REVENGE OF THE SITH
Part III – To All Things, A Beginning
Tatooine.
The desert planet which had been the scene of reconciliation between Bastila Shan and her mother was still a desert wasteland. He was at least glad to see that the senseless acts of violence provoked by the Sand People against Czerka Corp. had eased, though when he visited the office of the company, the protocol officer mistakenly believed he was there as an act to truly stopping the attacks. He managed to convince her that he wasn’t, but he would discuss with the Sand People.
That presented another problem. Getting past the people of the Dune Sea. He had hoped it would be like encountering those that knew him in the past, where they would be surprised, but would let him through. Not this time.
Once again, he had to fight off several of the elite warriors that guarded the entrance to the Sand People enclave and once again he had to don their clothing to get past. He debated about leaving HK there, but realized the droid was the only one who could understand the people’s dialect, so he told the droid to be on alert, but to be nice if they encountered anyone.
There didn’t seem to be any problems as they quickly made their way in and out of the people’s domain and found themselves in the East Dune Sea. Revan quickly removed his disguise and then headed toward the cave where the Star Map resided.
“Statement: Master, are you truly going to destroy this Star Map? It is a piece of history and it does hold a certain allure over those hapless meatbags that wander near it.”
“That’s why it needs to be destroyed, HK.” Revan replied, setting up as before. “It had been easy the first time to find them, I’m sure, and the second time was only tempered by being greeted by Sith everywhere we went. I will not allow a third time to occur.”
“Clarification: But Master, wouldn’t this technically be the third time you have managed to stumble upon these artifacts?”
Revan thought about it, before saying, “Third time and the last, HK. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, no one is going to be getting their hands on these things ever again.”
“Statement: I believe our friends outside may have some say in that, Master.”
The young knight looked at his droid before turning towards the opening of the cave. Standing there waiting, were at least a dozen Dark Jedi. “I didn’t order a dozen Dark Jedi.” Revan replied. “I demand to speak with the chef.”
“Did you think you could possibly get away with what you have done, Revan?” one of the Jedi addressed him.
“It was working so far.”
“We Sith aren’t going to go away just because you killed our master.” another one said. “We Sith will never die!”
“I’m beginning to see that.” he retorted. “Listen guys, I really have a lot to do and this is gonna take up some time, so how about you all just lie down on the ground and pretend to be dead? It’ll make this go so much faster.”
“Jedi scum!” called one.
“Insolent traitor.” spat the first. “We will have vengeance for our master. You may have lucked out from death, but now you shall meet your doom, Revan!”
“Well,” Revan sighed, hands going to his twin lightsabers. “A good fight may pick up a slow day.”
“Exclamation: This was why the master had me built, insignificant meatbags. To enjoy maiming and killing each one of you.”
And they were off. Revan Force Jumped his way into the heart of the Dark Jedi circle, while HK began firing madly from his position within the cave. Revan fought and slashed, breaching half of the circle’s Force shields and then using what powers he had in his arsenal. He managed to Force Wave about four away from him, killing two, then he turned and unleashed lightening at two more opponents. The others though seemed to be working in tandem, alternating draining his life and force as he quickly tried to heal himself.
Then in a fury of frustration, Revan once again called on his dark side and the remaining men all flew back from him, dead. Revan looked about him, seeing the dead Dark Jedi on the dirt floor, all limp and drained of life.
“Exclamation: Master, that was certainly a very impressive display of killing. The meatbags didn’t know what hit them.” HK gave a little metallic chuckle.
Revan was not impressed in the least. In fact, he was down right worried.
He had never, at least since he’d been back on the side of light, used such Force powers and he had never before called on his dark powers, which he had thought to be gone like the rest of his memories as the Dark Lord and now he was surrounded by bodies; two that suffered from Force Lightening, eight having experienced a field of death.
Suddenly, Revan had a horrible sinking feeling. If his memories were beginning to return, did that mean his dark side powers would as well?
It certainly seemed so.
Korriban.
He knew it would be a test to return to this place, even more so after his discovery on Tatooine, but this was something that had to be done. He hoped that no one was still left within the Academy – if Dustil Onasi had seen the light after Malak’s defeat, surely others had as well?
Maybe not a lot, but certainly the Academy would be null and void if there was no dark master to apease. Revan sighed. He knew that to be a lie. Yuthura Ban was still there and had probably taken over the Academy as she had wanted. There was no way she could have possibly abandoned that.
Landing on the dock, Revan couldn’t help but notice how quiet things seem to be at the small entrance of Dreshdae. There wasn’t even anyone loading or unloading any other ships; no one there to greet him as he walked to the entrance way; way too quiet. Using the console to his left, he opened the doors that would allow him access. And what greeted him nearly made him sick.
There were bodies. Loads of bodies that littered the front halls and if the smell from their decaying flesh didn’t turn his stomach, how they died did. It was obvious these people had been put to death by lightsabers and the dark use of the Force, some tortured beyond recognition. Revan tried to keep himself from being sick, but making his way through the bodies in order to get to the back entrance took all of his control.
When he did manage to get on the other side, into the humid air of the Korriban wasteland, he emptied his stomach over the side of the ramp. He didn’t think he had ever seen anything so vile and disgusting, then a flash of the final battle over Malachor V hit him and he became sick again, remembering what he had done to the people on the surface; to Malak; to everyone he knew…
Rubbing his forehead later, he made his way towards the Academy front entrance. Walking through, he was again met with the stench of death and again saw bodies laying on the floor; students and masters of the Academy.
“You dare show your face in this place again?” asked a voice.
Revan turned his head to the right and was slightly surprised to see Yuthura Ban. She looked worse for the wear; her Sith uniform was torn in several places and she had bruises and scratches on her face and arms. Her lekku seemed to be bruised as well, but her eyes looked haunted and…wild.
From various places, other students emerged, as well as some masters too. Like Ban, they looked like they had gotten run over by the heaviest Republic interdictor ship. “What the hell happened in here?” he asked.
“You dare speak, Republic filth?!” yelled one master.
“Shut up!” Revan shouted back. He turned again to Yuthura, who was steadily making her way to him. “Master Ban, what happened here?”
“You dare address me as master?” she growled. “It was you who caused this. I knew it when I first met you within the cantina that you weren’t a real Sith, but I could have never imagined you were a Jedi spy, more less that treacherous Revan. Do you have any idea what you have done? What you have reduced us too? What my own students did to me?”
Her voice had risen while she talked, stalking him as he backed away from her. He noticed the others were getting closer too. “And you have the gall to return here.” she continued. “The nerve to again taint this sacred place with your presence. It was bad enough learning the dark lord had stolen away Bastila Shan, but to learn she was his apprentice? How degrading can one get?”
That hit a nerve. “Don’t talk about her like that.” he said, softly, already feeling his anger pleading to be released.
“The Jedi whore!” the Twi’lek spat. “It didn’t take me long to realize why she had been given that status over someone like me, but now to discover she had not only bed Malak, but a core slime traitor such as you makes it even worse.”
“Stop it, Yuthura.”
“Did you bed her before or after your little secret was out?” she taunted. “I wonder if she enjoyed Malak as much…”
Her sentence was cut off and Yuthura Ban found herself unable to breathe and dangling perhaps a foot from the floor. It didn’t last long, as her very breath was taken from her and her neck broken by the fierceness of the choke.
She dropped to the floor like a rag doll. Revan stood, arm stretched in front of him, hand clenched in a fist, a clear sign that he had killed her through the Force. Those that stood around him were shocked, until one of them said, “He’s killed Master Ban!”
As expected, those remaining students and masters converged on him, but Revan was ready.
Grabbing his lightsabers, he battled those remaining Sith, his anger getting the best of him as he went to any means neccessary to rid himself – and the galaxy – of these people and their ideas.
The horror that he had felt at seeing the bodies of innocents within Dreshdae and the words of Ban had their effect on him and he left no one alive.
His face was a mask of steel as he headed out the back of the Academy to his original destination: The Valley of the Dark Lords. The Jedi masters had said he and Malak had found these tombs when they had been on Korriban during their search for the Star Maps, he could only assume, and now he was back, yet a third time.
There was a few students who had escaped the carnage inside from both him and their colleagues, but Revan fixed that; as he came under the entrance, he killed the guards that stood there, then Force Jumped to the nearest digger and slashed down with the saber in his right hand, killing the girl instantly.
Four more came towards him and in single slashes, he dispatched them, not turning around to see them as they fell. He first made his way to the tomb of Ajunta Pall. Having freed the spirit from its restless wanderings, the tomb of the great Sith Lord was deathly quiet.
He found no resistance as he went to the back of the tomb, tossing grenades here and there, listening to the sound of cave ins happening in some places. Once he reached the final resting place of the former dark lord, Revan placed a thermal detonator on the sarcophagus and then turned.
He repeated these steps in each of the tombs, leaving Naga Sadow’s last. He rigged the Star Map within with several thermals and a deadly frag mine before leaving.
He fell to his knees as explosions rocked the surface and the once great tombs began to fall and crumble around him. And in the haze of noise and dust, Revan broke down in tears, seeing the dead bodies he left in his wake and knowing of those he had killed beforehand.
And he weeped for those he had killed in his past.