Bastila was giving him. She smiled lightly in response.

"She's here," Bastila said, as they were passing by the doors to the cantina. "I'm sure of it" she added.

"Guys, wait here," Revan said to the three men in front of them. "I and Bastila must go check something in the cantina."

"There's no way I'm letting go such an occasion" Canderous replied. "Sorry Revan, but I don't give a fuck right now about your orders. I need something cool to drink, and I bet that Rex and Fox want as well. So say what you want, but surely I'm walking in" he said, passing by the younger man who had a surprised expression on his face. For the first time in years, someone was able to make Revan speechless. He was watching astounded as Canderous, Rex and Fox were making their way, totally ignoring his command. It took him a while to get along with the ensuing situation. He looked back at Bastila, only to find her giggling slightly.

"What's so funny?" he asked in a little-irritated tone.

"Oh trust me, it's nothing" Bastila replied, holding back another wave of giggles.

"Of course," he said, not even slightly convinced. "So, do we walk in?" he asked, changing the topic. "Or are we going to be standing here and wait for the two suns to burn us to crisp?"

"So eager to meet my mother?" Bastila asked with a teasing smile. Revan rolled his eyes at that.

"Maybe not eager, but, as you've said earlier, as soon as we finish our task here, we will be able to spend some time together" Revan replied. He earned a dreamy smile from the shorter woman.

"Well then, let's not make my mother wait," Bastila said, taking few additional breaths.

"I'm here with you," Revan said, gently squeezing her hand. She replied with the same gesture and brought her lips to his own for a brief kiss.

"I love you."

"I love you too. Let's go."


Okay, so here was the 31st chapter of 'Price of the Sacrifice'. Let me know what you think of it, and leave a review. I'm asking about it especially those who haven't written any comments or are doing it extremely rarely. I need some callback from you guys to know if you like it. So you know what to do. See you next time!