Revered and Reviled

Manaan should have been a beautiful planet. Lush trees, scintillating oceans, a crystal-clear sky. But all she could see was an old woman's face, sobbing in broken grief after her husband's infidelity had been exposed.
"Elora," Jolee tried to talk to his friend's wife, but she broke away.
"Why?" she bawled. "Why did you have to say it, Jolee?"
"We were saving his life," said Carth sharply. He wasn't enjoying this scene. It made him sick to his stomach, watching the woman trying to hold back her tears and failing.
"Couldn't you have done it without saying it?" she sobbed. "I didn't want to know. I didn't want everyone to know. He didn't mean it."
"Then maybe he shouldn't have been sleeping with a Sith," said Patience sharply.
"Patience!" Carth looked at her in surprise, but she looked away and didn't meet his eyes.
Jolee frowned at her, and drew Elora away to try and calm her down.
Canderous shrugged. "He was a cheater. He got better than he deserved, if you ask me."
"No one would ask you," said Carth. He looked at Patience again.
"It wasn't right," sighed Patience. "He should have been punished for what he did. But the Republic – " she shook her head bitterly. "I’m just going to keep telling myself I did it for the Republic." She looked over at the old woman, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed into Jolee's arms. "I hope it will be worth it." She walked out of the High Court, to try and wipe away the darkness of the scene she had just witnessed.
Carth followed her, and Canderous led Juhani over to look at the mosaics on the wall of the High Court so that the two would be alone.
Patience heard the footsteps, and dropped her head to her chest. Seeing the betrayal unfold before her eyes hurt her more than she had expected it to, and she didn't know why.
"It won't be worth it," said Carth gently. "Not to her. It will be good for the Republic, at least. And Elora can at least still say that her husband is a hero."
"But it isn't true," said Patience bitterly. "Why do men do that to the women they love, Carth? If he was tired of her, why didn't he just say so and leave?"
Carth shrugged. He wanted to pull her into his arms, but he could sense something – some tinge of Revan – and it repelled him. "Women do it, too," he said gently. "He didn't do it because he was a man. He did it because he was a selfish jerk."
Patience laughed a little at that, and looked up at him. "What is it?" she asked softly. "I'm bothering you again. What did I do now?"
Carth leaned against the railing, and looked carefully at Patience. "Who was it? That betrayed you?"
Patience shook her head. "I don't remember. Either that, or Revan doesn't feel like telling. I just remember being very insanely angry at him. And something else," she said softly. "That little boy – on Tatooine, remember? Those were his eyes."
"Oh." Carth wasn't sure what to say.
Patience smiled wryly. "Yeah. At least Elora doesn't have to worry about that."
Carth swallowed nervously, and pulled her into his arms. She started in surprise, then melted into his embrace, holding on to him silently. Carth felt a drop of warm water on his arm, then another. He tightened his arms around her, in silent sympathy.

"They're on Manaan finally," Malak announced as he entered the room.
Bastila looked up from the chaise where she was reclining while servants displayed various outfits for her to consider.
"And what are they doing?" asked Bastila. She was still trying to have faith in her companions. It was getting very hard.
"Oh, wear that," said Malak approvingly as they held up a long black sleeveless dress. "Then you can wear the whole set of bangles."
Bastila glared at him. "Don't you have anything better to do than dress me up?"
Malak laughed, and sprawled on the couch opposite. "Not really." He beckoned to one of the servants. "Bring in the jewelry for that dress. Oh, and that ruby necklace I just got." The servant bowed low and left the room. Malak tossed a datapad to Bastila, using the Force to make sure it got to her hands safely. "Well, so far they've broken into the Sith base and set a murderer free on technicalities. For the good of the Republic, of course."
Bastila wanted to argue, but read the report on the data pad instead, and watched the recordings for herself. She could understand why they had done it but she found herself getting angrier and angrier as she reviewed the trial. Why did everything have to be justified? Why weren't things just good and evil as they had once been? This man was a murderer and a cheater – he had sold the Republic's secrets, betrayed his oath to his wife, all for a few moments of pretending that he was still young and handsome with a younger woman. She slammed the datapad down on the counter. He had compromised the security of the Republic with his selfish, foolish actions, leaving it for others to save him and keep the balance of power on Manaan intact.
The servants waited patiently for her to recover from her outburst, then went back to displaying clothes and shoes.
"Where's Hannah?" asked Malak idly. He looked around, with the elegant unconcern of a Sith Lord for his underlings.
Bastila flushed. "She – I – "
Malak raised an eyebrow, pretending that he hadn't already sensed the answer to his question. "What? Killing my servants already?" Malak checked the time on a datapad. "Oh, well, I suppose it's been a whole day. You held out long enough."
"Oh!" Bastila glared at him. "She would keep insisting that I wasn't as beautiful or perfect as Revan. I couldn't take it anymore!"
Malak shrugged. "I thought it was rather endearing personally, but I can see how it would get tiresome." He leaned back against the couch. "I only find it inconvenient because I was in the mood for a short interlude." He eyed Bastila.
"No."
"Oh, come on," he laughed, "it will be fun!"
Bastila continued to look away, trying to resist his insidious suggestions.
The servant returned with two jewelry boxes, and Malak lifted out a necklace, a solid gold chain with a single giant ruby dangling from it like a drop of blood.
Bastila stared at it. The ruby was the deepest red that she had ever seen, flawless and sparkling. Jedi weren't supposed to own more than they could carry. Everything was supposed to be sensible and utilitarian. There was no room in the life of a Jedi for sensuousness or beauty.
"Come here and try it on." Malak held up the necklace, and waved away the servant holding the jewelry box.
Bastila stood up, and walked slowly to stand before Malak. She was wearing nothing but a silken robe. Her hair was in a single braid, in preparation for more elaborate styling later. Part of her couldn't believe that she was doing this, that she was giving up her friends for a sparkling trinket. She felt the weight of the chain on her neck, saw the beautiful ruby slide down her chest, to rest between her breasts, beneath the folds of her dressing gown where she couldn't see it. She felt Malak's warm hands gently closing the clasp at the back of her neck.
The other part of her wanted to see what would happen. Bastila reached up, pushed the robe away from her shoulders, so that the ruby was completely exposed. With a soft whisper, softer than the cry of her soul in despair at what she was becoming, the robe fell to the floor as she turned to face Malak.
"Beautiful," he said softly. "Just as I thought you would be."

Kolto. The healing fluid. Vital to the success of any war effort. Impossible to synthesize. Able to heal any wound, given enough time and enough kolto. Every battleship, Sith or Republic, had at least one kolto tank. Every building, every home, every soldier's kit, had at least one kolto pack for emergencies. Not even the Mandalorians had dared to attack Manaan, the only planet where kolto could be found. According to the legends, kolto came from the Progenitor, the ancestor of all life on Manaan, who dwelled deep inside the Hrakert Rift.
Patience, in the environmental suit that let her walk on the floor of the ocean, looked down into the Rift, and wondered if she would ever be able to tell anyone the truth. She watched the glittering Star Map, and its accompanying generator, pulsing crystalline light into the water. Just as the wroshyr trees of Kashyyk had been altered by the Star Map there – and, she realized, the Krayt Dragons of Tatooine – kolto was the result of the engineering done by the ancient empire that had created the Star Maps. The Star Maps – giant computers that could both defend themselves, and repair themselves if damaged – placed not only as monuments of a fallen empire's greatness, but to serve a purpose.
She wondered what purpose the Star Maps on Korriban and Dantooine served. What had the fallen Empire harvested from those worlds? Even as she asked herself the question, she realized the answer. Both worlds called to Force users, nurtured them as they grew in power. How many times had the schools been rebuilt? How long had the Star Maps regenerated the cycle, calling Dark to Dark, Light to Light?
Patience shook her head, and watched the giant Firaxan shark floating gently in the water between her and the Star Map. The two Selkath in the station had warned her that the shark had gone mad – it was the largest that anyone had ever seen, and was possibly even the Progenitor herself. They knew what caused the Firaxa's madness – it was the machinery that they had secretly installed, and they had unknowingly triggered the Star Map's defenses. One of the Selkath had suggested poisoning the water to drive the Firaxa away; the other had suggested destroying the machinery instead.
Patience held out her hands, and concentrated on the water around her, the feel of the ground beneath her, the wind that stirred the water. She felt herself touching the mind of the creature before her. At first it was alien and incomprehensible, then suddenly, everything changed.
You are not as the others.
The voice echoed strangely inside her head. It was not so much a conversation, as just knowing. The words completed themselves before the thought registered.
You wish to save, and not to destroy.
She realized that the damage had already been done by the illegal station in the water – the kolto harvest would slow, and quality would suffer for centuries.
You will save.
Patience walked forward and changed the settings in the machinery, as the Firaxa – a projection of the true Progenitor – watched calmly.
You will do as the Force commands.
The explosion knocked her off her feet, but it was the vision in her head that stunned her so badly she nearly fell into the Rift. A distant world, two moons hanging in the sky, a little boy tugging at her sleeve, a baby in her arms, playing with her hair, as she stood, watching her husband walk up to her, smiling and laughing.
Patience staggered back to her feet, and realized that she was right next to the Star Map. Shakily, she downloaded the data as the Firaxa, satisfied that she had understood the message, sank back into the depths of the Rift.
Patience shook her head, trying to center herself again, and returned to the station, where Carth was waiting.