Talvon stood on the bridge of the Commandant, his new personal command ship. Next to him stood Meetra, who was in charge of the entire operation. Their fleet was massive and the planet of Malachor V was dark and storm covered below them. Throughout the planet, the emitters for the mass shadow generator had been placed. Now, all they had to do was wait for the Mandalorians to take the bait and engage them. "What do you think about this, Talvon?" asked Meetra, startling him out of his revelries.

He turned to her curiously. "About what, Meetra?"

"About this - sacrificing good men and women using a terrible weapon, all in the name of an easy victory."

Talvon looked at her with a frown. "Easy victory? Meetra, this kind of sacrifice is anything but easy. We are doing what we must to save future lives and, possibly, prepare for the future."

"Prepare for the future?" asked Meetra, her voice suddenly guarded. "What do you mean by that?"

Talvon was silent before he turned to her and said gravely, "Until this battle is over, until Revan brings it up himself, please don't ask me that, Meetra. We need to focus on the task at hand and I said something that I should have kept quiet."

The younger woman studied him quietly before looking away and saying, "As you will. I still don't know how I feel about this."

With a kind smile, Tavon placed a gloved hand on her shoulder. "Meetra, I know this is hard. I know that this is a terrible situation. But if you cannot give this order when the time comes, we will go on to lose five, ten or even a hundred times as many soldiers that we would otherwise and who knows how many more innocent and peaceful worlds would be ravaged by the Mandalorian war machine. Keep that in mind. Only you can give this final order. When the time comes, it will be completely up to you."

Meetra met his eyes and gave a firm nod. With another kind smile, Talvon gave her shoulder a squeeze before straightening. "The enemy will be here soon. Are you ready, General Surik?"

Meetra pulled an elastic band from her wrist and put her hair in a tail before saying, "Send out a final check of all ships, General Esan and once they are clear, sound the call to battle stations and send all pilots to their fighters."

Glad to see her confidence restored, Talvon replied resolutely, "As you command, General;" and he hurried to follow her orders.

The checks were finished and the last pilot got to their fighter mere minutes before a massive Mandalorian fleet dropped out of hyperspace. It was huge and made to split the difference between the Republic ground forces and the Republic fleet - just as Revan knew that they would. Immediately, all fighters launched and so did a single shuttle. The shuttle was missed by everyone as the Master aboard deflected the interest of every fighter pilot. Basilisk war droids, not taking the unarmed shuttle into consideration, ignored it as well. Whenever Revan sensed that a gunner, pilot or sensor officer detected the shuttle, he invaded the mind and forced it to find something else of interest.

From the bridge, Meetra watched as the tiny shuttle landed on the Mandalorian flagship. Turning, she hustled over to the comms station and keyed over to the stripped down Hammer-head cruiser. Bao-Dur had turned it into the mass shadow generator's control ship. It was surrounded by ships and well protected. "Tech sergeant;" said Meetra, "alert me immediately at the best opportunity to activate the mass shadow weapon."

"Of course, General. It should only be another ten minutes unless the Mandos try something;" replied the burly Zabrak soldier with a salute. He looked paler than he had before. Perhaps the seriousness of the situation was weighing on him as much as it was her.

Talvon watched as the general of the Republic's forces at the moment nodded in satisfaction. "Good work, Bao-Dur; the battle will be over and so will the war, thanks in no small part to your genius."

Talvon smiled. That was Meetra's MO. She would always encourage others, make them aware of how important their parts of the plan were. It was a huge part of her charisma and it was quite possibly the main reason that so many followed Revan and also probably a great reason why the Jedi Council had not directly opposed Revan, electing instead to allow him to do as he felt was right while publicly condemning him.

Turning back to the enemy fleet, Talvon watched grimly. Clouds of enemy fighters and basilisk war droids were attempting to swarm the ships but the Republic's fighters were making sure that it didn't go all their way. According to Bao-Dur, all Mando ships but the furthest from the planet would be in range of the mass shadow generator. Mandalore's flagship was out of range. Unfortunately, there were a number of Republic ships within the range of the weapon.

Talvon watched and it became clear that the Mandalorians were in the battle for blood and victory and they were fighting with a ferocity that the Republic hadn't seen from them in decades - not since the Great Sith War against Exar Kun. It quickly became clear that the Republic needed to act and act quickly. Mandalorians were landing and attacking their forces below.

Meetra stood monitoring the situation, waiting on the orders from her Master. Suddenly, she whipped around, fear in her eyes. "Talvon, where is Xaset?"

Talvon hurried to the comms. "Commander Terep, what is your location?"

It was almost a minute before he replied, "I skirting just above the atmosphere."

"Bring your squadron about and come to the following coordinates;" ordered Talvon, feeling a twinge of guilt. Why did he have a right to save his friend when so any others would die?

Shoving that dark thought aside, he waited for Xaset's confirmation. When the comms unit went off again, it wasn't Xaset. It was Revan. "Prime the mass shadow weapon, General Surik;" he commanded as he slashed aside an unseen enemy with his lightsaber. "When I give the word, activate it."

"Of course, Master;" answered Meetra calmly. As soon as he signed out, she ran to the comms and keyed it, "Commander, this is General Surik, what's your status?"

"I'm being pursued by a group of basilisk war droids and they seem determined to keep me low along the planet. I'm trying to shake them but they aren't making it easy."

"Xaset, you need to hurry and get out of the planet's gravity well!" ordered Meetra anxiously.

Wisely, Xaset didn't question why. He simply replied, "Alright, I'm heading up."

They couldn't identify his fighter among the hundreds that were swarming around. The communication was interrupted as Revan commed in. "The time has come, General. Activate the weapon and end this battle. I have just made it to the bridge of the flagship. I want Mandalore to watch his fleet die and I want to see him do it."

"It will be done, Master;" said Meetra, her voice trembling.

Taking it to mean that she was nervous, Revan said, "I know that this is hard, Meetra but the ends will justify our actions. Millions if not billions will be saved."

"Of course, Master. I will contact Bao-Dur immediately. May the force be with you, Master."

Revan nodded. "May the force be with us all;" and he signed off.

Immediately, they changed frequencies again. "Xaset?"

"I'll be clear in seconds;" he said, "almost..."

Their hearts beat loudly as Meetra used a second terminal to comm over to Bao-Dur. The burly Zabrak stood at attention. "The weapon is primed and ready, General."

"Hold for just a few more moments, Bao-Dur;" said Meetra.

Suddenly, outside the viewport, something was happening. The Mandalorian ships were attempting to get out of the planets gravitational pull. Everything seemed to slow. Seconds stretched to hours. Finally, Xaset said, "I'm clear of the gravity well."

Meetra sighed with relief and said, "Fire, Bao-Dur."

The Zabrak saluted, tapped on a command console and said, "Firing now, General;"

With the final pull of a lever, they all turned to face the viewport.

The scene that greeted them went from chaotic and anxious to horrifying. Hundreds of ships suddenly jolted and began to sink towards a planet whose atmosphere was suddenly visibly turbulent. Cruisers, dreadnoughts, corvettes, frigates, fighters and gunships suddenly were yanked downward. It was bad enough to witness. But then, the Jedi felt it. They felt the deaths of billions as the impact from the orbiting ships smashing into the planet's surface caused the crust to fracture. The entire planet died and every single Jedi felt it. But no one felt it as strongly as Meetra Surik.

The Jedi general collapsed, screaming in pain as she felt every soldier and every Jedi and every Mandalorian die aboard the ships or on the planet below. Her empathy with living, sentient beings caused her to feel it much, much more strongly than other Jedi. When it became too much, she forcefully shut it out - shut all of it out! She shut out the screams, the suffering, the very force itself, she shut out. Even so, the effort was too much and she passed into absolute unconsciousness.

Talvon, though he didn't feel it as strongly as Meetra had, still felt the death of the world. It was as if millions of living things were screaming in his ears. The pain was excruciating and it wasn't short. When the screaming and dying finally subsided, a full half hour had passed. Immediately, he got to the comms. "All ships and wing commanders report in. NOW!"

One by one, every ship in the fleet that had survived and every fighter commander reported. Those who were Jedi sounded slurred or sobbed as they did. Xaset sounded emotionless as if he was in shock. Ninety percent of the Mandalorian fleet had been yanked into the planet below and at least forty percent of the Republic fleet went with it. Talvon's stomach lurched and he was forced to hurry to a waste receptacle before spewing the contents of his stomach into it. "Water;" he croaked.

One of the other Jedi ran up with a canteen and gave it to him. First, Talvon rinsed his mouth our before taking several mouthfuls. The water itself was nearly enough to make him wretch again but he composed himself and went back to the comms unit. "Master Revan, this is General Talvon Esan - General Surik is incapacitated. What are your orders?"

It was some time before the strained voice of the master replied, "Stand down. This conflict will be over in moments."

Talvon nodded and turned to see a pair of corpsmen lifting his young friend onto a hover stretcher. "Monitor the general carefully;" said Talvon gravely before turning back to the comms officer. "Recall all fighters. As soon as Commander Terep lands, send him to the medbay. I will meet him there. Unless it is an emergency or new orders from the Master, do not disturb me."

Talvon had fallen asleep beside Meetra before Xaset arrived. The younger Jedi Knight was holding her hand when Talvon woke. "How are you, Xaset?"

"I'm... I'm not sure, Talvon. What we did, as necessary as it was, it was terrible. Only the knowledge that we saved untold billions if not trillions is enough for me to remain sane. But something's wrong with Meetra. I - I can't sense her."

Talvon frowned and reached out. To his horror, he found that Xaset was right. It wasn't only as if she was a being who was not sensitive to the force. It was as if Meetra Surik had been wrenched completely from natural life itself and yet, there she lay - still breathing on her own and comatose. Xaset looked as though he were on the verge of panic. "Talvon, what's wrong with her?"

But the older Jedi Knight could only shake his head. "I don't know, Xaset. I truly don't."

They remained silent as they sat there for hours, not knowing what time was passing or the events around them. It wasn't until Revan and Malak strode in. The Master hurried over and knelt down, removing his mask. "How is she, Talvon?"

Talvon sighed tiredly and rubbed his soar temples. "She's alive but comatose. We don't know what happened, Master, but the mass shadow generator-" but he couldn't speak of it.

The event and the mere thought of it caused his gorge to rise. Swallowing hard, he managed to croak out, "It effected her worse than any other Jedi. I don't know what happened or how but whatever pain it caused us, it was amplified in her."

Revan was silent for several long moments before he whispered hoarsely, "I did not expect this. I had no idea that the death would cause this to any of us. It nearly cost Malak and I our lives aboard Mandalore's flagship."

"What of Mandalore, Master? What has happened and what is happening?"

For some time, Revan was silent. With a sigh, he stood and turned to Xaset. "Stay with her, my young friend. Talvon, you must come with Malak and I. There is something we need to discuss. I fear that this war was but a probe against the Republic and a blitz assault to weaken it."

Talvon followed silently. "Master, when you reached out to her, did you-"

"No, I didn't sense her either. I fear that, in order to shield herself, Meetra cut herself completely off from the force."

Talvon was stunned to silence. "But - but it isn't permanent, is it? She can reestablish her connection to the force when she wakes, can't she?"

Revan nodded very slowly. "Yes, I think so. She will need to relearn many of her skills. Now come; we can discuss this later. At the moment, there is something very important we must discuss."

They entered a large conference room. Only a few Jedi were actually present. Others attended via holo communications. When they were all silent, Revan announced, "We have won, Revanchist Crusaders. The Mandalorians are defeated. I myself have taken the mask of Mandalore and our forces are, even as we speak here, disarming the Mandalorians. But I am afraid that our work is only temporarily finished, my Jedi. The Mandalorians were only a probe and an attack to weaken the Republic for the real offensive against us. We know that the main body of the Jedi Order will not act in the defense of the people of the Republic. I'm afraid it is still up to us. Therefore, Malak and I will be leaving for the Unknown Regions very soon, searching out this true threat - the threat of the Sith Empire."

There were a great many gasps and hisses after that. "A Dark Lord of the Sith engaged Mandalore and goaded him to make the attacks on the Republic. Now that the Mandalorians are humbled, we must turn our focus to the Sith. As I said, Malak and I will be leaving but first, I will have instructions for each of you. They will be given to you in privacy."

For a long moment he was silent before he removed his mask again. Revan's dark eyes and dark hair were framed by the hood if his black robe. "Any who wish to return to the Jedi Order, I will not hold it against you. You must do what you feel is right as I have. No one will judge you or hate you. Many of our soldiers will be returning home soon to be discharged after their noble service. You may go with them. In ten days time, by galactic standard time, we will see where we stand and those who wish to stay, we will go to a more wholesome place int he galaxy and, from there, will lay our plans for the Republic's defense."

Ten days later, the fleet had only shrunk marginally and the majority of the Jedi were still there. The fleet jumped to a location in the deep core over a world known as Lehon. It did not exist in the records of either the Jedi or the Republic. The planet itself was of little consequence. The primary reason they had gone there was because of the massive space station that was very close to the system's sun. Revan explained that it was an ancient relic known as the Star Forge. It was build by an ancient species called the Rakata. When he had found it, it had been abandoned and shut down, simply floating in the near orbit of the sun. He had found a way to activate it but had not done so yet, instead simply electing to use it as a hidden base of operations. From there, Revan gave a short farewell speech. "We will return and, if the force wills it, we will not need to prepare for an attack from the Sith. However, it is more likely that we will need to activate this facility and contact the Republic, informing them of the situation and begging the Jedi to take action, futile as that may be. In the mean time, you have your orders and instructions. May the force be with you all."

"And may the force be with you, Masters;" replied Talvon, loudly enough for all to hear and murmur in agreement.

His instruction had been to build an academy and that is what he would do. He already had a planet selected for construction and had over a dozen force sensitive youths and young adults waiting for him. Before any of that could be done, however, there was one thing to take care of.

Very shortly after Revan and Malak departed for regions unknown, Meetra Surik woke.

Talvon lifted a hand and knocked on the door to her quarters. "Come in;" came the quiet call.

He entered and smiled at his young friend. Meetra was packing. "I guess Xaset couldn't convince you to stay, then."

Meetra shook her head with a sad smile of her own. "I'm of no use to Revan now. All I have is my lightsaber. We have all been summoned to answer for what happened at Malachor V and perhaps at least one of us should go."

They were both silent for several long moments. "Xaset will be taking me back. I'm not sure if he told you."

Talvon smiled and walked around the bed to hug her. "He did, Meetra. Whatever the force has in store for you, I hope that it stays with you and watches over you. Take care of yourself."

Meetra buried her face in his chest and she was shivering. All the facades of confidence and calm dropped. "Talvon, I'm scared. I've never been without the force. It's as if I'm blind. It's as if I could once hear, see, feel, taste and smell and now, I am completely without senses. I feel exposed and weak. I don't know what to do."

"Revan said that he could help you get your connection back. Perhaps I could too. You always seemed to respond to my instructions positively."

Meetra didn't respond; she simply clung to the man who had become as an older brother to her and as a teacher and a dear friend. Finally, she stepped back, took a deep breath and wiped her face and her eyes. "Even if I was still a Jedi, I couldn't stay. After everything that happened, after Malachor-" and she shook her head, fresh tears rising to her eyes. "I just couldn't serve anymore. I've lost faith in the Revanchist Crusaders and their mission."

Talvon nodded. Even though he firmly disagreed with her, the extent to which she had suffered was reason enough for him to let her go without objecting too strenuously. "Goodbye, my friend and may the force be with you."

Meetra smiled and bowed. "And with you, Master Jedi."

Updated 10/16/2018