Note: Bit of an update. Specialists have found I have a 70% balance issue in my left ear. It takes 30% for a person to become noticably dizzy. A normal range is 0-15%. So I have an MRI scheduled in about a week to have a look at my skull. I also will have PT scheduled soon because, turns out, there are muscles around the inner ear that require very specialized exercise. And they believe those muscles in my inner-left-ear are not strong enough. So I am in a near-permanent state of vertigo until then. Thankfully I am on maximum drugs so I don't notice anything until the drugs weaken.

Episode 8 - Starmender part 1

-10 months later-

-Varus Wynn / Starkiller-

In the dark rafters of the Sith library, I flip through pages quickly. I don't bother reading them fully, I just glance at a few words in each paragraph. Annoyed, I drop the book down onto an ever growing pile beneath me. Not very stealthy to have a pile of books directly beneath me, but I am too pissed to care. If a Sith gives me crap for making the library dirty, I'll take his head and shove it up someone elses ass. Ill probably get away with it too. The Sith are catching on that not all Dark Side users are on the same side, but my name or face isn't on any wanted posters yet. So I'm guessing its all good.

I flip another page and scan the scribbles against the moon light.

It has been an interesting ten months. The Sith were momentarily in a panic because… the endless rain of the capital ended. I am all for seeing the humor in them panicking over a lack of rain, but when the Eternal Hand is screaming doom and gloom and suicide rates are skyrocketing, its something to take seriously. Whether for good or ill, Gemaal quickly took control and brought stability to the Empire after shutting up the Priors. Any Prior that preached something he didn't want was immediately killed. That quickly shut them up. People stopped offing themselves, which I can appreciate. Unfortunately he has united the Sith forces and Infinite forces from hiding and have been exchanging blows with the galactic invasion force. Ten months… ten months of going back and forth.

One would think a victor would have appeared by now. The Imperial news is constantly bouncing between 'the end is nigh' and 'decisive victory' as the mood hits them, but Scourge is no dummy. Revan, or the Revan we once heard of as a hero, is dead. The Revan we hear about leading the galactic invasion against the Empire is a puppet of Emperor Valkorian. At the same time, Gemaal was placed as the head by the same Emperor. The two are fighting and using tactics and trading victories, and to an ignorant observer it may easily look like two heavy-weight boxers trading blows round after round after round to see who will break first, but to one who can see the big picture… it's a stalemate on purpose. Revan and Gemaal are keeping up appearances on a galactic stage of war. They have been boxing for ten long rounds, ten long months, just to buy time.

The big question is, towards what?

I know the answer is galactic doom. Scourge told me so… but it was supposed to take days before Valkorian would make his final move. Not months. Not nearly a full year! This war has been ongoing for a long while, much longer than it should have been. What is Valkorian waiting for?

Even Scourge has been freaked out. He expected some kind of response, some backlash from Valkorian after taking his prized sword and key to ascension. Yet… nothing.

Nothing.

Valkorian hasn't made a single appearance. Not like he has been killed, but the news has been amazingly empty of him. Its like he disappeared. The few times news brought him up, even in a passing statement, Gemaal had the man or woman fired, and at times killed. Even by Imperial standards Gemaal has been incredibly tightfisted about the control of information and thoughts and ideas. Everything is propoganda. Everything in the media is funneled through a control. The Empire, so far as I understand it, has always been strict. But Gemaal has taken it to a dictatorship.

Why? What's he trying to hide?

With that in mind, our objective, as part of the Sith rebellion, has been to focus on sabataging him. I can't begin to say how many targets I have taken out, how many majors or officers or admirals or just plain ol' Sith Lords. I haven't bothered counting. Could be ten, could be twenty-five. It hasn't been my focus. My focus, when I am not on a mission hunting down a target assigned by Scourge, has been research.

Valkorian isn't the only one to have disappeared. Ten months ago, just after the invasions first great loss, Anakin Skywalker and Darth Nihilus disappeared. One would give up hope. Perhaps I should have long ago… but even though I cannot sense either one of them anymore in the Force, nor have I sensed their loss. The Force is vast, but there are beings great enough to warrant a ripple. We all sensed the loss of a great being I believe was Skywalker's father. His death sent out a great ripple that startled even the Sith around me who hadn't known him.

So where is Tree-Huggers's ripple? Where is Nihilus' great wound to be left in the Force?

I don't know how. I don't know in what state. I don't know where, but they are alive. At first it was just amusing that we hadn't heard of Tree-Hugger breaking out of any prison, but after the first month, it was no longer funny. Now its just depressing. I dare not bring him up anymore around Ahsoka.

Ahsoka… The book strains in my clenched fingers.

She was supposed to have given birth by now. Force knows she is big enough to pop like a balloon! Is there something wrong?! Is it just genetics of her species!? Is the kid a late-bloomer? Is the kid stubborn? Or is there something wrong… something dangerously wrong. Sith are not exactly known for their bed-space manners so I told Cahjinawl to take a break from training and joining me on research and missions to babysit Ahsoka. I can barely think straight anymore. I can't be there! I'm death! But I also cannot not be there! I can't just do nothing! But I have to do nothing! I have to! Lives in dependant on it! Lives are dependant on something being done as much as not!

Infuriated, I howl and throw the book against the wall. It bangs loudly in the darkness. "Damnit all!"

Having had a brief moment to release my anger, I sigh and lean back.

I want to be there. I want to be by her side. I want to be proactive, I want to take action, I want to take control and ensure this one lives. So far it has been a pure stroke of luck my sheer existance hasn't commited infantcide yet. I cannot push my luck… It doesn't matter what I want. What matters is what they need. And they need me to be distant.

Ahsoka hasn't said as much, but I can see it in her eyes. She is alone. So am I. Sure, we miss each other, but we are determined to endure. We have a goal. But as much as the relationship has been between us… in some distant way there has always been a third. Tree-Hugger practically raised us, was the father neither of us had, taught us how to make our marriage work despite how closely and how many times we thought it wasn't worth the pain. In a way it has always been Tree-Hugger that has kept us together. Not because marriage isn't binding, but he has been the negotiator, the middle-man, the one who took no sides and kept us both focused. Not just in terms of each other, but everything. Every step of life since I met him, Tree-Hugger has helped set my course. When I was without memory, he took me in. When I was torn between memories, he kept me on my feet remembering myself. When I chose to submit to justice, he walked me to the gates. When I was free and drifting, and at my lowest point having seen my likeness kill a woman I loved yet never met, he took control so Ahsoka and he could save me and again remind me who I am. When I was without a home, he gave me his.

His absence is palpable.

"I wish Tree-Hugger was here…" I mutter.

I pick up another book to glance through, but I find I can't. My eyes are too tired. I am emotionally, mentally, and physically tired. These are stressful days. Sighing, I drop the book down in the pile, and leave the library through the window. It takes several hours, but I make my way back to the hide out. Scourge has a number of safe places, and his rebellion is growing. I think his main base now is on some asteroid somewhere.

I enter the forest and come across a set of tents. In the distance is an abandoned tower. The guards nod as I approach, and Falcon leaves his tent.

"Anything?" He asks.

"Don't you already know the answer?" I snap as I walk by. Bastard has his head in so many timezones he knows everything, seemingly.

"Yes, but it would be best if you say it." He follows patiently.

"Okay, fine! I found nothing! Nothing I haven't already tried! Sith theory thinks that the only way to kill a spirit is by killing the host… well guess what! I have! Dozens of times. My first kill was his host!"

"And you haven't found anything else? Nothing we can use on Nihilus?"

I sigh, "No, I… there is theory on affecting a spirit through semi-physical means as if the spirit is made up of a liquid-gas. Makes sense, as Nihilus can hold things. Can't hold it if you don't have a body of some kind, some kind of physical mass. Yet all I have found falls short because… shall I repeat it?"

"You have already done it?"

"Yes! Everything that every book on Force-spirits suggests, I have already tried! Using Force-dampeners? Gives him a headache. Lightning? Annoys him because he doesn't like being the color pink. Kill the host? Annoys him because he wasn't finished eating it yet. Stabbing him? All you'll get out of stabbing him with a lightsaber, or even a Force-attuned blade, is a sad sigh, a shake of the head, and a 'why do you bother?' attitude. The only thing he feels threatened by are the crystals the Eternal Hand made up to trap him in, and black-holes."

"Both fall short of what we want." Falcon says, annoyed himself. "He broke out of the crystal with ease when he decided the time was right, and black-holes would only amount to being like swimming through thick-sludge for him. Sorry, Varus. I'd help, but you know…"

He can't read.

"Don't worry about it." I reply. I wave it off. "I'm going to continue looking."

"Have you tried a holocron?"

I laugh darkly. He has brought it up once before. Probably thinks I've changed my mind. "Does my head look like a hotel to you!? Oh, hell no! My mind is already split between three memories. Starkiller, Varus, and Revan. We don't need to be adding anymore."

"Oh, well. Just a thought. Taking the old convential way doesn't seem to be working. There has to be a way to download just mass information to your head in relation to this subject, not the memories of a whole life."

"Yeah, there is a way to do that." I turn and pull out a notepad. "Look, it even has pages and shit." I smack him on the top of the head with the notepad. "There we go. Downloaded."

"Not how it works…"

I change the subject. "How is the comms going? Anything on the news?"

Falcon shudders.

With his little gift to be in multiple times, at the same time -ha, puns- then Falcon has taken on the role of listening to every single channel on Sith television, on every public radio channel, and every comm every day. It has kept him up to date on everything from sports, to cooking, to who is dating who in some fantasy harem drama dreamed up by a guy with too much money and too much to compensate for, and all those little deals of buying a cheap spoon for 'no less' than the incredibly low low price of fifty installments of $19.99 and your soul. So call now!

That's at least how he described it when it was too much for him to take. Never met a man be reduced to a sobbing drunk after forcing himself to watch the same sale pitch over and over for twenty-four hours straight. Knowing him, that shit is going to follow him into his nightmares. He's going to wake up one day with PTSD, not from blood, but because he can still hear the sale pitch of a guy buying your shit to sell it back to you at double the price. Can't wait for him to force himself to watch the full twenty-four hour marathon of Sith Army Surgical Hospital and hear the same theme song forty-eight times. Ninety-six if the song is also in the ending credits. Don't look at me like that, I can do math!

Have I mentioned he figured out the language? In like… a day? Freaking bastard with his tricks. If he could actually see properly he would be so much more useful at the library. He could probably read every book at the same time and be able to tell me if there is anything relevant in fifteen minutes.

"So I take it… you found nothing?" I say slowly.

"Nothing unless you want to know twenty-seven ways to lessen body fat and then eat all the cake you want or how many nines are in the price of a hovercar!" Falcon shudders. "Damnit! Now I'm hungry and craving…" He whispers sadly, "but Ahsoka is hogging all the good stuff."

"You're the one torturing yourself with watching every channel… And you know she is eating for two."

"Its for a good cause…" Falcon says.

Then again. "It-Its for a good cause…"

And now its getting old. "I-I-It's for a good cause…"

"Sounds like you are trying to tell yourself that, not me."

"Uh-huh." Falcon mutters mindlessly. Barely a moment later he is humming some jingle he no-doubt got stuck in his head from listening to the radio.

I look at him in concern. "Man, you need a vacation. Or a change in subject." We enter the lower level of the tower. I don't know where Falcon wants to go, but I know what I need. I need what every man needs besides a woman and toilet. A kitchen. One thing I'm teaching Squirt is that the key to a man's heart is in the stomach. If Tree-Hugger and pop-tarts is anything to go by, Cyborg-Hugger figured that out long ago. "You know what I'm craving?"

"A taco?"

"Damn right!" I yell. "But these Sith are uncivilized! I mean look at this! They don't even cook the meat half the time." We walk up to the machine by the grill and look at whats on the menu.

"They have more than meat, you know."

"How would you know? You can't see the menu." I tease him. I take a moment to describe what is on the screen, and with my aid, we get him sorted. "One thing I never would have thought, as a foreign Sith, is that the diet of the true Sith is actually surprisingly healthy. They like their meat more rare than I would like, but it doesn't have blood-broth pouring from the plate, worms peaking out of every orifice… Sith have a great many fruits and vegetables. Its good. Efficient. Ridiculously so! Where's the sugar, sweets, fattening garbage?!" I flip through the menu increasingly quick, aggravated. "Its not here! A man needs snacks! You know how long its been since I had a cheesy cracker? A chocolate wafer? Ramen!?"

"Ramen? That is cheap stuff for people who can barely make it financally."

"You know what I mean." I rebuttle him. "I'll settle for a... a..." Oh this is hard to say, but its not like there is much else. "A sa-lad."

Falcon clicks his tongue and pats my shoulder with sympathy. "That sounded painful."

"It was."

We grab our food, sit down, and eat. My first desire is to check on Ahsoka, but my professionalism demands I check in on Scourge first.

"Is Scourge back from his mission yet?" I ask. Scourge had left a few weeks back for some top-secret mission I was left out of the loop for. Took with him a sizable chunk of his forces.

"Yes, he arrived a few days ago looking beat up..." Falcon slows down his eating and his composure falls. "Not many returned with him."

"Shit..." I sigh. I put a hand to my forehead and rub my temples. It has been good with Valkorian silent, but its still a struggle each day.

"Yep. He isn't happy. You coming back with no progress on how to kill Nihilus is just icing on the cake. Although, perhaps its not all bad. Nihilus hasn't shown his face the last year, perhaps-"

His words aggravate me. I smash my fist down. A wave of Force energy pulses out, shoving chairs away from me.

"He is out there." I cut him off darkly.

How dare he imply otherwise! He came here to help me. To participate in my quest to finish the Sith Lord. He better not be getting other thoughts. I like him, but I will leave him behind and not look back if he gets cold feet or gets in my way.

Falcon nods quickly. "You're right."

I glare at him a moment. It seems he mispoke. Falcon has always been the kind to over think things. I add gruffly, "Don't overthink it. Nihilus is alive. We can't afford to believe otherwise. When his head pops back up again, we need to be ready to cut it off. The greatest times Nihilus has always been a danger is when he convinces the galaxy he isn't."

I lean back. Falcon says nothing. The tension in the air is thick and angry. I'll get over it, but I need a moment to calm down and focus. I'm aggravated, naye, pissed off that I haven't been able to find a way to kill a Force entity that I haven't already tried.

-Scourge-

Having been checked out, again, by the doctor, he made his way to his conference room. He had requested Starkiller and Ahsoka to meet him there.

He wasn't looking forward to what he had to tell them, but it would only hurt for the moment. Better to rip the wound open and pour medigel into it than let it fester.

Scourge entered his conference room and... stopped.

Sitting in his chair, at his desk, with her feet up, was the annoying smaller alien and niece to the equally annoying family. Cahjinawl.

Cahjinawl picked up a pistol and aimed it at his head.

Or rather, his lesser head. The head of his look-alike on his desk in the shape of a small statue.

"Don't move or mini-Squid-Face gets it." She threatened.

Sitting in a proper chair was Ahsoka, looking justifiably emberassed by the teenagers behavior.

"Where did you get a bobble-head?" Scourge asked, bewildered. "And of me?"

"THAT'S what comes to mind?" Ahsoka asks.

Scourge used the Force to rip the pistol out of the alien's hands. He caught it in his hand... and crushed it between his fingers. "Get up." He hissed.

The teenager smiled innocently, jumped up, and stood behind Ahsoka. Scourge eyed her the entire time, and after content she would behave, for the moment, he took up his chair and sat down.

The bobble head bobbed and looked at him with those creepy eyes, drawing his annoyance. Scourge turned the thing around.

"How is your condition coming?" Scourge inquired politely.

"It is going well." Ahsoka smiled. The obvious elephant in the room was the massive bulge taking up half of her body, the deep shadows under her eyes, and the look of constant discomfort on her face. Normally he wouldn't allow a pregnant woman in his rebellion, but he felt honor-bound to make sure she was protected. She had been his honored guest the last year.

It had also been an... interesting arrangement. "Interesting" in this case meaning that if he had to do it again he would kill someone. If all pregnant woman were so demanding, crazy, and emotionally volatile from one moment to the next, it was no wonder Valkorian directed their culture to keep the two genders seperate. Any man that would put up with such were either crazy or incredibly brave.

Ahsoka Wynn helped him with management of his rebellion, and took no field work, resigning herself to spending practically every moment either sitting or laying. Turns out, ontop of her being hormonal, it also made her bored. Not a good combination. She yearned to go out and do something, a thing he respected as she was a regular participant in past wars, but also seemed to make her feel trapped.

"I am getting impatient." Ahsoka admitted. "I haven't been so lazy in my life. I don't have the energy to even do light exercise... I feel its soon, but this one seems intent on being late."

"She and I have the worst case of cabin-fever EVER!" The teenager added.

"Well, the sooner you release the parasite, the sooner you can get your life back."

"Its not that bad." Ahsoka frowned. "If I were to go back, knowing what its been like, and choose. I'd still choose this."

"That makes one of us." Scourge shrugged.

"I actually wanted to tell you something." Ahsoka took a moment to sit up straighter. Cahjinawl helped her get comfortable. Ahsoka sighed, it looked very uncomfortable having a bowling ball hanging from her gut. "There is a law shared by the galactic nations I thought you should know. I don't know if you have the same."

"Oh? What law would this be?"

"That any child born on soil held by a soveriegn nation, regardless of parentage or nationality of his or her parents, is recognized as a citizen of that nation."

Scourge leaned back, put his fingers together, and tapped them. He pondered this. "There is something similar in my people, but not the same. The empires have never recognized any nation outside of our borders, but any child born to either Empire may apply to be a part of both. It is a special program, but it works because that child is considered a 'child of Valkorian' in a sense. And Valkorian rules over all."

"The Eternal Hand?"

Scourge shrugged. "Not so... organized or focused. But yes. Apprentices to the lowest ranks of the Eternal Hand."

"What I am describing is different. Nothing more than citizenship."

"You are implying that because you are giving birth to a child on Sith soil, that the child is a Sith child?"

"If your laws allow it, yes. The child would also be a citizen of the Republic, as I am."

"I don't know." Scourge shrugged. "It is an interesting idea to bring up. I am sure once Valkorian is removed, and the Sith join the larger galaxy, that the matter can be brought up formally. However, for the moment, I wouldn't hope for it. The Sith hold to a caste system, and many races are kept in the slave caste." Scourge looked at her seriously. "And your species looks enough like a Twi-lek to be one."

Ahsoka gulped. "Doesn't sound like it would work out."

"No. If that child winds up looking like you, I doubt the Sith will accept... it. Speaking of which, do you know if it is a male or female yet? Shouldn't you know a long time ago?"

"I had the option." Ahsoka nodded. "...and I opted to be kept ignorant."

"Why?" Scourge raised an eyebrow. That made no sense.

"It... hurts." Ahsoka admitted. "Hoping. I don't know whether to hope or not. As much as I want to be attached, I dread the prospect each day of this one... failing."

"You mean dying."

Ahsoka nodded. Scourge sighed. "Coward."

"Have a dozen children die in your body and see how afraid you are of more..." Ahsoka hissed quietly.

Scourge raised an eyebrow. She glared at him. Clearly he hit a button. He also didn't care. "I have killed many, and watched many die. Friends. Family. Respected peers. You are not talking to a bleeding-heart or soft wet-nurse slave. You are talking to a Sith Lord. You have people around you for sympathy. I am not among them."

Ahsoka sighed. She rubbed her head. Moments like this made her thankful her husband was a good man. "Regardless, I have decided I will know when the mecha-nurse declares it." She snapped her red-eyes at him. "And if you care so little, why did you ask?"

"Politeness. Curiosity. Paying off my debt to the fullest, without shortcuts. Respecting the fact that you are my honored guest. Being a host demands I take at least a little interest in you and your well-being, which, if you may recall, I have been treating you exceptionally well."

Ahsoka nodded. "You're right… I'm sorry. You have been an exceptional host worthy of your status as Lord. Hormones are a bitch."

"Your eyes are about as red as-" Scourge's words were cut off by heavy beating on the door. It wasn't just any beating, but a rhythmic beating to some tune… the same one used every time by the second-most annoying person Scourge ever knew.

Ahsoka smiled brightly, knowing whose presence it was, and darkly enjoying the twitch in Scourge's eye. Scourge groaned. "Enter!"

The door flew open, Varus entered in, picked up the chair from beside Ahsoka, placed it against the wall opposite of her, and leaned back in it. He smiled when he saw the girls. "So, how are my three favorite people?"

"Wanting to get this *all* over with," Ahsoka groaned. "Kid doesn't want to wake up and go. Probably gets that from you."

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Varus denied, knowingly.

"Uh-huh."

"I'm good, Uncle Varus." Cahjinawl said from where she stood.

"Really? I'd think you'd be bored outta your mind."

Cahjinawl shrugged, but smiled all the same. "Sure, some days are boring, but Aunt 'Soka keeps me busy."

"I'm sorry, honey." Ahsoka said. "I wish I could do those things, but-"

Varus pointed at them, "No no, no apologizing for that. You ain't liftin' a finger while Squirt on the job."

Scourge looked between them, at once both annoyed by them wasting his time with this mini-reunion and amused as it was a scene out of an alien world to him. Eventually his annoyance won out. "If you two will stop, I called you both here for a reason."

"Fine, fine." Varus grumbled.

"First of all, how has your investigation been going, foreign Sith?"

"Well, octo-face, it has come up with a resounding," Varus put up his fingers in shape of an 'O'. "Nothing. Nadda. Zilch. Zip."

"I don't understand most of those words, but it is unfortunate," Scourge nodded.

Ahsoka frowned. "Love, are you sure? I know you. Surely you came across something. You are the expert in fighting Force-presences."

"I wish." Varus groaned. He leaned his head back and looked up, reflecting. "The Sith archives and books barely touch on it. The best theory I can find is to kill the host or overwhelm the force-presence with another force-presence like some kind of… water-mixture-fight oversaturation thing. Beyond that, the Sith have it all at theory. It has never been tested."

"You said Valkorian uses spirits as well don't he?" Cahjinawl asked.

"You know how many people have fought him… and lived to tell about it?" Scourge counter-asked. He looked to Varus. "If that is what you have found, then try it."

"I. Have." Varus stressed. "My… My first kill was his host. I have overwhelmed him in lightning and he stands there not feeling a thing."

"So, what will you do?" Ahsoka asked.

"I don't know," Varus sighed. "The only recompense is that I haven't heard anything of him since we parted ways, but it is only a matter of time."

"Time we do not have. We do not have the strength to fight Gemaal, Nihilus, and Valkorian… not anymore." Scourge said.

They all looked down. No one needed to say anything. They all knew from the beaten demeaner around the base that they had lost.

"If only I had been there…" Varus whispered.

"You were off dealing with another target. You would have done no good." Scourge sighed.

Ahsoka gulped, seeing his downward demeaner falling so far. She knew it was a struggle for him. He was a strong, powerful Sith. But he had been a puppet on a string so long and now had to find his way and walk without strings holding him up anymore. He was betting everything he had, everything he knew, on defeating the one he knew intimately to be the greatest threat. In a way, she recognized Scourge as wise, for it was no man Scourge was fighting, but a power beyond a man, an ideology. Scourge was fighting against the very hatred that chained the Sith and the one who held those chains firmly in his hands.

"This is what I wanted to talk to you two about," Scourge started. "I have not revealed it to the army, but we made it. It wasn't a total loss. We made it to Gemaal. While he was overlooking a battle from his bridge… we slew his bridge crew, his guards, and I faced him."

"You did?" Ahsoka gasped. She shared a concerned look with Varus. "Then-then why tell everyone it was a-?"

"Because he was powerful!" Scourge hissed. He remembered it well. It was a fresh memory, seeing the black skull-mask, feeling the heavy weight of Gemaal's power, hearing the infinete depth of silence around and within that… man. "More powerful than I could have imagined. He was… his strength was inhuman. His mind was powerful, the greatest of illusions did not faze him. The Force flowed through him and around him like a lover, and yet when I looked into him… that I truly understood. In him I saw the darkest depth. A cage, a personal hell, a soul where no light, no spark, no life, existed. As I looked deeply into him… I saw no hope. I saw a ghoul of the strongest breed. No mere half-ghoul, or full-ghoul could be so strong. This is a champion among them, with the full weight and breadth of Valkorian behind him."

"A ghoul?" Ahsoka breathed. "This means… if Revan helps lead the invasion fleet, while Gemaal leads the defense, then Valkorian directly controls both sides."

"We already knew he did."

"Yes, but not to this degree! At least Palpatine was bold enough to control both sides of the Clone Wars without puppets."

"We need Tree-Hugger." Varus said, firmly.

Scourge looked at him in confusion. Ashoka clarified how it was a nickname for Skywalker. Scourge nodded. "I agree… we need the Jedi Master if we can make this work now. We have to take Valkorian's control away from this war to have a chance, and that is what makes this loss so devastating. As I fought him, while Gemaal was busy killing all of us ruthlessly, I managed to accomplish everything we set out to do. In a sense, the mission was a success. We reached him, and I stabbed him. I took the sword of Valkorian and made an example for all the Sith to recognize as I pierced the god-emperor's champion with that holy blade."

"Whoa! Hold up! Time out!" Varus put his hands together in a 'T'. "I thought it was a failure!"

Scourge was silent a moment. "I stabbed him, it is true, but the true defeat came the moment I pierced him; because as I looked into his mask, proudly holding a long blade of ancient Sith magics piercing him through, I did not see his defeat. No. I saw his victory. The blade did nothing to him. It is a weapon that could kill even ghouls, as I thought he might be (for there was little other reason to explain his sudden appearance), and it did nothing. It did not kill him. It did not consume him. It did not break the hold Valkorian had over him. Stunned, I hesitated, and he took my own blade from me and used it to finish off the rest of us, save for the smallest few who could flee."

Scourge continued, "Following the defeat, I looked into him. Gemaal. Not spiritually, no, but into his records. No ghoul so powerful could have appeared out of nothing, and after seeing his power, how a blade designed to consume all life as wound in the Force did nothing to faze him… and the timing of his coming, I had my suspicion. So I looked. And this is what I found."

Scourge turned on a holographic projector before them. At first they did not recognize what they saw, but before long their eyes widened and they lost their breath. The projector showed a man on a metal slab being worked on by droids, a man they both recognized and loved.

"No…" Ahsoka whispered, tears filling her eyes. Varus was stunned beyond words. Cahjinawl turned away as soon as she saw how bloody the man was, and after hearing his screams fled the room to vomit.

The record ended with Lord Gemaal standing before them. Scourge turned it off and placed it in his pocket again. He did not say anything. Mercy was short-coming from him, but this would be perhaps one of the rarest of times he recognized there was a moment for it. It would not profit him, or anyone, to say anything.

Varus put his head in his hands and let out a shaky breath as he struggled not to break down.

Ahsoka wasn't so emotionally stable. She fell from the chair onto her knees, leaned her head against the frame of the desk, and sobbed. Her crying grew into screams. Her screams turned to begging, begging anyone that this wasn't real. And no one could answer her.

"Hope is lost." Varus whispered. His shoulders shook and he choked. "Wi-without Tree-Hugger… what can we do? This was all to… to buy time. To find him. To rescue him! To-"

Ahsoka fell to the ground on her side and went into a fit that looked like a cross between weeping and having a seizure.

Varus jumped up. "Ahsoka!?" He took a step towards her, stopped himself, and yelled. "SQUIRT!" Nothing. "SQUIRT, GET THE FRAK IN HERE!"

Cahjinawl ran in, saw Ahsoka, and fell beside her. "Aunty?! You okay? You-" She pulled a hand up. There was blood on it. She shared a look of horror with Varus.

"I take it that's bad." Scourge wondered, deadpan.

Cahjinawl ran out of the room yelling her aunt was hurt, and came back. Within minutes some men came and helped get her out to the medical ward.

Varus watched helplessly the whole time. He hissed, ran his fingers through his hair furiously, and cursed. "Damnit. Damnit damnit damnit! Blood?! Of course, there's blood! As if losing Tree-Hugger was bad enough, now Ahsoka is going to- to lose…" Varus choked. He couldn't breathe. "To…" he put a hand on the wall and leaned against it, struggling merely to hold himself up.

Scourge clicked his tongue. His eyes moved between the open door and the man struggling not to pass out from a panic attack. "What just happened?"

"MY WIFE IS EITHER HAVING A MISCARRIAGE FROM THAT FALL OR GOING INTO LABOUR INDUCED BY THE TRAUMA OF WHAT YOU JUST SHOWED HER!" Varus yelled. "AND I DON'T KNOW WHICH TO BELIEVE!"

Varus stood in silence for a moment huffing and puffing. His muscles bulged with each breath, as if it took visible effort just to do so. His eyes bounced around the room in a panic, and with barely a word he stumbled his way out the door muttering to himself.

Scourge sighed. They were a troublesome bunch. Thankfully they had proven to be worth the trouble. Varus' skills were the best he'd seen, and the woman's ability to help him lead from the background was valuable in rebuilding his rebellion from scratch. He wished the best for them.

Scourge's eyes landed on his terminal. He sighed again, and tapped a key. "Notify the blind Mandalorian Jedi to find the foreign Sith. Ahsoka Tano has suffered an attack of some sort."

"Yes, my lord." His aide replied.

There, that's taken care of. But what to do about Gemaal? He had lost the sword in the battle. It was the key to shaking the Empire. Now he would need to start from scratch… again. Now if only they had time.

Just where in the Force was Valkorian?

-Falon Grey-

Falon ran into the tower as soon as he got the call. With a brief look into the Force, he tracked down Varus and made his way to him as quick as his feet could let him, bumping into people along the way.

What he found was a shadow of the man he knew. Varus stumbled his way down a flight of stairs mumbling to himself. Falon ran up to him, stopped him, and said, "Varus! Where's Ahsoka?"

"'Shoka…" Varus's head turned one way then another, then snapped up and sharply looked at him. "I-I don't know."

"We need to find her then."

"No, I… I can't! I can't go near her."

"I know but we have to. If she is hurt, you need to be there!"

"What If I… what if I kill another one? I can't." Varus shook his head.

Falon gulped. The way his friend's jaw clenched and jowels shook startled him. Varus was in torment, and it was no wonder. His wife was hurt, and Varus could not be there even if he wanted to be.

"Varus, I get it. But you need to at least be there… be close enough she can know you are there for her. Even if its just in another room."

"No, you don't get it. But then it don't matter anymore." Varus said sadly.

"Wha-what? What do you mean?"

"Its dead…" Varus mumbled. "Ahsoka fell. There was blood… its dead… her hope. My hope… all of our hope… There is no more hope. Not for any of us." Varus choked and stumbled. Falon had to grab him to hold him up as the man collapsed into tears. "Not for any of us… they're all dead. They're…"

Falon gulped. To see his friend in the process of breaking, for once he prefered his friend when he was falling back on his Starkiller persona. Despite the cold-lethality of Starkiller, Starkiller was strong. Varus was kind, caring, but fragile. "Varus." Falon whispered. "I… I am so sorry. But you don't know that for certain. You need to hope."

"Hope?" Varus chuckled madly. "What hope?! Tree-Hugger is dead! The war is over! Valkorian's won! Every child I have ever had with Ahsoka is dead! Now Ahsoka and this one, the one that has made it the furthest, is… Nihilus won."

Despite his words, Varus allowed Falon to lead him along. Falon had to almost carry the larger man as Varus stumbled like a drunkard. Falon let him talk. Frankly, he stopped paying attention. Not that he didn't care, but he needed to focus without the man whispering doom in his ear. Falon looked into the Force, found the emergency hospital ward in the castle, and marched/dragged Varus towards it. As soon as they arrived he dropped Varus on a seat. Varus fell silent, seemingly lost the energy to even talk.

At least until they heard screams. They heard Ahsoka scream, and Varus tensed and all of the seats around them crunched violently. They heard a scream a little while later, and the lights blew. A little while later, and the wall behind Varus bent violently. Ripples of lightning poured from his skin.

"Varus…" Falon whispered.

"She's dieing…" Varus replied. "I can… feel her life fluctuating. Its weak. Too weak."

"The doctors are doing what they can."

Varus didn't respond. He didn't have to. Falon didn't have to have sight to see how the man had lost hope.

The screaming stopped, and it was like a bucket of cold water poured over them. Falon felt like he was in a dream. The seconds ticked by. Varus' niece walked out, tears pouring down her face. The doctor-droid rolled out, covered in blood. Varus didn't look up as they approached.

"Uncle," Cahjinawl started.

"Give it to me straight." Varus let out a shaky breath. "Its dead… isn't it?"

"Its… a girl."

Falon felt his heart skip a beat. Falon looked up at the girl and saw amidst the tears she was smiling. Varus didn't react. A second passed. Another.

Varus bolted across the room and ran face first into the door, only to fall back on his butt. (The door was a pull, not push.) Needing to get in there NOW, Varus ripped it out of the door frame with the Force and sent it flying back so hard it impaled itself into the wall by Falon. "'SOKA!"

He stopped when he saw her. Them. As one might expect, Ahsoka was barely conscious, having lost blood and gone through an emergency birth. What laid in a little raised bed next to her was the ugliest potato he had ever seen.

-Ahsoka-

"Hey…" Ahsoka whispered. "Don't yell… I've done enough, for both of us."

He walked slowly up to them, inch by inch, still unsure if his presence was dangerous.

"Its okay… she made it this far. I don't think…" Ahsoka stopped to cough. "Ow."

"Then I won't stay long." Varus decided. "When she is stronger, when you are stronger, then…" Then he can be nearby for more than a moment.

Ahsoka watched as her husband crept up to them and looked down at the baby. "That is the ugliest potato I've ever seen. I can't believe you have had her in you for so long."

"Neither can I. She didn't want to get out. My race takes seven months normally, not ten. I blame you."

"I can live with that."

Varus fidgeted with his hands. He was still wearing his gloves. Ahsoka guessed where his mind was. Knowing him, he felt unworthy. His hands were stained in blood over a life-time. She wouldn't put it past him to not want to contimate them with his sins. Ahsoka whispered, "You can hold her…"

"No." He replied instantly.

"Varus…"

"Ahsoka." He gazed into her eyes. "I can't. I know myself."

"I don't think you would kill her. I just put her through worse than you touching her… and no matter how stained in blood your hands may be…"

"No, I… I can't." Varus replied. "If I do. I will run. I will take her, I will grab you, and I will run. I will find the nearest ship and fly us across the galaxy to the middle of knowhere. Like... Jakku. Screw the war. Screw Valkorian."

Ahsoka couldn't believe what she was hearing. She managed the strength to pick herself up a bit and look at him more seriously. "What about your revenge? Nihilus."

"Fuck him." Varus hissed. He clenched his fists. "Pardon my language, but he won't matter anymore. That's why I can't touch her, because I won't be able to resist, and I have to because... Nihilus will never let me go. I have to kill him. This isn't about revenge. This is about keeping him away from her. I can barely stop myself as it is. For the first time in my life… I have lived in the darkness. I have not believed there is a light waiting for me, and then you showed me a light at the end of the tunnel. Now I finally see myself looking at that very light and it is within reach. She's my… my…" Varus gulped. Ahsoka waited patiently, wanting him to say it for himself. "She's my little Starmender."

Ahsoka smiled. Starmender. For Starkiller to give a name as the opposite of his own spoke volumes. Unfortunately… "That's not a name, Love."

"Yeah well, it is to me." Varus sighed. He stumbled around the bed, away from the child, and collapsed in a seat next to Ahsoka. He took her hand and rubbed it, thinking to himself no doubt. "Force, Ahsoka... I thought you were dying. You're life has been so weak... even now you are the weakest I've ever known you. It scares me how close you came."

"Scared me too."

"Damn him... damn that bastard for showing you the video."

"For what its worth... I appreciate it. I prefer knowing... Seems putting me into shock was just the kick this brat needed to decide it was time." Ahsoka yawned. Her eyes fell shut of their own volition.

"How about Hope?" Ahsoka wondered. Varus raised his head again and looked at her, understanding the wish. Hope. Could they hope? Was there hope? Perhaps there wasn't, but in its own way, this was her wish. She wanted hope.

"Hope 'Starmender' Wynn, it is."

"We're not naming her Starmender!"