Amelia struggled to her feet. The Princess's eyes were filled with stars, but adrenaline fueled her body. She had been informed of how well the Jedi treated their prisoners. And if the Chume'da was captured, her mother might very well break off ties with the Empire in exchange for her daughter's survival. Such an action could doom the entire galaxy to an invasion by the Ancient Sith. One way or another, Amelia had to escape.

The Knight remained where he was, utterly confident. "It's over, your party tricks cannot save you. Get down on the ground, now. Hands behind your back," he ordered.

Amelia couldn't win. Not through combat, anyway. This Jedi was her superior in both Force ability and lightsaber prowess. Her only option was to win using her most refined and potent weapon. Her intelligence.

Behind him she noticed the fountain she had earlier dumped a ludicrous amount of money into. Not that she had been bankrupting herself by any means. One day, when she was Queen, Amelia would use much of the vast wealth her family had created to better the Consortium. Assuming she lived through the next few minutes, that was.

Using much of her remaining strength, she reached out to a nearby fruit stand and grabbed a large assortment of oranges, apples, and watermelons with the Force.

"I don't think so," the Chume'da shot back, throwing the fruit towards her opponent. The Knight scowled as he was forced spend a few seconds dodging and blocking the projectiles.

By the time he was slashing the last watermelon in two, the Princess was already halfway toward her destination. The Jedi ran after her. Thanks to his superior ability with Force Speed, he was only a few meters away by the time Amelia reached the fountain and jumped into the water.

As the Knight reached the edge of the fountain, she gathered up an orb of water and guided it towards her opponent. The man looked at it contemptuously, not even bothering to redirect it. The orb hit his chest and exploded, mildly soaking him with water. The Princess placed her hands on her knees, panting for breath.

"Pathetic," he scoffed. "Get down on your knees and surrender, or I will make you," he threatened.

The Chume'da nodded. Her eyes were filled with fear and resignation. "Just don't hurt me," she said meekly, going to her knees.

The Jedi smirked. "A wise decision," he gloated. Reaching into his robes, he pulled out a pair of neural cuffs and stepped into the water to restrain her.

Amelia leapt out of her crouch and sprang into the air. As her feet left the water, the last of her Force energy went into a final bolt of lightning.

The Knight frowned and raised his blade to deflect the attack. But this time, the bolt wasn't aimed at his chest. It was aimed at the water a meter from his feet.

A Jedi Master or Sith Lord probably could have reacted in time. But her opponent failed to realize her intention for a split second, and that was all she needed.

The electricity traveled along the water. The Knight dropped his blade and screamed as the energy reached his feet. Artificial Lightning was much less conductive than natural lightning, and so He probably would have survived, if not for the fact that his clothes were already wet. The electricity arched up his body.

Amelia averted her eyes as he yelled in agony. Blue tendrils encircled his body, delivering incredibly painful constant shocks.

Within two seconds of electrical contact, he was dead.

The Princess landed on the other side of the fountain. She was exhausted, but not quite as winded as she had led her opponent to believe.

Amelia ran away from the Greens, knowing that other Jedi might investigate the commotion and recognize her as well. As she bolted past dozens of horrified pedestrians, one thought dominated her mind.

I just killed someone.

She sped down several blocks and took shelter in a narrow alley between two large skyscrapers. Bile built up in her throat as she remembered the Jedi's death. It had been self-defense, sure, but as she glanced down to her hands the word murderer blared accusingly in her mind.

Amelia frantically considered her next course of action. Bastila was beyond her ability to help. Her goal should be to get as far away from the Greens as possible. Then she could...

Black spots began to appear at the edge of her vision. "No..." the Princess whispered. When she was a child, highly stressful situations had often caused her to experience a black out. Nothing life threatening, but she would lose consciousness for some time. The doctors had surmised this information (probably correctly) from experience, but no one had successfully diagnosed the condition.

"Perhaps it's a minor genetic defect," her mother had theorized.

Amelia hadn't had an episode for four years. But apparently the situation today was stressful enough to give her a relapse.

Her body collapsed to the pavement, and the Princess knew no more.

GAP

Bastila was cornered. She'd put up a good fight, but the Jedi had her dead to rights. Now she was standing against six Jedi Council members, the roof's edge only a few meters behind her back. The building's shield and the Jedi's suppression field still enclosed the building, keeping her contained. In the distance, she could sense two Jedi Knights on guard a few hundred meters back next to the elevator system, the only way off or onto the Greens.

And now, as the other five Jedi closed in on her, Master Kiwiiks remained a hundred meters back, hands outstretched. Her power was focused into a separate suppression field maintained only a few feet in front of the Sith Lady. Now she couldn't even teleport inside of the Greens themselves.

She still hadn't fully recovered her wind from her violent impact with the ground a minute earlier. And there was no time to recover.

But Bastila wasn't powerless. As the five Masters charged her, she spread her arms and unleashed a wave of energy. Atris leapt above it, Vandar ducked below if, and Draay and Kai-Ell steadied themselves in time and withstood it. Draay was caught by the blast; the Jedi Master flew backwards into the air.

The other four continued to close in. Bastila dodged a bolt of green energy from Vandar and released a small ball of fire at Kai-Ell. The Jedi absorbed the energy with his free hand, but her next attack, a short streak of Lightning created immediately after the fire, reached his chest. Kai-Ell gave an anguished cry and collapsed to the ground.

For the moment he was out of the fight, but that left three other Jedi Masters to contend with. Igniting her blades, she turned to meet their assault. As Zhar and Atris engaged her in the front, Vandar darted behind her. Attacked from both directions, Bastila deftly used one end of her blade to duel with Atris and Zhar, using her mirrored parries to deflect Vandar's acrobatic attacks.

Atris and Zhar stuck high and low simultaneously. Throwing her saberstaff forward, she intercepted each attack with one blade. Keeping up the dual bladelock, the Sith Lady leaned to the side to avoid the Jedi Grand Master's next blow and responded with a kick that caught him in the chest.

The Grand Master stumbled back. Now, as Atris and Zhar pressed her hard, he ran back to join the fight. Using her still immense strength in the Force, Bastila took one palm off her saberstaff and maintained the bladelock with only one hand on her lightsaber hilt. As Vandar struck again, her superior speed allowed him to catch his worst as his blade fell.

But by now Kai-Ell and Draay had recovered. Injured but still in fighting shape, they charged towards the stalemate. Before their blades could reach her, Bastila released a hasty gesturelss Push that caught both men unawares. Each skidded backwards but recovered before they had moved five yards.

Hopelessly entangled, Bastila knew it was over. It was galling to think that after everything she had gone through, and all that she had learned, her life was coming to come to an end here and now. No future with her Master. No war against the Ancient Sith. And no redemption.

Then another presence was suddenly present on the roof, arrived from an elevator. Without warning, she sensed the death of one of the Jedi Knights near the elevators. Followed immediately by the death of the other! Then, a few seconds before Draay's blade could reach her, out of the corner of her eye she saw Kiwiiks flying through the air, caught off guard and hit by a massive Force blast for behind.

The second Suppression Field was gone! As Draay's blade sped towards her chest, Bastila faded into nothingness.

She rematerialized near the stairs. There, standing a few feet next to her, was her Master.

"Revan!" she almost shouted with joy.

"Thank the Force you're alive!" he exclaimed, relief breaking out across Revan's face. "How the hell did this happen?!"

"Thank the Force you're here!" she replied, just as relieved as he was. He must have flown at top speed from the Palace and gone up an unoccupied elevator.

"The spy...redirected our military forces out of the sector and diverted out guards. Amelia got away. The Jedi...they'll be coming," she warned him.

Revan nodded. "Then let's finish this," he replied. "We'll deal with their informant next."

No sooner had he said the words then all six Jedi came running through the trees, lightsabers already ignited.

The two Sith could probably have run now, if they chose. But the scales were now reversed. With the odds now in their favor, it was now time to finish the Jedi Order for good.

"Your Empire falls today. With you both dead, the Sith will destroy themselves!" Draay declared. The Jedi Master wasn't alone in his exultation. Bastila could see it on all their faces, believing that they now had Revan himself in their grasp.

Idiots.

Bastila's fear decreased dramatically. Finally, she wasn't facing the Jedi alone. Now she had an ally, someone even more powerful than she. If it weren't a life or death situation, the Sith Lady could have kissed him.

Master and Apprentice stood side by side as the Jedi charged them. At this distance, they could open their bond fully and still keep their minds closed from mental attacks. They only joined together like this occasionally, but they had practiced fighting together in this state several times in the past few months.

Both went as deep into their connection as they could; it would be far more effective to fight as one than it would be to attack separately.

Bastila was exhausted, but she was far from finished. The Jedi were all battered as well, but Revan was at full strength, and ready for battle. The odds had shifted drastically.

The two Sith fought in perfect harmony as they deflected the first attacks of their opponents. Their bond was so deep that each knew what the other was going to do before they even acted. Vandar seized an opening and struck at Bastila's leg, but Revan swung his blade in a short arc and deflected the attack. Draay and Atris countered with two identical stabs at the Dark Lord. Revan pivoted to avoid one, and his Apprentice deflected the other.

Revan unleashed his strength, a massive Force Repulse. The Jedi Masters rocketed back, landing thirty meters away. Bastila, untouched, stepped in front of her Master. She knew what Revan had planned. Their thoughts were so conjoined that they might as well have been sharing one mind. What they had wasn't quite a hive mind, but it was fairly close.

Her job was to shield him. She gripped her saberstaff with one hand as the Jedi tried their next tactic. For the next ten seconds, the Sith Lady's blades moved at inhuman speed, deflecting a barrage of Electric Judgment attacks while spinning her lightsaber like a whirlwind. Vandar sent forth a powerful Force Push that she deflected with her free hand. The blast careened to the side, sending small cluster of trees bursting out of the ground.

Without warning, she flew into the air. As soon as Bastila was clear, Revan unleashed a massive blast of Force Lightning, charged to make it even stronger than his usual electric attacks.

The result was devastating. Forks of Lightning spread throughout the park in front of them, scorching the trees and ground in over a thousand different places. Every single Council member found themselves beset by a dozen tendrils of purple electricity. Vandar, Zhar, Atris, and Draay managed to avoid contact by the skin of their teeth, dodging most of the electricity and blocking the rest aimed at them. A single branch of Lightning connected with Zhar's foot; the Twi'Lek cried out in agony and collapsed to the ground. Raising her blade with evidently incredible difficulty, he managed to deflect the rest of the electrical assault.

Kai Ell fared worse. Sneaking under his guard, a fork of Lightning slammed into his rest. The Jedi Master's body spammed violently, his lightsaber falling to the ground. Another three tendrils of Lightning found the now vulnerable Council member.

A second later, his charred corpse collapsed onto the grass.

As the Lightning faded, Master and Apprentice each launched a massive Force Blast at the remaining Jedi, uprooting dozens of trees around them. The Council members dived for cover, narrowly avoiding the telekinetic assault.

Their minds still closely linked, the two Sith teleported next to their opponents. Revan appeared between Vandar, Atris, and the momentarily incapacitated Zhar, while Bastila found herself juxtaposed between Draay and Kwiiks.

Revan sprang at the Jedi Grand Master, attempting to impale his Jedi counterpart. Vandar's reflexes just saved him; the Dark Lord's purple blade sliced through the edge of the Grand Master's robes as Vandar leapt backward. Atris attempted to seize the initiative, but Revan was neither overextended nor off balance. His attention divided and holding his blade with one (weaker) hand, he matched Vandar blow for blow. As Atris rushed him, he simply leaned out of the way of her hasty thrust.

His blade was occupied, but his right fist wasn't. He called upon the Force to enhance his strength and lashed out with a brutal blow. The right cross caught Atris on the cheek, just below her left eye; the punch was so powerful that she was literally lifted off her feet. She landed on the ground with a thud, barely conscious.

Satisfaction flowed through him. If there was any Jedi he hated above all, it was Atris. The white haired Jedi Master had been responsible for his Bastila's kidnapping, torture, and amputation (twice!), bringing her to the edge of insanity. And no one harmed what belonged to him and get away with it. Especially not his most valuable servant. His Apprentice and his love.

Intimately aware of his actions and thoughts through their bond, the Sith Lady herself relished the moment just as much as he did.

Bastila wasn't as fast as she had been previously. The extensive battle had drained her greatly. Her speed had degraded to the point that, working together, the two Masters who now faced her were capable of matching it.

She deflected a thrust from Draay, ducked under a slash courtesy of Kwiiks, parried the Togrutan's follwup thrust, and swept her other blade in Draay's direction. The Jedi Master swiped the attack to the side, responding with a powerful downward stroke that Bastila spun to the side to avoid, all the while blocking a quick series of strikes from the Togrutan Jedi Master.

Atris was on her feet again, but the Jedi Master was still stunned. She stumbled back into the distance, doubtlessly preparing to recover and attack again. He aimed a bolt of Lightning at her but she deflected it as she retreated through the trees, and then he had to turn aside Vandar's attacks.

Now free to focus on the Grand Master, Revan pounded Vandar's defenses. The contest between the strongest Jedi and the most powerful Sith was by no means a battle of equal combatants, and it soon became a struggle for his opponent to merely hold on to his weapon. Revan battered aside the Jedi's offensive and launched a rapid series of counterattacks.

The Jedi flipped backward in midair, avoiding Revan's downward stab, but had no time to reply before the Sith Lord's next attack.

His small size was his only advantage against the Dark Lord. He spun rapidly to one side, narrowly avoiding Revan's next stroke. He started forward as if to attack but it was already too late; Revan was far faster. The Sith's purple blade was already coming towards him in an upward sweep. Once again his only option was to dodge. He swiftly dropped to a crouch and rolled along the ground to the right; Revan's blade cut through the grass where his head had been half a second previously.

The Dark Lord pressed his advantage, but now Zhar was climbing to his feet, shaking off the pain inflicted by the Lightning. As Vandar barely deflected his next slash, Zhar lashed out with a bolt of electric judgment.

Revan was ready. One of his hands was still free, and with it he reached out to absorb the attack.

Zhar had anticipated this, of course. The intention of the attack was to disrupt his assault on Vandar, nothing more. Both Jedi Masters were ready for Revan to absorb and send the electric judgment back at one of them.

The Sith had other ideas.

Revan absorbed the energy, amplified it, and fired it at Bastila. The Sith Apprentice absorbed the attack in turn, still fending off her attackers. Gathering the electricity in her palm, she released the compressed bolt back where it had come from.

Caught completely off guard by their coordinated change in direction, Zhar was sidelined by his own attack. The Jedi Master fell to the floor, his body twisted at an impossible angle.

Revan blocked Vandar's latest acrobatic slash and countered with a gestureless Force Push, sending the Grand Master over thirty meters into the air. Doubtlessly he would cushion his fall, but it gave Revan time to send a massive Force Wave towards his hard-pressed lover.

Bastila ducked Draay's swipe at her head, met Kwiiks's blade with one of her own...and suddenly both of her opponents were violently hurtling into the distance, passing over the tree line. The air whipped around her, but the Sith Lady herself was untouched.

"Thank you Master," she said gratefully. Bastila was so exhausted at this point that the two Jedi may well have scored a lucky hit on her.

Revan nodded. "Four left. Atris will almost certainly have recovered by now, and the other three will be back soon enough. They're scattered throughout the trees, but they will find each other and come for us again. It's no use splitting up trying to find them; we're stronger together. Can you still fight?"

She grimaced. "Yes, Master, but I'm far gone past my best. Let's finish this quickly," Bastila replied. Revan himself had used up a significant portion of his energy, but not so much that he could consider himself drained.

Together, they flew into the air and headed above the trees. The two reached out with their senses, hoping to find an isolated Jedi Master. They combed much of the Greens with their Force senses, but had no luck.

The Sith Apprentice shuddered as she looked down upon the Greens. The damage they had inflicted in the grounds was awe inspiring. The entire food court had been demolished; it looked like a small hurricane had whipped through. Large patches of trees had been uprooted and costs aside. Much of the grass had been scorched or burned, and nearly all of the water in the lake had been scattered throughout the park.

"They're using Force Concealment, hiding from our sight. They may not be as good at hiding as us but in this large an area they don't need to be. By now they've probably found each other and are waiting for the best chance to strike. Let's go, there's no point in waiting," he declared.

They landed in a clearing in the middle of the trees. Master and Apprentice stood back to back, preparing themselves for the final assault. They could feel it in their shared thoughts, the decisiveness of this moment. If they could finish off the four remaining Masters, the Jedi Order would come to an end. The scattered Knights around the building had no organization without their superiors; they would be rounded up within days. Thousands of years of ignorance and stagnation would finally be finished for good.

Or the two of them would die. And the consequences of that were unthinkable.

A few minutes later, two Jedi appeared at the edge of their vision, evidently having found each other and united. The other two soon showed themselves, walking towards them from the opposite direction.

The four remaining Council Members converged on their position. Revan and Bastila stood back to back, each facing a group of two.

Revan gathered a massive ball of fire in his free hand and threw it at the ground in front of Draay and Vandar. A wide swath of grass burst into flames, but the two Jedi Masters leapt over the attack and landed ten feet in front of the Dark Lord.

Bastila simultaneously lashed out with a massive Force Wave. Atris and Kiwiiks hardened their Force Shields, but the Jedi Masters still skidded back several meters.

Revan raised his blade and intercepted Vandar's first attack, counterattacking with a vicious slash that the Grand Master barely dodged. Draay rushed in to help, and Revan found himself dueling two Jedi Masters.

Bastila blocked a succession of strikes from her two opponents. She was exhausted, and now could barely keep up with the Jedi's' bladework. Kiwiiks hit her with a powerful blow, knocking her guard out of the way. Atris's blade swung at the opening...

Revan's blade spun backwards, intercepting the strike. Bastila pivoted to the side, avoiding a strike from the Togrutan Jedi Master. Seamlessly, the two Sith switched positions. Bastila turned around, raising her saberstaff and using her two blades to intercept simultaneous attacks from Vandar and Draay.

At the same time, Revan turned around, using his momentum to whip his blade at Kiwiik's neck. The Jedi Master ducked as Atris attacked again, switching her focus to the Dark Lord and bringing her blade into a downward slash.

Almost faster than Atris could comprehend, Revan's free hand darted outward and grabbed her wrist. Using his own blade to force Kiwiik's lightsaber out of the way, the Sith Lord called upon his superior strength and moved Atris's arm and blade into the path of her fellow Master.

The redirected attack sliced through the Togrutan's chest. Three to go.

He lashed out with a Force enhanced kick, knocking Atris back before she could recover and releasing his grip on her arm.

Bastila struggled against her two adversaries. At this point, Vandar was almost as fast and strong as she was, and Draay more than made up the difference. The Grand Master attacked her energetically spinning his body and blade so quickly that he slightly penetrated her defense, burning her sleeve before she knocked his weapon to the side.

Suddenly, Draay was flying through the air, propelled by a compressed Force Push. He flew thirty meters back before slamming hard into a still standing tree. Evidently he managed to cushion himself with the Force just in time; the impact merely sent his unconscious body falling to the ground instead of crushing him like a pancake.

Their bond still linked them to such a degree that her Master's thoughts might as well have come from her own mind. Revan wanted her to take Atris now. He was far more rested than she; it would be better for him to take on the strongest Jedi Master. Bastila couldn't agree more; another chance against Atris was something she had dreamt about for months on end.

Bastila leapt backwards away from the Grand Master as Revan darted forward to take her place. She turned around, charging her nemesis. The Sith Lady grinned as she sensed the Jedi Master's fear.

Nevertheless, the battle had drained Bastila heavily. The odds were still in her favor, but the Sith Apprentice could no longer overwhelm the Jedi Master; it was possible that she would slip up and give her enemy a crucial opening.

It was a pity that she never got to fight Atris fully rested.

Revan pressed the attack on Vandar, but the Grand Master simply gave up more ground, moving out of the purple blade's reach. Gathering his remaining energy, Vandar unleashed a massive Force Push; the Dark Lord rooted himself in the Force and slid back only half a meter.

His opponent took that time to flee, dashing back into the trees. Revan gave chase, drawing on the Force to boost his speed.

Bastila began to press her enemy back, but Atris blocked her almost blow for blow. The Sith Apprentice was drenched in sweat. The longer this battle went on, the worse her odds became. Her immense reserves of energy were finally running on fumes.

It felt like her entire body was on fire. Pain throbbed from a dozen injuries and collisions.

She ducked a swipe from Atris and responded with a compressed Push. The Jedi Master reacted just in time, hardening her telekinetic shields, but the momentum still forced her back a step. Bastila leapt forward to take advantage...

A white hot spasm of pain erupted in her back. The point at which she had impacted the ground earlier had been bruised badly despite her cushioning the fall with the Force, and now it was making its presence known.

Bastila dropped to the ground, stumbling. A triumphant gleam appeared in Atris's eyes. The Jedi darted forward, lunging with her blade.

With the greatest effort it had ever cost her, Bastila pushed through the pain and swiped her saberstaff to the side. The tip of Atris's lightsaber was a centimeter away from her chest when one of her blades parried it away.

Standing awkwardly, Bastila frantically blocked a flurry of attacks from Atris. Her back throbbed worse than ever, and now the Jedi Master had her on the back foot.

Revan continued to hunt down the Grand Master. As his distance from Bastila increased, their mental joining faded, but for now his Apprentice would have to fend for herself. Vandar continued to run, darting from tree to tree in an effort to stay ahead of his pursuer.

A ball of fire appeared in Revan's hand. As Vandar hopped from one branch to the next, his destination suddenly erupted in flames. The Grand Master hurriedly adjusted in his fall, barely managing to avoid the flames on his way down. He hit the ground five meters from where Revan stood.

The Jedi lashed out with a powerful bolt of electric judgment. Revan didn't even bother to use his hands. He simply glanced at the bolt and willed it to dissipate into thin air.

Before Vandar could make another move, Revan sped forward and locked blades with his counterpart. As he began to press his counterpart back, Revan's connection with Bastila finally reached its breaking point and snapped entirely.

Atris continued with her offensive frenzy. The Sith Lady deflected a strike at her shoulder, avoided a downward slash by dodging to the side, and moved to block a stab at her chest...it was a feint!

The Jedi Master's blade ducked below Bastila's party and cut into the Sith's remaining leg. Bastila's other blade intercepted it a second too late. She stumbled to the ground but lashed out with a Force Push as she fell, blasting her unprepared opponent twenty feet backwards.

Her eyes filling with tears of agony, Bastila examined the damage: an inch deep gash into her left thigh.

"You're really starting to run out of limbs, you know. Only two left, and one of those is already halfway there," Atris taunted, rising to her feet.

"Taking pleasure in causing pain?" Bastila shot back, blocking out the pain as best she could. "Doesn't seem very Jedi of you."

Atris's eyes flared. "Thanks to you, I'm not a Jedi anymore. None of us are. You and your precious Master destroyed our Order and ruined our lives. I had influence, friends, comfort, and safety. I was important. Finally, I had been given my long deserved seat on the Council. And then the Sith ruined everything...all thanks to you!"

Despite her pain, despite the blood flowing down her leg, Bastila laughed. "Well I apologize for helping destroy the Jedi, Atris, or I would if your Order hadn't had it coming. But now-"

A loud boom erupted all around them. For a moment, a flickering dome materialized around the roof, and then it was gone.

Someone had just disabled the building's shield generator.

"Our reinforcements are about to arrive. Give up, you've lost," Bastila said.

"I haven't even started." Atris rushed forward. Bastila raised her blades to block an overhand cut, but her timing was completely out of sync. Instead of intercepting the attack with her right blade, Atris's weapon cleaved through her saberstaff.

The Sith Lady staggered back, staring stupidly at the two useless weapon halves in her hands. Angrily, she threw the remnants of her staff to the ground.

"This is over!" Atris declared, redoubling her attack. Bastila rolled to the side, hitting the ground awkwardly but avoiding the slash. She sprang to her feet and leapt backwards, trying to buy time.

What hope did she have now? Weaponless, and now outmatched in terms of both energy and Force Power, her opponent held all the cards...

Or did she? Atris might now have more power at her disposal, but Bastila still possessed the greater range of abilities. She knew tricks that the Jedi Master had never even attempted.

Her opponent charged, ready to finish her off. Bastila leaned backward to avoid the first attack, dropped to one knee to dodge the second, and as Atris brought her lightsaber down to impale her, the Sith Lady raised her right hand and intercepted the blade with her palm.

It drained her remaining energy at an alarming rate, but Bastila absorbed almost the entirety of Atris's blade into her palm. The Jedi Master's face contorted in shock.

Bastila continued to hold the energy as she raised herself to her feet. Brining back her left arm, she enhanced its strength with the Force and slammed it forward, punching the Jedi Master in the face. As her disoriented opponent staggered backwards, Bastila moved with her, this time lashing out with a kick to the groin, then followed it up with a knee to the stomach.

With a cry of pain, Atris fell to her knees. Seizing her chance, Bastila extracted her hand from Atris's blade, wrenched the hilt from her grasp, and flung the lightsaber into the distance.

Now both of them were disarmed, but if she recovered, Atris would regain the advantage. Bastila struck again immediately, balling her fists and lashing out with a sequence of alternating punches, each harder than the last.

Atris got to her feet and attempted to resist the onslaught, but Bastila ignored her counterattacks and continued the pummeling. Months of pent up rage and frustration fueled her efforts. She lashed out with a right hook, then whipped her arm back and landed a devastating elbow strike. Atris's nose broke with a satisfying crack.

Bastila continued the beating with a brutal kick to the knee, followed it up with a left uppercut to the chin, and finished with a massive punch to the stomach. Her right fist hit the Jedi Master so hard that she was lifted off her feet and propelled through the air. She collapsed to the ground a few feet away.

The Sith Apprentice wasn't finished yet. As Atris pathetically tried to rise, she gathered every last bit of remaining energy into her palms, salvo ring the moment, and lashed out with a massive Lightning strike.

The attack hit the barely conscious Jedi from head to toe. Screaming in agony, Atris was propelled dozens of feet into the air. Powerful shocks spread throughout her body as she careened off of the roof, flew into the distance, and began her long descent to the ground.

Bastila, now completely drained, fell to the ground, but she felt nothing but satisfaction. She had done it! At long last! Nothing could have survived that attack, and even if she did Atris was in no position to cushion her fall.

It was finally over.

"Bitch!" shouted a voice behind her. Whipping her head around, her heart plummeted. Draay had recovered, and now he had his lightsaber pointed at her heart.

He didn't waste time taunting her, he simply charged. The Sith Lady struggled to rise, but all her strength had left her. As she stared at the onrushing blade less than a meter from her eyes, Bastila knew it was over.

The air shimmered in front of her, and suddenly Revan was there, swinging his purple blade and forcing the attack away a second before it would have separated her head from her body.

Caught off guard, Draay stumbled backward. Revan's blade sliced through the air so quickly that Bastila barely perceived it; a flash of purple, and suddenly Draay's severed hand was falling to the ground, still clutching his lightsaber.

The Jedi Master screamed in agony. Revan's free hand darted forward, his fingers latched onto the Jedi's skull.

"Shut up," Revan hissed angrily, sparks igniting at his fingertips. Draay's eyes rolled up into his head as crumbled to the ground.

The Jedi was clearly unconscious, but Revan's foot angrily lashed out, kicking him in the stomach.

"Revan," Bastila moaned weakly, still unable to rise. At the sound of her voice, the Dark Lord turned away from the Jedi Master.

"Are you alright, I-" he winced as he caught a look at her leg.

"I've been through worse," her voice managed. "You've got to find Amelia, she-"

"I've got my soldiers tracking her down. Right now you're the one who needs help."

"But-"

Revan knelt down beside her. "Hang on," he ordered, placing his hand on her leg. Power flowed through his fingers and into her wound; the gash began to slowly knit itself together.

Healing was a very difficult branch of the Force, and even the strongest Force wielders (such as themselves) could never hope to use it in the middle of combat; it took far too much time, required far too much concentration, and used far too much energy. But it was very helpful in speeding up a person's recovery if used correctly.

As Revan continued, the Sith Apprentice entered a state between waking and dreaming. Dimly, she thought she heard others speaking in her Master's comlink, and Revan giving them orders, but it was all a blur.

When she came to, the gash in her leg had been partially healed; there was no longer an open wound, but her thigh was still decorated by a large patch of reddened flesh that throbbed painfully. Around them, the sky was darkening as the sun had set almost entirely. Squads of Imperial Soldiers dotted the rooftop. She'd evidently been out for around an hour.

Revan's hand was placed on her back, where she had landed earlier, and a soothing sensation spread from where he touched. Damaged vertebrae were swiftly patching themselves together.

He looked exhausted, far more than he should have been. His energy appeared so drained that it was as if he was the one that should be getting healed. Bastila on the other hand was feeling great. Definitely not close to one hundred percent, but far better than before.

"You're awake. How are you feeling?" Revan asked, his face filled with concern.

"Better, Master. Way better." She smiled up at him. "How-" Then she connected the dots. "You've given me way too much of your energy! Keep this up and you'll kill yourself! I'm fine!"

Revan smiled drily. "I'm just balancing it out enough so that both of us are capable of walking out of here. Considering what you went through today, it's only fair..."

Her hand swiftly leapt up, grabbed Revan by the neck, and pulled him down into a kiss.

"You saved my life again. Thank you," she said earnestly.

Revan grinned. "It was nothing. Did you expect me to let you die? I think you earned a little help, after all. I'm amazed you held them all off for so long," he complimented.

Her face darkened. "Vandar! Last I remember you were fighting.."

"He's dead. I wanted to capture him alive for information, but I couldn't waste time capturing him alive when you were completely drained and alone against Atris. I settled for taking in Draay, I had some soldiers haul his ass out of here while you were napping. It wasn't easy, after I saw him about to kill you all I wanted was to gut him like a fish," Revan admitted.

Bastila didn't know what to say. What could she say? Here was someone who had saved her life yet again, who had put so much on the line for her... A simple thank you didn't quite cut it.

She pulled him into another kiss, expressing what she could never put into words.

"My lord?" a soldier behind them asked nervously. Bastila hurriedly broke the kiss.

"Yes?" Revan questioned. He seemed completely at ease, but Bastila's own face burned red.

"We can't find the Hapan Princess, milord. All remaining Jedi have either fled or been captured with only a few wounded among our forces, but none we have interrogated know of her fate."

"Dammit!" Revan swore, echoing how Bastila felt.

He turned to her. "Can you sense her? Apprentices often form connections with their Masters after a time, and you've been training her for months. Try."

Bastila did so. Immediately, she felt the Princess's presence. Amelia was alive...but there was something off about the way she appeared in the Force. Hopefully she hadn't been wounded.

"Master, I can sense her. I'll fly down and get her, and meet you back at the Palace," she said, rising to her feet.

"No. I'll send someone to get her. Tell me her location, you're not up to fly," he ordered.

Bastila angrily shook her head and rose into the air easily. "I'm not leaving her out there any longer. I'm fine, see? I'll pick her up and be back at the Palace in twenty minutes."

GAP

A foot lightly tapped against her chest.

"Who are you?" questioned a rough voice.

Amelia's eyes fluttered open. Two men were standing above her, wearing Imperial Soldier's uniforms. One wore a sigil on his chest, marking him as a Sith Warrior. A quick use of her ability confirmed that they were indeed members of the Imperial military. Further probing revealed that they were the remnants of the Jedi after the failed (failed! Thank god) assassination attempt of Lady Bastila. They were also looking for...

"I am Amelia, Chume'da of the Hapan Consortium. Please escort me back to the Imperial Palace," she asked, trying and failing to get off the ground.

The two men looked at her curiously for a moment. Then they laughed out loud.

"Is that so?" the Sith questioned. "Because, to the best of my knowledge, Princess's don't dress in simple city garb. Who are you actually, a Jedi wounded in the fight? I...I can sense the Force in you! You're coming with us. Grab her!"

Amelia was roughly hauled up to her feet, the two men each grabbing her by an arm.

"Time to put you away for a few decades. Maybe the Emperor himself will visit you; he's the only one powerful enough to strip someone of the Force. Well, him and his bitch, but she doesn't show her face much," the other man said.

"I'm not a Jedi! The Emperor is a personal friend of mine, and his Apprentice is even more so. Now let me go or I'll-"

The Sith balled his fist and punched her in the stomach. Immediately, the wind was knocked out of her. She slumped in the men's arms.

"That'll shut you up. I'm not in the mood for Jedi drivel at the moment."

Amelia yearned to hit with a Force Blast, but her strength had deserted her, and any use of the Force on her part could expose the Hapan Princess as a Force user, if and when her captors discovered who she truly was.

"I told you, I'm not a-"

A hand clamped roughly over her mouth.

"Quiet! You'll have your chance to make your case; after a week or two in lockup, that is," he sneered. "Let's move out!" he said to the other soldier.

"Let her go immediately!" said a voice above them. Amelia glanced up to see a familiar figure descending through the air.

"Who the hell are you?" the soldier demanded.

"Darth Bastila, Apprentice to the Dark Lord of the Sith and honorary member of the Sith Council," her friend revealed as her feet hit the ground. "The woman you're holding is the Crown Princess of the Hapan Consortium, and I will be taking her back to the Imperial Palace."

Amelia sighed in relief.

"Is that so? Under whose authority do you take this suspected Jedi terrorist from our custody?" the Sith spat.

"Mine," Bastila shot back, venom in her voice.

"Your authority? Why would I have any respect for your authority, you rotten little Jedi Princess. What gives you authority? Because you coincidently happened to change sides right before the Republic was about to lose?" the soldier demanded.

"Do you have any idea how many friends we lost, fighting in a war you prolonged for months? And after all you did, instead of hanging like you deserved, you got rewarded with a powerful position and a cushy life in the Imperial Palace," the other man spat. "Fuck your authority. And fuck you!"

"Enough," Bastila hissed. Amelia's surroundings warped, and she found herself standing next to her friend. The two soldiers were unconscious, somehow drained of all their energy.

Amelia wobbled on her feet, but Bastila reached out a hand to steady her.

"They'll wake up in a few hours. Let's go," she said, grabbing the Princess both in her arms and with the Force, and leaping into the air.

Amelia resisted the urge to scream as they started flying. It felt like her stomach dropped to her feet. The air whipped across her face as they sped across the skyline.

"Why are we flying? Couldn't you just fold space us back?" Amelia shouted. The experience of zipping through the air was both exhilarating and terrifying, but the Chume'da was eager to be back somewhere safe as soon as possible.

"Sorry. Revan and I can't teleport that far even at our best, and several bursts of fold space would be highly taxing even for us. It's easier just to fly, and almost as fast," Bastila yelled back as she propelled them through the air.

Amelia sighed and shut her eyes, just waiting for it to be over.

GAP

Twenty minutes later, the two women were safely inside Revan and Bastila's chambers, having swiftly made their way through Palace security and hurried through the hallways. Revan wasn't there yet, probably having stayed behind to go over matters with the Imperial Forces who had arrived to clean up the mess.

"What happened? I told you to run as far from here as possible!" the Sith Apprentice finally demanded as she shut the door behind them.

"A Jedi found me out. I...took care of him, but soon after I had a blackout. I've had them since I was little, it's not a big deal. What happened with you?" Amelia replied, sitting on one of the living room's large couches.

Bastila smiled as she settled in the plush chair across from her. "I held out for a while, and eventually Revan arrived and bailed me out. All Jedi Council members were killed except for one, who we captured."

Amelia looked down at the ground. "This was all my fault. If I hadn't been so reckless..."

"Forget about it. It was a little rash, sure, but no one could have predicted what happened. Their spy is way more connected than we thought. Anyway, the only people seriously hurt today were Jedi. There weren't any civilian or Imperial military deaths. A lot of property damage sure, but that can be fixed. The Jedi Order has likely been removed as a threat, with the neutralization of their leaders. All in all, a pretty good day, don't you think?"

"Any serious injuries?" Amelia prompted nervously.

"Well...nothing that couldn't be healed. I won't need another robotic limb if that's what you're asking. Relax, you have nothing to feel sorry for," the Sith assured her. "Well, except for what you made me do to my hair. I hate being a blond."

Amelia laughed. "I think it looks good. Maybe you should keep it."

"No way," Bastila grinned. "I used to keep my hair relatively short and in a ponytail, but my Master convinced me it would look better if I kept it longer and had it flow freely. He was right, but that's as far as I'm going to go."