So I got stuck waiting in a Starbucks for a few hours with only my laptop with me, so I figured I would get a little bit done on the next chapter. No idea when the rest will come, since I have all of the aforementioned stuff coming up within the next two weeks, but it's a start.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: TOO CLOSE TO HOME (Part 1 of likely 4 to 5)
Mical was thirteen years old when he left Dantooine for Coruscant. Much had changed over the last two years, since the Republic had entered into war with the Mandalorians. Politics within the Jedi Order were strained at best. There were many factions which had arisen with various opposing views on the role of the Jedi in the grand scheme of the Republic’s war with the Mandalorians.
It had begun with the formation of a small band of Jedi who, against the Jedi Council’s wishes, set out to engage the Mandalorians and to aid the Republic in their war efforts. The rogue band of Jedi were known as the Revanchists. Jedi Knight Opela Moraf had been one of the first among them—the same Opela Moraf whom Mical had grown to admire three years prior, and who he had determined he wanted to be his Master when he was of age to be selected to become a Padawan.
Now, the boy was thirteen. He was of age when he would need to be selected by a Master or Knight to begin his training… and he was old enough to realize that the path of the Jedi was not for him. The one he had hoped would train him had left two years prior with the Revanchists to aid in the Republic’s fight against the Mandalorians. It was partially this movement which had caused such a disturbance in the Masters that formed the High Council. Several of them, such as Master Atris, had declared that they were no longer fit to be Jedi. Had the movement remained as a Mercy Corps as the Council had reluctantly agreed to following the proposal by the Revanchists leader, there wouldn’t have likely been so much of an issue. But now, the Republic had been openly accepting the Revanchists aid outside of medical purposes, in direct combat with the Mandalorians.
The boy honestly believed that Jedi Opela Moraf was doing the right thing. From what he had come to understand of her in the time he had known her on Dantooine, he did not think that she was capable of anything so atrocious as what those such as Master Atris assumed the Revanchists capable of. Opela Moraf represented the type of Jedi which Mical had wished to become. And if it was declared that she was no longer to be a Jedi, then he had decided that the path of the Jedi would not be the path for him.
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Padawan Bastila Shan sat meditating alone in the Courtyard of the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine. A small flock of Brith flew overhead, the white of their underbellies like great cloudy kites gliding over Dantooine’s flora. Bastila deeply enjoyed meditation. She felt placid, calm… it was a thing which she had struggled with when she was first brought to Dantooine for training. She’d deeply missed her family on Talravin when she’d first moved. She’d kept in contact for a while when she was younger, but gradually fell out of it. It was better that way according to several of the Masters at the enclave. After all, the emotional attachments of family were best to be avoided in order to keep one’s emotions more stable. Emotions could be a very powerful thing for one gifted in the Force, and could often lead to more harm and destruction than help.
Through meditation, she was able to feel at ease. To relax… She’d not been a Padawan for very long now—after all, it had only been a few brief months since she had been selected to continue her formal training as a Jedi—but already she was making excellent progress according to her Masters. Master Zhar Lestin had bid her to focus on her meditation, though she wasn’t certain why. He said that she had exhibited certain characteristics which the Dantooine Council wished to further test, as they might develop with interesting results… whatever that meant.
To Bastila, it seemed as though she were under some sort of constant test. Always as a youngling they were given various riddles and tests about the Jedi code and about making the appropriate decision based on Jedi teachings in various circumstances. There was one of those questions, however, which continued to trouble her.
It was during a discussion led by one of the Knights, Opela Moraf, three years prior. All had been fine… Moraf had been explaining to them the concept of Force bonds, as per the request of another youngling at the Academy there. Another Knight—Halin Chan—had joined Moraf part way through the discussion. It was the last question which Chan had posed to the younglings which troubled her so:
“What makes an action good or evil?”
If it were just this much alone, it wouldn’t have bothered her. After all, she had given what she had believed to be an acceptable answer. However, upon her reply, Chan had posed her an additional question. The conversation had gone something like so:
“Obviously,” young Bastila had told her, “Good actions are done to serve the greater good, and evil actions are done to serve evil purposes.” She’d thought the answer was a satisfactory one. It seemed, after all, like what the Masters would have wanted to hear. But Chan, it seemed, was different than her Masters:
“Ah, but are they?” the Knight replied. “Is it really so simple?.... Let me ask you this: Is killing a man a good act, or is it an evil one?”
Bastila had thought this an odd question. Did Chan think her to be stupid? “Evil, clearly,” she replied. The answer should
have been obvious.
Halin Chan continued: “And is killing a man who is trying to kill another—billions of others, even—evil… or is it good?”
The woman was regarding her curiously, and it made Bastila feel rather uncomfortable. The content and context of her question made her uncomfortable… Until that moment, she had always seen very clear black and white answers to the Masters’ questions. There was very clear light, and very clear dark… but this woman seemed to attempt to blur the lines between the two… to justify actions which Bastila had considered to be unjustifiable… But then again, perhaps this was all simply a part of the test. The girl swallowed and risked an answer.
“A Jedi should never resort to killing.” What she had said was true… or so she thought it was. It was, after all, as she had been taught. Jedi were keepers of peace within the galaxy.
“But you are avoiding my question, young one….”
It was at this point in the conversation that Master Vrook had thankfully ended the interaction. The thoughts had made young Bastila Shan quite uncomfortable, and she had wondered if this had been the Knight’s intention the entire time. After all, ‘Halin Chan’ had become somewhat of a rogue Jedi since then. She now called herself ‘Revan,’ and sported a Mandalorian mask as she led other Jedi knights in her crusade to recapture the Republic territories which had been lost to the Mandalorians in the war. It was almost natural that one with such un-Jedi-like habits should be the one to post such clouded riddles. But it still bothered her. Three years later, the question was still bothering her… and she wasn’t sure why. She wondered, perhaps, if it were because she questioned her own answer. What would she do were she faced with the situation herself and not just as a riddle?
Bastila opened her eyes, unable to maintain her meditative trance with such thoughts protruding through her mind. She let out a frustrated sigh. Why was this bothering her now? There were so many other more important things for her to focus on in the present. After all, the special testing that Master Zhar Lestin had mentioned would be coming up, and she needed to ensure she was ready for it when the time came. Attempting to push all thoughts from her mind once more, she closed her eyes and focused on meditation.
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Things had changed greatly in the operations of the Revanchists over the last year. Revan’s persuasions directed toward Captain Telettoh had proven useful indeed, for after a few months, Jedi medical support had transformed into simply Jedi support. The Revanchists had been divided into smaller companies now of one to four, depending upon the needs of the individual battlefield. Revan, Malak, and a few others including Moraf and Master Kace had been promoted to the rank of General within their respective companies. While their official banner was still ‘Mercy Corps,’ their actions did not live up to the title. They were
Revanchists again.
Revan stood by the bridge of the
Nemesis, watching the streaks of stars which whirred past the viewpoint during the ship’s hyperspace jump. She wore traditional brown robes now, as her old blue and black ones had been damaged beyond salvage in a rather close incident during a battle in the Thustra System. She was lucky enough to even be alive, and owed a great deal to Master Kae, who had been close enough after the explosion to treat her before her injuries had become too serious. Despite her Echani training, Kae was perhaps the most ‘Mercy Corps’ member of them all.
It was a groundside battle in which they were attempting to recapture a supply manufacturer from the Mandalorian unit stationed there. It was supposed to have been an espionage mission. Given their ability with the Force Cloak technique, Revan and Kae were to covertly enter the depot and take out the Mando’ade in charge of facility operations while sabotaging the supplies scheduled for shipment to the Mandalorian front. They would then place Republic soldiers in place to secretly continue to run operations there under the façade of Mandalorian control in order to send out the sabotaged supplies in multiple shipments. Before the Mandalorians had time to catch on, they would stage a battle in which the Republic would publicly re-take the depot and use it as a basis to recapture the planet.
It had been Revan’s idea. She had hoped that it would be a serious blow to The Mandalorian infrastructure in that region. However, their communications had been bugged, and the Mandalorians caught wind of the plan, laying a trap to greet them when they tried to enter the facility. It had been as they were coming around the southeastern side of the facility that Revan had accidentally tripped the mine. She had thought that she would be capable of disabling it, but the system was of a Mandalorian design with which she was unfamiliar. After failing to disable it, she had enough time to clear far enough for her limbs remained attached, but a large portion of her body was burned as a result of the explosion. Luckily enough for her, Kae was not close enough to be hit by the explosion, and was able to cloak them both, dragging her to safety and begin healing her injuries soon after. Even with kolto treatments, it had taken several weeks before Revan was fighting-ready again.
It was because of this incident that Revan now sported the bronze Deralian armor over her robes. When the Deralian military had been drafted into the Republic forces for the war, she had requested to be transferred to the unit led by her brother, Talon. Her reasoning was that she figured he would be more open to allowing her the freedom to continue the Revanchist movement as she saw fit, but while her assumption in this matter was mostly correct, she found him often trying to play ‘big brother’. After the incident in the Thustra system, the armor had become sort of a compromise. She had agreed to wear it if he agreed to continue to allow her to participate in ground combat.
While the two of them were often at odds over who had authority in what instances, she did appreciate his presence. After all, Talon had taken over their father’s position as head of the Deralian military after his retirement, and, with study, he had become, like their father and grandfather before them, an excellent military tactician. His knowledge in the field fascinated Revan, and she often asked him about it when she had the chance. It was as if she were back in her days of early Knighthood, thirstily seeking to drink in his vast wealth of knowledge on the subject matter.
Perhaps it was his pride, but Talon rather enjoyed the situation also. Rather than the Jedi Revan, leader of the Revanchist movement, she was his kid sister Halin, curiously seeking to mirror her elder brother. Happily, he shared with her all he had and all she was willing to take. He’d craved this for some time—a chance to be the brother he’d never had the chance to be after she was handed over to the Order for training.
Revan seemed to have a knack for understanding the mechanics of fleet and ground troop positionings and the like. The way that she enjoyed the situation… it almost seemed as if the whole thing were a game to her. A game of strategy and guile, and in which she had quite the competitive nature. Talon was rather impressed by his sister’s understanding of tactics, and allowed her, at her request and under his guidance, to aid in the positioning of troops in several of their battles. She was a natural talent, though he should have suspected so much to be the case. After all, it did run in the family.
He had initially been rather impressed by her strategy for the surprise attack on the Thustra system depot, and had allowed her the opportunity to carry out her idea for a covert approach to the recapture. What none of them could have anticipated, however, was that one of the grunts was playing both sides, and leaked information of the mission to Mandalorian officials groundside, allowing them time to set a trap for the two Jedi infiltrators. He was happy that they had survived the occurrence, but it made him warry of allowing ‘Revan’ to participate in any groundside missions. Even if she weren’t his sister, Jedi aid was limited and quite valuable. He couldn’t risk losing what little support they had.
After she’d finished her series of kolto treatments, he had approached Revan about his previous gift again. While she’s stubbornly continued to protest just as she had before, he was eventually able to convince her that it would be for the better.
Revan hated the armor still. It was clunky, and heavy, and slowed her down significantly, causing her to have to draw quite heavily upon the Force should she desire to come close to matching her speed without. She still refused to wear all of it, and had settled on just the breastplate and bracers for minimal obtrusion to her movement in combat. Paired with the Mandalorian mask she had picked up on Cathar, she was an odd hodgepodge of cultures—Jedi robes and cloak, Deralian armor, and a Mandalorian mask.
“Are you ready?” came a voice from behind.
Revan turned to face former Jedi Master Arren Kae, who was the only other member of the Revanchists aboard the
Nemesis, Admiral Talon Chan’s flagship. Kae had been aiding Revan over the last nearly year in managing the Force visions which had started coming to her quite frequently after the start of the war. The visions were a rather strange situation, in that Revan hadn’t previously encountered before the Revanchists. It was almost as if entering into the war had attracted the attention of something—or someone—that had caused them to manifest. In the visions, this
thing was a voice.
The voice.
It was the voice that made the visions so much more unsettling than they would have been simply on their own. They would often leave Revan utterly unable to function before Kae had stepped in and had begun training her in controlling and managing them. The two would practice entering into a meditative state in which they would listen for something the Mak’Tor on Coruscant referred to as ‘The Song.’ While Revan had initially thought the idea to be ridiculous, Kae’s suspicions on the matter had proven to be correct, for Revan seemed to have a greater capacity and sensitivity for sound than she had, and with enough focus, was able to drown out the sound of the Voice with the sound of the Song. The visions would still manifest themselves from time to time, but had become a manageable thing.
It was through Kae’s guidance that Revan had been able to achieve such a thing, and the two still continued their meditative training sessions fairly regularly. As silly as she had thought it to begin with, Revan found the Song quite soothing now. It had become as if a part of her own mental shield to shut out the darkness which seemed to loom and hover about.
“I’m ready,” Revan replied, stepping away from the viewport. She had come to look forward to these sessions as a moment of respite from the ongoing war. Even so there was an idea which had popped into her mind recently regarding the sessions. It might take some time for her to be able to reach any definitive conclusions on the matter, but it was something that she needed to try for herself. So with this in mind, she followed Kae from the bridge to begin their meditation session.
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