KOTOR: The Fate of Revan

Chapter 5: The Dark Lord's Plan

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Star Wars or any of the Knights of the Old Republic games. These games' rights belong to Bioware and LucasArts

Fear and intimidation were highly valued by the Sith. It made sense to the Sith admiral Darth Roke that his master would display these elements in his throne room. Almost shaking from the bad news, Roke slowly walked towards his superior, who was calmly sitting on a black throne. As he strolled down the long walkway, the Sith Lord noticed bolts of lightning erupt from devices on both sides. The floor's lights made his master's dark blue robe seem red. He knelt in front of the throne.

"My master, I have grave news," Roke informed him.

"What is it, my apprentice?" the hooded man asked.

At the sound of his ominous voice, Roke's spine almost shivered. Frowning, he looked up at his teacher. "Rand Pola, the assassin you hired, has failed. Carth Onasi and alive and well. Revan foiled the plan."

Strangely, the cloaked figure began to chuckle. "Just as I expected. Though I hope he delivered the message."

Roke felt confused. "My Lord, I don't understand. Wasn't the point of the mission to assassinate Onasi?"

"Not really," the enigma said. "Truthfully, I didn't expect Pola to succeed. In the event that he didn't, I specifically instructed him to make Revan aware of my presence."

The apprentice narrowed his eyes, only more puzzled. "But why? Revan's on their side now. If he remembers where we are, our whole operation could be doomed."

His superior shook his head. "On the contrary. You see, I WANT Revan to know where we are. I need to see him again."

"For what purpose?" his student inquired.

His master stayed seated. "Revan is viewed as a hero now, is he not? He's gained the trust of the Republic's leaders, and possibly even the Jedi. If he could be turned to our side, we'd be able to crush the Republic easily."

"We don't need his help, master," Roke argued. "We have a huge amount of warships, more than the Republic has."

"As long as they have Revan, our resources are meaningless," the other man said. "That man is the most brilliant tactician of our age. He'd be able to defeat us even if the Republic's forces were outnumbered 3 to 1. To attack now would be to suffer the same fate as the Mandalorians."

The apprentice was still suspicious of his master's plan. "What if Revan comes here with a Republic fleet and attacks us?"

The cloaked figure stayed still. "He won't. The Jedi has too much pride. Revan will come here with no fleet accompanying him, as he did years ago. And if I fail to bring him back…I'll immediately eliminate him."

Now understanding the plan, Roke smirked. "That's…brilliant, Emperor."

Ignoring the compliment, he raised his hand, pointing to the large doors at the other side. "You are dismissed. Continue to monitor the rest of the Sith."

Nodding, Roke bowed, his cloak flapping behind him as he walked away. His master leaned back in his chair, and for the first time in months, smiled to himself. Yet the smile held no compassion and happiness...only hopes for galactic conquest.

Tapping his fingers impatiently on the table, Revan glanced at the room's bright banners. His eyes then moved to Bastila. The female Jedi was looking down, apparently deep in thought. She had been concerned with the mysterious Sith Emperor for the past few days. Throughout her Jedi training, she had studied countless histories of the Jedi and Sith. She knew their history from their origins as Dark Jedi to their fall in the Great Hyperspace War. And not once had the passages spoken of this strange Sith leader that the assassin had revealed. As far as the original Sith were concerned though, nothing about them was recorded after the Great Hyperspace War. It had been said that they were all defeated. Realistically speaking though, was it even possible that EVERY minion of the Dark Side had been defeated? Surely some of them must have survived. Maybe they were slowly rebuilding, and this Sith Emperor became their leader at some point. Bastila was assuming too much though. The Sith Emperor could just be another corrupted Jedi who sought to rule the galaxy.

Revan felt differently. Despite not recalling anything about an emperor leading the Sith in the historical texts he studied, the term sounded EXTREMELY familiar to him. He was sure he had heard the name before. But where? Had it been at a place he traveled to during the Mandalorian Wars? Perhaps this emperor was in league with the Mandalorians. No, Revan felt it was something else. As the name implies, the Sith Emperor is probably a strong practitioner of the Dark Side. So, it could be someone Revan met as Dark Lord of the Sith…perhaps even the person who MADE him Dark Lord of the Sith. More often than not, that title was granted, not taken. He wanted to believe he was assuming too much, but Revan felt like all these theories were TRUE. Could his memories be feeding him information even while he was awake?

At the sound of a humming noise, the two Jedi turned to see Carth shutting down his device.

"Find anything?" Bastila asked.

He shook his head. "Nope. There wasn't any trace of this Sith Emperor."

"It's alright," Revan assured him. "We can check the archives."

Bastila looked at him. "And what if they don't have information about him either?"

"In that case, it's probably up to me," Revan admitted. "I have a strong feeling that I've met this guy before."

She raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Really? Do you remember how?"

He shook his head. "Not a clue."

Carth reactivated his Holonet, waiting for it to load a few files. "Well since we've hit a dead end, let's talk about something else. Like the Sith's newest movements."

Revan rubbed his chin. "Oh yeah. I wonder what Malak's broken empire is up to."

"Nothing good," the admiral replied. "Right now it looks like a huge amount of Sith are gathering on Korriban. They're probably trying to regroup and fight the Republic."

"Well what's the plan, Carth?" she inquired.

He turned to the other Jedi. "Actually, I thought that you would have a better idea of how to approach this, Revan. You've been a Sith before, and you're a better tactician than I'll ever be."

Revan smirked. "I'm humbled by your compliment."

"No you're not," Carth stated with a grin. "You may be a Jedi, but you're NOT humble."

The former Dark Lord laughed. "That's true. We have to approach this situation in a symbolic sense. Defeating the Sith on Korriban will represent the ultimate fall of their empire. After that, the scattered servants of the Dark Side will turn on each other, fighting for a role of leadership. They'll be destroyed by their own pride and lust for power. All we have to do is act as a catalyst."

Liking the sound of that, the officer smiled. "So we take Korriban and they'll do the rest?"

"Precisely," Revan answered. "We'll need a big strike force, but I'm sure that as an admiral, you'll be able to do that."

Carth brought up a hologram on his device. The image, completely tinted in blue, showed Korriban with a few ships around it. "Right now we estimate that there are about thirty ships orbiting Korriban. I'll get permission from Admiral Dodonna, and lead a garrison of fifty Republic warships there. With Bastila's battle meditation, we should only need ten, but I want to play it safe."

"When do we leave?" Bastila asked.

"Tomorrow," Carth said. "But Korriban is only a few days away. It won't be too long."

"In that case, we better analyze the archives now," Bastila told Revan.

As they stood up, the admiral grabbed Revan's robe. "Wait, could I talk with you for a moment?"

Revan exchanged a glance with Bastila, and upon seeing her nod once, sat back down. Carth waited until the door shut and the footsteps faded.

"Bastila says you're memories are coming back," Carth said.

"In random pieces, yes," the prodigal knight replied. "They come to me as dreams."

"So how much has come back to you?" the pilot asked.

Revan leaned back in his chair. "So far I've remembered a battle with a Jedi Master, a discussion with Malak after the battle, and another conversation I had with Malak after we asked the Jedi Council for permission to fight in the Mandalorian Wars."

"Did this emperor come up at any point?" Carth asked.

"Not once," Revan responded. "But that title seems too familiar. I'm sure that it's somewhere in my memories."

"Maybe you should talk to one of the Jedi Masters about this," he suggested. "Aren't they supposed to understand how dreams and visions work?"

The Jedi smirked. "They're SUPPOSED to. But sometimes their advice is useless. I'm not sure if they can help me, but I'll ask."

"We both know you've done cruel things in the past," the officer suddenly said. "But no matter how many memories you have of your time as Dark Lord…no matter how many of your atrocious acts you remember…understand that you're NOT the same person anymore. You're Revan, the hero of the Republic…the redeemed knight of the Jedi. You're not Dark Lord of the Sith anymore."

Revan put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Carth. I know how hard it is for you to trust people-"

"No, that's not what I'm saying," the admiral argued. "I'm saying that I DO trust you, and I know you'll make the right decisions."

The knight smiled. "Well that's good. After saving your hide fifteen times, I'm glad you finally trust me."

Carth waved his hand. "Fourteen times. That whole mess on Tatooine doesn't count. I could have handled those sand people on my own."

Revan narrowed his eyes. "There were thirty of them. You almost died when you fought five of them!"

"Because they weren't fighting fairly!" Carth explained. "They had me surrounded! There was nothing I could do."

The Jedi stared at him in confusion. "What did you expect them to do? Fight you one at a time?"

The admiral nodded. "That would have been the honorable thing to do."

His friend laughed. "Sand people are some of the least honorable fighters in the galaxy."

"Okay, you've made your point!" Onasi admitted. "Isn't there a library you have to go to?"

Still grinning, Revan quickly exited the room.

Countless records were stacked along the room's shelves. Surprisingly, the chamber was fairly empty, with only three or four Jedi in it. For thousands of years, scholars of the light side had studied these histories. And every year, even more information joined these records. Knowledge was truly infinite. It would never end, and never could end. Be it for power or greater understanding, people would always want to learn something new. For a Jedi like Bastila, her motive was the latter. She had been using the search system to discover something about this emperor. Yet no matter what keyword she used, it bore no results.

"Any luck?" Revan asked.

Recognizing his voice behind her, the woman kept staring at the screen. "Not yet. I've searched the whole database, and there's no record of a Sith who used this title. A few other figures have called themselves emperor, but not a disciple of the Dark Side."

The Prodigal Knight stroked his chin. "I guess we'll have to rely on my memories then."

"But what if you haven't met him?" she inquired.

"Then the next time an assassin is sent by this emperor, we'll interrogate him," he responded simply.

"Or her," the girl pointed out.

Revan smirked. "Actually, I hope it is a girl. That way she'll screw it up somehow and we'll easily be able to capture her."

Standing up, the brunette glared at her love. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like," he told her. "Women are worse assassins than men."

"You sexist jerk!" Bastila yelled. "That's a complete lie and you know it!"

"No it isn't!" Revan said. "I found it much easier to kill female Sith officers on our journey."

Practically growling, the Jedi Knight kept her gaze on him. "You had an easy time killing ALL the Sith officers."

He raised his finger. "But the girls were a complete joke. At least the men put up a good fight."

Silent, Bastila began to walk away. Feeling like an idiot, Revan ran up to her and embraced the girl in a hug.

"I was just joking," he said.

She sighed. "Sometimes you go too far, Revan."

"I know," the Jedi answered. "But if it makes you feel better, my best general in the Mandalorian Wars was a girl."

Bastila raised her eyebrows. "I didn't know that. What was her name?"

"Alena Mire," he stated.

Quickly recognizing the name, Bastila nodded. "Yes, I remember her now. She followed you to war…and when she came back, the Council exiled her."

He gritted his teeth. "They what?"

Surprised by his anger, she took a step back. "I thought you knew. When she returned, they had her exiled to the Unknown Regions."

Bastila bit her lip for a moment. "Revan, how did you remember this?"

Stunned, he widened his eyes. "I'm…not sure. I didn't have a dream about it. It's like…I just instinctively knew it."

Bastila watched him gaze off into the distance. And once again, she realized that despite all his strengths and talents, Revan still wasn't perfect. Even he didn't know everything. But she still wished to find out what he did know…and more importantly, what he remembered.