AN: Hey everyone, sorry it's been so long. It's been a crazy few weeks. Finals, out of country, flight home.

If anyone is annoyed at the political stuff, don't worry. You have to remember, from Leon's point of view right now, the Empire can do no wrong. He's going to find that, really, neither side is all that perfect, especially since Revan died and stopped guiding the Empire. Of course, he himself wasn't a very moral leader sometimes, as we found out. The whole "gray" thing applies to more than just the Force. And besides, there won't be any of it after this short section of story, it's just meant to provide the barest outline of the divide between values in Nernyn's Empire and those in the Triumvirate.

Aratech's facilities on Kashyyyk were huge, the metallic infrastructure spanning the entire core of a single, hollowed out, millennia old Wroshyr tree. If they found any information on the location of whatever it was Revan had searched for so long ago, Leon was sure that they could use any one of the corporate trees to get to whichever level of Kashyyyk the Sith Lord had found himself on just a few short years earlier. In the meantime, though, the group of four was entirely preoccupied with kidnapping someone in one of the deepest rooms of Aratech's base. "But why would a government Czerka employee be interested in corporate espionage?" Erea asked as the group neared the insertion point to the tree. "The Triumvirate put people like her in charge of companies that threatened to flee Triumvirate space in order to prevent tech from going to the Empire and to foster cooperation between companies."

"Obviously, like most things the Triumvirate does, it doesn't work at all in practice," Leon said dryly as he pulled his lightsaber out. The group was a few levels below where they had landed, the light of the sun above barely visible through the branches and leaves criscrossing above them. When the young man's saber erupted into being, it gave off a surprising amount more light than he had expected. The white of the saber's outline cast an eerie glow throughout the shaded area, casting formless and ever changing shadows into the darkness beyond. Mari followed suit a half-second later, the crimson of her blade bathing the world in a bloody glow. Her skin was a deep purple in the burnt light, Leon noted, though he quickly shoved the thought from his mind. "Hopefully that same incompetence extends to the defense installations they have installed in their tech development labs."

Leon then angled his saber perpendicular to the trunk of the tree and stabbed forward, piercing the bark exterior and metal interior of the factory. The sabers hissed as they melted through the twin layers, filling the air with the twin scents of burning organics and slagged durasteel. Leon brought his saber around in a semi-circle clockwise, his black blade eventually cutting through the starting point of Mari's own saber path. A large circle of fused metal and wood was soon formed, and the two lightsabers hissed into nonexistence at their owners' sides.

Leon glanced at each of the others in turn, receiving a nod of readiness from each. Then the young Knight turned back to the outline in the wall and reached out with his left hand, whipping it back and throwing the fragment of the wall deep into the Shadowlands. The metal slag crashed through branches, snapping centuries old twigs and arms away before settling to rest on branches far below. Leon walked forward slowly, lightsaber still in hand, and jumped forward into the darkness.

He fell for a while, easing his landing with the Force and turning what would have been a resounding pound into a quiet thud. Leon eased himself up to a standing position and raised his wrist to his face. There was a quiet beep and he said, "Looks like a twenty, maybe thirty foot drop," he whispered. In response, he heard three spring noises and as many grappling hooks extended to the next floor's ceiling, allowing the other three members of the crew to slowly drop down to meet him. "Erea, where to?"

The woman brought up a holo-map given to them by their Czerka contact. "Let's see... we're here, so the data center is about forty floors up. Lifts are over there... Kriff. The room with the target is twenty-two floors down."

Leon shook his head and sighed. "Okay... Deranis, you and Mari head downstairs and secure the Czerka target. Erea and I will meet up with you after we've scoured the records from two years ago," he said as he activated his lightsaber. "Call us if you need us."

Mari glanced over at Deranis, then back at Leon before nodding. As the group reached the lifts, Mari and Deranis separated and headed down, leaving Erea and Leon to head upwards. As the lift approached from the lowest levels of the tree station, Leon felt the tension grow. Finally, "Commander."

"Colonel," the red head replied, referring to the rank bestowed upon the Knight for completing his training. She looked over at him. "What's wrong?"

"I was about to ask the same. We haven't had a chance to talk since we left Coruscant," Leon replied. He held his saber in front of him as the lift approached, raising it defensively as the doors opened, preparing for blaster fire and resistance. Instead, the lift was empty. He lowered his saber and gestured for Erea to enter before him. "Is something wrong?"

"I don't know," the woman replied as she holstered her blasters, though she kept the straps open and ready to quickly draw the twin weapons. She shrugged. "You seem different."

Leon laughed lightly. "Good or bad?" he inquired.

The woman's response did not come immediately. Eventually: "Leon, what do you think Var and Vallen want with the Foundry?" she asked. When Leon didn't immediately respond, she turned to see him staring at the floor of the turbolift.

"What does anyone want with a weapon of unimaginable power during a war?" Leon asked dryly. He shrugged and looked up at the door of the lift. His lightsaber made a throbbing, humming noise as it moved slightly with his swaying arm. "They want to win."

"And do they – do you – really think Nernyn is the best way to win? That the Empire is?" she asked.

Leon frowned and looked over at her. "Well, Commander," he began, "if I didn't know better, I'd say that was treasonous talk."

"Just answer the damn question," Erea replied, arms crossed impatiently.

Leon looked away from her and frowned even deeper. "I don't know if Nernyn is the best way to win the war," he said. "But the Empire? I'd put all my faith in what Revan built."

Erea nodded silently and the lift reached its destination. The two exited the lift and crept through the dimly lit complex. "Down the hall, last on the left," Erea told Leon in a hurried whisper as the two dodged another guard patrol. Leon nodded and walked slowly down the hall and tapping the opening button for the doors.

He frowned when a chill ran down his spine as he and Erea entered the pitch dark data center of the Aratech facility. His eyes widened and he deflected a red bolt of energy that made its way towards his partner's head, sending the blaster bolt flying away into the darkness. For a moment, the energy illuminated the features of a trio of blaster carrying soldiers. Leon raised his saber carefully in front of him and prepared for battle. "Erea, find the data we need. I'll take care of these three."

He froze as the room was suddenly illuminated in green. Leon turned to the smirking Twi'lek Jedi to his left and furrowed his brow. This would be tougher than he'd thought. "Eh, what's one more? Welcome to the party."

Leon immediately jumped at the Jedi, deflecting red blaster bolts as he went. The red energy flew through the air back at their origins, with the troopers rolling off to the side to avoid the scattered blasts. "So what's a Jedi doing guarding the databanks for Aratech's Kashyyyk division?" Leon asked as his saber met with the Jedi's, illuminating the server room in brilliant light. The stacks of ultra-compressed data cast tall shadows around the room as the battle continued.

"Same thing a former Sith is, I'd guess," the Twi'lek responded as he tried to elbow Leon in the face. The Knight ducked out of the way and disappeared with deactivated lightsaber into the data stacks to guard Erea while she worked. "Making credits!"

Leon laughed inwardly. It wasn't a Jedi, it was just a greedy nerf herder with a lightsaber and a dash of Force sensitivity. He shook his head and moved silently behind one of the mercenaries, snapping the man's neck efficiently and noiselessly before moving on. The next one put up some more fight. He turned as Leon approached, firing his blaster. The Knight, luckily, jumped out of the path of each bolt with the aid of the Force and tore the weapon from his enemy's hands. A single shot later and the man was left on the ground, a smoking hole in his chest. Leon turned quickly, trusting his instincts, and unloaded the rest of the energy clip into the final merc, who had managed to sneak up on him somehow. With that, Leon dropped the blaster rifle and reignited his saber before turning to where the Twi'lek now stood.

The green skinned alien man was shaking in rage. Watching one's friends would do that, Leon supposed. The Twi'lek shook his head in sad anger and then roared, rushing Leon and swinging with savage, wild blows at the Knight's body. Leon was able to deftly move out of each blow's path, altering his enemy's path slightly with the Force. To the former Jedi's credit, the speed of the blows was keeping Leon from raising his saber and getting his own attacks in. That didn't last for long though.

As another blow came in, Leon ducked beneath the horizontal swipe, only to be caught in the jaw by the Twi'lek's Force enhanced knee and sent flying through the air. Leon caught himself midair, flipping gracefully and landing with a soft thud. He glanced up at his opponent in frustrated anger. "Enough," he snapped before instinctively raising one hand. He tried to summon Force Lightning, but the energy fizzled out at his fingertips. He barely deflected the next slash of the green saber, twisting around the blow.

Leon twisted, growling at his inability to use one of the most basic Force techniques there was. He blocked the next attack of the Twi'lek and smashed his elbow into the green alien's face. The former Jedi stumbled back and Leon lashed out with a concussive blast of Force energy. The black of Leon's saber immediately rushed forward, cutting the alien's skull in half horizontally, causing the lekku to collapse to the floor, followed swiftly by the body and top half of the man's head.

"I've got the data," Erea said to Leon, who looked up from his hand. Why couldn't he cast Lightning?

The Commander opened her mouth to say something else to him, but was cut off by a beeping from their commlinks. "Leon, Sith – you're going to want to see this," the steely voice of Deranis said over the link.

Leon shook his head and sighed. "We're on our way," he said a moment later.

SWSWSWSWSW

The room was completely black and made of ancient, stone like materials. Water dripped from the ceiling at odd intervals, somehow echoing through the shadow right at the moment one became their most comfortable and shaking them from the fugue of their sleep. There was a small drain in the middle of the floor, but the puddles of water were rarely large enough to slip down the drain, instead festering in the rough grooves of the floor. The rotten stench of barely washed human excrement filled the small room, though its only denizen had long since become accustomed to it.

Not much bothered the man kneeling in the darkness anymore, actually. He was in the center of the room, just over the drain. The man's hands were clasped together near the small of his back in a latch-less, durasteel board. His captors had snapped his thumbs at the joints to jam his hands through the holes before healing his hands to prevent his escape. His hair, once a closely cropped brown, had turned into a mangled, matted mane of different colors – or, it would appear that way were there any sources of light in the room. He still wore the cloth remains of the brown and red robes that had once adorned his shoulders; a small patch was torn from his tunic to reveal a patch of his chest.

When light flooded into the room, the man did not open his eyes. It had been months since he'd seen light, and he wasn't in the mood to be blinded right then. He slowly allowed his eyelids to drift open, accustoming them to the intense burn of the probably singular, dim light as slowly as he could. The one who had entered the room said nothing as the man blinked, blindly examining his surroundings. Finally, the prisoner spoke, "Well, I honestly didn't expect you to come see me so soon," the prisoner said, smiling as his eyes began to fix on his visitor. "Tell me, what can your dear brother do for you, Jana?"

The Knight leaned towards the plasma wall of the cell, eyes narrowed angrily. She didn't say anything, however. She merely glared at the weakened remains of her brother through the plasma wall. "Oh, stop trying to make me see things, Sister," Griffus chided, his voice slightly unhinged. "My time here has made me hallucinate enough that your imagination isn't that bad anymore. If you're even real, that is..."

"Revan. I know you felt it, too," Jana growled at her brother, a hint of fear in her voice. Griffus laughed manically, confirming what she had thought. "He's dead."

"If that's what all the evidence says," Griffus said with a humorous shrug. "Who am I to argue with the one who planted the bombs?"

Jana was silent at that. "Oh, come on. Frius winds up in an exploding fighter, I end up arrested for 'treason,' and you walk free?" Griffus pointed out incredulously. He turned to his shoulder. "Yes I know. Oh, please, like you'd know." He turned back to Jana. "You are real, right?"

"Far as I know," she replied coolly.

Griffus shrugged, accepting that this was as good as he'd get. "How much did Nernyn pay you? Oh, no, you never liked things. Too mundane for the mind witch. He probably gave you some old weapon or Sith holocron. Ancient teachings for one stuck in the past."

"It teaches us to prevent repeating it," Jana hissed.

"Really? I couldn't tell what with you repeating the past," Griffus retorted, laughing as he did. Jana hissed quietly, but otherwise did not respond. "Revan. Yes I felt it. Why?"

"He's dead."

"And why would that matter?" Griffus asked, his voice completely calm for once, his insanity quelled in a moment of clarity. "Our Emperor said he often saw the visions of his namesake."

"So even in death he moves against those who deserve the Empire?" Jana asked. Griffus rolled his eyes at her overt pride. "He would doom what he created for... vengeance?"

"Did you meet the man?" Griffus asked, his hysteria returned. He looked at his left shoulder. "Right? I mean come on, he tried to kill the woman he loved for vengeance!" Griffus sighed contentedly and turned to his sister. "I can't imagine what he has in store if he'd come from beyond the grave for you. I'm giddy with anticipation."

Jana shook her head and turned to leave, trapping her brother in intense darkness yet again. Griffus smiled to himself and sighed. He couldn't wait to see what his Master had in store. All it was going to take was a little escape, and now that he could see in light again. With a laugh of pain and insanity, the former Knight broke both his thumbs as he tore his hands from his cuffs and escaped custody. With a wave of his broken hands, the plasma wall deactivated and he began his destructive march to freedom. "I'm coming, Lord Revan," he said with barely contained glee. "Let's set the Empire ablaze one last time."

SWSWSWSWSW

"Is that a toddler?" Leon asked again, staring at the little girl playing with blocks in front of them. The child laughed happily and threw one of the blocks at Deranis' scowling head. "Where the kriff is the target?"

"She's shorter than we thought, that's for sure," Mari said sarcastically, her face an angry scowl. "Schutta wanted us to steal a kid!"

"Does that change anything?" Deranis asked with a growl, drawing a surprised glance from the others.

"Yes, it does," Erea snapped, drawing a grunt of approval from Marien. Leon appreciated for a moment that the two, despite their mutual dislike, were more similar than either believed or would ever admit. "It's a kid."

"It's the target. If we want to cement our reputations, we're going to have to do unsavory things," Deranis spat, turning to Leon. "We have to do this for our mission. We have to take the kid. No way around it."

"We can't!" Mari hissed. "You can't just steal some kid, dammit! You'd make this kid never know its parents, and for what?"

"The mission, sadly, takes precedence over all. And they couldn't defend their child, they don't deserve the child!" Deranis retorted angrily. He cursed in a non-basic language. "We have no choice here, Leon."

Leon frowned and glanced down at the kid. "Here's what we're going to do," Leon said, looking back up at the crew. And he told them his plan.