Join him

Lana (thinking): I can feel the raw power of the dark side flowing through my veins. The power to use the **** I have never used before... What is that feeling? Was that truly due to the strong emotions he made me feel due to the ****? Could the dark side truly be that powerful...? If I want to destroy Dooku, I must have this power for myself! I won't allow him or anybody to treat me like this ever again! To be able to defend myself, I have to learn how to use this unlimited power!

Lana: I... I will join you! Teach me how to wield this power! I can feel it! The dark side within! It's calling out for me, it wants to be unleashed! The Jedi never showed me anything this powerful!

Dooku: Good. This is but a friction of the true power you might possess one day. Your extraordinary midichlorian count suggests, you will surpass almost any living being in terms of **** powers.

Lana: What...? But I don't have that many in my blood... Only about 6 or 7 thousand.

Dooku: So you have been told. I have run a test on you while you were ****. Care to know the result?

Lana: Of course...!

Dooku: Your midicholrian count is almost 20 thousand, my child. Do you know what that means?

Lana: How many...?! That's impossible...!

Dooku: It is true, you can see for yourself. Only one being possesses a count higher than you.

Lana: The chosen one... Anakin Skywalker...

Dooku: Indeed. You two have the potential to surpass anybody in the whole universe.

Lana: But... Why didn't the council tell me of this...? I deserved to know...!

Dooku: Do you see? The lies of the Jedi are hard to see through, but you have began walking the right path to achieve that ability! I too was blinded by them for a long time... Too long. They were afraid of you, Lana, just as they were afraid of the young Skywalker back then, when he was brought to the order. The master were clinging to their power, if either of you were strong enough to challenge their authority, they would have to concede it.

Lana: This is unbelievable... How could they...

Dooku: Under my guidance, nothing will be kept away from you. You can have everything, if you serve me with loyalty. Speaking of which, as a beginning, I will release you from your restraints.

Lana (after Dooku deactivates the restraints with the ****): Thank you...

Dooku: From this day forth, you may call me master.

Lana (kneeling in front of him): Yes, master...

Dooku: Goood, gooood. You are learning fast. It will save a lot of time we could have wasted on disciplinary measures. You will have but one final test before you could join me. I will return shortly, in the meantime, focus yourself, adapt to the new unrestricted powers that are now flowing inside you.

Lana: Yes, master. I'll be ready.

He leaves the room and locks the door. You are still a prisoner, but at least you are no longer restrained. You sit down and try to think the whole situation through...

Lana (to herself): Could it be true...? Was the council really hiding my true potential for this whole time? Was I their sacrificable pawn all along? Maybe Dooku is lying... But why would he? I must check those results as soon as possible to verify his words... If true, who knows what else they aren't telling me? Did master know of this?! What if he was assigned to restrain my powers and not allow me to surpass the other masers?! Maybe we were intentionally sent here to die after all...

As you are debating about what you have just learned, you hear a female voice.

?: Don't do this Lana, don't throw away everything you have earned up until now!

Lana: Who is that...?

Kotor 1 spoilers!

You see a blue **** ghost walking through the wall.

**** ghost: I am Bastilla Shan, master of the Jedi order.

Lana: Bastilla...?!

Bastilla: I understand what you are going through, more than you would know... I was a Jedi once, whom was captured by Darth Malak. He tortured me for days, weeks, without end... My suffering was indescribable... The horrors I had to face... But you know that feeling all too well. It brought the darkness in me to the surface, I was never pure to begin with, he just enlarged my dark traits. The same has happened to you. Don't follow that path, I have walked the same road, it will lead you nowhere, but to your own destruction!

Lana: But you eventually rejoined the order, so you didn't follow the path to the end!

Bastilla: Yes, Revan saw the goodness within me, even after the terrible things I have done... He saved me from myself and **** the order to accept my return, even to allow us to marry, despite the strict laws of the Jedi, not to be allowed to form attachments.

Lana: But it was due to the power of Revan that you could live happily together, because the masters of the order feared his strength!

Bastilla: No, that's not what I meant to say! You are mocking my exactly like your ancestor, Canderous Ordo did! I hated him at first, but later I saw he too had goodness in him. Only buried very, veeeery deep... Don't bury the goodness you have now, it will be way harder to unearth it later!

Lana: You know best how insincere the council could be! They hid Revan's identity from him! Who knows what they were hiding from you too! They didn't tell me how powerful I might become! How should I trust them after such lies?!

Bastilla: The council might not always be right, that's true... We are all just people, we do mistakes. But they always have a reason to hide critical information from those who shouldn't be aware them! They must have had a good reason not telling you that!

Lana: Yes, sure, or they could be cowering inside their little council room, high between the clouds, standing above everybody else in the order!

Bastilla: I cannot and don't even want to defend the council in this debate... All I want is to save you, as I too was saved! Lana, please listen to me...! Turn away from the dark side, or it will consume you in the end and destroy you, your friends, your clan, the Jedi, even the whole galaxy! Heed my words, please!

Spoilers over!

She disappears just as quickly as she came.

Lana: Well, you don't get to see that every day... Maybe she was right, but... I don't know...

The door opens and Dooku reenters the room.

Dooku: I have returned with your lightsaber. You are going to need it, but first, you have to pass the test of loyalty. Follow me.

You are brought to an other cell, with a Duros prisoner inside.

Dooku: Now, my apprentice, use **** lightning on him!

Lana: I don't know how to do that...!

Dooku: Ah, yes, Jedi don't teach their Padawans anything these days... Here, I'll show you how it's done.

He touches your head and uses a **** mind trick on you, to take control of your body.

Lana: Wha...?! What are you doing to me...?!

Dooku: I am using your body to teach you how to do **** lightning. It is a lot faster way to teach this way, as your body experiences the stance and your mind the feelings. Now, then, watch and learn, young one!

He forces you to send lightnings into the poor creature. He is shouting all sort of unintelligible words as he is in pain.

Dooku: Now, try it for yourself!

Lana: Yes master!

You try to repeat it, but you don't quite manage to get it working.

Dooku: I will be repeating the procedure over and over again, until you learn it, but I will also send lightnings at you for your failure!

Lana: What?!

Before you had time to react he sends lightnings at you, just as you did to the Duros a second ago.

Lana (after he is done): Ah, that hurt!

Dooku: It will be quite the motivation! Now, I will use your body again to do it, watch carefully!

After a few more demonstrations and motivations, you finally learn the trick and manage to shock the unfortunate Duros on your own.

Dooku: Excellent, it wasn't so hard now was it? Now, kill him.

Lana: Kill him...?

Dooku: Yes, to embrace the dark side, you must be merciless! Finish him off, so we can start your test!

Lana (after a bit of a hesitation): As you wish, master!

You close your eyes to shield yourself from the sight of the suffering of the poor man. You don't stop the lightning until you don't hear any sounds from him. When you open your eyes, you see his fried and dead body, laying on the ground. It fills you with a strange warmth you have never felt before! Sure, you have killed a few enemies one or twice, but never without a reason! This is something else, you almost enjoy the feeling of the power of having taken a life so easily!

Dooku: Good. Now, follow me, your test begins immediately!

You are brought to yet an other cell, but this time, your friends are inside!

Ranvi, Drek and Jereli: Lana!

Lana: You all?!

Dooku: Repeat what you have learned and kill them!

Everybody: What?!

Dooku: Your ears must be growing old if you have problems with your hearing at this age. I told you, kill them, like that Duros! Only than, will the dark side truly become your ally! I will grant you your saber once the deed is done.

Lana (thinking): This is a completely different thing now...! Kill my friends and master...?! I, I can't do that...! But what else could I do? They are dead anyway, the only difference is, that I might survive if I follow through my command!