He didn't know what he was expecting, but he was sure this would never have crossed his mind. And that perplexed him since he'd always done a lot of thinking about death. He'd sent so many into its hands that he believed to have at least had a vague idea about it. But he found it easy to accept that this was how it was to die. He didn't remember the time in between actual moment of death and where he was now. He felt different, somehow lucid and free, but still caged, still afraid.

His mind wanted to wander all over the inifite space around him but he couldn't make it take a first step. He fell tumbling like a stone down the side of a mountain, violently skipping from invisible edges, arms flaring. He tried desperately to cling to something to stop his descent, but the moment his fingers found anything it would dissolve within his grip. All around him was only darkness, but a darkness so thick he could feel it reaching inside of his eye, slowly sucking away his consciousness.

He didn't know whether to fight it or just let it happen; no one ever expected to have to make decisions on the other side of life. It reminded him of a lot of other facets of the Force; meditating, the libberatium and other out of body experiences. The only difference was that this one was incontrollable, he couldn't snap out of it or look away. He couldn't look away and he couldn't even look at it.

Faces started appearing before his mind, unfamiliar faces. Faces that either smiled or cried or laughed or screamed at him. They passed with a wink before him, and it wasn't until the hundreth or so face that he began to recognize them. Faces he'd only seen briefly while living, but faces that had somehow managed to imprint on his memory no less.

His victims.

People he'd killed. He couldn't shut them out of his head and they all shot by at a steady fast speed, each one delivering a stab through his chest. None of them left him enough time to regret their fate, they only stung him with a piercing pain and were then whisked away into the darkness.

Skar screamed against the black, but no echo returned. Faces kept coming, and somewhere amidst all the pain he managed to piece together that he wasn't only seeing his victims, but he was seeing Skind Kjoil's victims as well. At the end the images were happening so fast the pain became a constant searing rip at his heart, as though a hand had reached inside of him and was trying to pry out his very soul.

Skar cried against the black, but no tears flowed. Shinran! his mind screamed. Please hear me! Shinran! Where are you!

The thought occured to him that maybe this was what death really was like. Falling forever towards nothing, seeing the wrongs he had comitted. Maybe such a thing as hell did exist, maybe the Force had picked him as a sinner and this was his damnation. He was afraid to believe it.

But where was Shinran and his son? Where were all those things that he had been promised? Where was the peace of death? He'd always believed death to be a release from pain, however painful it might be to reach it. People submitted to torture tended to drift towards the liberation of death to ease their suffering. This couldn't be it. This couldn't last forever, how could death be pain when there was no body to feel it?

Skar died a million deaths, free-falling towards infinty. His brain, his mind, if such a thing still existed along with his soul, was about to explode. He could feel himself starting to stretch, pulled and tugged from every angle, slowly being ripped apart as he fell towards nothing at all.

I'm sorry!

He screamed, hoping something or someone would hear him.

I'm sorry!

The darkness opened like curtains pulled and Skar fell like a missile through clouds, zipping by him like speeders at maximum velocity. Soon enough the ground showed beyond their white soft shapes and Skar impacted before his mind could even register seeing the earth, before fear could even set in. The earth flowed outwards from his impact, like waves on the sea. He fell through the ground, his body melting through the crust before reaching the center of whatever planet he was falling through.

He hit the burning sun inside of it and the world exploded.

Skar gasped as air filled him and he opened his eyes to find himself standing on a plain of grass that reached up to his thighs, softly moving by a gentle breeze. The wind caressed his face and the sensation provoked a careful smile. He felt alive again, and felt fine even. The pain was gone. Up ahead a yellow sun was casting brilliant rays across and around him. The plain he stood upon had no edge, no horizon, it was a solitary piece of ground floating amidst beautiful clouds.

He found himself feeling weightless, as though purged of a great burden that had been weighing him for all his life. All evil and darkness had left his body, and he stood as a cleansed being.

But he wasn't alone.

Skar turned slowly, knowing she was there before seeing her. And she was real this time, real flesh and blood, not transparent as a ghost. The world was radiant, more beautiful than ever. Her long blond hair trailed down her face, surrounding her delicate features. Skar's heart warmed up as he started to walk closer to her. And as she stayed, solid and firm this time right before him, Skar's smile took on a whole other size.

"Hey, you." Him smiling brought a smile to her face too. "What are you thinking about?"

He stared at her, knowing she would not fade, that she was really there, that he was really there. That finally they were together again. He felt strong and eternal, even as his eyes started to well. "Honestly? How people fear death...if only they knew how beautiful it really is."

She blushed, her eyes shining like stars. "You smooth talker, you."

Skar reached her finally and wrapped his arm around her waist, enclosing her inside his embrace. His lips found hers instantly and they merged as one, hugging each other as tight as possible. Skar could feel her love pouring into his body, the fuel he'd been bereft for so long. He pulled away from her lips, but kept her face up against his, his tears of joy touching her cheeks as well.

"Most people would kill for a chance like this," she whispered, her eyes burning a hole in his soul.

He smiled. "I did kill a lot," the smile turned sour, "but I died for a chance like this." His eyes stayed locked on her, seeing nothing besides her gorgerous face. "Life was never as beautiful as you look right now."

She giggled, releasing a few tears of joy herself. "I always knew I'd see you again."

"Yeah...you would have been safer making that bet than I would," he joked.

"I missed you," her voice broke, "I missed you so much."

"I can't believe this is happening," he said, shaking his head, "it has to be real this time. Not another dream."

"It's not," she assured him, "I'm here. How do you feel?"

He looked around the frame of her face. "What is this place?"

She glanced around them. "I'm...not entirely sure yet. It's a part of the Force, the netherworld, some realm of it. It's new to me."

"Are we really dead?" he asked, feeling more alive than ever. "I don't...feel dead."

She looked at him again, not a care on her face. "How would you know? But the fact that you feel at all should be some indication." She waved him forward and started walking backwards towards the edge of the grass, tugging him by the hand. "Come. I have to show you something. We don't have much time."

"Time?" he asked. "Time exists here?"

"The dead do not sit idle while the living play."

He resisted her dragging him away from the moment. "Where are we going?"

She took both his hands and walked backwards, leading him. "You know that saying about life flashing before your eyes when you die?"

He followed her, facing what she had her back to. "Yeah. I saw...a lot of dead people. People I'd killed. Nothing else."

"It's about to. Beyond this door is your past."

Skar looked behind her, seeing a strange mechanical set of doors at the edge of the grass. He could look around them and see no corridor leading anywhere. It was very unnerving but he couldn't help finding it interesting as well.

"Do you want to see it?" she asked.

He knew he stood at the end of his existance and that all the answers were within his reach. But knowing only meant the actual end wasn't far off. "Not really," he said lowly. "I've seen it. I didn't like the ending."

She chuckled, one of her chamrs being able to read his sometimes dark humor. "You need to, Skar. It will make explaining everything a lot easier. And there are many things to be learned from memory."

He looked sideways at her. "Such as?"

"Such as the reason why you're here."

He held up a finger. "Wait, I know this one," he jested. "I'm here because I chose to be a vhronik snack."

She laughed heartily. "Ever the Jedi comedian."

Her smiles made him feel safe. "Yeah, can this thing show me what kind of life that would have been?"

"Step through and we'll see."

His anxiety came back and just looking at the doors sent silver down his back. "What's in there?"

She winked at him. "Only what you take with you."

He could feel his body involuntarily backstepping. "I...really don't want to."

She nodded and looked dissapointed. "Alright, I suppose I can understand that, and respect it." She leaned in for a quick kiss on his cheek. "But I'm still going!" She turned quickly on her naked heels, slipped out of his hands and ran for the doors. "Come on, Skar!"

Skar watched her slip through the parting doors and squinted his eyes against the light that swallowed her. He took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh.

"Here we go again..."

Skar stepped forward, crossing the threshold. There was a moment of powerful gravity from all sides, and then a bright pain. But before the pain could fully register in his mind, his mind had changed shape and form and suddenly he was inside...

...Jedi Master Bo-Hi Dzog knelt down by one grave on the ashy plains, collecting his hands in his lap, lowering his head in prayer. He pressed back the tears rushing to his eyes. The battle had been disastrous on both sides, a terrible tragedy that could have been avoided. And in the midst of all the fighting he'd lost his perspective.

He believed he could have prevented the fight somehow, but he'd been too caught up trying to save his own life. He knew he would gain nothing from secondguessing his actions, but he felt he owed it to the fallen nonetheless. Holding back the tears he allowed the lightsaber to roll from his fingers and onto the ground.

And there it stayed for long after he left the planet...

...Skar wrestled himself free of the experience by opening his eyes, finding himself falling towards nothing once again, stars streaking by at great speed. He fell through the universe, unshaped and whirling like a comet. She was nowhere to be seen, but he could feel her all over.

"Sasa! What is this!" he shouted, his voice echoing omniously

Her voice came clearly, as though she was right inside his head. "Don't fight it. It's just memories attached to your history. Don't fight it."

Skar decided to trust her and closed his eyes again, blocking out the strange sensation of falling through the universe. Almost instantly he found himself inside...

...the temple of Kryuu had an air of death to it, he thought. Even through his breathing apparatus Jedi Master Bo-Hi Dzog could smell the tension and sadness that clung to the walls like a black hole, swallowing any hint of smile or rejoice at an enemy finally slain. He walked determined through the stone halls, studying the faces of the clone troopers and guards that, at the request of the Jedi Council, patrolled and searched the hallways and chambers for data that might reveal who had counseled and led Skind Kjoil onto his path of darkness.

Bo-Hi suspected they would find nothing. The Sith that had trained Darth Maul had done so patiently and secretly for many years. Many things could be said about the Sith but their virtue was patience and precision. The only clues that remained to be found were those felt in the Force itself.

And the Force was brimming with information, and with emotion. The very same sadness he felt in the temple came from the mourning cry of the Force. The Kjoil were definitely powerful beings, stronger in the Force than any Jedi ever heard of. The Council acknowledged this, but refrained from speaking about it much.

The Kjoil were still an infant race, one with great potential, but Skind Kjoil and his father, the late Pfan Kjoil, and their defection to the Dark Side showed that a Kjoil was a dangerous and easily seduced race.

He didn't trouble himself with this matter. It was for the Council to decide what would happen regarding Ka'ckak, the Kjoil planet, and the remaining Epigones that still served the Republic. The very same Council he was on his way to comune with at the moment. For reasons he couldn't yet predict.

The silo-shaped chamber at the lowest level of the temple still showed scars of a lightsaber battle, scorch marks lining up the surface of the platform in the center of the room. A platform taking up half of the silo's width, a chamber that seemed to continue forever above his head as well as below the platform.

Bo-Hi marched across the small walkway to the platform, kneeling down once he reached it. Turning around to face him, Jedi Master Yoda and Jedi Master Mace Windu were already there, both of them bowing their heads slightly, acknowledging his arrival.

Bo-Hi rose. "Master Yoda, Master Windu; you sent for me."

Master Windu stepped towards him and smiled as warmly as he could, but the seriousness in his eyes betrayed his attempt at easing Bo-Hi's anxiety. "Welcome to Kryuu, Master Dzog. I'm sorry that the debrifing on your mission to Caludaa couldn't be delivered back home in the Council Chamber. But as you've no doubt heard, there was a matter here that needed every last Master present."

Bo-Hi nodded. "Caludaa," the memory still haunted him, "many innocent people died, Master. Along with local security forces we managed to supress the attackers, but at a great cost. They were more technologicly advanced than our reports indicated. What should have been a skirmish became a horrific battle."

Master Windu frowned regretfully. "Had we known, you would never have traveled alone. I'm sorry you had to fight alone, but happy to see you unscathed. I am confident you did what the Force intended."

Bo-Hi felt his body straighten by its own will. "That and beyond, Master."

Master Windu smiled again. "It is that very dedication we must call upon again, my friend. The Council has a new assignment for you."

A part of Bo-Hi instantly wanted to be and do his best, but the rest of him wanted eagerly to recuperate after his last mission. He'd overseen the burials of several hundred innocent people, a vast fields filled with gravestones and grass still tainted with blood. He'd left his lightsaber behind on those fields, feeling a part of him had died in that battle.

He'd lost a piece of faith in the good in everyone on Caludaa, he'd had to take lives from people simply because they wouldn't listen to his reason and his solutions. Greed had spawned that battle, and by giving something precious to the dead, he felt he had ended it with compassion and sympathy. He would construct a new lightsaber, and proceed on his path a little wiser.

Master Yoda supported himself on his cane as he approached them. "Master Dzog. Fortunate, that able to contact you we were. Here, a great evil has been defeated," his eyes showed traces of the sadness that still lingered in the Force, "and now, another evil must be undone."

Bo-Hi felt himself starting to worry. "Master?"

Master Windu spoke low. "You know of the Jentarana project?"

That he did. The battle machine created by the now dead Skind Kjoil, a weapon funded by the Senate to protect the Kjoil homeworld in payment of their loyalty to the Republic. "Yes, I have heard of it, yet I've never seen it."

"Few have," Windu said, "but it is here, now, on this world. Skind brought it here to give to his Master, and we believe that same Master won't risk coming here now that we've defeated his apprentice."

"I agree," Bo-Hi said, "what is to become of this weapon?"

Master Windu looked and sounded defeated. "Chancellor Palpatine wants it returned to Coruscant, where it will be dismantled."

Bo-Hi nodded. "A wise choice. I seem to recall that only Skind could control its mechanisms. Given his death, I suppose it serves no use to anyone."

Master Yoda and Master Windu shared an apprenhesive glance at each other.

"Am I wrong?"

"No," Master Yoda replied, an edge to his voice that rarely showed, "but, in Republic hands, we do not trust it."

"What?" Bo-Hi was shocked.

Master Windu hugged himself. "A growing disturbance in the Force leads us to believe that there are those inside the Republic that would not let this technology go to waste. There is a danger that some would harvest it for their own purpose. We never approved of the weapon's creation in the first place. It was a weapon forged in evil, it's better left destroyed."

Bo-Hi didn't understand. "But...isn't that what the Republic plans to do?"

"Sure of this, how can we be?" Master Yoda showed great concern. "The spirit of Skind Kjoil resides still." Yoda's big eyes looked at the walls around him with respect but also tension. "Strong he was, to have built this temple, only as an apprentice. Destroyed, it must be."

Master Windu nodded, a grave look upon his face. "We are charging you with this mission, to take the Jentarana, far away from here, and see to that it is completely lost from this world. It has become a Sith artifact, a presence of evil."

Master Yoda nodded. "In the hangar, the Jentarana waits. Take it, you must."

Bo-Hi started to understand that his mission was only part of a grander design. "And the remaining Kjoil Epigones?"

Mace Windu looked as though a blade had struck through his chest. "That...remains to be decided. We must convene with the rest of the Council before making anything final."

Yoda seemed to agree. "Powerful the Kjoil are. Great care, we must take."

Great care to what? Bo-Hi wondered. Termination? "Master, the Kjoil are loyal. I'm sure Skind was only - "

"An accident?" Windu asked. "but what about his father? His sister?" Windu looked lost. "As I said, this matter must be handled delicately."

Bo-Hi felt better leaving the matter in the Council's hands and decided to focus on his own mission, thankful he wasn't shouldering as big a problem as Master Yoda and Master Windu. "I leave it to your wisdom, Masters, and shall see to my own assignment immediately." He bowed to them both. "May the Force be with you."

Yoda and Windu returned the bow.

"May the - "

"Sir!" a voice cried from the entrance to the chamber. "Master Jedi!" A Republic clone trooper came running across the walkway, panic flowing from him. "I think you should come take a look at this!"

Although he couldn't be sure, although the sound was brought to his ears slowly, Bo-Hi believed he heard the unmistakable sound of a baby crying somewhere down the halls outside the chamber...

...Skar opened his eyes slower this time, letting the rift between reality and memory and death build itself into a coherent image. He knew he wasn't really falling anywhere, although the sensation of falling through the universe was extremely vivid. All around him were stars, distant and close, shiny orbs somehow giving off a warmth like a comfortable blanket around him. He settled into this state and allowed the feelings he felt to flow through him, knowing he couldn't be hurt.

After all; he was already dead.

"Good, good," Shinran's voice spoke around him, "I knew you'd get the hang of it."

He felt proud, glad to have pleased her. "Master Bo-Hi was so young."

"True. He'd only just become a Jedi Master."

Skar's arms and hands flowed on their own, as though he was lying on the surface of water, slowly paddling himself around. "Master Yoda...he looked so troubled."

"It was dark times, Skar."

Skar understood that. "So what is this? I got past the dead part. Now what?"

"You have become one with the Force, in a sense; you are the Force."

The universe around him was tangible and he knew at the speed of thought he could see any point in time, any location. At the speed of thought he could see the entire Galaxy past, present and future if he wanted to.

"Does this happen to all Jedi when they die?"

"No. Becoming one with the Force is still a very young idea. You'd be amazed how few of the thousands and thousands of Jedi that have lived, who have achieved what you've been naturally given."

Skar raised an eyebrow. "Given?"

"No one taught you the key to becoming one with the Force, did they?"

Skar guessed not. "I was told that it happened if a Jedi accepted death when it came, that he was able to transfer his soul to the Force in that moment."

"That's only partly true. All Jedi transform into the Force when they die, their energy returned to where it came from. Not many have been able to maintain their identity, such as you have."

Skar looked around at the many planets far away. "Can I talk to them? The other ones that have maintained their identity?"

"No. Their souls are linked to still living individuals. They can exist this way for a long time, some times thousands of years if they...understand the Force well enough. But sooner or later their attachments to the living world are severed and they transform into the Force."

Skar made a sly smile, piecing a puzzle. "But I'm here, talking to you. So what are you, Shinran?"

"I'm a surprise," she chuckled. "Oh, here comes another vision."

Skar braced himself and once again closed his eyes...

...Sasa sprinted across the walkway, her boots sliding to a halt once she reached the circular platform in the center of the round bottomless chamber. Her black Kjoil uniform had seen better days, but she still wore it proudly. She palmed her lightsaber, the lightsaber her brother had given her, the lightsaber that had once belonged to Selia Iver. A woman history would remember as the cause of all this.

But she was only partly to blame. The second half was waiting for her in the center of the platform. Skind Kjoil turned slowly to face her, his black uniform as tattered as hers, and the rest of him as dark and clearly scathed. His trimmed hair was soaked in sweat, patches of dirt across his face, his once perfect goatee had become a full unkempt beard.

He smiled at her, the way he'd always done; that smile of love and wisdom that had always reassured her bewilderment.

But not this time.

"Sis," he said affectionately and held out his arms, revealing a lightsaber in his right hand, "welcome...to the end."

Sasa started circling her brother, walking sideways. "I got your message, brother. Mind explaining what it is you're planning to do here?"

Skind tilted his head and lowered his arms. "Isn't it obvious? I wanted to see my sister again. We've been apart for too long."

Sasa kept her eyes on the man she'd once called brother, unable to disguise the feeling inside of her that said he'd changed too much. "I'm never further away from you, than you are from me. You've been busy."

Skind grinned. "Hmm. So you've heard. The Jedi have already turned you against me."

"Surprised?"

His smile faded. "I guess not. You've always been easily manipulated. I should know," his voice changed, becoming softer, almost a whisper, "listen to me, Sasa; I don't expect you to forgive me for what I've done, that's not why I'm here. I've come to warn you."

Sasa frowned. "Warn me?"

"The Jedi have always resented our kind, and made no effort to hide this fact. They want us removed from the Order, Sasa. They know we are greater than them. We have twice the strength and none of their weaknesses - "

"Some of us do," she retorted.

He shrugged it off. "They fear us, Sasa. They know that we should be the ones policing the Galaxy. The Sith explained it to me. I was a fool not to have seen it before."

She scoffed. "You're a fool to believe it now."

Skind's eyes darkened, thunder roaring behind them. "Koll has fed you lies about me, of the Jedi, and of the Sith. Sasa, they are shadows compared to us, they should be answering to us. They are not powerful enough to maintain stability in this Galaxy. We must remove them, Sasa, or this Galaxy will fall into a war from which it will never fully heal. Don't you see? That is why we are here, why we exist. The Jedi carried the torch this far, but the world has changed. Now it is our time to reign."

She shook her head defiantly. "Your choice of words betray your thoughts, brother. You only want control."

He laughed manicly, the sound echoing off the walls of the chamber. "Want? Sasa, my dear sister; I have control. I am the greatest there has ever been. I have already brought the Jedi Council to their knees. No one exists that can defeat me." He extended his hand to Sasa. "Join me, sister. Give me your alligance, free yourself of Koll's lies and we can rule this Galaxy as brother and sister!"

She stopped walked, a dissapointed smile on her face. "You underestimate me, brother. I know where your heart lies." She held up the lightsaber in her hand. "This is why you had me come here. It's all your obsessed dark mind cares about now, isn't it?"

Skind's extended hand slowly became a fist and his lips curled into a feral snarl. "Very well, my sister. Give it to me, and I'll be gone soon enough."

"Why?" she asked, a plea in her voice. "What happened to you? Why this obessesion with death? Selia is dead - "

"NO!" he yelled. "No, she is not!" His face became a mask of anger, his entire body trembling with fury. "I will find her, I will be with her again!"

The lightsaber in his hand ignited, a perfect crimson blade stabbing into the floor at his feet.

"And you won't stop me!"

The lightsaber in her hand ignited as well, another red blade filling the air around them with tension. "As long as I hold this, you've already lost, brother."

Skind answered with a black roar, the metal walls around them bulging outwards from the power in his howl. Sasa felt it as a shove, feeling her boots slowly slide towards the edge behind her. She asserted herself and suffered Skind's rage, letting it pass over her like a dark storm, standing her ground.

"You'd choose the Jedi over family!" he snarled.

She bit her teeth together. "You chose the Sith over family!"

He laughed at her. "The Sith are our family, Sasa!" He held her lightsaber so she could see the handgrip clearly. "Yes, I pried it from our father's dead hands!" He swirled the blade around to cover his face, slowly leaning it down to point at her. "But when you see him, you can give him the comfort of knowing he wasn't the only weakling in our family!"

Sasa screamed and charged forward to reach her brother, her lightsaber held high. Skind screamed back louder at her as they met halfway, their lightsaber slamming against each other with such force the entire chamber shook...

...Skar could still feel a coldness inside him when he returned to the Force. The darkness between Skind and Sasa had been very powerful. Why he was being shown these things eluded him. Was he supposed to be learning? Was he supposed to be sad, feel remorse? What? What good was knowledge going to do him in an afterlife? Was he supposed to admit that his own path had mirrored Skind's so effortlessly?

"Hmm, I thought you understood," Shinran said slightly dissapointed.

"What?"

"That the Force isn't showing you these memories. You're the one making them appear."

Skar felt confused. "Me? But I wasn't thinking about them."

She giggled. "No. But whenever you closed your eyes you were wondering what would appear. Your mind's first guess came true."

He frowned. "My mind's first guess?"

"Your subconciousness. I only showed you the first one of Master Bo-Hi. It wasn't related to you because you don't have that memory, you were never there. But he told me the story of his mission to Caludaa. The rest you conjured up on your own."

Skar felt used, but kept back his resentment. "You tricked me?"

"The easiest lessons to learn are those you stumble upon by accident. I had to speed up your training."

Now he felt really confused. "Training?"

"Yes," she replied in a whisper, "we have much work to do...

...my young apprentice," Darth Sidious said as he moved towards the cloning facility in the deepest bowels of Regana, holding out his hands, palms upward, and released that manic evil laughter. A laughter so horrifying it seemed to stem from the Dark Side itself.

Beside him, Skind Kjoil crossed his chest and allowed the Dark Side from his Master to influence him, allowing that evil power to crawl beneath his skin and pervert his mind, that which was left of it.

Sidious lowered his hands. "Spaarti cylinders. Not unlike the ones used by the Kaminoans. But these are not intended for mere clone soldiers. These must remain hidden."

Skind nodded his agreement. "Yes..." He wanted to say more but wasn't sure what he should say. He'd already agreed to Sidious's plan, but that didn't necissarily mean he was onboard with his full heart. "You're...sure of this, my Master?"

Sidious grinned lowly, his hood turning to look in Skind's direction. "You are the greatest of all Jedi, Skind. But your feelings for this woman has led you astray. I've tried convincing you to change your mind, but I see now the greatness of Kjoil goes in hand in hand with their passion. I will make you a full Sith, which will give you the chance to see her again, provided you grant me the chance to carry on your legacy."

Skind couldn't take his eyes off the tanks before him. "Is it an immediate part of your plan to retake the Republic?"

Sidious's hood turned away again. "No. It is only a precaution. My plan to take control of the Republic is proceeding as planned."

Skind had no doubts of that, and maybe once it would disturbed him that the Republic he'd defended for so long was heading for a fall. And to some extent it still did. Only not enough to pull his thoughts away from seeing Selia again. Not enough to fill that hollow gap in his chest. What did it matter anyway? Soon he would leave this world. He wouldn't live to see the damages his actions might inflict. Soon all of this would only be a memory and he would find solace in the arms of the woman he loved.

Skind nodded to himself. "Right," he pulled up his sleeve and walked towards the specimen extractor, "let's get it over with."

Sidious smiled wickedly at the man's back, as the great and legendary Skind Kjoil resolutely inserted his right hand inside the machine, allowed it to draw blood from his veins, and sealed his fate...

...Skar shook his head clear again, grinning at his own foolishness. "Sorry. I decided to test you."

"Oh. You don't trust me?"

"Of course," he added quickly, and then made a sly smile. "But you've already tricked me once. Maybe the trick itself was another trick."

She mocked his voice. "Maybe the trick itself was another trick."

Skar laughed out loud. "Alright, I'm sorry."

"I haven't even started to instruct you and already you're getting on my nerves."

Skar shrugged with a smug grin on his face. "Probably why they started training Padawans at such a young age. Wit takes time to grow."

"Everything takes time to grow," her voice was straight and serious. "Let's start at the basics of questions. Before we can understand what the Force does and why it does it, we have to understand its very nature."

Skar nodded. "What is the Force?"

The world changed shape, within the blink of an eye. Now he stood on a moist swamp floor, odd trees bending in unnatural shapes around him. A cloud of mist covered the ground, and strange creatures were chirping and screeching nearby. And again, without having ever been to the planet, he still knew what and where it was. The name appeared in his mind as though someone was spelling it out for him.

Dagobah.

Shinran appeared from behind a tree and walked slowly across the ground, deep in thought. The mist around his feet swirled up and began to illustrate images for him to see. All around him moving pictures were being constructed, showing him the history of the Jedi, back to the very first baby-steps of the Force.

And she sounded like a true Jedi Master as she explained. "The Force is a sentient entity as alive as you and I once were. A power, a living energy that flows through and beneath everything in the Galaxy. A power unrealized until many thousand years ago. It grants many wonderous powers, many abilities that cannot be credited as anything other than magic."

Skar smiled briefly. "Kayupa once scolded me for calling it magic."

"Magic would entail that it is a rare thing, that few master. We know now that is not the full truth, many have learned to harness this energy. But the question remains; what is the true way of the Force? Is it the Jedi path? The Sith path? Or even a Kjoil path?"

Skar almost felt as though he was drifting on her voice. "There are many other groups that have come to understand the Force." Skar thought of his encounter with ones such as the Circle of Perfection on Kryuu. He chuckled to himself. "Things like vhroniks, for instance. Or creatures as the ysalamiri who are bereft of the Force."

"And that's only two animal races in a Galaxy of endless life," she pointed out.

Skar nodded. "I accept that, and do not question it. But it seems apparent to me that since Kjoil are the strongest of them all, that they are the true offspring of the Force."

She started shaking her head. "You only say so because you have not yet encountered anyone stronger than a Kjoil. Doesn't it stand to reason that such a thing might exist and we may just not have heard of it?"

He thought about it, though he realized quickly there wasn't much to think about. "Could be...is that true?"

"No. It is not. No creature or sentient lives that has a higher midiclorian count than a Kjoil."

Skar wasn't really surprised. All his life he'd been told this. "So then we are the strongest."

"Depends on how you intepret strength. You seem obsessed with the idea that it gives you any honor, you'd like to think of yourself as a direct offspring of the Force."

"Not much honor in my family," he admitted with a sigh.

She continued. "You are also obsessed with the idea that Jedi equals good and Sith equals bad. That is not true. What defines a person as good or evil as nothing to do with their alignment in the Force. The Force does not choose sides between these groups, but it does favor some individuals over others, those destined for the continuing understanding and preservation of the Force. But this also means..." She left the sentence unfinished.

And Skar picked up quickly. "...just because we're the strongest, doesn't make it a good thing."

"When a Kjoil draws upon the Force, he draws more than your normal Jedi, even your normal Sith."

"Well, sure," he said, before realizing he didn't really understand. She was just stating the obvious. "Right?"

She took a few moments to find the right words. "Imagine a window with blinds; when a Jedi wants to see the sun, he opens the blinds only enough as he needs to see it. A Sith opens the blinds fully. A Kjoil...well, he doesn't even care about the blinds. He's already ripped them down and is standing in the window frame, screaming at the sky with - "

Skar held up his hands, nodding franticly. "I get it, I get it."

She laughed nervously. "Sorry...maybe there's a better way to - "

"No, I understand," he assured her. "But what does that mean to everything else?"

She went on. "Luckily there has never been so many Kjoil trained in the Force that it has had any substantial impact on the rest of the Galaxy. There's always only been a handful of Kjoil at any time, not enough to weaken any other Jedi. But there are exceptions; Skind Kjoil worsened the shroud of the Dark Side during the Old Republic, and his clone continued this unlucky evolution. Any normal Kjoil doesn't weaken the other Force sentients around them, unless..."

Skar wasn't sure he wanted to hear it. "Unless what?"

"Unless they use the Dark Side. Skind Kjoil used great power during his exile, but again the other Jedi were already inhibited so it made no great difference in the larger scheme of things. And all of the lives he took, for which he is so well remembered, were all taken before his turn. To this day those that know of him, remember him as a great leader during the Old Republic. But also as a sad man who comitted suicide because he lost the woman he loved. A fairytale turned cautionary tale. Of how even the greatest of powers can't heal a broken heart."

Whenever his family was brought up, espicially Skind, he fell into a defensive guard. He didn't like talking about them, and he certainly didn't like having to view an already unpleasant past from another angle.

"I'll accept that version of the events, but the evil that some hear in his name has been passed on to me. I used the Dark Side, Sith or not; I didn't care. I pulled everything in that I could hold during my last hours in life."

"Yes. And that is why we're here."

Skar's fear came alive instantly. "What? I died. The Force is in equilibrium again. Rishi is stronger, along with the rest of the Jedi. They can stop Riokon and his men easily. Things will work out," he felt himself starting to panic, "won't they?"

When she spoke again, her voice was grim, concerned even. But not without some level of forsight. "The Galaxy will survive Riokon and the Sons of Destiny, it will survive the Sith Lord that's making a play for control, it will survive the alien invasion and much worse."

Skar thought of his dream visions, of aliens marching across fields covered in grass. It felt strange to have someone else talk about it. He'd never told anyone about it. Eknath had known about it though. "The alien invasion...so my dreams were real?"

"Yes," she confirmed,"...and no. As I already told you once, dreams are warnings for the Jedi. The outcome of a possible future."

Once again Skar felt that gnawing feeling inside. That he was about to receive very bad news. "What do you mean?"

"You had a vision of an invasion, that much is true. And that invasion is coming."

Skar wished himself away to a place where he didn't have to ask what she was waiting for. "But?"

"The Galaxy will survive that invasion, although with deep scars and many dead, much sadness and much darkness. However, there is another invasion coming."

"Another invasion?"

"Yes," her voice turned dark, "one that you started. A Kjoil invasion."

Skar once again felt like he was falling out of control. "What are you talking about?"

"All of this relates to another question about the Force; what does it mean in the grander scheme of things? Why are some given its powers and others not? Is there any link between the Force and destiny?"

Skar shrugged. He'd never learned that. "Is there?"

"The Force controls no destiny, but it differentiates between good and evil. And this doesn't mean Sith or Jedi, or even Kjoil. In the eyes of the Force, even a Sith can be a good person at heart. Take for instance Anakin Skywalker, and all Jedi touch the Dark Side at some point. The Force does influence events, through its servants, but some become so powerful that they are able to manipulate it, allowing them to change the design the Force had intended, the design the Force wants to see happen. The Force wanted Anakin Skywalker to destroy the Sith, but he became so powerful his path took a...detour."

"A detour?" he asked. "That's putting it mildly."

"But he eventually fell onto the right path again, once his mistakes became clear to him. Once he remembered the good he'd always had in him."

Skar raised an eyebrow. "And the millions that died as a cause of his detour?"

"Suffice to say, the Force was strong with Skywalker. The events he allowed to happen are of his own fault."

Ridiculous, Skar thought. "If the Force is a sentient entity as you said, why didn't it just shut Anakin off from the Force?"

"To do so would kill Anakin, and Anakin was fated for great things. No one survives without the Force."

"The ysalamiri do," Skar pointed out.

"Because they are able to null the Force, doesn't mean they are not part of it."

Skar admitted his defeat and tried to piece all of it together. "What does this have to do with Rishi?"

"When you turned to the Dark Side and started drawing the Force, you changed the course of destiny. Your despair and the lies you were fed diverted you from your set path,"

"My set path?" Skar felt himself slip into confusion more and more. "I thought my destiny was to die, so the other Jedi could become more powerful. So equilibrium could - "

"Other Jedi would also include the Sons of Destiny's highest ranking members; Koll, Sasa, Eknath, and Raine."

Skar held out his hands. "So what does it mean? That I wasn't meant to die? I though I was doing everyone a favor by dying."

Her voice turned soft and caring again. "You were fated to die, Skar...just not yet. Now your fate has been passed along to Rishi. He now bears the responsiblity of stopping the Sons of Destiny. And he is not ready. There are things you didn't have a chance to teach him, and tell him. Things that would have stopped the Sons of Destiny. Rishi was the ace in the hole, the one person who could rectify it all. Only you forgot to teach him certain things. Now he is lost, pained and on his way to the dark path."

Suddenly her previous words came forth again, holding Rishi up as a vector. "The Kjoil invasion..."

"Realize; the burden of teaching the refugees about the Force now dwells upon Rishi's shoulders. And he is unschooled and not ready for this. He will fail, and all of the Kjoil will fall to the Dark Side because of it. They will cover this Galaxy in darkness, and the alien invasion will be nothing but a shadow upon the sun of their evil. A darkness from which the Galaxy will never recover. Because, as you said, they are the strongest of all. In all your Darkness you took fate into your own hands and cheated your way out of your destiny."

He didn't like the image she was painting before him. "The Kjoil are not - "

"What Jedi feels in the Force when a Kjoil dies, that pain," her tone of voice was very careful, "it is not mourning. It is the Force weeping at its own greatest mistake. Your destiny, Skar, as any other Kjoil, lies only in death. That is why their planet was destroyed."

Skar wanted to object fiercely, but answers came on their own. Riddles in the past that suddenly made sense. "I found Draori just as the Kjoil Epigones moved on the planet."

"Exactly, and you've never understood why they tried to kill their own kind."

"They knew?"

"Yes. And you stopped them, but then you moved the Kjoil away from public eyes and it was thought they would never surface again, that you, as frail and doubtful as you are would never train them. That you would instead leave that responsibility behind. Rishi would never be as strong as a Kjoil could be because you never trained him proper."

Skar felt so hollow, so blind, utterly alone. "Everything was planned...the Jedi were right about us. My merging with Sonnet...I began to feel it. I began to feel life around me die as I grew. That's why it happened. To show me what would happen if I ever become powerful enough, like Skind did."

She nodded. "That...is the will of the Force. And it is that very same power that Rishi is now looking for. Rishi would have stopped the Sons of Destiny and gone on to become a great Jedi, but never a Kjoil. That is why I am here, why you are here now, why we cannot pass on to the other side fully. You are still connected to Rishi, the way Skind was connected to you, as I am connected to you. The Kjoil passion creates unbreakable links between those they love, which is why they are so prone to falling to the Dark Side. The Kjoil legacy, the curse, would have died with you, if only you hadn't taken your own life so soon, if only you'd told him."

Skar could look forever at all the images and pictures around him, but saw nothing really there. This place, this death, it was as almost as real as any place he visited when he was alive, but it felt fake for some reason. Because he knew it wasn't real. Because it felt more like a cage that was holding him from the things he felt he wanted to do.

Rishi.

"Why tell me all this if there's nothing I can do about it? To give me a bad conscience? There was no way I could have known."

"You know now."

He frowned. "A little too late."

She raised an eyebrow. "Do you remember our very first conversation?"

Skar smiled at the thought of their introduction. "I was such a fool back then...or, I was also a fool back then. Always trying to become what my family had been, thinking I could have it all in seconds."

"Kjoil blood flows eagerly."

He nodded in response, but wasn't convinced her words summed up all he was thinking. "It's funny; we spend our youth, waste our youth, trying to understand and find everything. It's only with age we realize we can never know anything really. Everything is subject to change; there are no infinite truths. All we can really do...is adapt, to the world around us as it changes."

She agreed. "You're right. It's comforting, isn't it?"

"But unnerving as well," he added.

"Why do you say that?"

Skar shrugged. "Seems...life would be one long run to catch up with everyone and everything. Would there ever be time to just sit down and take it all in?"

She finally approached him, locking her arms around his waist, her voice a whisper into his ear. "Well, it may be a little late to tell you now, since you're dead and all - "

He chuckled.

"But time isn't something you take, its something you're given, Skar. And life is not a run to catch up with the rest of the world. You choose your own pace, you find a rhythm in life where you're not exhausted and still feel you're seeing all you want. Its so simple that most people easily ignore it the truth of it."

He looked up. "I often wondered...how my life would have been if I hadn't been given the Force. Would I have met someone like you? Would I have been happy? Smarter?"

She chuckled. "Kind of pointless thoughts, aren't they?"

He guessed so. "You mean now?"

"I mean at all."

Skar found this new Shinran to be quite different from the one he remembered. "Hey, I remember you having the same kind of thoughts once."

She laughed. "Well, I never claimed to be well-balanced."

He laughed back and reached up to touch her hair. "I'm glad it was you."

She leaned her face in, kissing his cheek. "Me?"

"Yeah, not Kayupa or Master Bo-Hi." He couldn't help scanning their surroundings again. "Although I suspect they're somewhere in here too."

She nodded. "They are."

"What's keeping them?"

She kissed him again and fell into a whisper. "I told them we'd want to be alone."

He kissed her back. "Can we be alone forever?"

"No," she said bluntly.

Her answer dissapointed him. "Why not?"

"I don't control this place, Skar. And this is only temporary."

He hugged her close, afraid that she'd suddenly fade out of his life again. A dreadful feeling took hold of him. And fear seemed to follow quickly. "You were able to join with the Force...because of our son, right? That was what Master Bo-Hi tried to tell me when I was heading for Regana." The thought of their child filled him with all manner of terrors, unexplainable. "He's also here somewhere, isn't he?"

"He is," she said calmly. "He's dying to meet you."

He found strength in her warmth, the softness of her body inside his arms. "Is he..." he couldn't make himself say the words, because the answer terrified him, terrified him more than anything ever had back when he was alive. "Is he Skind's son?"

She gave a light chuckle. "Silly, he's our son."

How she could laugh at something like that disturbed him. "Shinran...I'm a clone of him. I am Skind Kjoil's clone."

Somehow she managed to laugh again. "Please, Skar. You're not - " she stopped talking and looked at him, a strange look on her face. "Oh, you really believe that?"

He found it impossible she didn't know, how could she not know the truth about him. "It makes sense, Shinran. I am him. I am Skind Kjoil."

Her hand reached up and touched his chin, and she smiled at him, nothing but love in her eyes. "Skar, I'm sure you already know this, but...clones can't breed."

Clones can't breed.

You have a family waiting for you on the other side, Skar. Shinran was pregnant.

Shinran was pregnant

Pregnant.

Clones can't breed.

I never meant to break up the family.

Skar's insides illuminated instantly. He had to control his breathing, a confused joy fighting its way through all the darkness that previously infested him. That was the message Bo-Hi had tried to give him during their last conversation. He had been trying to help him, he'd known the full truth. The answer was right there, all this time.

I'm not him.

I'm not Skind.

He chuckled uneasily, tears forming at his eyes. It was a lie. He couldn't remember feeling this happy, so enlightened, so free of conflict. It seemed so long ago he hadn't felt disgusted by the very skin that covered him. So long ago that he'd been able to smile just at the thought of being alive.

His fluttering eyes looked over to their right, to see Kayupa standing there, leaning against a tree, smiling slyly as he always did.

Skar found he could smile back. "Thank you."

Kayupa shook his head. "Hey, I just motivated you, kid, got your mind where it needed to be. You never would lasted long without going insane. I had to make your last hours count."

Shinran held her arms around Skar, winking at Kayupa. "At least, that's one thing Kayupa's always been good for."

Skar grinned. "You wanted me to lose my mind?"

Kayupa shrugged, unable to shed his grin. "You fight better when you're angry. I know that better than anyone. You had to learn somehow."

"Well, you're the only one that ever got me riled up."

Kayupa held out his hands, a warm smirk on his face. "What are friends for?"

Skar laughed, nodding to himself. But even the jovial mood and the fact his origin had been reestablished, couldn't hide another angle of the truth.

"So...they're really my parents?"

Kayupa nodded. "Yes...but they can't be saved. Koll wants to destroy Coruscant to weaken the moral of the Republic's army, but in doing so he doesn't see that he will turn all of the Galaxy against him. That is the flaw in his plan. He's so in love with his own untold legend that he actually thinks the Galaxy will forgive him. Coruscant will be destroyed and it will unite the people of this Galaxy, but only if it is an enemy that does it in. He can't expect to be both a liberator and a savior."

Skar knew. "You talked to me while I was taken prisoner. You said all those things...so I'd die?"

Shinran nodded. "So I could tell you what you needed to know. You wouldn't trust Kayupa or Master Bo-Hi, but you trust me."

Skar could sense a hidden meaning in her words. "Told me what I needed to know?"

She tightened her hold on his hands. "As I said before; time is something you're given. And you are about to be given more time. Even in death there are choices to make. You have to set things right when you return."

"What?" He stared at her, unable to fathom what she was saying. "I can't go back! I have to stay here."

Kayupa pushed away from the tree and walked over to stand beside them. "You don't really have a choice, Skar. This is what must be done, what only you can do. No one can deliver the truth to Rishi but you."

Shinran leaned against him, her beautiful eyes looking up into his, a sad plea in them. Skar felt his jaw start to tremble and his arms locked tight around her.

"I can't risk losing you again."

She kissed his lips. "You never lost me in the first place, Skar. And you have to do this."

He took in a deep breath to tell her all the million reasons why he refused to go back. Why he couldn't. He couldn't let go of her again, what if something changed? What if he never saw her again? This was all he ever wanted.

"I can't walk away from you," his eyes welled, "I can't lose you."

Kayupa lifted his chin. "This goes beyond your sense of duty, kid. An army of Kjoil warriors lost to Darkness will kill the Force itself. When they draw upon the Force, they draw upon the very life of everything around them."

Even through his pain he knew what Kayupa was trying to really say. "The Force cannot be without life."

"Exactly," Shinran leaned her head against his chest, "and this place will no longer exist. You have to stop Rishi."

Her choice of words startled him. "What do you mean stop - ?"

Skar saw a light above him start to open up, and before he could fight it she and Kayupa stood back and he was buoyed off the floor, drifting slowly upwards into the light. He could hear voices on the other side, almost make out some faces. He started to feel fully alive again, he could feel himself slipping inside of a body as the Force flooded back into him.

And he looked down to see Shinran smiling through tears of joy, waving at him, Kayupa at her side, the two people that had mattered most to him.

His real family

"Go lightly down your path, Skar," Shinran said up to him. "Follow your heart."

Before he could respond, the light swallowed him and Skar formed a fist with his right hand and struck out, feeling it move through a gelatinous fluid before penetrating a glass pane. His hand ignited in pain and the pain shot up his arm, up his shoulder, into his brain, jolting his brain alive.

"Look out!" Raine shouted as he jumped back. The clone tank before him came to life, its prisoner suddenly lashing out, smashing the glass and breaking free. The clone stumbled out of the cylinder, attracting several cuts from the glass to its pure new untouched body. It walked like a zombie, unsteady on its feet and eyes completely blank. It managed to take one or two steps before folding and falling face-first hard onto the floor.

Junn slowly opened her tearful eyes, smiling at the breathing clone on the floor before her. She'd moved the soul of the Kjoil into this new clone, and seeing him there, feeling his soul and mind, right before her, she knew she had succeeded.

The clone laid on his stormach, learning to breathe again. His head moved around, inspecting the surroundings, studying his new body. He looked up at her and Raine, confusion clouding his eyes.

But only for a second.

His eyes settled on her, recognizing her.

Junn didn't bother to fight back her tears. Her voice stuttered when she spoke. "Welcome back."

He pulled himself up on his shaky arms, staring mesmerized at her. "You're...?"

"Yes," she said, twin tears rolling down her cheeks. "It's me, Skind."

Raine's eyes darted over to look at Junn. "What?"

The clone rose from the floor, bacta dripping from his limbs. But he looked at her with a clarity he didn't seem comforted by. His lips moved, trying to remember how to form words again.

"Wh - what are you doing here," his fresh face crunched up in despair, "Selia?"

The clone sat hunched down against the wall in the darkest corner, his head bowed and eyes closed. None had spoken with him in the hour that had passed since his rebirth. He was conscious but he'd closed himself off from the rest of them, and now it seemed he was thinking. The Force swarmed around in him in circles, energy forming inside and outside of his body.

Raine believed he was learning to use the Force again, and that he was also getting to grips with his situation. The old Jedi Master would honor that and give him the time he needed to reclaim himself. He lended his own strength to the clone, letting him pull upon the Force from him, helping him guide the current. It wasn't weakening him, but he definitely could sense a difference. Raine knew the clone was vital to their success and if he had to give everything he had, he would do so.

Junn had her mouth covered with an armored hand, crying softly into her palm. Her relation to the clone deeply concerned him, but considering what he'd experienced the last few weeks it was just another drop in the ocean.

Kast was awake again, and was studying them all from the other side of the room. Anger and frustration emanated from him, but he too had taken the role of an observer, feeling very left out among the Jedi sentients. He clung to his rifle since it was probably the only thing he still trusted, the only thing that still made sense.

Raine released a troubled sigh, turning his attention back to the sobbing Junn. "Explain it to me, Junn."

She wiped away her tears, focused on the pondering clone. "When the Emperor lost sight of the Skind Kjoil clone, after Jedi Master Bo-Hi Dzog switched the babies on Nar Shaddaa, he became desperate. He believed the clone would eventually remember everything that Skind Kjoil had created and that he also would remember Selia Iver, once he realized what he was. And so the Emperor created a clone of Selia Iver, to lure him out," she blinked, "he created me."

Raine hugged himself. "Did you know?"

"No," she said firmly, "I only realized when the clone brought me back to life. His energy passed through me and all the veils faded."

"Veils?"

She nodded. "Eknath was the one who blanketed my mind, who hid it from me."

Raine understood. "He was thinking like the Emperor, he wanted to lure out the clone."

"I think so," she responded, "which means he wanted the clone all along."

"No," Raine shook his head, "not the clone. His apprentice. Eknath allowed the clone to die, maybe fearing he was too unstabil, too uncontrollable. Eknath manipulated the Bothan on Coruscant as well, implementing the first stages of his control over Rishi. He puppetered all of this to bring the Kjoil apprentice out here."

Her eyes still gazed lovingly at the clone. "And it worked. All of his plans. A true prophet."

Raine was disturbed by the love in her eyes. "And what about your plan?"

Her lips sadly smiled, a daze in her eyes. "We were so strong together, me and him. We can have that back, and we will stop Eknath."

Raine took a step towards her, finding himself on shaky ground. "That wasn't you. And it wasn't him."

She wasn't listening. "We've been apart for so long...but fate brought us back together. I can feel her inside of me, her memories, her love for him. I feel it as though it was my own. And I know he feels the same way, Skind is going to emerge in him and we will be together again."

Raine wanted to protest her, but he could sense the power inside of her growing. Indeed she was powerful. To transport one soul from the netherworld was a feat very few had ever mastered. Any wrong word or sudden movement could provoke her to defend what she believed was true. "Junn, is this why you left Krych to die?"

Her smile faded slightly. "Krych was already dead," she nodded towards the clone, "and my path lies with him."

Kast moved in the corner, listening to a voice inside of his helmet. "Hate to break up this reunion, however twisted it might be," he made a sheepish grin, "but extract just arrived."

Raine's brows furrowed. "Extract? From where? Who?"

Startling them all the clone suddenly moved. He extended his legs, standing to full height, his legs shivering. But when his eyes opened there was a razor sharp readiness in them. "Tell 2L to open fire on the ground above us."

Kast looked dumbfound. "How did you know?"

He looked at them all, a clarity-filled gaze, his voice hard. "Its the Koniduz, my ship. 2L is my droid. I'm going to Anodyn to stop the Sons of Destiny. You can come with me or you can stay here and die. I'm not asking for your help, I am only offering you a ride out of here."

Kast stepped closer to the others. "How did the droid know?"

Skar looked to the commando. "He didn't, he just cares."

Junn rose and walked over to Skar. "I planned to call him for help too, Skind, but I needed you to - "

"No," he said clearly, "I am not him, I never was. You can entertain whatever illusions if you want, but if you're going to delay me with any of your sick obsessions or stand in my way, I'll leave you here, understood?"

Her face filled with shock. "No, you're wrong. You are him, I know it."

Skar's jaw hardened. "Staying then?"

She reached out for him. "You know as well as I do that you're the - "

"Right," he said, giving up on talking to her, looking up to the ceiling. "Step away from the center of this room. The Koniduz is going to blow through the surface any second."

Whatever surprise she felt, Junn still stood defiantly while the others stepped back, a feral snarl forming on her lips. The roof above them shook violently with the first blast, the second blast released a piece of ceiling that tumbled down and smashed into a million bits upon the dais.

The controls exploded in sparks and fire, while more hunks of structure rained down. Kast and Raine hugged the walls while Skar and Junn stared each other down, seemingly oblivious to the danger they were in.

Snow started pouring down into the room, like a sandbag slit open. Within the first minute the snow reached Skar to his shins, and Kast and Raine used whatever they could find to stay on top of the snow as it slowly filled the room.

Junn activated her jetpack and rocketed off into the snow, dissapearing from view inside of the avalanche. Skar dismissed her departure with a snort and then used the Force to lift Kast and Raine onto invisible cusions, elevating them up and through the gap in the ceiling.

When he sensed they were safely onboard the ramp of the Koniduz, he bent down and summoned all of the Force into himself, leaping like a launched missile from the floor and straight up through the room.

There were a few heartbeats of complete darkness before he cleared the planet's surface and continued to fly up through the air, feeling the wind tug at him. He touched down safely on the extended ramp of the Koniduz, brushing off the snow and stepping inside.

A second later the small RATM droid, Tracker, came flying through, buzzing excitedly. Skar paid it no mind as the ramp closed behind him with a loud clank, and he saw Raine and Kast lying on the floor by his feet, panting.

"You two alright?"

Kast pried off his helmet and laid out flat on the floor. "I'm good."

Raine managed to get onto his feet. "That was an impressive display of - "

"You're welcome," Skar said bluntly and walked past them both, picking up an old cloak of his from a compartment beneath his bunk on his way to the cockpit.

The Koniduz helped much of his mind settle back into place, many of his favorite memories had taken place inside the hold, and although he remained the same person he'd been before his death, his determination and willpower now had a force backing it up that would lay to waste anything that threatened to slow him down.

He ascended the stairs to the cockpit, finding Junn in the navigator's front seat. She was already working the controls while 2L stood beside her, complaining about a stranger taking his seat.

Skar dropped into the gunner's chair and almost smiled when the droid's dumb mechanical eyes found him. 2L droid tilted his head, obviously confused.

"Beg your pardon, sir, but who are you? Who are any of you?"

"A very good question," Junn said dryly, punching in the last coordinates for Anodyn.

Skar ignored her. "It's me, 2L. The guy whose apartment you clean."

"Master Skar?" the droid looked skeptical, as best as a droid could do so, "Master, you look so - "

"Different, I know. A lot's happened."

"So it would appear," the droid replied, shock still in his voice, "where is Master Rishi?"

Junn punched the ship into movement, moving its nose up to point at the stars, pushing it into full acceleration. "Rishi's lost," she said solemnly to Skar over her shoulder.

Skar nodded, his eyes blank. "I sense it too."

"Change of plans?"

Skar strapped himself in, reclining in the seat and closed his eyes. "No."

Her chair turned slightly, and she looked at him. "Do you think you can save him?"

Skar shrugged indifferently. "Rishi is going to have to save himself."

She turned the chair even more so they were fully facing each other, though Skar's eyes were aimed at the ceiling. "Look, you really need to understand this. You are a - "

"No," he said, barely any movement on his face. "There was never a switch. I was raised on Nar Shaddaa by Lwen Kando, my uncle, whom my parents intrusted to take care of me while they took off into the Unknown Regions. The real clone, Kayupa, was raised on Jeter by Master Bo-Hi Dzog who was supposed to kill him."

She refused to believe it. "But...the destruction. What you did after you escaped from your cell...it had Skind Kjoil written all over it. I could feel it. You gave me life - "

Skar's eyes fell down to look at her, a tried and drained look on his face. "I...am...not...him. And you are not Selia Iver."

"I know," she groaned. "But something has passed on to me."

He shook his head. "Only what you've allowed to. It's not real. When you don't know who you are, your mind does tricks on you. You had to choose between identities, and you chose Selia for some reason. I had to choose between Skind or myself, which had become a very intangible personality. I could have sat down and decided to go on living as Skind Kjoil. But I chose to go insane, was made to go insane, taking as many with me into death as I could. I didn't care."

She looked very dissapointed, and suddenly afraid. "I don't know why I did it...so much of her filled me. I can barely distinquish the two anymore. I'm not strong enough to be Junn. She failed - "

"She lost," Skar said, "and losing is something everyone experiences. Failure would be to not learn from our mistakes."

Her lips quivered. "I...I am not Junn. She never existed - "

"Yes, she did," Skar reached out and squeezed her shoulder. "I met her. She was a good soldier, a cunning warrior."

Her eyes welled up and she started to shiver. "I can't remember her. I hoped meeting Krych would give her back, but he'd changed so much. Or maybe I'd changed. We both did. I was empty inside when I saw him. All that gave me hope was finding you, all of my feelings guided me towards you." Tears flowed down her face. "You were all that made sense."

He sat forward in the chair and hugged her to his chest, letting her cry in his embrace. Oddly enough he was the one who felt empty inside. But he knew he could give her comfort like this, even if it wasn't what she really wanted. She had a lifetime of tears that needed to be freed and he needed her ready for the fight ahead of them. She trembled inside his arms and he held on to her tightly as she cried fiercely.

"Krych..." she stuttered, "I'm so sorry."

Skar remembered the man, they'd fought outside in Regana's snow. He hadn't been himself at the time but he remembered Krych fighting bravely for her protection. "He loved you very much."

"He loved her, he died trying to avenge her," she pointed out, clinging to him, "and she's gone."

The upper layer of clouds passed outside the viewscreen and Skar witnessed stars fall into view. He finally smiled, the stars always had that impact on him, they always brought him back to a center. He remembered talking to Kast in the cave shortly before their march into Hope's Haven.

The stars…each time I look at them, it feels like I'm becoming someone else. When I left Nar Shaddaa behind to become a Jedi, it was the first time I really saw the stars up close. So close I felt like I could reach them, touch them. It was a turning point for me.

Skar hugged her closely. "I need you," he spoke softly into her ear, "you can fall into this confusion and completely lose everything you have. Or you can use it, and become stronger than you've ever been. You have a choice."

She pulled away from his chest but stayed close to him, looking up at him with smudged tears on her cheeks. "What do you need?"

He smiled down at her, and with his hands on the side of her head, his thumbs wiped away her tears. "I need Eulogy."

Onboard the Masamune, things weren't going as planned. Eknath had been given reports of strange deaths onboard the ship, an unexplainable string of casualties among the soldiers. No cause of death had been located as of yet, but rumors had begun spreading about a virus picked up on Regana. Eknath knew that such a possibility was ludicrous. There was no sign of any illness among the men while they had been on Regana and no one had dropped dead on their own until now.

But Death was onboard the ship and slowly moving through its halls, or so everyone believed. Eknath realized what was happening could be described as a virus, because like any virus it was acting on sheer instinct and need to survive.

But the carrier had been at his side ever since they'd left Regana. He neglected to alert anyone to the true face of this silent killer, to safeguard its host. He remained immune so far, but only because he had unraveled the mystery.

To call Rishi a virus...how little they knew.

What he could not ignore and what they could not sense, was that the Dark Side itself had been brought onboard the Masamune as well, and it was currently residing within the soul of his new apprentice. Rishi may have believed he could withstand its effects initially, but now he was completely lost. He spent his days meditating, growing, building the Force inside of him, sucking up life all around him. His Kjoil heritage was draining everything around him of color and soul, while he grew stronger.

And stranger.

Eknath remained impervious because he understood the nature of the disease, if it could be called that. He could close himself off from Rishi's malicious pull, and watch in admiration. He had tried to teach Joon how to do what Rishi had acheived, but Joon had been a stupid choice for an apprentice, he knew that now. He could wield a lightsaber extremely well, perhaps the best swordfighter there ever was, but not even Joon could kill by his mere presence.

Eknath reached out and caressed Rishi's head, touching the pearls of perspiration running down his face, gleaming with pride.

"My flame."

Rishi's eyes slowly opened, and even after hours of meditation they still looked dry and drained, empty of heart and soul. His pupils were two black circles around a white core, his dry lips smacking slowly for water, minimal breath moving in and out, almost wheezing.

Eknath bent down before him, smiling. "Something has changed. Do you sense it?"

Rishi's eyes moved here and there, but focused on nothing. "Yes," his voice trembled as he spoke. "A tremor in the Force."

"No, dear boy. This is not a tremor. This is..." his eyes squinted and he moved his hand down to hold on to Rishi's shoulder. "Are you sure there isn't something about your previous Master that you've forgotten to tell me?"

Rishi's head bowed, as though he didn't have the strength to hold it upright on his own. "You said he was still alive."

Eknath was sure of that. "Everything I know about the Force tells me so. When he fell, the Force changed. However, it did not reach a full equilibrium. Something was resolved, but not everything. The Force was strengthened, but not enough. And now there is another disturbance. A new one."

Rishi sat upright only by the support of Eknath's hand. "Another?"

Eknath thought of Junn, who'd begun to exhibit her own disturbance after she'd come into control of the Force. But Rishi had no knowledge of her, and he didn't feel obliged to tell him about her. She'd served her purpose, even though she'd never functioned the way he had intended. She was meant to draw out the clone, but Sasa had beat him to it. Surely she must've died in the destruction of Hope's Haven.

"Skind's spirit still moves on this plane. However the man your Master knew as Kayupa has moved fully to the netherworld of the Force, his ties to your old Master now severed in his death."

Rishi swayed gently back and forth in his seating. "That means...Skind must still have a connection to someone...someone living."

Eknath realized he was right. Skind Kjoil's spirit still roamed this reality because of his ties to Junn, who was a clone of his former love. And that also meant that Junn was still alive, even though he couldn't sense her anymore. He found it interesting that Rishi could come across this truth before he could, but it only proved his faith that Rishi was going to become an exceptional being, the brightest of all his apprentices.

If he survived his own growth.

"I don't know what this means, dear boy," he lied. "You must continue your training."

Rishi's head moved up slightly. "If Skind's soul is still active...maybe that proves Master Skar is still alive."

Frowning, Eknath rose and collected his cloak around him. "Do not ponder these matters so heavily, my young apprentice. All will be revealed with time. And in time we shall root out this disturbance for our mutual benifit, for our glorious future."

Rishi remained upright and fell into meditation again, his mind lost upon the currents of the Dark Side. Eknath left him there and turned to Jovis, who stood at the entrance to their training room, a concerned look on his face.

"Is he alright?" the Mandalorian commander asked.

Eknath ascended the stairs and stood next to Jovis. "He will be...giving oneself to Darkness is never easy. But once he learns to control it, he will stronger than ever."

Jovis didn't look comforted. "It doesn't look...healthy."

Eknath grimaced. "He is moving beyond the boundaries of his body. Soon, healthy or not, it won't matter. The Dark Side will him keep alive."

Jovis pushed himself away from the wall. "Still no word on this mysterious virus."

Eknath pretended to be dissapointed. "It could be something in the air circulation. At least you and I still remain untouched."

Jovis touched his jaw with an open hand, rubbing the sides, clearly anxious. "We'll be arriving at Anodyn within the hour. What do you want me to tell the men?"

Eknath hinted at a smile. "Tell them I want them in full armament. Once we've reached Anodyn our forces will transfer to our own ships, only a handful of soldiers need remain behind to pilot the destroyers, along with our captured captains. Koll will not give up his leadership so easily, but he must. He's a danger to our mission, our destiny."

Jovis didn't look pleased, but he nodded nonetheless. "It will be done."

Eknath elaborated. "The Destroyers will remain in orbit, ready for departure. I only need to..." he looked for the right phrasing, "stop Riokon and his wife. But to do so I must ruin their integrity. I must show the soldiers that they are unfit for command. Once that is achieved, we will launch with all of the force that the Sons of Destiny have berthed at Anodyn."

The commander looked to Eknath. "How do you intend to destroy their integrity?"

Eknath locked his thin fingers around Jovis's shoulder and led him out of the chamber. "I have some very special information that will unravel the union between Koll and Sasa, it will turn them against each other, proving their incompetence."

The doors to Rishi's chamber closed behind them. Jovis tried to psyche himself up for the struggle ahead, knowing happily that not much was required on his part. "I've waited a long time for this war, this is my birthright. My heritage. This is what my people lived for."

Eknath chuckled. "Yes. You are finally stepping into the boots of your great forebearers, becoming as resourceful and competent as they were. Jango Fett would have been proud of you."

Jovis liked the sound of that. "Will you need me on Anodyn?"

"No, my apprentice and I will take a lone shuttle down," Eknath said, "move yourself onto one of our own ships and maintain command. Once matters on Anodyn are dealt with, I will rejoin you."

Jovis nodded. "And our prisoner?"

Eknath's eyes widened. "Ah, yes. Jedi Ulani. I had almost forgotten about him."

Although he knew there was no way Rishi could hear them, he still kept his voice low. "I have a feeling you're not too pleased he's still alive."

"And how observant of you," Eknath chuckled again. "While my apprentice and I are on Anodyn, feel free to...dispose of him."

Jovis smiled, thrilled at the prospect of killing the Jedi. "It will be done. In Jango Fett's name."

Eknath smiled supremely. "I have a feeling he would be very honored to know his unfair murder is not forgotten by his epigones."

The cargo hold of the Koniduz had never seen so much life. Kast was checking through all of his armor and gear for the hundredth time, making sure everything was functional and ready for whatever battle they were headed towards. He did so in a quiet meditative state where his actions seemed to flow on muscular memory more than intent. All the while his eyes flashed from one of his new allies to the other, an uncertain frown upon his face that revealed his inner thoughts about the whole thing.

2L and Tracker had instantly hit it off and were now comparing their harddrives and functions off one another, 2L as always speaking in a pitched voice, while Tracker responded with a series of whistles and buzzes, but equally loud. 2L seemed geuninely impressed with his newfound comrade's capabilities while Tracker seemed less intriqued by 2L's constant complaints and nanny-ing.

Jedi Master Raine sat secluded in a corner that was vaguely touched by the hold's illumination. Feet on kneecaps, he searched through the flow of the Force for answers that had long eluded him, as well as pulling strength to his tired old body, healing the wound in his chest. Anyone that tried to read his mind would find only emptiness and loneliness, as well as a growing fear that his end would soon catch up to him.

Skar and Junn dined at the only table inside the hold, comparing information and thoughts about everything that had happened on Regana. Skar listened only with half an ear, while the rest of his attention was drawn to the nagging feeling inside of him, the feeling of yearning to be there, to be done with it all.

Through his meeting with Shinran he had been able to see the future and knew what he had to do once they reached Anodyn, but the Force was flimsy regarding answers at best. It showed him what needed to be done, but not the path that would lead him there. Never had he felt so impatient, and even though Junn's stories and perspectives were interesting, a great part of him longed for silence.

Silence or Shinran's voice. Whichever would come first. One of them would very soon, if not both. He supposed he should have been questioning everything he'd seen, what he had experienced. He'd been through death and back, but there was no analyzing it. His mind had found a drive that looked only one way. He would defeat Koll, Sasa and Eknath, and he would save Rishi from his mistakes.

He supposed the only strange thing was that he wasn't fearing the future at all. All doubt had left him and replaced with only clarity. It was simple in his head, but he knew reality wouldn't match up. In reality he was going to kill his father and his mother, defeat a very powerful Dark Side follower, and possibly kill his own apprentice. He would stand against an army of thousands, against a fleet unlike anything the Galaxy had ever seen. He would chase Shinran through the deaths of thousands.

"...Eknath must have tampered with their minds as well," Junn finished, "Koll and Sasa knew Selia Iver. Granted that was long ago, but I find it strange they never made the connection."

Skar looked blankly at the floor next to their table. "Same thing happened with Kayupa," he said calmly, "over the years he grew more and more into his own person. So much I never saw the resemblance. I idolized them both, loved them both for what they were."

She raised an eyebrow. "You realize the irony, don't you? You thought you were Skar Kjoil, then you were told you were Skind Kjoil. Now you've been brought back, knowing you're Skar Kjoil, but put in the clone of Skind Kjoil."

His face showed no change. "I always wanted to be like my uncle."

She bit her lip. "I'm sorry, I - "

"Did you meet Rishi?" he cut her off.

She nodded, a little worried. "Kind of. I tried helping Rishi, giving him advice, telling him to stay out of all this. But he's a stubborn one. Losing you, I guess his pain built up barriers I couldn't break through."

Skar almost smiled. "Sounds like him, alright."

"When I realized it wasn't going to work, I tried steering him towards greater power. Something that would help him reflect Eknath's mind control."

Skar exhaled, his features sharpening. "The last thing Rishi needs is more power."

She looked down into her hands. "I understand that now. I meant well."

Skar blinked. "Don't worry."

She looked back up, trying to read him. She hesitated for a moment, until her fear wouldn't stay hidden anymore. "You're going to kill him, aren't you?"

Skar still stared at the floor, but his jaw tightened and his eyes dampened. "He has become a threat...to everything. But I'm afraid whether or not I'll have to kill him, is entirely up to him."

She shook her head, appalled to hear him say that. "This cannot happen. You're the last of the Kjoil. This world needs you two."

"Needs us, yes," Skar rose from the table and finally looked at her, a playful look upon his face, "but not the way you think."

Across the room the young Republic commando suddenly got up and strolled decisively to join Jedi Master Raine in his corner. The Jedi's eyes opened as he approached and instantly radiated worry. Kast dropped down on one knee in front of the little man, rifle hanging from his shoulder. Kast created an eye contact with Raine no lightsaber could slice through.

"You killed them."

Raine titled his head slightly. "Did I?"

"Yes," Kast said firmly.

Raine unlocked his fingers and placed his hands on his thighs, releasing a apprehensive groan. "Listen to me, Kast; I regret what I had to do, but I'm certain the events that awaits us on Anodyn will show you why what happened, had to happen."

Kast's face crunched up in anger, his lips becoming a snarl. "Don't give me that...sanctimonious destiny babble. You killed my brothers, my teammates. Clear and simple. It was your hand on the blade."

Raine nodded. "And I spared you."

"Why?"

Raine was particularly affected by Kast's pain. He maintained his ever stoic presence, his confidence unshattered. "Only the Force knows."

"So I'd learn?" Kast offered. "To give me pain? I have seen more pain in my short life than anyone else. I have fought on more planets than anyone could ever visit."

Raine's eyes looked beyond the ship, a small smile forming on his lips. "With pain comes knowledge and understanding. With each death of your teammates you began to understand the ails of this world. You may not understand the Force, but that doesn't mean you are not affected by it. There is a will, an idea, behind everything that happens in this world, Kast. Sometimes understanding comes slower than we would like, but I'm sure it will find you eventually."

Kast kept his hard stare, but the salty water forming in his eyes finally caved and he had to bow his head to hide it. His shoulders shuddered. "I still see them...dying right before me. And I couldn't help them."

Raine reached out and touched Kast's shoulder. "For whatever purpose the Force wanted to spare you, I do not understand either. But, as always, I'm sure I'll understand the truth of it far sooner than I would like."

Skar led Junn to the center of the cargo hold and knelt down on the floor. His hands touched the floor and he uncovered a hidden panel. Punching in a code, an entire segment of the floor opened up and revealed a weapons storage underneath the floor. Raine and Kast joined them and Kast let out an impressed whistle.

Skar stood back. "I've been putting this together over the years, collecting artifacts and memorabilia from my journeys. Feel free to take whatever you can use."

The weapon storage contained everything from heavy rifles to blaster pistols, different kinds of armor and gear, lightsabers, as well as more archaic hand-to-hand weaponary. Every was kept so preserved and clean that one might venture he kept it more as a physical photo-album to remind him of past adventures.

Kast walked around the compartment and something caught his attention. He bent down and ran his hand over another suit of armor. "This...its Dragon Tooth gear. Only better. More like the ones the Sons of Destiny are using."

Skar nodded. "Yeah, next generation. Luke thought I might like it."

Kast raised an eyebrow. "Luke Skywalker...stole it for you?"

Skar chuckled. "People in power don't steal. They acquire. You can have it if you want."

Kast looked like he definetely wanted it, but wasn't sure it was right to take a prototype. It had to be worth thousands. Kast turned his eyes over to Junn. "What about you?"

Junn looked unimpressed by the weaponary on display. "I'm fine."

The commando looked over her arcane armor. "Look, Mandalorian armor was top of the line, but that was decades ago. The Sons of Destiny are going to run right over you."

Junn's frosty eyes met Kast's. "I trained them. I know what they can do, and what they can't." Her face had an apathetic look to it. "Besides, I won't be going up against them."

While Kast helped himself, Skar walked around the compartment to face Raine. "You've got Rishi's lightsaber."

The short Jedi Master nodded. "Yes."

Skar held out his hand. "Give it to me."

Raine's brows furrowed a bit, but he retrieved the lightsaber from his belt and dropped it into Skar's palms. The clone weighed it in his hand for a few seconds, many thoughts passing behind his eyes before he clipped it to his belt.

Simple as that, it was his.

Raine didn't like feeling unarmed. "What do you have for me, then?"

Skar held out his hand to the compartment, at the lightsaber section. "Take anything you like."

Raine was unhappy he couldn't get to keep Rishi's lightsaber, but Skar had an aura about him that said nothing was debatable. Raine hunched down on one knee and grasped the first lightsaber he could reach. It was simple and plain-looking.

Skar nodded. "That one belonged to Hayt Kjoil. One of the Epigones I met on Draori."

Raine activated the weapon, a shimmering red blade extending from his palm. "Why did you keep it?"

Skar gave the Jedi Master a very cold grin. "It was all that was left of him."

Raine was not amused. "The blade is red."

He shrugged indifferently. "Yeah. Take it or leave it. It's all I got," he said dryly and walked away from the compartment.

Kast collected all the gear he wanted and wanted to talk to Skar about the mission ahead. He ran to catch up with the man but Skar was at the cockpit before he reached him. Kast dropped his new clothes and weapons into the gunner's seat.

"What's the mission?" Kast asked.

Skar didn't turn around. "Mission?"

"Yeah, don't you have a plan?"

Skar scoffed. "Sure. Junn's going to kill Eknath. I am going to get Koll and Sasa."

Kast didn't like the indifferent tone in his voice. "And...the rest of us?"

"I'm sure you'll find something to keep you occupied."

Kast rolled his eyes and started to have second thoughts about the whole thing. Their leader was bordering on suicidal, and they were heading into a sector filled to the brim with hostiles.

"Worst plan I ever heard. We need - "

"The key to battle is adapting within a second," Skar interrupted, his voice flat and emotionless. "If there's no plan, adapting comes much easier. Just follow my lead."

This was insane. Kast started stabbing the air with his finger and raised his voice. "There are thousands of soldiers on the planet's surface! Ground vehicles! Capital starships and thousands of starfighters!"

Skar turned slowly, irritation burning in his new eyes. "Feel free to stay on the ship if you want, but don't get in my way. This isn't a get-in-and-get-out mission. All those soldiers and their weapons don't matter if we take out the key leaders; Eknath, Sasa, Koll and Rishi."

Kast shook his head. "It won't stop the soldiers."

"No," Skar said firmly, and for once some hope appeared in his eyes. "But it will save the future."

Kast's guts turned into duracreate in a second. "This is a...suicide mission?" he asked, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.

Skar didn't so much as blink. "All missions are, Kast."

The young man started shaking his head. His jaw moved, but no real words came out. "I don't...I can't...I'm not ready to die. I didn't fight my way out of one hell to die in another."

Again that careless look. "Then stay here."

Kast felt like beating someone, felt like running but there was nowhere to go. "I can't do that."

Skar faced Kast fully and raised an interested eyebrow. "Then what can you do?"

The commando looked at the walls of the cockpit around him, looking for answers, a way. Seeking something that would help him understand everything. Going into a hot zone of enemies, all to save some future, it was out of his league. He didn't understand these things. He hadn't been trained for this.

"Walking away is a choice, Kast," some empathy touched Skar's voice. "I won't think any less of you. This is bigger than the Republic and the Sons of Destiny. This is the fate of the world as we know it. Whose hands do we leave it in? Who is best suited to take care of it?"

Kal had said the same things to him back on Regana, and he'd believed them. And they'd helped him through their fighting. But that mission had a chance of survival. This had less than zero chance of walking away alive. "I already walked away once, and Kal brought me back. He reminded me that I owed you. But this..."

Skar shook his head. "You don't owe me anything. Especially not your life."

"This is too big for me," Kast said. "I don't belong here. I'm - "

"You wouldn't be here, if the Force didn't have a role for you."

Kast wanted to believe that, but he couldn't. He didn't know the Force. He'd seen what Jedi could do but it was their world, not his. He lived in a world where his rifle was the only thing keeping him alive, not some supernatural power. "I'm not ready to die. You have to tell me more," Kast implored. "I don't understand this. I'm just a soldier. You told me to question my orders, but now - "

"Now you're not a soldier," Skar said matter-of-factly. "No one's ordered you do anything. You've been paid to kill in the past, you've been honored for your ability to do so. But can you aim a weapon at another man for something other than money? Can you find something to believe in?"

That conversation again. Kast remembered his talk with Skar, who had then gone by the name of Jarod, inside the mountain back on Regana. "I believed in you...Jarod."

The mention of that name brought no change to Skar's voice. "Do you still?"

Oddly enough he found that he did. He believed that the clone knew what he was doing and that the clone believed it was the right thing to do. He supposed he had to believe in it too, if he had to help the man.

"I do."

Skar smiled brilliantly. "Then that's all you really need, isn't it?"

Kast tried to exhale all his fear and confusion, tried to push away his despair and think of things in the simple lines that Skar had laid out for him. "I know you mean to do good. And that you understand what good is in a way I never could."

Skar walked forward, grasping Kast's shoulder. "Then fight for me. Fight with me."

Kast nodded, feeling an invisible armor cover him, a layer of confidence that would protect him as much as it could. The rest he would have to do on his own. "What do you need?"

Skar made a wicked smile. "I won't know till we get there."

The Star Orchid's jets whined as it lowered onto the landing pad of the castle, an immense construction of old shaped duracrete placed at the peak of a great mountain. It was said that no castle on Alderaan or Naboo could have contended with the majestry of the Riokon estate, its sheer size and elegance shadowing any architecture either Koll or Sasa had ever seen in their lifetime. The highest spire held their rooms and home, a massive disc of a balcony surrounding their exquisite home.

Perfect clouds trailed over their home, mocked by a brilliant pure blue sky with rays of sunlight piercing the clouds. The region of mountains that housed their home had mesmerizing green fields of untouched cross to the south while Anodyn's largest ocean could be seen from the north. The base of the mountain stretched out into an untouched beach, a series of rock-formations popping up through the water, resembling dragons.

One could walk from one side of the balcony at the top of the spire, from a view of beautiful natural fields to a magnificent ocean view. It was something Sasa had requested when they'd first begun designing their new home.

No soldiers lived in the castle, though Junn and Krych and the rest of their inner circle each had their own quarters. The military that lived on the surface of the planet, did so in a giant facility miles away from the castle. The castle was a fortress, unreachable by foot and protected by electromagnetic shields and automated enforcements, though neither had ever seen use.

Only a handful of air separated Koll and Sasa as they descended the Orchid's ramp, yet to Koll it might have been a million miles. She was as far away from him as the answers to the questions that put her there. Seeds of doubt had been planted in him by Skind's ghost and despite his desire to ignore it, he knew that was when things went bad. He couldn't discount that maybe she hadn't been completely honest with him.

And the feeling was tearing him up inside. He had to hide it from her, he had to be sure. He had to find time alone to think things through. Everything had happened so fast within the last few weeks and he hadn't had the time to analyze all the facts and perspectives he'd been given.

What if the greatest threat to all he was trying to acheive was walking right next to him? What if everything they had planned had been spoiled from the very beginning? What if the one person he dared to trust without a doubt, was the one waiting to destroy him? The Dark Side had taken hold of him again since Elemos and his encounter with the Sith's henchmen. The very same Sith that was now lost without a trace.

"You okay?" she asked.

He was startled out of his thoughts and looked around, seeing the perfect placement of the bricks in the landing pad, seeing the sun overwhelm his eyes out to the west. Breathing in the air that somehow smelled of home. He forced a smile and looked at her. "Just glad to be home again, my dear."

She reached out to hold his hand. "Wouldn't know it by looking at you."

"I'm still back on Elemos," he said, "trying to figure out what went wrong and how we can fix it."

She squeezed his hand. "Things have a way of working themselves out. We can't change what happened, but it was probably meant to be. Eknath and the others will be here soon, and our mission goes on, right?"

"Of course."

"Look," she nodded down the landing pad, "it's Galad."

Koll smiled genuinely seeing the man. Galad was the keeper of the castle, an honest man that had served them over many years. In his wake followed five servants in crisp uniforms, each with a smile on their face.

"General Riokon," Galad announced when they were within talking distance, "I am surprised. I thought you would be returning with the entire army behind you."

Koll shook the man's hand. "They are not far behind, my good man. I trust you've been keeping the men busy while we were gone?"

"By your orders, General. I challenge you to find a speck of dust anywhere."

Koll chuckled warmly. The sight of Galad and the sound of his voice brought Koll back to before their trip to Regana, back when he understood everything, back when things made sense and there weren't serpents behind any bush waiting to strike. "If only my eyes were good, Galad. Has there been any word from the army?"

Galad nodded. "Master Eknath contacted us from the Masamune just a little while ago. He should be arriving very soon."

"I hope not too soon," Sasa said and slipped her arm around Koll's waist.

Koll fought the urge to fend her off, her closeness made him feel unsafe. Something quite different. "I think my wife longs for her own bed. We've never been away from home this long before." He looked up, at the magnificent castle looming over the entrance of the landing pad. "And her precious view."

Sasa grinned and hugged Koll even closer. "I hope to have at least a short glimpse before we leave again."

Galad smiled. "Then I shall not take up more of your time. Are there any orders you want me to carry out before I retire?"

Koll knew he had to think in management and strategic terms again and the thought weighed heavily on him. "Yes...yes, have the ground forces at the bastion suit up and tell them to occupy our orbital ships as quickly as possible. I doubt it will be long after Eknath's return that we depart for Coruscant. We'll leave behind a stationary group at the bastion, but all ships must be ready for departure."

Galad bowed. "It will be as you command, General."

"Also; have men transport the cargo onboard the Orchid to our chambers."

Sasa looked up at him suddenly. "The clone? Why?"

Galad looked confused. "Clone, sir?"

"It's a very long story, Galad," Koll explained, "our initial use for the cargo has deteriorated, but hastened action is unwise. I want to be absolutely sure we don't need it before it is discarded."

Galad bowed again. "As you wish." He turned and motioned for the servants. The five servants marched past Koll and Sasa as they walked towards the Star Orchid's ramp entrance.

Sasa still had her arm around Koll. "You think the Sith will resurface?"

He wasn't sure, but he had a feeling Darth Eclipos would seek his revenge for their betrayal. Koll realized he was hoping the Sith Lord would come to him this time, since they had no leads to go on. If word somehow got out that they didn't have the clone anymore, it lessened the chance for the encounter he wanted.

"We're not done with him...why should he be done with us?"

The Masamune and the Ronin pulled out of hyperspace, the two massive starships sailing onwards towards the blue and green planet of Anodyn. But even as grand and menacing as the sight of two Imperial Star Destroyers were, they were quickly dwarfed by the already present fleet of the Sons of Destiny fleet.

A ring of fifty Watchmen ships circled the planet on a constant orbit, bow to stern, forever tailing each other at a very slow pace. Each slug-like ship had smaller fighters buzzing around it like flies, an impenatrable ring of defense protecting the planet. Already transports were launching from the planet's surface, filling the Watchmen with soldiers and equipment.

The final preparations for their strike on Coruscant was already underway.

The Masamune and the Ronin settled into place alongside the ring of Watchmen, and soon transports fled from the Destroyers and boarded the Watchmen, moving the remaining soldiers from the doomed Destroyers onto the more familiar surroundings of their own capital ships.

One small shuttle leaving the Masamune broke the pattern. Carrying Eknath and Rishi, the small shuttle left the stream and shot by the Watchmen, soon breaching Anodyn's atmosphere.

And no sooner had it faded from view among the clouds, than a third small ship broke out of hyperspace and swooped in towards the many enemy ships.

The Koniduz.

"Wow," Kast muttered, standing next to Junn in the navigator's seat, seeing the overwhelming size of his enemy's fleet. "I mean...wow! You guys have been busy."

Junn ignored him and kept the ship on a steady course towards Anodyn and the maze of hostile ships in front of them. "The Watchmen are a borrowed design," she explained dryly, "Koll met a group on one of his missions and stole the schematics to their ships. He built an entire fleet of them calling on favors from some of the largest shipyards in the Unknown Regions."

Raine stood on the other side of her, his face becoming more grim with each second they closed in on the planet. "I never thought I'd find myself thinking up weaknesses on our ships."

Junn snorted. "Don't bother. There are none. The Watchmen are a brilliant design. We don't stand a chance against their firepower or numbers."

Kast's eyes widened. "Then what do we do?"

Skar sat behind Junn in the gunner's seat, a very out of place calm look on his face. "We fly faster. Our battle is not in the stars, its on the surface of the planet."

Kast raised a skeptical eyebrow and held out a hand at the view. "And how do you suggest we sneak through that?"

Junn smirked. "Watch this," she hailed the command ship of the fleet. "Watchman Zero, this is the Koniduz, respond please."

A second later a man with much authority in his voice responded. "Koniduz, this is the captain of Watchman Zero...I went over your ship's identity package. You're very far away from home. I suggest you turn around and head back to Coruscant before you find yourself blasted to bits."

Junn's face tightened. "Suggest you watch that tone, captain," she replied, "I didn't pull your butt through boot camp to have you throwing threats at me."

The man hesitated. "...Junn? Lady Junn?"

She smiled confidently. "That's right, captain. I had to take a different route home. I have Master Raine with me as well. Do you mind getting the door for us?"

The man grinned. "Welcome home, Lady Eulogy. We heard rumors of your death. I am glad to hear they were just rumors. Your path will be cleared, lieutenant."

Ahead, two Watchmen broke the ring, leaving a breach in their perfect orbit of the planet. The Koniduz sped up

Junn looked up and winked at Kast. "Thank you, captain."

The connection died.

Kast smiled, a bit red in the cheeks. "I don't know why I hadn't even thought of that."

Skar rose from his seat, an unimpressed look on his face. "Don't worry about it, Kast. I didn't bring you along for your ability to think."

Raine was hugging himself. "How does the Kjoil Master suggest we destroy all these ships?"

Skar shook his head. "We don't. That's not why we're here."

Junn looked up at him. "Koll and Sasa, right?"

"Eknath and Rishi, too," he said, eyeing the space ahead. "Looks like they're getting ready." His eyes fluttered. "Rishi is on that small shuttle, the one that just broke through atmosphere."

Junn checked her readings. "It's headed for the castle. Are we going after it?"

Skar thought for a few moments. "No...not yet. First; we're going to make a visit for that bastion you mentioned. It should be relatively clear of enemies with all of them moving out."

Kast looked at him over his shoulder. "Relatively?"

Skar sniggered. "Well...I'll be there to give them a lesson in relativity."

The Koniduz drifted slowly through the gap in the Watchmen ring, and tension in the cockpit lifted slightly now that their enemies were behind them. Anodyn grew larger and finally filled all of their viewscreen.

"What's the mission at the bastion?" Raine asked.

Before Skar could answer, Junn sprung into activity at the controls. "Wait! Look," she pointed at another shuttle leaving one of the Star Destroyers, heading for the nearest Watchmen cruiser, "Jovis and the Jedi. They're onboard that shuttle."

Kast stepped forward. "Kal?"

"Yes," she answered, "I can feel it." She brought up the shuttle's frequency and hailed it. A little edge was in her voice when she announced herself. "Shuttle Vermilion, this is the Koniduz. Lieutenant Junn speaking."

The reply took a while before coming back, the shuttle continuing on its intended course. "This is commander Jovis," he replied, emphazing his rank. "Lieutenant, I felt sure we had lost you on Regana."

Her jaw ground itself. "You weren't that lucky, Jovis. And your luck is going to continue on a descent course. I want the Jedi."

He chuckled. "Sorry to dissapoint you, Junn. But he belongs to me - " the connection filled with noises of a struggle, groans and then a whimper. Someone else took hold of the microphone and a much friendlier voice came through.

"This is the pilot of shuttle Vermilion, Lieutenant Junn. As per your...instructions, we will be settling down at the bastion on Anodyn's surface, where you may collect the Jedi as you please."

Junn smiled supremely, recognizing the voice of another soldier she'd trained and instructed long ago. "Thank you."

Kast and Raine gazed stunned at each other, then at Junn, before their eyes finally reached around to Skar, who only gave them a nod and a knowing smile.

"Yes...that is our mission at the bastion. We're going to need him."

"You knew this was going to happen. You saw it." Raine faced the Kjoil clone fully, wonder and confusion upon his face. "Does the Force tell you?"

"Yes."

Raine looked lesser. "Everyone seems to have grown but me. The Force still eludes me. I see no path."

Skar looked like he couldn't care less. Through the Force, and through their conversations he knew what bothered Raine and the fact that he understood where Raine's path would lead him should have weighed on his heart, but it meant nothing. It was just another piece of the puzzle. He would do nothing to help Raine avoid his fate, because his fate was a large factor of his plan.

In his past life, before he died, he would have warned Raine, but not this time. He wouldn't disturb fate anymore. All he had to do was stop Rishi, whatever the cost. He would set everything right. But convinced as he was, he still had to swallow a lump before saying those fateful words.

"Raine, your path is detached from ours. I want you to go to the castle."

Raine shook his head. "I can't fight them."

Skar looked the old man in the eyes. "You trusted me enough to go with me on this mission. Trust me now when I say that is where you must be."

The Jedi Master's eyes looked to the floor, a crestfallen expression on his face as if he felt it too. "Is that what the Force tells you? What you have seen?"

Skar kept himself in check. "It is your destiny."

He knew, it was all over him. "You know what will happen to me. You know the future."

Skar nodded. "Yes."

"And that look upon your face tells me you don't want to tell me."

"The look on your face tells me I don't have to."

Raine resembled a man being given a handful of answers but didn't know which one to choose. "What...must I do?"

Words came from Skar on their own, read from a script even he could not understand where came from. "You will know when your time has come."

Raine seemed resigned with his future, a content but sad expression on his face. "Fate has swept away our kind...as must I follow."

Skar nodded and accepted it at that. Master Bo-Hi had thought those exact same words the day Kayupa had killed him. He remembered Bo-Hi's feeling flooding through him when he died, and it encouraged him to reach out to Raine's shoulder and tell him something more. Words he wished he could have had the chance to tell Master Bo-Hi back then.

"You did what you felt to be the right thing...always. There's no shame in that."

Raine almost smiled but the rest of his face carried too much sorrow for the moment to end joyously.

"Thank you," he said softly, "Master Kjoil."

Skar wished he could have smiled himself, but he just couldn't. "May the Force be with you, Jedi Master Raine. Would be strange for it to lose sight of you now." His eyes went to the commando. "Kast, you and I are going to save Kal. Tracker will go with us. 2L will stay onboard the Koniduz and provide support if needed with the ship's cannons. I will create a distraction while you get him out. Be careful, Jovis will be keeping him company."

Kast nodded, but he wasn't entirely onboard. "You know Junn's fate, and you know Raine's fate. Then you must know mine as well."

Skar had tried and strangely enough he had seen no clue as to Kast's future. "Oddly enough, yours is the only one I can't fully read."

"Fully?"

Skar nodded. "I see...faint visions, but not the whole picture. I should be able to see it, but its as though your destiny isn't written yet."

Kast smirked. "I think you're lying just to give me hope."

Skar laughed, surprising himself that he was able to at such a time. "Is it working?"

Kast shook his head. "Not in the slightest. But I appreciate you trying, actually. Whatever happens, I've got your back."

"Thanks," Skar said, "but there won't be anybody on my back."

Eknath's shuttle came in on a slow descent, the peaceful arrival of a bird letting the wind push it forward, before dropping down on its legs on the landing pad, groaning as it settled in. Exhaust fired from its gears and the boarding ramp unlocked, opening wide like a bird's beak. The setting sun in the far horizon threw a golden sheen across the hull of the shuttle.

Trying hard not to let his anxiety show, Koll walked to meet Eknath with Sasa at his side, struggling in the common ground between fear and relief, not entirely sure what to expect from the old prophet. He desperately wanted a full report on what had occured on Regana since he'd left them on their own, to hear how so many of their inner circle had died. And even as he walked across the pad, he found even more questions popping up, questions to which he was afraid he wouldn't like the answers.

Eknath strolled down the boarding ramp alone, his hood up and his gray cloak waving softly as he walked to meet them.

"Welcome home, Master Eknath," Koll forced himself to smile. "I gather by the apparent evidence in space that you have succesfully completed our objectives."

Eknath glanced back and forth between them, his red eyes burning in their sockets. "With some margin of failure; yes."

Sasa's voice held some frailty. "What happened to the others, Eknath?"

Those red eyes seemed ready, poised for something. "Let's not waste time discussing the past when we are so close to the future, my old friends. All but the traitor Raine, our accomplices were killed by the Republic forces," he spoke very dismissively, "Raine escaped me, but I am confident he died in the destruction of Hope's Haven."

Sasa's jaw tightened. "Krych...tell me about him."

Eknath almost snarled, an undercurrent of anger. "He was killed...he lead the charge against the survivors of the Republic army after we rained the scrapyard down upon them. I don't know how it exactly happened, but I know him to be dead."

Sasa looked doubtful. "How can you be sure?"

Eknath's lips slowly formed a smile. "Oh, I am very sure."

Koll couldn't help taking a step forward, putting himself slightly between Sasa and Eknath, sensing a tension between them. "I am sure," Koll managed a pleasant but stern voice, "my wife dearly wants to know how her beloved apprentice has perished."

His scarred face grew more fierce with each second. "It is as I explained in my transmission. The Kjoil apprentice turned up along with the Republic forces. He killed Tragedy, Gravity, Eulogy and Loyalty. I sacrificed the Infinity, to create a convincing return to Coruscant." He raised a questioning eyebrow. "That is still our objective, is it not?"

Sasa nodded confidently. "Of course it is."

Eknath's eyebrow remained lifted and he turned his gaze to Koll. "I don't hear our glorious General saying anything."

Sasa looked over at her husband. "Koll?"

Koll felt a shiver of excitement filling him, the feeling of standing on a needle-point, a place in time when everything would change around him. And he wasn't surprised that Eknath already had some idea of where things were about to move.

"You knew, didn't you, Master Eknath? Being the Prophet in our group."

Eknath nodded. "I had my suspicions."

Sasa looked back and forth between them, confused. "What are you talking about?"

Koll delivered a sinister grin. "The entire mission, all of our objectives...it ends right here."

Sasa felt hollow inside. "What?"

Koll started to wander the landing pad, talking to no one in particular. "Witarms helped me realize something. I am not going to destroy Coruscant, I am not going to start a war against the Republic. It took me a long time to see the flaw in my plans, but I can't look away from them now. We've gone through a lot of effort and work to make it, and in the end our efforts will not be in vain. But now a new mission takes shape, the real mission."

Sasa could sense something much worse about to be revealed to her, and her mind raced to reevalute clues and signs she'd seen. "What mission?"

Koll smiled, filled with the joy of fulfillment, tears starting to form at the corners of his eyes. "Saving the New Republic. It is my final gift...alerting the Republic to a threat they would not know for many years, a threat they wouldn't be ready for. I will give the fleet and our army to them, letting them dispose of them as they wish, along with a warning about the coming invasion from beyond the Galaxy. I have to let them know, I have to make them see it. Our soldiers will help them fight back the alien invasion, they will ensure the Galaxy's survival."

"But..." Sasa was at a loss for words. She looked to the heavens, feeling the minds of thousands of soldiers onboard the ships in orbit. "What about the Sons of Destiny? Our Dream?"

Koll shook his head. "They have completed their circle. Their initial intention was to create a better world, and we will. The Republic will be ready. Infact; its only now that we truly are sons of destiny. In time, the soldiers will understand this. The Dream was fulfilled. Our role in history as the saviors of this Galaxy solidified, maybe not now, but when the real war begins, we will be remembered. Our place in time has come and gone. I realized after Skind's clone died, that we'd estalished the equilibrium in the Force, making the Jedi stronger. This world no longer needs us."

Eknath chuckled. "Amazing you've come this far and still know so little."

Koll looked at Eknath, puzzled.

Eknath held his hand out towards Sasa. "Maybe you should have a talk with your wife. Sasa knew. I read it off her mind the moment I set foot on Regana. The part of her that had doubts. After that it was almost too easy...and quite amusing to observe."

Koll's face paled, and his excitement faded as though it never were.

"Sasa was the only one I didn't have to hide it from, she did her best to hide it from herself. I knew she had her motives and she knew I had mine. Neither of us wanted to be revealed, so we stayed silent. For mutual gain. In the end we wanted the same thing. A war. She stayed silent because she feared if you knew your son was still alive, your resolve might waver, just as it does now. She knew this war was needed, as much as I do." Eknath's voice turned playful, clear evidence that he was enjoying himself more than ever. "I caused the initial death of your son. I coaxed him and catered to the part of him that wanted to commit suicide. The part of him that wanted to be free of his nightmare. Just as Skind did to the first clone, the one called Kayupa."

Koll stood there, trembling, a horrible feeling rising up in him. "No..."

"Yes," Eknath said clearly. "That...was your son."

Koll looked to his wife, unable to fathom what he had been told. "Tell me, Sasa. Tell me he is a liar."

Eknath grinned loudly. "Ironic, isn't it? If she does...she is the liar."

Koll started shaking his head, tears forming at his eyes. "No...no, that's not true. I would have felt it!"

Eknath scoffed. "Would you really? All your life you've starved for two things; a son and revenge. You were given a chance to choose, you could have gone either way, you could have lied to yourself, but you chose revenge."

"Silence!" Koll roared at him, his eyes never leaving his wife.

Her lips moved but no words came out. She looked back and forth franticly, unable to find comfort or support in anything. "Koll, if I'd told you, what would have happened? Would you have stopped the war? Would you forgive the Republic for the things you thought they did? Would it have stopped you?"

Koll's hands started to coil. "You don't expect me to answer that."

Sasa shook her head. "You would never have risked it, given the chance for a family again. So...I chose for you. I was convinced, Koll. The world needs a war, a clean slate, a fresh start. I couldn't risk you throwing that away for your own benifit."

"My own benifit?" he asked. "You're talking about our son, Sasa! The child you carried in your womb, the son you had so many dreams and visions for. Our dream! Everything we ever wanted!"

Sasa started to cry. "You and I fell apart too long ago, Koll. I still love you for all you're capable of, all your strengths, but understanding family was never one of them. You're in love with a dream, Koll...I'm in bed with reality. For the future of this Galaxy, I buried my feelings for our son."

Koll's face tightened, the areas around his eyes shrinking. His head started to nod slowly, repeatedly, and he finally cried. "I was looking for a traitor. Turns out she was right in my bed."

Sasa stepped toward her husband -

But Koll struck her hard aside with an armored fist, flinging her across the landing pad, sliding to a halt near the edge.

"Stay away from me!" Koll yelled with all of the hate his voice could deliver, the sound echoing against the mountain behind them, the Dark Side swirling all around him. Koll put his back to Eknath, staring at Sasa with all the hatred in him. "I will deal with you in a minute, Eknath. I must...tend to my wife first."

Surprisingly Eknath remained where he stood, his sick laughter reaching thunderous proportions.

Koll turned back around, sensing something was happening. He could feel enourmous amounts of attention drawn to him. "What's happening?" He looked around himself, feeling walls start to close around him. "What have you done?"

Eknath revealed a hidden comlink on his belt. "This little incident has been transmitted to every ship in the army, every soldier once devoted to you has suddenly had a change of heart."

Koll knew it wasn't a lie. Already he could feel massive amounts of anger and hatred aimed at him.

Eknath couldn't contain his smirk. "A slight change in motivation...your assault on Sasa has left repercussions. You may have been the fist and the sword of this army, Riokon, but Sasa was the heart. Many of these soldiers viewed her as their mother. It was in her eyes they found the love that was their reward. You can imagine how they must be feeling by now. Your power-base has just crumpled. You're all alone now."

Koll stood between his fallen wife and the man who had destroyed everything he knew. "What is it you intend to do, Eknath? Where is all this heading?"

"Yavin 4."

Both of them turned to see Jedi Master Raine appear from the landing pad's entrance, walking determined towards them, the blazing sunset exploding behind him. "That's your real target now, isn't it, Eknath? You're going to destroy Skywalker's Jedi Academy. You know they are a greater threat to you than any Republic army. And then you will lead the Kjoil to victory, using Rishi as your tool."

Koll's joy at seeing Master Raine never had a chance to manifest. "You aligned with the Kjoil apprentice?"

Raine stopped walking, leaving Koll at equal lengths to them both. "That was his plan all along. He was the one who misguided the Bothan informer on Coruscant, feeding the apprentice lies that would make him come to Regana, as well as ensuring his Master's death. He planned to set your son free, so you could have your revenge and continue on course. But he didn't know that your son would take Sonnet's power onto himself, becoming more powerful that you could handle. Eknath engineered everything. To get him the location of the Kjoil, to have the Galaxy vulnurable to an attack, and to lead the Kjoil to victory. And now he's here to pick up his army, as well as the clone body you took from Regana."

Koll's head lowered, feeling all of the puzzles fall into place. And what a fool he had been. "Of course...you're the Sith Lord."

Eknath chuckled confidently, his scarred face becoming truely hidious. "Only partially, I'm afraid. There's never been an actual Sith Lord, but I've managed to manipulate your mind into thinking there was. Right from the very moment I first joined your group. When I supposedly hired you as Eclipos, I only did it to give you the push that would set my plan in motion. I was growing tired of hearing you talk about all the great things you had yet to acheive."

Koll's eyes squinted, his frame vulnurable. "But you were never at Elemos."

"I was, once. Long enough to plant information in Witarm's mind that would give you a convincing story should you ever return to that place. You trust that old fool, I was just making sure he removed any notion of suspicion aimed at me."

Koll kept his eyes downward. "And you made sure Regana was the site of first attack because of the cloning facility...you wanted a new vessel, a new clone."

Eknath nodded. "Precisely. All this time you've valued me for my abilities to manipulate minds, so much you couldn't see you were under its very influence all along."

Koll's arms shivered with anger. His hands opened and two lightsabers dropped into his palms from his gauntlets. "Well, not anymore."

Eknath still chuckled. "See, this is where it gets interesting, Koll. This is where the true error of your entire plan is revealed."

Koll started walking fast towards him, the man responsible for all of his anger, all of his pain. "Talk fast, Eknath. You don't have much time left."

Behind Koll, Raine's old face came up, a tightness to his features. Raine changed his position, moving slowly, almost hesitantly, into a defense stance. "Koll," he said in an unsure voice, "I feel it again...the Force is moving."

Koll stopped walking, and moved his head only to glance at the Jedi Master, a confusion on his face that slowly changed into comprihention. "No...you can't be serious."

Raine pulled the cloak from his shoulders, letting the robe be taken by the wind, snapping onto itself as it went. "It is time."

Koll turned fully to face Raine and whipped out a hand towards Eknath. "Because of him!"

"Maybe," Raine said confused, his eyes wandering. "I'm not sure. Or maybe it is you," his right hand quietly removed the lightsaber from his belt. "Yes. It is you. I...can't let you kill him."

Again Eknath laughed supremely. "You see? Destiny wants me to succeed. The Force is on my side, Riokon. You can't destroy me! This has to happen!"

Koll's face crunched up and both lightsabers ignited with red blades from the handles. "Very well. Let's bury the last sad remnants of this charade."

Eknath rubbed his hands together. "I'll leave you two to settle this. I have a Galaxy in much need of repair." He turned on his heels and marched back towards the shuttle. "Farewell, my old friends."

Raine's lightsaber ignited slowly, the red blade extending to full length, a beaten fragile look on his face. "You should know...I hoped this would never happen."

Koll nodded, respecting the man's words. "I'm glad to hear that," he said, his voice annoyed but also vulnurable. He let out the air in his lungs, tilting his head back. "I bear you no hatred, Raine. But its two sides of the same coin. You have one vision, I have another. A collision course...destined."

Raine lowered his head and closed his eyes, a surrender in his voice. "Remember me."

Koll's head came back up, his lips slowly forming a warm smile. "I will."

Raine charged forth, as fast as his old body would allow, tears bouncing off his face as he closed on Koll. Koll stood like a statue, the misting of his eyes the only motion he allowed himself. Raine was a friend, perhaps his only friend, and it saddened him that their convictions should clash like this. But he expected no less from Raine than he expected of himself; loyalty, above all else, to his beliefs. It took the edge of the pain off it, that at least Raine had honor, unlike the others.

Raine came in, his lightsaber falling from above. Koll raised his right blade to intercept while his left blade moved to stab Raine beneath. But Raine twirled sideways on his heels, the left blade stabbing only air. Raine moved quickly and wrested the right blade from Koll's hand by twisting his own lightsaber while they were connected. Koll rolled away, coming up on one knee, firming both hands on his single lightsaber.

Koll chuckled. "You learned that from me."

Raine nodded, his cheeks moist with tears. "A gift among friends."

Koll looked to his other lightsaber, lying behind Raine's feet. He could easily call it to his hands without Raine being able to stop it, but he decided not to. Instead he rose from the floor and set himself for another attack. Raine dashed forth, sliding purposely on the slippery floor as he approached. His speed and swift strike sent Koll back a step, but he quickly recovered, landing a series of quick slashes across Raine's blade.

It was a brief half-hearted battle, neither truely desired the victory over the other. The Force swirled around them both, pouring energy into their bodies, giving each the strength to claim victory. Like two charged cells, they sparred and spun around one another, just as they many times before had done in training or mock battle. But this was no contest, it wasn't even a battle. Fate had already decided who would become the victor and time, as it was, was already wasted.

They ended with crossed blades, staring at each other between the blades. Leaning against each other, they stood there for what seemed like forever, their eyes speaking in volumes to each other. Raine's knees started to buckle, and his face finally closed up in sadness.

Sobbing, he bowed his head down and made a quick resolute nod.

Koll slowly removed Raine's lightsaber from the old man's hands, his wrinkly fingers giving it up without resistance. Koll stepped back, watched his old friend break down in tears before him. The sight brought sorrow to his own heart and, refusing to let the image stain his memory of the man, he slashed across his own chest with the blue lightsaber, plucking Raine's head from his shoulders in one swift strike, the very same instant the last inkling warm light of sunset fully died around them.

Koll's jaw trembled as the old man faded into air before him, the Jedi uniform pulled away by the wind. Koll watched it fly away for as long as he could, and when it completely vanished he felt his own heart stop. He heard the shuttle power up behind him, but couldn't find the strength to face it or even look at it. Maybe Eknath was right, maybe he was the fool. It didn't matter anymore. Nothing mattered.

Everything was gone.

Poor Raine...he was only meant to delay me, so Eknath could escape. It's all true, everything Eknath said.

Loneliness overpowered him, a sudden shattering of all that he'd once known and loved. Both lightsabers died in his hands, and Koll stood there, staring at the night above him, having never felt so alone, listening to the shuttle's engines as it flew away, the sound softly fading away.

Sasa started to move nearby. Koll clipped both lightsabers to his belt and turned towards his wife. Before Sasa was completely conscious, Koll wiped away the last of his tears, cleared out his throat and took a deep breath.

"Now that we're finally alone, I think we can have some quality time together."

She awoke and sat up, rubbing her face where he'd struck her, flinching in pain as she touched the sore section. Her face slowly moved back and her eyes looked up at him.

And where he once had seen love, he now only saw fear.

She could see it, she could see his change.

She could see he was already dead.

"Koll..." she pleaded.

The first hit slammed dead-on into Sasa's face, instantly flooring her. But Koll picked her back up by the collar and dropped another highly raised fist down into Sasa's already battered face.

Sasa felt like she was drowning, choking on shattered teeth and gushing blood, fighting to spit as much of it as she could out. The pain was immense, her head felt like a starship had flown straight through it. Everything was a swirling mess of pain, confusion and fear. She tried to remember even a small memory of Koll that brought her joy even as he was beating her, but all of it felt distant, like a rug had been pulled over it. All she knew for certain was the shattering pain that accompanied every punch and every kick.

After what felt like forever, Koll pulled her face back by her hair, forcing her to look at him, though Sasa could barely make out her husband's face anymore. She could hear sobbing, as Koll held up his own mangled and bloodied fist before her eyes, too filled with dark hatred and anger to care about primitive pain.

"Was there anything more you want to say to me...my darling wife?"

The Koniduz swept over the treetops of Anodyn's greatest forest, barely missing the tallest of trees. This close to ground the enemy's scanners and radars wouldn't detect their presence, even if they already knew they were inside the atmosphere. 2L piloted the ship, keeping her engines at full speed, imbound for the bastion just at the edge of the forest.

Skar, Junn and Kast had assembled at the ship's ramp, all dressed up for a battle and going over the last few mission details. Skar was nothing more than a shadow inside his cloak, two determined eyes that saw clearly through every veil of fear or doubt. Junn's Mandalorian armor managed to still look menacing despite small damage here and there, while Kast looked very comfortable with himself wearing experimental battle-armor, Tracker hovering diligintly over his shoulder.

Skar finished his last instructions and activated the ramp, opening up the rear of the cargo hold and allowing them all a view of treetops and a land of green that moved away from them at high speed. His cloak flapped as wind wrapped around him, and yet he stood like a block of heavy stone at the edge of the ramp, staring down into the forest beneath him.

With the blink of an eye his perceptions changed and he saw, what he already knew to be true, through the Force.

"Raine is gone."

Junn stepped up beside him, her helmet lowering slightly. "How?" her mechanically filtered voice asked.

Skar didn't know what to say. Was it an honorable death? Was it justifiable? Such things had no answer, but there was still truth in the oblivion. "He died the way he wanted to. Following the will of the Force."

The helmet raised again. "Then he died a good death."

Skar turned to her. "Eknath is taking off. He's going to link up with the fleet."

She nodded and the helmet looked at him. "He's not home free yet."'

"You know," Skar said matter-of-factly, "you cannot defeat him."

She nodded. "I know. But I'll have the help of friends."

Skar didn't know what she meant by that, and time was short. "Make sure Rishi stays alive."

She put two fingers to her temple and signed off Skar and Kast. "Good luck at the bastion," she said and hesitated, as though she wanted to say more.

Skar knew there was nothing more to say. They would never see her again, and the world would never know what she was about to sacrifice. The Galaxy would never hear of a Lady Junn who faced a Dark Side tyrant on her own, fighting with every breath in her warrior's soul so they could be free. He imagined there were few people in the world who could carry such a burden without breaking, but that was what soldiers were for, carrying the fate of many on their shoulders.

She stepped toward the ramp, putting a foot on the edge, about to leap off -

Skar grapped her arm, stopping her.

She didn't look at him.

"Tell him," Skar thought of Skind Kjoil, the restless spirit somewhere beyond this world, about the promise he had once sworn to do, "I will keep my promise."

She still didn't look at him, but the helmet nodded.

And then she was off, leaping into free air, her jetpack instantly firing up and she rocketed away, leaving only a trail of exhaust in the air above the forest.

Kast walked up beside Skar, looking at the fading spot that was Junn in the distance. "In another life, another time, I could have fallen for her."

Skar contained the urge to laugh. "You know, we wouldn't be here if someone hadn't once fallen for her."

"Huh?"

Skar shook his head. "Nevermind. Ancient history," he said. Ancient history long overdue for a final chapter.

The cargo hold's internal comm system activated and 2L's worrying droid voice spoke through. "Master Skar, I do believe we are approaching our destination. The enemy stronghold is only a few miles away."

Skar nodded and moved his head from side to side, cracking his neck.

"About time."

With his new clone body safely in storage in the back, Eknath felt very snug inside the shuttle's co-pilot seat, having finally severed all the ties to Koll and his useless plans. Everything had proceeded almost entirely to plan, all that remained was to ensure the loyalty of the fleet, a feat he was sure would demand some work, but nothing that the Dark Side of the Force couldn't help him acheive.

Koll would surely murder Sasa, now that the same Dark Side had finally stolen away the last of his resolve, and he fully expected the former General to end his own life in grief soon after. But nothing held the pleasure as knowing that old man Raine was finally dead, his eternal blindness now a full darkness. That fool had been hovering over his shoulder all along, a thorn in his side now finally removed.

Rishi piloted the shuttle, his pale skin and yellowish eyes a startling change from the youthful healthy boy he'd once been. His muscles trembled with subtle pain, a constant unrest ruining his stability. Eknath wasn't worried. It was in that lack of stability that Rishi would finally lose himself completely and become a puppet just like Joon.

Soon he would transfer himself to his new clone vessel. And in time, when the Kjoil refugees were completely under his control, Eknath would even take Rishi's body for his own, giving Kjoil powers that would ensure his everlasting control of this world. Nothing and now no one could prevent him now. The Republic might've been on to their exploits on Regana by now, and might even have heard of a planet called Anodyn, but they would be too late.

While they were gathering clues at Regana, Eknath would already be on his way to Yavin Four, taking him with a vast fleet that would vaporize the planet from space, ending the Jedi plague before it could grow into an unstoppable virus.

He chuckled to himself. "Magnificent times ahead of us, my apprentice. Everything is happening exactly as I planned."

Rishi showed no sign of interest, his dying eyes were dimly unfocused on the clouds slowly moving by outside the viewscreen. "You should have killed Riokon."

"Riokon will destroy himself. The man has lost everything, so much so that even the thought of revenge will tire him. I know him well enough to see it. This defeat will be the final undoing of that aged warrior." He closed his eyes. "Yes...even now I feel it. He's lost, killing his wife as we speak."

Rishi's hands moved the controls. "And Raine?"

Eknath smiled. "Raine is dead, but you were right to leave him alive on Regana. It seems fate for some reason chose him to be my shield against Riokon's rage. So you see...fate designed him to save my life, ensuring the future that I have forseen."

"Future?" Rishi said. "But there is no future."

Eknath wasn't sure what the boy meant by those words. It remained true that the Force still showed no clear cut path of how things were going to end, but all proof showed that things were moving in his favor. Why else would someone like Raine feel the need to defend a man who was clearly his enemy? "Everything will become more clear in time, once the final building blocks are in their right place."

Rishi's eyes stared blankly into the air in front of him. "What about the others?"

"What others?"

Rishi looked over at his Master, and for once there was a devastatingly clear intelligence in them. "Raine didn't get here on his own."

Eknath's world took on a shade of black, an instant fury with himself. How could he have overlooked that fact?

And in that moment one of the screens lit up with a hand-sized holographic image of Jovis, looking very flustered. The image suffered some distortion due to a weak signal. "...are you recieving me?"

Eknath leaned forward in his seat and read the transmission's origin off the screen. "Commander Jovis, why are you not onboard the Watchmen?"

"It's Junn! She's here! My men turned on me and landed the shuttle inside the bastion, they think she's still in charge! They're keeping me until she arrives!"

Eknath's thin hands tightened around the armrests of his seat. Of course, that was how. "And the Jedi prisoner? Is he still with you?"

Jovis nodded. "Kal Ulani is still in my custody."

Eknath's face soured. "Kill him immediately."

Rishi stirred next to him. "What?"

Eknath's scarred face turned more grim by the second. "I will take no more chances. He's a threat and one of them. If Junn travels with anyone else, they will surely come for him." Eknath looked to Jovis again. "You have your orders, commander."

"Yes," Jovis nodded franticly. "And...then?"

Eknath couldn't help feel disgusted by what Jovis was obviously asking of him. "You will have to ensure your own survival, Jovis. Make Jango proud."

Those words seemed of little comfort to Jovis. "But...I - "

Eknath flicked off the hologram. "Useless mercenary. I had higher hopes for that one." He settled back into his seat, his red eyes burning with fury. How did Junn make it out of Regana? The place was destroyed, there were no other ships.

Rishi stared distractedly at the view outside, his eyes focusing. "Fett?"

Eknath looked over at his apprentice, starting to worry about Rishi's sanity. But then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw it too. a black spot on the pure white sky outside. A form starting to approach them ever faster.

And with unflinching clarity Eknath knew it was her.

A second form broke off from the first one, this one moving much faster, leaving a trail of smoke and fire behind it.

It was only in the second after her jetpack's missile had blown through the shuttle's viewscreen and detonated in the back of the shuttle, dooming it to an uncontrollable descent, that Eknath realized the destruction of Yavin Four was still very, very far away.

The architecture of the Sons of Destiny bastion was unimpressive, a few large buildings existed on the surface of the planet while the large hangar spaces were underground, accessible by gigantic doorways that led down into the starship silos. At the moment a flood of shuttles and cargo ships were swarming out of the ground, falling into perfect columns that sailed for the stars above. The mood inside the bastion was an elated one, years of planning and training had finally paid off and the proud soldiers of the army were on their way to their target.

Only a few hundred men would remain behind to keep the bastion running, thinking they'd been given the safer end of the deal.

The Koniduz came swooping in as a crimson bird of prey, opening up her guns and dropping bombs at the few surface installations that existed. The ground to air weapons that were meant to protect the facility never stood any chances as the Koniduz leveled them with everything the old bird carried onboard.

To outsiders whoever was piloting the Koniduz had to be a seasoned fighter-pilot or at the very least a man that had been through years of performing strafing runs on heavy military installations. Never in a million years would anyone have guessed that the pilot was in fact a protocol droid, a protocol droid very confused about the strange exciting sensations it sent through its concious mind to be finally be the one flying the ship.

On the second run over the structures two men jumped off the ramp of the personnel carrier, one man strapped to the back of a disc-shaped droid and holding on for his dear life. The other man wore a black cloak that folded out like the giant wings of a hawkbat, showing his descent and gliding through the air, aiming for the column of enemy shuttles, of which neither broke off to stop the insane assualt on their home base, but merely increased their ascention.

The second man managed to land on the back of one such shuttle, lighting up a blue lightsaber and slashing through the engine compartment, before jumping onwards, and downwards, to the next shuttle.

The first shuttle exploded in the air above him, debris falling down after him, but he moved too quickly, jumping from shuttle to shuttle, killing them with one clean swipe of his blade, delivering devastation blows to crucial fuel containers. A vast portion of the shuttles were destroyed by the flaming wreckage of the ships ahead of them in the column, unable to pull away fast enough, a curtain of fire and burning metal enveloped them.

Kast dropped off Tracker's back when they were close enough to ground, rolled across the grass and came up in his ready-position. But there were no targets available.

The Koniduz made one final sweep, dropping the last few bombs at random, creating a hellish wall of flames straight through the bastion grounds, adding to the already out of control destruction. In the air above the columns of shuttles was fast becoming a column of explosions and fire.

Kast stood down and withstood the trembling ground and the wall of sound the sight sent his way, only a bit annoyed that there was nothing to shoot at.

Tracker hovered over his shoulder, emitting questioning electronic noises.

"Yeah," Kast answered, "sometimes planning is overrated."

Skar dropped out of the sky nearby, his cloak sprayed out like wings that enfolded him the moment he, very softly, touched down on the ground, that ever blank expression on his face. "You alright?"

Kast was instantly self-concious. "Ye...yeah. Yeah, I took down a few."

Tracker rectified him.

"Shut up."

Skar moved out his arm to the nearest open surface gate to the underground levels. "There's still more to come."

"Right," he was afraid to ask, "any plan?"

"Actually, yes," Skar started walking into the battle-zone. "You go find Kal, but careful; Jovis is undoubtedly nearby and he won't let go of his prisoner so easily. Take the less obvious approach and go in quietly."

Kast followed him. "Right. And you?"

"I'll create a distraction."

Kast looked at the mayhem around him. "A distraction? You don't think this is sufficient?"

Skar grinned. "For them, maybe. For me; I still feel a little rusty."

The shuttle Rishi and Eknath had flown in had gone down in the thickest of the forest, sliding half a mile before coming to a rest, cockpit smashed against the trunk of a giant tree. The forest surrounding it had caught fire, obscuring the area in thick black smoke and ravenous flames crawling up the bark of every tree it touched. The wings of the shuttle had been clipped during the crash and little remained except for the burning main hull.

Eknath staggered across the forest floor, using the Force to keep the smoke from reaching down into his lungs. Groaning with pain, Eknath managed to scramble onto the shuttle. He clawed at an access panel and succeeded in tearing it away so he could look inside. The interior was devastated, flying sparks from broken circuitry created more fires inside.

But there was no Rishi.

And the clone body was destroyed.

Panic gripped him, and he flung around to look at the forest around him. Junn was out there somewhere, he just knew it. Just like her to be lurking in the shadows. He wasn't in the mood to waste time fighting her, but if she had Rishi he had to.

He dropped down from the hull, chuckling, knowing she was out there. Watching him. He should have killed her when he had the chance. He'd made that mistake once and he wasn't about to make it again. He spread out his arms, letting his laughter drown out the crackle of the giant forest fire around him.

On call, Junn rocketed out of the fires on her jetpack among the treetops, blasting her way into the clearing, and settling into a hovering position above the forest floor. Her Mandalorian armor was black with soot and ash, but the fires cast a haunting reflection upon her visor. Her hands were empty, but her entire body was covered in weaponry, coiled for a fight.

"Tell me, Prophet;" her mechanical voice was artificially loud, "if you really can see the future, what do you see?"

His chuckling became a full-blown dark laughter. The idea that she really thought she could trap and destroy him was laughable. "I see a vengeful little girl," his fingers started to spark, thin traces of electricity dancing inside his palms, "about to die."

Junn lowered more, hovering a few feet above the ground, twenty feet away. "And beyond her death, what do you see?"

Eknath's grin dimmed slightly. What was she playing at? What did it matter to her what happened beyond her death? "What does it matter to you?"

The helmet tilted ever so slightly. "There's nothing there, is there?"

Eknath scanned the Force, seeing the future, seeing her die, and beyond it...

Nothing.

Dark grim black nothing.

A horrible feeling settled in him. "You won't kill me, you useless woman! No one as pathetic as you will be my end," he summoned all of the Dark Side into his body, feeling it's vivid dark energy empower his every nerve and every pore. "Selia Iver may live in your genes, but she was a poor excuse for a Sith."

Her feet finally touched the ground and the jet pack extinguished. Reaching up she pulled off her helmet, revealing her fierce snarl and sweat-soaked hair. She tossed the helmet aside and set herself for a fight, her body trembling with anger.

"I see," Eknath started to approach her, "you and Krych really were a perfect match. You're both too stupid to walk away from what is so obviously beyond you. I allowed Rishi to kill your fool of a lover, but I have no regrets about taking you down myself. I could have broken Krych's neck with the snap of a finger, but with you I think I'll take every other bone one at a time."

He held up his hand, conducting the Force into his fingers and reached out for her, centering on the bone in her left shin.

But he couldn't touch it.

There was nothing there. Only a blank empty void in the Force, as though she wasn't there.

Suddenly he was afraid.

She grinned. "You may see me," she said as she pulled out a small cylinder from inside her armor, a very young ysalamiri sleeping inside, "but the Force can't see me. You're on my terms now."

The underground levels of the bastion were alive with the sound of alarms blaring. Everywhere soldiers were dressing up in their armor, stocking up on weapons for a type of battle they had never anticipated.

One in their own home.

The upper battle had put every remaining soldier on full alert, all two hundred of them. They'd been given reports on the surface skirmish, about a lone gunship swooping in and bombarding the upper structures to rubble, about a maniac miracuosly jumping from shuttle to shuttle heading for the Watchmen in orbit. The reports made little sense and a rumor quickly spread that this had to be a drill initiated by the ones in charge.

Nevertheless everyone was at the top of their game and fully primed for combat, all ready to go, apart from one thing;

No one knew where the attacker was.

Kast had taken Skar's advice, or command really, to go in through the lesser obvious routes. He wasn't sure what he had meant at the time since these Sons of Destiny soldiers were so accomplished that he didn't believe there was a route they would discount. Tracker had gone ahead of him through a waste disposal chute and had secluded itself inside the core of the bastion, patching into security programs and guiding Kast from there.

Because of Tracker's expertise he was able to find a part of the underground structures that wasn't guarded too well, even though it would mean going the long way around to finding Kal. Using Tracker as his eyes Kast had to don patience in his mission, waiting for the droid to deactivate certain systems and misleading troopers moving on patrol through the areas he had to cross.

Tracker was also succesfull in patching into the cameras monitoring the area that Kal was being held in, and, some might venture, where Jovis also was being held. The mercenary had been left behind by his superior and the Sons of Destiny soldiers had locked him up after the conversation between him and Junn on their approach to the planet. It seemed the soldiers still counted Junn among their highest ranking figures, and their respect for her was endless. Having met the woman he felt he couldn't contradict them.

Although it felt alien to his skin, his new battle-suit performed exceptionally well. The onboard systems were lightyears ahead of what he had grown used to, and unlike the other garmant it actually felt like a second skin on him. But his mission was faring so well he was starting to doubt if it would actually see full use to him.

His helmet's internal comlink turned on. "Kast?"

It was Skar.

Kast hunched down in the shadows. "Go ahead."

"Junn contacted me. Eknath and Rishi are on the ground."

It took a few heartbeats before Kast could take his eyes off his surroundings and actually feel relief. "That's good news. Are they dead?"

"No. Rishi is safe. She's going after Eknath."

Kast admired her audacity. "She's a brave one."

"Have you found Kal yet?" Skar asked.

"No, but I have a fix on him and Jovis. Should be there before long." Kast checked his corners. "Tracker's holed up in the deeper levels. He's keeping an eye out for me."

"That's good news."

Kast saw that as an understatement. "How about things on your end?"

"Actually, that's why I called. I have to meet with Rishi."

"Meet with?"

Skar actually chuckled. "Encounter, then."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, that's the second reason I called; you've got half an hour to wrap things up here. Tracker is probably calling you at this very moment to inform you that someone has activated the bastion's self-destruct system."

Kast's every hair stood on end. "Someone?"

He managed to sound truly irritated. "Don't make me spell it out for you, Kast. The clock is already ticking. The good news is that the Sons of Destiny don't know about it."

Kast stood up and checked his corners again, feeling blood pump through his veins faster and faster. "Why did you do that?"

"I had to..."

Kast frowned. "Translation; it would take longer than half an hour to explain."

"Hey!" Skar said, instantly defensive. But his voice quickly softened again. "Yeah, you're probably right. I think it would."

Kast cursed. "What about that distraction you were talking about?"

Skar hesitated. "Well...the self-destruct system's got your attention, doesn't it?"

"I can't get to Kal and out again inside that deadline!" Kast shouted angrily. "There are too many sentries along the way!"

Skar sighed, heavy frustration being vented. "Fine! I'll lead them to me. You should have a clear path to Kal's cell that way. Once you get him, meet me at the lowest level."

Kast set about a quicker pace down the corridors. "How are you going to distract them? These are highly trained soldiers, and they're on full alert."

Skar thought about it, but not much. "There's always death, that's worked for me in the past."

In the air above the bastion, inside of the Koniduz's cockpit, 2L was yelping with an uncontrollable glee as the ship laid waste to a massive battle station beneath, his circuits overrunning with strange sensations his electronic brain could not interpret. But it felt good, which in itself posed many gigantic questions to his logical mind, questions that transcended logic.

In the midst of his joy, his attention was suddenly drawn to an incoming transmission. From a signal he knew very well. His programming to obey certain individuals overpowered his newfound lust for carnage, and in that moment a new sensation appeared in his mind.

Dissapointment.

Sighing, he turned the ship around, away from the playing field and flew for the signal.

Without having to worry about running into soldiers, Kast made double time in getting to the detention area, anxiety building in him with each minute he got closer to his target. But he brushed it aside. If what Skar had told him was true, worrying would only get him killed and he wasn't entirely ready to go down that path just yet.

After a short while he reached his destination. The doors to the detention area slid open fast and loud, with a heavy boom as they dissapeared within the bulkhead. Kast cringed at the sound. The empty dentention area's large space only magnified the sound, the chamber's superb acoustics working against him. Kast ducked inside and hunched down next to the doorway, spying the room down his rifle's frame.

Tracker had already informed him that, besides Kal, there were no one else locked away in the cells, and also provided him with the number of the cell. Which wouldn't have made much difference since there was apparently only six cells in the area. Three cells on each side of the large chamber, a small walkway on which he was perched and a short stairway down to the cell level. The lights were still working, but the room suffered slight vibrations from disturbances elsewhere in the facility.

Whatever it was Skar was doing to distract the troopers was working flawlessly, but Kast still felt exposed being completely alone this deep inside enemy lines.

And knowing that right down there, second door on the left, Jovis was waiting for him.

Kast swallowed his anxiety and side-stepped down the stairway, his rifle never leaving that door on the left side of the wide space. He walked on the balls of his heels to soften the sound, even though he could clearly hear every sound he made because he was overly conscious of his own movements. His heart was pounding against his ribcage, and he started to feel sweat form inside of his gloves.

Jovis was not a soldier like the rest of them. During their time inside Hope's Haven his team had listened in on as much comlink communication as they could intercept, and one of the many interesting things that had caught their attention, a fact that now resonated fiercely inside Kast's mind, was the knowledge that Jovis was a Mandalorian. A race that was infamous for their abilities in warfare and battle. Warriors without equal. Jovis had spent his life as a mercenary, and coupled with the age difference that meant Jovis was years ahead of him in experience.

Kast's eyes couldn't help maticulously search the floor and ceiling for traps. Did Jovis know they were coming? Yes. Would he prepare for it? Most certainly. Walking into an enemy facility was one thing, but walking into one where you were already expected was completely different.

The entire room trembled and Kast bent down in his knees to absorb the shock, staying stagnant while the vibrations died out. He cursed wordlessly and continued onwards, closing that small gap between him and the cell door. He knew the door was locked down but Tracker had a way around that.

Kast positioned himself in front of the door, leaving a small space of three feet between him and that plain-looking block of metal.

"Tracker?" he whispered.

The droid responded instantly.

"Unlock the cell door."

A chirp and then sounds of electronics. Before him the door suddenly became a living thing that almost breathed. The door slid back before folding sideways into the wall. Kast stepped forward, rifle firm against his shoulder. Kal was lying on his back against the floor, unconscious, a few wounds to his face, but clearly still alive.

No Jovis.

Kast swirled around in an instant, putting his back to Kal and inspecting the detention area yet again. "Tracker, have you got a lock on Jovis?" he asked, hearing the panic in his own voice.

No answer.

"Tracker? Come in!"

Still no answer.

The fear slowly took over all of him, as though someone had opened a floodgate and all of his soldier experience was pouring out rapidly. He could hear his own breathing start to increase, a sharp pain in his chest, his eyes filled with water -

No, he thought, not now. Stay calm.

The middle door on the other side of the detention area opened with a loud clank and his rifle locked on to it in a heartbeat, his finger depressing the trigger before he could even think about it. And a second later he sorely wished he had thought about it. Even rookies knew not to fire a weapon before they were sure about what they were shooting at. It felt like he had a lifetime to regret his move, watching the bolt shoot through the chamber, into the cell, richochetting off the wall and coming straight back at him.

His own bolt dug into his chest armor, which absorbed most of the blow but not enough to keep him from falling down on his back. He could hear himself cry out in pain over the sound of his rifle sliding across the floor away from his hand. Spots of light started to dance before his eyes and he managed to shake them off before unconsciousness could claim him.

"To be honest with you," he could hear Jovis's hazy voice but couldn't pinpoint it, "I was just as nervous as you were when you walked inside. I guess this must be my lucky day."

Kast rolled over on his stormach and reached for the blaster pistol on his right hip but a boot caught his hand and pressed it down to the floor.

Jovis was right there, standing over him.

"The Republic's finest, ey?" Jovis mocked him, unholstering his own blaster and aiming it at Kast's face. "Junn brought you, didn't she? Where is she?"

Kast's mind worked at lightspeed to think of a clever tactic to get him out of this mess. "She's beating up that guy you sold your soul to, right now."

Jovis nodded, his mind wandering. "Those two will kill each other. And maybe it's for the best. The Sons of Destiny would never allow me to command them, with Junn overwriting my authority the way she did. They abide her in a way I've never seen soldiers do before, a way I could never match. Eknath left me here to die too." His words were calm and clear. "But it wasn't a total loss. I learned some good things from them too."

Kast groaned as the boot pressed down harder on his wrist. "I'm so happy for you," he spat, "but it seems to me you missed something."

Jovis's eyebrow raised and he bent down, putting his blaster against Kast's temple. "Oh, really? Do tell."

Kast knew it might be the dumbest tactic he'd ever tried but if he didn't try it would surely be his last. He slammed his head sideways, knocking his helmet into the barrel on Jovis's blaster. The barrel slid off the curve of the helmet, releasing one harmless bolt over his head. In the few seconds it gave him, Kast released his armor's wrist blade on his left hand and rolled against Jovis, onto his own back and dug the blade into Jovis's thigh.

The Mandalorian screamed in pain, blood seeping from the wound. The force of Kast's roll forced the boot off his right arm and Kast managed to get up, kicked the blaster from Jovis's hand and launched himself at the man.

They slammed against the wall, hands at each other's throats, pounding each other senseless. Jovis kneed Kast's stormach repeatedly but the armor absorbed the blows. The wind was still knocked out of him and he had to pull back, releasing the other wrist blade, ready to cut Jovis to pieces if he had to.

Jovis snarled in anger, the wound in his thigh giving him pain that he used to fuel his rage. His Sons of Destiny armor revealed a set of wrist blades as well, though these were about a handswidth longer than Kast's.

The Mandalorian grinned as he saw Kast acknowledge that fact. "I was considering just leaving you and the Jedi here, thinking there'd be no point in me killing an unconscious Jedi and a rookie Republic trooper. But now," Jovis ran his blades down against each other, sparks flying off them as he did, "now, I'm going to carve my name into both of you!"

Kast did the only thing he could do; lifted up his hands and charged towards Jovis. Their blades meshed in a series of stabbing movements, both of them locked in a furious combat. Jovis had the extra length of his weapons, but Kast had thicker armor and looser agility. Kast resorted to using his blades purely as a defense, while his legs and feet tried to put Jovis on the floor. He proved to be quite resourceful for a wounded man, but Kast believed his anger was mostly responsible for his success.

The Mandalorian was a wall of blades that stabbed through the air around Kast, every move sending more and more chills down Kast's frame. He knew his luck was drying up and that there was no way he could match Jovis's primal rage. He could either play out his luck and wait for the man to tire down, something he believed wouldn't happen within the near future, or he could try to outsmart -

Then it happened. In the mist of sparkling blades Jovis's right arm shot straight past Kast's face, carving a fissure straight down the left side. His skull exploded in pain and everything turned bright as the sun. Kast could feel himself stagger and stumble, but even he felt surprised when his eyes finally focused, finding himself lying on the floor again.

That was it, he thought, it's all over now.

You blew it.

Jovis stood over him, a satisfied smirk on his face. "Just the first of many cuts. Here's another."

A second swipe of the blade opened up the cloth covering Kast's chest as well as the skin beneath, sending a bright red hot fire across. Kast screamed his agony out full-fledged, hearing his own voice bouncing off the walls of the empty chamber.

Jovis was chuckling. "Sorry to tell you this, but those aren't going to match up with my name. They were just a warm-up. Feel the burn?"

Kast was bunched up on the floor, writhing in pain.

"I'll take that as an affirmative."

Kast managed to gather air in his lungs again, though simple small movement such as breathing shot napalm through his chest. Kast cursed and spat blood on the floor. "The last...real Mandalorian...got his head chopped off by a Jedi, Jovis. It ended there, you just...got the news late."

Jovis's smile waned. "Resilient...to the last. But since you brought up the topic of chopping heads," he raised his right hand, the blade glistening from faint light inside the room, "allow me to finish - "

A dull soft sound filled the room and Jovis stopped talking. His eyes stared straight ahead for many seconds before they rolled to the back of his head. His knees buckled beneath him and he slumbed down, keeling over on top of Kast.

Kast hurried to throw him off, seeing a fresh hole in the back of his head oozing smoke, as the Mandalorian laid out flat next to him. Kal stood in the doorway of his cell, leaning against the bulkhead. Kast's blaster was in his hand, venting smoke as well.

Kast exhaled. "What took you so long?"

Kal was still weak from torture, but managed a shepish grin. "Mandalorians are legends. I thought I'd wait and hear if he said anything sensible," he shrugged, "in the end I found myself debating whether to shoot him or myself."

Kast remained on the floor, gathering the strength to stand up. "You made the right choice."

"Yeah...I guess," Kal sounded dissapointed. He pushed away from the door and walked over to inspect Jovis's corpse. "He must have been lying about being a Mandalorian, don't you think?"

Kast chuckled. "Maybe."

Kal nodded to himself. "A while before this, me and Rishi were hunted by Boba Fett back on Coruscant. I figure he owes me one now. If this guy had gone public and claimed himself to be a Mandalorian, Fett's reputation would be in trouble."

Kast sat up, jaw clenched in pain. "Laughing upsets my wound, Kal. Thank you for not trying to be funny."

Kal walked over and helped Kast get on his feet. "How'd you get here?"

Kast pondered how to explain. "Do you believe in reincarnation?"

"No."

"Then you wouldn't believe me, anyway."

Kal supported Kast as they walked for the exit. "Aren't you supposed to be helping me walk? When did we trade places?"

Kast grimaced. "When I saved your life."

"Fair enough. How are we going to get out of here?"

"The lowest level," Kast groaned, "I've got a friend taking care of it."

Kal looked at him funny. "A friend?" Kal's eyes were distant for a second as he reached out to the Force, finding his answer. His face paled slightly.

"Oh," was all he could say.

Oblivious to the activation of the bastion's self-destruct system, soldiers still patrolled the corridors and hangars, looking for the intruders that had destroyed the upper structures. A handful of soldiers, five in all, were searching one of the lowest levels, a central vertical tunnel which was connected to all the hangars underground as well as the surface. Through this tunnel, ships could easily move from one hangar to another or reach the surface in a matter of seconds. It also filled in as a rapid cargo transport system, thanks to a highly powerful repulsorfield at the very bottom.

Using the repulsor, a cargo of several hundred tons could be fired, propelling it for the surface and even powerful enough to send cargo straight out into space, where the capital ships could pick it up with their tractor beams. The repulsorfield area was the size of a small arena, a perfectly round chamber with powerful cranes stationed around the firing ramp for lifting cargo onto the high powered catapult.

One soldier thought he heard sound from an airduct high up in the wall, almost at the ceiling. He raised his blaster to shine the flashlight accessory at it.

- but the bulb exploded the second the cone of light touched the open airduct.

"What is that?"

The soldier magically lifted off the floor and flew up towards the ceiling as if he was a surface-to-air missile. As he flailed by the airduct, a blue beam of light extended from inside of it that sheared the flying man in two. The broken body continued to fly through the room, before gravity overcame its initial shock and started to tug it back down.

The four soldiers on the floor stepped back in horror as their comrade smashed against the floor at their feet. Their fear conquered their survival instincts and they were too late to fire at the dark man following their dead comrade's descent, like a thick shadow stealing all light around them.

The lightsaber never really extended to full length, its trademark hum never truly settled. The blade seemed only to exist for the blink of an eye, long enough to cut off what body parts it was aiming for, and then retract.

Four down and one to go, that last soldier was backpedalling as fast as he could, the shadow following him slowly. The men still alive on the floor behind him were screaming through their helmets, hugging their wounded limbs to their body. The soldier's blaster spat bolts at the man but they merely bounced off the lazy movements of the lightsaber.

"Call for back-up," the dark man whispered.

The soldier opened up a link to the rest of the soldiers inside the facility. "This is Echo 44, I've found the intruder! I'm in hangar 12! Converge!"

The shadow man ran up to him like lightning, pulling him up by his collar and the soldier managed to ask one last question. "Why...why'd you let me make the call?"

The blue lightsaber lobbed the soldier's head off and dropped the body to the floor.

"So they'd come."

Skar walked for the center of the chamber where the back-up soldiers would soon be coming. His blacker than black cape shrouded him and his face had a calm uncommon for a man about to kill every living soul within the bastion. Above his head the mile-long tunnel went straight up through the bastion's higher levels and he could see sunlight gleaming down from overhead.

All he needed was Kal and Kast.

Soon enough the ten different corridors into the chamber opened and the walkways were quickly littered with the last of the hundred soldiers left inside the bastion, firing their weapons at the single enemy inside. And Skar stood standing on the center of the repulsorfield, a swirling mass of energy with a blue lightsaber shrouding him in light as he bounced thousands of blasterbolts away from him with effortless skill. None of the soldiers advanced on his position, they stayed at a distance, delivering heavy fire at him.

But as he stood there, fighting off a small army on his own, he understood the Force in a way no one had ever before. He understood that he was all in all invincible. He knew that the Force had brought him back to life to set things on the right path, he knew the Force was guiding him through obstacles he didn't even knew existed. He'd learned to trust the Force, of much annoyance to the others who couldn't understand his supposed carelessness about their methods.

To put it in simple terms; Skar Kjoil was still dead.

It was the Force itself standing on that repulsorfield.

Skar's mind was anywhere but on his lightsaber. It moved entirely on its own beyond his will and he could watch in amazement as the Force used him as a tool. It was then he knew he couldn't be killed until he'd done what he had to do. The Force would simply not allow it. And the things he had to do were not of a combative nature. It was a matter of being at the right place at the right time, it was a matter of saying the right things. The Force would protect him until he'd done so.

But there was a deadline.

His body moved to face one walkway in particular and the Force bounced incoming shots to kill the soldiers occupying that walkway. A second later Kal and Kast came through the doors on the other side, the road cleared for them.

"Do you mind hurrying it up!" Skar shouted from instead the whirlstorm.

Kast and Kal ran across the walkway with their heads down, firing a few random shots but only to keep others from targeting them. They reached the repulsorfield and climbed onto it, joining Skar at the center. Kal immediately dropped down on one knee, firing with a borrowed blaster from Kast.

Skar looked over at Kast, the soldier's face dripping with blood from a nasty cut down his left cheek. "What happened to you?"

"Jovis had trouble letting go."

Skar bounced away an entire array of blasterbolts. "You didn't believe in destiny, did you, Kast?"

The soldier looked very out of place being asked such a question shortly in the middle of a hot zone. "What? No...Not really."

Skar nodded. "In that case, you might wanna stay behind me."

Kal shouted over the hailstorm of bolts flying around them. "You got a plan for getting us out of here!"

Kast just shook his head. "Don't ask him that. Trust me, you should never ask him that," a signal came through in Kast's helmet, "Wait, I'm getting something...it's Tracker!" Kast was relieved, having thought the droid had been found and destroyed. "He's activating something...a repulsor - " Kast's eyes filled with dread as he took his first good look at where he was.

What he was standing on.

A loud humming blocked out the sound of blasterfire and floor beneath the three men started to slightly vibrate. But the vibration increased quickly, becoming a heavy pounding that knocked Kast and Kal onto their backs while Skar stood firm. The floor sank for an instant, locking into place and the entire field then lit up in bright light, obscuring the chamber around them.

Kast's eyes filled with fear. "Holy - "

"Hold on!" Skar shouted.

And then they were off, catapulted straight up through the dozens of levels inside of the bastion, flying through the main vertical tunnel. The sunlight above raced down to meet them, faster than any one of them would have liked. Kast and Kal screamed as they cleared the rim of the tunnel and flew up into open air, the ground below them falling out of view. Skar grabbed onto both of them with the Force, controlling their flight, easing their fear.

Far beneath them a massive explosion erupted like a volcano and great fireballs shot up through the clouds all around them. The bastion's self-destruct system created an omnipotent hand of flame that seemed to reach up and grab for them. The hand built and built, growing and growing, stretching out in a sea of napalm soon to wash over them.

Out of the clouds the Koniduz came straight at them, it's rear landing ramp open wide. The gunship adjusted for their angle and speed, flying up into their path, the three of them flying up through it's open doors. The ship leveled out quickly and secured the ramp behind them, just as the roaring fires enveloped the ship.

Kal and Kast got to their feet, ready to fight, though all color had faded from their faces. There was anger on both their faces.

"You think you might have told us what you were planning to do!" Kal shouted at Skar.

Skar's eyes slowly drained of his warrior's ferocity and settled upon Kal with a cold wonderment. "Because that would have made you feel different?"

Kast struggled to breathe proper. "I'm alright...seriously, I'm - " The commando promptly keeled over and vomited over the cargo hold's floor.

Footsteps stole the moment as someone came walking down the stairs from the cockpit, and soon enough a stern-faced Rishi Kjoil was standing in the doorway, his still yellow eyes staring straight across the hold, past Kast, past Kal and locked hard on Skar. And even though it was a new face, a face that should have made Rishi run for the nearest escape pod, there was a glimpse of recognition.

Skar put away his lightsaber and exhaled an anxiety that was just getting started. He couldn't avoid seeing the paleness in Rishi's skin and the sickingly wrong color of his eyes.

"Well," he said, biting his lower lip, "I see you're doing well."

To the shock of everyone Rishi actually laughed softly, although he didn't seem too sure what he was laughing at. Maybe he just knew he wanted to laugh to lighten the atmosphere between them, and release the tension in his chest. "Yeah, well..." Rishi shook his head, at a loss for words, "I signaled 2L and he came and got me."

Kal picked Kast up from the floor, helping the commando walk. "Come on, Kast. This could get ugly."

Kast fought poorly against the Jedi's hold. "No. Stop moving me around. Stop moving. Don't - don't touch me."

Rishi stood aside and allowed the queasy Kast and Kal into the cockpit, stepping into the cargo hold, the door closing behind him. "We're headed for the castle."

Skar dusted off his hands and robes, fidgeting, only anxious now standing face to face with Rishi. "Don't worry. I'll take things from there."

Rishi felt the floor dissapear beneath him. "What?"

Skar's eyes filled with icy determination. "I came back for a reason, Rishi."

"Came back?"

Skar nodded and looked around him for place to sit, choosing a nearby vacant bunk. He sat down on the edge and linked his hands together, as if in prayer, gazing at the floor beyond his fingers. A sigh escaped his lips.

Rishi was standing right there in front of him, completely lost in just watching his Master. It felt like a dream, it seemed like a dream, but he knew it wasn't. It really wasn't. He felt his legs fold and before he knew it, he was crouched on the floor next to Skar. "So you did die?"

"Sure did," he said, as if it was of no great matter, "but Junn brought me back. There's something left undone. And until it's done, I can't fully die, like Skind and Kayupa I would be trapped as a ghost. That's the...curse of being a Kjoil. We create powerful ties to those around us, and until they're full circle we can't have peace." His eyes closed. "I don't want that."

Rishi wasn't really listening, he was just staring at his Master, sitting right there in flesh and blood, and soaked up every second of it. "What was death like?"

Skar slowly made a satisfied smile. "Beautiful."

Rishi swallowed hard. "Is it...I heard so many things. Are they true?"

"Not anymore."

Rishi tried to stay calm. "Who are you really?"

"I'm your Master, Rishi. Same as I always was."

Rishi knew that couldn't be true, but there were a thousand other things he wanted to talk about. Things he'd longed to get off his chest, things he'd thought he'd lost the chance to say. "2L told me something back on Coruscant...he was talking about you and him before you came to Draori. He made me see things I'd forgotten, or things I just never saw. About me, about you," Rishi looked away from Skar, "about us."

Skar listened carefully, a light in his eyes.

"He told me why you chose me as your apprentice."

Skar nodded. "You were the only one there who seemed conscious of the Force. The only one with the talent. But it was really Latarlas who pointed you out. You owe all this to him." Skar actually laughed. "I bet right now he's pretty happy to be dead."

Rishi shook his head, unamused. "The point is...I'd forgotten who you were when you came to Draori. You were a..." Rishi searched for a proper word, a kinder word, but found none, "...a tormented man. A sad man. Shinran's death was still right on your heels. And yet, in what had to be a living hell for you, you chose to take an apprentice. You chose to live for something other than yourself. You found a future, and it helped you let go of the past. Of Shinran."

Skar sat like a statue, his eyes locked in the past. "Only for a time."

"And then I left you."

His Master twitched, as if the memory of Rishi's departure brought him a physical pain. "Yes..." he seemed to want to say more, but didn't know what it was. His mouth was open, and the tongue licked the back of his teeth. "Yes, you did."

Rishi looked up at his Master again. And the words he wanted to say for so long suddenly eluded him. He'd heard them over and over in his mind, but now they were gone. He'd rehearsed them to death, and now couldn't remember. He stared at his Master's vacant eyes until his own began to water, until his jaw trembled and his chest sank. "I'm...sorry, Master. I was...stupid," the tears flowed, "I thought you failed me, but I was the traitor. I tried to be like you, tried to find my own way. Everything I did, I did to impress you, to show you."

He stumbled upon more truth. "To outshine you. To be what you'd forgotten you wanted to be." The tears flooded now, and Rishi could only see his Master as a blur of different colors, like a picture held under water. "You tried to help me...but I wouldn't listen. I'd lost faith in you. I was too stupid to see it."

Skar looked the same, his gaze still directed towards the past. "Yes...you were."

Rishi started to fold into himself, his head starting to ache and his jaws wouldn't stop shaking. "Eknath used it against me, but he didn't have to do much. It was already there, all my stupidity, all my arrogance, my greed. But he promised me a way to see you again, he gave me hope. But still...a part of me turned to him, just to spit in your face. Because I knew it would have hurt you. I hoped it would."

Skar finally sobered up, took a deep breath and looked down on his former apprentice. "You should have listened to me," he said sternly.

"Why?" Rishi begged. "Why did you think you had to face it all on your own? You took so much on your shoulders, and all I wanted was to help you. You should have told me. You were like my father," Rishi cracked utterly, diving straight into his pain and found a well deeper than he could ever have imagined, "I loved you. Who said you had to face it alone? I was right there, I could have helped you. You should have talked to me..."

Skar sat forward, heartbroken. "I didn't want you to understand, because you can't understand. Even I didn't understand."

Rishi's mind was whirl of pain and anguish, but he found he did understand. "You were afraid of letting go of them, so instead you let go of me."

Skar sat there, shaking his head. "Rishi..."

"It's alright, Master...no, it's not alright, but I do understand. Better than you know. Why else would I be here?"

Skar took in a deep breath and talked low. "I promised myself I would never become Lwen...seems I failed that too. I don't have any answers for you, Rishi. I'm sorry." His voice was heavy with old memories. "All my life I tried to make a name for myself, tried to make something of my powers and my heritage. Tried to do something that people would remember me by. I learned too much about myself. Seems the only thing that kept me going was to have a name, to be someone. Now," he scoffed, "there is no name. There will be no name, no great statue to honor me by. I'm not going back to Coruscant, Rishi."

Rishi's pain folded into confusion. "What?"

Skar shook his head. "The Jedi will remember me as a strange shut-in,and the Republic never knew me in the first place. I'm best left forgotten. Luke will no doubt consider me a great loss, but in the wake of things to come he will lose my memory among the many others dying around him, his friends and family."

Rishi felt some bile form at the back of his throat. "And me?"

His stern voice made no doubt that he was giving an order. "You will keep me a secret. As far as anyone needs to know I died when they took me hostage on Regana."

"What?" Rishi didn't understand. "People need to know what's happening. The Jedi...you have seen things in the Force they don't know about - "

"Which they don't need to know. Things they must never know."

Rishi felt like breaking things. "What are you talking about! Why do things have to be this way!"

"Because I say so."

Rishi stood back up. "What are you hiding from me? Why can't anyone know? Why are you talking as if..." Rishi's mind suddenly cleared, "...you're already dead?"

Skar's eyes were as clear and hard as a sparkling diamond. "I'll explain it later. Right now, it's time for me to end this."

"For us to end this," Rishi corrected.

Skar made a frown and he looked upon Rishi with an accusating gaze. "Us? This? I see your latest Master didn't expedite your intelligence more than I could." Skar lowered his face down, to put it right up into Rishi's. "You are this, Rishi."

Junn and Eknath collided like two asteroids in space, two massive planetoids exploding against each other in pure anger and hate. Junn used all of her weapons to their fullest extent, caring nothing for her own life as she threw herself at Eknath with wrist-blades stabbing and cutting the air between them. Eknath tore at her with his thin claw-like fingers, ripping and tearing at her face and armor, fueled with the desire to see blood drawn from her blood vessels, sickingly occupied with the idea of hearing her scream in pain.

The Dark Side enveloped Eknath and poured true malice to every one of his pores, throwing all of its powers into his hands, sending bolts of lightning from his fingertips. His haunting chuckle filled the forest with a presence of it's own, the fires spreading through the trees around them at an ever-increasing speed.

Junn dodged his bolts with rolls and the jetpack, keeping herself outside of his reach, always moving, a predator in her own right. She flew from tree to tree, using them as barriers to stop Eknath's lightning until she could get close enough to fight him. The jetpack's missiles were of little use, and already depleted, easily deflected by Eknath's Force lightning.

Eknath reached out with the Dark Side and pulled a large branch from a nearby tree. Pulling back and then forth, he threw the heavy trunk at her, catching her in the side and swatting her from the air like a bothersome fly. Junn trashed onto the ground, rolling a few feet before her arms sprayed out and steadied her. But she only had a second of breath before she had to roll forward again, as the tree-trunk came down behind her like a guiliotine. The smash threw up dust and ash from the forest floor around her, and before she could even pinpoint Eknath's position she had her flamethrower ready.

Eknath was gone.

Panting, she searched every tree top, every brush, every dark shadow.

Then he chuckled again, a loud and mocking creature that seemed to be everywhere at once.

"Poor little girl. In over your head?"

Junn felt the pain in her side stab through her like a spear. She could feel several broken ribs, and tasted blood in the back of her mouth. "You're the one hiding," she replied, spitting a gob of blood onto the ground, "not so tough without Joon or Rishi, are you?"

"They are just vessels, my dear. They are my armor, my weapons. I have mine, just like you have yours."

Junn scoffed. "Mine aren't tricked into defending me."

"Weaponry is a lot like nature;" Eknath mused, "it continues to evolve, to grow, adapting to the times and changes. Weapons...are a living thing. Many things in this world are expanding and evolving through scientific progress. We may think that our victories are ours alone, but the experiments we create, the things we build, they grow as much as we do. While we end in the dust, our creations live on, continuing to grow in the hands of others."

Junn set herself, preparing to pop her broken ribs back into place. "You're full of dung."

"And you, yourself, are a weapon, Junn. Or should I call you Selia? Do you know? Have you decided yet? At least she was a warrior, albeit a poor one. But you, you're nothing but a soldier, another one destined to give her life."

Junn popped one rib back into place, biting down on the pain, but not enough to keep tears from flowing. "There's no shame in that."

"Ahh, but you seem to forget. A soldier is a part of a unit. You abandoned your unit back on Regana. You chose exile and left them to fend for their own. So many dead, dead because they believed in you, dead because your training failed them." His laughter became a whisper. "Not very nice of you, now is it?"

Junn popped a second rib, releasing a slight cry. "They died like men!"

"Strange term, isn't it. To die like a man. Can you die like a man, little girl? Or will there be a moment of regret, a moment of fear? Would you scream? Would you beg?" His cackle filled the air around her. "Would you please just die?"

Third rib in place, Junn used the pain as fuel for her rage, standing up and holding out her wrist-blades, signaling for Eknath to come and get her.

"I'm right here, Eknath."

Eknath manifested from out of nowhere in the middle of the clearing before her, fingers sprayed. The two heavy trees to her right and left rose up fast for something their weight, their roots snapped and the trunks slammed together a second after she leapt from the ground. She came down in a shoulder-roll, and came back up with right hand slicing up through the air in front of her.

Eknath stepped back, two new wounds running from chin to scalp on his already scarred face. The fact and pain put flames in his red eyes and he sent a wall of the Dark Side at her, flinging her back.

The ysalamiri in her armor only kept her from Eknath's direct influence, but he could still use the Dark Side to throw things at her. Although she was covered in armor, he clearly had the advantage; he could easily sense her as a void in the Force, only made easier by the life surrounding them in the forest. She stood out in the Force as a cloud over a bright sun. But she could not sense him. He supposed that was admirable, for her to fight him using only what weapons that archaic armor gave her.

Admirable or stupid.

A lifetime of battles had taught her how to land safely in every fall, and even Eknath's Dark Side push could not keep her landing on her toes and hands, coiled and ready to pounce the instant she touched down on the ground, a wall of fire building in the forest at her back.

She illuminated the air between them with a jet of napalm from her wrist, a thick column of fire that flooded out to swallow Eknath. But the Dark Jedi retorted with a wall of protection, erecting an invisible barrier between him and the fire. The fire reflected off and washed out to the sides, and yet Junn kept pouring liquid flames at the man.

"Do you know what it means to be a soldier, Junn?" Eknath shouted from inside his shell of protection. "To be cannon fodder. Just another one among thousands. Unnamed, faceless, designed to die!"

With that last word he pushed the wall forward, forcing Junn to ignite her jetpack and soar above her own wall of fire before it roared across the ground. Flames licked her boots before she was clear and once she was in the air she once again fell victim to Eknath's lightning strikes.

Blue and white tendrils stretched out to embrace her, to fill her veins with electricty and shut off all communication between her nerves and brain. The bolts touched her and instantly rampaged through her system, igniting her skin and destroying her jetpack. She managed to unfasten it before it exploded and dropped several levels to the ground, brushing off a tree thicker than her on the way down.

Junn impacted with the ground and finally screamed out in pain as her right leg broke beneath her own weight.

Eknath screamed along, full of delight. "There it is! Scream, my girl, scream! Scream out your broken hollow heart!"

Junn managed to push herself up and staggered to hide against the very tree that had broken her fall somewhat.

"Ah, who's hiding now?" Eknath ridiculed her. "Come out, little girl! Soldiers don't have the option of turning away from a fight! You should know that better than anyone!"

She armed her gauntlet, prepping the rocket dart launcher. And swallowing her pain she spun around the curve of the tree and lined up her wrist with Eknath's figure in the clearing, the flames growing around him. But she didn't fire, her sight starting to blur, her one leg unsteady.

Eknath raised his chin and started to clap his hands together. "Animal...to the end. We're not so different after all. You an untamed wolf," Eknath smiled deviously, "me; a chameleon with an agendy of his own."

She shook her head and started to walk into the clearing, dragging her leg, keeping Eknath in her crosshairs, as best as she was able to. "I'm nothing like you, Eknath. You're a creature, a soulless man."

Eknath stepped slowly to the side and started walking around her position in a semi-circle, forcing her to keep up her concentration, forcing her to use strength that was already depleted. "But yet, the man that spawned you, the man that is going to kill you."

Junn ached in every section of her body, anxious for some kind of end. "No, you're not. I'm not dead yet."

Again he talked, instead of acted. "You're just - "

And she was sick of it. "Are we going to kill each other or not!" she screamed, using all of her pain to send her words high above the treetops.

He finally stopped walking, but instead of attacking, he simply regarded her with a snarl forming on his lips.

Junn realized his ploy too slowly. As he'd walked to one side he'd made her put her back to another section of the clearing. And she could hear it, she could hear the massive weight of the crashed shuttle lift from the ground behind her, hear it fly through the air as light as a feather.

A feather that rammed straight into her back with the weight of several tons, that lifted her off the ground and knocked all air from her lungs. It didn't crash along with her, but only smashed against her, pummeling her to the ground before flying off into the forest to explode and ignite against several trees.

Junn laid broken at the edge of the clearing, so close to the engrossing fire that she could feel her face start to burn, so close she felt her lungs start to choke, so close she could smell her hair crisp. But she was powerless to stop it, her body refused to obey her will, her determination to finish it. She surrendered and laid out flat on the ground, trying to just keep her breath going as the end loomed over her.

Eknath came over and hunched down next to her, delivering a slight tsk-tsk sound. "Not so much spunk left in you now. Consider your options; I could kill you, or I can remove that pesky creature you're carrying and make you my slave," his thin fingers reached out and played with a strand of her blond hair. "We could have so much fun..."

She coughed up blood, felt the world close around her. "How about neither?"

He laughed, a small victorious grin. "You don't have that choice, my girl. There are no choices for a soldier, even for one as...fine as you."

Surprisingly, she started to cackle, a dry hoarse sound that still managed to wipe the smile from Eknath's torn face.

"I know."

Junn exhaled for the last time and her trembling body finally laid perfectly still. Her head rolled to the side and the look of contentment on her face would haunt Eknath for the rest of his life.

All ten seconds of it.

A scrambled synthetic voice spoke behind him, and Eknath rose as he spun around to face the source, all of his body freezing in place.

Her helmet.

"...copy that. We've received the termination of your vital signals, Lady Junn. Proceeding as ordered."

Eknath felt exposed, completely helpless. And with a vicious snarl and a horrible scream of defiance he turned his eyes to the night sky somewhere beyond the treetops all around him.

"Rest in peace, Lady Junn."

Eknath screamed as the orbital barrage of turbolasers from the Watchmen in space lit up the night. Blasts the size of houses slammed down into the ground around him, tearing up the earth itself and sending him up into the air. At least until another turbolaser charge intersected his path and pounded him back down into the ground, drowning his scream in the overwhelming sound of a thousand turbolasers raining mayhem down upon the forest.

Even the surge of the Dark Side energy that exploded from his body as he died was lost in the barrage. The galaxy escaped his clutches, but his soul left the galaxy with great defiance.

The Koniduz dropped into a hovering position at the base of the mountain with the Sons of Destiny castle at its peak, venting its jets and settling in snugly. The loading ramp lowered and two cloaked Kjoil Knights descended the steps, with Kal and Kast following them down.

Skar looked up at the castle far above their heads, releasing a sigh.

Kast and Kal looked at each other, worry on both their faces. "This doesn't make sense," Kal muttered, clearly dissaproving, "he's walking straight into an enemy stronghold alone. Why leave us here?"

Kast bent down onto one knee and leaned up against the ship's ramp, his worried expression quickly changing into fatigue. A fresh bandage over his wound, he nodded towards Skar. "None of it ever made sense, Kal. But that doesn't make him wrong though. As for me, I'm willing to let him deal with this on his own. I'm tapped out."

Skar turned around to face the three of them, smiling at Kast. "You fought well, Kast. You should be proud."

Kal's worry faded for a moment as he looked down upon the soldier as well, finding it hard to not smile. "I never would have been here without you, Kast."

Kast shrugged, his eyes slowly closing, falling asleep. "That sounds nice...coming from a friend." The man dozed off almost immediately.

Rishi's attention was drawn to the east, to a fire spreading in the forest far away, a huge column of smoke rising up to the sky.

"What is that?" Rishi asked.

Skar looked at the direction of the forest fire, seeing also the first signs of a sun starting to rise beyond it. "Junn. She's dead."

Rishi looked back at Skar. "She lost?"

Skar shook his head beneath the cowl. "No, she gave her life to kill Eknath."

"I thought you said she was powerful, Master?"

"No..." Skar answered, his voice lowering slightly, "I said she was a good soldier."

Kal's expression cleared. "That means Skind Kjoil is finally gone from this plane, right? It was Junn that was keeping him here all this time, right? That - "

"No. There's still work to be done," Skar destroyed the idea, "promises to be kept."

"Listen, Master," Rishi stepped closer to Skar. "Maybe we can still change - "

Skar scoffed. "Don't be a fool, Rishi. Stop trying to be in control of things beyond your power. There's always been a future, but no outcome yet. If you couldn't see it, it only means the Force didn't want you to know. It's Anakin Skywalker all over again. He changed everything to such an extent that even he could not see the future."

"Doesn't want me to know?"

"Yeah," Skar cocked a smile, "you always were a bit squirmy."

They could hear the droid scrambling through the ship before his loud panicked voice was within range. 2L came down the ramp, clearly distressed. "Master Skar! Master Rishi! There is a substantial enemy presence moving towards our location. Landing crafts and ground vehicles!"

Skar frowned. "Okay..." he looked back up at the mountain. "Rishi; you, Kal and Kast are going to have to fight this one on your own."

Rishi's jaw fell. "You're not going to help us fight them?"

Skar shook his head. "My fate lies down a different path...and you need this,"

Rishi raised an eyebrow. "I need this?"

Skar pulled Rishi away from Kal and Kast, lowering his voice. "Listen, Rishi; whatever happens here, don't use the Force."

"What?" Rishi asked disbelievingly. "Why?"

"Because I am your Master, and I say so."

Rishi glanced at the broken but able Kal, and the sleeping Kast at his feet. "Another piece of good advice?"

Skar gave him a stern gaze. "I thought we were past questioning each other?"

"Yeah, but...Don't Use The Force? What am I supposed to do? Convince them of their evil nature?"

Skar nodded towards the resting Kast. "Kast...he fought through hell, he lost all he's ever known, even his faith. And he did it all without the Force. I know in your eyes he's just a soldier, but he's far stronger than any of us has ever been. You're supposed to fight like the man you are, not what the Force has you thinking you are. If all you are is part of the Force, you're nothing but a shadow of something greater than yourself."

Rishi didn't agree. "That's what it is to be a Jedi."

"You are not a Jedi. You're a Kjoil. The Force fulfills your every need, without asking for anything in return. But how long are you going to let the Force limit who you are, or what you can do?"

Rishi wanted to trust Master Skar, but he wasn't entirely sure if this was the right time to start new training methods. Rishi shook his head. "We can't win this without you."

Skar was surprisingly calm. "No one said anything about winning. It's your fight, Rishi, not mine." He smiled deviously. "We'll meet again once I'm done here, but please remember what I've told you. What I've always tried to tell you. You are more than the Force, and if you can't prove that to at least yourself, if you can't understand that, you will wander forever looking for something that isn't there."

Rishi smiled uncomfortably. "Is that what you did, Master?"

"No," Skar replied, placing a hand on Rishi's shoulder, "I was looking for something that was right in front of me. But I was always looking behind me to find it." Skar looked up to the top of the mountain, at the castle far above their heads. "I'm going to take one last look, and then it is over." Skar took one step towards the mountain and then seemed to think better of it. "I almost forgot. My lightsaber."

Rishi unclipped the lightsaber from his belt and handed it back to his Master, accepting his own back in return.

Skar smiled holding his own weapon again. "I'm going to need this."

Rishi nodded. "May the Force be with you, Master."

Skar smiled. "It will be if you leave it alone." Skar bent down in his knees, summoned the Force and leapt straight up, reaching one outcropping on the mountain before jumping to the next and then the next, climbing the mountain with an impressive use of the Force until he reached the top.

Rishi turned away and joined Kal at the ramp again. "Get Kast on his feet. We're going to need him."

Kal looked at Kast skeptically and seemed very unenamoured by the task. "Maybe...you should do that."

Rishi frowned and used the Force to awaken Kast, pulling out an arm underneath his head.

Kast was up in a second, grunting sourly. "Is it over?"

Rishi shook his head. "Sorry to dissapoint, Kast. It's just about to begin."

"What?" the commando asked. He rubbed his eyes. "I was having a wonderful dream...neither of you were there."

Kal nodded towards the wide open grassy plains behind them. "Incoming hostile force, Kast. We're going to need you."

Kast shrugged off the last remnants of sleep. "Alright," he said flatly and was the first to walk in the direction of the incoming enemies, dropping down on one knee on a small hill. With the rising sun in his eyes, Kast jammed a fresh clip into his trusty rifle and looked out at the horizon, looking perfectly comfortable.

Just another day.

Skar dropped down onto the giant balcony at the peak of the mountain, a balcony which surrounded a small house with wide open doors and white drapes waving upon the wind. Sasa and Koll's most private chambers. He walked towards the nearest open door, squashing the feelings rising up in him. Images of him growing up inside this house, having a family, being with his parents every day.

It was a past he never had, and a future he would never know.

He stepped inside, the curtains flowing past him.

Sasa laid on her side in the soft couch, breathing deeply, sunlight from outside bathing her. Someone had been kind enough to put a white blanket over her, though blood had stained through in a few patches. He could hear by the sound of her inhale and see by the pale color of her skin that she was dying. Her wound, which she clutched at her belly with her left hand was fatal, but not untreatable.

He stepped into the room, dispensing the desire to hide his entry. She wasn't going to attack him and no one else was in the room. She moved her head enough to see him, a fear at first. But her tear-filled eyes soon became clear and a small smile formed at her cracked lips.

"Come...my son. Sit with me."

Skar walked towards her and sat down before her on his knees by the couch. The wind flowing through the large windows pulled at her hair, rustling it slightly by her broken face. This close he could see the bruises Koll had left on her face, her bloodshot eyes and the tears welling in the corners.

He folded his hands in his lap and sat there, looking at her, not sure what to say. "So...you knew."

"I always knew, Skar." She reached out her hand slowly, touching his cheek, holding it in her palm. "My beautiful son."

He squashed any sadness easily. He knew too well the implications her life had in the Force, and he hated her too much to feel any sorrow for her now. He knew deep inside his hatred wasn't justified, but...he never knew them well enough to truly care about any of his parents. All he had now was the loyalty and the commitment to fulfill his destiny.

But he still moved his face closer to her palm, relinquishing all his hurt in her softness. "This isn't his face," he whispered, "this is your brother."

She coughed, her entire body trembling with the effort. "No," she said firmly, "your eyes. I see it in your eyes. I see my son. I see the same eyes that looked up at me when I gave birth to you. I saw him there on Regana too. I knew it was you. And I see it now." She smiled and the tears streamed down her face. "I missed you, Skar. Nothing ever felt right since I abandoned you." Her voice cracked. "I'm so sorry."

He supported the palm on his cheek with his own hand and kissed it. "Its alright now. Its over."

She nodded, and started to cry harder, her face squeezing shut. "I missed out on so much of you...raising you, seeing your growth, being with you in your good days and your bad times. I would change all of it if I could, Skar. But...I had to let go of you, so others could have the same things. I had to give you up, I had to fight, so no one else had to. Every day, every battle, every second, I was fighting so you could have a life and children of your own in a world without war and fear."

Skar supposed he could admire her for that, but it didn't change the state of things. "It will be a long time before that kind of world is going to be. But it'll get there, someday."

She tugged on his hand. "With people like you, I'm sure it will."

Skar shook his head. "It's not going to be my job."

"What?"

He pondered explaining to her what he had learned about the Kjoil, but he realized there was no point in telling her now. Soon she would be a part of the Force, and nothing would matter then. He smiled tiredly. "I'm an old soul...Rishi's going to take over for me."

"I'm sorry I never had the chance to meet him. But if he had you as his Master, he will do the right thing. I'm sure of it."

Skar hoped so too. "He's learned a lot the last few days...and he's not as inward as I am. For what it's worth, this mission taught him more in a handful of days than I could in several years. He carries your legacy now. There's little more he has to learn from me."

She seemed comfortable with that thought. "Maybe that was all we were meant to do." She chuckled, even though it pained her. "Ironic, isn't it? I tried to destroy the Republic...and I end up saving it by dying."

He couldn't help but laugh along with her. "Yeah, I know the feeling."

She managed to lay down completely flat on her back with some effort, groaning in pain. "Skar...Koll is on the beach below this castle. I know you have to stop him...I understand now why it has to be this way. We were wrong. Too wrapped up in leaving a legacy...a sun can only shine, where we don't cast shadow."

Skar lowered his head. "It doesn't matter anymore. I'm going to finish it. That's my fate. My burden."

She smiled at him. "It's in your genes to carry great burdens, son." She couldn't take her eyes away from him. "I don't expect you to ever forgive me, Skar...but I'm happy you're here. At the end of it." She reached inside of her belt and pulled out a small hologram projector, a very outdated one, one from before the Clone Wars. She handed it to him and closed her eyes, starting to drift away. "This is the answer...to everything."

Skar accepted and pocketed it.

She coughed. "I shouldn't be sad...you turned out fine without me. My death like this will be too prolonged, boy. No point in you staying around. You better get out of here."

Skar reached out to the Force for the strength to end her suffering, to ease her passage. But what he found there only made his heart clam shut.

He sighed. "You...you're not dying."

Her eyes cleared up, looking at him confused. "What?"

"Your wound is not fatal, I thought it was," he said with heavy regret in his voice, "if it was, I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't have to. There'd be no point. No cause." He stood up, still holding her hand in his, knowing what he had to do. And he wished now he had just killed her the moment he'd walked into the room, before they'd had a chance to talk to each other. It would have made things much simpler. "I...have to help you," his eyes started to produce tears he thought he wouldn't have to shed, and feelings rose in him that he would have sworn he could never feel.

"Yes," she said, "you can do it. Don't leave me here to die alone." She nodded towards the lightsaber on his belt, tears falling down her face, and a proud smile on her face. "You have it in you. You'll do what you can't do...just as I did."

With the sun finally free of the horizon and now just slowly rising up to illuminate the world around them, Kal and Rishi sat next to Kast on top of a small slope, barely a hill, both of them cradling rifles they'd requesitioned from the Koniduz. Miles and miles of flat landscape filled with tall pristine waving grass expanded in almost all directions, and yet Rishi was restless. Restless because he knew that it was not all empty, and because he knew where the danger would be coming from. His hands held the rifle to his chest.

Rishi looked to his right, seeing Kal fidgeting with his rifle. "So," his voice was firm, "is today going to be your lucky day, Kal?"

Kal smiled, his eyes squinting. "You never know, Rishi."

Kast, the calmest of them, looked at them both. "No way, Rishi," he said grumpily, "I'll be old and gray before Kal's in a grave, and this place will be as barren as Tatooine before I let that happen."

Rishi and Kal both chuckled at him, letting the tension out of both their hearts. They both felt safer having Kast along.

"There," Kal said suddenly and nodded towards the horizon to the north.

Kast lined up his rifle with his shoulder and scanned the horizon with the scope. There, in the blurred glare where ground met sky he saw shadows growing slowly in size. He increased the magnification and identified the shapes to be a large group of rapidly approaching speederbikes, fully armored Sons of Destiny soldiers charging at them with the grass laid flat behind them.

"Indeed," Kast confirmed, "twenty miles out. They'll be here in two or three minutes."

Kal shuddered next to him.

"Relax," Kast said annoyed, extracting a grenade launcher attachment from his armor, locking it tight beneath the barrel of his rifle. From his belt he grabbed a handful of odd-looking grenades. "Sentries," he explained, "excellent for home-protection."

Rishi lowered his rifle, curious. "What do they do?"

Kast loaded the grenade launcher and raised his rifle to aim at the sky at an angle above the oncoming enemy forces. Though the recoil was severe, Kast hardly budged as he fired the grenades into the sky. In the far distance each sentry touched down among the tall grass and buried itself slightly beneath the ground. After a four-second delay the sentry activated itself.

"Observe."

As the lead enemy speederbike passed over it, the sentry instantly launched hundreds of small metallic balls into the sky on a trajectory that would intercept the bike's heading. As the balls descended from the sky, rapidly accelerating like tiny missiles, each one armed its internal detonator.

The lead bike's rider looked up just in time to see hundreds of bombs dropping down on him. The bike was lost in an inferno of small explosions which, coupled with the explosion of the bike itself, resulted in a huge fireball flaring across the grass, shrapnel and twisted metal tossed in every direction.

The remaining speederbikes swirled around the burning wreck and kicked into full speed. More sentries were activated along their path but no more riders fell to the same ploy. Their bikes swooped right and left to avoid the rain of a thousand bombs suddenly exploding around them.

"Damn it," Kast muttered. "They're too good."

Rishi shared the commando's thoughts. The remaining speederbikes put more distance between them, so far apart that the falling bombs were unable to even rattle the two riders on the far ends. Soon enough the bombs ran out and the speederbikes continued undaunted against Rishi and his two companions.

"Ready?" Rishi asked, cocking his rifle.

Kast shook with great unafraid laughter while Kal barely mustered a brave nod.

"Then lets send them packing."

Like an impatient child Kast pulled up his rifle, aiming it at the centermost rider. Soon enough the rifle rattled like a thunderstorm, hundreds of bolts leaving its muzzle. Kast roared with carnivourous joy as the rifle pounded against his shoulder, enough to send a smaller man on his back but barely even affecting the seasoned commando.

The bolts dropped like hail towards the riders, pouring over the intended rider like a hundred sharpened fists, shredding the man's armor and body in a second, leaving his bike a smoking ruin that flew for a few hundred yards before completely dissolving, exploding against the grass in a great but short flare.

The oncoming speederbikes within firing range, Kal and Rishi hunched down on their knees and opened fire. Though their rifles came nowhere close to drowning out Kast's insane battle cry, their bolts still managed to stir up enough danger that the speederbikes scattered, one of them turning too hard, slipping out of his saddle and dumping onto the ground. Before the man could get back up, Kast's rifle found him and dissolved him into a red cloud of armor and blood.

Two speederbikes came in from their left, dangerously close to riding down the three defenders. Rishi, Kal and Kast dropped to the ground, rolling to safety as the two speederbikes swooped over their heads, only to split up and come back around for another swoop.

Rishi came up on one knee, letting the rifle hang by the strap over his shoulder and pulling out his lightsaber instead. Pivoting to his left as one speederbike came at him he completed his circle, slashing the sword across the rider's back. Blood sprayed in a fine arc from the man's spine and as the man instinctively reached behind him to touch the wound, he lost control of the bike and dived it straight down into a hill of grass.

Rishi watched the bike plow into the ground, breaking in half and sending the pilot flying through the sky. He smashed against the ground with such speed that the wound on his back opened fully, breaking him in half, upper and lower body resting twenty feet apart.

Rishi's stormach turned, but before revulsion could manifest itself fully he heard the booming hum of a bike behind him. He turned around, putting his sword up in a guard stance. He knew instantly it wouldn't save him. The sight of that speederbike racing at him at full speed played itself out in extended time, a blurryness to everything.

A million thoughts passed through his head but his body was locked in place, frozen by fear. He saw the face of the rider underneath his helmet, saw that grin grow bigger and bigger, until he could count the teeth in the man's mouth. Somewhere beyond the haziness of the surreal moment he heard Kal scream.

"Rishiiiii!"

The lightsaber leaped out of his hand on it's own and cut the speederbike's rider into half. The bike went off to the side at the very last second, burying itself in the ground, spinning around itself several times before exploding.

He hadn't sent the lightsaber flying, but as he saw it drop out of the sky and into Kal's hands, he knew who had. Rishi couldn't allow himself to use the Force, Master Skar had commanded him so, but Kal could. Rishi dropped down to the ground, and Kal came scrambling over him, rifle in one hand and lightsaber in the other.

More and more speederbikes came out of nowhere and raced over their heads. Everyone put up a good fight, but it was clear they were fighting a lost battle. Despite Kast's prowness and eagerness for chaos, even he couldn't keep up with the swarm of enemy speederbikes.

Kal handed the lightsaber back to Rishi and never removed his finger from the trigger on his rifle. "Rishi! You gotta get back up! We need you!"

Rishi shook his head, he knew he should stand up and fight, but everything screamed at him. "There's too many! We should fall back to the Koniduz!"

"They'll rip us to pieces if we tried!" Kal shouted. "We have to hold this position or we - "

A stray bolt caught Kal in the chest and the man cried out in pain, rolling over onto his back. Every instinct and part of Rishi's soul begged for him to use the Force to put Kal back into a fighting condition, but he couldn't. Master Skar wouldn't have told him not to use the Force if he wasn't convinced it was dangerous.

Rishi rolled over to Kal, bolts flying over their heads. Color was already draining from Kal's face. "Kal! Kal!"

Kal coughed, tears of pain in his eyes. "Rishi...you have to..."

The young Kjoil could hear Kast roaring like a caged animal just a few steps up the hill they were lying on. But he already knew Kast was dead too. Just like Kal was, and just like he was.

"We won't make it, Kal. Its impossible. I can't beat them."

Kal's eyes turned clear. He took in a deep breath and his inhale finally steadied. "You don't have to beat them, Rishi."

Rishi was about to object about the insanity Kal was proposing when Kal's words stabbed through his confusion and his fear with startling clarity. He didn't have to defeat them. It was never about destroying the enemy forces. It wasn't about winning. It wasn't about surviving.

It was about defending.

No one said anything about winning.

Rishi almost smiled. "I can hold them - "

"Because you have to," Kal finished. His eyes started to lose their intensity and it was obvious to Rishi, even without the Force, that Kal was surrending himself to the Force. With odd calm Kal made a last daredevil grin. "Don't rob me of my destiny, you have your own to take care of. You've got better things to do. Now, get out of here."

Rishi firmed his grip on his lightsaber, getting himself ready to fight the greatest battle he would ever have to fight. He was detached from it, however, a strange trance set upon his mind. In this moment, in Kal's words, he knew he'd not only found the tools and means to survive this fight, but even the one after that, and the one after.

He'd found the key to his soul, an old knot finally unwound. The answer to his life's ancient riddle, why he had been given his powers. All his life he'd been fighting alone against evil, injustice and those who empowered such terms. He'd been fighting them head-on, going staight for the source, seeking them out every day, and that was his mistake.

He'd always been fighting to make himself feel better, he'd never actually been defending, not even in Coruscant's underground. It had always been about himself, and never about them. About him trying to make a difference by fighting on his own. In truth he never fought for the lifes of those who needed it, he didn't care about them, he only cared about living up to his own ideal, his own image of himself.

He was not supposed to be fighting, he was only meant to defend, he was meant to care enough to defend. Fighting was a hostile act, and of the Dark Side. Rishi could never defeat this army, not in a million years. And it was in his lack of understanding the difference between fighting and defending, all of his flaws were revealed. Like Kast, he would try and that was all he had to do. Kast faced the same dilemma as him and he wasn't backing down. He was up there, fighting for their lifes, and in the face of certain death, he wasn't unnerved.

Kast fought against impossible odds, because he cared.

In the back of his mind he heard the voice he'd since learned belonged to Junn, when she had been talking to him back on Regana; This war...is insignificant compared to the changes you will make. The right person, at the right place, at the right time, can change all that was ever known.

Rishi rose again and faced the swarm of speederbikes, coming up to stand next to Kast, a heavy lightsaber in his hands.

"Back to back," he said to Kast.

The soldier instantly spun around and put his back up against Rishi's, his rifle never silent for a second.

Rishi snarled at the incoming forces, full of an anger he didn't quite understand, full of a pride and determination nothing he'd ever done with the Force could compare to. He was going to fight, not to win, but to keep his friends safe. He screamed all his frustration and anger in a loud venomous battle-cry that far outmatched anything Kast had so far produced.

And out there on the beautiful terrain in front of him, none of the enemies that were flying through and over it were deprived of the sound. Spinning the blue lightsaber in his hand and bringing it up above his head, Rishi screamed even louder as their bikes began to fire at him, even as they came rampaging towards him as one giant sea of speederbikes.

If Anodyn existed on any record of perfect spots for a vacation, the prime attraction would undoubtedly be the beaches. Anodyn had some of the most magnificent waterlines in the Galaxy. The sun cast a sparkling sheen across the surface of the waving ocean, millions of twinkling lights dancing into a never-ending horizon. The waves crashed against the shore with poetic beauty and entrancing sound, propelling Koll's thoughts far away from the horrible reality he'd helped create.

The heavy armor he wore had patches of blood, Sasa's blood, on the gloves and beneath the audio soundscape of the water in front of him, he could still hear her screaming. He could still see her beautiful eyes staring up at him, could still feel his fist pound against her face until those eyes were unrecognizable.

His jaw was still clenched, a trembling pain beating through his teeth.

His boots were buried in the sand and the water reached his ankles as it moved in and out but he was barely aware of it. The armor itself hummed with energy, electricity crawling through its advanced circuitry, but it was just a shell to him. There was no pride or honor left in him, no great feeling of accomplishment. He'd been betrayed from every corner, he'd been the blind fool in the middle of a greater ploy. As he could never forgive any of them, he could never forgive himself, and he knew too well his time was almost up.

"Koll!"

Koll turned at the edge of the water to see Skar standing at bottom of the concrete stairs, a determined look on his face. His heart fluttered with sudden anxiety, and a joy was trying to manifest itself but he wouldn't let it. The last few weeks had brought many ghosts to his eyes and he didn't trust them anymore. He thought he saw his son standing there, but that couldn't be possible. He himself had ordered that body torn apart and tied to a post back on Regana.

Was insanity finally becoming reality?

He wanted to turn away from the ghost standing there, and he did, to look at the sea again. Lose himself in the purity of something he could see, hear and smell. Something real.

"KOLL!"

He closed his eyes, trying to block out the image from his mind. "Shut up! You're not real! I saw you dead!"

He could hear boots walking across the sand. "I am real, Koll."

Impossible, he thought. He couldn't accept the possibility. Hurting Sasa was one thing, but to believe he'd actually doomed his own son...the things he'd had done to the body...it couldn't be. How could he have stood before his own son and not known it? How had he been so deceived?

"How?" he asked. "How did you come back?"

The boots stopped walking. "I had a little help from a friend."

The sound of the waves crashing against the shore calmed him, giving him enough strength to face the ghost fully. The man standing there in a black cloak felt like the same man he'd strung up back on Regana, yet his face was different. If anything the man resembled Skind more than Koll found comfortable.

The world swirled inside of Koll's head. "I thought I sensed you, but I wasn't sure. I was never sure. Eknath told me - "

Skar started walking towards Koll again, prompting his silence, his eyes never leaving Koll. "It's over, Koll. I only wish it could have happened sooner."

Koll felt the spite in his words, his heart and soul starting to ache. "Skar, if what Eknath said is true, then...I'm sorry."

Skar frowned. "A little too late for apologies, Koll."

Koll held out his hands. "Don't call me that. I...am your father, and you are my son."

Skar's expression showed no change. "I was hoping you'd say that."

"Why?"

"It shows you're scared of me. You know you can't kill me, you know you don't want to kill me. Whether or not we are related, makes no difference. I will kill you. I have to. And I want to. Because," he said each word slowly, laced with venom, "I...hate...you."

Koll felt tears pressing their way out behind his eyes. "I do not blame you, my son. But think about it. You hate this world as much as I do. You know I am the one who can put everything right again. Eknath may have done some damage, but its nothing you and I can't fix. We can still be a family, son. Come with me."

Skar shook his head very slowly.

"We can still have a home," Koll pleaded.

"Home?" the word sounded wrong, bereft of warmth. "I wouldn't know what that really means, Koll. I've never had one. And I'm sorry, but I don't put much faith in the words of a man who left the world behind, only to come back years later and claim to be its salvation. You're as responsible for the way things are, as all those people you plotted to destroy. But I admit I was curious to see how you were going to make amends for all the people you would have killed in the name of 'freedom'."

Koll couldn't take it. "You didn't see - "

"I don't need to. The problem with this world has nothing to do with them. It's people like you, Koll. Self-rightous men who manage to deceive everyone with big intentions and big armies, able to fool anyone but themselves. That's the whole problem with your plan, Koll. You actually thought you were doing the world a favor."

Koll's right hand clutched into a fist. "They will not repel the invasion alone. You know that as well as I do."

Skar shrugged. "They don't have. They just have to survive."

Koll couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You're going to let them all die?"

"No, Koll. The Jedi and the Republic must fight this on their own, they'll be stronger because of it. Many will die, but the change in this Galaxy will save more. They will bring peace," Skar remembered an old quote he'd once despised, "at the cost of war."

Koll scoffed. "Who are you to decide?"

"I didn't decide. I was told." Skar looked out at the horizon, seemingly completely at peace. "It is why I am still here. It's destiny, Koll. I'm not meant to die...not yet. It is my bond to the living, the same that Skind and Kayupa once had. We shape the future, as we're destined to do." Skar's eyes turned to Koll again and he continued to walk towards him. "But you can die, Koll. Your destiny is fulfilled. And you may not be able to see it, but you did have a hand in this. You helped shaped the future. I'm sorry it wasn't the way or the future you envisioned," Skar chuckled lightly, "but...neither was mine."

Koll's teeth ground together. "You fool. How many more lives are you going to destroy?"

Skar's hand removed the lightsaber from his belt. "At least...one more.

Maybe that was true, maybe that was why he could feel himself slipping away. And maybe it was for the best. Koll felt ready to die, he admitted to himself, but bowing down before a lightsaber just wasn't in him. He would fight to the death, and keep his honor. And in his mind, it was only fair that his son was his executor. An eye for an eye. The fight had two possible scenarios, but only one outcome; being as equal as they were it would either be a short duel or a quick duel, but it was already destined that Skar would be the one walking away.

And what better place to end it, than here on the Galaxy's most beautiful beach, his splendid castle looming over them, together with his son at last.

Koll wearily readied his weapon, opting for a single red blade this time instead of two. He already knew he'd lost so two blades wouldn't make any difference. "You turned out fine without me, son. This is not how I ever envisioned us being together, but...I'll take what scraps I can get. Finish it. It's better to die by the hand of someone you love...than someone you hate."

Skar's green lightsaber lit up. "Sasa thought so too."

Koll swirled the blade by his side, an uninspired twirl, and dropped into his defensive position, two tears finally flowing down his cheeks. "Fight me, son. Make me proud."

Then Koll roared like an animal and threw himself at Skar. So much aggression flooded through Koll that it felt like a blinding light inside of himself, his hands moved faster with every second, his heart raced so quickly his entire body throbbed with each lunge. Koll fought with all the anger and despair he could put into his strikes, fiercely attempting to break Skar's defences.

Koll couldn't help but see his old Master's face and it helped him fight faster and stronger. Skind Kjoil's face was mocking him, and he could actually deceive himself into thinking it was really him. Even if he knew it wasn't, the face still set fire to his blood and pumped napalm through his veins.

Their lightsabers thrashed and sparkled with their own intensity. The sand at their feet was torn up, as was the water brushing up against their boots. The tips of their blades occassionally touched the surface of the water, heating it in a flash and creating smoke.

Their fight was brief but fast, and one who might have witnessed it would seen two fighters at their prime, battling at the edge of the beach, feet deep in the water. The sun was still rising above them, casting a golden sheen upon the water. And as the day was just getting started, a great chapter in the history of the Kjoil was finally reaching a close.

Far above Anodyn's surface, a strange occurance was taking place. The exact same situation was occurring at two different, albeit close, sites.

On the bridges of the Masamune and the Ronin, captains Kerner and Cygan both awoke from a dark sleep. Both men shook their heads at first, careful not to make any sounds. Neither knew how long they had been put under Eknath's spell, but both knew that they were now free.

Both of them found themselves bound to their command chairs on the bridges of their destroyers, and behind them many Sons of Destiny soldiers and technicians had taken the places of their old crew.

Both men could read the screens in front of them and see that they were in orbit above Anodyn, but didn't know why they were still there. According to what Eknath had told them, their minds would be manipulated into driving the destroyers into Coruscant's surface and bringing great destruction to the Republic's capital.

None of the soldiers behind them knew that they'd awoken from their trance, that they were now in control of their bodies and minds again. But there was no doubt in either man's mind about what they had to do. Although bound to the chairs they still had the freedom of their hands.

Both captains unlocked the secret compartment in the command chair's armrest, revealing a hidden set of switches. And they punched in the sequence they had to, with a bitter taste in their mouth, yet no fear or hesitation about the neccisity of it. But that didn't stop any of them from shedding tears and closing their eyes as the first rumbles of the self-destruct system exploded in a rapid succession through the bowels of the ship far beneath the bridge.

Although his mind wasn't linked with the Force, his body still remembered the magnificent acrobatics it had allowed him to make in the past. His body remembered how to spin a lightsaber in his hands as fast as possible to deflect as many bolts as possible. His body remembered the footwork, the quick steps and everything just came to him as natural.

But the Force still reached out to him, offering its help and he denied it. For the first time in his life he shunned the Force, pushed it back, denied it to touch him. It wanted to help him, it felt his need, but he blocked it. Defending himself against a wide array of blasterbolts became much simpler than denying an all-powerful Force that lived in all things from being a part of him.

Kast was still at his back, fighting brilliantly with great fury, fighting with ever inch of strength his mind could give him. In that sense, Kast was a far greater part of the Force than he was. Kast was a blistering glare of light and energy and although the commando denied to being able to wield the Force, he was very much a part of it at that moment.

Two things happened;

The first thing was when the clear sky above their heads suddenly lit up with two giant flashes. For a few seconds it seemed the sun itself had exploded, shattering blistering light pouring down from above. Rishi felt he had to cover his eyes from the glare, he even thought he could feel the temperature around him rising. Once again his mind and body demanded he used the Force to find out what was happening, to know if he was in any danger, and once again he denied the Force. He knew for certain something had happened in orbit, maybe a space battle; maybe the Republic had finally arrived and were engaging in combat with the Sons of Destiny.

The second thing was much closer; the Sons of Destiny riders turned away and around on their speederbikes and slowed the purring machines down into a full halt, abandoning their vehicles. Two dozen armored soldiers unholstered rifles from their engines and converged into a tight group.

Then they marched towards the small hill.

Kast came around to stand next to him, aiming his rifle at the group. Rishi couldn't control his breathing anymore. He felt like a caged animal and his fear was pounding blood through his heart at an insane rate. He could have easily defeated this group, even alone, if he had control of the Force.

But this tired, this weary, this close, he doubted his chances.

And why Kast wasn't already firing at them appalled him, almost as much as why they weren't firing at him and Kast.

Rishi stood there, exhausted and weakened, and in complete confusion about everything around him. Beyond his will or control, his right leg started to buckle, trembling as though the ground beneath him was quaking. The leg caved in on itself and he dropped down on one knee.

The lightsaber in his hand died. Not because he'd turned it off, but because the powercell inside the handle had dried out.

No, he thought, no, not like this.

Rishi sighed, and his body fell down onto its side on its own, a useless lightsaber rolling away off the tip of his fingers. He could feel his fingers fumbling for it, but it tumbled down the hill and seemed forever lost. Fatigue conquered him and he couldn't keep his eyes open anymore.

"Rishi?" he could hear Kast talking to him. "Rishi, you okay?"

But Rishi was already fading away, falling into a sleep he couldn't combat, every last amount of strength drained from his body. "He could have stayed," Rishi said to no one, "he could have taken them alone if he wanted to...he wanted me...to do it on my own. I needed it...I had to do it...to know..."

Kast was shaking him now. "Rishi!"

But Rishi was already sleeping, giving himself fully and finally to a rest he knew he surely deserved, closing his eyes to escape the image of those soldiers starting to march up the hill, only a few steps away.

It's out of my hands now...

He finally drifted into unconsciousness, feeling strangely fulfilled that he'd done whatever he could, that he had done the best he could. His part in everything was over, his battle was over.

It was done.

And he'd done well.

Skar swiped his blade down upon Koll's, locking the lightsabers. Koll pressed their blades down to his right, causing the tips of both blades to dig into the sand at their feet. As the sea washed in their blades touched water, which gave the blades a cracking sound as well as showering them both in smoke and sputtering bubbles.

Koll grinned victoriously, seeing Skind's face so close, his blade locked in the water and sand. He could easily move the blade up and connect it with Skar's chest. "You're going to have to do better."

Skar couldn't remove his blade from under Koll's pressure, pulling his face away from the superheated water flying at his face. But the solution was easily found.

"You're not as strong as you could have been, Koll. Guess Skind did something right after all."

Koll's eyes burned like a furnace. He snarled and kicked Skar away from him, their blades finally free of one another. Skar stumbled back a few steps, and momentarily lost his balance. Koll came at him with great ferocity before he could get back up, his red blade slamming down on Skar's, forcing the Kjoil onto his knees in the wet sand.

Once again Koll kept their blades locked, putting all his weight down upon Skar's lightsaber. "There's nothing left of his teachings in me, son. For once, at last, I am above him."

Both Skar's hands tightened on his hilt. And he summoned the Force into his hands, just enough so he could remove one hand from the hilt and still keep their blades locked.

"That you are," Skar said.

His free hand touched the hidden switch in his lightsaber's panel and the hilt became two hilts in his hand. The second blade lit up in Skar's free hand and Skar swiped it beneath his and Koll's blade, cutting a clear line across the armor covering Koll's stormach.

The sound was terrible. Koll screamed like a man in flames, his body suddenly dropping onto his knees, putting him at Skar's height. Koll's pain removed the strength from their locked blades and Skar easily pushed them back and up with his first blade, cleaving Koll's hands at the wrists with the second.

The red lightsaber flew away into the sea and Koll's armor started to shoot electric sparks from his severed gauntlets, from the internal electricity that made the armor function so magnificently. Electricity shot up and down his arms, but his severed wrists fell down to his sides and Koll did nothing to hide his pain.

Skar rose before his vanquished father, the rushing waves drowning most of his father's crying.

"Do it," Koll moaned, and resisted the looking up into Skar's eyes. "Do it!" he screamed. "Finish me!"

Skar couldn't help but think he'd been in this moment in time before, with Kayupa at his feet. It was ironic, he thought, that they would die the same way. Two people he'd actually thought were the same, ended up in the same place. Ironic, or maybe destiny. Back then he'd made the mistake of not finishing it.

Skar reassembled his lightsaber and then reached inside of his cloak and pulled forth the old hologram projector that Sasa had given him. With the flick of a thumb he activated the message inside. Koll stared at it with great confusion as the voice of his old Master Skind Kjoil started to play. It was the same message that Skar had heard years ago from the Holocron, Skind Kjoil's last transmission shortly before his suicide. Skar had never thought the answer to all this would have been so easily found in such an old message.

"Well, night is almost upon me," Skind said, a sobbing in his voice, "I can see the moon from here. Death smiles at me. Soon my sister will come to visit me. I wish you well, sister. My spirit will always live on in you and Koll. "

Skind let out his breath, the relief in his voice clearly audible.

"And in your son."

Skar switched it off and watched the expression on Koll's face go from puzzlement to painful realization.

They were all the real reason Skind was still in this realm, creating unbalance;

Him, Sasa and Skar.

Koll started shaking his head. "No, no, no. It's not - "

"You were so busy building the future," Skar took a step back, clear of the waterline, "you forgot to look at the past."

Koll's tear-filled eyes slowly looked up into Skar's.

But Skar's eyes were looking at the approaching wave of water that was building behind Koll, coming straight at him. The wave of water rushed over and enfolded Koll, electrocuting him alive as the suit's malfunctioning power system merged with the water. Koll screamed a lifetime of pain, his eyes shot wide open as the electricity caressed every pore of his body. He leaned back on his knees, screaming at the sky above, roaring in agony as his face charred and the hair singed from his scalp.

Skar stared into his eyes even as they burned away inside the emerging skull, and spinning on his heel he swung the lightsaber around, removing Koll's head from his shoulders. The screaming died as the head exploded into a million pieces of ash the moment the lightsaber connected, ash that scattered to the wind and his father's headless body fell back flat into the water. As the wave pulled back out, it took the heavy corpse out to sea, and Skar watched it float for a few heartbeats before it sank beneath the surface.

He felt like crying, but he knew they weren't his tears. It was Skind and Kayupa mourning an irredeembable student and father. Yet he remained standing there, letting them both have their moment of goodbye to the fallen Koll Riokon. All he felt was relief, another burden finally lifted, bringing him one step closer to a fulfilled destiny.

Completion.

Like standing at the end of a long trip.

"All they left was this."

Rishi slowly regained consciousness, thought he heard Kast's voice talking to someone. His entire body felt like a heavy slab of stone, impossible to move. His head hurt with a pounding headache, and all that kept him from screaming out for help was the cool breeze moving over his exposed skin, and the sound of grass softly waving around him.

An unfamiliar voice stole away his sanctuary, a synthesized voice, like that of a hologram.

"My name is Galad, and thanks to you, whoever you are, I am now the present commander of what remains of the Sons of Destiny army," the voice was stern, but not unkind. "I do not wish to delay you or myself any longer than I have to. By now it is possible Republic forces are on their way to this very planet to intercept either my group or yourself."

Rishi gathered the strength to sit up, to open his eyes. Before him a shimmering blue hologram was being projected from a small comlink on the ground at his feet. He could see the back of this Galad character and beyond the hologram he could see Kast, 2L and Master Skar perched on the ramp of the Koniduz.

"We are going to retreat deeper into the Unknown Regions, as per the instructions of Lady Junn. How she knew what was going to happen here is beyond me, but such is the mythology of great heros. I will maintain command of my group until we've come to a democratic solution regarding our future. Right now things are in a state of chaos, thanks to you people," he made a lighthearted chuckle, "but there is a common sentiment that this will be for the best."

Rishi's eyes found Skar's beyond the hologram and Skar was smiling at him, a very relieved and honest smile that almost brought Rishi to tears.

It was finally over.

He could see it in his eyes

"We've been monitoring all of your exploits on the planet from space, and the faults of our original plans are embarrasingly obvious to most of us. But it will take some time before we can decide on a common course from here, and many of us will also need time to grieve the loss of our commanders, our mentors and leaders. The Republic need fear no attack from us in the future, and knowing what we know about the future, it is more likely we will infact one day honor General Riokon's wishes and fight alongside the Republic."

Galad held up his hands. "But I honestly don't know. A lot of things are up in the air. I extend to you this hologram as a token of our...respect for the first group to ever defeat us. The loss is severe, but it is times like these where the greatest of wisdoms are uncovered. We will journey now into the unknown, but I have a feeling our paths may cross again someday. A very special message goes out to the one called Kast."

Kast perked at the sound of his name.

"If you ever find yourself in need of adventure, we'll find you," the commander laughed, "a man after our own heart. Our spy network remains somewhat intact, and we will be monitoring your future progress, Kast, as we will also be watching over the New Republic. How things go from here...I still can't say. But feel comforted when I say," the man raised his hand to his temple and saluted them, "the Sons of Destiny owes you a debt, and we are men of our word. Fare well on your travels, and may the Force be with you."

The hologram disappeared.

Rishi managed to get onto his feet and brushed away the dirt on his clothes. Afterwards he took in a deep breath and allowed his mind to collect itself, allowed his body to get used to standing up again, though a thick layer of fatigue still cloud his mind. "So...is that it? That's it, isn't it?"

Skar nodded and looked out at the blazing sun. "End of story."

Rishi walked over to them and knelt down in front of Skar and Kast. "So they left...just like that?"

Skar looked at him strangely. "Rishi, you can use the Force now if you want to."

Rishi shook his head, smiling with a bit of pride. "Don't want to." He looked up at the clear blue sky above him. "Well, good riddance. Saves me the trouble of fighting them. At least for now, anyway." He was instantly conscious of a loss. "Wait - Kal. Is he...?"

Kast nodded solemnly. "Yeah."

Rishi's heart sank. In some way he'd already known Kal was dying when they'd spoken on the hill, but that was in the heat of battle. Feelings flowed quickly then. But now, in the silence, Kal's loss banged inside of him with great pain. The man had become a great friend, despite their first reservations against each other. He would miss Kal dearly, though they'd only known each other for short time, he felt he'd lost a life-long friend.

Skar didn't take his eyes off Rishi's bowed head. "He's been buried already," he said softly. "We decided it would be easier for you this way."

Rishi didn't fight back his tears, but he knew in time he would move past this pain, that he would not lose himself in this despair. "Thank you, Master." Rishi wiped away the tears and looked up at Kast. "I'm sorry. I know you were close to him as well."

Kast's stern face revealed no sadness, only a grim hard edge. "I've lost a lot of those lately, Rishi. But yes," Kast breathed in, "he was a good friend." The soldier looked as though he wanted to say more, but his mouth clammed up and he looked away, instantly hard edge again.

Rishi didn't press the issue, but instead looked to his Master. "Everything work out the way you envisioned it?"

Skar's eyes squinted, a little surprised at Rishi's question. "I never forsaw all that happened here, Rishi."

Rishi didn't understand. "Then how? How did you know?"

"I didn't."

"Yes, you did. Some way, you must have known."

Skar shook his head slowly. "No. But I had some ideas."

"Ideas?"

Skar seemed to think about how he could best describe what he meant. "I...I knew how things had to end, but seeing the road between then and now...I couldn't see that."

"Did you see Kal die?" Rishi asked a little offensively, surprised at his own anger.

"No, I didn't," Skar said again, some tension in his voice. "But yes, everything did work out the way I believed it had to be. According to what I'd been told."

"Told?" Rishi asked.

"By the Force."

Rishi swallowed hard. "When you were dead...what did you see?"

Skar looked down at his own boots, strangely sad all of a sudden. "I didn't see as much, as I was told. We're too proud of ourselves, Rishi...too in love with our own myths, our legacy. The Kjoil thought they were going to outmatch the Jedi Knights in every way possible, we thought that was why we were created. But we're wrong. We are the hands of fate, the true sons of destiny, and perhaps someday some Kjoil will appear that can shoulder that responsibility...but we're not there yet. Me, Skind, Sasa...we're prime examples of the worst thing that can happen."

Rishi could read the implications between the words. "You're...putting it to me?"

"No, Rishi," Skar said firmly. "You are not going to be the one. But you are going to make sure this is going to be one."

Rishi knew the answer, and felt a great weight on his shoulders. "The refugees."

Skar nodded. "You will go to them, and you will watch over them. I am not asking you to train them; infact, at this point I'm almost sure the best thing would be to never train them anything at all. But you will make sure they stay isolated, and make sure none of them ever grow to the kind of madness that has infected us." Skar hugged himself. "I was also told that the Force considers us a mistake...I don't believe that, but I believe it is our responsibility to prove the Force wrong. We've only been a mistake so far, but we can still change that. Perhaps someday, just maybe, one of them will be able to stay clear of our mistakes."

Rishi shook his head. "A mistake? Master, that can't be true."

"It has been true so far," Skar replied, a reminiscent gaze in his eyes. "None of this would have happened if Skind Kjoil had never left Ka'ckak. That is fact, Rishi. He became too powerful and he too was swayed by Darkness. Because of him, Koll and Sasa set out to do what they did, which lead you and me to this moment."

Rishi nodded towards him. "You cheated destiny."

"No, I cheated myself. You can never cheat destiny. Stopping Koll and Sasa and telling you where to go...that was my destiny. That was the plan the Force designed for me."

Kast suddenly looked away from the grass around them, sat forward and joined their conversation. "Plan? You're saying everything is...predestined?"

Skar nodded. "The Force has an idea about all of us, but there is no ultimate ending. The Force has written a great story for all us, but if we stop listening to it that story can go into areas that don't have a happy ending." Skar smiled warmly and nodded towards Rishi. "The Force cares about all its children, even the squirmy ones."

Rishi could feel his own cheeks blush.

Skar went on. "We know things about the Force that the Jedi may never learn. They still consider it to be an energy source, something they can count in midiclorians. And we're going to leave them that illusion. Someday they will understand too. They are still infants to the Force, Rishi, and if the Force can allow them patience, so can we."

Kast had a mournful look on his face, a puzzled hurt. "I...still don't see it. You said this is all planned, that the future is set. Then why did the others die and I didn't? I made it through...they could have made it through. Raine spared me...was it...just their time? Why couldn't they have made it?"

Skar shrugged slowly. "You're asking the wrong guy, Kast. Maybe your story isn't over yet."

Kast sat there, shaking his head at the ground. "I...feel...this is the most important thing I've ever been involved in. And that scares me."

"Why?" Rishi asked.

The commando looked up. "Because I'm not dead. So...that means I'm going to have to do more."

Skar got up, but groaned as he stood, clearly tired and worn. "The Republic can't be told about what happened out here. 2L must have his memory wiped. We three are the only ones that are going to know what happened out here. But..." Skar looked down upon Kast, "the Republic will never accept your silence."

Kast's expression turned even more conflicted. "You're saying...I can't go home again?"

Skar nodded. "Right. You will never be awarded for any of this, Kast. As far as the Republic knows, the Sons of Destiny were defeated on Regana and no one ever found out who they really were, or their plans. This is the way it must be."

Kast moved his eyes back down to the ground. "Absent without leave," Kast said to himself, using a military term.

Rishi sympathized with the soldier. He'd been fighting all this way and now he had nothing to show for it. He couldn't tell anyone about it, he couldn't even go home because no one would ever leave him alone. He would be questioned by the military and they'd throw him away in a cell for disobedience and disloyalty. Someone would want the reason for the deaths of thousands of Republic soldiers, someone would want an explanation for the loss of the Star Destroyers.

But the truth would destroy the very reason they'd had to fight back the Sons of Destiny. The Republic was headed for years of war, and the fighting would shake the Galaxy's foundation, but the aftermath would make for a brighter world. The very same thing the Sons of Destiny had wanted to produce, but in the wrong way. With the mentality of creating a guardian program against outside threats, the people of the Galaxy wouldn't gain the experience they would having to fight for themselves. Fighting against the alien invasion as a unit, the future Galaxy would be shaken out of apathy.

But none of that, no future promises of a better world, would put a smile on Kast's face. None of it would make him feel everything he'd given up and lost was worth it. As a soldier, his only rewards in life were to come back home from a mission, to look upon his still-living comrades, and to be congratulated by his superiors.

Skar stayed silent while Kast thought about the situation. He knew there was nothing he could say that was going to change anything inside of Kast's internal turmoil, and yet a million possibilities popped up in his head.

In the end Kast lifted up his head and looked at them both, his warrior-face slowly emerging. "I don't need an insignia to be a good soldier." He cheered up a little bit. "But somebody's going to have to give me a ride somewhere. All the places I know outside of Coruscant are...well...warzones."

Rishi chuckled. "Well...apart from the Sons of Destiny, I know a place you'll be very welcome."

Kast nodded and gave a warm smile. "Thank you. I'll give it a shot."

"I believe," Skar said, drawing in a heavy breath, "that is my cue. You two, get out of here."

Rishi got up and watched his Master as the man walked forward into the grass. "Wh - " words got caught in his throat. "What are you doing?"

Skar's fingers reached outside of his sleeves and slid across the grass as he walked, each leaf moving against his palms. "My path ends here, at the beginning of yours. My place is here. My family is here. I've played my part. I never imagined...it could happen so easily."

Rishi walked behind him. "I don't understand."

Skar's eyes glistened by the sunlight, a peaceful expression on his face. "I'm talking about my legacy. My legacy is not yet full, but it will be in time. In you. My memory is your heritage. You will make me proud," Skar reached down and unclipped his lightsaber from his belt. Skar tossed the lightsaber over his shoulder and it dropped into Rishi's palms.

"I'm sure you already know this, but this is not a blade."

Rishi cradled the lightsaber in his hands.

"It was never built to take lives, Rishi. It was meant to save them. It's a shield. That's all we are, all we should be. Protectors. It should never be about finding something to believe in," Skar turned and showed Rishi his tear-filled eyes, "it's about finding someone to believe in."

Rishi's hand tightened around the hilt, a single tear running down his cheek. "I don't want to say goodbye, Master."

Skar smiled encouragingly. "Death is never goodbye, Rishi. Go lightly down your - "

The line was left unfinished as a gentle breeze passed over them, it seemed to extract the very soul from Skar's body as it moved over him. His knees buckled and he was dead even before Rishi caught him in his arms, kneeling down and resting him against his leg. 2L gasped and Kast got up to help but he understood that it was already over. He remained back and gave Rishi time and space to do what he had to.

The young Kjoil hugged his Master tightly, softly rocking him back and forth, tears dripping from his cheeks. The grass around him moved in waves, brushing up against him, but he could have been anywhere in the world at that point. He felt removed from everything. He didn't say a word, didn't release a sigh or a wimper. He'd already lost his Master once and he hadn't had him back long enough to nurture any hope of them ever being fully united. So much darkness and grief had infected their last times together, but Rishi knew now that everything was forgiven and everything was the way it should be.

Master Skar had died in his arms, and not alone this time. There was no more he could learn from Master Skar, and the time had come for him to set out on his own path.

The circle was complete.

Rishi gathered the strength to stand up and carry his Master back to the Koniduz. Kast and the droids followed him up the ramp and locked it tight behind them. Rishi positioned the body on the nearest bunk and folded his Master's cloak around the limbs, pulling up the cowl to cover the face, as though it was a child and he was making sure it would keep warm before a cold night.

Kast walked up behind him. "You okay?"

Rishi stood back from the bunk, drying away the tears from his face and released a sigh into his palm. "No more tears left to shed." He looked over to the commando and gave a brave smile. "Coruscant...it may not be our home anymore, Kast, but that doesn't mean we're going to leave it behind without a proper goodbye."

At the edge of the forest, where tall grass met majestic trees, Skind Kjoil's ghost manifested itself out of thin air. His dark silouette stared cryptically at the collection of trees before him, seeing a dim light far inside that was now the grave of his old love. And yet, there was an urge, a misgiving. He could swear, he was sure, that his undead heart fluttered at the thought of her dead in there. He could swear he could hear her screaming among the trees, feel her pain touch him.

He was about to step into the woods when he felt another presence behind him.

"Skind, no."

Skind didn't need to turn around to see this newcomer. The voice revealed the identity.

"Master Yoda."

Yoda's ghostly shape moved unsteadily, like smoke rising from a candle. "Done, your time here is. Time to move on."

Skind knew the old Jedi Master was right, as always. It was just an undead reflex. For so many decades he'd awaited the moment that Selia Iver's spirit would join with the Force, and now that she was, he couldn't help wishing he could have saved her. He took a step back and glanced over his shoulder at Yoda.

"Am I being rewarded...finally? Will she be there?"

Yoda nodded and started to fade again. "Keep her waiting, you should not."

Skind Kjoil watched Yoda vanish from view, just as a small ship lifted from the ground not far away, just as the world around him started to melt into one, becoming a glowing warm light that surrounded him, removing all of the physical realm until he had passed fully beyond.

Until there was only light, only warmth, only the Force.

And Selia Iver, at long last, smiling back at him.

When the Koniduz entered New Republic space, and subsequently Coruscant's atmosphere, Rishi felt a fear rise up in him. He remembered Master Skar once telling him of his strange obsession and fear regarding the planet, that he had been scared to go there long ago, because he was afraid the planet's beauty would enrapture him, and blind him from his original path. But it wasn 't the same fear that Rishi felt now. Rishi had been there before, he'd lived deep in the underbelly of the diamond that was called Coruscant.

He was not afraid of it's beauty. He was afraid of the sadness that now hung over Coruscant like a fleet of dark clouds. He was afraid because he knew Coruscant was already dead, already lost even now years before the alien invasion would come. And to him it was infact already a ghost city, as hazy as any image he could pull forth from his mind.

Billions of people surrounded him and he could already hear their screaming in his mind, those future death-cries. He could feel it rise up from the surface miles beneath him like a phantom hand that would drag him down into it's grave and swallow him along with the rest.

There, the sadness, it had emerged and Rishi stifled the tears. These people, this gem of a world, were already sentenced to death, and he could not help it. He could not warn them. All those faces of people he had met, all those hours he'd been talking to members of Skywalker's family, the Jedi Knights, the senators, the officials; all those faces flashed before his eyes and he could save them, he could save them with words.

It was that simple.

But nothing was simple, and nothing was fair. His sadness went out to the state of the world that existed, where billions of people had to die in order to create unity and balance, where death was the only mentor. Peace through silence. He could feel a shred of sympathy for a man like Koll Riokon, a man who had seen the beauty of Coruscant as well, a man who had known if he wanted to save that beauty, he had to destroy it.

Touching a switch he activated the Koniduz's external sensors and programmed them to take snapshot holograms of the planet's surface as the ship hovered through the cityscapes, saving for himself images he could one day sit and watch.

Kast looked at the world in an entirely different way. He seemed as tense and coiled as any time him and Rishi had gone into a fight, as poised and ready to pounce if the situation arose. He regarded Coruscant as an enemy. The commando knew that his group's intended destruction was the sole work of Admiral Gout Saul, a man who had been swayed by Eknath's mind tricks, in order to bring the Star Destroyers to Regana.

But it wasn't as simple as that in his mind, Gout Saul was just one man, and he hadn't physically killed any of his comrades. But he stood in Kast's mind as a simple of the corruption that infested Coruscant. He knew Gout Saul had willingly given himself to Eknath. Kast had also learned a lot about himself and his entire perception of Corusccant had become a hateful one. This government had taught and trained him to kill at their will, but he'd seen the larger world now. Coruscant was a symbol of the old Kast, the blind ignorant Kast.

Rishi brought the ship into a trajectory that placed it above a landing platform. Master Skywalker was already aware of his return and had agreed to meet him there. Whether or not Skywalker knew what Rishi had to say, he couldn't guess. He just knew that above all he owed to Skywalker to say goodbye.

The Koniduz descended down through the levels and outside, caught in daylight, Coruscant looked like it had never happened. A planet completely oblivious to everything Rishi had been through, a city unaware of all the sacrifices people had been through to save it. All of the death and the pain. Rishi felt cold inside and started to see things through Kast's eyes.

The Koniduz bumped as it settled onto the landing platform and Rishi's thoughts were pushed away. He left the cockpit behind, with Kast in tow, and dropped the landing ramp in the back. The moment the familiar air of Coruscant hit him he savored the moment and relished the sight of all the buildings around him, a magnificence he might never see again.

Kast still wore his rifle over his shoulder and frowned at the structures towering over him, his eyes darting from shadow to shadow, seeing enemies everywhere. But his conflict shone through his eyes, his own acknowledgement that he couldn't blame the city itself. But to a soldier it was the nearest thing he had, and soldiers needed objects to project their anger. Rishi hoped someday he would see Kast smile again, that he too would learn to let go of it and accept the reality.

Master Skywalker was already there, at the edge of the landing platform, a cloaked sillouette against the radiance of the tall building behind him. Rishi felt his own heart start to pace and set a path towards Luke, already longing to be back inside the Koniduz and on his way out of here.

When they reached the Jedi Master, Rishi bowed to him briefly, but Kast stayed behind Rishi to his right, the place of a protector, of a bodyguard. And Kast's eyes were locked on to Luke, one finger on the trigger, the other hand on a vibroblade in his belt. Coiled and ready.

Luke pulled his hood back and showed his concerned face, showed his eyes that seemed to look for a third figure that just wasn't there. He let out a heavy breath and collected his hands at his belly.

Never one to small-talk, Luke went straight for the core. "Suddenly...I am back many years ago, when your Master first came here, Rishi. When you were just a toddler hiding behind his legs. I feel that same conflict of joy and worry that I did back then." Luke forced a smile. "You look just like him, that same...stubborn look in his eyes."

Rishi stood frozen still. "I wish things could be different, Luke. I really do. But this is a short visit. I only came to say goodbye."

Luke was instantly offensive. "Goodbye? Listen to me, Rishi; many things have happened. The Republic is in an uproar about all of this. They want reports, details, explanations about everything that's happened. And so do I. Where is Skar, where is Kal? What happened out there, Rishi?"

Rishi drew in a big breath and pushed away the desire to tell Luke everything. "Thank you for letting me stay here, Luke. Me and Skar and 2L all thank you for your generosity. But our lease here has expired, and it's time we moved on."

Luke's jaw fell slightly, confusion all over his face. "Is Skar still alive?"

Rishi shook his head. "No, Luke. He's not."

"What happened?"

Rishi summoned the courage to withstand Luke, the urge to be honest to a dear friend, a mentor. His heart bled. "He died a hero, Luke. Let's leave it at that."

Luke wouldn't be shot down so easily. "You can't simplify it like that, Rishi. Not with me. I wanna know what happened on Regana. I cared for Skar also."

Rishi looked away, feeling pain looking Luke in the eyes and lying to him. "It's better you don't know. There will be no great tale of Skar Kjoil the Brave, Skar Kjoil the Magnificent, because it simply wasn't that way. I can't give you a proper debriefing since I've made a promise not to. Just accept that he is gone. He didn't even want me to come here, but I had to say goodbye."

"And go where?"

Rishi blinked. "Master Skar left me a heritage that I must attend to."

Luke's expression sharpened. "The Kjoil refugees. Can you train them by yourself?"

Rishi smiled briefly. "They will receive all the training they need."

Luke's hands unfolded and hung at his sides. "So...that's it? Will I ever see you again?"

Rishi kept looking beyond Luke. "No. But I'll be watching you, Luke. You're headed for a difficult time and I'm sorry I can't help you more. But...this is the way it must be, for the best of this Galaxy. The way the Force wants it."

Luke stepped forward fast -

Too fast for Kast's taste. The commando's rifle rose and aimed at Luke's chest.

Luke stopped, a look of betrayal on his face.

But Kast's eyes cleared and he unslung the rifle from his shoulder, stepped aside and walked for the edge of the pad. He pulled his rifle back over his head and tossed it out over the edge, letting go of his only protection, the one thing that had gotten him through the hell he'd been through, his last link to the Republic. The rifle spun around itself as it fell hundreds of levels and faded from view among the maze of lights below.

Kast stepped back from the edge and let out a deep sigh. Soon he walked away from the edge and walked for the Koniduz again, clearly done with the world. Rishi knew Luke wouldn't understand the symbolism of Kast's sacrifice, there was no way he could, but Rishi felt the same pride rise up in himself that was coursing through Kast.

Rishi felt broader and stronger. "May the Force be with you, Luke."

Luke said something more, even shouted at his back, but Rishi had already turned away and walked for the Koniduz, hearing it's engines start to revv up again. Whatever Luke said drowned out in the ship's waking roar. Rishi walked up the ramp, and realized he could put a smile on his face, one eye looking out at the city, a city once his home, around him before it dissapeared within the rim of the Koniduz's cargo hold.

Rishi heard the ramp slam shut behind him, severing every last tie to the Republic, to Coruscant, to Luke and to everything he had just saved.

From The Private Journals Of Rishi Kjoil

Ahem...Well, today is...today is the one year anniversary of my return to New Ka'ckak, the home of the Kjoil survivors. Upon my first arrival here I didn't know what to expect, I hadn't seen this place for more than a decade. But the seniors of the group had pulled through in the most amazing way. The ship that Master Skar had, in lack of a better word, stolen from the Republic to transport them from Draori to New Ka'ckak, has been rebuilt and now functions as a center of the building community. Almost as a city in the itself, the ship is surrounded by rings of smaller huts and cottages, even crude roads have been paved and the people have taken great advantage of the world's agriculture.

I was fearing chaos, and I got serenity.

The people carry with them a feeling of simple peace, an innocence and ignorance to everything evil and past, completely devoid of worry or unrest, and it turned out to be just the thing I needed. My experiences from Regana and Anodyn, my turn towards the Dark Side, and the death of Master Skar hadn't completely settled in. But as soon as I came here, I walked into a set of duties and expectations, and of course I had to explain to everyone what had happened.

I told the younger ones the story as a fable, a myth shared over a lit fire late into the night. He has become somewhat of myth since his last visit, they all talk of Master Skar as some great savior, and I think that image serves him well. The elders were given the more exact story, even as far as telling them Master Skar's version of Kjoil heritage. It may provoke incidents but...I've always known that sooner or later darkness will find this place, that a person will stumble upon the Force and the Dark Side. It is only natural to assume this will happen, to be ready for it. But there have been no indications of it so far, I am glad to say. I fear the day, however.

Kast seems to have fallen in nicely. It's strange to remember the edgy soldier I fought alongside on Anodyn, and see the change in him now. He's one of the first faces I see every day, and he always brings me a smile. He seems to feel right at home here, playing with the younger children, teaching them wargames, while teaching some of the elders how to hunt for food. Obviously they knew how to set traps before, but everyone had to bow down to being taught how to hunt by a New Republic commando. He has shed his soldier's skin almost completely, and even though he won't admit it, I think he's taken a liking to some, if not more, of the women here.

(Silence for a few seconds)

I haven't begun training anyone yet. I know I have to at one point, but the idea of getting it wrong is keeping me. I'm afraid of failing, afraid of starting. But I have to start at some point, because this is what I want. This is what I said I'd do. This is what was left in my hands. I still feel guilty about not telling Luke about the future before I left, it's...it's strange. All my life I was trying to change the world for the better, taking on whatever tasks I could, big and small. Then I end up having to do the exact opposite; to let the world be.

Then again, I was always living in the future. Always thinking about tomorrow. Always trying to be someone else, always trying to be better than what I was. It took a long time for me to learn that life is growing experience. You can't change yourself, you can only grow, but there will always be a core to you, something that will always be there. The best thing is to just accept that part, maybe even learn to love it. That is the true way to finding your way through life; listen and learn.

(Sound of door opening)

(Voice of unknown male child:) Master Rishi, come play with us!

Ye-yeah, I'll be right there.

(Voice of unknown male child:) Come on! Master Kast says you're afraid he's going to beat you!

Well, you tell him he's lucky it's just a game.

(Sound of door closing)

Where was I...doesn't matter. It's time for me to stop being afraid of new beginnings, time to go straight for them. Time for me to start my own. I will never forget the days and years behind me, everything I've learned. I had to see it, to live it, and I am eternally grateful. For the good and the bad.

(Sound of man getting up, a deep sigh)

And I know you're still here, Master. You may think you can hide from me, but you're not that good. Keep watching me all you want, and I hope the day will come where you decide to commune with me. I'm sure you and Shinran still have a lot of catching up to do.

(Sound of finger resting on off switch)

And so do I.

The End