"Don't you ever get tired?" Kira groaned.

Kira was struggling after fifty push ups. Agenord was already past one hundred and still going.

"Didn't Master Kiwiiks have you exercise?" he asked.

"She's like sixty or something. I mean, we exercised but not this much," Kira said.

"I'm not sixty, and neither are you."

Yeah, yeah, she thought. Sweat, damn you.

"It's going to be tough out there," he continued. "I need you ready."

She groaned again. "Have I told you today that I hate you?"

"A couple of times."

"Just checking."

Sit ups followed. She was in the middle of wishing dire vengeance upon him when the ship dropped out of hyperspace.

"Ord Mantell," Agenord said.

"Yay," Kira said, falling back.

"Don't 'yay' yet," Agenord said.

"I hate you."

He helped her up. "I want you to run ten kilometers."

Kira groaned again.

"You'll be fine," Agenord said.

"When your first master told you that, what did you say?"

"I told her I could already make it to fifteen."

Kira stared at him. "There isn't enough hate in the world for whatever it is you are."

"If you make it to eleven, I'll fix you dinner," he told her.

"If I make it to twelve, will you not fix me dinner?"

He gave her a sour look. "You know, I'm better than my mother."

Kira coughed. "I choose not to respond to that."

The sour look continued. "We need to contact the General."


"I've just finished coordinating things with my man on the ground there," Var Suthra said. "Agent Ottau followed the enemy transmissions to a specific location planetside. He'll give you the full details. Your T7 unit can interface with Darth Angral's hyperspace data transceiver and download his communications."

Teeseven beeped and whistled.

"He's ready for action," the ship's Seetoo droid translated.

"Me too," Kira said.

"You've got training," Agenord told her. "Teeseven and I can handle this alone."

"Agent Ottau will meet you on the surface," Var Suthra said. "Good hunting. Var Suthra out."

"Keep your eyes open during the run," Agenord said. "Darth Angral may have a presence here."

"Are you actually giving me something important to do?" she asked.

He sighed. "Kira, you've proven yourself more than once. The training is to bring you to your best, not make you suffer."

She blinked at him. "Was that a compliment?"

"Parts of it."

"Whatever. I'll take what I can get."

Agenord settled the ship onto the plateau south of Fort Garnik that served as the settlement's main spaceport.

"What do I look for?" Kira asked.

"Stay on the plateau for the run and watch the other ships. Look for anything out of place."

"That'll be tough," Kira said, watching the traffic on the plateau. "I've visited my share of seedy ports, but this one's the seediest."

Agenord had to agree. "Keep your comm open to the Guardian. Seetoo, alert us if she has trouble."

"Don't worry," Kira said. "I'll make sure nobody steals our landing thrusters."

Teeseven beeped, and Seetoo said, "He wants to know if you're getting another one."

"We are," Agenord said.

"Another what?" Kira asked.

"Personal," Agenord said. "I'll tell you later."


Agenord lowered himself down the face of a cliff and swung into a cave hidden from above and below. Fortunately, the datacron was only a short distance from Fort Garnik, an easy trip after getting Angral's data. He switched on a small light, moved cautiously down the narrow cave, checking the walls for stability, and found the datacron on a natural shelf. Ancient, weathered, and crusted from the nearby salt spray, it nevertheless glowed in response when he reached for it. He dropped it into a pouch and headed out of the cave. The Tython datacron had given him some unusual lightsaber schematics that he was still testing. The Coruscant datacron was page after page of Gray Jedi philosophy, interesting but not valuable. Hopefully, this datacron would hold more substantive information.

He returned to the cable, swung away from the cliff face, and ordered Teeseven to activate the winch on the speeder. When he was halfway to the top, Teeseven started beeping wildly, but Agenord couldn't sense any danger nearby. He got to the top and looked around. No immediate threats, but Teeseven was already attached to the speeder. It had to be the ship. He took out his communicator and contacted Seetoo.

"Sir! Master Kira has not returned from her run and is overdue for her check in."

"Understood," Agenord said. He mounted the speeder and took off.

He reached the ship's hangar and entered cautiously. He sensed Kira surrounded by enemies and knew they were waiting for him. An access tunnel, designed to protect anyone defending the ship, prevented him from assessing the situation unseen, but that couldn't be helped. Agenord and Teeseven entered the tunnel, fully exposed to the enemy, and approached them slowly.

A Sith Lord held a lightsaber to Kira's throat, her wrists cuffed. An acolyte and a commando flanked each side of them, five combatants in all. The Sith Lord saw Agenord and smiled.

"At last. We were wondering if you would ever return. Imperial Intelligence noticed this girl wandering the base and alerted my master. Darth Angral was ready to come here himself to question her."

The Sith Lord's lightsaber barely moved during his speech, and the other Imperials kept their focus on Agenord. They were well trained.

"Kira," Agenord said. "Did you finish the run?"

"Seriously?" Kira replied.

"Yes," Agenord said. "Did you make it to eleven kilometers?"

"Twelve and a half," she said.

"Well done."

"Do you think this inane banter is going to save you?" the Sith Lord asked. "I hold the power here, not you."

Agenord said, "What are you, a child's toy? Your only chance of surviving is dropping your weapons and turning yourselves in to Ord Mantell security."

"You do realize you're vastly outnumbered? Not to mention outmatched," the Sith Lord said. "Surrender- unless you want your Padawan to die."

"He's lying," Kira said. "He can't kill me. Angral's orders."

"Orders?"

"I'll tell you later," Kira said. "Just get rid of Lord Action Figure here."

The Sith Lord chuckled. "I'll never understand what drives you Jedi to throw away your lives."

"Whatever," Agenord said. "Grab his lightsaber when I cut his arm off."

"Ew!"

"War is not pretty, Kira."

"You risk certain death to free this girl?" the Sith Lord said. "Why? Some misguided-?"

Agenord rushed the Sith Lord. He had to trust Kira that the Sith wouldn't kill her. He moved too fast for the commandos to react, but the acolytes and the Sith Lord moved into a defensive pose. The Sith smiled, anticipating his victory. Agenord exchanged a few quick blows with him, spun his saber out of the way, and severed his arm between the wrist and elbow. Kira caught the hand as it fell while Agenord killed the nearest acolyte and attacked the commando next to him. The other acolyte and commando turned on Agenord, and the Sith Lord threw lightening at Kira. Kira deflected with the lightsaber and attacked him. Agenord killed the first commando, deflected blaster fire from the second at the second acolyte, and pushed the second commando into the wall. He killed the acolyte and rushed the commando, while Kira pushed through the lightening and stabbed the Sith Lord in the heart. Agenord pulled his lightsaber from the commando's body and turned back to Kira.

"Ew," she said again and dropped the lightsaber.

"You did well," Agenord said and cut the cuffs from her hands.

"Thanks," she said. She looked at the severed hand and shuddered. "You know, these guys were actually good. When was the last time you were challenged?"

"The Jedi Temple," he told her. "If that hallway had been a few meters longer, we wouldn't have made it."

"Nice to know you have some limits."

"I suppose." He activated his communicator. "Seetoo, we need Ord Mantell security at the ship."

"Right away, sir," the droid replied.

"So," Agenord said. "Why does Angral want you alive?"

She watched him for a moment. "What were you getting with Teeseven?"

"Fine," he said. "We all have secrets. Right now, we need to contact the General. Angral's building a new superweapon."

"Right," Kira sighed. "With you, it's always a superweapon."

"Yes it is," he said. "You can transfer if you want. I'll put in the request, and I won't hold it against you."

She thought for a while then said, "No, but I would."

Teeseven whistled his happiness.


"We're receiving the files now," General Var Suthra said from the holocomm. "The 'Desolator'. I've seen something like this before. Travel to Taris. It holds the key to all of this."

"'Seen it before'?" Agenord asked.

"I can't explain now," Var Suthra said. "Ord Mantell has too many security breaches. Contact me when you reach Taris. Var Suthra out."

"Now what?" Kira asked.

He looked at her.

"That's what I thought," she said. "Master Kiwiiks let me do whatever, as long as I wasn't in her way."

He continued looking at her.

"Right," she said. "More stuff like today."

"Sorry."

"No. I get it. Thanks for saving me, by the way."

"Of course," he said. "You're my Padawan. And a friend."

She blinked. "That was... unexpected."

He shrugged. "You're the annoying little sister I always wanted."

"I thought that was Cyr'rnin. Kidding. I love Cyr'rnin."

"You know," he said. "Master Kiwiiks has a reputation for picking the most challenging Padawans, and turning them into exceptional Jedi."

"She told me," Kira said. "Often. So, now what?"

"Remotes," he said. "I want you at six before we leave Taris."

She groaned. "I really... am tired of saying it."

He patted her on the shoulder and headed to the cockpit.

Kira got her training saber and six remotes and went to the cargo hold. She activated five of the remotes and turned them up to their highest setting, then waited for the engines to start up and the ship to take off. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and let it go, connecting her mind to the Force. But it remained elusive, and she knew why. She didn't really hate him. She was afraid for him, like the Council. Angral and the Desolator would be career defining for any other Jedi. For a Champion, this was just training. Master Satele never said it, but Kira knew her real job was keeping Agenord grounded. But, she couldn't do that if she couldn't keep up. She relaxed as best she could, activated her training saber, and began.