"How do you know where we are ging?" Mirta asked the Barabel Grey Jedi who led their way through the twisting paths of the forrest.

"This one is following the Force," Tesar explained. "All life generates the Force, so it can be used to track living things Beings who are sensitive to the Force themselves give off powerful signals."

He sounded less like a Jedi now and more like a hunter. The thought of a Force sesitive Yautja terrified Mirta, as such beings were already the ultimate Predators even without the Force—no, Unicron ate planets. He would be the ultimate predator were he still alie.

"Can the Force tell you anything about this community you're sensing?"

"So far, all this one can make out is that it is underwater."

"There must be a lake nearby," Muni said. "We're pretty far from the coast."

The teenager stopped walking and stretched out with the Force.

"I can feel that they are amphibious."

"Good work, this one's Padawan. Now keep up!" Tesar said. Time was important and he did not want to leave anyone behind.

What Muni had said was infact good news. None of them could breathe water, though the fForce could aid one in holding one's breath for a long time. Mirta however did not have even that luxury. At least they would be able to meet these beings on land.

"So how do you think our mystery friends could have such a strong presence and go undetected for such a long time?"

Tesar thoughtfully hissed as he answered.

"This one has been thinking about that since this morning. The Dark Emperor, Palpatine, masked his presence in the Force for years using ancient Sith techniques—presumably others found the skill independently. Strange though that they should about Darth Shredder's plans."

"Maybe Primus told them," Muni said. Then another thought hit him. "What if Primus was one of them?"

Mirta shook her head and laughed.

"Muni, I just don't see how. Primus lived for millions of years and is supposed to be the brother of Unicron. Seeing how Unicron was a robot, I don't think his brother couldn't be an organic." She turned her gaze to Tesar," And you can't sense droids through the Force, right?"

"You are correct," Tesar said. "Only organic cells have can't feel a droid in the Force, as they have no cells."

"But you can feel sparks in the Force," Muni said.

They stopped and looked at him.

"What are sparks?" His master asked.

"A source of energy containing the essence of who a Transformer is. I felt Unicron's when Starscream came here. I can feel it now inside Darth Shredder."

Tessar tried to wrap his mind around the concept while Mirta said, "I remember that. It's how the Quintessons got us to trust them."

Tesar nodded.

"The early history of our two galaxies is strange and interlocked. Prehaps our mission here will shed some light when it's over."

As they passed the next cluster of trees the lake came into view, as did the small camp on its shores.

Yeyinde looked up and noticed three heat signatures. Two were true endotherms, one was a large ectotherm like himself who maintained a somewhat consistent body temperature through sheer size.

"Cody," Yeyinde said from his position leaning against the hill's rocky outcrops,

Cody from sitting in front of the fire and turned backward for his gaze to meet Mirta's. She was here, but whose side was she—Cody knew the answer when he saw money with herin the grey robes of his order. A third figure was with them, a Barabel, whom Cody assumed was Muni's Grey Jedi Master.

"Durga!" Cody poked the Hutt who slowly turned around.

The party of survivors that had so lung been torn asunder was finally reunited.

Mirta raced down the hill and threw her arms around Cody. They shared what seemed like hours of smiling and looking into each other's eyes—her green meeting his blue. In reality it was only a matter of seconds. He looked up at Muni and the Jedi Master.

"Muni, it's been a long time," he saind in Hindi.

"It is good to see you, Cody-ji," The teenager replied. "Can I introduce my master?"

Tesar stepped forward.

"Meet Tesar Sebatyne, Grey Jedi Knight."

Blade looked at their new ally. He had the muscle-strength to rival a Yautja, the ability to use and very sharp fangs. He would make a worthy trophy, but—that was how Scar had seen the Ssi-Ruu, and nearly doomed the universe. If this being was a Jedi, then he was supposed to be a warrior for good, definitely worthy of being prey—but if his trophy were collected it would deprive the universe of a lifetime of someone doing good. Was there, Blade wondered, any honorable way of being a Hunter?

"Why did you leave the Quintessons?" Cody asked Mirta.

She swallowed and steely determination seized her face.

"Darth Shredder…thanks to him we know the truth. Deliberata lkilled Rukh and Shadow's daughter. Shredder killed him and now the Quintessons are working for him."

Cody stepped back and asked, "Who's we?"

"Meewal, Quoreal, and I were all there. They're with Shredder now. He gave them Force abilities and named them Darth Galvan and Darth Cyclone."

"Galvatron, herald of Unicron, and his general Cyclonus. Is there a Darth Scourge?"

"Me…" Muni realized. "He wants me?"

"Who are Galvatron and Cyclonus and how can he grant someone Force abilities if they were not bor with them?" Tesar demanded.

"Unicron can convert any kind of matter or energy." Cody said.

"The Midi-Chlorians in the Xeneomorphs," Mirta said.

"If the Quintessons are working for Shredder now, then he has the Xenomorphs and his heralds!" Cody gasped, and immediately put his hand to his chin. "We need to talk to Hekka."

"Who's Hekka?" Mirta asked.

"The leader of the Dathomiri Rakata community."

"Rakata are still alive?" Tersar said more out of shock than disbelief. At this rate, nothing could surprise him anymore.


Shredder watched as his herald trained against his former master. Shredder had taken and divided the Kyber crystals from his own and Shadow's lightsabers. He had given the half of Shadow's crystal to Darth Cyclone, and the half of his own to Darth Galvan. The two had been given conflicting instructions, both meant to grow each's power in the Dark Side. Galvan was to use his powers to drain the poison out of his crysal, restoring it to the crimson Sith color, while Cyclone was to use the powers Shredder had given her to poison the half of Shadow's crystal, turning into the dark blue Unicronian color.

As of the moment, Glavan was clashing blades with Shadow. His technique was obviously inexperienced, but the angry jabs and slashes could easily be harnessed into Form VII Juyo.

Cyclone crouched as she watched her leader and former enemy spar. Her turn would come next.

After an impressive array of twirls in which Galvan seemed to have the upper hand, Shadow brought his blade to just barely touch Galvan's wrist.

Knowing that any movement would result in the loss of his hand, Galvan froze.

"What did you do wrong?" Shadow asked.

Galvan was silent for a moment as he searched for an answer. He thought he had one and said, "I became over-focused own my victory and-"

Shadow cut him off, "No, the problem lay in what you were not focusing on—your enemy. You must keep your opponent's moves at the forefront of your mind, anticipate them through the Force, and adjust your own skill set in accordance."

"His skill set is woefully inadequate to take you on Shadow," Shredder said. "It will grow in time, but right now time is the one thing we do not have."

The three Sith Lords all stood in attention for the Chaos Bringer's instructions.

"There is a community of Rakata on this planet, about a day's walk from here. Together they could be a threat to my plans, and they are Unicron and Primus's species. I would want them eliminated but a new wrinkle has found its way into my plan. Cody Jones is with them and has latent Force powers of his own. The Utrom said he would be my greatest threat." Shredder paused while he let his words sink in. "I want to hold this Rakata community hostage—their lives for Jones. Once I have him, I can tap into the nexus without interference."

"Master," Galvan began, "We have only just received our powers. Surely you don't expect us to handle an entire community of Force-sensitive Rakata."

Shadow nodded his head in agreement.

Shredder laughed, walked over to Galvan, grabbed his jaw and shook his head from side to side.

"Not by yourselves, no. But you forget, the Sith are not my only minions, let alone my most useful ones. You shall take Quintesson designed personal shields, breathing equipment, Sharkticons, and Xenomorphs with you. What the Cephalopods lack in the Force, they make up for with their ingenuity."


For all that he was reduced to a vassal in the grand scheme of things, Supreme Arbiter Alðerata still felt pretty good about the status of the Quintesson Empire. Shredder still needed the Quintessons for the same reasons Unicron did, and technically he still outranked Shredder's Yuuzhan Vong herald, Darth Galvan, making hi8m the second most powerful individual in the endeavor as he had held under the original Unicron. It also gave him a good feeling that the Rakata might not survive the upcoming battle. Unicron had so wanted them to survive…now Shredder wanted them dead. The Quintessons had outlasted Unicron's designs. And Shredder? He was pow3erful and mentally unhinged, much like Galvatron had been when the Quintessons had first encountered him. They had successfully manipulated the Decepticon, so they would the Triceraton. For now, that meant obeying his dictates, and proving their own worth.

These days Alðerata perpetually wore his Face of Death.

He hovered near Hexato who was monitoring the cloning of Xenomorphs.

"We need scores of Xenomorphs for the upcoming assault on the Rakata's underwater village. Have you made the necessary adjustments?"

"Yes, Arbiter." She entered a command on her keypad that allowed her to project the hologram of a Xenomorph egg cell. Another command showed the cells Shredder had brought them from Primus's body. The nuclear DNA entered the egg cell, and it developed into A Rakata-Xenomorph—taller and lankier than the human derived ones, capable of breathing water, and inherently Force sensitive.

"Of course, we still need to implant the nanites."

"How many do you have?"

"I began cloning the minute Shredder gave us the sample. We have 105 specimens."

Alðerata chuckled, maintaining his Face of Death, "I am pleased." He glided out of the room.

Once he was gone, Inquiriata found the courage to speak up.

"I'm nervous."

Hexato looked to her lover.

"Why?"

He made a sweeping gesture with his organic green tentacles. "I've been part of many assignments to subjugate lesser species, and to experiment on their individuals. All this was for the greater cause of our hegemony. As the oldest species, all are better off under our aegis…but this time…there could be no survivors of the lesser species left."

Hexato determined the cause of his worry.

"I have never been part of the wholesale destruction of a species either…but surely these can't be the only Rakata in the galaxy…so much of the unknown regions are still unexplored to this day."

"I know…but these could be the last Rakata, and the possibility that we are wiping the species out…" his tentacles were twitching beyond his ability to control them.

Hexato paused. The Quintesson Empire had wiped out entire species in the past before, but Hexato had never been on one those assignments.

"The universe is always a less rich place when that happens, isn't it?" She asked.

They were supposed to be the most enlightened still species existing—but what if the scientific accomplishments they had acquired over millions of years had produced arrogance rather than enlightenment?

"In any event, this their last peaceful night. Theirs and ours."