Kal and Kast were at the lowest level of the southern structure, a powerless room with several dead consoles. Kal was watcing interestingly at Kast's handiwork as the soldier set the charge against the farthest wall, priming the explosives. With this one last device all their bombs were set and all they had to do was clear the facility. That part concerned Kal because there were no ships left and their only real option was to make a run for the snowy plains outside. The soldiers had mentioned a cave in a mountain a few miles away where they'd set up camp before breaching the station.

But what then? Would anyone come to get them? Was this really just a last mission that would sacrifice their lives at the hope of defeating their enemies? Kal hoped not, and he also hoped they would have Rishi back soon. Rishi always had solutions and ways, while Kal was easier to start doubting.

His leg was still pained, and he was starting to wear thin from his constant draw on the Force. He couldn't keep dulling the pain for long and if they weren't extracted soon, he would lose the leg.

"Kast, report," his comlink demanded. It was Salvor and he didn't sound pleased.

Kal brought the gauntlet comlink to his mouth. "Almost there, Salvor...I think." He didn't know anything about setting explosives.

"Sir, your bomb is the last one. We're all set to leave this dump."

Kal straightened up. "That sounds really good."

"And I think we've just been offered a ride out of here. We intercepted a signal. The enemy is moving the Masamune closer to the facility. Our best bet would be to stow away onboard."

Kal knew he should have felt good about getting off the planet, but being onboard an enemy ship wasn't exactly the way he'd pictured his rescue. "There's no other way?"

Salvor didn't respond right away. "What are you talking about, sir?"

Kal shook his head. "Nothing. Where should we link up?"

"There's a central cargo lift in the main building, it runs all the way to the roof. I suspect they'll be dropping shuttles to pick up the last stragglers. We hide on one of the shuttles and follow them to wherever they're going."

Kal's heart felt hollow. "We know where they're going. Coruscant."

Salvor grinned enthustiastic. "Not with us onboard. There are many ways to sabotage a destroyer. They'll never get near the Core, I assure you, sir."

Kal looked over at Kast's back, the soldier still working with the explosives. "Did you find Admiral Saul?"

"Negative, sir. We ran into vhroniks on our way there. We had to blow the bridge to stay alive. Northern structure seems to be crawling with those things. With any luck its the only building they've infested."

Kal smiled unassuredly. "Luck, commander, hasn't exactly been watching our backs lately."

"Received, sir," was all Salvor could manage as a reply. "We did, however, see an explosion not too long ago. It...did look like one of the repair boats."

In that moment he could feel the Dark Side starting to cloud the edges of the Force. In a disturbing premonition Kal finally found Rishi's presence within the facility. But it came too easily compared to before. Almost as if someone now wanted him to find him.

"Rishi's in the main building."

"Sir, with all due respect, if we start looking for him now, we're going to miss our ride. If he's half as good as they say, he can take care of himself. He'll have to."

Rishi's ability to handle himself wasn't the problem. Kal turned to Kast. "Kast, we have to leave now!"

Kast glanced over his shoulder. "I need a few more minutes. I'm not trained for this."

Rishi disconnected his comlink. "I've found Rishi!"

"Well, good. Jedi are patient beings, I'm sure he'll wait for me."

Kal damned his wounded leg. His every instinct screamed to run for Rishi. to help him. "You don't understand! He's not alone!"

Side by side, the Kjoil apprentice and the telepath Eknath walked through a series of hallways, traveling at a relaxed pace. Both of them had their hands in opposite sleeves, their hoods barely obscuring their faces. Rishi kept his awareness attached to Eknath like the leash on a dangerous pet, wary of his close proximity and unsure of the man's intent.

If the man purely wanted to debate matters of philosophy and faith Rishi would lend his ear, giving him at least that, since he knew this man was the enemy, and this man had to be destroyed.

And even though he was lacking one lightsaber, Rishi felt sure he could manifest a means of killing the man.

Eknath mused. "The Kjoil were given the gift of shaping destiny, of breaking the will of the Force. It amuses me to some extent to know this, because how are we to imagine anything else than the Force itself also created the Kjoil?"

The halls around them were bland and stale, somehow untouched by the combat that had raged across the facility, still maintaining some cleanness. The floor itself was a black reflective surface, mirroring the bright lights over their heads. "How indeed?" Rishi said with little genuine interest in his voice.

Eknath smiled beneath his cowl. "The Force gave birth and life to the Kjoil, and now we are to believe it made a mistake? No, no, dear boy. You are more than a man, you are the hand of fate, the last of your kind."

"There are others," Rishi objected. "The Kjoil refugees - "

"Untrained, yes," Eknath interrupted him. "But with time they too will grow like you, through your teachings."

Rishi felt lesser for some reason, dreading the task that had befallen him since his Master's death. "I'm not fit to train anyone," he admitted, "no more than Master Skar was fit to train me. Real Kjoil teachings are gone, and I am not..." he searched for the right word, "the right one to train them."

"But you will be," Eknath moved his head to look at him. "I can help you."

Rishi snorted. "Who said I wanted your help?"

Eknath's hood moved away again, a small frown on his lips. "No one at all, dear boy, but in the future I see, the future you believe is merely a dream, you have no one but me to turn to. You need me as much as I need you."

Rishi sensed the man's attempt at voice-manipulation and managed to subdue its effect, he could feel the man's feelings surrounding him, veiling him inside the darkness. A darkness he found strangely comforting nevertheless. There was resolution and answers in anger and hate, and a blissful release from confusion.

"You're a madman."

"Why?" Eknath's voice was hurt. "Because I've killed? Your Master killed more in a day than I have in my entire lifetime. I despise fighting, which is why I turned to the subtler weapons the Force grants. Warping a mind may seem evil to you, but it preserves life. And life is in essence the very thing that keeps us in power."

Rishi shook his head. "But you're still killing."

"We are more than ordinary men, Rishi," Eknath said loud and proud, "we were given these powers for a reason, we were destined for greatness."

"But with power comes responsibility," Rishi said firmly. He surprised himself, his thoughts were flowing clearer than ever for some reason.

Eknath nodded. "And we can search all our lives for answers that do not exist, searching for an honorable and noble responsibility. You are young, Rishi, and your search is still in its infancy. I am older, I'm afraid, but I've found my purpose, my responsibility to this world. In you."

Rishi's skin crawled. The man's second exclamation of them having some shared destiny made him stop in his tracks and brought all his guards up. "You're out of your mind if you think I'll help you."

Eknath stood a few steps away, back turned to him. He heard a sigh. "I only assisted them as long as it brought me closer to my own destination. As you may have noticed, none of the others trust me." Eknath turned around and faced him, a grim seriousness in his eyes. "I could care less, they are only a waypoint for my destiny. But now...now that I've found you, I can begin the real journey."

Rishi stood firm, shaking his head. There was no way this man's twisted fantasies was going to include him. "Sorry, Eknath. I am not going to be your apprentice."

Eknath's red eyes intensified for a second, a brief hint of anger. Obviously he wasn't used to being shot down. "Hmm, interesting. I honestly did not believe it would be this difficult for you to understand. Perhaps you are guarding yourself too well, because you still assume I am your enemy." Eknath closed his eyes. "But very well, if I cannot appeal to your intellectual side, I will have a go at your animal side."

Before him, Eknath seemed to grow. The edges of his cloak appeared to blend with the air around him, becoming an indistinct black presence with only a pair of frightful red eyes at their center. Rishi stepped back, but it was too late. Eknath was already everywhere around him, swallowing him inside his dark presence. Rishi could sense the man barging through his guards, through his mental defenses. It wasn't even a struggle; soon Rishi was on his knees, his head between his hands.

Eknath was there, in his mind, as if he always had been. Rishi wondered then if Eknath was the voice that had spoken to his mind, or if he is the one the voice said it would send.

"I see..." Eknath's voice loomed inside of his mind. "He hid it from you."

"Hid what?" Rishi managed to say, his own voice echoing inside of Eknath's dark shadows, repeating infinitely.

"The location of the Kjoil refugees. I suspected as much."

Rishi could feel Eknath's voice like a splinter in his brain, a stabbing clarity that left all he had and all he was right in Eknath's control. "What are you talking about!"

Eknath chuckled. "You don't know? Didn't he ever tell you that he messed with your brain? You've been to the planet where the Kjoil refugees are located, but somehow you don't remember it."

Rishi wanted to laugh at him, but the words provoked his mind to work on its own. He could remember faces of the refugees, the world around them, he remembered saying goodbye to them. But when he tried to remember the name of the planet, there was nothing. Whenever he tried to remember where it was, there was only a hollow space in his head. How could he have missed this for so long? Was it true? Had Master Skar toyed with his brain? Didn't he trust him?

Rishi faltered. "No! You're wrong!"

"Don't be foolish!" Eknath shouted. You lived with them before he moved them! You were with him when he moved them, and yet you don't remember!" Eknath's veils retreated into his cloak and Rishi was free of his control. "Don't you find that disturbing?"

Rishi stayed on his knees, letting the dizziness around his mind fade. "I'm sure he had good reasons."

Eknath walked over slowly to stand right in front of Rishi, bending down on one knee, resting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "And I'm sure he's still alive."

Rishi's head came up fast, staring into the odd markings covering Eknath's face. "What? How?"

Eknath smiled warmly. "There's still a tremor in the Force. The others believe the equilibrium is fulfilled, but I know better. I've sensed the Force the way it was before the Kjoil ever appeared. I can sense a difference. And as I said before, you are not the reason. None of the Kjoil refugees are powerful enough to cause this. Which means..."

Rishi fought to think straight. "He's still alive...or there's another Kjoil."

"Impossible," Eknath said without a hint of doubt. "I would have sensed that as well. Something has been resolved, neither Skind or Kayupa's spirit has appeared since then. But he is alive..." Eknath's eyes looked around them, scanning the distant edges of the Force. "Somewhere...somehow."

Rishi's senses reached out for his Master, but he couldn't find anything. Not even a trace. Nothing where he'd once found his old Master. Was Eknath lying? But what if he wasn't? What if Eknath held the only clues to finding his Master? He didn't like having to listen or help the man, but if it could bring him back his Master, maybe it was worth a sacrifice of some sort. Master Skar was essential to the future of the Kjoil. However lacking his training techniques might be, he was still the most able to instruct them. Maybe they could find out how to best train their race.

Eknath stood and continued to journey through the hallways.

Rishi got up fast and ran to catch up with him. "Why are you telling me this?"

Eknath's tone of voice was somber, quiet and thoughtful. "I am part of the Sons of Destiny, that much is true. But as I said before they are only a gateway for me to reach my own fate, my own purpose. During my time with them I shifted, I became a warrior, although the finesse of killing a man with a weapon has never appealed to me. I've stuck to more interesting ways, breaking the will of those who opposed me by the sheer of my mind."

Rishi found himself for the first time listening carefully to the man's every word, for strange reasons. He felt the man held answers and tools he couldn't find elsewhere. "A powerful talent," Rishi said.

Eknath nodded to himself. "But I remain a warrior, just an unorthodox one. I am a warrior because I fight for something I believe in. I put myself in peril to acheive something that I have faith in, I sacrifice and I give my life to this purpose."

Eknath went through a set of heavy doors, coming inside another dusty hangar, one closely connected to a large storage room. Cranes and heavy lifters were parked against the far wall, and a central cargo lift at the center of the hangar was empty. Eknath seemed to be walking straight for it.

"But you, Rishi, you have not yet found something you'd give your life for. Perhaps you are too young for such thoughts to spawn in your young mind, but given your race and heritage they are inevitable. You are meant for greater things, destined for wonders. You will be a bright star among the others who satisfy themselves in a life of indulgence and ever puzzlement. You are fated to influence the destiny of others, yet you still linger in a world unsuited for you." Eknath reached the lift and stepped onboard. "A place where your talents and graces can never flower."

Rishi stepped onto the lift as well, keeping himself on the opposite side, leaning his back against the railing. "What do you care?"

Eknath activated the lift's controls and the lift rose off the floor with a mechanical groan. The ceiling opened into a wide tunnel, a large rectanglular shaft that reached up forever. Rishi believed the powerful lift was used for lifting cargo from the storages to the top of the main building, where it would be transported by small shuttles. The lift cleared the hangar and continued on a slow but steady speed up through the center of the building.

Eknath crossed his arms. "I'm not here to tell you what you are. I'm here to tell you what you could become. I can give you what you've always sought, what you've been denied. The means to change this Galaxy into whatever vision you have. To strike down those who do nothing, to bring an end to the corruption infesting the New Republic. To kill the Sons of Destiny, to rebuild this Galaxy in whatever ideal you see fit."

Rishi laughed in defiance. "You?"

The man nodded. "I am not what I seem to be, but you know what I can offer you."

Rishi raised an eyebrow. "And ask nothing in return?"

The man sniggered. "Of course I want something in return, the same thing you do. To see the Sons of Destiny dead for the sickness they've inflicted. To see the Republic wiped from the memories of this Galaxy, to clean up this Galaxy once and for all," Eknath's red eyes glowed brightly. "I want to be there with you, Rishi. I want to be by your side as your Kjoil warriors march across every infection."

Rishi's mind produced images inside of his head, glorious brilliant images of an unseen future. But perhaps a concievable future.

"I am an old man, my boy," Eknath's voice was weary, "I may not live to see it all. But I want to die knowing I've made a difference in this world. I want only to be the spark, and you my flame."

Rishi shuddered at the thought, but not because of the many deaths this endevear would demand. But because he knew it could be done. He knew it should be done.

"And if I say no?"

"Use me, if you must, as I used the Sons. Use me as a gateway to fulfill your ideal, but do not let your great power go to the waste." The man's lips quivered. "If you don't, then this Galaxy will fall at the hands of the coming invasion."

"Invasion?"

Eknath nodded, his eyes weak and painful. "I'm not surprised your Master never mentioned it to you. An army of warriors from beyond the borders of this Galaxy is coming, coming to take it for their own dark desires. And they will win. The Jedi cannot stop this alien threat, they are too untrained, too lacking in perspective because of Skywalker's poor schooling. His academy is a great accomplishment, I give him that, and he's managed to asmass far more potential Jedi than I would have expected. But he does not see, Rishi," the man turned away, "he does not see the true way of the Force, he does not see that he is merely a shadow, a shadow cast by the burning flames of the Kjoil."

Eknath leaned against the railing, a cold shiver running down his form. "The Jedi are too weak, too narrow-minded to counter this threat. You've met Jedi Master Raine; he was the brightest they ever reached, and even he is a fool, a mindless drone. And the Republic will forever be latent in their attempts to combat the invasion. A new breed must step up, a better way, the true hands of fate."

Rishi could feel himself grow at the mere thought. He could do it. He'd always wanted to do it, in the dark corners of his mind, he'd always toyed with the idea of what truly needed to be done to save the Galaxy. But like so many other things, he never thought the responsibility itself would fall upon him.

"But...I'm not fully trained. And I've never learned more than Jedi techniques. I don't know how to train anyone to be the kind of army you suggest."

Eknath smiled reassuringly. "It is in you, the drive, the seed. The will to learn, the obsession for power. A power you can have, if only you would let yourself reach for it. Stop limiting yourself, stop restraining the fire inside of you. And there's nothing you cannot do. You were made to protect those who cannot protect themselves, and drive off those who follow the ways of evil." Eknath started to approached him, looking him over. "Kjoil do not need to call upon the Force, or to learn it's methods. It's in your veins, in your...tattoos. It is there, you just have to know where to look."

Rishi kept his face down, feeling a grand future paint itself before him, somewhere beyond the walls speeding by around him. A future that held him up on a piedestal as the savior of the Galaxy. "I'm afraid to look. I know what happened to the others. Skind went insane, he did more harm than good. Kayupa went suicidal...and..."

Eknath stood close enough to touch him. "Your Master?"

Rishi's lips moved but no real words came out. He stopped talking and tried franticly to find the questions he couldn't answer. "He - what happened to him? What really happened here?"

The walls of the tunnel shaft around them seemed to slow, approaching it's destination. "He found his potentail, he dived headfirst into it, he ripped this station apart like it was a plaything. You've seen the destruction, he took on an army of thousands of highly trained soldiers and won. Within a handful of minutes, he killed everyone and everything that stood in his path. He began to understand that the Force was not a mere asset. He became a living sword of the Force, it's very will incarnate."

That was one point of view, Rishi guessed. He wished he'd been there to see it. More than anything he wished he could talk with his Master just one last time.

"Why did he die then?"

Before Eknath could answer, the lifted reached the ceiling of the building and instantly the wind tugged at their cloaks, snapping them like whips around them. Rishi looked up the heaven and saw a thick dark cloud eclipsing all sunlight from illuminating him. The cloud looked strange though, a little more gray that what he'd seen before. As a perfect arrowhead pattern of giant light fixtures came alive above him, Rishi realised what he was looking at.

The Masamune.

The Star Destroyer hovered directly above Hope's Haven, its powerful engines drowning out the roaring winds. Rishi felt dwarfed beneath its gigantic mass, and became instantly frightful. They were ready to leave. They were ready to go. Rishi reached out with his mind, expanding his awareness beyond the confines of the facility, touching the Destroyer, searching with his mind's eye. There were several thousand living beings onboard, but none of them rang familiar; no Kal. But he also discerned that Eknath was the only one of the enemy not onboard. If he was going to do anything, he had to do it now.

Rishi turned his attention back to Eknath -

A man dressed in magnificent battle garments and a strange eerie white droid-like mask on his face stood far behind Eknath, his scary mask looking at them. Rishi felt like he'd been set up, until he sensed the dread coming from Eknath. As Eknath started to walk backwards, leaving a clear path between the man and Rishi, Rishi understood this man was not one of his allies.

"Well, there's your answer," Eknath said as he backed away. "This man tricked him, let him into a trap. He stood in the way of destiny."

Rishi and the stranger stared at each other for several heartbeats before the tension was broken as the man started approaching the lift Rishi was standing on. The man settled into a stand at equal distance to Eknath and Rishi, crossing his armored arms.

Rishi remained where he was and concentrated all his awareness on the stranger. "Who are you?"

The mask showed no emotion. "I am Loyalty."

Rishi sneered. "More codenames."

The man chuckled, a menacing mechanical sound escaping that cold mask. The mask tilted slightly and his right hand grasped the edges of his mask and pulled it off with one quick tight move. Rishi could never have anticipated what awaited him beneath that metallic doll face. A face deeply scarred and burnt, a mangled mess of burn wounds and dead skin. Only two bloodied eyes revealed that there was anything still alive beneath the blackened horrible death's head.

The mouth moved without lips. "I had the pleasure of meeting your Master once, boy. You see, he did this to me."

Rishi didn't know what to say, or to say anything. He was too horrified to think of anything appropriate. How could the man still be alive? The man's aura in the Force was burning fiercely with rage, a pain that seemed to keep the man still breathing though his face had long since perished.

The man's face trembled with anger, becoming truly horrifying, as he looked upon Eknath. "You stole her from me, Eknath! She didn't belong to you!" The man's lightsaber lit up, a brilliant verdent blade aimed at the telepath. "You took her from me, you demented bastard!"

"Poor Krych," Eknath seemed to disregard the faceless warrior. "Now you are here to reforge the path," Eknath said facing Rishi, ignoring the masked Krych, "to finish the destiny your Master was betrayed. That is fate, Rishi. It is your heritage, your birthright."

Eknath's words drifted through him without finding berth. Rishi's eyes centered on the lightsaber in the man's hand, a very familiar lightsaber. All reason inside Rishi drowned out in anger. That lightsaber didn't belong in that hand, and if there was one thing Rishi would acheive before he died, it was to obtain it. The only thing that existed in his mind was taking back his Master's lightsaber, and kill the man responsible for his death.

Rishi reached out and pried the lightsaber easily from the man's hand using the Force. The lightsaber landed gently in Rishi's hand and he instantly swirled it into an attack-stance. He'd held Master Skar's lightsaber once or twice in his lifetime, but now as he held it he could sense of all his Master again, feel all his strength and power pour into him. His Master's aura surrounded him.

Cloak billowing behind him, Rishi took his first steps toward this Krych while Krych calmly produced another lightsaber from his armor. The vermilion lightsaber snapped to life in Krych's hand, humming menacingly.

Eknath began to cackle with excitement. "Yes, do it! Kill him! Take your revenge, honor your Master! Take your first step onto the true path of the Force! Finish the road that your Master began!"

Krych leveled his blade, his insane eyes fixed on Rishi. "I've walked too far already. I am ready to end it here...one way or another."

Rishi stopped four feet from Krych, giving the man a feral grin. The Kjoil cracked his neck loudly, spreading his feet apart. "It will end only one way."

Kast and Kal reached the storage room where Salvor had informed the heavy cargo lift would be, which would take them to the roof of the structure and extraction. Kal leaned on Kast while the commando supported him through the room and helped Kal sit down by the absent cargo lift. Kast immediately punched the switch for the lift's return and hunched down next to Kal.

"Should be on the way down," Kast said, checking his rifle again. "We're almost out of here." There was a sense of panic in his voice, but it was also part excitement. Kast displayed an urgency that could only stem from a man who wasn't unhappy leaving his current setting.

Kal couldn't help smile. "Sure are."

Kast moved his head as if he was listening for something, muffled voices reaching outside of his helmet. "Stix and Salvor are imbound."

Kal nodded, glad to hear it.

But true to events in the past, success wouldn't come without effort. A loud boom exploded against the doors they'd come through, and the doors bent inward for a fraction of a second before detaching from their rails and flying through the room on a flood of fire. Kast threw himself onto Kal as the heavy doors sailed over their heads like giant swords thrown.

The doors stabbed into the walls behind the cargo lift and the open doorway erupted with sounds of blasterfire. Stix and Salvor walked backwards through the entry, their rifles screaming. Kast rolled away from Kal and got up, running to back up his comrades. Kast's rifle had waited a long time for proper use and now it was working overtime.

The three commandos established a wall of defense against the enemy apparently coming at them down the hallway. What surprised Kal was that there was no return fire, no enemy firing back at them. But as he spread his awarenss down the hall, he realized the enemy was more lethal than any gun-carrying soldier.

A seemingly endless swarm of vhroniks were stampeeding down the hallway, jumping over their fallen, crawling across the walls, like a gaping black hole slowly swallowing all of Hope's Haven.

Kal pushed himself up, knowing his involvement went hand in hand with his own survival. But since his legs wouldn't offer him the luxury of fighting on his feet, he had to trust in the extended reach of the Force itself. If those creatures punched through the entry way and got inside the storage facility, it would be over in a second. Their only hope was to kill them inside the confined space of the corridor.

Kal spread his fingers apart and the Force flowed through his hand; an invisible barrier slammed down dead center of the hallway between the vhroniks and the commandos. An impenatrable wall for the creatures to crash and thrash against, snarling at their inability to breach while the soldiers filled their ashy-gray bodies with blasterbolts.

For the moment it seemed to work, even though the flood of vhroniks kept steady and the soldiers were dangerously close to running out of ammo. Although he was already weakened and not fully trained in using the Force over long exspanses of time, Kal realized that improving came mostly out of nessicity.

He reshaped his barrier, clutching his hand and fingers together. The walls of the corridor slowly started to bulge inwards, as though the center of the hall was suddenly depressurized. The walls moved inwards towards a common center, closing the gap that the vhroniks were marching through. Blaster bolts still rained upon the mass of screaming vhroniks, filling the hallway with a wall of its own, a wall made from smocking corpses. Slowly the corridor closed completely and the firing died out.

The three commandos dropped down on one knee, rechecking their weapons and reloading them with what they had. The three of them looked at each other with a pleasure-filled grin and a few pats on the shoulders were exchanged.

"Seem whenever I leave you guys alone," Kast said through breaths of exhaustion, "you run into trouble."

"That's because you're the scout," Stix replied. "Without you we just run straight into trouble."

Salvor chuckled and was the first to stand. "Laugh it up, guys. We're not out of this yet."

Kal sat back down, tending to his leg. "Nice to see you guys again. I bet Kast is happy to have someone help carrying me around too."

Kast looked at Kal over his shoulder and grinned. "Yeah, he doesn't look like much, but his philosophy speeches are quiet heavy."

Stix got up and pulled Kast to a stand as well. "Thanks for the help back there, sir."

Kal looked up into the cargo lift tunnel, seeing the light above fade more and more as the lift was descending. "You're welcome. Get me out of here alive, and we'll call it even. And don't call me 'sir'."

Kast shouldered his rifle. "Heard anything from Tracker?"

Salvor nodded. "He's topside. Seems the Masamune is stationed above the facility and he's trying to get inside."

Kast smiled, impressed by their little flying droid. "He will be a great help once we get onboard."

"Fallen for him?" Stix asked with a raised eyebrow.

Kast responded by letting his thumb disengage the safety on his rifle with a loud click.

Stix held up his hands. "Hey, to each his own."

The sound of the lift grew louder and Kal pushed himself up as it came into sight. But even before he could see the surface of it he could feel something coming down with it. The lift cleared the rim of the tunnel and Kal was surprised to see it empty.

But as the lift touched floor a ball of brown came flying down the tunnel above it, landing perfectly on the lift. A green lightsaber came to life in Master Raine's hand in an instant and it flew through the air, stabbing into Stix's chest and remained there. Raine lifted the dead soldier off the floor with the Force and slammed it out to the side, knocking Salvor flat on the floor.

"Wait! Stop!" Kal shouted, bringing his own lightsaber out.

But Master Raine wouldn't stop. Kast almost had his rifle up and ready, but Raine pushed him back through the room, sending him twirling against the far wall. The soldier cried out in pain as he tumbled onto the floor.

"Wait!" Kal cried again, stepping in between Raine and the commandos. "You don't have to do this!"

Raine looked upon him with empty, tear-filled eyes. "Actually," the lightsaber flew from Stix's chest and back into the Jedi Master's hand, "I do."

"No," Kal implored, "you're a Jedi Master! You can't kill them! Stop it!"

Raine moved his lightsaber into a guard position. "Dark and light are no longer of consequence, young Jedi. There is only the Force."

Kal couldn't believe what was happening. "You're starting a war!"

Raine's face crunched up. "No, I'm trying to stop one!"

Salvor came out from under Stix's dead body and rolled to a clear position, his rifle ready to fire. But Raine's years of mastering the Force ridiculed the very idea that Salvor thought he had a shot at him. The Jedi Master simply pulled the rifle from Salvor's hands and tossed it casually aside, and finished off the lead commando with a twitch of his hand, breaking the soldier's neck from across the room. Salvor fell down with a loud bang of armor against the floor.

Kal felt the soldier's death suck all the air out of him, sadness plunging through his tearducts. "No! Please stop!"

"You don't know the truth," Raine muttered, his voice touched by the inevitability of his own actions, "this has to happen."

At the back of the room Kast got himself up and standing, his eyes briefly crossing the dead bodies of his team mates. The sadness filled him instantly and anger flooded to his surface in a second. Kast's rifle came up.

"No!" Kal continued to scream.

Raine moved his hand but Kast remained standing. The rifle in his hands however broke onto itself, shattering to pieces. Kast stared disbelievingly at the pieces of a weapon falling from his hands.

"He will live," Raine said clearly.

The moment of confusion stole away Kal's potential for controlling the situation. Raine grabbed him using the Force and lifted him off the floor. Kal lost consciousness instantly and with a quick last nod to Kast, Raine jumped up into the lift's tunnel above him, leaping from side to side inside of it, towing a lifeless Kal on a cushion of the Force.

Kast ran to the lift and looked up, watching Raine and Kal dissapear far above him. He cursed aloud, bringing all his anger front and center. But he had little time to contemplate his next move as someone else had already made the decision for him.

The hallway that had been shut tight by Kal's use of the Force was slowly buckling. The heavy stream of vhroniks on the opposite side had managed to gather enough mass for limbs to reach through, steadily expanding the gap and finally allowing one vhronik at a time to crawl through.

Kast saw Stix's rifle and dove for it, letting it instantly rip across the floor. The heavy pounding of the rifle in his hands blocked his awareness from the dead bodies around him. Ignoring his targets his eyes were on the floor, his free hand searching the bodies at his feet for weapons.

He chose a small rapid-fire blaster from Stix's belt, and strapped it into his belt for later and picked up Salvor's rifle by the strap and slung it over his shoulder, also for later.

Feeling sufficiently armed he started to walk sideways, his rifle still laying down a wide fan of bolts. Looking over his shoulder, he saw a set of doors behind him.

When the rifle ran out of shots, he swung around himself in a full revolution, shouldering the empty rifle in midturn and also pulling out the small rapid-fire blaster with the other hand. With only a second of silence between the firing of the two different weapons, he continued to back away towards the corridor that might just save his life.

Approaching the doors they slid apart down their center and revealed another corridor beyond. The storage room in front of him was a wreck of dead bodies, charred walls and floor, a cloud of smoke with a handful of vhroniks dodging back and forth, gaining ground on him.

Once he made it through the doors he blasted the controls, which instantly sealed the doors tight before him. The silence that followed was almost scary, his ears still rattled and hummed from the inferno of noise his guns had produced. His hands and fingers were shaking, the gun in his hand almost too hot to hold.

But he'd made it and that fact inspired a brief smile and a playful twirl of the gun on his triggerfinger before holstering it.

Beneath the looming shadow of the Masamune, the two warriors circled each other, fighting at a furious speed. The wind and snow added their effects to the duel, dampening their vision and pulling at their limbs and clothes. Rishi fought with all the anger and rage that one might have thought Krych would have been able to compete with.

But strangely enough, Krych was the passive one, a relaxed methodical focus to his fighthing, while Rishi was a storm in himself, possessed by a violent hungry anger that would only be fed by cutting Krych to pieces. Krych was fighting with all the majesty of a Jedi of old, cold precise movements that twarted even the best of Rishi's ruthless assaults. But Krych's careful precise movements did not stem from a cunning tactic, or an attempt to outdo Rishi by sheer technique.

It came from a broken heart.

Beneath his armor, beneath his burnt skin, Krych's soul was giving itself away. He had no wish to kill this young Kjoil apprentice, and the world around him, devoid of Junn, held no value to him anymore. It was a painful dark world, a cold lonely world that already had taken so much from him. Or...he had lost. It was true what Junn had said, he had been the one to leave her, he had been the first one to break away from their relationship.

He'd been different back then, he'd a warrior of the Sons of Destiny, he'd given his life to that service. He'd believed back then that he could keep himself unattached, that his life was nothing but a sword for the Sons of Destiny to wield. He'd found a family in them, replacing the family that had abandoned him in his youth. He'd given his loyalty in thanks.

But now, with all the glory of a sinking stone, he was fast falling towards death. Only now he could see how her smile had put the air in him, how he'd marveled at her strength through every one of their wars, how he'd never really known who she was. There was so much more in her than he had ever seen.

While fighting the Kjoil apprentice, he was detached from the two blades crashing against one another. His charred lips moved in silent whispers of all the things he wished for her. He hoped Koll and Sasa would forgive him, he hoped Junn would have everything he couldn't give her, everything he'd taken away from her.

He knew now that all of his strength, all of his willpower and loyalty, didn't stem from the Dark Side or the Force. It came from her love, her devotion, her warmth. He saw then all that he never could, that she was the walls of all he could do. The very lens through which he shone.

And it was just too late to have it back. He was changed, doomed, spiralling ever faster towards certain death. His body was dying along with his heart, his soul withering away inside the ashes of who he'd never known he was. All his dreams would be left unfulfilled, all those blurry images of him and her and how the world would be their prey. All of it would never see light, because even with all his powers he could not save himself and he could not save his dreams.

Out of the corners of his eyes he saw Eknath watching him fight the Kjoil, glowing with excitement and pleasure as the snow fell around him, his red eyes shining within the hood of his cloak.

The sound of the green and red lightsaber clashing brought up a hunger in him unlike any he'd felt before. His teeth ground against themselves, aching to see Krych defeated. To see that faceless monster finally slain, to rid himself of one more bothersome obstacle to his design.

Rishi was fighting furiously, the young boy displaying far more anger than he would thought was in him. The Kjoil were a passionate bunch, indeed, full of misplaced easily provoked anger. Truly he was far stronger than any Joon, Krych or even a Raine.

Truly he would be -

Your downfall, a voice stabbed into his brain.

Eknath's defenses fell in an instant, horrified that someone was watching his mind for a change. He looked around the edges of his perception looking for this stranger that was monitoring him, but saw no one near and quickly sent his own mind down the only trace of the voice he had. He found the source and was dissapointed that it wasn't hidden. That the person hadn't bothered to disguise herself.

Her reaching out to him certainly amused him. Ahh, the woman has finally come out of hiding. What is that you say, Junn? Shouldn't you be here at Krych's side? Seems he could definetly need you.

Her response was solid as a lightsaber's blade. You're all I have now.

Eknath's smug smile started to dissipate. So you know, then.

I know, Eknath. And I will be coming for you. Time and space is all that lies between us, Eknath.

He tried hard, but the threat in her voice made his confidence slightly fade. He couldn't ignore the fact that she was strong with the Force for some reason. Perhaps she really had found the truth he had been hiding from her. Don't be silly, little girl. You're no match for me. Whatever truth you've found will not keep you safe from me. You died once already, and you can die again for all I care.

He could feel her mocking him with a laughter, a sound that accompanied the background noise of swirling lightsabers. I've already bested you once, with Joon.

Her response confused him, but she allowed him to easily find the meaning behind it. So, you were the one disguised as Fett. Pity. It makes Joon's defeat even more pointless.

Her laughter built the second time. For one so powerful, you dissapoint me, Eknath. You're missing the obvious fact. You couldn't sense me then.

That much was true, he admitted to himself. This woman was beginning to annoy him. Then come face me now, Junn. Let's not prolong what we are both looking forward to.

She laughed. I am not done on Regana yet.

It bothered him he didn't know what she was referring to. With her powers and her newfound strength she could produce a great deal of trouble. He blamed himself for not killing her when he had the chance. He was fast becoming fed up with clones and people returning from the dead.

As soon as I leave this planet, the facility will be destroyed from orbit. So you had better hurry, little girl. Soon this repair yard will be the Galaxy's most expensive graveyard.

Once again she made that mocking laughter, a sound that left him feeling fear for the first time in an eternity. I have fate on my side, Eknath. One you tried to hide from me. Just like you did Saul, just like you did with Joon, just like you betrayed Sonnet.

His expression soured. Not well enough, apparently.

Her connection faded and he snarled angrily at the exhange. Whatever that foolish woman planned to do, he wasn't going to stick around for the show. He turned back around to watch Krych and Rishi still fighting. He was hoping he could prolong the battle further, pushing Rishi further inside his control, but with Junn plotting against him somewhere below he wasn't going to press his luck any further.

Krych's shattered face was a mess of tears and anger aimed inward. He could feel the young man losing himself, giving away his final thoughts before a certain death could take him. The pain his wounded face was giving him was almost gone, it seemed. But Eknath knew that Krych was not going to let it fade. He had grown used to the pain, and was using it to keep himself alive.

How ironic, Eknath thought.

The lightsabers clashed with bright lightning. "I've begun to cherish pain, Kjoil," Krych hissed through his teeth.

The words only provoked Rishi further and they fought on, Rishi's eyes tearing up with the anger flowing through him, fighting with all of the Dark Side to kill the man he thought had killed his Master. Eknath waited for an oppertune moment and when it arrived, he reached out to the lightsaber in Krych's hand and switched the blade off.

And Rishi was right on mark.

"Cherish this!"

The green lightsaber sliced clean down through Krych's vanished defense, cutting down through the monster's shoulder, depriving him of his right arm. Krych unleashed an unhuman cry as the pain went through him. The squad leader of the Sons of Destiny fell down on his knees, biting his jaw tight in pain and anger. The shoulder and surrounding armor had melted in an instant, and Krych's right arm laid uselessly by his side. Krych's left arm was keeping him from falling flat on the ceiling, but it soon buckled.

Or maybe he allowed it to give in, surrending himself to his death.

The monster laid out flat before Rishi as he swirled the blade in his hand, bringing it above his head in a two-handed grip, reversing the blade so it pointed downwards. And he closed his eyes -

"No!" Eknath spat, his eyes full of frenzied lust. "Do not be afraid to look! Stare it down! It is your enemy! He killed your Master! Take what is rightfully yours!"

Rishi opened his eyes again, his vision clouded by sweat and tears.

"Do it! Do it now - "

Rishi vented his frustration and fear in a full-blown scream, stabbing the blade down through Krych's back and through the surface the apprentice laid on. Krych died instantly. Rishi was still screaming when he pulled the blade out, swinging it at the air to releash his anger, biting his jaw together tightly.

Eknath stood there, beaming with pride, giving a low dark chuckle. "Good boy," he said proudly, "my boy."

But Rishi was not finished. He raised his blade and let it fall upon the corpse of his enemy again and again and again. Cutting Krych's body into pieces with swift strokes of the green blade, filling the air with the scent of burnt clothes and flesh. Krych's bodyparts scattered across the roof, soon nothing more than a mangled mess of blood and severed limbs, with a crisscrossing pattern of scorched lines etched into the roof and beneath.

Tears of pride formed in the corners of Eknath's red eyes. "Yes...that's it. You see it."

Rishi dropped down on his knees, breathing hard, trying desperately to pull air through his clenched teeth. "Alright...I'll - I'll follow you."

"No, dear Rishi," Eknath walked slowly to stand behind Rishi, putting his hands on the boy's shoulders for comfort and support, "from this moment, I follow you. Keep looking inside of yourself, my boy, and there you will find - " Eknath sunk his claws into Rishi's shoulders, gripping them tightly, " - me."

Kast ran through the corridors of Hope's Haven without a predetermined destination. He knew he was the only left alive inside the facility. All of the soldiers were already onboard the Masamune and there was no way for him to get onboard now. There were no ships inside the facility either. But he had to keep running. If he didn't run, if he started to slow down, his thoughts and feelings would overpower him. He had to keep looking, there had to be something.

He had to keep running from the wave of sorrow chasing him. He felt an unusual cold moving through his soul. The sensation crept up his spine and wrapped itself around his heart. He had to fight back the tears. Murdered, each and every one of them.

When he closed his eyes he could see his teammates staring back at him. He saw betrayal in each one of them. Blame cast at him, just as they had back at the Gauntlet when he'd failed them. These men had fought with him for years, they'd been unbeatable together, they were brothers.

And now they were all dead. His only friends, almost family.

Kast caught himself scouting the horizons for enemies, wishing he could see just one of those who'd killed his comrades so he could avenge them. Wishing he could've at least have had the honor of dying next to them. It had felt wrong that he was still alive.

It felt wrong that he hadn't died fighting beside them, that was how he'd always expected to die. Kast felt so much anger inside him, more than just anger, it felt like a blast furnace was spewing flames and steam inside his head. He felt hollow. Just like back at the Gauntlet.

They'd failed and now Coruscant was going to fall.

No, they hadn't failed.

He'd failed.

If only he'd…he could've done something. Anything.

Shaking his head he managed to outrun the sorrow for a little while yet. He was all alone now, but he didn't believe he was still alive if there wasn't some kind of escape for him. He'd never believed in destiny, but it just seemed he was alive for a reason. He couldn't explain, he'd never been good at such things. He was a soldier, and survival was all he knew how to do.

Maybe there was some way of contacting Coruscant. Although the power being supplyed to Hope's Haven was flimsy at best, maybe he could work something out. There had to be something.

Come on, think!

His lungs burned with exhaustion, his muscles screaming for a break, but he couldn't stop. He couldn't let himself slow down. He had to keep looking. Any minute now the whole facility could fall down around him, he had a feeling the Sons of Destiny would destroy it before leaving it behind. Never leave an enemy stronghold intact.

The rifle in his hands was hugged tightly to his chest, it took some of the anxiety out of him to hold something, for his fingers to be occupied. The safety on the rifle kept getting switched on and off, the scope continously readjusted, all of it on a subconcious level that his mind didn't think about, but his hands knew by instinct.

Where? Where? Where!

His feet finally stopped running as his helmet's sensors picked up ambient noise. He turned up the microphone and listened for whatever the helmet had heard that he couldn't. It sounded like a faint voice, a female voice.

Somewhere behind him.

He readied his rifle and started going back down the corridor, coming inside a junction of hallways. His rifle checked every corner and shadow, but there was no one there. The sound in his helmet was now a steady static, like that of a faulty comlink connection. He set the helmet to filter out the static and boosted the signal.

"...ublic commando, can you hear me? Please respond..."

He heard the voice clearly now. The station's internal comm system was activated and someone was speaking through the speakers inside of the junction area. That female voice spoke to him, the voice insanely loud over the comm system, echoing down the many empty hallways.

"Republic commando, find a comm unit nearby and answer me."

He was instantly aware that he couldn't trust whoever this was, but it was something to go on. He had to search every option he had. He spotted a comm unit nearby and activated it.

"I'm here," he said into the comm system.

Her relieved sigh over the system made it seem like the entire facility was sighing. "Thank the Force. Listen to me, I'm on your side. We have to link up."

He kept a close eye on his surroundings. "How do you expect me to trust you?"

"You have no choice but to trust me. In a few minutes this facility will be bombarded by the Masamune. You'll die if you don't do as I say."

"Who are you?" he asked, not really expecting an honest answer.

"I'll explain everything once you come where I am."

He raised an eyebrow. "But you're inside the station. I'm dead wherever I go."

She sounded like she had given up on him. "Fine, go die if you want. But if you change your mind, I'm at the the underground cloning facility."

Kast's entire world lit up with hope. The cloning facility was far beneath the surface. No turbolaser could penetrate that deep. There was hope again, a chance at survival. He looked around himself franticly for a lift.

A set of doors opened on the opposite side of the room with a clear chime, the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard.

"You're welcome," the voice of the comm system said.

Masamune'sbridge was bustling loudly with with activity, several of the last remaining soldiers that belonged to the Sons of Destiny had been promoted to engineers and technicians. An even thousand troopers had been quartered throughout the ship, given a period of much needed rest.

All of them had cheered as Eknath and Rishi had set foot on the hangar floor. A feeling of completion had washed over Rishi, a feeling of finally being at the end of a long road, and seeing a brighter future ahead. Although he felt no pride or elation at the thought of having all these soldiers obey him, the sight and feeling of their strength in numbers did bring out a small smile.

But not one nearly as grand and honest as Eknath's. The telepath had held out his arms, as though he wanted to embrace every last soldier. Their cheering built, echoing loudly off the walls of the hangar.

Rishi followed in Eknath's wake as the telepath walked to the bridge's command, the mercenary called Jovis already present, looking splendid and very proud of himself in a Sons of Destiny uniform.

"Commander Jovis," Eknath purred, "I see that all has been taken care of."

Jovis saluted. "Yes. The Masamune is moving out of Regana's atmosphere as we speak. We should be back in space in a few minutes. The captains are secured in the detention block, and I have a small squad guarding them. The rest of the soldiers have been given quarters and are getting some much needed rest. It's been a long campaign."

Rishi watched the man over Eknath's shoulder, anger filling him by the sight of the man's brainless loyalty, his obvious need for confirmation.

"Excellent work, Jovis," Eknath said and took a seat in the command chair, his lean body resting instantly. "Are the coordinates for our next destination logged in?"

"Yes, sir," Jovis answered crisply.

Eknath held out his palm towards Rishi. "Commander Jovis, I'd like you to meet Rishi Kjoil. A recent addition to our unit."

Jovis turned and saluted Rishi. "Welcome, sir."

Rishi only offered a frown as a response and walked to stand behind Eknath, facing the blizzards outside the viewports of the bridge. "Next destination? We're not going to Coruscant directly?" he asked over his shoulder.

Eknath rotated the chair to face Rishi's back. "In due time," he said softly. "You need your rest as well, my young apprentice."

The bridge's doors slid open and Jedi Master Raine walked through determined, two soldiers behind him dragging an unconscious Kal Ulani. Raine stopped close to Eknath's chair and set himself in a comfortable pose, while the soldiers dropped Kal onto the floor next to him. Rishi turned sideways and saw Kal lying there, his leg severely wounded. An impulse to run and help Kal ran through him, but he kept himself in check. Any sign of weakness would not look good.

Raine nodded to Eknath. "I bring Kal Ulani, the Jedi that helped the Kjoil in his mission."

Eknath smiled smugly and held up his hand to indicate Rishi behind him. "And I bring the Kjoil himself."

Rishi and Raine locked eyes, hiding well their shared surprise and disguising it with a curt nod.

"Ah, yes," Eknath recalled something, "you two have met before, haven't you?"

The skin around Raine's eyes tightened. "Briefly."

Eknath chuckled and looked over at his new apprentice. "Raine here has a talent for putting himself where he needs to be," his words took on a bitter edge, "and also for resuscitating arcane beliefs." Eknath nodded towards Kal's motionless body. "Why?"

Raine lifted an eyebrow. "Do you really need to ask, Prophet?"

Eknath's lips thinned. "I see." The tall man rose from his chair and clasped his hands together. "In that case, excellent work, my old friend. Another Jedi to the fold. I will break this one easily."

Raine started to straighten up, a defiant look upon his face. "He is my captive, Eknath. Not a present."

Eknath's stern face revealed his growing distate for people who opposed him. "I think you are forgetting who was left in charge."

"And I think you are forgetting you're not the only one left in charge," Raine held out his hand over Kal, "he belongs to me."

Eknath's eyes looked around at Jovis, at his soldiers who had taken a sudden interest in their conversation, his warriors. He saw Rishi eying him skepticly, Jovis looking slightly intriqued by the discussion. But in all eyes he saw their expectation that he would confront Raine and put the old Jedi fool in his place.

He had no real desire to do so, since Raine was a great ally to have despite his quirks and his blatant ignorance to the bigger picture. But losing the respect of his warriors, espicially Rishi, was not acceptable nor productive to his cause. He felt sad for a heartbeat and then he let his eyes finally lock back on the small old Jedi Master.

"Fine then." Eknath's cloak flew open, his hands reaching up into the air, channeling the Force through his fingers. The lights inside the bridge started to flicker in bad rhythm.

Jovis jumped back, removing himself from the situation, while Rishi moved to stand next to his new Master, instantly battle-ready.

Raine's old hand slowly moved towards the lightsaber on his belt. "What are you doing, Eknath?"

Eknath's red eyes began to glow. "I am putting you in your place, once and for all."

Raine's fingers felt his lightsaber. "Do not do this, Eknath. This was a family, a brotherhood!"

Eknath chuckled madly. "Which is why we fight more ferociously than we would a stranger. Misfortune and adversity; they are the true marks of a friendship."

Raine's green lightsaber came to life. "Don't test me!"

The storm, a hurricane created by the Force, amassed around Eknath, his cloak flapping like the wings of a bird trying to lift off for the first time. The soldiers on the bridge backed away, even Kal's body was brushed aside, sliding across the polished floor.

But Rishi stood firm, in equal distance to both of them, feeling strangely detached. He'd already left so much behind him, and neither Raine nor Eknath mattered enough for even his heart to beat faster. He knew he could take any one of them if it came to that. He'd managed to delude Eknath into thinking he was along with his plan, but if he saw a window he would strike down the psychopath in an instant.

Eknath's storm intensified, pulling the little Raine closer to him. Raine had a defiant grim look on his face as his boots slid across the floor, drawn to Eknath like he was a great magnet. Eknath himself moved his hands down, lightning starting to dance around the ends of his fingers.

"You cannot do this, Eknath!" Raine yelled. "I know what you're up to! You betrayed us all, just like Krych said!"

Eknath's face crunched up in anger. "Krych is dead, you old fool! Just like Joon, just like Ragh," the Dark Jedi bowed his head, forming an evil grin, "just like Sonnet!"

Rishi's head came up at the mention of that name, as did Raine's. "You...let him die?" Raine asked.

His words came through clearly across the storm. "I allowed the clone to take his soul, gave him a chance to escape. Combined with Sonnet, he became so powerful he eventually lost himself, becoming so weak that even a fool like Krych could lure him into a trap. I had hoped Koll would have been the one to trap the clone, but he proved useless as always!"

Raine ground his boots into the floor, asserting himself. "Why?"

"Because I need this war, I want this war! I needed Koll motivated, and as long as the clone existed he could never see clearly. He was wasting time. I set the clone free so that they would finally settle their conflict and Koll could put his focus back where it belonged," Eknath's fingers continued to pulse with energy, "back to warfare, the only thing he does best!"

Raine held his lightsaber up over his head, standing firm and strong. "Your plan has backfired then. Koll has left us."

Eknath shook his head. "Koll is waiting for me and it wasn't my plan," his eyes burned red, "It was Sasa's."

"Sasa's?" Raine asked disbelievingly. "But he was her brother. You said yourself she thought of him as her son?"

Eknath grinned. "Poetic, isn't it?"

Raine moved his lightsaber down to aim at Eknath. "I don't believe you!"

Eknath's head tilted. "But no Force has told you to kill me, either, has it? No Force has put you in a position to change anything I've done. Because it needed to happen. It was destined to happen. This has to happen!"

Rishi still stood at equal distance to them both, letting their conversation register in the back of his mind. These were the pieces of a puzzle he hadn't yet stumbled upon, but vital information that he would scrutiny later.

"There is no destiny anymore!" Raine was summoning the Force around him. "The clone took it with him to the netherworld!"

Eknath shook his head. "Don't be a fool, Raine. If there is no future to see, that doesn't entail fate is altered. It only means the Force doesn't want you to know. Such as this!"

Eknath unleashed a shower of lightning from his palms that shrouded the short Jedi Master, tightning around him like an electrified noose. The currents broke his lightsaber, shattering the weapon inside his palm but the Jedi Master fought back, creating a sphere around himself that no Dark Side lightning could penatrate.

The tendrils cracked and sputtered against the invisible ball around Raine, and the Jedi Master seized the moment. Holding the sphere around him intact with one hand, he called Kal's borrowed lightsaber to his other hand. Moving the sphere as he went he ran for Eknath, with Rishi's very own lightsaber held up high -

Quick as a shadow Rishi rolled across the floor, meeting Raine on the halfway mark between him and Eknath, emerging on the other side of their distance with Master Skar's green lightsaber active in one hand.

The storm died out and silence filled the bridge except for Raine's stunted breathing, he no longer so much ran as he slowly stumbled the last few steps, falling against Eknath's statue-like form, slowly tumbling into a heap on the floor by his feet. A wide gash across Raine's chest proved Rishi's strike had been clean, but not lethal.

Rishi's lightsaber rolled from Raine's hand.

"Good," Eknath chuckled as he nudged the Jedi Master away from his feet, "now finish it!"

The soldiers around them reacted, their weapons raised.

Rishi moved up his blade and aimed it at Raine. "No."

Eknath's evil eyes squinted. "He is a danger and a relic of old - "

"He stays alive," Rishi asserted himself, "because I say so."

Eknath's fury built up again. "You are in no position to deny my authority, Rishi!"

"Nor you mine," Rishi responded coldly, the lightsaber in his hand moving around just enough to let the sound make an impression. "And you will follow, right?"

Before Eknath could answer Raine settled the matter for them. With what strength he could muster he took hold of Rishi's lightsaber on the floor near him, ignited the blade and sent it whirling towards the nearest viewport. The pane shattered into a million pieces and the winds outside swarmed inside of the bridge, far greater than the one Eknath had managed to produce.

In the chaos that ensued, Raine got to his feet and jumped for the broken viewport, his shape quickly vanishing the blur of the clouds and winds outside. A second later a wall of metal slammed down over the viewport, sealing the gap and reestablishing the pressure inside the bridge.

Eknath rose from behind his command chair, raising a fist at the viewport. "Curse that geriatric fool!" The fist quickly swung around to aim a finger at Rishi. "This is your doing! You allowed him to escape!"

Rishi had stood firm even in the face of the new storm, his eyes staring at the viewport disenchanted. The lightsaber in his hand shut down. "At least he's out of our way. If he makes his way back to Hope's Haven he'll die along with everything else still there."

Eknath bit his lip in anger. "You better pray he does."

Rishi's eyes moved to Kal's still unconscious body on the floor far away. "Troopers! Take him to the detention block."

Soldiers sprung into action and picked up Kal, dragging him across the floor.

"And make sure his wound is treated," Rishi added. "I want him alive."

Eknath frowned at Rishi's back as he collected himself. The telepath dropped into his command chair with a deep sigh, Jovis appearing at his side. "Continue as planned, commander," Eknath swung the chair around to face the viewports and the approaching dark veil of space. "It's high time we leave this desolate planet behind."

Jovis nodded. "There are several requests for a report from Coruscant High Command waiting, sir. They don't know what has happened here. What should we do about it?"

Eknath made a temple with his hands underneath his fingers and contemplated his many options. "Hmm. Our return into Republic space will be even convincing with a casualty, to back up our reformed captains."

Rishi's head came up, full of confusion. "Admiral Saul is already gone, along with all the Republic soldiers."

Eknath flashed his famous devilish grin. "Oh, I wasn't referring to living casualties. I was thinking about something more along the lines of a casualty visible on our first approach to Coruscant. A sacrifice. It could even save us some time in wiping Hope's Haven off the face of Regana." Eknath looked up at Jovis. "Which would you prefer, Commander; the Ronin or the Infinity?"

Jedi Master Raine tumbled through the air, riding on the currents of the storm, letting it carry him through the clouds. Gliding on the winds, he enfolded himself in the Force. He allowed it to flow through him, centering its focus on the gash across his chest.

Rishi's blade had been close enough to burn clothes and singe flesh, even to make an depression across his ribcage. His breath was painful, every inhale stabbing his chest with a thousand nails. The pain and cold air produced tears from his eyes that flew upwards as he fell downward.

He wouldn't able to heal the wound, he knew that much. But if he could dull the pain he could turn his attention to slowing his descent, a feat that would be impossible if he couldn't block out the agony.

He didn't allow his mind to wander about the possibilities of his death, it was wasteful energy to consider the probabilites of him achieving what he had to before the ground came to him. There was no point in questioning whether or not he would make it, all he could do was to actually do it.

He closed his eyes against the sight of clouds rushing by, of snow seemingly falling upwards, that distant darkness that he knew was the surface of Regana. He shut himself away inside his mind and made himself one with the Force. The pain in his chest slowly was slowly dialed down, reducing it to a mere ache rather than a torment.

Once that was completed, he moved the Force outside of himself, far beneath him, keeping it steady like a sail that directed his course. He produced a gravity devoid space and lined his body up for a faster descent.

He glided into the bubble and all sound of roaring winds died out in the blink of an eye. Suddenly there was only silence, and he hovered at the center of his sphere of nulled gravity. He still wouldn't allow himself to open his eyes, seeing the ground far or close could break his concentration, which would be fatal.

With his mind he gingerly moved the sphere down, thus moving himself as well, slowly towards the ground, however far that might -

His feet touched metal.

The sphere burst around him and he opened his eyes, surprised to see himself standing on the one of the roofs of Hope's Haven. He'd been no more than three feet above the building when he'd entered the sphere. Another second and he'd been dead.

Raine smiled and shook his head, amused at his own luck.

He looked up and could barely make out the shadow of Masamune fading away beyond the clouds. He sent a frown their way and collected his cloak around him. Then, shunting the pain starting to build up in his chest again, he went for the nearest lift.

The Masamune and the Ronin drifted side by side towards the edge of the Regana Sector, their powerful engines carrying them across space. They passed the Infinity long their way, the third Star Destroyer having been designated for a much different fate.

Onboard the Infinity were still a little over a thousand crew members, whose lives were about to come an abrupt end. Chaos was breaking out aboard the Infinity, those still alive screaming for their lives, while their captain, warped by Eknath, was moving the ship directly for Regana's atmosphere. The Masamune and Ronin didn't stay around to watch the third ship crash, they jumped into hyperspace at their first chance.

And so the Infinity slowly sailed towards its death, ramming through atmosphere and coming bow first down upon Hope's Haven

The ship stabbed into Regana's crust like a giant sword, setting off several chained explosions detonating inside of its hull, balls of flame erupting along its surface. At impact the surface of the planet jolted, before building into a series of all out earthquakes. The station was quickly flooded with fire, massive burning waves spiralling out around ground zero. The ordanance planted by the Dragon's Tooth went off as the heatwave reached their locations, three massive detonations riding on the back of a greater.

Buildings were torn from the ground, exploding in air as the blast cast everything aside. Those that managed to stand firm against the shockwave, melted in seconds, painting the surface around them in giant grayish oceans.

The Infinity continued to dive into the snow-covered surface, burying itself in a sea of fire. The waves of fire washed out beyond the borders of the station, over the surrounding mountains, melting their icecaps as they passed, creating water than flooded back down the mountains, extenquishing a few fires but not enough to save the station.

The Infinity itself finally exploded, creating a volcano effect as the ship erupted in a mushroom cloud of fire, breaking into a billion pieces, some blown far enough to break atmosphere.

Hope's Haven dissapeared inside a magnificient flaming sun. As the explosion finally died hours later, all that remained was a crater the size of a city across the surface Hope's Haven had once filled.

She awoke slowly, as though the hands of sleep weren't quite finished with her yet. The soft calmness that came with sleep kept luring her back, begging her to look away at the small light starting to break through the darkness. Pleading her to turn her attention back to the flimsy images that rolled past her inner eye like a slideshow, to feelings and thoughts that belong to no set time in her life.

Sasa forced her eyes open, forced them to focus on the little light fixture above the chair she in which she laid reclined. Her body felt drugged, an unnatural drowsiness heavier than that of sleep. Something had definitely affected her, an outside agent. But a quick inspection of her body with the Force showed no alien substances.

She moved her head down, seeing distant stars drift by slowly outside the viewscreen of the shuttle she was in. She sat in a co-pilot's seat, unfastened, wearing different clothes than the armor she'd worn when she'd been on Regana. She could barely remember her last time there, and had to retrace events in her head to find the last memory of Regana.

But when she finally pieced the puzzle together, an unsettlement sent tremors through her gut and she couldn't help slowly moving her head around to find the man that had brought her here.

Koll sat in the pilot's seat to her left, hand rubbing his chin while his eyes studied the screens in front of him. His lips formed a smile as he felt her attention, but he didn't turn to look at her. "Hello there," he said softly.

The sound of his voice brought a reflex smile to her own lips. "Where - " her throat felt dry and she coughed. "Where are we?"

His hand left his chin and punched up a holographic representation of their location and vector. "Back home."

She watched the hologram unfold into a flat representation of the Galaxy. As well as the great white region at it's corner that made up the Unknown Regions. Their old home. She touched the hologram and the Unknown Regions exploded into high detail. Koll must've upgraded the shuttle with their own navigational intelligence.

She looked up from the hologram and inspected the cockpit around her. It didn't resemble any ship she'd ever flown. "This is one of Regana's shuttles?"

Koll nodded, that first smile dimming. "Borrowed from Hope's Haven; the Star Orchid."

As an afterthought she searched the shuttle for other lifeforms but there were none. They were alone. For many years she had wanted to spend time alone with Koll, and now that she had it she couldn't help feeling unsafe. Her right hand felt for a familiar weight on her hip and found her lightsaber still there.

Koll noticed it, and a slight frown passed over his face. "You have no reason to fear me, Sasa. Everything is going according to plan."

"Plan?" she asked. "You sedated me, took me all the way out here." All the facts passed through her mind like an endless river. "What happened on Regana? Where are the others?"

He locked a course into the navigational computer and swirled his seat to face her. "We've only been gone from Regana a little over a week. I've kept in contact with the army ever since, and things are going splendidly. Eknath is in charge now - "

"Eknath?" she said confused. "Eknath is not capable of leading the army. He's a...psychopath."

Koll collected his hands at his knees. "I trust him every bit as much as I trust you, Sasa. He's one of us. He's always been hard to read, I know that as well as you do, but our common ideals keep us loyal to each other."

She scoffed. "Last time I saw him you were beating him up because he'd scarred Joon again. And you want me to trust him?"

Koll allowed himself a smug smile. "Me and Eknath weren't fighting. I was giving him orders. The fight you saw was merely a facade."

Her jaw dropped. "A facade?"

He nodded. "There's a traitor inside of our unit, our organisation. To keep information about our plans hidden from any leak, I used the incident you witnessed as a means of relaying orders."

She found it hard to believe she wouldn't have noticed such a ploy, but Koll was not the lying type, espicially with her. "Am I here...because you trust me? Or because you don't trust me?"

He leaned forward in his seat and placed his right hand on her chair's headrest. "You are here, because I trust you most of all."

Her inside warmed at his words and the love glowing from his eyes. She leaned her face over to his and they kissed. A pure untainted kiss, undisturbed by the usual chaos going on around them. And with that kiss, she felt safe in his presence again. Safer than she'd ever felt before.

He rested his forehead against hers. "I never meant to hurt you, or hide anything from you."

She kept her eyes locked with his. "I know."

He kissed her forehead and gave her the smile of a man who truly believed he'd been given more luck than he deserved. "I have to tell you the rest of the plan, where we're going, what we're going to do."

She was slightly saddened that their sweet moment couldn't last a little longer, but she also knew that once this was all over, they would have amble time to make up for the love between them they'd taken for granted. "Go on."

Koll put the ship into motion and the stars outside started to drift by faster. "Eknath has taken control of two Republic star destroyers. He's also captured their captains. As we speak he's on his way to our rendezvous," he smiled, "our home."

Home. A peaceful planet inside the Unknown Regions called Anodyn. The thought of the beautiful woods on the surface of Anodyn brought warm memories through her, and she suddenly realized how much she missed the comfort of their castle in the mountains. "I thought there were three star destroyers?"

"There were," Koll elaborated, "but Eknath felt that to convince Coruscant it was important we cut away one of them. He's crashed one of the SDs into Hope's Haven, destroying the entire facility. He felt a visible loss of forces was needed to help our objective."

Somehow it made her feel resolved that the dreadful repair facility no longer existed. Some of her darkest thoughts and memories had taken place inside of it. "Convince Coruscant?"

"Yes. This was part of my objective all along. Eknath will use his powers to manipulate the commanders of each destroyer. Along with them, the two destroyers have entry codes that can get them past Coruscant's orbital defences. Once they're through, Eknath will command the captains of each destroyer to plunge the ship into Coruscant's surface, at chosen sites. All of the leaders and the Senate will perish in the destruction and most of Coruscant will slowly be eaten away by the radiation from their exposed reactors. The planet will die, along with everyone unfortunate enough to be planetside."

The images in her head left her breathless. She knew that a massive deathtoll had always been involved, but she'd never known how. Having once lived on Coruscant and marveled in its beauty on a daily basis, she felt an ache inside knowing she'd been a part of devising the destruction of all that beauty. But her personal feelings were easily pushed aside by her dedication to the cause.

"But that's not a long-term solution," she pointed out, "Coruscant is just a planet. There are thousands of ships, soldiers and facilities spread throughout the Galaxy. The Republic won't die with Coruscant."

Koll nodded. "I know. But Coruscant is a symbol. The planet itself represents the heart of the Republic. If we destroy the symbol, the psychological effects will weaken our enemies. If they believe their home and their highest leaders are gone, their will is going to fold. They will fall to despair, making them irrational and easily defeated."

She wasn't too convinced. "An irrational army numbering several millions of troopers, and hundreds of thousands of ships, Koll."

Koll smiled, he seemed to enjoy her skeptisicm. Enjoyed it because he knew he would prove her wrong. He always had. "Leaderless and divided."

She shook her head. "It's still a sizable enemy."

He sniggered. "Sasa, my dear, I don't intend to fight them. At least not all of them."

"What?"

He flashed that smug grin she'd fallen in love with a thousand times before. "I am going to convert them."

Ice flowed through her veins. "Convert them?"

He looked back at his screens. "Once Coruscant is destroyed, I will release a statement declaring our intentions, our presence and our goals. The ideals of a better future, a brighter future. One not beset by war, corruption and strife. One without senators and politicians. A world where warriors exist to defend the helpless, governing through compassion for all living beings. One where injustice will be repaid with the true justice; an eye for an eye. It will be difficult at first, but slowly things will change. Change is rarely swift."

She took in his words. It was what she wanted, the world she was fighting to build. And a part of her was afraid the change would happen so slowly she wouldn't be alive to see it fully blossom. "You can't expect everyone to fall in line."

"I don't," he leaned back in his seat, "but that's what our army is for." His eyes darkened for a moment and he looked away from her. "Eknath told me...in his last transmission, that Krych has become one with the Force."

Sasa's heart started to beat faster and a hollow feeling in her chest sucked all air from her lungs. "What?" She remembered taking care of Krych, holding the young man in her arms after he'd returned from fighting with the clone. He'd been scarred horribly by fire. "He died from his wounds?"

Koll shook his head, his voice trembling. He'd cared for Krych also. "No, he...he survived the burns and led our soldiers against the Republic's ground forces. He won the day for us there. But the Kjoil apprentice showed up unexpectedly along with the Republic fleet. He killed Krych, as well as Joon and Ragh."

She couldn't believe it. Joon and Ragh were easier for her to dismiss because one of them had been a misguided youth that she had always prayed would find death, and the other was a creature that had never shown much hint of a sentient being. But Krych was her apprentice, the closest thing she had to a son after they'd lost Skar.

The Dark Side was strong with her in that moment, but it wasn't fear or anger or hate. It was sadness, a calling card of Darkness that most teachers never bothered to include in their doctrins. A feeling that was easily corruptable.

Her tears flowed easily but she restrained herself from falling apart. She knew her feeling of loss wouldn't fade for many years, that only time would heal this gap in her heart. And she also knew that Krych would have died as a warrior, a bright example for all of the Sons of Destiny to live up to.

Koll rested his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Sasa."

She held her hand against her mouth, feeling the tears run over the back of her hand. "What about Junn?"

Koll exhaled. "He said they never saw her, and that he believed she must have died."

Her pain built. Junn was a daughter to Koll the way Krych was a son to her. Once again they were parents without children. The tears intensified, but she knew that maybe it was for the best. Like Koll had once said, children had been their weakness. It was a sentimental attachment that left them vulnurable and as irrational as they hoped to make the Republic forces. It wasn't easy for her to think that way, but she began to understand what Koll had meant at the time.

Koll looked down at the floor. "He also told me...that Raine was the traitor."

Pain quickly transformed into suspicion and Sasa's eyes went to Koll to in an instant. "No. I don't believe that."

Koll opened his mouth to talk but no words came out.

"That's a lie, Koll. Don't tell me you believe that?"

Koll looked at a loss for words. "Not easily. But he was always removed from the rest of us. He followed his own path in the end. Eknath said Raine escaped before they could stop him." Koll finally looked at her. "Raine was a dear friend, Sasa. A very dear friend. And I'm not entirely convinced that Eknath has told me the full truth of what happened. But we'll find out once we meet up with him."

She dried away her last tears, feeling an anger aimed at Eknath, a feeling that the telepath was working against them. "I want to be there when he tells us what happened."

Koll nodded and took her hand in his, squeezed it. "It's you and me. We're the heart of this."

She smiled bravely and then nodded towards the stars. "So...where are we going?"

Koll's voice took on a darker tone. "Well, that's the other thing."

She looked at him.

"Destroying Coruscant...is merely a secondary objective."

She thought she'd heard him wrong. "Destroying Coruscant, the capital of the Galaxy, is a secondary objective?"

"Yes...Sasa, the man who hired us to destroy the Republic, the man who funded the siege and all of our army, is a Dark Lord of the Sith."

Fear finally found her, and she wished she had given in to sleep back when she had the chance. "That's impossible...Palpatine was the last one. There've been pretenders, rogue Jedi with delusions of grandeur, but all of them have been proved wrong and been destroyed. There are no Sith left."

Koll swallowed hard. "Sasa, like you I have stood before a Sith Lord. I know one when I see it. Darth Eclipos is not a pretender, and he will stop at nothing to cover this Galaxy in all of his darkness."

She felt her hands start to tremble, even the one still inside his. "Why...why are we helping him?"

"We're not," Koll reassured her. "He contacted me while we were in the Unknown Regions. Our exploits had reached his ears. At first I turned down his offer, but then I learned what he was. He is untraceable, Sasa. I arranged a meeting with him without your knowing, and I've kept this a secret from you for a long time. To protect you. Any army that grows as our have is bound to have weaknesses, people easily seduced to betray us, as we've already seen."

She felt as though the chair she sat in was about to eat her alive. "Who is he?"

Koll's voice lowered, as though he was afraid the Sith could hear him. "No one knows about him but me. Once I understood what he was, I knew I had to stop him. I agreed to fulfill his contract, to destroy Coruscant so he could take over, but only so I could get closer to him. The Darkness has all but destroyed his body and so he needs a new body."

Sasa felt enlightened. "The body we cloned on Regana."

Koll nodded. "The very same that is now in hibernation in the cargo hold of this shuttle. We can destroy him while he is being transferred. But to get him close, to assure him that we are doing his bidding, there had to be some sacrifice."

Sasa felt another piece of the puzzle fall into place. "The Republic forces on Regana."

"Exactly. With their defeat he knows now that we are capable and he trusts us." He tugged at her hand, encouragingly. "Trust me. I am not about to hand over the Galaxy to another Sith Lord, Sasa."

She managed to chuckle slightly. "So what now?"

He let go of her hand and turned his attention to the shuttle's controls. "Last time I communicated with him I was finally able to pinpoint his location. As far as he knows we're onboard the star destroyers heading for Anodyn, where he was going to meet up with us to receive the clone body. He refused to meet with us before Coruscant was destroyed, so now we're going to go see him instead."

Dropping out of hyperspace the engines of the Star Orchid roared majestically as it swept across the stars, slowly decellerating until finally taking its place in the edge of the small fleet in the system. Hundreds and hundreds of makeshift starfighters, cruisers, yachts and freighters had huddled together around an old and crippled Star Destroyer.

Every one of the ships wore the marks of custom made changes, personal alterations to suit the needs of their owners. And everyone of them had names to suggest fear or strength, many of them decorated with images of teeth or claws. Some of them had mythical creatures painted on the sides.

These were beloved ships, the very pride and joy of their owners. The sort of ship that could only belong to mercenaries, assassins or bounty hunters, and each one of them did. Faking a bounty hunter license Koll had managed to hear about a bounty hunter convocation, a gathering of bounty hunters and others alike from all over the universe. They had gathered to claim their right for a new bounty, collecting missions and assignments that a singular source, rather than having to seek them out on their own.

The more famous bounty hunters didn't need to visit such convocations as their reputations made them easy to contact; the famous never found themselves looking for new work, but far newcomers in the hunt it was much different. Until they made enough of a name for themselves they needed gatherings such as this to stay afloat financially.

The Star Destroyer was named the Jamaryndo. From there a group of well-connected individuals collected bounties from all over the universe and distributed them among these newcomers. Koll's fake bounty license would get himself inside, along with the rest of the bounty hunters. The ships were admitted onboard the Star Destroyer one by one, checked for explosives and tracking equipment.

Only one man from each ship would be allowed into the convocation chamber, stripped of everything and given clothes to wear, to minimize the chances of fighting onboard the Jamaryndo; a rule that had been made necessary after many occassions of infighting brought on by broken pride. The rule made Koll feel safer, as he was sure he was about to get on somebody's bad side.

Once his ship was admitted and storaged, the fake license working as planned, two guards met him outside the Star Orchid. Both of them armed, they tossed him a set of black clothes; boots, pants and a shirt. He redressed quickly, left his weaponry onboard the Orchid, along with Sasa, and they guided him through the corridors of the ship, one of them in front and one behind him.

The convocation chamber was not part of the original Star Destroyer design. It was built like an auditorium, single stage surrounded by a semi-circle of ascending stairs. There were no seatings, and some two hundred people stood silently, waiting for the gathering to begin.

Not two people spoke to each other; bounty hunters preferred to work solo in general and did not trust anyone. Every single being in the auditorium was in competition with each other, and if not for the no-weapons rule he suspected the room would have been alive with fighting already. There was hostility in the air, like a surging energy beneath it all, as if the whole room could explode into a massacre at any moment.

Koll took his place at the top level and off to the left, and like all the rest he appeared to be waiting when he was really studying each face, sizing everyone up. Although stripped of their armor and weapons many of the hunters still managed to look intimidating; it was more than their physical appearance, it was in their eyes. The eyes of predators, daredevils. Men who had death hanging over their shoulders as their only companions.

Koll's chest felt hollow when he realized he wasn't that different. But although there was savagary and malice hanging over the crowd, there was also an air of honor. Not respect, but honor. They honored the sacred rules of the convocation, and in Koll's eyes it earned them more respect than he would have thought he could give them.

Some eyed him in turn, sizing him whether to be a defeatable enemy or a waste of time. Those that tried to lock eyes with him, measuring strength by keeping their stare on him until he folded, received a brief image sent to their mind by the Force; an image of all his grand army standing behind him. Koll realized it was a childish act, but it never ceased to amuse him when their faces changed color to a slightly more pale.

Koll wasn't here for the convocation and this wasn't the site of the Sith Lord's communications. He felt it was wise to hire a little external help to aid him in drawing the Sith out of hiding. He had a feeling he would find someone willing to accept the sizable fee he could offer for a relatively small effort.

The convocation began when a small droid rolled onto center stage. Not bothering to welcome the hunters, it rapidly began projecting a large holographic image above itself, large enough for anyone to read, in several different languages. Contracts were lined up, with little to large information about the various jobs on offer. The

hunters raised their hands when they felt a mission was offered that they could live up. The droid's scanners picked out the fastest hand to raise among them and datacards were given containing the information already given, sending the fortunate hunters on their way.

Over time the crowd thinned out to a mere thirty hunters, the droid still uploading contracts. It was almost like an auction, but to Koll a much more interesting game was being played underneath the surface of it all.

He read every hunter still inside the auditorium to find a promising candidate. He was looking for someone young, someone green to the hunt. Someone easily fooled. But he also knew he couldn't approach them directly.

He found a match, and the second before the young hunter, a male human, was about to raise his hand, finding a contract he believed he could complete, Koll raised his. Koll was rewarded the contract, and the young hunter stared furiously up at him from a dais far below him.

Koll threw him a salute, designed to mock the young man, and departed the convocation, datacards in hand.

Koll had only just stepped inside the hangar the Star Orchid had been designated when he felt the young hunter following him. Deciding to give the hunter a chance to surprise him, Koll pretended to have found a small concerning defect on the bottom hull of his ship. The hunter snuck into the hangar without giving off any sounds that a normal human would have picked up on. Koll managed to surpress his nervousness as the hunter stalked him, coming up a few feet behind him.

"That bounty was mine," the hunter said.

Koll didn't pretend to be surprised. He turned around calmly and faced the hunter. A young man, early twenties, was there, wearing expensive fashionable clothes. Koll thought he recognized him from somewhere but wasn't sure. Koll shifted his feet apart, setting himself for a fight. Using the Force he drew in its energy to heighten his senses.

"Hate to say this, but I called it first."

The man's head tilted and he smiled fiendishly. Cocky. "Doesn't matter. I came here for a gig like this. I've been working low-level hunts for three years now. This was my big break. My first step into the major league."

Koll raised an eyebrow. "Then you should have walked faster."

The smile vanished. "Brave words coming from a man who's never been here before. Who snuck in on a fake hunting license. Do you have any idea what would happen to you if anyone learned?"

"No," Koll said flatly, "but it will pale in comparison to what's going to happen to you if you don't step out of my way."

The boy's face darkened. "You've got things turned around - "

"No," Koll said clearly and took a step forward, "that's you," he took another step forward, "and if you thought you could come down here, unarmed, and scare me out of the hunt, you're missing one big thing."

The boy flinched. "Meaning what?"

"Meaning you're standing in front of my ship," another step forward brought him within hand's reach, "and while I may not be armed, that doesn't mean my companion onboard the ship isn't."

The man turned halfway. But before he could descern that no one was behind him, Koll had the man by his hair, pulling his head back and slamming his free hand down into the man's chest. The young man made a sound between a choke and a gargle and went down flat on his back, clutching his chest, fighting to breathe.

Walking around to standing between the man and his ship, Koll extended his right hand, pointing up the ramp, and caught the lightsaber as it dropped into his palm. The man was still grasping at his chest, but his eyes widened even further even he saw Koll's lightsaber extend to full length.

Koll slowly moved the lightsaber down and held the tip of the humming blade in front of the man's face. "I'll make a deal with you, kid. I'm not interested in this bounty," Koll held out the datacards with his free hand and dropped them at the young man's knees. "I've got something bigger lined up. I can pay you more than any hunter in history. Help me find a very dangerous man, help me take him down and you'll collect a bounty of ten million credits."

The man leaned on his elbows, trying to not stare himself blind on the blade. "Ten...million credits?"

"Yes."

The young man frowned. "I have a hard time believing that."

Koll shrugged. "You can say no and I'll go at it on my own."

The boy's eyes tightened. "How can I be sure you're not playing me?"

Koll shook his head. "You can't. But you have everything to gain and nothing to lose."

The boy snorted. "You could be lying and kill me later."

"True," Koll moved the blade slightly closer to the boy's face, "but I could kill you now if that's what I wanted."

Before the boy could answer, the doors at the back of the hangar opened and a small group of guards rushed in. Not bothering to actually find out what was going on they immediately opened fire.

Koll swung the lightsaber up in a guard position and deflected the shots that threatened him while slowly backstepping up the ramp. On the floor the boy rolled to the bottom of the landing ramp, hoping to hide himself from the many shots flying over his head.

"Come on!" he shouted at the young boy.

The hunter stayed where he was, flat on the floor by the bottom of the ramp. "How do I know I can trust you!"

"You don't! Now get in!" He deflected another batch of bolts. "Sasa, get the ship started!" he shouted over his shoulder.

Still deflecting shots with one hand he grabbed the cowering young man by the neck and flung him up the ramp. By the time Koll reached the top of the ramp it began to close up, sealing up a second later. Koll felt a weight lift from his chest when the engines of the Star Orchid begin to fire up.

He could hear the bolts outside striking the hull but felt confident it would hold up for now. The problem was getting off the Jamaryndo before they sealed off his exit tunnel.

The boy pushed himself up on his feet and faced Koll. They stared at each other for a few seconds, both of them panting.

"Truce," the boy said.

"For now," Koll powered down his lightsaber and ran for the cockpit. By the time he was seated in the pilot's chair, Sasa had the ship aimed at their exit tunnel. Koll kicked the ship into speed and the Star Orchid accelerated to maximum throttle in a heartbeat.

The exit tunnel was a long shaft connected with various other, an intricate tunnel network that connected all of the hangars onboard the Jamaryndo with space outside. The destroyer had been hollowed out to allow space for personal hangars for the many hundreds of ships that visited around the monthly convocations.

Sasa fastened herself in and the young bounty hunter secured himself by holding on to Sasa's chair. Koll had always been a great pilot in his younger days, but it had been decades since he'd had to execute a getaway inside something as clunky as a shuttle. Still he proved those reflexes hadn't deterioated over the years and flew the Star Orchid with a recklessness the ship had never been designed for.

"Easy," Sasa muttered, her nails digging into her armrests.

Koll grinned as he sent the ship charging down several tunnels, changing direction at the very last impact, barely avoiding a collision with other crafts using the tunnels. He had a feeling the tunnel they'd been given was already shut at the other end, so he decided to give them a run for their money, aimlessy darting in and out of different tunnels, knowing they would never close all of them just to box him in.

The comm system activated itself and a droid's voice spoke out of the speakers. "Shuttle Star Orchid; there is no escape. Return to your designated hangar for questioning. You are in violation of Jamaryndo protocol. Failure to reasonable explain your breach of protocol will result in a disavowment from the bounty hunter's guild."

Koll chuckled to himself. "Sasa, did you hear that? They're kicking me out."

She laughed at the top of her lungs even as the ship went into a full revolution, nearly throwing her out of her seat. "Well, at least you gave it a shot."

The young bounty hunter's face was pale. "They're-they're not talking about me, are they?"

The Star Orchid was charging towards another intersection of tunnels, and even before they'd passed it Koll got that feeling in his chest that any second another ship would pass right in front of them and they'd crash into it.

"Hold on," he brought the Orchid down low enough to scrape its belly across the bottom of the tunnel, giving it just enough space to pass directly beneath a freighter crossing their tunnel. Sasa let out a howl of excitement and Koll couldn't take his grin off his face. It was too exciting.

Behind them the young bounty hunter was sprawled out on the floor, clinging to the bottom of Sasa's chair for his life, praying to some god neither of them had ever heard of.

"Relax, kid, we're almost out of here," Koll said over his shoulder.

Just then the comm unit came alive again. "Shuttle Star Orchid; all tunnels have been sealed. There is no escape. Land your vessel now."

Koll made a mock look of dissapointment. "And things were just starting to get funny."

Sasa laughed again. "Honey, they don't know your sense of humor like I do."

"Guess we'll have to make our own tunnel," Koll dropped the shuttle into a tunnel that continued straight for miles through the Jamaryndo's infrastructure, "brace yourselves."

"What!" the young bounty hunter cried.

The Star Orchid proved she hadn't reached full speed yet as Koll rammed the ship down the tunnel, flying at an insane speed directly for a dead end. Another ship was flying ahead of them at slower speed, obviously confused why it's tunnel was sealed.

Koll slammed his shuttle directly into the stern of the slower ship, it's engines instantly dying. Now pushing another ship as a dead weight, Koll pressed his throttle up even more. The ship filled up most of their viewscreen, blocking Koll's vision. He closed his eyes and relied on the Force for guidance.

With only a few hundred yards to the sealed tunnel Koll cut all power to his engines and punched in the small retro engines, stopping the Orchid instantly. The ship being pushed continued to fly down the tunnel, however, exploding against the sealed tunnel exit in a great ball of fire.

When the flames died out, Koll could see stars shimmering through the gap of the new tunnel exit the other ship had reluctantly made for him.

Koll throttled up again and the Star Orchid exited the Jamaryndo victoriously. The instant they were outside, the larger ship's turbolasers started firing at them, lighting up the space around them with red flashes.

Koll sent the Orchid into a series of reckless spirals while putting as much distance as he could between them and the Jamaryndo. A pre-logged set of hyperspace coordinates awaited use and Koll pulled back on the hyperspace lever as soon as they were clear of the last turbolaser blasts.

The stars outside the viewscreen extended into steaks of light as the Star Orchid blasted away safely into hyperspace.

Koll fell back into his seat, sweat covering his face. "Well, that was exciting." He looked over at his face, an exhausted smile on his face. "Think they'll have us back next month?"

Sasa chuckled, relief across her face. She reached out her hand and caressed Koll's cheek. "Another great escape by the great Koll Riokon," she said lovingly.

Koll shrugged and his smile turned smug. "Leaving a good bad impression is not as easy as it seems, you know."

Behind them, the young bounty hunter managed to get back on his feet, supporting himself on their neckrests, color slowly returning to his face. "Riokon?" the young hunter asked.

Koll looked back to face the hunter. "Yes?"

The young man smiled with great enthusiasm, a sudden bashful awkwardness to his nature, like someone put before their greatest idol. "You're Koll Riokon?"

"Yes," he answered, finding it odd someone would know his name inside the known Galaxy, "how do you know my name?"

"Well, we've never met. But you met my father a long time ago."

Koll remembered feeling something was familiar about the boy, but he'd been through so many faces in his life that it happened more frequently that he liked. "Who was your father?"

"Jodu, General. Jodu Shao."

Koll thought he recognized the last name, and his mind leap-hopped backwards through his memory to locate a frame in which that name might have been uttered.

He found one. "The Shao family. On Kudark." The memory alone brought an earnest smile to his face. "Yes, I believe I do remember. But you were only a small boy back then."

The boy blushed. "Yeah, I wasn't much to speak of. But I sure remembered you. He talked a lot about you. Koll Riokon, the great Jedi savior."

The irony wasn't lost on Riokon, but neither was his smile. Ten years back, during their runs in the Unknown Regions they'd found hire on Kudark. The planet was in a state of civil war, several countries had neglected decades of peace and had started fighting each other for supremecy of the planet. Koll had fought along with his soldiers for the regent of one sector, in a glorious battle across grasslands.

The zone of engagement was not neutral territory. The opposistion had chosen a sector where many farmers earned a good living off the land. The proximity to civilians made it impossible for the regent to use heavy artillery. Koll had come across one of these farms during the battle, and apparently left a lasting impression on the Shao family that had lived there.

"We won the battle," Koll said absently, reminding himself of a past victory, "what's your name?"

"Isak. Isak Shao," the boy answered.

"Pleased to meet you, Isak. I hope it wasn't too short-lived a peace."

Isak shrugged. "There are still skirmishes, but none like the one you took part in."

Sasa had listened to their conversation with great interest, liking the image Isak had painted of her husband. And the pride on Koll's face. "What are you doing this far away from Kudark, young Isak?"

The young man aged ten years in a second. "Farming wasn't my thing. My parents never approved but we left off on good terms. I've tried for some years to get in touch with your group, but no one's heard from you in the last two years."

Koll smiled smugly. "We've been busy."

"I guess," Isak said, "I've earned a few credits off bounty hunting. Even got my own ship, a real beauty."

Koll felt sad. "I...imagine that ship is still back on the Jamaryndo."

Isak shrugged. "It's alright. With the credits you're promising I can buy a new one. I've already made a small reputation for myself out here in the Unknown Regions."

Koll nodded. "And you've been outside of it too."

"How'd you know?"

Koll looked at the stars shooting by outside of the viewscreen. "You wouldn't be calling it the Unknown Regions, if you hadn't. You would have called it home."

Isak looked unaffected. "No...not really. People like me don't have a home. My only home is the battlefield."

Those words, though he himself might have ventured them once, suddenly fell flat and ignorant. "War and combat is no place to raise a family, young Isak," he said, feeling like he was talking to a younger version of himself. "Why have you chosen this line of work?"

Isak looked dissapointed. "Just making a living."

Sasa leaned back in her seat. "There are other things you could be doing, safer things."

Isak shook his head. "I don't want to die knowing I've lived a safe life. I want to die knowing I've lived."

Koll didn't feel like looking at the young boy. "Why bounty hunting?"

Isak shrugged. "You travel a lot. Meet interesting people. Make lots of money."

"Is the money that important?" Sasa asked.

Isak looked at her hard. "You know those people who say that money aren't important, that they could easily survive on nothing? Money isn't important, but it makes a lot of problems a lot smaller. That's all it does. Money is a luxury. I don't want to worry about bills, or payments. I don't want to keep my eye on my account each week. I want to know that I have nothing to worry about - "

Koll burst in. "Is that why you dress head to toe in latest fashion?"

Isak blushed slightly, it was hard for him to hide the fact that he was in many ways still a young boy, though he tried his best to look and sound harder than he was. "In this business you have to look succesful as well as be succesful. People won't hire you to hunt someone across the galaxy if you look like you can barely afford a taxi to the spaceport. We can't all walk around dressed in Mandalorian armor all the time, you know?"

Koll glanced briefly over his shoulder at Isak. "You want to be the best then?"

"This is what I do. I might as well try to be the best that I can."

Though she didn't look convinced, Sasa gave him a nod. "That's a smart philosophy."

Isak smiled proudly. "I'll tell ya, if more people were as smart as me, this galaxy would be in a lot better shape."

"And better dressed too," Sasa said with a smile.

Koll knew Sasa meant well, or at least he thought that was what she was doing, but the whole situation left a vile taste at the back of his throat. He reached out to the Force for patience and clarity, but the moment he tried he realized he could just put the young Isak to sleep instead.

Isak dropped down on his back on the floor, instantly asleep.

Sasa didn't react to Isak's sudden dozing off. She reclined in her seat and hugged herself. "Changed your mind?"

Koll was very disillusioned, shaking his head at himself. "I was expecting a fool."

She nodded. "Instead you got someone alive because of us, someone we helped."

Koll leaned forward, massaging his temples. "He just needs guidance."

Sasa's voice became blunt. "We don't have time for taking on any more learners, remember? Come on, Koll. I thought we saw eye to eye on this. No more."

He knew, he knew, it just wasn't that easy when he was face to face with the reality of such a decision. "In the world we're trying to build, kids like him are going to get eaten alive."

She leaned over and squeezed his shoulder, giving him some comfort. "That's something you'll have to get used to. I thought you already understood this. You were the one talking about how others weakened us."

Koll held onto her hand, trying to smile. "Maybe I'm the fool."

"No, you're just a little too human for your own good." She kissed his forehead and rose from her seat. "Where are we going?"

"The origin of the Sith's signal," he smiled and let out a small laugh, "and in a way, our second honeymoon."

Her face brightened. "Elemos?"

He nodded. "Exactly. That's where the signal is coming from."

She raised an eyebrow. "Strange place for a Sith to hide."

"Which makes it even more possible the signal isn't a hoax," he added.

"I suppose," she surpressed a yawn. "It's very empty. How are you going to escape his notice?"

"Well, we have the Republic to thank for that. After we shot down the Republic commando ship on Regana, I had Junn salvage the stealth technology. We managed to outfit this shuttle with that technology."

She whistled. "You had this planned for a long time?"

"No, the stealth drive was an added bonus," he explained, "I wasn't counting on it."

She shook her head. "Don't sell yourself short, Koll. This is what you're good at. You've always been good at seeing oppertunities and connections. That's why you - we - have come this far." She covered her mouth, hiding another yawn. "I'm going to get some sleep." She stepped over Isak on her way out and left him to his pondering.

He remembered a world that made sense, a world where the gifts he'd inherited from the Force were a clear cut line between right and wrong. He'd known, as a Jedi, where his place was, his role. At the edge of his lightsaber's blade he'd fulfilled the will of the Force, and never questioned that will. Much like Raine still claimed to do.

But since his turn to the Dark Side, since Skind's fall, the lines had blurred. He'd had to think further ahead, and he'd built his army so his ideals and his designs could be passed down over many generations. But in terms of knowing if it was right or wrong, he could only trust his own judgement. And that was something that had proved to be the hardest thing in his life.

Espicially when confronted with a young boy, who'd built a life around Koll's own legend. Someone who'd seen the light, but misunderstood it. Someone who'd only taken parts of the truth and freedom he'd tried to show people, and manipulated it into his own reality.

How many others would do the same?

In his nightmares he saw a Galaxy populated by people like Isak, people who had no soul, misguided youths that only cared about themselves. He knew Isak would sooner or later ask if he could join the army, and Koll would have to refuse him. Isak would, not as the boy he was now, never lay down his life for others.

Koll looked up at his reflection in the viewscreen, saw Isak lying on the floor behind him, saw someone sitting over the young boy.

Koll's heart froze.

"She's right, you know."

The chair swirled around and Koll stared in complete denial at Skind Kjoil's ghost, as its shimmering blue form sat bent over Isak, studying the boy as he was sleeping. Slowly Skind's face turned over to look at him, his clear white eyes burning straight through Koll.

"You can't be here," Koll shook his head, "I'm imagining this."

Skind rolled his eyes. "When will you ever learn to listen to others? You can't beat me, Koll. I'm here to stay."

Koll didn't understand any of it. "But...your clone was destroyed. We set you free."

Skind shrugged indifferently and straightened up. "Sometimes the nexu doesn't want to leave the pen. I told you I wasn't about to leave you."

"But why? What do you want from me?"

Skind wore his confident smile as he stepped over Isak and took a seat in the co-pilot's chair next to Koll. "It's not about what I want. Although you've deluded yourself into thinking I infact still matter, I don't. This is about what you need."

Despite his hatred for the man, Koll found himself beyond the matter of revenge. All of it seemed so far away and he'd wasted enough time in life trying to...well, as the clone himself had put it, bury a dead man again. "What I need?"

Skind looked awfully comfortable in the chair, swirling it around at look at the stars shooting by outside, a distant blank look in his eyes. "Remember your earliest teachings, Koll, remember what I've always told you; beware of the Dark Side. It takes a powerful individual such as yourself to wield its power and remain neutral to its poison. It's never been done before, but anger and fear can change all your progress in an instant. Your Dream, this design you've created for the Galaxy, it can fade away as easily as it appeared in your mind."

Koll found himself listening to his Master just as he had in their old days, taking his counsel as truth. "I know...I lost it on Regana."

"You had good intentions, after all you didn't seek out my clone for revenge. He came to you," Skind blinked, "was brought to you."

Koll's brows lifted. "So you know. Someone contacted him."

Skind nodded. "Have you found out who your traitor is?"

Koll found it hard to say the name, mostly because he didn't yet believe it to be the name of this traitor. Like Sasa had pointed out, Eknath was also an option. But in Koll's mind Eknath was almost too obvious to be the real traitor. Eknath had been with the army longer than any one else apart from himself and Sasa. "Raine."

Skind's expression didn't change. "You don't believe that."

Koll admitted it was hard to justify. "I think Eknath has objectives of his own, but I don't think he'd betray us."

"You might once have said the same thing about Raine."

Koll didn't know what to say. His Master was right. Maybe that was the easiest answer. To admit that he really didn't know. At least not yet. "I don't know. But I'll know once we reach Anodyn."

Skind's eyes tightened. "Are there no other options? Someone else besides those two that might be a weak link."

"All the others are dead."

The tranquility of his Master's face suddenly went away, and his gloating smile took it's place. "Not all of them."

Koll felt weightless, standing at the brink of something he knew he wasn't going to like. "What are you getting at?"

Skind tilted his head. "Use the Force, Koll. Don't think, feel."

Koll did as instructed, and allowed his mind to delve into the endless currents of the Force. Its energy and clarity brushed away any shadows clouding his mind, balancing him on a needle point of focus. Names and images of faces passed by his inner eye, and not many passed before he found himself looking at his wife's beautiful smile.

His eyes shot open. "Sasa? She couldn't betray me, she loves me."

Skind was facing the stars again, a look of remorse on his face. "It is the fate of every truth to be an object of ridicule when it is first acclaimed. She loved me too, Koll. Didn't stop her from wanting to kill me."

"But," Koll found himself starting to slip into a world of thinking he didn't like, "you were a danger, a threat to everything we believed in. A murderer."

"Odd words coming from one about to wipe everything from the face of Coruscant," he said coldly, "think back, Koll; whose idea was it...originally?"

Koll tried to remember the origin of his plans, but it was impossible to find an specific point. It had wandered in his mind for a long time before he'd ever voiced the thoughts out loud. "It was...ours. The both of us."

"Impossible," Skind stabbed that version to death with a single word, "to believe that an idea can come to two minds at the same idea. Don't be a fool, Koll. Who brought it up? Who was the first to talk about destroying Coruscant, about returning, about the revolution?"

Koll opened his mouth, prepared to defend himself. But the words he wanted to say he just couldn't. The safety net that Sasa's love had created around him was gone and for the moment the world seemed a very cold and lonely place. "She..."

Skind nodded to him, a look of regret in his eyes. "I'll leave you to your thoughts." Skind faded from existance and the chair next to Koll sat empty.

Koll leaned back in his own chair, listening to the click and hum of the machinery around him, concentrating on the ambient noise of the Star Orchid to keep himself from going down the line of thought that Skind had brought to him.

He stared at the chair Skind had sat in, and the feeling his old Master had provoked in him brought anger floating up to his surface. Koll locked his right hand and punched the headrest on the other chair, venting his frustration.

"Damn it!"

Lying flat on the dais of the cloning facility, Kast had stripped away the heaviest of his gear. There was no point in carrying it around anymore, there were no enemies left and he was buried alive beneath tons of snow and the carcass of a massive repair yard. He'd disattached the light fixture appendage from his rifle and placed it on the nearby floor, aiming its cone shaped illumination at the ceiling high above. It wasn't much, but it allowed him to see his surroundings.

His savior, a woman wearing outdated Mandalorian armor, walked along the furthest rim of the light's span, deep in thought, occasionally muttering to herself. She'd explained her situation to him, that she had once been part of the Sons of Destiny and that she'd defected following an injury she'd sustained during the initial fighting.

He wasn't sure if he was glad she was there, she'd saved his life but most of all he just wanted to be alone.

He turned his head while he laid there, looking at her over his shoulder. "The mission is a failure." Saying the words he'd been trained to never to have to say felt more wrong than he could imagine. "My team's dead. We're all that's left."

Junn's eyes were deep in thought, mixed with a mournful and sad look in his eyes. "There's still a responsibility."

Kast barred his teeth. "They are dead."

She remained composed. "And we're not."

Kast closed his eyes, feeling another avalanche of tears on their way. Memories of his missions with the group sprung to life before his eyes, moments of cheerful laughter, of the comradeship that went between them all in combat, of protecting each other and watching out for one another.

He sat up, eying her out the corner of his perception. All those sacred moments were gone now, and Kast was alone. He felt more angered than he'd ever felt and what made it so bad was the fact that there was no one to blame, no one to shoot back at. No one to kill to soothe his pain and conscience.

Or…maybe there was.

Out of nowhere anger wrapped around his insides, and he looked over at Junn, his rifle following his eyes and aiming the rifle at her. Kast didn't know why he'd done it, but somehow it felt appropriate.

Junn slowly raised her palms over her head. Kast got up and slowly stepped forward, keeping the rifle aimed at the woman. Kast had his doubts about his own abilities of being able to dent her amor, but it felt good to aim the rifle at someone again.

His guilt slowly dissipated.

"The person that did in my team," Kast pressed the rifle's end against his shoulder and felt silent pleasure in seeing her face down the barrel, "he was one of yours. That Raine guy. The Jedi Master. He killed them. He killed my team because he wanted Kal. You're about to tell me why."

Junn kept her hands in the air. "If you'd lower your weapon, I'd gladly - "

"I wanna know, right now!" Kast felt his finger touch the trigger, pressing it back ever so slowly. "Tell me!"

Junn's face went grim with grief. The woman looked through Kast, her mind elsewhere. Kast wanted to believe the woman was thinking the events through trying to find an answer to them, and he liked that. He wanted an answer.

In the end Junn looked at him again, a hurtful look in her eyes. "I can't honestly say. But I know Raine well enough to know he didn't kill them in cold blood." Junn's face changed back into its invincible shape, that confident stare. "But no matter what happened, I wasn't the one who killed them."

Kast held his aim, wanting more than anything to avenge his friends. But something told him that killing Junn wouldn't bring them back, and it wouldn't keep him alive either. Deciding to trust Junn was hard but he knew that the woman had saved his life. And if there still was a way off of Regana, he felt Junn was his best bet.

He lowered the rifle. "I'm sorry," he lowered his head as well, "you gotta understand. My unit were my only friends, my family. I just everything I ever had to a man who should have been fighting on my side."

She lowered her hands. "I understand better than you think. To you we might have just been another enemy, but the Sons of Destiny encouraged the feeling of family that you had with your teammates. I've lost many brothers, and its never been easy. Were they your first unit?"

Kast dropped down on the dais's steps. "There's been a few switches. But we've remained intact over the last few years. It's funny, we talked about defecting from the Republic but Kal convinced us to keep fighting. I want to blame him for getting my teammates killed, but he meant well. I just can't see what difference we did."

"The war isn't over yet," she said firmly, checking her gauntlet, apparently reading some incoming message, "oh, this may sound a little strange to you."

Kast ran his hand over his short hair. "Yeah, what's that?"

"That Raine guy..." she said, a strange tone in her voice.

Kast looked over at her. "Yeah."

"He's on his way."

His world lit up with the prospect of revenge. "Really?" He brought his rifle back to the front. "Well, he's welcome."

Junn walked over with decisive steps and hunched down in front of him. "Listen to me; he is not an enemy. Not our enemy. He can help us. We need him."

Kast brushed her aside as he stood. "Save it."

"No, Kast," she implored. "You have to listen to him. He can explain what happened. Give him a chance. I know this man, we can trust him."

Kast checked the clip in his rifle and bent his neck, releasing a loud crack. "Nothing he's going to say will change what he did."

The caved-in doorway into the cloning facility started to buckle, trembling as something powerful on the opposite side was pushing it inward, slowly dissambling the blockade. Kast brought his rifle up to his shoulder, aiming at the center of the rubble, waiting for a face to show in between the boulders as they fell away.

Tension rode up his shoulders and arms, a feeling of fear. He'd tried fighting this guy before and lost terribly. But he knew now that it didn't matter if he lost. All he had to do was try. He owed it to his brothers, to his family.

He slowed his breathing, keeping the rifle steady. "Come on out," he whispered to himself.

"You leave me no choice," she said behind him.

Kast swirled the rifle around at her, but she caught it at the wrist before it could aim at her. Her armored hand wrapped around the barrel and pulled it out of his grip, swinging around to slam it across his face.

His face exploded in pain and his vision clouded into darkness even before he'd touched down on the floor. He managed to feel a small hope that this was infact the end of his road, and willingly submitted his consciousness to a dreamless sleep.

Raine noticed Kast lying on the floor, prompting a slight smile. The old Jedi Master dusted off his cloak, careful not to touch his wound. "I'm glad you kept him alive."

Junn sat down on the stairs of the dais, looking very comfortable in her heavy Mandalorian armor. "There's no point in killing him. Like the rest of us he's caught up in the design of others. And...he's a good soldier."

"The Eulogy I knew wouldn't have been so open-minded."

Junn's eyes hardened. "Eulogy made her own." She looked at Kast's unconscious body. "He knows how to fight...and he's beginning to learn why to fight. Apart from his training and his missions he knows nothing of the outside world. It's become routine, soulless."

Raine paid special attention to the thoughts going on behind her words. "Like so many of our own were before."

She nodded, her eyes still on Kast. "I began to wonder during my exile. Our own soldiers...they fought for our ideals. But how many of them actually believed in it? How many of our own were soullessly following the ideas of others? Did I?" She looked at him. "Are you?"

He hugged himself. "Same thoughts have haunted me. There is no shield that propels doubting oneself."

She looked down at her boots. "I also was brought into the army...and was told the fables. The philosophy behind our strength. Our good will. Our benign intentions. But none of it kept us from getting infiltrated by corrupt selfish forces. We believed our objectives were condoned by the Force, that we were doing what destiny could not. But if that was true, how could we be infected? How could we be defeated?"

Raine could hear the despair in her voice, and tried his best not to let it affect him. "We were betrayed...by someone inside," he blinked, "or more."

She looked up. "More?"

"I am not entirely convinced that Eknath is the only rotten seed. It makes no sense that he had the clone brought to Coruscant if only to kill him, since his plan was to kill the clone so Koll could continue our plans."

"Then...who?"

Raine shook his head. "I don't know. The Kjoil apprentice told me he'd talked to Dokyan on Coruscant, the Bothan we used to hire Jovis and his men. Dokyan told him strange things, he said the Sons of Destiny had been using him for years to manipulate certain officials within the Republic. A lie design to manipulate Rishi in itself, I suspect."

"To get him out here?"

The Jedi Master nodded. "But also to spawn a resentment towards the Republic, which I believe has made it easier for Eknath to recruit him. However I'm not convinced Rishi is completely lost yet."

She sat up straight. "What happened on the Masamune?"

"I think Eknath finally decided I was too close to him, too much of a threat. He called me out, but Rishi managed to save me."

"By hurting you?"

"If Rishi had wanted to kill me, he would have done so. Kal will be safe as long as Rishi is watching over him."

"But what does Eknath want Rishi for, really?"

"Eknath still has the destruction of Coruscant and the liberation of this Galaxy in mind, but I feel he is going to use Rishi and the Kjoil refugees as a vector. Eknath has taken the Sons of Destiny into his own hands, forming his own plan."

She looked lost. "I think Eknath doesn't know the difference between liberation and domination."

"We never wanted to enforce a truth, we only wanted to project safety onto those unable to find their own truths. We weren't made to bring truth to others, only to let them have the time and ability to find it on their own. A safe world, a peaceful existance." He said those hopeful words with great sadness. "Eknath was valuable as a player, but he is not a graceful winner."

Junn nodded in agreement. "And Rishi isn't exactly a benifitial vector, neither."

"Not with Eknath as a teacher."

"Not at all," she added, a grim tone to her voice. "Rishi is a threat by himself."

Raine didn't understand. "Rishi? No, no, he's just unschooled. I doubt Eknath will be able to convert him."

She stood up slowly, a determined yet wary look in her eye. "So what happens now?"

Raine shook his head, a lament on his face. "I'm a fool, my girl. I predicted this moment, I saw it coming but I didn't prepare. I haven't had much time to proper contemplate our escape. There are no ships, and the station above is completely devastated. No communication."

"So we're stuck here?"

Raine chuckled genuinely. "A reborn warrior princess, a Jedi Master and a Republic commando; we should be able to find a way."

She didn't seem convinced. "Maybe if we traded in the Republic commando for a ship maker," her eyes lit up as a thought occured to her, "wait."

Junn ran to the commando's side, rolled him over on his back and snatched the helmet off his head. The internal HUD was still working, though it looked very inactive. Junn was used to wearing Sons of Destiny armor so she easily worked her way through its functions.

Raine looked at her puzzled. "What are you looking for? His helmet's broadcast range can't reach Coruscant."

"No," she muttered while operating the helmet with her hand inside of it, "not without a midway link."

"The orbital repair yards? I doubt the helmet could reach even them."

"No," she said again, this time with a smile. "Not without a midway link."

He raised his eyebrows. "Such as?"

The helmet came alive with sound. Frantic droid-like chirping and beeping. Junn smiled brilliantly and pulled on the helmet. For many moments she moved her head around as if she was talking to someone, though so sound reached outside of the helmet. Raine regarded her with interest though perplexed by what she believed to have found.

After a lenghty conversation she finally took off the helmet. "Its the RATM. The commandos used it as a scout vehicile, its a droid with - "

"I know what an RATM is," he said kindly, "can it make contact?"

"It had already sent a distress signal to Coruscant, but its not sure if it is going to reach them. Apparently it believes its best bet is the abandoned recon team's..." she could read by his eyes he didn't know what she was talking about. "Alright, the Republic sent in a reconaisance group before the commandos. We took them out, but left their equipment behind. They had long range broadcast capabilities."

He lightened, but didn't seem overrun with relief. "Good. Let's hope that works out," his eyes wandered, "still, it will take some time for the Republic to reach us. And there's no telling how they are going to react to what we have to say."

She dampened. "You're right...we should consider our next move."

Raine closed his cloak around him and leaned back, almost lying down across the stairs. "All we really need is to warn the Republic of what is going to happen - "

"What?" she said. "Warn them about our plans? Warn them about Coruscant's destruction?"

Raine took in a hard breath. "I think so. I'm sure at some point you must have wavered as well regarding the multitude or the nessicity of our plans. You're not that cold-blooded, Junn."

Her lips opened and closed. "But...we can't. The mission has to go on. We can't stop now."

Raine made a temple out his hands. "Stopping Eknath is all that matters. And to stop him we have to get out of here. To get out of here we need the Republic."

Her eyes scanned the floor, looking for an answer somewhere beyond it. "Maybe not."

"No one else is going to come to our aid, Junn. No one would react to such a transmission. There are no settlements nearby, and all ships have been warned to stay out of the region."

She looked at him, slightly furious. "Are you giving up? Just going to lay there and die?"

"Oh, no," he chuckled warmly, "no, the Force still seems to be with me. Only...it seems to have lost much of its old interest in this old fool."

She couldn't help laughing at his dry wit. "Fair enough."

Raine kept his smile. "Go back to your previous line of thought. You had someone particular in mind."

She stood up. "I do," she turned apprenhensive, "only it's going to take more than just the RATM."

"Oh?"

She nodded to him and started walking around the chamber. "I know something. I learned it when the clone brought me back to life, when he made me receptive to the Force. And in that; I have found not only myself but also an objective only I can accomplish. But I will need your help, Master Raine."

"What is this objective?"

"I have been helping Rishi during my exile, I've talked directly to him using the Force. I've tried to help him understand his place in all of this, but he proved too stubborn for me to have an effect." She turned away and faced the cloning tank, a full-grown specimen hibernating inside. "I promised Rishi I would bring him someone that he would listen to. Someone that can steer his path away from the darkness he is headed for," she walked up onto the dais, her fingers operating the controls, "and I can't do it alone."

The chamber Eknath had chosen as their training grounds was a simple one, the Masamune offered little in the ways of luxury. The very same chamber that him and Kal had sparred in, the one with a depression that was oddly enough perfectly suited as a duel circle. Rishi wore only a pair of loosely fitting pants, bare chest and feet, as he made a small display of lightsaber fighting against a primitive training droid. Eknath had supplied it with two red lightsabers and despite its bulky form it provided an uneven, but interesting challenge.

Rishi fought with just the single blade, his old Master's with the green crystal. As he fought Eknath walked in a circle around the depression, reciting old lectures and sharing his archaic knowledge of the Force.

Rishi knew his ploy was dangerous. He wasn't going to give himself fully to Eknath, but he was going to allow the man to teach him, to bring him closer to his potential power. He knew no other place to find the keys to this knowledge and he felt confident he could resist any mind-trick that Eknath might employ.

He'd seen what had happened to the boy, Tragedy, back on Regana and he wasn't about to follow suit.

He could already feel Eknath in his mind, a haunting presence in the back of his soul, one that never looked away, one that always listened. Rishi couldn't see him but he knew he was there. The ever present shadow, a soothing moral compass.

He struggled hard not to look out to his left and see the shadow there. He knew this was an important portion of his mission, he knew what he had to do, he knew the part he was assigned, but his youth and impatience was making it very difficult. He was shaking with fear, but he refused to let it show. It propably did show but his determination told him not to think about it.

"Calm, my apprentice," Eknath said soothingly, "use it. Find the strength that lies in your fear and use it upon your enemy."

His heart pounded against his chest rapidly. "My fear is not this droid," the droid lunged at him at that moment, twin blades chrashing against his defenses, "well, not all the way."

Eknath opened his hands. "Then tell me; what is it you fear?"

Rishi felt like he was being choked. He could feel beads of sweat beginning to form on his forehead, soaking his brows. He summoned all the courage he could, and all the answers. "I don't know."

Eknath's eyes tightened, a skeptical look on his face. "Then how do you expect to grow?"

He shook his head. "I don't know."

Eknath moved in the corner of his eyes. "Yes, you do. Such a thing is never hidden, but only ignored. Use your fear to confront the fear itself. Listen to what it's telling you."

Rishi did so, an answer easily found he realized, once he looked at it so simply. "I'm afraid of failing. Afraid of being a failure."

Eknath nodded. "A common emotion. But first we must define failure. What is failure to you?"

Rishi found he'd never really explored that question. "I...don't know."

Eknath's frustration fell on him, irritation painfully clear. He stopped walking. "Don't waste my time with your ignorance, Rishi. Learn to listen to your own mind. You are better than this. One who never understands himself, can never know the true ways of the Force. It's shape and purpose goes hand in hand with yours."

Rishi batted at the droid with his blade, trying to vent his frustration. "I'm afraid I'll never be all I can be! That I'll never make a difference! That I'll always doubt myself!" his last swing took of the droid's right arm at the shoulder, "and Master Skar!"

Eknath stirred, but said nothing more.

Rishi stood panting, waiting for the droid to regain its courage. "He never believed in me. He never would have let me go if he did." The droid jumped at him with it's single arm and single blade, roaring electronicly. "I want to prove him wrong! I won't make him right!"

Eknath nodded to himself and resumed his cycle. "And you will, my apprentice. I met him, you remember. He was formiddable, but as proven not invincible. Too much power destroyed him. Which is why I'm taking more cautious steps with you." Eknath's eyes returned to Rishi. "You, my flame."

Rishi swallowed the mucus in his mouth. "What must I do?"

"You must remove this image of yourself. You must come to a clean start. Break that inside of you that has now become the walls of your outside world. Learn to think on a wider scale. Realize that you are the only one that limit yourself. You've been using the Dark Side ever since you learned to wield the Force; but now you must embrace it."

Rishi's hands refused to stay still. "How?"

"Now that we have found your fear, you must turn it into anger and hate. You must find yourself an ideal, a goal to which your powers must lead you." Eknath's hands clenched into fists and his chin tightened. "You must find what you want to do with your life."

Rishi felt like he could vomit with exhaustion, his every nerve was shaking, what little clothes he was wearing was soaked with sweat and clung to his skin, making him shiver with cold. And the droid was still pounding on him.

"I don't - " he stopped himself before he could say it. "I haven't found anything yet."

"It is easiest found if you're looking for it," the shadow man said softly. "All that time you spent in the underground of Coruscant, did you ever receive praise from anyone?"

Rishi's old frustration resurfaced. "Nothing," he smashed the droid's blade aside, "Master Skywalker thanked me occasionally, but I doubt he really understood what went into it, or what I was trying to do."

Eknath seemed to understand. "You were one man fighting a rising tide. To their eyes you were just a vigilante."

Rishi ducked beneath a red blade. "I was trying."

"With the Sons of Destiny, and a Kjoil army, you can succeed. After you defeat the alien invasion, your reputation and legend will wipe Skywalker's academy from recognition, and you will emerge as the true master of the Force. The true origin of a New Order...if you want such a thing to exist."

The thoughts filled Rishi's head with tangible ideas, possible futures. Things he would be able to do. But he also knew these promises were just the bait that Eknath favored utilizing. However, that didn't mean he couldn't achieve that power, he only had to be cautious of the line between being the user and the used. Rishi returned to his present surroundings, looking at the droid advancing on him.

Fed up with draining himself against the dumb mechanical creature, he sidestepped as the droid reached him and swiped his blade across the back its legs, dropping it in a single stroke. The droid tried to stand again but failed. Its limbs died and light drained from its eyes. Rishi silenced his lightsaber.

"Coruscant isn't done for," he said defiantely, "I don't think so. And I won't help you destroy it."

Eknath stepped down the stairs and stood behind Rishi, placing his palms reassuringly on his shoulders. "That was the Sons of Destiny's plan, and although you remain one, as I do, you and I now shape the things to come."

Rishi arched an eyebrow. "You don't intend to destroy it?"

Eknath shook his head. "No, my boy. I'll leave that entirely to General Riokon."

"But why?"

Eknath sighed. "You have to understand the boundries of our responsibility. What Koll intends to do is needed. He will take this Galaxy one planet at a time, and he is going to continue until everything falls within his reach, until there is no corner of the universe left that doesn't know his name. This; Regana, Coruscant, it's nothing but a drop in the ocean of what he wants to acheive. They have the power, they are motivated and they are patient. You've seen what they've done already."

Rishi refused to believe it could be so final. "Something will stop them...sooner or later, something will stop them."

Eknath shrugged. "Maybe, many years from now, perhaps. But it won't stop them from destroying Coruscant. You should see their fleet. Its greater than anything amassed at Coruscant...and Coruscant will fall."

Rishi remained strong. "Maybe...but not to you."

A glimmer of despair passed Eknath's eyes. "Rishi, I have no interest in the destruction of Coruscant. But the event will spawn a desire for survival in everyone living in this Galaxy. They will be cast into a brief period of civil war, which will harden them for the coming times. Our more urgent matter is the alien invasion. We must prepare your Kjoil warriors for that battle, since they will save the day."

Rishi turned, breaking Eknath's grip on his shoulders. "I'm scared...what if we're wrong?"

Eknath's eyes were like daggers. "Wrong?"

"We weren't given this role, we took it upon ourselves. We decided that we would decide for everyone."

Eknath laughed sharply. "And such a decision takes courage, Rishi. Courage you will find in time. The courage that is needed to keep our Galaxy safe from the coming invasion."

Rishi sighed. Time was slipping out of his hands, and he felt nowhere ready to tackle the responsibility. But he had to.

No one else could.

"Yes," Eknath said, addressing his thoughts, "you and I, Rishi. We are the only ones that can save this Galaxy."

Rishi could himself starting to shudder. "I - "

"No, Rishi. You are not alone in this," Eknath's voice was strangely warm and kind, "you will never be alone again. Together I will help you govern your anger and your hate, the sword and shield that will keep this Galaxy safe from harm."

Using the Force Eknath reached out to the droid carcass next to them, the droid's lightsaber hovered up into the air, disassembling itself by magic. The handle and electronic parts dropped back down onto the floor, but the crystals remained.

Rishi plucked the red crystal from the air and enclosed it in his fist.

"One man...can change the world," Eknath said, "your Master lacked the courage to even try. He became lost inside of himself, which is why he was never meant to be the symbol that you will be. This world will know peace again, but only if you commit yourself to the Dark Side."

Elemos was an aquatic world, a world where the surface was dominated by tranquil seas, with only a few scattered continents. The people of Elemos were by a very large margin similiar to the Mon Calamari, a peaceful race with high regard for nature and their eyes aimed at the stars.

They'd constructed massive floating cities over the course of their evolution and their planet was reknown in the Unknown Regions as a neutral zone, a world that had never seen the face of war. A world respected for its beauty and hospitable natives.

In return for valuable minerals Elemos received massive funding and technological aid that had helped create the gargantuan cities that drifted across the sea like independent packs of nomads. The cities were not at war or rivalry with each other, every chance meeting between two communities was greeted with open arms on both sides, often resulting in many days spent together, celebrating and sharing stories of their adventures upon the seas.

The people of Elemos were very hospitable and eager to comune and learn from outside parties, offworlders that occasionally made their way through Elemos' wandering spaceports. They were by far the warmest species that Koll had ever met, and burning the candle talking to an Elemosian was an oppertunity he'd told many over the years that shouldn't be underestimated.

Although they'd built spaceports at the heart of their massive cities they rarely journeyed offworld themselves. Few had since they'd mastered spacetravel, and even these few had always returned. Koll admired them for their love for their home, their thick ties to their own planet, possesing a calm that he had long wished to have for himself.

Sasa and him had spent their honeymoon on Elemos many years ago, seeking to install themselves upon the few continents on Elemos, eager for time alone. But they'd soon learned the true charm of Elemos was onboard the floating cities, sharing in the warmth and joyous companionship of the Elemosians.

"This is probably where he's hidden all this time," Sasa said over the comlink. "This far from the Jedi he wouldn't register in the Force."

Koll looked up, seeing the Star Orchid hovering over him as he hugged himself to the communications mast at the top of the city's greatest spire. Each city had a handful of mile high spires that mainly supported communications between the cities. Since they had no satellites to boast their signal they had to rely on primitive signal relays.

This city had five spires; the smallest only two or three miles high, while the largest was five miles. It was designed to withstand powerful winds and looking down Koll could see the city at the bottom of the spire no longer than a dinner plate. In actuality the cities were almost the size of a Super Star Destroyer.

"Even we have never sensed him," Koll answered. "Sasa, land the ship at the spaceport. I want you and Isak to check out the city itself. Ask around, see what you can find out. I'll pay a visit to the administrator."

She chuckled. "Good old Witarm. Tell him I'm sorry I couldn't see himself myself."

"I will."

Isak cut in. "Hey, leave some for me, will you? I know you didn't bring me along for my powers of conversation."

Koll frowned against the cold beating him. "Do as Sasa instructs. Stray from your objective and you'll quickly find yourself at the bottom of the sea, got it?"

"Yeah, I hear ya," Isak replied dryly.

"I'll talk to you later," Koll signed off and the Star Orchid sailed away from the spire, turned its nose downwards and soon faded away among the clouds breaking upon the spire. Koll watched with a feeling of unrest. He didn't believe Sasa to be in any danger, or at least didn't sense any danger around her. But with a Sith Lord somewhere in the city, such things were never certain.

As Koll started climbing down the side of the spire, using the Force to block out the fact that a single misstep would kill him, his feet and arms worked at a speed some would deem insanely reckless for someone in his position. The Force allowed him to tune out of his own body and remove himself from the danger of it.

Instead he settled his focus on another matter. Isak's immaturity bothered him. He was an amazing gunfighter, a skill that had kept him alive and wealthy all his short life. He was a lot younger than Koll, but somehow he'd come to the same cynical wisdom regarding the world he lived in. Despite all his success and reputation he still had flashes of insecurity that primarily showed in his vanity.

He was always competing with himself, since he'd by far outmatched any living gunman. Koll had tried to explain to him that as long as he battled himself he would never win. And every time Isak would nod and say that he understood but the battle would still rage.

The boy also had an obsession with his own looks, another defect of his vanity, spending all his money on stylish clothing, believing that it wasn't enough to be the best if he didn't look his best. When he wasn't polishing his guns he was polishing his leather boots or combing his slick black hair. Koll picked on him about it, and although he caught glances of embarrasment from the young man the grooming never stopped.

Koll had given up trying to help Isak overcome his insecurity, and instead focused on just being the best companion he could. Isak and him weren't going to become friends, Koll wouldn't allow that to happen for reasons he kept to himself. It was strictly business. Elemos might turn out to be quite dangerous and he felt safer having one of the best mercenaries on his side.

Isak seemed enchanted with the idea, going to spend time where he'd get, if things turned out as expected, plenty of chances to show his skills with a blaster. But Koll wasn't completely infatuated with the idea of someone so young being so succesful in such a dangerous field. Maturity usually bred the wisest of all beings, and it was the one thing that Isak didn't have in abundance.

Koll wasn't sure if the matter bothered him because his wife was alone with the boy, or because he in part blamed himself for Isak. The boy had been influenced by the Sons of Destiny's visit to his homeworld; how many other Isaks roamed the spaceways? Just like the waves bouncing off the giant city far below him, how much suffering had he produced by just making his own way through life?

And then of course there was the matter of Skind's last words, putting blame upon Sasa's shoulders, claiming her to be a traitor. The traitor inside of their group that had called the clone to Regana, resulting in the deaths of so many of their men. Was it possible? No. Was it plausible? That, he was afraid, was true.

It could have happened. If Sasa had hidden it well enough from him, she could have called the clone to Regana for a last meeting with her dead brother. Who could blame anyone the chance of seeing once again the eyes of a lost loved one? It frightened Koll, and even startled him that he had been unable to think of it before. Her and him were the core, anyone else was a possibility.

She could not be a traitor.

Koll slammed his lightsaber into the side of the spire with all the frustration bubbling inside of him, carving a circle and kicking it in. Ducking inside he crawled through a set of chutes that put him directly above the antechamber to the administrator's office. The spire itself had only the administrator's office and a lift that reached it. Why anyone would choose to station their command post at that level eluded him, if not for the fact that it must've offered a magnificent view.

He dropped inside the antechamber and adjusted his coat before activating the door's controls. The administrator's office had always been an impressive piece of architecture. Apart from a single desk and a chair, no other furniture could be found. The walls sloped inwards like the inside of a pyramid and the far wall, behind the desk, was one large sheet of glass with an intersecting pattern that resembled a spiderweb.

The door sealed behind him.

"Koll...Riokon, is it?" asked a familiar voice from the chair. The sunlight outside shaded the man sitting there in complete darkness. "My stars, it has been too long."

Koll felt young again hearing that old voice and his body bowed by reflex.

"Please, no bowing between friends," Witarm said as he slowly got out of his chair. "You honor me more by greeting me as your equal."

Koll maintaine his bow. "You are my instructor first."

"Those days are long gone, Craven," Witarm said as he walked from his desk to reach Koll. "Older than you and almost as old as me."

Koll straigthened out. "We're still here."

"But we too will someday fade into nothing but memory. And something tells me, I will be the first to turn vapor." Witarm was not an Elemosian. He'd first come to Elemos as a young man and had decided to stay like so many others. Over the years he'd won the respect of the natives and had become the first non-native to administrate one of their magnificent cities. He wore ceremonial Elemosian garmants especially sown for his physique, but time and the sea had wrinkled his face more than Koll remembered. "I would much rather have you think of me as an old friend."

Koll smiled genuinely. "You know I do, I just - "

"You just want to honor the old days."

That feeling of being young remained. "Yes." Many years ago Koll had met Witarm on his honeymoon and the old man's wisdom had been influential. Koll could not remember his own parents from before he'd been taken to the Jedi Temple, but he liked to think of Witarm as a father.

Witarm waved Koll's humility away. "It's memory. Our honor. It cannot be touched, despite this Galaxy's best efforts. There is no need to beat it senseless."

Koll blushed for the first time in a decade. "Sorry if I...if I seem like a fool."

"No, your dedication moves me," he said with a dry cackle. "But in my age, emotions are easily exaggerated and if I start to cry this old body will dry up faster than I want it to."

His humor rid Koll of his embarrasment. "I'm glad you still keep your wit."

Witarm's eyes narrowed. "You didn't come here for old times sake. You never do."

The city didn't cater to the dry throats the way most establishments did in the Galaxy. There were no watering holes and no bars. There were areas created for social gathering, but they tended to lean towards the more academic nature of the Elemosians, offering a forum to vent ideas and intellectual notions.

Of course, Isak was far from his natural element in such a place, strutting his way through the quiet tables, blaster dangling from his hip, eager for anyone to gaze upon him with envy or reverence. Sasa stayed in the rear, believing the true answers that they were here to find would be uncovered by Koll. News traveled easily inside the city and the administrator was certainly the best place to start an investigation.

The Elemosians reminded her of Master Yoda, small peaceful creatures that carried great wisdom beneath their shells. Kind, warm beings that felt like planets onto themselves, a lifetime of knowledge in their round bulbous eyes. They seemed to always walk in pairs, never hasty, never running to catch up with an agenda. She envied them, their peace, they were an ode to themselves.

She watched Isak lean in over a table with two chattering Elemosians, putting on his daredevil face.

"The name's Isak, Isak Shao. And I'm looking for a Sith Lord."

Sasa rolled her eyes. Maybe stupidity might just beat Koll to their answers.

Koll stood at the window, arms crossed over his chest. Outside the clouds were slowly brushing against the glass, folding around it only to invite another cloud. Witarm stood to his left, also admiring the view although Koll was sure its splendor was lost on him after seeing it everyday. He'd told Witarm everything that had happened since their last meeting, leaving nothing out about the army, about Coruscant and the clone.

But the mentioning of a Sith Lord had silenced the old man most effectively.

Witarm breathed out after several minutes of silence, a lost expression on his face. "I had thought my years of introspection," he looked around himself with a look of distaste, "in this tower would have taught me to train my moods."

Koll glanced sidelong at the man. "What do you mean?"

"That I had hoped I would have been able to at least pretend to be surprised."

He turned slightly towards the man. "You knew?"

Witarm nodded. "What surprises me is that you knew. I had never imagined that your paths would cross." He snorted. "Then again, you have been busy since our last encounter." The old man turned away from the window and walked to his chair, grasping the back of the headrest for support. "I always imagined the wisdom I imparted to you would be used for good, Koll, not vengeance."

Koll felt sad that his mentor thought that way of what he was trying to achieve, but he also knew that Witarm came from a world without war, a war that favored having as little to do with the grand Galaxy as possible. In that respect, he certainly couldn't fault him. "You know me well enough to know I wouldn't do it, if I didn't feel it to be for the best."

"Best!" Witarm bellowed. "Who are you to judge one life from another? Who are you to choose the course of a Galaxy?"

"It's not about killing," Koll said calmly, managing to keep anger from his voice, "it's about standing up for what you believe in. I set the stand here, or this Galaxy isn't going to make it. The Jedi aren't ready."

Witarm seated himself in the chair and ran his palm over his face. "I chose a life a peaceful pondering, a life of honor and conscience. I hold no great sway over the lives of those living in this city. They've named me administrator, but it is only a title. One I've long since come to think of pointless." He looked over at the window beyond Koll. "I am just the watchman. I only have to act when there is trouble afoot."

Koll nodded. "So do I."

Witarm grimaced. "I remember you telling me about the Emperor. The one who tyrannized and destroyed countless worlds for his own gain. I remember the tone of voice you used when speaking of him, the disgust. Years from now, many will speak of you with that same tone."

He did his best not to think of those who would always regard him as a monster. They would be the few among the billions of lives, among the hundreds of worlds, he'd told himself. But it was strangely enough the same fate that Skind Kjoil's reputation had suffered. Many still spoke of him as a hero, a great warrior. Something made it easy for those to disregard the fact that he had been a Sith Lord, that he'd slaughtered Jedi.

Koll shook his head, fixating on his own reflection in the glass. "I've wasted enough time second-guessing my own eulogy, Witarm."

Witarm made a temple with his fingers, a disconcerted look on his face. "What are you really after? And be honest with me, I have known you for some time. I know how your voice alters when you lie."

Koll wasn't sure what he was implying, but recently Skind had forced him to reevaluate his motives and reasons and he believed to have found an honest answer. A just answer at the very least.

"In the old days, before the Republic was corrupted and destroyed, we Jedi were revered. We were glorified. People looked to us as saviors, and although we were trained never to think of ourselves as heroes, we still were. We were proud, we were the guardians of an entire Galaxy. The world needed us."

Witarm nodded solemnly. "And those days are gone now."

Koll couldn't deny it. "We are still needed, but too much stands in our way. The Republic is still corrupt, a mere shadow of its former incarnation."

Witarm's right eyebrow lifted. "Oh. And so you're out here on Elemos to make a hero of yourself again, is that it?"

He felt the words hit a mark he'd often avoided. A dreadful fear in him that dreamed and desired conquest. The warrior in him, the proud man that had been kept in the dark for too long. A man who had only so much time before Death would claim him before he could have his due. "Maybe...maybe it is a part of it. I believe this world needs heroes. It needs people willing to do whatever it takes. It needs figures, not senates. New symbols. Unbreakable ideals."

"But someone is out to steal your glory," Witarm responded with a hint of sly in his voice, "you mentioned a traitor inside your army."

Koll hugged himself, starting to feel interrogated, forced to say and reveal things he wasn't comfortable with. For all his warrior's strength, the idea of a traitor so close to him was hurting him. It was an unfaceable enemy. "I...still don't know who it is."

"I think you do" Witarm said, "and I think you came here looking for proof."

Koll suddenly wished he'd never come to Elemos. Witarm was too good at striking where it hurt. He was too good at finding the truth. "Maybe. I find it too strange to be a coincidence. We had our honeymoon here - "

"Ah," Witarm faked surprise, "so it is Sasa you suspect."

Koll exhaled all his lungs contained. "I have to suspect everyone. Things have gone too far for me to overlook any possibility. I'm almost there..." his right hand made a fist, "at the edge of success."

"And now this Sith Lord."

Koll felt so weak, so powerless, so useless. A part of him had hoped Witarm would have applauded his mission, his crusade. If he had then Koll would have known without doubt that it was the right thing to do. All of his plans and all of his strength shattered at that moment. "I was hoping by finding the Sith Lord I could find out who the real traitor is."

Witarm rose from his chair and slowly walked to stand behind Koll. "Consider that maybe the real traitor to your cause is yourself. You didn't come here for evidence. You came here to fight a Sith Lord. You were cheated out of killing your own Master, so now you've come here. You've designed this grand scheme, but Regana left marks on your confidence, didn't it? You're out here to prove yourself again."

Koll sighed. The man misunderstood his intentions completely. He had hoped Witarm would be on his side, that he might join him for the remainder of their mission. He knew now that wasn't going to be. No one could understand it the way he did.

"You came to fight, to do battle, to win. Because its all you really know."

Koll shook his head. "You're wrong."

Witarm held out his arms. "By fighting the entire Galaxy you think you will never find a greater enemy. Listen to yourself; you have no ideal or goal by fighting the Republic. You want to set people free, or so you claim, but there is danger in freedom. Too much freedom will destroy any one. People need walls to understand freedom."

Koll understood that. "I am going to show them the walls - "

"How do you know that going to such lengths," Witarm interrupted, "won't destroy yourself?"

Koll wouldn't turn around to face him, but he could see the old man's reflection in the window, right over his shoulder. "I've lost the need to worry about that."

"Actually, you haven't."

His frustration suddenly took on the face of anger instead. "I thought you would at least understand - "

"Furthermore I can say with confidence," Witarm interrupted again, raising his voice, "that this entire operation is all about you, about your legacy and your image of yourself, and not about the Galaxy's freedom or well being. You live in a dream world, Koll."

"Enough!" Koll spat at the window before him, locking his eyes on Witarm's reflection, "where is the Sith!"

"I am not done talking yet!" Witarm thundered. "And you will listen to me, be it for the first time ever, because you are headed down a dark path that I will not allow to happen!"

Koll felt his own jaw tighten in anger, and had it not been for the old friendship between them and the wisdom he knew Witarm possesed, he would have cut him down right then and there. "Go on, then."

Witarm settled himself, controlling his temper. "I came to this planet a long time ago, a whole lifetime ago, Koll. And I chose to stay here because I know this planet will never see the evils of war. Elemos will never have to raise a sword or construct a blaster, it will never have to worry about its survival. It will never have to consider the foolishness of other worlds to influence its stability. There is no Republic, no Empire, no Sons of Destiny, no east or west, no right or wrong. There is peace."

Koll nodded. "I swear to you my army will never touch - "

"You cannot promise what you cannot hold. You may be the originator of the Sons of Destiny but you will not be their leader for long. At least not in cosmic terms. The Sons of Destiny will live on long after you, for centuries, millenias. Who's to say what shape they will form? Or how their ideals might change?"

Koll opened his mouth to talk, but no words came out. Could that really happen? He'd never been ignorant to the fact that many new men would lead the army for the span they'd reign. He'd never considered the possibilites of how and where the army would be a hundred years from now. It was ignorance on his part, and naive of him to believe it wouldn't change just like the Republic had.

"You're only replacing one monster for another, Koll. And you've lived with war for so long you've lost the ability to remember how you felt when you were first subjected to it. Its crueltly, its brutality. You've become blind to it, because you have always been on the winning side, you've always been on the glorious side. And no matter how much you convince yourself that your ideals are good and true, you've forgotten that good and truth changes face as easily as the clouds breaking upon this spire."

Koll looked away from the reflection. "Finding truth for ourselves...isn't that something worth passing on?"

Witarm sighed with dissapointment. "Koll, you may have found your own truths through battle, but that doesn't mean others have to be put through it," the old man held out his hand towards the window, "Elemos; you consider this place enlightened, and we have never seen a shadow of warfare. Until now."

Koll turned halfway to look at him. "Until now?"

"You've come to face the Sith Lord, haven't you? That means there will be fighting, possibly death. From what you've told me when Jedi fight, colleratal damage usually follows." Witarm looked at the floor, sadness lowering his shoulders. "It had to come to an end sometime."

Koll faced him fully. "What do you suggest?"

Witarm made a dubious smile. "You've come for my counsel?"

"You know where he is. You know I'll do my best to protect this place."

Witarm nodded. "In that I still trust." The man walked back to his desk and touched a set of controls. A small flickering hologram appeared over the desk, in the form of a small Elemosian official.

"Administrator?"

"Bruel," Witarm said flatly, "contact Eclipos and tell him that I will be down to see him shortly."

"Yes, Administrator." The connection died.

Koll frowned. "You've been keeping in contact with him? You've met him?"

Witarm nodded slowly. "He came here long ago, a year or so after you first came here. I have known him for just as long. I do not consider him a friend, but I have never felt the reason to fear him."

Koll straighted out and walked down to stand next to Witarm. He placed his hand on Witarm's shoulder. "Soon, you'll never have to."

Witarm looked up into his eyes, but didn't seem comforted by those words. "You can still walk away, Koll. Remember what I have told you here, and do not take it lighthearted."

Koll appreciated the man's concern, but this was his testimony in life, his legacy to leave behind. He believed in it, and even if no one else did he still had to see it through to the end. He couldn't leave now.

"The Galaxy is full of people who stayed on the easy path," Koll could feel the Force brimming inside of him, "I will leave this world a better place than I found."

Witarm smiled sadly. "Your Sith Lord awaits you in the lowest levels of the city, but in fighting him you could make yourself a greater threat than he ever was. You have fallen once to the Dark Side, but there are far greater dangers in this world than those of the Force."

Closing her mind from the, however beautiful, serene architecture around her, Sasa enveloped herself in the Force, hearing her husband's voice in her head. He talked to her through the Force, but she almost lost herself to the warmth of his presence rather than listen to the words themselves.

"What are you doing?"

Sasa startled and was whisked out of her state. Isak stood before her. "Meditating."

"Oh," he looked skeptical, "is that anything like daydreaming? That's what it looked like."

She rolled her eyes for the hundredth time that day. "Is your sarcasm meant to cloak your ignorance?"

"Absolutely," he said with a devious smile, "but how about yours?"

Sasa couldn't help smiling back. "I don't expect you to understand why we're doing this. It must seem far from a world of killing for money."

Isak shrugged and moved his eyes out to the city around them, the high walls and the dome of glass over their heads. "We live in the same world, Jedi. Its you and me that are different."

Sasa was slightly surprised at that observation. It seemed every time she underestimated Isak he managed to surprise her yet. "When you leave this world, Isak, you'll leave a track record, however impressive, but one consisting only of deathtolls."

He raised an eyebrow. "Whereas you will leave one of lifes saved?"

She nodded. "Yes."

He chuckled, shaking his head amused. "But how many lives did you have to take, before you could save the others?"

His comment silenced her, as she knew it was meant to. He was right in some way, but as usual it was in his own way, his own truth.

She nodded her head towards a lift. "We're going underground. Koll's found the Sith."

The moment his military boots stepped off the lift and onto the moist grating Koll could feel his combat senses come alive. He could feel danger, and his excitement was enforcing it's pull on his nerves, setting a fire in every one of his atoms. A tide was pushing him forward, elevating his pace as he strode down the access tunnel.

Machinery was pounding fiercely just beyond the walls of the oval-shaped tunnel, clutching at his eardrums, but he had only one thing on his mind; seeking down that disturbing presence that he was finally able to feel. Seek it down and destroy it.

The scent of rust and sea was building the further he descended through the city, each single level empty except for perfectly tuned machinery and the occasional pool of condensensation.

He unfastened his two lightsabers, tossing them over in his palms before clutching them tight. The danger was increasing, he was getting closer.

For a moment he almost stopped, but convinced his feet to keep walking. Witarm's words were playing in the back of his head, putting a question mark next to everything he'd ever done, and everything he still sought to do. He wished he'd never come to Elemos though he understood the need for him to come here, and maybe the man were right about some things, if not all.

He truly felt he could change the world for the better, but Witarms had him questioning the methods, just as Witarms had always taught him to question everything. That was the very nature of his wisdom, to take nothing at face value and always regard any subject from all angles. To study and examine the facts and then debunk them. But unlike any other teacher Koll had studied under through the years, Witarm offered no solutions. He never revealed the answers, but only illuminated the questions.

It aggrevated Koll, though it never had before. He didn't have time to sit down and rethink everything now. Eknath would soon be at Anodyn with the Star Destroyers and they would launch their attack against Coruscant. It wouldn't be long before the Republic would send reinforcements to Regana, before someone unveiled their plot.

And yet there was a doubt, doubt as to whether he truly was doing the right thing. Or more correctly; if he was doing the right thing the right way.

He traveled on, coming up to a wide open space deep within the city, a large spherical chamber big enough to house a city in itself. From his ledge, he estimated the opposite wall was at least two miles away and the cavity must've been a mile high at the center as well. The echos of machinery reached menacing proportions within the space, sounding like an unsteady heartbeat, the heart of the city.

But his attention was soon drown to small building at the base of the sphere, an emergency generator center. Thick power cables the height of humans sprawled out from the building and dissapeared into ducts. Koll could barely make out any details about the building, other than it was a wide circular structure and three stories high, about the size of a medium freighter.

Koll's eyes narrowed. "You can come out now."

Isak Shao came up behind him, whistling when he saw the space beyond the ledge. "Wow, they sure know how to build 'em, don't they?"

Koll was surprised at Sasa's absence. "Where is she?"

"She decided to take another route, she told you not to worry."

Why she'd chosen to do so disturbed him. That wasn't part of their plan. "Did you find out anything?"

Isak frowned. "Besides that Elemosians are shortest of all stuck-ups, no."

Koll let out a small chuckle. "Someday, Isak, you will learn to admire them for what they can do, for what they are. With age comes wisdom."

Isak unholstered his blasters and checked their clips. "I wouldn't be in this business if I planned at a long life."

Koll felt uneasy. "You do know, that it is possible in this world to live a happy life? It is possible to regard life as something to be treasured."

Isak smirked. "Don't get all divine on me."

Koll managed to chuckle. "I used to be a cynic too, and still am at some times. I once heard that 'being happy' is a choice, and not something that has to be found. You can choose to change the way you view the world, Isak. You only have to be conscious about it."

Isak's smirk faded, but it looked dishonest. "Yeah...wow, you really opened my eyes. From today, I will be bright and full every day." He laughed. "I'll 'choose life'."

Koll liked his humor, but found it sad Isak was too brash to understand what he was trying to show him. "Alright, forget it. I pray you live long enough to understand what I'm trying to tell you."

Isak smacked his lips. "No one lives that long, Riokon." He nodded towards the building at the base of the sphere. "I hate to say it, but this place feels like a trap." He retrived a scope from his belt and looked through it, scanning the building, seeing three men patrolling the roof. "Any chance this Witarm guy was setting you up?"

"No," Koll said, confident of that. "No way."

Isak took his eye off the scope. "Why not? You've already found out that someone inside your unit is a traitor." He tilted his head. "And if you couldn't sense it from them, how would you sense it from Witarm?"

Koll immediately thought of the Old Republic, and how Supreme Chancellor Palpatine had been able to hide his Sith allegiance from even such powerful Jedi Masters as Yoda, Mace Windu and Obi-Wan Kenobi. All of whom fell prey to the Emperor's plot. And just as it had been back then, Koll did feel something was hidden beneath. "The Dark Side clouds everything...but I've learned to sense it now."

Isak crawled backwards away from the ledge, a discomforted frown on his face. "Really?"

Koll's full attention turned to the young man. "Yes."

The moment Isak had his hand on the grip of the gun, was the same moment Koll's hand wrapped around the lightsaberhilt. By the time Isak's gun was aimed at Koll's face, the lightsaber was already ignited and held at Isak's throat. Isak smiled and chuckled lightly, not a hint of surprise on his face.

Koll's face was only touched by dissapointment.

"Did you know all along?" Isak asked, his hand starting to tremble.

Koll's shoulders rose and fell slowly, letting out a deep breath. "Since the beginning. Along the lines I was hoping you'd change your mind. Tell me how it happened."

"The Sith used many bounty hunters and mercenaires, such as yourself from time to time. He is well-connected, even with the guild on the Jamaryndo. When a shuttle registered to Hope's Haven arrived, he knew you'd betrayed him. I was to wait for you to make a move and then follow you. As luck would have it, you actually hired me." Isak shrugged. "Bringing in a live or dead Jedi...that's a reputation not many can compete with. You understand why I had to do this."

"No, I don't," Koll spoke softly, "and I know there's a part of you that doesn't really want to do this. The part of you I've been telling to come to terms with. Your vanity. Your insecurity. here are more things in life than money or fame."

"Not for me," Isak said convincingly, "I wasn't born with special powers. All I'm good at is fighting. In the end...it doesn't really matter if I die here or fifty years from now. I'll never get a chance like this again. I'd be insane not to go for it."

Kol shook his head, trying not to stare down the barrel of the gun aimed at his face. "You're insane to try. Where is Sasa?"

Isak nodded upwards. "Onboard the Star Orchid. She's fine. Though I can't be sure how long the mercenaries watching her will keep her that way."

Koll sneered. "And what about the Sith Lord?"

"I don't know where he's gone to, but I suspect he's very displeased with you. We'll be taking the clone body to him," Isak smirked, "right after I kill you."

"No," Koll said, undeterred, "you won't."

Isak's hand tightened on the blaster. "You're going to die down here, Riokon. It's over." Isak snorted. "For what its worth, I appreciate you trying. But...this is me at my best. The greatest and the lowest of all that I am."

Koll bit back the anger he felt, the betrayal, as well as his regret that he hadn't been able to steer Isak onto a better path. "I know."

Isak pulled the trigger but Koll sensed it coming. He pulled aside, the blast wheezing past his shoulder. Isak tried to track him with the blaster but Koll had already won the battle. He swirled on his foot, putting out his leg, knocking Isak's feet away under him. Before the boy had even touched the floor, Koll's free hand grasped his throat, holding him tight above the floor.

Isak's eyes widened in sudden terror, focusing on the red blade in Koll's other hand, expecting it to connect with his face any second. Koll's anger flooded into the fingers around Isak's throat and he clutched tightly around the windpipe and pulled down hard, ripping out the boy's throat with one quick move.

Isak's feet touched the floor again, but he stumbled back a few steps, holding his hand to his throat, gasping for air and puking up blood. The blood streamed out of the boy's throat and mouth, splattering on the walls around him, before his knees finally buckled and he slammed face down onto the floor.

Koll tossed the bloody piece of flesh in his hand away, hissing through his teeth. The anger was coursing through him, and he felt no need to quell it. He allowed it to build within him, knowing it would corrupt him as it always did. He'd mastered the art of walking the Dark Side, he knew the anger would empower him as much as it would try to swallow him, but he could maintain a stability. His body trembled, his teeth clenched shut.

He'd been played, once again. Someone had outsmarted him, someone had forseen his actions. Someone was laughing at him at this very moment. The Sith Lord was gone, perhaps lost forever, or maybe he would rat out Koll's intentions to the Republic, which would destroy all they had worked for.

He'd been so close.

No, all is not lost. Not yet.

The entrance to the hangar of the Star Orchid was of course shut down, but Koll wasn't planning on going through that way. His twin red lightsabers carved a rectangle through the floor and he came jumping through, landing with his feet on each side of the hole. The ten mercenary thugs that were guarding the shuttle opened fire in an instant, but the lightsabers forged an umbrella of protection which sent the shots back at the shooters.

Half of them fell prey to their own blaster bolts and Koll called two of their rifles to him, switching weapons in the blink of an eye. With a rapid firing blaster rifle in each hand he gunned down the last thugs, and ran up the ramp of the shuttle.

Inside more guards awaited him but Koll charged through the shuttle like a reek on fire, roaring with rage as he went, rifles screaming at full auto. He had to find her quickly, and he could feel her at the bridge, still alive but in danger.

The rifles went dry halfway through the shuttle and Koll let them drop to the floor, never stopping his rampage. Each thug that crossed his path died instantly as the Dark Side of the Force broke their necks like a thin branch.

By the time he reached the bridge his body was trembling with anger, his hands and fingers twitching with rage. Two thugs stood over his wife's sleeping body and as they reached for their blasters, Koll's fingers spread wide and tendrils of electricity enfolded them. They danced involuntarity in place, bodies rattling until their skin caught fire. Charred and smoking they fell to the floor, filling the bridge with a horrid stink.

Koll wasted no time in helping his wife, pulling her head up onto his knee and helping her back to consciousness.

Her eyes opened and she blinked twice, a frightened confusion upon her pale face. "What happened?"

Koll calmed his breathing. "Isak betrayed us. He was helping the Sith."

"The Sith?"

Koll shook his head. "Gone."

Her hand sought his. "Then what?"

"Anodyn." His hand tightened around hers. "We're going home."