Tharen POV

Saras saw the clones first. When the large library doors first game into view we knew something was wrong. As we crept through the entrance to the library I felt as if I was being watched so I had my blaster drawn and was ready to run for cover. Saras on the other hand seemed to be very comfortable. She was only holding a knife and walked next to me in calmer strides.

The library's data shelves were still online and glowed a bright blue. Several tables lined the central path, another dozen were piled against the wall like they had been thrown.

Saras subtlely motioned towards the upper level where we saw three clone troopers stealthily concealed behind an archive wall. We made no move that revealed us knowing they were there. We walked past them and noticed a seires of mines set up allong the outer portion of the walkway. Then we saw Frag. The clone commando was standing in the center of our path holding a E-4 sonic rifle, one of the few weapons a lightsaber couldn't deflect. His blood red visor cought the light and reflected it toward the ground.

Frag raised his rifle and pointed it toward Saras. "You have two seconds to drop your weapons jedi!" He boomed. I could hear the clones behind us charging their blasters. I thought about running for cover but realized there wasn't any that wasn't near enough to a mine for us to get blown up and even if there was, we would be shot before we got to cover. Then the power went out. What little light had been provided by the data shelves was gone making the room go pitch black.

In the second it took for them to turn on their night vision, we had already made our move. Saras charged straight toward Frag, catching him off guard. He narrowly blocked her first stab with his rifle but was quickly disarmed when she kicked it out of his hand and dug her blade deep into the gap in his armor, behind his knee. Then she ignighted her lightsaber and held it against his neck. Her blue blade lit up his dark armor and a torn cloth that she had tied around the hilt rested against his chest.

"Bye-bye." Uttered Saras before separating his neck from his shoulders. I barely pulled Saras out of the way before a volley of vengeful blaster bolts riddled where she had been standing.

I used the force to grab one of the catwalks above us that the clones had been using for cover and brought it crashing to the ground. Several clones were killed when the mines that the catwalks landed on exploded. I felt bad about destroying a part of the temple I had spent so much time in, but it was what I had to do to survive.

I looked around after the smoke and dust settled. Only one clone remained and Rats held him in the air by the throught. "How did you know we were going to be here?!" She barked as she pulled off his helmet and looked him in the eyes. I knew he was going to die. His arms were broken at painful angles and his left leg was nothing but a bloody stump.

"Filthy Jedi, I won't tell you-" Then Saras slammed him into the ground with enough force for his armor to crack.

"Tell me how?!" She barked as she pushed her free hand against the mans forehead. The clone shrieked in pain as Saras dug through his mind with the force. "Tell me or I will kill you!" I fought the urge to stop her. What she was doing was wrong, no matter how many jedi that trooper had killed, he didn't deserve the pain she was forcing on him.

"Saras, we don't have time for this!" I bellowed as I tore her away from the wounded man. "We need to get into the vault and out of here before reinforcements arrive!" She protested but after a few moments of me pulling her towards the vault before she finally relinquished.

We cautiously walked toward the vault door and began cutting it open with our lightsabers. Since the power systems were down all we had to do was cut through the vault doors and enter the vault.

As we entered the room Saras flipped on her flashlight and began sifting through the holocrons. The room was roughly quarter the size of the library. Several large towers that ascended to the ceiling contained the holocrons. Each one contained it's own power source, so even with the power off we could see each separate holocron.

"I'm going to search storage cubes containing holocrons from at least 3,400 years ago, you go and look over in the holocrons from 3,700 until 3,500. It should be around there." Ordered Saras as she shifted through the clearly marked towers.

"It might be easier if you told me what we are looking for!" I recomended as I went to the tower that she had specified. "You need to tell me what we are looking for."

She sighed. "Remember Tython? Under the temple?"

"How could I not? You disappeared there!" I snapped. I didn't intend to sound so angry but it bothered me that she was talking about it like I would have forgotten. "I'm sorry..."

"Don't apologize, I deserved that." She didn't even look toward me, she just continued discarding holocrons. "I need the one from Atris's tomb, it has information that is vital to the Revanite order." I remembered it, it's ornate golden exterior and bright red lights. I had carried the cube for a week hoping that Saras would return but eventually I earned when Caren took it from me that the holocron had been making me angry, drownimg me with misery. "It contains information on how to cut a being off from the force, an ability passed down by Meetra Surik and her disciples."

"Saras, that's not-"

"You said it yourself, we don't have the time, let's find it so we can get out of here." She ordered. I sighed. She was adamant that this needed to be done. I let that be the end of the conversation and continued my search. The only thing i found was an interesting holocron on Atton Rand, which i slipped into my flight jacket. A few minutes passed with no sign of the holocron then I felt a subtle pull coming from my left. I looked to see a dull red light emitting from the far side of the room.

Under what had once been a glass case protected by ray shield emitters sat the holocron. I could sense the malevolence that came from the holocron. I thought about hiding it from Saras so that she wouldn't find it but I knew she wouldn't leave with out it.

I unsealed the case and removed the holocron and gave it to Saras. "Let's get out of here." I made sure she knew I disaproved. She nodded. While we raced out of the vault,toward the hangar I contacted Ranna. "Etch, do you have our fighters ready?"

"We are almost to the hanger, we had to go around some clones." She explained.

"Hurry up, we are almost there." I ordered.

Saras and I rounded another corner and the entrance to the hanger came into view. We were little more than a few dozen meters when I heard the sound of metal boots sprinting against the concrete floor. "Tharen, they're catching up!" Yelled Saras.

'Oh no!' I realised. This had been my nightmare. It was going just how I remembered it. Sonic blaster fire flew past us. "Ranna! Where are you?!" I screamed as I drew my blaster and fired a few shots behind us.

Saras and I were barely in the hanger when I heard a high pitched scream. It sounded like Ranna, she was hurt. I stopped ad turned to face Horn. His large black helmet obstructed my view as he rammed me into the ground. "Goodbye Jedi!" He cackled before raising his blaster against my head while he dug his knee into my chest. More blaster fire passed over us as he savored watching me try to fight him off.

Then he was pulled into the air and forced back against one of the fuel canisters gasping for air. I looked around to see Ranna, she had one arm clutching her chest, where she had likely been hit. Her other arm on was outstretched, choking Horn with the force.

"Ranna no!" I cried as she snapped his neck and let him crumple to the ground. I caught her just as she was about to collapse on the ground. I could see Saras yelling for us to run. She was standing in the doorway of a shuttle hovering in front of the hanger door. I scooped Ranna up in my arms and ran for the shuttle.

Blaster fire struck the hull of the craft as I jumped inside the shuttle and Saras slammed the hatch closed. "Dain get us out of here!" She yelled into the cockpit just before the shuttle lurched forward. "I had better go help him lose any clone fighters that might chase us." She explained before leaving me and my padawan in the crew cabin.

I sat Ranna down on one of the fold down seats and tore open her tunic where she had been shot in the stomach. "It's not that bad." I soothed as I grabbed one of the bacta canisters from under her seat. She groaned sharply as I applied the cold, blue liquid. The wound had struck just above her waist and had scorched the skin and burned into the muscle. At Least she wasn't bleeding. "Its not as bad as when we crashed on Endor." I smiled.

"Master, about Horn..." she coughed.

I guess I had just wanted to forget about it. I had just seen my student kill someone with a forbiden force power, I didn't know what to tell her. "You shouldn't have killed him Ranna." I answered as I tied a bandage around her wound and helped her buckle into her seat.

"I'm sorry I killed him." She paused for a moment as the shuttle made a sharp left then pulled upward causing me to cling to one of the turbulence bars to avoid falling. "He was going to kill you Tharen and if I let him live he would have killed someone else. But I regret it."

"Thats a good thing Ranna" I smiled and he started to cry. I sat down next to Ranna and held her. "Its okay Etch, get some rest, we can talk about this when you feel better." I said calmly. "I will always be proud of you." She nodded and I wiped the tear from her eyes and allowed her to fall asleep on my shoulder as I listened to Saras and Dain bicker about trying to avoid clone pilots.