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Chapter 36: La Revanche de Revan
Revan continued down a corridor full of newly installed droid generators, and next to them, computer terminals. Malak must have made the modifications recently, he deduced. I have a bad feeling about this.
Suspecting a potential ambush, he approached one of the terminals at the near end of the corridor. He tried a few passwords that Malak often used, and found that one of them granted him access. He almost sighed at his old apprentice's security habits, but opted not to since it did prove rather beneficial to him in this instance. Looking inside, he quickly found the schematic of the droid the Star Forge was to produce and dispense through the generator. It was apparent that these droids were to terminate all occupants of the corridor—no doubt the usurper's idea of a trap.
It didn't take the rightful Dark Lord much effort to disable the command, rendering the generator harmless. He quickly repeated the same action on every terminal, neutralizing Malak's entire trap. Noting the ease of this, he couldn't help but rant in his mind… If you are going to set a trap, Malak, at least make sure it's not so easily broken.
He continued down the corridor, approaching the door at the end, ready to fight. The door opened, and Malak was on the other side, choking two of the Jedi that boarded the ship, presumably to assassinate him. Seeing Revan, he decided to stop torturing them, and threw his lightsaber to decapitate one while blasting the other with Force Lightning.
"I tire of this game, Revan," the usurper complained. "You have been a thorn in my side from the moment I seized the mantle of Dark Lord from your feeble grasp!" Turning predatory, he continued, "You made a mistake coming here. The Star Forge fuels my command of the Dark Side. You are no match for me here. And this time you will not escape!"
"You've never learned any humility, have you?" the rightful Dark Lord asked with an edge. "Always boasting about how powerful you are. Ah well, soon we shall see who the true Sith Master is."
"You may have reclaimed your identity, but you have lost the power you once wielded!" Malak replied angrily. "You are not the Dark Lord anymore. You are nothing, and I will prove that!" Revan figured he was also reassuring himself. "You are an insignificant speck beneath my notice! I have surpassed you in every way and accomplished what you never could… I have unleashed the full potential of this Rakatan factory! You had no idea of the power within this place! Its very walls are alive with Dark Side energies! And now, my old master, I will let the Star Forge itself destroy you!"
"You mean those droids? Good luck with that," the rightful Dark Lord taunted.
The usurper suddenly looked uncertain, but rallied himself and slammed the door shut in his former master's face.
No doubt his trap was to seal me in the room with all those droids… Revan deduced. Unfortunately for Malak, nothing happened as the generators were disabled. Now what to do? he asked himself.
Igniting his lightsaber powered by the Heart of the Guardian, he stabbed the door, the heat of the blade melting through. Suddenly, the blade stopped meeting resistance, having penetrated all the way through. He moved the lightsaber around, cutting a human-sized circle in the door. With a kick, the piece of durasteel that was formerly attached came loose and he simply walked through. For good measure, he flicked a switch on the other side, and the door—or rather, what's left of it—opened, while the power was disconnected from the droid generators and their terminals.
Ah, fencepost security, he couldn't help but think. After going through all that trouble of trying to build a droid army to kill me in this trap, the door wasn't so secure after all. Even if I didn't manage to guess the password, I'd still be able to escape… He shrugged, and continued forth.
However, things were not going well for everyone. On a flagship in the same star system, Admiral Dodonna was sweating. The battle had been going so well, the destruction of the Star Forge seemingly inevitable, but she was suddenly blindsided.
"The tide of the battle is turning against us!" she exclaimed with shock. "The entire Sith fleet reacts instantly to our every strategy! Every fighter and capital ship attack in perfect unison!" Granted, she still had a decent shot at winning: the Republic forces still outnumbered the Sith fleet massively, and all the casualties previously inflicted worked to her advantage. However, she knew many more of her soldiers would be lost, and it hurt. Turning to the Jedi Master standing beside her, she found that he was slumped over. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"Just… a massive disturbance in the Force," he replied, pushing himself back up. "I don't know what it was, but we'll find out sooner or later. How goes the battle?"
"Look at the Sith! See how they are fighting all of a sudden! I've never seen such military precision! How is this possible?"
"I have…" Vandar noted, "but never from the Sith. It's almost as if… No! Bastila is using her battle meditation against us!" He realized then what the massive disturbance in the Force was. She had to be on the Star Forge, so the strike team must take her out as soon as possible… Since they were out of communication range, he could not send the order himself, but they had to have felt the disturbance… He put his faith in the Force, as all Jedi must.
Meanwhile, it took Dodonna a few moments to process what he had meant. "What‽ But she is on our side?" Her voice was filled with complete disbelief.
"Not anymore. I thought I sensed something different about her during her transmission, but I thought it was just the evil presence of the Star Forge. She has turned to the Dark Side, I fear," the Jedi observed. To himself, he muttered, "Revan too. Did it fail? Is it caused by her unbroken attachment to him?"
"What are you talking about? What Revan? Isn't he dead? What attachment? You told me Bastila was completely reliable!" The admiral started to become angry, knowing that the Jedi had hidden something important from her.
"No, Revan is not dead. Once upon a time," he recounted, "a young Bastila was rather infatuated with him. Of course, I thought she had grown out of such childish things a long time ago, but perhaps she didn't… Who would have thought she was so stubborn, still attracted to the object of her childish infatuation after over a decade apart?"
"So, she has joined the Sith now?" Dodonna deduced.
He nodded in response.
"This is why I don't like you Jedi," she raged. "You keep denying these attachments, and so could never understand how little a decade apart means to a couple truly in love." She took a deep breath to calm herself. "I suppose you will never understand emotions, so no point in wasting my breath. In any case, this is very important information and I should have been informed before! Now, tell me, is there anything else critical to this battle that you decided to keep from me?"
"If there is, I can't tell you," Vandar said, completely seriously.
"Can you Jedi be more helpful?" She glared at him. "How about you command this battle instead? Clearly, I don't have the security clearance to know whom I am supposed to be fighting against!"
"Very well," the Jedi Master conceded. He proceeded to explain Revan's mind wipe to Admiral Dodonna.
"We allowed Sith defectors to spread stories about how Revan was a great leader and worth following compared to Malak's pure evil to raise morale and strengthen the will to fight against the Sith when many hesitated to take up arms against Revan, because you told us that he was dead and can never return!" Dodonna shouted in the Jedi Master's face. "Most of the Republic military now at least see him as an honourable foe, and many even see him as a great hero! And why shouldn't they? He defeated the Mandalorians! He bested Mandalore himself in single combat! They believe that even after he turned against us, he was still fighting for what he thought was a good cause! Now he is back! How can our fleet summon the will to fight against him now? Curse you! You've doomed us all with your deceit!"
Exiting the elevator, Revan found himself on the same level as the viewing platform. He knew his former apprentice was inside, watching the battle raging outside. This was to be the final showdown between Malak and himself. Only one of them would be alive at the end of the day, and the survivor would be hailed as the Dark Lord of the Sith.
He took a deep breath and prepared himself for combat. With a wave of his hand, he opened the door. He stepped through, with his hood on, looking every bit like he had been as the undisputed ruler of the Sith, minus the mask.
"Well done, Revan," Malak congratulated. "It seems like the Jedi have failed completely, and not only do you remember, you are just as powerful as before, if not more so."
"And that," the founder of the current Sith noted, "is why I was the Dark Lord, and you were the apprentice."
"Once you were stronger than me, Revan," the usurper insisted, "but as your apprentice I surpassed you. The Dark Lord must always be stronger than the apprentice, yet you lost to me, and that was why I replaced you."
"You betrayed me from afar," the rightful Dark Lord noted. "You were afraid to face me, Malak. Victory must be gained through power, not treachery. Without power, your victory does little to break your chains, or have you forgotten what it meant to be Sith?"
"No!" Malak protested. "I was prepared to face you, Revan, but then fate presented me with a better option. I saw the opportunity, and when you let down your guard, I seized it. I would have challenged you for the mastery of the Sith soon enough—it was only a matter of time."
"Such things you tell yourself to sleep better at night," his former Master told him with contempt, shaking his head. "A Sith must prove himself as the better leader to succeed as the Dark Lord, not attempt to seize power through brute force or treachery. A Sith is more than just a fighter, Malak, and most certainly not a cheater. Stabbing your master in the back does not give you the ability to defeat the Republic, and sooner or later it would only end in your death."
"It is you who are delusional, Revan," Malak countered. "You shunned the ways of the ancient Sith, the tried and true methods that made the first Sith Empire such a force to be reckoned with. Instead you came up with new rules, new chains to make yourself pathetic."
"If you had thought it through, you would have realized it was treachery within the ancient Sith that gave the Republic victory in the Great Hyperspace War, leading to their total annihilation. The Sith have always been great, yet their greatness has always been squandered by infighting." Revan shook his head. "But I see I am going nowhere with logic. We shall have to do this your way: a battle to the death."
"Yes," the usurper agreed, "we shall face each other in single combat… and the victor shall decide the fate of the galaxy."
And with a mighty Force jump, Malak ignited his lightsaber and launched himself straight at his former Master, who easily stepped aside and threw a Force wave back in the usurper's face. The former apprentice was able to mostly counter the attack, landing easily with a roll. As he did so, Revan launched a storm of Force Lightning at him, but his opponent raised his lightsaber and deflected the attack.
Knowing that they could fight all day throwing Force-based attacks at each other, he lit his lightsaber and engaged. Malak met his attack with the ferocious and violent moves of Juyo, which he countered with his own Vaapad form, his every move evolving to counter anything the usurper could throw at him. The ensuing mêlée was one of the greatest duels in galactic history, greater than even Revan's battle with Mandalore. It was beyond description except by those few who could match the two combatants in battle. The Star Forge's surveillance cameras recorded the entire battle, but when examined, most of it was simply a blur. In the end, the sheer flexibility of Revan's form proved decisive, and Malak sustained multiple lightsaber cuts, two on his right arm, and three more on his leg. They were far from deep and shielded by the usurper's armour, yet they still stung due to the heat of the Heart of the Guardian. It would only be a matter of time before the former apprentice fell in battle.
But with a Force push on the ground, the injured Sith jumped away to one of the strange pods in the room. Revan looked closely, and saw what appeared to be a Jedi inside.
"You continue to amaze me, Revan," Malak's electronic voice mocked. "If only you had been the one to uncover the true power of the Star Forge, you might truly have become invincible… But you were a fool! All you saw was an enormous factory, generating an infinite fleet to crush the Republic. You were blind—blind and stupid!"
His former Master snorted. "I am fully aware of the Star Forge's capabilities. I simply chose to not exercise some of it, for reasons that should be obvious."
"You were always weak, Revan," the usurper declared. "You were afraid of power, afraid that the Star Forge would corrupt you."
"Afraid of the Star Forge?" he laughed. "No, you should be more afraid of yourself. What good is power if you can't use it for what you wanted it for in the first place?"
"No, you are weak, just like the Jedi you see around you," Malak countered, pointing to the pods around the room. "These Jedi tried to attack my forces, and fell. For all intents and purposes, they are dead, except for one difference: I have not let them become one with the Force. Instead, they are here. The Star Forge shall corrupt what remains of their power and transfer it to me!"
The usurper reached out with the Force, and an orange beam appeared, channelling the life force from the pod. The Jedi inside, kept barely alive by the sheer power of the Star Forge, rotted away. He channelled the life force through the Star Forge. Its massive presence in the Dark Side—acquired through Malak's constant abuse—was able to taint it to be more palatable to the corrupt Sith. It instantly healed all his wounds. Revan also noted it brought his opponent's supply of Force energy back to full. He inwardly grinned at this discovery, but kept his face neutral.
"You can't beat me, Revan," Malak bragged. "Not here on the Star Forge. Not when I can draw upon the power of all these Jedi. And when you are defeated, I will do the same to you. You'll be trapped in a terrible existence between life and death, while your power feeds me as I conquer the galaxy!"
And Revan knew his enemy was right about one thing: he would fall from exhaustion if he tried to fight Malak and allowed him to drain the Jedi one by one. That only meant he had to look past the obvious brute force solution. He looked around, and quickly formed an idea.
He jumped off the raised platform they both had stood on. Seeing this, Malak immediately followed suit, landing on the same spot. But Revan was nowhere to be seen. The usurper looked around, and saw his former Master had run quite some distance. He turned to pursue him, but before he could lift his feet, an adhesive grenade exploded under him, its nasty stickiness trapping him. He screamed in rage. With a mighty Force jump, he flew out of his boots and ripped his cape, chasing down his opponent barefoot.
With Malak appropriately off-balance, Revan initiated the next stage of his plan. His foolish former apprentice had a clever idea to use the captive Jedi and simply stuck with it. He, on the other hand, liked to have more than the obvious ideas. The implications of readily available Force power was evident to him—he could, in fact, use up almost the entirety of his reserve of Force energy in a ridiculously overpowered attack without consequence as long as he could drain Jedi immediately afterwards.
Suddenly, Revan channelled the Force, summoning his anger and hatred at Malak's cheating ways, and in a spectacular display, pulled all the captive Jedi and their pods from the ground. His opponent's eyes widened in shock, not expecting him to unleash so much power all at once. The true Dark Lord raised the pods to the ceiling behind him, and hurled all the pods at Malak. The display made a significant dent in his supply of energy. He quickly reached out with a field of death over his head, draining the life and Force energy from the pods as they flew over him. The act completely replenished his energy reserves, healing all the wounds he received during the earlier duel with Malak and expelling every trace of fatigue from him. The empty husks of the now-dead Jedi and the pods they were trapped in crashed at the spot Malak had stood, making a huge dent in the floor. The usurper barely managed to twist out of the way, falling to the ground in an undignified heap.
"I think you are screwed if you don't have more pods, my old apprentice," Revan taunted.
Malak brought himself to his bare feet, now looking afraid. Suddenly, another adhesive grenade exploded under him, gluing his feet to the ground. He could not abandon his feet without consequence like he had with his boots, and so became a sitting duck. Revan made a note to thank Zaalbar for his contributions, as the Wookiee had made these adhesive grenades.
He threw his lightsaber at Malak, while simultaneously launching a storm of Force Lightning. Having just drained multiple Jedi, the Lighting was insanely potent, and his opponent, after dodging the lightsaber, put all he had into deflecting it. Meanwhile, the lightsaber turned back like a boomerang, and suddenly struck Malak in the side, leaving him with a gaping wound. In a desperate attempt to save himself, Malak closed his eyes and tried to gather power directly from the Star Forge. When no power came, he opened his eyes with shock and defeat.
"You are a fool, Malak. All you see is a space station capable of feeding you with the power to destroy," Revan parroted his enemy's lines from earlier. "You do not understand the true power of creation. You do not understand how you can change the galaxy fundamentally with the power of the Star Forge. And worst of all, you do not understand why anyone would share power."
The usurper only stared at him, becoming weaker and weaker. Wanting to make the point before the traitor died, Revan decided to get to the point.
"Do you know why you can't draw any power from the Star Forge? That's because Bastila is drawing from it right now, power enough to hold two entire Republic fleet groups at bay with her battle meditation. The Star Forge knows that I alone can truly wield it to its fullest potential, instead of torturing it by pushing it beyond its limits to lay waste to the galaxy. As such, it still recognizes me as its master. I allowed Bastila to share its power, holding the Republic forces despite the odds. There is nothing left for you," he explained.
Malak only looked resigned, knowing he had failed.
"Love is not a weakness," the Sith Master lectured, as if he was giving his former apprentice a final lesson, "not when your partner loves you back equally. Together, we can trust each other and pool our strength together, without reservation or doubt. You could never have imagined that, could you? All you see is yourself. All you care about is yourself. And that... is why you fail."
"You are stronger than me, Revan, and far stronger than I imagined," the usurper admitted. Despite his wounds, his vocabulator still functioned, speaking the words with ease. "Stronger than I could hope to be, even with those captive Jedi, even with the Star Forge."
"It would have saved all of us a lot of trouble if you had realized that before you tried to betray me," Revan observed.
"Yes," Malak agreed. "There is no point in lying to myself anymore. I was a fool. In truth, I was consumed by overwhelming jealousy. I didn't stop to think. I just couldn't stand the thought that after all those years of fighting by your side, I would be replaced by your precious Bastila. I acted out of impulse that day… Only after the deed was done did I realize the magnitude of my actions. I became the ruler of our Empire, and I had no idea what to do. I only knew how to fight battles… and even now I still don't know how to keep the Empire functioning. I regretted my rash actions immediately, but it was too late. I chose to deny it and tried to channel the teachings of the ancient Sith to justify my move. I even believed the excuses myself. But I must admit, if it weren't for the civilian government that you had set up, Revan, the Sith Empire would have long since collapsed by now… For what it is worth, I never dared to touch any of your ministers. Your Empire is in good hands."
"I should thank you for that, at least," Revan admitted.
"And I am sorry… for betraying you… for almost ruining the Sith and our Empire," Malak apologized sincerely. "I know it won't make up for what I have done… but please indulge me."
"Apologies accepted," the Sith Master said simply. He would never forgive him for what he had done, however. The countless lives lost through Malak's deliberate actions would forever stain his legacy and he deserved the death penalty a thousand times over, but he would not say this to a dying man.
"Then hail the return of Darth Revan, the true Lord of the Sith," the dying man proclaimed. "Destroy the Republic and make the Sith proud! I wish you and Bastila the best."
"I will."
"And so it ends as I feared it would… in darkness," Malak's vocabulator sounded before it became silent forever.
A/N: The door in the droid room that Malak shuts in your face is actually bashable, and some believe this to be a bug. There are "fixes" floating online that disables the bashing mechanic. Specifically, K1 Community Patch disables it, which might be why you never saw the option (deleting "k45_door_malak . utd" (without the spaces) from the Override directory before going to the Star Forge should revert the behaviour).
However, Revan breaks through the door anyway here, mainly because "fencepost security" is a real thing, meshing pretty well with all the security lapses in Malak's Sith. Real life doesn't care about fairness: if your $1 million security theatre was trivially bypassable with a $5 hammer, you have no one to blame but yourself.