Disclaimer: Lucasfilm, Bioware, Disney, et al. and whoever they sell the rights to next own Star Wars and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. I write this for fun and not for any monetary gain.

A/N: The version of this story on AO3 has a bit more formatting for the computer interactions than the version here.

Chapter 9: Mission for the Star Forge

On the way to the ruins containing the Star Map, they ran into another band of Mandalorians. This time, it seems to be their leader.

"Sherruk," Canderous called out. "You shame the name of Mandalore…"

Another one of these Mandalorian shouting matches, the Sith Lord thought to his apprentice.

He's even using the exact same words as last time, she thought back.

"I shall add the heads of your Jedi companions to those of the other Jedi I have killed, and their lightsabers to my collection," Sherruk finished the seemingly obligatory Mandalorian insult exchange.

At that moment, two men opened fire on each other. Revan and Bastila jumped in, dispatched the Duros quickly with swings of their lightsabers, and fought the other two Mandalorians. They proved no match for the couple. Soon they turned their attention to Sherruk himself.

Seeing the Jedi, the head bandit once again used his tried and true strategy against them: slam down as hard as possible on the tip of their lightsabers with his heavy vibroblade. He was shocked that these two Jedi blocked his attacks easily many times—all the Jedi he had fought on Dantooine would have dropped their lightsabers or cut themselves after three blows at most. With the loss of his winning strategy, Sherruk had no chance against the two powerful Force users and the Ordo warrior. Soon, he was overwhelmed and impaled on Bastila's lightsaber.

Revan checked the body and found two lightsabers. He kept the green one for himself and handed the blue one over to his apprentice. "Keep a spare around somewhere, so you still have something if you lose your main lightsaber," he ordered.

She took it and put it on her belt, "I'll see if I can tie it to my leg or something when I get back. I'll change the colour too." He could feel through the Force that she was happy to avoid a repeat of the incident on Taris.

Not long after, the party of three entered the ancient ruins, its seal already breached by Revan years ago—an event witnessed by Bastila through their bond. They were met with an ancient droid in the middle of the room, speaking some unintelligible language.

"Try a different language," ordered the Sith Lord, projecting his will through the Force. The droid obliged. "No, not the Sand People language! Something else." Even though he couldn't understand it, those distinct sounds existed in no language he knew other than that of the Sand People.

After a few rounds, the droid finally spoke in something vaguely comprehensible, "I can reproduce any of the languages spoken by the slaves of the Builders."

Bastila looked confused. "Why would there be a droid on Dantooine that speaks ancient Selkath?"

The droid, presumably sensing her confusion through the Force, replied in the somewhat painful-to-listen tones of the ancient Selkath language, "Communication was vital to ensure that the slaves constructed this temple according to the wishes of the Builders. But you are not of the slave species. Neither are you of the Builders. One of you has come before."

Revan took over the explanation, "That would have been me." Turning to the other two members of the expedition, he asked, "Do you want to listen to the droid or me?"

"I don't understand ancient Selkath at all," the Mandalorian pointed out.

"And of course I prefer your voice," the Sith apprentice added, relieved that she no longer had to listen to painful-for-human sounds. "Can you just give me an overview?"

"Of course. This droid oversaw the construction of this temple, which is supposed to be a monument to the power of the Star Forge, by an army of slaves. And per their standard procedure, all slaves were executed when their usefulness ended. The droid remained here to help in case one of the Builders needed the knowledge of the Star Forge," he explained stoically.

"They executed all the slaves?" his girlfriend asked incredulously. "Who are these people?"

"They are the Rakata, once rulers of almost the whole galaxy, organized into a giant empire which they called the Infinite Empire, which as you may have guessed, did not last for an infinite amount of time. They built the Star Forge and obviously weren't the nicest people around. They enslaved everyone they came across when they created their empire. I could not find the time of its creation, but it collapsed over 20 000 years ago, after lasting well over 10 000 years."

"An empire lasting over 10 000 years that collapsed over 20 000 years ago?" she said in shock. "And here I thought pretty much nothing existed before the Republic…"

"It fits into the Republic's agenda to show itself as the only government to rule the majority of the galaxy," the Sith Master explained. "It gives them a sense of legitimacy and irreplaceability, making people think twice before trying to overthrow it. Probably for that reason was the ancient history deliberately erased…" Turning to the droid, he asked, "Has anyone been here since I left?"

"There was another who failed to unlock the secrets and paid the ultimate price," the droid said, its mechanical tone sounding rather ominous. It turned around, pointing to a body near the edge of the room.

"Is that Nemo? The Council must have sent him here to investigate," Bastila noted. Turning to her boyfriend, she continued, "I guess the Jedi still don't trust you enough."

"I suppose he did get his due," Revan remarked darkly, recalling his vow after Nemo had bullied her in front of his face, and the knowledge that it had been far from the first time it had ever happened.

After searching Nemo's body and finding a Sigil crystal, he headed towards one of the rooms on the side. He was met with a combat droid. Using the Jedi technique against droids, the two Force users quickly brought it down. They found an ancient computer in the room. It displayed gibberish.

"How exactly are we supposed to operate this?" asked Bastila.

Instead of answering her, the Sith intoned, "Computer, open datapad receptacle." To her shock, the computer made some noise and a receptacle opened. He placed a datapad inside. Soon, the computer started displaying familiar letters. "Process the data to learn Basic," he ordered. Soon, the computer displayed Basic.

"How did you figure out how to operate this machine?" the Sith apprentice asked.

"Malak and I spent quite a bit of time here trying to figure this out… Malak even ended up kicking the machine at some point. It didn't work. As it turned out, screaming 'damn you, stupid computer' was just as effective as 'open datapad receptacle' at doing the same task…" he explained, feeling silly at his and Malak's past actions. Bastila found the account hilarious.

Turning their attention back to the screen, they saw a line of text:

INTERROGATIVE: IDENTIFY THE THREE PRIMARY DEATH-GIVING SEED WORLD TYPES.

Revan quickly selected "desert," "volcanic," and "barren" as the answers, and the computer displayed:

BREAKING DEATH SEAL.

They repeated the process in the other room. After defeating another droid, and go through the process of teaching the machine Basic, they were faced with another prompt:

INTERROGATIVE: IDENTIFY THE THREE PRIMARY LIFE-GIVING SEED WORLD TYPES.

Selecting the obvious answers "oceanic," "grassland," and "arboreal," the machine soon displayed:

BREAKING LIFE SEAL.

"Well, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Canderous couldn't resist the snarky comment. "I wonder how Nemo got himself killed. The clans might have won the war if all the Jedi were like Nemo instead of you, Revan."

"It wasn't that easy to figure out how to operate the ancient computer…" the Sith replied off-hand.

"Yes, I'll admit that, but it doesn't kill you. He must have tried to enter without unsealing the room, or his body would have been in one of the computer rooms," the Mandalorian reasoned.

"True. I suppose he did indeed prefer to die than to show himself incapable and ask for help," he noted, echoing Bastila's thoughts from earlier. Looking at the body, he recalled again how the arrogant old Jedi had belittled countless Padawans and Knights, Bastila especially. While the irritating Jedi Master probably did not deserve to die for being a nasty bully, neither of them could say with honesty that they felt bad about his demise.

Turning away from the corpse, the Sith Master led his apprentice to the central door. Leaving Canderous to stand on guard outside, the couple entered the chamber inside and activated the Star Map. Revan carefully studied the Star Map, noting down some information onto his datapad and started doing some calculations. "I guess I shouldn't have expected more than this," he said somewhat disappointedly when he finished.

"What were you expecting?" Bastila simply could not resist asking.

"The damage on this map is mostly on the parts inside the known galaxy. Most of the waypoints near the Star Forge are intact, though it made very little sense when I first found it, since we have no idea where to begin. It did mark four other planets with the Star Maps, which was helpful in finding more information. Still, around a third of the waypoints between the Star Forge and Ilum, the closest charted star system, could not be recovered," he explained with a sigh. "I guess we have to find another map."

"Let's tell the Jedi Council that we were able to find the map, but it is incomplete. Hopefully, they'll send us on a mission to chase down the other maps…" his apprentice suggested.

"Yes, that's what we will do…" the Dark Lord decided. "At least Tatooine and Kashyyyk weren't so bad, and as I recall those maps should have the information we need."

A few hours later, Revan found himself in front of the Jedi Council once again. Each time it gets harder to hide my disgust at their actions, he mentally commented.

Vandar, as usual, took the lead, "Ah, you have returned, young Padawan." I still can't help but feel demoted. "Have you discovered what it was that Revan and Malak sought in those ruins?"

"We found an incomplete Star Map and mention of something called a Star Forge," the supposedly amnesiac Sith explained with a hint of carefully faked confusion.

"This news of a Star Forge is disturbing. We must discuss recent events in light of this new information. Return to the ship with Bastila, and we shall summon you when we are done," Vandar said with finality.

"As you wish," replied Revan before leaving with Bastila.

They decided to do some lightsaber practice in the meantime. A few hours later, a Jedi Padawan approached the ship. Feeling it in the Force, the couple stepped out of the ship to meet him. They soon followed him back to the Jedi Council.

Vandar started again, "You have done well, Padawan, in finding the Star Map hidden within the ancient ruins. But there is more you must do in the fight against Malak and the Sith. The Council has a mission for you."

"I have consulted our vast archives in an effort to discover the nature of this 'Star Forge'," Dorak interjected, "but all my efforts have been in vain."

"Still, the Council are in agreement: the Star Forge must be found! Revan and Malak sought it out when they began their tragic fall; the Star Forge is surely a powerful tool of the dark side," Vrook Lamar declared, despite knowing nothing about the Star Forge.

The Council soon explained to the supposedly mind-wiped Sith Lord that he must go visit four other worlds for the other Star Maps to find the Star Forge, and that sending a company of Jedi Knights would attract undue attention.

"What will we do once we find the Star Forge?" he asked.

"It is an artifact of the Dark Side and must be destroyed," Vandar answered.

"And don't even think about using its power for your own ends," Vrook immediately chastised.

Revan frowned. "Am I to undertake this task alone?"

"While secrecy is important, it would be foolish to send you without aid. Bastila shall accompany you, for there is a powerful connection between the two of you… a connection that might be the key to unravelling the mysteries uncovered by Revan," explained Vandar.

You mean you want her to watch me to stop me from 'turning to the Dark Side.' Too bad for you, she's mine, completely and utterly, the Sith thought.

Vandar continued, "And Juhani has also asked to accompany you. After long deliberation we have granted her request."

Revan continued frowning. I really hope she'll see the Jedi for what they are, or she'll prove really annoying to my plans. "Is that all?" he asked.

"Of course those who have aided you on Taris will also come." So much for trying to leave Carth here. "They possess skills you may find useful in your quest. You won't be able to hide that you are Jedi, nor should you. But the true nature of your mission must not reach Malak's ears. You may return to Dantooine anytime. It will serve as a safe port for you."

"When do I leave?" the Sith Lord pretending to be an innocent Jedi Padawan asked, almost eagerly.

"Whenever you wish, but the sooner the better," Vrook answered. He finished ominously, as if he thought he could frighten a Dark Lord of the Sith, "But first a warning, young Padawan: The lure of the dark side is difficult to resist. I fear this quest to find the Star Forge could lead you down an all too familiar path."

Vandar concluded, "The fate of the galaxy is in your hands, young Padawan. May the Force be with you."

After bowing to the Jedi Council as was customary, the secret Sith couple left the Council chambers and headed for the shops near the docking area. They bought a lot of supplies for their mission: food, tanks of water, medical equipment, clothing for all possible environments, armour, weapons, grenades, and mines.

When they headed for the ship, a Twi'lek female showed up to interrupt them, "Excuse me… I know it's been a very long time, dear, but aren't you Bastila, Helena's little girl?" Taking a better look, she continued, "Yes, it is you! I can see it in the eyes. My, how you've grown!"

The "little girl" in question seemed unsure of how to take this development, "I am Bastila, yes. I take it you know my mother?"

"Oh, yes. My name is Malare. I worked for your father on an expedition years ago. Your mother showed me holos of you before you… well, before you left. Such a pretty little girl you were," the woman commented.

"Is there something I can do for you, miss?" the Sith apprentice asked. She hid her displeasure well, but her best friend could feel it through the Force.

"I just wanted to ask if your mother's condition has improved any since I last saw her," the Twi'lek said sincerely.

Bastila frowned in confusion. "My mother's condition?"

"Oh, you… you don't know?" Malare looked shocked. "Oh, dear. I just thought… I assumed that she had found you. When I last talked to her, she was desperate to find you…"

"I have not seen my mother since I joined the Order. Do you know what has happened? What about my father?"

"I am sorry, but your mother is very ill. I don't have news about your father, unfortunately," the Twi'lek answered apologetically. "I haven't seen him recently."

"I see. Where did you meet my mother?"

"I saw her on Tatooine, dear. She said she'd been there for a while. Maybe she's still there?"

"Thank you for informing me. I really must get going now," Bastila said quickly, before running to her room on the Ebon Hawk. It was apparent that she needed time to digest this. Revan decided to wait at the door, offering her some time alone, if she so wished.

"Please come in, Master," she called to him.

He entered. "How are you feeling?"

"Not great, Master. You know I hate my mother. She was the reason why I ended up with the Jedi, and her abandonment almost destroyed me. If it weren't for you, I would have lost my grip on sanity long ago. And now she's supposedly sick and wants to find me. Am I supposed to forgive her just because she's sick?" she asked pointedly.

"Of course not," he replied. "But calm yourself. Perhaps you should see her anyway. It would give you closure. You can ask, in front of her face, why she abandoned you to the Jedi."

"What could possibly excuse a woman abandoning her own daughter?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. "But at least you'll know why. And if she gives you a bad reason, you will know that your anger is justified and she's not worth your time. That's also closure."

Bastila took a deep, calming breath. "I suppose you are right, Master. I can't say I am looking forward to this, but I guess I am curious about my father. Maybe we should just get this over with."

"Sounds good. We need to go to Tatooine anyway for the Star Map, so let's just do it."

The couple headed for the cockpit. With the unwanted assistance of Carth, the Ebon Hawk soon took off. After plotting a course for the desert planet and entering hyperspace, they returned to their bedroom. But before that, the suspicious Republic pilot interrogated them thoroughly about their mission, much to their annoyance.

"The Jedi want to destroy the Star Forge," the Sith Lord ranted in the privacy of the bedroom, remembering how Carth had praised the idea. "Out of all the selfish things you can do, this has to be the worst."

"Why?" his apprentice can't help but ask.

"It's probably the most powerful artifact in the galaxy… with almost unlimited potential to do as much good as it could do evil. If some mysterious power comes from outside the known galaxy to destroy life as we know it, it might as well be our only hope of survival. It also contains ancient technology that we could learn from. And it's also one of the only remnants of an ancient civilization that we know next to nothing about. They would destroy it without even knowing what it is?" Revan restrained himself from screaming. "The most disturbing part is that they just assumed it's a Dark Side artifact after they admitted to not having any records of it. Destroying priceless artifacts due to religious fanaticism…"

"How powerful is it?" Bastila asked.

"I could not find any physical object that it can't build given the schematics... You have seen the Sith fleet. It also builds droids, computers, vibroblades, blasters, clothing, and even food. It can create a new droid every second, a new fighter every minute, a new battleship every twenty minutes, and a new capital ship every six hours…"

The Sith apprentice was shocked into silence. When she finally regained her senses, she interjected, "Wow, that is awesome. It would indeed be silly to destroy it for religious reasons. In fact, I would think it a bad idea to destroy it for military reasons too, given its potential if captured."

"My thoughts exactly," her Master agreed. He looked around the room, and frowned. "You know, we should probably be more careful now. Juhani is here, and she might try to interfere. Unlike the others, she actually believes—or at least wants to believe—in the Jedi teachings, which forbids romantic relationships. You better sleep in your own room while she's here," he cautioned.

"Well, we better turn her soon then. Sleeping alone really sucks," she complained, already hating the thought of cold nights alone. Knowing the necessity of this, she decided to not dwell on it, turning her mind away. Soon, an exciting idea entered her mind. "Since we have time, can you teach me how to do illusions?" the apprentice requested. "I mean, I know the theory now, but we can finally practice now that the Jedi Council is out of our hair."

Her Master looked surprised. "I was just going to suggest that! But first, I had a slave collar made and enchanted for you. As a bonus, it should enhance your Force abilities when you wear it."

Revan took out the elegant, shiny enchanted ring of durasteel, complete with a detachable O-ring for attaching a leash, and the submissive girl gasped. "It's so beautiful!" she exclaimed. While ordinary girls dreamed about beautiful engagement and wedding rings, Bastila dreamed about collars instead, fantasizing about being claimed by her Master for all eternity. As far as she was concerned, collars were just bigger rings worn on the neck. It was the perfect expression of her submissive fantasies, which were finally coming true.

"I knew you would like it," her Master replied with a smile. "Only the best for my beloved slave, of course."

"Thank you, Master. But… does it have any… disciplinary features?" she asked with some trepidation. On one hand, she was turned on by the idea that her Master could punish her at any time with her collar, and she was helpless to resist as long as she wore it. On the other hand…

"No," he answered. "I know you fantasize about the idea, but I don't think it's really that practical. As long as those features exist, they could potentially be used to attack you, which is too much of a risk, especially given that we have other duties. Besides, I do like the idea of you obeying out of your own free will, with no coercion of any kind."

"Thank you, Master," Bastila said happily.

"So how do you want to do this?" Revan asked.

"I think you should just put it on me right now," she suggested. "The idea of putting on a new collar during a fancy ceremony and never taking it off ever after makes me so wet, I admit, but I think it's best that we try it out first to make sure it works?"

"I am glad you are being reasonable," he replied with approval. "I know a lot of subs would want to be collared permanently the first time they wear it and be disappointed later when the collar turns out uncomfortable."

"You said yourself that we must put our safety before our games, especially in such dangerous times," she noted. "And I always obey your wishes."

The dom laughed. "That's why I like you. Of course, I guess you still want a ceremony later, right?"

"Naturally, Master," she confirmed. "That would be very nice." Seeing no reason to wait, she knelt on the bed, lowering her head in a completely submissive pose to allow her Master easy access to her neck.

He placed the slave collar around her neck and it clicked shut. She felt empowered by the enchantment on it, and smiled. She took a moment to savour the feeling of the smooth durasteel and the power it gave her, as well as the feeling of her fantasy coming true at last.

"Thank you, Master," she said happily. "Now I am tangibly yours." She ran her hands over her collar, and frowned when she found the surface completely smooth. There appeared no keyhole. But Revan's words implied that it was removable. "Master?" she asked uncertainly. "It does come off, right?"

"The design is supposed to click shut forever, but it proved rather easily opened with the Force, at least if you knew the locking mechanism," he explained. He quickly showed her the locking mechanism through their mental connection, so that she could unlock it in case of emergencies.

"Can you please leave it on?" she begged. She loved the way she felt with the collar and wanted to wear it everywhere, not just in private. Despite knowing that this was supposed to be a trial, she already found the idea of removing it difficult to stomach.

"It's not exactly inconspicuous," her Master pointed out, "which is why you only get to wear it outside of the bedroom when you have mastered the art of illusions." He grinned. "Consider it… motivation."

The Sith apprentice pouted. "But you can't use an illusion to make something into nothing!"

"No, but you could make your neck appear slightly thicker to hide the collar," he suggested.

"Why does it matter if I wear a slave collar anyway? I don't care what other people think," the willing slave protested. "In fact, you can strip me naked and drag me around in public on a leash and I would do it with pleasure."

"Yes, I know. But you know at some point you'll end up having to hide it, say while doing undercover work. You need to be able to hide it at will," he explained.

"Fine. Can you teach me now?" Bastila asked. She was eager to learn illusions, after all.

The Sith Lord walked her through the process of creating illusions, this time with demonstrations. They started with creating a simple floating ball. She seemed to have mastered the basics rather quickly.

"That was a good start," Revan complimented. "Now, you must learn to emulate physics. If it doesn't act like the real thing, the illusion is useless." He took out a real ball and threw it. "Can you copy that throw?"

After Bastila perfected the throw, he praised her again, and gave her another task. "Throw the ball up and let it fall back down. Imagine what would happen, and let the illusion do it," he ordered. She did as asked. Her teacher threw the real ball up to around the same height, and found it looked fairly close to the illusion. They practiced a few different throws, and then moved onto projecting more complex objects. She seemed to be making good progress.

A/N: The Star Forge is basically a glorified 3D printer. Imagine if a post-apocalyptic civilization with medieval technology dug a 3D printer up. Revan would represent the "study it and use it for the benefit of mankind" camp, while the Jedi represent the "only heathens use scary technology" camp. I personally prefer the former. As for the Star Forge's evil tendencies, Revan doesn't seem so worried. What did he learn about it the first time around? I suppose you'll find out…

Also, if you choose to commit all the evils on Dantooine during gameplay, it becomes crystal clear that the ends justify all the means for the Jedi Council. They would bend all their rules and ignore all your crimes even though they are obviously aware of it, instead letting you go free since they felt you alone gave them a chance to defeat the Sith. For example, if you convinced the Matale and Sandral families to kill each other, you can tell the Jedi Masters when they ask you about it that "it's horrible" and "I had no idea" and they would awkwardly stand there and say they believe you… even though they obviously know it was your doing, nor do they make any attempt to stop you.