Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, even though I am an avid fan of it. Star Wars and KOTOR belong to George Lucas and BIOWARE.
Chapter 10: A New Goal
A spectacular explosion ripped through the hull of the Republic Dreadnaught, Liberty's Escort, sending debris from its hull flying in every direction through space.
Onboard the Vengeance Darth Revan watched the ship's death with satisfaction, the boarding had been successful, Jedi Master Vrook had fallen to his apprentice, and he now knew where Bastila and part of the Republic fleet that had escaped him were; Talus' sister planet, Tralus.
Below the bow of the silver Battlecruiser was Talus itself, now conquered and under Sith control, and on her surface were the Republic survivors that had been captured during the Sith boarding, now that he had gotten all the information he needed from them and their ship those prisoners were of no further use to him; they were going to used as live training opponents to train Sith recruits and Sith apprentices throughout the Sith Empire.
Orbiting Talus was an impressive armada of Sith firepower, thirty-two ships in total, and they were all under the direct command of Darth Revan himself.
Beside the Dark Lord stood his apprentice, the newly raised Darth Shalla, in her new Shadow Armor, the name Revan had given the powerful suit of armor that he had built for both of them. Shalla's face remained hidden behind her suit's faceplate as she watched the Dreadnaught's destruction, while Revan's was retracted revealing how he had cleaned his features since the Promotion Ritual.
The Dark Lord of the Sith rubbed his cleanly shaved chin as the Hope's demise faded, leaving only a clean view of the Sith ships orbiting with Revan's flagship.
Behind him knelt Admiral Afyon Survok, the short man who had taken command of the Sith Empire's boarder defenses when Admiral Karath and Darth Malak had been killed. However, as of late he was better known for his failure to secure Talus from the Republic during the Sith Empire's recent offensive.
Revan turned to face the dark skinned Admiral who had commanded the reinforcements that had joined Revan's fleet, those that had replaced the badly damaged ships in Survok's battered taskforce.
The Admiral winced at the sight of Revan's gray, death-like skin and his cold, emotionless gray eyes. Black spider veins radiated from Revan's eyes and criss-crossed across his entire face, giving his face the appearance of being dead while still pulsing with power and strength.
Revan spoke slowly, with a deliberate precision, with an almost mechanically emotionless voice emerging from his mouth, "Admiral Survok, you have failed the Sith Empire." Revan paused to let fear creep its way into the short man's blue eyes, "Normally such an error would result in your execution, however, I have a much better use for you, Admiral."
Hope sparked in Survok's light blue eyes as he saw that he might not have to face the wrath of the Dark Lord, "Th-thank you Darth Revan, I live to serve you."
Revan's merciless stare silenced his babbling, "Admiral, you and your will serve under my command directly, as it clear from recent events that your skills are so pathetic that you can not operate with someone to guide along the way."
Survok bowed his head, "My Lord Revan is truly gracious and wise, soon the whole galax-"The Admiral cut short as Revan suddenly lifted him off the ground in a Force Grip.
Revan, who hadn't moved a muscle, merely gave the frightened Admiral a venomous stare, "If you insist on this annoying babbling you may outweigh your usefulness, Admiral."
Revan set the man down and paused while the short man returned to his knees, his head bowed to the ground, before continuing, "Now, you will take five Sith Destroyers and attack the Republic forces in the Tralus system, after arriving you will then send a full report of their positions to my taskforce. You depart in four hours." Revan paused, then growled, "You are dismissed Admiral Survok."
Admiral Survok rose to his feet, gave Revan another bow, and silently exited the bridge.
Revan watched as Commander Oree approached Revan's side, he spoke with his usual confidence, "I have completed your orders Lord Revan, seventeen Destroyers will accompany the Vengeance to Tralus and ten will remain here, that is not including the five Destroyers under Admiral Survok's command."
An eager smile crossed Revan's face, "Well done, Commander." Revan casually crossed his arms, "Commander Oree, in light of your performance recently I have decided to further test your abilities, you will command the forces that remain here at Talus until I return from my conquest of Tralus."
Jassen Oree snapped to attention and gave a sharp salute, "Thank you Lord Revan, if you have no further orders for me at this time I will move to the taskforce's command ship and array it to properly guard this system."
Revan nodded as Commander Oree marched off, the young officer had done well as Revan's first officer, but it would be interesting to see how well he would do without being able to rely of Revan's strategic and leadership abilities.
As Commander Oree exited the bridge a young Lieutenant Commander with dark brown hair and pale, almost white, gray eyes approached with a datapad in his hand, "Excuse me Lord Revan, but we just received this from the Star Forge."
Revan took the datapad, "Thank you, Lt. Commander…"
The officer started, "Zintel, Sarin Zintel my Lord."
Revan glance and the nervous officer, "Well, Lt. Commander Zintel, while Commander Oree is off on his own command, you will serve as my first officer."
Zintel hesitated; sweat dripping down his now pale face, and then bowed deeply, "Thank you Lord Revan, I will await your orders by your command chair." The young officer nervously backed away until he took Commander Oree's usual place by Revan's command chair.
Revan turned to face the bridge viewport again, chuckling to himself as he read the report on the datapad.
It was from Master Valen Guan, the Sith Master who was in command of an army of battle droids with the order of conquering the Rakatan race.
A large part of the report was mostly statistics an the size of the droid army, which numbered at 1,500, the number of Rakatan captives, which was now at 950, and how much of the planet had been brought under Sith control.
After the numbers was a report written by Master Guan himself; Revan read it twice and immediately had mixed feeling about the success of the conquest.
The droid army had had the advantage over the primitive Rakatan's at first, however, recently the Rakatan's tactics had changed and now loses on the Sith side were steadily increasing.
Master Guan blamed the loses on a Rakata leader called the One that had escaped from the Temple Island and now lead nearly an entirely united race against his forces.
Furthermore it appeared that from recent sightings by Sith scouts that Carth Onasi, Mission Vao, and the Wookiee Zaalbar had joined the Rakatan, lending their experience and skills to even the odds.
Lastly, Master Guan requested that he be allowed to use three squadrons of Sith Fighters and a dozen Sith Assault Transports to speed the defeat of the Rakatans.
Revan filled out an order to the officer overseeing the defenses of the Star Forge and other Sith forces in the system to give Master Guan access to the resources he requested and to continue producing additional droids to replace his losses.
He also fill out another order to Master Guan himself instructing the Sith Master to try and capture Carth and his companions alive if they were indeed helping the Rakatan.
With both orders completed Revan gave them to a crewman to be sent to their recipients, and then set to work preparing his taskforce for their engagement with the Republic at Tralus and to preparing himself for facing Bastila through their bond again.
THE ONE'S HEADQUARTERS, RAKATA
The pale sunlight beamed through the holes in the canvas roof as Carth Onasi, hero of the Republic, walked through the One's Headquarters.
Rakatan warriors filled the halls, some armed with various melee weapons and other with captured blaster that had been modified to accommodate their unique hands.
Carth paused by the doorway to the One's War Room and took a deep breath before pushing the wooden doors open.
The One stood at the table in gold and black Rakatan warrior armor, a pair of wickedly curved vibroswords on his back and two heavy blaster pistols on his sides; the table was cover with roughly carved figures representing the Sith droid army and the Rakatan war bands scattered across the island.
The One stared intently at the map; his eye stalks swiveling back and forth as he surveyed the situation.
Carth stepped up to the table, running his hand through his full bread; he hadn't been able to find a razor here with the Rakatan since abandoning Revan to find a way to save the Republic from the Dark Lord reborn.
The One looked up at Carth's approach, his eye stalks focusing on the human a few seconds before his head followed, "Greeting Carth Onasi, it would appear that your strategies have helped my forces to slow the abominations of the Sith for now." The One spoke in an oddly clear, yet obviously awkward Common, the result of Revan forcing the language into the Rakata's head with the Force.
Carth nodded, "Yes it does, however, we need to launch a counterattack to gain the upper hand on our enemies or they will force use off this island." This was the second island they had retreated to since Carth, Mission, and Zaalbar joined the One, but he had lost five other islands already by the time Carth and his party arrived.
The One nodded slowly, "You make sense Carth. The abominations must be destroyed; we will cut them down and find the being made of flesh that drives these things." The One shook his head in frustration, "But how can my warriors better themselves if they can not eat the vanquished and gain their strength?"
Internally, Carth winced, that was the most difficult part of Rakatan culture to grow used to, they ate the leaders and most powerful warriors of their enemies to gain their strength. When they had learned that their new foes weren't made of flesh and bone they had basically called what Carth could only call a holy war, to wipe the abomination from their world completely.
Concentrating on the table before him Carth pointed to a spot where rough terrain had weaken the Sith line, "There. We should strike there."
The One studied the table, "Yes, this will work to our advantage and I have four war bands from on of my other islands that we can use to break the abominations' lines and find the flesh enemy who controls them."
Carth nodded silently as the One began to rant on about the joy he would feel when he killed those who created the abominations and how he would burn them so none could ever build such things again.
Carth sighed; this wasn't how he'd thought he would end his life, on a primitive world that most of the galaxy didn't know about trying to defeat an army of droids that came from an endlessly producing factory.
However, if he could somehow get his hands on a ship he could escape to the Republic, or even find a way to destroy the Star Forge, the secret weapon of the Sith Empire, taking its awesome power from Revan's grasp forever.
With this new goal set up in his mind, Carth concentrated on preparing for this attack and those to follow with a renewed energy that he hadn't felt in over a decade, back when he had first seen Revan's genius defeat the Mandalorians.
THE VENGEANCE, EDGE OF THE TALUS SYSTEM
Floating at the heart of seventeen Sith Destroyers was the Vengeance, the flagship of the Sith Fleet and Darth Revan's command ship, as the Sith Fleet waited at the edge of the Talus system for the moment to strike Talus' sister planet, Tralus.
Nearby was a force more than three times the size of Revan's force, five Sith Destroyers under the command of Admiral Survok.
On the bridge of his flagship Darth Revan sat in his command chair watching as Admiral Survok's force prepared to make the hyperspace jump to attack Tralus.
Revan's plan called for Survok's force to attack Tralus and once the Republic positions were identified he would send the data to Revan, who would then use his force to trap and decimate the Republic Fleet.
However, the Sith attack on Tralus had a second, more important, objective than simply taking the planet; he planned to disable the Hand of Justice, Admiral Dodonna's flagship, and then board the ship and capture Bastila.
Once he had Bastila and her Battle Meditation with him again his forces would be unstoppable and the Republic would tremble itself to pieces at the mere thought of his power.
A smile crossed Revan's face behind his closed faceplate as Admiral Survok's force vanished into hyperspace; soon his victory over the Republic would be complete.
In the wake of the five Destroyers' departure the Vengeance's bridge came alive with activity as communications officers watched closely for Admiral Survok's message and everyone else was making final preparations before the flagship of the Sith Fleet entered combat.
Twenty minutes passed without any message, but thirty minutes after Admiral Survok's force had left a data stream was received.
Revan immediately ordered the fleet into hyperspace and then poured over the data on the Republic Fleet.
The Republic Fleet had three Republic Cruisers and nine Republic Dreadnaughts, obviously there to try and launch a counterattack to recapture Talus from Sith control.
He studied the way the Republic was arrayed in combat and came up with a strategy to defeat what they most likely trying to accomplish in their maneuverings and then break the Republic Fleet's fighting spirit completely.
The tunnel of light surrounding the Fleet slowly rotated, then suddenly shattered into thousands of pinpricks. Those pinpricks quickly formed themselves into the perfect expanse of space with Tralus floating ahead, surrounded by the Republic Fleet and Admiral Survok's forces.
Revan calmly stood, arms behind his back and gave his orders, "Blue Group: Advance on Admiral Survok's left flank and relieve the pressure he's taking. Red Group: Move to deny the Republic Fleet its escape route. Green Group: Attack the Republic Fleet's unengaged left flank. Vengeance's Group will attack the Republic's center, centering on the Hands of Justice."
Nervously Lt. Commander Zintel spoke up, "I'm sorry Lord Revan, but the Hand of Justice is not in this system and two Dreadnaughts are missing as well."
Slowly Revan sat down, his faceplate hiding the disgusted look that covered his face, "Very well Lt. Commander, locate the ship that is commanding the Republic Fleet, we will launch our attack on that vessel instead."
Revan half watched as three groups of five Sith Destroyers advanced on the Republic Fleet, their fighters swarming around them. But, he was already thinking on where Bastila and Admiral Dodonna could have gone; with those two not present at this battle it would not be difficult for his forces to destroy the Republic here.
As the Sith Fleet moved to engage the Republic Revan pulled his command chair's comlink free of its jack and adjusted the frequency to Shalla's personal comlink. He brought the comlink to his masked face, "Darth Shalla, this is Darth Revan."
Shalla's calm voice replied, "Yes my Master."
Revan glanced up as the first of his Sith Destroyers began firing on the Republic Dreadnaught, their fighter already decimating their Republic counterparts, "We will be launching a boarding operation on the Republic command ship, I want you to lead the operation. Bring the commanding officer and any high-ranking officer to me alive. Kill the rest."
Shalla's eagerness filled her voice, "What if there are any Jedi onboard?"
Revan smiled, "They should not be difficult for you my apprentice, however, capture them alive if possible, but if they prove to be unwilling to surrender corpses will do."
Shalla's voice was that of perfect obedience, "As you command my Master."
Revan placed the comlink back in its jack and returned his attention to the battle unfolding before him.
The Republic Fleet was pinned down against Tralus by Twenty Sith Destroyers as the Sith Fleet attacked on all sides. On the Republic right flank a Dreadnaught, flames roaring from the breaches in its hull, exploded and allowed two Sith Destroyers to advance forward.
Lt. Commander Zintel approached Revan and stood at attention until the Dark Lord Acknowledged him, "Lord Revan, we have identified the Republic command ship. It is one of the two Cruisers at the heart of the Republic formation, the Liberty's Strife.
Revan dismissed Zintel with a wave of his hand as he stood, "Helm: Lay in an intercept course with the republic Cruiser Liberty's Strife; pass on the order to our escorts as well. Communications: Order Green Group to concentrate their attacks on the Dreadnaughts guarding the Strife. Order our escorting Destroyers to send their fighter squadrons to harass the Strife and soften up her defenses." Revan sat back down in his command chair, "Order our escorts to come up to flank speed, when we cross the Republic battle line they are to break off and engage the other Republic Cruiser. Match our speed to theirs, but keep our engines ready to increase to flank speed at my mark."
Vengeance's deck thrummed as the Battlecruiser moved forward, while their escorts' fighter squadrons raced pass, headed for Liberty's Strife.
Energy blasts exploded throughout space as the Republic Fleet battle for its very survival against a larger Sith Fleet.
The Republic ships were so busy battling the rest of the Sith Fleet that they didn't notice Revan's small attack charging at them, at least until those ships opened fire.
The two Destroyers on Vengeance's flanks poured volleys onto the Dreadnaughts ahead of them, spreading destruction along the smaller ships' hulls.
Vengeance's bow cleared the Dreadnaughts, revealing the Strife surrounded by small explosions as it tried to fight off the four squadrons of Sith Fighters attacking her. Revan stood suddenly, "Helm: Bring us flank speed now!" The deck under Revan's feet shook as the Vengeance's speed increased.
Despite the shaking Revan calmly walked up the walkway dividing the crew pit, "Weapons: Target the Strife's weapons and engines, use only our ion cannons once her shields are down. Communications: Order the fighters assaulting the Strife to return to their ships. All boarding parties to their transports and prepare to board the Strife."
Revan reached the bridge viewport and held his hands at the small of his back "Release two of our fighter squadrons and order them to take the Strife's hangar shields down."
Taken off guard by the Battlecruiser's sudden acceleration, the Strife's gunners were slow to react as the fighters attacking them retreated and the Vengeance opened fire.
Red and Blue hues mixed and splashed over the Cruiser's shields, carefully targeted wedges of destruction aimed at the critical parts of the ship's defensive and maneuvering systems.
As the hail of destruction continued twenty-four Sith Fighters launched and dove under the capital ship fire, firing their smaller ruby bolts and launching torpedoes wreathed in white fire into the shields guarding the Cruiser's hangars.
The Republic Cruiser's shields shuddered under the punishment and began to collapse, allowing small parts of volleys to hit its hull. Explosions ripped through the hull as hits blew away parts of the ship's armor.
As the shields fell the red bolts disappeared from the volleys and only blue ion cannon blots remained, sending blue lightning skittering over the Cruiser's surface wherever they hit.
Revan turned to the bridge crew, "Launch the boarding parties, and order our fighter attacking Strife to escort the transports to their hangars. Weapons: Slow your fire; watch for weapons or engines that are still active."
As the firing died down the Cruiser began to spin, a side effect from her final maneuver before the Sith attack knocked out her engines, at the same time a dozen Sith transports closed in on the disabled ship while the Vengeance hovered nearby; one or two of her weapons firing occasionally to knockout any remaining weapons that still showed any sign of hostility.
Around the Battlecruiser the battle still raged as Republic Dreadnaughts, deprived of any leader ship from their command ship, fell into disarray. Three Dreadnaughts exploded within minutes of each other and the remaining five all fell back to the other Republic Cruiser, the Emancipation, who was managing to hold of the two Sith Destroyers Revan had ordered to attack it.
However that was short lived, as three more Sith Destroyers joined in the attack. With a flash of light and a flare of fire a good portion of the Cruiser went dark, the result of the loss of its primary power core.
As the ship took on more damage its orbit slowly began to decay, its damaged engines unable to hold off Tralus' gravity any longer.
Revan smiled, "Communications: Order the ships attacking the Emancipation to stand down, that ship isn't going anywhere. Also, order Red and Green Groups to begin assaulting Tralus, but be sure they know to stay clear of the zone where the Emancipation is going to crash into the planet."
Just then Lt. Commander Zintel approached cautiously, "Excuse me Lord Revan, but I have calculated the Cruiser's crash zone and I have found that it will land just off the coast from the world's largest city and capital, Ernat."
Revan, still watching the final moments of the battle through the viewport, stood still, "Very well, tell Communications to advise our forces to stay clear of the Ernat until the effects of the crash have subsided."
Zintel hesitated, nervously wiping his hands on his uniform's gray pants, "But Lord Revan, there are over 7 million people in Ernat, not to mention the other cities that will be destroyed by the tidal wave created when the Cruiser hits. We'd be killing countless innocents, plus we'll lose all the industrial power those cities have to offer the Sith Empire."
Revan continued to remain still for a moment, letting Zintel continue to fidget nervously before he responded.
Suddenly the young Lt. Commander fell to his knees choking from some unseen force; he looked up into Revan's faceless mask pleadingly, but he only saw his own terrified reflection.
Revan released the frightened officer and spoke in a slow emotionless voice, "Understand this very clearly Lt. Commander, the Sith have no room for a weak fool who shy away from the deaths of those who are our enemies. Tralus openly opposed me and willingly helped the Republic in its efforts, and they will be punished for doing so. Plus by doing this we will make our conquest of the planet much easier. With a few more examples like this the Republic will face hostile attitudes from their planets when they try and defend them; making our victory that much simpler."
Revan watched the young officer stay in his knees, still getting his breath back while he bowed his head to the Dark Lord, "Now to cure you of this weakness, I order you to calculate the path that the Cruiser would have to take to do the most damage to the planet, then give those calculations to Communications so that a Destroyer can adjust the Cruiser's path." The officer slowly raised his head, his face now pale with fear and covered in a nervous sweat. Revan chuckled, "And if you do not do this to the best of your ability Lt. Commander, I will order the Fleet to devastate the entire planet, with you on its surface." Revan paused to let the full effect of his order sink in then growled, "Dismissed."
Zintel quickly left, leaving Revan to chuckle cruelly as the final Dreadnaught burst into flame from another attack by his forces.
His gaze fell on the disabled Strife and he suddenly remembered the real target in this attack, Bastila and her Battle Mediation. He turned a walked toward his Ready Room angrily; he spoke without any of that anger showing in his voice, "Communication: Contact Admiral Survok and have him send over a complete report and data on the battle prior to my arrival. Then transfer that and all data on the battle to my ready room. Also, inform me when the boarding parties return and a Destroyer stabilize Liberty's Strife's orbit; I still have a use for her."
A Communications officer nodded and gave Revan a salute as the Dark Lord stalked off the bridge.
With a hiss Revan opened his faceplate once his Ready Room's door had closed behind him, giving him an unhindered view of Tralus beyond the Ready Room's viewport.
Dark shadows covered the room as Revan approached his desk, its computer flashing from received messages. Flipping the computer on as he sat down Revan was surprised to see that one was from Commander Oree, while the other was a progress report from Admiral Ordo.
Calling up Canderous's report first Revan was very pleased by what he read.
The Mandalorian Admiral reported that his newly strengthened Fleet had conquered two worlds, Ghorman and Balamorra. He was already preparing to attack Bortas, giving the Sith Empire complete access to the entire Sector.
The rest of the report was mainly statistics on Sith casualties, which Revan was pleased to see were low, and any new intelligence that Canderous's forces had found.
Commander Oree's report was a surprise, apparently twenty minutes after Revan had lead his Fleet to attack Tralus a ragtag Fleet of independent ships commanded by two Republic Cruisers had launched a counterattack against Talus with a force of twenty-two ship, most of which were no more powerful than a Republic Dreadnaught.
Commander Oree had lead a brilliant defense of the system, leaving one Republic Cruiser and nine of the independent ships destroyed; beside that nearly every Republic ship had taken some damage, ranging from moderate hull breaches to damage so serious that it was doubtful the ship survived long when the Republic Fleet fled the system.
By comparison the Sith defenders had take very few loses and only one Destroyer had taken anything more than minor hull damage, the result of a suicide ram by a independent ship.
Revan nodded, impressed by the young Commander's abilities; granted his opponents weren't really the best the Republic had to offer and obviously lacked any discipline, but he had still managed to win an impressive victory against a foe that outnumbered him two-to-one.
Just then his computer chimed from the arrival of a data stream.
Calling up the message Revan saw it was the data from Admiral Survok regarding the beginning of the battle.
As he looked over what Survok had done he was not very impressed and what he saw only confirmed his belief in Survok's foolishness. The Admiral had done nothing to try and hold the Republic Fleet at Tralus or give the appearance of a poorly executed raid, instead he had hovered at the edge of the system, scanning the Republic Fleet until he had sent the data to Revan before attacking Republic Fleet.
The Republic Fleet would have detected that message and knew that Revan's force was coming; so to avoid the battle and deprive Revan his goal, Admiral Dodonna and Bastila had left the system before Revan could arrive.
Saving the data so he could study it in more depth later Revan keyed his desk's comlink, "Communications: Order Admiral Survok to report to me in my Ready Room immediately."
Revan cut off the Communications response short as he quickly switched frequencies to receive a message from Shalla, "Excuse my Master, but I request permission to return to the ship, I have found something that may prove very interesting to you."
Revan smiled, nodding slowly, "Very well Darth Shalla, I trust that what you will tell me is important enough to abandon the boarding operation before it has been completed."
Shalla's voice didn't even hint at any fear, "Yes Lord Revan it is, as I'm sure you'll agree when you see what I have found."
Revan nodded, "Then I shall see you soon, my apprentice." He turned off the comlink and leaned back in his chair, What has Shalla found on the Strife? Why is it so important that she tells me in person, abandoning her first command before its close? Revan sighed, eager to see this important information. Well, we'll see what it is in a few minutes.
Author's Note: Well that's Chapter 10, now I have a few ideas of where to go from here, but if any one has one they think would be good, please suggest it. I'll try at figure out where I'm going to go and start the next chapter as soon as I can. But anyway thanks for reading and all of your reviews.