Star Wars_ The Old Republic_ Revan - Drew Karpyshyn [82]
“I can only imagine how you’ve suffered,” Meetra replied gently. “I wish I could say it will get easier. But I fear that may not be the case. We all have burdens to bear, and this is yours.”
Her words offered little comfort, but Bastila appreciated her honesty.
“I will do everything in my power to find Revan,” Meetra promised. “If he is still alive, I will do whatever it takes to bring him back to you.”
T3 beeped twice.
“I would be honored if you came,” Meetra told him, “as long as Bastila doesn’t object.”
Bastila wanted T3 to stay with her; his holorecordings and data banks were all she had left of her husband. But she was thinking rationally now.
“You’re going to need his help,” she said. “He spent months exploring Nathema while searching for parts to repair the Hawk.”
“Then we must leave as soon as possible,” Meetra declared, rising to her feet.
“Please, wait just a moment longer,” Bastila said.
Leaving Meetra and T3 to in the living room, she rushed into the bedchamber and opened the wooden chest tucked away in the back of her closet. She grabbed two items, then returned to her waiting guests.
“Give these to Revan,” she said, placing the items in Meetra’s hands.
The first was a holorecording she had made of their son’s last birthday celebration. The second was a heavy object wrapped in a swath of black cloth.
Meetra glanced at her, silently asking permission to unwrap it. Bastila answered with a subtle nod. Meetra unwound the cloth carefully, revealing a worn and scarred metal helmet with a red-and-gray faceplate.
“Revan’s mask!” Meetra gasped. “I thought it was lost when he was captured by the Jedi strike team.”
“I led that strike team,” Bastila reminded her. “I don’t know why, but I took it when Revan fell. Perhaps even then I sensed our fates were intertwined. I never told anyone. Not the Council. Not even him.”
“Why not?”
Bastila hesitated, then decided Meetra deserved to know the truth. “Revan wore the mask during the Mandalorian Wars, and during his time as Darth Revan. To me, it symbolizes his dark past—a relic from a time before he became the man I loved. I was afraid that if I showed it to him, it might trigger something inside his mind. It might awaken some dormant evil, rekindle the spark of the dark side.”
“Then why give it to me now?”
“I tried to keep Revan’s past at bay, but now I understand that was wrong. I was being selfish. His past is a part of him, whether I like it or not.” She looked away from the mask. “When you find him, give him the mask. It might mean nothing to him now, but there’s a chance it will bring back some of what he has lost. Seeing it might restore crucial memories that will help you return safely.”
“What if your fears are right?” Meetra asked, her voice grim. “The mask could bring back his memories. But what if it does more? What if it unleashes the power of the dark side in him?”
“I don’t care,” Bastila said defiantly. “Not if that power helps bring him back to me.”
As a Jedi, her words were blasphemy. She half expected Meetra to throw the mask to the ground in disgust. Instead the other woman rewrapped it in the cloth and tucked it safely away beneath her robes without saying a word.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
MEETRA DIDN’T KNOW what to expect as the Ebon Hawk dropped out of hyperspace and began the approach toward Nathema. T3-M4 had told her that the planet was deserted, but the little droid had found no apparent cause of the mass extinction. While exploring the surface on his last visit, he’d run tests that confirmed the environment was free of toxins and radiation; beyond that everything else was speculation.
As the ship drew closer to the dingy brown world she felt a growing sense of unease and discomfort. In some ways it reminded her of Malachor V—the massive and instantaneous loss of life on that doomed world had created a wound in the Force. The activation of the mass-shadow generator had obliterated two armies, shredding apart the bonds of the Force that linked all living things.
Meetra had been close enough to feel the shock