Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: Yea, yea, I know. Blah blah this and that, I just thought this would be an interesting angle to throw into the story to explain Revan's unusual and unique Force-connection in the AOTC and ROTS timelines. As for Revan's parentage... just think of the name Revan Qel-Droma... I just... flows...

Chapter 11: What is Right and What is Wrong

One year, one year Revan had been a guest of the Jedi Order, a man displaced from his own time and universe and left with something that was similar, yet so utterly different that it confounded him, drove him near the edge of his sanity and for one year, Revan had refused to let himself live in the strange time he was in. Until this very moment. Korriban was unchanged, the ruins of the ancient Sith still standing tall in the Valley of the Dark Lords, the carved faces of the statues lining the great mausoleums bearing witness to the ages that had passed since they last saw the red-armored, black-robed man before them. Revan had gone on a leave of absence following the Battle of Hypori, deciding to seek out the strange Sith artifact that had caused him to be displaced in time. Alone, the former Jedi Knight and former Sith Lord moved like a shadow, Tukata and wild Kath hounds roaming the oppressed and dry surface of the Sith's ancient Throne world bayed in the distance. Revan stalked through the muted afternoon light of Korriban, his every motion as graceful and deadly as the predators surrounding him.

Caverns, long caved in from orbital bombardments or earthquakes dotted the familiar, unchanged hillside and Revan took in a deep breath, the dry, crisp air of Korriban filling his lungs with its strangely comforting presence. It was almost exactly as it had been in his time, though Dreshdae was a ruin as ancient as the tombs around him, Revan felt at home in the ruined world's graveyards, a part of his mind finding it fitting that he, a relic of a bygone era would find peace here of all places, where the Darkside of the Force was at its strongest.

However peaceful Revan felt on the desolate, deserted world, all pretenses were forgotten when he found the cavern the crystal had been in, its ancient doorway opened to the world and the ancient glyphs worn to incomprehensible shapes that no longer told a story of the ancient Sith, but of the passage of time. Revan's lips formed into a hard, straight line as his eyes scanned the ransacked cave through his mask's sensors. The crystal was gone, everything that had once been untouched when he had been there, four thousand years ago was overturned, ruined and left as nothing more than debris. Crumbling sections of the walls showed signs of recent activity, though the damage had been done months before. A fleeting sense of panic passed through Revan before he pushed it aside, following his common sense and inspecting each and every inch of the ruin, a holocron in his mask recording each and every detail, every speck of dust, every darkened corner, every overturned relic.

In a subdued pace that belied the strong, graceful strides he had taken to the tomb, Revan moved from the cavern, calmly pulling his mask from his face and pulling back his hood as he checked the information stored on the device. He would go over each scrap of evidence when he returned to Fay's fleet before he would give in to something so mundane as panic again. He'd been on the edge when he first showed up in this strange time but logic told him to remain calm, to check every possible detail before giving in to his emotions and... well, going nuts.

Walking away from the ancient cavern, Revan paused, his eyes focusing on a glint of metal, unnatural amongst the rocks and ruins in its worn design and the former Dark Lord of the Sith moved quickly, stopping short of running as he approached the twisted metal and bones that littered the outside of the ancient structure. Revan knelt down, pushing aside the bones of a slain Tukata to stare into the damaged, though fairly intact head of a Trade Federation Battle Droid. Taking the head from the sand, Revan checked to see if its memory core was intact before he removed the deactivated droid's processor, tossing the head aside as he secured the invaluable information in his armor's leather pouch. It was the only clue he had in how to get to his own time, how to get home and he would not discard the only means of reuniting with Bastila until he held her in his arms once more. It had been too long since he'd felt her, smelled the pleasing scent of her hair or saw the gleam in her gray eyes and Revan would never give up, never stop until she was safe again, free of the threat of the Exile. He couldn't accept being stuck in the future, though it did not stop his mind from considering the implications his continued presence would have on the Republic of this time.

A map of the galaxy glowed in a strategy room within the Jedi Temple, the hologram showing a faint dot that pulsed in red, the location of the man who had been Darth Revan. Mace Windu's stern features stared at the location grimly, his skin crawling at the very thought of that dark, forsaken world. Why anyone would freely go there was beyond him. Korriban was a wasteland, a ruined world that held little life and nothing of value save the tombs of long-dead Sith that even to this day continued to haunt the site. Swallowing back the lump that formed in his throat at the thought of Korriban, Mace turned his attention to Grandmaster Yoda as the small, troll-like Jedi Master's eyes gazed at the map with a hint of apprehension. The only other Jedi present for the meeting were Ki-Adi Mundi, Bant Eerin and a recovering Shaak Ti and all three were at a loss for why Revan would take one of their fighters to that world, why he would walk freely amongst the ghosts of the darkside's violent past glory. It was disturbing that Revan was so powerful, that he was so unreadable in the Force and that he was so skilled. It brought up questions within the minds of the Jedi that had yet to be answered.

"Midichlorians have not always been used to test a potential student's strength. The practice was started shortly before the Rusaan Reformation a thousand years ago, though the records of the time are unclear and even the older Jedi do not know the details, we are fairly certain Midichlorians were not used to test Force-potential in Revan's time... but it does not make sense that there are no Midichlorians in his blood. There should be something, anything... yet his blood is clear of the microbe. Of our understanding, medically and scientifically, Revan should be blind to the Force, yet it answers his call... I do not understand this and nothing in the archives says anything in regards to Midichlorians during Revan's time, or even a thousand years after. Those were dark times in the galaxy and so much was lost to the wars, to the destruction that swept the Republic of that era that we have no knowledge of what really happened or... or how the Midichlorians were actually discovered."

Yoda's ears dropped slightly in thought, his expression uncertain as he considered the mystery of Revan's Midichlorian count and his unexplained presence on Korriban. The Jedi's eyes turned back to the hologram, his eyes widening ever so slightly as the flashing indicator of Revan's Jedi fighter moved from Korriban, steadily approaching Coruscant, where Fay's battlegroup was recuperating from the battle through replacements and repairs. Whatever business Revan had on Korriban was finished and Yoda considered his thoughts carefully before deciding what was to be done.

"Ask him, we will. Powerful, Revan is, but fool, he is not. Know, he will, that wary we are of him. Trust, we must show, if trust we wish to gain. Ask him we will, of his dealings on Korriban and ask him we will of his knowledge of the Midichlorians."
The other Jedi Masters deferred to Yoda's wisdom, though Bant was frowning at a datapad in her hand. From what remained intact in the archives, the Jedi Healer found that Midichlorians were a fairly recent discovery to the Jedi Order, one that barely predated their current time's Republic by only decades and as she considered the thousands of years that had passed, considered the rift in the Force and the imbalance as well as the dark age that followed the Mandalorian and Jedi Civil Wars, Bant realized a very startling truth.

"What if the Midichlorians never existed in Revan's time... From- from what he's told me of his time there were hundreds of thousands of Jedi and Sith, entire populations of Force-sensitives, entire sentient species that wielded the Force naturally and... well, what if the Midichlorians were- were a type of control measure used by someone between his time and ours. What- what if they are an anti-virus of sorts to- to a disease that blinded people to the Force?"
Absolute silence followed the Mon Calamari Jedi's speculation and the four members of the Jedi Council exchanged grim, though thoughtful looks. It made sense, it would easily explain the state of the Force as well as the unusual connection Revan held to the Force, even in its imbalanced state and the Jedi were slowly beginning to understand a truth that had been buried in the past, buried beneath thousands of years of war and destruction and darkness that had suffocated the light and made the galaxy of two or three thousand years past a hellish place. The Midichlorians were a means of control with the Force, the cure to a genetic weapon devised to blind others to the Force. Still, the question remained to be answered as to how and why Revan was not affected by the Midichlorians, why whatever made others who were without a high Midichlorian count blind to the Force and its effects while Revan wielded it freely.

Revan himself never bothered with the question of what Midichlorians were. He had no intention of the Jedi getting their hands on a sample of his blood. In his time the Force-potential of a sentient was taken into account when testing the subject for Jedi training, not some blood test that would determine their future as a Jedi or a normal person. Revan was still a bit in the dark as to the purpose of the Midichlorians. The Force was energy, manipulated through a highly advanced brain that learned to access its subtleties. The average sentient, humans being the template, operated on roughly ten percent of their brain's capabilities while a Jedi of significant power, Juhani for example used close to twenty percent of her brain's potential. Revan's potential had been measured at around twenty-four percent when Kreia had discovered him on the Outer Rim and taken him to be trained as a Jedi Knight but Revan knew that percentage had grown. The Jedi had always said if one were to put their mind to the problem, to focus on the tenets of the Jedi and seek out the Force's truths that they would have an endless potential. The difference between the lightside and the darkside was simply the damage the practice caused on the body and mind. Sith lived much shorter lives than Jedi simply because the Darkside of the Force destroyed their bodies slowly from the inside, out. Revan had taken that sacrifice though when he'd taken on the teachings of the Sith. He knew the destructive powers of the Force, accessed through a highly-developed mind were a most dangerous tool and would be needed in the war with the True Sith.

En route to Coruscant, Revan used the shipboard computer of the Jedi fighter, a device that was slightly more advanced than the computers of his time, to create an uplink to the battle droid's memory core. Shifting through a listing of audio and video files, Revan came across a recording in the droid's memory banks of Count Dooku ordering a search part be sent to Korriban to recover an artifact that his Master wanted in his possession. Disconnecting the memory core and wiping it, Revan made a mental note to dispose of the device when he set down on Fay's flagship, his mind playing over the information he'd just seen. The Dark Lord of the Sith, or the Dark Lord's apprentice if the Jedi's theory as to the Sith Rule of Two; had the crystal, the only means of his returning to his own time and Revan found that to be a very distasteful situation. While he was not a fan of the Jedi Order, the Jedi of this time had done nothing outwardly wrong towards him that was not warranted while the Sith had shot him down, had thousands of droids try to kill him and led to a long, boring walk through a hot and inhospitable desert. All in all the Jedi were looking to be the better companions for the next three years than the Sith and Revan struggled with his emotions a moment.

The Sith did not know the purpose of the crystal. They would keep it as a relic of the Ancient Sith most likely, though how or why they found it was a disturbing thought and Revan was again uncertain of what he should do. Confronting the Sith about the crystal would let them know it meant something to him and they would likely use it as leverage to control him or kill him and Revan was in no mood for that kind of behavior. He was nobody's pawn, and anyone besides Bastila who thought they could order him around would not live long enough to regret it. Well... unless they tossed a nuke at him, then he'd probably just be reduced to radioactive ash. Rolling his eyes at his errant thought, Revan double-checked his hyperdive calculations before setting the fighter's autopilot and leaning back in the seat to relax. There was a war going on, a small one in his opinion, but a war none-the-less and he should get what rest he could.

Jedi Master and General of the Republic's Grand Army, Fay, walked through the quiet hallways of the Jedi Temple, her eyes half-closed as she basked in the peace of the Temple she had grown up in. After a century of service to the Jedi Order as a Knight and Master, Fay had felt compelled by the Force to wander in a self-imposed exile on the Outer Rim, spending decades simply viewing the life those on the Rim lived in comparison to the Core. She'd seen things that were horrifying as well as things that were so magnificent they took her breath away, but she had never seen whatever it was the Force was trying to warn her of, never saw the threat looming beyond the edge of the galaxy that had festered for thousands of years in silent rage. After centuries of wandering, Fay had returned to the Temple and was well-received, her return due mainly to the presence of a time traveler that she found to be... compelling, if not a little bizarre. Revan was power, there was no other way she could describe him. His body was at the peak of physical fitness, his charisma, his intelligence and his skills all told of a man who's life had been spend training and learning, at such an advanced rate that it made the Jedi training of her time seem lacking. Though... he had some serious character flaw because of it.
"Master Fay, the Council is asking to see you."
Fay turned her attention to a young female Iridonian with pale gray skin and shoulder length brown hair, a strand of the hair tied in the traditional braid of a Jedi Padawan. The girl looked to be ten years old and Fay frowned mentally, knowing most Padawans were not chosen until their twelfth or thirteenth year by Masters. Obviously times were changing and there was a need for more Jedi Knights. Many of the older Padawans had been Knighted, the battles they fought in acting as their trials and Fay was concerned for what that meant for the younger Jedi. Soon the Jedi Order would be made up of old Masters and younglings barely able to leave the creche. Pushing aside the grief that took her heart at such thoughts, Fay thanked the young Padawan before making her way towards the Council Chambers, her robes pale white in the dimmed lighting of the Temple as night had fallen over Coruscant. Looking much like Atris had in her librarian robes, Fay was the picture of calm, her face serene despite her sorrows over the war engulfing the galaxy and her worries over Revan. He'd left after Hypori, stating that he had something personal to take care of and he had not thought enough of Aayla or herself to tell them what.

"All in good time. Trust is earned."

Fay's internal musings stopped abruptly as she stepped from the lift and entered the Council Chambers. Yoda was there, a constant in the Temple since she had been a young initiate and Fay smiled faintly at the small alien, Yoda's grave expression halting the peace she had felt in his presence moments before. Four other Council seats were taken by Shaak Ti, Ki-Adi Mundi, Mace Windu and strangely enough Obi-Wan Kenobi and Fay rose a brow at the Jedi Knight, wondering if his assignment to the Council was due to necessity and not skill. Obi-Wan was still a fairly young man and while he was an admirable Jedi Knight, he was still too young to be officially on the Council. Most did not become Councillors until they were fifty years old and Obi-Wan still had a good decade and a half before that time. Three holograms were lit, filling all but five seats in the Council Chambers and Fay tried not to let her gaze linger too long on the empty chairs, seats that had yet to be filled for Jedi called away to battle that would not return. The Jedi Master noticed a Mon Calamari Jedi Knight standing beside Obi-Wan and she rose a brow as she studied Bant, the Jedi Healer's salmon-colored features seemed troubled and Fay felt a sudden dread rise up inside her.

"Masters."
Fay stated calmly, bowing her head in deference to the Jedi High Council. The Councillors all exchanged brief pleasantries, inclining their heads before Mace Windu started off the meeting.

"We've asked you here for two reasons, Fay. The first is that the Jedi Council is in need of more members and you are... quite frankly the most qualified Jedi in the field that is not on this Council. We would like to ask you to join our ranks and become a member of the High Council."

Mace kept his tone formal, though there was an edge to his voice that caused Fay to frown slightly. The Korun Jedi Master seemed unhappy with something and she doubted it was a Council appointment. Pausing to consider the offer, Fay weighed her options. She had chosen exile over the Council centuries before and now the choice was again set out before her. Thinking of the young Padawan that had been sent for her for this very meeting, Fay inclined her head respectfully, turning her eyes to each of the seven Jedi Masters actively on the Council.

"I would be honored to accept this position, Masters."
Mace looked relieved for a moment, though his features grew stern, a gleam of unease flickering in his dark eyes for a moment before he passed on the assignment that the Council had voted on before Fay's arrival.

"The second reason we have summoned you here, Master Fay, is that we've become concerned with Darth Revan."
Mace's use of Revan's Sith title was deliberate and the Korun Jedi Master looked as if he had just eaten something sour as he spoke the title Dark Lords of the Sith claimed. Regaining a neutral Jedi facade, Mace continued to Fay's silent frown while the other Jedi Masters looked on uneasily. They were asking Fay to spy on Revan in a way, to repeat the precautions they had taken a year earlier with Obi-Wan and Aayla when Revan had aided in Senator Amidala's protection from the assassination attempts that had ceased at the beginning of the Clone wars.

"We've tracked the fighter he took on his personal errand to Korriban and... something else had come to our attention that is just as disturbing. A sample of Revan's blood was tested at the order of this Council..."
Mace paused, turning his eyes to Bant as the Jedi Healer tensed, her posture straightening though an unhappy look had crossed her features. Obi-Wan gently took the Jedi Healer's hand, squeezing it reassuringly before letting go and turning back to the newly appointed Master at the center of the room. Fay's subtle frown had lost its subtlety and she was staring at the floor in silent thought.

"Revan did not wish his blood to be tested. It has been over a year and no harmful contagions have come to our attention... Aayla and I have been in almost daily contact with the man for the past year and neither of us has seen any signs of illness, from ourselves or him... Are- are you saying the Council tested his blood against his will?"
Mace's expression was calm, collected and lacking of any emotion, though he exchanged a glance with Yoda before looking back to Fay and nodding an affirmation. Fay's expression was troubled for a moment before she nodded to herself and looked up into Yoda's eyes, knowing the diminutive Jedi was the Order's Grandmaster and that his voice carried the weight of the Council's collective decision. Mace was simply the spokesperson and Fay decided then and there the reason she had decided to leave the Order for a time was a correct one. She'd seen enough on the Rim to know the Republic was ignorant of many things and even the Jedi had a thing or two to learn.

"I must respectfully decline my appointment to the High Council, then. As I am morally opposed to this development that was done with the Council's consent."
Mace's eyes lowered to the ground a moment before he looked up and into Fay's determined, ethereal features, respect in his eyes.

"That is precisely the reason we need someone like you on this Council, Master Fay."
Mace's voice was uncharacteristically soft, but it carried its message clearly. War was changing the Order and Fay recalled Revan's warnings to her about being careful who she should trust. When it came down to it, Fay knew she really had no choice in the matter, none that her conscience would abide and the Jedi General accepted the Council seat gracefully, knowing the future of the Jedi Order was partially in her hands. It was dawn when Revan's Jedi fighter arrived in the Coruscant system and Fay had relayed a message asking the former Sith Lord to meet her in the Temple, the sephi Jedi Master not having gotten any sleep the previous night and looking uncharacteristically drained as she waited in her appointed quarters within the Jedi Temple.

Fay was sitting on a cushioned couch in her quarters with a datapad in her hand, her blue eyes dimmed slightly by the task she had to attend to and she had spent most of the night in the Archives and the Medical wing of the Temple, going over Revan's blood and the records the ancient archives held and she had gained a new, startling insight into Revan's parentage. The records in the medical archives only held DNA profiles, lacking any information or references to Midichlorians, they had remained untouched by thousands of years of war and political change and it was no difficult task for a Jedi Councillor to gain access and do a comparison of Revan's DNA for similarities with other strands within their records. She had simple wondered if the Council had missed something in their recordings but when the name of Revan's probable father had shown up on the scanner, Fay had simply stared at the image of a once-Jedi Knight that had fallen to the Darkside and become a Dark Lord of the Sith, a strangely ironic and fitting father, if Revan had indeed been his son. Deciding to ask Revan rather than speculate, Fay had taken the file of the fallen Jedi Ulic Qel-Droma and stared at it as she waited for Revan to come to her. There was a strong resemblance between Ulic and Revan, their eyes and hair were nearly the same color, though Revan's face was more angular, more defined. Sighing, Fay looked up as her door chime sounded and she collected herself mentally before standing and keying in the command to open the door into her console.

Revan looked a bit dusty, the red-orange dust that had coated his armor and robes on Korriban was still there, though a nice little pile of it was in the hangar of the Jedi Temple, likely being swept up by some poor initiate who'd gotten the short straw for their duties. Revan did his best to look apologetic as Fay eyed him in bemusement, pointedly looking down at a small trail of sand the man was leaving in his wake.

"Sorry, I haven't had time to get cleaned up."
Fay shook her head, suppressing the urge to laugh as she beckoned Revan in and closed the door, locking it after a moment's thought. She had no idea how Revan would react when she told him what the Council had ordered done to his blood but she was under no illusions that his response would not be anger and it would likely draw the attention of any nearby Jedi. She did not want them to be disturbed, she needed Revan to understand the importance of his blood and what it meant for the Jedi Order, for the Force itself.

"Much as I would prefer it... this is not a social call, Revan. I... was appointed to the Jedi Council in your absence and certain... information was brought to my attention with the increased clearance I gained. I swear to you I did not know of this until last night, Revan."
The Mandalorian-raised former Jedi and Dark Lord of the Sith rose a brow silently in question, his features looking concerned, a concern that Fay noted was for her and not himself. Feeling angry at the Council for a moment, Fay calmed her mind, allowing the Jedi Code to occupy her rebellious mind as she moved to her couch, motioning for Revan to sit as she took a seat and lifted the datapad in her deceptively delicate-looking hands. Revan's frown grew troubled as he noticed the datapad and he joined Fay on the couch, grimacing slightly as he knew sand was likely to coat the gray seat when he rose. Turning his attention fully to Fay, Revan glanced briefly at the datapad, his blood running cold at the image of the man he had been told was his father. Blood, the world stuck at the forefront of his mind and Revan spoke before Fay could.

"They tested my blood..."
Fay nodded slowly, hey body tense, though she forced herself to remain non-threatening. She would not fight Revan, if he chose to strike out at her, she would not defend herself, she would not raise her hand against him in battle, she respected him too much for that and she wanted him to know that she was not his enemy. She had thought them to be friends, but Revan's withdrawal of recent weeks had been disturbing, as had the Force-energies she and Aayla had sensed from him. If he was a danger to the Order and to the Republic she would do what was needed, but Fay knew Revan was a danger only to those who tried attack him or control him. The Jedi had been trying to control him, though passively and Fay knew Revan well enough to know he loathed it. Fay's eyes fixed with Revan's before the deposed Dark Lord looked to a random point on the wall, his face lacking any expression as he cooly considered his reaction. Impulsiveness would get you killed or maimed in battle so the initial response of rage had been separated from Revan's body, the Force filling with a dark anger that rivaled Darth Sidious before it slowly cleared and Revan gave a disgusted snort of bitter laughter.
"The shrapnel from Hypori. It was Bant and that Cerulean Jedi Master wasn't it?"
Fay's lips pressed together a moment before she locked them unconsciously, her mouth feeling dry at the fires of rage she saw behind Revan's brown eyes. The air was potent, filled with a darkness that only righteous anger could bring and Fay closed her eyes, letting out a slow breath as she waited for Revan's body to catch up to his mind. She was fully prepared when he stood abruptly, her eyes snapping open as he reached for her face and Fay flinched as Revan's gloved hand brushed slowly, gently over her cheek as the man stared at her with a blank expression, though his eyes were still reflecting his anger and power, Fay found the detached calm and the gentle gesture more disturbing than any tantrum he would have thrown. Abruptly, Revan was gone, the lock on her door bypassed through the Force and Revan moved through the corridors of the Jedi Temple, using the Force to shove away curious Jedi that blocked his path. He had business with the High Council to see to and they were delaying him.
Fay let out a shuddering breath, standing and following Revan swiftly, her blue eyes passing over Jedi that littered the floor of the hallway, unconscious or injured when they'd barred Revan's path. Running to catch up with Revan, Fay arrived at the lift as it opened and stepped inside, ignoring the stone-faced glare Revan sent towards her.

"I hadn't explained everything, Revan Qel-Droma."
At the use of his family name and not his Clan's name, Revan's entire body tensed and his glare intensified as Fay reached forward, halting the lift's ascent. A ripple in the Force had Fay pinned against the wall, unable to move as the lift continued its path upward and Revan turned fully to face the sephi Jedi Master. Her words when she'd met him at her door had replayed in his mind and quelled an enraged response in her quarters, she had a good heart, was a wholly good person, but Revan could not forgive such a blatant violation of himself. His blood was his own, a piece of him and the Jedi had tried to take it, just as the Jedi of his time had taken a piece of his mind and his anger, his silent rage intensified, causing Fay to gasp slightly as a painful pressure, invisible to her eyes, began pressing down upon her, crushing her body for a split-second and threatening to snap bones before it withdrew instantly at her gasp and she found herself on her knees, her skin flushed as her blood rushed through her veins and she shook slightly from the surreal experience of being crushed by the Force.

Revan's face looked horrified for a moment before he wiped away his expression, allowing his features to reflect the concern he felt for Fay before she stood shakily and faced him, her eyes holding a sadness they hadn't before.

"I had nothing to do with that they did to you, Revan. Don't- don't let your anger control you. Don't be a slave to it."
The former Sith Lord closed his eyes, breathing in and letting the air from his lungs slowly, deliberately before he opened them slowly and moved to the controls, reversing the direction of the lift. Fay stood against the side of the lift, warily eyeing the man she'd thought of as a friend before what he was doing settled into her mind and she felt a fluttering of hope for him. She wasn't begging him to spare the Council, she was begging for him to spare himself. Too much blood had been shed in the name of Darth Revan and Fay did not want to see more shed if it could be stopped. Slowly, with all the grace and care she had developed in centuries of life, Fay approached Revan's side, slowly grasping his hand and jerked back slightly as she was assaulted by his emotions, the clarity of the depth of his anger showing in her mind as if it were her own and the fears and uncertainty Revan felt at the possibility of never returning to his own time echoing in the Force. A bond, a part of her mind noted, had formed between herself and Revan and she could feel he also held a bond with Aayla.

A lingering tendril in the Force, focused through Revan and so clear it awed Fay showed a much stronger bond Revan held within him, silent, though not severed and she knew it was the reason he felt such concern, such fear for never returning to his own time, why he felt such unbearable grief and anger at his folly with the Sith relic on Korriban. Tenuously studying the strange world opened up to her senses, Fay saw other bonds Revan had developed with Jedi that had once followed him to war against the Mandalorians, most cold and devoid, echoing wounds in his mind that told of the deaths of close friends. One in particular was strong, a lingering darkness that had once been a man Revan considered a brother; it was all that remained of Darth Malak. Grief, hatred and rage burned along those thoughts and Fay understood then, why Revan hated the Jedi of his time and why he was so combative of the Jedi she associated with. They had been the cause of that severed bond and she could clearly see two identities within Revan's consciousness, a blending of the Jedi's programmed identity and what remained of Darth Revan making the man she considered a friend. It wasn't the kind of mental stability that inspired trust.

Breaking the connection, Revan ripped his hand away from Fay's, his mental shields having deteriorated significantly in his anger and he stared at the sephi Jedi with a mixture of suspicion and annoyance. She had gotten into his head, into his mind and he clenched his fists, resisting the urge to call on the Force to smash the troublesome Jedi to dust. Coming back from his anger, Revan knew, logically; that it was an unintentional violation of his mind, that he was as much at fault as she and the former Dark Lord let out a long, slow sigh, deciding to explain some of the things Fay was seeing in his memories.

"That... shattered bond you felt... was the bond I shared for nearly a decade with my... apprentice would have been too simple a term, brother too generic. We were brothers in all but blood, comrades in arms and I killed him at the whim of a Jedi, killed him because they violated my mind and made me into some- some weak creature that they could manipulate, that they made weak through their teachings. You wonder why I am so strong in this time? How I know such unnatural techniques in the Force? It is because I, like many of the Jedi of my time; look beyond the limits my mind places. Nothing is impossible, nothing can limit your potential if you just... take control of it, make it your life, make it every much a part of you as you are of it. They tried to murder my mind, they violated my consciousness and swept away the man I had been, tried to destroy me and made me kill off a part of myself, made my kill off my own brother, my best friend, my most loyal soldier... And the Pawn could not even offer words of regret for Malak at his end. There was no honor in what he did- what I did..."
Revan's eyes were troubled, greatly so and Fay watched on in silence, giving names to faces that flashed through her mind, substance to images that passed beyond her mind's eye. Revan had been manipulated by the Jedi to kill his apprentice and while Malak had betrayed Revan, the greater betrayal had been done long before, by Revan. Revan had led Malak on a quest meant to save the galaxy that only damned the fallen Jedi and now, there was no way to rectify that mistake, no way to seek a solution where Malak would have lived, a solution Revan, even as a Dark Lord would have sought. He had maimed Malak, yes, but he could never kill him; never kill his own brother in his right mind. At least, not his body. His spirit, his mind... He easily murdered those.

Revan's eyes were drawn to a point on the ground, a phantom only he could see distracting him for a moment and Fay moved cautiously towards him, not touching him, but offering her silent support, should he need it. She couldn't make sense of the thoughts, the power flowing through her mind just then, but she knew she had to try. A flash, an image of an asteroid-like craft spewing plasma and a shadowed figure, horrendously mutilated and slaughtering with such ease that it put Revan's impressive fighting style to shame drew a troubled, almost horrified expression to the sephi Jedi's face.

"What-"
Revan glanced up into Fay's troubled blue eyes, seeing the same vision that had haunted him after the defeat of the Mandalorians.

"There were... strange things on the edge of the galaxy of my time, in the wild space. Worlds, burned to ashes and glass, ancient Sith so masterful of the Force that they made me look like a weakling. But those... things, those... creatures were the worst of all. I only saw one, and I nearly died killing it, many... many of my men, my fellow Jedi did die before we brought that creature down. It was separated from its people, its ship damaged beyond repair... but it still claimed a dozen Ships of the Line, ten thousand of my own men dead in a few moments as plasma burned through armor and shields as if it were nothing. It launched some kind of... pod from itself, launched that beast aboard one of my ships as its own ship fought on. I don't know what it was, the few species we found in the area only spoke of the void beyond our galaxy, calling the creature a plague. Vong... I believe they called it, there was no explanation when they spoke the name, as if it spoke for itself and I wonder if the Sith were really such a great threat if there were but a handful more of those things."

Grimly, Revan and Fay stood in silence, sharing their fears for a moment before the lift doors opened and Revan stepped forward, offering his arm to Fay. The Jedi snapped out of her daze, taking Revan's arm and walking with him through the halls of the Jedi Temple, their feet taking them from the Temple to the streets of Coruscant, neither speaking as they merely tried to make sense of the universe around them. Revan knew he was out of his depth in this time, that everything was changing, that there had been a schism sometime in the last four thousand years that had shaken the galaxy, even the nature of the Force to its very foundations, but in that very moment, Revan had opened his world up to Fay, showed her the Force as he saw it, showed her the dangers of his time. The Jedi of her era were almost a joke in comparison to the Jedi of Revan's time, just as Revan was a joke to the Sith of the Great Hyperspace war. Bloodlines, Force-forms and fighting styles had been lost or forgotten in the passing millennia and Fay realized with a bit of dread that a Mandalorian from Revan's time, equipped with armor resistant to the Force and made from Mandalorian metal could easily match any Jedi under the right circumstances. More disturbing had been the glimpses of Sith assassins and Jedi-killer droids, men, women and machines trained, programmed and created for the sole purpose of killing Jedi.

She really hoped the Seperatists didn't develop anything like those. Of course, the galaxy is not without a sense of irony or humor and lightyears away from the Republic, on the Outer Rim world of Mustafar, the CIS unearthed a wrecked ship bearing a rust-colored droid, its ancient power systems inactive and its crimson photo receptors blackened with the passage of time. Created from the unique, self-regenerating mechanisms of the long-lost Star Forge, the husk of the Hunter-Killer droid was almost pristine, its power core merely drained completely. Researchers from the CIS quickly descended upon the strange battle droid, studying its ingenious design and using it in special designs meant to hunt and kill Jedi.

Of course, HK-47 was not one to die easily and an unfortunate tech from the Trade Federation was found dead hours after restoring the droid's systems and giving it a short-term power feed to check the droid's memory banks for any useful information. The Separatist security forces searched the research base thoroughly, but the assassin droid was nowhere to be found. The damage had been done, however and within weeks, the Jedi-Killer droids made their appearance in the Clone Wars, with devastating results for the Jedi Order.