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Revan: Departure Chapter 5
"The darkness and the light wage a constant war within you. The balance is tipped one way now, but it can easily be tipped back. Savior, conqueror, hero, villain. You are all things, Revan, and yet you are nothing. In the end you belong to neither the light nor the darkness. You will forever stand alone." –Darth Malak
Dxun…
Just as a random Malraas would've caught Canderous in his blindspot, Hodge quickly slashed his saber down, killing the beast. He drew his saber back to his cloak. Ever since Hodge, Canderous and T3 arrived on the planet, there had been nothing but swarms of beasts after them. Luckily, the beasts they couldn't sneak past were usually just Cannoks or Malraas. The trio was wise enough to avoid any Bomas and was fortunate enough not to run into the fearsome giants of the jungle known as Zakkegs. Indeed, Dxun was the perfect training ground for Mandalorian recuits.
"This takes me back…" Canderous said, blasting the Cannok in front of him casually. "When Mandalore ordered us to claim the jungle for ourselves, we did so without a single hesitation. However, the jungle kept testing us in more ways than one. The best of us, those that survived, were ordered to war against the Republic."
"Wish my memories were that pleasant." Hodge smirked, snapping the back of his neck. "All I remember here is the vermin. C'mon, we're getting close now."
The Jedi cleared the path of any foliage and plant-life. Using the Force, he gently moved several plants to reveal a broken base, wrecked and full of debris of fallen warships. There, as they passed several Republic cruisers and corpses stripped to the bone, they finally made it to the base. There, Hodge telekinetically moved the salvage out of the way and found a box, underneath a filthy cloth.
"Somewhat disappointed you didn't hide it somewhere safer? Couldn't any Mandalorian have stumbled in here by accident?" Canderous commented, but still watching carefully.
"No, only a Mandalorian willing to confront the past." Hodge said. Somehow, he didn't like being cryptic. It just didn't suit him. Just as he was opening the last of the hatches on the chest, T3 rolled in and examined the two of them standing by. At first, Canderous put on the suit that Hodge handed him. He did so quickly and quietly, wearing a full-body metal suit. Finally, the Jedi formally known as Revan rose up and held the Mandalore helmet above him.
Canderous was at first shocked when he heard that he was to be the new Leader of the Mandalorians. However, knowing their history together, Hodge knew more than anything that Canderous was about as close to being Mandalore as one could hope for. Similarly, Hodge was as close to Revan as one could hope for. Somehow, the setting seemed just right.
There, T3's photoreceptiors stayed glued on the two figures, making history as casually as one would share Juma Juice.
"Canderous of Clan Ordo, as the Former Dark Lord of the Sith, I hereby award you with Mandalore the Ultimate's helmet. Take pride in this and spread the pride of Clan Ordo!"
With that, Canderous gave a salute and was bestowed with the helmet. Mandalore was reborn.
"Make the Mandalorians proud, my friend."
"Will do," Canderous said, his voice somewhat muffled in the helmet.
"Just, one other thing," Hodge smiled. "Are you ever going to shave that filthy thing off?"
"Well, seeing how you just gave me a helmet that I'll never take off, I don't see why I have to." Even with his face hidden, Hodge could sense a smirk when he saw one.
There, Canderous' invisible gaze concentrated on another chest. Instinctively, he knew there was more buried here than originally planned. Hodge tried his best to divert his attention, but there was no point fighting it: both of them knew what lay inside that chest. With a hesitant sigh, Hodge made a complete turn-around and unlocked the latches one-by-one. Aside from its dusty exterior, the Jedi had found the other suit of armor, or more accurately robes, he was looking for.
He slowly withdrew them, as one would carefully withdraw a flag. There, he shed his old clothing, and reunited with the Black cloak that he wore as Darth Revan as well as put on his old mask.
"Huh. Still fits." He commented to himself.
"Going so soon?" Canderous said underneath his battle armor.
"Don't be so impatient!" Hodge chucked. "The only ship that can get us there is still being repaired on Coruscant. By the time we get back, I should be able to… take it."
"Expecting resistance?" The Mandalorian asked, wondering if he needed to bring firepower to this fight.
"Nah. Besides, I like long goodbyes."
Coruscant…
"Hey, has anyone seen Hodge?" Mission said. She and Zaalbar had preoccupied themselves with a friendly game of Pazaak in the Starboard Dormitory. Elsewhere, Carth had sighed a breath of relief, seeing that his efforts had paid off. With a little help, he was able to get the ship and the hyperspace engine back to full power.
"Wish he'd get here. I want to see his face when he realizes the Hawk's been fixed."
"I'd better double check. You never know with this piece of junk…" Mission said, trying her best not to accuse Carth of substandard repairs. However, just as she was about to analyze the damage, she received a message on the ship's com channel.
"Hey! I got something… It's Hodge!" She read. Soon, Her, Carth and Zaalbar crowded together to hear the message.
"Yo, guys! Hey, can you meet me at the apartment? There's something I need to talk to you all about…"
"Huh, it was sent from a ship. What's he doing in space?" Carth muttered to himself.
"We can ask him that when we get there. C'mon!" Mission cried out. Little did the trio know that the message itself was little more than a well-planned lie.
Elsewhere, lying well within the shadows, Hodge observed as the crew took their belongings and left the ship. Carth locked the ship for safety, but since Hodge was part of the crew, he knew the passcode well enough to bypass it. He waited a good 5 minutes after the group had left before he made his move. There, he was followed by the Astromech Droid, whose hacking skills were invaluable to Hodge.
"Beep. Dreet-deet-beep?"
In full Revan outfit, Hodge chuckled.
"No, T3. I wasn't lying to Canderous. I do like long goodbyes, but only if I have to say them. Otherwise, I can just leave a transmission."
Just as the Jedi was about to unlock the ship, he was met with a familiar thespian synthesized voice.
"Query: Master, might I be so bold as to ascertain what you are doing?"
Hodge whipped around, frozen in his expression. He quickly thought of several lies when he posed a question back.
"Well, what do you think I'm doing?" The Jedi stated bluntly.
"Statement: It would appear that you were stealing the Ebon Hawk right underneath the crew's notice to fight the corruption off in the Unknown Regions."
"But! How did you know? Canderous wouldn't tell about my-" It was at this point that Hodge noticed the Astromech droid slowly wheeling away from the conversation, as if it had been trying to avoid the attention of its master. People say that droids are incapable of guilt. Hodge knew too well that was completely untrue.
"You told him?" Hodge cried out.
"Dwoooooooo. Beep-dee-dee-deet. Breep-beep-"
"No, I don't want to hear your excuses!" Hodge cried out in frustration. "You have an Ion stunner; use it!"
The Jedi sighed, faced with yet another dilemma. Unlike T3, HK could've been a liability. While its assassination protocols were useful, he wasn't sure that his faulty memory could be trusted. Then again, this was coming from the Jedi who had his own mind wiped.
"You do realize I could cast Force Lightning and prevent you from coming at all?"
The droid answered bluntly. "Answer: Of course, Master. Just as you'll realize that such preconceived options could 'accidentally' deactivate my discretion protocols, thus revealing your destination to your companions."
Hodge wounded up in frustration. "You are a very infuriating droid, you know that? Never mind, just get on the ship."
As the two droids followed him, Hodge quickly began starting up the engine sequence. He hesitated for a moment, capturing a glance at Coruscant with all of its city and glamour, and held it to memory. Then, as he flipped the switch and began the engines, he prepared himself for take off.
That was until the engines died out and stalled.
"Great," Hodge sighed. "Leave it Carth Onasi to fix a ship half-way. T3, check the hyperspace drive; I think there might be some cracks. HK, hand me that Hydrospanner."
Meanwhile at the apartment…
"Aw man, what do you think Hodge wants us at the apartment?" Mission moaned, throwing her hands back to support her head.
"Who knows? He's been acting strange lately." Carth responded, calling the elevator to bring them up.
"No kidding!" Mission said. Eventually, as the trio came up to their floor, they were only met with arguments coming from, strangely enough, three Jedi. They were too far away at first to listen to anything but the exchange of shouting, but once they came closer, they were able to hear Bastila's demands.
"Tell me where he's going!" The young Jedi said.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" The bald Jedi grumbled in his little corner.
"Bastila, calm down!" Juhani said, trying to quell the situation.
"Hey, hey, hey! What's all the commotion?" Carth asked. He tried his best to physically block Bastila from Jolee, but to no avail. It was true what they said: Hell hath no Fury like a woman scorned.
"I know you talked to him, Jolee. I know he told you of his plans to travel somewhere far, far away. What I don't understand is why you're unwilling to cooperate!"
The grey Jedi scoffed. "Hmph! Even I did know where he was going, which I don't, I still wouldn't tell you. That's something you'll have to understand…"
"Whoa, time out!" Carth shouted. "Just who is this person you're talking about?"
"Hodge." Bastila responded. "He's making preparations to leave right away. That's why he's been acting so strangely around us as of late. We need to find him and stop him. However, Jolee isn't answering any of my questions. He's the only one who could possibly know where Hodge is going."
"I think you're asking the wrong question here, Bastila." Carth responded with a cool head. "It's not the destination that matters, it's the journey. Wherever Hodge is going, he's going to need some sort of transportation. He could probably take a personal spacecraft, but who knows how long it'll take him to get where he wants to go. Besides, stealing ships isn't his style…"
"Unless it's one he has the passcode to…" Mission said with a dry mouth. "Don't you see! He's going to steal the Hawk!"
"Quickly, then! We must hurry before he makes a terrible mistake!" Bastila was just heading out the door when Jolee stood up and shouted.
"Wait! Listen to me, child. If you go now, it'll only make your parting that more painful. His journey is not one that follows the dark path. You should support his decision to let him go."
Bastila, rather than stay and argue, simply sprinted towards the elevator as the rest of the crew joined him, Jolee included.
"Wait, wait! Oh, curse the stubbornness of young people!"
He crossed his fingers. After what must've been half an hour of rewiring ciruits, sealing cracks and other tedious tasks, Hodge stared at the engines and prayed they would start up. "Please, please, oh for the love of the Force, please…". Suddenly, as the engines lit up, he threw his hands up in victory. He quickly shouted through the open docking hatch and gave his commands.
"T3! Remember those coordinates I told you?"
"Beep!"
"Start entering them now! I'll come by to lock the navicomputer! Meanwhile, start prepping the engines and see if there are any last minute repairs!"
The Jedi circled around the ship, facing his companion assassin droid.
"You! Try not to cause any trouble…"
The droid responded. "Appeasement: Of course, Master! I do swear that I will not intentionally assassinate any meatbags this day!"
"How can unintentionally- Never mind, I don't want to know!" The Jedi said.
As he looked around for any tubes hanging out, he suddenly heard a mass of footsteps stop behind him. His head rose up and went back down. Somehow, he wasn't surprised at this situation. He just wanted to avoid it. Still, against his better judgment, he turned around slowly to see all of their faces: Mission's young, hurt expression, Zaalbar's strong yet saddened look, Carth looking as if he had been betrayed, Juhani's somewhat upset nearing the point of anger and Bastila, absolutely furious. In fact, the only one who looked mildly happy to see him off was Jolee.
He whipped around to face them, all while adoning his Sith cloak. He quickly removed his mask with a small hiss, and faced them all.
"Hey guys, what are you doing here?"
"We should be the ones asking you that; what's going on?" Carth asked, clenching his fist. Hodge realized that Carth had personal issues when it came to trust, but he knew better than to answer straight away. He felt it best to diffuse the situation with a bit of comedy.
"Jolee, I thought we had an understanding," Hodge smirked.
"I did. Unfortunately, it didn't go so well for the others."
"Enough!" Bastila cried out, somehow channeling everyone's anger and part of her own. "We want an answer. What are you doing and where are you going?"
Hodge smirked. Bastila, his beautiful Bastila. Always brash, always impatient, always brilliant. In a way, seeing her act this way brought back old memories. "Memories, huh? Memories are what started this mess in the first place. I gotta keep that in mind." Of course, his mental detour didn't cause any of his companions to leave automatically. Instead, they all continued to stare: bitter about what had transpired.
"I'm going on a journey to fight those who corrupted the Mandalorians, who corrupted me and whatever else is out there!" He tried his best to play the hero. If he looked like a complete ass while doing so, then that would be a positive.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Carth said. "Why did you plan on going alone? We could've helped you. What am I saying? We can still help you!"
"Yeah, it'll be just like finding the Star Forge!" Mission cried out.
"No, it won't be." Hodge replied. "This is… this is something I have to do alone."
Despite his protest, several of his companions tried to board the docking ramp. Hodge knew that he would have to scare them away. However, it tore itself inside him. Guess that was the price for being a former dark lord. Just as Carth was about to reach him, he drew his lightsaber and pointed its bright crimson edge at them.
"I'm not going to kill you, but if you try something foolish, I know several forms that can give you mild burns. That's all I'll need to make my escape."
Carth took the hint and stepped back. Juhani was held back by Jolee, knowing such claims of battle could stir the Cathar blood in her. However, the plan was to reason with Hodge, not force him to stay.
"Then, tell the Republic," Carth spoke. "Talk to the Senators. Warn them! If they'll listen to anybody, it's the person who saved the Republic. You know that."
"And start another Civil War? I think the Galaxy deserves some peace after all this time. Besides, what people don't know won't hurt them; I'll make sure of that."
"Then, you're just leaving? Shouldn't you stay and protect the Republic?" Mission cried out.
"I don't have to. The Republic has all of you to stand by her. And I know that even the Sith Armada will think twice before facing all of you."
Just as Hodge finished his response, Zaalbar was halfway up the ramp.
"Hodge Antilles, as I was the one who swore my life debt to you, I shall follow you to the ends of the galaxy itself." The Wookiee said, placing his palm on his heart. However, Hodge shook his head, showing his disapproval.
"No, Zaalbar. You swore an oath to a person who didn't know a thing about the Force, to a person who swore who wasn't Revan. I… I am Darth Revan. I may reject the Dark Side, but I can't reject all the harm I've done. Your life debt is void, Zaalbar. Be at peace."
The Wookiee was stunned but stepped down nonetheless. He could respect his master's wishes. However, the resistance was not over yet.
"But, surely you realize the dark side is present here, as well. Stay, and we should be able to fight it together!" Juhani cried out.
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. Us, 'save-the-entire-galaxy-from-certain-destruction' types tend to pop up… what do you think, Jolee? Every 4, 5 years?"
"Eh. Give or Take a decade depending on the Dark Lord." Jolee smirked.
"This isn't funny!" Bastila said. She managed to silence all of the group with her order as she climbed the docking bay ramp. She knew that he would never do anything to harm her. He was too… gentle for such an act. As she came closer to him, she stroked his face gently. He, of all the foolish thigns he shouldn't have done, let his guard down. There, they shared each other's warmth, feeling the body heat on their skin.
"Let me come with you. I-I can help you." She whispered.
"No, Bastila. I can't tempt you with the taint of the dark side. Not after all the progress you've made." Hodge whispered back.
"Don't you see!" She cried, tears forming in her eyes.
"I'm already tempted! I'm already compromised! I-I'm… weak. I'm weak without you. I need you so I won't… fall again."
Hodge wiped the tear from her eye and brushed his lips on hers. It was the sort of sentimentality that would've normally caused Mission to gag, but its sincerity caused her to reconsider. After a long embrace, Hodge sighed and stared at his loved one.
"Bastila, look at me." He said. Bastila did so without hesitation.
"Look at Juhani and Jolee. We're all tempted at one point or another. But it takes more than one person to stay strong. You have friends. You have allies. You're going to be fine. Trust me."
Hodge breathed, finally letting Bastila go. As she parted from the steps, he smiled.
"I will come back! But, not until the job is finished!" Hodge, or rather Revan, put on his signature mask, gave a rather uncharacteristic thumbs-up and left his friends behind.
300 years before the Treaty of Coruscant was signed…
There lived a Jedi named Revan.
Once a savior turned conqueror to savior again, he chose to flee the Republic he loved
To fight against an enemy that threatened her.
He left many of his loved ones behind to confront a great evil.
On that day, he left the Republic,
And never came back.