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.
Chapter 23: Unfinished Business
Two hours before the first sunset in Anchorhead, the Ebon Hawk, masquerading as the Lucid Lynx, landed in the Czerka-operated spaceport, which fortunately was unaware of what had transpired on Kashyyyk, thanks to corporate rules to reduce knowledge and thus liability. Of course, since they had flown in on what was supposedly a different ship and came out with a disguise, the Czerka "customs officer" wanted to charge them landing fees once again, but that was easily solved with another Force persuasion.
However, there wasn't much time left in the day, and it would be unnecessarily risky to be in the Dune Seas without the light of the twin suns, so it was decided that they would stay aboard their ship for the night. The next day, they would venture out to the Dune Seas so that Canderous could face Jagi's challenge, and deal with Vorn Daasraad while they were there.
For now, they decided to enjoy dinner. As they ate, Revan had a question. "So Matton, have you thought about what you want to do? You can stay on Tatooine if you want. We'd need to head to Manaan next to stock up on some medpacs and life support packs, so you can stay there also. Or do you want to join us for the long term?"
"You seem like you are fighting the good fight," the mechanic observed. "You freed me and you freed all those Wookiees also, in a single day no less. I am not a fighter, just a simple mechanic, but by helping you I think I can do a lot more good than fixing random freighters. Count me in!"
"Then welcome aboard, Matton," the Sith Lord decided.
"Thank you," he replied. "Uhh, this is a bit awkward, but I don't believe you've told me your name."
"I am Darth Revan, Dark Lord of the Sith," Revan introduced himself.
"D-Darth Re-Revan?" the mechanic stuttered. "Is that a joke?"
"No, he really is Darth Revan, the rightful Dark Lord of the Sith," Bastila interjected. "Malak the usurper may rule the Sith for now, but his days are numbered."
"But… isn't Revan dead?" Matton wondered. "Didn't that Jedi, Bastila or something, kill him?"
"I am Bastila," the Sith apprentice asserted. "And I can assure you Revan is most certainly alive and sitting beside me."
The mechanic almost fainted. "This really isn't what I expected, but I suppose it makes sense… Who else would fight for the cause of justice in the Rim and succeed so easily if not Revan? I am honoured to be part of your crew."
"You flatter me," the Dark Lord stated.
"No, I mean it," Matton insisted. "I worked on a freighter crew for the past few years, and I've always enjoyed staying in the Sith Empire. Your officials were always fair. No random shakedowns, no arbitrary seizures of freight, and we always felt safe in the spaceports. It helps that the taxes were reasonable too. Things started going downhill when Malak took over, and that's how we ended up on Kashyyyk—we didn't like the corruption in the Republic and could see the writing on the wall in the Sith Empire. As it turned out, Kashyyyk was even worse…"
"Hopefully we can get rid of Malak before the Sith Empire becomes unsalvageable," the Dark Lord noted optimistically. "That's what we are trying to do here."
"So I suppose the rumours are true then," the mechanic decided.
The Sith couple shared a glance, frowning. "What rumours?" Bastila asked.
"When I was on Randon, I heard whispers that said Malak usurped the throne and tried to kill Revan, but he's not dead, just asleep somewhere, waiting to be awoken when the galaxy desperately needs him. They say he'll show up, suddenly and unexpectedly, in the Sith Empire's most desperate moment and have his vengeance," Matton recounted. "It's true, isn't it? Bastila, you didn't kill him, but it was Malak who tried, and Revan isn't dead."
"To be honest, that sounds like wishful thinking that just coincidentally got things right," Revan remarked. "I suppose there were people who knew Malak fired on my flagship, but I suspect they just made up the rest… I've heard similar legends on several Republic planets about their ancient rulers, from Tapani to Teta. The ancient Sith had their share of such legends too, from the very ancient Adas, to the somewhat less ancient Ajunta Pall and Naga Sadow. There are even legends of the old Sith Empire itself secretly surviving in an unknown corner of the galaxy, despite Chancellor Pultimo's genocide of the Sith species after the Great Hyperspace War…"
"Regardless of whether the rumours are baseless, yours is a cause I support, Lord Revan," the mechanic declared. "If maintaining this freighter brings freedom to the people in the galaxy, then I shall be happy to have played a part."
"Then let's drink to success and cooperation!" the Dark Lord declared.
And so the Ebon Hawk crew all drank together to the success of their mission. Once they finished eating, Bastila stayed and chatted with the other crew members while Revan decided to retire early for the night. She noted that Juhani and Jolee agreed to practice lightsaber combat together, presumably because the old man decided he could brush up his skills.
Later that night, Bastila opened the door to the master bedroom she shared with her Master on their ship. She saw him sitting on the bed, a datapad floating before his face, with his eyes closed in concentration. Sensing her approach, his eyes opened.
"What are you doing, Master?" she asked.
"Memorizing the hyperspace waypoints on the way to the Star Forge," he answered. "Certainly not something I would want to forget… again."
"Maybe I should memorize it for you instead," she suggested with a wink.
"I think it still would be helpful for me to memorize it. What were you hoping to achieve though?" he asked.
"Because if I am the one memorizing, you could punish me every time I make a mistake. Pain does help with remembering. You can't punish yourself, after all," the willing slave answered with a smirk.
"So eager for punishment," her Master noted.
"I didn't choose to be a masochist," she replied. "I was just born this way."
"It's quite unfortunate that I have nothing with which to hit you except my bare hands then…"
"That's unfortunate," she sighed with frustration. "I can't wait to get to the Star Forge… Still, there must be something we can do tonight… after you finish the memorization, of course."
"I don't think I'll make any more progress tonight. Honestly, if I stared at those numbers any longer, I'd lose my mind," he admitted while taking out some rope. Of course, the rope was originally brought onboard as useful tools for their mission, especially for camping outdoors in search of the Star Map. Tonight though, it would serve a different purpose.
"I suppose it'll have to do," the would-be "victim" agreed with some resignation. While she enjoyed rope just fine, she would much rather play with metal, but unfortunately there was no obvious reason why they'd need those on their mission. Neural disruptors and similar devices were much more effective at keeping people restrained than chains, after all. Unfortunately, they rendered the victim unable to enjoy the feelings of being restrained.
"But first…" Revan said, interrupting her musings. He used the projector in the bedroom to display a hologram of a human body, with certain body parts highlighted.
"I almost forgot," the submissive girl remarked as she saw the projection. The image displayed all the danger zones where too much pressure could easily result in nerve damage, strangulation, or other undesirable effects. This was especially dangerous with rope, since they were not rigid and must be tied more tightly than metal cuffs to avoid slipping off, resulting in constant pressure. Another reason why they preferred metal. "I am going to say this again, Master. I don't know how lucky I am to have you."
"And we better make sure you can still reach all those positions without hurting yourself…" he noted, while gently pushing Bastila into the desired position. "Does it hurt?" he asked.
"No, Master," she replied. "I am still as flexible as before. It's really sweet that you care so much." She gave him a quick kiss. "Shall we start, Master?"
A few minutes later, Bastila laid on the bed, facing up, bound, gagged and unable to move, with her legs forced open. Her Master stood a few metres away, staring at his work with some pride.
Oh no, she told him in mock horror as she stared at his slowly approaching form. I am helpless! Please have mercy! She was unable to suppress her giddiness at what was about to happen, however. Come and claim your prize, Master… To her frustration, he started by teasing her, only granting her wish after what seemed like hours. But it was all worth it in the end… Still, she wished he would go further.
As they laid in bed that night cuddling, Bastila suddenly frowned.
"What is it, my dear?" Revan asked immediately after he sensed the change in her emotions.
"I just have been wondering… how I managed to learn so much about the Force," she explained.
"What do you mean?"
"There would be many more powerful Sith if they all learned like I did," she pointed out rather reasonably. "I learned to drain life in a few hours. I learned illusions passably in days. I figured out how to choke and create fear without practice. Aren't people supposed to spend years learning this?"
"Well, never underestimate how fast a good student can learn when the teacher teaches at the right speed. The Jedi cater to the slower learners to avoid making them feel bad, which creates an illusion of difficulty. Even worse, they simply love to maintain the mysticism surrounding the Force, and enjoy messing with your head in the name of teaching more than actually teaching," the Sith Master explained.
"In contrast, the Sith aim to teach every student according to their ability. Our best academy—the one on Korriban—was not afraid of transferring students to other academies if they couldn't keep up. From what I have seen, the same powers that would take Jedi years to learn will only take months with proper education and an intelligent student, and I have no doubt you are one, Bastila," Revan praised her, causing her to blush. "And besides, you aren't starting from scratch like most Sith. You were a Jedi and while their view of the Force is skewed, they still taught you the basics. All I had to do was fill in the gaps in your knowledge and let you practice with the so-called 'Dark Side'."
"I suppose that does help. It's sort of like how it's way easier for a skilled musician to learn a new piece than it is for a beginner to learn the same piece, isn't it? Even if it's a different genre?"
"Exactly! I've seen experts learning the same piece in a day that would have taken a beginner a month or more, and this is really no different."
"That makes sense. Still, it's a bit too much, isn't it?" she frowned. "Why do I feel like your best ex-Jedi student on Korriban wouldn't be able to learn as fast as I did?"
"You are right. They can't," he concurred. To her surprise, he started laughing. "We also have been cheating," he said at last.
"What do you mean, Master?"
"If you remember, I showed it all to you mentally," he reminded her. "I intended to make up for your inability to practice back then, but it must have been the superior teaching method. Since I showed it from my perspective, you must have unwittingly gained the knowledge of how it feels to use the powers I taught you. I think the result is that you subconsciously knew what to do, even more than just having done similar things."
"You mean anyone with a Force bond can teach like that?" his apprentice asked with surprise. "Why didn't the Jedi teach like this? Is it because they are trying to hold us back?"
"To be fair, the bond most Jedi Padawans have with their trainers is not strong enough to share memories like we can, only general feelings at best. I doubt they could have done it our way. But even if they could, I have a feeling they won't."
"Well, I am so glad for our bond," Bastila concluded happily, kissing him. "Let me show you my true appreciation, Master," she proposed, simultaneously demonstrating the usefulness of their bond by showing him exactly what she wanted.
Her Master happily granted her request. He pulled her in for another kiss, before pushing her over… They certainly did not mind having another round.
The next day, Canderous prepared to meet his challenger Jagi in the Dune Seas. The Sith couple decided to accompany him on this journey, followed by HK-47. Of course, their trip served another purpose: to deal with Vorn Daasraad, a target of the Genoharadan, and a stepping stone to infiltrating the guild.
They journeyed forth into the Dune Seas with the hunting licence borrowed from the miners who had been attacked and brutally murdered by the Sand People during their last visit, and soon encountered Jagi and two other Mandalorians near the site of that attack. HK-47 immediately raised his blaster in anticipation.
"Ah, so you managed to come after all," Jagi said with some disdain. "I waited here all day yesterday… I was beginning to wonder if you were going to show up. And you brought friends."
"You brought some of your own as well," Canderous shot back.
The challenger scoffed. "Indeed I did. I foresaw that you might need help so I arranged a distraction. I also wanted some witnesses to your imminent demise, so that none shall doubt justice was served today."
So much for Mandalorian honour, the Sith Lord mentally noted to his apprentice.
She replied with a feeling of amusement.
"Enough of this talk, Jagi!" Canderous declared. "Let us do what we came here to do."
"What's this about anyway?" Revan asked Jagi, interrupting the conversation. "Canderous never told me."
"In the battle above the world of Althir, he ordered my unit to attack the enemy flank, promising us support," the wronged Mandalorian glared. "But when he saw better prospects for his own glory, he abandoned us and left us to die surrounded by enemies!"
"If I had not attacked when I did, the battle would not have been won so easily!" his former commander protested.
"It would still have been won!" Jagi insisted. "You sent your own men to die there, Canderous. I can't forgive you for what you did to us! You will pay!" he declared.
"That's not the way it happened!"
"So why did you abandon them?" Bastila asked reasonably.
"The Althiri were fighting hard. I saw a break in their defences that left their centre exposed. I had to take the chance," he explained. "If I had not done what I did, many more warriors would have died and the battle would have taken much longer. I stand by my decision."
"You coward! You glory hunter!" Jagi accused. "You were given direct orders and were part of a plan! You had a responsibility to us!"
"I... I can regret their loss, but it was necessary," Canderous insisted.
"You know," the Dark Lord of the Sith cut in, "I think what Canderous did was a smart tactical move. I would have done the same."
"What?" Jagi shouted. He turned and looked at Revan, saw his lightsaber, and sneered. "Who do you think you are? Some Jedi coward who hid in your enclave while we fought your precious Republic? What do you know of warfare?"
"That's Revan himself," explained Canderous. "I would listen to the one who defeated Mandalore."
"Who are you kidding?" the challenger asked in disbelief. "Didn't that Jedi girl kill him?"
"I can confirm that's actually Revan," Bastila stated. "Look at me carefully, Jagi. I am that Jedi girl you spoke of, Bastila Shan." At this rate, she'd be sick of affirming her Master's identity very soon.
He looked at her carefully. "You look exactly like that girl in Republic propaganda." He thought for a moment. "I don't think you would lie about this… Okay, I am listening, Revan."
"No enemy reacts exactly as planned," the former Republic commander explained. "Any time, they could do something you didn't expect. And as soldiers, we must react to constantly changing battlefield situations instead of blindly following a plan when it no longer makes sense. Canderous fought intelligently, taking advantage of a weakness. Doing this allowed your forces to win the battle with less casualties. Yes, it was unfortunate that your men died, but such things are not predictable in battle, and your lives are no more important than the other lives he saved."
"Yes, if I stuck to the original plan, many more of our warriors might have died," the challenged Mandalorian joined in. "Mandalore taught us that opportunism and flexibility in battle were to be admired. You may contradict me or Revan, but do you contradict him as well?"
"No! I... I... I see that I have been wrong," Jagi admitted. "I have not been true to the teachings of Mandalore. And even the defeater of Mandalore agrees. You were right, I was wrong to question your honour. But… we must fight anyway, as much as it pains me."
"Why?" Bastila frowned. "Isn't this just a misunderstanding?"
"Our death challenges are final and can't be retracted," Jagi explained. "If we don't fight, both of us will be seen as cowards!"
"Yes, fighting is the only honourable option for them both," one of Jagi's friends interjected.
"Our code of honour demands it," his other ally added. Judging by the voice, it was a female warrior.
"There is no choice… we must fight," Canderous confirmed, taking out his vibroblade.
Jagi took out his vibroblade as well. Together, the two Mandalorians stood, facing each other. The other two Mandalorians and Revan's party watched solemnly, knowing that the fight could only end in death. Even HK-47 understood the significance and lowered his blaster.
The challenger was the first to attack, charging at Canderous, who parried his attack. For the next minute, the two struck at each other, but managed to block every strike from the other. Suddenly, the challenged feinted, and as Jagi moved to block, the former slipped through the defences of the latter, stabbing him in the gut. Blood spewed into the deserts of Tatooine as the vibroblade did its work, and Jagi was no more.
"Justice is served," one of the Mandalorians who came with Jagi declared. "Canderous is the victor, and thus were his actions over Althir justified. Jagi lost, but he fought honourably, as a true Mandalorian should. In death, his honour is intact." His voice was hollow, as if he was just following the script, but didn't really believe in what he was saying.
Canderous only stared at Jagi's broken body, unmoving.
I don't understand this Mandalorian honour thing, Master, Bastila commented mentally.
Yeah, it's a little weird. They are… flexible on certain issues, but they do take their death challenges very seriously. It can only end in death or cowardice, and to them, cowardice is worse than death, the Sith Master explained.
"You are really Revan, aren't you?" Jagi's female friend asked the Sith Lord. "So that's what you look like under the mask."
"I am indeed," he confirmed. "Not as dead as they would have you believe. And you are?"
"I am Jara. Canderous clearly saw you as the strongest and now travels with you. Do you mind if we join you also?" she asked.
"We have no room on our ship for you," Revan decided. "Still, you can help me."
"How might we do that?" the other Mandalorian joined in. "I am Dral by the way."
"Malak betrayed me, firing on my ship," the rightful Dark Lord explained. "I survived, but was severely wounded, and Malak falsely claimed the title of the Dark Lord. Bastila saved my life, and now we seek our vengeance upon the usurper. Soon, I shall fight him. Should I prevail, I intend to give your people an offer and a gift."
"And what do you intend to offer us, Revan?" Jara asked.
"A chance to fight by my side against the Republic who betrayed us all," he replied. "Let the remaining clans know to listen for news of my return. When they hear it, gather at Malachor V to hear my terms."
"We certainly have no love for those cowards," Dral noted. "You were the only honourable foe during the war. I can't speak for the others, but I'd gladly cleanse those weaklings from the galaxy, fighting by your side."
"Then go and spread the word!" Revan ordered.
The two Mandalorians nodded and left. Meanwhile, Canderous still stood silently, staring at the carnage, deep in his thoughts. Revan gently nudged him. "We need to get going soon," he said.
"I think this has affected me in ways that I didn't anticipate…" the Mandalorian warrior admitted. "We did everything according to our code of honour, and yet the result… it didn't feel honourable. There is no justice. Jagi's death was senseless. The duel was senseless. We convinced him that I was right, and then one of us had to die anyway. Jagi learned something, but his lesson was pointless to him. If the duel had a different outcome, he would have been forced to kill me, knowing I was right. I suppose it's for the best that he didn't have to face that, but still…"
"That's why I never agreed with your code of honour all those years," the Sith Lord stated. "Perhaps it needs to change?"
"You may have a point," Canderous agreed. "We've always followed the code of honour as is, because it is said that as long as we followed it, we would always triumph in the end. And yet, Revan, you've shattered that illusion. Perhaps it is indeed time that our code should change, so that the remaining clans could one day reunite and be stronger for it. Let me think about this and sort things out, but that can wait. Thank you for what you did. Let's head back to the ship."
"We still have another thing to take care of," the Sith Lord revealed.
"Whatever it is, I am here if you need something done right," Canderous offered immediately.
Revan explained the situation with the Genoharadan as they walked deeper into the Dune Seas.
"I've heard rumours of such an organization being responsible for the assassination of several of our generals during our war with the Republic, when we were on the verge of victory," he recalled. "Cowards. I certainly have no love for them. I am not sure how I feel about doing their work, but if you are sure it'll help taking them out, I'll join."
"Please keep this side mission quiet for now," the Sith requested.
"Of course," the Mandalorian obliged. "Don't trust the other crew?"
"I don't want any of them to accidentally blurt it out to the wrong people, which apparently is not a given," the Sith Lord stated bitterly, recalling how Mission almost got herself sold into slavery by saying too much to her scumbag brother. "If they did, all this would be for nothing."
The quartet walked through the territory claimed by the Sand People tribe that they destroyed during their last visit. Despite their efforts, they still faced the occasional attacks from some scattered bands, though fortunately far less organized. However, it was not necessarily a bad thing, as Revan decided it was the perfect opportunity for his apprentice to practice. She took care of the attacks with much greater ease than before. It was clear that she learned much about the darker aspects of the Force during their quest for the last Star Map.
Soon, they noticed a swoop bike and a combat droid in the distance.
"I feel like they will lead us to our target," the Sith apprentice stated as she pointed them out.
Revan nodded and approached the machines carefully. As a precaution, he channelled the Force to make his party immune to blaster fire.
"Commentary: charging blasters, just in case," HK-47 cut in.
When they were around 20 metres away, the droid opened fire on the quartet, which HK-47 immediately returned. The Sith Lord immediately channelled the Force to disable the droid while the blaster shots winked out of existence as they neared him. In a few seconds, the droid shut itself down.
Revan took out a computer spike, which was really an euphemism for a slicing kit. It contained a bunch of consumables useful for slicing, such as wires, power banks, clamps, and some mod chips. With these, he wired into the internal memory of the droid, allowing himself full unrestricted access to the droid's programming on his datapad. He checked out the settings, noticing that it followed a Gamorrean that matched the description for Vorn Daasraad. He grinned and messed with the programming so that the droid would seek out its owner. He disabled the droid's combat facilities for good measure, not wanting to risk the droid attacking while he was occupied with Vorn.
The quartet followed the hacked droid, weapons at the ready. Soon, the droid reached its destination.
"What this? What going on here? What you doing with my assault droid?" the Gamorrean demanded, speaking Basic with rather poor grammar.
"I simply reprogrammed your droid," Revan replied, completely unintimidated by the giant, armed pig-like creature.
"Turn my own droid against me—very clever. But it take more than rogue assault droid and you to take down Vorn Daasraad!" the Gamorrean declared and advanced.
However, he had vastly underestimated Revan, who simply reached out with the Force and a vice-like grip asserted itself around Vorn's neck. The Gamorrean let go of his axe and helplessly tried to pry it off.
Annoyed at how long the Gamorrean took to die, Bastila drained his life force after verifying that her Master wanted him dead. A few moments later, Vorn's corpse collapsed to the ground.
The Dark Lord telekinetically searched Vorn's remains and found a datapad, which he floated over. Bastila and Canderous joined him as he read the message on the screen:
The guild is restless. Genoharadan agents are hunting. Soon they will come for me—and possibly for you. When they do, I plan to be ready.
The message was shown as having been sent from Famine to War, both obviously codenames.
"Seems like he was expecting us," the apprentice noted. "Given that it appears to be a notification, we can probably conclude Vorn is this 'War.'"
"Is there anything else?" Canderous asked.
The Sith Lord tinkered around the datapad a bit, but found everything else locked. He turned the datapad around and found a fingerprint sensor. He smirked and floated the datapad over to the corpse and tapped the right index finger on the sensor, which promptly unlocked the datapad.
"This is why you do not rely solely on biometrics for security," he lectured.
"He probably doesn't care what happens to the datapad after he dies," Bastila observed.
"You may have a point," he conceded.
He flipped through what appeared to be a huge list of assassination missions. His interest piqued. He looked at the notes attached to some of the targets, and found a very interesting entry: "threat, might expose GH." He pointed it out to the other two humans.
"What is this GH?" the Mandalorian wondered.
"I suspect it's the Genoharadan," the Sith Master answered.
"That makes a lot of sense," Bastila agreed. After a moment, she frowned, "But why would he have this? Unless he is an Overseer."
"There are four, and we are being told to kill three very dangerous people," Revan noted. "What are the odds that all our targets are Overseers?"
As he spoke it, both he and Bastila realized the truth of his words. No wonder why I felt like these missions would be very helpful in taking down the guild, he thought.
"I bet Hulas is the last Overseer," she wagered confidently.
"It would explain his odd comment about one Overseer taking over the guild," he agreed. Suddenly, he felt a disturbance through the Force. He immediately unleashed a wave of Force energy, and a thud was heard. Without delay, his apprentice blasted the origin of the noise with Force Lightning. A Rodian appeared as his stealth device was fried.
"Must be a spy sent to monitor our progress," the Sith apprentice noted as HK-47 shot the spy with glee.
"We will not speak any more of this," the Sith Master ordered, feeling spooked by the Genoharadan's spy network. "Let's just go back. Bastila, you take the datapad and search through it for useful information. You better hurry, because these devices tend to prompt for a password every once in a while to deter theft of biometric information."
"Yes, Master!" she answered eagerly. She cut off Vorn's right index finger with her lightsaber and placed it in a resealable bag, knowing she might need it. She flipped through the datapad on the way back.
Half way back, the Sith apprentice motioned for her Master excitedly.
Out of an abundance of precaution, Revan sent out a Force wave. Sensing nothing moving except sand, he finally felt safe enough to ask, "What did you find?"
"It seems very likely that the four Overseers are codenamed Death, Pestilence, War, and Famine," Bastila reported.
"Interesting references to ancient tales of the Four Horsemen. I suppose it's rather fitting, for an ancient secret society," he noted. "What else?"
"It appears that the Genoharadan communications are secured with public key cryptography, using two keys—one public and one private. Orders from the Overseers are signed with the private key, and the public key is possessed by all members of the Genoharadan. All members of the guild can verify that the communication came from the Overseers, but no one can impersonate them, and their identities are otherwise kept secret so that no one is able to identify them personally," she continued reporting, explaining the technical details for the benefit of Canderous. She decided that it was unlikely that he had studied cryptography. Few people are interested in the art, but it had been one of Revan's interests, back in his teenage years, and as his best friend and lover, she had also been exposed to a healthy dose of it.
"Yes, that makes a lot of sense…" Revan agreed. "If we could extract the private keys, we could control the guild…"
"Yes… and I was able to dump the private key for War with Vorn's fingerprint," she reported proudly. "He really needed to work on his security habits, not like it would help him now."
"Very good, Bastila," her Master praised her. "What about the other data?"
"I dumped all I could to my datapad, Master."
"Seems like we are in a good position then."
"I am still surprised that it was this easy to seize control…" Canderous observed. "Even though we did similar things to the Republic…"
"This is why good security habits are so important," Revan lectured. "Of course, we don't have full control yet—we need to eliminate the remaining Overseers first."
With that, the quartet returned to the still disguised Ebon Hawk, taking off for Manaan.
A/N: What Revan and Bastila did to Vorn's datapad does not sound very realistic, but is actually far more probable than you might think.
On Earth, your phone could easily be unlocked with Revan's attack, and Bastila could easily have viewed your saved passwords. If your encryption key password is in there, you are screwed. If not, she could quite easily deduce the kind of passwords you would use from the ones she could see, provided that you don't use unique passwords (which you probably don't). Certain very popular crypto applications (cough GnuPG cough) have no limits on how many times you could try passwords before deleting the private key, so she could just guess until she gets it right. And there is no reason to believe people in authority, such as Vorn or government officials on Earth, take security much more seriously than the average person.
For those of you familiar with encryption software, my conception of the Genoharadan Overseers is like four PGP identities passed through the generations, with regular key renewals, except the communication protocol is not just PGP-encrypted emails, but more advanced and has forward secrecy. Unfortunately, they don't use HSMs. It's an ancient guild that didn't keep their security up-to-date, reasoning that the scenarios of the guild falling into the "wrong" hands were too contrived, and they are now paying for it.
Also, the rope bondage thing… Yes, Revan actually double checks the dangerous areas. Does it distract from the narrative? Perhaps, but I really don't want to encourage unsafe BDSM practices. And besides, Revan certainly loves Bastila enough to not take any risks with her safety just for his own pleasure… You can assume he double checked his work at the auction earlier too. Remember, he hasn't done this sort of thing regularly for a decade.