From around the Galaxy

Nar Shaddaa…

"I have to stick this where?"

The pilot and the Twi'lek were in the apartments, making final adjustments and preparations before beginning the rescue. HK-47 stood in the corner, his green eyes glittering.

Mission rolled her eyes. "Atton, really. You put it in your left eye. That way, if the patch gets knocked off—which it will, knowing you—your eye will appear blind."

Atton frowned at the milky white lens perched on his finger. "I hate putting things in my eyes—always have. And don't even get me started on this contraption," he said, indicating the mechanism in the Twi'lek's hand. "A patch you call it? Looks more like a torture device."

Mission sighed and shook her head. "It's an ocular enhancement.(1) See? These parts are drilled into the skull, go into the eye and are attached to the retina. They inject some sort of chemical in there and…well, I don't know exactly how it works, but with it on, a blind person can see."

Atton's eyes widened. "Hey, listen, this is just a simple disguise. No need to start drilling and injecting…"

Mission planted her hands on her hips. "You're such a baby. Put the contact in so I can put this on you and then we can get started. Dane's waiting, you know?"

Atton ceased his complaining and gingerly slipped the blue-ish white contact lens over his left eye. Mission helped him affix the ocular enhancement over his head and settled it over his now "blind" eye.

"How does this thing work?" Atton asked. "I can hardly see out of it."

"That's 'cause it's meant for a blind person," Mission explained. "No part is working now—it's too old and it's just for show anyway."

Truthfully, Mission didn't know how it worked but she figured something as complex and archaic as the ocular enhancement would stand out so much that Atton wearing it would not look the slightest bit familiar to any Inferno thug who was there at Dane's capture. She gave the leather strap one last tug and then stepped back to admire her work.

Atton did not look like Atton anymore, which was good because it had been decided that he was the best and only candidate for the job despite the risk. She had slicked his hair back giving him a more severe look and since some of the O'Bannon's men had already seen him, it was necessary to cover his face, at least partially, and so she had gone to a friend who ran a med clinic. Without too many questions, she had obtained the ocular enhancement. It was an old device, rarely used except by those who couldn't afford a bionic eye. Of course, nothing was drilled into Atton's head. Mission had filed off the parts that would have been bored into his temple, and so the entire contraption served only as a patch over his "blind" eye. That in place, plus some black leather clothing to replace his old ribbed jacket, and Atton looked…He looks dangerous, Mission thought with a pleasurable shiver, and had to remind herself that he and Dane were together. Too bad, she added, admiring him in his sleek, black leather get up. He's sexy as hell…for a spacejock, anyway.

"Well, how do I look? Like an Exchange thug on the lam?" Atton asked, tucking his double-bladed lightsaber into his belt.

"You look very, uh, nice…but you can't bring that!" Mission exclaimed, indicating the lightsaber. "Hello? What kind of an Exchange thug carries around a lightsaber?"

"The kind that murders Jedis," Atton said, and for a moment, a dark shadow passed over his face and then he really did look dangerous. "I'll tell anyone who asks that it's a souvenir but I'm not going anywhere with out it. And I have these for my 'real' weapons," he added and tucked two blasters into their holsters. "You ready, HK?" Atton asked.

"Statement: I have been ready to annihilate the meatbags who have taken Master since you crawled back into the apartment two days ago."

"You and me both," Atton muttered, tucking on a pair of black leather gloves. Mission noticed he was slower and more careful on his right hand.

"How is it?" she asked.

"Not good. It's a weakness, just like this stupid contact lens and the patch are weaknesses. I can hardly see out of one eye and my hand can barely hold a cigarra. HK-47, you're going to have to do the heavy blasting, so to speak."

"Delighted Statement: It would be my pleasure," replied the droid and he cocked his disrupter carbine for emphasis.

Atton turned to Mission. "Everything ready on your end?"

Mission nodded, "As ready as can be. Big Z's still out there doing his part and I've made a few well-placed comments here and there. Whether they're picked up on…?" The Twi'lek sighed. "What about on your end? You sure you can trust that hutt?"

"Vogga?" Atton shrugged. "No, but he owes us a favor. Either he'll come through or he won't, but I can't worry about it now. Okay, time to go," he said and slung a bag over his shoulder.

"Wait, Atton, now remember, the thugs in the uniforms with the orange flames—those aren't the ones you have to be careful of. Well, they are, but they're like decoys for the dangerous thug who is hiding unnoticed nearby, watching."

"For the hundredth time, I got it," Atton said but spared a crooked smile for the Twi'lek. "Thanks, Mission. Now you be careful, all right?"

"You too. Good luck, Atton," Mission said and gave him a shy kiss on the cheek. Dane wouldn't mind one little peck on the cheek, Mission told herself and hoped the blush that spread all over her face wasn't too noticeable. Apparently it wasn't for Atton was already heading for the door, HK-47 in tow.

"See you out there," he called to her.

The Twi'lek checked her wrist chronometer. "Yep. Three standard hours until showtime. See you then. Are you sure you remember everything? There's a lot of details, you know? You're story can't sound made up or hesitant—you have to know every last bit of it by heart."

"Will you stop worrying, I got it already!"

"You'd better," Mission replied. This plan only has about a million holes in it. A thought occurred to her and she cried frantically, "Atton, wait! We haven't thought of a name for you! We got to have something you'll answer to instantly or it'll be suspicious."

Atton paused at the door and Mission saw that dark shadow come over his face again. "I think I have just the name..."

Dantooine…

Disciple rubbed his tired eyes and went over the message he was writing in his datapad for the hundredth time.

...And so it is with great urgency and eye towards the rapidly approaching future, that I respectfully ask you to convene a council here on Dantooine as soon as your duties on Coruscant allow. Name the date and I will make certain of the attendance of other Jedi masters, for I am knowledgeable of the existence of several—your former companion Master Juhani among them. She is here on Dantooine and agrees that a council must be convened at once. Her message to you will follow so that you will know I am sincere and my need authentic.

There is another Master in particular that I would have you meet, as it is she who has alerted me to the danger on the horizon. Her name is Dane Koren and she served under Revan during the Mandalorian Wars. She is now attempting to find the former Sith Lord, either to join her or stop her. It is imperative that this Master Koren attends your conclave but I'm afraid I have not the influence with her. It is a longer story than I have time to write here, but Dane is somewhat of a rebel in that she feels she must search out Revan alone. However, if you were to convene a council, she would come, for I believe you have information she desperately needs.

And there is a broader need for such a council. The Civil War, and, more recently, the deaths of Masters Vrook, Kavar and Zez-Kai Ell have weakened the Jedi presence in the galaxy. Unfortunately, the Sith, despite their own recent losses, will waste little time in taking advantage of that fact. We must convene a new council, formulate a plan for the approaching war, align ourselves as a guiding influence with the Republic again, and—most importantly—regain our position in the galaxy as protectors and keepers of peace.

I will not presume that any of what I have written of the need for the Jedi to rise again isn't common knowledge to you, Master Shan. I write only out of urgency. There are a great many things I wish to discuss with you. Please come.

--Your faithful servant,

Mical

Disciple made a disgusted sound and nearly wiped the message clean to start again when a hand on his arm stopped him.

"It is good enough," she said, her accent thick.

Disciple looked up at the Jedi standing over him and gave her a weary smile. "I suppose, Master Juhani, but it is only a fraction of what I want to say. And the worst part is I am a complete stranger to her. Who am I to Bastila Shan? She doesn't know who I am, or what I know. She'll read this and think, What right has this person to advise me of anything?"

"She'll read the truth in it and if she doubts at all, we have my message with it to lend yours weight."

"I suppose you are right."

"Of course, I am right," growled the Cathar with a playful smile, "I am the master and you the padawan, yes?"

Disciple nodded. "Yes." He was glad of that. With the absence of Dane, his own Jedi training had suffered until he met Juhani on Dantooine. Only a week and half ago Atton had dropped him here, and only another day after that did the Cathar arrive. She had said she felt called back to Dantooine and the ruined enclave she had called her home so long ago. "It is like coming back to your house after fire has destroyed it," she had told him. "There is ash and charred remnants, but there is hope for the future too, to rebuild. You are that hope Disciple." And so Juhani had begun to train him. He progressed quickly and it was his secret urge that if—when—Bastila convened a new council, he would be named 'Master' and be permitted to attend along with the rest.

If there is a new council…What if my message never reaches Master Shan? Or what if it does, and she declines? Disciple read the last lines of his message to her. '…so many things to discuss.' Quite an understatement, but how else shall I put it but plainly and simply?

Juhani, who had taken up the datapad said, "How will this Dane Koren know that a council is being convened? I think you are right that she will come if Bastila calls it, but if she doesn't know about it…?"

Disciple sighed and shook his head. "I don't know. I don't know where she is. She may be as far as the Outer Rim already."

Juhani paced the room for a moment. The two were in a chamber Administrator Adare had lent them in the new government offices. The afternoon sun was streaming in through the open window and the Cathar's pupils narrowed to slits. "I think I shall send my other pupil to find Master Koren. If she is strong in the Force, then it is likely she will know when the council is called anyway, but better not to take chances."

Disciple felt his heart lift at Juhani's words, but only for a moment. "How will your student ever find her? None of us, the crew of the Ebon Hawk, knows where she went."

"Where did she leave you?"

"Nar Shaddaa, but—"

"Then we shall start there. You will learn, my padawan, that even the most difficult of tasks begin—and can only begin—by taking one simple step." Juhani smiled. "I shall send my student to Nar Shaddaa. He is strong in the Force, vastly intelligent, and extremely clever. I wouldn't doubt he'll track Master Koren and have her here on Dantooine within the week."

Disciple shook his head for the likelihood of Juhani's student finding a trace of the Jedi in the maze that was Nar Shaddaa was about nil in his opinion. But he couldn't help feel bolstered by the Cathar's words. The thought that he might see Dane again—even if not within the week, then soon— didn't hurt either and then he felt a pang of guilt. Mind you do not make any decision or take any action that would jeopardize everything you are working so hard for here. You are a Jedi. Remember the Code.

Disciple nodded to himself at his vow and then realized Juhani was watching him. For a moment he thought the Cathar was going to ask him something he did not have a prepared answer for, but Juhani merely studied him for a moment, an almost melancholy look in her cat-like eyes.

"Come, let us train," she said suddenly. "I think for today's lesson, we shall go over some of the precepts of the Code. The Code is a valuable thing for diligent adherence to its edicts will spare you pain in the future."

"Do you know this by personal experience, Master?" Disciple asked gently.

Juhani nodded. "Oh, yes, my padawan. I have seen what happens when the Code is tossed away like refuse and then suddenly taken up again. It must be constant and consistent if the wisdom behind it is to be discovered and benefited from. A friend of mine had relations with a Jedi who treated the Code as such—to be used when it suited her purpose and discarded when it did not," she said with anger coloring her voice and sparkling in her eyes. My friend…he suffered for it." For a moment there was silence as the Cathar was lost in memory. Disciple waited quietly. She is speaking of Revan, I can feel it.

Since he had met her and discovered something of who she was, Disciple had longed for Juhani to speak to him of her travels with Revan and their battle against Malak. But the Cathar spoke little of that time and when she did it was with anger towards Revan. Something had happened right before Revan's disappearance that Juhani could not forgive, though she would never say what. Someday she will trust me enough to tell me everything. Disciple contented himself with that thought and Juhani retreated from her ruminations.

"I'm sorry, I am angered when Jedi stray from the Code. Ironic, given its precept about anger and passionI am not perfect, I'm afraid, but I have come to value the Code and everything that is good about the Jedi tradition. I strayed once, you see. I fell to the Dark Side, Mical. No, don't say anything, it is right that you should know the truth. It was here, on this planet that I fell and it was Revan who showed me the way out. Of course, none knew she was Revan at the time. To us, and to herself, she was merely ­Arax Saraan, a padawan in training to the Masters and to Bastila." Juhani's gaze wandered, as she became lost in the memories again. "It seems so long ago…" she murmured and then snapped back to attention.

"My point is this: I have the Code, and it is the Code that guides me, keeps me on the right path. I was lost before. I think that is what falling to the Dark Side is…to become lost. One has no boundaries or truths, only chaos and emotion. I am a long way from falling to the Dark Side, Mical, but it is the Code that shows me when I take even the smallest step in that direction, off the path and into that chaos." Juhani smiled. "My anger is my weakness which is why I took you on as my padawan."

"How so?" Mical asked, fascinated. He never met anyone who had fallen to the Dark Side and then returned.

"Because you are so calm, so tranquil. You embody the precept, 'There is no emotion, only peace,' and I believe it shall help to keep me centered just to be near you." The Cathar leaned closer, her eyes boring intently into his. "Keep to the Code, Mical. Do not let your emotions, be they anger, hate, or love blind you to your purpose."

Disciple nodded, sure that Juhani had crawled right into his heart and seen his feelings for Dane. She is warning me, and I would do well to heed that warning. He met his master's eye and said, "Yes, Master Juhani."

The Cathar's demeanor instantly lightened and she stood up and planted her hands on her hips. "Good. Now let's see about sending my other pupil to Nar Shaddaa."

"Who is he?" Disciple asked. "I have seen no one with you since your arrival."

Juhani smiled. "No, but I'm sure you have heard him buzzing around our heads in one of the Administrator's shuttles. He can't stay away from a ship, no matter that it is a slow, old shuttle," she added with a laugh.

Disciple frowned. "I thought you said he was your pupil. Is he not a Jedi?"

"Oh, yes, he is a Jedi, and a very good one. He is strong in the Force, stronger than I have seen in some time, though he has too much of his father in him. It will be good for him to go to Nar Shaddaa; piloting a ship that far is sure to whet his appetite for flying a little." Juhani smiled fondly at the thought, and then turned to Disciple. "Now, you send that datapad off to Bastila this instant, yes?"
Disciple smiled. "Yes, Master Juhani," he replied as the Cathar went out to find her pupil. Disciple thought of her warning as he prepared the datapad to be sent to Coruscant. It is an easy enough thing to vow obeisance to the Code when Dane is light-years away. It will be another thing entirely when she is right before me. But being with Juhani was strengthening his resolve and teaching him to value those things that were larger than he. The dramas of his own life were small and insignificant when compared with what the Jedis needed to accomplish. I will try not to forget my purpose, he vowed silently and set back to work. Yet thoughts of large blue eyes and a warm smile haunted him still…

Somewhere in the Outer Rim….

"My lord," the count said and bowed low to the figure before him. "I have news."

"Speak."

"All dead. Nihilus, Sion, Kreia. The Exile has killed them all."

"This is…upsetting."

"Yes, lord. But I'm afraid there is more. Malachor V is gone."

"The Exile's work as well?"

"It would appear so."

"Kreia was a fool."

"Darth Traya did manage to kill the Jedi Masters Kavar, Vrook and Zez-Kai Ell, my lord."

"Small recompense for having trained the Exile and then failing to turn her. Kreia wanted to use the girl to destroy the Force. She was, as I said, a fool."

"Yes, my lord."

"You had better have a plan to handle the Exile, count."

"I do, my lord. My protégé is ready. I will send them out at once."

"And who, pray tell, might that be? Not Maul, I presume?"

"No, lord. While Maul is progressing well in his training, he is young yet, and not ready."

"Then….who?"

"Darth Tertius is my pupils' name."

"I have never heard of such a lord. Have you been hiding him from me?"

"I would never presume, my lord. No, I have kept their identity secret so that the Republic and, more importantly—Revan—has no knowledge of them."

"Your pronouns confuse me, count, and I grow impatient. Darth Tertius is more than one person?"

"In a matter of speaking, my lord. Darth Tertius is three young Sith lords, all of a same mind. A hive mind, you might say. Quite a feat of engineering if I may say so myself."

"If you must. I care little for your creations, count. Results are the only things that interest me. Darth Tertius must not fail. The Exile must die."

"Of course, lord. It shall be done."

"And of Revan? What news?"

"Very little, my lord. She is close, though my spies have not been able to locate her base of operations. Yet."

"You had better pray they do, and quickly. I will tolerate no further failures on your part."

"Yes, my lord. I will not fail you again."

"See that you don't. Now be gone."

"Yes, my lord," and the count went out.

1- Footnote. The ocular enhancement pack works by injecting a microscopic amount of synthetic rhodopsin, or 'visual purple' at regulated intervals into the retina that no longer can do so on its own. The rhodopsin translates the light absorbed by the retina into electrical impulses, which are sent into the optic nerves for the brain to interpret as images. Some ocular enhancements, depending on the damage to the eye, will not only inject the rhodopsin but also do the conversion to electric impulses and interpreting of images as well. Additional sensors also pick up muscle movement and the eye on the screen would move in conjunction with the healthy eye. The ocular enhancement has gone by the way side after the invention of the completely bionic eye, which functions with near identical ability as a real eye and is much less conspicuous.