Nanh - Two Years Later.

The years had gone by fast. His training had demanded all the attention he had to offer, and the days flowed endlessly onto each other. Skar had no time for leisure, nor did he feel he needed any. This was the life he had chosen, and through it he would achieve a future filled with many open paths. It would have been wrong and shameful of him to complain about the workload, when this was all he had ever dreamed and hoped for.

Skar pushed himself into levels of strength and stamina he never knew he possessed. Other than building him up physically, it sharpened his mind. He'd lost some weight, but what he'd lost he'd gained in muscle. In the beginning of his time on Nanh, he'd taken up jogging in the early hours of the morning, and those sessions were still active, only each day he would run a little further. Each day he would set new bars for himself to reach, continuously striving and pushing himself further. What had once seemed impossible, was now effortless.

Skar was a Jedi, now more than ever. The Force was at his use and it came to him with greater ease through his intensive training. He'd reached the full potential of his legacy. He had confidence, strength and no fear. He was a Jedi, and he was also Kjoil, master of his own destiny and his own life.

Though the purpose of that life still eluded him. Through his training he had learned different ways of perceiving and understanding life, but it had never shown him a clear cut path that had felt right to him. As a Kjoil he was not bound by the codex of the Jedi. He would be free to follow his own feelings, the way his family had. The Kjoil were not limited to a life in the service of good, they could choose their own goals, good or bad without fearing the consequences of the Dark Side.

Emotional traps like anger, fear and hate, that were the greatest enemies of the Jedi, were no threat to the Kjoil. They were free in ways Jedi could never be. Stronger, faster and unbound to the Force and its choices. It seemed silly and rather ridiculous to him that with so many open paths, he could not find one that felt right. Skar let out a breath of air and decided to concentrate on the matter at hand. It was always important to keep one's focus on the current surroundings.

Now was certainly no different so Skar continued to climb up the face of the six hundred meter high bluff. He'd already passed the halfway mark, and he could spot the roof of the bluff above his hands, hiding somewhere behind the glare of the sun.

It was during one of his hike's that he had become bored with running. He'd looked around for a challenge and found nothing. It was not until he had looked up that he found what he had been looking for. He knew most professional mountain climbers used all kinds of tools and gears, but he felt that with his abilities he should be able to do it without them.

It wasn't easy, but certainly not impossible. Once he'd climbed the first tenth of the way, he really had no choice but to continue on.

Climbing up a mountain was hard, but climbing down a mountain, without rope or tools, was straight forward suicide.

His thoughts drifted back to Master Bo-Hi, whose dream it was to one day join the Rebellion and eventually become the founders of a new Jedi Order. But it was Bo-Hi's dream, not his. His visions were much simpler, and he found that although he wanted to help people, it didn't mean he wanted to devote his entire life to that service. His uncle had been a protector of the Old Republic and he had been less than thrilled by the assignment.

He also knew that the dream and vision that Master Bo-Hi had came from a Force that was telling him to use his powers in the service of protection. The Force that spoke to Skar didn't tell him what it wanted from him, instead it asked him what he wanted. He wasn't too sure he wouldn't prefer it the other way around.

He reached up to a ledge and pulled himself up, sweating. The sun baked above putting a shine over the sand half a kilometer below him, as well as heating the side of the bluff causing him to constantly shift his grip. Skar clutched himself to the side of bluff and closed his eyes.

At times he would stop and say to himself, look, you're twenty-three, no one's expecting you to have your whole life figured out by now. Part of life is learning along the way. Many people change during the course of their lives. The only reason you're worrying about it so much, is because you feel inactive. A time will come when all your work will be revealed worthwhile.

Sometimes he didn't talk loud enough. At those times he felt like Kayupa, like a man always doubting himself and trying to find his niche in the Galaxy. What Kayupa had never learned and what Skar was beginning to understand was that your niche in the world was never stabile. It was shifting and it was frequently hard to keep track of where it was headed.

He took three long in-and-out breaths, keeping his attention on each breath that he took in. Observing breath as it went in and out, he noticed whether it was comfortable or obstructed. It was the former, though he wouldn't describe anything about his situation as comfortable. Skar felt it flowing freely through his lungs, comfortably. As soon as he found that breathing felt comfortable, he allowed the comfortable sensation spread to the different parts of his body.

At one point during the last two years Skar had believed that to find his future as a Kjoil he would have to dedicate himself fully to the Kjoil traditions. He learned two important things from this experience; One was that red hot needles hurt like hell, and two was that people with tattoos always looked cool afterwards, never during the actual process.

However Skar felt his new tattoos were extraordinary enough that the pain was worth it. The red tattoos covered the surface of his hands and continued out around the fingers in an intricate pattern of lines that most people would not know was really the language of his native planet Ka'ckak. From his hands they snaked their way up his wrists and circled around it three times before proceeding up his upper arms in jagged edges, the edges themselves resembling flames, all the way to his shoulders where they dropped down behind his neck and joined.

He liked them very much, but they did not produce the kind of connection he had hoped for. He had intended to use them as a reminder of his purpose but since no purpose or clearer concept of the future had come out of his self-mutilation, he decided to have them symbolize his commitment instead. A tattoo was forever, equal to the commitment of the Kjoil.

Skar inhaled and let the air move all the way down to his intestines. Immediately he felt a greatly improved sense of well-being. Thanking Master Bo-Hi mentally for teaching him this technique, a branch of meditation, in his mind, he spread his awareness, his sense of conscious feeling throughout his entire body. Flowing comfortably, he felt the improving energy already existing in his body, clarifying his thoughts and knowledge already within him.

Skar opened his eyes and again climbed on with this newfound energy. Reaching the last ledge he threw himself up on the peak and landed gently. Skar stretched himself and gazed out over the Canyon of Strength, letting out a heavy breath of air.

Suits its name rather well.

It seemed like a great place to sit and think about important stuff, from up here every problem looked small in comparison. The feeling of victory rushed through his heart and coaxed a smile from his lips. After two years doing intensive training to become a Kjoil, Skar decided he deserved some time alone, to ponder further on what possibilities he would choose in the future.

But it seemed the possibilities were already waiting for him on top of the bluff. Skar turned and looked at the man. He looked the same, still the same long brown hair and the dirty bandana around his forehead. He wasn't wearing the familiar Jedi cloak, but rather a robe Skar guessed he'd snagged from the monks of the Perfection somewhere. He had no doubt spent time with them in his solitude.

Both of them sported the same old gritty beard, Skar's however was not by choice, his hike had lasted about a week and he'd found the older he got the faster his facial hair grew.

Skar grinned, shook his head slowly. "You were always faster than me."

Kayupa's smug smile had not lost its charm over the years. "I always will be."

They hugged cheerfully and clapped each other on the back. Both of them were happy to be in the company of the other. It had been over two years since Skar had seen or heard from Kayupa last, and the last time he'd heard from him, he'd launched Skar into his destiny, helped him find the path his life was to take. Kayupa was the fundament from which Skar had grown into the man he was today, his vector, his catalyst. Kayupa had been an idol to him and Skar had longed to be just like him. So instead of being afraid to go for it, Kayupa had made him desire it.

Skar reached up and touched his own bandana, the one Kayupa had given to him years ago, feeling slightly like he was looking at a mirror. They both wore bandanas, the same unkempt beard, untidy long brown hair, stained clothes, and a tan that could only come from spending way too much time in the sun.

And they both couldn't stop smiling.

"This isn't a dream, is it?" Skar asked carefully. "You're really here?"

Kayupa laughed, the sound of which reminded Skar of when he'd first met him. "Don't make me smack you, kid!"

Skar noticed one detail had changed. "New lightsaber?"

Kayupa unclipped his newly created lightsaber from his belt and held it out for Skar to inspect. "A sign of my new self. A better version of the one I had before. A new part of me."

Skar understood what he meant and held up his hands so Kayupa could see the red tattoos running up his arms; like Kayupa's lightsaber, they represented a new side of him.

"That looks like it had to hurt?"

Skar chuckled. "I imagine being spitted on a lightsaber is less painful."

Kayupa nodded. "So, are you a Jedi yet?"

Skar raised his chin and shook his head a few times. "I'll never be a real Jedi. I'm a Kjoil."

Kayupa raised an eyebrow. "You know the difference?"

Skar nodded. "A Jedi lives his life a servant of the Force, he follows its will and protects those in need. A Kjoil, he lives his life a free man, he follows his own will, and acts to protect those he loves."

Kayupa smiled. "That's perfect, Skar."

Skar was grateful for the compliment, but he found himself in unfamiliar territory. Kayupa was his former idol, but now they were on equal grounds. Skar felt too old to have an idol, he'd done so many things without Kayupa's help. He didn't resent Kayupa for his departure but he couldn't deny his feelings had changed.

Skar crossed the peak and put his back to Kayupa. "The ways of the Force are all open to me, Kayupa. I'm in its touch, faster than I would have thought."

Kayupa nodded. "The Kjoil in you. Your powers needed only to be awakened, now they are."

Skar knew that was true. "They are."

"And you know your destiny?"

Skar turned around to face him. "No, not yet."

Kayupa looked like he anticipated that answer. "That's because its not here. Its not on Nanh."

Skar didn't understand what Kayupa was getting at. "Then where is it?"

Kayupa looked up into the sun. "Back home. Back where we began. Nar Shaddaa."

The name struck him like a physical blow. "Nar Shaddaa?"

Kayupa pocketed his hands, as if a sudden chill had reached him. "Wide eyed Bo-Hi never mentions that place anymore, does he. Other than in his prayers."

Skar held out his hands. "We haven't talked about the Jentarana since you left. And to be honest I haven't even thought about it."

Kayupa's eyes narrowed as he stared out at the world around them. "My search through my self has revealed many things to me. I am not going to return to the Jedi Order, if there is such a thing. I am solitary now. That is the way my life must be."

"Why?"

"Because where I'm going I can't be tied up in personal emotions to others. There is only the goal. One I may or may not accomplish but one I must still pursue." Kayupa turned his head. "To find the Jentarana and destroy it," he said with determination. "Its presence is a burden to us all. I know the Jedi can't manage that sort of power nor can anyone else. No one should have it."

Skar agreed with that sentiment. "What about Master Bo-Hi?"

"He can't manage it. He should stick to his apprentices. Those are his real strength." Kayupa sighed. "I fear what might happen if he was to have the Jentarana. Could he stay on the path of the right or would he be tempted?"

Skar nodded. "I fear the same thing."

"Then we must work together. You must come with me to Nar Shaddaa."

Hours went by and they exchanged memories of their friendship and bond, some happy, some sad. Skar couldn't read Kayupa's emotions as well as he could in the past. The Jedi's trip of solitude had created a barrier around his mind that no others could penetrate. He'd had solitude not only on the outside but now also on the inside. He was free from other people roaming his thoughts. Though it may have concerned him, Skar was also happy that the Jedi had found some much needed strength in his absence.

In some ways Skar felt jealous of Kayupa. He was free in all the ways that Skar had longed to be, and still did. Free from desire, free from longing, free of responsibility. Just being in life. Open to all its choices and free to pick whichever he wanted. He felt like an asset waiting to be utilized. Like a gun ready to be aimed at something, though his pacifistic nature would have that gun set for stun rather than kill.

Skar looked down at his hands seeing the scars on both of them. The memory still lingered in each of them. The memory of joining the Force, and the memory of losing Lwen.

Some happy, some sad.

Kayupa looked off into the sun, the light breeze snapping at his robe. "I came here looking for the friend I had two years ago. Is he dead?"

Guilt weighed heavily on Skar's shoulders. Almost topping him over. "No, he's still around. But he has changed too. He sees his own life clearly and sees the danger of rushing off."

Kayupa looked disappointed. "You're the only one who can figure out the key to it. I can't do it without you, Skar."

"And you won't have to. I will help you, but I won't jeopardize my training."

Kayupa seemed to understand. "You've matured a lot. That's good. You have learned much of the Jedi ways."

"Yes."

Kayupa seemed to be building up to a point. "You know how a Jedi manipulates the Force, how he pulls on its energy. You've seen with your own eyes the power and splendor that a Jedi can produce."

Skar wasn't sure where this was leading. "Yes."

"But you are not a Jedi," Kayupa cast him a sidelong glance.

Skar's mind almost collapsed in on itself. "What are you saying?"

"You are a Kjoil. Whatever Master Bo-Hi has taught you, it is simple tricks compared to the true power inside you. He cannot teach you the Kjoil training you need. You must seek this yourself. He cannot help you. Use his teachings, but do not doubt; everything he teaches you will always be a mere shadow of what you can really do. The Force is with you, Skar. Stronger than it will ever be with him."

Skar knew that and he had more than once toyed with the notion that his genetic heritage, his soul, his spirit and its connection with the Force could make him a more powerful acolyte than even Master Bo-Hi or Kayupa. He was their ace in the hole, the strongest card they had to deal in this game.

But perhaps in time, if he willed it so, they would answer to him. He would become a strong Jedi and perhaps someday the whole world would know his name. And they would cheer him as a hero. And maybe, just maybe, Shinran and him would follow up on that kiss.

There had be no continuation of the kiss since that night two years ago out by the sea. Skar thought that maybe Master Bo-Hi would have called it a bad influence on his training to begin a romantic relation with Shinran, but since no more had followed it never really became an issue. All Skar was left with from the kiss was a memory savored in his mind of those few seconds when his and Shinran's lips had met and they'd shared a truly passionate moment.

It was something that just seemed right between them and it had been conceived with the full investment of their hearts. He tried not to think that the reason none of them had followed up on the kiss could be because Shinran had been disappointed with the kiss.

"Whatever lies dormant in my soul," Skar said slowly, "will be your strength as well. But you must wait. I can't afford to lose my progress now. The Jentarana isn't going anywhere. If you trust me as your friend, you will trust my judgement too."

Kayupa sighed. "Then I must wait."

Skar looked at him, saw the hard concentrated look on his face, the hurt sour look of his eyes and the tight jaw. Skar stepped forward. "I wouldn't let you do this on your own, now would I? What kind of friend would I be then? We are Jedi, we stand together. You are my friend and I want you nearby."

Kayupa almost blushed, definitely unusual for him. "The monks told me that everyone in the world is a traveler and the best anyone could hope to find in travels was an honest friend. I know I've found that in you, Skar."

Him bringing up the monks led to obvious question. "Then tell me what happened out there on your travels, Kayupa."

Kayupa looked at him and Skar saw the sparkle in his eyes. The sparkle of confidence. "After years of waiting in the desert, waiting for answers, nothing came. I spent so much time looking. And then, after waiting so long, I realized I was looking in the wrong place."

Skar listened carefully.

"Because there is nothing to look for. The meaning of your life can't be found under a rock. You have to live through it all to see it." Kayupa bowed his head and smiled. "I am grateful for all my problems. After each one was overcome, I became stronger and more able to meet those that were still to come. I grew in all my difficulties. Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The greatest success stories were created by people who recognized a problem and turned it into an opportunity. The thought of you brought sense to it all. I'm not alone. I never was."

"That's right," Skar said gently.

Kayupa stared him in the eyes. "Something else I learned in the desert. In life there are many doors, there are doors that open by themselves. There are secret doors. There are doors that lock. And there are trapdoors," Kayupa bit his lower lip, "that you can't come back from. The old Kayupa. I want you to know he's not coming back."

Skar snapped his fingers. "Damn, he owed me money."

Kayupa's lips didn't even twitch. "I'm being serious."

Skar smiled to lighten the mood. "I know. I think I'll miss him a bit. So will everyone else."

"How are the others?"

Skar felt his emotions tighten in a noose. "Shinran's fine. She misses you as I did. Perhaps even more."

Kayupa nodded to himself, looked down at the ground for a few seconds and then looked back up. "Me and Shinran…maybe there was something there once, but its gone now. We won't work. Despite what you may have thought in the past, I am not interested in Shinran anymore."

Skar's heart sighed with relief. "Well, to be fair, you never really allowed her to know you."

Kayupa nodded sadly. "At one point I did, but it wasn't about her. She could have been anyone. I pushed her aside every chance I got. I guess that was how I knew that we could never work. The way I never gave her a chance."

Skar left it at that. "You want to know about Master Bo-Hi?"

Kayupa shook his head. "No, don't bother. I'm off to meet him now. He's waiting for me. I have a favor to ask of him."

"What favor?"

Kayupa straightened himself. "One that will reveal his true goal. Once and for all." Kayupa looked over at him. "Your training will be over soon, Skar."

"I know."

"Then you will come to help me?"

Skar cocked a smile. "What does your heart tell you, brother?"

With that Kayupa hugged him again. Skar couldn't describe the joy and fulfillment he felt now that Kayupa was back. The man's presence was like a beacon to Skar, showing him what to do. Even if Skar didn't know what to do, Kayupa did. Skar knew that one day he and Kayupa would make a formidable Jedi team. And hopefully Master Bo-Hi would still be with them.

"I'll wait then."

Skar returned to the temple for the first time in months. He parked the swoop and dusted the sand from his tunic. He pulled off the bandana and placed it in his pocket. Then he picked up his satchel on the rear of the swoop and left the hangar. He came inside the main chamber where Shinran was busy with her meditation.

For a minute he leaned himself against the doorway and admired her while she engaged in her attempt to find some calm inside her head. She'd always been strong, for the time he'd known her, but a weakness in her made it so she couldn't focus her strength on one thing. He had once tried a Jedi technique where he'd melded his mind with hers. All he'd gotten out of the experience was static and panic.

Most people have brain functions that allow problems to be solved quickly. Once a question appears the mind works on its own to find the solution. Sometimes the solution is obvious and can be found without further investigation. The problem solving area of the brain was molded by certain events in life, like training or childhood upbringing, but Shinran seemed to lack all of those.

Whenever she was faced with an enigma or a question she couldn't answer, she'd collapse inwards to a state of nervousness. She dealt with a lot of questions and Skar figured the absence of those problem-solving tools was what made her so inquisitive.

Listen to your heart.

Skar had many tools from his training and his upbringing that helped him direct the right attention to the center of the unsolvable. And he'd listened to his heart many times. The heart never lied. It had been the best advice he'd ever heard, and he listened to it more than he wanted to admit. A Jedi listened to the heart, but while the heart would never lie, it could be lied to. It could be deceived.

Skar sneaked up behind her, hoping to surprise her. He took silent steps and was only one step away when she turned around fast, a wide smile on her face.

"Boo yourself!"

Skar was startled but her smile lit up the room and his heart. "Hey."

She stood and hugged him. He felt the warm sensation of holding her for only a second before she stepped back, covering her nose with a hand. "You stink!"

Skar blushed. "Well, I've been without a shower for some time. Really, its that bad?"

"Its worse!" She raised her hand to point at his jaw. "And you better shave or grow a new face because that ain't attractive!"

Skar rubbed his gritty beard, pretending to be insulted, which wasn't hard. "So you won't hug me? Come on. Give me a hug." He made his voice sound more pleading and did his best to look hurt by her refusal. "I've really missed you, you know…"

She started backing away, giggling. "You smell like a tauntaun!" Then she turned and ran.

Skar ran after her. "Come on!"

After Shinran forced him to shower and shave, he pulled on fresh clothes and met her outside on the deck by the lake. Skar told her all about what he'd experienced in the passing months during his hike. And he told her about Kayupa.

"Will you go to him?"

Skar pondered the question through and through. Indeed he did want to help Kayupa. That fire was burning at full flame, and Skar longed to put it out. The mission might not have been the wisest one, most certainly a dangerous one, but Skar allowed himself to think that it would be okay to help Kayupa.

Skar glanced at Shinran, her loving and understanding eyes. Her naked feet waved back and forth in the water below the deck. Up high the moon was a bright pale color. The color of death. "I will go."

"Are you ready for that?"

Skar didn't know. He knew the Force was with him, and strongly so, but to go with Kayupa, to follow his path could devastate everything if he wasn't ready. "I'm…not ready now. But I will be. Soon."

Shinran looked at her own feet and Skar stole a glance at her green eyes, staring calmly at the water. Enjoying the sensation and captured by its tingling feeling. She had found much happiness in the last years. Much comfort. Most of all she blamed him for her good mood.

"Skar, whatever you choose, I want you to know that I support you. I think both options are good."

Skar took her hand. "I'm glad you said that."

The burning candle inside him that he'd lit for her was still alive and it grew stronger in its flame whenever they were together. Skar couldn't deny anymore that he was in love with Shinran, and deeply so. Their friendship was strong and they knew each other well. Almost too well. It had gotten to where they didn't even talk about philosophy or ethics anymore, not the way they had in the past. In their time together they had gotten so close that they almost automatically knew the other's opinions. The talks they'd had in the past had gotten them this close.

She was perfect in his eyes. Beautiful, smart, caring, thoughtful, mysterious, devoted and she had the cutest quirks. The way she would sound very mature during a serious discussion, trying to seem strong and secure, and when her point was brought down, she's turn into a small child and whimper about it. She'd make animal noises whenever she wanted something. It sounded very childish but between them it was like their own language. It was something only they shared. Something personal.

She had become so close to him that even when she wasn't around, it was like she was inside his head, or his heart as she said, wandering around talking to him, and guiding him. The way only Kayupa or Lwen had done before. Every new morning all he could think of was to find her and see her, to look in her eyes, to see her smile. To feel that bone-chilling sensation deep down inside when they looked at each other. She was everything he wanted in a friend.

Or a lover.

Only she didn't know about all these feelings, or at least he didn't think she knew, and he longed for a forum where he could tell her. He thought about how lucky he really was, Shinran could have been anyone in the world, but instead she was who she was. It made little sense in his mind, but he knew how fortunate he was to have met someone like Shinran, and he firmly believed it to be a sign, an omen of the kind of future he was moving towards. A future with her.

She looked at him and Skar looked away fast so she wouldn't see him staring at the way her hair played across her tanned shoulder.

"Did he say anything about me?"

Skar fiddled with his fingers. "Well…let me put it this way; if you wake up one morning and there is a batch of beautiful red roses on your doorstep, they're not from him."

She smirked. "That clears that. I've…always suspected I was somehow to blame for his disappearance." She smiled. "It feels so long ago. I guess I've missed him in some ways."

Skar nodded. "I think we all have."

"What about Bo-Hi?"

Skar interlocked his fingers and sighed. "They're meeting right now. Kayupa said he had a favor to ask of him."

"What favor?"

Skar shrugged. "Something important."

"What was it?"

"I don't know. But he's not joining us again. He's chosen his path."

Shinran looked at him with a weird look on her face. "But he wants you with him?"

Skar nodded. "He does. He wants me to help him destroy the Jentarana. Take it out of the equation. Take it out of our lives." Could there be some way it could be deployed by them for good? Were any of them strong enough that they could use it as it was intended? It wasn't even supposed to be used as a weapon. It was meant as a defense. It belonged to Ka'ckak, but since Ka'ckak was gone the purpose of the Jentarana had ended. It needed to be destroyed.

Kayupa had the right idea. Destroying the Jentarana was the only way. Its dominance in their lives needed to be expelled. That much power in anyone's hand was wrong.

"You think Bo-Hi wants that?"

Skar shook his head slowly. "He knows what he could do with it, but it is the wrong choice." Skar looked out over the lake. "Its of the Dark Side."

Shinran gave him a look that let him know she knew what he was feeling inside. "You thought he was out of your life, didn't you? You didn't think you'd ever see him again? And now that you have you'll do everything to keep him here."

Skar was surprised she knew him that well. And he was surprised to find that he felt so strongly about it. "Yes," he whispered.

"Then you must go to him."

"If I go there'll be trouble. You saw that place. The Jentarana will be well guarded."

"Kayupa got in. He can get in again."

Skar hoped she was right. "But if I go, Master Bo-Hi will go with me. I don't think I'll like where this might end."

Shinran squeezed his hand. "But you see, it must end. One way or another. You must find out the truth."

Skar crossed the dunes to where Master Bo-Hi stood, the Jedi Master deep in thought and his eyes turned towards the clear blue sky over their heads. The heavy cloak billowed as a sudden harsh wind passed between them. Skar folded his hands behind his back and waited for his Master to acknowledge his presence.

The Jedi Master looked over his shoulder at Skar and then looked back at the sky. "Welcome back." The Jedi Master snorted. "That's the second time I've said those words today."

Skar's heart clouded. "I know. I've already spoken with him."

"He's - " the Jedi Master clutched his right hand, as if struggling to find the right words, " - relentless."

Skar forced a small smile. "His courage is admirable."

The Jedi Master turned so quickly his cloak snapped, with the sun in his back, his face shrouded in shadows. "You mistook me. I didn't count his relentlessness as a positive trait. Kayupa is a dog chasing a bone, but he does not see that his bone has landed in a puddle of burning fuel."

Skar nodded. "What's a dog?"

The Jedi Master waved the comment away. "You come to me with a question?"

Skar stood. "Yes, Master. Only now I have another one. What were you looking at?"

The Jedi Master scoffed, the sound of it filled with anguish, and rose a clawed finger to point at the sky. "Kayupa has left us again."

Skar stepped forward and stared at the sky. He saw a small bright line working its way up into the sky, into the very core of the sun. It was the Koniduz, and Kayupa was flying it.

He left without me.

"Why did he take the Koniduz? Is he going to Nar Shaddaa?"

Master Bo-Hi nodded. "That was his wish."

It dawned on Skar. "That was the favor he wanted to ask you. If he could take the Koniduz." Skar looked down over the dunes, as if staring at them would give him the courage to say what he wanted to say. "Master, I promised I would help him - "

Master Bo-Hi turned. "We have no other ships. Besides, your training is not finished. You're not ready for that sort of thing."

Somewhere in the back of his head Skar remembered, that according to his knowledge the only thing that could threaten a Kjoil Knight's presence in the Force would be to divulge into the teachings of Sith. Apparently the Sith had a very strong influence on the integrity of the Kjoil's symbiosis with the Force, which made perfect sense since the Kjoil were the strongest of the light side of the Force, even more powerful than the Jedi, and the Sith were the strongest of the darker side. They were exact opposites. Which made them very fatal.

Skar straightened himself. "I feel the Force."

Master Bo-Hi lowered his head. "Even if you were ready, none of us knows how to operate the Jentarana. Kayupa may protect the Jentarana, but he can't use the Jentarana to protect himself."

Skar stepped forward, holding out his hands. "He doesn't care about getting it out of there. He wants to destroy it."

Master Bo-Hi shivered, as if the desert around them had changed to arctic landscape in the blink of an eye. "He will destroy Jentarana?"

"That is what he told me."

"Skar," Master Bo-Hi hesitated, "how can he do that without the key?"

Skar suppressed a sly smile. A few months ago he had been meditating in his room alone. Channeling through the Force he'd received images and pictures of the past, the present and the future. It all combined inside his head into one grand image of how all life was moving inevitably forward into chaos. The chaos created by the Empire.

And in that image he gained one wide understanding of how everyone worshipped themselves and sought to themselves for personal strength. True strength was not found in the external but in the internal. Inside was where all the answers were to be found.

Whatever one lacked to understand could be found if only one opened his mind enough to let all things come back. Memories of his family had flooded to him, even the memories of those he hadn't know. And even the memory of his uncle, the Sith Lord, the Kjoil, the legend, the terror, Skind Kjoil.

Master Bo-Hi took a step back as it dawned on him that his apprentice had been successfully keeping a very big secret from him.

"I know how to find the key."

Master Bo-Hi looked as puzzled as a person could look. "How? The only one ever to know that secret was Skind Kjoil. He is no longer alive."

Skar didn't like the way Master Bo-Hi had put it. "Maybe not here, but he is in the Force."

"You will try to reach him?"

Skar nodded. "All life exists in the Force. And Jedi can become one with it. Why not him?"

"He wasn't a Jedi, not even a Kjoil when he died. He was a Sith."

Skar scoffed. "Why should they be different? Like you said we're all just different sides of the same Force."

The Jedi Master looked so small, like a fragile wounded animal. And something about that sight pleased Skar. "How would you know it wouldn't damage you?"

"I don't," Skar said, "but its worth it, isn't it, Master? To have the key."

Hitting Skar harder than any physical punch was the deep fear in Master Bo-Hi. At last Skar knew that his fears had been well-founded. Master Bo-Hi did want the Jentarana. And the realization of this had made the Jedi Master to feel shame in himself. Skar remembered having searched his Master's feelings and found a wish to have the Jentarana.

Kayupa had been convinced that their Master was on a quest for redemption, that he would use the Jentarana to bring the Jedi back into force. Everyone Skar had ever shared that thought with had seen the danger of it.

Skar felt himself starting to slide. Why had Kayupa gone off on his own? How was Skar to follow? And if Master Bo-Hi wanted the Jentarana, was Skar right to bring the key to him? If Master Bo-Hi saw the same danger, why had he allowed Skar to look for the key? Was there anyone left to trust?

In the end the Master nodded. "Its worth it."

That night his dreamless sleep was slowly disturbed. He was still engulfed in darkness and hazy understanding of where he was when he felt the slight sting in his chest. He opened his eyes but saw only the dim lighting and the shadows in his room. He scratched at the sting trying to make it go away, but it didn't. He scratched harder until his skin turned red.

Convinced it was just his imagination he signed it off and rolled over on the other side and tried to fall asleep.

But the stinging remained. He sat up in his bed and turned on the light. Examining his chest he saw only the scratch marks he'd induced on himself. The room around him had a very dark feel to it. It was in the middle of the night, he could tell that much from his use of the Force and the drowsy feeling he had inside.

Skar swung his feet over the side of the bed.

Then it came. He felt emotions of hatred, disgust, and powerlessness, but they weren't his. He felt them through the Force from a separate person. He could feel the thought patterns of this other person, and realized it wasn't someone he knew. It wasn't Kayupa. This person was younger, more centered, but hid a dark secret. Hard feelings of guilt and impotence weighed heavily in this person's heart.

Skar could also sense determination and eagerness brewing underneath that cloud of despair. Dangerous impatience and anger hiding behind a shield of good intentions. Skar could almost feel the person as if it was himself. A name rang inside his head, but it was too clouded to make out.

The name was…

…Good. I can feel your anger. I am defenseless. Take your weapon. Strike me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the Dark Side will be complete…

Skar heard the voice as clear as if it had been spoken to him directly. A deep, evil voice, that sounded like an old man. And as the voice faded more emotions came rushing through him, and he felt the Force being pulled at from this person whose mind he'd invaded. A Jedi's mind. Then his heart started pounding too fast for his body to keep up. The pain in his chest span out to his entire body.

Pain was cutting through him like a razor and he felt fire flaming through his veins. He screamed aloud and threw himself onto the floor where he contorted in pain. Then more pain, every pounding pain like a blow. He convulsed and tried to crawl across the floor, but couldn't move out of the sheer devastation inflicted on his brain-functions. Nothing worked; only pain.

Only hopelessness.

…Good. Use your aggressive feelings, boy. Let the hate flow through you…

Skar felt deep and unwanted embarrasment. Like the unpredicted actions that one made out of rash thinking and loss of self-control. A total loss of the self.

…Obi-Wan has taught you well…

Now a third person, this one dark as well, deep in the Dark Side. But this one too hid something beneath his black shell. Somewhere in him burned the energy of the Force, but it felt restrained. It had been held back for too long. It had been lied to, denied, and pushed away like a grudge only to come out in full force when pulled into light.

Skar was pulled off the floor and hovered in midair, still clenched in pain, unable to move out of his fetal position.

…I will not fight you, father…

Regret. But also strength. Strength in the faith one owned. Strength to believe it was the truth. The kind of determination that came only from confident willpower. Something worth fighting for. Love. The invisible hand threw him across the room and he slammed against the wall, leaving a trace of blood on the floor beneath.

…You are unwise to lower your defenses!…

Skar was pulled away from the bloodied wall, only to be slammed against it again, and again, and again.

…Your thoughts betray you, father. I feel the good in you. The conflict…

Feelings of denial and of confidence.

…There is no conflict…

Feelings of unshakable contempt.

…You couldn't bring yourself to kill me before, and I don't believe you'll destroy me now…

Bravery and again love was a factor in this duel. Something between the two combatants was of love. Deep love. Emotional bonds grown from genetic familiarity.

Family.

…You underestimate the power of the Dark Side. If you will not fight, you will meet your destiny…

Skar was pulled from the wall and pounded onto the floor, smashing his face against the floor. The hand dragged him across the room, banging him against chairs, the table, the couch and the bed.

…You cannot hide forever, Luke…

Skar could feel the sorrow like it was his own. A tormenting pull at his heart.

…I will not fight you…

Skar's legs were pulled up and he hung upside down, his arms dragging beneath him as if he was dead.

…Give yourself to the Dark Side. It is the only way you can save your friends. Yes, your thoughts betray you, your feelings for them are strong. Especially for…

Electricity ran through Skar's nerves, as he flew sideways in the air, flew into his bathroom and smashed against the hard concrete wall.

...Sister?…

Confusion. And then understanding and disgust.

…So you have a twin sister? Your feelings have now betrayed her too. Obi-Wan was wise to hide her from me. Now his failure is complete…

The pain wasn't over yet. It pulled him up and he crashed into the mirror, leaving shards of glass on the floor, tainted with his own blood.

…If you will not turn to the Dark Side, then perhaps she will…

He screamed and tried to move but couldn't. He was pulled across the sharp glass, cutting open his flesh and leaving a trail of blood as he was pulled back inside the living room, where he crashed against the dresser.

Pictures of a past he had never had flashed before him, pictures of a young boy eager to become a Jedi, a wise old Jedi Master slain at the hands of a tattooed Sith Lord, a Jedi jumping from a dark pit and saving the day by slicing the Sith in two, pictures of the Jedi cradling his dead Master.

Pictures of love, the young boy had grown into a man, pictures of the woman he loved, pictures of them together. Images of the Clone Wars, massive armies strolling across barren lands, laying waste to everything, pictures of love being shattered by the Dark Side, images of a Jedi Master going to save his pupil turned evil, pictures of molten lava, magma carving through flesh, pictures of surgery and black shining metal.

Pictures of huge space stations blasting planets into shards, pictures of a desert planet not unlike Nanh with twin suns, a young man hoping for a better life, pictures of a Jedi Master vanishing and joining with the Force, images of young pilots determined to protect their homes, pictures of Yoda and a city in the sky, pictures of a dark metal clad warrior claiming to be a father, pictures of Yoda vanishing in the Force, pictures of a sister and the image of green versus red lightsaber clashing in a throne room.

The chairs lifted and smashed against him, breaking instantly. Breaking him as well. His Holocron lifted off the floor and it shattered before him in a million pieces that all flew towards him and sliced multiple cuts in his face.

Regret.

Patricide.

Failure.

…Good. Your hate has made you powerful. Now, fulfill your destiny and take your father's place at my side…

Then illumination bloomed to its full flower and Skar felt a bright center inside him showering the entire Galaxy in victory.

Confidence.

Strength.

Defiance.

Pride.

…Never! I'll never turn to the Dark Side. You've failed, your Highness. I'm a Jedi. Like my father before me…

Anger.

Hatred.

Disgust.

…So be it, Jedi…

Skar could feel his senses coming back but his body was still striving in pain. He tried to stand…

…If you will not be turned, you will be destroyed…

The hand clutched him again and squeezed him until every bone in his body broke. Skar screamed but to no prevail.

…Young fool. Only now, at the end, do you understand…

Then he was thrown like a rag doll across the room, landing on his bed, painting it in blood. The sheets wrapped around him and he couldn't breathe.

…Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the Dark Side…

Then the sheets turned red hot and burned through him. The smell of burning flesh. His skin seared and he screamed again. No sound left his mouth and no salvation came.

…You have paid the price for your lack of vision…

A plead.

A cry for help, but none came.

…Father! Please!…

Skar felt the sheets starting to burn through his veins, his nerves, his muscles, boiling his blood. The pain was unbearable.

…Now, young Skywalker. You will die…

Then came love. Absolute love broke through dark shadows and shone to its fullest extent. The Force washed through him, healing him faster than any of his techniques had ever done. Skar saw images through the Force of a tainted black metal warrior throwing his Master over railing and sending him hurtling into a pit.

Skar felt his bones being reconstructed and his blood cooled. His muscles were rebuilt and his veins popped back into place. Every cut on his body was healed, leaving no traces.

And the sheets freed him, showing him how the room also was rebuilding itself. The chairs morphed into their old selves again. The table perfect as new. The blood on the walls and floor soaking into the walls and leaving the room perfect as new.

Skar sat up, shook himself free of the haunting dream, feeling his body slowly return to normal. He'd detached himself from the dream, and did his best to sign it off as not real. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes. He couldn't believe it. It was a dream, but dreams did not happen to Jedi.

Skar reached out to the Force, reached for a very specific place and found answers in the form of millions of minds like his own, that had heard the joyous news over the Holonet.

The Emperor is dead.

Skar was about to burst with joy but another emotion forestalled it. Almost instantly he knew something had changed in his room. Something was new.

Skar jumped out of bed and looked over every corner of the room. He examined his dresser last and as he pulled out the shelf, he found a new suit lying on top of his other clothes. Kayupa's stealth suit.

As he lifted it up he saw something that'd been lying beneath the suit. Kayupa's trusted blaster with the silenced barrel. Skar touched the blaster and felt Kayupa through it. The thoughts of the Jedi, the passion, the determination, the pride and the direction.

Skar held the suit out and a little note fell from it.

It read; for when you are ready…

Inside the cockpit of the Koniduz, Kayupa jumped out of the seat and went down to the living quarters. Everything was quiet. No sounds, no nothing. He'd never traveled like this alone, there was usually always someone to talk to. But he had come to learn that not only his life, but also his destiny was one of solitude. He did not deter from that fate, he had accepted that he hadn't been put into life so he could be with others. All he needed was Skar's friendship one last time to help him operate the Jentarana. Then he could destroy it. And after that…he didn't know.

Kayupa laid on his bunk and was about to enter a Jedi sleep technique that would wake him up when he was at Nar Shaddaa. The entire distance would feel only like a few hours that way. He had almost entered the sleep when he felt the connection from Skar.

Thank you, brother.

Kayupa smiled to himself in the lonely quarters, glad to know Skar had found his gift. How did Bo-Hi react to my leaving.

Skar's presence felt worried. He thinks you'll get hurt.

Kayupa nodded to himself. When will we meet?

Bo-Hi has agreed to test me for Knighthood in a few days.

Kayupa's heart filled with hope. So we'll be together soon?

He sensed Skar's ravenous confidence. Time and space is all that stands between us, brother. Don't get killed. May the Force be with you.

Where he should have felt joy, Kayupa felt only guilt and sadness. And with you.

Sasori Dragus wearily leaned himself against the railing above the hangar. The last few weeks had gone without considerable incident, but that was actually why he hadn't been sleeping. They'd made very little progress and it annoyed him. It annoyed him greatly. He knew it did not bother Raydoen so because he thought of the Jentarana as his, but Sasori had bills to pay and like always he was left the less enjoyable end of the bargain.

The Jentarana dropship had been stripped away, laying around in huge strips of dismantled metal hull, only the body of the Jentarana remained. A huge testament of having achieved nothing but Sasori still could not help but take in the awe of the weapon.

Such deadly force.

If I didn't know better I'd say the Empire created this weapon, it has their signature. The guise of terror, the terrifying appearance.

The Jentarana was a heavy piece of machinery. A hundred meters in length, not including the tail which by itself measured in at 75 meters. About 180 meters in all. Sasori had even estimated that if the arms were outstretched, the arms and legs all measuring in at 50 meters, the weapon would measure in a total of 230 meters in all. Compare that to a 1.6 kilometer long Star Destroyer, the Jentarana was just a few feet from being one seventh its size.

Sasori's eyes wandered to glance at the hands of the Jentarana, those clutched fists, each finger measured six meters. They could crush an X-wing in one grab. The servomotors were incredible.

He was satisfied with their work so far, but like a father he did not look forward to the day it would leave his hangar. He had grown affected to it over the years. Even though it wasn't his design, he thought of it as his. He'd spent a lot of time working on it, and modified it to be perfect. They'd spent so much time on it and soon it would leave the nest. He knew the crews felt the same way, felt the same affection to it, it was their hard work as much as his.

Sasori's eyes wandered on and ultimately at the tail. Sasori had great admiration for whomever had designed something so ingenious. Sasori imagined the tail could be used to ward off several enemies at once. It could tear down a house, or even slice through the hull of a star cruiser. Strong vibrations in the tail combined with its sharp corners made it into a huge blade-like weapon.

Another facet of the Jentarana that Sasori hoped he could see demonstrated before saying goodbye to it.

Not just the hands and tail were weapons. 30 turbolasers batteries like those on a Star Destroyer were situated on the joints of the arms and legs, even the shoulders were pierced with pits where torpedoes were launched from. A single tractor beam projector was welded into the chest of the creature between the gargantuan arms.

With the blue and gray finish it looked like a aquatic monster, swimming on its tail like a snake. It looked like a rancor only fifty times bigger and with a tail.

The silhouette of the Jentarana was marked as a signature on the forehead of the cockpit, on the head of the giant. The head itself appeared to be the direct copy of a rancor's. A bulge where the signature was sat above the "eyes" which were actually viewscreens for the driver. It even had a mouth, which served no real function, other than establishing fully that the creature was based on something living.

The entire Jentarana was powered by a reactor running along the spine of the weapon. It was nothing short of being a power plant strong enough to support an entire city. It powered all of the giant, even deflector shields and the weapons.

Sasori watched as the crew assembled a new piece of machinery in the tail section. The repulsorlift at the tip had been disassembled and now the tail housed a powerful sublight drive for space travel. It had been an unasked addition to the Jentarana, but Sasori loved working on and perfecting a project. He made it the way he would have made it himself.

He lowered himself to the hangar floor and walked amongst workstations, busy crews and technicians. It gave off a good impression for them to see him down in the pit along with them. He liked to think he was a good employer but he hadn't gone into that part so much that he knew what to look for. The fact that no one had tried to kill him was good enough for him.

Bundles of tools laid here and there, scuds of oil and grease, the smell of sweat, the men busy at devouring energy bars and drinking caf to regain strength. These men worked for him, and they did it without complaint and on command.

He heard welding over his head and saw the sublight drive being pieced together at the tail. The repulsorlift would be situated on the belly of the weapon now. He'd ordered that and so it would be. Sasori looked at the strong repulsorlift under the belly, it would allow the Jentarana to move around inside any atmosphere. Then, when in space, the sublight drives would kick in.

Sasori poured himself a cup of caf from one of the stations and sipped the rich taste. He spotted Dr. Oteyu on top of the weapon, tapping away at a pad.

What's the imbecile doing now?

Sasori despised the man, he was a symbol of Raydoen's lack of trust in him. Dr. Oteyu wouldn't be here if Raydoen trusted Sasori to do the job well.

"There!"

At the sound of the exclamation, Sasori looked up and saw the sublight drive receiving its final touch. The drive itself had been stripped from a basic transport, which wouldn't allow it much speed, but that was really insignificant. This weapon could pulverize anything from miles away. The hull was cased in a super strong material to back up its state of the art shields. Dr. Oteyu bragged they could even withstand a Death Star. Sasori had suggested Dr. Oteyu went to Endor right now to test that theory.

Endor.

The battle had begun. And soon the fate of the Galaxy might lie in someone else's hands. If the Rebellion won, it would be a brave new world, maybe a better one, a more free one for sure. But he felt confident that warriors and weapons would still be needed, like they'd always been.

However if the Empire did fall, that would mean the Jentarana was theirs again. Sasori didn't personally know the owner of the Jentarana, Admiral Ankit Stamper, but the man was Imperial and that was enough. Sasori preferred it on the borderline, he kept himself safely out of the war and struck only to gain profit.

The Rebellion had changed since the Jentarana had dropped into his hands and he now doubted the Rebellion would buy it, their ideals would never allow them to direct their power into something this horrible. But that only left the Rancor League's options more open.

Change is coming.

Raydoen had previously mentioned his interest in stepping up the Rancor League's reputation. Despite their many bases and stations around the Galaxy, Raydoen still felt they did not have enough control of the market, which actually meant he wanted complete control. Sasori would nod and appear to agree, but he had never cared about being a wealthy weapons-seller. Just having enough to make ends meet was enough for him and he liked the way things were.

In the current situation the Galaxy was in he found it somewhat unsettling, but certainly not impossible, that Raydoen might try to advance from weapons merchants to a new reign of government, against the possible new rule of the Rebels. Raydoen was as charismatic a figure as you could get for a leader. And they had plenty of supports from their clientele, which included some very significant people. Raydoen was just brave enough to try it.

He saw some wonderful opportunities in Raydoen's possible campaigning for government. It would branch out their business and allow greater parts of the Galaxy to hear of the Rancor League. But other than that, he saw no point in it. Sasori reminded himself that he didn't want to rule the world, he just wanted to exploit the war as much as he could so one day he might leave the weapon's market and find some new line of work. He'd seen what too much power could do in the wrong hands, and had no wish to count himself among those people.

The two technicians who had aligned the drive to the tail cheered in their own success and Sasori congratulated them in heart. They'd done a great job. Like him they didn't care about what the weapon was used for, they just wanted to get paid.

War and money. Two powerful allies.

A technician approached him, oil smutched over his face. "Sir, I was told to inform you on the latest update."

Sasori sipped his coffee and barely recognized the technician underneath the smudge. "That's fine, Jao, but I can see it from here. Nice work."

The young man shook his head. "No, sir. You mistook me. Its about the war."

Sasori's heart turned to ice and a deep void formed in his heart. "Yes?"

The boy stared at him with eyes as empty as the mind behind it. "Its over, sir."

Sasori liked the young man, which was why the anger he felt inside felt odd when directed at him. He suppressed his fury. "Okay, Jao. That's very nice to know. Now," Sasori put down his cup and pulled Jao close to him, "do you mind telling me who won the war?"

"Oh…Yes, sir. It was the Rebels."

Sasori would have vomited fire if he could. "The Rebels?"

"Yes, sir."

Sasori was never a person who had much experience with anger or hate. Instead of releasing it verbally or kicking something over or, Raydoen's favorite, killing someone, he simply shunned it. He dismissed the young Jao and took calm steps back to his office. He knew from experience that there was only one thing in the world that could help him right now.

Sasori slumped back in his chair, staring at the ceiling of his office as if the answer would somehow form between the cracks in the panels. Life seemed so much simpler just few hours ago. Although he knew the Rebellion would make a better world, regarding peace and prosperity, it would make a harder world business wise. The Empire were easier to deal with because they had no scruples.

They never passed down a chance to get their hands on state of the art equipment, and they were certainly wealthier than the Rebellion would be in years.

The Empire had been his highest paying client, and although he had many others, he suspected he would still feel the change in the market. Many of the people who would pay for weapons to fight the Empire, would now join the Rebellion and be given the chance to do so for free.

Perhaps some of those loyal to the Empire were still alive, perhaps some were still alive to buy the Jentarana. He felt like he was fate itself; he had no doubts that whomever controlled Jentarana controlled the future of the Galaxy.

But he couldn't let conscience interfere. Conscience lost him money. He sat up and his nervous fingers started dancing over the keyboard. He wanted to know details about the Endor battle, he wanted to know for sure what had happened and how great the casualties on either side had been. He wanted to know what was going on right now at Endor. He wanted to see if there was a gap, a void, a weakness he could exploit for money.

War is so fragile for a weapons dealer. Always switching sides.

The door to his office opened so abruptly that Sasori's heart almost leapt out of his mouth. And he knew if it had, the person who walked in would have caught it between his teeth. Raydoen Jayant usually carried himself he was the center of life itself, but there was a hesitation in his step. Sasori didn't know how to describe it, he thought Raydoen looked disappointed, worried.

No, that wasn't it.

Raydoen dropped himself into the couch and his flaming red eyes just stared into darkness like Sasori wasn't even there. He looked vanquished. "Inferior," the voice deep and filled with self-pity, "what are you doing?"

Sasori cleared his throat. "Checking up on the situation."

"What situation?"

Sasori felt like Raydoen was toying with him. "You've, of course, heard about the Rebels at Endor?"

"I've heard."

Sasori thought it was evident. "Well…then our little deal with Admiral Stamper is as dead as he is. We have Stamper's money, and the Jentarana. It'll give us more time to work on the Jentarana, figure out what it can do - "

"The deal…is still on."

Sasori inhaled the taste of smoke. "What? But Stamper is dead, Master. The Empire is dead."

Raydoen slowly shook his head, beaten. Wallowing in his own self pity. "Admiral Stamper … is alive."

Sasori could hear money being shot into space somewhere. "What?"

Raydoen shrugged indifferently. "He managed to escape the fury and has taken refuge. We are to deliver the Jentarana to him immediately. The Offeyyu is already on its way from Pathfort, the only ship we have left that can move the weapon after we dismantled the dropship."

Sasori couldn't believe it. "He's alive," he muttered to no one.

Raydoen only nodded.

Sasori looked up. "Do you want me to come with you to the drop-off?"

"Yes," Raydoen said flatly.

Sasori inhaled the taste of ash. "Why?"

The vampire leaned forward. "A week from now, we will deliver the Jentarana to Soliton. Admiral Stamper has gotten paranoid. He wants us to come as few as possible. Just a transport for the Jentarana. I need you there by my side."

Soliton? Sasori didn't know that planet. "He'll be furious if he discovers the weapon is nonfunctional."

Raydoen flashed a sardonic smile, retrieving a bit of his usual persona. "Indeed he will, but it won't happen."

"Why not?"

Raydoen scratched his goatee. "I am in a foul mood, Inferior."

Sasori was anything but stunned. "Yes, so I noticed."

"But I am not so because of Admiral Stamper's survival," his red eyes lit up, "I believe the Jedi is still watching us. I believe he wants his weapon back."

Sasori couldn't help but look out his windows at the skyline outside his office, his eyes searching for a Jedi Knight standing somewhere, luring on them. He found nothing, and he wished he could forgot Raydoen had mentioned it.

But…

"He knew the access-code to the dropship," Sasori thought aloud. "He may know how to operate the main weapon too."

Raydoen nodded. "It would be beneficiary for us to have him at our disposal."

Sasori nodded, seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. "I'll decrease security. Give him a window of opportunity that we can trap him in." The plan was foolhardy and definitely dangerous, but it was the best they could do short of hanging up a welcome sign on the front door. He doubted sending scouts out to find the Jedi would produce any success. You couldn't make a Jedi come to you, he had to come on his own free will. Their only hope lied in the Jedi being desperate enough to walk right into their trap.

"So we take the Jedi hostage and force him to delve the details about the Jentarana to us, and then sell it to Admiral Stamper, right?"

Raydoen nodded. "Right. With that in mind, Dr. Oteyu has told me of the adjustments you've made."

Sasori swallowed the lump in his throat. "I've given it space-capability."

"Why so?" Raydoen asked in an icy tone.

Sasori leaned back in his seat, interlocking his fingers. "I try to satisfy our accounts the way I guess they would want things to be. I can even charge an extra price for the adjustments."

Raydoen smiled. "Ever the economist. Have you given any thought to the future?"

"The future?"

Raydoen stood from the couch and slowly flowed through the room to the front of Sasori's desk. "This weapon will put Admiral Stamper's men at a great advantage, they've become an army without a government, drastic and unreasonable. They will use this weapon. And you don't fear it will be turned towards us one day?"

Sasori felt edgy with Raydoen getting closer each second. "Admiral Stamper won't attack us. We gave him the weapon, gave him our loyalty, in return for his."

"Do you trust an Imperial on his word?" Raydoen licked his fangs. "Without space-capability we would have had an advantage if he should ever try to double-cross us."

Sasori felt sweat starting to form on his forehead. "The Jentarana is without hyperspace-capability. It will need a new drop-ship. If attacked, all we'd have to do is destroy its dropship and the Jentarana would be trapped in its system." Sasori knew the things he said were easier said than done, but if Stamper should decide to doublecross them, Sasori found consolation in the fact that the Jentarana was anything but invincible.

Raydoen stopped in mid-step, raised a brow. "You are wiser than I thought. I see hints of a warrior's soul in you. Indeed you have looked ahead to the predictable future."

Sasori was unused to compliments, especially from Raydoen, so he didn't know how to feel. "Like you said, Admiral Stamper is a paranoid man right now. I'd expect the same loyalty from him that I'd expect from a snake. An ocean is never so deep that it doesn't have a bottom."

Raydoen snorted and clapped his hands slowly in a mocking gesture. "Remarkable poetry."

"I have no love for any of the Imperials. Besides," Sasori gestured at the city outside his windows, "times are changing. New leaderships will arise, a time of change for us all."

Raydoen nodded. "Yes. And the Rancor League will have a bright spot in the future."

Sasori's thoughts on the Rancor League becoming a government breathed again. And suddenly a haunting image of Raydoen ruling the Galaxy flashed before his eyes, and in that moment Sasori knew he might never sleep again.

Raydoen turned towards the door. "I'll tell you more about my plans later. For now, spread your concern around the Jentarana," he gave Sasori a grim smile before leaving, "for it will be your future."

Skar found himself in a weird mood when he came running around the bend that morning and found Master Bo-Hi eating breakfast with Shinran in one of the rooms they used for dining. Their low muttered conversation came to a halt when he stepped in. Master Bo-Hi didn't acknowledge his appearance at first and kept on talking but Shinran looked around and saw him.

He gave a great big smile and held out his arms. "So?"

They both looked at him, blank expressions on their faces.

"Haven't you heard? The Emperor is dead!"

Master Bo-Hi rose from the table and walked over to Skar, a worried look to his face. "What are you talking about?"

Skar realized than that maybe what he had dreamt had only been a dream. That would explain Master Bo-Hi's reaction. Skar thought about saying nothing more but the feeling of joy he felt in the Force confirmed his statement. Master Bo-Hi just didn't feel it.

"Can't you feel it?"

The Jedi Master squinted his eyes and then reached out to the Force. While he did so Skar walked over to Shinran. Skar managed to convince himself that whatever knowledge he'd found before Master Bo-Hi was not sign of superiority. Master Bo-Hi was of course superior to him, that very fact unfortunately made the future even more deadly.

Shinran continued to eat, while Skar leaned against the table next to her. "Is it true? Is the Empire dead?"

Skar hugged himself, observing Master Bo-Hi. "No, not the Empire. But the Emperor is."

She looked up at him. "Wouldn't that mean the Empire is dead too?"

Skar shrugged. "Only if the thousands of Imperial officers out there look at each other and say; 'well, we had a nice run, let's go get a drink.'"

Shinran made a small smile, obviously too unsure of how to deal with this information to laugh at his joke.

Skar thought about the possible paths the Empire would take. "They'll elect a new leader. Or divide into many small groups. Either way they're still dangerous."

She put down her fork. "So why does the death of the Emperor mean so much?"

Skar realized she couldn't see it from the Jedi point of view. "It means that the Sith have been vanquished at last. And that the Force has been brought to balance."

She nodded. "So…the war is over."

Master Bo-Hi came back and looked at Skar, and more worry had come to his features by now. "How did you know that?"

"I had a vision of the Emperor's death in my sleep. He was killed…by someone close to him."

The Jedi Master shook his head. "What I felt confirms your vision, although I feel that more has been resolved than the Emperor's death."

"Meaning?" Shinran asked.

Skar's eyes narrowed, and ice formed in his guts. "Vader."

The Jedi Master nodded.

"Darth Vader is dead?" Shinran asked, her words sounded untrue, but neither Skar or Master Bo-Hi could explain it any other way. Darth Vader had always been the personification of fear and the Emperor's power. Few people knew what the Emperor looked like, but everyone knew what Darth Vader was.

A symbol of the Emperor's merciless grip on the Galaxy. Vader was the monster hiding under every bed in the Galaxy and to think he was gone, just seemed impossible. Vader was the most feared man in the universe and with him dead it felt like no evil was left in the Galaxy,

Skar knew that was not true. Evil would always find a new host. He glanced at Master Bo-Hi and couldn't help feel that maybe evil had already sunken its claws into the next monster.

Shinran rose from the table. A tinge of hope in the corner of her eyes. "So, do we join the Rebellion now?"

Skar smiled confidently. "Yes - "

"No." Master Bo-Hi stepped forward. "We still have a mission. And we can't involve the Rebels. They have too much on their minds right now. They will try to gain the trust of the Galaxy and build a new foundation. That we cannot delay. When we have completed our mission, then we can contact the Rebels."

Skar lowered his head in anger. Again the Jentarana was there, hanging over their heads like a shadow. It still needed to be taken out of their lives. Skar looked at Master Bo-Hi. "How come you didn't sense it, Master?"

The Jedi Master was crestfallen, truly surprised by his own blindness. "I don't know. Maybe you had a better touch with the Force than me. You have these visions, but I do not. It is a powerful gift."

You mean curse, Skar thought. "So what now?"

Master Bo-Hi folded his hands behind his back. "We make you a Knight and complete our mission."

Skar knew what that meant. Master Bo-Hi retreated to meditate on the events and suggested Skar did the same. He promised he would, but he never intended to do so. With Shinran trailing him they went to the hangar with the two swoop bikes. If Master Bo-Hi intended to make him a Knight, Skar knew there was one thing he'd need to achieve before he was ready to go after Kayupa and stop those who had stolen the Jentarana.

Skar bound the knots on his boots and made sure they were tight. The boots felt like they'd been molded onto his feet but remained comfortable. Then he looked up into the eyes of his heart's unquenched desire.

Shinran.

"You really think this is the way to go about it?"

Skar had chosen two missions for himself before going to help Kayupa, through means he still didn't know. The first mission was to locate or try to communicate with his dead uncle through the Force, in order to obtain some kind of clue to how to operate the Jentarana. Skar figured he might need to know the key to destroy it, or at least to move it to a safer location.

However he didn't have a clue as to how this might work but hoped that Master Bo-Hi might offer help. Perhaps deep meditation or some other kind of trance. Master Bo-Hi had suggested it might not happen on command and that Skind Kjoil, if he still existed in the Force, would only contact Skar when he was willing. That required time. Time he didn't have.

The other mission was to earn something he'd once sworn never to have. A killer-instinct. There was no question about it now, the future would involve fighting for his own life. Skar had never fought anyone besides holograms or benign people like Kayupa or Master Bo-Hi. While they weren't bad teachers, they wouldn't present the danger he would face when real fighting broke out. His enemy then would not back down or try not to hurt him. It would be life or death, and Skar needed to be ready.

He needed to have the experience of fighting for his life.

The second mission came first since it was faster to complete. He had planned to go the Circle of Perfection monks, under the guise of being there to find out if the Perfection was indeed stronger than the Force. He hoped they would show him a way to solve the question. Skar would suggest pitting himself against one of their warriors. Kayupa had explained to him that the monks did indeed have warriors, called Armans, to protect them. Skar had never seen one, but realized he would soon. The monks, he hoped, would not suspect his treachery.

Skar himself was in no way doubtful about the Force being stronger than the Perfection. It wasn't so much that it was stronger, but it was two sides of the same coin. The monks just had a different name for it. Skar hadn't told Master Bo-Hi about going to the monks. He somehow figured the Master would not approve. And neither did he really. But it was foolish to think that fighting wasn't necessary in the future. And Skar didn't want to come unprepared.

He took in a heavy breath of the dusty air inside the hangar, saw the two swoops parked behind Shinran, and knew one of them would soon see use.

Skar smiled to her. "Its the way I've chosen. Its the way I see before me."

"Bo-Hi won't approve."

Skar nodded. "He can't give me what I need. Then I must find it elsewhere."

Shinran held a hand to her cheek as if trying to remember something. Skar could already sense sarcasm building inside her before she even opened her mouth.

"What's that word Bo-Hi used about Kayupa? Oh, yeah. Reckless!"

Skar smiled. "You're so subtle, huh?"

"I just don't want you to get hurt."

Skar walked past her. "I won't"

Skar had chosen his own boots instead of the Jedi boots for this mission, as a sign that he was not Jedi now, he was Skar Kjoil, his own man. He wore his own black pants and a black shirt he'd been given by Kayupa. He had thought about wearing the stealth suit, as it would be appropriate since what he was doing he would do to further his ability to help Kayupa. But it was more to further himself than Kayupa, this ability would help him help Kayupa, but it would mean much more in the future of his life as a Jedi.

Skar straddled the swoop and turned on the power. The swoop roared to life and he lifted it up on its repulsors.

Skar looked at his ungloved hands as the swoop hovered above the hangar floor. The tattoo of the Kjoil. He still owed his family to become the Jedi they wanted him to be, and now he'd chosen to reach that path by following the blood of the Kjoil in his veins instead. The flame in that blood could not be killed. To be Kjoil was his birthright and one he could easily relate to. To be free.

Like what he was doing now. It was not Jedi. It was Kjoil. It was reckless, yes, but it was what his heart had chosen. Listen to your heart. If you believe something to be true, it becomes true.

Skar took a last glance at Shinran. "Famous last words?"

She walked over and held his hand, pressed it against her lips, and Skar felt the hairs on his arm freezing. She looked up into his eyes, and Skar desired more than ever to be hers. "I hope to see you again, let that hope be a reminder to stay alive."

Skar nodded slowly. "I will."

The hangar doors opened and Skar was on his way. The midday sun was high and baking on his black clothes faster than he would thought. He relished the knowledge that he didn't have to go far. The camp was just five clicks away. He headed east to where the monks of Perfection were currently stationed.

As the speeder rocketed across the desert, leaving the temple a speck in the distance, Skar kept thinking about Shinran's lips touching his hand. She'd kissed him only once before, on that cliff two years ago. That time she'd been fearing that one day their paths would part and he would leave her. She'd kissed him passionately on the lips, not just a peck, but a full blown kiss. He remembered the taste of her warm breath against his. The intimate touch of their mouths and the rousing feeling he'd felt.

That had triggered the love in him. It had shown him clearly how he felt for her. He was in love with her. And now she'd kissed him again, this time once again fearing he might not come back. She had before expressed feeling happier when he was around. His presence was illuminating for her. Skar was happy to have that effect on her, and it only strengthened his belief that they shared the same emotions for each other. A feeling of togetherness.

A feeling of belonging to each other.

He arrived at the camp faster than he'd suspected. The monks came out of their tents and greeted him, welcoming him in. Everywhere the little children followed at his feet and stared at him like he was an alien and he realized they were right. To them he was. Shinran had told Skar that when she had visited the monks with Kayupa two years ago, he'd been able to understand their language by tapping into the Force, and also be able to use the Force to translate his own words so the monks could understand him. That technique flowed easily to Skar. He didn't even have to think, it came as natural as opening his mouth.

They led him inside their main tent, where the priests and the leaders gathered to discuss important matters. Skar was placed standing in the center of some ten Elders. The priests. All of them looked alike. Their dark cloaks matched in every detail and they bowed their heads in unison.

Skar noticed Caedmon, a monk whom had known Kayupa and that Skar had had many interactivities with in the past, coming up behind him. Caedmon had come with him to transfer his request. After Caedmon had given Skar's statement, one of the Elders looked up at Caedmon.

Growling he returned his gaze to Skar. Caedmon, this one will not be allowed to offend us! You are responsible for him. Now awaken him!

Caedmon pleaded. Elder, he does not understand our ways, he is not trying to be offensive -

Skar spun and gave Caedmon a silencing look. "I don't need you sticking up for me, Caedmon." Skar turned to the Elder again, "I didn't come here to make waves between us. I came to finally learn if the Perfection is stronger than the Force."

Instantly waves of fear pounded through him. Skar felt it as some of them exhibited fear when hearing about the Force. Skar remembered Master Bo-Hi saying it was an insult to mention it. Some of them began talking to each other. The Elder tried not to look surprised but Skar could feel the panic inside the monk, failing his previous calm. Skar smiled cruelly, satisfied knowing he had an upper-hand in this verbal war with the Elder.

Skar could also feel disappointment coming from behind him, in Caedmon.

The Elder looked at Skar. If that is your wish you will be admitted. We could all benefit. The Elder nodded. He will suffer the test.

Skar didn't like the word suffer. The discussion had went as he hoped, they'd accepted his plea for a test and would indeed pit him against an Arman. He had lied and implied that the main cause of the fight would be to settle the conflict between the Jedi and the monks. Which was the stronger side? Yet their probing was a problem as Skar was afraid they might kick him out again if they knew all he was there for was to learn about true combat. He also did not tell them that he thought that a test between the Force and the Perfection was doomed to fail, if it was based on its uses in combat. He understood the Force to have a greater use than fighting, although right now it was definitely one of the most important.

They took him to one of their permanent temples. A cave entrance led down beneath the desert, and through several lit corridors before he reached his destination. He was taken down a few levels into the bowels of the temple, into a large, dark, black room.

The room was crowded with endless masses of monks in dark cloaks. A single wide ray of sunlight shone through the ceiling, revealing only a small section of the room in a lit circle. The monks began clearing the circle of light, leaving an empty area in the middle of the room, large enough for him to move around in freely.

As they stepped back from the circle in waves, Skar was forced closer to it. The monks cleared the light and stood just at the edge of it, heads bowed and deep in concentration.

Only one other man stood in the light circle, a man taller and broader than Skar, packed with tight muscles and long black hair covering his face. The Arman, Skar recognized the stance of a warrior. He was a monk, very well built and strong. There wasn't an ounce of fat on that lean perfect body. His hair, which hung over his face, covering all sign of mouth or eyes, was longer than Skar's. He couldn't see anything of his face, just like the rest of the monks he hid his face, bowing down to stare at the floor.

Skar was pushed into the area, surrounded by the monks. Two monks appeared at Skar's sides and stripped him of his black shirt. He kept his pants on and noticed the monk was also only wearing pants. Skar unclipped his lightsaber and gave it to Caedmon. This time feeling very little remorse at giving the lightsaber to someone else.

The two monks then donated him a wooden-staff about the size of his lightsaber. Skar moved the staff around a while to get a feel of it, getting used to its weight. It was heavier than the lightsaber, but Skar easily got used to it. As he gazed upon the man standing opposite him in the area, Skar understood he was going to need whatever little space there was in the circle of light.

Skar turned to Caedmon. "So he's ….?"

Caedmon lowered his voice so the others wouldn't hear. An Arman. Trained to fulfill the prophecy.

Skar nodded. "Okay." He took a second to think it over. "What prophecy?"

The Perfection says that one day the Imperfection will come to our world and we must defeat it. The prophecy says that the Imperfection can only be defeated by the Arman, the warrior caste of our monks. The monk you are fighting is an Arman, he has been chosen to be so. They are only warriors, they do not spiritualize like the rest of us. They are guardians and protectors.

Skar looked over the Arman in the other end of the light. "So if I defeat him, I will earn the rank of the Arman with you?"

Caedmon laughed. No, that is not possible. You're not a monk. You think too much. You are too spiritual. That talent is more valuable than combat.

Skar frowned. "Depends on the situation."

He resumed to the combat area and focused his mind on the Arman. The monk opposite him was given a staff too, same size as Skar's. The monk made some quick moves with his staff, showing off his skill. They didn't surpass Skar's by miles, but that wasn't the point neither.

Rather than focusing on that weakness, Skar put himself in the middle of the arena and lifted up his staff, waving his opponent forward.

But the monk kept his distance and started circling around Skar, allowing him to be the aggressor. Though he felt wary of mischief, Skar advanced, swirling his staff like a shield and finally attacked. The Arman side-stepped easily and brought his staff down on Skar's lower back as he came forward. The pain ran down his back like a tree had fallen on him and Skar fell down. Easily.

Too easily.

Skar rolled away in case the monk should try to attack him while he was down. But the monk completed his circle around Skar and stood waiting. He wanted a fair fight.

Skar calmed his nerves and rose again. Come on!

Back on his feet Skar held the staff at his side and this time he started circling the area, always keeping the Arman opposite of him. Skar wanted the monk to make a move this time. However the monk saw Skar's previous attack it wasn't with his eyes, that long slick hair kept the monk's vision to an absolute minimum.

Like an afterthought Skar realized the monk was solely using the Force, or Perfection for that matter, as his eyes. Which meant Skar could not fool him with any feint.

Nothing happened for a while, and they circled each other. Skar used the Force to learn about the monk as time went by, studying his footwork, listening to his breathing. Around them the monks stood quietly, heads bowed, their eyes closed and minds open to the events in the area. The silence was so thick he could hear the monks around him breathing, which made him very nervous. It wasn't until then that he realized he was surrounded by possible enemies.

At that moment the monk made a move, but although it sent a panic through Skar it was nothing more than a quick change of rhythm in the monk's step. Skar didn't realize this right away and instantly flung himself into a quick, raged attack on the Arman's leg. Skar jumped forth, pretending to strike at the monk's head, but changed target at the last minute.

The Arman anticipated this and parried the strike at his leg and gave Skar a head-butt. Before the pain of it had fully reached his brain, the monk swung his staff around and slammed it hard against Skar's skull. He fell over on his back and the pain numbed all of his senses for tens of seconds.

For the longest time he thought he was dying, that simple knock on his head created stars that floated around inside his eyes. He felt like he was floating and wondered if soon even that feeling would fade, into nothing. Skar panicked. His intestines crystallized and he caught himself seeing Shinran's face before him. It was enough for him to fight back the void he thought was coming.

Skar's hands clutched the staff he knew had to be there and the sensation of the wooden stick brought a new impression to his brain, one he could focus on and pull himself out of his stupor. When the world made sense again Skar cursed himself for being so stupid.

The monk had read his mind in return, knowing Skar was only waiting for something to change, something drastic. He'd fallen right into the monk's trap. Though he wasn't sure and couldn't believe it he imagined he heard snickering among the observing monks around him.

The Arman stepped aside, letting Skar stand once again.

Skar rose slowly. Enough playing around. He stretched out, feeling the locked up minds of the other monks. He pricked at their thoughts but their control was too great, he couldn't tap into their minds. He looked over at the opposite monk, the fighter. Skar tried to tap into his mind, but it was sealed too. These monks had perfect control of their minds and he couldn't do anything to tap into them.

Unless…

Skar tapped into the Force and felt its empowering energy rush through him. Many solutions presented themselves, coloring the scene in green and red. Skar picked the one that was the most painless.

For him.

He held the staff up horizontally in front of him, and lifting his knee, he brought the staff down over it, breaking it in two.

The show worked, all of the monks were startled and looked up to see him, to see if what they had read in their minds had actually happened. He had stepped across a line they hadn't expected him to. Right then their control, their defense, was lost, and like a stealthy warrior Skar sneaked inside their minds. Skar was able to tap into the Arman he was fighting as well.

When they realized his ploy all of the monks quickly resumed to looking at the floor, trying to regain their control. While he felt surprise and worry from them now, he knew he had found something. A flaw in their perfect mind. He had been able to read their emotions. He had been able to read their minds. The monks were very worried now, especially the one he was fighting.

The Arman hadn't counted on Skar being able to read his mind. But the surprise he had given them, had opened the door for him.

Now the advantage was his, the Arman became clumsy and not as concentrated as before. Skar gave a nefarious smile, knowing the Arman would look up and see it, and he did.

Never had he felt so good in seeing so much fear.

Skar's smile widened as he focused on the Force, raised his two staffs and dove in for the attack. He came in, targeting the Arman's face with one of the staffs, and the Arman had to look up to see his attack, since his concentration in the Perfection was lost. The Arman raised his staff, to parry the strike, but Skar had already dropped to his knees by then and pushed the second staff up under the Arman's hands and into his face. The Arman got it on the chin and fell immediately back into the crowd of monks.

Skar stood back, swinging the staffs in his hands, smiling at the fallen Arman. Skar watched his breathing and was careful to maintain it at a level that wouldn't leave him exhausted. The Arman managed to stand, though dizzy and loose on his feet. Skar sensed the Force flowing through him, showing him weaknesses and advantages he could use. The warrior-monk straightened out and gripped his staff, hard.

Skar nodded to him with faked respect and waited for the Arman to make the attack this time. Filled with shame, the warrior flew at him, his staff leveled until a few feet before Skar, where he smashed down at where Skar's head should be. Skar held up both staffs, and caught the blow at their nexus. He lifted his foot and kicked out into the Arman's chest, flattening him on the floor.

Never missing a beat, Skar jumped up and came down with one of the staffs, smashing into the warrior's ribcage.

Skar rolled away from the attack and readied himself for another round. Dust it off and try again, Skar prayed, eager to continue to bring the Arman down to size and to prove himself.

The Arman moaned, but managed to stand. He quickly found Skar in the haze of the combat and attacked again. The warrior came in with a side-long blow, which Skar parried with the right staff. While holding the Arman's staff pinned with one staff, he moved in closer and smashed his free fist into the warrior's face. Blood dripped from the Arman's nose.

He tumbled back, spitting drops of blood on the ground.

Skar smiled again, a cruel sadistic smile. Not how you figured the day would go when you got up this morning, is it?

The Arman stared at Skar, behind cuts, blood, and bruises. Skar dusted off sand from his pants casually, as he waited for the Arman to make up his mind. The warrior waved back his long hair with a bloody hand, revealing his face for the first time, and then advanced for the last time. He lifted the staff high up over his head as he charged forward.

Skar bent down in his knees and awaited the attack. The Arman struck down hard, and Skar blocked it with his right staff, while his left foot kicked into the side of the Arman's head, leaving him disorientated.

The Arman managed to raise his staff again, but Skar was far from over. He smashed the staffs from both sides into the Arman's stomach, and kicked him once more in the chest. The Arman was moving backwards, unable to stand still. Skar struck mercilessly, knocking the staff down hard on the Arman's throat and sweep-kicked his feet away under him.

The defeated warrior went down, his long body taking up almost half of the circle's width. The Arman coughed up blood as he convulsed on the floor, his entire body shivering as if some arctic wind was blowing through him.

Skar stood over him, his hands dripping with blood that wasn't his, teeth barred and his eyes wide open. Skar blew away the sweat creeping down his cheeks and he didn't notice until then how hard his breathing had become, he'd forgotten to maintain it during the last part of the combat and he could feel his heart racing against his chest.

Silence followed and swept up the room in its grasp until two monks ran into the arena and dragged the unconsciousness fighter out. Skar watched as the Arman's body left a blood trail out of the arena.

I killed him?

"Is he dead?" Skar asked the monks, but received no answer. Skar felt bad, he couldn't sense if the Arman was dead or not. All he sensed from the warrior was dizziness and pain. The Arman wasn't dead yet, but Skar realized his attacks might have been responsible for killing him later. If he had done sufficient damage to his internal organs. The monks walked off into the crowd and they all started walking off into the darkness.

Caedmon stepped out from their midst, into the fighting area and handed Skar's lightsaber back to him. The monk folded his hands, a grave look on his face. You are to leave our temple.

Skar wiped sweat from his brows. "I don't understand."

No. It is not important that you do. We don't expect you would.

Skar threw his staffs on the floor and clipped the lightsaber to his belt. He shrugged at Caedmon. "It doesn't matter. I didn't come here to prove myself to you. Only to myself." And that he had. When fighting the Arman he had clearly felt the urge to survive in him. It wasn't a matter of life or death. It was a matter of self-defense. A talent Skar knew he would need.

Caedmon shook his head. You used us?

"I don't care about your religion, its not my problem that you prefer a life in ignorance," Skar felt as if the words weren't really his, they came from a dark and cold place inside him, "you can't prove your strength, your faith, in a melee fight. Spiritual strength doesn't need to be proven. You can tell that to the Elders, maybe then they won't think their Perfection is as weak," Skar's eyes squinted, "as weak as I've just proven it to be."

Caedmon's gaze seemed unaffected, almost quizzical. I wonder now if that it is true. A monk of the Perfection would never have done what you did. He would never injure a man in personal gain. Caedmon shook his head slowly. I have no doubts at all of which is the more powerful body. But I hope you have had your fun at our expense.

Skar smirked. "Well, I do appreciate you letting me learn in your temple."

The monk snarled and walked out the arena, leaving a bad air behind him. As the monk disappeared, Skar turned to the shadow in the room. The shadow he'd known to be there the whole time. Skar felt that feeling of being watched and remembered he'd felt that way before. Some years ago on a bridge on Nar Shaddaa. That shadow had watched him back then too.

And asking the question, Skar pulled up his shirt from the floor. "Why did you just watch? Why didn't you intervene?"

The shadow stepped out of the darkness.

"Shinran told you, didn't she? I know you think this was wrong, so why didn't you act?"

The Jedi Master looked very unpleased. "What you have done, was very dangerous. The Jedi cannot seek thrills in that manner - "

Skar's darker side emerged without resistance. "I'm not a Jedi! I'm a Kjoil!" Skar touched his chest with a bloodied fist. "My way permits me to do so without endangering myself. The Kjoil follow their emotions instead of blocking them. I was never in any danger!"

Master Bo-Hi tilted his head, the darkness of the room almost shrouding him. His voice sharpened. "Indeed you were. And you know it. You lost control. Your recklessness and your haste in combat is something you must be careful of. It could be your greatest weakness."

Skar wouldn't apologize for his act, he couldn't. It would demean what he was trying to do, what he had to if he was to secure the future. "I found what I needed, Master."

Master Bo-Hi looked at the stain of blood on the floor of the arena. "Why go for such a childish ritual? You have learned to move with the Force, but you have not yet learned to be still with it. We both know you're better than this."

Skar pleaded. "I need this, Master. If I am to help Kayupa, the way I want to, I must be ready for combat. I can't fear it. To prepare for something that you know is coming, can't be wrong."

"The methods can be wrong."

Skar scoffed. "Like you said; I'm still a Padawan. There is no failure, only lessons."

It took a while but Master Bo-Hi accepted surrender and looked away. "You win, Skar."

Skar smiled. It felt good to outwit Master Bo-Hi with his own philosophy -

"But…tell me this, great Kjoil," the Jedi's voice was full of taunt, "if you are so wise and in so much touch with the Force, how come you have not seen the illusion all around you?"

Skar didn't understand. "What illusion?"

Master Bo-Hi's voice was filled with animosity and promises of cruel intentions. "You were successful in finding the clue to the Jentarana through meditation. You have found many answers this way. But the most obvious one still eludes you."

Skar felt his hand slightly reaching for his lightsaber. Is this the moment of confrontation? Is this where Master Bo-Hi will see his wrong and decide to kill me? Skar held his hand close to his hip and kept his senses on wide alert.

"When you first came here you felt a sense of recognition in this world. You thought it seemed familiar. Shinran even told me you sensed Skind Kjoil's presence in the hangar."

Skar nodded, although he had to pull on that memory to fully remember it. "The Jentarana was stored there, it has his mind. That's how I was able to sense him - "

"No," the Jedi Master interrupted, a smile of vindictiveness across his face. "Skind Kjoil was in the hangar. He flew the Jentarana there and he stored it there personally in his Sith days. Remember that I told you I didn't know who had originally built the temple? Skind Kjoil built it, after he became a Sith."

Skar felt anger inside him as another lie was exposed. And to know that he had been living in a Sith temple for the last two years sickened him.

"He stole the Jentarana shortly before the Clone Wars and kept it here as a prize for his Sith Master."

Skar remembered that two years ago, Master Bo-Hi had been talking about how he'd come to Nanh, but kept out the details about how he had been given the Jentarana. "But Kayupa said that my mother had taken it after his death, and that she delivered it to you?"

"She did. She gave it to me on this world."

Skar stepped forward. "She was here too?"

The Jedi Master waited for him to unravel the puzzle himself, but it didn't happen. "You still don't see what I'm trying to tell you?"

"No."

"Then let's go back home and I'll show you the final clue."

The ship was a marvel of technology, and testament to the Empire's might. There were whole systems whose gross domestic product was less than the cost of a single Star Destroyer. There were entire nations that, throughout their history, did not expend as much energy as a Star Destroyer did during a hyperspace jump. The triangular silhouette of an Imperial cruiser had come a long way since its Old Republic-inspired design.

The Imperial Star Destroyer's gargantuan size was the very pinnacle of both awe and terror. The ship was bristling with weapons emplacements. Turbolasers and tractor beam projectors dotting all over its surface.

Inside of the ominous ship, Admiral Ankit Stamper of the Imperial Remnant nervously tapped his fingers on the armrest of his command chair. His nails could not be bitten down any further without drawing blood and his fat fingers tried to avoid sounding anxious but failed. He couldn't let the crew see him like this. It would weaken moral.

The strike at Endor had been a catastrophe. Utter and complete loss. He didn't know how many still lived. If any lived. But the Holonet was teeming with reports of the riots against the Empire on Coruscant. They'd even toppled the statue of Emperor Palpatine on Coruscant. How dared they? Those insolent ingrates.

He'd spent a lot of time searching channels for any Empire loyal forces, but the channels were either shut down or no one answered. He only hoped some of his Imperial comrades would soon contact him and they could join forces again. It was vital to work fast, to patch together a worthy force to rampant the Rebellion before they gained too much control. If only it wasn't too late.

Eager to show himself as undeterred to his crew, Admiral Stamper rose from the chair and tried not to look at the crew behind him. He knew that whatever strong impression he wanted to exude, would always be defeated by his overweight features. A life as an Imperial Admiral had long since softened him and the lean body that had once looked so good in a uniform was far gone.

Now he was lucky to find a uniform in his size, or a command chair that didn't have to be customized to his rotund body.

He walked with sad steps to the viewscreen and watched the endless array of stars as they silently glistened in the distance like pearls. This had once been a region of the Empire, now its leadership stood unsolved, hanging in the balance like bait. There were no Imperial ships around anymore. No evidence of the Empire's former glory.

He folded his tubby fingers before him in silent prayer. Although armed with a fully equipped Star Destroyer, it meant nothing against the battle-hardened forces of the Rebellion. They were more intelligent than he had thought. Or more lucky, luck could never be ruled out. Sometimes the better armies could fall at a single toss of dice. As they had done at Endor.

But soon I will be throwing the dice, and they will land in my favor.

One of a very few things that made everything seem less hopeless, was the contact Admiral Stamper had maintained with some of the major weapons dealers in the Galaxy. The Rancor League was only one of his many aces. Others still awaited his orders to deliver material and equipment to launch a great attack force. However, the Jentarana-weapon from ancient times was his trump card. It would leave all others indifferent.

Once he obtained the Jentarana weapon, and allied himself with other Imperial remnants, the surface of things would not be so bleak. But he had his worries about that Raydoen creature, if the Rancor League failed to carry out his order, then his final blow would certainly be one at Pathfort. Betrayal was not to be accepted of any kind, especially now. Loyalty between cooperatives was crucial.

Infact…

He turned around to face his crew. "Ensign."

The communications-technician walked up to him with a confident stride across the wide bridge. "Yes, Admiral?

"Connect me with Nar Shaddaa."

"Right away, Admiral."

He knew that due to the current state of the Imperial network connection would take time, perhaps hours. But time wasn't as important a factor at this point. Surely he had to move fast, but events had already been set in motion to make sure the Jentarana would be delivered on time. He only needed to remind Raydoen of that. Never leave the ones below you alone long enough to conspire against you.

Half an hour later the holographic image of the vampire with the red eyes and the burning tattoo appeared before him.

Admiral Stamper tried not to let the fear running through him show on his chunky face. "Raydoen Jayant, have my orders been met?"

The vampire slug smiled. "If I could avoid delays, I could work faster."

The anger that fluttered in his belly by Raydoen's spiteful tone, made Admiral Stamper aware of an opportunity. He raised his voice, making sure all of his crew would hear him.

"You will take that insolence out of your tone, knave! You are talking to an Imperial Admiral. You would be wise to recall how the Empire dealt with insolence in the past."

Raydoen made a sly smile, then the vampire shrugged. "Past-tense. What an appropriate choice of words."

"Watch your step, Raydoen. History will forget you, but I won't." Admiral Stamper felt his palms begin to sweat. "Is my weapon ready?"

"I've sent out orders for a transport ship to carry the weapon to Soliton in a standard week, as you wanted. However I cannot promise you anything about the weapon's condition. We're working on a piece of equipment that has not been seen in almost thirty years. Its not like there are manuals and textbooks lying around to explain its features. We're fumbling in the dark here, Admiral."

Admiral Stamper felt like his blood was starting to boil. "You've had two years!"

Raydoen's confident smile wavered. "We will meet the deadline, but I cannot you promise you anything about the state of the weapon. However, I understand you are in a press for time, so I will make sure the men work double shifts."

Stamper didn't believe anything coming of the vampire's mouth. "I'm sure you will. I have always counted the Rancor League among the reliable of my weapon suppliers. It would be unfortunate if I had to start a search for another."

Raydoen detected his ploy. "I doubt many people would take in a former Imperial Admiral. Maybe in the past, but not anymore. Don't mistake yourself for someone important, Stamper; those days have ended."

Admiral Stamper held up a bloated finger. "Enough of this! You have your orders! Only one transport. This is a simple drop-off."

Raydoen begged to differ. "Admiral, has all that time in hiding gone to your brain? We are talking about a big package. Nothing simple about it."

Admiral Stamper licked his lips. "Just make sure you'll be there as planned."

"We'll be there." Raydoen's tattoo glowed. "However…the fee has been raised."

"What?"

Raydoen was emotionless. "Modifications have been made to the package. Alterations. My chief technician has redesigned the weapon to a more effective state. You should be thanking me."

Admiral Stamper held out a fist. "I didn't order any changes!"

Raydoen shrugged indifferently. "Nevertheless they have been made. At great cost to me. You will refund my efforts."

Admiral Stamper cursed the bloodsucking leech, but knew there was no point in taking the conversation further. "You will be paid in full, if my package is fully operational."

At that, however, Raydoen did look worried.

Admiral Stamper tilted his head. "It is fully operational, isn't it?"

Raydoen scratched his goatee. "The weapon is enhanced with sublight drives to allow space-travel. Control mechanisms are intact. But the defense systems are a different matter all together."

Admiral Stamper had expected subterfuge, nevertheless he was enraged. "Tell me, weapons-man, what good is a weapon without weapons!"

The head of the Rancor League held up his hands. "The problem will be taken care off before the deadline." Raydoen licked those self-sharpened fangs to try and scare Admiral Stamper, but the threat was useless light-years away. "You will have your weapon."

Admiral Stamper looked at the bridge behind him, saw the crew working perfectly, even without his supervision. They were a tight crew, they could be trusted because they knew their lives rested in his hands. He cared for them as he would for any soldier he'd ever dragged through boot camp.

Admiral Stamper faced Raydoen again. "Don't screw around with my timetable, Raydoen Jayant, the Empire is still alive and we will not tolerate failure."

Raydoen reached out to disconnect the transmission. "Its a wonder you're so calm then."

Admiral Stamper wanted to punch the hologram but it shifted and vanished before him. The vampire had always been a nuisance. But Admiral Stamper had to trust the man would keep his word. The Rancor League had a reputation for being loyal to the Empire, as well as all its accounts, but right now Admiral Stamper wouldn't trust anyone. Except his crew.

Admiral Stamper sighed with great anguish and held on to the only thought that made his situation seem hopeful. The Empire Reborn.

Sasori Dragus looked at the glowing red eyes of Raydoen's as he turned away from the hologram-transmitter. Raydoen didn't look nervous at all, in fact his face was painted with unexplainable calm.

Sasori noticed his own hands were jittery from watching the confrontation with Stamper. "If we can't get the Jedi to tell us how to operate the weapons - "

Raydoen looked at him, that mystery calm gradually withering. "He will."

"How do you know all this?"

Raydoen hugged himself, locking his eyes on something outside the office, outside the windows. "To know is nothing at all, to imagine is everything. We are warriors of different sides. But the war is the same. He wants the Jentarana back and to do so he will have to come to us, like we've always known he would. The trap will not be too difficult."

Sasori nodded. "To lure him into thinking we don't expect him."

Raydoen shook his head slowly. "No. Let him work in stealth. That doesn't mean we have to. You've loosened up on security detail?"

"As we agreed."

"Good. He will see us working with an even smaller crew than usual, and he will see the trap a mile away. And he will know then that we know he is here."

"Beat the grass to startle the snakes?"

"Precisely. He will move more carefully in his stealth fashion, because even if he knows that we are aware of his presence, he will not give up the Jentarana."

Sasori began to understand the intellect of the man, he was wise in regards to how to lure out an opponent, maybe even adding more danger this way, but still if the theory held, the Jedi would soon be in their hands.

Raydoen continued to stare out the blast-proof window, mesmerized by something in the distance. "The Jedi is out there and when the Offeyyu arrives he will follow us to Soliton. He will presumably try to breach the Offeyyu and work his way to the Jentarana, but he can't steal it until we have arrived at Soliton. He can't escape in hyperspace."

Sasori wasn't espcially comforted by that notion. "What if he tries to bail before we land on Soliton?"

Raydoen's hands came up before his chest and almost instantly began performing strange motions. The hand signals had Sasori confused. It looked like a sign language. Was he talking in secret to someone else?

Raydoen completed whatever it was he was doing and finally said, "I won't let him."

Sasori stepped forward, trying to see out the window but couldn't detect anyone on the roofs outside. But he'd been in the weapons business long enough to know that it wouldn't take much camouflage to hide someone out there in the blackness of Nar Shaddaa.

"He could try to incapacitate the hyperdrive," Sasori said while scouting, "and steal it when the ship comes out of hyperspace."

Raydoen smiled. "Hence, the hyperdrive will have the most security. Another clue of our knowledge that he is there."

Sasori moved his eyes over to look at Raydoen, finding himself once again impressed with the man, impressed that he actually knew something about strategies. "You've thought this through."

"Indeed I have." His red eyes lingered on Sasori for a handful of seconds before he turned and headed for the door. "The Jedi will meet with me and I will find the knowledge we need with the simple move of a blade."

Kayupa's handheld binoculars zoomed in on his target. The sophisticated device displayed images with an overlay of computerized information detailing the object's distance, and elevation. The imaging apparatus functioned even in low light, enhancing the view to readable levels. It even compensated for the rain as Kayupa found what he was looking for.

Sasori's office.

He could see right through the window at the two people talking in there. He only recognized one of them, the man known as Sasori Dragus. The other man appeared to outrank him. He could make out all the features on Sasori and the other man, who appeared to have good taste in fashion as well an infatuation with the color black.

Kayupa didn't know the species but found the appearance itself to be…interesting. He moved the scope left and down, to the man standing by the window in front of Sasori. The rain was pouring down around him so he couldn't tell much from the enhanced audio functions of his binoculars.

This other man was very stoic, he listened and absorbed. Then shared his opinion, which more times than not, seemed to worry Sasori. Kayupa zoomed even further in on them and tried to read their lips. He could only discern fragments of it.

First Sasori spoke; What if - bail - before - land on Soliton?

Soliton? Kayupa thought, but before he could connect the name with anything, he noticed the other man making signals, like sign language, as he stared out the window, looking at something beyond Kayupa.

Yet somehow Kayupa got the feeling the man was talking to him. It was unexplainable. They shouldn't know he was there.

The hands moved.

Pain is merely an illusion, our key to redemption. You are mine, and I am yours.

Kayupa felt a chilling fear run through him and swallowed a huge lump in his throat. He then put away the scope and looked at the storage facility, that was suddenly once again two miles away. With the scope he'd seen it so close that he might have been standing right next to Sasori and the mystery man. He didn't know what to make of their talk, but knew that the next thing he'd do was find out more about this mystery man

Kayupa looked up to the sky with dread forming in his guts. The bandana's trails hovered on the air behind him and his long soaked hair clung to the back of his neck like a wet towel. But the feeling of finality inside him was far worse. He knew what he had set out to do, and he knew what it demanded of him.

And as long as he didn't have to face the choice at that very moment, he could still find the courage to continue on his mission.

Damn Bo-Hi and his illusions. Damn him for making me do this.

He reminded himself once again that one half of knowing what you want, is knowing what you must give up before you get it. For anything worth having one must pay the price and the price is always work, patience and self-sacrifice. Kayupa too had felt the death of the Emperor in the Force, and he knew that times were critical, tense, and that it was a perfect time for them to make their move.

Skar is not here yet, but he will come. Our friendship binds him to his promise. Now that the Empire is falling we must move quickly.

Kayupa slid his scope into his thigh pocket of his new stealth suit.

I must wait until Skar knows the key to the Jentarana. It won't be long now.

Skar Kjoil gazed at the wooden door down in the basement of the temple, it marked an entrance to a part of the temple he had never been to. Something in Force was moving, warning him of change in the future. Something was touching on the very chord of destiny.

As he touched the door the Force hummed inside him, feeding him a sensation like the joy of returning home after a long trip, or to see an end to a long fought battle. To know that you would live on, and not die by someone else's hand.

To feel alive.

Skar's throat clogged. "I've… been here before."

Master Bo-Hi stood behind him, his hands resting carefully at his sides. "No, not quite. But yes, your presence has graced this place a little over two decades ago."

Skar shook his head and leaned himself against the entrance. "I wasn't born then."

"No," the Jedi Master said, "but you were alive. Your mother was pregnant with you when she battled your uncle," the old Jedi Master pointed to the entrance, "in there."

Skar looked over his shoulder at his Master.

And like a whisper in the Force he heard his uncle's voice from the Holocron, when he'd spoken before the Jedi Council. You still have one Kjoil among you whose honor is intact. Tell my sister that I will meet her on Kryuu. There will I reach my final destiny.

Skar shook his head, full of confusion. "No, this is Nanh. they fought on Kryuu!"

The Jedi Master stared straight at him. "This isn't Nanh. Nanh doesn't exist."

Skar's mind reeled, his raged emotions almost too much to bear. He felt the tears pressing in the core of his emotions, only wanting to break free and run down his cheeks.

"This, you told me this was Nanh, and I believed you!" Skar stabbed a finger at the Jedi Master's face. "If this is Kryuu, where my uncle and my mother fought, where my uncle died - " Skar looked away in desolation, and despite all his anger, he could not prove the Master wrong. "I want to call you a liar; but my feelings tell me its the truth. I can feel I've been here before." The tears were finally freed. "I can feel it, this place is old in the Force. Full of cold," Skar shivered.

Master Bo-Hi tried not to say anything that might alarm Skar further, which shouldn't have been possible. "Skind Kjoil died here on this world. The Jedi Council agreed that Skind had to be stopped. I was onboard a cruiser in orbit of this planet, as was most of the Jedi Council."

Skar wiped salty tears from his lips. "You promised not to lie to me. Why, Master?"

"I knew back then that I couldn't keep my promise. I did what I did to protect you. I took on the same responsibility that Lwen undertook when he was placed as your guardian. I knew the time would come when you would know. And I know you feel like you belong here, which has made the transition easier on you, and now you've come full circle."

Skar listened while his thoughts tried to piece it all together. "So my uncle came here, waited for my mother on this world. And you were here, watching?"

Master Bo-Hi objected. "There was no way I could interfere. I met your mother for the first time after your mother fought your uncle. I was here as an observer with the Jedi Council." Master Bo-Hi closed his eyes. "Your mother arrived here, and it was believed she might be the only who could help Skind back to sanity. She went to fight him in this temple, falling right into his plan."

"What happened? He won?"

Master Bo-Hi shook his head. "Not exactly. He knew that Sasa would come to fight him. He prepared for it. But during the fight, through her love, he saw his own failure. The treachery he had brought on everyone he loved. He plunged his lightsaber into his own heart, took his own life. But before he died he warned your mother of the oncoming Jedi Purge. Soon after you were born and your mother sent you away with Lwen."

"And she handed the Jentarana over to you at that time too, I suppose."

The Jedi Master nodded. "Skind Kjoil had given Selia Iver's lightsaber to your mother when she began her Jedi training. She told me later that he had wanted it back. It was the only physical object left behind of her."

"So…he was with Selia in the end after all. He joined her in the afterlife?"

Master Bo-Hi looked lost and confused. "I don't know. If he became a full Sith, then yes. If not, he just died as a lost man. A man driven from the light and corrupted by the evil. Faced with the nightmare that had become his life, he decided to end it. The pain and shame was too much and he ended his own life."

Master Bo-Hi looked away, several old memories and emotions being refreshed. "At the time when Skind died, there was a tremor in the Force, Skar. Something touched it like a razor and for a second the Force was dimmed to almost nothing. I felt the Force leave me for a second, only then to return again, just as strong. But something in Skind's touch with the Force was so strong that when it died, a part of the Force died too. A small part but nevertheless it proves that Skind was perhaps one of the strongest Jedi ever to live. His touch was so strong that the Force….vanished for a very short time. The Kjoil are so inept in the Force that when they die, you can feel the sadness of the Force."

Skar wasn't sure he understood. "Are you telling me the Force mourned the death of my uncle?"

The Jedi Master nodded. "It sounds strange, but nevertheless, that was how it felt. Grief and sadness was very strong in all the Jedi when your uncle died. The incident with your uncle has never been felt before."

Skar looked around, looking for answers. "Why did you want me to know now? What made you think I was ready?"

The Jedi Master crouched down next to him, and placed his kind palm on Skar's shoulder. "You have a question inside you, which can only be answered by one man. That man is dead, in there are the last steps he ever made. Though he is not anymore of this world, he is of another. His spirit still lingers in there and he will not talk to me. But to you he might. And as you already know he holds the answer we need."

Skar looked up at him. "The answer Kayupa is waiting for on Nar Shaddaa. The key to the Jentarana."

Master Bo-Hi nodded. "You yourself said that the only way of obtaining the key was to talk to Skind Kjoil himself. To talk to his soul. Its in there. If you choose to abandon this to memory, the Jentarana will never see life and its purpose of war will never be resurrected."

Skar's mind was at battle with his emotions. On one side he knew of the Jentarana and how it might help the Galaxy back in shape. Yet his feelings told him that in the end it might do more harm than good. If somehow the weapon was ever used for dark purposes it would be devastating. Skar dreaded the thought and it was the soundest reason he'd found to just walk away.

"It is a hard choice, Master. One I think I cannot make. Kayupa and I, we want to destroy it. Make it go away. But what if it really can be used for good?"

Master Bo-Hi wasn't going to make the choice for him. "That's for you to decide, your legacy, your choice. Do what you feel is the right path. But the future of the Jentarana depends on what you learn in there."

With a heavy heart, Skar pushed open the tall wooden doors and stepped inside. The smell of dust and death hung in his nostrils, as he walked through a dark hall. Rubble laid in his path and there was no light in any of the halls. He wandered inside like a blind man, his hands always touching the walls to find his way. To aid him he blazed his lightsaber as a flame to see in the dark.

He found himself in a huge cylinder shaped room that had no ceiling and no floor, only a walkway that led to a round platform in the center of the room. The platform was the size of a large room. The round walls were decorated with red squares.

Skar walked out on the platform and saw cracks and burnt scars on the platform. Scars from the battle between his mother and his uncle. The battle of Kjoil versus Sith.

This is the only place. There are no other rooms.

He must be here…

Skar couched down on the floor and reached out to the Force to get a sense of his uncle. He channeled away the dark emotions clouding up inside him, allowing the Force to enter him completely. The universe opened up to him, like a whirlpool of lights, colors, and warmth. Moving around him in circles were vapor trails of dust and smaller particles.

Skar tried to reach out to touch one, but it moved from his grip. Skar moved around in the universe and saw a planet fly past him, like a bird, only to be followed by another and a pair of moons.

Whole galaxies rushed by his head and disappeared in a flash of light. Worlds he'd never seen flew loops around him before drifting off into oblivion. He even saw Nar Shaddaa shoot by, leaving a sense of dread in him. He followed it with his eyes until it vanished in a cloud of blue smoke.

He saw a green planetoid pass overhead, only to be exploded into millions of rock fragments that rained over him. He saw what he knew to be the Death Star explode and it sent out a wave of burning debris in a circle that nearly touched him, the heat coming off the supernova touching him briefly.

Witnessing as life unfolded around him in a greater scheme, he felt the universe working perfectly all around him. Time passed, life ended and life was born. People died and people were born. Memories were made and forgotten.

Then everything around him turned black. Skar opened his eyes, jumped to his feet and found himself on a familiar world. Ignoring the onslaught of rain drowning out the thunders in the distance, he swirled around seeing the gray mountains, the pouring rain and the shots of lightning in the distance. His eyes wouldn't lock onto one thing before being mesmerized by another.

The world resembled something from his worst nightmares. A dreadful planet with uncomfortable conditions. A hellish place where no one would wish to live. Where no possible life could spring.

Other than himself and his family. Having never seen the place on holo, he still knew that this was where he'd been from. Where he'd been born. The home of his family, the home of the Kjoil.

Ka'ckak. This is where the Kjoil lived.

The planet the Jentarana was built to protect.

As he looked around, he became more sure that what he was seeing was only a dream. He knew instantly that the world around him was a figment of his imagination.

It wasn't real.

This is my dream!

Skar's head came up as he heard the distant voice again, almost as a whisper inside his mind, inside his dream. Rain was pouring down hard around Skar, wetting his clothes and soaking his hair. Feeling dread, he almost feared being there, because in his dream he had seen what came next; his own death. He shifted on his heel and looked again at the same small rain puddle by his feet, but this time he did recognize the man he saw in its watery reflection.

Except for the beard that Skar hadn't grown, this man was him, only older, the same tattoos were painted over his hands.

It was me! But the future version of me. The me I am now.

Skar felt his heart starting to pound against his ribcage as he looked up, just as he had in the dream to see a second person. Cloaked in a dark black robe. Hollowed in shadows, the man looked up and this time Skar saw the face under the dripping hood.

A very familiar face.

"Welcome!" Skind Kjoil threw back his hood and Skar saw his uncle's eyes staring right into his soul, looking exactly as he had in the hologram in front of the Jedi Council. The defiant and courageous look. He stood a full head taller than Skar, his face slightly transparent and ghastly. Skar felt an uncontrollable urge to pull out the lightsaber to defend himself. The ghost of Skind Kjoil, hovering before him like a deity, was the Sith version of him, not the good.

Wishing to make his intentions clear, Skar stepped forward and opened his arms to show no hostility. "I'm your nephew."

Skind Kjoil's piercing eyes went over him, and then blinked with surprise. "Sasa's child?"

Skar heard the voice again, the very copy of his own. Skar nodded. "My mother."

Skind Kjoil smiled. "So, you've come to see me at last?"

Skar didn't understand. "At last?"

Skind Kjoil rubbed his face with his ghostly hand and then turned his side to Skar. They stood ten feet from each other, but it felt like miles to Skar. His uncle seemed so distant. "I've waited for this moment for almost thirty years. You've been here a long time, nephew. But you haven't come to see me before now."

"You knew I was here?"

Skind Kjoil nodded, and when he spoke his voice was soft and nurturing. "The Force hides nothing. Although I must admit I can't sense your thoughts or emotions like I used to be able to. I'm caught in the spirit world. But I can feel the Force, and it told me someone in my family was near."

"I came to you to ask you a question."

Almost like a split-personality Skind's mood changed in a heartbeat. The infamous Kjoil snarled like a caged animal. "What makes you think I'll help you, Jedi?"

Skar was anxious, there were still traces of Sith in Skind Kjoil's spirit. In that haunted shell of a man destined to live out his never-ending days in a dark chamber. "Because of the good I know is in your heart."

Skind Kjoil spat. "You sound just like your mother!"

"No, this is what I see, my belief." Skar stepped forward to show he wasn't afraid of this Sith ghost. "I believed in you. A Kjoil who became a Jedi, a Jedi who defied everyone, a strong man," Skar held out his arms, "a man who fell in love."

Skind Kjoil's hand moved towards his lightsaber, a precise copy of Skar's, but he seemed to hesitate.

"You can't kill me, uncle." Skar said strongly. "Not in here. Your powers are useless here. Besides, you could have killed my mother here twenty years ago and taken me with her, but you didn't."

Skind Kjoil allowed his hand to stray from the lightsaber. "No, I couldn't kill her."

Skar began to feel less afraid, not that he had convinced himself that the ghost could not harm him. "Will you answer my question?"

Skind Kjoil crossed his arms. "Ask."

Thunder bellowed around them, touching down in the canyons between the deep mountains. The rain still washed over them. Skar swallowed hard and summoned the courage to form his question. "The Jentarana."

Skind Kjoil's face turned sour before looking away. "A name from long ago."

Skar shivered. "I need the key."

Skind Kjoil turned back to him, this time with hate lashing out from his eyes, lighting striking in the distance. "I am a prisoner of death, a prisoner of emotions and destiny, the curse in all genes. My past cannot be undone, nor my future."

Skar felt silver running through his body, a very old fear suddenly new and fresh. Those words, they were in my dream too. I'm living my dream.

Skind Kjoil looked out over the raging storms of Ka'ckak, sadly reminiscing. "Tell me, nephew. Is the world a better one for my death?"

Skar shook his head. "No."

Skind Kjoil smiled sarcastically. "Do the Jedi long for the Sith to return so they can do epic battles?"

"No," Skar whispered, "but the world misses inspirational people. People who are worth the respect and envy. A leader. Someone to follow."

Skind Kjoil looked over at him and Skar recognized that kind but firm look. The look of the old Skind, the way he favored remembering his uncle, as a kind man, not a demon. "Idols always disappoint, boy. You'd do well to remember that. I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself. I am merely a part of all that I have met."

Skar thought of Kayupa, he'd gone off alone in isolation before, and now he'd left Skar behind when they were supposed to go together. Skar couldn't help but feel hurt. Felt a tear pressing its way behind his eyes. Skind Kjoil's own legend had been a disappointment to Skar at times too.

Skind Kjoil smiled sadly. "I've…been here so long. But I've seen much through the eyes of the Force. I've seen faces of friends turn old and gray, I've seen them die. Seen everything that was lost along the way. All I have left is my memories…but even they fade and blow away." He looked over at Skar. "Is war still crippling our love?"

Skar was amazed at the way this ghost, this nonexistent man, was wondering about the state of the universe. Why should he care for it anymore?

"Yes," he whispered.

Skind Kjoil didn't seem surprised at all. And he had no reason to, war had always existed. It was even older than him. "So it was, so it will ever be. The eternal struggle between right and wrong. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, playing on chords will vibrate in eternity."

"War serves its purpose," Skar said.

Skind Kjoil reared his head back and laughed. Then he looked at Skar with a frenzied joy. "Whoever told you that, should be shot. You sound like my old Master Sdah. War is the cost of peace, he said. He always said that war was necessary for our lives to move on. To have results." Skind Kjoil sighed. "But its not true, he was wrong, and so are you. War, like science, always brings great damage, sometimes irrevocable damage. And despite what everyone thinks it is never the strongest of the species that survive a war, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. The ones who are most able to adapt to a world torn by war and bloodshed. An unnatural world." Skind's face lit up slightly. "I've seen true peace, nephew, there is no such thing as slaughter without end."

Skar began to feel the happiness, the warm exhilarating feeling of being united with someone long gone. Someone he'd feared. Someone he'd loved. Someone he'd missed. And all the feelings of longing for his own family suddenly came back to him, and he realized this was the closest he'd ever come to someone from his own family.

Skar's throat clamed shut, as his eyes began to water again. "War…gave you peace."

Skind Kjoil walked over to his nephew and his hands rested on Skar's shoulders. They were gentle, almost not there, shadowy. Skar looked into his uncle's piercing, intelligent eyes. Familiar eyes. Sad eyes.

"I am a ghost. An undying shadow. A decaying light. What peace have I?"

Skar looked up at him. "What about Selia? I thought you two were to join in the afterlife?"

Skind Kjoil nodded. "It didn't happen."

"Why?"

Skind just stood there for a long time, holding his nephew's shoulders. "The Jentarana. Its funny how death teaches you how you should have lived. Shows you what mistakes you've made, it did in my case. It holds me in this shadow form. It blocks me from being with Selia."

"How?"

Skind Kjoil let go of his shoulders and walked a little away from Skar. His fists clutched and Skar felt malevolence coming from his uncle. His lips reeled back to expose his tightly clenched teeth. "It has my soul." He looked down at his hands, cursing the terror and grief they'd constructed. "It is me. The Jentarana is me."

Skar understood. "Because it has a part of your soul you can't get out of here. You can't be with Selia."

"Right. Only once the Jentarana is gone, can I go." Skind Kjoil looked at him, and Skar saw determination in his uncle's eyes. "Only you can free me. You're my only hope."

Skar looked out of the raving mountains, at the falling rain. "But I can't get out of here. We have no ships. And you still haven't told me the key to the Jentarana."

Skind Kjoil smiled, a smile of deception and mischief. "No, you will know when you are there. You must live on to get to the truth."

Skar was puzzled. "So the key isn't a thing? It has something to do directly with the Jentarana."

Again Skind Kjoil gave little help. "More or less. One more secret maintains. There is one thing you still haven't learned."

"What?"

Skind Kjoil smiled. "You are not the first to visit me. The other I could do no more than reveal to him his most inner darkest secret. He will stand in your way and confront you. This someone has been lying to you, has played you like a fool. This someone who has driven you to this moment."

Skar nodded. Master Bo-Hi. Master Bo-Hi himself had admitted to have visisted this tomb but claimed that Skind hadn't spoken to him. But with all the lies coming from Master Bo-Hi Skar suddenly found it hard not to think of the man's every word as a lie.

Another thing occured to him; the outcome of the dream had not come to life. He hadn't died. Skind Kjoil hadn't attacked him. The dream hadn't come true.

"I had a dream about this moment. But in the dream you killed me."

Skind Kjoil shook his head. "That was not me."

Skar's heart froze. "So...that moment is still coming?"

"Yes."

Skar wanted to ask if his uncle knew who the attacker in the dream had been, but he already knew it to be Master Bo-Hi. His glory-search would lead to devastating results, Skar feared. "Lwen once told me about how great you were. I'm glad to find he was right."

Skind Kjoil's brow raised at that name. "Lwen. Now there was a man with dedication. Tell me, did he ever lose faith in his path?"

Skar nodded. "Once. Badly."

Skind Kjoil shrugged. "Well, he was only human," he said with a sarcastic smile. "You know, your mother, she never lost faith in me, she always believed I could be saved. Unlike your father, my apprentice. But he was still loyal. He chose to let me be on my own, didn't come to see me. He respected my path and didn't try to stop me."

Skar smiled. "You four loved each other."

"Yes, love was there once. But in the end we were all fighting for different things, and only your mother's dream has come true."

Skar felt pride inside of him, felt all the airs on his body stand up. "Then I am a Jedi."

"And a strong one. Whatever comes in your path, you must greet it with open arms."

Skar smiled nervously. "Even if it means fighting…and killing?"

Skind Kjoil nodded. "War is brutal business. But you must always remember; there is no shame in fighting for what you believe in. If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live. From this moment forward you must meet the world with resolve. You have to forget past mistakes, forget all your failures. Forget everything except what you're going to do, and do it."

Gray misty fog surrounded them like smoke and Skar felt an end coming to it all.

Skind Kjoil looked behind him into the fog and then smiled to Skar. "That's my ride."

"I will free you, uncle. You have my word."

Skind Kjoil saluted Skar, then he turned and walked off into the fog. Skar watched as the legend disappeared in the fogy blur.

Then the world around him tilted and he was once again crouched on the platform in the center of the silo. He rubbed weariness out of his face and rose. He still had no clue about the key to the Jentarana but he knew that he owed it to his uncle to destroy it. It bound Skind Kjoil to his lifeless existence. Skar loved his uncle, for whatever evil he may have done in the past, he was still his uncle.

Kayupa was right; the Jentarana had to be destroyed. And Master Bo-Hi had to convinced of the wrong path he was taking.

I must find a way to alert Master Bo-Hi about what he's doing.

Without warning, the platform started moving down into the chamber. He saw the entrance fall out of view. He didn't doubt he could jump up there again, but a curiosity drove him to see where the platform would take him.

The room darkened around him as he was taken several levels into the ground. Then projectors lit up beneath him, showering the floor in a bright light. The platform reached the basement and Skar felt it pound into place. The projectors around the floor were still directed towards the ground. All he could see was the bright metal surface of the basement.

What the-?

Then the projectors around the rim of the floor moved up and showered him in light. Skar held up his hand for cover as the projectors continued to show him the rest of the room.

Of the hangar.

Skar gasped and swallowed his uneasiness. A Pursuer-class Enforcement ship stood perched in the center of the hangar. The ship was basically a long, thin box stabilized by a port-side wing and maneuvering cluster. The bridge was situated at the front of the rectangle. The ship looked ancient, something antic, but still it had a clean, fresh and lethal quality about it. It looked fast. Three landing-clamps secured it tightly and magnetically to the hangar floor. Its shine reminded of him of the Koniduz.

Skar whistled enthusiastically and crossed the hangar to the ship. The landing ramp on the ship lowered upon his approach, as if to tempt him into entering the ship. He reached out and touched the ship, creating fine lines in the thick coat of dust that covered the entire ship, revealing spotless hull beneath. Through his fingers and his talent in psychometry he read the past of the ship.

It was the Witty.

Skind Kjoil's private ship.

The testing room was built like an arena. A wide circular room, with no visible ceiling, wide enough for an AT-AT to stand and walk around in. It was placed in the lower levels of the storage facility, the designated arena where they came to test out new weapons. It hadn't seen usage in more than two years now, Sasori Dragus had built it years ago, for testing of new weapons and equipment.

Usually it housed many simulators and hologram projectors but they were all removed now. The metallic floor was scarred with gray ashy marks of explosions and combat. Bloodstains had dried on the walls leaving an eerie feel of death in the chamber. The lights were dimmed so one could only see three feet in front of him.

The ten bodyguards in Sasori's private guard came running in from the only entrance and exit to the chamber. The door sealed shut behind them, locked tight, and whatever fate they might have, would come to life in this room. The bodyguards were packed with the strongest armor Sasori had designed, based on a strange metallic alloy that was light as paper. Every part of their bodies was protected.

Over their shoulders they carried heavy succession blaster-rifles, also designed by Dragus. On their belts and shoulder-straps they carried detonators, vibroblades and ammunition for their rifles. Each of them also carried a back-up blaster on his shin. Their helmets had night-vision, thermal vision, and even sonic-radar to warn them of any threat.

They had chosen this test of out of their own free will, after being offered to participate by Raydoen. Sasori had had mixed feelings about it, he knew his men were involved out of pride, they wanted to show Raydoen a thing or two.

They centered themselves in the room and used their helmet's built-in scopes for tracking down their prey. They checked every corner of the arena and felt like they'd been played for a joke.

There was nothing there.

Then it came. A song from within the middle-ground between light and shadow, a symphony carried on a wind of grudge;

We've chosen to be here - all pain is an illusion - for we are eternal.

Mayhem ensued. The attack came from all sides, it seemed. The first guard went down with his throat slit open, and blood spraying into the air, gushing on his comrades. The blood stained their helmets and a few of them were momentarily blinded.

The dying guard failed to comprehend how a blade had cut through his throat armor, but before the guard had even touched the ground, a second had his head decapitated and another thick stream of blood washed out all over the floor.

Two seconds, two dead.

Once they'd wiped the blood from their helmets the remaining guards started firing. Their rifles roared rapid fire across every inch of the arena, in every possible direction. Some of them resorted to detonators, throwing them into whatever dark corner they could find and the room lit up with explosions and endless flashes of gunfire.

The men screamed in fear, their panic taking such a hold of them that they didn't care if they hit their own comrades in the chaos.

None of them could imagine what monster they had been sent in to test themselves against this time, but they knew the only thing that was going to save them was the pounding rifle in their hands.

After a while many of them realized that they'd hit nothing and stopped firing. One by one more of them followed and looked around, confused. The room dimmed significantly without the glare of their rifles. There was no sign of blood other than that of their fallen comrades. The walls were laced with holes from blasterfire but not a single sign of their attacker.

They split up into two groups, checking their separate ends of the arena.

They had barely moved away from each other before a shadow swooped down like a predator in the small gap between them. Both groups turned and fired at the shadow but it moved too quickly for them.

Once the shadow had pulled its latest victim with it up into the darkness, they realized too late that they were actually firing directly at each other and a guard caught in the crossfire was ripped apart by friendly fire.

"Cease fire!" one of them shouted, before the shadow swooped down again and pulled that trooper from the floor. He screamed and fought its grip. He disappeared momentarily from the light but when he appeared again, falling from the blackness of the ceiling, his body was in two pieces and his intestines sprawled like fat snakes over the floor, adding to the carnage and horror.

Silence followed, silence and prayers to many different gods. Smoke had risen from blastershots and explosions, and blood waved over the floor in a river of dark red. Everyone stared at each other for answers but everywhere the same face looked back at them, a face filled with fear.

One guard's boot slipped in a pool blood and he never got back up. A blade chopped down in his forehead and the blade retracted itself all the way back to his neck, leaving his head wide open, spewing red and yellow brain-tissue.

The remaining soldiers turned towards the man, lining up the rifles at the darkness behind him, but the shadow had already vanished by then.

Next time the attack came from directly behind them. One of the bodyguards was reaching for a new energy-clip when his hand was cut off, leaving a bloody stump of bones and ripped tissue. He screamed in terror as his own blood sprayed all over his armor. The wild shadow then swirled around him, cutting his throat open in a circle, before vanishing again.

The guard closest to him rolled away from the attack and came up with his rifle blasting at everything that moved, even if that meant his own comrades. A shadow attacked him from behind and with two lazy chops of a red-stained blade his chest was opened and he clattered down hard on the floor, his legs still twitching.

Then the attacker vanished briefly into the shadows again, but his blade came flying through the shot-filled air and slashed through a rifle and its owner before flying right back into the darkness from where it had come from.

Bodies laid in unnatural positions, body parts and limbs were tripping guards over and ricocheting blasts struck already dead corpses.

One guard fell to his knees and when he tried to get back up, his throat was gashed from behind and blood sprayed into his own face.

Another guard made it to the door hoping it wasn't sealed, but his feet were kicked away beneath him and he stumbled to the floor. He rolled sideways to shoot his assailant but hidden in a blur of motion two blades sliced through his face like cutting in air and the man's body spasmed in a dance of death.

The two last remaining guards filed together and tried to avoid looking at their fallen comrades. They exchanged clips and readied for action. It was impossible to spot movement in the death cries and screaming of their savagely slaughtered friends. Their hands trembled with fear and they confessed in secret to themselves that they would go out fighting to the death.

And so they did.

The blade came hovering on the air and sliced through the nearest guard's chest. Blood splashed out from his chest and from the hole on other side where the blade exited between his shoulder blades. As the guard screamed and turned around, the blood sprayed from both sides of him, making him a living fountain. The remaining guard followed the blade as it flew back to its owner in the shadows. Then he unleashed hell at the shadow, but hid nothing but wall.

As the shadow finally did reveal itself, it leaped onto the bundle of corpses it had produced, with two blood-dripping blades in hand.

It was right then that the guard ran out of shots.

The shadow slowly rose to his full height, flung out his hands in cruciform and laughed. The mocking and evil sound echoed and boomed through the arena of death. The guard reached for his shin-blaster, but his hand was severed in midair by a wayward blade. The blade continued onwards down and sliced through the guard's kneecap. The guard screamed in agony and held out his remaining hand and the bloody other stump of his wrist to plead the assassin to stop.

The gloating assassin smiled and jumped on the guard, crushing him to the bloodied floor. A clawed bony hand flung off the helmet from the man's head. The guard looked up into the glowing red eyes that burned in the sockets of nature's greatest evil.

"Embrace this moment…"

And as the guard closed his eyes and tried to block out the sight, he felt a set of razor sharp teeth dig into his throat. He felt his own warm blood streaming down his chest and neck and wanted to scream but he couldn't. Inside the assassin's mouth was a gulp of red and bleeding meat.

The guard's windpipe.

"Alright! You've made your point!"

The lights flickered on and the room exploded in brilliance under powerful projectors. The carnage of bodies piled upon each other made Sasori Dragus want to heave, and not just out of disgust, but also of emotional distress. These men had been his trusted guards for several years. He didn't know why he'd agreed to let Raydoen train against his best bodyguards, maybe it had been a foolish hope that Raydoen would end up dead. He should have known better, Raydoen was more lethal than any weapon Sasori had ever designed.

Raydoen Jayant raised himself from the bleeding heap of the last guard and spat the bloody flesh from his mouth. It landed at Sasori's boot.

"I love the smell of battle, the touch of blade and flesh, the spray of the blood." Raydoen sheathed his blades and walked away from the corpse, strolling towards Sasori. "If you listen to the warrior in yourself, Inferior, you would understand the pleasure in this."

Sasori bowed his head. "If only it was the enemy we were fighting, Master."

Raydoen laughed, his red eyes radiating perverse enjoyment. "All blood is alike, only the taste is different."

Sasori glowered at the vampire. "These men weren't enemies, Master. They were my men!"

Raydoen shrugged, licked his fangs and spat a gobble of blood on the floor. "Blood knows no loyalty." Raydoen started walking past him, the smell of sweat and blood oozing from him.

Sasori followed him out of the tomb. "The transport is here, Master. I've alerted the crew and the pilots. You ordered two starfighters to follow the Offeyyu. Although Admiral Stamper specifically ordered us to bring only one ship."

Raydoen didn't care. "He is not my superior."

"But he is our employer."

"One's strength is not limited to the work we do. Power exists on all planes. Admiral Stamper will have to realize that we don't trust him any more than he trusts us." Raydoen pulled out one of his blades and licked it clean of blood. "I've also moved twenty of our mercenaries onboard the Offeyyu. Admiral Stamper must understand we won't come unguarded."

Sasori nodded, knowing it was true. "So you're suspecting a double cross?"

"Always." Raydoen laughed, a laugh of mistakable joy and excitement. "Most adventurous times ahead, Inferior."

Sasori forced himself to not show his worry. "I think so too, Master."

Raydoen sheathed his blade and wiped his mouth clean of blood. "Pack your things, Inferior. The Offeyyu has arrived and Admiral Stamper wants his weapon."

Kayupa clipped his lowering harness to the clamp running along the ramp of the Koniduz. The harness itself was attached to his belt with a firm elastic cord. Kayupa looked down the open ramp and saw the newly arrived transport ship, carrying the Jentarana, some two hundred feet below him.

Kayupa tugged at the cord, it held.

He looked over his shoulder at his newly purchased protocol droid. Protocol droids were programmed in etiquette and equipped with formidable language skills, they assisted diplomats and politicians and also served as aides and companions for high-ranking officials. Kayupa had modified this model to pilot the Koniduz on a suicide mission. They came in as many shapes and sizes, but most were humanoid.

Its silver metallic body stood out in the cramped and dirty living quarters. "2L, you've got my recorded message."

The droid nodded, its glowing eyes fading in color. "I will transmit it to Nanh upon your departure, Master."

"Good."

Kayupa inhaled smoggy air and fueled it through his determination. Confidence bloomed at the seed and a beautiful flower blossomed inside his heavy heart. Kayupa allowed his body to tip over, his body falling some two hundred feet vertically into the air.

Falling, the rain around him seemed to move slower than him. His stealth suit made him seem like a blur in the backdrop of the gray clouds if anyone was looking. Unless they were looking for him, they wouldn't see him.

He saw the transport ship coming closer, and closer. His bandana trailed behind along with the cord unfolding like a writhing snake. Kayupa held the cord-limit meter in his hand, waiting for the right moment.

Kayupa closed his eyes.

Its funny how my life suddenly seems to be at an end. I see fulfillment in the distance, like a rising sun, turning the clouds all purple and yellow. With it comes a destiny left to ensure.

Kayupa felt the cord tightening, as it ran out of line, and just as he was snapped back hard, he unclipped it from his belt and fell the last ten feet to the hull of the Offeyyu. He came down hard, but managed to grab hold of a ledge and prevented himself from falling over the curved plating.

He looked up at the Koniduz among the dark clouds and pouring rain. The cord was being pulled back inside the ramp, and the ramp closed. Soon after the Koniduz powered up on its repulsor lift and flew away.

Kayupa unleashed a second cord and secured it to the ledge, then rolled himself over the hull, coming down over its left flank. He fell into air once again, but the turn of the hull swung him closer to the Offeyyu, he pounded against the side hull, two feet from the hatch he'd aimed for.

He'd studied the Offeyyu briefly but knew that a separate hangar was situated on the left flank, accessible by a second hatch. Kayupa lit his lightsaber and carved open the hatch. He jumped inside fast and pulled himself up against a bulkhead, just as the emergency system kicked in, and a pressure door sealed the gap behind him.

Inside the separate hangar, Kayupa ran, silently, for cover behind a green X-Wing starfighter. With a quick assessment he counted three guards in the hangar, and two pilots pulling off their flightsuits by their lockers.

Only one way in, only one way out.

Kayupa ran his hand over his beard, working to find a way. Below him, in the floor, he could feel the entire ship tremble. They'd entered space now. He had a clue about where they were going, the name Soliton. He had checked it to be a planet inside the Outer Rim, not far from Gamorr.

Hopefully the droid, 2L, was still following him. If they discovered the ship, they'd destroy it and think him dead. Even if they hailed it, the droid would play his recording and they'd still blast it. No matter what they did, the Koniduz was doomed.

Kayupa felt the tight fabric of his uniform at his elbows and his knees. This was smaller than his old one, it fit him, but only just barely. The bandana was new. The blaster was new. The lightsaber was new. A new man.

With an old mission.

Kayupa tugged out his comlink from under his stealth suit. "2L, I've reached the sneak point, send the transmission now."

"Yes, Master."

Kayupa put away the comlink again as he crawled behind crates and sneaked past the pilots, left the hangar and pushed himself up against the bulkhead in the hall. The corridor went two ways, left and straight ahead. Left lead to a turbolift that went through the entire ship. Straight ahead led to the crew's living quarters. Kayupa went left, more options that way. He needed a console to find out how to get to the Jentarana.

Kayupa stepped inside the lift and punched the switch.

Soon Skar will know. Time is running out.

The door closed and the dark lift descended down into the bowels of the ship.

On the bridge of the Offeyyu, slouched in his command chair, Raydoen Jayant watched the emergency light blink on his console for a second, only then to stop. Apparently a breach had been detected in the lower hangar. The light had vanished again, signifying that the breach had been sealed.

Though he had expected such a thing, it still sent a shiver down his spine. And he knew then that there was no mistake about it.

The Jedi was here.

Wanting to confirm his hunch, Raydoen turned to Dr. Oteyu who sat in the navigator's chair to his left. "Is the Jedi ship following us?"

Dr. Oteyu leaned forward in his chair and read from his screen. "Ship registered as the Koniduz right in our wake. He's flying too close," Dr. Oteyu frowned, "like he wants us to see him."

Raydoen turned back to view the stars outside and the Nal Hutta planet hovering outside the screen, his right hand patting the dangi knifes in his belt. Koniduz, the name of the legendary Roeeveri snake. How fine a prey it will be for the Offeyyu, the Dfieeluain Blood God. Raydoen smiled maliciously. Religions are about to clash, the time of change. A time of power and war.

Raydoen scratched his goatee. "How many life signatures onboard the Jedi ship?"

Dr. Oteyu tapped his keyboard, scratched his head. "None, Master. There are no entities onboard."

For a moment Raydoen felt admiration. What deception. "A drone. He is already onboard."

Dr. Oteyu didn't seem comforted. "Onboard this ship, Master?"

Raydoen knew that the Jedi would come to him, and they would fight. And the Jedi had fallen right into the trap that Raydoen had constructed. The Jedi was impotent while on the Offeyyu, the mercenaries and guards were securing the hyperdrive at that very moment. The Jedi would have to make his move when they arrived on Soliton.

"Yes. He has breached. He's onboard the Offeyyu."

Dr. Oteyu rose from his seat, instantly panicked. "But, Master, then he'll attempt to steal the weapon!"

Raydoen put up a palm, never lost his smile. "He doesn't know the Jentarana can't fly in space. He'll wait for us to land." Raydoen licked his fangs. "Let the ship follow us."

Dr. Oteyu didn't look happy. Raydoen suspected the Koniduz would follow and that the Jedi hoped they would see this as evidence that he wasn't onboard.

They would meet and Raydoen's fate would be carved into the fabric of time soon enough.

"Make the jump to Soliton. We have an appointment with destiny."

The Duel Chamber had been cleared out of all the usual training-equipment. All the bars and mats had been shuffled aside, leaning against the far wall. Skar took notice of all the candles, a circle of red candles burned around the center of the room, illuminating the domed ceiling with the murals of ancient Jedi battles. Skar looked closely at the murals, his knowledge of them updated with the facts that it had been Sith that had constructed this temple, and that Sith had created these murals. Skar still had no idea which battles they were supposed to depict, but found himself frowning knowing it was no longer the sacred Jedi temple he'd thought it was, instead it'd been a haven for the wicked.

Skar walked into circle of lights, examining the scene. Taking in the feel of the room, he prepared for his test. His combat-training was almost complete he knew, Master Bo-Hi had told that this would be his final test. And that test was to take place any minute now.

It crossed his mind momentarily that he didn't know how much this test actually meant. Though Master Bo-Hi was wise and strong in certain aspects of the Force, there were areas where Skar felt him to be lacking. The standard Master Bo-Hi was searching for in him might not be all that he wanted to be.

Maybe Master Bo-Hi was wrong to assess whether Skar was really ready to be a Knight. Certainly the Master had no knowledge of how the Kjoil deemed the apprentice's progress in training.

All Master Bo-Hi could teach him was Jedi training and Skar knew that it would not finish his training as a Kjoil, only the Jedi side which he found it hard not to frown upon. He was, or would be, stronger than any Jedi.

Master Bo-Hi's training had been a great asset alongside the Holocron's knowledge of his family. He doubted he would have advanced as much as he had, without the aid of Master Bo-Hi. Master Bo-Hi had given him the physical side of the Kjoil's role, he had taught Skar the use of the lightsaber, and the methods of how to use the Force in such dire situations as close combat.

Skar had learned much of history from the Holocron, but it would never have taught him close combat as well as Master Bo-Hi had. The two sources of information had branched together and molded him into the man he was now.

Skar settled into a crouch, calming his thoughts. His hands rested on his knees as he patiently waited for the test to begin. Skar knew that he had been destined to complete this test. His heritage from his family had been the gift of the Force, and that gift required him to use it as best as he could, as a Kjoil. His Kjoil blood had once been one the most memorable of the Jedi in the days of the Old Republic. He had a lot to live up to, and a lot to learn still. He knew that his feeling of the Force, his ability to use it fluidly, was a sign that he was on the right path.

Skar's hand waved through his short hair. He had grown fond of the Jedi Apprentice-style, it prevented his hair from obstructing his view in close combat, while Skar used the bandana to keep sweat from getting into his eyes.

When seeing the ghost of Skind Kjoil, Skind had had very short hair. Recently Skar had noticed how very similar to his uncle he looked, not so much in hairstyle but they owned the same eyes. Skar had once shaved his beard to avoid looking like his uncle, but after meeting him Skar felt no shame in his heritage.

Master Bo-Hi stepped in, dressed in full cloak and hood. He stopped a few paces from Skar, at the edge of the candles. "Do you believe you are ready?"

Skar replied softly, "Yes, Master."

Master Bo-Hi smiled, a smile of pride but also of recognition. His presence was so strong and wise, which contradicted Skar's deep feeling that the Master would perhaps soon become an enemy.

The Jedi Master let his hood fall back over his shoulders, took off his cloak and let it fall without a sound to the floor. Master Bo-Hi's right hand fell down on the cylinder, attached to his belt. He held it at his side.

Skar stood and pulled his arms out of his cloak's sleeves, leaving the cloak hanging by the belt around his waist, baring his strong, muscular upper body. Then he clipped the lightsaber from his belt. He knew the Master would frown on him wearing the cloak the way he did; he also knew he didn't care.

His growing dislike and suspicion regarding Master Bo-Hi had pushed him into stages of provocation. In same ways he knew it was childish and stupid, but he wanted reactions out of the Master. He wanted signs.

In perfect unison and coordination they placed themselves in their ready-stance. They choose the same stance, their handles beside their faces with a clear view of the adversary.

"The goal is to find control of the Force, use it to your best need, in situations where your life may be threatened. The Force, when in battle, can be used for many things. You can predict my moves, feel my intentions, sense where I'm going, when I'm going and where I will strike. If your confidence in the Force is strong enough, you need not worry about my blade. Do you understand?"

Skar rested his shoulders, and tightened both hands on the lightsaber. "I understand, Master."

"Then show me."

Master Bo-Hi bent down in his knees, and jumped at Skar in a leap that brought him several feet above his head. Master Bo-Hi's green blade lit up in midair as he let out a quick strike at Skar's head. Skar rolled backwards and threw himself on his back, lighting up his flame-colored blade to parry the strike.

Master Bo-Hi landed a few feet behind Skar, whom jumped to a stand and then leaped sideways, leaving the area Master Bo-Hi wanted to attack. Watching his breath and air intake, Skar circled around to strike Master Bo-Hi in the back, but Master Bo-Hi immediately leaped forward and left Skar's target area.

Master Bo-Hi landed on his feet and pivoted to meet Skar head on, as the Kjoil made his move. Master Bo-Hi parried Skar's blow, brushed it away and clear and then used the opening to slash at Skar's side.

Swirling away from the cut, Skar slowed his breathing, ducked beneath a second attack, and struck at Master Bo-Hi's exposed weakness. Master Bo-Hi ducked too and jumped backwards, landing a few meters away.

Skar stood still a moment, calming the rouse he felt, then gripped his weapon better and closed in on Master Bo-Hi.

Master Bo-Hi pressured Skar with a series of fast, low cuts, that Skar had little difficulty in deflecting. Skar sidestepped and lunged at Master Bo-Hi who again circled and deflected the blade. Their blades meshed and sparked together for a while, illuminating the room beyond with flashes of fire and green, as Skar and Master Bo-Hi both pressed against each other.

Skar smiled through his teeth and used all of his strength to try and tip Master Bo-Hi over. Master Bo-Hi didn't budge.

Finally Skar saw the futility, and disengaged his blade. Instead he placed a foot on Master Bo-Hi's chest and kicked him back. Master Bo-Hi hadn't expected that and took two steps back, but never lost his footing or his control.

Skar jumped after him, cutting sideways in midair. The blade hummed and swooshed as it flew right over Master Bo-Hi's head. He circled the cylinder in his hand and leaned perfectly into a right cut which Master Bo-Hi evaded. Skar became more and more impressed with himself.

"Your Kjoil blood flows too eagerly in your veins"

Skar set himself. Concentration and focus. Pride is of no use in combat. He lifted his blade back up and instead of running, he slowly closed in on Master Bo-Hi using careful steps.

Their blades touched once, and were quickly drawn back. Once again they touched and then retracted.

Master Bo-Hi nodded behind his lightsaber. "Improvisation is important, but think through."

Wishing to earn his merit, Skar attacked with a long series of easy-to-parry hits that Master Bo-Hi had no trouble in deflecting. Skar could sense that Master Bo-Hi was confused with Skar choosing such an easy tactic.

Master Bo-Hi ended the show with a strong parry, and a kick to Skar's side. Skar fell down on the floor, close to one of the red candles, nearly burning his hair. Skar spat, and groaned at his own failure. He exhaled and laid there for a while, his chest rising and falling at quick intervals.

"Why such a tactic?"

Skar grinned. "I'm too eager, it got the best of me. I wasn't listening. I'm sorry, Master."

"I hope this is one lesson you have learned. Haste kills faster than patience."

Skar sat up on his elbows. "Did I fail the test?"

Master Bo-Hi prepared himself again in a new stance. Skar got the point, the test wasn't over, and jumped to a stand, his blade still on the ground.

"Calm yourself, allow yourself to be reopened to the Force."

Skar flexed his fingers and allowed the Force to reenter him, warming him and refreshing his weary body. The Force powered him and he felt ready once again, even more ready than he had been before.

The lightsaber twitched on the floor for a few seconds, before flying off the ground. Skar pivoted 360 degrees to his left, gripping the lightsaber in midair at his back and ending up where he started, the lightsaber and mind ready for combat.

Skar joined the battle again, as their session continued for some time. Neither ever got the upper hand, nor did any of them try before the right time came. Skar had impressed Master Bo-Hi greatly, still he longed for the battle to end. He longed to know if he had proved himself, though he had a feeling he had. He felt amazing, his moves were cleaner, faster, and more precise than ever. His defenses were perfect. No one could get past him.

The fight reached its close, as they merged in a series of close combat-situations, they could practically touch each other, but their blades would have cut their hands off if they tried.

Master Bo-Hi reached back with his blade to push Skar back, but Skar pulled up his blade and parried the attack with his lightsaber held vertically. As Master Bo-Hi's blade struck against it, Skar pushed the blade forwards, leaning it along Master Bo-Hi's blade towards his chest. Master Bo-Hi realized this a little too late and pushed Skar back brutally with the Force.

Skar fell two steps back, feeling like a six foot wall had slammed into him, his face dripping with sweat. Little droplets of perspiration ran over Master Bo-Hi's forehead. Skar shut off his lightsaber, and finally allowed the fatigue to conquer him.

Master Bo-Hi shut off his blade too, a disgruntled look on his face. "Why did you shut off the blade? You're not finished yet."

Skar raised a finger to point at Master Bo-Hi's chest. Master Bo-Hi looked down to see a burnmark from the tip of Skar's lightsaber on the fabric of his clothes. If Skar had gotten one centimeter closer, Master Bo-Hi would have been dead.

Master Bo-Hi's fingers felt the burnt fabric then clipped his lightsaber onto his belt. "Point taken."

Skar chuckled, grasping for a breath. "I passed?"

"Skar, you are by far the best combatant I have ever encountered. You had perfect control and you were quickly to apply your moves, to improve them once you sensed my pattern of defense." Master Bo-Hi laughed softly. "Of course the fact that you burnt my clothes, says a lot. I've never been that close before."

Skar rose to his feet and clipped his lightsaber to his belt. He bowed once. "Then I think it is time I retie, Master."

Master Bo-Hi stepped over and squeezed his shoulder. "Me too, my young friend. Though I think this will take some time to heal." Master Bo-Hi smiled warmly.

Skar tried desperately not to think that if he wanted to, he could have killed Master Bo-Hi in that last move. He didn't want to think of Master Bo-Hi as inferior to him but the signs were all there. But he'd always known he was destined to be greater than any of the Jedi.

He just didn't like seeing it so clearly. "Do you mean the fabric or your pride, Master?" Skar joked.

The warmth in the Master's smile increased. "Both. Skar, the time has come for me to grant you your new title."

Skar looked at him, feeling a hard pounding of his heart. A pound of pride and achievement. "What?"

Master Bo-Hi rested a hand on his shoulder. "I have no more to teach you."

Skar's head was filled with joy, a joy he didn't know how to express. "So I'm a Knight?"

Master Bo-Hi only nodded.

He felt like he was overflowing with power and pride. And purpose. "Then we can go to Kayupa now. And find the Jentarana."

Master Bo-Hi's black metallic filters stared at him for a heartbeat, then he nodded. "Of course."

Running as fast as he could down the hallways of the temple didn't help his heart to slow down, but Skar accepted that. His heart was pounding, his eyes wanted to cry out of joy, but his wide smile wouldn't let them. Trying to find the right way to celebrate his rise to Knight, he thought only of two people he wished to share the joy. Only one of them was nearby.

"Shinran!" Skar shouted as he entered her room.

She was standing at the foot of her bed, looking scared and shocked.

"I made it! I'm a Knight!"

Sasori Dragus didn't like space travel. The shaking at first at take-off, the tremors that ran through the ship in flight and the uncomfortable silence of hyperspace. He'd already gotten sick three times during their traveling. The ship had just come out of hyperspace again, soon to jump onwards on another hyperspace lane to Soliton. It would take a couple of minutes to plot the new trajectory.

To ease the tension and his wobbly stomach he'd secluded himself in one of the onboard workstations spread throughout the Offeyyu. His busy fingers sampled specimens from the Jentarana hull, he put them under a magnifying console so he could study them up close. He didn't plan on finding anything new, it was just to keep himself busy.

He blamed half of the queasiness on the space travel, and the other half to the fact that maybe somewhere on the ship a Jedi was lurking around. The Offeyyu didn't have an onboard security system, nor any surveillance cameras. The Jedi was free to roam wherever if in fact he was onboard, he knew there was a ship following them, the same ship that had rocketed off the Rancor League's warehouse two years ago after the prison break.

With that in mind Sasori had packed a sporting blaster of his own design with his luggage, and kept it close in case the Jedi should show. He'd also chosen the workstation that was closest to the engine compartment and the hyperdrive, since they were the most well guarded areas of the ship.

It was frightening to know that the Jedi would probably come looking for him. He was one of the top men of this operation, next only to Raydoen and Dr. Oteyu. He didn't fear for the doctor's life, and hoped the Jedi would make Raydoen a target.

Raydoen had mentioned having a new agenda for the Rancor League, perhaps even turning it into a government. If that was his plan, he had already mentioned that it would be part of Sasori's future. Only Sasori didn't know how or where. And if a government was his plan, then was Sasori willing to participate? He liked his job as a weapons dealer so far.

Sasori looked up from his desk at the crate stacked up against the farthest wall. The label on it said; Project 2502. It was a new type of prototype battle-droid sent to him by a fellow weapons designer at the Chironex Corporation. They manufactured all types of droids at request. Sasori knew one of the designers there, they'd shared the same education and both had a knack for weapons. Sasori had never delved at droids, he made handguns, battle-equipment like the paper thin tigris-armor he'd designed for his men.

Raydoen's dangi blades were another of his creations, blades the half the length of a human arm, made from cortosis ore, sharpened like a razor and could withstand even the blade of a lightsaber. Raydoen hadn't started using the blades until they'd been introduced to the Jedi matter.

The friend at the Chironex Corporation had sent him a prototype of the droid for him to investigate, walk it over for flaws, they shared many schematics to ensure that whatever one of them didn't see as a flaw and thereby an error, the other would. Sharing constructive criticism.

However Sasori had never shared or mentioned the Jentarana program with this friend, it might have been a fluke on his part, since then he might have overlooked a potential weakness. Sasori had feared showing the Jentarana off, it might have drawn unwanted attention if blurted out to anyone else.

Sasori looked at the crate again. Project 2502. A battle-droid. He smiled. His friend would have been so envious if he had seen the Jentarana. That was his sort of work. Either droids or large scale attack vessels. That was his style. Not that battle-droids were a bad idea. It was cheap to produce and they didn't take as long time to train than human subjects. Just upload the program and you had a loyal killing machine on your hands. One that would never freak out during battles. Nevertheless battle-droids were insufficient. They didn't have the human intelligence, they could easily be broken down or destroyed.

Bottom line, they just weren't smart. AI could never stand up to the expertise of a trained killer, a human. Processors worked slower than the human mind.

Sasori smiled and made a small laugh to himself as he remembered his study on the Battle of Naboo. The Trade Federation had used lowly battle-droids back then, thousands of them to overcome a native threat. And the battle-droids had broken down and were useless because a single starfighter destroyed the droid control ship. What a humiliation that must have been for the designer.

Sasori started when he turned around and found Raydoen standing in the doorway to his little office. The vampire snorted once upon seeing Sasori, as if he could read his mind, which must have been terribly trivial to a killer such as him.

However he noticed Raydoen didn't have that self-assure grin on his face, it was replaced by a more contemplating expression. "Bored, Inferior?"

Sasori seated himself at his desk. "I…just wanted to occupy myself."

"Worried?"

Sasori thought that was obvious. "Yes."

Raydoen stepped inside the office, walking in a purposeless manner. "You needn't be. This battle will not involve you."

Sasori felt slightly relieved to hear that, but he doubted if those words would hold true. "Then why am I here?"

"You are my company."

Sasori frowned. "You brought me…for my company?"

"I've found sparks in you that are interesting to me. I know you think of me as ruthless, mindless, but like in you I also think about things outside our business."

Sasori suddenly wondered if this was the real Raydoen or a Jedi mind-trick. It certainly didn't seem like the Raydoen he'd come to despise. "What can I do for you, Master?"

Raydoen hugged himself. "Talk with me."

Sasori felt very uncomfortable. This was definitely new ground. "About what?"

The vampire hesitated, unsure. It took a while before he found the right words. "Inferior, do you know what it is to make love?"

Sasori fought back a snicker. "Yes, I know."

Raydoen nodded. "I read. Shortly before our departure I finished a book on the philosophy of combat and war. It broke a man down into three different areas. An animal, a hunter and a dreamer. We are all hunters, but our choices and desires that we develop through our lives are what differentiates us from either an animal or a dreamer. I've never studied philosophy or theology before but the book had my interest peeked. We Dfeeliuans are humans, although either a higher or lower kind, but we are humanoids, and we share the same emotions that humans do, albeit ours sometimes go into the extreme."

Sasori didn't know what to say, and he wondered where this was going. But he also knew a wrong word now would anger Raydoen, and that could turn fatal.

"Okay."

Raydoen continued. "I believe that every man has a hunter in him, and that he can either choose to go after his desires as an animal, ferociously and crudely, like a savage, or as a dreamer, doing things in a peaceful manner and fantasying merely about things beyond his reach. The dreamer stays potent but restrained, while the animal gets its feedings regularly. The animal will, after having been fed, crave more and more, stuffing himself until he finally can find no more. He will starve himself to death, literally, grow weary of life all too fast, and die alone, still hungry but without more to eat."

Raydoen looked over at Sasori, a strange benign look on his face. "The dreamer will do things in a more peaceful manner, but it is in this peaceful manner he begins to suspect it is too slow a process. He puts all his dreams into the hands of hope, hoping his dreams will one day come true, floating by him on a cloud for him to pick like a fruit. The dreamer is never stuffed or overfed, yet he is never as hungry as the animal neither."

Sasori struggled do find the connection with sex. "What does any of this have to do with love?"

Raydoen looked away. "I've…never been able to make love."

Sasori's brow raised. "You're a virgin?"

Raydoen turned to him, quickly, his face and tattoo alive with fury. "Certainly not! I have been with many females."

Sasori held up his hands. "Sorry, sorry. I'm…not sure I understand."

"There are fine lines between the arts of copulation, Inferior. Physical pleasure attracts us all, no matter what kind of sex we are attracted to, but it does so for various reasons. Animals do not enjoy or seek out a sexual partner the way humans do, not for mortal desires. They seek out a partner as a means to pass on their genetic heritage, they do it to preserve the future of their species. They do it because they have to if they are to live on. Humans, or aliens for that matter, seek out sex as a means for pleasure. And they seek out as many partners as possible, like it was a sport. This too does not have to involve love either, and it is the form of sex that I have endured the most."

Raydoen looked sad. "Never once have I had any emotions for the female whom I was with. I've never wanted to know what kind of family or childhood she had, I've never wanted to know the names of siblings or the pets she had when she was younger. And I've never been with a woman for longer than it was needed for me to complete the ritual." Raydoen sat down on the edge of the desk. "Never enjoyed the caress of her fingers on my back, never basked in the taste of her lips. I've never given love to anyone."

"Why?"

Raydoen's eyes narrowed. "Because I don't have it in me. Because in the days of my life I caved in to my destructive side and became a warrior, I sold my soul to the art of bloodshed, because it was there that I found most pleasure. Its through this knowledge that I know come to realize that, however much I wanted to be, I am not a dreamer," Raydoen's eyes stared at nothing, "I'm an animal."

Sasori didn't believe what he was seeing. A saddened introspective Raydoen, a killer suddenly looking for something lost in his life. "I guess you shouldn't be so sad to know that," Sasori said. "You said that fighting was the only place you found any pleasure. Do you think you could have found the same kind of pleasure with a woman?"

Raydoen's eyes sharpened as they looked at him. "That was my question within my question. I wanted to know if you, Inferior, have you ever loved a female? And if you have, I want you to describe it so that I can know if the path I've chosen was wrong."

Sasori scoffed, confused. "You want me to describe what its like to feel love?"

Raydoen nodded. "Yes. Can you do that? Have you experienced love?"

Sasori hesitated. "I've…had my mild degrees of contact with it. There have been a pair of women in my life, none that I've had a longer relationship to. I've always put my work first, not because it gave me more satisfaction, but my designs had greater impact on the world than the affairs I've had. But I've shared emotions for women at different points of my life."

The vampire seemed to listen, really listen, to him for the first time. "Can you describe those emotions?"

Sasori tried, but he found he couldn't find the right words. Instead this moment of openness made him want to look deeper inside Raydoen's mind. "I think it would work better if you described what its like to take the life of a man."

Raydoen's lips twitched, then formed a cruel smile. "When I skewer a man, I see in his eyes a glimpse of recognition that lasts for a few seconds, before he falls down. That glimpse is the thing I crave most about combat, to see the final moments of life slip away and to see the soul leave the man. After I have done that, I start to devour his blood, drinking it down like vine and enjoying the faint rusty taste. His body belongs to me upon the desertion of his soul. His body is left behind and it is through his blood that I devour the last remnants of his soul, his strength and his fears. The taste of a man," Raydoen savored the memory, "is so much sweeter when it tastes of fear. This is how I gain his strength and feed my hunger."

Sasori felt sick to his stomach and decided against mentioning it.

Raydoen looked at him, eager for his reply. "Now that I've described my greatest pleasure in life, you describe yours."

Sasori interlocked his fingers, and suddenly realized something about himself that he had never seen before. And that thought brought him a certain sense of contentment. "No."

"What?" Raydoen's teeth flashed.

"I can't, Master."

Raydoen rose from the table and stared daggers at him. "What do you mean you can't? We agreed to share it!"

Sasori held out his hands. "Its not that I won't, its that I really can't, Master. I'm sorry to say that I think you have chosen a wrong path. Because if you can describe all of what you take away from killing a man, the way you just did, you've missed out on something very beautiful."

Raydoen's pale hands clenched into fists. "Describe it!"

Sasori shook his head. "Love can't be described, Master. Its a holy emotion that goes beyond even your wildest dreams." His feeling of contentment rose as he realized that he had been loved, and he had loved in return. In a point in his life where everything seemed dim and unsure, that knowledge illuminated some corners of his heart. "I don't think there is a single language in the entire Galaxy, or even the universe, that can come even mildly close to describing how love feels."

Raydoen looked dumbfound. "No words?"

"No."

Raydoen slumped against the desk, looking like his heart had been ripped out of his chest and fed to him as food. "I guess I should have expected that. How would an animal like me understand it?"

Sasori felt sorry for him. "There's still time."

Raydoen's eyes darkened and his shoulders slumped. "No."

"Why not?"

Raydoen started to talk but the words were never produced. Instead he turned and left the room, leaving behind an air of hostility and unresolved questions. Sasori thought about chasing him down but when he felt for the first the way his heart had pounded while Raydoen had been in his office, he decided not to. Sasori let out a heavy breath and slumped back into his chair. The entire conversation had been surreal, and he wasn't sure it hadn't just been his imagination.

A nearby screen on his desk lit up.

Sasori read an incoming hologram transmission to him from a source unknown. After locking down the chamber and making sure no one was close by he accepted the transmission. A hologram the size of a head appeared above his desk, the person on the other end shrouded. Sasori snorted, he had a feeling this particular person would be calling soon enough. Another one of his secret accounts that preferred their anonymity.

"What is it?" a voice growled at the other end.

Sasori cleared his throat and put his voice into a whisper. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd gotten my message. I have a proposition for you."

"A proposition?"

Sasori nodded, though he knew the person at the other end wouldn't see it. "The Jentarana."

A slight laughter. "Mr. Dragus, I wanted to buy the Jentarana from you two years ago and you turned me down. You may have forgotten…but I didn't."

Sasori was wary this might happen. "There was another buyer, an Imperial Admiral. There was nothing I could do. Raydoen sold it before even consulting with me. We're to make the drop-off in a matter of days on a planet called Soliton."

A long lingering silence came before the reply. "Why should that matter to me?"

"Because of what I can offer. The Jentarana…for free."

Again a long silence. "Are you kidding me?"

Sasori smiled. "No, I'm willing to turn the Jentarana over to you at no cost. However that doesn't mean there aren't implications."

"Such as?"

Sasori inhaled air, seeking to calm the flutter in his heart. "Raydoen has gone mad. I don't know what kind of game he's trying to play but…I'm not sure I want to be part of it. In exchange for the Jentarana, undamaged, I ask only that you help me get out of here."

The man at the other end contemplated for a few heartbeats. "Soliton? I'm not familiar with that system."

Sasori typed in the coordinates and the instructions while talking. "I'm sending the coordinates now. Do we have a deal?"

The person on the other end was silent for long, examining his own choices and gains to be had from this venture. "This weapon would be a great asset to my group. But I'm not entirely reassured about the conditions."

"No, but you do want the Jentarana, don't you?" Sasori remembered how eager the man had been when they'd first communicated. Sasori had all but completed the transaction and money problem when Raydoen showed up and spoiled the entire deal, claiming the Jentarana was already sold. That was the problem with Raydoen, too unpredictable, too self-absorbed. "The risk you're running is worth it, isn't it?"

"Perhaps so….Imperials, you said?"

Sasori scoffed. "Nothing. A single Star Destroyer, at the most." Sasori followed his line of thought through and remembered something else. "There might be another problem though."

"Such as?"

Sasori cleared his throat again. "A Jedi Knight is onboard the ship and he is trying to take the Jentarana for himself. I think he might - "

"A Jedi Knight?" the man interrupted.

Sasori nodded, again knowing the man wouldn't see it and then added. "Yes. But you should be more than able to - "

"See you shortly," the man said and signed off, leaving Sasori staring at the disappearing canvas of the hologram.

After a second Sasori flicked it off, surprised at the man's quick action, but decided it didn't matter. Rescue was on the way, and Raydoen was about to get a very nasty surprise. He couldn't wait for the vampire to be out of his life, despite the sudden burst of humanity Raydoen had shown him during their conversation, his words had only further cemented that he was a killer at heart. And killers never needed much excuse to take up their natural talents.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the crate leaning against the wall in his office again, Project 2502. Using a thick crowbar and a steel-cutter Sasori opened the crate and the droid stood there, lifeless, before him. It was not clunky like the IG-88 assassin droids, it lacked a better finish, but Sasori couldn't spot any noticeable weaknesses on first look.

He did a better job than the last time. Sasori had inspected the last prototype on numerous occasions, and found everything from faulty servomotors, insufficient shielding, low power problems and Sasori had finally had the pleasure of informing his friend that the prototype had been killed by a lonely rat that'd made a home for itself inside the engine compartment.

That mental image made him aware that he could smile again, Sasori took out a notepad and started inspecting Project 2502.

Jedi Master Bo-Hi Dzog walked across the dunes with a slight carelessness to his step. He wasn't really going anywhere, but after he'd pronounced Skar as a Knight, the bile in his throat had gotten so thick that he thought another minute inside the temple would make him choke. His walk soon became a brisk, almost stunted, walk. He wanted to run, he wanted to leave behind all that he had fabricated.

But he found no matter how fast he ran, no matter how much distance between himself and the temple, he could never escape it.

How does one find peace when all he does hurts someone?

Upon that realization he dropped to his knees on a dune and waited for his guilty conscience to catch up with him. He knew he may have pushed Skar's training ahead too fast, and he knew that it may have influenced the boy's connection with the Force, but he told himself that it was unavoidable. They all had to make sacrifices in order to get what they wanted.

He also feared what the temple might have done to him, what being in the presence of a Sith spirit might have done to him, to his integrity of spirit.

There were so many things he had done wrong in Skar's training, had it been during the Old Republic they would disavowed him decades ago. The boy was Kjoil, he shouldn't have been trained like a Jedi. The two teachings were nothing alike. He couldn't teach Skar any Kjoil training, he could only teach him the Jedi ways, and hope the boy found a bridge to his Kjoil heritage through that someday.

It crossed his mind that the students he had trained all had gaps in their training, all of them had been victims of his impatience. Kayupa certainly had, Kayupa had been his brightest star just until the young man found out the truth about the way Bo-Hi had trained him. He feared one day Skar would react the same way, but he could live with them both abandoning him. They were the future now, not him. He had very little to do in this age before he could fade away gracefully.

The waves of my actions will spread throughout the stars, perhaps jeopardizing the lives of many innocent men and woman.

Bo-Hi peered out into the setting sun and took in the comfort of the twilight evening. He thought of Skar, the young vibrant boy, whom had trusted him. Bo-Hi had lied to him again and again but he had done so out of care. He knew Skar suspected him of other deeds, but that was insignificant. It was only important that Skar be put on the rails of the path he had to take. Everything else was inconsequential.

Bo-Hi would not live forever, he knew, but he would leave behind a force to be reckoned with. He would leave his mark on the Galaxy and through Skar he would have his redemption.

Events had been set in motion that he had no way of stopping. Hopefully the flaws in Kayupa would be mended in Skar. Indeed, Kayupa would destroy the Jentarana. And there was no way he could stop it. Skar would come to help Kayupa, and there was no way he could stop that either. Those two were too good friends to leave the other hanging in jeopardy alone. They'd grown into brothers. And though he knew they wouldn't, he liked to think of himself as their father.

A soulless man in the backdrop of the events coming, in history he would not be remembered. But he found some happiness in knowing that Kayupa and Skar would. Because they created the future, leaving him to be forgotten in the seas of oblivion. He was insignificant. And therefor he deserved no redemption.

Skar, he would be remembered. His destiny was the brightest star of them all. He thought he knew all the answers and his love for Kayupa drove him forward. Whatever damage it might do. But Skar too would have his grief and his victory. His would be the loneliest of them all.

Too many people existed in this life to ever remember every single tale. Every single history. Only those whose tale ended in either grief or victory would be remembered, not the parents, not the friends, but the man itself. Kayupa, indeed, would be remembered, for his pride and his sense of duty, however much it might hurt Bo-Hi. Kayupa had the right idea, only it didn't match with what Bo-Hi had planned for the future.

Bo-Hi wiped the tears from his eyes as he saw the future he once dreamed of falter right in front of him.

A fleeting emotion passed through his mind's eye and Bo-Hi felt the minds of Shinran and Skar nearby, both in joy and happiness. More than usual. Stretching out to their minds, he felt them as equals. Shinran had once only felt like a shadow hanging over her weak self-control, but she was alive within the Force now. Bo-Hi pondered at what Skar could have done to have make her this happy.

And as he stretched deeper into their minds and touched them with the Force, he began to not feel them as equals anymore. It felt more intense than equality. It was almost as if they had melted into one; a perfect combination of mind and -

Master Bo-Hi's eyes shot wide open.

Body?

"I don't know," Skar sniffled, "up until now, I never really believed in that the future was set. I always thought every man or woman had control of his and her destiny," Skar's eyes peered around her room, "but to be a Jedi means to believe in destiny, to believe in that what you are doing is in the interest of the Force. To serve the higher goal, the higher destiny."

Skar held Shinran as they laid together on her bed. Lying there, Shinran in his arms, Skar felt a pleasure and satisfaction the Force could never provide him. The unity inside them and outside them made their bond a special one. They were more than friends, they were companions in life and the Force. The Force had brought them together because of this bond, and Skar knew it.

It had brought him to this planet, showed him the Force and showed him the love that could exist between two people. Not so much love as in romance, but love in understanding and admiration of each other. A kinship in their feelings that made them a perfect pair, and a strong alliance in themselves.

A kind he had never known.

Shinran tilted her head, so she could look up into his eyes. "So now you believe in that?"

Skar didn't hear her at first. His eyes just locked on the ceiling, thinking about how to answer. Finally he looked over at her. "Yeah, I do. I think some events are set in life, like the people we meet."

She smiled and moved herself closer to him, a very cute smile on her lips. "Good."

He placed his head on top of hers. "Why good?"

She giggled cautiously. "Master Bo-Hi said the Force connects us all, but maybe some of us are more connected than others. Maybe two are meant to be, to serve a higher purpose together?"

He closed his eyes, as her words warmed his heart. He'd told her the same words once, not knowing they would come true as they had. "Is that us?"

"Yes, I believe so."

"So, to you I'm the right direction?"

"You're the only direction for me, Skar," she said straight forward. "You saved me here on this world. I was doing miserably, but you changed that. You weren't stand-offish like Kayupa, you didn't push me like Master Bo-Hi. You didn't care how fast I progressed."

Her hand moved across his chest through the shirt, moving in tiny circles. "You let me grow at my own pace. Somewhere along the line, you became my best friend. I feel happy when I'm with you, and when I'm not around you, I feel empty."

She looked up at him. "I know I once said you might leave when this was all done. I guess I was just worried, because if you left my life would return to the way it was before."

Skar kissed her cheek, confident that she would accept it, as they shared the same thoughts and feelings. Knowing that only increased Skar's knowledge that their meeting had been more than just coincidence. It was the will of the Force that had brought them together. "The Force lead us together so we could both be as strong as we are," Skar thought it over, "after a lot of grief and pain. My trip has had its share of heartache, and I still have a long way to go."

Shinran rolled over on her stomach and looked at him. "Do you think our paths are crossed? Do you think we have a future together?"

Skar sat up on his elbows and their faces were no more than a foot apart. "My place in the Force, right now, is to find out where I go from here," Skar said slowly, "do I go help Kayupa? Do I stay here, with you?" He smirked. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

For some reason she didn't laugh like she used to. The way he'd expected her to. She just looked into his eyes, perhaps for the first time seeing what was behind them. And what he had so long wanted to say to her. He saw the emotions contained in her heart. The same that lingered in his.

Her face leaned closer. "I only want to be with you."

They kissed, passionately, for a long time. When Skar finally withdrew, her face was a blur because their faces were so close, he felt her breath wash over his lips and he decided to taste her lips one more time, enjoying and loving the thought that he now could do so.

She smiled shortly and Skar saw a tear form at her eye. "Without you, Skar, I'd - "

Skar began to shake his head from side to side. "Shinran…"

Her hand flew up and held his face directly in front of hers, firm in place. "I need you."

Skar smiled, assuring her of his commitment to her. "I'm not going anywhere. I won't leave you. Ever."

The tear was freed and ran down his and her cheek. "You promise?"

In his head the emotion brought on by the kiss, showed him the reason he had longed to find ever since he came to this world. The first sign that would show him that this was the right path. That this was fate. And feeling Shinran's warmth, tender and strong at the same time, he knew that the Force was indeed with him, and he had taken his first step.

And he threw himself at its arms, accepting its will to have him be close to Shinran. He knew nothing would ever feel as right as this, and nothing ever had to.

Because this was perfect.

"I swear."

Through his training Skar had been taught that the Force was in all. The Force lived in every cell and atom of the Galaxy. Its power surged through everything and it was the creator of life itself. And during his time as a Jedi Skar had had the privilege of using and feeling the Force many times. Through training, through meditation and through simple things as touching objects. He could feel the very life inside a pebble or a flower.

And it didn't stop there. Skar could even sense the minds of the people millions of stars away. He could tap into them as easily as just thinking it. He could reach out to the Force and feel its very stability that held him, and the entire Galaxy together. He'd been taught codes that said that passion and emotions worked against the Jedi. Those emotions, those passions could be used as weaknesses and it dampened the Jedi's touch with the Force.

The Force was the most awe-inspiring feeling he'd ever had. The warmest and kindest touch of light in his heart. It was so intense and so empowering that words couldn't describe it. It was the best feeling he'd ever felt.

Was.

Somewhere beneath the flutter of a million thoughts was a belief that it was about to be surpassed. They kissed passionately as their bodies caressed against each other rhythmically. Her kisses teased him. Provokingly she pulled her lips back, wanting him to come to her, a longing in her eyes. Instead he slid down her body, removing clothing as he went.

Skar's mind catalogued every curve and every shape of her naked body and she enjoyed his admiring. Skar felt their skin touch and every hair on his body stood up. Her warm breath ran over his body as she kissed him all over, made him shiver with delight. He could feel her nails running all over his body, sensually.

Skar ran his hands all over her body, feeling, aching to touch her all over. To feel every part of her. Their kisses became more intense, she leaned in over him and her blond hair fell down the sides of her face, her beautiful oval eyes stared at him filled with love and desire. Skar pulled her down to his lips. He pulled himself closer, further, tighter, harder. Fighting to feel her as close as possible.

Skar held onto her as if letting go would kill him, and he feared it could. He never wanted to let go. She went for his lips a second time and Skar felt her tongue inside his mouth. Every once in a while she'd pull her head back to take in a breath of air, so she could go on in their haste of kissing and touching each other all over.

He tasted her skin as he kissed her shoulders and neck, her salty taste, and sucked it all up as it was the best thing he'd ever tasted. He could scent her, that intoxicating scent she'd always had. The scent he adored in the past when sitting next to her, the scent that was always there when he was in the presence of the woman he loved.

They moaned, the only way to express the raging feeling that they shared. The lust and the craving. She moved constantly, moaning, and groaning in delight. He pushed himself as close as he could, rubbing his lips against her, and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Holding him pinned she enjoyed the sensation of him close to her.

When their lips met again her eyes were bright and playful. Skar ran his fingers over her face and she ran hers down his back. The way she moved her nails over his spine made him shiver all over. The feeling of their naked bodies touching was a liberation his mind had longed for very long. Being this close to her. To be with her. To be one. To make love to her.

The wonderful feeling of happiness and pleasure grew thicker between them as they became one, physically. The warm, tender, aching feeling of being one with her was so good he could feel the very sensation in every area of his body. His body vanished in a warm bright flaming passion of lust. And they disappeared into each other, bringing each other pleasure and delight. Her hands pulled him closer and they both smiled as they felt the same connection between them that had lead them together in the first place. This was more than just physical wanting, it was the release for the feelings they'd held for each for so long.

Skar wanted to cry out of happiness but each kiss, each touch, each sensation was too blissful for him to do so.

He didn't want to move, he didn't want to change at all, he just wanted to stay in this feeling with her. She was all he would ever need. She cared for him, she loved him, stood by his side, supported him. She'd always been there, through everything. She made him feel so warm, when the world was so cold, so confusing. She'd always been his center. His cornerstone.

She was the only real thing in his life, the only thing he could be sure of at all times. They'd shared everything over the years, the tears, the laughter, the pain, the joy. Everything. She was meant for him, and he was meant for her. Now she had become his lover too, as well as his best friend.

No, more than a friend, more than a lover. His soul mate.

When the liberating feeling washed over them both, they folded into each other and just laid there. Hot, sweaty, wrestling for air. They didn't have to move. They didn't have to talk. They both knew what the other felt. Skar kissed her forehead gently and she leaned up on her elbows. Her hair shrouded both their faces, secluding them inside their own little seclusion.

Skar looked into her eyes. "I love you," he said, and a galaxy's weight worth was lifted from his shoulders.

Her warm lips touched his and she smiled, her eyes showing the gratitude and joy in knowing she was his, in every sense. "Well, its like you said; two people imperfect on their own, but perfect together."

Skar found relishment in her touch and warmth as they both hugged each other as close as was physically possible; "As long as we're together … everything is perfect." Skar felt the desire to spend his life right there, in her arms, forever if he could manage it. To breathe in her light, to taste every moment through her.

His thoughts drifted and she pulled him close for another kiss. Then, as she laid her head down on his chest, Skar stole a glance at her eyes before she closed them. In her eyes he saw himself the only way he ever wanted to be.

Hers.

The console he'd found in a lonely corridor flashed all the information he needed in a green glow across his face. Kayupa noted the important and discarded the useless. He watched the details on the screen scroll down endlessly while he kept an eye down the corridor for movement. Nobody was there. He had a feeling he was being watched. There had been no incidents since his breach, but he still felt an awareness, someone thinking about him somewhere.

Taking his attention away from the console for a moment, he tapped into the Force to see if his hunch was true.

Instantly Kayupa felt like his heart was being eaten up from the inside. His entire body stung with electric stings. He screamed, wrenched and cringed himself into a ball, but nothing made the pain go away. The pain roared in his ears, deafening him. He struggled to find something to make it go away, tried every technique he knew but nothing changed. Nothing made it seem to stop, no healing technique, no meditation, no memory of happiness.

So, instead of evading the pain, he flung himself at it, welcoming it into his soul. And he cried when he found the cause.

Images of Skar and Shinran together, kissing.

Skar! No! Why!

Morning came with sweet euphoria. Like a ghost taunting the sleepers, Skar felt mesmerized lying next to his female companion. He held his head up as he laid on his left side, watching the woman sleep. A sleep from her haunted thoughts. A rest from the millions of choices, wishes, fears, she had to endure when sunlight came.

He listened to her breathing, felt their legs touch each other under the blanket. Skar felt happy for her, seeing her take time off to finally find some peace from her internal chaos.

He remembered Lwen talking about a woman he had once been involved with. He'd said that there was nothing in the world as soothing as finding someone to dream with, someone to hold your hand in pursuit of new dreams. Skar smiled fondly at the memory and realized that before something like holding hands with Shinran, had been his only dream. Sometimes that simple gesture was enough. It was the sort of thing many took for granted, and what the lonely would give anything to have.

Having kissed her, having slept with her and knowing she was his Skar counted himself among the luckiest men in the Galaxy. Not to mention the happiest.

He watched as the sheet lifted and sank with the movements of her chest. Watched as her eyelids slowly moved, a sign of dreaming. Skar wondered for a second what she might be dreaming, but saw by the small rise at the side of her mouth that it was a good dream. And Skar sensed too the joy she was experiencing inside her thoughts.

Trying to see what she felt he moved inside her mind and tried to gain a glimpse of the source of her happiness. Unlike a holo, Skar saw not a moving image but more short flashes of feelings. Joy was imbedded in all of them, stronger in some than others. Those strongest were all occupied with him

Shinran was dreaming of him. She needed love to know that she was not just another wandering soul. She needed to feel someone want her, that someone cared for her. Lying down on his back and staring at the ceiling, Skar smiled.

Almost immediately she woke. Her face lit up, seeing him. "Sleep well?"

He looked over at her. "Not much. But good."

She moved across the sheets and placed her left arm across his belly and slid her right hand under his neck, slowly caressing him.

"That feels nice."

She laughed, but never stopped caressing. He noticed she bit her lower lip trying to bite back her pleasure at making him feel good. "Like it?"

He returned to his left side and held her left hand in to his chest. "I love it."

She moved up to lie on top of him and landed a soft and warm kiss on his lips. He returned the kiss, adding a little pressure, but still gentle enough for her not to feel strained. She let her hand slip up behind his neck and held him into her tightly.

Skar watched as both their hands united and fell into sync. He felt her soft skin between his fingers and saw as his dark red tattoos overshadowed the milky white color of her hand.

"I always wanted it to be this way; from the very first time."

He looked up from the contrasts of their hands to meet her eyes. "The very first time?"

"Yeah."

"A long time ago."

"Almost too long, I figured you would have read it off my mind."

Skar smirked. "No, I didn't. I wasn't that good back then."

She ran a finger down his lips. "Good enough for me, you've made me happy."

He smiled. "I know. I feel it."

She stared into his eyes. "You removed it."

Skar jokingly put his hand over his heart and did his best to look surprised. "Who, me?"

She smiled. "You let me in." She kissed his hand.

"I'm glad I did. Although I wish you had found it on your own. That you were strong enough."

She smiled cutely. "Yeah, but this worked out so much better!"

Skar tightened his grip on her hand, laughing. "Yeah, I guess it did."

"Thank you."

Skar made a puzzled face. "For what?"

"You know. For being there."

They kissed again, slower this time but with equal passion. She tugged at his neck. He pulled her closer, eager to feel her warmth and softness.

Skar.

For a second Skar thought it had been Shinran's thoughts talking, but the authority in that voice was only characteristic for one person Skar knew. Shinran sensed the change in him and freed herself from him. Skar kicked away the sheets and began to dress himself.

Master Bo-Hi.

Kayupa dwelled into that energy that existed in between the real and the fantastic. The Force flooded through him, repairing him like a surgeon. Kayupa felt his blood cooling and allowed the Force to eradicate any concern or pain that might have been floating in his sub-consciousness. Around him he felt space, the enormous vacant vacuum of space. And closer he felt the ship's trembling decks, though so lightly that a humanoid couldn't feel it, but he could. Even the minor shudders of the ship he felt through the Force. He could sense the men working on the ship. Guards, technicians, crew and others. All of them doing their job, unable to grasp what evil plan they were aiding.

Kayupa felt anger coming back, but silenced it. Kayupa stayed inside the Force, lingering in its comfortable cushion. Hearing only the wails of the healing energy inside. Seeing the lightning channeling through his veins and his cells.

Kayupa saw his purpose very clearly. He was a warrior. And the cause for which he fought was one long ignored. Sacrifices were necessary. Casualties were acceptable, even himself. He'd been trained to fight, to make a difference. Warriors were one of those selected groups of people who actually made a difference.

Kayupa frowned in disgust. Politicians were the least admirable of change-inducing kinds. Politicians deal with problems that would not exist if they didn't exist. They sought capital, profit, not peace or understanding. Politicians were the lowest kind of vermin.

There was only one kind of politician that Kayupa could admire; the philantrophists, the humanitarians, those who showed an honest interest in peace. Those who cared enough to spend their life trying to make the world better. Humanity, whatever form, had to be preserved and war had to be abandoned. Universal benevolence, that was the key, the only way to truly have peace.

The Galaxy was at a stalemate. The Empire was dead, but who would take over. Would they be better?

Would another Empire rise from the ashes of the dead? Sociology had shown that the vast majority of the Galaxy saw the Empire as evil, but it was hard to find the balance. Everyone would have different opinions about right or wrong. The Empire felt they were right, and they were a majority. A majority with enough weapons and numbers could easily become rulers. But what most didn't know, and Kayupa did, was that the Empire was constructed by someone tainted with the Dark Side.

The Emperor may have been in a coffin but that didn't mean the Empire would just vanish. They still had battleships, bases, men still loyal to the Empire's code. Those loyal men were still dangerous. In fact, even though the Emperor was dead, he was just one man. The Empire was still impressive in numbers and strength. The loss of their leader had been a strong blow at their morale, and many had left the Empire, while other warlords gathered up as many pieces as they could, not for the Empire, but for their own empire.

Killing the Emperor would have been like to cut the head of dragon, only to have ten more heads growing out of the wound. It would never stop. Man is the only animal whose desires increase as they are fed; the only animal that is never satisfied.

Kayupa was a warrior and he fought for the good side. His good side. And as such he had been able to choose his own mission, judging where he wanted to strike for himself. And he'd chosen the Jentarana. The weapon had to be destroyed. It was his duty as a Knight, and as a warrior. It was the chivalry in him that had drawn him. He would make a difference.

Kayupa pulled himself out of meditation and flexed his limbs before continuing down the hall he knew led to the Jentarana. But as far as he could tell, there was a small work station he'd have to pass before getting there. There was the chance he might get spotted and that would not be beneficial now. He had nowhere to run, once they were on the ground then he could escape. But in space, there really weren't that many hiding places.

Kayupa reached a corner and took a quick peek around it.

One door. The work station.

Sasori had never been so embarrassed. All the other technicians that had crowded his refuge were laughing at him. Even his new bodyguard, just one this time, was snickering. Sasori kept a brave face and pretended to be able to take it with a light heart. But internally he cursed them all to Dagobah.

He held the bleeding cut with his free hand. He'd been demonstrating one of his designs, a spring-vibroblade, but he'd held it the wrong way and the blade had cut his hand.

Everyone had laughed.

Now he held the wound, smiling bravely as he made his way out of the work station.

Kayupa held his breath as he heard sounds inside the work station. He placed his ear up against the door and could hear laughing behind it. Chuckles and giggles.

Footsteps!

Someone was coming straight for him behind the door. Kayupa glanced back down the hall. It was linear and there was no place he could hide. The person behind the door would see him before he could get far enough.

Kayupa unholstered his silenced blaster and prepared for confrontation.

Sasori touched the pad with his healthy hand and growled as he realized that not even his bodyguard was following him, he stayed behind and laughed along with the rest of the worthless lot.

Some bodyguard.

The door whooshed open and he stepped through hearing the last of the laughs drown out as the door closed again behind him -

"Freeze!"

Sasori skidded to a halt. His heart froze in obedience.

"Don't move!"

Sasori's heart began beating again, this time pounding so hard against his ribcage it hurt. Yet he remained frozen in place.

"Hands up!"

Sasori complied. Both hands went up, one of them holding a bloodied napkin. He cursed himself for not bringing the blaster with him. He felt a barrel shoving against his neck. Hands padding him up and down, searching him for weapons.

"You clean?"

Sasori nodded. "I'm not armed." He frowned at himself. That's gotta sound funny coming from a weapons-designer.

Almost as if the perpetrator had heard his thoughts, he heard a short laugh behind him. "Turn around."

Sasori obeyed. But before he could turn enough to see his mugger, a fist smashed against his nose, knocking him out and dropping him down hard on the floor.

Skar walked inside Shinran's chamber again, returning from his worrying talk with Master Bo-Hi. It seemed Kayupa had sent them a transmission from Nar Shaddaa. One explaining that the Jentarana was being moved, possibly for a drop-off. He suspected them of trying to sell it to the Imperial Remnant, but wasn't sure. No matter what, Kayupa explained that it was vital that Skar came to see him.

Skar wondered at how Kayupa had known Skar would find another ship on Kryuu. How had he known that Skar would find it? Skar had already revealed the Witty to Master Bo-Hi who didn't seem surprised. There were so many small questions floating around him and he couldn't answer one without ten more coming to light.

As he closed the door behind him he found comfort in seeing Shinran still lying in her bed. But his restless thoughts of Master Bo-Hi's warning had occupied any attempt to enjoy that comfort.

She saw his worried face. "What is it?"

Skar sat down at the foot of her bed, his hands clammy, eyes darting from one object to the next. "Kayupa. The Jentarana is being moved."

Skar instantly felt her dread, feeling much like his own. She moved to sit behind him and her hands met in front of his chest. "Where?"

"Soliton."

"Is he dead?"

"No, I would have felt that." Skar took a deep breath. "I tried to talk to him through the Force, but…he's blocked again. Like he was when he left two years ago."

"Why? Back then he wanted to be alone. Why would he want that now?"

Skar shook his head. "I think he's upset, he's blocking himself intentionally."

"Upset about what?"

Even before Skar could answer, they both knew the answer. There was no way of avoiding the fact that Kayupa could have been upset about Skar and Shinran. Even though Kayupa had assured Skar that he had no interest in her, he could have been pretending to be strong. Maybe he'd felt how close they were, and then decided to step off, and let Skar have her. As a friend would.

For a moment Skar felt regret, knowing he might have hurt his friend.

"What was that?"

Skar looked at her. "What?"

She looked at him like he'd insulted her. She unlocked from him and moved to the other corner of the bed. "That look in your eyes."

"What?" Skar moved his hand out to her, but she wouldn't take it.

"You regret last night?"

You really do know me. Skar shook his head fast. "No, of course not. It's just - "

"Just what?"

Skar lifted from the bed and steadied himself against a dresser. "Kayupa is like my brother, I didn't want to hurt him." Skar felt like he was tripping over his own words, words that seemed to get in the way. "I don't regret last night, but I do regret hurting him."

"Why?" she shouted, "he's a fool! He doesn't deserve your pity!"

"Shinran, please!" Skar begged.

"No! He's an arrogant fool, who got a clean dose of reality for once. We both know he needed it."

Skar nodded. "I know that, but I'm worried how he'll deal with it. I don't know if he can accept it."

Shinran fumed with barely contained rage. "How long do we have?"

"I don't know. Master Bo-Hi wasn't sure." He sighed, and knew she was only waiting for him to say it. "I have to, Shinran. I have to help him. I owe him."

"You owe him nothing!" she shouted and looked away. "What about us?"

Skar held up his palms. "I love you, you know that. This is something I have to do, so we can be together. I have to find Kayupa. We'll talk about us later, when we are safe. When Kayupa is safe." Skar combed back his hair with his fingers, feeling hopelessness creep its way back into his life.

Shinran looked lost, and Skar felt sorry for her. He knew she was trying to show him that they were together now and that Kayupa didn't have any place with them. But still Skar couldn't cast Kayupa aside. He was a friend. He was a good friend. Skar did owe him. He'd made a promise.

"Its the responsibility that was bestowed to me when I became a Jedi, Shinran. This is what I do. You knew that when you met me, you even knew it last night when we made love. I've made a commitment to you as well as everyone else. And to leave Kayupa behind I'll be disgracing my heritage."

She still wouldn't look at him. "Are you sure its the right thing to do?"

Skar bit down on his lower lip. "When has anyone ever been sure of what was the right thing to do? It doesn't matter if its right or wrong. He's my friend."

She looked at him and Skar wanted to do anything to make her smile again. Anything but abandoning Kayupa.

Skar lifted his chin. "I have to find Kayupa."

Skar came running up the cliff, finding Master Bo-Hi Dzog still staring at the morning sun. Skar had replaced his Jedi boots with his own black. The stealth suit that Kayupa had given him fit him perfectly. Skar's new polished lightsaber hung ready in his belt and a silenced blaster, Kayupa's, was strapped to his thigh.

Despite his eagerness to be underway Skar's thoughts were still with Shinran, knowing his actions were hurting her. They should be together now, but Skar was not willing to forget his responsibility to Kayupa. I can't leave Kayupa now. He needs help. And I can help him.

Skar sensed a wave of recognition when Master Bo-Hi looked at him. Master Bo-Hi shook his head, clearly disorientated. "For a second there…I thought you were Kayupa."

Skar straightened the suit and his boots, the comment somewhat appealing to him, and somewhat terrifying. "I guess we're more alike than I thought."

Master Bo-Hi nodded, without asking further. "We have very little time." Master Bo-Hi turned and looked up at the clouds over the very blue sky.

Skar found himself without an answer to a question. "Master, you are coming with me, aren't you?"

The Jedi Master bowed his head. "I care for him too, Skar."

Skar nodded and left it at that.

Master Bo-Hi turned to look at him. "We'll all be in danger, my apprentice. But find Kayupa we must."

On a light breeze Skar caught the scent and he turned to see Shinran coming over the dunes. He smiled at her, but she didn't return it. He moved over to her and took her hands. She had been crying Skar realized, even after he'd left her, when he saw her puffy eyes. He hugged her tightly, relishing in her scent and her warmth.

Her trembling ceased as he channeled himself through her and reassured her fears. I won't fail you. I'll find a way for us to be together the way we were meant to be once this is all over. I'm not letting you go.

He held her face in his palms. "I want us."

"Me too." She reached up behind his back. "Skar, its alright…I understand. I don't like it, but I understand it. Its one of those admirable traits about you. Your lack of self."

Skar was happy she felt that way "Thank you."

She kissed him gently, and he kissed her back, trying not to think that it might be the last time. Giving her forehead one last kiss, he released himself from her arms and walked over to Master Bo-Hi.

"Let's go, Master."

Skar shifted his suit and made sure his lightsaber was tightly attached to his belt. When he looked back up, Master Bo-Hi stood there frozen, a very odd expression on his face as he stared at something behind Skar.

"What?"

Then Skar heard the sound. He swirled to see Shinran with a blaster, her own blaster. The feeling of betrayal came faster than he had ever felt an emotion before. And inside him he wanted to die, seeing her with a blaster in her hands pointed at him was like blasphemy to him.

She holstered it. "You're not going without me, Skar."

Skar blew out a heavy breath, damning himself for even doubting her a second, then walked over to her and held on to her shoulders. "No, you can't go. Its much too dangerous. You'll be safer here."

She pulled herself free and gave him a stare that again made him want to die. "Cram it! If something happens to you, I want to be there. You said that you wouldn't leave me if I needed you. Well, I guess I need you now. I won't sit around here waiting for you never to come back."

Skar pondered the possibility he might not return and started to talk.

"No! I don't want to hear it!" she stopped him. "You have no choice." She walked past him. "Come on. Let's get to the ship." She began walking over the desert

Master Bo-Hi sent a sympathetic smirk his way.

Skar groaned. "Women."

Not too far away he saw Shinran turn around to shout at them. "Jedi!"

Both Bo-Hi and Skar laughed and then they started following her. Seeing Master Bo-Hi's smirk made him want to stand up for himself, to assert himself, not wanting Master Bo-Hi to think she wore the pants in the relationship.

"She's…got a way with words."

Master Bo-Hi laughed and placed his palm on Skar's shoulder. "Off to save the world, Skar?"

The touch of his Master's palm on his shoulder made Skar cringe. "Sure."

Skar launched himself into the seat in the cockpit of the Witty. Instantly he knew which switches to flick and which buttons to push. The ship so familiar to him that it might as well have been his own. The psychometry was like a crash course in flying a ship. And again Skar felt the presence of his uncle. So many things around him were connected to him.

And now he was off to set his uncle's failure right.

Master Bo-Hi sat to his left, scratching the metal apparatus over his mouth. "Soliton. Its a short trip. We should be able to intercept them there."

"But - Nar Shaddaa was a month away, Master?"

Master Bo-Hi smiled, and Skar recognized that smile of knowing Skar always had questions, even though he was a Knight now. To Master Bo-Hi Skar was like a vacuum sucking up knowledge from all over. Always thinking, always examining.

"Nar Shaddaa was a month away, but Soliton is in between. A few days, no more. As far as I could read from Kayupa's message, he would arrive there in two days."

Skar nodded, not happy. "Will we make it?"

Master Bo-Hi was calm as always. "The Force will guide us."

Skar had no doubt of that, the Force was always there and always guiding. But where would it lead them and how? More disturbing than that uncertainty was Skar's lingering feeling of victory over Master Bo-Hi in the final test. He'd bested a Jedi Master. And while that thought shouldn't bother him but only encourage him, it did sit in a bad place. He wasn't supposed to beat a Jedi Master, no matter how good he would become later.

And the worst feeling was not knowing whether it meant Skar was exceptionally good and that Master Bo-Hi hadn't given it his all.

What if Master Bo-Hi was worried about something? Could it be the same tension that Skar had been feeling about Kayupa's solo flight to Nar Shaddaa and now Soliton? Had the tension weakened Master Bo-Hi? Skar didn't want to think that he was better than Master Bo-Hi or that Master Bo-Hi was weakening. Either choice was discomforting, Bo-Hi was like a book that couldn't be read.

Skar looked at his Master, saw the purple scar running over his face. A sign of combat long ago. Skar had never heard the origin of the scar. But by the looks of it, it had to have been an animal or a woman.

Close range.

Skar looked away, feeling the ship almost ready to launch. Is Bo-Hi weaker than I thought? Skar reached out and grabbed the controls, behind him Shinran held on to his shoulders. If you think so well of someone, you find it impossible to see the flaws or errors in that person. Sometimes you ignore them subconsciously, because admitting them would ruin the relationship. Have I been totally blind? Is Master Bo-Hi a sham? Is he something other than I thought? And what is with Kayupa? He pretended to wait for me, he pretended to want me with him, and then he left. Doesn't any of them see the errors and dangers they're making? Why are they so blind?

Skar took a deep breath and tried to shake it all away.

Maybe I'm the blindest of them all.

"Hang on."

He powered up the repulsorlifts and the ship wobbled from side to side under Skar's unskilled, but improving, hands. The Witty hovered in midair, slightly bumping up and down. Skar cursed as the ship lifted too fast and bumped into the ceiling of the hangar.

Master Bo-Hi laughed nervously beside him, clearly intimidated. His clawed fingers were buried inside the pollster of his seat. "My apprentice, I thought you were going to fly this thing?"

Skar turned to him with murder in his eyes. "Its my first time, okay?"

Behind him Shinran laughed, her hand caressing his cheek. "You usually do things perfect the first time."

Skar blushed and resumed to control the ship and brought it down from the ceiling and directly in front of the hangar opening. "Great," Skar said, "now let's get out of here."

Skar added more power to the ship and the ship tore through the hole and rocketed out of the hangar, freeing itself from the temple. Skar was shaking in his seat as the atmosphere hit them. The ship trembled and Skar was pushed back into his seat. Behind him Shinran was knocked off her feet and tumbled onto the floor. He could hear Shinran cursing behind him, and Skar felt her making a prayer mentally.

And so was Master Bo-Hi.

"Have a little faith in me, alright?" Skar regained his perspective and his temper as the Witty steadied. "See, nothing to worry about."

Shinran got up on her feet and decided to strap in. "Why didn't you guys tell me to stay home!"

They both shouted. "We did!"

She frowned. "You weren't very convincing."

Skar shook his head lightly then smiled. He kicked in the sublight drives and outside the stars were shining, and Skar realized he'd missed seeing them so close. He'd missed being out in space. Because out here in between planets and systems the Galaxy was wide open, so many options and so many paths.

"I've typed in the coordinates." Master Bo-Hi leaned back in his seat. A look of completion was on his face. "We're ready."

Skar pulled back the hyperdrive-activator. "We sure are."

With that the stars stretched into white lines and the ship, carrying Skar on a quest to save his friend, entered hyperspace.