A/N: And we've reached the end!
Sorry for the delay, but I was sick last week and couldn't focus on uploading stuff I've already written, much less writing all the other important chapters of every other story in the works. Suffice it to say that I'm on the mend and I hope I can manage to avoid any further infections this year, if only because I get very irritated with myself every day I can't write.
But long story short, we've reached the end of this strange AU tail in which a minor quest line was expanded to ludicrous proportions.
This story, unbelievably enough, started off around 2022 as the script for a series of short movies in the style of the mission briefings from the Hitman Trilogy. I've made music videos and other short featurettes before, and it seemed possible, but in truth, my passion will always be for writing: whenever I started actually recording the footage and assembling it, it just didn't seem to deliver the punch I wanted, and over time, I realized I was having more fun rewriting the script to feature more elaborate details and plot twists.
In the end, I gave up on the movie idea and just wrote the story... and as is becoming a habit for me, I stocked up on chapters in advance before actually posting, just so I didn't get discouraged by lack of reviews. It was a lot of fun planning and plotting, and it did its part to save my sanity from everything else happening on the face of this tired old planet, which after all is one of the reasons why I'm on this damn site in the first place.
I hope you enjoyed reading this strange creation as much as enjoyed writing it: feel free to critique, criticize, and theorize about this story as much as you like now that it's all over, and I thank you for reading.
Anyway, without further ado, the final chapter.
Read, review, and above all, enjoy!
Tarrah eyed the injector in her hand, turning it over and over again, not quite brave enough to remove the cap but not quite certain if she wanted to do away with it.
She considered everything she'd said and heard in the last forty-five minutes.
"You're right," she said quietly. "I have a choice."
Master Vandar nodded.
"And yes, I could easily just give up on playing the lone hero and bring every single friend and ally I've made on a journey to stop the Sith, in the dim hope that it'd change the future this time around."
Again, Vandar nodded wordlessly.
"I still think that taking that path will all end in tears. Chances are, I'll end up condemning everyone who follows me on the journey to an early grave, and I'll leave myself trapped in a living hell until some bright young hero of the galaxy manages to free me, and then I'll probably end up making an even bigger ass of myself until the whole thing's finally resolved. Yes, trying to stop the Sith once and for all is futile. Yes, there will always be an Emperor of the Sith, by lineage or by legacy or by immortality. And yes, no matter how hard I try, I'll only be turning back a tide that will inevitably flow right back in once I've stopped. Yes, this is a really, really, really stupid idea…"
She looked across the faces of everyone who stood with her: Juhani, her eyes full of tears, her hands clutching Tarrah's shoulders as if afraid to let go; Bastila, her face a mask of disbelief and fear, unable to accept that she was about to lose a friend scant days after being reunited; Vandar, his face impassive and solemn, waiting patiently to see what would become of this decision; and Ashana, childlike, innocent, infinitely accepting, and almost oblivious as to what was going on.
And perhaps it was that look of wide-eyed acceptance on the shapeshifter's currently Twi'lek face that finally made up Tarrah's mind.
"But you know what?" she said at last. "I've been working with stupid ideas from the moment I woke up on the Endar Spire. What am I talking about? I've working with stupid ideas ever since the Mandalorian War broke out. So… what's another one between friends?"
She held up the injector. "Ashana! Catch!"
Drawing her arm back as far as it would go, she threw the injector across the temple summit, and immediately, Ashana shot after it in Kath Hound form and seized in her jaws, snapping the fragile injector into useless plastic. Within seconds, the precious contents had spilled out across the floor and were rapidly dissolving in the sunshine.
By the time Ashana had harmlessly swallowed what was left of the now-useless converter and padded back to Tarrah's side, the serum – the last surviving product of Hulas' monstrous experiments – was gone forever.
"Good girl," said Tarrah, patting her on the head.
There was a pause, as everyone let out the breaths they'd been holding for the past forty seconds, and the tension in the room finally bled away.
Even so, it was almost half a minute before someone burst out laughing – and to Tarrah's surprise, it was Bastila.
Sometime later, Tarrah, Juhani, and Bastila were walking back to the Ebon Hawk with Ashana snaking after them when Bastila finally asked the question that had been haunting all three of them since the meeting had concluded.
"What do you intend to do now, Tarrah?"
Tarrah sighed. "Well, I imagine we'll just have to plan ahead and build our forces. We can't even try going anywhere until we're prepared to infiltrate this Sith Empire. We shouldn't expect unanimous support from the Council or the Republic, so-"
"But Vandar believed you! Why wouldn't the Council support us?"
"Because Vandar's one of the most open and tolerant of the Jedi Masters and he still took the wait-and-see approach during the Mandalorian War: he'll want to have the matter investigated, and that takes time that we might not have… and the rest of the Council aren't going to be so accepting of this idea, either because they don't trust the source or because they don't sense the danger. Vrook Lamar will dismiss the whole idea out of hand, Atris will insist that I'm trying to corrupt the Council, Lonna Vash will err on the wrong side of caution, Kavar will assume that the Jedi can shield the Republic from anything, and Zez-Kai El will side with Kavar. If we're lucky, Vandar can give us a few resources, but not enough to make an army."
"You've remembered a lot about the Council, haven't you?"
"Enough to know that Atris has been secretly pining after Eli Krootex ever since she and the rest of the Council exiled him."
"Beg pardon? Are we actually talking about the same Atris? White hair, white robes, fan of Echani culture, chilly disposition, utterly inflexible attitude? From the one meeting I had with her, I'd say she utterly despised Eli – well, as much as a Jedi master could despise anyone."
"Yes, but you'll notice that she couldn't stop talking about him, didn't you?"
"Fair enough. But you were saying that the Council won't help us-"
"-even if they wanted to. They've got a lot of rebuilding to do after all the deaths and betrayals in the ranks. The same goes for the Republic, hence why they won't believe us if we try to warn them: nobody wants to hear that there'll be another war on the horizon just days after they barely won the last war, and they won't want to contribute resources they desperately need to patch things up."
"But surely there must be some way to make them believe us," Juhani wheedled.
"It might not matter no matter how hard we try: if my visions of the future are accurate, it's going to be a very difficult time for them in the next few years. After all, we didn't eliminate all of Malak's Sith when the Star Forge exploded… and Vitiate isn't the only monster of the Dark Side out there. I'm still not entirely sure of what the next Sith threat between Malak and Vitiate will be, but something tells me it's going to be nasty."
"Then why don't we at least warn Master Vandar of this?"
"Warn him of what? I still don't know what this intermediary threat will be or what it'll do. The most I can do is warn him to be careful where the Council holds the next convocation, and chances are, that might actually end up causing the next big disaster anyway."
"Then what are we supposed to do about this intermediate threat?" Bastila grumbled.
"Not much: we're supposed to be gearing up to deal with Vitiate. Besides, if my premonitions are correct, the threat will eventually be dealt with by Eli Krootex… and the Mandalorians. I think. I'll be damned if I know how it'll work, the visions are very rushed and incomplete."
"Well, pardon me if I have nothing but questions, but if the famed Exile is rallying what's left of the Republic and the Jedi and the Mandalorians against this new threat, then how will our little crew be enough to enact a campaign of guerrilla warfare on a full-fledged Sith Empire?"
"Bastila is right, Tarrah," said Juhani. "For this, we need allies who will be willing to believe us and enough resources for this private war. Who in the galaxy would have that much trust in our mission?"
Tarrah thought for a moment… and then her eyes lit up.
"You know," she said, unable to hide the glee in her voice, "Sometimes, the biggest disasters in our lives happen for a very good reason."
"Oh no," said Juhani wearily, shaking her head and smiling in utter exasperation. "I know that look."
"It just so happens that I have a means of contacting a very wealthy and very grateful Twi'lek who'd have nothing if it wasn't for us…"
At this, Juhani just laughed, flinging her arms around Tarrah and drawing her into a crushing hug.
Meanwhile, Bastila looked on in confusion. "You're going to have to explain whatever it is you're referring to," she sighed, "because I am completely lost."
Ashana, who had become a hawk-bat perched next to Bastila, hooted in agreement.
"I'm saying," said Tarrah, as Juhani ran kisses down the length of her neck, "that it might just be time to call upon the services of the GenoHaradan…"
THE END
A/N: I admit, this is somewhat of a rebellion against Revan's canonical fate and backstory, mainly because I find the idea of Revan only becoming a villain due to being brainwashed by the Sith Emperor... kind of boring, to be honest. The old mind control trope is losing its appeal to me over the years, and it's altogether more impactful for people to do horrible things of their own free will - hence why I decided to give Tarrah an Adrian Veidt-like gloss in the last couple of chapters. And I was not a fan of Revan walking out on all their friends just to get the Exile and T3 killed in a pointless mission, in part because it seemed to be another plot point designed to give Vitiate another victory.
So, I went crazy and wrote a different ending. Is it too stupid or not stupid enough? Let me know!
Also, yes, I couldn't resist taking a playful jab at KOTOR II by having Tarrah remark that her visions of this period of history seem "very rushed and incomplete". Sorry - I honestly love the game as unfinished as it is, but you've occasionally got to poke fun at the flaws.
Feel free to do that same to me, gentle reviewers :)