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Chapter 28: Absolute Power

The battle between Padawan Shan and Darth Malak was short. As Malak sliced Bastila's saber in two, rendering its deadly flight null he struck, outraged at losing his chance to kill Revan. Remembering the reason he had gone through the trouble of scouring the galaxy, Malak calmed himself, forcing his strikes against the Jedi Padawan to follow a less deadly course.

Bastila struggled with her emotions as she parried Malak's crimson blade with Revan's. The Dark Lord's golden eyes seemed to smile as he struck a powerful blow she had no choice but to block. The force of the attack shattered her defenses as her arms ached with the pure force of the strike. It wouldn't have surprised her if Malak had dislocated one of her shoulders with that strike.

Malak took advantage of the breach in Bastila's defenses, sending his fist into the Padawan's face. Bastila took the blow, using the Force to block the bone-crushing force of Malak's strength. It was still not enough as she stumbled backwards and gracelessly fell into the bulkhead, stumbling further as she struggled against the stars in her vision and the deadly hum of Malak's saber as it scorched the place she was a moment before.

Mechanical laughter sounded, as Malak kicked Revan's saber from Bastila's hand. Bastila struggled to call the weapon back to her, only to find her neck gripped by the steel of Malak's hand. Malak sneered as he pulled Bastila to his own height.

"You are mine now, Bastila."

Malak received a pained cry and a weak knee to his abdomen in response. Laughing again, Malak grunted in pain as Bastila struck lower, and with more force between his legs. Enraged, Malak slammed Bastila into the bulkhead, feeling her body go limp in his hand he sighed, dropping her to the floor with little care as he paced over to the weapon she had taken from Revan. Lifting the blade, Malak smiled as he knew now what to do. The concern he felt in Bastila for Revan he had no doubt was mutual. He had no doubts that Revan would recover and that with Revan's power as it was he needed to weaken his old friend. That or put his latest discovery of the Star Forge's power to use.

"You will be my revenge against him..."

Malak stroked the plate along his mangled jaw, remembering the day he questioned Revan's pursuit of the Vong. Remembering the look of cold hatred that settled in his childhood friend's eyes as he threw away whatever bonds of friendship and even he thought, brotherhood that the two held.

Revan took his jaw then, restraining him as he carved it away ever so slowly with the very weapon he now held in his hands. Malak shuddered as he felt the memories of all the blood spilled by the weapon in his hands. The very weapon itself was tainted with the scars of the darkside. The scars of Revan's betrayal to both his friends and the Jedi.

Revan truly never betrayed the Republic. In a way he had attempted to save it. The Republic was too loosely organized and took far too long to come to important decisions that required immediate responses. Malak rarely questioned the logic of Revan's betrayal of the Republic. Revan was in truth, seeking a way to strengthen the Republic. Hardening its warriors and adding them to his own over time.

Something that Malak lacked the patience for. That was what had made Revan so dangerous. He was willing to lose a hundred thousand men if it would gain him a hundred thousand and one. Revan was not afraid to pay the cost of war. To himself or those he commanded. Even those who's fate he held.
The Vong were not the threat, Malak knew. He was surprised Revan never discovered the threat posed by the true Sith. But then again, Revan was too busy fighting the Vong to ever turn his eyes upward to see who was directing fate. Malak himself did not know the threat of the Sith, only that the Force was telling him to question Revan's fanatical pursuit of the Vong. The war with the Vong was needlessly weakening their new Sith Empire and Malak felt the Force would be with him if it came down to a fight. The losses they were taking against the Yuuzhan Vong were enough to be considered madness. Suicide even.

Then the Jedi had sprung their little trap. And he had sprung his. A part of him felt regret but the constant pain of his condition was enough to remind him that it was not he who was betraying Revan, but he who was paying him back.

Malak knelt beside Bastila, lifting the Padawan and carrying her to the brig of the Leviathan. Bodies lay everywhere along with destroyed security droids and debris. Malak felt his mind travel to the dozens of assaults Revan led into Mandalorian vessels and the lack of mercy he saw duplicated in his own flagship.

Bastila stirred, murmuring Revan's name as she fought to regain consciousness, knowing she was not safe. Feeling the Force tell her she was very far from safe.

"Do not fret, child."

Malak's mechanical voice soothed, surprisingly.

"Pain will educate you to the treachery of Revan. But I cannot bring myself to murder one who has felt the betrayal of one who should have been a brother to us... Perhaps even more to you. You will see Revan's treachery and I will make you strong enough to destroy him..."

It sounded noble enough. Malak felt shame in his mind and banished it. All he had done was for Revan or for the good of the galaxy. Revan was never one to change who he was and Malak feared, actually feared what would happen if Revan were to reclaim the Sith throne. Not his own death, though that was a major factor. Malak feared the way Revan fought. Feared the detachment he saw in Revan as he had said when he carved the flesh from his friend and formed him into the murderous brute he was.

"I will do what I must...You will see what I see... You will see the countless stars fall to the Vong... See whole worlds burn and see the suffering of trillions upon trillions of lives. You will see, Malak. You will suffer each day as I have, though yours will be a different burden..."

Screams of pain had been his last true words. Pleading with his friend to listen to him, his last act of nobility. Darth Malak laid Bastila down, remembering the countless times he had watched Revan torture and break Jedi in the same way he was now about to. How ironic that Revan thought he would protect Bastila from the Darkside when his betrayal of the Jedi had been enough to sew the seeds of doubt in her mind. She had loved and respected Revan as had the men and women that followed him through the Mandalorian wars and she had been betrayed by Revan, in his war to unite the galaxy.

Malak sighed mechanically, the pain in his jaw increasing with the strain of the memories. Bastila's eyes fluttered open as she gasped and pulled away from her prison cot. Malak's cold eyes regarded Bastila for only a moment with a soft-brown pity before he sneered and they flashed with the golden power of the Sith.

"Let me tell you a story, Bastila Shan."

Bastila shuddered as she heard her name spoken from Malak's cold voice.

"Speak as much as you will, Sith. I will not listen to your lies."

Malak laughed coldly.

"But you will listen to Revan's?"

As much as she did not want to hear the words Malak spoke. The thought of Revan doing such things, she could not deny it. Selene Arkesh. Sixteen years old. Malak spoke of her and how Revan had thought to use her for his own selfish purposes to keep Bastila, his little obsession as Malak called her, safe.

Bastila remembered the message Selene had given her from Revan and how the Council had sent her back to the Sith, to spy on what they thought could possibly be the key to Revan's defeat. She had paid with her life.
Malak told Bastila of the Vong and the Jedi's blindness to them. The thought of creatures existing outside of the Force brought a shudder to Bastila as she recalled the Jedi's teachings.

"There is no death... There is the Force..."

But creatures that lived outside of the Force? Bastila did not blame the obsessive way Revan pursued and fought the Vong, however useless it may have been. She may have even done so herself.

"But what was it the Council sensed beyond the Rim? The growing Darkness that kept them from combating the Mandalorians?"

Revan could not have been that darkness. She could not sense a taint of the Darkside within him, even when he was angered he never delved into the Darkside of the Force until the Mandalorian wars. When he stopped worshiping the Force and used it to forge into a weapon. A weapon to use against his enemies.

"But who are Revan's enemies?"

Malak had spoken for only a short time before he knocked her unconscious. She regained consciousness hours later, unable to feel the Force and fearing that her recent doubts had driven her connection to the Force. Malak returned the following day taunting her with the tantalizing power the Darkside he said all but guaranteed.

The bond she shared with Revan was broken, weakened by the Force suppression drug that flowed through her system. Bastila felt her fear and worries growing. She had unconsciously felt Juhani's reassurance that Revan lived. But how could she be sure it was real. What if he were dead. It would be the Jedi's fault for sending them on such a mission so ill prepared. Two Padawans, a recently redeemed fallen Knight, a fourteen year old Twi'lek girl, a formerly enslaved Wookiee, a battle-hungry Mandalorian and a reliable, yet still generally useless utility droid as well as a Force-blind war hero. That was what the Jedi Council in all its wisdom sent from Dantooine. One of those Padawans was even the reformed Dark Lord of the Sith who was supposed to have been so grievously wounded by Malak's betrayal that his mind would never regain its full function.

Then the lie was revealed. The barrier placed on her mind by the Jedi Council melted away to reveal the truth of Revan's fall. Revan's capture and imprisonment. Anger grew in Bastila until she surprised herself by subtly feeling a tendril of the Force. Reaching for that tendril she felt the bond she shared with Revan and clung to it for her life, channeling more anger and outrage to her as she fought desperately to hold on to the only thing she could draw comfort from in this hell.

"Revan will come for me... He will make this right..."

But he didn't come. Hours passed and soon days. The Jedi had lied to her, lied directly to her, not the half truths they were famous for. Blatant lies they used to cover up their own crimes. Their attempted murder of the only man who meant as much to her, possibly even more to her than her father.

Then Malak came and fed her. She refused to eat at first, but hunger won out and she knew she would need her strength. Bastila was not about to let Malak decide her fate.

Then the torture came. Never before had Bastila thought such pain was possible. After a while her own burnt flesh did not make her want to gag. Malak increased the intensity of his torture, making certain not to harm her face. He wanted Revan to see what he made, wanted Revan to truly feel the sting of betrayal as he had when Revan had mangled him. Bastila's pained cried laced with the sizzle of her flesh as Malak continued the torture. Force lightning had so many uses.
"You are strong child..."

Malak leered over Bastila, eyeing the scorch marks where her clothing was beginning to burn into her own skin. Bastila fought a moment for her wavering resolve.

"But I will break you..."

Both knew it was true. Bastila could already feel her rage growing. The Force was beginning to come back to her, though it was different now. It seemed almost endless, she felt now what the Jedi called the lure of the Darkside. Now as she delved into her anger towards Malak, towards the Jedi for what they had done to Revan and even now the anger she felt towards Revan as Malak brought back the painful memories of his betrayal. She had not been enough to keep him with the Jedi, but his precious redemption was enough.

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

Oh how clear the Force was in that moment, how clear the bond between she and Revan was as strong as it had ever been. She saw him then, in his dorm on Korriban, seeking the Starmap even then to find her and her anger deflated.

"Oh Force, I didn't mean it. Revan! Please, I'm sorry..."

But there was nothing then. She could barely feel Revan as he withdrew, as he weakened. A part of her was enraged at the weakness. He needed to be stronger if he was going to stand a chance of saving her. Then it was clear.

"I'll never fall to the darkside..."

Malak turned away a moment, from surprise or some respect he suddenly felt for the young woman's strength, only Malak would know. Crossing his arms across his chest, Malak reached into the tides of the Force and felt the elation of victory. Turning, Malak sent a painful wave of energy into Bastila as she cried and struggled violently against her restraints. He began laughing as he felt the power, felt the Darkside grow within her as her doubts and her fear and even not her self-hatred grew. It was no longer he who was the villain in her mind, but herself.

"Not much longer now..."

Bastila felt tears escaping her eyes as her scream grew into an enraged howl of hatred and contempt. Malak felt the Darkside surge through Bastila and was surprised by the sheer power the young woman held. Slowly, the lightning receded as Malak knew it was useless. Bastila breathed heavily as she struggled against the pain and the strangely intoxicating feeling that had come over her as she fed her hatred further.

"You have already fallen, Bastila Shan. You need only become my apprentice to right the wrongs done to you. To destroy the Jedi for the fools and liars they are and to destroy the weakness that Revan brings in you."

Bastila could not take it any longer. She had held out for a week against Malak's constant torture with little help from the Force. To die separate from the Force was truly a horrible thing for any Jedi, who are taught from the beginning of their apprenticeships that the Force is all powerful. The doubt into the wisdom of the Jedi Council was enough, but the anger and outrage at what they had done to Revan helped.
"What will you do?"

Malak asked, his eyes narrowing. Soon, Bastila would become a liability and he would have to eliminate her.

"Revan..."

Bastila reached to where she knew Revan was, the Darkside fueling her strength and banishing her exhaustion. Then he was there.

"Bastila..."

Revan closed his eyes as he sat against the wall of his Academy dorm.
"Bast..."

Concern. Bastila felt shame. She did not deserve that.

"But what do I deserve? The Jedi used me, used my battle meditation and took everything that ever meant a thing to be away... And Revan... Revan willingly goes back to them?"

The question could not wait.

"Revan, I cannot hold on... What can I do?"

Revan sighed, knowing he could offer no comfort.

"You have already lost your hold, Bastila. You have already given in to the Darkside. I can feel it... Force its... its sickening."

Seeing one that was once so bright as Bastila corrupted and twisted by the Darkside. Revan could hold it back no longer and vomited on the floor of his dorm. It was not who she was. She would never be safe again as a Sith. The Darkside would twist her into a mockery of what she had once been. This was not who Bastila was. Not the person he had forsaken for the good of the Galaxy. Not the person he had failed to protect. This was the Darkside's tool now. Something that sickened him, a shattered piece of a puzzle that was once the woman he loved.

"Bastila, don't give in... This isn't who you are."

But she did not hear. Revan lowered his eyes to the floor, staring at the liquid that had expended itself from him. A single tear made its way down his face as Revan mourned the loss of who he had sworn his life to. The reason he went back to the Jedi. He knew now that Bastila Shan was dead.

But the Darkside of the Force does not destroy a being, it twists them. Works on what is already there and merely lessens the morals of that person. The Darkside of the Force merely gives a person the power to overlook their emotions. Gives them the comfort the Jedi's Code gives some of her servants. The comfort a loved on can offer when one loses hope.

"Sickening?"

Bastila retreated from Revan in abhorrence. How could she have changed so much for him to be disgusted by her? Surely Revan would not be so shallow as to be disgusted by the tortures she had endured. At first for the Jedi, then for him when she could no longer believe in the Jedi. Now what did she have but Malak's offer for revenge. She had nothing but revenge now.

More tears fell from Bastila's eyes and she was startled to feel Malak's cold hand wipe them away.
"He is disgusted by you? Isn't he? He cannot see what you are becoming. He cannot see what he once was, the glory and power of the Darkside is lost to him. He is now a slave to the Jedi as you were. A slave to the will of a Council that tried to murder him and sent you to me. Am I so terrible for opening your eyes? Am I such a monster that I would bring myself to murder to end the corruption of the Jedi? The power to kill is not true power. True power... absolute power is creating a lie... and making others believe that lie. The Jedi hold absolute power now... They hold Revan... Do they hold you, Bastila Shan? Are you bound to the lies and deceits and half-truths of the Jedi Council? Are you their Slave?"

Malak slapped Bastila as he spoke slave. The Padawan's eyes flashed with rage.

"I am no one's slave."

Malak studied the cool blue, almost gray eyes before nodding and removing the restraints from Bastila's hands and legs.
"Kneel before me. I will teach you all I know of the Force and you can use that for your vengeance. Kneel before me and swear your allegiance and you need not suffer again. Kneel before me and know no more lies. Know the power of the Darkside and know the true potential you hold within yourself. Become my apprentice, Bastila and one day usurp me with your own strength. Gain the power to claim the mantle of the Dark Lord of the Sith, become its queen, its empress. Become a Dark Lady of the Sith and challenge me if you should surpass me. Give me the satisfaction of knowing that I have truly made a difference. Give yourself the satisfaction of knowing you are not bound by lies, but by your own strength. Strength and skill are everything to the Sith. Strength and skill do not lie."

And Bastila Shan knelt before Darth Malak, becoming Darth Shan and claiming the title of Dark Lady of the Sith. One day, perhaps she could overthrow him and prove herself worthy of that title but until then, she would learn what he had to teach her. She would use him as he would use her and her battle meditation. She would become strong and she would be second to no one. She would never be at the mercy of another and she would grant no mercy to any.
"Where shall we begin, Master?"

Malak's eyes smiled cooly as he felt the elation of victory. She would be his weapon now, his tool to strike Revan.

"Now, I will teach you the power of the Sith. Now I will teach you what you must know to kill Revan."

For a moment, Malak thought he saw Bastila flinch. Ignoring the gesture, Malak continued with his lessons. Bastila would soon gain the knowledge of the Sith and be all the more useful to him.

"Kill Revan..."

Bastila flinched as Malak spoke those words. She hated Revan for all he had done, yet a part of her did not want him dead. She wanted him for herself. What she had denied herself and what the Jedi had denied them both, she now felt with no restraint. Revan would be hers... or he would die. It was an absolute, the only way she could see things. She would never abide Revan with another... and she hoped he would have it no other way.