Sebiris was a hot world, its continents covered by dense jungles. The settlement nearest to the hypergate excavation site was located by the equator, and the outside air was so sweltering as to make all but the lightest clothes unbearable. It was no place to sneak around in a black hooded cloak, and for that reason Darth Talon stayed in their ship while Eli went out into the city to see what he could learn.

It was an arrangement that had become almost commonplace since they'd lost the Force. Talon hid her emotions well, but Eli could tell she was frustrated by her limitations. Despite that, she'd given no indication that she'd remove the scarlet-and-black Sith tattoos. It was her show of faith that her powers, and the greatness of the Sith, would one day be restored.

Either that, or she was clinging to them in desperation.

The settlement itself seemed to be thriving. Acres of jungle had been cleared away and hundreds of new buildings had been erected. They were mostly made of metal that gleamed hot and bright in the sun, and Eli sometimes had to squint through the glare as he watched the mélange of beings in its streets. There was a fair amount of offworld aliens but most of the crowd seemed an equal mix of human settlers and native Sebiri, bipedal long-legged saurian with blue scaly hides and short snouts. They seemed better adjusted to the climate the humans, all of whom were visibly sweating under the sun.

He wanted to gather information first, so he started talking. According to the information they'd gathered about Sebiris en route, the planet had undergoing a minor boom based off industrialized agriculture; apparently some of the native plants could be processed into medicines usable by a dozen common species. Eli started off by posing as co-pilot of a freighter looking to ship said medicines to out-of-the-way locations, though in each conversation he'd direct matters to the archaeological excavation site located forty kilometers northwest of the city. Most of those he'd talked to neither knew nor cared about the site, but someone recalled a commotion a little over a year ago. He wasn't sure of the specifics, but it seemed material from the site had been stolen. After further prying, Eli learned that an unusual spacecraft had been seen at the port around that time. Its hull had been smooth and curved, and it had possessed no visible standard engines or weapons. Though nobody he talked to identified it as such, Eli was sure they'd seen Khat Lah's organic Sekotan flyer.

Eli spent nearly two days collection pieces of information until he'd assembled a decent picture of what had happened. He still needed to know the details, and the only place he'd get that was the excavation site itself. He and Talon had discussed different ways for him to insinuate himself at the site, but as a young man, not even twenty years old, he couldn't credibly claim a position of authority. Ultimately he decided to follow along the path he'd already travelled on Mrlsst.

To get to the excavation site, he took the speeder bike carried in the belly of their shuttle. He piloted it away from the town and toward the hypergate, over the tops of trees bursting with long leaves colored equal amounts violet and green. The excavation was visible from a distance as a gaping hole in the treeline.

As Eli slowed his speeder and circled once around the site before landing, he made sure to take in all the details. The hexagonal dome that had protected the hypergate for millennia still stood, though one-third of it had been peeled away and through the gap he could see the ruins of the gate itself rising ten meters high. It looked like a great doorframe, without a door. The dome was surrounded by rings of equipment, several landspeeders, and simple flexfabric tents.

Eli's arrival drew attention. As he set his bike down next to the landspeeders, over a dozen beings converged on him. Most wore beige and dusty clothes, and all looked at him with suspicion. Eli didn't have the Force, but through their faces he could read deeper. Their aversion to outsiders seemed defensive; they were afraid of his exposing something. He also noted the approach of one Cerean, cone-topped head wrapped in a sweaty red bandana. The others were making way for him to approach, typical deference to an authority figure, but there was relief too. They were glad someone else was going to handle this difficult conversation.

There were still many ways Eli could screw this up, especially without the Force, but the Cerean's appearance was a boon. Before leaving Mrlsst he'd made copies of every progress report published and memorized the name of every scientist mentioned inside. There'd been only one Cerean, the lead excavator.

As he got close the Cerean asked, "Can we help you, young man?"

"Doctor Akk-Mor-Baun, it's good to see you," Eli smiled politely and extended a hand. "I'm Orath Panelis."

Akk-Mor-Baun looked at the hand for a moment, confusion temporarily eclipsing hostility. "I'm afraid I haven't heard of you."

Eli wrinkled his face in earnest-seeming confusion. "Are you certain? I'm Doctor Soridus' assistant. He should have sent you a message saying I was coming."

The name of his associate, currently lecturing on Mrlsst, made the Cerean's frown deepen. "I'm afraid I never got that message."

"Maybe there was a communications breakdown. We are a long way from Mrlsst and there has been nasty fighting going on lately."

"Yes, well, we're just glad it hasn't come here." The Cerean and his assistants still regarded Eli warily. "Can you explain a little of the work you've been doing with Doctor Soridus?"

"Of course," Eli said, and let his eyes drift over to the sliced-open dome and a slim glimpse of the hypergate. Putting on a youthful smile he added, "I can't tell you how exciting it is to be here, finally. I've heard so much about your work from Doctor Soridus and I'm so sorry about what happened last year."

Akk-Morr-Baun grunted. "Yes. Well, that's still a sore subject, but we've been dealing with it the best we can. Again, I'd like to hear more about your work with Soridus, so I can understand better how to, ah, fit you in to our team."

"Oh, of course," Eli kept emulating the guileless enthusiasm he'd seen on all those students at Mrlsst. "But can we get into the shade? I'm, ah, not used to this climate yet."

"It will take some time," Akk-Morr-Baun said, and with the flick of a wrist gestured him toward a tent. "This way, Mister Panelis. I'm eager to hear what you have to say for yourself."

-{}-

It was no short trip to Sebiris. The violence that was flaring up around this section of the Outer Rim made even Cade wary, and he plotted Mynock on a course to stay clear of the conflicted sectors but added another day and a half to their trip. Once they reached the Kathol Sector, the region's infamous spatial distortions made travel slower still.

The one upside was that they had plenty of time to gather information and get prepared. Times like these, it was good to have friends, or at least reliable contacts. Lowbacca talked to the Jedi and Jao to the Imperial Knights, and both came up with the same information about Sebiris. The planet, located on the edge of a strange starless expanse called the Marcol Void, had recently been the site of archaeological investigations by a team of researchers claiming to have found an ancient hypergate.

Cade knew about hypergates, vaguely. Supposedly they'd been able transmit matter instantaneously from one side of the galaxy to another, far faster than any hyperdrive. The long-dead empire of the Gree and Kwa had used them, but they'd been lost long before the Old Republic was born. Most of the people Cade had met dismissed them as weird legends and said they'd probably never existed in the first place, but as a Jedi- the last one left, apparently- he knew the galaxy was full of unlikely truths.

The specifics of the excavation, headed by a team from a university on Mrlsst, were unclear, and both contacts had promised to look into it. Jao's Imp friends got back first, and while Mynock skirted the Seswenna sector and vectored up the Rimma Trade Route, a small crowd gathered in its cockpit to listen to the report.

"The specifics are still unclear," began the bearded Knight Yalta Val, efficiently killing hopes before they got too bright. "The university is forestalling questions and wrangling us in bureaucratic barriers."

"You're the government," Cade asked the Knight's head-and-shoulders holo-image. "Can't you cut through all that?"

"We're attempting to," Val said. "But for now, this is what we know. The researchers believe they've uncovered an ancient hypergate that's far better preserved than most of the other ruins across the galaxy. However, excavation slowed considerably about fourteen months ago, for reasons they're not clear on."

"That sounds around the time Khat Lah went there," Jao said.

"Indeed. From what we can tell, the researchers think the hypergate is between forty and fifty thousand years old."

"Well, that narrows it down," Cade muttered. "Any idea who built it?"

"Common supposition is either the Gree or the Kwa. The researchers don't seem to have reached a more specific conclusion."

A Wookie roar sounded from the back of the cockpit, and C-3PO said, "Master Lowbacca raises a fine point. Our concern should be less about the hypergate than about why Khat Lah would be seeking one."

"You're right, and we do know he's been seeking," said Val. "Since the… incident on Te Hasa, the empress has been trying to keep a small but but steady window of communication open with the Gree. We've shared some of our information and they've shared some of theirs, including a list of all registered visitors to Asation within the past three years."

"Reikar Horn?" asked Jao.

Val nodded. "According to Gree authorities, he attempted to examine the Asation hypergate site. The entire region around the gate is forbidden to foreigners, so he was refused access and expelled from Gree space."

A good bit of information, but Cade didn't know what to do with it. "How long ago was this?"

"Approximately sixteen months."

Well before he visited Sebiris, then. Lowbacca roared again and C-3PO said, "You're quite right. Khat Lah has been searching for some time, but we still have no idea why."

Cade asked, "Got anything special to tell us about those hypergates, professor?"

The droid shook slightly, as though surprised by the question. "I'm afraid I have little more to share. As no hypergate has ever been made workable within recorded history, there is little to be said about them besides rumors and suppositions. We do not even know whether a single hypergate linked to one location or many. We also do not know how they are powered, and while there's some suggestion the Force may have been used this is, as I said, unverifiable. According to my internal databases, one such gate was nearly activated on the planet Dathomir several decades before the rise of the Empire, but it has since been totally destroyed and no scientific study was carried out."

Lowbacca roared something else, and the droid added, "Apparently the Jedi records concur on this point."

"So we know next to nothing," summarized Cade. "Great. Anything else about Sebiris?"

"I'm sending a data package attached to this stream," said Val. "It contains the coordinates for the excavation site, and the location of the nearest port city. Sebiris has a mix of native sentients and human immigrants. Their relationship has been contentious at times but seems stable now. We don't think it has anything to do with the troubles at the excavation site."

"It looks like those troubles come down to our rogue Yuuzhan Vong," Jao said. "Thank you for your help, Master Val. We'll keep you informed on what we find at Sebiris."

"You're welcome, Jao. May the Force be with you all."

The holo shut off, and Cade sensed Jao and Lowbacca both discomfited by the salutation. Rather than let them indulge in self-pity, Cade said, "Okay, let's brainstorm. Khat Lah's got a hankering for hypergates. Why? What does he expect to get from one that he can't get from a ship with hyperdrive?"

Neither Jao nor Lowbacca offered a suggestion, but C-3PO said, "Perhaps he believes a hypergate can lead him to Mortis, or one of the others monoliths."

The thought had occurred to Cade; early in their mission they'd visited the supposed sites of two Force-powerful worlds enclosed within gigantic eight-sided artificial monoliths of Celestial construct. One monolith had been found in the Chiloon Rift a century earlier; the other, called Mortis in legend, had been rediscovered in Wild Space by a team of Jedi Quest Knights searching for a weapon to use against the Force abomination Abeloth. The Jedi Order had recorded spatial coordinates for both monoliths, but when Mynock had searched those locations they'd found nothing.

"It could make sense," Cade muttered, but his gut told him Khat Lah was after something else. Details on Mortis were shaky, but supposedly the world had once been dwelling place for three super-powerful Force entities- possibly former Celestials- called the Ones which had maintained balance in the Force. The Ones had died almost two centuries ago after Cade's ancestor Anakin Skywalker had refused to replace them. Cade had had the opportunity to reads the reports from the Quest Knights who'd rediscovered Mortis, and according to them the great Force power that had once possessed the world was gone, leaving a desolate and dying planet behind.

He doubted Khat Lah was after Mortis. What he was after was anyone's guess.

Softly, Lowbacca groaned. C-3PO said, "Quite right, Master. Whatever the truth is, we must wait for it to present itself."

"If it presents itself," Jao muttered, and nobody argued.

-{}-

To Eli's mild surprise and great satisfaction, his scraped-together plan to infiltrate the excavation site worked. It would have gone far smoother if he'd had the Force to compel his will on Akk-Morr-Baun and the other archaeologists, but he dropped just enough names and fact gleaned from the journal reports to pass himself off as an actual researcher from Mrlsst. The illusion wouldn't last long, but Eli hadn't planned to stay; he'd told the researchers that he'd left most of his personal things at an inn back in the city and would have to retrieve them before nightfall.

That still gave him most of a day, and in the first few hours alone he learned what he needed to. By giving Akk-Morr-Baun the impression that he already knew all about Khat Lah's actions a year ago, he lulled the researchers into false security and got the Cerean to let slip critical details. The full extent of Khat Lah's theft remained unpublicized; if word got out it would be an embarrassment for the university and might well cost them their funding. Thus the excavation project trudged along, quietly downplaying initial expectations and scraping for whatever the thieves had left.

The research team's early enthusiasm, apparent even through the dry academic language of those progress reports, had been well-founded. The hypergate inside the dome had been untouched for tens of thousands of years, preserved even from the weather. The technology inside was unlike anything used currently in the galaxy save by the Gree, whom Akk-Morr-Baun had studied for years. He and his research team had begun cataloging and analyzing the gate's parts in the hopes of returning power to the device and using it once more.

They'd been making progress when Khat Lah arrived. In the guise of Reikar Horn he'd come with a team of a dozen human researchers who must have been masquered Yuuzhan Vong. Akk-Morr-Baun and the other archaeologists had been extremely hesitant to let him look at the site, especially when they learned he wasn't accredited at any university or research institute. They'd reluctantly put aside their suspicions when Khat Lah had presented them with information and recovered artifacts from a trip to the planet Tython, in the Deep Core.

Encouraged by his knowledge, they'd started sharing their research and allowed his team access to the hypergate. After that, a dozen more armed men showed up at the camp, held the researchers captive, and helped Khat Lah's people strip critical systems from the hypergate and move them to the Sekotan flyer.

"I heard about all that from Doctor Soridus," Eli lied as he and Akk-Morr-Baun stood inside the shaded dome, looking up at the cyclopean pillars that held up the gate's hollow frame. "But are you really sure he came from Tython? I've heard the planet's location is lost."

"Doctor Relno is our expert on Jedi artifacts," the Cerean said, naming a researcher Eli'd been briefly introduced to. "The devices Horn procured predate the First Schism between the Jedi and the Sith. They were truly ancient… and they didn't seem to be forgeries."

"Did something on Tython point him here?" asked Eli. He'd never get Khat Lah's current location from these researchers, but he might be able learn why he'd stolen pieces of the hypergate.

"He didn't say, exactly," Akk-Morr-Baun, "But he said he'd found the ruins of another hypergate on Tython. He even showed us some maps of the site."

"Do you have those maps?"

"No. He took them with him," the Cerean said sourly, remembering what else Khat Lah had taken. "He didn't say how he'd gotten to Tython either. This Reikar Horn… he seems to be some sort of rogue xenoarchaeologist, like the kind they make holo-dramas about. I've had people at the university look into his identity. I suspect his name was a fake. A decade ago there was a Jedi named Reikar Horn who was killed at Duro. That seems… more than a coincidence."

Maybe Eli should have made a comment about that; instead he changed the subjected. "Did he say how he got to Tython? It's supposed to be impossible."

"No, he was quite tight-lipped about that," the Cerean shook his head, but Eli had an idea. If anyone knew the location of the ancient planet, rumored to be the birthplace of the Jedi Order, it would have been the Jedi themselves. K'Kruhk could have easily given Khat Lah the information at the start of his wandering.

Tython certainly made sense as a destination, and not just because of its place in Jedi lore. On the way to Sebiris, Eli had reviewed the Gree index of hypergate locations. Sebiris had been among them, as had Tython. The list included galactic-standard spatial coordinates for those gates, but the coordinates themselves seemed to have been derived from Gree maps many of millennia old. That didn't matter so much for Outer Rim worlds like Sebiris, which rotated very slowly around the galactic center, but those coordinates were essentially useless in the Deep Core, where stars were packed tight and moved quickly by comparison. Still, all the information Eli had gathered seemed to be pointing in one direction. That was encouraging, even if he couldn't see the destination itself.

The sun was going down in the sky when Akk-Morr-Baun finished giving Eli his tour of the site. After that Eli excused himself to go back to the city and retrieve his things from the inn. He parted with the researchers on much better terms than he'd arrived, though he still felt reticence from some; they'd already been burned badly by strangers showing up unannounced.

None of that mattered. Eli had learned what he could on Sebiris and they had a place to go next, assuming they could find it. He explained all this to Darth Talon once he returned to their ship, safely and inconspicuously docked at the spaceport.

The Twi'lek took it all in thoughtfully. "Under Lord Krayt we maintained a presence in the Deep Core," she said. "We've since… withdrawn, but our maps remain."

"Do you mean we have a route to Tython?"

"I don't know," Talon said crisply. "I will have to consult with Lord Nihl."

I Eli noticed, not we, even after he'd done all the work on Sebiris. He asked a little sourly, "Is there anything else to do here?"

"From what you've told me, no. Are you sure in your judgement?"

She looked at him hard; since losing the Force her eyes had turned to a deep ocean-blue, incongruous against the harsh red and black of her face. Right now that made her glare more intimidating. "I don't see any reason to stay," he said.

"Very well. Prepare the ship for takeoff. I will inform Lord Nihl of our progress."

-{}-

When Nihl received the hail from Darth Talon, he was aboard his flagship and preparing invasion plans for the Stensen sector. He considered ignoring her signal, but ultimately summoned her blue holo-image in the center of his command salon. He hoped the conversation would be brief.

"Greetings, Lord Nihl," the Twi'lek tipped her head in a slight bow. "We have alighted from Sebiris."

She'd already briefed him on the purpose of her mission there. "You know where your quarry went next?"

"No, Lord. However, we believe we know where he was before Sebiris."

Nihl felt an involuntary stab of pity for Talon. To go from Krayt's trusted Hand to a hapless errand girl was humiliating indeed, but after failing to secure Darth Maladi and a cure for their disease, it was the least she deserved. Stifling any empathy he asked, "Where was he before?"

Talon lifted her head slightly. "Tython, my lord."

Nihl blinked. "Tython? Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes, lord. I'm unaware of how to reach Tython. I was hoping you could provide a route."

Routes through the Deep Core's convoluted, ever-shifting starlanes had been one of the One Sith's most guarded secrets. For years it had been kept in the hands of the traitor Wyyrlokk, but Nihl had inherited that information. "We know of a route to Tython," he said, "But it is several years out of date. Likely it's reliable… but you should proceed with caution."

"Very good, lord."

When she volunteered nothing else he asked, "What precisely did you find on Sebiris?"

"A hypergate, lord, and one in better condition than anywhere else in the known galaxy." She stopped, then amended, "It was in good condition, but Khat Lah and his allies stole parts from it."

While he'd never invested much hope in the search for one erran, Force-using Vong, Nihl considered the puzzle. "If he stole parts from the Sebiris hypergate, it stands to reason he plans to use them to rebuild another hypergate."

"Perhaps on Tython," Talon said. "Apparently Khat Lah mentioned he'd found the ruins of one there."

"To the archaeologists on Sebiris?"

"That's right."

"Then it seems you have a lead worth pursuing. I'll send you a map to Tython shortly."

"Excellent, lord. I have one other request."

"Yes?"

"I've told you that Cade Skywalker is also searching for Khat Lah. His resourcefulness is not to be underestimated."

Nihl felt a phantom throb in his implanted arm, the replacement for the one Skywalker had taken. "I don't need reminding. What does that have to do with Sebiris? Has he been there?"

"No. The archaeologists Eli talked to made no mention of him, but he might still come. We need to make sure he doesn't find the same clues we did."

"Speak plainly. If you want to destroy the hypergate and everyone there, your ship has the weapons to do so."

"Targeting the hypergate alone would be too obvious. The Kathol sector isn't far from your current campaigns."

Nihl's lips pressed tight. His nearest battle group was several sectors away, though to reach Kathol they'd merely need to skirt around the edge of the galaxy's disk, far from most inhabited systems. Still, the war was in a careful stage, and he was loathe to spare a fleet when the Federation was mounting its counterattack.

Sensing his hesitation, Talon pressed, "Please, consider. Raid Sebiris and a few other worlds in the Kathol sector. They have no defenses. It will be a clear slaughter and will spread fear further."

"Fear is good," said Nihl, "A coherent offensive is better."

"One battle group will suffice. Besides the hypergate, they can raze the jungle and bomb the surrounding town. It will only take an hour, maybe two."

"And days to get there."

"One battle group, Lord. That's all I ask. Then we won't have to worry about Skywalker following us to Tython."

"Unless he finds his own way. Unless he's already there."

Talon acknowledged his point with a single nod.

And yet, Nihl thought, spreading fear would be a valuable gain from an excursion to Kathol. More worlds would feel unsafe and clamor for Federation protection, which would in turn spread the enemy fleet thin. They might even get lucky and turn back Skywalker's enquiries, assuming he wasn't far ahead of Talon in the chase. At the very least they'd have to send relief forces to Kathol, likely from the fleet clustered at Sluis Van. New possibilities would open up; he could adjust his battle plan to take advantage.

"I believe," said Nihl, "A small show of force could be arranged."

"The Dark Lord is most wise," Talon bowed her head. Nihl could the creak of relief in her voice and fought another stab of pity. With the Force or without, they were still Sith, and there was no room for empathy in what lay ahead.