Title: Destiny's New Path
Summary: A what if. What if it wasn't Revan on the Bridge when Malak fired on his Master's ship? Suddenly the Apprentice is betrayed by the Master, and Revan then infiltrates the ranks of the Jedi. The Dark Lords mission: turn Bastila to the Dark Side of the Force.
Disclaimer: George Lucas and Bioware own the basis of this FanFic. I am merely entertaining the idea that I am good at making Star Wars stories (stupid ideas).
Author's Note:
Chapter 1: Malak's Redemption
Many things can happen in the galaxy. At any time, what first appeared to be evil can turn out to be one who simply needed a beacon to find their way back. And those who were once considered friends can turn into bitter enemies.
I am Bastila Shan, a Padawan in the Jedi Order. My final mission before becoming a Jedi Knight? I was to guide him down the path of the Light, and, should his Force powers reawaken, to return him to the Jedi Council for training. I was a fool. I could not guide a student! At the time, I was still a student myself! And yet I accepted the mission, against my own intuition I accepted, and agreed to be Malak's keeper.
It all started that night at the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine. I had been having dreams of Revan and that battle aboard the Star Phoenix. By now I knew it had been a decoy that had been killed, and put the dreams down to the result of the rumors going around the Enclave that Revan had somehow infiltrated the Jedi Order without any of the Masters even knowing it, and that the Dark Lord could, right now, be somewhere in this very Enclave.
I discarded those thoughts immediately. No one could get into the Jedi Order without the Council knowing it.
It was as I passed the infirmary, where Malak was suspended in a Kolto tank, that I saw someone. Figuring it was on of the Masters, I decided to at least announce I had had to get up because of some troubling dreams. Then I got closer, and saw, not the brown robes of a Jedi Master, but a long black cape, hooded black robes, and as the figure felt m approach and turned to look at me, I saw the crimson and obsidian Sith mask of Darth Revan.
Before I could scream out, Revan raised his hand, and I felt a claw-like grip constrict my throat. I reached for my throat in a vain attempt to remove the Force-Choke had me in. But it was not possible for a mere Padawan of my power to throw off something like that.
Just when I thought I was finished, the constriction ended. But then I was thrown into the air and backward, crashing into the wall and falling to the ground. I heard a sickening crack as one or two ribs snapped as I crashed to the floor.
I struggled to see where Revan was, but my vision was blurred. How hard had I hit my head on the wall?
A second later, it became much easier to see him. He was at the spot just behind the blood-red Lightsaber blade that was coming towards me. I struggled to get to my feet but the pain in my ribs was too great and barely made it to my knees.
Revan was just a few feet away from me when I heard a snap-hiss, and a green bladed Lightsaber sailed over me and struck at Revan's shoulder. And Bastila suddenly felt the presence of four powerful Force users approaching. Revan seemed to sense them as well, because he suddenly deactivate his Lightsaber. I guess, even with all the power of the Dark Side, against four Jedi Masters you can still be overpowered.
"There will be another time." Was all Revan said as he fled. And then I blacked out.
"Where am I?" I asked hesitantly.
"You're recovering in the infirmary. Look." Said a young male voice. I nodded, opening my eyes. I was indeed in the infirmary. What I shocked by was seeing myself, laying in one of the beds. I turned toward the direction of the voice. A young, rather handsome man sat cross-legged in front of one of the Kolto tanks.
"Am I dead?" I asked. The man shook his head.
"You might say this is a dream, or Force vision." He said. "We are both here because both of us have suffered pain inflicted by the Dark Lord."
At these words, my eyes flickered up to the inhabitant of the Kolto tank her companion was seated in front of.
"Malak!" I exclaimed. The man nodded. "Indeed." He said. "The Council members have been busy, restoring and recovering my memories. Although I have very little time left as Malak."
"What do you mean?" I demanded.
"That, I cannot tell you." Malak said, standing. "For now…"
Awaken!
I woke up so fast from the vision that it took me a moment to center myself in the Force. When that was done, I looked around the room in search of Malak's tank. But all I could find was a Rodian missing one of his antennae/stalks and a Twi'lek Jedi laying on one of the beds with a Medical droid fitting her with a robotic arm. I sat up, wondering what Malak had meant when he'd said he had little time left as Malak.
"Your name?" I asked. Perhaps I should back-track a little. I had told Master Vrook what had happened the night before, and he had said that aside from myself and Revan, he and the other Masters had sensed a third presence reaching out to me that night, and that that presence had called them when Revan had attacked me. It seemed that Revan had indeed infiltrated the Jedi Order, and had attempted to kill Malak. It hadn't been my dreams that had woken me up. It had been Malak reaching out to the one mind that he'd felt Revan pursue since the beginning of the Jedi Civil Wars: me. In doing so, Malak had somehow created a link, a connection through the Force between the two of us.
Vrook then told me of the ritual Jedi Master Atris had discovered in the archives. An archaic Force ability that could restore and create memories in the mind of a being. And that, because of the link between myself and Malak, I should attend the ritual. With the utmost speed I was brought to the Coruscant Jedi Temple, where the Council had once again assembled as a whole. I was to question about his new identity to make sure the ritual had been a success.
"Your name?" I repeated. He looked at me, then closed his eyes for a moment. In my hand was a datapad with questions I had to ask him about his new past.
"Kayle Starfire." He answered when he opened his eyes.
"Good. What is your class?" I asked him. He closed his eyes in concentration again.
"I'm a soldier in the republic fleet." He said, looking hopefully at me.
"Yes, that's right." I said, looking at the next question on the datapad.
"What's your home planet?" I looked up from the datapad to see his eyes were open still, but they seemed, well, empty, confused. Then the look was gone.
"Telos." He answered. I nodded. Why the council had chosen Telos as his home planet, I had no idea. That left one question.
"How old are you?" I asked.
"Twenty-eight." He answered. The only truth about his new identity was his age. I nodded.
"Okay, thank you Kayle." I said, returning the datapad to my pack. "I shall have you transferred aboard the Republic Starship Endar Spire. A shuttle will pick you up at the temple's landing port at 0'800 tomorrow."
"Yes, ma'am." Mal…Kayle said. He stood up and walked out of the room. He breathed a sigh of relief. The Council had succeeded. Malak was now a loyal soldier in the Republic fleet, and with any luck would lead us to the source of the Sith armada, where we may finally defeat them once and for all. I stood up and walked out of the room. I had to assemble my party of Jedi that would join me aboard the Endar Spire, so that we could return Malak to Dantooine.
As I left the room, I accidentally walked right into another Jedi and we were both knocked to the floor.
"Oh, I am so sorry." Said the other Jedi. I looked up to see she couldn't be much old then me, if she was even that old. Her hair was a brown-blonde colour, and curly, and her eyes were a beautiful emerald green.
"It's okay." I said, standing and helping her to her feet. "I should have been looking where I was going."
"No, I was in a hurry." Insisted the other woman. "Uh, I'm Zora Firemoon."
"Nice to meet you, Zora. I'm Bastila Shan." I said, holding out my hand to shake hers. She accepted happily.
"So, you're Bastila." Zora said. "I'm actually one of the Jedi joining you on the Endar Spire."
"Oh, then it's very nice to meet you." I said. "Uh, I'm actually on my way to the assembly room to meet with the Jedi joining me, I take it your were on your way there?"
"Of course." Zora said, smiling. "Mind if I walk with you?"
"Well, we're both going in the same direction, so, why not." I shrugged, and Zora, who seemed to smile an awful lot. Something I found somewhat disturbing and funny. When I brought it up she giggled in a girlish way that was a bit unbecoming of a Jedi, especially one who was in her early twenties.
"Yes, a lot of people think I'm too happy. I don't know why though." She said. "I say, if you can't be happy with life, why are you living." She giggled again. I mentally rolled my eyes. How did this over-happy adolescent achieve the rank of Padawan Consular and get into my mission Party?
I hadn't realized that Zora had been talking about her Padawan trials, where the final challenge had been preventing a family feud from turning into a mini-war after their married daughter and son's home had been burned to the ground. She had successfully persuaded the family to set aside their differences and even to work together to rebuild the home.
"That's very interesting." I said, somewhat unconvincingly. She didn't seem to notice how unconvincing it was though, as she simply nodded and kept talking. So she was an over-happy adolescent with an overactive vocabulary. Force, was this girl a reincarnated protocol droid?
We finally arrived at the assembly room, where I was introduced to several other Jedi, and then, after a quick meal, we all went to our quarters. We would be up early the following morning to board the Endar Spire.