At the Jedi Temple on Tython, Ana is going to find Revan (eeee! Still exciting, even after this long!). She wants to make sure he's heard about Ilum.

He's in his room. Packing as if preparing for a trip.

"Hi, Ana," he says, sounding amused.

"Hiiii~" She bites her lip as she looks at him packing. "I... guess you heard?"

"Yep! Are you already packed yourself, or did you want to check on me first?"

"No, I came to find you."

"Aw. Thank you." He finishes folding the dark tunic he was on, then moves to give her a peck. Because aww, cute. "So I figured we'd be on the next shuttle out of here, headed for adventure, was I wrong about that?"

Heee.

"Prrrobably not-" Ana is cut off mid-giggle by both their comlinks going off. She pulls hers out and schools her face back into seriousness. A miniature Master Satele appears.

     "Good, you're both there. Please come to the Council chamber as soon as possible."

Revan similarly schools his expression to seriousness, and nods. Very seriously.

"We'll be there as soon as we can."

The comlink clicks off.

"Maybe we'll get a ship."

"We might! I can't see them telling us very seriously to stay, anyway, it's either our own ship, or bunks on someone else's."

"Let's go find out."

"Let's!"

To the Council chamber! Revan is older than all of them, so he will not look the slightest bit guilty about already having started packing to leave for the assignment they're clearly going to ask of them. He was just being efficient. And really, why wouldn't they send them, it's Ilum. What, are they going to do anything less than get the Sith off the planet as soon as possible before they disturb the attunement of the crystals there? Not likely. They're going to send the really powerful Jedi (and Revan) to squash this quickly.

That is in fact what the Council is doing. Revan and Ana and a handful of other Jedi are to pile into the fastest ship they have available and head for Ilum. The Council is conferring with Republic High Command to see what reinforcements might be allocated, but they will likely be short-handed for a while.

He supposes it was a bit much to hope for their own ship. Oh well. He finishes packing, then swings by Ana's room to see if she needs help packing, or if she would just like to take a little while to indulge in cuddles before they're shoved onto a ship with a bunch of Jedi that would Disapprove at them.

Cuddles are good! She has carved out time for cuddles by not folding anything before she put it in the bag.

Yes, that is clearly the reason why nothing in her bag is folded. No other reason. Yep. Revan will be her alibi.

Unfortunately cuddles must end eventually, because they don't want to miss their shuttle.

Alas.

They're not quite the last to show up. Everyone piles into the shuttle and off they go. They can see the ship docked to the orbital station on their approach. It is... not large.

"Cozy."

"Yeah," he agrees, amused. That's a word for it, certainly. It'll be a long, cramped trip, all of them in here.

They dock with the station and cross to their ship. There's two seats on the bridge for the pilots and just enough benches in the "lounge" for the rest.

Master Kathri and Knight Irto volunteer for the bridge, having the most experience of any present. Everyone else straps in.

"So, Revan," rasps Sen Tann through his breathmask, "did they make you a Jedi for this mission?"

"They did not! Maybe for the next one, there's always the hope."

Except they gave up offering after a while, so it's a pretty slim hope. Revan doesn't really want to be a Jedi again.

Ana nods sagely.

"You just have to show them your quality."

"I do. I'll do my very best and make them so proud," says Revan, gravely.

"That's a turn of phrase I never understood," says Jekken, flicking his lekku to the side. "'Show your quality'. How does that work?"

"Hmm, sort of like... it's hard to know how good something will be before it's tested? You can have all of the assurances in the galaxy, but you don't really know 'til you feel it in action. And since I'm a relic, I do kind of have to prove that I don't belong on a shelf."

"You are very decorative, though."

"I am, it's true. But I still don't belong on a shelf, that's what the holocron's for."

There are a few chuckles.

"We should review what we know about the situation."

"Yeah," he agrees. "I'm most worried about getting past orbit, did the Republic agree to send a fleet that would be able to cover our landing, or are we on our own?"

"Nothing they can scramble on short notice."

"Insertion's always the trickiest."

"This is a tight little ship, though. One of these got me through that mess above Duros."

     "I heard that siege was rough."

"Not as bad as Kuat, but close."

"Exciting. Well. Anyone have practice meddling with space combat with the Force? I have some, but mostly with smaller fighter craft. I don't think I'd be much good against a capital ship or cruiser or something."

"We're coming out a bit farther from the planet the normal," Irto calls back. "Longer sublight time, but stealthier."

Which will mean masking his presence early, so he interrupts his considerations of what to do if this goes wrong in favor of making sure that it won't go wrong. That is, masking his presence right now.

"Are we landing in friendly territory?"

"With any luck. I don't think the Imps brought enough to push us all the way out."

"Suppose we'll have to wait for the full tactical report."

Yeah, but that won't stop Revan from considering and re-considering how best to use the current set of resources they have available. Could he take out a cruiser with the Force if things got bad and he really had to? Hmmm...

The rest of the trip is mostly quiet, with some inconsequential chatter.

When they reenter normal space, they're not immediately greeted by the wailing of a missile lock-on alert, which is a hopeful sign. After a tense half-hour, they make it to the surface and touch down.

Ana's the first out.

"Brr. Cold planet."

"Yep. You should wear black! It absorbs more light, so you end up warmer."

"Not very stealthy, though."

"Eh. Who needs stealth when you're fabulous?"

He's not serious, and also not in black himself, he's in the lightest shade of grey she's ever seen him in. He'd probably combust immediately in something properly white.

"That's why they keep turning you down, you know. Saying that sort of stuff."

"It's not my fault the Sith have great fashion sense!"

Pffff- okay hiding giggles is no longer happening.

Revan smiles.

Okay, serious tactics time. He is a legendary ex-Sith Lord, where would be a good place for him to go and make some Sith very unhappy?

The Sith have taken control of a shrine to the east that holds a strategic position, or they could attempt to take back one of the crystal caves.

He'll go to the strategic position, the crystal caves seem like the kind of juvenile nose-rubbing the Sith tend to get caught up in. It's upsetting, the crystal caves may or may not be psychically tainted by their presence forever, but ultimately he wants to make this into a rout as quickly as possible and get them off the planet. Fussing over not letting them touch some crystals is not the way to do that. If the Sith want to essentially waste resources on crystal caves instead of actions that will actually hold the planet long-term, that's their prerogative. It's not like they don't have already access to lightsaber crystals, the resources in play here ultimately don't matter to the conflict at hand. The Sith are just throwing a hissy fit and breaking things, like they always do.

It'd be a several hour hike, or there are a couple landspeeders available for the attack. Not weaponized, but they have jury-rigged shields.

He checks to make sure that taking a landspeeder will not mess up the overall strategy (it will not), fusses with coordination and the aforementioned overall strategy for a little while to ensure that several strategic locations are hit at the same time he's causing mayhem, and then leaves to go cause the aforementioned mayhem. Ana can come too. Mayhem's a good bonding activity, and they make a good team.

Yay!

The shrine is sits on a small ridgeline running north to south. It has good visibility to either side, a direct approach would be spotted quickly. Climbing up the ridge at a different point and traveling along it would be possible, but take more time.

They'll be travelling along the ridge to maximize the surprise that they have. And be shot at less on the way there. Revan might be tempted to try something fancy if they were more than two people, but they are two people, so it's not really worth the trouble.

Can they successfully sneak up on the Sith defenses?

Turns out they can.

There's at least four Sith down there, with a handful of troops manning fixed guns.

Those troops aren't a real threat at close range, they don't look well equipped for handling Force users. The Sith Empire likes to keep the Sith on top. These are meant to slow down and distract the Jedi coming at the base, and probably die. He bets they know it, too, but what choice do they have? They either do what the Sith say and probably die, or disobey and definitely die.

Terrible way to ensure loyalty, really.

"Want to make a show of this?" he wonders to Ana, quietly.

"What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that every soldier down there has been dragged to an empty snowball of a planet to die against Jedi because the Sith told them to, and they don't want to be here. If we give them an out that lets them go home to their families, I think a lot of them would take it. Trouble is, surrendering to the Republic doesn't do that, the Empire doesn't exactly reward traitors. But what about if they surrendered to a Sith Lord?"

"I knew all that black was a bad influence on you."

"Yep. I'm a bad, bad man. Want to be my apprentice or my cavalry?"

"Considering the last time I tried to threaten a Sith, I think I'll hang back."

He nods, leans over to kiss her on the cheek, and then carefully sneaks away from her so that when he makes his grand entrance they won't be looking in her direction.

It's been a long time (and some brain rearrangement) since he was a full Sith Lord, but it's the kind of thing that's hard to forget. Like a dance he learned by heart years ago, he can still remember the steps. The walk, the presence, the aura, they're all still within his reach. He can just close his eyes and - step - forward -

- and yes, he does remember this.

Darth Revan opens his eyes, and he takes another step forward. He recalls all of the things he'd be thinking if he were the himself of long ago. He looks at the shrine's defenders, at the soldiers on their fixed guns.

Their masters were cowards that were afraid of their own men, so they cowed them into hesitation instead of promoting discipline. They won't shoot. He walks purposefully forward, igniting his crimson lightsaber to announce himself to the soldiers. A Jedi wouldn't carry a lightsaber with a blade of that color. The men on guard will notice him first, so they can watch and understand the reaction of the Sith.

If they're Sith at all, they'll stand and face me, or kneel at my feet. He lets the shield hiding his Force presence fall away. It's no longer the time to hide; quite the opposite, in fact. They will know that he's here, they will see the legend that they're facing, and whatever delusions they've trapped themselves in will fall away. They will understand that they're outmatched.

Idiots, wasting perfectly good men on a petty grudge. Under my command we'll be something better.

He steps forward, every inch a Sith Lord, and it's easy. Perhaps too easy, but it's been a long time since he claimed to be a Jedi.

Ana chews her lower lip nervously as she moves to higher ground. She trusts him, she does. But still.

The troopers snap to attention as he approaches.

The Sith plant themselves in his path, their own sabers drawn. "Identify yourself." Pride mixed with anger swirls about them, who is this fool and why has he come here like he intends to challenge them? And an undercurrent of fear- he is strong, and confident in his strength. Who is he?

Yes, that's right.

"Darth Revan." He smiles and tilts his head, eyes flashing. Certain in his clearly absurd answer, daring them to challenge it. "And you?"

"I am Lord Verain. And you are not part of this invasion. For what reason have you come?"

"I'm here to send your men home, because your invasion is stupid."

"You would defy the command of Darth Arho? You are a madman."

"Oh, probably. But I was a Sith Lord before Darth Arho was born," snorts Revan. "Are you going to stand in my way?"

"Fool."

And the Sith move to attack, two of them jumping high overhead to flank Revan.

Yeah, that's not a smart move when they're up against someone who dwarfs them in power. Being in the air means they're ever so easy to push around. Revan holds out his free hand and demonstrates this tactical mistake to them before he engages the two that were smart enough to stay on the ground.

This is going to be very one-sided.

They're competent and have clearly fought together before. But they started off underestimating him and that cost them dearly.

He probably won't even need to call Ana.

Nope. Sorry, Ana. Maybe next time.

He deactivates his lightsaber, steps casually over the bodies, then walks to the officer that looks in charge.

"Sorry about that," he says, politely. "What are your standing orders if you lose your Sith commanders?"

"We're not expected to survive that occurrence, my lord."

He resists the urge to roll his eyes. Ugh.

"All right then. Hand me your comlink? I'll confirm with your command that you've been given new orders to pull back and fortify Base Camp."

He can't actually swing 'get them home' (yet) but they'd almost certainly prefer being out of the main conflict. The Sith are the backbone of this operation, if they get rid of enough of them, the Imperial Military will be free to pull their men out of this stupid, stupid conflict.

"Yes, my lord." He hands it over.

     "Sir, you can't-"

"Shut it, private."

"Thank you." He takes the comlink, checking to make sure it's tuned to Imperial Military command, not something crazy like 'all frequencies.' Some Sith might get it into their heads to injure these men for 'defying orders,' even though they've been strong-armed into obeying any and all Sith their entire lives. Because that makes sense.

"This is Darth Revan. I'm sending a squad of men to fortify Base Camp -" he glances at the insignia on the armor, and names the corresponding squad, "- please direct any Sith that have a problem with this order to Way Station Phi." That would be the shrine he just took. "Thank you, that is all."

He tosses the comlink back.

"That's about the best I can do. Hope you get off this snowball."

"Yes, my lord." He turns to his command. "Pack it up, we're moving out!"

And with military efficiency, they bustle off.

Good, that went well.

He looks properly Sithy until they are well and truly gone -

- then drops it with a sigh, and sits. Ugh.

He probably did not actually manage to save their lives, they will probably get another stupid set of orders that will definitely get them killed. He so despises military inefficiency.

And that looks like Ana's cue to come in for the hug.

Revan appreciates Ana so much. Hug.

"Sorry," he says. "I realized after that it might be a bit, uh. Freaky. To watch me go full Sith Lord."

"A bit. But you're back now, right?"

"Never left, just looked a bit scary for a while. But yeah, I'm fine."

"That was pretty cool, though."

... He laughs, a little. "Thanks, I try."

"I guess we should report back."

"Yeah. Though I did introduce myself as Darth Revan and say that any Sith that had a problem with my order could come here and fight me over it, so. That's relevant, we might get a couple of Sith Lords eventually."

"Uh."

"If all the Sith show up to duel me, they're not busy rubbing their noses in crystal caves like cranky children. And if we kill enough of them the Sith in charge will get the message and bugger off. Granted, I will probably have to go break more things for them to care, I don't think this is enough to make anyone that isn't already paying close attention take notice. They weren't expecting to hold this spot."

"I guess we'll stick around for a while longer, then."

"Yeah. We'll comm the Jedi and let them know I'm being crazy."

"Maybe don't say the Sith thing."

"I will be the picture of innocence about the Sith thing. Unless they ask, in which case, I will tell the truth."

So they call in their success, and get some people out to help them hold the position.

No Imperial response is forthcoming.

Eh. About what he expected. Guess he'll just have to pull this trick again.

He'll be sure to wear black next time.

There are more skirmishes over the next few weeks, mostly inconclusive. The Sith are proving troublesome to dislodge. Proper Republic reinforcements arrive at about the same time as Imperial ones, so the overall balance doesn't change much. Trenches are dug, supply depots contructed, artillery emplacements erected.

And from above, the Cipher watches it all.

There's one small wrench in her plans. Apparently, someone on the invasion team was really good friends with someone in the Imperial Science Bureau, because they got sent a sample of Adegan crystal. And that scientist used the sample to construct a functional cloaking engine prototype. So now Ilum is more than a pissy Sith's pet project, it's a strategic resource and will be getting full military support. This is, to put it mildly, not good. Cloaking technology will completely change the face of the war, and not in a direction she wants to pursue. She needs to lock this down.

...It may be time to push Darth Malgus over the edge. He's a war hero, led the attack on Coruscant. Impatient with the political infighting and anti-alien prejudice he sees as weakening the Empire. Private correspondence indicates he has slowly pieced together a faction that would support him in a coup against the Dark Council. If she gives him the opportunity to seize the cloaking tech, he'd likely capitalize on the tactical advantage to enact his rebellion. With the cloak, he'd be as much of a threat to the Republic, and both sides will turn on him. Lots of opportunity in the ensuing chaos to make sure of the factory that the Imperials are currently building is destroyed, the scientists involved are assassinated, and the plans are erased.

Yeah. That'll work.

Another early morning, another briefing.

Delivered by holo, this time.

Revan hasn't been getting a ton of sleep, lately. He's been too busy, and he's Force sensitive, he can run off of less sleep than ordinary people. What's another early morning.

Where's he going this time?

"The new mining operation on the north side. We're going to see if we can't set them back a little."

"'A little.' Give me some credit, now."

"They teach us pessimism at SIS Academy. I'll trust your reputation to get you out alive. We'll see about the rest."

"All right, fair enough. Anything you want me to coordinate my timing with, or just as soon as I can make it explode into pretty colors, do so?"

"This one's all you. I'll keep an eye on their communications and guide you as best I can."

"One explosion, coming right up. Anything else I should know?"

"If you could try a little subtlety on this one, my fragile information leaks would appreciate it."

"Fine, little explosions. Surgical ones. I will attempt discretion."

"Mission freq is 83.7-esk. See you on the battlefield."

"Yep."

Off he goes. Once he's out of the meeting room, he retrieves his comlink.

"Hey, HK. How's the west side holding?"

  "Answer: Oh, it's going wonderfully! The meatbags keep putting their fragile, liquid-filled head modules right where I can see them!"

Revan snorts. That'll mean that HK-47's still busy, and while the Republic has snipers, they don't have any other droid snipers. He is uniquely equipped to help, by way of thinking from a different direction and being something the enemy (and the enemy Force users) don't expect. So that's a no, for taking HK along with him on his adventure. He's better off where he is.

"Glad to hear it. Keep up the good work."

  "Acknowledgement: Thank you, I am pleased my talents are appreciated."

"I'll be away for a while, please make sure the defenses don't fall to pieces while I'm gone. Call in before you go on a proper assassination mission, but feel free to look for good openings. And of course if any Sith's fragile, liquid-filled head module happens to be where you can see it..."

  "Acknowledgement: I look forward to the chance with giddy anticipation!"

"That's the spirit. Revan out."

He puts his comlink away, and goes to get changed into more Sithy attire, then see about transportation.

A couple hours later, he's on a little nook overlooking the mining operation, peering at it through a pair of macrobinoculars.

"All right, Legate, I'm in position. Got a clever entrance for me or should I get creative?" he murmurs.

"Hundred meters west. Drop straight down, unobserved scaffolding. Door may or may not be locked."

"On my way."

He goes where he's told like a good little field operative, taking care not to be spotted. He drops down, and tries the door. Is it locked?

Yep.

Okay. He can do this. This is his moment. Forget the Sith, forget the Empire, this is his one true nemesis. A locked door. He can defeat this enemy.

He attempts to slice the lock.

The lock remains locked.

"Let me guess: it's locked."

Fuck.

"There is important information located in the carved glyphs on this door. Give me a moment, I must study it intently to figure out what they say."

He's going to try slicing it again. He thinks he can get it this time.

Spoiler alert: he can't.

"Do you want a hint?"

"No."

C'mon, you stupid door be sliced!

He's really not getting any closer here.

"It starts with 'l' and ends in 'ightsaber'."

"Goodness, use a lightsaber, me? What do you take me for, one of those useless field agents that can't even slice open a low security door?" he sniffs. "I am above such things."

...

He uses a lightsaber to open the door.

The door obligingly opens.

"Oh, you got it. Maybe you won't need to sign up for that workshop."

"Definitely not," he agrees, loftily.

In he goes.

All right, he'd like to sabotage this place so that it stops working in a way that doesn't look like it's been sabotaged, preferably that it stops working in such a way that it requires the personal attention of a lot of very smart people to fix. Is there an obvious mechanism by which he can make that happen from what he can feel of the layout, or does he need to investigate a bit further to find something that'll do?

There's a big important-looking conveyor belt running through the center of the place. At several points it goes through complicated machinery.

Hmmm! That looks promisingly like he can get something stuck in that so it'll break in a horrible fashion and cascade fail to break some complicated machinery. Yes, good, that'll be his target. Now to figure out how to make it look like an accident.

How well guarded is it?

There are continually workers attending to some piece or other of it. A few soldiers, here and there.

Hm.

He finds a good out of the way spot to sit where no one's likely to find him, to feel the inner workings of the machine. Force users get all kinds of ways to cheat, he might as well indulge.

There are lots of moving parts he could knock over. Like this one. It feels important.

Oo, yes, that looks good.

But before he shoots the gundark's nest (or begins the distraction, depending on his mood), he feels he should softly ask - "Would you appreciate it if I got you a line into the databanks here, or should I skip it?"

"It'd be helpful, if you've got the time. Three doors down."

"Can do."

He can successfully sneak three doors down, but is the room behind this fabled door empty?

Except for a computer terminal and a holocomm, yeah.

Excellent.

He may not be able to open a door without a lightsaber, but it doesn't take very much skill to get an SIS operative access. Just take the transmitter, plug it into an available slot, and wait patiently. Oh, and watch for anyone that might happen across this process, but he has the Force, that part's easy.

"All right, I'm registering the transmitter. Receiving da-" ksssshht "-ng on, getting some inter-" KSSSHHHTTT

"That's probably bad," observes Revan with a sigh. And this mission had been going so well, too.

No sign of an alarm, though? Everyone outside of this room, still operating as normal? No sign of any Sith or anything?

Everything seems normal. Except that the holocomm is indicating there's an incoming call.

...

Yeah, okay.

He answers it.

The image of a bald man in armor, with a respirator covering his lower jaw appears.

His voice is deep and rough. "The famed Revan. I had thought the reports mistaken."

He recognizes this person.

"I didn't know I had a secret admirer. Hello, Darth Malgus."

He inclines his head in a nod.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance. I regret this meeting could not be in person, but I thought it best to remove temptation for now. I have no wish to fight you."

Revan inclines his head as well. Might as well be polite.

"Really? And why's that?"

"At one time, you saw that the galaxy was weak, and decided to make it stronger. I respect such determination."

It had been weird to hear Sith praise and revere Darth Revan when he'd gone to Korriban, before he'd been captured by the Emperor. They talked about him like he was the pinnacle of the Sith, while the once-Sith Lord stood in front of them, disguising his bemusement. They hadn't recognized him, of course; when he'd been a Sith Lord he'd taken care to always wear his mask in public, all too aware of how much easier it is to remember a mask than a face. All too careful to lose the precious resource of anonymity in a pinch.

He might have expected this to be weirder, but it isn't, really. Weird that Malgus speaks of something that happened centuries ago when it feels like just a couple of years, but not all that weird. It feels like it was several lifetimes ago, like he had been a different man many times over. The Sith Lord to the amnesiac to the hero to the victim to whatever he is now. Such a long, long time ago, remnants from a galaxy so impossibly far away. But the directed praise itself doesn't feel strange - however much this man has lied to himself about who Darth Revan was, at least he recognizes him. At least he's depositing his misapprehensions on the correct altar. Hasn't he dealt with so many misapprehensions, in the past? What's one more set?

"Thank you," he says. He tilts his head slightly, in lieu of a question. And why haven't you started up the alarm? What do you want?

"I speak to you now because the galaxy is once again weak. The Empire is failing; the Sith unchained by the Emperor's demise and divided against themselves by petty grudges. The Republic is weak, ruled by spineless bureaucrats acting only in their own interest. What the Jedi have in unity, they lack in will to action. I would forge for us a new path, free of the shackles of ignorance that have too long held us back."

Oh, here we go. Another doomed galactic conquest Sith. Buddy, Revan has been there, and you're not going to like how it turns out.

No use scoffing at him, though. Malgus isn't betting his entire conquest on Revan's involvement; he'd opened with how he thought the reports had been mistaken. He'll do whatever he's doing with or without Revan. Getting the assistance of a famous centuries old Sith Lord would do a lot to legitimize him, but it's icing on the cake, not the cake itself. Much better to pretend to be interested.

"I have noticed that the galaxy is a bit of a mess," he acknowledges. "What's your plan for it?"

"A New Empire, led in strength and not beholden to the short-sighted exclusionary policies of the old."

Hm, if his read on this guy is right -

"A worthy goal. But many Sith talk of strength and power, few back it up with any substance. You want my help, show me why you're worthy of it."

"In the weeks to come, you, and the rest of the galaxy, will see. When you decide that you are convinced, I shall welcome you with open arms."

Revan nods, imperiously.

"I presume you can figure out a way to contact me again later, considering your timing?" he drawls. "Keep me updated as the situation allows. We'll see how you do."

Yeah it's going to be a huge mess, isn't it.

"So we shall. For now, I suggest you leave this facility with due haste." The holo winks out.

And alarms start going off.

Ugh.

What's the state of the facility, is that a 'we have an intruder' alarm, did something break without him, or what?

"You there?" he wonders into his comlink.

"-there you are. That was strange. Uh, I'm seeing a lot of alarms, here."

"Yep, things happened. Tell you about it later, I'm about to be very busy."

Okay, first of all - that important part in the belt? Yeah he's just going to start that catastrophic cascade of destruction now. Looks like that'll be the distraction that covers his escape.

More alarms!

Also bad people are coming up to his room and intend on hurting him.

Siiiiiigh.

He retrieves and pockets the Republic transmitter - might as well cover his tracks, try to make this look more plausibly like a Sith is going rogue - then ignites his crimson lightsaber and sees about making that escape.

It's not very difficult.

Not terribly, no.

And back to base for debrief.

"Well. That didn't go exactly smoothly."

"It could have gone worse," he says thoughtfully, leaning back in his chair and propping his feet up on the desk. "I got a call from Darth Malgus, offering to recruit me. Had this whole pitch about how the Empire and the Republic are weak and he will make something better. He looked ready to make a move. Do we have intel on what forces are loyal to him?"

"No. We didn't, in fact, know he was even planning something like this."

"Oh. Well. He's planning something like this. And I pretended to bite."

"Did he give any details, contacts?"

"No. I basically said, 'if you're such hot stuff, prove it,' and told him to call me. Since his timing was so perfect. I didn't want to get involved in the ground floor of what's going to be an even bigger shit show than the rest of Ilum. Ruins the mystery of 'centuries old ex-Sith Lord,' and I didn't want to push too much and make him suspect anything. He said 'in the coming weeks,' so he's going to move soon."

He has a look on his face that Legate might recognize. It's the 'I want to give you tactical advice but recognize that I'm not in charge of anything' face.

"You have thoughts here?"

"We need to figure out who Malgus's supporters are, fast. At least the really obvious ones, anyway. Then we need to leave them alone. The Sith getting into a pissing match over who's supposed to be Emperor is only going to help us. I don't want to accidentally sabotage Malgus's supporters when they're going to be doing our work for us. We sit back with popcorn, keep Ilum from falling apart into pieces while they fight, and we mop up. I can even accept Malgus's kind offer to join him, and help it disintegrate just a little bit faster."

"Agreed. I'll get to work on it, and pass word to my superiors."

"Thanks. Uh, fair warning, if I 'accept' Malgus's offer, I am absolutely going to take credit for the Republic leaving his people alone, so maybe try to make that look plausible to Malgus. Without letting on to the rest of the Empire that something's up. You know, super confusing convoluted spy stuff. I hear that's your jurisdiction."

"I'll see what I can do on that front."

"Thank you! Uh - continuing the debriefing, after Malgus finished his pitch he set off an alarm like a prick. I sabotaged the main mining belt in a way that would take some time to fix, killed some people, and left. Did you actually get to access the databanks?"

"Not meaningfully. The jamming was cutting that signal too. I'll try to clean up what I did get, but that's going to take time."

"Damn. That's a pity. Good luck."

"Thanks. You too. Good work out there, even if it did go sideways."

Things are moving according to plan. The Republic thinks they have enough warning to exploit the coming schism; the defection of some of their own should set them back enough to properly ignite the conflict. Malgus's supporters are among the first batch of ships the Imperials are retrofitting with the cloaking technology. He'll make his move once those are completed. Revan is a complicating factor. If he goes over too soon, he's likely to do more damage than desirable. She'll have to mitigate that somehow.

Almost two weeks after Revan's meeting with Malgus, holocomms across the Empire light up simultaneously, echoing in private homes and public spaces. Malgus addresses the galaxy.

"Fellow Sith. Citizens of the Empire. Too long the strength of the Empire has been beholden to the in-fighting of the Dark Council and the disappearance of an apathetic Emperor. Sith, children of Sith, and warriors everywhere, I declare a new Empire, open to all who long for conquest, freedom from inhibition, and the right to follow their passions. The Dark Council is dissolved. Those who would join Darth Serevin in supporting me, cast aside your titles and let me lead you to victory. Those who will not, prepare to face our stealth armada. The Emperor is gone. His station and power are mine. We will conquer the galaxy while he sleeps."

At least one person facepalms once this message has concluded.

"You fucking idiot," she tells the dark holocomm.

"An interesting turn of events indeed."

Callida constrains herself to a heavy sigh.

"That's a word for it, yes. Are we waiting for Marr to attempt to summon you for the inevitable pest control, or shall we arrive early and show how very patriotic we are?"

"It would not do too seem too eager and give the impression we anticipated this. We shall wait. Though not, I think, for long."

She nods. "Of course. I'll prepare a report on who's defected to Malgus for you in the interim, then. Unless you think I would be better suited elsewhere?"

Occlus waves a hand. "By all means. I am going to finish this cataloging."

Another nod, and then: to work. It'll be tricky figuring out who's defected and from where, since no doubt everyone will be lying about everything, but she can probably manage vague numbers and percentages if she tries very hard and believes in herself, checks various ship logs, and sorts through some boring numbers. If the Sith hierarchy were less of a flaming disaster she wouldn't be able to do this, but it is kind of a flaming disaster, so she can. This is what happens when you dissolve Imperial Intelligence, you idiots. Sith Lords will figure out how to gather data they maybe shouldn't be able to.

She assembles estimations, some more broad than others. The only concrete numbers she'll have are for their jurisdiction. Unfortunately, the number there is not 'zero.' One of Occlus's squads defected, which is more of an annoyance than an actual blow to anything in particular. Damn, and they were so close to having a perfect record.

It's ready by the time they need to depart for inevitable pest control. Well, ready as it can be, without anyone letting her see the actual concrete numbers.

Occlus frowns slightly when shown the report.

"Disappointing. Come, Marr has requested our presence. In particular, not a full Council meeting."

Callida follows, swallowing her unease at the word 'our.' Up until now, she's managed to avoid meeting Darth Marr. Looks like that luck just ran out. Well. It was bound to happen eventually. It wouldn't do for her to show a trace of fear in front of another Dark Councilor.

Darth Marr awaits them in a conference room, surrounded by nervous technicians and officers that buzz around the Dark Councilor like moths around a lamp. They flit away when the two Sith enter, conveniently finding something else to do.

"Occlus," says Marr, in lieu of a proper greeting. His mask makes gauging his expression impossible, and his voice gives nothing away. He looks at Callida. "And your apprentice. Good."

"Marr," says Occlus, face as still as any mask. "I assume this is in relation to Darth Malgus's recent pronouncement?"

"You assume correctly."

He looks pensively at a holoterminal displaying Ilum.

"I would like a copy of your report," he says, without preamble.

... Callida blinks like she misheard him.

"Lord Callida," she prompts.

Callida is ever so careful to keep her screaming behind her wall of calm. To her credit, her expression doesn't flicker past the surprised blink, and neither does her nerve.

Would you like me to change the numbers for our defectors in some way? she asks, while she retrieves the appropriate document on her datapad.

If he's asking for it, he's already seen it.

Aaaaugh she is going to get such a lecture later.

Just making sure.

She sends Darth Marr a copy, and continues to keep her screaming on the inside.

He looks thoughtfully at it.

"Ah. So you have an accurate overview of the situation."

"Insofar as that is possible. What do you intend?"

"We must crush this insurrection," he spits the word like it's a curse, "before it has the time to amass strength. It is paramount that we retake the cloaking factory. We have no time for petty grievances or further disloyalty."

In lieu of a formal request or an outright demand, he leaves that sentence hanging in the air. Perhaps he doesn't think he needs either.

"Of course. My commandos will be ready to depart within the hour."

Marr looks at her. Several technicians quietly scoot away to lose themselves in terminals further from the epicenter.

"I would appreciate," he growls the word like it pains him, "your personal assistance in this matter that concerns all members of the Dark Council."

"I will make preparations. Will you be joining us?"

"Unfortunately, no." By his tone, he finds this extremely annoying. One may make the assumption that he would find it very satisfying to personally kill each and every traitor with his bare hands. Slowly. "I am needed elsewhere. This setback must not compromise us on other fronts."

"Understood. I will eliminate this distraction that we may return to the true work."

Nod. "Good. Inform me if there are resources you need for the endeavor."

Which is as close to a 'thank you,' as anyone's likely to get.

Occlus nods, and beckons to Callida as they take their leave.

Callida... looks at Marr. As annoying as it is to get caught with her hand in the proverbial cookie jar, she would rather know than not. She inclines her head towards him, and then follows Occlus out.

Occlus taps her datapad.

"We have proper access to unit deployment data now. Compile a list of what awaits us on Ilum. I will see to our own forces' preparations. If you wish to have your ship available, inform your crew that they will be part of the commandos' convoy. We will be traveling together."

She nods. "Yes, my lord."

Callida doesn't especially want her ship and its crew available in a war zone. Her ship's doctor might end up useful, but it's not worth the risk of putting him in the middle of a warzone. There are likely other doctors on Ilum. Everyone else on her ship wouldn't be of much use. Her pilot could conceivably help, but either would need to learn the ins and outs of a new ship in a warzone, or Callida would have to either boot everyone that was living on her ship off of it, or also bring them into the warzone. She'd rather not.

The inevitable lecture (that she has definitely earned, sigh) can come later, right now she has work to do.

Ninety minutes later, Occlus sends a message asking if she is ready to depart.

She is! Here's a list of the troops they have available on Ilum, and an estimation of the ones that have defected to join Malgus. Apparently Republic forces have defected to join him, as well, but she doesn't have very accurate numbers for those.

Excellent. They will review strategy during the journey. To the ship.

Occlus sets up a holo depicting the terrain and major known emplacements, and begins adding forces.

"... Fighting a two front war sounds... tricky. The Republic also lost people to him, do you think we could try for a temporary truce - or even alliance - until Malgus is dead?"

"Hm. It would simplify things considerably... Easy enough to enforce for our forces. The question would be whether the Republic is amenable."

"They probably want to treat this as an internal Sith affair and let us kill each other, but maybe they're very sick of their sacred Jedi planet being a warzone, and are upset enough about the lost people to agree to it. We can always ask."

"True. I will consider wordings. A possibly related matter- this so-called Sith claiming the name of Darth Revan. An old name, and obscure to Sith. I am unsure why it has returned now, in this context. He is almost certainly working with the Jedi. I sense that he will be important to the prospect of a truce, either as an obstacle or an ally."

"... That's an odd name to claim. I wonder why. Do we have any holos of him? If he's claiming to be a Sith I think I'd rather our men avoid being confused about whose side he's on."

Occlus types on her datapad, and pulls one up.

"His first known appearance, shortly after hostilities began."

She considers the holo.

"Do you remember the pair of Force-users I mentioned a couple of years ago? The ones that wanted to steal my ship and then reconsidered, right after the Emperor's assassination?"

"The ones who claimed credit, yes."

"He was one of them. The more level headed of the two, not the one who failed to be threatening."

"Interesting. Perhaps he will be amenable to a second meeting."

"Possibly. He does at least know I am capable of some cooperation."

"A helpful trait in this endeavor. We will see if Moff Regus has any additional information when we arrive."

Callida nods.

They go over several possible contingencies and variations, and in due time, arrive at Ilum.

Regus, grey-haired with a beard and in his formal white Grand Moff uniform, is there to meet them. He bows.

"My lord Occlus."

"Grand Moff. I am here to end the insurrection of Malgus the Betrayer. Know that the Dark Council considers this to be of the highest priority. You are to cease any ongoing campaign against the Republic in as expeditious a manner as possible and redirect your forces until such time as this threat is ended."

"With respect, my lord, the Republic may not cooperate with such a move."

"I intend to offer the Republic and the Jedi a limited truce in order to facilitate this."

Regus looks conflicted.

"Darth Arho's directives are no longer relevant to this situation. It has grown beyond him. Darth Marr and I are in agreement on this point. Now, conduct me to your communications center. And provide my apprentice with the most current tactical report."

"Yes, my lord." He gestures to an aide. "This way."

She goes that way! She would love a full tactical report, what's the situation like?

Not good, to put it lightly. Malgus co-opted many of their best postions and now what remains of the Imperial forces are almost divided in half. The Republic has made a few exploratory probes at the weakest sections, but not committed to a full assault yet, thankfully.

Well, shit. That'll be tricky to fix.

Okay, they can't have their forces almost split like this, they're going to need to consolidate somewhere. You, go get this person, she needs to speak with him about the tactical situation on Ilum.

Occlus makes a call on an open channel.

"This is Darth Occlus of the Dark Council. I have assumed control of Imperial forces on this planet. I would speak with the one styling himself Darth Revan."

There's a long pause, then:

"'Styling'? I'm hurt. That's hurtful. Revan speaking, hello."

"Greetings. Are you in command of the Republic here?"

"Nope! Sometimes they accept my suggestions, though."

"I would parley with you and your commander, then, in regards to our mutual enemy."

"Nnnnot sure I have one of those, but I can get you the commander of the Republic forces if you'd rather."

"That will do."

"Excellent. Is there anything else?"

"I will send coordinates over a secure channel. I will be bringing myself and my apprentice, you may bring as many as you would like."

"Sure. Pleasure speaking with you."

Occlus closes the channel. She tells one of the techs to transmit coordinates for a smaller abandoned shrine, and goes to find Callida.

Callida's at a tactics screen that's displaying personnel listings. Luckily she doesn't actually have to command the battle personally. She's not a bad tactician, but she's not a genius. Instead she's, frankly, cleaning up the command structure itself. A large number of forces defecting, including many major commanders, makes for a bit of a mess. Add Sith who think they're in charge now into the mix, and - well, that makes what Callida's currently dealing with. Augh. She'll get a list together of people she needs Occlus to be personally terrifying at, but for now, she can handle the major cleanup.

"My lord?" she says, looking up.

"We will be going to negotiate the ceasefire in person. Does anything require immediate attention before that?"

"Mm. There are a few Sith that would benefit from the personal attention of a Dark Councilor. I hesitate to leave the command without making sure they won't be a problem. Give me a little while to come up with a list for you?"

"Very well."

Callida nods, then gets to making a list of Sith That Occlus Needs To Intimidate. It doesn't take very long; it wouldn't do for Occlus to deign to personally scare too many people. It'd be a waste of her time, for one, and it'd imply insecurity, for another. Better to instead have an exquisitely targeted small reign of carefully modulated terror. The list is short.

When she's done, she sends it to Occlus, along with corroborating explanations of why precisely each and every Sith Lord needs a Dark Councilor to show up and be terrifying at them. There's a secondary list for 'Terrifying them might help but things will not catch on fire if Occlus doesn't,' in case Occlus thinks more terror is necessary than Callida recommends.

Once the Sith-specific diplomacy's handled, they should be all set to go negotiate a ceasefire.

Occlus goes and looms at selected Sith. In the majority of cases, this is all that's necessary. Military Sith understand very well "through strength, power", and Occlus is stronger than anyone they've ever met.

Then it's off to the negotiations.

Negotiations, hooray.

The man who claims to be Revan is present!

(And several kilometers away, so is HK-47, watching the proceedings through a sniper scope.)

Maybe-Revan waves casually at them.

As they approach, Occlus lets her control relax slightly, the tangible weight of her presence in the Force asserting itself in the area. Not the threatening posture she used with the recalcitrant Sith, simply a declaration of the level of person the Jedi are dealing with.

Standing next to Revan, Ana tenses slightly.

Revan doesn't. He looks at Occlus levelly, and he relaxes his own control.

That... is not the aura of some random Jedi off of the street that decided to pretend to be a Sith Lord for giggles. That is not the aura of a Sith Lord that flinched and went to go become a Jedi because they flinched and felt bad. It's not really clear what he is, but he's strong enough to have a seat on the Dark Council, if he wanted it.

"Hi," he says, unintimidated.

"I could almost believe your name is true, were Revan not dead these three hundred years."

"Thank you. Your now deceased Emperor kept me in a torture box for a while. After he died I got let out."

Callida eyes Ana impassively.

Huh? Ohhh. Wait. Shit.

"Of him I would believe it. Such a waste."

"No kidding. But on the bright side, I can correct so many history records!"

"Yes. But that was not the purpose of this meeting. Malgus the Betrayer is both your enemy and mine. If he is allowed to expand his stealth armada beyond this planet, he will pose a serious threat to the galaxy. We must crush him, here and now."

"The stealth armada is definitely a problem," agrees Revan, evenly. "But while I'm flattered, I'm not actually commanding any major forces, sorry." He looks at the Republic commander. "Thoughts?"

"To be blunt, Sith, why should we trust you? It was your unbridled aggression that brought Malgus to this planet in the first place."

"Not mine. My only role here is to end Malgus as efficiently as possible. Given the number of defections, both Imperial and Republic, a cessation of hostilities would be in our mutual interest."

Scoff. "What Republic defections? He's starting a new Empire, not a Republic, in case you misheard."

"Really," says Callida, retrieving her datapad and looking at some figures. "So Malgus's assistance from the 451st company, the 94th engineering division, and your 822 and 921st airborne divisions, along with help from esteemed commanders Major Kando, Colonel Ardmore, and Captain Chi'thiac were... what?" She blinks and smiles politely. "Sanctioned republic assistance for the new Empire? I didn't know you were so supportive. Your men even switched uniforms. Was there a sale on fabric?"

Oh noooooo she's doing the thing again

keep it together, Ana

"...Fine. The question of trust stands. The last time the Empire called a truce, you sacked Coruscant."

"This is a temporary, localized ceasefire, I have no concern for the larger war, so long as we are able to contain Malgus."

"Very focused."

"The war is not my primary area of responsibility. I wish to be done with this, so that the others may resume their duties. I will offer you this: that when Malgus is defeated, Imperial forces will leave this world."

"It's that easy?"

"Nothing ever is. But if it achieves my objectives, I will see it done."

"All right Sith, you've got a deal. You pull your forces back and I'll tell my men to stand down, and we'll both concentrate on the New Imps."

Occlus nods. "So be it."

"If we're going to be working together we should have more established lines of communication than open comm channels," points out Revan.

"True. Given Malgus's access to Imperial protocols, that will be difficult to arrange."

"Perhaps not, if we don't mind losing holo transmission. We can generate one-time pads here and be secure enough, albeit constrained to text."

"Smart plan. All right."

Code sheets are generated and distributed, and the conference ends with as few formalities as it began.

"So. Having seen this Revan in person, did he fit your remembrance?"

"He was a bit more - cheeky this time, but I'm not sure if that's the result of time giving him confidence or of putting on a show for you. Otherwise, yes. The Jedi with him was his companion, as well. Which is why I was giving her that look back there."

"I think she fears you."

"At the very least, I definitely unnerve her," agrees Callida, sounding faintly smug.

She hasn't even done anything! This is a fear from a powerful Jedi that she's earned through charisma alone! This is the sort of thing that makes normal Sith want to cackle maniacally. She resists this urge, because it is beneath her.

"Her presence at the conference implies a degree of responsibility and trust. Revan's trust at the least, if no one else's. If a joint operation is planned, it is likely that you will be put in a position where working with her is required. Do you think that will be a problem?"

Callida considers.

"... No. Revan asked her to stay her hand before, and she listened. Clearly he trusts her enough to bring her along, so I don't think she's stopped. She might not be comfortable around me, but I don't think she's the type to suddenly turn on me because I scare her a little. Not when she knows her ally wouldn't appreciate it. And if she's not actively trying to kill me, everything else is relatively simple."

"Good. I confess myself somewhat intrigued by her. Not the sort of person I would have expected to survive killing the Emperor."

"No. Strange indeed." She hums, thoughtfully. "... This is conjecture, so I might be wrong, but I think part of the reason I frighten her is that I'm not... easy to sort. If I loomed and spouted out monologues and broke things, I think she wouldn't find me quite as scary. She'd know what to do with me. Instead, I don't fit into her idea of the galaxy, and that's terrifying. Because I'm comparatively unpredictable, and because what if that means she was wrong?"

"She must have been very assured of her self to successfully battle the Emperor. He could dominate lesser minds as easily as breathing. Perhaps she used such an inflexible worldview as a grounding, a deeply-rooted post to cling to in the face of the gale wind. To have it challenged after such a success... It may be we are fortunate you and she did not meet earlier."

"It does follow that such a technique would have downsides. Yes, we might be fortunate indeed. What an odd way to arrange oneself."

"Evidently one that has its benefits."

"Evidently. I realize this is an alliance of convenience, but I wonder if there are other techniques that they're aware of that could be used against Malgus. ... Ones that are a bit more practical, anyway." Sigh. "I suppose they'd be unwilling to share them."

"You might ask, though I doubt we'll have much to worry about. Malgus is straightforward, and has little patience for esoterica."

"No, I suppose not. My interest is admittedly more knowledge for knowledge's sake than anything else," she says, a little wryly.

Occlus smiles approvingly.

"Speaking of Jedi knowledge, I have been meaning to recategorize the Lost Masters. If you see an avenue by which to quietly acquire some relevant information..."

"I'll seize the opportunity if I get the chance," agrees Callida. "Perhaps I could even get away with the novelty of just asking, by dangling the potential of the ever tempting potential redemption story in front of a Jedi's nose."

"Not to anyone who will take you too seriously, I hope."

Snort. "Only if their proposed exit strategy had room for an archive and a Dark Councilor."

"Just so."

Callida smiles a little, then her expression turns more serious. "Still. I'll be certain to practice discretion."

She is definitely annoyed at herself for the earlier mistake. She's going to be feeling that one for a while.

A ceasefire, then. Not unexpected. The promised retreat afterwards, however. That is less in line with her plans. She's not confident she can undo that, not with Occlus there to chivy everyone into line, not when she has Marr's favor. Killing Occlus is... probably an overreaction. If Malgus steps up his defenses, her desired casualty rating could still be achieved. She'll have to make sure he does that, before pointing them at him. She can sell out his scientists to buy a bit of time. They're offsite, so the Empire will hire mercenaries, and she can call in a favor to make sure they land on the "kill" side of "kill-or-capture".

Ana is a bit more subdued and clingier than usual when they get back to base.

Well, Revan will just have to apply snuggles, then, now won't he?

"You okay?"

Snuggles.

"Mm. Wasn't expecting to see her again."

He nods. Snuggles.

"Do you want to try to avoid that happening again?"

"I dunno. Kind of? But that feels like running away."

"Hmm, all right. Want to talk about it?"

"I just- I don't get her."

"She seems pretty unprecedented," he agrees. "Is it that she hasn't left the Empire?"

"It's- agh, I don't know." Ana buries her face in his shoulder. "Why does she exist," she mumbles.

He hugs her, and pets her hair.

"To make the galaxy a stranger place?" he offers, lightly. "It's all right to be confused about people sometimes. Do you want to hear about my interpretation of her?"

Hugs.

"Okay."

He hums and pets Ana's hair, thoughtfully.

"The things she did upon meeting us were: catching us off guard by opening the door instead of waiting for us, trying to figure out what we'd do if she told us no, trying to protect the crew of her ship from us, and then giving us an exit that also got someone else away from the Empire. That shows us some of her likely priorities. She paid enough attention to her surroundings to be able to name a ship with a pilot that wanted out of the Empire. I don't think she could have figured that out fast enough for us specifically, so I think she knew beforehand. I can think of some reasons why she'd pay attention, but I try to avoid too much baseless conjecture, so I'll skip it. She wanted to understand us, especially when it came to how we'd react to her. I think she was probing us on our philosophy a bit, trying to see what we were like, and by extension, what the Jedi were like. I'm not entirely sure. She definitely wanted to keep her people safe. When pushed, she didn't bend at all, even when it might have been smart - so maybe more than a little prideful. Ultimately, we walked off of her ship and she lost nothing but a cereal bowl, when we were planning to terrify or kill her and fly off on her ship.

"Occlus brought her along, when she didn't have to. A show of power, sure, but I think a different kind of power than we're used to. You or I could beat Callida in a fight, easily. Maybe she could have bought Occlus enough time to deal with the both of us, but there are better Sith for that. Callida turned out to be a good show of power, too - she showed competence and ripped our poor commander a new one when he tried to lie to them. So she does her homework. So we have a quick thinker that watches her environment and uses it to her advantage, does her homework, who prioritizes understanding her potential enemies, safekeeping her resources and people, solving conflict in atypical ways that will suit her goals, and resists compromising valuable resources, even under heavy external pressure. We're dealing with a smart Sith.

"So. What's a smart Sith doing still attached to the Empire? It's a shitshow that's slowly sliding apart, and everybody knows it. Not many people even like living in it, and why would they? It sucks. Everybody that's not a Sith is trying to avoid their attention, everyone that is a Sith is in a never ending fight for their lives. She'd mentioned she was inured to torture before the age of sixteen. That's dark, and it's got to do some things to someone, to grow up in a world like that. To me, it didn't sound like she was grateful for the chance to grow stronger through pain. There was pride there, but also anger, bitterness - and you saw the way she looked at you at the meeting. This woman can absolutely hold a grudge. I bet the Empire's pissed her off. So why does she stick around?

"There's the logistical problems of escaping, of course - she's the only apprentice of a Dark Councilor. If she ran, every Sith in the galaxy would be out for her head to prove their might and power. But I don't think that's entirely it. It feels too simple. She's had years. Plenty of time to fake her own death and arrange transport to wherever she'd like. Hell, she had us in her ship asking for a ride, she could have left right then and been safe. We would have owed her one. It feels like there's something else going on here. I just - don't know what that is." He pauses, thoughtfully, searching for words.

"... You know what the weirdest part for me was? How she acted around Occlus. Usually Sith apprentices are never really comfortable around their masters. Like - not precisely nervous, but - they watch for openings. They watch for chances to prove themselves. They want their master's approval, but they're terrified of the next blow, and they're prepared to fight for every inch of themselves against everyone that would dare to take it away from them. They're prepared to kill the person they're closest to, because that's what they need to do to survive. And I - I just didn't get that impression from either of them. I'm not precisely sure of what's going on between them, but I don't think it's like other Sith master-apprentice relationships. I don't know what it is, but. It seemed almost healthy."

"You're so good at people," she sighs.

"I still don't know how to, how to- feel about her. She's a Sith, but she cares about people but she's apprentice to a Dark Councilor and a scary one but she's not strong but she wasn't afraid but she let us go but she didn't come with us and blehhh."

He smiles a little, at the compliment.

"Aw," says Revan, gently planting a kiss on Ana's hair. "I think she's complicated and has introduced an element of moral grey to our black and white battle of good and evil. Which makes everything a bit more complicated, but this could be a good opportunity. Maybe we can get her to ditch the Empire once and for all, if we figure out what's keeping her attached."

"Mrrph. I don't like complicated."

"I know. I'm sorry the galaxy's a bit of a complicated mess sometimes." Pet, pet. "Look at it this way; helping her out of the mess she's in is, hm - an extra bonus prize. If we can't, it's sad, but Sith hurt people and if we need to kill her to finally stop them, then, well. That's unfortunate, but the Sith need to be stopped. I'll try to take point for her, if it helps."

"Yeah, it would. I don't think she likes me."

"The only time you really got to talk wasn't in the best of circumstances." And also Ana threatened her. Such are the downsides of playing bad cop. "I'll do my best to handle it."

Snuggles. "Best Revan."

So many snuggles! "All of the others are just cheap imitations."

"Well, I wouldn't go that far. Holocron Revan is a pretty good Revan, but I can't poke him." She pokes Revan demonstratively in the cheek.

Snort. "Oh, fine. Holocron Revan is a sanctioned copy of the original, and is therefore pretty good."

Hee! Huggles!

Huggles! "All the others, though, are definitely cheap imitations."

"For sure."