"I know how hard this must be, Jarec.", Luke said as he entered the room where the bodies of the Sith Warriors had been.
"How could you?", Jarec asked, a hint of anger in his voice.
"My father. He once fell to the dark side, if you recall."
"That's different. This man was not Anakin Skywalker. He was my friend, I knew him so well.", he said, becoming more stern now. "I never thought he would walk that path. He had no reason to."
"Perhaps not.", Luke said. "But the darkness that consumed him was his destiny, Jarec. Nothing you, nor I, did could have stopped that now."
"Can you promise me something, master?", Jarec asked.
"What is that?"
"That if I ever, and I mean ever, stray too far away from the light. Yell. Yell as loud as you can until I can hear you.", he said, almost pleading with Luke. "If there's even a hint of light in me, yell."
Luke didn't know what to say. These words were hard to listen to. He couldn't bear the thought of Jarec straying from the light, but he had to honor his student's request.
"I will, Jarec. I promise you.", he said.
"Thank you, master."
"Hey, kid.", a voice said, causing Jarec to turn, seeing Han.
"Han!", he said with glee, so happy to see the man he had bonded with two years ago. He walked over to Han and shook his hand.
"How's the training been, kid?", Han asked. "I hear your pretty good with one of those laser swords.", Han said jokingly.
"It's hard.", he said, pausing for a moment. "But worth it. How's Leia and the baby?"
"Stubborn as usual. The baby refuses to be born and Leia refuses to be patient.", Han said.
"Wait.", Luke said.
Both Han and Jarec turned, but Jarec sensed what Luke did. Jarec turned quickly to Han.
"Han, get Leia somewhere safe.", Jarec said, igniting his lightsaber.
"What is it?", Han asked as he started out the door.
"They're back.", Luke said.
Darth Kain and her Sith Warriors marched up the steps to the Jedi Temple. Rage and anger burned in their heart like fire, as Darth Kain had a scowl on her face, determined to wipe out the Jedi once more. A legion of Jedi landed on the steps in front of them, igniting their lightsabers at once. Caylor Zhong stood in front of them.
"You will not pass.", he said defiantly, raising his weapon to Darth Kain.
She grinned arrogantly and said, "The Jedi Temple is ours. It will once again burn to the ground."
The Sith Warriors moved forward, launched themselves into battle with the Jedi. Swords clashed, sparks flew, and people, many people, died. Sith went down, Jedi went down. Although it seemed even for a moment, the Jedi quickly took the tide of the battle.
Luke and Jarec joined the battle, their lightsabers cutting with ferocity. In the heat of the battle, Jarec saw Darth Kain, almost as if she was motioning to him. He cut his way through, taking down numerous Sith Warriors to get to their master. Jarec cut one down, then spun around, locking swords with Darth Kain.
"Ah, the student of Luke Skywalker.", she said. "We have heard a lot about you."
Kain went for a swing, but it was blocked. Again she went for a strike, but she was once again blocked. Again and again, each cut coming closer and closer, but caught each time. Jarec ducked an overhead swing, blocked a strike, then rose up, cutting Darth Kain's right arm off. She screamed in pain, her severed arm on the ground, still holding her lightsaber. Jarec then spun around, cutting her legs out from underneath her. She fell to the ground, screaming in pain.
A Sith Warrior was contacted by Darth Stryker via hologram, "Retreat. Come back to Sullust."
He seemed confused about this. "But Lord Stryker, the battle is quite even.", he said.
"Are you questioning my authority?", he asked angrily.
"No. It will be done, Lord Stryker.", he said. "Retreat!", he yelled to his fellow warriors.
The Sith Warriors began to fall back, one by one retreating into the Naboo forests. The Jedi began to follow, but Luke stopped them.
"No. Let them go.", he said.
"But they're on the run, master.", Jarec said. "We should go after them. This is our chance to destroy them."
"No.", Luke said sternly. "If we follow them, hunt them down and kill them, we would be no better than them."
"What do you call this?", Jarec said as he motioned to the ground, the bodies of dead Sith Warriors strewn about.
"This was defense, Jarec. Our Temple was attacked. What we've seen here is obviously not they're whole army. The Bothan spynet will track them, find their location. If we defeated all of these invaders, more would only show up.", he said. "We must eliminate them all, at the source.", Luke said.
He turned to Caylor and said, "Master Zhong, have this mess sorted out. I want these Jedi to be given a proper funeral service."
"Yes, Master Skywalker. It will be done.", he said as he bowed to Luke.
Luke and Jarec then turned their attention to Darth Kain, struggling to get away. She looked up to them.
"Jedi scum!", she screamed.
"Take her into the Temple.", Luke said to Jarec. "We will question her to find the whereabouts of her master."
"How are you so sure she has a master?", Jarec asked.
"A Sith Lord wouldn't have been taken down as quickly as she was.", Luke replied. "I was quite impressed with your swordsmanship.", Luke said.
"Thank you, master.", Jarec said.
They bowed to each other. Jarec watched Luke walk into the temple, then looked to Kain on the ground.
"I know what you're thinking.", he said as he leaned in close. "You're thinking that hate is building in me, don't you? You think I'm going to strike you down in cold blood.", he asked.
"You're afraid. You are...afraid.", she said.
Jarec stepped back, hearing the exact same words from his Dagobah cave training. His mouth agape, Kain began to laugh. Her chuckle grew as she watched Jarec look on in fear.
"See? That's fear. Fear of what I am...of the dark side.", she said.
"No.", he said, igniting his lightsaber. "I do not fear the dark side. I fear nothing!", he yelled, raising his lightsaber up above her.
She grinned arrogantly, taunting him. "Go ahead. Strike me down and prove to me you don't fear the dark side.", she said, smiling.
"Jarec, no!", Caylor said as he ran up. "Don't, Jarec. Don't give into hate.", he said calmly.
Jarec paused for a moment, then retracted his lightsaber. He sighed, then closed his eyes.
"Master Zhong, take her into the temple.", Jarec said. "I need to meditate.", he said.
Caylor watched Jarec go off with a look of worry.
"I sensed your defeat.", Stryker said as he stood in front of his Sith Warriors. "I sensed your pathetic, pitiful defeat at the hands of the Jedi. I sensed Darth Kain's defeat. She is useless now."
Darth Stryker began pacing back and forth in front of the, locking eyes with them intently.
"One of you will be my new apprentice. One of you shall take the mantle of Darth Xahn.", he declared. "And when you take that title, you will prove it by striking down Skywalker and the rest of the filthy Jedi."