Chapter 2

Lumin Prime was a brighter, nicer looking planet than Gantoon. The air was clearer, the skies cluttered with speeders, and the buildings pristine, as if someone had taken a slice off of Coruscant and put it on Lumin.

From the cockpit of the Lightrunner Diya stared in wild-eyed fascination at the city they were flying over. Noticing her look Gumi looked back for a moment and said, "Never seen anything like this, huh? Unlike Gantoon, Lumin isn't just a run-down dump too close to Hutt space. It's one of the most important ports in this sector."

"I've never been off Gantoon in my life before," Diya answered him.

"Well, you'll not be going back now. Though I'll tell you, Lumin is much safer. So safe that half the population goes around without blasters." Gumi laughed aloud. He kept his hand on the flight controls, bringing the Lightrunner over a smaller spaceport outside of Lumin City.

In the cabin compartment of the ship Silas was seated before Kee-Xi, on the receiving end of a lecture from his teacher. "What is the purpose of using the Force to influence minds, Silas?"

"To resolve situations peacefully," he answered.

"When should it be used?"

"As a last resort, of course."

"And how far?" Kee-Xi's look was stern.

"Only as far as necessary to resolve the problem," Silas answered softly, knowing he had broken that last rule.

"But you went further. Why?"

"Because, Master, what that man was doing was wrong," Silas said defensively.

"So you decided to force him to stop?"

"To try, Master. I figured that over time my influence on him would wane." Silas felt something from his Master and wondered what he missed. And he could see Kee-Xi knew he was unaware of whatever the ultimate end was of this exchange.

"And by going too far, Silas, you caused that man's death." Seeing his apprentice's stunned reaction, Kee-Xi nodded. "Yes. I felt his death through the Force. I felt his fear and bewilderment as he could not give an answer to his contact on why he was not finding girls to sell. I felt his terror as the blaster was pointed at him, and then the darkness of death. I take it you did not?"

Silas thought carefully. He could not recall feeling any disturbances in the Force at that time, and so he had to shake his head. "No, Master."

A stern smile crossed his Master's face. "An interesting admission, my Padawan, when you have asserted that it was the will of the Force itself to bring young Diya with us to possible doom."

"I do not exaggerate on that account, Master. I truly felt as if the Force were urging me to bring her," Silas answered.

"Did you? Or perhaps you wished to believe it was the Force. Tell me, Silas, why you believe this girl should come? She is not a Jedi and she does not have the talent in the Force to ever become one. Why should she share our peril?"

"Her life was already filled with peril, Master. And though she has no power over the Force, her heart is light and pure. Surely someone worthy of being saved from her eventual fate in the streets of Gal Durep."

Kee-Xi pondered his apprentice's reply. Before he could answer he felt the ship land. He stood and looked to Silas to do the same. Diya emerged from the cockpit first. "Where are we going?" she asked amiably. "I wouldn't mind seeing the city."

"You shall be staying here, young lady," Kee-Xi said, and upon seeing her expression and sensing her intended defiance, he added, "I have relented to bringing you aboard, but I will not bend on this matter. You will remain and aid Gumi in finishing preparations for the Lightrunner, as well as loading the supplies we will be returning with."

"Awww..." Diya's whine ended when she saw the look on the Jedi Master's face. But she smiled a bit at Silas, who gave her a sympathetic look. "Okay."

Now Gumi emerged from the cockpit. "We're set down, Kee-Xi, right where you wanted. So, what next?"

"Silas and I will be going into the city to arrange the supplies I desire with our newfound supply of credits," Kee-Xi answered. "And then I hope to make a rendezvous with other survivors."

"Good luck with that, Kee-Xi." Gumi extended a hand. He was pessimistic that there were any left but he didn't want to think that way. It was better to hope in these dark times. "I'll be here if you need me."

"Thank you, old friend." Kee-Xi looked to Silas. "Come, Silas, we must be going. I sense that we have not gained the time we hoped for."

Nodding, Silas followed his Master off of the ship.

With the two Jedi gone, Diya looked to the taller Mirialan and asked, "Can you teach me to fly the Lightrunner, Gumi?"

A broad grin crossed Gumi's face. "Sure, in time, kid. But first, I teach you how to keep her flying." He motioned to a toolbox. "A good pilot knows how to keep his or her ship in top shape, after all. And with Z5 to help us, we should be done with this in no time."

On the bridge of the Exactor, the officers went about their daily tasks hoping to avoid the notice of the sinister Vader as he stared silently into space.

But one of those officers was now required to report to him. The man was clearly apprehensive as he approached the Dark Lord. "Lord Vader, we have finished examining the records from Gal Durep and our interceptor force. We believe that the Jedi have traveled to Lumin Prime."

"Are you certain?" Vader asked.

The officer tried to put on a brave face, aware that failure would easily lead to death. "Yes, Lord Vader, I am as certain as I can be."

Sensing the man's fear, Vader remarked, "Then you had better hope that your certainty does not become failure, Lieutenant. Have Captain Doss set course to Lumin Prime immediately."

"Yes, my Lord."

Vader turned away immediately and began looking out into the stars, watching as the Exactor made the jump to lightspeed.

Gumi was surprised, pleasantly so, to see that Diya didn't require much instruction in keeping up the YT-1300. He watched her finish tightening the bolts on the engine housing with satisfaction. "You know a lot for a Gantoonian street urchin," he said.

"I've been hanging around spaceports since I was a child." Diya slipped out of the compartment. It wasn't quite so snug a fit for her as it would have been on Gumi. Which was, admittedly, part of his motivation for having her do the work. "A lot of spacers would let me watch if I gave them a hand or helped them with errands."

"Really?" Gumi laughed at that. "I'm surprised they trusted you."

"Not at first," Diya admitted. "But I never stole from them. I made sure to get a reputation for never stealing a thing."

"Ah." Gumi went over to a seat. "Well, that's it for the engine. We've topped off the fuel reserves completely and all systems are good."

"Can I ask something?" Diya sat on the floor near him. Zeefive came to a stop beside her. "About... well..."

It wasn't hard for Gumi to guess. "You want to know my connection to the Jedi."

"Yes. You're not one yourself, are you?"

Gumi chuckled and shook his head. "No, young lady. No, I'm not. I was trained as a youngling, but I was never taken as an apprentice."

"Why?", Diya asked.

"Because I'm Mirialan," Gumi said. "It's... part of our way.. We must be trained by another of our people. And there were none available until it was too late."

"What happened?", Diya asked.

"I got too old," he answered. "When you don't get taken as an apprentice by a certain age, the Jedi send you into another duty. I was made Exploration Corps. I've spent my teenage and adult years traveling the frontier as an explorer and trader." Gumi took in a breath and smiled sadly at his ship. "It's been a good life. Easier than it would have been if I were a Jedi."

Diya nodded at that. "Are you going to travel with Master Laden now?"

Ah, that question. He'd been expecting it. And Gumi honestly couldn't answer it. "Maybe," he admitted. "Just maybe. But maybe not."

"Well, if you don't... maybe I can serve on your ship?", Diya asked. "So you're not alone, I mean. I... I'm not sure what else I can do for the Jedi, I mean."

Gumi smiled and nodded. "Maybe you can, yes. We'll have to see what the Force wills about all of this."

There was a beep from Gumi's robes. He pulled out a holocommunicator. A small blue-tinted likeness of Kee-Xi appeared. "Sorry, old friend, but Silas and I are running late. The supplies should be arriving by automated droid transport at any minute."

"We'll get to them," Gumi replied. He turned off the line. "Well, young lady." He looked to Diya. "Time to show you how to arrange cargo for the duration."

It had taken some time to make all the visits to the right businesses and to arrange their transport back to the Lightrunner, but soon Silas and Kee-Xi were in a rented speeder moving through Lumin City. They arrived at a building in the outskirts of Lumin City and Kee-Xi led Silas to the loft. They found it empty and unfurnished. Kee-Xi nonchalantly sat in the middle as Silas walked around the room. "Do you think any of the others got your message, Master?" he finally asked.

"I do not know. But we should be patient and wait."

Discomforted by his Master's words, Silas continued moving about the room. "I have a bad feeling about this," he muttered silently.

Ignoring the discomfort of his pupil, Kee-Xi breathed in carefully and cleared his mind, relaxing his mind for meditation, to allow clear vision through the Force.

As he cleared his mind, a thought came through his mind of the last time he had been in the loft...

Twelve Years Ago

The pirates had been no match for a Jedi Knight, though few of them were familiar enough with Jedi to do the wise thing and run. With determination and finesse Kee-Xi Laden, Jedi Knight on permanent assignment to the Rim, sliced through his adversaries, killing only when necessary and using the Force to disable and incapacitate his foes.

At the end of the fight, as one turned to shoot him, the blaster flew out of the pirate's hand. He looked at his open hand quizzically until he was thrown to the floor, unconscious, by a powerful push through the Force. Kee-Xi stood toward the fallen form of the pirate, lightsaber at the ready, but he lowered it as a familiar presence came to him. He bowed politely at the dark-clad figure that entered. "Master Dooku, it has been a long time."

Count Dooku gave a nod to his former Padawan. "Kee-Xi, I am happy to see you are well, old apprentice."

"I have heard about what happened to Qui-Gon Jinn," Kee-Xi remarked sadly. "I am sorry, Master. I know he was the better apprentice and that his loss was a great blow to you."

"Do not put yourself down so harshly," Dooku said in reprimand. "Like Qui-Gon, you have cut your own path as a practitioner of the Force. That you have been exiled out here on the Rim for all these years, I regret. It was a necessity at the time to prevent the Council from expelling you from the Order..."

"I understand that, Master Dooku..."

"Please, you may call me Count now. I am no longer in the Order, as you well know," Dooku remarked. "Tell me, Kee-Xi, what were you told of Qui-Gon's death?"

"That he perished in thwarting the Trade Federation occupation of Naboo," Kee-Xi replied. As he spoke to Dooku he felt something unsettling within his former teacher, as well as a sense of dread through the Force. "Why do you ask?"

Dooku frowned. "That they have not seen fit to warn you, Kee-Xi, is a bad sign as to how little faith the Order has in you even after your acts of penance. Qui-Gon was not claimed by the blaster of a battle-droid. He died in battle with a Sith Lord."

The news hit Kee-Xi like a thunderbolt. His head lowered and his mind thought back to those many dreadful dreams, when the Force showed him the growing strength of the Dark Side. With those dreams came visions that seemed to foretell the impending doom of the Jedi and the Republic. "Can it be? Have the Sith returned?"

"They have, Kee-Xi. And the Jedi Order is too busy playing politics to deal with that threat." Dooku walked around Kee-Xi, as if he were still the stern master to a youthful apprentice. "I remember your dreams, Kee-Xi. Your subconscious link to the future provided by the Force. Surely the danger has begun to clarify itself..."

"The Sith..."

"The Jedi Order is too close-minded to deal with this threat, Kee-Xi, and they are also too hidebound to overlook your innocent indiscretion. You will never be made a Master," Dooku said. "Come with me, Kee-Xi. Join me and together we can find a way to defeat the Sith and save the Republic."

Dooku's words moved through Kee-Xi's very heart. He had long been familiar with how badly he was viewed by the Council. Save for when they wished to see him he had been forbidden from returning to Coruscant, just as they had decreed then that he would not be permitted the rank of Master nor permitted to take an apprentice. They had not forgiven him yet.

And there were times, many times, that Kee-Xi feared they never would.

But there was something in Dooku that made Kee-Xi wary. He could feel a darkness within his former mentor, one born of bitterness and contempt toward his former colleagues. Something Kee-Xi could not reconcile himself too.

And additionally, some things had changed.

"I have been sent a message, lately, by Master Yoda," he said to Dooku. "The Jedi Council is going to permit me to take an apprentice from the older younglings. A very promising child I'm told."

"Ah, I see," Dooku said. Kee-Xi could sense some consternation from his old mentor. "Well, perhaps I misjudged them. It is good news, Kee-Xi. You have earned this chance." A thin smile came to Dooku's face. But he didn't seem any happier. "Have they informed you of the child's name?"

"My Padawan is to be a Human child, Silas Torson."

At that, Dooku seemed to take an interest. "Silas... Torson, you say?" Dooku remarked. There seemed to be a bit of mirth there, and Kee-Xi could sense emotions of interest and amusement from his former Master. "I remember the boy from before I left the Council. Very energetic, a passionate child, skillful with droids and mechanical things. I'm sure you will serve each other well as Master and Padawan, Kee-Xi."

"Thank you, Count."

"And now, old friend, I will be going..." With that, Dooku slipped into the shadows, leaving Kee-Xi to call the authorities to collect the pirates.

The Present

Kee-Xi's meditation came to an end as he felt a presence in the Force grow close. Very close indeed, as the Jedi responsible was trying to hide from being sensed.

He stood as the door to the loft opened. Silas turned with him to face the entering pair of arrivals.

There was a grin on the Jedi Master's face when he saw Tyva Nos Sirt enter with her apprentice, Zeala Del. Tyva was a Human woman about his age, slightly shorter with reddish brown hair and aqua-colored eyes, while the Human Zeala had been a youngling in the same creche as Silas, a blonde-haired girl with bright blue eyes and flowing hair pulled into a pony-tail. Both were wearing Jedi traveling robes and looked a bit fatigued, if alive. "Tyva, I am glad to see you and Zeala are alive," he remarked. Kee-Xi already knew much of Zeala through Silas, finding it perhaps fitting that a passionate and vigorous Jedi Knight like Tyva was entrusted to training a soft-spoken but skilled girl like Zeala.

"I feel the same for you," Tyva replied, while their apprentices exchanged warm hugs. "I'm afraid we're the only ones left, Kee-Xi. We lost Master Rios and Pelgo Dal on Dantooine. Master Rios' apprentice was claimed by a Clonetrooper ambush on Kelmar."

Kee-Xi bowed his head in sadness. "I have been unable to locate Master Yoda, though I have heard he is still alive, as is Obi-Wan Kenobi. But I have no idea where to search for them..."

"We may not have the time," Tyva answered. "The freighter captain who brought us here said that there was a new Star Destroyer in the sector. And there are no remaining Separatist strongholds here, there is no reason for one to be here except..."

"To hunt us," Kee-Xi finished for her. "I have felt a dark presence in the Force drawing closer, but I cannot determine how close it is. At that strength, it can only be a Dark Lord of the Sith, and whoever it is, he or she has such power that I do not wish to be forced to fight our way out. I suggest we return to my new ship and prepare to depart."

Tyva nodded in agreement. The two older Jedi got the attention of their students, who were catching up with each other in the background, and together the foursome headed to Kee-Xi's speeder. Once they were moving, Tyva looked to him and said, "It is good to see you again, Kee-Xi. I... never imagined we'd see each other again after I finished the Trials and..."

"You needn't speak on it, Tyva. I have missed you too."

"It broke my heart to hear they singled you out for punishment, it was as much my fault as yours," Tyva continued. "To make you spend ten years on the Outer Rim, far from Coruscant and with almost no support..."

"I found it an acceptable burden and a chance to refine my knowledge of the Force." Kee-Xi kept his eyes on the air lane they were traveling in, heading back for the spaceport.

In the rear seat, Silas and Zeala were looking at each other. "I see you have a new lightsaber," Silas said to Zeala, seeing it upon her belt. "Where did you get it?"

"It was a gift from Master Tyva," Zeala answered with a smile. "It has a rare crystal in it that gives it a purple color like Master Windu's."

"You deserve it," he said to her. At the moment he didn't bother to hide his happiness at being reunited with Zeala. The two had been as close as younglings were permitted to get and for Silas that attachment had not waned in their years of separation, no matter how much he tried. He found Zeala's soft smiles infectious, her soft regal voice inspiring and supportive, and her eyes seemed to sparkle with benevolence and friendliness whenever he looked to him.

He could sense that she felt something like that, but at the moment could not know the full extent to which Zeala looked up to him and found him charming, funny, and confident.

In front of the two young apprentices, their masters looked at each other. Tyva softly remarked, "Does it remind you, Kee-Xi?"

"It does, Tyva," he answered with equal softness in his voice. "It does."

And then he felt the darkness and began to increase the speeder's throttle.

Gumi had finished securing the last bit of supplies with Diya's help when he felt it, very close and very malevolent. Raw anger and hatred, the Dark Side of the Force...

There was no time. Gumi grabbed Diya by the arm and pulled her out of the cargo bay. "Hey!" she cried out. "What are you doing?"

"Zeefive, come here!", Gumi said, and the astromech droid followed. He pulled Diya to a corridor in the ship and reached down. With some muscle work he revealed that the floor was false, and underneath was a cargo space. "Get in."

"What? There's no..."

"No time to fight, Diya! You must trust me!" Gumi pushed her in. "You too, Zeefive." He gave the astromech droid a shove with the Force to ensure he got in. "No matter what you do, Diya, do not get out of this compartment. Wait for me or the Jedi to come for you."

He didn't wait for her to nod before putting the cover back on the smuggling compartment. With that done, Gumi went to the ramp of the ship just in time to hear a knock on it. He opened it up immediately and was confronted with a Clonetrooper. "Get off of the ship," the Clone soldier commanded.

With no reason to resist, Gumi stepped off, and immediately his ship was stormed by several Clonetroopers. "Please, I'm just traveling to the Outer Rim, I have no idea..."

"I sense the Force within you, Mirialan," a deep voice remarked. Gumi turned under the craft and froze at the sight of the tall figure in black, a life support helmet covering his entire head with a dark cloak partially over him. "I am looking for the Jedi who accompanied you."

"I carry no Jedi," Gumi insisted. "I was once a youngling, many decades ago. But I was not taken to be tra..." Suddenly he had no air with which to speak. Gumi felt toward his throat, barely able to breathe, and feeling the grip of the Dark Side around his air ways.

"You are lying. This ship was the one that fled Gantoon with two Jedi aboard," Darth Vader said, his grip just loose enough so that his target would not die quickly. "I want to know where they are. Speak or die."

"Release him, Sith."

Vader slowly turned his way from the slowly dying Gumi and looked toward his shuttle. The two Clonetroopers he'd left beside it finished impacting on the ground. Kee-Xi and Tyva stood over them.

This did not bother Vader. "If you surrender I will spare the Mirialan and whomever he is hiding on the ship."

"Your offer is rejected," Tyva said, drawing her lightsaber and igniting the blue blade. Kee-Xi followed suit with his green weapon, and in the fashion of the Makashi lightsaber technique, raised his weapon up to his face and made a little flourish with it.

"Then you will all die," Vader replied, after which his own lightsaber flashed to life.

And without Vader even looking back, the first thing he did with it was drive the crimson energy blade into Gumi's chest. As the former Jedi youngling fell, Vader brought his blade up and advanced against his foes...