HK-47 raised his Mandalorian assault rifle and aimed it out the broken window. The distant rumble of artillery fire did nothing to disturb his precise concentration. His enhanced aural receptors picked up the sounds of the ancient structure creaking around him.
He calculated that he only had a few minutes until the building collapsed around him, or the artillery zeroed in on his position. He put his photoreceptor to the rifle sight and picked out his target. The high-level government official had no idea his life was about to end in a few short seconds.
HK-47 tracked the official's vehicle as it slowly headed for the spaceport. HK-47 upped the zoom on the scope and steadied the rifle with the crosshairs directly on the man's head. He waited just three seconds longer and depressed the trigger.
Five blocks away, the planetary governor of Corellia collapsed in his luxury groundcar with a small hole smoking in his temple.
Darth Revan meditated on his flagship, the Leviathan. His face, scarred by the Dark Side of the Force, was hidden by a full mask and a black cloak infused with the dark power of the Star Forge hung on his small frame. Orbiting the former Republic planet of Corellia, the Leviathan bombarded the planet into submission. Of course, when word of the governor's death got out, there would be no need to ruin any more of his future capital. As this thought crossed his mind, his personal comm unit beeped softly. He already knew what the call was about, but he wanted to hear it said. He unhooked the comm unit and spoke into it.
"Is it done?" he said in a dark whisper. There was a pause and some static.
"It is done," a synthetic voice replied.
"You have done well HK-47. Your ship is waiting nearby. I'd appreciate it if you didn't get yourself destroyed on the way up."
"Of course, master. Those meatbags wouldn't dare challenge a ship of the Sith Empire," the assassin droid laughed coldly. The transmission ended. Revan sat still until he could no longer contain his evil laughter. A lieutenant stepped into the meditation chamber bearing news about Corellia's surrender. He stopped, worried that something was wrong with his master. But nothing could ruin Revan's good mood right now. Nothing.
Carth Onasi lay semi-conscious on a sandy beach on an unnamed world. His water-deprived brain wondered vaguely if anyone was looking for him. But how could anyone, seeing as no one knew he was here? No one, he reminded himself, except Revan. And Bastila. Those damned traitors. First Saul, then Dustil, and finally the two people he had been closest to five years ago. And they had killed Mission and Zaalbar. The Twi'lek's shattered body lay under a pile of rocks and sand nearby with her Wookie friend lying next to her where he had fallen trying to stop Revan from killing Mission. He had seen it all from the cliff above. Once the Ebon Hawk had lifted off on it's mission of destruction, he had climbed back down, buried the bodies, and wandered off in search of food and shelter. Now here he was lying on the warm sand trying hard not to die.
Formless shapes hovered above him speaking a language at once familiar yet foreign to him. He felt himself being lifted up and carried. Was this the end? Was this how it felt to die? Darkness tugged at him and he let himself fall into oblivion.
After what felt like years, Carth awoke. Startled to see durasteel walls and artificial lights, he quickly sat up. A few strands of his brown hair fell over his eyes. He brushed them away and looked around. As he got his bearings, he realized that this was a medical room of a Republic cruiser. What am I doing on a Republic cruiser? he thought. He started to get up, but two large brown hands eased him back down.
"Careful, soldier. You're still weak." Carth looked up to see a weathered human face.
"Ulrich?! I thought—" The big man seemed shocked that Carth knew his name.
"That was years ago, Onasi. I thought you'd have forgotten all about me by now especially after Revan's return," Ulrich Rast replied. His blue eyes looked worried for Carth. He grabbed a chair and pulled it around so he could sit and face Carth. "But enough about me for now. You can ask me questions all you want later. What happened to you Carth? How did you end up lying on a beach on a previously unknown world lying next to a couple of handmade graves?"
Carth winced as the memories of the past five years flooded back into his mind. Even though it had all happened so long ago, the events of that one day still were as clear as yesterday. But the pain was unbearable.
"I'd…I'd rather not t-talk about it," he gasped, feeling suddenly cold. Ulrich jumped up, alarmed.
"Carth!" Ulrich yelled. "Hang on buddy, I'll get help!" He dashed from the room.
Carth felt like he was paralyzed from the neck down. Try as he might, he couldn't move his arms or legs. Something appeared in his peripheral vision, but when he turned his head towards it, whatever it was disappeared like a wraith vanishes with a stray gust of wind. There was a bright flash of light. Carth closed his eyes reflexively. When he opened them, he found himself standing in a completely white room. In the middle of it there was a table and two chairs, all white. He had a hard time seeing them because they had a tendency to blend into the surroundings. Looking around, he found himself to be alone. But he had a nagging feeling that all was not as it seemed. He turned back to regard the table. To his shock, there was an elderly man sitting in one of the chairs. His gray hair flew in wisps away from his head and he was clad entirely in a white jumpsuit, immaculate except for the silver cylinder clipped to his belt.
"I see you've noticed my lightsaber Carth." The old man spoke with a hint of humor in his voice. Carth's jaw dropped.
"How did you know my name?" he asked, slightly suspicious.
"Oh, I know a lot about you. Sit down and we'll talk." The man waved at the other chair. Carth sat and turned back to the man. The elderly man was eating from a plate that Carth swore hadn't been there earlier.
"Would you like some? It's quite good and, I assure you, not poisoned," the older man pushed the plate towards Carth.
"Not hungry. Tell me, who are you and where am I? I'm not dead, am I?" Carth asked worriedly. The look in the old man's eyes disturbed him.
The old man chuckled. "Lots of you young people seem to think that when they come here." Carth got even more worried.
"Where is 'here'?"
"Here is not here, rather there, in your mind, put there by the Force. And I am not a real person, just an avatar of one who once was and now is not. I have long since forgotten what I was once called by men, but you may call me Kenrz."
Carth chewed on this bit of nonsense that some would dare to call philosophical. "Right. So where am I?"
Kenrz glared at him. "Have it your way. In layman's terms, you're having a bad dream and I'm in it. Happy?"
"That works. Now, why are you here and what do you want?"
"My my, aren't you the snappy one."
It was Carth's turn to glare. "If you know so much about me, you'll know why I'm like this."
"Of course. But you must learn to trust again. That's why I'm here. To help you regain the trust you lost when Revan betrayed you and the rest of the Galaxy."
"So what you're telling me is that the Force is calling on me to learn how to trust people again, so I can be a hero and save the Galaxy from a gruesome fate at the hands of Darth Revan?"
Kenrz smiled, "Exactly."
