Luke shoved the comlink back to Juno. "Open the ramp!"

He ran back and jumped down before the ramp even touched the ground. If Galen was right, and she was the Emperor's spy, they would all be dead if she managed to contact her Master. She may already have. From the little Luke had learnt of the Emperor's Hands from Galen (who had in turn learnt about them from Luke's father), he knew they were well trained in telepathic communication with Darth Sidious. They were all Force sensitives and taught to use it to a certain extent. Enough so that they would be dangerous, but not enough to pose a threat to the Emperor himself. They were blindly loyal and led to believe they were special.

Jade and the warriors led by the Zabrak girl had disappeared from the mushroom cap, but he could hear their voices. They were going away from the Rogue Shadow quickly. Luke ran on top of the caps as long as he could. Once beneath them, it became almost dark. The mushrooms blocked almost all the sunlight, but plants around illuminated the jungle with their eerie glow. Little by little the landscape changed. The vibrant colours were gone, replaced by grey. The ground was wet and he could smell rotting plants.

He ran towards the sounds of fighting, gripping tightly on his lightsaber hilt.

I must kill her, I must kill her, he repeated over and over again in his head, but underneath the urgency and purpose, fear gripped his throat. He had never fought against a lightsaber wielding foe. He told himself Galen knew better. Galen had said Mara Jade would be no match for him. But what about the Zabrak Jedi?

He didn't worry about the Felucians. He was nearing them –one just dropped right in front of him from the towering mushrooms above. Luke ignited his 'sabre and stabbed the blade right through the warrior. Luke couldn't even tell if it was a man or a woman or something else. He had no time to stay wondering.

Lightsaber in hand he ran and surged an attack against first Felucians he saw. They offered only a little more challenge than Tusken Raiders did. They looked scary with their unfamiliar faces, glowing painted masks and sticks that resisted even a lightsaber, but they were not trained to fight like this. They only had advantage in numbers. More seemed to appear after each kill Luke managed.

He saw her now. Mara Jade fought against the Zabrak Jedi and her Felucian friends. She had been forced on defence.

Luke pushed aside everyone and everything near him with a powerful Force push, shouting out as he did.

Both Jade and the Jedi turned to look at him surprisedly. Jade's eyes were wide in surprise, but the Jedi narrowed her's in suspicion. Then the Zabrak turned back to Jade, and the Human girl barely had time to block the attack. She shouted in frustration and anger –perhaps fear, too, and lunged at the Jedi with all her strength. It surprised the Zabrak, and she had to back away from her. Her Felucian friends came quickly to her aide. They seemed to be ready to sacrifice themselves for her. The Felucian warriors were relentless, but Jade had enough skills to fight them off. But there were many of them, and they were wearing her off.

Taking his chance, Luke ran at the Zabrak girl, ready to stab her in the back, but she sensed him coming and her green 'sabres parried his attack. She favoured the reverse grip, just like Galen did, but Galen didn't really know Jar'Kai, nor did Luke have much experience fighting an enemy wielding two lightsabers. It was an advantage to the girl.

"Sith," she hissed, baring her teeth angrily. But Luke could feel her fear. She was scared of him. Yet despite her fear, she attacked him, only to back away and throw her 'sabres at him. The Force gave her unnatural speed, and in a blur she moved behind him to catch her 'sabres before they touched the ground. Luke had to turn around quickly on his heels to protect himself from her green blades.

She was dressed for the climate, unlike Luke. She only wore skin-tight trousers and a bare minimum to cover her breasts. Luke's own long sleeved shirt suck onto his skin, wet with sweat. His hair stuck onto his forehead and back of his neck. Pearls of sweat ran down his nose and chin.

"I'm not here for you," Luke snarled at her when their blades locked. They were so close he had an irrational fear that she would cross the space between them to tear off his face with her teeth.

"I know. You came for my Master. I know Vader sent you," she replied. Suddenly she pulled her blades away and jumped away from him –only to vanish right before his eyes. One moment Luke was about to strike her, the next she was gone. He spun around, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Starkiller had walked for good ten minutes undisturbed. The terrain was still bare and grey compared to the lush jungle where he started from, but here and the grew tall fungi. More than once he had passed fences of sharp, bone-like poles. Only now he was starting to think they may not be poles at all. They looked eerily like teeth.

After he had ordered Luke to eliminate Jade and he himself had managed to get rid off his attackers he'd briefly communicated with Juno. She'd told him Luke had dashed off and according to scanners was tracking Jade. She had tried to make sense of the terrain, but her best guess was that the acid could be oozing from the fungi or just be a natural part of equatorial Felucia's soil. Starkiller was beginning to think it had something to do with the rows of teeth.

There were settlements, too, but the people steered away from his path. These people were not warriors, though perhaps they were the spouses, children and the elderly parents of the warriors he'd slain. He scowled at them, showing them the flickering lightnings between his fingers.

"I'm not here for you," he'd said, though it seemed they spoke no Basic. "Stay out of my way, and I won't harm you."

He could feel the Jedi's presence clearly now. She was close.

"Shaak Ti!" he called. "I know you're here. Show yourself!"

He got no reply, so he advanced. It smelled here. Not just acid, not just the fungi. It smelled like rotting meat and bad morning breath. The stink got worse the closer to Ti's presence he got. It was almost overwhelming when he finally found himself on an edge of a sunken clearing. The first thing he noticed were the massive tentacles, slowly moving around, tasting the air. It was a mouth of a gigantic sarlacc. It was similar to Jabba the Hutt's imported pet on Tatooine, only bigger and livelier. The creature thrived here on Felucia. He and Luke had once driven to see the sarlacc on their swoops and thrown rocks into its mouth. The poor thing buried in sand was small and sluggish compared to this monster.

In the midst of teeth peeking through the ground, undisturbed by the creatures ever moving tentacles, sat Shaak Ti. Her front lekku had been tied together with the middle lek by leather bands. Her montrals rose high and heavy above her head like a crown. She did not move or appear to have noticed Starkiller's presence, but he didn't let her passive appearance to fool himself. He had no doubt she was aware of everything around her. He gripped his lightsaber tighter and approached.

"You reek of your cowardly master," she spoke once he was close enough to hear her. Starkiller halted, but she still did not move.

"Lord Vader is not a coward," he replied.

"Yet here you are in his place," Ti stated. She was calm. Her tone carried no emotion.

Starkiller narrowed his eyes. Vader had sent him here to prove himself. Darth Vader had given his apprentice an opportunity to hone his skills. It wasn't cowardly. With one quick movement of his wrist he sent a large piece of shattered bone at her, but it stopped in midair only centimetres from the back of her head. Still unmoving she set the bone down on the ground.

"And you just sat here while I slaughtered your friends. Where's the nobility in that, Jedi?"

That finally seemed to get to her. She turned her head to look at him over her shoulder. But she was smiling knowingly.

"This is the Ancient Abyss," she said. "Place of sacrifice since time immemorial."

It didn't impress him. So she had willingly sacrificed hundreds of lives –and for what reason? If she so firmly believed in his inferiority, she should have faced him alone. Should she not have protected these people? Instead she'd left to fend for themselves. Worse, she had had them fight for her. Starkiller would not have killed a single Felucian, had they not attacked him. His mission wasn't about them. It was about her. And that angered him more than anything else about her. She claimed Vader was a coward for sending his apprentice, yet she just meditated here, not giving a shit about the Felucians who were giving their life for her.

He reached out in the Force, feeling the beast's simple mind. The only thing it wanted was to feed. He tried to coax it to attack Ti, but she had a firm hold over it. She smirked amusedly at his attempt.

And then finally she moved. Her hands left her lap, and she stood up gracefully, eyes never leaving him. She wore only tattered leather rags, decorated with beads. Old jewellery decorated the crease where the montrals grew out of her skull and framed the white pigmentations on her face. Her long fingers took the lightsaber hilt from her waist. Starkiller smirked at her. He would soon add that hilt to his Master's collection.

"Are you prepared to meet your fate, assassin?" she asked as she ignited her blue blade. Her carnivorous smile sent chills down his spine, but it was of excitement, not of fear.

More than ever, he thought. He wasn't just an assassin anymore. He was an apprentice, a true apprentice. Nothing, would stop him from achieving victory this time.

"What?" Luke yelped. She can't have just vanished!

Then, to his right, th Zabrak girl materialised and surged an attack. Luke nearly failed to defend himself in his surprise. Before he could do anything more, she disappeared again right before his eyes. One moment she was there, the next she was gone.

Her lightsaber brushed at his arm and he hissed in pain.

"I will kill you," he swore, anger flaring within in him, numbing the sting.

"No," she said, appearing from thin air like a ghost.

Jade? Where was Jade in all this madness, he thought as he tried to locate her. The Jedi didn't matter. It was Jade he had to kill or it would all be over.

"My friends won't let you," she finished.

The ground shook. The Zabrak girl smirked and backed away, swirling her lightsabers just to show off.

Luke's eyes widened as he craned his neck to look at the creature that stepped into view to shield her. "Oh no..."

It was a rancor, only it was massive. Luke recognised it for what it was because he had once seen one on Tatooine. It had been Jabba the Hutt's pet, paraded around during a festival. People said Jabba fed his enemies to it. But that rancor hadn't been this large. He'd learnt that rancors were semi-sentient creatures, and thus might become very loyal to their handlers. Their moderate intelligence also made them dangerous compared to regular animals.

Its skin glowed in the shadows. The glowing markings across its body formed patterns, and Luke realised it was some kind of fluorescent paint rather than natural quality of its skin.

Two more rancors followed it. Luke gulped, but pursed his lips in determination. He would not let some barely sentient creatures stop him form fulfilling his mission. Galen must have fought against rancors, too. If Galen could do it, Luke could do it, too.

The electricity prickled his hand and arm as the Sith lightning formed and gathered between his fingers. The first rancor that tried to attack him got it all right in its face. It screeched in pain, clawing at its face as if trying to scratch away the lightning that licked at its flesh. The two other rancors hesitated. Luke could feel their fear and desire to flee, but the Zabrak girl's will kept them still. They were firmly under her control.

Luke attacked while they were still confused. He struck his lightsaber into the rancor's face he'd already assaulted. It howled and tried to claw at Luke, but he dived under its arms and sliced his blade through its leg. The beast fell down, but Luke had no time to rejoice just yet. The two others came at him. He managed to sever the other's fingers and cut the other's face. He couldn't see the Zabrak Jedi or Mara Jade anywhere. Right in the midst of his confusion she appeared again, materialised from thin air like before to strike her 'sabres at him. How was she doing it? Did she have some kind of portable cloaking device that cloaked her from naked eye? She fought him until Luke got the upper hand, and each time that happened she disappeared before his eyes and fled.

"Coward! If you want to fight me, then fight!"

"I am fighting," she replied right next to his ear. Luke spun around, stabbing his 'saber where he thought she must have been. She laughed, materialising just beyond his reach. The largest rancor scooped her up gently and roared at him.

Luke unleashed the deadliest amount of Sith lightning he could at both of them. The rancor screamed and so did she. The rancor stumbled, and the Jedi girl was thrown off. Lucky for her, as it cut her from the electricity Luke was still hurling at the animal. He shouted wordlessly, bringing himself at this very limits, immersing himself deep, deep in the dark side to draw strength to keep going. The rancor twitched and jerked, still upright –but only because of the lightning. It was long dead when Luke let go. It crashed down, dust flying in the air.

Luke fell on his knees, panting. The rancor lay unmoving, smoke rising from its thick skin. The smell was horrendous. He had no time to rest. The rancor he had injured first had fled and he had hoped the remaining one had done the same. As if he'd be so lucky. The now clawless rancor howled and surged at him unafraid. It was furious. The rancor he'd just fried must have been important.

The ground quaked. He could feel the vibrations of its steps through the earth beneath him. He waited to the last possible moment to jump out of the way. He ignited his lightsaber, sprang after it and jumped on its back. He stabbed the blade into its skull, again and again, so deep that his hand clutching the hilt hit the skin. The rancor screeched, but with each blow its movements became more sluggish and less coordinated. It was still alive when it fell. Luke leapt off, landing gracefully on his feet, hand pressed against the ground. He watched the rancor struggle to understand what was happening. It would have been merciful to put it out of its misery.

Luke wasn't feeling merciful.

Ti leapt through the air at him, but Starkiller was ready to block her blade and move out of the way. She was strong, far stronger than her lean physique led to believe. She was quick from her feet and he soon came both appreciate and hate her skilful steps. It was difficult to get close enough. But where his blade couldn't reach his lightning could. She had little experience in dealing with those, especially of the scale Starkiller's lightnings could reach. More than once she failed to keep all of the electric current at bay. She would parry the attack with her lightsaber and try to control it with the Force, but eventually the charge grew so large her concentration slipped and the sheer raw power of if sent her flying backwards like ragged doll. Each time Starkiller was ready to lunge at her, ready to deliver the killing blow, but each time she managed to get back on her feet just in time to lock their blades.

"You waste your energy too quickly," she scolded, but the strain was audible in her voice. And she was wrong. There was no limit to the dark side. The dark side would fuel him forever if need to be. But she wouldn't last that long.

"Perhaps I did underestimate you," she said. "Your powers are prodigious. I can see why Vader sent you in his stead."

"You wouldn't stand a chance against my Master," Starkiller snarled at her. How dare she suggest Master Vader could not have defeated her!

"Perhaps not," she agreed.

"Many great Masters have fallen to his blade. But you..." she said with a sad smile. "You are wasted on him."

Luke brushed away the sweaty hair from his face and turned around. He was alone. The Jedi was gone. Jade and the Felucians he hadn't seen in a while. He cursed under his breath and ran. The signs of a battle were easy to follow: lightsaber marks on the mushrooms, dead Felucians lying around. How were there so many of them? He must have killed almost twenty and he counted eight as he followed Jade's trail.

After a while he could hear them. He quickened his steps and pushed through strange tall fungi where the others must have gone through, too, judging by the damage. They were slimy and the smelly goo stuck to his clothes. He found himself from an edge of a clearing. They were all there. Jade fought against the Zabrak again and he counted five Felucians.

"Hey, Jedi!" he shouted to get the Zabrak's attention. She turned to look at him in horror.

Luke smirked at her. "I wasn't finished with you yet."

The Zabrak glanced at Jade, but seemed to come to a conclusion that her friends could keep her engaged. She gripped her lightsabers and came at him in a desperate attempt to overpower him. Luke blocked her easily, feeling more powerful than ever. The fear on her face gave him more satisfaction than anything else. Her blows were more panicked attempts to keep him away than actual attacks. She tried her vanishing act again, but she only managed to disappear for a fraction of a second.

She screamed when Luke's blade went through her left wrist and her 'sabre fell, hand still clutching it. Her pain and confusion was all Luke needed to knock the other hilt from her hand.

The girl clutched the stump of her hand against her chest and backed away. "No, please..!"

Luke halted. The Jedi trembled.

"Please," she repeated. "Let me go, please. I promise you'll never see me again. Please."

Luke stepped closer and she jerked, tripping on her feet. She attempted to get up, but found herself staring right into Luke's lightsaber.

"No," he simply said. The girl watched him, lips parted in disbelief and horror as Luke towered over her. The Felucians had realised she was in mortal danger and abandoned their fight with Jade.

They were too late. Luke struck down the closest Felucian with lightning. With one swift movement his blade cut through the air. The Zabrak's head rolled on the ground, fear forever frozen on her face.

Starkiller hacked Shaak Ti with furious, angry blows, forcing her to back down. All this time the sarlacc's tentacles tried to reach him under Ti's control. He had to shield himself as much from its attacks as those of Shaak Ti. The stupid creature cared little of the scratches it got from his lightsaber and tried relentlessly to snatch him. Unlike with most living creatures, the lightsaber wounds oozed foul smelling thick blood that made him gag. Ti seemed unaffected. Did the Togruta not have the sense of smell? Starkiller didn't believe he'd get used to the stench even if he were to spend rest of his days here.

Despite the horrendous smell, the rows of teeth peeking through the ground, the pooling acid by the sarlacc's gums and the rotting meat they fought in the midst of it all. Ti coaxed the creature attack him despite its wounds. Whenever he could, Starkiller blasted it with lightning. The electricity seemed to momentarily stun the tentacles and he got more time to concentrate on is actual target. But once the sarlacc recovered, it was angrier than ever –and its anger helped it to ignore Master Ti.

"You are but a slave to Darth Vader," she said when their blades locked and they faced each other. Even now she was calm. She pushed him back and was quickly beyond his reach again. Starkiller grit his teeth.

"And you're just an old relic of the Republic." Starkiller attacked her again with lightning. "Face it. Your kind has no place in the world anymore."

Shaak Ti only smiled at him, revealing her sharp teeth. But Starkiller had known words alone would not shake her. She was an elegant woman and so was her fighting. Blocking the lightning gave him an opportunity to get closer again, but just as he was about to, something in Force shifted. Something on Felucia changed irreversibly.

"Maris!" Shaak Ti gasped in shock. For a moment her defence faltered. "No..."

She was far more affected by the shift in the Force than Starkiller was. It gave him a golden opportunity, but despite the pain on her face, she moved to parry the attack. It wasn't perfect, and she screamed as Starkiller's blade managed to reach her enough to scrape her arm.

"Looks like my brother got to your apprentice," Starkiller smirked. He could feel the echoes of death that had shook Shaak Ti. The Zabrak Luke had described must have been Ti's apprentice.

The Jedi's expression hardened. Starkiller could feel the cold rage within her the knowledge of her apprentice's death had caused, but she steeled her heart and let it go. As if she didn't matter at all. Perhaps she had never been much more than pawn like the Felucians were.

It angered him irrationally. It wasn't like Lord Vader would have wept for his death. If he died, it meant he had not been good enough. There was no need to mourn a failure. So why did it bother him that Ti would so easily ignore the death of her padawan?

"It's a sad thing to see someone as young as you succumb to darkness," Ti spoke. "You and this brother of yours...

Shaak Ti jumped on the passing tentacle and within moments she was high above the ground, far from Starkiller's reach.

"You could be so much more," she called.

"And I will be," he shouted back at her. He watched the tentacle sway, her balancing on it. There wasn't a moment the tentacle didn't move.

Starkiller concentrated on the hilt in his hand and swung his arm, throwing his lightsaber at her. Ti held out her hand as it swirled across the air, blue blade ready to strike it aside. And she did –exactly as Starkiller had hoped she would. Just as she swung her weapon he released his mental hold of his hilt. The blade deactivated and Shaak Ti's 'sabre passed through thin air, throwing her off balance. She may have been good with her footing, but even she couldn't stay standing on a moving feeding tentacle after that. Her feet slipped and she shrieked as she fell. Her hilt slipped from her finger only moments before Starkiller caught the hold of his own. He ignited the blade and as she crashed, rammed the blade through her side, impaling her to the ground. He reached out to call her hilt into his hand and ignited it to fight off the sarlacc's tentacle that tried to reach him. Deep in the ground the monster bellowed as it was freed from the Jedi's mental hold.

From the corner of his eye he saw the Jedi Master painstakingly getting back on her feet. The tentacles retreated back into the sarlacc's mouth. It kept howling lowly, clearly in pain. Perhaps now that it was free of Shaak Ti's influence it realised it did not want to fight the apprentice anymore.

Starkiller clutched the hilts and stalked towards the Jedi. She was standing now, but she was in no shape to fight. She trembled, and her reddish shade had paled. She backed away closer to the sarlacc's mouth.

"It's over," he growled at her. "Surrender, and your death will be merciful."

Jade stared at Luke wide-eyed. He had expected for her to flee, but instead she ran to him.

Together they engaged the remaining four Felucians. They even knew telekinesis, but their attempts were rather poorly executed. He sliced off an arm from a warrior that was about to strike Jade from behind and swung his lightsabre right through the warrior's abdomen. Perfectly executed cho sun and sai tok. He had to mentally congratulate himself of how effortlessly he had managed it.

Jade turned around, hair swirling in the air as she did. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Luke replied, crushing the neck of nearest Felucian with the Force. Their eyes locked again, and he could feel the connection form. It was short lived this time as well. They both had to fend themselves from the last two warriors. He wasn't entirely sure of what happened, but they seemed to fall in some kind of natural rhythm. Luke let her do as much as she could, curiously examining her skills. She was...moderately good. She had been able to fight the Zabrak girl, but just barely. She had been trained, but only to make her dangerous to normal people.

Luke waited for her to kill the last Felucian and for a moment they just stood there, hearts racing and sweat dripping down their faces. Up close, Luke could see her better. She was small and her skin was freckled on her cheeks and nose. She had the most beautiful green eyes he'd ever seen.

"We make a good team, boy," she simpered. She combed the hair away from her face with her free hand.

"Yeah..." Luke agreed breathlessly. His heart skipped a beat. He was reminded of the time when that cute Twi'lek girl from Mos Eisly had flashed a teasing smile at him at Tosche's. He felt his cheeks redden at the thought.

She deactivated her lightsaber, but didn't let go of the hilt. "Who are you? You're not a Jedi."

Luke almost replied. He shook his head and deactivated his weapon as well. He could feel she was strong in the Force, but she was evidently not trained to fight against someone properly trained in Jedi or Sith arts. She could defend herself, she knew of the Force, but it was as if she had no idea of what she could be capable of. The Zabrak had not even tried to kill her, he realised. She must have just meant to encage Jade until her Master would come back and decide what to do.

I must kill Mara Jade, he reminded himself, but the conflict grew within him as he watched her. She was suspicious, and rightly so. But he could feel that she was equally intrigued. She, too, had noticed the fragile connection they seemed to have shared from the moment they saw each other.

Luke drew a deep breath through his nose, reaching into the Force for strength. Just moments ago he'd felt invincible, but one look into her eyes seemed to have stripped him bare.

"Are you Mara Jade?" he asked.

Her eyes narrowed and she reignited her 'sabre. "How do you know that name? Answer me."

He gulped. That was as good as a clear "yes". He ignited the blade as well.

"You're one of Vader's spies, aren't you?" she spat. "Traitor."

Luke looked at her. It occurred to him that he had never killed a Human. "I'm really sorry."

She brought her blade to a defence position and scowled at him. "For what?"

"For this."

Luke reached out his hand to grip the thin air like he'd seen Galen do hundreds of times. Like he'd heard his father favoured doing.

Her free hand rose on her throat and she made a choking sound in an attempt to breathe, but she knew there was nothing physical strangling her. Her face twisted in anger and she surged at him. Their lightsabre's clashed against each other, but Luke made sure not to let go of his hold on her throat. She attacked him again and again, each time weaker, yet more desperate than the other. He had no heart to attack, only to defend himself and step further away from her at each assault. Luke felt tears burn in his eyes. He should have ended it immediately. He didn't want her to suffer. But the need to block her attacks he couldn't muster enough concentration to snap her neck.

She doubled over, leaning her forearms to her thighs, trying to pull air into her lungs. She grit her teeth, tried desperately to hold on to the lightsabre, but it slipped from her fingers. She turned to look at him absolute hatred written on her face.

Luke stepped to her and kicked away her hilt.

"I'm sorry," he repeated, voice faltering. He let go the choke hold, but before she could act, Luke thrust his blade through her chest and drew it couple of centimetres down towards her stomach as he removed it.

She fell on the ground without a sound.

Luke threw away his hilt and knelt down beside her. She was still alive, but she wouldn't be for long. He took away her blaster from her belt, and discarded that as well. She gasped for air and her green eyes seemed to frantically search for something. Her face was almost white. Luke held her hand and watched as she fought for life, shock taken over her mind and body.

Her final breath was a sharp gasp that seemed like a stab in Luke's lungs. As life slipped from her, sharp, piercing pain spread within in him as if countless of razors were shredding every fibre of his being. He screamed in agony, clutching his head. Through the haze of pain he saw a lifetime pass before his eyes. Memories and stolen moments stung his eyes. A cacophony of voices he couldn't make sense of filled his ears. They were gone as soon as they appeared. Like a dream right beyond his grasp and yet he knew, he knew it was all that could have been and would now never be. It was his life, all that he could be, all of his future cruelly ripped away from him.

Stinging, burning pain within his chest had him double over and sob. It was over as suddenly as it began, leaving behind a terrible, black void. His face was wet with tears. Never in his life had he felt so wrong, so heartbroken and lost as he did now looking the corpse of a girl he never knew.

Jade's dead eyes stared at the sky. Luke pulled her into his arms and wept.

Shaak Ti clutched her wound and shook her head slowly. "Poor boy..." she said quietly. Even in her last moments this arrogant Jedi attempted to moralise him. Despite it clearly pained her, she kept taking steps away from him. Perhaps it was just an instinct compelling her to flee. She felt with her hand until she found one of the sarlacc's teeth behind her and leaned against it. Starkiller let her catch her breath, keeping a safe distance between them. She was hardly a threat anymore, but one never knew.

Ti held onto the tooth and lifted her gaze. The pained expression was gone, replace by pity.

"The Sith always betray one another," she said.

She saw him scowl and with her remaining strength she laughed. It was just a choked sound, but it was a laugh. She looked at him with pity and sorrow. He felt like pitying her for pitying him. She was the one dying while he had a grand future ahead of him.

Shaak Ti closed her eyes. "But I'm sure you'll learn that soon enough," she spoke. With that she let go of the tooth and stepped back once more. She staggered. Her knees gave out and she fell right over the edge into the sarlacc's gaping mouth. Starkiller hurried forward, his first instinct telling him to make sure she would not trick him, to make sure she would die. Too late he realised she had tricked him, but not quite the way he had expected.

Whatever strength she had left was released into the air as she died. The Force, the energy within her exploded violently. The sarlacc screeched, its tentacles moved wildly. Starkiller had no time to react, other than to let go of the lightsabers' ignition buttons when the shockwave already flung him in the air and threw him violently onto the ground. He attempted to land safely, but didn't quite succeed. He groaned in pain as his right ankle buckled under him and he crashed down all the way. The sarlacc kept howling and pounded its tentacles down, shaking the terrain with each strike. Starkiller closed his eyes and concentrated on keeping the tentacles away from himself.

It took a long time for the sarlacc to calm –or perhaps by the time the tentacles retreated it had just managed to exhaust itself with the violent trashing. Starkiller moaned as he dragged himself upright. He used his fingers to comb back his hair from his forehead. The fingers got coated with the sarlacc's sticky blood. He grimaced and tried to wipe it into the tattered sash hanging from his waist. He pulled Ti's lightsaber hilt from the ground with the Force and clipped it to his belt. His own he kept in his cleaner hand. His ankle throbbed with pain and it hurt with each step he took. He limped up the hill and towards the village slowly.

The villagers gathered to watch him. Starkiller scowled at them and ignited his lightsaber to let them know that even wounded he was still dangerous. Some tried to speak to him, but he couldn't understand their language. The Jedi's death had affected them, but whether they were happy or not for Shaak Ti's death, he could not tell. At least none seemed vengeful.

They came close, but the crowd always parted before him. They let him walk and none followed once he'd passed the final fences of the settlement. After that he didn't see a single Felucian as he made his way back to the Rogue Shadow.

It was dark by the time he arrived. The jungle gleamed in the night, lighting his path. The Rogue Shadow waited exactly where Juno had parked it. He keyed the access code to lower the ramp and limped inside. He was tired, but he felt victorious. Shaak Ti was dead. Master would now have to acknowledge that he was ready.

Juno and PROXY came to greet him from the cockpit.

"We're done here," he told the Captain bluntly, hand against the wall for support. "PROXY, get the medpac ready."

"Are you hurt?" she asked worriedly, although she must have seen he clearly was. She stepped closer, but stopped suddenly. Her face twisted with disgust at the smell. "Oh stars, you stink."

"Yes, thank you. I hadn't noticed," he muttered. "I'm fine. Nothing that'd leave lasting damage. Where's Skywalker?"

"He's not back yet," she told, covering the lower half of her face with her hand. "Scanners indicate he's heading back, though. Go take a sonic before that smell sticks to the ship."

He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. He felt himself blushing.

"Right..." he gulped, turning around hastily to hide his embarrassment. He escaped into the small 'fresher, stripped out of his dirty clothes and showered, only to realise he now had nothing to dress into. He stared into the mirror, biting his lower lip. The sweaty, bloody combat wear didn't appeal to him at all. Would the sonic shower work for clothes? The actual washing machine was in the equipment storage by the galley.

He looked at all the equipment on he'd removed and placed on a little shelve. Among the lightsaber hilts was his comm and the earpiece he'd worn.

Galen took the comm and connected to the bridge. "Err, Captain?"

"Yes?" Juno sounded startled.

"Is PROXY there?" he asked.

"No, I thought he's with you."

Of course. He'd sent PROXY get the medpac, so now the droid was probably waiting for him at the medical table they had in the room largely occupied by Juno now. He sighed and swallowed his pride. "I left my robe in the cockpit, didn't I? Can you bring it over?"

"Alright," she said. She sounded both amused and confused. Soon he heard a knock.

"I've got my back to the door, you can open it," her muffled voice came through the door. She was true to her word. She stood back against him, arm behind her back offering the robe. Galen snatched it quickly and hastily pulled it on.

"Thanks..."

"No problem." Her tone was neutral, but Galen could feel her amusement underneath,

He hugged the thick fabric against himself. Turning around without another word he limped barefoot into the training room and through it to his chamber. He fell on the bed on his stomach, suddenly feeling overwhelmingly tired. He lay there unmoving for many minutes until realisation had him startle. He'd left everything, even his lightsaber, behind.

Once again, thank you so much for reading and for all your encouraging comments. The reactions to the name Mara Jade were very different depending on who left the review. I hope both sides can find some satisfaction from the events of this chapter. Please let me know.

I also received some really lovely comments from people without an account. Sadly I cannot personally reply to you. If you'd like a reply (I would certainly like to reply!), you can leave a comment on my AO3 version of this fic, where I am able to reply to comments from accountless people, too. A link to this fic's AO3 version is on my profile.