Badesh was cutting down his enemies as fast as he could, even with the back-up of the troops the progress towards the fortress was slow but steady. Next to him fought Xalek, he also wrought havoc among the Revanites, but it was still clear to Badesh that his combat style was still raw and a little hasty. He had assigned two shock-troopers to watch Xalek's back and from what he had seen they had been very busy.

"My Lord," Quinn's voice in his ear caused Badesh to pause with his next attack. He had stayed further back to coordinate the operation.

"Yes?"

"Team Blue has breached the fortress. According to my calculations the opposition will collapse within the next half hours. No signs of Darth Revan so far."

Badesh reached out with the force and clearly felt Revan's presence. There was no mistaking it. Why hadn't he shown himself?

"Agent Heian – how is the slicing going?" Badesh impaled a reckless force-sensitive who had tried to catch him off guard and had jumped at him.

"Not good so far – the system is closed. I need to get access in the fortress itself."

"Quinn, as soon as the path is clear you will escort Th… Agent Heian into the fortress."

"Yes my Lord."

Badesh was worried. It was too easy, they had yet to meet real opposition. Was it a trap after all? In the end it didn't matter – they simply had to storm the enemy camp one way or another. He interrupted his musings and rejoiced as he killed three enemy soldiers with one strike. He lifted one corpse with the force and threw it against a group of opponents. It wasn't effective but for the shortest moment he felt the sour fear and sweet shock from them.

Badesh fought on, but suddenly he felt a great peril and he jumped as quickly as possible away; a loud explosion shook the ground. Badesh saw nothing but smoke – but the Revanites seemed to have some sort of artillery. When the sight cleared he saw two tanks coming out of the hangar of the base.

"Two Makebian Class-7 hovertanks, my Lord. We need to take them out quick or they will break our formation," said Quinn calmly.

"Leave them to me – they don't have close-combat defences, right?" yelled Badesh and started to run towards the tanks.

"Affirmative. They have a very high fire-power, but the minimal reload time for its cannon is 5 seconds. My Lord, the armour is very thick, even with a lightsaber…"

"Weak point?"

"The armour is the thinnest on the bottom."

Badesh began to focus, he delved deep into his connection to the force and summoned the dreaded picture of Vette and Quinn lying dead on the street of Dromund Kaas. He felt a burning sensation in his chest and registered that his power lever rose. Badesh jumped from one enemy soldier to another, hurrying toward the two massive tanks that fired once again.

Finally he was within reach of the first tank and focused his energy on the ground in front of it. He released the gathered force and a huge part of the frozen ground was lifted into the air, the hovertank lost its balance and slid on its right side, baring it's belly to Badesh who dragged his lightsaber across it; causing the fuel to pour out. Before Badesh could move away the lightsaber had already caused a spark that ignited the fuel. He gritted his teeth and erected a shield with the force; it was probably too weak to save him from the ex… A loud bang and a ball of fire was the last thing Badesh saw as he was hurled away.

He was disorientated and tried to get up, only to fall on his knees. It was almost like back in…

"Badesh! Two force-user are closing in on you!" yelled Quinn.

The voice brought him back to the present. He tried to rise to his feet once more, but his legs failed again. Then he realised that a large metal piece was stuck in his right thigh. He pulled it out and threw it at one of the Revanites approaching him, it caught her by surprise and the shrapnel slid her throat. Blood sprayed from the wound as she fell. The other Revanite swung his lightsaber and was about to strike Badesh when a single blaster bolt penetrated his chest, a second and a third followed. An imperial sniper must have seen that he was in peril. The man was dead before he touched the ground. Badesh didn't see his own lightsaber so he took the ones lying in front of him and struggled to get on his feet. There was still a tank left.

He set his eyes on his goal, the tank was now surrounded by enemy soldiers. Finally a challenge for him, Badesh pulled his mask from his face and let if fall on the frozen ground. Then he reached down to his thigh and touched his wound with the tip of his finger; he put the finger in his mouth and tasted his own blood. It was exciting and suddenly the prospect of killing all these soldiers in front of him exhilarated him to a degree that he forgot about the pain in his leg.

Badesh ignited the lightsaber and lunged at his enemies.

ooOOoo

Half an hour later they had breached to front entrance and rallied in the base. There were still skirmishes, but the imperial forces had won the battle. According to his orders Quinn had brought Theron into the fortress and he immediately begun to slice into the system.

Quinn approached Badesh who was standing in front of a large statue of Revan in the middle of the main entrance hall.

"My Lord, the medics told me that you refused treatment. With all due respects, I…"

Badesh lifted his hand and Quinn stopped in mid-sentence. "I just wanted to make sure that the fight was decided – you may vet me now." He was fully aware that this excuse was weak; as a matter of fact he just didn't think that anyone beside Quinn should dress his wounds.

"Right away, my Lord," replied Quinn and pulled his kolto injector from his utility belt. He kneeled down and applied the kolto on Badesh thigh.

"Find the sniper that killed the force-user that wanted to attack me while I was down – I wish to commend him or her."

Quinn was still focused on vetting him and didn't look up. "The sniper did only his duty; a commendation won't be necessary."

Badesh was taken aback that Quinn would refuse a commendation for an obviously skilled soldier. Then he realised that he had used a male pronoun. "You were the shooter, weren't you?"

"Yes my Lord. I abandoned my post and took the shot. The time wasn't sufficient to coordinate with the designed snipers."

By the stars! Quinn had to be the most accomplished officer in the whole imperial navy. Badesh felt a very strong affection as he looked at him. "I wasn't aware that you had a rifle at all."

Quinn had finished the treatment and rose to his feet. "I didn't – but Agent Heian had one and I took it from him."

"Yeah, he did – at first I thought he would shoot me for the bad puns I made while trying to slice the revanite system." Theron walked slowly towards them. "You have to tell me which cybernetic implants you use – your aim puts mine to shame." He beamed at Quinn who stood at parade rest.

"I don't have implants, Agent Heian. Technology requires maintenance and poses a risk, especially when one relies on it."

"Suit yourself… I hacked the database and it seems that this place it the main base of the revanites. With a little more time we could compile lists with names of Revanites on both sides. In the meantime I've locked every door in the upper levels – Revan can't escape."

Badesh reached out through the force and still felt Revan's presence as well his immense power. Again he mused about the fact that he hadn't shown himself. He also felt Nox' force signature drawing nearer. He turned and saw how Nox entered the main hall from a side corridor. It was strange to see him in imperial uniform. Vette and Kalda followed him; Badesh was relieved to see that Vette wasn't hurt but he couldn't help to notice that she looked haunted. He had to suppress his urge to touch her.

"My Lord, shall I see to your wounds?" asked Quinn as soon as Nox had joined them.

Nox had indeed several blaster grazes and cuts. But neither the uniform nor the injuries were the what astounded Badesh – it was the absence of the Dread Force.

"Do it," commanded Nox and said to Vette "and bring me my robes – if we face the legendary Revan I want to look like an member of the Dark Council." He turned his attention again to Badesh. "It was magnificent, Darth Tenebra. I'm afraid I enjoyed myself a little too much… I need to meditate shortly before we can continue."

Badesh simply nodded. He felt clearly how powerful their opponent was – they needed their full power at their disposal. For the first time Badesh was unsure whether he could actually best an opponent. "Quinn, let all non-essential personnel retreat and prepare Project Meteorite."

"Right away, my Lord." Quinn ended the treatment of Nox and briskly walked away to contact the squad leaders.

"Wait – what's Project Meteorite?" asked Kalda. "It wasn't mentioned during our briefing."

"You will show Darth Tenebra the respect he is due!" growled Nox and with a wave of his hand he cause Kalda to collapse and scream. After a few seconds it was over and she slowly got up; Kalda looked sick.

"It's our contingency plan should we fail," replied Badesh. "Kilran has orders to drive an imperial battle cruiser through the force field and let it crash on the base. It will bury everything within the fortress for good."

Theron looked shocked, then his lips curled up in a sad smile. "Even after all this I was right to come to you… you will indeed to everything necessary to stop the Revanites."

"Of course, for the good of the Empire."

After Nox had meditated he and Badesh decided to access the upper levels. They were only accompanied by a small elite troop. Badesh had briefly considered to order Vette and Quinn to retreat but he quickly decided against it – he trusted that their presence would tip the coming battle in his favour. He also brought Theron and Kalda along, they had proved useful in the past.

As they stepped into the elevator Badesh's holocommunicator beeped. It was Cipher Nine.

"My Lord, we have searched the upper levels; it seems that there are no opponents left at least not anymore... There is only the main chamber we haven't investigated yet."

"Stay put; we will arrive shortly and take care of Revan," growled Badesh and ended the holocall. He glanced at Vette who stood next to him, she seemed surprisingly calm considered that they were about to face a very powerful force-user. Quinn was checking his kolto injector and was as intense as usual. Badesh reached out with the force and touched the force-signatures of his friends; it was a possibility that it would be the last time after all. No… he would kill Revan, cut him into shreds! Excitement flowed through him. A glorious battle – and he would personally defeat a legend!

The elevator had finally reached its destination and Badesh exited it almost in a hurry. Revan's force signature guided him directly to the location of Nine and Vector; there were bodies lying in the corridors – it seemed that the agents were indeed very skilled.

Theron stepped to the locked blast door and begun to slice it. Vette stood next to him and watched how he applied various tricks to get the obstacle to open up.

She returned to Badesh and said in a low voice: "The door is locked from the outside. Is it possible that this is rather a prison than a hide-out?"

Badesh frowned. Was this the explanation why Revan hadn't shown up for battle? Was he a prisoner and not the leader of his own cult?

Before he had time to muse over this question any longer the door slid open.

Theron stood at a console and grinned at him. "Piece of cake!"

Badesh briskly walked into the room. At first he was almost blinded by the sheer whiteness of the chamber: the wall, the floor and even the computer consoles were painted in a glowing white. Despite his initial confusion he never lost track of the powerful force-signature that resided in the middle of the chamber.

"Revan… at last…" said Nox almost giddy with pleasure.

The imperial troops spread out and secured the room. Badesh felt clearly that Vette and Quinn stepped closer to him while Theron and Kalda pulled back.

Finally his eyesight allowed him to see the figure in white robes which seemed to float in mid-air. Badesh closed in on Revan, his and Nox' steps echoed in the almost empty room. By the time that he had approached Revan Badesh had already asserted through the force what he saw now: the infamous Revan was reduced to a crippled prisoner. His arms and legs had been cut off and his body was suspended in the air by a force-field.

"Greetings… it… has been… a long time…" stammered Revan.