Chapter Twenty-Five: A City in Flames
Nar Shadda was burning.
The screams of the dead and dying surged through Bastila's senses. It made utilizing her battle meditation difficult, to say the least. At first, she and Nomi had merely tried to get people to move efficiently, to get supplies and food for a quarantine. But soon, the aggressive feelings long suppressed were unleashed, and the violence began.
As it began, it spread like the Iridian Plague itself across the city. In a matter of minutes, violence consumed the skyscraper. Then it spread to those neighboring, and as rumors of war and violence and refugees fled, it got worse. Now Bastila was struggling to try and keep people calm and motivated to survive.
She pressed people to hide or to move when an area was too late. Now and then, she nudged people to help one another. But many times, even when they did, they were gunned down anyway. Others gave shelter to strangers, only to be murdered. Soon her attempts to inspire goodwill fell on deaf ears. It wasn't long before nihilism, and sheer desperation took over.
Pretty soon, there was no sense of empathy or compassion left. What little she could inspire was a shallow, dead thing. It was a mere imitation, plagued by doubt and quickly abandoned. Soon it was lost amidst a neverending symphony of screams.
"This feeling... the violence I..." Bastila halted, having difficulty staying put. Even the battles she had used her meditation on had been nothing like this. They had been a few thousand people, most of them not even fighting. But this was...
It was an entire world descending into barbarism. There were no higher causes or ideals that came with civilization. Nor was there any harmony of natural beauty that came from the savagery of nature. This was evil, pure evil, and getting worse with each moment. Children were being killed, mothers gunned down while clutching them. Venting systems were blasted open to spew noxious fumes over a hallway. Bastila felt those within choking as others fled only to be gunned down.
"Master Nomi, I cannot continue this!" said Bastila, opening her eyes and standing up. "The death and horror is... I can't go on!"
"You don't need to worry, Bastila," said Nomi. "We have already done all we can. But we cannot influence so large an area of violence. Let us instead focus our attention on a smaller area. Look to the regions nearest to this area.
"Focus and calm the minds of those considering violence. I will attend to the battles themselves."
"What are you going to do?" asked Bastila.
"I will ensure that the less wicked gangs gain victory," said Nomi. "A swift end to the fighting by the lesser evil is the best that can be hoped."
Bastila nodded and sat back down in the apartment. Closing her eyes, she reached out to her immediate surroundings. There she sensed people, safe for now but living in fear. Some of them had weapons, and some of them were trying to prepare. Quickly, Bastila set about organizing them on a local level. She inspired groups to get in contact with each other and negotiate alliances.
Outside of it, she could sense the atrocities growing. But looking at a local level, Bastila realized they were not everywhere. If you focused on all the atrocities on an entire planet, it would seem a desolate and horrible place. But looking now, Bastila could sense ordinary people stepping up. Already many had begun to form barricades and arrange rationing.
Yuthura had inspired that.
Moving a bit further on, Bastila felt the chaos gripping the streets. Seeing two gangs fighting, she saw a bitter struggle going on.
The Red Eclipse were slavers, the Ryloth Runners were drug runners.
But if you felt their thoughts, you could see the slavers had a strict sense of honor. The drug runners, meanwhile, were concerned with profit.
Nomi put her will behind one side, and the other was swept away. Then Bastila sensed her turn to a different place where a battle was ongoing. Nomi put her mind behind the Ryloth Runners, who drove away and defeated the enemy. Bastila saw what she was doing and saw the logic. With her compassion shut out, she her will behind the Red Eclipse. Then she pushed them to go help their comrades.
Inspired, they rushed and engaged the victorious Ryloth Runners, and a battle ensued. As it did, Bastila reached out and found a new gang, a smaller one that was hoarding supplies. She convinced them to go out and attack the winner of the engagement. Then she convinced one of the recently formed militias to raid their supplies.
"What are you doing?" asked Nomi. "Why are you playing them against one another?"
"I'm trying to destroy all the gangs," said Bastila in surprise. "Isn't that what you were doing?"
"No!" said Nomi. "We don't want a power vacuum. I'm trying to ensure the worst aspects of both gangs are purged. Then only the good ones will remain."
"But they're all terrible people, Master Nomi," said Bastila. "And when things get worse, they'll just steal food and hoard it. If we kill them off, we give other people a chance to get ahead. And we reduce the number of mouths to feed."
"You're succumbing to them or us mentality," said Nomi. "These gangs could in time give up their evil ways. They have a genuine brotherhood; they need to in order to survive. Wipe out the worst aspects, and the better parts may flourish."
"But being terrible people is an essential part of their job, Master Nomi," said Bastila. "Even if they treat the people they enslave a little better, they will still be selling them. And they'll still be-"
"There is no time for this discussion," said Nomi. "Focus on civilians; let me handle the gangs."
Bastila obeyed.
But she was not happy about it at all. Master Nomi hadn't given her any satisfactory explanation. But, Nomi was her Master, so Bastila obeyed and focusing on calming the population. Convincing them to behave, she got them to take only those risks, which didn't lead to a shootout.
Several happened anyway as they were forced to repel hostile takeovers.
The gang war continued to claim more and more innocents and blast holes in walls. Several people had brought out the heavy equipment. Meanwhile, the gangs were weakened but not exterminated. The Red Eclipse fought the Ryloth Runners until they crushed them completely. They'd have complete control over this place when the fires cleared.
Bastila focused on helping individuals. Convince this individual to do a little more to help another. Get this person to give up his rations for another who needed them more. A lot of small good deeds could add up to create a better world. But all the good deeds in the world couldn't disguise the truth.
"Nar Shadda..." said Bastila bitterly. "It's burning. The entire city is burning, and nothing I can do can stop it. I can try to inspire people to help one another, but often that just means they die together."
"To die in the light is better than to be nothing in the darkness, Bastila," said Nomi. "And even a small change for the better can save worlds. You must do all you can."
"Yes, Master Nomi," said Bastila.
Except Bastila could not do all she could, could she? If Bastila were allowed free reign, she could destroy the criminal element. Together they could tear up the gangs and set back the Exchange massively. The Jedi wouldn't have to negotiate with an organization that did not exist. Especially one which is as bad as the Sith.
But Master Nomi knew best.
So Bastila did as she was told and obeyed. One good deed inspired another until, little by little, things became less bleak. A few tiny lights were sparked in the utter blackness. Bastila knew she should be pleased with all she had done, but all she could imagine was an inferno.
"... That's as much we can do," said Nomi, a few hours later. "Do you sense that?"
Bastila reached out and felt it. Deep down in the refugee sector, Bastila could sense the blackness was very present. Fear gripped the place, and the people there had nothing to lose and nothing to give. And somewhere within it was something far, far, bleaker. "A darkness... a malevolence that can be sensed, even on Nar Shadda."
"No, they are not doing this by mere presence," said Nomi. "They are deliberately broadcasting dark emotions to us. Trying to draw us to them." She halted. "I sense something...
"A presence I've not felt since...
"Sion.
"Come, we must go." She stood up and donned her cloak.
"To where?" asked Bastila.
"Away from here. We'll seek out Master Kai once we've found safety," said Nomi, opening the door.
"Yes, Master," said Bastila.
Being sure to remember her lightsaber, Bastila put on her cloak, got her things, and they headed out. Even so, she felt increasingly bitter. It was stupid and selfish, but Bastila felt like Nomi was holding her back from doing all she could. The emotion was absurd, and Bastila should know better, but that was what she felt.
Even so, something else was bothering her. "Master Nomi, I have to talk to you?"
"What is it?" asked Nomi as they hurried out of the apartments. The street they walked in had a large number of burning corpses. The walls had carbon scoring on them, too.
"Using the Force in Nar Shadda it is..." Bastila halted. "It's like using the Dark Side."
"What do you mean?" asked Nomi.
"Master Vandar always taught us that the Force is like a great river. Those who wield it may set themselves against the current," said Bastila. "Or they may follow it. People who set themselves against the current are pulled away. They have their achievements destroyed. And those who move with the current can direct their course well.
"But on Nar Shadda...
"The current takes people only into blackness and horror. It is as though this place is a river of fire. Isn't it...
"Isn't it possible that by following the currents of the river, we will only cause it to rot into oblivion?"
"We see the results of that path all around us," said Nomi, shaking her head. "The wrong choices were taken by too many people, Bastila. Now Nar Shadda is cleansing itself the only way that it can. All we can do is protect the innocent and inspire them to better themselves. Even so, you must understand that the Force would not have allowed this without reason.
"We should-" Then, as they passed into another room, Nomi halted and drew her lightsaber. "Wait.
"Who are these?"
Bodies were piled scattered by the dozens beyond. The corpses were recent, and Nomi kneeled by them to check. "These people weren't killed by blasters. This was done with blows from staves and very precise ones.
"But I was not aware of any group of skilled combatants-"
And then a group of masked men, clad in black appearing. One of them brought a staff around at Nomi's neck. Bastila drew her saber and deflected the staff, but it did not break. The others came at her, and she hardly held them off as they struck. Her double-bladed lightsaber spun, parrying the many attacks. All this happened in an instant.
Nomi was up, lightsaber drawn, and went at them. Her blade struck hard and fast, and she drove them before her. One was cut down, another had his hands removed before losing his head. A third, Bastila disarmed, only for him to come at her with hands. Her blade sank into him, and she watched him die.
Yet, there was no connection.
She sensed nothing from feeling this person die. No emotions from him, and neither did she feel anything. It was like she had cut down a dummy.
More of them came, and Nomi and Bastila had no more time to respond. They fought back to back, fending off the assassins. Yet when they were struck down, the bodies fell like puppets to the ground. Bastila sensed death around her. It was a distant death, yet she felt more from those than killing these people.
Why did she feel something? This battle was like fighting a wave of apathy.
And at last, they came no more.
"These people..." Bastila looked at them and reminding herself they were people. "I don't sense anything from them!"
Nomi reached down and pulled the mask off several of them. Each one was a normal sentient, and Bastila was able to feel some guilt. Seeing their faces, expressionless.
"...They appear to be just normal members of common galactic species," said Nomi, frowning.
"But how could they not even appear on the Force?" asked Bastila. "I couldn't sense their presence at all."
"There are historical examples of creatures difficult to read," said Nomi. "Wayland has a number of species that are virtually impossible to detect. And we have learned to hide our presence when necessary.
"It may be that these assassins are operating by some similar technique. The Echani have developed means of avoiding notice.
"... We'd best get to an elevator."
But as they walked, it became a nightmare. Bastila looked around her and walked amid the ruins of Nar Shadda. Broken stores were looted and broken, those responsible having long since fled. Corpses were on every corner and only increased in number as they walked. But they saw almost no one, for people seemed to flee behind them.
Bastila found herself almost forgetting about those men she'd killed. She kept reminding herself to check behind herself.
And then they came out onto a balcony overlooking the city. All thoughts departed her mind as she saw the city skyline. Nar Shadda was burning. Entire skyscrapers were writhed in flame as sky cars veered this way and that. Some places were packed tight, colliding and crashing. People rushed to starports or shelters across the entire planet. Those Yuthura had seen were only a tiny fraction of it. Now and then, they smashed into the sides of buildings. Or they descended into the utter blackness below and were seen no more.
Then Bastila saw it.
A massive explosion ripped through a skyscraper, shattering it at the midpoint. It fell forward, hitting another, which collapsed in on itself—buildings that were miles upon miles in height, each one packed with tens of thousands of people. Perhaps even hundreds of thousands. And both collided, shattering against one another as both fell into blackness. As they did, they crashed other buildings, which had vast chunks taken out of them. They swayed, and Bastila stared in horror as another fell.
Like a great game of dominos, skyscrapers exploded or broke apart, fragments descending into the misty abyss. Some that seemed to have weathered the impact broke in half and descended with everyone inside. Others swayed from the impact; a few of these also collapsed. Bastila could feel the neglected and battered supports collapsing in on themselves. How long had the maintenance for these buildings been abandoned as unprofitable?
It was said that if you fell off the edge of a skyscraper on Nar Shadda you'd fall for hours. Would the people on those buildings fall for hours?
There was a terrible, deadly silence as the last of the crash concluded.
"...Death on such a scale," said Bastila. "I can't feel anything."
Perhaps those who lived here could. Gunfire died down, and people must have looked up from the horrors. Had they sensed what had happened here? What might have happened across the entire planet?
And then the deaths hit Bastila.
Millions upon millions of voices had cried out in absolute terror. Then they were suddenly silenced. And many more were joining them by the second, and no one cared. No one Nar Shadda cared because it would reduce the surplus populace.
No one in the Outer Rim would care because the Mandalorians were doing worse.
And no one in the Republic would care because the media would never report this. It was inconvenient to their narrative, whatever it was. The news didn't want people to know about these things.
What happened here in this world would be only a footnote in the news.
This was only a tiny taste of what happened every single day across the galaxy. What was happening without end, without reason? Bastila tried to feel the Force, but it seemed so distant now. No, no, the Force was not distant; it was still here. She could turn away from this...
No.
Bastila had to look at this to understand it so that she could serve the Order. Gazing at the flames spreading across Nar Shadda, she allowed the feeling. The screams of so many hit her. It washed against her defenses in an ocean of malice. Restless ghosts were roaring injustice, and Bastila stood her ground. There was no emotion; there was peace.
There was no emotion. Bastila shut out her feelings, all her emotions, and obsessions and put them aside. She did not try to stop the waves but let them hit her. She made herself a smaller target and allowed the waves to flow through her. The utter blackness swirled around her, but she let it pass through.
And in the end, only Bastila remained.
And Bastila found she did not care. Yes, she saw the horrors before her for what they were, and she would fight, so they never happened again. But she did not care. Because if Bastila allowed herself to care, she would break. And other innocent people would suffer the same fate for her weakness.
Now she understood why Jedi could not form attachments.
To see such horrors and desolation through a lens of compassion would destroy you. No one who wielded the Force could sense such things and listen to their emotions. Not without becoming twisted. The only option was to sacrifice those elements of yourself. You detached from the horrors and focused on the right action. To do what needed to be done, regardless of cost.
The horrors passed.
The gunfire resumed, but less deadly. Bastila looked up to where Nomi was staring in horror at it. "Master Nomi, are you alright?"
"I saw such an event on Ossus," said Nomi. "When Exar Kun destabilize a series of suns to destroy it and many other planets. But there I was, far away from the deaths and focused. This is... more terrible than anything I have seen."
"A remarkable achievement by the Hutts," said a voice. "Few indeed could destroy so many with so little action."
A chill went down Bastila's spine, and she turned around to see a corpse that had walked from the grave. Every part of his body was covered in scars, and his skin was a pale white. One of his arms looked to be cybernetic, and his left eye was white. He moved forward, a lightsaber in hand.
"Darth Sion," said Nomi, drawing her blade.
"I am here, Jedi," said Sion. "To warn you of the coming destruction."
"I thought you had been imprisoned within the depths of the earth," said Nomi. "That your twisted spirit had faded."
"Fade?" asked Sion, lip curling into a smile. "No.
"I shall never tire. So long as my hatred is alive, no blade can fell me. Nor can any imprisonment sway me from my appointed task. But you, Jedi, you feel it don't you? The endless flow of death called down in answer to the Jedi's stagnation. Nar Shadda is their legacy, and if their taint is allowed to spread, it will consume all the world."
"Our legacy?" asked Nomi. "This is of your making! Yours and your kind?!"
"My kind?" asked Sion. "Tell me, Nomi Sunrider, who retreated to obscurity when the universe called upon you to lead? Who accepted the payments of spoiled nobles without question?
Who turned your vaunted order into a club for rich weaklings?
Who tolerated the growth of corporate power unopposed? And for what cause? Pursuing a vendetta with a broken and irrelevant order?
"Who stood by while these same corporations networked with the slime of the universe? On whose watch did the Mandalorians receive supplies and support?
"It was you all along.
"And so the Jedi have brought about the ruination of the galaxy and the death of the Republic."
"You lie!" said Nomi, lightsaber in hand. And she surged forward to attack him, and Bastila saw hatred and anger. Sion parried her strikes, and they circled. "These actions are a corruption of the Jedi! And they were done by those who we fight even now! You seek to justify your brutality by criticizing the very weaknesses you exploited!"
"Create this?" asked Sion, parrying a blow and sending a wave of force to send Nomi sliding back. "I have resided in darkness for decades, unseen and unknown. And I have arisen only in response to the fruits of your labors.
"The Sith are a shattered remnant. Our power pales in comparison to yours. We have neither the power nor the ability to create the horrors you see around you. Not anymore.
"Why then, do the Jedi see us in every shadow?
"It an emotional attachment."
Nomi attacked again, and Bastila decided she should do something about this. Sending her will, she set her battle meditation behind Nomi. Master Nomi focused and clashed with Sion, her attacks becoming more controlled. And yet Sion merely put more effort in, and strength poured into him from all sides.
Nar Shadda.
The death and horrors of Nar Shadda were pouring into Sion.
"You allow your passions to blind you to the reality of your own nature," said Sion. "And when that reality becomes undeniable, you must create your own. The Jedi had power, power to rule the universe and shape it to whatever vision they desired." He locked blades with Nomi, and they held it in place. "And this is the culmination of that vision—a universe of petty tyrants, menacing cowering slaves.
"You could have used your power to make the galaxy strong. Yet you had not the courage to walk into the unknown, nor the wisdom to examine yourselves. You stayed cloistered within your holocrons and took comfort in flowing fountains. And beneath your blinded gaze the galaxy stagnated and festered.
"This cleansing fire was inevitable."
"You seek to erode my will!" said Nomi. "You will not succeed! You will never destroy the Jedi!" She hurled her lightsaber at Sion, but he parried it. Even as he did, Nomi went at him and called back her saber before attacking aggressively.
"The Jedi have destroyed themselves," said Sion. "I have watched you and the other, walking the shadowed streets of this tiny hell. You act as slaves. You avoid confrontation because to do otherwise is to question yourself. Yet your students urge you to act and force you to take small steps or lose their faith.
"And you fear your own irrelevance more than you do change.
"You are but two examples of that story. Even now, what composure you have is due to the Padawan you were meant to instruct."
"SHUT UP!" said Nomi, striking again and again.
Their lightsabers were moving faster and faster now. Bastila realized she was looking at a duel between masters. They fought with a level of skill she'd never seen before. It was like a lethal dance, and both were clearly the best. But she felt no real connection to the fight, and she wondered if she would feel anything if Nomi lost.
And Nomi would lose. Sion was not tiring and indeed only seemed to be growing stronger. The horrors of the Dark Side were feeding him, making it easier for him to fight. Nomi, meanwhile, was under pressure from that same power. Even if Bastila helped her in combat, it would not be enough. Nomi already showed signs of tiring.
So perhaps there were disadvantages to cutting yourself off from emotions entirely. Was this how Revan saw everything? But it would be dangerous to resume, so perhaps she should just regard Nomi as a valuable asset. An object she did not want to be destroyed. Something she would need to survive.
No, that was no good.
Nomi was a hero and deserved to live. But then, she was the one attacking Sion, and Sion hadn't done anything aggressive yet here. So was Nomi really the hero? Bastila considered how she would view this if Sion weren't a Sith. Just a veteran of some anti-Republic planetary league? She'd think Nomi was being wholly unreasonable.
But no, Sion was not tolerating this for no reason. He'd come here to provoke a reaction, and he'd gotten one. Nomi was using Sion was a scapegoat to handle the horrors she did not want to deal with. Just pin the blame on an evil Sith Lord, kill him, and you can forget about things.
"Master Nomi, stop!" said Bastila. "He's baiting you! Sion picked this moment because you were at your weakest! You have to compose yourself, or you'll end up seeing things his way!"
Nomi halted and stepped back a few paces while Bastila maneuver behind her. Sion regarded Bastila with a nod. "Your Padawan remains the more perceptive among you, as seems custom in your order."
"The bond between Master and Student is as important for the Master as the Padawan," said Nomi in return. "Just as the Student must rely on the Master for guidance. So too must the Master rely on the Student for grounding.
"You who have killed virtually every Student you've ever had would never understand.
"In the name of the Jedi, I will strike you down."
"I find that unlikely; this battle continues because it amuses me," said Sion. "I need not strike you down. I need not do anything, and I will watch the Jedi die.
"It has already begun."
"If you believe that Jedi shall succumb to infighting, you are wrong," said Nomi.
"Am I?" asked Sion. "The rift between Master and Student shall only widen. You are torn between your pride and what you must do to survive. I know the character of the Jedi Masters.
"Once, they were corrupt to the core. Now they have been replaced by those who would sooner die than admit they were wrong.
"Student shall turn against Master, and a great Jedi Civil War shall begin. And from that great confrontation, the wisdom of the Sith shall be restored to memory. It shall not occur by my hand or those of my Master. I merely foretell."
Nomi lowered her lightsaber. "Why are you here?"
"I am here to admire the fireworks," said Sion before sheathing his lightsaber. "If you wish to try and strike down an unarmed man, you may do so. You will be disappointed by the results, however. No being of the Force can slay me. So was foretold in prophecy at my birth.
"Well, Nomi? Will you strike me down in anger? Or leave me in peace to observe the results of Jedi benevolence."
"...If you are allowed to leave this place, you will simply continue to kill and destroy. It is in your nature to do so," said Nomi.
"You made the opposite judgment for Uliq Qul'droma," noted Sion. "And even I never choose to eradicate entire suns to dispose of a political rival.
"But then, we were never friends, were we, Master Sunrider. You knew of me by reputation, and we never met until I became a Sith. Because you have no emotional attachment to me, I am pure evil. If Uliq Qul'droma had discovered my arts and was here instead of me, you would be proclaiming me a lost soul."
"Your very existence is a mistake!" said Nomi. "You are held together by the Dark Side in a twisted mockery of life! You cannot be anything other than what you are and live?!"
"I am but a mirror of the galaxy you created," said Sion. "It was not by the will of the Dark Side that I am now made manifest. The Dark Side has no will. I was returned to life by the hatred and agony of those who have been crushed underfoot. Their accumulated screams echoed across the universe and came to my resting place.
"It is they I seek to liberate."
"Liberate?" asked Nomi. "You deceive children and drive them into hatred and despair for your own ends! You raise barriers between them, so they regard one another as enemies. They slay each other for personal ambition!"
"I wonder if you have paid heed to your own Agricultural Corps of late, Jedi," said Sion. "They are condemned by your failure as teachers to a life of mediocrity and humiliation. 'Washouts' they are called and regarded as unpaid labor to be exploited and thrown away.
"They are given the worst responsibilities. An none of the credit without even the dignity of minimum wage. And those that dare to rise above this are condemned all the worse."
Bastila, on a purely intellectual level, conceded the point.
"They are heroes after their own kind! An essential part of the Order!" said Nomi.
"And what gratitude has been shown them other than disregard?" asked Sion. "Jedi glorify those who march to war on your side. And you condemn the true followers of your tenants as losers and washouts. What child in all the galaxy has ever wished to be a member of the Agriculture Corps.
"To thrive on war, even as you condemn those who seek it, is a hypocrisy only a Jedi could conceive of.
"Small wonder, then, that so many among the Agricultural Corps become my students."
"You murdered them!" said Nomi. "You lured them to your world with false promises of power and then pitted them against eachother! You had them smuggled off to your academy as mere chattel! You drove them to kill their friends!"
"I gave them an opportunity to prove themselves," said Sion. "The weak were destroyed, and the strong became Sith. Such is the price of progress. Some will invariably be lost, and that is unfortunate. However, the alternative is unthinkable."
"Unthinkable?" asked Nomi. "We guide children to use their gifts and teach them to wield them for the galaxy."
"Before you ship the failures away from their enclaves. To a faraway planet where they are treated with contempt," said Sion. "Meanwhile, those who fake their adherence to your narrow ideology are rewarded. And the reward is the opportunity to earn glory on the battlefield. To have their names and deeds recorded throughout history.
"A policy the Mandalorians would approve of."
"He's got a point," said Bastila with a shrug.
"What?" said Nomi. "How can you say that?"
"Name one member of the Agricultural Corps who has been recorded as a member of our order," said Bastila. "One member."
Nomi went silent. "Um, well uh... there are hundreds, even thousands of great Jedi in the Agricultural Corps."
"I know," said Bastila. "How many of them have been held up as role models? There aren't any. No one in my enclave wanted to be part of the Agricultural Corps. Everyone wanted to use a lightsaber to kill bad guys and bring peace to the galaxy.
"If you don't get picked by a master, you disappear into obscurity.
"The Jedi Council preaches peace. But it channels its best students into a warrior caste. Then all the problem students are shipped off to be disregarded as washouts for the rest of their life. And from what I've observed, being a 'problem' student can be as simple as being disliked by your instructor. Vrook has resented his actual Padawan Meetra for years purely because he got her instead of me.
"And even though he tried to fix it, they still have major problems. And if you actually follow the Jedi Code to the letter, you end up a benevolent sociopath at best."
"What has come over you, Bastila?" asked Nomi.
"Oh, I uh... temporarily cut myself off from my capacity to feel compassion," said Bastila. "I was afraid it would become a weakness that could turn me to the dark side."
Nomi halted. "Oh, I see. Uh... I wasn't aware that was possible."
"And you wonder why your own students turn on you so quickly?" said Sion.
"And what of your students, Sion?" asked Nomi. "The ultimate example of your ideology buried you alive! He destroyed your order rather than see your vision fulfilled! Aedal walks with the Mandalorians now and seeks only your ruin!"
"An unexpected event," conceded Sion. "However, his will is strong, and his power is great. He is a very successful Sith and will be a formidable adversary. I am proud of the work I did on that one. But I do not need him, and I never needed him.
"The winner of our conflict shall emerge stronger, and the Sith shall be all the greater for it."
"He destroyed the Sith," said Nomi. "The order you spent years trying to rebuild was shattered by him, and now you are but common criminals!"
"Common criminals that are still feared by reputation alone," said Sion. "Aedal saw weakness in the Sith that could not be purged through leadership. He beheld that they were not worthy of being led, and so he acted to correct that error. Those that remain have been forced to become stronger or have been destroyed.
"When I recreate new order, I shall correct the errors I made the first time.
"Like a broken bone, we shall be restored stronger."
"And evermore scarred," said Nomi. "Don't you see that such a life is not worth living?! What hope of betterment can you find by such brutality? What is the purpose of recreating the Sith if you leave only misery and hatred in your wake?
"And what happens when you win, Sion?
"What happens when the Jedi are no more when all the great enemies have been conquered. When you have achieved all that you wanted, and you have your academy, what then? What will be left for you but bitterness?"
"All quests end in bitterness," said Sion. "Greatness lies in the seeking and in triumph over a worthy adversary. There is no purpose to greatness other than greatness itself. When the Sith have triumphed over the galaxy, we shall divide. Then we shall have a conflict between ourselves. Each generation shall breed a stronger power than the last. New means of controlling the Force, of extending life, shall be undertaken.
"I have devised a means to extend my own life.
"In time, the Sith shall devise a means to extend the life of stars. Immortality shall be unlocked, not just for a few, but all races and beings. And each shall do so by their own hand."
"Your end will reflect the nature of the deeds you take to get there," said Nomi. "You will leave behind you only a wasteland of misery and hatred. In the end, whether by the hand of a Jedi or another, you will be lost and destroyed."
"Perhaps," said Sion. "But not today, Jedi." Then he turned. "If there is nothing else, please leave me be."
"What?" said Nomi. She had obviously not expected this reaction.
"I have already confirmed that my assassins have an ability to take Jedi unawares," said Sion. "I have no more interest in this conflict."
"What, that's it?" said Nomi.
"Unless you intend to attack me again, yes," said Sion. "You were the one who decided to attack me for my religion. I just wanted to watch the world burn."
If Bastila had been capable of empathy, she'd have shared Nomi's stunned expression.
As it is, she couldn't help herself and doubled over laughing hysterically. No wonder Revan was so upbeat. When you looked at the world from a sociopathic perspective, tragedy became a comedy.