Disclaimer: Lucasfilm, Bioware, Disney, et al. and whoever they sell the rights to next own Star Wars and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. I write this for fun and not for any monetary gain.
Chapter 27: The Frozen Temple
Two days later, the Ebon Hawk arrived in the Ilum system and slowly approached the icy planet of Ilum. They soon descended into a blizzard, a common occurrence on the planet. Fortunately, they knew the coordinates of the abandoned Jedi outpost on the planet, and so were able to fly through the blizzard with their instruments towards the outpost.
As they approached the entrance, they found the hangar closed. Normally, this necessitated landing in the elements, somehow finding their way inside the outpost, before opening the hangar and flying the ship in. Needless to say, no one on the Ebon Hawk particularly wanted to do this. Fortunately for them, since the Jedi intended to return and didn't want the entire outpost to be destroyed by the encroaching ice, the base was still powered with geothermal energy from the hot springs deep beneath Ilum's surface. This kept the interior warm while simultaneously offering an easy way out for the Force users. Revan simply flicked a switch inside the hangar with the Force, and the doors opened up, allowing the Ebon Hawk to land. Before much heat was lost, he flicked the switch again with the Force, shutting out the blizzard while the hangar heated itself back up.
The outpost contained the legendary Ilum Jedi Temple. It was built directly over the famous Crystal Caves, to which the Jedi often sent their would-be Padawans on a pilgrimage to collect their first lightsaber crystals. It made for an interesting experience as the crystals in these caves were famous for giving visions to Force users, and so it became an ancient tradition of the Order—at least, during peacetime. Now, the outpost lay abandoned as the Jedi opted to simply give out lightsaber crystals to their Padawans, unwilling to risk such pilgrimages to a system far outside the Republic's defensible area, especially when Revan knew its location, having received his original blue crystal of a Jedi Guardian here. So instead, those tasked with maintaining the Ilum Temple were sent to the frontlines.
Since they already came all the way, the Force users among the Ebon Hawk crew couldn't resist visiting those same caves for some nice upgrade crystals, especially since both Juhani and Jolee only had the basic colour crystals in their weapons and could benefit from a backup lightsaber. And so while Matton, Canderous, and Zaalbar installed the heat shields on their ship, the four Force users ventured deeper into the Jedi outpost, entering the empty temple through an underground tunnel.
"I am so glad we don't have to brave the elements," Juhani remarked.
"Indeed, that would have been foolish," Revan agreed. "Apparently they used to make apprentices do exactly that, entering from the impressive front entrance to make the pilgrimage more of a trial, but they stopped after the Exar Kun war. That's what I heard from the Jedi Masters when I was here almost twenty years ago…" Indeed, given that there was exactly one outpost on the planet and it had a hangar within, the huge gates effectively existed only for show.
"You know why?" Jolee interjected. Seeing head shaking from everyone else, he continued, "Exar Kun apparently got wind of a young apprentice freezing to death, and used that as an example of the 'decrepit trappings of the Order' to sway Jedi against the Council to his vision of 'a new golden age'… To think, if the Jedi hadn't done that, maybe a lot of lives could have been saved during the war."
"I suppose they at least have learned that lesson…" Bastila remarked, though she couldn't help but connect it to the pervasive bullying of apprentices and Padawans by the Jedi Masters. What would it take for them to stop that? she wondered.
Their students turning to the Dark Side certainly hadn't, her Master replied, shaking his head.
The quartet continued their walk down through the temple, finding it devoid of any objects of value. The Jedi had undoubtedly shipped everything of value to the other Jedi temples and enclaves. Indeed, Bastila recalled a sudden influx of books in Dorak's collection on Dantooine when her Master declared war on the Republic. Sensing that they were wasting time exploring the Temple, they instead headed down the passageway into the icy crystal caves. Being a natural formation, it was completely unheated and freezing cold, but thankfully their winter gear was sufficient, and fortunately the caves were devoid of the howling wind and the raging blizzard outside. Once they left the lights of the temple, they ignited their lightsabers, using them as illumination.
The caves branched out in a complex network. As young Jedi apprentices, they were told to let the Force guide them to find their own colour crystals. As adults, the quartet nevertheless chose to split up, following their instincts to search for the good and useful upgrade crystals. And so they went down separate branches, although the Sith couple chose to stick to each other.
The Sith couple, holding each other's hands, delved down their chosen branch of the caves. They walked down the icy path, projecting their senses, sensing for crystals. It wasn't long before Revan sensed a Upari crystal behind a thick layer of ice. Without further ado, he stabbed his ignited lightsaber into the ice, and with the heat of the Heart of the Guardian, easily melted all the ice in between. With the Force, he ripped the crystal from the formation and caught it in his hand. That was when he had a vision. He closed his eyes and watched it play out in the Force.
"What did you see, Master?" his apprentice asked.
"I saw you, meditating in the Star Forge's command centre, right next to the holoprojector. A bunch of Jedi charged at you, but you were defenceless," he replied. "Juhani was the only one there to defend you, but she was overwhelmed, and then…"
"You don't need to say more," she interjected, guessing how the vision ended. "Do you see anyone other than Juhani?"
"No," he recalled. "Visions of the future are subject to change, but I think this is meant to be a warning. You must be protected while on the Star Forge."
"Then let's watch out for the situation and ensure it doesn't come to pass," she suggested.
"We will," he agreed. "Let's move on."
And they continued deeper into the caves, holding hands once again, continuing to search for crystals. They found a giant underground lake, covered in a thick layer of ice. Bastila sensed something beneath her. She looked down, and there, at the bottom of the lake, gleamed a translucent white crystal that reflected the light from their lightsabers. Neither of them knew what the crystal was, just that it felt powerful, interesting, and could be of use.
"How are we going to get the crystal?" she wondered out loud.
"Well, if we were Jedi, we'd just dive into the freezing cold water and fish it out," her Master remarked. "When I was last here, someone actually did that."
"Then it's a very good thing that we aren't Jedi, because I have no desire to risk hypothermia," she declared. "I think we should be able to stab through the ice with a lightsaber and then pull it out with the Force, but would that cause the ice to break?"
"I don't think a small hole would be that problematic, but just in case, we should use the most basic lightsaber," her Master decided. He took out his backup blue lightsaber and levitated it pointing downwards. He stabbed it through the layer of ice until it broke through, and then summoned the weapon back.
Bastila concentrated, and with the Force, slowly floated the crystal before pulling it out through the hole in the ice. She hovered it in front of her lightsaber, slowly warming up the freezing cold crystal. When she sensed it wasn't so cold, she grabbed it with her free hand.
An apparition materialized in front of her and caught her attention. "Dad?" she whispered. He looked so old after all these years. His younger self would have undoubtedly fared much better against the krayt dragon.
"Bastila!" the ghostly image shouted. "You are all grown up now. You have no idea how long I waited to see you in the flesh… All these years, all I had were colourless holograms."
"It's you!" she cried. "All I had were fading memories, because the Jedi wouldn't even let me have holos of you… I miss you so much, dad."
"I missed you too… We never even had the chance to say goodbye before they took you," the image said, his eyes wet with tears. "Every night, before I slept, I opened my holocron just to remember you…"
"Please don't blame Mother for it," she pleaded. "The Jedi mind-tricked her."
"I was so angry when I found out," he admitted. "I screamed at her. But later, when I calmed down, I suspected they did something untoward to her and we reconciled, though I never shared my suspicions with her, not waiting to traumatize her further… Is it confirmed?"
"Yes," she stated. "My boyfriend saw her memories when we ran into her."
"To think, the guardians of peace, the defenders of the galaxy, would do this to us… Hypocrites… all of them," he muttered. "It hurt to see you on the holovision as one of them."
"I am not," she declared. "Not anymore. I am a Sith now. Together, with my boyfriend, we shall take down the Jedi Order and make sure this tragedy never happens again!" For emphasis, she let go of her Master's hand and put her arm around him. He returned her gesture, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"Then I hope you succeed," her father declared, before sighing. "All these years, I've wanted to see you grow up, fall in love, marry, and make me a grandfather. But I missed all of it… At least I got to see you in love. Who is he?"
"Dad, this is my best friend, Revan," she introduced.
"Revan?" he echoed. "I've heard that name before… Surely it's just a coincidence?"
"It's not," she replied. "He is Darth Revan, the rightful Dark Lord of the Sith. We grew up together and fell in love… He's the one who made my life bearable with the Jedi."
"Then I thank you for taking care of my daughter," the father said to the Sith Lord, bowing.
"I only did what was right," he replied.
"You were the best friend I could ask for," Bastila declared, turning to face her beloved.
"And so were you…" he asserted. "You saved my life."
"I couldn't bear to lose you…" she insisted.
"You really love each other," the image of her father interrupted. "I wish I could be there for your wedding, Bastila. I'd like to walk you down the aisle…" He sighed. "My time comes near… I wish you two the best."
"Then let's say our farewells properly this time," she decided. "Goodbye, dad. May the Force be with you."
"Goodbye, Bastila. Goodbye, Revan," his fading image replied. "May the Force be with you both."
"I already miss him," she noted to her Master. "I am glad I got to see him again though."
He put his arms around her. "Me too," he agreed. "Take all the time you need, my love."
And so they sat down on the ice. She leaned into him, drawing comfort from his presence. They spent the next while holding each other.
Meanwhile, Jolee followed his branch, relying on the Force to guide him through further branches. Slowly but surely, he made his way towards the crystal the Force was seemingly willing him to have.
Two hours later, he found what he was looking for—a heavy, milky white crystal that was somewhat translucent. He grabbed it with the hand that wasn't holding the lightsaber he used for illumination and tried to pull it out. When the crystal broke free, the old man fell on his back on the ice, and that was when he had a vision…
The old man found himself in a beautiful city. The streets were clean and lined with various greenery. Children of many species ran around, playing various games, smiling and laughing. Their parents stood around, chatting and watching over them, all existing in perfect harmony. This, Jolee supposed, must be what the galaxy would look like, when all the wars are over, when the Republic is at peace once again.
However, when he looked at the symbol in front of the various buildings, he frowned. Instead of the Republic's yellow symbol, what he saw instead was Revan's blue symbol of the Sith Empire. He looked up and frowned harder. In the sky was a large space station, visible even during the day.
"Are you surprised, Jolee?" a feminine voice called.
The old man turned around, frowning. "Nayama?"
"Yes, it's me, Jolee," she replied. "Aren't you happy to see me?"
"I am sorry," he stated, dodging her question. "I promised to save you, and I failed."
The woman frowned. "I am not the one who needed saving," she replied. "No, it's you who needs to be saved."
"Me?" the old man questioned. "You were the one who turned to the Dark Side! You were the one misled by the Sith."
"Misled?" she shot back. "Look around you, Jolee. This is a beautiful, thriving city, the capital of a Sith Empire. It's a million times better than anything that exists in the Republic." She pointed at a random couple watching their children play. "If circumstances were different, those could have been us, watching over our precious children. This was the cause for which I fought and died, Jolee. I fought for a golden age, for the happiness of our future children, while you stuck to the decrepit teachings of the Jedi, fighting against me."
"Exar Kun was a liar, Nayama!" Jolee countered. "He promised all, yet delivered none. I fought for the Republic, for democracy, so that we could all be free to make our own choices!"
"Oh really, Jolee?" she asked with an edge. "You and I both know what would have happened to the children we wanted to have under the Republic and the Jedi. They'd take our children and send them to a remote enclave, so that they'd grow up away from us, since they believe attachments to be evil. We'd never see them again! One day, they'd be the ones breaking up other people's families, repeating the tragic cycle. Where's the freedom in that? Under Exar Kun, we'd be free to raise our children together."
"Do you really think Exar Kun cared about children? Look no further than the way he waged his war. He simply killed innocents, like the children around us, without batting an eye. Was that the way to the supposed golden age?"
"Exar Kun was a failure," she declared. "You are not wrong in that he didn't always practice what he preached and made himself sound better than he was. He lost sight of the vision, turning against those who would have supported us gladly. Yet, he was the only one who'd lead the fight against the horrific status quo. For thousands of years, the Republic exploited the poor for the benefit of the rich, of the nobility. For thousands of years, the Jedi Order condemned their members to a life without attachment, without love, without what made us sentients. You know first hand how silly that is, Jolee. Then, they abused their power and the people's trust to take their children, and turned them into emotionless droids, blindly obedient to the supposed 'will of the Force,' which in truth is just the will of the Council who's the final authority on interpreting it. Even if Exar Kun had fallen way short of his promised golden age, it would still have been better than this dark age we are stuck in. Instead, the Republic and the Jedi won, condemning generations of sentients to suffer under their corruption. But Revan, he's different. He's what Exar Kun should have been. And under him, the galaxy shall have its golden age. If I weren't one with the Force, I'd join him gladly."
"The Sith tell elaborate lies," Jolee insisted. "I am not so easily fooled."
"The Force chose to show you this," Nayama countered. "The Jedi preach to trust in the Force. Or is that only when you like what it shows?"
"I am not a Jedi, not anymore. I also don't doubt the veracity of this vision, because the Force tells me it's true," Jolee claimed. "But the Sith could have built this city for show, propping up one city at the expense of a thousand others. Revan, despite his claims, could just be a more charismatic Exar Kun."
"No," she declared. "Watch."
And the city dissolved around them. Instead, the scene shifted to Coruscant. A battle clearly had just taken place, and parts of the city were damaged. Yet, the residents of the city filled every available space, all looking at the top of the Senate building and cheering. There stood a masked man in black Sith robes, wearing a golden crown. In his hands, he held another crown, which he placed on the woman standing in front of him. She turned around and smiled at the man. That was when Jolee recognized her as Bastila. She leaned in to kiss the man who'd crowned her, obviously Revan, and the crowd cheered even louder.
"Does that look like a tyrant?" Nayama asked beside him, gazing at the same scene.
"Liberty can die with thunderous applause," Jolee replied.
The scene dissolved again, and now they were on a yellow planet. Above them, in the sky, was a moon that was obviously an ecumenopolis. Clearly, this was the infamous Nal Hutta, the capital of Hutt Space. Standing atop a platform was the Sith couple, surrounded by millions. "Nal Hutta is hereby annexed into our empire! With immediate effect, slavery is abolished. You are all free now!" Revan declared.
"Isn't that something that needs to be done, Jolee?" Nayama asked. "And who would do it if not the Sith?"
The scene dissolved again, now they looked at a decrepit slum. Days zoomed by as the slum was transformed into a beautiful neighbourhood.
The scene dissolved again, now they looked at a planet. Years zoomed by, and a disgusting lake filled with sewage turned blue once again, surrounded beautiful beaches and greenery.
The scene dissolved again, now they looked upon a planet of rubble. "Taris," Nayama whispered. "Bombed into oblivion by the traitor Malak." They watched as the rubble were cleared, a new city built instead, this time without the horrific Undercity.
World after world kept appearing in front of Jolee's eyes, and he was forced to watch hundreds of worlds improve over time under Revan's empire.
Beside him, floating in space, Nayama pleaded, "The Republic and the Jedi had thousands of years to do all this, Jolee. They just didn't care. Revan is the one who shall usher in a golden age."
"I… don't know," Jolee admitted.
"That crystal you found is Firkrann," she explained. "It adds an electrical charge to your blade, making it especially devastating to droids. It also has some affinity for the Sith. A choice you will soon have that shall define your legacy. Would you embody the Sith's desire to improve the galaxy, or would you instead embody their treachery? I beg you, Jolee, choose correctly."
The worlds slowly faded as did Nayama, and only the stars remained, though their colours slowly shifted, a whole palette of new colours never before seen in the heavens.
Jolee groaned as the vision faded. The stars remained, revealing themselves to be the glow of crystals in the cave. Those were the only remaining light in the cave, otherwise as dark as deep space itself. His lightsaber had fallen from his hands and shut itself off while he was having the vision. He summoned it back to his hands and ignited it, then took a few minutes to reorient himself before staring at the crystal he'd obtained. He had no desire to receive another vision, and so he turned back, returning to the Ebon Hawk with the one crystal.
At the same time, Juhani followed her chosen branch into the caves. The Force seemed to be guiding her somewhere, so she followed it until she reached a deep chasm. She could see a shiny white crystal across on the other side, seemingly calling out to her. She frowned, wondering how she might reach there. She had little choice but to attempt a Force jump, so she backtracked and sprinted. When she reached the edge of the chasm, she channelled the Force and used all her might to propel herself forth, landing on the other side. However, the crystal was too high up and she still struggled to reach it.
She thought about what she could do. She reached out with the Force and pulled on the crystal, but it refused to budge. Seeing she had little other choice, she stood on her tiptoes, she used the tip of her lightsaber to stab at the bottom of the crystal formation, finally dislodging the crystal. She caught it in her hand.
"Juhani?" she heard a voice behind her. Turning around, she saw an apparition of a Cathar man floating in the abyss. Beside him stood a Cathar woman.
"Father? Mother?" she whispered.
"Juhani, my daughter," her father replied. "I am so sorry… I wasn't a very good father to you, nor a good husband to your mother."
"And I am sorry for what happened to you after I died," her mother added.
"How can you say that, Father, Mother?" their child countered. "You two carried me as a baby and fled the destruction of our planet. You saved my life."
"We should never have gone to Taris," he elaborated. "I shouldn't have turned to stimulants… My choices doomed our family."
"But you also worked and cared for us," Juhani noted. "It wasn't your fault that the humans on Taris were so intolerant."
"I was also a fool to get into fights with them," he observed. "I died, and your mother… She loved me so much that she couldn't bear to go on without me… My mistakes killed her too. And look what happened to you…"
"All those loans I took out…" the mother added. "I wasn't thinking… I just wanted the pain to end. I am so sorry you suffered because of me."
"It doesn't matter anymore," Juhani stated. "I was freed. I dreamed of becoming a champion of truth, a defender of justice, and I made the dream happen! From a slave, I rose to be a Sith. I've conquered the challenges that stood in my way and my chains are broken."
"I am so proud of you, Juhani," her father declared. "You accomplished so much by yourself. You also avenged my death, as a true Cathar warrior would. I just wish… I could watch you succeed in person."
"I miss you so much, Father," she professed, her eyes now wet.
The apparition of her father reached out to her, and together they embraced.
"Give your mother a hug too while we are still here," her father interrupted a while later.
Juhani turned to her mother.
"You are the best daughter I could hope to have. I love you," her mother stated as she hugged her.
"I am sorry, but we can't stay longer," her father interrupted a few minutes later. "Be the Cathar warrior you are meant to be and make our race proud!"
"I will," the young Sith promised.
"We shall watch over you in the Force," her parents vowed as their images faded from existence.
Juhani waved at the fading image of her parents, weeping. Once she gathered herself, she pocketed the crystal and delved deeper into the caves, feeling the call of another crystal.
A while later, Revan and Bastila continued their journey, crossing the frozen lake, delving deeper into a cave system. They soon stumbled upon a gigantic pillar of ice. Inside, they felt the presence of an Adegan crystal. While that itself wasn't remarkable, for it was a common occurrence on Ilum, but something about this crystal felt different and more powerful. Bastila sliced at the pillar with her yellow lightsaber, using it to melt through the ice, but found it surprisingly difficult. Not only did she face a lot of resistance, the ice froze after the blade passed through, trapping it. She was forced to turn off the affected blade to free it.
"This must be the crystal at work," she observed.
"It has to," Revan concurred. "Could it be… a very rare Pontite crystal? They are said to have a cooling aura."
"That's entirely possible," she agreed. "How are we going to get it out?"
"I wonder…" he started, before poking at the pillar with his lightsaber. While he still faced some resistance, it was a lot less than what his apprentice had experienced, and he was able to slowly chip away pieces of ice, making them fall away instead of freezing back in place.
"How are you doing that?" she inquired.
"The Heart of the Guardian, probably," he noted. "Give your backup lightsaber a try."
In response, she ignited her cyan blade and started chipping away at the ice also. It was definitely easier.
"I guess the Mantle of the Force has use beyond just being present on my person," she supposed. "We really need to figure something out about the colour…"
Despite her musings, the couple continued their work. Slowly but surely, they made progress against the pillar, thinning it around the crystal. A while later, only a thin beam of ice encased the crystal. They exchanged a look, and simultaneously sliced through the ice, with Revan cutting above the crystal and Bastila cutting below, freeing it.
With the Force, the Sith Lord pulled out the crystal, still encased in ice, but it soon melted and separated into two purple pieces. They each took a crystal. When they touched the crystals, they were once again greeted with a vision.
Through the Force, they saw a massive fleet gathered around a reddish-brown planet. Korriban, Revan explained for Bastila's benefit. The ships were nothing like they recognized, and on each of them was a mysterious hexagonal symbol. Soon, some familiar Interdictor-class ships showed up, but they were forced to retreat due to being massively outnumbered. The only consolation was a few transport ships managing to escape the planet from the academy. A ship zoomed by, and in it, they saw a man wielding a red lightsaber, brutally executing another red-skinned sentient, perhaps one of the supposedly extinct Sith species.
The scene shifted, and now a massive fleet of those mysterious ships faced off against an equally sized fleet of familiar Sith Empire ships. Both fleets fired at each other, taking heavy casualties, but no end was in sight.
The scene shifted, and instead of mysterious ships, they saw all sorts of gigantic, ship-sized living creatures floating through space, engaging in battle with a bunch of unfamiliar capital ships, though they had the sign of the Star Forge on them, showing the affiliation to Revan's Sith Empire.
And then the vision ended, resulting in more questions than answers, as such visions often did.
"What was that?" Bastila asked. "Are there more Sith in this galaxy that we aren't aware of? And what are those… things?"
"Perhaps the Sith that Canderous spoke of are real?" Revan offered. "Or perhaps it's some other unknown offshots. The other reaches of this galaxy are still uncharted, not to mention there's the Unknown Regions, so such things could conceivably exist. We are in the Unknown Regions right now, and basically nothing is known of this entire sector except for Ilum. The same applies to those… things."
"Should we be worried?" she wondered.
"About those giant creatures? Not anytime soon," he decided. "The ships are so unfamiliar, but bear the sign of our Sith Empire, so it has to be in the distant future. I am a bit more concerned about that other supposed Sith, since we saw the current generation of ships, but even then, it could be any time in the next few decades… Also remember, visions don't always come to fruition. No, I think we should focus on the present, and that's destroying Malak and conquering the Republic. A strong, unified empire is the best defence against all such threats, should they come true."
"Then that's what we'll do, Master," she agreed. "We should keep these visions in mind, but not let them distract us from our mission."
"Exactly," he agreed.
And they continued deeper into the caves, soon finding some bare rock, warm to the touch. They looked ahead and saw a hot spring. Bastila stuck her hand in the water, finding it warm to the touch, but not excessively hot.
"That's a nice hot spring," she observed. "Do we really need more crystals, Master?"
"We have two each already," he noted. "That should be enough. Let's see…" He reached out to the Force, searching for Juhani and Jolee. "It seems like Jolee is heading back prematurely, as if something scared him. Juhani is still delving deeper for her second crystal. It's starting to feel like she'd need the entire day."
"And it's not even been three hours since we started. So we have plenty of time. I can use a nice, warm bath…" she said, wistfully.
"Honestly, why not?" he agreed. "We can have a nice relaxing day for a change."
"And since we didn't bring any swimwear…" she noted suggestively.
The couple started removing their bulky winter gear and clothes, leaving them in a pile on the dry rocks. Soon, the naked couple jumped into the pool, relaxing in the water.
After a bit, Bastila dismissed the illusion on her collar. "How may your slave girl entertain you, Master?" she asked meekly.
He hooked a finger through the O-ring on her collar and pulled her in for a kiss. "Give me a nice wash, my slave, and if you do a good job, I'll return the favour," he promised.
The submissive girl eagerly obeyed. One thing led to another, and the couple soon started making love in the hot springs…
Three hours later, Juhani found her second crystal in the ceiling of a massive cavern, way too tall for her to reach. She channelled the Force and attempted to pull at it, but it didn't budge. She frowned, wondering what she might do instead. Finally, she decided to levitate her lightsaber, slowly floating it up to the formation. Having never trained for such fine movements with telekinesis, she slowly nudged the blade and poked at the rock to which the crystal was attached, until suddenly it fell. She quickly reached out both hands to summon the lightsaber and crystal back to her hands.
When she grasped the crystal, the icy floor of the cavern appeared to shift to grass…
Juhani looked around, seeing the Jedi enclave in front of her. In front of the enclave stood many Jedi, including her beloved Belaya. However, instead of engaging, Belaya turned off her blade and charged at Juhani, who eagerly opened her arms to embrace the red-headed human. They shared a quick kiss, before the remaining Jedi advanced on them, their blue and green lightsabers ignited.
"Belaya, you traitor!" one of them shouted.
"How dare you so blatantly violate the Code?" another one of them shouted. "In such an unnatural way too!"
Belaya ignited her blue lightsaber, while Juhani ignited her red lightsaber. Together, the couple fought side by side, slaying all the Jedi who attacked them. When all the enemies were slain, they embraced each other once again…
Slowly, the vision faded, and the grasses of Dantooine returned to the icy cavern.
"I will not let the Jedi keep us apart any longer," the Juhani vowed. With both crystals in her pocket, she returned the way she came, including jumping across the chasm once again.
Four hours later, the Sith couple simply relaxed in the warm water, holding each other close, whispering sweet nothings into each other's ears and giving each other occasional kisses. They were rather content to relax and enjoy the moment. For now, nothing else mattered, just their love and devotion to each other.
Eventually though, Revan had to interrupt. "Juhani will be back at the ship in two hours or so. We should probably get out now."
"Do we have to?" she muttered. "This is so nice… Can we get something equally nice on the Star Forge, at least?"
"We certainly can," he promised. "I have a nice bath in my apartment, but if it's not to your liking, I am sure we can easily rectify that with the Star Forge…"
"You spoil me, Master," she observed.
"You deserve it, my dear," he declared. "Good slaves get good rewards."
"You are the best, Master," she replied.
They kissed each other once again before reluctantly climbing out of the hot spring. Revan sat on a warm rock while Bastila sat in his lap, and the couple embraced each other intimately, waiting for their bodies to dry. When they did, they shared one last kiss in the nude before donning their clothes and winter gear. They returned to the Ebon Hawk, holding each other's hand the whole time.
The Sith couple returned to the Ebon Hawk, entering the workbench room to work on their lightsabers. There, they saw Jolee, just wrapping up his work as he ignited his lightsaber, seeing the familiar green blade appear. He nodded with satisfaction, before leaving the room, apparently not in the mood to chat.
The Sith couple shared a look, wondering what sort of visions he received when finding the crystal to leave him so shaken. Nevertheless, they started to cut their crystals.
Ten minutes later, Juhani joined them. "What crystals are these?" she asked, holding out the crystals she'd found in the caves, not recognizing either.
"The white crystal looked like Jenruax," the Sith Lord explained. "It's the very pure form of Opila, and is supposed to make the blade easier to move and better deflect blaster shots. I am afraid I don't know exactly how it does that."
"What about the green one?" she asked.
"It looks more blue to me," he remarked. He understood the cause of her confusion—the Cathar language didn't distinguish blue and green as separate colours, and the colour of the crystal really straddled the line between green and blue. "But that's a Nextor crystal. It makes the blade more volatile, which can significantly increase the damage it deals when cutting."
"I see," she replied. "These all seem pretty helpful." And she started cutting the crystals for her lightsaber.
Once they were done, Revan removed the Sigil crystal he got from Nemo from his main lightsaber with the Heart of the Guardian and replaced it with his new purple Pontite crystal, wondering how the cold crystal would interact with the searing heat of the Heart. When he ignited the blade, he found that it burned even hotter. Perhaps instead of embodying cold, the crystal only amplified the coldness of Ilum? More experimentation would be necessary to either confirm or disprove this.
Meanwhile, Bastila did the same and replaced her Sapith crystal with the mysterious crystal that she found at the bottom of the frozen lake, wondering what it would do. When she ignited the saberstaff, she was shocked by the results—instead of her familiar yellow lightsaber, it was instead an orangish colour that came out. She brandished it, and found that the twin blades seemed to just breeze through the air, especially when she tried to spin the saberstaff around. It greatly improved the manoeuvrability of the weapon.
"What's with me and colours?" she complained. "Am I doomed to not have a yellow lightsaber?"
"What happens if you remove that yellow power crystal?" her Master wondered. "With the pure yellow crystal and the mystery crystal in isolation, we can better study its effects."
"Only one way to find out," she agreed and disassembled her lightsaber once again.
While she did that, the Sith Lord disassembled his backup lightsaber, removing the underpowered Rubat and Bondar crystals. He then substituted them with the Upari and Sigil crystals, which were far more powerful. When he was done, he ignited the blade, seeing red. He brandished both blades at once and nodded with satisfaction, as the combination proved quite satisfying when dual wielding lightsabers.
When he finished, Bastila ignited her saberstaff again, and this time the colour was red.
"So it would seem that this mystery crystal increases the wavelength of the light emitted," her Master deduced.
"It has to," she agreed. "If it created red light, then this combination would have resulted in orange, just like before."
"Now, you do have a nice cyan crystal that could use a wavelength increase," he observed.
"Of course! Let me try," she agreed, disassembling her saberstaff and her backup, before swapping the Mantle of the Force over. She also put her yellow power crystal back into her primary weapon.
At the same time, Revan decided to disassemble the blue lightsaber he got from the Jedi on the Endar Spire and stashed the Rubat and Bondar crystals inside. It wouldn't be used much, but he had no better use for those crystals.
It was then that Bastila finally assembled her primary saberstaff. "Here comes the moment of truth," she said as she ignited the saberstaff. To her great pleasure, it showed up in the exactly right shade of yellow, with the power of the Mantle of the Force and the swiftness of the mystery crystal. "I suppose the Force is with me after all," she decided.
With that done, she turned back to assemble her backup saberstaff. In that weapon, she placed her yellow favourite colour crystal, the Sapith crystal that she'd removed from her primary weapon, and her purple Pontite crystal from the ice pillar, before reassembling it.
Afterwards, they checked Juhani's progress, finding that she'd just finished assembling her own lightsaber. Evidently, she was not as familiar with the art as the Sith couple. She ignited it, finding a blue blade. It appeared to be thicker than normal, with occasionally flickering. She brandished it around, finding it easier to move as well.
"I suppose that explains how the Jenruax crystal makes blaster deflection easier," she remarked. "It's hard to miss an incoming shot with a thicker blade."
"Let's test that though," the Dark Lord cautioned. Summoning a blaster to his hand, he fired at the Cathar, who tried to deflect it with the very edge of her blade while Bastila forced the reflected shots to wink out of existence to protect the ship. It worked.
"I like this combination," Juhani decided at last. "However, I am not sure if I should continue to wield this blue weapon as a Sith."
In response, Revan took out a red colour crystal. "This is the one I had before I replaced it with the Heart of the Guardian," he explained. "May it serve you well."
"Thank you," the Cathar replied, bowing. "It's an honour to use a crystal once wielded by you, Revan."
"And here's another lightsaber that you can use for backup," he said, giving her a purple weapon he'd taken from those Sith acolytes on Tatooine.
"I can't thank you enough," Juhani replied. "Let me get these sorted out."
"I'll leave you to it then," he said, before leaving to speak to Matton. He quickly found that the heat shields were successfully installed, so they took off, leaving the frozen planet behind.
A/N: You might be confused by the whole thing with the Nextor crystal. I'd show you a picture, but FFN wouldn't let me. You can find it on the AO3 version of this story. But looking at it, it's indeed quite difficult to tell apart the colour, especially since it can vary depending on your screen. Some of the colours in it are a bit greenish and the others are bluish, but I've done some analysis and overall, it's more blue than green.
Now, Revan mentions that Juhani's language doesn't distinguish blue and green as separate colours. This might feel very shocking to you, but there's a significant number of languages that don't distinguish them or only recently started to distinguish them. Linguists refer to the undistinguished blue–green "colour" as grue. For example, the Chinese character 青 used to mean grue and survives in fixed expressions to refer to the blue sky and green vegetables. The same character also exists in Japanese and is used to refer to green traffic lights despite its modern meaning being blue most of the time.
On the surface, this may seem ridiculous, but this sort of thing is quite common, and English definitely lumps a pretty big chunk of the spectrum under the term "blue" that other languages don't. For example, Russian, Ukrainian, and a few other languages treat light blue and dark blue as completely separate colours. To a Russian speaker, colours like cyan, sky blue, and azure are light blue (голубой), while deeper blues like navy blue are considered dark blue (синий). To them, the idea of lumping both as "blue" is as weird as lumping blue and green as "grue" is to us. So that's a bit of a fun trivia.
Fun fact: While discussing this (mostly for the lightsaber colour blending), I accidentally made myself and my beta reader Tracyn on AO3 see cyan as a completely separate colour and not as a shade of blue. We can't unsee this now. You are welcome.
Also shout out to DeathRanger—whose colour perception wasn't altered by accident—for beta reading this chapter too!