Chapter 1

3655 BBY—Abandoned planet of Taris

When his master had given Shemric the task of retrieving the information, they had known it would be a race against Imperial agents to get there first. The location he had been given was deep in the heart of the legendary towering domes of Taris. It was very sad to see the massive destruction that had been wrought by Darth Malak and his bombardment three hundred years earlier. Many of the domes had been destroyed or structural damage had led to their later collapse, but enough still remained that it was not hard to imagine the once great cityscape.

Since he had parted with his master, who was searching in another location, Shemric had run across a number of Rakghouls that had taken swipes at him as he passed on his speederbike, but so far they had been the only resistance. He had been warned about the dangerous creatures and gave them as wide a berth as possible. The ruined landscape was marred by fallen buildings, ruptured permacrete streets and debris everywhere. The guidance system on his speeder had mapped the most efficient route, but even then he had to slow often to avoid obstacles that were not visible from space. Despite the difficult ride, he soon located the building where the coded information was supposed to be contained and hid the bike to continue on foot, lightsaber now in hand. He flicked his helmet visor up and began to scan the area visually and by the Force.

With no power available, he took to the stairs, steadily climbing the seventy-four floors to where the old computer system was physically located. He did not call upon the Force but steadily tapped out a rhythm and relied on his conditioning to do the work. Many Jedi found his obsession with physical training to be a bit odd, but Shemric figured that the less you had to rely on the Force, the further you could go when you really needed it. Perhaps it was also because Shem was very naturally athletic in the way of distance runner with long legs and a slim build. Certainly no one had ever called him muscular; most of the time they told him he looked like he should eat an extra sandwich.

Several times during the ascent, he sensed rakghouls on the floors he passed, but as none troubled him, he continued on without stopping. As he approached the specific floor, he slowed and brought his breathing under control. He was sweating freely under his armor and took out a water bottle which he drained steadily while throwing his awareness wider. He stopped gulping in an instant as he felt another presence not far away like nothing he had encountered before. Water dripped down his chin unnoticed while he screwed the lid back on and reattached the bottle.

Shemric pushed open the door from the stairwell and was greeted by a half-dark room that took up much of the entire floor. Row upon row of computer banks made a small maze as he tried to work his way to the middle of the room, all the while aware of the other presence that seemed even closer. He finally found a hallway between the banks and could see what looked like the main computer node ahead of him.

Shemric keyed the mike in his helmet and sent out a call to his master.

"Have the computer node in sight, Master Keddis," he called. "I feel something odd, Master. Approaching now."

"Copy, Shem," came his master's familiar voice. "Approach with caution.I, too can feel something odd today. Report as soon as you have something new."

Shemric replied and then moved to the terminal node. Just as he entered the open area, the disturbance he felt exploded into something violent and near. He ignited his saber and parried a crimson arc that would have ended with his head on the ground, unattached, had he not blocked. He gave a surprised Force shove and did a backward flip that carried him on top of a row of computers. He looked down to see his attacker smirking at him.

Her long, black hair was pulled back severely from her face in a pony tail and the sides of her head were shaven. She did not look to be much more than fifteen or sixteen, so likely she was an apprentice like himself. Her clothing was overly-dramatic Sith black that did fade a bit into the unlit interior of the room but her skin was light enough to see her face clearly; Shemric was a little surprised that he found her quite pretty. She was also even thinner than he was and probably five or six centimeters short of his own 1.8 meter height.

"Why are you staring, little Jedi? Do you see omens of your death?"

If Shemric had attempted to stereotype a Sith, he doubted he could have done any better job than the girl in front of him. She was all steely arrogance and hate, ready to chop him in half and spit on his remains. For all of the danger of the situation, he could not but help feeling a little thrill of excitement. His first real solo mission and he was facing one of the Jedi's mortal enemies. He leaped down from the top of the computer module to face her and as he did his face broke into a huge smile. "A real, live Sith, complete with red lightsaber; how did I get so lucky?"

The girl frowned at this, now a little confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, nothing, you just surprised me," he said, trying to sound relaxed. "Now that I know what a Sith feels like in the Force, I will make sure I am not surprised next time."

"There will not be a next time for you, Jedi," she said and she leaped to attack.

Shemric waited to move until the last moment and then blocked her first strike with a solid, two-handed blow that drove her back. He smiled at her and her pale skin darkened in anger. He fell comfortably into Sorensu while she attacked with a flurry of blows that caused him to retreat slightly along the row of computer banks while he analyzed her style. It reminded him a bit of Djem So and so he simply continued to counter with the simplicity of Sorensu while he waited out her initial fury.

When the bank of computers ended, Shemric stopped short and refused to budge. The Sith grimaced and attacked even harder, pounding on his defense with Force-enhanced blows that shivered down his arm. When an opportune strike presented itself, he switched to Makasi and attempted to twist her blade out of her grip. The change surprised her and she did an elegant side flip in the direction he had swatted her saber, which took her back to open ground in the center of the floor.

She rolled to her feet as he approached slowly to meet her.

"You were lucky," she said. Her derision had been replaced with an expression of loathing.

"Was I?" he said, again breaking into a smile. "Well, it happens."

"What do you find so amusing?" she asked. He noted then that she was breathing hard; her previous attack had been a difficult effort for her apparently. Well, he was in no rush to end this.

"I told you … you know, the fact that I finally get away from the Jedi Temple and I get to fight a Sith already. I mean, maybe I am lucky."

She howled and attacked again but this time he met her with Sorensu and refused to give ground. Her strikes were weaker than before and he wondered how much of her Force reserves she had used on the first, vicious assault. His armor had kicked into cooling mode as his body temperature rose, but he could still feel the sweat rolling down his forehead and into his eyes. His master's words came to him then, reminding him to rely more on the Force and less on his physical senses. Normally, this did not work out so well, because of his Block, but this time he slid into the Force-trance smoothly and suddenly the fight slowed down as he felt the odd sense of falling that came with heightened awareness.

The Sith continued to batter at his defenses but he withstood her effortlessly, circling and wheeling to maintain secure footing and open spacing. The enlarged sense of space told him that something, probably one or more of the rakghouls had entered their floor and he leaped back and Force-threw the Sith girl to the side as two of them burst into the open area. Shemric switched immediately to his own version of Djem So and hacked off limbs as the beasts came at him one after the other. He pitied their existence and felt it was a mercy to end them. Both lay dead before the Sith girl had managed to regain her feet and her composure.

If anything, she looked even angrier now. "Why did you do that? I could have dealt with them, and you. You were a fool to not strike me down when you had the chance, or try to, at least."

"I'm just here for a bit of information, girl," he said. She bristled at the name.

"I am Julienne Qa, not girl," she said.

"Well, manners, finally," he said and gave a slight bow. "And I am Shemric Norm. I am pleased to meet you Julienne Qa, despite the waves of Darkside Force rolling off you. Who would have thought it?"

"Now you mock me," she said, and reignited her saber before leaping at him.

"Shem, this is Keddis, this was all a trap; get out of there now," came a frantic screech in his helmet communicator. The transmission jarred him and he simply dove sideways without meeting the red blade. Rolling to his feet, he keyed his own mike.

"Master, repeat transmission; break off the mission?" he called quickly.

"Confirm, Shem, your building has been targeted for a fighter strike and I am under attack," said Keddis. Shem's awareness suddenly noted the feelings of strain in his master's voice. "Do your best to go to Rally Point B… " heavy breathing, "… I will join you if I can. Hurry, boy!"

"Ah, so you know that you are betrayed here to die," said the Sith, smiling across from him. "My master will be killing your friends shortly."

"Yeah, well, being Sith, you should not trust your own master all that much," he said and then turned and sprinted for the open balcony on their floor while trying to sense how close the fighters might be. She yelled something after him that he did not catch.

He slid to a halt outside the broken glass doors and gripped the balcony while he used eyes and Force to search for the fighters. They were close. He spun to face the Sith as she emerged through the doors to face him.

"What are you talking about, fool? I was sent here to kill you," she said.

"Fighters, targeting this building," he said quickly. "Maybe this floor." The next building over was very far away. On his best day he doubted he could have covered half the distance with a leap. He chanced a quick glance above and noted that there was a walkway a dozen or so floors above that had once connected the two buildings. It had been sheared through the center, but the ends of the bridge were still intact and that looked like a distance he could leap. If he could get up there before the fighters came.

He attacked her using Djem So at its most brutal and wielded much more of the Force than was normally available to him. She was driven back inside the doors and he leapt sideways as soon as he was inside before skipping rapidly along the tops of the computer banks towards a stairway. Unfortunately, another rakghoul was coming out just as he leaped for it.

They collided and Shemric drove his boot into its chest and knocked it back through the doorway. He rode the beast down and then leaped up with a crunching sound as he pushed off its ribcage. He ran for the stairwell, taking the steps four or five at a time as he sped up the ruined flight, twice nearly falling when he tripped over debris that was difficult to see with only the lightsaber for light. As he rushed up the stairs, he felt the Sith following him. She was certainly not gaining on him, but it was still a question of whether they would outrace the fighters.

That question was answered immediately when the stairs under him shuddered and pitched. He was tossed into a wall and lost his breath for a moment while he covered his face to avoid the rubble breaking off stairways up above. The building groaned and tipped then stopped about thirty degrees off of level. He sat for a moment casting out his Force-sense and thought that the fighters were still in the area, so they might not be finished. He ignited his lightsaber and was about to start up again when he became aware a sharp pain, pressing on his awareness. Shemric grimaced and wondered if he was really going to check on the Sith. His feet seemingly started on their own and he descended as quickly and quietly as he could manage.

The Sith girl was pinned under a slab of permacrete where the stairs had broken away. She looked conscious but in a great deal of pain and when their eyes met, her gaze was a curious mix of desperation and hope. Without speaking to her, he closed his eyes and reached out to the slab. Telekinesis was not his thing, but since he had gained greater Force-awareness during the fight in the computer node, he was confident he could do anything. It moved slowly upwards and she moved back until she was out from under it and he could slowly lower it back to the ground. She rose on one leg and pushed off with the other but cried out quietly and gripped a railing.

"They are coming back," he said simply. "You want a hand?"

"Only in killing my treacherous master," she spit.

"I thought you Sith do this kind of thing to each other all the time?" he asked neutrally. He did not recognize the curse words, but her intent was plain.

"Well, I'm leaving," he said and began to turn.

"Wait … " she called and then stopped. He doubted she would actually stoop to asking for help, so he reached out and tried to lift her across the collapsed section of stairs.

"Come on, now," he said and resumed his climb, unwilling to go so far as carry her or get any closer. When he had covered perhaps five more flights the building rumbled and shook again, though this time there was less wrenching and twisting of metal. He peered back to see if the Sith was still following and saw that she was. He propped open the door with a chunk of debris and then half-ran, half slid down the hallway until he found a door that led the direction he wanted. Unfortunately his count had been off and he was on the floor below the walkway that was now canted downward and a good fifteen meters below the walkway from the other building which was now even further distant.

Well that did not help.

More cursing sounded behind him and he turned to see the girl—what was her name, Juli-something—limping along the tilted hallway. She did not appear to have her lightsaber anymore, that he could tell.

"Look," he said, "I can probably heal that if you will let me. Otherwise, I do not see how you are going to get out of here."

She stared at him for a good twenty seconds before shaking her head. "Why you want to try is beyond me. I'm still going to try and kill you when I get my hands on another saber."

"Maybe you will change your mind after this," he mumbled. "Sit down," he said and once she complied, he lifted her foot in the air and felt along the leg until he could sense the damage. He explored further and noted nothing was broken or cut, so he began to delve deeper, smoothing the Force-flow and healing the damaged tissue.

"If you would stop thinking such dark thoughts, this would be easier," he said quietly. He smiled when she cursed him, but a moment later she had cleared her mind and the healing proceeded more quickly. After perhaps five minutes, Shemric began to sense something else; his master was troubled, even desperate and likely wounded as well. Shemric set down the girl's leg and sat back as he tried to reach out to his master. A sharp blast of pain hit him and then a whispered voice spoke in his ear. Remember, my son, the Force is not a tool you pick up and put down. It is a part of you. Only when you yield your own will can you be what you were meant to be. If such a thing were possible, he would have sworn that his master was smiling. And then he was gone.

Shemric fell back, stunned. Master Keddis had taken him on as Padawan far past the normal age, when none others would agree to it. They had been together for three years and Keddis had been a constant, comforting and challenging figure during that time. Shemric doubted another would take him on, assuming he managed to escape from this tombworld.

"Hey, you, what is your problem?" came the Sith's voice and Shemric jerked back to the present. She was leaning over him, her eyes a mixture of concern and impatience. But at least she had not killed him.

"My master is dead," he said and fought down a moment of anger and desire for vengeance. He needed to worry about escape now, if it was possible. Another round of impacts shook the tower and suddenly they were sliding toward the yawning gap in the building's side and open air. He managed to grab a railing and caught her dark leather tunic and swung her to catch the same rail a few sections below him. The top half of their building wrenched and twisted until it slammed into its adjacent skyscraper and ground to a stop at a nearly level position.

The railing popped several bolts and yawned into open air as Shemric began to climb as quickly as he could, not thinking about the sixty story fall to the ground. With a high-pitched, metallic screech the last bolts gave way and he leapt for the double doorway and somewhat firmer ground. He rolled to see if the girl made it and saw four fingers of one hand curled around the lip of the metal doorframe. He crawled over and Force-swung her into the room. Fortunately for both of them, the hallway had a small foyer which provided the precarious ledge on which they found themselves, but a way out would require them to climb straight up the wall that did not offer any holds. Well, that was no good. He ignited his saber and started burning through the "wall" next to him, hoping it might open into a room of some kind. It did, and they began to leapfrog awkwardly upwards, occasionally thrown off by the continued creaking of the building. Finally, they found a stairway and then the argument started.

"What are you doing?" she blurted out when he started walking on the floor/wall.

"I'm going over to the other building," he said. "I do not want to go down and find visitors on the ground waiting."

"That is insane," she insisted. "This whole section could plummet at any moment."

"Fine," he called over his shoulder. "Go your own way."

He started to trot along the awkward floor and used the Force to correct his balance whenever the building swayed. He could sense she was still following. Eventually he had to backtrack where the damage closed off the passage, but by that point the top of his fallen building was now inside its neighbor. Now that he was not in danger of falling to his doom, Shemric found a small office, righted the overturned chair and sat to meditate. He was now on a dead planet with no resources and likely no way off. He could try Rally Point B, but if they had been betrayed, he doubted that was safe either. That meant stealing a Sith ship, which seemed unlikely. He seemed to be stuck on a planet with little to no resources and plenty of dangerous fauna that would be happy to infect him or eat him.

When he opened his eyes, he was surprised to see the Sith sitting on the floor opposite him. She opened her eyes only a moment after he did.

"You seem very capable, Jedi," she said.

"Is that a compliment, from a Sith?" he teased. She scowled and then smoothed her features.

"I find myself short a lightsaber and with a master who is no doubt hunting me at this very moment," she said. "At least three times you have tried to save me, even when it was not necessary. I do not like the feeling of debt. I propose a truce, for now."

He smiled. She was a pretty thing and yet, she was still Sith. He ought to be doing something besides enjoying her face. "Put it out of your mind," he said. "I just did what I thought was right. You do not need to feel like you owe me anything."

"Nevertheless," she interrupted, "I pay my debts and I shall in this case as well. You were lured here by Imperial double agents in hopes that others of greater importance would come. My master will come for me and together we shall kill him. Then I will help you escape this planet."

"That sounds simple and dangerous," he said. "What are you going to do without a lightsaber?"

"You do not carry an extra, by chance?" she asked, and smiled for the first time.

He snorted loudly. "Uh, no, though on a crazy world like this, I might scrounge up the parts. I doubt we have the time to do it with your master coming after us."

"You could build your own?" she asked in surprise.

"Of course," he said. "but without a focus crystal, it will not matter. Have you ever made a metal blade before?"

"No, not that either," she admitted.

"Well, I have," he said. "There is plenty of duralloy around here. We might make a passable weapon. We better get a move on either way."

Shemric later wondered why he had trusted her from the very beginning and why she had actually asked for help. They moved quickly through the skyscraper and managed to find a walkway connecting to another building, so that when they reached the ground they were several buildings over.

"Can you reduce your Force signature?" he asked. "Make it harder for him to find you?"

"Of course I can," she said. "I have been doing it since you first convinced me my master was trying to eliminate me. He can still find me, but he will have to stop and meditate to get a location and in the mean time I can keep moving."

"Ok, then let us move," he said. "And if you see any machine shops or anyplace that might have precious stones then please point it out. We might be able to cobble something together for you to use."

They descended the long stairway from their building and did not find anyone waiting for them at the bottom. They moved off at a trot and kept to as much cover as the buildings allowed. After maybe half an hour Shemric sensed someone was coming.

"Cover!" he shouted and ran into the nearest skyscraper. The windows were reflective and still whole, so he hoped they might spot the opposition without being seen. Along the way Julienne had picked up a steel bar that was roughly the length of a saber and she hefted it next to him while they waited.

Moments later a dropship landed in the square they had just vacated and soldiers poured out, including two wielding red lightsabers.

"Know them?" asked Shem.

"They are just marauders," she whispered.

"Which are ….?"

"Warriors who can fight with the Force but are not deemed capable enough to send to the academy," she replied. Her grip on the pipe left her knuckles all white. She might show distain for her Sith compatriots, but she feared them, too. "They are strong enough to sense us but not pinpoint our location. They will work themselves into a rage and come at you until you are dead, or they are. Some of them can be quite strong in the Force, just not very ... subtle."

"Great, well, do we run or fight?" asked Shem.

"Oh, we fight; we might manage to steal their dropship," she said. "You are going to have to take the marauders; leave the others to me."

He gave her a hard look. "Now would not be a good time to change sides on me."

She snorted as soldiers approach the building. "I'm on my own side." She nodded her head toward the approaching force. "They are here for me, not you, which means our little alliance profits both of us a bit longer."

He nodded as she leapt through the door and began laying about her with the pipe. She was quick, he had to give her that. Shemric cleared their melee and landed in front of the marauders who smiled and immediately rushed him. They did not attack as a team though, so it was really like fighting two separate people instead of two at once. With two blades against his one, Shemric dropped into Sorensu and let the men exhaust themselves with a wild flurry of Dark-side driven attacks. They were certainly powerful, but the disadvantage of uncoordinated fighters was that each only thought of himself as an individual; Shemric deftly deflected strike after strike. When the attacks grew wilder, the men began shouting something in Sith and poured even more power into the strength of their strikes.

The balance of the fight tipped in Shem's favor when he sensed a lessening in the speed and control of one of the men. Immediately, Shemric switched to Makasi and sent the Sith's blade flying before piercing his heart with a twisting thrust. The man fell back and Shemric saw the look of surprise on his face. The man had not thought to die today. The second man howled loudly and continued to attack, but he simply was not skilled enough to penetrate Shem's defense and then a rock impacted the side of his head and he fell limp to the ground.

Staring at the other man on the ground, Shemric realized it was the first time he had killed an opponent in face to face combat.

His Force awareness narrowed and fled leaving him standing looking down at the men. Only a shout from Julienne brought him back to a full awareness of his surroundings. He ran to her defense only to feel incoming fire behind him. The dropship was hovering and firing at them with its door guns. Shemric charged immediately and the ship started to rise as he approached. A Force-aided leap put him in the side door where he cut down both door gunners and ordered the pilot to land. The man had other ideas and pulled a sidearm and began firing over his shoulder. The aircraft banked precariously and Shemric was dumped unceremoniously out the open door he had just entered. Spinning in the air, he hurled his lightsaber at an engine pod and saw the green blade carve into the rotating thruster. He recalled his blade as he dropped to the ground and watched as the ship, already banking precariously was unable to clear a pile of wreckage and cartwheeled over and over into the ground.

He turned to see that Julienne had taken care of the soldiers and was now armed with the marauders lightsabers with one in hand and the other clipped to her belt.

"Did I not mention that was our ride out of here?" she said.

"Hey, you have a lightsaber now," he pointed out.

"Two," she said with a smile that was all sinister and not friendly. "But we still have to walk."

"Well, what did you plan on doing?" he asked. "Fly in and challenge your master to a duel?"

"Something like that," she said. "As long as we win, I'll be fine. The other soldiers will take orders from me or at least not stop me from leaving. If we lose it will not matter to either of us."

"Well, I think we need to get underground," he said. "Find a way into the lower levels and work our way back towards wherever your landing field is located. Unless he just decides to leave you here…" saidShem

"Oh, he will want to know I am dead, " she replied. "He does not like loose ends. I do not think we need to worry about being abandoned. And that means when we kill him, we can take his ship."

"Ok, then, let us find a way down," he said.

As they trotted off, Shemric tried not to think about how bleak their chances of success looked about then. His uneasy alliance with a Sith apprentice was the least of his problems.