19 BBY

Vaxor landed on a frozen planet. Csilla. It was only known in legend, and it kept out of Republic and Separatist affairs. The coordinates had been hard to find. He'd had to pay almost as much as a starfighter for the data. Now on the surface, he was wearing furs and thermal clothing, but he still needed to find a way into the Chiss Underground Cities to find the girl he was searching for. He used the force to sense heat signals, and found body temperature below the surface, directly under where he was standing. Specifically, he felt a powerful force presence below. An untrained one.

Vaxor plunged his lightsaber into the thick ice sheet, opening a hole to enter an ice cavern. After entering, he used the force to cover up the hole with ice, and he put a locator on it, so he could remember where he left his ship. Vaxor was in a circular tunnel of blue ice. He took a few steps, and then his foot slipped forward. He activated a switch on his boots that made cleats pop out of his boots, to walk on the ice without slipping.

He traversed tunnels, sneaking past travelers with the force. He finally came to a bridge of thin ice. He was above a giant city, with floating buildings and vehicles zooming around. Vaxor sensed the girl near the suburbs at the bottom.

Only one place to go… Vaxor sighed, then jumped off the railing, and leaned forward, diving at the ground, past flashing lights. He neared the ground, where he used his grappling hook to swing off a flying car, backflip, and do a superhero landing on the ground. He thought to himself, Nicely done, me.

Vaxor looked around, but he had no clue what the girl looked like. He'd just have to wait for something to happen. Blue-skinned Chiss looked at him and gasped.

"A surface dweller!"

"But how? They went extinct, no?"

"Who are you, and what do you want?" an inquisitive Chiss said, harshly.

"My name is Vaxor Aleathan."

"Why are you disrupting the order of our planet?"

"I meant to do no such thing. I'm on a missio-"

"We have no interest in intergalactic ordeals. Leave us be!"

"I don't mean to cause-" Vaxor felt a swish at his hip. He gritted his teeth. Something was wrong. He put his hand to his belt, and realized something. His lightsaber was gone. Vaxor spun, and his eyes darted around. The crowd remained still, except one. A girl in a sleek white fur coat, and a black bodysuit. "Huh."

Vaxor pushed through the crowd, propelling himself towards the girl. She looked back, and smiled. Suddenly, she stabbed the blade into ice on the ground, and a huge steam blast flew into Vaxor's face. He growled and activated his helmet. The girl was gone by the time Vaxor regained his sight. He jumped onto a rooftop, and as predicted, she was on one across from him. He leaped over, and the girl started running from roof to roof.

Vaxor used jets in his boots to fly over her and land in front of her. He tripped her with a grappler, and grabbed her by the front of her jacket. "Give. Me back. My lightsaber." She had blue skin, and darker blue hair, in a neat ponytail to get it out of her face, except for bangs on her forehead. Her red eyes were glowing. She had a thin scar from just above her left eye to below the right one.

"What's the magic word?" the girl said, grinning.

"Now." Vaxor's tone rose, and his eyes darkened.

"I'll pass." She slid past Vaxor and remotely activated his jet boots, sending him flying up. She jumped into the crowds, escaping. Vaxor hopped down from the rooftops, and landed down at the end of the crowd. The girl was getting onto a speeder bike. She revved the engine, and started off, when Vaxor reached out. The speeder bike wouldn't move. She accelerated faster, confused. Vaxor balled up his hand, and the engine was crushed. He used the force to throw her onto a rooftop. He flew up after her, and the bike sped into a building.

He smiled at her arrogantly, standing over her. "I believe the magic word was now."

"Right. Sorry." she handed him the lightsaber hilt and got up. "Where did you get that?"

"I inherited it. I also modded it with chromium plating and other things. If you come with me, you'll get one of your own."

"Come with you? Where? Is this a trap to arrest me? Why would you want a criminal like me?"

"Listen, kid. I already have two criminal students, and because of them we already have a few couches with smoking holes in them. I doubt you could be much worse. I'm giving you an invitation, to be trained in the ways of the force. You stole my lightsaber. I didn't notice your hand, just the weight missing. You could've replaced it with an item switch, a bit impractical that you didn't, but still. You used telekinesis to take it, and enhanced yourself too. You're already very good at using it."

"Fine. I'll come with you. I have no reason to stay on this planet. My parents died years ago. I've been training myself ever since."

"Well come on then. We've got places to be."

Suddenly, the man from earlier yelled, "They're up there!" Alarms started ringing, and Chiss police on hoverbikes zoomed towards them.

"Gods, I hate cops. Come on. Let's see if you have what it takes for this kind of thing. Do try to keep up."

The girl sighed, and followed as Vaxor jumped into the crowd below. Vaxor handed her a pair of jet boosters, and specialized gloves. "Attach these to your boots, and try these on. Then press the buttons on the gloves, on my mark."

She nodded, and put both on. She prepared to blast off.

"Wait! Not yet." Vaxor grabbed a small metal ball, as the police drew near. "5." The cops came closer. "4."

"We need to go, now."

Vaxor camly said, "3." The cops were about to grab them. One jumped off his bike, others trained their guns on them. "2." They were about to fire. As they pulled the triggers, Vaxor yelled, "Now!" He and the Chiss girl blasted off towards the roof of the cave.

The cops' lasers fired into each other, causing explosions, slowing them down from reaching them. Vaxor threw the metal ball to the roof, which melted the ice into vapour in seconds, making a hole that they flew through. They entered an ice cave, which they sat down in. Vaxor retracted his helmet, and took a deep breath.

"How old are you?" The girl asked.

"I'm 16, 17 in 4 months," he replied.

"That seems quite young for a teacher."

"Personally, I like to judge people by their experience. Which it seems you have a lot of. How long have you been on your own, being a criminal, thief, whatever it is?"

"A few years. Honestly, I don't keep track. If I had to say, 5 or 6 years. When my parents died, I was 7 years old. I started, uh, this two years later."

Vaxor interrupted, "So you're 14 years old, soon to be 15?"

"Shut up and let me speak. And yes, I'm 14 and a half. My parents died in a hover-car accident. Some idiot was driving drunk, and slammed his ship right into theirs. They were smashed into the ice wall. My instincts made me jump out just in time. Not fast enough. That's how I got this." She pointed at her scar. "At first it was a lot worse. Giant wound, bleeding and everything. Thanks to nano-medicine, they managed to reconstruct my face. Nothing else. After they saved my life, the system left me out on the streets. This stupid government couldn't help a little oprhaned girl. So I decided to break free. I struck out on my own. The scar was a constant reminder of what I could've had. I was a crook for a few years, before getting actual jobs from some real criminals. Speaking of scars… how'd you get that?"

Vaxor was confused for a moment. Then he realized she was talking about the lightning scar, the one Darth Bane had given him years earlier. "Oh, this? I got it while fighting a Sith Lord, in an ancient temple. I barely survived. I had to get it repaired, but not using technology, but with the force. I have two forms. This one…" Vaxor paused, and let the darkness fully take control of him. His horns grew longer, his body stronger, and his skin became red and black. His scar became pushed up and red. One eye turned yellow, while his other eye fully turned black with a red iris.

She looked visibly shaken. "I see why you don't go in public like that. How…?"

"Force trick. I can will myself between forms. I usually use my more 'normal one', because it's less terrifying and more appealing to people in general."

"That's… Creepy."

Vaxor laughed. "I know. I seem to have that effect on people. Anyways, my name is Vaxor Aleathan. And it is a pleasure to meet you, Artec'laris'artien." He morphed back.

The Chiss' eyes narrowed. "How do you know my name?"

"Quick file search about the first appearance of notorious street criminal, and the hover-car accident, which happened to happen around the same time. It's quite a simple matter."

"I assume that for most that name would be a handful, so you may call me Clarissa."

"Well, it's been a pleasure meeting you. But we should get going. The police force will find us soon enough if we just muck about. So hurry the hell up." Clarissa walked off.

"Well excuse me, princess, but do you even know you're going? Do you have a ship of your own you haven't told me about?"

Clarissa scowled and blushed. "Um, no… But you do. So show me where it is."

"Well then. Follow me." Vaxor took a few steps, then spun and walked in the opposite direction Clarissa had been heading.

Clarissa rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say."

Vaxor led Clarissa to the spot where he parked, then used another metal ball to melt open the ice. He led her out, to the ship. The black and red ship was covered in layers of snow, as more powdery snow fell.

"You didn't even park in a cave? You just left it in the middle of nowhere, out in the open? I wouldn't be surprised if the engine is frozen." Clarissa huffed, and her breath flew into the air, visible.

"You'd best hope it isn't, because this is your only way off-world. Now stand-back." Vaxor raised his hands, and staggered his feet for balance. He found the particles inside the engine, and moved them around. He shook them, faster and faster, creating heat, and powering it on. The ship began to groan, and then a shuddering sound came from the engine. Then it went silent.

"Well, we're screwed. Very screwed."

"Not yet…" Vaxor threw pure force into the engine, and with a wild roar, it came to life. He opened the cockpit, and the two quickly entered. "Time to leave. I think you'll find our base planet a good change of pace from this frozen wasteland."

They flew through snow and clouds into the atmosphere, and entered space. With a flip of a switch, they flew back to Igneon.

A short flight later, they arrived over the lava planet. "So, your mother trained you in the dark side since you were just a kid, and now you want to train a new generation of force wielders. Is that right?"

"Correct. Oh, look. We've arrived." A giant ball of orange and grey came into view.

"A change of pace indeed. Really, a lava planet? How is that a good place to put a school?"

"You know, Ilvisar said the same thing."

"The Bothan guy who you're working with for this project?"

"Yeah. Alright. Let's dive."

"Dive? What do you mea-" The ship plunged downwards at the lava pool, cutting off Clarissa's sentence. She screamed, and Vaxor grinned. They splashed into the lava.

The ship passed through the plasma field and entered the hangar. Jackal turned and ran to the ship. Vaxor opened the cockpit, and Jackal yelled, "Where the hell have you been? I've had to manage this whole base on my own, with no one else here!"

"I wouldn't have done it if I didn't think you'd be able to handle it. Ilvisar and I decided to get the jump, and go after more students early. Is he back yet?"

"No. I'll go check on the dorms though." Vaxor nodded and headed off to the sleeping quarters. Thankfully, nothing was on fire. It was quite early in the morning, so not everyone was awake. Elena and Will were playing Holochess on a top bunk. Siena and Soren were inspecting the virtual roof. Lloyd was fast asleep. At this point Vaxor had gotten rid of the boy girl light dark thing and let people sleep where they wanted. They didn't have enough students for it to work effectively anyway. He might do it eventually, but not yet.

Vaxor woke everyone up, to Lloyd's annoyance. "Good morning, everyone. I hope you rested well. This is Clarissa. Until I get back, she's in charge." Elena and Will nodded. Clarissa eyed everyone carefully. "Keep an eye on them. Feel free to rough 'em up if they step out of line. "I'll be going now. Don't blow anything up." Vaxor left and headed back for the Hangar. His ship was fueled up, and Sprite was recharged.

Jackal came up to Vaxor and said, "You're not seriously leaving already?"

"We have to keep up with time. We need to have everyone here soon."

"If we leave there's no one to keep control in the base."

"Fine. I'll be on Corellia. Hmm. The name of that planet sounds familiar."

"Maybe you've been there before?"

"Maybe. About a year ago, while I was trapped in that Republic prison, my sanity and memories started to deteriorate. I don't really remember everything that happened before that. I guess I'll find out."

Vaxor shook hands with Jackal, then got in his ship. He took off through the plasma field, flying through lava, and blasting off into space.