For the first time in a long time, Jak felt alone. His footsteps echoed on the metal floors as he approached the door in front of him. Beyond it was the end of his quest. He knew it would end like this, that the two of them would have to fight, but he did not know if he was ready.
The door hissed open and locked into place, exposing the cavernous viewing platform. On the other side of the glass, Jak could see the star battle that was raging outside and he could see that Bastila was making a difference as a sith fighter exploded noiselessly.
And there was Malak, standing, gazing out at the battle.
"Well done, Revan" he said, his mechanical voice travelling across the space between them "I was certain the defences of the Star Forge would destroy you, but I see there is more of your old self in you than I expected. You are stronger than I thought; stronger than you ever were during your reign as the Dark Lord. I did not think it was possible"
Jak walked forward confidently, across the large room to where Malak stood at the top of a ramp, waiting for him to get close. They would finish their poetic banter, and then they would fight.
"The light side is stronger than you know, Malak" Jak said as he reached the bottom of the ramp and looked up.
"I'm tempted to try and capture you alive Revan, then I could break your will and bind you to me as my apprentice as I did Bastila. You would be a far greater asset to me than even Bastila and her Battle Meditation, if I could control you. But is it worth the risk?" Malak mused. If he could have smiled, Jak imagined he would have had a smug grin on his face "Perhaps you are too powerful to be my apprentice. I betrayed you when I realised my own strength was greater than yours; in time you might try to do the same to me"
For a moment, Jak felt the familiar tendrils of darkness creeping up his neck, causing his hairs to stand on end.
"I will never serve the dark side again, Malak!" he said loudly and confidently, banishing the darkness from him, feeling it scatter like a wounded rodent. Malak let out a laugh through his mechanical vocoder.
"Foolish words. The darkness and the light wage a constant war within you. The balance is tipped one way now, but it can easily be tipped back.
Saviour, conqueror, hero, villain. You are all things Revan… and yet you are nothing. In the end you belong to neither the light nor the darkness. You will forever stand alone"
Jak barely heard the words Malak spoke as he ascended the ramp and stood across from Malak. Though he only remembered seeing Malak this close once, when he looked into the cold eyes above the prosthetic jaw, Jak felt a feeling of familiarity, and of pity. He did not know how, but he knew those eyes used to shine brighter many years before.
"I believe in the power of redemption" he said simply.
"Of course, what else do you have? Fate and destiny and conspired to keep you alive despite my best efforts. They have thrust you into the role of saviour. We have been inexorably pushed to this final confrontation, Revan. I see now that this can only be settled when one of us destroys the other" he paused and drew his lightsaber from under his cloak. There, in his red armour, standing two meters tall, Malak was king of his realm. Little did he know that as he spoke, the Republic fleet had found a break in the sith formation and the capital ships were in bombardment range. All Jak had to do was keep him occupied for a few more minutes, and it would all be over.
"Once again we shall face each other in single combat… and the victor will decide the fate of the galaxy" Malak finished and he ignited his red lightsaber, dropping into a battle stance.
Jak allowed himself a small smile, and followed suit.
Malak was taller, had a longer reach and was fuelled by the power of the Star Forge. His blows rained down on Jak like a Manaan rainstorm. They moved about the room as they fought, Malak hurling anything that wasn't bolted down at Jak with the force. Malak was winning their late battle, and he took great joy in mauling Jak's body with force lightning, throwing him across the room.
Hitting the metal floor hard, his eyes blurry from the pain, Jak lay in silence as Malak spouted the superiority of the dark side. All but beaten by his former apprentice, he felt the strength fading from his body.
Feeling his last moments slipping away, Jak smiled to himself. Malak had beaten him, but it meant nothing. The Republic had broken the sith lines, the Star Forge was condemned, and Bastila would be safe. It was fitting, he thought, that in his final moment he was thinking of Bastila. They had experienced so much together since they met on Taris months before. They had fought many battles side by side, their affection for each other growing as they travelled. His death would be hard for her; to have shared her feelings and then be robbed of his presence in her life would be devastating…
No.
Jak had not come this far to be defeated at the last hurdle. He had not fought through hundreds of bounty hunters, mandolorians, wookiees, infected mutants, rancor monsters, krayt dragons, sand people, dark Jedi and sith troopers to be beaten by the arrogant Darth Malak.
He pulled himself to his feet, his body aching, and gripped his lightsaber with both hands. Malak let out a laugh as the Jedi walked towards him, determined to continue the fight. Jak was not in control of his movement; he had given himself over to the force.
Blow after blow he threw at Malak with renewed strength and speed, catching his old apprentice off guard. As the Republic fleet began to fire upon the Star Forge, the epic battle between Revan and Malak waged, even as the roof began to cave in. Alarms were sounding in the distance, but neither combatant noticed. The battle was no longer a duel between two men; it was a duel between two gods of darkness and light, the fate of the galaxy at stake.
With a surge of unnatural strength and speed, Jak kicked Malak's prosthetic jaw, knocking the sith lord down the ramp onto his back. Taken by surprise, Malak was defenceless as Jak leapt the distance between them, bringing his blade down on the sith's wrist and the red blade deactivated as the severed hand hit the ground. Jak paused to look into the cold dead eyes, into a soul consumed by hatred and darkness, and drove his blade into Malak's chest.
"Im… impossible! I… I cannot be beaten I am the Dark Lord of the sith!" coughed Malak, his vocoder making strange noises having been damaged by Jak's kick.
As Malak clambered on to his hands and knees, Jak looked down at him. The once great and all powerful Malak was curling up on the floor, gripping his wrist in pain.
"The power of the light will always be stronger than the dark side"
"Still…still spouting the wisdom of the Jedi I see. Maybe there is more truth in their code than I ever believed. I cannot help but wonder, Revan, what would have happened had our positions been reversed? What if fate had decreed I would be captured by the Jedi? Could I have returned to the light, as you did? If you had not led me down the dark path in the first place, what destiny would I have found?"
Malak was airing his final thoughts to Jak as his life eddied away. Explosions were rocking the Star Forge, and Jak knew time was running out for his escape.
"I'm sorry I started you on this path. But you chose to continue down it" Jak said, looking down at Malak. He had no memories of Malak before the first time they met on the Leviathan, but Jak felt a lump in his throat as he knelt beside him.
"I suppose… I suppose you speak the truth. I alone must accept responsibility for my fate. I wanted to be master of the sith and ruler of the galaxy, but that destiny was not mine Revan….it might have been yours, perhaps… but never mine"
Malak drew one last raspy breath and grabbed Revan by the shoulder, pulling him close.
"And in the end, as the darkness takes me, I am nothing"
Malak rested his head on the cold metal floor and let out his final breath.
"There is no death, there is the force" said Jak quietly as he closed Malak's eyes for him and let out a long sigh, feeling an immense weight lift from his shoulders.