It was a hot night in the jungle, and even the wind from the speeding taxi felt heavy and warm against Mordivai's face. The glow from the Kaas City skyline was no longer visible this far out, revealing a sky teeming with stars. Mordivai watched their progress through the jungle on the map on his datapad.

"Stop here at this bend up ahead," he directed the pilot droid.

"But my lord, this is not a designated landing zone."

"I said stop here."

"Yes my lord, very well."

The speeder's engine dropped in pitch and they gradually slowed to a stop. Mordivai jumped out and consulted his map again. Khem lumbered out of the taxi and hovered behind him, peering over his shoulder like a brooding dark cloud. Behind him, Mordivai heard the taxi speeding away.

"Master," Khem grumbled, "where are we going? This is not where Lord Zash sent us."

"I know. I have another errand to run."

Mordivai pulled a glowstick out of his pocket, stepped off the path, and began to trudge his way through the thick of the jungle. Khem followed obediently behind.

Mordivai was only beginning to understand the Dashade that claimed to serve him. Maybe it was Khem's cybernetic programming, or the ancient code of honor he followed, but once bested, Khem had declared himself bound in servitude to Mordivai whether Mordivai wanted it or not. For all his insistence, Khem was not happy about the arrangement either. He obeyed as Mordivai required, and defended him when necessary, but he also made it clear that he planned to regain his independence, and on that day, Mordivai would suffer.

During those first few weeks Mordivai felt just as chained to the creature as the creature did to him. Khem was never far, and Mordivai slept little. He wondered if this paranoia would strengthen him or simply drive him mad.

Khem was more than just a brutish monster, however. There was intelligence behind those cold red eyes, and emotion as well. Khem did not speak much at first, but gradually he began to offer counsel which Mordivai found to be solid and insightful more often than not, even though he didn't always agree. Mordivai even began to feel sympathy for Khem, although he was careful to hide it lest Khem interpret it as pity. As far as they both knew, Khem was the last of his kind, a remnant of long dead era. Mordivai thought he heard a wistfulness in Khem's voice when he commented on how once-familiar places had changed, and he frequently reminisced about the glory days he had spent conquering planets with his former Sith master. Khem spoke of Tulak Hord with a reverence that bordered on idolatry, and Mordivai wondered if Khem had even loved his former master, in his own way. Mordivai would have gladly freed Khem from his servitude, but he couldn't as long as Khem harbored revenge against him. Mordivai decided to wait and see how things developed between them.

The jungle parted before them and Mordivai stepped out into a clearing. In the distance rose the tall fortified walls of Lord Shastine's compound.

"Where have you brought us, little Sith?"

Mordivai stared at the turrets lining the walls, and beyond that, the rooftop of Shastine's manor. A tightness squeezed his chest at the thought of entering that place again, but he knew that he had to bring closure to this part of his life.

"I was a slave here," he said, "for a time."

"Then we are here to take revenge." Khem flexed his massive arms, curling his three-clawed hands into fists. "Good."

"I will go inside," Mordivai instructed him, "and you will wait until I call for you. You may kill anyone who challenges you."

"You deny me the fighting."

"You will help me get inside. But I need to face Shastine alone."

Khem grunted understanding at that.

They crept around the compound in order to approach from the west, where there was an entryway in the surrounding wall that was smaller and less guarded. Mordivai remembered how unprepared and helpless he had felt when trying to contemplate ever leaving this place. He never dreamed he'd end up trying to infiltrate the estate from the outside in.

There were no guards at this entrance, only two security cams and a turret. Mordivai crept as close as he dared and peered out from behind a statue of a roaring Terentatek. The cameras' lenses were tiny, and would be difficult to reach. Mordivai thought of the way Shastine had intended to debase and humiliate him, and felt his anger kindle into flame. He concentrated on balling up Force power in his hands, feeling it building inside him like a slowly rising tide, until his palms tingled. Then he thrust his hand out and aimed for his first target. A lurid streak of purple Force lightning leapt from his fingers and hit one of the cameras in a spray of sparks. Mordivai waited to see if the turret activated or if his action had triggered any alarm, but all was silent. He imagined what the look on Shastine's face would be when she recognized him. I bested you as a Jedi and I will do so again as a Sith. His hand began to spark this time before he'd even begun to aim, but his attack landed true, and the second camera shorted out when it was struck. Then Mordivai stepped out from behind the statue and lit up his lightsaber. He threw it into a spin and it spiraled away from him with a rolling hum, leaving a red haze in its wake. It hit the top of the turret and sheared the small cannon completely off. He called the lightsaber back to his hand and reattached it to his belt.

"Khem, get the door for me."

Khem stalked forward with his fist raised. As soon as the intercom was in reach, he smashed it with enough force to pound a hole in the wall. Sparks danced around his hand, but Khem splayed his claws and reached in further, grabbing a handful of wires and yanking them hard until they spilled out of the crushed panel like the innards of a mauled beast. Then he turned towards the doors and lunged, hitting them solidly with his shoulder. A loud metal clang echoed through the night air and the doors dented on impact. Khem pried his claws into the gap he'd created and grunted. Mordivai watched his arms shake as the doors slowly pried apart. There was a metallic screech and Khem released his hold, stepping back to allow Mordivai to pass.

Mordivai stepped into Lord Shastine's inner yard, his footsteps muffled by the damp grass. Khem followed. They swung around to the back of the house where there was another door, also with a security cam, but no turret. This close to the house, he was more concerned about perimeter alarms so he halted a ways away and knelt in the grass.

He cleared his mind and opened himself to the Force, as Master Praven had taught him. He felt life teeming all around him; plants, trees, and the simple minds of animals both savage and meek. He reached further and found what he sought. Three life forms were present in the house. That made sense. Most likely they were Skiro, Ai'lanynn and Shastine herself. One glowed like a brand, full of vigor and hate, and Mordivai stayed clear of that mind. He lightly touched the other two. One was awake and anxious, the other was sleeping. He nudged the sleeping mind.

A sound has awoken you. You should open the back door to investigate.

His patience was beginning to wear, and he feared that his ploy wouldn't work, when just then the back door slid open and Ai'lanynn's pale face appeared.

Mordivai lept to his feet. He gestured for Khem to stay hidden in the shadows, and was racing across the grass a moment after, pushing himself to an unnatural speed with the Force. He imagined himself as a shadow and swept past Ai'lanynn through the open door like a brisk wind.

She turned her head, startled, but did not acknowledge him. Instead, she shook her head and re-latched the door.

Mordivai crept down the hall, deeper into the house, leaving Ai'lanynn behind. Thick carpet cushioned his feet, and the eyes of paintings and holostatues followed him. He gripped the hilt of his lightsaber with his finger lightly resting on the activation trigger. He stretched his consciousness out to its fullest reach, and finally pinpointed Shastine's location.

He found her on the second floor, in a far corner of the house. He did not try to hide his presence any longer. He walked freely down the corridor until he reached the open doorway at the end.

He stepped into the room. Lord Shastine was there, dressed casually and with her tight curls bound back. She had paused in her exercises and was standing in the middle of a wide, open practice room, her eyes glued to the doorway. She took in his measure with a look of disbelief.

Mordivai held his lightsaber lowered and unlit, but clearly at the ready.

"Remember me, Shastine?"

He saw her work to regain her composure. That sly, girlish smile that he recalled so well broke across her face.

"You have changed." Her voice was sweet, but that of course had always been an illusion. "You are a boy no longer, I see. The Academy has shaped you into a man."

"You haven't changed at all."

"Not all changes are visible ones. How thoughtful of you to visit me."

Mordivai didn't feel like playing any of Shastine's games. Seeing her again, hearing her voice, only brought back his old feelings of helplessness. He needed to end this quickly.

"I nearly succeeded in killing you the first time. Now I am here to finish it."

Shastines's face fell into a pout. "Don't be so hasty. We are on equal footing now. We could be allies, you know."

"You've got to be kidding."

"What happened between us was obviously a mistake. And one that has been corrected. You have received your due." She nodded towards the lightsaber in his hand, as if to imply that his becoming a Sith was a gift he had been granted. How little she understood him.

"Put up your weapon and face me."

Shastine giggled. "Still trying to be a Jedi? You are too polite." The words had not finished leaving her mouth when she tossed out a hand and sent a burst of lightning at his torso. Mordivai released the red blade on his lightsaber and blocked it. He rushed at her, driving back her lightning barrage with Force power, and went on the offensive. He was angry, determined, and driven by conviction. I will not fail.

Shastine's eyes widened, the smile dropping from her face. Her reactions were a just beat too slow, her movements laggard and weary. Mordivai saw the sheen of sweat that reflected off her forehead and the way her shirt was plastered to her skin. He had caught her at the end of her workout most likely, a realization which almost disappointed him. But then he felt the apprehension oozing off of her. She knew she was at a disadvantage and was afraid.

She skittered away, dodging just out of his reach. "I helped shape you," she gasped, "It's your rage for me that gives you strength."

Mordivai caught up with her and took her by surprise with a strike that almost forced her off her feet. He followed up with a Force push that tossed her backwards into the nearby wall.

She blinked the sweat out of her eyes and looked up at him. "Hate the lessons I taught you, but do not hate me! I can still help you."

He lunged for her and she kneed him in the groin.

"If not for me, you'd still be lost in your Jedi illusions," she cried. "I could have killed you, but instead I sent you to Korriban."

Mordivai felt himself enveloped in a web of lightning and was momentarily blinded. He gathered his will and broke free just as Shastine came at him with a strike meant to lance him through the middle. He knocked the blade out of the way and threw his weight at her, slamming his shoulder against the front of her body and knocking her backwards several paces. She kept her footing, but just barely.

"Lord Kertrin sent me to Korriban. You would have kept me a slave."

Mordivai thrust at her. She threw up her arm, blocking his downward jab with the blade of her lightsaber, but it was a clumsy move, and the momentum of Mordivai's thrust knocked the blade out of her hand. She fumbled backwards, tripping against a chair, and tumbled onto her backside. Mordivai towered over her, readying himself for the killing blow.

Shastine looked up at him, her cherubic face masked in dread. It wouldn't have mattered even she had met him fresh and rested, Mordivai realized. He had surpassed her in skill. He was better than her, and she knew it.

The anger drained out of him. Shastine looked small and child-like, her fear and panic thick in the air to Mordivai's Force senses. Her small dominion here, safely tucked away in her manor, felt pathetic now, the mere trappings of power only. She was no threat to him any longer.

Mordivai lowered his weapon.

"Go ahead and play in your little castle," he said. "It means nothing."

She watched him, her eyes wide and dark, and for once she had no response. Mordivai turned away, leaving her prone on the floor.

He had only taken a step when his instincts were alerted to movement from behind. He spun, his reflexes snapping into action, his forward jab already in motion.

By the time he realized his error, it was too late.

Shastine had started to rise from the ground, and the red blade of Mordivai's lightsaber skewered her before she could finish her move.

Only Shastine hadn't been about to attack him. She was facing away from him, the fingers of her right hand clinging to the nearby chair as she had tried to right herself. Her lightsaber still lay where it had fallen, untouched. Mordivai had killed her when her back was turned.

He pulled his blade free and Shastine slumped to the floor, the light in her eyes already extinguished. Mordivai's hands shook, and his lightsaber slipped from his grasp, the buzz of the plasma blade winking out when it made contact with the floor. He felt vaguely sick.

She was Sith, and a rival. She deserved to die, a voice in his head protested. But another, stronger voice overrode it. She was defeated and disarmed. She was no threat, the second voice said. You were paranoid. Your haste and carelessness killed her.

Slowly Mordivai bent to retrieve his weapon and hooked it to his belt. He walked from the room, feeling numb.

00o00

When Mordivai reached the ground floor of Shastine's manor he found Ai'lanynn huddled behind a couch in the living room.

"Ai'lanynn? It's ok. You can come out now."

Her pink head emerged and she peered out, making no attempt to leave her hiding place. But then her eyes widened and she leapt forward, crashing into him and nearly knocking him over with the force of her hug.

"Mordivai? It's really you!"

He held her for a moment, feeling awkward and unworthy of her gratitude. "It's over now, Ai'lanynn. You are free. Shastine is dead."

She pulled back and stared at him with watery eyes. "She's dead?" She held a hand against her chest and appeared confused for a moment. "Where will I go? They will think I ran away...or-"

"You have family somewhere?"

She nodded.

"Then I will pay for your passage to reach them. Are you ready to go home?"

"Home?" Her voice quivered and broke. "Yes!" She laughed, tears wetting her cheeks. "I'm ready to go home."

"Gather whatever belongings you need. We need to leave right away."

"I will!" She rushed past him and loped down the hall in a hurried gait.

Mordivai sighed and closed his eyes. When he opened them he saw Skiro skulking in the doorway, looking shrunken and defeated.

"My lord." He held out his hand as if to hold off retribution. "Do not leave me here with...do not leave me here alone. Take me with you as your servant. I will gladly serve you."

Mordivai barely heard him. He swept forward and clutched Skiro's shirt in his hands.

"Why I shouldn't kill you instead?"

Skiro swallowed thickly. "I only ever wanted to obey. I did as I was told...and I...I loved her."

Mordivai released him. He knew that letting Skiro go would not erase the guilt of his error with Shastine, but he wasn't in the mood for any more killings tonight. "Get out of my sight. I don't care where you go. Just...go."

Skiro nodded. "Very well, my lord." He turned and slipped away down the hall.

Mordivai found Khem waiting for him on the back lawn. "If you see the Chiss, let him go. He's no concern of ours anymore. And-" Mordivai turned, seeing Ai'lanynn coming through the doorway, "you will defend this Twi'lek as you would me. She will staying with us for a short time."

Khem snorted and crossed his arms, but Mordivai knew he would follow orders.

Mordivai took another droid-driven transport vehicle back to Kaas City, thinking that it would be best to avoid being seen by a human driver. Ai'lanynn was clearly terrified of Khem Val, so Mordivai made him sit in front, while he took a spot next to Ai'lanynn in the back.

Lord Zash had given Mordivai a small personal office in the Sith Citadel and that's where Khem frequently spent the night. Mordivai wasn't sure that Khem actually needed sleep, and given the vindictive nature of most Sith, he liked the idea of having a guard left there. Tonight he was extra glad that he had made such arrangements with Khem early on, so that he didn't need to make any awkward concessions while Ai'lanynn was here.

By the time they arrived at his tiny apartment, it was almost dawn.

"We need to plan how best to get you on the fastest ship home," Mordivai said, glancing at Ai'lanynn as he slid his key card through the door. "It may take a few days though to make the arrangements."

"I won't be any trouble. I have a lot of household skills, and if there is anything else you need I'm a fast learner."

Mordivai held the door open as Ai'lanynn passed through. "I don't require anything, really. You are my guest, remember? You should stay inside though, for your safety."

Mordivai slipped gratefully into the solitude of his bedroom, and lost no time tipping his bed out from the wall so that he could throw himself on it. The world was a better place without Shastine in it, yet he took no pleasure from her death. Being steeped in the deceptions of the Sith had made him paranoid. How Gatten would have chastised him for acting before thinking, for letting his fear override his common sense. His muddled thoughts faded, and then at last, sleep claimed him.

He woke some hours later and found Ai'lanynn bustling about his kitchen. A fruity scent was coming off the shiny, bare counter, and she had somehow managed to scrape together his kitchen leftovers into an appetizing lunch. Mordivai rubbed his eyes and pushed the hair out of his face.

"Ai'lanynn, what...what is all this?"

"Well, I've worked with worse," she said. She paused to look at him and her smile faltered. "Aren't you hungry?"

Mordivai realized that he was in danger of insulting her. "Yes, actually. This is...great. I'm just surprised. Thanks. You didn't need to do this."

"Well, better than fidgeting on the couch." She shrugged and gave him an apologetic grin.

Ai'lanynn joined him for lunch and for a few minutes they sat in comfortable silence. The whole scene was so normal, so domestic, that Mordivai felt strangely removed from place and time, like someone had plucked him out of his usual life and plopped him into someone else's. Was this what everyday life was like for non Force-sensitives? Life would be so much more peaceful without the fear of someone always out to kill you.

After lunch, Mordivai left Ai'lanynn alone while he went to check in with Zash. As usual, his master had praise for him. Mordivai didn't mention his extra sojourn into Shastine's territory.

Dusk was rolling over the city when he returned to his apartment building. Other than the glaring lights of the nightclubs, which only came on after the dinner hour, there was little to distinguish dawn from day or day from dusk on Dromund Kaas. The perpetually gray sky grew gloomier and a chill breeze snapped the Imperial flags that hung from buildings all over the city. Mordivai was deep in the midst of meandering daydreams as he swiped his entry key in his apartment door.

The door had barely cracked open when a blaring musical beat spilled from his apartment into the hallway. Mordivai stepped into the kitchen. The music boomed throughout his apartment, some kind of traditional Twi'lek song that prickled a childhood memory. His mother's friend Vette had sang it, except the version he heard now was set to a modernized dance beat. Around the corner, there was Ai'lanynn, swaying and bouncing in his living room. Her damaged legs did not allow her much movement for dancing moves, but she swung her arms and rocked from side to side, belting out the lyrics with heartfelt enthusiasm. Her voice was easily good enough for a professional singer. Perhaps she had been, during her days in the hutt's cantina.

She spotted him and broke into a smile, then reached out and grabbed him. "Come join me!"

Ai'lanynn's enthusiasm made him feel happy, for no other reason than it brought brightness to his dark apartment, that it encouraged his body to move just for the joy of it. It was impossible to think of Zash, or Shastine, Gatten or Praven, or his parents, when Ai'lanynn was beaming at him so, bopping the side of her hips against his and laughing. He danced alongside her, and for that moment he wasn't a Sith, or a fallen Jedi, he was just himself, celebrating nothing more eventful than merely being alive.

When the song ended, they collapsed on the couch, breathless and spent. Ai'lanynn's color was high, making her pink skin even rosier. She sighed, the long, pleasant, satiated sigh of someone deep in the throes of contentment.

"I've never been so happy." She stretched her legs out and splayed her arms across the couch. "I'm going to see my family again soon, and I belong to no one. Life is good."

"Yes, it is," Mordivai said. For this brief moment, he actually believed it.

A/N: I wasn't sure where I wanted to put the dividing line between the end of this chapter and the next, and it all came down to whether I wanted to end on a negative note or a positive one. I felt like the story maybe needed a bit of happiness somewhere, since Mordivai had been through a lot so far! I also spent a lot of time thinking about how he should kill Shastine. I wanted something that reflected his conflicted feelings towards becoming Sith and his confusion about who he is now. I decided to try and play around with the trope of the enemy who just keeps coming back after the hero's back is turned. I think that trope exists to give the hero an "out," to allow him to kill the bad guy without sullying himself by killing in cold blood when the enemy is down. That way, it becomes an act of self defense. But what happens when the hero is wrong and the enemy wasn't about to attack him after all? Now, Shastine's death isn't about her anymore, it's about Mordivai and his inexperience, coupled with his paranoia after the trauma of Korriban. That was my goal anyway. Thanks for reading!