REVENGE OF THE SITH
Part VIII – Revenge of the Sith
Bastila was more than a little surprised and elated walking into the main hold of the Hawk and finding Master Dorril Sevadjian standing there. “Master Dorril!” she exclaimed. “I thought…”
The bothan nodded, smiling warmly at the young woman. “I was lucky to be detained during the business on Katarr,” he replied. “It was heartbreaking to lose so many, especially now.” The former master had told Revan it was imperative to speak to him and his crew if they were to continue on their current mission.
“I have much to say,” he continued. “I am glad Revan was able to find so many that are loyal to him. As you know, the mission you are undertaking is one of great importance, for it will decide the entire fate of the Republic and the galaxy as we know it.”
The small being began to pace, his hands behind his back, as he continued his speech. “There are many things Revan has told you, I’m sure,” he began, to many nods. “There are some things he may not know or things he may not wish to share.” The bothan shot Revan a look, one that caused the former knight to cast his eyes elsewhere.
“I’m sure Revan has told you about Ellis Yoly, the current dark lord of the Sith, who you may know as Darth Trayun. What I think you don’t know, as well as what Revan does not know, is about the companions of this exile.
“Before the destruction of Katarr and the consequent disbandment of the Jedi Order, I contacted Masters Vrook and Kavar. The masters tried to keep in contact when the start of the Shadow Sith began, but as you are aware, it was nearly impossible.
“From what I gathered, because of the Mandalorian and the Jedi wars, there were students left within the Academy that went without masters. There were also those who were touched by the Force, but unable to be courted by the Order.
“These people are known as the Lost Jedi; and I am under the impression that several were in the company of the exile on this ship.”
The crew looked at the small master in slight confusion. There were other Jedi that were unknown? “But where are they?” Carth asked, clearly unable to understand this piece of news. “I mean, where did they go?”
“Like the other Jedi, scattered throughout the galaxy and planets,” the small master replied. “The destruction of the Jedi Academy left many of us in a lurch and we had to temporarily relocate to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Some of our Order, like Master Bindo, thought the Order not effectively doing their jobs, so they left. That in turn made some of the students leave as well.”
“Why?” Lynsel asked. “I mean, I know the Republic feels a certain way, but I would think…”
The master sighed, bowing his head. “There have been…some problems within the Order,” he replied, causing Carth to smirk and a muttered, “No! Really?” from Revan.
Behave.
Whether the former master heard the comment or chose to ignore it were unknown as he continued. “There was some…concern with Master Vandar’s vision.” He said. “We had always thought it was about the Mandalorian War, but now…some of us, including Vandar, wondered if perhaps these were visions of what is about to happen now. If that is the case, then the galaxy may be in trouble.”
Revan nodded, solemnly, not wanting to be the one to say “I told you so” though he thought it in his mind, much to Bastila’s annoyance. “These ‘Lost Jedi’,” he began. “Do we know who they are?”
Dorril shook his head. “I can only tell you where some of them are,” he said. “I can sense the Force on Dantooine and somewhere on Onderon, but beyond that…” He let his sentence trail off. “The problem is I’m afraid the dark side clouds everything in this matter.’
“Do you think it’s possible the True Sith also know about these ‘Lost Jedi’?” Dustil asked.
“I have a feeling these True Sith know more than we do,” Bastila replied.
“I fear Bastila may be correct in that assumption,” Dorril sighed. “I have more news. Kumar is dead.”
Only Dustil and Revan reacted to this news, as everyone else had no idea to who he was referring. Dorril, seeing this, explained, “He was one of the Order that returned after Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma distrupted the Cron Cluster near Ossus. He was stationed in what used to be the Great Jedi Library. It seems to me these Shadow Sith have risen again.”
“That means the Sith know of these Lost Jedi,” Revan said, groaning when he realized how. “Of course they would know. Damn it, Ellis!”
“You think he told them?” Mission asked.
“He had to,” Revan sneered. He could feel the contempt raging through him. How dare Ellis try to turn the galaxy upside down and to his whim? He had no idea of the power of the dark side! None at all…
“Revan,” the small master replied, looking the former Jedi in the eye. He could feel the swirl of emotions within the younger man and they were dangerously close to the dark side. “You must calm your mind if you wish to find peace with this. Do not let your anger cloud your judgments.”
“Spoken like a true Jedi,” the former knight said, sarcastically. “But I hardly think the Sith are going to want to sit down and talk about the problems we’re having with them.”
“Revan!”
Dorril held his hand up. “He has a right to his opinions, Bastila,” he replied. “Those which I see have not changed since he was a member of the Order. But that is not what’s important now. A high importance is finding these Lost Jedi.”
“You said you could sense some of them on Dantooine?” Carth asked, to which the small master nodded. “I have an operative stationed there. He’s a bit of an historian on Jedi. He might know something.”
“T3,” Bastila asked. “Didn’t you arrive on Telos with a member of your crew?”
The little droid beeped an affirmative.
“That must mean he’s left Telos then,” Carth murmured. He looked at Bastila. “We never did check on him.”
“I wonder why he went to Dantooine.” The young woman wondered.
“I guess we’ll find out,” Revan replied. “T3, set a course for Dantooine. Master?”
Dorril shook his head. “I will stay here,” he answered. “Things are not what they seem on Coruscant.”
“You sense it too, then?”
The master nodded. “Something is not right.”
The former Jedi master bide them good travels before making his way off the ship and back to where ever he used as a hideaway, while the crew made their way off-world and headed for the former Jedi planet of Dantooine. Lynsel and Carth sat within the cockpit, discussing what they had heard. “Who exactly do you have on Dantooine?” she asked.
“When Bastila and I were looking for Revan,” he began. “I had an operative on that planet. Like I said, he likes to study the Jedi, that’s why I asked him if he ever ran into a Jedi to alert me. Instead of meeting Revan, he ran into our exile.”
“You think he’ll know the people we’re looking for?”
“If anyone would, it would be him.”
The planet of Dantooine had seen its share of turmoil. Once known as the planet of the Jedi, it had been those Jedi that had brought hardships upon the planet. The idea that the Jedi Academy was virtually impenetrable was easily dismantled by Malak and his Sith forces during the Jedi Civil War.
While some of the artifacts and even Jedi themselves were able to escape, it did nothing to secure the planet of Dantooine itself. For centuries, the Academy and the presence of Jedi had kept the planet safe from unsavory characters, but with the Academy in ruins, all it did was serve to bring about the worse the galaxy could spare.
It started slowly – it wasn’t an instantaneous thing – when the Jedi on Dantooine began to disappear. It wasn’t a large group, hence why an alarm didn’t go up, but soon Jedi were disappearing left and right with no explanation. It all came to a head one day when the Jedi Temple – also thought to be indestructible – was blasted into the ground.
Two of the most important buildings in Jedi history, in the history of the Republic, blown asunder by the Sith. That’s when the real trouble began, especially on Dantooine. With the Sith making such a statement, the Jedi that remained on Dantooine fled to hiding places, leaving the doorway open to mercenaries, the Exchange, and even the Sith.
The people of Dantooine, mostly farmers at this point, were scared off their land by these invaders or had their equipment stolen or worse, had their families harassed or killed. And of course, with the ‘Shadow Sith’ – as they were called – began hunting Jedi, along with the Exchange’s bounty, it left the planet and its citizens in a lurch.
It also brought about a sense of disillusionment from those that settled on Dantooine; their mindset was that the Jedi had brought about the near destruction of their planet, not to mention the utter chaos they had brought upon the galaxy itself.
Though there were those that thought the Jedi had done good things – and still did – there weren’t enough to sustain the planet as a whole.
One of these believers in the Jedi was a young Zabrak male who was forced to flee his planet of Iridonia when the Mandalorians had come. His anger at being forced to flee his home was the guiding force when he decided to join the Republic as a technician. It was there, if by coincidence, that the Zabrak met a young knight of the Jedi Order.
The Jedi was impressed with the work the young Zabrak had done on fixing one of the transports that the Jedi lead the young alien to the commander of it all — Revan. The whole reason the Jedi were even involved in the war was due to Revan’s influence and to say this master of the Jedi was a bit revered was an understatement.
And the fact that the young Zabrak was being brought before him was awe inspiring.
That had led to an event the young Zabrak and that of the rest of the Republic would remember forever. This talented Zabrak was the main force in creating something called the mass shadow generator — a technical mystery only known to the inventor – that quickly put an end to the Mandalorian War by killing the Mandalorians on the surface and in the air on Malachor V.
Unfortunately, at least where this Zabrak was concerned, it also killed a large amount of Republic soliders and Jedi alike that were battling in the air and on the surface. It was something that would haunt this young former Republic lieutinent.
But for the years following Malachor, the young Zabrak found himself on the planet of Telos, trying to help with the rebuilding. He felt he owed it to the galaxy for his role in killing so many people. He often wondered if he would’ve ended up as his friend, the young Jedi general who left the Republic to parts unknown until his return only a year ago.
Would he have cut himself away from everything until being called back into service? Isn’t that what he did do? Upon seeing his friend again on the surface of Telos, he was reminded of the time on Malachor and he could see that his young friend also was still haunted by those events, perhaps to the point that he was slipping further and further into the dark side.
It also didn’t help that the old crone Kreia had his ear.
He hadn’t wanted to return, to that place, but when the crone had fled, the Ebon Hawk had seen its way to the dark, cracked planet. The young Zabrak hoped his remote would be able to take care of the consoles that would activate the mass shadow generator that would hopefully destroy the planet for good.
Of course, he had never anticipated that his former commanding officer, his friend, would send troops after him to find him, though he never expected to be released either. Perhaps his friend hadn’t succumbed at all or perhaps there was enough good left in him to keep his friend from death.
Whatever the reason, he knew sooner or later his former commander would see the light. He was sure Brianna would help him, even if she was falling to the dark side herself. And he knew that sooner or later, he himself would be called on again to help the galaxy.
For Bao-Dur was just that kind of optimist.
Though it had been years since various members of the Ebon Hawk crew had set foot on the planet of Dantooine, the experience was eye-opening. For Revan, he had last been on the planet during his search and destroy mission with the Star Maps.
He remembered how flying over the devastation that had once been the great Jedi Academy and something akin to regret and sadness had then washed over him. He had pushed it to the back of his mind, as he was on a mission, but he would never forget the shell of a building that had once been the place where he had trained twice in his life.
Now the building held a man who would perhaps know more than he realized and who might know whose life was in danger. While they traveled, he did his best to remember all those students of the academy when he had been there, to no avail. He could only remember those names that had an immediate impact – that of Ellis and Bastila; the faces of the younger students just seemed to blend in to him.
The sudden thought occurred – was this person even a student at the time? Dorril had said he could only sense the Force on the planet, but what if there were more people that he just couldn’t see? Did these Lost Jedi just leave their various planets for other realms of the galaxy?
By the time they had landed, Revan’s brain was full to burst with all the questions he had concerning everything. He, Carth, and Bastila made their way through the grasslands to the former academy, which now just stood barren in its location. Seeing it up close tore at Revan, that sense of sadness rearing itself back again.
They had gotten the clearance to land, directly speaking to the administrator in the compound of Khoonda in order to let them pass safely. Carth had asked if the admin leader had known about Mical, with Terena Adere answering that he was usually found within the dangerous former academy of the Jedi.
Both Carth and Bastila urged the former knight to change his Jedi appearance with his robes, but being stubborn, he refused, saying what they were doing was much bigger than a few narrow minded farmers.
The shift in attitude was disconcerting to both the pilot and the knight’s wife, who weren’t used to this seemingly abrupt new Revan. Since the death of Jolee, he withdrew into himself more and Bastila had noted he spent an unhealthy amount of time within the cargo hold near one of the footlockers. His excuse was he was meditating, but he always had that look that told her he was lying.
His best friend was just as worried, telling his worries to his co-pilot Lynsel Belyn.
“I don’t know what it is,” he whispered the day they flew through the galaxy from Coruscant. “But it’s got me worried, very worried. Bastila says he’s spending a lot of time within in the cargo hold, just staring into one of the footlockers. I don’t think he took Jolee’s death well.”
“None of you did,” she answered. “He meant something to you all and knowing what happened…”
She didn’t need to say anything after that. The crew had grieved in their own way, mostly seeking comfort in each other, though Revan seemed to be a part of that for the few days afterwards. After their meeting with Master Dorril, his entire scope shifted.
For Revan, there was only one thing that needed to be done and that was utterly stop Ellis and the True Sith at what ever cost was deemed necessary. He could feel his emotions wanting to over take him, but as before, he kept himself calm and collected. He knew from his past what happened when his emotions took a hold of him at the wrong moments and he wouldn’t make that mistake again.
But for now, their task was finding this Mical and wondering if he knew of these Lost Jedi.
The former knight could only follow his friends as they led him to the hidden door which they had entered a few months ago. Going through the winding of the enclave, the trio was met with the nasty beasts known as laigreks — spider like creatures that roamed in the backlands of Dantooine and having made a home within the temple.
It was Bastila who took the guess as to where the young officer might be, showing them to what used to be the library, now only inhabited by the young blond male she and Carth had spoken to within Khoonda.
“Of all the places I would find you in,” Carth began teasingly, causing Mical to look up from whatever datapad he was reading. “An abandoned school of the Jedi isn’t right at the top of the list.”
“Admiral!” he exclaimed, putting the pad down and extending a hand. “I certainly didn’t expect to see you on the planet again.” He nodded and bowed slightly to greet Bastila. “Ms. Shan, a pleasure seeing you again as well.” The clearing of a throat cause the young man to see who the other two had brought with them. “Hello.”
“Mical, this is…”
“Revan,” the blond replied, his eyes widening in slight shock upon seeing the man. “I remember you from…” He stopped himself, clearing his throat nervously, before putting a hand for him to shake as well. “From the holovids and…various readings, of course.”
“Of course,” Revan replied, with a smirk. “I hear you’re somewhat of a historian, Mical. I like research too.”
“I know,” Mical responded, before quickly adding. “I’ve…”
“Read about it, yes.”
“Mical,” Carth began. “I hate to trouble you, but I’m wondering if you could help us out again. You see, we’re looking for another Jedi. I think two to be exact, but we don’t know where they are.”
“Well, I can tell you that I’m the only one who seems to brave coming in here,” the blond said. “With the laigreks and all. Truthfully, even after everything, there’s still an air of distrust with the people of Dantooine, especially those who have lived here most of their lives.”
As he talked, Revan looked at the man intensely. He had heard Bastila ask him mentally if he could sense the Force in the man, which of course he did, but it wasn’t just that.
“I know you,” he blurted, causing everyone to look at him.
“Of course you do,” Carth quipped. “We introduced you about three minutes ago.”
“I think you’re mistaken, Master Jedi,” the blond responded, abet hurridly. “I’ve been told I have one of those faces.” Turning quickly to the admiral, the man asked, “May I ask why you’re looking for Jedi again, sir?”
“I can answer that,” Revan stated, continuing to stare at the man and making him increasingly uncomfortable. “We’re trying to stop the True Sith and with that, hopefully stop assassains that may be trying to murder those that are Force sensitive.”
“The True Sith?”
Revan nodded. “The species known as the Sith and from where the name of the organization takes itself,” he continued. “They are currently being led by a Darth Trayun, other wise known as Ellis Yoly.” At the mention of Ellis’ name, Mical seem to pale and whither; his shoulders slumped and he suddenly didn’t know what to say.
“Master Yoly is leading the Sith?” he asked in disbelief. “I knew when I saw him, he looked…I thought he might be, but…”
“So you know Ellis Yoly,” Bastila replied, the question being more of a statement than anything else.
“You didn’t tell me you suspected he was on the dark side,” Carth reprimanded. “Nor did you tell me you can actually tell when someone’s on the dark side in the first place.”
It looked as though the blond would protest, instead he sighed and motioned them to sit at a nearby table. “Perhaps I should explain,” he began, watching as Carth and Bastila took seats, while Revan was content to stand behind his wife’s chair.
“First of all, I am sorry, Admiral. I know this was something I probably should have mentioned, but I…I never thought I would find myself in this position.” He looked to the three of them before continuing. “I do not know if you are aware of how fragile the Republic is at the moment.
“Its influence is stretched thin, and it grows weaker with time. The Jedi Civil War brought much suffering to the galaxy, and the forces that you and Malak amassed against us seemed limitless. Many worlds were destroyed, trade routes disrupted, and the Republic fleet was almost decimated.”
Revan hung his head; he had known some of the atrocities he and the Sith had done. He had seen them in his mind, the images coming in spurts, but clear enough to know what he had been apart of. However, he hadn’t encountered anyone who had made an impact like this Mical.
Most just blamed him for everything.
It seemed Mical truly did take a scholarly outlook on things.
“How did you ever find your way here to Dantooine?” Bastila asked.
The young man ducked his head, fighting to hide a blush. “I was looking for some trace of the Jedi,” he stated, lifting his head to look at the three. “I had heard mention that one of the Jedi Masters, Master Vrook, had been sighted here; I wanted to speak to him. The other reason was the ruins of the Jedi Enclave… and once I arrived, I felt it was necessary to stay, to protect what was left.”
He looked around the empty room of the chamber, a hint of sadness on his face. “Much had been taken from the Enclave, both by raiders… and others,” he continued. “I wished to preserve what I could. Many artifacts were taken from here, but these thefts… they had to have been done by someone who knew the Enclave well. I suspect the Jedi themselves took the holocrons and records, but I do not know why.”
“You’ve spent a lot of time on this,” Revan commented, watching the young man blush again and smiling. “You’re one of the few who don’t outwardly hate me or the Jedi as a whole.”
Mical chuckled. “Hate?” he asked. “No, I do not hate them. They only raise questions without answers. Jedi are not supposed to be like the rest of us. They are supposed to see a higher purpose in all things.
“And they are supposed to train students responsibly and well, so mistakes of the past are not repeated. Yet all I saw was ignorance and arrogance, and what those seeds created in the Republic. It is difficult to follow the Jedi Code, when so few others have.”
He looked at Bastila, then Revan. “But you know this. It is difficult sometimes for the Jedi to see such things, since much of it is rooted in human nature, and the Jedi are often removed from events of daily life, insulated.”
The Jedi were quiet, each lost in their own thoughts. “Well,” Carth began. “That explains why you’re here, other than my asking you to stay. It doesn’t explain how you know Darth Trayun.”
The young blond sighed, before again looking at Bastila and Revan. “If I look familiar, it is because we have met before, at this Enclave, many years ago.” He began. “As on Coruscant with the Jedi Temple, Force Sensitive children are taken to Dantooine as well, though it is done rarely, and only with those they believe are destined to become Jedi Knights – it is the secret nature of the place. However, if you are not chosen by a master when you have come of age… then the path of the Jedi is denied you.”
Taking a breath, he said, “I met you on Dantooine, long ago, briefly.”
“Then you were here on the planet,” Bastila replied. “And you were one of those that left with Revan.”
“No,” came the reply, however it wasn’t from Mical, but Revan himself. “He didn’t come with us, but he wanted to.”
Mical gave a small nod. “I was given a choice,” he continued. “Or rather, I made a choice. Master Vrook wanted to train me, as I was without a master. However, I had seen one of the Jedi Knights and I thought he showed much promise. He taught us the ways of the Force, how to hear it sing within others, within the life around Dantooine. He was…different from Master Vrook.
“It is difficult to explain the difference between him and Master Vrook, but I think it is because he was knowledgeable, but not a leader, not a mentor.”
“He was different,” Revan muttered. “We could all feel it.”
Mical nodded. “And I knew that if I were to have a Master, I would want it to be him. And then he went to war.” He looked at Revan, as though trying to make him understand. “Many Jedi went to war, and the Jedi Masters proclaimed that you — and he – were Jedi no longer.
“Atris, the mistress of the archives, was first among them. I knew at that moment, that if Ellis Yoly would no longer be a Jedi, then he must be correct. I realized I did not want to be a Jedi – instead, I wished to follow your path — his path. And in any event, there was no one to train me, even if I wished it. They all went to war, as I grew past the age of acceptance.”
Carth looked at the man in front of him, having the same feeling he did when he learned that Revan was Revan and that Bastila had fallen to the dark side. “So you turned away from the Jedi,” he asked, incredulously. “The Force – because of him?”
“It is possible to forget the Force, you know,” Mical stated. “If you not have felt it strongly enough, then there is little to miss. But I never felt the Force as strongly as I did when I was here, when I was considered apprentice to Ellis Yoly.
“And so I decided to serve the Republic – study the Jedi teachings, gather them, perhaps. It was important to me to understand the Jedi now that they were gone. I felt some part of them should be preserved, so that your lessons would not be lost.”
The young man looked off, as though in thought. “But if Master Yoly is with the Sith,” he whispered. “Truly fallen…”
“It gets worse,” Revan said. “If what you say is true, then you are one of those that the Sith seek and wish to kill.”
“Because of my connection to the Force.”
“I knew I recognized you,” Bastila said. “The first time we came here, you seemed so familiar and I could feel the Force about you, but I couldn’t place whether or not we knew of one another.”
“When you saw Ellis,” Revan asked. “Did he know? About you, I mean.”
“I can’t say,” Mical replied. “I wanted to say more to him, but I didn’t feel it was my place. When the mercenaries began to rise against our administrator, I had hoped Master Yoly would do what was right — which he did — despite my concerns, so I…all I could do was watch him leave with his crew. I do remember the people he was with though — a young woman with white hair and an elder woman, with a dark cloak around her. She was blind and missing a hand.”
“Kreia…” Revan whispered.
“After that, I couldn’t tell you what happened,” the younger man continued. “Though I think I may know of someone who might. He’s one of the new technicians here, working on strengthening our defenses with the Jedi gone. We’ve talked and I know that he was a member of the exile’s crew. He’s a Zabrak and goes by the name is Bao-Dur.”
“Bao-Dur!?” Revan exclaimed.
“Do you know him?” Mical asked.
“Of course I know him!” Revan replied, tersely. Once again, it came back to him. It was too coincidental to not be the way of the Force. Perhaps this was his punishment — his former friend the leader of the Sith and by a strange act of randomness, his former master, his former crewmate, and his former soldier all aboard his former ship. It was all coming back to him and he knew it. “Where is he?”
“He has his quarters within Khoonda itself,” Mical replied, slightly taken aback by Revan’s tone. “I’m sure the administrator will be able to tell you where he’s gone.”
Mical graciously showed them to the administrative services within the Khoonda building, where finding Bao-Dur was much easier than they thought — the Zabrak was waiting for them. “I had a feeling I’d see you again,” the former war tech replied, grinning at the group.
“I wish it was a much happier circumstance, Bao,” Revan said, a deep sadness in his voice. He couldn’t keep his eyes from glancing at the metallic arm the alien now sported, the former Jedi and dark Sith curious as how he had managed to get that.
“A slight…souvenior from Malachor,” the techie said, seeing the way Revan stared at his arm.
“Too many to count,” came the retort.
“Indeed.”
Revan and his group managed to quickly tell the two men the story — how one of the Jedi masters had contacted them and said an agent of the Sith was looking for the two of them. “I can’t believe the General would do something like this,” Bao whispered, his normally calm voice traced with sorrow.
“Do not waste your sympathy on the likes of him,” Revan snarled. “He isn’t worth it. He’s gone too far.”
“So what do we do next, Rev?” Carth asked, giving the younger man a stern look. He didn’t like how his mind seemed so preoccupied on revenge as of late, something he could definitely relate from his past.
“We make some space on the Hawk,” the younger man replied. “That’s the only thing we can do. I’d feel better knowing that of all of us are together. And we stand a better chance against who ever the Sith has after the two of you.”
“Revan, either way we’re going to have the face the Sith at some point,” Bastila replied, knowingly. “Is it such a good idea to keep us all together?”
“And would you rather I separate us to make it that easier for Ellis and his minions to find us?” Revan retorted. “I’m sick of running, Bas. Like you said, we do need to face the Sith and as of my meeting with the Senate, we are tackling them alone.”
“You never told us that, Revan,” Carth growled. “You never said that we wouldn’t be getting help. You really don’t think we can do this by ourselves do you?”
“We found the Star Forge by ourselves, didn’t we?” the former Jedi asked. “Even when Malak was after us, had us tortured, and turned us to the dark side, we still found him.”
“Thank you for reminding us,” Bastila muttered.
“Unlike you, darling, I don’t pretend that my fall never happened.”
Enough, Revan.
Touched a nerve?
Keep it up and it’ll be the only thing you touch involving me.
Revan’s smirk was devoid of laughter, but bordered on a harshness Carth had never seen before. “Let’s just get back to the ship,” he said. “Then we can figure out what to do then.”