Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.

Revan and the strike teams were able to escape the Star Forge before it was destroyed by the combined might of the of the Revanchist and Republic fleets. With the majority of the Sith forces defeated, the remainder fled the battle. In the celebration that followed, Revan and his companions were awarded the Cross of Glory in honor of all they have done to defeat Malak and destroy the Star Forge.

Despite the jubilation, the Jedi contingent seemed oddly tense as Vandar declared Revan the Prodigal Knight during the awards ceremony. The next day, the entire Revanchist fleet left, Bastila and Juhani with them, to the dismay of the Jedi Council members present.

Revan sat on the bridge of his flagship as he watched the blue-white tunnel of hyperspace, pondering over some of his final conversations with departing companions.

Before setting their final course, he had sent Jolee, Mission, and Zaalbar back to Kashyyyk. Of the three, Jolee had been the most willing to return. After all, he seemed to feel that he had spent more than enough time in the big, wide galaxy for the time being. Mission had just wanted to go with Zaalbar, though she had excepted Revan's offer to visit at anytime. Although, for a while, it looked like Zaalbar was going to go with Revan.

Revan smiled at the wookiee's loyalty, remembering Zaalbar's stubbornness to stay with him due to the life debt. It had taken all his skills of persuasion to finally get the wookiee to agree to return to his home planet to lead his people with his father. Though he hadn't said it at the time, Revan could sense the satisfaction rolling off of Jolee as Zaalbar demanded that the Revanchist stay in contact with him on Kashyyyk.

And of course Bastila, Juhani and the Droids are coming with me, Revan thought to himself, and Canderous will, as well—until I give him his assignment. Of all the companions, Carth and Canderous were the only ones that immediately fit into Revan's long term plans. Revan had given Carth a simple, but difficult order that he knew Carth would willing follow.

"Defend the Republic, keep it strong." Revan remembered Carth's reaction to those words. At first confusion had etched his face, until he had realized that Revan had a reason for his orders. Before Carth could ask however, Revan had left.

Revan frowned slightly as he thought about who he had gone to after talking with Carth.

When Revan entered, he could tell that the Council members still reeled from Bastila and Juhani's announcement to leave with Revan—though half an hour had past since the two had left. In all fairness, why should they expect it? Revan himself hadn't told them that he was leaving the Republic.

"What is the meaning of this?" the hologram of Vrook demanded.

"It is exactly as you heard," Revan replied. "I am leaving and they decided to come with me." The Council sat in a brittle silence for several moments.

"What are you planning?" Vandar asked from his chair, searching Revan's face.

"I'm not planning to attack the Republic again, if that is what you are asking," he answered glibly. "And before you ask again, no, I'm not going to tell you what my plans are. But I will say this; the Republic and the Jedi Order are safe from me."

"Why are you disrespecting this Council, Padawan," Vrook stressed the last word.

"I do have a gift for the Jedi Order," Revan declared, ignoring Vrook's question, holding out a holocron unlike any those present had seen. It had the typical box shape that Jedi Holocron's favored, but it inside it seemed to hold a pyramid that penetrated through the top. Overall the appearance was of a box with a small pyramid set onto the top. "It is a holocron holding all the teachings I have learned; both Sith and Jedi." Some of the Council members looked sharply at Revan; he could feel their consternation through the Force. Revan levitated the holocron over to the surprised Vandar.

"I thank you for the gift, Revan, but you still haven't answered Master Vrook's question." Vandar said. Normally, he would have ignored his friend's question, but he remembered Revan's abruptness with him in their last conversation.

"None of you deserve my respect or trust, anymore." Revan's statement drew confused stares.

"Why," Dorak's hologram asked.

Revan looked significantly at each Council member in turn. "Come now, surely you do not forget your attempt to erase my mind and give me another?"

"It was a desperate measure for a desperate time," Vrook explained slowly.

"So was Malachor V. Does that make it any better?" Revan responded promptly. The Council members looked uncomfortable.

"Why would you give us the holocron, then?" Zhar asked trying to change the direction of the conversation.

"Try activating it," Revan answered. Seeing Vandar's hesitancy he quickly assured, "Don't worry, it won't hurt you."

Cautiously, Vandar tried to activate Revan's holocron. To the surprise of the Council, nothing happened—it did not even activate.

"Of course, it won't activate unless you know how to unlock it," Revan said into the silence, a bland smile on his face. "Now, I will have pity on you and tell you what my immediate plans are. You will have a dutiful hero and Jedi until the end of the celebration, and then I will leave to finish something I left undone."

"Why would you remain for the celebration and then leave?" Zhar asked.

"The Republic needs to publicly thank a hero; it is good for the morale of the people," Revan answered. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have some arrangements to take care of."

Revan turned to leave the room but he stopped in the doorway as if contemplating something. He looked over his shoulder at the Jedi Council, "You should know, I had a vision; don't go to Katarr. The Galaxy needs its Jedi, and…thank you for the opportunity." With that, he left the Council to their thoughts.

--

The Executive Officer walked quickly up to Revan and saluted. "We will be arriving at Stronghold in one minute," he informed Revan.

Revan nodded in acknowledgement, dismissing the officer to return to his duties. Activating the com on private frequencies, he contacted Bastila, "Please come to the bridge, I want to show both of you something."

Turning back to the main viewport, Revan watched the mottled blue-white view of hyperspace swirl by, mentally counting down until they arrived. When his countdown reached zero, the stars reappeared as the fleet came out of hyperspace. Looking at his display, Revan saw the desolate solar system, mentally identifying several of the uninhabitable planetoids and the single gas giant with an inhabitable moon. Various warships patrolled the system and one or two space stations in orbit around the moon. He also saw, for the first time, the project that Thedess had been working on for the past several years. Reaching out with the Force, he was able to clearly see the progress made on his pet project over the past several years.

"Are you pleased?" Thedess asked, as he approached from behind Revan's command chair.

"I am."

"When do you plan to attack?"

"When were ready."

Behind Revan and Thedess, the bridge door opened with a soft hiss as Bastila entered.

"The Star Forge," Bastila gasped, naming the structure rapidly filling the viewport.

"A Star Forge," Revan corrected. "Use the Force and you can tell the difference." Bastila looked appraisingly at Revan for several moments before silently complying, frowning in confusion at what she sensed.

Bastila spoke haltingly as she tried to put her feelings into words "It feels…different than the one we destroyed. It feels like…"

"It is infused with light," Revan finished for her. "Yes, it was meant to be the opposite of the original Star Forge. Instead of a bastion of darkness, it is a bastion of light. Instead of a purpose filled with nothing but the desire to conquer and destroy, the purpose will be to defend and protect." Bastila looked over at him as he continued to gaze out of the viewport. "I planned its construction soon after I found the original Star Forge and decided that the original would be detrimental to my long term plans."

"But why would you need a Light-Sided Star Forge in the first place if your plans were to conquer the Republic?" Bastila asked.

"There is another Sith Empire out there," Revan told Bastila after a few moments. "It has been biding its time for revenge against the Republic since the Great Hyperspace War. They are the ones who encouraged the Mandalorians to attack the Republic and right now they are working on their own preparations for an invasion. I intend to stop them."

"That's why you wanted to conquer the Republic," Bastila realized aloud, "so you would have a sufficient power base to stop them."

"Or the Republic would survive my attempted conquest and hopefully be the stronger for it," Revan nodded, "and as a backup plan, I had this project. Not only were they building a Star Forge, they were perfecting a training regime using training techniques that I have learned in my travels, which can conceivably strengthen a regular soldier's connection to the Force. With even further training, the soldier could possibly be an equal to at least a Jedi Padawan, if not a trained Knight."

"Forgive me for interrupting," Thedess broke in, "but we are going to be docking with the Star Forge in a few moments and I have received word that the Garrisons have turned out to honor your return."

"Very well," Revan acknowledged. Turing back to Bastila he looked intently into her eyes, "Bastila, if you want to leave after what you have seen and heard, you may do so at anytime."

"I made my decision, Revan," she answered. "And you haven't steered me wrong, yet."

"Thank you for your trust," Revan inclined his head in respect. "Now," he said, standing up, offering a chivalrous helping hand, "If you wish to join me, you can see the results of this project first hand."

As they walked through the bridge blast doors the Executive Officer sidled up to Thedess. "So, do you think anything is happening between them?" he asked, indicating the closing door.

"Do you think there is?" Thedess countered.

"I don't know. It's just that they seemed to be walking awfully close together when they left," He mused. "I think that give it a month or two more and we might see something more overt."

"Just how certain of that are you?" Thedess asked, turning his red glowing eyes on his Executive Officer.

"About 500 credits certain."

"I'd say no less than three and a half months."

"You're on. Just remember Admiral, don't let either of them know. That would be cheating."

Author's Note: Well, here it is; the final chapter of this story. I have enjoyed writing it this story fully plan to write more when I have the chance. I already have plenty of scenarios for Revan and companions to encounter, but that will have to wait until I return.

A special thanks to my readers and reviewers. You're the ones who kept me writing when I wanted to slack off. A special thanks to my reviewers Bob and Lazyguy90 who have followed this story and commented almost the entire time. I also want to thank all those who hopped on later and kept coming back and reviewing: Nxrkis, General-Joseph-Dickson, One of the Lost, Wings90, Youngd2506, Quakes, and the rest who stopped by.

Hope you guys catch me when I stop by again in two years, this is one Reader, Avidly waiting.