A New Home.

"I don't feel comfortable with you teaching my daughter the ways of the Dark Side.", Lori said, her arms folded into her sleeves as she walks along side me in the halls of the ship.
"I told you, already. There's very little difference between the Light and Dark Side.", I confide.
I had just finished a session on mind control with Shorty when her mother came in and found us; prompting the end of said lesson. Lori and I took a walk so I could convince her to let me take Shorty on as my new apprentice or, atleast make it look legite to my fellow Sith that I was, in fact, training a 'former' Jedi.
Lori continued, "Throughout my life I was told that the Light and Dark sides were two different faces of a coin. One good side, one bad. Now you're trying to say otherwise?", she stops and faces me.

Even though I had never told my old master - I had been secretly studying the Jedi for quite some time. I learned their ways, their beliefs, their entire set of rules. I knew the Jedi better than some Jedi knew their own ways. I was also learning the ways of the Sith from my master. I was putting a lot of two's and two's together as I grew up.

I had a special speech that I practiced, several times, in my head for whenever this conversation would have come to pass. That day has finally come. "The only difference between the Jedi and the Sith are the clothes.", I start.
Lori cuts my start short, "Come on! The Sith are all about dominance; about show; they let their emotions run their actions."
"And, the Jedi don't?", I ask, raising my left eyebrow and crossing my arms – outside the sleeves.
Lori's eyes widen as she takes a step back and looks at the floor – then the ceiling. I can feel a sense of confusion coming from her. Then awareness.
She stares at me for a second, then storms off – back the way we came. Her dishwater-blonde ponytail bobbing with every frustrated step.
"THAT'S NOT VERY JEDI-LIKE!", I yell at her as her emotions control her gait.

As I turn toward the bridge I feel a familiar presence.
"That's some way to get some pussy.", Rocky says, her arms folded as she leans against the wall.
She's changed out of the drab over-hanging rags that she wore to get me out of the prison, and now wears a tightly clad leather ensemble.
For only being 15 she has the shape of a grown adult, but my morals still reside in me.
Moral; definitely not a Sith trait.
If I had a Sith boss, I'd have been fired by now. I'm not very good at this job.

Rocky shoves off the wall and starts to pace me down the hall. "I don't see why you're chasing that prude, when you could easily have a sure thing.", she turns her head toward me with a smirk glued to her face.
"I'm not chasing her... And, No.", I lower my eyes to the ground to keep from looking at her.
She always was an attractive young lady, but time would have to overcome her before I would consider anything further than being a friend.
Either way, she was too old for me to take her on as a formal apprentice. And too young to take her on as a partner.
She was the perpetual 'Middle child' - not the heir, not the Baby.

She crosses her arms as she walks. "Fine. Have it your way.", she scours and stops. I keep walking, as if I didn't notice that she wasn't next to me anymore.
"Grrr!", she screams the typical teenaged rage and storms off the opposite direction - her arms straight at her sides.
That's another thing about younger girls. The rage.
Rage is a good Sith trait. She gets it easily. I don't.

I walk into the crew's quarters, only to meet Nex. He's sitting on a cot, applying salve to the stitching on his face. He looks up as he notices me.
"Damn cybernetics! They itch like nothing else.", he says, wrapping his face in a bandage.
"I know what you mean.", I say, pulling back my sleeve to reveal my still un-repaired hand. Most of the fingers still work. The index and middle finger have a detent that clicks at half span, but the pinky and ring finger are dead. The thumb works fine. I've been sufficing well enough for these past 3 days, but it's getting annoying.
"Do you have any tools around here?", I asked Nex. He looks around and pulls a sachel out of a cabinet. He plops it down on the table in front of me and I search through it's contents for a small screwdriver.
I finally pull the tattered glove off for the first time since the blaster hit it. Sure enough, the 'I' pillars that form my new knuckles have a slight bend to them.
Fixing them takes no more than unscrewing them and pounding them straight with a small hammer.
I'll need replacement pistons for my other two fingers, however.

"So, Nex, Who are all these Sith and why did they help get me out of there?", I ask as I finish putting my fingers back on.
"Well, long story short,", Nex starts, "They are a small sect of Sith that have fallen under the same situations as we have. They are all unwilling followers of the Dark Side, but have a reputation that won't allow them into the Jedi order. Most of them just want to be normal people - normal with certain advantages, anyway...", Nex stands up and puts his hands on his hips as he stares out the window at the endless array of stars, "...I met most of them on Alderaan and on the space port when they'd come in with their masters. Darth D'iam actually helped me get the command post on the space port. I've kept in contact with most of them and helped the majority escape or kill their masters."
I listened intently. I'd never known that there were so many Sith just like me, but the question still nagged, "But, how did you know were I was?", I asked as I put my glove back on and stood next to Nex at the window.
"We have a visitor that just boarded from another ship. She'll be able to answer that for me.", Nex puts his hand on my shoulder just as the door behind me swooshed open.
I turn around to see...

"Nazerene?"

Nazerene steps into the room and stands in front of me; her hand on her hip as she gives me an "I told you so" look.
Nex walks around me and stands next to Nazerene. "You remember Nazerene or, 'baby-face' as we call her."
Nazerene does a little twirl, showing me her entire figure, "I told you I was a grown woman - 24, in fact."
I try to hide the shock on my face, but I don't think I'm doing a good job. My mouth is still hanging open since she walked in. "You sure fooled me."

"Tell him how we found him, dear.", Nex beckons Nazerene as he takes a seat next to her.
Nazerene motions for me to sit as she sits across from Nex. As I take the chair next to Nex she starts to tell her side of the story, starting from back at the warehouse, where I last saw her.

"When you got out of the lead sled, I followed you. I could sense the Jedi, also, and figured you might need some help. I was peeking in the door when the Jedi master saw me and I drew his attention away from you. That's when you kicked him in his...you-know-whats.", she holds her hands in a carrying position to mime a pair of male genetalia, "I figured I was busted, so I asked you what you were doing. You told me to go away, but I didn't. I ran back to the sled and drove it around the block and ran back.
By the time I got back to the warehouse, you were already being arrested. After you passed out from losing your hand I heared the Jedi master radio in that you were going to Hoth.", she sits forward and leans toward Nex, "That's when I got on my comm to Nexus. He took care of the rest."
Nex turns to me with a smug look.

Just then, there was a bang on the side of the ship. The lights flicker a few times and then they're out.
We all just sit there in the dark for a second when I hear Nex speak, "What's going on?"
I open my mouth to answer him when I hear a static filled voice. He wasn't speaking to me, he was on his comm link.
Over the radio I hear, "We've just entered the outer asteroid field. We're blasting as many as we can, but a few are getting past us. We sure could use a few gunners up here."
"We're on it.", Nex says as I hear him stand up."Let's get up to the bridge.", he says shortly.
"How are we supposed to find our way in the dark?", I ask.
"Oh yeah, you guys don't have infrared vision.", Nex says, "Well, check this out..."
Suddenly, a flashlight turns on and wisps around the room. It takes me a second to realise that it's actually coming from Nexus' cyborg eye. "This is one benefit to being computerized.", he laughs.

We follow Nex to the bridge. There is enough light filling the room from the distant sun so Nex turns off his eye as we enter. The foreground of the front view finder is filled with a small blue planet with one moon.
"Where are we going?", I ask as I take a seat in one of the many gunner chairs.
Rocky looks back at me from the navigators' post with a small smile.

"Earth."

Rocky turns back to her duties just as quickly.
Nex shouts over to me over the barrage of asteroids hitting the ship,

"Welcome home, buddy."