The Ebon Hawk Part 6
"Long story short, Canderous, I need a drink" Revan told him, using the Force to pull the mugs and the Tarisian Ale to him.
"Well, you came to the right place, Revan. I am always up for a game of drink" Canderous told him. Revan filled the two mugs up to the top and slid one to the Mandalorian.
"Cheers to the hypocrites of the Jedi Council" Revan said, raising his mug and drinking his Tarisian Ale.
"So, the great General Surik is on this mission as well" Canderous commented when he lowered his mug.
"Yeah, I was really surprised when I found out the truth" Revan told him.
"We have a very strong group with us for this adventure. A Republic Commander, a wookiee, a teenage smuggler, a Mandalorian, two Jedi, General Meetra Surik, and the Revanchist himself" Canderous mentioned casually, almost chuckling at their fortune.
"You're right, but I need to think of the best way to use all of us to complete our goal. I don't want to have just 3 of us doing something while the others are just sitting on the ship twiddling their thumbs" Revan told him.
"So, you came to me to get help for what we will end up doing tactically?" Canderous asked.
"Yeah, I'm thinking about splitting us up into groups of three or four maybe, but I'm wondering if we should split up between the four planets or stay on one but split up on that one planet and work on our own so we can find the Star Map on each planet faster. Do you understand what I mean?" Revan asked.
"Yeah" Canderous muttered, musing slightly.
"Making this decision when drunk makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?" Revan asked sarcastically, taking another drink of his ale.
"Good point, but nobody is complaining yet" Canderous told him.
"True, so do you have an idea on what to do?" Revan asked.
"We should all stay on one planet, it wouldn't be smart to split us up that much, because it would lead to the problem that we had in the Mandalorian Wars. I remember when you separated our fleet into five parts and picked us off, defeating one fleet at a time, never giving us enough time to regroup. You left each part of our fleet decimated, and then you let the whole fleet come back together, only to push us to Malachor V, where you dealt the final blow" Canderous said, taking the bottle of Tarisian Ale and pouring himself another mug full.
"I remember how tough it was to make the decision to do that. I knew that that one move would either win us the war, or we would lose the war as a result of it. The future of the Republic, the galaxy as a whole, was resting in my hands" Revan told him, taking a drink from his newly refilled mug of Tarisian Ale.
"There is no use making the mistake that Mandalore made" Canderous told him.
"We'll make a decision for groups on every planet. The groups all depend on the planet itself, I think" Revan decided.
"Sounds like a plan to me, Revan" Canderous agreed.
"Thanks for the help, Canderous. To a good mission" Revan said, clasping mugs with Canderous and downing the rest of his drink.
When the Tarisian Ale was gone, Revan stood up and walked to see Sarna sitting in the corner, away from everybody else. Most everybody else was in one of the three refreshers on the Ebon Hawk or in their rooms, but Sarna was sitting in a corner. Confused, Revan walked over and kneeled down next to her.
"So, can I sit next to you or do I get to continue killing my knees by sitting in this terrible position?" Revan asked. Sarna chuckled and moved to let him sit down.
"This feels so much better!" Revan exclaimed, stretching out over-dramatically before stopping to look at her.
"Why are you sitting alone?" Revan asked casually, though he was genuinely confused.
"I'm not too comfortable with anybody on this crew. Just a week ago, I was fighting them, and now, I am here to help you defeat Malak and the same Sith that I swore my life to serve" Sarna told him.
"So, you are just going to sit in the corner and be alone the whole trip? You have to try to talk to somebody" Revan told her, almost condescendingly.
"I don't have any problem with talking to you" Sarna said shyly, looking anywhere but at the reformed Sith Lord in front of her.
"I won't always be able to talk, Sarna. I will be on the planet searching for the Star Map, so I will be pretty busy when on planet. Don't worry though; I will still talk to you when we are flying from planet to planet. That won't change" Revan promised her.
"What should I do when on planet then?" Sarna asked.
"Try talking to Canderous. He always has something fun to talk about" Revan said, chuckling slightly in remembrance.
"Alright, Revan, I'll take your word for it" Sarna agreed, though it was pretty obvious that she was not enjoying it.
Knowing that Sarna would not want to hear any more on the matter, Revan stood up and walked off.
"Well, I might as well talk to everybody before we get to Tatooine" Revan muttered. At that, he sighed deeply before he walked off to the cockpit, where one Republic enthusiast was sure to be waiting for him.
Revan plopped down into the co-pilot's seat, putting his feet up before looking at Carth.
"Carth, I need to talk to you" Revan told him.
"Alright, Avner, what do you need to talk about?" Carth asked.
"On Taris, you mentioned that you compared me to Saul Karath. Why?" Revan asked.
Revan and Carth were walking through the Upper City, back to their apartment after a long night at the Cantina. They were just walking back when Revan suddenly broke the tense silence.
"So, you mentioned something about Saul Karath" Revan started, seeing Carth groan in disbelief.
"I already told you that I don't want to discuss this" Carth exclaimed indignantly.
"Yeah, well I'm bored so spit it out" Revan told him.
"Cute, Avner. Really cute, but still not cute enough to make me tell you" Carth snapped.
"Oh, well I am not going to let up on this, so just start talking already!" Revan shouted.
"Fine, do you want to know what bothers me the most? It is how the most iconic people always end up being the worst kind of people in the end. Those people always end up betraying you" Carth told him.
"Saul Karath?" Revan asked.
"To me, Saul Karath was just as bad as Revan" Carth whispered, making it clear that it was the end of the discussion. And this time, Revan did not protest Carth's desire for silence on the matter.
"Yeah, I remember this. I stand by what I said" Carth told him.
"But why compare me to him? Saul Karath and I left the Republic in two very different situations. While we both hurt the Republic morally, I can't see any other similarities" Revan told him.
"The big similarity is that Saul Karath's betrayal hurt me just as much as yours hurt the Republic. Saul Karath's betrayal was not as hurtful to the Republic as yours, but in my mind, it was even worse" Carth told him.
"Why?" Revan asked.
"I've only told one person this before" Carth whispered. Revan pursed his lips in acknowledgement at the hidden proclamation.
"That's alright, Carth. You don't need to say anything about it if you don't want to" Revan told him.
"It's not that I don't want to. It's just that I can't say it now. Give me some time" Carth promised. Revan nodded and went off to continue his trek to the other members of the crew.
When he found Juhani, she was standing in a small room off to the side of the main hold of the Ebon Hawk, almost like she was meditating while standing on one foot.
Debating with himself for no more than five seconds, Revan walked over to her and stood in front of her, waiting until she acknowledged him.
"How may I help you, Revan?" Juhani asked.
"I just wanted to know how you are doing now after your brush with the dark side. I know that sometimes, many times, things like that can be very tough for Jedi, and I don't want anything like that to hinder your performance on this mission" Revan told her.
"I will do all that I can to assist you, Revan" Juhani promised.
"Good, because the more that you do, reduces what I have to do, and doing work is definitely not my forte" Revan joked.
"You are the man who saved the Republic from the brink of defeat against the Mandalorians. That had to be hard work for you to do" Juhani told him.
"See? I did my time. I'm done doing work now" Revan told her, smiling slightly.
"Very well, Revan. This is something you should probably have taken up with Bastila instead. But on another note, we are going to Tatooine first, are we not?" Juhani asked.
"Yeah, why do you ask?" Revan asked, seeing a hint of anger on her face.
"Tatooine is the home for the largest slaving headquarters in the galaxy. Over 71% of slaves have passed through that slaving headquarters at one time or another, and I could not think of leaving without causing some trouble, and hopefully destroying slavery for good" Juhani said, almost hissing in anger.
"I am a big advocator for no slavery, but I am afraid we probably won't be able to do anything without significant backup" Revan told her.
"I will not allow my personal feelings influence my actions, but if I see it happen, then I will take action" Juhani told him. Revan nodded slowly.
"That's what I'm afraid of" Revan whispered, walking off to the one person on the Ebon Hawk who he had not talked to yet, and ironically the one who he was most anxious to talk to.
Author's Note: Alright, I'm just going to ask that you review as usual. Please and thank you. Now, onto more pressing matters. I have been asked a couple times to increase chapter length. I can definitely do that, but I want to know what you all think. Now, it is 1500 word chapters every 1-2 weeks. It is either that or 5000 word chapters every 4-6 weeks. Which one is better in your opinion? Hell, I could even go for 10000 word chapters every 2-3 months if you want. Just tell me your opinions. There is no way I will be able to do more than 1000-1500 words a week, so keep me posted on what you want. REVIEW! Thanks.