Two Journeys

They stopped in front of the tunnel's entrance. There was nothing but impenetrable darkness ahead. Behind them, the deserted valley lied silent, with no sound besides the occasional whistling of the wind. One of the figures removed its hood, letting his face show. It was a young man. The seven moons, each with its own apparent size, either for its actual mass or its distance, illuminated a little of his features. They were heavy, like some great hatred was weighing him. He had a short discreet beard on his slightly dark skinned face. He should not be more than twenty years old.

He felt the cool breeze squeeze around his short black hair, but it brought him no relief. That place was ominous, but with such a majesty to it. He could feel an intense energy pulse from every rock, every crack in the ground, from the planet itself.

"You can feel it, can you not?" a deep male inhuman voice said. It belonged to the other hooded figure. "The dark side is strong here. Centuries of teaching, of great battles, of treachery, victories and defeats could not be swept away so easily. Korriban will never lose this power. It's as part of the planet as the magma that burns miles beneath our feet".

"What do I have to do, Master?" the young man asked humbly.

"You must enter the cave, and retrieve something that lies deep within it. Your training is coming to an end, my apprentice. This is the last test of your abilities".

"What will I find there?"

"That depends only on you, apprentice. I want you to find a Sith lightsaber I hid there many years ago. You will come back with it, or not even bother coming back", the master demanded. "Do not underestimate the power of those long dead. Nothing is impossible with the Force. Bring me that lightsaber, my apprentice, and you will be one step closer to your destiny".

"It will be done, my Master", the apprentice assured with a slight bow, and without a single moment of hesitation, he stepped inside the darkness of the cave.

He walked through the dark tunnel, not needing to rely on his eyes when he could almost see by the Force currents that flowed in multiple directions by the place. But in time, his eyes got used to the dark, and he was able to distinguish the shapes in the blackness. There were two sections of supporting columns in two separate lines. He was walking between on a path between them. Some columns were broken, and their pieces were scattered around the place. Surely the fights during the academy's fall had made some damage.

The fools, the apprentice thought, wasting their energy in a useless struggle for power when they could reorganize and strike the Republic when it had its guard down. But it did not matter. The Republic would fall. No matter what Revan or the so called Jedi Exile could do. They had disappeared since years now, and were probably dead.

In these thoughts, the young man took longer to notice the shadow behind him, that didn't belong to him. He looked back, but there was nothing there anymore. It was like a denser blackness amongst the shadows. Many would be afraid, but the apprentice did not let fear come. Sith did not fear. Then it came a sound. Steps. Slow and sinister steps. He turned around to the path ahead and saw who it was.

There was a man, wearing lordly red clothes with a black cape. He was bald, and opaque tattoos spread over his head. His lower jaw was hidden by something similar to a large metal collar. The apprentice immediately recognized the entity before him. Darth Malak ignited his red-bladed lightsaber and charged to attack.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She woke up suddenly, feeling the cold sweat on her face. She sat up quickly, breathing hard as if she had ran miles. Her heart was beating so fast that she thought it was going to jump out of her chest. A man with a lightsaber had just tried to kill her… But it was in a dark cave…. Somewhere… But she shook her head in an attempt to get rid of those thoughts. It was just a dream. A nightmare, most likely. There was a hooded person that told her something… but she just could not remember what. But the words "master" and "apprentice" came back to memory, but still made no sense.

But it was just a dream. She was safe, in the Refugee Transport, traveling straight to Nar Shaddaa. At least safer than she was in her homeworld, Onderon. She got up from her bed and walked to the wall mirror. She seemed fine. It was the same Jenna of always. The same woman that did not celebrate her twentieth first birthday because of a Sith attack. She did not even remember it in the confusion, when Sith starfighters filled Onderon's skies and opened fire.

The planet was still recovering from the damages from the Mandalorian Wars. The Mandalorians had started their crusade precisely on one of Onderon's moons, Dxun, and surely, the planet was the first to fall under their might. They had taken her mother and her older brother away from her when she was only five. Now it was only she and her father. Aran Grann was laid in another bed on the other side of the small room. The man was in a sound sleep on his sleeping compartment, snoring lightly. Jenna merely smiled amused with the snores. She really loved and admired her father. He had taught her everything he knew.

Grann was a skilled Tech Specialist on Iziz, fixing and building droids and other kinds of complex machines. His older son was his student, and was meant to be in charge of the family's business when he got older, until the tragedy came. With his wife and son's death, Aran took his daughter as his "apprentice", and taught her from simple repairs in moisture evaporators to complicated ones with many kinds of droids and devices. She really worked hard to make her father happy, and he was very proud of her effort.

Jenna's thoughts were interrupted when her father moved under his blanket, slowly waking up. The man yawned and stretched his arms, drowsy, and looked upon his daughter.

"Up already Jen?" he asked, scratching his head, running his fingertips over his graying dark hair.

"I just couldn't sleep", she said evasively, turning to look outside the window.

"You look like you've seen a ghost. Must have been a hell of a nightmare", he said, concerned, sitting up.

"It was nothing, really. Just a crazy dream… It didn't make sense at all"

"Jen", Aran insisted, reaching for his daughter's hand and holding it caringly, "Tell me what's going on. You've been thrashing in your sleep ever since we left Onderon"

Jenna looked at her father's worried eyes. Those eyes, always full of affection and care, could convince her to do anything. Finally, she yielded, and sat down beside him, looking down to her own feet.

"I've been having those nightmares since some weeks", she started, "It always involved two people. Two men, always wearing those… dark robes and hoods. One of them was telling the younger one that there was something he should do. My vision was always blurred and I couldn't see where or who they were. Only this time I saw they were near some… cave. It was dark, and the younger one stepped inside. He needed to find something there, but I can't recall what. Then… some other man with a lightsaber appeared and struck us"

"'Us'?" Aran asked.

"I couldn't tell. He attacked the younger man, but it was if we were the same person. It's crazy… But as I said, it's just a dream. Nothing to worry about it, right? So, do you want me to bring your breakfast?"

Aran stared stubbornly at her.

"Jenna, I'm worried about you. If you keep having those dreams again and again, it may mean something"

"Dreams don't mean anything, Dad. They're just dreams", Jenna replied, equally stubborn.

"Jen, I know by experience that such things have a meaning. Your brother…" he suddenly silenced, like he had just noticed he was saying too much.

"What? My brother what?" she insisted.

The man shook his head lightly and smiled at his daughter.

"Nah, nothing important. And yes, I think I'd like to have breakfast now"

Jenna frowned mistrustfully, but did not extend the discussion. She left the quarters and in some minutes came back with a plate of generic food, a cup hulta juice and two pills for Aran's heart problems, all on a plastic platter. The old man ate his food with some disgust. The food they had on the Refugee Transport was terrible. At least the juice was good. It was impossible to take away the sweet taste of hulta fruits with poor kitchen skills. Jenna just sat back on her bed and started updating her data pad.

"Don't you want to eat anything, dear?" Aran asked.

"No, Dad, thank you. I'm not hungry right now"

"What are you doing with that?" he referred to the data pad in her hands.

She turned the screen of the small device to her father's direction, allowing him to see what she was doing. The face of her mother was on the screen. It was a photographic recording they had taken years ago. Aran smiled.

"Yeah, I miss her a lot too", he said compassionately.

Jenna got back to look at the screen, admiring her mother's face.

"You really look like her", the man commented, "She would be so proud to see the beautiful woman you've become"

She smiled, flattered. Her father was right. Her face really carried many traits of her mother's. Their skins had the same exotic dark tone; their hair was beautifully wavy and black as space itself; their smile carried the same feeling of merriness and joy. And they had the same eyes; of tone that changed between amber and green depending on how light fell upon them. Jenna was proud of each thing she inherited from her mother. Her death had left a terrible empty in her heart. And her brother's as well. He was always a good friend for her. He really looked after her, playing around with her when he was not working and teaching her what he knew whenever she asked. It was the most terrible moment of her life when she lost them.

The fateful morning when she was playing with the family's utility droid, completely unaware of what would happen in the following hours, would never leave her memory. Her mother was busy at the kitchen, preparing their lunch; her father was at work in his store, and her brother was supposed to be with him. Jenna remembered feeling strange before the distant rumbling of the Mandalorian Basilisk ships became audible. It was like a sound, but unlike any sound she had ever heard. But it was forgotten when the explosions begun.

Her mother had run to the window to see what was happening. Jenna, a small child at the time, covered her ears and started to cry seeing her mother so scared, that mixed with the explosions of the starships shooting at the buildings and houses. The woman had taken her child in her arms and took her to the basement, which was especially shielded against these kinds of attacks. She told Jenna to stay there, and that she would be right back with her father and brother. The minutes Jenna passed there in the dark basement, feeling the earth rumble as more and more explosions sounded outside, fearing the worst for her family. Her silent cry stopped when she convinced herself that she had to go after them.

Running outside of her house, Jenna found a confusion of people in panic in the streets, running to their houses to check on their families, or simply to look for shelter. The skies were filled with threatening Mandalorian starfighters and capital ships, shooting down on the bigger buildings. The terror she felt to see such safe-looking buildings collapse… she could swear she could hear the screams of the people inside them, and then the silence after their death. But she focused on finding her family. She screamed for them, running through the streets.

She managed to get to her father's store, and saw that the man was helping some costumers to hide in his own safe basement. Aran got shocked to see his daughter there, but before he could tell her to hide with the other people, she told him that her mother had gone after him and her brother. The fear that showed in Aran's face stayed in Jenna's memory forever. He told his protocol droid to take care of her as he ran outside the building, screaming for his wife and son.

The droid, B3-K8, was not programmed to deal with such situations, and Jenna easily escaped his grip and ran after her father. She could barely catch up with him, but she just knew where he was going. Like he was leaving an invisible trail in his way that only she could sense. The chase extended to the spaceports, where Aran had sent his son to sell a protocol droid. At the entrance of the first building, Jenna screamed for her father, who heard her and stopped, asking desperately what she was doing there, and reminding that she had told her to stay in the store.

Jenna remembered looking at the station's entrance and hearing the sound again, but in a more desperate way, like a warning. Then all she could remember was fear taking over her, and her screaming and begging that her father did not go in there. It all happened too fast. A shot from one of the cruisers hit the main communications tower of the spaceport, making the whole place fall apart. Many explosions occurred in consequence, as the power generators were destroyed with the falling debris.

Aran protected Jenna with his own body, as a wave of dust spread all around them, and the endless rumbling hammered their ears. Later they found out, painful as it was, that both Jenna's brother and mother were there when the place collapsed. They were gone. Jenna felt confusingly guilty, thinking that her father would blame her for not letting him enter the station and find her brother and mother, but he never thought so. He actually thanked her, for had he gone there, he would have died as well, and Jenna would be completely alone. Their lives were never the same.

Months under the Mandalorians' grip had completely changed Jenna's attitude. She hated them deeply for killing those she loved, and once, despite her father's warnings, she yelled at the Guard Captain. As a punishment, she was made an employee of the soldiers, carrying ammunition, delivering messages and many other things. She was basically their errand girl.

It did not take long for them to give her other uses. They saw in her the attitude and the drive of a warrior, and trained her in their ways of battle. For their surprise, she accepted that training willingly. When she turned 12, she was a dangerous fighter, as proficient with a blaster as she was with a vibroblade. She would never be the helpless girl in the Mandalorian attack again. Never. She trained hard to become strong enough to protect her father. She hated the Mandalorians for taking the ones she loved away from her. Not that she was looking for revenge. She wanted to make sure that such tragedy would not repeat. Yet she did not know what she would do if the opportunity for score settling showed.

Yet, the Republic's forces, led by Revan, the Jedi who had disobeyed the Council, managed to free Onderon from the Mandalorians. Jenna wished she could have fought, but she had to keep her father away from the fight. Onderon, finally free, slowly started to recover, and was going rather well. Until the internal political issues started, of course. Queen Talia, the rightful heir to the throne, was in constant competition with her cousin, General Vaklu, commander of the Royal Army. Badly was Onderon was free of the Mandalorian Wars, and it was on the break of a civil war.

The Jedi Civil War, which was started by Revan himself, who was thought to be the savior of the Republic, leading a faction known as the Sith, spread a second wave of chaos through the galaxy, except for Onderon, which was kept away from the struggle for some reason. Probably because it had little ties to the Republic, despite having been saved by them. And then finally civil war fell upon Iziz, filling the city with utter chaos.

A Jedi Knight had aided Talia's forces, and Vaklu was defeated. But constant civilian rebellions would still take place, with those still loyal to Vaklu. Jenna and Aran's droid store was destroyed in one of these. Onderon was not safe anymore, so they decided to move before the tyrant General could be freed by his followers and start another war.

Yet the Sith were all gone, apparently. Revan was betrayed by his apprentice, Darth Malak, and joined the Republic to take him down, for unknown reasons. The remaining Sith turned on each other, and that caused their own destruction. Even the Sith academy on Korriban was all but destroyed… Wait a minute, she thought. Korriban! That was the place in her dream. The dry valley with the rocky formations and the… "dark side" presence mentioned by one of the hooded figures… 'Here I go again', she thought. Putting away the memories of that dream, she got up from her bed and walked towards the door to take a walk around the ship.

But then it happened. A boom was heard from the outside, and the ship shook violently, causing Jenna to lose balance and almost fall, having to hold on to the wall panel.

"What was that?!" she asked.

"We're being attacked!" Aran exclaimed, getting up, "Hurry, we need to get to the escape pods!"

Hitting the "open" button on the panel, Jenna and her father stormed out of their quarters, rushing through the corridors trying to get to the escape pod chambers. Many other refugees were crowding the hallways, scared. It only slowed their progress, and the constant impact of the ship being shot was not helping.

"Let's get a shortcut", Aran said, pulling Jenna by the wrist to an empty hallway.

They ran through it, until a loud mechanical sound reached their ears. They stopped and looked around.

"They're coming aboard", Aran said.

"Who are they?" Jenna asked.

"We better not stay long enough to find out. Let's go"

They kept running, going through more corridors, trying to reach the escape pods before something bad happened. Jenna heard a familiar faint sound, and felt her heart clench.

"WATCH OUT!"

She braked and held her father's arms and pulled him back, and before either of them could assimilate the situation, a blaster bolt flew through the space that Aran's head had occupied a fraction of second before, hitting the wall on its way. Aran looked back at his daughter.

"How…?"

"C'mon, let's go!" she rushed, but it was too late.

From another hallway, about five soldiers with silver sleek armors appeared, pointing them with blaster rifles.

"Hands up!" one of them shouted.

But suddenly, Jenna heard the faint sound again, and the result was almost as if it had told her something. She grabbed her father and jumped aside to the corridor they were before, just as the ship's guards appeared from the opposite end of the hallway and opened fire on the intruders. If Jenna had not gotten herself and her father out of the way, they would be hit by the bolts. The two opposing groups of soldiers engaged in combat, practically forgetting about the two passengers.

After helping her father getting back on his feet, Jenna heard the clanging noise of metal hitting the ground. She turned back to see a vibroblade and a blaster, half in their hallway, apparently dropped by a just-killed guard. Swiftly, she rushed to grab the weapons and at the same speed she came back before she could be hit by a lost shot. She gave her father the blaster rifle and kept the vibroblade for herself, and they continued their way down the corridor.

"That's it. The escape pods are in the next room", Aran said.

"Wait. What's that sound?"

They stopped just in front of the shut door, and listened carefully. Blaster shots and dying screams could be heard.

"They're killing everyone that's trying to reach the escape pods!" Jenna realized.

"It's our only way out. Hide in the corner", he pointed to the corner just beside the blast door.

Confused, Jenna obeyed. Aran took something from his pocket and typed something in the wall panel in front of him. Leaning against the wall beside the opening door, he threw a small spherical form through it. Jenna could only hear a startled gasp from one of the troopers before a deafening boom made the ground shake. Her father had thrown a sonic grenade of his own make.

"Quick! Let's go!" he rushed her as he entered the room.

It was long room, with another doorway on the opposite end. There were four of the invader soldiers lying dead around the floor, having been thrown away by the explosion. The wall on their right was filled with blast doors that lead directly into the escape pods, each with their respective wall panel. Aran rushed towards one of them as Jenna quickly searched the troopers' bodies to find something they could use. She found some grenades and grabbed one of their blaster rifles for herself.

"What? It's locked by a code! What were they thinking when they put this?" Aran exclaimed.

"Can you hack the system?"

"Yes, but it'll take some time. I think…" his speech was cut short as his eyes landed on the dark form at the door opposite to the one through which they had entered.

A woman, wearing some kind of black combat suit, was leaned against the wall behind her, playing with her ebony-black ponytail like she was bored. A grin spread through her pale face, amused with the pair's startle.

"You two are smarter then the other refugees if you got this far", she said with a calm yet threatening voice, like there was inherent ferocity behind it that could be released as she pleased. A subtle danger.

"Dad, keep trying to bypass the code. I'll cover you", Jenna whispered to her father before pointing her blaster rifle right to the woman's forehead, "Now who are you?"

"Me? I am Lilith. You are dead"

Lilith took something from her belt, and it was with shock that Jenna realized what it was. A lightsaber. In a desperate attempt to kill her, Jenna cast multiple rapid shots of her blaster against the woman. This one switched on her weapon, and the red-colored energy blade extended from the dark metal hilt and almost immediately after, waved it expertly in front of her, right in the way of each dangerous blaster bolt, redirecting them away.

Jenna could not believe it. She had barely stopped shooting to prevent the redirected shots from hitting her or her father, and her weapon was taken forcefully from her hands by some invisible force. The blaster was summoned to Lilith's waiting hand, and the Force user simply threw it aside. She stared at Jenna with a boastful grin.

"Useless", she said.

Jenna drew her vibroblade from her belt and assumed a Mandalorian combat stance. Aran watched the scene tense, but he knew he would not help by joining the fight, and the earlier he got the escape pod unlocked, the better. Lilith laughed in arrogant amusement.

"You wish to cross blades with me? You are even more of a fool than I thought"

A tense silenced followed, with Jenna and Lilith staring at each other defiantly. Finally, Jenna attacked, bringing her blade down over her opponent. But the lightsaber wielder blocked the strike with her energy blade and pushed the cortorsis weave weapon away, but the young woman did not loosen her grip on it. Jenna stepped back a little, but regained her stance. In a matter of seconds, the young woman would strike again. Metal and red energy blades encountered several times in the air, in a dangerous exchange of attacks and blocks.

Lilith had the upper hand, since her weapon was lighter and easier to maneuver. She stayed on the defensive, watching the tech specialist's daughter attack uselessly. Jenna did all she could to appear to really be planning to defeat her, in order to buy her father more time. The lightsaber would emit a constant hum when motionless, and it grew louder in different ways as it was moved in the air. Whenever it would hit the metal blade, it would emit a loud crackle or a simple sound of a small blast. Suddenly Lilith stepped back, getting herself out of reach from Jenna.

"You have some skills, girl. More skills than this ship's guards, indeed. And I sense… ah, yes…", she said, "Perhaps I have misjudged you. I have an offer for you. Work for me, with my soldiers, and I will spare your father's life and your own"

Jenna did not say a thing. She would never wish to join those murderers, yet the chance of saving her father… Even if Aran could bypass the codes to the escape pod, how could they enter it without Lilith's interference? She could just use the Force to prevent them from doing so, or kill them instantly to end the problem quickly. But then she regained the sense of the items she carried in her pockets. As fast as a lightning would hit a planet's surface, she had a plan in hand. Aran widened his eyes in shock to see his daughter lay down her vibroblade and bow before the dark Force-user.

"I accept your offer", Jenna said.

"Good", a wide grin opened in Lilith's face, "Now, kneel before me"

Jenna obeyed.

"Now… what is this?"

Lilith suddenly noticed a small metal sphere rolling from Jenna to her feet, and suddenly a constant beeping noise came out of it. She turned her face back at Jenna.

"You…!"

"Bye-bye, schutta", Jenna said with a grin.

The grenade exploded, but there was no fire, only a loud sound, and a violent wave of vibrations spread in all directions, sending both females flying in opposite directions. It was merely a non-lethal sonic grenade. Lilith was thrown right through the doorway by which she had come in, landing a good few meters away. Jenna landed painfully and kept sliding for some feet over the sleek ground.

"Dad! The door!" she managed to scream.

Aran understood immediately what had happened, and quickly rushed to the wall panel beside the door through which their enemy had been thrown. The blast door sealed itself shut, and Aran destroyed the panel with his blaster to cause a chain short circuit so that no control in the ship could open it again.

"I've unlocked the escape pod. Let's go", he said.

Barely said that, and with a constant crackle, a lightsaber's blade pierced through the sealed door, slowly cutting through, trying to form an improvised door. Both ran into the one open escape pod port, and the door closed behind them. In the small circular chamber, they found themselves two seats and strapped their seatbelts. Aran quickly started typing command codes on the panel on his seat's arm.

Lilith kicked the loose slab of metal out of her way and entered the room furiously, but it was too late. The sound of low power engines coming from the other side of the wall alerted her that her targets were gone. Her grip on her lightsaber when she switched it off tightened as she tried not to scream in anger. More of the silver-armored troopers entered the room by both doors, looking from the dead bodies of their companions to their angry leader.

"Commander, what happened?", one of the soldiers asked, uneasy.

"Our target has gotten away", she answered with contained hatred.

A gasp reached their ears, and everyone turned their eyes to one of the fallen troopers, who was not dead, but seemed badly hurt, and was struggling to sit up. Lilith approached him, but did not kneel to see if he was all right.

"You have failed me, trooper", she said, now not showing her hate. It was like a cold cruelty.

"I… I'm sorry, sir… We didn't… We didn't…", he tried to talk, he was already struggling to breathe.

For everyone's surprise, in one movement Lilith ignited her lightsaber and with a swift movement, severed the hurt trooper's head. The headless body let itself fall motionless on the ground, as the helmet with its head inside rolled away. The soldiers looked at their leader, terrified by her cruelty.

"May this be a lesson to you all", she said loud and clear so all could hear each word, "This is how the Sith reward failure. Find her, and bring her to me. I want her alive"

With many "Yes, my Lady", the troopers left the chamber, leaving the Sith Commander alone. She sighed, switching off her lightsaber again. Suddenly, a beeping sound could be heard. A utility droid came into the room, the humming of its wheels echoing slightly. It stopped some feet away from the woman, and from a blue glowing lens in the droid's head, a hologram was projected, forming the shape of a real-size man, wearing dark robes and a hood, hiding his face in shadows.

Lilith quickly bowed down humbly.

"Yes, Lord Thorius"

"What have you found, Commander?" the man in the hologram asked with a deep voice.

"You were right, milord. Our target was on the transport to Nar Shaddaa", she answered, trying to mask her nervousness.

"And?"

"It is a young woman. She… she has escaped"

A tense silence followed those words. Lilith felt as she was dooming herself to death by telling her master that.

"Your incompetence will be punished later. Find the girl, but do not hurt her. Try to make her see things in our point of view", he answered with subtle severity.

"But she showed much stubbornness in that point, milord"

"It is only a matter of time. The path is not as unfamiliar to her as you think. Do it, and you will atone to your failure today"

"It will be done, milord", Lilith answered with little relief.

The hologram vanished in the air, and the utility droid slid out of the chamber without any delay. Lilith stood up again, and stared at the nothing with hate.

"Enjoy power while you can, 'milord'. Soon you will see the mistake you made when you let that kid take my place", she said to herself, and reattaching her lightsaber to her belt, she left the room as well.