Mass Effect: Knight of the Old Republic

Revan left what few Asari leaders that didn’t rush off to not so subtly try and contact their patrons back in Citadel Space about the annexation of Talrania to the growing corps of administrators she and the rest of the Empire would rely on to ensure the growing web of planets would function without her needing to constantly manage every action.

She should have simply taken the shuttle back to her flagship and left to handle the hundreds of new problems that were no doubt waiting for her attention, but the possibility of drawing out three Force users was too tempting to pass up.

Yes, they were probably members of the Pius Dea offshoot that somehow established itself here, but Revan had clearly surprised them with her arrival. This was likely the best chance she had to make contact before another assassination attempt, which, knowing her luck would be in the middle of a Reaper invasion.

So on the off chance she could lure out some of their members and either convince them to put aside whatever issue they had with her until after the Reapers were dealt with or learn more about their order and where they were located should she need to deal with them, Revan wandered down one of the more desolate areas while broadcasting her presence in the Force.

They might suspect a trap, but most Jedi had a tendency to leap anyway if given a tempting enough target. And with most of her presence veiled, maybe the youngest would–

“Hold it right there, Sith!”

–confront her anyway after overestimating their abilities.

Revan smiled beneath her visor at the confirmation that younglings in any galaxy were the same and turned to face her ‘attacker’.

A young Asari in an outfit similar to the Jedi she fought on Illium though in a different color stood in the hallway, an un-ignited lightsaber in her hand.

“Is there something I can help you with, youngling?”

“You! You were the one that killed Keayla!”

“Keayla? The name of the other Jedi I encountered I assume. Did you know each other?”

“She was the one that brought me to the Order! The one that helped me whenever I had a question or my master was busy! And you murdered her!”

Revan calmly slid the hilt of her own saber into her right hand but didn’t ignite it just yet. “Murdered? An interesting accusation considering the only reason I fought her was because she led a team of Huntresses in an assassination attempt on me.”

The young Asari’s Force presence darkened at Revan’s bored tone. It was actually quite sad. If Revan actually wanted all it would take was a few more pushes to make this Padawan, and she was sure she was a Padawan from how undisciplined the girl was, to ‘fall’ to the Dark Side. luckily for the girl, Revan still had little desire for an apprentice at the moment. Less for an unstable Dark Side user drunk on their own perceived power running about.

“Shut up! Keayla didn’t deserve to die. Not by some Sith monster.” The child snapped as she ignited her lightsaber, the blue beam pointed at Revan’s chest.

Revan causally ignited her own red one. “And you think you can succeed where she failed?”

“I won’t let you just poison this galaxy unopposed!” The Padawan cried as she leapt forward.

Blue clashed against red in a storm of slashes and cuts as the youngling tried to overwhelm Revan’s casual defense with a complex dance of flourishes and acrobatics.

The girl wasn’t bad, Revan judged.

She couldn’t really speak to the Padawan’s style. It was simply too different for Revan to compare it to the lightsaber forms she was familiar with, but her opponent was able to use her aggressive style without opening herself up too much.

But not bad didn’t mean Revan couldn’t deal with her.

She caught her opponent’s saber on her own and guided the girl’s momentum so she would overshoot her, before mercilessly stepping on the Asari girl’s boot and pinning it in place. Off balance and without a way to catch herself from falling Revan felt the girl’s panic in the Force as she made another desperate cut to make Revan back off.

The Sith easily redirected the blow leaving the girl wide open for a repost.

Instead of bisecting the girl, instead Revan punched out and hit the Padawan with a Force Push from the hand still holding her own lightsaber. The young Asari was launched off her feet where she slid across the floor for a few feet.

A frantic check with her free hand confirmed that she hadn’t actually been cut and Revan felt the panic and fear turn to anger as she glared at the Sith.

“You should focus more on your footwork.” Revan commented. “Losing your balance with a style like yours is almost guaranteed to kill you.”

“Is this some kind of game to you!?”

“If you want to take sincere criticism as a game, then yes I suppose so.”

The Padawan took a breath and – mostly – reined in her emotions, rising to her feet and reigniting her lightsaber. Revan noticed she was taking a much more defensive stance.

Well if she wanted Revan to be the aggressive one…

The Sith Empress marched forward and swung her saber in tight, controlled movements. Ironically just like the young Padawan, she preferred a much more active fighting style to implacably moving forward and crushing her opponents. But fighting using her normal style without immediately ending the fight would be much harder. Her opponent was a child after all.

But even using a slightly unfamiliar style, the difference in experience was too much.

Revan hammered at the Padawan’s defenses and soon enough the girl was more focused on stopping the next attack then she was on dodging or trying to attack. Her entire focus was on withstanding the next blow rather than deflecting. She was letting Revan set the entire pace of the fight, whether hoping the Sith would simply tire first or because that was all she could do anymore was up in the air.

“Don’t lock your arms.” Revan critiqued, feinting to the right before sweeping her blade up and around giving the girl a tap on the opposite shoulder. “It leaves you unable to react quickly.”

The girl yelped as the red saber kissed her skin, leaving a slight burn. Considering what a lightsaber could really do it was nothing but the Padawan clearly realized Revan could have killed her right then and there. Her emotional control unraveled and she sent a desperate Force Push at Revan to keep her away. But it was so unfocused that even Revan’s passive defenses were enough to break the ‘attack’.

This had gone on long enough.

Revan stepped forward and swung her saber once. She ignored the slight gasp from the girl as the red blade effortlessly cut through her target. The Sith waved a hand and a Force Push dumped the padawan at the feet of the two new arrivals, three impacts clattering on the stone floor.

“She has talent. But her discipline could use some work.” Revan commented, deactivating her saber and allowing the blade to sink into the hilt. “The next time she runs after an opponent so far out of her league, they might not be content to just cut through her lightsaber’s emitter.”

“Showing mercy won’t prevent us from doing what the code demands of us,” The older of the two said placidly, “but you have my personal thanks for sparing Jinany. She has much room to grow.”

Revan sighed. “Yes, you Jedi and your unbreakable codes. Or perhaps just you Asari. I’ve dealt with your kind many times before. However–”

“You may have bested a Knight and my Padawan, Sith, but this is Master Enes Daliza. You’re no match for her.” The younger one interrupted.

“Control yourself, Myell. Don’t allow your worry for Jinany to cloud your judgment. Remember, this Sith did not kill her so she could lure us here. She is, at the least, arrogant enough to assume she can fight us both.”

Is it really arrogance if she could fight off several masters all at once, Revan mused silently. She had done so several times in the past. Not that this particular Jedi would know.

“That said, there is no harm in listening for now. Especially after she made such an effort to draw us to her when we were going to leave since we had no way to get close with a trio of Dreadnought class ships in orbit.” The Master said even as she stepped around the fallen Padawan and subtly reached for her own saber.

“Well, Master Enes Daliza,” Revan began. “I am known as Darth Revan, Empress of the Sith Empire, and I have a warning for you and your order and an offer.”

“Very well, the warning?”

“The Indoctrination effect Reaper technology has is Force based. Without proper shielding, Force-sensitives are much more vulnerable than other organics. If I were you I’d keep the young and those with weaker mental barriers away from it as much as possible. Though with the Reapers' arrival I am not sure how realistic that option actually is.”

“As for the offer, the Reapers are omnicidal machines that will not stop scouring the galaxy until their ‘cycle’ is complete. I’d like to work together – or at the very least agree to a truce until the Reapers are stopped.”

There was a spell of silence as the Jedi considered her answer and Revan started to feel a bit of hope this Jedi sect would actually be reasonable.

The older Asari’s next words crushed that feeling. “Myell, take Jinany back to the ship and contact the Council. They need to know about the threat to our sisters.”

“What will you do, Master?”

“I will remain here to remove the Sith. Even if the Reapers are here and as dangerous as she says, the Code remains clear. We cannot allow the Sith to establish themselves and spread.” She said as she drew her lightsaber. “We would save the galaxy from one threat only to lose it to the one we let fester.”

“But Master–!”

“Go! I will join you later.”

Revan watched as the Knight reluctantly pulled the youngling to her feet and helped her stagger back the way they came, but made no effort to stop them. There wasn’t much point in giving a warning and then preventing the messenger from spreading the message.

She did wonder about their code, though.

Samara had been just as zealously devoted to the Justicar code and only some quick talking from Shepard had stopped them from fighting. Revan now wished she had at least talked to the Justicar when she had the chance.

It might have given her some insight on how to approach this encounter more favorably.

“I’m surprised a proclaimed ‘Master’ would be so unbending. Do the Jedi of this galaxy not focus on fostering peace and cooperation then?” Revan asked, calling her second lightsaber to her hand but leaving them both inactive. “You took my warning seriously so you at least have some idea how much of a threat the Reapers are. Would cooperating with me truly be so impossible?”

“We could have possibly worked together,” Enes acknowledged. “But not after what you’ve done.”

“I was unaware I'd done anything unforgivable.”

“I wasn’t talking about a specific action, but what you have created. That Empire of yours, what happens after the Reapers?”

“How do you mean?” Revan deflected, to be honest she hadn’t really considered ‘after’ all that much. She was far too busy trying to hold two races that had been at war with each other for three centuries by force of will and scrambling to prepare for the aforementioned omnicidal race of starships to make too many solid plans.

“It’s fairly simple, from our point of view at least. Should we survive the Reapers, you will be protected behind a military only the major Citadel races have a chance of defeating. You are already protected by one actually.” She said, looking up to where one of the Harrowers could be seen hovering over the city. “Eventually you will draw other Force-sensitives to you and will likely teach them, twisting them to your will. In order to prevent you from creating a never ending stream of Sith Acolytes you must be slain. And I know you will rarely allow yourself to be this vulnerable in the future I have seen.”

Revan nearly growled. An image of a brown-haired Jedi flashing through her mind. A sister in all but blood who turned on her because of a future vision of ‘what if’.

Fine. If that was the path they wanted to choose…

“Then there is no point in talking any longer.”

***Snap-hiss***

Three lightsabers ignited at the same time and the fight was on.