Kreia awoke within the cockpit of her starfighter to alarms sounding. She'd dreamt of the Jedi Council members condemning Revan as she stood amongst them in the Jedi Council chambers. "I made a sacrifice," Revan's words came to her out of the darkness. "A sacrifice for the Republic. Can you understand?" Kreia contemplated those words, willing herself to shut out the accusations of the Jedi Masters. As she stirred to wakefulness, she felt lingering irritation with their condescension and arrogance. But there was no time for that now, she thought to herself, checking the control panel hurriedly. She scarcely noticed the lights flashing for the sight out the viewscreen.

Before her was a vast collection of ships in various states of repair. Some were intact while others were missing entire sections. Starfighters, Republic and Mandalorian warships, and ships she did not even recognize were there scattered about.  The evidence of the great battle over Malachor that they had all heard about, Revan's final victory over the Mandalorians though it had come at a grievous cost.

But what was beyond the wreckage was what held Kreia's fascination. Malachor V floated there, hardly recognizable as a planet, but more like a vast asteroid, misshapen and seemingly uninhabitable. Most interesting though were the green waves of energy rippling across its surface, the likes of which she had never seen or heard of before. Sensors refused to identify them as well, but the simple act of checking them drew her out of her temporary mesmerization. For even as she guided the ship through the graveyard of ships, she felt the planet's gravitation well drawing her in. Even putting the thrusters in reverse did not help much, and she felt herself being drawn toward the planet at an ever increasing rate of speed.

Yet, despite all this, another battle raged around her, an unseen battle. From the planet, she felt a Dark side presence like she had never felt in all her years, one that made Korriban's own aura seem faint. It threatened to overwhelm her with each passing minute, her Jedi training strained to the very limits. As the Dark side on Korriban had hung about her shoulders like a wet cloak, this presence was as being dowsed in icy cold water without the benefit of a rebreather, only occasionally breaking the surface to take in a much needed gasp of oxygen. It took much of her strength merely to fend off its influence. It made allowing the Force to flow through difficult, but she set her will against it, diverting only a fraction of her attention while she focused the bulk of it on bringing the ship in.

She soon reached the planet's orbit, and from there she could clearly make out jagged white flashes across the skies of this world. The surface features were difficult to distinguish, sensors showing large amounts of dust in the atmosphere as if thrown up by volcanic eruption, but more likely, Kreia guessed, by the great battle that had been waged here. Strange that it had not settled, but the electrical nature of the atmosphere perhaps kept the particles charged and moving through the air. It was not long before she reached the top of the atmosphere and broke through it, the sky above her a grey swirling mass, criss-crossed frequently by bolts of electrical discharge. The ship quaked violently under the strain of re-entry.

The discharges flashed near to her starfighter with ever increasing frequency, drawn to its metallic skin until finally a bolt lanced out and struck it near the nose. A surge of energy immediately flashed through the control panel, frying the electronics inside it and sending up tendrils of smoke from the blackened gauges. Below, she could begin to see rocky spires rushing up to meet her as the ships downward momentum increased with failure of her thruster controls. Knowing it was going to be close, she closed her eyes and once more let the Force slowly flow into her through the thick viscous nature of the Dark side. She pulled out Revan's mask and slid it within the folds of her robes for safekeeping. "There is no death, there is only the Force," she whispered, and then opening her eyes, she released canopy. It spun off above her, leaving the howling wind to jolt her about the open cockpit. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves one final time, she waited until the timing was just right and then quickly released her safety harness, using the Force to push her out of the cockpit and drop her slowly down on top of one of the taller spires. From there she watched the starfighter scream towards the ground before bouncing off a stone wall and collapsing in a battered, broken heap on the surface.

She took a moment to look around. Attempting to sense anything through the Force, through the choking coldness around her, proved exhausting and revealed nothing beyond her immediate surroundings. So instead she stepped off the edge of the spire and allowed the Force to slow her descent to the ground.

At the base, she found herself amongst a maze of low rock formations. The ground was a greyish stone cracked in places and emitting a lurid yellow glow. From the cracks, intermittently, foul gases were released as if the planet were attempting to disgorge a poison within it. It was just then that she saw an airspeeder flying overhead, and she quickly withdrew beneath a low overhang.

It appeared she had been spotted as the airspeeder swung around for another pass diving down to just above the tops of the rock formations. No doubt her starfighter had been tracked entering the system and someone sent to investigate the crash. It made yet another pass and then disappeared from sight though she could still hear it in the distance. Carefully she crept around the large formation, using the Force to mask her presence. Passing through a narrow pathway, she found the airspeeder parked in a small, circular open space. Against a rocky wall rested her starfighter in two equal parts. Smoke was rising from it, and pieces of the frame littered the open space.

A figure in dark robes was examining the wreckage, so she took the opportunity to slip into the backseat of the speeder. Once there, she re-focused the flow of the Force within her and projected outward toward the figure. It was one of the mind tricks the Jedi were so famous for, and his perception was distorted so that as he turned to look back, the speeder appeared empty to him. He had dark hair and even darker eyes. His skin had a gray pallor, and now his expression became vacant as if deep in thought. After a moment he shook his head and entered the speeder. Powering it up and lifting it off the ground, he drew the canopy closed and sent the vehicle at a breakneck pace above the tops of the rock formations.

It was not long before she spotted the top of a large structure in the distance. The walls of stone rose around them until they formed a small canyon. Pressed against the back wall of it was a smooth stone section as high as the canyon itself. Six large spires extended out of it, the two uppermost clearing the height of the canyon walls. The smooth wall was decorated to resemble a mask of sorts, with the mouth at the bottom framing a small entranceway into the cliff face. Leading up to the entranceway was a smooth stone path that became a bridge over a misty crevice in front of the structure. Here, the shroud of the Dark side was stronger still, and she was forced to divert more of her will to keeping it at bay, all the while maintaining her hold on the Sith's mind. It had become quite taxing.

The airspeeder flew between the two spires and landed on a plateau on the other side. As the pilot shut down the engines, the section of the platform began to descend into a large hangar. Peering over the side, but staying low, she saw various ships being serviced below including one small freighter. A  small group of technicians in the grey uniforms of the Sith moved about from ship to ship, occasionally yelling to one another or at the small group of astromech droids that were assisting them.

The Sith got out of the speeder and walked toward a desk where the flight officer sat. Kreia released her grip on his mind with relief, the fatigue beginning to weigh her down.

"Looked like one of ours," she saw the Sith telling a woman in dark robes sitting at the desk. "There was no body. Probably the storm beasts got to it first."

"I'll inform Commander A'tel then," she said.

The Sith nodded and slipped through a pair of doors nearby.

It was a simple matter for Kreia to make her way unnoticed to the flight officer. Before the woman could say anything, Kreia had passed a hand in front of her face.

"You will tell me of Darth Revan," Kreia commanded her.

"Do you take me for a weak-minded fool," the flight officer asked, hands coming to rest on her hips. "Who are you? I'm going to inform..."

Kreia frowned, the heavy weight of the Dark side hanging over her, making it more difficult to focus on the Force. With a second wave of her hand, she cut off the flight officer in mid-sentence. The officer's eyes glazed over briefly, and then she looked at Kreia.

"You know, you're right," she said. "I just see what I have in the computer on Lord Revan." The flight officer moved her fingers across the computer panel quickly. "Ah, it seems Lord Revan most recently arrived in a freighter called the Ebon Hawk. That would be that freighter over there," she said, gesturing toward a ship in the back of the hangar. Then she checked the computer again. "And it seems she left almost a year ago in a Sith starfighter. She doesn't seem to have filed a flight plan."

"I see," said Kreia. "I thank you for that information. You will not remember this conversation afterward." Once more she waved a hand at the woman.

"Will there be anything else then?" the flight officer asked.

Kreia eyed the woman thoughtfully. "I rather do admire that black cloak you are wearing..."

Minutes later, slipping on the cloak and throwing the hood up over her head, Kreia walked up the boarding ramp of the freighter that the woman had indicated. As she walked through the ship, she could barely sense the lingering presence of Revan, catching brief glimpses of visions of her former padawan walking down the corridors, speaking to her crewmates and going about the business of running the ship. It was in the main hold that the visions were the strongest...Revan arguing with Carth Onasi, and in another, Revan and Bastila standing before a hologram of Master Vander, grim expressions on their faces. Powerful emotions lingered in the main hold sending echoes through the Force that, as Kreia had often taught her students, one only had to open oneself up to in order to sense.

In the center of the main hold was a large console with a holographic representation of Malachor V floating above it. "Revan, where do you wander now?" she whispered aloud.

It was as she stepped up to it for a closer look that she heard a soft whirring noise behind her. Turning, she saw an astromech droids rolling towards her. It stopped a short distance from her emitting a series of beeps and whistles.

"I am afraid I do not comprehend your language, but perhaps you can understand me," she told it. "Are you responsible for the upkeep of this ship?"

The droid whistled in something which sounded positive.

Kreia dared not hope that it would be so simple, but thought she ask anyway. "And are you familiar with the owner of this ship?" She knew little of droids, but had been told before that they always seemed to know more than one thought.

The droid again whistled and beeped in an upbeat manner.

Kreia felt the rising suspense within her and kneeled down before the droid. "Very well, then I will tell you what I need, and perhaps you can help me. I am Revan's former master, and I am concerned for her welfare."

This time there was silence from the droid, but after a pause, a hologram of Revan appeared on the floor from the droid's emitter. Kreia's eyes widened, and the fatigue she had been feeling left her.

"T3," Revan said,  "I need you to take care of the ship while I'm gone" There was the sound of droidspeak, and then Revan spoke again, "No, I can't take you with. I'm sorry. Where I'm going it will be too dangerous." More droidspeak. "Yes, I realize your help was invaluable in entering the Sith base on Taris. We would have never made it off the planet without you, and you have been as loyal companion as anyone could ask for." Revan paused, and anguish showed clearly on her face. "T3, I've done terrible things. You remember the beach on the Rakata homeworld. There's far worse things that I've done that I can't even remember. I walk a treacherous path, and in some ways I've already failed. But the sacrifice I've made was what enabled us to defeat the Mandalorians. However there's a greater threat out there that must be dealt with, and I feel I must go alone. This is something I must succeed at, and it will involve me being terrible once again. That is another reason why I can't bring anyone I care for with on this journey. None of you need see what I've become in order to defend the Republic. I need you to stay here and keep the Hawk ready in case I should have need of it...or in case someone else should. Good-bye, little friend." And with that, the hologram faded out.

Kreia stared off into space briefly, considering what she's just seen. 'Perhaps she expected Bastila might follow,' she thought to herself. 'But Bastila apparently never came to this place, otherwise she would have taken this ship.' She turned to look back at the droid again. "T3 is your designation?"

The droid whistled sharply.

"Do you know where I can find her? I must know. I suspect she will need help even though she has chosen to go alone."

T3 emitted a series of beeps and whistles, and then turned around, rolling down the corridor. Kreia followed the droid out of the main hold and down a corridor to the gangway. Once they emerged out in the hangar, she felt the exhaustion return to her, but she drew upon the Force and made her passing less noticeable. She followed T3 through the twin doors by the flight officer's desk into the corridor beyond.

It was a narrow hallway of grey stone, illuminated at regular intervals by fixtures which gave off a reddish glow. The droid led her down a corridor, past a group of the type of Sith she had encountered on Dantooine in the black robes and red goggles. They took no notice of her as she passed by, only glancing briefly at the astromech in front of her. Soon they reached a double set of doors with a large glowing red circle on them. T3 moved up to a socket near the door and extended his datajack into the outlet which promptly began to spin as he unlocked the doors. They slid apart to reveal a large room past the doors where banks of computers had been set up alongside a wall with archaic symbols covering it from top to bottom. A small group of individuals in grey uniforms worked at the computer banks.

As she entered the room, they looked up, and as they did so, the fatigue which had building in Kreia overcame her and she felt her control of the Force momentarily slip. In that instant, their eyes all fell on her, and hands moved towards the blasters hanging from their belts. T3 immediately rolled for cover behind one of the computer banks. Cursing once more the nature of this planet, she flicked her wrist back at the doors, closing them quickly with a gentle push of the Force. In another instant, she had her lightsaber out and activated. She only barely got it up in time to reflect the first of several blaster bolts aimed at her. One then another, but a third blaster bolt clipped her shoulder. Gritting her teeth, she extended her free hand towards the technicians and released as strong a Force push as she could muster. The four were caught in it and slammed against the back wall, their unconscious bodies falling in a heap on to the floor.

But then the doors behind her opened, and the group of Sith they had passed earlier stood there, force pikes in hand. Beyond them was a female in black robes, brown hair pulled back tightly into a pony tail. She smiled at Kreia, and in her mind she heard the woman's voice, "Welcome, Jedi, to the Trayus Academy."

The Sith assassins attacked, moving to surround her, and Kreia turned her attention away from the woman to them. The lightsaber began to feel heavy in her hands, as though it were made of durocrete, but she willed the Force to move through her and met their attacks, her red blade clashing with the obvious cortosis-weave of their force pikes. One by one she deflected their attacks, dodging, side-stepping and then slashing through the black material of their uniforms. Their deaths were accompanied by screams which she barely noticed until only one was left. He backed off a bit, moving side to side, looking for an opening.

Again Kreia heard the woman's voice in her head. 'The Dark side is strong here. I know you must sense it, feel its grip. Open yourself to it and find what you came here for.' Kreia's eyes widened as she looked across at the woman. 'Yes, you seek Revan. You seek greater knowledge of the Force, and it can be yours. Look around you. The knowledge of the Sith lies in these ancient archives. A thousand years this Academy goes back. The answers to your questions are here.' But even as the woman spoke, Kreia felt some of her strength return and her labored breathing began to ease. Extending a hand toward the Sith assassin, she released a Force push that sent him flying out the doorway, past the woman, and collapsing in a heap in the hallway beyond. "I am not so easily tempted, Sith," Kreia said. "I have no need for your assistance."

The woman's smile faded, and she pulled out her lightsaber which she activated. "You will not leave this room alive unless I wish it." The Sith sent a force push at Kreia which her exhaustion would not allow her to resist, and the old woman flew hard into the wall behind her, the lightsaber slipping from her grasp. The pain in her back slowed her attempt to rise, and the exhaustion had come back in double. Drawing on the Force more heavily, she rose to her feet and called her lightsaber to her hand and activating it once more. Painfully she moved into a defensive stance, lightsaber at the ready.

"You surprise me, Jedi. For an elderly woman, your endurance is impressive." The Sith stepped forward and threw herself into a furious attack, her blade meeting Kreia's in a shower of sparks. Then two women engaged in battle, black cloaks whirling about them as they moved to avoid the other's attacks and then counter. But the younger woman's energy reserves were clearly greater, though Kreia's expertise with a lightsaber was equally obvious. Under the Sith's attacks, she began to be driven backward until her back was almost against the wall, standing amongst the unconscious pile of technicians. Her shoulders ached and her arms became heavier with each deflected attack. Little by little the Force seemed to be deserting her in her hour of need until she felt now drained. The Force suddenly seemed just beyond her grasp. The power behind the Sith's next attack pushed her lightsaber out of the way and was followed by a stabbing attempt meant to impale her through the chest. Kreia dodged to the side, falling into a sitting position in the corner of the room. The cold air of the Academy flooded into her lungs she breathed hard, looking up at the Sith with weary eyes. The lightsaber rolled out of her hand and across the floor. Her eyes, half-closed from exhaustion, swept across the room until they came to rest on T3 who had began to beep and whistle in an agitated fashion.

The Sith stepped over here, blade pointed at Kreia's face. "So you choose death. That is the Jedi way. That's what they would have expected from you, isn't it? No doubt, Revan would have done the same in your position. There is no shame. You have fought well..."

But Kreia failed to hear the next words after the mention of Revan's name because a spark ignited deep within her, a last bit of anger at the callous disregard for Revan, the greatest student she had ever trained. And like a spark, it spread quickly through the flammable material of her spirit, as she found herself now to weary of mind and body to either center herself or contain the flames. Quickly it spread through out her as visions of  Revan brought before the Council unconscious and the subsequent brain-washing of the Jedi she had come to consider as a daughter. The Jedi Council's crude treatment of her, and their manner of speaking ill about her afterward. Their hypocrisy in not recognizing her victory over the Mandalorians, and their lack of compassion in the true Jedi manner that demanded that the fallen be given a chance for redemption. Their expulsion of herself from the Jedi Order she had expected, but their treatment of Revan dominated her thoughts now. A long suppressed rage which she only now acknowledged surfaced, a rage which she realized had been driving her actions for some time. Before she knew it, it had completely engulfed her. She found her hands shaking uncontrollably, and the presence of the Dark side became ever thicker around her until she simply could  hold it back no longer. The careful walls around her emotions that she had constructed as a Jedi long ago, collapsed. There was a sensation as if the air had been forced out of her, but it was an emptiness that quickly filled with an icy chill. The coldness seeped through her limbs and her spirit, and made her gasp for breath as if she were being drowned. But accompanying it was a sense of power of which she had only imagined in her studies of the Sith, a power which she found intoxicating and which dispelled her exhaustion. Her breathing quieted rapidly, and with a sudden burst of energy that she had not felt since before arriving on Korriban, she stood. The pain vanished from her limbs.

The Sith stepped back, lowering her lightsaber, and a trace of a smile returned to her face. But the smile quickly faded, as she felt herself hurled violently against the wall, caught in a Force grip that threatened to collapse her throat. As she gasped for breath, she saw that the old women had barely lifted a hand, and the Sith felt herself caught in a powerful grip so that she could neither move nor even think clearly. She began to black out, and only then did she feel herself sink to the floor hard, falling on to all fours. She looked across the room, and through blurry vision, she saw the old woman once again draw the lightsaber to her hand.

Kreia slipped her lightsaber back on to her belt and walked toward the Sith. The Force flowed around her, responding to her slightest bit of concentration, and the suffocating presence of the Dark side had vanished. But even more interesting, she suddenly felt the old restraints imposed by the Jedi Code lifted, and new sense of freedom filled her. A smile spread across her lips as she felt yet another burden slip from her, a burden imposed by those who feared the Force and did not recognize it for what it was. It became clear that the Force was a tool, a weapon even, desiring to be used. For decades she had struggled to understand the will of the Force, and now it had become clear. A simplicity the Jedi Order had been incapable of understanding. "Kneel," she ordered the Sith.

The Sith complied, raising her head, her vision starting to clear. "Master," she said, grimacing from the pain where she had hit the wall. "Ask what you will. I will tell you that which you wish to know."

But there would now be no need for asking questions. Extending her senses through the Force, she penetrated the woman's mind with barely noticeable resistance, and had delved deep into the woman's thoughts. Her name was Darth Reon, and she had once been Jedi Knight Telesia Fores, fighting along side Revan on various worlds before arriving on Malachor for the final battle against the Mandalorians. She quickly succumbed to the Dark side in the heat of  combat and had since become an instructor at the Academy. Here Reon had continued to serve underneath Revan until she had left. She had her own followers at the Academy, but chafed under the control of one Sith Lord in particular. A wreck of a man, body covered with scars from head to foot. A man strong with the Force. His name was Sion, and he was in desperate need of a lesson from a true Sith Lord. She extricated her senses from the woman's mind and contemplated what she had seen.

"You knew Revan well, then?" Kreia asked her.

"I did."

"Then you know that she would not have willing surrendered herself to death?"

"I told you what you needed to hear, Master," Reon said. "And we have great need of you here. You fight like Revan, and you are strong in the Force as she is."

"I was there when Revan's potential was realized as a child," Kreia said, looking down at her. "And I was her first Master...and perhaps her last as well. But I do not desire power."

"No, you wish to follow Revan, except that no one knows where she has gone."

"I will determine that for myself," Kreia said. "Rise."

Reon got to her feet. "Master, surely you can sense that this world is strong in the Dark side, but the strongest point is in the Trayus Core. It is focused there like no other place I know of in the galaxy. There you may find your answers if they are not to be had in these archives, and there you will find Sion."

Kreia turned to face T3, who seemed to be watching with interest. "You are capable of accessing this database?" she asked.

He whistled in the affirmative.

"Then I will require you to begin a search for those files which Revan accessed during her stay here."

He chirped again and plugged his telescopic arm into the computer system and began to sift through files..

"The files are only partly converted from the ancient devices of the Sith to our computer systems. We are still in the process of transferring them to a modern system," Reon offered. "The ancient archival system is similar to the technology used in holocrons."

Kreia stepped up the ancient symbols imprinted on the blocks that made up one of the walls of the room. Sliding a palm across their cool surfaces, she extended her senses through the Force, slipping through the blocks themselves and into the data that they contained. There she saw flashes of various holograms depicting Sith lords dressed in dark clothing or in archaic armor, and they spoke, but soundlessly, their lips moving as they imparted secrets of the last millennium. Eventually, one of the blocks gave off a particular resonance that called to her. Letting her palm come to a rest there, she willed the Force to move into it, and then stepped back.

From the outlines of the block, a hologram was projected on the floor of a female figure in black. "I am Darth Traya," the hologram said in a hoarse voice. "There must always be a Darth Traya, one that holds the knowledge of betrayal. Who has been betrayed in their heart, and will betray in turn..." And then the hologram began to speak of the Dark side, and Kreia listened in rapt attention, barely noticing Reon sending the recently recovered technicians away and clearing out the bodies of the fallen Sith assassins...

It was several days later that Darth Sion finished a training regimen in which several Dark side marauders were slain to ensure that his own lightsaber skills remained the best they could be. Of course it meant nothing here on Malachor where, with the Dark side running through him, he could never be killed, but the time was coming when he expected to meet the Jedi in battle, and it would be no contest. He would be ready for them, he thought to himself as he entered the Trayus Core to meditate.

Except that this time, there was already someone there, dressed in the customary black robes, sitting cross legged with its back to him. Somebody who failed to take notice of him as he entered, but whom could hardly have not known better than to invade this inner sanctum which he reserved for himself. Nihilus was away, feeding his insatiable hunger, and this being in no way could have been mistaken for his broad dimensions. This being was thin and, no doubt, weak. "Leave me," he said in a voice that could have been mistaken for rocks grinding against one another.

The figure failed to move or even take notice of him, merely persisted in its meditation.

"You will pay for your insolence, fool. Your death will serve as an example to the others," he told it drawing nearer and pulling his lightsaber out. The red beam sprang to life, and he stepped almost to within striking distance.

That's when the figure seemed to wink out, vanish before his very eyes. Then a voice spoke, an old woman's voice, from somewhere nearby, "You have a new master, Sion. One who will show you the true nature of the Force."

"I have no master nor do I wish for one," he said, looking around, lightsaber at the ready.

"You have served other masters, and you will find doing so again to be difficult," the voice assured him.

"I will not yield," he said. "Show  yourself and prepare to do battle."

"A lightsaber does not make a Sith what he is, and sometimes it makes him much, much less," the voice said, but now it took shape. An old woman in black Sith robes appeared before him, and then her voice sank down to a whisper. "The Academy has a new master, Sion, one who's will you will find difficult to resist. I shall have need of your abilities."

The words seemed not to come from her lips, but moved inside his head and then he felt her presence slipping through his mind like water. His thoughts were laid bare before her, what resistance he could muster quickly crumbling under her will. Yet the whispers continued on, clearly not content with invading his mind, and mingled with his own thoughts. He felt the lightsaber de-activate and slip from his fingers, and he brought both his hands to the side of his head in an effort to make the words cease. But they continued on, his very thoughts becoming twisted by the words she spoke to him, until they became her thoughts. Her will now guided his actions. It briefly occurred to him to speak to her, to demand that she stop, but the thought was quickly wiped from his mind. His body seemed to suddenly refuse the commands that he gave it, and the floor suddenly came rushing up at him. He felt a terrible presence moving through him, her presence, paralyzing him. Then all went black and still the whispers continued on even as he slipped into unconsciousness.

It was some time later, after a long night in the archives, that Darth Traya found herself in one of the conference rooms of the Trayus Academy staring out the window at the storm wracked Malachor skies and contemplating a great many things...