Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Ranma/Knights of the Old Republic ❯ Journey ( Chapter 2 )

Ranma/Knights of the Old Republic

Disclaimer: I don't own anything of LucasArts or that of Rumiko Takashi, namely the LucasArts Games Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2, and the Ranma series

< >: Thoughts

Chapter 2

Journey

<< Italic>>: T3's translated language

**************

In the Saotome Residence…

Nodoka drank her tea as she watched her son playing with a few toys that Revan and Jesse had brought, while the two Jedi were busy on other matters, the two Jedi would sometimes drop by her home to greet Ranma and help out in the house-hold chores, much to her embarrassment, they however made very simple and infrequent visits, so as to avoid arousing suspicion for Nodoka and her son.

She looked at Ranma's joyful face as he got to play with a few blocks in the living room and sighed as she recalled a few times she had finally seen the manifestation of the Force that the two Jedi had told her about, which her son possessed.

***************

Flashback…

“Ranma…can you hand me that bag of groceries?”

Nodoka had managed to get enough money to buy some new food items for the house and also to feed her son, who's appetite was still the same voracious one as her husband's. As she had been busy placing away some of the groceries and supplies she had managed to buy, she had left behind the bag with her son, who greeted her exuberantly.

“Sure mother, but this is rather heavy, maybe I should lessen some of the things in here.”

Nodoka poked her head out of the door and to her astonishment, she spotted Ranma….levitating the container of eggs right out of the bag without even touching them, though he looked somewhat strained as he did so…as if he was trying to move the eggs with only the power of will.

“What are you doing?!”

The sound of her voice scared Ranma a bit and forced him to drop his concentration, thankfully the eggs were already on the small table, a few good inches from it, thus they didn't break.

Ranma looked shocked and then spoke.

“I…I…I couldn't help it….I wanted if I could do the same thing like Revan did with that sword.”

*************

End of Flashback…

Needless to say, seeing her son levitating eggs in mid-air was rather difficult to absorb, and when she told Revan and Jesse about the event, both of them assured her that it was not dangerous, but only some of the basics of the Force, and the powers it had. They however made sure to remind Ranma not to do that sort of thing always, since doing it in the house might be a bit tolerable, but he should refuse the idea of trying to use the telekinetic powers of the Force outside of the house, Ranma promised and made sure not to do that often, so as not to frighten or surprise her.

Nevertheless, there were some good plusses in her mind for his attempts as it allowed him to be a bit more helpful in the house, even more so when he developed the ability to use passive precognition, this trait had helped her when she took him to a nearby market and he spotted a man who was about to try and rob the market. He told her about him and that he was carrying a weapon, that allowed the police to arrest the man before he could have caused trouble. This also helped her in making repair decisions for their house when routine repairmen came to fix the house by determining the places that needed the most attention.

Revan and Jesse spoke about that and told her that it was yet another sign of the Force manifesting in her son. This gift was another basic, or universal power of the Force itself, and having it show itself early in his young life told them and her that Ranma did have a strong connection to the Force.

Those events shaped Nodoka's life for the past few days as she got used to the presence of not just the Jedi Knights in her home, but of her son's gifts with the Force, and the amazing things he was now able to do. She always suspected that her son would have a great future, but being told that he was gifted with a power such as the Force was the least she expected at all. The Jedi Knights also were quite the change.

She had gotten to know the two Jedi Knights and felt that they were truly brave and honorable, very much the kind of man, or rather the men she wanted her son to grow up to be. She felt sad by the fact that the two of them had to leave the people they cared for and befriended to protect them from the Sith. She could only imagine the heart ache Revan felt when he had to leave his beloved wife Bastila, and also Jesse's own heart ache for leaving behind his beloved Brianna as well. They did it to ensure that there would be a future for not just themselves, their beloved, and their friends, but for those who would be born in the Republic and beyond. These men were strong of both body and mind…far better than any man she knew of…including Genma, they willingly endured any hardship, and any pain, any battle to protect the most precious people to them.

The tales of their seven year mission in the Galaxy, their battles, and their trails made Nodoka think more and more on the decision that would lie before her soon, whether to allow Ranma to harness and utilize his gifts in the Force under the tutelage of the two men and their fellow Jedi comrades. She could see in the eyes of Revan and the way he acted, spoke, and move that he had the qualities of a leader, teacher, friend, and warrior…and while Jesse had those same traits, he too shined in the sense that he connected to those he met and showed great compassion and strength, despite his own sufferings. These men were truly two of a kind, and even if they too admitted to their own human faults, she didn't mind that.

“Mom…is break-fast already done?”

Nodoka shook herself mentally for a few seconds and smiled as her son rushed up to her.

“It is Ranma…let's eat.”

**************

Later…

As Ranma gobbled up his meal heartily, his mother began to think about her decision as she finished her own meal dutifully, she drank her cool water and looked at her son as he continued to eat. Nodoka had made sure that she took her role as a teacher to Ranma in the gentler ways of life and society very seriously.

She was appalled by Ranma's lack of development in social skills, even more so when she noted his total lack of delicacy in matters with women, along with his belief that women were not as strong as men. Revan and Jesse told her about Genma placing such thoughts into her son's head and warned her that in the other reaches of the Galaxy and even here on Earth, there were women who were far stronger than most men, and if he didn't learn proper etiquette and manners while he was young, he was seriously going to get in way over his head…not to mention get in even more trouble than he should be in.

She also noted the tell tale signs of Genma's so called games influencing her son, and she didn't want her son to start thinking that stealing, lying, and cheating were going to the only avenues of success in this world, and she was going to make sure he got a proper education. That was why she began to buy as many books as she could and got Ranma to read them.

She saw that Ranma had a hard time in reading, another flaw that she knew would have Genma's influence written all over him…she realized that since Genma had only dedicated Ranma to martial arts, his academic skills had dropped and he would need them in the near future…she might not show it, but Nodoka had an interest in the field of modern medicine, and had postponed her studies when she was married, and now, with things as they are, she had to make sure to use her money supplies wisely in order to finish her education. However, there were some problems…and Genma was the instigator.

There had been some people who came to her home and inquired when would Genma finally pay the debts he owed them, for food, clothing, stolen items of various types, and also the numerous things Genma swore on his so-called code of honor.

It made Nodoka sick to her stomach to think of just how many other people Genma must have broken his word to all over Japan when he still had Ranma under his wing. This time…she would set things right once she made the right decisions for her son, and her family. She only hoped that her remaining savings would be enough to keep her family afloat and keep them fed.

“Mom…are you all right?” Ranma asked as he put down his rice bowl…his face looking very concerned for his mother who looked so withdrawn.

“Oh…I am fine Ran-chan, don't worry, by the way, how far are you in the books on Japanese dictionary?”

Ranma looked thoughtfully at the empty bowl and smiled.

“I am on page 25!”

“That's my boy! Come…once we clean up these dishes, we can catch up with Japanese literature.”

Though Ranma still didn't quite understand why he should be reading books instead of training in martial arts, he did find them rather nice and he was happy to see that it made his mom happy, plus she did say that she could learn quite a lot as well.

**************

Later…

As Ranma read the books she gave him, Nodoka helped him along with things that he might not understand, hoping that with the time they had together, he would grow up to be a far better man than Genma would be. As Ranma began to learn the works of some prominent artists and he looked in surprise at the paintings and read the stories, his mother looked at him with a proud eye, and when she recalled his talents in the Force…she began to see that she would soon make a very important decision soon.

She then decided that after a few days…she would contact Revan and Jesse, once she had a very important chat with her son….about his gifts and connections in the Force. Revan and Jesse said that if she decided and Ranma agreed with her, then all she had to do was call them with a small communicator that they provided her. Once she gave her decision, they promised her that not only would they give her time to spend with her son, but to also make sure to send her messages on how her son was doing.

This might not be enough for her, but it would be enough to know that her son would be safe.

**************

In the Ebon Hawk…

“Have to admit, this place is rather nice.” Revan replied as he and the others were busy as they ran over the images of the countries that existed in Earth, along with the cultures and languages that existed in them. The Jedi were very busy these matters as they needed to find out anything that could be of help to them in their search for the Sith on this planet, but it seemed that there was no sign of the Sith in the areas they had visited.

“True…but we still have a lot left to do…HK, what's the status of you're translation updates?”

Revan had ordered HK-47 to update his vocabulator data-base with the languages of the world of Earth so as to make a record of all the languages in this multicultural world. Unlike the planets that had two or three different cultures, this primarily human world had multiple ones and it would be a real problem to try using only one tongue.

In order to learn even more secrets, the Jedi decided to record all the important details and keep that as a reference base in case things get very interesting.

“Answer: I am almost finished with all the updates Master…though I still find it hard to believe we need all this data.”

“We need all the data we can get if we want to find any trace of the Sith, and even if we don't find any, it won't hurt to at least know what we can…you saw the data we gathered on this planet's natural and environmental resources, I have no doubt that the Sith might soon turn their eyes on this sector of space soon.”

The assassin droid understood his creator's reasoning, despite the lack of any worthy technology, the planet Earth had plenty of viable resources, those that were still untapped by the current meat bag inhabitants, and the Sith would drain this entire planet dry of those said resources to fuel their soon to come war with the Republic and the Jedi, not to mention they would use the people of this world as slave labor and who knows what else…not to mention the fact that if there were more Force Sensitive meat bags on this world like that child meat bag…then the Sith would have found a very good recruiting pool.

Jesse then turned to find T3 minding the communication console, the little droid was busy running through the communicator frequencies and monitored the international communications networks all over the planet, however, he did keep in mind for one communicator frequency in general.

“Any word yet from Miss Saotome T3?”

The little robot gave a series of low and sad tones, telling the Jedi General that there was no message as of yet from the parent of Ranma. T3 was beginning to like the young and active little child, though it was a little difficult when the child would try and look into his core systems, but thankfully, the little child was not that skilled in mechanics to do any lasting damage that Jesse couldn't fix.

“Ah well…keep things running T3, we'll be ready to leave in an hour or so.”

The Ebon Hawk was currently in a jungle in the continent that they learned was South America, according to the global Atlas they had downloaded, the place was not so bad, besides, the place reminded Revan a bit of his time on the Wookiee home planet of Kashyyyk, though the trees in the Amazon Rainforest were like little sticks compared to the massive kilometer high wroshyr trees he had seen on the home-planet of his old friend Zaalbar. They had found a good landing zone and thankfully didn't any unneeded attention anyone in the area.

The Jedi began to learn the languages in the area, and even learned the language of some tribes in the area so as to further their work, of course, considering the damp environment and the inherent dangers in the jungle, the Jedi ordered the droids to remain with the ship, with HK on guard duty, while T3 monitored the outside area and kept abreast on communications.

In a way, considering some actions of several hostile creatures, HK finally got to let out his blood thirsty tendencies and programming. Several large predator cats were already turned into bloody carcasses by the droid's use of a Mandalorian Heavy Repeater, making Jesse wish he knew just what it was that possessed Revan to build the droid in the first place, but he couldn't do anything about it right now but make the proper actions to bury the dead animals.

As soon as they were done, they decided to leave, the very second HK-47 was done with his downloading and updating.

Several tribal hunters turned and spotted the Ebon Hawk take off, they were stunned out of their wits and thought they were watching some sort of mythical creature from their lore rise from the land and take off. Later, they made their way to where the strange thing lifted off, and seeing the carcasses, thought that the Gods must have been very busy, and resolved to talk to their village elders about it.

**************

A few days later…

As Nodoka and Ranma were busy walking in the nearby park, Nodoka thought back on her plans and decided that now would be a very good time to finally speak to her son about his Force Sensitivity, as this seemed like a good time and there were not that many people in the park.

As Ranma played with a small toy, Nodoka began to form out a plan to speak to her son about her decision regarding Revan and Jesse's request to have him trained as a Jedi Knight. She made sure to speak to Revan and Jesse and tell them to come to the park after she had an hour alone with her son to discuss the matter at hand.

As she finalized her plans, she decided that it was time to finally speak to Ranma about her decision regarding his chance to be trained as a Jedi in the use of the Force.

“Ranma, can I speak to you about something important?”

“Sure!”

As Ranma walked over to his mother, Nodoka decided to ask him about how he felt with the Force which was part of him, as soon as she knew just what her son thought about his talents in the Force, the better she could make her decision.

“Ranma…how do you feel when you use the Force for anything?”

Ranma thought about that, he began to recall the few times he had tried to use the Force…moving objects with the Force, levitating things, and sometimes feeling emotions, hearing thoughts, and seeing things that were to come were sometime difficult to deal with, but seeing that they could also help people made Ranma realize how important the Force was too. He also knew that since it was part of him, he had to live with it, but it was hard, and there were times he was a bit frightened by it, and he wanted to learn just how to use it properly.

“It's hard sometimes…it feels like I can see, hear, touch, and feel things that I…can't even begin to imagine. It's a bit scary at times, but I can do things that I…never thought possible, and I can learn so much from it. I might a bit frightened by it, mom…but I don't want to part with it….it's part of who I am. I want to learn how to really use it, and how to master it, but I know that Revan and Jesse…would only teach me if I want to be a Jedi, and if you would let me. Why?”

Nodoka smiled a bit and replied.

“Because Revan and Jesse told me that they wanted to ask my permission to allow you to be trained in the Force, by them as a Jedi. But I wanted to know how you felt with the Force, and now that I know…I have decided.”

“What did you decide?”

“I decided…that I want you to be trained as a Jedi, you're connections to the Force are part of you, and you have to learn how to use them correctly…and if learning to do so with Revan and Jesse is the best way…then I give my blessing.”

Ranma was immediately stunned and overjoyed as he understood that it meant that he could join the Jedi Order and be able to learn about the Force from Revan and Jesse. He could finally understand the power that he had deep inside of him for such a long time. However, his joy didn't last long as he realized that it meant the like before…he would have to leave and not see his mother again, his family. He could handle the idea of not seeing his father again, because of all the foolish and stupid things the fat and lazy man did…but he couldn't bare the thought of once more being denied the chance to be with his mother again.

“But that means I…”

Nodoka nodded sadly.

“You will have to leave me again, and this time, you will be going to another galaxy…far, far away from here.”

“You could come with us! I mean…there's plenty of room in the Ebon Hawk for you to join us mom! We…we could see all the planets together! You could meet other people and see so many wonderful things…with me, please come with me!”

Nodoka shook her head.

“I have to remain here…I have to make sure no one knows the truth about you're talents, and I have no doubt that it will make sure that you're…father will not try and find out about you as long as he knows I am here. Besides, I have to make sure that even if it takes me a long time…I have to redeem the name of Saotome for all the mistakes you're father made. I have no doubt it will be hard for me…but all that will be worth it to know that you grew up to be a man among men. I don't want you to be burdened with so many things while being so young, and you have a great gift with the Force, you know that, and I want you to be safe…and that is why it is better to me that you are trained on how to fully use you're talents with the Force.”

Ranma's face was now nearing tears as he tried to fight them back, after all, men did not cry!

Nodoka however sensed the inner turmoil in her son and reached out to him and gave him a strong, gentle, motherly hug…and it was enough to make Ranma cry out as he hugged her back fiercely.

“No! I don't want to leave you! Not again! I….I…I don't want to leave you…”

Nodoka also felt tears in her eyes, as she had just decided to let her son be taken from her once more, and this time, he would be leaving the very planet.

“I know…but I want what's best for you Ran-chan…you have a great gift, and you have to learn how to use it well. I have a feeling that you will be fine, and so will I. I will be here waiting for you.”

“P…P…Promise?”

Nodoka looked her at her son and with a smile, wiped away some of his tears gently and then kissed Ranma on the forehead.

“I promise.”

Ranma then managed to stop his sobbing and looked with determination and fire in his eyes.

“Then I will train to be a Jedi…I will train long and hard to use the Force…I will be a son you can be proud of mother! I promise on the name of Saotome, I will be a Jedi Knight!”

Nodoka smiled and hugged her son, and then the two saw the arrival of two men, dressed in normal clothes for outings such as these, but they recognized the two of them very quickly.

Revan and Jesse…and both of them had understanding looks on their faces. The Jedi had heard everything that had happened between the mother and child and saw just how torn up Ranma was at the thought of once more leaving behind his mother after only been reunited with her for a few weeks. This made them understand once more how their parents must have felt when they were given up to the Jedi Order for training themselves…But Ranma was older than they were at the time…so it was far harder for him to part with his mother.

The two Jedi decided to speak to both mother and son, so they could plan out the time that will be spent in training Ranma while he would be allowed to speak to his mother and make sure that at the very least, he would be able to speak to her when he could have the time. Besides that, they would give Ranma the time needed to learn more from his home planet before they would take him with them for Jedi training.

**************

A few weeks later…

Nodoka smiled slightly as she helped her son pack away a good amount of clothes, supplies, food, books, and reading material into a few bags for her son. The past few weeks had been a bit hard for her since she would once be parting from her son, but this time she could do it with a lighter heart, and she knew that this time, though her son would be leaving with complete strangers from another galaxy no less, she knew she could trust them. Revan and Jesse had allowed her enough time to teach Ranma herself in what she deemed needed for him in the Republic.

This allowed Nodoka to teach her son the art of Battou-jutsu, namely the school of Eshin-ryu, which she practiced in her youth before putting the sword aside and pursuing her dream to study and learn modern medicine, along with marrying Genma. She was considered a promising pupil by her sensei and she decided to pass on the training to her son, along with several manuals on the sword's fighting styles.

Ranma at first disliked the idea of using weapons, having grown up with Genma telling him that weapons were for weaklings, however, Revan and Jesse told him that every Jedi had to learn how to fight with weapons such as swords, before they could ever use a light-saber, which takes even more years to master. Revan and Jesse even showed him the basic moves of the sword styles that they had to learn and the styles they learned were impressive, making Ranma and Nodoka realize the level of personal training needed to become a Jedi…so Ranma decided to learn the ways of the sword, and quickly grasped the methods and patterns well, once again showing his growing connection to the Force, revealing yet another gift that Jesse knew quickly, it was known as Force Comprehension. This was a strong sign that Ranma did possess a stronger connection than most.

As she and Ranma finished the packing, her son turned to her and looked a bit sad.

“I really wish you were with me Mom.”

“I promised you that I will be here for you when you come back, and I will keep that promise my son.”

The two hugged once more as the bags were now ready to be taken to the Ebon Hawk that waited a good distance from Fuchu, but close enough for Ranma to reach without being seen easily, they all decided to travel at early night so as to avoid attracting too much attention, since the idea of anyone seeing the Ebon Hawk during take out was a seriously bad idea.

“Irritated Comment: If the two of you meat bags are quite done with such actions we must leave soon, the Masters will be leaving this planet and I am getting rather impatient.”

Both mother and son turned and gave HK-47 a bit of a glare that didn't bother the assassin droid all that much at all. But HK-47 was bored out of it's processor, apart from the native wild-life he had been able to dispatch, he had been unable to find any Sith meat bags to kill…out of all the planets he had gone to, the droid labeled this one to be the least enjoyable.

“You will wait a bit longer, I will be accompanying my son to the Ebon Hawk as well.”

Nodoka said in determination, staring down the assassin droid, despite the fact that being in front of the psychotic robot was a bad idea since he was currently armed with a Combat Enforcer rifle. However, she was not in the mood to have these last few moments with her son be disrupted by anyone or anything, not even a homicidal assassin droid.

“Weary Statement: Very well, we must be leaving soon.”

The group were accompanied by HK-47 and they managed to evade any inconvenience as they hurried to the ship, the two worried that having the assassin droid accompany them to the Ebon Hawk was a bad idea, however, Revan had installed a personal stealth field generator into HK-47 previously…just in case blasting his way into a facility was considered very risky, and too distracting. The stealth system activated and the droid was now no longer in sight of the two, with the exception of him briefly de-cloaking himself to lead them to the Ebon Hawk.

As soon as they arrived to the Ebon Hawk, which was good distance away from the district so as to avoid too much attention, Nodoka was given a brief tour of the Ebon Hawk by both Jedi, and she was impressed by the designs of the ship, though how they had managed to travel with such a damaged vessel was difficult to imagine, and she learned it was only through the efforts of Jesse, T3, and Revan that they were able to keep the ship intact and functional. The Jedi explained that since they were limited in funding, they at times been forced to steal supplies and parts, but from Sith held depots and those allowed them to keep the Ebon Hawk intact. However, Revan did admit that while there would be better ships than the Ebon Hawk in a way, the ship held very important significance to both him and Jesse, not to mention the ship had served them well respectively when they each owned her.

As they got the supplies and materials Ranma had with him, Revan handed a small but very valuable communicator to Nodoka.

“This is a very valuable device, it's called a holo-communications unit. This will help you get in contact with us whenever you need to know just how Ranma is doing while he is training as a Jedi with us. I have taken the liberty of having T3 assemble a working transmitter for you to have in you're home when I was there a few days before, if you were to recall.”

Nodoka nodded as she recalled the small personal computer-like device the utility/astromech droid had placed on her home, and Revan had helped install a transmitter array in her attic. The device however was small and had a working self sustaining power supply with it.

“All you have to do is connect it to transmitter console's connection socket and wait, we will receive the signal and we can then speak to you.”

“From Republic space?”

Nodoka asked with surprise….the Republic was VERY far from Earth, yet with this, she could reach Revan and Jesse there and speak to them and her son? The Republic must have very impressive technology to have such devices.

“Pretty much, though the signal will be faint at first, we'll be able to retrieve it and it will only register on a similar device that has my personal communicator code so there's a less likely chance someone will be able to intercept it. It's not perfect…but it will get the job done.”

Nodoka held the device and prayed to the Gods that at least, this device would help her keep track on how her son was doing and help her make sure that he would still be around right now to make her feel better.

Ranma then walked up to her and the two hugged each other one more time and after wiping the tears from her son's eyes, Nodoka climbed down the Ebon Hawk's loading ramp and saw her son's face one last time as the ramp lifted up and closed.

The only thing Nodoka could do was look up at the Ebon Hawk as the ship lifted off and then with a strong roar of engines, the ship took off and she saw the ship fly out into the night sky. As the ship gained speed and soon disappeared from view…Nodoka held the communicator unit close and made her way back to her home.

She had a heavy heart, but that was lifted by the fact that her son was with men she knew she could trust with his future and safety. Now all she had to do while her son was away training to be a Jedi Knight was to deal with the fallout of Genma's numerous crimes.

**************

In the Ebon Hawk…

“Take a good look Ranma…I don't think you've ever seen space before.”

Jesse said to their passenger as he was in the cockpit with him and Revan. The ship's scanners told them that they were soon to leave the gravity well of Earth and would soon be clear to initiate their hyper-drive system. However, the Jedi decided to give the computer enough time to plot out the best hyperspace coordinates to take them back to the Republic…while avoiding planets that were inhabited by Sith forces…not to mention any dangerous space based anomalies. The last thing the Jedi Knights wanted was to either land into the area of an orbital Sith defense garrison….or the dangers in space.

And in space, the dangers were plenty, therefore it was a bad idea for them to type in the wrong hyperspace coordinates, or else they would be in an asteroid field, a solar storm, a black hole, and worse.

Ranma looked at the stars before him and then to the sun…which he saw on the other side of the world for the first time, and suffice to say, the young boy was stunned at the sight of deep space. Despite his times focusing on martial arts, a part of Ranma wondered what was there beyond the stars…and now for the very first time…he was looking at it.

“Wow…this is amazing…”

Revan nodded with a smile at Ranma's awe at the sight of space. He was no stranger to space travel, but he knew that Ranma, was the first child of his country to set foot in space…and now it was time to let him see just what was it like to by in hyperspace.

“How much further until we're free from Earth gravitational field?”

T3 then replied via communication systems on the Ebon Hawk.

<< “We'll be free in exactly six seconds…we're now in the clear.”>>

“Has the nav-computer finished it's calculations and the charts are now downloaded?” Jesse asked the little droid as HK-47 worked on self recharging mode.

<<”Yes, we will have to take a much longer route back to Republic space, so it will take us at least one and a half standard month to make into the borders of the Known Galaxy.”>>

“Good…okay then, time to activate the hyperdrive.”

Ranma looked at the two Jedi and wondered just what was it they were talking about to the two droids, the only time it made sense to him, partially at least, was the mention of the nav-computer and the hyperdrive, plus the gravity of the of Earth. But he still was very curious as to what his new teachers were talking about.

“What's a hyperdrive?”

Revan smirked a bit and replied.

“We'll be teaching you about that once the time is right…but for now, we're going to make our hyperspace jump…now.”

Revan then activated the hyperdrive as it showed a green light for all systems and it a moment, before the cockpit and the eyes of both the Jedi, and the awe struck child, the stars seemed to suddenly streak backward and then with a slight hum, the stars streaked past the ship in a wave of fast moving lines…the Ebon Hawk was now in hyperspace.

“What just happened?!” Ranma asked, as he was stunned by what he had just witnessed.

“We're currently in hyperspace Ranma, the hyperdrive is a special space-ship engine that we use to travel from one place to another at great speed, so we don't have to take too long, if we stuck to using sub-light engines, it would take far longer to reach the Republic.”

Both Jedi smiled a bit at Ranma's look of cluelessness and decided that for at least one month and a half, they might as well teach him what they could. Their primary destination would have to be Coruscant so they could present their findings to both the Jedi Order, the Republic Senate, and then to Supreme Chancellor so the Republic could be prepared for the possible attack of the True Sith their forces …however, before they did that, they had to find an old friend of Revan's.

**************

In the Republic Borders near the Outer Rim…

The Republic Hammerhead Class Ship, the Sojourn was still busy on it's current patrol in the Outer Rim…ever since the ending of the Sith Triumvirate and the slow recovery of the Jedi Order and the Republic, the Republic Navy had been able to at least recuperate it's losses and began to rebuild it's fleet…under the request of several key officials in both the Senate, Navy, and even among the Jedi. The Republic had still to recover from both the Mandalorian Wars and the Jedi Civil War so every ship that they had still in service, and in dry dock were called in to handle the border patrols and to prevent possible attacks from any source.

The Jedi Exile, who was once a General in the Republic Army in the Mandalorian Wars had done quite a lot to make the Republic recover it's strength. With his help and that of his crew on Dantooine to drive out the mercenary army there and giving the pro-Republic the time needed to recover, the Republic had a good foot-hold in Dantooine and with a slow but steady supply of funding, Dantooine was rebuilding, along with the slowly growing Jedi Enclave that was once there.

His aid in Onderon, and that of the Mandalorians ensured that General Vaklu's rebellion failed and his alliance with the Sith exposed, that was enough to break the loyalty around him by the citizenry since in the past Onderon was ruled by users of the Dark Side of the Force and after the last ruling house of Dark Side users were defeated, the Onderonians swore never align with Sith ever again, to know that Vaklu aligned with them was the final straw for them. With that, both Onderon and Dantooine aided in the defense of Telos after the Sith Forces came to decimate the recovering planet once more.

Telos owed it's recovery progress to the Exile as well, his support of Chodo Habat and his fellow Ithorians and his efforts to halt Czerka Corporation's involvement in sabotaging the recovery efforts, along with dealing with the resident Exchange cell helped the Recovery project to finish once the Ithorians were able to once more take command of the Restoration Zones taken from them by Czerka.

Nar Shaddaa also had a tie to the Jedi Exile, with his help in disrupting the Exchange, and giving hope to many, there was a great change in what was once the Smuggler's Moon in the hearts of the refugees from both Mandalorian and Jedi conflicts. By helping them and freeing the yoke of the Exchange, the people had hope for the first time, where there was none in the heart of the Smuggler's Moon.

In all, many planets in the Republic grew stronger from both the efforts of the two Jedi Knights and their comrades. Revan himself contributed heavily to the efforts during his time in the Republic hunting for the Star Forge.

Revan helped rescue several Sith students from Korriban, including Carth Onasi's own son Dustil from the Sith Academy he had established with Malak in his days as Dark Lord of the Sith, and he also helped free Yuthura Ban and with Uthar, the Head Master of the Sith Academy, dead and Malak as well, the Sith Order that they once had founded together from the loyal Jedi and Republic soldiers they corrupted, collapsed and destroyed itself with civil war and strife.

The planet of Manaan was also another place where Revan's efforts and that of his own crew helped the Republic in the conflict with Malak and his forces. With his help in disrupting the Sith's efforts to both take over Manaan and its' people and the defense of the kolto, the Republic was able to get enough kolto supplies to help them win the Jedi Civil War, along with the Selkath trusting him and his crew whenever he came, before he left for the Unknown Regions, he came there and gathered as much supplies as he could store, with the blessing of the Selkath High Council.

Kashyyyk was the most obvious planet that had the most effect of Revan's arrival, and what was once the Czerka Corporation's primary source of Wookiee labor was now a free world, and Revan and his crew were the only outsiders allowed to enter it's surface.

One man in particular had seen those events happen…after all, he had served as the Ebon Hawk's pilot in the time Revan owned the ship.

**************

In the Sojourn…

“No sign of activity Lieutenant?”

The young female officer looked at the scanners on her console in the ship's bridge and shook her head as she reported to her commanding officer.

“I am afraid not Admiral…there's been no activity for the past few hours since we came here. Permission to speak Admiral?”

“Permission granted.”

“We've been on random patrol duty for a long time sir…and apart from the last battle over Telos, there's been no sign of any Sith activity here…Do you think they might have gone away?”

“I rather doubt that Lieutenant, if there's one thing I've known about the Sith when I fought them long ago, is that no matter how many times you try to beat them back, you can't be rid of them forever, they'll just find a place to hide, lick their wounds, and plan, and before you know it, they come back and stab you right in the gut. That's why we can't be too careful when the Sith are involved.”

“But I thought that with the Star Forge gone sir, they'd have no way of making another invasion fleet.”

“I thought so too Lieutenant…I thought so too, but the Sith are very difficult foes, and they always have been. Keep scanning for any strange signs and report to me immediately.”

“Yes Admiral!”

Carth Onasi sighed as he walked out of the bridge and headed to his quarters to get a hot cup of caf, he had been busy with a lot of things ever since the Exile took the Ebon Hawk with him to look for his old friend Revan. He still wished that he had the chance to find Revan, but he followed Revan's orders to keep the Republic safe and whole, besides that Revan had requested that none of them, even Bastila try to find him at all, and in a way, after learning what he could from the Exile, or rather from Jedi Knight Jesse, Revan had a very good reason for keeping them out of his mission.

He however knew that the others were affected a lot by Revan's disappearance and took it their own way.

For Zaalbar, it had been hard to leave Revan since he had a life debt to the Jedi Knight and Former Sith Lord. But he respected Revan and his intentions, besides that, the passing of his father and the death of his brother made him the new chieftain of his people, thus he too remained behind. He promised to keep his friendship and life debt to Revan alive until he would return and Carth knew that Zaalbar's Wookiee code of honor would make that promise as strong as durasteel plating.

Mission was also affected by Revan's absence, admitting that the Jedi Knight became the brother she wished she had. Though she and her brother Griff parted on good terms for the time being, she still wished for a family and Revan and the others filled that hole in her heart. Despite their still present bickering, Mission treated him as her father because he watched out for her, just as much as Revan did. Canderous was the gruff uncle she never had as he taught her how to better survive on her own due to his respect for her surviving at her age in Taris before Zaalbar came along. Bastila was like a sister to her, Juhani was like a mother now, as she took Mission under her wing, and Jolee was like the funny older grandfather she never had.

Now however she found a boy-friend…none other than his own son. Carth was a bit surprised when he came back to the Ebon Hawk to see Mission and Dustil talking and being friendly to each other after Korriban. He wondered what had happened between his son and the young Rutian Twi'lek girl, but after the Star Forge, he didn't mind the affections that grew between his son and Mission. Dustil still had his connections to the Force, and Mission was now part of the Republic's Intel Division, that way, the skills she had would be put to good use for the Republic.

Jolee was back among the Jedi Order and amazingly enough was part of the Council, and his attitude helped greatly in keeping the Jedi whole, despite his dislike for the Jedi, he admitted that the Jedi also helped him and it was time for him to help them, as Revan asked of him. Despite his nature of being the cryptic and cranky old man with a sense of humor, Jolee was also affected by Revan's absence as the rest of them were, he was the son that Jolee never had and the old man missed the arguments he had with the younger Jedi. And despite not admitting it, he was proud of the fact that it was his teachings on love's power to Revan that helped him save Bastila and make the two of them closer…to the point of their marriage.

Canderous, who now served as Mandalore was also affected, though the gruff mercenary didn't show it, due to his armor. He had been requested by Revan to reunite the scattered clans and help rebuild his people to make them a fighting force once more. The Mandalorian wished he was with Revan on any of the battles that he knew the Jedi Knight and the only man his people ever respected as a foe would be getting into…but he swore to follow Revan's commands, and he was. Revan learned much from Canderous as much as Canderous learned from Revan, and despite Canderous calling Revan his employer on occasion, he admitted that Revan was his greatest friend and ally.

The two got along well, with the gruff veteran telling the Jedi of his past and helping them in many battles in the search for the Star Forge…when Revan rescued Bastila from the Dark Side, he requested that Canderous protect her while she used her Battle Meditation and Canderous agreed whole heartedly…and after Revan and Bastila's wedding…he treated Bastila with great respect and honor, though he never gave up his habit of calling her a Jedi Princess to needle her on occasion. He also became friends with Juhani despite his part in helping in the Genocide of Cathar.

Juhani was also affected by Revan's disappearance. The Cathar Jedi owed Revan a great deal of things, the first was his previous rescue of her after she had been sold to slavery on Taris, and his rescue of her when she had fallen to the Dark Side. She still recalled how Revan helped her unleash her anger and frustration, but never struck her, and helped her recover her strength and belief in herself many times, she recalled then the time she told him her story and helped her finally come to terms with it.

The greatest tests however came then to her as they traveled to seek out the Star Maps and the Star Forge. She encountered Xor, a Twi'lek Mandalorian who took pleasure in killing and enslaving Cathar due to the wounds her people had inflicted on him. It was he who killed her father and tried to buy her as a slave all those years ago…he taunted her and it was only when Revan stopped her that Xor left with his life from her rage. However, he did not give up and she was able to fight him alongside Revan and Bastila on Tatooine. It was there that Xor tried to make her kill him by insulting her people, calling them no better than animals and his pleasure in killing and enslaving them…including the deaths of her parents.

Juhani was so badly tempted and came close to killing him, and falling to the Dark Side once more, but Revan again saved her, telling her through the Force that giving into Xor's tactics would make her the same as him, and he even went far as to place himself in front of Xor…right at her light saber's path to stop her from killing in anger while saying the Jedi Code to her. After Xor's death, she admitted that Revan had done so much for her and she would become stronger against the dark taint in her.

When she learned of his true identity, she swore that she would repay him for all he had done for her. And she did so as she and Jolee joined him in the Rakatan Temple and helped him stay on the path of Light when Bastila, corrupted by the Dark Side, tried to tempt him into becoming the Dark Lord. Revan thanked her and replied that she had repaid him in full. Juhani was now in Cathar, the home-world of her species, and there, she helped make peace with her past, namely becoming a good friend to Canderous.

For him, he had it a bit better off, though not by much. It was Revan in his past identity who made him open up to others and helped him come to terms in some ways with his past, namely when he lost his home-planet, his wife, and son. Losing Morgana and Dustil was a strong and painful blow to the former starship pilot and soldier and made him angry, not to mention the betrayal of Saul…Revan made up for that and there were plenty of times the guy did well and even saved his rear end from the fire as well as he did him.

It was his full agreement to help him reunite with Dustil and his help in convincing Dustil of the evil of the Sith that truly defined Revan, and finally he managed to make peace with the past when he found out just who his friend and somewhat brother was, and Revan making the choice to abandon the mantle of the Dark Lord of the Sith that made Carth see who he really was…a friend and ally to the end.

But he knew that the worst of the old crew of the Ebon Hawk who was affected by his absence was Bastila herself.

He recalled the times he and the others would be able to meet, and Bastila was with them. She was terrible…not in an evil way, but in a sad way. The first few days of not being with Revan showed in her face. The first time they checked up on her after Revan left, she opened the door with a look of expectation, hoping that any of them had been able to talk her husband out of going alone…but her hopes were dashed when she saw that none of them were accompanied by Revan. Bastila then would confide to them, even to Canderous how painful it was to wake up everyday in her room and bed to not see Revan beside her. The first few weeks of their life as husband and wife were fine, and they were enjoying life together, with the covert blessing of Master Vandar and a small number of the Jedi Council…but as time passed, Revan began to have nightmares…memories about the past…even if he didn't recall everything.

She did her best to help him, she even wanted to bare the burden with him, but he didn't want her too, and tried at times to hide the past from her, but she still could see the memories and visions through their Force Bond, despite Revan's attempts to shield her from them. It was then that Revan told her that he had to leave…and try as she might, she could never convince him to either change his mind, or to take her with him. She remembered the argument they had on it…and how hard she tried….until she was in tears. She told them on how Revan then told her that he wanted to stay with her, a great deal too, but with the visions telling him of a threat beyond the Outer Rim…in the Unknown Regions, then he had to go, to try and find out what was out there and how to stop it for the sake of her, his friends, the Jedi Order, and the Republic. The night after was the last night she and Revan were ever together…and despite her wish that he would stay with her, a part of her held on to that night tightly. He then told her that no matter what…as long as she was alive and waiting for him, then he would come back.

The first days of waking up without him with her were horrible…and as the days passed, and turned into weeks, and the weeks into months, and the months into years…the vibrant, confident, brave, compassionate, and calm woman that he and the others knew in their journey became depressed and withdrawn. Thankfully both he and Jolee managed to help her when she needed it, and she managed to lift herself out of her despair, and even more so when she realized that while Revan had dampened his Force Bond with her…he never severed it…it was faint, but it was still there….telling her that Revan was alive.

She took that faint but present hope to heart and managed to free herself from her depression and took to training the slowly growing number of Padawans that began to fill into the Jedi Order, she was currently teaching new Younglings in Dantooine, alongside the newly redeemed and now ordained Jedi Knight Yuthura Ban, the two became good friends since Yuthura owed her redemption to Revan and wanted to help others avoid her fate of falling in thrall with the Dark Side, and she respected Bastila greatly as well, having met her after leaving Korriban and before the attack on the Enclave.

On that regard, he sometimes wished he could have done something to talk to Revan about leaving Bastila, it reminded him too much of the time he had an argument with his wife Morgana on his re-enlistment with the Fleet during the Mandalorian Wars, and he knew how that turned out. He hoped that his two friends didn't suffer that kind of situation the way he did.

**************

Later…

As he arrived and took out a cup of the hot beverage, he looked at the nearby holo-pictures, the first was of him with his wife and son in happier times. His wife Morgana was a beautiful raven haired woman with deep blue eyes, and a warm smile and gentle demeanor that also hid a strong and tough will. He could never talk her out of anything…and that was a nice thing.

Revan once asked him why Dustil was gifted with the Force…and he finally told him that long ago, his wife was a teen aged Padawan who was training to be a Healer, who he fell in love with in his last day before graduation in the Fleet Academy. Being that they were younger then, both had different reasons for being out.

Morgana's Jedi Master was on another meeting when she had done off to the cantina to take a light meal, and he was there with a few of his buddies from the Academy. When he saw her, he was in love, and the rest of his friends told him that even with his so-called Onasi charm, there was no way he could snare a female Jedi despite how attractive she was. He got the chance however when a band of drunks approached her and tried to ask her out. When she politely refused, one of them tried to grab her by the hand and force her to accompany them.

Being a gentleman and not wanting to see her harmed by the drunks, Carth quickly intervened…got into a fist fight and got hit hard for his trouble, but he helped her and when the authorities arrived to take away the drunks, she came up to him and healed his injuries and thanked him…even if he was not up to his best.

Ever since then, he would visit her in her Academy and woo her whenever he got shore leave after his times in the Fleet…much to the disapproval of the other Jedi, including Morgana's master. However, she didn't rebuke him like they did and as time passed, the two of them became inseparable. It was then that he told Revan of the one time Morgana told him that she felt the Force was in him too, but then said that he was already too old to be a Jedi apprentice. At the time he thought that it was a joke, and for some reason she never spoke of it, and therefore he forgot all about it.

However, it became inevitable that their liaisons would reach the next level and they consummated their feelings…in a hotel that he was taking some shore leave in. A few days afterwards, he was approached by both Morgana and her Master and he was told that her affair with him had been found out by the Council…and therefore she could no longer be a Jedi. Carth showed his love and loyalty to Morgana and accepted her without any problem and swore to take good care of her.

After the birth of Dustil, he missed the time Dustil had grown up…and then the Mandalorian Wars started…and finally the Jedi Civil War.

As he looked at the picture, he prayed that Morgana would rest easier now that he and Dustil were now mending their relationship, and hoped that she didn't mind their son having a girl-friend. He chuckled at how Morgana would have reacted had she seen Mission and Dustil together. (*)

As he looked at the other pictures of his son and his comrades, he took the time to finish his drink. It was then that a communiqué came on his desk.

“Excuse me Admiral Onasi…we're tracking a light freighter that has just entered this sector from hyperspace. We've managed to ID it sir and we're getting a transmission from the pilot of the ship…it seems that he's only going to speak to you Admiral.”

“What's the ship's ID?”

“Sir, the ship's ID is the Ebon Hawk.”

Carth had a small mouthful of caf at the time, and when he heard the name of the ship he once piloted…he made a quick spit take, thankfully to the floor of his quarters and not on his desk and on the communicator. He couldn't believe what he had just heard…

<Can it be?!>

Carth was not about to take any chances and hope too much…even after he mellowed out somewhat, there was no way he was going to let himself be caught off guard ever again.

“Have a secure line for me here in my quarters to the Ebon Hawk, I don't want to be disturbed until then, in the mean time, send the hold position order to the Ebon Hawk until I say otherwise, is that clear?”

“Yes sir! We've locked the pilot of the Ebon Hawk to you now.”

Carth held his breath, as the image on his communicator became clear, and his eyes widened as he recognized the one who sat in the same pilot's chair as he did when he was the designated pilot of the Ebon Hawk.

“No way…is that really you Revan?”

“Nice to see you too Carth, who were you expecting it to be then? Darth Malak?”

Carth was still stunned as he looked at the face of his old friend. Revan's holo-image smiled and bowed.

“It's good to see you again Carth.”

“It's great to see you too! Where have you been?! Wait a minute…is the Exile with you?”

“Right here Admiral Onasi.”

Carth looked and saw the arrival of the Jedi Exile, Jesse Harvern on the communicator image, telling him quickly that the two were real.

“I can't believe it…you finally made it back Rev, what have you been doing all this time in the Unknown Regions?”

“I'll tell you once we get to a secure place, and it would be a good idea to contact the others, including Jesse's comrades…but it has to be done quietly Carth, we don't want everyone else to know that we're back already, at least until everything has been settled.”

Carth sighed a bit.

“All right then, but you had better get ready for Bastila when she hears about this. The best place to go to would have to be Coruscant for now Rev, the place's security has gotten better since you've been gone and the Jedi Temple's gotten better security too, near to the point of paranoia if you can believe that. I'll begin sending the others signals soon once we're on our way.”

“Got it, you take the lead Carth.”

Carth nodded and then contacted the bridge crew.

“This is Admiral Onasi to the bridge.”

“Bridge here sir, what are you're orders?”

“Give the order to head back to Coruscant for rest and re-supply, the Ebon Hawk will also be escorted to Coruscant under our protection.”

“Yes sir!”

Carth then decided to get to work and spread the word to his friends and Jesse's comrades about their return. He couldn't help but smile as he began to contact the rest of the old crew of the Ebon Hawk, and the new crew as well, he could only imagine how they would react when they heard that Revan and Jesse were back.

He decided then to contact two women in particular who would be elated at the news of Revan and Jesse's return.

**************

On Dantooine…

Bastila was currently testing the Force potential in lifting a few items off the floor alongside several Padawans. The brown haired Jedi Sentinel, who was now ordained a Jedi Knight by the surviving Jedi Council was busy training the new generation of Jedi to shield and protect the Republic in this dark time. Despite her fall to the Dark Side before, the Council knew that through Revan's intervention, she had been saved…despite the fact that they didn't openly acknowledge that she loved him. The only Jedi Master who knew of their romance and affection was Vandar Tokare himself, and the diminutive Jedi Master kept silent about it as their request.

She, along with Jolee, Juhani, Atris, the rest of the new Ebon Hawk crew, and Vandar Tokare, who had been able to escape the destruction of all life on Katarr, Visas' home planet, were the remaining Jedi survivors since the Sith Triumvirate started the shadow war to kill all Jed in the Republic, and even the Temple at Coruscant was not spared.

As of now, the Jedi were in the task of healing and rebuilding their numbers for who knew when the attacks of the Sith and whatever forces in the Galaxy would be coming to threaten the Republic. However, the female Jedi Knight had other concerns apart from training the new generation of Jedi…

She still at times tried to re-open her Force Bond with Revan, for the past many years since his mission to the Unknown Regions began. The Force Bond however was well sealed by Revan and even the training he had given Bastila was not enough to break through his shields. It frustrated her to no end on how come her husband had to be so adamant in hiding himself from her. It also made her feel torn since she knew that he wanted to protect her from harm, and to ensure that she would not follow him. It had only been the fact that he kept a part of the Force Bond alive to tell her that he still lived that kept her happy, though not in the largest way possible.

As she placed the thoughts aside for the moment, she smiled at the progress the Padawans were showing in their training. She found some peace in knowing the Revan did not die as she feared and also when training the new generation of Jedi Knights to defend the people of the Republic he cared about, but it was still not easy to do it without him by her side. She then placed those thoughts aside and spoke to the youngsters.

“That's enough for today young ones, you can now take a break in the Recreation Room.”

The Padawans bowed and smiled.

“Thank you Knight Shan!”

As the Padawans left the room and ran towards the Recreation Room, one of the new facilities in the rebuilt Dantooine Academy, the young Jedi Knight sighed as she looked towards an open window towards the plains of Dantooine and took in the incoming breeze, smelling the air, and sighing once more.

<Revan, I wish you were here now…I miss you…so much…>

Bastila was about to leave the room and take a break in the cafeteria when she heard a very faint voice in the back of her mind.

<”I know…”>

The Jedi Knight turned quickly around to scan the area of her surroundings, intent on finding out just where did the voice come from. She even reached for her double blade lightsaber, the same one that she once made and the one Revan returned to her after freeing her from the Dark Side. As she used the Force to try to scan the area around her, hoping that it was not the Sith that was trying to find her.

During the five years since Revan's disappearance, many Sith Assassins have tried to hunt down the remaining Jedi and she, Jolee, Juhani, Yuthura, Dustil, and many others were only the handful that remained and evaded the death squads. With Jesse's aid in destroying the heart of the Sith forces, namely their operation base in the ruined planet of Malachor 5, the attacks ceased and this was what the Order needed to rebuild.

<”Hmmm…calm down Bas, there's no need to fear, I could never hurt you…”>

Bastila's eyes widened, and for good reason…there was only one man who said her nickname that way…and the tone of voice.

<No…>

She realized then that something was different, and she decided to focus her Force sense internally instead of externally, and sure enough, she felt it…

A part of the Force Bond she had with Revan opened…and a small but strong wave of sensation struck her senses hard. It was familiar, warm, and safe…it was the same sensation she felt when she was with…

<”Revan….Revan, is that…you??”>

She then felt the waves grow stronger and realized that somehow, the Force Bond she had was now being re-opened, allowing her to feel Revan once more, and she felt his joy, happiness, relief, and more flood her, even to the point she could even feel his smile.

<”It's me Bas, I told you that I would come back…and I am here.”>

Bastila couldn't help but feel her entire body nearly become lightweight, the joy and emotion she felt nearly floored her to the ground as she felt the presence of her husband and fellow Jedi Knight all around her mind, she couldn't help but cry in joy as she spoke to him once more through their Force Bond.

<“Revan…you…you came back?”>

<“Of course I did…I said I would come back didn't I?”>

Bastila wiped some of her tears and then gave a slight glare and gripped her robes a bit.

<“Good…cause you have some serious explaining to do when you and I meet!”>

<”Uh…”>

<“ Don't you even try and pretend that you can talk me down…you….you arrogant, egotistical, male! Do you have any idea what is has been like for me for the past seven years?!”>

<“Bastila…”>

< “I am not finished! You left me all alone you nerf herder! You left me behind, and I have been worrying myself to near exhaustion every moment of every day for you! Do you know how much I missed you?! Every day and every moment I spent was hoping to see you again!”>

< “I know…and I know that you suffered a lot, I can't blame you for that, but do you know how much I missed you too? I missed you every moment I spent out there in the Unknown Regions, every moment I was there, in the Ebon Hawk or in battle, the only thought I ever had was to see you again Bas.”>

Bastila felt and knew the truth in Revan's statements and could tell that her husband was not lying to her, and she wept, in that instant, both of them had an idea on how much they both had suffered being separated from one another. The Jedi Sentinel cried once more and then replied to her Bond partner.

< “That still won't change the fact I am going to make sure you don't ever get the idea of leaving me alone again! Where in the Galaxy are you?”>

< “I'm heading to Coruscant as we speak, I and Jesse already met Carth while we were out here and we're heading there now, you should be getting a call from Carth soon…I'll be waiting for you Bas.”>

Bastila wasted little time as she walked to her quarters, and on the way there, Yuthura appeared. The Twi'lek Jedi Knight saw the change in Bastila's face and was a bit confused about it for a moment, and then realized that she had gone looking for Bastila to tell her something important.

“Bastila, do you have a moment to spare?”

“Yes, what is it Yuthura?”

“There's a call from Dustil's father, Carth Onasi for you in you're quarters. He says it is very important.”

“Thank you, I have something very important to discuss with him, can you manage things for me for a while?”

The Twi'lek Jedi nodded.

“Of course I can, you be careful out there.”

Bastila thanked Yuthura and made her way to her quarters, the Jedi had been able to assign special communications gear to most of their surviving Knights in order to rush in and quell disturbances…despite the low number of Jedi that still lived. As soon as she entered the room she had been given she took off her normal Jedi robes and was now wearing the normal combat body suit that she had worn many times in her journey alongside the others and Revan. Her hair had grown a lot more and she no longer wore them in the usual style she once had. She placed aside her lightsaber and sure enough, there was the signal of the comm.-unit telling her that a message was on. She flicked it on and before her was her old friend Carth Onasi who had a grin on his face…However before he could say anything…she beat him to it.

“Is it really true Carth…Has Revan really come back? Did you really see him again?”

Despite her desire to remain focused…she couldn't be objective when it concerned her husband, even if he did speak to her with their Force Bond…she still wanted proper confirmation, and Carth would never lie about anything.

The Admiral shook his head in mock disgust.

“He used that Force Bond he had with you didn't he…he just had to ruin the whole surprise I had in mind.”

Carth's holo-image nodded with a smile, making Bastila realize that Carth had indeed met Revan.

“It's true Bastila, Revan's back, he and the Exile are making their way to Coruscant as we speak, I hope that you can….never mind, I KNOW you would do anything to be where he is. There should be a transport heading for Coruscant waiting there in the Khoonda Space Port, if not, I'll charter you a transport to get there.”

Bastila smiled and replied.

“There's no need for the Carth, There's already an inbound transport that the Dantooine settlers have to sell their wares and produce, and it is making a routine run to Coruscant today. I can hitch a ride there…besides, Administrator Adara and Zherron won't mind having another passenger.”

“Good, I'm already sending word to the others and to Jesse's crew about their return…including a personal message to Brianna herself, though I have no doubt that The Exile's using his own Force Bond with her right now to talk to her.”

“That's good…I know Brianna will be overjoyed to know Jesse has returned…see you soon Carth and may the Force be with you.”

“See you soon Bastila, and may the Force Be with you as well.”

Bastila took up her lightsaber and left her room, and as she was about to head off, another presence stopped her.

“Revan has returned I take it Knight Shan?”

Bastila turned to find none other than Master Vandar Tokare looking at her with calm and patient eyes, though she could tell that the diminutive Jedi Master was very interested in Revan's return. She recalled that even if she didn't breath a word to the other Jedi in the Enclave about Revan's return, Vandar's species were always known to sense things in the Force far better than most, and with the defeat of Malak and the later defeat of the Sith Triumvirate, the Force was clearer now, and someone with a Force aura like Revan's was certainly something that can't be easily hidden.

“Yes Master Vandar…he has returned.”

Though some Jedi may still harbor ill intent on Revan due to his time as the Dark Lord of the Sith. Vandar was among the few who knew Revan personally and respected the Prodigal Knight very much. Besides, he did have a hand in training Revan when he was still part of the Order and when he was reintroduced to the Force. Revan himself had a great deal of respect for the diminutive Jedi Master, both in his past time as Jedi before the Mandalorian Wars and in his time as a Padawan in the Jedi Civil War, and he did support their marriage as well.

“That is good…I am happy that he has returned home at last, and I have no doubt you are happy as well. If it will not discomfort you and Revan I wish to see him myself.”

Bastila shook her head and smiled.

“Of course not Master Vandar, I believe Revan will be happy to see you too.”

With that, both Jedi headed for the Khoonda Administration building to request the permission from the Administrator and the Militia Captain. Ever since the rebuilding of Dantooine and the aid of Jesse and his crew, the faith the settlers had for the Jedi was restored and there was no doubt in their minds that they would get the help they need from the settlers.

**************

In Telos…namely in the Polar Regions…

Atris was tired, more tired than she had ever thought possible, but she put that aside for now as she ran through the holo-records that she had. As soon as she placed aside the last record in the catalogue, she reached for a nearby glass and drank some cool tea. She smiled a bit at the taste of the drink and the warmth. This tea was among the very few pleasures she had while she worked on her duties.

Ever since the end of the Second Battle of Telos and her redemption by Jesse's hands, she worked tirelessly to learn from her mistakes and learn the truth of things, plus she was in exile herself, but the Council allowed her to continue her place as Historian and she herself added Jesse's own history into the list. As she drank the tea, she wondered once more on how Jesse was doing. Long ago, they had been close friends, though she was older than him, however, the wars with the Republic and the Mandalorians broke that friendship and made them enemies. However, Jesse still cared about her and saved her from her own lies and gave her back a chance to do the right thing…and she didn't hesitate in doing it as well. For today she was not only serving as a Historian, but as a teacher as well.

Jesse told her that he wanted her to continue training Brianna and some of his comrades while he was away. Though she protested that she was not worthy of being a teacher to anyone, she nevertheless understood and honored his request. Long ago, she had tried to take care of Brianna and her sisters after the deaths of their parents…Arren Kae lost her life in the Mandalorian Wars and then Yusanis as well. Back then she did her best to shield them, but she also disliked herself for allowing the Dark Side to use her the way it did, and herself for letting her anger and lies blind her. Those led to the deaths of the sisters, leaving only Brianna alive. But in the time she spent with Brianna and the others, she learned to forgive herself and she swore to teach Brianna everything that she could.

In truth she was still jealous over the fact that Jesse had fallen in love with Brianna, since long ago…she too loved Jesse, but she never had the courage to tell him that, and her denial and anger destroyed those chances when she supported his exile and clamored for far greater punishment on him. It amazed her that Jesse, despite all she had done, found it in himself to save her, and though she could no longer love him, she knew that he was her true friend and comrade to the end. She saw the same qualities that made her care for him once more…and thus, couldn't blame Brianna for loving him the way she did.

As she finished her tea, she went to the training hall to see how Brianna was doing in her training with her double lightsaber, the very same one that Jesse had personally fashioned for her in their days traveling together. Atris knew that Brianna still wished that Jesse would return soon, and she too hoped that it would come to pass. There was much to discuss, and she knew that sooner or later, she would have to give her position as Historian to Brianna since the Council have asked her to sit among them to help in shepherding the Jedi in this dark time.

In the time she spent here in Telos, she trained Brianna on the other advanced Lightsaber forms as befitting the young Echani Jedi's status as a Guardian, to help her polish her other skills as well and teach her about the Force, as per Jesse's request. And she admitted that she was wrong in making Brianna deny her gifts in the Force…she would make an outstanding Jedi Knight, just like her mother.

Before she could speak to Brianna however, she heard the communication alarm come on, namely on the small communicator she had with her, telling her that a message of great importance was waiting for her. She sighed and decided to place her talk with Brianna aside until she knew who would be calling them at this time of the day on Telos.

**************

<The lightsaber has to move with the body…feel the Force flow through you…channel it into you're limbs…>

Brianna thought back on her training with Jesse as she went on to practice with her double lightsaber and her personal variant of Ataru. As she did so, she began to wonder when would she ever see her beloved Jedi Weapon Master again…it had nearly been two years since she had seen him, but to her, it felt as if it had already been two hundred years since their last days together before he had left for the Unknown Regions on the Ebon Hawk, and she missed him a great deal…and for good reason.

She had been training for as long as she could in the Jedi arts after the last battle she had been in over Telos and her travels to the forbidden grave world of Malachor 5 along with many of the others that had joined under Jesse. She had kept tabs on them all as they had become very important friends and companions to her…even though some of their meetings were not very…friendly at first.

As she moved her double light-saber in the prescribed manner of the fighting style taught to her, she finished with several more spinning slashes and flips until she finished her training run. The silver haired woman then deactivated her light saber and sat on a nearby bench on the side of the training hall to calm herself and to think back on past events.

She couldn't help but smile on how she had met Jesse in the past. She had gone up to Citadel Station and found the Ebon Hawk and managed to steal both it and T3 and take them to the hidden Academy under the orders of Atris at the time, and sure enough the former Jedi General was right on their trail, looking for his ship. She and her sister Alema were the ones who found Bao-Dur when the Zabrak/Iridonian engineer was unconscious. Later she met up with her other two sisters, Kalina and Mari to face both the three intruders who were Kreia, Atton Rand, and Jesse Harvern himself. Jesse had looked at her most of all since she was the one who ordered him and his companions to place away their weapons. She recalled how disgusted she had felt before when Jesse smiled at her in a very flirting manner, and she recalled how different he was when he met Atris again. She had been somewhat surprised to hear that the blonde male before her was the Jedi Exile himself, the one her master had helped banish from the Jedi Order many years before. She had also suspected that her Mistress had deep feelings for Jesse despite the rather strong argument she had seen and heard them have before she and her sisters escorted the former Jedi away from the former Jedi Historian. This told her that the Jedi were not passionless and emotionless beings at all.

She recalled her conversation with the Jedi Exile when he was given leave by her Mistress to search for the Jedi Masters who had scattered in order to battle with the Sith that had now come out of hiding and were striking at the Jedi from the shadows. She had asked him about what it was like for someone to feel the Force and his description was very much accurate to what she felt now as she used her own connections to the Force.

Brianna then blushed as she recalled the times she had spent with Jesse, traveling from planet to plant, system to system to find the other Jedi Masters and to reunite them to fight the Sith that were gathering. When she had boarded the ship, she had naturally been very indignant that they had taken her Master's records and then told the assembled crew of Jesse, Kreia, Atton, and Bao-Dur that she would be joining them in searching for the Jedi Masters. The others were not very sure of allowing her to work with them, but Jesse didn't mind and allowed her to stay in their ranks and help them in their search, and this was the first act of kindness he would display to her…even if she had suspected that he knew that she was a spy from Atris.

Of course…it was not always easy to be working with him at all. During her time with the crew of the Ebon Hawk in the beginning, she had very much kept to herself in the cargo hold that she had decided to stay in while working with them, since despite adding her formidable mastery of Echani combat martial arts and weapon skills, she was still distrustful of the crew and Jesse himself. However, the former Jedi General decided to get to know her more and over time, her distrust lessened…up to the point that despite her reluctance at first, she took it upon herself to train him in Echani combat methods and styles, and in time she learned much from him as he from her and she admired his choice to face the Council's judgment willingly to defend his actions in the Mandalorian Wars…namely in Malachor 5. And his actions of showing selflessness, kindness, compassion, justice, and more to the ones who suffered and needed aid on the planets they had gone to, had further added weight to her growing beliefs that Atris was wrong in saying that Jesse was in thrall of the Dark Side. It was also there that she learned more about the Jedi from him and even asked if he had feelings for Atris once.

It was there that he admitted that in the past he had cared deeply for Atris and there might have even been hints of very romantic attachment between her companion and her Mistress. Then it had been strained during the period of the Mandalorian Wars as he wanted to go out there to fight the Mandalorians to stop their attacks on the Republic worlds and avenge the innocents and soldiers who died defying them. He had told her that he had even asked Atris to join them, but she refused him and they parted from each other, and not on good terms. Jesse then said that he didn't feel anger for Atris, as he had learned just how dangerous it was, though he did feel betrayed at some point after she and his former Jedi Master, Master Kavar stood by the Council and exiled him. He admitted that the time he spent in exile was worth it as he had time to think and reflect, though he would not change his stance on his participation in the War. In that regard, he admitted that even if it had been nearly ten years, he still considered Atris as beautiful as he had known her, though colder now, different from the kinder and hard working woman he had somewhat a crush on when he was still a younger man.

She apologized for making him remember those things, but he smiled at her and told her that it was all right…plus he commented on how beautiful she was as well…making her blush at that regard. This told her that despite her oath to Atris…and her family past…she was developing deeper feelings for Jesse.

This truth was brought forward to her as Visas Marr came on the ship. She had been among the other members of the crew working on some important matters when the Sith had entered the Ebon Hawk to capture Jesse for her master, the Sith Lord Nihilus. She had been incapacitated with the others as Jesse came in and fought with the Miraluka. She was freed from the state of Stasis after Jesse had managed to best Visas and rushed to help the Exile, she and the crew were stunned to see that instead of killing her quickly, Jesse spared Visas and took her to the Medical Bay for treatment. She was the first and no doubt the most vocal in saying that keeping Visas with them was a danger. She argued that since the Miraluka was a Dark Jedi, she would lure the Sith to them on their mission, and there was some truth to that…however, in her own private mind, she was somewhat jealous of the fact that Visas had sworn to protect Jesse with her life and to be by her side, and the fact that Jesse readily welcomed the Miraluka woman was not helping matters. In her passionate anger…and jealousy, she confronted Visas and fought with her, however, Visas bested her and then told her that her only desire was to protect the Exile and she then learned that the redeemed Miraluka saw something in Jesse that even she could not…owing to the fact that her species could see through the Force. The two of them talked and it was there that Visas told her of her own feelings towards Jesse as well as the feelings she herself had for the Jedi, namely when Visas asked her to describe Jesse to her. Despite the decrease of animosity between them…she was still rather wary of the Miraluka woman as she could tell from Visas' own body language…there was more to it than just a desire to protect Jesse.

In time, Jesse had earned enough of her trust for her to tell him her past…namely on her parents, who were Yusanis, Grand Master of the Echani, and a woman who was not his wife and mother of her half sisters. She told him that the way he carried his burdens reminded her greatly of how her father had been when he had that affair with her mother, which was why she was different from her sisters in some degrees, another topic that mystified Jesse when they met before.

She then told him of how he had gone alongside her to the Wars and when her mother had died, he came back broken and put aside the weapons he wielded and entered the political arena. And she told him about her father's death by hands of Revan as he had fought the former Jedi Knight in retaliation for the death of an Echani Senator. She did not blame her father for his actions, but his choice as Yusanis was married before having affair with Arren Kae and had left with her to fight. She then asked him never to speak of this to the others and he honored that wish.

She then asked him if there were instances like those of her parents…where Jedi would leave the Order out of love for another. He had been tempted to tell a joke about something he heard about years before, but decided not to and told her that there had been situations like that in the Order's history that he knew of…namely the relationship between Revan and Bastila, and even that of Jolee and Nayama Bindo, though he never had experienced them to that degree…but he told her that denying emotions and feelings was the same as denying that you are alive, which in a sense was worse, and in truth he did tell her that according to his knowledge…Jedi were not always celibate as most outside of the Order would believe, and despite the fact that some Jedi were indeed celibate due to them saying sex was an indulgence, there were those in the Order that did father children or give birth to them, and there were even Jedi families as well. It was just that due to the battles with Exar Kun that the Jedi Council began to forbid marriage in order to avoid the fall of so many Jedi, along with the tragic story of Ulic and Cay Qel Droma. She nodded at that and admitted that it was understandable that the Jedi would not allow marriage, but she agreed with Jesse about the danger of denying how you felt within as well. Though she never breathed a word of her own feelings towards him as she was not sure how he would take it, unlike Visas who wholeheartedly showed her devotion to Jesse, she was still not sure that she was ready to do the same as the Miraluka Jedi and now former Sith.

She had even asked advice from one of the crew, namely Mira when the bounty hunter had joined their ranks after helping them rescue Jesse from Goto on Nar Shaddaa and finding Jedi master Zez-Kai Ell. The red-haired bounty hunter and former Mandalorian was certainly different on how she would catch a man and Brianna admitted that it sounded more like she was hunting men rather than getting to know them. Regardless, she and Mira were friends.

During the time she had been training together with Jesse, she had to follow the traditions of her martial art, though she had some ulterior motives as she fought him in her own under-garments and that did have an effect on Jesse. She had reasoned that being in those articles of clothing would test Jesse if he was distracted, but that didn't work all that well as she had felt happy to see him gazing at her at times. Atton had brought that up at one point, telling her that he had seen her doing those things on Jesse and warned her not to try anything funny and that the Ebon Hawk was no pleasure yacht for her. She considered him a fool despite knowing that he was a trained fighter in the same arts of her people's fighting style.

On their final sparring match, it was there that Jesse challenged her belief that clothing was a hindrance. He told her that with clothes on, it would make it a more suitable test of her skills, she didn't see any flaw in the logic and took out more suitable clothes to test her skills in. However, those same clothes were those of her mother, and they were the clothes of a Jedi. That was when Jesse asked if she knew that her mother was Jedi Master Arren Kae a famed hero of the Mandalorian Wars years before. When she said yes, he told her that she would then be able to use the Force and could use it to help others, just as he did, along with her mother. At first she was reluctant to betray her oath to both her sisters and to Atris as she had sworn to never learn about the ways of the Force…but her trust and affections for Jesse won her over and she asked to be trained by the Jedi Weapon Master. Although Jesse was somewhat reluctant, she had told him that she would not accept any other teacher but him…and in that, he accepted to train her. And in time, he told her that her skill as a Jedi Guardian, the same as him was very considerable indeed and she combined her newly learned Force talents, and Jedi combat skills with the lightsaber with her own Echani training…becoming very powerful in her own right. She helped lead the strike team of herself, Mira, and Visas on Dxun while Jesse, Kreia, and Mandalore led the strike on Onderon.

She had accompanied them to Dantooine to meet the other re-united Jedi Masters, but Kreia revealed her Sith nature there and then as she stopped the Jedi Masters from cutting off Jesse's connection to the Force after they told him the truth of what had happened both at his trial and at Malachor and why he survived while so many others died. The Sith Lord then slew the Jedi Masters and allowed her to believe that Jesse was dead as well. Her passions, emotions, and feelings got the better of her as she took the Sith Lord prisoner and went back to Telos to make sure that Kreia would stand trial for the deaths of the Jedi Masters…and of her beloved. She had wanted to tell him her true name then, but her mistaken belief that he was dead made her unable to do so. The same anger also blinded her to the fact that Kreia or rather Darth Traya had allowed Atris to fall to her own darkness and twist her sisters against her. As she walked in and tried to reason with them all, Mari, Kalina, Alema, Sani, and Claria then called her a traitor to them and Atris and considered her crime as worthy of execution. Despite her attempts to reason with her sisters, it was too late, and she was forced to fight them with her double lightsaber, the one she carried now. She showed to them that she was now no longer the `Last of the Handmaidens' and defeated them all in combat though it pained her to have to do this to her own kin. It was then that she faced Atris who was now corrupted by the Dark Side.

Despite her skills and newly found talents, it didn't take long for her to be beaten by the veteran Jedi as Atris had much training, more than she did in the art of lightsaber combat and the knowledge she had gained from the Sith holocrons that she had kept hidden in her chambers. Atris then ended the fight with a powerful blast of Force Lightning…injuring her gravely and the Dark Jedi continued her assault on her and in anger accused her of looking at Jesse with love and acceptance. She and Atris then turned to see none other than Jesse Harvern…alive! Before she could do anything her pain overwhelmed her as her former mistress blasted her with a strike of Force Lightning, and knocked her out, she would have died had she not remembered Jesse's lesson on using the Force to heal her injuries and keep her conscious, and afterwards, she had a reunion with him after he defeated and spared Atris to take the path of redemption. It was there that she finally told him her real name and he smiled warmly at her for telling it to him, and there, afterwards, she swore to fight beside him, and to protect him from anyone who would try to harm him…very much in the same manner that Visas did when Jesse had bested her and freed her from her former Master's grasp. Their alliance held firm as they battled the Sith on Telos, and it was there…after Jesse had healed her that she and Atris worked together to ensure the safety of the space station while Jesse, Mandalore, and Visas went with the other Mandalorians to take out the Ravager, Darth Nihilus' personal command ship. It was there that they managed to patch up their differences as well, and it was there that Brianna forgave Atris and Atris promised never to follow the path of the Dark Side ever again.

It was after Jesse had returned to Telos after the battle that they went to Malachor 5, many of them were injured there and had barely managed to free the Ebon hawk after it crashed and rescued both Mira and Jesse after they each fought their own enemies. Mira finally defeated and spared her Wookiee enemy Hanharr, and Jesse had defeated both Darth Sion and then Darth Traya herself, his injuries had been considerable and it made her worry greatly about his state of mind after all that he had endured in the Trayus Core, the very heart of the Academy on Malachor established by Revan in his time as a Sith Lord.

He then spent time to rest and while the others reveled in their victories…only she, Visas and Atton knew that something deeply troubled their leader, teacher, and close friend. Both of them encouraged her to find out the answers and she visited him in the same room that he, Atton and Kreia had stayed in before. It was there that Jesse told her about his plans. He planned to leave behind his holocrons messages to the others, concerning his wish for them to do whatever they could to keep the Republic safe and rebuild the Jedi Order, and his orders for them to remain behind as he planned to meet up with Revan to help him fight the True Sith out there in the Unknown Regions…including her.

Brianna was stunned and tried desperately to argue with him, that he was better off helping the Republic by being here than wandering off into the Unknown Regions by himself. Jesse however was adamant in his decision and she knew that she could not dissuade him…until she told him that she was in love with him and didn't want him to leave, and she even begged him to at least let her come with him. Jesse smiled sadly and before she could do anything, he kissed her deeply…making her blush as she finally kissed him back, with every fiber of her being… after their kiss, they broke away and he then sighed once more and thanked her for telling her the feelings she had in her heart and her wish to fight beside him against the True Sith…but he refused her offer, he loved her as well…from the very moment they met in the Academy, but couldn't handle the thought of her dying out there in the Unknown Regions. He wanted her to remain and prepare for the worst and he had asked Atris to retake her position as Master and teach them all the other aspects of being Jedi…to rebuild the Order and keep the Republic safe. She tried once more to reason with him, and he replied that another reason he wanted them to remain behind was that they were important to him, they were his friends, allies, and in a sense, family…but she was the most valuable and most precious to him because he loved her. As long as he knew that she was safe and free from harm, he would do everything he could to come back to her.

Brianna cried and then made him stay with her for as long as he could afford…and it was then that she asked him to at least show him how much he did love her. She giggled a bit at his look of surprise and shock…apparently not expecting this to happen between them so suddenly, but she was not going to be refused this chance…and he relented.

The Echani Jedi blushed once more as she recalled their night together, and it made her wonder if the joy, and happiness she had felt that night was the same that her parents felt when they themselves did this act together. She smiled at Jesse as she and him went to sleep. And the next day…she woke up and saw that he had left, but not before leaving her a necklace that had a fragment of his own personal crystal, as a promise that he would return to her.

Brianna sighed and finished her meditation and thought to herself once more.

<Will I ever see him again? Please come back, I miss you…>

It was then that Atris came into the room with a smile on her face. Brianna wondered what was going on as she sat off the bench and walked over to her Master.

“Master Atris…what is going on?”

“I have news Brianna…the Ebon Hawk is back…I have received word from Admiral Carth Onasi that the Ebon Hawk has returned from the Unknown Regions…Revan and Jesse are onboard…they are here.”

Brianna's eyes widened as she gasped at the meaning of it and she felt her heart race at the thought. She managed to regain her wits and spoke as calmly as she could manage.

“Is that…true…they have returned?!”

“Yes. The message from the Admiral is only half a standard hour old. The Admiral states that we are to meet them all on Coruscant, as Revan and Jesse have asked him to contact the others. I have already called in a shuttle to pick us up now. Will you be ready soon?”

“I am prepared to leave, I just have to take care of something.”

Atris smiled at the joy on her student's face.

“I will be waiting for you in the Hanger Bay…I also made sure to contact Bao-Dur and he has informed me that he will be on the shuttle as well.”

Brianna nodded and made her way to her chambers. It was when she went into the room to change into her mother's robes that she saw the necklace Jesse had given her. The fragment of the crystal that belonged to her beloved Jedi Weapon Master glowed brightly, telling her that he was indeed coming home. As she took the necklace and held it close to her she then tried to reach out with the Force to feel her beloved, while using the fragment to guide her thoughts. Jesse did tell her that they had a Force Bond and it was time to see if she could speak to him.

As she did so…she felt a warm presence surround her and sure enough, it was then that she heard Jesse' voice in her head.

< “It's nice to hear you're voice again Brianna…”>

< “Jesse…you really are back! Please tell me you won't leave again!!!”>

< “I won't…I swear it to you…There's so much I want to say to you, but we can only do it when we're face to face. I will see you on Coruscant until then my beloved.”>

< “I will be there…you have my word!”>

With that, Brianna put on the necklace and made her way to the Hanger and as soon as she was beside Atris, the planetary shuttle, provided by the Ithorians herd and their leader, Chodo Habat on Telos arrived. And as the ramp opened, there was Bao-Dur with a wide smile on his face, he was overjoyed at the news of the return of his General, and was given permission to go there to Coruscant as well.

The two women boarded the shuttle and were now on their way to secure safe transport to Coruscant to meet up with the others, and they wondered if their comrades and those of Revan had gotten the same message they did.

**************

On Nar Shaddaa…

“Well now…this is great news indeed.”

Mira replied as she read over the data that was coming from her communicator. The former bounty hunter and now Jedi Sentinel was happy to know that Jesse had returned ever since he had gone off into the Unknown Regions to find Revan. He had done a lot for her, and she admitted that she was happy that he was back from the adventures he no doubt had been in with his former commander. She had been very much offended that he had gone off and left them all behind to help Revan. He however had given them orders, very important ones, and hers was very important. And that was to find any Force Sensitive children and have them brought in for training with the consent of their parents, if they were still alive today.

The former Bounty Hunter was happy that things were about to get a lot more entertaining and more interesting now that Jesse was back, she was very thankful for the Jedi Weapon Master had been able to open her up to the Force and this was something she soon got used to. It would also be nice to finally see some old faces once more around her. Plus, she was wondering if Brianna was going to follow her advice, and that was to get some neural disruptors and restraints to make sure Jesse was not going to get away from her again, no way was she going to miss this! With that in mind she got a special pass from the docking authority to take her ship, the Red Shadow and head off to Coruscant…GOTO could always pick up the bill for her.

**************

On Manaan…

“Never thought I'd see the day he'd show up again. I wonder what sort of mess is our fearless leader going to drag us all into this time?”

Atton Rand said with a sarcastic but happy tone and a smile as he was given the data pad containing the information on Jesse's return from the Unknown Regions. The former Scoundrel, Sith Assassin, and now Jedi Sentinel was on his job of keeping an eye on the flow of kolto for the Republic and also for the people who needed it the most. He had been busy keeping with his contacts with the seedier elements in the universe and was able to locate and deal with a rogue band of smugglers who were gathering kolto shipments for a bogus company who were aligned with the Sith. He put a stop to that with the aid of the Selkath and the Republic and managed to avoid being found out by the other smugglers and the Sith. But now to learn that his master had returned as something of great interest for the Jedi Sentinel.

If it hadn't been for Jesse, he would have never been able to make peace with the things he did when he was still part of the Sith and be able to learn about the Force…in all honesty, he began to understand how painful it must have been for Jesse to have the Force severed from him like that. But he put that aside as he boarded the next freighter bound for Coruscant.

**************

On Dxun…

“Hah…well, this will be an interesting day…Kelborn! Get into the command center immediately!”

Canderous Ordo, or rather, Mandalore said to the comm. system on the Mandalorian Base on Dxun, the Demon Moon as it was known to the residents back on Onderon. The Mandalorians had been able to keep out of sight from the people of Onderon and thankfully no one was ready to declare war on the slowly growing number of Mandalorians here on the jungle moon. He had been told by Revan to reform the Mandalorians and be ready for anything, and now that Revan was back, he was going to be very pleased with seeing his employer…and friend once more. To finally meet the only Jedi he ever respected and considered to be the ultimate warrior, and the Jedi Knight who helped him reunite his scattered people and gave them glory in battle was the best day of his life and he was not going to miss it.”

“Yes Mandalore?”

Kelborn said as he entered the command center, the Mandalorian Scout was among the few Mandalorians apart from Kex, Zuka, and Bralor that Canderous trusted….not that his other Mandalorians are weak and traitorous, but one never gets to be Mandalore without being careful of alliances. But the Mandalorian Clan Leader put that aside and gave his orders to Kelborn.

“I'll leave you in charge of the Base…I have some very important matters to deal with on Coruscant, tell Kex and Zuka to get the shuttle ready for travel.”

“At once Mandalore!”

**************

On Katarr…

Visas Marr was busy with her work on re-populating the world that she grew up on when she was younger with the new settlers of her people. After her visit on the desolate world of Katarr…she vowed to herself that her world would be restored and it would be filled with life once more for the memory and honor of all who died that fateful day. The Republic had recovered to a point that they re-terraformed the once dead world and the spark of life was back on that world. Visas had naturally been placed in charge of the operation under Jesse's personal recommendation and the Miraluka Jedi was happy for that.

Now that she was told that the Exile …Jesse was returning back to the Republic, safe and alive made her very happy indeed, she had much to tell him and much to show him as her world was reborn and life and the Force filled it once more. She wondered how she was doing and if he was finally at peace.

She spoke to the others that she personally picked for the resettlement of Katarr and decided to take the next shuttle straight back to Coruscant to see her closest friend and brother.

**************

On Kashyyyk…

“Well now…cover me in bantha poodoo and call me a tach's uncle…”

Jolee Bindo was smiling as he read the incoming message from his data-console. He had taken a vacation from the Council for the time being and had returned back to Kashyyyk to see his comrades Zaalbar and Mission, the Twi'lek was also coming along to visit her long time friend. Due to the elderly Jedi and the Rutian Twi'lek's respective involvement in removing Chuundar from power and reinstating Freyyr and Zaalbar as leaders of the village, they were among the members of Revan's crew and Revan himself who were welcomed to Kashyyyk by the Wookiees. He was surprised to be getting a message from Carth since he had told the admiral that only under special circumstances was he to be called…but being told that Revan had returned to the Republic alive and safe was certainly cause for him to be happy.

“What's up Jolee?”

The elderly Jedi turned to see Zaalbar and Mission coming towards him and he smirked. He knew for a fact that Mission looked up to Revan as a big brother, and the elder Jedi Knight proved to be more of a brother figure for the young teen Twi'lek then her real brother Griff, though the two Vao siblings had managed to patch things up between them. The Jedi also knew that his companion Zaalbar owed the former Sith Lord and redeemed Jedi Knight a great deal…not only was his world freed from slavers, but his traitorous brother was removed and the taint of betrayal was wiped clean from his family and things were set to right.

Jolee showed them the data-pad and Mission squealed with delight as Zaalbar roared in happiness to finally getting the chance to see Revan again. And the Twi'lek turned to being the happy and joyful young woman that she was as she realized that Revan was coming back into the scene. It didn't take very long for Zaalbar to get permission to leave Kashyyyk from his father and the same could be said for Mission and Jolee.

**************

On Cathar…

Juhani was busy working on the restoration of her war ravaged world and at this point was overseeing the recovery of the planet's bio-system. Cathar had been reclaimed and was now made into a member worlds of the Republic and like Telos was being repopulated by the Cathar who left it after the devastating attack of the Mandalorians on their world. Juhani was happy to finally be the one, along with only a handful of fellow Cathar and chosen officials to help in it's rebirth into a world where life existed.

The Jedi Knight felt great peace in herself as she worked in the restoration of her world and she had a lot to thank Revan for all of his help in her life. It was then that her communicator activated, using a special code that only she and the others in the Ebon Hawk's crew knew of. As she looked at the message, she gave a warm smile.

“So…you have returned after all.”

Juhani was pleased to learn that Revan had indeed returned back from the Unknown Regions and that was a very good sign in her mind as she had hoped that he was safe and in good hands when he had taken his leave from them all a very long time ago. The fact that he was coming back was a good sign to her and was worth taking the time off the project.

With that in mind, the Cathar Jedi talked to her colleagues and when they agreed to let her go, she took the personal shuttle and made her way to the Coruscant system.

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On Coruscant…

The assembled crews of the Ebon Hawk were all there and waiting, Bastila, Carth, Juhani, Mandalore/Canderous Ordo, Mission, Jolee, and Zaalbar made the first crew along with Dustil, while Atris, Brianna, Atton, Mira, Visas, and Bao-Dur made the second crew. And along with them was Master Vandar as well, who was happy to sense Revan's Force Aura as well. They all watched as the Ebon Hawk managed to make it to the landing pad, despite the still battered condition of the Ebon Hawk, the crews both remembered the adventures they all had on the ship that was now arriving.

As the Ebon Hawk landed on the landing pad and the ramp went down, they all watched intently and out of the Ebon Hawk's ramp came two easily recognizable faces and forms. One was T3-M4 as the little astrogation droid came down, and the second was the form of HK-47, the assassin droid was still carrying the Charric Rifle and when the droids spotted that the crews were all there, the little droid sent out a signal and sure enough, out came two individuals.

Bastila felt her legs become weak as she felt the Force Aura of her husband near her, and this time, it was moving deeply in the Light Side of the Force in the way that she knew and loved. She looked and saw Revan as he traveled down the ramps with a slight limp, but otherwise fine…his visage softened greatly as he saw her again.

Brianna also felt like she was going to faint as she felt the Force Aura of her beloved near her once more…and it was seeped deeply in the Light Side, the same way she remembered him to be when they first met. She saw Jesse look at her and smile the same honest, slightly goofy, but loving smile that she loved the most, and his own visage softened greatly at seeing her again.

Both women wasted little to no time to great their loved ones and rushed towards them. Bastila hugged Revan, nearly knocking the Jedi Knight over as she hugged him, unmindful on the others watching, and before Revan could even greet her, she kissed him right on the lips, the Jedi Knight didn't protest as he missed Bastila and he kissed her back with the same passion as she was kissing him with. Brianna likewise rushed into Jesse and hugged him strongly and sobbed on his Zeison Sha Warrior Armor, the Jedi General and former Exile hugged Brianna and kissed her once she looked at him and the two held each other once more…happy to be together after quite a long time.

Carth was laughing, while Canderous, with his Mandalore helm off couldn't help but sigh and shake his head at the sight while chuckling, Mission was giving them the face and told Revan and Bastila to quit making out in public and get a room with Dustil calming her down, while Zaalbar was more supportive of the whole affair, Juhani coughed a bit and recited the Jedi Code while trying not to laugh as well, Jolee however was smiling widely and was trying not to laugh as well. Atton gave a lewd comment, for which he got both elbows in the chest from Mira and Visas, both the female Mandalorian and the Miraluka smirking as well…while Atris smiled at how happy Brianna was, and Bao-Dur cheering his General on.

The droids also joined in as T3-M4 gave a series of happy chirps and whistles…while HK on the other hand muttered darkly about human meat-bag mating rituals and his worst thought…human affection.

Master Vandar coughed a bit…making the two couples realize that the place they were in was not exactly the kind of place for such intimacy. That and the fact that a Jedi Master was before them made them blush and feel embarrassed. Revan was the first to speak to the diminutive Jedi Master.

“I…sorry Master Vandar, I didn't know you were…”

“All right it is young Knight Revan…Deep affection between you and Bastila I have long suspected. There is no need to hide it from me.”

The diminutive Jedi Master then bowed before Brianna and Jesse, both were also somewhat embarrassed by the displays of affection they gave, but the Jedi Master merely let it slide instead. It was then that the other crew all moved forward and congratulated the return of their long lost friends.

Carth and Revan shook hands and laughed at the things that happened, while Canderous and Revan greeted each other in Mando'a, the language of the Mandalorians, which Revan had learned as he and Bastila had been married in a Mandalorian ceremony as well, Mission rushed in and hugged Revan smiling and laughing all the while as Revan was happy to see his adopted sister once more. Juhani and Revan spoke with respect to one another, while Jolee and Revan began to joke and needle each other, and Zaalbar…as Wookiees do, hugged Revan nearly chocking the Jedi Knight who laughed a bit as he hugged Zaalbar back.

Jesse and Atton shook hands and they began to talk about the past adventures and Atton jokingly asking when he and Brianna were going to tie the knot, that naturally made Jesse and Brianna blush, while Mira and Visas chided Atton for asking such a personal question of the couple, while they also greeted their master and friend. Jesse and Bao-Dur then shook each other's hand and hugged one another in greeting. Canderous and Jesse also greeted each other as the Mandalore and the Jedi General had some history…after all, Jesse was another Jedi who gained respect from the Mandalore having been the commander of the fleet above Malachor 5 who crushed their forces. Atris then stepped forward and both Jesse and the reinstated Jedi Historian shook hands once more, though there was a great deal of history between the two of them, they were still close and it was good for Atris to see the man she once loved and cared for…and still did.

Master Vandar then greeted both Jesse and Brianna who were still in their embrace and it made the diminutive Jedi Master smile a little as he watched them, after all…before this all happened, he had a hand in training Jesse Harvern himself many years ago when the Jedi Exile/General was still a youngling. He then noted something else…another Force presence, and it was growing rapidly, he was not the only one as the Jedi members of the two crew of the Ebon Hawk sensed the Force Aura as well. Jolee was the very first to comment on this sudden sensation as the elderly Jedi looked at Revan for an explanation to this sudden occurrence.

“Did you happen to bring anyone or anything with Force Sensitivity onboard the ship sonny?”

Revan nodded as he turned and then spoke in a language that none of the others knew. And this was none other than the language of Ranma's country of origin, Nippon go, or otherwise known as Japanese.

“Ranma, it's time to come on out.”

The others then looked on as another voice came from the Ebon Hawk, who also spoke the strange alien language that none of them seemed to know. However, the voice seemed to belong to a young child, and from the tone and pitch, they could tell that it was a male child. Only Revan and Jesse understood the language, along with T3-M4 and HK-47. The Jedi General then spoke to the voice in reply to what appeared to be some sort of question.

“It's all right Ranma…they are good people, you don't have to be afraid.”

It didn't take very long for the rest of the two crews of the Ebon Hawk to finally see just who was onboard the Ebon Hawk. It appeared to be a human child, around five or six years of age with black hair that was tied in a pig-tail, and deep blue eyes. The little child looked about in awe as he looked at the massive structures of Coruscant, and naturally, the Jedi temple as well. The young child then looked towards the others.

Ranma remembered his manners and ever since he had been awakened to the Force, she could sense the power coming out from the many people before him and he was in awe at that much Force potential, especially when he looked at Jedi Master Vandar Tokare. The Jedi Master resembled a small gremlin in his eyes, but he couldn't deny the power that was coming off the Jedi Master.

Revan then spoke to Ranma in Galactic Basic.

“Ranma…why don't you introduce yourself?”

The dark haired boy recalled his mother's training in manners and social interaction and despite still not being used to such things…he did so and bowed before the assembled Jedi and their non-Jedi comrades and spoke to them in Galactic Basic as well.

“Hello there…my name is Ranma Saotome.”

The crews of the Ebon Hawk, including Bastila and Brianna then looked at both Revan and Jesse, they all wanted some form of explanation as to what this youngster was doing on the Ebon Hawk, who he was, and why did the two Jedi bring him along from the Unknown Regions. The Jedi among them however could sense the Force in the young boy…growing by the second and it seemed to only get stronger and stronger.

Revan and Jesse knew that today was going to be a very long day as they would have to explain not just why they left for the Unknown Regions, but why Ranma was with them as well. In the meantime, the two Jedi decided to let Ranma meet their comrades who they had worked with for many years.

As Ranma met the crew and saw the glittering city planet known as Coruscant…he realized that what Revan and Jesse had said to him and his mother back on Earth was very much true…he was about to take his very first steps into a much larger world…and in this case…a much larger universe. He hoped that he could truly become a good Jedi Knight… someone his mother would be proud of and call her son. He then prayed to Kami-sama that he would be able to prove himself worthy of not just his mother's trust in letting him train, but for Revan and Jesse giving him this chance to become a Jedi Knight.

He was about to enter a new world and see things that anyone on his world would have been stunned to see in their life-times

**************

To be continued…

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(*) - This is just a take on how come Carth acts like he does if you play the game, even more so if you were playing a female Revan…and also, I wondered just what Carth's wife was like.

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KOTOR Terms:

Kashyyyk - Known as the home world of the Wookiee people, Kashyyyk is known as one of the most densely covered worlds in the Known Galaxy, and apart from it's Wookiee residents, the planet hosts many other rare animals, namely a small population of the Jedi Killer beasts that terentateks, various bantha species, tachs, along with many others including the katarn predators. This world was once part of the Rakatan Infinite Empire and used as an agricultural world, however, with the collapse of the Infinite Empire, the terra-forming devices were unattended and before they finally ceased functioning or powered down, they had been able to influence the planet's growth, resulting in the massive trees and foliage that covered the world.

The world was then invaded by Czerka Corporation, they then began to use Wookiees as slave labor, with the aid of a traitor Wookiee named Chuundar, brother of Zaalbar and son of Chieftain Freyyr. Zaalbar was exiled by Freyyr for attacking his brother with his claws when he found out about his brother's dealings with Czerka, labeling Zaalbar as a mad claw. Upon Revan's arrival to the planet, he and the rest of the crew aided in finding Freyyr and helped recover Bacca's Ceremonial Sword, a powerful heirloom to the Wookiees. This led to a rebellion against Czerka led by Zaalbar and Freyyr, forcing Czerka to leave Kashyyyk and led to the death of Chuundar, and the lifting of Zaalbar's mad claw status. Revan and his crew were now known to the only band of outsiders welcomed in Kashyyyk ever since.

Wookiee - The Wookiees, or known in their tongue as the People of the Trees are strong and powerful race who live in tree villages in Kashyyyk. They are a society that adhere to many rules, and the most striking of all is the rule that forbids the use of their claws as weapons in battle, any Wookiee that violates this rule are known as mad claws, beings without honor and are exiled from Kashyyyk. Standing two meters in height, and covered in thick coats of brown fur, though albino Wookiees are born on occasion. Wookiees are considered odd by new comers and strangers, and those who are familiar with their race know them well. They understand Galactic Basic but due to their vocal structure, they cannot speak it, the Wookiees are exceptionally intelligent despite their bestial appearances, they have also mastered space travel, and are quite adept in mechanical repairs. They also possess amazing strength, stamina, and recuperative powers and can live up to 600 hundred years. Their young can already be fully grown in one standard year after birth, making them a very hard species.

Wookiees are short tempered on occasion and combining their massive strength, rumors of Wookiees being able to rip arms off a foe with their bare hands are common. Despite the truth in some of these statements, Wookiees are generally affectionate and gentle beings, their anger only coming out should they be in danger, their friends and family are in danger, and they need to fight.

One notable trait in Wookiee culture is the life debt, when a Wookiee swears a life debt to someone, he/she vows to serve, aid, and protect that person as long as he/she lives. Thus it is a swearing of life time service to someone. Revan himself has a life debt to Zaalbar, after saving him from slavers and even more so for helping him regain his place in his village and freeing Kashyyyk from Czerka.

Despite their gentle and affectionate nature, Wookiees are recognized as fearless and deadly fighters, wielding very deadly weapons in combat, and discarding blasters and grenades, they use their own weapons such as the ryyk blade, ryyk kerarthorr, and the bow caster, along with other signature weapons and armor of Wookiee design, these weapons and armor are know by only used by Wookiees, showing their own unique way of fighting. They also are able to use a unique form of martial arts, which rely on their strength and power, and as such, only Wookiees can truly use that fighting style.

Hyperdrive - This device is known to exist in many ship classes, the exception being fighter types, unless they had supporting hyper drive systems. A hyperdrive is essentially a very powerful engine system that can create a warp in hyperspace and real space. This allowed ships to literally `jump' the distance between one sector of space, to the next. The process of entering hyperspace is when the hyperdrive boosters would provide enough energy to allow the ionization chamber to begin ignition of the radiation created by the ship's fusion reactor. The released radiation will create ripples in the time-space matrix and propel the ship to ride those said ripples to enter hyperspace.

To protect the passengers, the ship itself, cargo, and crew from being crushed by the tremendous force of the acceleration caused by a hyperspace jump, all ships are armed with built in inertia dampeners. And to further protect the ship, crew, and cargo, every ship has a built in quantum field generator to stabilize the ship and prevent it from entering an alternate dimension accidentally. All ships are then required to use particle shields to protect them from interstellar gas pockets and dark matter particles. There are also built in stasis fields that help keep the ship and crew in real time with the time flow of dimensional space outside of hyperspace.

Special technology is used to decelerate a ship once it has arrived to it's destination, the wake rotation in real space and the radiation created by the ship's exit from hyperspace acts as a beacon to both nearby ships and planetary docking authorities. All ships are armed with failsafe features and technologies to prevent disasters in hyperspace traveling ships, to prevent them being ripped apart, and/or overheating of the hyperdrive. As a rule, a ship must be away from the gravitational influence of a celestial body (star, planet) to safely initiate it's jump into hyperspace.

Although other species have created workable hyperdrive system…the true users of the technology for interstellar travel were known to be the Rakata in the height of their Infinite Empire, using technology fueled by the Dark Side of the Force. After the fall of the Infinite Empire, it was only after 200 years did several species including humans discover how to make hyperdrive systems that did not use the Force. Though it was only during the Expansionist Era of the Known Galaxy that hyperdrive systems spread throughout the Known Galaxy, resulting in both brutal wars known as the Hyperspace Wars…and times of tremendous economic prosperity for various systems, as such, hyperdrive systems, while becoming more common is part of the reason for the growth of inter-galactic prosperity.

Zabrak - The Zabrak are one of the first space faring races in the Know Galaxy during the early days of the Republic. They are Human in form though they have vestigial horns that grow on their heads at puberty which also come in various forms. They also have special faint tattoos on their faces that are known as symbols in their rites of passage, their family line, place of birth, or their personality traits. The Zabrak of both sub-species and male of female also have other defining traits such as having different skin tones than humans, such as peach white, tan, yellow, red, black and brown, along with that is that they have different eye color pigmentations that Humans lack such as red, violet, yellow, and oranges. They also do not grow facial hair along with eye-brows, eye-lashes. The Zabrak are also known for not just having one heart, but two hearts that work in unison to supply blood to their limbs and major organs. If one heart was affected by arrhythmia, the other heart would fibrillate, which would lead to death quickly if not treated, this is due to the fact the blood flow will stop as both hearts would now be working against each other.

Personality wise…the Zabrak are known to be very independent, single minded due to have a strong sense of self assuredness, high confidence in their own talents and to deal with whatever difficulties they encounter, competitive, and more. As individuals, Zabrak are also known to work hard to excel in every field they venture into, and take a great sense of pride in the achievements of their race and as individuals to the point of arrogance, as warriors and adventurers, they are dedicated, intense, and focused. The Zabrak of the colony world of Iridonia are excellent warriors and are more war-like due to the intense terrain of their chosen world and therefore have a very physical form of martial arts to reflect that situation, and is a requirement for all Zabrak children, whether male or female to learn, thus, they are known to be among the best hand to hand combatants and weapon smiths in the Known Galaxy. All Zabrak from any of their colonies share the same drive for excellence, thus it's not surprising that they are regarded as experts in many fields, ranging from medicine to entertainment as well as warfare and engineering.

It is also known that their race are able to have Force Sensitive offspring and the Zabrak of Iridonia are known to have ancient ties to the Sith Empire as mercenaries. Though there have been those of their race who served as Jedi as well, there were also those who fell to the Dark Side to serve the Sith as warriors and even Sith Lords.

Echani - The Echani are a warrior culture who were Near Humans, they were physically similar to base Humans in the Known Galaxy, but were very much different as they had silver hair and silver eyes and had better reflexes than stock humans, they were also more willful and determined, though this was due to their culture of study and hard training rather than any biological or racial aspect.

They were the race that helped give rise to the Sun Guard on the planet Thyrsus, and were known to have a strong rivalry with the Mandalorians, yet another warrior culture…however, the two sides did have noticeable differences. While the Mandalorians relied on brute strength, firepower, and force in their martial arts weapons, armor, and combat style, the Echani favored light weapons, and armor, due to their use of agility, speed, evasion, and precision.

Women played a key role in their society as well as that of the Mandalorians, whose women were trained to be as skilled, tough, resilient, and physically capable as the men of the Mandalorian clans, in order to defend their children and homes while the men were away and if they did not have children to raise…it was not surprising to find the Mandalorian women to be in the front lines along with the men. Thus it is not surprising to find Echani females who can fight as good or even better than the men of their race.

Like the Mandalorians, the Echani had fought with Revan in his time as the Dark Lord of the Sith, but had lost, namely with the death of some of their key Senators and the death of their most talented fighter Yusanis, who had faced Revan in combat. And like the Mandalorians who fought in the Mandalorian wars, they do not hold a grudge against Revan for that as they admired his combat skills.

Due to their culture's ties to combat in every aspect of their lives, many Echani Generals in the Known Galaxy were rumored to have a sixth sense on battles, being able to predict their opponent's next move, this however was due to the fact that in their culture…combat was a form of communication that was far more understandable than hours of dialogue.

Echani culture states that one way to know someone fully, then you must fight them. Thus the martial arts of the Echani was more than for self defense and if needed warfare, but a form of expression, a means of communication similar to art and music

For the Echani, it was not surprising that children born into their race with the same parents to be indistinguishable from the other. This naturally confused many outsiders who first meet the Echani as they cannot tell the differences between siblings of either male or female gender. Thus it is a very essential requirement to be able to tell each other apart through body language and movement in Echani society.

The only break in the rule was the child of Yusanis, Grand Master of the Echani and Arren Kae, Brianna Kae, who had taken the blue eyes of her birth mother and the silver hair of her father.

The Echani were also known to read emotions, feelings, and plans through body movements, especially in combat. To an Echani, combat between two people is a pure form of communication, more effective than hours of dialogue and words. This was proven true as in one instance in Galactic History, the Echani defeated the Maktites who were stunned as their vast stores of thermal weaponry were rendered useless by simple adjustments made by the Echani to their traditional light armor.

Apart from their traditional use of light armor, the Echani had a fondness for vibroswords and the double vibroblades. Their own versions of such weapons were also covered in cortosis weave to allow the weapons withstand lightsabers. They were also known to have specially crafted energy shields to survive in very deadly battles and fire fights, along with other environmental hazards. The weapons that were created by the Echani were the Echani Vibrosword, the Echani Foil, and the Echani Ritual Brand. The first weapons have seen combat on many occasions, with the Vibroswords being super cooled to maintain alignment and give an icy sting to it's foes, while the Ritual brand was a double bladed sword with heated ends that when in the hands of Echani Firedancers made them move in combat as if in a dance.

The Echani martial arts has three tiers of instruction, with the first being the most basic, and with each successful tier, the moves become more powerful complex, and dangerous, the first tier is naturally taught to children and the other two are taught to higher level practitioners.

Another trait that the Echani had (with the exception of the Sun Guard) was the fact that during sparring matches or certain battles, the Echani…both male and female, do not use heavy clothing and were known to fight wearing minimal clothing. This was due to the fact that since their fighting style relied on agility, speed, precision, and evasion, they saw anything that hampered their movements as something to be avoided.

This trait had given the Echani somewhat of a reputation…as since their genders would fight in minimal clothing, and they had different criteria of conversation topics, and naturally they at times would discuss subjects in open willingness that in most human cultures was taboo or considered private, many outsiders have mistaken Echani to have no shame whatsoever…though many of the men who see Echani women fighting in minimal clothing would not mind at all.

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That should do it…I haven't been feeling pretty good so you'll have to forgive me if I haven't updated this one in quite a while.

What will be the reactions of the Ebon Hawk crews when they learn about not just the reason why Revan and Jesse left for the Unknown Regions, but who Ranma is and what happened to him as a child…namely the time he spent with Genma?

On the next chapter, it will detail his training among the members of the Ebon Hawk crews and we'll see just how well Ranma will fare as he is being trained by the Jedi Order…and it won't be just them either.

See you on the next Chapter!