The lightsabers swung around, slashing, twisting, turning, only 3 people were left standing. Mission ran towards Revan, brandishing her vibroblade, swinging it quickly and nervously, as trying to fool the dark Jedi into running off. She knew it wouldn't work, she knew it was hopeless, but after growing up on the streets, and then being thrown into this world, the world of a Jedi, she was ready to stand up for anything, fight anyone, even if it was hopeless. Mission's best friend and partner, Zaalbar, was standing behind her, loading and firing his bowcaster as fast as he could, his giant, hairy hand moving like a blur, performing procedures that would take a human half an hour just to pull the bow back. Revan's sabers just kept on coming towards the two in a flurry, almost a decorative pattern of color and light. As the sabers drew closer and closer to the Twi'leks light blue neck, something from behind halted Revan's oncoming onslaught. The former Sith Lord spun around to meet Juhani's lightsaber, the long double bladed staff crackling and hissing as the blades of energy met. The fight continued as the tide turned, the Wookiee, the Twi'lek and the Cathar attacking from all sides, blades from the back, bolts from the side, and stabs from above. Suddenly, a quick stab of one of Revan's lightsabers from the back sent Mission flying backwards, a gaping, burning wound in her chest. She gasped for air, as Zaalbar ran to her, trying to do everything he could to save the life of the woman he gave a life-debt to. A quick force toss of Revan's other saber sent him tumbling over the rocky cliff, his corpse landing in the water below. It was only Juhani left; the one that had almost became what she was fighting now. She thought of running, of just taking off and hiding, but something kept her back, it was the will to stop, the will to end this now, to never have this dark force in front of her to ever be released upon the galaxy. Her saber flailed around Revan, she kept on spinning and dodging, ducking and diving, staying on the defensive, knowing there was not other way to succeed. As she spun her saber over her head, preparing for a fatal blow to the head, Revan ducked, her sabers slashing at Juhani's feet. The Cathar fell back; her saber fell from her hands and slid off the cliff. She used the force to prop herself up, one final plan running through her mind. "Revan! This isn't who you are!" she shouted trying to bring back the man she knew "You don't have to be this way! Remember how it was before? Remember before you knew? It wasn't the Jedi that turned you! It was your own will! Your own choice! Just like it was mine! Come back! Come back to us!" Revan just stood there, his ignited sabers hanging at his side. He deactivated one and hung it on his belt, and lifted the other over his head, the blade facing right at Juhani's face. He brought the saber down, a look of pure hatred on his face. The force pushed the lifeless body off the cliff, watching the corpse smash into the water and fade from view as the last person to oppose him was destroyed.

Carth Onasi sat up; sweat dripping from his chest and forehead. His flight suit was beside him, hanging on a tree branch. It was the last of his armor; the rest had broken down and malfunctioned from the sands and high humidity. He slipped on the form-fitting outfit and walked out of the cave, rubbing his tired eyes. It had been 3 months since that fateful day where Revan had taken off, set to destroy Darth Malak and claim the empire as his own. He hadn't slept well since then, the recurring dream of that day going his mind again and again, wondering what he could of done. After Revan had revealed his plan, Carth was horrified, the man that he had developed such a bond with over the past few weeks was gone, replaced by a person in a mask, wielding a lightsaber and planning to do anything to rule the galaxy once more. What would have happened if he had stayed? Could they of won the fight? Stopped the reign of an evil Sith at the very beginning of his prime? Killed the egg before the snake hatched? "No" he thought, "I would of died, I would be laying in a grave right next to them," Then again, there would have been no graves if he had died.

After he had seen Revan, Bastila, Canderous and the droids take off towards the Star Forge, he had gone back, retrieved the bodies and dug shallow graves for them. Along with them, he was able to recover some supplies, Missions vibroblade, some grenades from Zaalbar, and Juhani's saber staff. The saber didn't work of course, being affected by sitting in the ocean for hours, but it was a memento nonetheless, a memory of how it was before. Only one thing was missing, Mission's body was never found, odd because hers was the only one that wasn't sent flying over the edge, only a blood stain remained on the rock, a reminder of her tragic death.

Carth looked to the sky, seeing the flashes and gathering of small tiny orbs above the atmosphere. These flashes had become more and more frequent, a sign of Revan's army gathering, preparing for an attack on the galaxy. The remaining of the Rakata elders had helped Carth get food and needed supplies, but those resources were dwindling as the younger tribe continued hunting down the elders, slaughtering them and gaining control of the planet. He had gone into hiding only a week before, seeing a large explosion from what was the headquarters of the elders. He knew they would be looking for him, they would be hunting for the foreigner that was conducting hit and run attacks on bases and camps, not killing, just stealing. Carth had been traveling the planet, finding survivors of the deadly battle only a few months before, where ships had rained down on the planet, almost like a deadly storm of fire and metal. There were survivors, many of the soldiers were able to secure themselves in crash netting before the hard impact on the surface. There were about 50 of them now. A rebellion, set not only to fight the younger, but also to get off this godforsaken planet and destroy the source of evil itself, the Star Forge.

Carth had led these men on several raids for food and supplies, stealing blasters, mounts and as much food as they could carry. He had squads salvaging spaceships, finding ones that could seem operable and others that could be taken for parts. He hadn't seen the group in about 2 weeks. He was running low on supplies, food, and drinkable water, which were scarce on the planet, being covered by several oceans and being home to mainly primitive species. Back on Taris, he had heard a phrase from one of the men that had arrived from the planet of Kamino, a desolate empty water planet. "Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink," he had said. Now Carth knew what he meant. Taris, the planet he had spent his entire life on, dedicated to the army, captain of his own ship.

That was gone now, Taris was destroyed, now just a bunch of asteroids and dust, the man he had looked up to, then turned to the dark side and dead, it was all gone, his entire life. After a quick recon of the area, he set off to meet with his group. It had been about a week and a half since the last attack so Carth figured it would be time to assess the damage and find out what to do next. Most of his men were hiding in the remains of the now destroyed Rakata elder base. Carth knew that some men would be dead, and they'd be very low on supplies. Little did he know it would be so much worse. Carth slipped from behind the fort, deciding to swim up, scale the cliff and then drop in from the top, as to avoid walking on the open sands. As he dropped in from the roof, he noticed something amiss. There were scorch marks on the side, not from a blast of a fragmentation grenade but those of blaster fire. These were well-placed and accurate shots, not of the younger but of something else. Bodies littered the floor, most of them he recognized, there had to be about 30 of them, his men, no others. He crawled over the rubble, the smoke and dust clogging his lungs and stinging his eyes. A door hung open to his left, a small flicker of light inside.

As he slipped quietly into the room he almost gagged at the scene before him. There were bodies littering the floor, the rest of his men, he figured. Looks of terror were on what were left of their faces, scorched and scarred. Their bodies were mutilated, tortured, and some hung from the ceiling, hung up by crude nooses. A stench of burned flesh hit Carth's nose as the flicker of light he had noticed before had become a burning fire, more bodies stacked in the flaming pit. "Only half were our doing, the rest did it themselves" came a voice behind him "Driven insane by fear, by torture, by horror." Carth spun around on his heel, only to be met with the snap-hiss of a lightsaber. "Not to worry old friend, I wouldn't kill you defenseless, not saying I won't kill you" Carth ducked under the hulking mass of a mutilated Wookiee, and drew his holdout blaster, the only thing left of his army days. No sooner had he stood with the gun faced at the shadowy figure then had it flown across the room, only to explode in midair. The creature stepped out of the shadows as Carth got his first look at the person he had called friend months before. Revan had once again put on his mask, abandoning the Quel-droma robes of before and putting on a heavy armored cloth outfit, and a swirling cape around him.

"Hello Revan, long time no see," Carth said in a mocking voice. "You haven't changed a bit"

"Nor have you" Revan equally answered. "Miss me?"

"Never"

"Ah, as I though, heroic captain Carth, upstanding to the very end. Never thought it through though did you Carth? Never thought that maybe the younger weren't just magically getting weapons, that maybe somebody from up above was helping out. Unfortunately it just took too long; you just wouldn't die. So I decided that I'd come down and deal with things myself."

Carth grabbed Mission's vibroblade from its sheath and hid it behind his back.

"One problem though Revan," Carth said "You're one man, you've been corrupted by the force, I'm one man, and I can still think. I'd say we're evenly matched."

At the end of his sentence Carth lunged forward, holding the blade in a stabbing motion, quickly tucking and rolling behind the Sith to get him in the back. Revan swung his blade behind him, nearly hitting Carth's head as the man ducked at the last second. Mission's blade was very well balanced, Carth remember her spending long amounts of time in front of the ships workbench fiddling with different power cells and upgrades she had taken from the blades of different enemies the team had fought, trying to find the perfect combination of upgrades to cause the 2 foot blade to perform at maximum capacity. Her handiwork was very apparent as the two dueled, blades never meeting but more of a series of ducks dodges and dives. The two parried back and forth across the room as the environment of the area affected them both. Carth's eye's stung as the smoke clogged his face and lungs. He didn't notice a six-foot figure behind him, not human, but machine, a machine holding a blaster rifle. The blaster fired, set on stun as the beam collided with Carth and his body crumpled to the floor. Revan walked up to the unconscious body and kicked it lightly. "Good shot HK-47, you have done well"

"It's surprising to me that that shot didn't kill the fleshy meatbag," The droid said.

Revan leaned down and picked up Carth's blade. "I remember this, she'll be glad to see it"

TO BE CONTINUED …