Reviews
A.W
Yeah you could say that he's playing as a Rule of Two Sith at the moment although he does fancy himself to be a Sith warrior.
Right now all he can do is try to manipulate things to his advantage as he doesn't have the resources to do anything else.
War sage
Well he can have lots of kids since Ban has been collecting samples for a while but its the kids he has with Khar and Shan that matter the most. Hints of this can be seen in this chapter.
Edward95
Yes he is coming along nicely isn't he.
Selias
I'm still planning for him to travel to the future but there won't be any travelling to other galaxies or dimensions. I've done enough of that in other stories.
tylermech66
The ability to wield the Force is insignificant next to the power of bureaucracy!
Well Star Wars was created that way. Its all about good verses evil. Sith verses Jedi. Light verses dark, and all that. There is no middle ground when your part of that fight. The only way out of it would be to wipe out both groups and create a new more balanced one. But that might not even be possible.
Sith Gothic. Part Nine.
"Darkness is a friend, an ally. Darkness allows us to understand others, to see what they value when they believe no one else is looking. It allows us to be honest with ourselves, to express those values that we would disavow in the light. The light blinds us. It is only in the dark that we see clearly, and there is a great dark hidden among these worlds." ―Darth Rivan
The Shyrack Caves. Korriban. Malak's Sith Empire. Star Wars KOTOR Galaxy.
It was just a matter of time now.
A few days ago the holonet had reported that Darth Revan had been killed during a battle with the Republic, and that now Darth Malak was in charge of the empire. The news would have been suppressed for as long as possible so it had likely happened weeks ago.
Of course I knew that Revan wasn't really dead. By now the Jedi Masters would be wiping Revan's memories so that she could be turned into a weapon to used against the Sith. Which included myself but I wasn't too worried about that.
I also knew that sometime in the next few months that the Ebon Hawk would land here on Korriban. Revan would then enter the academy seeking the Star Map. By that point I hoped to have found it myself, so that I would be able to led her right to the Star Map. Aiding her in such a way should led to me joining her team (my visions had confirmed that this would happen) and from there I could ensure that events would come to pass as I wished to them to.
It was a simple plan but a cunning one, most Sith would approve.
In the mean time I had to keep training. I had to be best I could be in order to survive what was to come. That meant attending my lessons, and more importantly learning everything I could from the holocron I had recovered.
Ever since I had gotten that holocron my progress towards becoming a Sith Lord had greatly increased. My power was growing in leaps and bounds, and all the academy seemed to envy my achievements.
However all of my success came with a price. More of was expected of me and both Ban and Wynn seemed to see me as their lackey, they kept sending me on errands such as the one that had led me to this cave.
A few hours ago, while most were sleeping, a small group of students had fled the academy, taking with them some valuable research materials.
I assumed that these students were trying to make a run for it and planned to sell what they had stolen on the profitable Sith relic black market trade. If what they had stolen was as valuable as Wynn had indicated then they would get more than enough money from the sale to start new lives elsewhere.
Already two Sith troopers had been sent after them but neither of the soldiers had reported back. Given that they had chased potential Sith into a cave full of monsters it wasn't hard to guess what had happened to them.
By the Headmaster's reasoning I was far more powerful then a group of scared students so I should be able to handle them and the creatures that lived down here. Which I guessed I was true but it was good that I had Zanii with me. Her skills with a blaster could be very helpful should we run into trouble.
By now my eyes had adjusted to the low light levels within the cave so I had no trouble making out the two still forms ahead. They were human bodies, two very messed up and partly eaten human bodies. How lovely a sight that was, not.
"It wasn't Shyracks that did this" commented my Zeltron servant.
Before I got the chance to ask where she had encountered Shyracks before now the creatures showed themselves.
They were extremely ugly looking things and if my studies of this world were accurate they weren't that tough really. The two Sith troopers should have been able to deal with them but the Shyracks flock seemed intact enough to me.
Zanii opened fire, her twin blaster pistols dropping creature after creature. I called upon the Force, something that was easy to do in a place so strong in the dark side, and used my telekinetic powers to slam the flying monsters into the walls. I didn't actually kill of them but it allowed Zanii to more easily finish the lot of them off.
"Well that was easy" I said once the last beast was slain.
That was something roared.
"I should not of said that. Damn you Murphy".
Zanii was too scared to respond to what I had said. Judging by the expression on her face she knew what was coming. And so did I.
"Terentatek".
The creatures were a legend to most people but they were no mere myth. Terentateks were darkside monsters that hibernated for most of the time but whenever the Sith were on the ascendancy and the darkside grew stronger the Terentateks would emerge from their slumber in order hunt those who used the Force. They lived for the sole purpose of consuming the flesh of Force Users
Right here and right now that meant me. When I'd called upon the Force to knock the Shyracks out of the air the Terentatek would of sensed my use of the Force. I might as well have taken out a dinner bell and rung it declaring to the beast that it was supper time.
The creature roared again but the sound echoed, so it seemed to come from nowhere while also sounding as the monster was all around us.
I knew that the Terentatek was immune to Force attacks and being a Rancor, albeit a mutated one, then the weapons we had weren't going to be enough. And there was no big heavy door to drop on it either.
"Run!" I shouted and Zanii followed me led.
We ran and ended up running into the monster's path so I activated my sabre.
Using the Force to enhance my speed I ducked under a swiping claw and made a slash at the beast's leg, but the attack had no noticeable effect.
Zanii opened up with her blasters but all that accomplished was to make the monster focus its attention on her. She died screaming as the Terentatek ripped her apart in one very bloody display of animal hunger.
Rage consumed me, in this place of ancient evil it was so easy to access the dark side and the power filled me up as I madly attacked the monster.
My new sword appeared in my hand and while my sabre didn't seem to do much damage the blade did. The Terentatek roared in pain and I attacked again. The beast's attacks seemed sluggish now, or maybe it was the power of this place which made me faster. I couldn't tell and I didn't care enough to find out.
Sweeping under another blow I stabbed up causing the monster more pain and spilling foul looking blood upon the floor of the cave. It wasn't going to be enough, even my blinding range I could see that but I wasn't going to run.
Putting on another burst of speed I ended up on the creature's back, without even planning to, and I found myself stabbing the Terentatek with strength I didn't know I had. Its hide was thick but Lord Hord's sword was the product of Sith alchemy, it was no normal blade it might as well have been a magic weapon.
The sword stabbed and blood (or something that passed for blood) spurted out. It was toxic and on my skin but I didn't care I just wanted to slay the thing that had taken someone precious from me.
As twisted as the Terentatek was it was still a living thing and what is living can always be killed, and kill it I did. Even when the monster had breathed its last I was still stabbing and then hacking at it's body. I didn't stop hacking and stabbing until someone shot me the back.
The Shyrack Caves. Korriban. Malak's Sith Empire. Star Wars KOTOR Galaxy.
"We should kill him now" said a female voice as I returned to the land of the living.
"Might as well leave him" spoke another, this one male "he's covered in that creature's blood and it looks toxic".
Judging my how my body felt the male voice was right. I felt sick and my skin was tingling all over, it wasn't the good type of tingling either.
"I think he's waking up".
That last voice, I knew that voice.
Someone rolled me over and I got see the group of people who thought me to be at their mercy, which to be fair I really was.
"You killed the Terentatek" said a man with very well groomed facial hair "that's a shame it was keeping us safe".
Safe? How could anyone been safe with that monster around?
"Well we were safe as long as we didn't use the Force" commented the younger male.
Now that I could see them I knew who the younger man was. He was that jealous little prick who had attacked me down in the archives. I had been expecting him to make a move but not like this. The little prick had gone and gotten himself some allies. That had been smart of him, as alone he was no threat to me but like a proper Sith he had bided his time and now he was ready for some payback.
"Where is she?" asked the boy.
He had my sword and was poking me with it. That was a great intensive to tell the truth.
"She left".
"Because of you" accused the kid before stabbing just hard enough that I knew fresh blood would soon be adding to the stains on my uniform.
What he said was quite possibly true, she could of left because of something I did I just had no idea what that reason might be.
"We all have issues with this one" remarked the women "he's taken the top spot and now Wynn has no time for me".
"And Ban has no time for me" added the brown haired well groomed man "so let's all finish him off".
Jealously, it was such a strong emotion it can motivate a person to do very foolish things. Sadly for these three the desire to live is also a strong emotion and the place we were was soaked in the dark side. Despite how near death I felt the dark side was there when I needed it to be. It was like having a parent that cared.
I remembered what the holocron had been trying to teach me. It had told me about telekinesis and that was the power that I called upon now. Fuelled by the power of this place I created a blast wave of energy which sent my would be assassins flying away from me. Before they could react I was standing up and summoning my sword to my hand. I reached for my lightsabre but it was gone. However it didn't matter as I had the dark side.
Using something else the gatekeeper had taught me I reached out with the Force and sensed the life energy of the well groomed man. He hadn't been thrown that far from me and was the strongest in the room. I could feel his strength and using what I had learned I took that strength, his power, his life and drew it into myself. The Sith student's life force restored some of my strength and I felt my wounds heal.
The display must have been an impressive one because that annoying kid ran away right into what looked to be some sort ancient tomb while the woman backed up until the wall gave her no more distance from me.
"What did you do?" she asked
"This" I replied and then I drained her life as well.
The first time the life force I'd taken had just allowed me to cheat death, but the second time now that was a rush. There were no words to describe how it felt to have an excess of life energy inside you.
All to soon the rush was gone and at once I wanted more but the holocron had warned me of this. It had said that to much life in one person would only bring death, the body, human or otherwise, could only contain so much energy and if I took too much in I'd end up using most of it just to keep my physical form from decaying under the strain.
Knowing all of this I focused on using the life energy to heal my body and then looted the bodies for anything of worth. They'd had blasters and vibroknives but I had one of each of those things already on my person. Not one of them had a lightsabre and mine seemed to be missing. Perhaps when fighting that monster I'd dropped it. I couldn't remember much about that battle right now and I didn't know how to find the place I had been fighting in so I couldn't even recover my weapon. Still at least I had my awesome and very sharp Sith sword.
I didn't find what I had been sent out to recover and I was now wondering if they'd taken anything at all. It would be just like Wynn to send me here as a test. No doubt he'd know the danger of this place and might of even hoped that I would die here.
It was my fondest hope to disappoint him by not only surviving this place, but also by escaping. Then I was going to kill Wynn and let Ban run this academy. I wouldn't take it for myself as I had no desire too but I wouldn't mind having Ban's job.
But first I had to get out of this place. The coward would of run for the nearest exit so it made sense to follow him, and if I caught up with him then all the better.
It wasn't long before I encountered something else that wanted to kill me. Two meter long lizards which died at the end of my blade with ease. After dealing with a Terentatek nothing else here was going to any real threat to me as long as I kept my wits.
The lizards proved to be somewhat dangerous, just not to me, as they had killed the little runt. He'd run right into them. They'd even had time to start eating him.
I soon came across a large chasm with a bridge which led across it. On the other side of the bridge was the entrance to what seemed to be a crypt.
"The tomb of Ludo Kressh" I muttered to myself.
The dark side energies that marked the entrance to the tomb did nothing to me, other than to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, so with my path clear I was soon inside the tomb.
The Tomb of Ludo Kressh. Korriban. Malak's Sith Empire. Star Wars KOTOR Galaxy.
I ignored the bodies of the long dead Jedi that littered this place. They had been here since the Great Hyperspace war and were no threat to me. Whatever traps or creature it was that had slain them was also long gone.
When I got inside the wide open antechamber I began to see the illusions. This was just like that dark side cave that Yoda sends Luke into. I paid careful attention to what I saw as I knew that it would be something important.
What I saw surprised me.
Yuthura Ban was talking to one of those aliens who made the clone army for the Republic. Why on Earth would she be meeting with one of them?
Wanting to know I moved forward to hear what the two aliens were saying.
"Do you have the sample I requested?" asked the tall grey alien.
I watched as Ban took out a vial of something that could of some from me.
"Its fresh but... not pure" explained the Sith "I couldn't exactly ask him to fill a container".
Yeah that would have been awkward. But why would she need to me to make that sort of deposit?
"Separating the sample will not be difficult" assured the taller alien.
It was hard to tell where the two non-humans were as the images weren't very detailed but if I had to guess I'd say it was a lab. But why take a sample to a lab. Hadn't the medics run enough tests on me when I'd arrived?
"Do let me know if you need more samples" offered the Twi'lek.
Wait more samples! That bitch was just sleeping with me to get samples!
"The more the better" replied the scientist before the scene faded away.
I wanted to express my anger but I knew I had to move on. I had no food and very little water. If I didn't get of here soon I would die and my body would join the Jedi who had lain here for so many years.
Once I got deeper into the tomb I was once more attacked by the winged pasts but I just shot the silly things before they got anywhere near me.
When I entered another chamber then came another scene from the past.
"How did it go?" questioned Yuthura Ban.
My instructor was talking to Vaasta Khar my now ex 'girlfriend'.
"I'm meeting him in his room in one hour" the younger Sith replied.
So Ban and Khar had meeting behind my back. I was not that surprised.
"I want you close to him just in case he needs to die".
Given that these were Sith, again I wasn't very surprised. I'd known that Vaasta had never loved me.
"Are you taking any birth control?" inquired the Twi'lek
Okay that question did surprise me.
"How quickly could you get pregnant, if you wanted to?"
Pregnant why would Ban care about such a thing?
"A week, maybe two. But there aren't any guarantees" replied Khar
"I want you get pregnant and for Gothic to be the father".
Now it was all starting to make sense.
"Should you succeed I will have a safe house prepared. You won't be required to care for the child and you will be richly rewarded as by then I will be leading this academy. I will need an apprentice".
Ban had been collecting samples of my sperm and then sent a girl for me to impregnate. She'd also asked if I could of gotten Zanii pregnant before arranging for the alien to become my servant.
For some reason Yuthura Ban wanted to me to father some children. The question was, why? And why was the Force telling me about it when it could be showing me nearly anything?
Knowing that these questions could only be answered by confronting Ban herself I moved on eager to get of this evil tomb.
"Bastila!"
I knew it was an illusion of course but this one was more real looking than the others had been.
"There you are my love" said the vision.
My love?
"I'm not your love. We've never even met" I pointed out.
The illusion didn't seem to hear what I had to say.. Bastila never seemed to in my visions, hopefully in real life she wouldn't be so dismissive of my words.
"I've been dreaming about you for a long time" informed not really Bastila Shan "I know were meant to be the Force has shown me that".
"So the Force is playing matchmaker now, huh. That's really creepy" I commented.
"I turned to the dark side for you. I'm going to give you a son. And now you mock my feelings for you".
She didn't have a bit of a bump now that she mentioned it.
"No of this is happened yet" I muttered while feeling really, really creeped out "it might not even happy. You have to turn evil".
"At least he knows about you".
Khar then appeared next holding a baby in her arms.
"Oh Jeremy Kyle would so love this" I whispered.
"He forgot all about me a long time ago" complained Vaasta "you never came looking for me".
"At least he didn't get you killed".
A fresh wave pain went threw me as I saw Zanii, or at least an image of her. I hadn't really had time process her death. Seeing her again hit me hard.
"You left me" accused Khar
"You don't love me" accused Shan
"You let me die" accused Zanii
Now I'd really had enough. These damn illusions shouldn't be allowed to accuse me of anything.
"Just shut up," I demanded "none of this is my fault!"
Suddenly both illusions brought out red bladed lightsabres and attacked me but the illusions faded away as my sword blocked their joint strikes.
Getting fed up of this place I marched right into the room where Kressh was buried without even bothering to check for traps.
As expected a vision of Revan appeared and attacked me, this time the illusion didn't fade away when its strikes were blocked and I was forced to stab the illusion of Revan. Thankfully the fake Revan was easily defeated as it was a test of worthiness nothing more.
I looted the sarcophagus and got my hands on a large two handed Sith sword which was way to heavy for me to use, but that didn't matter as I was going to hand it in for the reward the recover of such relics brought. I also took the armband and put in on under my amourweave clock (which was amazingly still intact) hopefully the armband did what it did the game, as I might need more physical strength soon.
There's always a back door in these old underground tombs, its like an unwritten law of the universe or something, so once I found it and found the right cave to the outside was out in what passed for fresh air around here.
As it turned out other people knew about the back door and they were waiting for me. I knew at once that they weren't here to guide me back to civlization.
Valley Of The Dark Lords. Korriban. Malak's Sith Empire. Star Wars KOTOR Galaxy.
Uthar Wynn and Yuthura Ban were both waiting for me. For a moment I had thought that this would be the moment when I would have to decide which of my teachers I was going to give my support to when they finally ended their master/student arragement. Given what I just found out thanks to the illusions it would be Wynn would be enjoying my support in such a contest.
However the two Sith were not alone. Three masked Dark Jedi and an entire squad of troops were here with them. This made me ask myself a few questions.
Had they come for me? Or had they assumed I was dead and were going after the runaway students?
"Well done Lord Gothic" said Headmaster Wynn.
Wait did he just say, Lord Gothic?
"From this day on you be recognised as a Sith Lord" declared Wynn.
I was so shocked that I completely forgot that I had been intending to kill one or possibly both of my teachers.
"It was all a test" I said finally understanding "the creatures, the students, the tomb, everything!"
"Indeed" the Sith Master replied not understanding what I meant by what I had just said "you have proven yourself to be more than mere acolyte. You are a Sith Lord now. Lord Gothic".
Wynn made the title sound so good.
Lord Gothic that was me now. I wasn't a Dark Lord there were only ever two of them in Revan's... no correct that Malak's empire but a Sith Lord answered directly to the Dark Lords.
I had hardly noticed that one the Dark Jedi took the two handed sword away and put a lightsabre in its place.
"This sabre is superior to the one you had".
I felt its weight in my hand and I noticed that it had Sith symbols on it. This was a Sith weapon. The look and feel on the device told that no Jedi had made this sabre.
"I will have a new uniform sent your chambers, but you need not wear it" Wynn was now saying "until Darth Malak informs you of your new posting you are free to do as you please. No longer are you a student but the academy is still open to you".
My mind really wasn't processing any of this, but I did hear everything and would go over later. Right now I was feeling a little giddy.
I was a Sith Lord!
"Posting?" the question slipped from my lips and it was Ban who answered.
"The Dark Lord has great need for Sith and Dark Jedi in his war. No doubt you will be given governorship over some world soon enough, that or you will be on the front lines fighting to bring down the Republic. Oh how I envy you".
Yeah I bet she was really glad that I was leaving. She couldn't of failed to notice the looks I was now sending her way, she knew that I knew.
"Now Yuthura, let's not get ahead of ourselves. First you must met with the Dark Lord himself" reminded Wynn.
Meet with Malak. Oh that could be bad. I'd seen him in more than one of my visions. If he'd seen me then I wouldn't get out of that meeting alive.
"He's going to Tatooine" said one of the Dark Jedi.
Both of the teachers seemed shocked to her that news, as was I, but Uthar didn't seem as shocked as he should be.
"Tatooine?" I asked.
All my plans were now falling apart. I needed to be here I couldn't leave.
"Darth Malak wants the planet taken" explained the Dark Jedi whose yellow eyes were the only sign of life behind his mask "the smugglers on that world might be running vital supplies to the Republic. We are to go there with a company of soldiers and bring order to the world".
And that took a company of troops, a Sith Lord and three Dark Jedi did it?
No Malak wanted us there because he knew that Revan would be seeking out the Star Maps, or at least he thought it possible and if Malak knew that Revan was seeking the Star Maps then she had already started looking for them.
But Revan hadn't been 'dead' for that long. How the Jedi Master mind raped her so quickly?
I then wondered how long I had been in that blasted tomb. Had I been gone for days or weeks? With all those illusions I had no way of knowing how my head had been messed with. Could the dark side have sustained me down there for all that time?
What I really needed to do was to find out if Taris was still under a blockade or not.
"We will be leaving in two hours" said another of the Dark Jedi "by order of Darth Malak you will led the pacification of Tatooine and govern the world. Should you fail you will executed".
Well Tatooine wasn't much of a world but it have a Star Map on it so I would just have to hope I got there before Revan. If I uncovered the Star Map I could just offer Revan my aid as I planned to do here.
"I'll meet you at the space port" I told the Dark Jedi.
I just had to pack and then I'd be ready go. There was nothing for me here on Korriban other than betrayal and lies. I so wasn't going to miss it.
Wynn's Office. Korriban. Malak's Sith Empire. Star Wars KOTOR Galaxy.
After Gothic had left Yuthura Ban stormed into her master's office and demanded to know something.
"You arranged for him to be sent off world didn't you?".
Wynn didn't bother to deny it.
"Yes I did. He was too powerful, and to great a risk. As long as he was here the other students would never have advanced. He would of killed them all in time".
Ban fumed.
"What would their deaths of mattered if it allowed him to achieve his potential" she argued.
Wynn had a different opinion on the matter.
"Darth Malak demanded our best student and I gave him Gothic. Now we are free to go back to doing what we are suppose to be here to do".
That wasn't the real reason and Ban knew it. Wynn had sent her 'lover' away so they couldn't work against the Headmaster as a team.
"If you are going to miss him so much then you should request a transfer to Tatoonie" advised Uthar.
That was never going to happen. Ban would be more determined than ever to overthrow her master.
Without another word Ban left the office because she didn't want her master to sense the truth. She was going to miss him, and not just because he was needed for the project Darth Revan had charged her with completing. She was madly in love, or at least in lust, with her former student.
And that made her hate Wynn more than she ever thought possible.
