REVENGE OF THE SITH
Part III – To All Things, A Beginning
Deralia.
He didn’t know exactly where the planet was, but when he had looked it up, Revan pointed the Ebon Hawk towards the cusp of the Unknown Regions to a small orange colored planet that hovered there. He took the ship in, landing on a rather non descript landing dock and headed out alone once again.
He was immediately accosted by a Czerka worker, who mentioned that landing in the port of St. Aalang would cost the young knight a hundred credits, which the worker was more than happy to waive, stating that Revan, “looked like a nice kid who wouldn’t cause any trouble.”
Revan then allowed the employee to tell him about the port and city, which had been built during the tense unease after the whole Exar Kun and Sith War. It was a small city, mostly catering to those wayward travelers who found themselves near the terrible Unknown Regions.
Many rumors were said about the unchartered piece of space and quite a few dealt with rogue Jedi who had gone in and then come out as part of the Sith. That piece of information seemed to disturb Revan the most, so he thanked the worker and went about his way.
He headed to the cantina, the place where gossip and truth were sometimes topic of conversation. He wasn’t sure how to proceed. All he knew was that this was his birth planet, but he didn’t even have the names of his parents.
Walking up to the bar, he ordered Deralian ale from the small Rodian bartender. “You look troubled.” the alien replied. “Alain make trouble go away with stiff drink, yes?”
“Keep it pouring then.”
“Why you so down?” the alien asked.
Revan took a swig from the glass, smacking his lips slightly at the bitter taste of the ale. Not bad, but certainly not as good as Telosian or even the Coruscant variety, but okay just the same. “I’m looking for information on some people.” he said.
“You not Exchange, right?” the Rodian asked, now a bit fearful. “You no get Alain to talk!”
“Relax.” the knight replied, waving his hand slightly. “I’m not with the Exchange. I’m just looking for someone, that’s all.”
“Yeah,” the alien murmured. “You friend. Just looking. Okay, who you look for?”
Here, the young man sighed. “I’m not sure.” he said. “I’m looking for the parents of a guy I know. He’d like to meet them, if possible, but he doesn’t know who they are.”
“Me might know.” the alien said. “Alain knows everyone in St. Aalang and that of Deralia too. Alain been here many years, since times of Exar Kun.”
“That long?” Revan asked. He was thoughtful for a moment, before asking, “Do you anyone with the last name of Korr? They would have a son about twenty-eight years old now.”
The Rodian shook his head no, causing Revan’s hopes to be dashed. He didn’t know why he came here, really, just that he hoped he could meet someone from his past, before everything that had happened.
“No Korr,” the Rodian was saying. “But know Corren. They have son. Had son.”
“Corren?” Revan repeated. That could easily be changed into something like Korr. He looked at the Rodian again. “You said they had a son. What happened to him?”
“Jedi take him away.” he responded. The alien leaned over, looking around to make sure no one was listening. “People say that he turned into Darth Revan. That name of son. Rev Corren.” The alien leaned back and began cleaning Revan’s glass. “But that just rumor. You find more at med place.”
Revan nodded slowly, placing his credits on the bar counter before heading out of the cantina. Rev Corren. That was his name. Rev Corren. Rumor had it that he turned into Darth Revan.
Rev Corren.
He shook himself out of his stupor, walking to a nearby directory console and began to look up the medical bay of the planet. He found it wasn’t very far and he decided he would just walk there, take the time to familiarize himself with the planet.
It reminded him a bit like Achorhead on Tatooine, but with more houses than businesses. He could see, though, that Czerka had descended on the place like firaxa to a free meal.
There were numerous ‘coming soon’ signs on the fronts of some buildings and he could see how the planet, being on the very tail end of the galaxy, needed all the help they could get. The medical facility reminded him of the one Zelka Forn worked out of on Taris. It was small, only about two rooms, and had a few beds in the second.
“Good morning!” called a cheerful voice. Revan nodded to a heavyset middle aged woman, with red hair set in a bun. “Welcome to the Deralia Med Facility. I’m Itdana Cheem, the doc extraordinaire at your service. How can I be of service?”
Revan nodded at the woman, returning her smile. “Pleased to meet you.” he said, extending his hand to her. “I’m…I’m Jayden, smuggler and all around dashing young man.” Itdana laughed, slapping him on the arm.
“Well, aren’t you a charmer?” she gushed. “What can I do for you?”
“Actually, I’m wondering if you could help me with something.” he began. “See, I…I’ll be honest with you. I’m going through some…personal trials…and I’ve come to realize that I don’t know anything about my past. I was…placed in someone else’s care when I was younger, so I don’t really know anything about my family. I heard that you may be able to help.”
“Well, bless your heart.” the woman said, the look of pity and sadness plastered all over her face. “To go through such an ordeal. Well, we’ll just see what we can find, huh? I’ve delivered most of the children here at St. Aalang and really, I’m the only med place within a good 200 radius. Chances are, I probably delivered you.” She gave him a wink, before heading over to a computer console.
“We’re a bit prim, as you can see,” she gestured around to the room; the console the only thing that was high tech in the entire place. “But we get things done. Now, do you happen to know the name of your parents?”
Revan grimaced. “I only know their last name.” he said. “I hope it won’t be too much trouble.”
“Aren’t you a sweetheart?” she cooed, her eyes on the screen in front of her. “Just give it to me, hun. If you were born here, it’ll show.”
“Corren.”
Itdana seemed to stop what she was doing, as though she didn’t exactly understand his request. “I’m sorry?” she asked. “Could you repeat that?”
“I said their last name is Corren.”
“As in Jacob and Marron Corren?” she asked.
“Uh…”
“As in the parents of Darth Revan?” She turned to stare at him, her eyes a glow with anger. “Is this some kind of joke? Some cruel tasteless joke to get your jollies on?”
“What?” Revan shook his head. “No…no, I just…”
“Those names are to never be mentioned in my presence or anyone’s for that matter.” Her voice had lowered to a near growl and she had managed to push Revan back into a wall. “Do you have any idea what those people did? They gave birth to a monster! That little bastard grew up to nearly destroy the galaxy and what he couldn’t do, he sent his boot-licking kath hound Malak to do it for him.
“And what’s worse! There’s rumors the core slime is still alive and the Jedi used him to kill his former apprentice. Rubbish! Darth Revan is out there somewhere, just waiting until we get complacent and boom! He’ll come back, bigger than ever to try and murder us all!
“If I were you, son, I’d take whatever information you heard or got and toss it right out the window. Someone was playing you for a fool.” She calmed down and smooth back some hair that had fallen from her bun.
“Sides, it won’t do you any good anyways.” she said primly. “They’re dead. Both of them. They were his first victims, you know. Buried out there on the far west of the planet. Don’t know why anyone would want to give them a proper burial for all they’ve done…”
Revan nodded, meekly, easing his way out of his corner and out of the medical facility. His head was pounding and there was something in his eye. He managed to stumble around the corner into an alleyway, where he fell back against the nearby wall.
So it was true. Or was it? The Rodian had said it was a rumor, but the way Itdana reacted, perhaps it was more than that. Jacob and Marron Corren. Those were his parents. And they were dead.
They were his first victims, you know.
She couldn’t have meant it like that, could she? Had he truly killed his parents? Had his path to the dark side started before he was even out of diapers? He held his head in his hands, the thoughts starting to overwhelm him. He didn’t know why he had come here, really.
Now he wished he hadn’t.
It took some time and it was nearly dusk before he reached the west side of the planet and true to her word, there was a small deserted cemetary out there. It was fenced off, but there was still an entry way for one to get in.
It only held maybe ten or fifteen markers, but he was only interested in two. He found them, at the very back of the yard, covered in moss and the remnants of falls that had come and gone.
Sweeping away some of the debris, he found his first name. Jacob M. Corren That was his father. He immediately took his hand and swept off the debris to the marker next to it. Marron Lenna Corren His mother.
He knelt down in front of the markers, looking at dates and such. His mother, he noticed, died very young. In fact, it seemed she may have died in childbirth or shortly there after. Her date of death matched the one he knew to be his birthday and the year matched with his current age.
The date for his father was a good few years later, perhaps when Revan had been about seven or eight. What had killed him, he wondered. He remembered the data pad Bastila had given him about his past and that he had come into the order when he was around four. That meant he had spent at least four years with his father.
Revan plopped himself down on the ground and just stared at the markers. He had no recollection of any time with his father. Did he look like him? Did he have his chin? His nose? Did he have his mother’s eyes? Her smile? He didn’t know and it probably seemed as he never would. His name was Rev Corren.
Had it been lengthed when he became a ward of the Jedi? Or had Rev been short for something? He needed to go back to the medical facility, when he wouldn’t be met with such hostility. He didn’t want to break in, but what other choice did he have? Itdana Cheem certainly wouldn’t just hand over anything. In fact, she’d know who he was and then alert everyone and that would so not be the point of his going alone and without telling many people where he would be.
He’d have to break in.
He didn’t know what time it was when he returned from his outing, but it was quite dark when he came back to the markers where his parents lay. It had taken all his powers not to be noticed as he broke into the medical facility.
There was a small part of him that revelled in returning to his dark past, but he pushed it from him as he quickly located his file and downloaded what he could onto his data pad. He had then quickly fled the scene, using the Stealth Field Generator belt he had kept since their Star Forge mission.
Once he felt he was safe enough, Revan reappeared and once again sat down in front of his parents’ graves. Scanning his pad, he saw the information that had been seeped from him by the Jedi. His full name was Reventhal J. Corren and his face immediately scrunched up. No wonder he went by Rev as a child.
He was curious as to whether it was he or the Order than had changed the spelling, but it was no matter. He wondered what the J stood for in his middle name. Was he named after his father? Or could it possibly stand for the name the Council had given him, Jayden? Perhaps it was just the letter J, he didn’t know and it was another thing that ate at him.
He also noticed his suspicions on his mother were correct. She had died after giving birth to him, in fact he was celebrating the wrong birthday. From his files, he had been born three days earlier than what he normally celebrated. The way things were now, he had been celebrating his birth on the day his mother had died.
That felt wrong to him somehow, to be happy and joyious when his mother had died on that day. Shaking his head, he continued to read. He was an only child, which may have explained why he enjoyed being with people as opposed to being alone.
Several days had passed since he had arrived in St. Aalang and those days had been spent telling his parents what he knew about himself. He apologised for the wrongs he had committed and how he was going to try and right them. Somehow. He told them of the Star Forge mission and how he had met his friends.
He told them about each of them, leaving Carth and Bastila until the end. “Carth, he’s…” he stopped, a small smile on his face as he talked about his friend. “He’s been through a lot and most of it was my doing, but…he’s the best friend a guy could ever have. He’s like a brother to me, that’s why I know she’ll be okay.”
He looked up, smiling at the markers. “Her name’s Bastila. She’s…she’s wonderful and I love her so much.” His cheeks became red. “I…keep having these dreams, through the Force, of our children one day. I’ve asked her to marry me, when I return from this quest. I…I want to bring her here one day, so you can meet her.”
He took a sobering breath before standing up. He brushed off his pants, picked up his Republic jacket and Jedi robe, and then turned to stand over his parents. “I don’t know when I’ll come back to see you,” he said.
“But hopefully it won’t be long. I wish I could’ve known you, could’ve met you, but…I know that where ever you are, you love me. And…and I hope I can make you proud again. Goodbye…Mother. Father. I will see you soon.”
With that, he turned and began making the long trip back to the Ebon Hawk.