KOTOR 1 - Tevano: The Mask

"Am I still a Jedi?," asked Tevano.

"You remain a member of the Jedi Order," answered the functionary blocking the door to the Jedi Council's audience chamber in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.

"Then why may I not speak with the Council?" asked Tevano.

"The Council has many matters to attend to," said the functionary. "They cannot speak to you today."

"That's what you said yesterday," Tevano said. "And the day before. And the day before that. You, or someone in your position, has been saying that to me for months. When will I be able to speak to the Council?"

"I cannot answer that," said the functionary. "The Council sets its own schedule."

"What is my rank in the Jedi Order?" asked Tevano, changing tactics.

"You are a Padawan," replied the functionary.

"Padawans have Masters," said Tevano. "Who is mine?"

"You are assigned to Master Zhar," replied the functionary.

"Then can I see Master Zhar?" Tevano asked.

"Not at this time," replied the functionary.

"Why can a Padawan not see their own Master?" Tevano asked.

"Masters have many demands on their time," replied the functionary. "And each Master sets-"

"-their own schedule," Tevano completed. "Look around. Do you remember what this used to look like? Look at it now. Who else could they have to talk to?" Tevano gestured to the atrium connecting the audience chamber with various other areas within the Jedi Temple. While Tevano had not personally seen the Temple before the Jedi Civil War reduced the numbers of the Jedi Order to just a handful, Bastila had assured him that every room, hall, and open space had once been bustling with numerous Jedi. Now, however, the atrium was almost empty, with only a few Jedi and guests making their way from one point to another.

"The Council has many concerns," the functionary began, "and-"

"Nevermind," Tevano interrupted. "The Jedi Order may be almost extinct, but bureaucracy seems to be thriving." Shaking his head, he walked across the atrium to a bench where Bastila Shan waited.

"I hope you did better than me," he said to her.

"Unfortunately, no," Bastila said. "Atris was at the archives today."

Tevano knew what that meant. Bastila had gone to the Jedi archives to research anything that might help them - history of cloning or essence transfer, any tidbit about Revan's past, any procedural obligation of the Masters to grant an audience, or whatever else she might find. But no one had been less enthusiastic about either Bastila or Tevano using the archives than Atris, and trying to accomplish anything productive in her presence was futile.

"Wait, is that-" Bastila began, pointing down a hallway adjoining the audience chamber. Master Vrook Lamar had exited the audience chamber and was walking down the short hallway to a closed door at the end. Vrook, a member of the Jedi High Council on Coruscant, and former member of the Jedi Enclave Council at the now-destroyed Jedi Enclave on Dantooine, had been present on Dantooine after Bastila and Tevano had returned to the Enclave after the destruction of Taris, and had been among the Masters who had approved Tevano's training as a Jedi before sending Bastila and Tevano in search of the Star Forge. Vrook had always been gruff and critical, but sincere. If he had a fault, it was holding back too little, making him an ideal person to seek answers from.

Tevano had also seen Vrook and, before Bastila could complete her sentence, had leapt toward him in a high Force-assisted arc that took full advantage of the atrium's tall ceiling, and which placed Tevano between Vrook and the door at the end of the hallway. Vrook had raised a hand to reach for the door, but lowered it and watched without surprise as Tevano landed in front of him. The Jedi Master's precognitive skills, at least, were undiminished by age.

"I know your training was incomplete, Padawan, but gratituous displays of the Force are frowned upon," Vrook said. "We serve the Force, we do not use it for childish stunts."

"I must speak with you Master," Tevano said. "I have been seeking an audience with the Council for months and continue being denied."

"And why do you think that is?" Vrook said. "The Council is well aware of your many requests. You are not waiting on us. We are waiting on you."

"Waiting on me?" Tevano said. "Here I am. Why will you not see me? After the Star Forge, Master Vandar said to take some time to refresh and recenter myself, then we would talk about the path forward. That was many months ago."

"Yes, waiting on you," Vrook repeated impatiently. "Have you done as Master Vandar requested? From what I can tell, you have not."

"I have tried, Master, but I remain unsettled," Tevano said. "Perhaps I need guidance from the Council. As you say, my training was incomplete."

"You do not at this time qualify for Jedi training," Vrook said. He took as step sideways as if to walk around Tevano, but Tevano stepped backwards, blocking the door.

"Master, there are questions I must have answered," Tevano said.

"No," Vrook said firmly. "You are not ready. The answers you seek would not resolve your conflict. Trust in the Jedi Code and the wisdom of the Council. You and Bastila must set aside your personal feelings and fully return to the Jedi Order. Attachment is a path to the Dark Side. Only by letting go will you find peace. In time, you may be ready for your answers."

"You ask me to trust you," Tevano said, "yet you have not been honest with me."

"You do not yet see clearly," Vrook said. "Your judgement, and Bastila's, is clouded by your emotions, by the Force Bond that you still share, and by the events that transpired in Malak's defeat. You must first each resolve your own individual feelings, then separately recommit yourself to the Jedi path. Then you will each be prepared to understand the Council's choices."

"Master Vrook," Tevano said, "did the Jedi Council lie to Bastila about me? About who I am?"

Vrook shifted uncomfortably, then replied. "The Jedi Council followed the only path open to it. We faced the extinction of the Order by the greatest Sith in generations. It was a challenging and difficult time for everyone."

"Vrook, I must know," Tevano said.

"The Council was concerned that anything said to Bastila would also be perceived by Revan. Let this be a lesson to you, Padawan. I thought this concern baseless, but I accepted the Council's decision. I was proven wrong, and the combined wisdom of the Council was proven correct." Vrook locked eyes with Tevano for a moment then continued, his voice even but intense. "As I said, you also should trust in the Council's wisdom."

Tevano did not break eye contact, and replied with equal intensity. "That is not an answer. Am I Revan? Am I Revan's clone? Who am I?"

Vrook sighed. "Whoever you are, I sense Revan's defiance in you. You do not need that."

"'Whoever you are'?" Tevano repeated. "Does that mean even you do not know?"

"Revan's body was fatally wounded by Malak's attack on his flagship," Vrook said. "When it arrived at the Jedi Enclave, its functions were being maintained by medical equipment. I personally deactivated the device that was sustaining it. So from that point of view, I killed Revan. If your need for closure demands that you attach that action to someone, attach it to me."

"That is still not an answer," Tevano said. "I stand before you, the image of Revan. You have surely read my report. On the Star Forge, Bastila was possessed by a spirit claiming to be Revan. It claimed I was Revan's clone, and that I was not even a true person. Yet the Jedi Council told Bastila that I was Revan. Who am I to believe? My enemy, who seems to have spoken the truth, or my allies, who seem to be lying?"

"Revan was engaging in Sith sorcery," Vrook said. "We do not understand it, and we do not wish to. Such knowledge is dangerous. The paths to the Dark Side are many, and it would be a terrible thing for a Council Member to fall. Since you like questions so much, I will ask you one: if the spirit claiming to be Revan is dead, why does it matter?"

"Why does it matter?" Tevano said incredulously. "Would it not matter to you if you were the betrayer of the Republic? Responsible for untold death and destruction? And even if I am not, even if I am Revan's clone, would it not matter to you that you were patterned after the greatest evil of our time, that the potential for such acts might lurk within you?"

"It would not," Vrook said emphatically. "The potential for the Dark Side lurks within us all, and we all must protect our hearts against it. Have you considered that, if what you speculate is correct, the Force Bond connecting you and Bastila may also have connected you to Revan, pulling you toward the Dark Side? You have, so far, chosen to follow the path of the Light. But not fully! Your focus is on yourself, your own desires. This is a dangerous attitude! A Jedi's life is sacrifice through service to others. Turn away from your own selfishness and accept that the teachings of the Jedi are the best way to combat the darkness within you. There are many needs, new threats still veiled, challenges that must be faced, and your power is great. Concentrate on what you can do now for the Light. In time, you may be ready to ask questions about the past. But you may also find that those questions do not matter."

"There is a new threat?" Tevano asked. "Bastila and I have not felt particularly welcome within the Jedi since the Star Forge. Are you saying that the you would fully accept us to help face this?"

"I am saying that we would fully accept each of you," Vrook said, "if you chose to leave your current path and follow the Jedi Code. We have no desire to expel you from the Order, but even you must admit that the two of you are not currently living as Jedi. Until then, I have no more to say to you. May I proceed?"

Realizing there was no more to be gained by further conversation, Tevano stepped aside and Vrook exited the hallway, closing the door behind him.

Although convenient public transportation was available, Tevano and Bastila chose to walk back to the small apartment they shared. The apartment was rented in Bastila's name, because Tevano, having no official record of his identity, was unable to enter into a legal agreement on a Core world like Coruscant. In fact, they'd initially had difficulty getting a long-term docking permit for the Ebon Hawk, which had documentation issues of its own. However, Carth Onasi, their companion in the search for the Star Forge and a member of the Republic military, had intervened. He had also offered to vouch for any personal backstory Tevano chose to invent, but Tevano had thus far declined, fearing the process of obtaining official identification might reveal a match with Revan and cause more problems than it solved.

Most of Tevano's inner circle, including Carth and the Mandalorian Canderous Ordo, still believed that Tevano was Revan, based on Darth Malak's assertion and Bastila's confirmation before they found the Star Forge. While that seemed long ago now, it was in reality less than a year, and even Tevano and Bastila were still working out the details of Tevano's identity. So trying to explain it to others had been challenging. And from a practical perspective, the freedom of being a person without documentation had seemed preferable to the scrutiny that might come with being publicly known as a traitor to the Republic, even a redeemed one.

"Would they really expel us?" Tevano asked, as they finally reached the massive residential building containing their apartment. They had spent most of the long walk analyzing Vrook's comments on Tevano's identity from every possible angle, but now the topic of conversation changed.

"They might," Bastila said. "They have expelled others. They expelled Arren Kae, ostensibly for false teaching. But there were rumors that another factor was her hiding a romantic relationship, including a child, for many years."

"Even after everything we did to find the Star Forge and defeat Darth Malak?" Tevano asked.

"They expelled Meetra Surik," Bastila said. "She was only ever an ally to the Republic, but had followed Revan in the Mandalorian Wars."

"They expelled Surik just for following Revan, even though she only did so when he was the savior of the Republic, and never followed him once he became the Dark Lord." Tevano said, processing this thought. "What if I'm Revan? Or in their minds, close enough to being him? What does that mean for you?"

"You're not Revan," Bastila said.

"You told me I was," Tevano replied.

"That's unfair!" Bastila said, her face growing red. You know that I was told-"

"But that's exactly the point," Tevano said, walking past the elegant lifts to the building's upper levels and stepping into the plain lift that accessed the building's mundane middle floors, one of which contained their apartment. Bastila followed close behind.

"What exactly is the point?" Bastila demanded, her voice full of challenge.

"You knew me," Tevano continued. "You had traveled with me, even loved me, all still thinking I was Revan. You couldn't tell the difference. How different could I be, from Revan, really?"

"You are nothing like Revan!" Bastila said, more loudly then she had intended. The lift doors had opened as she spoke, but fortunately the hall beyond was empty.

"It wasn't just you," Tevano said. "Malak was Revan's apprentice and closest friend, and he thought I was Revan. As did Jolee and HK-47. Even the guy running the illegal market on Korriban and the Kashyyyk computer thought it."

"Really?" Bastila said. "A broken computer? An underworld arms seller? You're really using them as evidence?"

"You know what I mean," Tevano said as they walked down the hall. "It isn't right, and it isn't fair. You're the victorious Jedi prodigy who should be celebrated as the hero. All this darkness in your life comes from me, from who I am."

"I chose this," Bastila said as they continued down the hall. "I chose you."

"I don't doubt your committment," Tevano said. "After all, on the Leviathan you flung yourself into battle against Darth Malak wearing nothing but your underwear-"

"That's another thing I've been meaning to ask you about!" Bastila said, all pretense at keeping her voice down now abandoned. "Why would you have possibly taken all my gear away just before we confronted Malak? Even my robes! And with Carth standing right there!"

"Well, I knew we were going to have to face you later on top of the temple, and you were wearing some really good equipment," Tevano said. "I thought Jolee and Juhani would need it."

"You thought-" Bastila said, confused. "How could you have known all that?"

"It wasn't my first playthrough," Tevano said.

"It wasn't your-" Bastila stammered, now completely lost. "What's a 'playthrough'?"

"It's not important," Tevano said, resuming their previous topic. "What matters is that before me you had a different life ahead of you, a life you'd worked hard for, a life you deserved. You should be a Jedi Master by now."

"I chose this," Bastila said firmly as they turned the corner to their apartment. "I chose you. And if that means I will no longer be a Jedi, then I will-"

She stopped in mid-sentence, staring at their apartment door. They had upgraded the door controls for enhanced security, and had installed an alarm to detect unauthorized entry. But the alarm only triggered if the door was opened, and it hadn't been. A hole large enough for a person to step through had been cut from the center of the door.

Tevano stepped forward, examined the edges of the hole, looked at Bastila, and said one word: "Lightsaber." He stepped inside and drew his own weapon, the blue blade's glow softly illuminating the dark apartment. Bastila followed, igniting one yellow blade from her lightsaber's double-ended hilt.

They quickly realized that the interior of the apartment was destroyed. Pieces of furniture lay scattered about. Lights had been severed from the ceiling and even interior walls had been slashed. A survey of the apartment's three small rooms revealed that, whoever the intruder had been, they were now gone. They extinguished their lightsabers and, as none of the lighting remained functional, Bastila opened a window, the fading evening sunlight helping them assess the damage.

"Are the Jedi trying to intimidate us?" Tevano asked, examining a deep slash through an interior door. "I wouldn't have expected this to be their way."

"No Jedi would have done this," Bastila said.

"Then who?" Tevano asked.

They were interrupted by the buzzing of the apartment's communicator. A glance at the device's readout showed it was a direct call for Bastila. She disabled the communicator's camera, then answered. A hologram of Carth Onasi appeared. Bastila quickly glanced at Tevano, who shrugged.

"Hello Carth," Bastila said. "Apologies for not turning on the camera. Bit of a mess here."

"Not a problem," Carth said. "It's been awhile, so I was just calling to see how you're doing. I hope you're well."

"Thank you, Carth," Bastila said, "or am I supposed to say 'Captain Onasi' now?"

Carth chuckled. "Carth will do fine."

Bastila closed her eyes for a moment, reaching out in the Force. Hearing from Carth couldn't be a coincidence. "I sense that this isn't just a casual call."

"I almost forgot I was talking to a Jedi," Carth said. "I noticed the Ebon Hawk's transponder code leaving Coruscant not long ago-"

"You just happened to notice?" Bastila asked, trying to keep her voice playful, but casting a concerned glance at Tevano, who was clearly thinking the same thing as she was. The Ebon Hawk had been stolen?

"Okay, you've got me again," Carth said. "I hope you don't mind. I have an alert set up for any time the Hawk takes off. Not that I'm spying or anything, it's just ... old times, you know?"

"That's quite alright," Bastila said. "But why did that prompt you to call me here, instead of on the ship?"

"Nothing gets by you, does it?" Carth said. "Okay, I called the ship, and Rev- I mean, Tevano answered. He said-"

"Tevano answered you on the Ebon Hawk?" Bastila interrupted, her eyes wide, looking at Tevano standing in front of her.

"I guess I wasn't supposed to know," Carth said. "But don't worry. I'm just calling as your friend, not as a representative of the Republic military. He asked if he should look out for any trouble past Korriban, and I saw Canderous, T3, and HK-47 in the background, but I didn't see you. So I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I promise, I'm fine," Bastila said, unsure if any of them truly were, but not yet willing to tell Carth the fear that was growing in her.

"Okay," Carth said, "because he told me one more thing. He said he'd remembered something from his past, and he had to go check it out. Look, I won't pry into your business, and I don't want to intrude, but just remember: if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."

"Thank you Carth," Bastila said. "I really do mean that, and I appreciate your concern. If we need you, I assure you, I will call."

"Good enough," Carth said. "Well, there's probably someone I need to give orders to or something. They don't even let me touch the ship's controls anymore, so all I get to do is boss people around and pretend I know what I'm doing."

"Goodbye, Captain," Bastila said with a laugh, and ended the call. But as soon as Carth's image disappeared, the expression on her face changed to dread.

"No, no, it can't be-" she practically knocked Tevano down in a frantic race to get to the small bedroom closet. She wildly tossed items out into the floor, digging into the side of the closet where she kept her few personal things. Standing behind her, Tevano could not be sure what she was doing, but she appeared to be unwrapping something. Then she stopped, slowly stood, and turned around. In her hand was an intricate carving of a starship. Looking closer, Tevano saw it was of Sith design.

"What is it?" Tevano asked.

"A message," Bastila said. "The person who broke in took the item that I had concealed in here, and left this in its place."

"I don't-" Tevano began, still confused.

"It's where all of this started," Bastila said. "Revan's flagship. The place where I found you. The place where Malak betrayed Revan."

"What did you have in there?" Tevano asked.

"Revan's mask," Bastila said. "I'm sorry I hid it from you, but I was afraid if you saw it, held it ... I'm not sure exactly what I was afraid of, but it just seemed right to keep it hidden."

"That doesn't matter," Tevano said. "Are you saying that..." His voice trailed off, unwilling to finish the sentence.

Bastila finished it for him. "Yes," she said. "Somehow, Revan returned!"

They stared at each other a moment, both shaken. Revan had died on the Star Forge, when Tevano had used his own machines against him, extracting him from Bastila and leaving no refuge for his spirit. How could he be back?

"The machines," Tevano said finally. "The machines on the Star Forge that Malak used against me, that we used against Revan. Do you remember what I told you was in them?"

"Clones of Revan," Bastila said. "You mean-"

"There must have been more clones on the Star Forge," Tevano said. "When we forced Revan from you, he must have inhabited one of them, then escaped before the Star Forge exploded."

"He's certainly furious at us," Bastila said, looking around the remnants of the apartment. "And if we were uncertain who you are, I think it is now quite clear who you aren't."

Tevano smiled in spite of the situation. "This wasn't how I'd hoped to have that question answered, but I suppose you're right."

"Carth said Revan had remembered something," Bastila said. "I wonder what it was. The last time he went to that part of space, he returned with knowledge of the Star Forge, and almost conquered the Republic. What might he bring back this time?"

"We have to go after him," Tevano said. "Right away, before he can accomplish whatever he has in mind."

"We're still technically Jedi," Bastila said, "which gives us the use of a small ship. It won't be the Hawk, but it will get us there."

They quickly gathered a few belongings and started towards the door. But just as they reached it, Tevano stopped.

"Wait," he said. "You need to call Carth back."

"Why?" Bastila asked. "Even if we tell him what's happening, I doubt he can stop Revan."

"I don't plan to ask him to," Tevano said. "In fact, I don't think Revan is going to the Unknown Regions at all. Call Carth and find out if I asked him to check on you."

Bastila looked at Tevano uncertainly, but did not argue. Instead, she activated the communicator, and after a short delay Carth again appeared.

"Hello again," Carth said. "What can I do for you?"

"I just have a question," Bastila said. "Did you check on me on your own, or did Tevano ask you to?"

"Damn!" Carth exclaimed. "Why did we even bother with the Star Maps? You could probably have just figured out where the Star Forge was all on your own! Did I do something to give it away? Are your Jedi senses really that attuned?"

"Just a hunch," Bastila said.

"I didn't want to talk about it, but yes, he asked me to check on you. I wasn't sure if you disagreed with him going and he thought you were upset or what. I hope that's not it, but if so, all I can tell you is that it's clear that he loves you very much, and just wants to make sure you're okay."

"Thank you, Carth," Bastila said. "He just ... left in quite a hurry. I really am fine, though."

"Okay," Carth said. "I don't know how long he's expecting to be gone, but if this is going to be a long trip and you need something to do, let me know. There's something going on, some new danger. Nobody seems to know exactly what it is, and the Jedi Council haven't been very helpful. I don't think it is any secret to you that the Republic can't take much more. So if we don't figure it out, down we go. If you have some time and want to get back out here, I could use your help."

"I'll consider it," Bastila said. "Goodbye Carth."

She ended the call and looked at Tevano. "How did you know?"

"The communicator is working perfectly, isn't it?" Tevano said. Bastila nodded and looked at him blankly, so he continued. "Think about it. Revan never does anything without a plan. If he really was going back to the Unknown Regions to rebuild his power, why would he be so sloppy? You kept Revan's mask in that closet for months without looking at it. Our security system might be challenging for an average intruder, but wouldn't even slow Revan down. He could easily have taken the mask, even rewrapped the starship carving as a taunt, and we wouldn't have known for weeks, months, or even years."

"You think Revan is manipulating us?" Bastila asked.

"I do," Tevano said. "Why would he tell Carth where he was going? Revan doesn't need anyone's help traveling through space. I don't know what he told Canderous, T3, or HK-47, but I don't find it an accident that they were all visible when Carth called him. Remember that Revan was with us, in a sense, the whole time we were searching for the Star Maps. He knows Carth as well as we do, and could have easily predicated that Carth would have an alert on the Hawk. And if that happened to not be the case, Revan could have just called Carth, pretending to be me. But none of that was enough to convince me."

"Yet the communicator was?" Bastila asked, still confused.

"Look around," Tevano said, gesturing at the apartment, barely visible now in the last rays of the setting sun. "Nothing in here works anymore, not even the lights. He destroyed everything. But the communicator was untouched."

"Because he needed Carth to be able to reach me," Bastila said. "And he needed that because ... oh my, we were really about to do it, weren't we?"

"That's right," Tevano said. "His plan is to lure us to the Unknown Regions. I don't know what trap he has planned for us out there, or how we would be furthering his cause, but I'm certain that this is an elaborate setup. Whatever he's up to, I don't think that's where he's going at all."

"Well, our trip to the Temple was fruitless," Bastila said, "but we've been able to establish two things about you today after all."

"I'm not Revan," Tevano said, "but what is the second?"

"You're every bit as clever as him," Bastila grinned. "So, mastermind, what do we do next?"

"You are going to take Carth up on his offer," Tevano said. "Vrook mentioned a veiled threat, and now Carth has alluded to the same thing. It might be connected to Revan, or it might not be, but either way we need to know what it is. Working with Carth is the best way to find out. And if Revan is having you watched, it is exactly the sort of thing he would expect you to do with me gone."

"Gone?" Bastila said.

"Yes," Tevano said. "I'm going to go to the Jedi Archives and do some research on the Unknown Regions. Then I'm going to a cantina or two, where I'll ask around about the area past Korriban. And then I'm going to leave, taking a hyperspace route that direction."

"You're not actually going there, are you?" Bastila asked dubiously.

"No," Tevano said. "Revan may be keeping tabs on me here, but he can't watch the whole galaxy. I just want to make him think I took the bait. I'll double back, and start quietly asking around. We made quite a few contacts on Kashyyyk, Tatooine, Manaan, Korriban, even the trader at Yavin. Whatever Revan is up to, he may try building on those same contacts, posing as me. I'll see what I can learn. It'll be slow going, but eventually I'll find him."

"I know we can't give anything away, but stay in touch as much as you safely can," Bastila said. "If I learn anything, I want to be able to tell you."

"Of course," Tevano said. "And I'll only be able to go so long without seeing you. But we'll have to be careful."

"I don't think I should tell Carth yet," Bastila said. "I trust him completely, but we just don't know enough, and I don't want to put him in danger. Revan may have operatives in the Republic military."

"Agreed," Tevano said. "That time may come, but it isn't here yet."

"Be careful," Bastila said. "You'll be alone."

"I do have one advantage," Tevano said. "Almost no one knows what Revan's face looks like. He has his mask of notoriety, that everyone has seen. But I have mine of anonymity. I can be anyone, or no one at all."

"You have one more advantage," Bastila said. "I know you doubt this sometimes, but don't underestimate it."

"What's that?" Tevano asked.

"You're a Jedi."