The sight unfolding before the forward view-ports of the flagship was not unexpected. A small Republic fleet had dared to challenge the might of the Sith Lord's forces. Stalking along the walkway of her bridge, Revan was restless. The Dark Lady of the Sith could not help feeling that something, somewhere was very wrong. Her customary mask concealed any trace of what she might have been thinking, but the restless pacing betrayed her emotions. Suddenly a cacophony of alarms shattered her thoughts bringing them back into focus.
"What is it?" she demanded of the bridge crew.
"We've been boarded, Lord Revan. Republic forces accompanied by Jedi are on the ship."
Revan growled under her breath. Could this be what she had been feeling? But no… there was something else still prickling at the back of her mind, a faint warning of impending danger, but from what? Shaking her head, the Sith found her hand resting on the hilt of her lightsaber. Let them come; the fools will only die for their trouble.
The sounds of blaster fire and combat became clear as the bridge doors opened. A small group of Jedi flanked by Republic soldiers spilled forward through the door. Anger surged through the Dark Lord's mind and she embraced the emotion. Lashing out with the Force, one soldier was thrown aside, smashing into a computer console across the room. Another fell to his knees clutching his throat as Revan choked the life out of his feeble body.
The Jedi pressed forward, their sabers drawn as they faced the Sith Master. With a vicious hiss her own saber sprang to life. Deep crimson blade burned with a fury that matched its wielder's infamous temper and reflected the blood she had spilled over the years. Revan smiled beneath her mask, an almost feral grin at the foolishness of the Council that sent these Jedi to die on her bridge. Destroying them would be fun.
"Fools, you think to challenge me here?" She edged closer, a smirk on her hidden face as two of the Knights stepped back slightly.
A young woman wielding a yellow saber stepped forward as if to meet Revan's challenge. "You cannot win, Revan!"
The Force screamed its warning in Revan's mind and instinct took over. Leaping past the Jedi, she landed behind them just as heavy laser fire pummeled the bridge, shaking the ship. The Sith's anger flared as she knew that it had not been a Republic ship firing on her vessel. Revan made a mental note to have a chat with her Apprentice after these Jedi were dealt with.
"Return fire!" She yelled.
The Dark Lord's attention was drawn back to the matter at hand as one Jedi Knight lunged forward, saber hissing as it aimed for Revan's midsection. Cloak swirling behind like the wings of some terrible dark bird, Revan spun catching the errant Knight in the chest with a boot. Her movements were fluid with no wasted motion. Her fiery ruby blade arced out and the Sith was rewarded by the howl of pain as the Knight's arm was severed. The scent of smoldering cloth and charred flesh filled the air. The Knight dropped his saber and fell, writhing in agony. With an almost casual flick of her wrist, Revan called the Jedi's fallen weapon to her left hand and activated the second saber. A rich, vibrant violet blade offered a distinct contrast to her own crimson saber. A smile spread over her features, concealed by her mask. The Sith Master easily adjusted her form and the style of her combat to accommodate using two sabers.
Springing back into action, Revan stalked closer to the Jedi, eyes focused on the young woman in the lead. The Sith could feel the strength of the Force in the girl, and saw a great potential if she were to be captured and turned to the dark side. Closing in, Revan attacked with a renewed fury. Sith troops had arrived to reinforce the Dark Lord's position. They blocked the only exit off of the bridge and the Jedi were now completely trapped.
"I believe it was you who said that I could not win?" Revan pointed to the young Jedi who stood defiantly gripping her saber with its warm, amber glow. "Look around you, child. You will see that you were quite mistaken. If you surrender to me now, I may consider sparing your pathetic lives. Continue to defy me and I will destroy you all!"
"I will never surrender to the likes of you, Revan!" The girl stated boldly.
"So be it, you've sealed your fate and that of your companions."
Revan burst into motion in a furious flurry, the crimson and violet sabers whirling with deadly precision. Two of the Knights stepped forward, in an attempt to protect the girl. One gasped as she was impaled on the bloodthirsty ruby blade of Revan's saber while the other's pale emerald blade hissed and sparked against the violet saber. Weaving and twisting Revan dispatched the last of the Jedi Knights, leaving only the young girl with the yellow saber.
Standing there studying the young Jedi, the Dark Lord growled. "Enough, I tire of this foolishness." She clipped her own sabers to her belt and reached out, the Force ripping the golden hued saber from its owner's grasp. Motioning to the troops, "Take this Jedi to the brig. I'll deal with her later."
Now without her companions or her lightsaber and weary from the furious fight, Bastila heaved a resigned sigh as the Troopers seized her and led her off the bridge.
Revan watched them go, and then snapped at the rest of the troopers. "You! Clean the rest of this trash off my bridge. It'll take weeks to get the stink of dead Jedi out of here as it is."
They scrambled to comply, removing the bodies from the bridge as quickly as possible. Revan scowled beneath her mask and paced for a moment. Stopping near the communications console, she glared down at the Com Officer, her arms folded across her chest. The Officer swallowed hard as he looked up at her.
"Y…y…yes, Lord Revan?"
"Explain to me why my ship was fired upon by the Leviathan." Using the Force, she ripped into his mind, rifling through his hidden thoughts. "Ah, you sent Malak a message saying we were under attack by the Jedi, how thoughtful. Fool!"
The Officer struggled to move, fear and panic in his eyes. Revan snarled as she threw him across the room, snapping his worthless neck in the process. Shaking with barely controlled fury, she turned her masked gaze upon the second com officer who went visibly pale.
"Send another message to the Leviathan. Inform that miserable excuse for a Kath hound of an apprentice that I wish to see him, here."
"Yes, Lord Revan!"
Turning, Revan looked around the bride, the blast shields had been closed over the bridge viewports after the laser hits, but she did not need to actually see the ship across from her own. It will be amusing to see what pathetic excuses that bantha brained idiot tries to come up with, unless I just kill him when he shows up. Smiling at her dark thoughts, the Sith Lord left the bridge.
Revan decided to pay her new pet Jedi a visit so headed down to the brig. She entered the detention area and the troopers snapped to attention. The Sith nearly laughed at the sight of the young Jedi glaring defiantly at the troopers who'd been stationed there to ensure that she remained a prisoner. Turning her attention to Revan as the Dark Lord entered, Bastila swallowed hard while trying to maintain her composure.
"So, you are the one they call Bastila?"
"I won't tell you anything, Revan."
Revan chuckled, "Oh, you would be mistaken in that, child. However, I do not need for you to tell me your name; I pulled that information from the mind of one of your companions before I killed him. I know that the Council arranged this little trap." Laughing, Revan moved closer to the force cage holding Bastila. "The Council has indeed grown arrogant and foolish if they seriously thought a neophyte Padawan and a handful of Jedi Knights could actually take me prisoner." Revan saw the flash of fear in the girl's eyes grey eyes and smiled to herself. "Think about it Bastila, they sent you here to die. However, I am offering you a chance to live, to achieve your true potential."
Bastila shook her head, "Save your words, Revan, I will not fall to the dark side."
Revan stepped back with a chuckle. "Fall? My dear, there is no fall, unless you insist on doing things the hard way. If you persist in this stubborn course, then I will break you." Her voice grew icy cold as she slowly emphasized the last four words.
She heard a low beep behind her, and a trooper stepped forward. "Forgive the interruption…"
Revan waved a dismissive hand, "Malak has arrived?"
"Yes, Lord Revan."
"Have him escorted down here."
The troopers turned and left to carry out their orders and Revan turned back to Bastila. "Now, do you wish to do things the easy way, or the hard way? It matters little to me, really. I will get what I want, regardless. "
Bastila straightened herself up bravely, "I won't join you, Revan."
"You will in time."
Revan turned as she felt Malak's presence enter the room. She stood, folding her arms across her chest, searching his surface thoughts. He came to a stop about ten feet from her and regarded his Master coldly.
"You wanted to see me… Master?"
"Yes, I did. I have a few questions to ask, if you will humor me."
He offered a stiff bow, "Of course."
"Malak tell me, do you remember what happened last time you thought to challenge me?" She referred to the event that resulted in the loss of his natural lower jaw.
She could feel him tense, and he was trying to shield his thoughts from her. Unfolding her arms, she let her hands come to rest on the hilts of her sabers, having decided to keep the violet one she'd taken from the Jedi. Beneath her mask, her eyes studied every movement he made, ready to fight should he be foolish enough to attack.
"Yes, I remember." His voice hissed through the prosthetic he now had to wear. His eyes burned with anger and hatred.
Revan only nodded, "Tell me then, my apprentice, what is the price of failure?"
"The price of failure is death."
"Indeed. Your ship fired on my bridge, I assume that you hoped that I would be killed. If that was your intention, then as you can see, you failed."
"Master, that was not intentional. It was a weapons malfunction and was dealt with as quickly as possible. May I remind you that you also fired on my ship until we moved out of range?"
"You think that I'd let you shoot at me without returning fire? Have you learned nothing all this time?"
"But I didn't …"
"Enough! We've known each other too long, Malak. I can smell your lies, but I want to introduce you to someone first."
Revan turned and pointed to Bastila who tensed with fear. The girl had been listening to the exchange between the Sith Lord and her apprentice, and now that they were turning their attention to her, she was afraid of what would happen.
"Ah, you captured one of the Jedi?"
"Yes, this is Bastila, my new apprentice. Bastila, this is Malak, my soon to be dead apprentice."
Malak stepped back, fury erupting as he drew his lightsaber, "I will not be that easy to kill, Revan."
Drawing on the power of the Force deep within her, Revan slammed Malak into the wall across the room, and then threw him back to the other wall. It was well known that between the two, Revan was by far the stronger in regards to Force powers. Letting him slide down the wall to crumple on the floor she unclipped the sabers from her belt.
Malak rose to his feet, coughing as he pushed aside the pain he felt. "Come now, Revan, you're not giving me a fair fight?" Malak relied on his brute strength and size; he knew he'd be hard pressed to win the fight if he couldn't close in on the smaller woman.
"You gave up that right when you made the foolish mistake to attack my ship." Crimson and violet, her sabers hissed with blood-lust as they snapped to life. She smirked to herself as she saw the doubt flicker in Malak's eyes.
Revan closed in slightly, circling and stalking around Malak. He tightened his grip on his saber and lunged at his master as she drew closer. Ducking under her taller apprentice's swing, Revan brought a howl of pain from him as her violet saber danced across his thigh while her crimson saber met his in an over handed block which allowed her to slip back out of range unharmed. Growling with rage, Malak spun to follow his master's movements only to be met by a ball of blue lightning that slammed into his chest. Staggering back, the Sith Apprentice tried to counter the attack, but Revan's hands glowed with another onslaught of crackling energy which drove the errant apprentice to his knees, gasping. The first ball of lightning had only been a small distracting shot to give her time to clip the sabers back on her belt. The second wave of lightning held the raw fury that raged deep in her dark heart.
Malak's saber slipped from his grasp as he fought to regain his feet. The Sith Lord laughed as she used the Force to toss it behind him well out of his reach. Malak turned his back to her just enough as he tried to see where his saber was to recall it to him. A feral grin spread over Revan's features as her crimson saber sprang back to life and she threw it. Flying true, guided by her mind and the Force, the ruby blade impaled Malak. His spine severed by the vicious saber, he crumpled to the floor unable fight back. The saber returned to its owner's hand and she reignited it along with the violet saber in her other hand.
"The price for failure is death, Malak, and you have completely and utterly failed me."
The sabers hissed as she moved in and with fluid motion she finished what she had nearly done once before as Malak's head was separated from his body. Turning away from her lifeless apprentice, the Dark Lord glanced over at Bastila who stood in shock of what she'd just witnessed. The shock turned to fear as Bastila watched Revan approach her force cage. The Dark Lord's words echoed through her mind, "This is Bastila, my new apprentice…"
Bastila shook her head, "I will not become your apprentice, Revan."
"So you still intend to be stubborn about this? Very well. I had hoped that you would be reasonable, but if you prefer to resist, then you leave me no other choice. You will just have to suffer."
The torture field in the cage activated and Bastila screamed as relentless waves of excruciating pain ripped through every nerve in her body. When the torture field deactivated, the young Jedi collapsed to the floor, desperately fighting back tears from the pain.
Revan stood in the command center of the Star Forge, arms folded across her chest as she studied the displays. She felt the presence approaching behind her and smiled.
"Master?"
"Yes, Bastila?"
"Why did you choose not to attack Dantooine?"
"The Academy on Dantooine is nothing. Let the Republic cling to the hidebound relics of the Jedi Council. It doesn't matter, they will fall. Whether the Republic ultimately dies by my hand or its own still remains to be seen, but it will die. There is nothing the Republic or the Jedi can do to stop us now. Soon we will have the forces necessary to take the final assault to the Core worlds. I will crush Coruscant."
"I see. I understand now, Master."
Revan simply nodded.