Chapter 5
Revan sat in the barracks on his bunk. His eyes were locked with the floor as his head was down and his breathing was heavy and laboured. He was not in the best of mood's to say the least. From Korriban up until now his temper had been very much in check, now his rage was unrestrained and only once he had her back would he be able to calm down entirely.
Revan took a deep breath to relax sligthly. The Ebon Hawk was approaching the Star Forge, he could feel the impact of the blaster bolts from the Star Forge around him, as the Ebon Hawk shuddered and rocked slightly.
Then he felt it stop and the Ebon Hawk had docked with the Star Forge. Revan slowly raised his eyes up and then stood. Within his eyes shone a fierce determination, more so than the rage. He knew this was his sin and his mess. Now he alone must be the one to clean it up.
Revan summoned his lightsabers from his bunk and attached them to his belt as he exited the barracks heading for the main hold. When he arrived the entire crew was assembled. He entered and looked around at his friends all of whom looked back at him. He smiled softly as he gazed round at them listing their individual gifts.
Mission, innocent and resourceful, Zaalbar strong and silent, Canderous powerful and loyal, Juhani brave and fiery, Jolee calm and kind, Hk-47 merciless and sadistic, T3-M4 intelligent and crafty. Revan then gazed at the final two, Carth and Falcan. Falcan calm and skilful and Carth loyal to a fault and trustworthy. He finished looking at his friends and knew what he wanted to say.
"We have been through a lot to get here…and each event, battle and situation has strengthened our bond of companionship," he stated, his friends remained silent listening to his words. "Now here upon the Star Forge this journey ends one way or another…but before this battle begins I want to say to each and every one of you…" Revan looked around once again at his friends, his family.
"I have never been more blessed in my life with friends like you…" all of them smiled at his words. "All of you know that I wish to fight through the Star Forge alone…" they all nodded. They had realized this and despite whatever reservations that had about it, they knew could not dissuade him from this.
"Each one of you in your own way has had something to teach me. Both about myself and the galaxy around me." He paused to take a final look at his companions seeing their determination in their eyes. "I love and admire you all…and this is how I know we will win this battle" They all nodded and then Canderous actually began clapping. To his surprise they all joined in with the applause for a few seconds before allowing him to give them their instructions.
"Carth Mission Zaalbar and T3, you will remain and guard the ship. The Sith will want to cut off our escape, we mustn't allow them to" the mentioned four gave their affirmative before going to retrieve their equipment. "Canderous, Hk, Jolee, Juhani, Falcan…" the remaining five stepped forward. "You will join with whatever Jedi have made it aboard the Star Forge and divert the enemy attention away from me…make sure as few Sith as possible get the Ebon Hawk" the five nodded. Canderous, Hk, Jolee and Juhani departed but Falcan remained for a few seconds.
"Here…" Revan looked down to see the Solari crystal in Falcan's hand "You will need this…" Revan smiled and took the crystal.
A few minutes later the Mantle of the Force Lightsaber was amplified by the intense light energy of the Solari crystal. Revan felt the lightsaber tune with his body and deactivated the saber.
"Thank you…" Revan said to Falcan. Falcan nodded and pulled his sword from his back and spun around his hand as he followed his partners from the Ebon Hawk.
"Good luck…" he stated as he left. Revan took a deep breath and exited the Ebon Hawk. As he exited the ship one the Jedi, a human female approached him.
"Good you made it. Now come on. Before they realise…" as she spoke a large group of Dark Jedi poured from the door on the other, all igniting their blood red sabers.
"Damn! So much for having the element of surprise!" as she spoke Falcan charged to first Dark Jedi and quickly engaged him with his blade. Juhani and Jolee both sort out their own opponents as the Jedi joined the fray. Canderous riddled one Dark Jedi with blaster fire as she leapt at Revan.
"We'll deal with the scum!" Canderous barked as he charged into the battle. As the dark-haired woman Jedi nodded to Revan and rushed to the aid of her allies, Revan quickly moved towards the door but stopped and looked back at his friends as they battled with the Sith.
Falcan shoved his opponent's saber down, and then slashed through the Dark-siders chest. Not losing any momentum he spun round and drove his sword through a second's midsection. Twisting the blade and then yanking it out he allowed her to fall to the ground lifeless before looking up at Revan.
"Don't just stand there! Get going!" he commanded, "We'll deal with this!" Revan nodded and ran through the door as more Sith soldiers began charging through the door. Canderous came and stood next Falcan with a smirk.
"Let the fun begin!" Falcan grinned the adrenaline of the battle coursing through his veins as he and Canderous led the charge at the enemy.
Revan moved through the Star Forge corridors as quickly as he could. Bursting through an open, he threw his hand forward hurling the unfortunate battalion of Sith soldiers off of the walkway. Drawing his cyan lightsaber, leaving the Heart of the Guardian on his belt, he cleaved a charging Sith solider in two, before swinging his arm out and beheading a second and final Sith who'd somehow avoided being thrown into the abyss beneath him.
Keeping his lightsaber active Revan began running through the corridors once again heading to the centre of the Star Forge, subconsciously finding his way.
Malak stood looking over the construction of the star fighters. As he folded his arms over his chest, a silver clad Sith Master approached him.
"Lord Malak, a squadron of Jedi Knights have boarded the Star Forge, their fighters have docked in the Hanger bay".
"This is not unexpected" Malak replied casually "The Jedi are formidable opponents. Send the Star Forge battle droids to deal with them" the Master blinked confused. Mere droids?
"L-lord Malak forgive me but how can mere droids stand against the Jedi" Malak's eyes seemed to smirk in amusement.
"You underestimate the power of the Forge's droid army" he replied, "Dispatch the droids," he commanded again.
"Of course Lord Malak".
Revan swung his blade severing the left arm of Sith soldier. Spinning his blade in his hand, he drove the blade backwards and embedded it in the Sith's gut. He shot his leg out and kicked the Sith off of the saber into a wall where the man slumped to the ground lifeless.
As he turned round, the doors on either side of the walkway exploded inwardly. Through the doors came a pair of red battle droids each.
Revan cursed silently, and then guided his blade through the air, reflected the blaster bolts away.
He suddenly shot forward, slicing through the droids circuits. Leaping away, he landed on top of a second droid and drove his saber through its head. Hopping off of this one he backed off a few steps as the second pair of battle droids moved to attack him. As soon as they reached the disabled droids, the circuits overloaded sending all of the droids to the scrap heap. Revan saw another door exploded open and sent a powerful wave of force lightning, frying the droids on the other side until they were simply piles of worthless metal.
Calmly moving past the sparking junk piles, Revan noticed a number of flashing lightsabers. A collection of Dark Jedi and Jedi were duelling fiercely on the catwalks. Revan began sprinting towards the battle, using the force to hurl a final collection of droids off of the walkway. However as he ran, the first Jedi fell a smouldering hole in his chest. Revan tensed and began a force jump towards the battle. However as he jumped the second Jedi fell, his mid-section smoking from a lightsaber slash. When Revan was almost on the walkway, the final Jedi was defeated leaving Revan alone with three Dark-siders but this was no matter.
Before the first of the trio could respond, Revan had cleaved her through the shoulders as he landed, ending her life. With one hand he parried the second's blow, before clotheslining him to the ground, spinning round and then driving his blade through his heart. The last one attempted to sever his spine, but his saber shot up behind his back to catch her crimson blade. He shoved her back, and turned round in time to bisect the Dark Jedi in two.
Leaving the corpses where they lay, Revan once again set off for the depths of the Star Forge.
In the center of the Forge, Malak stood watching the sith interceptors leave to aid in the battle with the Republic fleet. As the fighters rose and left for the hanger bays to join the battle, the same Sith Master as before approached him, cautiously.
"Why have you disturbed me?" he hissed, annoyed at the man's intrusion.
"Forgive me Lord Malak, but I have news of the Jedi" the man replied.
"Ah the Jedi…" Malak replied as if he was discussing the weather. "Did my droids pass their test? Did they destroy our enemies?"
N-no Lord Malak" the Sith replied. "The entire droid army has been destroyed" Malak blinked slightly then was still unconcerned.
"Strange…"he breathed, "I did not think there were any within the Order who could stand against the Star Forge's battle droids".
"It…" the master gulped "It was Revan Lord Malak…your former master is here. On the Star forge" Malak's sickly yellow eyes glowed dangerously.
Yes…That would explain why the droids failed. Revan was always strong in the force" Malak's right fist clenched in rage. "Very well. Send out all available troops. The apprentices as well"
"Do you think they will stop Revan Lord Malak?"
"Of course not!" the Dark Lord spat "But they will slow Revan down, and that will give me time to prepare the Star Forge's defences. I am curious about the full extent of the Star Forge's capabilities. One as powerful as my former master will be an interesting experiment" With that Malak walked away as the subordinate sent orders to send all available troops and Dark Jedi against Revan.
Revan stepped out of the elevator and looked around. To his right was a wall so not that way obviously. Revan turned to his left and saw a slightly unnerving sight. A huge number of Sith soldiers and Dark Jedi were pouring towards him, all of them determined to gain the prestige from killing Revan.
"Oh that's fair…" Revan said sarcastically. "So I have to fight through an entire army first?!" Revan leaving his question hanging in the air, waded in. Revan cleaved a first Dark Jedi through the midsection. Spinning round, he ran a soldier through the chest, before using the force to hurl him into his companions.
The former dark-lord shot past them using the force to enhance his speed and strength. Many of the scum in his way fell to his blade, as moved through them. Revan shot through a door and used the force to lock it.
He stopped to catch his breath
"Maybe going alone wasn't such a good idea after all," he muttered to himself. Looking round he saw he was in some sort of control room. Approaching the computer panel, he saw the controls to the turrets aside and along his root to the command center. He silently thanked the force, using his computer skills to hack the turrets targeting system programming them to attack the Sith. As his handiwork began to take affect, he felt a glow envelop the plasteel cylinder behind him. He frowned, as he hadn't done anything.
He approached the container, his heart pounding as he opened the cylinder. It was like his soul had re-found its purpose, as he took in the view of the robes that had struck fear into Jedi and Sith alike when he was the Dark Lord. His mind was conflicting now. Part of him wanted to retake the robes, while the rest of him argued that it would be against everything he was working to protect.
Revan closed his eyes and consoled his heart. A few moments of decision making, Revan's eyes slowly opened his decision reached, knowing what lay ahead of him. He reached into the cylinder and took his old robes out.
There was no mask. Probably for the best he thought as he quickly stripped off the clothes he'd been wearing up to this point. He then pulled on the robes, taking three minutes to reattach his weapons to his new and yet old armour. Before pulling up his hood, he looked into the glass screen for a few moments studying his appearance. Nothing had changed, he was not pale, or deformed and his eyes had not changed. He was still in control this he knew as he pulled up his hood, shrouding his face in shadow.
If this is what it takes to save Bastila…then so be it.
Whether Revan knew it or not the donning of his old robes had changed him. This was not the same man as before, similar but not the same. Instead of fighting the darkness in his heart, he had accepted that it was as much a part of him as the light and the change was permanent. He achieved a perfect balance. He was not aware of Malak, Jolee and Juhani's eyes snapping wide for a second as his power grew to unimaginable heights.
As Revan finished pulling up his hood, the door to the room blew open. The battalion of Sith all skidded to a halt as they took in the view of the former dark lord in his olds robes. Revan slowly turned to look at them for a second and the raised his arm.
His palm suddenly shot open with an incredible amount of force energy. The entire battalion screamed as they hurtled out of the door and into various parts of machinery. A second smaller group of Dark Jedi came round the bend. Before they could react a black blur shot through them, with sound of burning flesh and Revan appeared behind them, his cyan saber held out in one hand.
The dark Jedi crumpled to the ground and Revan straightened up, seeing the army of Sith soldiers coming towards him. Revan opened his left hand and the Heart of the Guardian flew to his palm, the bronze blade snarling to life.
Both sabers held firm, the dark-angel know as Revan drove into the hordes of enemies in front of him as he continued moving towards the command center.
Malak stood in the command center looking at the hologram of the battle in front of him, keeping his mind off the power Revan was emanating at this point. The door opened and Bastila approached him from behind as he continued to observe the battle.
"Master…why have you summoned me?" she asked, "Without my battle mediation the Republic fleet could break through an assault the Star Forge".
"This will not take long Bastila…" He replied. Bastila felt her hatred for the man grow as he spoke her name. Only Revan could…no he was her enemy now. He had made sure of that. "I only thought you should know Revan is here on the Star Forge".
"Revan?" she asked in shock, she hadn't sensed his presence "but…"
"The force is driving us to a confrontation with my old master…" Malak said as he sensed Bastila's fear grow, he need to turn her completely "You must kill Revan to prove yourself as my apprentice…finish what you started on that temple".
"Yes L-lord Malak" Bastila replied. Kill Revan? Could she?
"I sense your fear" Malak commented "But it is unfounded. The power of the Star Forge will fuel the power within you. You will be strong enough to defeat my old master. Stay here and use your battle mediation. Revan will find you. It is inevitable" Bastila bowed.
"Yes lord Malak. I will not fail you again" Malak moved away as Bastila settled in meditation a faint blue glow enveloping her body.
"Perhaps you will triumph Bastila" Malak muttered "But even if you fail, it will give me the time I need to prepare the Star Forge defences completely. Now we will see if Revan can stand to the full fury of the Star Forge!"
Malak's cackle filled the halls of the Star Forge as he moved to the observation deck where his experiment awaited him.
Revan drove his sabers through the gut of a Dark Jedi. He pulled both blades out to block a strike from both his right and left sides. He shoved the perpetrators back then ran them both through with his blades. He yanked them out of the dead men and looked around.
As Revan approached the door, a wounded Dark Jedi managed to get to his feet and launch himself at the former Sith. Revan turned as a blaster bolt erupted through the man's skull. Falcan, Canderous, Jolee and Juhani leapt from a doorway and engaged the fresh wave of Sith, HK providing covering fire.
"Go Revan!" Jolee shouted to him. Revan gripped a pillar of metal to his side with the force and hurled into a group of Sith soldiers before going through the door, while his friends held them back.
Moving through the vacant corridors, Revan moved towards the final door. He placed his hand on the door sensing his objective. Revan took a deep breath and moved through the door.
Before him knelt the figure of the woman he knew oh so well.
Bastila looked up as he approached and smiled evilly. She slowly got to her feet, holding her double bladed saber in her hands. Bastila looked over his figure noting his old robes, his face was hidden from her gaze, and she felt her desire to see his face spark against her will.
Revan returned his bronze saber to his belt and held his cyan blade by his side, as Bastila activated her first blade and then second both sliding slowly from the hilt with slow snap-hisses.
Both stood and gazed at each other as the battle of the Star Forge waged on around and inside the artifact of pure darkness.
Et voila chapter 5. What do you think???? Reviews please!!!