Chapter 7: Ignorance Revealed
"THIS INCOMPETENCE CANNOT BE TOLERATED!"
"Master please, they ignored orders…
"They were your men… you let them go off and attack him."
"Please… master…Ii… I can't breathe… mas…master"
"It is too late for you, fool"
The cave was warm… or at least relatively warm. Anything would be warmer then the desert above.
Malak trudged behind him rather loudly, not seeming to care for stealth.
The tunnel into the cave was flat for a ways, but as they went on it started to descend. It was a long walk. They'd been walking for perhaps 15 minutes when Malak at last let out an exasperated cry.
"That's it Revan! Tell me what the hell we're doing here."
"I told you, I don't know… and could you be ANY louder?" he asked incredulously as the sound echoed deep into the cave.
Malak laughed. "What could possibly take us? We're the two most powerful jedi in the universe. I think we could feel in anything was up ahead."
Revan just shook his head and turned back to the path. Malak wouldn't understand… or even if he did he'd never believe him. The sheer ignorance of him amazed Revan…
"Fine, just go on without me. I'll wait here for you to come back."
"Just head back to the ship than Malak… it's nicer their."
He felt Malak shrug through the force. "You're the boss." He walked off… or rather, stomped off, loudly, the sound carrying for quite some ways.
Noting this, Revan continued deeper.
He was coming this way…
This was bad. If he found him, he'd be killed for sure… if not by this Jedi then by his master… why had he ever agreed to stay behind and watch… possibly even communicate with… this Jedi… why!
He was in a large round break in the narrow tunnel of the cave. There were plenty of hiding spots, and he was powerful in the art of masking his aura, but the Jedi was powerful. As he got closer, he was more and more likely to detect him… The fear grew within him, and he used it to fuel his control of the force.
God he hoped he didn't have to do anything with the Jedi.
Revan walked silently into the large cavern. Something in it felt… different. Something told him that whatever he was looking for was here…
He scanned it… on the right was a small pool of water. Down the center was a large pillar, and around that, he assumed the cave tunnel continued. On the left was a rock formation of catacombs… easy for something to hide in there…
He walked over to the water, looking into it, but seeing nothing he continued around. As he thought, the tunnel continued… so searching the catacombs it was.
He entered it cautiously, lightsaber drawn though not lit… pretty easy to be ambushed in these catacombs. He crept silently along, turning left and right, searching in every direction. It seemed the maze was infinitely confusing, and even with force memory he couldn't really get a handle of the maze. Thankfully, there hadn't been an ambush or anything…
As if summoned around a corner, a figure appeared. Igniting his saber, and without waiting, he slashed through it… but met no resistance.
He flinched involuntary as he saw through force sight the Jedi slice the hologram amazingly fast…
That could have been him! This was crazy! He had been told to leave the hologram set up, and that depending upon how powerful he thought the Jedi was, he could have it play 1 of the 2 message options. It was activaetable by remote, and having made his decision, he pressed the second button.
The figure didn't respond to his slash, but he instantly knew why… it was a hologram. The figure was shrouded in black, and he hadn't a clue what it was… he was about to continue his search when it began speaking.
"Greetings, Jedi." It had a dark, deep, old voice… like one that would fail at anytime. "I see you have made your way to this place. And that apparently you are powerful… powerful enough to make one of my apprentices fear you. You have incredibly potential. You waste it horribly right now. I think we both know what I'm talking about. However, that is a discussion for another time… for now, there is something else. An apprentice is in the catacombs with you. He is there to kill you, and if you flee without doing battle with him, he will summon in a fleet. In fact, if you fail to kill him, he will summon a fleet in and crush you… you'll have to find him first… so I suggest you do something about this… We will talk later Jedi." With that it winked out in front of him. He didn't have a clue what it was talking about, but he knew what he had to do…
"Come out, come out, wherever you are… lets get this over with," said Revan calmly.
Oh god! This was bad! His master had betrayed him… he couldn't help himself from shaking in fear… he was dead…
What was he going to do?
He felt the Jedi's power flare… his power redoubled, to such a level that he couldn't even believe… his master was still greater, but not by much… But there was no way he could hide from that!
"PLEASE! Please don't kill me; what he said was a lie! A lie! I was told to merely observe you!"
Though he was nearly 300 meters away, the Jedi arrived at him within a few seconds, saber at the ready.
Revan hesitated in front of the warrior… what could he do? "I don't think I can trust that…"
"Please… please, feel me out. Use the force; I will open myself to you." And he did… it was strange. He felt different, dark. The man in front of him was also shrouded in black, heavy robes. His face not visible, hidden behind a mask… he was as tall as Revan, though skinny… something was different in him.
He felt him out, but he couldn't pull anything but the emotion of fear from him, as well as a sense of darkness. "I can't... I can't sense anything," he said simply.
The man in front of him gaped for a moment.
Finally he closed his mouth and raised his saber. "My master has betrayed me… but I won't go down without a fight." With that, the man moved to attack him.
The man was decent enough. His skill with the saber wasn't great, but his mastery over the force was incredible… anytime Revan had a chance to do something, the figure would manage to stop him via a dark force power…
Of course, Revan only had his one blade out, and at any time he could pull his second saber and use his own force powers to crush him…
But as he fought this dark apprentice, he learned…
And as he learned, he realized something…
"Stop… I do not wish to fight anymore," Revan said quietly between blows.
Across from him the figure nodded, breathing heavily, compared to Revan's apparent lack of trouble.
"Instead, I wish to talk."
The figure grunted. "Talk about what?"
"I have questions…"
The figure shrugged. "My master has betrayed me… I will tell some. But I will not betray my people completely… I will answer what I will, and then we will resume, and you will kill me…"
Revan nodded, and began to ask.
Malak felt him before he saw him. He had been snoozing on the couch of the Ebon Hawk when he felt Revan approaching the ship, and in an apparent hurry. Yawning loudly, he stumbled over to the rap controls and tapped them open. The burst of cold wind woke him up slightly, so he wasn't completely out of it when Revan sprinted up, slammed the door shut and ran to the cockpit.
"Wha… Whas going on?" he asked sleepily.
"We're leaving. Get strapped in," replied Revan tightly. Complying with Revan's wishes, Malak strapped in quietly. His friend seemed different… scared you could almost say. Quickly, Revan brought the ship up and took off.
Thrusting her saber quickly to the left, she blocked the blow from her opponent. However, her opponent has anticipated in this, so disengaged and pushed in. Rolling away, she twirled her saber defensively, using a force push to push her opponent away. He fell heavily to the floor before slapping the ground twice, signaling an end to the combat.
"Good job Bastilla, excellent work," said Master Roke, breathing heavily as he brought himself to his feet.
Sweat dripping from her bangs into her eyes, and panting for breath, Bastilla merely nodded in thanks.
"I thought I had you for a moment, but that was a very nice finishing move. I didn't expect that force push. However, you left your guard fairly open when you did it. If I had of have been more prepared, I may of not been knocked down by the force blow, and you could have been in trouble."
"I see master. I will attempt to fix that," she replied softly.
Roke nodded. "Fantastic… that's enough for today. Go clean up."
Bowing, Bastilla smirked slightly as Roke walked away, before just flopping down to the ground, her slender figure spreading out exhausted.
Sighing, she shifted to a more comfortable position. She was glad that she had Roke as a master. He was incredibly skilled, in both the force and the saber, but most importantly he understood her. She had thought she'd kept her anger, her rage, hidden, but Roke had detected it… called her out on it. He had talked her through it, and she no longer hated Revan. He was merely a fool, one who she shouldn't care about. Within days of this realization, she had accelerated far ahead of where she once was, as doors opened to her, allowing her powers to grow.
No longer did she care for Revan… he would pass soon, she was sure. A fool like that was likely to bite off more then he could chew…
"Bon appetite!" she thought smugly before rising and heading to the refresher.