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).
Chapter 2: Bastila's Predicament
I stood on the Bridge of the Endar Spire. On my right, the Jedi: Zora, Ket Yasiq (a green Twi'lek woman), Leia Vacc (a human woman), Seth Kelpak (a human man) and Erik Lanne (a human man). On my left, the Republic soldiers, led by Commander Carth Onasi.
We were just coming out of Hyperspace at Taris to dock and refuel when we saw them. Four Sith Warships and dozens of Sith fighters swarming in on the Endar Spire.
"By the Force..." I heard Kiharo whisper under his breath. Then every man and woman on the Bridge went into action. Carth immediately hit the 'emergency' switch, and the Endar Spire's battle alarms started ringing all through the ship.
"Bastila, get to the escape pods!" Carth shouted.
"I…" I started to argue, but then the ship received a direct hit from one of the Warships and shook violently. Without a second thought, I followed my fellow Jedi toward the Escape Pods. As we reached them, I suddenly realized that Leia Vacc was not with us.
"Where is she!" I demanded of Ket Yasiq. The Twi'leks head-tails wobbled nervously.
"She…she saw a Dark Jedi coming toward the Bridge." Ket whimpered. "She sealed the doors that led to the crew quarters and went to fight him."
"Sithspit!" I cursed. Of all the foolhardy things to do, that was one of the worst. But we had no time. Within moments the Sith will have boarded the ship, and we could not be here when that happened. "Okay, come on, everyone in. We have no choice." I was having more trouble convincing myself then them. Maybe I should have waited, but I didn't. We squeezed into the Escape Pod, and were fired from the Endar Spire!
"Are your lightsabers at the ready?" I asked. The three other Jedi raised their Lightsabers. My gaze flickered over each of them, stopping on one of them. To my utter shock, I recognized the shape and basic design as the Lightsaber that had been thrown at Revan the night Malak and I had been linked. I looked up at its owner: Zora Firemoon.
"You… you were in the Infirmary the night I was attacked?" I questioned. Zora looked confused.
"What?" She followed my gaze to her Lightsaber. "…Oh, no …The Lightsaber belonged to my Master. She died not long ago, but she made sure I was the one to receive her Lightsaber. Of course, I replaced the colour crystal with green, to better suit my class."
I nodded. That made sense, I suppose. I noticed Zora was not the same happy chatterbox she'd been the day I'd met her. Perhaps it was the death of Leia Vacc. I'd seen the two talking a lot in the mess hall aboard the Endar Spire; they had seemed like good friends.
"Hold on tight, my friends." Kiharo shouted as we hurtled toward the southern street of Upper City Taris.
"We're going too fast!" Ket exclaimed just as the Escape Pod slammed into the street, and tore right through the permacrete, ; still going too fast, we crashed into the Lower City street and ricocheted skyward and then back down hurtling toward the Undercity.
Was I dead? No…I was in too much pain to be dead. I slowly, and with much difficulty, opened my eyes. My head was throbbing; my right leg was numb and pointing out in an inhuman position and my left arm was in excruciating pain. Aside from that, I was perfectly healthy.
Struggling to stand on my left foot, I managed to get a hold of part of the escape pod and pulled myself up. My vision was somewhat blurred, but I could still make out the basic shape of everything. Focused the Force onto my leg first. If I was attacked by anything, I wanted to at least be able to flee if need be.
Half an hour and a dozen curses later, my leg was restored to almost 100 health. At least, I could now walk on it without to much pain. While healing my leg, my vision had also improved. Looking around me, I saw a terrifying sight: Ket Yasiq has been impaled on a sharp piece of metal. The piece of metal had gone straight through her chest. I hoped she was killed instantly and didn't have to suffer. Continuing my scan of the area, I saw Seth lying on the ground, unconscious. There was dark blood trickling into his blonde hair from a wound in the back of his head. Struggling to his feet not far away was Erik. There was no sign of Zora. Until I heard a scream.
I turned in the direction of the scream. Erik had already activated his Lightsaber, which was silver in colour.
I reached for my Lightsaber at my belt. My hand closed around empty air.
"Oh!" I exclaimed. It may have saved Zora from what those gang members were about to do to her, but at the time it also seemed to condemn myself, Erik and Seth. Seth, who was even younger then me. I dropped to my hands and knees and began fumbling around on the ground for my Lightsaber. How could I have been so foolhardy as to not make sure it was secured before the pod crashed? I heard a thud as blue circles flew through the air from a stun blaster and Erik was knocked unconscious. My hand brushed against something smooth and cylindrical. I wrapped my fingers around the familiar shape of my Lightsaber…
And was knocked unconscious by a pulse of energy surging through my body.
When I woke up, it was like I was still asleep. The bastards had fitted me with a Neural Disruptor Collar. Let me try to explain how it feels. I no longer feel connected to my body and it is impossible to focus on anything. It disrupts the patterns of the mind, making it very difficult to do anything but exist. And even that feels difficult.
However, they've never tried to use one on a Jedi before. Every second of every minute of every hour was spent piecing together my mind. I needed every second, as it took me an hour to actually make that plan, and it took a great deal of willpower to keep myself from losing it.
But, piece by piece, hour by hour, I managed to collect my thoughts to the point I could make out was going on around me, but I still could not do anything.
One thing that kept disrupting my work was constant pulses through the Force of pain coming from my companions. They were being tortured. And I could do nothing to help them…
And then I felt them. Zora, Erik and Seth were connecting through the Force. I wondered if they knew that by doing this they were likely to link themselves to each other like I had to Malak. Then I felt them reach out for me. I hesitated. That cost me my freedom. Those few seconds were all I'd had, and I wasted them. The Force collective that had just seconds ago, been ready to embrace me had retreated. And what was worse, I was beginning to lose my grip on reality again. Those few moments of not focusing on recovering my thoughts had cost me dearly, and I had to redouble my efforts to recollect it all.
After days and maybe weeks of being trapped outside my thoughts, I was free. Looking around, I found myself in some sort of cage, with a Bothan guarding the cage. I could practically see the darkness pulsing from him. Then I heard a voice.
"You old fool!" Shouted a man. He was quite tall, with smooth black hair, dark skin and a scowl that made his face look worse then it already did. "Your traditions mean nothing to me. Nothing! I will rule the Lower City. If I want to withdraw my prize and sell her to Davik, I will, and any and all who get in my way will die."
"I might have something to say about that!" I snarled. May the Force forgive me! I was so angry, I wanted to punish him for what he'd done to my fellow Jedi. And then I saw the glint of something cylindrical and shiny. That filthy bastard had clipped my Lightsaber onto his belt. I raised my hand and called it to me through the Force. It snapped off the man's belt, snapping his belt, and spiraled through the air. Seconds before it reached the cage, I used the Force to press the activation button for one end.
There were screams as the beautiful yellow blade burst from one end of the hilt, made a large stab wound on my guards chest, and then landed safely in my hand. I then used the Force to remove the lock on the cage.
As I stepped out of the cage, my Lightsaber still activated, I heard several snap-hisses, and Zora, Seth and Erik emerged from certain parts in the crowd. Zora, carrying a single green blade, Erik holding one blue Lightsaber and one silver one, and Seth, igniting a double-bladed orange crystal.
I activated the second end of my Lightsaber, and saw Mal…Kayle in melee combat with the bastard who had thought he would sell me like some common sword or piece of armour.
I rushed forward as Erik, Seth and Zora handled the other members of the gang.
"Yah!" I shouted commanding the Force to propel myself forward. The man battle Kayle made a flurry of attacks that proved too much for Kayle. I used the Force to separate them. Not just to save him, but I was angry. I wanted revenge!
Normally, I may not have been fast enough to beat him, even with my Lightsaber. He was a master at melee combat, and could have easily bested me, had I not been drawing on my anger to strengthen my attacks and speed my movements. I knew it was wrong, but I didn't care. I killed him with ease. But I didn't stop attacking him, my anger was quickly becoming too much for me to control.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Zora with a look of horror on her face, Seth looking somewhat bewildered, and Erik with a look of intrigue. I slowed down. I felt like someone was whispering in my ear to continue feeding and strengthening my anger. All I had to do was keep killing everyone around me.
But I deactivated my Lightsaber. I felt a clink as it hit the ground, and I began to repeat verses of the Jedi Code in my head. That was cutting it too close to falling to the Dark Side. I had to be more mindful of my emotions.
"Forgive me." I said. "I…lost myself." I turned to Kayle, pretending to only just get a good look at his face. "Aren't you…aren't you one of the soldier from the Republic Fleet?"
"Yes, I'm Kayle Starfire." He said.
"By the Force, how did you end up riding in a swoop race?" I asked.
"I don't have time to explain, the Sith are likely to have seen the uproar." He insisted. "We have to meet Carth back at the apartments."
"The Sith – Carth – what has been happening while I was a prisoner?" I demanded.
"No time to explain, come on." With that, he took my hand and pulled so hard he could have pulled my arm out of its socket. But I followed him after that. That is after retrieving my Lightsaber.