Hero of Tython

"You are our greatest warrior&hellip; and our best hope."

- Master Satele Shan

The Hero of Tython was a powerful Jedi Knight and later Jedi Master who battled the resurgent Sith Empire during the Cold War and subsequent Galactic War, serving as the Battlemaster of the Jedi Order. Born before the end of the Great Galactic War between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire, the Hero trained under several Masters across the galaxy during the following Cold War until 3643 BBY, when the Jedi was sent to the Jedi Order's homeworld of Tython. There, the learner was taken on as a Padawan by Orgus Din during the conflict with the native Flesh Raiders and worked to foil the Dark Jedi Bengel Morr's plans to destroy the Jedi Order, during which the apprentice gained a loyal companion in the astromech droid T7-O1, or Teeseven. As a newly elevated Jedi Knight, Din's former apprentice foiled a plot by the Sith Lord Tarnis to use the Planet Prison superweapon against the Republic capital planet of Coruscant. As the Knight took on the young Jedi Kira Carsen as a Padawan, the Jedi was also recruited into the Republic Navy's elite Coruscant Aegis squadron, in which the Knight piloted a Defender-class light corvette under the call sign "Shield."

Tarnis's death at the hands of the Knight caused the Sith Lord's father, Darth Angral, to declare war against the Jedi Order and the Republic, which forced the Knight and crew to travel the galaxy in order to stop the Sith's apprentices from unleashing stolen Republic superweapons. The trio halted the efforts of Imperial Intelligence to capture the Republic scientist Doctor Nasan Godera on the planet Taris, and worked with the Republic Strategic Information Service, the Republic's own intelligence agency, to destroy the Power Guard Project and defeat Angral's apprentice Lord Sadic on the moon Nar Shaddaa. The Knight and crew also hunted down and destroyed the Shock Drum weapon on the planet Tatooine, where they also convinced Angral's apprentice Praven to become a Jedi and rescued Carsen's former Master Bela Kiwiiks. The Knight's mission to Alderaan saw the destruction of the Death Mark laser and the death of Angral's apprentice Nefarid, but Angral killed Master Din and tested his new Desolator weapon on the agriworld Uphrades with horrific results. However, the Knight foiled Angral's attempts to use the Desolator against Tython and defeated the Sith Lord in battle, and as a result, Grand Master Satele Shan granted the Knight the ceremonial title of "Hero of Tython."

The Hero soon joined a strike team led by Jedi Master Tol Braga whose purpose was to capture the Sith Emperor himself. While the Jedi recovered a prototype cloaking device on the war-torn planet Balmorra, the Hero gained a new ally in the combat medic known as Doc, and rescued Braga's Padawan Sajar from Imperials and the threat of the dark side on Quesh. The final preparation for the capture of the Emperor was a mission to the ice planet of Hoth, where the Hero worked with Sergeant Fideltin Rusk of the 301st Infantry to recover the plans for the Emperor's Fortress, after which Rusk joined the Jedi's crew. However, when the Knight joined the rest of the strike team in a confrontation the Emperor, the Sith ruler easily defeated the Jedi and turned the entire strike team to the dark side. After months of training as a Sith under Overseer Chaskar, the Hero was freed by the ghost of Master Din and escaped from the space station with the unlikely help of the Emperor's Wrath Scourge, the Emperor's personal executioner.

Scourge revealed to the Jedi High Council that the Emperor intended to consume all life in the galaxy with a dark ritual, and the Sith Lord joined the Hero's crew as the group traveled to Belsavis in order to prevent the Imperial officer Krannus from destroying the planet and starting the Emperor's ritual. The Knight then fought and redeemed fellow strike team member Leeha Narezz before traveling to the planet Voss, where the Hero worked to stop the Sith Lord Fulminiss from unleashing a plague of madness. After defeating yet another fallen strike team member, Warren Sedoru, the Hero of Tython assumed command of all Jedi on the embattled planet of Corellia, and led the Jedi forces against a corrupted Tol Braga's attempts to start the Emperor's ritual. In the Emperor's moment of weakness, the Hero and T7-O1 confronted their enemy in the Dark Temple on the Imperial capital of Dromund Kaas while a Republic invasion fleet assaulted the world. Despite the Emperor's immense power, the Knight apparently struck down the Sith ruler, for which the Hero was awarded the Cross of Glory and the rank of Jedi Master. Later in the war, the Hero played a role in attempting to prevent the Emperor's return at the hands of the mad Jedi Revan, and was elevated to the rank of Battlemaster as a result. However, the Hero of Tython disappeared around the time of the Eternal Empire's emergence in 3637 BBY, and the Battlemaster was still missing five years later when the Alliance formed against the Eternal Empire.

A destiny foreseen
"I have waited over three hundred years to see the face that came to me in a vision. Your face."

- Lord Scourge

The rise of the individual known to history as the Hero of Tython was foretold over three hundred years before the Cold War between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire. In 3950 BBY, the Sith Lord Scourge attempted to eliminate the Emperor of the Sith Empire with the help of Jedi Masters Meetra Surik and Revan, the latter of whom Scourge and his superior Darth Nyriss had been keeping captive for the previous five years. Scourge had learned of the Emperor's plans to consume the life of the entire galaxy as he had done on his homeworld of Nathema a thousand years prior, and Scourge allied himself with the two Jedi in order to thwart the Emperor's plans. The trio stormed the Emperor's throne room within the Imperial Citadel on the Empire's capital of Dromund Kaas, where they fought their way through the elite Imperial Guard. During the fight with the Emperor himself, however, Scourge received a series of Force visions of the possible paths that the future could take. These visions revealed to the Sith that despite their power, he and his allies would not be able to defeat the Emperor&mdash;the vision that seemed most likely showed another Jedi, many years later, who would be the one to end the threat that the Emperor posed to the galaxy.

With this knowledge, Scourge betrayed his allies when he killed Surik, an act that allowed the Emperor to capture Revan. For his loyalty, Scourge was made immortal and granted the position of Emperor's Wrath, the Emperor's personal executioner. As the Wrath, Scourge used his position to study the Emperor and determine his enemy's weaknesses. Scourge remained an outwardly faithful servant for the next three hundred years until he encountered the Jedi Knight from his vision, the Hero of Tython, and decided to aid the young Jedi.

Early life
"The Jedi Council will assign you a new Master to oversee your final trials. You'll be tested in ways you can't imagine. But when you leave Tython, you'll know what it means to be a Jedi Knight."

- Derrin Weller

The Force-sensitive individual was discovered by the Jedi Order and trained as a Jedi under several Jedi Masters during the Cold War between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire. The young Jedi Initiate was eventually sent to the Order's homeworld of Tython to learn from an official teacher and undergo the Jedi Trials in 3643 BBY.

Training on Tython


"Every so-called Jedi on Tython is going to die. That's a promise. Your entire order is weak. You've done nothing to stop the Sith Empire's advances."

- Bengel Morr promises to destroy the Padawan

The Initiate took a shuttle down to the planet's surface and arrived at the remote meditation temple known as the Masters' Retreat. There, the student met with Jedi Knight Derrin Weller, who was about to send the Jedi to the Jedi Temple in order to meet with the other Masters, when Weller received an emergency signal from a Bith apprentice named Unaw Aharo. Aharo reported that Tython's native Flesh Raiders had begun to swarm into the nearby Tythonian Gnarls region, armed with blasters and headed for the Jedi outpost in the area. As the Gnarls Outpost was relatively undefended, Weller decided to send the Initiate to reinforce the Jedi in the Gnarls, and the student took an air taxi across the lake to the outpost. After the Jedi fought off a number of attacks by the violent Flesh Raiders with a vibrosword, the apprentice was contacted again by Weller, who had also joined the fight at the Outpost. Weller had learned that the Flesh Raiders were entering the area through a nearby cave, but as the other Jedi were busy holding back the attack and Weller had been wounded, the Jedi Master asked the apprentice to seal the cave. Across the Gnarls, the Jedi entered the cave and fought a path through the Flesh Raiders that were headed the other way until the student finally reached the end of the main cave.

There, the learner found a wounded Aharo, whom two Flesh Raiders and a Human were holding captive in front of the entrance to a tunnel that branched off the main cave&mdash;the tunnel that the Flesh Raiders were using to enter the Gnarls. When the apprentice reached the back of the cave, the Human, a Dark Jedi named Callef, prepared to execute Aharo with his lightsaber and informed the injured Bith that he would be the first of many Jedi to fall. However, when the second Jedi interrupted the conversation, Callef instead turned his blade on the stronger of the two apprentices and attacked the newly arrived Initiate. Yet even with only a vibrosword, the apprentice was able to fend off Callef's attacks and kill both the Dark Jedi and his Flesh Raider guards. As Callef's weapon fell to the floor, another figure arrived: Jedi Master and Council member Orgus Din, who was relieved to find the two young Jedi alive. When the Master recovered Callef's saber from the fallen Human's body, Din was troubled by a strange sense of familiarity in the weapon's design, but used the Force to collapse the next part of tunnel and end the threat to the Gnarls. Before he escorted the wounded Aharo to safety, Din told the other apprentice to go to the Jedi Temple and wait to be contacted.

At the Temple, a Mirialan apprentice named Aven directed the learner to speak with Master Muheeda, a renowned Jedi Master and teacher, for advice and training. However, as the apprentice entered the Temple, Grand Master Satele Shan herself contacted the learner and requested a meeting in her personal chambers. The Grand Master applauded the student's defeat of Callef, but questioned the young Jedi on the role of emotion and reminded the learner to look to the Jedi Code for guidance. Shan then escorted the apprentice to the Council chamber, where the other members of the Council questioned the student on the events in the Gnarls. Master Din surprised the rest of the Council when he declared that he would take on the Initiate as his own Padawan, his first student in a decade.

After the Council meeting, Din met with his new apprentice in his private chambers, and gave the Padawan full access to his personal supplies. Though Din expressed his preference of action over discussion, he also reminded his new student of the values of considering the consequences before acting, and then gave the Jedi a new assignment: speak with Sumari, the matriarch of the nearby Twi'lek settlement Kalikori village, and find out what the villagers knew of the Flesh Raiders' recent activity. When the Padawan arrived at the village, the sick matriarch was resentful that the Jedi had only approached the villagers because of an attack on the Order itself, and revealed that her scouts had witnessed the attack on the Gnarls Outpost. However, she agreed to reveal what her people knew of the Flesh Raiders' movements for a price: the apprentice had to relieve the Flesh Raiders of a nearby weapons cache so that the villagers could protect themselves. At that point, the matriarch was forced to retire because of her illness, and her daughter Ranna Tao'Ven and the Scout Chief Moorint took over the negotiations. Moorint wanted the Padawan to destroy the weapons and deny the Flesh Raiders a tactical advantage, but Tao'Ven believed that the village would be better off if the Jedi recovered the weapons instead of destroying them, so that the village could defend itself. After the Jedi thought over the matter, Din's Padawan agreed with Tao'Ven and decided to recover the weapons.

When the Padawan fought through the Flesh Raiders to the weapons cache high in the Upper Hollows region of the Tythos Ridge mountains, the apprentice discovered an old astromech droid named T7-O1 locked inside. After Teeseven's restraining bolt was removed, the Padawan learned that the droid was a reconnaissance droid for the Order, and the pair returned to Kalikori with the weapons. After the pair witnessed a villager named Saylew&mdash;whose wife had died in an attack while the Padawan was gone&mdash;angrily arguing with Din and Tao'Ven, the Jedi gave the weapons to the settlers. The Padawan then showed Din the recording that Teeseven had made of a mysterious figure that issued orders to Callef and the Flesh Raiders, and Din recognized the voice of the figure when shown the hologram. Din refused to elaborate further, however, and sent the Padawan to investigate the recent sightings of Flesh Raiders in the ruins of the ancient temple of Kaleth while he discussed the figure with the rest of the Council. The Padawan fought a number of ancient defense droids that guarded the ruins of the Jedi's predecessors, the Je'daii Order, and followed the Flesh Raiders' trail into a cavern. After the Jedi defeated the Flesh Raiders within the tunnel, the Padawan emerged in a remote meditation shrine where several Flesh Raiders waited. The apprentice was stunned when the Flesh Raiders' leader called the Padawan "Je'daii," realizing that the natives could in fact speak. The apprentice also learned that the Flesh Raiders could use the Force when their leader threw the Padawan backward. Despite the natives' advantage of surprise, the Jedi managed to best the Flesh Raiders in combat.

At that point Master Bela Kiwiiks, another member of the Council, arrived with her Padawan Kira Carsen, as they had been sent to reinforce Din's apprentice if necessary. When the Togruta Jedi Master searched the body of the Flesh Raiders' leader after the Padawan told her of its use of the Force, she was disturbed to find an ancient holocron on the corpse. However, Kiwiiks and her apprentice were about to embark on another mission off-world, so she asked Din's student to plant surveillance monitors in the ruins so that the Order could monitor the area and ensure that the Flesh Raiders did not return. Despite the presence of the war droids in the area, the Padawan was able to place the three devices across the ruins. Presently, Master Din sent a holomessage requesting that his student meet him back at Kalikori village. In the matriarch's complex, Din informed his Padawan that the Order had begun preparations to stop the Flesh Raiders' newly coordinated attacks by striking at their recently discovered command base in the Tythos Ridge. However, the base was protected by a shield generator on a nearby mountain, so Din had decided to send his apprentice to destroy the generator. The Jedi Master also revealed the identity of the hooded figure from before: it was the Nautolan Bengel Morr, Din's former Padawan, who had disappeared ten years earlier during the Sacking of Coruscant, in which the Sith Empire assaulted the Republic capital planet of Coruscant at the end of the Great Galactic War, which had preceded the Cold War. After Din warned his student not to engage Morr if the Dark Jedi was nearby, Din left to join the Jedi forces in preparation for the upcoming assault.

The Padawan headed into the mountains and stormed the cave complex where the generator was located; the apprentice shut down the shield despite the natives' resistance. However, when the shield was deactivated, Bengel Morr contacted the Jedi and told the Padawan of his goal: the destruction of the Jedi Order, whose weakness he believed had allowed the Sith to win the Great Galactic War. The apprentice rushed back to Kalikori village to warn Din, but Tao'Ven&mdash;who had been appointed matriarch after her mother's death&mdash;had not yet received any news about Din's mission. Their conversation was interrupted when a villager named Eseni rushed into the building, shouted that the village's crop fields were under attack by the Flesh Raiders. Tao'Ven begged the Padawan to stop the Flesh Raiders, and the apprentice ventured into the village's agricultural fields to defeat the saboteurs and deactivate the toxin mines that the natives had deployed to destroy Kalikori's crops.

Master Din arrived not long after the fight, and informed his student that the Jedi had discovered the locations of many more Flesh Raider camps across Tython&mdash;too many for the Order to send only Masters. Therefore, the Council had authorized Din to send his apprentice on a mission alone to destroy a Flesh Raider camp in the ruins of Kaleth. While Din embarked on his own assignment, the Padawan traveled to Kaleth and located the Flesh Raiders' base in the cave system known as the Forsaken Den. However, the apprentice found a mortally wounded Selkath Jedi Knight named Laotah just within the entrance, and the injured Jedi explained that he had been investigating Flesh Raider activity on the surveillance devices that the Padawan had installed previously. Laotah had been caught by surprise when the Flesh Raiders inside the cave attacked him and brutally beat him with the Force before they stole his lightsaber.

After the Jedi promised to recover the Selkath's weapon, the apprentice stayed with Laotah until he succumbed to his wounds and died, and then attacked the camp within the Forsaken Den. After the Jedi defeated the Flesh Raider who had stolen Laotah's lightsaber and retrieved the weapon, which was broken in the battle, the Padawan contacted Din to report the success. However, the Jedi Master had detected an emergency alert from Kalikori, and he ordered his Padawan to meet him at the village immediately. When the Padawan arrived at Kalikori, the apprentice's Master was nowhere to be found. The Padawan questioned Tao'Ven as to the source of the alert, but she claimed that they had not sent any messages and that Din had never arrived at the village. A scan by Teeseven, whom Din had left at the complex, confirmed that the Jedi Master was not present in the area. While they talked, the Jedi was suddenly shot from behind with a stun bolt and Teeseven with an ion blast. The Padawan awoke quickly to find that Tao'Ven was standing over the pair, in mid-argument with Saylew, Moorint, and Eseni. Tao'Ven sought to stop them from killing the Padawan, as she claimed that the Jedi was not part of the deal, and Saylew revealed to the Padawan that Bengel Morr had made a pact with the villagers a few hours earlier&mdash;if they delivered Din to him, Morr's Flesh Raider forces would stop their attacks on the village. However, Morr had changed the terms and demanded the death of Din's Padawan as well.

Before violence could break out, the Padawan was able to influence the villagers to put down their weapons and leave. When the apprentice confronted Tao'Ven, she begged for the Jedi's forgiveness&mdash;her inexperience and her grief over her mother's recent death had allowed the others to convince her. When Tao'Ven asked what she should do, the Jedi told her to atone for her crimes and strive to make up for them for the rest of her life. After she thanked the Padawan, the young Twi'lek told the Jedi and the newly reactivated Teeseven that Morr had taken Din to a location called the Forge, which was a machine that the ancient Jedi used to construct lightsabers. Teeseven and the Padawan immediately contacted A-4P0, one of the protocol droids at the Temple Archives, and told the droid to send the location of the Forge to Teeseven right away. The pair raced south and headed through a tunnel behind the Tythos River's waterfall to reach the remains of a ruined city that was filled with Flesh Raiders. As they fought their way through Morr's massed Flesh Raider forces, the Padawan and Teeseven crossed the ruins and entered the canyon where the ancient Forge stood.

The Padawan found Morr and two of the Flesh Raiders whom he had trained as Force Adepts at the base of the Forge's steps, where the unconscious body of Din lay at the Dark Jedi's feet. Disdainful of his former Master's new apprentice, Morr commanded his Adepts to kill the Jedi and joined them in their attack upon the Padawan. However, the Dark Jedi greatly underestimated the other Jedi's skill and strength, a mistake that caused their duel to end in his defeat: despite Morr's experience and use of a lightsaber, the younger apprentice quickly defeated the two Flesh Raiders and engaged the Nautolan, driving Morr back and ultimately disarming him. As he acknowledged the apprentice's power, Morr claimed that he understood his destiny now: he would be the Padawan's herald, and asked the Jedi to allow him to leave and prepare the galaxy for the apprentice's rise to power.

However, the Padawan refused and knocked out the Nautolan before waking up Din, who congratulated his student on the recent battle and the decision to spare Morr's life. Din gave his Padawan the components necessary to build a lightsaber, and told the apprentice to enter the Forge and craft a weapon while Din himself took the unconscious Morr back to the Temple. The apprentice ascended the steps and activated the ancient machine, which the Jedi used to construct a lightsaber with the Force through deep meditation. However, the opening of the Forge awoke a sleeping jurgoran in one of the canyon's caves below, and the savage beast ascended the cliff to reach the narrow bridge that spanned the ravine. The jurgoran blocked Teeseven and the Padawan's path to the cave tunnel which the pair had come through, and the Jedi was forced to kill the beast with the newly crafted lightsaber in order to reach safety. Once the Jedi returned to the Temple, the Padawan met with the Council once more, and Grand Master Shan conferred the title of Jedi Knight upon the Padawan in recognition for bravery and the Jedi's role in the halting of Morr's invasion. After Shan requested the Jedi's advice on how to handle Tao'Ven, who had turned herself over to the Order for judgment, the Knight suggested that she be allowed to return to her people and that the Jedi form an alliance with the villagers. As she acknowledged the young Jedi's words as the right course of action, Shan then ordered the new Knight to take a shuttle to Coruscant to help Master Kiwiiks and her Padawan locate a dark threat that they had detected on the planet.

Early Knighthood
"You arrived on Tython a Padawan, but you leave a Knight of the Republic. May the Force be with you."

- Grand Master Satele Shan

The newly christened Knight departed Tython with Teeseven on a shuttle and traveled to Carrick Station, the headquarters of the Republic fleet. There, the Knight spoke with the Mirialan Master Nimi, who directed the Jedi to speak with Master Cassa Hun. Hun, a Twi'lek Jedi Master, helped the new Knight decide which path to take: the way of the Jedi Sentinel or that of the Jedi Guardian, the two different types of Knights at the time. Upon reaching the capital, the Knight and Teeseven registered their arrival at a customs station in the Coruscant Spaceport. When the astromech remarked on how much Coruscant had changed, the droid then told the Knight about the Sith's Sacking of Coruscant and the death of Teeseven's previous master, Jedi Master Ven Zallow, during the fall of the original Jedi Temple on Coruscant. The pair then reported to Conference Room 2-Aurek in the Senate Tower, where Din, Kiwiiks, and Kira Carsen were in conversation with the Mon Calamari General Var Suthra.

Din introduced his former apprentice to the general and the Human Doctor Eli Tarnis, who was involved in an argument with the two Jedi Masters about his invention, the Planet Prison superweapon. Tarnis explained to the new arrivals how the superweapon ionized a planet's atmosphere, a process which disabled any ships that tried to leave and safely blockaded the planet without loss of life. He stated that it was one of the most humane weapons ever created, and was annoyed that the Jedi had objections to both the weapon's existence and the fact that they had not been told of its creation. However, Kiwiiks had a more pressing objection&mdash;the design files had been stolen, and Tarnis was seemingly unconcerned about the security risks. Tarnis brushed off her protest, stating that the files were too encrypted for anyone to understand, but Var Suthra informed the Jedi that his agents had been searching tirelessly for the files.

While Din, Kiwiiks, and Suthra met with Supreme Chancellor Dorian Janarus aboard the Chancellor's cruiser Founder, Din ordered his former apprentice to aid the Republic agents in the recovery of the files. Kiwiiks also left her Padawan with the Knight and Tarnis, and she suggested that Carsen's security expertise might be useful. As the Masters departed, Agent Galen of the Strategic Information Service, the Republic's primary intelligence agency, rushed in to report a lead on the search. The agent informed the two young Jedi and the scientist that his analysts had identified one of the thieves from a security recording as the Rodian Vistis Garn&mdash;a slicer who was known to work for the Migrant Merchants' Guild, a criminal organization that controlled the Old Galactic Market region. While Carsen worked with Galen to distract the gangsters with the Coruscant security network, the Knight and Teeseven took an air taxi to the Old Galactic Market to find the thief and recover the files.

The Knight and Teeseven headed to the Market, where they found Garn's crew deep within Guild territory, and raided the warehouse where the group had been unloading their goods. After the two defeated the surprised criminals and recovered the stolen munitions, rockets, and weapons, the pair cornered Garn in a section of the warehouse. Despite the criminal's use of autoturrets against the duo, the Knight defeated Garn and demanded the data files. Garn complied, but also told the Jedi that he had already sent a decrypted copy to his employers in the Black Sun criminal syndicate. The Jedi then contacted Galen, who told the Knight to come back to the Senate Tower immediately&mdash;they had a problem. The Knight decided to spare the thief and allowed Garn to flee from both the Republic and the employers whom he had betrayed.

When Teeseven and the Jedi returned to Galen in the Senate Tower, the agent revealed the problem: Black Sun had kidnapped Tarnis from right under their noses while the Knight had been in the Market. Carsen had led a security team to the spaceport to stop the kidnappers, but as they were embroiled in a firefight with the gang members, Galen sent the Knight to aid the security forces. Upon their arrival at Docking Bay 84, the Jedi and Teeseven found Carsen and her team locked in a stalemate with the Black Sun kidnappers. Carsen then proposed a plan: she would use a stealth field generator that she had "borrowed" from Galen's office to sneak past the kidnappers, while the Knight and Teeseven cleared a path through the criminals. After they broke through Black Sun's lines, the Knight and Teeseven searched the hangar but found no sign of Tarnis&mdash;and after they defeated Zeer, the leader of the kidnappers, Carsen tricked the criminal into revealing that the whole operation had been a farce: Tarnis had been smuggled away to Black Sun territory while Zeer and his men distracted the security team.

Teeseven and the Knight returned to the Senate Tower and located Galen in Strategic Command, where they found that General Suthra, Din, and Kiwiiks had returned from their meeting with the Supreme Chancellor, and Suthra was both furious and worried. An SIS analyst had decrypted the stolen files and learned that they contained information on not only the Planet Prison, but every Republic superweapon project in existence. Din and Kiwiiks agreed to secure two of the three weapons facilities, while Galen would handle the third, and the two Masters departed Coruscant for the installations. Before he left, Galen placed all of his resources at the Knight's disposal and told the Jedi and Teeseven to contact Sergeant Nidaljo of the Coruscant Security Force, the leader of a special tactical unit of CSF officers. Nidaljo and his men had been in Black Sun Territory for months, and would be a great advantage in the Jedi's rescue mission. However, when the duo fought their way through the gang-controlled region and finally found Nidaljo's team, they discovered that the CSF was under assault by Black Sun members with advanced armor and weaponry. After the two defeated the attackers and secured the CSF barricade, the Jedi met with Nidaljo and learned the full story. The unit had been in the process of securing a perimeter around the syndicate's headquarters, but they had lost seven men with over a half a dozen wounded, and were also surrounded by hostile Black Sun forces. Nidaljo had given up hope, but the Knight was able to inspire the sergeant and his men to finish their job: assisting the Jedi and rescuing the doctor.

The Knight and Teeseven then knocked out the security network for the gang's headquarters and attacked the front entrance, while the CSF team assaulted the back entrance. The astromech and the Jedi reached the command center first, where they were surprised to find Salarr&mdash;the leader of Black Sun&mdash;in conversation with Tarnis via holocomm. Salarr raged against the doctor for his failure to help them stop the Knight, which revealed that the entire kidnapping plot had been a sham. Tarnis was in fact a Sith Lord who had manipulated both the Republic and Black Sun to his own ends: he had hired Garn to steal the files, and also had Black Sun stage his "kidnapping" so that he could escape from the Senate Tower without suspicion and then acquire the Planet Prison for himself. Before he terminated the call, Tarnis informed the Jedi that Coruscant was doomed and ordered Salarr to kill the Jedi. Nidaljo and his men arrived at that moment, and a blaster bolt from one of the officers took down one of Salarr's men who was about to shoot the Jedi in the back. The CSF and the Knight defeated Salarr in the fight that followed. Carsen then contacted the Knight via holocomm as she informed the Jedi that the SIS had intercepted Tarnis' transmission. The engineering team for the Planet Prison had disappeared, and the prototype in the lab was a fake&mdash;Tarnis had the real weapon. The Knight ordered Carsen to trace Tarnis' transmission before they returned to the Senate Tower while Nidaljo and his men pulled out of the area.

In a meeting with Var Suthra, Galen, and Carsen, the Knight learned that the SIS and Carsen had traced Tarnis' location to a military vault in Justicar territory. Carsen accompanied the Knight into the area, which was controlled by the militant vigilante group known as the Justicars' Brigade, and the pair fought their way through into the group's main detention facility where the signal had originated. There, they discovered the dead bodies of the engineering team, and found the only person still alive: a technician named Jonkan, who told the two Jedi what had happened. Tarnis had tricked the members of the project, telling them that the Jedi intended to shut it down and asked them to steal the prototype for him. However, when the researchers arrived with the weapon, Tarnis killed them all. Before he died, Jonkan told the Knight that the Planet Prison needed time to charge up, and it generated an enormous amount of heat in the process. Thanks to the scientist's help, Carsen and the Knight were able to track Tarnis' location to the ruins of the old Jedi Temple.

The duo raced to the Temple through The Works, the industrial sector of the planet, and they were forced to fight their way through Imperial forces who had been searching the ruins for a navigation computer. The Knight and Padawan found Tarnis deep within the Temple, where the traitor had set up the Planet Prison's main control systems in one of the ruined chambers. Tarnis was in the middle of a holocomm conversation with four other Sith Lords as he informed them that the Planet Prison was almost ready to fire. The oldest of the four, a Human male named Darth Angral, congratulated Tarnis and called him "son." However, the Knight and Carsen interrupted the conversation at that point, which caused Lord Sadic&mdash;one of Angral's apprentices, just like Praven and Nefarid, the other two figures in the hologram&mdash;to chide Tarnis about loose ends. Tarnis refused his opponent's request that he surrender before informing the Jedi that the Planet Prison was minutes away from firing. Tarnis drew his blood-red lightsaber at the urging of his father and then charged at the Knight and Carsen while unleashing a storm of violent lightning. The two Jedi and the Sith dueled in front of the holocomm, and Angral was forced to watch as the Knight struck down his son before his very eyes.

Angral declared undying hatred for the young Jedi in the minutes after the battle, and he swore to unleash untold devastation upon the galaxy to gain retribution. Lord Praven promised to kill the Knight personally, while Lord Nefarid gloated that they already controlled the Republic's superweapon projects. Furious, Angral gave the Knight a warning to deliver to the Jedi Council before he terminated the communication: he had returned, and&mdash;unlike Angral's last attack on the Republic during the Sacking of Coruscant&mdash;there would be no mercy this time. However, the Planet Prison had not yet completed its startup sequence, and the two Jedi were able to disable and destroy the weapon.

Strike of the Desolator
"I will inflict unimaginable suffering on your people. Billions will die because of you.''" "We already control your secret weapons facilities. All that power is ours, now." "''My son's death will be avenged on the entire Republic&mdash;and you will bow down before I let you die."

- Darth Angral and Nefarid, to the Knight

Upon returning to General Suthra at the Senate Tower and speaking with Grand Master Shan via holocomm, the Knight and Carsen learned from Suthra that Tarnis had sent the stolen superweapon files to his father before dying. Angral had declared war on the Jedi&mdash;the Knight in particular&mdash;in transmissions across all Republic channels, and since neither Din, Kiwiiks, or Galen had reported in, Var Suthra feared that the Republic's weapon projects were in danger. The Empire had declared that Angral was no longer under their protection and that his actions were unsanctioned, but the Mon Calamari strongly doubted that the Empire disapproved. Suthra asked the Jedi to go to the planet Ord Mantell, where his agents had traced Tarnis's transmission, and gave the Knight a Defender-class light corvette as a personal ship. At Shan's request, the Knight also took on Carsen as an official Padawan and assumed the role of Carsen's teacher in Kiwiiks' absence.

Ord Mantell
"We traced that transmission to the planet Ord Mantell. Darth Angral must have a base there. I need you to find it.''" "If we catch him in his lair, we could end this crisis right now." "''I doubt Angral's on that world, but his spy network certainly is."

- General Suthra and the Knight

The Knight, T7-O1, and Carsen took their new ship to Ord Mantell, which had been engulfed in a civil war for several years between the Republic-supported government and a separatist movement. General Suthra's agents had recently discovered that the Imperials had been aiding the movement by listening in on Republic transmissions from the Empire's secret listening post there. After they docked their ship aboard the Ord Mantell Orbital Station, the three contacted Suthra from the ship's holocomm. The Mon Calamari told the Knight to meet Agent Ottau on the surface and take Teeseven along so that the droid could hack into the Imperial facility's transmissions. Carsen was left behind to guard the ship while the Jedi and Teeseven took a shuttle down to the Republic's Fort Garnik on the island of Avilatan, where they found Ottau on the outskirts of the base.

The SIS agent informed the Knight that his scout droids had been destroyed by the Imperial defenses, but he gave the Jedi the coordinates of the small island just north of Oradam village where the listening post was located. After they crossed the battle-scarred territory between Garnik and the island, Teeseven and the Jedi forged a path through the Imperial defenses and descended into the facility's lower levels, where they eliminated all who opposed them. Finally, the two approached the post's hyperspace transceiver but found the last Imperial alive, a Lieutenant Marcovic, standing in their path. The Knight defeated the vibrosword-wielding Imperial officer, and Marcovic was disarmed and fatally wounded in their fight. As Marcovic stumbled backward, Teeseven approached the transceiver and began to slice into the listening post's records. The astromech found the record of Angral's transmission to Coruscant almost immediately and was able to trace the Sith Lord's signal back to the source, which allowed him to recover a copy of the files that Tarnis had sent to his father in the process. These files included plans for something called the "Desolator," and the Knight told Teeseven to copy everything. When he realized what the two were doing, Marcovic charged at the droid in a suicidal attempt to stop him. The Jedi was not fast enough to cut him down before he destroyed the transceiver.

Their mission completed, the Jedi and Teeseven left the listening post and returned to Agent Ottau. After informing him of their success, they took a shuttle back up to the Orbital Station and returned to the docking tube to board their ship. However, their path was blocked by a surprising scene&mdash;a Sith Inquisitor was holding a lightsaber blade to Carsen's throat as several Imperial commandos trained their weapons on the Jedi. The Sith introduced himself as Ferav, an agent of Darth Angral&mdash;who had just departed from the station. Angral's forces had captured Carsen after Imperial spies aboard the station recognized her, and Angral himself had come to the station to interrogate her. Carsen had managed to trick the Sith Lord so that Angral believed that the Knight was on Corellia, and Ferav had remained behind as insurance while his superior departed. Ferav ordered the Jedi to surrender or he would kill the Padawan, but Carsen called his bluff&mdash;Angral had told his subordinate that he wanted to kill Carsen and the Knight personally, and Ferav would not dare disobey. Furious, Ferav threw her aside and drew his lightsaber as he ordered his escorts to attack. The Jedi engaged the Inquisitor in a duel, during which the Knight struck down the Sith and defeated his commandos.

When the trio boarded their ship, the team contacted General Suthra to report their success. In the time since the Knight and Teeseven had left the Imperial base, Suthra's analysts had examined the data from Teeseven and determined several locations that were likely among Angral's targets. The "Desolator" files had revealed that Angral had sent agents to capture all of the Republic's weapon projects in an effort to construct the Desolator weapon, and Suthra asked the Knight to travel to both Taris and Nar Shaddaa in order to put a stop to some of Angral's plans. Around this time, the Knight was contacted by Flight Commander Judin of the Republic Navy, who recruited the Jedi into the elite fighter squadron known as the Coruscant Aegis&mdash;a new initiative by Fleet Admiral Numinn intended to break Imperial offensives quickly and quietly. Given the call sign "Shield," the Knight would fly missions for the Aegis across the galaxy throughout the next few years.

The Architect of Annihilation
"General, I'm on Taris. You seemed worried about this place after Ord Mantell. What's the big mystery you wouldn't reveal?''" "''I apologize for the secrecy, but this involves someone the Empire would love to get its hands on. Angral's son, Tarnis, was the lead scientist on our advanced warfare projects. But these technologies were all invented by Doctor Nasan Godera."

- The Knight and General Suthra

As the Jedi sensed that Suthra was more concerned over the situation on Taris, the Knight ordered Teeseven to set a course for the world. Taris had been a thriving city-planet until the Sith Lord Darth Malak ordered an orbital bombardment over 300 years before in an attempt to kill the Jedi Knight Bastila Shan. Over the last three centuries, the wreckage of the city had become overgrown, and the world was now a tangle of jungle and metal, haunted by wild beasts, including vicious creatures known as rakghouls. Recently, the Republic had started a resettlement initiative supported by the Republic Military, and the reconstruction efforts had seen progress under the leadership of the Twi'lek Governor Leontyne Saresh.

After they landed their ship at Olaris, the headquarters of the Republic resettlement initiative, the Jedi team contacted Suthra. The Mon Calamari confirmed the Knight's suspicions&mdash;he was concerned that the Sith had learned the location of one Doctor Nasan Godera. A brilliant weapons scientist with a deep-seated hatred of the Empire, Godera was the original creator of the different technologies that the Republic superweapon initiative later weaponized during the Cold War under Suthra's leadership, including the Planet Prison. However, Godera had left in disgust after the Republic bowed to the Empire when they submitted to the Treaty of Coruscant, and SIS agents had eventually tracked him to Taris. Godera maintained a series of secret laboratories in the ruins of the city-planet, manned by droid assistants, and the SIS had been content to allow the scientist to remain there in peace.

However, Suthra suspected that Tarnis had learned of Godera's location and leaked it to his father Angral, as the files recovered on Ord Mantell mentioned Taris too often for the general's liking. The Knight's assignment was to find and retrieve Godera for his own safety and investigate whether the Imperials had learned of his location. Suthra's suspicions were correct&mdash;upon their arrival at one of Godera's labs, the Knight and a companion found the facility overrun with Imperial forces. After they fought through the enemy forces, the pair encountered a holofeed of a man who identified himself as Watcher One of Imperial Intelligence. Watcher One was a high-ranking intelligence officer, and attempted to undermine the Jedi's confidence by revealing his knowledge of the Knight's exploits on Tython. Watcher One further informed his opponent that duty required him to capture Godera before the Jedi could find him. The agent ended the conversation just as several Imperial soldiers decloaked themselves and opened fire, which forced the pair to defend themselves. The Knight and the Jedi's companion defeated the attackers, but were surprised when one of Godera's droid assistants emerged from the wreckage of the lab and introduced himself as RE-M0.

When he learned that the individual who stood before him was a Jedi, RE-M0 confirmed that Godera's programming allowed the droid to override his main directive to only interact with the scientist and, as the current situation qualified as a crisis, interact with a member of the Jedi Order. RE-M0 revealed that he had been instructed to spy on the Imperials, and that he had witnessed Watcher One use the facility's computers to track Godera's biosignature. After he had done so, however, the agent had disabled the computers in an attempt to prevent pursuit by the Knight. RE-M0 then suggested that the Jedi reset several of the exterior tracking relays while he repaired the computers, which would allow them to locate the doctor. The Jedi therefore departed the lab and ventured deeper into the wilderness, where the Knight and the Jedi's companion located each of the three tracking relays. Despite the heavy pirate presence in the area&mdash;the ruined buildings and crashed ships had drawn many scavengers&mdash;the Knight and the Jedi's companion were able to reset the relays. RE-M0 then tracked Godera to one of his laboratories near Lake Brell to the south, and since the droid was not suited for combat, the Knight told the droid to remain where he was. Meanwhile, the pair headed south past the Republic's Waypoint Station Draay and to their target&mdash;a laboratory in the Brell Sediment region.

Upon the pair's arrival at the facility, the Jedi was surprised to encounter a Rodian named Kulaa and his injured friend. Kulaa claimed that he and his companion had been Godera's assistants, and they had escaped when the Empire had attacked. After the Jedi told the Rodian to carry his friend into hiding, the Knight stormed the Imperial-held facility, where the pair cut a path through the enemy forces&mdash;but the Jedi was dismayed to find Godera dead on the floor at Watcher One's feet. Watcher One announced that Godera had killed himself rather than face interrogation, and the agent was prepared to agree to a cessation of hostilities and leave Taris&mdash;but the operative was interrupted when RE-M0 rushed into the room. The droid managed to warn the Jedi that Godera was not dead&mdash;he had run a second scan and located the doctor's bioscan in a different location just a few minutes ago&mdash;before the agent shot Godera's mechanical assistant. Cursing, "Watcher One" then activated a device on his wrist and disappeared as a heavily armored Imperial commando captain appeared in his place. The Imperial and his now uncloaked commandos opened fire upon the Knight and the Jedi's companion, which forced the pair to eliminate their hostile enemies.

Watcher One contacted the Knight immediately after the skirmish and revealed that "Kulaa" and his "friend" had in fact been Watcher One himself and the unconscious Godera&mdash;the entire affair had been a farce. However, before the Jedi could respond, the Imperial proposed a deal: a Sith assassin was on the way to eliminate a Republic colony nearby, and Watcher One would give the Knight the location of the colony in exchange for time to interrogate the scientist; the operative would then give the Knight Godera once he had acquired what he needed. Forced to choose between the lives of the colonists and the mission, the Jedi begrudgingly accepted the Imperial's offer and raced to the colony bunker on the shores of Lake Brell. As the Jedi burst into the bunker, the Knight warned the colonists' leader Yelzrin of the coming threat and told him to evacuate the colony, but it was too late&mdash;with a crash, the assassin and her two jurgoran pets barreled through the door. The assassin, a Sith Pureblood by the name of Rora Seake, warned the colonists that they should not have returned to Taris just before she ordered her jurgorans to attack the Knight. Despite the beasts' massive size, the Jedi was able to defeat the two creatures, which prompted Seake to draw her orange-bladed lightsaber and engage the Knight in battle. Seake was skilled, but in the end she was no match for the Knight's own innate power and fell to the Jedi's blade.

With the colonists now safe, the Knight and the Jedi's companion rushed to the Imperial Intelligence Outpost in the depths of the partially-collapsed Transport Station 5. The two proceeded to fight through the rakghoul-infested tunnel system and cut a path through the Imperial forces that protected Watcher One's base, but the Knight found that the operative had already extracted the information he needed from Godera and was already beginning to transmit it to Darth Angral. Angral was furious to learn that Watcher One had compromised with his son's killer, and he ordered the agent to take the Jedi alive and bring the Knight before him. As he ended the transmission, Watcher One apologized for breaking their deal as he had to follow his duty, and then opened fire on the Jedi. The Knight was able to defeat the agent, however, and the Imperial asked what the Jedi planned to do with him. When the Jedi realized that Watcher One was an individual who valued honor, and that he worked with the Empire only out of a sense of duty, the Knight allowed the man to leave in peace. While Watcher One fled from the planet, the Knight freed Godera from his restraints and escorted him back to the spaceport in Olaris. There, the Jedi placed Godera in the custody of SIS agent Fau-Kes, who returned the doctor, now willing to resume his work for the Republic, back to the capital.

The Power Guard project
"General, I've arrived on Nar Shaddaa. Still no word from Agent Galen?''" "''Negative. After Taris and Ord Mantell, I fear the worst. I'll warn you now, the project there is&hellip; I should've ended it years ago."

- The Knight and General Suthra

After they departed Taris, the Knight and crew traveled to the heart of Hutt Space, where they arrived at Nar Shaddaa, the moon of the Hutt homeworld of Nal Hutta. The Smuggler's Moon, as it was often called, was considered neutral territory in the Cold War, so both the Empire and the Republic had official and unofficial presences on the world. Once they approached the moon in orbit, the crew contacted General Suthra and learned that Agent Galen still had not reported in, which left the Mon Calamari deeply concerned. Suthra then warned the Jedi about the Nar Shaddaa weapons project, which he believed should have ended years earlier: the Power Guard project. After the Treaty of Coruscant, the Senate authorized the military to begin research into the transformation of ordinary men into living weapons, and Nar Shaddaa's black market for both adrenal implants and cybernetics made it the perfect location for the project.

The project's goal was to create soldiers strong enough to take on a Sith single-handedly, something that the Knight objected to&mdash;the Republic already had Jedi for that. As Suthra pointed out, the Order had been severely wounded after the Sacking, and Nar Shaddaa's neutral status and lack of law enforcement allowed the project to progress in secret. That brought the general to the situation on the moon: after the Planet Prison files had disappeared, Galen had sought out the operative in charge of the Power Guard project, but the agent still had not reported back in. The Jedi's assignment was to contact the SIS unit and then locate Galen and the project, so the Knight and crew landed at Deucalon Spaceport and took a taxi to the Promenade, a shopping and entertainment center located nearby. There, the Jedi and a companion entered Gudnem's Gadget Emporium on the Lower Promenade and accessed the secret turbolift in the back of the store, which delivered the pair to the SIS safe house located beneath the shop. There, the Knight met with Bureau Chief Rieekan, who brought the Jedi up to date on the situation.

Galen and the SIS operative had disappeared in an area of Nar Shaddaa known as the Nikto Sector, and all that Rieekan knew about Galen's actual assignment was that he had been working directly for Suthra. Galen had left coded reports at SIS dead drops across the Nikto Sector, which could be used to track the SIS agent, but the whole area had become hostile to outsiders in the last few days as the Nikto gang known as the Kintan Kings seized control of the region. Rieekan had subsequently been forced to extract all of his agents from the area. Their conversation was interrupted by Special Agent Korol Tander, who was concerned that the Imperials had compromised them: only half of the SIS field agents had responded to the omega alert signal that he had just issued. Tander demanded that they abandon shop, which the chief shot down immediately&mdash;the unit had a responsibility to aid the Jedi in the mission. The Knight and the Jedi's companion took an air taxi to the Nikto Sector, where the pair made their way through the Kintan Kings to locate Galen's three dead drops. After the Jedi collected the reports, the Knight transmitted them back to Rieekan, who was able to decode the reports and a recorded message. In the holo, Galen reported that the operative whom he had been tracking turned up dead, and that there was clear evidence of torture&mdash;furthermore, the files on the Power Guard project were nowhere to be found. Galen had been unable to locate the main facility, but had managed to find a recruitment center in the area, where the project had recruited refugees as test subjects.

Rieekan transmitted the coordinates of the center to the pair, who followed the trail and found that the facility was under the control of a group of Imperial shock troopers. The Knight and a companion caught the shock troopers by surprise and quickly eliminated them before they freed their prisoners. One of the captives, an Anomid named Vell Narroc, revealed that he worked for the project and told the Jedi that Galen had been captured by the Imperials when he had stumbled upon the recruitment center. The Imperials' leader had wanted Galen alive, and the agent had been taken to the main lab in the Red Light Sector. When the Knight arrived in the Red Light Sector, Rieekan contacted the Jedi again and revealed his plan to locate the lab. The sector was one of the busiest on Nar Shaddaa, so if the Jedi knocked out several power conduits in the sector, the SIS would be able to sort through the remaining power readings and hopefully locate the project lab. The Knight and a companion therefore fought through the Bleeder gangs&mdash;groups of organ harvesters&mdash;who controlled the area and damaged several conduits. The SIS's plan was successful, as they were able to detect only one building that maintained a constant power reading when the conduits were sabotaged, and Rieekan sent the Jedi the lab's coordinates immediately.

Upon arrival at the lab, the Knight found the facility under the control of Imperial forces and quickly cut a path through the soldiers to reach the main chamber, where the Jedi found an Imperial officer by the name of Graul in conversation with a masked figure via holotransmission. The figure, whom the Knight recognized as one of the men Tarnis had spoken to in the Jedi Temple, introduced himself as Lord Sadic. An apprentice of Angral, he congratulated the Jedi on the defeat of Ferav and Watcher One, and informed his enemy that he had expected the Knight's arrival&mdash;once his men in the Nikto Sector failed to report in, Sadic knew that it was the Jedi's doing. Commander Graul angrily accused the Knight of the murder of good and loyal men at the recruitment center, something which the Jedi apologized for, but Graul refused to accept it.

Their conversation was interrupted when Sadic activated a trio of Mark I Power Guards, heavily armored and armed with both blaster rifles and vibrostaves. Astounded by Sadic's cruelty and callous disregard for the lives of refugees, the Knight failed to get answers about Galen's whereabouts from Sadic before the Jedi was forced to fight Graul and the Power Guards. The Imperial and his mind-controlled soldiers quickly fell to the Knight's blade, and the Jedi recovered a datapad from the commander's body, which Rieekan asked to see when contacted. The Jedi's companion and the Knight made their way back to the Promenade, but were alarmed to find the storefront that hid the SIS base under attack by Mark II Power Guards. After the two defeated the soldiers in the shop, the Jedi and the companion descended the turbolift to the safehouse and found that more Power Guards were holding the remainder of the SIS unit hostage. After the agents were freed, the Knight found Rieekan dead, but Special Agent Tander and Agent Diyaz were still alive. Tander began to panic and decided to abandon the Jedi, so he ordered Diyaz to pack up and leave, but the Knight thought quickly and gently persuaded the Twi'lek agent to stay, an action that did not pass unnoticed by Diyaz.

Diyaz agreed to aid the Jedi and began to decode the datapad, which revealed that the Sith had taken the Power Guard research to a fallback position in the Lower Industrial Sector. More specifically, the coordinates pointed to an Imperial-controlled weapons factory in the region, and the Knight departed for the new target with a companion after the Jedi instructed Diyaz and Tander to contact General Suthra for reinforcements. After they traveled to the Lower Industrial Sector, the pair stormed the factory and eliminated all opposition within the outer chambers. The duo then unsealed the security door to the main room, but were surprised to find a hulking and familiar figure within: Galen, transformed into a Power Guard. Their ally warned the pair that they should not have come&mdash;Sadic had complete control of the agent, and had already forced him to reveal the location of the SIS safehouse. Almost two-thirds of the agent's biological mass had been replaced with cybernetics, and Galen explained that resisting Sadic's commands caused unbearable pain.

When the Knight tried to offer help, a holotransmission of Sadic interrupted the Jedi and derisively mocked the suggestion. Sadic's control of the agent was complete, and Galen's resistance was a minor obstacle&mdash;something he demonstrated by forcing the SIS operative to attack his allies against his will through the use of Galen's implants. A pair of Mark III Power Guards dropped down into the room as Galen opened fire, which forced the Knight to bat aside the blaster bolts and charge at the agent. Despite Galen's advantages in size and cybernetic enhancements, the Jedi was able to disarm and defeat the Power Guard, and the SIS agent collapsed to his knees. As he fought Sadic's commands, Galen suddenly relaxed as the Knight's damage overloaded the neural implants that kept him controlled. However, the effects were only temporary, and his systems had already begun repairs, so he asked the Jedi to kill him&mdash;the process was irreversible, and he'd rather die than continue to be a pawn of the Sith. Sadic intended to build thousands of Power Guards out of the Imperial prisoners of war in the prison district of Shadow Town, and Galen begged the Knight to eliminate him just as his systems came back online. However, the Knight refused to give up hope and denied Galen his request; the Jedi urged the agent to hold on and reminded him of his duty. The Jedi's words inspired the operative and gave him the strength to fight his programming, and he agreed to aid in the fight against Sadic. However, to be safe, he decided to travel alone to Shadow Town and departed from the factory by himself.

After they took an air taxi to Shadow Town, the Knight and a companion cut a path through the Imperial guards and the district's defenses to reach Sadic's lab deep in the region. There, the Jedi defeated the Mark III Power Guards that guarded the facility, and entered the lab to find something horrifying&mdash;in the pursuit of greater power, Sadic had undergone the perfected Power Guard process himself, which had transformed him from a man of average size and height to a hulking behemoth of cybernetics and armor. Disgusted bu the Sith's willingness to cast aside his humanity so easily just for greater power, the Knight warned Sadic to surrender: his new strength would not save him from the power of the Force. Amused, Sadic began to muse about adding the Jedi to his army before he was interrupted by the arrival of Galen, who warned the Sith that his time was over. Upon seeing that Galen was still functional, Sadic used a voice command to trigger the agent's implants at maximum and demanded that he obey or die. As Galen began to convulse in pain, the Knight urged him to fight back&mdash;Sadic only had power over the man if he allowed the Sith to control him. A laughing Sadic declared that he was power, but Galen spun around and leveled his blaster at the Sith Lord. Galen and the Knight's companion charged alongside the Jedi, and in the fight that followed they defeated Sadic's Mark III Power Guard bodyguards and engaged the armored Sith Lord himself. The cyborg's size and power allowed him to bat aside his opponents like insects, but despite Sadic's might the trio stood strong against the Sith's attacks and wore him down. Together, the three were able to overcome the Sith and sent Sadic's armored form sprawling lifeless to the floor.

As they put away their weapons, the group was surprised to see Agents Diyaz and Tander enter the room along with several Republic commandos. Diyaz had planted a tracker on the Knight when they last met, and he had convinced his superior to come to the Jedi's aid. Tander introduced the commandos as members of Blackstar Squad, a unit from the Republic Special Forces Division, who had been called to Nar Shaddaa as part of a favor that Suthra had called in from General Elin Garza, the head of SpecForce Division. The squad's assignment was to destroy Sadic's lab and recover any useful information, but Galen asked to remain and die with the facility. Tander and the Knight were able to convince Galen otherwise, reminding the agent that Sadic had no power over him anymore and that the SIS would help him.

As some of the commandos escorted the wounded Galen out of the lab, Diyaz announced that he had located the Power Guard files and asked about what to do with them. Over Tander's protests, the Knight ordered Diyaz to delete everything&mdash;the project was too heinous to use, even against the Sith. Upon their return to the spaceport, the Knight contacted Suthra via holocomm and was thanked for the decision to destroy the project. The Mon Calamari was relieved to hear that Galen was alive, but was also saddened at the loss of Rieekan and his agents. When Suthra informed the Jedi that he was sealing the files on what happened on Nar Shaddaa, the Knight objected&mdash;keeping secrets was what had gotten Rieekan and his men killed and Galen captured by the Sith. Realizing the truth of the Jedi's words, the general promised to file a full report with his superiors.

Carsen's secret


However, Suthra had another matter to discuss: he had just received a potentially important message from Admiral Hacklin, one of Darth Angral's closest advisors. The admiral wanted to defect, but he would only speak with Carsen: she had encountered Hacklin back on Ord Mantell, as the admiral had been present with Angral during her interrogation. The Republic had heard rumors that Hacklin had earned a death mark, or bounty, and Suthra believed the offer was legitimate. Therefore, he was asking Carsen and the Knight to meet with him&mdash;the admiral's tactical knowledge and insight into Angral's operations could prove invaluable in the current crisis. Suthra had told Hacklin to meet the two at an abandoned mining facility out in the Unknown Regions, and he needed the Jedi to head there immediately. Departing from Nar Shaddaa, the crew soon reached the facility and docked aboard the abandoned station.

Leaving Teeseven aboard the ship, the Knight and Carsen disembarked and cautiously crossed the dark hangar to the only other ship there, one of Imperial design. The sole light from the Imperial ship spilled from the boarding ramp, which the two Jedi ascended to find the ship itself sealed. Uneasy, the two were about to begin searching the hangar when a young sandy-haired Human stepped out from behind a cargo container. The man, who was garbed in Imperial colors and carried a lightsaber at his hip, introduced himself as Valis and thanked the Jedi for their quick response. Apologizing for the deception, Valis explained that Hacklin was still loyal to Angral&mdash;the young man had simply used the admiral's name to lend credibility to his message. Carsen suddenly declared that the man was a Sith and told her Master to kill him, drawing her lightsaber, but Valis simply smiled and asked her why she was acting that way&mdash;he was family. Surprised, the Knight asked Carsen to explain, but she claimed that Valis was lying. The Sith explained that Carsen was a Child of the Emperor, like him, and that his "father" had sent him to retrieve her. The Emperor's Children, he explained, were extensions of the will of their "father" and eternally favored servants of the Sith Emperor. Claiming he had no fight with the Jedi, Valis asked the Knight to stand aside and allow him to take Carsen home, but the Padawan's Master refused.

Carsen charged at the Sith and attempted to strike him down, but Valis drew his purple-bladed saber in time to block the blow and threw her backward with the Force. Together, the Knight and Carsen engaged Valis in a duel, fighting through the arcs of violet lightning he cast at the two Jedi and his use of the Force to throw his opponents across the room and slam them into the floor. Despite Valis' power and brutal use of the dark side, the combined power of Carsen and her Master was enough to defeat the Sith, and he soon fell dead to the hangar floor. Shocked and relieved, the two did not speak until after they had boarded their ship. There, Carsen gathered her resolve and spoke to her Master in the ship's conference room. She had been born to Sith parents on the Imperial capital of Dromund Kaas, but she was not a biological child of the Emperor&mdash;it was a title. Taken from her parents as a child like all other Force-sensitive youth in the Empire, she had been placed in the Sith Academy on Korriban and trained there with Valis and other children. However, some of the trainees were occasionally taken to see the Emperor, and they could not remember anything of the meeting&mdash;something had happened to them. So, when a ten-year-old Carsen realized that she could not remember the events of the past week, she stowed away on a freighter heading for Nar Shaddaa.

There, Carsen had lived among the refugees until she met Master Kiwiiks, who took her on as a Padawan. The Togruta did not suspect her past, and the Knight was the first person whom Carsen had told&mdash;but her Master immediately suggested telling the Council. The Knight believed that Master Shan and the others needed to know the truth, and Carsen agreed, ready to face the consequences, no matter how harsh. Before departing for Tython, the crew contacted General Suthra and informed him of the events that had transpired. Disappointed, Suthra apologized for his mistake and delivered more bad news: Masters Kiwiiks and Din had missed their last two comm checks. Suthra asked the Knight to follow the Masters to the planets Tatooine and Alderaan, but first the Jedi informed him of Carsen's secret and their plans to speak with the Council. At first suspicious that she was a potential spy, the Mon Calamari took the Knight's word that she was trustworthy. Ordering Teeseven to set a course for the Deep Core and Tython, the Knight and Carsen spent the journey meditating in their quarters.

On Tython, the two met with Grand Master Shan so that Carsen could explain the truth of her past. Shan summoned the Council so that Carsen could tell the other Masters, although only Masters Syo Bakarn, Jaric Kaedan, and Tol Braga could attend&mdash;Braga by holotransmission, Bakarn and Kaedan in person. Carsen's past intrigued Bakarn, as it gave the Council concrete evidence that the Children existed &mdash;though Bakarn did not know that he himself was the First Son of the Emperor, the Child who protected his fellows from detection by the Jedi. Kaedan, however, wanted to banish Carsen from the Order as she was now a threat, but her Master spoke up and reaffirmed the trust that the Knight had in the Padawan: Carsen would never betray the Jedi Order. Believing the young Jedi, Shan granted her blessing for Carsen to continue as the Knight's Padawan, and the pair returned to their ship.

The Shock Drum
"General, I'm on Tatooine. Has Master Kiwiiks reported in?''" "''Last we heard, Kiwiiks secured our weapons research facility. She's missed every comm check since then. Enemy action is the most likely scenario, but on Tatooine, anything's possible."

- The Knight and General Suthra

Carsen seemed very concerned about her former Master's failure to report back in, and since she could not sense the Togruta in the Force, the Knight and Teeseven set a course for Tatooine. Arriving on the arid desert world, the trio landed their craft at the spaceport in Anchorhead, the largest Republic settlement on the planet. There, they contacted General Suthra once more, who gave the group their assignment. Kiwiiks' last report was that she had secured the main research facility, but nothing since then, and the general suspected Imperial action. The desert planet was largely uninhabited, presenting the perfect location for a secret project. Suthra then stepped aside, allowing Doctor Godera to brief the Knight on the Shock Drum&mdash;a device that discharged massive ultrasonic vibrations into the ground. The vibrations damaged enemy fortifications on a microscopic scale, literally softening up the actual materials, and could cripple biologicals if they were close enough. However, the weapon's greatest danger was that the vibrations would eventually disrupt the planet's core, causing it to explode. When the Knight protested to the use of such technology, Suthra explained that this side effect had only recently been discovered, and that he had banned further testing of the weapon. Nevertheless, the research facility did have a fully operational prototype.

Carsen could feel Kiwiiks through the Force, but the sensation was faint and weak as though she was dying, and the only insight into the Togruta's surroundings that Carsen could glean was that she was somewhere dark. The Knight and Carsen immediately departed from Anchorhead, heading south into the Jundland Wastes region and east toward where the research facility was located. There, the Jedi found the facility under attack by the native Sand People, forcing the Knight to fight through the hostile and territorial natives. After clearing the building of the Sand People, the pair found a sealed door deep within the facility, which the Knight cut open to find a Human woman and a group of diminutive Jawas&mdash;another species native to Tatooine. The Human introduced herself as Hare'en, a seismologist on the project, and the Jawas as Brrik and his family. Hare'en had given Brrik's clan a home in the facility after theirs was lost to the Sand People, and his family had repaid her by working on the Shock Drum.

Hare'en asked if the two were there to protect the Shock Drum like Kiwiiks, sparking Carsen's interest. The older woman explained that the Jedi Master had defended the facility from Imperial soldiers, but a red-skinned Sith had defeated her and dragged her body away with the Shock Drum. Hare'en was confused about the Sith&mdash;instead of killing anyone, he simply took the superweapon and captured Kiwiiks alive, ignoring Hare'en and the Jawas. The only opponents he had attacked were Brrik's droids, telling the scientist that she and the Jawas were no threat and did not deserve to die. Hare'en and the Jawas had been attempting to restore the facility's power when the Sand People struck, so the Knight headed outside to brave the Sand People and fix the generators so that the scientist could track the Shock Drum. Accomplishing this, the Jedi returned to the safety of the facility and met with Hare'en, who had detected the Shock Drum's locator beacon. However, the weapon had been activated&mdash;if it was not shut off, it would destroy Tatooine. The seismic vibrations disrupted the facility's sensors, so she needed the Knight to place several ultrasonic scanners around the region in order to narrow down the weapon's location.

Fueled by Carsen's sense of urgency, the pair departed the facility and left the mountains, where they traveled across the Jundland Wastes to place scanners at locations such as the Bak'arap Farmstead, the Northern Windfarm, and the Northern Jundland Plateau. After placing the last scanner, the duo contacted Hare'en via holocomm, who reported that the Shock Drum had been moved to an abandoned mining complex in the Dune Sea region&mdash;but that complex was now the lair of a legendary insectoid creature known as the sand demon. Just as she finished giving the Knight the coordinates for the complex, the transmission flickered and was interrupted by another call. The Jedi's holocomm displayed a hulking Sith Pureblood who introduced himself as Lord Praven, one of Darth Angral's apprentices&mdash;the Sith whom Hare'en had described earlier, and one of the figures with whom Tarnis had been speaking before his death. Informing the Jedi that he had the only electro-transmitter capable of disabling the now-active Shock Drum and saving Kiwiiks, Praven challenged the Knight to a duel for the device.

Traveling through the Jundland Chasm, the Knight met Praven at the Esus Mesa in the Jundland Chasm. Speaking with the Sith, the Knight learned of Praven's emphasis on loyalty and honor, and also that Tarnis had been Praven's apprentice. Realizing that Praven was deeply conflicted about his actions and those of his Master, the Jedi attempted to convince him to leave the Sith and embrace the light side, but Praven refused, and they were forced to duel. The Knight defeated Praven in combat but refused to kill him, as it was not the Jedi way. Praven then informed his enemy that his honor demanded that the Sith surrender to Angral, so that Angral would spare him further humiliation and failure by killing him. Nevertheless, the Knight sensed the noble spirit within Praven and convinced him that his values were those of a Jedi. Despite Praven's belief that the Jedi would never accept him, the Knight's words changed Praven's mind and opened him to the light&mdash;abandoning the dark side, Praven gave the Knight the electro-transmitter. Thanking the Jedi and wishing the Knight and Carsen luck, he traveled to the nearest spaceport and turned himself over to the Jedi Order for training.

While the Knight was examining the device, Hare'en contacted the pair in a panic and revealed that Brrik and his family had gone to the facility to aid the Jedi. However, the group was now trapped with the sand demon, forcing the Knight and Carsen to race across the Dune Sea toward the mining complex. There, the two found the terrified Jawas hiding from the sand demon and its spawn and ordered them to stay put while they dealt with the creature. Together, the two Jedi fought and defeated the monstrous insectoid and its smaller children, dodging the chunks of rock falling from the ceiling that had been ripped loose by the Shock Drum in the next chamber. Entering that chamber, Carsen and the Knight steeled themselves against the vibrations to reach the ovoid weapon itself, only to find the unconscious form of Kiwiiks lying on the ground before it. While the Knight deactivated the superweapon with Praven's electro-transmitter, Carsen immediately began to aid her fallen teacher and quickly awakened the Togruta. With the help of Brrik's clan, the Jedi destroyed the cavern and buried the Shock Drum beneath several tons of rock, while Carsen hesitantly explained her past to Kiwiiks. However, her fears of rejection were unfounded&mdash;Kiwiiks told her former student that her past was not important, and that she was proud of what Carsen had accomplished. The Jawas then took the injured Jedi Master to the nearby Outpost Thorazan for medical attention, while the Knight and Carsen returned to Anchorhead and their ship.

The Death Mark
"General, I'm on Alderaan. Have you heard from Master Orgus?''" "Negative. Considering the chaos there, it's a wonder any messages get through. Alderaan's a war zone. The nobles are fighting to decide who's in charge&mdash;and whether this world aligns with the Republic or the Empire." "''Your weapons project is to secure Alderaan for the Republic."

- The Knight and General Suthra

Departing from Tatooine, the trio returned to the Core Worlds and traveled to Alderaan. One of the founding worlds of the Republic, for much of the past decade Alderaan had been embroiled in a brutal civil war over which noble house would take the throne, and the Republic was backing House Organa in opposition to both the Imperial-sponsored House Thul and the independent House Ulgo. House Ulgo's leader Bouris Ulgo, a former Republic general, had declared himself king not long after the last queen's death in the early days of the Cold War.

When the team arrived in orbit, they contacted General Suthra and Doctor Godera. The scientist explained that the weapons project on Alderaan&mdash;the Death Mark laser&mdash;was composed of three parts: a targeting device, a central computer, and an orbital satellite with a focused laser. The device marked targets with microscopic and undetectable tags, allowing the main computer to track them anywhere on the planet, and the satellite could fire with pinpoint accuracy to eliminate any target that the computer sent to it, without any extraneous loss of life. The Knight was disappointed that the Republic was dealing in assassination, but Suthra countered the Jedi by saying he would gladly end one life to save billions. The Death Mark did have a disadvantage, however: while the satellite could eliminate any target on the planet, the targeting device itself had a maximum range of twenty meters. Suthra ordered the Jedi to meet with Count Alde, whose house had co-funded the Death Mark project with the Republic. The count had been the last to see Master Din, and he was awaiting the Knight's arrival at Castle Organa, but Imperial forces had damaged several holorelays in the area. Landing the ship at Pallista Spaceport, the Jedi and a companion eliminated the Imperials in the region and quickly repaired the damaged holorelays before heading to the Alde embassy.

In the building, the Knight found the count in conversation with a Mirialan woman, whom Alde introduced as Aleyna Hark. Hark, who had worked at the Mensaav Military Laboratory, the Death Mark research facility, was in the process of explaining how the facility had been attacked by Imperial forces under the command of a Sith&mdash;a "hideous little man." Din had come to the facility's rescue and eliminated all of the Imperial forces, but the Sith had used the shadows to catch the Jedi by surprise and stab him through the back. The Sith had then summoned reinforcements in the form of Killiks, the man-sized insectoid natives of Alderaan, and Hark had barely escaped before the Killiks overtook the facility. Alde began to pace back and forth as he discussed plans to attack the facility with the Knight, but the Jedi suddenly noticed a tiny red light blinking on the back of his neck when the count turned. Suddenly realizing what this meant, the Knight dove for the noble, but it was too late&mdash;the Death Mark fired, striking the noble and throwing Hark, the Knight, and the Jedi's companion backward. Hearing the commotion, the embassy's guards charged into the room to find Alde lying dead on the floor, prompting them to order the remaining three to surrender. Guard Captain Yils ignored the Knight's attempts to explain, but Hark offered herself as a prisoner so that the Jedi could continue the mission. Suspicious but taking the Jedi's word that the Knight would return, Yils allowed the Jedi to depart the embassy.

Journeying through the Alsakan Lowlands, the Knight cleared a path through the Killik-infested Mensaav Laboratory and entered the facility's military division. There, more Killiks attacked the Jedi, but the Knight and a companion were successfully able to fight them off and reach the end of the lab, where a sealed door blocked their way. Forcing the door open, the Knight barely blocked a lightsaber strike from Din himself as it opened. Din had survived the attack and locked himself in the chamber with Doctor Parvux, the only survivor of the research team, and the pair revealed that Hark was in fact an Imperial double agent. The Mirialan had given the lab's location to the small Sith's forces, and she was marking innocent people in Castle Organa with the Death Mark's targeting device. Din congratulated his former apprentice on killing the insectoids' massive leader, but the Knight informed the Jedi Master that there had not been any leader. The conversation was interrupted when the room itself began to shake, and the Knight and Din drew their weapons as part of the wall disintegrated. Together, the two Jedi and the Knight's companion faced a horde of Killiks that poured into the chamber, followed by the Killik Praetor&mdash;the oversized leader whom Din had spoken of. While Parvux hid behind overturned furniture, the trio held the line and cut down all of the attacking Killiks.

Recovering from his fear, Parvux emerged and joined the two Jedi in conversation about the Death Mark. The Zabrak suggested shutting down three of the Death Mark's generators to disable the laser, albeit temporarily, so Din escorted the doctor to safety at the nearby Wardpost Duvaal while the Knight braved the Killik-infested laboratory grounds and disabled the generators. While the Knight was doing so, the small Sith&mdash;Nefarid&mdash;contacted the Jedi several times via holocomm and taunted his opponent, finally revealing that he had just set up another power station beyond the Knight's reach. The Knight then returned to Wardpost Duvaal, where Din and the Jedi contacted Wynne Organa, one of House Organa's liaisons with the Republic. Organa informed them that Hark had never made it to her cell, and she had been missing for hours&mdash;but scouts had recently spotted her entering Thul Palace in the Juran Mountains. House Thul was an ally of the Empire, but their duke, Horis Thul, supported the peace talks that Duke Charle Organa had proposed, and the peace process would fall apart if Thul was killed by a Republic superweapon. Din told his former student to pursue Hark, while he searched for Nefarid's hiding place. Despite the Knight's objections about splitting up, the two departed on their separate missions.

Racing through the Juran Mountains, the Knight and the Jedi's companion assaulted the compound and quickly cut a path through the surprised Thul guards. Emerging in the compound's central chamber, the Knight found Hark speaking with the duke and several of his guards. Astounded that the Jedi had made it past his defenses, Thul inquired as to the identity and intentions of the Knight, but Hark interrupted him and ordered the guards to attack, claiming that the Jedi was here to assassinate the duke. Suddenly under fire, the Knight batted aside the enemy's blasterfire and knocked the guards to the floor before charging at Hark herself, who opened fire with a concealed blaster pistol as the duke watched in amazement. Disarming and wounding the enemy agent, the Knight knocked Hark to the floor before explaining the situation to the noble. Believing the Jedi, Thul ordered his recovered guards to arrest the Mirialan, but she spitefully informed the pair that she had just marked both of them with the Death Mark's targeting device as a last act of defiance. Angered, the duke sent Hark to the floor unconscious with a single blow to the jaw and turned to the Knight, whom he informed that he had been tracking Nefarid's movements in case of treachery. Before taking the Jedi's advice by fleeing for the spaceport in an attempt to escape the Death Mark, the duke handed over Nefarid's coordinates and demanded that Hark die. The Jedi remained calm, however, and reminded the emotional noble to think rationally. Calming down, Thul saw the wisdom in the Knight's words and had his guards arrest the traitor before destroying the Death Mark's targeting device.

On the way to Lord Nefarid's hideout in the Glarus Valley, the Knight was contacted by Din. The Jedi Master revealed that he had lied to his former student&mdash;instead of tracking Nefarid, he had been tracking Darth Angral himself. Before the Knight had arrived at Wardpost Duvaal, Din had detected Angral's ship at the edges of the Alderaan system, and he had sneaked aboard the warship to eliminate his old enemy once and for all. Despite the Knight's concern, the younger Jedi wished Din luck and continued onward to Nefarid's base. Fighting through the Imperial forces guarding the facility, the Knight and a companion entered the heart of the base to find a seemingly deserted chamber. The pair ascended the stairs to the second-level walkway, where a communications console was waiting for activation, and the duo was startled to hear Nefarid's voice echo around the room. Taunting the Jedi from the shadows, Nefarid activated the console remotely to display a live transmission from the bridge of Angral's warship, the Oppressor.

The holo displayed Angral standing over a winded Din as the Sith Lord mocked the Jedi Master for his foolishness. Transfixed, the Knight watched as Angral turned away from his opponent, refusing the Jedi's request to let go of his hatred as Din stumbled to his feet. Calling his lightsaber to his hand and igniting the crimson blade, Angral asked his longtime opponent if he was afraid to die, and he responded to Din's quoting of the Jedi Code by impaling the Jedi Master through the stomach and throwing him across the room with the Force. Din's student collapsed as the Jedi shared the sensation of death with Din, and Nefarid's laughter echoed through the room as the transmission ended. Standing and calling on the Sith to show himself, the Knight's danger sense spiked as Nefarid reminded the Jedi of the Death Mark. The Knight dove off the platform just as the superweapon fired, throwing the Jedi's companion off the second level as well. As the pair landed and drew their weapons, Nefarid revealed himself by dropping the Force cloak in which he was hiding, then ignited his double-bladed lightsaber and charged at the Knight. The Sith sorcerer utilized both the Death Mark and Sith magic against his enemies, unleashing blasts of Force lightning and life-draining spells as his opponents dodged intermittent fire from the orbital weapon. However, Nefarid's advantages did not last, and he soon found himself on the defensive against the Knight, forcing him to slip into the shadows to evade the far more skilled duelist. The sorcerer's deception gained him only moments of reprieve as the Jedi found him in the Force and, dodging more fire from the Death Mark, continued their duel. No matter how many times Nefarid slipped away, his two opponents pursued him, and the fight finally ended when the Jedi sent the Sith Lord sprawling to the floor with a lightsaber strike.

Leaving Nefarid's body lying there, the pair searched the facility for the central computer of the Death Mark, which was no longer firing as its controller was dead. Coming across the computer, the Knight entered the machine's own coordinates into it and set the weapon to fire, racing out the chamber as the Death Mark rendered itself inoperable. The Jedi then contacted Wynne Organa to report the success, and the young man informed the Knight that House Thul had delivered Aleyna Hark to them as a peace offering. Returning to their ship, the two reunited with the third member of their crew and contacted General Suthra. The Mon Calamari was somber as he listened to the Knight's report, and he informed the young Jedi that Angral had broadcasted Din's murder on the HoloNet before leaving the Jedi's body floating in open space. A Republic shuttle had recovered Din's body, which was being delivered to Tython for a proper hero's burial.

Desolation
"All that life extinguished&hellip; It's unthinkable."

- Kira Carsen

However, as Suthra let Doctor Godera explain, Din had left the Republic a gift with his last actions. He had planted a tracker aboard the Oppressor without Angral realizing it, allowing the Republic to locate the ship every time it dropped out of hyperspace&mdash;a sacrifice that Suthra was grateful for, though the Knight questioned its worth. The Mon Calamari then reminded the Jedi that Din had sacrificed his life so that others would not need to sacrifice theirs. Their conversation was interrupted by reports from that very tracker, which showed Angral's ship in the Uphrades system. Uphrades was a vital agriworld that supplied more than half of Coruscant's food, and Angral's presence there was a bad sign for the Republic.

As Alderaan was closer to Uphrades than Coruscant, Suthra asked the Knight and crew to head to that system immediately. Carsen believed that Angral could only do so much damage to the planet with one ship, but Godera countered her by reminding everyone of how Taris had been destroyed by Darth Malak's battleship Leviathan&mdash;a reminder that proved correct when the Knight arrived in-system, discovering that Uphrades had been devastated at Angral's hand. The formerly green surface was covered in ash, rock, and magma, and massive chunks of the crust had been torn away to form a crude asteroid belt around the planet. The atmosphere itself seemed to be on fire, forming a ghostly and multicolored spiky aurora around what was left of the planet. Astounded by the devastation, Teeseven and the Knight contacted Suthra from the ship's conference room while Carsen transmitted their sensor readings from the cockpit. Both men were as stunned by the sight as the crew was, and Godera confirmed the group's suspicions&mdash;the damage matched the readouts recovered on Ord Mantell of the Desolator weapon. Troubled, the Knight realized that Angral had adapted the Planet Prison into a world-killer, and Godera added to the bad news by informing the group that Tarnis had combined all of the Republic superweapon projects into the Desolator&mdash;the Planet Prison, the Death Mark, the Shock Drum, and the Power Guard project. Using the advancements in cybernetics and weapons technologies made by the Power Guard team, Angral had fused the combined superweapon technologies with his own warship to create a ship-mounted weapon capable of destroying worlds&mdash;a capability that he had just demonstrated on Uphrades.

At that moment, Carsen interrupted their conversation from the cockpit, reporting that she had detected a faint emergency signal from the far side of the planet. As she put it through to both the conference room and Coruscant, the others were surprised to see a Cathar in Republic garb hail their ship, identifying himself as Captain Dal of the Republic medical frigate Daybreaker. The captain was requesting immediate assistance, as they were under attack by Imperial commandos, and both Suthra and the Knight agreed that the crew should try to rescue the ship. As Teeseven and the Jedi returned to the cockpit, Carsen brought their ship around through the asteroid field and docked with the besieged Wanderer-class transport. The Knight and a companion immediately disembarked to find most of the ship's soldier complement in one the Daybreaker medical bays, locked out of the frigate's main corridor by a sealed blast door. Taking command of the disorganized fighters, the Knight blew open the blast door with one of the soldiers' explosives and charged straight into a firefight on the other side.

Coming to the aid of the beleaguered defenders, the Jedi and the soldiers quickly eliminated the Imperial attackers and pushed on into another medical bay&mdash;where Imperial saboteurs were busy planting explosives. After catching the saboteurs by surprise and disarming the bombs, the group entered the access corridor to the bridge and eliminated the dozen or so Imperials within, including a Sith assassin who was holding the ship's command crew hostage. While the triumphant Republic soldiers secured the ship and began to assess the damage, the Knight met with Captain Dal and Doctor Senessa, the Daybreaker Mirialan chief medical officer, on the bridge. Dal and Senessa told the Jedi that the Daybreaker had arrived in-system while the Oppressor was attacking Uphrades, and that any ships attempting to escape had been caught in the ionized atmosphere and sent crashing back to the surface. When the frigate had tried to run, the Oppressor dispatched boarding pods to eliminate them. Dal was convinced that there were no survivors on Uphrades, but Senessa interrupted him, having just detected life signs on the surface&mdash;possible survivors. Senessa wanted to take the Daybreaker down to the surface so that they could provide supplies, shelter, and medicine, but Dal scoffed at the idea and walked over to the main viewport.

The Knight's companion informed Senessa that the Daybreaker would be disabled by the ion field, but the Mirialan believed that it was her duty to do it anyway&mdash;something that the Jedi approved of. However, Dal continued to silently stare at the ravaged planet, prompting the Knight to join him for a quiet conversation. The Cathar officer asked the Jedi to allow the ship to leave instead of aiding the survivors, as he had a family that he wanted to return to, and offered the frigate's medical supplies as a bribe in exchange for talking Senessa out of her idea. As the two returned to the doctor and the Jedi's companion, the Knight informed Senessa that Dal had attempted a bribe and should be removed from command. Furious, Dal stormed off to the escape pods while Senessa informed the crew of their upcoming mission, and the soldiers and medics unanimously agreed to aid the survivors.

Showdown
As the Daybreaker crew prepared to approach the planet, the Knight and the Jedi's companion returned to their ship and contacted General Suthra. The Mon Calamari began preparations for food rationing on the capital after learning of what had transpired on Uphrades and the Daybreaker, but their conversation was interrupted by an emergency transmission from Tython. Grand Master Shan was requesting aid from the Knight and Suthra, as the Oppressor had just arrived in the Tython system&mdash;Angral's next target was Tython itself. The Oppressor had deployed micro-burst versions of the Planet Prison technology, temporarily ionizing Tython's atmosphere and disabling the Republic fighters mobilized against it. As Shan's transmission cut off abruptly, the others realized that Angral had departed Uphrades so quickly due to his new target. Ordering the general to dispatch all available forces to Tython immediately, the Knight was ready to set off for the planet when Godera interrupted the Jedi with information on the Desolator. After studying the plans for the weapon, the scientist had determined that it inherited the same flaw as its predecessor, the Planet Prison: it required long amounts of time to charge before firing. Godera suggested that the Knight and crew board the Oppressor and disable the Desolator before it could fire, a plan with which the Jedi agreed. While the crew raced to Tython, Godera continued to study the Desolator for weaknesses, and Suthra gathered reinforcements for the Order from all available forces in the Core.

Coming out of hyperspace close to Angral's warship, the crew were able to dodge the Oppressor turbolasers and board the cruiser safely. There, they contacted Doctor Godera, who had determined that Angral had amplified his vessel's reactor to cope with the Desolator's power requirements&mdash;something he had learned from Godera himself during the scientist's interrogation. For the Desolator to go offline, at least three of the Oppressor reactor relays needed to be overloaded. Teeseven volunteered to stay behind and interface with the warship's systems in order to disrupt the security protocols, and Angral began to jam their transmissions just as Suthra bid the Knight good luck. Preparing themselves for the fight, Carsen and her Master disembarked and set off into the depths of the Oppressor. Almost immediately, they encountered defensive forces: several Imperial troopers and a Sith apprentice confronted the two Jedi on sight, and the Knight quickly discovered that Angral had further deployed Mark V Power Guards against the two.

The farther they progressed, the stronger the opposition that was thrown at them, but together the two Jedi cut down every Power Guard, apprentice, or soldier who crossed their path. It was not long before the Knight and Carsen arrived at the first relay, which was guarded by a well-armored Imperial combat droid, and overloaded it. This drew a response in the form of half a dozen Imperial soldiers, who opened fire on the two Jedi as more soldiers rushed into the chamber from another entrance. Batting aside the blaster bolts, the pair eliminated their attackers and proceeded to the reactor relay in the adjacent chamber, which was also guarded by a combat droid. The overloading of this reactor drew the attention of several war droids and Power Guards, but the Jedi would not be stopped in their mission. After disabling a third relay, the Knight and Carsen headed for the ship's bridge to confront Angral himself. Eliminating the ship's security chief Souske, the Knight used the chief's security station to unlock the blast door to the bridge, and the two Jedi fought through the last enemy-filled corridor to reach their objective. The Sith Lord himself stood at the far end of the bridge, watching Tython through the bridge viewport while waiting for his enemies to arrive. Angral brushed aside the Knight's offer to accept his surrender, and Carsen suddenly surprised her Master by ascending the steps to stand by the Sith Lord's side. To the Knight's horror, Carsen ordered Angral to eliminate the Jedi in a deep male voice, and the Sith Lord promised his Master to do so&mdash;the Emperor was possessing former Child.

Released from the Emperor's will briefly, Carsen collapsed to her knees in confusion as Angral reminded her of her heritage as a Child of the Emperor and asked the Padawan to join him. However, Carsen's Master strode forward and urged her to fight the Emperor's influence, and the young woman pushed back the Sith's will with a tremendous effort. Disappointed, Angral drew his lightsaber and attacked the Knight with both blade and lightning. The older Sith was immensely powerful, but his powers were not enough to defeat the two Jedi who faced him. Matching Angral blow for blow, the Knight slowly drove the Sith Lord back away from the viewport and toward the steps to the level below, and the duel ended when a strike from the Jedi's weapon sent Angral tumbling down the steps. The injured Sith struggled to push himself back up as the Knight approached, weapon still drawn, but the Jedi was interrupted when a cloud of dark side energy engulfed Carsen, and she unleashed a blast of stark white lightning at her Master. As Angral collapsed dead to the floor, the now-possessed Padawan summoned the Sith's red-bladed saber to her hand and spun it, her body covered in shimmering dark Force energy. Carsen charged at her Master, who blocked the Padawan's lightsaber blow and pushed back, but the possessed woman unleashed a Force blast that sent the Knight flying backward over Angral's body and crashing to the floor.

Somersaulting back up the steps to the highest level of the bridge, Carsen stood watching as the Knight rose and informed the Emperor that Angral was dead. Using the woman as a puppet as he paced her back and forth, the Emperor's emotionless voice issued once more from Carsen's mouth and informed the Knight that he had seen the Jedi in visions&mdash;and that he would not allow those futures to come to pass. The Emperor then forced Carsen to draw Angral's saber once more and attack, battling the Knight back and forth across the bridge until the Jedi managed to disarm her with a well-placed strike. The Emperor expressed his irritation at Carsen's resistance to his control and prepared to dominate her mind and body in order to reshape them into his weapon. However, as her body rose above the floor and began to shimmer with red Force energy, Carsen refused to kill her Master&mdash;giving the Knight hope that she was still able to fight back. Carsen's teacher urged her to stay strong, reminding her that she chose to be a Jedi and that the Emperor could only control her if she allowed him to. With a burst of golden Force energy, the Padawan purged her mind of the Emperor's will and permanently broke the link between them, freeing herself from his control. Relieved and astonished that they had survived, the two Jedi were forced to cut short any celebration of their victory when recently arrived Republic fighters began bombing runs on the Oppressor. As explosions began to wrack the battlecruiser, the duo raced back to their ship and departed the dying warship just before it exploded.

Return to Tython
"We've lost one of our noblest masters, but in his place stands a Jedi without equal."

- Grand Master Satele Shan, commending the Knight

As the Knight and crew navigated away from the wreckage of the Oppressor, a relieved Grand Master Shan contacted them. Congratulating the group on their success, she asked them to return to Tython and meet with the Council in the Temple. In the Council chamber, Shan thanked the Knight and Carsen for their heroic efforts and commended them for their bravery. Shan then bestowed the title of "Hero of Tython" upon the Knight, remarking how proud Din would be if he were still alive. She also promoted Carsen to a full Jedi Knight, with the blessings of both the Knight and Kiwiiks, and informed Carsen that she had never lost faith in the Padawan. Master Jaric Kaedan was alarmed to hear the Knight mention the Emperor, but Carsen and her former Master assured the Council that the Emperor no longer held any sway over her.

General Suthra then informed the Council that despite Angral's defeat, conflict was beginning to break out again throughout the galaxy. Angral's actions had strained the relations between the Empire and the Republic, and the political tension was straying toward open war once more. The conflict with Angral, combined with other events and battles between the two powers, had turned the Cold War warm&mdash;the Galactic War had begun.

Traveling the galaxy
After the battle above Tython, the Hero of Tython and crew took a well-deserved rest from heroics. The trio traveled the galaxy for several months, exploring new places and aiding people in need, and during their journey Carsen was contacted by some of her friends on Nar Shaddaa. After escaping from Sith space, Carsen had lived on Nar Shaddaa for eight years with a group of refugees in the Lower Industrial Sector before she encountered Kiwiiks and became a Jedi, and her friends from that time needed her help. The alien refugees needed medpacs and supplies in order to survive, and Carsen was more than willing to come to the aid of her childhood friends. All was not well on the moon, however; before Carsen had left, she had confronted a gang known as the Ur'kossags who had been terrorizing the refugees. The meeting had gone sour, and she had ended up being forced to kill several members of the gang. Though Carsen did not realize it, her actions had given her friends a bad reputation, and the group had suffered for it: few people would trade with them, and other refugees feared the group. Her Evocii friend Enaq thanked Carsen for the aid, but another refugee named Darshyn was furious that she had returned. Carsen was surprised to learn of the consequences of her actions, but remained confident that she had done the right thing.

Hunting the Emperor


"The Force is with you&mdash;now and always."

- Master Orgus Din's Force ghost, to his former student

The crew's repose was interrupted, however, when the Knight received a visit from Master Orgus's Force ghost. Din's spirit instructed his former student to travel to Tatooine, where the Jedi would find a ship that had crashed in the desert, before warning the Hero that the Emperor was growing in power and that he must be stopped at any cost. Informing Carsen and Teeseven of Din's message, the Knight traveled to Tatooine and followed the call of the Force into the eastern Jundland Wastes. There, the Knight and crew found a crashed Jedi ship under attack by Sith Marauders. After defeating the Sith, the Hero found a Zabrak Jedi named Jomar Chul meditating amidst the ruins of his ship. Recognizing the Knight as the Hero of Tython, Chul thanked the Hero for the help and contacted the Kel Dor Jedi Master Tol Braga. He reported his crash and injury to Braga, who ordered Chul to give the Hero the set of sensor logs which Chul was carrying. Chul had scouted an enemy system and was supposed to deliver the resultant sensor logs to the Jedi Council, but Braga commanded the injured Jedi to wait for a medical shuttle.

The Hero took the logs to Tython, where Master Braga asked the Knight to join a strike team that he was forming. Braga and several other Jedi had discovered that the Emperor maintained a space station above the Imperial capital of Dromund Kaas and that he spent much of his time aboard the station. The Kel Dor planned to assemble a strike team of Jedi to capture the Emperor and bring him to Tython. However, the station was hidden by a cloaking device that rendered it undetectable. One of Braga's former students&mdash;Warren Sedoru, another member of the strike team&mdash;was on the war-torn planet of Balmorra searching for a powerful cloaking device rumored to be on the world. Sedoru had recently confirmed the prototype's presence, and Braga sent the Hero to Balmorra to assist the other Jedi in recovering the device so that they could reverse-engineer it.

Battlefields of Balmorra
"We've learned the Empire has a cloaking device prototype at one of Balmorra's advanced weapon factories. It's the same technology hiding the Emperor's fortress."

- Warren Sedoru

Departing from Tython once more aboard their vessel, the trio traveled to Balmorra and docked their ship aboard the Republic's orbital station there. The Hero and crew were then contacted by Sedoru, who explained that the local resistance had been fighting the Imperial occupation for over three decades, even before the Republic was forced to withdraw from the planet as part of the Treaty of Coruscant. The resistance had begrudgingly aided him in his search for the prototype, despite their resentment of the Republic, and they had been making progress in the mission. However, Republic Command on the planet had just received a distress call from a resistance medical facility near Farnel Outpost in Bugtown &mdash;a former genetic research compound that had been overrun by the insectoid Colicoids &mdash;and he asked the Knight to save the hospital in order to gain the resistance's trust. Taking a shuttle down from the station to Farnel, the Knight and a companion headed to the facility.

Entering the bunker, the pair found the medical facility under attack by a swarm of Colicoids. Quickly dispatching the sentient insectoids, the Knight spoke with the resistance contact, a man named Archiban Kimble. Kimble, who was better known simply as "Doc," immediately took charge of the staff and began to direct them to move the patients. The Knight spoke with Kimble, who warned the Jedi that more Colicoids were on the way, and the Jedi ordered the medic to get back. It was just in time, as Colicoids began to burst out of the ground in the next corridor. While Kimble and the resistance members hurried his patients away from the danger, the Knight and the Jedi's companion fought through a swarm of insectoids. In order to stop the attacks, the Knight pulled down pieces of the ceiling to collapse the four tunnels which the Colicoids were using to enter the hospital, despite resistance from several dozen enemies. The Jedi then followed Kimble and the others back to the facility's safe room, where Kimble was planning an evacuation. However, some of the patients were too critical to move, and Imperial forces had stolen all of his trauma kits for their own soldiers on the nearby Markaran Plains. While the resistance moved some of the more table patients, the Knight took a shuttle to the Jacent Valley and recovered the kits from the Imperials stationed there.

Returning to the hospital, the Jedi delivered the trauma kits to Kimble just as Sedoru arrived. The resistance had agreed to help locate the prototype, but they needed access to the Imperial computer network, and the only connection point was in Sobrik&mdash;the Empire's base of operations on Balmorra. The city was heavily guarded by Imperial legions and powerful war droids, and their commanders were known for being aggressive in their responses to perceived attacks. The resistance's plan was to have the Jedi attack several of the comm relays connected to Sobrik's network, drawing away the Imperial forces from the city so that the resistance could sneak inside and access the computer system. Since Sedoru was no longer skilled and quick enough to handle that many enemies, the Hero and the Knight's companion returned to the Jacent Valley to attack the Imperials' Camp Jacent. Fighting their way through a heavy Imperial presence, the duo reached the camp's communications systems and activated the distress call. Before reinforcements arrived, the Hero raced out of the area and headed to the Balmorran Arms Factory. There, the Knight activated another distress signal, then repeated the process at the nearby Camp Conquest. The Hero was then contacted by Sedoru, who ordered his fellow Jedi to meet up with the resistance strike team in Sobrik. Fighting through the city's remaining defenses, the Knight and company rendezvoused with Kimble and the others in Sobrik's vehicle depot.

Speaking with Kimble, the Knight learned that the strike team had already captured the depot and acquired the information, but as they were leaving, an Imperial medical transport landed at the facility. The team's leader, a man named Avers, had opened fire with his men and eliminated most of the Imperials. The two were interrupted when Sergeant Larkin, one of the survivors who was being held captive, shouted at Avers and Kimble from the level below that his men were dying. Like many of the resistance, Avers had a deep hatred of the Imperials as a result of the decades-long occupation, and was more than happy to let his injured enemies die. The Hero, however, suggested that Kimble aid the Imperial wounded but was interrupted by an incoming transmission from Sedoru. The older man warned his fellow Jedi that the recent fighting around Sobrik had stirred up a Colicoid nest, and the insectoids were swarming toward the city's outskirts. The strike team had to leave immediately or be surrounded, and Avers ordered his unit to scatter in fear. However, Sergeant Larkin was unable to move his men, and Kimble agreed to help&mdash;he did not abandon those who were wounded, regardless of who they served&mdash;but needed the Knight to hold off the Colicoids. While Kimble tended to the three wounded Imperials, Larkin aided the Knight and the Jedi's companion in defending the depot from a swarm of insectoids. Grateful and amazed that the Hero would risk death to help the soldiers of the Empire, Larkin thanked the Jedi and promised to spread word of the event amongst his fellow soldiers before fleeing. Kimble informed the Knight of a speeder nearby, but as it only seated one, the Jedi told the medic to take it. Before leaving, he gave the Hero the coordinates of the resistance base where Sedoru was located, and the Knight left the Imperial-held city.

Sedoru was waiting at the resistance-held Troida Military Workshop in Gorinth Canyon, where he was meeting with Kimble, Nikollan Kord&mdash;one of the top resistance leaders&mdash;and Colonel Finley, commander of the Republic's Fifth Expeditionary Force. The data recovered during the mission to Sobrik had revealed the location of one of the resistance's agents, who had been investigating the cloaking device before her capture. She was being held in Camp Conquest at the base's heavily fortified Tactical Operations Center, which was guarded by a large number of Imperial troops, but her information was vital to locating the prototype itself. Finley's troops could not approach the base without causing the Imperials to raise the blast shields, so Kord suggested that the Hero infiltrate the facility and deactivate the shields before the Imperials could close them. While Finley's troops provided a distraction nearby to draw Imperial forces away from Camp Conquest, Sedoru would escort the resistance forces to the base and the Knight would deactivate the shields. As Finley and Kord left to prepare their forces, Sedoru warned his fellow Jedi to keep an eye on the resistance leader&mdash;Kord's spy was the key to the operation, and he knew it. The Hero and the Jedi's companion departed from the Workshop and made their way across the embattled surface of the planet, arriving at Gorinth Outpost.

There, the two were contacted by Sedoru and Kord, who were surveying their target from an elevated position&mdash;the Empire had landed hunter-killer war droids between the Knight and Camp Conquest. Finley's troops were starting their distraction by attacking the Imperial forces near a series of generators, but the war droids would signal Camp Conquest to close the shields if they encountered any Republic forces. Continuing toward the target, the Knight found and quickly eliminated the five war droids before they could send distress signals, ensuring that the target remained unaware of the impending attack. Not long afterward, the Hero arrived at Camp Conquest, which was built in and around an abandoned mine. The site was originally home to the resistance's Camp Victory, but the Imperials had conquered the base at great cost to the resistance and renamed it. The Knight and the Jedi's companion descended the platforms and walkways lining the circular chasm, eliminating the defenders whom they encountered before the enemy could raise an alarm. The duo successfully reached the bottom without alerting the TacOps center's defenses, enabling them to slip inside the facility safely. After disabling the exterior blast door controls, the pair fought through the Imperial defenders and reached the command room just in time to stop the interior controls from being activated. However, the Imperial commander had activated the base's self-destruct sequence as a last act of defiance, forcing the Hero to eliminate the center's Tactical Command Officer and recover the self-destruct codes. The Knight was able to deactivate the self-destruct in time and began to search the TacOps center's holding cells.

There, the Jedi found the resistance agent, a Human by the name of Madel, and released her from the cell just as Sedoru, Kimble, Finley, and Kord arrived with the resistance team. As Kimble began to check her health, the others questioned her on the prototype's whereabouts. Madel claimed that the device had been moved off-planet when the Republic had invaded not long ago, but Sedoru sensed that she was lying. When questioned further, Madel would only promise to tell the truth if the Hero would stop Kord from killing her, and the Knight agreed. Madel then shamefully revealed that although she had learned that the prototype was in the Balmorran Arms Factory, she had given the Empire information on the resistance after being tortured, and sure enough Kord drew his blaster and attempted to shoot her. However, Finley interrupted Kord before the Hero, lightsaber drawn, could step in front of Madel, and reminded the resistance leader that Madel had intelligence on the enemy. The Knight agreed and handed her over to the colonel, angering Kord but earning Kimble's gratitude.

After Kord and Finley left, Sedoru and the Hero began to make plans to infiltrate the factory. However, Kimble interjected and asked to accompany the Knight, as he was well-versed with the factory's layout and defenses. Agreeing, the Knight set out for the factory, while the Jedi's companion returned to their ship and Sedoru coordinated an attack on the Empire with Finley to clear a path to the target. With Kimble providing medical support, the Knight single-handedly fought through the Imperial forces on the Sundari Flatlands and raided the Imperial-held factory, cutting a path through the defenders. Inside, the two attempted to access one of the turbolifts, but the system was locked down. When Kimble began to hack into the controls, the turbolift activated and brought down a man named Remmy, who was surprised to see Kimble&mdash;he thought the Imperials had killed Kimble since they had last met. Remmy was a factory employee who had survived the Imperial occupation by pretending to cooperate and taking advantage of officer rivalry to ensure he was never blamed for his acts of sabotage. When Remmy learned that the two needed to access the upper levels, he agreed to help, as he was assigned to waste management and possessed a data card to access the turbolift, but was worried about the guards. Remmy then fled the factory through the hole that the Knight had created in the factory's defenses.

However, before the Hero and Kimble could continue, Finley contacted them. The resistance had learned that the Imperials were adapting the cloaking device technology for use on their missiles and weaponry, potentially giving them the ability to launch undetectable attacks on their enemies. The Knight agreed when the colonel asked the Jedi to recover any data, and the pair ascended the lift in search of the prototype and a computer hub for Kimble to access. Inside the research facility, the Knight quickly eliminated the unsuspecting guards and destroyed all of the prototype weapons. Locating a nearby computer terminal, the Hero then began to access the files but found that they were starting to delete themselves. Kimble remembered that the turbolift datacard was the same kind that was used in that kind of terminal, and he was able to copy the files onto the card before they were deleted permanently.

The Hero congratulated Kimble on his quick thinking but was interrupted by the facility's alarms. The duo raced for the hangar where the cloaking device was located, but found their path blocked by a Sith Lord by the name of Razik. Razik and his guards attempted to kill the Jedi and Kimble, but the Knight was able to successfully defeat him and his guards without much trouble. However, a worse surprise was waiting inside: Nikollan Kord and Avers were attempting to make off with the prototype, having used a stolen Imperial transport to gain access to the facility. Kord drew his blaster on the Knight, declaring that the device belonged to the people of Balmorra, and Avers scornfully mocked the Hero for asking them to believe in a Republic that had abandoned them to the Empire. Kord attempted to play on the Jedi's devotion to justice by claiming the device as recompense for the decades of war, but the Hero turned the tables and offered the missile cloaking data in return for the prototype. The resistance leader accepted, taking the data and departing the facility in his shuttle while leaving Kimble and the Knight to deal with the prototype.

As the two secured the prototype, Kimble asked if he could join the Jedi's crew, as he would no longer work with the resistance in light of their recent actions. The Knight gladly accepted, and the Hero fought a path back to a nearby resistance while Kimble carried the cloaking device. There, the two took a shuttle back to Bugtown and met with Sedoru and Finley. The colonel was irritated that the resistance had acquired the cloaking data and argued that he was not a diplomat when the Knight urged him to show the Balmorrans that the Republic was there to help, not to conquer. Sedoru was pleased to see the cloaking device and, after asking the Hero to contact Master Braga, departed to deliver it to Tython.

The Emperor's Wrath
"What a mystery the Force can be. I came seeking a traitor, but found you instead. The time draws near.''" "''You're not making any sense. Do you know me, Sith?"

- Lord Scourge meets the Hero

The Knight traveled with Kimble up to the orbital station, where Kimble got settled in before joining Teeseven, Carsen, and the Knight in the main cabin. There, the four contacted Braga on Tython and reported the mission's success. Braga congratulated the Hero and inquired how working with Sedoru had been before bringing up the team's next assignment: the Kel Dor's apprentice Sajar was in trouble on the planet Quesh. Sajar was a former member of the Empire's Dark Council who had dueled Braga for three days during the Great Galactic War. The two debated the light and dark sides of the Force throughout their duel, and it ended when Braga successfully convinced Sajar to abandon the dark side and embrace the ways of the Jedi. Sajar's latest assignment was guarding the Republic Military's Adrenal Research Base on Quesh, a planet valued for chemicals used in adrenals, which would have been a relatively quiet mission if the Empire had not invaded.

Sajar was refusing to answer his Master's holocalls, but a soldier at the base had contacted Braga and informed him that the compound was surrounded by Imperial forces, and that Sajar would not act for some reason. The Kel Dor asked the Hero and company to find and help Sajar, as the military base would fall without Jedi aid. After Braga ended the transmission, the Hero received another visit from Master Din's ghost, who warned the Knight of Sajar's predicament and asked his student to aid him. Like at Balmorra, the group was required to land their ship at the Quesh Orbital Station, where they were inoculated against the planet's toxic atmosphere before taking a shuttle down to the surface. Arriving at the Republic Operational Headquarters, the Hero and a companion headed south to the Republic's Adrenal Research Facility and cut a path through the Imperial forces surrounding it.

Within the facility, the Knight found Sajar, who was humiliated that Braga had sent the Jedi to find him. Sajar revealed the reason he was hiding&mdash;his forces had captured some Imperial scouts and brought them to him for interrogation. However, he had lost control of his emotions and killed them in a fit of anger, lying to his men about their deaths. When the main Imperial forces arrived outside, Sajar lost control again and telekinetically threw the scouts' bodies at the enemy, revealing his face. An Imperial officer recognized the former Sith Lord and warned him that the Emperor's Wrath was coming&mdash;Sajar would be punished for his crimes against the Empire. Sajar described the Wrath as an ancient servant of the Emperor whom even the Dark Council feared, and the Padawan had decided that he would rather die as a Jedi than fight and lose himself to the dark side.

Their conversation was interrupted by Lieutenant Gundo of the Eighty-sixth Infantry, who reported that the Imperial forces were massing outside. Gundo's engineers had jury-rigged several ray shields, but they needed time to set them up. The Hero took command, ordering Sajar to help ready the shields while the Knight defended the facility's entrance with the Republic soldiers. Sajar agreed just as Imperial forces breached the base, forcing the Hero and companion to rush to the aid of the sentries. A strike force of Sith Marauders, initiates, Imperial commandos, and other soldiers overran the Republic sentries and poured down the main hallway to reach the research chamber, but the Knight stopped their attack and steadily pushed the Imperials back down the hallway just as the engineers activated the ray shields. Now that the base was relatively secure, the Hero went to speak with Gundo. The soldier was confident that the base could hold out until reinforcements arrived, but he suddenly detected movement outside the shield.

Through the green energy field, the Knight could make out an armored Sith Lord who seemed to recognize the Jedi. Musing over the strange methods of the Force, the Emperor's Wrath&mdash;Lord Scourge&mdash;allowed the Knight to keep Sajar and left to report to the Emperor, but not before warning the Jedi that Sajar was weak and that he and the Hero would meet again. Unsettled, the Knight found Sajar, who had proved instrumental in getting the ray shields online in time, and learned that the former Sith Lord was unsure what to do next. At the Knight's suggestion, Sajar agreed to wait for Republic reinforcements and then turn himself over to the Jedi Council. When Sajar stated that he had failed Braga, the Hero comforted the Padawan by reminding him that Braga had sent the Knight to help Sajar because he cared for his student. Thanking the other Jedi, Sajar remained in the facility while the Knight and the Hero's companion returned to their ship.

Hunt for the plans
"I did it! I secured the technical readouts of the Emperor's fortress. They contain schematics of its entire defense grid. Between this and the cloaking device prototype you recovered on Balmorra, we have everything we need to capture the Emperor."

- Leeha Narezz, on her successful recovery of the plans

Aboard the ship, the Hero contacted Braga and informed him of the events on Quesh. The Knight also questioned the Jedi Master on what he knew about the Emperor's Wrath, but the Jedi Council had only heard of the title and nothing more. Braga's next assignment for the Jedi was to travel to the planet Hoth, where the Jedi Knight Leeha Narezz was pursuing a new objective for the strike team. Once the Hero arrived in orbit, Narezz contacted the ship's crew. The Nautolan explained that during the Great Galactic War, Imperial and Republic forces had clashed in a massive battle in orbit, and a great number of ships had crashed on the planet's surface. The cold atmosphere had preserved the wrecked craft remarkably well, drawing pirates from the White Maw organization to scavenge the wreckage and Imperial forces to stop them. The strike team's target on the planet was the Deference, the ship of an Imperial scientist who had upgraded the defenses on the Emperor's fortress during the last war&mdash;the only non-Sith to ever set foot on the station. The scientist's ship had crashed on the planet, but it contained a full technical readout of the station. When the Hero expressed surprise at the specificity of Narezz's info, she informed her fellow Knight that the data had been recovered during an SIS raid on an Imperial Intelligence base on Nar Shaddaa. As Hoth's surface temperatures froze most ship engines, Narezz told the Jedi to dock aboard the Republic's orbital station and take a shuttle down to the Republic's Aurek Base.

However, things did not go according to plan when the Knight arrived on the surface. An Imperial invasion force was attacking, and Narezz was forced to defend the Republic's Outpost Cresh instead of greeting the Hero. She contacted her fellow Jedi via holocomm and asked the Knight to aid their support team nearby. Led by Sergeant Fideltin Rusk, a detachment from the 301st Infantry was pinned down by Imperial probe droids making suicide runs&mdash;exploding when they were close enough to the Republic soldiers. Following Narezz's coordinates, the Knight and a companion raced across the Icetromper Wastes and descended into Crescent Canyon, where Rusk's unit was holed up in an abandoned outpost that used to belong to Ortolan colonists. There, the pair found the base under attack by Imperial assassin droids, as well as the probe droids of which Narezz had. The Hero made quick work of the attackers and located Rusk, who was defending the only survivor of his five-man squad&mdash;Private Murtag&mdash;from the Imperials. The Chagrian ordered Murtag to his feet despite the man's wounds and reported mission success to the Knight, as his squad recovered maps of the ship graveyard before the attack. However, Murtag detected another incoming wave of probe droids, forcing the Knight to take on the attackers while Rusk defended the private. After the droids were destroyed, the Knight ordered Rusk to evacuate Murtag to the nearest medcenter. Complying, the sergeant gave the maps to the Jedi and promised to meet the Knight at Narezz's location with a new squad as soon as possible.

As Rusk left, the Hero was contacted by General Callan Grayne of Republic High Command, who had just arrived in orbit. He requested that since the Jedi had commandeered some of the 301st Infantry's men, the Knight should help the military in return. Republic scouts had detected Imperial weapons platforms under construction near Aurek Base, and Grayne needed the Jedi to destroy them immediately before the enemy could shoot down any Republic shuttles. The Knight and the Jedi's companion immediately set out to the three weapons platforms, which were arrayed along the lip of Crescent Canyon. Catching the Imperials by surprise, the duo quickly eliminated each emplacement's defenders and destroyed the weapons, removing the threat to the Republic base. The Knight then traveled to Outpost Cresh, where Narezz was waiting with her ME-D droids. Designed and built by Narezz, the droids had been taught Jedi history, philosophy, and other knowledge by the Nautolan Jedi, and she hoped to one day prove that droids could become Force-sensitive. The two Knights had a brief conversation on the topic, as Narezz believed that droids could possibly develop more than just personalities if they went long enough without memory wipes. However, their discussion was interrupted by one of her droids, who had located a Pythar-class Imperial shuttlecraft&mdash;the same kind that they were searching for&mdash;that Imperial forces were excavating in a nearby ice cavern. The Hero told Narezz to have Rusk head to the cavern immediately, while the two Jedi entered the cave from two directions.

The shuttle Deference had crashed in the Highmount Ridge, near the Tromper Crags Geothermal Plant&mdash;an energy installation that the Ortolan colonists had built, which was now under the control of the White Maw pirates. The Knight entered the cave system through an entrance on the western side of the Tromper Crags and quickly eliminated the salvage techs and their guards. Emerging in the cavern whose ceiling the Deference had crashed through, the Hero destroyed three turret defenses before meeting with Narezz, who had been wounded by the turrets. However, Narezz was suddenly contacted by a figure named Lassicar, who told her to keep her promise of surrender as four Imperial shock troopers approached. Narezz asked for a moment to explain the situation to the Knight, which Lassicar accepted, and she shut off the holo. The Nautolan quietly explained that she was springing a trap, and that the Hero needed to keep Lassicar talking&mdash;he was more interested in capturing them then killing them. Turning the transmission back on, Narezz allowed the Knight to stall by asking who he was. The Imperial introduced himself and his men as members of the Imperial Guard, specially trained to kill Jedi, and ordered the Jedi to surrender: they were outnumbered.

At that moment, Narezz's trap was sprung&mdash;Rusk and his new squad rappelled down into the cavern, turning the odds in the Jedi's favor. Rusk and Privates Edder, Reico, Vanth, Voshpar, and Dromol opened fire as the Imperials charged, and the Hero quickly leapt into the fray. With the Jedi's help, Rusk's squad easily defeated the shock troopers, but began to bicker amongst themselves when Rusk spoke with the Hero. The Knight immediately stepped in and interrupted Dromol, who was arguing with Vanth and Edder about their lack of experience, and reminded them of their duty and how it was necessary to put aside one's emotions in the heat of battle so that they could help others. Narezz, meanwhile, had been searching the ruined ship and found an Imperial computer technician by the name of Urrisov. Despite Rusk's threatening demeanor, the Knight was able to convince Urrisov to tell them what he knew: the White Maw pirates had reached the Deference first, and they had stolen the ship's databank. However, they missed the decryption file, which Narezz took from the young tech. Rusk had fought the pirates before the Empire arrived on Hoth, and knew that the White Maw kept a depot in a crashed dreadnaught protected by ray shields. The databanks would no doubt pass through the depot, but the ray shields needed to come down before the Jedi and soldiers could do anything to retrieve them.

Narezz's ME-Ds had detected two reactors buried beneath the ice in White Maw territory that likely powered the reactors, so she sent Rusk and his squad to take one out while the Hero shut down the other. Narezz would escort Urrisov to the Republic outpost near the ship graveyard, and the three teams would meet up there when the two reactors were destroyed to plan their attack. The Knight and a companion traveled to their reactor, which was located in an ice canyon filled with small volcanoes. The White Maw pirates had built the reactor facility into the base of Chilling Death Spire, a giant ice spire in the middle of the trench, and the Knight was just approaching the entrance to the facility where the reactor was located when Rusk called via holocomm. He and his men had just disabled the closer reactor, and Rusk had been contacted by General Grayne. The general's forces had detected a series of White Maw munitions dumps that were on their way to the dreadnaught depot, and he was sending Rusk to destroy the weapons. The sergeant suggested that the Knight take out the munitions dumps near the second reactor, and reported that his unit would rendezvous with the Hero and Narezz at the outpost as planned. The Hero quickly detonated the munitions dumps and entered the Firefrost Reactor Facility, cutting a path through the White Maw forces inside and reaching the reactor. There, the Hero found a Kaleesh by the name of Grossh with a group of heavily armed pirates.

The Knight asked Grossh to stand aside, but the Kaleesh refused&mdash;the White Maw bosses did not accept failures. When the pirates attacked, the Hero was forced to cut down Grossh and his men, and then proceeded to disable the reactor. Having accomplished the mission, the Knight traveled to Outpost Zerek at the edge of the Starship Graveyard and met with Narezz in the base's command bunker. Her ME-Ds reported that the ray shields were down, but she was worried due to the fact that Rusk had not yet arrived. The Hero reassured her by informing the Nautolan of Grayne's assignment and was proven right when Rusk arrived minutes later with his squad. The Hero, Narezz, and Rusk began to plan their assault, examining a readout of the dreadnaught&mdash;the Star of Coruscant, the fabled prototype dreadnaught created by the Republic during the Great Galactic War but destroyed during the Battle of Hoth. The massive ship had been the target of the Imperial attack during the battle and had crashed to the surface, but the dreadnaught's hull was so strong that it remained largely intact, half-buried in the ice and snow. The databank lay between an Imperial strike team and the White Maw pirates, who were battling for control of the ship and were locked in a stalemate. The Imperial's advantage of heavy weapons was balanced by the White Maw leaders' Gen'Dai abilities and longevity, leaving the two forces fighting for purchase against each other. Narezz intended to go after the databank while the Knight and Rusk's squad kept the two forces occupied.

Rusk believed that his men would have a better chance against the pirates, as the criminals were undisciplined and would likely panic when under attack, so the Knight would take on the Imperials. When the two groups engaged their enemies, Narezz and a ME-D would retrieve the databanks. With their plan in place, the three teams set off through the graveyard. Fighting through the White Maw forces that controlled the region, the Knight headed to the aft section of the Star and cleared a path through the wrecked dreadnaught to the aft hangar bay. Eliminating the Imperial forces within the hangar access, the Hero and a companion emerged in the hangar to find Lassicar waiting with several elite shocktroopers. Lassicar politely asked the pair to surrender, warning that they would only be treated fairly if they came without a fight. He explained that the Imperial Guard was an elite force devoted to the protection of the Emperor and elimination of his enemies. When the Hero had refused his offer, Lassicar ordered his men to open fire and attacked. Despite the Imperials' elite training, Lassicar and the troopers were unable to defeat the Jedi and fell to the Knight's blade.

Narezz contacted the Knight with her success almost immediately after the Hero's own victory and confirmed that Rusk had made it out alive as well, with his squad intact. Their mission concluded, Narezz asked the Knight to meet her back at Aurek Base and ended the transmission. When the Hero arrived back at the Republic command base, Narezz was thanking Rusk for his help when Grayne limped into the room. The 301st Infantry was being rotated back to Coruscant and the 88th Armor battalion was on its way to Hoth, but Grayne believed that Rusk was too valuable a soldier to waste on shore leave. Grayne assigned Rusk to the Knight indefinitely, and Rusk took his place as the fourth member of the Hero's crew. While Narezz departed to deliver the plans to Master Braga, Rusk gathered his gear and met the Knight back on the team's ship.

Descent into darkness


When the Hero contacted Braga back on the ship, the Jedi Master praised the Knight for the mission's success and ordered the Jedi to return to Tython. On the Order's homeworld, the strike team met in the Jedi Council chamber and explained their plans to the Hero. The schematics from Hoth had revealed several strategic weaknesses to exploit, and they had also developed a scanner that could see through the fortress' cloaking device. Each member of the team would approach the station in their own individual starships and land in different hangar bays, where they would each follow assigned paths through the station's security grid and meet up at the Emperor's throne room. Braga believed that the Emperor would be easy to turn once captured&mdash;he had already convinced a member of the Dark Council to become a Jedi. However, their conversation was interrupted by Grand Master Shan, Masters Jaric Kaedan and Bela Kiwiiks, and Jomar Chul. While Shan still supported the plan, she allowed Kaedan and the others to voice their concerns: during his healing meditations, Chul had witnessed a vision of the Hero turning to the dark side and becoming a Sith, and Braga had chosen to ignore it when the Zabrak had come to the team's leader. The Kel Dor disagreed with Kaedan's and Chul's objections and stated that the future was always in motion, but Chul told the Jedi Master that the mission would fail if the Hero accompanied them. When he asked to go in the Knight's place, the Hero agreed to bow to the will of the Council, and both Kiwiiks and Shan stated their trust in the Knight. Furious, Chul stormed out as Braga ordered the strike team to their ships.

Arriving in orbit above Dromund Kaas, the Knight's ship and the others' starfighters quickly docked aboard the station without much trouble. Sedoru's fighter took some fire on the way in, but Narezz was the only one who detected Imperial defenders converging on her hangar. Braga ordered the strike team to disembark and pursue the mission, stating that there would be no surrender or retreat for the Jedi before ending the transmission. The Hero gathered the crew in the main cabin, where Carsen revealed that she could sense the Emperor waiting for them. Their enemy was not afraid&mdash;all he felt was a cold, quiet rage, something the Hero believed was a weakness. However, the former Child was worried: she believed the mission was a trap. Carsen was able to put aside her fear and joined the Hero as the Jedi disembarked, leaving Teeseven, Kimble, and Rusk aboard to defend their craft. Departing their ship, the two Jedi Knights were immediately set upon by an Imperial Guardsmen and a pair of Sith adepts. The Jedi quickly defeated their attackers and charged deeper into the fortress, having set off the alarms during their skirmish. More Guardsmen, adepts, and the Sithspawn known as Harrower assassins continued to attack their pair in a vain attempt to halt the Jedi's march to the throne room, but the former master and apprentice cut down all who opposed them.

The main door to the Emperor's throne room was sealed tight, forcing the Knight and Carsen to move along the circular station to reach the next door to the chamber. That led them to more Imperial forces, including Commander Trahg of the Imperial Guard. The Jedi would not be stopped, however, and Trahg and his men fell to the blades of the two Jedi Knights. Pushing past the last of the defenders, the Hero and Carsen entered the throne room to find Lord Scourge guarding his master. Scourge revealed that the other members of the strike team had not made it to the throne room and charged, engaging the two Jedi in a fierce lightsaber duel. The Sith's size and strength allowed him to physically drive the Jedi backward, but his attempts to choke Carsen were stopped by the Knight's fierce counterattacks. The trio battled back and forth across the platform leading to the Emperor's throne until Carsen and the Knight were able to overpower Scourge, wounding him and forcing the Wrath to his knees.

Just as the Knight asked Scourge to surrender, Braga and the other two members of the team arrived and demanded the Emperor's surrender. The Emperor descended from his throne and ridiculed the Kel Dor for his arrogance, surprising the strike team with his knowledge of their identities. Announcing that they were only there because he allowed it, the Sith unleashed a massive storm of violent lightning that began to overwhelm the Jedi. Sedoru was the first to fall, followed by Carsen and Narezz. The Hero charged the Emperor as Braga tried to fight back, but the Kel Dor was forced backward as the Knight tried to hold back the storm on the blade of a lightsaber. The Emperor unleashed another blast, more powerful than the first, and sent the strike team tumbling to the ground consumed in lightning. The last thing the Jedi saw before blacking out was the Sith standing above, declaring that they were now all his servants, slaves, and weapons.

An unholy alliance
At the Emperor's command, the Hero was placed in a kolto tank to heal until Scourge awoke the young Jedi. Completely under the Emperor's thrall, the Knight spent several months aboard the station training as the student of Overseer Chaskar. The former Jedi fought and defeated dozens of training droids under the watchful eye of Chaskar and Scourge and spent long periods of time meditating on the dark side in the Emperor's throne room. However, during one of the now–Dark Jedi's training sessions, the Hero witnessed a ghostly figure standing behind one of the combat droids. The figure disappeared almost immediately, so the Knight dismissed it as nothing and continued training. When the Hero left the Emperor's throne room, the Knight collapsed and began to have visions of both the Emperor and Orgus Din. Din's Force ghost urged his student to fight back and resist the Sith's dark influence, turning the Knight back to the light side of the Force.

Awake, the Hero spoke with Din's apparition and learned that the Emperor had held the strike team under his control for a significant amount of time, and that the station's defenders still believed the Jedi was their ally. The Jedi Master commanded the Hero to find a way off the station, and informed his former apprentice that a dark ally would aid in the escape. Din's ghost disappeared just as Chaskar rounded the corner, and the Sith informed his supposed student that it was time to test the Knight's ability to extract information&mdash;by using Kira Carsen as a test subject. Chaskar escorted the Hero to a nearby chamber, where Carsen was strapped into the Tormentor device. The Sith instructed the Jedi to start with the lowest of the three inducement settings, but the Knight managed to persuade the overseer with the Force that the device was broken. Chaskar left to fix the problem, allowing the Hero to deactivate Carsen's restraints and set her free. Carsen immediately told her former teacher that Teeseven and the others were still in the docking bay with their ship, but were locked in cages and guarded by about a dozen Imperials. The two Jedi slipped out of the torture chamber and past the guards, who allowed them to move unmolested as they believed the Knight was still under the Emperor's control. They quickly made their way to the hangar, where the two Jedi were astonished to find Scourge standing amidst the bodies of the Imperial guards with the Knight's companions at his side.

Teeseven confirmed that the Sith had freed them, and Scourge listened to the Hero's threats before the Wrath politely asked if the group should leave before more guards arrived. At the Knight's question, Scourge revealed that Braga and the other two Jedi were no longer on the station and that he had been waiting for over three hundred years for the arrival of the Hero. Surprising the Jedi, the Emperor's Wrath kneeled before the Hero and pledged his loyalty, stating that Carsen and the Knight were special&mdash;few others had broken free of the Emperor's hold. He urged the Jedi to take him to the Jedi Council on Tython, where he would reveal his reasons, and promised to help the group's ship escape the station. At the Knight's agreement, the six boarded their ship and quickly departed from the station.

The Emperor's War
Arriving on Tython, the Hero and Scourge immediately met with Masters Kiwiiks, Kaedan, and Shan in the Council Chamber. The Knight conveyed the news of what had transpired aboard the station and revealed that the Emperor's Wrath had betrayed his master to aid the Jedi and crew. As promised, Scourge explained the reasons for his actions: in the vision he had spoken of earlier, the Emperor consumed all life in the galaxy. When questioned as to how that could possibly be accomplished, Scourge told the Council the story of Nathema. Around the time of the Great Hyperspace War thirteen hundred years ago, the Sith who would become the Emperor had tricked other Sith Lords into performing a dark ritual, one that resulted in the annihilation of all life on the planet Nathema and the Emperor's own immortality. The Emperor had manipulated events throughout the last thirteen hundred years toward one goal, and the renewed war was merely a diversion to conceal his true plans: he intended to perform a second ritual on an exponentially larger scale, consuming the life force of system after system until he was the last thing alive in the galaxy.

However, the Emperor's ritual needed a sacrifice to begin&mdash;he intended to annihilate the Republic prison planet of Belsavis to gain the millions of simultaneous deaths required. Scourge urged the Council to act immediately, but Kaedan bristled at the Sith's inclusion of himself in their plans and drew his lightsaber. The fiery Jedi declared that Scourge's role in the war was over, but the Hero and Shan surprised him by defending the Sith. The Grand Master could sense the truth in Scourge's words, and the Knight needed Scourge's knowledge of the Emperor to succeed in stopping him. At Shan's request, the Hero departed to Belsavis with Scourge and the rest of their crew.

Holocaust
Arriving at the prison world, the crew docked their ship aboard the Republic's Macula Station there and convened in the corvette's main cabin to contact Shan. Belsavis was an ecologically diverse world, mostly covered in ice except where geothermal vents heated rare tropical rifts with diverse ecosystems, and it was officially considered to be a sparsely populated world. However, the planet was in truth used as a prison for the Republic's most violent criminals and enemies, just as the ancient Rakata had done in the age before the Republic, and the Empire had only recently discovered its location. Shan informed the Hero's crew that the Empire had just launched a surprise assault on the world, freeing hundreds of prisoners in the process and sending the prison into a state of lockdown, but Scourge brushed the attack aside as a diversion to mask the Emperor's agents. The Grand Master was able to give them one lead&mdash;recent reports indicated that a high-ranking member of the Imperial Military, one Executor Krannus, had just arrived on the planet. The Emperor's Wrath immediately declared that Krannus was the key to the Emperor's plans, and he explained that the Executor was a rare non–Force-sensitive Sith Pureblood who was fanatically loyal to the leader of the Empire&mdash;if anyone was willing to die committing genocide for the Emperor, it would be Krannus.

A Jedi named Enna Tabord was already searching for Krannus on Belsavis's surface, but Tabord was not powerful enough to face the Executor, so Shan had ordered her to aid the Hero in the mission. At Shan's request, the Knight and a companion took a shuttle down to the Prison Administration Center in Belsavis's Minimum Security Section, where the pair traveled the tropical terrain and fended off attacks from released prisoners until they reached Tabord's coordinates. However, instead of finding Tabord ready to help at the guard post, the Knight found the other Jedi lying dead on the floor and a Zabrak by the name of Pak Taldine standing over her. Taldine quickly explained that he had warned Tabord to wait inside until the Hero arrived, but the Jedi had decided to scout the area instead and had been mortally injured after an encounter with an Imperial patrol. After further questioning, the Knight learned that Taldine was himself a prisoner, but one on good standing with the administration: he had been loaned out to Tabord because of his extensive knowledge of Belsavis's layout, and Tabord had given the Zabrak all of her information on Krannus's plans before dying of her wounds. The Imperials were entrenched near the prison's main reactor, guarded by heavy weapons and a ray shield projector. Warning the Hero that the weapons emplacements were too well-defended, Taldine suggested that the Knight take out the energy relays powering the region when the Jedi began to think of other options. The Republic facility they were in had a set of ion charges, which could be used to simultaneously knock out the relays and disrupt the power grid, so the Hero ordered Taldine to wait in the base until the Jedi's signal to detonate. Departing the relative security of the guard post, the Hero and the Knight's companion traveled to and planted ion charges at the first relay in the Varactyl Vale region and to the second near the Minimum Security Section's main road, fighting through escaped prisoners and the occasional Imperial patrol.

Upon the placement of the second charge, the Hero signaled Taldine to trigger the charges, which disabled the ray shields and allowed access to the South Power Generator Facility. The Hero then raided the facility with the Jedi's companion, striking quickly to disable the Imperials' heavy weapons emplacements and proceeding deeper into the heavily guarded building. Finally reaching the main chamber, the Hero found a red-skinned Sith officer named Colonel Hareth, who revealed that the entire affair was a distraction when she contacted Krannus via holocomm. At the cost of her own life, Hareth was buying time for her lover Krannus to complete his real plan, and the two Sith scorned the Jedi for casting aside the Emperor's will&mdash;a "gift" that they would gladly die for. Disturbed to learn that Krannus's followers were part of a kind of death cult, the Knight defeated the probe droids and Imperial troopers who rushed to Hareth's defense and struck down Hareth before deactivating the reactor. Krannus contacted the Hero after the fight and thanked the Jedi for killing his lover, as he believed the Emperor would now mark her as one of his chosen and grant her eternal life after completing his ritual. The Hero then contacted Taldine and informed the Zabrak of Krannus's absence, and he began to track the Executor with the prison security systems while the Knight returned to the guardpost.

There, the Zabrak intercepted a distress call from a Doctor Gantrell, who claimed that his team's sector had been overrun and the Imperials were searching for them. Taldine explained that Gantrell was a scientist working in the High Security Section, and the entire staff had been implanted with sub-dermal tracking chips. However, the Imperials had disabled the monitoring stations, forcing the Knight to go deeper into the prison and reactivate them so that Taldine could track the scientist. Traveling into the High Security Section, the Hero and a companion found the Primary Monitoring Station under occupation by a Rattataki prison gang known as the Blood of Talath, and fought through the rioting inmates in order to reactivate the station. The Tertiary Monitoring Station was still under Republic control, and the Knight easily reactivated the station's systems before moving on to the Secondary Monitoring Station in the Power Generation Center. The base was under Imperial control, and the pair were forced to fight through the troopers and battle droids to reach the monitoring systems. After reactivating the third station, the Hero received Gantrell's location from Taldine: Vault S-31, one of the ancient Rakata structures in the Secure Vaults region.

Arriving at the vault, the Hero and a companion stormed the subterranean structure and cut a path through the hordes of Imperial fanatics that attempted to stop them. They finally arrived in the vault's main chamber, filled with ancient statues of the Rakata, and found an Imperial commander named Rayfel and two of his men holding the scientists hostage. Informing the Jedi that Krannus was already gone, Rayfel revealed that the scientists were not just hostages&mdash;they were batteries. The Human then shot one of the scientists in the back of the head, and the Hero witnessed Rayfel absorb the man's life force in order to strengthen himself. The cultist charged and attacked the Knight with his increased power, forcing the Hero and companion to draw their weapons and defeat the Imperials. After the fight ended, the terrified scientists revealed that Krannus had cut Doctor Gantrell's tracking chip out of his neck while the man was still conscious, and then departed with the injured Gantrell after leaving the other scientists to Rayfel and his men. However, the scientists were worried that the prisoners might have gotten hold of the weapons developed by their research in the prison's power core, and the Hero detoured to Vault S-86 on the way to the Maximum Security Section. The scientists had been correct&mdash;a group of Gamorreans were attempting to break open the weapons storage, sparking a fight with the prisoners before the Hero could seal away the weapons permanently.

Taking the nearby MaxSec Operations Access road in order to reach the Maximum Security Section, the Knight and a companion were contacted by Krannus. The Imperial congratulated his opponents on their successes but warned the Jedi that he could not be stopped&mdash;some of his men were already planting high-yield explosives along a nearby volcanic rift in order to ignite volcanic activity within the planet. The pair quickly raced to the rift, over which the bridge to the deeper prison was situated, and fought their way down the platforms that the Imperials had built to hold the explosives. Despite fierce resistance from the cultist soldiers, the Hero was able to disarm the three explosives and eliminate all of Krannus's forces in the area, stopping the threat that the rift represented. Following advice from Gantrell's fellow scientists, the Knight fought through the Esh-kha&mdash;a mysterious species that the Rakata had incarcerated in the prison&mdash;who controlled the outer depths of the ancient prison and accessed Maximum Security Block J-9. Gantrell was deep in the prison, cornered by an ancient Sithspawn called a terentatek, and the Knight was forced to kill the beast to rescue the scientist. The terrified Human explained that Krannus intended to detonate the planet's power core, which would result in a hyperspace shockwave that would consume the system and all of the adjacent systems as well. Gantrell begged the Hero not to leave him in the dangerous vault, so the Jedi agreed to seal the doctor in one of the vault's secure chambers before heading deeper into the prison.

The Hero and a companion rushed deeper into the section of the prison known as the Tomb, fighting through the various animals that had been released by the Imperial attack, and finally reached the lift leading down to the central power core. When the pair arrived in the main chamber, however, they were faced by an entire squad of Krannus's elite cultists and troopers. The red-skinned Krannus warned the Hero that the detonite charges were already in place, but before he could order his soldiers to open fire upon the Knight, a Republic Special Forces unit rushed into the room and took up positions around the Jedi. Their leader, a Duros sergeant named Bedd, ordered the Imperials to surrender to the Hero immediately, causing Krannus's fanatics to open fire. With the aid of Bedd's squad, the Hero defeated Krannus's men and struck down the Executor in a fierce battle&mdash;but the Imperial's detonite charges were still in place around the hyperspace-powered core. The SpecForces unit and the Jedi were able to disarm the charges in time, preventing Belsavis's destruction.

As Bedd's men secured the chamber, the Duros informed the Hero that his superior Colonel Bartaph wished to speak with the Jedi back at the Prison Administration Center. Bartaph was in charge of the Republic reinforcements sent to secure the prison, and she congratulated the Jedi on the mission's success. However, she wanted to know why Pak Taldine had been helping the Hero, as Taldine was one of the galaxy's worst criminals. Taldine, who had been captured with a gang of prisoners that had been attacking prison guards, protested that he had been shooting at the prisoners. Despite Bartaph's skepticism, the Zabrak claimed that he had changed during the decade he had spent on Belsavis: Warden Playt had appointed the Zabrak an honorary prison guard as a reward, and the Knight's testimony on how essential Taldine had been in the fight to stop Krannus convinced Bartaph to accept the criminal's story and restore him to his former status as a guard. The Hero and companion then returned to their ship aboard the orbital station, where the Knight and the others contacted Master Shan with news of their success.

The fallen Jedi
"There is a rumor of high-ranking Sith gathering at a remote Imperial space station, allegedly on the Emperor's orders. One of our best scouts volunteered to investigate. He's disappeared.''" "Sneaking into enemy territory is dangerous. Who is this scout?" "''He's the man you replaced on Master Braga's strike team. Jomar Chul attempted to infiltrate the Imperial space station where the Sith are meeting and hasn't checked in since."

- Grand Master Shan briefs the Hero on the situation with the Korriban's Flame

Aboard their corvette, the group informed the Grand Master of Krannus's death, but she already had another mission for them. Rumors of many high-ranking Sith gathering aboard the space station Korriban's Flame on the Emperor's orders had caused the Jedi to send Jomar Chul to investigate, but the Zabrak had disappeared. At Shan's request, the Hero and company traveled to the Korriban's Flame out in the Unknown Regions, where Scourge used his knowledge of Imperial computer systems to bluff their way aboard&mdash;the station's crew believed that the group's ship belonged to Grand Moff Resh. The Knight and a companion soon proved them wrong, cutting a path through the surprised Imperial defenders and making their way to the station's command center despite heavy resistance. However, the Hero was surprised to find Chul being held hostage by a corrupted Leeha Narezz. The Nautolan's ME-D droids had been converted into Imperial probe droids, and she began to taunt Chul about their secret romantic relationship when the Zabrak begged the Hero not to harm Narezz. She revealed that Chul had been searching for proof that the Knight had turned to the dark side, and that the entire "meeting" had been an elaborate trap for the Hero before she threw Chul to the side and drew her lightsaber. The ME-Ds opened fire as their master charged at the Knight, forcing the Jedi and a companion to defend themselves against attacks from several directions at once. However, Narezz was still no match for the Hero, and it was not long before she fell injured to the floor at the Knight's feet.

Before the Hero could do anything, Narezz suddenly began to scramble backward and cry out in fear and confusion, wondering where she was. Her defeat had broken the Emperor's control, and her mind was scattered&mdash;she could not remember anything of the months she had spent under the Emperor's control, but she could still feel how much he hated the Hero. Chul pulled his lover gently to her feet and quietly asked the Knight not to reveal their relationship to the Council, a request that the other Jedi could not grant. Chul understood, however, and told the Hero that he would tell the Council himself. Before leaving, Chul apologized for his previous opinion of the Knight back on Tython, and also told his fellow Jedi that he had overheard Narezz giving orders to a Sith Lord named Fulminiss on the planet Voss.

Visions
"Tala-Reh. Know my vision. Lord Fulminiss in a dark cave. Strange symbols adorn the walls. A corrupted ritual unleashes a plague of madness that drowns Voss in blood. You and the Jedi stand with us. Against him. Meet us in the Nightmare Lands. The Dark Heart."

- Valen-Da

Back aboard their ship, the Knight and crew relayed what had happened on the station to Master Shan. Both Shan and Lord Scourge were alarmed to learn that the Emperor's plans included Voss, because the planet's inhabitants&mdash;the Voss&mdash;were ruled by a group of Force-sensitives called the Mystics. The Mystics did not believe in light or dark sides, ruling their people through visions that seemed to always come true, and they refrained from aligning with either the Empire or the Republic. The Mystics rejected the Jedi Code and believed that the conflict between Jedi and Sith was unimportant to the Voss. Landing aboard the Republic's orbital station over Voss, the crew contacted the Grand Master via holocomm. Scourge explained that the Harrower assassins that the Hero had faced aboard the Emperor's fortress were Sithspawn creations of Fulminiss, as the Sith was a master sorcerer with decades of experience at manipulating life itself. The Order had confirmed Fulminiss's presence on the planet, but several Imperial signal scramblers were masking the encrypted comm relay that he was using to speak with the Emperor. Shan ordered the Hero to disable the scramblers, and the Knight took a shuttle down to the surface with a companion.

The pair landed in Voss-Ka, a mountaintop city that was the only major settlement that the Voss maintained, and took a skyhopper down to Ken-La Outpost in the region known as the Old Paths. Leaving the Russet Slopes, the Hero crossed into the nexu- and mawvorr-infested Flamewood forest in order to find and disable the three scramblers. Just as Shan had predicted, without the scramblers Fulminiss's base was easily detectable. The Knight then stormed the cavern base, cutting through the Imperial guards before emerging in the main chamber to find a Voss female by the name of Tala-Reh. The Voss commando identified the Hero as a Jedi and informed the Knight that she was seeking a Mystic named Valen-Da, who had left one of their holy shrine three days earlier with Fulminiss. When the Knight tried to warn Tala-Reh of the threat that Fulminiss presented to Voss, the conversation was interrupted by several Sith apprentices&mdash;all of whom seemed mad with fear. Screaming incoherently about monsters and demons, the Sith charged, forcing Tala-Reh and the Hero to cut down the insane Humans. Once the fighting died down, Tala-Reh showed the Knight a holorecording that she had recovered off one of the bodies that showed how Fulminiss had reached out with the Force to drive his own apprentices insane. Disgusted, the Hero was told by Tala-Reh to meet her at the Pilgrim Retreat, a supply camp nearby, so that they could continue their search in earnest.

There, the commando informed the Knight that Valen-Da and Fulminiss had been last seen entering the Shrine of Healing, a holy site for the Voss species to the north. As Tala-Reh was forbidden by her culture to enter the Shrine, the Jedi and a companion crossed the Serenity Valley alone and entered the structure, where they were confronted by the Guardian of the Shrine's Inner Sanctum. Informing the Hero that his orders were to let the Jedi pass, the Guardian opened the door to the Sanctum, and the Knight was confronted by three Voss healers in the antechamber&mdash;but the healers began to scream of monsters just like the Sith apprentices had and attacked the Hero, forcing the Jedi to cut the three down. Wary that Fulminiss might be near, the Knight entered the Sanctum's main chamber, but found only wreckage and signs of battle around an ancient stone obelisk. Examining the obelisk, the Knight was confronted by the spirits of three ancient Mystics&mdash;Laeras-Wu, Shanatka-Lo, and Hanar-Ye&mdash;who had been bound to the shrine so that they could share their wisdom through the ages. The apparitions informed the Jedi that Fulminiss was responsible for the destruction: Valen-Da had brought the Sith to the Shrine so that he could learn a Voss healing ritual, but Fulminiss had corrupted the ritual so that it instead drove its victims insane. He had driven his apprentices mad with a similar Sith technique, but the Voss ritual allowed him to draw strength from others in order to extend his reach. Before fading away, the Mystics showed the Hero where Valen-Da had hidden a holomessage and ordered the Jedi to take it to Tala-Reh.

Back at the camp, the Knight met with Tala-Reh and Commander Phraken-Nal of the Voss commandos, and the three viewed the message that Valen-Da had left for Tala-Reh. In it, the Mystic described his vision&mdash;Fulminiss in a dark cave adorned with strange symbols, intending to unleash a plague of madness, but Tala-Reh and the Hero standing with Valen-Da against him. The Mystic ordered Tala-Reh and the Jedi to meet him in the Dark Heart, an ancient Sith ruin situated in the heart of the region known as the Nightmare Lands. The Voss did not have maps of the Nightmare Lands, as they shunned the region for its darkness, but the Gormak&mdash;the planet's other native species&mdash;did possess maps of the Nightmare Lands. Phraken-Nal excused himself to speak with his scouts in the camp, leaving Tala-Reh and the Hero alone together. While waiting for the commander to return, Tala-Reh told the Jedi the story of her husband, a Voss commando who had died at the hands of the Gormak while serving the will of the Mystics. Tala-Reh's husband's sacrifice inspired many to join the Voss commandos, and poems and songs were written about his bravery.

Just as Tala-Reh finished her story, Phraken-Nal returned with news: the maps needed were located in the king's vault in the Gormak city of Gorma-Koss, guarded by an army of Gormak. Phraken-Nal and Tala-Reh would lead commandos in raids within the Gormak Lands in order to draw away the defenders, allowing the Knight to get inside the vault and retrieve the maps. Along with a companion, the Hero traveled to the Gormak Lands and infiltrated Gorma-Koss, destroying the three shield generators scattered throughout the settlement that were protecting the vault and eliminating the native resistance. Contacting Tala-Reh, the Knight learned that her squad was suffering heavy casualties, and despite her protests, the Jedi ordered the commando to begin a fighting retreat. The Hero then attacked the subterranean vault, the entrance to which was located at the base of a massive cannon that the Gormak were constructing to destroy Voss-Ka. Cutting through the surprised Gormak, the Knight descended into the lower levels to find a massively mutated vorantikus&mdash;a native bipedal animal&mdash;radiating dark side energy and telepathically controlling several corrupted Gormak. The Gormak Guardian, as the beast was known, explained that it served a being named Sel-Makor, and that its role was to corrupt the Gormak and spread Sel-Makor's influence. Promising to swallow the Knight whole so that the Jedi would be corrupted and reborn, the vorantikus charged across the chamber and attacked the Hero. The Jedi was able to evade the creature despite its massive size, and after defeating its corrupted servants, the Hero killed the vorantikus and successfully recovered the maps of the Nightmare Lands.

In the Nightmare Lands, the Knight met with Tala-Reh at Shad-Ka Outpost and was instructed to perform a purifying ritual with the help of a Voss named Talan-De in order to ward off the Dark Heart's corrupting powers. The Knight and a companion then traveled to the Dark Heart separately from Tala-Reh, as the monsters and creatures that inhabited the region were more likely to attack larger groups. Fighting through the corrupted beings and animals within the Nightmare Lands to reach the Dark Heart, the Hero entered the chamber known as the Terminus to find a dark pit, overgrown with twisted vines and shimmering with dark energy. Valen-Da and Fulminiss were in the chamber as well, and the Sith sorcerer was furious to learn that the Mystic had betrayed him when Tala-Reh arrived moments after the Knight. Suddenly, a dark voice echoed throughout the room&mdash;the Terminus was the heart of Sel-Makor's power. Sel-Makor was a dark side entity without a corporeal form, so he shared some of his power with Fulminiss and ordered the Sith sorcerer to kill the interlopers and the betrayer. The Sith Lord drew his purple lightsaber before lunging at Valen-Da. Tala-Reh and the Hero jumped to the Mystic's defense, with the Jedi and a companion driving Fulminiss back across the room while Tala-Reh unloaded her blasters against the Sith, and the sorcerer was soon felled by the Hero's blade.

As the dust settled, Valen-Da congratulated the trio on their victory before revealing the reason he had accompanied Fulminiss: so that Tala-Reh would come to the Dark Heart. Valen-Da had learned through his visions that Sel-Makor was the power behind the Nightmare Lands, and the only way that the spread of Sel-Makor's corruption could be stopped was for Tala-Reh to sacrifice herself. By giving her own life to destroy Sel-Makor, the commando would ensure a millennium of peace between Voss and Gormak. Sel-Makor began to rage at the intruders, but without an avatar or agent of his will, the entity was only able to bribe the Hero with unimaginable power in exchange for casting Valen-Da into the pit. The Knight refused, however, and acknowledged Tala-Reh's choice as a noble one. As the others watched in silence, Tala-Reh descended the steps of the maw and disappeared in a flash of golden light that caused the chamber roof above the pit to collapse, sealing the hole and destroying the threat of Sel-Makor forever. Saddened by Tala-Reh's death, the Knight made Valen-Da promise to make sure that she would be remembered by her people and returned to Voss-Ka in order to take a shuttle back to the group's ship.

The Valiant
"The Valiant is drifting out of control at these coordinates. Liberate it, save the admiral and learn the Emperor's plans. Hurry&mdash;the Valiant's crew can't hold out much longer."

- Grand Master Shan

Back aboard the corvette, the Hero and Scourge contacted Master Shan to report their success. However, the Grand Master had bad news&mdash;Warren Sedoru had resurfaced, and he had captured the Republic flagship Valiant, taking its commander Admiral Dabrin hostage. Hoping that Sedoru could be redeemed like Narezz and that he might have information on the Emperor's plans or the whereabouts of Master Braga, the group immediately raced to the Core Worlds where the cruiser was floating adrift in space.

The Knight and a companion boarded the Valor-class cruiser and cut a path through the Imperial boarding forces, making their way to the torpedo chamber where Sedoru was waiting. The fallen Jedi was holding his blade to the admiral's throat as several shock troops held other crew members hostage, and at the sight of the Hero, the troopers shot their hostages and opened fire on the Knight. The Jedi retreated across the room while batting back the blaster bolts at the Imperials, killing several of them and prompting Sedoru to grip the remaining troopers with the Force and throw them out of his way. The former Jedi Knight questioned why the Hero submitted to the Council's control, and triumphantly informed his opponent that Braga would soon lead the Empire to victory in the ongoing Battle of Corellia&mdash;killing billions and starting the Emperor's ritual in the process. Dabrin shouted for the Jedi to kill Sedoru, explaining that he had tricked the admiral into revealing the Republic fleet's security codes, but Sedoru tossed the officer aside and charged at the Knight. Using the Force to shake the ship's deck and batter the Hero with powerful winds, Sedoru fought the Knight across the torpedo room, but the younger Jedi's strength and power soon overwhelmed the fallen Jedi. As the Hero stood over Sedoru, Dabrin again asked the Knight to kill him, but the Jedi refused and ordered the admiral to keep Sedoru prisoner until other Jedi came to collect him. Leaving Sedoru in Dabrin's care, the Knight and a companion returned to their ship and contacted Shan.

Commanding the Jedi
"We need strong leadership to win this battle. I'm naming you supreme commander of Jedi forces on Corellia. [&hellip;] Corellia must not fall. Your mission is twofold; direct our forces to aid the Republic military's efforts, and personally find Master Braga."

- Grand Master Shan

Upon learning that Braga was on Corellia, Shan immediately ordered the Hero and crew to the embattled planet and began marshaling Jedi reinforcements. Upon arriving in the Corellian system, the Knight's ship landed at the Blastfield Shipyards' Shipwright Auxiliary Spaceport, one of the headquarters of the Republic forces under General Aves. The ongoing Battle of Corellia was a massive conflict, claiming thousands of lives every hour&mdash;something that was bringing the Emperor closer and closer to unleashing his ritual. Aves's forces were gaining ground against the Empire, but Shan suspected that Braga would be able to block the Republic's efforts using his knowledge. Therefore, Shan informed the Hero of forthcoming Jedi reinforcements from the Outer Rim Territories, and appointed the young Knight as Supreme Commander of all Jedi forces on the planet. Giving the Hero the location of her contact, Captain Rikdine, the Grand Master urged the Knight to locate the few remaining Jedi on the surface. The new Supreme Commander and a companion found the captain in the nearby Socorro Freight building, where Rikdine gave the Knight the coordinates of the other Jedi, and the Hero set off through the battlefield. In a nearby apartment building, the Hero rescued Unaw Aharo&mdash;now a Jedi Knight&mdash;and a group of Corellians from an Imperial attack. Aharo was saddened that some of the Corellians had paid with their lives for allowing him to use the building as his base, but rallied to the Hero's call and agreed to meet the other Jedi back at the Socorro Freight building.

In the shipyards' Entertainment Plaza, the Hero found a group of Mandalorians besieging the Rusty Freighter Cantina where several Jedi were supposedly located. Cutting through the mercenaries, the Knight was surprised to find Bengel Morr barricaded in the cantina's VIP lounge and watched as the Nautolan quickly dispatched the last two Mandalorians. Morr tried to explain that the Mandalorians had been hunting him, but was overcome with remorse at the sight of the dead mercenaries until the Hero reminded the former Dark Jedi that he was a different person. Grateful for the reassurance, Morr was able to explain that Master Kaedan had sent him to Corellia with three Jedi Masters, but the Imperial-employed Mandalorians had killed the other Jedi and chased him across the district before cornering him in the cantina. At the Hero's request, Morr agreed to meet Aharo and the other reinforcements, and the Knight moved on to locate the other Jedi. In the tunnels below the shipyards, the Hero found Praven defending a group of resistance fighters against Imperial war droids, and joined the former Sith in destroying the attackers. Greeting the Jedi who had redeemed him, Praven thanked the Hero for convincing him to join the Order&mdash;despite being only a Padawan, Praven felt more at home than he ever had before, and he was more than happy to report to Rikdine's base with the other Jedi.

The fourth and final Jedi was another familiar face: Master Kiwiiks. However, when the Hero and Carsen located her in a crashed cruiser, Kiwiiks was about to be killed by a pair of Sith assassins. Leaping to the Jedi Master's defense, the Knight somersaulted over the two assassins and cut them down with a single sweeping cut before they could react. As Carsen helped her former teacher to her feet, Kiwiiks explained that the assassins had shown her a holo of Braga&mdash;who had promptly ordered them to kill her. When the Hero explained the mission to stop Braga, the Togruta Master warned the Supreme Commander that she had never fully recovered from the effects of the Shock Drum on Tatooine. At Carsen's urging, the Knight agreed that Kiwiiks would be most effective if she helped evacuate the Republic's wounded away from the front lines, and the Hero returned to Rikdine's base to meet with the newly arrived reinforcements. True to her word, the Grand Master had gathered Jedi from worlds such as Kinyen, Rodia, Orto, and Duro, and the reinforcements were a mixture of Padawans, Knights, and Masters. Aharo soon assumed a leadership role, and the more experienced Jedi were preparing their younger fellows for battle when their commander arrived. Rikdine immediately put the Hero in contact with General Suthra, who was commanding some of Aves's forces in the Labor Valley sector, and the Mon Calamari requested that his friend bring the other Jedi to his base so that he could place his own forces under the Hero's command.

In the Labor Valley, the Hero was introduced to Magremme Thrakus, the owner of several weapon factories in the region and a major supplier of the Republic war effort. The Empire had captured Thrakus's factories, and Suthra suggested devoting the Hero's forces to retaking the weapon factories. However, when the general was called away by a priority call from Supreme Chancellor Saresh, Thrakus revealed that the Empire had also seized her corporate offices&mdash;where all of her company's funds were stored as precious resources. The businesswoman attempted to bribe the Jedi in exchange for diverting squads of Jedi to liberate her offices, but she was interrupted when Suthra returned with Agent Helver of the SIS. Helver's reconnaissance team had discovered that Braga had dispatched a strike team to destroy Labor Valley, and that they had invaded a chemical refinery in order to create a bomb that would release a massive toxic cloud. As the SIS was unaware which refinery the Sith had taken, the Hero and a companion agreed to shut down several chemical pipelines in the area so that they could narrow down the exact components that the Sith were using. While the Knight departed for the Biochemical Industrial District, Aharo led the rest of the Jedi forces in an all-out assault on Thrakus's factories in order to liberate them, earning the businesswoman's disapproval. After fighting through Imperial war droids in the area and deactivating three pipeline junctions, the Hero was alerted by Helver that the Sith were holed up in the nearby Saxan Chemical Refinery, and the Knight stormed the building with reinforcements from Suthra's forces and the Jedi recruits.

Dodging the Sith and Imperial troopers inside as well as the incineration jets that fired at periodic intervals, the Knight was able to shut down the refinery's incineration systems and access the door to the next section, but several Sith assassins ambushed the Hero and a companion as the pair was opening the door, forcing the Jedi to cut down the attackers before proceeding deeper into the refinery. Battling through over a dozen Sith warriors and assassins as well as several Sith Masters, the Knight eventually defeated their leader Lord Argos and deactivated the refinery's systems, ending the chemical threat. Contacting Suthra, the Hero reported the successful deactivation of the refinery, and the general responded with the news that the Hero's Jedi forces had taken back the weapons factories without a single casualty. Suthra was redirecting the Jedi to the Axial Park district to support the Republic offensive in that district, and he suggested that the Knight join them in their search for Braga there. Thrakus also contacted the Jedi after Suthra to express her anger&mdash;the Empire had stolen all of her company's assets because the Hero had not supported her cause. After the irate businesswoman terminated the call, the Knight took a rocket tram to Axial Park and followed Suthra's directions to the Corellian Science Museum.

Upon entering the fortified museum, the Hero was surprised to walk into a fierce argument between Senator Jol Zackin and Colonel Brint. Zackin begged the Hero and Aharo to rescue the prisoners that the Empire was kidnapping from Corellian prisons, as he believed that they were innocent until proven guilty and did not deserve the Empire's harsh treatment. However, Brint wanted the Jedi's help in attacking the Imperial forces who had massacred several Republic medical camps, and offered advanced military equipment from Balmorra in return for the aid. Zackin was outraged by Brint's attempt at bribery, but the Hero agreed with Aharo that the Jedi forces would fight better for a cause they would believe in. To the colonel's anger, the Hero ordered Aharo to help the senator, and a disgusted Brint told the Jedi that Suthra's scientific advisor was waiting in the next room. The "scientific advisor" turned out to be none other than Doctor Godera, and the scientist was happy to see the young Jedi once again. Godera's probe droids had been searching Axial Park for Sith activity, and they had discovered that the Sith were setting up weapons known as "Firestorm Turbolasers" in three buildings nearby. The turbolasers were focused adaptions of the Desolator, and the Sith would use them to destroy to wide swaths of the city. The Republic could not bomb the buildings because they contained thousands of civilians, but Godera had learned that the nearby Corellian Museum of Starships had a working Imperial assault shuttle that the Hero could use to infiltrate the three towers without arousing suspicion.

Locating the shuttle that Godera had indicated in the Imperial-held museum, the Knight and a companion flew the shuttle to the nearby Korvalus Tower and set it down on the building's landing pad before cutting through the surprised Imperial and Sith forces within. Dropping one of the modified proton torpedoes that Godera had given the Jedi down each of the weapon's barrels, the Hero was gratified to see the barrels fuse shut and explode. The pair then returned to their shuttle and repeated the process at the Tyrelli Habitat and the building of the Gowix Corporation in short order. Returning the shuttle to the Corellian Museum of Starships and traveling back to the Science Museum, the Hero was dismayed to find that it had been attacked while the Jedi had been gone. Godera was dead, and Suthra was furious with the Sith. However, Brint arrived to report that the building was clear and that he had found the doctor's work. Before his death, the scientist had tracked Braga's transmissions to an Imperial battle cruiser hovering above Capitol Square. Determined to halt Braga's plans, the general and the Hero both redirected their forces to the Drall Library in the Government District and met with Erris Wyum of Corellian Intelligence.

Wyum's teams had detected an energy surge from the battle cruiser, the Eclipse, and they believed that the ship's reactors were being overloaded so that it would detonate and destroy the entire sector&mdash;as well as spread radiation across hundreds of kilometers. However, the cruiser was connected to one of the government buildings by a secure turbolift, meaning that the Hero and crew could access the cruiser. While Suthra led his platoon of Republic troops and the Jedi squads in attacking Imperial command centers across the district, the Hero and a companion stormed the building below the cruiser. Cutting a path through the Sith, Imperial troopers, and war droids that occupied the building, the pair accessed the turbolift and ascended to the Eclipse. Once aboard, the Hero fought through the members of the Imperial Navy who crewed the vessel and fended off ambushes and attacks by the various Sith who were serving under Braga. Upon reaching the engine room, the Knight attempted to deactivate the ray shield blocking the way but was forced to fight off yet another ambush by a Sith Lord and another Sith warrior. The Hero and the Jedi's companion quickly dispatched the two Sith before destroying the ray shield's generator with a toss of a lightsaber, opening the way into the engine room. The chamber was empty except for Braga, who was dressed in Sith robes and armor as he waited patiently for the Knight to arrive. The Kel Dor claimed that the Emperor had to succeed in order for the galaxy to be redeemed, and brushed aside the Hero's attempts to draw the Jedi Master back from the dark side. He believed that the Emperor was beyond the powers of both Jedi and Sith, and that the galaxy's weakness meant that it was not worth saving.

Braga drew his red-bladed lightsaber, prompting the Hero to somersault over the Kel Dor in an attempt to end the battle quickly. The Dark Jedi grabbed the Knight with the Force and slammed the Jedi down onto the deck, advancing upon his opponents as the engine above them crackled ever closer to detonation. When the Knight tried to charge Braga again, the corrupted Jedi tore a computer terminal from the wall and sent it flying toward the Hero&mdash;an attack that sent the Knight tumbling backward in order to evade it. Recovering from the roll, the Hero charged Braga a third time with the Jedi's companion, and the three began to duel in earnest. Braga continued to grip his opponents in the Force and slam them into the floor throughout their battle, but the Hero gradually wore down the Kel Dor as the three dueled back and forth across the engine room. A final strike from the Hero sent an injured Braga to the floor, and the Knight rushed to the engine controls to deactivate the overloading machinery. The Hero immediately contacted Suthra, who reported that the fighting had been going well and that he would send Republic troops up to secure the Eclipse. Rising to his knees, Braga questioned why the Knight continued to fight&mdash;why the Jedi continued to struggle when nothing that anyone did mattered. His comments finally made sense to the Hero when the Knight realized a truth about Braga: he served the Emperor because he had never faced failure until their mission to the space station. Braga's belief that light would triumph over the dark had been shattered when he encountered the Emperor, and the Kel Dor broke with it.

Warning that the Emperor would try again and again and again until he successfully completed his ritual, Braga told the Hero to go to Dromund Kaas and confront the Emperor. He also gave the Knight the Emperor's location, believing that the Jedi would be nothing compared to the Emperor even in the Sith's weakened state, and asked the Hero to end his failure. However, the Knight urged Braga to let go of his past and make the galaxy a better place by going to Tython and rejoining the Order. A hesitant Braga surprisingly acknowledged that he felt hope for the first time in a long time and agreed to surrender himself to the Jedi. After ensuring that the Eclipse engines would remain stable, the Hero and the Knight's companion returned to the Drall Library to meet with Erris Wyum. Wyum congratulated the Hero on the spectacular victory, and Suthra arrived with the rest of the Jedi to report similar victories across the district. Suthra announced that all of the Outer Rim Jedi would receive medals for their bravery, and brushed off the Knight's protest that the Jedi served out of duty and not for fame. While the Knight departed Corellia to confront the Emperor, the Hero transferred command of the Jedi forces to the general, who promised to put them to good use in the final push to liberate Corellia, and the Knight returned to the spaceport to contact the Grand Master.

Doomsday
Back aboard the corvette, the Hero immediately contacted Shan with Scourge to report the news about the Emperor and was surprised to learn that the Grand Master was willing to attack the Imperial capital with an invasion fleet in order to buy the Knight time. Scourge would use his knowledge of Dromund Kaas's security to guide the Hero through the Imperial defenses, and the Republic fleet would engage the Empire above the planet in order to draw attention away from the Jedi's mission. The Grand Master immediately began gathering elements of the Republic Navy while the Knight and crew prepared for their mission, and the six set on a course for their target in the heart of Imperial space. Landing on Dromund Kaas amidst the fighting above the world, the group set their ship down on the outskirts of Kaas City and met in the conference room. Scourge was able to identify the coordinates from Braga as the location of the Dark Temple, an ancient edifice built centuries ago as a prison for the Emperor's enemies and a source of dark side energy. The former Emperor's Wrath was also aware of a private shuttle nearby that belonged to the Emperor and carried the security clearance to land at the Temple, so the group decided to hijack the craft. Splitting into pairs at Sergeant Rusk's suggestion to hide their objective, the six departed their ship and infiltrated the capital city of the Empire.

With Dromund Kaas itself under attack, Kaas City was under strict military lockdown, with large sections of the city sealed off by ray shields. The Hero's path took the Knight and a companion through one of the city's memorial squares, and the pair fought dozens of Imperial soldiers, commandos, and even Mandalorians who had been recruited to help police in the city as the duo passed the towering monument known as the Spires of Victory. Defeating a massive Imperial Ravager Droid stationed near the edge of the square, the two broke through a military barricade and continued along the street toward the Emperor's shuttle, which sat on a platform overlooking the chasm between it and the Imperial Citadel. The other pairs arrived at the shuttle around the same time as the Hero, and the group gathered to plan their assault. Scourge would fly the shuttle to the temple, but the Hero would have to face the Emperor alone&mdash;none of the others would be able to resist his influence. Teeseven immediately objected to that, stating that he would go with his friend, since the Emperor had no power over droids. Carsen, Rusk, Kimble, and Scourge would engage the temple's defenders and draw attention away from the Knight, and the Sith's comment that they were all on their own drew scorn from Carsen. Acknowledging that the fate of the galaxy rested on the success or failure of their mission, the comrades prepared themselves and boarded the shuttle.

Upon arriving at the landing platform next to the entrance of the Dark Temple, the Hero and Teeseven fought their way through the various Sith assassins, Imperial Guardsmen, and temple defense droids that were stationed around the edifice. However, no matter how many Imperials attacked the two, the Jedi and the droid could not be stopped on their march to the heart of the Dark Temple, and they soon arrived at the end of the main hallway to find their path blocked by a force field. The Hero was unable to activate the console, so Teeseven began to hack into the temple's systems, but the droid discovered that one of the group had been trapped in the nearby Imperial Guard bunker and was in danger of being overrun. After Teeseven set an automated process to cut the ray shield's power over the next few minutes, the two immediately raced to rescue their ally. The fight to save their friend cost the duo time, however, and the Hero and Teeseven faced even more opposition as they fought their way up the staircase that had been blocked by the ray shield and through the hallway to the Emperor's chambers. As the two entered the chamber, the Emperor&mdash;though unbeknownst to the Knight, it was actually his host body&mdash;uttered a cryptic statement about the beginning of endings and rose to his feet to watch the Hero walk toward the steps leading to his throne. From atop the stairs, the Sith ruler mocked his enemy for sacrificing strength to save an ally before he unleashed a blast of Force lightning that the Knight managed to intercept on the blade of a lightsaber.

Unconcerned, the Emperor summoned three mindform duplicates of himself with a simple gesture, and the Hero cut down one of them while spinning to confront a second. Teeseven hit the third with an ion blast as the Jedi blocked the second duplicate's lightsaber and threw the phantom across the room, and the illusion disappeared when the Hero cut down the droid's stunned opponent as well. By that time, the true Emperor had descended the steps to face the Jedi, and the Sith was entirely unconcerned when the Hero dropped into a ready stance only feet away. When questioned why he desired the destruction of his Empire and the entire galaxy, the Emperor mocked the Knight's limited perception of reality. The Emperor then drew his own lightsaber and summoned six more duplicates of himself as he charged at the young Jedi. Teeseven opened fire upon the solid Force projections as the Hero was forced to fend off blow after blow from the various Emperors, but as the battle wore on the Jedi defeated one phantom after another until the true Sith was sent stumbling back with a strike of the Hero's lightsaber. However, the Emperor was not finished&mdash;as the Knight and Teeseven approached their wounded foe, the Sith sent a shockwave of rippling Force energy intertwined with lightning that sent both of his opponents flying backward.

The Hero managed to somersault out of the uncontrolled flight to land in a ready stance as the Emperor brought himself to his knees. Expressing his disappointment that the Knight's power was wasted on a Jedi, the Emperor unleashed another more powerful blast of lightning from across the room. Sith and Jedi slowly advanced toward each other, with the Emperor continuing to blast the Knight with lightning that the Jedi deflected with a lightsaber, until with a spin the Hero managed to deal a devastating strike to the Sith's flank as the two passed each other. The Emperor fell to the floor in pain, but he warned that he would never be contained or redeemed&mdash;and the Hero would not be the one to kill him. As the Emperor collapsed and fell silent, the Knight contacted Scourge to report victory, and the former Wrath urged the Jedi to deal the killing blow and save the galaxy. Before the Knight could do anything, the Emperor's body became shrouded in a cloud of dark side energy, and the Hero heard the Emperor's voice telepathically warning the Jedi that he would take everything and everyone to the grave with him. The dark energy exploded outward, wracking the Dark Temple with earthquakes and causing it to collapse as the Hero and Teeseven raced to safety, leaving their enemy's body as it was crushed under the falling stone. The six regrouped at the shuttle before returning to Kaas City and their own ship, where the Hero immediately reported the mission's success to the Grand Master so that she could order the fleet to fall back. Shan acknowledged the message and ordered the Jedi to rendezvous with the Valiant and the rest of the fleet back in the Core Worlds.

Victory
"You embody what every Jedi strives to become. Your courage, commitment and leadership have seen us through this dark time. From this day forward, you are no longer a Jedi Knight. You are a Jedi Master."

- Grand Master Shan

Both Carsen and Scourge meditated in their chambers during the journey, and as a result Rusk, Teesven, and Kimble were the first to disembark upon docking with the Valiant. After powering down the ship and rousing the other two from their meditations, the Hero stepped out of the ship to find that Rusk and the others had gone ahead. Republic troopers broke out into cheers and saluted the Hero, Carsen, and even Scourge as the trio passed them, and the three were directed to one of the Valiant main hangar bays. When the hangar doors opened, both Carsen and the Hero were astonished to find a huge crowd of Republic soldiers, dignitaries, and other influential individuals gathered within. Dozens of powerful and important individuals had gathered for the ceremony, such as the renowned war hero Colonel Jace Malcom and Duke Charle Organa of Alderaan, and the Knight even recognized people from the group's past travels: Hare'en from Tatooine, Erris Wyum, Unaw Aharo, and even Ranna Tao'Ven from Tython. At the far end of the hangar was a large dais where Rusk, Teeseven, and Kimble already stood with Admiral Dabrin and the Grand Master, and the crowd burst into cheers as the Hero moved down the aisle with Scourge and Carsen.

The two Jedi ascended the dais to stand with their friends, though Scourge remained at the foot of the platform, casting a wary eye at the number of armed Republic soldiers present. Dabrin praised the Knight's actions, reporting that the news was helping to turn the tide of the war, and reminded the Hero that General Suthra had wanted the Medal of Bravery to be awarded to the group after Corellia. However, Dabrin had something more in mind&mdash;at his request, the Hero and crew were each awarded with the Republic's highest honor: the Cross of Glory. Even Scourge received one, though he claimed that he would only remain with the Knight until he was certain that the Emperor's plans had ended. The Grand Master had another announcement as well: for the Hero's actions and leadership throughout the recent conflicts, she was elevating the Knight to the rank of Jedi Master. In her eyes, it did not matter that the Hero was young&mdash;the Jedi's wisdom, power, and strength of character meant that the Hero was more than ready for the rank. Turning to the crowd, she reminded those present why they fought: for the hope of peace and victory for the Republic, and the crowd burst into applause at her words.

Continued travels
"You embody every ideal in the Jedi Code. The Council is unanimous in its decision to name you Battlemaster of the order."

- Satele Shan

After the ceremony, the six would continue to travel the galaxy and aid in the war effort on different worlds, including the fighting against the Empire on the ice world of Ilum. During the battle, the Sith Lord Darth Malgus declared his own empire in the absence of the Emperor, though the usurper was ultimately defeated by the combined forces of the Republic and the Empire.

Sometime after the defeat of the Emperor, Carsen received a surprising message from Suri, a Child of the Emperor who had been one of the Jedi's childhood friends on Korriban. The Child was begging for Carsen's help, as she still heard the Emperor's voice in her head, and Carsen was one of the only people known to have broken the Emperor's control. The news disturbed both Carsen and the Hero, who answered Suri's call and met with her in a cave on Voss. Though Suri was half out of her mind, the two Jedi were able to calm her enough to communicate with her, and the Child revealed the Emperor's voice was not making any sense&mdash;it was changing commands every second as it raged against the galaxy, and Suri begged the two to kill her and end the pain. The Hero and Carsen's discussion on what to do was interrupted when two other Children of the Emperor arrived and ordered the Jedi to back away from their sister. Carsen identified the leader as Tannac, another Child she remembered from Korriban, and warned her former Master not to provoke the "vermin." Tannac curtly explained that they would help Suri regain control, and that if the Jedi tried to take her to Tython she would die. At Tannac's urging, Suri acknowledged that she did not want to be free of the Emperor, and the two Jedi begrudgingly allowed Tannac and his fellow Child to leave with Suri. The news that the Children might still be hearing the Emperor's voice greatly concerned both the Hero and Carsen, though the two agreed that they would stop the Emperor if he managed to somehow return.

Later in the war, the Hero's group found themselves on the planet Rishi, a pirate haven on the edge of the galaxy. While in the city of Raider's Cove, the Jedi Master was called through the Force to an old house on the western edge of town. There, the Hero found the Force ghost of Orgus Din, who revealed that the house was where he had been born and raised before he was brought into the Order. Counseling his former student, Din asked the Hero to perform some tasks for him in order to bring the Jedi Master into touch with peace again. At Din's instruction, the Hero delivered cures to a number of villagers who had been infected with Corellian Tanamen Fever, and repaired the town's damaged monsoon baffles in advance of the coming storm season. After clearing large amounts of rubble from damaged buildings, the Hero returned to Din's house, where the Jedi's spirit revealed that his presence had another purpose. The Hero's efforts had brought the Jedi back into touch with the core of the light side, and thus Din could help his student heal an old scar&mdash;the suppressed memories of the Emperor's training and influence over the Hero. With Din's aid, the Hero accepted what had happened, and was purified of the Sith's remaining influence.

Not long afterwards, the Empire and the Republic entered into a temporary alliance in order to combat the Order of Revan and their leader, the mad Force-user Revan. Revan had survived death, but in his insanity, he sought to purge the threat of the Emperor from the galaxy permanently; the Emperor's spirit had survived his battle with the Hero and was clinging to life on the moon Yavin 4. To do so, Revan needed to bring the Emperor's spirit back to a physical form, but both the Empire and the Republic believed that Revan would be unable to defeat the Emperor and would thus unleash the Emperor once more. The Hero of Tython was among a number of Jedi, Sith, and heroes of both the Republic and Empire who banded together and confronted Revan in the Temple of Sacrifice. Revan was defeated by the coalition, but the Emperor regained his strength regardless and vanished from the moon, declaring his intent to reclaim the galaxy.

After Revan's defeat, Grand Master Shan met with the Hero to convey news&mdash;the Jedi Council had voted unanimously to name the Hero as the Order's Battlemaster. In that role, the Hero would provide strategic insights to the Council, serve as a lightsaber combat instructor to the Order's best students, and lead the battle against the restored Emperor. However, in 3637 BBY &mdash;not long after battle on Yavin&mdash;the new Battlemaster vanished around the same time that the mysterious Eternal Empire attacked and conquered both the Republic and the Empire. The Hero's companions searched the galaxy for their friend, but their efforts were in vain.

Personal characteristics and morality
"No &#39;victory&#39; over the Sith ever lasts. We wipe them out, they turn up again. Doesn't feel like we're winning.''" "''It isn't about winning and losing, Kira. It's about the people we protect."

- Kira Carsen and the Hero

Even as a young apprentice, the Hero of Tython believed wholeheartedly in the power of redemption. The Knight was not one to hold a grudge and was willing to forgive enemies and help them onto the path of the light. Ranna Tao'Ven was one such example; when it was revealed that Tao'Ven had betrayed the Hero's Master to Bengel Morr, the Jedi realized that she had done so to protect her people, but she was unwilling to allow her villagers to kill the Padawan after the young Jedi had aided them. When Tao'Ven asked for forgiveness, the Hero readily granted it and urged the matriarch to dedicate herself to making things right.

The Knight made frequent use of meditation to center one's emotions and heal, and rarely succumbed to anger or fear. The young Jedi's belief in the redemptive powers of the light side gained powerful allies in Praven and Bengel Morr, and that faith helped Kira Carsen break free of the influence of the Sith Emperor himself. Even the Sith Emperor was not above redemption in the Hero's eyes, despite how insistently Lord Scourge disagreed, and it was not until the battle with the Emperor himself that the Knight realized the Sith ruler would never allow himself to be redeemed. The promise of power held no attraction for the Hero even as a Padawan, and the Knight refused offer after offer from various Sith who tried to lure the Jedi over to the dark side.

While the Hero did not enjoy taking lives, the Jedi understood when it was necessary in order to save the lives of innocents. True to the Order's tenet of humility, the Hero disliked praise and medals, believing that it was a Jedi's duty to serve the Republic regardless of the cost or rewards. The devastation of Uphrades truly shocked the Hero, and the Jedi became determined to ensure that Darth Angral did not take another life from that point forward. The Knight respected honor and loyalty and was able to use those qualities in Praven and Watcher One to convince the Sith and Imperial that they were not truly enemies. However, the Hero's devotion to the Jedi Code caused the Jedi to occasionally clash with the womanizing Archiban Kimble and left the Knight at odds with Scourge. Kimble's liking of wealth, fame, and women ran against the Code's tenets of humility and emotional peace, while the former Emperor's Wrath was openly disdainful of the Order's creed and traditions.

Leadership abilities
"If you surrender now, your soldiers will have died in vain. Is that what you want? What about the man inside that base waiting to be rescued? You'd abandon him? This is a moment of truth, Sergeant. Do you give up and let evil win, or stand up and fight?"

- The Knight inspires Sergeant Nidaljo to fight

Able to inspire even the most downtrodden and broken soldiers to follow the Knight into battle, the Hero earned the loyalty of many individuals during the Knight's travels. The Hero quickly developed into a natural leader during the early days of the war against Darth Angral, and the Jedi's experience in both combat and negotiations made the Knight the primary candidate to lead the Jedi and Republic forces on Corellia. Under the Hero's leadership, the Jedi forces suffered no casualties during the Battle of Corellia, and the inexperienced Jedi quickly became a formidable fighting force.

The Jedi's leadership qualities were not limited to the battlefield, however. When situations began to dissolve into chaos, such as after the raid on the SIS base on Nar Shaddaa or when Nikollan Kord learned of Madel's treachery on Balmorra, the Hero was quick to seize control and calm even the hottest of tempers. The Knight was also politically savvy to a point, though the Jedi disagreed with Kira Carsen's view that the Order should lead the Republic as political figures. When Nikollan Kord turned on the Jedi and the Republic in an attempt to steal the cloaking device, the Hero was able to compromise with the embittered resistance leader so that all sides benefited instead of resolving the situation with bloodshed.

Relationships
"You will live forever as heroes of the Republic. Jedi Knight Kira Carsen&hellip; Sergeant Fideltin Rusk&hellip; T7-O1&hellip; Doctor Archiban Kimble&hellip; [&hellip;] Even you, Lord Scourge. Though you joined us for selfish reasons, you saved more lives than your own."

- Grand Master Shan awards the Hero and crew the Cross of Glory

During the Knight's travels, the Hero gained a group of five companions: the astromech droid T7-O1, the Hero's Padawan Kira Carsen, the medic known as Kimble, Sergeant Fideltin Rusk of the 301st Infantry, and the former Emperor's Wrath, Lord Scourge. Despite their different personalities and backgrounds, these companions were bound together by their relationships with the Hero of Tython&mdash;some owed the Jedi their life, others followed out of loyalty and friendship, and some out of duty and respect. As the six worked together on battlefields across the galaxy, they came to rely on each other, and the group's personalities were greatly shaped by their interactions.

T7-O1


"Jedi + T7 = greatest heroes ever // T7 = stay with Jedi forever! ''" "''Don't worry, little buddy&mdash;wherever I go, you'll be at my side."

- T7-O1 and the Hero

T7-O1, affectionately known as T7 or Teeseven, was an astromech droid with a remarkable and storied past, having existed for over two hundred years before his first meeting with the Hero of Tython when the young Jedi rescued him from the Flesh Raiders. The droid would later join the Hero, still an apprentice at the time, in the Jedi's mission to rescue Orgus Din from the clutches of Bengel Morr, and he would continue to accompany the now-Knighted Jedi to the capital world of Coruscant. During their time together, the Hero learned a great deal of Teeseven's past and convinced the droid to reassemble a set of files left by Shafu, one of Teeseven's former partners, in an attempt to locate the ex-slaver.

Teeseven had a great deal of respect for the Hero of Tython and was the Jedi's longest and most loyal companion. A quirky and fiercely independent droid, Teeseven believed that together he and the Knight were unstoppable and approved wholeheartedly of the Jedi's dedication to serving others and how often the Hero put one's own life on the line to defend the galaxy from the threat of the Sith. The droid was also ashamed to reveal that he had worked with Shafu willingly during the Rodian's slaving operations, but the Hero told the little astromech that it was fine&mdash;Teeseven and Shafu had later learned the error of their ways and changed.

When Teeseven almost gave up on reassembling Shafu's files because of the difficulty, the droid told the Hero the story of how he had failed in a mission to capture a GenoHaradan assassin who tried to kill a Muun ambassador, but the Jedi was able to inspire the astromech to continue working by convincing Teeseven that he had not failed&mdash;while the ambassador had resigned after the attempt, he had lived a long and prosperous life afterward thanks to Teeseven, and that was a success in the eyes of the Hero. As Teeseven was the only one of the Jedi's companions who could safely face the Emperor without being controlled by the crew's enemy, the droid accompanied his friend on the team's mission to the Dark Temple, where the duo successfully fought and defeated the Emperor despite the Sith's unimaginable power.

Kira Carsen


Kira Carsen first met the Hero of Tython when she was still the apprentice of the Togruta Jedi Master Bela Kiwiiks, having been sent to reinforce the then-Padawan in the young Jedi's mission to an ancient shrine on Tython. She was immediately impressed by the Padawan's combat skills, as Master Din's apprentice had just defeated a half dozen Force-wielding Flesh Raiders. She later aided the newly Knighted Jedi in a battle against the Sith Lord Tarnis, after which she was appointed as the Knight's new Padawan.

Joining the Jedi Order at the age of eighteen, Carsen occasionally chafed under the Order's restrictions on emotion, but the privilege of being a Jedi was the most important part of the young woman's life. Like her Master, Carsen was more than willing to risk her life to defend those who could not defend themselves, and she was horrified by the Emperor's goal of consuming all life in the galaxy. During her tenure as the Hero's apprentice, Carsen's past as a Child of the Emperor came to light, but the Knight's trust in the girl was enough to convince the Jedi Council of Carsen's unshakable loyalty to the Order. She also developed a powerful bond with her teacher, one that allowed Carsen to overcome her possession by the Emperor and break free of the Sith's indomitable will &mdash;a feat that only a handful of individuals, including the Hero, were able to accomplish.

During the hunt for the Emperor, the Hero trusted Carsen enough to have her join the mission to the Emperor's space station, despite her misgivings about the lack of fear that she perceived in their enemy's mind. Carsen's sarcastic and confident persona hid her insecurity and fear of losing her life as a Jedi, and it was only with the support of the Knight that she was able to tell the Council the truth about her past. Carsen also shared her views on the Jedi with her Master throughout their travels, and the two often discussed the Order's role and purpose in the galaxy. Unlike the Hero, Carsen believed that the Jedi needed to be in power, as they possessed the capability to make things better&mdash;and she wondered whether the Republic was in its current state because the Jedi refused to take charge. She also believed that the Jedi's focus on morality and restricting passions sometimes prevented the Order from getting done what needed accomplishing, though she acknowledged the Hero's point that the Code and the Order's rules kept the Jedi grounded.

Archiban Kimble


"Looks like ol' Doc got here just in time. How have you survived with a droid and Little Miss Uptight as your only friends?"

- Kimble, after joining the Hero's crew

The combat medic Archiban Kimble, better known as "Doc," was an individual almost on par with Lord Scourge in terms of ideological differences with the Knight when the Hero first met him. A roguish womanizer with a history of pursuing wealth and fame, Kimble was amazed how the Jedi refused to be tempted by emotional attachments and the Hero's adherence to the Jedi Code. The medic's personal belief was that the members of the Jedi Order should allow themselves to feel emotion in small amounts during their training, like one would do to build an immunity to poison&mdash;a way of "immunizing" oneself against the temptation. Kimble's desire for fame and glory often caused friction between the pair, and the man was furious when he learned that his attempt to cure the Hutt Suudaa Nem'ro of a rare disease was spoiled when a bounty hunter killed Nem'ro before his treatment could have an effect.

However, despite the persona he projected, Kimble was actually a remarkably selfless person once he encountered people in need. Like the Hero, Kimble would willingly risk his life to aid those less fortunate, and he put his considerable skills and medical knowledge to use in order to save lives whenever possible&mdash;regardless of whether those lives were refugees or Imperials. When Kimble realized that the members of the Balmorran Resistance were willing to turn on the Republic for their own personal gain, he left their ranks in disgust and joined the Hero's crew, where he found a new purpose. Throughout their time together, the Hero came to realize that Kimble truly believed in the Knight's cause, and both respected each other greatly for their drive to save those who could not save themselves regardless of the consequences.

Fideltin Rusk


"You aren't expendable, Sergeant. I thought you would've noticed that by now.''" "''I&hellip; appreciate the compliment, Master Jedi."

- The Hero and Sergeant Rusk

Sergeant Fideltin Rusk was a Republic soldier who first met the Knight on the battlefields of Hoth, where the Chagrian aided the Hero and Leeha Narezz in their mission despite the loss of one of the squads under his command. A grizzled veteran who had been hardened by years of combat and personal losses, Rusk greatly appreciated being able to serve alongside a Jedi of the Hero's caliber and found the Knight's devotion to serving others a remarkable quality. He also believed that the Jedi Code was something that could greatly improve the Republic Military if adopted.

Early in their time together, Rusk grew concerned that the Knight might think badly of the casualty rates in his recent military history. Rusk confided in the Jedi the story of his first command and how they had fought against overwhelming odds to complete their mission with a 97.4% casualty rate but no fatalities. The Chagrian believed that soldiers were meant to be used, and while losing men hurt the Republic, their sacrifices gave more back&mdash;a viewpoint that the Knight was forced to agree with, having experienced warfare firsthand on battlefields across the galaxy. He was also pleased to learn that the Knight was not a die-hard pacifist as his parents had been, as their refusal to stand up to oppression had resulted in their deaths at the hands of the Empire.

Scourge


"You expect me to trust you?''" "''No. I expect you to lead me."

- The Hero and Lord Scourge

Lord Scourge's relationship with the Hero of Tython was unique amongst the Knight's companions&mdash;it "began" several centuries before the Jedi's own birth. Scourge sacrificed his allies Revan and Meetra Surik in order to survive long enough to aid the Hero when the Knight finally arrived, paying a terrible price for his immortality. When the Emperor's Wrath finally did meet the Jedi on Quesh, he began plotting his defection and set his plans in motion several months after the Knight's capture aboard the Emperor's space station. Scourge respected the Hero as a valuable ally and was willing to lay down his life in the quest to destroy the Emperor, but made it very clear to the Jedi that he had no qualms about killing the Knight and going in search of a new candidate if it turned out that the Hero could not defeat the Emperor.

The two respected each other, but there was also an element of mistrust that neither tried to conceal&mdash;despite their common goal, the Hero was a Jedi and Scourge a Sith. Both the Knight and Scourge attempted to change that, however: each of them attempted to draw the other over to their side of the Force throughout their travels together, and Scourge was openly disdainful of the Jedi Code. Scourge even told the Jedi point-blank that his attempts to turn the Knight to the dark side were simply for his own amusement. However, their relationship also benefited both of them&mdash;the Emperor's Wrath once acknowledged that he learned more of the Force from Revan and the Hero than he had from the Sith, and the Knight agreed that Scourge's views had their merits.

Powers and abilities
"It's easy to excel when you're trained by the best."

- The Hero of Tython

Even for a Jedi Knight of the time, the Hero of Tython was remarkably skilled in lightsaber combat. As a Jedi Initiate, the Hero was acknowledged as exceptional in battle, and the amount of praise given by the Knight's early teachers convinced Master Derrin Weller to send the Padawan into combat against the Flesh Raiders immediately upon arrival, despite the Hero's status as a mere apprentice. Weller's trust was proved valid when the Padawan was able to defeat the lightsaber-wielding and more experienced Dark Jedi Callef armed with only a vibrosword. During the Hero's time as Orgus Din's apprentice, Din came to trust his Padawan deeply and was able to send the Hero on missions against great numbers of Flesh Raiders with little or no backup and be confident of success. Din considered his Padawan's bravest moments on Tython to be during the conflict with the Flesh Raiders, when the Hero and Teeseven fought their way through an area controlled by an army of Flesh Raiders, and when the Padawan successfully defeated the far more experienced Bengel Morr with only a training lightsaber.

The Hero's last action as a Jedi Padawan was to construct a lightsaber, the crystal of which was initially blue in color, though the color of the blade might have changed throughout the coming wars with the Empire. After being promoted to Jedi Knight, the Hero traveled to Carrick Station, where the young Jedi chose the path of either a Jedi Guardian or a Jedi Sentinel. While the Hero's main expertise laid in the use of a lightsaber, the Knight was also proficient in the use of the Force in combat. The Hero made frequent use of Force techniques to augment one's physical abilities, such as leaping great distances and moving with Force-enhanced speed. Telekinesis was another power that came naturally to the Knight, as well as the ability to guide a thrown lightsaber to the intended target across a battlefield.

The Knight was well-versed in many galactic languages beyond Basic. Having communicated with individuals from a wide array of species, the Knight was fluent in Durese, Rodese, Houkese, Binary, Huttese, Jawaese, Nautila, and Twi'leki, as well the languages of the Selkath and many others. The Hero underwent technical training as a Jedi beyond that of an average individual.

Behind the scenes
"In a sudden moment of clarity, [Scourge] saw the Emperor lying defeated at the feet of a powerful Jedi&hellip; but that Jedi was neither Revan nor Meetra. And the Sith Lord knew what he had to do."

- Scourge's vision of the Hero, within the narrative of the novel Revan

The Hero of Tython represents the Jedi Knight player character in Star Wars: The Old Republic, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game released by BioWare and LucasArts on December 20, 2011. The storyline of the Jedi Knight character was written by Hall Hood and Drew Karpyshyn, the author of the Darth Bane novel trilogy and the tie-in novel The Old Republic: Revan. Daniel Erickson worked as the lead writer on the entire project, deciding the overall story and maintaining consistency between the classes, although Hood and Karpyshyn were responsible for the main story.

The male Knight is voiced by David Hayter, and the female Knight is voiced by Kari Wahlgren. The Hero is unique among the eight class characters in that the Knight was the first to be mentioned in a source outside of The Old Republic game itself: the Hero appears in a vision to Scourge in Drew Karpyshyn's tie-in novel Revan, during the Sith Lord's fight with Revan and Meetra Surik against the Emperor. The novel introduces a great deal of backstory for the events of the Jedi Knight class, in addition to the history of the Empire itself, and sets up the events of Act III for the Knight as well as the Flashpoints involving Revan. Flashpoints are multiplayer mission series where teams of players go on assignments to various locations and participate in the storyline of the Flashpoint. However, these missions are repeatable and do not fall in any explicit place in the timeline, and they can also be accomplished by teams of up to four, so for simplicity the Flashpoints are excluded from the Hero character's story until further confirmation.

Rise of the Hutt Cartel, the first digital expansion of The Old Republic, expands players' storylines by sending the player to the planet Makeb. However, as all four Republic classes can participate in the Republic storyline on Makeb, the canonical identity of the character whom the Supreme Chancellor selects to travel to Makeb is uncertain. Therefore, this article refrains from including content from Rise of the Hutt Cartel until there is further information.

Game mechanics
"As far as I'm concerned, the 'canonical' identities of player classes are determined solely by their individual players."

- Hall Hood

As a playable character in a video game, many aspects of the character's identity are customizable and therefore not yet confirmed in canon. A prime example would be the Advanced Classes: once they reach level 10, players can choose to become either a Jedi Guardian or a Jedi Sentinel. As the advanced classes are a gameplay mechanic and are player-determined, the Knight's canonical status as a Guardian or Sentinel is unknown. Each advanced class grants the player mastery over different lightsaber forms, as well as different abilities and even the use of Jar'Kai as a Sentinel, so many of the Knight's canonical abilities and combat preferences cannot be determined.

The Old Republic is a largely customizable game in which players can choose how their characters react to different situations and what to say in conversations, meaning that the possibilities are seemingly endless when it comes to defining the canonical character. Almost every single quest in the class storyline has alignment options, where the player may make choices that reward light or dark side points and may have lasting effects on the course of the story. The overall storyline is the same regardless of the player's choices&mdash;Darth Angral will still die, the Emperor will be defeated, all companions will join the player's party&mdash;but smaller details, such as whether or not certain minor characters die or return later in the game, like Bengel Morr or Praven, are customizable and therefore have no set outcome. However, as the Jedi Knight is a Republic character, this article assumes that the player only makes those decisions that result in the maximum light side points. In addition, this article does not include any of the side missions that can be completed by any class, as it is unconfirmed what individual completed these missions in canon.

Name and identity
"I know your face. The one who defeated Darth Angral. The Hero of Tython."

- Jomar Chul

Since the character's name is player-determined, the Knight is referred to in the article by various titles or roles. The title "Hero of Tython" is awarded to the player at the completion of Act I, after the Knight has defeated Darth Angral and meets with the Jedi Council. The player is subsequently referred to as the Hero of Tython by many characters in the Knight's later class quests. As it would be impossible to include player-created names in voice acting, the player character is never referred to by name except for in loading screens. The Old Republic features game summaries similar to the opening crawls that appeared in the original six Star Wars films, and these summaries change to describe the current events as the player progresses through the class storyline. The player-created name appears in these summaries, but not in any in-game voice material or written content. The 2012 reference book Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia also adopted the practice of referring to the Knight character by the in-game title of Hero of Tython.

The gender and species of the Jedi Knight character are player-determined, so the canonical description of the character is unknown. This article therefore presents the Knight as gender neutral. At the initial release of the game, the Knight could choose to be a Human, Miraluka, Mirialan, Twi'lek, or a Zabrak. As of Game Update 1.2: Legacy, players can unlock four other species&mdash;Chiss, Cyborg, Rattataki, and Sith Pureblood&mdash;if they reach Level 50 with another character of that species.

The Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia contained a two-page summary of the Jedi Knight's class storyline, as well as infoboxes for each of the five companions. On the summary pages, the Jedi Knight was depicted as a male Miraluka with one lightsaber and armored robes, signifying that he was a Jedi Guardian. This character appeared in two images from the Jedi Knight mission "Doomsday," where the player fights the Emperor, and also in another scene from the mission on one of the last pages of the guide. The summary page also shows a Knight in armored robes with Kira Carsen, facing Darth Angral on the Oppressor, but the character's face is not shown. However, game writer Hall Hood, who was one of the primary writers for the Knight class, confirmed that the depictions of the Hero of Tython and the other class characters&mdash;most of which consist of contradictory images&mdash;are not intended to be canon. According to Hood, the Jedi Knight character is intended to be around 18–20 years old at the beginning of the game. The 2014 Digital Expansion included class-specific missions during the shared mission chain on the planet Rishi, and each class features a different conversation at the end of the expansion's storyline. Therefore, this article assumes that the Rishi mission and the ending occurred, and refrains from associating the Hero with the primary storyline of the expansion beyond those points.

Companions and romances
"I'm not fighting this war for anyone but the woman I love. The one who makes this ship into a home. I'll spend the rest of my life with you, Kira&mdash;if you'll let me.''" "''Of course I will. Thanks for asking."

- A male Jedi Knight asks Kira Carsen to marry him

"Alright, here's the deal. I'm good-looking, smart, and charming. I'm a top-flight medical specialist who does charity work. I've completely stopped looking at other women, which should be physically impossible. Bottom line, I'm pretty sure I love you. The galaxy could end any second&hellip; but that's no excuse not to get married. Can't believe I just said that.''" "''And in a strange twist of fate, turns out you're the only person I can truly count on. I don't care what the Jedi Code says&hellip; I love you. And I want us to be together."

- A female Jedi Knight accepts Kimble's proposal of marriage

Within the course of the game, players receive a total of five companion characters. The first, the astromech droid T7-O1, is received near the end of the Tython storyline in the Prologue, and the second companion is the Padawan Kira Carsen, acquired on Coruscant. The third and fourth companions, Archiban Kimble &mdash;known in-game as "Doc"&mdash; and the soldier Fideltin Rusk, are received in Act II on Balmorra and Hoth respectively. The fifth and final companion, Lord Scourge, is received at the end of Act II, and is unique amongst the five in that he first appeared outside of Star Wars: The Old Republic, in the novel Revan.

However, only one companion may accompany the player at any one time, and for most of the game, the player can select which one. Therefore, this article does not refer to the companions by name unless the companion is required by story constraints. T7-O1 accompanies the player in the final mission on Tython, most of the Coruscant missions, and the missions on Ord Mantell, while Kira Carsen is required for the final Coruscant mission and the fight with Valis. Doc joins the player in the last mission on Balmorra, and Teeseven is the required companion in the finale confrontation with the Emperor.

If the player chooses to be a male character, they can romance and eventually marry Kira Carsen, while female characters can romance Doc. Both Carsen and Doc have a series of over a dozen conversations, with two side missions for Carsen. The other companions also have conversation series and side missions, although the numbers vary depending on when the companion is acquired. These conversations reveal a great deal about the companions and can also define the player's character, but as the character is still highly customizable, the Knight's personality&mdash;as described above in this article&mdash;is only defined by what is presented throughout the non-optional segments and the light-side options.

Appearances

 * The Old Republic: Revan
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic
 * The Old Republic: Annihilation