"Switch to hazard mode. Ease up on descent thrusters, but not too much. With that kind of rainfall ahead, we don't want to go from a slow fall into a sudden drop when we hit the low pressure zone."

Izan did all that had been instructed, feeling very grateful to have Maarani's expertise on hand to cover what the basic flight course hadn't. Most of the planet they had arrived at had cloud cover, and of course the one location that had a notable scan of a structure was beneath a stormy area. The first rainfall that hit the screen was soon vaporized by the heating coils that had been installed, leaving a faint veil of steam washing up over and underneath them while they descended through the cloud itself.

For once, the two Jedi had elected to remain in the common room for the descent, formulating their plan for the next few days while they waited out the renewed search for the Distant Star by all the others out to get Maarani. If her plan had indeed worked, they were not in any immediate danger of being followed, and a world that was off most star charts thanks to Republic classification meant they had a degree of safety from random searches.

With the prospect of basic lightsaber training, or exploring the ruins that had led to the classification in the first place, Maarani opted for the latter to the surprise of all four others.

"Alright, keep your eyes sharp. Won't be easy finding a good landing spot, ideally we want somewhere just far enough from the tree line to avoid getting crushed by one. Too open and the wind and mud will make for a bad landing."

At that level, the rain crashing down on the ship seemed to be a bit much for the heating coils, which she eventually switched off altogether to at least get some view through the watery mess ahead rather than dealing with a constant mix of steam obscuring her view.

"Hold on, maybe a kilometre and a half out from the site, I think. High ground, just enough of a slope to allow runoff to the floodplains. Decent tree cover with a good clearing."

Maarani glanced over at the scanner readout, then nodded in approval. "Good spotting Izan. Ready the landing struts at fifty metres, keep an eye on the correction thrusters."

Large sticks and other bramble began to strike and bounce around the ship as they approached the landing site. A few loose stones struck the screen ahead, causing Izan to jump a few times despite them causing no actual damage. To his relief, the barrage slowed considerably once they were below the tree line, leaving only the heavy drizzle left.

After a few tense moments, during which the weight of the ship settled into the mud by a notable amount, they finally came to a complete stop on solid ground beneath.

Both sighed in relief that they hadn't just decided to land on a sinkhole, Izan running a hand through his fiery hair while Maarani adjusted her lekku.

"It'll wash off if it's still raining when we leave. I think we're okay for the night. Just extend the scanner range some, I'll rig in the alarm if it picks up anything."

They were done within minutes, Izan leaving first while Maarani did a silent test of the alarm before following after.

She passed through the common room to reach the cargo ramp instead, nodding to the others on her way. The ramp itself she lowered over halfway down, leaving a good flat surface to lie on above the muddy grass just a metre below.

Soon she was laid out on her back, with her head hanging over the edge just enough to let her lekku dangle down into the cool air flowing under the ship.

Not long after, Dana carefully descended the ramp, choosing to lie down on her stomach instead beside her, staring out as far as the misty evening air and rain would allow her.

"Doing okay Teegs?"

Maarani glanced over at her at last, a better view than the underside of the ship at least. "Yeah, yeah I'm okay. This gonna be a therapy session after I killed a load of people?"

With a short breath, Dana did her best to shrug in that position. "Only if you feel you need to talk it out. A lot has happened, beyond just cutting your way through Hidden Hand thugs. Doesn't even have to be anything psych related, we can just talk about whatever if you want."

A huff of her own preceded Maarani's sudden idle fascination with a slightly off colour panel above her head. What else was there that she could talk about with Dana comfortably? Koor she didn't know as well, but still had the sense of being someone that was good at being a confidant. Things with Izan and Jayden had both settled well enough, and since she was out of the depression cycle for the time being at least there was less need to let loose on what she was feeling.

Then again, maybe it was exactly the time to let loose. After all, this time she could actually bring out the feelings that weren't related to self-destruction or sex. Mostly.

"Am I insane? I mean, clearly I didn't just sleepwalk from Visas' hideout to the ship through Hidden Hand guards around the place. The Lady of Balance clearly does exist and she's all mixed up with me. But, insane doesn't necessarily have to be seeing delusions, right? Could it really be as simple as thinking a married Sith woman in league with the White Terror is actually destined to be with me instead? Just giving that utterly stupid concept any kind of actual consideration as being true?"

Dana had to take her time making sense of that. At least with what Visas had told her, there was at least an assurance that the former Grand Master of the Jedi had a semblance of cohesive thought. Maarani on the other hand was possibly making just as much sense as it sounded like on the surface. Which was bare minimal.

"People overuse the word 'insane' a lot for starters, rather like calling everyone with any kind of violent mental disorder a psychopath as a catch-all term. I don't think Masaka is truly insane for example, falling that far into the dark side to lose touch with reality takes a lot longer than eight years, disregarding whatever that holocron did to her. And that's a little irrelevant anyway. So, no, I don't think you're insane, however crazy things might sound to you at this time. The fact that you're asking that about yourself is a pretty good indicator you're not anyway."

"Now I feel like we've had this kind of conversation before, and you've said the same things. Maybe Izan was right, and I'm going around in a mental circle."

"Maybe. But sometimes, we just need little reminders of where we're going, and why we do what we do. Nothing wrong with that."

Maarani traced around the off-colour panel with her eyes for a little while before looking away altogether at last. "To be honest, I'm not sure of either of those things anyway. If Yuthura can't help, then all the plans following that go to shambles, and we ruined years of isolation for nothing. Haven't really thought of a good Plan B."

"Healthy dose of optimism, Teegs."

"Oh yeah, if being optimistic means setting myself up for disappointment and a lack of direction if things don't work out… Hang on I'm not the psychologist here, why am I the one with rational conclusions?"

At that, Dana gave a small smile, awkwardly adjusting her position so she could reach her arm flat across to hold Maarani's arm. "Because you're really starting to think for yourself again. Being fully aware of your emotional state is going to become crucial when your empathic powers really wake back up. This is good progress Teegs, don't get caught up in worrying about your future because of it."

"Well, nice as that is, that doesn't really help the problem. I can't go back to the military now, and if I'm still gonna be a problem to other padawans without real control of the presence then I can't stay with the Jedi either. I know Jayden won't stick around after that, she'd have no reason to. Izan might for the hell of it, but you'd have to go back to Coruscant as well."

"Teegs, I'm staying with you, whatever happens. Whether or not Yuthura can help you restore the connection, whatever the Lady of Balance might have planned for you. I won't walk away." She released her arm at last, bringing it back to rest under her chin. "Remember all those months ago, back when we were first headed down to the undercity? I promised that I'd help find you a girlfriend. You're going to need help turning a Sith from the dark side, and I intend to keep that promise, so I'll do what I can for Azera. The other obstacles we deal with in time."

Maarani kept her lips tight. The subject had reminded her of other concerns, mostly the fallout with Seradan and Zariba that would have to catch up with them at some point. But those she pushed aside for the sake of what she hoped would be a lighter subject.

"Dana, I get that you've been rather secretive about your past, and telling me more about why that is did explain a lot don't get me wrong. I guess, we just talk so much about me, we never talk about your aspirations and all that. Surely you've got other plans aside from coming with me across the galaxy for the next few years."

How easy it would be for Dana to finally come clean then, confess all that had happened, and admit that she now only had one purpose in mind that had already been made clear. Finally freeing herself from the burden of carrying so many painful secrets.

It still didn't feel like the right time to pass that burden onto Maarani.

"Teegs…" With a small sigh, she pushed herself up off the ramp to instead sit cross legged beside her, hoping to feel more comfortable in that posture. "I really don't have anywhere else to go, anyone else to be with. Whoever that past life was, none of it matters. What does is that I care about you, and that won't ever change. You're not holding me back from going elsewhere believe me."

After a sigh of her own, Maarani sat up into a cross-legged position, though kept Dana to her left when doing so.

"Pretty big commitment, I mean compared to just sticking with it until we find Yuthura. Any particular reason we should discuss?"

Dana smiled. "Not everything is based on romantic interests, Teegs. I'll be honest, your father did help me through those early years when I thought I had woken up an amnesiac, but that's not why I'm staying. You've earned my respect and my concern on your own. I guess if you want to call it 'honouring tradition' among my kind, then that works."

"Honouring tradition? What's that got to do with this?"

"It's the closest way of describing it for me; I'm not sure how exactly Twi'lek form bonds. But for my kind, wherever they are now, you've become like family to me."

At that, Maarani broke into a chuckle that soon descended into laughter. "Okay, so now we're sisters or something? Because I have such a good history with my actual sister, this can only go great. And chances are Carmen will never speak to me after what I did to her people, especially since we only got to talk for a few days at most! Sisterhood is very much out of the picture!"

Rather than showing the mild discomfort at how Maarani seemed to be dismissing the concept, Dana did her best to smile and let her point settle.

"Sisters isn't what it felt like to me, I was just trying to express just how unconditional that care is. We've had fights, yelled at each other, but even then I'd never for a moment do anything to put my needs over yours."

For how cheesy Dana's admittance had sounded, the true intent behind it finally made Maarani stop and think. Somehow, she couldn't ever recall a time when another had made that kind of assurance to her, and it touched her deeply all the more for that fact.

She slowly twisted herself around, bringing her face to face with Dana, then abruptly leaned over to embrace her at last.

"I'm sorry for laughing. It was just a really, really corny way of putting it." When she pulled back from the embrace, her hands slid down Dana's arms until they rested in her own. "The Jedi won't have a problem with this? I mean, obviously I wouldn't be around if things hadn't been relaxed, but this goes beyond any padawan-master bond."

"Teegs, forget about whether or not the Jedi Council approves. They wanted you to return to Coruscant when news about the Mirial files broke, I refused on your behalf because I knew they'd push you too far. I want you to feel happy, to feel safe and secure, and that's what I want this bond to mean. I'm always looking out for your best interests, not what's politically convenient or what others are expecting of you. Don't worry about what others think."

"Oh, that's easy enough. Being a gay blue Twi'lek woman, you really have to learn to shut out scathing opinions in the Republic. That's four kinds of 'ism' right there, plus xenophobia if it's a human with the opinion. So I guess I can do the same with the Jedi if it comes to that."

"And you were 'shutting out scathing opinions' by calling Visas a racist bitch?"

Maarani's face went blank at that. "I didn't know it was Visas at the time. And I did apologize to her before I took a trip with the Lady of Balance. I'm starting to wonder if she has an actual name that isn't just a generic title."

"Another question to be asked when you get past those memory blocks."

With a nod that might have been out of defeat, Maarani sighed again and untangled her legs so that she could stand up at last. While sore from sitting that way for what felt like an hour, she was at least grateful for the further time spent talking and learning yet more about Dana.

"I guess so. If I wake up in however many hours with a cold sweat, I suppose that'll mean she told me after all. We still okay for exploring that ruin tomorrow?"

"I don't see why not, if you don't mind trudging the mud. I can explain more about what I learned from research on the way."


The night had come and gone without interruption. No alarms, no close calls with lightning strikes, and no sign of an end to the rain. Even when the day came, lighting the place in a bleak grey from what little filtered through the clouds, a drizzle still persisted.

Trudging down the slope from the Distant Star to the large dome that marked the site in question was nothing short of laborious. Part of survival training for Maarani involved camping out in conditions that were already worse, so she was hardly bothered by the excess of mud. Dana had the advantage of being able to use the Force to partially solidify the mud just before she stepped down, saving her from the worst of the sinkholes that she had to free Maarani from whenever her foot got stuck.

Where the ground began to level out, the mud became thinner, until giving way to a watery layer altogether that conveniently washed their boots clean, while also soaking them through more.

"Alright, now that I'm not in danger of drowning in mud…"

Dana glanced over while awkwardly removing a boot to attempt crossing the fresh marshland barefoot. It was still some distance to the entry halls of the structure itself, the dome looming beyond in its bleak white presence.

"Right, right. Well, the records talked about a brief archaeological and technological recovery expedition that was sent here nearly fifty years ago, before all the wars began breaking out. They found some sort of gravity-altering device, seemed to run on geothermal energy, nothing particularly noteworthy or useful there. At the time the galaxy didn't really know about the Rakata, but having had a chance to do a little cross-referencing, I don't think it actually was made by them."

"Oh good, yet another race of ancient builders to keep track of." After sighing, Maarani stopped to remove her boots as well, rolling up the ends of her pants to try and keep them from soaking more. "The Lady mentioned something about 'Kwa', as in they came before the Rakata. I don't recall ever hearing about them. All I apparently know is they could also use those portal things to move about."

"Kwa? Well, that's going really far back, we're talking pre-Republic. I've only read mentions of them, and their fall to the Infinite Empire, but I don't recall anything about being able to move about places instantly. If the Lady of Balance has been around long enough to know that though..."

"Very, very old then, I take it?"

"Twenty to thirty thousand years at the very least, and I only say that recent because of how little is known about the Kwa's fall. I don't know if there's any kind of record that describes anything beyond that time. She could very well hail from the origin of the Force itself. Whenever, wherever that was."

Maarani reached up to her head. "Wow, existential questions give me headaches apparently. Mind if we get back to the more relevant history lesson? A gravity-altering device sounds nifty."

They soon reached an elevated section of the land, thankfully much drier relative to the marsh they had crossed. The perfect slope and proximity to the building indicated it was a result of landscaping, but one that had somehow withstood the test of time very well. Both women kept their boots off however.

"Well, you have to remember Maarani, the Republic is not in a great state. Before the Beast Wars on Onderon, it had been over two hundred years since any kind of war had been waged, and it wasn't until Exar Kun that such a war affected the larger galaxy. Control over gravity sounds neat in itself, but it's not all that useful in the long term, especially since the records described it being limited to a large room and no further. And not to mention that geothermal energy is hardly anything remarkable given the far more powerful sources out there. Expeditions and deconstructive engineering cost money that the Republic simply wasn't willing to commit to a mundane outcome once war had flared up. It's the sad state of things."

The lengthy explanation rather fittingly took up the duration from the start of an overgrown stone path to the threshold of the entry hall leading to the dome. The path itself was cold from the constant water settling over it, but still very much a welcome reprieve from the squelching of soaked grass and mud.

"Four galactic wars in just a century, more on specific worlds. I guess looking at it like that it's amazing that the Republic has survived at all. Hell, I guess we should be grateful Darth Lasidia's greatest offensive was butchering my family and all those other Jedi."

Maarani glanced over at Dana when she practically sensed the impending rebuttal. "I'm not being sarcastic because I'm bitter. Much as I hate to admit this, I really am glad that it's been sporadic battles over these eight years. Getting to learn more about previous wars from Jayden kinda puts things into perspective."

"That doesn't mean this war is any less terrible than the others. Two between Jedi and Sith, one between the Republic and the Mandalorians, in pseudo-proxy for those parties. Many more may have died in each, but the longest was less than half of this one. Darth Lasidia and General Morgak aren't out for blood. They're out to wear the Republic, the Jedi, all our allies down. It's attrition, not extermination."

Under the cover of the threshold, Maarani finally stopped to sit down, cursing how thoroughly wet she was from the rain when her pants squelched, and eventually dropping her boots nearby.

"Why the sudden tangent? I've heard others speculate with similar conclusions, all I was saying was that we've got a better chance of surviving this one."

Dana didn't say anything more, merely tossing her boots aside and removing her robe to drape over a nearby arch in the architecture, her hair finally coming loose of her own brooch tie.

Both her silence and her sudden undressing confused Maarani. Until that moment, it seemed like she was quite driven to speak on, and it was hardly like her to be offended by anything said. And while her underwear was expectedly conservative, it did show enough scarred skin to confirm exactly what Visas had mentioned earlier back on Ketaris; that they were in fact self-inflicted.

She of course knew not to stare, at least after the uncomfortable experience of seeing Jayden with her hair down and having completely the wrong reaction teaching her to be mindful of herself. And yet, she was still able to notice that Dana seemed to be completely disinterested in speaking or even glancing at her more. Considering how close they had become just the night before, the sudden distance was only adding to the confusion.

After she felt herself beginning to not weigh so much through water absorption alone, she finally broke the silence to look up at Dana, her face now framed by streaks of matted hair that were finally allowed to drape around her shoulders.

"Did I offend you somehow?"

When they made eye contact at last, she immediately felt regret. There was no look of offence in her eyes, just plain confusion at the question.

"What? No, I was just distracted. As soon as we crossed into the threshold, I felt a strange presence. Something vaguely like a large concentration of that nullification resin. Blind and deaf to the Force. I was just trying to locate it."

"Oh good… That's really enlightening and puts me at ease." Maarani reached into one of the deep pockets to bring out her earpiece. Thankfully it had escaped the torrential rain. "Jayden, better keep watch outside the ship. Dana's sensing something that's null to the Force, something alive. I don't really know how that works but that's what I'm told."

"Alright, I'll find a sheltered location to look from, keep the line open."

"Will do."

She stuffed it back into that pocket before finally pulling her jacket off. While it was water resistant, quite a lot had gotten in under her neck and soaked any part of the lining that wasn't also protected. With high humidity and a surprisingly cool temperature, it was highly unlikely anything would dry out in the open.

"Geothermal energy you said? Meaning it'd still be running, and it'd also be warm in there, right?"

Dana half nodded, physically pausing to think about it for all of a few seconds before silently grabbing her robes and pulling them back on.

"I did say I was distracted Teegs. Though I'm starting to wonder if we should just hike back and wait for things to settle."

"Well if we did that, we'd both get frustrated that we literally walked up to the door of ancient technology and decided not to even take a peek inside. I think Jayden, Izan and Cecile can handle things."

"Fine. Lead the way then professor."

Maarani retrieved her boots while getting back up. "I can't. If you haven't noticed…" She gestured at the presumed door itself, lacking any kind of physical handle. "Do your Force thingy on it."

With a frown, Dana stretched a hand out to the door and concentrated. After several moments of silence, she pushed it open with a sigh. "It wasn't locked."

"Lead the way then Jedi Master."

The room beyond was pristine white, every surface had a gloss to it that put their bedraggled state to utter shame. Despite however long it had existed, it was clear of dust and debris, even from what little the expedition had probably brought with them.

As they moved further in, the light changed for a few turning corridors, casting smaller patches of gold between dark areas, before returning to the bright light that had been present at the start.

"There's gotta be cleaning droids of some kind around here. Maybe they're zoned by light colour?"

"Or the lights are broken. Might be a bit much to assume whoever built this actually did expect it to last thirty thousand years. Also who would zone droids with different coloured lights instead of just programming them in?"

Maarani huffed. "Well sorry for actually trying my hand at speculation as well. Maybe you should be the professor."

"You're very far from becoming a Jedi Master. And besides, professors aren't always smart."

"Isn't that the whole point of calling them professors in the first place?"

Drawing closer to where the dome of the structure was expected to be, they both felt the temperature starting to rise at last. Enough to bring their chilled feet back from the dull pain that had overtaken them some time before.

They soon reached a cross corridor, a grand door situated just in front of them, with two smaller ones branching off to either side.

"Okay. Why do I feel like we should check the side doors first?"

Dana hummed at that. "Because I'm getting a bad feeling about what's on the other side-"

"Dana!" Maarani dashed over to clamp her hand over Dana's mouth, rather too late as it turned out. "For crying out loud, having bad feelings is banned ever since they brought out the HK-50 ship! I thought this was clear enough!"

After wresting the hand away, Dana drew her lightsaber and motioned for Maarani to do the same. "Have you ever stopped to consider that having the bad feeling means the bad thing has already happened? It's the effect, not the cause. And somehow I don't think instinct works on the rules of quantum mechanics or whatever science would apply so don't try and spin it around."

"I don't care! It just invites the universe to make things even worse because that's how irony goes! Or at least the irony that has been following me around for years now! And if we open those doors and find out that Kiarna of all people somehow followed-"

The doors began to open. Her hand whipped down to her blaster pistol and drew it out in time to fire a couple of potshots through. They all struck the personal shielding powered by Kiarna's mask.

"That's your fault Teegs, just for the record."

Kiarna tilted her head, activating her purple lightsaber.

Maarani quickly sheathed her pistol and drew her own blade, readying it for activation. "Tell me, Bitch Queen, how long have you been standing there waiting for us to wander up so you can make your big dramatic entrance and start monologuing about how you're going to hurt us? That's what Sith do, right?"

"Teegs, don't antagonize the Sith."

At that, Kiarna raised her right hand, pointing directly at Maarani. "Shut your mouth! I am here to get answers! If you wish to survive, Jedi, I suggest you turn around and go back to your ship, now!"

The red lightsaber came out at last, Maarani holding it parallel to the ground below chin level. "Not happening, we're together on this!" She glanced at the purple lightsaber again. "I feel like we've got each other's colours. What's the deal with that anyway?"

Kiarna dashed forward with a deadly swipe. Maarani was saved from dismemberment by Dana's concentrated effort in keeping the blade at bay, at which point Kiarna took a cautionary step back to create distance between them again.

"I don't recognize you, Jedi. And yet you're proficient in blade-to-blade combat. How is it we have not met?"

"Teegs, you need to run now, get Jayden on the line!"

At that moment, Dana broke the one rule that she had adhered to since being told the truth about her identity. All it took was a single flicker of flame out of sight, enough to confuse Kiarna as to how a Jedi was using the dark side so masterfully. And of course, Maarani would not sense it, even if she weren't already in the process of bolting for the corridor to their right.

By the time she was gone, Dana had twisted her lightsaber around to block a flurry of blows rained down on her by the White Terror. She let down her guise at that moment, causing the Miraluka to finally back away more in terror of her own.

"That's not possible! You were all wiped out!"

Her eyes a flaring lavender, Dana took a threatening step forward. Clearly, Kiarna knew enough to fear what being in the presence of a raging Vahla meant. And while she wasn't at that point yet, it would take a single blow against Maarani herself to bring the kind of darkness out that Sith and Jedi alike were never prepared for.

"I give you this warning. If you push Maarani too far, she will become too powerful for any being to control. You cannot stop that aspect of the dark side if she is unleashed."

In a blur, Kiarna dashed around to attempt a strike from behind, but again found her blow blocked by Dana. As it had been on Dalchon, her reflexes were dangerously slowed by the use of Masaka's dark speed. That method would require a unique opportunity to use.

"I know there is a Sith inside her! My master told me that it held power over me! I must destroy it! Get out of my way Vahla scum!"

Kiarna twisted the blade around the block in a move intending to sweep around and damage Dana's face in some way. Further confirming the realization was the sight of Dana bending her entire upper body back in a way that would be impossible for those with a bone skeleton. The same did not apply for one of cartilage through and through.

To create distance between them again, Dana used the curve of her body to launch into a backflip, her fingertips gracing the floor while she split her legs to either side to avoid Kiarna's blade, landing on her cool feet inside the doorway itself. Her lightsaber remained active in hand while she spun around to block yet again.

"If you pursue Maarani to torture her, I will call Vahl herself down to destroy the Empire, regardless of the effect it will have on the galaxy. You can't fight a goddess, and you can't fight the Sith that's waiting fifty metres away. Back down now."

The print on Kiarna's mask began to glow, her own gloved hand twisting its grip below the crennelation of steel petals encircling the lightsaber blade.

"Fine, I gave you a chance to run, but if you're that willing to defend her to that extreme then I will take you down. Piece by piece. I plan on killing the Lord of Hunger when the time comes, destroying another will be good practise."

Dana prepared herself for the onslaught she was about to endure. "So, Teegs was actually right, you were planning to monologue about how you'd kill us."


Lacking a sense of danger had plagued her from early childhood.

The incident in which she had fallen down a cliff and broken her leg on her homeworld while fleeing a raging zakkeg had resulted from her wandering off after Canderous Ordo had brushed off concerns that she needed supervision from one of the others in the training camp. Something she had later come to learn was a great regret of his, despite the fact that it had brought her sensitivity to the light.

She nearly lost an arm in another training exercise eight years later when she insisted Master Brianna allow the use of actual lightsabers between them. That had been the first real indicator of her failing, and practically ended any chance of being allowed to actively fight Sith and other dangerous opponents on a regular basis.

While some scoffed at the fact she chose spy work of all things instead, mostly because the lack of warning was assumed to be even more of a hindrance in that line of work over combat, it had in fact allowed her to go unremarked by many she had come into contact with. Many knew of a Mandalorian among the Jedi, but to think that the woman in question would actually shy from combat seemed utterly preposterous.

On Dalchon, her luck had almost turned completely sour stepping on a mine left by the HK-50's. Had she been in armor instead of robes, it was entirely possible the blast would have been contained inside the plates of her leg after penetrating her foot, spreading the damage up through the right side of her body. She had lost a leg, but in doing so kept her ability to function in any meaningful way.

And yet, despite a history of not having such crucial awareness, Jayden could still feel a great danger was falling over the crew as a whole. Seeing as it had come just minutes after Maarani warned of a null presence, she was very much on the alert.

"Maarani, what's happening? Dana? Either of you, answer!"

Nothing came through the comm link.

"Izan will bring the ship over if needed, I need some indication of what to expect!"

After another period of silence, the link finally crackled into life.

"Jayden! Kiarna is here! She's trying to kill Dana!"

"Alright, just stay calm and don't try to intervene, you might just make it harder on Dana. Izan will fly us over and I'll come in to help."

"Hurry please!"

Jayden slipped her helmet on while rising to her feet, bolting through the drizzle and mud of the clearing. The Distant Star was opposite her the whole time.

"Izan! Izan ready the ship!"

She slowed a little when Izan descended the ramp, accompanied by another person. Just metres away she stopped altogether. An Umbaran woman had a red lightsaber to his throat, but more confusing was his complete indifference to that fact.

"Two livers that he clearly makes good use of. Interesting biology. But the colour is not to my taste."

Jayden knew enough about speech patterns to immediately realize something was wrong. It was Izan's voice, but it was not his mannerisms or particular dialect. Mind control of some form, presumably the woman holding his body hostage.

It wasn't until she looked at him properly that she really felt herself falter. "Bellara? How'd you end up working for Kiarna?"

Izan looked to his right, then back to Jayden with a bit of a smile. "You recognize each other, mm? Well, that is fascinating. It seems we all have some connection to each other here."

Bellara was still glaring right at Jayden, her face cold as ever, and currently forming rivulets of rain that rolled around her hairless head.

Bastila never came to rescue us. You never came to rescue us. I am one of the few left from Dantooine. Don't try to chew words with me.

"Bellara, I talked with Vaner, and with Bastila. She tried to stop Kiarna, and she nearly lost her hand for it. We all searched for you. The Empire had you all hidden away in secure locations by the time I broke into their network. I am truly sorry we didn't get there sooner"

"Much as this ramble of excuses is amusing to me, I really must insist that it stop." Izan stepped forward, not even looking to ensure that Bellara stepped with him to keep the lightsaber in its correct place. "I am here for Maarani. I believe she is an incredible threat to life in the galaxy. Of course, since my methods are not smiled upon by the Jedi, I simply couldn't ask for her to be turned over. That doesn't mean I am not above letting you and this Zeltron go."

"Not a chance, whoever you are."

It took that long to deduce why she was having such difficulty sensing whom had taken possession of Izan's body. The offender in question was somehow doing it without use of the Force. The null presence that she had been warned about presumably.

Izan himself took that moment to check his nails with a wicked grin. "I suppose names would make this body snatching business less confusing. Or more confusing if you think about it. Tell Maarani that Carudan has come for her. The Lady will know who I am, if she is indeed present. And she would be right to fear what I can do."


It had become clear rather quickly that breaking Kiarna's mask shield was beyond her capacity without fully giving herself over to the dark side, and until that became a last resort for Maarani's safety that was beyond what Dana was willing to do.

Another issue that became quickly apparent was just how brutal Kiarna was in her attacks. Her lightsaber strikes were fierce, intended to maim and cause physical damage rather than seeking out a direct kill. And the lightning strikes that she sometimes alternated into were disorientating enough without the electric blue flashes that the white corridors so perfectly reflected back into her eyes. Even then, it was taking an incredible amount of concentration just to block and dodge her attacks while slowly backing up through the hall they had come from.

"Dana! I've found some control platform overlooking the gravity room! There's a big open walkway you might have a better chance on!"

Dana was too busy parrying another blow to answer Maarani. She hadn't a clue exactly how far it was to the threshold of the room, and even then being able to escape confined corridors would only do so much in tipping the scales back towards herself.

"I've killed so many Jedi. You won't accomplish anything by trying to slow me down!"

Again, Dana had to utilize her incredible flexibility and agility to avoid the next flurry of attacks, now starting to feel quite warm indeed from the exertion.

"You know, Sith really don't know when to shut up! You could just get on with breaking defences in silence so we don't have to even say a word to each other, but no!" With a cry of effort, she pushed Kiarna back several paces, turning for a quick sprint to the second doorway ahead. "Why don't you yell at Maarani instead? I'm sure she's about to start making fun of how these fights really go down!"

She burst through the doorway into a room that seemed truly immense. The dome was in fact a sphere, extending in all directions with a layer of mechanical coils dotted around the interior. Panels of some transparent material were laid out over each.

There was little time to take in the incredible sight before she was pulled right back into the fray, sparks and melting resin flying everywhere as Kiarna came charging in with wild swings of her lightsaber that gouged into the walkway through the empty sphere.

"Last chance to back off Kiarna! I mean it!"

Their blades locked again with such force that she was knocked to one knee. Were her skeleton not so flexible, it was possible she would have broken a bone or two from the sheer impact that came crashing down on her. Another hard push was all she could manage to buy herself the valuable seconds to recover.

"Teegs! Where are you?"

Kiarna charged forward again, readying an overhead swing.

"Brace yourself Dana!"

Just a few steps away from landing the blow, both Kiarna and Dana suddenly flew off to Maarani's right, from her position on the platform above the doorway they had come from. She saw both lightsabers clatter out of reach and deactivate, leaving messy burns across the plating surface. As soon as they were down solid, she dialled up the gravity quotient.

"Teegs! This is not helping! I'm being squashed here!"

"Give me a minute to work this stuff out okay!"

With her cheek pressed the floor, Dana had only a minimal view of Kiarna. But that was still enough to see her very slowly rising to her feet in an agonized way, pushing her body against the very forces holding them down.

"She's getting up! I-"

Before Kiarna could grab for her lightsaber, the gravity switched around again, sending both women toppling back to the walkway that was now vertical to their point of view. Dana passed underneath as the gravity shifted slightly. From the way Kiarna's head smashed into the walkway edge itself she assumed that was a deliberate attempt to incapacitate her.

By the time they touched back on the other surface, only to begin rolling violently around one of the leading edges, she could tell that the impact had not been so effective after all.

"Put me down! You won't stop her like this, and I'm about to throw up!"

She fell into the air yet again, having lost track of Kiarna by that point given just how badly her vision was spinning. When she finally landed on the walkway, her lightsaber clattering to her side, she was barely able to stand, and there was no way she would remain steady anytime soon.

Through the haze, she could barely make out where she guessed Maarani was. Still no sign of Kiarna.

"Teegs, where is she-"

A cry of pain rang out as the gloved hand wrapped around the back of her neck, delivering a powerful jolt of lightning right into her body. It kept up as she was brought to her knees, barely able to make out Maarani's voice over the crackling in her ears. Before hitting the ground, she smelt burnt flesh and hair, and promptly passed out.

"Dana!"

Her moment of panic had drawn Kiarna's attention right back to her. Before she could even make for the door back out, a piercing bolt shot past and fused the door itself to the wall around it, leaving a mark identical to that they had found on the Distant Star.

"All chances wasted Maarani! Now we finish what should have ended on Sarka!"

Kiarna gestured to her lightsaber on the walkway behind her, and in a sweeping motion sent it spinning right towards the platform Maarani was standing on.

She had just time enough to crash to the metal grate before the blade hummed over her head, spraying more sparks around her as it chopped through the support beams. She found herself starting to scream when the metal groaned and lurched forward, hanging onto the wall now only by a series of bolts.

When the lightsaber had been retrieved, Kiarna raised both her hands towards the platform, clenching them tight before yanking the whole mess down to the walkway with Maarani on top of it. Her louder scream was cut short by the impact.


"Carudan? Am I supposed to recognize the name?"

Izan nodded to Bellara, who lowered the lightsaber away from his neck, but kept it ready to dispatch him if Carudan ordered it.

"I don't believe we were formally introduced, no. But I did provide that temporary leg for you, courtesy of my dearest wife."

Jayden lowered her lightsaber down at last, face full of surprise from the most unbelievable of coincidences coming to pass. "You're Azera's husband?" There were so many questions that had suddenly been raised. How did a human-looking being that could utilize mind control without the Force end up married to a Sith woman that had gone from a low ranking position to working for the White Terror herself. Something he seemed to be doing along with her.

It raised one key question that she wanted an answer for above all else. "Where is she? Did Kiarna do something to her?"

"Oh, she's quite far away from here, and Kiarna won't harm her believe me. I can't say the same for Maarani, but I'm hardly sad about that. She is a threat to my loving marriage after all. Can you blame a husband for being concerned?"

With a sigh of defeat, Jayden's head began to lower, her gloved hand soon reaching up to it. "Look, I'm still uncomfortable about the idea of word from a Force entity intruding on what I assumed was a healthy relationship, even if it did involve a Sith and whatever you really are." She slowly grabbed her helmet and pulled it off, tucking it under her arm as most Mandalorians did so that she could look back into Izan's possessed eyes directly. "I also don't like the idea of Maarani being hurt to prevent that. She's been broken enough already."

She slowly stepped forward, clasping her lightsaber to her belt. "You might as well know that Dana warned me about pushing her too far. If I don't go and stop Kiarna now, the results might be far worse than a dead Twi'lek. I think preventing that is worth letting me talk her out of pursuing Azera surely."

Izan made a small gesture that brought the lightsaber back up again when she advanced. "Oh, believe me, I'm capable of handling whatever is waiting down there. Kiarna is only useful to me as someone who can safely open the box after all. The box being Maarani's frayed mind holding the Lady of Sorrows within."

Jayden again froze up. The significance of Carudan knowing about the Lady of Sorrows was not lost on her, as Dana had brought her more up to speed while Maarani was off with Smirged the Hutt. But more importantly, it kept her from revealing her reaction to Bellara's sudden look of suspicion. She didn't seem to be so enthusiastic about Kiarna being sacrificed like that.

"Look, Carudan, if Dana was right, nothing is going to stop her short of a droid army that's built solely to kill Sith. Whatever you think, you can't beat her in the open. It's-"

A brilliant flash of light from the direction of the structure caught the attention of all three. It was not the light of an explosion however. Even Carudan back in the safety of the Vastes could feel it was far worse than the Lady of Sorrows coming into the open at last.

He hadn't considered the effects of four aspects of the dark side being present in one location.


It was a terrifying familiarity that kept Maarani from wailing about the pain her body was in. Laid out on her stomach, pain in her lekku, the White Terror just paces in front of her. Only this time she wasn't escaping the Miraluka's ever-present gaze.

Rather than being lifted from the twisted metal of the platform, she was instead dragged over it with no semblance of care by Kiarna's fierce gestures.

Somewhere between the wreckage and Kiarna boots, she came to a complete stop.

"Get up! Fight me you stupid Twi'lek! Show me why everyone seems to fear you!"

Maarani coughed up a mix of saliva and blood. Unfortunately this time, letting it drool down her chin to give a truly crazed look wasn't going to be any kind of use against the already crazed.

"Fuck you."

Kiarna twisted her hand, yanking Maarani's head up while she stepped out of the way. There was a clear view to Dana's smoking body.

"She's hanging onto life through the dark side! Fight me or I snap that thread altogether!"

While her teeth ground into each other, Maarani slowly reached for her lightsaber. There seemed little point in trying to shoot through that shield when she was probably suffering from internal bleeding and wouldn't last nearly long enough to wear it down.

"You're that eager for a bitchfight? I'd say argue with your reflection instead, but you wouldn't know what that is lacking eyes."

Two streams of lightning struck her in the chest, finally forcing her to wail in pain as they arced across her skin before finally dissipating into the air around her. Burn marks were left on the fingertips touching her lightsaber, the red crystal within beginning to glow from the dark energy it had just absorbed.

"I have not waited this long to have you lying on the ground crying like an infant! Stand up and fight!"

Ironically, Maarani couldn't feel any tears at all, perhaps from just how traumatized she was from the fall and subsequent impact. The taunting still didn't bring her to her feet.

"Kill me then. I've got nothing to lose. You're going to kill the only friends I have left, and I can't ever get my connection to the Force back without them. I'm done."

Yet again she felt the grip of the Force take her body, dragging her onto her feet and then across the walkway until she was within a metre of Kiarna. The glow of her mask cast her face in a faint hue of magenta.

"After I blinded your mother, before my master cut her head off, she said 'Twi'lek scum will destroy the Sith for good'. You're the definition of Twi'lek scum, and you won't even lift a finger to fight me yourself. Masaka is right to hate you. You're a disgrace to a family of wretched Jedi slaves."

Maarani spat out that mix of saliva and blood, watching it sizzle and burn away on the mask.

"I've gotten over the fact that you killed my family. Nice try bitch."

Kiarna tilted her head at that. There was one other option that she could try in that moment. It meant breaking down all her rules, but if the result was drawing out the Sith within, then it had to be worth it.

With a quick gesture, she set the voice modulator in her mask back to that which had become associated with Azera Vass. "That's no way to speak to your soulmate."

The pin dropped in the period of silence that followed. Or, as Maarani herself might have put it, the pin dropped onto the fragile bubble of sanity that kept her mind in one piece. However much she found herself criticizing the thought of higher beings than the Force itself, or even within the Force, there had at least remained a sliver of hope that she was not entirely lost to a cruel fate, that there was some actual purpose to it all.

The Lady of Balance had reinforced that sliver of hope. And now, because of her, it had been utterly shattered beyond any kind of reclamation.

A painfully obvious fact that she had allowed herself to be oblivious to for so long was now finally forced into the open.

Her once blue eyes began to bleed into a fierce red. Instead of bright gold flaring up in its wake, lavender began to encompass her irises. The shard of Vahl placed in her so long ago by her own father at Suroni's instruction had awoken. The Lady of Sorrows was now held back solely by the power of the Lady of Rage for however long it could last.

Rage was exactly what followed.

Her lightsaber came down on Kiarna's again and again. Each time, Kiarna leaned back a little, but held her ground. Just as she had expected, for all the influences driving Maarani to the point of insanity, she was just no match for her without the Force.

After several more blows, she finally thrust her hand out to push the Twi'lek back several paces.

"Dana clearly didn't stop to realize that the real Sith in you will be just as powerless. Pathetic."

As soon as Maarani charged in again, her hand went further up to grasp at her mind. Caught in the grip, the red lightsaber clattered to the ground and shut itself off. One more layer down, and the threat would finally be dealt with permanently.

"I don't know why I healed you that day, why I let you escape. But now I correct that clear mistake of mine."

The distance closed again. Her gloved fingertips were just centimetres from Maarani's violently vibrating face, trying so desperately to break herself out of the hold without success.

Blood began to seep from her nose, trickling down over her lips and then chin.

"Out of the shadows, Sith! No more hiding!"

Just before there was physical contact between the two, her hand fell away. The red-lavender in Maarani's eyes drained away immediately, returning back to their blue state. Kiarna hadn't even realized there was a change of colour in the first place, and thus she was not fully aware of just how clear the first warning sign was.

Maarani herself dropped to her knees, still staring forward while her body struggled against all the injuries she had sustained. But then, what was left of her after the period of rage was now gone. The Lady of Sorrows had her turn in the open.

"So angry, so wrathful. You are driven by madness to seek your own destruction. Is this what has become of my kind?"

Kiarna had taken a few steps back. Once the takeover had finished, she had quickly felt a very bad change in her own mental state. Something that shouldn't have been possible without a direct link to the Force itself as far as she knew. And that was the true problem with her plan as she quickly realized.

"So much death, destruction and decay. So many wars, so many pointless ends. So many rivers of tears to drown in." Maarani twisted her head up to Kiarna with a cold expression. "How are you not sad? Everyone hates you. Everyone around you hates themselves. Yet you persevere without a flicker of despair."

It was so utterly at odds with the depressive thoughts wracking Kiarna's brain that she could only believe it was deliberately meant to taunt her into breaking down her own defences, either ineffective against whatever the Lady of Sorrows could perpetuate, or barely holding her sanity together in the face of a power unlike anything she had fought before.

Her arrogance in defiance of her master's guidance had once again come to show her up for it. Only this time, she had no-one to look towards for help. It didn't stop her from trying.

"Master! Help me!"

To her surprise, and utter horror, a hand grasped her shoulder yet again. It was ethereal, and from the dark wisps beginning to swirl around her feet, she immediately knew who had come.

More terrifying was that his presence alone was indeed enough to drive off the Lady of Sorrows' attack on her mind.

The Sith that does not obey her master rarely gets second chances.

Of course, she didn't need to turn her head to see the apparition of Darth Nihilus properly. While he spoke in the tongue of the ancient Sith, the intent was clear in her mind. Something Lasidia had described about her own encounter with an ancient Rakata soul.

Denounce Darth Lasidia. Feast on the Lady of Sorrows, on the Twi'lek, and her Vahla friend. I grant you the power to do so.

It had been so easy to act defiant before, ironically when she had been left completely helpless in a backalley. And now, when she was feeling strong as ever, the prospect didn't seem so terrible anymore. The fact that his very presence had been extended around her was no longer a key problem in her mind.

Come to Katarr. Unite with me, and we will absorb the entirety of the dark side itself. Then, the galaxy.

She took a step forward. It was hard to tell what the Lady of Sorrows made of her last minute all as the only feeling from her was a cold emptiness that gradually grew stronger as she drew closer. Her hand stretched out yet again, icy at the tips, and yet flowing with a newfound power that she had long sought after in her own private meditations.

To be able to feed on life force without falling into the trap of uncontrollable need. To rule the Lord of Hunger, rather than let him overwhelm her mind and body as he had Darth Nihilus.

"Azera stop!"

Her attention moved upward to yet another apparition. It was not as familiar to her, as she had only really seen it once before on Ketaris. A figure identical to Maarani, but bearing three markings that seemed to exist in ways the Force itself could perceive.

The cold rush of Darth Nihilus passing around her made her tremble back a moment. His protection from the Lady of Sorrows was beginning to wane.

This time, his speech did not translate in her head. And from the screech of many long dead voices running beneath his ancient tongue, that was something she was grateful to be spared.

The Lady of Balance understood enough, hovering just behind Maarani's twitching form as she tried to stand, the Lady of Sorrows within finding herself caught in the middle of an unexpected battle.

"You will not return, I have guided many towards stopping you. Go back to the darkness."

Darth Nihilus spoke again, raising his hand as if to fire lighting at the Lady of Balance.

The whole room began to shake violently. When lightning did come, it was from all various directions, arcing through the gravity plates as the long defunct technology was empowered by the raw amount of dark energy passing through, and finally began to reach critical levels.

"Your time is done, Lord of Hunger. Azera and Tegama are under my protection. You will not take them. It is-"

A purple lightsaber tore through Darth Nihilus at that moment. His ethereal form began to dissipate, but with it came a rumble of voices within.

Kiarna barely had time to make sense of them before a flash of energy overwhelmed the structure, then subsequently transferred into the Force itself. An immense disturbance through the dark side that had finally been unleashed on the galaxy.

She could hear Maarani's voice through the ringing in her ears, presumably that of the Lady of Balance, before she finally passed out.


Darth Rak'Sakar was on the bridge of his own flagship overlooking the shipyards of Lianna when he felt the disturbance. It carried with it whispers from his long dead mate, taunting him of his failure to hunt down and consume the flesh of Mandalore the Steadfast for his atrocity.

His snarl and lash at the air drew concerned looks from the officers and few Sith also on the bridge. It was very rare indeed to see him become visibly angry, and whatever had disturbed him was clearly stronger than they were aware of.


On the other side of the planet, in her own ship, the Miraluka scryer of the Council of Sorcerers felt the disturbance, and traced it back to its source as best she could before the feeling faded altogether. Every one of her kind that had been alive at the time of Katarr knew what the presence of Darth Nihilus felt like, and while she sensed him in the disturbance, she also sensed the ancient being that had continued to elude her for some time. That was what she feared most.


Masaka and Properatus were wrapped in each other's arms when they both felt it. After a few moments of mutual contemplation, they both shrugged it off and returned to enjoying the company of the other. Others would deal with the problem posed after all.


In the curtained area of a well hidden room of a back alley on Ketaris, Visas lifted her head with a small smile.

"You've shown your hand at last. Then the time has come."

After placing her goggles back on, she made her way through to the communal area. Her arrival brought the attention of all her usual customers immediately.

"My former master has made his move. You all have your instructions on how to proceed, now is the time to enact them. You will not hear from me again."


On Dantooine, many Jedi felt the shift that came with the disturbance, all quickly looking to each other for guidance and support out of fear over what such a strong effect heralded.

Bastila was walking the fields with a herd of iriaz when it came, affecting her with such force that she fell to her knees in inexplicable anguish, and would have fainted amongst the sudden charge of the herd had Vaner not rushed to her aid.

"Mother! Stay focused, I'm here!"

She held onto his shoulder for several tense minutes while her breathing remained heavy. It was obvious who had caused the disturbance, but her sensitivity to it had come as a true shock.

"Vaner, contact Coruscant. Coordinate with them. We need to prepare for this, and not tread on their toes. Go, I'll be alright."

"Mother, I don't think this is the time for heroics. Though in saying that…" In one smooth motion, Vaner lifted her up and began hurrying back towards the complex grounds to where many of the others had begun to gather out of concern.


In the Luka Sene headquarters on Alpheridies, there was activity unparalleled since the destruction of Katarr itself. It had been the second wave of panic since, but the discovery of a corruptive defect in their children was still not nearly as terrifying as the return of the one who had brought unprecedented grief to their race.

Aibrehl had a difficult task ahead. Even given his age, responsibility fell to him to answer the threat itself now that it had made itself manifest. He made his way to a central platform from which he could clearly speak to the others. His voice was not strong enough for much more than a few quick directives.

"Prepare two flotillas and the Maith Súl for departure. Inform the governors that we are set to address the threat that will come from Katarr by their approval. Everyone else is to prepare for whatever dangers may arise. Dakkan must be reinforced as well."

The obvious question came from Marvina, the last apprentice he had ever trained in the Sene ways, and to that day his continued assistant.

"Should we not collaborate with the Jedi Council?"

"Sereti made her feelings on the matter clear when she turned her back on us. We will proceed as we see fit, the Jedi will simply have to accept our involvement."


Down in the Archives, Atris was among the first on Coruscant to feel the disturbance. The indicator on her chest went off immediately as she stumbled into one of the study desks, clutching at her chest while the lingering decay of the dark side was suddenly flared right back up in her body.

"Master Atris, what happened?"

She was joined by a few young initiates who helped her sit more comfortably in the nearest chair. Despite her supposed reputation as being a fearsome presence, she was more grateful than ever to have their support at that moment. That didn't stop her from also putting their safety above even her own.

"Something terrible I'm afraid. Please, return to your dorms until things have settled."

The children all looked to each other, then back to Atris. "But who's gonna look after you Master Atris?"

Hardly in a position to argue, especially with a child that had her concerns at heart, she did her best to smile after sighing in mock defeat. "Alright. You can stay until Dr Xilubu gets here. But please, do not dally with returning to your dorms when that times comes."


Dr Xilubu was in the hospital ward at that same moment, as he so often was, but he was one of the few to not be directly affected by the disturbance.

His patient on the other hand had what he felt was one of the most extreme reactions yet.

Barely seconds after it came, Sokoli Zatu's eyes shot open almost as abruptly as she sat up, taking a deep rasping breath as she finally regained consciousness, months after first arriving at the temple.

"Azera!"

Xilubu had to apply a soothing technique to her mind before she finally laid back down, her eyes frozen wide in a panic.

"Take it easy, you've been through a real rough phase. I'll explain more once you've had time to recover."

The significance of Azera's name was entirely lost on him after all, as was the timing of her awakening.


Sereti had spent the past few days in one of the smaller atriums in the gardens to make the most of being amongst rich plant life before her departure for Ilum.

It was thus ironic that one of the most tranquil locations in the entire Temple was where the strongest effect was felt.

She was on her feet in seconds, lightsaber drawn from her side and directed right at the figure of darkness that had appeared. While it had yet to take a defined form, she knew exactly what it was intended to be.

"Why appear to me? Do you think I won't return from Ilum to stop you?"

The shade remained for a few seconds, then vanished without word or sound. The point itself was clear enough, a challenge to come face him on Katarr.


On a planet virtually opposite the source of the disturbance, close to Ryloth and Dalchon, a man in a cave woke from his deep meditation involuntarily. The last time that had happened was just over eight years previous.

"Too soon. Too soon..."

He waved his hand over a small communicator, bringing up the image of a HK-50.

"Next installment has been forwarded. The threat has just increased significantly. I suggest you find a way to track her down properly before she grows too strong."


Dark clouds gathered in the skies above Katarr. They concentrated and swirled over what had once been the gleaming city Tarraburst, capital of the Miraluka colony, home to nearly two hundred thousand Miraluka, and where twelve hundred Jedi had been when the Devouring had struck.

Over one of the many plateaus in the layered city, amidst long crumbled ruins lay the epicenter of the dark clouds. From them struck a bolt of lightning unlike any other, seemingly white for an instant, but in the milliseconds after it struck, bathed entirely in black energy.

From the impact rose a swirling mist of darkness. Unlike all the other times however, the darkness had physical form. The form of a man, long dead, little more than a husk for the entity known as the Lord of Hunger. A husk was all that would be needed to pass into a new host, one that would no longer bind Hunger to the impossible conditions of a Wound.

When Darth Nihilus looked to the sky for the first time in over thirty years, it was to whisper only a few words to the depths of space. A challenge to all who would dare to face the Devouring Empress as they would soon be known as.


Kiarna was lost in an almost total void. It felt as if she were falling forwards, only there was no air rushing over her skin, no sensation of any ground or object to break her fall with, if that was even what was happening.

She could perceive her own being, nothing more.

For a few moments, there was the worrying thought that it was her perception of the last moments of life before death for Sith. Spiralling into the endless void of ambiguity, lost to the Force forever.

"Wake up Azera."

The experience of waking from whatever dream realm she had found herself in to the real one was truly uncanny. Both seemed vivid, and both were surreal.

It took her a while to notice she was lying face down in a puddle, rain striking her back and soaking into her hair. The air flow from her mask caused small ripples in the water until she finally managed to push herself back onto her feet.

She found herself gazing upon the strange sight of Maarani on the ground, unconscious, while her exact look-alike tended to her gently. The Lady of Balance had remained in spite of whatever had just obliterated the structure they had been in. There was no sign of the Vahla as far as she bothered to search.

"I'm sorry you both had to go through that. I didn't expect the Lord of Hunger to attack while I sought to neutralize the Lady of Sorrows."

Kiarna reached up to her head, wincing a little at the gash where her skull had impacted the walkway during the gravity shift. The wound had reopened, and was now stinging from the rain dropping onto it. At the very least, it served as a needed indicator that she was awake.

Many other things still felt odd. Her anger, her desire to see Maarani ended was gone. There was no drive to kill left, only emptiness, and a bit of confusion at all that had transpired.

"How long do I have to ask questions? I feel as if I've just been-"

"Drained of will?" The Lady stood up and slowly made her way over to Kiarna. The rain that fell passed through her form seamlessly, another spectral projection. "In short, Darth Nihilus used you to draw out the Lady of Sorrows, and consumed both her and the Lady of Pain within you. He has broken through to the physical realm on Katarr, and sooner or later he will take hold of your mind and force you to meld with him into the Devouring Empress. I'm afraid my ability to protect you has come to an end."

The gash on her head suddenly felt like the least of her pains in that region. "So I still have time to stop this?" She sighed, and after some time to think made the conscious decision to switch her modulator back to Kiarna's voice. "If you know me as well as I'd assume, you know I am nowhere near as strong without the ability to draw from fear and pain. I can't stop him if he is already able to consume."

The Lady nodded with a solemn look, the white marking on her face taking up a glow. "You will have two allies in that fight Azera. One of the Jedi, and one who has walked the line between the light and the dark. You must work with them, I can only watch and provide minimal guidance on Katarr, his power is strong enough to keep me from interfering. And then, when it is over, you will have a choice about which way your destiny lies."

For the first time, Kiarna felt truly lost about what to make of her future. Ever since becoming apprentice to Darth Lasidia, it had been set out and made clear. But with her still out of contact, her greatest power with the dark side stripped away, and a mysterious deity guiding her actions for the near future…

"So I actually do get a choice then? I can choose to go back to the Sith, and try to reclaim what has just been stripped from me? I can choose to strike Maarani down when I am done with Darth Nihilus?"

The Lady's glowing marking switched to the grey down the middle of her face, her expression turning a little more stern. "I think you will find that the latter is no longer something you desire. The two of you are bonded in mind. Eventually, you will be bonded in body and soul as well. And keep in mind, now that you no longer take joy and power from pain, you will feel grief yourself. Cause her too much of that, and it will double down on you in turn."

Kiarna looked over at the unconscious Twi'lek again, bringing a hand up to her hip. "You say that after what I put her through."

"She is about to face her personal trials, as you will eventually. You cannot help her until the threat has been dealt with, I only elaborate now so that you understand what awaits you after you succeed."

"Does that mean I'm definitely going to stop Darth Nihilus then?"

At that, the glowing mark shifted to the black at last. "There is no future for you, or for the galaxy in general if you become the Devouring Empress. Does that settle the stakes well enough?"

Kiarna nodded, reaching up to her head yet again. "I suppose." She took one last look at Maarani, then very cautiously moved past. "And what if I die there outright? Will you stop me if I try and take my own life to end this threat?"

"He will just go back to the shadows and find someone else to meld with. You have to destroy him through your own power."

"Fine." About to leave it at that, she stopped yet again. One question posed had slipped her mind until then. "A man called Carudan has been searching for Maarani. What do I tell him?"

The Lady's expression grew quite dark, just as her form began to fade. "Get him off your ship as soon as possible. Dump him in deep space, but do not try to fight him. He is far more powerful than he has led you to believe."

And with that, she was gone altogether.

Left in the rain, Kiarna couldn't help taking yet another look at Maarani, who was finally starting to wake. How simple it would be to drive the lightsaber through her neck at that moment and go to Katarr without any further concern on her mind.

Instead, when she knelt down by her side, removing her glove and placing a hand on her back, it was with wholesome intent she had never truly felt before.

"Maybe this is what happened on Sarka after all. You're a pitiable woman, Maarani. And quite frankly, I don't see any worth in leaving you alive."

Her pale skin and red nails stood out in strong contrast against the soaked leather of Maarani's jacket until she pulled her hand away at last, having healed all of the damage done by the fall and her own attacks.

"I hope you work out what it is you want from life now that you get to continue on. I don't know anymore myself."

By the time Maarani regained full consciousness, Kiarna was long gone from the area, leaving her in the middle of a waste zone with no sign of Dana. And for once, that was fortunate.


Jayden had been spared mud getting all through her hair by bolting for the cover of a tree when the flash came before passing out. When she woke back up at last, she noticed that Izan had been far less fortunate. Bellara was nowhere in sight.

After recovering her helmet, she cautiously trudged over to his side. He had landed on his back thankfully, face first and he might have drowned in the mud before she woke. There was enough of a rise from his chest to confirm that he was still quite capable and alive.

"Izan, get up. Hurry."

His startled awakening brought him thumping hard into Jayden's hand, nearly knocking him back into the muddy grass in shock.

"I've done things involuntarily in the past, but that-"

"Don't beat yourself up over it. I've never even heard of that level of mind control, and I haven't the faintest clue how it would work without the Force or some truly advanced technology. We're out of our depth on that one."

She hauled him back up, wincing slightly at the state he was in. Murky brown against bright pink really made the whole mess look that much worse.

"Just clean yourself up, check on Cecile when you get the chance, and don't come back out until I give the all clear. Right now I need to go find Maarani and Dana, and there's no telling if Bellara, Carudan or Kiarna will try another attack or not."

"Yeah, sure, that sounds good. Watch your back alright?"

While Izan was left to trudge across the clearing and back into the Distant Star, leaving several prints of mud on the way until he took his boots off at the top, Jayden drew her lightsaber in readiness for the long hike down to where the white dome had once stood. Despite training to expect the worst in a crisis, the worst was something she tried not to think about given the implications of why the structure was gone.

She didn't get far at all before catching sight of bright blue amongst the bleak greens and

browns that lined most of the land ahead.

Still no sign of Dana with her, in any form.

When she drew closer, her deep expression of anger became clear. "Maarani? What happened? Where's-"

Rather than trying to punch her, as Jayden was far larger and absolutely far stronger, Maarani went right for drawing her blaster.

"Shut it you stupid bitch. Answer me this; what species is Azera Vass, and what colour is her lightsaber?"

Jayden instinctively went on the defensive as soon as the weapon came out, but her controlled reaction was one of shock at Maarani's sudden turn. The sudden interest in learning more about Azera certainly wasn't making things sound any better.

"She's Miraluka, her lightsaber was purple-"

Maarani nearly pulled the trigger at that, her face scrunching up slightly as a few tears came. When that moment of anguish passed, she strengthened her grip on the weapon and did her best to glare Jayden down.

"Kiarna is Miraluka. Her lightsaber is purple. And if you had fucking told me everything you knew about Azera in the first place I wouldn't have gone mad and let out the Sith trapped in my fucking brain when she told me she's is Azera Vass!"

The shock at the turnaround suddenly paled incredibly in contrast. "That's, not possible. The Azera I met was nothing like what I've heard Kiarna described as. It has to be a coincidence."

"She has a modulator in her mask! She used that exact voice! And you didn't even wonder for a moment if it was more than a coincidence?"

Jayden thought back to that time. Contacting Sereti, putting her word in that she highly doubted that Azera Vass was the White Terror. There had been a mild thought that it was more than just a coincidence, but the two had just seemed so completely distinct in her mind.

"Maybe a moment. Maybe she was lying about rescuing children from the HK-50's, maybe she was lying about being critical about the ways of the Sith. She saved my life when I was down a leg, feeling incredibly vulnerable, and had no-one to lean on. How could I have possibly known that same woman went about murdering thousands of people for eight years previous?"

As much as Maarani didn't want to admit it, she had little to argue with there, and it embittered her more to the point of forcing the other subject.

"And what about that Sith in my head? The one she yanked out, the one that took control of my body? That made me feel so completely helpless because I was just cut off from everything again! Did you know it was in there?"

Then came the true test. Any lie would quickly break down an already bad situation. The truth would shatter her confidence further. And trying to intervene would either see one of them injured or Maarani's being breaking down altogether.

She had to be quick on laying it all out. "Yes. Dana told me, she was terrified of saying anything in case we lost you to the Lady of Sorrows. She loves you too much to have not sought out a way to destroy her safely. Her words to me."

The tears came again, Maarani's hand starting to shake.

"I'm not one to judge if she's getting too obsessive for even a relaxed Jedi standard to tolerate. She cares for you deeply, and she would have told you when it was safe to do so. I'm just abiding by her judgement, and the promise I made to ensure your safety as well."

Her hopes faltered when the blaster firmed back up yet again.

"You're holding back. What else did she tell you? Why is she obsessed with me? Why do I feel like Kiarna wasn't lying when she said Dana was using the dark side to stay alive? Tell me!"

"That's between the two of you Maarani. Now, put down the blaster before one of us gets taken over by Carudan, or stabbed in the back by Kiarna."

She had no intent of making it an actual attempt at influencing Maarani's mind.

In her still maddened state, Maarani herself thought otherwise. Perhaps a roll of thunder in the distance had mistakenly been translated as the rumble of blood around her ears whenever a mind trick was in use. Or the beating of her own heart had become so erratic that the same effect had been achieved through coincidence alone.

The warning was there, and under other circumstances, she wouldn't have acted so rashly on it as to actually pull the trigger then and there.

A whiplike trail of pure white fire absorbed the blaster shot before it got near to Jayden, who had begun to raise her arms in defense.

Dana marched up to a careful distance from the pair, her right hand still bathed in white flame. Her eyes were still the bright lavender that they had been since revealing herself to Kiarna.

"Teegs, I am so sorry. I tried to protect you, and I failed."

Maarani took a few steps back, now switching her blaster between Dana and Jayden despite the apparent futility of that threat. It gave her the illusion of having any level of control over the situation.

"Tell me the truth Dana!"

With a cautionary glance to Jayden, Dana took one single step forward. "I'm the last of a dead race that worshipped a deity of the dark side. The woman that was my past life gave instructions to your father that she hoped would destroy the Jedi from within. Instead, that led to you being born, and eventually infused with my blood." Her lip was trembling a little when she noticed the flicker of lavender in Maarani's own eyes. "Teegs, I wasn't being platonic with calling you family. I just didn't know how else to put it in a way you would understand."

"Yeah, yeah because this is exactly how I wanted to find out." The blaster dropped down at last, but only to be swapped out for the lightsaber. "Fuck you. Fuck both of you. I'm done with Jedi holding shit back from me. You're still doing it now."

Dana blinked, and in that moment her eyes went back to brown. "Teegs, I have only ever had your best interests at heart. If I had to give my life to free you from the Lady of Sorrows I would. I can't help that some truths are just too painful to unload at you all at once. I could never do that to my…"

Maarani stepped back again, keeping her lightsaber up in a threatening way. "Daughter? I'm not your daughter, in any sense. My mother died believing in me, believing I would destroy the Sith. I had to find that out from the one who murdered her, who also happens to be my soulmate. Figure out the level of mindfuckery that can do to a person while you wait for rescue."

With that, she bolted off to the Distant Star, and within the span of a minute had launched off and set an escape trajectory from the planet, marooning Dana and Jayden.

The latter had made to try and stop her, only to be stopped by the former.

"She needs time to process everything that happened. When she comes to terms with it, she'll come back. The important thing is that Zariba and Izan won't be around to suffer whatever she goes through."

Jayden slowly turned her head to Dana, once again caught with shock.

"I told Izan to stay on the ship."

True to the nickname that she so often despised from Izan himself, Dana merely sighed and followed the Distant Star with her eyes until it launched into hyperspace.

"Then may whatever gods the Zeltrons worship protect him. It's out of our hands now. And we need to prepare for what might be a long wait for rescue."

With so many emotions running rife at that moment, the cold dismissal seemed particularly unfair. But, as Jayden soon concluded herself, worrying about Izan when they were stranded with no shelter and no supplies was exactly what not to do. The survival training she had learned all those years ago from Canderous himself kicked in, and she followed Dana into the treeline to begin the search for a place to recuperate safely in the storm.


The warning was constant in Kiarna's mind when she reached the Vastes. Carudan had read deep into her mind before, so there seemed little point in trying to hide it. And now that she had confronted Maarani, and learned a great many truths about her, it seemed that there was little reason for him to continue working with her anyway.

It was thus no small relief when she found Bellara in the ship itself, quite alive and untouched.

"Where's Carudan?"

I do not know, Master. He had the Zeltron under control, then a flash from your location broke his concentration. He was gone by the time I returned here.

Kiarna hummed with a great deal of suspicion, but with little to go on, and the fact that she couldn't spot his presence alone through the Force, she forced herself to move on from the warning in mind.

"I'll deal with him later then. First, we must meet with an Imperial vessel to return you to the fleet. I have to travel to Katarr to stop Darth Nihilus, and I must go there alone." On the way up to the cockpit, she stopped again to turn her head to Bellara, reaching a hand out to her shoulder. "It's rather likely I won't return, for one reason or another. Don't hold your breath on my account."

Bellara said nothing, though did have a look of concern the rest of the way up.

When Kiarna sat down, it was in the pilot's chair at last. Something she had almost never done before, and something she knew had immediately raised questions from Bellara. "I am capable of flying the ship. I just prefer to let those with eyes do it. You'd be surprised at how skilled some Miraluka pilots are however."

Not long after the Distant Star had flown off into deep space, the Vastes soon rose from the storm clouds and set on its own course in the direction of Katarr. Neither one of the female occupants were aware of Carudan's continued presence onboard.


"I wish I had more advice on how else to prepare, Brianna. I truly do."

Brianna gave a customarily sombre nod, waiting on the other side of the divider from Sereti while she changed into her battle-ready attire.

"What you have told me will suffice. We will be as ready as we can possibly be if you cannot stop him at Katarr."

Silence grew as Sereti stopped for a while, clenching her fingers over the flats of her eye sockets.

"I need her here. She knew him well, she would know exactly what to do, how to prepare. I don't think I have any hope of stopping him."

Hard as it was to accept that her longtime friend had abandoned them, it was something Brianna had settled on years ago in her isolation. It seemed it was harder still for the apprentice of her friend. "If she's listening, and she knows the danger posed, she may yet return. It's not yet time to abandon hope."

When Sereti emerged from behind the divider at last, she was fully done up in more traditional Jedi robes. Gone were the long sheets of white trimmed in gold flowing off her body. Her hair was pulled back, armor plates had been fitted under her coat, and even her Luka Sene shoulderguard had finally seen a return to use.

"If she does return here after the battle, please, tell her I forgave her long ago." Sereti lowered her head for a moment, eventually using that as an opportunity to put on the visor from her old uniform as well. "Perhaps there is yet a larger plan to this, pushing me to step down and ask for your return right before I fly off to what will probably be my last battle."

"Perhaps. If I learned anything from Surik however, it's that you never truly know what the outcomes will be. There may yet be an unexpected development."

Sereti sighed to herself, and after straightening herself out, finally made her way out to head for the landing bays.

"I suppose I can at least hope that it is a good development. Things will be bad enough. Force be with you, Grand Master Brianna."