Shredder waved a hand and the nameplate that read "Al-ðe-ra-ta" in Quintesson syllabic characters into "Darth Shredder" in Latin letters. He also rearranged the spacing of matter between the chair and the desk to accommodate his different body shape.

Looking to the Quintesson Arbiter who wore a neutral Face of Doubt, he said, "Ther's a new man in charge."

"In its not my wish to contradict you, august one, but the position of Chaos Bringer has always necessitated that the one in that role be in charge. It was only Your predecessor's demise that enabled me to believe I could actually orchestrate the final plan on my own."

Shredder took that Alðerata was referring to Unicron, as Starscream had always been someone's pawn, no matter his delusions of grandeur.

Shredder smirked behind his mask and chuckled as he took a seat across from the Arbiter.

"Continue, my dear sycophantic cyborg cephalopod. I know you don't truly regard me as your superior in your heart of hearts, but you certainly cannot say otherwise," he drawled.

"You are most correct, dread one."

Shredder was loving this! After all of his obeisance, first to Krang, then to Shadow, it was fulfilling to know that now the undisputed political master of the Universe had to bow before him. It was an added bonus that his fomer master was now subordinate to his herald. He wished Krang were still around so that he could gloat to him as well, but until he controlled space-time that wouldn't happen. Now he truly had no threats—wait!

His mind scanned the surrounding area. He felt Muni's presence, Mirta's, an unknown one he supposed belonged to the Barabel, Cody, Durga, Samedi, another Yautja, and…a community of Rakata!

"That fool Primus! I will wipe out the last remnant of his species!"

Alðerata was surprised.

"Dread one, Unicron had us destroy the first Rakata Empire millions of years, precisely so he would never have to engage them in combat that could lead to their destruction…"

"Of course, he did!" Shredder shouted. "Unicron was a Rakata once!"

Deliberata closed his optic sensors. He was used to giving the yelling, not being yelled at. Still, he would not display his Face of Anger.

"I will wipe out Unicron and Primus's legacies so that the Universe cowers before the name Darth Shredder!" Shredder stood and made a fist. Then a thought occurred to him. Why had none of the groups on Dathomir detected this Rakata population before? He scanned again but something diverted him from the Rakata. Someone in the group close to them had an odd Force signature. He remembered what Shadow had taught him about latent Force abilities. He could not tell who in the group had this power, but he didn't need to scan to know.

"Jones, my old nemesis, so you have Force abilities of your own."

Alðerata knew Shredder was speaking to someone who wasn't really there, but the look in his eyes spoke of a madness all its own.


Quoreal had never felt so alive before. He could reach out with his feelings and touch other livings things. He could sense their emotions, their biological process such as breathing and heartbeat. This connection to others had been denied to him when he was a Yuuuzhan Vong…was a Yuuzhan Vong…he was something different now for all Yuuzhan Vong were Force blind—a consequence forced upon them by their sentient homeworld Yuuzhan'tar, which had subsequently eaten by Unicron. No, he was something different now. He was no longer Quoreal Rapuung, but Darth Galvan, herald of the Chaos bringer, and Darth Cyclone and Darth Shadow were his minions.

He looked at his minions. He understood Darth Cyclone, the Noghri he had known as Meewal, since they had been stranded on Dathomir. He understood and supported her goals—bringing justice to the universe—they had both experienced innocents killed on Dathomir at the hands of Darth Shadow and the Quintesson—theirr reluctant partners in their master's endeavor. Glvan looked at his lesser vassal with contempt. He hated Shadow and only allied with because he seemed to be a lesser threat than the Quintessons. Still he needed a teacher who was familiar with the Dark Side of the Force. He could tell from experience that fear, anger, and aggression, were the most powerful emotions. What he needed was the experience of someone who had used those feelings to harness the energy that bound life down on her hands and knee

"Shdow, teach us how to harness the Dark Side," The Yuuzhan Vong commanded.

Shadow sat, starring at the wall his mind seemingly elsewhere.

"It's about feeling, not intellect," the Sith Lord said absently. "Think of something you truly despise and imagine that you have the power to act upon your anger. However, you must keep it in check, leest you destroy yourself in the process, and you need to be able to transfer your hate or fear on to whatever you are facing. If it is capable of emotion use its own fear or anger against it."

"You mean…like this?" Darth Cyclone stretched her hand forward and brought her fingers together. Shadow felt a slight contraction on his throat. It was pathetically weak. He thought about laughing but then, paused. Shredder had given his underlings the title "Darth" and Shredder openly called himself the "Sith'ari." He clearly saw his new order as a continuation of the Sith. It was what Shadow had wanted after all. He decided to laugh after all, not because he he thought Cyclone's ability was pathetic, which it was, but because she needed to be provoked for it to grow stronger.

"Oh, yes, that is good," he said sarcastically, his voice only slightly strained. "Now let me try!"

Cyclone felt her grip break and Shadow's own tighten around her throat. The Dark Lord laughed as she began gasping.

"You…sadist…"

"Come on, fight back! You need training, don't you?" Sahdow said.

She focused her anger and narrowly pushed back Shadow's assault.

"A good first step," Shadow acknowledged.

"Now me," Galvan said eagerly.


The two Grey Jedi and the disgraced Mandalorian sat around the remnants of a fire.

It was necessary for these two,Tesar thought. It would have been much simpler and safer to hunt down a meal and eat it raw, but human bodies were more likely to pick up disease from raw meat, unlike a Barabel.

As Tesar chewed on meat from from a scaled beast he'd killed with is lightsaber and roasted over the fire, he turned his mind to the most important topic on everyone's mind.

"Darth Shredder," he hissed. "What do we know of him?"

"He probably wants me to join him," Muni said. It made sense. Muni and Zed had both grown up as Force-sensitives on Earth, and suffered because of it—publicity in Muni's case, and ostracism in Zed's. The human boy reminded the adult Triceraton of a younger version of himself, so he had naturally felt protective of him around both Krang and Darth Shadow. However, that probably meant all the more that Darth Shredder now wanted Muni as his apprentice.

Muni explained his friend's past to his master.

"Are you suggesting that these ones use you as bait, Padawan?" Tesar asked.

Mirta did not give Muni a chance to respond before Muni could respond.

"This isn't the Zed Ram you remember, Muni. He probably does still want you as an apprentice, but his Force abilities have grown a thousand-fold. He will know you are lying instantly, and if he can't mind control you, he will kill you. I only got away because he was too busy killing Deliberata to pay attention—"Mirta stopped herself. She had it!

"What is it, Mirta-ji?" Muni asked.

"For all his new power and awareness, Shredder is not yet omniscient or omnipotent. If we divide his attention, we can defeat him!"

"And we already know what he wants!" Muni said with enthusiasm.

Tesar smiled, but froze just as suddenly. Shredder would already know where the Force-nexus was. He would be after it now unless….

"What is it, master?" Muni asked.

Tesar held up a clawed finger. "There is something else here…something shredder wants to handle before taking on the nexus." Tesar closed eye and held up a finger. "This one must meditate."

Muni and Mirta waited patiently as Tesar reached out in the Force looking or something that Darth Shredder would latch on to. He noticed something: just as there, had to be a Dark Side Nexus, there was a Light Side nexus even closer to them…in a lake. A lake teeming with lifeforms…sentient lifeforms!

Tesar suddenly laughed a deep laugh common to his saurian species.

"What is it?" Mirta dared to let herself hope.

"We thought the war was nearly over...in fact it is yet to begin."

The two humans looked confused as to what Tesar had meant.

"There is another nexus, a light one generated by living sentients. How it survived all these years without being detected is not known, but it is there."


Hekka emerged from the waters, holding a sack of freshly skewered fish.

"A fellow hunter, I see," Yeyinde said.

"Among other things." Hekka looked to the other three under his charge. Since Cody and Durga did not wear Masks they were the easiest to read, and their nervous state of mind was clear. It was probably true for the two Yautja as well.

Hekka stepped onto dry ground and laid the sack down.

"You will have to cook them yourself—we can't do that under water—but I imagine that you have far more important concerns on your minds."

"That's right," Cody said, "Darth Shredder."

Hekka stroked his chin, not recognizing the name at first, before finally saying, "Ah yes, the Triceraton Sith Lord who now has the function once held by Unicron. Primus told us of him, though he hoped to meet you before Shredder got to him."

Cody grew frustrated, "Enough of Primus and what he could have done! What do we do now?"

"We have already lifted the Force-cloak over our village. The presence of a Lightside nexus should throw Shredder off balance while determine which one of you is Force-sensitive…"

This news elicited a simultaneous "What?!" out of the four off-worlders' mouths.

"One of you has latent Force-abilities," Hekka said calmly.

Durga and the Yautja looked at each other before turning their eyes to Cody the only one who hadn't looked at the others.

Unlike them, Cody was sure he was the one the Rakata meant. Uxils had said he might have to become a counter to Shredder, and Lwothin had sent him the message to meet on Cybertron.

"It's me," Cody said.

Hekka twitched the muscles around his eye.

"Are you sure?"

"Uxils said I was a counterweight to Shredder. He was right about everything else."

"And he was probably right about that too," Hekka conceded, "But you don't need to be Force-sensitive to resist a Sith. Emperor Palpatine murdered his Sith master while he was drunk, an act that need not have required any Force ability, only the ability to seize upon an opening." Hekka paused, as if he had just said something important.

"Palpatine…Darth Sidious…was a master of Force Cloak. He spent decades at the height of galactic power before the Jedi learned he was a Sith Lord, and even then, it was only at a moment of his own choosing. What he could do as an individual, we could do as a community. One of you did that at some point in your life after an intense emotional ordeal, and blocked it from your own memory."

Suddenly Cody felt less sure about himself. Durga and Yeyinde had been through more emotional ordeals than he had.

"Would the person remember the ordeal?" Blade asked.

"No!" Yeyinde and Hekka said simultaneously.

So, it could still be any of us, Cody thought. Whoever it was had to be found quickly. Darth Shredder and Alðerata may not truly be able to control space-time as they hoped, but they could damage it.