Deep in the void of space, Vader looked out upon the stars inside the safety of the Tanqua space station. He had chosen to stay there until this mission had been completed. He spent much of his time hidden away, reporting to the Emperor and meditating to focus his power. When he did this, he felt a disturbance in for Force, unique and strong. It came from one force-sensitive he recently met—Mara Dane.

There was conflict within her, and he could feel it from here even if she was light-years away. That kind of conflict is one he himself used to feel, before he had adopted his current identity. This conflict inside of her had to be because of the Jedi; he's been twisting her mind, making her doubt herself. That was something he could not afford to have happen.

The young Inquisitor-in-training, Helene, entered the private quarters of Darth Vader and bowed immediately, remaining on one knee for him, "Lord Vader," She greeted with the utmost respect, "You summoned me?"

"Yes," he spoke, his voice deep and robotic, "I've been having growing concerns for your ally, Mara Dane. I sense conflict within her."

"Conflict?"

"Yes. She is feeling doubt toward the Empire. I first sensed it when I met her, and now it grows ever stronger."

Helene had been worried about Mara ever since hearing she had to work with a Jedi. The Jedi were their enemies, plain and simple. If they weren't killed, they join the Empire, that was it. The more time she spent with him, the more she worried something terrible would happen, "What do you want me to do?"

"I was recently contacted by a sergeant Storm Trooper on Tatooine. Mara Dane and the Jedi are there, investigating. I want you to travel to Tatooine with a small number of Troops and check on her. Make sure she is not slipping from the Dark Side. Do whatever you believe necessary. If there is any definitive doubt in her that you find, act immediately."

"Yes, Lord Vader."

She bowed her head before standing up and leaving the room quickly. She hoped whatever drastic actions she had to take would be for Mara's benefit, and not her downfall.

…

"Can we talk about what happened?"

Mara and Avlis had begun making their way out of the temple, still moving slowly as to recover emotionally from what they had both experienced. Mara was trailing behind Avlis; a rarity in their relationship. She watched him with such curiosity, now knowing the pain of his past.

The pain of the Dark Side.

"Avlis?" She asked again, "Don't ignore me."

"Sorry," He said sincerely, "Just thinking. What do you wanna talk about?"

"What I saw, with you back on Coruscant. How you …gave into the Dark Side."

Avlis kept walking even though his legs told him he should stop. This was not a memory he was particularly fond of as it was the first of many struggles in his training. He had broken one of the biggest rules in the Jedi books and almost no one even knew about it. Those who did quietly looked down on him.

"Avlis?" She asked again.

"I was terrified," He finally answered, "All the fear and anger the Jedi told me to keep down just suddenly exploded. In that moment, I knew that if I did nothing, he would have killed me. It was fight or die, and I chose to fight. I chose darkness; I let it in, and it hasn't gone away."

Finally, Avlis stopped just before reaching the cave tunnel. He took a deep breath as he thought back to that day on Coruscant.

"I've spent three years meditating, training, and focusing my mind so that I never had to go through that again. Unfortunately, it wasn't … the last of my outbursts."

"You struggle with the Dark Side?"

"My master is the only person who knows; he's the one who rescued me that day after it happened. He never says it, but he's always looked down on me with shame, as though I needed to be remedied. In a way, he was right."

"Avlis," She gently took his shoulder, "Someone you trusted killed your friends right in front of you before trying to kill YOU too. It's OK to be angry about that."

"Except it's not," he pulled out of her grip, "I can't be angry, or sad, or worried, or fearful. I have to be calm and collected to be a Jedi. I can't let myself hate, or fear-"

"-Or love, or feel joy, or be happy," She cut in, "I'm gonna say it, plain and simple, Jedi suck. They force you to bury your feelings and become perfect little monks with laser swords. I know the Sith aren't that great either—" she held up her hand before Avlis could say anything "—Trust me, I know. At least we're allowed to feel something, to love and be joyful and lustful and happy. We're free to be ourselves."

"As long as you obey the Emperor in the long run."

"It didn't used to be like that, not in the old days before the rule of two."

Avlis knew the rule of two well from his studies of the old Sith Order. There used to be as many Sith as there were Jedi, before the rule of two was established. It stated that there could only ever be two Sith in existence at a time; the master and the apprentice. After the Emperor took control, he found a way around that rule by creating the Inquisitors; warriors trained in the dark side but never as powerful as real Sith Lords, and never given the title.

"In those days," She continued, "Things were better for the Sith. They were evil, yes, but free."

She expected him to argue with her but found his expression to be content. He knew she was right about the Jedi even if he wouldn't verbalize it. The Jedi ruled out all emotion, even though they claimed to only ban hatred and fear. Love for another was forbidden, and joy was to be moderated. They were the unspoken rules of the great Jedi order that everyone followed, even the ones in charge.

The moment that Avlis and Mara stepped into the tunnel and out of the temple, they felt a disturbance in the Force. In the endless miles of dust and rock, they were no longer alone.

Avlis trailed behind Mara again as she took point, reaching the entrance of the cave with a hand on her saber. She knew who was there—she could sense it—and that's part of why she was so worried.

When they entered the sunlight of the scorching planet once again, they were greeted by a woman in black and a band of Storm Troopers. Mara recognized the woman as her friend, Helene, a fellow inquisitor-in-training like herself. Helene was wearing a desert cloak to protect her from the sun's harmful rays. When she saw Mara, she seemed happy.

"Helene?" Mara questioned, "What are you doing here?"

"The sergeant here told us you were investigating this area," Helene answered, walking up to her with a quick hug, "They sent me to check on your progress, and I wanted to see you. Glad you're doing ok."

After the hug departed, Helene looked at Avlis with malice in her eyes. After everything she had been taught, just seeing a Jedi made her blood boil. She leaned in to Mara's ear and whispered, "Did HE kill Garm?" She asked this with a hand on her lightsaber.

"No," Mara answered.

Helene seemed to calm down and back off a few steps, greeting Avlis with nothing more but "Jedi" and a nod. She'd have to learn to put that malice aside; if Vader has his way, the boy will be an Inquisitor by the end of the next few cycles. "What did you find?" Helene asked.

Mara gestured to the set of clothes hanging under her arm, as well as the pair Avlis carried. Helene seemed less than impressed.

"That's it?"

"This, and another set of star charts. It all seems to be one big test leading toward something greater."

"You better hope so or Vader will kill us both," She gestured to the clothes, "I can take those off your hands."

"That's OK," Mara denied, "Vader allowed me to hold onto the white saber, so I can hold onto these too."

"Fine," She agreed, "Then I'll at least need the Jedi's half of the loot."

Avlis backed up, holding his prizes close to him as the Storm Troopers became hostile.

"Don't make me ask again, Jedi," Helene said with rage.

"It's OK, Helene," Mara stepped between them, "He should probably hold onto them until this is over."

Mara was being rather passive toward this Jedi considering all they had been taught. Yes, they were supposed to be working together, but not as equals. Mara is supposed to be in charge with a strict iron boot over his throat. Yet, she acted calm and fair to him—she could sense it.

She pulled Mara aside and lowered her voice, "Mara, we can't trust the Jedi. His lightsabers should be relinquished before he tries to kill you."

"He won't do that."

"How do you know?"

"Because I feel it. He and I are connected now in ways I never thought possible. I feel …closer to him."

"…You and I are close to."

They had been close ever since joining the Empire three years ago. From day one, they looked out for one another. She wanted to listen to Helene because she cared for her, but she also knew the path they were following was bigger than them both.

"Mara, do not trust him," Helene reiterated, "The Jedi are stubborn, pretentious traitors to the Empire. That is all they will ever be. Those we don't kill must become one of us—those are the rules. You say you're 'close', then make him an Inquisitor when this is all over. Otherwise, if you don't kill him, I will."

She was very serious about this, too. Was it because of Garm? Mara was still angry about it, but at least she was a bit more under control, "He didn't kill Garm, Helene."

"He might as well have," She growled, "I don't trust him around you. Maybe it's best I tag along for the remainder of your mission."

"I don't think you can."

"And why the hell not?

How could Mara explain that this journey was strictly for two? Every nerve in her body connected to the Force told her that no one else could join them on this quest. The temples were testing them, and them alone. "It's complicated."

"…Only Jedi deal in complications."

Vader warned Helene that this could happen. Her doubt has led her to side with the Jedi and even protect him. What had happened between them that Helene didn't know? Perhaps it just didn't matter—Vader said if she sensed any doubt that she was to act immediately. For Mara's sake, she had to act.

Helene suddenly drew her lightsaber out as the Storm Troopers raised their guns at Avlis, to held his hands up, "The Jedi needs to go."

"Wait!" Mara got in front of her, "That isn't necessary, Helene! We still need him! These temples won't open without the two of us being TOGETHER!"

"You got your symbols from the temple on Tanqua, right?" Helene asked, "We'll head back there so I can acquire those same symbols, then you and I can finish this on our own. That way, we won't need the Jedi anymore."

"We don't need to kill him."

"If we don't kill him, then we make him one of us. Those are the rules. The longer he's here, the worse you get."

Mara paused, lowering her brows, "The worse I get?"

"He's implanted doubt in your mind, doubt toward the Empire. Your loyalty is to the Emperor and Vader only, no one else. The Mara I know wouldn't be defending a Jedi for any reason; she'd be looking for whatever excuse she could to kill him on the spot!"

She knew Helene was right since Mara already tried that in the first Temple. Yet, in such a short time, things changed so much. Maybe she was feeling some doubt toward the Empire, but that started long before she really met Avlis. Still, she didn't want to fight with her best friend, but not doing so meant Avlis's life.

"Either I accompany you," Helene pointed her saber at Avlis, "Or he pays the price. What that price will be is up to you."

"You're giving me an ultimatum, really?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. It should have made sense, though. Everyone knows Sith deal in absolutes. If Mara is not on her side completely, then she is a traitor. There was no middle ground to find.

Mara had to decide.

What was more important to her? Helene and the Empire, or Avlis and this quest? Was her loyalty to the Emperor stronger than her pull toward destiny? Every voice in her head told her that Avlis was the right choice, but every feeling in her heart told her it was Helene—her best friend. She didn't want to be a Jedi, not ever, but the path she was on pushed her toward something else, something that divided the two sides so perfectly that she couldn't comprehend it.

"Fine," Helene said, seeing that her friend was still deciding, "I'll decide for you."

With her saber clutched tightly, Helene approached Avlis quickly. He backed up from her and pulled out his saber, but froze in place. The image of her walking toward him as his body was backed into a corner reminded him too much of Coruscant. The image of Anakin echoed over her own. He couldn't run away, feeling like the scared child he was way back then. That same fear and rage returned to him in a heartbeat, and there was no way of holding it back.

Mara tried to call out for Helene to stop, but it couldn't have changed what happened next.

He let out a blood curdling scream as a force reverb released from his body, creating a shock wave that knocked everyone down, creating a large dust cloud. The small mountainside beside them cracked as the sky roared; the few clouds above them dissipated in a snap. The Troopers that feel found themselves covered in sand, while Mara and Helene managed to get to their knees.

The mental break didn't stop as sand began to circle around Avlis quickly, with broken rocks from the caves joining in the spiral. When a trooper would get up, one of the small boulders would just knock them back down. Mara looked through the sand and found Avlis huddling his knees to himself, holding his hands over his ears as to make it all go away. As far as he knew now, he was back on Coruscant.

"Avlis!" Mara shouted, standing up, "Avlis! It's OK! You can stop now!"

She started moving forward despite the sand storm in her way. Much to everyone's surprise as well as her own, the sand seemed to push aside for her, like there was an invisible force field around her body. Helene tried to follow her, but the sand fought against her despite letting Mara in. The boulders would circle around instead of hitting her, like it didn't see her as a threat to block out.

When she finally reached Avlis, Mara wrapped her arms around him, gently massaging the back of his head, "It's OK, Avlis, you're OK."

Much like what he experienced three years ago; an invisible presence seemed to calm him down. It felt exactly the same as it did before, like someone was there to protect him. Only after opening his eyes did he realize it was Mara who was keeping him safe. Finally, the sand began dying down as the rocks dropped to the ground. The caves were still intact but some of the Troopers were knocked out.

What Mara felt from him was more than just the Dark Side. It was the Force, too, perfectly equal to its counterpart; the divide between them.

"Mara," Helene said as she drew closer, "Step away, quickly."

Mara did not move."

"I said move!"

She stood up from holding Avlis and drew her saber, only instead of striking Avlis, she pointed it at Helene with regretful eyes. "I have to follow this path with him," She said, "And if that leads me away from the Empire …so be it."

She couldn't deny what she felt. Every fiber of her being pushed her down this path, and she had to follow it with Avlis. Even if it meant betraying everything that she had trained for in the last three years, it had to be worth it. She had to trust in the Force, just this once.

Helene didn't want to raise her sword at her best friend, but this was the clear sign Vader had warned her about. Mara had completely turned away from the dark side and now stood evenly between it and the light. She was no longer an Inquisitor, and that made her a threat to the Empire. There was only one ending to their friendship now, even if she hated it.

Helene raised her lightsaber in defense of Mara, "If that is what you really believe …then, Mara Dane, you are accused of treason to the Empire!"

The Storm Troopers raised their blasters and prepared to fire at them, awaiting command from their superior.

"Mara," Avlis whispered as he stood up, "What are you doing?"

"Trusting in the Force," She answered.

He didn't question her further and pulled out his lightsaber.

Helene ordered them to begin firing. As the onslaught of blaster bolts came at them, Mara and Avlis worked together to deflect them back with their sabers. Each encounter created a flash of light that nearly blinded them in the sun. Thankfully, they didn't need their eyes to block the bolts, not with the Force guiding them. Despite having only fought together once before, their movements were in perfect sync of each other, as if they were perfectly reading each other's thoughts.

Both the young warriors pushed with the Force and knocked the Troopers down. Helene quickly charged in and force pushed Mara away so she could attack Avlis. He stayed on the defensive, ducking and weaving around her saber and blocking when she got too close. Her attacks were quick and almost flawless, had it not been for the sand beneath their feet.

Avlis flicked his wrist and a pile of sand went flying up into Helene's eyes. With her blind, Avlis Force pushed her to the ground.

"We gotta go!" shouted Avlis, tucking the pair of training clothes further under his arm and hopping onto a speeder.

As Mara got to a speeder, she couldn't help but look back at Helene one last time. The look in her eye—the feeling of being betrayed—Mara was hurting her worse than Vader ever could have.

Biting her lip, Mara got on the speeder as her and Avlis drove away with Storm Troopers still firing at them.

Their two speeders flew across the sea of sand, going as fast as they possibly could. It didn't take long for the Storm Troopers to get on their own speeders and go after them, trailing behind rather closely. Avlis tried to use the dust cloud he was creating to blind them, making a few of the troopers lose control and crash. Using the Force, Mara was able to turn the steering wheels of several troopers and make them crash into one another.

Their efforts only got them so far as rogue blaster bolts managed to hit their speeders, causing the engines to start smoking.

The troopers were closing in on them now from both sides as the young warriors' speeders began to slow. Their guns were trained on them, ready to fire at the next possible moment.

In a panic, Mara tried to release another Force blast, only it came out much larger than she had expected. The blast sent the left half of troopers soaring across the sky as their speeders exploded. The reverb even made her move further to the right, closer to Avlis. She examined her hand in awe, but took no further time to question the power.

"Avlis, duck!" she shouted.

Once he ducked his head, she reached over and Force pushed the other half of the troopers. They fell right off their speeders as they went flying high into the air, exploding like fireworks.

"That should be all of them!" Avlis said, "Let's get somewhere safe!"

…

Mara and Avlis brought their broken speeders to a stop somewhere behind another formation of rocks and boulders. They were able to take a moment and catch their breath after the great chase. The rock formation gave them some shade, but not enough to avoid the suns heat as they sweat.

Mara looked up at the sky as if she was silently trying to find whoever was up above, watching them. Had she made the right choice, back there? The Empire was made to be her entire life. Three years of torture and training molded her into an Inquisitor, and she threw it away so quickly. Had she ever really wanted it at all? When she thought they'd be getting a promotion, she actually felt excited. Now, she didn't know what to feel anymore.

"Are you ok?" Avlis asked, gasping.

"Tell me I did the right thing," She asked, turning around to face him, "Avlis. Tell me that I made the right choice back there. I just threw away three years of hard work and pain for you. I'm trying to trust in what the Force is pushing me toward, and I need to know that it was the right decision."

"…I think it was," He said, "Ever since I met you, you were different than what I expected. You were angry, but there was still light in you. I'm not sure you were ever really going to be an Inquisitor."

"…Same to you."

"What does that mean?"

Still upset about what happened, she let those feelings move her closer to Avlis, invading his space, "You've struggled with the dark side. I saw that little mental break back there. You're strong with that power, whether you like it or not. I'll face what I've done if you face what you ARE."

"Which is?"

"I don't know, but it's NOT a Jedi."

There was a long pause between them as they considered the state of themselves. Mara did just align herself with something other with the dark side, though she wasn't sure if it what exactly that was. She would never be a Jedi, not if she had a say, but there was no chance of becoming an Inquisitor. Avlis, however, believed himself to have always been sided with the light. Now, he wondered, if he had really been admiring the dark side from afar.

"…I'm sorry," Mara said softly, "I don't mean to snap at you or anything, I'm just …conflicted."

"…Yeah. Me too."

The puff of their broken speeders dragged their minds back to the task at hand. They were trapped in this desert with no means of transportation back to their ship, assuming Helene hasn't already commandeered it. Mara only hoped Helene doesn't harm Troy; no one else knows that their pilot is just a maintenance droid.

Avlis looked around the corner of the rock formation to see if there were any landmarks to identify where they were, instead, he found the last thing he'd expect.

On the horizon but still within walking distance was a small house. It seemed to be the only one for some miles that they could see. It was a little dome that led into the larger interior below, left open without a roof for part of it.

"Of all the places we could have stopped to rest," Mara began, "We chose somewhere that happens to be near the only house for miles …coincidence?"

"With us?" Avlis asked, "No."

"Should we check it out?"

"What choice do we have?"

Shrugging, they grabbed their speeders and began walking toward the lonely house.