"Mama, help! Need Mama!" the little voice cried, so familiar in its tone. Miriah startled awake, the grey light of early dawn filling the room. She eased out of their bed, leaving Corso snoring softly. She quickly dressed, raced down the hallway and into her son's room. Seeing his bed empty, she ran out of the back door unseen and toward the hill. The panic she felt overwhelmed her, and her heartbeat accelerated with the adrenaline. All she could think was that her son needed her, and she would never ignore that call, even if it put her in danger.

Jestera felt Miriah's fear and it woke her. She'd been on patrol only a few hours before and had fallen to sleep when she returned. She reached out with the force and felt only Miriah's growing panic. She had reached the ranch house when she realized that Miriah had gone up the hill, toward the perimeter of the property, and that was when she, too, heard the recording. Oh Miriah, no, she thought. It's clearly a lure. She raced toward the tiny black haired human, knowing this was the beginning.

Devin had gotten out of bed, and gone to find his Aunt Mags. He felt the menace in the force, the evil scaring him, and he knew that Mags would be able to tell what was going on. He patted her face several times, but she didn't wake up. He went to the other side of the bed, where his Uncle Felix lay, and after a few attempts the man woke and reached out to him. "Dev, what's up, man?" his uncle's sleepy voice asked.

"Need An' Mags, Mama scared," he said. Felix didn't always understand the child, but he knew Mags would and gently shook his wife awake. "Devin says he needs you, hon."

Magdalane sat up, instantly awake. "What is it, little one?"

"Mama scared. Her left."

Mags jumped out of bed, grabbing clothing. "Get everyone on alert," she said. "Miriah's been lured out of the house. She's in danger!" Felix hit the floor in a dead run, on his way to the others. On his way down the hallway he met Sarai, who'd instantly figured out what had happened. He ran into Corso in the kitchen, who was already frantically looking for his wife. The family was gathering when Shurxan and Tekmer ran into the house.

"Jestera is gone," Shurxan said, his breathing short. "I can feel in the force that she is following Miriah."

"Get the children safe, " Aric said, turning to Maura. "We'll go out to them." Maura nodded, taking Devin's hand. Aric turned to Corso. "Let's get geared up, for all we know we're heading into this battle right now." In minutes they were again assembled in the kitchen, everyone ready to move out.

Unseen, Devin slipped out the side door, his instinct and force ability telling him where his mama had gone. He made his way to her, the force aiding his speed. Jestera felt him approaching, but knew he had to be with them, that there was a role he had to play, and let him come.

Joslin waited, seeing the moving speck in the distance that was her nemesis. She gathered the troop leaders around her. "Now is our time," she told them. "We'll wait until she crests the hill, then we'll advance."

"Wait," one of the leaders asked. "All of us are going after that one woman?" Joslin turned to him and the lightning arced from her hands, killing the soldier instantly.

"Anyone else have a question?" she asked, her eyes glowing with madness and evil. No one spoke, but the commander slipped away into his tent to place a call to the Darth who was in orbit overhead.

"Darth Anyzama, we are in position and your apprentice has just electrocuted one of my men who asked a simple question. I must say, I can see the man's confusion. We are going after one woman?"

Anyzama sighed. "Here are my instructions," she told him, and he listened and nodded his head. When the Sith was done speaking, he disconnected the comm link and rejoined his men, who were silently following Joslin up the hill.

Miriah grew more frantic as she got closer to the sound of her son's voice. She still couldn't see him, but she was sure it was Devin's cries she heard. Why would he have come out this far, she wondered. She picked up speed, moving into the trap. When she reached the top of the hill, she searched but couldn't find Devin. She was on her hands and knees, looking under the low growing shrubs, when she spotted the recording device, and knew she'd been had.

Jestera was gaining on Miriah, but had slowed to allow Devin to catch up to her. When he did, she took his hand in hers and felt the instant buzz of unfiltered force power. They moved ahead, seeing now where Miriah had stopped on the hill.

Miriah looked around her and spotted the approaching troops, led by Joslin. Okay ,she thought, maybe this is best. She can kill me and go away. Devin and Corso will be safe. She put her hand on her middle and regretted that Logan would never know his father and brother. She stood, sad but unafraid, and watched Joslin approach.

Joslin knew that Jestera was near, could feel her in the force and placed a force barrier around Miriah and herself, keeping Jestera from approaching. "Now, oh mighty captain, you will understand what it means to cross a Sith," she told an unflinching Miriah.

"I never did anything to you, Joslin. I merely had the misfortune to crash land on the planet you lived on," Miriah told her, her face giving nothing away.

"You took everything! Until you, I was in control. I had everything I wanted. Friends, a lover, everyone turned to me. Then you arrived, and all of a sudden they all loved you. No one could talk of anything else. It made me sick!" Joslin punctuated her words with lightning, and Miriah felt it singe her clothing.

The force barrier kept people away from them, but the commander had his comm out and the channel was open to Darth Anyzama's ship. With every word, Anyzama felt her support for her apprentice recede.

Xynri topped a nearby hill and saw what was happening. She approached, her blasters out and ready, but Joslin was so absorbed in her tirade that she didn't notice the gunslinger to her right. Xynri moved slowly but steadily, until she was close enough to shoot but realized the force barrier would prevent any damage. Joslin saw her then, and narrowed her eyes at the Twi'lek. "I know you. You'd best stay out of my way, or you'll join Miriah and Jestera in death." Xynri said nothing, but didn't move away, choosing instead to keep her twin blasters trained on the woman.

Joslin turned back to her target. "Do you want to say anything before you die?" she asked Miriah.

The contingent of force users and the family were on the way to the hill. Corso felt sick at the thought of Miriah facing this alone, and then remembered what Jestera had told him. She at least has someone with her, for the next few minutes, anyway. I'm coming, darlin', hang on, he thought, leaning forward on his now screaming speeder.

Shurxan led the charge up the hill, his saber ready. When he saw the force barrier, he stopped abruptly, knowing anything he did would be futile. The rest of the fighters gathered behind him and Aric approached, questions in his eyes.

"What is this? Why aren't we attacking?" he demanded, quivering with the need to get Miriah to safety. He saw Jestera standing a little ways away from where they'd approached, but Devin was hidden in her skirt. Corso raced up to them, anxiety radiating in waves from his body.

"There's a force barrier," Shurxan explained. "We can attack but all our damage will reflect back to us. We have to wait for an opening in the barrier." They watched, helpless, as Joslin seethed and paced in front of a very still and silent Miriah.

Jestera took Devin's hand in hers, and their force auras combined. Together they probed the edges of Joslin's force barrier, looking for any weakness. Their combined force power produced a blinding light, and the other force users were well aware of the power being used. Jestera could feel Devin give in to the force, open himself completely to the energy flowing through them, and she used that energy to combat the dark side barrier.

Joslin had stopped her pacing and drew her light saber. Devin reacted without thinking, plucking the weapon from her hands as if it were nothing, and tossing it far away. Joslin screamed obscenities then, and turned to the commander of the troops. "Kill them all, " she said, but the commander just continued to watch her, the open comm link in his hand. He reached out and Darth Anyzama appeared on the holo. "My lord, I am ready. This will be over soon," she said, a note of triumph in her voice.

Anyzama met her apprentice's eyes and slowly shook her head. "Yes, I am afraid it will be over soon, but not how you think." She nodded at the commander, who turned his troops back to their overnight camping spot to gather their gear. "This is your fight, and yours alone, Joslin. Remember the penalty for failure." Anyzama's image disappeared as the link was cut, and Joslin appeared stunned.

"You've done it again! Everything is gone, again, and it's because of you!" she screamed at Miriah, who was silently studying ways to overcome the Sith. Anger manifest as a visible dark particle cloud that steadily grew around Joslin, her eyes glowing red and small flickers of lightning running over her body as she screamed.

"Do you really think you can win this now?" Miriah asked her in a soft voice. "Do you really think, given all you've seen here today, that anyone is on your side? That anyone would believe what you're saying?" She took a step closer to the Sith. "It doesn't have to be this way, Jos. You don't have to be this way. You can come back," she said, hoping to see a glimmer of the old Joslin in the Sith's eyes.

"NO!" Joslin yelled. "It's you, when you're gone I will have all that is mine again. My friends, my life!"

"Look around you, Joslin. You can kill me, I know. But do you really think you'll walk away and resume your life?" Miriah turned and looked at her family, her friends, ready to do battle on her behalf. "You won't draw a breath after I'm dead. I'm quite sure Corso will guarantee that."

"Damn straight I will, darlin'" she heard him say, and a small smile teased her lips.

For the first time since the confrontation began, Miriah sensed a weakening in Joslin's resolve. Jestera felt it too, and took the opportunity to fire two blinding white force energy balls at the Sith, causing her to reel and turn toward the Cathar. "Traitor," Joslin hissed. "I brought you into the Aria colony, gave you what you needed to get started there, and this is how you repay me." Devin gripped Jestera's hand tightly, and closed his eyes. Using the force, he lifted Miriah's shotgun from the speeder his father had ridden in on and in a blink had sent it to his mother.

Miriah felt rather than saw the weapon zinging her way, and reached her hand up to retrieve it from the air. With one hand, she chambered a plasma round, and saw that Jestera had Joslin's full attention. She moved close behind the Sith, the dark side energy making her nauseous. "You should have stayed away, Joslin. No one threatens my family and lives," Miriah whispered, and felt the shock in Joslin that she'd managed to get so close. Miriah let out an unconscious giggle, and squeezed the trigger of the scattergun. The plasma load hit Joslin at the base of her skull, and the force barrier disappeared in a whine of energy.

Devin dropped Jestera's hand and ran to his mother, who scooped him up and held him tight to her chest. With the barrier gone, Miriah was suddenly surrounded by her family and friends, finding warmth in Corso's arms and realizing that every single one there just wanted to touch her, be assured that she was okay. Miriah's eyes met Jestera's over the crowd, and the Cathar simply nodded at the gratitude Miriah showed so clearly in her gaze.

Joslin's body lay a few feet away, forgotten for the moment. Xynri walked over to the corpse, making sure there was no movement, then turned to leave. A voice calling made her turn around, and she looked at the group there. "Come, let's go back to the house and away from this place," Miriah told her, and she gave a slight nod, putting her blasters away and following the group down the rise. For the first time in a long while, Xynri felt a part of something, and she smiled.

Anyzama made arrangements with the commander of the Imperial troops to gather her apprentice's body and bring it to Drummond Kaas. The Dark Council would require proof that one of its many enemies was indeed no longer breathing. She sighed and set a course for the seat of the Empire, for one glad to be heading there.