Father & Son

Chapter VI:

Revan Shan watched through the front window of the Jade Knight as the Spirit of Rakata went up in a blaze of flames. Nothing could pry his eyes away from the dieing ship as it was slowly dragged closer and closer to the atmosphere of Ison. The captain of the ship, Mara Jade looked at him curiously, unsure of what his reaction would be. Arra was curious as well, but for different reasons. Mara's was curious as to what Revan's reaction would be to watching his father die. Arra knew better. Revan had never been slowed down by the idea of his father's death. It had been his life long goal; now it was gone.

Revan had trained since boyhood so that he could one day challenge his father and shatter the Sith Empire. His fall to the dark side, his return to the light, and his acceptance of the balance had all been in preparation for a one on one duel between him and his father. The idea that it would be this way had never occurred to him. It seemed wrong; wrong that this fight should be in space between ships.

"Mara!" someone called. Mara Jade turned to face her helmsman. "Sith Interdictor ship approaching; Leviathan class. Its ID signature identifies it as the Executor!"

"How long before they're in firing range?"

"A minute or so. We won't have the time to make the jump to lightspeed."

"I want Jason and Kory on the turrets. Tell them to destroy any fighters. We're not taking prisoners today!"

"Yes ma'am!" the helmsman replied.

"Jorra," she called to the navigational officer. "Make the jump to lightspeed as soon as possible! Coryn, I want main torpedo's ready. If we get a chance to take down a second interdictor ship today, we're taking it!"

Revan was impressed by Mara's quick military mind, seeing as how these were the exact same moves he'd make in battle. " Before he could comment, she came up to him and said, "I'm sorry for the delay in information, but this situation requires my complete attention. If it's alright with you, I request that you allow an escort to take you to your rooms until the fight is over."

"You realize that the entire Sith Fleet will converge on this position in a matter of days, right? Anything in this star system is lost?"

Mara nodded. "The Resistance has already relocated. We informed them of the Sith threat several days ago."

"Mara, two more interdictor ships! Hydra class!"

Revan swore as he moved to look at the helmsman's computer, much to Mara's annoyance. "Excuse me!" she interjected. "This is a serious matter and needs our undivided attention."

"It's the Gladiator and the Lark," he muttered. He turned to Mara who was scowling at him furiously. "This is a KX-2980 freighter, right?" He asked. She merely nodded in response.

"Let Arra take over as helmsman. She's be piloting a KX-2900 since she was a kid. She can pilot this better than anyone you've got."

"You can't know that," Mara snapped at him.

"I'll bet you my connection to the Force she can," he replied.

Mara looked at Jorra and then to Arra and then back at Revan. "No," she replied curtly. "Jorra, I want us in hyperspace as soon as possible."

"We'll be in their tractor beams by then!" Jorra replied.

"Incoming fighters!" Someone called.

Jorra looked back at her computer screen and swore. "Incoming Korriban Corvette. ID says it's the Sadow."

"We've got four warships breathing down our neck," Revan hissed.

"Mara, the Jade Striker slipped away into Hyperspace," the communications officer reported.

"Good," Mara said, silently thanking the Force.

Suddenly, the ship was struck and began to rock violently. Revan struggled to keep his footing, while several of the officers fell out of their chairs. "Report!" Mara ordered.

"Starboard ion cannon down. Deflector shields at seventy-eight percent!"

"Convert all shield power to the hyperdrive," Arra ordered. "We can get some distance and then slip into hyperspace."

"We'd be dead without shields!" Coryn, the weapon's officer snapped.

"We'll be dead even faster if we stay here," Revan retorted dryly. He turned to Mara. "We've got four heavy warships on top of us, plus a squad of SSF fighters. We'll never be able to hold them off!"

"Entering hyperspace in four minutes!" Jorra interrupted.

"Too long!" Arra insisted.

"Jorra move!" Revan ordered.

The young Jedi stood her ground, but Revan moved in and hauled her out of her seat. Arra slid in quickly and said a word of thanks before turning her attention to the controls. Mara moved in to stop them, but Revan threw her, as well as two other Jedi back with the Force.

"Got it!" Arra cried.

The stars around the ship began to blur before the zipped passed the ship. The Jade Knight escaped into the vast corridors of hyperspace, leaving an enraged Sith fleet behind.

Arra smiled, quite pleased with herself as Mara approached her, still massaging the spot on her head where she had landed from Revan's attack. "Well done," the Jedi remarked, stunned by Arra's display of piloting skills.

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Arra moved instinctively to block the small stun charge that the hovering remote sent at her with her lightsaber. Her eyes were closed, but she could still see the small droid. It moved to her left and she moved in unison with it, bringing the weapon up to deflect another charge.

Revan watched her with little interest. She had been deflecting charges for the better half of the hour and had proved to be quite adept at it. He was more interested in dissecting the T3 unit's memory core, but found it impossible with the mediocre equipment on board. He couldn't even build himself a new lightsaber with what they had. He mourned the loss of his old weapon. It had been with him for years now and it had contained the valuable Solari crystal that had been his father's.

It didn't matter though. His father was dead. There was no need for him to fight anymore. These new Jedi and the Resistance could find the Star Forge and put an end to the Sith Empire once and for all. His part was done.

His thoughts were interrupted when as the door to the room slid open and Mara Jade entered the room. Arra opened her eyes and deactivated the remote before closing down her lightsaber. Mara did not look happy, though according to Carth's description, Jedi never did. "We have orders to return to our base of operations," she told Revan. "The Jedi Council would like to speak with you."

"Where is your base?" he asked.

She shrugged. "About three thousand lightyears passed the outer rim. It's a space station, so it's constantly moving. Every Jedi has a data chip that has an encrypted version of the station's trajectory. That's how we've avoided the Empire for so long."

"Smart," he remarked. "So you've been hiding in unknown space for twenty years. Why come back now?"

"The Jedi left to rebuild their forces so we could successfully aid the Republic in the battle against the Sith."

"Good job," he said sarcastically. "Except there's no Republic to aid anymore. It fell over nineteen years ago!"

"We're more than aware of the Republic's current state," she snapped at him. "Its fall couldn't be helped. Our goal is to eliminate the Sith Empire and restore it."

"Well Revan's dead," Revan Jr. replied. "You waited twenty years to pull off a tactical maneuver with two freighters. Doesn't take too many men to crew two freighters does? Did it really take the Jedi twenty years to gather forty supporters."

"How dare you!" Mara hissed. "For your information, the cloaking device that shielded our ships from sight was only developed a year ago. Without it, Revan's demise would have been impossible."

"You could have made do without a stealth field," he retorted.

"The Jedi weren't supposed to come out of hiding for another three years, Revan Shan!" Mara thundered. "We came to save you! If it wasn't for you, the Jedi wouldn't have been exposed and the Sith wouldn't have the slightest clue that we were still out there!"

"And Darth Revan would still be alive."

"He would have been dealt with in time. You couldn't understand how much we've done to fight the Sith in the last generation. The Resistance wouldn't have lasted half as long as it has without the Jedi!"

"How do you figure that?" Arra asked with a disbelieving laugh.

"We've sent support to the Resistance for years! Remember the Battle of Talravin, where the Sith had two fully armed warships and SSF fighters and the Resistance only had two squads of Stardog fighters? You were outnumbered ten to one and you still came away with a win. How?" She didn't wait long for a response. "It was due to the abilities of Jedi Master Drallin. His Battle Meditation wiped out the Sith."

"I was in one of those Stardogs," Revan sneered. "There was no Jedi Master near that planet. I would have sensed it."

"What about the battles on Onderon? I believe you led a small strike force into the palace and killed King Vaklu. There were armed patrols and dark Jedi everywhere. How did twelve soldiers manage to escape alive?"

"There was no Jedi Master near Onderon."

"I believe you also took part in the final battle on Vjun. You were what, fourteen at the time? How was it that a teenaged boy managed to kill a hardened Sith warlord, who had been stronger in the Force than his master?"

"He had hurt Dustil. I had to protect him."

"Don't play games, Revan Shan! You felt the Force run through you like never before that day. It guided your hand and gave you the strength you needed to defeat the dark side."

"I would have sensed a Jedi Master's involvement!" he declared hotly.

"Even if he was trying to keep himself concealed? Mara pointed out.

"Even if he was trying to keep himself concealed!" Revan insisted.

Mara groaned and closed her eyes. To a Jedi, there is no emotion. There is peace. She thought to herself. She opened her eyes and looked Revan directly in the eyes. "How is it that you tread so dangerously close to the dark side, yet you resist its seductive ways with such ease?"

Revan hadn't expected such a rapid change in subject and it took him a moment to re-gather his wits. "You say the Jedi have been watching me, yet they do not know of my fall to the dark side."

"It is well known that you fell to the teachings of the Sith for a short time, but you were quickly redeemed. How?"

Revan shook his head. "It's not like there was any great secret or technique that can be used on all fallen Jedi, Mara Jade. It was a simple matter or trial and error."

"Trial and error?" she repeated.

He nodded. "As a child, I yearned to understand my father's fall to the dark side and why he was what he was. I tried to understand the dark side, while remaining faithful to the light. The dark side consumed me, as it consumed others. Once I was redeemed, I learned to walk in between both the light and dark. The results were fantastic. I could draw on either side for power, while being loyal to myself instead of the Force. I had all the power that the dark side had to offer, but without all of the insecurity, the fear, and the greed that goes with it; a perfect balance."

"But you fell to the dark side once," she pointed out. "This path will lead you back to it."

Revan shook his head. "The balance slakes the thirst for power that goes along naturally with using the dark side, but the light keeps me from becoming a monster. Believe me when I say it is far more preferable to being adherently loyal to one side."

Mara was silent as she mulled over this new idea. "I will reflect on this," she told him. "In the mean time, I believe it would be beneficial if I explained to you and your apprentice what to expect once we reach the station."

She gestured for them to take a seat before she sat down in one of the passenger chairs that lined the wall. "The Jedi have been building up their forces over the last twenty years, as I explained. Their first goal was to make up for the damage that they caused by unleashing Darth Revan back into the universe, instead of ending the threat when they had the chance."

"The planets he visited whilst looking for the Star Maps?" Revan interjected.

"The planets he destroyed," she corrected. "The wookiees have been forced into forced labor and war since he handed Kashyyyk to the brute Chundar. The kolto supply on Manaan is all that kept the selkath from being conquered by the Sith. Once it was gone, the Sith walked in and enslaved them. Tatooine's hunters were all captured and forced to become scouts for the Sith on Myrrk. And Dantooine… the planet's still nothing but a crater!"

"What did the Jedi do?" Arra inquired. "To help, I mean?"

"We've done what we can. Ships carrying wookiee slaves have been raided and the wookiees have been brought to a safe haven in the outer regions. Selkath who were forced to become underwater scouts were located and retrieved. The hunters of Tatooine were rounded up, but most had already been killed."

"Wait, wookiees, selkath, and men with hunting experience," Arra paused.

"You sent them to become soldiers for the Resistance!" Revan gasped, suddenly on his feet and pointing a finger of accusation. "The first squad that led the rebellion on Alderaan was made up of wookiees, selkath, and scouts!"

"Exactly!" Mara said with a smile. "You see my point now? The Jedi started the Resistance movement. We freed the first of the slaves who would go on to become top ranking officers."

"I don't believe it," Arra breathed. "The Jedi?"

"But there was another motive behind helping them, wasn't there?" Revan realized as he spoke.

Mara nodded. "It is how we've built up our forces," she replied. "I hadn't been born yet, but one of the Jedi Masters came up with the plan. We found hundreds of Force sensitive children in the first days of the Empire. The Sith made it easy. Slaves who had Force potential were separated from the normal ones. We merely offered them Jedi training instead of the Sith."

"How many Jedi are there?" Revan asked, realizing for the first time the profound effects that the Jedi may have in the closing days of the Empire.

"The Jedi space station is home to more than twelve thousand Jedi, and more come every year."

"Revan!" Arra gasped. "That's enough to…" she trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"We've avoided detection using Force field dampeners that were designed by a brilliant Verpine Jedi."

"I'd like to meet him," Revan said enthusiastically.

"And I'm sure he would be interested in meeting with you," Mara replied. "But I'm sure you've guessed that we're not telling you this for fun."

Revan quickly became serious again and nodded. "Why did you save us?"

"The Jedi Council will be able to tell you more than I, but it is common knowledge amongst the Jedi community that the son of Revan will lead the assault on Coruscant."

"What?!" Revan and Arra cried in unison.

"Why me?"

"Why him?"

Mara smirked at their reaction. "I do not know why," she replied. "Personally I think it would be best if I led the assault, seeing as how I've infiltrated Coruscant several times, but it is neither here, nor there."

Revan frowned. He detected the slightest bit of resentment in her voice. "You're confident in your abilities." It was a fact, not a question.

"I am," she agreed.

"Yet you are only a Jedi Knight?"

"The Masters all speak quite highly of my skill and military finesse."

"I'm sure they do," Revan said approvingly. "To be able to take down a fully armed Star Forge capital ship with only two KX-2980 class freighters shows skills beyond that of most of the Imperial Grand Admirals."

"Thank you," she said, though Revan could tell that she felt she deserved such praise.

"I would be honored to test my abilities against your own once we reach the station."

"If there is time, I would be more than happy to train you," Mara replied with a nod.

Revan turned away from her to face Arra because he could not hide the smile that had broken out across his face. This Jedi was so arrogant and conceited that she couldn't even sense the power he was radiating all around the room. Arra has having just as much trouble as he was.

"We'll arrive at the station in a couple of days," Mara told them as she stood up to leave. "Best get comfortable."

She left the room and the two shared a good laugh. "What a conceited little shutta," Arra commented.

"She's good, but she's way too aware of it."

"You could kill her in a duel."

"I don't even have a lightsaber and I could still win," he stated.

"Well, it'll be an interesting day when your 'training' starts up, won't it?"

"Yes," he replied. "Interesting indeed."