"It can't have been easy to make a place like this so up to snuff."

Kendall had to admit he was impressed the more time he spent around the Jedi Temple. He'd been there for three days now and Master Skywalker, though Luke really didn't like that name, had been a wonderful teacher. Aided by the planet's natural connection to the Unifying Force, Kendall felt his own connection getting stronger every day. He felt more at ease with his powers than ever before. He didn't even need to remove his eyeballs to focus anymore! He was now moving items through the air like a proper Jedi.

At the moment, he was hovering over a juice jug to the table that they were sitting at in the Jedi Temple's dining area as Luke sipped on his own juice. Omarosa was right across from them, stabbing her food as she kept glancing over at Luke every once in a while. It was fairly obvious she was picturing stabbing HIM with her fork. She kept muttering dark things under her breath every time he passed by, and when Kendall asked, she kept saying no, no she had no had any visions about the "incident". Which is what they were tenderly calling the time Luke had evidently killed her mother.

Kendall was very worried that she was going to get much worse. That she was going to try something. He could fight much better than he ever had before thanks to Master Jade's teachings on proper stance. He could move objects with the Force at long last without needing to "hurt" himself. And he felt more fit and skilled than ever before. He felt…GOOD about himself. A real sense of joy that he'd only felt when he'd first honed his Jedi skills with Master Leia. But even so, his concern about Omarosa kept nibbling away at the back of his mind.

But then something happened that made Omarosa's head rise up with surprise, and give a furious glare.

"We did have help. It took a lot of money, and luckily, we had a sponsor. You might have seen him around the temple, he's the Force Sensitive that's been trying to connect to the animals? He has even worse luck than I used to, and the animals REALLY like to bite him much more than you." Luke admitted. "Poor man, I've had to bandage up his hands 3 times a week…it'll probably be four times this week, because L'ezz Fahre has insisted he can get along with the crystal snake that Mara keeps for a pet in her room. He's tried every animal BUT that one…"

"What makes him so sure he can charm it?" Kendall asked with a chuckle. He had been trying to use the Force to calm animals himself, so he could move from animals into people. Using "Force Persuasion" was, after all, a very useful, powerful Jedi move. But although Omarosa could do it easily, and she really liked to rub it in by having birds flittering about her, landing on her outstretched finger, eating from the palm of her hand as she grinned cheekily over at Kendall, Kendall, alas, couldn't even get a little rat to listen to him. It continued to be humiliating.

He KNEW he shouldn't be so irritated. He loved how far he'd come, yet…Omarosa could do so much more. She seemed to have a wealth of natural Force talent! What COULDN'T she do?

"L'ezz said he had a big anaconda for a pet when he was younger, he says he's good with snakes." Luke confessed. "He's that Gamorrean over there. See?" He pointed down the table. Sure enough, there he was. Gamorreans were pig-like humanoids, big, tusked creatures, piggish snouts, dark eyes, with greenish skin much of the time. They had thick hands and fingers, horns atop their heads, and their technological skill wasn't very good. They were short too, and…well, frankly, they didn't smell so hot. At best, they had an exotic, spicy scent to them that made you think of deep forests with strange plants. But at worst, they smelled like mud and farms that were run down.

This one wasn't much of an exception. Omarosa scowled at the pig-like alien who was wearing a surprisingly-nice-looking button-down plain shirt. He had khaki pants on, and, like Kendall had, a nice-looking belt with many satchel pouches on it, and he had a golden nose ring as he was hungrily eating what looked like some kind of oatmeal. "Ugh. Gamorreans." Omarosa groaned.

"You don't like Gamorreans?" Kendall asked as he looked down at his own belt. It had some tiny letters on the side you could faintly see, it was a nice belt alright but an old one, with "Kendall Co" just barely visible scratched into the side under the front pouch's flap.

"I've had bad experiences with Gamorrean pirates." She remarked. "They're…well, pigs." She muttered.

"L'ezz is perfectly civilized, I assure you, and he finds that sort of talk hurtful." Luke admonished her. "We're all friends here, Omarosa. And if not for his money, we'd ever have been able to rebuild the temple into what it is now. It was an absolute mess when we first arrived."

"How come he was so into helping you?" Kendall asked. "In fact, why's he here? Is it just to develop some Force powers or is it something else?"

"Well, he's also…" Luke blushed a little. "He's also an immense fan of mine." He confessed. "He's the last member of his family but all of them told tales about the famous Luke Skywalker and his friends who were standing up to the Empire and when he heard I was looking for somebody to help finance rebuilding the temple, he leapt at the chance. His family got incredibly rich over the centuries doing business on Corsucant. He never told me what they did, though…but I didn't ask. It's not polite." Luke shrugged. "It's not my place, really. "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth", and besides, he's a perfectly lovely person. Though a bit too into fancy living. If it were up to me, I would have asked him to get rid of the golden nose ring collection he has, and those rings he's got on his fingers."

Indeed, L'ezz was rubbing over one ring, sighing wistfully as Kendall cringed. They were big and gaudy, alright. What a waste of money. It wasn't like they were engagement or marriage rings, he couldn't see a single diamond or jewel on any of them. But, still…here was somebody trying to learn a basic force power just like him. Maybe some time together, learning as a little group, would do them good. He moved from the table he was at, and sat next to L'ezz, smiling, extending a hand. "Hi. I'm Kendall. You're L'ezz, right?"

"Yes, yes. L'ezz Faire at your service." The Gamorrean said cheerily, shaking his hand. Kendall was surprised at the texture of the Gamorrean's skin. He'd thought it would be faintly slimy but it was oddly…soft. "I helped fund this whole temple. I'm glad to see it's paid such high dividends." He admitted. "I just wish I could better learn how to focus my own latent powers."

"Believe me, I've been there. My grip on the force is…lightweight." Kendall admitted. "I've barely got more Force connection than the average person, but I've learned to milk it for all I've got. Maybe we can help each other out."

L'ezz smiled back at him. Wow, it was strange. The horns and tusks and teeth he had were…rather rounded. Almost sanded down? Had he undergone surgery? It sure looked like it. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that the Gamorrean had tried very hard to look well…cuter. There was no better way to put it, the pig-like alien had obviously wanted his outward appearance to come across as disarming. It worked pretty well, Kendall had to admit. He didn't look, once you got close enough to him, half as scary as many a Gamorrean did.

"Does the Force run in your family? I'm the only one, as far as I know." L'ezz confessed. "I had to pay to find out, but it was worth it to get a consultation."

"Ohhh, you had your midi-chlorians checked, eh?" Kendall asked. He'd heard about that, alright. "I THINK my dad was Force Sensitive. I never had a mom, and as far as I know, no other family. Logos doesn't keep good records, and I didn't give Nar Shadaa anything but my name when I moved there to work." He shrugged. "Proved to be a good thing though, I could disappear into the planet and just focus on helping people as a nurse."

"That's a noble profession." L'ezz admitted. "Though I doubt it paid well." He added with a chuckle. "I mean, I'll bet my ring here is worth more than your entire yearly salary you were paid." He chortled with a deep, "CHOR-CHOR-CHOR" sounding laugh. "Still, all the money in the world doesn't mean anything when you can't do much with it. All I've ever wanted was to show some kind of real Force skill…to wield a lightsaber, be a Jedi." He confessed with a sigh. "And yet despite how hard I've worked here, I can't even calm animals down."

"Well, neither can I, but…I might be able to help you with the lightsaber part, at least." Kendall offered. "I wasn't too good at it at first, I only ran on instinct and that was enough for the most part. But I got Ms. Leia Organa to teach me a few things…and I think I might be able to help you. I was in the same boat. How about we go to the beach and do a bit of practice with the "kiddy" sabers they've got?"

The "kiddy" sabers were lightsabers with a very low power outing. You couldn't really slice off anything or hurt anybody. It felt more like a sting when you were struck by them, but they worked great for helping younglings learn how to fight. L'ezz nodded as Kendall smiled back, and they soon were heading out of the hall, off for the beach as Luke smiled.

"It's good to see Kendall making so new friends. I always love it when my students can bond. That's one of the most satisfying parts of being a teacher." He remarked to Omarosa. "Seeing the connections made through a love of wanting to learn the Force. Knowing you're making a difference."

"Ugh, GAG!" Omarosa groaned. "You can't trust guys like them."

"What? Gamorreans?" Luke inquired, frowning. "Come now, Omarosa, I've had to fight with Gamorrean guards many times who wanted me very much dead, and I don't dislike them."

"No…capitalists." Omarosa said with a roll of her eyes. "Bottom line types, only interested in a good investment. You can never really trust those members of the upper crust, as my mom always said." She waved her spoon about in the air, tsk-tsking. "They'd sell you down the river in a heartbeat for a little money. They don't leave cash on the table. WON'T leave cash on the table. This is just an exploitable resource for that pig. I'm surprised he hasn't come up with the idea of charging people for admission. But just you wait, he WILL."

Luke cringed a bit. He didn't feel like admitting to Omarosa that L'ezz had entertained the idea but had decided not to after he and Luke had had a talk. He was sure if he did, Omarosa would get that incredibly smug-looking grin on her face that screamed "I told you so".

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to all of them, something…very wrong was happening at the small city not far off from the Jedi Academy. People were chatting amiably as they walked along in the streets, but one man had taken notice of something…odd. Something green that was slightly poking out from a sewer grate.

"Now what the hell is THAT?" He muttered, tilting his head to the side, examining it as it wafted about in the air a little. He turned to call to his friend who was walking over. "Hey, J'hnn, get a good look, what do you think…"

Whatever it was…it didn't let him finish. And about an hour later, the entire city seemed to be frozen, people standing still in place…

And then, half a day later, absolute silence reigned over the whole town…

Which was now absolutely empty.

… "This is horrible."

"Nothing's come out of the town in weeks. It's like the place has fallen off the face of the Earth. But the low-level photo recon flight camera footage we have proves the town's there, but…the people are all gone. It's MIDDAY when we took this footage and…nothing!"

Luke looked genuinely horrified as he examined the video footage, sitting behind a large desk as Leia and Han stood next to him, Kendall standing along with them. He'd spent several days now w ith L'ezz, and it had actually worked out pretty well, L'ezz, when he got into a rhythm, wasn't half bad at sparring. He was strong, typical of his race, and more of a brawler than a true swordsman, but his unorthodox method of fighting was actually inspirational to Kendall. He fought dirty…real dirty…

But it WORKED. L'ezz would leap around, he'd use his body weight to tackle and slam, he'd sweep the leg, he'd even headbutt once in a while, and the kicks!

Oh, the KICKS! He had a kick like a mule! Kendall was beginning to pick up on the importance of a good high-jump kick. If you were skilled enough to be able to kick a weapon out of your opponent's hands, you didn't even really need your lightsaber or force powers, you could render them defenseless in less than two seconds. So Kendall had begun practicing that, pinpoint kicking! It'd been a lot of fun…

But then, three days later, he'd seen Han and Leia racing off to find Luke after they'd been finished doing a reconnaissance mission of the nearby town. They'd approached the town to get supplies but had felt what was distinctly an evil miasma coming from it…and had decided to, instead, use a hover drone to scour through the town. It was if the Force had told them "STAY THE FLYING FUCK AWAY", and they'd heeded its warning well.

"We'd had a bad feeling about this. And we were right." Han said with a sigh. "The people are all gone."

"Did we send anyone in?"

"We had volunteers. A squad of our best guards, four volunteers…none came back. So we sent in some assistant droids that people offered up. When they came back, they were so badly damaged they couldn't say what happened. This is pretty much all that's left of the last one." Leia sighed as she held up what was a crumpled-down chunk of something metal, putting it on the desk. It looked like somebody had crunched the poor droid's head into nothing but a metal ball!

"We couldn't get much from the droids. It was a miracle they were able to shamble OUT of town." Han admitted. "But to be fair, they at least got out of the town, the others didn't…and we think we know why."

"If we had to make a guess, whatever's doing this is doing it because it can sense their Force powers." Leia reasoned. "After all, all of the others had a clear Force presence and power that could be detected and when the droids made it back, they were able to get out a few words..."

"What?" Luke wanted to know.

"Not…Jedi." Leia admitted. "It was disappointed they weren't Force users, clearly…and took it out on the droids very hard."

"I'll go in." Kendall offered as they turned to look at him, surprised. Han looked rather impressed, Leia looked VERY concerned, even scared, and Luke had clear worry on his brow. "Look, I've always had a barely-there connection to the Force, for once…this might help me elude detection." He confessed. "Whatever took these people might think I'm just some rando who wandered into town. I'll keep my lightsaber hidden, I don't exactly LOOK like a Jedi either, I don't wear any of your robes or the like…"

"…we haven't got a lot of other options." Han offered. "Leia and I are gonna send for Republic help just in case, but it'll take several days for them to get here, we're pretty darn far away, even with Hyperspace capabilities…"

"And we need SOME idea of what a Republic platoon would face." Leia added. "They're going to want to know if they should send in chemical weapons experts or infection disease teams or just a normal, large platoon of soldiers in case it's some death cult we'll need to fight."

"There's nothing like…" Kendall asked. "I mean…the place isn't built over some kind of biological testing ground or secret Sith burial site, is it?"

"As far as we know, there's nothing buried under there. There's not even anything buried under our temple except for a single chamber that's designed for self-reflection." Luke said. "Have you been, yet?" He asked.

Kendall hesitated. He'd heard about that place. It supposedly showed you the truth, the absolute truth of what you asked of it. But…he wasn't sure he was ready for that yet. Partly because he felt he wasn't enough of a Jedi to handle it, he'd heard other people at the temple going down there…and they'd come out horrified or in tears or had just plain run away from the temple and never came back. He had a bad, bad feeling about going down there. No way. He wasn't going in that chamber.

But he WAS going to this abandoned town. This…

THIS he felt he could do. Absolutely.

2547 missing people, not counting the folks that had gone in to find out the truth.

No animal sounds. No birds singing. No dogs barking. No cats mewing, begging for food. There's not so much as a single lizard scurrying around on the ground.

Nobody was at the police station…the local library…the vehicles are abandoned. No sign of combat. Just abandoned weapon flopped on the ground and…

…a doll. He knelt down by the doll, a small, cute little cat-like doll with big black eyes and a small little mouth that he picked up, squeezing. "I love you bunches!"

Just…dropped and forgotten. Like the rifles and pistols he'd found lying about. Kendall frowned, shaking his head back and forth as he walked into the house nearby where the doll laid, gazing inside the kitchen. A sandwich…lunch. Half eaten and cold, smelling…about a day old, given how the beef looked. No signs of a struggle, either. It was as if everyone just…got up and walked away.

But where could they have walked to?

"There's nothing, absolutely nothing!" Kendall murmured as he walked on the streets, glancing about, peering into several alleyways, his blue eyes narrowed. No insects! No rodents! Just…NOTHING! Devoid of all life! What was going on? Then…

SNNNNKKKKTTT.

The nearby sewer manhole cover opened. Kendall whipped about as it flopped off, revealing an empty sewer…and more questions. He peered down inside, glancing about, before hearing something…

Big. Big, and wet and smelling FOUL approaching as he barreled back just in time for IT to emerge up, up from the manhole cover, breaking the road open, an enormous, foul, greenish THING with slightly pointed tentacles and gigantic pustule-esque reddish eyes all over the monstrous waste of space it called a body! The smell was unnaturally horrifying, as if somebody had taken a dead, drowned body and laid it out to rot in the sun, and it was screaming and yelling despite having no apparent mouth.

It was on Kendall, despite Kendall striking and slamming at it, but the punches and kicks didn't work. The thing just flowed with the impact, nullifiying the blows…

But then…

BRRZZZTT! The hiss of the lightsaber rose up. Red light shot out from the hilt and the creature stared in shock, seemingly terrified as he swiped at it. BRRRZZ-SSSHHHHH! It audibly screeched and howled, a horrible disgusting reddish/brownish slice across its frame as it slid back where it'd came from, barreling off as it retreated into the sewer.

"Surely the other Jedi would have used their sabers…was it…" Kendall thought about it. It had visibly stopped when it'd seen the color of the lightsaber. Whatever it was, it was afraid of that color. Afraid of…a Sith saber.

That must be it. Whatever it was, it was afraid of Sith things. Kendall frowned, shaking his head as he made his way down into the sewer after the thing, following the disgusting trail left behind, green slime, some tiny, burned-off sections from the monstrosity that had been left behind having been drizzled off. The thing had limped off, it's blood and flesh flaking off it as it retreated, but then Kendall noticed something off in the distance…something greyish in color.

Odd. He knelt down by it, examining it. The grey stuff had…things in them! The occasional ring…some coins. Buttons. Zippers. A pen here and there. And…and…

…oh no.

Oh fuck, no.

He had real, REAL good eyesight. And he recognized what he was looking at.

…teeth. Teeth and teeth filings. Or what remained of them. Tiny scraps of teeth and tooth fillings. He was…he was holding the thing's…droppings.

…all hope began to fade away.

Everyone in the town must be dead.

…somebody was going to fucking pay for this. He made his way through the sewer, following the path of the creature, before arriving at the opening to an enormous underground facility built within the natural cave that laid there. The facility looked new, and fancy, a slightly thin and pointed spaceship set up next to an assembly-line bit of machinery that was hooked up to what appeared to be a gigantic fridge of some kind, with big, reddish capsules poking out of the walls that the "fridge" was hooked up to, and there, at the far end, the greenish, big, monstrous thing he'd fought before was being admonished by…

A Sith. It was unmistakable. Red lightsaber. Dark robes. Head obscured by a hood, but distinctly alien skin, unnaturally reddish eyes, veiny flesh visible upon his two-fingered, gnarled hands, and he was angrily waving the saber in front of the creature, waves of Force power oozing off of him. "Stupid thing! You think that little love tap the red-haired moron gave you hurt? I'll show you far worse if you don't get going!"

"Oh you will, will you?"

The being turned around, seeing Kendall as Kendall held up his lightsaber, turning it on. "Well, well, you're not a Sith, no, but…that's definitely a Sith weapon. My, my. Interesting. Are you, perhaps, a Dark Jedi?"

"I'm a Jedi, alright…but not a dark Jedi." Kendall said. "But see, a Jedi might be willing to go easy on you. I'm not. Because I take it you're responsible for what happened to the town above?" He inquired angrily.

"I, Darth Sed'yshun, granted the citizens union. I bring Union to the unenlightened masses." The Sith remarked. "What can I say? I'm a generous man." He intoned with a shrug and a distinctly big grin with his astoundingly-filed-down-teeth.

"You have an…interesting…idea of union…" Kendall remarked quietly. He could feel a buzzing noise ringing in his ears. His hand that held his lightsaber was twitching. He was beginning to feel a dark, furious chill slowly creeping up his spine.

"You see, life itself is an unnatural state. The body separates the spirit from the union of divinity. Inside the doomed sacks of flesh we're in, we're cut off from the glory of the divine. We're alone, and vulnerable. So I merge the minds of lesser beings, of infidels and nonbelievers, with the infinite."

"…and how do you do that…?" Kendall quietly inquired, a dangerous edge to his voice.

"Let me show you. Since you're going to be added to it." Darth Sed'yshun approached the fridge-like thing, and put his hand on a button next to it. One of the reddish capsules on the wall opened up…

And now Kendall saw what was in the many, many capsules on the walls.

…brains.

"Linking them up in series doesn't just grant them union…it also gives me great mental powers!" Darth Sed'yshun remarked.

"…you…murdering…piece…of…FUCKING…SHIIIIIIIIT!" Kendall felt pure, raw, absolute fury rise through him as he leapt at the Sith. He wanted to outright hurt this…this living stain. He wanted to just stab the man through the stomach and keep stabbing. He wanted to cut off the Sith's own face and feed it back to him. How many children had been in that town!? Or pregnant women?! How many BABIES-

But then Kendall gasped, reeling back, screeching, clutching at his skull. It felt like it was on fire!

"Ha-ha-ha! You're still vulnerable to my telekinetic attacks even if you ARE a Jedi!" The Sith laughed evilly as he held up his own lightsaber, approaching Kendall, looking smug. Kendall writhed around on the ground of the cave, howling in pain…but reaching into one of his belt pouches despite the agony he was feeling in his brain. "Hmm, thought that would kill you…ahh, that's why, you're a LOGOSIAN..." The Sith remarked, seeing Kendall up close, looking at him as he curled up, his back to the Sith, seeing the skin color, and seeing Kendall turning his head to glare at him with those unique eyes. "I should have realized. Your people don't exactly have a strong connection to the Force, do they? Rather resistant to it AND to psychic powers. Aren't you lucky? That means I can do this the old-fashioned way." Darth Sed'yshun remarked as he held up his lightsaber.

"What did you…do to…their…bodies…" Kendall growled out.

"Ohhh, you're seeing it right here." Darth Sed'yshun put his lightsaber down to gesture at the green thing nearby. "It's taken quite a lot of…conditioning…to make it do JUST what I wanted. Had to be done, really, don't look at me like that. To join the union you must be rid of your fleshy vessels."

Kendall had heard enough. His hands gripped what laid in his pouch…

And he tossed it at Darth Sed'yshun's face.

Sand. Sand, right in his eyes. And the Sith did, of course, what anyone would do when something's thrown in their eyes.

"AAAAAAAAAH!" The Sith clutched at his face, pushing his palms into his eyes. "AAAHHH! FUCKING…FUCKING! YOU!...GAAAHHH! MY EYES, MY EYES, MY EEEEEYYYESSS!" He howled, doing, of course…what he SHOULDN'T have done. That only made things worse, it just hurt his eyes even more, and now he'd dropped his own lightsaber!

"Okay." Kendall swung his saber. It cut off the Sith's hands, as the Sith howled and screamed in agony, writhing on the ground, howling and yelling as Kendall frowned darkly down at it. "Oh, trust me, you'll live. I would know." He said as he dusted off his hands and put the lightsaber away, getting into another pouch on his belt and getting out some bandages and some bacta. "I'm a trained nurse." He said as he promptly kicked the Sith right in the head, knocking him out.

As he began to bandage up the Sith's stumpy arms and his face, he heard a sound, and turned. The green THING was…groaning? And pointing at the things on the walls that held the brains, the exposed brain from before faintly pulsating, glowing within the capsule. Kendall approached the fridge-like device that seemed to control everything as he heard a voice in his head!

"Freedom at last! Oh thank goodness. Thank you, too!"

"You're…speaking to me!? How?" Kendall inquired.

"Telepathy. It's our only means of communication and our only hope."

"I'm…I'm so sorry I couldn't get here sooner…" Kendall murmured. "Did…did ANYONE escape?"

"No, sir. They didn't."

"How'd he catch all of you?"

"Well, he first used dead bodies stolen from our graveyard to help make that green big thing. Then he kept snatching up random folks at the worst time. He hooked our minds up to the machine, and then used his powerful mental powers to march us to our doom."

"He won't EVER be doing that again. I promise you that." Kendall said as he shook his head back and forth, and the big green thing that had been their bodies "bowed", before it laid down on the floor, Kendall staring in surprise as it began to cease moving, slowly but surely. "Wh…what's happening?"

"A lot of the creature's power came from Darth Sed'yshun. Without him conscious, it can't function really on its own. And neither can we. He's the only one who knows how to operate the machine keeping all our brains alive. He made it that way to make sure nobody could…well…free us." The lead brain admitted. "He knew from the Jedi he claimed when they came in that they'd undoubtedly try to help us if they found what we'd turned into, so he had the machine set up so that he'd have to enter a password in to keep the power going. If it isn't entered every day…the machine shuts down, and…and we begin to shut down too. It also helped him make sure no rival of his could use our powers. This way he'd have total control over us."

"I…this is horrible!" Kendall looked mortified, clutching at his head, digging his fingers into his skull. "We can't just let you…look, I've got Luke Skywalker himself at the nearby temple, Leia, Han Solo! We'll call in the Republic, we'll get you…like…robot bodies! It may not be what you had before, but…but it'd be SOMETHING, right?"

"Can they get here in the next four hours? Because that's when we'll shut down." The lead brain admitted. "He was going to enter in the code to keep the machine running before he learned you were here."

Four hours…

No. No, they wouldn't get here in time. Even if Darth Sed'yshun had entered in the password, it would have bought them only twenty four hours, and Republic help was still several days away. But…still…

He reached down to Darth Sed'yshun, shaking him. "Wake up, wake up, wake up!" He demanded, Darth Sed'yshun groaning, hearing Kendall's voice, whimpering in pain. "You tell me what the password is to the machine, and MAYBE I'll tell the Jedi at the temple to go easy on you!" Kendall demanded.

"You think I'd do anything for you?" Darth Sed'yshun chuckled through the agonizing pain he was in. "Knowing you want to keep these people "alive" when you won't be able to…ohhh, that brings a smile to my face." The Sith said with a distinctly big grin. "I knew that you Jedi would want to give them new bodies. Why would I help you do that?"

"You…you PETTY, PATHETIC…" Kendall snarled, Sed'yshun laughing and laughing. "This isn't funny! You tell me the password or-!"

"Or what? You'll kill a blinded, helpless man? Even if I'm a Sith?" Darth Sed'yshun inquired, Kendall shaking with fury before…

THWAM! He headbutted the Sith, knocking him out, the man's body flopping down as Kendall held his head in his hands, his body shaking, quivering, tears flowing through his fingers.

"…there's…a shutdown button to the far side. He made it just in case our telepathic powers got strong enough to take him on or to defy him enough…" The lead brain admitted. "It's the big red button underneath the symbol that looks like half a swirl. If you press it, it'll shut the whole machine off and we'll die in four minutes, not four hours. Our oxygen supply would be cut off almost instantly. Please. We need your help to die."

"I…I can't just…don't ask me to do this." Kendall whispered, looking up at the lead brain, tears flowing freely down his cheeks. "I'm not JUST a Jedi. I'm a nurse. This goes against EVERYTHING I believe in and stand for. The whole "first do no harm" thing was the only real thing I believed in because I tossed my belief in God aside years ago. Now you're asking me to break one of the only creeds I have…a…a Jedi wouldn't…a NURSE can't…I mean…it…it just isn't right! It's murder!"

"It's not murder. You're helping us commit suicide. Please."

"…I…I…" Kendall trailed off. He looked down at his hands, clenching them tight, digging his fingers into his palm. What seemed like hours passed, even though it was only a minute. And then…

Kendall rose up, walking over to the button. "…I…I want to know every single one of your names before I do this." He said as he reached into his belt pouch, getting out a small data pad. "Can you tell me that before I do?"

The lead brain was quiet for few moments, and then it spoke.

"…well, my name was J'hnn Doeh…"

"Linda Doeh."

"Kelly Doeh."

"Lara Smith."

"Lana Smith."

"Alex Porszh."

"K'nn Kareem."

"Tyhree Wahm."

"Swain Collazo."

"Riva Gilbert…"

Kendall listed every single name. He wrote them all down. And then…

He pressed the button.

… "I shouldn't be so upset. I mean…I beat a Sith. I saved perhaps an entire planet from a horrible fate. And I helped some good people get what they really wanted…I did everything I could. So…so why does it feel like I still lost?"

Kendall sat on the beach, as Luke Skywalker sat next to him. It had been three days since that horrible incident and Kendall hadn't talked to ANYONE about what had happened since his initial debriefing. They'd kept Darth Sed'yshun tied up, blindfolded, and with powerful force-restraining bonds on him designed to lessen his power. Luke would be personally bringing him to his new jail cell now that the Galactic Republic had sent a small group of ships to help. They'd had a lot to tell them…

Luke, luckily, didn't have to tell Kendall much as he just put a hand on his shoulder.

"Sometimes you can win and still lose. And that's alright."

"…heh. You kinda sound like my dad, Morgan."

"What was Morgan's last name?" Luke asked. "Maybe I've met him before. I've had a little time to travel the galaxy with Leia and Han while helping the new Republic rebuild, and I've met many a force sensitive. Maybe he even came by the temple."

"Oh, Katarn." Kendall said. "That's actually my real last name. I just took the name "Kendall" because it was the name of the company that made my dad's belt. It's all I've got left of him." He admitted as he held up his belt a bit, sighing. "But I left my full name behind when I came to Nar Shaddaa. I was no longer Zachary Archimedes Cadence Katarn, I was just…Kendall."

Luke gaped at him, as Kendall stared back. "…wh-what?"

"…I…I KNOW about Morgan Katarn." He confessed. "He was the one who found the famous Valley of the Jedi for us. We haven't seen him in three years, though, and…well, when we said goodbye, he said he was going to check in on his son. He said he'd heard his son was showing signs of Jedi skills…"

Kendall's mouth fell wide open.

"Wait, WHAT?!" He inquired. "So…wh-what's the Valley of the Jedi, for starters?! And how'd you meet him?"

"We were searching for a place to train the next generation of Jedi. We thought the Valley might work, but it was…well, it's a very holy place, and powerful, but…therein is the problem. Someone could tap into the power that laid within and become a deadly threat, and we didn't want that." Luke confessed. "So we agreed to keep where it was secret." He paced back and forth on the beach, Kendall looking at him, enraptured. "So we chose this place instead, and wished Morgan well. But we never heard back from him…"

"…how could I find out what happened to him?" Kendall asked.

"Frankly, I think you know how you could learn the truth." Luke admitted. "I think you've known for a long time. It's time you entered the chamber of the Mirror Cave."

Kendall cringed. He had a bad…bad feeling about this.

But then again…whatever he had to face in there, it couldn't possibly, POSSIBLY be worse than what he'd just endured…