Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars and to understand the story you need to have played both Kotor 1 and 2. Also, I have very sorry for this extremely late update. School and sports got in the way. I originally intended to have posted this chapter in December.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 3:The True Sith

Part 2: The Search

A lone star craft drifted in space. The paint had eroded away, it was covered with dents, and the metal was beginning to turn into rust. In the cramped cockpit, a man in his mid-twenties uncomfortably sat in the seat. His arms were crossed and his eyes looked straight ahead. He was wearing a cloak that had lost its vivid, green color and at his waist was a metal hilt. His arm moved closer to the hilt and grabbed it; he stared at it and remembered what he went through with it. Releasing a deep sigh, he attached it back to his waist.

His red, tired eyes wandered around as he talked out loud, "I've been searching for Revan for a damn year, and I still haven't found him. Why did I go? Why did I even come to the Unknown Region? I can't understand the aliens in this region. And to top it all off, they're immune to my mind tricks." He rubbed his eyes, "I should have never have listened to Kreia, that witch. This would have been a lot easier if I had brought them with me."

He saw a planet that was about 100,000 kilometers away. "What is this? The fifth planet that I've visited? I hope Revan is on this one because I don't think this ship will be able to enter hyper-drive again. I mean, this thing can't even fly straight!" He paused. "I've been talking to myself haven't I? …Damn, I need some sleep."

Mordo then leaned back into his chair and reached for the switch to turn off the engines, but he only grazed the cold metal knob. He didn't hear the reassuring click from the switch, but he was too tried to care. As Mordo's mind drifted, so did the fighter, and it inched closer and closer to the planet.

"So the Exile has finally come," laughed a man. "Are you here to stop me? Because no one else could."

On the floor of the temple lay the bodies of Bastila, Visas, Brianna, Carth, Jolee, Atton, Bao-Dur, Canderous, Mission, and Big Z, covered in a pool of their own blood.

"They all quivered at the sight of my blades." He perversely laughed as he ignited two lightsabers. One was infused with the Heart of the Guardian the other with the Mantle of the Force. "But each one of them sacrificed their lives, not for Galaxy, but for you. They all told me before they died that you, the Exile, would defeat me, Revan."

The Exile was dumbstruck; his whole body began shake in fear at the thought that his friends were dead. Iacen turned to the man whom he at one time considered an ally. "Why? Why did you do this, you damn bastard! They were our friends and you killed them! You never changed did you? At heart you'll always be the Dark Lord of the Sith! I'll--I'll kill you!"

Revan sneered at the Exile. "The only one that is to be killed is you, my old friend."

In the next second, a sharp pain struck Iacen's stomach. One lightsaber was lodged in the Exile's body. Revan slowly walked to Mordo and grabbed him by the throat. He whispered, "Earlier you asked me why I did this, but there is no point in telling you since you will be dead soon enough." The Dark Lord swung the orange light saber and--

Iacen awoke. Sweat covered the Jedi's body. It was just a nightmare, he thought. But why was he so hot? It was then that he noticed that the temperature in the ship was rising at an incredible rate.He looked through the window of the cockpit. The plains of a planet stared back at him. The metal of the fighter was beginning to peel away. Iacen furiously tried to regain control of the ship, but couldn't.

"Ok," he swallowed the air as if it were his last. "Ok, how am I supposed to get out of this one? I've gone through more difficult situations. I'll make it out alive… I'll make it out alive."

An annoying feminine voice crackled out from the speakers calmly, "Warning. Warning. This fighter will come in contact with the planet's surface in 20 seconds, 19, 18..."

"Damn bastards," Mordo said. He quickly created a force barrier around himself. "I really hope-" The ship crashed nose first into the plains. The pressure caused the ship to compress, making the engine to explode and throwing the occupant thirty feet into the air. As he struck the ground, the barrier dissipated.

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A man in his late twenties laid on an old and rickety bed inside a poorly lit apartment room. His face was haggard and rough. The creases which dug across his forehead spoke where words didn't about the suffering in his life. Creases which expressed the effects of witnessing planets destroyed, men begging for a quick death, and enemies whose only wish was to spill his blood. He saw everything that could have been seen. Nothing was unknown to him, except for this region of space.

He hated war in its entirety, but he always went back for more. He didn't do it for himself. It was for the galaxy but, more importantly, for his comrades. Because of them, he left his friends in order to shield them from the dangers that he knew were lurking around.

As he laid on the bed, he dreamt. Although, the dream was not a pleasant one.

"They said that you, Revan, could defeat me, the Exile. How foolish they were," cackled Iacen. His face looked sickly white and his eyes looked as though they were made of glass. "The once mighty Revan stands before me on his knees and shaking in terror. But let's stop this idle chat, and let me kill you."

Revan kneeled on the ground motionless and was breathing irregularly. One wouldn't be able to recognize him because of all the cuts and bruises and blood that were smeared across his face. He looked straight into the eyes of his former friend and was disgusted by what he saw.

"The True Sith are still out there," he heaved. "We…no. There is no longer a 'we' because of what you did to our friends. You killed them. How could you kill them? But…I will kill you, Iacen, because you have taken away someone that was dear to me!"

"I don't think you're in the position to be saying such things, Revan. Did you really care for her? Even though you had left her so many times? And about the Truth Sith, have you ever wondered why we never found them? It is because they don't exist. But you're right about one thing--we aren't friends and never were. That's all I have to say to you, stranger." Mordo ignited his lightsaber and rammed it -

Revan sprung forward from his bed, drenched in sweat.

He mumbled to himself, "This was fourth time I've had this dream. It has to mean something. A premonition maybe…hopefully it turns out to be false."

Revan fixed his gaze at a shaded wall then moved it to look at the time: a quarter to five in the morning. He knew he'd be late, but his employers didn't care as long as he made them money. Exiting his bed, he slowly walked to the bathroom. It was filthy, and he knew it was crawling with unwanted inhabitants. Taking a brisk shower, he got dressed then picked up his weapons: two lightsabers. Revan walked to one side of his room which had a glowing green button. He pressed it and the front door opened. Light flooded into his room.

He breathed in and then exhaled. "Another day as the Mysterious Stranger," he whispered.

Revan exited the room, disappearing into the blinding morning light. The door closed shut and darkness once again began to seep and settle into the apartment.

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Finding himself on the ground, Iacen let out a sigh of relief knowing that he was still alive. He looked for the ship but only found bits and pieces of it.

"Shit, I guess Carth won't need it back," he said. "What the hell was up with that dream? Was it a premonition? Is he going to fall down the path of the Dark Side?" The Jedi wiped the sweat off his brow. "I don't have time to worry about this; I first need to find Revan, and then maybe he might even have the answers…that is, if he's even on this blasted planet."

Iacen scanned his surroundings. He could tell that it was morning. To the North, South, and West, all he could see were plains and various animals that roamed them, but to the East he could make out a vehicle resembling a landspeeder.

Mordo approached it carefully and searched for anything that might prove useful. He found a data pad, a blasters, and three clubs. The data pad was useless because it was written in a different language. He tried to fiddle with the device but it was to no use. He threw the data pad onto the vacant seat.

Iacen leaned against the speeder and pondered what to do next. Although, before he could think of an idea, the grass behind him rustled. He knew something was behind him but what? Quickly, Mordo unsheathed his double-edged lightsaber and swung. Iacen stared at his assailant. It was man, but there was something queer about him. The man's face was colored green and wore a large orange beard.

He screamed in pain while holding his right wrist. On the ground was the man's severed hand and next to it was his weapon, an arg'garok.

The Exile kicked the axe aside and pointed his lightsaber to the man's neck.

"Who are you? What planet exactly am I on? And finally how the hell did you manage to get a hold of a Gamorrean axe?"

The man just looked at Iacen with distraught. The man moved his eyes away from Mordo's and to his bleeding wrist. The man began to speak but to Iacen's ears it was mindless gibberish.

The Exile then remembered what Revan had done with the Rakata. The Jedi concentrated intensely and managed to learn the alien's language which was called Tof, and Iacen in turn gave him the ability to understand and speak Basic.

"I'll ask you again. Who are you?"

"First sheath that weapon, offworlder, and then I'll be answering your damn questions," replied the green man.

The Exile withdrew his light saber and attached it back to his waist. "Now you better not do anything that that you would regret."

"Look, in my certain situation, I won't able to do any harm to you," he said as he raised up his right arm. "You want to know what this here planet's name is? Its name is Tof, I'm a Tof, and my language is called Tof. Now, don't ask me why this is so because I particularly don't know. We Tofs are known to be merciless, cruel, and cunning pirates, and, by the way, my name is Orange Beard. The reason why is because I've never met another man with a beard like mine. Except for that one instance, but I killed him before I learned his name. Quite the poor fighter. Could've never held the title of 'Orange Beard.' You wanted to know were I found the axe, right?" The Exile gave a nod "Well…I found it during my early adventuring days. I landed on this green planet. Forgot the name, but who gives a shit. The whole planet was infested with these damn forests. I needed something to cut the vines and branches, but my blades weren't sharp enough. It wasn't soon until I stumbled across a group of aliens that looked like…like….They had these snouts, and they communicated with squeals."

"Gamorreans. That's what you saw, and you were on the planet Gamorr."

"That's right. Gamorreans. I hate them. I knew they were all a bunch of idiots just by looking at them, but they aren't like us Tof," Orange Beard pushed his left index finger against his head. "We actually have brains. As I was saying, I snuck up behind the beasts with extreme caution. There were about four of them, and they were all eating some kind of slop. It was a dark brown and gave off a smell." A guttural hacking came from his throat. "I can gag by just remembering it. That smell was indescribable. I almost vomited when that aroma entered my nose, but I just swallowed it back down. Although, that didn't stop me from slitting their throats one by one. This was the second time that I had killed living beings. The first was here on Tof. I enjoyed it very much when the blood spurted out of 'em because I believed then--and still do now--that they were clumsy and stupid and truly deserved to die." He chuckled and gave a steely look into Iacen's eyes, "I remember clearly smiling each time I saw the cold metal expose the flesh, revealing their dark blood. It wasn't red though. No, it was brown just like their putrid slop. They each gave out a high pitched squeal before they stopped breathing. They were truly animals. Felt like killing all of their kind, but I had neither the weapons nor enough Tofs to back me up. I waited inside the bushes to be certain there weren't anymore coming. I then walked away from my hiding spot and searched for any spoils. That's when I came across that axe; it was useful while I was in those damn forests, but I suppose there isn't much need for it now since I lost my good hand."

For a moment, all Iacen could do was stare with disgust at the smiling, green man. But he was able to regain his composure and began to say with a frown, "Your whole story sounds quite farfetched. How do you expect me to believe that you killed four Gammoreans single handily without them noticing you?"

"And why wouldn't you believe me, Jedi?"

"Isn't it obvious? It's because you're a..." Iacen paused. "What do you mean, "Jedi"? What makes you think I'm a Jedi?"

"Well, the thing that gave it a way was that lighsaber, Mr. Jedi. The reason why I know that that is a lightsaber is because there's another Jedi on this very planet who wields two. Last time I saw him was in Tof Central and he was fighting in our dueling rings. In those rings the contestants fight to the death, but I'm pretty sure he's dead by now."

Iacen eyes widened. There's another Jedi on this planet? It has to be him! The thoughts darted like blaster shots across his mind. "Tell me where Tof Central is located," he said slowly.

"Thirty kilometers West from here."

Mordo didn't say anything else. He simply turned his back from the Tof and walk in the direction of the city.

"Although, it will take quite a while for someone, even a Jedi, to get there. I do have my speeder, but I can't drive it anymore. You could use it, but I would have to go with you because I'm the only one who knows the pass code to start it. Oh! Also, it won't be free. I believe 10,000 credits should do." Orange Beard gave a sly grin exposing his disgustingly yellow teeth.

"Greedy bastard. I hope this works," said Iacen under his breath. He raised his hand so that is was in front of his face and moved his hand in an arc and said, "I think 1,000 credits is fair don't you?"

Orange Beard's eyes dilated and he began to mumble, "Ya, that sounds… that sounds--wait you won't be tricking me Jedi because as I said before we Tof have brains, and your magic won't work on any of us Tof. We're all immune. Now if you want to use the speeder then hand over the credits, and we'll be on our way to Tof Central."

"Why would you want credits anyway? They're only valid in the region of space that I come from."

"What you say is true, but I've been planning to leave this planet and head for that region for quite sometime."

"If what you say is true then, I'll give you half now and the half when we reach the city, and I promise that you will be a dead man if you try to kill me again." Mordo said as he glared at the Tof.

"Well, if that's only way..." Orange Beard stuck out his grubby hand. The fingers were short and coarse, and it was severely marred. Reluctantly, Iacen stuck out his right hand, but the pirate didn't grab it. Iacen looked down. He had forgotten that he had severed the man's right hand. Mordo pulled his right hand down and brought up the other and asked, "Does the wound still hurt? I could possible heal to an extent."

The pirate snorted, "Never met someone who actually wanted to heal a wound that he had inflicted. But I don't need help from an offworlder, I can take care of myself."

When they reached the speeder, Iacen had taken out the 5,000 credits and gave it to the pirate. He quickly snatched it from Iacen's palm and began to chuckle to himself.

Orange Beard jumping in the speeder and slowly punched in the code with his left hand. The engine first flashed a roar before quieted to a purr. Iacen had taken wheel and turned the vehicle so that it faced west while pressing on the accelerator.

"Tof Central: home of thieves, murderers, and drunkards! Here we come!" exclaimed the pirate.

Author's note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Familiar character will be introduced next chapter. Hopefully, it won't take as long as this one took.