Last time: Dracul returned.

Now: What will the Jedi do now?

Part 2 Chapter 1- What Now?

"Ah, yes. The Jedi." Dracul growled in front of her, Cien kept her head down and tried to hide an angry grimace. He was drawing this out like a knife. "So meddlesome to my plans." He said loathingly. Cien stared at the decking in front of her, sure of her imminent demise. She realized, though, that Dracul had shifted as he was speaking. "And always seeming to be at the right place at the wrong time." Cien stole a glance upward, and saw that Dracul wasn't looking at her. He was looking next to her. At the projection of Sasha.

Suddenly she was kicked back with the Force, and she rolled backward to the floor. She immediately regained her composure. If she had paid any attention to Kopesh she would have seen the disgusting glee on his face, but her attention was entirely focused on Dracul.

"You may rise." Dracul said, she was already standing up anyway. She would not cower before this monster and his pet, if she was to die she would do so on her own two feet. He regarded her for a moment longer as she gathered the Dark Side about her, to lash out at him for that battle that would surely come.

"You have done well, Cien." Dracul said, approvingly. That brought her up short. Dracul let loose a maddened laugh, and Kopesh was still caught in the moment and had not registered the change of tone, and so continued to look on with expectant mirth. "In my absence you continued the plan well and proved your worth. Unlike others." Dracul said as he turned his gaze back to Kopesh.

Only now catching up to the wild swing the conversation had taken, Kopesh looked back up at Dracul with disgust. "What?" Kopesh spat out, "she was the one who betrayed us, you're not going to kill her?" He said, almost shrieking.

Dracul turned his full attention to Kopesh. The Acolyte stepped back and swallowed, realizing what a dark turn this had taken. "Why," Dracul said, every word dripping with malice, "would I kill the Acolyte who actually bothered to carry out my wishes while I was indisposed?"

Kopesh withered under his master's gaze, and glanced at Cien, who was looking between the monster and his dog with shocked confusion.

"You, who would wallow in your own filth, content with such small rewards." Dracul sneered, angrily. Then abruptly Dracul brought his hand up and Kopesh flew backwards, pinned against the wall. Cien watched, frozen where she stood from shock. "Your lack of loyalty and ambition sickens me. If I had a replacement for you, you would be a smear on the wall, but this will have to do." A crack of bones echoed through the room as Kopesh cried out in pain and anger, then he fell to the floor in a heap. He lay there whimpering.

Dracul turned his attention back to Cien who stood before him, utterly confused but still defiant. He walked forward until there was only an arms length between them. From his towering position he looked down at her. "I am disappointed that you were not so gifted as I thought, Acolyte."

Cien simply stared at him, not sure what to say. Not sure at all what was happening.

"It is a shame your powers are not as strong as I hoped, unable to hear me from the void." He continued, his voice a dark sneer. "But no matter." He growled dismissively. "See to that wretch and return to your duties." He ordered, waving towards Kopesh and turning to walk to the doorway. She stayed rooted in the spot, the adrenaline draining out of her system as she tried to maintain her composure amidst the cloud of horrified confusion.

"Yes, My Lord." She said numbly.

The Dark Lord stopped at the doorway and turned back to face her. "The Jedi, after they intervened in my return." He growled at her. "Have you had any more dealings with them?"

Cien froze, not letting herself react to the question. Not sure how to answer. He had pushed Sasha out of her mind just a moment ago. He had to be aware of what had happened at the portal on Arbortarum, where she had helped the Jedi push him back. He had to know. What was he playing at? As always he was a black void to her, the only person she could never read. All of this swarmed through her mind in a split second.

"No, My Lord." She reported. "They went to ground, I could not find them." She lied. But it was the only thing she could say. And it was the truth, if an incomplete one.

Dracul stared at her for too long, weighing her. She braced herself for whatever torture the red lightening would bring.

"Very well. We will deal with them later." He said dismissively as he turned and exited the room.

Cien let go a breath she did not know she was holding, and the tension in her body relaxed. She swallowed.

He had to know.

She stepped to the doorway. Outside a guard was waiting, but he was no longer one of her guards, the personal guard that had stood here a few moments before had left with Dracul, since he was now the ship's lord. With Dracul back, she was back to simply being one of the acolytes. But she had glimpsed so much more, and she would stop at nothing to have that.

As she left the room she heard a whimpering from behind her. She rolled her eyes and looked at the guard. "Have medics come and retrieve Lord Kopesh for treatment." She ordered.

"Yes my lady." The guard said respectfully. She glanced at him, and could not read his face behind the helmet, but she felt a sense of loyalty in him. To her. She said nothing, and continued back to her quarters.

"I don't know," Oppie said softly.

He didn't know. And neither did she. That made Sasha's heart clench with worry. She looked at Viran and Kyr, who were gathered around her as she had called Oppie to warn him about Dracul's return.

"How did you know he was back?" Oppie then asked.

"Cien, that Sith, she pulled me back into her mind and showed what she was seeing. Dracul has returned," Sasha explained. "And… he saw me Op. Just like last time when I spoke to you when you were still trapped and he sent me away with the Force." She rubbed absentmindedly at her chest as the blow still resonated there.

"Did he say anything? Like what his plans are? Or what he might do next?" Kyr asked. "What information aside from his return did you get?"

Sasha thought about that for a moment. Her face became puzzled as she realized that she had learned nothing else.

"No, he said nothing else," Sasha said. "At least nothing along those lines. He was just busy interrogating Cien."

"Then we need to figure out our next move." Oppie advised. "With Dracul being back, we should be ready for anything. But at this moment it seems like we're not his immediate concern or targets. The last thing we should do is rush headlong into a fight that would just end up getting us killed in the end until we have more information about what he has planned."

"Man you're no fun," Kyr joked. Sasha and Viran shot him a glare. Kyr raised his hands in defense. "Sorry. But in all seriousness, I agree with Op. That would be our best move. Plus that gives me plenty of time to restock all of my weapons on the Shadow." He rubbed his hands together eagerly. Sasha could tell he was tired of being cooped up and was ready for a fight.

"Alright, it's settled then," Oppie said. "Contact me if Cien passes along any other information."

"I will Op. Thanks," Sasha said with a nod. "Stay safe."

"I will," Oppie said then hung up on his end.

Sasha sighed and then glanced over at Viran, who had been quiet this whole time.

"Vir?" Sasha asked.

Viran came out his trance and looked at her. He shook his head. "I'm fine. It's just that this is worrying." he said. "I also don't trust Cien. She may have shown you his return, but that doesn't mean that she wasn't doing it to toy with you."

"I never said she did it to warn me," Sasha pointed out. "I honestly don't know what her motivation was for showing me. I'm kind of surprised to have even heard from her at all. I thought that after the cavern we would never have to hear from her again."

"Well, whatever it is, we should be cautious," Viran advised.

Sasha nodded. "I agree."

"So what do we do in the meantime?" Kyr asked. "Op's still doing his temple stuff, and Kitsu and Illara are still on their job. And I need to get out of this house."

Sasha and Viran exchanged a look. Both of them were pondering up ideas.

"What about the constellation?" Viran asked. "I know you found it, Sasha, but why don't we see if we can track down it's location?"

"Viran, what you are suggesting is very complicated," Sasha warned. "Are you sure?"

"Definitely," Viran said with a confident nod. "Look, we have nothing better to do at the moment. Kyr is wanting to get out and do something. And I know how badly you want to figure this out. I've seen the holoprojector board you created, Sash. We should do this. Otherwise, we are just going to be sitting here on our hands preparing for a battle that may not come anytime soon. Better to use our time wisely and solve this mystery while also preparing for what Dracul has in store next."

Sasha smirked at Viran. She then leaned closer and placed a kiss on his cheek. "When did you become so wise?"

He blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. "You're rubbing off on me."

Kyr made a gagging sound. "Excuse me while I go throw up."

They both chuckled at Kyr.

"Sorry," they said in unison.

Kyr rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his chest. "Changing the subject back to the matter at hand. So are we going to go searching for some stars?"

Sasha nodded. "I think so. But I'm going to need Tac. We are going to have to create a program that will allow us to see what systems would have seen the constellation over the past thousand or so years." She bit her lip. "Hopefully, the number should be small. But the first one we find that did have that constellation and has a temple is our winner."

Kyr and Viran nodded.

"Then let's go grab your notes and find Tac," Kyr said as he led them from the dining room.

Oppie clicked off his comm and considered it for a while, closing his eyes slowly as he breathed deeply, calming himself. This reminded him of some of the close scrapes he had encountered during the Clone Wars, the same feeling of hopelessness as the enemies closed in around them. Back then, he had been at Master Redika's side and fearless clones at their back, though. The CIS had seemed like an unstoppable juggernaut, by some estimates with trillions of droids in their armies, outnumbering the Republic by many orders of magnitude. But they had always pulled through.

He sat on the ground, cross legged. Drawing on the peace of this place, of nature, allowing him to center himself in the Force, seeking guidance on what to do next. His thoughts still lingered on the Clone Wars, of the lessons from his master, and that he had learned from throughout the war. And from the clones that had ironically been about his age, but seeming so much older and more experienced. He usually pushed such thoughts out of his mind, the reminder of what had happened so painful. But for some reason his thoughts kept straying back to them. The troopers of the 94th Elite Corps, led by Clone Commander Swamp. Oppie had asked him once where he had gotten the name from, he'd laughed and said it was because he always got 'bogged' down working out his battle plans, but they'd thought 'Swamp' had a better ring to it than 'Bog'. Master Redika had taught him how to be a Jedi, but Swamp and his clones had taught him how to fight a battle, and think tactically and strategically. To plan. To think. To overcome. To win.

And that had rankled Master Radika at times. Some Jedi had accepted, maybe even relished the war and their place as generals. But Master Radika was on the far side of that. He had been committed to a far more peaceful path. Perhaps sitting here in this narrow oasis of life on this planet was why his thoughts kept straying back to that time, this reminded him of the 'retreats' that his Master had insisted they take occasionally throughout the war, away from the battles. Oppie had always found them so boring, so wasteful at the time, when their clones - their men - had still been on the frontlines. Swamp had understood, though. And Oppie came to realize later, as well; it was because he did not want his Padawan to be like the clones, to only know war. And that had been why Swamp had been so insistent that he go with Master Radika, so he could have more in his life than dangerous battlefields.

They had had a rocky relationship through his time as a padawan. Oppie had always been a little too much of a hothead, compared to Radika's much more laid back attitude. He supposed that had been the reason he had been placed with his Master, because they were so different, hoping that a little of his master might rub off on him and temper him in his youth. And, perhaps, vice versa, and teach Radika a lesson or two as well. Only in the last few years had they come close to the kind of relationship he had pictured as what a master and padawan should have.

And he would give anything to have his master, or Swamp here with him, to give him some guidance.

Their relationship had not really solidified until about a year and a half before Order 66. There had been too close a call, their frigate had been shot down, and commando droids had hunted them for three days in the ruins of a deserted city. They had gotten separated, and Oppie had almost died then, cornered by the droids in an ambush. Radika had run around the corner and saw Oppie fighting for his life, and Oppie only had vague memories of that he had become a little… heated in that battle with the droids. The clones had saved them at the last second.

Redika had immediately taken him away then, to an old, old Jedi temple, as far away as possible from the war. Oppie had not really understood the trip at the time, and when he asked his master, worried that he had seen something in that battle that worried him, that Oppie had gone too far, Redika had only said he was seeking guidance. When Redika had disappeared for some time into the sanctum, he had come out with a haunted look in his eyes. From then on, though, his master had seemed to come to an understanding about his padawan. He almost seemed to embrace what Oppie was learning from the course of the war, both good and bad. Always ready with guidance and temperance, but begrudgingly allowing Oppie to tread a path that erred more towards a warrior than Master Redika could possibly have felt comfortable with.

And that brought Oppie up short, thinking about it. It was really in that last year that they had connected, that haunted look in his Master's eyes when he returned from receiving whatever his guidance had been. After that he had allowed Oppie to be embedded more with the clones, to learn more about fighting than he had in years previous, to learn more about tactics and combat. And it was so opposed to what he knew of Master Redika. In that year, whenever he might have seen Oppie getting a little too into the war they were waging, when in the past he might have insisted upon them stepping back, he had let Oppie stay, and learn, as though it was part of his training.

Why would he have done that? To almost encourage him to go down a path that had been so antithetical to him before that trip to the temple?

Those experiences had certainly helped him tread the last sixteen years more safely, kept Sasha and Viran safe. Could Master Redika have possibly glimpsed what his future might entail?

He thought back to that temple, that had shown Master Redika something that had shaken him, but afforded Oppie the chance to learn what he had needed to survive in years to come. They didn't have a plan. He had no other leads, and he needed guidance now, on what he should do. What might happen with Viran and Sasha. And he still remembered where that old temple was.

He got up, then, and started making his way to his ship.

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