Epilogue

There was no telling how many years had passed.

She had no way to tell, but it was long enough for her to realize that she was a young adult now, probably seventeen years. Her lekku were longer and she had almost outgrown her old robes. The teen had found her way to the jungles far south, where the people speak a completely different language than what she encountered back with Dr. Hynek. It was warmer, way stickier in this part of the world, but at least it never got cold. It was a welcomed change.

Although, she felt something was off.

Someone was in her home, stalking her. Though it really didn't feel like those bounty hunters that had occasionally came to track her, but it felt a bit creepy.

That's why she found herself, draped in her dark brown burlap robe that helped camouflaged her with the trees, watching as two men awkwardly stumbled through the brush.

Strangely, she thought she recognized one of the men. Although she couldn't tell from this high up, there was a smirk that appeared on her face as she readied herself to pounce on them. The locals called her a mischievous spirit, a being of preternatural origin that could cause harm if it suited her fancy, so she was going to show these men what happened when they came into her home.

Like a Loth Cat, Kai leapt from the branches, using the Force to cushion some of the fall. She landed on the man with the black coat, and knocked him down to the ground. With a Force Shove, the other man was thrown against a tree, the wind knocked out of him. Kai ignited her lightsaber, and held it against the neck of the man she landed on.

She knew that the men probably didn't understand her but she hoped that her tone of voice got across.

"What do you want?"

"Kai! Wait d-don't hurt him!"

She blinked in shock. "Wha…..Doctor Hynek?"

It was then that she realized that she did know one of the men. Doctor Hynek, one of the men that had helped her who-knows-how-long-ago. He looked a little greyer in his beard, a little bit tired. She glanced down, wandering if she was going see Captain Quinn, but was very shocked to see someone she didn't know.

"Kai…"

After a moment of hesitation, Kai deactivated her saber and shoved the greasy-looking man forward. She sighed, her shoulders relaxing as she stared at the older man, almost crying at the familiarity his face brought.

"What are you doing here?" She gave the greasy man dagger-eyes. "Where's Captain Quinn?"

"We need your help, Kai." His tone told her something was off.

Kai agreed to listen to the man's tale in the safety of her cave. After thirty minutes of trekking, they were sitting in her home and Kai was listening closely to what happened to the good Captain that she had met years ago.

After the story was over, Kai's brow was furrowed deeply in thought.

"Do you know any extraterrestrial civilizations that have the power of teleportation?"

Slowly, she shook her head. "No. I don't. There were rumors of an ancient civilization that was so advanced that they had the power to jump dimensions but there's been no evidence of such a species existing. They were merely...whispers."

"What about this?" He handed her a couple of photographs. The quality was poor, the color nonexistent and image grainy, but Kai could just make out a pitch-black obelisk in the middle of pure white. Hynek and the unfamiliar man watched as she examined it. "Well?"

Kai moved the photograph down, peering as close as she could. There were some markings on the obelisk, some that looked scarily familiar to her….

"I….I can't be sure unless I'm standing in front of this but I…..I'm almost certain this is a Sith monument."

"What's a Sith?" the yet to be named man in black.

"A Force wielder."

"I thought you said that only the Jedi could manipulate the Force."

"I wish that were the case. A Sith is a Force wielder who gives themselves over to intense emotion-grief, anger, hatred-rather than the more serene emotions the Jedi uses. Those who give themselves over to the dark side are more dangerous." She shook her head. "There was a time when the Sith were as numerous as the Jedi. In fact, there's a whole segment in the archives dedicated to the Sith Wars. It's said that the Sith expanded their empire through the stars, far from the safety of their homeworlds on Korriban and others, even past the Outer Rim, and into the Unexplored Regions. This…. this looks like what they were rumored to have built."

Hynek looked disturbed as she felt.

"What happened to the Sith?"

"They were all wiped out." Then she added, after extra thought, "All but two."

"You don't think that these Sith took Captain Quinn, do you?" the man in black smirked.

"There's no way to be sure." She glanced around at her meager dwelling. "And since you guys were taken down by me, you're going to need some help."

"Kai, it's in Antarctica, which is as far north as one can get." Hynek said. "You said it yourself that your kind can't stand the cold."

"I'll be fine if I layered up." Kia assured him. "I'm not gonna let you possibly face a Sith warrior alone."

Hynek smiled.

"So." She clapped her hands together. "When are we going to be leaving?"