EDITED 4/21/14 Changed Kalon's hair color.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Han Solo glowered at Karsa and Thrak, both who had their blasters primed to fire. He knew that if he tried to reach for his own blaster, they would send a plasma bolt searing right through his forehead.
"So," he said, staring hard at Thrak. "You're a traitor."
Thrak smirked. "The Republic just wasn't working out for me. Not living up to my expectations, you know."
"So you decided to hook up with a bunch of mercenaries," Han muttered, glancing at the freighter that hovered overhead. "Is that right?"
"You could say that," a raspy voice hissed from behind Thrak. Han looked over the ex-captain's shoulder and his blood went cold. Standing behind the traitor was a tall Trandoshan in a yellow jumpsuit and a white harness, with a blaster rifle slung over his arm.
Catching Han's eye, the reptilian being gave a savage, toothy smile. "Hello, Solo," Bossk said. "What a pleasant surprise."
Han scowled at the Trandoshan. "Your definition of 'pleasant' is not what I've always had in mind."
Bossk let out a raspy laugh. "What can I say? We always did have our differences."
"That makes two of us," Boba Fett said, who, up until now, was simply observing the confrontation. As he aimed his blaster at Bossk, the Trandoshan quickly turned around and his jaw went agape.
"Fett?!" he exclaimed. "What are you-?"
The Mandalorian leader smirked. "What did I tell you when I rejected your offer to join the Snatchers? Oh yeah, I have my own faction to lead."
Bossk narrowed his bloodshot eyes, slithering his forked tongue between his fanged teeth. "Fine," he hissed. "Twelve of us against you, Solo, the Wookiee, and who knows how many Mandalorians."
He charged his rifle. "Seems a fair fight to me."
* * *
Toah opened his eyes to find himself at what appeared to be a training center of some sort. Inside, he saw a red-skinned Twi'lek tutoring a group of youths with training lightsabers, deflecting low energy bolts from automated remotes.
"Remember, let the Force flow through you," the Twi'lek was instructing the Jedi trainees. "Balance yourselves."
The students did as instructed and deflected the next few bolts with ease.
The Jedi Master smiled. "Very good. I believe that is enough for today. Class dismissed."
The students bowed to their teacher and began filing out of the training room, with Toah silently following them, like an unseen phantom. Which he probably was anyway.
Among the group, he recognized his father, albeit a lot younger, speaking with a young, black-haired teenaged man.
"Seriously, Squint," Aron Jarsan was saying. "Were you trying to show off when you defeated that remote with your back turned?"
The young Jedi named Squint smirked. "Hey, you were the one who wanted to use two training ligtsabers at the same time until Master Lestin stopped you."
Aron thew his hands up in mock surrender. "Okay, okay, I was trying to impress him. At least I wasn't trying to impress a girl like Kalon."
"I was not!" said a boy with dark hair. "I was just...just..."
"Ah, don't fret about it," said a young Nautolan. "You guys do have to admit it, though. Nova is pretty...for a human."
Squint laughed. "And since when did Vinn Zoa become a beauty expert?"
The Nautolan narrowed his large black eyes. "Very funny..."
"All right, guys, that's enough," Aron said, clearly restraining his own desire to laugh. "Better be careful so that Master Lamar catches us having fun."
Everyone laughed as they all faded away while the scene changed. Aron, noticeably older, was now standing before the twelve members of the Jedi Council. The wise Jedi Masters looked upon the young Jedi Knight with a look of what appeared to be disappointment.
"I am sorry, Jarsan," a human Jedi Master with a receding hairline was saying, "but we cannot intervene with the war against the Mandalorians. Especially after all the chaos caused by Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma, who were both Jedi until they fell to the dark side. We feel that if we interfere, we will only make the war worse."
Aron frowned. "But, Master Lamar-"
"That is final," a white-haired woman said sharply, but Aron persisted.
"Master Kae agrees with me," he said. "And she's one of the wisest Jedi Masters I know!"
"But she is not on the High Council," said a man younger than Lamar. "And even if she was, her views would not reflect those of the entire council."
Aron sighed, looking down at his feet in disappointment. "I...understand, masters."
With a bow, he headed out of the Council chambers as the scene began to change again. Aron was now standing somewhere in the Jedi Temple, along with Squint, Kalon, and other Jedi Knights.
"Are you sure about this?" Kalon was asking. "The council won't be happy with this decision."
"That does not matter now," Aron said firmly. "The Jedi are supposed to be the guardians of peace and justice. In order to ensure peace and justice, we must help the Republic with their war against the Mandalorians."
He looked at Kalon and the others. "So who's with me?"
Squint was the first to raise his hand, followed by Vinn Zoa, then a Cathar Jedi, an Ithorian, a Zabrak, and finally, Kalon.
Aron smiled. "Excellent. We will need a name though for our group, because I doubt the council will want to associate with us."
"How about Revanchists?" Squint suggested. "After all, it is revanchism that we're committing."
Aron scratched his chin. "You're right. Very well, we shall be, from here on out, Revanchists!"
Once again, the scene shifted, and Toah now found himself standing at a shore, while his father, the Revanchists, and members of the Jedi Council stood knee-deep in the water. Aron was holding what he presumed to be an old Mandalorian mask. Aron looked up from the mask and spoke to the gathered Jedi.
"They were beaten," he said, gesturing to the bottom of the ocean, where, to Toah's horror, laid several corpses of deceased Cathar.
"They killed them," Aron went on. "They didn't have to, but they did. One of them realized the mistake they were making. She tried to warn them, but they didn't listen!"
His voice echoed throughout the area. The Jedi simply stared at him, shocked by the revelation. Toah's father looked back down at the mask, sorrowful.
"I do not know your name," he said to it. "But I take up your cause!"
Slowly, he rose the mask over his face and donned it. A strange aura began to fill the scene as he declared, "I will not remove your mask until there is justice, until the Mandalorinas have been defeated, once and for all! So swears...Revan!"
Revan...
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