Chapter Twenty-Eight: Bastila
Bastila Shan, apprentice to Darth Malak. She's there. She's waiting for you. She's waiting, meditating, anticipating.
No matter how hard she tried, Revan couldn't block the voice of the Star Forge. Hadn't she blocked the Star Forge back on the Ebon Hawk? Why was it back? Why wouldn't it leave her alone? Revan wasn't sure if the Star Forge was trying to warn her because she was once its Master, or spinning her in circles to throw her off her guard. She'd called out to it when Carth was injured, and Revan regretted it. She didn't regret saving Carth; she regretted calling to the dark side of the Force. And the worst part was, Revan did it without thinking. Her emotions got the better of her, and the darkness flowed through her as easily as it had before…
Bastila's been told to kill you. Kill you, Lord Revan! Your own apprentice has ordered you former friend to kill you in battle!
She won't, Revan thought as she stared at the back of Bastila's head. I'm stronger. She won't.
We will fight her together.
No, we won't, Revan thought.
You need Us, Lord Revan! You need the power of the Star Forge! Admit it! You need Us, just like you needed Us to save the Republic pilot! The pitiful Republic Pilot. You continue to require his help. He could have died if it weren't for Us. We helped you. And We will help you again!
Revan grabbed the sides of her head. "No," she gasped.
Revan felt two strong hands grab her upper-arms. "It's okay," she heard a voice say. The voice sounded distant. She could barely hear it. Carth? Was it Carth that said she was okay? Her head was spinning. Revan could no longer tell who was talking to her, who was trying to help, who was trying to harm.
Use Our power!
"I'm here, Beautiful."
"You're so… beautiful, Revan," Malak said. "I… Your beauty—"
"You will address me as Master!" Revan snapped. "And you will continue to do so unless I state otherwise!"
"I… I apologize, my Master," Malak said.
"Liana? It's Carth, not Malak. Can you hear me? Beautiful, it's Carth."
Oh sweet Force, Revan thought. She started to cry. Revan could no longer think straight, could no longer focus. "Leave me alone!" she screamed, looking upward. "Do you hear me? Leave me alone!"
You've alarmed Bastila! She wishes to kill you! Stop denying your true feelings, you passion, your darkness! Use Us, Lord Revan! Use our power!
"No!" Revan cried.
The Republic Pilot! Bastila sees him! Bastila will kill him before she kills you! Defend him! If you love him, defend him!
Revan immediately grabbed her lightsabers, turned them on and stood in her defensive stance. It took her a few seconds to realize she'd blindly followed the Star Forge. She turned her lightsabers off and muttered a soft curse.
Bastila stood before Revan, Carth, and Jolee, her double-bladed lightsaber still off, a cold smile on her pale lips. Bastila's skin was beginning to show a gray tint, the color starting to drain the further she slipped to the Dark Side of the Force.
"Revan," Bastila said, her tone cold. "I knew you'd come for me."
Kill her! She is the apprentice to the traitor! Kill her now!
Revan cringed and tried to suppress the voices. "I'm… I'm not Darth Revan," she managed to say.
Bastila shook her head. "Sadly, I know this is true," she said. "Had you reclaimed the power of your previous identity, I would be your apprentice, not Malak's." Bastila gripped her weapon. "But you rejected the dark side."
Reclaim! Reclaim!
Revan cringed again. She could see herself using the Force to grab Bastila by the neck and throw her clear cross the room. The darkness was at her fingertips. She could feel it…
Use the Dark Side! Let Us help you!
"Now you must pay the price," Bastila continued. "Here on the Star Forge the Dark Side is as its strongest. This time you will not defeat me!"
Before Revan could say anything, Bastila raised her hand and placed Jolee and Carth in stasis.
"Carth!" Revan cried. She turned to see Carth standing back, his arms raised above his face, motionless like a statue. Then the door closed, locking Carth and Jolee on the other side.
Bastila cackled. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were in love with that whining fool."
Kill Bastila! Kill her!
Revan gripped her lightsabers in anger, then slowly turned around. She glared at Bastila. Both woman turned their weapons on, and the duel began.
Revan attacked first, using her anger to fuel her energy. For every attack Revan issued, Bastila defended perfectly, as if she was reading Revan's mind. Just like on Dantooine, Revan thought as she continued to attack. Bastila wasn't the best swordsman among the Jedi, but Bastila still had trained her well.
Or had Revan simply forgotten due to the mindwipe?
Images of the Jedi Council ran through her mind. Each and every one of them—
Vrook, Vandar, Dorak, Zhar—they all lied to her! They all knew her true identity! They all used her!
Revan gathered her anger and sent a Force Wave Bastila's way. The younger woman was caught off-guard and was sent flying backwards, crashing hard onto the metal floor.
Revan breathed heavily, trying to catch her breath. What was she doing? Her anger, her rage… The Star Forge was winning her over again.
Revan heard the Star Forge laughing.
"No," she whispered, tears beginning to form. "No!"
"I see now why Malak followed you," Bastila said, standing up. "Even though you are a shell of your former self, you are still a formidable opponent. I can't even imagine the power you must have wielded when you were the Dark Lord. You were a fool to give it all up and follow the light side."
Even the young fool Bastila knows you were wrong to leave Us!
No, Revan thought. She told herself not to listen. "I am strong in the light," Revan said. "The dark side… It's consumed you, Bastila. Don't let it. It'll destroy you like it's trying to destroy me."
Bastila laughed. "The dark side had made me stronger than I ever was before! I have a greater command of the Force than all but the most powerful Jedi Masters!"
An image of a young boy flashed before Revan's eyes.
"You're the most powerful Jedi I've ever met, Liana," he said. "And you're only a Padawan. I bet one day you'll be even stronger than even the most powerful Jedi Masters!"
The boy was bald… with two dark lines on his head…
"Malak," Revan whispered. Why did he call me Liana?
"As Malak teaches me the greatest secrets of the Sith," Bastila continued, "I will unlock my potential! Eventually there will be no limit to what I can accomplish with the Force!"
Revan saw images from her dream of Telos's destruction. She winced at the memory. "No," she said, trying to find the strength. "The dark side is nothing but… destruction… death… You don't want that, Bastila. Don't… don't do what I did."
Bastila snorted. "Jedi propaganda. The dark side is only a tool, and Malak will train me in its use. Eventually I will surpass my Master and challenge him. If I am worthy, he will die at my hand. Then I will take on my own apprentice and the cycle will start again."
"Got it all figured out, huh?" Revan said. "You talk about the dark side like it's something experienced for more than a few days."
"This is the way of the Sith!" Bastila snapped. "It is how we assure our leaders are always the strongest and most worthy!"
"You're dooming yourself to an endless cycle, Bastila!" Revan said. "Don't you see?"
"No, Revan! It is you who are doomed!"
Bastila leapt forward, did a somersault in the air, and attacked. Fearing her anger would consume her again, Revan defended. She watched Bastila's attacks, repeating to herself over and over, Defend… Defend… Defend. As the lightsabers' crashed together, Revan did everything in her power to continue defending and not let her anger control her. Defend… Defend… Defend…
"You are growing weary!" Bastila said as she continued to attack. "I can sense it! Your strength falters. The light side is failing you while the power of the Star Forge re-energizes me! Soon this will all be over!"
Revan used the Force to push Bastila away. Bastila sneered as she fell to the ground a second time. Before Bastila could say anything else, Revan turned her lightsabers off. "Then strike me down," she said. "I won't defend myself."
Lord Revan, no! No, not when We are so close! Finish her off! Kill her!
Bastila looked at Revan in disbelief. "What type of trick is this?"
You've caught her off-guard! Strike her down! Reclaim your title! Free the universe of this cowardly Sith!
"This is no trick," Revan said. "You're not evil, Bastila. You won't strike down a defenseless opponent."
"I am a Sith apprentice now!" Bastila cried. "You place too much faith in what I used to be… and for that you shall pay!"
KILL HER!
"No, Bastila!" Revan cried.
Bastila leapt forward again, and Revan barely got out of the way, turning her lightsabers back on as she dodged. Weapons crashed together as Bastila and Revan continued to fight. The Star Forge was sending much of its strength to Bastila, and Revan was doing her best to counter it. Revan called to the light side of the Force for strength.
Stop, Lord Revan! What are you doing? You need Us! Call to Us!
She ignored the Star Forge, focused on Bastila, and called out again to the light side to help her.
Revan suddenly felt physically lighter. She could feel the Force flow through her, aiding her. It was no longer a struggle to fight, to maintain control of the battle. She felt a skilled Jedi warrior fighting a first-year padawan. The light side had listened to her and responded…
"I do not understand the significance—"
"You are a fool, Malak! These dark robes were constructed by the Star Forge. The fabric is filled with dark power. It channels the dark side of the Force, making me even more powerful than I already am!"
The robes she wore as Darth Revan channeled dark side powers. These robes she made earlier looked just like her Darth Revan robes, but were white and tan…
Were her tan robes channeling the light side…?
Maybe that's why she told Carth she had to wear them…
Bastila fell to her knees, gasping for air. "No," she cried. "No, this is not possible! You have rejected the dark side. You are a weak and pathetic servant of the light! How can you still stand against me? Why can't I defeat you?"
Revan took a step back and turned her lightsabers off. "The light side is always stronger than the darkness."
Bastila looked up at Revan. "Yes… I see you speak the truth. I am no match for you. Please, for the sake of what we once shared, do not make me suffer. End my life quickly. There is no other way."
Revan's heart leapt to her throat. She thought of the morning before the Ebon Hawk crash-landed on the Rakatan Beach. Carth held her tight that morning. He'd given her his all, showing her the only way he could how much he loved her, how much he didn't want her to die fighting Malak. Revan thought of that evening on the same beach, where Carth told her he loved her. She thought of him comforting her as the Star Forge called, Carth whispering that everything was going to be okay as she wept in his arms. She didn't want that moment to end…
Nothing could convince Revan she shouldn't die here. She needed to put an end to Darth Revan once and for all…
And now Bastila was begging for death, too…
No… Bastila was young. She didn't know any better. She'd been brainwashed by Malak to think that the dark side was better, superior. He was using her—
A tale all too familiar, Revan, she thought. A tear trickled down her cheek.
"There's no need to kill you," Revan whispered. I'm the one that needs to die. Not you…
Bastila's eyes were large and pleading. "What other choice do you have?" she softly cried. "I've fallen to the dark side. I am the apprentice to the Dark Lord himself. You cannot let me live."
The words stung.
"You've always preached about redemption," Revan said, struggling for something to tell her. "You told me the council set out to redeem me—"
"You were a special case," Bastila whispered. "The council had no other choice. They needed you alive so they could discover the location of the Star Forge." She looked up at Revan. "It was an act of desperation."
So the Jedi Council used you like the traitor used you. They didn't forgive you for your acts as Darth Revan. You were merely a tool.
Revan cringed at the Star Forge. But she had to admit, the Star Forge was right…
"It was my responsibility to watch over you," Bastila said, "to make sure you did not slip back into your evil ways. I was supposed to protect you from the dark side."
"You did protect me," Revan said.
The Republic pilot protected you, not her. Kill her! She used you, Lord Revan!
"But at what cost, Revan?" Bastila whispered. "In protecting you, I fell to the dark side myself. Is that the price of a Jedi's redemption? Must another fall to save me?"
"I can't answer that," Revan whispered.
"I cannot allow that to happen. Please, Revan, this is too painful. Strike me down. End this now, quickly! There is no other way."
I can't do this, Revan thought. I can't kill her…
"Please, Revan…"
"I'm… I can't kill you, Bastila," Revan whispered.
"There is no other way!"
"Yes there is," Revan said. "You know what you've done is wrong. So stop! Change right here, right now. Help us defeat the Sith."
Bastila thought for a moment, then slowly nodded. "Yes… I could… I could join you in your battle against the Dark Lord. That alone would not make up for all I have done, yet… it would be a step in the right direction…" She looked at Revan, uncertain. "But how would you be able to trust me? How do you know I wouldn't turn on you when you faced Darth Malak? How do you know the dark side wouldn't make me betray you again?"
"I trust you," Revan said. "That should be enough."
"You play a dangerous game," Bastila said. "Are you certain you wish to take this risk? I could end your life and gain Malak's favor with a single stroke of my lightsaber."
"But you won't."
"You are brave… and some would say foolish," Bastila said. "But you are also right. The dark side has not wholly consumed me. I cannot raise my blade against you."
Revan smiled.
"I should stay here, though," she said. "If we were to face Malak, I am afraid his dark presence will overwhelm me. It would not be wise to expose myself to such temptation. You don't need me to defeat Malak, anyway. Now I understand a true Jedi is no match for any Sith, even the Dark Lord himself."
Revan extended her hand and helped Bastila to her feet. "I… I will stay here," Bastila said, "in this chamber and use my Battle Meditation to aid the Republic Fleet. I am their only hope of destroying the Star Forge and ending the Sith menace.
"You must go face Malak, but you have to hurry," Bastila said. "Once I turn the battle in the Republic's favor, we won't have much time to escape the Star Forge before it's destroyed."
"I know," Revan said.
"Good luck," Bastila said. "And may the Force be with you."
Sorry for the long wait! Eep! Trying so hard to graduate...