Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan (40 page)

“Come on, you two,” their mother said, scooping them up in her arms. “I think it’s time for bed.”

She hustled the kids out of the living room, leaving Bastila alone with her son.

“I’m glad you came today,” Bastila said. “It means a lot to me.”

Vaner reached out to wrap his hand around his mother’s fingers and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “I know this is a tough time for you,” he said. “You always get down when your anniversary comes around. Have you been thinking about him?”

“I think about him a lot,” she answered.

“So do I,” her son admitted. “I wonder what he’d say to me if we ever meet.”

“He’d tell you he was proud of you,” Bastila assured him.

“You don’t think he’d be disappointed that I never joined the Jedi Order?”

Bastila shook her head. “You’ve done too much in your life to have
those kinds of regrets,” she told him. “The Jedi are guardians and protectors of the galaxy, but these past fifty years we’ve needed so much more. The Republic had to rebuild. We needed leaders to unite us, to help us work together. You saw that need, and you filled it.”

Her son laughed. “You sound like my campaign manager. Vote Vaner Shan for Supreme Chancellor!”

Bastila shook her head. “You joke, but if you wanted that post you could have it.”

“I’ll get back to you on that.”

“Besides,” she added after a moment’s thought, “if you were a Jedi you never could have married Emess.”

“When we first met, you said she was too young for me,” he reminded her.

“I’m older and wiser now,” she said.

“Aren’t we all?”

They were quiet for a few more minutes before Vaner asked another question. “Do you think he’s still alive?”

“I don’t know,” Bastila admitted. “If he is, why didn’t he come back? On the other hand, there are times when I think I can still sense his presence, like he’s reaching out to me from somewhere far away.”

Vaner smiled, but didn’t say anything.

“You think your old mother’s going senile, don’t you?”

“Sometimes the Force is a little hard to understand.”

“You’d better get used to it,” she told him. “It’s in your blood. I can already sense it in those kids of yours.”

“I guess it skips a generation,” Vaner said with a soft laugh.

After a few more minutes of silence he spoke again; it was a question Bastila had expected to hear for many years.

“Do you ever wish he had stayed with you instead?”

“I miss your father every day of my life,” she said, “but I never once thought that.”

“Why not?”

“Revan knew there was something out there—something that threatened the Republic. Maybe something that threatened the entire galaxy. He went to stop it, and I know he succeeded.”

“How can you know that?”

“Because you and I are here talking about this,” she said. “We haven’t been wiped out by war, or turned into refugees. The galaxy hasn’t come to some kind of horrific end. Whatever Revan did, he made it possible for you and me to live our lives without fear and hardship. And for that, I will always be grateful.”

She reached out and placed a wrinkled hand on each of her son’s cheeks, pulling him in close and kissing him softly on the head.

“I better go check on Emess and the kids,” he said, standing up.

“Of course,” she said, waving her hand. “Go, go. I’ll just stay here on the couch and have a little nap.”

Her son headed off to the guest room in the back, and Bastila closed her eyes, quickly drifting into sleep. As always, she dreamed of Revan.

D
REW
K
ARPYSHYN
is the
New York Times
bestselling author of
Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction
and its sequel,
Star Wars: Darth Bane: Rule of Two
. He also wrote the acclaimed Mass Effect series of novels and is an award-winning writer/designer of videogames for BioWare. After spending most of his life in Canada, he finally grew tired of the long, cold winters and headed south in search of a climate more conducive to year-round golf. He now lives in Texas with his wife, Jennifer, and their cat.

Baldur’s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal

Temple Hill

Mass Effect: Revelation

Mass Effect: Ascension

Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction

Star Wars: Darth Bane: Rule of Two

Star Wars: Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil

You saw the movies. You watched the cartoon series, or maybe played some of the video games. But did you know …

In
The Empire Strikes Back
, Princess Leia Organa said to Han Solo, “I love you.” Han said, “I know.” But did you know that they actually got married? And had three Jedi children: the twins, Jacen and Jaina, and a younger son, Anakin?

Luke Skywalker was trained as a Jedi by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. But did you know that, years later, he went on to revive the Jedi Order and its commitment to defending the galaxy from evil and injustice?

Obi-Wan said to Luke, “For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times. Before the Empire.” Did you know that over those millennia, legendary Jedi and infamous Sith Lords were adding their names to the annals of Republic history?

Yoda explained that the dreaded Sith tend to come in twos: “Always two, there are. No more, no less. A Master, and an apprentice.” But did you know that the Sith didn’t always exist in pairs? That at one time in the ancient Republic there were as many Sith as Jedi, until a Sith Lord named Darth Bane was the lone survivor of a great Sith war and created the “Rule of Two”?

All this and much, much more is brought to life in the many novels and comics of the
Star Wars
expanded universe. You’ve seen the movies and watched the cartoon. Now venture out into the wider worlds of
Star Wars!

Turn the page or jump to the
timeline
of
Star Wars
novels to learn more.

SHIGAR KONSHI FOLLOWED
the sound of blasterfire through Coruscant’s old districts. He never stumbled, never slipped, never lost his way, even through lanes that were narrow and crowded with years of detritus that had settled slowly from the levels above. Cables and signs swayed overhead, hanging so low in places that Shigar was forced to duck beneath them. Tall and slender, with one blue chevron on each cheek, the Jedi apprentice moved with grace and surety surprising for his eighteen years.

At the core of his being, however, he seethed. Master Nikil Nobil’s decision had cut no less deeply for being delivered by hologram from the other side of the galaxy.

“The High Council finds Shigar Konshi unready for Jedi trials.”

The decision had shocked him, but Shigar knew better than to speak. The last thing he wanted to do was convey the shame and resentment he felt in front of the Council.

“Tell him why,” said Grand Master Satele Shan, standing at his side with hands folded firmly before her. She was a full head shorter than Shigar but radiated an indomitable sense of self. Even via holoprojector, she made Master Nobil, an immense Thisspiasian with full ceremonial beard, shift uncomfortably on his tail.

“We—that is, the Council—regard your Padawan’s training as incomplete.”

Shigar flushed. “In what way, Master Nobil?”

His Master silenced him with a gentle but irresistible telepathic nudge. “He is close to attaining full mastery,” she assured the Council. “I am certain that it is only a matter of time.”

“A Jedi Knight is a Jedi Knight in all respects,” said the distant Master. “There are no exceptions, even for you.”

Master Satele nodded her acceptance of the decision. Shigar bit his tongue. She said she believed in him, so why did she not overrule the decision? She didn’t have to submit to the Council. If he weren’t her Padawan, would she have spoken up for him then?

His unsettled feelings were not hidden as well as he would have liked.

“Your lack of self-control reveals itself in many ways,” said Master Nobil to him in a stern tone. “Take your recent comments to Senator Vuub regarding the policies of the Resource Management Council. We may all agree that the Republic’s handling of the current crisis is less than perfect, but anything short of the utmost political discipline is unforgivable at this time. Do you understand?”

Shigar bowed his head. He should’ve known that the slippery Neimoidian was after more than just his opinion when she’d sidled up to him and flattered him with praise. When the Empire had invaded Coruscant, it had only handed the world back to the Republic in exchange for a large number of territorial concessions elsewhere. Ever since then, supply lines had been strained. That Shigar was right, and the RMC a hopelessly corrupt mess, putting the lives of billions at risk from something much worse than war—starvation, disease, disillusionment—simply didn’t count in some circles.

Master Nobil’s forbidding visage softened. “You are naturally disappointed. I understand. Know that the Grand Master has spoken strongly in favor of you for a long time. In all respects but this one do we defer to her judgment. She cannot sway our combined decision, but she has drawn our attention. We will be watching your progress closely, with high expectations.”

The holoconference had ended there, and Shigar felt the same conflicted emptiness in the depths of Coruscant as he had then.
Unready?
High expectations?
The Council was playing a game with him—or so it felt—batting him backward and forward like a felinx in a cage. Would he ever be free to follow his own path?

Master Satele understood his feelings better than he did. “Go for a walk,” she had told him, putting a hand on each shoulder and holding his gaze long enough to make sure he understood her intentions. She was giving him an opportunity to cool down, not dismissing him. “I need to talk to Supreme Commander Stantorrs anyway. Let’s meet later in Union Cloisters.”

“Yes, Master.”

And so he was walking and stewing. Somewhere inside him, he knew, had to be the strength to rise above this temporary setback, the discipline to bring the last threads of his talent into a unified design. But on this occasion, his instincts were leading him away from stillness, not toward it.

The sound of blasterfire grew louder ahead of him.

Shigar stopped in an alley that stank like a woodoo’s leavings. A swinging light flashed fitfully on and off in the level above, casting rubbish and rot in unwanted relief. An ancient droid watched with blinking red eyes from a filthy niche, rusted fingers protectively gathering wires and servos back into its gaping chest plate. The cold war with the Empire was being conducted far away from this alley and its unhappy resident, but its effects were keenly felt. If he wanted to be angry at the state of the Republic, he couldn’t have chosen a better place for it.

The shooting intensified. His hand reached for the grip of his lightsaber.

There is no emotion
, he told himself.
There is only peace
.

But how could there be peace without justice? What did the Jedi Council, sitting comfortably in their new Temple on Tython, know about
that
?

The sound of screams broke him out of his contemplative trance. Between one heartbeat and the next he was gone, the emerald fire of his lightsaber lingering a split instant behind him, brilliant in the gloom.

LARIN MOXLA PAUSED
to tighten the belly strap on her armor. The wretched thing kept coming loose, and she didn’t want to take any
chances. Until the justicars got there, she was the only thing standing between the Black Sun gangsters and the relatively innocent residents of Gnawer’s Roost. It sounded like half of it had been shot to pieces already.