The Separtist tactical droid scanned the landscape before it with a pair of macrobinoculars. The Republic contigent was approaching faster than antissipated. They would be here within two hours.

"Tell all units to prepare for siege. All heavy cannons must be brought online at once." The droid commanded in an emotionless voice.

"Roger roger."

The droids all began rushing about to prepare for the siege at hand. The tactical droid opened a holo communicator and a blurry image appeared.

"My lord, Republic forces are inbound. I calculate our chances of victory to be 264 to 1."

A dark voice answered.

"You have failed me droid. This is the last fortress you will ever command. After you have fallen, new troops will arrive to take your place, as well as a new commander. A warrior as opposed to your incompetent scrapheap."

The holoprojector shut down and the droid turned to the Republic army approaching.

"Sir, all artillary cannons are ready to fire."

"Fire at will."

"Roger roger."

The droid forces unleashed a barrage of heavy fire, which the Republic forces reponded to with the AT-TEs heavy cannons. The five Jedi leapt off the walkers and began to sprint towards the outpost, lightsabers in hand. Aayla took the lead, performing a flying leap onto the top of the wall, where she proceded to cut down any droids in her path in an amazing display of swordsmanship.

Alvya leapt into the air and was quickly followed by Ethnos. He used the force to propel her onto the wall and then used his lightsabers to scale the rest of the wall. Once over, he leapt to the ground on the inside, combined his sabers into a saberstaff and began to whirl through the ranks of droids, leaving only wreckage in his wake.

Meanwhile, masters Evor Se and Marahl were busy disabling the gates so that the Republic forces could storm the place.

"I'm almost through." Marahl muttered through clenched teeth. Evor guarded her, using his lightsaber and her's to deflect and reflect all the blaster fire that was incoming.

"Done!" She shouted. She leapt over Evor's head as he tossed her lightsaber straight up. She caught in mid flip and began to cut down more droids.

After a short half hour, the droids had been completely scrapped and the fortress was the Republic's. The troops yelled in victory and the Jedi stood proudly atop the fortress walls. Suddenly, Ethnos felt a surge in the Force. Once again, the dark mask haunted him, more vividly than ever. He shuddered. A darkness was approaching.

It is three days later. Aayla Secura is on a scouting mission to find another outpost for the Republic to take. Ethnos and Alvya were sparring with fists in the courtyard of the fortress, while Evor and Marahl discussed the next move with Sharpshot.

"Aayla sent back a transmission of what she has found. So far, that droid outpost is completely invisible. We'll have to wait until they get back and can give us a full account of what we need to prepare for."

Evor and Marahl both examined the data.

"We'll just have to be patient and wait for Aayla to get back."

The Jedi gave their leave and returned to the courtyard. Ethnos and Alvya had finally called it a draw. They both were sitting up against the walls of the fortress, completely exhausted.

"You know, if you two keep this up, you'll beat either each other to pulps, or slice each other into ribbons." Marahl commented. Alvya wiped some sweat from her brow.

"Hey, it's a good workout. Besides, we've got nothing better to do right now."

Ethnos simply took a long draught of water from his canteen, and poured some over his head. Suddenly, Ethnos felt a surge in the Force. A vision tore through their minds. A single image. Aayla Secura, lying face down on the ground with blaster burns on her back. A dark shadow covered his vision and the sound of an omnious respirator filled his ears.

He snapped back to reality short seconds later. He quiclkly filled them in. The vision left them all rattled.

"We better contact her and warn her immediately." Evor said as he and Marahl both rushed towards the comms. They reached the platform and saw Sharpshot and more clones looking at the holoprojector. A robed man was being projected. They walked up to hear what the man was saying.

"...cute Order 66."

The troopers turned around, saw the Jedi and immediately opened fire. Only a split second's warning allowed them to draw their lightsabers and block the onslaught.

"Troopers! Stand down!" Marahl yelled over the din of their lightsabers and the trooper's blaster fire. The troopers merely began to walk forward, firing even more. Evor Se suddenly thrust his hand forward, using the Force to push the troopers backward. Both Jedi jumped from the wall and ran for the entrance.

"Both of you, move!"

Ethnos and Alvya had already jumped up when they heard the sound of blaster fire, so they wasted no time sprinting out the gates and into the thick forests, blue blaster bolts hurtling passed them. They continued to leap and duck through the foliage, trusting the Force to guide and protect them.

"Why are the troopers shooting at us?! Ethnos yelled as he vaulted a rock.

"All I know is that it has something to do with 'Order 66'!" Evor called back. The four Jedi continued their sprint into the jungle, unaware that a great darkness was hunting them.

The clones patrolled the fortress walls, waiting for the new commander of the fortress. It had been several days since the Jedi had escaped. Search parties had seen them but a few times, and never within firing distance.

Suddenly, the sound of an engine overhead alerted them. A large black transport suddenly appeared from the clouds and set down in the courtyard. The troopers immediately assembled in two lines on either side of the boarding ramp, Steam hissed from the ramp as it lowered.

A tall humanoid creature walked slowly down the ramp, the clang of metal against metal audible to all ears in the line. A figure in a Sith robe stepped to the ground. Followed behind him were four guards in orange armor with black visors. Clutched in their hands were staffs tipped with vibroblades. Sharpshot saluted the new arrival.

"Sir, the Jedi have escaped into the jungle, last seen heading east. I've put together search parties to use at your disposal."

The hood of the robe shifted.

"Very good commander. Begin the search. I have my own devices to prepare."

Sharpshot saluted once more and began to deploy the search parties. The new arrival walked back into the ship and activated a custom speeder bike. He smirked under his robe. He was hunting Jedi once again.

Ethnos leaned up against a tree, taking deep breaths. The other Jedi with him followed suit.

"We can't keep running forever! we have to get off world!"

Evor shook his head.

"The only ship I can think of that we can use is the transport we came here in, and that's a quarter of a way around the planet!"

Ethnos groaned. His legs were killing him. They only stopped for a few hours at the most, and even then, they had to keep watch.

"We just need some sort of speeder, or other means of transportation. I would suggest borrowing a few Rancors from the Felucians, but I don't think they'll be too accomodating and it would be too obvious."

The others nodded in agreement. Suddenly, they heard a high pitched whine. Cold dread filled them all. It was a speeder bike. Suddenly, the bike shot out of the jungle and the rider leapt off of it to the ground. He produced a lightsaber from within the folds of his robe and ignited it, revealing twin, crimson blades.

Evor Se and Marahl immediately ignited their own weapons and began to duel.

"Run!" Evor shouted over the furious din of the lightsabers. Ethnos and Alvya both leapt into the forest and began sprinting for dear life. Ethnos knew that they were actually going in the same direction they had come from their ship. If they could keep up the pace and not get caught, just maybe they could get to the ship.

"Whatever you do, don't stop running! he shouted. They had been travelling in the right direction for three days now. The pace they had set would have brought them maybe a few hours away from the ship, provided it was still there. He had kept the information a secret in case a probe droid was watching them.

They kept running. Suddenly, they heard the sound of a speeder bike closing in. The force surged and Ethnos leapt into the air, dodging the blaster shot. Alvya wasn't so lucky.

"ARGH!"

She dropped to the ground, holding her leg. The blaster shot didn't hit anything major, but was still serious. Ethnos instinctively yanked one of his lightsabers from his belt and hurled it at the speeder. It cut the trooper clean in half and sent the speeder careening into a rock. Ethnos raised his hand and caught the lightsaber as it spun back into his hand. He pulled the second one from his belt and took up a defensive stance.

Almost instantly, two of the orange clad guards appeared. They leapt from their bikes and began to spin their weapons like dervishes. Ethnos waited patiently for them to get close, then stabbed the first one before he could react and use the Force to throw the second against a tree so hard, he went clean through it. He cast his gaze around, looking for more enemies.

A dark chuckle floated through the air. The Dark Side filled the area. The unnamed Sith stepped out of the foliage, holding his weapon at his side. The familiar snap-hiss of the blades igniting cut the chuckling. The Sith spun the weapon in front of him, clearly confident in his victory. The blades of both master Evor Se and Marahl were belted at his side. Ethnos hurled one of his weapons at him, but he effortlessly knocked it aside and charged.

Overhead block, side block, downward block, counterswing, overhead loop, dodge, dodge, dodge, backhand slice, spin, parry, thrust.

The fight lasted for what felt like hours, and Ethnos could tell he was losing. Little by little, he was giving ground. The Sith smirked under his hood. Ethnos needed a plan fast. He needed his other lightsaber.

It was nearby, but the Sith wasn't allowing him time to recall it.

Time to try something crazy.

Ethnos made a surprise duck and instantly used the Force to hurl the Sith across the clearing. He immediately extended his hand and felt his lightsaber return to his hand. He ignited it and turned back to his opponent. His hood had fallen off when he pushed him back, revealing him to be of the Zabrak species. Suddenly, Ethnos felt his blood run cold. This was no mere Sith warrior or Inquisitor. This was a Sith who had defied Death himself and had survived the most fatal wound imaginable.

This was the former Sith apprentice, Darth Maul.

Maul stood up and snarled. He spun his lightsaber in a display of skill and ferocity before charging forward and unleashing a furious onslaught. But while Ethnos was still on the defensive, he now had both his weapons and was more than capable with them. After several more attacks, he remembered something.

Maul was only half biological, thus his metal legs were not as dense as bone. Apply enough pressure and something major would have to give.

Maul however had other plans. He began to strike with every ounce of strength he had, thus rendering any attemptes to concentrate non-existant. However, after about thirteen blows, Ethnos brought both weapons in a downward strike on either side of Maul's head. Maul leaned back to dodge, but unfortunately didn't get his lightsaber out of the way.

This resulted in one of Maul's blades being useless. Maul looked at the weapon for a second, then spun his remaining half in a wide arc at Ethnos' head. Ethnos responded by leaning back and letting the blade pass over him before throwing his left saber at Maul's midsection. Maul jumped sideways to dodge, but lost his belt. Ethnos immediately used the force to retrieve the stolen lightsabers.

Maul wasn't done though. He rolled to his feet, reactivated his lightsaber and pressed a button on his gauntlet. Then he reached onto his back and pulled something from a holster. It was the lightsaber that Maul had taken from a Mandolorian ruler some time ago. He growled like an animal before charging. Ethnos combined his lightsabers into his saberstaff and began to block Maul's frenzied attack with newfound vigor.

Then Maul's reinforcements showed up. There were more sunguards and several clone squads with him. Two of the sunguards grabbed Alvya's prone form and dragged her away. Ethnos suddenly realized that he was between a rock and a hard place. Maul had just played his wild card. With Alvya, he had a hostage, so he could force Ethnos to give himself up, or if he got away, he had something to present to his master. Suddenly he felt the force surge. It was obvious Maul felt it too. The reason became clear in a few seconds.

A murderous roar broke the din of the duel, followed by the sound of something charging their way. Moments later, several Rancors led by a Bull Rancor broke into the clearing followed by a small army of Felucians. The clones and guards were taken by surprise. Ethnos took the chance and performed a series of leaps and bounds after the sunguards that had Alvya. unfortunately they were already almost up the boarding ramp. Alvya was trying to break free, but they had taken her lightsaber and were simply to strong for her, wounded as she was.

Ethnos charged for the craft, extending his hand in an attempt to use the force to slow down the craft. There was no such luck. The guard noticed and fired a blaster pistol at him, forcing him to stop and block the shot. Alvya took the lack of concentration to grab her lightsaber and slash him across the middle, but was then knocked unconcious by the other guard. Her lightsaber fell from her hand, towards the ground, but was instead caught by Ethnos. Then he heard a wild bellow from behind him.

Maul was charging at him, both lightsabers raised to strike. Ethnos quickly thrust both hands forward, causing a surge of small rocks to hurtle towards Maul. He then quickly spun and bolted for his ship. Maul roared in fury and hurled his secondary weapon at him in a fit of rage. Ethnos sensed it coming and rolled in time to dodge it. Ethnos immediately stopped, spun around, and used the force to crush one of Darth Maul's robotic feet. By this point, some of the clones took notice of him bolting for his ship. The turned to fire, but Ethnos was already up the boarding ramp and out of danger.

"R-4, prime the engines. we're leaving."

The astromech immediately set to work. While it made the final preparation, it let out a few whistles and beeps.

"They're gone R-4. We can't stay here."

The droid chirped back a response and got the ship into the air.

"I could do without the sarcasm or the wittiness right now, thank you very much." Ethnos grumbled under his breath. The ship raised off the ground and Ethnos maneuvered it into space. R-4 let out a series of clicks and whistles.

"I don't care. Just find us some place out of the way."

R-4 whistled a response and set the coords. A few short seconds later, they entered hyperspace.

On Corusaunt, Darth Vader stood next to his master, Sidious.

"I have felt something lord Vader. Maul has failed."

Vader stared off into the distance.

"He is a great warrior but arrogant. He has yet to learn the meaning of patience."

"Yes, indeed. I trained him well when he fought Kenobi, but his impatience was his undoing. He was proud, and pride is what destroyed the Sith before Darth Bane renewed it."

Vader said nothing, choosing to listen to his master, to learn from him.

"You are to train a group of hunters, Lord Vader. Hunters of Jedi. You must be relentless in your pursuit of them, or they will renew their order and become a threat to all we have built. I have already found who you will train. All must learn the ways of the Dark Side, or they will fail. Oh, and deal with Maul as well."

Vader nodded in acknowledgement.

"Yes, my master."

The first thing Ethnos noted when the ship pulled out of hyperspace was that the planetoid they were staring at was very white. He checked the coordinates and found that the planetoid was called Orto Plutonia. It was a remote planet who's only known inhabitants were a tribe of Talz. It was also home to both seprartist and Republic bases, but it's remoteness coupled with its almost constant snow storms discouraged many from visiting if they could help it.

That however, didn't help as they were immediately hailed from an unknown location designated as "sub-zero". Creative name, Ethnos thought as told R4 to answer with garbled static. Then he heard fighters approaching.

"You are ordered to land at these coordinates for inspection. If you do not comply, we are authorized to open fire."

Ethnos cursed under his breath and adjusted his course towards the coordinates. This wasn't going to end without a fight. He grabbed a cloak and threw it on while concealing his lightsabers in the sleeves. He also fashioned a crude harness with slots on the back to hide the other sabers he was carrying and grabbed a comm unit. After slipping it on underneath his cloak, he slipped into a shadowy corner of the departure hall while R4 lowered the ramp. He remained absolutely still as troopers marched past him and into the ship. He immediately stole past them and flipped himself under the ramp, using the force to assist him. From there, he darted past the officers and other troopers into the hanger and force leapt up and out of sight. Once he had a safe place to hide in, he began examining the were massive tanks lining one side of the wall that had large hoses attached to the top and anti-ship batteries on the corners of the landing platform. There wasn't enough clone troopers for this to be a military base, but there was still enough security to indicate they were protecting something. Then it hit him. This was a mining operation. But what were they mining?

A sudden movement caught Ethnos' eye. He kept perfectly still and watched through his perepheral vision. It was an officer, looking rather panicked and ranting about another "reaction". Ethnos crept closer and began eavsdropping.

"Sir, we've lost six men this time! The coolant is simply to volatile to remove right now!"

So they were mining some sort of natural coolant. That would explain the tanks. There must be a massive deposit of this new coolant that they were extracting, but something kept happening, causing workers to die.

Well now Ethnos knew what was going on, but how was he going to escape. Even out here, Jedi would be attacked by the clones. He couldn't leave in his ship without getting shot out of the sky, leaving R4 behind was an absolute no, he didn't have many options. But his luck wasn't going to improve.

Ethnos decided to chance a leap to another hiding spot, but as it turned out, there was a mouse droid right where he landed. The droid immediately made a massive ruckus and took off like a rocket. Immediately, guns were pointed at Ethnos. He cursed again as several clones opened fire. Ethnos immediately swung his hands out and called his lightsabers to him from the folds of his cloak. He combined them into his saberstaff and began spinning it like a madman. He leapt and dodged, rolling and twisting, but no matter how many bolts he deflected back at the troopers, felling them, two more stepped forward. Then a transport with tanks of coolant entered the room. Ethnos accidentally sent a bolt flying into a canister, causing it to blow up and coolant to fly everywhere. However, the moment the coolant was free, it froze upon contact with the air. Ethnos suddenly became very wary. If just one of the massive tanks ruptured, the entire hanger could be frozen. In a last resort, Ethnos unleashed a force pulse, knocking everyone off their feet while he leapt straight up and into the rafters of the hanger.

The were closing the hanger doors. Ethnos immediately pulled out his comm unit and called R4.

"Listen, I don't have any idea how we're getting out of here, so hang tight. I'll try to come up with a plan to escape."

No sooner had Ethnos signed off when he suddenly felt like his brain had grown multiple metal spikes and was trying to escape his skull. He saw the black mask again, the most realistic yet. He suddenly saw himself, still as a statue, almost like he was asleep. He could hear the roar of a wave, feel bone chilling cold followed by blistering heat. He saw a figure in a hood, a crimson bladed lightsaber held above their head. Then he saw black followed by the sound of glass breaking. And then it was gone. He was back in reality. He shuddered and took another look around the room. He needed a way out.

Ethnos closed his eyes. He needed to think. The coolant put a major obstacle in his way. If there was a single hole poked in the coolant tank, the whole thing could burst and freeze everyone in the facility, including him. He needed to get out of the hanger. His ship was still on the platform. If he could get out without getting caught, he might be able to escape. First though, he had to deal with the fact that his ship was probably under heavy guard and his only means of escape was blocked off. He still hadn't figured out how to deal with the batteries either. His only resources were the Force, his mind and his lightsabers, but those where notgoing to get him out of here. He needed a distraction. A big one. Then he had an idea.

Several workers were carrying crates of mining explosives towards the mining tunnel. He didn't understand why they would be using explosives when the coolant was so volatile, but he knew exactly what he could do with them.

Ethnos darted into a corner and used the Force to remove several of the explosives from one of the crates and shifted back into a different set of shadows. Step one was complete, now for step two. He used the rafters to get to the far side of the room but waited up high. Calling on the Force, Ethnos levitated the explosives up and threw them at the main entrance to the mine. The moment they connected and detonated he tossed one of the lightsabers from his harness into the smoke. From there, he used the Force to activate the saber and levitate it in such a way that it looked like it had a wielder. By this point, every blaster was pointed at the glowing blue blade. Ethnos dropped silently to the ground and began to edge his way towards the hanger entrance while making the lightsaber spin and twirl to make keep his ruse convincing. He had just barely made it to the door controls before the smoke had cleared and everyone saw the floating lightsaber. The Force flared bare moments before the first trooper turned and fired a potential kill shot. Ethnos whirled backwards and called the lightsaber back to his hand before dashing towards the coolant tanks, hoping beyond hope that they held their fire in fear of rupturing the coolant tanks. surprising as it was, they actually did stop, for a moment. Seconds later they switched to stun blasts, which Ethnos began to violently curse himself for forgetting about.

Ethnos drew his saberstaff and began spinning it in one hand while switching the blue lightsaber to a reverse grip in his other hand. He twisted and twirled, dove and spun, becoming a blur of motion as he deflected the stun shots away from him, but he was exhausted. He had burned through much of his stamina during the first time they spotted him and now he was running on fumes.

Then everything went wrong. A stun blast struck his off hand, sending the blue lightsaber hurtling off in the direction of a coolant cell. Before Ethnos could to react, the blade pierced the metal cylinder and everyone stopped. Seconds later the cell exploded, sending the rapidly freezing coolant flying everywhere. Ethnos turned and began sprinting towards the door. He could hear the sound of troopers, officers and workers alike shrieking and screaming as the wave of ice consumed them. Wort of all, the force of the rupture had damaged the other containment units, causing them to also rupture. Ethnos looked ahead and closed his eyes. Everything seemed to slow down.

"No way out."

Ethnos turned towards the wave just before it struck, sending him reeling backwards before he froze, completely incased by ice.