Knights of the Old Republic: The True Sith
By rosso-bass
Chapter 11 – The True Sith
AN: The character's in this story are not mine, nor is the Star Wars Universe. A bit of a plot payoff if you've been waiting for one.
"What was it, you think?" Jolee asked, punching in coordinates as the ship dropped into orbit over the third planet, a gas giant that swirled with green storms.
"The Jedi have been attacked," Revan stated. Jolee looked at him curiously.
"How do you know?"
"I just know. I knew something was coming to destroy the Jedi. I didn't know how soon."
"Was it the True Sith?" Jolee asked, looking back through the cockpit window. "Could we have moved right past them? Can't say much for those odds."
"No." Revan knew that much. "The True Sith are here. But they'll be moving, and soon. We have to intercept them, convince them we're too great a threat to be ignored."
"Ambitious agenda, considering we haven't even found them yet."
"Yes, but it's all we've got. I was sent from the True Sith to weaken the galaxy, disable it. I failed, but I did enough damage that a concentrated attack on the Jedi would remove the last hope for the galaxy."
"You say that pretty casually," Jolee remarked, but not with bitterness, rather intuition.
"I don't really remember any of it, Jolee. I get bits and pieces that I recall in my dreams, and I feel guilty for what I remember but… I'm not the man I used to be, I can't see my past deeds from another man's eyes."
"True enough. So what happens-" Jolee cut off abruptly.
"What happens now? Well we have-"
"I'm getting something." Jolee said in a detached tone. Revan's adrenaline spiked, and he pulled up the scanners on his own terminal. The physical scanners showed a blip, highlighted in red. Its shape was irregular, but quite clearly artificial.
"I'm taking us in slow," Revan announced, and powered the thrusters down, setting them into a gliding drift.
"Divert engine power grid to weapons, Jolee." Jolee responded automatically, and an escalating hum greeted his actions. Revan quickly played out scenarios through his brain. If they were attacked by ships, he would quickly drop into the upper atmosphere of the planet below and calculate trajectories on ship movements, if they lived that long. If there was no activity, he would attempt to establish the purpose of the object's presence. If it turned out to be some sort of outpost or base, well… he'd have to investigate.
"It looks like a relay beacon," Revan announced as the object grew closer.
"No, if that was the case, we'd be receiving some sort of energy readout."
"We're not dealing with a technology based civilization, Jolee. Everything with the True Sith is constructed around the Force."
"So what does that mean."
"It means that they can operate anything through the Force. Machines, messages, anything." Jolee grunted in unease.
As they drew closer, Revan's suspicions were confirmed. A slight ripple in the Force, which would have been indiscernible to Revan upon first arriving in the clouded system, emanated from the station.
"We're going to have company," Revan said.
"Take us in there quick," Jolee said.
"No. They can probably destroy us easily if we alert them to a threat."
"We're not exactly lost tourists, kid. They already know we're not here by accident."
"I survived the first time, and it was because I was only seeking them out. I'm going on that right now." Jolee shifted uncomfortably, feeling helpless and vulnerable.
Revan became almost drunk with adrenaline. It was overwhelming. What could he expect? He imagined he had felt similar a lifetime ago, when he had first stumbled upon the True Sith's lair. His memory of his last orders from the True Sith clued him in that he would likely not be receiving the welcome he had last time, but so far, he was still alive. The True Sith, he predicted, were as curious as he was. A jerk took hold of the ship and Revan felt the presence of the Force constricting against his skin. The ship was being pulled into the station, which grew larger by the second until it was clear to be at least an outpost, if not an operations space station.
"I don't like this," Jolee mumbled nervously.
"Just trust me," Revan said, hardly trusting himself.
"I wanna go home," Jolee whined in an adolescent voice. It was amazing that he could retain his sarcasm under such circumstances. Within minutes, the ship was pulled into a docking bay sparsely illuminated with a pulsing yellow light.
"Be ready for a fight," Revan advised. "But don't be quick to start one." Jolee remained silent, and Revan could feel his fear. It was not a fear for his own life, but of seeing the threat that faced a helpless galaxy, and the results of a failure to destroy it. The ship settled, and the air hung still and silent over them, revealing no activity. Jolee jittered in his seat, and nearly sprang to his feet when Revan noisily released his safety restraint. He stood to his feet and Jolee nervously did the same.
"Are you alright?" Revan asked, and the puncture in the dead silence unnerved him. Jolee took a deep breath and exhaled.
"I'm alright," he said, now more controlled. "Should I come with you?"
"Yes," Revan said. "We won't be escaping here if the Sith don't want us to. I'd rather we be together."
"Couldn't have put it better myself." Revan leaned over and punched in a command to the ship, which lowered the loading ramp. He powered the ship down, and checked to make sure he had his lightsabers with him. Jolee touched his also, and seemed comforted by its presence.
"Let's go," Revan said. They navigated the ship, wary of any intruders who may have already slipped in. When they exited the ship cautiously, they were met with a vastly empty port. No soldiers, no guards, nothing.
They moved to the only door in the bay, and it opened for them as they approached. The hallways, lined with a black granite-like mineral, pulsed with the same light, and they stretched on endlessly. The unique architecture of the station told Revan that it had not been constructed, but carved. The entire station had been carved, externally and internally, from some sort of rocky body- an asteroid, or even a tiny moon.
They followed the hallway, and saw that it extended far to the other side, extending horizontally from a stairway that led up into the complex. As they reached the next level, which extended in a dozen different directions, Revan felt himself being watched, acknowledge by another through the Force. Jolee touched him on the elbow as he scanned the different paths. Revan noted the alertness in Jolee's dark eyes.
We're being watched his eyes said. Revan nodded slightly. Neither of them was eager to break the oppressive silence which filled the halls. Not even their footsteps had any sound. Revan looked at the pathways from left to right and-
XxX
-he moved to the path second from the left. Alec Squinquargesimus followed closely behind, his breath coming through his lips in short bursts. Revan looked from side to side behind the Mandalorian mask seated beneath his hood. He felt no apprehension, only delighted curiosity at what he might find. Strange though, he-
XxX
-had no idea what led him down this particular path. He stopped in his tracks, looking back behind him. Jolee looked back at him, raising his chin in question at Revan's sudden stop and confused expression. Revan waved it off, but felt perplexed at the vividness of his memory while still being awake. Also, he had not felt any fear in his memory, as he did now. He dismissed the confusion, resolving to return to the implications of the vision at a more convenient time. He followed the walkway to the end of the hall, and carefully ascended the slick steps which spiraled upwards. The stairway changed in angle, but Revan and Jolee were rooted to the steps, even as they seemed to be standing perpendicular to the force of gravity, their clothing hanging off to one side. The sensation was nauseating, but tolerable. Gradually, the stairway evened out, and the two ascended into one long walkway, mounted on either side by humanoid sculptures in various postures, carved out of the stone of the station.
Revan felt the urge to dash to the stalwart doorway at the end of the hall as a presence seemed to fill in their footsteps behind them. Jolee turned, shuffling backwards behind Revan as he watched the stairway. Revan walked carefully, measuring his footsteps to the door. The sculptures watched him carefully, and they seemed ready to spring from place and cut him down. His heartbeat pulsed in his hands, resounding in his skull.
And the door before them opened.
Revan, followed closely by Revan, walked resolutely into the carefully crafted chamber, and a long window at the far end showed them the dead star in the distance. The chamber, to the eyes, appeared empty, but Revan felt them, the True Sith.
A cloaked figure materialized out of the darkness, walking forward from the window towards the window. Then a second, and finally, a third, all walking towards the two. Jolee's green lightsaber ignited, and he dropped into a Shii-Cho opening stance. Revan remained unmoving. The cloaked figures ignored Jolee, standing around Revan in a triangle.
"We will test you," A singular, deep male voice stated, coming from none of the three in particular, but all of them. Moving simultaneously, they began to drop their robes, throwing off their cloaks and stripping off their shirts and standing around clothed only in a short skirt-like piece of black clothing, revealing an athletic, but not powerhouse muscular build. Revan barely had time to take in their appearance, but it was striking. They were humanoid, all standing at an equal height somewhat shorter than Revan's. Their skin was completely black, like the void between the stars in the sky. However, they lacked typically human characteristics, as well as possessing alien features. They possessed no navel, no nipples, no hair, and no mouth. Their eyes, seated above a human nose, were completely white, having no iris or pupils. And as their hands reached towards their belts, Revan noticed that their fingers were abnormally long, ending with animal-like claws. They were the strangest creatures he had ever seen.
Revan's own lightsabers were in his hands, and two blades, green and yellow, ignited in his right and left hands respectively. At the same time, three red blades ignited around him.
"Stay back Jolee," he said with authority, though he wondered to himself why he commanded this. Jolee surprisingly complied, deactivating his lightsaber and stepping back. The black creatures adjusted, creating an isosceles triangle around him, and they moved forward, raising their lightsabers above their heads.
XxX
"Terlos," Bastila said to the man, though she knew his name was simply a programmed replacement to the name Revan.
"Yes?" he said, dropping his vibroblade to his side.
"Sit with me a moment," Bastila sat in the silky grass of Dantooine, pulling her legs up into a meditation stance, and placing her vibroblade off to her side. Terlos sat beside her, mimicking her posture.
"Listen to Dantooine. Listen to the planet." Terlos remained silent, quietly listening to wind pushing through the grass and rolling over the hills of the world's landscape. Bastila closed her eyes, listening to the superficial ambience of the breezy plains.
"The Force is in all things," she said simply. "It flows from being to being, not like a river, but like an ocean, shifting, but always present in everything. It is in the grass, in the winds, in the stone. It is in you and me. It is in the planet itself, in the sun, in the galaxy, everywhere. Every living being, from the kath hound in the hill, to the pups in her womb, to the rancors in Dathomir, back to you and I, feels the Force, is embodied by the Force. Some are more attuned to its presence, some are blind to it, but it is still there. Listen to the planet, but through the Force." Terlos remained silent again. Bastila waited a moment, then reached through the bond that had been created when she had saved the former Dark Lord's life months before. She was going to cheat for him a bit, let him sense what she sensed, but she was impressed to feel that he was already hearing the Force in the planet as she was.
"You hear it," she said quietly. "Now, feel it. Exist with it, do not fight to preserve yourself from its reaching tendrils. When you fight, do the same. The Force exists in all things, in you and your opponent. Allow the Force to see for you, and see through it. See your opponent's strike before it descends on you, let the Force move your hands and feet, blocking, attacking, deflecting. The Force is your ally, and it is a powerful ally indeed. Allow it to fight for you, and you will fight as a Jedi does. Now, fight me, and allow the Force to fight for you."
XxX
Revan let go of his mind, letting the Force guide him. But while doing so usually brought him a certain peace, this time it was invigorating, and the pleasant explosion of power in his chest begged him to release himself completely. He was now facing another enemy. His attunement to the Force allowed him to block the hail of attacks falling against him, but he was struggling internally not to surrender himself to the dark aura which he had already allowed to penetrate him.
Revan was desperately battling his adversaries. They were better swordsmen than the slews of dark Jedi he had encountered over the past year, and he was fighting three of them alone. The first of the three thrust forward, and Revan dipped with his main hand, catching the blow while moving it aside to block the second's attack. He threw his off hand blade behind his back, catching another. He pushed with his mind towards the two in front of him. The second skidded backwards on his feet along the smooth tile, but the first compensated with a flurry of precise strikes that Revan parried and dodged while moving backwards, careful to keep some focus on the movements of the Sith behind him.
Bending backwards, he narrowly avoided a swipe at his head by the first as the second came rushing back, leaping into the air and slashing downwards. Revan sidestepped him with millimeters to spare, and the lightsaber singed the cloth on his arm. The second's back was exposed to Revan, but he could not capitalize on the break in defense as the third leaped forward, protecting his comrade. He quickly realized that every movement of the trio was choreographed, there was little improvising. Any perceived break in defense was compensated by one of the three, and they regularly alternated between two defending opponents with the third attacking. Revan was being outsmarted and outmaneuvered.
But he could not give in to the insidious beckoning of the Force around him. He could not risk it. But… it had been the Revan before him that had fallen, given in to the temptation. All the same, he couldn't trust himself.
He sparred with them desperately, never being allowed an offensive advantage. They operated like one body, throwing their attacks in quick succession. Even his detached connection to the Force was failing him. And then, they moved to finish him. The first jumped forward, sending a flurry of whirring strikes that moved up, down, and around. Then the second, matching his comrades movements. The third Sith moved in, Revan was about to be killed.
"Jolee!" he cried desperately. He could not risk the galaxy on meager rules of engagement. In his peripheral vision, Jolee's blade ignited and he sprinted forward, but not before another Sith leaped from the shadows to engage him, allowing his robes to be cut from his body. Revan had seconds as the third Sith engaged him from the side.
He let go, he surrendered to the oppressive dark aura of the Force, and it filled him. The taste was incredible, and the power that melded with his inborn sensitivity was intoxicating. Automatically, he dropped into a Juyo stance.
He engaged the Third as his first movements completed, and Revan's aggression was too much for him. Revan moved faster than he ever had before, and his passion seemed to multiply his agility exponentially. Determination, blind disregard, and finally anger seemed to gratify the indwelling Force, and his lightsabers reflected this. He moved like a whirlwind, spinning, slashing, deflecting. His form abandoned the Niman precepts, using one lightsaber for defense and the other for offense, and he subconsciously used each lightsaber interchangeably.
Finally, as he threw off the attacks of the other two with precise agility, he attacked the third with both lightsabers. The third succeeded only in deflecting one blow, and the other sliced through his arm, followed quickly by a strike though his abdomen and his neck. The Sith fell to the ground in smoking pieces. The two Sith looked down in surprise at their fallen comrade, and Revan sprung on the second, quickly dicing him into half a dozen body parts. Alone, the last of the True Sith employing Makashi in a valiant effort to best his opponent, but Revan's ferocity was too much, and he quickly fell, decapitated to the cold floor.
Revan turned to the Sith battling Jolee and threw the saber in his left hand. It span wildly, arcing towards the Sith, and he perceived the danger. He leaped backwards, flipping into the air, but it was not enough. Guiding the saber's flight, it intercepted the Sith's maneuver and skewered him, pinning him against the wall where he flailed a moment before dying. Revan called back the saber into his hand, and focused on calming his ecstasy at indulging in the considerable weight of the dark side.
He called into memory his feelings of love and compassion, alongside a conscious effort to Force the twisting presence in his body. Slowly, but with some proud satisfaction, Revan succeeded in pushing the lust for the awesome power he had tasted, and it resulted in a peaceful calm that existed despite the hovering presence about him. He opened his eyes from his meditation, and Jolee stared at him, panting. Revan expected a lecture, a warning, something. But either Jolee was too tired to indulge him, or he simply saw the necessity of the circumstances. He only nodded, and placed his own blade at his belt.
Before either could speak, another True Sith quietly walked from the shadows, standing in view of the window. Revan and Jolee both activated their lightsabers, dropping into opening stances. The Sith simply raised a clawed hand, and the two relaxed, though they did not sheath their weapons.
"Impressive," The True Sith said. This one was different. Elaborate white tattoos sprawled across his face and skull, descending down to beneath his neckline.
"When you first came to us, you had not succeeded in killing even one of us, even amongst our lowliest apprentices. You have grown. But you are different." The True Sith's white eyes moved about. "Do not attempt to deceive us. We know that you failed in your mission, that you destroyed the Star Forge and your apprentice Malak. Why then have you come to us? In hopes that you shall receive some mercy for the small compensation you provided for you failure? There shall be none."
Small compensation? Revan was confused, but he chose to address the question posed to him rather than seeks answers himself.
"I've returned to destroy you," he said simply. Revan had been met with laughs and mockery when he made the same statement to the Sith Empire of the galaxy over the past year. The True Sith did not even react.
"I see," The True Sith mused. "Tell us, have you come to destroy us to preserve your own power in the galaxy? The power you have not even yet obtained?"
"I've returned to the Light, and I will not allow your threat to exist any longer." The Sith responded violently, abandoning the hitherto passive composure he had shown.
"We warned you, Revan!" The Sith shouted, pointing a stiff finger at Revan. "We warned you, and there will be no mercy for a traitor! You will face the full might of the Sith of this galaxy, and when you are dead, we will continue on to the galaxy you foolishly hope to preserve, and we will drain away every last life that does not bend to our will."
"Guess that rules out negotiation," Jolee mumbled behind him.