Michael Halcyon was not a fan of his doppelganger.

During the Exile of his clan, Michael had mistakenly absorbed the dark personality of another version of himself from a far darker dimension. He lived with that darkness inside of him for years, warring with two different personalities of himself until the darker Michael was extracted and returned to its host body by the nefarious Doctor Passus. This anti-Michael went by the Sith moniker of Darth Pravitas, and single handedly brought down the rest of his clan so that Passus could continue his twisted experiments. They had only been able to escape when Michael used Passus' own heinous machines to combine the twin personalities once again into a single entity, and then split half of that entity between them. The newly reborn Pravitas had taken his place in the clan and helped them escape.

Once returned to the Halcyon's home universe, Pravitas and Michael came to the conclusion that since neither of them were very fond of the other, they would position themselves on opposite sides of the galactic scale. Michael continued his work with the Republic and the Order of Mercy, which he founded. Darth Pravitas joined the ranks of the Phantom Legion, Asmodeus' proto-Imperial movement. They met up from time to time, as small doses of each other were tolerable and even informative. It was not uncommon for such meetups to begin amicably and yet end in broken furniture and bans from various establishments.

More often than not, it was Michael who turned aggressive. He had a very difficult time accepting Pravitas, as much as he would have liked to. Not only did the man share much in common with him, but he was also in a situation that Michael could very much relate to. Torn from his home, his lot cast with a strange new family, Michael could relate. Yet he did not feel like he had gained a brother. Looking at Pravitas, at how he interacted with the others, he felt more like he had met his replacement. How does one react seeing an identical person joining his friends and family? It did not help that Pravitas was currently in a very ill-advised relationship with the young Jedi Lilia, who shared a very familial bond with Michael. The younger Jedi was like a sister to him, and knowing that they were together gave Michael chills up and down his spine whenever he thought about it.

But Michael had a plan. One that could not be completed without Pravitas' help. And so he had invited his counterpart to a cantina on Tatooine in an attempt to convince Pravitas to join in with him. It would not be terribly difficult to persuade him, Michael believed, as long as the Sith did not detect the sheer amount of deception that Michael would be lacing into his words.

Pravitas did eventually arrive at the cantina, though several hours late. He found Michael at a table near the back, sharing space with several empty glasses. He took his seat. "I thought Jedi weren't supposed to drink?"

Michael tried to respond with something witty. "Piss off." He failed.

"Charming, as usual." He made no effort to disguise his irritation. "Did you bring me here to yell at me again?"

Michael straightened in his chair. "Why? Have you done something to deserve it?"

"I really hate you."

"Yeah, well, that probably says more about you than it does me." Michael sipped his drink and winked at one of the Twi'lek girls dancing on the stage.

Pravitas looked to the girl and scowled. "You're a pig."

Michael turned to face the other man and put his arms on the table. "As much as I'd like to do the whole rubber-glue routine with you again, I didn't actually plan on arguing today. I need your help."

Pravitas settled back into his seat. "That's rich. Let me guess. You want to commit a crime and are hoping to pin it on me?"

"Not a bad idea, but not what I had in mind." Michael took another sip of his drink. "Actually, I need help with something, and it has to be you." Pravitas raised an eyebrow, Michael continued. "I've built a device that I believe is capable of manually opening a Rift."

"I'm out." Pravitas stood suddenly.

"No wait!" Michael grabbed the other man's arm and pulled him back into the seat. Pravitas rolled his eyes. "Listen, this isn't like before! I believe I can create a small, contained Rift and sustain it. Do you realize what that means?"

"It means you don't learn."

"No." Michael frowned. "It means we might get to go home."