Xeran wore the small backpack and left the room.

He was excited. He had discovered a clue about the superweapon Silc had found, and, although he was not finished with his other affairs, he had decided to pursue that clue.

He was surprised when his master had allowed him to leave. Maul had had the mock leader of the syndicate, the Corellian human Qi'ra, summon the leaders of the various Crimson Dawn cells here, to reveal himself as the true leader to the ones who did not already know him and inform them about his newest plans in person, since communication devices could not always be trusted. He thought he would be needed here, but acquiring a Sith weapon of mass destruction was apparently a more important use of his time than helping to maximize profits, and, after all, Xeran was still a secret from most of these men.

He activated his communicator. "Captain, ready the ship. I will be there shortly."

"As you wish, sir."

In the short time he had known the older captain, he had started to like the man. Beyond being loyal, he was also an experienced war veteran, and he had the skill to prove it. Xeran sometimes thought he could learn a thing or two by watching him work, not about the Force or the lightsaber, but practical knowledge he would need as an agent of his master. Plus, he happened to enjoy his company. He headed towards the ship, looking forward to the journey, and even more so to the destination.

He exited the cantina. He walked among the multitude of organics and droids working inside the base, observing the armies of mercenaries that had accompanied the leaders of the syndicate, but disregarding them all. He headed to the hangar with a brisk pace, knowing that, after this mission was completed, much greater power than this would be his.

That was when he felt it. A disturbance in the Force.

He looked around. The sun was high in the sky, the workers in the base were going about their business and the guards were patrolling. Everything seemed alright. Still, Xeran knew better than to disregard a warning from the Force. He closed his eyes and scouted the area with his senses.

He opened them fast, fear replacing the concern on his face. There were people closing in. An entire army. And he sensed hostile intent from them. But that was not what had scared him.

He had felt a presence. Dark, cold, like a black sun shining in the sky. A presence strong enough to overshadow him, or even his master.

He rushed to the chambers of the older Force user and burst inside.

Maul had already been preparing for combat, with haste, almost as if he, too, was concerned.

"Apprentice. We are under attack."

"I have felt it, master. What is the plan?"

Maul rushed out of the room. "The opponents outnumber and outgun us. Our only option is strategy." He activated his communicator. "Commander, we are to be attacked soon. Activate the shields around the base and prepare the heavy guns. Inform our guests that they should hide in basement three."

"Sir, everything is quiet. Why…"

"Do as you are told, commander, or I shall replace you with someone who will!" He deactivated the device. "I sense a presence…someone powerful in the dark side."

"I have felt it too, master. Who is this person?"

Maul's face tightened and he spat the words like venom.

"My replacement."

He composed himself and looked at Xeran. He handed him a container.

"Your ship is equipped with the best cloaking generator among the ships in this base, and thus will be our escape plan, since we cannot afford to be detected. This should be stored there. It contains important documents and some of the most powerful holocrons and artifacts I have procured. Inform your captain that he should look for a plateau southeast of the base, the one next to a rock formation that resembles a dagger. He shall await there, in case the base is overrun. We will make our escape through basement three. There is a passage there, fortified with blast doors, which leads directly to the plateau. Do this, and then return to me. I shall need your strength for this fight."

"Yes, master." Xeran ran to his ship as fast as he could.

Shammus looked at him idly when he entered, but was alarmed to see the young Zabrak in such a haste. "Sir, is everything alright?"

"Far from it, captain. The base is about to be attacked."

"Oh, blast it!" the captain got up and approached Xeran. "What do you need me to do?"

"You will secure our escape, if it comes to that. I shall highlight an area in the navicomputer's map. You shall wait there, with the ship ready to take off immediately."

"Yes, sir." He followed Xeran, who explained the rest of the plan to him while he safely stored his master's things and his backpack and pinpointed the extraction point.

Once he was confident his pilot had understood the plan, Xeran nodded and made to leave.

"Sir!"

The young warrior looked at Shammus. The older man hesitated for a second.

"Good luck down there. And make sure you survive."

"I will, captain Fin. Good luck to you as well." With that, he ran off to find his master.

.

Xeran's ship took off just in time, as a second later the base's shields were activated, closing off access to the base or departures from it. He managed to locate Maul as the base shook from the first blast from the Empire's artillery. Xeran looked in the distance and saw the Imperial troops advancing, supported by a few AT-ST and two AT-AT combat vehicles, and bombers closing in on the base.

He approached his master who was discussing the situation with his officers.

"Apprentice. Not a moment too soon. We are assessing the situation, and I believe our position is worse than we thought."

One of the commanders took it upon himself to explain. "The stormtroopers and the artillery approaching the base are enough to overtake us by simply using brute force. Even if we could deal with them, the AT-AT's will drain our shields before we have a chance to come up with a strategy, and their armor is immune to our heavy weapons."

"Is there no other way to destroy them?"

"I can't think of one. And the shields are being drained as we speak."

The young Zabrak tried to think. He was a mechanic himself, after all. If the mechanical monstrosities that were advancing on them had a weakness, he was the one who needed to find and exploit it.

"I believe I might have a solution."

All heads turned to look at Xeran.

"We do not need to destroy the AT-AT's, only disable them. If we detonate a powerful enough electromagnetic pulse nearby, they might get temporarily deactivated. Afterward, a single shot from our heavy artillery at their sides will be enough, and their weight will do the rest. They will fall, and they cannot be lifted, not in a timeframe that makes them a problem for us."

Maul looked at his commanders. "Can it be done?"

The men were trying to think fast. "Well…if we load EMP generators on the ships, get enough of them in place and activate them simultaneously, it might be enough. But it will be difficult to get the ships close."

"We can use the guns for cover, and pray our pilots are good enough to pull this off."

The two men rushed to execute the plan, leaving the two Zabrak behind.

"Well done, Xeran. Your plan has a high probability of success, considering the scarcity of their anti-air weapons and fighters. Without their heaviest vehicles, our heavy weapons will delay them, and they still have to overrun the defense systems of this rather well-equipped base."

"Do you believe victory is within our reach, master?"

Maul looked at him. "…No. The commanders needed to believe so if they were going to organize the defense of the base. By the time they realize the futility of their efforts, they will have bought us enough time to escape."

"Master, without their heavy artillery, there is a chance of victory, but only with us leading the men. The base can still be saved."

"This base is insignificant." Maul was already on the way to the escape route, with Xeran following close. "Some of our assets may be confiscated if it falls, but the leaders of the various cells will survive. It will take more than that to destroy the Crimson Dawn."

The younger warrior offered no argument. He didn't like surrendering the base to the Empire, but understood the necessity of his master's actions. So he followed him down the stairs and into basement three.

The leaders of the Crimson Dawn were waiting, all of them stressed. Qi'ra was the first to approach Maul. She was a human female, in her late twenties or early thirties, fair skinned, with brown hair and green eyes, beautiful by any standards.

"What's happening out there? And how did they find us?"

He addressed the entire group. "I believe there is a traitor in our midst. Who, I can only suspect, but I will discover them soon enough. Right now, we must leave. The base is holding, but not for long."

Qi'ra nodded. Maul pressed a button on the wall, opening the blast door and revealing a tunnel, with more blast doors along the way, meant to delay their pursuers for as long as possible. The group ran, opening one door after another.

Half an hour later, they were still running.

"Is it far?" asked Qi'ra.

"This is the final door," answered Maul, as he activated the opening mechanism with a wave of his hand. The door opened.

A tall, caped man encased in black armor was waiting at the exit of the tunnel. Behind him, two more men were standing, both dressed in black. All three men activated their red lightsabers at the same time.

Xeran looked at his master, waiting for orders, but Maul was stunned. He looked at the men with anger and growled, then activated his own doublesaber, which Xeran took as the signal to draw his warblade and prepare for battle.

It was the armored warrior who spoke first.

"You have done well, Qi'ra. Your service to the Empire will be rewarded."

The woman bowed. "I am glad to have served you, lord Vader."

Slowly, Maul turned around and looked at her with murder in his eyes. "You really did betray me, then."

She smiled. "Well, I thought it was time I started leading the Crimson Dawn for real. Besides, I don't see your function in my organization."

Maul gritted his teeth and moved to strike her, but the two black-dressed men attacked simultaneously, putting both Zabrak on the defensive.

Vader took a step forward. "Return to the base. Instruct them to surrender, and no harm will come upon anyone. This syndicate now belongs to you, and you will operate it according to my wishes." He waited until he saw Qi'ra bow, open all of the blast doors and start running back towards the base, followed by the rest of the organization's leaders.

Then he stepped into the fight himself.

He was slowly approaching the two Zabrak warriors, keeping them from going to the offensive while fighting his two servants. As Maul parried his opponent's hit and prepared to deliver a killing blow, Vader Force pushed him to the wall.

Xeran noticed Vader's attention was focused on his master. He could use that to catch him off guard. But the black-dressed warrior in front of him was in the way. He kept advancing, with an ironic smile on his face.

Xeran knew of these "Inquisitors". He had recently studied everything about the Sith and their servants, and knew what stood before him now was nothing but a fallen Jedi with delusions of grandeur. But Xeran was truly immersed in the might of the dark side, and while his teacher might not have possessed Vader's knowledge about the Force, he had gone all out in training him. Xeran might not have been a descendant of the legacy of Bane and the Rule of Two, but, despite his youth, he was every inch a Sith, not the cheap imitation that dared to challenge him.

As the man laughed and prepared to attack, Xeran looked at him with nothing but detachment. This fight was not worth his time.

He blocked one blow, then a second, then allowed the third to push him off balance. He feigned an opening and the dark warrior went for it. The Zabrak parried the hit and slashed at his opponent's face. He landed a hit and his opponent flinched. That was all the time he needed. With a wide step, he positioned himself at his opponent's back and buried the back end of the warblade inside him without even looking at him, his eyes focused on Vader.

The man's death earned him the cyborg's attention. Xeran began to charge, but Vader raised his hand. The Zabrak felt him break down his defenses, then he felt Vader pick him up with the Force and slam him on the ceiling, and then the floor. He rose to his knees as fast as he could and barely managed to block Vader's blow. He had to go on the defensive against the cyborg, dodging and parrying the clearly more experienced opponent. He tried to Force push Vader, but he resisted the attack and Force pushed Xeran in return, sending him flying outside the tunnel and landing on the desert sand.

The first thing Xeran noticed was that there was no ship waiting for them at the plateau. There was no escape.

Maul blocked another blow, then parried, and with a single fluid motion cut off the enemy's hand, then sliced him across the chest, then he spun his doublesaber above his head and decapitated the second Inquisitor.

The older Zabrak observed Vader slowly advancing on Xeran. His first thought was that they could take the armored warrior together. Perhaps they could. But the most probable scenario was that the younger man would not survive this fight. He did not doubt Xeran's power or skill, but the young warrior was inexperienced, having yet to master any of the techniques that Maul had taught him.

As this realization became clear, he knew what he had to do.

He looked at his apprentice, then mentally screamed "Run!" across their bond. Then, before Vader managed to cross the exit, he used the Force to close the final blast door, trapping himself with the cyborg.

Xeran got up and run towards the door. "No!" He banged his fist on the blast door, lost. He tried to gather the Force around him and prepared to force the blast door open.

That's when he heard it. A low hum up above.

He looked in the sky, and he saw his ship seemingly materializing out of nowhere, the ramp lowering. He looked at the door, then at the ship, and he jumped on the ramp and climbed inside.

Shammus looked relieved. "Thank the Force, sir! I am sorry I was not here, I was chased. I managed to fake the ship's crash and activate the cloaking generator, then came as fast as I could."

Xeran ran to the cockpit. "Target that door, captain. Focus all firepower on it."

"What? You intend to fire at your own base?"

"Lord Maul is in there, trapped, locked in battle. We need to save him."

"In battle? With who?"

"Vader."

At that, he felt the older man's fear and hesitation.

"Is something not clear about my orders, captain?"

"Sir, if I may…Vader is out of our league. Possibly out of lord Maul's league as well. If I fire on this door, it would mean certain death for all of us."

Xeran looked at him angrily. "I will not abandon my master, captain Fin!" He closed his eyes and focused on their Force bond, brushing upon his master's signature.

He found nothing.

Xeran opened his eyes. He was silent, shock painted on his face.

"Sir, is everything alright?"

"He's…gone." Xeran dropped himself on a chair. "He's just…gone."

Shammus had seen this reaction before, on the battlefield. Many teenagers were forced to deal with loss before they were ready for it. Without talking, he guided the ship away from the plateau.

Xeran raised his eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Leaving, sir. This battle is over, and I need to get you to safety."

"Listen to me…"

"No, you listen, kid!" He gripped Xeran's shoulders tightly. "Your master is dead. I'm sorry, but this is reality. You are alive, though, and I intend to keep you that way! What do you think he would have wanted? For you to die while trying to avenge him against an opponent you can't hope to defeat?"

Xeran opened his mouth to speak, but he decided against it and fell silent. He stayed in his chair, looking at the floor, while the captain returned to his console and guided the ship away from the planet and into hyperspace.

The silence was almost palpable. It was the captain who broke it.

"We need to decide what to do next. I've got some relatives on Tatooine, maybe they…"

"No."

Xeran raised his head, looked at the captain, and then he stood up. He was angry, and grieving, but that did not matter. He had to survive. If he had no master to guide him, that meant he had to find his own way. He was the master now.

He straightened his face, composed himself, and stood tall, with all the authority of a lord of the Sith. "You will plot a course to Christophsis."

"Christophsis? What are we going to do there?"

"There is an organization on that planet. Lord Maul had worked with them in the past. They appear to be a mercenary company, but in reality they are one of the various rebel cells that have appeared in the galaxy. I intend to offer them our assistance in their fight against the Empire in exchange for shelter and protection."

The captain nodded. "As you wish, sir." He pushed a few buttons and changed the ship's course. "So we take the fight to the Empire."

"Not for real, not yet." Xeran sat on the co-pilot chair in the cockpit and checked their course. "This arrangement is temporary. Our mission stands. There is a superweapon somewhere in the galaxy which we can use to destroy the Empire, and I am on its tracks. With that weapon's power in my possession, I shall turn that team of insurgents into my army and use the promise of victory to recruit more followers. There are many whose passionate determination to see the Empire fall I can use. Once I possess funds, soldiers, firepower and a battle station with unparalleled destructive capabilities, then we shall truly take the fight to our enemy."

Shammus smiled. His young companion had found his strength and was ready to fight once more.

"As you wish, my lord."

Xeran looked at the captain, not moving for a moment. Then he got up from his chair.

"Since I am not needed here, I will retreat to my quarters. I do not wish to be disturbed."

Without waiting for an answer, he left, leaving the captain alone to ponder what the future might bring.

If you have read this far, first of all I would like to thank you for your interest in my work. Secondly, I would really appreciate reviews. Good, bad, whatever, just make sure they are written in a constructive way. Again, thanks for reading and for your help.