Alternate Universe Trio Vol 2: Chameleon's Crystal

by Sonic Sculpture

Being the virtual victim, Lamis Cormosa may be the perfect antihero. In terms of moral relativism this novel may push the envelope further than any other. If you find yourself wondering whose side you're supposed to be on, I'll have achieved my objective.

2. Chapters 3 and 4

Chapter Three

Sometimes it may be briefly lost

and rediscovered at great cost

But 'though it's cast into the void

truth can never be destroyed

Having just completed a series of holo-conferences in which she disappointedly determined that some of the widely dispersed Jedi Masters would really need to stay where they were, Leia remained in the uppermost chamber of the Jedi Council. To anyone who wasn't Force-sensitive, it would have appeared as if she were alone. The phantasmal figure who kept her company was however the Transformed Master whom she knew best, with the single exception of her brother. But Obi-Wan Kenobi quite uncharacteristically wasn't the quintessential essence of reassurance upon which she had come to rely.

"You say he is from Tatooine?" Obi-Wan asked, not disguising the suggestion of uncertainty in his voice.

"Just before we parted company outside the medical chamber," she patiently replied, "I took the opportunity to ask him about it again while Gwonameeth was with us. The truthfulness of his statement was certified by telepathy. It seems his master transformed into the Force very shortly before my brother arrived to advise the evacuation. When he heard that the Jedi yet remained in universe as the defenders of a Republic that had been reborn, he began working his way toward the Core Worlds. And the fact that he showed up on Sullust at such an opportune time seems to suggest the influence of the Force. I've the impression that he might've saved Mardra and Mox."

"Because I was keeping an eye on Luke and making certain he was safe, I was on Tatooine pretty much the entire time in question," Obi-Wan observed. "I don't know if I can bring myself to believe there was another Jedi Master somewhere on that world who was training an apprentice to influence the Force and I wasn't aware of it. That doesn't make much sense to me. The whole reason we hid the two of you was to keep Anakin from possibly sensing your presence. The fact of the matter is that I wasn't certain if you were really far enough away on Alderaan."

"Your facility for all such perceptions could've been compromised by the Shroud of the Dark Side, couldn't it?" Leia carefully asked. "You have admitted to a diminishment in your facility with the Force."

Unexpectedly altering the topic of the debate, Obi-Wan answered, "Although it does make a certain amount of sense that some of the Lost Twenty probably attempted to leave the Republic by traveling into the Unknown Regions, I don't see how the rest of it reasonably ensues. Having found a race of beings with so implausible a capacity for influencing the Force, why didn't Lamis' master stay with them? When he elected to leave instead, why in the world didn't he come back by way of Coruscant and inform the Jedi Council of his findings? And how did he end up instead on a wasteland of a world such as Tatooine? The Arkanis Sector is completely on the other side of the Core from the Unknown Regions, which almost makes it look like he was actually trying to hide from what he discovered."

Insightfully understanding that she still hadn't discerned the actual source of his misgivings, Leia said, "Tell me. What's troubling you?"

"As far as I know, there have only been two times in history that any type of transfusion was used to increase someone's midi-chlorian count," he slowly answered, exhaling sharply. "I didn't find out about this until after I defeated him, but General Grievous had undergone the procedure at the hands of Count Dooku. After turning to the Dark Side, Dooku had killed his once long-time friend, Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas. The prescience of Sifo-Dyas had shown him that war was coming to the Republic. As a result, he had contacted the Kaminoans and commissioned them to create a clone army. After killing him, Dooku took control of the project. As Darth Tyranus, he brought a bounty hunter named Jango Fett to Kamino to serve as the genetic source for the clones, but he didn't dispose of the body of Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas. He kept it in cryogenic stasis and later used it to give a transfusion to Grievous when the general was reborn as a cyborg. Count Dooku then took and trained Grievous, giving him the blue lightsaber of the slain Sifo-Dyas and transforming him into an almost indomitable duelist. Before finally being killed in his confrontation with me, he managed to slay several Jedi; which is how he confiscated the collection of lightsabers you then redistributed to the Jungle Jedi."

"You said there were two times a transfusion was used," Leia reminded him.

"I'm not sure if the term really applies in the case of cloning," he replied. "But it might be the easiest way to talk about how Darth Chrysalis came by his unmatched midi-chlorian count. As a Transformed Master, I have seen that final battle aboard the Star Killer through the eyes of your brother. Self-sacrifice was the only conceivable way to destroy so insuperable an opponent. The fact of the matter is that both transfusions were done in the service of the Dark Side."

"But couldn't this be an exceptional situation? Since it was done strictly to save his life, isn't it possible that it will be of benefit in balancing the Force?" she pressed.

"You are the Grand Master of the Jedi Council," Obi-Wan reminded her. "And yet, you know how Darth Sidious deceived us all. He interacted with us regularly and we never perceived what he really was until it was too late. You know how difficult it can be to master oneself and thereby satisfy the requirements of the Jedi Order. Is it reasonable to assume that anyone could hope to master more than their self? Do you not believe that would be closely akin to exploring the limits of the Force? And is that not a path to the Dark Side?"

"I will give careful consideration to everything you have said," Leia ultimately answered. "I'm honestly not sure what to make of your concerns. But I will mediate upon them. However, for the time being, I will keep them to myself. Distrust is also a path to the Dark Side. I must be certain."

As the phantasmal manifestation dismissed himself from her presence, Leia was awkwardly relieved that more hadn't been said. The Transformed Master had failed to focus on the fact that Mox had reported sensing the obfuscation most keenly while in the vicinity of Sullust, which was exactly where they had discovered Lamis. And the only reason for suspecting the existence of a race of beings with unequaled midi-chlorian counts in the Unknown Regions was because of his testimony. But although Gwonameeth wasn't able to continuously link with Lamis in order to fully certify the truthfulness of his entire tale, the towering telepath was nevertheless convinced of his candor. The majority of his statements were in fact accurate. Gwonameeth therefore considered Lamis to be a matchless asset and would probably not prove receptive to a discussion about the doubts that had been expressed to her by Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Additionally, she had already asked Mardra and Mox to help the young man make a smooth transition into their social structure. They had therefore equipped him with access codes. Should she now adopt the appearance of backpedaling and run the risk of fomenting unmerited mistrust by asking them to keep a covert eye on their newfound friend? Several of the other Jedi Masters were returning to the Temple to participate in a more complete Council. Her hope was that by so doing, they could perhaps then triangulate the truth in a way that was currently prevented by the many parsecs of their separation. But in terms of current confidants, she wasn't certain to whom she could turn.

Han was a good husband. There was no room for any complaints in the marital department. And he was almost as skilled at strategy as he was accomplished as a pilot. But he was not one of the Force-sensitive. He had been tested, and he was clearly confused by the esoteric aspects of her numerous responsibilities. She knew it could be a mistake to share her concerns about so obscure a subject with him. And she didn't want to worry him needlessly, which is precisely what she had to wonder if she would be doing.

Chewbacca had a longstanding association with the Jedi Order, one that actually went back to before the beginning of the Clone Wars. He had been one of the very last to have any contact with Yoda before the Grand Master went into exile. He had seen the implementation of Order 66 and the decimation of the Jedi, but anything she shared with him would most assuredly get back to Han. And she wasn't certain if she wanted to worry the Wookiee with the idea that history was perhaps repeating itself; at least, not until she herself could no longer dispel any such doubts.

After arising, she warily made her way from the dome-like confines of the Council Chamber. And as she considered the situation into which she had placed Mardra and Mox, the words from an old security recording came back to her unbidden. The ancient records had helped her study the downfall of the Jedi Order. Even though Windu had not been present during her consultation with Master Kenobi, it was as if she could clearly hear him speaking the same proclamation that had preceded his showdown with Darth Sidious: I sense a plot to destroy the Jedi.

The one aspect of Cormosa's account that bothered her most was also the one into which it would be the most difficult to delve without appearing transparently suspicious. Strangely, it was also the one that everybody else seemed completely content to gloss over. A Jedi Knight should be easily resourceful enough to secure interstellar transport whenever it was required. A span of several years, according to his own account, had somehow elapsed between the time Lamis left Tatooine and his arrival on Sullust. Where precisely had he spent so much unexplained time?

Meanwhile, the newest recruit to the Jedi Order was dealing with rather unwanted notoriety. Coruscant's media very quickly caught on to the fact that the ranks of the Republic's paranormal protectors had swelled by one person. Lamis Cormosa was becoming quite concerned that he'd encounter difficulties in carrying out a certain type of transaction with the anonymity he required. Jedi were not generally known to associate with the purveyors of explosives. Having his face on every monitor around the city (which encompassed the entire planet) could easily complicate his plan. Had M3 been with him, such seditious dealings could have been allocated to the droid. But there was no such recourse in his current situation. Abandoning the attire that would identify him as a Jedi Knight, he slipped back into the wasteland wardrobe he had once worn on Tatooine.

The Alliance had used explosive charges against a shield generator when they attacked the second Death Star. This particularly contemporary reference had been one of the first to surface when he started his search in the Archives. The mission had been so successful that it caused a cascade of events which culminated in the elimination of the Empire. As a result, all of its details had been devotedly entered into the data banks. History tends to be written by the victors. Right there in the record of the Alliance's own exploits, he'd found the manufacturer's information. And they had several distributing depots actually located on Coruscant. The trick was not going to be in finding what he needed. Because of his access to the Archives, he had already achieved that. The trick was going to be in maintaining his anonymity. But before embarking upon this quest to secure the required explosives, he really wanted to make contact with M3. And in order to certify that the conversation was clandestine, he ascended to the courtyard atop the Jedi Temple.

Looking carefully around at the quickly darkening sky, now illuminated solely by the lights of the surrounding city, he cupped his superhuman hand over the crystal core of his lightsaber and asked, "M3, are you receiving me?"

"Affirmative," the android, sounding distant, responded in its characteristic monotone. "Your crystal is adequately conveying your subspace signal. I can detect no transmission on any other channel. This communication is secure."

"Have you made any progress with replacing the damaged panels?' Darth Duress anxiously inquired. "Did we purchase the right components?"

"The components are correct," the robot replied. "And I have successfully replaced all of the panels. Unfortunately, this action has exposed the existence of a more insurmountable problem. Because so many panels were compromised, I could not trace the actual circuit path prior to this repair. The crystal chamber is a critical component of the circuit path. The damage to the crystal makes it impossible to accomplish a one hundred percent transfer of experience and personality from the subject to the clone. Is it possible to replace the crystal itself?"

Nothing in even his uploaded experiences gave any indications of the crystal's origin. Lamis did not know if the information had simply been lost due to the flawed nature of the transfer itself or if Darth Sidious had never really known. Perhaps it was an heirloom he had inherited from his master, whom he murdered. And the experiences of that Dark Lord were not part of his pool. He had perhaps only a short time now before Mox and Mardra would expect him to identify the man by whom he had been trained. The clock was ticking away, and his inspired plan was unraveling before his engineered eyes.

"I don't know from whence the crystal came," he mournfully admitted. "I'm certain it won't be possible to repair it. I already tried. Analyze it as completely as you can so you can compute any possible place where it might have formed. Perhaps that will suggest where we should begin the search."

"I will use every resource in this facility to accomplish the analysis," M3 resolutely replied. "If I can find out how it formed, I will create a list of the places where the required conditions exist."

"Make it fast; then pick me up at these coordinates. End transmission," Lamis abruptly said.

A ship was descending directly toward one of the landing platforms that were now scattered across the top of the Jedi Temple. He knew that Leia had succeeded in summoning some of the other Jedi Masters. They were already beginning to arrive. Even though it increased the number of eyes from which he would have to hide his murderous industry, it also maximized the damage he could do in terms of attrition. He chose to regard this arrival as simply being representative of more potential opponents who were unsuspectingly stepping right into his trap; or, to put it much more precisely, that's what he was thinking right up until he saw her.

Having spent almost all his life on Tatooine, a close neighbor of Ryloth, he had seen Twi'lek women before. He knew just how breathtakingly beautiful they could be, which is why they were occasionally captured and sold into slavery; the condition of those that he had encountered. But Soma Sarmosini was considered exceptional even among her peers.

Emerging from the shuttle, which swiftly rose and departed in the direction of the spaceport, Soma and Julither each dismissed their respective apprentice, sending the pair of young women to their studies. The two Jedi Masters then appeared to take note of Lamis for the first time. And he was certain that he detected some mutual attraction as Soma met his mesmerized stare. The magnitude of the moment was apparently appreciable even to Julither, who couldn't conceal her amusement as she quizzically regarded her captivated companion. After a few silent seconds of glancing back and forth between them, she finally nudged Soma's shoulder to interrupt her from her reverie.

"You must be Lamis Cormosa," Julither graciously said, using the hand on Soma's shoulder to make sure they bowed in unison. "Grand Master Solo told us about you. We're happy to have you serving alongside of us. I am Jedi Master Julither. And my companion is Soma Sarmosini."

A relationship could be quite complicated for someone enslaved, even if it was permitted by their master. And the dispersion of the population on Tatooine had pretty much prevented Lamis from ever forming any romantic affiliations. Because he had been born into bondage, he'd never really believed himself to be available before. And although he was well aware of the constraints of the Jedi Code, his current campaign was all about the shedding of restraints. Taking Julither's introduction as an invitation to confer with them further, Lamis ambled towards the pair of exotic-looking ladies just as casually as he could. But he was very acutely aware of Soma's eyes upon him.

"If you're from Tatooine, then we were practically neighbors," she said as he drew near. "I'm afraid however that you won't find anything like the night sky you might be seeking atop the Jedi Temple. See how some of the towers above us begin to twist as they ascend?"

"Yes, I do," Lamis replied, relieved at the way she decided to take the lead in the discussion and impressed by her impetus to do so. At this juncture Julither seized the opportunity to excuse herself from their discourse and left them alone in the upper courtyard between the towers.

"Coruscant is covered by a series of overlapping ray shields," Soma explained. "They're not kept at the intensity levels that were once common. And the traffic controllers are all quite liberal with the passage codes, especially for smaller ships. But there was a time when dreadful storms would sometimes form wherever they interfaced, caused by a conflict between meteorology and a total lack of moderation on the part of people who were living in alarm."

"It would take an almost unimaginable maelstrom to do so much damage to something that is made of metal," he commented as he continued to consider the towers that stretched skyward around them. In his malevolent mind, however, he was imagining how they could be felled by an entirely different type of force. But he appreciated how Soma had so astutely opened an avenue for amicable communication by adopting the approach of a tour guide, so he very happily played the part of the grateful guest by asking, "Is that why it's so difficult to see the sky?"

"If it were not for our proximity to the Core," she smilingly responded, "I don't think we would be able to see much of anything. It certainly bears no similarity to the vaulting vistas of the Outer Rim worlds."

"Unlike the people that come from such places, the magnificence of the Core is far easier to appreciate from such a distance," he rejoined, carefully working a compliment into his comment. When she wasn't quite successful in stifling a laugh in response, he chose to take the chance of continuing, "But I doubt if anyone will see the sky from either of our homeworlds again within our lifetime. Ryloth and Tatooine have both now been abandoned."

"The Twi'leks will continue, if our efforts have not been futile, but they will no longer arise on Ryloth," she introspectively concurred before abruptly spinning to search his eyes. "How strange it is that we should share so sorrowful a similarity. The annihilation of Geonosis has wiped away the indigenous heritage of both our worlds. We must make a pact to protect what we represent."

No one had ever reached out to Lamis like this before. Her entreaty was just as profound as it was desperate. It seemed as if providence had made them compatriots in a particularly unique kind of way. They were both survivors of interstellar devastation. He couldn't refuse her request.

"Then let us consent to a sacred accord with one another," he spontaneously said, while the words seemed to simply spill from his lips. "If circumstances should ever confront us with such a crucial choice, we will forsake all former fealties in the defense of each other. To such a promise I do here solemnly swear."

"It is well said," she gratefully agreed. "And I conscientiously enter into the same accord."

She held out her hand as a token of the bond that had just been born between them. But as Lamis placed his palm against hers, he was overwhelmed by an emotion that was beyond all his experience. His late master had been an admirer of romantic comedies. Due to having exposure with this kind of entertainment, Lamis was aware that certain couples would occasionally refer to a thing they called chemistry. It seemed to be the only term that began to describe the sensation which unexpectedly swept away all his reservation. His guard briefly fell. And in that uninhibited millisecond, a hidden part of him was revealed to her. But affection was never a function of Dark Lords. The part she experienced was fundamental only to Lamis Cormosa, not to Darth Duress.

"There are unexpected depths to you, my newfound friend," she shyly said. "And I will leave you now to your contemplation of the cosmos."

"And I will look forward to our next encounter with great anticipation," he amiably answered, bowing with something that was no longer exactly mock humility.

"As will I," she graciously responded, returning the bow with a cheerfully affected flourish.

As she exited the courtyard, Lamis strove to examine what had just happened. But he knew of no words for it. Soma clearly desired a relationship with him that was even deeper than any of those she shared with the other Jedi Masters, but that was also within the restrictions of the Jedi Code. Somehow they had found a suitable solution. And in the exchange he had given his word. According to the subversive scheme he harbored, any options for honoring that agreement were extremely limited. If he couldn't turn her to the Dark Side, he could not eliminate her now without breaking their bond. And he found himself fearful not only concerning the subject of her possible destruction; but, in truth, he really didn't even want to have to disappoint her. There appeared to be no way to reconcile his objectives with a rashly spoken agreement that seemed to supersede everything. But it was not something about which he could take the time to contemplate.

He had already told Mox and Mardra that he wanted to explore the city. Of course, they had offered to go with him. But he'd politely implied that he really needed to learn to feel comfortable in his new element and that such a transition could only truly be accomplished alone. They were quick to agree with his assessment. He waited until he could do so under the cover of darkness; and then, he used a Force-induced burst of speed to slip from the Temple and into the precincts of the surrounding city. He promptly merged into the teeming masses of assorted citizens. Once he was no longer within sight of the Jedi Temple, he used a Banking Clan ATM in order to make a withdrawal from his account on Eriadu. He then made use of public transportation to reach his objective in one of the outlying industrial areas.

As he approached the munitions plant he noticed that there seemed to be security cameras everywhere. Since he was experiencing unexpected difficulties in foreseeing the outcome of this particular part of his plan, which he recognized was probably because of his concentration being inescapably centered on Soma, he decided that he should err on the side of caution. It was very unlikely that anyone actually monitored the video feeds. He knew they were probably just for the creating of records to be reviewed in the aftermath of any mishap; therefore, it seemed logical to conclude that he could use the Force to interrupt their function without attracting any attention. If he was identified before he could complete his attack against the Jedi Temple and subsequently escape, the complications would very quickly multiply. And to make it look like a purely technical problem to the person who discovered the gap in the recordings, he was careful to only interfere with the function of those cameras which could actually capture his image.

Due to the lateness of the hour, the place was almost unoccupied. But because spacefarers do not recognize the schedules of planet-bound persons, basically every business on Coruscant was open around the clock. It looked like this was going to work well for Lamis, at least initially.

As he entered the atrium of the complex and made his way towards the welcome center, he started to see signs indicating that it would be necessary for potential customers to present their credentials in order to purchase an explosive device or substance. This was precisely the sort of scenario he had been very much hoping to circumvent. He realized that he was going to have to attempt to employ the old Jedi mind trick. Since the customer service specialist behind the sales counter appeared to be human, he couldn't be sure if it was going to work. While it was true that most humans could be manipulated this way, there was also a very sizable percentage that was immune to any such administration. As confidently as he could, he crossed to the counter.

Passing the man a data screen with the specifications for the explosive charges, which he'd copied from the Archives, Lamis nonchalantly waved his hand and persuasively said, "I'll need a half dozen of these. I understand that they're discounted today."

"Not these," the man was swift to answer. "I've got some seismic charges on sale that'll give you a slightly higher yield. But the model described in your specs is used mostly for demolishing abandoned buildings or collapsing exhausted mine shafts, which is why it's devised to adhere to pretty much any sort of surface. I probably have at least a half dozen in stock, but let's see what the system has to say. Do you have a certified work order or some other kind of credentials?"

Lamis pretended to look for a misplaced document in the pockets of his apparel while giving the man time to pull up the warehouse location of the explosive devices on his computer screen. Although he had been sorrowfully unsuccessful in mentally manipulating the attendant, he could still use the Force to kill him. His capacity with that esoteric energy field had already certified the absence of any observers. Grasping for his unexplainably stopped up throat, the man helplessly collapsed behind the counter. Lamis nimbly leapt over the obstruction, secured the dead body in a nearby storage bin, and then proceeded at Force-induced speed to the warehouse location he had acquired from the vacated computer screen.

The stakes had just been raised. It would be only a matter of minutes before the absence of the attendant would be noticed and most probably reported. A search would quickly disclose the location of the corpse, and the cause of death would not remain mysterious very long. Forensics on Coruscant were far too advanced for that. He was going to have to take further steps in order to cover his tracks. However, he chose to regard the disintegrating situation as an opportunity to create the kind of distraction that would guarantee him an opening for planting the devices in the Jedi Temple. After all, he was in a building that was basically bursting with bombs.

After securing the required quantity of explosive devices in an oversized satchel, which he'd purchased while en route, he activated several of the others and carefully set their timers so that they would explode shortly after he had returned to the Jedi Temple. He then very cautiously put them back into their crates and accomplished his expeditious exit.

His research had revealed that the ventilator system offered the most promising path for the placement of the explosives. Once they were smuggled into the system through the main intake, which was located in the courtyard atop the Jedi Temple, he could then levitate each device into its required location without even entering the system himself. Due to some of the distances that were involved and the amount of material in between, he would not be able to accomplish all the positioning from so concealed a location. Because he would also have to disable some carefully selected sections of the security system, it would be very difficult to hide what he was doing if he ran into anyone while he was inside. But it was a chance he was going to have to take.

He summoned a shuttle and paid the pilot to fly him to one of the landing pads atop the Jedi Temple. He couldn't risk being seen with the suggestive satchel by any of its residents, but none of them were anywhere near the courtyard. He was relieved when it wasn't necessary to instruct the pilot to abort his approach at the last second, since Lamis wasn't certain how he would have explained away so ominous a maneuver. But he certainly couldn't carry the satchel right into the Temple. There was far too great a risk of encountering someone along the way. After the shuttle had slipped into the sky, he made his way to the main intake for the ventilator system. And once he had deactivated the circuits that guarded its grill, he made his apocalyptic deposit.

Because he had contacted M3 again, right before entering the munitions plant, he knew the Nadir was now on its way and the approximate time of its anticipated arrival. He carefully set the timers accordingly. This was the one part of his plan that caused him the most concern. It wasn't possible to deactivate some of the components of the security system without setting off alarms, not even with the access he now enjoyed. Several of the devices might be detected if he tried to arm them after they were already in position. It had to be done ahead of time, which left only the narrowest of margins for making any adjustments to his exit strategy. He could only allow for the very briefest of delays. He would have no choice but to eliminate anyone who even attempted to postpone his departure.

After setting the timers, he cautiously closed the grill back across the intake and reactivated its safeguard circuitry. He then reentered the Temple proper and began the subversive business of levitating the deadly devices into their most damage-maximizing positions. To all the cameras that he nonchalantly ambled by, it looked like he was simply taking a stroll in the quiet hours just before dawn. If anybody had actually been observing, they would have most likely assumed that he still hadn't acclimated to the schedule of Coruscant after his recent arrival. And of course, the security recordings were incapable of capturing his invisible industry.

He had just finished positioning the last of the explosive charges and was about to make his way back up to the courtyard when he unexpectedly encountered Mox and Mardra. His attention had been so focused on finishing the far away task that he fully failed to perceive their proximity. It was both embarrassingly and precisely the type of mistake a padawan might have made.

"I see you found your way into the First Knowledge quarter," Mardra amiably observed. "Is it too much to hope that you were able to identify your master from the old security recordings?"

Darth Duress had just positioned the explosive package that was intended to take down the Tower of First Knowledge. This put him just outside the Archives. The two Jedi Masters logically concluded, although incorrectly, that he had just accessed the old security recordings in order to identify the nonexistent individual by whom he had been trained. He needed to extricate himself from the situation just as quickly as he could. He knew the munitions plant would explode in just a matter of moments. Hoping to make his pretext persuasive, he continued his tactic of inserting some honesty into his excuse.

"That was my original intention," he despairingly explained. "But I was out all night exploring the city, and I'm afraid I am far too fatigued for such an enterprise. I guess I still haven't adjusted to the schedule here yet. Perhaps after I rest for awhile you can help me access the records and find out my master's real name."

"This shouldn't take more than a moment," Mox objected, looking somewhat confused. "The pictorial list of those twenty who departed from the Jedi Order is very easy to access. I hope you will forgive me for making the observation, but you don't really seem to be particularly excited by the prospect of communing with your Transformed Master. Did you take exception to the way he saved your life or did you perhaps have some other kind of falling out?"

It had taken nearly the entire night for Lamis to make the round trip to the munitions factory. Despite the substantial distance of the detonation, the floor rocked under their feet only seconds after a disquieting sound of thunder reached their ears. Since she was waiting for him to answer her cousin's question, Mardra was looking right at Lamis when the blast occurred. She could tell that he hadn't been surprised by the explosion.

Her lightsaber literally flew into her extended hand as she accusingly hissed, "You expected that! And you were just outside! What did you do?"

Mox also extracted his saber, extending its emerald blade and stepping sideways so that he and his cousin could flank their foe. But the phenomenal reflexes of Darth Duress were far more formidable than anything they had ever imagined. Mox was quickly struck by a concussive wave in the Force and sent sprawling as Darth Duress dove over Mardra, putting the pair back in front of him. To the female Jedi Master, her opponent had the aspect of a pulsar rather than a human enemy as she confronted the whirling radiance of his blood-red blade. She was swiftly defeated.

Mox quickly composed himself, but just in time to watch his cousin's lightsaber fly out of her lifeless hands and skitter across the floor. As a Jedi Master, he possessed the presence of mind to use the Force and summon it into his grasp nevertheless. But he soon discovered that Jar'Kai was no more effective against the storm of his adversary than Vaapad had been for Mardra. Not even his instruction under the tutelage of Mace Windu, the Jedi Master who'd outmatched Darth Sidious, was sufficient in making any discernible difference. He died right there in the very same hallway where lightsaber combat techniques had been taught for countless generations. He and his cousin transformed into the Force, joining all the Jedi Masters who had gone before them.

In reality, Mardra and Mox hadn't faced the full fury of Darth Duress. But it was not only due to his conflicted feelings of friendship for them. During the brief battle, some of his concentration had been focused on using the crystal to prevent anyone in the Temple from sensing the turmoil in the First Knowledge quarter. The rumbling reverberations of the distant explosion also worked to his advantage in this regard. He had foreseen that at least Leia and Gwonameeth would head to the site of the destruction to search for survivors. They were the only two Jedi Masters that he regarded as a real threat. He wanted nothing to impede their departure since they might then be able to interfere with his. Between taking down the towers and destroying the dormitory, his plan would eliminate both their facility and their future. It didn't matter if he only managed to kill two of the Jedi Masters in this first foray. He could pick the others off at his leisure later. In the absence of apprentices, the Jedi Order would never be able to recover from all the attrition he would next inflict upon its remaining members.

Of course, this wasn't the first time a Sith Lord had stormed the Temple Ziggurat to execute its youngest disciples. In this way the insidious scheme of Darth Duress plagiarized some of the uploaded experiences with which he'd been imbued. But none of those perilous precursors ever entertained any ambitions of collapsing its iconic towers. With hardly anybody left to instruct and only the ruined remnant of their shining citadel in which to conduct classes, the doom of the Jedi Order would be easily arranged. There were no longer twenty or so missing Jedi Masters strewn across the cosmos to carry on their self-righteous traditions. That vexing variable had long since been completely accounted for. He would not be blindsided by the shortcomings that had ended up costing Palpatine his Empire.

As he quickly ascended the staircase on his way to the upper courtyard and his rendezvous with the Nubian Nadir, Lamis caught sight of the Millennium Falcon on its way to the devastation in the distance. He knew Leia and Gwonameeth were both onboard. He could tell that other Jedi Knights had returned to the Temple Ziggurat while he was away, but he considered it to be of no consequence. And despite the unexpected duel with Mox and Mardra, which had kept him in the bowels of the building slightly longer than anticipated, he was reassured to realize that he would still reach the rooftop with several minutes to spare. Everything was proceeding according to his plan; at least, right up until the moment that he actually reached the courtyard. Soma was there.

She came dashing through the doorway directly across from him. It looked like she had only missed the Millennium Falcon by a matter of moments, and he knew that she probably assumed the same thing about him. Upon seeing that they were both in the same situation, she redirected her course and slowed her pace as she casually approached him. But as she was drawing near, a pained expression suddenly flashed across her face. She abruptly came to a stop, seeming to regard the ground for a moment, before raising her eyes to meet his.

"Something is out of place here," she apprehensively rasped. He could see the arrival of the realization in her gaze even before she reflexively recoiled and accusingly screamed, "You have just killed Mox and Mardra!"

Stepping warily out of the way, because a spaceship was now obviously descending toward the most proximate of the landing pads, she extracted and activated her lightsaber. She glanced up at the unfamiliar spacecraft, which Lamis recognized as the Nadir. He drew the Chameleon's Crystal, but he didn't immediately energize either of its emanations.

"Don't make me destroy you," he plaintively implored. "Mox and Mardra left me no choice."

"I will do what I must," she said with desperate determination. "I can't just let you leave."

The constraints of time, amidst their nearly constant deployments, had prevented any of the Jungle Jedi from teaching Vaapad to the other members of the Jedi Council. Understanding just how skilled they really were, Soma couldn't imagine Mox and Mardra both falling before a single assailant; but she had to try and prevent their murderer from simply departing. As the gangplank lowered, she purposely positioned herself to repel any attempt on the part of Lamis to board the escape ship. And as the menacing crimson emanation extended from the end of his insuperable saber, she could hardly comprehend the whirling result. She was disarmed in mere moments.

After unceremoniously separating her from her feeble weapon, Lamis created a concussive wave in the Force and used it to drive her backward to the base of the gangplank. She made an attempt to levitate her weapon back into her grasp, but Lamis telekinetically intercepted it. Soma could only watch in complete helplessness as he tucked the trophy into one of his pockets.

"You'll have to come with me. Get on the ship," he said. But his tone was surprisingly not as authoritative as it was tender. When she very understandably hesitated, he softly added, "I need you to give me a chance to explain this."

She had done everything she could. He was going to make good his escape. She could not stop him. Any chance of understanding who he was, where he had come from, or the reason for his actions was about to be lost. The only possible way to obtain that type of intelligence was for her to do precisely as he was instructing. At least, such was the type of justification that the Jedi in her could accept. That constituted the explanation she would offer to Grand Master Leia Solo, if she survived the exodus upon which she was about to embark. But there was much more to it than that. She had sensed something besides darkness in this improbable opponent, and he felt affection for her. She was sure of that. It was perhaps the reason that she felt incapable of doing anything but reciprocating. And of course, it wasn't the first time a Jedi had reached out to a Sith Lord because of sensing a conflict between his actions and his emotions. But she needed some reassurance.

"Promise me that I won't be harmed," she cautiously insisted.

"I already did," Lamis delicately answered as he deactivated his alarming lightsaber. "I have every intention of honoring the agreement we made with each other. Your safety is assured. Will you please go aboard?"

Jedi Master Soma Sarmosini spun decisively around and willingly walked up the gangplank into the Nadir. She had been trained by one of the Lost Twenty, all of whom had abandoned the Jedi Order years before the Clone Wars. And she had also been afforded very few opportunities to augment her education since joining the other Jedi at the Temple Ziggurat. She was therefore completely unconscious of the parallel that existed between her decision to dance with the Dark Side and something that had happened to Aayla Secura. But that is not part of this tale. And it is doubtful if knowledge of this curious correlation would have had any influence on her choice.

The Millennium Falcon swiftly descended to lightly land in an empty intersection close to the outskirts of the industrial district where the explosions had all taken place. In order to protect the public, the location had been cordoned off. Because he was now the Security Commissioner on Coruscant, Londle Eisley was anxiously waiting to welcome the supernatural assistance that he knew the familiar spacecraft would be bringing. R9-Z5 was hovering right beside him. The droid had already completed a preliminary sweep and found no indication of any survivors, but Londle knew that a certain telepath named Gwonameeth would be able to make a much more definitive determination. The smoldering wreckage could mask the thermal signature of a life form, but the capacities of a telepath knew no such limitations. And the Jedi Masters would be able to use the Force to safely levitate the wreckage away in a manner no machine could even approximate.

Leia, Julither and Gwonameeth emerged from the confines of the spacecraft. Realizing they would only be in the way, Han and Chewbacca remained onboard and continued to scan for any signs of life amidst all the debris. C-3PO had come with them but also chose to stay on the ship.

Striding up to Commissioner Eisley, Grand Master Leia Solo asked, "Have you been able to determine what happened here?"

"Sabotage," he answered with a tone of concerned severity. "All this damage was done very deliberately. But since no one has claimed responsibility, I don't think it was politically motivated. I'm afraid someone did this just to cover up an act of theft, which means we are really waiting for another explosion. And I don't understand how anyone managed to bypass all the detection and suppression systems. This facility is closely regulated. No one even has all the codes that would have been required to do this except law enforcement officials. I just looked at all the feeds from the security cameras, since they're transmitted and stored offsite. Several of them unexplainably stopped working last night. It's almost as if this were done by somebody with abilities like yours."

"Can R9 detect and disarm explosive devices?" Leia abruptly asked after manifesting a look that reminded Londle most distinctly of terror, an emotion he had never even imagined he would see displayed upon her pretty face.

"With efficiency that exceeds that of any other droid in our service," he promptly replied.

Turning to the hovering robot, Leia said, "R9, we are going to use the Force to propel you in the direction of the Temple. I want you to scan for and deactivate any explosive devices you find there. You're authorized to bypass all security systems to accomplish this as quickly as you can. Do you understand?"

After R9 hummed in affirmation, Leia had both the other Jedi Masters assist her in the effort as she hurled the droid in the indicated direction. It thus completed the crossing even faster than the Millennium Falcon could have. And then, after asking Julither and Gwonameeth to go ahead and conduct their search, she extracted her com-link.

"This is Leia Solo to Admiral Ackbar onboard the Forthright. Do you read me, Admiral?" she anxiously asked.

"This is Ackbar," he replied. "How might I be of service to the Grand Master of the new Jedi Order?"

"Have you recently monitored any traffic atop the Jedi Temple?" she asked with intensity.

"Yes," he swiftly answered. "Something about the size of the Falcon just landed and took off again only moments ago. It used an access code that was recently assigned to Lamis Cormosa, your newest recruit."

"Intercept that ship!" Leia emotionally instructed. "Do not let him get away!"

"Acknowledged," Ackbar instantly affirmed.

Maintenance of the protective orbital platforms was his purview. This was the reason for the presence of the Forthright in the skies above Coruscant. And that particular cruiser was perhaps the most formidable of those that happened to be in the space above the capital of the Republic at that precise moment. He instructed his helmsman to lay in an intercept course. The Forthright moved to pursue the Nubian Nadir. When the fleeing spacecraft made its jump into hyperspace, they were able to hyper-accurately calculate where it would emerge. They were surprised by the speed of the smaller ship, but their cruiser was easily its equal. However, when they emerged at the calculated coordinates, expecting to put the enemy ship precisely in their gun sights, it didn't even appear on their long-range scopes.

"I don't understand it," Ackbar admitted to Leia over the subspace communicator. "It should not have been possible for him to elude us. A hyperspace jump has a very predictable endpoint. We had his course and speed. But he's not here. Why were we trying to catch him? What did he do?"

"R9 managed to deactivate four of six explosive devices before being destroyed," she sadly responded. "The dorm was saved, along with the central tower and two of the others. But two of the towers collapsed. Para-Cleet and his padawan were meditating in the top of one of them."

"I'm very sorry, but it certainly sounds like it could've been a lot worse," Ackbar offered.

"It is worse," she guardedly rejoined. "It looks like he must've killed both Mox and Mardra in a lightsaber duel before making his escape. And we still can't account for everyone. It's possible that Jedi Master Soma is missing."

"You think he took a hostage?" Ackbar asked, sounding outraged.

"Julither said Soma was on her way to the rooftop when we had to take off," Leia answered. "We couldn't wait for anyone. We knew every second might count. She almost certainly ran right into Lamis. Since we haven't found her body, we have to assume that he took her with him. And we don't know what that means. We don't understand his agenda. In fact, we actually know next to nothing about this enemy. We don't even know how in the Force we'll find out."

"I'll explain everything to you just as completely as I can, but we've got quite a considerable journey to complete during which I should have ample opportunity for that. At the moment, there are a couple of other things I really must do," Lamis said to Soma as he politely ushered her into the seat closest to his in the cockpit. Turning to M3, he anxiously asked, "What did you discover about the crystal?"

"Its consistency clearly indicates that it is a stellar core fragment, although its formation was the result of an extremely unusual set of circumstances," the droid droned. "The star was in orbit with a dark companion."

"Go figure," Soma couldn't stop herself from saying.

After flashing his guest a sardonic smile, Lamis turned back to M3 and asked, "What makes you so certain?"

"Matter was being pulled into it while it was in its death throes," M3 answered. "Such a thing could only have occurred in the presence of another very powerful gravitational pull. A dying sun generally expels energy while its core is collapsing during elemental metamorphosis. It does not normally absorb anything while in such an explosive state. But the gravity of the dark object with which it was in orbit was causing its expelled energy to mostly flow in one direction. This caused the core to absorb a cloud of dark matter that was probably falling toward the dark companion. It got drawn into the shifting molecular matrix at the center of the dying star, where its probabilistic presence was forced to solidify. This would have caused a cascade event, destroying the star in much the same way as the Star Killer that Luke Skywalker used. The force of the explosion sent the crystalline formation tumbling through space and probably kept it from falling into the nearby singularity. But it was exposed to the energies of its genesis yet again when it was struck by the shockwave, which is why its structure was compromised."

"So it really was totally unique and there is no chance of us ever finding another one like it?" Lamis asked, crestfallen.

"Quite the contrary, master," the droid seriously surprised him by answering. "The math that explains its origin also indicates that it was only one component in a matrix of crystals that came into being before it was shattered into its individual sections when the star exploded. My internal processor does not have the power to perform the required computations. Even the navigational computer of the Nadir lacks the wherewithal since the age of the crystal cannot be estimated, so I am using the system at the cloning complex to compile a list of the locations where such stellar catastrophes could have occurred."

"What cloning complex?" Soma asked in concerned confusion. "Where are you taking me?"

"We're eventually headed for Wild Space," Lamis took a moment to inform her while he was adjusting their heading. "But it looks like we've attracted some unwanted attention. We'll need to shake them off first."

Looking over his shoulder at the screen, she said, "It's the Forthright. You won't lose them."

"At sub-light speeds the Nadir could run circles around a spacecraft that size," he answered with assurance. "But other ships are certain to join the chase if we stay inside the system, so we will have to lose them in hyperspace instead."

"Right," Soma sarcastically snorted. "I'd like to see you do that."

"Then I shall grant your request," Lamis paradoxically replied. And then, turning to the droid, he indicating the star chart on the display and said, "Calculate a hyperspace correction from this course to this course and engage the engine as soon as you're ready."

"Affirmative," the android agreed.

"You can't just change course in the middle of a hyperspace jump," Soma insisted. "Are you trying to make this the shortest kidnapping attempt in history?"

"Do or do not; there is no try," Lamis laughingly replied. "You happen to be onboard the only known spaceship in existence that can implement a hyperspace course correction. I'm afraid the courageous crew of the Forthright is about to confront nothing but parsecs of empty space when their sub-light engines cut back in. We're quite safe from your friends here. You might as well sit back and enjoy the ride. I think this is only the second time in history that anyone has done this."

Only a few moments later, M3 activated the ship's modified hyperdrive and sent the Nubian Nadir careening across the cosmos. With a certified fix on the course and speed of the ship they were pursuing, the crew of the Forthright soon followed. But Lamis' implausible prediction came true. Soma watched from the cockpit as the stars, beyond which they were streaking, seemed to turn into streamers. But then, they unbelievably began to bow as the ship corrected its course in mid jump.

Having been raised on Ryloth, the last planetary stop along the Corellian Run, she was well aware of the realm that was collectively referred to as Wild Space. And it wasn't a place she had ever even imagined that she would enter; yet now, she was rushing in this unfamiliar direction at a speed exceeding even that of light. She knew that her romantically inclined captor would soon explain the reasons behind his disturbing behavior. And she was more afraid of his explanations than she was of the situation itself. She was inexplicably attracted to him. If she could not simply renounce his reasons, but found them instead to be incontestably compelling, she ran the risk of losing herself to the Dark Side. She knew that her metal as a Jedi Master was about to be put to the test as it had never been before.

"We're now safely beyond the reach of the Republic," he elatedly announced. "I am going to need to rest for awhile since I was up all night. But before I ask you to allow me to restrict you to the quest quarters, I need to explain to you how I was put in this compromised situation to begin with."

"The pledge we made to each other was primarily based on the fact that you said you came from Tatooine," she reminded him. "Is at least that much of your story true?"

"Yes," he tiredly replied. "I even had a master there. But he was not a Jedi Master. I was his slave. By the time he died he had survived all his family members and therefore arranged for his estate to be divided among his indentured servants, whom he also freed. I inherited a small ship and M3, whom you have now met. I was just about to leave Tatooine and seek my fortune when Luke Skywalker showed up in the Star Killer and told everybody they needed to evacuate. While we were preparing to do that, we learned that he'd destroyed the stars in both the Geonosis and Kamino systems. It was hard for me to understand how exactly a Jedi Master justified the taking of such extreme measures. But this item of information suggested a strategy to me."

"What strategy was that?" Soma anxiously asked.

"Even in the Outer Rim we had heard stories of people getting rich because of the asteroids of Alderaan," he intensely answered. "I knew the solar shockwaves would've exposed resources that might otherwise have never even been discovered, let alone extracted. I saw an opportunity for some prospecting. And since Kamino was destroyed first, I knew its shockwave would be the first to dissipate as well. I set a course to keep us just ahead of its expanding devastation while I scanned for anything of value inside the system. I found a moon that was almost entirely intact."

"It contained the cloning complex to which you previously referred," she insightfully inferred.

"Quiet correct," he grinningly agreed. "But all I knew, at least initially, was that it contained a treasure trove of technology. The shockwave exposed some sort of structure that'd been hidden below the surface. M3 and I entered through a rip in the casing of its uppermost level. We never expected the security system to still be active. I was however hit with multiple laser blasts, which also shorted out the suspensors in my suit. I fell all the rest of the way to the floor. And I was still several stories up. I was mortally wounded. I lost consciousness. I wasn't aware of anything that was happening around me. I didn't even know what M3 had done to save my life until I woke up. I need you to understand that my condition isn't the result of any decision that was made by me. It was an accident."

"What exactly did M3 do?" Soma cautiously asked.

"While interfacing with the central computer of the complex in order to deactivate its security system, my droid identified the function of the facility that we'd found," he answered. "Because it was primarily medical in nature, and I was desperately in need of such assistance, M3 asked it if it was able to offer any such assistance. The system said that it could create a template from my memories and experiences and then transfer them into a clone of myself, which would be grown from an extracted sample. But it also admitted that the transfer wouldn't be one hundred percent successful, since some of its circuitry had been damaged by the shockwave. It was expecting to lose up to ten percent of the template. M3 consequently asked it if there were any enhancement options that might be used to compensate for the anticipated shortcomings. It said some options were available. It then asked M3 about increasing my midi-chlorian count, installing unstipulated survival training, and uploading some common skill sets. It all sounded so innocent."

"I see," Soma consented. "In the process of saving your life, your droid accidentally remade you as a Sith Lord."

"I never aspired to be any such thing, if that's even the proper expression," Lamis insistently said. "But because I came equipped with experiences from a number of other Dark Lords, Darth Sidious in particular, I knew how the Jedi would react if they learned of my existence. You would have deemed me too dangerous to be left alive. It was the excuse Sidious gave Anakin when he ordered him to kill Count Dooku. It was the same excuse Windu gave him when he was about to kill Sidious. I am every bit the equal of the Clone Emperor your Order just essentially succeeded in assassinating, and only through the sacrifice of Luke Skywalker. You'd have never let me live. I had to do what I did."

"Were you responsible for the attack on the Republic outpost?" Soma asked. "Were you the one who hired those insurgents?"

"I could see no other way to infiltrate the Jedi Order," Lamis answered. "It was essential that I managed to understand your agendas. It looked like the only way."

"But you killed the people you hired," she carefully objected.

"They were mercenaries, without respect for life," he shrewdly explained. "They would have killed anyone for the right price."

"And did you also destroy the munitions factory?" she pressed, sounding exasperated.

"I had to cover my tracks," he defensively answered. "I wasn't planning to kill anyone when I went in there. Things just didn't work out the way I wanted. Anyway, those people were all in the business of making bombs."

"I understand that you are very much a victim of circumstance and you've had no training to help you make such desperate decisions," she cautiously summarized. "And I really don't intend for this to sound like an accusation; but there are flaws in your reasoning, and I'm afraid that you have needlessly taken life. You don't know for certain if those mercenaries would have accepted the assignment if you'd been targeting Separatists. They might not have been absolutely without scruples. And if that munitions plant had been exclusively manufacturing anti-personnel devices, they'd have never been allowed to operate on Coruscant. Their products are used for everything from excavation to removing asteroids from shipping lanes. They're used for positive purposes."

"If we're going to debate collateral losses, then I'll have to ask you just how many millions of people you believe Skywalker incinerated in order to force that final confrontation with the Clone Emperor," he heatedly argued. "According to the last estimate of which I'm aware, he obliterated nothing less than billions."

"Since you possess the experiences of Darth Sidious, perhaps I should ask you to compare that number with all those innocents who were needlessly slain by his orchestration of the Clone Wars," she justly rejoined. But seeing how this only escalated the counterproductive tension that was developing between them, she quickly changed tactics. "But as I said, I'm not accusing you. I can't sit here and say with any certainty that you're mistaken about how the Jedi Council would have reacted to learning of your existence. Whether or not there was any misconception on your part is almost immaterial, since I understand that you were just doing what you felt like you were being forced to do. I get that. But what happened after you woke up? This isn't the little ship that your master left to you, is it? How did you come to possess such a one-of-a-kind craft? And how did you create your lightsaber? Mardra and Mox wrote a report about how they found you, which I read. In that account, they described your lightsaber as having an emerald-colored crystal very much like both of theirs. But that's not what I saw on the rooftop of the Temple Ziggurat."

"Darth Sidious used a one-of-a-kind crystal to create the Shroud of the Dark Side," he easily answered, sounding reassuringly disarmed. "I discovered it in a chamber in the very lowest level of the cloning complex. You heard M3's explanation of how it was damaged during the impact of the shockwave. Shards were sheered from around its edges. I used the smallest one to craft the Chameleon's Crystal. We then completed our prospecting, although it took many months. There were deposits of untapped precious metals strewn throughout all that was left of the system. We accumulated quite a treasure trove. I traded in part of that profit, along with my little ship, for this spacecraft. I spent some more of it when I hired those mercenaries. But there's still a substantial amount in an account on Eriadu. The answer to your question is that the Chameleon's Crystal is able to produce both crimson and emerald blades."

"I almost hate to advance this observation," she said, carefully prefacing her statement, "but I don't think we felt any obfuscation in the Force until after you created the Chameleon's Crystal. The crystal in the main chamber was there the entire time. But it was only after you accessed its obfuscating abilities that we started to get the sense of something concealing itself in the Force."

"You think the Jedi might've never even become aware of me if I hadn't made my weapon?" he incredulously asked. But before she could answer, he added, "All I knew was that I had spent my entire life in slavery and would be exposing myself to possible discovery if I ventured beyond the cloning complex. I didn't deserve a life sentence in solitary confinement when I had not even committed a crime. And since I was sure about how the Jedi would react if I was discovered, my only intention was to arm myself appropriately."

"With the Force as your ally and a good blaster at your side, perhaps you could have simply disappeared. With a ship like this and the fortune you've described, you could have gone almost anywhere," she suggested. Seeing the disdain with which he regarded her proposal, she added, "But a young man with such holdings could've also drawn the wrong type of attention. I suppose it is just as possible that you would have eventually found it necessary to reveal your facility with the Force. But be that as it may, the Jedi Order is definitely aware of your existence now. They'll be coming after you."

"So, where exactly does that leave us?" he cautiously inquired, revealing a vulnerability that wrenched her Twi'lek heart. Despite all of his many diabolical deeds, which as she understood it he had mistakenly assumed were done of necessity, she found his openness entirely endearing.

"The Jedi are the defenders of democracy and the protectors of a Republic which would not easily endure their loss," she said, phrasing her response as carefully as she could. "No one but you would be served by their destruction. And I also discern that you are not deserving of death. But for me to answer your question as completely as I would, I must also ask a question of you."

"What question is that?" he intently asked, leaning forward and gazing into her eyes.

"If there was some way to ensure your safety without lives being sacrificed in the exchange, would you be willing to pursue such a path of peace?" she earnestly asked, placing her hands in his.

"Only if it doesn't require me to spend the rest of my life alone," he honestly answered. "You see the means to such an end?"

"The Jedi live for the service of civilization. It's the single most important part of the altruistic oath that we take when we are confirmed into the Order. I can keep my promise most effectively by abandoning the Order. Two of its most indomitable duelists were no match for you. I perceive that if this conflict continues, you might singlehandedly destroy the Jedi. Without the intervention of the Order, the peace of the Republic could itself become compromised. Nor do you deserve a life of solitary confinement, despite what necessity seemingly dictated that you must do. You are worthy of a better answer than that. I will stay with you, Lamis Cormosa. We will know such love as two corporeal creatures can share. Thereby will I provide peace between the warring factions that we represent," she softly said. "We'll disappear together. And the galaxy will be glad for us."

"You are as wise as you are beautiful," he smilingly said as he closed his hand around hers. "I am unspeakably honored by your decision. Perhaps then there's no need for me to lock you in my cabin and sleep in the cockpit. Is it too much to hope that you would be willing to retire to my quarters with me?"

"I'd like nothing better," she shyly said, rising from her seat. "Would I be correct in assuming that it will take some time for us to reach our destination, perhaps enough for us to do more than simply rest?"

"We have all the time in the universe," he appreciatively replied.

When they reached the quarters for the crew, of which the captain's cabin was definitely the largest, Lamis allowed Soma to use the facilities while he readied the bedchamber. But while he was on the other side of the sealed doorway, he used the Chameleon's Crystal to have a covert conversation with M3.

"I want you to time our approach to the cloning complex so that we arrive while the entrance is situated on the far side of the Core," he clandestinely instructed. "I can sense no deception on the part of our guest. But I see no need to allow her an opportunity to triangulate the coordinates of the complex until I am much more certain of her resolve."

"I will adjust our final approach accordingly," the droid obediently answered.

Even though Lamis was an inexperienced lover, he possessed additional resources through which to supplement his understanding of the art. And Soma's presence was pure inspiration. In the silence between the stars, they consummated the promise they had made to each other. But she was unaware, even as they were engaged in intimacy, that he had taken steps to safeguard himself from her. His every action continued to be governed by fear; despite how easily he could have killed her, the compromised position in which she had already been inexorably placed, and all the love for him that she unabashedly demonstrated. He felt great affection for her, but that is not necessarily the equivalent of love. He was too hesitant to trust her. He could only love her to the extent that love is able to exist in the utter absence of trust.

According to his instructions, M3 landed the Nadir next to the entrance to the complex while it was turned toward the alarmingly empty panorama of Wild Space. Only distant galaxies dotted its featureless sky. Perhaps it would have even been possible for them to glimpse the Milky Way from so exposed a spatial position. Slipping into space suits in order to accomplish the crossing, the humanoid occupants headed toward the ray shielded entrance.

As Soma stopped to observe the vacant vista that stretched above them, she asked, "Is this what they mean when they talk about star-crossed lovers? I mean; it sure looks to me like we've crossed beyond all the stars."

Lamis could only chuckle as he answered, "There might be some people who would refer to us that way, but I doubt if it would have anything to do with our location."

"You give new meaning to the idea of a dark side, baby," she said with a sweeping gesture.

"Don't laugh at me," he pouted with pretense in reply. "I can't help how dark it is out here."

"I wasn't laughing at you, sweetheart. I was laughing with you," she teasingly said. "You just forgot to laugh."

He could only wonder if her surprising sense of humor, which he was very quickly coming to appreciate, had been so apparent to the people around her when she was enmeshed in the Jedi Order. It was difficult for him to picture much jocularity transpiring at the Temple Ziggurat. But he was absolutely unfamiliar with the amusing exploits of some of its previous disciples; particularly the brand of banter that commonly occurred between individuals such as Obi-Wan Kenobi and a padawan named Anakin. Being so instructed, M3 reprogrammed the complex to accept Soma.

After descending into the cavernous cloning complex, Lamis showed his guest around while he explained, once again, how he had come to be in his current condition. She listened with rapt attention. She was particularly interested in the part of his story that concerned the crystal. From her perspective, it had already accomplished its purpose. She didn't understand why he seemed so desperate to replace it; but, at least initially, he was far too interested in learning the outcome of the calculations, which had been performed by the complex's computer, to explain to her why it was of such preeminent importance. M3 interpreted the results.

"Because of all the astronomical anomalies that we know to exist there, the crystal probably came from the Unknown Regions," the droid announced. "The system has generated a directory of the most likely locations of its origin. It has also determined that if we can collect several such crystals, we could then use them to construct a matrix that would make it possible to completely cloak a spacecraft. The matrix would be able to mask even the magnetic signature that normally makes it possible for such a concealed craft to be detected."

"The Republic has almost no representation in the Unknown Regions," Soma excitedly said. "We wouldn't even have to hide our abilities there. There's no limit to what we could accomplish. We could bring peace to entire planets whose inhabitants have suffered as slaves. However, I'm still uncertain about why it is so important to replace the crystal. It sounds like you weren't aware that you could use it to completely cloak a spacecraft until just now. What then was your original intention?"

"The system can't accomplish a one hundred percent transfer of personality and experience from the subject to the clone without an intact crystal," Lamis answered. "Emperor Palpatine had a transponder that had been surgically implanted and was relaying signals to this complex. After the signals stopped, due to his death, it brought Darth Chrysalis out of stasis. After replacing the crystal, we will also be able to have transponders implanted; and then, with our clones waiting to awaken if something unforeseen should happen, you and I will be able to live forever."

"What?" Soma shrieked as she asked, unable to hide her horror.

Chapter Four

When two lovers part, the love that's lost must needs equate

to the measure of the love they both helped to create

"I am not saying that we should install the survival training or upload the common skill sets," he diplomatically replied, fully failing to comprehend her objection. "But I think we should at least consider increasing your midi-chlorian count. Your next incarnation could have as much mastery over the Force as I already enjoy."

"You are at least correct in concluding that I won't turn to the Dark Side," she decisively said in response. "But I also won't accept the duplicitous gift of immortality if it ever becomes yours to offer. Mastery isn't necessarily the same as comprehension."

"I don't understand your objection," he honestly admitted.

"It's like the difference between simply using and actually managing resources," she replied.

"I'm still not following you," he confessed, frowning.

"My master told me that Dark Lords are like people who carve complicated sculptures in the tops of icebergs and thereby claim to control them, although they have no true understanding of what's below the surface," she explained. "The ability to manipulate something isn't the same as an actual understanding of that thing, especially when so much of it is beyond our experience."

"What precisely do you think is beyond our experience?" he inquired in agitated uncertainty. But then, before she could respond, he continued, "Although I'm reluctant to let you to take such a tone with me, I think I should perhaps ask you speak to me like a padawan. We are apparently venturing into subjects you have studied as a Jedi but with which I strangely have no knowledge upon which to draw even from my uploaded experiences."

"Energy does not equal mass times the speed of light," she answered, speaking more softly and nodding as she acquiesced. "Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. Despite the fact that our spaceships are able to exceed the speed of light, which allows us the benefit of experiencing time dilation during our interstellar travels, they can come nowhere near the speed of light squared. In other words; everything in our universe really represents the impingement of aspects that cannot be fully expressed within our constrictive continuum. They proceed from the realm of light-speed squared. They are the manifestation of the Force. It not only transcends our reality; but, in fact, it's actually its source. We only see as much of it as can comfortably fit within our continuum, although there are those who can access some of its more esoteric aspects. But therein lays the danger. The product of this type of access could also be transcendent, incurring consequences that would literally be beyond our imagination. That is why the Jedi Order forbids the testing of the limits of the Force."

"But what does any of that have to do with immortality?" he asked.

"When we sleep, we process a day's worth of experiences," she patiently replied. "But when we transform into the Force, we process the experiences of a lifetime. Please remember that we didn't originate in this realm. Each of us is the impingement of something more. It is essential for us to transform into the Force and return to the realm of our origination. To stay here beyond the lifetime you've been allocated would be an interruption of your development as an individual."

"Do the Jedi then believe that everything comes back as something else?" he inquired.

"Time is not sequential; only our experience of it is, and that is just because we have mass," she cautiously answered. "We therefore don't believe in reincarnation; we believe in incarnation. Everything exists at once somewhere in the Force. Every possibility is actualized. You could call this quantum mechanics if you were so inclined. It's the reason for the apparent imperfections in the system."

"To what imperfections do you refer?" he asked.

"Almost everywhere life is found, the ecosystem is supported by predation," she responded. "Suffering is necessary in such a system, because everything survives by victimizing something else. Primitive races soon realize this, sometimes also leaping to the conclusion that sacrifice is the way to influence the gods. After all, it all looks like the product of someone's merciless mind, sadistic in the extreme. But we're not the products of some pitiless deity. Our plane of existence happens to incorporate these characteristics. And it's possible that we're much more involved in the process than we think, since the system looks like an externalization of the same tendencies we face in ourselves."

"So then, death really just represents some type of transformation?" he asked.

"We are luminous beings. We are currently clothed in skin in order to experience sequential time," she answered. "We believe the Transformed Masters are able to interact with us because of the lives of service which we share. But they interrupt the undefined activities in which they're now engaged in order to do so. But there is one more principle about which we must speak. It is possible that certain laws hold true throughout the whole netherworld of the Force. The concern is that every action could have an equal and opposite reaction even in eternity. If such a precept applies, it would equate to something resembling ultimate accountability. If in our manifestations we make such compensations, maybe it's why bad things seem to happen to good people."

"They might be compensating for the misdeeds they committed in other manifestations?" he incredulously asked.

"Exactly," she sternly said. "This is why your devotion to the Dark Side incorporates such an incalculable risk. We might all be incapable of escaping the consequences of our misdeeds, and your plan could put you in the depressing position of having amassed manifold lifetimes worth of questionable conduct before you could begin to actually compensate. Although I'd agree that it's never too late to do the right thing, which is why Anakin is one of the Transformed Masters, your plan could seriously complicate any possibility of repeating his performance."

"But there are other life forms that live much longer than humans," he avidly argued. "I don't see how it can be so wrong to emulate their example."

"Perhaps you should go and talk to one of them before leaping to such an assumption," she resolutely rejoined. "If our state of affairs was different, I could introduce you to Chewbacca. The Wookiees are long-lived. He has been around since before the Clone Wars. He was fortunate to have formed his friendship with Han Solo. It made his life seem worthwhile once again after he'd witnessed the demise of the Jedi Order and the birth of the Empire. And even though I'm certain he's happy for his friend, Han's marriage probably put some distance between them. While he is still the First Mate onboard the Millennium Falcon and they'll still be doing missions together, the dynamic of their relationship has changed. But imagine what it'll be like for Chewy if he now also outlives Han. The longer you live, the more loved ones you lose; and meanwhile, everything that was previously familiar slowly transforms into something foreign. You find that you languish from the loss of things that once were. And if you live long enough, you'll ultimately find that there's a point beyond which you can no longer change as quickly as the world around you. Life becomes burdensome."

"How could you possibly know such a thing?" he darkly demanded.

"A number of Jedi Masters, even some members of the Jedi Council, have come from those longer-lived races to which you referred," she evenly answered. "Yoda was one of them. There's much you could learn from him if you could just commune with the members of the Transformed Council. But that would require you to adopt a completely different path."

"This complex is permanent and our relationship could last forever," he objected, although it sounded like he was suddenly uncertain of his argument.

"Like the establishment of an empire, immortality is just an attempt to exercise an altogether unnatural amount of control over one's surroundings," she summarized. "When the Force brings itself back into balance, the attempt will fail. Not even the galaxy is permanent. And the Republic could eventually incorporate even the Unknown Regions. If your design to destroy the Jedi does not succeed, which is something I will not help you to accomplish, they'll eventually find you and confront you. On that day, you might be disappointed to discover that their numbers multiplied in the interim. And I won't willingly consent to being cloned. If you force the procedure on me when I am too old and weak to resist, you'll find it necessary to destroy me when I awaken. I will leave you no choice. And if you deliberately use the damaged crystal, trying to rob me of remembering such a betrayal of my trust, you will run the risk of losing instead the part of me that loves you."

"This isn't going to work, is it?" he dejectedly asked.

"I'm willing to vanish into the vastness of the Unknown Regions," she reassuringly said. "We can share a lifetime of love; but just one lifetime, which is as much as anybody could reasonably offer. Despite how strongly I feel about you, I cannot compromise my principles. I cannot be part of any other plan. However, if you won't accept my solution but insist instead on pursing a much more antagonistic strategy, then I'm apprehensive about the trap in which you are quite possibly placing yourself."

"To precisely what trap do you refer?" he asked, sounding increasingly confrontational.

"It might be that existence is not just about our development as individuals," she suggested. "There might be a transcendent aspect even to our plane of existence. If the very universe itself is evolving, the predation that is part of your plan could eventually find itself unsupported."

"I'm not sure I understand what you're saying," he angrily admitted.

"As I said, the Jedi serve civilization itself," she reluctantly reminded him. "In essence, we're promoting the development of our very plane of existence. This would suggest a feasible reason for our ability to communicate with those who also shared such lives of service. If such evolution is universal, this plane of existence might one day no longer be supported by predation. You are aspiring to trap yourself in a reality where you might ultimately no longer belong. Your increased midi-chlorian count notwithstanding, your facility with the Force could fade. You would then have no defense against those who'd hold you accountable for all the crime that made your campaign possible. And that, I am afraid, would be in addition to the compensation you'd also find yourself forced to make on the other side of the eternal equals sign. Do not be so unwise as to test these limits. I'm begging you. The Dark Side is the suicide of the soul. Don't impose these superfluous lifetimes upon yourself for which you could spend many concurrent manifestations in the making of recompense. The cost could be incalculable. You have already spent far too much of your life as a slave. Demonstrate that you are not deserving of so disparaging a sentence. Please, break the cycle."

M3 had been patiently waiting for any interruption in their conversation. Turning to Lamis as it took advantage of the opportunity, it said, "The system also suggested that your abilities might enable you to use the damaged crystal to detect others nearby, but they would need to be within about a parsec of your position. Since we now know the most likely locations in which to look for them and probably have the capacity to detect them from a distance, the likelihood of recovering other crystals is considerably increased."

"I will need to drop you off somewhere on my way to Eriadu," Lamis finally announced as he turned back to Soma, after subjecting her to several worrisome moments of uncertainty. "Do you have any objections to Utapau?"

"Unless I've missed my guess about the general location of this complex, Utapau isn't really on your way to Eriadu," she cautiously answered. "But despite the trio of stellar catastrophes, all of which were orchestrated by one of my order, the leadership on Utapau remains more amiable toward the Jedi than almost any other in the Outer Rim. If that's the reason you have offered me such a selection, then I thank you."

"Don't mention it," he quietly countered, but without raising his gaze to face her tearful eyes. "As soon as I've loaded the crystal, we'll be ready to go."

No Jedi Knight had ever before beheld the crystal that had served as the sole source for the Shroud of the Dark Side. Soma seriously doubted if she would manage to damage it further with something as innocuous as a concussive wave in the Force. But she could only wonder whether it might prove to be susceptible to an assault with a lightsaber, since hers was yet in the custody of her captor. She tried not to consider just how auspicious an opportunity she was being denied as she watched Lamis levitate his trophy onto the Nadir. At the very least, she had succeeded in obtaining critical data about their adversary that the Jedi had been so sorely short of prior to this encounter. And it looked like she was going to escape with her life and thus be able to bring it to them. However, it was difficult for her to muster much optimism in the face of so personal a loss.

She acquiesced to confinement in the captain's roomy quarters after she had been ushered aboard. However, she still possessed the presence of mind to notice that Lamis somehow failed to reprogram the security system and retract the access which he had given her to the complex. She had only the most general idea of its location, which her detention was designed to prevent her from expanding. But if she could somehow manage to find her way back, she would be able to gain uncontested entry. There in the very same room where she had yielded to her desire for the Dark Lord, she began to consider the possible advantages to which the knowledge could be put. Perhaps not surprisingly, they were not incredibly consistent with her training.

From the reaches of Wild Space, they sped past the outskirts of the Quence Sector on their way to Utapau. With her thoughts so fixed upon the future, Soma was never even concerned for her safety. But she had totally miscalculated her captor's reasons for the location of her release.

"I hope you don't mind, but I'll have to drop you off approximately in the middle of nowhere," he said as he unlocked the entrance to his quarters. "But I have to allow myself plenty of time to get out of the system before you can reach the nearest spaceport. Sorry for the inconvenience."

"It's no problem," she replied as diplomatically as she could. "I understand completely."

"But I'll make sure you have the necessary supplies," he reassuringly said. "I'll also give you back your lightsaber before you leave, just in case you run into any trouble along the way."

"I appreciate that," she said and then pursed her lips in order to help control her composure.

"More so than just a couple of people from different planets, you and I come from altogether different worlds," he consolingly said. "Our paradigms couldn't be any further apart. There is just no way we'd ever be able to work. So, I can only hope that you hold our promise as having been fulfilled."

"What if we ever meet again?" she tentatively asked, steadfastly staring at the deck plates.

"I really don't think that is ever gonna happen," he honestly admitted. "It could take an entire lifetime for me to recover the crystals. But I'll then have lifetimes to spare. You don't. Maybe you will have already transformed into the Force before I am finally ready to eradicate the Jedi. That at least is my hope."

"If you should ever change your mind," she cautiously said, "I'm sure I'll be nowhere near as difficult for you to find as your ridiculous crystals. And if you should decide to end this conflict, I'd even be willing to represent your case to the Jedi Council."

"Wouldn't that be a conflict of interest?" he incisively asked. "You are, after all, a member of that council."

"I will be no less than honest with the other members of my order," she resolutely replied. "It might very well cost me my seat on the Jedi Council. I'll accept it if they decide that my dalliance deserves such a reprimand. Perhaps my padawan will even have to be reassigned. But my offer is valid, nevertheless. I hope you will think about it."

"I'm certain there will be times when I'll be able to think of little else," he candidly confessed.

Lamis then escorted Soma to the cockpit, but there was little conversation between them as the Nadir swept into the Tarabba Sector and approached its objective. After allowing her actions to be so influenced by her emotions, Soma found that she now lacked the necessary self control to stop herself from thinking about the fact that the lightsabers of the Jungle Jedi had come from this place. And this, of course, included those that had been wielded by Mox and Mardra as they died. She grimaced against the bitter taste of the irony.

"When I take off, I will initially head in the direction of Pau City," Lamis informed her. "You're going to have some ground to cover before you reach civilization. But I can at least start you out on the correct course."

She could do no more than nod curtly in acknowledgment, and then they watched in silence as the spaceship slipped between the nine moons that orbited their destination. The envelope of atmosphere was deflected by the descending ship as it accomplished its planetfall and emerged over a pitted landscape. The desolation seemed oddly appropriate to Soma for such a parting of company. Complying with its master's command, M3 landed the Nubian Nadir near the center of an easily accessible mesa. And after activating the controls and extending the gangplank, Lamis somberly escorted Soma to the ship's main exit. The feeling of finality was almost overwhelming as she confronted the conveyance that descended to the surface. And then, with a nod from her abductor, she walked its length alone.

As she finally stepped out onto the arid surface and spun around to face him, she scornfully said, "Take care of yourself. I guess that's what you're best at."

"Good luck," he replied as he tossed her lightsaber to her; but then, he curiously concluded, "You're gonna need it."

After quickly closing the gangplank, Lamis instructed M3 to get the ship back up into the air. As he had promised Soma, he told the droid to set their course towards Pau City. But he did not do this just for the sake of guiding her on her way. He needed to go and arrange her reception.

"Under cover of darkness we'll land above the Civic Level of Pau City," he instructed. "I plan to pay an unexpected visit to Chairman Chelingus. After you drop me off just above the outskirts of the city's sinkhole, you should request clearance to land on any platform under the purview of Port Master Putch. Tell him I will be along shortly, and then wait for me there."

"Understood," the droid instantly agreed.

The wastelands between the sporadic canyons of Utapau weren't very closely monitored. In the twilight of an uncommonly cloudy night, the Nadir accomplished its stealthy approach. Lamis had M3 use the city's wireless network to access information from its tourist center. He was thus able to ascertain the section of the Civic Level in which the Chairman maintained his sumptuous residence.

"This is gonna be easy," he confidently commented as he scrutinized the display. "I'm out of here. Take off and contact traffic control as soon as the gangplank closes. I'll see you and Putch on the platform just before morning."

Making his way to the rear of the ship, he exited the Nubian Nadir. He stayed at the edge of the gaping sinkhole, watching intently, until the means of his clandestine conveyance had all but disappeared down the extensive shaft. The Force can empower its disciples with the capacity to perform vertical leaps that would seem to defy gravity. A number of Jedi Masters, such as Mace Windu, have also demonstrated the ability to safely leap from lofty perches. But both these skills attained their ultimate expression in the person of Darth Duress. He could combine them in such a way that his movement most closely simulated flight.

With one hand on the wall of the sinkhole and the other holding the Chameleon's Crystal, to help obscure himself from any observers, he levitated himself down into the expansive aperture, thereby executing a completely controlled descent. As he closed on the Civic Level, he used the Force to interfere with the few security devices that were situated in the area where he would be arriving. He was somewhat surprised by the sparseness of the emplacements; however, Utapau had little need for detectors of this type. It had long been renowned as a peaceful planet; so, the Pau'an people were accustomed to sleeping without interruption. Security was mostly a function of commerce, not of their comparatively tranquil urban existence. Domestic crime was almost an unknown occurrence. Even though their business dealings required caution, their people did not tend to be targeted. This was an exceptional situation.

The Sith Lord had been anticipating patrols and the necessity to overcome and eliminate all possible witnesses. He was almost disappointed at the lack of an opportunity to demonstrate his prowess in this regard. But he was aware that it worked to his advantage to only exterminate the target. He understood that Putch would probably appreciate his economy when it came to killing unnecessarily. In order for the Pau'an and his subversive organization to consider themselves in his debt, he needed to exercise self-control when it came to eradicating their countrymen.

Unlike the port masters, who worked in shifts, the administrators enjoyed all the advantages of keeping a schedule that was consistent with the hours of daylight. Therefore, all of them were asleep in their quarters at this hour. But even though the daytime judicial duties of some of them were carried out only in the presence of members of the law enforcement community, especially when it came to things like court proceedings, it seemed that nobody considered their protection a necessity when they weren't on the clock. Darth Duress had no doubts that his deadly industry would result in the correction of so conspicuous an oversight.

Although everyone kept their quarters secured, the Chameleon's Crystal quickly dismantled the only lock that separated the Sith Lord from his objective. He was inside the residence before anybody was aware of his presence. In fact, his entrance was accomplished so quietly that even the occupants were not awakened by his intrusive activity. Considering his target's social status, the assassin was not surprised to discover that the Chairman was not alone in the bed. He used the Force to choke the female into silence while he slew the official. He didn't want the bodies to be discovered until Soma was in the city. He then killed the Chairman's consort without knowing if they were even espoused. When a search revealed no other residents, he concluded his task.

He draped several stands of Soma's hair, which he had recovered from his quarters aboard the Nadir, across the face of the murdered Chairman. He also transferred her fingerprints, which he had recovered from a drinking vessel, onto the inside of the doorjamb directly adjacent to the place where he had used his lightsaber to disable the locking mechanism. And after he'd framed his former girlfriend as completely as he possibly could, he clandestinely exited the crime scene. His foresight told him that all the forensic evidence wouldn't really be enough to convict Soma of the crime. Security cameras at the Jedi Temple had most certainly captured her kidnapping, and Leia would use those recordings to arrange for the release of the incarcerated Twi'lek. However, his intention had nothing at all to do with harming Soma. By the time she was remanded into the custody of the Jedi Council, the damage would've already been done. Putch and his clandestine society would pounce upon the opportunity, leaving them deeply indebted to Darth Duress.

He stealthily worked his way to the landing platform where the Nadir was perched. His droid was waiting there with Putch. The port master ushered him into a shadowy section of the lighted landing bay before engaging him in conversation.

"Your robotic representative made this sound important," he whispered, "Otherwise the Utai would never have summoned me. And please don't get the impression that I'm not happy to see you, but I interrupted my sleep cycle in order to respond. I hope the urgency wasn't overstated."

"I just killed Chairman Chelingus. And I did it with this," the Dark Lord ominously announced as he drew back the folds of his robe just long enough for the port master to get a glimpse of the Chameleon's Crystal. "A Lethan Twi'lek Jedi Master is on her way to this city right now. She'll be here by morning. I planted evidence at the crime scene to implicate her. Wait until she has been seen in the city before you and your colleagues discover the bodies; and then, insist that she be detained by your authorities. She won't resist. She's an ambassador of the Republic. But I must ask when you saw the Chairman the last time."

"Some of us met with him yesterday afternoon," Putch replied. "We saw him socially. He did not want to meet with us in chambers because of our known opposition to his political position. It was his day off. Of course, we were trying to get him to reconsider his proposal to get our planet to join the Republic."

"If you had succeeded, since it was his day off, is there any reason to think that anyone else would have known?" the Sith Lord incisively asked.

Furrows formed across the face of the port master as he considered the question, before he thoughtfully replied, "No. I suppose not."

"You and all the others in your organization need to claim that he did indeed do exactly that, that you were finally successful in convincing him to change his mind," the Sith Lord insisted. "In fact, you should also tell the authorities that you were all under the impression that he was going to contact Grand Master Leia Solo and inform her of his decision. You should introduce the idea that she responded by sending an assassin."

"Your plan is perfect," Putch respectfully answered, bowing low. "We are forever indebted to you."

"The arrest won't actually result in a conviction," Darth Duress replied. "The evidence will be shown to be circumstantial. But considering how the Jedi just failed to protect Coruscant, trust in their order will be completely compromised by this incident. There will be no more talk of Utapau joining the Republic. And fear not, I won't leave you indebted to me that long."

"Is there anything I can do for you in the interim?" the port master politely inquired. "May I at least fuel you spacecraft for free?"

"Yes. Thank you. We are about to embark on a long journey," Darth Duress responded. "M3 will present you with a list of the supplies we'll need, and I'd like for us to be underway again just as quickly as can be arranged. We need to be long gone well before dawn."

Glancing at the display screen, which was presented to him by the droid, Putch announced, "The Utai can have you fueled, resupplied, and underway again within the hour. I wish you good fortune on your journey. Contact me again if you have any further needs. We are your servants."

This was a far different set of circumstances than the one in which the Nubian Nadir had left Utapau after first being bought by young Lamis Cormosa. He had now fully adopted the persona of Darth Duress. And he had struck severe blows both against the Jedi Order and the expansion of the Republic. The Separatists were now his allies, and he had a plan that could ultimately end with the elimination of the Jedi. But he needed to make sure he accounted for every eventuality.

"Set course for Eriadu," he instructed his droid. "I need to close my account there first, since I'm sure Soma will tell Leia about it at her earliest opportunity. She'll tell them about the complex as well, but that works to our advantage. I'm sure she assumes that I just forgot to reprogram its security system and retract her access. She probably also noticed that I only took the crystal but not the midi-chlorians to which I referred when I talked about increasing her count. She will try to find it, and she won't be alone. Other members of her reprehensible order will surely be involved in the effort. As much as I don't want to harm her, I can't just pass up an opportunity to eliminate more Jedi Masters. After Eriadu, we'll return to the complex long enough to extract all of its most critical components. We'll also collect the midi-chlorians; and then, we'll organize a fatal surprise for any uninvited guests."

Their course to Eriadu took them directly through the Sluis Sector. Thus, they passed within about a parsec of Dagobah, where Grand Master Yoda, then living in exile, had completed Luke Skywalker's training as a Jedi Knight. But even the Emperor had never ascertained how the son of Skywalker came to understand the ways of the Force. Yoda's part in that play was completely unknown except to those who continued to interact with him as a Transformed Master.

The Banking Clan facility had a landing platform on top of it that was reserved for prominent customers. The balance in his account was barely adequate to qualify Darth Duress for this kind of exceptional treatment, but the attendant permitted him to park his substantial spaceship in the section that was reserved for such vessels. Taking M3 along, he descended into the structure.

Since his intention was to close his account, he needed to confer with a bank officer. Tellers were not allowed to conduct such commerce. The institution hated losing customers. Therefore, they wanted to make the most of their last chance to discourage the closing of any account. The officer, a human, ushered the young man and his droid into a comfortable cubicle where he then proceeded to access the account information.

"There's a flag on your account," he suddenly announced in concern. "I will need you to wait here while I summon the manager so we can see what this is all about."

Lamis Cormosa did not know that Commissioner Londle Eisley, who was searching through electronic records for any mention of his quarry's name, had discovered the ATM transaction on Coruscant and tracked it to the account on Eriadu. Lamis was moments away from an extremely unwanted confrontation with the authorities that would also preempt the possibility of making his withdrawal. There was only one ploy that he could even attempt.

"The flag has been removed. I guess it must've been a mistake," he said as he nonchalantly waved his hand towards his unsuspecting target. "We can just go ahead and close the account."

"The flag has been removed. I guess it must've been a mistake," the officer echoed, proving himself susceptible to the old Jedi mind trick. "We can just go ahead and close the account."

Since those funds represented all that was left of what had been a significant fortune, Darth Duress decided that he should supplement his holdings. But he couldn't take a chance on trying to make the man hand over money without any appropriate paperwork. He knew that the branch managers kept very close tabs on the business being conducted at each station. He had to offer something in exchange. And as luck would have it, he had considerable collateral parked on the rooftop. In an absolutely legitimate business transaction, he signed all the necessary documents and took out a loan against the Nadir. He and M3 then returned to the parking lot on the rooftop.

"Set our course for the Kaminoan moon," he told the droid as they boarded the bank-owned spaceship. However, he knew the fact that the account had been flagged was sure to be caught by the person who logged the loan at the end of the day. The bank officer would almost certainly be fired and the amount of the loan would be written off. They would never even try to collect.

As they passed through the Bajic Sector on their way to the Kaminoan moon, Darth Duress wondered how Soma was coping with her probably incarcerated situation and how many Twi'lek expletives were occurring to her as she considered his conduct. But he knew Leia would rescue her. He also understood however, as the Grand Master would certainly discover, that her rescue could only destabilize circumstances even further. There would be suspicion and mistrust. Such things could only work to his advantage. He had just effectively uploaded the most pernicious of possible programs into the matrix that was the Jedi Council. It would be difficult at best for them to act in concert amidst so much uncertainty. Opinions would become compromised by faltering affiliations. The designs of his adversaries were now fated to fail. It didn't matter that it was done unwittingly. Soma would act as his instrument, creating discord among the other Jedi Masters. It would be like she was a splinter in their collective eye, forcing them to focus their attention in the wrong direction. Those who rejected her suggestions would risk a falling out among friends. And those who followed her would be led to their deaths.

The Nadir had enough cargo capacity to hold all the most critical components of the cloning equipment. And the isolated midi-chlorians actually occupied only as much space as the system that kept the sample in stasis. In compliance with the commands of its master, M3 bypassed the transponder system and repaired the complex's self-destruct device, connecting it instead to the security system which Darth Duress also reprogrammed. So, if anyone besides the Dark Lord or his droid attempted to enter the stripped-down remains of the cloning complex, the facility would obliterate itself along with all the potential trespassers. And in case the weapon worked, the Sith Lord left nothing behind that he considered indispensable to his plan.

Jedi Master Soma Sarmosini stood panting before the sprawling sinkhole that stretched into the gaping grotto known as Pau City, the capital and major metropolis of Utapau. Because she'd been so desperate to reach civilization and get a communiqué to the Jedi Council on Coruscant, she'd done exactly the kind of thing against which she had counseled Lamis; she had tested the limitations of the Force as it applied to personal propulsion. Consequently, she was dangerously close to exhaustion. But she considered her condition to be of minimal importance as she gazed down upon her deliverance. She was inaccurately expecting to find only friends in the sanctuary city.

Being a Jedi Master, Soma could commune with many kinds of creatures. It was not difficult for her to summon a dactillion dragonmount. She was soon descending to the Civic Level on the back of her exotic conveyance. Being an ambassador of the Republic, it seemed sensible to her to proceed directly to the administrators of Utapau. It was to these dignitaries that she needed to explain her situation, and they were the ones who could most expeditiously grant her request for access to a subspace communicator. She was being both polite and practical. She didn't expect to have her skills as a diplomat immediately put to the test.

Only moments after entering the reception area, she was converged upon by an assortment of very authoritative-looking individuals. She was stunned to recognize that the contingent of the group consisting of law enforcement officers all had their side arms drawn. It took a supreme act of will for her to resist the temptation to deploy her own weapon in response, but they apparently were unwilling to trust their lives to her restraint. She was instructed to surrender her lightsaber.

"We're charging you with the murder of Chairman Chelingus," said the officer who accepted her weapon. "He was killed with a lightsaber. You'll need to come with us."

"I understand," she somehow said, although devastated, and presented her empty hands to the arresting officer. "And I won't resist. But I need to tell you that I've only just escaped from the clutches of a kidnapper. I ran all night to reach this city and have only just arrived. Please let me contact the Jedi Council on Coruscant and convey to them my condition."

"Your request is consistent with our regulations," the officer responded. "But we need you to understand that you are subject to our laws, not those of the Republic. The crime occurred here. If you are found guilty of its commission, you will not be subject to extradition. And assassination entails only one possible sentence."

Incarcerations were not actually carried out in the sinkholes where civilization was centered, but there were a few places for the processing of suspected perpetrators. She was escorted to a holding area in one such facility. And after she'd been officially received, she was finally allowed to contact the Jedi Council. Although Leia was relieved to discover that Soma had survived after being abducted, she was alarmed to learn that Chairman Chelingus had been assassinated and that the evidence seemed designed to implicate the kidnapped Jedi Master. She assured Soma that she would come to Utapau just as quickly as she could, indicating that she would also bring a copy of the security recording of the kidnapping. The Pau'an police agreed to let Soma stay in the processing center until she had received legal counsel. This would give Leia enough time to complete the required trip.

It seemed to Soma as if she had only exchanged one kind of incarceration for another. And her current conditions could hardly be compared to the opulent captain's quarters in which she'd accomplished most of her passage to Utapau. She had a distinct impression that she was being imprisoned by people who were not particularly convinced of her culpability. While the evidence seemed damning, it was also true that the history of the Jedi Order was demonstrably devoid of any incidents that involved assassination. It was clear to her that somebody was moving behind the scenes. Lamis couldn't have orchestrated this all on his own, especially at such short notice.

Grand Master Leia Solo created a disturbance in the Force that was entirely unlike anything Soma had ever sensed before. She therefore knew it the moment Leia landed. But it seemed to take an extremely long time for the leader of the Jedi Council to make it to the holding area, and she was not alone. The Chief Magistrate was with her. They represented the two most important people when it came to deciding Soma's future, and they were both wearing disturbingly somber expressions. Without the traditional introduction, the Magistrate spoke first.

"Some of the most affluent and influential members of our community have just testified that they met with Chairman Chelingus yesterday and that they finally managed to get him to change his mind about wanting our world to become part of the Republic," the official ominously intoned. "They claim that the Chairman told them he would contact Grand Master Solo and tell her about his change of heart. They've suggested that she responded by sending you to assassinate him."

"I presented the security recording of your abduction as evidence to the contrary," Leia took the opportunity to interject. But she didn't mention having turned off the playback just before the victim turned and willingly walked up the gangplank. "Their objection was no surprise."

At a questioning glance from Soma, the Magistrate explained, "We were all assured that the Sith had been destroyed. As a consequence, it seemed incredibly coincidental to my colleagues that one suddenly showed up just in time to provide you with a convenient alibi. If not for certain discrepancies in the evidence, I would be holding you for trial anyway. But our forensic sciences are not backward just because we're in the Outer Rim. It's very difficult to explain how your hairs ended up nowhere except on the face of the Chairman. You'd have hardly needed to stand over him while slaying him with a lightsaber. He was lying in bed. And the position of your fingerprints on the doorjamb would've been impossible unless you'd been standing on the ceiling. My career will probably be ended by this investigation, but it will be conducted without your assistance. I've decided to dismiss the charges against you. I will not incur the wrath of the Jedi Order over such circumstantial evidence. But you'd better leave before the Separatists have me replaced as well. I am sorry to say it, but you are no longer welcome here. Get to your ship as quickly as you can, and don't stop until you're out of this sector."

The Chief Magistrate handed Soma's lightsaber to her, which produced looks of uncertainty on the faces of the nearby guards. But the two Jedi Masters only bowed in response. They then turned and quietly made their way out of the holding area. No one challenged their departure.

Leia seemed almost motherly as she helped Soma strap herself in once they were onboard the Falcon. But the Grand Master then went forward and didn't come back from the cockpit until after the vessel had cleared the atmosphere of Utapau and made its jump into hyperspace. She was accompanied by Han and Chewy. Soma correctly ascertained that C-3PO had remained at the Jedi Temple. The trio slipped into seats adjacent to hers. But their expressions showed only concern. They didn't have the aspect of people who were preparing accusations, and Leia even allowed her the dignity of beginning her account without asking any uncomfortable questions.

"Lamis Cormosa really is from Tatooine," she said as conversationally as she could. "But he was a slave. His master was actually his owner, not a member of the Jedi Order. When the man died, he wasn't survived by any of his relatives. He left all his possessions to his servants whom he also freed. Lamis inherited a small ship and a droid. He was about to head offworld and seek his fortune when Jedi Master Luke Skywalker entered orbit and advised everybody to evacuate. Since he was already at the spaceport, Lamis quickly learned what their subspace sensors were showing; Luke had destroyed the star systems of both Geonosis and Kamino. An idea started to take shape in the young man's mind, and he set his course for Kamino."

"Why would he head directly into danger?" Han demanded.

"He skirted the shockwave that was spreading out from the center of the Geonosis system," she explained, "and plotted a tangential course that would keep him just ahead of the Kaminoan shockwave. His plan was to scan the insides of the decimated system for anything that might be of value and then wait until the shockwave dissipated enough for him to enter and retrieve it. He was prospecting."

"How did he come up with such a risky scheme?" Han asked. But then he changed his mind and asked, "Why did he expect to find anything of value in such a situation."

"Even in the Outer Rim," she replied, "people have heard the tales about the treasure troves that were discovered inside some of the asteroids of Alderaan. He believed that the shockwaves would expose resources the existence of which had never even previously been suspected. And he finally did make such discoveries after the accident that turned him into a Sith Lord."

"After all these years," Leia unexpectedly interjected, sounding abnormally melancholy, "the asteroids of Alderaan are now laying waste to lives on worlds they never even touched. The first Death Star was used only once, and yet people are still dying as a result. Is this to be the legacy of my adoptive homeworld?"

Understanding the wisdom of steering the course of the conversation back toward her story, Soma continued, "His scans revealed the remains of a moon that was still almost entirely intact."

"The Emperor's personal cloning complex," Leia correctly concluded, although the trembling tone of her voice sounded anything except certain.

"Lamis had no concept of what he'd discovered," Soma carefully continued. "The roof of the complex had been ripped open by the impact of the shockwave and its upper level was exposed to space. It looked to Lamis like a lot of technology that would be perfect for appropriating, so he and his droid went inside. But part of the security system was still operational. He was struck by multiple laser blasts and lethally wounded. While it was interfacing with the complex's computer, in order to disable the security system, his droid identified the type of technology which they had discovered. Since it was medical in nature and Lamis was dying, the droid asked the system if it could be of any assistance."

"I don't like where this is going," Han couldn't help but interrupt.

"Lamis is a victim of the Emperor's blind ambition and his droid's innocent desire to save its master's life by any means available," Soma defensively stated. "He never harbored any desires to be a Sith Lord. He literally woke up that way. His midi-chlorian count was increased, probably exponentially. And certain templates were apparently implanted. They seem to relate to survival training and common skill sets, probably skill sets that were common only to other Dark Lords of recent history."

"But why did he attack the Temple?" Leia asked.

"He concluded, and perhaps not inaccurately, that we would consider him too dangerous to be left alive," she resolutely replied. "It was precisely the excuse Palpatine gave Anakin when he ordered him to kill Count Dooku. And it was the same justification Master Mace Windu also used later when he was about to slay Sidious. After living in slavery for the first two dozen years of his life, he believed he either had to accept a life sentence in solitary confinement, inside that moon, or go on the offensive. Perhaps not unexpectedly, he chose the latter."

"Those insurgents on Sullust were working for him and he murdered them," Han interjected, coming to the correct conclusion as Chewy growled in agreement. "You can add that to the tally of the people he killed on Coruscant."

"There've been major problems with his methodology. They've resulted in collateral losses," she readily agreed. "But his impetus isn't the establishment of an empire. He is only acting like a caged animal, which is strangely consistent with his situation."

"Do you know where he is now and," Leia dramatically paused here as she worked her way to the long anticipated question, "why he let you live?"

"When I first met him on Coruscant, before I had any idea what he was, we made a promise to each other," she softly confessed. "We were both from planets that had been devastated by a stellar catastrophe. It seemed appropriate at the time. But it is the reason he didn't kill me on the rooftop, and it is also why he eventually elected to let me go. But before I answer the last part of your question, there's something I need to admit to you."

"What's that?" Leia asked as if she already anticipated what Soma was about to say.

"I offered to remain with him," she said in shame. "It seemed to me that the best way for me to serve the Jedi Order was to abandon it, thereby presenting him with a much more acceptable solution to his dilemma. Consider how much sacrifice was required to finally kill Darth Chrysalis. I knew how easily he'd murdered Mox and Mardra, despite their skill with Form Seven. I saw my abdication as the only possible way for me to preserve the peace and convince him to curtail his campaign."

"Why didn't he accept your offer?" Leia pressed.

"Darth Sidious used a unique crystal to create the Shroud of the Dark Side," she answered. "It also made possible the transfer of memory and personality from the subject to the clone. The crystal was damaged when the shockwave struck the complex, reducing the transfer to no more than ninety percent. This is why his droid originally included the enhancement options. He plans to replace the crystal and use the replacement to achieve immortality. I explained to him why he should pursue another path and why I couldn't accept such a duplicitous process. That's why he turned me loose, although he used even that to his advantage. And I am sorry to say that I don't know the names of his accomplices on Utapau. He never even so much as mentioned the place until he suggested releasing me there. But I can tell you that he is now headed for the Unknown Regions. He used the computer at the complex to calculate all the most likely locations in which the crystal might have been created. According to those calculations, the crystal was just one of a complete matrix. And if he can recover enough of them, he can use them to cloak a spaceship so completely that even its magnetic signature can't be detected. He would be able to launch an invisible assault against any target he cares to select."

"Yeah, Londle is just gonna love this," Han acerbically observed. "The citizens of Coruscant are already clamoring for him to increase the power to the planetary shields after the little fiasco we just survived. I can hardly wait to fly through those storms."

Ignoring her husband's huffiness, Leia said, "I'm glad you mentioned invisibility. I am hoping you can explain how Lamis escaped from the Forthright."

"His spaceship is called the Nubian Nadir," Soma despondently replied, seeming now much more pensive after the captain's eruption. "I don't know where he got it, but I know it can change course in hyperspace."

From the way Chewy growled in such obvious outrage at her announcement, no translation was necessary. But the captain waited for his friend's fury to subside before offering his opinion.

"I knew it was hypothetically possible," Han said, raising his palms as he shrugged, "but I've never so much as heard of a ship that could do it. However, if it really has that capacity, then it's uniquely qualified to navigate the nuances of the Unknown Regions. There would be no point in trying to send a ship after him."

"Can you explain how he deceived us into believing that he was a Jedi Knight?" Leia asked. "Did it involve this crystal of which you spoke?"

"Yes," Soma answered, obviously relieved by being presented with the kind of question she could easily address. "He used a shard from the shattered crystal to create a lightsaber that can produce two types of emanations. One is the green that was seen on Sullust. The other is blood red. The shard in the lightsaber's hilt helps him disguise his true nature. He calls his weapon the Chameleon's Crystal. He has also taken the Sith Lord designation of Darth Duress."

"I can see that you are extremely exhausted from your ordeal," Leia empathically observed. "Unless there's anything you think I need to know right now, the rest of your report can wait until we meet with the Jedi Council. You can use the remainder of this trip as a sleep cycle."

"I need to confess that my celibacy was compromised, and not by force," Soma said almost inaudibly. "But if you'll accept my recommendations nevertheless, I have suggestions about how we should proceed. I've been to the Kaminoan moon. I might even be able to find it again. I was watching Lamis closely when we left. I know he neglected to retract the access he'd given me."

"I'll gladly accept your proposals," Leia reassuringly said. "But you'll need to present them to the Jedi Council. Others may also have suggestions that we'll need to consider. You should rest now. There will be important decisions for us to make upon our return. And I need you to be fully focused."

Soma slept the entire rest of the voyage and didn't awaken until the Millennium Falcon was about to enter the atmosphere of Coruscant. In fact, the Grand Master actually awakened her in order to prepare her for what she was about to see. The damage to the Temple, and the attrition that resulted, had not yet been included in their conversation.

"The destruction of the explosives plant, which we were investigating when you were taken, was done to conceal an act of theft," Leia explained. "Lamis planted the stolen explosives in the supports below the five spires and near the dormitory. R9-Z5 managed to disable four of the six before they went off, but two of the towers were destroyed; namely, the High Council Tower and the Tower of Reconciliation. Para Cleet and his padawan were inside the last of these and were killed when the tower collapsed. As a consequence, the configuration of the Temple has altered. And I wanted to warn you before you saw it for yourself. I believe he really wanted the towers to fall towards the center of the structure and maximize the damage. He did not achieve that result, probably because of not being a structural engineer, but the people who lived in the surrounding district paid the price. And our credibility among this planet's inhabitants might've suffered more than even the shrine in which we all reside. The capital of the Republic was effectively attacked. We neither predicted the peril nor managed to save any of its endangered citizens, save the few students who would have died in the dorm. In addition to losing fully a quarter of the Council, we have also lost face before those whom we swore to safeguard. Our reputation in is ruins. It's just as well that there seems no point in pursuing Lamis. It's going to take every remaining one of us just to reestablish our standing as the defenders of democracy. It now seems quite clear that we also won't be appending Utapau to the Republic as we'd expected, which doesn't exactly help to improve our situation. In order to save time, I'll explain what happened to you to the Council. We have many things to decide, and I'd just as soon not dwell overmuch on our absent enemy."

"Thank you," she appreciatively replied, but hoping the importance would not be minimized.

Considering that it only amounted to a third of the harm that had actually been intended, the damage to the Jedi Temple was nothing short of staggering. Soma had to fight very hard to hide her horror as she saw the devastation that stretched from the sheared off southern side and into the surrounding city, where the two towers had catastrophically fallen. Much of the wall between them was gone as well. It was difficult for her to fathom how one man had caused so much ruin.

The Jedi Council had resorted to the Chamber of Conclave, located beneath the Tranquility Spire, in order to hold its sessions. Since this expansive assembly room had once been used to receive annual reports regarding the activities of Jedi in outlying systems, it seemed to Soma to be unusually appropriate for the occasion. Food was not normally permitted in chambers during assembly. But Soma was in serious need of nourishment, and Leia didn't want to unnecessarily delay the discussion. An exception was made for the circumstance. Soma wondered if they had now been reduced to making up the rules as they went along.

Julither was very thankful to find her friend in one piece and sat beside Soma has they took their places. Because of the discovery of a surviving Sith Lord and his attack against the Temple Ziggurat, Leia had recalled all the Council. There were now no more Jedi Masters assisting with the relocation of the peoples who had been displaced by the destructive industry of Master Luke Skywalker. While Soma understood the necessity of trying to save face before the inhabitants of the Republic's capital; she also thought it far more important for the Jedi to actually be making a difference, rather than simply trying to preserve the appearance of doing so. Since the source of the disruption in the Force had now been discerned, she thought they could have resorted to the longstanding procedure of using a holo-conference to achieve their assembly.

As succinctly as she could, though at times sounding almost terse, Leia explained what had happened to Jedi Master Soma Sarmosini. The Council sat respectfully in silence and absorbed the secondhand account, but Soma could sense their discomfort as they slowly understood how their new enemy had inadvertently been brought into being. Their resolve seemed to waver right before her eyes. Leia was careful to include some details she had clarified with Soma while they were still on their way to the Conclave. She then opened the floor for discussion. Seratu was the first to ask a question of the recently rescued Jedi Master.

"Did I understand correctly that the computer at the cloning complex could not calculate the age of the crystal?" she carefully inquired.

"I heard his droid give him the report," Soma replied.

"So this crystal matrix, of which his was once a part, could have formed as much as millions or even billions of years ago?" Seratu insistently asked.

"I suppose," Soma uncharacteristically stammered, uncertain of just where the Togruta Jedi Master was going with her questions.

"So they might very well have passed beyond the edge of our galaxy, perhaps even into the space above or below its plane?" Seratu continued to conjecture. "Or if they were not swallowed by the same black hole that helped bring them into being in the first place, their exploding parent could perhaps have hurled them toward the Core, where they might have easily been swallowed by another black hole long ago?"

"These are all possibilities," Soma hesitantly conceded.

"Would you agree that the crystal could have even come from another galaxy and been the only fragment from its disseminating matrix that did so?" Seratu finally asked.

"I can't discount the possibility," Soma admitted.

"So despite the optimism that was necessary for his scheme, it's entirely possible that Darth Duress is in fact on an utterly futile quest that will ultimately consume all the rest of his unnatural life?" Seratu questioningly concluded.

Silenced by the overpowering epiphany with which she was suddenly assailed, Soma could only mutely nod. She had subscribed to that contrived optimism. She had taken exception to the Sith Lord's plan without even considering its implausibility. The possibility existed that she could instead have shared the lifetime of love with him that she had offered. He might never be able to find another crystal. And even if he did, if she had stayed with him in the interim, his attachment to her might have grown to the point where he would've been more willing to abandon his quest for immortality than to send her away as he had. She'd needlessly drawn a line in the wasteland sands of Utapau. It was like she had ripped the lifeline right out of his hands. There was now no choice but to treat him like the enemy into which she had unintentionally finished forging him.

"So his blind ambition might keep him from ever becoming a threat to us again?" Xan asked as he turned to Seratu. "We might really need to do nothing?"

"But what if, instead, he finds what he's looking for in short order?" Soma interrupted Seratu by inquiring. "What if he can quickly recover enough crystals to actually construct the completely cloaked spacecraft that the complex's central computer suggested? Our presence on this planet is the only reason the capital of the Republic is in danger. Don't we have an obligation to protect its people? I think we should establish a new Temple in another location. We should raze what's left of this one to the ground, except for the irreplaceable resource of the Archives. And it should be obvious even from orbit that it's been abandoned. Rather than simply discount the possibility, which could be disastrous in the extreme, the opportunity here is for us to conscientiously select the battlefield of any future confrontation. Let us honor our oath. Let's eliminate the possibility of any further collateral losses."

"Are you actually suggesting that we should retreat?" Awswi asked, sounding demonstrably dumbfounded. "Don't you think the citizens of Coruscant would see it as desertion?"

"Selecting the theater of any future engagement is not the same as retreating. It is a military tactic!" she heatedly clarified. "It makes little difference what the citizens of Coruscant think if our action saves their lives!"

"Shield storms are damn near as dangerous as an attack from space!" Priella expostulated, displayed an unusual amount of emotion, "which is why Commission Eisley is trying to resist the pressure to increase their power levels. If the inhabitants of Coruscant believe we've abandoned them, he'll have absolutely no choice but to yield to popular opinion. And you can be certain that those storms will result in mortalities!"

"The only alternative is for us to go on the offensive," Soma steadfastly answered.

"How do you suggest we do that?" Leia quietly inquired, raising a hand to restore order. "He has disappeared into the Unknown Regions in a ship that can change course in hyperspace."

The Grand Master was beginning to regret not having taken the time to hear any of Soma's suggestions before they were unleashed upon the Council. While there was a certain amount of wisdom to her words, the Twi'lek's presentation was itself becoming counterproductive. She had just been through a harrowing experience. And there had been no time for her to recover before finding herself forced to defend her extreme conclusions about how to resolve their situation.

"He has cloning equipment with him. And he doesn't need the midi-chlorians since his clone will have the same count he does," Soma patiently replied, reeling in her wrath. "But he does not yet have an implanted transponder. Even if he already has the device, I don't think anybody else could possibly be qualified to perform the surgical procedure. He'll have to return to the complex in order to have it implanted. And I think there's a very good chance that I could find it again."

"So you think we should locate and destroy the complex?" Julither conversationally inquired as she desperately strove to find some way to come to her friend's defense.

"We need to find it first," Soma evasively answered as she tried to work her way to the more complete disclosure of her scheme. "But since we're dealing with so many unknowns, what I am actually suggesting is not as simple as destruction. In case I am wrong about the impossibility of having the transponder implanted by some other means, there's something else I think we really should do first. After that, we can arrange for the complex to destroy itself, with him inside of it, if he should ever return."

"You mean we should booby-trap it like he did to the Temple?" Seratu asked in an accusing tone. "Haven't you considered just how cowardly such a response actually sounds? I will accept the judgment of Jedi Council with regards to this suggestion. But to me it reeks of revenge. I see the possibility of killing some innocent explorer instead, as innocent in fact as Lamis was himself before he stepped into someone else's trap."

It wasn't difficult for Leia to see how incensed Soma was by this response. She has to raise her hand to restore order again before asking, "You referred to something we should do first?"

"The midi-chlorian sample is still there," Soma evenly answered, but her openly angry gaze remained steadfastly fixed on Seratu. "Apparently the midi-chlorian count of a human cannot be increased through a transfusion; otherwise, Sidious would've had this done to himself. I guess it can only be done by cloning, as with Darth Chrysalis, or by transformation into a cyborg, as with General Grievous. But there remains now only one human on the Jedi Council. Perhaps another of the species represented here would be able to have their midi-chlorian count increased in this manner. My hope is that Xan and Priella would prove to have such physiologies."

"Why would you want it to be us?" Xan asked in consternation.

"You're both skilled in Form Seven," Soma instantly answered. "And there are two of you. If Darth Duress does not return by way of the cloning complex, he would find himself confronting a pair of indomitable duelists."

"We were closer to Mox and Mardra than anyone else here," Priella replied. "The temptation to give into vengeance would be strongest for us. Therefore, I'm not particularly pleased with the idea of putting us between this accidental Sith Lord and the entire rest of the Council. Could you please nominate someone else?"

Soma appreciated how Priella had seized the opportunity to insert a pleasant response into their previously stressful discussion; and so, she reciprocated by suggesting, "My second choice would be Gwonameeth."

"Why?" Leia involuntarily asked. She was distracted by her struggle to hide her horror at the unexpected turn in the conversation. She knew what Obi-Wan would have said about the kind of suggestions Soma was making.

"If an increase in midi-chlorian count also causes an augmentation of telepathic ability," she replied, looking at Gwonameeth, "you might be able to determine where the enemy is, what he's doing, and whether he has succeeded in his search. At the very least, you'd hopefully be able to forewarn us of his return and identify his target."

"Although philosophers have argued for eons about when consciousness actually occurs for the unborn," Leia carefully countered; "it's long been known that the people of Gwonameeth can detect the development of sentient life forms almost at the moment of conception. Therefore, I'm not at all sure that any increase in their telepathic aptitude could be achieved in such a manner."

"I still feel it would be wise for the Jedi Council to consider my suggestions," Soma sounded distinctly respectful as she replied.

"I agree," Leia quietly concluded. "And I think we should adjourn for now and meditate upon all that has been said here."

Julither stuck close to Soma as they exited the Conclave, but she waited until they were out of earshot from almost everyone before she finally started to speak. From her friend's distraught expression, Soma could not tell if she had been waiting to establish seclusion or because it took her that long to master her emotions.

"Ever since he took you, I've wondered whether I made a mistake when I left you alone with him on the rooftop," she softly confessed. "I know you are a Jedi Master and completely capable of platonically interacting with the opposite sex; however, I saw the attraction between the two of you. I can't stop thinking that I should've stayed. We're supposed to be protecting each other."

"You didn't do anything wrong," Soma assured her. "In fact, if it hadn't been for that meeting on his first night, during which an oath was exchanged, he would almost certainly have killed me just before escaping in the Nadir. The Council would be without all the information that I've been able to supply, whether they accept my suggestions or not."

"I understand why you recommended moving the Temple," Julither replied. "But I'm not sure we have the numbers to accomplish such a prodigious undertaking. Nevertheless, I will certainly support at least that part of your proposal. But I'll be surprised if it carries through the Council."

"Jewels," Soma said, using the term of endearment as she reached around and half hugged her friend in midstride. "It is enough that I can rely on your personal support. I expect you to vote only according to your conscience when we're in session. You worry too much. Trust the Force."

"Didn't I say that to you the last time we talked?" Julither playfully asked in reply.

They laughed for a few moments, and then Julither said that she needed to go check on her padawan. Soma realized that she also had yet to interact with her apprentice since returning. As she was turning to head down the hallway in the other direction, she found Gwonameeth waiting for her. She thought at first that the telepath simply wanted to commune with her concerning her increased midi-chlorian count suggestion. But then it occurred to her that Gwonameeth was one of the few who had staunchly supported Lamis when others sometimes seemed uncertain of the young man. She knew how Darth Duress had deceived the telepath. And she wanted to be sure to resolve any lingering self doubts by offering the explanation.

"Most of what Lamis told you was true," she said as she looked up at the multifaceted eyes. "His lightsaber contained a shard from the very same crystal that Darth Sidious used to produce the Shroud of the Dark Side. Lamis used it whenever he was not telling the truth. It was not your fault that you couldn't see through his disguise. No one could have."

She experienced a sensation that she knew, from her previous encounters, was a precursor to telepathic contact; and it was done simply for the sake of courtesy. Gwonameeth did not need to make any such announcement. It was in fact impossible to tell if the purple-furred Jedi Master was reading someone's mind. But this polite introduction was usually used before an image was implanted in the mind of the recipient. However, it wasn't any of the images that Soma had been expecting to receive. She had not yet discovered nor even come to suspect her condition. It was the image of her holding her unborn child.

Soma had considered the use of contraceptives unnecessary; relying on the fact that, in the absence of medical manipulation, humans and Twi'leks couldn't produce offspring together. But she had not taken the increased midi-chlorians of Lamis into account. He had exercised abilities that even he did not know he possessed. In a strange kind of way he had inadvertently achieved the aspiration of one Anakin Skywalker, who had been led down the Dark Path by his misplaced desire to imitate another Dark Lord of the Sith. Even though the uploaded experiences that were part of Darth Duress contained no reference to this ancestor, Darth Plagueis the Wise had been so powerful that he could actually influence the midi-chlorians to create life.