Danika
We ran through the passageways, avoiding action when we could, killing those that did try to stop us. There was a ramp leading down and we charged down it. There was a hatch at the bottom of it, and we ran in. The transparisteel port to our right showed the Ebon Hawk and carnage around it. Was this what Canderous had meant?
We didn't stop. I could feel Malak as if I could touch him, and I wanted to be away.
We ran down another ramp, and as we reached the bottom, a hatch opened before us. Malak strode through it, then stopped facing us. Carth drew and fired, but as he did Malak's hand rose, and Carth was blown off his feet, his shots going wild.
"Darth Malak!" Bastila snarled.
"I hope you weren't leaving without saying goodbye, Bastila. Not after all the effort I put into capturing you and your companions. Besides, I had to see with my own eyes. To see if it was really true. I can hardly believe it." He turned toward me. "Why did the Jedi spare you? Is it vengeance you seek in this reunion?"
"Speak plainly if you can, Malak." I snarled.
His voice sounded amused. "What, you mean you don't know? After all this time and you still haven't figured it out. My opinion of you intelligence has taken a stiff jolt.
"I wonder how long you would have stayed blind to the truth? Surely some of what you were has resurfaced. Not even the combined power of the Jedi Council would block that, Revan."
As he said that, I felt my life swirling.
Denouement
Memories poured into me;
Suddenly I saw a wide courtyard. A dark figure in robes stood there. I could recognize Lord Revan. She flung up her hands as if claiming it all, and spun, laughing with joy. She flung back her hood, catching the mask she wore. My own face looked around with glee.
Then memories from my life, or what I remembered of my life in the past weeks.
The Jedi do not believe in execution. No one deserves to die for their crimes.
Bastila speaking of Revan. What did you do to me?
Traditionally the Jedi do not accept adults for training, this much is true. There however have been exceptions in the history of our order. In each it has come down to one such as her. A special case.
Master Dorak, who else would know such had happened before?
They say the Force can do terrible things to a mind. It can wipe away your memories and destroy your very identity.
Carth, a man looking from the outside. Had they done this to me?
I fear the quest to find the Star Forge will lead you down an all too familiar path.
Master Vrook. Suddenly I understood his rage when I had returned, for he had been my Master when I was Revan. How would anyone feel, when they failed so horribly with a student? Then to see that student return, excel again under another master, and be sent to stop... Herself?
Before Revan's fall she would have seen it as poetic justice. After all, what greater weapon is there than to turn you enemy to your cause? To use their own knowledge against them?
So true, Bastila, What greater weapon?
Bastila laughing hysterically as she pushed me away. All I had said was trust me.
Of course. Trust me, of all people?
But it is so hard, to have your entire past wiped away by a callous hand.
Juhani when we spoke of Taris. Oh my dear friend, now I know what you felt!
You're dead!
Tolan on Manaan. I was dead. Yet somehow I still lived.
You however have become an obsession for me, did you know that? I wasn't sure who you had been when I saw you. Your friend Ulgo was good enough for that. But I knew of you before my master Darth Malak did. Before Admiral Karath told him.
Bandon on Manaan. The only one in this entire farce that had been honest with me. Yet never told me who I was.
Then another vision.
The battle was not going well. That woman Bastila was using her battle meditation, making the Republic ships more efficient. I wanted to talk to her, to explain. Why didn't they understand? I wasn't coming to destroy the Republic. Once they understood, they would see that the ships I had found, the Star Forge, would make us invincible! The Republic could settle into peace forever!
The hatch behind me opened, and Jedi poured onto the deck. At their head was a striking young woman, eliminating my Dark Jedi guard with ease.
"You cannot win, Revan." The woman said. I pitied her. She would try to kill me, and if she succeeded the Republic would be torn by war after war because these people wouldn't allow me to keep it safe. I drew my lightsaber, and advanced on her. There were only five of them. I would take them with ease, trying to not kill them.
Suddenly the ship rocked. Something struck me, a line surge from the systems behind me, ripping through my body. I screamed, falling. The last thing I remember was Bastila looking down on me as I fell into darkness.
Danika
I knew that all I had seen had taken only a moment, because Malak was still gloating. "You couldn't hide forever from what you were, what you are, Revan! Recognize what you were, the Dark Lord, master of the Sith! Then admit that I have taken your place!"
"I...I was Revan." I said in a whisper. "How is that possible?"
"You still don't understand, do you? The Jedi set a trap for us. They lured us into the battle of Zanebra, knowing that you would lead it, and where else would you favorite hound be but at your side?" His voice held something. Pain? "During the battle, a team of Jedi boarded your ship.
"They captured you, and the Jedi Council used the Force to reprogram your mind like a malfunctioning droid. They wiped your memories away, and turned you against your own followers."
"Why didn't they just kill me?" I asked.
"Because the Jedi are sanctimonious fools. They believe in rehabilitation and redemption, not retribution and execution. If you had died fighting them, all well and good. But since you were alive, they had to find some use for you." He waved toward me languidly.
"But if the Dark Lord of the Sith is supposed to be so powerful, how did they capture Revan... Capture me?"
"I helped them." Malak answered as if I were a fool. "I always knew the title of Dark Master would be mine. They gave me my chance earlier than I had anticipated. I order my ship to fire upon Behemoth, concentrating on the bridge. I had hoped to destroy all of my competent enemies at the same time. You and Bastila. Without her the Republic had no chance to stand against me. Without you, I would be the master."
"But why did you betray me?" My words were soft, a plea.
"You taught me well, Revan. Oh you spoke of saving the Republic, of giving them an order that would save them from future attacks, but that was all your own grand illusion. I however understood the way of the Sith you had recruited so much better. The strong must rule, and the weak must die.
"You must have known that I would challenge your title eventually. Maybe you thought I enjoyed being your favorite hound, but I was merely biding my time. The Jedi gave me my chance, and I took it!"
"Bastila?" Even as I asked, I knew it was true. Maybe I just hoped she would deny it.
"It's true. I was part of the team sent to capture... To capture you. When Malak fired on the ship we thought you were dead, but there was one spark of life remaining. Something I could use to anchor you to life-"
Her hand rose, and touched my cheek, a feather touch. I leaned into the hand. She leaned upward, and her lips brushed mine. Her eyes held a sadness I didn't understand.
Bond with me, she said.
"-I did most of the work rebuilding your mind. The Council merely assured that I did it correctly afterward."
"Why don't I remember being Revan?"
"They didn't want you back, Revan, don't you understand?" Malak snarled. "They wanted an obedient drone they could send out again. They don't want people that can think! They want obedience! They want slaves!"
"No." I looked at him. "They didn't anticipate that I would find a way to touch the Force again. They wanted a new start for someone that would never touch the Force. Thank you, Bastila. I forgive you."
"Forgiveness Revan? I was right to cast you aside. You are not worthy of the power of the Sith. Power I control! A part of me was always ashamed that I had to defeat you with turbolasers. There were those beneath me that thought it was because I was afraid of you. But not when I am done here. Fate has given me a chance to redeem myself from that. Once I defeat you here, no one will dare challenge my authority again!" He reached out, Bastila and Carth frozen in an instant of time.
"My triumph shall be complete! The Jedi council might have been foolish enough to let you live, but I am not making that mistake. We will finish this as custom demands. Master against apprentice for one last time!" His lightsaber lit.
"You can't defeat the light." I replied. My double saber lit.
"Spare me the platitudes!"
He struck at me savagely, and I felt a joy I hadn't felt in a long time. He was larger than I was, but he had never been my equal with a lightsaber! I cut, and he leaped backwards, unsettled for a moment that I was using a double blade. But he charged back in. I cut, and he roared, jumping back again. A narrow burn scar ran down his cheek. I had timed the Fybylka cut perfectly, slicing his flesh but not the gorget he wore.
"It is said among the Echani that Fybylka is the worse way to die. A single gentle cut at a time." I hissed.
He reached out, and I felt him pick me up and slam me into a bulkhead. He spun, running back through the blast door behind him. I leaped up. I suddenly felt my rage, my fury. At his betrayal of what I had been.
But I wasn't that person any more. I set aside the emotions. Even as I did, I turned and ran port, through a series of hatches. Part of me remembered the layout of this ship as well as Carth had. I sprinted aft, then starboard. Opening the hatches that would lead forward again.
Malak was surprised. He saw me, and his saber re-ignited. I looked at him dispassionately. I would have to kill him, and part of me regretted that need. But he would die today. I moved forward smoothly, and struck, driving him back. He fought desperately, then reached out. I felt his hand close on my heart, and I staggered back, reaching in with the Force to pry his hand free. I dropped to my knees, gasping for air, and I felt his blade rise up-
"This ends here!" Bastila screamed. I saw a flash of light as her lightsaber sailed over my head to drive Malak back. I broke his hold, standing as she leaped past me. "For the Jedi!" She screamed. As she passed the hatch, I felt her reach out, slamming it and fusing the controls in the same instant. I staggered to my feet. It was a solid blast door. My lightsaber would expend all it's energy trying to cut through but I still leaped toward it.
Someone caught me from behind, lifting me off the ground. "No! The hatch is sealed! We can't get past it!" It was Carth. Why he even bothered stopping me was beyond my comprehension.
He spun me around, and an open palm slap exploded against my face. I stared at him, shocked.
"She said to find the Star Forge! Move it soldier!"
I found myself obeying. We ran aft, and the hatch opened into the hanger bay. I stumbled across the bodies and wreckage, following Carth. He leaped up the ramp, and I followed. "Get to your station!" He screamed. I was running on training alone.
The engines screamed as I climbed up into the turret. I saw a swirl of metal, fighter hanging on cradles above us. I blasted a couple of them as we spun to drive away from the ship. Then I spun the guns forward as fighters screamed in. Our main guns ravened, blowing a pair out of space as I engaged them. The fighters clover leafed to come back after us, one of the pilots extending his flight too far, and smashing into Leviathan. I killed until there were no more fighters coming. Canderous later told me there was a full squadron up, a dozen snub fighters. We killed them all.
Then Leviathan fired, but we were already out of range of anything but her big guns. Those made Carth maneuver like a madman, but after a few moments we were far enough out to jump to light speed.
I didn't want to leave the gunnery seat. Things were so much clearer up here, enemies marked by little discreet circles, as were friends. No one betrayed your trust, or expected too much of you. All you had to do was make sure an enemy hadn't slipped up on you.
But my enemy was with me every second, and I had not known.
"Re- Danika..." It was Carth. He had almost called me Revan. I had worked so hard to get him to trust me, all of it undone.
I shut down the console, and set the controls to safe. "I'll be right down."
Ebon Hawk:
Enroute to Korriban
Jolee
Things had gone wrong somehow aboard Leviathan. We had gotten free, the ship was in space, but something had gone horribly wrong.
"What happened, where's Bastila?" I asked.
"We ran into Darth Malak. Bastila sacrificed herself so we could get away." Carth replied. He was furious, and his eyes were on Danika.
"You mean she's... dead?" Mission asked.
"No. Malak won't kill her as long as he can try to turn her to the dark side. Her battle meditation would spell our doom. If he turns her to the dark side, the Sith can't lose!" I said.
"We can't help her without dying ourselves." Danika looked haunted. "The Star Forge must be our first priority."
"Second." Carth snapped. "There's a bigger issue we have to deal with. They deserve to know the truth." He took a pace toward her, and Danika seemed to shrink inward. "Are you going to tell them what Malak said? Or am I?"
She looked down, sitting with her hands in her lap. Then raised her head, eyes haunted. "I am, or I was, Darth Revan."
"Revan?" Mission squeaked. "Is this some kinda joke?"
"Yeah a great joke!" Carth snarled. "Perpetrated by Bastila and the Jedi Council! They captured Revan, erased her memory and sent that-" He hissed, pointing at Danika, "Thing out to fight for us! Saul Karath told me aboard Leviathan, and Bastila confirmed it!"
"You were Darth Revan?" Mission asked. She blew out a breath. "That's... big! Do you remember anything of when you were Revan?"
"Only a few bits." Danika answered softly. "Strange dreams, visions, not much else."
"So already the lies begin!" Carth growled.
"Back off Jet-jockey." Canderous said. "Give her a chance to explain."
"But if you don't remember what you were, how does that matter?" Mission pressed. "You are who you are now. That's all that really matters."
Carth threw his hands up. "Of course it matters, Mission! How do we know all of her memories won't come back? Do you want to wake up with the Dark Lord of the Sith in control again? The whole time we've been running around and we had Malak's master calling the tune!"
"I said back off." Canderous warned.
"Carth, I wish it wasn't true!" Danika wailed. "It isn't like I asked for this!"
"Hey, don't apologize to the Nerf-herder, Danika! You didn't ask to be Revan, and you sure didn't ask to be Danika either! Besides, I know who you are now." She walked over, kneeling beside Danika. "You're the one that risked your butt for Zaalbar and me. You're the one that found my brother, found Bastila's mother, stopped a war on Tatooine, gave the Wookiee their chance at freedom, gave the Selkath back their god! Whatever you were before, you're one of us now." She glared at Carth as if to dare him to challenge.
"Mission is right." Zaalbar growled. "You freed my people, and rescued my father. My life-debt is to the person you are, not to who you might have been."
"See? Big Z and I will stand by you! We owe you our lives. We can't betray you now!"
Carth was aghast. "How can you say that? The Sith bombed you home world into dust! Revan slaughtered my people, murdered my wife, stole my son! She ruined my life!"
"Again a mouth with an empty head." Canderous said. "One more word, Carth, and I'll tie you to a chair!" He walked forward. Only Zaalbar was larger, and none aboard were as lethal. "Where was she when the Sith bombed Taris? She was up in that turret saving our butts! When the Sith attacked Telos she was convincing Melodoro to surrender. It was Saul and Malak that killed your people. Even if she was in overall charge, you can't blame her for that!"
"I suppose you're right, Canderous. She's proven to be a friend to us, and the Republic. But Revan... How can we trust her knowing that?" Carth raged.
She looked around, and her eyes stopped on my face. "There's something you haven't told me, Jolee."
I sighed. "I knew who you were the instant I saw you on Kashyyyk. Not surprising, you were a student of mine when you were six or seven. Bastila told me what she had done, what the Council decided. It wasn't my place to second guess them. You had to know sooner or later, this just wasn't the best time. But it's done and we have to live with it. Does it change anything? Not that I can see. I'll trust you to know what to do."
She looked at me for a long time, then turned to look at Canderous. "What do you have to say, Canderous?"
"You were the only one that could have beaten us. We had never met anyone like you before. I thought I had actually found another like Revan until today. Someone worthy of the title she had held. But you don't have to ask where I stand. Revan became the Mand'alor, I am honor bound to serve the leader of my people.
"Whatever you fight, My Mand'alor, I will try to be worthy of your faith in our people." He knelt, eyes down. "Command me."
"Revan." Everyone turned to look at HK. "Neural overload. Must hear access command in ten seconds. Nine-"
"Knock it off, HK!" Danika sighed, holding her head.
"Accessing, memory reinitializing. Homing system shut down."
"Homing system?" She asked
"Greeting: Welcome back, Master." His head turned. "My deleted memory core has been restored as is proper when I have returned to my master."
"You mean, Revan was your master."
"Affirmative. Sith design protocols delete all information of a sensitive nature from a droid memory when it is sent on a mission, and it remains so until it has returned from that mission." The head turned to look at Mission. "Warning: A word, Mission Vao. When you asked if the thermal detonator was real, I lied when I said it was not. If you had accessed the memory core, it would have destroyed the building."
"Thanks for that!" Mission snapped sarcastically.
"Soft Soap: It was not a reflection on you, Mission Vao. My programming required it." The head turned. "Full functioning capability restored. It is good to see you again, master."
"You do understand that I am not Revan anymore." Danika said.
"Question reply: Identity of my master is set by physical and judgmental parameters for identity purposes. You match my master to seven percentile points."
"But you had to hear the access command-"
"Laughter: You thought it would be funny to use 'knock it off, HK' because no one else would dare to use the phrase to me."
"Wow!' Mission said. "What are the odds of that happening?"
"You're talking about the Force." Canderous said. "If Lord Malak appeared in midair and invited us to a tea party, I wouldn't even blink."
"Good point."
T3 rolled forward, and began bleeping. Only Mission looked at the screen. "Atta boy, T3! I knew you'd come around!"
"Juhani?" Danika's voice was soft.
"Now I know how you could feel so much pain at what I had lost. You have been through this too, though you only just realized it. We must destroy Malak, and you have been the one to lead us all this time."
Danika turned to look at Carth. "It's up to you, Carth. I had already told you to go to Dantooine, but that is no longer an option. If you can't trust me, we can head for Coruscant. Maybe there is someone that can undertake the mission with what we have. I will not stop you if that is what you decide. None of us will stop you."
"We can't waste the time!" Carth said. "The others are willing to trust you, and I can't see any other way to stop the Sith. I suppose Malak is the real enemy right now isn't he? I don't have a whole lot of choices."
"I am not Revan anymore, Carth." She said softly. "I don't know how to convince you."
"Damn it after all we've been through, I want to believe you. You have proven yourself time and again on this mission." He ran his fingers through his hair. "It's just a lot to have to digest in one sitting, you know?"
"How do you think I feel?" She asked.
"That's part of my problem. I know how I feel about this, but you were blindsided too. I don't know why you're not curled up in bed screaming. If you can keep on pushing, how can a mere mortal complain?" He gave a small smile, immediately gone again.
"I won't let my worries interfere with the mission, but remember I gave an oath to the Republic. As long as the mission continues on course, I'm your man. But at the first sign of deviation, I'm pulling the plug. I won't let you betray the Republic again. Even if I have to kill you."
She smiled sadly. "I asked you to be my conscience after Kashyyyk, didn't I? Keep watching me. I will die happy if you have to kill me. Better that than to become what I once was." She stood. "I am going to spend some time alone." She walked from the room. Sasha, who had been sitting in the corner quietly followed.
Danika
I am Revan. The dark lord.
I wanted to wail to scream to smash everything in my quarters to splinters! Those who might listen to these records can't understand what I was going through. It was like I had gone to bed last night a woman, and woke up this morning a man!
I didn't know what to think, which didn't stop my mind from running in circles at light speed.
I am Revan.
Except for Sasha and Jolee, they left me alone. Sasha crept in, and curled up against me. She offered me a halo fruit. I clutched her frantically, trying to return to the normality of just 24 hours ago. She didn't make a single sound of complaint. She only held my arms around her, crooning. How could she love someone so horrible, so violent? How could she expect a monster to protect her from other monsters?
I am Revan.
About an hour later, Jolee walked in. He didn't say anything, didn't offer any encouragement. He merely set a holocron on the table by my bed, and left again. I waited until he had gone, then picked it up. Bastila appeared.
"I recorded this right after we left Manaan. If you are viewing this, you know who you really are, and I am not here for you to complain at. Perhaps I am dead. Considering the alternative, I would hope so. There are many questions you have right now, and I am not sure I have answered them all, but I have, I hope, answered the most pressing.
"Danika Wordweaver was a soldier, as you no doubt remember. She died of anoxia minutes before anyone could reach her, and I was able to transfer her memories into your mind. I was forced to do this by circumstance. You don't realize how stunned I was by being able to do it. Mind healing at this level is not a well-known skill among the Jedi, and to find I could do it under such hazardous circumstances was both exhilarating and terrifying. To discover that I could also transfer her memories into your mind was even more terrifying.
"She died to save us both. I could think of no greater memorial for her than to use her as a template to heal you. Her true service record is attached to this.
"As to why you don't remember your own past, the line surge that ripped through you erased a lot of your previous memories. There was also the worry about what would happen when you awoke. You see, no one had ever done what I did in living memory. We were sure that the Danika Wordweaver we revived would have no capability in the Force. She would live out her life unknowing. It was considered better to suppress what memories we did find to spare you the anguish of knowing that you were no longer what you once had been.
"Your file, or should I say, Revan's file is also attached. We don't know and cannot assume what memory you might retain, or regain with effort. Therefore all of what you had done before you fell to the dark is recorded.
"What surprised us most were what decisions you made when you became Danika. Changes that reflect not what you were in either life, but rather a synthesis of both. Revan was a powerful Guardian. You have become an equally powerful Consular instead. Your mannerisms, from what I have learned, are a mixture of the two women. You are now neither Revan Chadar Bai Echani nor Danika Wordweaver. You are a new person unique to the Galaxy as are we all." Her face grew sad.
"As for the Bond, I created it originally to keep the body of Revan alive. But it should not have grown and matured as it has. The Masters could see no reason for it's continuing existence. This has frightened me. There is still darkness within you that I can almost touch. I have tried to break the bond myself since Kashyyyk, but it sustains itself. Perhaps we together could have broken it, perhaps I was foolish to allow it to continue, but I had to think of the mission. I must admit, that at times, being bonded with you has given me insights I would never have had. I have seen things that I never imagined, and your memories of them are so sharp I feel they are alive for me as well.
"Well, if there are further questions, I am obviously not there to answer them. Ask Jolee. He can, I hope, give you more information. May the Force be with you."
I looked at the holocron, wishing there had been more. I closed my eyes, reaching along the bond we shared-
Choking. Liquid covered her completely. Then suddenly she was in the air, breathing desperately. A face loomed over her. Malak.
"Welcome back to the real world, Bastila." She felt a collar lock around her neck, then around each arm and leg. "We have so much to talk about." Then the collar was activated-
-I gasped. "Bastila..." I whispered.
I'm Revan
No, I am not Revan any more. I am Danika Wordweaver-
No, you're not. Danika was a stupid woman that died.
To save others!
True, but does that make her any more intelligent?
She was true to her oath-
Big deal. She didn't have enough air to survive, and made a grand gesture. She could have railed against her fate. Instead she went to sleep.
What other choice did she have?
She had the Force as you do. Not as strong, mind, but she did. She could have pulled herself back to the ship and saved herself.
At the cost of our lives-
Which would be more important? Her life or yours?
I was a waste of flesh. I wanted power-
No, you wanted security for the Republic forever. You gave yourself over to the dark side for security-
The security of the Sith?
That was your way of reconciling the two aspects of the Force, or at least that is what you intended. But as Bastila said, once you give in even a little, you drive yourself deeper with every decision.
I have made my decision. I am Danika.
Of course that is your decision you fool! The Jedi Council programmed you like a faulty droid, making you acceptable-
No!
I clutched my head, moaning. I expected my head to explode all over the compartment. I had to deal with this or I was sure to fail. I couldn't face the Sith, the people I had led into this war, without knowing whether I would simply fall again. I picked up the holocron, and concentrated on Danika's service record. She didn't look anything like me, of course. Tall, blonde chiseled face. She had served as I remembered, becoming a sergeant right before Zanebra. She wasn't considered likable but was very competent with the weapons she had learned. She was bluff and plainspoken, willing to hurt someone's feelings to prove her point but didn't gain pleasure by being right. A good sergeant. I concentrated on Revan instead.
Entered the Academy at age seven, exceeded everyone's expectations except for Jolee Bindo, who left the Academy when she turned eight. Jolee had warned that she tended to take the most direct course through any problem, and did not suffer fools gladly. She showed the same attitudes later. She was constantly pushing those around her to perform better, to perform perfectly if that was possible.
Became friends with Malak when she arrived. A friendship based on mutual interests in history and of all things, botany. Malak was four years older, and she had caught up, then surpassed him before her 14th birthday. He was a constant companion, and the masters had wondered if she would slip and either marry him or become the mother of his children. Neither was well looked upon by the masters. A countervailing interest would affect how she would think and feel.
Then when she turned 19 the Mandalorian war officially began. She constantly pushed that the Jedi must get involved, that waiting on the sidelines would doom the Order as well as the Republic. Finally the day she had turned 20, she had gathered those who agreed with her, and departed.
I am Revan.
No, I was not Revan anymore. She had been a Guardian, what most people thought of when they heard the word Jedi. They were the knights of the order sans per sans reproach.
I had become a Consular, the smallest group of the order. We try to stop the conflicts, to mediate. The judges of the order. Striving not for victory, but for balance.
Did they adjust my mind so I would chose another path?
No. Master Dorak had assumed I would be a Guardian again. Why else did he have the blue crystals ready?
I was making my own path again. I was where Revan- where I was ten years ago, when I received my blue crystal.
That was it! concentrate on where Revan and the person I was now were different!
Revan had never liked the twin swords and Ritual brand, though she knew both styles and had practiced every day with single blade, twin blade and double bladed light sabers as all Echani did. Weapons are a part of their religion, meditative prayer done in the endless cycle of the dance of death. She had excelled with a standard lightsaber. I on the other hand had immediately been drawn to the blade I carried.
I paused, then checked the record of the real Danika's service record. She had never even used a double blade before her death. I however had been drawn to first the Echani ritual brand, then to this double lightsaber. I was taking a different path in every step.
The person I had been had never embraced the Echani view of war as a sport. I had considered it more logical than the deadly serious attention most people pay to it. War it seemed to me, was something that was constantly happening. The players changed, the venue changed, but I didn't remember a single year in the Republic's history where someone wasn't deeply embroiled in fighting someone else either within or without.
Both of us had hated bullies, but Revan had never had the deep abiding hatred I did for slavery. She felt that it was an evil that would die with time. I felt it had to be destroyed wherever I found it.
So it went for the next three days. I stayed in my cabin, wrestling with who I had been and who I had become. Sasha brought me meals, and would sit there watching me reproachfully until I ate. No one else bothered me. When I slept I dreamed. Some of Bastila, trapped within her body as she approached our doom. But some were true memories now, memories not of Danika's life, but Revan's.
A ship approaching a huge structure. It was as large as a moon. Three prongs thrust out into the darkness of space, the base pointing down at the pole of a star. It looked like god's own lightsaber. I could see the material of the star being sucked into that base. Such an orbit is impossible without massive gravity generators more powerful than any designed since. Below the prongs were launch bays, and as I watched, ships poured out as if they were dust blown away from a breathing giant. The largest was only the size of a frigate, but I knew that the massive exhalation I was witnessing was star stuff being formed into ships by a combination of the Force and alien technology.
My mind flew down through the massive hull, past deck after deck of machinery I still did not understand. I soared upward, and found myself on what could only be called the observation deck.
Revan stood there, watching as shuttles brought more crew from the fleet. As I stood there, I could share her thoughts.
The conditions aboard those ships were close enough to normal for our crews to live, but long term exposure to the interiors caused some to have psychotic episodes. We had found it necessary to design an entire series of droids using the Star Forge that could 'man' and fight those ships. But they still needed a core crew of people to operate efficiently. Even with the droids we were running out of personnel.
Our worst problem was that because of the way they were built, they had to return here to be repaired. Only the Star Forge could reform the metal of their hulls. I remembered the wrecks on Tatooine, made as these had been made by those who had built the Star Forge. Without the Force, without this place, they would not last for long.
I saw Malak pass me, walking toward Revan.
"Yes Malak?" She asked without turning around.
"The newly formed fleet is manned and ready. They have been practicing maneuvers, and I deem them fit for combat. All they need is a commander assigned."
"You are that commander, old friend." She turned, looking up at him. I could see the metal gorget, and knew that this was about a month after the battle of Trantor, where Malak had been grievously injured. He had been healed
as much as possible, the gorget replacing his jaw, and allowing him to speak.
"I do not want a fleet." He replied, looking at the floor. "I do not want to be separated from you, my master."
"Malak." She walked over, and suddenly I was in her mind and body. Looking up at my old friend. He towered over me by at least 10 centimeters. But there are ways to measure strength that has nothing to do with physical build. "Most people would be thrilled to be named a fleet commander."
He made a gesture toward the metal form around his neck. I saw what I had not then. He was embarrassed. "I am not yet well, my master." He said. "I do not feel comfortable dealing with those that see this."
"I understand." I reached up, running my hand over his shaved head. Why had he started that? I wondered. "But you will get well?" I could hear a note of worry in her voice. "Whatever will I do if my good right arm falls away?"
"You will fight on left handed, knowing you."
I laughed, punching him in the shoulder. I might as well have assaulted a glacier with a cup of tepid tea. "Very well. Would you mind serving as a ship's commander beneath me?"
"Have I ever complained?"
"No, old friend, you have never complained. Very well. Take command of the second section of my own fleet. Which ship will you use as flag?"
"Leviathan." He looked at the distant ships. "Admiral Karath still has twinges of conscience."
"Very well."
A great deal of that time I was planning what to do next. My biggest worry right this moment was that I would fall again, and cause the deaths of my friends-
-The blade slicing through Mission, watching her fall, Zaalbar's scream of rage and pain and betrayal.
I shook my head. Just a memory of that horrible vision. But it focused my mind. I worked not to save the ship, but to stop myself.
In the depths of this, like clockwork, there was a vision...
The stone walls were merely old, not ancient like the Builder's structure. The walls were marked in what I knew were the runes used by the Sith race before they had been absorbed I paced down the hall, passing a lake of simmering acid, then through a massive door. Before me was a pintel, and beyond it, a statue of a kneeling man in Sith garb. There was something on the outstretched palm, and I touched the lightsaber. The blade flicked out, blood red-
This next test would be harder than any other. I would be within a space so dark in the Force that it would be like diving into a mile of ocean. If nothing else came of this part of our mission, the ship had to survive.
Even if it meant they had to kill me.
I dressed, and Sasha watched me with hopeful eyes. I tousled her head, then stepped into the mess hall. Mission squeaked, then was setting a cup down in front of me, followed by as plate with pancakes and eggs.
"Thank you, Mission."
"You're welcome..." She paused. "Have you decided who you are yet?"
I looked up at her. "Revan is dead. I am Danika now and forever. When I have finished my meal, ask everyone to come here for a briefing before we land on Korriban."
Korriban
Carth
I was ready for anything, I thought. When Mission came to tell me that Revan- that Danika had asked us all to report, I put on the autopilot and headed aft. We had less than an hour before we dropped out of hyperspace.
Danika was sitting at the table as if the last few days had never happened. She smiled slightly at my approach, nodding toward a seat across the table from her. The others gathered, taking their seats.
"I have been considering the problem we didn't start this mission with." Danika began. "The problem that somewhere in here," she tapped her head, "Revan may be waiting to leap out and destroy us all. The problem is compounded by the fact that last night, I dreamed and saw the location of the Star Map here.
"It is located in one of the tombs in the valley of the Dark Lords beyond the Sith Academy."
Both Jolee and Juhani gasped at that. I didn't fully understand. However she had anticipated the questions.
"There is no place on this planet more deeply steeped in the Dark side than that valley. The Dark Lords of legend are buried there. Ajunta Pall, Marko Ragnos, Tulak Hord, Naga Sadow. Thousands of years of Sith history in one place.
"Also, I must pass through the Sith Academy to reach it. Only two sorts of people are allowed in the Academy. Sith, their students, and their slaves."
"I'm going." I rasped. Dustil was in there somewhere.
"As far as the Academy itself, you will. However, I must enter the valley alone." She held up her hand to forestall debate. "Please listen to what I have to say first. We must protect the ship, and one of those we need to protect it against is me." She stared at her hands, clenched so tightly that they were dark with blood. "I don't know that I will fail, or fall to the dark. But I must assume that it is a possibility. If that happens this ship and crew must survive. They must go to Coruscant, and warn the Jedi council.
"Therefore, I am giving these as my final orders. Until I have returned and been judged safe by you, no one will obey any order I give them from the moment we land. If they do, you must all assume that I have dominated their minds. Canderous, you HK and T3 have a duty I cannot assign to another. You, like they will obey my orders to the letter regardless of your feelings on the matter.
"Once I have stepped off the ship, and gone into Dreshdae, when I am too far away to stop you, I want you to design and activate a defensive system that cannot be penetrated or deactivated from outside the ship. Speak with Juhani and Jolee. I want something that will kill an attacker no matter how fast they move. Rig the ramp so that if anyone reaches it while the system is activated, the ship will be blown up. As much as I want the ship to escape, I don't want it to leave if- if I get back aboard without being cleared first.
"Use all your skills in ambush and booby traps. Use all of HK's skills, use all of T3s skills. There must be no way I can get back aboard without you allowing me back aboard.
"Juhani." I turned to her. "You and Jolee can resist me, and you must go ashore with me to set up my entry into the Academy together. I know if I turned evil, I could control one of you, but doubt I could do so without the other noticing. You both can reach into another's mind, and once I have gone into the Academy, you must use that skill. Work out with Canderous what he intends to do, then reach into each other's minds and remove it before we go ashore. That way I cannot get it from you.
"Once his system is set up, you must then remove it from Canderous' mind. I don't want to be able to read any of you if it is at all possible. If at any time you feel that I am attempting to take control of any of you, I want that system to automatically kill me. When you are all done, I must have a system that I can pass if you allow me to, but that will kill me if I try to slip by it in any way.
"HK, I am giving you an order that only someone else can countermand. In the event that it is assumed that I am a threat, you must kill me, or failing that, destroy this vessel if I succeed in getting aboard. I. Must. Not. Survive. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Master."
"Carth." She turned to me. "If I try to use others to get aboard and capture it, I want you to lift off. Get this ship away, even if you have to leave everyone else behind. I asked you to be my conscience after Kashyyyk. Now I ask you to be my executioner. If at any time you think that I have become a danger, if you even feel I might be falling back into the dark side, you must notify the crew so they can kill me." She stood, looking around our crew.
"I have been told that Revan was a tactical genius, If she comes back, I want to give her an insoluble problem. Work among yourselves, and make it harder than I have already laid it out. I will stay in my quarters until we land."
She turned, and walked from the compartment.