Chapter 56
Locating their confiscated equipment didn't take long. The lockers had all their armour and weapons. There wasn't even any special key locks to keep then secured, they were more like trophies than contraband.
Serving within the military and the Order had trained all three of them so well that muscle memory took over allowing the Jedi and the Commander to gear up under a minute.
"We might be able to find something in here that will help us get to the Bridge." Carth said. We might be lucky if we search the bodies and find security code cylinders." He was half surprised Skye hadn't already pillaged the dead as typical. But he supposed they didn't need the credits as they once did on Taris or Intel on what Malak knew about their activates. He went into the hall to search the bodies of the troopers leaving the woman alone.
Bastila and Revan scoured the lockers and equipment containers, finding the blaster packs, weapons, armour, and three environmental suits. Amongst them was a datapad, curious, the Jedi scanned it.
Revan quirked a smile as she waved the datapad in the air. "I think I just found our way on to the bridge. We're going for space-walkies." upon seeing the frowns on her fellow companions she read aloud the message on the pad. "'A repair station was constructed in the storage room airlock to fix the damage to the bridge hull. Get the space suits and send a team out as soon as possible'
"See we've now got our way in, and this time we have three functioning suits instead of just the one. Suit up."
"Are all Jedi so reckless?" Carth shook his head though he wasn't going to argue it was the best alternative they had.
"Only the good ones." Bastila answered for her lover.
"Hey it can't be any more dangerous than walking on the sea bed with insane firaxan sharks swimming around waiting to gobble you up."
"Yes, but you didn't need a tether on the sea bed to stop you from floating away if the meg-boots give out." Carth offered a perfectly reasonable argument. "But, I don't see any other way to get to the Bridge that doesn't involve an entire platoon on our tails." he shrugged. "This means we'll have to find the armory. With the klaxons going off like this it will be sealed shut. Standard procedure. Only officers will be able to open the lockdown, and none of my security codes will work any more."
"Let me try my key." Revan held up her lightsaber. "It'll do the trick."
Locking the maglocks on his suit, Carth gave a good natured lazy salute as he indeed took the lead.
Walking the out of the ship seemed faster than prowling Mannon's ocean depths. The buoyancy of the salt water was very different than zero-g of the Black. The distance between decks also seemed shorter than it had from the science bay to the harvester. Then again space had a significant lack of firaxan sharks.
Fortunately the space walk going from storage room airlock to bridge airlock went without incident even walking the hull at sublight. Going from the airlock to the hall leading to the Bridge was another story.
Almost immediately upon exiting the airlock the trio was fired upon. The storm of blasterfire ricocheted though the corridor, Silverbacks had drawn a line between the interrogation chamber and the equipment bay. The very place the trio needed to be.
"We have zero time for this." Bastila tone became cold and impatient. She stretched out with the Force even as her arm reached outwards as if she were physically taking hold of the neck of one of the troopers; she strangle him, his neck snapped with a loud crack. The body was purposely flung him into his clustered squadmates. Startled sounds of men shouting out, the clang of metal against metal against meat replaced blasterfire.
In that same instant the seven troopers clattered to the floor, Revan fueled her body with the energy of the Force and leapt forward—tucking her body into a forward summersault.
The reverse hold on her blades gave the Jedi a unique reach that most found difficult to counter. When Revan landed she was still crouched, she spun on the ball of her foot swiped the legs out from one of the troopers still trying to gain his balance. As he fell once more the smaller purple blade slammed into his chest –directly into his heart-killing him instantly. With the green Revan arched upwards cutting a second in half from torso to waist.
A third lost his head to amber double bladed saber hurled through the air. The Lightsaber came sailing back into Bastila's outstretched hand.
The remaining two scrambled to their feet trying to find sense, ground and a target. They never got a chance. Bullets to the head from precision shots felled them. Walking over the bodies of the troopers the trio pushed past into the equipment bay.
If there had been any guards in there were there weren't now, most likely their bodies now littered the hallway.
"Come, the Bridge is just beyond those doors." Bastila urged. They needed to get off this ship before Malak arrived.
"You know there's going to be a trap beyond those doors." Revan said.
"Good. I'm ready to finish this. Saul Karath has to answer for everything he's done." Carth growled
"Then let's get this over with." Revan said as entered the blast doors.
Flanked by two dark Jedi and four Sliver-backs were none other than Admiral Saul Karath. Still wearing that pompous arrogant grin he had during their interrogation and torture.
"Very resourceful. I admire your resolve." the gray haired man turned to his former protégée, "I assume you had some part in this. You learned your lessons well form me Carth."
"The only think you taught me was betrayal and death, Saul" Onasi hissed.
"Don't be a fool, Carth. I'm giving you and your companions a chance to surrender. A chance to live. Darth Malak himself is on his way. He'll be arriving any moment."
"He speaks the truth Carth." Bastila uttered softly. "I can feel the Dark Lord's presence approaching."
"Malak will destroy you. But if you throw down your weapons now I will ask my Master to be merciful."
"Yeah mercy isn't something Malak does well or at all really." Revan snarked.
"I've seen enough of Sith mercy." Carth growled.
"You always did like to do things the hard way. Lord Malak would have preferred live prisoners but corpses will have to do."
"We're done monologging now?" Revan smiled. "Good." With that last quip the Nagia's body surged—rippled and swirled with the Force she launched herself into the air—tucking into a triple summersault, landing behind two of the four dark Jedi.
Revan and Bastila shared a knowing look: Their minds conjured the words once spoke my Zhar the Enclave's blademaster when facing multi opponents: Do not ignore the others but home in on one. Make him your target. Let him know he's your target. Then finish him. Choose one of your opponents…
The Sith woman looked Reven in the face before bringing her blood red saber to bear instantly blocking the Sae Cha (beading). "I hear you're a Jedi now." She taunted blocking the incoming Sae-Tok cut that would have sliced the Dark Sider in half. "You're not half the warrior you once were."
"I'm sorry you mistook me for me." Revan hissed back, keeping her voice low.
"What?" Weather it was confusion or the inability to actually hear Revan's comment it bought former Dark Lord a second, a full second.
The Nagia's smiled and took Shiak-the piercing of the heart with the unseen purple blade. "You let your guard down, arrogant fool."
"She did but I won't. Your death will give me the vaunted title of Darth."
"I wouldn't count on it." Revan taunted.
"What your death or my new title?"
"Either." The former Dark Lord shrugged. "Not going to happen."
The Sith summed his own deep connection to the Force; the fullness of his power rippled his ever nerve enduing. He lifted his opponent into the air only to slam to the deck. Revan sent a Force Push into human that sent her rival spiralling away and back to the deck allowing the Nagia enough time to regain her feet.
The respite in battle wasn't to last long, the Sith reeled to his feet whipped a warp field towards Revan who met the magnanimous pulse with her own. Stalemating each other, like the same sides of magnets repulsing one another. Chairs ripped up from the floors spiralling round them like small satellites.
He frowned. Revan smiled.
The Force surged through Bastila's spine, into her arms and legs, her mind. She allowed the Force enveloped her, saturating her. Magnifying and channeling her focus into a very sharp, sharpened more by the rage of what they had suffered at the hands of the arrogant before them, rage at the traitorous fallen Jedi and omnipresent anger towards Malak for what he was—what he represented.
A brief moment so brief Bastila might have imagined a concerned expression on Revan's face as the Nagai glanced at the human. The moment was over almost before it began.
When the Dark Sider gave the slightest of nodes to his to his cohort Bastila sprang, lightsaber angled ready to kill. The ferocity of her attacks kept the Sith constantly on the defensive, pulling back trying to stave off the quick, hard stokes of the double bladed weapon. She drove the Sith backwards.
Bastila extended a long fingered hand and loosed a blast of power that slammed the man to the ground that crushed the air from his lungs; a second push hurled the dark sider into the other so hard – with such ferocity, his body shattered showering the second man A trooper behind with gore and chunks of flesh and meat.
Bastila rushed forward, blade held high. She swirled past a Silverback who was too slow at changing his target from Revan to the human Jedi to sidestep the blade that suddenly severed his neck from his shoulders.
At the same moment the women surged forward targeting the dark Jedi, Carth lobbed one of Big Z's cluster grenades containing two frags, a concussion, pulse and one adhesive at the feet of the three silverbacks what didn't kill the troopers would leave them vulnerable and for a very brief moment out of commission. The pulse grenades would knock their energy shielding out of commission, the adhesive would stick them to point and the concussion grenades rendered the enemy stunned long enough for Carth to get shots off at his true target-Saul kriffing Karath.
His own shields held against in coming blasts of the remaining silver armored troopers but their protection would not last long if Carth couldn't find cover. Fortunately the bridge had plenty of it, diving behind one of the operation consoles.
Carth was a quick-draw and more impressively he was deadeye, rarely did his shots ever stray or miss a mark. The problem was that Saul Karath was the Commander's equal. The Admiral fell back against a secondary operations station. Saul ground his teeth, with his troopers either incapacitated or dead by Onasi's swift volley they were unable to pin the enemies down in crossfire. That had been his initial plan; the troopers fanning out to pin down the trio, while the four dark Jedi would be more than enough to take out the amnesiac former Dark Lord and Bastila. The human woman had no time at all to summon up the power of Battle Meditations; the odds had been in Karath's favour.
This was not happening!
He should have known better even without knowing who she truly was or what she was truly capable of Revan was still formidable as was Bastila. The Admiral already knew what Carth was capable of after all Saul had taught the boy everything the younger man knew about warfare. If anything the cluster grenade volley had proven Carth had taken those lessons to heart. The boy hadn't disappointed—if only he had chosen the right side, had seen the truth that the only hope the Republic had was in the hands of Darth Malak
Cath couldn't edge closer without exposing his flank but he couldn't reach Saul from his current position. The only problematic issue he had in reaching his nemesis was to insure the troopers were truly out for the count. He had only two grenade clusters left. In a desperate moment he launched them both.
The Sith watched the emerald blade of the smaller lightsaber warily. Too often the offhanded weapon is dismissed as the weaker blade—the less agile—less dexterous, but not in the hands of blademaster.
The Nagai was one with her blades, but then those pointed eared aliens were always one with their blade. Was that not that not why they called Knives by so many? It was said the pale-skinned knife-ears were born with a blade in their hands and cut their own umbilical cords with it.
The Sith knew then why his opponent was grinning. She was toying with him, playing as a feline with a wamprat. Each move was a dance step light and floating, surreal. The Jedi was fused with the blades, she could feel every particle of it, tiny bits a thousand times too small to be seen with the eye. The Force suffused her running into the blades, as well, threading through the intricate matrices wrought by Khyber crystals.
The dark one fell back-fear rushed in the Sith's veins. He had become as foolish as Darth Brannon to have engaged the Nagai in a contest of blades and believing he would be the victor. He would die here just as his once compatriot then rival had, cut down without ever given the chance to lay claim to the title of Darth, but he would do what he could to wound the bitch for stealing this chance away from him.
The sudden blast of mutilate grenades going off rattled Revan's teeth in her scull. She hadn't been the only one shaken Bastila had to flip backwards in order to avoid the massive explosive fallout broth from shrapnel and body parts. What ever was left of the troopers caked the floors and bulkheads in a fine pink mist. Both the Jedi's ears were ringing from the blast and their eyes wept from the smoke that clung so heavily in the air, heavy enough to choke the lungs that drew in the feted stench of burned meat metal.
Carth's last shot hit the Admiral square in the chest and not even is energy shields were strong enough to protect him from the blaster bolt. He fell to the deck, bleeding out. Everything in that moment was playing out as in if in slow motion. The commander felt his exhaling breath warm on his outstretched arms, the heaviness of his eyelids as they blinked and his even heavier feet shift from firing stance to one that was more at ease. Perhaps it was his imagination but Carth believed he felt the deck plating shudder when his one time mentor fell back hard upon them as if the floor it self were made of corrugated cardboard rather then durasteel.
Carth found that he could only stare at the blood, at the man on the deck who by some miracle still had some life within his body. Perhaps he was too stubborn to give up his ghost just yet.
"Carth…." pink foam gathered at the thin pale lips. The words were more of a burble than clearly spoken Onasi was more than half tempted to let his former mentor die with his last words clogging his throat. "Carth…"
"The Admiral he's still alive!" Bastila was astonished.
"Forget him Carth; we need to get out of her before Malak arrives!" Revan urged truing to exit the bridge after she had activated the commands in CIC actual that would allow the Ebon Hawk to fell the hanger deck.
"Don't you understand what this man has done to me, to my life? Do you know the pain he has brought me?"
"Killing him won't ease the pain Carth." Bastila argued. "Do not become what you despise."
"Carth…" Karath's voice was more gurgles now. "Must …*cough* tell you…*cough*…must tell you something. *cough…cough* Come closer. *cough*
Onasi hesitated only briefly before he relented and went to the older man's side. Behind him Bastila shared a look to Revan. Though they could not hear the mutterings both Jedi knew that the Admiral must be telling their companion. It could only be the truth about Skye Ravensong's true identity.
"You didn't know, did you? *cough…" Saul began to laugh which caused his lungs to sputter and fill with blood; "Remember my dying words. Remember when ever you look at those you thought were your friends." he died coughing on his own pink spittle.
"NO!" Onasi screamed. He whirled around glaring at Revan. "No! No! It can't be true! It just can't! Damn you Saul! Bastila! It's true isn't it! And you knew! You and the whole damned Jedi Council-you knew the whole time!"
"Carth it's not what you think. We had no other choice. Please, you don't understand." Bastila urged.
"So make me understand!" he demanded hotly.
"Now really isn't the time!" Revan interjected. "Tin Jaw is nearly here. We have to move!" She knew what Karath uttered in Carth's ear, now buzzing in the man's mind. She needed have the Force to feel the rage burning in the man's heart. "Commander Onasi!" The Nagai's voice became sharp and hard. Frozen. A voice of a General, of a Jedi Knight—the voice of the Revanchist. "Be pissed later. Focus on the now."
"She's right Carth. We can't talk about this here. There is no time. Please Carth, Malak is coming. I'm asking you to trust me for just for a little while longer."
Carth pinned the Nagai with a cold glare even as he spoke to Bastila. "I'll trust you Bastila, but this isn't over. As soon as we're off this ship I expect some answers."
"Of course Carth." Bastila's voice was soothing almost complacent. "As soon as we get to the Ebon Hawk I'll explain everything—to both of you I promise." She added the last to help absolve her lover of any accusations of conspiracy or worse treachery.
The three headed out of the bridge but came up short when the Bridge became overrun with troopers
KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR
There was a strange smell in the air – ozone. The gorgeous scent of battle! He was ready for what was going to happen once those blast doors before him and the others. When they finally reached the bottom of the corridor the enemy was waiting for them, and they were more ready. A mass of troopers were flanked by troopers manning turrets. It was a welcome feeling to the Mandalorian. He thrived on impossible odds and worthy fights. Getting to the Hawk it was a worthy enough battle.
The enemy forces, close to a dozen armed and armored well trained troopers, were coming toward them form the far said of the hanger deck. The order to fire was shouted out from one of the troopers with a red paladin marking him as Commander.
"Give them no quarter!" The Mandalorian barked almost needlessly. Canderous's team had been poised and ready as soon as the blast doors opened, the Jedi and others reacted almost instantaneously to his command, charging forward from the doors with a barrage of gunfire or deflecting incoming shots via lightsabers and Force powers.
The first wave of their attack ripped into the pack of troopers. The first would have ended right then if it wasn't for their body armor and pulse shields.
Five enemy combatants dropped to the deck, but enough of the deadly projectiles were deflected or absorbed so that the rest of them were able to fall back and dive for cover behind bulkheads.
The next few seconds of the battle were utter chaos. Canderous's team pushed forward, scrambling to stacked crates and ships for cover. They had to fan out quickly, before enemy crossfire could pin the entire group down in a single location. The hanger deck echoed with the staccato recoil of assault blasters and the sharp zip-zip-zip of bolts ricocheting off the bulkheads, deck flooring and durasteel crates.
Juhani fell easily into the battle dance only Cathar knew. Blaster bolts came at torso, at side, at head, at side—the Force sped up Juhani's perceptions, slowing down time—moving her hands in a blur—lo longer deflecting bolts away, but sending them back to their points of origin.
Her mirror—Jollee–bolts coming at chest, at chest, at head—controlling with precision, sending back to arm, to leg, to shoulder—to head—attack faltering as wounded enemies fell.
Sprinting to a nearby crate, Mission felt an all too familiar shudder as her shields repulsed several shots that would have otherwise found their mark. She hind the deck and rolled as a line of bolts struck the deck floor in front of her, disintegrating the durasteel deck platting and sending tiny showers of metallic splinters up under her visor and into her face. She came to her feet spiriting out the foul grit, instinctively checking the remaining power on her shields.
Not good she was down to fifteen percent—not nearly enough to give her a fighting chance if she had to make another run through direct enemy fire. Kriff! Maybe it was just dumb street-rat luck or it was the Force but the enemy paid the small Twi'lek little notice. They had a Mandalorian an assassin droid and two Jedi to contend with.
Where the hell was Tee-Three anyway? Nevermind. Mission was solid in a fight but she was far better at anything. With one of the troopers manning a turret was felled, Mission darted for it and spliced the controls and laughed as she turned the heavy weapon against the fracking Sith.
Teethree zig-zagged towards the Hawk. While it could not yet take off the little astromec made the decision to sneak onboard and get it ready for flight as soon as his Mistress rejoined the team. First he programmed the navcomputer with the coordinates of Korriban. He knew that's where they were to go next. Besides while onboard he could activate the frigate's guns he only had to plug into the ship's offensive matrix. The Hawk's guns were much better than his own blaster and integrated weapons that Mistress Revan had upgraded him with.
The humming of ship's guns coming life startled not only enemy combatants but allies alike. Canderous through back his head and let out a cackle of mirth as he realized the tides had suddenly turned in his favour. The tiny clanker might not be a Basilisk war droid but hot damn the tiny thing could get things done.
The Mandalorian tapped his com and spoke in his native language knowing the astromec would understand him. After all he had been the one to commission the droid from Janice Nall back on Taris and had made damn sure the tailhead had preprogrammed the astromec with Mandalorian. . "Blast the room Teethree. Three rest of you hit the deck" He laughed again.
KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR
The two Jedi Woman and Carth darted out of the bridge and headed for the elevator that would take them hanger when their wrist-comms bleeped.
* It's Canderous. We took care of the guards. We're inside the Ebon Hawk, and all systems are go. As soon as you guys can join us we can get out of here.*
"Good work, everyone. Standby." Revan replied swiftly, her breath not even panting even as she darted forward towards the blast door that separated the command deck from to the corridors that would eventually lead them to the hanger.
As soon as the blast doors opened both Jedi felt a wave of pure darkness hit them.
"Darth Malak" Bastila hissed.
"Down you go!" Onasi immediately fired shots that Malak laughingly deflected with his sword. In one hand with the other the Dark Lord sent Carth tumbling head over heals using a Force Push until the former landed with a crack against the bulkhead.
Malak laughed "I hope you weren't thinking of leaving so soon Bastila. I've spent far too much energy hunting down you and your companions to let you get away from me now"
"I might say that was impressive, but I'd be lying." Revan drawled.
"Humm always with the quick tongue. I needed to see for myself if it was true. Even know I can hardily believe my eyes. Tell me why did the Jedi spare you? Is it vengeance you seek at this reunion?"
It would be easy to answer as her, but Revan knew that would be arming her former apprentice. She had to make him underestimate her completely. However much it gulled her to play the ignorance card she was committed to that action now. Besides they still needed Carth to believe this wasn't a set up. In his paranoia the Commander would jump to that conclusion without hesitation or a clear head.
"Reunion? What are you talking about?" Revan demanded.
"What?! You mean you don't know?" The mechanical laughter sounded forced and stereotypical of a classic holo-net villain. "All this time and you still haven't figured it out?" More maniacal laughter. "I wonder how long you would have stayed blind to the truth. Surely some of what you once where must have surfaced by now. Even the combined power of the Jedi Council couldn't keep your true identity buried forever. Could it."
Revan remained passive. It would be so very easy to blurt out the truth that she had know she was not Skye Ravensong since the day she made her new lightsaber. Even without looking the Nagia could feel Carth's eyes on her, wanting the same answers as their nemesis
'Play your part my love.' Revan sent though the Force Bond. 'We still need to put on a show.'
'I know.'
Revan pretended to be overwhelmed by memories of the past. Indeed it wasn't all that difficult to recall the flood of images that had flashed in her mind that day she had meditated in the kinrath caves on Dantooine. Bastila stepped up and placed her hand on Revan's back.
"You cannot hide what you once were Revan. Recognize that you were once the Dark Lord and know that I have taken your place."
"Hum….If I'm Darth Revan how is that possible? I'm supposed to be dead." She needed Ol' Tin Jaw to monolog…just to get him off trek to buy more time. Besides the more he monologues the more Carth would be convinced that this whole encounter was not some Sith trickery. Let the bad guy spill all the secretes. The truth was always more believable that way.
"You still do not yet remember, Revan? The Jedi sent an assassination team after you, luring you into a trap. They sent us into battle against a small Republic fleet-influenced by Bastila's battle meditations. During the attack a team of Jedi knights board your flagship
"The Jedi strike team was lead by your former lover Bastila. They captured you and the Council used the Force to program your mind. They wiped away your identity and turned you against your own followers.
"You've must have seen flashes of your old life in your dreams, Revan. Memories bubbling up to the surface. Surely you must remember the battle in which you were captured?!"
"Why not simply kill me?" Revan pushed despite she knew the answer well. Bastila herself once said: 'What better weapon is there than to turn an enemy to your cause?'
"The Jedi are fools. They do not believe in executing prisoners. Originally I had assumed you had died in the battle. Imagine my surprise to learn you were still alive, Revan!"
"So I'm really am your Master than."
"Once I served your cause Revan. But I have outgrown you. I always knew the title of Dark Lord would be mine. When the Jedi strike team board your vessel I saw my day had come. I ordered my own fleet to fire upon your Bridge. I thought I could destroy all my enemies in a single glorious victory.
"I never dreamed the Jedi would take you alive from the wreckage." Malak cut a chance to the fawn manned human.
"Bastila is this true?" Revan asked knowing full well what the answer would be.
"It's true. The stories of me leading the strike team are true. We were sent to capture Revan…to capture you. The stories of me killing you are…complicated. You still had your life Revan but the 'Dark Lord' was dead. When Malak fired on your ship you were badly injured we thought you were dead. Your mind was destroyed, but I used the Force to preserve the flicker of life still within your body.
"I brought you to the Jedi Temple on Corrisant…to the Jedi Council. They were the ones that healed your damaged mind."
"Then why don't I recall being Revan?" That was not a question in the game, it was a true question even now anything the Nagai recalled from her past was only flashes nothing more concrete
It was Malak not Bastila who answered. "The Jedi Council didn't restore your wounded mind Revan; they merely reprogrammed it with a new identity, one that was completely loyal to the Republic. They tried to make you their puppet—their slave."
Revan craned her neck and looked at her beloved when she spoke her words were utterly true. "I understand, Bastila. You had no other choice."
It shocked the younger woman in just how much she needed to hear those words. To feel them.
"Forgiveness Revan?" Malak scoffed. "You are weak. I was right to betray you. You are not fit to rule the Sith! A small part of me has always regretted betraying you from afar. I always knew you were the stronger one, and I knew there were some who believed I acted out of cowardness when I did so, that I did not want to face you one on one. But now fate has given me a second chance to prove myself. Once I defeat you in combat no one will question my claim to the Sith thrown. My triumph will be complete."
"'Not fit to rule the Sith.' You say that like it's supposed to be an insult, Tin Jaw. It's not."
If the man had been capable of snarling his lips would be pulled into a grimace, his words instead held the expression. "The Jedi Council was foolish to let you live, Revan. I won't make that same mistake."
"No you'll make whole new ones." The Nagai shot back. "There will be no triumph for you."
Malak snarled. "We will finish this alone in the ancient Sith tradition Master verses Apprentice as it was meant to be!" Without warning Malak raised his hand and erected a Force stasis field around both Bastila and Carth—freezing them in place.
Revan only smiled, then took a few quick steps forward and lunched into the famed salmon leap using the Force as a springboard. Malak had all but forgotten that blighted move. There was no way to move his blade up to deflect the blow that was sure to come and not risk taking parts of his own antimony in the process. Only his Star Forged armour would fend off the blow that was meant to sever arm from torso. As it was the purple shoto clashed with the pauldrons with sparks. Revan shouldered rolled landing like a Nabooan tusked panther just behind Malak.
Her next move would to strike at his hamstrings as the great cat might have. But this move Malak anticipated and was able to leap free of the strike of the emerald blade—just barely. The ends of his cloak flitting to the deck-platting like a loosed feather from a startled pigeon as a testament of how close he had come to being cut down.
Malak turned his red blade raised. Revan drew green lightsaber and, with purple shoto at one arm her lightsaber in the other hand, met Malak with a clash of light and pulsing energy. For a second the two Force wielders were nose to nose, and Revan could see up close the scarred skin of Malak's pale skin, scarred by the dark side. Then Malak pushed away, immediately stabbing forward, meeting Revan's sword but readjusting so quickly that Revan almost missed the defense. The Nagai danced away, wanting to put space between her and Malak, who was still as powerful as her broken memory boiled to the surface of her forebrain.
There were too many attacks to keep track of, suddenly, and Malak felt his heard begin to hammer. It had been a long time since he had been put though his paces by someone with such power, such talent. The last time he had felt the real power of battlemaster he had lost his lower half of his face.
Revan brought her double blades crashing down on Malak's blockade. Malak spun around desperately trying to repel the unslought of a blade in each hand. Revan shifted her feet redistribute her weight, then brought her light sabers up in a blur, knocking aside a vicious thrust from a humming crimson blade.
She had seen the thrust coming—even as the Force warned her. A flurry of chops from humming lightsabers pushed Malak backwards. Revan exhaled, opened her mind to the Force, and the labyrinthine corridors snapped into focus.
She sensed Malak's excitement; Carth's mistrusting rage and Bastila…her growing furry as if she were a beast finally freed to confront her hunter-her tormentor. and yet seething because she had no throat to snap.
Malak had felt it too, Raven's coldness, missed with determination. She had been undone by his and the Jedi's treachery, and she was the instrument of her own retribution. .And all around them, he perceived the ever-shifting web of the Force.
Malak knew he was the end of his tether; Revan was always the better blademaster, fast, agile like the hawk bat tattoo she sported on her arm. He could not lose to her now! Not after his boasts. Those that doubted his prowess to take Darth Revan in single combat would parade his failure to take her life as a standard of his legacy. They would call him 'The failed Dark Lord of the Sith-Darth Tin Jaw.' That could not be his legacy not after all he had survived! All he had accomplished!
The finding of the Star Maps and the Star Forge might have been Revan's brainchild but he had seized it and made it his legacy. That could not end now. Not now!
Rage swirled in his heart—his mind pooling with the Dark Side seeping into ever pore of his body like the oily sludge of a sarlac pit. In a single desperate burst of power.
If he were to win this contest of strength he would need to drop the stasis field that kept Bastila and Onasi frozen in place. There was no way he could maintain that hold, especially against another Force wielder and fight Revan. She might not be the foe she remembered but she was still the superior blademaster. He chided himself for falling in to the same trap his former apprentice had –to beat Revan with a blade.
He stretched out his hand and flung first a volley of purple Sith lighting at former master's chest then with another almost desperate act slammed the woman back using back against the bulkhead with the sheer weight of the Force. He heard a loud crack as her armor hit the durasteel. He did not chance to look behind him before he took to the wind running past the frozen enemies.
Revan followed.
Of course she would. This time it was Malak, who smiled, oh not physically of course—that was impossible but he smiled nonetheless. Waves of power distorted the air and dopplered the sound as Jedi and Sith crashed into one another.
Malak augmented his strength wit the Force, took a two handed grip on his blade and unleashed an overhand slash designed to split the Jedi in half. Raven sidestepped the blow and crosscut with her emerald blade at Malak's throat. Malak got his blade up in time, and parried. Reven had counted on his block, she wanted him distracted—she slammed a kick in the human's midsection. The blow folded the Sith Lord in half, sent him reeling backwards five paces.
Revan leapt into the air, flipped, landed behind him, her drove her blade into him or would have. Once more the Star Forge armor took the burnt of the assault's damage. Revan seethed. Malak pivoted on the ball of his right foot, just managing to block another tenacious assault. The stab to his back had left him wounded; his amour had not taken all the damage.
He was still losing… but that was impossible Revan wasn't in her full power! There was a slim chance. A small one. Revan will always be the superior blademaster and when facing others armed wit the Force and lightsaber she had a tendency to concentrate on one area of power and not the other. Not always. But sometimes…
He managed to fling a stasis field around the knife ear just to have the blast door open behind him. There stood Bastila Shan brimming with the raw power of the Force and something more.
The Dark Side.
"This isn't over Malak!" she growled and moved in, behind her was Commander Carth Onasi.
"Your friends do not give up easily Revan. But then they never did. You always could inspire loyalty. But even the three of you together cannot stand against my power!"
"Seriously? The only reason you survived that last blow was because that Star Forged armour." Revan baited the Dark Lord.
"For the Jedi!" Bastila threw her double saber striking the Dark Lord's shoulder He cried out and fell back. "I'll hold Malak off!" She boasted "You two get out of here!"
"NO!" Revan declared
"Find the Starforge!" she chased after the fleeing Dark Lord.
Revan started but was grabbed by the arm by Carth "The door is sealed, we can't get past! Come on, we have to get to the Ebon Hawk
"NO" I won't leave her! Lightsabers will get though!" Saying nothing more Revan slammed point of her emerald lightsaber into the blast door's center in a double handed grip. The metal started to glow red hot and dripped with molten durasteel.
"Revan!" Carth grabbed the desperate Jedi's arm.
The Jedi shrugged off Onasi's hand and continued had attack on the door.
"Revan! Bastila doesn't stand a chance against Malak but we can't help her not here. We have to get off this ship and find the Star Forge. That's the key to defeating Malak Bastila sacrificed herself so we can get away. We can't let her sacrifice be in vain. Come on!"
"Damn It!" Revan growled. She looked at the blast door snarled again and stated to run down the only open pathway, the one leading to the Ebon Hawk
KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR
The secondary team was there at the Hawk's landing struts, the floor of the hanger littered with the corpses of dozens of dead troopers and assault droids. Revan and Carth didn't give the bodies a second look as the dashed up the ramp.
"We're taking off now!" Revan ordered "Canderous and I will take the quads, Carth get this bird into the Black!
Carth slammed his backside down into the pilots chair, deftly activated the Hawk's controls causing the Hawk's engines to roar to life—the next moment they were zipping out of the Leviathan's hanger deck. Almost just as swiftly the Sith ship had launched squadron of starfighters.
*Releasing weapon's lock, keep frosty.* Carth called over the comms *Here they come!*
"Roger that, guns hot, systems green." Revan rotated her starboard quad laser cannons-left, right, up and down—and through it all the Force.
Interceptors swarmed around the Sith Dreadnought, at first only three of them veered off from their initial vector to pursue the Hawk across the warship's keel. One…then two more followed. The Force guided Revan's every action causing the Hawk and its weaponry to become one with her.
Port side cannons opened fire on three more of the darting enemy ships. Mandalorian training anticipated every move of the enemy pilots were going to make; he fired not at where they were but where they were going to be. In a flash of two of the inceptors exploded into a mass ball of fire and were snuffed out in the null-atmosphere of space.
In her turret Revan saw five more the interceptors rocketing towards her in skirmish formation and grimaced. Black hulled starfighters were hurtling though the formation, like kath hounds loose among wamp rats. The Hawk was hit by multiple blows, only the deflector shields saved the frigate.
Revan returned fire –she stitched the interceptor by laser fire and cut in two, both halves hurtling through space only to smash headlong into his squadron mates thereby taking out two more fighters.
In space no one can hear the death rattles of destroyed interceptors. The squadron had fallen. Behind them now were the streams of milky light of hyperspace. Carth finally managed to fly them to relative freedom and safety.
KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR~ KOTOR
Once free and the coordinates Teethree had previously locked into the navcomputer to Korriban were logged in the companions had a moment to breath. More or less
Carth summoned everyone to the CIC of the hawk
"Where is Bastila? What happened on that ship?" The question came from Jolee.
"We ran into Malak. He would have killed us, but Bastila sacrificed herself so we could get away."
"You mean she's…she's dead?" Missions blue eyes immediately began to tear up. She glances at Revan and seeing the forlorn expression on the Nagai's face she openly wept clinging to Zalbaar as she did so.
"Bah. Malak won't kill her, don't be foolish. He'll want to use her battle meditation against the Republic. Turn her to the Dark Side and the Sith will always be victorious."
"That's even worse!" Mission wailed.
"I have to go back for her." Revan snarled under her breath.
"Not so fast. We've got a bigger issue to deal with here. They deserve to know the truth about you. Do you want to tell them what Malak said or should I?" Carth said it almost as a threat.
"And steal your thunder flyboy? Yeah, I will tell them." She looked at each face and their questioning eyes in turn. "I am Revan."
"Revan? Revan... Revan? As in Darth Revan?" Mission tuned from her furry companion to look at the woman she idolized. "What…what are you talking about? Is this some sort of joke?"
At the admission Revan glanced around the room to each face only to witness Juhani started to slip away to the starboard quarters—the one clamed by the female crewmembers
"Oh, it's no joke; The Jedi Council captured Revan and erased the Dark Lord's mind, programming it with a new identity. Saul Karath told me on the Leviathan and Bastila confirmed it as did Darth Malak." Carth snarled.
Mission was still agog. "You're. Darth. Revan? This is…is…this is big. Do you…do you remember anything about being the Dark Lord?"
"Small bits-fragments, a few strange dreams and visions, that's all." came an honest answer.
"Just a few flashes? That's it? Nothing more? Then I don't think there's a problem." Mission was back to being her perky self. "It seems to me if you don't really remember anything about being Darth Revan, and then it doesn't really matter anymore. You are who you are now, right?"
Carth was disgusted and took no pains to lashing it out. "Of course it matters! How do we know more memories won't come flooding back? How do we know Revan suddenly won't turn on us? The whole time we've been chasing after Malak we've had his old Sith Master right at our side: listening to our secrets: hearing our plans! She even took a dagger to my throat saying she wasn't a traitor when she was all along! I knew it! We should …."
"Should do what, Carth? Murder me? I could wish this wasn't true, but it is." Revan said. "I have no idea which memories are Revan's and which are Skye's. They are all bugled up in one massive knot. I'm sorry."
"Hey! You've got nothing to be sorry to be sorry about! You didn't ask for this. Besides, I know you. You're not Darth Revan anymore. Whoever you used to be, you're one of us now!" Mission blurted out hotly. Her blue eyes pinning Carth to the deck.
"I agree with Mission. I swore a life-debt to the person you are, not the person you were." Zalbaar grunted.
"Big Z and I will stick by your side. We owe you our lives; we won't desert you now."
Carth was sick. "How can you say that Mission? The Sith bombed my home world! Revan took away my family and destroyed my life!"
"I call bullshit." Canderous piped up. "Everyone knows it was Malak who gave the order to attack your people—against his Master's instructions. You can't blame Revan for that."
"He already has, Canderous." Revan said. "He will always blame me for every crime Malak committed either as my apprentice or after. Just as he has blamed me for everything Saul Karath did."
Carth looked over to the woman and shook his head, wanting to spit in her face for everything, but damn him she was right! "I...I suppose you've proven yourself a friend to the Republic by your actions so far…Revan. But those were programmed into you, you had no choice. But can I trust you? Can any of us?"
"Why don't you the ask rest of the crew. How about you Jolee?" Revan turned to the oldest of the humans on the ship.
"Phft. I already knew exactly who you were when we met on Kashyyyk. It wasn't my place to tell you, or anyone else who you were. Better off that you know, if you ask me." the old man shrugged his shoulders. "Does it change anything? I'm not here to judge you. You'll do what you have to do, and I'll help if I can."
"Canderous?" Revan turned her attention the merc.
"You defeated Mandalorian clans in battle, Revan. You were the only one in the galaxy to best us. You defeated Mandalor in one on one combat and clamed his helmet. We have never met anyone like you before and never sense. How can you even ask if I will follow you?! Whatever you're fighting it will be worthy of my skills. I'm your man until the end, Revan, no matter how this plays out."
The Nagai Jedi's lips curled into a smile, proud to have heard this admission. "What do you say HK-43?" she asked the droid.
"Commentary: I am experiencing something unusual, Master."
"What's happening?" Reven grew curious.
"Answer: My programming is activating my deleted memory core. I believe I have a…a homing system that is restoring it, Master."
"A homing system? What's that?" Now this was interesting Revan thought. That is an ingenious idea. She wondered practically if she could replicate such a system for Tee-Three
"Observation: My homing system is a function of my assassination protocols…that which I told you had been deactivated. This system was not. It seems that the homing system deliberately restores my deleted memory core upon to my original Master."
"Me?
"Affirmation: Correct, Master. Sith protocols maintain that all droid knowledge should be deleted before assassination missions and restored upon return. I have returned to you, and my full functionality is now under your personal command. It is a distinct pleaser to see you again, Master."
"But I found you, you didn't find me!" Revan shook her head.
"Think you never heard of the Force before. Seems obvious enough to me. It was meant to be." Jolee sounded,
"Wow what are the chances of that happening?" Mission piped up, her voice ever jovial.
"Remember, we talking about the Force here." Canderous smirked. "At this point Malak himself could drop out of the sky and I wouldn't bat an eyelash."
"Good point." Mission shrugged.
"You won't abandon me to will you Tee-Three?" asked Revan.
The droid whirled a negative; it was Revan's machine through and through.
"I knew the little guy would come though for you. Droids don't hold grudges." Mission looked form the small astromech and then to Carth with an expression that said 'I told you so.'
"That leaves you Carth. Will you stand with me against Malak or not?"
"Well the others seem to trust you…but I don't see any other way we can stop the Sith. I suppose Malak is the real enemy here…I really don't have any other choice do I?"
"Yes, you do. We land in Korriban and you can get a transport back to one of the Republic hubs. All the way back to Corrisant if you want. My fight isn't with you or the Republic, it's with Malak."
"I want to believe you. You're proven yourself time and time again during our mission, but this is a little much for me to wrap my head around at the moment."
"Wrap your head around!" Revan scowled "Excuse me? Really? Seriously you went there? You're not the one that suddenly found out you were once a Big Bad! Wrap your head around. Frack you Carth…really?"
His brown eyes opened wide ..."I'm sorry you're right. This has to be even more of a shock to you. I don't know how you even keep going. I guess we both have to find a way to move forward."
"How about not wallowing in the past? It will cast very long shadows over you if you let it." Jolee said sagely.
"Don't worry… I won't let my personal feelings get in the way of my assignments or the mission. But don't forget I've sworn an oath to defend the Republic! As long as this mission stays on course I'll stick with you. But I won't let you betray the Republic under any circumstances!"
"And we're back again to those first days on Dantooine." Mission shook her head. "You just had to get that last dig in didn't you, Old Man?"
"I take my oaths seriously," Carth became defensive.
"And Revan doesn't?" Mission argued. "See this is why no one likes you Carth. You can't just let things be."
Carth ignored the teenager. "I guess that's it then…we keep going. We still have one more star map to uncover. If we're going to find that Star Forge and save Bastila, so let's do it before it's too late."
Revan said nothing.