Darth Sidious gave an annoyed grunt when a call stopped him in the midst of leaving. Turning back toward the comm console he frowned at the call code, before he accepted it. It was from an agent on Nar Shadaa, and the woman looked nervous. Licking her lips, her eyes searching his hooded face, she nodded quickly.

"Master, I have news from Nar Shadaa."

Sidious allowed himself a mirthless smile. "You would not dare call if it were not news and important, would you?" he asked sweetly.

Paling, the woman shook her head no hurriedly. "Of course not!"

"The news?"

"The Jedi is dead," she announced gravely.

The Sith Lord's smile widened. "Is he now. How?"

"A bounty hunter, whom I have recompensated with the reward you had issued, apparently brought him down with a rail gun. A somewhat unconventional method, but seemingly effective."

"You have proof of his death?"

"Master?"

"Proof. A body, something," Sidious snarled. "No? And you gave him the reward anyway? The full sum?"

"Master, his death will be confirmed by the Order," she offered timidly. "Another Jedi Knight witnessed his death. He left Nar Shadaa within the hour. That can only mean that the Jedi you wanted dead really is dead, no?"

He gave a disgusted shake of his head. "Probably yes. But probability is not the same as certainty. Well, no matter. A future investment in that bounty-hunter's continued good services, I would say."

"He is young," she added as an after-thought.

"No excuses," Sidious hissed. "Tell him that we invest in his future. But next time I want proof. Understood?"

"Yes, Master. Of course."

"Excellent. Good news, indeed. Good, good. That is all?"

"Yes, Master."

"Then you are dismissed."

He disconnected the call contemptuously, and turned away from the comm. So. Alamys Jorka was dead. Excellent. Grinning to himself, Sidious rubbed his hands in delight. And no matter what he had told the agent, she was quite right. The other Jedi would only have left if he had sensed Jorka's death. Which meant that the Jedi Master was truly gone. Out of the way. Of course, that also meant that the Motha Virus was well and truly lost. Sidious shrugged. He had not been entirely convinced of that little toy anyway. Roj Kell's way seemed much more promising, as even Master Jeldo had had to admit. Now, with Alamys' death confirmed, more or less, he could leave for Duro, where he knew Blithe Arkad to be. The old man was in for a surprise... Laughing out loud, Darth Sidious felt that life was very good indeed.

The voyage back to Coruscant was a lonely one, and Qui-Gon could not shed the memory of the feeling he'd had when he had finally found the missing Jedi Master. Relief. But now Alamys was gone. Even though Jorka had not been among the people the Jedi Knight would have called friends, he had been the sole remaining connection to his old mentor, Count Dooku. Just like the count, Alamys had been a student of Master Yoda, and that in itself made the controversy that had dominated Dooku's and Jorka's views all the more curious. Now both were gone, Dooku out of his own will, and Jorka quite involuntarily. Fact was, though, that the two Jedi Masters that had stood for quite differing views on the Order had vanished at a time when the Council demanded utmost loyalty to their own view of the Code. Coincidence? If so, who could have had an interest in seeing the Jedi draw in on themselves? Not Dooku. The count, Qui-Gon felt, was sincere in his accusations and misgivings about the Jedi. There was no malice in his decision that Qui-Gon could see.

But Qui-Gon also remembered how disturbed and disillusioned Alamys had seemed back on Nar Shadaa, and he thought that maybe whatever the Jedi Master had uncovered had shaken his faith in the Jedi too. What else could have prompted him to turn to darkness? That thought forced Qui-Gon to examine his own feelings on the matter more closely. He agreed with Dooku in that the Jedi were too narrow-minded, and yet the young Jedi Knight's loyalty was to what he believed the Order to be. He would not leave, and yet, he could not condone conformity either. Still, with both Dooku and Jorka gone the two most extreme positions of the Order had lost their voice on Coruscant. Not something Qui-Gon associated with a consensus.

He refused to accept that the Jedi Order had somehow come to a stand-still, where nothing new could be uncovered. It seemed impossible. Was the Force itself not inexhaustible? Did life itself not give birth to new things every nanosecond? It could not be that the rules the Jedi Order promoted were fixed. What if circumstances changed, what if the Code did not cover all situations? He was still submerged in that philosophical debate when he reached the capital. But it was then, approaching the gleaming citadel of the Jedi Temple, that the solution came to him. Someone had to keep the controversy alive. As last student to Count Dooku, it fell to Qui-Gon to honor Master Jorka's death and his own mentor's legacy. He was smiling as he settled his ship onto his assigned landing platform. Well. Life was simple once you had made up your mind, wasn't it?

Feeling strangely elated, his heart light despite the sad news he carried, the Jedi Knight made his way into the temple, and was told that he was expected by the Council. He had sent a report ahead to inform the Order of Master Alamys Jorka's death, and he expected that the Council would want to hear a live report too. So he was not worried or anything, as he approached the Council Chamber. But the smiles he could see on Yoda's and Mace Windu's faces were somehow disconcerting. Hesitantly, Qui-Gon entered the chamber and took up his place in the midst of the room, facing Yoda and Master Windu. They seemed to be in a good mood, which, considering the loss of two Jedi Masters, seemed out of place. On second glance, Qui-Gon realized that those smiles were just up front, really, forced ones, to soothe him, perhaps. He bowed respectfully, then straightened once more.

"Masters," he said, and waited.

"Qui-Gon Jinn, your return lifts our hearts," Mace Windu began, and he sounded genuinely relived. "The loss of Master Jorka comes at a very inoportune time, and yet we are certain that you did all you could to save him."

Considering what Qui-Gon had implied in his report, that had two meanings, and it stung just a little bit. Alamys had turned to the Dark Side and had died without returning to the light. Which was what truly must be bugging Master Windu. Or so the young Jedi Knight thought.

"I tried," he managed, but did not quite look at the two distinguished Jedi. He would have expected Yoda to deliver his famous line of 'There is no try', but the tiny Jedi Master merely nodded.

"Know that we do, Qui-Gon Jinn. But balanced disaster is by joy. Today arrived has a young boy from Telos. Your efforts, it seem to be, that brought have his father to his senses."

"Xanatos! Crion has finally allowed him to be trained?"

"Yes," Master Windu added with a smile. "We have tested him already. Considering his potential we will make an exception in age. He is perhaps a little too old, but since he already knows his future teacher that should be no problem."

Qui-Gon felt a bit faint just then. "His future teacher?"

He remembered all too well his brief discussion with Blithe Arkad, who had suggested that Crion distrusted the Jedi's skills in dealing with children. That Crion feared they would make his son a brain-washed slave. And it also occurred to him that the Council had changed the subject from Alamys Jorka's death to Xanatos all too quickly. Were they trying to placate him?

"Teach him you will, Qui-Gon Jinn," Master Yoda told him gravely.

Bowing his head, Qui-Gon nodded. "Yes, Masters. I will."

What else could he say? But he could not help the feelings of doubt that were still eating at his heart.

He entered the small dwelling cautiously, acutely aware of just what beast lurked at the end of the shadowy hallway. Yet he could barely suppress his elation at having succeeded. Here, on Duro, he had finally found the one he needed, the one who would teach him. Taking another step, careful not to make any sound, Sidious closed in on the open doorway that showed him an almost homely scene. Seated in a high-backed chair his quarry was bent over a book, apparently transfixed by the writing. A single candle illuminated the room just barely. How old-fashioned, Sidious remarked to himself, and a contemptuous smile began to quirk the corners of his mouth upward. Just then the old man looked up, his eyes narrowing briefly, before they were directed straight at the unannounced visitor. He put the book down on the table beside the chair, but did not move to rise. He was obviously waiting for Sidious to come to him.

Now that his presence had been acknowledged, Darth Sidious found no reason to hide any longer. Stepping into the single room of the house he stood very straight, confronting a legend from ancient times. His apprehension was so strong that he had to fight himself so he would not tremble with excitement. He dearly hoped that his nervousness did not show too much. The old man cocked his head to one side, long white hair falling down over his shoulders, and his pale green eyes suddenly turned very cold.

"Who are you?" he asked, and even though Sidious had known about that voice's magic, he still jerked in response to that enchanting organ. Darkness laced with silver lightning, hard as steel, soft as velvet.

"I am Darth Sidious," the younger Sith managed, his own voice reasonably stable.

"Darth Sidious? Well," the old man said with a wry smile. "I suppose you did not come here in search for an apprentice."

Sidious kept his features very calm, even though the jibe stung. "No. I want to learn. I want you to teach me."

"Well, Sidious, your title implies that you have a teacher already, or else that you have finished your apprenticeship."

The younger Sith's lips twitched as he realised that the old man had denied him that title deliberately, but he kept silent on that. Instead he answered, almost truthfully. "My master died quite—accidentally."

"You mean you did not kill him yourself?"

"No."

"The Jedi did?" Now the other man's voice sounded almost amused.

"No. As I said, it was an accident." Well, perhaps Alamys Jorka was due some credit, but not much. Darth Nexus had his own stupidity to thank for his death.

As if picking up on his thoughts the ancient Sith Lord frowned. "I cannot teach you," he declared at last.

"Yes, you can," Sidious countered boldly.

"What makes you think so?"

"You trained Darth Bane, did you not? He was quite fond of you, I believe. And you were famous at your time too. A battle-leader, the sole survivor of the Sith Wars."

"You know a lot about me. More than anyone alive save myself."

"I am curious."

"And resourceful." The old man rose from his seat in one fluid move, and moved closer toward Sidious, who almost took a step back. The old man was tall, and the shadows he drew from the corners made his appearance all the more intimidating. Yet Sidious remained rooted in place unflinching, even as he gazed straight into those pale cold eyes. "That you could track me down at all is impressive," the older Sith said. "I admit that I am intrigued. Tell me, Sidious, what do you hope to learn from me?"

Darth Sidious inhaled slowly. "Everything," he breathed, sincere.

Roj Kell laughed. "Good. Very good. And learn you will."

At first Darth Sidious had been pretty disappointed. After the dissatisfying experience of serving Darth Nexus he had expected something grander from his new apprenticeship, something closer to what he envisioned the true Sith Order to be. Yet where Darth Nexus had been a boisterous drunk, violent and unable to control his emotions most of the time, Roj Kell was the complete opposite. He did not drink anything apart from clear water or sweet Jeha tea, he was always cool, always calm, and he had no truck with ceremonies of any kind, as far as Sidious could tell. The contrast could not have been sharper.

Sidious realized only a few weeks after having made himself Kell's apprentice that this first impression had been misleading. His new master had just as many vices as Darth Nexus, if on another level. He was obsessed with knowledge, obsessed with playing games, and contemptuous of anything that came even close to a display of the awesome power the Sith commanded. Bottom line: Where Darth Nexus had been too lax and too careless for Sidious' tastes, Roj Kell was too tight on procedure, and far too cautious. That impression proved deceptive very soon, too, though. It took the young Sith another month to come to terms with the fact that he would never be able to fully understand what exactly his new master was.

So he sat cross-legged on the floor of the small apartment Roj Kell had moved into half a year earlier here on Sullust, watching his master read. Respecting Sidious' other, worldly duties, Kell allowed him to come and go as he pleased most of the time. The lessons were that much harder, though. Five years had passed since that fateful day on Duro. Five years of hard work and training, relearning almost everything Darth Nexus had taught him. Don't question, watch, don't take risks, always be sure of yourself, sure of your scheme, never dismiss an enemy and never dismiss the fact that no plan is really fool-proof. One should think that, with all these rules and regulations, the Sith would become totally ineffective and inefficient, but once fully incorporated these basic rules actually gave more freedom of movement, because they eliminated uncertainties and opened more possibilities. Reason was the key to success, knowledge the key to reason.

That approach had to have served Roj Kell very well over the millennia. He was not even very strong in the Force, on the contrary. Therefore Sidious had grown more and more confident, even more sure of his own power, and of late he found himself regarding Kell with the same contempt he had seen Darth Nexus with in the end. True, he was learning more, much more, but at the same time he was growing strangely angry at the fact that someone as weak as Roj Kell obviously was, had managed to survive for so long, had managed to become so knowledgeable and that powerful. It seemed a waste, scandalous even. Kell did not deserve this power at all. And besides, the younger Sith Lord, not so young anymore, had been able to celebrate a few victories during his political career. He was steadily progressing through the ranks and had now been called into the inner circle of the Royal Advisory Council of Naboo. Those victories, which he had achieved all by himself, had made him impatient with his Sith training too. So Sidious had decided that soon now he would truly shed his bonds to his master, and get rid of him.

"Oh, this is interesting," Roj Kell said suddenly, his enchanting voice cutting easily through Sidious daydreams of glory. The old Sith was still bent over the book he had been reading, looking at the displayed page intently. "I quote: True power is seldomly blatantly obvious. If you encounter strength, can you be certain that strength is not only a shield to hide weakness?" Kell turned his head to gaze at Sidious. "Tell me, apprentice, what are your thoughts on that matter?"

"Either you are strong or weak," the younger Sith said with a shrug. "Strength needs to be hidden sometimes, but never in a confrontation, I think."

"Really?" Roj Kell smiled thinly. "Then you believe that weakness is a sign for the absence of conflict? You believe that, if someone seems passive, that someone is also weak?"

Feeling a bit uneasy all of a sudden, Sidious shifted his position ever so slightly, trying to understand what his master was telling him. "What you mean, master, is that one should not trust first impressions, I believe. A variant of the lesson on distrusting certainty?"

"A variant of another lesson?" Kell asked back, frowning angrily. "There is no such thing as a variation of something else, Sidious."

The Sith apprentice felt decidely defiant just then. "Master, with all due respect, that is simply not true. What about clones? Manufactured goods? Even something as natural as identical twins, or even a single species, are a variation of the same theme."

"My, my, aren't you a clever one. Is such a minor detail as important as the greater context it finds itself in? Try to approach things from a greater perspective, Sidious, only then you can understand the details fully."

Sidious sat on the floor mutely, digesting this. It was, from a certain point of view, even true, and it told him much more about his teacher than he would have anticipated. The greater context, was it? Obviously Roj Kell did not bother with what he called minor details further than what mere necessity dictated. Feeling the other man's gaze still lingering on him, he raised his head to meet Kell's eyes.

"So, what you mean is that each situation is unique?" he tried. "That nothing can be regarded as a single entity, because it is enmeshed in a greater context?"

"That is exactly what I mean, apprentice." Leaning back in his seat, apparently satisfied, Roj Kell closed the book and put it back on the table beside him. "You believe me weak because you have never seen me employ any of the grand power you expect of a Sith Master. But I am neither a master nor a Sith, as you should know. My teaching you therefore serves to expand your horizon, not your power in the dark side. I won't teach you about that, it is just child's play," he added dismissively. "What I am teaching you is true power, true control. And that, apprentice, makes me more powerful than you are."

Again Sidious sat speechless, taking his time to view this statement from every possible angle. It was true, he was still uncertain about his progress, he had not tested his newly found knowledge yet, and he still felt that he needed to follow his mentor further, before he could truly become master. Somewhere, deep down, he realized that he was being manipulated into thinking exactly that, into feeling dependent on Kell. But on another level he found that he was too afraid to test his own strength against that of his teacher. And still he craved some proof of Kell's mastery, despite that nagging little contemptuous voice that asked what greater proof there could be than the man's history.

Two weeks later Roj Kell surprised his student once more. They were standing together in a mist-filled valley on Railltir, hunting. Both were dressed in the traditional dark robes, but those offered not much shelter against the humid air and cool winds that permeated the valley's bottom. Sidious was watching the trees and undergrowth surrounding them suspiciously. He was more at home in cities, there was no denying that fact. A lesson on pain, Kell had promised, and right now his apprentice was wondering very hard what he had meant by that. Suddenly there was a rustle of leaves to the left, and a distinct snort. A moment later the roaring voice of a Railltir tiger filled the vicinity with an unmistakable challenge. Confront a mindless beast? Sidious smiled contemptuously. What value could such a lesson offer?

"In the game of life there exist only predator and prey," Roj Kell explained, keeping his enchanting voice low, a mere whisper, that was chilling in its intensity. "One or the other can have many guises."

"We are not prey to some beast," Sidious hissed back. "That cat stands no chance against either of us."

Pale green eyes gave him an all too mocking look. "Remember, this is only a lesson, Sidious. You may believe whatever you want."

He added something indistinct under his breath, and a moment later the tiger stepped into the clearing, its powerful tail lashing the bushes surrounding it left and right. Its red eyes were searching the two men intently, as if determining which one it should attack first. Not surprisingly, it started toward Sidious, stalking through the low grass slowly, its giant, muscular body seemingly growing smaller as the beast tensed more and more, a two-hundred pound mass of coiled power, ready to leap. Sidious merely smiled, as he reached out for the dark power that was always close, focusing his contempt and indignation into that darkness. There was no reaction, though, no connection. No response of power.

Frantically, the Sith apprentice made a grab for his lightsaber, but that sudden movement prompted the tiger to attack instantly. Claws drawing deep furrows into the ground it came at Sidious, jaws opened wide to crush his bones and render his flesh. Paling considerably, Sidious took a few stumbling steps back and brought his weapon to bear. It ignited in a blood-red beam, and the sudden light distracted the tiger for a moment. It broke off the attack and jumped to the side, where it crouched low, obviously assessing the situation.

"Railltir tigers are cunning. She will stalk you until she deems it safe enough to attack. You are prey now, Sidious, but you could also be the hunter, if you are clever and brave enough," Roj Kell said calmly from his side of the clearing. "Remember to never underestimate your victim, though."

Out of the corner of his eye Sidious noticed the older man detatching the handle of his own lightsaber from his belt and the humming sound of the activated yellow blade followed a low click. The apprentice relaxed a fraction. All right. Apparently Kell didn't want his student to end up a Railltir tiger's dinner, even though he had somehow blocked Sidious' access to the Force. He would interfere, if necessary. Thus reassured, the younger Sith started stalking the tigress instead, moving around her in a tightening circle. She followed him gracefully, red eyes narrowing as she hissed at him. When Sidious feinted an attack at her, his lightsaber blade leading, she hopped back, yet her right paw clawed the air in instinctive response and warning. She was undecided about this turn of events, it would seem.

Then she jumped, her body propelled into the air by powerful hindlegs, huge pranks reaching for Sidious, fangs gleaming.

Surprised for a moment the Sith apprentice brought up his blade, deciding in a split-second that he could rip her belly open or decaptivate her when she reached him. But then he realized that her claws could still hurt him that way. Moving instantly, he stepped aside and lowered his lightsaber from a high guard position to a more leisured frontal guard. The tigress dropped elegantly on the ground, preparing for another attack. Sidious wanted to meet her before she could gather herself, but he was held back in place by a glowing yellow blade that appeared quite unexpectedly in his line of sight and gently moved toward his throat. Sidious strained to catch Kell's eyes, but at the same time did not want to lose track of the tigress. Then his master explained:

"She is not the predator today, apprentice."

TBC