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Chapter 31: Temple of the Ancients
The four Force users found themselves inside the temple, the door closing ominously behind them.
"Which way do we go?" Bastila asked, breaking the silence.
"The north side is mostly dormitories and the armoury, so it is likely that the higher ranking Sith will be on that side, while the south side contains mostly computers," Revan recalled the layout from memory. "Bastila and I will take the north side, while Juhani and Jolee will be taking the south side," he ordered. And so the quartet split up.
On the northern fork, the Sith apprentice turned on her recently-acquired Baragwin stealth device, hiding herself completely from view. Naturally, Revan could still sense her through their Force bond, but her concealment should provide an element of surprise in any attack. They also disguised their presences in the Force, making their presence almost imperceptible to most Force users.
The couple soon reached the first dormitory. The apprentice stood invisibly in front of the door, while the Master hid beside the door. Their senses told them that there would be a single target inside, so the invisible Bastila knocked.
A few seconds later, the door opened, and the Sith acolyte inside peered out, frowning upon seeing no one. Before he could ignite his lightsaber, her yellow blade powered by the Mantle of the Force ignited in his gut. To preserve their advantage, the Sith Lord threw in a powerful Force choke, muffling any scream.
These Baragwin stealth units are worth every credit we paid for and surpassed my every expectation, Bastila said mentally, unwilling to create sound.
Indeed, her Master agreed. With them, we could have killed Hulas on the streets of Manaan with the Selkath being none the wiser. I wish we had them earlier.
They continued on the outer walkway of the temple, soon reaching the north corridor. On one side was the sea, and on the other, more rooms. But the bigger concern was the pair of droids patrolling the corridor.
Stealth or direct attack? the apprentice asked.
Stealth for the dormitory is the best we can do, her Master decided. Once we start attacking, they will instantly be alerted. Repeat what you did with the other dormitory, and I'll take care of the droids.
Yes, Master, the submissive could not resist saying in his mind before doing exactly as he ordered. She was able to catch another Sith acolyte off guard and impaled her on her lightsaber. This act immediately drew fire from the droids, but the Sith apprentice was able to dodge them easily by leaping into the dormitory, slicing her opponent's body in half in the process. A droid hiding inside the room immediately opened fire on her, but she simply ignited the other end to deflect the incoming fire. With a lazy wave of her hand, she turned off the stealth device, allowing to see her own movements much better. Spinning her saberstaff in her left hand, now with both ends ignited, Bastila found it rather easy to deflect all incoming fire, most of them back at the droid. With her right hand, she channelled the Force, punching straight through the droid's shields and frying its circuits. In a few seconds, the droid went up in smoke and collapsed into a heap of useless metal.
At the same time, out in the corridor, Revan immediately used the Force to fry the patrol droids' circuits, and the return fire proved easily blocked in midair after he raised his other hand. His apprentice did not tarry after she cleaned out the dormitory, immediately joining the attack. The combined might of the two Sith quickly overwhelmed the droids, ending the battle.
Just then, another Sith acolyte charged out of the next room, lightsaber ablaze. However, before he was able to get his bearings, he was already blasted by the potent Force Lightning of a Sith Lord. He feebly attempted to deflect the attack with his lightsaber, but it was futile, especially when Bastila's attack joined in from a different direction. As soon as the beam of energy made contact, it was over for the follower of Malak, who mercifully died a quick death from the electrocution. A droid followed the acolyte out of the room, but fared no better, fried by the Lightning that had seamlessly jumped to the next target.
No more enemies charged out after that, and all was quiet in this corridor of the temple. The couple took the time to take a few deep breaths.
Where do we go next? Bastila asked.
Into the middle room, where the acolyte and droid just came out. There is a path through that room and a few others into the armoury, the rightful Lord of the Sith recalled. Reaching out with the Force, he quickly probed around. It seems like the rooms in between are being actively being used for training and meditation, he added.
Following his directions, they soon reached another door. Waving his hand, Revan easily opened it, revealing a pair of Dark Jedi meditating.
"Who dares intrude on our meditations?" the female Dark Jedi said, believing it was one of the foolish acolytes asking about mundane matters once again. "You know the penalty for…" Suddenly, her eyes opened wide as she realized who she was looking at. "Revan… you are back!"
"Yes," he confirmed. "The reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. Now, the rightful Dark Lord is come to reclaim his throne from the usurper. Join me!"
"We have sworn allegiance to Malak," the male Dark Jedi boasted. "He has led the Sith to conquest and victory! The galaxy fears us, as they should. Your time is over, Revan!"
"Malak told us what happened to you," the female bragged. "The Jedi Council has stripped you of your power. You are a shell of what you once were! You are not fit to rule the Sith anymore! Darth Malak will reward us greatly for destroying you!"
The mention of Revan's incapacity angered Bastila. She still felt rather guilty about her role in the incident, despite her punishment that night they escaped Taris. However, she put those emotions into productive use, using her anger and guilt to push herself deep into the Dark Side headspace. The power of the Dark Side oozed out of her, and she channelled it to clamp down on the female Dark Jedi's throat like a vise. The Dark Jedi threw up some hasty defences, but it proved useless against the magnitude of Bastila's turbulent emotions.
On the other hand, the male Dark Jedi opted to jump at Revan, trying to impale him with his lightsaber. With a casual wave of his hand, the true Sith Lord easily threw his opponent into a wall. The Dark Jedi fell to the floor as a heap, barely avoiding breaking his bones. He slowly climbed back onto his feet, now less certain of his choice to follow Malak. The Dark Lord lazily waved his hand in challenge, and the Dark Jedi charged once again. In response, Revan wielded his lightsaber in his own unique form and engaged. They exchanged a few rounds of blocked blows, before the Sith Lord decided to try something different, shooting Lightning at his opponent. The Dark Jedi was forced to disengage and dodge the attack. He decided to take the opportunity to free his partner from Bastila's grip, launching his own Force Lightning at the Sith apprentice. She, however, easily caught the Lightning in her hand. She forced her turbulent emotions into the Lightning, before sending it back to the Dark Jedi. He dodged, falling again into a heap in the process, but the wall behind where he was just a second ago was singed. Cracks formed in the ancient masonry.
Revan looked up for a moment and grinned. Taking advantage of the high ceiling and the Dark Jedi's momentary distraction as he attempted to regain his bearings, he easily jumped over his target, oriented himself so that his lightsaber pointed down, and used the Force to make him fall three times faster than gravity would allow. The result was that he slammed down on the Dark Jedi and impaled him right through his heart. The blow was so powerful that the lightsaber embedded itself in the floor, forcing the Sith to turn off the blade to dislodge it.
Seeing the gruesome fate of her comrade, the other Dark Jedi ceased resisting for just long enough for Bastila to completely crush her throat.
With the room cleared, the Sith couple took a moment to unwind, before preparing to clear the next room.
There is only one person in there, Revan observed. Hide yourself.
Bastila turned on the Baragwin stealth belt, hiding herself completely from view. Nodding with satisfaction, her Master waved his hand and brought down the door. A Sith, who held the rank of Master and had just destroyed a training droid, turned around to face the intruder.
"Revan!" he immediately recognized. "Lord Malak told us you still lived. At last, a challenge worthy of my skills. I grow so bored with slaughtering these mindless training droids. I intensified my training tenfold in the hopes I would get the chance to face you in mortal combat! I am glad to see my training has not been in vain."
"So be it," the Lord of the Sith said. He opened the battle with a huge blast of Force Lightning, not bothering to waste his breath saying anything else. The other Sith tried to block it, but was eventually pushed back and forced to jump out of the way. The Lightning darkened the portion of the wall where it had struck. Igniting his lightsaber, Revan leaped at his enemy, properly beginning the duel.
Unlike the previous opponents in the temple, this was the highest ranking Sith present, and his skills reflected that. The pair exchanged blow after blow, but every attack was blocked. A minute went by, and then two, yet neither was able to gain a decisive advantage. Eventually, Revan's superior technique forced his opponent onto the defensive. However, time was on his opponent's side, as there were additional enemies in the temple to confront. Deciding to end the fight quickly, Revan suddenly jumped away, before throwing out a powerful Force wave, pushing his foe against a wall. While the follower of Malak reeled from the impact, the true Lord of the Sith closed his hand, choking the traitor through the Force. Putting in all his strength, the other Sith was able to break free, barely rolling out of the way of Revan's followup attack with Force Lightning. Unfortunately, that timely escape turned out to be his undoing, as he rolled straight into the hidden form of Bastila, who ignited her lightsaber and burned a hole straight through him, ending the fight.
"I still can't believe how good these Baragwin stealth belts are," she remarked. "It was just pure luck that he dodged this way, but still, he didn't notice me in time to avoid his fate."
"Yes, these are supremely useful," her Master agreed. He used the Force to search through the Sith Master's remains, acquiring some useful gauntlets and a lightsaber. Opening the door to the armoury, they also searched through it, taking more useful equipment, such as medpacs and a load of grenades.
"This doesn't make any sense…" his apprentice couldn't resist asking on the way out. "Why would the armoury require going through training rooms? Why are all the training rooms in series? It's silly to have to interrupt others when finding a room to train in."
"I wasn't involved in this," the Dark Lord answered with a shrug. "I think we killed the only ones who knew. If you want to know what the rooms were originally for, you should ask Keeper Orsaa, given that his race designed this."
On the south side, Juhani and Jolee used a similar tactic: the former would use the Baragwin stealth belt while the latter covered her with the Force from the back. They looked at the sketch of the floor plan provided by Revan, noting that the first door led to the security control room. She knocked on the door, and the Sith acolyte inside opened the door. Before he could react, he was already impaled on the Cathar's lightsaber.
Not seeing much to do in the security room, the duo ventured on and approached the south corridor, where two giant droids patrolled. Jolee opted to deflect the blaster fire with his lightsaber in one hand, blasting the droids with the Jedi technique with the other, slowly frying their circuits, while Juhani stood guard, ready to jump and attack anyone who came out of the rooms.
Her precaution proved wise, as all of a sudden, a Sith acolyte rushed out one of the rooms in panic. Without a conscious thought, the Cathar leaped over and decapitated the acolyte with her lightsaber. Then, another Sith acolyte ran out in the other direction. She jumped over and stabbed him in the back. Only afterwards did she realize that the acolytes were probably trying to respond to Revan's attack up north. By splitting up, they had confused the enemy.
Suspecting that there were no more enemies, Juhani turned back and attacked the patrol droids with her lightsaber, destroying the droids that were already weakened by Jolee. Suddenly, another assault droid popped up behind her, firing. She twisted herself away from the line of fire, rolling out of the way so that the old man could fry it with the Force. She stood up behind the droid, cutting it with her lightsaber. Soon, their combined efforts took it down.
They continued down a path, finding their way into a droid command room. Jolee immediately took on the droid inside the room, while the Cathar woman pounced on the Sith acolyte inside. With his lightsaber in one hand deflecting the droid's fire, the old Jedi Padawan slowly fried the droid while Juhani kept the acolyte busy in a duel. They turned out to be fairly evenly matched, with neither able to gain any real advantage over the other. The Cathar knew she must do something new to break the stalemate. Copying one of the manoeuvres that Bastila pulled against her in training a few days ago, she swept her foot to trip over the acolyte, while dealing a heavy blow with her lightsaber. The combined actions forced the acolyte to lose his balance. In the split second it took for him to regain his footing, she stabbed him in the crotch, ending the fight. Around the same time, Jolee completely fried the droid in the room, and the room was silent once more.
Suddenly, a loud noise sounded from above.
"What was that?" Bastila asked, also sensing a disturbance in the Force.
"Someone just landed on top of the temple," Revan immediately deduced. He closed his eyes and tried to feel upwards with the Force. "Force-knighted grandmaster of padawan temples!" he cursed. "It's… Malak."
His apprentice facepalmed. "What rotten luck. You really jinxed it, Master," she said, recalling him mentioning this exact possibility.
"I prefer to see it as foresight," the Dark Lord retorted. "Ah well, no plan survives contact with the enemy anyway."
"How should we deal with him?" she asked.
"He is too much of a coward to leave his ship behind and allow us to cut off his escape route, so he would be waiting for us up there." He sighed, remembering how much Malak changed from the young Jedi who charged ahead of his troops, to a coward that opted to glass planets and attack his flagship from afar. Power truly corrupts certain people.
"Four against one is good odds for us though," his girlfriend observed.
"Yes," he agreed. "This might actually be a blessing in disguise. No point in waiting, let's get this done."
The couple continued onto the north corridor, with Bastila hiding herself once again. On the way, a Sith acolyte tried to attack Revan from the back, but she easily cut off the attacker's head from her hidden position. Her victim stood still, before falling over, the head rolling on the ground. Fortunately, the cauterization caused by the searing heat of the lightsaber prevented blood from shooting out of the stump of the neck and covering them. She shook her head and continued on.
"What was that?" Juhani asked in response to the noise above.
"It feels like someone landing on the temple," Jolee replied. "We should hurry and clear the floor."
Skipping over a tunnel that led nowhere, they found themselves in a room containing two heavily shielded droids, which immediately opened fire. The duo scrambled to defend themselves. The Cathar moved to cover the old man, which freed both of his hands to fry the droids. But the progress was slow.
Revan and Bastila circled around the temple, passing the entrance to the catacombs, as neither sensed anything beneath, and reached a room with two heavily shielded droids which Juhani and Jolee were desperately fighting. Seeing their struggle, they joined in with their own attack, and soon their combined strength fried the droids.
"Okay, the floor is clear," the Dark Lord declared. "Our next step is opening the door on the other side to go upstairs."
"Do we know who landed on top of the temple?" Jolee asked.
"It was Malak," Bastila answered.
"What are we going to do?" Juhani asked.
"We will go up together. I think the odds are in our favour, since he's probably alone," Revan decided.
"Could I try to sneak past him and cut off his escape with my natural stealth combined with the Baragwin stealth device?" Juhani proposed.
"It's a good idea, but I don't think it would work against Malak," the Sith Lord noted. "Try it against me and see."
The Cathar did as asked, vanishing from view. Suddenly, she yelped as she was grabbed through the Force.
"Malak should be capable of similar feats…" Revan explained. "He survived an assassination attempt like this during the Mandalorian wars."
Following the south corridor, the quartet soon reached the huge closed door. With a wave of his hand, the Dark Lord opened the door, revealing two more combat droids. He immediately blocked all the blaster bolts with the Force. Bastila and Jolee both blasted the droids with the Force, and quickly turned them into piles of smoking metal. They cautiously followed the path up. Opening another door, they saw the natural lighting in the corridor behind. They were close to the summit.
Exiting the sheltered area, they spotted a tall male figure standing on the other side, whistling a tune that felt so out of character. No one even knew his vocabulator was capable of such a feat.
"Darth Malak," Bastila called out.
"Ah, Bastila and her companions, how nice of you to show up," Malak said with fake pleasantness in his electronic voice. Turning to Revan, he continued, "I came as soon as I felt the disturbance in the temple. Besides, I had to see for myself if it was true. I had my suspicions when that Alderaanian nobleman revealed he was guarding a mind-wiped Dark Jedi, which were confirmed when Captain Onasi revealed under torture that Bastila spent her nights with you. Given her history and your appearance, there's only one person you could be… but even now I can hardly believe my eyes. Tell me, why did the Jedi spare you? Is it vengeance you seek at this reunion?"
The true Lord of the Sith immediately feigned confusion. "Her history? Spare me? Reunion? What are you talking about?" He felt that he might have overdone it, but the usurper started laughing.
"What?" Malak managed to speak between his laughter. "You mean you don't know?" he laughed again. "All this time, and you still haven't figured it out?" he laughed even more. "And she never told you even as she slept—" Suddenly, he choked.
On the other side of the temple, Revan stood with his right arm extended in a choking gesture. He tightened his grip. "You were so arrogant, so impulsive, so sure of your success, my old apprentice."
The usurper struggled desperately against the Force choke, finally managing to unleash a Force wave that pushed Juhani and Jolee back. Revan and Bastila were able to resist its effects, especially since Malak could not use his full power while being choked, but he was able to free himself from the Force choke.
"So you do remember," he said as he rubbed his neck. "The Jedi were indeed fools to think they could control you and make you their pawn. The will of a Sith Lord is not so easily manipulated!"
"On that we can agree. Now, tell me," the original Dark Lord demanded, "why did you betray me?"
"I shall be honest," the traitor answered. "The moment I realized Bastila was within your grasp, I knew you would want her as the apprentice by your side, and I would be cast aside. I realized that I must destroy you both if I were to not be demoted, and so I personally took the controls and fired on your flagship. You were always so sentimental about things, Revan, holding her precious, pining for her even as a Sith Lord. Pathetic!"
"So you betrayed your master because you were jealous of me?" Bastila asked incredulously.
"No," Malak countered. "Unlike Revan, I am above such sentiments of weakness. I simply wish to claim my rightful inheritance without it being stolen by a random Jedi convert that caught his eye. And I won, proving that I deserve the mantle of the Dark Lord!"
"You idiot," the rightful Dark Lord cursed. "The succession was never formally defined. The plan was to sit down, after we have conquered the Republic, to discuss and create a proper system, including the succession."
"And yet you announced that I would succeed you," the usurper objected.
"No, I announced that in my absence or incapacity, you would take over the command, because our chain of command must remain intact no matter what," Revan clarified. "Now, you have committed treason and screwed up the entire Sith organization and our Empire. You have forsaken your mission to free the galaxy from the shackles of the Republic, instead choosing to destroy planets for no good reason. The blood of billions stains your hands. I should have removed your head instead of your jaw after what you did to Telos. It was my greatest mistake, and one for which I would never forgive myself. Billions who are now with the Force call for justice. The only possible remedy for this is your… death."
As he spoke, he raised both of his hands. At the exact moment he said the word "death," he fired a storm of Force Lightning at Malak, who immediately raised his hands to block the Lightning. Both men were channelling as much power as they could, and the strain showed on their face. Seeing this, Bastila quickly joined in with her own Lightning. A few moments later, it became clear that the usurper was unable to hold himself against the combined onslaught, and he instead leaped away straight into the cockpit of a G-wing that was parked some distance behind him. A crater was created in the ancient masonry as the Lightning slammed into the floor, a loud banging noise echoing between the crumbling walls around them.
Once inside the G-wing, Malak immediately tried to take off. He had not turned off the engine, clearly intent on making a quick escape if necessary. Seeing his attempt to flee, Revan grabbed the G-wing through the Force as it tried to fly away. The others looked up in shock, never imagining it was possible to grab onto a spacecraft taking off with the Force.
The usurper did not give up so easily, and pushed the throttles on the spacecraft to the maximum setting. Slowly, he was able to slowly inch away. Seeing this, Bastila snapped out of her stupor and joined in to help. She blasted the G-wing with Force Lightning, but Malak was able to turn on the fighter's builtin energy shield to deflect her blast. It was futile. The farther he got, the looser Revan's hold was, and the more difficult it was for her Lightning to damage the shield. And thus, Malak flew away in the direction of the Star Forge.
"Lightsabers! He got away," Revan cursed.
"I should have pulled the ship too instead of lashing out with Force Lightning," his apprentice reflected. "Juhani and Jolee too. Now we have to fight him on the Star Forge. Who knows how many people he will send to stop us now that he knows we are coming for him?"
"Yes, we really could have gotten him down here," he said with a sigh.
"I guess our original plan involves fighting him on the Star Forge anyway, so it hasn't gotten worse," Juhani observed. "You can beat Malak in single combat, right?"
"But the Star Forge is likely to be even more guarded," Bastila noted.
"Yes," the Sith Lord sighed. "We just lost the element of surprise. If we manage to board the Star Forge, there is little doubt Malak would send every acolyte he can spare to wear us down. And who knows what other tricks Malak would be planning now?" He rubbed his head. "Well, we have to make the best of what we have."
Sidestepping the crater, he used the computer to reconfigure the shields around the temple, allowing his crew to enter. He also turned off the disruptor field, enabling any ship to approach the Star Forge. Finally, he activated the temple's emergency defences, which caused multiple layers of shields to appear over the entire island and the surrounding waters, protecting them against any orbital bombardment or attempt to land ground troops. It was what allowed the island to survive the downfall of the Infinite Empire. Malak blissfully remained ignorant of this feature, as he had no patience to read through all the records in the temple. He was only aware of the smaller shield that surrounded the temple itself, in which the Ebon Hawk would not fit, so he was in for a massive surprise later.
"Canderous," he called into the communicator once he was done. "Send T3-M4 into the temple."
"Acknowledged," the Mandalorian's reply came through.
"What was that for?" the Cathar asked.
"We'll need T3 to shut off the emergency shields once the Republic fleet arrives, or we won't be able to fly out," Revan explained. "Now we wait for the Republic fleet to arrive…"
"Let's explore the temple while T3 arrives," his apprentice suggested, wanting to make the waiting less stressful.
He took her hand, and together they climbed up to the highest platform on top of the temple.
