It was quiet where we were. Rooda and I sat up at the top of the canyon of Ikana with hand in hand, we faced away from the canyon to the vast desert. Everything seemed fine, I didn't see anything going on. No movement on the planet's sandy surface. Then the sand started to vibrate, and a small hill started to grow out of the ground. The sand poured down the hill as it grew taller. Then all the sand fell to the ground and it wasn't a hill at all. It was a large black hooded head. It was a Sith Lord, with it's hood hanging over his head, only revealing a sagging jaw with crooked teeth. It laughed as a long wrinkly hand began to grow out of the ground next to it, and it sank it's long fingernails into the sand. The giant hooded figure began climbing out of the ground cackling, pulling itself out of the desert floor. It towered over me and Rooda as we backed away, then we stopped at the edge of the canyon. The giant Sith Lord was above and over us and a long, lethal drop was under our hoofed feet. The Sith Lord laughed a raspy, evil laugh as it reached out for me with it's massive hand, and my vision faded to black.

I gasped and opened my eyes again, my head jerked straight up, and I looked around. I was in my bed, in the cave in Ikana Canyon. I turned to my left to see Rooda still sound asleep. I sat up in the bed, pulling the leathery blanket off to my side. I stood on my hoofed feet and stretched my back and arms, and rubbed my eyes with my metal fingers. I looked around the cave and saw my communicator started to vibrate on my belt. I walked over to the stone table to answer it. I pulled my communicator off the belt and opened it, an image of the Rebel Captain of the Alliance Starfighter Corps appeared. It was my old friend Rakine Cerivian.

"What is it, Rakine?" I yawned widely, exposing my fanged teeth before closing my mouth again, to clear my throat.

"Sorry to wake you, Ven-" he stopped and cleared his throat as he put on his rebel pilot helmet over his slick black hair, "-Lord Venison. I had expected you to be awake by now."

I walked to the cave entrance door and slowly opened it, poking my muzzle and face through. I looked up at the dark red sky, as the red sun began to rise over Ikana Canyon.

"It's barely even dawn." I moaned irritably and closed the door. "You know the different systems have different daytimes. What is it?"

"We have been hearing rumors from Kommaden that another rebel base is hidden on the remote planet, Dantooine."

"Dantooine?" I asked him. "Isn't that where the Jedi Master Windu fought in a battle during the Clone Wars?"

"That's the one. We have only rumors from the people of Kommaden that a second rebel base is hidden over in Dantooine. We have no proof so we cannot validate it as a fact or debunk it as just a rumor. But if it's true, we must be careful though, the Dantooine system is up in the galactic north. Where the Empire continues to try gaining more territory."

"Well what, you want me to just pack my things and get over there to take a look around for this base?"

"All I said was we've heard rumors."

"You want me to check Dantooine for a Rebel base nonetheless."

"Pretty much, yeah."

I sighed and nodded.

"All right. I guess I'll take a look at it. But what about Rooda? I can't just leave her here-"

"You're right Eyt. You're not leaving me here," I turned around to see her stand up from the bed and yawn, grabbing her rope belt from the stone table and tying it around her waist. "I'm coming with you."

"Roo, no. What if it's dangerous?"

"You've been on dangerous missions without me too much." She sighed and stuck her dueling lightsabers under her belt so they stuck on her person.

"Okay, you can come with me to Dantooine. But please try not to stay out of danger's way?"

"Eyt, listen. I know you really care about me and my safety and it's really sweet, but you have to stop worrying about me so much. I can handle everything just like you. Remember back on Zant wen I was the only female Zan-Deer Warrior? Yeah, I can do this." She looked at me resting her hands on her sides.

"All right. I believe you." I nodded submissively.

"I'm too good at negotiating, am I?" She chuckled as she walked for the door.

"Yeah." I grinned. "We're on our way, Rakine."

Rakine's image nodded and faded, I turned off the communicator and stuck it to my belt. I wrapped my belt around my waist over my metal abdominal plate and I Force pulled my cloak to me. I put the cloak on and rest the large cape over my shoulders. I grabbed my combat boots on the way out the door and we walked toward my ship, the Zant's Nightmare. The doors opened and I sat in the pilot seat, Rooda sat in the chair next to me, and the ship picked up off the ground and up out of the canyon and into the sky. The red sun began to rise and as we reached the atmosphere, Ikana's sandy surface turned bright red from the light of the red sun. I activated the ship's long sails and flew off into space, back to Yavin 4, to reunite with the Rebel Alliance and to find more information on the rumored base said to be on Dantooine. Rooda turned to me.

"Do you think it's true? Do you think there are more rebels somewhere else?"

"I don't know. Rakine said that they don't even know if its true or not. But we can hope that if it is true, they are going to help us stand up against the Empire."

"Galactic peace sounds really good right about now." Rooda sighed. "Why did the Empire rise in the first place? I can't remember Rakine's story."

"I think he said that the Chancellor Palpatine too control of the Republic and renamed it the First Galactic Empire. Turned out he was a Sith Lord, Darth Sidious, and so he started a campaign to try and take the whole galaxy for his own control. And the Old Republic would be gone forever.""

"Wow," Rooda turned to the windshield in the front. "So the Sith are the evil that we've tried to destroy?"

"We'll, not all Sith," I cleared my throat and she looked at me.

"Yeah. Not all. But the Empire, do you think that's what the Sith wanted to do? Take over the galaxy and possibly destroy everything?"

"I don't want it. That's why I'm against the Empire."

Rooda nodded.

"But you're a Sith nonetheless, a good one. I remember when you became a Sith, we went to Naboo, and you tried to train me with the Force, but- I just don't feel it. What if I can't use the Force?"

I closed my eyes and felt the air around me, only a small rift of Force energy resonating from Rooda.

"I can feel something. You might just be able to learn quite a bit. I'm not fully sure, but we can try."

"Well, you've been through the same thing before. How did you learn to use the Force?"

"If I remember what Rakine said when I first became Force-sensitive, he said just feel it around you. If you listen carefully, it will speak to you. It will guide you."

She looked down to her hand and flexed her fingers. She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, thinking silently. She's trying to see if it works. I continued to sail the ship to the Yavin system to the Rebel Alliance base and we sat silently, I kept feeling for tremors in the Force to see if Rooda could learn it. So far not one.