Chapter 1
Revan allowed the Light and Dark Sides of the Force to fuel through him. What usually were opposing sides were now working together in tandem to stand against this monster.
The Dark Side was strong within his opponent, stronger than Malak, and the rest of the Dark Side adepts he had encountered throughout the wars. For centuries even, the Emperor ruled without harassment.
And now, after so many years, the former Sith wished to use all the knowledge he'd gained, finally defeat the monster who twisted himself and his best friend into darkness.
The Emperor had his power, the fear of losing it. He fought to sustain it, not wishing to be removed and leaving an empty vacuum in place of where his power used to be.
Revan's thoughts went to his wife and son back at home, all the friends that he have left behind, those faces continuing to plague him. If he lost, all of them would be doomed to facing this madman's wrath.
Behind him, the Jedi Exile Meetra and Sith Lord and ally Scourge were fighting the Royal guards, the former attempting to reach Revan with the best of her might.
She had friends too, companions who she'd cared about. In front of her mind earlier, Revan spotted one above all: a scoundrel, someone who he recognized... long ago.
She defeated the last of the guards and came behind him along with Scourge.
In that moment, Revan felt his mind being clouded with visions. No, not that, but different futures, outcomes to what this battle could lead to. In some futures, they emerged triumphant, standing over the Emperor's corpse, the major threat to the galaxy. In others, they were all dead, the Emperor standing above them. One shone at last. He saw Scourge... standing behind Meetra, stabbing her in the back, Revan falling, the Sith bowing before the Emperor.
Time slowly started to move again. Revan saw Scourge's eyes traveling back and forth between himself and Meetra. No, they would have to stop this here. Revan was determined. He wouldn't allow the Sith Emperor to leave this place alive. Even if he warned Meetra, and she countered Scourge's betrayal, that may be a distraction to her.
They would have to flee. And the Force rang around them, as always providing him with answer. Revan extended his senses, not willing to allow his friend to die. Not allow this Emperor to leave this place and risk dooming the entire galaxy.
No, he'd wronged Meetra once. Didn't care about her. He would save her this time, even at the cost of himself. Meetra had been dealt the wrong hand always!
As if sensing his thoughts, his friend snapped her head to face him. Once, they had been like siblings, yet that bond was tarnished by war. Revan simply shrugging her off and not giving two karks about her disconnection from the Force after Malachor V...
Meetra Surik snapped her eyes to him. In those eyes, he saw a plea for him not to do what she sensed he was about to do. A futile attempt in reaching out to him.
She voiced. "Revan, whatever you're thinking; don't you dare."
"Live happily, Meetra, and take care of my family. May the Force be with you, my friend, always," Revan said, before severing the connection, and allowing the Force to unleash within him.
Energy of the Force sprouted out of his fingertips, crashing against both of the Sith. With a thought, Meetra was sent flying back, looking up with desperation as she tried to push him. Still, Revan formed a shield around her, saving her from any possible whiplash.
Revan continued pouring the Force inside, focusing his entire will. The will to defeat the Emperor.
"My life spans millennia. Legions have risen to test me."
"If you kill everyone in the galaxy, you will be the Emperor of nothing. You're no master."
"You discern a fraction of reality. Beyond these stars exist other galaxies, other worlds, other beings. I will experience or ignore them as I wish. I will spend eternity becoming everything: a farmer, an artist, a simple man. When the last living thing in the universe finally dies, I will enjoy peace and wait for the cycle to begin again."
"I will make sure that you never possess that type of power."
"There is no death; there is only the Force—and I am its master. My ascendance is inevitable. A day, a year, a millennium—it matters not. I hold the patience of stone and the will of stars. Your striving is insignificant. Let your death be the same."
"There are those with power, and those who seek it... so many decades and yet doesn't understand the Force. Your headlong rush to avoid oblivion ends today."
An explosion lit up, and Revan felt the Emperor and Scourge's presences snapped. At the same time, everything transformed around them. Revan reached out, only to feel something different through the Force. All his bonds, friends, were gone in an instant...
For a brief moment, something beyond the Emperor's power was in his hands, but it came with a heavy cost. Meetra was only knocked back, incapacitated. Revan smiled. At the very least, she would live.
He'd saved her, even at the cost of his own life...
Revan gave her a second chance at life. She would mourn for him always, but that was a small price to pay. Was this what the afterlife felt like?
Revan had a brief time to analyze his surroundings, reaching out with the Force and sensing chaos around him.
He frowned.
Jedi were nearby...
Revan didn't know what to think about that. Many among their Order still considered him a threat even after defeating Malak. He had to deal with mini skirmishes and arguments throughout the years. Dealing with their arrogance would be exhausting.
Yet there was another signature that drew his attention. Also sickeningly light, yet the former Sith could feel incredible power. That potential... it could come to rival even Revan should it be realized. Oddly enough, he couldn't say he ever felt it before. Someone like that wouldn't be able to cloud their signature unless trained, and the... the vergence didn't seem... interested in clouding his presence.
Maybe, he could get some answers.
The Prodigal Knight stood.
Obi-Wan felt a disturbance through the Force but he dismissed it for the time being. There were current matters to handle, like figuring out what was going on here.
With access to Taly's records and a quick tour of the complex, the Jedi soon reached the conclusion that it was not going to be easy to solve Taly's problem.
"All of his employees are well paid," Anakin said. "They even own shares in the company. It would make no sense to throw it into disarray."
"Not only that, without Taly the company will cease to be profitable," Padmé said. "Every breakthrough and discovery has been his. There's no other inventor on his level on staff."
"I agree - it makes no sense for someone to try a takeover," Obi-Wan said.
"So is Taly just paranoid?" Siri asked. "He thinks his employees are out to get him, but they're loyal."
Obi-Wan shook his head. "Taly may be paranoid, but he's still sharp. I doubt he would invent a plot. And his inner office is under surveillance, according to our devices as well. So he didn't invent that. But I don't think someone is attempting a takeover."
"But you just said he didn't invent a plot," Padmé said.
"There is no takeover plot," Obi-Wan explained. "But there is a spy. Someone is out to steal the codebreaker. And I think the Separatists are behind it."
"Taly said there's been no unobserved communication since the codebreaker was developed," Siri pointed out. "We've gone over the comm monitoring system, and it's solid."
"That's because we're thinking like Jedi," Obi-Wan said to Siri.
"How do the Separatists think? Someone very wise once said to me that they plant seeds. They're willing to wait years for results." Obi-Wan pointed to the Holofiles that filled the air around them. "All the employee records look perfect because they are meant to."
"One of them is a mole," Siri said slowly, revolving to stare at all the files.
"Someone planted here, years ago, because someone in the Separatists knew that Taly was a brilliant innovator, and that someday there would be something to steal."
"So they don't want the company," Padme said. "They want the codebreaker. Only they don't know it's a code-breaker. Not yet."
"It has to be someone in the inner circle. Someone he trusts."
Anakin said. "Helina Dow? Moro Y'Arano? Dellard Tranc, the head of security?"
"I don't know," Obi-Wan said. "We don't have to know. All we have to do is set the trap."
They had something going for them. Because of Taly's expert foiling of the office surveillance, the mole didn't know that Taly was aware of the bug. So they could plant information and set the trap.
They explained their plan to Taly, and he agreed. Then they gathered in his office.
"I'm glad we were able to come to terms," Taly said. "I think given the sensitive nature of the codebreaker, it would be best to get it out of the complex as soon as possible."
"We can leave tonight," Obi-Wan said. "Can you arrange for security to be lifted?"
"I will handle the security myself," Taly said. "I'll tell my staff after you leave that the codebreaker is gone. This deal is on a need-to-know basis, and nobody needs to know but me that the codebreaker is leaving until it's gone. Here."
Taly handed the codebreaker to Obi-Wan. It was a black metal box the size of a small suitcase. He slipped it into a carrying case.
"When you open it, a holographic file will appear that will explain the procedure for deployment," Taly said.
"We'll leave at nightfall," Siri said.
Night fell, and the Jedi and Padmé started on their walk to the hangar. Obi-Wan carried the codebreaker. He felt confident, or at least as confident as he ever allowed himself to feel. There was every chance that the mole would not realize that the Jedi were waiting. And three Jedi against one attacker would surely prevail.
Padmé, too, had grown quite handy with a blaster. Obi-Wan was always happy to have her on his side in a battle. Funny, Obi-Wan thought, how he had dismissed her when they'd first met. She had been so young, and posing as the Queen's attendant, of course. He had seen her as someone he had to protect, not the fierce, determined ally she eventually proved herself to be. It was Qui-Gon who had seen her strength. Obi-Wan missed Qui-Gon with an acuteness that hadn't diminished in the long years since his death. There was still so much he wanted to learn from his former Master.
Anakin held up a hand. They could hear footsteps approaching.
Helina Dow suddenly appeared around the corner. She smiled as she came forward.
"Taly told me to make sure you were escorted to your ship. He wanted you to know that security has been cleared for you."
Was this true? Obi-Wan doubted it. Still, he was surprised that Helina had turned out to be the spy. She had been with Taly from the beginning. She had built the company with him. It seemed strange that she would abandon all that she had gained.
"Here we are." Helina stopped in front of the entrance to the hangar. She bowed. "Have a safe journey."
Surprised, Obi-Wan half-turned to watch her go down the corridor.
He raised an eyebrow at Anakin, who shrugged-then tensed as the Jedi walked through the hangar door.
They found themselves not in the hangar, but a small, windowless room. The door clanged shut behind them.
"She tricked us," Siri said. "We just walked through a holographic portal."
Three lightsabers blazed to life. Within moments, they had cut a hole in the door. They rushed out into the corridor.
It was completely different. Instead of a set of double doors on one side and a corridor leading off to the right, there were doorways all the way down the corridor. Taly stood at the end of the corridor, smiling.
"What's going on?" Padmé ̈ shouted at him.
"It's a Hologram," Anakin said, when Taly's image didn't answer.
"Helina Dow did this," Siri said. "There must be holograms all over this place. They use them for security."
"She wants to confuse us," Obi-Wan said. "But how does she expect to get the codebreaker?"
"Maybe she just wants to prevent us from leaving with it," Padme said.
"Well, it doesn't matter. We know who the spy is. Let's tell Taly."
Obi-Wan opened his comlink to contact Taly. There was no signal. "She must have blocked communication. This doesn't make sense. What is she hoping to accomplish?"
"Obi-Wan, maybe you should check the codebreaker," Padme said.
A certain dread settled inside Obi-Wan as he flipped open the box.
No holographic file appeared. He searched the database. No files were loaded.
"She switched it somehow," Siri said.
"Or Taly did," Anakin observed.
Siri and Obi-Wan exchanged glances. They knew Taly hadn't switched the codebreaker. They believed in him, even after all these years. They remembered the boy who had run into a nest of pirates to save their lives.
They knew that boy still lived in Taly.
"We've got to get to the hangar," Anakin said.
The low lighting made it harder to discern which of the doorways were Holographic portals. It was impossible to navigate what they remembered as
the route to the hangar. The Jedi charged down the hallway, Padmé trailing behind, letting them access the Force to discover which doors were Holograms and which were real.
At last, they found the doors to the hangar and charged through.
Helina was ahead, racing to a cruiser, the code-breaker swinging with the motion of her run.
Obi-Wan and Anakin leaped at the same instant that Siri gave Helina a Force-push that sent her sprawling. The codebreaker slid away on the polished floor.
Obi-Wan and Anakin's boots thudded as they hit the ground near her head.
She looked up at them, wide-eyed. "It's just business," she said. "Don't kill me."
"We're not going to kill you," Anakin said. "Who hired you?"
She shakily sat up, resting on her elbows. "Passel Argente hired me to get a job here five years ago. I was supposed to pass information along when I could to the Separatists. If something big came up, I was to steal it."
"Do they know about the codebreaker?"
"They know I'm bringing them something big. That's all. I can't send a communication, so I send out a code through one of Taly's business communications. It's to a supplier we've used for years, but Argente arranged to have someone there pass along the message to him."
Suddenly blaster fire lit the air and a smoke grenade exploded.
Padmé dived to the floor, coughing. Anakin started toward her. Obi-Wan groped his way toward the codebreaker.
Someone else was here. Someone was firing, peppering the ground with blaster fire so fast it had to come from a repeating rifle.
The hangar bay doors were open, and the cool night air began to disperse the thick gray smoke. As it cleared, Obi-Wan saw the glint of a red-and-black Starfighter. Someone was leaning out. He saw an arm sweep down and gather up the codebreaker.
He began to run, his eyes tearing from the smoke. The being wore an armor weave tunic and trousers as well as a full helmet with a breath mask, but Obi-Wan recognized him instantly.
It was Magus.
Taly suddenly ran into the hangar. Magus turned and saw him. Obi-Wan could not read his expression, but he sensed the satisfaction Magus felt as he aimed the repeating blaster even as he leaped back into his speeder.
Obi-Wan made a midair leap, his lightsaber swinging, as the intense fire ripped through the air. Behind him he felt Siri jump in front of Taly to protect him. Anakin blocked Padmé.
Magus turned and gave one more blast of fire. It hit Helina where she still lay stunned on the duracrete. She died instantly. Her usefulness to the Separatists was over, and she had become a liability.
Magus moved to take off when suddenly the Starfighter stopped. It landed in the hanger, the engine being crushed by some form of the Force.
The man was pulled roughly through the Force and placed in front of a shadow.
A green lightsaber erupted through his chest, and Magus had a split second to be surprised by these turn of events, before he dropped onto the ground.
The presence, Obi-Wan felt was unfamiliar. There was darkness there but not overwhelmingly. So not a Sith, but the Light and Dark couldn't come together! Who was this being?
Obi-Wan, Siri, and Anakin all gripped their lightsabers, not recognizing the presence Obi-Wan felt earlier. The shadow deactivated his lightsaber and walked up.
"Greetings, Jedi, that is not necessary," the armored man dismissed, keeping his hilt at his side. "I'm on your side."
"You killed him," Siri pointed out.
"Was he defenseless?" he asked, and all knew he was arching an eyebrow behind that mask.
"So what are you? A Mandalorian?" Anakin queried.
Looking over, they recognized that he certainly had a Mandalorian mask. His armor seemed to be battle-torn, a sign of a warrior's past.
Behind his helmet, the Mandalorian's eyes locked on Anakin. "You are... the presence I felt, boy, who are you?"
Anakin shifted slightly. "I'm Anakin Skywalker. This is my Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and his... girlfriend, Siri Tachi." he grinned mockingly.
Both gave him sharp looks at that.
The Mandalorian didn't seem to be moved. "Very well, you are among Grandmaster Bastila Shan's Jedi Order, are you not?"
"Who is that?" Anakin asked.
The name was familiar to Obi-Wan. He'd read about the wars of past time.
"Master Shan died three thousand years ago."
The Mandalorian fell back, his eyes wide. "N-no, that can't be. What about Meetra Surik?"
"She's gone too. She'd died sometime before Master Shan," Obi-Wan explained, deactivating his lightsaber and putting a hand on his beard. Both Anakin and Siri, sensing no threat, did the same. "They done a lot of work in their time. Rebuilt the Jedi Order. My friend, who are you?"
"Revan..."
Both Obi-Wan and Siri stiffened at that name.
"But Revan, the Prodigal Knight, died to the Sith Emperor nearly four thousand years ago. Meetra Surik and Bastila Shan honored his legacy!" Siri pointed out in denial if anything else.
"He might be lying," Anakin said flatly.
"No, it's the truth. I can feel it." Obi-Wan dismissed, moving forward and putting a hand on Revan's shoulder.
"Time travel is impossible, but how could he be here?" Siri said. "Aside from hyperspace miscalculations, it's not only unheard of but illegal."
Having no explanation, Obi-Wan didn't sense any aggression from the man.
"Come, my friend, you have much to catch up on."
Arthur's note: My priority is my Echoes fanfiction. I do enjoy the concept of Revan coming into the Clone Wars, but I feel like people don't take risks no offense to everyone who does those fanfics. Everything just has to be the same. As shown with Siri being saved, there would be characters who die saved and those who live dies. I don't do plot armor nor put in characters in situation where they should logically die.
May the Force be with you all always.