Sphax.

Some say the lack of star and eternal night on Sphax made it uninhabitable. To most it was. But when your hiding places have been diminished and you've nowhere to go, Sphax would be the perfect option, wouldn't it? For Mare Skywalker, it was.

Mare was out of hiding places and needed a place to continue his research. Research that could save the universe. He decided on a world that no one would think anyone would be able to survive on. With subzero temperatures and beasts lurking in the darkness, Sphax fit the description. Mare took his research and a small group of people to Sphax and began a colony of sorts.

Mare spent the next 22 years on Sphax. He watched the colony evolve into a full blown base and enough men to make up an army.

Most nights on Sphax (note that I will use the term "night" even though it is always night on Sphax) the vicious winds blew through the rocky surface of the dead world, making a loud whistling noise as it hit the rocks and mountains, but not tonight. Tonight a louder sound filled the night. A deadlier sound. It was the sound of men, screaming in pain as they died that drowned out the whistling wind. It was the sound of women and children screaming and crying as they tried to escape the chaos and death. It was the sound of blaster shots and explosions as the Cascade army assaulted the base.

The Cascaders attacked in the midst of night (the people on Sphax usually took a certain time to sleep and that is their "night") when no one was expecting it. By the time they showed up on the radars it was too late. The Cascaders assaulted the base from the air and ground. The small night patrols of Rebel soldiers stood no chance against the large army.

Mare was alerted as soon as the shots rang out. Most would expect a military official such as Mare Skywalker to rally his men to fight back against the oncoming enemy. But Mare had something more important on his mind. Something that outweighed the lives of all in that base.

He had Lt. Gregg rally his men. After the order was issued Mare grabbed a blaster rifle and took off through the base. Blaster shots whizzed past him, explosions blinded his vision, ships narrowly crashed into him as he navigated through the base. After a lot of running he had reached his destination.

He stopped at the smallest, most pathetic facility in the entire compound. He took a second to examine it before making his way to the door. He held out a small card in front of the scanner on the door and after a second of scanning it accepted the card.

The door slid open to reveal a small room, filled with computers and machinery. The high-end technology lined the walls and made rows through the center of the small room. Mare, however, was not interested with the shiny, and expensive models of machinery. No, he bolted to the very back of the room and scanned the back wall until settling on a small insignificant piece of machinery.

This machine was a TPX-008. It was the oldest known model of Storage Capacitor. Rust lined every square inch of the small machine and it appeared as though it wouldn't even function. This is exactly what Mare wanted it to appear as, however, it was the most important piece of technology in the room. In the entire Base even.

Mare pressed a small button on the top of the Capacitor and it lit up. Lights flashed, motors whirred, and after a minute the little machine was powered on. Mare began typing on the console, searching through archives of memory in the TPX. He found what he was looking for. Decades of research all stored in the small TPX. Research, that to Mare, was more important than his own life.

He reached for an amulet around his neck, an amulet he never took off. He sighed, "I never thought, not in a million years I would ever have to do this." He pried open the amulet and pulled from it a small MacroStore chip, no bigger than his thumbnail. He plugged the small chip into the TPX and started downloading the files onto the chip.

"This'll take at least 20 minutes." Mare muttered to himself as he read the display across the screen, "machines." Suddenly he heard yelling from the other side of the door. He reached down for his blaster and heard more voices and banging. He ran to take up position behind a row of electronics.

Sweat beat down his brow as he waited for what came next. Whatever came next, he told himself, he would have to be ready for. All fell silent from beyond the door and Mare relaxed for a moment. For a moment that nearly killed him.

BOOM! The entire room shook violently with the explosion that destroyed the door. Mare dropped to the ground immediately. Debris and smoke flew around the room and blaster fire shot down the small room.

Mare poked his head out and began firing at the two Cascade troops that entered the room. They both fell to the ground with blaster holes through their chests, and three more troops replaced them. Mare was a hardened and skilled warrior and he knew what he was doing. He took up a new position on the wall next to him where the smoke was thickest. He fired more shots and one of the troops screamed as a blaster bolt found its way into his head.

The two unfortunate troops that were left had no idea where Mare was firing from because of the smoke of the blasters filling the room. Every time a blaster is fired it releases a small amount of smoke. When the smoke was getting thicker it let you know how close you were to overheating the weapon. This is what Mare wanted. The more smoke there was the more hiding places Mare had, and believe me, Mare was good at hiding.

He took out the last two troops and took a look back at the TPX. Only 10 minutes, he told himself, I can handle 10 more minutes. He waited in the thick smoke for more troops to enter the room, however, he found himself waiting for nothing. The stall in the action lasted for a couple minutes. By the time more troops entered the room there was little to no smoke left and Mare was out of hiding places.

The troops spotted him immediately and he ducked behind a row of electronics. He counted at least ten enemy troops with blasters pointed at his position but none were fired. He crouched behind the machines, hands gripping tight to his own blaster, waiting for either side to make a move. The other side moved first.

Mare heard it before he saw it. A small metal disc rolled across the floor and stopped right next to him. The small disc expanded and Mare immediately dove from his position. The small disc exploded with an earsplitting sound. Mare clutched his ear with one hand and fired at the enemy troops with the other. At least three went down as he took cover behind another machine. He felt warm blood come trickling down from his half-deaf ear.

Mare knew he had little options left in order to defend the small TPX and the MacroStore chip now downloading files that could save the universe. He reached for his belt and pulled off a small sphere no bigger than his palm. He waited for a stall in the firing and rolled the small sphere down the room. It stopped right in front of the troops and it, too, expanded but instead of exploding and deafening its enemy it did something even more deadly, it shot out lasers.

The small orb shot out at least 50 different steady laser beams down their side of the room. The beams criss-crossed and intertwined with one another to make it impossible for those caught in it to move without being fried by them. However a few unfortunate troops were hit directly when the beams were put out, killing them instantly. The other troops were caught between beams so close, they couldn't even move their fingers to pull the trigger on their blasters.

Mare came out from his hiding place with a triumphant stride. He checked the screen on the TPX and he only had to wait three more minutes before downloading was complete and he could get out of there. Then it hit him, how would he get out of there?

Before he could contemplate an efficient escape plan he froze immediately. The room seemed to grow colder, the troops tensed up as well, and the air about the room smelled of death. It was him. Mare felt him before he saw him. I don't know if we could even refer to him as a "him" he was more a being. A being of pure death.

This "being" strode into the room, into a corner where the array of lasers did not touch. He donned black, tattered robes, dark as night. He wore a mask that only some can describe as being the face of the devil. His hood hid any sign of being human or otherwise any type of known species. His hands, oh his hands looked as if they were talons, mechanical talons, also, black as night. His feet were hidden by wicked boots with stains of blood on them. He was at least a foot taller than any other person in the room.

"Darth Vearance." Mare said, hiding his trembling voice quite well, "Dark Lord and leader of the Cascaders."

"Mare, oh Mare." Vearance purred, "how i have longed to meet the leader of the Rebellion!" It was unable to tell if he was truly happy or merely sarcastic for his mask hid any sign of emotion.

Mare gripped his blaster tighter. "You're too late Vearance! The download is almost complete!"

"Ah, yes, but, Skywalker, how are you ever going to get out with your life?" Vearance said reaching for something beneath his robes. He pulled out a small handle, a little longer then a mans fist. Mare was not deceived by how pathetic the handle looked, for he knew what that handle held within it.

Vearance noticed Mare's fear. "So you know of this weapon?" Vearance asked eyeing it up and down as though he'd never seen it before. "I'm sure many of your soldiers do."

Mare pointed his blaster at the Dark Lord. "Enough games!"

"At least let this fight be fair." Vearance said smoothly. He pressed a small button on the handle he was holding in his hand and a steady beam of light exploded from the handle. The beam was maybe three feet long, crimson red, and had enough power to rip through DuraSteel. Mare was sweating furiously now for he knew what came next.

"Ah the men who have fallen to my blade." Vearance said admiring the sword of light in his hand. "You know, I've even killed a Skywalker before. What did he call himself? Oh, yes, his name was Karter. He had no business wielding a blade such as this." He held out the blade and deflected one of the beams back at the small orb, destroying it. The lasers that just previously filled the room were now gone, freeing the soldiers. They rushed forward, toward Mare, but none of them made it.

Darth Vearance, faster than light, was on top of the soldiers in a heart beat. The first troop found the crimson blade through his chest, the second one was decapitated as Vearance made a steady arc through the first into the second, and the third found himself standing only feet away from the Dark Lord. Vearance held out his hand and lightning shot from his fingertips into the final soldier, electrocuting him to death. Vearance turned on Mare.

"Fools." He said finally, "I thought I made it clear that I would be the one to kill you."

Mare was out of options. He looked over at the TPX. It was done. He rushed to it and grabbed the MacroStore chip and thrust into his pocket. He turned to see the tall Darth Vearance looming over him. He calmly stared into the Dark Lord's eyes and shot at his stomach.

Vearance deflected the blaster shots and looked to see Mare running for the door. He held out his hand and Mare found his body being stopped by a great force, immobilizing him.

"Ah, the power of the force." Vearance said pulling Mare toward him, "The Sith are very skillful with it. I guess that's why we never lose." By now Mare was right in front of the tall Sith Lord, struggling against the force hold Vearance had on him.

"You...may...kill...me." Mare struggled to get out, "but...rebellion...never...die."

"But how will they survive without you?" Vearance purred holding his blade up to Mare's head, "Or without a home!" Vearance thrust his blade of light into Mare's head.

Mare felt like he was falling, falling through darkness. Visions passed through his mind, visions of his base being destroyed, his men all dying, and his wife, taking his son and fleeing Sphax. He wanted to see his newborn son.

"Daxon." He said smiling, "He should be named Daxon." With that, Mare's mind shut off on him.

The Dark Lord released his grip on the now dead Mare Skywalker. "Pathetic." He said, "but after tonight the Rebels will be no more." He was interrupted when another being came into the room, aslo donning black robes. He was much shorter than Vearance, and his hood darkened most of his face, but it was apparent that he, too, was a Sith Lord.

"Darth Sear!" Vearance said as the younger Sith dropped to one knee before Vearance, "my apprentice! How is the invasion going?"

"Good, master." Sear said now rising to meet his master, "the last of the Rebels have held themselves up in the barracks area."

"Ensure that they are wiped out, Sear." Vearance said know crouching and searching through the pockets of Mare Skywalker's body.

"M-master." Sear asked astonished, "is that, Mare Skywalker?"

"No my apprentice." Vearance said, rising with the small MacroStore chip in his hand, "it was Mare Skywalker, now it is nothing more than a dead Rebel." Vearance slid the MacroStore chip into his robes. "See to it that no Rebels survive."

"Yes master." Sear said now turning and exiting the room.

Vearance walked to the door and turned looking at Mare Skywalker's dead body. He pulled the MacroStrore chip from within his robes and studied it. "I have much work to do." He said as he turned to leave the room.