Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Age or Star Wars

This chapter technically makes this two additional franchise crossovers, if you figured out which (I mean one isn't subtle :) I obviously don't own them.

Dragon Wars: The Force of Others

Episode 27: Lost secrets

She had worn her Chantry robes at the time, and looked upon Dorothea, a Revered Mother of the Valence Chantry. Whilst she wore the black robes of the Imperial Chant, at her heart she still believed in the original teachings, or at least what was close to those teachings. Back then, Leliana looked at Dorothea as a source of inspiration, her very reason for dedicating herself to the chantry.

"When I was younger, I joined an imperial expedition into Elven territory," Dorothea began, watering her flowers.

"It was where Elven sentinels had been hiding, the original servants of the elven pantheon. They had resided in a type of suspended animation, a deep sleep that halted their aging and enabled them to protect their holy site. But this was no temple dedicated to any of the elven warlords whom claimed the title god. In fact, there was something older about what they protected, something otherworldly," the last word made Leliana tremble.

"Whilst others lost themselves in the knowledge that the chantry had been right in calling the elf beliefs wrong, I saw the truth in the lesson of that expedition. The Sith were not just here for our Lyrium, magic or the other wonders of our world, but for what had been left behind by our ancestors," Leliana widened her eyes.

"The original humans whom came to this world, whom disrupted the balance of power in the elven homelands and whom left ancient technology for us to find. Technology Leliana, that we can use to free our world, to free it my child!"

To free it, Leliana remembered those words as the gears of the lift turned. They had to take one of the old entrances to the deep roads, a wooden lift operated by gears and chains, not a turbo lift installed by the empire. It cost them a day, and they ended up camping for the night, not that one could tell in the deep roads. Leliana's chronometer was the only thing that told them of how much time was going by. Sten put together flame torches, and Zevran used a flash light he had stolen. As they walked through the dwarf made, and even Darkspawn made structures, Leliana stared at the holographic gauntlet. A construct formed from a tiny chip in her arm, it had served as a key to the old font of ancient knowledge. It's glow seemed to intensify as they got closer and closer to where the Venatori had marked the site.

"So what exactly did we find the last time, bunch of numbers and some vague warning," Oghren muttered.

"Yeah, shouldn't we worry about that?" Zevran asked.

"We keep going," Sten said.

Though he had been gruff about it, Leliana agreed. She didn't want to worry about the reasons why these caches were here yet, these were questions they could answer once they had defeated the Sith and restore the natural order.

'No, not restore, create something new,' she thought.

Dorothea told her how things had been before. The Chantry preaching, yet failing to live up to its own ideals. It was selective in who it helped, and Leliana always found their treatment of mages appalling. She wanted the Chantry to be what it had always said it was, a beacon for others. Her faith wavered sometimes, it made her envy Daylen Amell in a way. The man she met spat upon the ideal of belief in a god, yet, he believed in something and had his own faith. That belief in people was something she shared, even if she was cautious because of her work as a spy. They came to a split in the cavern, and saw on the walls the scorch marks of blaster fire.

"Battle, recently too," Sten said.

"Yet, no corpses," Zevran noted.

"No blood too, they could have gotten spooked," Oghren said.

"I doubt it, tracks split apart, the bulk of the group ran to the right and the rest continued on the path to our cache," Leliana explained.

"Could the Venatori have told them?" Zevran asked.

"Likely yes," Sten said.

"They still can't get through without the key," Leliana said.

She walked down the path, despite the confusion of her companions.

"What about what they were chasing?" Oghren asked.

"Right now we should focus on the path ahead of us, and getting to the ancient tech!"

The trio nodded their heads and ran after Leliana.

Alistair stood with his yellow sabre pike at the ready. He followed Irving's movements, focusing on the glowing tip of his staff. Suddenly, Irving threw his hand forward. Alistair blocked the mana shot, and raised his sabre to bat aside the follow up shot from Irving's staff. Irving tapped his staff against the ground twice, psyching Alistair out before releasing small wisps of mana from his staff. Alistair blocked one before the other three struck his hip. He fell onto the shuttle floor, deactivating his sabre and hitting the ground in frustration.

"That was better than before," Irving said.

"Which is what you said the last time," Varric's voice echoed from the cockpit.

"How's your box Tethras, you can still reach the controls right?" Alistair shot back.

"Remember, you must feel the force flow through you," Irving said.

"Not right now Irving, there's clearly no progress in this," Alistair said.

"Not if you give up like that!"

With a shake of his head, Alistair went to the cockpit. He sat in the co-pilot seat next to Varric.

"So, learning about the force huh, you know, I got targeted as force sensitive," Varric said.

"Being a good liar during a card game isn't being force sensitive Varric," Alistair huffed.

"I respectfully resent the accusation, card games isn't all about bull shitting you know. It's also about being able to see through bull shit too. You see whether it's Pazaak or diamond back, you're reliant on your ability to see your opponent's hand through their body language. Is the nervous expression a lie to get you overconfident? Or do they really have a bad hand?"

"It's a game involving cards, it's all in the luck of the draw," Alistair said.

"In my experience there's no such thing as luck," Irving said, walking to the cockpit.

"So you're really going to find a dragon on the Storm Coast?" Varric asked.

"A Vinsomer, as opposed to projecting fire from its breath, it creates electricity," Irving said.

"And what's the imperial interest in it?"

"Back when I was a Knight-Trooper I heard that the empire was capturing dragons," Alistair said. "We're a weapon's provider for them, mages, dragons, demons, even our own people."

"Exploitation of a region's resources is natural during any occupation," Irving said.

"It's why every occupation occurs anyway, to exploit something you don't have," Varric muttered.

"But if we kill the Vinsomer, or at least drive it away then..."

"Alistair, our goal isn't to kill the dragon, it's for you to tame it," Irving said.

Alistair lowered his head, not liking the mage's faith in him. He still felt as if the man's belief was misplaced, and that his teachings would be a waste for him. The former knight-trooper stood up and walked over to the equipment locker.

"What were we able to gleam about the imperial presence there?" he asked.

"My contacts told me that the imps created a station on an island near the coast. Before they arrived an anthropologist determined that the island was where the dragon slept, brought back its food and shot out its eggs," Varric explained, causing Alistair to look over at him.

"Dragon's reproduce a-sexually," Irving clarified.

"So what are the options?" Alistair asked, taking out a stun club and electrifying it a few times.

"We can't fly in because we don't have the landing codes, and they have a few anti-air turrets. But an assault by sea could work out, capture of the Vinsomer wasn't a high priority for them, so they're operating at minimum crew. They have been facing a small rebel cell known as the Blades of Hessarian," Varric explained.

"An Andrastian cult that has a very unique perspective on Hessarian's mercy killing of Andraste," Irving said.

"Bandits with bows and a few blasters, they were able to build sail speeders though, and they never had a mage to protect them from repeater blaster fire so you'll have that going for you when you join them."

"Varric, aren't you coming with us?" Alistair asked.

"No can do prince, I've got a delivery to make for Mr Damask and then Dagna," Varric said.

"How are they both doing?" Irving asked.

"Dagna's using that knowledge you secured from the first font to make some weapons we don't have to steal and can mass produce with materials we have on hand. She mentioned something about chemical reactions and propelling of lead projectiles, but it all went past my head anyway...besides who reads a story and expects an explanation on how something works?" Varric huffed.

"And Damask?" Alistair asked.

Still within the Thedas/Bendu system, there was a small facility built into a planetoid. A factory owned by the Bith Rugess Nome, a prominent developer of star fighters. But the Bith watching the cranking machinery inside his factory was not Rugess Nome, nor was he Darth Tenebrous. Venamis was the genetically engineered offspring of Tenebrous, and had been commanded by his master to serve the grand plan by assisting the rebellion. His master, not his father, was an extradouinarly powerful Sith, one whom had unlocked secrets that Tenebrous sought for so long. Secrets that Venamis's rival and partner also sought. Hego Damask entered the factory, strolling along the walkway in his fine red and blue robes, flanked by the yellow armoured Sunguards.

But they were just for show, Hego Damask, the Sith Lord Darth Plagueis could kill as much with a thought as he could with his bare hands. His species possessed great strength as well as spare vital organs. Also joining Plagueis was a brown haired human woman in professional clothing, his assistant. On the far side of the room, watching the production in awe was Josephine Montilyet, dressed in her yellow and blue clothes.

"Incredible," she said, walking to Venamis's side.

"The materials you and the dwarf were able to secure have been invaluable, it will not do for the alliance to simply use stolen Sith fighters. You will need something to not just differentiate yourselves from them, but surpass them too," Venamis explained.

"Well said Rugess, that was my thoughts exactly when I contacted you," Plagueis said.

Josephine looked over the blue prints, fighters titled simply A,B,Y and X.

"What about pilots?" she asked.

"Finding suitable test pilots will be your prerogative Miss Montilyet," Plagueis's assistant said.

"I am aware of at least two candidates, academy pilots disillusioned with the empire," Josephine said.

"Recruiting them will be up to you, know that for now, I will be creating four prototypes of each type and will require you to find pilots by the end of the month," Venamis said.

Josephine widened her eyes, looking at the Bith as if he had grown an extra head. The task alone was difficult enough. Some people in Thedas could at least fly ships, but performing the necessary moves to make an effective fighter pilot was rare right now for people from Thedas. The mages of the circle and other resistance fighters had barely been able to fly their stolen fighters, and they all ended up dead anyway.

"Why the end of the month though?" she asked.

"It would appear that Loghain and Gaspard have bigger plans than they are sharing with their commanders right now," Plagueis mused.

"This is an important mission, one I know I must carry out if I am to prove my worth to the alliance."

"It is more than that my dear, the survival of the alliance and its future success is at stake here," Venamis stated.

Plagueis rolled up his sleeve, checking his chronometer, he nodded to Venamis, whom had done the same thing.

"Montilyet, Rugess and I have other matters to discuss in private, perhaps you could discuss further operations and intel with my assistant, would you mind Shmi?"

"Of course not Mr Damask, please come with me Miss Montilyet!"

The two women walked in the opposite direction as the Bith and Muun. Both walked through a door on the far end of the walkway. It was Rugess's office, filled with memorabilia from Bith. Venamis pushed a button underneath his desk, sliding it away to reveal a holo pad. The Sith lords knelt as the holopad activated, revealing the masked face of their master. Whom, light years away resided on Korvis with his Knights of Ren.

"Master," both said.

"It's about time you two answered, I was tempted to move on," he said.

"The rebels are continuing to gather strength, to strike out at the Imperial occupation," Venamis said.

"Tell me!"

Plaguies closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before he relayed the story.

"The Free Marches, former bounty Hunter, former Chantry priest Sebastian Vael has proclaimed himself the Prince of Starkhaven. He assassinated the governess of the city, Johane Harimann. A Desire demon was apparently involved, but from what I know the surviving members of the Harimann family are part of Vael's caravan. The Starkhaven archery corps has declared loyalty to their prince. They evacuated the city before Sith bombers destroyed it. Survivors of Starkhaven have been moving from village and town, spreading the story of Vael's rise and the Imperials disposing of Starkhaven. The archery corps has hit imperial caravans across the Green Dales and the Weyrs. They have joined with two Dalish clans. Then they destroyed a munitions' factory in Ansburg and then the fighter factory at Bastion, though not before taking six Tie Fighters.

"Nevarra, the Mortalitasi have come out of hiding, reanimating corpses from the crypts to attack imperial soldiers. Governor Martin was ripped apart by these corpses, but that is not where the true damage came from. Cumberland recently became the site of a recruitment drive by the rebellion. One Marian Hawke and her rebel cell infiltrated the city and whispered of rebelling, then gave a cry to the people to rise up, beginning riots on the street and a mass evacuation into Planasene Forest, where nature manipulating mages destroyed the imperial legion sent to hunt them down. Hawke's cell consists of herself, her cousin Charade Amell, the Ferelden Aveline Vallen, the elf mage fugitive Sketch and former Legionnaire of the dead Sigrun. They moved to the Arlesans region and took a large number of speeders from a factory, not before blowing it up of course.

"Antiva was hit by the cell commanded by Marian's sister Bethany Hawke, a mage, she rallied the mage underground there to take an imperial academy in Antiva city. She disrupted attempts to indoctrinate the students there and led them to join the rebellion. Her cell consists of the son of Rendon Howe, Nathaniel Howe, a former slave known as Fenris, a BB series droid designated F8-B1, an elf archer Sera and a Wookie pilot named Iapa. After securing an army, they moved onto Seleny, stole four B-28 Extinction class Bombers and then proceeded to destroy the fighter factory.

"In the Anderfels, the cell under the command of the Qunari Tallis has met difficulty from the imperial forces there. She commanded a former Knight-trooper Cairn, a Reaver Nyree and a Dalish mage Josmael. But they have had limited success, nowhere near the level of other cells. The situation in the Anderfels only shifted when a new cell, bold enough to leave their name at the scene, took a gunship and two tanks from Kassel, before destroying the garrison at Tallo. The Bull's Chargers they call themselves. Though there is limited information, save for the fact that their leader may possibly be Kossith

"The Last that was seen of the smuggler Isabela, she had joined with Dalish mage Velanna and some golem called Shale in rallying the people of Rivain. They freed a shipment of slaves, spread a poison through the plumbing of an imperial base and sabotaged the launch of a an imperial academy in Dairsmuid. Escaping by sea, with Dalish clans dedicated to sailing, they were able to take several speeders and boats from the garrison at Llomerynn. Reports also indicated they were using an HK series droid.

"The Qunari have fallen under the command of the Arishok, whom has commenced guerrilla warfare on Imperial facilities. But much like other cells, they have stolen munitions, equipment and information." the Sith Lord explained and looked to his master for a reaction.

"But that's just one region of the world, tell me, what else is happening elsewhere. What about the rest of the world?" the masked man asked, opening his arms to convey his point.

"Fighting has begun everywhere," Venamis began, smirking as Plagueis glared at him.

"The Islands of the East where the Samurai and Oni reside, the new world of the root mages and the human tribes that have embraced the way of the Dalish and nature, the land of Jade where Sagacious Tien has become their answer to Daylen Amell, and the frost regions where elves and humans live in harmony and master the giants of ice. And many more places, it is a whole planet after all," the masked man laughed.

As the Sith lords conversed, Josephine walked with Damask's assistant. She marvelled at the models of luxury cruise liners and parts of old ships.

"My father recently received a small corvette for transporting goods, but I had no idea that there were ships as grand as this," she said.

"There are many types of ships," Shmi said.

"Your accent is not imperial," Josephine noted.

"There are a great many imperial accents Lady Montilyet. But no, I am not from the imperial core, in fact I'm from somewhere much further away!"

"How did you come to be in Mr Damask's employ?" Josephine asked.

"I was a slave, Damask and a friend of his purchased me from my former master, I served them until two years ago, when my indentured service contract reached its end. But I had no other skills, and no real desire to see anything else in the galaxy," Shmi explained.

"So you continued to serve, what of this friend of Damask's?"

"He wanders the galaxy, some people want to see more of it, now let's sort out possible collection dates and good areas to recruit!"

Deep Roads

Leliana and her group continued following the path. Along the way they killed a few Deep stalkers and found the corpses of some unlucky troopers. Though they clearly weren't what had driven the squadron to split. They came to an open cavern, with a deep dive into a dark abyss. Lights had been drilled into the walls, and the remains of a Venatori camp were nearby. Old trays and crumbs from food were set out across the tables, and scorch marks from blasters. Zevran knelt by one of the mark.

"This isn't from an E-11 or a DH-17," the assassin said. "I'd stretch it to say that it's a blaster scorch at all."

"What do you mean?" Leliana asked, kneeling beside Zevran.

"Blasters traditionally use compressed Tibana gas with a power pack to create a particle beam. This seems more like a scorch from a lightning bolt, but, hold on," Zevran dipped his head down and sniffed the region. "That smell is a bit like Lyrium, but there's something different about it I can't quite pin down."

"Where are the bodies?" Sten asked.

Leliana widened her eyes, putting one hand on her pistol and looking around. The Venatori had abandoned the camp after the imperials took over. But the soldiers had lost their battle, their bodies should have still been present. Whatever attacked the imps wasn't alone, I think I know what happened to the bodies," Oghren said, picking up an arrow.

It was a savage and cruel design, chemicals dripping off of the tip.

"Darkspawn," Sten said.

"So they kill the imperials for us, seems a little too good to be true," Oghren huffed.

"I think they drew the imperials into some kind of automated defence system, then the darkspawn took the bodies for their own tastes," Zevran said.

"The defence system idea does match what our sources in Tevinter told us," Leliana finally stepped up to the wall.

Looking at it, she could see it was no natural formation. Years underground had given it the appearance of a part of the deep roads, but the oval shape of it, the lines in the rocks showed that it was a doorway. And at the centre of the wall was a hole. Leliana put her hand inside, finding a handle, and with a strong twist she turned the handle. A mechanism sounded, and Leliana stepped back cautiously as the door began to open. Zevran drew his daggers and Sten and Oghren kept their weapons raised. Leliana then drew her pistol, keeping it level as she walked into the chamber. The ground was metallic, dust filled the room, but there was a hum echoing through it. Power flowed through it, drawing on the molten lakes flowing through the rocks outside.

Oghren let out an awed whistle whilst Zevran's jaw was nearly on the floor. Sten seemed stoic as always, on guard more than the others. Leliana activated the holographic gauntlet and walked forward. Her boots tapped against the metallic floor, echoing around her. There was a clicking noise and a section of the ceiling slid out. A pylon came down with a metal eye attached to it. Orbs of energy appeared beside the eye, their forms constantly shifting as they floated over the floor. Leliana tapped a few buttons on the gauntlet, cycling through some of the pockets of information she kept on it. Drones the orbs were called, yet they seemed more like an affect of magic than technology. The eye shot a red light over Leliana, focusing on the gauntlet. She raised it, opening the palm of her hand so that the red light could scan it.

"Key recognised," Leliana heard a voice crackle.

More words echoed out of the walls, a multitude of languages that Leliana recognised from Thedas and others she didn't. A glowing circle appeared on the floor, and a hologram flickered into existence. The group gasped in shock, seeing the form of a human. Though some of his body was obscured they could make out his bald features and eyes.

"Square root of 841 equals 29, welcome user..." there was a crackle and the hologram flickered.

"Human, not an alien woman," Zevran commented.

"Disappointed?" Oghren asked.

"Well, not that there isn't something fascinating about this one," the elf grinned as Oghren rolled his eyes.

"Vault secure," the hologram said.

"Let's see what we can find, inventory," Leliana said.

"Square root of 1369 equals 37, Omni-Tech vault..." again there was static and Leliana cursed.

"Some of the data must have degraded like the previous vault," she said.

"But it is possible to unlock it and retrieve whatever is inside right?" Zevran asked.

"Maybe, some of the information might even be recoverable. Open vault door!" Leliana commanded.

"Access code required, the square root of 906.1 equals," the hologram said.

"No static this time, these numbers are getting annoying," Oghren growled.

"I have the key!"

"But it stands to reason that whoever left these things behind wouldn't just leave it to a key to unlock if they had weapons inside them," Zevran said.

"Guns, no guns, lots of..." the hologram flickered for a moment before reappearing. "The square root of 906.1 equals..."

"30.1," Sten said.

"Access code accepted, welcome user!"

The dwarf, human and elf looked at Sten, dumbfounded.

"Did you just work that out in your head Sten?" Zevran asked.

"Of course I did, hadn't any of you?" Sten asked.

The wall began to slide apart and the platform the group stood on began to slide on a rail like mechanism. Leliana looked at the path ahead and smiled, they were finally making progress.

Storm Coast

Alistair carried his shield and pick axe over his shoulder, looking back at Varric.

"You're not going with us?" he asked.

"Like I said before Prince I've got other commitments, still will be sure to add this little side encounter to the main story," Varric grinned.

Alistair and Irving shook their heads, the Mabari following after them. The rain batted against their clothes, and in the distance they could see lightning strike some of the rocks. Varric's shuttle flew into the clouds, leaving them behind. Walking over the rocks and bushy plains, they came upon the corpse of a giant. It had become a cushion for blaster fire, marks on its legs indicating that a wire had been used to trip it. Though they were little more than wild beasts, Alistair felt a pang of sympathy for them. Even when it was Orlais governing Ferelden, a balance between man, wildlife and monster was maintained. Ten people for the year would be killed by a giant at the worst of times. The giants had been drawn out by the empire, taken for study and to be used as fodder in whatever war they were prepping themselves for.

"I came to a village here once when I was eighteen," Irving said.

"What was it like then?" Alistair asked.

"You hear so much about Orlesian abuse back then, but here, the villagers made boats for surfing the waves. They were a brave lot, riding even the worst of storms and bringing back hauls of fish. Even the Orlesian mayor respected them," the mage explained.

"What were you there for?"

"A boy here had awakened his magic, it was my first time out and I pictured helping the Templars against a rogue demon. Greagoir was the same I suppose, he was a couple of years younger than me and eager to fight. We both were, but it was a boring time, we picked the new mage up and brought him back to the tower," the melancholy expression on Irving's face told Alistair there was more to the story.

"Was he one of the mages that died on the Star Destroyer?" he asked delicately.

"He died before that, he'd grown into a teacher. But one of his students began taking on Sith teachings. The boy used force strangulation on him, he would have killed him," Irving said, a pang of anger in his eyes.

"What happened?" Alistair asked.

"Daylen, he was younger than the other boy but he..." Irving chuckled and stopped walking.

"What, what did he do?"

"He kicked the boy in his..." Irving motioned to the area and they both laughed.

"So the founder was a trouble maker even back then," Alistair muttered.

"Practical jokes, disobeying his teachers, I still remember the time he broke his shoulder climbing the book cases. Staying up late and telling stories to younger students, falling asleep during Chantry services," Irving explained.

"Understandable," Alistair said.

"Although one time everyone had their heads down in prayer, Daylen put his hand under his arm pit and made this farting sound that echoed through the hall...everyone, even the sisters laughed despite it destroying their reciting of the canticles," the older man leant on his staff and laughed.

Then he grew silent and the melancholy expression returned. His gaze became distant, looking at the lightning and the crashing waves, and the high cliffs. He imagined the reaction of Daylen, of seeing the wonders Ferelden alone was capable of.

'Wherever you are now Daylen, are you seeing wonders?' Irving wondered.

"But the teacher Daylen tried to save died anyway, the doctors said the shock triggered a stroke, but I always suspected something else," Irving muttered.

"I never questioned it before, but people at my old postings tended to disappear," Alistair said.

They carried on, coming to a cliff face, and with their spy glasses they saw the Imperial base on dragon island. Smaller than they thought it would be, but cannons for shooting down aerial targets, as well as a sizable force of Shore troopers. On their way to the beach, they began to hear the breaking of sticks and rustling of bushes. Alistair nodded to Irving, who tapped his staff to the ground and gathered his mana. A flame formed in his hand and Alistair adjusted the grip of his axe. Slowly they revealed themselves, bows drawn back. They wore some camouflage, stolen bits of trooper armour or whatever they could muster together. Bandits, rebels, they could be called both, and they had the pair and the dog surrounded.

'It doesn't have to come to a fight though,' Alistair looked at the light sabre on his belt.

He dropped his axe and ignited the white sabre. The hiss shocked them, and the sudden appearance of the blade even made some flinch. But when they saw the glowing white beam raised high, they began to lower their weapons. Irving nodded to Alistair proudly, he was beginning to make connections.

Ophuchi

Dorian looked down at Ophuchi, seeing the multitude of defeated soldiers being loaded up into prison transport ships. The cities were burning, but the battle was over. From the star board observation deck he also watched the Fury Class Interceptor enter hyper space, to go to its next victim.

Canus knelt by the hologram of Darth Baras.

"No sign of Starkiller at all?" the lardy man shook his head in disbelief.

"It is true master, I searched for them and found nothing, the holocron was not here," Canus said.

"The campaign was a success, and your successes are my successes as well, is there anything you can report?" Baras asked.

"Captain Thrennhold showed remarkable tactical awareness and command abilities, his troops also fought well. On the surface a sergeant took command of the remaining occupation troops, when his own commander was killed. Jason Torque insured the survival of his troops as well as a stalemate battle before the arrival of imperial reinforcements,"

"His captain gave a less favourable review of his performance, but Quinn's report confirmed what you told me. I will see this Jason Torque promoted to the position of commander, and assign his squad to a new command as I will assign you to a new command. Join the exploratory corps on planet 31, they've encountered a relatively intelligent species and have apparently incurred casualties. Learn whatever you can about these people, make contact with them if you can, ensure no one discovers you meeting them," Baras explained.

"Yes my master," Canus said.

"I also heard that a mage of Tevinter, Dorian Pavus took part in the operation, what do you make of him?" Baras asked.

"He should be watched carefully, he showed a disdain for the operation, and his request to accompany Thrennhold was strange in itself."

He said it without hesitation, without remorse or any feeling at all. It was simply the way of a spy, to turn in another spy. Baras nodded his head, seemingly satisfied with his student's observation.

"My thoughts exactly, I will assign agents to monitor his father, continue my apprentice and bring me more glory," Baras commanded, before his hologram faded.

Canus reached behind his cloak and removed the Holocron that the Starkillers had parted with. A cube shaped device, white on the surface with a glowing light within. It invoked wonder over whatever secrets were residing within it. Teachings of the light, the dark, or the grey? Or perhaps some other knowledge entirely. Canus used the force to open it, a touch, a connection and then it began to open. Expanding into a diamond shape, the sides of it began to rotate and the light within grew brighter.

'Show me what my master wanted to get from you,' Canus thought.

Finally, it appeared, glowing in front of the Sith Warrior. Underneath his helmet he narrowed his eyes.

'A star map, what exactly are you after in the Lehon system Baras?'

Next Episode 28: Compromise

Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, next time Daylen continues his arena battle.