It seemed that the Senate was out for blood regarding the affair with the mobile suits. It appeared that none of the Jedi were safe from retribution.

Two weeks ago, General Dinn had arrested Master Karrde and placed him under house arrest for his actions following the discovery of Outbound Flight. He had since escaped, the better to compile evidence of his own innocence.

All of this passed through Callista's mind as she sat in meditation. The gardens of the Karrde home were soothing to one's thoughts. The thoughts passed through her mind, but she did not latch onto them. Instead, they passed through her mind only to dissipate.

A familiar presence intruded upon her meditation, and she smiled as she sensed Andrea enter the gardens. Andrea Karrde was a Knight in her own right, having received her Knighthood shortly after Callista. The young women had become fast friends over the short time that they had known each other.

Callista smiled, remembering how she had felt a part of their family. General Dinn had opened her arms to Callista, offering her further training. She felt that their relationship reflected more of that of a mother and daughter than that of teacher and student. Arie had taught her many things, perhaps the most important being that grief is a necessary part of life.

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The cool evening air surrounded the house, like a mother wraps a child in a blanket. Dinner having ended an hour ago, Callista was in the kitchen helping to clear up the dishes along with Andrea. The other girl was full of energy and excitement. She talked incessantly of her friend, Edward DeGarma, the heir to the Cataani throne. Callista well knew of the Karrde family's connection to royalty. Steffan's wife Jade was Cataani nobility.

Callista's mind still returned back to that ill-fated fight with Mephisto all those weeks ago. What had caused him to go after her Master? The Sith hadn't surfaced for years, and now here they were again.

She knew that it really wasn't her place to go after the Sith, that was more Ainar's area of expertise, but she felt like things had been left undone after her battle with him. She was the only one that could make them right again.

She still had his saber, and she remembered an old technique one could use to find the location or origin of the weapon's owner. She had no idea if it would work now that the weapon's owner was now dead, but it was worth a shot.

The fields behind the Karrde home were damp and cool, as the darkness of night closed around her. Holding the hilt flat across her palm, she held it out towards the night sky. The saber began spinning like a compass needle. It wavered slightly, and then stopped. It was pointing in the direction of Korriban. That's unusual, although that is a distinctly Sith base…

She turned and ran for her X-wing, the dew soaking the hem of her robe as she ran.

I'll find them and report back to the Council, if I don't get myself killed in the process.

The canopy closed over her as she began the preflight. She was half-way through when she sensed him. Her comm unit crackled to life a second later. "Callista you shouldn't go out alone right now…" She slammed her fist down on the comm, cutting him off in mid-sentence. He didn't understand. She had to do this alone.

Drifting upwards on repulsors, she guided the X-wing from the hangar and into the open. Pointing the nose of the craft upward, she engaged the sublights and shot into space. It took her a few moments to pull Korriban's location from the navigation computer. The stars blurred around her as her ship shot into hyperspace.

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A wave of coldness swept over her through the Force. This is it, she thought as she pulled the lever and dropped out of hyperspace. A debris belt floated off to her left, which the computer identified as the Ashes of Korr. Guiding her ship down through the atmosphere of Korriban, she had to fight the cold. It was interfering with her instruments.

Her engines sputtering, she barely brought the nose of her craft up in time to keep it from slamming into the ground. The jolt of landing threw her against her harness and she bumped her head on the forward canopy. Grabbing a breather, she palmed the canopy release and exited the fighter, using the Force to partially bury it in the snow.

She trudged away, fighting the biting wind. She was fairly certain that her ship had been spotted as it streaked through the atmosphere. There was nothing that she could do about that now. Through the driving snow, she spotted a huge stone edifice carved into the side of the cliff that she was making her way towards. She fought the wind, and made it inside. Her cloak dripped onto the stone floor, the sound echoing hollowly in the dim space.

She crept forward into the darkness, closing down her Force connection as much as she could. She did not dare light a lamp, relying only on her Force sense to guide her. She felt more than heard someone move behind her, whirling, she stared into the darkness, as her hands drifted towards her sabers.

A brilliant red blade came slicing out of the darkness, and Callista barely raised hers in time. She could dimly see the man's face from the light of his blade. A second came at her, and now she fought harder. "What do you want, Jedi?" one of the Sith spat the name like a curse as he circled her.

Callista glared at him, "I am responsible for killing on of your brothers..." This caused both of them to attack her with renewed intensity and Callista was hard pressed to defend herself. The cold was slowing her down. One of the Sith back handed her across the face with his saber hilt, and she crumpled to the floor, out cold.

They dragged her limp body down the corridor, and dumped her unceremoniously in front of their Master. She stirred, and started, fighting against their grip as she realized who he was.

"Leave us." The old Sith Lord bellowed.

They released her, and she stumbled, her legs having gone numb. Before departing, one of the sentries presented him with her sabers, as well as that of Mephisto, which she had been carrying.

With look of disappointment looking at the saber of his fallen brother, he turned again to the eyes of the Jedi " 'Tis a shame, but such is the ways of the Sith, he was not strong enough, pathetic. Why are you here jedi...answer truthfully..." He said as he slowly clenched his fist.

She swallowed. "I feel that there is much that was left undone from my encounter with him. I felt it necessary to deal with it personally..." Drawing her robe close about her, she gazed back at him.

Gently he raised his hand into the air and with his hand the Jedi followed, he let out a chuckle "So...how do you desire to settle this? Challenge another Dark Lord? I warn you, I've been around just a while longer." Clenching his fist a little more ensuring now that some restriction of breathing was to be felt.

She clawed at his hand, struggling for air. Shaking her head in answer to his question, she managed to speak past his grip that was restricting her air, her voice coming out as a strangled gasp. "I only want to know WHY..." Tears flowed down her face again as she thought back over that fateful battle.

He released his hold on her and she fell back to the ground, "If knowledge is all you seek, than knowledge is what you shall recieve." He took a long breath, and continued "Mephisto was sent on a spying mission, no one was really supposed to be harm, least that was not the intention, my guess is that got a little too involved."

She nodded, massaging her throat a little. "My master shadowed him, and Mephisto did not take well to it..." She trailed off, thinking back to his comment at the start of that final battle.

"He obviously thought your Master a threat, but he couldn't destroy that threat, could he?"

Shaking her head again, she continued, 'He underestimated me...thought he could take on both of us himself..."

The old Sith grinned. "We are proud, and sadly sometimes that pride leads to idiocy. But you killed him, in a fit of anger and hatred, you ended his life." She looked like she wanted to refute that for a moment, but then she nodded, looking at the floor.

He clapped his hand and 3 other Sith entered the room, "Please escort this one to an acceptable room." Her eyes locked with his, a hint of fear in them for the first time. "What's to be done with me?"

"You will be dealt with later, until then, please meditate on what has been said." He flicked his hands and the three Sith ignited their light sabers and gestured to the door.

She felt herself being lifted to her feet. Shaking them off, she walked between them, the three Sith following her from the room.

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It doesn't feel right, Steffan said as he looked up at the night sky from the porch of his home.

Callista was still feeling something from the battle she fought on Corellia. It wasn't grief for her slain master...of that, he was sure. But there was something else was still lingering. He couldn't put his finger on it, but it was there...dark and brooding.

And with the Bothans walking out of the Senate, along with several others who backed their ideas for power, things were coming to a point. Steffan's fear, was that it was going to become very bloody.

And with Bane controlling things...it only made it worse.

"The concern coming off of you is overwhelming, Steffan," Ainar said as he walked up to the porch rail.

"With things that are happening," Steffan began to say. "I don't think this was the time for young Callista to run to find a sense of closure. I fear she may be walking into a trap."

"I'll find her," Ainar said as he reassured his friend. "I'll find her."

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One of the Sith Adepts shoved open a heavy door. "In here, Jedi," he hissed. She spared him a glance, then stepped through the doorway. The door slammed shut behind her, and she heard a clang as a bar was placed across the door.

The room was bare except for a simple sleep pallet in one corner. Settling herself in the middle of the floor, she sank into the Force, reaching for calm. She could feel the Sith on the other side of the door, but she left them alone.

The battle came to her mind once more. Even after all this time, she could not put it out of her thoughts. It was part of her. She well remembered the look in his eyes as she had approached, her purpose clear. She had indeed been walking a very fine line that day.

She sank deeper into herself, remembering something Master Karrde had told her a few days ago. "Callista, due to recent events, I have placed a locator beacon in the sole of your boots. If you should ever came into a situation that you cannot deal with on your own, you only have to activate it, and one of us will find you…"

His voice faded from her thoughts and she reached into the heel of her boot, using the Force to activate the beacon. Not even three seconds had passed when her guards burst into the room, their sabers blazing.

"Where is it?" one snarled. Callista rose to her feet, staring back at him silently. "I don't know what you're talking about…" She stood very still as he ran a scanner over her body. It beeped when he reached her boots. "Remove your boots," he commanded, his eyes burning.

She yanked her boots off and handed them to him. He pulled the heel off the left one, exposing the transmitter. He pulled it out and smashed it under his heel.

"There are penalties for lying, Jedi…." She backed away from him as she sensed his intent. The other two grabbed her arms to keep her still. His movements a blur, he drew his hand back, and punched her in the face. She could feel something break as pain blossomed in her jaw. The pain was the last thing she felt as she passed out.