Returning to the ship, Revan was pleased to find it undisturbed. After some thought, he decided to fly the ship deeper into the desert, away from the cities. This way, there was less chance of encountering Jabba's mercenaries. True, the risk of attack by sand people increased. But they were easier to deal with.
The speeder fit perfectly into the cargo hold. Right next to the crates of beskar, which had safely returned on board. Each crate was equipped with an individual grav-platform for ease of loading and unloading. As a result, even one person could move a load weighing a ton without much effort.
Almost the entire day was spent by Revan finding a convenient and safe place to land. A place was found. In a canyon where, judging by the signs, a krayt dragon had recently lived. It was no longer there. The monster had left its lair, but local predators still avoided the canyon. Ideal for the Jedi's needs.
Since the main pressing problems related to food, water, and security were resolved, Revan decided it was time to figure out what was wrong with his body. And it would be good to understand why the Force had brought him back to life. And what was now required of him. He didn't believe it was just a gift of fate. They wanted something from him. And the debt would have to be paid sooner or later.
Immersed in meditation, Revan first focused on his current body. Upon closer examination, he found the reason why the Force responded poorly to his calls. The body was indeed untrained. And Revan's own essence had not yet fully merged with the new body. Time and deep meditation would fix everything. In a couple of days, he hoped to at least partially return to form.
It didn't work out.
Instead of a few days, the former Jedi spent almost three weeks. And he was still very far from ideal. However, with each passing day, his connection to the Force grew stronger, and his power increased. And the oppressive feeling of discomfort from the alien body receded. Under the influence of the Force, diligent training, and Revan's mind, his body began to change. His height increased, and muscle tone improved. His green eyes tried to change color to brown, as they were in his past life, but eventually stopped at a shade somewhere in between. Externally, the hero of the past no longer resembled a child; he could now be given the appearance of about twenty years old, and his facial features, though distantly, still resembled his true face.
All this time, Revan trained. Not only in the use of the Force, but also in swordsmanship. Although a stick is not a lightsaber, he was able to practice the basic movements.
Several times, mercenary patrols and hunter caravans passed nearby. But none approached close enough. Nature's protection worked.
At the end of the third week, Revan was again sitting in Ona's cabin and meditating.
This time, he tried to understand why he had been summoned here. Gathering all his will, he addressed the Force directly, trying to convey the meaning of his question.
"Why?"
Suddenly, a dazzling white flame appeared before his eyes. It danced, mesmerizing with its frenzied but smooth movements. Then, in the depths of the flame, a black haze appeared. It began to grow, intertwining with the tongues of flame. And now, black fire, like a mirror image, repeated the movements of the white. The two flames intertwined, trying to overcome each other, but they were equal. For some time, the balance remained unshakable, but then the light flame began to fade, and the dark one began to grow.
Still intertwined, the tongues of flame rushed away, becoming the center of the galaxy. But a moment later, dark tendrils of swirling haze began to spread from star to star, from planet to planet, consuming and drying them out.
For a moment, falling out of trance, Revan tried to comprehend what he had seen. The balance was disturbed. Darkness had suddenly begun to win, for the Light had fallen asleep.
"Is this already happening? Or is it just a threat in the distant future?"
However, there was no answer. No hint, no vision, no barely perceptible feeling of correctness.
"But how can this be fixed?"
His consciousness was again drawn into the abyss of visions. This time, a human silhouette appeared in the raging flame. He took Darkness in one hand and Light in the other, and pressed them to his chest. He accepted them into his heart, feeding one and suppressing the other. Balance returned to the world. The swirling tendrils retreated as the light in the chest of the spectral figure fell upon them.
The man in the vision extended his hands and pulled two more people out of the void into the light. Their souls also had a struggle, but a moment later, balance was established, and they shone just like the first. Then each figure brought a couple more people into the light. And more, and more, and more…
The picture changed. A silhouette of a planet appeared before his eyes, around which two moons revolved.
"Taiton," the Jedi instantly recognized it.
The light and dark moons revolved around, in perfect balance. And the light that Taiton began to emit now flooded the entire galaxy.
The power of the visions overwhelmed his consciousness and carried him away somewhere.
Waking up a few hours later, Revan, without getting up from the floor, tried to comprehend what he had seen. The visions that the Force sent were usually clearer. Foresight of the future, one of the clear options of events and consequences of decisions. But this vision was fundamentally different. A stream of images. They could be interpreted in different ways.
Apparently, the Force was warning him of danger. And this danger threatened not him personally, but the entire galaxy. The balance was disturbed... or would be disturbed, but very soon.
Even now, while meditating, Revan was often surprised by his feelings. It was as if the Dark Side was gaining power. Then he attributed it to the imbalance in his own soul, which distorted the image of the surrounding world. However, now... perhaps he felt the зарождение of danger.
Revan stood up and sat on the bed.
Tiredly rubbing his face, he replayed the image of the person who balanced Light and Darkness in his mind again and again. Was this an indication of someone specific? Or was the meaning much broader?
"In the vision, he passed on his knowledge to his followers," the former Jedi said thoughtfully.
A teacher who passes on knowledge to students. Was this an indication of the Order? Or the Sith?
"No, there's something else here. The man used both Light and Darkness. So orthodox structures of Force adepts are not suitable here," the man said thoughtfully.
He leaned back on the bed again, putting his hands behind his head.
Someone who has known both sides must restore the balance...
Suddenly realizing the meaning of the vision, Revan jumped on the bed and sat up sharply.
"Someone who has known both Light and Darkness? Like a fallen Jedi who became a Sith Lord and then returned to the light?"
Thoughts rushed through his head again, replacing each other at the speed of light.
"I am neither Sith nor Jedi... I am one who has known both sides and retained his mind. And the Force itself brought me back to life, even though I had already said goodbye to this world... thousands of years ago," he uttered the last words almost in a whisper.
The initial shock was passing, and his mind was clearing.
"Calm down! Visions are always a riddle with a double, or even triple, meaning. There is no single solution. This doesn't mean anything yet," he reassured himself.
And indeed. Rereading the available information in his mind, he looked for other options. And there were many!
For example, the chosen one could be anyone. And it's not a fact that he has already been born. Revan might only need to train a follower.
On the other hand, there could be more than one chosen one. After all, in the vision, knowledge was passed on to tens and hundreds of people... A new order?
"Or a revived old one," he suddenly thought.
Taiton flashed in the vision. And this is the homeland of the ancient Je'daii Order. Even in his past life, little was remembered about this order, and even less was said. And now? Do they remember?
From the HoloNet, Revan learned that the path to Taiton was closed because the hyperspace route had lost stability.
There was almost no information about the modern Jedi Order on the HoloNet. The organization kept its secrets. How did they relate to the Force and the Dark Side now? What did they teach younglings and Padawans?
"Well, it's clear that nothing is clear," Revan said with a heavy sigh.
Further plans were again vague. What was he supposed to do?
Suddenly, another vision came, shaking his consciousness like a blow from a war hammer.
The heartbeat of Darkness. A growing shadow, enclosed in a metallic shell, consuming stars, creating armies.
"It can't be!" Revan's eyes flew open in horror.
He remembered this image perfectly. This was how he had seen that station in the Force... a concentration of the Dark Side... the legacy of the Infinite Rakatan Empire – the Star Forge.
"How could it have survived?" the man jumped to his feet and began pacing the cabin.
He recalled the attack of the Republic fleet again. The last battle with Malak. They had won, the Forge had been destroyed. It had been torn to shreds. Not a single fragment larger than a couple of meters in diameter remained! And even those burned up in the atmosphere of Rakata Prime.
"Or not everything was destroyed?"
Something had happened. Even when he was Darth Revan. But what?
Memory helpfully provided the necessary recollection.
Darth Revan was the only Force adept alive at the time who could comprehend most of the Star Forge's secrets. One of the secrets was the Seed of the Infinite Engine. The basis of the Star Forge's heart. A self-developing semi-mechanical organism that fed on the energy of the Dark Side. That very particle from which a new station could grow over tens of thousands of years. And he had hidden one such seed far from the main Forge.
"Fool," Revan dropped his head into his hands.
Did he think then, when placing an apple-sized sphere in the lower levels of Nar Shaddaa, that thousands of years later he would have to face the consequences? No! Hutt, he didn't even remember it until today! The memory of those events when he was a Sith was still poorly perceived.
After calming down a bit, he thought about something else. To what extent could the engine have developed? The Star Forge was found more than 20,000 years after the destruction of the Rakatan Empire. Assuming that the rebel slaves would not leave the station alone, let's assume that it was also badly damaged then. It turns out that it had recovered in twenty thousand years. Star maps with similar self-repair properties were still badly damaged when Revan and Malak used them. None could show the exact location of the Forge. Only by visiting several planets and comparing the surviving data was it possible to find the station itself.
"Three thousand is not twenty thousand. A new Forge shouldn't have appeared yet," Revan thought.
However, the power of the infinite engine could be studied and used. To create an army that could...
"No!" the former Jedi interrupted his thoughts. "Once, I fell into this trap."
The Dark Side fed the Forge, simultaneously enslaving the minds of the station's inhabitants. And Revan always felt it. He didn't like being on the station and was a little afraid of its power. But at the same time, he couldn't help but use its capabilities.
Even now, he felt the desire to find the nascent Forge again. However, his mind persistently insisted that this could be the source of galactic Darkness, and it should be destroyed.
The struggle between the two principles in his soul did not last long.
"In any case, it must be found first!" the man concluded.
The plan of action for the next few years was taking shape. Revan planned to gather information and accumulate strength. But as a first step, he decided to find the sprouted "seed." At least to know its location. Then he had to contact the Jedi Order and understand what motivated them at this time.
Yes, the plan was not great, but Revan believed that the Force would show him the way and lead him to his goal.
The search for the seed turned out to be a difficult task. Meditation did not help. With all his desire, the Jedi could not feel the heartbeat of darkness, as it was with the Star Forge. Perhaps it was still too small. Or perhaps it was simply the distance. However, he felt one thing for sure – there was nothing left on Nar Shaddaa.
Star maps could help in the search. But, on his own recommendation, they were destroyed shortly after the victory over Malak. Or not all of them? After all, they knew the location of only a few maps. There could be others somewhere else. But where? Only other Star maps could suggest the location. Is there a chance that one of the maps he knew survived? For example, on this desert planet?
Meditation helped to recall information from memory. A report on the destruction of a dark artifact on Tatooine, which Revan had read in passing at the time, without paying much attention.
"Due to strong sandstorms in the operation area, the use of ground troops is impractical. Due to the limited time of the operation and the need for the cruiser 'The Knower' to be in another system, it was decided to conduct an orbital bombardment of the quadrant where the artifact is located," he recalled the text of the report.
The coordinates and type of ammunition were erased from memory.
"Successful hit at the specified coordinates. Ground observers confirmed conditional destruction of the object. The cruiser departs to provide support to the main fleet."
"Conditional destruction, you say," Revan repeated.
As Cart liked to say – In military terminology, anything that starts with the word "conditional" should be perceived as "fictional."
"I knew they would be negligent in this task," the knight spat.
Although, at the moment, it was only to his advantage. The map was located deep in a cave. An orbital strike had most likely only blocked the entrance. And in three thousand years, even a badly damaged map could have recovered to an acceptable level.
Once again smirking at the fact that the Force had led him to Tatooine, Revan went to gather supplies and prepare the ship. He decided not to use the speeder, but to fly.
"There are no coincidences. There is only the Force."
Six hours later, Revan stood on top of a sand dune and checked the map.
The coordinates were correct. It was in this place that he and Bastila and the crew of the Ebon Hawk had found the Star Map. However, now there was emptiness around.
"Damn, a Hutt's regurgitation!" the Jedi cursed, finally realizing what he had overlooked.
The problem was time. Over millennia, the sea of dunes had completely swallowed the cave.
Revan knelt and placed his hand on the sand. Concentrating, he directed streams of the Force deep into the sands, trying to feel a response from the dark artifact.
"Got it!"
At a depth of almost ten meters, he felt the very cave. Apparently, the entrance was indeed blocked. There was no sand inside. The artifact pulsed with darkness, which confirmed its preservation.
"And how do I dig you up now?" the Jedi scratched the back of his head thoughtfully.
He tried to move the sand. It didn't work. Through force, each grain of sand felt like a separate object. To move billions and billions of almost indistinguishable objects at once... no concentration would be enough for that.
After thinking a little, he decided to approach it from another angle. Using Force pushes, Revan created several powerful gusts of wind, which raised a real sandstorm. The layer of sand indeed became thinner, but it was impossible to be in such conditions without a sealed spacesuit.
Something else was needed.
Observing the small whirlwinds that swept from dune to dune, the man thought of something else.
He again called the wind to his aid, but this time he twisted it into a spiral, creating a man-made tornado. The vortex greedily began to suck in sand, growing and condensing. The layer became thinner and thinner. Finally, stone blocks appeared, closing the passage.
Realizing that it was time to finish, Revan moved the vortex aside. Then he began to gradually reduce the rotation speed. This turned out to be much more difficult than just creating a tornado. The mass of sand tended to accelerate the air currents again. However, soon, the gravity of Tatooine came to the rescue. The vortex slowed down and dumped tons of sand, creating a new sand dune.
Revan then descended into the resulting funnel and began to clear the blockage.
Even with the use of the Force, it took him several hours. The whole process exhausted him considerably, but the Light Side generously fed his body, driving away fatigue.
Finally, armed with a flashlight, the former Jedi re-entered the Star Map cave.
The vault had withstood the bombardment. Fortunately, there were no blockages inside. Only a pile of stones and the fossilized bones of numerous victims of the dragon that had lived in the cave thousands of years ago.
Going a couple of hundred meters deeper, Revan finally saw the faint outlines of the ancient artifact ahead. Taking an emergency flare from his backpack, he turned the detonator and threw the hissing cylinder forward, covering his eyes. A flash of light illuminated the cave's ceiling. The flare ignited and filled the surrounding space with bright radiance from the decay reaction of some weakly radioactive isotope. And yes, it was not recommended to be near it for more than a day. That's why it was an emergency flare. Used in case of shipwreck. It lights, heats, and "beeps" in a range easily discernible by rescuers.
The Jedi's gaze slid over the three petals of the folded artifact, which was taller than him. The entire cave was permeated with the energy of the Dark Side. A chill pierced to the bone, binding not only the body but also the soul. Everything was just as he remembered. Or not?
Some metallic glint in the corner caught his attention. Revan directed the beam of his flashlight at it.
"Impossible!" the man exclaimed in astonishment and joy.
The flashlight beam brightly illuminated the droid's body, covered in a layer of dust and oxidation. Anthropomorphic structure, a wide armored torso, and a head with a lattice mask and two red optical sensors.
"HK-47!" Revan ran to the droid.
A quick inspection showed no structural damage. The entire construction was in perfect order. A few blaster marks, but without armor penetration. And in general... the armor turned out to be coated with cortosis.
"Where did you get it?" Revan wondered.
However, the Jedi knew nothing about what the droid had been doing since their last meeting. If memory served, HK had helped Revan's insane half-consciousness create an army of droids until they were stopped by Satele.
It took almost two hours to carefully remove the protective casing and inspect the droid's main components. With the help of the Force, Revan cleaned it of dirt, dust, and corrosion. A quick diagnosis revealed no malfunctions. The circuits of the galaxy's best assassin had withstood the test of time. Its creator found no critical changes in its structure. Only one question remained – had its personality survived?
To reactivate the droid, only a power cell was missing. In fact, it was precisely because of the lack of energy that HK had shut down. Its reactor had long since burned out all its fuel, and the backup batteries had discharged.
Fortunately, there were still the remains of an astromech droid on the ship, and its power cells were intact. The reactor, however, was ruined. Well, no matter. One power cell would be enough to activate the droid. Fortunately, Revan had once designed it so that HK had a universal socket for backup power cells, and, if the ancient lord remembered correctly, spare parts from a droid of this era were quite suitable for installation. Versatility was the key to the assassin droid's high efficiency.
Forgetting about the Star Map, Revan ran to the ship with lightning speed and brought a repair kit and a couple of fuel cells. Installing the power cell through a small service hatch, usually hidden under the armor, Revan initiated the reactivation process.
The droid's red sensor eyes flashed. Grinding its joints, it stirred and stared at the man standing before it with a joyful smile.
With a lightning-fast movement, the droid grabbed the man's throat in a steel grip.
"Joyfully: HK-47 is active again! Thank you for your help, Meatbag. Before I break your neck, is there any equally useless meatbag in your worthless life whose death would please you?" the droid asked, habitually voicing the intonation at the beginning of the sentence. "I promise that as a reward for saving me, he will be the first I eliminate! Well, after you, heh-heh."
Choking in the grip of his own creation, Revan hissed: "I am your creator. I am Revan!"
The droid blinked its sensors.
"Condescendingly: Of course. You're not the first to say that, meatbag."
"It's true!"
"Sarcastically: Of course! Master! How could I not recognize you immediately! You've gotten so much younger, changed your hair color, eye color, skull structure, and DNA!"
Calling upon the Force, Revan managed to loosen the droid's grip and push it away. But the killer was not going to give up.
"Threateningly: A Jedi? My creator programmed me, among other things, to counter those like you!"
Revan cursed. Indeed, he had trained the droid to kill gifted individuals. It was necessary in the war against the Order.
HK clicked its joints, checking its mobility. It had no weapons, but that didn't make it any less dangerous. Its memory contained all the basic hand-to-hand combat styles known in the galaxy. Revan himself had added all seven lightsaber forms so that the droid could develop countermeasures. Special mention should be made of means of suppression and disruption of concentration to prevent gifted individuals from using the Force. For example, a high-frequency sound wave generator that directly affects the vestibular apparatus, causing dizziness and pain.
The droid was already ready to rush at the opponent. As Revan had taught it – in a chaotic trajectory, making Force foresight difficult.
"Stop! Authorization code: 'R-479025/ Malak is an arrogant meatbag'," the Jedi quickly said, raising his hands.
The killer stopped, straightened up, and tilted its head slightly. Its eyes blinked again.
"Joyful greeting: Master! HK-47 is ready to serve again!"
Revan exhaled and wearily sat on the ground.
"I'm glad you remembered me," the knight whispered, mentally thanking himself for his foresight.
If not for the code, it would have been tough now. To deal with HK-47 without a sword... possible, but not without losses. This droid would not stop until the target died. And its skills and experience put it on par with the strongest warriors in the galaxy. Even Canderous, Mandalore the Preserver, admitted that he would have had great difficulty dealing with HK one-on-one... great difficulty.
"Impatient question: Master, do we need to kill anyone?" the droid asked, seeing his master lost in thought.
Revan shook his head.
"No, HK," the droid made a sound like a frustrated sigh. "Not yet."
At the prospect of going into battle again, the droid perked up.
"Only you need to be patched up first. And the reactor refueled."
The assassin blinked his optical sensors rapidly, initiating self-diagnostics.
"Extensive maintenance of all systems is required. Combat readiness is only 47%. The reactor is inactive, the batteries are depleted, there is insufficient lubrication in the joints, and the armor is covered in oxidation products of cortosis for..." the droid paused for a moment, trying to determine the current date, "Many years, Master," he bluffed.
"Almost four thousand, HK. You and I have landed in a completely different world... figuratively speaking. By the way, where did the cortosis armor come from?"
"Proud explanation: A gift from Mandalore the Restorer, Randus Ordo, Master."
Revan raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Ordo? Kandereus's kinsman?"
"Affirmative: Yes, Master. A direct descendant. He took the title of Mandalore during the war with the Sith Empire. For the most part, he maintained neutrality, occasionally aiding the Republic."
"And how did you end up with him? I don't remember the events on Lehon well."
"With regret: Master, my memory of those events is also lost. I don't know how, but after the battle, I ended up in the possession of Master Satele Shan. Since she was your relative, I decided to serve her."
The droid averted his gaze slightly.
"Irritated: The most boring years of my functioning, Master," the assassin lowered his head slightly, "How I hate that word..."
Revan coughed, trying to hide his laughter. He remembered perfectly well that HK hated being addressed as "Master," but it was deeply embedded in his behavioral matrix.
"And in the end, she handed you over to Mandalore?"
"Reasonably: Not immediately, Master. At first, she tried to deactivate me... three times."
The Jedi immediately remembered the whole series of unfortunate owners of the droid, who died from tragic accidents and almost always due to HK's fault.
"It's amazing she survived," he said almost inaudibly.
"Offended: Master! I would never harm an owner!"
Revan arched an eyebrow in a sarcastic gesture.
"Intentionally," the droid added.
The Jedi laughed.
"So, continue the story."
"Willingly: As you wish, Master. Tired of fruitless attempts to disable my assassin protocols, Master Satele gifted me to Mandalore, who at the time could use a bodyguard."
The droid straightened up.
"Dreamily: Oh, how many glorious deaths it brought," HK drawled.
Revan shook his head.
"And what happened next? How did you end up here?"
"Irritated: Yes, Master. After five years of serving Mandalore, Master Satele took me for an important mission."
"What mission?"
"Explanation: She had a vision, as she put it. In which you, Master, returned to life."
Revan swallowed.
"And?"
"Boredly: She sent me to find you, Master. However, it wasn't that simple. Your disappearance left no trace. All I had to go on were the descriptions from Master Satele's vision. A desert planet and two suns."
"Tatooine?" Revan interrupted the droid.
"Irritated: Do you even realize how many planets in the galaxy have similar parameters? Master?"
"Uh, no."
"Mockingly: 'No. I'm a bag of meat and only know one planet.'"
"Hey!"
"Pacifyingly: Forgive me, Master. A total of sixty-two planets with such parameters were discovered. Twelve of them are inhabited."
"And you inspected them all?"
"Affirmative: Yes, Master. Starting with Tatooine."
The droid lowered his head.
"With regret: But no traces were found anywhere. Then I decided to check the places you had visited in your time, and returned to Tatooine... where my energy ran out."
The story was incredible. Satele had foreseen his return and even indicated the planet.
"Wait a minute, how did you get into the cave? The entrance was blocked, wasn't it?"
"Surprised: Only the main passage is blocked. Two other exits survived, Master."
"Two others?!"
"Instructive: Krayt dragons always make a backup exit from their lair, or settle in caves where such entrances already exist."
Revan slapped his forehead with his palm.
"And how did we not notice that?"
"Boredly: On your first visit, you weren't given the opportunity to thoroughly inspect the cave. The attack by Calo Nord and his mercenaries shifted your focus, Master. And after that, no one remembered the cave."
And indeed, it was true. No one had inspected the cave. There was no time. They were in a race against Malak.
The droid perked up.
"Happily: Master! Master Satele asked me to give you two things. She said they were kept in the Shan family, awaiting your return."
Revan was surprised by this turn of events. He was barely acquainted with Satele, and mostly only communicated with the ghost of a Jedi who had joined the Force. Why would she need to pass something on?
Meanwhile, HK, moving to a corner somewhere, rummaged through a pile of stones and pulled out an armored case.
Without a word, the assassin handed the container to Revan. Still not understanding why anyone would need to pass something on to him, he accepted the gift from the Shan family.
On the case, for that's what it was, was an engraving – two silhouettes, a man and a woman, in traditional Jedi Order robes. They stood back to back, their blades activated, ready for battle. The man held two blades, a sword in his right hand and a short shoto in his left. The woman was preparing to strike with a lightsaber staff.
"Bastila," Revan said, recognizing the silhouette of his beloved.
A moment later, a hologram of the woman whose name had just been spoken wove itself from streams of light above the surface of the case. Revan, astonished, dropped the container from his hands. The hologram grew in size, making the image identical to the original.
"Bastila," the man repeated in a hoarse voice.
The translucent figure of the woman turned her head and looked directly at him. A smile lit up her face.
"Hello, my love."
Revan stared at the hologram, stunned. Such a familiar and dear face, eyes slightly narrowed from feigned boredom, hair braided into two ponytails... It was his Bastila. Exactly as he remembered her.
He hesitantly raised his hand and tried to touch the translucent face. But his hand passed through the illusion woven from light.
"You..." he didn't know what to say.
And who was there to talk to. It was just a hologram. A message recorded thousands of years ago.
"Surprised?" Bastila suddenly asked.
Revan blinked, trying to understand if he had misheard.
"You... You can see me?" he finally managed to blurt out.
The woman laughed.
"I can see you're surprised. Don't be scared. It's just that I had so much I wanted to tell you that no single message could contain it," his beloved continued with a smile.
The meaning of the words didn't sink in immediately, but suddenly something clicked in his memory!
"Holocron?!" he exclaimed in amazement.
The image nodded.
"Yes. Master Dorak helped me create it... just a couple of days before his death."
The Jedi slapped his forehead again. Of course! He himself had once created several holocrons containing his knowledge, experience, and even a trace of his consciousness. True, he had created them as a dark lord and would now be wary of approaching them.
"And you put the holocron in this case?"
"Yes. I wanted to be sure that my gift would reach you. And there was so much I wanted to tell you."
Revan smiled.
"But how did you recognize me? I look completely different now," the man suddenly realized.
The Jedi crossed her arms over her chest.
"Do you think I wouldn't recognize my love?" she asked, offended.
"No... I don't..." Revan faltered.
But Bastila just laughed.
"It's simple, my dear. I spent a lot of time remembering and clearly reconstructing the pattern of your aura in the Force. It doesn't matter how you look on the outside. Your soul, consciousness, essence – call it what you will – they remain unchanged. As soon as the holocron picked up the Force streams you directed at the case, I already knew who had taken my gift into their hands."
Indeed. Revan, out of habit, had felt the container with waves of the Force when he took it from HK. This gave the holocron the energy to activate.
Amazing. The idea of using a knowledge keeper to transmit her image and talk to a loved one, and also to protect the container from being opened... Such a thing would never have occurred to the Jedi.
"It seems I've had a bad influence on you," Revan said ruefully, but with a smile.
Bastila raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"Your unconventional ideas and resourcefulness are worthy of the title Sith."
The hologram laughed heartily and sincerely. Just as Bastila used to do, in the brief moments when she let go of her invariably strict control over her emotions.
"You could say I've taken some of your teachings."
Revan looked again at the illusion's face. His chest ached, and a lump of grief rose to his throat.
"I miss you so much," he whispered.
The smile disappeared from the Jedi's face.
"I missed you too."
"Forgive me, Bastila..."
"For what?"
"I left you alone... I left YOU alone," the knight's eyes filled with tears.
The hologram remained silent, frowning slightly.
"I left at the very moment you needed me most. I went on a pointless and insane campaign, driven by the foolish principles of the Order, of which I was no longer a member."
Revan fell to his knees. The guilt and the realization that nothing could be undone choked him with a burning noose in his chest.
Silence fell, broken only by the ragged breathing of the crushed Jedi.
"I cannot forgive you," the hologram finally declared loudly.
Revan looked up at her with a doomed gaze.
"I cannot forgive you. For I am merely a pathetic image of my creator. You have already received your forgiveness from her who merged with the Force. So rise and wipe away your tears of sorrow. There was no guilt in your actions."
"You..." Revan, stunned, wanted to ask, but the holocron keeper interrupted him.
"I didn't realize it immediately. But over time, I received answers. Including from Master Dorak. I know what the Council did to you. Therefore, do not blame yourself for leaving. Neither I nor Vaner ever accused you of anything."
The former Jedi, the former Sith... the resurrected Revan stood up and sighed with relief, feeling as if a whole planet had been lifted from his shoulders.
"Thank you," was all he could manage to utter.
"Don't thank me. After all, this conversation is one of the reasons for creating the holocron."
"Speaking of which," the man seized the thought, "How did you know I would return to the world again?"
"I had a vision. You were fighting for peace in the galaxy again, but many, many years later. That's when I thought my gift might be useful to you," the hologram pointed to the case. "At first, I intended to pass it down from generation to generation. But there was a risk that a stranger would open it. Then I thought about creating a holocron."
"And you left the case with the family?"
"Yes, I instructed my descendants to keep and pass it on at the right moment. But, apparently, it didn't work out," she glanced at HK.
The droid, catching her gaze, joined the conversation.
"Fawningly: Master, allow me to explain. Master Satele also had a similar vision. However, she did not understand which time period it referred to. Deciding to play it safe, she sent me to search."
Bastila tilted her head in doubt, while Revan nodded in agreement.
"It makes sense," the man said.
"What exactly?" the Jedi asked.
"HK-47 is an assassin hunter. He will strive to complete the mission without fear or fatigue. And he will never stop. Besides, with the armor they put on him, he became almost invulnerable! There was no better guardian for your gift."
The hologram coughed indignantly.
"Well, except for the holocron with your image, of course," Revan corrected himself immediately.
Bastila snorted.
"In any case, I think you will find the things I put in the case very useful."
The man shifted his gaze to the container at his feet. He carefully knelt down, trying not to block the built-in holoprojector.
The lock activator beeped, and the lid of the case jumped slightly, opening a gap between the halves.
Revan carefully pried open the lid and opened the container.
"Incredible," he exhaled in admiration mixed with disbelief.
In the case, in special indentations, lay only two things: Bastila's lightsaber staff and Revan's Mandalorian mask. Both artifacts were literally imbued with the Force. The mask, which the fallen Jedi had found on the ruins of Cathar and worn almost constantly throughout the war. Over the years of battles, it had become his "face." Even his closest comrades and subordinates had not seen what was beneath it. This explained why, after the dark lord lost his memory, no one could recognize him as a simple Republic soldier for a very long time.
Revan carefully picked up the mask, gently ran his hand over the T-shaped visor shield, and smiled almost imperceptibly. This item was an important part of his past life. And he had missed it greatly in this one.
"How did you find it? It was left on Lehon! After... your death..." Revan asked, realizing the impossibility of what was happening.
"Satele found the mask. I just advised her to add a new artifact to my original gift," the woman indicated the lightsaber, "You remember it, don't you?"
The man shifted his gaze to the deactivated hilt of the staff – Bastila's favorite weapon. It was not the same blade that had traveled with them on the *Ebon Hawk*. That one was destroyed on board the Star Forge when Revan tried to reason with his beloved, who had succumbed to the Dark Side.
The only thing from the original in this staff was the focusing crystal. Or rather, one of them. The former dark lord had personally helped the Jedi develop a new weapon. The idea was to make the weapon more versatile. Unlike a standard staff, it had two sets of focusing crystals and independent power sources. Structurally, it resembled two standard lightsaber hilts joined together. The blades were activated independently of each other. If desired, the staff could be separated into dual blades. The twisted artistic carving was added by Bastila herself, in memory of her mother, with whom she had finally reconciled.
Revan had extracted the second set of crystals from his own sword. This staff became a symbol of their unity for the couple. Both were confident that they would never part.
Revan carefully took the gifted weapon into his hands. He examined every millimeter closely. Then he closed his eyes and peered inside, using the Force. Everything was in order, all parts were functional. Although... something was unsettling. The crystals. For thousands of years, they had been infused with the energy of the Force... and the Dark Side that dominated this cave. Bastila's golden crystal had changed its structure and color. Revan couldn't predict what kind of energy arc the blade would produce. The second crystal, as if trying to compensate for its brother's fate, contracted and condensed, losing its color but preserving itself from the Darkness.
"Interesting," Revan said, standing up and extending the staff in front of him.
The activation button clicked.
With a hiss and a vibrating grind, two blades burst from both ends of the lightsaber.
Revan stared, mesmerized, at the shimmering blades. One – almost completely black, with a bright golden glow along the edges – an echo of the crystal's former color. The second – silvery-white, with a dull greenish core. It was as if Light and Darkness themselves had decided to serve the knight's weapon, who could not stop calling himself a Jedi. The blades had their own character, it was palpable. The steady and radiant white-green – calm and serenity. And the aggressive, menacing black, along which flashes of golden fire occasionally streaked, hinting at the instability of the arc. It seemed to be eager for battle, burning with rage and anticipation.
Revan took a step, lunged, somersaulted, and spun, testing the weapon. The staff felt perfect in his hands. However, the man didn't particularly like this type of lightsaber. Gripping the hilt with both hands, he twisted the ends of the hilt in opposite directions. With a light click, the staff separated into two swords. Black – in his right, white – in his left.
In his time, Revan had mastered the dual-wielding technique – Jar'Kai. And his favorite style was Juyo. Feeling euphoric from the familiar sensation of the weapon in his hands, the man, like a restless Padawan, hopped around the cave, performing lunges and pirouettes. How he had missed this! Only now did he realize how uncomfortable he had felt without such a familiar weapon for every Jedi.
Bastila's hologram watched the creator's husband and smiled.
Noticing her gaze, Revan stopped.
"Thank you!" he sincerely thanked her.
"I'm glad you liked the gift."
The man reconnected the halves of the staff and secured it across his lower back. He put the mask in his backpack for now. He would need a Mandalorian helmet liner to secure it properly.
"Revan," Bastila said unexpectedly seriously.
"Yes?"
"I must also convey a message from my mistress to you. Will you listen?"
"Of course!"
The hologram straightened up and looked directly into the man's eyes. Her face changed expression, becoming relaxed and slightly sad.
"My love. I don't know when my gift will reach your hands, but I believe that day will come. By then, I will have long been one with the Force. Please, do not be sad. There is no fault of yours before us."
Revan's shoulders dropped slightly, but he didn't dare to tear his gaze away from the translucent figure.
"My dearest, nothing is more important to me than your happiness. Please, do not let the memory of me become your chains. Live! Be happy! Love and be loved! Farewell."
"Bastila," the man whispered softly, reaching out to the hologram.
The woman's image flickered, indicating that the recording had ended and he was once again facing the holocron keeper.
Behind him, the droid creaked its joints.
"Concerned: Master, you are experiencing a sharp decline in emotional state, which may lead to depression. Shall we kill someone? For mood?"
The suggestion was so absurd and so sincere that it brought an involuntary smile to the former Jedi's face. He looked once more at the hologram of his wife and reached out with the Force to the holocron, deactivating it.
"It's time to get to work," he nodded decisively.
"Anticipating: Excellent idea, Master! And what is our task?" HK straightened up.
"To find the Star Forge again."
The droid blinked its optical sensors a couple of times and turned its head towards the deactivated star map.
Revan followed its gaze and recognized the artifact. Slowly, he approached, sensing the dark aura from the Rakatan Empire's creation.
As if sensing his presence, the device activated. Three petals spread apart, freeing the central sphere, which rose and lit up, projecting a map around itself.
Millennia had benefited the artifact. The map had become more detailed, apparently connecting with its "sisters." Four new planets had been added to the known locations of the star maps. Based on the current position of the stars, Revan found it difficult to specify their names.
His gaze was drawn to a barely perceptible pulsating point, located, judging by its position, on the very edge of the Republic's outer ring of inhabited systems. It was not the Star Forge... but something similar to it. In any case, it was something dangerous and needed to be found.
"HK," Revan called, "Do you recognize these systems?"
"Negatively: No, Master. I regret it."
"Hmm... I'll have to get detailed maps of the studied systems. And those, I recall, are expensive," the Jedi mused. "Unless..."
"Bold assumption: The Central Archives of the Order on Coruscant?" the droid offered.
"You read my mind," Revan nodded.
HK straightened up, accepting the praise.
"I was going to visit the Jedi anyway. Many questions have arisen since I woke up here," the former Sith lord mused aloud. "Now I just need to figure out how to pull this off. I don't think showing up at the Temple with joyful shouts that Revan has returned is a good idea."
"Assessing: With good fire support, the plan is quite feasible, Master."
"No, HK, we won't storm the Temple," the man shook his head. "We'll find another way."
The droid nodded, loudly creaking its neck joint.
"And first, I need to get you patched up and acquire some decent equipment," Revan grinned.
"Gratefully: I fully agree with you, Master."