Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic III: Sith Empire
Chapter One: Exile Broken
Jayarede, the Jedi Exile, walked the alleyways of the lower city on a stormy night. He wore his grey Jedi robe, hood pulled over, and double-bladed lightsaber slid inside his inner robe. He had dark skin, red ravaged eyes, and stubble all over his face, which was framed with slightly long black hair that was combed from the middle, and passed down his collar.
'The lives, all of the lives that make their presence on this world, they are . . . thriving. They do not feel suffering, most have never felt suffering. This is almost the opposite of Nar'Shaada. I have almost forgotten the powerful presence of this place' he thought to himself as he strolled down the walk-streets, feeling every speeder go by and every person leaving an imprint on them.
It had been over ten years since he had been to Courascant. It was the emblem of the core worlds, the capitol of an empire that stabilized through a system of democracy. It was a symbol of the Galactic Republic's awesome might, now shattered from within.
Yet, he knew that the republic was recovering. He could feel the stability in the structure of the senate. Corruption was decreasing, and it would only be a few years until the Republic had the huge power that it hadn't had since the war with Exar Kun.
But it all depended on the Jedi Council. There was now only four Jedi left. One had left to fight the True Sith, the other - Jayarede himself – was about to follow him, one was on Telos, but there was only one here – and she carried the answers that he was seeking. But Bao-Dur, Mira, Atton, Visas, Brianna, they had come already, rebuilding the order. It had been four months, and he hadn't seen them since. They were here, on Courascant, he was sure of that. But they were not in the temple. They had gone to Dantooine, training force adepts into Jedi, while Atris did the same thing on Telos. Jayarede did not know how many Jedi that they had mustered. It wasn't the full-fledged training of the normal Jedi, but they would train people for only a month, so they only chose specific force adepts. Some of them were even ex-Jedi. But those six masters would have trained no more than ten Jedi up till now. They had to be patient. Word would spread on the Jedi academies on Dantooine and Telos, and more would come.
But on Courascant, propaganda of the Republic ran deep, and Jedi were infamous.
His thoughts were cut off as he heard a man shouting.
"Give us all your credits, now!" he said. There were about four thugs – two humans, a Trandoshnan, and Aqualish - surrounding a young human boy who looked on older than about thirteen.
The boy stared at the thugs, fear flashing in his eyes. "I . . . I . . . no! You're not . . . you're not taking anything from me!" he snapped.
Before he could take a breath, the Trandoshnan bashed the boy on the side of the face with his fist. The boy screamed in agony, and crumpled to the floor.
But as soon as the fist made contact, the Trandoshnan found his body cut in half. Before the other three could react, Jayarede slashed his double-bladed lightsaber in the most complicated techniques, flying in the air so that he would not hit himself. In about two seconds, the other two thugs were down. Jayarede turned to the last human thug, lightsaber raised.
"Please!" pleaded the thug, "Please, Master Jedi! Don't kill me! I will do anything you ask, please!" Deep inside, he was not so worried. Jedi don't kill their prisoners.
But this Jedi was different. Jayarede drove his lightsaber through the thug's flesh, feeling the anger and hate flow through him, but defending the dark side with the determination of his compassion. After a while, he settled down and deactivated his lightsaber, sliding it back in his robe.
He stretched his hand out to the boy, who hesitated at first, but finally took it, letting him be heaved up.
"Are you all right?" asked Jayarede, his glowing eyes, cold voice, and darkened figure making him look like a man from the shadows.
The boy looked at him with suspicion, then replied, "I'm fine. I can take a few hard blows. I'm not a baby."
"Still," breathed Jayarede, "a young boy should not roam the lower city of Courascant at night. Go, head home now."
The boy shook his head. "I don't need to do anything. Even if I had a home, I would stay out here."
Jayarede sighed. Courascant was supposed to be the richest place in the galaxy. Yet the moment you go to the lower city, it is almost as bad as Nar'Shaada.
"You know much for a child. I am heading for the Capitol Center, with the senate building and the Jedi temple. Where can I find a speeder that can take me to the upper city stations, do you know?"
"Just go straight, through the street-walk, then at the station from there."
In a second Jayarede had leapt back into the night, following the boy's instructions as he took the train into the upper city, until he was dropped off at the outskirts of Capitol Center. It was quite sudden, moving from the industrial, pollution to the marvels of the upper city. There was not much traffic in the airways, and Jayarede was able to pick a taxi that took him at the pad near the senate building.
As he went off, he closed his eyes, and searched through the entire building, searching for a presence that reveled in the force. Then he suddenly found a source, a well of the source. He found a Jedi.
Jayarede continued on, following the presence, guiding him. Strangely, he was having distractions from the building itself.
'This very structure is built of the force.' He thought to himself, 'The Jedi Temple's aura is immersed in the force. I had almost forgotten. But even this senate building was held together with the force. It was almost a codex of life.' The very power lit him with a fire, and he suddenly felt stronger with the light side. But he concentrated on the one Jedi, the one who would have his answers, the ones he needed before going off into the Unknown Regions.
He followed through the passageways of the building, until he came upon a regular senator's room, except it was immersed with the force.
He slid the door open, and found a figure standing in the shadows.
"And so you have come, too. Only to leave again, I am sure. You follow him, don't you? You seek to find him, don't you?" echoed a woman's voice through the dark room. A strange aura surrounded her, a powerful one, but one that slipped Jayarede's memory.
"So you are the one that I was supposed to meet," breathed Jayarede out loud, "I was told to speak with you, last surviving member of the Old Jedi Order. Where has he gone? How can I find him?"
The woman in the shadows paused, and then continued, words escaping her mouth only when she knew what she was talking about. "If that is why you have come here, then you are wasting your time. I know nothing. I am only a broken Jedi, too stubborn to even follow the wishes of those who fight to the death for me. Do not be mistaken, I am no Jedi. Not any longer."
The woman came from the shadows, for the first time showing her face.
"I thought you died during the wars. I was obviously mistaken. Still following the broken traditions of the Jedi Order, Bastila, or have you finally seen the truth? You are not a broken Jedi. The Jedi are broken! I know you knew Revan, so where is he? Or did you abandon him, leave him when he needed you-"
"I have not left him, Exile!" jutted Bastila, her eyes fuming with the hatred she had run loose, "I have seen much in the ten years since that faithful day on Revan's flagship. I have finally learned the truth. The Sith are evil, but the Jedi are weak. I know now. This is why Revan left me here, so that I could find myself, find the true path."
Jayarede couldn't help but give a short laugh. Even though she was four years younger than him, Bastila had always received the best treatment on Dantooine. He would have bet himself a million credits that Bastila would never refer to the Jedi as weak. "So what are you going to do now Bastila?" asked Jayarede coldly, glowering at her. "Are you going to 'sap my will and give yourself the confidence so you could strike me down?" he asked in a mocking tone, but one without any sense of humor, only cold hate.
Bastila sighed. "Go ahead then, attack me, Jayarede. I can no longer feel any compassion. I am now a slave of my own self. Ever since Revan left, there has been a hole inside me; a wound that cannot be breached."
"Exile . . ." breathed Jayarede under his breath in disbelief.
"Exile." Responded Bastila, drawing her double bladed lightsaber.
Jayarede drew his, and he lunged at her.
Suddenly, they were twisting themselves into a vortex of exhilaration, blades cutting through the aura that surrounded them.
Their double-bladed sabers made them lose their center of balances at times, and Jayarede found he had to keep on leaping in the air so that he could unleash a series of blows on Bastila, else he would risk losing balance and impaling himself.
But something was wrong. Bastila was swinging her blade with a new urge, and he was losing his accuracy.
He suddenly figured out what was happening. He leapt back with the force to regroup, and then centered his thoughts.
Soon, he countered her Battle Meditation. Her eyes narrowed.
"You've become just like Atris!" shouted Jayarede, "you have fallen as surely as that schutta did!"
"I haven't fallen to the dark side," retorted Bastila, "The Sith are evil, but there powers are strong. I have finally realized what Revan had wanted for me to do all along. That is to use the dark side for the light side."
Jayarede withdrew his double bladed lightsaber, open to any attack. "You loved him, didn't you? I know you did. Somehow, I always did know. On Dantooine, it was just . . . I always thought that - He left you to fight the sith, didn't he?" He now slid his lightsaber in his grey Jedi robes.
Bastila drew hers, then closed her eyes, taking only a split second to vent her anger.
"I more than anyone else would know how you feel. Now tell me, where did he go?"
Bastila looked up to him, and then shook her head. "I was nothing more than a beacon. He kept me here so that I could guide you to find him. Guide myself to find him. He has gone through the Mandalore System, through there to the Unknown Regions."
Jayarede was silent. His soft breathing gave a tranquil feel to the room.
'The Mandalore System. I will go.'