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Chapter 27: Flickering Light

Revan smirked as he saw the Sith that had retreated return. With just the person he was looking for no less. Yuthura Ban eyed the former Sith Lord a moment with passive indifference before laying her eyes on Mission and then turning her cold, violet gaze back to the Mandalore.

"Murdering academy students is punishable by death..."

The violet-skinned Twi'lek spoke with boredom. Revan took quick notice of the slave tattoos covering the young woman's body and sensed her aura. While dark with anger and bitterness there was something there that Revan quickly placed in the back of his mind for later reference. There was compassion, pity.

"I meant no offence to such a lovely young lady but I must protect my property..."

Boredom quickly turned to fury as Yuthura narrowed her eyes. Seeing the reaction, Revan kept his features as stoic as possible.

"I see... Perhaps a lesson is in order, Jedi."

Revan sneered at the title.

"I am no Jedi!"

The former Dark Lord snarled, pulling his cloak from his arms to reveal his lightsaber. As Revan's hand traveled to the useless weapon, Yuthura smiled.

"I see there is much promise in you... to kill two students with little trouble. But I must see this for myself."
Turning to the students that had reported the incident to her, Yuthura nodded towards Revan.

"Kill him... if you can."

Secretly, the Sith Master hoped her students would triumph so she could free the young Twi'lek that stared at the scene with growing worry. Knowing that their chances were higher facing a stranger rather than a Sith Master, the four remaining students bowed their heads in quick acknowledgment, three forming a circle around Revan and the fourth moving towards Mission.

Yuthura's eyes widened a moment as she saw the fourth student lunge for Mission as she activated her blade. Perhaps her plan would backfire. Sighing, Yuthura lowered her head, slowly closing her eyes and shaking her head of the thoughts.

Revan was not about to let that come to pass. The fourth Sith found herself rather inconvenienced when she realized she couldn't breath. Fighting against Revan's hold, she never had a chance to break it as he leapt from his three assailants and twisted her own weapon from her hand , severing her head in the same motion.

"I think this party is just getting started."

Revan sneered as he fought the urge to laugh at the bewildered looks on the three other Sith's faces. They were probably just processing that he was no longer trapped and that their companion was dead. Then, Revan felt a lightsaber burn his side and rolled to avoid being wounded further. Mission apparently had not seen him decapitate anyone before since her scream had distracted him for the split second it required for one of the three remaining students to take advantage.

The distraction did not go unnoticed either. Yuthura Ban narrowed her eyes suspiciously as she saw the troublemaker roll from the attack and continue moving away from his opponent as the student followed with an active, crimson blade. The parry Revan used to block the attack as he rose was weak, but effective and he quickly recovered his balance, deflecting several of the attacks from his opponent before the other two had maneuvered behind him and struck. Revan dropped beneath the three blades as they moved to strike him, spinning on the ground as he ducked, taking off one of the Sith's legs and grazing another's.

The uninjured Sith pressed the attack, driving his weapon downward, towards Revan, only to have the blade deflected by Revan's. Revan followed through by kicking the man's stomach, hard. The Sith fell back, striking the wall as Revan rolled and came to his feet, killing the maimed Sith and moving for the one he had injured. The Sith hastily raised his blade, only deflecting two of Revan's blows before the third clipped his saber's hilt and tore into his defenseless chest.

Revan turned quickly from the incapacitated opponent to see the man he had kicked running down a corridor.

"I think, not."

Raising his hand, Revan sent a savage pulse of Force energy towards the man in a stream of lightning that ripped through the center of the man's torso, killing him instantly. As the body dropped, Revan turned to his first concern, Mission. The young Twi'lek was rubbing her face frantically and Revan took quick note of the severed head lying on the floor at her feet.

"Mission! Look at me!"

Revan shouted, pulling the girl's hands from her face.

"Its alright..."
Revan whispered, seeing that some of the blood from the severed head was smeared across Mission's face. The Twi'lek closed her eyes, fighting the urge to cry. Revan slowly reached up, running his hand along her cheek as he felt guilt rising within him. No matter how tuff and street smart Mission was and no matter how skilled she was, Mission was still a child.

Seeing the interaction between the slave and Revan, Yuthura felt her anger deflating towards the young man. Apparently he called his slaves by name and held some concern for their well-being. Something she could say her former Master had never bothered with. The man also ignored the saber wound in his side as if it were nothing. Taking note of the wound, Yuthura saw that indeed it was not critical and was surprised still at the man's fighting style.

Revan's fighting style was something Yuthura had never seen before. It seemed much more chaotic than the Jedi or Sith's fighting forms. She had seen dominant elements of Ataru and she had seen a trace of Makashi within the form. Which she could not believe someone so young could know, even she only knew several of the motions to what some believed to be the most complicated, yet elegant lightsaber stance.

As she thought on the fight further, Yuthura noticed that the man used a blending of all of the seven major lightsaber forms and suspected he knew all the aspects of the Sith's variants as well. Intrigued, Yuthura forced herself to look past the young man's flaws and smiled, knowing she had found her way to overthrow Uthar.

"Well done."

Yuthura was genuinely pleased. If she could convince this young man to enter the Academy, she knew it would only be a matter of time before Uthar would be doomed. She could already tell that this man was a leader, not a follower.

"Likely the reason he is no longer a Jedi..."

Revan took notice of Yuthura finally, his second priority and tilted his head respectfully in acknowledgment. Yuthura immediately frowned at the gesture.

"That was out of place... perhaps he merely has a bad temper..."

Shaking her head of the thoughts, Yuthura invited Revan to join her in the local bar, the Drunk Side. Revan smiled, a smile void of any kindness and bowed his head. Following closely behind Yuthura and ignoring the Sith corpses that littered the floor. Mission followed at a more sedate pace, wiping her face and shivering slightly as she looked between the corpses and Revan. She didn't know why she had screamed, but being struck by a severed head and getting a taste of the blood had been a little much after seeing Revan savagely kill the other two Sith.

"All that blood..."

Feeling extremely out of place and starting to regret coming along, Mission did her best to ignore the violence she could literally feel around her.

"That was very impressive. I can tell that you have some substantial Jedi training and I can tell that you also use some of the Sith's techniques... Would you by chance be interested in telling me how exactly you have come about that?"

Yuthura asked, sipping on a glass of Alderanian ale. Revan gave Mission a calculating stare a moment before telling her to get cleaned up and turning back to Yuthura. The violet-skinned Twi'lek's eyes followed Mission with concern as she went, by herself to the refresher.

"Are you certain that is wise?"

She asked, momentarily forgetting her interview of her newest protégée. Revan reached out with the Force, sensing Yuthura's genuine concern and backed away subtly, so as not to alert her to his presence.

"I am aware of her at all times..."

Revan replied, using the Force to make certain she was in no real danger. Physically at least. Yuthura nodded, her eyes narrowing as she felt a shiver climb her spine. She knew this man had sensed her pity, her weakness and did not like it at all.

"As I was saying... how did you learn such a fighting style? It is hardly on par of what the Jedi teach."

Revan rose an eyebrow at that.

"You were a Jedi once?"

Yuthura chuckled darkly, taking another drink of her ale and nodding.

"Weren't we all?"

Revan smiled sadly, nodding as well.

"I suppose. I learned to fight that way in the war. One must learn the ways of his or her enemies if they are to triumph."

Revan's smile faded as he thought over exactly what he had said. He had known the ways of the Mandalorians and had as such triumphed over them, becoming in all rights the new Mandalore and while fighting the Vong he had begun to emulate their savage apathy towards all obstacles. Now with the emerging threat of the True Sith, Revan felt a cold fear clench his heart as he thought of what more he could sacrifice of himself, how much more of himself he could give to the fight until he lost who he was.

It had nearly happened during the first years of the wars, but he had fought it, twisted the corrupting power of the Darkside to his own will to turn it against the Mandalorians and later the Vong and Jedi. It had been more than successful against the Jedi and his own people, but the Vong were strange to him. They had no presence within the Force and the normal attacks didn't seen to work at all.

As he fell further and further into the Darkside, Revan noticed though it was barely perceptible, that his efforts against the Vong were finally beginning to pay off. Pointless as it was, the True Sith had turned to the Vong threat, destroying them by the tens of thousands in a way Revan could only speculate on. How Jolee and perhaps the Jedi had known about it while he, the man who had led the charge against the wrong enemy and given more of himself than he believed he could afford to vanquish them.

"Such a waste..."

Revan's jaw clenched, drawing Yuthura's attention. She hated to admit the man's presence was calming, sickened as she was that he was a slave owner. There was something about his aura that made her wary, yet trusting of him. She couldn't describe it but she knew it was a weakness, one that she could not afford as a Sith. Banishing the thought, the Sith Master took notice of Revan's detached demeanor and how he had withdrawn from the conversation when they had touched on the subject of war.

Eyeing his physique, Yuthura knew this man was a well build and trained warrior, and was beginning to wonder how such a promising youth could go unnoticed by the Sith recruiters and spies. That thought was crushed with anger as she realized quickly why.

"They would report to Uthar, not I."

Sneering, Yuthura noticed the young, azure-skinned Twi'lek girl had returned and that Katarn was too distracted by his own thoughts.

"Where are you from?"

Yuthura asked, smiling genuinely at the startled look that crossed Mission's features. Whether she knew it or not, Mission's growing fear of this planet had helped her performance.

"I-I uhm, I'm from Taris..."

Mission replied nervously, feeling the stab of pain and anger at the thought of her world's destruction. Yuthura frowned, sensing the anger and pain in the young girl.

"It was Malak that destroyed that world, little one. Not the Sith. We are not all mindless murderers...Not all Sith are monsters..."

Those worlds tasted bitter in her mouth. Yuthura knew that was what she had been told and for a time believed when she had joined the Sith. For a time it had been true, until Revan had disappeared for a time and left Malak and his other Commanders in charge. It had quickly gone downhill until Revan finally returned. For a moment, Yuthura felt the hope that Revan would cleanse the Sith of their corruption, the corruption she felt eating away at herself, but Revan had been betrayed by Malak and killed.

In the end, Yuthura knew all she could do was survive. If she left the Sith she would be hunted by both sides of this war and if she stayed where she was she would have to worry constantly over which academy student would try to murder her at Uthar's request. She needed to take Uthar's title and use it to get away from Korriban. Perhaps then she could make a difference, go back to Sleheyron and free the slaves there from whatever Hutt had taken Omeesh's place.

At the thought of Omeesh the Hutt, Yuthura's mind raged with uncontrollable hatred. The things she had been subjected to by that creature's barbarism was enough, enough for her to justify ignoring the atrocities she had seen on Korriban. Some which she was beginning to participate in.

Feeling renewed of her hatred, Yuthura cast Revan a cold glare. The satisfaction she felt at killing Omeesh she would grant this man's slave. She would use him and then have his own servant deliver the killing blow. She was certain from the anger she sensed in the young woman that she would have no qualms with killing a man who sought to join those that had destroyed her world, the man who had enslaved her.

Revan thought of that word again. Waste. That had been all his efforts were in the end. He had become the Dark Lord of the Sith to destroy the threat of the Yuuzhan Vong and had failed. Failed where the Sith had triumphed. Revan began to feel sick, his jaw clenching once more as he saw the faces of the Jedi he had murdered or turned. The face of a young, sixteen year old Padawan crossed his mind a moment.

"Selene..."

That young girl with those blue eyes that reminded him so much of Bastila. He remembered closing those eyes, so dead and gray with his gloved hand and burying her on this very world. He had said, reassured himself that she was a casualty of the Jedi's teachings but that wasn't true. She, like so many others was a casualty of his own mistakes.

"Hmm?"

Revan asked, snapping himself from his thoughts. Mission now sat at the table with he and Yuthura, glancing nervously between the two.

"I asked if you were interested in training at the Academy. You have more than proved you would make an excellent Sith."

"I would make an excellent Sith..."

Revan allowed the guilt to flow through him at that. Whoever the True Sith were, the Jedi had chosen to ignore the Mandalorian threat to remain strong enough to fight them. They had abandoned that mandate to destroy the threat he had created beyond their eyes. The threat he had made in the hopes of defeating what he believed to be the true enemy of the galaxy.

"The Darkside is the enemy, Padawan. The greatest battles you will fight will be with yourself. The true war between the lightside and the dark is not from the armies of the Sith or Jedi, but within each of us... Do not let the Darkside twist you as it has so many before us..."

They were some of the last words Kreia had spoken to him as a Jedi Master, before she had left in search of something beyond the Outer Rim. She had returned to join his Sith, helping as best she could to turn the Jedi though she was never direct when she referred to the threat that existed beyond the Rim. Revan suspected she knew all along and was waiting for her headstrong student to figure it out for himself.

"You always had a way of slapping me in the face..."

Revan sighed, swirling the remains of his drink around a moment before finishing the potent alcohol off.

"Of course I'm interested. Why else would I waste my time on this bloody rock."

Yuthura Ban smiled, closing her eyes as she nodded; imagining where she could get with such a powerful student to bend to her will. No doubt she could use him to destroy the other students and perhaps even use him to destroy Uthar.

"We should go then... is the girl coming as well?"

She asked, nodding towards Mission. Revan glanced at Mission a moment before nodding.

Uthar was a long-winded and overall power-hungry person as far as Revan was concerned, though he did sense some intelligence. The Sith Master of the Academy had seemed intrigued by Revan, though he was careful to conceal this and channeled most of his questions through the other gathered students. Revan had briefly seen recognition flash in the Sith's eyes before he felt the man dismiss his own thoughts. The former Sith Lord rubbed a hand across his bald head and his cleanly shaven face, glad that he had taken the precaution of at least making himself less-recognizable.

Sighing, Revan turned to Mission, glad that the chambers for the newest academy students were not monitored, at least not this one as far as he could tell.

"We should start searching for Carth's son, then find the quickest way to the Starmap. We cannot linger here for long."

Mission nodded numbly, not enjoying this world as much as she had any of the others she had gone to on their little adventure. Revan glanced at Mission in silent concern a moment before deciding the best way to keep her mind off things was to keep her busy.

"Lets go, I need someone who can bypass a lock to get me into the archives. I want to see what Malak has done in the two years since I've seen them."

Mission smiled faintly at the poorly veiled compliment and followed Revan, only to find the young Twi'lek woman who had invited them into the academy was waiting. Yuthura smiled cooly towards Revan, her headtails twitching a moment before she spoke.

"Ah, so here is my favorite prospective student..."

Revan was slightly surprised he had not sensed the Twi'lek's approach but did not show it, feigning interest as he spoke with a slightly bored tone.

"Your favorite student?"

Revan could easily sense the deceit, though he credited Yuthura's ability to hide most of her intent.

"I have a proposition for you... if you're interested."

Chancing a quick glance towards Mission, Revan smirked at the offer, his eyes glinting dangerously.

"Absolutely."

Yuthura proceeded to explain several methods Revan could go about gaining prestige and becoming a Sith all the sooner. Revan accepted the terms for that information graciously. Uthar was too power hungry to be useful to any plans he held.

Revan frowned as he felt himself weaken significantly. A cold chill ran down his spine as he fought to control the bile rising in his throat. Grasping the wall for support, Revan was grateful he had returned to his quarters after his meeting with Yuthura. Currently, the young woman was speaking with Mission about something Revan did not care to know. He could sense the growing alarm in Mission and her attempts to hide it as she listened to whatever offer Yuthura gave. That was not what concerned Revan. What concerned him was the fact that it had been close to a week since Bastila's capture.

What concerned him was the wave of anger and outrage he felt from the bond he shared with Bastila. Before she could hide it from him, it was there.

"This is your fault, Revan. Your doing."

Revan lowered his head to his hands, struggling with his own demons as he heard the voice, once so precious to him laced with venom. The regret he sensed from her was enough to keep him from giving up hope, but not enough to have any dillusions. Regardless of her strength, Bastila would not withstand Malak's assaults forever. Doubt had worked itself in her mind and that doubt brought anger and the anger would bring her fall.