Chapter 18

(Leviathan)

Malak contemplated his next couple of moves in his master plan, although technically it had been Revan's grand plan in the beginning, but since he had deposed Revan and taken over he had added his own touch to everything Revan had planned. Revan's survival in any form, while troubling in the small term, didn't affect the larger plan as Revan was mostly on his own now. Oh he had a small support group, but no longer did her command a fleet of any size, thus he could not challenge his forces or their campaign to crush the Republic. Granted he still doesn't know what Revan was up too since his return to the board or if he was still Revan after what the Jedi had done to him. Since reappearing he had seemed to be helping the Jedi track down the Star Forge. But in other events he seemed to be following his own plan, so what was Revan or whatever he now was really up too?

"My Lord, we've just received word from your apprentice on Korriban," one of his communication officers stated.

"And what news does he have to report?" he inquired barely moving his head to glance at the man.

"He has arrived on schedule and has put a plan into place to capture Bastila Shan and kill Revan and the rest of his travelling companions which includes using everyone at the academy to ensure they don't escape," the man reported. "He believes Revan will leave Korriban till last, but he prefers to wait there as he has the advantage," he added somewhat nervously as he knew the Dark Lord might not like this information and when he didn't like something he tended to react badly to those giving it.

Malak frowned as one part of him agreed with Bandon's plan as Korriban would give him an overall tactical advantage, and more importantly if Revan had been converted into a mindless Jedi drone then the force would favor Bandon on Korriban more than it would anywhere else. However another part of him found the idea of his apprentice just waiting on Korriban for Revan to come to him unsound and lazy, and more to the point it made Bandon look weak. He had sent an entire unit of assassins with Bandon, more than enough of an advantage to take Revan and his followers no matter what planet they were on. Yet Bandon preferred to wait safely on Korriban. He frowned even more as he recalled he too had preferred to act from a position of strength when he deposed Revan. Instead of facing his former friend face to face as Sith Law decreed, he had decided to destroy Revan's ship as he fought to repel the Jedi who had boarded it to capture him, thus slaying him from afar. He didn't particularly like the comparison, he didn't fear Revan and never had he told himself.

"Respond to the message by telling Bandon only to wait seven to nine days. If Revan has not turned up by then he is to take his team and hunt them down and bring me Shan," Malak ordered in a dark tone making his subordinate tremble. "If he refuses to move after his time has run out tell him he will be killed and slowly at that for failing me and proving to be weak and cowardly," he added, making the man tremble even more as he knew Darth Bandon would not like that anymore than Malak had liked the previous information and would be far more prone to violet action on the man giving the message. Yet there was no denying Lord Malak's orders, thus he squared his shoulders and nodded his head.

"Yes my Lord at once," he said before he turned and moved back to his station to send the message knowing it could lead to his death when Bandon returned.

Malak watched him go before smirking as he knew the man knew the message he was about to send could get him killed as his apprentice didn't like been threatened or receiving bad news from underlings, still the man was doing his job and thus he would ensure Bandon left him be when and if he returned. Turning back to the maps and plans he decided it was almost time to begin the assault on Dantoonie. The intelligence they had received from their spies informed him of the majority of the enclave's council except for Dorak pulling back to Corusant was useful. The Jedi had weakened themselves and given him a major advantage, once the battle was over and Dorak was his prisoner he would get his answers about what had been done to Revan as well as the possibility of his survival and what exactly the council had tasked Revan and his party with. He was certain the idea of Revan surviving once he informed Dorak of certain bits of information, like what had happened on Kashyyk and the pulse of hatred and anger he had felt would unnerve the Jedi Master. But he had no plans to break Dorak or turn him, no he had another fate in store for Dorak that would help him should he ever find himself face to face with Revan once more should he have survived the Jedi's attempts at murder.

+TR+

(Tatoonie, Sand People Enclave)

Revan entered the enclave thankful to have made it back in good time with only one interruption, a group of bounty hunters had tried to attack them and steal the water units. They had been dealt with in quick order by the three of them. They had clearly no ties to Malak or the Sith and were only interested in the water units probably hoping to sell them for a high price, especially on a desert world. He noted the surprised looks they got as they passed, although some of the Sand People continued to look hostile. They finally reached the chiefs hut to find their friends where they had left them, looking somewhat bored but unharmed. His eyes instantly met those of Bastila and she quickly grew calmer as she had begun to get a little uneasy as they waited.

"HK tell the chief we have the water units, all of them and now he must now keep his end of the deal and first release the prisoners they have, especially Mission's brother Griff and then they have to pull back their enclave, how much is their choice," Revan stated to his droid. "Also inform them that if the city attacks them again they can defend themselves as much as possible, we will not be back to stop any retaliation a second time as long as they only target those responsible for the attacks on their own people," he added, hoping a suitable warning might help delay a possible repeat of this madness.

"Statement: Understood Master," HK responded with a nod of his head before he did just that.

"So we're almost done here?" Mission inquired and was relieved that her brother would be okay although she doubted what she would say when she saw him.

"Yes Mission, once we have finished up here we will head to the star map which is probably where we will find Bastila's father's remains as well," Revan stated quietly.

"How so?" Bastila demanded to know.

"The star map is in a rather large cave that Krayt dragons use for nesting when they have young, it is a perfect defense for the map should anyone try and find it," Revan answered. "Your father's hunting party more than likely headed right for that cave, of course it is possible there were no dragons in the cave at that time and they were hit somewhere else," he speculated.

"Statement: Master the chief has agreed to release all the prisoners and pull back the enclave deeper into the desert. He takes your warning in the spirit it has been given and will direct any reprisals only on those who attack them," HK finally informed them. "His aide is less pleased by this, but has accepted his chief's orders and has gone to release the prisoners. We are to meet them at the gates and escort them to the city," he explained.

"Then let us head to the gets so we can ensure Mission can see her brother and ensure he is okay," Revan replied as he turned and led them out leaving the water units on the grav unit where they now rested.

It took twenty minutes for the prisoners to all be released and moved to the gate ready for their journey back to the city. Griff was happy to see his sister, but quickly disappointed her when he asked her for money to help on a new scheme he'd had while held prisoner. While Mission gave him the credits she was less than pleased by his instant reverting to type. He quickly dashed off back to the city not even waiting for an escort as did some of the other prisoners. Mission sighed and leaned against Zaalbar.

"You okay Mission?" Bastila inquired softy, seeing how the family reunion had gone. Clearly neither of them would hold pleasant memories of Tatoonie anytime soon. The young Twi-Lek seemed to be struggling to control her reaction to her brother's insensitive attitude.

"I will be, I guess Lena was right about my brother not really caring about me as much as I thought," Mission admitted with a pained sigh. "But at least I helped save his life, and I can still say I have a brother," she stated.

"Yes you can. Griff may fail somewhat as a brother, but I am certain if you ever really needed him he would come for you just as you didn't turn your back on him when he needed you even though you had cause," Bastila advised with a gentle smile. "Family can be difficult as I have just been reminded in my reunion with my mother, but we cannot turn our backs on them," she added, giving Mission a quick pat on her shoulder.

"Thanks," Mission responded taking some comfort in Bastila's words.

Bastila nodded and moved closer to Revan who was looking out towards the deeper desert apparently lost in thought. She looked him over and tried to take an imprint of his thoughts though their bond, but found his mind was a jumbled mess and thus nothing came through clearly.

"Are you alright?" she finally spoke up after watching him for a few minutes and noted he didn't seem to sense her presence.

"Zayne knows who I am, he has been suspicious of me since we met and I made the mistake of talking like I knew Malak personally and knew too much about how he reacted to Jarael's rejection of him," Revan admitted quietly so as not to be overheard. "My reactions to Czerka when we went to get the water units and what he saw of the aftermath of our actions on Kashyyk has made my hatred of slavers rather visible and he knows that is one of my defining traits," he went on as he turned to face her. "He has agreed to keep silent for now as long as I don't put Jarael in danger. I can respect that, but still clearly in time my secret will come out as a whole and I am hoping it is in a manner that helps us rather than destroy us," he added, looking only slightly worried about the outcome of this event when it came. "The time for hiding is running out," he stated boldly.

"We'll have to be careful from this point forward, we can ill afford for the truth to come out right now. Carth is emotionally unstable and looking for a target he can take his anger out on," Bastila said with a sigh as she realized the danger this revelation could bring. "I have no idea how Canderous would react to such a startling revelation that he is in fact travelling with the man who helped destroy his people. Juhani may react badly as well as she has already fallen to the dark side once already," she added.

"Cathars are by nature aggressive, most of those who have become Jedi have had trouble controlling their more basic emotions and resisting the need to lash out when they lose control," Revan responded. "In the last great Sith war, initiated by Exar Kun and Ulic-Qel-Droma, there was at least three Cathar Jedi who turned to the dark side finding it far more to their liking than permanent control," he explained. "As I had said we aren't meant to ignore our emotions, that we do almost always leads to trouble. Juhani injured her Master in a fit of anger and fled thinking she had killed her instead of calming down and checking," he stated. "I always knew she would find it hard to follow the Jedi way, but it was better bringing her to the Jedi than leaving her on Taris to suffer," he added surprising Bastila with the last bit.

"You brought Juhani to the Jedi?" she inquired having never known that bit of information.

"Yes I did many years ago just after we joined the war against the Mandalorians," Revan answered with a nod of his head. "I found her enslaved by a twisted piece of garbage that beat her badly. His name was Xor the slave master of Taris's under city," he recalled. "I sensed almost immediately she was force sensitive. I freed her and a dozen other slaves that day, almost killed Xor, but he got away after we were attacked by a Mandalorian scouting party," he explained. "She has grown powerful, but still her past has a strong hold on her, that helped make her embrace the dark side even for such a short time," he stated.

"Given that I am shocked they agreed to allow her to accompany us on this mission, they must have known if she knew who you really were she would feel she owed you her life and would be inclined to aide you," Bastila responded with a slight frown.

"More than likely they just wanted her out of the way, believing her already far to tainted to be ever become a true Jedi and thus expendable as long as they achieve the objective of locating the Star Forge," Revan replied sounding bitter as he always did when talking about the council.

"The council would not throw anyone away so needlessly," Bastila protested almost automatically. Although her views of the council had begun to change since learning of Revan's survival and seeing some of what he had seen through the bond, she still had some belief in the council.

"Really?" Revan asked turning back to face and locking their gazes together. "They once sent three Jedi including the last of the Qel-Droma family to Korriban to finish off the supposed last of the Terentatek during the Great Hunt. Only three with no support and no hope of success and they were all killed," he informed her folding his arms against his chest. "It was a waste of lives and potential, it was even worse that they sent the last member of such a prominent family who had a long list of members in the order just because of Ulic's fall and disbelief in his redemption," he spat. "The council can be vindictive, I also heard that Qel-Droma and Nuur fell in love during the mission," he said with an amused smile as Bastila's eyes widened as he told the tale.

"How do you know all that?" Bastila inquired stepping closer.

"Part of it I learned from the archives at the temple and the rest I found out when I went to Korriban and found their bodies, I took their remains off world and buried them somewhere more pleasant," Revan answered. "I found two data pads as well which explained pretty much everything, their mission and how it went so wrong," he continued. "It also stated the first Jedi sent Saresh left the other two on their own as he didn't like the fact they had fallen in love. He died in a separate tomb trying to slay one of the beasts on his own," he stated with a shake of his head and dark frown. "No one no matter their skill in the force could kill a Terentatek on his own, not even me as was proven back on Kashyyk," he admitted.

"I admit that does sound like a waste of lives especially when they were sent to Korriban of all places, but surely the council must have had good reason not to send more," Bastila argued sounding somewhat confused.

"Perhaps they were over confident in their students skills, but that is no excuse, now I suggest we focus on getting this people back to the city," Revan said finally refocusing on the task at hand. "We will get them within seeing distance of the city and leave them there. We will then head to the Krayt dragon cave and finish up our business here and finally get of this damn planet," he decided.

Bastila nodded and moved to tell the others leaving Revan to once again stare off into the distance, she wondered why he had told her so much first about Juhani and the Cathar's natural affinity for anger and then the tale about the wasteful sacrifice during the Great Hunt. Was he trying to further her distrust in the council, or just make her aware that there are things about the council that she didn't know? Shaking her head she pushed those ideas away and focused on her task, after another five minutes they moved out leaving the enclave behind and went back into the desert.

+TR+

(Dantoonie, Jedi Enclave)

Dorak sat in the deserted council chamber trying to meditate, but a strong pulse in the force startled him. Opening his eyes he stood up and glanced upwards as if he could see into space through the ceiling. They were coming, Malak's attack was about to strike as they had been warned. Taking a deep breath he headed for the communication system to alert the enclave. His fellow masters had retreated to Corusant taking fifty of the best trained Jedi including all the younglings with them, leaving only a skeleton force to guard the planet and maybe pull of a miracle. The two support fleets remained and he hoped it was them that would blunt the Sith's attack, allowing them a chance to pull off a victory.

"To all Jedi within the enclave the Sith are about to attack Dantoonie, report to your defense stations and prepare for attack," he ordered through the com before switching to the planetary com-stations and repeating his order.

A few minutes later the enclave was rocked by three nearby ship based blaster strikes, and he knew the Sith fleet had indeed arrived. Pulling his lightsaber he turned to heed to the entrance of the enclave to help defend it. He paused and looked back to the now empty council chamber and felt a shiver run up his spine knowing he would not see it again.

+TR+

(Dantoonie, Space)

Malak watched as his fleet came pouring out of hyper speed and straight into a battle, a battle he knew would turn the war even more into his favor if he won, which was likely. While the Republic fleet around the planet had been doubled it was still smaller than his fleet. Their ships were less powerful and more to the point less willing to do what had to be done to win.

"Find their command ship and order all batteries to fire on target, have our escorts cover our flanks," he ordered as he stepped closer to the window to watch. "Order all battlecruisers close to the planet to begin primary bombardment on selected ground targets, and release all fighters and bombers," he added with a grim smirk which looked devious due to his metal jaw.

"Yes my Lord," Saul Karath nodded in agreement before moving to carry out his commands. "All units are now engaged my lord," he reported after five minutes.

"Excellent, once we have cleared the defense ships from around the planet we will begin landing our troops, but remember to remind all troops to capture as many Jedi alive as they can, especially Master Dorak," Malak ordered, glancing back over his shoulder at his admiral who stiffened at the look in the other man's eyes.

"I will ensure they remember your orders before they depart," Karath replied before swiftly moving to do just that.

Turning back to the battle going on outside his command ship he watched as multiple ships exploded, fighters crashed into larger vessels and laser fire rained down on the helpless world. He felt the dark side of the force growing stronger. Victory would be his because the Jedi had weakened themselves and their presence in this system. He felt the Leviathan shake as a few shots struck home, but clearly the deflector shields were holding, folding his arms against his chest he settled in to watch.

"Sir, we have located the enemy command ship, it is located right over where the Jedi enclave should be," one of Karath's aides reported.

"Then order all nearby units to focus their fire on it and destroy them," Malak commanded darkly. Grinning at the utter terror that would soon grip the crew of the enemy flag ship, he watched as a barrage of ship fire began to bombard a Hammer-head class Republic ship centered over what he knew was the Jedi enclave. It tried to move out of range, but was quickly cut off by more of his Interdictor cruisers, its frame began to buckle and within a few more minutes it exploded in a fireball.

"Excellent," he muttered. "Move our ships in closer to the planet and begin to land our ground forces," he ordered.

"Yes my lord," Karath replied and moved to comply.

Malak noted some of the Republic ships turned and tried to block them as they closed in on the planet, but the majority of the enemy fleet began to pull back away from them, clearly making to escape the conflict and fight another day. 'Cowards,' he thought bitterly. Turning from the window suddenly he decided to head to his own personal landing craft. He wanted to taste the ecstasy of battle once more.

+TR+

(Dantoonie, Jedi Enclave)

Dorak felt the many deaths from above and he knew the Sith would soon launch ground forces against them. He felt only slightly nervous as he had seen combat before when he had been a younger man, but that had been a long time ago. He had spent the past twenty five years in more peaceful times and had little to use his skills against. He'd had no part in the Mandalorian war and thus his skills were bound to be a little rusty, looking up he noted small shapes falling from the skies and quickly getting bigger and he realized they were ships and drop pods. They were coming and in great numbers, which meant the Republic fleet had either been destroyed or had retreated.

"Get ready they are coming," he told his fellow defenders and ignited his lightsaber as did his fellow Jedi. He could see the nervous looks on some of their faces, he couldn't blame them but they had to push past that feeling and focus on the fight ahead.

"Can we win Master?" one of the knights asked and they could all hear his voice waver.

"There is always hope Kaine, always," Dorak replied as confidently as he could. "In the end the light will always prevail over the darkness," he stated with far more boldness and confidence than before.

A hush fell over the plains outside the enclave and not even the local wildlife could be heard anymore. Dorak knew they had only minutes remaining as he felt the force begin to shift. Suddenly the enclave was bombarded by mortar fire and a flood of dark suited troops charged down the entry way towards them. Most were armed with lightsabers, but the rest were clearly regular troops, clearly those who had followed Revan and Malak through the war and into his rebellion.

Dorak raised his lightsaber and charged towards the enemy, his fellow defenders followed. They clashed in the courtyard and even though they were outnumbered they managed to push back the initial wave cutting down man after man as the Sith underestimated their opponents, but the tide quickly turned as more troopers arrived and the Jedi began to get cut down. Dorak quickly took note most of those who fell were still very much alive. He suddenly realized Malak wanted prisoners and quite a few of them it seemed, he felt a coldness grip his heart as he blocked a wild swing from one of the Sith attacking him. He ducked another and then brought his saber up in a cutting arch and ended up cutting the man in half. Turning he moved to help Kaine only to come to a dead stop as he took note of the fact that Malak stood there watching him. For the first time in years he felt true fear trying to affect him. Looking upon his old student, now corrupted and worse his face mangled by having his lower jaw removed, he wondered how that had happened to him.

"Master Dorak, it has been too long," Malak said with what he guessed was a smile. "I trust you have been well?" he inquired as if a battle was not waging around them.

"Better than you Alec, of that there can be no doubt," Dorak responded and didn't miss the rage that ignited in Malak's eyes as he used his former name to address him.

"That was a mistake Dorak. Alec is long dead and now I will make this hurt all the more," Malak swore as he activated his red bladed lightsaber and advanced with clear blood lust.

"You have lost yourself in darkness Alec, but you are very much still alive you just fail to acknowledge it. You call yourself Malak to escape your guilt and horror at what you have become," Dorak shot back as he blocked the first blow from Malak and pushed him back. "What you allowed Revan to turn you into," he spat.

Malak burst out laughing at that statement. "Is that what you believe Dorak? That Revan led me into darkness? You and the entire council are fools if you cannot see the truth even as it looks you in the eyes," he told him before lashing forward and trying to take the older man in the side, but Dorak managed to block it and pushed him back again.

"Of course it is what happened, you followed him into war allowing him to cloud your mind with tales of glory, victory and honor and then you followed him into a hellish nightmare that led to your damnation," Dorak shouted as he made his first aggressive blow which Malak easily twisted aside before backing away. It was clear Malak was playing with him and drawing out this fight by allowing their discussion, but for what reason was beyond him.

"You weak minded fool, I followed Revan because I believed in the cause of protecting the Republic back when I felt it was worth defending. But as the war continued I saw that it didn't deserve all the blood and deaths being served up in its name. I began to hate it and all those who served it, but I preserved and the war was won," Malak told him coldly, his tone brittle. "Revan and those loyal to him still believed and he had found a secret that threatened it, so we left to find this threat and we found something far more deadly than the Mandalorians and it reeked of power," he explained before lashing out again forcing Dorak to roll backwards out of the way. "Power I wanted from the start. I played loyal to Revan and began to seek out those of like mind and I bided my time until you sent an ambush and gave me my chance to kill Revan and take my rightful place as leader," he continued.

Dorak's blood began to run cold as he realized Malak was serious. Clearly the council had it wrong, Revan was never the true threat it was Malak because he was insane. "I slaughtered all those who still remained loyal to Revan and then I started my grand campaign. I will destroy the Jedi and the Republic it serves and create an Empire that will last a thousand years and my name will echo in history," he shouted. "But then you had your little Jedi bitch save Revan and then you brainwashed him into your puppet to serve you and now you pray he will once again save you," he mused, regaining his composure. "What is funny is this; Revan and those who followed him were all still loyal to the Republic and wanted to save it from itself hence the reason for their supposed betrayal. But now they are all dead and Revan is only one man and if your brainwashing succeeded in killing him then he is no longer a real threat," he added with a dark smile. "You have doomed yourselves by your own actions," he stated.

Dorak didn't know what to make of Malak's story, it made little sense but he couldn't help wonder if any of it was true. The idea that Revan had always been loyal, no it couldn't be Malak had to be lying. This was some sort of trick, he was trying to play with his mind and distract him. "Lies," he shouted and attacked, swinging his lightsaber in a wild arc before reversing his attack and trying to catch Malak of guard. Malak however activated another lightsaber and caught the blow before using his first to sever the emitter causing the blade to short out. Dorak backed off in alarm, he looked around desperately for another but instead he saw nearly all his fellow Jedi had either been killed or injured enough to take them out of the fight.

"Still unwilling to see the truth? Revan would never have caused as much blood and death as I have in my war. He wanted planets captured whole and with as little loss of life as possible, that was his way and you helped stop him and make all this death possible," Malak taunted him as he stalked him. "You have helped me throw down Revan and his mission, you have helped me destroy the Republic and all you hold dear," he spat as Dorak smacked into a stone pillar. "You have my thanks," he stated before he dropped one of his lightsabers and quickly punched Dorak in the jaw with everything he had.

Dorak collapsed to the ground groaning in pain as he looked up at Malak with dazed eyes, he reached out with his hands and tried to use the force to throw something in Malak's way, but he couldn't focus enough and failed. Malak raised his boot and stomped it down onto the older man's head, knocking him out.

Malak smirked knowing that even though Dorak had refused to believe him that he had sown the seeds of doubt in his head. Once the battle was over and he was safely locked up he'd have another chat with his former Master and make those seeds grow. Turning he ran and impaled his lightsaber into one of few remaining Jedi still standing and smirked as the body dropped to the ground covered in blood. He then raised his hand and unleashed a bolt of force lightening into another and laughed a cold blooded laugh as the Jedi screamed and screamed as he fried causing his skin to blacken and blister before Malak allowed him to fall dead to the ground as a charred corpse.

"Bind the prisoners and bring them to the ship, kill any other Jedi left," Malak ordered before he turned and entered the enclave to locate any holocrons or other data he felt might be useful.