Obligatory Disclaimer

The characters and setting of this work are based on the Star Wars universe and the games Knights of the Old Republic and Knights of the Old Republic II, which I obviously do not own. The rights to any characters, settings, proper nouns, etc. that I did not come up with belong to Disney, LucasArts, Bioware, Obsidian, George Lucas, or some mix thereof.

Forward

This work of fanfiction is based on the Star Wars game Knights of the Old Republic. While the events are not exact (Trask won't be teaching the reader how the menu works), the general beats will be the same. I noticed a lot of other KOTOR novelizations stuck too close to the source material or strayed too far from it (for my preferences, of course) or just aren't finished and haven't been updated in years. So, I'm hoping to find a balance between those two. As a major element of the game was decisions, I won't be giving away the spoilers here or in the description (such as LS/DS, romance, plot, etc). For all you know, this is a Zaalbar x Vrook story (it's not and please don't write one). I hope you enjoy.

Rated T for violence, mild language (nothing beyond "damn"), and adult themes (nothing explicit).

Prologue

c. 4000 Years Before the Battle of Yavin IV and the Destruction of the First Death Star

The pod shook as it latched onto the Winged Victory, a metal speck on Revan's flagship. The panel to the right of the its inner door turned green, indicating the boarding craft had made a complete seal with the massive ship's hull.

Bastila Shan breathed deeply, calming her nerves. If they'd sensed her unease, the three Jedi Masters behind her did not show it. She was, by far, the youngest of the four Jedi on this mission, and the only one who was not a Master. But she knew this was her place. Bastila had said as much in convincing Master J'aal to include her on this mission. He'd obviously agreed. And now, there was neither time nor need for nerves.

The occupants of the boarding pod said nothing for several long moments before Master Joreen Baniss broke the silence. "We're attached," she spoke into her communicator. Several more silent seconds passed before a response crackled through.

"Strike 2 is in position." The deep voice of Captain Greshen echoed through the interior of the craft. "We have to move now, General. Strike 1 is already engaged."

"Very well," Master Baniss gave Bastila a nod. The young Jedi pushed the inner door's release, exposing the pod's airlock. Slipping out of her seat, Bastila stepped through the airlock and pressed her ear against the small section of the Victory's hull to which their pod was sealed. She could not hear through the metal, but reached out through the Force. The passage was empty. It had to be empty; surprise was their best weapon now.

Bastila ignited the front half of her lightsaber and stabbed it into the ship's hull. Working quickly, she cut a hole large enough for even Master Varn to fit through. It was he, once Bastila had completed her task, who stretched out one of his four brown arms towards the metal plating. On its own, as if pushed by the wind, the metal piece slid forward. It turned mid-air and quietly settled on the ground. Squeezing past her, Varn still had to suck in his stomach to fit through the hole. Master Neth J'aal followed. The pale-green skinned Duros fit through far more easily. The two humans were the last to disembark. Master Baniss waited for Bastila before exiting herself.

Bastila turned off her lightsaber as she stepped out from the pod. Even now, her earliest teachings still followed her. Keep your lightsaber off if you don't need it. It was simple safety instruction taught to younglings, though it had been framed as a lesson on how a Jedi never initiates violence, their weapon was for defense. What was left of Bastila's nerves faded as she watched they yellow beam recede into its hilt.

The four Jedi found themselves in a large, empty passageway on the flagship's port side. Surprisingly large viewports lined the hall, giving them a full view of the battle raging outside. The battle that had allowed them to slip, unnoticed, onto the Winged Victory. The dim lighting brightened as they entered, making Bastila wonder if the lights were responding to their presence or if they had triggered an alarm.

"This way," said Master J'aal, pointing down the passage, not giving Bastila time to further ponder the thought. Both directions appeared identical to Bastila, but she trusted J'aal's knowledge of the ship. It was his plan. Remove Revan, win the war. It made sense. Most of the Sith's forces were defectors, having flocked to follow the hero who'd led the Republic to victory during the Mandalorian Wars. Eliminate Revan, and the Sith forces would have no one to rally around.

The passage led them halfway to the bridge before ending in a plain, steel wall. Following Master J'aal, the Jedi turned through a doorway leading toward the ship's interior. This passage was narrow and windowless, with a far lower ceiling. Dark, metal walls and dim lights along the corners created a chilling atmosphere. Lining the hall, they passed open doors revealing only empty rooms.

Pausing, Bastila peered into one of the rooms. It was a soldiers' bunk, not much different from the bunks on Republic ships. Four beds, a poster on the wall, and several sets of plainclothes thrown haphazardly around the room. The signs of soldiers rushing to put on their uniforms as they hurried to respond to an alarm.

The empty rooms were a good sign. The ship's soldiers were no doubt occupied with the battle outside, as well as the Republic soldiers inside. The Republic strike team in the hanger should have drawn many of the guards that otherwise would've been posted here. Hopefully, the Jedi and the second team of soldiers would be able to slip quietly to the bridge without sounding an alarm. Running into Sith soldiers was acceptable, so long as the bridge wasn't alerted to their presence. For now, the plan was working.

Unfortunately, there were still guards. Though J'aal led the way, it was Master Varn who used his weapon first. A hapless soldier had jumped out of a room after seeing the lead Jedi pass by the doorway, oblivious to the three others behind him. He'd only fired one shot when the blue beam from Varn's lightsaber flew in front of him, deflecting the bolt into the soldier's chest. It was then that Bastila heard footsteps in front of them, and she activated both ends of her own lightsaber.

Black-visored Sith soldiers rushed around the corner at the end of the hall, no doubt alerted by the sound of blaster fire. In seconds, the hallway was aglow with red bolts bursting towards the four Jedi, only to be sent flying in every direction by their own blue, green, and yellow blades. Cutting their way to the end of the hall, the Jedi struck down the soldiers that hadn't already been hit by their own deflected blasts.

The four Jedi stood still at the end of the hallway among the dead Sith. Master J'aal bowed his head in brief prayer. Master Baniss retrieved her comlink. "Greshen, we've encountered troops still in the area," she said into the small device. "Continue to the bridge, we'll meet you there shortly." Bastila didn't hear the Captain's reply. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see more soldiers running through the doorway at the end of the hall, coming from where the Jedi had arrived and cutting off their path back to the small boarding pod.

Bastila whipped her lightsaber in front of her, slicing two bullets into the wall and dodging a third that flew past her shoulder. Deflecting and dodging blaster fire, the four Jedi took off at full sprint around the corner, away from their new attackers. Master Varn led as J'aal shouted directions to him. Left, right, forward, left, again. Every hallway and room looked identical. Bastila tried to remember the ship blueprints she had studied just hours before they left in their pod. But it was difficult to keep track, as more and more soldiers began taking notice of the four Jedi running through the halls.

While by no means overwhelming, there were far more Sith troops present than they had hoped. The battle outside and the Republic strike team were supposed to draw the guards away from this section of the ship. There may have been more soldiers garrisoned here than their intel had led them to believe.

And if they were wrong about that…

Varn fought ferociously at the front of the group. He was carrying two lightsabers now, and more than one soldier fled at the sight of the four-armed Besilisk charging through the halls waving two blue blades in front of him. Master J'aal's poise created a unique contrast behind Varn, as he calmly deflected bolt after bolt without breaking his stride. Bastila and Master Baniss held the rear. They moved slower than the other two, running half-turned around in order to keep the fire off their backs. Every turn down another corner was welcome relief, it meant a short break from being fired on from behind.

Finally, as they rounded another corner, it seemed as if they'd escaped their pursuers in the labyrinth of halls. Master J'aal raised a hand and all four Jedi, even Varn, in front of him, came to an instant stop. "We are here," he said.

In front of them, leading upwards, was a wide, metal walkway. At the top was a door more than twice the size of any they'd passed through on the way. The ceiling was higher here, and the distance between the dim lights and the dark floor blanketed the ground in shadow. Small bits of debris and blaster scars dotted the walls. Signs of a firefight.

"Where are the guards?" Bastila asked. Master Baniss responded simply by motioning to the walkway, where four soldier in Republic uniforms stepped out from their hiding places behind the railing. Bastila saw the bodies of at least four Sith soldiers that had been killed and dragged behind the rails. The soldiers had taken up position beneath the walkway, where there was storage space for a number of crates and other containers. A good spot to hide and wait for the Jedi to arrive.

Master Baniss brushed past the other three Jedi. "Is this all that's left?" It wasn't so much a question as it was a statement.

The most senior soldier replied. "We didn't take as many men as we'd originally planned, ma'am. Strike 1 was under heavy fire at the docking bay, and the Captain didn't want our escape cut off."

"And where is Captain Greshen?"

The soldier hesitated. "We lost him and four others on the way here," he paused again and held up his left arm. A gash filled with cauterized blood stretched between his wrist and elbow. A lightsaber wound. "We ran into a Sith warrior. I just got scratched, but the Captain was trying to hold her off while we ran."

Bastila could almost see the wheels turning in Master Baniss's head. They'd encountered more resistance than they'd expected, and how many Sith would be on the bridge guarding Revan? Remove Revan, win the war. They'd have to press on.

"We continue as planned," Master Baniss turned to Master J'aal. He had knelt sometime during the conversation, but he stood before responding.

"The bridge will be heavily guarded if they were warned. And our numbers are not as great as we'd hoped." He stroked his chin. "But I agree, we must press onward."

"Then let's go before our friends catch up." Master Varn motioned toward the direction the Jedi had come from. Bastila could hear the metallic sounds of the Sith soldiers' boots against the cold floor.

Oddly enough, Bastila found herself at the front of the small group running up the walkway. The large door opened automatically as she approached it, revealing that the path continued upwards into a larger room. Reaching the top, Bastila's heart dropped.

Eight. Eight red lightsabers reflected on the vast viewports of the ship's bridge. The eight Sith warriors stood side by side, each clad head to toe in black robes, making it impossible to tell their species or gender. Behind them stood a figure who could only be Revan. He faced away, observing the battle outside. The bridge crew calmly went about their work at the consoles around the edges of the circular room, not stopping to notice the four Jedi and the Republic soldiers who had entered.

The first Sith lunged toward Bastila.

She blocked his thrust with the front blade of her lightsaber, before twirling and cutting the Sith with her back blade. She immediately ducked. A second red beam cut above her head as another Sith attempted to work his way around her back. Without turning her body, Bastila thrust the back blade of her lightsaber behind her, and heard the last gasp of the Sith warrior before he slumped to the ground. Now there were only six red beams.

The other Masters had already engaged the Sith and the soldiers had opened fire. Master Varn lifted one enemy off the floor with a large, brown hand before tossing him to the side. Five. Revan had not picked his guards well. These warriors lacked the finesse to fight three Masters and a Jedi knight.

Another Sith swung his blade at Bastila. She sidestepped and knocked his blade down with her lightsaber's back blade, pushing him forward and exposing the warrior's back. Bastila raised her lightsaber to strike at him, but the Sith jumped away from its reach. He sliced his lightsaber upwards, deflecting an errant blaster bolt from a Republic rifle towards Bastila. It missed, but she had to turn sideways to avoid it.

The Sith jumped forward, his lightsaber held in front. On instinct, Bastila moved towards, instead of away from, the charging Sith. This caught him off guard. Bastila landed flurry of lightsaber strokes from both ends of her weapon. She danced around the Sith, who was not prepared for her counterattack. He blocked her strokes as best he could, but finally, one of Bastila's strikes pierced through his guard. Her blade cut clean into the Sith's arm, then into his chest. The Sith fell to the ground in front of her.

Bastila whipped around to find her next attacker, but saw that the Sith she was fighting had been the last of Revan's guard left standing. Other than her allies and the bridge officers, who had continued to work through the fight, there was only one other figure. One red blade. Revan had turned to face the intruders.

In the chaos, one of the soldiers had tried to slip past the fight and catch Revan unaware. He was now rising into the air next to the Sith Lord, hands at his neck, gasping for air. Revan held one hand up and closed it into a fist. The soldier's desperate attempts to breathe stopped and he fell, limp. It was only then that Revan turned his full attention to the four Jedi.

With his back to the viewport, the Sith Lord made for a frightening image. His large, dark robe was almost formless against the background of space and stars behind him. If his face betrayed any fear, it was impossible to see behind the black and red mask. Bastila had seen his face years ago, before he'd left for the Mandalorian Wars. But the man she had seen would be nowhere to be found behind that mask now.

As Master Baniss and J'aal stood beside her, she found herself speaking, "You cannot win, Revan." She sensed Master Varn behind her, and hoped the image of the Besilisk made her words sound more confident than she'd felt saying them.

Revan held his lightsaber high and took a step forward. Behind him, the Victory's counterpart, the Leviathan flew into view, and Revan's body took form against the background of bright chrome. Remove Revan, win the war. The Sith Lord took another step forward.

Bastila made the first move. She jumped high and slashed down. Revan deflected the attack and she was rolled to the side. Baniss and Varn attacked as one, slashing high and low. Revan dodged the attack. In one fluid movement, he blocked Varn's lightsaber and slid his red blade towards Baniss. It made contact with the hilt of her lightsaber and the green beam disappeared with a saddened hiss, just before Revan's blade gashed through her chest. Baniss fell. Master J'aal moved forward with his weapon held across his body. Varn stood behind Revan and activated his second blade, pointing both lightsabers outward. The three blue blades formed a triangle around the Sith Lord.

Bastila had regained her feet and held her weapon in front of her. She stepped toward the three men, now forming a square of blue, green, and yellow beams around the Sith. Master Varn broke the formation first, swinging the blade in his left arm towards Revan, holding the other back in defense. Revan turned to block Varn's blade with his own. Then, without looking, the Sith kicked behind him, placing his boot squarely in the torso of Master J'aal, knocking the Duros onto his back. Bastila stepped forward with her own blade as Varn took another swing, this time with the lightsaber in his right hand. Revan whipped his blade into Bastila's, forcing her arm to twist so her own lightsaber blocked Varn's attack. All three blades met in a clash of colors and Varn thrusted his second lightsaber towards the Sith.

Varn's blue blade pierced the Sith's shoulder, its glow shining through his black armor. But, before either of the Jedi could react, Revan waved his free hand and they both flew into the air, hurtling away from the Sith Lord. Bastila managed to spin into a summersault, regaining her composure as she landed on her feet. Varn had been less lucky and was less acrobatic. The strength of Revan's force wave sent him tumbling into a bridge console and the crewmember who'd been using it. The console sparked as he tried to stand. From the look of his leg, it seemed that Master Varn's lightsaber had stabbed his own limb when he fell.

Master J'aal was standing again, but Revan disarmed him with three quick strikes. Bastila was still on the far side of the bridge, too far to help as Revan's fourth strike gashed the Jedi Master from shoulder to waist. Revan held his lightsaber straight out as the Jedi cried out helplessly and collapsed at the Sith's feet.

Bastila began sidestepping, following along the room's circular wall, hoping to find some angle of attack to gain an advantage on the Sith Lord. Remove Revan, win the war. Master Varn was barely able to stand. Revan didn't even flinch as one of his blue lightsabers flew past his head, singing the robe by his neck. Bastila continued sidestepping, making a quarter of a circle around the room. Revan stood in the same spot, rotating so that he was always facing her, practically taunting the young Jedi with his gaze. She kept moving, studying his stance, and she was soon standing over the body of the first Sith warrior she had killed. Revan stood with the large viewport behind him, almost exactly where he'd been when she'd entered.

It was only then that she saw the red beams flying towards the ship from outside. The Leviathan had turned its cannons on them. Revan faced away from the viewport, and did not react to them until it was too late. The very floor seemed to disintegrate in an explosion of white light below their feet.

Blinded, Bastila fell to her knees as the room collapsed around her. Through the ringing in her ears, she could hear the sounds of metal beams and shrapnel falling around her.

Pain stabbed at her side. As the room stopped shaking, she reached towards the wound. Bastila could feel the sticky wetness of blood across her fingertips. Her hand scraped against a piece of jagged metal lodged in her skin, just below her rib. She had no idea how deep the wound was.

Bastila tried to stand. Blindly reaching out, her hand felt something solid, and she tried to grasp it and pull herself up. Her finger, slick with blood, struggled to hold firm and the pain in her side worsened as she moved. But she had to move. She had to stand.

Though still sightless from the flash of the explosion, Bastila closed her eyes and breathed deeply. With each breath, her mind cleared and the pain dulled. She could feel the metal in her side, and knew that the stray shrapnel would not be enough to kill her. Opening her eyes, Bastila found that her sight had nearly returned. Through the force, she sensed the death around her. Feeling the emptiness of a body through the Force after its soul fled was not a feeling one could forget easily.

Around her was metal, torn and ripped like paper by the blasts that had pierced the ship's hull. Emergency energy shielding was all that separated the bridge from the coldness of outer space in places where the structure had been breached. They were only a temporary fix, meant to give the crew enough time to evacuate before the backup power supplies failed. What was left of the bridge was strewn with bodies. The crew, soldiers, Sith, Jedi. Those who had died in the explosion or in the fight, they were all empty. On the far side of the room, a figure clad in black lay where Revan had stood just moments before. Remove Revan, win the war.

Bastila limped, wincing with every step. Inching forward, her foot caught on something soft and she fell. Bastila grimaced as her muscles seemed to tighten around the metal piece in her side. Warm blood ran down her leg. She looked behind her and saw it was the lifeless body of Master Varn which had tripped her. Bastila closed her eyes and pushed herself back onto her feet, forcing out any sorrowful thoughts about the deceased Jedi Masters who had accompanied her.

Step by step, Bastila slowly came to rest above the the Sith Lord. The figure did not move as she had approached. A pool of blood slowly spread below his dark robes. Bastila knelt, her anticipation overshadowing any pain she should have felt, and slowly lifted the mask from Revan's face. Remove Revan, win the war.