Korriban, Revan in action

Korriban

Carth

I was ready for anything, I thought. When Mission came to tell me that Revan- that Danika had asked us all to report, I put on the autopilot and headed aft. We had less than an hour before we dropped out of hyperspace.

Danika was sitting at the table as if the last few days had never happened. She smiled slightly at my approach, nodding toward a seat across the table from her. The others gathered, taking their seats.

'I have been considering the problem we didn't start this mission with.' Danika began. 'The problem that somewhere in here,' she tapped her head, 'Revan may be waiting to leap out and destroy us all. The problem is compounded by the fact that last night, I dreamed and saw the location of the Star Map here.

'It is located in one of the tombs in the valley of the Dark Lords beyond the Sith Academy.'

Both Jolee and Juhani gasped at that. I didn't fully understand. However she had anticipated the questions.

'There is no place on this planet more deeply steeped in the Dark side than that valley. The Dark Lords of legend are buried there. Ajunta Pall, Marko Ragnos, Tulak Hord, Naga Sadow. Thousands of years of Sith history in one place.

'Also, I must pass through the Sith Academy to reach it. Only two sorts of people are allowed in the Academy. Sith, their students, and their slaves.'

'I'm going.' I rasped. Dustil was in there somewhere.

'As far as the Academy itself, you will. However, I must enter the valley alone.' She held up her hand to forestall debate. 'Please listen to what I have to say first. We must protect the ship, and one of those we need to protect it against is me.' She stared at her hands, clenched so tightly that they were dark with blood. 'I don't know that I will fail, or fall to the dark. But I must assume that it is a possibility. If that happens this ship and crew must survive. They must go to Coruscant, and warn the Jedi council.

'Therefore, I am giving these as my final orders. Until I have returned and been judged safe by you, no one will obey any order I give them from the moment we land. If they do, you must all assume that I have dominated their minds. Canderous, you HK and T3 have a duty I cannot assign to another. You, like they will obey my orders to the letter regardless of your feelings on the matter.

'Once I have stepped off the ship, and gone into Dreshdae, I want you to design and activate a defensive system that cannot be penetrated or deactivated from outside the ship. Speak with Juhani and Jolee. I want something that will kill an attacker no matter how fast they move. Rig the ramp so that if anyone reaches it while the system is activated, the ship will be blown up. As much as I want the ship to escape, I don't want it to leave if- if I get back aboard without being cleared first.

'Use all your skills in ambush and booby traps. Use all of HK's skills, use all of T3s skills. There must be no way I can get back aboard without you allowing me back aboard.

'Juhani.' I turned to her. 'You and Jolee can resist me, and you must go ashore with me to set up my entry into the Academy together. I know if I turned evil, I could control one of you, but doubt I could do so without the other noticing. You both can reach into another's mind, and once I have gone into the Academy, you must use that skill. Work out with Canderous what he intends to do, then reach into each other's minds and remove it before we go ashore. That way I cannot get it from you.

'Once his system is set up, you must then remove it from Canderous' mind. I don't want to be able to read any of you if it is at all possible. If at any time you feel that I am attempting to take control of any of you, I want that system to automatically kill me. When you are all done, I must have a system that I can pass if you allow me to, but that will kill me if I try to slip by it in any way.

'HK, I am giving you an order that only someone else can countermand. In the event that it is assumed that I am a threat, you must kill me, or failing that, destroy this vessel if I succeed in getting aboard. I. Must. Not. Survive. Is that clear?'

'Yes, Master.'

'Carth.' She turned to me. 'I called you my conscience. Now I ask you to be my executioner. If at any time you feel that I have become a danger, if you feel I might be falling back into the dark side, you must notify the crew so they can kill me.' She stood, looking around our crew.

'I have been told that Revan was a tactical genius, If she comes back, I want to give her an insoluble problem. Work among yourselves, and make it harder than I have already laid it out. I will stay in my quarters until we land.'

She turned, and walked from the room.