Hello, everybody! Jack of Knaves here coming at you with another chapter of The Prodigal Knight Returns! I gotta admit, I'm having a blast writing this fanfic, and you guys seem to enjoy reading it, so I say onward we go!
Well, that's about it for me. Let's get started!
UPDATE: I have just been informed by a reviewer that there seems to have been some sort of notification blast in regards to the previous chapters prior to this new one being published. To those who have been afflicted with this notification blast, I apologize and I have no idea how that happened. Best theory I can come up with is that some sort of glitch or something happened when I made adjustments to the previous chapters prior to my posting this one using the fanfiction app. So, yeah, sorry about that.
Chapter Three: Escape From Coruscant
Revan, now clad in her dark robes, armor, and mask once again thanks to her mastery of the art of the quick-change, her Personal Inventory Device, and the power of Force Camouflage, ducked into an alleyway and slid down the wall and closed her eyes, allowing herself to take a moment and rest. She had managed to escape the Jedi Temple through the ventilation system, having managed to overload the energy field over the vent cover leading outside the Temple with a blast of Force Lightning before making her escape.
However, despite having achieved ultimate mastery of both the Light and Dark Sides of the Force, something that many perceived to have granted her truly infinite power and abilities that many considered unnatural, even by the Sith and Dark Jedi's standards, which it did to a certain extent it very much did, even the Lord of Revenge had her limits, and the constant use of her Force abilities in her efforts to avoid detection by the Jedi was starting to make her feel completely exhausted.
That said, she couldn't rest here for very long. Revan had no doubt that the Jedi were hot on her heels, and they were more than likely going to attack her on sight. She needed to get off of Coruscant, and in order to do that, she needed a ship. Problem with that was the entire planet most likely thought of her as a terrorist who had bombed a politician's office, and as such, the local ship dealers were not very likely to sell her anything, at least not without tipping off local security or the Jedi to her location or placing a tracker on the ship.
No, the only solution was to commandeer a ship, but breaking into a nearby hanger and taking a ship would likely alert the Jedi, local security, and quite possibly the Republic military, which would be a much bigger headache than she already had to deal with. What she needed was some sort of discrete method of commandeering a ship.
However, before Revan could properly think, a noise caught her attention, prompting the former Dark Lord to realize that she had foolishly let her guard down and allowed herself to be snuck up on by what she sensed were common street thugs. A Rodian and Bith blocked the exit to the alley while a human blocked the path farther in.
"Well, lookie what we got here, boys!" the human said with a smirk. "A poor lost soul! What do you guys think, should we help her out?"
"Yeah, Garik, this lady does look kinda lost," the Rodian said in Huttese. "I guess we could help her… find her way."
Revan sighed as she lowered her head. These men were nothing more than common thugs, and not worth her time overall, but she clearly wasn't getting out of this without there being trouble. Still, that didn't mean she couldn't at least give them a chance to be smart and walk away before it was too late for them.
Time to take a page out of Calo Nord's playbook, thought Revan before she spoke aloud. "Go away," she said, irritation in her augmented voice.
The thugs laughed at Revan's statement. "This chick thinks she's pretty funny, doesn't she, Garik?" the Bith said.
"Certainly seems that way," said Garik before he and his allies pulled their blasters. "All right, let's cut to the chase. Credits, now!"
"One," said Revan.
The Bith and the Rodian looked at Garik in confusion. "One? What's she mean by one?" asked the Rodian.
Before Garik could reply, Revan spoke again. "Two," she said.
"What's she saying?!" the Bith demanded in anger. "One? Two? Is she trying to make fun of us?!"
Garik shook himself from his confusion, marched up to Revan, and put his blaster pistol against the side of her head. "Are you deaf or somethin' lady?! I said credits, now!"
"Three," said Revan as she stood up, giving her would-be muggers a clear view of her mask, armor, and the two lightsaber hilts hanging from her side, which promptly caused those present to turn several shades green.
"She's a Jedi!" Garik cried before he tried to shoot Revan square in the face, only to find himself frozen in place, unable to move any part of his body, save for his eyes and mouth. "What the-what is this? Guys, shoot her!"
"I-I'm trying! Can't move!" the Rodian said in Huttese, also finding himself immobilized.
"Wha-what is going on?!" the Bith said in a mixture of rage and confusion, likewise immobilized as his eyes swiveled around in a panic, only for his horror to increase dramatically as the hand that was holding his blaster was slowly moving of its own accord… and that it was bringing the business end of his pistol towards the side of his rather large cranium.
The Bith tried to beg for mercy, but his cries fell on deaf ears as he was forced to pull the trigger, prompting the Rodian and human's eyes to widen in shock as their partner's body fell to the ground, a cauterized hole in the side of his head.
Revan then turned her gaze to the Rodian, whose arm also began to bring his blaster to the side of his head as he begged for forgiveness and tried to make excuses up to his last breath, but in the end, he met the same fate as his Bith companion.
"Wait! Please, Jedi! Don't do this!" Garik begged as his blaster slowly made its way towards his head. "I-I'll do anything you want! I-I'll go home and rethink my life! I'll turn my back on crime! I'll become an honest man! I'll give you everything I own!"
Just as the business end of the blaster reached the side of his head, Garik squeezed his eyes shut and screamed out, "I have a ship!"
A few moments passed by in silence so tense that a lightsaber or vibroblade would have had trouble cutting it. The next thing Garik knew, he was being yanked through the air directly into the crushing grip of Revan, who held him in the air by his throat.
"Would you care to repeat that?" asked Revan, her augmented voice suggesting it would be very unwise to lie to her.
"I-I have a ship! It's not much, but it's-ack!-functional!" choked out Garik.
Although the human couldn't see it, a small smile formed on Revan's face.
Meanwhile, At The Jedi Archives…
Several Jedi stood around the destroyed remains of the terminal that the intruder had been using, which had been cordoned off as a crime scene as several temple guards and Clone Troopers moved around the ruined terminal, trying to salvage what they could from it, while Anakin, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Shaak Ti, and Jedi Masters Aayla Secura, Kit Fisto, Adi Gallia, and Plo Koon watched security footage of the intruder's break-in and contemplated their next move.
Obi-Wan sighed and shook his head. This day was becoming far more complicated than he would like. Not only did they have two crime scenes caused by the same culprit, but his former Padawan was in a bad mood, which meant that Anakin was highly likely to do something foolish, reckless, or some mixture of the two.
After a few moments of silence, Anakin spoke. "Why did the intruder destroy this terminal? For that matter, how did she even get into the Temple?" he asked.
Adi was the one who answered Anakin. "Looks like she disguised herself in a Jedi Robe and used some sort of mind trick to get past the entrance guard, and was able to traverse the Temple undetected," she said.
Anakin was incredulous. "Are you kidding me? She just dressed up as a Jedi and went completely undetected? How did no one realize she wasn't a Jedi?"
"Because deceived by her appearance, they were," said Yoda. "Think twice, no one would, of what appeared to be a fellow Jedi going about their business."
"As for how no one sensed there was an intruder in the Temple, I think it's safe to say she has an ability that allows her to mask her presence in the Force, and given her penchant for disguises, that could prove to be trouble," said Obi-Wan.
"Moving on, once she was in the Archives, it seems she tried to access some restricted information, but she was able to use Master Nu's biometrics to bypass the block and-huh… that's interesting…" Adi continued before trailing off.
"What? What's interesting?" asked Anakin.
"Well, apart from the fact that she was the first Jedi to sense the intruder's presence when the intruder was all but invisible to the entire Temple, it seems that the intruder took an interest in your Padawan, Skywalker," said Adi. "Judging from the footage, after defeating her, the intruder used the Force to probe Padawan Tano's mind for something before she fled. Do you know of anything that your Padawan might know that would be of interest to anyone?"
"No, not off the top of my head," Anakin said honestly.
Obi-Wan hummed thoughtfully. "Perhaps our new friend sensed what had happened to Ahsoka during our, ah… detour to Mortis," he theorized.
Anakin caught on immediately. "You think she sensed the Daughter's power within Ahsoka," he said.
Plo Koon sighed. "While I have sensed that my old apprentice has indeed become far more powerful in the Light Side of the Force than any Jedi that I can recall, I am still not convinced that the events that supposedly transpired on this Mortis world are anything more than a powerful vision or dream from the Force," he said. "After all, neither Sith nor Jedi can restore life to a body once its spirit has become one with the Force."
Anakin and Obi-Wan glanced at each other. When they and Ahsoka had told the Council about what had happened on Mortis, while the Council did believe their story to a certain degree, they did not think it actually happened, but instead believed that the events of Mortis was instead a dream or a very powerful vision from the Force.
"Moving on," said Kit Fisto. "Do we know if the intruder deleted anything from the archives? Perhaps she was trying to conceal something she didn't want us to see."
Aayla shook her head. "No, it does not appear so. We've done a complete scan of the archive's base code and compared it to the data scan done two days ago. It's a complete match, and there's no indication of any code being tampered with or removed on any level," she said.
"Then, we can only conclude that she came here to gather information. But, that doesn't explain why she destroyed this terminal before leaving," said Shaak Ti.
"I believe I can answer that for you, general," a clone engineer said as he approached the gathered Jedi.
"What have you found, trooper?" asked Plo.
"Some very interesting things. From what we've found by examining the remains of the terminal, it seems the blast of energy caused by the terminal's detonation caused some minor damage to the surrounding systems, so to protect its information, the archives went into some kind of self-preservation state to secure all high-value data, meaning that the system prioritized its most valuable processes and dumped any unnecessary data so it could do a quick and immediate backup to other servers. In short, all recent search history and data inquiries for the past several days have been deleted," explained the clone.
"Meaning there's no way of knowing what the intruder called up or copied," Anakin concluded.
"Unfortunately yes, sir," the clone said.
"Well, that's one mystery solved," said Shaak Ti. "So, now what's the plan?"
"Close, the intruder is," said Yoda as he turned towards the other Jedi. "Pursue her now, we must, before the trail grows cold."
"I might be able to help you there as well, generals," the clone engineer said as he pressed his fingers to his ear piece. "It seems local security has found two dead bodies in an alleyway a few blocks from here, and several eyewitnesses say they saw a dark cloaked figure enter the same alley."
"Then act quickly, we must, before the intruder slips away again," said Yoda. "Skywalker, Kenobi, go now. Coordinate your efforts and keep track of your progress, we shall."
"I've also contacted Quinlan Vos and informed him of the situation. I'll have him meet you at the crime scene," said Plo Koon.
"Cautious, you must be," Yoda warned Obi-Wan and Anakin. "Powerful and cunning, our enemy is. Knows how our systems work, how the Jedi operate, she does. Underestimate her, do not. Now go, and may the Force be with you."
Obi-Wan and Anakin bowed respectfully to the head of the Jedi Council before they quickly departed for the temple hanger.
Warehouse District-Warehouse 1138421
Revan and Garik, after making their way through several alleyways and down several floors into the heart of Coruscant's Mid-District, stood in front of a large warehouse surrounded by a number of abandoned buildings.
"Thi-this is the place," Garik said, an obvious nervousness in his voice.
Revan looked up and down at the building. From what Garik had told her, he was part of a small spice smuggling operation, and they were about to make a shipment to someone named Hondo, a shipment that Revan had decided that she would relieve the smugglers of, in addition to their ship and their lives if necessary.
"How many more are inside? And don't try to lie to me. I can clearly sense other sentients inside the building," she said, a hint of menace in her voice.
"I-including the two you killed back there? There's about ten or eleven of us, including the boss. We're a relatively small crew," Garik said nervously.
Revan stared at the thug intently. "I believe you. Now, knock," she instructed.
Garik nodded and knocked on the door a couple times. A small eye hole in the door opened, revealing an Ithorian on the other side.
"About time you showed up," the Ithorian said in his native language. "Get in here, the boss is looking for you."
The minute the door opened, Revan grabbed the Ithorian and smashed his head against the permacrete in a specific spot that shattered his skull and sent shards of bone into his brain, killing the alien. Revan then turned her attention to Garik. "If you try to run and alert the authorities, you will die. You are to stay behind me, stay out of sight, and not get shot," she commanded.
Garik nodded quickly, knowing that this clearly insane Jedi could easily make good on her threats.
Revan entered the warehouse and took a look around, her mask providing information on the criminals inside as they went about their business, as well as the small, beat-up cargo freighter that sat in the middle of the hanger. As she drew closer, a Weequay nudged a human male who was more heavily armed than the rest of the thugs, who turned to face Revan.
"What the-?" the human, clearly the boss, said as he pulled out his blaster. "How'd you get in here?!"
"That does not concern you," said Revan. "That aside, I am commandeering this shipment and the ship that will be carrying it, and I would advise you not to get in my way."
The human boss laughed as the rest of his men drew their weapons and aimed them at Revan. "And I'd advise you to turn around and get outta here," he said.
Revan sighed as she reached for one of the lightsaber hilts on her belt. "You know, part of me had hoped we'd be able to settle this diplomatically, but it seems we'll just have to partake in some… aggressive negotiations…"
?
Ahsoka, onboard what seemed to be a large station of some kind once again, found herself talking to a slender young woman, a Mandalorian that had entered her early or mid-twenties by the look of her, with dark hair that had dark purple highlights, clad in a suit of dark armor that had a cape behind her and what seemed to be three lightsaber hilts, one of which had a peculiar design that was almost blaster-like in appearance, while the other seemed different in some other way, hanging from her belt, and a very ordinate-looking Mandalorian helmet under her arm.
"How are things with the Wren Clan, Sabine?" Ahsoka asked.
The Mandalorian, Sabine Wren, laughed. "They keep asking me for stories about my glorious adventures with the 'new guardians of the galaxy.' I swear, ever since I joined the Order and built the Duchess for Lord Revan's flagship, my clan and those who have sworn fealty to it have practically worshiped the ground I walk on, even before I became Mand'alore the Liberator…" she said before a sad look crossed her face. "I just wish Ezra was still here with me… then everything would be perfect."
"Well… that's actually the reason I wanted to talk with you," said Ahsoka. "I think I've found a lead on Ezra's whereabouts. And I was wondering if you'd like to come with me to investigate."
Jedi Temple-Medical Bay
Ahsoka awoke with a gasp, and the intense dream she had just experienced slowly drifted away, despite her best attempts to grasp it so that she could better understand what it was the Force was trying to tell her. Admittedly, she was never any good at that part of her training with the Force.
"Are you alright, Ahsoka?" a familiar voice asked from nearby. "You looked like you were having a bad dream."
Ahsoka turned to face the source of the familiar voice to find Barriss looking at her with concern. "Barriss?" Ahsoka asked, quickly realizing that she and Barriss had a two-person room in the temple's medical wing. "What happened?" she asked her best friend.
"Well, what's the last thing you remember?" asked Barriss.
"I remember… we fought the intruder, and she beat us-" Ahsoka said.
"Somehow, I think a more applicable term would be 'curb-stomped,' if I understand the phrase right," said Barriss, a look of frustration and guilt on her face. "Anything else?"
Ahsoka glanced up, feeling a similar guilt and frustration to her friend. "Well… you got knocked out first… then she disarmed me and… used the Force to probe my mind…"
"What in the world would prompt the intruder to do that?" Barriss asked, confused.
"I don't know, but she seemed interested in that… dream… I had about Mortis…" said Ahsoka.
"The one where you got poisoned with the Dark Side, died, and were brought back to life with the life energy of a Light Side deity, right?" asked Barriss.
"Yeah… what else was there…" Ahsoka said. "When I accused her of stealing information from the archives, she said 'one cannot steal what already belongs to them.' And the weird thing is… it didn't feel like she was lying."
Barriss hummed thoughtfully. "Well, from what I've heard, most of the Jedi in the temple couldn't sense her presence until it was too late, so I think it would be fairly safe to assume that talent extends to her ability to lie," she said.
"Yeah… I guess you might be right…" said Ahsoka. However, in truth, the Togruta was not entirely convinced. Something about this whole thing felt wrong somehow. It felt like she only held a few small pieces of a massive puzzle, and there was something in her mind that was urging her to find the rest.
Before the two Padawans could continue their discussion, however, the door into their room opened with a hiss, and through it came Master Yoda, walking slowly with his cane.
"Master Yoda," the two Padawans said as they instinctively began to get up to bow in respect, however Yoda gestured for them to remain seated.
"Please. Sit," Yoda said as he climbed up onto the counter across from the two Padawans. "How feel you two?"
"The medical droid told me that Ahsoka and I only had minor injuries, nothing serious or broken," said Barriss.
"Good. Good," said Yoda. "Hearing you are well, brings warm feelings to my heart. Very brave, it was, to protect the Jedi Archives. But, now, questions, I have for you two. Know more about the attacker, we must."
The two Padawans glanced at each other before Ahsoka spoke.
"She said… her name was Revan."
Coruscant-Upper Streets
While the storm that had been raging overhead had long since died down, the dark clouds overhead did an adequate job of reflecting the current mood of Anakin. After all, this was his third crime scene caused by the same culprit today, and it was becoming very tiresome and increasingly irritating.
The Jedi and a squad of Clone Troopers stood over two partially open body bags, one containing the body of a Rodian, while the other held the body of a Bith, both bodies having burn marks on their heads.
"Looks like blaster fire, point-blank range. From the looks of things, this might not be our suspect," a Clone Trooper said.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that, trooper," said Anakin as he looked at the bodies. "What kind of common alley fight ends with two dead bodies in almost the exact same spot with wounds on the sides of their heads from point-blank blaster fire? No, I think something else killed these guys."
"You've caught an unusual scent, as per usual, my apprentice," said Obi-Wan as he entered the alley from the street. "I just spoke with some witnesses. According to them, a dark robed figure entered the alley, followed by the Rodian and Bith shortly afterward. A few moments later, they heard screaming and yelling, followed by blaster fire, at which point they contacted local security."
"Combine that with surveillance footage taken from a nearby store's security camera," Obi-Wan continued as he held up a hologram of a familiar hooded figure entering the alleyway. "And I'd say we have our suspect."
Anakin's mechanical fist tightened subtly as he looked at the hologram. "Too bad she didn't leave us a trail to follow," he said.
"I believe I can help with that, Skywalker!" a loud and enthusiastic voice said from nearby, causing Anakin and Obi-Wan to turn towards the source of the voice to find Quinlan Vos heading toward them.
"Kenobi! Long time no see!" Vos said, giving Obi-Wan a friendly punch on the arm.
Obi-Wan sighed and rubbed his arm. "Yes, good to see you too, Vos," he said.
Anakin smiled slightly and chuckled at the exchange before getting serious again. "We really need your help with this one, Vos. We've got a dangerous target on the loose and she's getting away," he said.
"So I hear," said Vos as he moved over the two bodies, knelt down, placed his palm on the pavement, closing his eyes as he concentrated. After a few moments, he opened his eyes. "I got her…and…" he said as he stood up. "She's not alone. She's got a man with her."
"There's been no report of this woman having a partner," said Obi-Wan.
"Then perhaps the other person is a hostage. Either way, two bodies to track are better than one," said Anakin. "Lead the way, Vos."
Coruscant Lower Levels- A Short Time Later
Vos, Anakin, and Obi-Wan made their way quickly down several back alleys, taking twists and turns seemingly at random through the maze-like section of the district. Eventually, the three Jedi came to a halt as Vos knelt down and closed his eyes. Obi-Wan was thankful for the small rest, it seemed he had not run this continually for quite a while. He made a note to get back to general exercise when he had the chance. War kept one fit and in shape for the most part, but it didn't always cover everything.
Obi-Wan soon realized that Vos was taking a lot longer than the last time he had when he had first started tracking their target. "Is everything alright?" he asked.
Vos did not respond for a moment but finally said. "It's strange...the closer we get to this woman...the harder it is for me to track her…" he said.
"That sounds very similar to the issues we've been having," said Anakin. "Even when she was going through the temple and was surrounded by Jedi, she was practically invisible to us."
"Indeed. It seems she has a way to mask her presence in the Force, making her quite the dangerous adversary for us. We should proceed with caution if you believe we are close," said Obi-Wan.
Vos stood up and nodded at Kenobi before running forward again.
Meanwhile…
Revan could not help but curse the luck she had been having today. While dispatching the smugglers had been laughably easy, it turned out that the freighter's hyperdrive had taken a bit of damage, and was in desperate need of repairs… and Revan had killed the mechanic.
So, while Garik finished loading up the spice for delivery to this Hondo person, Revan worked on patching up the freighter's hyperdrive. Unfortunately, while she had once been skilled enough to construct an unsurpassable assassin droid with a box of scraps, the Dantooine Jedi Council's questionable choice to destroy her original identity with the Force and remold her into Jade Vaner, Republic Soldier extraordinaire, had done some considerable damage to her skills. As a result, while Revan's repair job was passable, it was something of a hack job.
In all honesty, it really made her miss T3…
"All right, she's all loaded!" Garik called from outside the ship.
Revan made her way out of the cramped section of the ship and made her way towards where Garik stood in front of a semi-organized stack of crates filled to the brim with spice. In all honesty, while Revan still had a small fortune in credits, she had absolutely no idea how much a halfway decent ship was going for in this era. For that matter, Revan didn't even know what the exchange rates of spice were on the black market, or even what the quality of the spice was.
"Say, Garik," said Revan. "How much do you estimate all this spice is worth?"
"I… honestly don't know," Garik admitted. "I think the boss said three hundred thousand credits for the lot."
Revan smirked underneath her mask. That amount would be more than sufficient enough to buy a decent ship and keep her identity hidden. A decent bargaining chip for where she was likely to end up, unless of course she had to get violent again.
"Good. Very good," said Revan. "Go warm the ship up, pick a deity, and pray to them that the hyperdrive doesn't kill us both. I had to shut down the main reactor in order to patch up the hyperdrive, so it will take some time for the ship to be ready to fly. Let me know immediately if-"
Revan stopped short as something pinged on her Jedi senses, causing Garik to look at her in confusion. "Let you know immediately if…?" he said, confused.
Revan growled in frustration. "Just get the ship ready to fly. We might need a quick exit," she said as she marched over to the hangar bay door controls and quickly got to work opening them while Garik headed for the cockpit of the ship.
All right, then. Let's see what passes for a proper Jedi in this era… thought Revan as she checked over her gear and began to make preparations for the confrontation that was fast approaching.
A Few Moments Later…
Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Vos entered the warehouse and stopped dead in their tracks, finding the ground littered with the bodies of what appeared to be smugglers of some sort, just as a voice rang out from nearby.
"Hello there, master Jedi! And welcome!" said the hooded figure that the Jedi and Republic had been pursuing so doggedly for most of the day, who was standing on top of a large stack of containers and canisters reaching about fifteen to twenty feet in height. "Sorry about the mess, but you came by so quickly I haven't had time to clean up."
"We do apologize for dropping by unannounced," said Obi-Wan. "We'll be sure to call ahead next time."
Revan couldn't help but smirk beneath her mask at the bearded Master's snarky response. Could it be? Had the pseudo-pacifists known as the Jedi Order actually learned not to shove so many sticks up their asses?
"Surrender, terrorist!" snarled Vos as he activated his bright green lightsaber. "You have nowhere to run, and the full might of the Jedi Order and the Republic is about to come crashing down around you!"
"And I promise you," said Anakin as he activated his own blue lightsaber. "We're gonna make you pay for all the people you've hurt today."
Revan frowned beneath her mask. And just like that, the stick goes right back in, she thought bitterly.
"I'm afraid I have to agree with my friend and apprentice on this one," Obi-Wan said as he too activated his blue lightsaber. "You are about to be completely surrounded. If you come quietly, I promise no harm will come to you."
Revan said nothing for a moment before she finally spoke up again. "I must admit, I am sorely tempted to accept that offer. But, first and foremost, it hardly seems fair to agree to something like that without knowing who I'm dealing with," she said.
"Fair enough," said Obi-Wan. "My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi. This is my apprentice, Anakin Skywalker-" Obi-Wan continued, indicating Anakin, who nodded curtly. "-and Quinlan Vos, who is helping us with our investigation." Obi-Wan finished, indicating Vos, who was looking as though he was getting increasingly impatient.
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Master Kenobi," Revan said with a respectful bow, something that took Anakin and Obi-Wan by surprise, having not expected such respect from their adversary. "My name is Revan-"
"Arrgh, she's just stalling for time, and I don't intend on finding out for what!" bellowed Vos as he leapt at Revan, his lightsaber poised to strike, ignoring Obi-Wan's call for him to stop.
Without so much as batting a concealed eye, Revan grabbed hold of Vos with the Force and slammed him into the edge of an overhead walkway, knocking the tracker out cold for the time being.
"Protip: the high ground always beats reckless idiots with a lightsaber, no matter how powerful they think they are," said Revan as she looked back at Obi-Wan and Anakin.
"I'll make a note of that," said Obi-Wan.
"Good. However… I do regret that it has come to this. I really was enjoying our conversation Master Kenobi," said Revan as she jumped down from her stack of crates, one of her lightsabers flying into her hands as she landed firmly on her feet, a crimson blade emerging from the hilt.
OST: DARTH REVAN BOSS THEME (STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC)
As the three combatants stood facing each other, Revan quickly analyzed the lightsaber combat starting stances that the two Jedi had taken.
Hmm, so the boy is a Djem So stylist. Appropriate, considering the immense if unstable power I sense coming from him, but it lacks mobility, thought Revan as she observed Anakin before she turned her attention to Obi-Wan. And his Master is a Soresu stylist, so no catching him off guard or easy tricks… this should be interesting, even if it doesn't pose much of a challenge.
Almost as soon as Revan had finished analyzing her opponents, Anakin made the first strike, and was blocked by Revan's lightsaber before being shoved away with the Force.
Back and forth, two blades of blue clashed with the single blade of red. As the fight continued to progress, Obi-Wan couldn't help but be impressed by Revan's swordsmanship, her raw power, pure speed and overall finesse were proving to be quite the hurdle for both him and Anakin to overcome, all three of the calculating and experience fighters absolutely refusing to give no ground.
A loud yell suddenly cut through the air, forcing Revan to turn around and pull her second lightsaber into her hand to block a surprise attack from a recently awoken Quinlan Vos, before kicking the Jedi in the stomach, sending him backwards.
As the three Jedi began to encircle Revan, the former Dark Lord of the Sith closed her eyes and reached out with her mind to check on Garik's progress, and found that the ship was just about ready to take off. The time for playing around and holding back was over. Now, it was time to end this fight decisively.
Revan's eyes flew open, and a mighty wave surged out from her, cracking the ground beneath her feet and sending the three Jedi stumbling back before Vos tried to charge Revan again, but before he could make it even halfway to her, Revan unleashed a tremendous blast of Force Lightning that actually managed to overload Vos' lightsaber, causing it to detonate and mangle his hand.
The pain that Quinlan Vos felt as lightning poured into him was unlike anything he had ever felt before. His skin instantly started to burn and scar as he cried out in sheer agony, lightning arcing out of his body as Revan used the lightning to slam Vos into various walls before discarding him like trash while Anakin and Obi-Wan, who were frozen like deer caught in a speeder's headlights, as they could now fully sense Revan.
From Obi-Wan's perspective, it was like he was staring at the beating heart of the Force itself. There could be no doubt about it. Revan wasn't simply powerful. She was power. And the thought that Anakin could become this powerful… actually scared him to the point that he couldn't help but freeze with fear.
A moment later, Obi-Wan realized that it wasn't fear that was holding him in place. He actually was being held in place by some sort of stasis field, as was Anakin, save for his cybernetic arm, which was currently trying to grab hold of something with the Force to no avail.
"I believe this concludes our business for now gentlemen. Good-bye," Revan said as she turned on her heel and boarded her ship.
As she made her way up to the cockpit, Garik couldn't help but stare as Revan took the co-pilot's seat, until that is, Revan cleared her throat, forcing Garik to return his focus to flying, and the ship took off into the air.
Revan turned towards Garik. "You know, Garik… you never did tell me your full name," she said.
"Oh, um, it's Rand, ma'am. Garik Rand," replied Garik, nervousness and fear in his voice.
"Garik Rand…" Revan said thoughtfully. "Huh…"
Meanwhile, at the Jedi Temple…
Yoda tightly gripped his walking stick as he looked out from one of the temple balconies. While the elderly Jedi Master had been skeptical at first as to the identity of the Temple intruder when Padawan Tano had given her testimony about what had happened in the Archives, the massive surge of power within the Force had left little doubt about what they were dealing with.
As impossible as it may have seemed, the greatest hero and the worst villain in the history of the galaxy had somehow returned from the netherworld of the Force, and now, even if the Republic triumphed over the Separatists, the fate of the galaxy would remain in the balance as long as this new potential threat's motives remained in question. The Jedi needed to find her and bring her in as soon as possible and solve the mysteries as to how she had seemingly acquired the power to travel through time itself, why she had come to this era, and what side she was on.
However, what Yoda did know was that one thing was for certain.
"Returned, the Prodigal Knight has…"
Meanwhile, at Chancellor Palpatine's Office…
Palpatine closed his eyes as he leaned back in his chair. Today had been a very long, tiring, and chaotic day. While his office had been put back together fairly quickly and his window had been replaced, it didn't change the fact that the incident had caused him a variety of problems, the fact that he had been saddled with a pair of Jedi babysitters being the least of his worries.
Local security had found trace soil from the intruder's boots that didn't match with any planet in the Republic's database, but Palpatine's private investigation had revealed that the soil had come from the planet Exegol, an ancient Sith world tucked into the depths of the Unknown Regions, which was already trouble on its own, as with the Clone Wars in full swing, the last thing he needed was to get roped into a power struggle with a rogue Sith faction, not to mention that would make the Jedi even more paranoid than they already were, especially Master Windu.
Palpatine's eyes opened as his office terminal pinged with a message that bore Count Dooku's insignia.
Finally, some good news, thought Palpatine as he opened the message… only for his face to fall when he saw the contents of the message. In it were two images. One was a shot from the footage of the intruder's sudden and violent appearance in which the intruder was looking directly at the camera, the other was from his personal archive.
They were nearly identical.
Beneath the image from Palpatine's archives was a name and a title belonging to a Sith Lord that Palpatine held great admiration and respect for, the teachings of whom helped make Palpatine into the man he was today.
Darth Revan, the Lord of Revenge.
And that's a bingo! If you guys liked what you saw here, then be sure to fave, follow, review, and join us next time as Revan and Garik make their delivery, and the Jedi discuss what to do about Revan's return! See you then!