Sarge quickly hit the rogue wolf with the butt of his shotgun."Take that ya-" A wolf then jumped on him, snarling. It tried going for his throat when the rogue's head exploded, blood splattering all over his helmet. Sarge pushed the corpse off of him and looked to see that it had been Alto Stratus that saved him.

Stratus stabbed the wolf that Sarge had knocked out."Come on, Sarge. With a bunch of angry Force-users, I think we're gonna win this battle."

"Humphrey." Kate said. They had been walking through the snowy forest for almost an hour, lost in the middle of nowhere. Tom noticed that Yaru, Seelah, Devore, and baby Jariad were all used to this cold, probably because they were from Ziost...except, Devore was not here.

"Hey, where's Devore?" Jacob asked before Tom could. They all looked around, yet nobody saw him. He had just vanished.

Captain Korsin sighed."I'll find him...he couldn't have gone too far..."

Yaru left to find his half-brother. Where could Devore have gone to? The sun was setting and it was getting colder. Finally, after twenty minutes of searching, Yaru saw his half-brother."Devore!" He called out. Devore was just sitting on a log."Devore! Aren't you glad you have your son-"

"It's over, Yaru. Omen's gone." Devore said, putting his hand on his face.

Yaru stared at him."The landing bay. The Blades." The fighters had been in flight when Omen made its sudden departure, but something in the landing bay might be serviceable.

"Forget it, Yaru. The deck was crushed when we hit. I couldn't even in there."

"Then we will cut the ship down deck by deck and fabricate the parts we need!"

"With what? Our lightsabers?" Devore rose, steadying himself."We're done!" His cough became a laugh. The Lignan crystals offered the Sith power-just not the kind to operate a distress beacon, a receiver, or even the celestial atlas."We are here, Yaru. We are here and we are out of action. Out of the war. Out of everything. We are out of it!"

"You're out of it."

Yaru was just about to leave when Devore's words stopped him."We have to stay," Devore said, as if he had read Korsin's thought.

"What?"

"We have to stay," Devore repeated, standing alone."It's been two days. You don't understand. It's been two days."

Yaru still stood still.

"It's been two days, Yaru. Naga Sadow will think we ran away. To take the Lignan crystals for ourselves!"

"He'll blame Saes," Korsin said, remembering. Naga Sadow hadn't fully trusted the fallen Jedi who captained the Harbinger. He'd asked Korsin to keep an eye on Saes, to report back. When he did-if he did-Korsin fully intended to explain how the Harbinger had struck the Omen. With any luck, Sadow had Harbinger already-

Korsin stopped himself when he realized something."Back at Primus Goluud. On the station. You met with Sadow, didn't you?"

Devore looked at him."To discuss the Lignan operation."

"You weren't discussing something else? Like who should command this mission?"

Devore glared at him with bloodshot eyes. That look again. He had been on the spice.

"You were discussing who should command this mission," Korsin pressed, surprised at his own calm."What did you say when Sadow refused to put you in charge?"

Yaru was then suddenly Force pushed into a tree by Devore. Yaru quickly shook away the pain once he saw Devore jumped, his lightsaber activated. He moved out of the way, having Devore slash the tree instead.

The Sith Captain activated his own lightsaber and quickly blocked a slash from Devore. Yaru then Force pushed his half-brother near the edge of a cliff. Yaru slowly walked over to him as his half-brother groaned.

Yaru kicked the lightsaber away before Devore could grab it. He then grabbed Devore's neck and held him over the edge of the cliff."Yaru," His brother pleaded."Please...I" know that you'll do the right thing."

And Yaru did do the right thing.

He let go.

He watched his brother fall down. He hit a bunch of trees, but Yaru knew he died when his skull hit a sharp, hard, rock. Blood mixed with the snow as Devore's body laid there, lifeless.

Yaru stared at his body for a few seconds before looking at the sun setting. He then turned around to head back with the other's...only to see Runt looking at him, horrified at what he had done. Had he been there, watching the entire time?.

"W-What...w-why would do that? W-Why would you just kill your brother over leadership?"

He had.

Yaru grabbed the pup using the Force and was about kill him with his lightsaber when he heard a voice.

"Stop!"

Mason Privitt had noticed that Runt had gone off, again, and he saw the battle between Yaru and his half-brother, Devore. In the end, Yaru had won, killing his own brother.

And now, he was going to kill Runt.

"Stop!" He yelled loudly for him to at him. The one time I don't have a blaster...

"Yaru, think about what your doing! Your going to kill a pup!" Mason took a deep breath."Listen, there doesn't need to be more killing...Runt will promise that he will never tell anyone again."

Yaru actually seemed to consider that. He lowered his lightsaber as he thought. Runt looked scared, terrified.

"I-"

Mason never knew what the Sith Captain was going to say. He jumped up in shock as Yaru's face exploded by a red blaster bolt. His body fell backwards and off the cliff but Runt had jumped out of his hands. Runt ran away from the cliff. Mason heard a soft thud. He looked over to see Yaru's body over Devore's body.

Mason turned around to see Tom, holding a blaster pistol. Mason saw smoke coming from the pistol.

Tom Rake had killed Yaru Korsin.

"Nida, you will know this language from the studies I've assigned you-but you won't know this map. No one does. It's based on the last data recorded by the cams of Omen during our descent across the dark side of Kesh. When I discovered a cam with a working display, I hid the device, transferring over the years what it saw to the map panels her until it's power finally gave out.

"Our people and the Keshiri have thought this continent was all there was, alone in a gigantic sea. Taking control of the continent of Keshtah gave our people a purpose. But we've just been on Keshtah Minor. This map displays another landmass with us in the southern hemisphere-Keshtah Major-far beyond the range of any Uvak to fly! And with far more people!

"And yes, there are people. There must be. The crystals represent lights-lights!-seen on the dark side of the planet. There are cities there, another whole civilization. Keshiri, likely, but perhaps more advanced-and possibly not in the fear of the Skyborn. They could add to our power-or could be our enemies.

"For years, I've secretly annotated the map based on what I could make out before the images died. It's truly another world. I've done all I can now, and my trusted Keshiri are sealing the map panels in advance of our move to Tahv.

"But you-or your descendants-may one day need a cause that will unite our people. The knowledge I leave here is power. Envy has driven the Sith to great accomplishments. Now there is again something to covet-something that may be within reach of the properly led..."

Tom then stopped writing, folded the paper, and gave it to Varner Hilts."Just pretend your reading in Tapani to the other Sith factions, okay?"

Hilt's nodded."Thanks, Tom."

When Tom, Mason, and Runt had returned back to the group, he explained that Yaru and Devore were fighting. Yaru killed Devore but Yaru later died to his own wounds. Runt and Mason agreed.

And it seemed like with Yaru Korsin dead, the future of the Sith were alright.

They were a gas station, waiting for the Sith and Kate's pack to find them. Tom looked at Maketh Tua, who smiled.

"You want to go into the forest?" Tom asked.

Maketh nodded.

Before they left, she kissed him right on the lips.

To be continued in "Jedi Knight of the Universe: Vector Age"