Given the wound in his side, Jacen, instead of running, jogged as fast as he could down the corridor leading away from his room. He was distantly aware that he was being followed by maybe two or three of the pajamas-clad guards—he didn't look behind him to check—as he divided his Force-concentration into stifling the bleeding from his wound and tracking the newfound Sith presence that he sensed several levels above.

Eventually, he reached a juncture in the corridor that led him to a door that brought him to the hovercart tracks that would take him away from the Centerpoint Party's residence in the station to the public areas above. He pressed a button next to the door and waited for a hovercart to come and pick him up, all the while taking the time to shift his Force-concentration to some minimal healing upon the wound.

As he waited, a part of him wondered if he should really be doing this now; it would undoubtedly take this Sith some time to collect any information on Centerpoint's viability as a weapon, and Jacen should take that time to get to a bacta tank and heal up that wound. Indeed, he should count himself lucky that the blade that Tahiri—no, Darth Acheron, he reminded himself grimly—stabbed him with was of a less deadly design than that of the average vibroblade, as he doubted that he would be alive if even that strike was delivered by that kind of weapon.

Then again, when it came to the potential threat that this other Sith posed, how easy was it for Jacen to have attained the info about Centerpoint's weapon viability, even if he did get caught? Again, he should be in a bacta tank, or at least get a patch as he had requested earlier before he ran off, and let the Centerpoint authorities and/or whatever anti-Jedi traps Thrackan had in store take this Sith captive, if not kill him.

But the dominant part of him that drove him to his present course of action—perhaps it may have even been the Force itself speaking to him in some strange way—urged him that this needed to be done sooner rather than later... even if it would ultimately result in his death.

He only had to wait slightly less than a minute before a hovercart arrived for him—during which he barely got a millimeter of his wound Force-healed—and he stepped in and sat down. Jacen then sent it on a reverse course to where it came from, and it was only then that he realized that the guards who had been following him earlier were nowhere to be seen; considering the fact that he had only been jogging instead of running, and none of them had sustained any wounds since he left his room, he wondered why they hadn't caught him. Maybe Thrackan had called them back so that Jacen could be left alone to deal with this new Sith?

Minutes later, though, that question was completely gone from Jacen's mind as the hovercart brought him out of the secret tunnels from which the Centerpoint Party hid themselves from the general public to the very level where he detected the Sith presence. Once he stepped out onto this level, he had closed only another millimeter of his wound before he had to divert some concentration from healing to tracking the Sith.

Unfortunately, as Jacen locked onto the enemy's Force-presence, the Sith desperately tried to cloak it. Fortunately, however, whomever this Sith was, he wasn't quite at Jacen's level as a Force-user, so the Jedi was able to keep this figure's presence on his proverbial radar as he stumbled down the corridors that would take him to his quarry. Along the way, though, he realized he was now attracting some unwanted attention by pedestrians, and more than a few times, he heard people whispering his name; not Candak Hecluse, but Jacen Solo.

Oh, yeah, he thought stupidly. I forgot my facial prostheses.

Well, it was too late now, and he doubted that, even if he could maintain stable Fallanassi illusions for longer than a few seconds at a time, or even if he wasn't just barely holding it together from the wound that Acheron gave him, he would be able to fool anyone that he wasn't Jacen Solo.

That reminder of his forgetfulness also made him realize that the only thing that he was going to confront this Sith with was the vibroblade that he took from Acheron; he chided himself from not taking her other 'blade, if not at least a blaster rifle from one of those guards in his room. And that was to say nothing about his lightsaber, which he had found the time to reconstruct and placed on his room's nightstand. Jacen could only hope that this latest Sith infiltrator would have had to smuggle his own 'saber in pieces like he did.

It wasn't long in his stumbling down the corridor that it registered in Jacen's mind that this was the same level from which he had been caught, which, of course, was also the same level from which he had acquired the information about Centerpoint's weapon viability. Mere seconds later, as he turned around the corridor, he saw that, yes, there was the library up ahead.

And coming from the library was a lone olive-skinned human male who appeared to be in his early twenties or so who stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing Jacen.

It was clear to the wounded Jedi that this man hadn't paused because he was star-struck; and it was also apparent from this man's expression that he just realized that he should have left the library earlier instead of merely try to cloak his Force-presence.

As expected, the Sith turned away and began running. With some mild reluctance, and with further concentration shifted from healing his injury, Jacen Force-sped toward the fleeing Sith; he caught up to him, subdued him in an arm-lock, and placed the vibroblade up to the younger man's throat. Naturally, this began to draw a startled crowd from the pedestrians coming and going from either side of the large corridor.

"What have you learned?" Jacen asked in his most intimidating voice; he had even put a low growl into his throat to try to heighten the effect.

A moment of silence later, the Sith laughed and craned his neck over his shoulder to get a better look at Jacen.

"Is that the best you can do?" his captive asked contemptuously.

Before Jacen could think of a response, the Sith tripped his left leg behind the Jedi's, and they both fell to the floor, much to the gasped shocks and screams from the people around them.

Upon landing, Jacen had the wind knocked out of him between the impact on both his back and front, and the Sith took advantage of that to struggle out of the Jedi's grip and roll over so that he had him pinned by the wrists where he lay. As both combatants tuned out the surprised responses from the growing crowd around them, the Sith bashed Jacen's vibroblade-wielding hand against the floor five times before the weapon fell out of the Jedi's grip, and then Jacen's opponent reached out for it, letting go of one of his wrists in the process.

But the Jedi used that now-freed hand to send a telekinetic burst that flung the Sith several meters back and off of him; several people rushed out of the way so they wouldn't be bowled over by the human projectile. Jacen then rolled over, much to some pain that made him wince when his wound brushed upon the floor, and telekinetically called the vibroblade back into his hand. He pushed himself up and turned just as the Sith had leaped to his feet and produced a crimson-bladed lightsaber that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Great, Jacen thought as sarcastically as his father might have. This guy managed to smuggle his lightsaber in whole; I gotta learn that someday.

The Sith charged in with a battle-cry, wielding the lightsaber in a double-handed grip, while Jacen stayed where he was, waiting for his opponent to reach him while looking like some dumb startled animal that didn't know what to do.

Then the younger man reached Jacen and slashed down with what was meant to be a bisecting cut; the Jedi easily pivoted out of the way and he took advantage of the Sith's slight overreach to swipe the vibroblade through his opponent's left wrist. The Sith screamed and flailed about in agony, blood trickling from his stump, even as he maintained his grip on the lightsaber with his remaining hand.

Well, that was too easy, Jacen thought sardonically. They just don't make Sith like they used to.

But before he could subdue the Sith and learn what he could from him, that was when Jacen suddenly collapsed to one knee from a violent burst of pain in his side. With his free hand, he reached for his wound and found that there was a fat layer of blood that coated his palm.

Jacen grimaced as his sight remained on the bloodied palm. His concentration had been focused so exclusively on dealing with this Sith that he had, by necessity, neglected his wound to the point that what he had Force-healed was negated by his brief bout with his opponent.

The shock of the pain was then overcome when Jacen's mind registered that the Sith was now screaming more with determination than with his own agony as he rushed back in toward the Jedi; his remaining arm was raised with what was clearly going to be a decapitating strike for Jacen's head.

Thinking quickly and desperately, Jacen flung multiple droplets of his own blood that were telekinetically directed into the Sith's eyes. His opponent stumbled back a few steps as he tried to clear the biological debris from his vision, which allowed Jacen to scream through his own pain as he sprung up to his feet, rushed toward his blinded quarry, swiped the vibroblade through the lightsaber's hilt, and finally tackled the Sith upon his back. And once again, he had the 'blade up to the younger man's throat.

However, his own vision was starting to blur; Jacen realized that he was going to pass out soon, and that would give the Sith time to recover, kill him even with the gathering around them, and then at least attempt an escape. So the Jedi knew he was going to have to do something and fast.

Quickly, he threw the vibroblade away and grabbed both sides of the Sith's head; he only hoped that if this man had a solid connection to his Sith Master, whomever that may be, that Master would fall for this ruse.

With a haphazard combination of his own waning Fallanassi abilities and what he learned from the Theran Listeners of Nam Chorios, Jacen practically poured in his own memories into the Sith's mind. He projected what he was able to gather about Centerpoint's weapon viability just before the station's reigning political party caught him and changed just a few key images to make it look like it was only a few weeks away from getting ready to fire.

Then Jacen passed out, completely unaware of whether or not he had succeeded; or even if his quarry would live long enough from the bleeding of his stump to convey this false information to his Master.

. . .

Sitting behind her desk, Admiral Iosha waited with abated breath and with her fingers steepled between her hands and over her face. A feeling that may or may not have come from the Force itself told her that, at any moment, Shev Krath was going to call her and Ulaska and let them know whether or not the Twi'lek's Sith agent on Centerpoint had succeeded in his job.

Then her holocomm beeped; she answered it after only a mere second.

As Krath's holographic visage appeared next to Ulaska's over Iosha's desk, the Twi'lek said, "My agent on Centerpoint has just died; and the news that he had psychically sent me in his death throes do not bode well for us."

Both Chiss admirals grimaced. "Centerpoint will be active sooner than we thought?" Iosha asked.

"I'm afraid so," Krath said gravely.

"Then this is no trap from the Galactic Alliance," Ulaska surmised anxiously. "We must move now, Admiral Iosha!"

Her expression narrowed as she sat back in her seat.

"Admiral?" Ulaska asked.

A moment later, Iosha sat forward and asked, "Are you sure that what you got from your agent was accurate, Agent Krath? After all, information conveyed between Master and apprentice, or Master and subordinate Force-sensitive agents, through the Force can be inaccurate."

"It can be," Krath admitted carefully. "And, indeed, I will say, the images I received were... jumbled, to say the least. Some confusing, some contradictory. But that would be no surprise, given that my agent would have been in his death throes and would therefore-"

"So we could be getting inaccurate information?" Iosha interrupted.

Krath sighed. "We could be. But then again, it is all we have to go on now."

"And sending anymore agents in would only doom them to whatever fate had been brought upon this one," Iosha concluded in frustration.

Hesitantly, Ulaska asked, "Admiral Iosha... do you think we shouldn't meet the GA in battle in the Corellian system?"

"A part of me says we shouldn't, Admiral Ulaska," Iosha said. "I still have my doubts. Do you not?"

"I have my own concerns as to the reliability of the information that Agent Krath has shared with us," Ulaska stated. "But with what is at stake, it is clear to me, at least, that we cannot continue to sit on our hands."

Iosha sighed. "I... reluctantly agree, Admiral." Taking another breath, knowing that what she would say would mark the point of no return for her and her fellow secret Sith admiral, she said, "Begin preparations for your own fleet, Admiral. I will make mine. In twenty-four standard hours, we will contact each other to confirm our fleets' readiness. Is that agreed?"

Ulaska nodded. "It is agreed."

"May the Force be with you both," Krath said, "and hope that the military of your species do not find out about that."

A spark of dread appeared like a mild ulcer in Iosha's gut by the Twi'lek's statement; an undercurrent of fear now resided in her that this upcoming battle with the GA would result in exactly that.

But that would not turn Iosha away from what had to be done.

. . .

The New Purpose had set down in its designated dock, as per Centerpoint Station's control protocols, and minutes later, Darth Judicar had stepped out into the spaceport and waited in line to get through customs.

A part of her wanted to carve her way through all these people and use her Force-powers, as well as both her lightsabers—her Sith one and Anakin's—to fight past Centerpoint's security. But she decided that, for now, she would play by their rules; once she had as clear a path as she could take to get to the station's weapon control room, only then would she stop playing nice and resort to violence to get her way.

As she waited, however, a jumbo holographic screen was projected above the wall leading to the rest of the station, and Judicar froze where she was upon seeing it, even as the line ahead of her moved by one person. What she saw was a local news broadcast of a rather interesting event that occurred not far away from a library, where Jacen Solo—Judicar's own brother—had gotten into a brief fight with another Sith; the result was the both of them passing out from blood loss that they had suffered from their fight (though none of the footage presented showed Jacen suffering any wounds from this opponent). Both were taken away by pajamas-clad guards, weirdly enough, and neither of them were seen or reported since.

"Hey, move, lady!" the short stocky man behind her said. "Some of us got places to be!"

Judicar gave the man a deathly glare, which made him shrink in sudden fear under her gaze. Still, she said nothing and instead turned back and proceeded forward in line.

As she did, she reached out through the Force. Jacen was alive, though his presence was weak. From what she could tell, he was in a hibernating trance, no doubt to heal himself from the wounds he suffered. There was no trace of the presence of the Sith that he had fought.

However, Judicar did feel another presence on this station, one she hadn't felt since...

Her thoughts trailed off as she finally reached the check-in point. Judicar left her one bag, which had only a change of clothes, along the small conveyor belt next to her, and it naturally passed by the metal detector without incident.

As for the metal detector that would scan her, it would find nothing; she had placed both lightsabers, which were up each of her sleeves, in a special anti-detectable plastic coating. It was one of the gifts that had belonged to the New Purpose's previous owner, Oklip, when it was christened the Chick Magnet.

Like her bag, Judicar passed by without incident; but now, she walked into Centerpoint with the intent of finding and killing her brother, as well as finding and locating the help of the Sith who was once Tahiri Veila.