Millennium Falcon
The holofilm had wrapped up with Padme crying at the conclusion of how the hero Luke had risked everything to save his sister from utter darkness at the hands of the Sith acolyte and had stayed to comfort the thousands of innocents the Sith had killed with his own passing. Those pregnancy hormones were really getting annoying.
Rex and Jesse were both watching sort of detached.
Jesse looked at Rex. "Ok, can General Skywalker do any of that kind of stuff and how much of that was real?"
Rex just shrugged, Jesse was fanboying out. It was obvious he had a new favorite film. The fact that they were on the Millennium Falcon that was depicted in the film was one of many things that made little sense to Rex.
"Ok, so things that don't add up. This is nearly 40 years ago and they're talking about Emperor Palpatine, the ship we are on is depicted in the film and we have a Skywalker running around, played by an actor does favor the General," Rex said.
Padme looked at Rex. "Maybe it's a Sith tendency to name their Emperors Palpatine or they're related. For all we know this ship was named after the holofilm, but another Skywalker means that Anakin likely has family in the unknown regions.
"I would have paid to have seen Ben using that fountain of light thingy on Dooku though," Jesse remarked.
"So why disguise the name Skywalker?" Rex asked
"Probably to avoid questions or if the film is true, the sister married Han Solo, so Ben could be her son, but I doubt it since he said it was his father who was a Jedi."
The trio continued the discussion for a while before deciding to head back up the mountain.
Jedi Temple, Dantooine
"I was probably the most famous Jedi of my generation, much like you are," The man who claimed he was Anakin's father said. The lightsabers had been turned off and the man was facing a nearby window. Anakin hadn't moved and watched him. The brief duel had taken the edge off of his temper.
"Really? Where I'm from none of the people old enough to be your peer has ever said anything about you," Anakin said.
The man laughed. "I assure you, your master Ben would pay to be here in this talk."
"Yeah, maybe he would but from where I'm from, you're a nobody, and you haven't answered any of my questions," Anakin said his frustration at the pointless conversation getting on his nerves, even if he knew fighting this man would be a bad idea.
"Oh, I doubt that seriously. In fact, I'm sure I am as familiar to you as I am to Ben," he said still not turning.
"I'm pretty sure I would remember a dumb name like Evan Starkiller," Anakin retorted.
The man turned around. His eyes grew hard. "I said that was my birth name and even I forgot what it was. My parents were murdered before I could even talk properly. For one of the favorite times of my life I was known as Elijah Zakaynian. But as to why its important: a Jedi master found me, a lone survivor in the carnage that was my village and took me back to the temple. The only thing I could say other than mother and father was a childish lisp of my name."
"And this is important to this discussion why?" Anakin asked.
The man's hard gaze continued and he said, "Because a two-year-old could pronounce Evan as Revan."
Anakin's face turned pale at the implication. "No, that's that's not possible."
"Search your feelings; you know that it is true," Revan said. "I've always wanted to say that," he muttered under his breath.
Anakin was too shocked to even notice the later comment. "How? You lived thousands of years ago."
"I told you it was a long-complicated story," Revan said. "It is true, nevertheless."
"How?" came the subdued voice.
"For that, we need to look at a period of time I am not at all proud of," Revan said.
The room around them changed to a dark throne room, with Revan on his knees, in his dark, iconic armor.
"This is the throne of the Dark Emperor Vitiate or Valkorian depending on what part of history you look at. At the end of the Republic's war with Mandalor, I defeated Mandalor the Great in open combat. In his last breath I discovered the whole war had been a plot by a reborn Sith empire to weaken the Republic in advance of a planned invasion. Me and my friend Alek went into the unknown regions to find the Sith, and we discovered their Capital on the planet of Drommand Kaas. We snuck around the capital and discovered the empire was led by a Sith emperor so we did a very stupid thing. We had just came out of war undefeated and believed we could kill the emperor ourselves." Revan paused. "It was the worst mistake we ever made. We were beaten and subdued in seconds and he had us under his sway. We were sent back to the main galaxy as his puppets, reborn as dark lords of the Sith to wage war on the galaxy. We managed to break free of the mind control, but the darkness we were in continued to cloud our minds and we made the second worst mistake. We decided to avenge ourselves and thought we needed to conquer the galaxy to stand against the emperor. Every terrible thing we did was aimed at the destruction of the emperor, but we were too blinded by our own power and the need for revenge to question our methods." Various scenes of battles and planets went by.
"The humiliation of my defeat at the emperor's hands made me crave enough power to defeat him. I sought to be the most powerful Force user in the galaxy, studying ancient Sith artifacts and many other sources of knowledge. My power and my arrogance indeed increased until my own apprentice turned on me in battle. I believe you probably know the story: how I was brainwashed, turned into a republic soldier became a Jedi again and defeated my former friend and apprentice, married and had a child before heading back out to defeat the emperor. Here is the part that few know except the Sith and the Revanites. In my time as dark lord, I experimented on my own blood to try to increase my own power; these experiments were not successful. However, I was able to discover a way to increase the midoclorian count in the samples. I collected many liters of my own blood with increased counts and had them stored in a safe location. With these experiments, I attempted to make a clone of myself to transfer my mind into, believing it would be the key to defeating Valkorien."
Anakin stared at Revan. "Are you saying I am your clone.?"
Revan looked at him. "Are we jumping ahead of ourselves? No, you're not my clone. All my clones were complete disasters because cloning Force users is a skill no one has. The few clones that survive with Force abilities are either mentally ill or physically deformed. Either way, after some time it become obvious that was not going to be a solution, and I gave up."
"However, my samples were not destroyed and remained in the Revanites' and Sith's hands. It was a forgotten experiment for millennia until the former Dark Lord and Sidious stumbled upon the idea and believed it might have merit with improvements to clone technology. Their attempts all failed as well; even the Kaminoans were not up to the task." At this point, Revan laughed. "Irony is perhaps the most amusing of things in this life, but the fact that their own peril may come about at their own failure is amongst the best of them. The Sith Lord Sidious kept a batch of samples back from his master, having hired a promising young scientist with revolutionary ideas to make the attempt.
"The cloner failed across the board as well when he stumbled upon a rather simple solution. If the goal was simply to make a powerful Force user, why make a clone when it's far easier genetically to use the genetic samples and have a son? The cloner did not inform his employer of this fact and secured a young woman for the task of being the mother. The mother was chosen because of a mild Force sensitivity, thus increasing the genetic odds of success. The mother was told she was being experimented on for a revolutionary medical breakthrough for a cure of the Hive virus which destroyed the personnel of the Katana Fleet and was to be properly compensated for her troubles.
"Obviously, she was lied too. The cloner had his operations on the Ring of Glavis where the woman was from. Sidious had chosen his cloner not only for his brains but for the fact he was in desperate need of money, as he owed gambling debts to the Hutts, and he could control him. One day as she had come in for a checkup, the Hutts attacked the ring. As you can imagine, she was carried off and the cloner was killed with all information regarding the experiment being destroyed when the Hutts blew the lab. The Sith never learned what happened and simply wrote off the failure. It's hilarious actually. The Sith have been going crazy for years, wondering where you came from, and it was their own failure that allowed you to stop many of their plans. The rest of my samples were destroyed when the crime families used an atomic device to destroy Hego Damask's secret laboratory on Sojurn. And I think you can glean the rest."
"The Jedi believed I was part of a prophecy," Anakin said shakily.
"That was Qui Gon; the rest of the council were rather dubious," Revan said.
"But they still took me because of it," Anakin said.
"No, they didn't." Revan said turning and looking at him "What convinced them was your own actions in the battle of Naboo. Kenobi thought he would have to defy the Council to take you on and said as much, but they had actually already decided."
"I didn't know he defied the Council," Anakin said.
Revan chuckled. "Kenobi almost defied the Council one too many times in his teenage years. In fear of getting kicked out he went from rebel to the strict rule follower as a sort of self-imposed probation. Kenobi was never given an explanation as to why you were allowed in, either."
"You said the Council didn't choose me because of the prophecy," Anakin said.
"Pretty much, yeah. In fact, the only one who thought it was possible was Mace Windu," Revan said.
Anakin was really shocked at that reveal. "Mace. I didn't think he ever liked me; Yoda, I would have thought was the one."
"Then you would be surprised to know Mace was one of Qui Gon's best friends. They didn't agree with each other much, but Mace listened even if he didn't agree," Revan said. "Master Yoda never bought it and still doesn't for that matter."
"But why care if he doesn't believe in me?" Anakin asked, somewhat shaken by the revelations that were being thrown at him.
Revan sighed and knelt down and put his hand on his shoulder. "He cares you for the same reason Padme and Ahsoka and Obi-Wan care about you- because you are Anakin Skywalker. They don't need a special reason or prophecy to believe in you or believe you're special, because you are to them. You should never have been told the prophecy and that was a mistake on the part of Qui Gon Jinn that put too much of a burden on your and Obi-Wan's shoulders. Yours because you strived towards an ideal that you didn't understand and Kenobi desperately trying to not fail you as a teacher."
"So, what did Qui Gon see in me?" Anakin asked.
Revan chuckled. "How much of what I told you did you actually hear, Anakin? You're not my clone, you are my son. My son, with all the potential of having far more power than I ever had, and I am considered one of the most powerful Force users in history along with your children and grandchildren. Qui Gon was a rare and powerful Jedi, very attached to the Living Force, where Kenobi and Yoda are more attached to the cosmic Force. Qui Gon felt the Force tugging him to you, sensed your potential, and, hearing your mother's story, jumped to conclusions; However, the fact that you were willing to sacrifice everything for your new friends also tugged at his heart and was the reason he pushed so hard to get you off Tatooine.
Anakin was internally struggling with everything that was being thrown at him. For years despite always denying the prophecy as a myth even to the Force wielders on Mortis, it had always impacted his psyche in many ways. Strangely a hypothetical prophecy was easier to shake off to people than being the son of one of the most notorious Sith Lords in history. Mace would have a field day with that one.
"Come on. It isn't that bad. The Jedi all know the story of my rehabilitation and your half-brother Vaner Shan and your great niece Satele Shan are not bad company to be in, if I do say so myself. Plus I did defeat the emperor eventually though that story, I noticed, got eclipsed by the hero of Tython myth."
Anakin looked up puzzled. "The hero of Tython defeated the emperor after it was said you went mad in an attempt to kill Vitiate."
Revan again chuckled. "Remember what I said about the only clones that survived went mad? The strike team defeated a clone of me that had some memories imprinted, but did you ever notice the hero of Tython didn't have a name?"
Anakin's eyes went wide. "You were the hero of Tython?" Revan just smiled at the comment. "Wait, how come Satele Shan, Scourge, or Vitiate never knew?"
"Spending a couple of centuries in the emperor's prison will do quite a bit to your physical appearance the rest was made up of the healing and surgery I required after I escaped. But Satele knew. That's why she never told anyone and she as Grandmaster created a fictitious backstory. Scourge just recognized my new appearance from a vision and didn't make the connection and Vitiate flat out didn't care."
"All the stories say the hero of Tython just disappeared after the emperor's death," Anakin said.
"Yes, in order to torment me for centuries the emperor attached me to his life force so when he died, I no longer have much of his Force power sustaining me and frankly, without Bastilla I dont have a reason to continue hanging around," Revan said with a laugh. "Im using the remnant of his life force that was left in me to talk to you across space and time. While I once could do that myself with our bond his death means my time is limited. I was gifted by the force the visions to allow me to see what had happened to my children and their descendants when I stumbled upon you and all the things that had happened up to your present." "But the point is ,Anakin, that you are yourself the son of Revan and the son of Shmi Skywalker, you are the student of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, who you would know would do almost anything for you, you are the proud husband of Padme Amidala, and soon to be a parent. What more do you need to believe in yourself?"
Anakin looked up at him. "So I'm not the one the prophecy spoke of?"
Revan looked at him and shrugged. "Who knows who cares? It hasn't happened yet maybe it will never be necessary or maybe you did it on Mortis already. Maybe I did it when I defeated the emperor or Meetra when she defeated Darth Nihlus. Don't tie your life to some obscure prophecy that's vaguely worded. Maybe Ben's father and aunt did it by fulfilling the son of suns and daughter of moons version of the prophecy. Maybe you will do it later. My advice is it doesn't matter. Maybe you are; maybe you're not. But you are my son, even if this is the first and likely only time we meet.
"I've never been a big fan of prophecies ever since Scourge stabbed me in the back because he had a vision of me from the future defeating the emperor. If he hadn't stabbed me, I could have had him right then and there, it was only due to his actions I had to do it later," Reven said. "Rather a self-fulfilled prophecy. My only advice is, don't do what I did and turn Sith and burn the galaxy down. Even if the Sith Lord wasn't truly your friend, you have plenty of people that truly are your friends and family. Don't let them down just because one person betrayed your trust."
Anakin said,"You didn't name Ben or Vestara as a friend."
Revan tilted his head back and laughed. "A bit more than friends, actually. I shouldn't be saying this to you but I was never one for rules. I'm going to tell you not to pry more info from me or Ben, but Ben is a Skywalker."
Anakin looked shocked at that statement. "Really does he know this?"
"Oh yeah. See Solo is his uncle's and cousins' name. He took it on as an alias in this mission, since he didn't want it slipping to the Sith lord there was another Skywalker hanging around," Revan said. "But seriously, don't ask him more on the relationship; he will tell you everything when the time is right. I will tell you though, he and Vestara would both give their lives for your child."
Anakin nodded.
"So, what do you plan to do now?" Revan asked.
"I'm not sure, Ben has been working with me to finish my training, Master Yoda said. Other than that I don't know. Find a place for the remaining Jedi to be safe and plan from there," Anakin said.
"Sounds like a decent plan," Revan said wistfully. "I wish I was there to journey with you. It sounds like the time me and my friends were trying to find the star forge." Revan looked up ."Looks like it is time for me to go. I don't know if we will meet again."
Anakin stood up to leave when Revan said, "Tell Ben I said hello."
Anakin nodded and walked out the door back to the cave on Ach-To.
Author's Note
Someone had made this comment but yes I intentionally modeled the description of Revan off of Keanu Reeves John Wick. I know this is not fully sticking to KOTOR canon I had actually forgotten that Revan was a title picked up later in life. But i absolutely wanted to get rid of the character assassination arc that was Shadow of Revan without removing the storyline from canon thus making the target a clone and not the actual Revan himself. Writers feel free to make any and all of this canon in your books I'll take the assigned credit for the idea lol. Seriously when i started i wanted to take this book down paths that had never been fully explored.
Thanks everyone for the comments likes favorites we have hit 15,000 readers for this story.
Ben
Next week A Pirates Life for Me