Mass Effect: Knight of the Old Republic

Lightsabers crashed together in a furious rush of slashes and stabs. Blue and red blades danced against a yellow double sided saber staff in the darkened hall of the station, the lights long destroyed by the force clashes of the two combatants.

The two of them were perfect opposites. On one hand there was a tall figure in heavy red and black armour underneath a pitch black robe. The figure was completely covered from head to toe, not a hint of exposed flesh anywhere. On the other was a slight woman in a skintight leather outfit.

Despite the latter being nearly completely unarmoured, her face might as well have been carved in stone for all the emotion she showed. Another contrast from the dark figure she fought, since despite their face being covered by a blood red helmet their shoulders shook with emotion.

“Why Bastila? After everything we promised… everything we sacrificed… why pick now to betray me?”

The only answer was for the woman to launch herself forward, saber staff spinning in dizzying patterns. The dark figure thrust both hands forward, catching her in a massive tide of telekinetic energy, throwing Bastila across the room and slamming her into a wall.

“ANSWER ME, DAMMIT!”

Bastila said nothing. Reaching out to the Force she ripped a console from a nearby wall and hurled it at the masked figure. The red saber in their left hand lashed out and easily cut through the flying mass of metal, but the distraction allowed Bastila to slip free of the telekinetic hold and charge again.

The yellow blade was caught between red and blue and the fight ground to a halt as the two combatants struggled to overpower the other.

“Why?” the masked figure asked again. This time instead of a furious roar, it was a whisper of trembling heartbreak.

“The Force sent me a vision.” Bastila responded in an icy emotionless tone. “You won’t stop Revan. The Star Forge is too corruptive. At some point it stops being about stopping the Vong and becomes about subjugating the galaxy. So I’ll stop you before you destroy everything we swore to protect. Just like I promised.”

The yellow blade crept closer, burning the edges of Revan’s hood. “That’s it… a vision? I thought you left absolute trust in those behind when we turned our backs on the Order.”

“When you turned your back on the order.” Bastila corrected. “I am, and will always be, a Jedi.”

Bastila suddenly pulled back her attack and spun the staff forward. Caught off guard Revan failed to parry the blow and Bastila’s lightsaber hissed as it cut through the lighter inner plates of armor on Revan’s right leg.

Revan’s leg gave out from the sudden pain and the masked fighter collapsed, but before Bastila could capitalise on the opening the room was flooded with a veritable storm of lightning. Twirling her staff to block the worst of the lightning Bastila backed off for the moment when the Force blared a warning.

She dove in time to avoid the broken scraps Revan had cut through earlier and now used to attack her from behind, but the ill thought out move left her completely open for another blast of Force Lightning to slam into her. The powerful attack ravaged her unprotected body causing her to scream and drop her saber staff which was quickly retrieved by Revan with a tug of the force.

Instead of rushing to attack the fallen Jedi, Revan deactivated both lightsabers and returned to the clips on the armoured belt. Using the similarly deactivated staff as a crutch Revan simply looked at their fallen foe.

“It’s over Bastila. Please just stop, I don’t-” Whatever Revan wanted to say was interrupted as a trio of balsterbolts washed over the armored figured chest. While the bolts failed to pierce the armor, the shields that should have sprung to life remained inactive and the superheated gas caused severe burns to the flesh underneath.

Revan was thrown to the ground by the impact, the saberstaff ripped from the armored gauntlet, and quickly rolled to send a disbelieving stare at the fallen Jedi. A Jedi that returned the stare with colder eyes than Revan had ever seen on another organic. The sight of those eyes caused the last hope of Revan’s that this was just some cruel joke or misunderstanding to shatter. Bastila was prepared to use any means if it ensured Revan died, even resorting to blasters despite years of disdain for the ranged weapon.

Bastila readjusted her aim and fired another shot. The only thing that gave Revan the will to respond was the years of fighting and training that made redirecting blaster bolts an unconscious reaction rather than a decision. A red lightsaber blazed to life with an iconic snap-hiss and reflected the bolt directly back at the weapon that fired it.

Bastila bit down on a scream as the bolt destroyed the blaster and caused severe burns to her hand.

Revan slowly rose from the ground, lightsaber still ignited. Bastila simply remained on the floor, eyes impassive.

“It’s over.” Revan declared again, sounding almost hollow.

“It is.” Bastila agreed. “You always were the better dualist, but I had to try.”

“Why?”

“It was the solution with the fewest lives lost.” Bastila knew that wasn’t what Revan was asking but it wouldn’t matter soon. She turned to look out the transparisteel window. Almost reluctantly Revan followed her gaze. From the window the two of them could see dozens of ships transitioning out of Hyperspace. “Give up Revan. Without the defences activated the Star Forge is vulnerable to the capital ship turbo lasers. The fleet you were building here isn’t ready for combat. Give up and I will ensure your death is swift.”

Revan wordlessly looked out through the window as the ships slowly grew larger in the viewport.

“I can’t. I sacrificed too much to give up now.” came the whispered reply. “Even if the entire galaxy decides to hunt me down I will ensure it is ready for what is coming.”

“And how do you expect to escape? There are no ships here fast enough to escape that battlegroup. Struggling now is pointless.”

“No, there’s one left.” Revan said with a bitter smile. “It was going to be a surprise. The fastest ship in the galaxy… I was going to name it after you.”

Bastila said nothing. Some unknown emotion rippled in her steel grey eyes, but in a moment it was smothered and they returned to their previous emotionless state.

Revan saw that Bastila wasn’t going to respond, wasn’t even going to look away from the viewport, and started to limp towards the door.

“You aren’t going to finish me?” Bastila’s question stopped Revan cold.

Revan looked at the ceiling and said nothing for a few seconds.

“I can’t. Even after all this I still think of you as a sister.” the masked figure said eventually. “If we meet in the future that might change but for now…”

Bastila still refused to look away from the window but held up her non-burned hand. “That was a mistake.” without any hesitation she flipped open the protective cover on the detonator and pressed the button. Faint explosions could be heard all around them and the floor rippled slightly.

“You planted explosives on the ship?!”

“I had to be thorough. You are ‘just that good’ afterall.”

Revan stood in silence as another explosion went off in the distance.

“Damn you.”

It was quiet. Barely audible to Bastila. But underneath the denial and sorrow, was the faintest embers of true hatred.

Neither one said anything else and neither one spared the other another glance even when Revan hobbled out of the room and the heavy blast doors shut behind them.

Now alone, the emotional mask Bastila wore started to crack as a single tear made its way down her face.

“I’m sorry.” She pleaded, the icy tone long gone replaced with her own heartbreak and desperation. “I’m so, so sorry. But it’s the only way.”

On the window in front of her, the image of dozens of warships glitched and sputtered and was replaced by a single ship as the false projection failed. Bastila watched silently as the ship opened up with it’s main guns, green turbolasers tearing towards her. All while tears streamed down her face.

-o-

Revan cursed as another explosion rocked the floor, throwing the warrior headfirst into a bulkhead even as the hanger door to the unnamed prototype ship closed behind them.

“T1, prep for emergency launch. I want us out the door the second the engines are warm and in hyperspace at max speed the second after that.” She snarled at the nearby astromech droid as she ripped her helmet off and swiped at the blood dripping down her forehead and into her eye.

A series of startled beeps answered her demand.

“I don’t care if the ship hasn’t had a shakedown run!” Revan practically screamed. “If we stay here we’re dead! Get it done!”

More beeps confirmed the order and the tiny droid sped to the cockpit. Revan slowly limped in the same direction, once again falling into a bulkhead as the ship rocketed into space.

Once she managed to get to the pilot’s chair, Revan collapsed into the seat and started issuing orders.

“T1, I want all spare power to rear shields. Prep the warpdrive for an emergency jump, I don’t care about the coordinates as long as it isn’t here. The second it’s ready, jump. Do not wait for my confirmation.”

T1 answered affirmatively.

“And get me a picture of the rear cameras. I need to know how many ships split off to pursue us.”

This time there was some confused beeping and a picture opening on the console.

“This can’t be right… T1 check for a different camera. I’m only seeing one ship from this view.”

A slightly different angle appeared and Revan starred uncomprehendingly at the single ship now peacefully drifting towards the station she had just fled from.

“But I… there were… how…?” Nothing was making sense to Revan. What happened to the other ships? She had sensed them while she was with Bastila. She knew that there were more presences appearing in the system. So how…?

The answer presented itself like a lightning bolt. Revan leaned back into her chair and let out a mirthless laugh.

“She tricked me…”

Bastila had somehow used Force Presence to simulate an entire battlegroup coming out of Hyperspace. If Revan had investigated just a little bit closer she probably would have seen through the illusion but as it stood Bastila had successfully scared the fake sith lord off the station with a trick.

“That bitch… I can’t believe she pulled that over on me. When I get back…” Revan’s speech was interrupted by a few more beeps from the T1 droid.

“What?! No wait! Disengage warpdr-!”

The unnamed prototype launched into Hyperspace at a speed never before recorded. Along with it, it took the most feared Dark Lady of the Sith the Republic had ever known.

-o-

In a galaxy far, far away.

Jane Shepard looked into the mirror with tired emerald eyes, committing every new scar and imperfection to memory.

Two years.

She had died two years ago after being ambushed by an unknown alien ship while patrolling for the last hints of Geth resistance.

Those aliens, the Collectors apparently, had torn her beloved ship to pieces like it was nothing. The best stealth system in the galaxy, useless before the giant ship. During the chaos, Shepard had been blown from the wreckage and out into the merciless void of space.

Cold, so cold. Air hissing as it escaped from the breached suit. Lungs struggling as the vacuum sought to pull the last bit of oxygen from her body. Sight dimming as-

Shepard cut those thoughts off with a splash of hot water from the sink in front of her.

Shepard had died.

And then she was brought back.

Cerberus, a human supremacist terrorist organization Shepard had fought several times on her manhunt for the rogue Specter Saren Arcturus, had spent two years and an unknown amount of credits bringing her back to life.

It had barely been two weeks since she woke up, and sometimes she wished that she hadn’t. The Council, the seat of power for the entire galaxy, had dismissed her warning of the coming Reaper threat, choosing to cover the whole thing up instead. Her crew- her family -had went their own ways after the Normandy was destroyed leaving Shepard unsure how to even begin contacting them.

Most of her old crew simply had no way of being contacted.

Garrus had simply dropped off the face of the galaxy at some point. Wrex had gone to Tuchanka and apparently was working to unite his people. Ashley was lost somewhere in the Systems Alliance bureaucracy and Shepard doubted a sudden call from a declared dead Spectre would change that. At least she knew where Liara ended up.

Thankfully her unexpected meeting with Tali on Freedom’s Progress went well, even if it was far more tense than Shepard would’ve liked.

If Tali had rejected her…

Shepard knew herself well enough, at least she hoped she still knew herself well enough, to know that the Quarian she saw as a little sister rejecting her would’ve snapped the last extremely worn thread of her sanity.

It was only being reunited with Joker and Dr. Chackwas that had stopped Shepard from going completely off the deep end as it was.

She let out a sigh and turned away from the mirror. Away from the hideous glowing scars that marred her face. At least her hair hadn’t been ruined during her brief demise. If she had woken up bald instead of with her shoulder length red hair…

Best not tempt Murphy Shepard decided. The last thing she wanted was for some random accident to ruin one of the few reasons she felt like herself.

Quickly drying herself off and slipping into her off duty fatigues Shepard made her way down to the CIC.

“Hello Commander,” Shepard’s new yeoman Kelly Chambers greeted her. “The Illusive Man is waiting to talk to you in the QEC.”

“Thank you, Miss Chambers. I’ll be right there.”

And there went any chance of starting today with a good mood Shepard groused to herself. She might be stuck working with Cerberus for the time being but that did not mean that she had to like it. Something she made the Illusive Man very aware of.

Speaking of…

A blue tinted hologram sprung to life as Shepard stepped onto the QEC. As always the Illusive Man was impeccably dressed with a cigarette in his hand. Shepard was partially convinced it was a prop simply to make him seem more sophisticated.

“Commander Shepard.” T.I.M. started, “we received some reports about an unidentified spaceship that crash landed on Lorek, a nearby planet in the Fathar system.”

Shepard waited for more but it seemed TIM was waiting to hear her thoughts on the matter.

“Okay, and? I have bigger issues than worrying about a random ship. Does this have anything to do with the Collectors?”

TIM took a long drag from his cigarette. “We don’t know. We don’t have many agents in the area to confirm but what we do know is that it is a ship completely alien in design from anything else in the galaxy. What I want you to do is take your team and investigate. This might be an unexpected lead to where the Collectors are heading next.”

Shepard was doubtful of that and crossed her arms over her chest. “Or it has nothing to do with them. I still haven’t had a chance to begin meeting with the specialists you sent over and now you want me poking into a shipwreck?”

“Think of it as a training exercise, Commander.” TIM placated. “You haven’t had much time to work with your current team. An investigation like this would help break the ice before you face more dangerous circumstances.”

He was right. Damn him to every hell there was, but he was right.

Shepard knew she would need to work with her team more if she wanted to get a feel for how they handled themselves in a firefight. And this would be a perfect low risk mission to ease them into it.

But it would also put Shepard right back in the middle of another broken ship.

She shuddered at the sudden rush of dark feelings. At the memories of the slowly approaching darkness as her sight greyed out. As the-

Shepard gave her whole body a vigorous shake to push back those feelings and focus on the present.

Making her way back to the CIC she took her place at the helm.

“Okay people, we have a new heading. Set course for Lorek.”

“Aye Aye Ma’am.” the voice of Joker drawled from the loudspeakers. “Course set. ETA of 6 hours.”