Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic III: Sith Empire
Chapter Two:
The low hum of a lightsaber bent and twisted in the air as a man cut slid his blade through a heavily armored soldier's throat. The man was clad in black robes with black armor plating on his chest, a hood, and a mask once worn by Mandalore the Ultimate covering his face.
He held his arm high in the air proudly, his silver lightsaber lighting the night skies of Reckleyon. A confident roar, almost like a battle cry, was heard behind him, as about five hundred humans held their blasters and vibroswords in the air.
The man drew his lightsaber, and picked up a torn red flag containing a black symbol in the middle of it. It was the flag of the Galactic Republic. Though here it was known as the emblem of the Human Rebellion.
Revan, savior, conqueror, hero, and villain of the Galactic Republic and the Sith Minions – followers of the dark side and the civilians whom they fight for – had now emerged into the Unknown Regions, which were a place of dictatorship, oppression, and darkness. He knew that the True Sith, rulers of this side of the galaxy, would some day push Revan and the rebellion that he had created back to his side of the galaxy, where the Galactic Republic, Mandalorians, and the outer solar systems would face the Sith head on.
But he needed to buy them more time. Five years was not enough to completely restore a corrupted Republic that stretched through thousands and thousands of solar systems, or gather a shattered group of warriors who were now nothing but common mercenaries, or rebuild the order that he knew was shattered by Darth Nihilus. But the time for that was not now.
Revan trudged through the rocky terrain, the other five hundred men following him. This world reminded him of Korriban; it was a rocky terrain throughout the whole planet, and only one major city that spanned only three hundred kilometers wide. But it was crucial to the war,
Revan finally got to the drop of the cliff, where he overlooked a huge array of tents, with at least twenty thousand soldiers being housed in it. Revan saw a flying platform fly up to the top of the cliff. He stepped on to it alone, letting it take him down just past the entrance of the huge encampment. He shifted through the many tents, until he got to one particular tent that had two armed guards outside, who saluted at Revan as he walked through.
In the tent stood a man sipping some warm drink, and over looking a datapad set out on a plasteel table. Revan took a seat down next to the man, then took off his mask, revealing his face for the first time.
"Revan," stated the general as he motioned to the map.
"It seems that we live to fight another day, general. A few Sith spies that have been sent into orbit on this world have been found with about four hundred men on their backs. Luckily, we had over a thousand and were able to rout them out." Informed Revan with a strange unsettledness in his voice, as if something was going to go wrong, fast.
"That's good to hear. The Sith cannot find out that our headquarters is hidden in the city. If it is found out that the Reckleyon government has decided to house the rebellion, then the planet will be turned to dust. Well, one already has. I have some bad news for you, Revan. Dreclen has been bombed by the Sith fleet. Their spies picked up a small rebellion colony. But the mass communication was sensed there because they were in contact with us. They thought that out HQ was there, and destroyed the whole planet, the entire colony. Now they think that we are in disarray."
"Excellent," breathed Revan.
"What are you talking about? That colony was crucial to our cortosis trade! Our supplies and economy will take a major drop! Not to mention all those people who died."
"You don't understand," breathed Revan with slight emphasis on 'understand,' "they think that they hit a major military base. They will hold back their attacks, trying to see their next course of action. Their outposts will loosen, and their cutting off of trade routes and surprise attacks will cease dramatically. It will give us time to regroup, and prepare for the final move."
"The final move?"
"I never told where I came from didn't I?" said Revan with some cold aura about him. "I come from past the series of empty hyperspace, where thousands upon thousands of systems lay, most bound by the hand of the Galactic Republic. Why do you think I used the flag as it is? It is because that is the flag of the Republic. It has been . . . ruptured, but it is rebuilding rapidly. As you know, the Sith outnumber us fifty to one." He stopped, as if to let the general gather his thoughts.
"So, the great mystery of Revan's home world has been solved," muttered the general. "Wait, so the republic? It is what governs your side of the galaxy. But that would mean that it would have hundreds of billions of men at their disposal! We could-"
"No, general. It is your help that we could use. If we remain here, we will be defeated. It will take many months, but we will retreat back into the centers of the galaxy itself; to the Republic."
The general shook his head in disbelief. "It . . . it's impossible!" he retorted, suddenly angry, "how can we expect to move about four million soldiers and their families over such a vast distance? How do you expect to have these humans – who have spent their life here, all that they have ever known – to suddenly move to the other side of the galaxy? It's impossible! It would take years to do such a feat, not months. That is, if you manage to convince them to leave! And what about the humans that do not follow the rebellion?"
"They will die!" hissed Revan coldly, "and those who do not follow us will continue to be oppressed by the Sith. They have no choice. And I will bring the truth to their faces! Those who try to stop us will die!"
After a few seconds of calming down, Revan shockingly noticed the hate in his voice; the cold determination. He had been like this ever since he had left. After leaving his entire life behind him to come to the Unknown regions, he had never been at peace with himself. Then there were also his friends. But that was it! Without the pact of a warrior, coded with honor, without someone to rely on him, not only physically, but personally as well, without someone to swear themselves for what he truly his, and without love, he was wounded.
There is no emotion, there is peace. 'Bah!' he thought to himself, 'there is always emotion.' There is no Passion, there is no serenity. Oh, it was all about passion to him. He could find no serenity. He was lost.
"Revan."
Revan looked at the general, who walked out of the room, leaving him to the mess of the force that lay in the room.
Revan leaned lazily back on his chair in the cantina. He had long brown hair that combed down in something like a mullet, except it only came down past his collar and covered half of his ears. Stubble had grown everywhere on his face from long battles, trekking through the mud, and constant stress beating down on him. His eyes were also tired, growing even a little red. And though he had light skin, it was tanned and roughened. He was here for information. He needed to know what the local populace thought of Revan, the insane person who had come out of nowhere to fight the Sith Empire, which enslaved almost all of this part of the galaxy. It had been three months since that day on Reckleyon, and the rebellion was still getting ready to move. Only a few months later, they would have left the galaxy, and a month or so of hyperspace travel after that, they would have arrived at the outer rim of the Republic.
He had seen a sith before. They were not human. They carried the human form, walked like humans, talked in the same voice as humans, and were only a few inches taller than the average human. But behind all of that red armor plating, laid crimson skin, blank golden eyes, blue hair, and very long, pointed ears. But it was not their difference to humans that was scary; it was their similarity. It was almost as if billions of sith had one day come to the other side of the galaxy to settle, and they eventually evolved into humans.
But Revan knew that was not true. He knew it wasn't, because as he stared into their eyes, his lightsaber pointed at their throats for the final blow, he saw the force in all of its forms. He saw a codex that was life and death.
But they were evil. Well, at least their idea was evil. They had almost all base human emotions, but they also had a bloodlust; they were bringers of death and a new life, a life of hunger.
"So, I see you're here again."
Revan looked up to see the human bartender wiping the table.
"Well, not many of us here in this part of the galaxy," he said roughly, "the Sith come in and take this whole sector of the galaxy! So, you'd understand if I'm glad to see another human here. So, what's your name?"
"Kale Chaal," sighed Revan, referring to the name that the Jedi Council had programmed into his mind seven years ago. Revan looked up at the man as he sipped his Juma Juice. "So," Revan got the bartender's attention, "what do you think of Revan's crusade against the Empire?"
The bartender sighed and looked Revan in the eye. "Listen, Kale. Many people follow Revan, and the vast majority are humans. Revan did not launch his crusade as a fight for freedom, but I think he did it as a fight for defense. He isn't from this sector of the galaxy. He wants to destroy the Sith so that they don't attack the place where he is from. And yet he says he brings us freedom. Well, let me ask this; what happens if the Sith are defeated? Will this sector of the galaxy be able to recover? Will Revan abandon us after the Sith are defeated? Will he come back with his own fleet to this weakened galaxy, and conquer it? I do not trust him. But hordes of humans follow him, they follow him to the death."
When the Bartender left into the room behind to get more drinks, Revan sighed in frustration.
'Is this the morale that I am receiving?' he thought worriedly. But everything the bartender said was true. There would be no stability after the defeat of the Sith.
