A/N 1: I do not own Harry Potter nor do I own Star Wars.

A/N 2: Ages: Revan is 27 and Bastila is 24

A/N 3: I will be using the normal calendar now that the story is on Earth.

A/N 4: I apologize but this is a very talky chapter. It sets up the rest of the story though.

A/N 5: Finally, I am ignoring the events of HBP.

Chapter 6 – Planet fall

July 21st, 2007

Hyperspace

The ship had been traveling in hyperspace for close to a week. Earth was located near the outer rim of the galaxy on the opposite side from their starting point. 3 days ago, the computer started to issue periodic warnings of stress on the hyperspace engines. Unfortunately, the engines could not be repaired while they were in use and to make things more difficult, the engine room itself was without life support due to damage from the battle.

Despite their best efforts, neither Revan nor the 3 surviving crew had been able to repair the computers sufficiently to deactivate the auto-pilot. With no options left to them, Revan and Bastila along with the 3 crew retreated to a small gunboat in the main hanger bay that was miraculously undamaged in the attack.

During their journey, Bastila and Revan had maintained their distance from each other. Neither was ready to discuss their positions or feelings. Bastila was confused, she had had an opportunity to end Revan's evil but instead she had held back and spared him. He seemed so guilt-ridden she had hoped that maybe there was a chance to lure him back to the light. Revan for his part was equally confused. He had never truly understood the effect that Bastila had on him. She was able to break through his defenses without even trying, leaving him bare and forcing him to face himself and the truth of his actions.

Near the end of their journey, Revan and Bastila finally overcame their reluctance and had begun meditating together. The trust and openness that had once existed between the two was gone swallowed up by the darkness of Revan's soul. Presently, the two were sitting in silence in one of the storage compartments of the gunboat.

Revan was sitting Indian style with his hands resting on his knees palms up. His eyes were closed and his short-cropped hair was neatly styles exposing the lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. Though outwardly calm, Revan was struggling to reach a state of emptiness with Bastila sitting in front of him for the first time in years.

Bastila was kneeling with her main torso centered over her feet. As with Revan, he hands were resting on her knees with the palms up. Her breathing was slow and measured as she reached out with the force to once again observe Revan's aura. Despite his actions, she was shocked to find red was almost overpowering the black elements of his aura but she was heartened to see that his aura still held a good deal of blue. Taking a moment to think about the meaning of the colors, she realized that Revan truly felt guilt and remorse for the deaths he had caused. It was apparent that the black and blue elements of his aura represented his belief in both the light and dark sides of the force. Perhaps she could turn him back to the light side knowing that he had never truly forsaken it.

Revan for his part gasped as he felt Bastila slice through his mental defenses as if they were nothing. As with the first time, Bastila did what should could to lighten the guilt and remorse that he felt and to bolster the influence of the light side in him. Part of him wanted to lash out at her, to force her to stop. He didn't deserve to have his burden relieved, despite his intentions, he had caused the deaths of millions of beings. The other part of him, welcomed the relief from the overwhelming ache that came the knowledge of his actions. He knew that in the near future, he would once again have to face the Massassi and face the same decisions that had lead to his war against the Republic. He only hoped he could live with those decisions whichever way they went.

Bastila opened her eyes and peered at Revan for a moment before asking "Why did you do it Revan, why did you turn your back on the Jedi?"

Revan took a slow deep breath and opened his eyes. He looked to be more at peace with himself than he had since she boarded the ship. "I sensed something while we were fighting the Mandalorians. There is a darkness beyond the outer rim of the galaxy blacker than the void. It was the complete absence of the light side of the force."

Bastila's eyes widened as she stared into Revan's brilliant green eyes and gasped. Ignoring her, Revan continued "Towards the end of the war, both Malak and I had long since turned to the dark side of the force for the necessary weapons to fight the Mandalorians. It was necessary to protect the Republic."

Before she could stop herself, she said bitterly "But then you turned on us. You turned on the Republic and the Jedi."

"Not really, not in my heart. I knew that the Republic could never stand against the darkness that I had sensed unless it grew strong once again. In my mind the only way to do that was to cut away the chaff, leaving the wheat to grow strong once again."

"Millions of lives have been lost in your effort to make the Republic strong again. Surely there must have been a better way."

"I was gone for close to three years. During that time, I had taken a fleet of ships and men beyond the Outer Rim. As I said to Master Vrook, while we were out there we found the Massassi. They were the source of darkness. In my entire time out there, I never once sensed anything from the light side of the force. They were devoted to the dark side from birth and served it whole heartedly until death."

Bastila closed her eyes as she tried to imagine such a bleak existence. To be forever focused on anger, hate, and the need to conquer, she found the very idea horrifying. "But if they have they have been out there for so long, why worry about an attack now."

Revan ground his teeth together in frustration before answering Bastila's question. "Don't you see they were the instruments behind the Mandalorian invasion? It was simply a matter of time before they followed in its wake. The Senate is corrupt, the bueuracracy is worthless, and the Jedi are mired in indecision. If I had not acted, the Republic would have been swept away by the might of the Massassi and a never-ending night would have fallen."

Before she could respond, both Revan and Bastila were broken from their discussion by the loud piercing klaxon that began to ring throughout the ship signaling that the ship was about to leave hyperspace. Standing one Jedi and one Sith Lord walked to the cockpit to find the other three men starting the engines.

Everyone felt the slight jolt as the ship dropped out of hyperspace and the sub-light engines slowed the ship's speed. Once again the klaxon began ringing throughout the ship. One of the crew quickly patched into the computer to find out the problem.

"Lord Revan, the sub-light engines were severely damaged in the attack and are overloading."

"Can you shut them down?"

A look of fear came over his face before answering "No sir. I was able to patch into the computer to find the problem, but I haven't been able to gain control of the engines."

Revan sighed and closed his eyes for a moment "Can you get the hanger bay doors open so we can get out of here?"

"Yes Lord Revan, the hanger operates off a different system that was relatively undamaged in the attack."

"Then do so and get us out of here before the engines overload!" Revan ordered.

Bastila and Revan took their seats and strapped in. Two of the crewman were hurriedly warming up the engines and opening the hanger bay doors. Just as the ship started to lift off, an explosion tore through the larger vessel. Panicking, the pilot pushed the gunboat to maximum speed and it shot out of the hanger bay. Seconds later more explosions went off inside the ship as fuel cells and armaments detonated.

The shockwave ripped the larger ship apart and buffeted the small gunboat. One crewman who had not strapped in was thrown against a computer panel, breaking his arm. The others stayed in their seats waiting as the small ship rode out the secondary shockwaves caused by explosions from the debris of Revan's flagship.

"Pilot, what is our status?" Revan asked after the flight smoothed out.

"No damage Lord Revan, it appears that the shields absorbed most of the shockwave and protected us from any of the debris. What is our destination sir?"

"Scan for life signs in the system." Revan ordered.

Fingers dancing over the control panel, the pilot took a moment to review and analyze the results before announcing "Sir, the only planet with life is the 3rd planet. It appears to be similar to Dantoine; however, I am not detecting any communication signals or navigation beacons."

Bastila was watching Revan, curious about his home world. "There wouldn't be. It is a primitive world, I am not sure that they have any space flight capabilities. Best approach cautiously. Takes us to a high orbit and begin performing detailed scans so we can identify the best landing coordinates."

"Yes Lord Revan. We should be there in approximately 1 hour."

Revan turned to Bastila and made a request "Bastila, I am going to need your help. If the vision I was shown is true, then the Massassi already have a presence on this world. I need you to help me find them and if necessary fight them."

Bastila stared at Revan a moment as she tried to reconcile what she had learned of Revan with the man standing in front of her. He resembled the young man she once knew. There was a fierce determination burning in his eyes and the relaxed way he held his body screamed of a confidence that she hadn't seen since she had boarded his ship. It seemed that having a clear enemy to fight had given Revan a direction away from the wholesale destruction of the war. Finally, she nodded.

"Do we have a map of the planet?" Revan asked.

"Yes Lord Revan but it is topographical only, we have not had a chance to do any more detailed scans."

"Put it up on the holodisplay." The pilot quickly complied with the order and a 3D transparent image of Earth.

Revan and Bastila stood side by side observing the image for a moment. Then Revan grasped Bastila's hand tightly and said "Search for the darkness on the planet. Hopefully it won't be too hard to find. With a planet this primitive and far out, I doubt the Massassi are expecting any Jedi or Republic forces to show up."

Nodding her head again, Bastila closed her eyes and relaxed her mind letting her senses reach out to the force and search the planet. Her eyes shot open mere seconds later and saw that Revan was clearly as disturbed as she was by what they sensed.

"How is it possible? Virtually the entire planet is a deep blue almost black. How could one planet be so steeped in the dark side?"

Revan's face had lost what little color it normally had. He closed his eyes in thought and pinched the bridge of his nose to help relieve some of the tension in his forehead. "I don't know. Yet, despite the darkness, I didn't sense the hatred or anger that I would normally associate with such a pervasive darkness." Sighing, he sat down heavily in one of the chairs near the holo-display. "Come, we must start again. It will do us no good to endlessly orbit the planet."

Bastila sat down in the seat opposite Revan and once again closed her eyes and reached out with her senses. She could feel the Dark Lord doing the same. Together they began to scan the planet. Slowly she was able to distinguish between the different shades of darkness on the planet. After close to 15 minutes, she opened her eyes and waited for Revan to open his.

Moments later, Revan took a deep cleansing breath and opened his eyes. Immediately, he found himself under the scrutiny of the young Jedi. "Did you sense it?" He asked not wanting to analyze the feelings that her gaze brought out in him.

"Yes I did." She knew what he was referring to. There was a pair of islands in the northern hemisphere of the planet that seemed to have the greatest concentration of darkness on the planet.

After mentioning this to Revan, he nodded in agreement and said "I couldn't tell if there were actual Massassi there. The darkness was too pervasive to pick individuals out but if they are anywhere on the planet, it is there."

"So what do we do about it?" Bastila asked.

Revan looked at her like she was crazy. He snorted and answered "We kill them all. You should be asking what we do with those that have fallen to far under the Massassi's influence. I will tell you, they will suffer the same fate as the Massassi. Cut away the rot and cauterize the wound that is the most effective way of dealing with the decay that is the Massassi."

Bastila's eyes narrowed and she tensed for a moment. As she opened her mouth to speak, the pilot interrupted her. "Lord Revan, we have reached the planet. There are no landing beacons so what are your orders?"

While Revan was issuing orders to the pilot, Bastila was considering what she had sensed on the planet. Despite his explanations, Bastila had doubted that the Massassi could be as evil as Revan had described. After searching the planet she was not so sure. While she had not been able to detect individuals, she was able to sense pockets of absolute darkness. She felt like she would be swallowed up by the rage and hatred that seemed to radiate from these pockets. If these were the Massassi, then she could understand Revan's drive to fight them. Though she recognized them as an absolute evil, she couldn't bring herself to condone the slaughter of millions of lives in an effort to wake the Republic from its stupor.

She broke from her reverie when she felt the ship buck and shake. Looking out of the forward portal, she saw that they had entered the atmosphere and were clearly preparing to land. "Where are we setting down she asked?"

Revan looked at her, surprised that she had not been paying attention. "We are setting down on the larger of those two islands." Bastila strapped herself in and returned to her thoughts on the Massassi and the acts she might be forced to commit in order to defeat them.

Turmoil was plainly evident in the expression on Bastila's face and eyes. "I think I sensed them." She whispered quietly.

Knowing what she was referring to, Revan placed a hand on her shoulder before responding "You didn't believe me did you? I don't blame you, I'm not sure I would have believed it either."

"I can't imagine a life spent wallowing in the dark side like that." She was clearly distressed by the notion.

Revan didn't want to rob her of her innocence or idealism, but it would have no place on this planet from the feel of things. "Bastila, you are going to have to make a decision soon. The Massassi and those that follow them are without mercy. In order to protect the Republic and save this world we will have to take the harshest of measures."

Bastila refused to respond to that comment. Despite the evil that she had sensed, she wasn't sure that she could open herself up to the dark side the way that Revan had. The thought of being lost and becoming like one of the Massassi was terrifying to her. The turning of Revan and Malak to the dark side had a great impact on her and she vowed never to leave the light side. Now, she was forced to reevaluate that vow. Could she protect whatever innocents were down on the planet without using the dark side?

Though she did not have an answer to her question, she responded "Until it has been proven otherwise, I will not turn to the dark side the way you have. I can't give up my beliefs to fight some faceless enemy." She paused for a moment before issuing her threat "Know this however, I will not stand by and let you slaughter innocents in the name of your war. I will take you down with whatever means are at my disposal." This last was delivered in a frigid emotionless voice that left no doubts that she would follow through on her threat.

Revan's mouth quirked into a small smile for a second. "I will do whatever is necessary to cleanse this planet of the Massassi. For now, I will spare who I can, but make no mistake, anyone that is tied to them will be purged. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to win this war, I do hope you remember our dear friend Selene."

Bastila shuddered, she remembered all to well the vow that Revan had sent echoing through the force over a year ago; "Let them send their children to me, I will show them what I'm capable of!". Bastila knew that Revan would not hesitate to butcher his enemies. She also knew that her threat was largely an empty one. Unless she came up with a new weapon to use, Revan had always been stronger that her both with the light saber and with the force. The powers he gained by studying the dark side would only add to his advantages. She would do what she could to mitigate his actions and if necessary she would give her life in the attempt to stop him.

July 21st, 2007

Forest North of London

The pilot set the ship down in a small clearing in the middle of a small forest just north of London. The landing was made around midnight to reduce the chances of being seen by the local inhabitants of the planet. After ordering the men to put up the standard camouflage, Revan went to bed for the night. He and Bastila were setting out towards the city in the morning. There seemed to be a large concentration of force wielders in the city. Fortunately, he did not sense the pure darkness that was the hallmark of the Massassi so he would hopefully have some time to get his bearings.

There were other thoughts that were fighting for dominance in his mind. His family was here somewhere on this planet. He had no way of finding them on such a primitive world, if they were even still alive. In the vision he had seen his father involved in some fight. The idea that they could be dead did not really disturb Revan; however, the thought that sent a chill down his spine was the idea that they could be in league with the Massassi. It was much easier to deal with nameless victims that to condemn his own family to death. Grunting softly in disgust at the turn of his thoughts, he decided to face the decision should it ever be necessary. It was useless to spend energy worrying on something that may never come to pass.

Bastila followed Revan out of the cockpit. Like Revan she needed to rest to regain the strength she had spent while searching the planet for any hint of the Massassi. Tomorrow promised to be another long day. Also like Revan her thoughts were troubled. Deciding to meditate before resting, she settled on the floor in her customary position. It wasn't the Massassi that were disturbing her thoughts so much as it was her reaction to them. After listening to Revan discuss them and having sensed the darkness that they surely represented. For the first time she truly realized the reason that the Jedi had followed him into the Mandalorian war and then into a war against the Republic. Even she, know his past and having heard his willingness to kill all those that were tainted found herself almost longing to join his crusade. Should she follow his path? It went against everything she had been taught, but maybe she could turn him not back to the light for she did not think that could ever happen but towards a balance between the light and dark. It would be a risky path because if she fell to the lure of the dark side, she could be helping to unleash a horrible plague on the galaxy. But, if she were to succeed, Revan could become the greatest ally the Republic could hope for, someone willing to do what was necessary and yet tempered by the needs of the innocent. Rising from her position on the floor, Bastila went to sleep nervous regarding her choice but determined to see it through regardless of the consequences.

July 21st, 2007

Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry

An old man with a long snowy beard and small wire frame glasses was sitting at a large desk in the headmaster's officer of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry. The office was dotted with various devices that whirred or spun and in the corner stood a metal stand atop which sat a stunning red and gold phoenix.

Albus Dumbledore was an old man and he was feeling all 167 of his years. Even for a wizard he was an old man and like any old man, he had his share of regrets. Perhaps his greatest regret was ignoring the threat of Tom Riddle. If he had paid more attentions to the boys needs, he may never have become Lord Voldemort. The debt he felt he owed to the wizarding world in general for allowing this was the only thing that kept him going. He didn't have the right to give the burden to someone else to carry. Despite his desire to see his world safe before he passed on, Albus knew that there was only one person who could defeat Voldemort once and for all. Sadly, Harry Potter had been missing for the last 26 years.

Turning once again to the latest reports on the Death Eater raids, he began to read. Surprisingly, the war had fallen into something of a stalemate. Neither side had made any significant headway in over a year. Voldemort was not often seen on his raids, but when he was the battle quickly ended in favor of the Death Eaters. When he was not present, the battle went against the Death Eaters more often than not.

Even the magical creatures who had originally joined with one side had withdrawn from any alliance as the conflict continued on with no end in sight. Most of the creatures like the werewolves, goblins, and vampires were content to let the wizarding world fight their own war. They would step in and help pick up the pieces but there was nothing to gain for them from depleting their numbers in such a drawn out conflict.

He was pulled away from the latest report when a small crystal sphere that was resting on the front right corner of his desk started to pulse emitting a soft white light almost like a heart beat. Albus just stared at the sphere for a moment in wonder before he realized the implications. Hope flared in his chest, Harry Potter had returned.