-1Chapter 5: See or Shut Your Eyes

Formless gray blobs swirled and dark spots ate at his vision. It was not that he could not see, it was as if there was nothing to see. No sounds broke through that darkness. Revan could not feel. He felt nothing. Was he locked in the sense deprivation chamber on Dantooine?

Then a distant sound was heard. The unlikely sound of breaking waves. Waves being split up by sharp jagged rocks only to glide onto, and back off of, a sandy beach. He smelt the brackish foam associated with oceans, he heard the call of alien birds far above.

A crackling electronic voice sounded, and it sounded as though it was experiencing interference.

"Lord Revan?"

Revan heard himself groan in response to Heshorce. In attempting to open his eyes, he found that he still could not see. He could only make out bright blurs.

"Are you conscious?"

Another groan.

"You must understand that I much prefer to deal with former Sith Lords by proxy. Especially such a…renown one as yourself."

The brightness was dimming as his drugged eyes adjusted. He could see a droid off to the left floating and casting an image of Heshorce in front of him. The background was all blue and brown, yet he perceived cliffs and water.

"You may feel inclined to seek me out in retaliation for this, but I assure you it will be truly difficult and that will far outweigh it's satisfaction."

"Tell me what you have done." Revan said, using his hands as a visor.

"You are on Cureal, a planet in the Falleen system. A very unpleasant place and far away from me."

The detail of his surroundings began to sharply focus. It looked as if he were on the edge of the moon, on the last scrap of land. Downplaying his frustration, Revan concentrated on avenues of diplomacy.

"Why am I here?"

"You were sent here because I was unsatisfied by your behavior. You betrayed hospitality with rude questioning and not even reciprocating. This is how we choose to deal with this form of behavior."

"And how can I compensate for my behavior?"

The image smiled.

"I am glad you asked. I only need two things from you. One is for you to admit where you got the mask you wore and two, to return it."

Options flooded Revan's brain. Some were violent and satisfying, some were calm and more logical, others were sly and clever while still others were straightforward and unimaginative. Revan liked to think he had pretty well pieced together what Heshorce was hinting at.

"I apologize both for my behavior and for the news I must tell you. The mask you speak of is long destroyed. I am quite aware of where I received it and I apologize."

The imaged flickered, impatiently.

"Well? How did you receive it?"

The truth was that Revan hadn't the slightest idea how he came to have it, but he knew where it had come from and how it was connected to him.

"My father claimed it many years ago when he was here under the name of Lord Masekre during the Battle of the Secrets."

"Ah. Truth at last. From my predecessor no doubt." The image paused for a moment in thought. "The beach you are on is surrounded by high energy fields. The fields are produced by a generator hidden in one of the caves on the cliff face to you left. Deactivate them and you will find your ship and your shipmates upon the mesa above."

"You won't deactivate them?"

Heshorce smiled cruelly.

"Perhaps I would've, if you had returned the mask. Oh, and by the way, your navichart has been wiped of the planet Falleen. You will not be able to navigate directly back to our planet and even if you did, you would not be welcome. I suggest you forget Falleen. Goodbye."

The image died and the droid floated off, beeping cheerfully. It's beeping soon fading off with the musical caws of the native birds.

Revan felt it noteworthy that he had been stripped of his lightsaber. It also felt very ominous. Heshorce didn't expect him to survive. Why? What did he mean by 'unpleasant?'

The far cliff was riddled with tiny cave entrances barely large enough to permit a human. Revan thought something was odd about them, though. It seemed to him that they couldn't have been carved by the licking waves. They were inconsistent with the pattern for water drilled caves.

Revan began to stiffly walk towards the caves. His back felt out of line and ached. His head was throbbing and his muscles were suffering from spasms and were tired. It occurred to him that he could've easily propped himself against a rock and slept. But it also occurred to him that Bastila would instinctively leave the ship and search for him, which might not be safe.

As Revan drew near the caves he could see that the caves had been bore and not carved by water. Something had ground the rock away. These were not caves, they were tunnels.

Leaning into one of the tunnels, Revan listened only to hear a distant rumbling sound. Even through the force, he could feel something pushing it's way through the maze of interconnected tunnels. Something very large.

Revan grabbed the sides of the tunnel and pulled himself in. It was large enough to crawl through, but not large enough to sit up in. It also made the air hot, humid and scarce. There was a sticky sour smell to the tunnels that made Revan's eyes tear up.

Revan had made about twenty feet of progress when he felt his right boot snag tight on something. He reach to pull it free when a shuddering roar upset his concentration. It would've been impossible to see the thing had it not been for the frequent holes facing the ocean that allowed for a certain amount of light. Looking up Revan caught sight of what he could describe as a large yellow worm. It had several hair-like projections and a maw that was compacted with pincers, jaws, horns and razor sharp teeth. It passed him in the tunnel in front of him. He could hear it roaring and circling about. He quickly pried his boot free and crawled to a tunnel adjacent. In doing so he experienced the same thing. His boot hung behind him; this time it was his left.

He noticed that many of the stones were aligned against the right side of his tunnel and one of them had stuck to the metal buckle on his boot. His mind lit. Lodestones. A generator large enough to create an energy field to seal off a beach head would produce a magnetic field over six-hundred megajoules per cubic meter. Normally it would be contained by a suspensor field, but Revan suspected that the device was damaged. If the suspensor became too damaged it would pull the entire cliff face apart.

'The generator should be just barely working anyway with all of the magnetic interference.' Revan thought.

Seeing that the lodestones clung to the eastern tunnel wall, Revan turned right to see a gigantic creature charging toward him. He pulled himself to a tunnel out of it's way, letting it rumble past, roaring horribly.

Continuing he met several tunnels that merely looped around and some that reopened back onto the beach. The creature had frustratingly blocked his every turn causing him to be so turned around he couldn't remember which way was east.

Finally upon choosing a tunnel to his left, he found a much large opening…a nest.

Inside the super large cave were up to seven of the worm creatures. Not even waiting for a good reason, Revan blasted out charges of lightening, which unfortunately targeted the generator, which was sitting high upon a cave shelf. Swearing under his breath as the cave around him began to rumble. He leaped with Jedi-like ease to the shelf and disconnected the generator. As it powered down, he found that some of the larger and braver worms were below him waiting for him to fall.

Waving his hand, he pried boulders from the wall of the cave and sent them rolling towards the worms. The worms were crushed as the stones rolled over them. The cave began to shake uncontrollably. It was coming down.

Ignoring the surviving worms and the crashing rocks, Revan wrapped himself into the force. He foresaw it. The cliff face would cave-in. The worms had burrowed to much, the generator's field shook it too hard and Revan had pulled supporting boulders away.

He felt the impact as great landslides of stone rained down on either side of him. The force holding the torrent off and redirecting it. The sound was deafening. The dust that rose as a result was blinding. Staggering back and forth pushing the rockslide away through the force, Revan could only be sure that he had not been struck.

When clamor had ceased and the dust settled. Revan felt sunlight again. Happy that there was air to breath, his lungs inhaled more than their share. He could spare a few minutes to rest. Even the greatest Jedi or the wickedest Sith would need a breather after that. After all, touch-and-go was never his style.

Looking up, Revan could've laughed himself senseless. The collapse had provided a perfect ramp leading to the mesa above. Rather than laugh, Revan fell down to rest.

Bastila Shan felt her hand run across her forehead. Her eyesight was too vague to perceive the figure beside her. To recognize that it was Darswa, who was looking at her with concern.

"Miss Shan, are you awake?"

Bastila heard her voice call out and in spite of her dazed head and blurred vision, felt herself sit up.

"I am…yes. I am fine." After rubbing at her eyes, she remembered she was not alone. "Are you alright, ambassador?"

Darswa cleared his throat and sat down on the bed opposite Bastila.

"Indeed, I am fine. They seem to have overlooked me. Are you sure your alright? Can I get you something to drink?"

Bastila nodded her head, continuing to rub her eyes.

"Water, please."

Darswa quickly fetched a glass of water from a sink faculty behind one of the dormitory panels. Upon receiving the water, Bastila dipped her fingers in it and began to rub the cool liquid on her recovering eyes.

"What happened?"

Darswa shrugged.

"From what I could gather from inside the storage compartment, your friend, Laigra, had some trouble negotiating with the native dignitaries. Would that he had brought me with him. I don't even know where it is that we are…"

Bastila stood up, shocked.

"What?"

"They boarded this ship and piloted it forcefully to some distant location. We could be on the other side of the planet, or on a totally different one altogether."

Moving with the particular speed of anxiety, she stumbled to the cockpit. Her helpless eyes overlooking a small cable, she tripped and began to crawl. Once she reached the cockpit chair she hoisted herself into it. The surrounding scenery focusing, she saw a great ocean that the Hawk was surveying from atop a cliff.

She sighed. It was true. Needing to orient herself, she sunk into the force. She felt various lifeforms, both large and small, creeping and soaring around her. She felt the lifeblood of the planet and how horribly different it was from Falleen. She began to search for Revan when an abrupt noise cracked her focus.

Revan was in front of the ship. He looked sapped. There was a five to eight second period she savored her relief before the loading ramp was lowered…

Wordlessly, Revan boarded the ship. Bastila rushed him and closed her arms around him. He was too tired to return any affection. When she released him he staggered into the astrogation chamber to sit. Bastila followed, worriedly.

"This is the last time I let you go out alone. For love of the force, what happened?"

Revan cradled his face in his hands and sighed. It was impossible to have seen him and not perceive a deep lachrymal depression lingering around him.

"This particular trip was not very fruitful." He answered.

Bastila sat next to him and seemed to have an "It serves you right" smile.

"You have not once consulted me. Not once have you told me what you have found or even what you were searching for. You have refused to let me come with you. and you have been acting oddly distant from me. Tell me!"

Revan raised his bloodshot eyes up from his hands, peering up at Bastila.

"I think…"

It was at this time that Revan's improving senses told him someone was listening, out of sight, possibly hidden behind a door or with a stealth generator.

"…that this is not the time. We have to make for…Korriban again."

Bastila rose, frustrated. Her eyes flared. Revan's was surprised that smoke could not be seen curling out of her ears.

"No! This is the time! I've had enough of…"

Revan gave her a subtle tap through the force, enough of a tacit to make a point but not to explain it. Bastila stopped with an odd expression and nodded to herself. She ended her pause with a deadly glare.

"…Fine!" She seethed and stormed off towards the cockpit.

Revan's eyes lowered in fatigue and he slumped even deeper in the chair. He saw Darswa furtively walk out from the cockpit's corridor. Revan gave a tired snicker which he covered with a cough. Darswa was not the master of subtlety yet.

"Are we safe?" Darswa asked nervously.

The Hawk's engine powered on with a roar. The liftoff was abrupt and primitive, causing Darswa to grab a nearby console to stay standing. Revan only hoped the liftoff didn't reflect Bastila's current mood.

"I think we are." Revan shouted over the obvious engine strain.

Darswa straightened his jacket, regaining his composure, and nodded.

"Good."

It was obvious to him now that Darswa was an indispensable part of his journey. He knew now that he had a terrible purpose that was of utmost importance. What puzzled him now, was how was it that Darswa came into being. Who shoved him into Revan's hands? It wasn't merely Darswa's whim or an ambassador mission. There was a devious manipulation in the works. 'A third party? But dejarik is only meant for two.' He thought.

Revan stayed mostly in the chair, watching Darswa's nervous and shifty movements. Each glass of water he drank or every crumb he nibbled. Revan watched how Darswa prowled restlessly from room to room. He noticed how Darswa had not complained about being en route to Korriban instead of Druckenwell. However, after realizing he couldn't observe every single twitch Darswa made, he retired to his dormitory.

Upon entering it he almost missed that his lightsaber was laid neatly on one of the beds. Normally relief would have flooded his mind, but it was far too tired to be flooded. And though, the knowledge that he wouldn't have to walk the surface of Korriban without a lightsaber was comforting it didn't overpower him with joy either.

Perhaps fatigue was a side affect of the drug he had been slipped, but he felt as though he was barely attached to his body with only aching exhaustion. He felt himself fall down upon the spongy softness of one of the beds. His eyes, closed. His mind slowly numbed. He was on the edge of sleep when the dormitory door slammed shut.

"We need to speak." Came Bastila's curt dangerous voice.

Revan nearly cried, but instead replied in a slurred tone.

"What is it, Bastila?"

"What is happening. I need a little information."

It occurred to Revan that if he exerted himself fully that he could collapse her into unconsciousness through the force. But he was not up to exerting himself. He reluctantly propped himself up against the back of the bed.

"My father once led a crusade against the Falleen. I was merely curious to see what he hoped to accomplish. I must admit that I am confused and do not understand. However, I did discover that Falleen tend to hold grudges."

Bastila did not show signs that she understood.

"But how did they know you were related to your father? You didn't tell them, surely."

Revan shook his head with an odd tired smile.

"No they attacked me because I was Sith as was my father before me."

The news seemed to have an affect on Bastila, but she hadn't decided what it would be. Surprise? Revelation?

"I am finished tracking down that lane of my history. My mother is on Korriban."

This time Bastila was decisive. Panic smacked her and she wrestled it with Jedi prowess.

"But-" She paused awkwardly. "I mean to say that…" Realizing that she hadn't meant to say anything, she was silent.

Revan understood. Both of his parent were Sith at one time or another. One of them was still alive. He was seeking her and she might prove to have a strong influence on him and lead him astray.

Bastila made for the door slowly when Revan called out.

"I can't save the galaxy."

Bastila's heart sunk and she closed her eyes tightly. She whirled about.

"But you are… When I was a padwan I studied old prophesies and…"

Revan hissed a laugh.

"What you see swirling about me is not destiny. It's the results of wisdom and foresight, but the very fact that I am relying on it is proof. I'm no Sith deity or Jedi hero."

He pushed himself up from the bed. His face severe and sad.

"All I've done could be undone in less than a decade. Maybe all I've done is prolong suffering."

She shook her head.

"This is insane!" She yelled. "You fly around on a rickety old ship and talk about saving galaxies. You don't say from what. You talk of suffering and failure as if you were going through some terrible trial. But Masters behold, there is nothing! No threat! I spoke with Master Vandar and he is even more puzzled than I am!" She pointed at him as if she saw for the first time he was a loathsome liar. "You almost pulled me in! I half believed for a split-second." Her voice hollowed in the last sentence. Her mind was burning like it was feverish, her face was so flushed with rage that she barely heard Revan's question.

"Did the Jedi Masters ever talk to you of echoes?"

Her rage was caught off guard, her brow furrowed.

"Echoes? I don't understand."

Revan looked away in, what seemed like, shame.

"I suppose it was not a commonplace topic in the Enclaves." Revan looked back. "Throughout the force, you feel the waves of events. You see the cause and effects vibrate and tremble through not only planets and governments, but through life. The waves' origin is either a witting attempt for change or an unwitting natural motion. The waves distend and push events. It is through this motion that Sith Lords amass power, and through it that Masters can heal old wounds." Revan stared emptily, not truly believing he was telling this to Bastila.

"But…"

"No," Revan interjected, "I was guilty of both. Or a synthesis, if you like. I wounded and healed and knew both actions intimately. I recognize them now. I can see in echoes. I see effects and causes." Revan looked up at her, helplessly. "I can't convince you. I can't make you understand. I can't make you see why the galaxy is on the edge of slaughter. I can't turn away all the death. I can recognize it and take steps, but that's a far cry from saving the galaxy."

She shook her head.

"Why can't I see it?"

"I've tried so many times. The Counsel, Malak, you and even the Senate."

"Show it to me. I will see it!" Revan heard confidence and it sounded so wonderful. He would try once more.

"The Mandalorians didn't just decide to attack. The Jedi split as a result of the Mandalorian's war. That was an echo. It worked. There are no longer half the Jedi there once were. Heed my words. The split will get larger and then the Sith will turn on Jedi and a civil war will begin that will wipe this galaxy clean. It is all one great echo."

Fearing to see disbelief, Revan looked into Bastila's eyes. His heart melted. He saw horror. He saw realization. He saw belief.

After regaining her senses, like a baby opening it's eyes for the first time, she swore horribly. So much so that Revan felt compelled to plug his ears.

"Why couldn't I see it before!"

"Because it was in it's nature to go unnoticed, that is what echoes are designed to do."

"You have to do something!"

Revan suddenly felt very tired and wanted to sleep.

"I have made echoes of my own and it has all spiraled into a nice risky game of dejarik." Revan shot straight up as though smacked with a lightsaber.

"What?"

Revan's eyes were as large as saucers. He remembered…